Performing the second of a two-night stand at a near-capacity Schubas on Saturday night, American Music Club gave a clinic on how to use music as a way of staying alive when loneliness and disappointment are too much to bear. Crooner Mark Eitzel led the reunited quintet with a sweeping range, often completely losing himself in song. As Eitzel and guitarist Vudi alternated between tickling and scraping their guitar strings, the rhythm section tiptoed around pin-drop silences. The band's chemistry freed Eitzel up to play myriad roles — melancholic pretender, passed-out barfly, self-deprecating traveler, spurned lover, urban hipster. His protagonists sought false refuge in liquor bottles, unattainable dreams and impossible romances, cruelly realizing that love was both their albatross and salvation. When Eitzel risked emotional disintegration, his mates reeled him in with starry textures. A mix of folksy twang, bittersweet lounge, waltzing rock and organ-splashed pop served as elixirs to heartbreak and missed opportunities. "Patriot's Heart" swung like a tired prizefighter; "The Horseshoe Wreath In Bloom" loped to the someday promise of winning the lottery; and "Challenger" surged to a white-hot climax that was contrasted by "Myopic Books," a lullaby that brought the 75-minute set to a tender close. Reviewed by Bob Gendron for The Chicago Tribune  November 15th 2004                                                                                               Return to homepage here