Category: Blog

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.

Our border crossings were smooth yesterday, and a few of us even ran into Peacemakers at the famous KM13 marker.

Then we arrived in Puerto Peñasco just in time to appreciate some sunset drinks.

Last night at Banditos, the crowd lifted us to new heights, fueling us into an encore and a rockin’ kickoff for JanJam weekend.

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!)

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!

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!

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.

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.

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

p.s. Stay tuned for some potentially big news for January 2023, and maybe beyond!

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!

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!