Monday 7 June at Millennium

Last night I saw Panda Riot at Subterranean on North Avenue.  Tonight it's FFM at Darkroom.  On Friday Aleks and The Drummer is opening at Empty Bottle.  St. Vincent plays Metro Sunday.  I believe they will also play again on Monday.  The real surprise there is that Alla' is playing the same place.  That was a real happy moment for me 'cause I've been a fan of Alla' for a long time.   Now it appears like they will open for St. Vincent.  When you identify with a band, their success, their consistent gigs become a source of local music pride and happiness.  This same sentiment applies to Aleks and The Drummer.    

  This band Alla' I first heard on NPR, they did a live performance on some show on a Friday.  They had this performance at Beat Kitchen or somewhere.  I think I had reached that state where I was actively seeking out live bands.  I think it was 2006 when I first saw them.  The CD "Es Tiempo" was not yet available but they were performing it live like crazy.  So seeing the live, fleeting performance was important.  I recall how some of their songs had this disco feel to them.  It was in the twang of the guitar, and they would take you from there to their psychedelic, shoe-gaze fringe of the continuum.   There are these songs when Lupe's voice glides along over the clouds and then you descend into this violent fog of guitar and drums.  It's a roller coaster ride that always feels new even as these songs are not.  This level appreciation I have reached as a result of seeing them over and over again.  The songs they play do indeed change over time, they evolve, and that needs to be documented, archived for later, and promoted and talked about for the here and now.   This band Alla' projects articulately their Chicago identity.  Chicago has a way of shaping your specific cultural identity.  The music that inhabits our landscape in the mind will include a good deal of Wax Trax era stuff, along side the music our parents listened, like Javier Solis, Los Panchos.  And then there is spanish rock, like Jaguares, Cafe Tacuba, La Lupita, Maldita...hell.  I rant too much about what's in my head.  

Alla will play Millennium  Park this Monday, at 6.