*Tickets are going on sale Saturday morning for the first concert at the Arena at Harbor Yard, the new venue that opened last Thursday (October 11) in Bridgeport. THE BARENAKED LADIES will inaugurate the arena’s stage on Tuesday, November 20, at 7:30. Opening act is yet to be announced.

Tickets for next month’s shows are $25 and $35 each. Tickets for The Arena at Harbor Yard will be handled by TicketMaster through its outlets — call the New Haven (203-624-0033) or hartford (860-525-4500) outlets, or the brand-spankin’-new Bridgeport extension (203-368-1000), or visit TicketMaster.com, or visit any TicketMaster outlet. Please note, there will be no first-day ticket sales at Harbor Yard.

*Put on your fancy dids and join those who work at SAGA in South Norwalk (119 Washington Street; telephone 203-855-1900) as they re-create the sights, sounds, smells and spirit of Mexico’s most important holiday. The store’s tenth annual concert will feature a performance by the folk trio SIRIUS COYOTE in observing and celebrating El Dia de Los Muertos.

Day of the Dead is celebrated in Mexico and in certain parts of the United States and Central America. The celebration was discovered 500 years ago, when Spanish Conquistadors landed in what is now Mexico and thought they had stumbled on a ritual that seemed to mock death. Instead, natives were continuing the same practices their ancestors had started 3,000 earlier than that, where the continuation of life was celebrated.

Among other things, the Aztecs and other Meso-American civilizations kept skulls as trophies and displayed them during the ritual. The skulls were used to symbolize death and rebirth. The skulls were used to honor the dead, whom the Aztecs and other Meso-American civilizations believed came back to visit during the monthlong ritual.

 “To make the ritual more Christian,” Carlos Miller wrote last year in The Arizona Republic, “the Spaniards moved [El Dia de Los Muertos] so it coincided with All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day [Nov 1 and 2], which is when it is celebrated today. Previously it fell on the ninth month of the Aztec Solar Calendar, approximately the beginning of August, and was celebrated for the entire month.

“But like the old Aztec spirits,” Mr Miller continued, “the ritual refused to die.”

El Dia de Los Muertos still maintains the basic principles of the Aztec ritual, such as the use of skulls. Today people don wooden skull masks called calacas and dance in honor of their deceased relatives. The wooden skulls are then placed on altars that are dedicated to the dead.

In rural Mexico, people visit the cemetery where their loved ones are buried. They decorate gravesites with marigold flowers and candles. They bring toys for dead children and bottles of tequila to adults. They sit on picnic blankets next to gravesites and eat the favorite food of their loved ones.

At SAGA next weekend, Sirius Coyote will offer contemporary and primitive music using an array of authentic folk instruments, many of which will have been crafted by the musicians themselves. The group will have a fourth member Friday night, and will have a slide presentation ongoing.

An ongoing video hosted by SAGA will describe what Mexico is like during this festive time of year, the shop and space next door will be filled with flowers, copal incense, skeletons, and an ofrenda, or offering. The party will run from 7:30 to 9:30 pm (at least…) on October 26, and admission is $15 for adults, $10 for children.

*Seven Angels Theatre in Waterbury will be hosting a concert, one of the first I’ve ever heard of being hosted by the Plank Road theater, on Friday, October 26. One of rock’s longest-running bands, NRBQ will perform its mix of rock, pop, jazz, blues, R&B, “rockabilly” and more next weekend. Tickets are $20 each. The theater can be reached by calling 203-591-8223.

Until next week, I’ll be seeing you… on the road.

Questions and comments should be sent to Shannon Hicks, c/o Bee Publishing Co., 5 Church Hill Road, Newtown 06470, or shannon@thebee.com; or call The Bee office at 426-3141.

Shows listed on the calendar at club locations are for ages 21 and over unless specified.

 

UPCOMING CONCERTS

OCTOBER 19 — Darik & The Funbags at Toad’s Place, New Haven, Ink, Hype and Green Inside opening; D.W. Armstrong and The Rent Party at Next Stop Café, Bethel; The Nerds at Tuxedo Junction, Danbury; Pledge of Allegiance Tour at Hartford Civic Center, with Slipknot, System of a Down, Rammstein, Mudvayne, and American Head Change; Black 47 at Fairfield University’s Quick Center, Fairfield; Kelly Joe Phelps at Acoustic Café, Bridgeport; John Entwhistle at Mohegan Sun’s Wolf Den, Uncasville;

October 20 — Bennett Harris at Next Stop Café; Blue Oyster Cult at The Webster Theater, Hartford; Darik & The Funbags at Tuxedo Junction; Housewives on Prozac at Acoustic Café; Joe Proc at Putnam House, Bethel;

October 21 — Guided By Voices at Toad’s Place (all ages); Martha Trachtenberg at Acoustic Café;

October 22 — Burning Spear at Toad’s Place, Soullution opening (all ages);

October 24 — Fishbone at The Webster Theater (all ages); CSA Songwriters’ Showcase at Acoustic Café;

October 25 — The Wayne Keenan Quartet at Carl Anthony’s, Monroe; King’s X at The Webster Theater, Pleasurecrush, Sterves of Neil and Silent Shadows opening (all ages); Hans Theessink at Next Stop Café; The Jeremiah Long Band at The Acoustic Café;

October 26 — Misfits at Toad’s Place, 25th anniversary show featuring Marky Ramone, Robo & Dez (from Black Flag); Hans Theessink at Next Stop Café; Angelique Kido at Mohegan Sun Casino’s Wolf Den; The B-52’s at Foxwoods Casino; The Zoo at Tuxedo Junction; Family Values Tour  at Hartford Civic Center, with Stone Temple Pilots, Staind, Linkin Park, Static X, and Deadsy; “The History of Rock: Eight Days A Week” at Acoustic Café, Von Em opening; Joe Proc at Carl Anthony’s; NRBQ at Seven Angels Theatre, Waterbury.

October 27 — Dan Bonis & Friends at Next Stop Café (Halloween costume party); Cold at The Webster Theater; The Benjamins at Tuxedo Junction; Maxwell at the ctnow.com Oakdale Theater; WKSS “Boo Bash” at CT Expo Center, Hartford, featuring Blu Cantrell, Christina Milian, Young MC and DJ Fashen; Joe Proc and Abu at 707 On Main, Monroe;

October 28 — The Wiggins Sisters, Too Human and Liz Queler at Acoustic Café;

October 29 — They Might Be Giants at Toad’s Place (all ages); Aztec Two Step at Acoustic Café; Lucinda at Borders Books*Music*Café, Danbury;

October 30 — Alice Cooper at Foxwoods Resort Casino, Ledyard.