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BEN ALLISON quartet See Friday. a 8 PM, Green Mill, 4802 N. Broadway, 773-878-5552, $12.
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cholmes brothers The Holmes Brothers kick off their latest, State of Grace (Alligator), with a slyly camouflaged nod to their roots. “Smiling Face Hiding a Weeping Heart,” despite its rock-tinged arrangement, invokes Al Green: the meandering melody, the deceptively boxy funk cadence, the smoldering tension between carnal and spiritual. But Green, torn between his calling and his desires, often sounded wracked with anguish; the Holmes Brothers, no less bold in mixing the sacred and the secular, imbue everything they touch with fearless enthusiasm, from the lascivious “Gasoline Drawers” to the haunting dirge “I’ve Just Seen the Rock of Ages.” Their take on Lyle Lovett’s “God Will” succeeds as both a cuckold’s kiss-off and a penitent’s prayer, in effect bringing soul music full circle a good 50 years after Sam Cooke first scandalized the gospel world by crossing over into R & B. a 9:30 PM, FitzGerald’s, 6615 Roosevelt, Berwyn, 708-788-2118 or 312-559-1212, $15. –David Whiteis
MOLTO AMORE: A SALUT! TO SILKWORM The long-lived indie band Silkworm went on permanent hiatus, Led Zep-style, after the infamous July 2005 car crash that took the life of drummer Michael Dahlquist: they made a drumless farewell appearance at the Touch and Go 25th anniversary festival and released an EP of their last recordings (plus Dahlquist singing a Dylan cover), but that was all. Amid this closure, in August longtime fan Isaac Turner put out An Idiot to Not Appreciate Your Time, a Silkworm tribute album he’d planned for years. This show brings together contributors to that disc and other Silkworm admirers: the roster includes Chris Brokaw, late of Come and now a solo artist and sideman to friends (he’s about to embark on a European tour with Eleventh Dream Day); the evening’s organizer, former Dahlquist collaborator and Built to Spill housemate Joe Sepi with his new eponymous band; and the Bloomington three-piece Push-Pull. The evening begins with an “extended trailer” for a Silkworm documentary now in progress, for which tonight’s performances will be filmed. The bill, top to bottom: Chris Brokaw, .22, Century Rocket Building, Joe Sepi, Push-Pull, the Asunders, the Kyle Sowashes, and the Chrome Robes, with various guests sitting in throughout. a 7 PM, Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western, 773-276-3600 or 866-468-3401, $10, $8 in advance. –Monica Kendrick
–Peter Margasak
cpogues Considering Shane MacGowan’s acrimonious split with the Pogues in 1991–he either quit or got sacked, depending on who you ask–this is one reunion a lot of people thought would never happen. Then again, who thought MacGowan would outlive the man who temporarily replaced him, Joe Strummer? His grip on this mortal coil has always been tenuous, a state obvious to anyone who’s ever caught a glimpse of his infamous teeth and cockeyed stance or watched him struggle to remember his own lyrics. But MacGowan is someone willing to prove himself with miracles again and again. His songs, devastatingly incisive and beautiful, are never shaky, never stumbly, and always show up for work. And with bigger crowds turning out to hear them now than ever before, it’s clear they’ve achieved something MacGowan never will: immortality. Remastered editions of the first five Pogues albums–long out of print in the U.S.–were released back in the fall; if you somehow missed out on possibly the greatest songwriter of the 80s, they’re the perfect way to get up to speed. Girl in a Coma opens. See also Tuesday. a 7 PM, Congress Theater, 2135 N. Milwaukee, 312-752-6601 or 312-559-1212, $50. A –Monica Kendrick
cpogues See Monday. Girl in a Coma opens.
