Set: | Pay the Toll to Ride the Junebug Flow | Modern Day Fairy Tales | Vacation to Oblivion | Casanova | Poet (Who Didn't Know It) | Come Together [The Beatles] | I'm a Bad Mamma Jamma (Who Works at Wendy's) | Cake | Downtown Liquor Store | Refrigerator | Clone You | Crossroads | To the Next Tokyo [Episode] | Jumpstart My Rocket | Chosen Ones | Found My Boogie | Bumblebee |
We took the stage and Anthony exclaimed that we had a special surprise for everyone -- chocolate-covered bacon! "If you're a true Junebug fan, you might want to devour some bacon." Of course there wasn't any chocolate-covered bacon for real, but sometimes Anthony likes to dream. He then went on to plug our new album, Modern Day Fairy Tales, saying that "Pay the Toll to Ride the Junebug Flow" is the title track. Unbeknownst to the rest of us, Anthony changed the title of the album, after it has already been printed, distributed and sold.
We plugged on through the opening tracks from the album, including "Casanova." Anthony informed the crowd that we had just tripped them out with "Vacation to Oblivion" and now we would funk them out with this one. The dance floor desperately wanted the crowd to dance on it as well. When it came to Lil Buddy's rap portion of the song, we hadn't planned ahead for a guest artist to join us, so as we were playing through it, Dustin told Anthony to do the rap. He laughed through it, spouting some of the lyrics here and there, intermingled with some Anthony-speak that we love. When the song was over, I encouraged people to pick up the album to hear how the song is actually supposed to sound.
The next tune featured a special guest performer who goes by the name of Anna Wosika. She performed on our album and knocked this song out of the park. She gave it exactly what it needed and took it to heights we couldn't have reached on our own. She sang chorus vocals on "Bad Mamma Jamma." As she took the stage, I introduced her as "our friend and lover," then backtracked with, "well, one of our lover." Because you see, our bassist Nick is, in his own words, "totally hittin' that." "I ain't lying," he went on, "the girl's fine." Before the song started, Anthony said, "There's a backstory that goes with this. Way back in '72 I was driving down an old Alabama road..." He stopped short. I enthusiastically said, "Tell the story!" "And there shined a shiny demon," he concluded. I have an idea there was probably more to the story. Will we ever get it out of him? Only the demon knows.
We continued plugging along with "Cake" and we encouraged people to rob liquor stores in the neighborhood. Then, Nick announced that we were on the radio just last night. We were on KFAI's "Minnesota Sountrack." We started off the show with none other than... "Refrigerator." Nick said he was pumped to be on the radio, but then it was that song. Dustin seemed quite pleased, however, exclaiming a gleeful "yes!"
"Crossroads" was dedicated tonight to my sister Joni. "I say, don't go, little darlin' / Don't be like a rainbow / that vanishes when I get too close. / 'Cause I will wander for decades / in clothes worn and ragged / to find you / next to that gold."
After the mood was softened with "Crossroads," Anthony asked if anyone wanted to rock it. "How hard do you want to rock it?" Somebody shouted out, "The hardest!" Dustin then asked, "How FAR do you want to rock it?" Our friend Cody shouted, "To Tokyo!" So we busted into "To the Next Tokyo!" Not once did we say the word "episode." We all spontaneously sang "Tokyo" each time and the result was brilliant, if I'm allowed to say so myself. During Anthony's solo section, Dustin informed that it is his favorite lead guitar part on the entire album. Because of his "Tokyo" suggestion, this song was dedicated to him.
Anthony then explained that Cody gets a back-to-back dedication, since Cody has been talking about doing a video for "Jumpstart." Here's the thing, though. Cody's been talking about doing a video for that song since we were all still students at Northern. Will it happen? Only the demon knows. I was so wrapped up in this thought that I missed my initial drum hit in the intro, but I didn't realize it and hit late. "Did I miss it?" I asked incredulously. Yes. Yes, I did.
I offered a deal to the crowd tonight. The first person to rush up to the foot of the stage and correctly name every member of the band would win an autographed poster of Junebug. The first person to do so was Cody Tesnow, after a long gap of confusion. There was already a poster signed and ready to go, but Cody grabbed a blank one and a marker and demanded afterward that each of us dedicate our autograph to his genitals. You stay classy, Mr. Tesnow.
Our buddy PJ was present at this show, and as you may or may not know, he likes to record live shows and tonight was no exception. There are two options below for immediate, FREE download.
Finally, at one point tonight, Nick came over to me on stage and shook my hand, saying that this was the most fun he had had on stage in a long time. The sad thing about this is that, though we didn't know it at the time, this would regretfully end up being Nick's last show with Junebug. Unfortunately, he didn't get an opportunity to say farewell to the Junebug fans like he would have liked to have. For limited details, please read this post at the Junebug Flow blog.
Photos by Liza Kollman
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