The chaos and fun at 612 Brew was a perfect way to kick off our tour!
Well, Minneapolis, you sure showed up to make us feel loved last Friday night at the stellar 612 Brew! You all came out in force to support our coming international tour, and we couldn’t be happier – or more excited!
In our last practice on Sunday before the tour… after arguing about the set list for the 52nd time
We’ll all be posting on Facebook, Instagram, and other socials this week, but I also plan to post at least one blog entry here per day, with pictures! I’ll attempt to catalog the scenes and the experiences…both exciting and mundane, like my packing photo below. Stop by regularly to catch up with us and follow along as we introduce the LSB to AZ and MX!
The bass player always agonizes over the packing list
Happy Winter Solstice, LSB Fans! It’s Mike D. here, friendly neighborhood bass player and ice castle astrologist for j.bell and the boys. Being from Minnesota, it seems like the shortest, darkest day of the year is a good one to check in with you all. Especially since, in just a few short weeks, we’ll be rocking out in a much warmer climate: at the January Jam in Mexico!
What’s that? You say you haven’t heard the news yet? Well, lucky for you, all the details (that we know so far) are posted over on our Events page. AND if you want to hear more about it directly from us, you should come help us kick off our tour at 612 Brew in Minneapolis on January 6! We’ll be breaking in this new venue (for us) at a nice early hour of 7 pm, selling our newest merch, and gaining some rock and roll steam that will help us “rock fully” (as Kent Mortimer would say) on our tour of AZ and Mexico.
The 612 Brew show is free admission, but you need tickets to get into January Jam, so what’s stopping you from buying some now? See you in Minneapolis, Arizona, and Mexico!
Did we mention they’re the best? (Thanks Robin Rust for all these pictures!)
Well, happy last Monday of November, LSB fans! We’re back to work after the long holiday weekend, and boy do we have a lot to be thankful for. Be it all the wonderful shows we got to play in 2022, the two EPs we got to release this year, our longevity as a band, or our exciting news for 2023 (more on that in a bit). But perhaps what we’re MOST thankful for is all the wonderful fans, friends, and family who came out to celebrate with us and listen to our music in 2022. Above are just a few examples of the excellent folks who came out to celebrate our extended catalog at Carbone’s on November 12. We had a blast at that show and we hope everyone who came enjoyed it as much as we did. We’re done with gigs for the calendar year, but boy do we have some practicing to do to prep for January!
Oh, wait, you haven’t heard the news? We recently learned that we are heading down to Puerto Penasco, Mexico, to join the list of incredibly talented artists participating in Roger Clyne & the Peacemakers January Jam festival! This is a “bucket list” item for us as a band, and we’re super excited to see some of the fans we mentioned, as well as the opportunity to make a whole bunch of new ones! We hope to see you there, MLK weekend, January 2023 – and we’ll be adding details about our gigs there as well as “bookend” gigs near Phoenix on our events page. Stay tuned!
The last time the full band played inside at Carbone’s was in the before times!
Well folks, what a year it has been for the Lazy Susan Band! Yes, yes, we know the year is far from over, but after a summer full of awesome gigs, we’re ready for a short break for the holidays.
BUT FIRST, we have special plans for you (and your pizza) three weeks from tonight (Nov 12th): we’re bringing the full band to Carbone’s in Minneapolis, and our prime directive is to treat you to two hours of (mostly) LSB originals. We’re carefully crafting the set lists to ensure that you hear some “rarities” as well as all the songs we never feel like we can squeeze into the 1-hour sets we’ve been doing much of the summer. We love the folks at this corner of south Minnie and we are extra excited to play there one last time in 2022!
Finally, before we sign off, we want to give a shout-out to Carol & Jaclyn with Adventures in Americana for boosting us on the InstaGramz, coming out to see us at the Aster Cafe earlier this month (photo below), and just generally being awesome. Check out their site and all the cool music they review!
The Lazy Susan Band once again rocks a sold out Aster Cafe show. Photo credit: Carol Roth (Adventures in Americana)
p.s. Stay tuned for some potentially big news for January 2023, and maybe beyond!
If you were there, you know: our “rock fully quartet” kept the rain at bay during a recent private show. (Photo by Robin Rust.)
Well, it’s now officially the end of summer, right folks? The calendar says September, the State Fair is over, the kids are back at school, and pumpkin spice guitar strings are for sale everywhere. OK, maybe not that last one. But the change of seasons is definitely upon us, and a quick look at our Events page says that we’ve had a busy summer indeed. Of course, it’s not too late to catch us at an upcoming show!
Yup, you’ve got another four chances to catch the LSB Trio in the east metro and Wisconsin at one of their patented acoustic shows. These are all early start times and you can pick your city: Stillwater, Lake Elmo, River Falls, or Hudson.
And if you’re a “west metro / downtown Minneapolis” kind of fan, well you need to break out your calendars now and save October 1 for our full band return to the Aster Cafe, this time to open up for dynamic singer-songwriter-keyboardist Ben Cook-Feltz. Last time we played the Aster, it sold out, so why not make your reservations now?
You might also notice that there’s not much on our calendar past October. We’re not sure how much we’re going to play during the winter, but rest assured that you’ll be able to find out about it here and over on the Book of Faces. Enjoy the last few weeks of warm weather, fans and friends!
A view of the Marshfield crowd from the Wenzel Family Plaza stage
You know, folks, some people call August “the dog days of summer”. Not us! We call it “another month when you can catch us live in many formats, and in many places”. (Not as catchy, but factually accurate.) Because as busy as we’ve been this summer, we simply can’t believe our tremendous luck with our outdoor shows in particular. Not only have we been blessed with good weather, but also with appreciative crowds out to enjoy live music.
Last month was just another example of that luck – peaking with our mini-road trip to BPZ’s hometown of Marshfield, WI. The fine folks of Marshfield and our hosts from the Wenzel Family Plaza, Good Day Sunshine Records, and Uptown Coffee Company all gave us such a warm welcome! We hope to make that a regular trip every summer, because it keeps getting better.
But back to August! As you can see on our events page, you have FOUR MORE chances to catch j.bell along with some version of the LSB: as a duo with $2 Bill Turner, a trio with Bill and BPZ, or in our “Full Band” glory with me (Mike) and Kent Mortimer holding down the rhythm section. If you’re itching for a trip “up north”, you can catch the full band at the Ripple-Sippi Music Fest in Aitkin this coming Friday 8/19, where a $20 advance ticket charge gets you access to a ton of bands on multiple stages that night. But we’ll also be at our favorite Carbone’s in Minneapolis the next night (8/20), doing our best to prevent j.bell’s scorching solos from lighting their lovely patio on fire. We hope to catch you at one – or maybe all – of those shows as we close out the summer!
Z and Mike practice their “rock and roll” faces while getting ready for the show.
The full band rocks the Summerfield Amphitheater in St. Michael, MN. Photo credit: Robin Rust.
Happy 4th of July, web page visitors and generally curious public! But wait, before we say another word about July, we simply must acknowledge what a spectacular June we had as a band. We released our EP “Waitin’ on Better Weather” in St. Paul, opened up for Kiss the Tiger in Rochester, and then opened up for Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers in St. Michael! (Topping it off with our favorite private party event “up north”. IYKYK.) We want to sincerely thank all the fans that came out to those events to make us feel truly special. And a big welcome to any of the new fans (and friends) we made along the way.
After that whirlwind of events, I had to drop my bass off in Minneapolis for some TLC! But now another new month brings an updated schedule, and it appears that July 2022 is our “Wisconsin Month”. In addition to seeing various acoustic lineups in River Falls and Hudson, the weekend of 7/22 sees us back in BPZMAG’s hometown of Marshfield for a trio of shows, including the first-ever full band appearance at the Wenzel Family Plaza for the Hub City Concert Series.
That weekend will also see trio shows at two locales on Saturday, completing our second (annual?) mini-Wisconsin tour. But of course there will be plenty of places to see the trio (and a few places to see the full band) in August and September, with all (OK most) of the details on our Events page. We can’t wait to see you all again!
OK, if you look closely, you’ll see that superstar drummer Simon Petrick filled in for us in St. Michael. Apparently Z is offstage looking for Kent at this moment. Photo credit: Robin Rust.
Well, now that we’ve officially celebrated the release of not one, not two, but three different albums over the past year, we couldn’t be more excited to share our latest news. First, we’re incredibly lucky to travel down to Rochetser to open for one of Twin Cities’ hottest bands, Kiss the Tiger! That’s right, this FREE concert in Rochester’s Cooke Park takes place this Wednesday night at 5:30 pm. We’re bringing our best full-band set to warm up the crowd and then we’ll be joining the audience to witness a riveting live band in action.
We are so grateful to the folks at Rochester Civic Music for including us in the forWARD Neighborhood Park Concert Series and hope we can all enjoy some beautiful weather, food trucks, and great music together on Wednesday!
Then, as if that wasn’t exciting enough, we’ve just learned that we’ll be joining the bill with Dalton Domino in support of Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers at the Summerfield Amphitheater in St. Michael at the end of the month. June 2022 is turning out to be pretty special, folks, and we have many of you to thank for it – see you at the show!
Friendly neighborhood bass player Mike D. here, folks, and I’m incredibly excited to announce that just two weeks from tonight, we’ll be celebrating the release of yet another 5-song EP that we’re calling “Waitin’ on Better Weather”. Once again featuring artwork from our good friend Kaptain Karl, this latest effort features all five band members coming together for some of our best work ever! (OK, sure, I’m a bit biased.)
We know it’s only been a little more than a month since celebrating j. bell’s “solo EP” in Minneapolis, but we figured, hey – we need to show St. Paul some love, too! So we sincerely hope you’ll join us just two weeks from tonight at the classic Midway Saloon, just across from Allianz Field in St. Paul. The wee $10 cover charge gets you in the door to see Sarah VanValkenburg at 7 pm, an extra long full-band set from us at 8, and a rare solo Brian Zirngible set at 9:30. Plus a special surprise set is planned for the night owls!
And, to close things out, if you haven’t heard yet, there are a few new surprises over on our Events page…give it a look and mark your calendars for any and all the shows listed!
Just a quick note to say “THANKS” to all the folks who came out on April 9th to help us sell out the Aster Cafe as we and our pals in Art Vandalay each released a new record. We had a blast and hope we can go back there soon. If you weren’t able to make it but can’t wait to get a copy of j.bell’s new solo EP, you can order one on our Merch page or tap into all the major streaming services.
We’ve got a little time off here in April but we have big things planned for you in the coming months! There will be LSB Trio and solo shows in May, and mark your calendars for a full band show on June 4th at the Midway Saloon. More details will come on that show soon, and you can learn about the the rest over on our Events page.
