Junebug Show Diaries

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.

Sunday, August 30, 2009

8/29/09 - Howie's - La Crosse, Wis.

Tonight, we piled into vehicles and headed down to La Crosse, Wisconsin. This was our first show we have played across the Wisconsin border in cheese-head territory. It was totally all right. Everyone was super nice and super cool and we felt totally welcome. Howie's even put our name on the marquee. It was all good.

Howie's is a pretty cool place. It's split into two sections - bar and music venue - and it's surprisingly well sound proofed between the two. The stage area is sizeable and the decor is nice. It's got a sort of wooden, wilderness lodge motif.

I got there early and my wife and I went to dinner with Greg and Mandy Parmeter, some college friends who currently live in La Crosse. We went to a Mexican restaurant just a couple blocks away and it was tasty.

The show started off with the solo acoustic stylings of Nicholas Bjerke, followed by our friends My Lady Four, who will be kicking off their national tour in just about a week or so. Then it was us. We do what we can.

It was a decent road show, I think. It wasn't too heavily attended, but there were enough people there to make it fun. Greg and Mandy brought some friends from the community theater world. And there were just folks there wanting to hear live music. Who are we to argue. It was energetic and it was fun. Hopefully we made a good impression. I wouldn't mind going back.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

8/15/09 - Murphy's - Arnold's Park, Iowa

The whole Okoboji area is a lot of fun, with a lot to do. We had the entire day to just relax and enjoy the lake and corresponding festivities. My wife and I decided to see all we could see while we were there. The previous day, we purchased unlimited ride bracelets at Arnold's Park (the historic amusement park the town was named after). Today, we decided to take a boat tour of the lake on the equally historic Queen II. It's a replica of the original Queen steam boat that would take folks on tours of the lake in the early 20^th Century. The ride took a couple of hours (it's a big lake) and we purchased popcorn and Coronas to go along with the hot summer day. After the boat ride, we visited the Maritime Museum, which featured a boat that had sunk in the 1940s and was raised recently, revealing how well preserved it remained on the bottom of the lake. We then saw the Iowa Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, which included a Grammy Award won by the band Slipknot and artifacts relating to the place crash on "The Day the Music Died," among other things relating to Iowa music. I registered Junebug as a musician visitor and we moved on to the mini-donuts stand just down the hill from Murphy's, our weekend venue.

Liza and I returned to our hotel room and invited the other Junebug boys to come over for a beer, hang out and go grab a bite before the show. Nick was with family, who were camping out that weekend, but the others obliged. We went to the Taco House, which was quite good. We then headed to the venue.

It was another great show. There were more folks out tonight than last night. Last night, most of the crowd showed up after we were done, just in time to party with the Isles, but tonight, there was a good number of people present for our set as well. I felt like tonight's set was way better and more energetic than last night's. I was more used to D.J.'s drum kit after playing a whole set on it, so that was part of it. I got off the stage at the end of the night with an awesome attitude and feeling. Nick, however, said he felt last night's was better. So it's open to interpretation, I suppose.

Even if we weren't quite as good as last night, it was still a good show. You can always tell it's a good show when there are a couple ladies down front, hoochie dancing all over one another. It's fun for them, it's entertaining for us, so it's really a win-win situation. That happened tonight. And it got other dancing down front, so it can't be bad.

Then, the Isles again kicked our asses and took our names, because they are freaking amazing. Like I needed to tell you that.

After the show was over, the sound guy, whose name is Nick, praised us and told us he really liked us. He told us a bit about his musical projects and then moved into telling ghost stories about Murphy's. He took us into the basement to show us a creepy room in which everyone feels uneasy and in which the lights turn on and off routinely. They sometimes hear odd sounds coming out of that room and it freaks all the employees out all the time. I can report that nothing paranormal happened when we were down there, but he sure made us feel uneasy in the moment. But we got over it. We went back upstairs and BSed with the Isles peeps and then headed for our sleep places.

In the morning, Liza and I decided to go to the beach. As is usually the case when we're on vacation, the day we chose to go to the beach ended up being unseasonably cold. But that didn't stop me. I wanted to stand in the lake. So I did. Then it was on the road, back to Minneapolis, our home sweet home. It really was a great getaway weekend in a nice little resort town. We just happend to play some music while there. I'd recommend Okoboji as a nice place to spend a weekend.

As a post script, Dustin shot a video of what his and Anthony's night was like in their hotel room in Okoboji. He and Anthony were both half-asleep. I saw it once. When he shares it with me again, I'll share it with you.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

8/14/09 - Murphy's - Arnold's Park, Iowa

Arnold's Park, Iowa is a small resort town located right next to the town of Okoboji, right on Lake Okoboji. The town has a rich history, with an amusement park that is over one hundred years old, complete with a rickety wooden roller coaster (see the video below). Spending any time in this area gives you the idea that it's really only a summer town. The place is probably pretty near deserted in the winter months. But I suppose there's probably decent ice fishing on the lake, so I might not know what the hell I'm talking about.

The Isles asked us to play a weekend in Arnold's Park with them at a bar called Murphy's. Well, we'd be crazy to turn down a weekend on the road with The Isles, because those cats know how to put on a show and we always have a good time with them.

We knew as soon as we walked in that it was going to be a good weekend. Right after we entered the bar, our eyes were drawn to a television screen which was playing Harold & Kumar Go to Whitecastle, right at a bare boobies scene. If that's not a good omen, nothing is. Come on. Boobies.

We loaded our gear in. My gear was minimal since we were sharing The Isles' drum kit. All I loaded in was my cymbal bag, stick bag, and merch box, then I was free to go relax until showtime.

My wife and I grabbed some nachos and beers at the bar next door. I forget the name of it, but it was some Texas grill type place. Dustin later joined us, right up until our call time.

It was a pretty solid show. I personally felt a bit shaky tonight, but I was assured that it all sounded good from the crowd. The energy was fine, and people were there drinking and enjoying the atmosphere. It was pretty typical as far as Junebug sets go. Nice and steady and bangin'. Nothing too abnormal to report.

After we were done, The Isles started and the place packed out. They pretty much ruled, like they always do. Nobody gets me dancing at shows the way they do. I had a blast during their set.

We're both here tomorrow night, too. We'll check out some of the sites and recreation tomorrow and then rock some more tomorrow night.