ST. CLOUD, Minn. — Audience members at pop-punk trio Little Rounders’ St. Cloud Room show this weekend all reported bouts of cute aggression, after drummer Scott Minkle tossed his stick into the crowd at the end of their set, only to have it returned by a dog in the audience.
“Normally people fight over the sticks, but this little guy was trying to give it back, and he was such a good boy with his tail wagging and his big old face,” noted Minkle, who was unable to play an encore with the returned stick due to its slippery drool. “It makes sense though. I noticed the dog doing this crouch thing every time I made a sudden movement throughout the set, like he thought I was gonna throw it. I even pretended to a few times to throw him off, but he seemed to like that even more.”
Other audience members were eager to weigh in on the fuzzy phenomena.
“He chased down the stick like no problem, but you could tell he was torn once Minkle threw the other stick,” noted Little Rounders fan Tanya Hortull, sniffly because she’s “allergic to badasses and also wire hairs.” “He even dropped the stick for a second, but when another guy reached for it, he picked it right up and sauntered away. Then dropped it again. But when someone reached for it, BAM! Picked it up and sauntered. Like it was a fucking game or something.”
The dog, named Travis Barker, which actually isn’t that clever, received praise from his pleased owner.
“He’s just a really good boy, and an even better audience member. When someone fell in the pit, he stopped having the zoomies right away and tried helping them up, but it really just ended with him tugging on the guy’s collar, but the fact is he tried his best. Then went back to the zoomies,” noted owner Derek Chen, a. 8.9% IPA in one hand and a bag of Greenies in the other. “It was fun watching him wag his tail in unison with the fist pumps. They didn’t even know that he was only stage diving because he’s afraid of stairs.
At press time, fellow pet owner Claire Dent was upset that Travis Barker outshined her Indian Ringneck Parakeet, “Keetwood Mac” – who absolutely nailed every single call-and-repeat throughout the show.