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

Set:
| Pay the Toll to Ride the Junebug Flow | Vacation to Oblivion | Modern Day Fairy Tales | Poet (Who Didn't Know It) | M'Lady | Downtown Liquor Store | Casanova | I'm a Bad Mamma Jamma (Who Works at Wendy's) | Lady Madonna [The Beatles] | Refrigerator | Moon Over the Water | Bumblebee | Last Night | Found My Boogie | The Date | Share | Chosen Ones | Crossroads | Sledgehammer [Peter Gabriel] | Jumpstart My Rocket |

---

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.