Hudson Wisconsin Nightlife

June, 2015Archive for

With nine decades-diverse bands, Booster Days will strike a chord with everyone

Tuesday, June 30th, 2015

Hudson Booster Days has a little bit of every sound, and is certain to strike a chord with virtually every listener, in its diverse nine-band musical lineup that will be the heart and soul of the annual festival.
The fest’s music, from the rock of the ’80s to many other genres, runs from July 2-4 at the Lakefront Park band shell.
These are bios, in order of appearance, of the Booster Days acts:
– Jeff Loven bills himself as Minnesota’s top “one man band” and has backed up that claim by winning two prominent international guitar competitions, inserting extra fills into even the toughest solos, a skill that gained him an almost successful bid by fans to get him on stage with Eddie Van Halen. He also has a voice that seems to match up with every tune he sings. Loven said that for this show, what the heck, he might even continue his practice of giving away classic Matchbox cars as part of his trademark name-that-tune contest. But don’t expect his usual guest appearances by other singers,
– Devon Worley is a Minneapolis country singer in her late teens with a huge voice and stage presence, and even auditioned for The Voice. She is backed by veteran musicians in this seven-or-so piece band who have had connections with some big names, from widely differing genres. It only took until the band’s second album, which came out a while back, to solidify their reputation as one of the Midwest’s top country acts.
– 23rd Hour, a female rock and soul duo, says online that they are “authentically fearless” in their “naked vulnerability of sound and soul” that lets them leave everything on stage and move beyond being a multi-member band and just being a standard acoustic duo.
– Alive, taking time away from their Moondance Jam gig, does as a tribute band what is called the “entire catalog” of Pearl Jam hit songs and re-creates the in-concert experience of the seminal grunge-era band.
– A Rock Brigade web site urges that when listeners are not seeing them perform, be sure to check out Arch Allies. Which makes sense, since they play back-to-back at Booster Days. Rock Brigade has some of the same tunes, and their 64-song set list features diverse numbers such as Everybody Wants You, Immigrant Song and even a couple from Lita Ford. And harkening back to the days when Tommy Tutone used to perform in Hudson, there is also on the list his classic, Jenny 867-5309.
– Arch Allies, a tribute band to Styx, Journey and REO Speedwagon, has a history of playing prominent local festivals around St. Croix County. They are one of the Friday bands that pay tribute to the Old School ’80s rock scene, complete with the soaring guitar riffs and vocals, and of course the big hair! The band members invite listeners to triple their pleasure with the trio of bands covered, as they from an early age have been honing their skills, which have been on display in gigs not only across the country, but all of North America.
– The Armadillo Jump band will play their cranked up, rockin’ blues and the band shell will be alive with Texas-style attitude, according to the band’s web site. The five-piece group is a mix of men and women even features a sax player.
– Ponzi Scheme cranks out tunes from the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s and vows to “bring back horn section” music with a six-piece lineup that includes two keyboardists, and trumpet and trombone.
– Uncle Chunk has long been regarded as one of the best cover bands coming out of the Twin Cities area, and they have a prominent and storied history of playing in Hudson, usually drawing a big crowd. They give quality, spot-on treatment to lots of broadbased pop, mainstream rock and country songs, and churn out hit after hit, redefining what a cover band should be about. Uncle Chunk has on YouTube their video renditions of Enter Sandman by Metallica and Rockstar by Nickelback.
Sponsors include the Hudson Boosters (two bands), Uncle Mike’s Em Pour E-Yum, Luther Hudson Chevrolet GMC (one of the headliner bands), Chad Carlson as a financial representative, Hudson Ford (a headliner), Pita Pit, Family Fresh Market, and Croix Gear and Machining (a headliner). There is no cover charge for any of the bands, including headliners.
For a day-by-day breakdown of the festival lineup:
– On Thursday, it’s the guitar wizardry of Jeff Loven from 5:30-8:15 p.m., and teen country phenom Devon Worley from 9 p.m.-12:30 a.m.
– Friday brings more of the rock sound with Alive, a Pearl Jam tribute band, playing from 3:30-6 p.m., Rock Brigade from 6:30-8:30 p.m., and Arch Allies as a three-act tribute band from 9 p.m.-12:30 a.m. Opening up on Friday is 23rd Hour, a female duo, from 1-3 p.m.
– On Saturday, it’s a bit more diverse, with Armadillo Jump from 1:30-4:30 p.m., Ponzi Scheme from 5:15-8:15 p.m., and popular mainstream rockers Uncle Chunk from 9 p.m.-12:30 a.m.

Saturday, June 27th, 2015

You can go fast, or just bop and fiddle around with entertainment offerings on this weekend before the Fourth:
– Clubs that are just opening or have recently opened can opt to open with events particular to them, in Saturday’s case the E-Rat-Icate Cancer Cruise, which starts at Not Justa Bar in Bayport and travels throughout the day through the scenic St. Croix and Mississippi River Valleys, down to Wabasha, Minn. and back. The event, which benefits the fight against adult and childhood cancer, has among its more than a dozen regional co-sponsors the just opening Big Guys BBQ Roadhouse north of Hudson. The cruise honors the lives of former Valley residents Donald Johnson and Mike Quast. At 8 a.m. is registration and breakfast at Not Justa Bar, followed by the cruise itself — which can include rat rods, hot rods, bikes, classics and customs — at 10 a.m.
– The Tin Pan Alley Cats, founded by Doug Johnson who is a professor emeritus of art at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, plays 8 p.m. to closing on Friday, June 26 at Juniors in River Falls. The group offers “swinging jazz music from western Wisconsin” that includes trumpet and tenor sax, as well as the styles of Bossa, blues and be-bop.
– Even though this is not a county fair or street dance, which the country-leaning band Smokescreen says are their favorite venue types, they will be bringing the “fiddle into overdrive” when they play the Smilin’ Moose on Friday night. And that fiddle-playin’ band is more than just tapping into Charlie Daniels, based on their play list, they may even kick it with some Metallica!

Booster Days gets a lot of country, rock, and heavy dose of the ’80s

Wednesday, June 24th, 2015

Hudson Booster Days gets a real lift from the nine diverse bands that play the annual festival, from July 2-4 at the Lakefront Park band shell.
On Thursday, it’s the guitar wizardry of One-Man-Band Jeff Loven from 5:30-8:15 p.m., and teen country phenom Devon Worley from 9 p.m.-12:30 a.m. There is no cover charge.
Friday brings more of the old school ’80s rock with Arena playing from 3:30-6 p.m., Rock Brigade from 6:30-8:30 p.m., and Arch Allies, a Styx, Journey and REO Speedwagon tribute band from 9 p.m.-12:30 a.m. Opening up on Friday is 23rd Hour, a female duo, from 1-3 p.m. Again, there is no cover charge.
On Saturday, it’s more diverse, with country rock group Armadillo Jump from 1:30-4:30 p.m., Ponzi Scheme from 5:15-8:15 p.m., and popular mainstream rockers Uncle Chunk from 9 p.m.-12:30 a.m.

Deep blues and bloody reds keep the black of night at Bay

Thursday, June 18th, 2015

Often a Bloody Mary can be just the ticket for selling out:
– Sometimes a ten-spot will get you a lot. The new “fully loaded” Bloody Mary at Woody’s in Bayport comes with a complete-with-toppings burger attached to the top of the glass, along with all the usual enhancements, all for $10. Included is a tall glass of Miller Lite as a chaser. One would think that is ironic, a lite beer combined with a drink having enough carbs to allow you to die happy.
– Perhaps the signature blues act for the summer at Bayport BBQ, the Reverend Dead-eye, drew a full and appreciative crowd to its intimate setting for a special Tuesday evening show. But there are many other shows each week to be attended at The BBQ, which is a self-described deep blues juke joint, for the rest of the summer, so you don’t have to sing the blues if you couldn’t squeeze into that performance. A caution, though: The place can sell-out.
– On that note, a return engagement of Sell Out Stereo at the Smilin’ Moose featured some spirited percussion on Hungry Like the Wolf by Duran Duran, and some stellar work on the fast-paced vocals on Walk This Way and Funky Cold Medina. See them again soon.
– Mystic Funk, which plays at the Village Inn in North Hudson on Saturday, June 20, says it taps into six or seven styles of music, “plus a splash of other genres.” (If you consider “groove” a genre). They perform “old school dance party music,” (now that sounds like a genre). Oh yeah, there are current hits played, as well.

Thursday, June 11th, 2015

The music to be found in the area this weekend is “Purdy” special, (and now truly funky).

– Guitarist Dave Purdy for the classic rock band Bullseye, which was initially scheduled to play the Willow River Saloon in Burkhardt on Saturday, June 13, was written up in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, and according to his bio was even briefly with Hammond’s Rokker Chic. The band’s drummer has for many years toured in a five-state area, and has shared the stage with members of bands that have provided instrumental for some big names. But these long established players aren’t geezers, they also delve into some of the newest of music. (Editor’s note: Due to a late rescheduling, the band that will play Willow River Saloon on Saturday has been changed to Funkwire, a soul revue out of the Twin Cities. If you want to see Bullseye, you’ll have to wait a bit).
– The Erin Lee and Elijah Adam Band, which plays Shooter’s Pub in River Falls on Friday night, June 12, is called online a “Blazing Infusion of Rock, Groove, Country & Power Rockin’ Blues!”
And they’ve been linked in concert billings to dozens of top national acts.
The band has been well-established in the Upper Midwest for ten-plus years, and its size and instrumentation is modified to match the entertainment needs of the venue. The group has performed “Along Side Of,” “Opened Up,” or “Concert Events,” with and for acts such as — take a breath — Buddy Guy, Jeff Healey, 38 Special, Night Ranger, Black Oak Arkansas, C.C.R. (Revisited), The Little River Band, Dierks Bentley, Dwight Yoakam, Sara Evans, Josh Thompson, Gretchen Wilson, Big & Rich, Stone Temple Pilots, Eddie Money, Great White, Candlebox, Burton Cummings, Paul Rodgers, KISS, Poison, Heart, Alice Cooper, The Doobie Brothers, Ted Nugent, The Outlaws, Steve Miller, The Guess Who and The Coasters.
“They sound like a melting pot of all the excellent groups you love with a blistering horn section and phenomenal score of originals and covers,” the band’s web site says. “E.E.B. also features several extremely talented up and coming artists.”
– The flyer at Dick’s Bar and Grill says it will have live music on Fridays (plural). So the performance on June 12 will not be a one-time thing. The venue has started its summer music schedule, which in past years has been on Wednesdays, with shows that will be each Friday, not just selected dates. The first one from 6-9 p.m. on June 12 will be by Jambo Jones, whose trop rock is the perfect way to kick off a summer, (Jambo will also be at Shiner’s in Lakeland on Thursday, also starting at 6 p.m.) Also announced at Dick’s are the TC Cats on June 19 and July 3, and the Ella and Wade duo on June 26. Speaking of return engagements, Ella and Wade also will make their regular monthly appearance at Guv’s this weekend.

‘Parade’ of both beer and braces drawn has people ‘Smilin.’ Just don’t bank on bumps

Monday, June 8th, 2015

When hawking beer and whiskey, is it all really just a bump in the road?

– A Hudson man was among those featured in the annual “how much do you make” lead story in the Parade magazine that accompanies Sunday metro newspapers. Rick Mayer, 60, who it said works as a draft (or would that be craft) beer quality specialist, makes over $53,000 a year. Now that’s the job to have.
– A few months after their removal, the two speed bumps are back in the primary route that leads from the Citizens State Bank parking lot to the Buffalo Wild Wings lot.
They are in the B-Dubs signature colors, yellow and black, no less. But in recent days, and nights, the stop sign onto the main road has been bent over, apparently bumped into by a (possibly tipsy?) driver. That stop sign a few days later was bent back the other direction, and a few days later had been removed all-together. Two days later still, it was back in position, totally upright, “Stop” the madness!
– At the risk of beating a dead (or should I say red) horse, there is more news on the sign the size of a pie plate in the men’s bathroom at the Smilin’ Moose, specifically the one featuring the two Irish lasses going by the name of 2 Gingers and hawking whiskey. Over the last few months, their faces have been doctored many times with something like a mustache or braces. But for a bit now in place of those red-haired women, there is a sign for Redd’s apple ale. Apparently someone saw red over that low-key, although somewhat entertaining, vandalism.
– On Earth Day, a deejay at KQRS said he was observing the holiday by playing 100 percent “recycled music.” I’m sorry, but that’s just “garbage,” even though the plants and trees have greened out with summer here! A woman then called in, and chimed in, that she specializes in “recycling boys.”
– Traffic from Hudson to Guv’s Place in Houlton, and continuing across the river to Stillwater nightspots, for a while now has faced the same one-lane-road weaving around because of bridge construction as was earlier experienced on the Minnesota side for months. The colored barrels are out in force on Wisconsin Hwy. 35 for a full quarter-mile, meaning as Sammy Hagar so famously sang, “I can’t drive 55.” More like 25 mph.
– With the whole Tom Brady suspension over Deflategate that’s been playing out in sports bars, it makes me wonder if I should take that old volleyball in my garage — you know, the one everybody has that’s lacking air — and throw it in the St. Croix River. That way, I could get rid of it before the summer outdoor season and avoid accusations. Speaking of that, it also appears that those footballs ended up looking much like floppy rib eye steaks ready for grilling, whether in the BBQ cooker, or in the press.
– Recently on band night at the Smilin’ Moose, there was Elvis in all his glory, which in this case meant a bright red silk suit, of all things, rather than a white jumpsuit. That wardrobe choice was only topped by the servers wearing cowboy boots, which is fitting because the band playing there was again the frequent act Hitchville, and all-out country. (On the video screen the other night, there was a band member decked out in a pink three-piece suit, just a bit more pale then that paraded by the patron). And, in the Baldwin June Bug Days held recently, there was yet another Elvis impersonator, this time in an official capacity.
– A guy who looks just like the drummer for AC/DC has been the deejay at the Smilin’ Moose on a recurring basis. Is that the heavy metal drummer who has had the major legal troubles of late involving an alleged murder for hire — shall I invoke the term “death metal?” A Twin Cities radio jock recently announced the latest court news, and noted that this guy with the drumsticks just might be ethically following the “Highway to Hell.” I guess will have to wait until his sentencing, which should happen soon, to find out.
– On a recent weekend, it was more than hightime to lay claim to your own personal ladle drink at the Smilin’ Moose, as servers brought these oversize bowls-on-a-handle back and forth to birthday lushes at a greater than usual pace. Several stashes of these big dippers, which feature one of four multi-shot concoctions all with a Moose theme, hang from hooks above the bar, but one server said it was so high volume they even “ran out.”

‘Watch ‘em come, watch ‘em go.’ One thing in common, serving fiery ‘Flamin’ Moe’

Monday, June 8th, 2015

In the bar biz, servers often switch the places where they work, for various reasons that include more lucrative financial possibilities, often bringing their clientele of regulars with them. However, in recent weeks there have been more comings and goings of longtime servers than usual, in part because new bars on the scene gain traction.

For example, there have been four such additions at the Village Inn in North Hudson recently. Bartenders Darren and Tricia have come over from the former Coach’s in River Falls, which is now under new management, and Devon traded her gig in Vegas for The Village in part to escape the high pressure lifestyle. Amanda has come from a long stint at Dick’s Bar and Grill to take over some management responsibilities at The Village. One of the other stalwarts at Dick’s for as long as anyone can remember, Terri, also made such a switch, going over to the also relatively new Stone Tap.

The addition of the Smilin’ Moose had also brought changes, as a number of people passed up their then-current gigs to go work there, and two of them later moved to Pudge’s to shore up some of their management end. And when the Moose opened, some of the longtime employees at its predecessor, Bob Smith’s Sports Club, moved along to the Willow River Inn in Burkhardt.
(Among the more compelling sidelights with the Smilin’ Moose staff was a bartender who also plays in a mostly punk band that had a combo of members who were either Christian, atheist or agnostic, which made for some interesting, if not lyrically challenging songwriting).
Jenelle, who worked at Ellie’s for years, is now at Dick’s, and a fellow bartender at Ellie’s, Fawn, had moved there from a long stint at the former Corner Bar in River Falls. And Josie, who was a fixture behind the bar at Woody’s in Bayport, is studying to get into another end of the industry, that being a chef — with an occasional stint as a bartender a block down at the American Legion hall.
Whew! All this makes it seem less over-the-top when a decades-long bartender who was synonymous with the former Dibbo’s, named Forrest, who was famous for saying life is fantastic and that every day is a good day, moved to Baldwin to get out of the bar biz and ramp up his motorcycle repair shop there.
– It’s not only your favorite bartender, who you follow from here to there, who is interesting. A cardboard cutout of “the world’s most interesting man,” as he is billed, has been showing up at local bars, and in one case, a patron just could not get over the fact that the guy next to him was this stellar gentleman. In particular, the fact that the WMIM, who was pushing beer, is about six feet tall seemed to be very intimidating. That meant he was moved by the patron to the space between the two bathrooms at Green Mill, a humbling fact to say the least. At least his newfound doorman space was shifted now and then to be closer to one bathroom door than the other, before Mr. Interesting disappeared from sight. (All this is reminiscent of a scrawling on the bathroom wall at Maverick’s Corner Saloon in downtown River Falls, which said simply “Humble me,” then gave a phone number).

Thursday, June 4th, 2015

This weekend at Dick’s Bar and Grill, there are events for every Tom, Dick and Harry, (those being three people and there are a total of three special offerings).
– Mixing paint and potions might just be the thing. The Art and Elixir event is painting for beginners, which is set to a musical backdrop and accompanied by food and drink, from 6-9 p.m. on Thursday, June 4 at Dick’s. Participants can choose their own design. Fee is $40, and for information or a late signup call (612) 998-9941.
– The latest Obey Clothing Company sale, which in this case will specialize in summer-type clothing, is at Dick’s on Sunday, June 7 from noon to 5 p.m. In this case, too, the flyer there has artwork of a skull — complete with spiked Mohawk — alongside the written copy that lists various categories of decidedly cool people who might benefit from such a clothing line. The event is cash only, and everything must go. All the clothes have the brand new with tags that label them as Obey gear.
– Between those two events at Dick’s is yet another, on Friday from 6-9 p.m., the band Dog Leg Left, whose music is definitely not for old duffers. It is atypical, sounding like My Morning Jacket, Pavement, Modest Mouse, the Jayhawks and even Dinosaur Jr. The resemblance to the Jayhawks is fitting, as the group has toured the country for a decade, but now has returned to their old stomping grounds, the St. Paul area.

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