One of the pleasures that comes along with following music is the unexpected new that one encounters along the way.
Sometimes that "new" is a location, most recently for us, Ferndale, Michigan. As RCPM had skipped the closer stop of Chicago on their current tour, Kristin and I had to pack up and make toward the Detroit-approximate Ferndale to catch their show.
With the drive over three hours, we elected to take time away from work and grab some lodging at nominally rated but still quite comfy Candlewood Suites (New!).
We spent some time pre-show wandering the city of Ferndale. Did you know that Ferndale is the first city in Michigan to elect an openly homosexual mayor? Neither did I. (New!)
Ferndale is also the home of Winezilla, a snazzy, little shop that manages to pack in a massive selection of wine (and beer...and mead!), so much wine, yet nearly all of it wine we'd never encountered. We stumbled in from the gripping cold to be greeted by owner Ed Bosse, who was glad to chat us up and share a few samples of his favorite wine (once my taste buds had thawed out). We walked out of the place with a few bottles of wine (new!), some intended as gifts my parents , but none of which that actually ever made it to them (sorry, Mom).
Our wanderings also brought us to Found Sound, a music store packed with tunes in all formats, collectors sets of all variety and taste in abundance. Between our new wine stash and the stack of vinyl (New!..sorta) we took from Found Sound, it's safe to say we did our part to stimulate the local economy of Ferndale. And all before our concert had even started.
Sometimes the "new" is other music. For all the ways I've discovered new musicians, catching them perform as openers for some other group I'd come to see has garnered the most discoveries in my music world. This evening was not an exception.
The gentlemen that mosied onto the stage of the Magic Bag in the early hours of Tuesday evening did not appear to be typical to the openers I'd seen with the Peacemakers...I, in failure of character, judged immediately. I, as always occurs in these situations, was wrong.
It took only the time needed for the music to begin for me to see the error of my ways.
If you like your rock with a little twang and a lot of rowdy, Fifth On The Floor is all fun.