Results tagged “newyearseve”

If you usually associate southside Irish stalwarts The Tossers with their alcohol-fueled St. Patrick's day sets at Metro, you get a 3-month-early preview of those gigs when they take the stage near midnight on New Years Eve at Reggies Rock Club. The Tossers have been keeping something of a low profile through the second half of this year, and the NYE gig will be their first show in 4 months, which is an eternity for a band that's almost always on the road. Opening for the Tossers will be avant-garde doom metal group Yakuza, the surf-punk Teen Idols, and Scott Lucas and the Married Men, a group which features Aaron Duggins and Becca Manthe of the Tossers in his lineup as well. [Ed. note: Lucas is gonna be busy that night, since he's playing a headlining set at Double Door later that evening!]

Didn't get tickets to the sold-out Jesus Lizard shows on Thanksgiving weekend? Fret not! The fierce Chicago foursome has just announced they'll be playing Metro for New Year's Eve this year. Tickets for the 18+ show go on sale this Saturday at noon.

Well well, it seems we just settled in on our New Year's Eve show of choice. As an added bonus, it's also an opportunity for local bands to compete to win a set slot and kick off the evening.

In recent years many New Year's Eve bills have sold extremely slowly -- partially due to the economy and partially because there hasn't been much really inspiring --- but this year is shaping up to be different. The Empty Bottle has announced that their shows with Jens Lekman at The Bottle and Girl Talk at The Congress have both sold out. And we're told ticket sales at a number of other venues are also selling briskly. Don't worry though, we hear there are still plenty of tickets available for The Gin Blossoms at The InterContinental out by O'Hare.

If you're looking for something a bit more low-key than dancing with a thousand sweaty bodies at the Congress to the raucous antics of Girl Talk, then pencil in Swedish indie pop singer-songwriter Jens Lekman's New Year's Eve show at the Empty Bottle. Lekman's bittersweet melodies have won our hearts and we think they'd make the perfect soundtrack for stealing a midnight kiss from a stranger. Tickets are going to go fast, so grab yours now for $30 each.

We got word that Girl Talk is playing Congress Theater on New Year's Eve, and though it's not on the venue's website yet, the appearance has been confirmed by the Empty Bottle and tickets appear to be available already. We've seen Girl Talk in that room once before and that leads us to believe that this is gonna definitely be one of the spots people are going to want to be on December 31, 2009. If you're looking to have your mind blown with a few thousand "friends" squirming and smiling beside you, grab you tickets now.

"We're taking a hiatus this year," First Night board member Martha Rudy said Tuesday. "I would be surprised if it comes back next year. I think were looking at two years down the road."

If you're like us (and by "us" I actually mean "me") and have no solid New Year's Eve plans for tonight, we'd like to suggest tonight's third annual Chuckle Bowl. In conjunction with the Lincoln Lodge and Tight Five Productions, the fine folks at Blewt! (who are responsible for Impress These Apes) bring us a fine evening of comedy, bowling, and fun. The fun happens at Lincoln Square Lanes and besides free pizza and a fully-stocked bar (with specials like $3 domestic beer and $4 shots), all 12 lanes will be open for bowling with video screens showcasing some hilarious videos and short films and music from DJ “Bubbles Sanchez.” But perhaps the best thing about this shindig will be the one-night-only revival of the live-action game show Don't Spit The Water.

Jay Reatard at The Empty Bottle

When we were younger and considered dining out on New Year's Eve a rite of passage, we usually waited until the last moment to secure reservations somewhere, and paid through the nose as a result. Then we learned to cook and wound up saving a lot of money. With only a couple days left until the big night, we know that more than a few of you share similar habits of procrastination.

There are a jillion ways to ring in the new year around Chicago, from small parties with close friends to inhumanly posh ballroom galas, but the hippest route in this town will undeniably be the Justice show at The Congress Theater on New year's Eve.

We woke up this morning to another fresh coat of snow on the ground. While we're certainly among the ranks of those who just wished this winter would end already we have to concede that we have lived through worse.

Ludwika Szynalik was run over by a CTA bus on New Year's Eve, and now her family is suing the transit authority, saying the bus driver behind the wheel of the 152 was negligent. Szynalik was getting her bike off the bus's front-mounted rack when the driver ran her over. She was dragged for 80 feet before the driver noticed, and she died later that day. The whole thing was caught on CTA surveillance video, and it's really fucking disturbing.

It's the end of the line in our pre-coverage of the Tomorrow Never Knows festival, which can only mean one thing: you're well-prepared for the weekend rockness.

The Museum of Science and Industry is raising its prices. Adult Chicago residents will now pay $12 (up from $10), adult non-Chicagoans $13 (from $11), Chicago children $8.50 ($6.25), non-Chicago children $9 ($7), Chicago seniors $11 ($8.75), and non-Chicago seniors $12 ($9.50).

Who's ready to bid 2007 adieu? Well, ready or not, here it comes. But people get so worked up over New Year's Eve, and it never winds up being as big a deal as you think. Smooched, not smooched, party, no party, fancy dress or sweat pants--this shit does not matter. Just have a good time. Here are few things we've learned along the way:

If you’re lucky, your toddler will be asleep, blissfully unaware when the last minutes of 2007 tick by. An earlier bed time doesn’t mean that he or she has to miss out on the festivities, though; a handful of places in and around Chicago are hosting New Year’s Eve parties for the little ones, with dancing, snacks and party favors at an earlier countdown.

For many, going out New Year's Eve can be like going to junior prom over and over again; it's lots of fussy build-up with little payoff, leaving you with nasty hangovers, tacky swag, and, possibly, an awkward goodbye come morning. If swanky soirées aren't your thing, head to The Old Town School of Folk Music for The Punch Brothers for a refreshing alternative.

We were one of the few lucky enough to catch Jon Brion when he stopped by The Hideout earlier this year. His one-man band is truly an awesome spectacle top behold, and will seriously leave anyone withing earshot slack jawed. When we heard he was coming back to Chicago to play a New Year's Eve show at the Harris Theater in Millennium Park we immediately thought, "This is the show to beat." So far, no other show has been announced that is as exciting, in our opinion.

Moving forward in our quest to give you readers some options for going out on New Year's Eve so you aren't procrastinating.

Today we continue our series of letting you know about the New Year's Eve packages being offered by local restaurants so that you have enough information to make a decision and not wait until the last minute to grab a table. In case you missed yesterday's installment, we've linked to it here for your review. Vegetarians rejoice! Green Zebra will offer an all vegetarian, 5 course tasting menu priced at $75 per person, with an...

If you plan on braving the idiocy that is New Year's Eve on the town, you have made your dinner reservations already, haven't you? After all, if you plan on going out on New Year's Eve and aren't heading to a friend's or a family party, you're already committed to spending money. Why not go all out, dress to the nines, and try out some place you normally wouldn't think of dining? Leave it to...

We HATE the term Black Wednesday.

The Empty Bottle just announced that Black Kids will be playing the club's New Year's Eve show this year. The band walked away from this year's CMJ as the clear winner of the "Most Breathlessly Admired by Bloggers and Mainstream Press Alike." However there's still no word on whether Black Kids will be this year's Arcade Fire (massive!), Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (petered out!), or Voxtrot (fizzled before anyone actually saw them!).

"100 Days, 100 Nights", the new album from Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, has been getting a serious workout from us since its release last month. We're guessing the Dap-Kings are happy to be back supporting the sassy Jones after a summer backing up the Amy Winehouse trainwreck. Seeing Jones and the Dap-Kings live was the sole redeeming factor of our last New Year's Eve on the town. They're playing Park West Thursday night,...

Who gives last rites to the priest? Who installs a new crown in the dentist's mouth? Who buries the gravedigger? Or, more importantly, who gives the eulogy when a funeral home dies? If you're the family that has held sway over Griffin Funeral Home for 60 years, you give it yourself. The historic, African-American-owned parlor at 32nd and King Drive is closing its doors come New Year's Eve. Griffin has played host to such final...

Greg Kot drops two scoops in today's Tribune. The Pitchfork Music Festival will return to Chicago's Union Park July 14th and 15th. In addition, Girl Talk will be on the bill. As someone on the Sound Opinions message board said: "Finally, a Girl Talk show I can get into." Girl Talk last appeared in Chicago for a much-anticipated, much-talked about New Year's Eve show at Empty Bottle. Last year's Pitchfork Music Festival was a first...

Chicagoist likes our white wines near-bone dry. We like that prominent bite of acidity, especially when it complements a fruit plate, fish dishes, or lighter desserts. If we want to add fruit flavor to our wine, we prefer to do it the old-fashioned way, as a kir. This provides another conundrum for us, as we're not fans of the added alcohol content brought by cassis. In addition, since removing high-fructose corn syrup from our diet, we've seen our waistline shrink, but we still find ourselves tempted by the soda section at the grocery. These are the days of cabin fever, and we'd like to keep the weight off.

Sunday. Usually, a quiet, contemplative day in the Blogosphere. But not here in the Ist-a-Verse. Nonono! Just look below and see all of the wild and crazy stuff our staffs are up to. In Austin, bands are beginning to confirm for SXSW and the rumor mill is up and running. Good thing, too, because we all know how much Austinites love live performances. Austin also found itself in the national spotlight, with Longhorn Legend...