everything's coming up milhouse

Feb 1: Park West: DJ Shadow & Cut Chemist on 8 turntables, playing all original 45s, with realtime looping using guitar looping pedals, very cool. The highlight: Stairway to Heaven with the lyrics from the Gilligan's Island theme song. Opener Kid Koala was good, though I've basically seen that set before.

Feb 2: Plaid at Abbey Pub. The music was good, didn't stay for the whole set. Opener was good, a Chicago duo, I think they were called Opus.

Feb 8: Caught Yeasayer at Schuba's, since I liked them when they opened for Shapes & Sizes. After they finished, the lights stayed off and no music came on, which usually means there's a possibility of an encore. The crowd demanded one, clapping and chanting. The lead singer came back and declared that they couldn't do an encore because they didn't know any more songs.

Feb 10: Keren Ann at Lakeshore Theater. I'd never been to Lakeshore Theater before, and I have to say I like it. It's got theater-style seating like you're seeing a play, and they're comfortable seats like a modern movie theater. But it's general admission, so you can sit anywhere you want. Keren Ann was great; I hadn't realized she plays guitar on every song. The only downside was she only played for an hour. I think it was technically a split billing with 'Dean and Britta' (who many people in the audience seemed to actually be familiar with!).