This Sunday I turn 36 years old, and—strangely enough for someone whose life revolves around music—I don’t think I’ve ever thought to look up what was going on in the music world on my birth date. Turns out I was born the same week Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours and Hall & Oates’s “Rich Girl” were released, and historyorb.com tells me that I came into the world while Rod Hart’s “C.B. Savage”—a charming mash-up of the 70s CB fad, country music’s “songs about truckers” phase, and shockingly blatant homophobia—was at its highest point on the charts. Good to know, I guess.
If you have a birthday this weekend and you’re looking to celebrate by going to a show, you’re in luck, because there are a ton of good ones going on. Tonight local rap authorities Fake Shore Drive present a showcase featuring Freddie Gibbs, Sasha Go Hard, ShowYouSuck, and Tree, and Reader favorite Matt Clark opens for Angela James at the Hideout. Fans of 90s rap can go see Ghostface Killah at the Shrine, and fans of weird 90s retro fads can head up to Skokie to see Swingers-approved swingsters Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. Retribution Gospel Choir and Stagnant Pools play at Schubas on Saturday night, and if I was in Chicago on my birthday I would likely be celebrating it at the Cam’ron show at the Double Door. For more picks from Reader music critics, hit the jump.