T & G’s three-day celebration at Hideout Block Party this weekend is a can’t-miss event. Here are the highlights. Friday: The Shipping News kicks off the fest at 5pm, Girls Against Boys unite all of their original members at 7pm, recent Touch & Go signee Ted Leo and the Pharmacists play their political-power-pop-punk at 8pm and !!! headlines at 9pm. Saturday: ex-Bedhead guys The New Year open the day at noon, legendary Chicago punksters Pegboy play at 1:50pm, Tim Midgett and Andy Cohen of the sadly gone Silkworm play a set at 2:35pm, The Ex and Killdozer are back-to-back at 3:50pm and 4:35pm, Negative Approach brings insanity at 6pm, David Yow and his Scratch Acid scare crowds at 6:50pm, Man…Or Astroman? delivers its stellar live show at 7:45pm, Steve Albini and crew re-form Big Black for a few songs at 8:40pm and Albini’s Shellac headlines afterwards. Sunday: Sam Coomes and Janet Weiss’ Quasi plays at 1pm, Enon’s at 3pm, Seam brings the introspection at 5pm, The Black Heart Procession supplies the downer, minor-key rock at 6:05pm, Pinback’s indie-lore is at 8pm and Calexico’s Southwestern-tinged indie-folk headlines at 9pm. A sledgehammer of a weekend, Touch and Go certainly celebrates in style. (Tom Lynch)
Touch and Go’s 25th Anniversary Celebration is September 8-10 at Hideout, 1354 West Wabansia, (773)227-4433, at 5pm (Friday) and Noon (Saturday-Sunday). $15-$45.
Cooling It: A Preview of Colleen Green at Cole’s Bar When Green strums power chords or chiming notes on top of her backing track, you might think you’re at Ramones karaoke night and Madonna is taking her turn.
Brutal Finesse: A Preview of King Crimson at Ravinia There have been few new compositions from King Crimson these past two decades, but the live arrangements of songs from its catalog are often strikingly different than the recorded versions.
For “Want” of a Change: A Preview of Rufus Wainwright at Ravinia Park Rufus Wainwright isn’t the first singer-songwriter to reinterpret earlier work through an orchestral lens. And much of Wainwright’s third and fourth albums, “Want One” and “Want Two”—whose twentieth anniversaries are the prompt for this new tour—is fully scored. But when Wainwright hits the Pavilion stage at Ravinia tonight, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra will be behind him.
