A pleasant night out with soothing sounds of strings and elegant percussion for the black turtleneck set? No frigging way. The one-off collaboration between Wilco drummer and accomplished modern percussionist Glenn Kotche and the contemporary music sextet eighth blackbird at the Harris Theater last night was anything but an easy listening event. But it was, at times, thrilling, and overall a vigorous switch from the typical modes. It was probably the most modern ‘modern music" performance I’ve ever witnessed, not to mention its precise execution. And way loud—that Harris sound system can really turn it out.

Kotche has a prodigious musical resume, releasing his Mobile for the venerable Nonesuch label and writing for several percussion publications. Yet I found most of his pieces last night so instinctive and full of personality that the muzo credentials never clouded my mind. He and the ensemble warmed us up with a somewhat quaint but tricky Steve Reich clapping piece—a nod to the modern composer forefather. Overall, the vibe was pretty relaxed. Kotche even took the time to explain how he shot the video for a piece called "Individual Trains" in various parts of Chicago.

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Everyone talks about the effect that the Internet has on music sales, but rarely does anyone mention how it affects the crafted spontaneity of live performance. For instance, last night’s Smashing Pumpkins show: Being able to read reviews of the previous shows reveals that Corgan’s end of show rants aren’t so much a out-of-nowhere tantrum as they are a deliberate part of the performance. Whether it’s effective art is another story, but it also gives it some context. Yet it’s still like knowing the end of the story before you’re finished reading the book. (Look for a review of tonight’s show tomorrow on the TOC blog).

Here are five things to do today:

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This is the week of children eating at restaurants. Not officially, of course. That week was in June.  But it feels like it’s this week, because I’ve been forwarded this New York Times story about 15 times. It’s a tale of a twelve-year-old who wants to be a restaurant critic. Cute, but I’m partial to this similar story.

Not all twelve-year-olds want to eat adult food, though. Not even all adults want to eat adult food. Which is why there’s been so much outrage about the potential closing of Des Plaines’ Choo Choo Restaurant. Want a tip? If you want to garner sympathy for your restaurant, it helps to call it something adorable like the “Choo Choo.” Want another tip? To get lots of free press for said restaurant, start a petition to save it—even when there’s no real danger it will disappear.

Finally, kids may think twice before buying a Justin Timberlake album once they read that JT is being sued by a guy who worked at his New York restaurant Southern Hospitality. And then they’ll buy it anyway.

In the last few months, we’ve made an effort to not only bring you Time Out Chicago at our website, and in our print product, but also in various other forms. Here are a few of the other ways you can get a little TOC:

I’m most pleased with this nifty widget that feeds our blog directly to your Mac desktop. Many thanks go out to David Gibson, TOC’s system coordinator, who fought a victorious battle to get this thing compatible with all Mac OSs. (If you want an RSS feed of the blog, you can get it here.)

Our Twitter stream at twitter.com/TimeOutChicago is also humming along nicely. Give us a follow and you’ll be the first to get access to that week’s feature stories and other sneak peeks at new content on the site. And if you haven’t started posting photos to the TOC Flickr photo group, now would be a good time to start. You can listen to our podcasts, The Infinite Loop and Back of the Book, while you’re uploading.

If you’d like to know what our editors are reading lately, check out the TOC Books section’s Goodreads page, managed by Jonathan Messinger, or peek at the Eat Out crew’s bookmarks via its delicious page, edited by David Tamarkin.

Finally, if you’re a fan of TOC, why not tell the world via our Facebook page? And if you’re looking for tips on where to go and what to do tonight, you can always send us an IM at TimeOutChicago via AIM or TimeOutChicago247 on Gchat.

The blogs have been abuzz with bits of news about Kanye West’s upcoming 808s and Heartbreak album, which finds the Chicago native showing mad love to autotune and vocoder effects thrown over electro-house rhythms. But the hipster hip-hop nation that he’s inspired over the past decade hasn’t forgotten him. Oh no. Today, Ann Arbor-based DJ Benzi (a frequent Chicago club visitor) and chum Plain Pat unveiled the streaming Kanye West remix Sky High mixtape on their Imeem site. Featuring contributions from A-Trak, Baltimore’s Scottie B, DJ Godfather and Diplo, it plays like a more bootie bass-inspired, blog-house loving Kanye. Yeah, it’s Kanye West if he was even more trend sensitive than he is, if that’s possible.

Far be it from me to enjoy a Chorus Line medley, but last night, when K. Todd Freeman, three singers and a handful of the more enthusiastic audience members ran through the numbers, I felt it. It would take a Kryptonite heart not to have. Freeman was telling Justin Hayford’s story, as Hayford told it to Studs Terkel in Will the Circle Be Unbroken?. It was part of a staged reading of Derek Goldman’s adaptation, but that moment in particular felt anything but staged. Freeman, impossibly kinetic, couldn’t stand still as he told the story of Hayford and a friend who would later die from AIDS, riding on a scooter down Michigan Avenue, singing the tunes.

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In yesterday’s "Five things…" list, I mentioned the Windy City Rollers‘ 2nd place national finish in this weekend’s Northwest Knockdown (read the live-blog recap of it here). Here’s word from Varla Vendetta, WCR All-Star and (and TOC staffer), about what went down:

"The news is we went all the way through the derby tournament to get to the Championship game!!! We faced Gotham Girls (NYC) yet again in the final game (our 4th time playing each other and the third time in a tournament championship), but unfortunately we lost.  However, beating Rat City and then beating the grandmothers of modern roller derby Texas Texacutioners (the Texas game was a nail-biter tie that went into overtime where we won by 13 points!) means we come out as the 2nd best roller derby team in AMERICA!!!

It’s a huge honor for us, especially beating the perenially outstanding Texas. Texas beat us in the first round of the National tournament last year, so we were proud to have turned the tables.  Also, in that game, a Texas blocker broke my collar bone in half, so i’m in a sling for four weeks.  But no one can say I didn’t throw everything into that game to win…down to my marrow…and our team came out victorious!"

Going into the championship, Vendetta led the Rollers in points scored this season. Her injury, which you can see on the far left in the photo above, kept her out of the final round of the championship, so her absence undoubtedly had an impact. A big congrats to everyone on the Rollers, and we wish Vendetta a speedy recovery.

Quote of the day: "There’s really no helping profoundly stupid people." (h/t Chicagoland).

Here are five things to do today:

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TUESDAY
 
Roll a fat one at SushiSamba Rio’s "Do-It-Yourself" Sushi + Sake class. The two-hour class includes sake tasting, sushi rolling and pairing the two. And with the opportunity to sample several different sushi rolls, you won’t even have the munchies afterwards. $75. 6:30–8:30. 504 N Wells St (312-595-2300).

WEDNESDAY

Don’t you cry tonight. Landmark Grill + Lounge’s monthly wine tasting is now complimentary (yep, free) and they’re pulling out the big guns. Guns N’ Roses that is. Each wine is paired to an appropriate Guns N’ Roses song. What wine goes with "November Rain?" We’re thinking something that gets better with age, a hint of meloncholy and a bittersweet finish. Free. 7–8:30pm. 1633 N Halsted (312-587-1600).

Fill in the blank: So you think you can _____. No, not dance–this is a food blog. WAVE restaurant begins their new "So You Think You Can Bartend?" quarterly classes with education on Prohibition-Era cocktails. Students will create their own signature cocktails and the winner will be featured on WAVE’s cocktail menu until the next class. $35. 6–8pm. 644 N Lake Shore Dr (www.brownpapertickets.com/event/48348).

Most people avoid rather than savor the taste of tequila, but ZOCALO asks you to keep an open mind, and mouth. ZOCALO hosts a Hacienda de Chihuahua Sotol tequila tasting, offering samples of blanco, reposado and anejo tequilas along with appetizers and a Taquiza chef station consisting of braised and grilled meats, homemade salsa and handmade guajillo chile tortillas. $15. 6–9pm. 358 W Ontario St (312-302-9977).
 
What better way to celebrate a one-year anniversary than with free meals for everyone? Just kidding, actually. But as La Madia celebrates their first anniversy, tables will receive a free dessert with purchase of a pizza or entrée during dinner service. 4–11:15pm. 59 W Grand Ave (312-329-0400).

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This is going to go against everything you’ve heard about Vocalo (89.5 FM) up to now, but…it might be better than you think. Just in time to take advantage of its upgraded tower.

I realize this sounds like I’m breaking my arm to give them a backhanded compliment, but I’m comparing Vocalo not just to other talk-based radio formats, but also to its previous sound. Having tuned in before, the station’s much better than it was before, falling somewhere between a rough-but-produced college radio show and a formless-but-insightful discussion at a local bar that just happens to have a jukebox full of hip-hop and jazz that someone drops a dollar in once in a while.

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