What a night not to be in Toronto: Rheostatics

I learned yesterday that my favorite band is breaking up today. Tonight, the Rheostatics will play their final show in Toronto's Massey Hall.

I stole my first Rheostatics disc from the music director's mailbox at the college radio station where I had a midnight shift. The first few times I listened to Introducing Happiness I thought it was nothing special. On the fifth listen, I clicked: here was a lyrically dense, musically intricate work that quickly rose to a favorite album.

And every Rheos album I've ever been able to get my hands on has been amazing. From their first album (Greatest Hits) to the back-to-back Whale Music releases to 1997's Double Live album to their most recent release 2067, each work holds up not only as a collection of great songs, but a unified, flowing composition.

Guitarist Dave Bidini pens a farewell letter in The Globe and Mail. Fans deliver eulogies in this MeFi thread. There's a tribute album out this month. Their live shows are freely available. In 2000, two of the top five albums in Chart Magazine's Best Canadian Records poll were Rheostatics releases. As for me, I tell people I don't know where I got my slight canadian accent, but I know it's probably from singing along with the Rheos.

Some minor piracy: the Rheostatic's cover of Neil Young's Everyone Knows This is Nowhere.