I like Mike Bennett's idea of giving a quick rundown of the artists
who've made the most impression thus far at IPO Chicago. Here's my view of
things from behind the merch table at the back of the room:

	FRI, Apr 18: Very strong rockin' closing set from Ted Ansani
Project. Ted obviously feels a very strong attachment to IPO that comes
through in his sets, since his former band Material Issue provides the
festival's namesake song. The Goldstars are one of the best garage-rock
bands around, and we're lucky here in Chicago to be able to see them pretty
regularly. But Orange Park was the highlight of the night, and possibly of
the entire festival thus far. The Brooklyn-based quartet not only burned the
house down, they did so with a brace of very hooky originals. Over a week
later, the IPO regulars are still talking about that Orange Park set.

	MON, Apr 21: A quirky and eclectic evening at Nevin's up in
Evanston, with Philly's Pop Is Art and the loose-limbed, 'mats-y Paper
Airplane Pilots making the biggest impression upon me.

	TUE, Apr. 22: I'm with Mike on Adventures of Jet -- and, as I said
last week, if you like that New Wave keyboard sound associated with Greg
Hawkes of the Cars, you'll love these guys.

	WED, Apr. 23: Bob Kelly of Kelly's Heels did as strong a set as he
did last year, only this time he did with without a bass player. And Will
Kimbrough, late of Will and the Bushmen, is to my mind the strongest
acoustic performer of IPO thus far.

	THU, Apr. 24: Toronto's Sister Someone was very solid with their
hard-edged and noisy glam approach, and their punk-vamp frontwoman Mo is
certainly memorable. Slow set changes made the night run too long, which
really hampered the performances of what should've been a solid trio of
concluding acts: Epicycle, 9-Fifty, and the New Duncan Imperials (although
the latter still managed to pull off their routine as the goofiest human
jukeboxes in rock'n'roll with aplomb).

	FRI, Apr. 25: I have a natural tendency to get a bit impatient with
acoustic sets that're interposed with band sets, and the fact that
exhaustion was creeping in on Friday night made things worse. So the set by
Jonathan Scott of Doleful Lions, which everyone else seemed to love, left me
indifferent. And I was disappointed by the fact that, although the Beatifics
were on the bill, only their frontman/songwriter Chris Dorn appeared. He
really doesn't have the hang of playing solo, and his difficulties in
keeping synched with his tape of drum tracks made it even worse. Great new
songs, though. But Dolly Varden was outstanding -- top-notch original
alt-country material and tremendous musicianship. The band's
husband-and-wife vocal team of Steve Dawson and Diane Christenson really
have that whole Gram-and-Emmylou thing down cold.

	SAT AFT, Apr. 26: Weekend afternoon shows can tend to seem like
afterthoughts, but there were a number of really strong acts at this one. As
David Bash said, Adam McIntrye looks like John Cusack and sings like Paul
Rodgers. The latter is definitely not a bad thing, as far as I'm concerned.
He also writes pretty good songs, and shreds on guitar to boot. Van Go is
one of the Midwest's best-kept power pop secrets. The material they played
off of their new one, *We Happy Few*, is their best yet. I agree with what
Mike said about IT'S MY PARTY! (I even overheard the girls mentioning Menudo
when they were at the merch table), but membership turnover is the very
nature of that act -- girls don't stay teenagers forever. The group still
charms the heck out of even jaded observers. What they really need is a
baritone sax to flesh out and authenticate their sound. They did a fab
girl-group arrangement of the DeFranco Family's "Heartbeat, It's a
Lovebeat".

	SAT EVE, Apr. 26: A great high-energy evening in front of a great
crowd at the Abbey Pub. King Radio's string-laden cover of the Bee Gee's "To
Love Somebody"  was one of the highlights of the festival to date. Terry
Anderson rocked the house until the crowd went limp, as he always does, and
the Shazam's big-rock attack is really reaching the point where you wonder
how much longer you'll be able to see them in clubs. I think that Mike's
observation of Shoes as "borderline unlistenable" was a little strong, but I
agree with the sentiment that time and a lack of consistent rehearsal and
stage work, combined with equipment problems on songs like "Too Late" that
should've been set highlights, made it a lackluster set that suffered all
the more from the fact that it preceded the Shazam's. I didn't approach
their appearance with great expectations, though; just seeing Shoes live and
hearing those great songs of theirs would be enough to satisfy me. But from
an purely objective standpoint, they were not up to snuff.

	SUN AFT, Apr. 27: Not a really strong afternoon, but the Bradburys
were very solid. They have some first-rate songs and great guitar interplay,
although they could improve a little in the vocals department.

	SUN EVE, Apr. 27: Last night was one of the better arrays of bands
that David Bash has put together. The Tearaways were terrific, and they even
had a pack of their homies from L.A. fly out just for that abbreviated IPO
set! Leisure McCorkle may be one of the most intimidating stage presences
I've ever seen, as his stocky, bald, bulldog-like appearance, garish suit,
and salty-but-sincere stage patter made him a cross between a teamster, a
revival preacher, and a Mafia hitman. But the guy can sing rings around most
other frontmen, and his band put the pedal to the metal for all twenty
minutes. Eugene Edwards Band had a spare elegance to their sound, and Ruth
Buzzy's performance of "Porchlight" was another one of the peak moments of
IPO Chicago thus far. The Swizzlesticks closed with a fine set abbreviated
only by the fact that their new drummer limits their repertoire. 

	It's been great to meet Auditeers and finally be able to put faces
to names, as IPO is the perfect venue for that. I got to meet no less than
six Auditeers on Saturday alone: Matty Karas, Steve Durben, and four
lurkers. It helps to wear those "Auditeer" badges at pop festivals!


	Gregory Sager