British dance duo Basement Jaxx hasn’t been to Chicago in quite a while—in the meantime a new generation has turned on to house, electro and funky beats. With a live MC, dazzling LED screen projections of everything from test pattern arrows to astronaut monkeys, the duo threw caution to the wind with its party-peak DJ set, reworking, mashing and carving up versions of “Show Me Love,” its own “Raindrops” and Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.” The sonics were top-notch—suitable for dancing even at the far back of the Congress.

Photos: Amy Mokris

On record, the Black Crowes have increasingly let their sprawling style explorations in country, blues, folk, even psychedelia, surface as distinct facets of what was originally a strictly southern rock and soul personality—but live the sprawl is of a different type. The soaring and blistering guitar excursions and mod key passages are woven in Crowes tunes giving them the topography of mountains and verdant valleys. Another way of putting it: The Black Crowes are one helluva jam band when they want to be.

Sticking pretty true to music from the band’s Before the Frost…Until the Freeze , a double album, with select tunes from Amorica and a surprise high-point with a Velvet Underground cover, “Oh Sweet Nuthin,” sung by Rich Robinson but featuring three-part vocal harmonies—the Crowes song choice was more confident than pandering. Early in a set that ran about two hours total, “Shine Along” featured Luther Dickinson coaxing sound from miniature guitar—before the band flipped straight into the slowly-unfolding, Pink Floyd-esque “Good Friday.” And throughout the night, Specs-sporting Dickinson’s finger-picking blues-inspired solos created awesome moments which relieved Chris Robinson to dance and spin like a festival-circuit preacher with a complete collection of Otis Redding records. The set came to a climax with the uptempo, harder-hitting “No Speak No Slave.” A freak-folk-inspired encore featured a towering Steve Gorman playing marching drum on center-stage and a heartfelt “the Last Place that Love Lives” and a cacophonous “God’s Got It.” It wasn’t exactly a rock-star ending—more of a stomp around the campfire, which is a much rarer thing.

Find a complete set-list at setlist.fm.

Photos: Stephanie Anderson

Purchase tickets by calling: 312-922-2322, or visiting: aidschicago.org). Hilton Chicago, 720 S Michigan Ave. 6–10pm, $75 in advance, $100 at the door.

Austin City Limits 7-8pm, PBS. Elvis Costello and The Band of Heathens perform.

The Godfather, Part II 7-11:30pm, AMC. There’s really not much on tonight, so why not take in a classic?

John Fogerty: Live by Request 8-10pm, WTTW. The musician performs songs that are requested by viewers.

Saturday Night Live 10pm-midnight, NBC. Taylor Swift does double duty as host and musical guest. If you’re a teenage girl, you’ve got to be in heaven.

MUSIC - The Numero Group’s Eccentric Soul Review

SHOPPING & STYLE - Beta Boutique sample sale
Lakeviewers are in luck this weekend as Bucktown’s brick-and-mortar Beta Boutique holds court in the old Ciao Bella space for a two-day sample sale. Expect the same goodies you find at the store, such as looks by local designers including dIETERbeNNET and Lara Miller marked anywhere from 40–90% off. Ciao Bella, 3829 N Southport Ave (betaboutique.com). El: Red to Addison. Bus: 9, 22, 152. Sat 7, 11am–6pm; Sun 8, noon–5pm.

FILM - Johnny Guitar
We’ll admit to having a soft spot for weird overblown Westerns from the 1950s (Anthony Mann, Budd Boetticher…love ’em), but trust us; Johnny Guitar is a crazy-great Western, with Joan Crawford as a saloon owner and Sterling Hayden as a guitar-strumming gin-for-hire. Music Box, 3733 N Southport Ave between Grace St and Waveland Ave (773-871-6604). El: Brown to Southport. Bus: 80 Irving Park, 152 Addison. Fri 6 at midnight, Sat 7 at midnight. Sat, Sun at 11:30am. Regular and midnight $9.25, first daily show $8.75.

NIGHTLIFE - The Goodness
Rude 1 hosts this party to push the hip-hop envelope past the drivel that makes up most mainstream rap these days. Monthly he keeps it real with a mix of high-brow beats and the odd bit of turntablism. This month he’s lined up Edan, whose obscure ’60s rock and psychedelia sampling productions have garnered him quite a following. Lava. 9pm, $10.

THEATER - Silent Nightmare—A Christmas Dirge
What, seriously?! Didn’t you just finish cleaning up yakked-up candy corn from last weekend’s Halloween party? Yep, it’s true: The Annoyance has 2009’s first Christmas show out of the gate. At least it has the decency not to be sentimental; this collection of twisted holiday shorts is for the resolutely tarhearted. Annoyance Theatre, 8pm, $15.

Meyer's iconic sign can be seen in the new Gene's Sausage, which opens tomorrow.

This may be old news to you, but it bears repeating anyway: A slew of iconic, old-school food joints are back from hiatus this weekend. Here’s a list:

- Delicatessen Meyer, which closed in March 2007, is coming back tomorrow, kind of. Gene’s Sausage Shop has moved into the space, but the essence (and signage) of Meyer will be in full force. 4750 N Lincoln Ave.

- Sun Wah, the much-loved Chinese barbecue joint, has reopened after a brief hiatus. 5039 N Broadway.

- Salam—perhaps the most authentic and delicious Middle Eastern food in the city—will reopen on Saturday in a bigger and ostensibly less-divey space. (And if the Grand Re-Opening deal—a meat combo plate with humus, babaganouj, fries or rice, salad and pita for $6.95—is any indication, the prices are not going up.)

- And Ba Le—well, Ba Le is still around for now, but in two months it will move to a bigger space next door. So when it see that it’s gone, don’t freak out. If it isn’t obvious already, these types of restaurants have a tendency to reappear.

Update: TechCrunch reports that the Twitter account in question was fake all along, and the legit newsstream preceding the offensive tweets (obviously not included in the above screengrab) was only a cheap attempt to deceive overzealous media peeps (like your’s truly!). Here is the official link to MSNBC’s news feed.

Saturday 7

More than 2,000 kids are expected to join the one-mile Fall Fun Run in Washington Park (5700 S Russell Dr), where there will also be Nike giveaways and pre-run warm-ups with former Olympians Connie Moore and William Scherr. 10am–noon, FREE.

Old Town School of Folk Music Wiggleworms instructor Lisa Derosia plays a family show at pop-up shop Kooky (3447 N Southport Ave). (Stream some of her awesome grown-up tunes with her country roots band Lush Budgett here). 2pm, FREE.

The Gene Siskel Film Center (164 N State St) brings back last year’s popular program devoted to master Muppeteer Jim Henson with Muppets, Music & Magic: Jim Henson’s Legacy. The month-long program screening movies, commercials and shorts kicks off today with a 90-minute screening of rare clips hosted by Craig Shemin, vice president of the Jim Henson Legacy organization. 8pm, $5-$10.

Sunday 8

The Chicago Humanities Festival is hosting two great family events in conjunction with the grown-up Laughter! fest: Trickster!, spotlighting the mischievous characters in classic folklore, including West Africa’s Anansi the Spider and King Ravana from the Hindu story Ramayana. (Thorne Auditorium, 375 E Chicago Ave) Noon-1pm.  Insect Antics: A Louse-y Sense of Humor explores science and comic aspects of bugs with entomology expert May Berenbaum and writer Amy Leach. Harold Washington Library Center, 400 S State St, 1:30–2:30pm. Each event is $10, $5 in advance at 312-494-9509 or the CHF web site.

“I want my clothes to be your friends,” Diane von Furstenburg told a couple hundred guests at Neiman Marcus last night after models donning looks from her winter and resort collections had finished struts down the catwalk. “I want you to reach into your closet for my clothes when you want to feel good.”  In a charming thank-you-for-coming wrap-up, the woman who made wrap dresses an eternal gotta-have-one item explained that nothing makes her happier than hearing a woman say she was wearing a DVF piece during an important event that marked a new beginning in hlife—like a marriage proposal, or a successful job interview. “And no matter how old or young you are, there are always new beginnings,” she added. The crowd-pleasing collection had a characteristically happy DVF vibe: jumpers, dresses, tunics, pin-up style bathing suits and cardigans came in ethnic prints, polka dots, bright-hued sequins, flowy chiffon and hot pink. And just about every look—minus the giant, over-the-top bow turbans—looked as wearable as DVF’s ubiquitous wrap dress.