Tom Lynch

A friend of mine once said he'd like to start a religion based on Guided By Voices' obscure b-side "Do the Earth." A sample of Robert Pollard's abstract-is-too-kind lyrics: "I'm a human costume with veins of gold/ I'll face the punching bag, do what I'm told/ till I get old and have to dwell/ in the valley of the Ironman." As the boys from Ohio prepare to play the final show of their illustrious decade-plus career at our own Metro (sold out), we remember the great, the good, and the outright mind-boggling that has been delivered by indie-rock's foundation, the crowned king of surviving severe line-up changes and the hiss of the high-school four-track. "Metro has always been good to us," says guitarist Doug Gillard. "The last show was between Chicago and some other places, but Metro came up with the best offer because they really wanted it. We're happy to go there."

The shear number of songs the band has under its belt--it must be literally around 5,000 at this point--is a life-consuming if not utterly daunting reference library for what was the early-to mid-nineties, when GBV hauling an ice-tub full of beer on stage during a show was as common as the verse-chorus-verse. Though it's doubtful this will be the last we hear of Robert Pollard--Gillard says part of the reason for the breakup is because he wants to focus on his solo career--it's bittersweet to see the name retire, like an old mom-and-pop's being torn down for condo construction, or as Pollard puts it himself, "Old friends you might not remember, fading away from you." Gillard welcomed the decision. "I think it had a lot of integrity," he says. "I'm happy to have the band end on a high note, amicably, with a good history behind us. We're kind of all ready to move on anyway. It was an admirable decision."

And as this evening's final set commences--with "Game of Pricks," "Motor Away," "The Official Ironmen Rally Song"?--a set that could reach well beyond seventy songs played to an audience sure to be chanting that echoing "G-B-V!", it will be a new year, but we'll be short a great rock band. Speed up. Slow down. Go all around in the end.

(2004-12-21)

Also by Tom Lynch

Tip of the Week
For all the city's improv lovers who also happen to have insomnia: This Tuesday, The Second City e.t.c. hosts its third annual "Letters to Santa" benefit, a twenty-four-hour excursion in improv that helps get children Christmas presents
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Tip of the Week
Four of the best local graphic novelists unite this week--Jeffrey Brown ("Unlikely"), John Hankiewicz (the "Tepid" series), Paul Hornshemeier ("Forlorn Funnies") and Anders Nilsen ("Dogs and Water")--for their second annual "Win, Lose, or Draw" competition, in which the novelists, thankfully, do the drawing and audience members have guessing detail
(2004-12-14)

Down with cream
A few dozen gather outside the Wicker Park/Bucktown Chamber of Commerce on Milwaukee Avenue. Down the block, a storefront window has been tagged by an unfixable white substance, a glass etching cream that can be found at most art-supply stores, sort of a liquid sandpaper
(2004-12-07)

Tip of the Week
Victor Skrebneski, the Art Institute graduate and acclaimed photographer, appears this week to discuss and sign copies of "Moving Pictures!," his photo anthology documenting forty years of the Chicago International Film Festival.
(2004-11-30)

Packer Green
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Tip of the Week
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Back to School
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Tip of the Week
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Hungry heart
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Thong song
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Tip of the Week
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