Music & Nightlife Edited by Zach Long
timeout.com/chicago/music @z_long
Music & Nightlife
ANNIVERSARY SHOWS
The Bottle is welcoming back some old friends to the stage this spring.
Tales from the Bottle
In honor of the Empty Bottle’s 25th anniversary, owner Bruce Finkelman looks back on the loudest and strangest moments in the rock club’s history. By Zach Long
The most crowded show “I remember a Fourth of July
show, it was Tortoise, and the Sea and Cake. It was sold out, nuts to butts. A lightning bolt hit a transformer outside, which blew up our air conditioning. I remember looking out at the crowd and seeing steam coming from people’s heads, it was so hot in there.”
The most woefully
under-attended shows “Yeah Yeah Yeahs played their first show here—I think there were probably 15 or 20 people here, and I remember sitting in the front row going, ‘Holy shit.’ Their tour manager turned out to be Dave Sitek from TV on
the Radio, and he handed me their first tape. Then TV on the Radio played its first show here, also to almost nobody.”
The biggest mess “There was a band called
Trailer Hitch that brought a bucket of cow hearts onstage, broke them apart for the rest of the night and embedded them in the stage. I think we ended up having to rip up the stage just to get [the mess] out.”
The strangest event
that wasn’t a concert “On Valentine’s Day in 1998, we did a show that consisted of [This American Life’s] Ira Glass, [sex columnist] Dan Savage and their mothers, answering the crowd’s love questions.”
The biggest celebrities
who have walked in “[Former Chicago Bears quarterback] Kyle Orton, John Malkovich was here once and Jack Black showed up a number of times. David Schwimmer likes to come here.”
The strangest thing
someone stole “One day, a gentleman decided he was going to hold our cat Boo hostage, and we never got Boo back. It was a sad day. The man said he was a regular [at the bar], and he called us up using a vocoder, so we couldn’t tell who it was.”
à The Empty Bottle, 1035 N Western Ave (773-276-3600,
emptybottle.com).
65 March 8–June 6, 2017 Time Out Chicago
Quintron & Miss Pussycat + Nobunny + The Goblins Organ-playing dance-rocker Quintron first met Finkelman while he was working the door at the Blue Note in Columbia, Missouri. à Mar 25 at 9pm; $15, at the door $20.
Tortoise Chicago’s own genre-fusing
instrumental quintet has played the Bottle 15 times since its first show there in 1994.
à Mar 26 at 6pm and 9:30pm; $20. The Cool Kids
The recently reunited hip-hop duo of Chuck Inglish and Sir Michael Rocks returns to debut tracks from its forthcoming album. à Apr 14 at 9pm; $25.
Local H
Guitarist and songwriter Scott Lucas is also celebrating his alt-rock outfit’s 25th anniversary this year.
à May 27 at 9pm; $15, at the door $20.
PHOTOGRAPHS: TOP LEFT, TOP RIGHT: JACLYN RIVAS; CENTER RIGHT: GLITTER CREEPS
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