Weekend Agenda: Sept. 4-6
Pee-wee's Big Adventure hits the Music Box this weekend.
The best of this weekend:
FRIDAY
Pitchfork Festival, Lollapalooza, Blues Fest, and a plethora of other entries have come and gone. However, one of Chicago's capstone free festival events, the Chicago Jazz Festival, is this weekend. The lineup includes veterans like Muhal Richard Abrams and fresh faces like Madeleine Peyroux. Over at the House Of Blues, catch sunglasses-clad beardo rockers ZZ Top playing their Tex-Mex blues hits. Also this weekend, the Music Box is screening one of Tim Burton's earliest and best films: Pee-wee's Big Adventure. Here's a clip:
Sick of the ocean of '60s garage-rock copycats? Unlike today's bands that mimic Nuggets-style songwriting, Dead Meadow takes blues and psychedelic influences and mixes them with hard rock and metal. The group will be at the Empty Bottle with Follows and The Great Society Mind Destroyers. Meanwhile, the Bottom Lounge is hosting the triumphant return tour of Polvo, whose sliding and airy, twangy rock is as relevant today as it was in the '90s. And for the giant thrills of the circus contained within a single loft, why not see El Circo Cheapo at the Aloft Loft? While you decide, get warmed up with Polvo's "Tilebreaker":
The Chopin Theatre is currently hosting a depressing show that might be wise to avoid if you're susceptible to Sunday-night blues (even with the holiday): The Ballad Of The Sad Cafe. Set in 1930s Georgia, the show ponders whether it's "better to be the loved or the beloved," as a married couple fight it out, literally, in front of the entire town. Heavy? Believe it. For a more light-hearted night, check out Reggie's Music Joint, where Experimental Dental School plays erratic and rickety rock. Over at the Double Door, sludge rockers Woven Bones (also playing an earlier show at Permanent Records) will join electro-garage weirdos The Spits. Here's The Spits' "Alienize":
