Music

Flesh Hungry Dog Show Most days the Jackhammer (see GLBTQ) is a pretty serious gay bar—Thursdays through Sundays it opens a men-only annex called the Hole, which has a dress code that’s sometimes more of an undress code (Friday is “shirts off” and on Saturday the order of the evening is leather, rubber, underwear, or uniform). But one Friday of every month it also hosts a variety showcase called the Flesh Hungry Dog Show that’s usually almost all live music. The bookings tend to come from the punky, artsy side of the Chicago scene—in the past few months they’ve included Aleks& the Drummer and Coltrane in Motion—and touring bands turn up occasionally. It’s definitely a queer-friendly scene, but it’s by no means hetero unfriendly—the crowds are crazily diverse and almost uniformly rowdy, and the vibe is more basement show than bar. aThis month’s showcase: Fri 2/6, “around 8 or 9 PM,” with the Nice Device, the Pussy Pirates, Retardos de la Mour, DJ Sky, and Girlie-Q Burlesque, Jackhammer, 6406 N. Clark, 773-743-5772, fleshhungrydog.com, $8. —MR

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Red Line Tap There’s not much to the Red Line Tap: bar on the left, stage on the right, a couple ancient arcade games, the requisite pool table. That’s part of its charm, though—whatever it’s doing, it’s not trying too hard. There are eight beers on tap, and many more by the bottle, and you can order food from the Heartland through a window. (Macrobiotic plate with your bourbon?) There’s live music pretty much nightly, mostly rock, punk, and metal. Occasionally a noteworthy out-of-town act comes through—Greg Ginn& the Taylor Texas Corrugators played here last year—but for the most part the bands are from close by and the cover is cheap. Sexfist plays bluegrass every Tuesday, and every Thursday there’s an open mike presented by the Flatts& Sharpe music shop, a neighborhood institution (see Shopping). a7006 N. Glenwood, 773-274-5463, heartlandcafe.com/rl_index.htm. —KW