🎀 1 YEAR OF THE FUGETTES 🎀 The Beginning
Host: May June (@MayJune20121) on the @fugettes account, with returning OG co-host Zorin (@Zorin_NFT) · Fri, Sep 18 2026 · 1:40:14 · ~9 speakers
TL;DR
- First of three Fugettes anniversary spaces that day (10am / 3pm / 8pm ET). This one was the "how it started" episode; a Yucky Duck goes to a random attendee of this one, and a Fug is being given away at the 8pm space [7:00], [1:40:05].
- Zorin, the original Fugettes co-host, came back for the first time in ~6 months and talked openly about grinding himself into the ground, going fully offline, and rebuilding balance via the gym [5:46], [18:45].
- May June read out the actual archive: first space was Sept 11 (moved the anniversary to the 18th), 21 listeners on the pilot, a peak of 155 in March, plus the great "Fuggettes" double-G reduction of early lore [52:48], [54:18], [55:41].
- Slick Rick dropped in with the most quoted stretch of the space — NFT NYC, a name literally stamped in a New York sidewalk, and why small rooms still matter [1:07:39], [1:14:16].
- Burning Bush conducted the room from two accounts at once for double giveaway odds, got caught by Kadarn, and regretted nothing [1:31:54].
- Kadarn asked for alpha on the Kabu partnership; May June pointed him at the Monday 1pm Fugs space [1:22:51], [1:24:17].
Highlights
[2:47] A rock song written to bully one man into PFP'ing his Fug. The space opened with two original Fugettes tracks, the second of which May June wrote specifically to tell Zorin to change his penguin PFP — complete with leftover German from a Fugettes German class nobody remembers. "For some reason you were giving rock vibes, so I ended up making it a rock song," she explained; the PFP change never happened [11:12].
[11:37] Zorin on why sub-communities mattered when the market didn't. Asked what the early spaces actually were, he gave the room the long, unprompted answer it had been missing: Fugettes was the first sub-community to show up for Fugs at a point when "we didn't had much," the market was down, and having people still in the room was the difference. He described his old role as de facto community manager and partnerships guy — a title Yot reportedly didn't love — and noted the early spaces were mostly everyone roasting each other [13:05].
[18:45] "I think I've had the best six months in such a long time." The most substantive thread of the hour. Zorin described two years of no social life, Discord 24/7, sleeping at 5 or 6am and waking at 3pm, and the point where it became clear he'd either change something or burn out. Now it's the gym, an hour or ninety minutes to lock in: "this is actually really good for your mental health" [23:02]. He also said the timeline itself had gotten too toxic to stay plugged into, and that he's coming back deliberately slowly so he doesn't fall straight back into the same loop [24:01].
[25:30] The six-seven incident. May June said "six or seven guys" while summarizing his answer. Zorin immediately came off the ropes about the meme, Show suggested this alone would buy him another six months offline, and May June declared the rage-bait experiment closed: "That is old Zorian. Zorn is calm and said now" [26:11].
[26:41] A bear walks into a room full of penguins. Kadarn joined and diagnosed himself as conspicuous: a bear among gophers and penguins, "like a goliath in this in the story of David." Show clarified he's the least threatening hunter in Web3 — he'd let everyone go first [27:32].
[32:10] AC's long-form reflection on consistency. Building on Zorin's balance thread, AC laid out how demanding even once-a-week consistency is, and how the hardest expectations to meet aren't the algorithm's but your own. Her point about stepping away from a group — that they've lived the day-to-day you missed, so re-entry always carries friction — landed hard enough that Burning Bush, of all people, came back to say there were "a lot of gems in there" [40:00].
[49:35] The context for the PFP, and the birth of Burning Bush Radio. May June's Fug is sitting on a toilet. Burning Bush supplied the soundboard clip ("This is so boring. What are we doing? I'm literally sitting on the toilet"), May June narrated "so then I was on the shitter," and the room agreed this was "the future of X Spaces" [50:06]. Her summary of the year: it started as just her and Zorin talking to 21 listeners, and now there's a recap guy and a radio station [50:11].
[52:48] The archive, read aloud. Fugs Talk pilot episode on Sept 11 — which Burning Bush vetoed as an anniversary date — art, culture, community, and a request for Zorin to break down the My Neighbor Alice collab that he answered with "What do you want me to say?" ("Of course I do because I had no clue," he confirmed [54:11]). Then the numbers: 21 → 33 → 44, 80 with the Abstract Angels, 115 right before the migration, 155 in March for "Feeling Fuggish" — which is also the month Zorin left [54:18].
[55:41] Fuggettes, with a G reduction. For the newer crowd: the name used to have two G's, and the chat would not let it go. May June's brand logic (Fugs has one G) lost to the counterargument that Fugger has two, and the compromise was announced as a reduction. AC's favorite part was the earnest grammar debate: "who needs extra? Just you know, if it looks odd, it gets attention" [57:55].
[1:13:00] Slick Rick: the sidewalk stamp. Rick came in to congratulate the year and stayed to tell the room how his spaces changed — burnt out on ticker-and-shill rooms, he pivoted to talking about real life: addiction, loss, work, names, actual people. Then the NFT NYC story: walking down a street in New York with Chris Vaughn, Peanut and Liz, asking God why he was there, and finding "slick rick victory" with a crown stamped into the concrete [1:14:16]. His follow-up was the practical version of the same lesson — four listeners became eight became sixteen became a hundred, then kids and businesses pulled him back down to four or five, and the DMs are what refill the tank [1:19:23].
[1:16:46] May June on the shift. Her answer to Rick was the most personal stretch of her year in review: she deliberately kept her personality out of the early spaces because they were about Fugs, not her — she wouldn't even mention being Canadian. A Thursday space of Cody's changed that, and a year later she can have heart-to-hearts in her own room, with a standing note to Kadarn to keep hosting breakfast with bears even on the one- and two-person Mondays [1:18:10].
Topic timeline
| Time | Topic |
|---|---|
| [0:11] – [4:54] | Two original Fugettes songs, including Zorin's rock track |
| [4:54] – [7:00] | Hellos; the three-space plan and giveaways |
| [7:00] – [11:36] | Why this space exists; the old iPad notes; the PFP-Zorin song lore |
| [11:37] – [18:36] | Zorin on the early Fugettes spaces, his team role, community as marketing |
| [18:45] – [26:11] | Burnout, going offline, gym and balance; the six-seven derailment |
| [26:23] – [31:20] | Kadarn on consistency and conviction; Zorin on five years without a pause |
| [31:36] – [38:57] | AC on consistency, self-imposed expectations and sub-communities |
| [39:23] – [47:43] | Burning Bush, the Fameless, Dan-speaks-through-recaps bit, Dan on the road |
| [48:38] – [51:47] | Toilet PFP context; Burning Bush Radio debuts |
| [52:48] – [59:00] | The archive: pilot episode, listener stats, the double-G era |
| [1:00:04] – [1:07:19] | Banter, shoutout list, Show's goodbye, the "gullible Zorin" story |
| [1:07:39] – [1:21:51] | Slick Rick: IRL, NFT NYC, why small spaces matter; May June's year in review |
| [1:22:50] – [1:35:51] | Closing words around the room; giveaway mechanics; Jose's bird call |
| [1:37:22] – [1:40:14] | "Fugettes Forever" and the 8pm reminder |
Notable quotes
- "If you have a great community, you basically have also free marketing which you can promote your project or kind of push it." — Zorin [15:34]0:38
- "Then I went to gym and I realized okay, this is actually really good for your mental health." — Zorin [23:02]0:38
- "I'm actually feeling out of place, you know, as a gophers as a penguin. You know, but I'm a bear, I look so big, like I'm so obvious." — Kadarn [26:41]0:38
- "If show is not a co-host, Bernie Bush is a normal person. I speak with a slow timbre and tempo, and I do not raise my voice." — Burning Bush [41:21]0:38
- "This is a sign from God that I'm in the right place, right? Because I don't really believe in coincidence." — Slick Rick [1:14:16]0:38
- "No matter what you do, just enjoy it as much as you can. Because you're never gonna know when it's gonna end." — Zorin, closing [1:34:12]0:38
Who said what
- May June (@MayJune20121) — host. Ran the anniversary retrospective from her actual notes, handled giveaway logistics, and gave the most honest self-assessment of the hour: the show started for the community and is now also something she builds for herself [1:16:46].
- Zorin (@Zorin_NFT) — guest of honor and day-one co-host. Supplied the origin story of Fugettes as a sub-community, then the burnout-and-recovery arc; left mid-space for work, hinting he may show up more often [1:35:40].
- Show — early cheerleader and interviewer; drew out most of Zorin's balance answers with direct questions [21:11], then left with a deliberately non-Irish goodbye and a "you've been a pillar" tribute to May June [1:04:42].
- AC TM (@resonancetone) — the room's reflective voice on consistency, self-imposed expectations and re-entering communities after a break [32:10]; also a very composed sparring partner for Burning Bush.
- Burning Bush (@BurningBush_eth) — chief chaos agent and part-time soundboard, operating two accounts for double giveaway odds; also delivered a genuinely warm closing tribute [1:27:30].
- Kadarn — the bear among penguins; spoke on conviction over time, called spaces "like having a board meeting," and asked for Kabu partnership alpha [1:22:51].
- Slick Rick — drop-in guest whose NFT NYC and small-room stories became the emotional core of the space [1:13:00].
- The Fameless — deadpan benchmark for calm energy; proposed an account-swap bit with Burning Bush [42:34] and closed with "keep up the good book and uh forget about it" [1:29:10].
- Dan — the recap guy, roasted in absentia for speaking only through recaps, then checked in live from the car with "limited bandwidth" — instantly rebranded "Dan width" [47:43].
- Jose (@Yoshi_3000) — earned an extra giveaway wheel entry with a bird call at the buzzer [1:35:51].
Worth a full listen
- [18:45] – [26:11] — Zorin's full burnout account and what six months off actually changed, ending in the six-seven meltdown. The summary can't carry both the sincerity and the whiplash.
- [1:13:00] – [1:21:51] — Slick Rick uninterrupted: the sidewalk stamp, the decision to stop conforming to shill spaces, and the four-listeners-to-a-hundred-and-back arc. Best stretch in the room.
- [39:23] – [51:47] — If you want the tonal opposite: Burning Bush's shell-of-a-man entrance, the Fameless roll-reversal pitch, the Dan lore rivalry, and the toilet-PFP reveal that spawned Burning Bush Radio.
