Weekend Agenda: September 25-27
The Room once again astounds Music Box patrons with its questionable quality.
Friday
Remember when “Zoot Suit Riot” and the Cherry Poppin’ Daddies ushered in a brief mainstream flirtation with swing in 1997? The Kinetic Playground offers a nice time warp tonight, as the Oregon band with an emphasis on lyrics and flashy performances will be playing to promote ska-punk compilation Skaboy JFK. Elsewhere, Phish bassist Mike Gordon is taking a break from a hectic summer touring schedule with Phish by playing solo at the Park West. If you’d rather not dip into such guilty pleasures, the Music Box is screening the ultimate horrible movie The Room by delusional director-producer-writer-actor Tommy Wiseau. If you’ve missed it in the past few months, now might be a good time to get acquainted with the theater’s new midnight staple.
Saturday
Like Donny and Marie Osmond before her, Grey’s Anatomy-soundtrack regular Brandi Carlile is a little bit country and a little bit rock ’n’ roll. Her soulful tunes will rock the House Of Blues tonight. And if you feel a rumble in your stomach, head over to the Catalyst Ranch on Randolph for Chicago Public Radio Presents … Chicago Chef Battle, sponsored by Goose Island (free beer!). Featured chefs include Jill Barron of Mana Food Bar, Ben Sheagren of Hopleaf, and Jared Van Camp of Old Town Social. The event includes audience tastings and judging. Jimmy Carrane of Studio 312 hosts. Or, if you missed them at Pitchfork, hit up the Vic to see Built To Spill.
Sunday
Christopher Guest isn’t the only one who can make a faux documentary. In The Land Of The Head Hunters (a.k.a. In The Land Of The War Canoes) has Guest beat by a few decades, but the 1914 silent film isn’t meant to be funny: It imagines what the lives of the Kwakwaka'wakw peoples of Vancouver Island in British Columbia were like. Part melodrama and part true portrait of Kwakwaka'wakw culture, art, and technology, it is an unusual documentary screening at the Gene Siskel Film Center ideal for anyone looking for something a bit different. For less cerebral fare, the meticulous Grizzly Bear lends its soft and atmospheric tones to the Metro tonight.
