Now Direction

Chicago Weekend Slide Show

Grab your popcorn and dim the lights. It’s vacation photo time! What follows are the images I captured with phone & camera while attending the Hideout’s 10th Annual Block Party. It happened to coincide with Touch & Go Records (my all time favorite record company) 25th Anniversary! The guys with press passes are here. I’ll try to be faithful to the play list.

Girls Against Boys

^ This is the right-hand side stage, the “Touch Stage” from way back.

We arrived late on Friday just before Girls Against Boys (GvsB) was got started. Which was okay; I already saw The Shipping News at Corey Branch’s hugely successful effort to get them to play Sioux City.

Ted Leo + The Pharmacits

^ I’ve got nothing.

I’m sure indie darlings TL+tP wanted a better label, and I’m glad they’re on the side of the good guys, now. I thought I would give them a chance, and their live show was way better than any mp3s I’ve heard by them. However, I still think their music is, well… kind of boring.

Then we shifted back to the other stage for !!!.

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^ !!! setting up.

^ These guys has so much energy, great effort.

^ Too bad all that was wasted on a crowd that never dances.

Saturday

The next day, the place was crawing. Great people watching, and the dreary weather held-out, too. This was also the day of the specialty crowds. For the people directly in front of the stages, the band that was playing was one of their all-time favorites.

Uzeda

Uzeda were finishing-up as we arrived. Looks like they would have been great to see. I need to get some of their albums.

Pegboy

^ This is the left-hand stage, the “Go Stage.”

^ Great show.

I enjoyed them very much. It’s too bad the lead singer had to carry it. The bass player looked like he was upright comatose, and I’m not sure they actually practiced together much. I guess they hadn’t played in 20 years, either. It was an overall fun performance. You gotta keep in mind: the crowd is too cool to get into ANYTHING. That was the most annoying thing about this whole weekend.

The Ex

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^ You can kind of see the blood on the pickguard from the steelstrings and his percussive playing.

For being old anarchists, they totally blew me away. It’s hard for me to think of making art in the future without their records.

Killdozer

^ These guys were classic: smart-assed, absurdly mean and they played a good set, too.

Jon & Kat “opened” for the Digits with a song that I remember being really good. Then, it was onto the highschool rock’n'roll!

The Dijits

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I remember being a sophomore football lineman and seeing some running back with a Dijits t-shirt. And that’s how you find-out about the real world, at public school!

Negative Approach

^ The crowd did not let these guys off so easily.

As fun as The Dijits were, the old school school hardcore band Negative Approach was serious. I think their performance would have benefitted from a lot more volume.

Sally Timms

^ We saw her with accompianist walk by Pizza Metro after the show.

Sally Timms sang a song about Freedom & Love just before David Yow reunited with the crazy Texas experimental band Scratch Acid. The folks at this stage were really tough on Sally.

Scratch Acid

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These guys were crazy motherfuckers. I thought I would like them, but not in the way or huge amount that I do.

Afterwards, I ran over to the Go Stage and bummed a Lucky Strike from a fellow Man… Or Astroman? fan. We estimated that the Venn Diagram of MoA? fans would be a complete subset of Star Trek fans.

Man… or Astroman?

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As they finished the set with a theremin, the Tesla coil sparking wildly and parts of the drum kit thrown into the audience. The entertainment value was out of this world!

Then came the 20-year reunion of Big Black…

Big Black

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It was over too quick. They opened with Dead Billy, played Cables, and a couple others. I have the video I’ll put up as soon as I figure out how to get it off the camera.

That camera was stolen before I could get the video off of it. –Ben

Shellac

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Shellac is one of my all-time favorite bands. This is the second time I got to attend one of their shows. From what I can gather, they play only on Saturdays.

We stood in an acoustic dead spot. Up front or far, far away near the ticketing entrance was where to be for sound quality. So as we left the truck yard where the concert was, the sound improved! As we tried to beat the crowds to the taxis, we heard beautiful strains from Shellac all down the block. I couldn’t ask for a better Saturday night in Chicago.

Sunday

This day was for the grown-ups. Very unique and somewhat folksy or gentler DIY-inspired rock acts took the stage and proved yet, again why Touch and Go is so loved.

Oh, and a confession. The batteries died last night, so no pics today.

Seam

Walked-in while they were playing.

Brick Layer Cake

^ Todd could have been in Bauhaus. Thankfully, he’s not.

He did mention that he was selling is “so expensive” $22 t-shirts to finance his indoor olympic swimming pool and Rolls Royce. Then he ripped into rockstars: part spoken word, part song, all tirade.

The Black Heart Procession

Every song was familiar, even the ones I heard for the first time. Great stuff.

Coco Rosie

I didn’t understand energy very well then, but this women had it. Very neat-o child-like-voiced hip-hop spliced with classical instruments and opera. I’ve got their records now. Fear not! We’re in good company, Mr. Darnielle likes them, too.

Pinback

Despite the hype, Rob Crow’s stage presence was totally humble and lovable.