Another Road Trip in the Works

So I just found out I will be leaving work early and driving to Iowa on a Tuesday at the end of March.

My friend Wes and I have recently been kicking around the idea of trying to book a birthday show with some of our favorite bands.  I found out on Twitter this morning that two of our favorites are already playing a show together, less than a week before my birthday.  And it's $3.  And there's free pizza.  The down side is that it's in Iowa City, which is a good 3.5 hours from my apartment.

If you like music and you like carpooling to Iowa, then check out the lineup for the Mission Creek Festival in Iowa City.  Let me know if you'd like to tag along for Like Pioneers and The Poison Control Center at The Mill on March 27.

For those who are unfamiliar, this is well on its way to being my fantasy show lineup, Midwest edition.

The Poison Control Center play amazingly fun music and put on an incredibly energetic stage show and are also probably the nicest people on the planet.  Also, they never stop touring.  They may be the perfect indie rock band.

Like Pioneers is one of those projects where a group of awesome people come together to make something that might be better than the sum of its parts. If you have ever talked to me, you've heard me breathlessly explain why I love them, so we'll leave it at this is my favorite band and I have seen every one of their shows.  Also, their upcoming album?  Amazing.

Road trip!

Cleveland, Anyone?

As a teenager and young adult, I engaged in an impressive string of long-distance relationships. While now I refuse to go out with anyone living more than 2 miles from my house, I have been left with a skewed sense of the value of traveling long distances for things I enjoy.  Add in my overly enthusiastic approach to talking to bands at shows ("Hi! You were amazing! Come to Chicago!") and tendency to social media stalk everything I enjoy, and you get some crazy, completely unjustifiable road trips.

Examples of this include seeing The Rural Alberta Advantage in St. Louis (after seeing them in Madison and Milwaukee and Chicago), seeing Generationals in St. Louis (in a severe thunderstorm after seeing them like 3 times already that year), seeing Arms in a barn in Iowa (by myself and I had to navigate by GPS and my car got backed into in a field), ferrying an Australian emo kid to Madison for Into It. Over It. (after seeing him already in Chicago), flying to LA to see The Weakerthans because they haven't played Chicago in forever and I can never get time off to go to Winnipeg (and I want to get time off to go to Winnipeg), and basing a decision to go to CMJ partly on being away stalking another band the weekend Fishboy played Chicago in 2011 (there was also seeing Ravens & Chimes and Arms again).

Yes, yes, I'm creepy.

So I'm about 50% sure I will spend this Saturday traveling to Cleveland to see Bears, The Afternoon Naps, and The Lighthouse and the Whaler.  Because holy fucking shit, can you ask for a better lineup of Ohio bands?  And I want to see Elephant Gun and The Damn Choir and Architecture at Subterranean pretty goddamn badly, but that quixotic journey across half the Midwest to catch the perfect indie pop show is so romantic that it's just hard to resist.

Leaving Logan Square on Saturday morning.  Pickups can be arranged.  I'm sorry, local music.  I hope you'll understand.

Metric Crapton of Things Happening Tonight

I was going to write up my Monday plans over the weekend, but there are just too damn many things going on tonight.  I will be at one of these 3 things, or I will be at home doing laundry and watching a movie I'm supposed to return tomorrow.  Like me, if you are staying in the house tonight, it is by choice.

Founders All Day IPA Bottle Release Kickoff
Binny's South Loop
6-8 p.m.
RSVP/info
They'll have some of the best beers available from one of the best breweries in the Midwest.

Deleted Scenes
Subterranean
8 p.m., $10 doors
Info/tickets
Gorgeous band and super nice people.  I would recommend checking them out at least once.

Radar Eyes/Bare Mutants/Outer Minds
Empty Bottle
9:30 p.m., FREE
Probably all my favorite HoZac bands, it's free, and Mondays get you a slight discount on PBR.

Even More Last-Minute Plans

So, after Tiny Fireflies at Saki, you can head down to Cole's at 10 for Summer Girlfriends, who are awesome.  This show is also free.  It's a good day to be in Logan Square.

More Last-Minute Plans

Trying to get a jump on show plans for February, I came across Tiny Fireflies, who are opening a show at Subterranean on the 16th.  (They're playing with Panda Riot, who are super cute, and Nerves Junior, who I think I missed seeing at CMJ because I decided to eat a giant slice of pizza, but I don't take very good notes on festivals, so who the hell knows?)  I got really, really excited and thought "aw, I wish they were playing now and not in two weeks."

Well, the Oh My Rockness e-mail that just hit my inbox says they are playing tonight, at an art opening at Saki at 7.  The event is 1) free, and 2) right by my house.  So I'll be there, right after I sacrifice a fatted calf to the gods of indie rock.

I'm kind of terrible at descriptions beyond "adorable" and "awesome" (which I've been informed are not actually musical genres), but the event page describes Tiny Fireflies as "dream pop," which sounds accurate enough.  Listen to them on bandcamp, then come hang out with me because I always feel so awkward seeing music at Saki alone.

Tonight at Pancho's

Tonight, I'm heading to Pancho's (which mpshows.com tells me has been renamed Township) for some local indie pop that's entirely new to me.  The show starts at 9 and is $5.  The bands are Elusive Parallelograms, Rabbit Children, and Brother George.

I'd seen a show announcement for Rabbit Children a few months ago (at least I think it was them--I tend to get animal names confused) and had meant to check them out.  They're fun without being saccharine, and Elusive Parallelograms seem similarly pleasant.  Right now, I'm most excited for Brother George after a few minutes on Myspace--fuzzy and folky, with obvious pop sensibilities.  It should be fun.

Recommended if you have $5 to blow and have been meaning to check out Pancho's Minus Pancho (is it the Garfield Minus Garfield of Logan Square?).

Introduction

When I was young, I wanted to be a badass punk rocker.  That didn't quite work out.  Now I'm drawn to the siren song of the glockenspiel, which gets a bit lonely when it seems that everyone else is fist-pumping to rock 'n' roll.

After 14 years of exploring every other possible way to use the internet to make friends, I've decided to just put my show plans in a blog.  Watch this space for adorable indie bands, Logan Square drink invites, and other fun things to do about town.  If you see me, say hi.  If we already know each other, come out.

Stick this in your RSS reader and smoke it.