C.J.: KDWB 'Booty Cruise' turns into 'Fight Night'

When a radio station promotes an event as a "Booty Cruise," you don't anticipate a church-like environment.

Still, it was something of a surprise when June 5's KDWB Booty Cruise briefly lapsed into "Fight Night" with at least a couple of cruisers flailing it out, maybe slapping and pulling hair.

City Pages' Youa Vang was on the boat.

"I am a fan of the radio show. I listen to the morning show," Vang told me Tuesday. "My friend won tickets. She asked if a few people wanted to go and I mentioned it to my editor and he asked me if I could write about it. I decided to not drink that night and just observe what was happening. "

And a fight broke out on the cruise? Vang laughed. "I didn't see it but a fight did break out," Vang told me.

"I'm unsure what started the fight, but it seems people were on edge for a lot of the evening, and were one drink away from a cat fight," Vang wrote in her report.

She's certain there was a fight because she saw KDWB morning show host Dave Ryan trying to separate the women. There's video of the commotion, which Vang attached to her City Pages' piece: www.tinyurl.com/llg2fjk. "The video was posted by Falen, from the morning show," said Vang. I do believe that's Ryan, who did not respond to my tweet seeking a comment, holding a mike in the video.

"As the buffet deck emptied out, the stripper deck was just heating up," reads Vang's City Pages account. "Thirty-second dances could be bought for $20 … It was very much like a bachelorette party, but with even fewer inhibitions since there was no wedding to follow. As I watched 300 women drink, laugh, and dance, I had the epiphany of, 'Who am I to judge people trying to enjoy themselves for one evening?' What was supposed to be 'a three-hour tour, a three-hour tour' of fun, drinking, and male strippers turned out to be an introspective lesson in life and a glimpse into our culture of indulgence."

Based on what Vang wrote, this cruise did not sound like the place to be.

"Nooo, it's not," said Vang, who told me once "was enough for me. It was a good place to watch and observe people. It's not for people with taste.''

Bruno Mars is getting a bolo tie accented with a Minnesota agate as a gift from the Xcel Energy Center when he performs Saturday.

The piece was designed by lapidary artist Chad Jungers, whose hobby has grown into a business, Minnesota Agate Creations in Blaine. His pieces, viewable at facebook.com/MNAgateCreations, are on display at ZRS Fossils & Gifts, in the LynLake area of Minneapolis, and Minnesota Lapidary Supply, in Princeton.

Lapidary is "kind of a dying art," Jungers said. "Somebody who works with stones — and has the ability to make a bolo — there aren't very many people who do that in the state anymore. It was very popular back in the '40s and '50s, a lot of amateur lapidary artists were around and then it just died out. A lot of the equipment is still the same. The equipment I work with is from the '40s and I just kind of rebuilt everything with my hands. Simple to do. The learning experience came from working with other people from that generation, who are 70, 80 years old. That's how I got good at it."

Junger said he's getting better at promoting his lapidary on social media with the help of his brother David Jungers, who is a social media specialist for Mall of America.

C.J. can be reached at cj@startribune.com and seen on Fox 9's "Buzz." E-mailers, please state a subject; "Hello" does not count. Attachments are not opened.