When the cat's away...

Wow!  What a crazy start to my summer!  In addition to having a BLAST out of town with i like you + Scotty on drums, I've had some very exciting things happen.

Next year, I will no longer be Robbinsdale Spanish Immersion's music teacher.  It was an incredibly tough decision to make :-(  I kept thinking of those kiddos and awesome staff I won't see every day now.  However, I WILL be there 2 days a week as their ORCHESTRA TEACHER!!!  I'll get to see the 4th and 5th grade orchestra students as well as the FUTURE orchestra students.  I am excited to be a different part of the school community...a part that I've trained in and extensively studied!!  I also get to go to Sonnesyn, Noble, and Meadow Lake and I have to say, I'm stoked!

To say this weekend was celebratory would be pretty true.  In the band van and also as I played, I kept thinking about how my experience in many types of music will allow me to teach well rounded students.  I love my performing life and I'll be able to give the skills needed for the opportunity to hundreds of kids a year.  Woah!

Well, the band van AND trailer did awesome this weekend.  It is so nice to all ride together and be a part of all the funny happenings, music discussions, etc.  Plus, if not for the band van and trailer, we wouldn't have had a chance to witness this solution to the scraping trailer hitch:

...why must I make such awkward noises SO CLOSE to the microphone of the camera?

Coming up next!  Lots of rehearsals this week which is awesome!  On Saturday, I'll be playing a double header - one at St. Paul Summer Beer Fest and one on the Cabooze-Joint patio as the pre-show for Katey Bellville, The Boys N the Barrels and The Big Wu!!  However, Johnny is out of town for work...which leaves ME MYSELF AND I in charge of all this.  Uff da!

The plan?  Eldon Hagen will be joining us for the Joint/Cabooze show and I'll be needing to sing my little heart out more than normal at both.  Of course I'll have my amazingly talented future father in law on dobro, Joe Sheehan of i like you. is going to hold down the bass stuff, and who knows who else may join us!  Both shows should be super fun if not for the music, but for seeing how I handle leading a band.  Please come cheer me on for moral support!!!!!!

OH!  Plus it's Happy Gnome week!  I love telling people about this wonderful magical place and how relaxing it is to play there every 1st and 3rd Sunday.  Come on out, rain or shine, it's always a good time!!!

I'll have to likely learn a bluegrass standard to sing.  Any suggestions?!?!  If you come out to one of the shows and I pick your tune, come see me for a prize!  PS...it's probably going to be handmade and awesome :-)

See you this weekend!

- K

I ALMOST FORGOT!!!!!  Humdinger AND The Regulars!  debut albums are now available at all local Down in the Valley stores!!  A HUGE thank you to them for putting our work in ALL locations and just being super nice to work with.  Go pick up your CD today!!  Remember, The Regulars' album is in limited quantity AND all of the proceeds from Humdinger go to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  What a deal!

Last time...I PROMISE!!

Oh goodness...I've done it again!  Here I am posting way more than a week after my last post.  I did some thinking while I was on the sandy, beautiful beaches of Emerald Isle, NC and realized that I'm an adult.  No excuses.  Life just happens and I hope you all are ok with it!

I was so lucky to get to see my college roommate get married on the BEACH!  The combination of sun, sand, ocean, great friends, and chiropractic adjustments made for an amazing recharge session before powering through the last few days until summer vacation.  Thank you Jacci and Kyle for inviting me to be a part of your day....and thank you for meeting so many great friends along the way....who just so happen to be chiropractors too....and then move to beautiful North Carolina.   Really, I can't get over how wonderful the whole experience was.  I can't wait to see you two and Jessie + family in MN in October!  Let's have another wedding! ;-)

Wow, since that beautiful vacation, I've come back rejuvenated and ready to tackle the end of the school year at Robbinsdale Spanish Immersion.  The kiddos are certainly excited for summer and it's rubbing off on me!  Just 2 days left!  WOW!!!

Also, since that trip I've had a chance to jump on stage with The Burbillies at the 331 to play some crazy 80s bluegrass style.  What a blast!  Friday I had off from gigs, but I got to see my future sister in law graduate.  It was fun cheering her on!  The rest of the weekend was full as usual, on Saturday I had the first of many voice lessons which is going to be so helpful over the summer and beyond.  After that, I went to set up and soundcheck with The Big Adventure and then off to the Nicollet with i like you.  The Nicollet was a cool space, check it out sometime! I hope to play there again soon.  The next stop was the Heart of the Beast Theater to raise money for an amazing organization called Secondhand Hounds.  It is a dog rescue organization that saved the lives of over 1,000 furry friends in the last year.  Definitely worth a party!!!!  I really hope we were successful in their fundraising efforts and BE SURE to check them out!

OK!  Coming up...first the 5th grade farewell AND the last day of school.  Such a bittersweet time of year, but I'm looking forward to summer deep down ;-)  I will be starting off the summer with a great run of shows.  On Thursday, June 6th, I get to play at one of my FAVORITE local venues: The Cabooze!  The line up includes Kind Country, i like you., and Useful Jenkins.  There may be some surprises as well, so come on out and celebrate VERANO!  The next day, we head up to play the Reef in Duluth.  After the Reef, we head to Hayward, WI to play at the Park Theater!  I LOVED playing there last time so if you're anywhere near Hayward, come on out!

I have to admit, it's pretty cool when your students ask "Srta. Krueger, what are you doing with your summer vacation?" and answering "well, I'm kicking it off with a nice Northern loop mini-tour."  Definitely stoked for all the other great things in store for this summer!  Stay in touch!

NEW RECORD!!

I just realized how misleading that probably looks coming from a musician. No I did not record a record, I just broke a personal record of gigs per day. Last weekend was a BLAST! Friday night John and I spent some good old-fashioned quality time together and we went out to Ichiban to celebrate his birthday. So happy I'm engaged to someone who also loves sushi! We celebrated then because of the crazy new few days. Saturday I played a wedding gig and then at my favorite Twin Cities venue, The Cabooze! Bonus: because it was Johnny's birthday, he jumped up with i like you and WOWed the audience with some great guitar work. Plus he had a super awesome Back to the Future hat. Super pumped that Srta. Fahey, a teacher friend of mine, made it out with some friends as well. Carnage and Heatbox were amazing to watch - I was curious how i like you would do opening for 2 hip hop acts, but the night was a HUGE success. I danced waay too late into the night!

   

 Photo by Helium Dolphin. GO LIKE HIS facebook PAGE!! HE ROCKS!!
Best "Lasso the Moon" ever - Johnny + Arthur = Johnther....

 Sunday I played 2 church services, booked it to Pickle Park to play a duo set with my sweetheart as The Twin Cities, ate some foods, then played with The Minnesota Bluegrass Band. It was a benefit show a friend was throwing and so many people were there. I really super duper hope that it was successful! I had to jet over to the Happy Gnome then too for our Sunday show. I'm counting the 2 services as one show (like 2 sets), but then the benefit as 2 (2 different bands, one at 1pm, the other at 5pm), and then the Happy Gnome. That makes FOUR!!! I've done 2, sometimes 3...but NOW FOUR!?!?! It was awesome. It was stressful going from St. Paul to Fridley to St. Paul with limited time, but I loved it.

  ...ALMOST AS MUCH AS I LOVE RUNNING, SPARKLES, AND "THE BARN"!!!!!!!
I hope they didn't forget, but a few of us picked up groupons for a rave-glowstick-5K at Valley Fair.  My pace still isn't what I want it to be (of course I did 4 mi instead of 3.1), but I'm hoping the race will kick me into high gear.  After that, head to Mayslacks for Sunshine's birthday....GERMAN SPARKLE PARTY!!!!!!!  Super excited to be all silly!  Lots of sparkles, lots of glitter, and I'll try to revive the little teensy bit of German I still know after filling my brain with more Spanish.  COME TO NORTHEAST!!  I KNOW you're looking for an excuse to wear sequins!

And then on to my favorite rural concert venue....THE LARVAE LOUNGE, aka "THE BARN!!!"

THE BIG ADVENTURE, ARMSTRONG CLAWHAMMER, STEVE SULLIVAN AND THE FACTORY, AMANDA GREEN AND HER MISMATCHED SOCKS

THE LARVAE LOUNGE - KENYON, MN SATURDAY, 6PM-DAWN, $15 GETS YOU REFRESHMENTS, CAMPING, AND ALL THE MUSIC YOUR EARS CAN HANDLE!!

Yes.  The Barn gets bold print AND all caps.  It's that amazing.

Comment and whatnot if you have any questions.

I'm out!!  2nd grade concert, "Lo Mejor de Segundo grado" tomorrow!!!!