Friday 2/6 – Thursday 2/12
“Your average country fan will hate this stuff,” Bloodshot Records cofounder Rob Miller told the Reader in 1995, a year after he, Nan Warshaw, and Eric Babcock joined forces to release what they thought was a one-off: For a Life of Sin, a compilation of tracks by local “insurgent country” bands. Ten years and more than 100 releases later, Bloodshot brings together label stalwarts the Waco Brothers, Rico Bell, Trailer Bride, the Legendary Shack Shakers, and Jon Rauhouse’s Steel Guitar Rodeo (featuring Kelly Hogan and Sally Timms) for Insurgent Visions: Bloodshot Records’ 10th Anniversary Art & Music Show. The shows start at 8 and 11:30 at the Old Town School of Folk Music, 4544 N. Lincoln (at press time the early show was sold-out; the late one is sans Trailer Bride). Tickets are $8 in advance, $9 at the door; call 773-728-6000. A related exhibit of art by Bell, the Wacos’ Jon Langford, Trailer Bride’s Melissa Swingle, the Shack Shakers’ J.D. Wilkes, and Bloodshot graphic designers Markus Greiner and Kathleen Judge opens tonight at the OTSFM with a free reception from 5 PM to 2 AM.
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11 WEDNESDAY If Paul O’Neill hasn’t yet convinced you that the Bush White House is ruled by a cabal of right-wing ideologues, Eric Alterman and Mark Green just might. In The Book on Bush: How George W. (Mis)leads America, the two progressives offer an exhaustive critique of the administration helmed by “the most messianic, radical, special interest, divisive, and dissembling president of modern times.” Alterman, a longtime columnist for the Nation, and Green, New York City’s former public advocate (and 2001 Democratic candidate for mayor), will read from and discuss the book today at 12:30 at Borders Books & Music, 150 N. State. It’s free; call 312-606-0750.
