Schubas' Sister Venue Open...

It's been buzzed and blogged about for a few months now, so it's not a huge surprise that Schubas has a new sister venue in Lincoln Park (down near DePaul). There's a nice little video of it on the Trib's website here, where you can see that, as with Schubas, they've paid attention to aesthetics like food and decor that are oft-overlooked by rock venues. I'm going to a little preview on Thursday on behalf of Canasta, which makes the little music dork in me excited.

In show news, Tuesday's birthday bash was packed, so thanks to everyone who came out. Between the new Unpugged series at Wild Pug and the Mary's Spotlight series at Mary's Attic, the Andersonville/Uptown bar scene is getting a lot more live music, in addition to the already dependably cool Homolatte series at Big Chicks, and with live music nights getting the axe for schtick like Guitar Hero tournaments and bar trivia.

There's another installment of Mary's Spotlight this Sunday night at 7:30; a lot of last month's acts are returning (as am I). And this time I won't be fighting Fall Death Flu while plodding my way through Creative Writing Workshop and Resurrection Ship hyped up on DayQuil. Huzzah.

Last Week's Show Roundup, UL Show on Wednesday

Wow, did I really not blog all week? Someone e-kick my ass the next time I do that. I've been busy with lots of stuff this week -- like preparing for my show at the Underground Lounge on Wednesday -- so I'm just going to give some quick updates so none of you think I was abducted by Cloud Cult last night to paint watercolors for them twice a night. (Hooray for overt segues...)

Last night was the aforementioned Mason Proper/Cloud Cult show at Schuba's. I'm a big fan of any musical act that treats their live show as an audiovisual event, even if it's simply having a strong sense of chemistry and charisma on stage. They certainly have that component down cold. Cloud Cult is the only band I've ever seen live that featured four and sometimes five vocal parts on each song, and there's something about singing that forces band members to engage with an audience in a way that's often overlooked by a band's instrumentalists. But they also took some risks with their visual presence in the form of an art gallery-esque backing line that included video art projected onto a screen and two painters actually painting a watercolor from start to finish during the band's set.

I'm ashamed to say that I missed Mason Proper entirely. I've been feeling completely burnt by opening bands in the past two weeks, and usually Schuba's is a venue that books a handful of unlisted opening acts, so I was quite surprised to show up a mere hour after showtime to find Cloud Cult almost ready to go. Thankfully the room was also full, so I'm hoping a lot of people got to see Mason Proper's set, because their music was actually a good match for Cloud Cult fans, which is always a win-win-win situation (i.e. for both bands and the audience). Not every venue books with this in mind.

Ahem, speaking of which, my heart really went out to Teletextile on Thursday. I don't like to call out venues on poor booking -- it's just not professional, and it's not always the venue's fault -- but something did seem amiss with the bill. Teletextile was very ambient and melodic, probably best described as indie electronica. They were booked with (1) a band with four guitars ('nuff said) and (2) a post-punk/metal act. I just don't think it reflects well on the venue to throw together fans of such disparate musical styles.

And from a business standpoint, who's sticking around for more than one drink if you don't like the rest of the bill? Well, yes, alcoholics, but who else? The creepy old guy here by himself, that's who. Is that what you want, the creepy old guy club? No. No you do not.