Organized by Chicago venue the Hideout and the Interchange Festival to benefit the Future of Music Coalition , the ball highlighted Windy City acts, many of whom had bused halfway across the country to celebrate the son of the city. Like Obama himself, most of the acts weren’t born in Chicago, but made homes there. Freakwater and Eleventh Dream Day hail from Kentucky, Jon Langford from Wales and Sally Timms from Leeds, Leo from New York and D.C. Ostensibly the show was concocted to celebrate the diversity and activity of the Chicago scene and, by extension, of American popular music.

Windy City pride was on full display pretty much everywhere this weekend, but it was perhaps no more rampant than at the Big Shoulders Ball, hosted jointly by the Hideout nightclub in Chicago and the Black Cat, benefiting the Future of Music Coalition. At the top of the bill were some big names, like Andrew Bird and Ted Leo, and some legendary Chi-town music scene vets, like Eleventh Dream Day and the Waco Brothers.

Hours before the inauguration of President Barack Obama, musicians and crew are scrambling backstage to catch their bus after the Big Shoulders Ball, at Washington’s Black Cat. Jon Langford, of the Mekons and the Waco Brothers, who played a blistering set tonight, talks with City Paper about the historic moment and about the Chicago takeover of Washington. He’s joined by his “bodyguard,” Columbia Law School grad, Future of Music Coalition co-founder, and Obama campaign supporter Walter McDonough.

It seems as if President-elect Barack Obama has ignored the suggestions of this column and its readers as far as including any Chicago artists in his actual swearing-in ceremony next month. The best word for Chicago musicians so far? An enthusiastic group of politically active members of the underground music scene have announced that they’ll be holding a celebratory shindig of their own in Washington, D.C. on the eve of Barack Obama taking the oath of office.