Smile Politely

The Overture: July 8-14

WHAT: Paige McQuigg Stephens, Margaret O’Brien

WHERE: The Clark Bar (free)

WHEN: Tuesday, July 9th at 7 p.m.

Champaign-Urbana Singer-Songwriter Collective series continues at the Clark Bar this week. This time around, this duo of artists will be taking the stage, Paige McQuigg Stephens and Margaret OBrien.

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EDITOR’S PICK: TINY MOVING PARTS, BARROWE, EMPTY ISLE
Error Records ($5) — Wednesday, July 10th at 7:30 p.m.

Really great trio of bands set to perform over at Error Records mid-week this week. Minnesota’s Tiny Moving Parts venture down with a familiar brand of Midwest emo that is most excellent. They just released their new record, This Couch is Long & Full of Friendship, this year, so they’re touring in support of that release. They’ll be joined by local Take Care/Hank. sideproject Barrowe and Chicago’s Empty Isle. Stay tuned this week for an interview with Tiny Moving Parts to prepare for this solid show.

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WHAT: Abnormous, OMNI with Rod Sickler, Decade Late, Mike Ingram & Kayla Brown, Joe Asselin

WHERE: Cowboy Monkey (TBD)

WHEN: Thursday, July 11th at 7 p.m.

Prog/dance-rock outfit Abnormous will close out Thursday night of Rod Sickler’s Red Hot Summerfest this week. The festival is taking place from Wednesday through Saturday, and I’ve chosen to list a few of the shows that feature non-cover bands as the main act. The price of this show is still TBD, so head over to the Facebook event (linked above) to keep up with the details if you’re looking to attend this one.

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WHAT: Gloria Roubel & Paul Sabuco, John Coppess, Megan Johns, Paul Kotheimer

WHERE: Mike ‘N Molly’s ($5)

WHEN: Thursday, July 11th at 8 p.m.

Local singer-songwriters jumping on board for this collective of their own on Thursday evening. Gloria Roubel and Paul Sabuco lead the way here, but will be joined by a few others that have performed around town from time to time. The first show took place back in June, so this is July’s installment of the Writers in the Round series.

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WHAT: Spuyten Duyvil, The Diva & The Dude.Kathy Harden & Andy Taylor

WHERE: U of I Research Park (free)

WHEN: Friday, July 12th at 6:30 p.m.

The OUTSIDE at the Research Park series is back again this week after Vieux Farka Touré performed in the first show of the summer back in June. This time around, Spuyten Duyvil is taking the stage for the series. Their mixture of bluegrass and blues would make for a pretty pleasant time for the OUTSIDE series. We’ll take a closer look at this show later in the week.

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WHAT: The Copyrights, Hospital Job, Kowabunga! Kid, Bookmobile!

WHERE: Error Records ($6)

WHEN: Friday, July 12th at 7 p.m.

Another awesome show lined up at Error Records on Friday night headlined by the Copyrights. This Carbondale punk four-piece has been performing around the Midwest recently and they’re making their pit stop here. Greg Clow spoke highly of their performance a few years back at the Red Herring when I interviewed him a short while back, but you’ll have to see for yourself this week. They’re joined by Springfield’s Hospital Job and a pair of locals, surf-rock outfit Kowabunga! Kid and newer project Bookmobile!.

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WHAT: Withershins, Bear Claw, Shores, Terminus Victor, Cassius

WHERE: The Velvet Elvis ($5)

WHEN: Friday, July 12th at 8 p.m.

Withershins are back at it this week, headlining an impressive party of five at the Velvet Elvis. If you didn’t get a chance to grab their material for free as they celebrated the DOMA ruling, you can still stream everything and download their new single (which is still pay what you want). Terminus Victor put out a new record earlier this year. Cassius is a new project coming from ex-Panel Van members. Shores is a post-rock/slowcore outfit from Michigan. Bear Claw is out of Chicago. Great stuff.

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WHAT: Upshot, Amy Mitchell Trio

WHERE: Mike ‘N Molly’s ($5)

WHEN: Friday, July 12th at 8 p.m.

Upshot and the Amy Mitchell Trio will be playing outside in the best beer garden around on Friday night. The Amy Mitchell Trio will open the show with an acoustic set and Upshot will close things out.

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WHAT: Positive Vibr8ions, DJ SOLO, Milk N Cookies, Trinketz, DJ Mellow, Psydell

WHERE: The Canopy Club ($7 advance/$10 door)

WHEN: Friday, July 12th at 9 p.m.

Dubstep masquerade show over at the Canopy Club returns this week. Solid lineup from top to bottom, headlined by Positive Vibr8ions.

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WHAT: Champaign Metal Fest

WHERE: Error Records ($7)

WHEN: Saturday, July 13th at 3 p.m.

Champaign Metal Fest takes over Error Records on Saturday, pretty much all day. For just $7, you can see nine bands. The lineup at this moment is Eminent Slaughter, Øde Vinter, In Name of Suffering, For What It’s Worth, From Cities Above, Slaughter Camp, Illusions, Taken in a Vain, and Hidden Within Me. Metalheads, unite and rejoice.

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WHAT: Timmy D & Blind Justice, the Kickapooligans

WHERE: Lincoln Square Mall (free)

WHEN: Saturday, July 13th at 3:30 p.m.

Timmy D & Blind Justice will be releasing their new record, Weathered Man, on Saturday afternoon in Urbana. The event is free, but donations are suggested. They’ll be joined by the Kickapooligans, which consists of John McMahon, Margaret O’Brien, John Coppess, and Gina Cassidy.

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WHAT: Kyle Gass Band, Radio 6, X-Krush, Prince Night, James Jones Trio

WHERE: (Outside) Cowboy Monkey (free)

WHEN: Saturday, July 13th at 5 p.m. 

The final portion of Red Hot Summerfest 2013 features Kyle Gass Band. You might know Kyle Gass as one half of Tenacious D with Jack Black taking up the other half. He’ll be joined by his backing band, and all of these acts will be performing outdoors at Cowboy Monkey.

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WHAT: Eminent Slaughter, Feast By Fire, While Heroes Sleep, Low Twelve, Pit Fiend

WHERE: The Canopy Club ($6)

WHEN: Saturday, July 13th at 9 p.m.

Eminent Slaughter is going to be pulling off performing twice on Saturday, once at Error Records and again over at the Canopy Club. Four other metal acts join in as well. Apparently, metal is very much in full gear this weekend.

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WHAT: Red Light Compliance, That’s No Moon, Lost Years, Beholder, Emily Otnes

WHERE: Error Records ($5)

WHEN: Sunday, July 14th at 7:30 p.m.

Chicago’s alt-rock band Red Light Compliance headlines this show over at Error Records on Sunday evening. They’ll be joined by C-U’s That’s No Moon, who has been fairly busy with their third show in as many weeks. I had a chance to see them with the Dirty Feathers and Native America at Mike ‘N Molly’s last week and they sounded on point. Three others join to round this one out.

Executive Editor

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