“Looking down from a motel room” takes on a new meaning with the death of Tom Petty, and dozens of others in Vegas, with the link being Jason Aldean, as noted after-the-fact by a music fan at a local nightclub.

– Some tragedies go in twos. Aldean, who was performing on the night of the mass shooting in Las Vegas, has been known to do a lot of covers by the iconic artist who died on a heart attack at around the same time, Tom Petty. That word from a fan I saw at the Smilin’ Moose, who was fresh off experiencing such a show by Aldean. On the night when the cardiac arrest occurred, Last Dance With Mary Jane sang out its signature line, “Looking down from a motel room/Nightfall will be coming soon … I walked to the road,” as I walked in the door of Dick’s Bar and Grill.
Petty also was listed as an influence by the Nato Coles and Blue Diamond Band, which played in Roberts recently. But back to the shooting, the Facebook page of a friend and lover of music that includes that of Petty, had a respondent who said he was working the desk at that motel across from the concert scene — and unwanted host of the shooting several stories up — that night. He noted that he was impressed beyond words by the flooding of volunteer help to those who needed it, by people from all walks of life.
Lastly, the next time I heard a song after that inadvertent Dick’s tribute, it was one of those “pithy” tunes — I have heard that word bantied about in the national music press as associated with Petty — by John Mellencamp. I had also thought that the same two artists were alike in that way, and were interchangeable in my mind, with their style of hometown-based lyrics and instrumental tone. Being from north-central Wisconsin, you would think that would have endeared him more — despite Petty’s totally straight long hair and John Lennon-like glasses — to one of my relatives, who in Petty’s heyday said dismissively to his wife, “what would you say if I looked like that?”
On a lighter tone:
– A 30-something man at the Smilin’ Moose said he’d seen Eric Church in concert 14 times, starting with a ticket he bought for $8 when he was quite young, at a northern Wisconsin festival. Rural Wisconsin and beer drinking and a country act … hmm. Add to that, a local bartender looks just like Church when he dons his sunglasses after being out and about away from his drink-pouring job.
– Bill Murray, a native of Chicago but more pertinently a former fixture in Hudson, was on a late night talk show where he gabbed at length about the Cubbies postseason chances, rather than his own St. Paul Saints, of which he has been an owner. He borrowed a shtick from the antics that are seen at Saints games, namely firing T-shirts from an air gun into the crowd. Murray was a friend of the late owner of Dick’s Bar and Grill, Fred Kremer, and would stop in for a dinner — or drink — whenever he was in St. Paul on business.
Next up on the show were repeated toasts with rum, (not the Jag that is the favorite in St. Croix County, but if you think about the taste, not too much different). And then spoken of was, also at length, from he of many talents, his collaboration with a German man to record a best-selling classical music CD. (Sure, not the Blues Brothers, by any means, but it will pass). Murray met the man on a plane trip. This is much like the immediate bond struck up by a California couple who flew to Wisconsin simply to have a beer, and ended up talking to the guy in the next seat, a musician — but definitely not a cellist — with the group Death Angel. (See that story a few items down on this page).

Halloween costume shopping at the Hudson Goodwill store is not only very inexpensive, but offers a diverse set of attire. They have odd-ball but fantastic costumes the Big Box Stores don’t carry, and the choice to buy the pieces you need, but necessarily the whole kit, just the accessories you require, not pay for the rest, their managers say. An example is a Darth Vader mask; you can pay for just that and utilize that black robe you already have in your closet, if you desire, and save because of shopping Goodwill and getting an already reduced cost. And they have many different styles of wigs, for example, not just one or two. On top of this, you can get a 25-percent-off offer on Halloween fare if you bring in a bag of donated materials.

(Also, check out this web site for periodic updates on “pre-haunt” happenings and decore around town in the local clubs, as well as where the best costume contests are — on three, you read it right, different nights — as this big night of Halloween revelry nears).

It’s this kind of commentary on current events that just might get this web site a Pulitzer, since hey, it can’t be used as a fish wrapper since its not on paper. And for more on Husker Du than what’s in the paper, including local tie-ins, see this site’s Notes From The Beat department:
– On the night that the Twins officially made the playoffs, as a wild card, for what seems the first time since prohibition, a friend of mine was bartending and at the same time teasing a fan of another team: See, I told you (the berth) would happen. That night he was making it a point to check out the Twins game, even though still in regular season, in as full a way as possible. And he made it abundantly clear he didn’t give a damn what happened with the Packers on the same night. All this reminds me what transpired the last time the Twins won the World Series, when I was essentially a Hudson bureau writer for the St. Paul Pioneer Press, and western Wisconsin really got behind — finally — the dreaded Minnesota team late in the process. A women accidentally rammed into me with her cart while grocery shopping, and said “Oh sorry, I was thinking about the Twins game!” But this was the days before blogging, and you were not supposed to interject yourself into the story. So my editor said to simply tell this anecdote in the third person. These days, it’s what I specialize in.
– So Hugh Hefner has died at age 91, and he still was not considered creepy. Being a middle-aged man who hangs out way too much, I’m wondering how he pulled that of. Let me explain. Over time, since I say brief hellos to people I enjoy, but don’t make an overt attempt at all to pick up women, or hang out with a particular wingman (at least on most nights) or a certain crowd, I am thought by some people to be, take your pick, gay, a cop, a drug informant, or — and yes I’ll invoke the C word — creepy. I do get that thrown in my face occasionally by some insecure young punks. To which I will offer two things: (1) A bouncer I respect at Dick’s said that if every guy that was ever accused of being creepy, and it was asked of him to throw out that guy, was not allowed in the bar, there would be no guys ever left in the bar; and (2) as far as the allegedly gay thing, a couple of my gorgeous friends have said that if it was OK with me, they would put on a show of affection and dispell any doubt. But Hef managed to pull off not being creepy. So I look at it this way, hmm, do the math. He got to be 91 and I am currently 56, so that gives me 35 years to work toward living up to his standard. (What was I saying about not introducing myself into the story?)
– The place that is to be the new Ellie’s has been gaining traction with its remodel, as is judged by the numb er of construction workers I saw worked on the front facade, three and counting. That is only rivaled by the pace of the redo being done just down the block on what was the Negret urban winery building, now to be called Hop ‘n Barrel. In both cases, continue to hop to it.
– When The Pres called out The NFL about its protests related to Blacks Lives Matter, it seemed that — go figure — the only sports figures who weren’t backing the pro football players were those in NASCAR. As Richard Petty began to say, and I quote, somewhat accurately: “The NFL don’t …” Hey, if he can’t be grammatical … But go figure.