Mike and Joe

THE ROUNDHOUSE IN AURORA--WHATS GOING ON??
There has been a lot of confusion about The Roundhouse and why we are not playing there this summer. The real answer to this question is kind of long and annoying. The short answer is because there are new owners and they are not ready to do live music in there yet. They are still getting used to the place, and will not be ready to do live music for a while. We have August 20th on hold with The Roundhouse, and we have our fingers crossed that they club will be ready to start with live music by then. SO, mark that date down people, mark it down! August 20th is the "Maybe" date for The Roundhouse. If it happens, then we will want all of you to join us for our one show there this year. Normally we would have 3. This year, just one. Next year, we hope to be back to our regularly scheduled program. E-mail this message to any MJ fans who might care. Post it on FB. Lots of people have been asking about this, so please help us spread this info.

ROCKFORD. WHERE TO PLAY? FRANCHESCO'S? MURPHY'S?
Back to that old question again. We're thinking of trying Murphy's. Send your opinions. We need a room in Rockford.

INDY WINE AND BREW FEST, JUNE 17
Hey, we will be finally be playing an Indianapolis festival. Is the world spinning the other direction? Has the Michael Jordan started wearing Haines? Have the Kardashian sisters gone in for breast reductions? Well, its true. We will be playing the Indy Wine and Brew Fest in the parking lot next to Broadripple High School (next to Einstein Brothers Bagels) on June 17th starting at 7:30pm. Come sample local wines and micro brews all night whilst we float tasty melodies to your eardrums. The proceeds do benefit the united hope foundation... http://www.unitedhopefoundation.org/. We are excited and plan to scandalously drive off with any excess red wine at the end of the night. Spread the word folks. Spread the word. MJ will be rockin B-Rip..

SWEDISH DAYS IN GENEVA, JUNE 22
We dont really have a lot to say about this festival except that its awesome. Geneva is just great in general. Go there.

CD AND ME IN FRANKFORT, JUNE 23
CD and Me is an interesting place. Its this sort of cool outdoor gazebo, waterfall, fire pit, fireplace having Thursday night summer only concert sort of venue. They have hamburgers too, to be honest. Yea, we are aware of the problems with that sentence. Dont worry about it. We play at CD and Me two times a year; once in June and once in August. Thats it! Two times a year. The first show on June 23 is the first one, and you should go to commemorate our first CD and Me show of the year. The second one is August 18, and you should go to that one and lament that its our last performance until next summer. Its like salt and pepper shakers. I mean, who has just a pepper shaker? Freakin nobody.

PEORIA--CRUSENS OR SOPs?
Well the fellas at Crusens are awfully nice to us. Real nice. We have been playing at SOPs for a while now, and thought we would give you guys a change of scenery over to Crusens. We would, however, like to hear your opinion about SOPs and Crusens. Do you like one of these rooms better than the other? Should we play one of these places more than the other? Let us know what you think about that. Since we got rained out at the CEFCU Stage this summer, we threw another show in at Crusens on June 30. Why not, what the heck.

FESTIVALS IN GENERAL...
This summer we will be playing a bunch of new festivals that we have NOT ever played before. These would include:
Palatine Fourth of July Fest on July 1
Mt Prospect Lions Club Fest on July 3
Crystal Lake Lakeside Festival on July 4 (well technically we have played here before....but its been a while)
Westchester Fest on July 9
Sugar Grove Corn Boil on July 30
Tilted Kilt Fest on August 12
Gurnee Days on August 13
Taste of Highland Park on August 26
Buffalo Grove Days on September 2

Because so many of these are new festivals for us, we want to make special mention of them. Now read that list again and think about your buddies and pals who live around those places. Can you think of them? Uh huh? Your friends? Remember them? Well now dont just sit there like you just lost the showcase showdown. Copy this blurb and send it to them for crying out loud. Drew Carey would do it. Be like Drew.

In related news we are fabulously excited to return to Vernon Hills Summer Celebration on July 15. Its our favorite fest of the summer. This festival rocks so hard.

ALGONQUIN FOUNDERS DAYS, JULY 29--CO-BILL WITH SIXTEEN CANDLES
We have never done this before. On July 29 we will be playing our first true co-bill ever. What the hell does that mean? Its means two bands set up on the stage at the same time alternating half hour sets back and forth with no breaks all night. The band we will be playing with is our fav pop 80's band Sixteen Candles. For a little more info about how this all came about, see the July 29 tour date "square" on the TOUR link above.

HARVEST PARTY AT ROUND BARN WINERY IN BARODA, MICHIGAN ON AUGUST 28
For anyone wanting to discover an incredible little corner of the world so close but probably unknown to you, go to "Harbor Country" in Southwestern Michigan. Its basically right around the corner from Chicago. Harbor Country is the name that refers to the 8 cities of New Buffalo, Union Pier, Three Oaks, Lakeside, Harbert, Sawyer, Grand Beach, and Michiana. Surrounding these towns are lots of wineries, and we have been asked to play a wine fest at The Round Barn Winery in Baroda, MI (just East of "Harbor Country"). We have been there to drink the wine and the fab Stout they brew on site, and now we are more than pleased to be headed over to rock out their Harvest Fest. This festival celebrates the new harvest of grapes that they will be picking to craft the wine we will be drinking at next year's Harvest Party.