The LSB opens up Block North’s “Locker Room” last Saturday night. (Photo credit: Shannon Johnson)
Well well well, Lazy Susan fans, it seems we have a new favorite “up north” venue, for both the band and our fans! We couldn’t have been more pleased with the crew at Block North Brew Pub for hosting us at the Grand Opening of their new “Locker Room” space in downtown Aitkin, MN. Their team, and all the amazing locals who came out to see us, gave us all such a warm welcome and helped us enjoy our first full-band gig after our January tour. Some folks even drove a few hours to be there; we are so incredibly grateful. Thank you all, and we hope to be back soon!
Now that we’re finally all writing “2023” in our checkbooks, it’s time to start looking ahead to spring and summer. We highly recommend checking out our Events page, where you can mark your calendars for full band gigs in April, May, and June. And as usual, you have plenty of opportunities to check out an acoustic show, starting with j.bell & $2 Bill playing at No Neck Tony’s in Lake Elmo next Friday night (2/24).
The LSB concentrates on how to deliver the best possible show for the crowd from the Banditos outside Main Stage. Photo Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie, Jr
Mike D. here, folks, just wanted to chime in and say that most of us have been back in snowy Minnesota for a week, and we are still coming down from the high that was our Arizona-Mexico Tour. We even put together this tour tribute page to document the sights, the sounds, and the smells of our trip. Here’s to life!
OK, folks, let’s just admit right now that it’s going to take us all more than a day to process what happened over the past few weeks. But we’ll include a few initial reactions in this final entry of Mike’s daily tour blog posts.
Yesterday was our last “performance day” in Puerto Peñasco, and it did not disappoint. We started out with a bayside breakfast, soaking up some eggs and misty ocean winds.
Our Minnesota crew, L to R: Brian, Justin, Mike, Ryan, Kendra, Kent, Michelle, and Bill
After dealing with some, uh…”local logistical issues”, we headed over to Banditos for our last gig. Much like our tour kickoff show in Minneapolis back on 1/6, a dedicated group of friends and fans turned out for us, providing a fitting bookend to close the tour.
After dinner at Banditos, Mike refused to do anything other than enjoy a soak in the hot tub. We don’t know if we’ll do eight shows in ten days again, but if we do, he might need a hip replacement.
Today we travel back to the States, with most of us flying home to Minnesota tonight. The entire crew crossed the border successfully, but not before four of us made another stop at the famous KM13 marker.
The sun rays here are reflective of our week in Mexico!
Just as words can’t adequately convey how the last 11 days have felt, there are not enough ways for us to thank the folks who helped make this happen. And while we can’t specifically name everybody, we do want to provide a few shout-outs:
Our Minnesota tour team of Kendra Roberg and Ryan Hammer (with a little help and a lot of positivity from Michelle, Nick, and Jay)
Casey Conner, who booked us into the two ballpark shows and made other arrangements that convinced us we could make this trip
Curt and Angela Weitnauer, who got us onto more stages down here and continue to treat us like family
Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers, who blow our minds every time they perform, inspire us, and lift us up at seemingly every opportunity
All the other artists on the Scottsdale and January Jam Festival stages, who not only entertained us in spectacular fashion, but also helped spread the word about our shows and attended several of them
All the promotion teams, production crews, artist merch & technical crews, and venue hosts & staff who worked hard to ensure a quality experience for everyone
Photographer Stephen R. Sylvanie, who shot and shared so many of the iconic photos from our shows
Bill (Sr.) and Karen Turner, who provided us with local logistical support, lodging, and transportation resources
All of our spouses and families back in Minnesota, who supported this trip as enthusiastically as they’ve supported any other band effort we’ve done over the years
And finally, we absolutely must thank all the fans, old and new, who showed up for us at these shows. Whether you traveled from down the street or all the way from Minnesota, we truly appreciate you. Along with all the support from the folks above, it was your cheers, your encore pleas, and your smiling faces that made this trip a success. We’ve made a lot of jokes this month about being “international touring rock stars”, but it’s you that made us feel like actual stars.
And that’s a feeling we’ll never forget. ¡Salud, Peacemakers!
Folks, it’s hard to describe how the last week has made us feel. Perhaps the photos below will help. For any Peacemakers still in Puerto Peñasco tonight, we’ll see you at Banditos!
A peek at the scene last night after Roger Clyne invited j.bell onstage to sing “Tell Yer Momma” with the Peacemakers at Manny’s.I’m not exactly sure what j.bell is singing, here, but it could be, “More cowbell, Roger!”Many of the Puerto Peñasco sunsets have been gorgeous. Watching this last night while listening to RCPM was a true gift.
Well folks, the international tour continued yesterday! The LSB got up “early” and squeezed another rockin’ set in between beisbol games at the stadium, then took a short break to watch the insanely powerful set from the JONS at Changos.
All the best LSB fans came out to see our shows at the ballpark!The chaos at Changos set the tone for our afternoon!
When the JONS finished their set, they threw a Hail Mary pass to us. We ran inside to catch it, quickly set up on the stage inside Banditos and proceeded to score a touchdown set of our greatest hits. The fans turned out for this one in force, fueling us into a frenzy until we set up the headliners to raise the trophy on the main stage outside.
The blurry pictures above tell you how much we were able to vibrate the room! And the headlining show was amazing. We’re looking forward to our rest day today and catching as many of the other artists as possible as the official Jan Jam festival closes.
Tomorrow is our last day in Mexico, and we’re hoping a handful of fans stick around for our final 5 pm show at Banditos. Here’s to life!
OK, we have to admit it: now we are feeling like actual international touring artists! We’ve been jokingly using that phrase here, but after two nights in a row of professional sound and crowd appreciation, it really feels true, and we have to pinch ourselves every other second.
Jim, Kent, and Michelle show off smiles that speak for us all!
Our border crossings were smooth yesterday, and a few of us even ran into Peacemakers at the famous KM13 marker.
#nowords
Then we arrived in Puerto Peñasco just in time to appreciate some sunset drinks.
j.bell probably could have died happy at this precise moment Kendra, Ryan, and an epic sunset greeted us in Puerto Peñasco with beach drinks!
Last night at Banditos, the crowd lifted us to new heights, fueling us into an encore and a rockin’ kickoff for JanJam weekend.
The early bird folks at Banditos helped us have a great time!Mike’s not sad, he’s just concentrating on his bass parts so he doesn’t fall off the stage.
Today we woke up to a gorgeous sunrise and preparation for the Jan Jam baseball slam at Francisco León García Municipal Stadium, where the crowd and beisbol players cheered us on. (More baseball pics coming!)
Sunrise panorama from our condo balcony. If you zoom in, you’ll see #jblsbazmxtour
Tonight we’ll be the 6 pm openers for the first official night of January Jam, sharing the stage with some of our heroes. We know we’ve said this several times, but couldn’t be more excited to be here, playing music in this fabulous weather, for people that want to hear our songs. ¡Muchas gracias, Puerto Peñasco Peacemaker Cancíon familia!!!
Wait, who made this tour itinerary? It says here that we were woken up at 6:30 am – that’s not a very rock star time! Fortunately someone wheeled each of us into the tour van so we didn’t have to work too hard after a night of rockin’.
Speaking of which, last night was a total blast at the aptly-named RockBar in Scottsdale! Now this was a place that knows how to treat international touring artists like us. Great staff, excellent Cancíon tequila drinks, and most importantly: terrific local fans!
Our opener Shawn Johnson delivered the goods!We love our Peacemakers friends!
So, even though we had an early wake up call this morning, we have to admit that last night was absolutely 100% worth it. And even though I’m not “legally awake” as I write this blog post, I know I speak for all the guys when I say we’re thrilled and excited to be crossing the border today and playing at Banditos tonight!
The citizens of this manufactured home park are pretending they don’t know who these international touring stars are! How can it be??!?!?
Greetings from Arizona, LSB fans! Our flights yesterday were so rock star cushy, they even took out all the green M&Ms for us! All five members of the band are in the Grand Canyon state now. Our merch team got a bit delayed by that FAA mess, but Justin made a few calls to his friends in the Illuminati and got them off the ground, so with more luck, we’ll see Kendra and Ryan later today.
As I write this, we’re driving back from picking up our rental gear from the fantastic folks over at SIR. They obviously knew they were dealing with rock stars who can only count to four and recite the alphabet through the letter G, because they took very good care of us, even through several order changes.
Finally someone who knows what legends we are!
They did tell us we had to return some of our gear tomorrow so that Parliament Funkadelic could use it, so we conceded that some rock stars in town were bigger than us. Our heads aren’t THAT inflated (yet)!
We’ll see you all tonight at the Rock Bar along with Shawn Johnson! Doors at 7 pm, Shawn at 7:30.
As I write this, $2 Bill is already in AZ as our “Advance Team”, Kent is on his way, and j.bell, BPZ and I are about to board our flight. Everyone at the airport clearly knows we are rock stars because they keep looking at their phones (probably streaming our music) while pretending to ignore us. But I’m on to them…the security agent even asked me to lower my mask because he couldn’t believe it was really me! Wow, dude, I’m not sure I can give you my autograph with that funny pen, but I’ll try.
First tour drinks are in play!Justin was…a bit too excited to “work” today
