Do your research.

As Mrs. Cupcakes would surely tell you, research is important. Well, maybe she'd tell you about archives being important in regards to research. ANYWHO, I was researching some info about the opening bands I've seen over the last few weeks, and I came to realize that the Night of the Melvins, Oct. 12, 2006 @ Toad's Place in New Haven, I was truly in the presence of greatness, above and beyond just the Melvins themselves.

I was trying to find out who the opening opener was that night, as all the promotionals and whatnot had listed a band called Big Business (caution, myspace!), yet there was no Big Business there that night. SO, turns out the Melvins absorbed Big Business into their ranks, requiring new openers for the tour. Big Business was two guys (one of whom was in the Murder City Devils, a personal favorite) who were/are playing their own gigs, and then they helped form this dual-drumkit SUPERMELVINS, which we experienced that night. I only caught a few songs from the new opening opener guy, but it was pretty much just him playing electric bass, with occasional light Melvins rhythm accompaniment. Turns out he was Joe Lally, bassist for Fugazi, and he was just joining the tour that evening. The stuff I heard was really good, and pretty low key.

The secondary opener was Ghostigital, an Icelandic combo that I dubbed "Einstürzende Bjorksfather" in my head because the band included a dude with a circuitbent Speak & Spell in the rhythm section, and the lead guy reminded me of the Sugarcubes. Well, turns out it was the guy from the Sugarcubes. Also happens that there will be one Rekjavik Sugarcubes reunion show, which is how I found the info, courtesy of this site.

Sheesh, what a history of my early musical development all wedged into one night! This past week was no slacker, either, musically, though not as historically significant.

Wednesday night was Del, with openers Motion Man (caution, myspace!), Psalm One, Bukue One, and Mike Relm. Mike Relm was an entertaining DJ, but his real schtick was scratching with video. His setup included a sheet hung at the front of the stage with a video projector behind it. He had a little intro bit and then while he was DJing, at certain points he could go over to whatever DVD mixer console thingie he was using and scratch with video. It was fun, and he had clips from all kinds of movies in his presentation.

Which brings us to Thursday night, featuring Deerhoof opening for the Fiery Furnaces (caution, automusical!). I decided that I prefer Deerhoof live and the Furnaces on record. It was a great show, and in no way do I mean to slight either band, but the lyrics for the Fiery Furnaces didn't come through very well and Deerhoof was even more fun to watch than to listen to.

That wraps up the music report. Last night was an art show for Anne Thompson in Hartford, followed by dinner at Bin 228 with Heather, Bethany and the Cupcakes. We all bought some art from Anne and then had a fantastic dinner of small plates and wine followed by desert and espresso.

This weekend is RHEINBECK! Not a band, but the New York State Sheep and Wool Festival. I'm sure I'll have plenty of photos, speaking of which, here is a set from Wadsworth Falls, our localest state park, where we took a hike last weekend.

Rocktober out!