2/24/11 - Nomad World Pub - Minneapolis

Set:
| Poet (Who Didn't Know It) | Refrigerator / Law & Order Theme [Mike Post] | M'Lady | Jumpstart My Rocket | I'm a Bad Mamma Jamma (Who Works at Wendy's) | Crossroads | Sledgehammer [Peter Gabriel] |

It was the Nomad's Minne-Series featuring the Twin Cities' own Pictures of then. This means that every Thursday night this month, Pictures of Then is showcasing and putting together other bands to play with them. Tonight was interesting because each of the four bands participating (Pictures of Then, Capital Sons, Tasha's Laughter, and Junebug) all have members who work at Apple Stores across the Twin Cities. So when Dustin was asked if Junebug wanted to play, we gave a mighty "uh-huh."

Junebug started off the show. According to the Pictures of Then guys, the best slots this month have been the first couple. So we gladly took on the responsibility of kicking things off.

Notably, tonight's setlist was derived by one Mr. Dustin T. Marks. This is notable, because Anthony is usually the brains behind the nights' programs. But Farmer D wanted to give it a go tonight, and it turns out that he didn't blow it. 'Twas good.

We kicked it off with a rockin' rendition of "Poet" and moved on to "Refrigerator." If you've been reading the Show Diaries, then you know the past few shows have been fraught with technical difficulties dealing with my kick drum pedal. There's a broken part on it that I'm MacGuyvered a couple times and another part that just plain comes apart relatively often. Well, tonight, that wasn't to be a worry since the Pictures of Then drummer graciously offered the use of his kit. So midway through the first chorus of "Refrigerator," the kick drum pedal stopped working. I must be cursed. I continued playing sans kick drum up through the half-time bridge. Then at the part in which I shout a count-off and we come back in, I motioned to the others that it would be a moment. As fast as I could, I jimmied the necessary hardware into place. Meanwhile, the other members of the band played the theme from television's popular police drama, Law & Order. Anthony narrated a brief mystery tale. When things were fixed, I joined it. When there was a natural break, I counted off "two, three, four!" and we kicked back in to finish "Refrigerator." That's live spontanaity, folks. I love it.

We played "M'Lady" and afterward, Anthony explained that Dustin is the reason that this song has 30% less sodium since the last time we played it. I added, "It's like 'The Biggest Loser' up in here."

We continued on with a solid, bangin' set, which the crowd responded to very well. We felt a good energy tonight. Furthermore, the other bands kicked ass, too. Overall, this was a great show, and it was a great lineup. We can't wait to play with these bands again.

2/16/11 - Whiskey Junction - Minneapolis

Set One:
| Pay the Toll to Ride the Junebug Flow | Back in the U.S.S.R. [The Beatles] | Vacation to Oblivion | Poet (Who Didn't Know It) | Modern Day Fairy Tales | M'Lady | Spring Fever | Destiny, She Drives a Rolls | Godzilla [Blue Öyster Cult] | Aphrodite | Refrigerator | Last Night | Downtown Liquor Store | Like a Spy (Not the Stalker) | Dr. Phil (part 2, Dr. Phunk) | Cake | Place |

Set Two:
| Freebird [Lynyrd Skynyrd] (partial) | Come Together [The Beatles] | Found My Boogie | Casanova | I'm a Bad Mamma Jamma (Who Works at Wendy's) | Law & Order Theme [Mike Post] | The Date | Say It Ain't So [Weezer] | Damn the Man | Soul Shaker | On the Sidewalk | Crossroads | Runnin' With the Devil [Van Halen] / To the Next Episode / Misty Mountain Hop [Led Zeppelin] | Clone You | Sledgehammer [Peter Gabriel] |

Encore:
| Golden Girls Theme [Andrew Gold]|

Tonight we played at Whiskey Junction. Down the block at the Cabooze, nationally known Galactic was playing. Earlier in the night at the Junction, a band called Soap played a Pre-Galactic party. So apparently, it seemed that Junebug was playing the During-Galactic party... But that didn't matter too much. There were still people at our show. This included, I might add, my mother, sister Laurel and niece Angell. They completely surprised me. I was loading in and I heard someone say, "Hey, is Junebug playing tonight?" It was my family members, who live in North Dakota. They surprised me! Plus, this was my mom's FIRST Junebug show ever. It was a momentous occasion, and I'm glad they made it out.

I'm glad I made it out, too, since they were there. I've been getting pretty sick with a head cold and today it was so bad that if tonight had been simply a rehearsal night, I would have cancelled. But the show must go on, stuffy head, runny nose, sweaty hands and all.

We opened the show with "Pay the Toll" and my kick pedal technical difficulties reared their head again. The dang thing fell apart in the midst of the song, but I was able to jerry-rig it mid-song. MacGuyver strikes again, dudes.

Anthony let the crowd tonight know that rock and roll will never die. It doesn't rust. "You can leave it in the fridge and it won't mold." I added that if you want to, you can use a little bit of jewelry cleaner on it every now and then to prevent tarnishing.

We played "Destiny, She Drives a Rolls" again tonight. However, this was significant since it was the first time we have played it for a Minneapolis crowd.

After "Godzilla" tonight, Anthony warned the crowd to "hide ya kids, hide ya wife." "And hide ya husband," I added.

"We don't write a lot of songs about appliances. But when we do..." "They're winners."

Since my family members were here tonight, we had to oblige their requests. Laurel particularly wanted to hear "Downtown Liquor Store," so we simply had to give in. (I'll tell you a little secret; we were going to play it anyway.) I added a little commentary after the song. "You know that part where we say, 'Now I'm playing blackjack with a two dollar whore because I had the balls to rob the downtown liquor store'?" I asked. "I bet my mom was very proud of me." It seems I was right, since she gave me a big thumbs-up after that.

We played another tune, and then came time to honor the wishes of another family member. My niece Angell really wanted to hear "Dr. Phil," and since we originally had planned on playing it in the second set, we bumped it up for her since they had to turn in early. "This is going out to the three hottest ladies in the room," Anthony said, pointing at my family members' table.

An interesting phenomenon took place tonight that I like to call the reference portion of our program. Someone said something about words to live by. Then Dustin said, "one to grow on." I said, "Now I know, and knowing is half the battle," and then added, "The more you know." "After these messages.. we'll be right back." "The Lakewood Mall." "Sight on Sound!" "Country Furniture really wants your business!" If you know what any of that means, good on ya. If you don't, my apologies for wasting your time.

We played "Place" and then did a set break. It was pretty much okay, too. Because at this point, the crowd who had been there at the beginning had filtered out to the Cabooze for the Galactic show. There were maybe about fifteen people still there, including barstaff (!). Ouch, right? Well, we took our set break around eleven o'clock or so and decided that maybe we'd hang out, get some food, and wait until more folks filtered in. No sense in spending our gold on stage when no one's there to enjoy it. So I visited with my family and some friends that were there. The other boys got some wings, I took more cold medicine, and we laughed and enjoyed one another's friendship. My family got going, since they had an early appointment and driving ahead of them, and we got back onstage around midnight.

As we were getting ready to play, some dude yelled out, "Freebird!" Yeah. "There's always one guy," I said. So we played it. Well, what we know of it, which was the first verse or so and then it fell apart. We've never played it before. So as I said tonight, a lot of people ask for it, "and then we make them sorry." "Everybody begs for it till they get it," Anthony added.

"Casanova" was dedicated to sex tonight. "Bad Mamma Jamma" was dedicated to all the fat chicks in the house. "The Date" was dedicated to all the ganja in Jamaica. It was a night full of dedications.

As the evening went on, more post-Galactic folks were trickling in for a couple more drinks. People were dancing, we were having fun. It was all good. After we finished off the night with "Sledgehammer," the remaining crowd began chanting for one more song. So being the good friends we are, appreciating all of the wonderful people still there, we played the Golden Girls Theme to thank them for being a friend. At the end of the night, I was exhausted and still sick, but it was a darn fun night, in spite of it. Good times.

2/4/11 - American Burger Bar - Saint Paul

Set One:
| Pay the Toll to Ride the Junebug Flow | Found My Boogie | Good Vibes | Godzilla [Blue Öyster Cult] | Damn the Man | Soul Shaker | On the Sidewalk | Back in the U.S.S.R. [The Beatles] | Like a Spy (Not the Stalker) | Downtown Liquor Store | Place | Let It Roll (A Doors Medley) | Refrigerator | Clone You | Crossroads | Bumblebee |

Set Two:
| Come Together [The Beatles] | M'Lady | Say It Ain't So [Weezer] | Modern Day Fairy Tales | Dr. Phil (part 2, Dr. Phunk) | Casanova | I'm a Bad Mamma Jamma (Who Works at Wendy's) | Golden Girls Theme [Andrew Gold] | The Date | Last Night | Runnin' With the Devil [Van Halen] / To the Next Episode / Misty Mountain Hop [Led Zeppelin] | Law & Order Theme [Mike Post] | Jumpstart My Rocket | Seinfeld Theme [Jonathan Wolff] | Sledgehammer [Peter Gabriel] |

Encore:
| Poet (Who Didn't Know It) |

Tonight's show was a bit of a last-minute deal. It was pitched, booked, and promoted in less than a week's time. But when we were approaced to play a Winter Carnival party for the Vulcans in beautiful downtown Saint Paul, we pretty much had to do it. For a little background on the amazing, artistic, partying, fun-loving group called the Vulcans, read this article from the City Pages: Meet the Vulcans: The Twin Cites' most controversial partiers.

We decided to re-hash our sports/workout theme from our previous show. It hadn't been done yet in the Cities, so we went for it. It was good except that there was a dude who felt Brandon's Track & Field shirt was no good. It should have been Hockey, he insisted. The man even bought us all drinks under the condition that we all pretended that Brandon's shirt in fact said "Hockey." Hey, it doesn't take much for us to do stuff. Free drinks? We'll take it. Thanks, guy.

We started out the night following a setlist, the same setlist from our previous show in Aberdeen, as a matter of fact. But we quickly abandoned it. These Vulcans really wanted to party and kept asking for different types of songs. "Something rockin'!" "Something slow so we can dance with our women!" Who needs a setlist when you're feeling the vibe of the folks? It was good. After rockin' a little while, Anthony asked the crew, "Are we partying hardy, or hardly partying?" The answer was clear. We were partying hardy. Partying so hardy that a Vulcan dude had a referee whistle that he was blowing in rhythm during our songs. Someone said they could have done without it, but I loved it. I think it belonged there tonight.

There was a bit of a lull while Anthony tuned his guitar and he was trying to fill time by talking a bit without saying much. A dude in the crowd yelled out, "Less talking, more playing!" "Yes!" I shouted. "That's what I like to hear."

We continued with the playing, keeping it diverse with "Stalker," "Downtown Liquor Store," "Refrigerator," "Crossroads," etc. Everyone was digging it, dancing, drinking and having a fantastic time. We partied ourselves out a little bit and needed to take a break.

During our break, some kind of magic happened and the bar which was pretty well hoppin' already packed in even more. So we kicked in with "Come Together" and "M'Lady" and the party was resumed.

One of the servers from the bar walked past us with a notecard stuck to her forehead which read, "Weezer or White Stripes?" So we played "Say It Ain't So." It's nice to be able to give the people what they want.

We kept it rolling and got a little funky with "Dr. Phunk," "Casanova," and "Bad Mamma Jamma." It was around this time that my mother-in-law Diane and brother-in-law Michael joined us virtually via the miracle of Skype. That's right. They were sitting in their living room in Aberdeen, South Dakota watching our show at American Burger Bar in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The wonders of technology. It has certainly got me thinking about the possibility of live streaming shows in the future for those out-of-towners who want to keep up with us. Is that something we should think about?

When we were to play "Next Episode" tonight, we were going to open with the first verse of "Runnin' With the Devil" by Van Halen. However, once we started it, it was clear that the crowd was WAY too into it to abandon it after just one verse. So we pretty much played it for the song's entire length, though I'm pretty sure Anthony didn't have all the lyrics. The crowd didn't care, though. They were totally getting down and singing the lyrics themselves. Then we kicked into "Next Episode" and the crowd surprisingly seemed to like it just as much. After we were done and basking in the cheers of the crowd, Dustin said, "American Burger Bar? Who knew?" Indeed. Who would have guessed that this place would have the amazing atmosphere that it does?

Sadly, the night had to come to a close. We played "Sledgehammer," announcing it as our last song. And while the people voiced sadness at it being the last of the night, they danced extra hard. After it ended there were consistent chants of "one more" and "encore!" After a brief deliberation, we decided to play "Poet." Again, the folks danced extra hard and enjoyed the final song of the night. After it was over, there were still chants of "one more" and "encore." But the management had turned on the lights and house music. In the biz, that means "it's over." I tried explaining this to the gal in the blue top and sunglasses, but she was adament about wanting us to play more, almost seeming to be on the very edge of anger. Ah, yes. Keep them wanting more.

Finally tonight, there was young spunky lady named Brianna who was totally into the show. She was dancing, getting her friends to dance, chatting with us and being an all around sport. She said that we should rename our band The Beardies. I let her play my cymbals and I gave her some CDs to reward her for her enthusiasm.

That's one of the things we like, folks. Hope to see you all at the next one!

Photography by Tony/Liza Kollman