11/21/11 - Tour Stop at MasterMix Studio - Minneapolis

Soundcheck / warmup:

| Please Please Me [The Beatles] | Destiny, She Drives a Rolls |

Set:

| Beards | Fluffy Little Hands | Give Yourself | Destiny, She Drives a Rolls |

---

This was our second time doing Tour Stop at MasterMix. The first one we did was the first one ever. So, as I understand it, there were a number of after-the-fact technical difficulties which prevented the completion of the materials. This led Student Run Records to ask us to do a second session, which we were more than happy to do.

This one overall went more smoothly. You could tell that the crews have done a few of them since the first one. Everyone has sort of fallen into their positions, and those in charge have a working knowledge of how it goes, rather than just a theoretical one.

After arrival, setup and soundcheck, the band all convened for an on-camera interview with host Eric Bull of Student Run Records. We talked about our music, the studio experience, Beards, and Teletubbies. We then went into the performance space for another short introduction and interview which preceded the playing of a few tunes -- all of which will appear on Beards.

The session flowed like a live performance. We were told ahead of time that there were no second takes. We perform this like we perform a show. If we mess up, we keep going. It was cool like that. It was pretty laid back. There were a couple slip-ups here and there, but we're human and we love it.

The whole time we performed, there were two camera guys in the space. Jose stood stationary to the right of drum kit and swiveled his camera, and Tanner moved around the space. There were also two stationary cameras getting different shots of the room. In the control booth, Peter and Paul (no sign of Mary -- but there was a Mike) captured pro audio. It will all be edited together into a video program and an audio EP. No word yet on how all that will work, but it will.

After the performance, we went over to the other building with the video guys to get some B-roll shots of us walking down a hallway. It sounds less than riveting, but trust me, it'll look cool.

Tour Stop at MasterMix is a cool thing they've got going over at Student Run Records. We're glad to have done it twice, and we hope to do it again if they'll have us.

Photo by Kate Waterloo. See the whole set here.

10/14/11 - Driftwood Char Bar - Minneapolis

Anthony's Birthday Party

Set:

| Beards | Poet (Who Didn't Know It) | I'm a Bad Mamma Jamma (Who Works at Wendy's) | Destiny, She Drives a Rolls | Modern Age | Hell-Bent Woman | Mystic Princess | Moon Over the Water | Fluffy Little Hands | Handlebar Mustache | Soul Shaker | Jumpstart My Rocket |

---

Tonight we were joined by our dear friends, the inimitable San Haven Chuckle from Fargo. They've been wanting to get to the Cities to play with us for awhile, and now we've finally made it happen. Anthony's birthday is in a couple days, and we figured this was a perfect occasion to party with some music and friends. This was Anthony's birthday celebration, and the place was full of friends and fans. As Anthony said when the show got underway, "I'm one year older and a lot more stupider."

Of further note tonight -- This was Dillon Marchus's very first show as Junebug's bassist. Coincidentally, it was exactly one year ago tonight that former bassist Brandon Johnson had his first show as Junebug bassist. Strange. Kismet.

The first two songs of the night have a dubious connection. Both songs begin with solitary drum beats which are identical. So if anyone was paying attention, they would notice that.

Dillon had his first experience with "Bad Mamma Jamma" tonight. He funked it up well. And when talking about getting out of the mental institution, Anthony gave a shout out to an old band from our youths called Outpatient 13. After this song, we got chants of "one more song!" Which is interesting since it was only the third of the night. Was it a subtle hint? We didn't pick up on it if it was.

Before "Modern Age," Anthony mentioned "we like to believe there's something sacred hidden in both classic rock and facial hair... Some gems, maybe." The we played the song. Afterwards, Dustin said, "As a birthday present, I'll help you write an ending to that song."

When we finished playing "Mystic Princess" tonight, one member of the crowd felt so positively about the song that he shouted out, "Correct! Correct! That was correct!" Dustin informed him that his beat is correct. "Hell yes," I added.

We continued with the show, rocking as you would expect. Some fine, but anonymous, audience member bought us a pitcher of beer, which is one of the perks of the job. But I wish we had known who it was so we could thank them.

We did experience the typical San Haven Chuckle mooning tonight. Any time we play a show with the Chuckle, we can be assured of seeing their big white man butts at some point throughout the night. Apparently, that's what we get for singing their lyrics to our song. They returned that favor, however, in addition to the mooning. They sang our lyrics to their song in a return tribute.

We opened tonight, and let the Chuckle close 'er down. Since it was Anthony's birthday, we decided to play early and let him party down for the rest of the night. No only that, but we're heading into the studio tomorrow for the weekend to work on more of Beards.

Fun fact: 58% of the songs played tonight are from the upcoming new album.

10/11/11 - Tour Stop at MasterMix Studio - Minneapolis

Tour Stop at MasterMix

Set:

| Beards (partial) | Destiny, She Drives a Rolls | Mystic Princess | Hell-Bent Woman | Beards (partial) | Handlebar Mustache [not recorded] | Beards (partial) | Funky Jam [not recorded] |

---

Tonight was the recording of the inaugural TourStop at MasterMix. Using us as their guinea pigs, Student Run Records and IPR launched this new series which caters to local and touring bands. The band comes into MasterMix and plays a short set while engineers record it and shoot video and still photography. There are interviews, and refreshments, and it is a somewhat exclusive event with a limited number of people able to attend. Stuff will be edited together and released online. Good stuff all around.

So this was really a really cool thing. We weren't really too sure what to expect going in. The whole of event was kind of a mystery to us. The way it sounds, since it's brand new and this was the first one, it was kind of a mystery to everyone. All we really knew was the basic idea that we would come in and play four songs and that both audio and video were being recorded.

I arrived around 4:45 p.m. and as soon as I walked in, people were giving me the rockstar treatment. Now, keep in mind, I attend IPR. These are people I see at school daily, people I sit around and shoot the breeze with on a regular basis. But in this context, I guess I was part of "the talent." When I walked in, everyone seemed really welcoming and happy to see me. About five people at once asked if they could help load gear into the building. Of course I took them up on it. All my drum gear was loaded in in about three minutes. It was fabulous.

I then helped Anthony carry his gear in, and by that time, the engineers had already gotten a solid start on setting up my cymbal stands. I just had to basically put my gear in place and then I was free to mingle with the guests.

Eventually, we started a sound check with the recording engineers while the videographers set lighting. Midway through the sound check, we got pulled away to do interviews. We were split into two groups: Anthony & Dustin, and me & Dillon. Dillon and I were interviewed first by Keenan Sattler, a student at IPR. Then, the others were interviewed by Megan Schueller, another student. Then, we all joined together for a final couple questions. It'll all be edited into the program smoothly. In retrospect, I kind of wish that the interview would have been all of us together. Our vibe and sense of humor usually comes from playing off one another in a group setting. And furthermore, with the nature of the questions, Dillon ended up being pretty quiet, due to him being a completely new addition to the band. So, our segment was a little dull, I felt. But I'm confident that it will all play pretty well when it's put together. Anthony and Dustin, however, knocked it out of the park.

After the interviews were taped, it was time to play some music. We gathered in the performance area of MasterMix and the guests crowded into the control room and lounge area to watch and listen to our performance.

Once we got the word that both audio and video were rolling, we opened with "Beards." However, midway through, we completely lost Anthony's guitar. The first of a few technical difficulties reared its ugly head. I think it had something to do with one of his pedals, but I'm not sure. The engineers got it figured out and we moved on in the set.

"Destiny, She Drives a Rolls" was next. It was a solid performance. We've already recorded most of this song in the studio, so it is pretty well established, and pretty fresh in our minds. Piece of cake.

The next tune was one we intend to record basic tracks for this coming weekend. It's "Mystic Princess" and we did an okay job of it. It went pretty well. We closed the set with "Hell-Bent Woman," which Anthony dedicated to his girlfriend Katie, which I found humorous and laughed about heartily.

When it was over, we got the go-ahead to try to re-do "Beards," since we didn't make it through. About halfway through the tune this time, we were stopped by the audio engineer because they ran out of disk space. So while we waited for that situation to be worked out, we played "Handlebar Mustache" in an effort to entertain the guests through the technical difficulty. We're not sure if they could hear us through the whole song, since I think the system was reset, but we played through the whole thing anyhow. It was not recorded.

They got the disk situation under control and gave us the go-ahead to try the tune again. We did. We got it rolling again, and it was a good take. But alas, it was not meant to be. There was another unspecified technical difficulty and we got the word that "that's a wrap." We celebrated by playing a funky, funky jam (which was not recorded) and were then sent out to mingle with the exclusive guests.

There were snacks and beverages, and general frivolity. There were many compliments, and some photos taken, and lots of good-time schmoozing.

When it was all said and done, the four of us went to Stadium Pizza for some beers. Katie joined us as did a couple of the engineers, Bill and John.

We had a great night. This was a lot of fun and I think that IPR and Student Run Records have a good thing going here. It would be fun if we could return sometime later down the road, when some of the kinks are ironed out.

Thanks for having us, IPR!

10/1/11 - Red Rooster Coffee House - Aberdeen, S.D.

Red Rooster Coffee House 15th Anniversary Celebration

Set:

| Beards | Destiny, She Drives a Rolls | Modern Age | Poet (Who Didn't Know It) | I'm a Bad Mamma Jamma (Who Works at Wendy's) | Hell-Bent Woman | Handlebar Mustache | Mystic Princess | Moon Over the Water | Found My Boogie | Jumpstart My Rocket | Refrigerator | Like a Spy (Not the Stalker) | Downtown Liquor Store | Bumblebee |

Encore:

| On the Sidewalk / To the Next Episode |

The Red Rooster Coffee House in Aberdeen, S.D. is one of our favorite places to play in this crazy world. As any follower of ours likely knows, the Rooster is where we played our first show as a full three-man band. That was more years ago than I would like to admit, quite honestly. But the Rooster has always held a special place in our heart. It's was a big part of what we did back in the day. It was pretty much the only place we played for awhile. And many (or most) of the Junebug songs you enjoy so far were debuted at the Red Rooster. In the past, Dan Cleberg, one of the owners, has referred to us as a "quintessential Rooster band." It seems we are a part of Rooster history, just as they are a part of ours. So when they called on us to come celebrate their fifteenth anniversary with them, how could we say no?

We couldn't. We didn't. We played. And it was good.

Back in the old days, when we first started out at the Rooster, we were a three-piece. We have been plagued with a curse of the bassists. We just can't seem to hold on to them. But the core three have remained the same, through thick and thin. We currently do have a bassist. His name is Dillon, as he has yet to play a show with us at this point. But this show was booked before he was with us and he had things to attend to at home in Minneapolis this weekend. Dustin, Anthony and I (tony) were the ones who played all those Rooster shows back in the day, so it seemed fitting that tonight, when we're celebrating the history of the Rooster, that we play this celebratory show in the classic lineup. Classic Junebug. Or Junebug Retro, if you will.

So, while we celebrate the past, we're also looking toward the future. We took the opportunity tonight to play a few songs off of the upcoming album. We opened the set with "Beards" and went right into "Destiny, She Drives a Rolls." When I talked a little bit about the new album, a voice from crowd enquired, "Is it about beards?" "It's about smoothies. Strawberry smoothies," I replied. "It's an ironic title." Dustin added, "It's based on an inside joke. You wouldn't get it."

We continued with the live performance debut of "Modern Age." It was good. Then, afterward, Jeremy Burckhard, friend and sound person, mentioned that Anthony's vocal effects pedal was making some bad distortion come through. In the midst of this conversation, he used the term "mouth rodeo." There's really no significance to this. I simple liked the term "mouth rodeo" and I still do. Mouth rodeo.

We wished Anthony's lady's young one, Cora a happy birthday tonight, and sang her a painfully bad rendition of the traditional birthday song. Really painful. Nobody deserves that kind of garbage on their birthday, especially not a young girl. But what do you expect from us?Honestly. Another thing regarding the date; Dustin mentioned this to be earlier in the night, as did a friend of mine on Bookface. So I mentioned it to the crowd. "Does anyone know how to get ahold of Billy Joe Armstrong? Because it's time to wake him up...." Silence. "September has ended." Quieter silence. Anthony rubbed it in. "That one went over really well, Tony." He then introduced the next song saying, "Well this is a song that Billy Joel loves because he loves Wendy's food." I'm not sure what Billy Joel has to do with this. Rubbing it in.

"Hell-Bent Woman" was on the setlist tonight. But this is a family place and there were kids present. So it was "Heck-Bent Woman" for this performance. However, Anthony left in the line about getting herpes. Not sure how I feel about that.

We talked a little more about memories of the old days, discussing the old layout of the coffee house, before the expansion in 2001. We talked about our biggest fan, Danny Ch., who was present at all the early shows before he moved out of town. A fan shouted out the memory of my leather pants. Yes, I did used to wear leather pants occasionally at our shows. Sadly, I'm pretty sure they would no longer come close to fitting me.

We played "Refrigerator" and in the middle of it ended up talking about Doc and Marty. We played "Downtown Liquor Store" specifically for my sister Wendy who was in attendance tonight. The crowd shouted "drink himself to death" super loud. And they did the "Place" clap during "Bumblebee."

I personally thanked the Red Rooster Coffee House for all they've done for Aberdeen, for the art and music community, and for all the individuals they've helped out, included me. We ended the set with "Bumblebee" which was one of the favorites from long ago.

The show was over and we were started to vacate the stage. But a chant of "Next Episode" started swelling in our ears. "Next episode! Next episode! Next episode!" You have to give the fans what they want, people. So, this silly song that debuted at the Red Rooster as a JOKE in the year 2000 is one of the things they want, nay need, to hear. We started it with a silly abbreviated version of "On the Sidewalk" and kicked into it, forgetting the guitar solos. It was short, but sweet.

Afterward, a couple people were still requesting "Place." I would have loved to have played it. But Anthony either didn't want to play it or didn't hear the requests. It made sense, though. Since this place has been important to us, and this place is celebrating fifteen years, and this place was where we were playing... We probably should have. But we didn't. Next time. Always leave 'em wanting more. (?)

Finally tonight, this was a strange sort of family reunion for me. I had a lot of relatives in the place. My wife, my son, my father-in-law, my brother-in-law Michael, my mother, my sister Kelsey, my sister Wendy, and Wendy's man-friend. It was pretty cool to feel all the family love coming from that side of the room.

Thanks for the fifteen years, Red Rooster. Here's to fifteen more! I wonder if we'll still be playing in fifteen years, to play the Rooster's 30th Anniversary party. Interesting thought.

View the entire show below:

Video streaming by Ustream

9/2/11 - 7th Street Entry - Minneapolis

Set:
| Poet (Who Didn't Know It) | Modern Day Fairy Tales | Vacation to Oblivion | M'Lady | Destiny, She Drives a Rolls | Casanova | I'm a Bad Mamma Jamma (Who Works at Wendy's) | I Am the Walrus [The Beatles] | Crossroads | Jumpstart My Rocket | Sledgehammer [Peter Gabriel] |

---

This was our first show at the legendary 7th Street Entry at First Avenue in Minneapolis. We saw it as kind of a big deal. First of all, doing well at the Entry is capital toward someday playing the Main Room. The Main Room is where Prince filmed Purple Rain. So you get the idea. Secondly, this was the first show since we've started working with Student Run Records, and there were going to be people from the label there. So we wanted to impress. Like I said earlier, it was kind of a big deal to us.

So it came as a blow a week or so ago when our bassist, Brandon, sent us an email saying he wouldn't be coming back to Minneapolis after his summer with family in South Dakota, though he would play the show at the Entry. It came as a bigger blow when four hours before load-in before the show, I received a text message saying he wouldn't make it after all. That was a major bummer. Major.

I made a quick call to Anthony and sent a message off to Dustin. Unfortunately, the guy we've been looking at to fill the bass position had a previous engagement tonight. So Anthony said he had a short list in mind of two or three people he could call to fill in tonight. The gentleman who answered the call was Anthony's friend Josh Carlson.

As soon as Josh got off work at 6:00 p.m., he headed over to Anthony. There they crammed on a pre-determined and revised setlist. Josh and Anthony went through all the songs and Josh took copious notes. I sent Anthony a text at some point in the evening asking how things were going. "We got this, dawg" was the reply.

Meanwhile, at the venue, Dustin and I had loaded in. I met a few Student Run Records people at the door and they helped load some stuff in. As soon as I set down all the merch, they went to work, counting, sorting and creating an inventory. It was strange, but cool. It was something we didn't have to worry about at all. We had enough to focus on with the strangeness of what has happening. It was nice to have some help.

Anthony and Josh arrived and some of us grabbed some food next door at the Depot. The show started with Young & Tender and we chilled in the basement greenroom. I kept thinking that it was super cool that at this venue, in this greenroom had also chilled such acts as Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, and Husker Du at one time or another. I was daydreamin'.

Chiefs of the North then rocked the stage as we got ready to go on ourselves. Downstairs in the greenroom sat Josh like a champ, doing some last-minute studying.

Chiefs of the North ended, and we set up. (I, the drummer, was the first guy completely ready to go, by the way.) Since the setlist was revised sort of last-minute, I didn't have any printed out for myself or the band. Anthony had texted the set to me earlier in the evening, so I found a setlist from one of the other bands and I wrote our set on the back of it. It was too dark to see on the floor, so I impaled it on my hi-hat stand. It worked surprisingly well. I may end up trying it again.

We got the set started and Josh completely fell right into our groove. Occasionally, he would crouch down by his bass amp so he could better hear himself as he glanced at the notes in his notebook. But usually, he was grooving and feeling our flow.

The strangeness of the whole situation continued through the set. Anthony's effects pedal stopped working properly, so he bypassed it, playing everything dry. And it was loud. Not only that, but he broke a string and didn't have a spare. Dustin worked it out for him, though. Then there were tuning issues. At one point, Anthony turned to me and said, "This is a train wreck." It wasn't quite a train wreck in my estimation, but it certainly wasn't our best showing.

Furthermore, it seemed that most of the crowd that had been there through the night had been there specifically for one band. As it turns out, we shouldn't have played last tonight.

But when it's all said and done, we had fun. It was the Entry, and I had decided that in spite of everything, I was going to enjoy this gig. This I did.

At the end of the show, I realized that the "Who the Hell is Junebug?" sticker that I had carefully affixed to the urinal in the men's room had been removed. I found this to be odd, since the entire rest room was covered in band stickers. One more obstacle to overcome.

At the end of the night, it turned out that our pal Cody managed to snag the poster which hung outside the door advertising the show. He wanted us all to autograph it. I told him that would make it worthless. After I had a little trouble with the marker he handed me (it was a calligraphy marker, it had an, angled flat edge) he made me sign it again, directly underneath. He made the others double-autograph the poster as well. To which I replied, "double-autograph equals double-worthless."

I do hope we get a chance to play the Entry again relatively soon. Though those present all said it sounded good and it was fun, I feel like we somehow need to redeem ourselves and make it a good show. Maybe our CD release show. There's a thought. Let's think about that.

8/15/11 - Fine Line Music Cafe, Minneapolis

Student Run Records A&R Showcase

Set:

| Poet (Who Didn't Know It) | Casanova | I'm a Bad Mamma Jamma (Who Works at Wendy's) | M'Lady | Destiny, She Drives a Rolls | Crossroads | Beards | Clone You | Sledgehammer [Peter Gabriel] |

---

This show crept up on us kind of last minute. I got an email from a classmate, Crystal Statskey, who is one of the folks involved with Student Run Records out of IPR. The email went out to several musicians/bands in the immediate IPR community. She said they were having a label A&R showcase to try to line up an artist to sign. There were a couple slots left on the bill and would we be interested in submitting our interest. I grabbed our EPK and a couple tracks and sent them along. We were very quickly accepted onto the bill.

So the point of this show was not only to rock out and have a good time, but also to attempt to impress the good people at Student Run Records. Because after all this was said and done, they would discuss who they would like to work with.

We played third on the bill, after Sticky Byte and Bruce McLaughlin Band - both very good and fun bands, which are a great mix with our music. We should play more shows with those guys.

We g0t decked out in our colors -- meaning we were all wearing athletic jogging suits of differing solid colors. We took the stage with yelling and high-fiving and general frivolity. We started the set out with energy, kicking it with "Poet," followed by "Casanova" and "Bad Mamma Jamma." It was a good high octane start to the show.

People were into it, which we were really pleased about, for sure. Again, our buddy PJ was in the house, capturing live audio. And our friend Collin was capturing some video with our other pal Bruce's flip cam. One of the examples of these synced together is below. There's more where that came from, too. Word.

This show was really solid all the way around. There were a couple minor mix-ups. "You could have a bumper car flying..." But that's to be expected from time to time, obviously. We ended on a high note and people kept talking about our rendition of "Sledgehammer." Apparently it struck a nerve this time around.

It was a good show. I hope we impressed.

EDIT: It turns out we made an impression. Student Run Records has asked us to work with them. We start tracking our new album Beards within a matter of weeks!

7/12/11 - Chalk It Up! - River's Edge Commons - Elk River, Minn.

Chalk It Up!

Set:

| Come Together [The Beatles] | Poet (Who Didn't Know It) | Spring Fever | Found My Boogie | Destiny, She Drives a Rolls | Casanova | I'm a Bad Mamma Jamma (Who Works at Wendy's) | I Am the Walrus [

The Beatles]

| Moon Over the Water | The Date | On the Sidewalk | Beards | Theme From Inspector Gadget / In the Hall of the Mountain King / Refrigerator | Jumpstart My Rocket | Crossroads | Bumblebee | Sledgehammer [Peter Gabriel] |

---

Elk River, Minnesota puts on this series in town called "Chalk It Up!" It's pretty cool. Bands play and kids use sidewalk chalk to make art on the concrete. The space was beautiful. It was Rivers Edge Commons in Elk River, right on the banks of the Mighty Mississipp. It was one of those places in which if you snap any picture from that space, it would be postcard worthy. (Do people use postcards anymore?)

I rolled into town and started setting up my gear. Accompanying me was my younger brother-in-law, Michael, who is staying with us in Minneapolis for a week. He helped me in a roadie-type capacity. As I was setting up, both Brandon and Dustin arrived and began setting up as well.

We got set up and waiting for a little while. Brandon drew a portrait of Dustin with some chalk. Dustin relaxed on the grass while playing some guitar (see video below). I chilled with Michael a bit and we all shot the breeze. Out of the corner of my eye I saw someone else coming down the hill, expecting it to be Anthony. It wasn't, but who could it be? It was our old pal, PJ! You never know when he'll pop up, but we're always happy to see that dude. Anthony finally did arrive, however, and we got set up and sound checked, just as people were filtering in.

We played a few songs to start it all off. We got to our new song, "Destiny, She Drives a Rolls" and Anthony introduced it as being on our upcoming album Beards. I guy in the audience cheered. Anthony said, "Beards are good. Mustaches aren't bad either." The dude who cheered had a beard.

We continued with the show and during a tuning break I talked about how cool this show was. It was really neat to see the kinds dancing and doing art. I pointed out to the good people of Elk River that not every town does cool things like this. Anthony remarked at how well the kids were loving it, saying that perhaps this has been our demographic all along.

After an apt performance of "On the Sidewalk" (because we were on the sidewalk, by the shoreline), we went into "Beards." Anthony thanked everyone who planned ahead and great a beard specifically for the performance of this song this evening.

We continued through our set, enjoying the beautiful weather, the beautiful sunset, the beautiful scenery, and the beautiful people. During the last few songs, more people were starting to filter down the hill to the show. I saw a number of phones out, taking video of our performance. I encouraged everyone to put the vids on YouTube, but I haven't found any yet.

At any rate, this was a great show. This event was wonderful and we were happy to have been a part of it. We hope you have us back sometime, Elk River!

7/9/11 - Pigout Afterparty - Sixth Avenue Gallery - Aberdeen, S.D.

Prelude:

| One Note Tour |

Set One:

| Pay the Toll to Ride the Junebug Flow | M'Lady | Destiny, She Drives a Rolls | Modern Day Fairy Tales | Vacation to Oblivion | I Am the Walrus [The Beatles] | Beards | On the Sidewalk | Crossroads | Handlebar Mustache | Theme From Inspector Gadget / In the Hall of the Mountain King / Refrigerator | Like a Spy (Not the Stalker) | Godzilla [Blue Öyster Cult] | Bumblebee |

Set Two:

HIJACKED

---

Tonight was supposed to be an awesome night. Tonight was supposed to be a top-of-our-game, blow-em-out-of-the-water night. It had been a great weekend for music in Aberdeen, with the Pigout/Music Fest and the Red Rooster's Big Pig Sideshow, followed by the after parties at the Gallery, of which we were a part. There was a chance that there were going to be members of other great bands at this show, and that we could hang with them and make a good impression. You never know where good networking will get you. Well the night didn't turn out exactly as we had planned. More on that as the story warrants.

Tonight marked our first foray into having a visual viewing element since playing anime and Transformers: The Movie on television screens all those years ago. Anthony acquired both a projector and a screen and we put them both to use tonight, projecting trippy visualizations triggered by the sounds of our instruments. That element was pretty successful and cool. We'll be doing that more often.

We took the stage and Anthony thanked the crowd, saying that tonight was part of our "One Note Tour." I counted off ("one, two, three, four!") and we all hit one note... except for Anthony, who hit two. Always giving a little extra.

We opened the show with "Pay the Toll" again tonight. And it seems that we should probably work out the ending on this one again. We've consistently been ending it incorrectly. But since the ending is supposed to signify a train wreck, I suppose it's fitting. Because, boy oh boy. It's been a train wreck. Mission accomplished?

Anthony announced that tonight we were only going to play for about twenty minutes and then go pass out somewhere. We played "M'Lady" and he shouted, "Thank you Aberdeen, GOOD NIGHT!" And began to take off his guitar. "Okay," he relented. "We've got a couple more for ya."

That "couple more" included the live debut of the title track off our upcoming album, Beards. It's called "Beards." There's more where that came from, people. We also played "Handlebar Mustache," also from the Beards project.

We hobbled through the rest of the set. Which included a very shaky performance of "Crossroads," the over-functioning fog machine freaking out Dustin, and the revival of an old bit -- the combination of the "Inspector Gadget" theme and "In the Hall of the Mountain King." From there we went immediately into "Refrigerator." Now, there was supposed to be this weird bit in which we stray from the song and do strange things not easy to explain. As it turned out, I was the only one who remembered to play it, and I got strange looks from the other guys in the band, which made me look an idiot. So after the instrumental section, before I count us back in, I said, "Hey remember that part in which we were going to do that thing? We forgot to do it. Two, three, four!"

Before we played the final song of what we thought was the first set, "Bumblebee," Anthony said that after the break, "we'll be back to blow you away!" I commented, "No promises, no refunds." Dustin introduced the song saying that "this is a song to let people whom you tolerate touch you." And then we rocked it.

So let me back up a second. Above, when I said the night didn't turn out as planned, I don't mean to insinuate that the whole thing completely sucked. No, there weren't as many Pigout musicians there hanging out as we had hoped. No, we didn't perform at the top of our game. But there were some good moments for sure. We talked to a lot of friends that we don't see often. We debuted a new song. Brandon's bass solo in "Godzilla" kicked ass. The screen visuals were great. Our attire was awesome (but I won't really give it away, since we'll use it again). So it wasn't ALL bad.

But now is when things got weird and uncomfortable. Remember when we said that we were going to take a short break and be right back? Well, just as we were coming off stage, there was a mad scramble by the staff to bring up monitors and mic stands, cables and guitars. Just as I had gotten over to the sound board to turn off my recording gear, there were dudes already on stage checking mics. This was not the problem.

It's common for venues to have other musicians fill the set breaks. They don't want silence. They want to keep the people there. If they go outside, they might realize how late it is and just leave. So.. GREAT. Have a band fill the space. It just would have been nice if we had been notified ahead of time. But, as that goes, no big deal.

We were scheduled to play until 4:00 a.m. It's an after-hours venue that goes LATE into the morning. So we had planned to take a 15-20 minute break and then get back up with our 'A' material. Because at the Gallery, the later in the night, the more raucous the crowd, and the more fun the party. So we saved our "gold" for the second set, when everyone was more into it.

Herein lies the problem. After our scheduled break time was up (twenty minutes), this other group was still sound checking. And still checked for ten minutes beyond. --I'll repeat that.-- The unscheduled band that was supposedly going to fill our 20 minute break was still sound checking 30 minutes later. We asked a member of management what was going on. He said they wanted to get up and play and he was giving them a half hour once they got going.

That was kind of a bummer. Because as luck would have it, we had things to do the next day. It wasn't as if we could just stay and play until 6:00 a.m. as management suggested. One of our members had a job to do in the morning and I had to get on the road and drive in the a.m. to join a family gathering that I was skipping to play this show. It would be nice if we could have just said "screw it" to our responsibilities, but that's not how it works. We had all planned on being done by 4:00 a.m. and loaded out by 5:00, as was the agreement.

So when 3:45 rolled around and this other group was still performing, we made a decision that if they were still playing at 4:00, we were out of there. Four o'clock arrived and we started changing back into our street clothes. Management came in at 4:02 and asked if we were ready to go back on. Strange thing was, we had been ready to go back on ten minutes before this unscheduled, unannounced group had started. "We're done," we said. "These guys are on a roll. Let 'em keep playing."

So we went and tore down our gear and loaded out.

When it's all said and done, we stayed for the agreed-upon amount of time, and we still ended up getting paid the agreed-upon sum. We just didn't get to play our agreed-upon sets and felt pretty second-rate, even though we all drove from Minneapolis to be there for this event. And the other band, whose name I don't even remember, was not bad at all. They were really decent and it wasn't their fault. They weren't dicks or anything. It was just a very unfortunate situation for us. There was also an opening band this night called "The Long, Rattling Chain." I came to find out later that they were supposed to be the ones playing our set break. So they got hijacked, too. As I understand it, they left somewhat upset.

So if you missed this show, no big deal. If you were there specifically for us, we're sorry you didn't get what you paid for.

6/26/11 - Twin Cities Pride - Loring Park - Minneapolis

Set:

| Come Together [The Beatles] | Modern Day Fairy Tales | Vacation to Oblivion | Destiny, She Drives a Rolls | The Date | I'm a Bad Mamma Jamma (Who Works at Wendy's) | Refrigerator | Clone You | Sledgehammer [Peter Gabriel] |

---

For the third year in a row we were asked to perform on the main Loring Stage at the Twin Cities Pride Festival. This is always a good day for us. The festival is always so welcoming with such a strong sense of loving community. Additionally, people are in a festive mood and they dance and sway. A super cool thing is that there are always American Sign Language interpreters on stage. Plus you get a nifty lanyard when you perform. I love being at TC Pride.

Brandon deserves kudos for this show. He's been staying in Aberdeen this month, dealing with some family issues, but he traveled out to the Cities specifically for this gig. It's a good thing, too. This festival is good for us. So click 'Like' on Brandon's decision to make the trip.

We had originally planned to open the set with "On the Sidewalk," but decided against it, since it's such a mellow tune. The emcee, the lovely Sweetpea from Lili's Burlesque Revue, had been introducing acts with much gusto. So if we had kicked into a super mellow tune right after that, some impact would have been lost. So we decided to open with "Come Together." Never mind the fact that we had neither practiced it nor played it for weeks. And was it evident. It probably wasn't a good choice. It was a bit of a disaster that I'm sure will go down in the annals of Junebug vernacular. "Let's make sure not to pull a Come Together."

We continued the set as people danced. Others hula-hooped. Others still sat in the grass simply enjoying their summertime beverages. Though the gig may have started rough, it picked up and felt really good. The sound crew on this stage was top-notch. It's the same group we usually work with on this gig, and we always sound great because of them.

We ripped through "Bad Mamma Jamma" and people dug it. And then, just as we were going to move on, we heard a sweet voice shout out, "REFRIGERATOR!!" I looked a little more closely and it was our old friend, Briana, whom we met at American Burger Bar during the winter carnival. She and the man in the Angry Birds shirt ("you've got a lot of courage," said Dustin) were requesting that greatest of tunes about kitchen appliances. Though Anthony was hesitant at first, I reminded him of our policy about playing requests -- which is, if someone likes us enough to hear a particular song and shout it out, we had better play it. So, we did. When it was done, Anthony said next we were going to play our next appliance hit, "Garbage Disposal." Brandon and I kicked in, but it was not meant to be. Maybe another time.

We finished out the set with "Clone You" and a rockin' rendition of our rendition of Peter Gabriel's rendition of "Sledgehammer." Pride 2011 was a hit, and we're super glad we played again this year. We hope that this becomes an annual thing for us.

We as a band promote love, acceptance, unity and good times. We do our best not to speak out about politics or anything like that, because all it seems to do is divide. This festival is all about inclusiveness, equal rights for all types of humans, unity and love. These are all things that we can get behind. We want all people rock equally.

Peace, love and pork rinds.

5/29/11 - Art & Bicycle Spectacle - Red Rooster Coffee House - Aberdeen, S.D.

Set:

| Last Night | Poet (Who Didn't Know It) | Destiny, She Drives a Rolls | Handlebar Mustache | I Am the Walrus [The Beatles] | Pay the Toll to Ride the Junebug Flow | Modern Day Fairy Tales | Vacation to Oblivion

| Casanova | I'm a Bad Mamma Jamma (Who Works at Wendy's) | M'Lady | On the Sidewalk | Bikin' With the Devil [Van Halen] | Like a Spy (Not the Stalker) | Refrigerator (country) |

Cheyana's Special Performance:

| Downtown Liquor Store |

---

As I know I've mentioned before, we always love coming to the Red Rooster Coffee House in Aberdeen, S.D. It was where we started and it's always been a second home. We haven't been here in awhile, though. We've been to Aberdeen, at the Sixth Avenue Gallery, but not the Rooster. So when Dan asked us if we wanted to play the Art & Bicycle Spectacle, we gave a mighty "yep."

The original plan was to have the louder electric acts play on the outside stage and the lighter, acoustic acts would play inside the Coffee House. The weather was playing tricks, however, threatening to drop rain on the event all day long. Dan decided it would be better to not have the electric bands' gear all sitting outside in case the sky decided to dump (which, for the record, it didn't). But we loaded in and caught Small Town Anthem doing their thing. We were next in the lineup.

We started the show with a huddle-up and broke it with the common "Goooooo, Bayside!" This was completely lost on this crowd. It then occurred to me that we are older than most of the people in attendance. It is quite possible that they, unlike us, have not seen every episode of Saved By the Bell. We're showing our age. "I guess you guys are too young for that," I lamented.

We started out by jamming on the song "Last Night." We started in the middle, in the nice little jam section, and after vamping on it for awhile, kicked in and finished the song. Then, after ripping through "Poet," Anthony told the crowd about our new merch deals. (We have two new t-shirts as of this show.) He gave a sales pitch, saying, "We cut out the middle man... then hire him back to do our taxes... then cut him out again. Now he's suing us." A friend and superfan, Ann V. called out, "I'm an attorney!!! I will defend you!!" "Thank you," Dustin said. "We will need that."

We played a couple Beards tunes that are new to the Rooster, followed by "I Am the Walrus." We saw a million faces. We rocked them all.

There was a point in this evening's show in which people were heard speculating on whether I am, in fact, a gremlin. This was odd to me, but not unwelcome. It may have had something to do with me asking for water? They didn't want me to reproduce? I already did, though. But more on that later. I did get a glass of water - from a lovely young lady in the crowd. I've seen her at shows before, but I don't think I've ever met her, nor do I know her name. But she was singing along during the show, so she's a fan. At any rate, thanks for the water. I appreciated it greatly.

The show rolled on. During "Modern Day Fairy Tales," Dustin sat down in the front row while playing. You see, his niece was there and she's a big fan. She was decked out in her Junebug t-shirt and everything. So as he sat next to her, playing the show, she was smiling and happy about it. It was super cute.

Also cute was our old pal Cheryl joining us on "Casanova." As usual, she stole the show with her unique style of dancing and vocalizing. She gave various shout-outs to various entities (people, bands, baseball teams) and turned the stage back over to us. What we do without Cheryl? She's kind of the best.

Tonight I introduced a special fan in attendance. As you may know, I became a dad last month and my son, Josiah, was experiencing his very first Junebug show this evening. I would say that he loved it, but due to the hot pink ear protection he was wearing, he slept through the whole thing. Well, and he's just over a month old. Whatever. There will be more opportunities.

Throughout the show, our pal Roberto and his family kept calling out "Stalker! Stalker!" So, when it came time for there to just be one song left, it appeared that we absolutely had to play that tune. Anthony told them it was coming up next, but unbeknownst to him, Dustin had other plans. He told Brandon to play the opening line from Van Halen's "Runnin' With the Devil" and to Anthony's surprise, we kicked in. However, instead of singing the actual lyrics, Anthony paid tribute to the day's festivities by singing lyrics about bicycles. The chorus was "Bikin' with the devil." It was classic.

After that, we did play "Stalker." But Roberto and his family were not satisfied. They perpetuated screams of "Refrigerator! Refrigerator!" While we could have said, "one per customer," we obliged. But, instead of the version that everyone knows, we belted out an old-time country version of the song. They really didn't know what they were bargaining for, nor what hit them. Spontaneity is a beautiful thing.

So that was it. It was our set. The show was done. We were met with cheers and applause. Except one little girl in the front row was reduced to tears. Oh, she had liked the show. It was nothing negative. Except that she had been hoping with all her heart that we would play her favorite song. The little girl was Dustin's niece, Cheyana. And her favorite song is "Downtown Liquor Store." I had been under the impression that in order for that to be your favorite song, you had to be 21 years or older. But she proved us wrong. She wanted to hear this song so desperately. Dustin, being the nice uncle that he is, suggested that perhaps we give her a special performance of it outside. So we did. Here is the video.

5/19/11 - Driftwood Char Bar - Minneapolis

Set One:

| Pay the Toll to Ride the Junebug Flow | M'Lady | I Am the Walrus [The Beatles] | Destiny, She Drives a Rolls | Spring Fever | Poet (Who Didn't Know It) | Bed Intruder Song [Antoine Dodson / The Gregory Brothers] | Refrigerator | Modern Day Fairy Tales | On the Sidewalk | Sledgehammer [Peter Gabriel] |

Set Two:

| Come Together [The Beatles] | Casanova | I'm a Bad Mamma Jamma (Who Works at Wendy's) | Hell-Bent Woman |

Encore:

| Downtown Liquor Store |

---

Tonight we returned to the stage after a two-month (to the day) performance break. Our last show was March 19. After that we took some time to just rehearse and record some stuff for our next album Beards which we've begun. Not to mention, my wife pushed our baby out of her body. It's a pretty big deal. But we're back in the saddle again.

It was our first time playing at the Driftwood Char Bar in South Minneapolis. It's definitely got a "neighborhood bar" feel, with most of the patrons being regulars, it seemed. We had an opening act tonight, Not Quite Canada, from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. They're friends of Anthony's and the bassist happens to be an IPR grad. They brought their brand of semi-acoustic, banjo goodness from the northland. We hope to get out to their neck of the woods this summer as well.

We took the stage when their set was up and I decided that I would be addressing the crowd in a faux New York accent all night long. You know how I roll. It was a decision I made, and it was final. No arguments.

We opened with "Pay the Toll," and it should have been an indication. It wasn't too bad, but when the ending came along, it was a train wreck. Interestingly, that's what we try to portray musically at the end of the song anyway, but this time it went well beyond intent.

We continued with an old standby, "M'Lady," and afterward, Anthony thanked Not Quite Canada for having performed. I, in my faux New York dialect said, "Almost Canada, big hand for them. Almost Canada -- that's what they're called, right?" A person in the crowd said, "Not Quite Canada." "Not quite? Ah well, I was almost right." "Not quite," she replied. Maybe it was better heard than read, I'm thinking.

This was followed by our version of "I am the Walrus," which was quite rousing, I felt. When it over, Anthony said "I don't think I have to tell you who wrote that one!" New York Tony answered for the crowd, "It was the Monkees. We all know that."

We attempted a brand new cover tune tonight. It's a song about justice. It's called the "Bed Intruder" song. If you've never heard the original, look it up on YouTube. You won't be disappointed. So we played it. And we will play it again.

The next song on the agenda was "Refrigerator" and Dustin, Brandon and I attempted to play this song in a old country style. I started the train beat and Brandon played a nice bouncy bass line as Dustin played some good ol' country guitar. Sadly, it seemed that Anthony didn't realize we were playing "Refrigerator." He stopped us and announced that he had a sick obsession with his refrigerator, that it lets him touch it in nasty ways. He counted off the song with an extremely slow tempo, which we played. We stopped and regrouped. He counted off an appropriate tempo and I attempted the train beat again. No good. We then played the song normally. After all that.

ANTHONY: This song is off our self-titled album. It's called "Modern Day Fairy Tales."
TONY: It's not self-titled, you know.
ANTHONY: (laughs) I know.
DUSTIN: We take American Express!!

We finished off the first set with "On the Sidewalk," and "Sledgehammer." We somehow forgot how the ending to "On the Sidewalk" was supposed to go. "Painful" wasn't supposed to be one of the choices, but it's the choice we went with. "Sledgehammer" was actually better, however.

Anthony announced our set break, letting everyone know that we were all going to be back after taking this huge dump we'd been holding in. Dustin mentioned that we had already started it, all over the stage throughout the set.

We returned for the second set and in my faux dialect I announced that we were now re-branding the show. It was now entitled, "Rock You Before the Rapture," since this weekend is May 21, the day in which that looney ol' pastor predicted Judgement Day to be. We warned the crowd about the danger of the raptures. They're dangerous, you see, like in that movie about the people on the jungle island. They were running from the raptures, and the raptures learned how to open those doorknobs. You know, the velociraptures. They can learn. I then mentioned that their sight is based on movement, and Dustin interjected to correct me. "No, no, no. Those are the tyrannosaurus raptures." I concluded with, "Watch your butts for the raptures. They'll eat ya. It's rapture weekend."

We ripped into "Come Together" to start the second set. About eight bars into it, Dustin turned to look at me, turned back around and walked off the stage - while playing. He walked into the crowd, greeted some fans - while playing - and then went into the men's room. It was here that he played out the remainder of the song. Taking a cue from Dustin, Brandon walked off stage and went to the back door of the venue - while playing. He then closed the curtain that separated the entryway from the main room - while playing. Had Anthony and I not been virtually tied to the stage, we probably would have wandered around, too. After the tune was over, Dustin explained he journey into the men's room by informing us of the huge dump he took in there.

Anthony introduced "Casanova" by inviting some love-making. "If there's a special someone in the audience you want to make love to, feel free." We played the song and rocked it. Immediately afterward, Dustin boisterously exclaimed, "You just had sex!!"

We rocked an extended version of "Bad Mamma Jamma," which was kind of awesome. There was a great reaction, lots of dancing and singing along. But when it was done, Heidi, the sound person cut us off. "One more, one more, one more, one more," she said. So, basically the idea we got from her was that we had time for one more. Which is odd, because we were only four songs into our set. But looking at the clock, she was right. We decided to play "Hell-Bent Woman," which rocked their faces. For reals.

Just as we were finishing up, we heard chants for "one more song, one more song." We asked Heidi and she responded with "One more, one more, one more, one more." So, basically the idea we got from her was that we had time for one more. So at our pal Donovan's request, we played "Downtown Liquor Store" and invited him to sing along with us. Though he admitted he doesn't really know all the words, he joined us and it was funz.

The crowd loved it, and when we were done, I gave a reminder warning; "Watch out for the raptures, folks. It's rapture weekend."

3/19/11 - Sixth Avenue Gallery - Aberdeen, S.D.

Set One:
| Good Vibes | A Junebug Christmas | Found My Boogie | Back in the U.S.S.R. [The Beatles] | Hell-Bent Woman | Last Night | Godzilla [Blue Öyster Cult] | On the Sidewalk | The Date | Spring Fever | Moon Over the Water | Refrigerator | Like a Spy (Not the Stalker) | Downtown Liquor Store | | With a Little Help From My Friends [The Beatles / Joe Cocker] | Destiny, She Drives a Rolls |

Set Two:
| Poet (Who Didn't Know) | Modern Day Fairy Tales | Vacation to Oblivion | Come Together [The Beatles] | Casanova | M'Lady | Golden Girls Theme [Andrew Gold] | I Am the Walrus [The Beatles] | Crossroads | Law & Order Theme [Mike Post] | Runnin' With the Devil [Van Halen] / To the Next Episode / Misty Mountain Hop [Led Zepplin] | Jumpstart My Rocket | Aphrodite | Damn the Man | Soul Shaker | Clone You | Sledgehammer [Peter Gabriel] |

Encore:
| I'm a Bad Mamma Jamma (Who Works at Wendy's) | Dr. Phil (Part Two, Dr. Phunk) | Say It Ain't So [Weezer] |

---

Tonight was our mighty return to the excellent Sixth Avenue Gallery in Aberdeen, South Dakota. The show was billed as being both Junebug and Aberdeen's own lounge lizard Frankie Diamond, Jr. Frankie was supposed to come out of retirement tonight for a special show, but in what some would call typical showbiz fashion, the superstar cancelled at the last minute with little to no explanation. Diamond's people could not be reached for comment. Luckily, local singer-songwriter and a former Blue Orange band mate of mine (tony's), Will Brown, showed up to fill the slot and open the night.

When it was time for our set to start, there were various announcements being played over the P.A. system as if they were coming from a hospital or something, paging various doctors with familiar names to various hospital departments. Such as, "Dr. Bergman to gastrointerology, please. Dr. Anthony Bergman to gastrointerology." It all made sense, however, when the final announcement was "Dr. Junebug to the Sixth Avenue Gallery stage, please." The theme from television's ER played and we all entered the stage area in scrubs, surgical masks and rubber gloves. We kicked into an extended version of "Good Vibes" and the show was underway. Of course, throughout the night we would continue to make references to surgery or being a doctor or other such clever things. "How many of you came from the hospital tonight?" Because that's what we do.

Tonight's show was accompanied by the visual art of Nurse Rachel. Our friend Rachel Blazinski from Minneapolis was at this show, creating visual art, painting while using our performance as inspiration. She, of course, was wearing scrubs as well as a stethoscope. Because just as we are all obviously medical doctors who play instruments in this band, Rachel is obviously a registered nurse who paints alongside us.

For the second song of the night, Anthony explained that the last time we were here we should have played the next song, but didn't because it slipped our minds. But tonight we remembered. And so it was that we played the vulgar "A Junebug Christmas" tonight. In March. It went over well as expected.

After a couple more tunes, we debuted a brand new song. Actually we played it last night in Minneapolis, but this is the second time we've ever played it for an audience and the first for Aberdeen. It's called "Hell-Bent Woman" and it's a rocker. We've still got some minor kinks to work out, but we're rockin' it. It'll be included on the Beards project.

Next we played the extended jam-out version of "Last Night." Located on the stage when we arrived tonight was a piano. Now, we don't usually use piano live, but Dustin was inspired. During the "You shouldn't have gone to sleep at nine" part, he started banging out the chords on the piano. It was actually pretty amazing. It wasn't miked, so all you heard of it was the natural room noise, but since it's a quiet part of the song it worked. It was great.

We announced tonight that Brandon would be offering free mammograms and Dustin would be offering free proctal exams. Doctor humor. Like I said, we're geniuses.

We played "Godzilla" tonight, which is admittedly kind of a kickass song. But halfway through it, I realized something. I hope no one else made the connection, but I started feeling kind of bad that we were yelling, "There goes Tokyo!" in light of the very recent earthquake and tsunami destruction in Japan. Now, of course we didn't think of this ahead of time, and like I said, I hope no one else made the connection either. The song is about a giant lizard attacking the city, not a natural disaster. Regardless... sorry, Japan.

We played a chill out section of the set with "On the Sidewalk," "The Date," and "Spring Fever." Afterward, Anthony said that spring was on its way. Everyone was excited. I anxiously asked the crowd, "Do you have a fever?!?" Cheers of acknowledgement. "Well we have the cure! We're doctors for chrissakes!" various scattered chuckles. "I've been waiting all night to pull that one out." My career in comedy continues.

For example, during "Refrigerator," at the part where everyone stops and then I yell "two, three, four," I first said, "I'm a gynecologist." See what I did there? I referenced the evening's theme. Brilliant.

After "Like a Spy (Not the Stalker)" Dustin said that it was part of our court sentencing that we have to play that song at every show. I pointed out that "Downtown Liquor Store" was part of our other court sentence. During said song, It was a beautiful sound when we cut out and the crowd yelled, "to drink himself to death!" We love that enthusiastic participation. Good on ya.

Next, we revived a cover tune that we used to play in the old Aberdeen days that used to go over well amongst the beer-drinkin' crowd. The old Beatles / Joe Cocker standard "With a Little Help From My Friends." As it turns out, it's still a crowd pleaser. Who knew? Apparently Anthony did.

We took a brief break and came back to rock 'em with that 2008 favorite, "Poet (Who Didn't Know It)." We plowed through a bunch more tunes and had a local rap artist (whose name eludes me) join us on "Casanova." The rock continued through a few more tunes and the crowd rocked with us. We had some girl asking for couple songs or something. Then when we acknowledged her request, she apparently changed her mind. She didn't want that crap. So we hit her over the head with our brand new version of "I Am the Walrus" by the Beatles. And let me tell you, I'm really happy with how this one is turning out. I really think we rocked it hard, and I kind of didn't want it to end. I could have played that song all night, regardless of whether everyone else would have been on board with that.

A couple more tunes and then Brandon started playing a steady quarter note bass riff. I kicked in on drums and then Anthony announced, "We're gonna stop pussyfooting around now!" Boom. "Runnin' With the Devil." Then "To the Next Episode." Followed by "Misty Mountain Hop." Then the ending of "Episode." That's a solid rock-block, my friends. The pussyfooting surely did end there. And please call us Shirley.

Here's a brief little lesson to you regarding Junebug shows. If you request a song of ours, there is a roughly 99% chance that we will play it. We like to keep the people happy. And if there are people who like us well enough to actually want to hear a specific song of ours, we want to oblige that. Case in point: a person tonight (more specifically, Rory Behrens) shouted out, "Aphrodite!" So what did we do? We played it. It's really that easy, people.

However, when people request songs that aren't ours, there are no guarantees. When someone shouted out "Seven Nation Army!" (by the White Stripes), it wasn't met with as much success. Anthony started riffing on "Blue Orchid" (also by White Stripes) and I joined in. Then he stopped and said, "You only get a taste." We played "Damn the Man" instead.

We kept rockin' it. The people kept dancing. The ladies kept screaming. Nurse Rachel kept painting, but took periodic dance breaks. Then, with only song left in the set, our old buddy Drew walked in. If you don't know or remember Drew, he was one of the baddest mamma jammas to ever don a Wendy's uniform. He worked his way up to management back in the day and our song about Wendy's became required listening for his underlings. He even performed the song with us on his 21st birthday, way back in 2007. Sadly (for him) the remaining song on the setlist was not "Bad Mamma Jamma." In fact, this is the first show ever since debuting the song that we did not put it on a setlist.

After we finished "Sledgehammer," the final song on the list, the crowd demanded more. I mean demanded. Not just more songs, but "Bad Mamma Jamma" in particular. They were literally screaming for it. Literally. It was 3:45 a.m. and people were screaming for "Bad Mamma Jamma." Life is good, my friends. We played it, and threw it out to Drew tonight. Meaning, we've played this song at every. single. show of ours since July 2000. But you've got to keep the people happy. And the fact is, it's a damn fun song. Everyone got on their feet and crowded the front of the stage and shook their beautiful booties. It was an extended dance version of the song, and we expended a LOT of energy.

When we were done, there were even still more chants for "one more song!" Anthony said, "I don't think we can top that, guys." But again, they insisted. So we obliged with an extended dance version of that Junebug self-help hit, "Dr. Phil (Part 2, Dr. Phunk)." We have never had such a good reaction to that song as we did tonight. Anthony put his guitar down, picked up his Dr. Phil book and worked the crowd, going so far as to roll around on the floor with his feet in the air while screaming his catharsis. I had never seen him interact with a crowd like that. It was a pretty beautiful thing. The crowd connection we had tonight is unparalleled in our journey so far.

When that song was over, they still weren't ready to stop partying with us. So we pulled out one more final final final song. Final final this time. Anthony encouraged the crowd to sing along. It was Weezer's "Say It Ain't So," and the crowd sang along with every word. Again, it was a beautiful thing, and I can't tell you how much I love Sixth Avenue Gallery. When the song was close to ending, Dustin grabbed a guitar and smashed it into pieces on the stage. Parts flew everywhere and crowd members actually scrambled to grab them up as souvenirs. How odd for us to experience such enthusiasm, but we're happy to accept it.

Finally, tonight I decided to run an experiment in broadcasting the show on Ustream to an internet audience. A number of people actually watched the broadcast and gave really nice feedback. Perhaps we'll continue this experiment, and perhaps we'll work on broadcasting in better quality. A playback of most of the broadcast can be viewed below. The first song is missing, as is the encore set.

The night was a success. We left the stage at a little after 4:00 a.m. and we were all fairly pooped out. We greeted folks and had a couple more beverages up in the VIP room and decompressed a bit. We retold tales of things that happened that night, and things we want to do in the future. Friends new and old laughed and joked along with us. I had a truly beautiful time this night. We love Aberdeen. We love Sixth Avenue Gallery. We'll be back soon, I imagine.

3/18/11 - Memory Lanes - Minneapolis

Set:
| Poet (Who Didn't Know It) | Modern Day Fairy Tales | Come Together [The Beatles] | Casanova | I'm a Bad Mamma Jamma (Who Works at Wendy's) | Clone You | Law & Order Theme [Mike Post] | On the Sidewalk | Hell-Bent Woman | Jumpstart My Rocket | I Am the Walrus [The Beatles] |

---

Tonight we returned to Memory Lanes in Minneapolis. In case you didn't know or guess by the name, Memory Lanes is a bowling alley. The stage is set up right over the lanes, and while we rock, you bowl. Rock 'n' Bowl? Maybe there's a future business venture in that. Anyhow, I have to say it's pretty interesting to finish a song, and before you hear any cheering or anything you hear bowling pins behind knocked down. And sometimes there's no applause at all. I mean, people are there to bowl after all. (For example, see the video below.)

We started it out with "Poet" and ever since we decided to switch it up a tiny bit, it's had more energy. It's now much better as a show opener. Next, I wanted our pal Robb to use my iPod to record video of our performance of "Come Together." But when it was time to start the song, I had no idea where he was. I couldn't see him. I thought maybe he stepped out for a cig or stepped in for a whiz. So I said to play "Modern Day" instead, which we did. Immediately after it started, I looked out and saw Robb directly in front of us with the camera rolling. Sometimes I truly am an idiot. As it turned out, we played it next and he got it. The video exists here on this page.

What is it with the drumkit technical difficulties lately? It happened again tonight. But this time it was the feet on my kick drum. Is it time for a new drum kit? Probably. Can I afford it? Probably not. Anyway, I was a pro and fixed it lickety split. I apologized for the technical difficulties and returned the bowlers to their regularly scheduled program.

After "On the Sidewalk," Anthony said, "That one's going out to Paul Simon, wherever he is." "He's on a beach somewhere, probably," I replied, "with James Taylor." Dustin added, "Didn't he just retire? Or was that Phil Collins? I get them mixed up." It was Phil Collins.

Tonight we debuted a brand new song that you've never heard before. It'll be included on the upcoming Beards project. "This next song we've never played," Anthony expained, "it's brand new. It's called 'Hell-Bent Woman,' it's about women -- how they make you crazy. It's going out to my girlfriend."

After "Jumpstart" tonight, Anthony informed our loyal cheering section that we love them, "like nylon loves the other side of nylon." "Did you mean Velcro," I asked. "Maybe. Either way I like it."

We closed tonight with the debut of our brand new rendition of the Beatles classic tune, "I Am the Walrus." It was a little shaky at the start, but we got into it and really got it rockin'. If you weren't there tonight, you'll probably get a chance to hear it later. We're not giving this one up any time soon. I really like this one.

Tonight we had a loyal cheering section sitting at one of the front tables. They were cheering and singing along, shooting video and taking pictures. These people are priceless. If everyone could be as enthusiastic about what we do as these fine ladies and gentlemen, life would be grand. Thanks for the love, people.

Photos by Rachel Blazinski
Video by Robb Main