The music room at Schubas has been the stepping stone for many artists to debut their work in Chicago. Successful acts that graced the Schubas stage on their rise to fame include MGMT, Passion Pit, My Morning Jacket, Tori Amos, Andrew Bird, Dave Matthews Band, Death Cab For Cutie, The Decemberists, Sufjan Stevens, Neko Case, Rachael Yamagata, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, and numerous others.

In October 2009, Schubas opened the doors to Lincoln Hall, an exquisite 500-person venue that is making a huge impression on the local and national music scene. For being the new kid on the block, Lincoln Hall has already made quite the cool kid reputation with the line-up that welcomed the club into the music scene in 2009. Memorable performances for the first days of Lincoln Hall include Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, Elvis Perkins in Dearland, Blind Pilot, The Walkmen, Do Make Say Think, Mike Doughty, Motion City Soundtrack, Mucca Pazza, Russian Circles, and The Ike Reilly Assassination, among others.

While bringing in hundreds of impressively talented artists through the city each year, Schubas will team up with their new sister venue, Lincoln Hall, and celebrate their winter music festival highlighting the up-and-coming artists they believe in for phenomenal show-stopping performances. Tomorrow Never Knows 2010 will be held January 13-17th to warm the Chicagoans up this winter.

Now if you don’t think you’re that hip and with it for these new stars on the rise, I’m throwin’ in a lil somethin extra so you know what’s up.

Here’s the breakdown:

Wed. January 13th

@Schubas – Laugh It Up, Kid featuring the comedic performances of Prescott Tolk, Cameron Esposito, James Fritz, Adam Burke, and Mike Sheehan, hosted by Bradley LaBree. The Chicago Reader dubbed Prescott Tolk a Critic’s Choice and Time Out Chicago called him a “Don’t Miss.”

@LincolnHall – The Cribs, Adam Green and The Dead Trees

Remember The Smiths, or Modest Mouse, well, that awesome guitar player, Johnny Marr, yeah, this is the Jarman brothers band that he has been playing with the past couple years. More of an indie-rock, post-punk shindig, but Marr will surely make you want more.

Thur. January 14th
@Schubas – Surfer Blood, Freelance Whales, Bear In Heaven, Lasers and Fast and Shit

Young guys who like to rock the pop and entertain the crowd, on the serious up and up. And who doesn’t like lasers?

@LincolnHall – Voxtrot, Sold Gold, Gemini Club

Indie-pop-rock hailing from Austin, TX combining classic 60’s pop with British sounds of the 80’s while sounding ahead of its time sure to make the hipster head bop. Solid Gold and Gemini Club sure to make your booty pop.

Fri. January 15th
@Schubas – Neon Indian, The Hood Internet, Truman Peyote, Only Children

Synthesizer, dream-pop goodness for your soul. Chicago’s own, The Hood Internet, will mash-up your fav hits of oh nine and beyond.

@LincolnHall – Atlas Sound, Icy Demons, Shapers

Solo project of ambient, psychedelic Atlanta band Deerhunter’s frontman, Bradford Cox. Experimental high-energy Icy Demons will make your body rock.

Sat. January 16th
@Schubas – Final Fantasy, Sharon Van Etten, Peter Wolf Crier

Final Fantasy is the righteous violin-looping project of Owen Pallett, whom you might have heard in his other band, The Arcade Fire.

@LincolnHall – Bowerbirds, The Rural Alberta Advantage, Julie Doiron

Sunshine folk-pop on the verge of freak-folk from North Carolina, the Bowerbirds will make you smile and then tilt your head in wonder. The Rural Alberta Advantage play indie-rock folk songs about hometowns and heartbreak.

Sun. January 17th
@Schubas – Clues, Skybox, Pomegranates, Netherfriends

Canadian indie-pop with Chicago fellas Skybox, who will rock your socks off with their spectacle of a performance. If you’re lucky there’ll be cake and go-go dancers.

@LincolnHall – Lee Fields & The Expressions, JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound, Shilpa Ray & Her Happy Hookers

Lee Fields will blow you away. He is a bona-fide, 100%, unadulterated, pure, gut-bucket soul singer. JC Brooks is for the people who want to move and groove to the sweet sounds of Chicago soul.

Five-Day Passes are just barely still available (both venues, all shows, all 5 days plus free TNK 2010 poster, a sampler CD, and free rides between Schubas, Lincoln Hall, and select CTA L stops courtesy of Zipcar!) for $75. All shows are 18+. Single-day tickets are $15. Tickets available HERE.

He was born into the business. “You just fall into it,” he says. “It’s pretty much all I know.”

La Palapita opened in 1989, and Luis started working in the restaurant about 10 years later. He says the house specialty is the beef burritos. “We’re known for our steak,” he says. Filled with thick, juicy meat, onions and cilantro and covered in Luis’ jalapeño salsa—made fresh almost every day—the burritos are melt-your-face-off spicy. La Palapita goes through 120 of them during every shift.

While scarfing my burrito on the Wednesday night I visited La Palapita, I cooled my flaming tongue with a big cup of homemade horchata. It was ice cold, and the mixture of cinnamon, rice and milk was perfect. Uber-refreshing and not too sweet.

Luis grew up around his diverse group of customers and calls himself the “burrito bartender” because of his close relationships with them. “We cater to everybody,” he says. Hipsters, yuppies, emo kids, blue-collar, white-collar, no-collar, graff heads and even cops come to eat his food. Hungry Chicagoans can find Luis behind the counter or in his office almost any night of the week, often shooting the breeze with folks buying food.“I’m a dick,” Luis says with a laugh about his frequently sarcastic banter. “I treat them like they’re old friends. They’ve been coming in since I was a kid.”

Despite long hours in the restaurant, Luis still finds time to keep up with his graff past. About a year ago, his graphic artist cousin asked if Luis wanted to learn body art. Luis said yes. Since then, he has apprenticed and worked at Munch Art Ink, which recently shut down while it’s renovated and renamed.“The new name is classified,” Luis jokes, “because we don’t know it yet.”

Luis himself has five tattoos—one on his leg and the others on his arms. He’s also practicing his body painting skills, and sometimes practices on his friends in La Palapita. “I’ve always got a marker on me,” Luis says, although recently, he’s been sticker-slapping more than painting.He’s had to be careful ever since 2003, when his graff and his La Palapita customers crossed paths in a more sinister way.

Luis was driving some friends around and got pulled over by the police for something minor, but he couldn’t find his insurance card. The police searched his car. (“Probable cause is a bitch!” Luis added.) The cops found paint cans and pizza boxes, so they arrested him.Later that night in the station, while Luis was handcuffed to the wall, a bunch of cops from the 16th district came in. Most of them were frequent customers at La Palapita.“Shit! That’s the taco guy!” they yelled, and proceeded to hang out with their prisoner for the rest of the evening.

“I had to lawyer up for that,” Luis says, and unfortunately, he was still sentenced to a year of supervision. And the officers didn’t visit the restaurant for a year afterward.“They were probably afraid I would mess with their food,” he says.

La Palapita is located at 4263 N. Milwaukee Ave. It’s open Monday through Thursday until 1 a.m. and Fridays and Saturdays until 2 a.m. Check La Palapita out on Facebook at “La Palapita Fans” and on Twitter

By Christopher Danzig

VIEW MORE PHOTOS OF UNCLE FUN’S PRODUCTS TO THE RIGHT
-The Rookie