Indie bands everywhere take note. It is no longer cool to add one or seven exclamation points to your band name.
I was told by a hipster, who wishes to remain nameless, that he/she read in a magazine, that wishes to remain nameless, that it ain’t cool if it ain’t parenthetical. What does that mean for ≠Brother Embassy!, you ask? Well, I’d recommend a change to Bro)ther (Emb)assy(. I mean, you don’t want to look silly with those exclamation points in there!
I received tens (that’s right, tens) of emails from readers about the Wendy’s column. It seems that I’m not the only one who just wants a damn spicy chicken sandwich. The only official word that I could find is that the franchiser of all three local Wendy’s, as well as roughly 50 others in Illinois and Missouri, was forced to close the restaurants due to financial troubles. Thanks a lot, WenAmerica. Maybe it was the vanilla Frosty that spelled doom for the franchiser. Middle America doesn’t stand for that kind of change. Keep our Frosties chocolate and shut up about it. What does all of this have to do with music? Well, musicians on the road eat a lot of dollar menu items from Wendy’s, and now I’m afraid that bands are going to struggle in Missouri and Illinois, thanks to the closings. Bring back Wendy’s!
Tonight marks the first official show from Tritone, a new band formed by Adam Wolfe (Sick Day, the Jammies), David Ward (Third Stone, the Brat Pack) and Joe Funderburk (Mad Mardigan, Jab) – blood and evil will reign. Also playing their first set in public, Caminos (formerly Lifers – yes, that’s right, it’s their first show and they’ve already had a name change) will be opening the show. The band is the brainchild of Michael “Guido” Esteves (Temple of Low Men, Sick Day, the Brat Pack). After Sick Day called it quits, Guido started writing and wanted to put a band together to play his new material. Along came Mike Brey (Quadremedy) to add vocals and guitar. The two then enlisted Tom Grassman (Third Stone, Two Rivers, Sick Day) and Jeff Markland (Third Stone, X-Krush, the Mohawk Patrol) to fill out the band. It will be a night of brand new music from guys that you’ve seen in approximately seven billion bands between them. Get in at the ground floor, people! Showtime is 10 p.m. at Cowboy Monkey, and the cover is $5.
If all of that sounds too evil for you, you could instead wander over to Zorba’s for jazz night. Jazz Sandwich will be playing from 9:30 p.m. – 12:30 a.m., so head on in for a gyro (Champaign’s best) and some jazz (certainly a contender for Champaign’s best). Over at the Courtyard Cafe in the Illini Union there’s an all-ages punk rock show going on, and it’s free! The show starts at 8 p.m. and features the Anti-Social End, Frank Must Go and Much the Same.
Friday night sees a My Brightest Diamond/Pedestrian show at Cowboy Monkey. My Brightest Diamond (on Asthmatic Kitty Records) is Shara Worden, female vocalist from Sufjan Stevens’ “Illinoisemakers.” She has a new album, Bring Me the Workhorse, and a new band to back her. After her set, DJ Stegosaurus (Seth Hubbard of Polyvinyl Records) and DJ 2ON2OUT (Seth Fein of buzz Magazine and the Nicodemus Agency) will take to the stage for a tag-team session/battle to the death. After having his ass handed to him last time, will Seth “I Don’t Care About Stuff Like That” Fein be able to come back and at least retain a little dignity? Only you can be the judge, as all of this ridiculousness is based on crowd reaction. Much like the Illinois/Purdue cannon, I will be presenting the winner with a traveling trophy that will stay with the winner until the next match-up. So come out for the great show, and stay for the hijinks (spell-check says this isn’t a word, but I say it is)! The cover charge is $8, and the show starts at 9:30 p.m.
Terminus Victor will return to CU on Saturday to play Cowboy Monkey. The band was forced to cancel their Halloween show due to illness (pneumonia!). Let’s hope everyone is good to go by Saturday night. Terminus Victor is one of the finest rock bands in the Midwest, and they certainly do CU a service by touring the country and calling CU home. If you’ve never seen the band, now’s your chance. Playing with them on Saturday will be another excellent local band, fireflies, along with Quatre Tete and Traindodge (Aesthetic Records). The show starts at 10 p.m. and is amazingly only $5. Get your asses out there and enjoy some rock.
Sunday night is the first of two Nicodemus Agency showcases (the second is Monday at the Empty Bottle in Chicago) featuring Headlights, Canada, Skeletons and the Girl-Faced Boys, The Beauty Shop and Caleb Engstrom. I’m not sure what I can say about this show, other than that it is clearly going to be awesome. Headlights will be making a short stop in town in the middle of a massive tour. Canada will be returning after
a great set at Pygmalion, and The Beauty Shop are coming home from a tour down south. Caleb Engstrom I’ve mentioned before as being an incredible singer/songwriter who wowed people when opening for David Bazan at Pygmalion. The show kicks off at 9 p.m. and is $7. Get there early.
Tuesday night continues the Triple Whip/Krukid collaboration at Canopy Club’s Rehearsal Space. The show is free and the drinks are cheap, so check out canopyclub.com for info about Rehearsal Space and other upcoming Canopy shows.
Keep your eyes on thehighdive.com and cowboy-monkey.com for info about the 16th Annual Great Cover Up! Also, could someone please start posting on the openingbands.com forums again? That place is a ghost town lately, and it’s a shame. Maybe all we need is a new Champaign Enquirer…
Mike Ingram can be reached at forgottenwords@gmail.com.
