If you have any sense of musical history as it happens, you’re on your way to Chicago this weekend for the Touch and Go Records 25th Anniversary Block Party starting this Friday at 5 PM. If not, then realize that you won’t be able to explain to your descendents just how it felt to witness the 20-minute Big Black reunion, and that this will likely result in your children suing for emancipation once they’re old enough to discover punk rock. If you’re ok with that, fine. But if you’re not, and are wondering what insanity lies ahead this weekend, look no further.
Friday, 5 PM: The weekend opens with The Shipping News. Since Touch & Go 25 is taking place in Chicago, only Chicagoans are allowed to heckle the band, so if you’re from out of state, don’t bother with any Annie Proulx or This American Life jokes.
7 PM: As far as i’m concerned, this is the highlight of night one, as the Mark E. Smith-inspired post-punk sex machine Girls Against Boys takes the stage. The last time i saw the double-bass New York attack was in 2000 at the Empty Bottle with Enon, so this is way overdue. They seem to have slowed down in recent years, so this show is going to be a treat, especially since i’ve never heard anything off their last (and criminally underrated) album, You Can’t Fight What You Can’t See, live.
8 PM: Ted Leo + Pharmacists = one of the more “current” Touch & Go acts, but still a compelling live act, and sure to be the most “popular” of the Friday night acts. People will no doubt be going nutsoid for this guy, and for good reason.
9 PM: Feel free to leave early, because !!! kinda suck. I mean, if dancing to one basically continuous white-boy funk groove while staring at the stage at the singer thinking, “Hey, didn’t that dude jerk himself off to death?” is your kind of party, go crazy, but if you leave now, you can hit some killer afterparties going on around town. Two of note include a fantastic lineup at the Beat Kitchen, featuring The Dials, Wolfbite, Screamin’ Cyn Cyn & The Pons, and Hot Lips Messiah; and a basement practice space party on North Ave. featuring Bear Claw, Triclops, Push-Pull, LKN, and IfIHadAHiFi. Ask around T&G for the location of the basement show; plenty of people will know where to find it, or direct you to someone who knows.
After the ridiculousness, chill out and have some late late late-night after-bar eats at the Pick Me Up Cafe at 3408 N. Clark, one of my favorite 24-hour Chicago munch spots. You may see me there if i’m not comatose or poisoned from the alcohol consumption happening at the afterparty.
Saturday, 12:55 PM: Things start at noon Saturday with The New Year, but i’m more excited to see Sicilian math rockers Uzeda. They’ve been at their craft for over 25 years, and frankly, once you’re over 30, like me, any chance to see people way older than you rock out on stage is a positive experience. Which explains why i’m going to this event in the first place, but you know.
Saturday is the motherload. Speaking of bands that have been going nonstop for over 25 years, The Ex will completely blow your mind at 2:55 PM. This will, for me, leave me one band shy of an “X” trifecta for 2006, having seen the LA X a month ago (if only X [Australia] were touring). After The Ex, look for the Wisconsin contingent to completely lose their shit when the original lineup of goddamn motherfucking Killdozer takes the stage. The sight of rock and roll’s shortest bass player, tax attorney Michael Gerald, once again climbing atop a box to reach the microphone will have me giggling like a giddy schoolgirl from the opening chords of “Knuckles the Dog (Who Helps People)” on. And if they don’t play their cover of EMF’s classic “Unbelievable,” i will kill myself. You read it here first.
From this point on, look, i hope you’re bringing a change of pants, because you’re going to fill them at some point on Saturday. From Killdozer on, it just gets more and more ridiculous. I could babble about the Didjits or Negative Approach, but the final four bands of the night, starting at 6:50, in order, are Scratch Acid, Man…or Astroman?, BIG MOTHER OF GOD HOLY SHIT FUCK GODDAMN IT’S REALLY THEM BLACK, and thee mighty Shellac. Write out your last will and bequeath your estate before you leave for Chicago; your head will cave in from the palpable awesome in the atmosphere. Will David Yow keep his clothes on? Will MOA? set some shit on fire? If i survive the Killdozer set, will Big Black send me into cardiac arrest by playing “Kerosene” or their cover of Cheap Trick’s “He’s a Whore?” Will someone ask Shellac really boneheaded questions while they tune? God willing, the answers will be yes, yes, fuckin’ a i hope so, and yes.
Sunday 12 PM: Chances are i’m sticking around for Arcwelder, Quasi, the Monorchid, and Enon, and then it’ll be a game-time decision as to whether or not i stick around or head home, as i will likely be severely wounded, dehydrated, or dead at this point. The real question on Sunday: will i be able to find regular updates on the Green Bay Packers/Chicago Bears game? Since i will be in Chicago, chances are i will, and since i will be in Chicago, chances are i will be incredibly obnoxious and defiant, making many snide comments about how the Bears still suck even while they likely intercept Brett Favre for the 4th time that afternoon. Hey, 11 straight wins by the Packers in Soldier Field in the 90s and 1st half of the aughts–i’m gonna hold that over Bears fans’ heads as long as is practical, and then some.
So say hi if you see me there this weekend–i’ll be the insufferable dork yelling for every band to play their cover songs, because original music’s for saps.
Technorati Tags: touch and go records, hideout block party, shellac, big black, killdozer, ted leo and the pharmacists, ted leo/rx, girls against boys, man or astroman, quasi, monorchid, touch & go 25th anniversary
2 Comments »
i am volunteering to work will-call tomorrow afternoon at the hideout - you should stop and say hi to me. then i will be one of those people going nutsoid for the sweet sounds of ted leo/rx.
it’s gonna be good times to the extreme, no? let’s try to get some interviews.
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Comment by amber — September 7, 2006 @ 8:04 am
*sigh* yeah yeah. enjoy.
but YOU are missing the ho-down whirlygig cattle corralling festival and rodeo* here in houston.
*i made that up, but it may as well be true. although in actuality, we have some good shows coming up. why am i complaining?