In brief: The Living Blue, winner at the WPGU-Buzz Local Music Awards 2005 for Best Live Performance and Best Record of 2004, will play Monday night on WEFT Sessions, at 10 on 90.1 FM. The full-length American Minor debut is self-titled and due nationwide on Jive Records July 27.
The Back of My Burning Hand, album number two by The Pitch, went on sale last weekend at C.V. Lloyde Music Center; the official release is Saturday night at The Highdive. With seven tracks that together span 36 minutes, The Back of My Burning Hand derives from a less disciplinarian approach than its ancestor, The Anger Swallow. Ryan Lee and Sarah Kobylewski are its executive producers, and the rest of the longtime lineup-Matt Castelein, Cory Anderson, and Eric Lawrence-is here. So are new bassist since December 2004 Joe Ringle and guest vocalist Eric Toledo of Trances Arc. The Back of My Burning Hand was mastered at The Boiler Room by Collin Jordan. As the band members prepare to graduate and move away, the release show doubles as their farewell show, yet is the debut for opener Pulsar47 (despite a last-minute concert slot at McKinley Foundation last weekend). Show time is 8 p.m., with door at 7p.m., and cover is $3.
The G. Lee show scheduled two weeks ago at Aroma was cancelled due to illness and rescheduled for June 23. In the meantime, Aroma hosts the first of two Darrin Drda gigs this week, tonight at 8 with Ripley Caine of Chicago duo Goldman. This is a free show. Then, (Darrin Drda’s) Theory of Everything opens tomorrow night at The Iron Post for Mad Science Fair and Maxtone 4. Show time is 10, and cover is $4. Theory of Everything released its second album, ‘Evolution of the ‘Art, March 3.
Like Darrin Drda, Headlights has two gigs this week. First is an all-ages show tomorrow night at Illinois Disciples Foundation with The Impossible Shapes and Rivulets. Show time is 8, and cover is $4. Rivulets will tour Europe from May 18 to June 15, and this is the only show by the band between now and then. Headlights plays again Saturday night at The Iron Post with Everybody Uh Oh and The Elanors. Show time is 10, and cover is $5. Everybody Uh Oh performed prolifically in Champaign-Urbana in 2002 and 2003, often with Absinthe Blind, but went on hiatus in 2004 for frontman Jeremy Keller to focus on solo performance. This show is being billed as the “triumphant return” of Everybody Uh Oh to town.
Flook, an Irish quartet from the United Kingdom, will play Wednesday night at Gregory Hall Theater at the University of Illinois. Show time is 8, with door at 7, and tickets are $15 ($10 with school ID and for seniors, and $8 for children under 12). Advance tickets are available. Capacity is 350 seats, and tickets Wednesday night are first-come, first-serve. Flook features flautists Brian Finnegan and Sarah Allen with the rhythm section of Ed Boyd on guitar and John Joe Kelly on the bodhr†n, a frame drum with a wooden rim. “This concert is sponsored by the Society of Celtic Cultures in association with The Piper’s Hut Concert Series. The SCC is a student organization at the University of Illinois whose mission is to share Celtic music and dance with the campus and surrounding community.” The Piper’s Hut is Dean Karres, bodhr†n teacher and member of local trio Triskelion.
