Junebug Show Diaries

Saturday, January 30, 2010

1/29/10 - Nestor Tavern - Fargo, N.D.

We've been to the Nestor in Fargo many times in our little musical experiment. Some crowds have been big, some have been tiny. Some have been right in between. Tonight was one of those nights in which the crowd was right in the middle. But that's not a negative thing. The peeps that were there were having fun and that's what matters.

It was a bit of a family reunion for me (tony). Three of my sisters were there: Wendy, Laurel, and Tammy. Also, my nieces' boyfriends Seth and James were there (my nieces, Angell and Allisyn, aren't quite 21 yet). All of them brought friends. Additionally, our old friend Kelsey was there and she presented me with a container full of shortbread cookies. You see, I had mentioned on Facebook a couple days ago that I was craving them. Kelsey took a cue to make my day. I shared them with the others, of course. Because I am a nice boy.

Our good friends, The San Haven Chuckle, opened tonight and warmed up the crowd real well. When we took the stage, there were already a couple partied-out girls dancing and flailing. At the end of our very first song, "Pay the Toll," one of them bit the dust. "Girl down! Girl down!" Dustin exclaimed. A concerned Anthony inquired, "Did we rock you too hard to where your body couldn't handle it and you collapsed?" No reply. "'Cause that was our goal." She got up and left, presumably to find a place to pass out. Kudos to you, San Haven Chuckle. You inebriated our crowd a little too well.

Tonight's set consisted of a lot of material from our upcoming album, Modern Day Fairy Tales, since we're going into the studio to record it next weekend. This is our last attempt to solidify these tunes. Our final cram session before the big exam, if you will. Included tonight was the return of an old instrumental tune called "Vacation to Oblivion." This tune is Anthony's spacy, trippy Oddyssey, and we haven't played it live for years. So, welcome back, "Oblivion."

The title track off the upcoming album is "Modern Day Fairy Tales." We played it tonight, and I thought we played it well. However, an entire table of people, around eight or ten, got up and left. "That's how you clear out a table," Dustin announced. Trust him. We're experts.

"Who's thinking of getting married?" Dustin asked. A couple friends cheered. "Okay! This song's not about that." We played "Downtown Liquor Store" next.

Tonight's guest rapper on "Casanova" was the San Haven Chuckle's own Patrick "Bud" Hess. Frosty adult beverage in hand, he delivered a stirring redition of the song "Clint Eastwood" by Gorillaz. We much enjoyed this particular guest appearance on this song, and wish all of them went this way. (Sidebar: Bud will be filling in for Nick on bass tomorrow night at our show in Elizabeth, Minn.)

Before the show started tonight, I noticed a sticker on one of the Chuckle guys' instrument cases. It read, "I'm in a band. Now show me your hooters." I shared this with the crowd tonight and let them know that we in Junebug encourage this kind of behavior. Then, as I said it I realized that I had three sisters in the crowd. I had to quickly backtrack and add a disclaimer that they were exempt from this particular Junebug promotion. Upon hearing this, Anthony considered protesting my disclaimer, but allowed it to stand. Then Nick suggested that it would be okay if they had a note from my mom. I was still not fine with this arrangement. We played the next song, and when it was over, I mentioned that nobody had shown us their hooters yet. So my friend Travis, a skinny, pale gay man promptly lifted his shirt in our direction. I suppose I should have mentioned that the promotion was geared toward females. But, he did it, so we gave him credit.

The members of the Chuckle stepped it up a notch, though. Of course. During the next song, "Lady Madonna," they lined up in front of the stage and displayed their bare behinds. Now, I've said it before, but it's truly not a real Junebug show in Fargo if those guys don't moon us. So it made the night complete. Nothing is quite as satisfying as mutilating a Beatles tune while looking at men's asses.

We had originally planned on playing two sets, but when the first set ended, we said screw it and continued on. It's a marathon, you see. Not a series of sprints. And we're athletes up there. Or not. We continued on with the rocking, rolling, dancing, and grooving. We even had a request for the song "Share" tonight. We haven't played that song in months, but generally, our policy is that if somebody likes our songs enough to request them, we play them. So we did.

But not always, I suppose. Bud was a friend of ours in the early days and even still he's a fan of an old song, "Rich & Poor." So when we said we had one song left, that was what he wanted us to play. We teased him with it a bit, but didn't actually play it, much to his chagrin. But it couldn't have upsetted him too much, since after the final song of the night, "Jumpstart My Rocket," when Dustin shouted, "GO HOME," Bud nodded at us saying, "Approve. Completely approve."

Well then, mission accomplished I suppose.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

1/15/10 - Whiskey Junction - Minneapolis

It was another good show at Whiskey Junction. This was our first show in the brand new year 2010. Furthermore it was our second show with great Twin Cities band, Burnin' Hyder. Plus, it was a reunion of Nick's old band, Stereoscope. And finally, it was Nick's 52^nd birthday! Okay, he's not 52. And I don't think anybody heard me (tony) when I announced it from stage. So I'm safe.

We started the year off well, with a really fun, and high octane show. We kept it light-hearted and we kept it fun, which is what we are all about. The crowd was sizable for the Whiskey, and they liked what we were bringing. There was drinking and dancing, and one young lady was wearing a Junebug t-shirt. We can definitely get behind that.

Brian "Carp" Carpenter was invited on stage tonight to freestyle during "Casanova." In the midst of it, drink in hand, he made a prediction that tomorrow the Vikings will defeat the heavily favored Dallas Cowboys in the playoffs, which elicited cheers from the crowd, and from me. [Note: The Vikings did indeed beat the Cowboys the next day, quite handily. So it seems Carp was a bit clairvoyant in the middle of our goof-off song.]

There was one particular lady in the crowd so inspired by Carp's participation that she wanted to come onstage and join us as well. She kept asking if we had a shaker or maracas or a tambourine. Heck, if I had had any of those things with me, we would have let her jump up with us. As it was, she was bummed. But I'm pretty sure she still enjoyed the rest of the show.

There is one particular dude that we have seen many places. He was at the Cabooze both times we played there and the same with Bunkers. He has also been at the Whiskey the last two times we've played there. He wears a hat and he lets the music move him. He dances like no one's watching. For those who know our friend Rory Behrens, he is what I imagine Rory will be like in twenty years. I don't know this man's name, but he always has a blast at our shows. So if you ever read this, hat-man, keep coming to our shows. We love to see you.

Well, our frivolity continued. Before a particular song, Dustin tantalized the crowd. "Before we play this next song, I just have to ask you people a question -- Was anybody here BORN IN THE USA?!?" There was a smattering of cheers and applause. "Okay, well... here comes 'Found My Boogie.'"

Likewise, more toward the end of the night, I said, "How many of you here have a special lady in your life? A lady who might have brown eyes? A BROWN-EYED GIRL?!?" Very little reaction. "Cool, well here comes 'Chosen Ones.'" It's a well known fact, you know, that jokes get funnier on repetition. Solid fact.

Anyway, this was our last Twin Cities show until after our studio sessions next month. Stay tuned.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

12/12/09 - 331 Club - Minneapolis

Tonight was Junebug's first show at the 331 Club in Minneapolis. We were joined by Yasen Marie and Julie Puppets, who I may add, are the former band of our Share studio bassist Kai Catudio. So we're all one big happy family. Anthony described this mix of bands as being like a "creamy Oreo." He then advised the crowd not to get any on their jeans, because it crusts up. Indeed.

The 331 was packed. The stage is is tiny little space at one end of the rectangularly-shaped bar. The cramped nature of the place gives it a really nice intimate coziness. Amongst the three bands, there was so much gear that things had to be stacked in strange places to make it all fit. But small venues are great when they're full. That's a fact.

Over half of the material we played tonight is stuff that will be included on our next studio album, Modern Day Fairy Tales. We're dusting it off, working it up, and rocking it out because we intend to record in February. Hold on to your hats, kids.

We have this song called "Casanova," which is to be featured on said upcoming album, in which we often invite a guest from the crowd to come up and do a little freestyle wordsmithing. Tonight it was Russ from the Julie Puppets. Now, something you have to know is that tonight was the Julie Puppets' cowboy-themed show. Russ was a sight to behold. He of course had the five-gallon cowboy hat, some great aviator-like sunglasses, a false trucker 'stache, tight jeans, belt buckle... the whole deal. He brought his own great southern twang to rap improv. And it was beautiful.

As we were telling people to get drinks, even if they're alcoholics, Dustin was playing "Deck the Halls" quietly to himself. That's great music for drinking away your holiday blues. Furthermore, tonight was our annual performance of "A Junebug Christmas." This is a song that we wrote, kind of. The music is basically "Happy Trails," and I (tony) wrote the lyrics. But we only play this song once a year, our last show before Christmas, and the year the 331 Club was the lucky recipient. The video of this performance can be seen below. Warning: may include rudeness and lewdness. Or not enough. Whatever.

Tonight we were trying to push our album, Share. Earlier in the night, Yasen Marie was saying that they needed money to eat. We explained tonight that we also need to eat. Anthony exclaimed that he needed more shrimp for his yacht. I informed them that I needed premium gas for my Rolls Royce. Anthony also needs a new battery for his Rolex. Oh, how far we've come.

I wrote tonight's setlist, and boy was it energetic. Maybe it was just hot in there, but we were all relatively pooped only half-way through. Anthony suggested cutting it short because we were all sweating and breathy, but I said no way! I was having fun. We continued tonight's show with much energy and gusto. So much so that I actually got a sideache during the rock-out section at the end of "Sledgehammer." You see how much I give? Hunred puhcent.

As our set was drawing near to its close, I said, "We've got a couple left if you want to hear them..." There was little response aside from the ongoing murmur of the crowd. Then, one dude said, "Woo!" I said that I'd take that as a yes - that one is all I need. Dustin responded with, "Don't encourage us."

At the close of the show, someone in the crowd showed their approval of our set by exclaiming, "Grease that hog!" I can think of no other more appropriate exclamation.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

10/24/09 - The Terminal - Minneapolis

Tonight Dustin was able to join us on stage! He was still not at 100%, with a bit of flu-fatigue left over, but he was able to play, and that was a very good thing. He didn't sing, though. But it was fine. We had his guitar contributions. When we took stage, he addressed the crowd: "We are Junebug and we can prove it."

Before the show started, however, I experienced a bit of a technical difficulty. As I was putting together all my hardware, I pulled my kick pedal out of the bag and it fell apart - fully. In two pieces. Well, it seems that the pin that attaches the pull chain to the pedal itself had decided to take a permanent vacation. Luckily, Nick went on a mission and found that one of the bartenders had a safety pin. It did the trick.

Anthony introduced us, saying that we're huge in Korea and South Carolina. So if you're in either of those markets, you're probably familiar with us.

We had a pretty decent crowd tonight. It was surely better than the last time we played the Terminal. A number of folks were there for the other bands appearing tonight; Spy Johnson and The Early Effect. There was a good amount of foot traffic as well. People were drinkin' and dancin' and it was all right by me.

Our friend and video producer, Cody Tesnow, was in the house tonight. Anthony announced publicly that Cody is working on the video for "Jumpstart My Rocket" which has been in the works for awhile. Strangely, the track isn't even recorded yet, but the video is in production. So there's some fun news for you. Cody made his presence further known later in the night. Anthony, in announcing a particularly funky song of ours, said that he'd like to see some asses on the dance floor. Well, Cody responded in true form. He came up to the stage, turned his back to us, pulled his pants down and literally showed us his ass while on the dance floor. We were overwhelmed. Nick informed him, however, that he had missed a spot.

We played "Casanova" tonight, and there's a section in the song in which we often invite someone from the crowd to come up and freestyle. Well, no one took the bait tonight, so Anthony filled in with a classic. You see, a couple years ago, we played the song in Aberdeen, South Dakota and an awesome lady named Cheryl came up to freestyle. Her verse went as follows: "Rap, rap, rap, rap, rap. Oh yeah! Rap, rap, rap, rap, OH YEAH!" This performance was repeated by Anthony tonight. Classic.

Tonight, I (tony) did something unprecedented in the history of Junebug shows. I left the stage in the middle of the set to use the restroom. But here's the thing. It truly was an emergency situation as far as my bladder was concerned. One more cymbal crash and I'd have been done. Anthony had stopped to tune his guitar as he often does. This sometimes takes a long time. So I jumped down and took three steps to the men's room. I did my business and made it back to my drum throne in exactly 56 seconds. Not too shabby. Because, my friends, I am a professional.

That is all.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

10/23/09 - Decoy's - Hopkins, Minn.

This first sign of a good night is when you're unloading your gear into the venue, and as you're grabbing a load from the van, a group of guys enters the bar and promptly exits exclaiming, "I'm not going to listen to some terrible band for a cover!" Ah, yes. This is how far we've come.

The second sign is when the opening band takes the stage, says "Thanks for coming out, we're Cryptic," and a couple partying dudes keep cheering for them, saying, "all right, Junebug! You rock!"

The third sign of a kick ass night is learning that your guitarist is still quite flu-ridden and unable to perform.

The fourth and final sign of a great night to come is when the sound engineer expresses the management's wish that it be a lower-volume deal. The sound man, an expressive and friendly British man named Dave, was very cordial and apologetic, saying, "It's more like a paid rehearsal. Grab a drink, lay back and have some fun." As it turned out, we didn't have to lay back too much and the patrons and staff alike seemed not to mind.

After Cryptic played a great set of their own, we took the stage. Anthony exclaimed, "It's Friday! You only get one of these!" "Well," I replied, "One a week." Anthony also added that the more you drink, the better we sound and the less you'll remember tomorrow - which may be a good thing.

I passed along to the crowd that we were again Junebug minus one tonight, saying that "If you guys are throwing up tomorrow, we want it to be because you were drinking alot tonight, not because of our guitarist's flu." The patrons of the bar cheered this heartily and proceeded to drink themselves further into a stupor, which in turn made us sound better. It was win/win, really.

Again tonight, Dustin's absence was felt. However, at the point in "Poet" in which he normally plays a solo, Anthony introduced him: "Ladies and gentlemen! Dustin Marks!" And we smiled quietly to ourselves.

Anthony said "Casanova" was the funkiest thing in our catalog. I told him not to lie. After "Bad Mamma Jamma," he said, "It's all downhill from here, folks." He introduced "Moon Over the Water" as "phsychedelic" and we told him not to put us in a box. Because I don't want to be in his box. Anthony cheered for "Aphrodite" himself, telling the crowd not to worry about it because he's got it. I told the crowd that we like to spread good vibes around. Anthony said, "That's the name of the next song." See how that worked out? We debuted "To the Next Episode" to the Twin Cities (with no intro and no cover inserted into the middle) and we apologized in advance for "Soul Shaker". I dedicated "Crossroads" to my wife tonight, since it was five years ago tonight that we started dating.

There was a good group of people there tonight. PJ was again in attendence with his recording gear, which we love. A couple of the ladies from Yasen Marie (with whom we've played in the past) were there. A number of other friends and strangers were there, too. Also in attendance were a couple somewhat creepy guys who were very intent on giving the ladies, ALL the ladies, copious, and generally unwanted, attention. One of them did not speak English at all and the other translated in very broken English. The men asked my wife and her married friend if they could buy the ladies drinks and dance with them. The men danced with other semi- or un-willing ladies, and even tried to persuade PJ to dance with them. Classy.

All in all, considering all the signs we received early on, we had a lot of fun. We took Dave's advice and just laid back, threw caution to the wind, had a drink and had a good time.

Because, as I said from stage tonight, "Having fun is our M.O. Our modus operandi. Right? Is that right? M.O. - modus operandi? That's what that stands for, right?"

*Silence*

The mighty Junebug soars again.

Friday, October 23, 2009

10/22/09 - Red Carpet Nightclub - St. Cloud, Minn.

Tonight, we ran down the road to sunny St. Cloud, Minnesota to play at the Red Carpet Nightclub. We had never played there before, but it was a pretty cool place. It's big, with all sorts of strange hallways and passages. You can imagine getting lost there.

When I say, "we ran down the road," I mean Anthony, Nick and me (tony). Dustin was at home sick. This was the first time since high school that a show has been played by us under the name "Junebug" without Dustin performing. He had "the piggy pox" as Nick said, at it really was better that he get rest instead of exposing it to you all. But he was missed, surely. There were a number of songs that contain guitar solos played by our Sparkle Sprinkler that were just too thin tonight. For example, the solo section of "Poet" was so empty that I vocally sang Dustin's guitar solo. The solo sections in "M'Lady" and "Jumpstart" weren't so lucky. Additionally, the intro to "Lady Madonna" which Dustin plays was mildly rough and "Sledgehammer" was scrapped altogether. So playing a show without Dustin was certainly doable, it just isn't desireable.

Our old friend PJ Pearson was present tonight, with his show recording gear. So a recording of this strange Dustin-less show exists. In fact, it's playing in my headphones as I type this. I don't think we've seen PJ since our CD Release party on October 17, 2008, so it was nice to catch him again.

Also in the crowd were a few of Nick's old hockey kids, all grown up and drinking adult beverages. They cheered for us, we cheered for them.

Regardless of the fact that we were Junebug minus one, we still had fun tonight. Anthony said we were napalm, gasoline and orange juice all mixed together, that we were highly volatile and the Red Carpet couldn't sue us if we exploded since it was in our contract. He also expressed love for those present. He said "We love you more than we're legally able to love you... you may need a restraining order."

Speaking of love, before "Clone You," Anthony asked if anyone in the crowd loved anyone so much they wanted to clone them and do stuff with them. There was a lone voice that replied, "Myself." Oh, come on. We've all thought about it. He just had the courage to say it. Kudos to that guy.

Perhaps the most enthusiastic person of the night was Jonalyn the waitress. She was extremely friendly and peppy and was dancing to our danceable tunes. She made the show worthwhile. I gave her a CD.

We played this show with Cryptic tonight and used some of their gear, too. The tables will turn tomorrow night in Hopkins.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

10/10/09 - VFW - Aberdeen, S.D.

Junebug & Jackson's Gypsy Day Jam

Encore:
| Crossroads |

Tonight was Gypsy Day in good ol' Aberdeen, South Dakota. "Gypsy Days" is what they call homecoming at Northern State University, and it is generally a huge party night. We were hoping to capitalize on that tonight. We had a good number of our most loyal Aberdeen fans present, and we all had a blast together. Unfortunately, the downtown festivities were better attended than ours out at the VFW. Snakebeard Jackson (our old bassist Josh's band) was playing downtown as well as Pops Blue Rhythm Band, and there was a big event at the Red Rooster for the under 21 crowd. All of these events cut into our attendance, but did that stop us from having fun? Hells. No.

The night started with DJ Rad Jackson spinnin' some grooves for about an hour and then Junebug was up and ready to roll. We got off to a good energetic start and carried it all the way through.

There were three songs that were re-debuted tonight. You see, the album we're working on next is made up of our older material. When Nick joined the band, he learned all the Share material and we're just relearning and reworking all the older material now. So tonight saw the re-debut of "Modern Day Fairy Tales", "Casanova" and "Bumblebee". We haven't played "Modern Day" for a long time. "Casanova" has peeked out from time to time as a jam while Anthony tunes onstage, and "Bumblebee" hasn't been played since August 29, 2008. When I (tony) recited this date onstage, I was met with a barrage of snarky questions -- "What was the weather like? What shirt was I wearing? What color were my socks?" The answer to the last one, by the way, is white. [Note: This date is, by the way, incorrect. The correct date of course is July 13, 2008.]

During a lull in tonight's set, I decided to chat up the crowd by talking about sports. "How 'bout that game?" I asked, referring to NSU's homecoming game which they lost 42-0. No answer. "Well, at least we can take comfort in the fact that nobody was killed on the field... you know, literally murdered before your eyes." No answer. I think it was too soon.

During another lull, I decided to try the sports talk again. I wished aging controversial Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre a happy birthday, which was today. Dustin also proceeded to wish Brent Favre a happy birthday. There were a couple scattered shouts that were unintelligible. I said, "Hey, whether you love Brett Favre or hate him, you have to admit... he's old." I received much approval for this comment and was told it was a very keen observation.

Before "Moon Over the Water" tonight, Anthony was paying his guitar some more attention so I decided to speak once more. I talked about the United States' efforts in a war against the moon. You know, how we sent a rocket up there with the intention of bombing the moon, but how it actually caused a chain reaction that split it apart, hurling it into Earth's atmosphere only to disintegrate before impact. I encouraged the crowd to raise their glasses and drink to the moon that was, before we destroyed it. I introduced the next song as a love song to our former moon. It will be missed. P.S. All the while I talking about this, Dustin was playing "Deck the Halls" as underscore.

Rad Jackson had a heavy duty fog machine that was working overtime tonight. Fog machines are great, especially along with great light rigs like his. But this one was a little overzealous at times. During one particularly heavy period of fog, Anthony mentioned, "Thank you, Aberdeen! We can barely see you, but we can hear you breathing."

Normally, when people request a song, we play it. However, it should be noted that we denied - flat out DENIED - three requests for "Refrigerator" tonight. It had to be said.

We played "Next Episode" tonight for the first time since the last time we were in Aberdeen. It's currently pretty much just an Aberdeen song. We've never played it in the Twin Cities, but it is slated to be on the next record. So we'll see. Tonight, it was prefaced by Billy Idol's "White Wedding". "It's a nice day to start again / It's a nice day for a... NEXT EPISODE!" The middle of song was taken up by "Misty Mountain Hop" by Led Zeppelin. Why do we do it? Nobody knows. Then, we blasted directly into "Chosen Ones".

For some reason, after "Chosen Ones", the crowd inexplicably erupted into a chant of "One more song! One more song!" It was odd, because nothing indicated that the previous was to be our last. I worried that they were just sick of us and wanted us to play ONLY one more song. Dustin responded, "Only one? How about we play four more songs?" To which I suggested, "Okay, how about we play THREE more songs, then after the third song, you chant 'One more song'. Demand that encore! And pretend we didn't have this conversation." The plan was set.

So we played "Damn the Man" and "Sledgehammer". Then Anthony turned back to me and said, let's just play "Jumpstart" and call it good. I said, "No encore?" He said, "Nah, let's just get off stage so Vinny can start his set." Well, this was a discussion amongst the band members, and the crowd did not hear it. So Anthony announced it was our last song (as the crowd expected per our arrangement). When it was finished, the crowd began chanting "One more song!" Anthony bemusedly looked around at the rest of us, and incredulously agreed. We then played "Crossroads". So the point is that what was supposed to be a fake encore actually turned into a real encore. It was humorous, possibly only to me.

It was a fun show tonight, like I said. We had a great time, and our loyal fans who came out had a great time, too. They danced and sang along and made it all worthwhile. They are the best. It wasn't a big crowd, but it was an awesome, loving crowd. It was just one of those nights that was a victim of location and scheduling. Dustin closed the show by saying, "We love you, Aberdeen... wherever you are."

Then Rad Jackson spun some more, and people danced the night away.