friday7
Harvey sid fisher YouTube and MySpace have given Harvey Sid Fisher a new lease on schmooze: he recorded his trademark “Astrology Songs” back in the mid-80s, but people like them so much they still invite him out and probably buy him drinks to boot. For his midwest Zodiac Tour, he’ll be backed by Iowa-based quasi-punk folkies the Miracles of God, whose droll school-of-hard-knocks approach should help ground his lyrics (“First I must see what you have for a brain / For me to be reached on a physical plane /. . . I am an Aquarian”). Fisher will also have two female backup singers for his “Battle of the Sexes” song cycle, which was tooth-grindingly dated right out of the box–think Meat Loaf and Ellen Foley sparring as stand-ups in a Holiday Inn Lounge. Mr. Fisher, if you’re wondering, is a Sagittarius. The Miracles of God also play a short set; Roommate opens. a 9 PM, Ronny’s, 2101 N. California, myspace.com/ronnysbar, $7. –Monica Kendrick
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
O’DEATH Say what you will about Brooklyn art-school hillbillies (it’ll likely be deserved): occasionally they’ll mix up some real chemistry in their faux stills. This quintet’s Head Home (City Slang), for example, can raise a whole mess of small hairs–we’re talking full beard erection–with its cheesy but earnest Appalachian snake-oil show. Why do they succeed where others have managed only to offend? Probably it’s the driving drone-rock undercurrent that keeps my lizard brain so reliably entertained. Also, if you’re going to pull this shtick off, your banjoist and fiddler had better be able to fucking shred. After their gig at the Hideout Block Party, O’Death head to the AV-aerie to play on a bill that goes (top to bottom) Dan Deacon, O’Death, Lord of the Yum-Yum, Thank You. a 3:15 PM, Hideout Block Party (complete schedule, page 34), North Stage, Hideout, 1354 W. Wabansia, 773-227-4433 or 866-468-3401, $25, $20 in advance, $35 in advance for a two-day pass. A 8 PM, AV-aerie, 2000 W. Fulton #310, 773-276-3600 or 866-468-3401, $8. A –Monica Kendrick
c carolina Chocolate Drops Even though the banjo originated in Africa, there aren’t many contemporary African-American musicians taking cues from the black string bands whose work is preserved on old 78s and recent compilations like Old Hat’s splendid Folks, He Sure Do Pull Some Blow! But the Carolina Chocolate Drops, a trio from North Carolina ranging in age from 25 to 30, have stepped in to fill the breach, demonstrating in workshops, onstage, and in classrooms what they’ve learned from octogenarian fiddler Joe Thompson. On Dona Got a Ramblin’ Mind (Music Maker), Justin Robinson and Rhiannon Gibbons, who both play fiddle and banjo, and multi-instrumentalist Don Flemons share their take on the Piedmont tradition. They emphasize a vibrant ensemble sound over individual virtuosity, and all three take turns on lead vocals. Gibbons’s a cappella renditions of the betrayal ballad “Little Margaret” and the chain-gang chant “Another Man Done Gone” provide a nice change of pace from galloping full-band versions of “Georgie Buck” and “Sourwood Mountain.” a 7 PM, Old Town School of Folk Music, 4544 N. Lincoln, 773-728-6000 or 866-468-3401, $20, $16 kids and seniors. A –Bill Meyer
tuesday11
c Aesop Rock Aesop Rock is a man of ideas. So many, in fact, that it’s hard to keep track of them all. He hasn’t released a lot of records in the ten years he’s been around, but unpacking his dense lyrics could keep a dedicated fan busy for a lifetime–and with the addition of his latest, None Shall Pass (Definitive Jux), that study’s gonna take at least a few more years. With a style somewhere between the precision flow of Kool G Rap and the verbal diarrhea of a schizophrenic on the bus, Rock delivers far-out rhymes thick with cryptic imagery: “They grew ’em in the royal dirt of Suffolk County’s flooring / With the blood of an alcoholic clergyman in his forearms,” for instance. Though his words definitely overshadow the music, the dark, blunted beats are far from filler, alternating mostly between hazy boom-bap and Rock’s ongoing attempts to rescue hip-house from its own shitty legacy. None Shall Pass contributors Rob Sonic and DJ Big Wiz join Rock onstage; the Octopus Project and Blockhead with DJ Signify open. a 6:30 PM, Metro, 3730 N. Clark, 773-549-0203 or 312-559-1212, $18.50. A –Miles Raymer
