The Blinding Rays of the Sun, Strange Electrical Noises, Long Intros, and a Splendid Time For All! - show date - 6/202/2026

On June 20th, our heroes journeyed to Squire Ale House in Campton Hills (far west of Chicago and just east of Montana), but somehow kind of close to home in South Elgin for Lisa and a bit of a drive for the rest of the Bear (Note: Lisa travels nearly 50 minutes to rehearsal every Thursday, so she deserves a home game once in a while).
The night was full of surprises – some good, some not so much. As this was the second sojourn to this amazingly quaint and cool ale house, one thing that the Bear and their trusty sound man, Nick Madsen, had to battle was the gremlins in the stage's electrical system. Several months ago, on a gorgeous early fall night when BPB took the stage on 9/12/2025, the gremlins were out in force. Nick and the band endured feedback, strange pulses, and hoots (kind of like an old Pink Floyd record, but much more acerbic to the ear).

​This second foray ended up with the same foe. Nick was up to the challenge with his trusty ally, Kevin Vesel, who once swore he joined BPB only to play drums because he had enough to do in his own band, Like A Stone, (and now has added Practice Master and Sound Liaison to his titles, as well as Hygiene Expert, Gardening Pro, and Fred Flintstone Historian to his drumming BPB duties). Kevin, joined forces with Nick to ensure they could battle this nemesis together. Their tasks included identifying the sources of the nasty noises, making sure Jenn B.'s keyboard was successful in the mix, and, at some point, figuring out how to get through a show when the bassist was apparently on another planet.

Would our heroes be up for the challenge?

Despite Lisa passionately delivering the vocals all night, especially on "The Story" and "Paradise City"; Professor Mike delivering the soulful solo on "Feelin' Alright" while crushing the vocals on "Secret Agent Man" and "You May Be Right"; Dr. Keith working in some sneaky notes during the absolute shred of "Eruption" and ripping the solo on "Rock You Like a Hurricane" as well as the adept soloing of Slash in “Paradise City”; Kevin's brilliant timekeeping all night; and Jenn's second show, in which she appeared to be exactly where she was always supposed to be – they had another foe...

Boober!

Now, Mike pointed out before the first set that the toe sock-clad bassist was wearing a black-and-pink paisley vest, which made him look like a host at the defunct ChiChi’s restaurant. The gang did not know the trouble their star-crossed bassist would bring them.

It was obvious early that Boober, even though he was consistently running around the venue, engaging the patrons, had forgotten how to play his instrument. Mike was quoted on stage as saying, "Is this the night of disappearing notes?" Over and over, the bald menace seemed to lose his focus and fall out of the song, only to try to catch up without dropping a bass bomb.

Then the introductions, in which Lisa was accused of wrestling a bear to a draw, Mike was marked with the skills of dissecting the Decameron and telling dirty jokes, and the crowd was invited to the parking lot for copies of Dr. Keith's 79½-word dissertation (in which Kevin and Mike can be heard warning the crowd not to go to the parking lot because of Stranger Danger!).

Somehow the band played on, carrying their bassist through two sets and an encore of "I Hate Myself for Loving You." Note, the band had to change from two other potential encores because our hobbled bassist cramped at the end of the earlier-mentioned Guns N' Roses classic and could only play with his extended middle finger, one note at a time, as his hand assumed the position of a swollen and unconscious lobster!
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Despite the hot sun burning Lisa's chest (her words, not ours), Kevin's head, and making Boober sweat again in uncommonly large amounts, the Bear left the Ale House with a few more followers on Facebook and many smiles.
Those who stayed for "Paradise City" joined the band in singing it and air-instrumenting it out. That was really cool.
Thus, Bipolar Bear – weary from battling the sun, the sound gremlins, and their own bassist – vowed, "We shall be back to your amazing stage, and we will fight the gremlins again!!!"

A BoobSovillo Collaboration