In case you missed the news, one of my favorite bands of all time, The Jayhawks, has officially reformed and is in the final stages of recording a brand new album.

And if that’s not enough, the band has also announced a short tour for January, including two shows here in Chicago at the Vic Theater on January 27th and January 28th. The first show will feature the band playing its classic Hollywood Town Hall in its entirety, and the second night will see the band playing the equally classic Tomorrow The Green Grass.

If you’re in Chicago, there’s a pre-sale via Jam Productions on Friday, and regular on-sale is Saturday. If you’re anywhere else, there’s a pre-sale TODAY here, and regular on-sale is Friday. More info here.

Oh, and in case you were wondering exactly who’s in the band now, the reunited lineup includes original members Gary Louris, Marc Olson, and Marc Perlman plus Karen Grotberg and Tim O’Reagan.

Jayhawks January Tour
Jan. 18: Toronto, ON (Phoenix Theater)
Jan. 20: NYC (Webster Hall)
Jan. 21: NYC (Webster Hall)
Jan. 22: Philadelphia (TLA)
Jan. 27: Chicago (Vic)
Jan. 28: Chicago (Vic)
Jan. 29: Minneapolis (First Avenue)

Holy shit — it’s a This Week In Chicago post! What’s it been, a month? Sorry kids…

Anyway, we’re back, and just in time for a very mediocre week of music. Well, mediocre in terms of overall number of options, not quality of options. Because, of course, SUPERCHUNK is in town. And so is Chris Mills. And Robbie Fulks is about to close out a full year of Hideout residency shows, and locals The 1900s and Tyler Jon Tyler are at the Empty Bottle on Friday. So there are definitely good shows going on, but mid-week is pretty freakin’ dead, and for that reason I use the term mediocre.

Shows in bold are recommended shows, while shows in larger bold red are shows that I plan on going to and/or shows that I really, really think you should be going to. Sorry, no embedded videos or songs this week.

Beat Kitchen: Extraordinary Popular, Delusions
Bottom Lounge: Blind Guardian, Holy Grail, Seven Kingdoms
Empty Bottle: Anatomy of Habit, Helen Money, Locrian [FREE SHOW]
Hideout: Robbie Fulks w/ Mike Fredrickson + 5.5 piece rocking band
Martyrs: Booty Movement Coalition
Panchos: Merlin Wall, House Sounds, Weird Science
Whistler: Serengeti, Beaches or Mountains

Beat Kitchen: April Smith & The Great Picture Show, Rego
Double Door: St. Bagu, Animate Objects, more
Empty Bottle: Midnight Juggernauts, Bikini, Dark Wave Disco DJs
Hideout (7pm): Funny Ha-Ha (readings + performances)
Hideout (9pm): Sanctified Grumblers
Lincoln Hall: Sidewalk Chalk, B.B.U., B.X.C., more
Martyrs: The Moth Story Slam
Schubas: Tunes for Tanzania ft. Your Villain My Hero, more
Subterranean: Absinthe & The Dirty Floors, Ground Support, Catch a Tiger, Scony Mack
Whistler: Sunset Stallion, Lakesigns

Beat Kitchen: Seabird, Ben Rector, The Saturn Project
Double Door: Dubasaurus, Des Plaines River Band, more
Empty Bottle: Diamond Rings, Charlie Deets
Fireside Bowl: Sore Subjects, The Boston Thieves, Ripstick, Cave Bear
Hideout: Immediate Sound Series ft. Thieke/Rempis/Zerang
Lincoln Hall: Chad Stokes, Matt Embree, Lauren Coleman
Martyrs (7pm + 10pm): Tributosaurus becomes… The Beatles Vol. 3
Panchos: Jon Drake & The Shakes, Curtis Evans, more
Schubas: Mark Rose, Mia LeBlon, Bad Boys, Kristen Studard
Subterranean: Corpus Christi, Thoughts in Reverse, The Party Foul, Blankimage
Whistler: Relax Attack Jazz Series: Stirrup

Abbey Pub: They All Have Legs, Little Big Fat, My Damn Butterfly
Beat Kitchen: Meg & Dia, Joey Ryan, The Spring Standards
Crown Tap Room: Heavy Times, GSMD, Unmanned Ship, Totally Boring
Darkroom: Archie Powell & The Exports, Son of the Sun, Color Radio, Farewell Flight
Double Door: Unibrow, Crackpot, Midnight Moxie
Empty Bottle (7pm): saki/CHIRP Trivia Night
Empty Bottle (9:30pm): Isolee, Frankie Vega vs. Sevron, Quadratic
Hideout: Oh My God, Roman Numerals, The Loneliest Monk
House of Blues: Soulfly, Straight Line Stich & Incite, Desperate Union
Lincoln Hall: Freelance Whales, Miniature Tigers
Martyrs: Big C Jamoree ft. The Modern Sounds
Metro: Superchunk, Times New Viking
Panchos: Rain Delay Theatre, Pattern, Rhodhiss, Rainbo Video
Schubas: Hoot Night – Feast & Gamile ft. Dag Juhlin, Justin Roberts, more
Subterranean: The Emergency Room, Sundowner
Whistler: Icarus Himself, The Single Helix

Abbey Pub: Sonny Burgess, Mars Attacks, The Honeybees
Beat Kitchen: The Streets on Fire, Magic Milk, Emcee Phase & Ill Clinton
Bottom Lounge: Doomtree ft. POS, Dessa, more
Chicago Theatre: Maroon 5, Ingrid Michaelson, Ryan Star
Double Door: Cory Chisel, Midwest Hype, How Far to Austin, more
Empty Bottle: 1900s, Tyler Jon Tyler, Tristen
Hideout (6:30pm): Interview Show w/ Peter Sagal, Chris Mills, more
Hideout (10pm): Chris Mills and his All Star Music Ensemble, Jon Langford, more
House of Blues: Better Than Ezra, Big Sam’s Funky Nation
Lincoln Hall: Dean Wareham & Britta Phillips, Cheval Sombre
Martyrs: Dolly Varden, The Western, Mooner
Metro: RJD2
Panchos: The Neutron Bombs, The Transgressions, more
Park West: Rock for Kids Charity Auction
Reggie’s Rock Club (5pm): Last Second Signal, David & Goliath, more
Reggie’s Rock Club (10pm): Kevin Wood and From The North, more
Schubas (7pm): Peter Mulvey, Dave McGraw, Mandy Ferrarini
Schubas (10pm): Atlantic/Pacific, Into It. Over It
Subterranean: Japanther, The Arrivals, Vacation, Unstoppable Death Machines
Vic: The BoDeans

Allstate Arena: Michael Buble
Beat Kitchen: Stubhy and the Bad Habits, Tommy and High Pilots, more
Bottom Lounge: Mike Droho & The Compass Rose, Root Cause, more
Congress Theater: Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, Grace Potter & The Nocturnals
Double Door: Matt Kelly, Tyranny of Dave, Fire City Limits, more
Empty Bottle (12pm): Galactic Inmate, Dark Fog, Hobo & Boxcar, more
Hideout (1pm): Hoot Night for Kids ft. Nora O’Connor, Danny Black, many more
Hideout (9pm): David Singer & The Sweet Science, Sad Brad Smith
House of Blues: Dare to Dream Benefit w/ The Roots
Lincoln Hall: Dean Wareham & Britta Phillips, Cheval Sombre
Martyrs: Zach Deputy, The Regressors, Scientific Map
Metro: Delta Spirit, Darker My Love, The Fling
Old Town School: Roger McGuinn
Panchos: Milktown, Costanza, No Two Waynes
Park West: Brendan Bayliss & Jake Cinninger of Umphrey’s McGee
Reggie’s Rock Club: Gift of Gab, Raashan Ahmad, Cap D, Qwel & Maker
Schubas (7pm): John Grant, Kevin Tihista
Schubas (10pm): Mannequin Men, TV Ghost, Dead Meat
Secret Location (INFO): QROMag + Creamteam party ft. Secret Colours, Panda Riot, more
Subterranean: Nero, DJ Solo, Nameloc, WSK vs. The Car Thief
Whistler: Glad Cloud Ambient Music Series – Jonathan Krohn

Beat Kitchen: Fake Problems, White Wives, Ninja Gun
Bottom Lounge: Iration, The Movement, The Green
Double Door: Hail the Black Dragons, Plain Ole Delicious, more
Empty Bottle: The Mediums, Zoobombs, Black Wyrm Seed
House of Blues: Belanova
Lincoln Hall: The Skatalites, Daphne WIllis, many more
Metro: Dorians Decay, Rosaline, more
Reggie’s Rock Club: Arsis, Powerglove, Conducting from the Grave, more
Subterranean: Dear Landlord, Chinese Telephones, Vacation Bible School, No Enemy!
Vic: Broken Bells
Whistler: In Tall Buildings (solo), Aleks Eva (solo)

More goodness from up North…

If you do nothing else tonight (or tomorrow), take 15 minutes and watch Sharon Van Etten’s new Tiny Desk Concert with NPR. And when you’re done, go buy her excellent new album, Epic, here.

Not sure how I missed this video… The excellent audio track for “John Huston” has been going around for a few weeks, but this live performance is even better. If you haven’t seen it, take a couple minutes and check it out.

THE REST – John Huston from Mitch Fillion (southernsouls.ca) on Vimeo.

Here’s some pictures from a fantastic show that I went to at the Empty Bottle about 3 or 4 weeks ago. I meant to post them at the time, but work and other stuff got in the way (as it often does).

I’ve also added a couple videos at the bottom (not mine) so that you can check out the bands if you don’t know them yet. Because, you really should know them.

The Henry Clay People

The Dig

The Dig, “Carry Me Home” (live on Fearless Music)

The Henry Clay People, “Living In Debt” (live on Rock Remedy)

Quality weekend of music in the greater Chicago area. First up on Friday was the always, always excellent David Vandervelde. I love that he’s notched up the touring again after a couple of slow years. I’ve managed to see him four times this year (not including a show on New Year’s Eve 09/10), and if it’s possible he still gets better every time I see him.

Last night was Maritime and Kid, You’ll Move Mountains out in Dekalb, IL (thanks to Love Shack, Baby for driving!). Both bands played songs from their respective new albums, and both made me very, very excited for those albums to see the light of day. Seriously, the new KYMM stuff is gonna blow people away. Expect it sometime in the Spring.

Onto the pics.

David Vandervelde @ Empty Bottle [11/12/10]

Maritime @ House Cafe, Dekalb, IL [11/13/10]

Kid, You’ll Move Mountains @ House Cafe, Dekalb, IL [11/13/10]

Gold Motel @ House Cafe, Dekalb, IL [11/13/10]

Brass Bed @ Empty Bottle [11/12/10]

Emblems @ House Cafe, Dekalb, IL [11/13/10]

So I’ve fallen a bit behind on this whole blogging thing again recently. I still need to put up pictures from the excellent Henry Clay People/The Dig show at Empty Bottle from a few weeks ago, as well as some shots from this week’s Dawes/Vetiver show at Lincoln Hall and last night’s David Vandervelde show at Empty Bottle. Phew… I’m tired just writing all of that.

Before I get around to posting those pics, though – and before I spend a couple hours tomorrow writing up a “This Week In Chicago” post – I figured I’d post some shots from last weekend’s Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin.

If you weren’t following my Twitter feed last weekend, then one thing bears repeating – Fun Fun Fun Fest is my favorite music event of the year. Granted, I still love me some SXSW, but the great thing about Fun Fun Fun Fest is that, despite having a ton of great bands on four different stages, you never feel rushed, crowded or hassled in any way. It’s simply 10,000 or so people out to have a good time, see bands, skate the half-pipe, play video games, drink beer and (from what I could smell) smoke a lot of high-quality weed. There’s very little hipper-than-thou posturing (hello, P4K), there’s $2 water (compare to $7 water at Lollapalooza), and not a single stage is named after a corporate sponsor.

So, err, yeah… I love this festival, and will be back again (even if it’s not held in Waterloo Park anymore, though that would be a shame).

My favorite sets of the weekend? The Descendents were my clear favorite, followed by Cap’n Jazz who played the final show of their reunion tour, Monotonix who aren’t particularly good songwriters but are absolutely crazy mofos, Suicidal Tendencies for making me feel 12 again, and maybe Jean Grae, a rapper that I never would have listened to but for Fun Fun Fun Fest. My least favorites? Oh, let’s say Dirty Projectors, Kaki King and Best Coast. Yawn, yawn and yawn.

Now pics.

The Descendents

GWAR

Cap’n Jazz

Monotonix

Wavves

Strike Anywhere

Off!

Margot & The Nuclear So and Sos

Suicidal Tendencies

I’m told we have a new poster coming for this soon, but for now here’s the first flier for the really cool Beats and Blogs show going on at Subterranean on Saturday, December 18th.

The show is being organized by the good folks at Betta Promotions and Loud Loop Press, and is also sponsored by a bunch of great area blogs, and one shitty blog.

More importantly, the show features four great bands, including:

WHITE MYSTERY
HOLLOWS
RABBLE RABBLE
RADAR EYES

Here’s what the show press release had to say about the bands:

Named a “Top Ten Trend-Setting Band” by the Chicago Sun-Times, White Mystery is Chicago’s raucous low-fi sound punk sound propelled by the brother and sister duo of Miss Alex White and Francis White. The tag team plays Chicago and tours the USA in support of a full-length vinyl record, which was recently featured on WBEZ Sound Opinions and Daytrotter. White Mystery demands your attention with a high energy stage show! Listen to the album and watch video at http://www.whitemysteryband.com

Hollows, from Chicago are an interesting band of what seems like a dying breed, all girl rock. A band with several years under their belts that has made a solid fan base in Chicago with the support of a few indie record labels. Hollows has a sound very reminiscent of the 1960’s and it shines through on some of the tracks that can be heard by checking out their Myspace at: http://www.myspace.com/hollowschicago

Flower punk rockers Rabble Rabble mix punk, blues and psychedelic rock that can get any crowd dancing, moshing and tripping out in just half an hour. Hailed by Loud Loop Press for their “manic psychedelic freak outs” and being” all kinetic energy” the quartet bring these same elements to their debut release, Bangover and are prepared to do the same at Subterranean on the 18th. http://www.rabblerabbleband.com

Radar Eyes- Pulling from influences such as The Velvet Underground and Joy Division, Radar Eyes infuse sleepy, droning vocals with a garage rock grind, occasional warm harmonies, and bouts of serious jamming soaked in a very Brit-rock sort of melancholy. http://www.myspace.com/radareyeschicago

So I’ll see you there, right? RIGHT?

More info here, and tickets go on sale this Saturday HERE.

Wanna see Clinic and The Fresh and Onlys at Lincoln Hall in Chicago TONIGHT?!?

Head over here and enter by 2:30pm!!!

Go now!

I’ve pretty much been frothing at the mouth since word started to percolate a couple of years ago that Blake Schwarzenbach of Jawbreaker and Jets To Brazil fame was making music again after a lengthy hiatus. Although his first new band, Thorns of Life, broke up pretty soon after forming, he formed another band called forgetters soon thereafter, and they’ve been going strong for more than a year now.

The band played a fantastic set at Subterranean here in Chicago last month (see my bad pics), and while they were in town they apparently stopped by WBEZ for an in-studio performance and interview with Jessica Hopper. You can hear the whole thing tonight at 8pm on Volcalo.org, and you can check out a video of the band’s performing “I’m Not Immune” below:

Second City has announced the date for this year’s Letters to Santa benefit — Tuesday, December 14th at 7pm to Wednesday, December 15th at 7pm.

As you may know – or as you can guess from the timing – the show is a 24-hour event featuring improv comedy from Second City performers (and alumni) as well as guest performances from several musicians. I went last year and attended about 16 of the 24 hours, and it was a great time. My favorite part was around 2am when everyone started getting tired and a bit slap happy. Doubt I can pull off the late night this year with work and all, but who knows…

Anyway, this is a music blog, so let’s look at the musical guests confirmed so far:

Jeff Tweedy
Robbie Fulks
Bill Callahan
The Blisters
Steve Albini
Danielson Famile

Not bad, eh?

If this year follows last year’s schedule at all, you can expect Tweedy to go on around 8pm, after an hour of introductions and improv. People start lining up pretty early, but I got in line around 5:45pm last year and found a seat without a problem. And after Tweedy went off, the crowd thinned down a bit to a manageable level.

Expect to see me there around the same time this year.

One of my favorite young bands, Dawes, is set to hit Lincoln Hall next Wednesday (11/10) along with openers Vetiver and Peter Wolf Crier. All three bands are pretty great, and it should be one of the best shows in Chicago this month (aside from The Frames, of course).

I’m a little too lazy at the moment to find MP3s to post for the bands, but if you want to check them out ahead of the show, here’s some good links for ya:

Dawes on Daytrotter
More Dawes on Daytrotter
Vetiver on MySpace
Peter Wolf Crier on Daytrotter

Anyway, you should totally go to this show. And I’m even gonna help a couple of you make that dream come true. Go here for your chance to win TWO FREE TICKETS to the show!

Missed this when it came out last month. Be sure to catch the band at Lincoln Hall in January as part of the Tomorrow Never Knows festival (tix).