| 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.
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!!
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."
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