A long overdue question is whether it’s time for another question. And this steers toward DIY, so be advised, multiple forms and not to fill out when getting your building permit, low end on one street, high just up the route. My query for you, below, involves sitting at a middling point. On one end of our often seen advantages on-street, is getting that still-cool sofa on sidewalk for zero or a cup of coffee, or such, as it can pass muster for your kid just off to college, even if you could not scrub away that small mustard stain, or the one that is browner because the beer that was spilled, not something worse, was dark stout. On the other, high end is that renovation being done at the historic Phipps Inn, seems ongoing, taking into account some of the most venerable vistages of the venue, if only near the entryway.
So now the question: A project of “moderate” cost was seen not on the curb, but tucked a bit inside an entryway nook, and suggested for sale was a rather small bar table, but two levels, for a steal deal of only $400! You could often get one that was less scrubbed for only fifty, if you look around, but hint here, this was in the ritzy Hudson downtown. So if you have seen, or wish to guess, what block?
Answer: Midblock on the one that features the Agave Kitchen on one end and Dunn Brothers on the northmost corner. West side of the street.
There always a party at the Hudson cigar shop, even though low-key and just chilling out, just three doors down from the Smilin’ Moose. Although there is a large and not-so-large lounge inside, patrons also sit in as comfy chairs as could be hauled out to the sidewalk, on the sidewalk propped next to the (not-stained) glass window. And three doors down from there, exists a computer store where they work with what are called critical components. And when the business day is not in session (hint) the geeks-if-they-are convene in the back area and play a cool game that is not done on a computer. So this is a three-part, or four part harmony, question: What are the busiest times to find such things going on, and just what is the game that these people play?
Answer: At the cigar shop, its first thing in the morning or right before close at night, which is after the sun goes down. Push it back another half-hour, and you might see some ping-pong players hit the table-tennis table.
Where did I see, and what did I see, under that Ukrainian flag, flapping doubly so in the breeze as two different ends were pinned to a pole, staffed above the door of a great big ol’ house that wasn’t really that ancient.
The lawn was being mowed by two men, one much younger than the other, but both accidentally reeked some havoc. It was a cutter of grass that they used to cull two different types of lawn and garden casualties: One inadvertently backed over a batch of rhubarb that had finally grown after years, and the other sythe-like sliced a big pot into pieces. Wait, I might have gotten those two results transposed. But where was this carelessness that decimated a garden when the Mother Planter wandered not into, but back west out of town to see her mom on her special day?
Answer: The Milwaukee suburb of New Berlin, and after seeing and hearing of this I apologize to all the Gal Gardeners out there who suffered a home wreck, or at least a garden wreck, by callous hands.
Where can you go in Hudson (a hint there) as opposed to other Wisconsin bergs or suburbs to truly get Wild? This is where there were several such fans, of the now-also-in-playoffs-but-maybe-not-for-very-long Timberwolves too, who obviously were out-of-towners, based on their attire, accent and speaking patterns, and they camped out in (took over?) the back corner of a very long bar-rail (another hint). Where was this non-urban enclave?
Answer: Hudson Tap, doing its part for diversity.
Where was the great big and cool top hat that was handed to a New Richmond bartender, as a hint one of two women on duty, filled with many dozens of used pull tabs that gave nary a pot of gold, so no one gives a buck. So she was not exactly a hostess with the mostess.
Answer: The Wild Badger, as the only green the man would see on this eve was his sparkling hat.
Is time forever, or is there a limit, and then what is it? Days or weeks or years or decades or centuries? And what is the tipping point? This scribe will soon supplement that assumption in subsequent posts, especially those involving popular music. With that framework and time frame, as I have said, I have one last Halloween story and question for the season, I promise. Scout’s honor. And that just might be the fringe group, Scouts of Eternity. And even they are welcome on HudsonWiNightlife.
So: Where do you find carved pumpkins that have been scrounged, and to the greatest degree, by the squirrels, and eaten away by frost — and even these days (and more on this later with the fashion of the humanoids who have survived) so they have blackened and eaten away by other animals, eyebrows and other such features?)
Answer: If you guessed Everywhere you are at least partially right, to glance at the title of the Battle Of Evermore by old Zep, although what I’ve seen in my wanderings that are Everywhere I’ve Roamed (all across the state mind you, and with more coming on the site), but most frequently just east of my favorite stop-lighted intersection in New Richmond, just south of downtown if you want to fact check me — crucial these days.
Just where do the chalked up signs lead you? One grill-and-bar message with letters an inch high runs almost the entire length of the street-scape and says, “It’s a good day to have a good day!” The other, which was pasted on with pastel a couple of months ago on the eve of their grand opening, had almost ten times that many words, so with that detail you can image the service given. Just a teasing hint: The venue could conceivably be called That Headline Italian Attraction (THAI). OK, that’s mixing food types. But they’ve had a brisk business, unlike some other restaurants that have opened in the last year in the same block, maybe due to the fact that the place is just so brightly lit to match the night’s darkness.
But chalk signs have a long history on the sidewalks of downtown Hudson, going way back to the artistic treatment given by bartender Lana way but in final Dibbo’s Days, then yielding in the last couple of years to the numerous full-quote promotional messages up and down the main drag and its side streets leading you to a given place with its specialties.
So, what are the two places referred to in the first paragraph, both in the same two-block section on the north end of the Hudson downtown?
The answer: Smilin’ Moose, which has been around for years, and then Little Italy (does the ethnic enclave that is North Hudson know about this?)
The pumpkins and corn stalks befitting a maze and squash and such — found both before and aft as far as the ends of this building — are only the start of giving this the business, and its shout-outs. Two years running now that is. And because it was said to merit sheers, (a hint). and honk your horn if you find it a-mazing, it could even run afoul of the city noise ordinance because of a prime location … Where and what as I introduce even more and great (pumpkin?) Halloween coverage that you will be seeing throughout the next week or so.
The answer: Suite or Sweet Sixteen/14 salon at one of the most prominent intersections in New Richmond.
They just could not make it an even dozen! (Brought back to mind about a bygone season, when seeing, again, a women dressed like Mrs. Claus and also having wavy red hair sprinkled with green to boot). But for now, we ask if you had seen, and committed to memory, the store that had on its slate by the doorway, “Fa la la la la la la la la la la la la.” As in thirteen such la’s when the actual song had, I believe, nine or 11? Or again, meet in the middle with ten? But where was this storefront where they were la challenged? And should have know better because you can read very literary books there.
A hint and help. It is not the Agave Kitchen, where the phrase Nacho Farm was grown/raised on their very own sign in dozens of comedic ways, although the subject of my question is/was not far afield.
The answer: A coffee shop and hangout spot in transition of format, Three Doors Down from Agave, going straight south.
And again, everywhere a sign and in roughly the same area. What customer-traffic-challenged doorway sign to a restaurant/bar/nightclub building said instead, we are liked by Yelp!
Hint you might guess, is that its smack dab in downtown Hudson.
The answer: The site of the present 517 venue, name taken from the number of the street address, which also has housed a number of other ventures since the demise of the old Dibbo’s iconic rock club several years ago.
So now that Louie Anderson has died, where do we get our comedic fix in an adjoining suburb to the Twin Cities? (And bear in mind that the national media ran the story, but did not mention that he was from The Twin Cities, a two-prong venue he loved?)
The answer: In the past few years, the bigger and newer music clubs in the Hudson area diversified and indeed started hosting comedy nights, maybe with even more than one jokester taking the stage. But which one a bit more down the road from LA, as his initials go, had been the longtime tried and true such venue all the time along?
Johnnie’s Bar in River Falls had been having comedians in at least quarterly for this entire millennium, at least pre-pandemic.
Now months into the labor shortage, its even more the season of stores closing early, with Black Friday under our belts, and also being selective with their days of operation due to many staffing concerns and cost-cutting measures. But with the hours as they are, which store has a sign saying, open 11-? Earlier the place on the verge of the downtown had this reverse-update version on its marque — open until 0. Does this mean they’ll still be serving food at the end of time? Again, which place?
Answer: The Dairy Queen that will just not be disqualified by winter weather.
Now that its the day where most holiday decorating occurs, here is a two-part question on people who did it well ahead of time, even as much as a month! Where did you see (1) A full dozen cardboard and colorful cutouts that did it all with nether a light to be found to give illumination, as they didn’t need it, hitting on many cultural themes that are related to Xmas, but generally off the grid, and flanked by places that had lines of lights going on at a length of similar number, (a hint is that there in this day of flags is one of the Marine Corps and backed by just us chickens and not those on the plate of the revelers). And (2) a place where Santa can actually be seen on the roof, ahead of time, and we presume he got up there by way on an actual two-plus-story chimney with lights streaming from it in a triangle, where a pumpkin had been, and off to the side is a decked out tree trunk for both now and the ages, as has been seen just in a couple of days worth of time to merit mention in this question.
Answer: In order, the corner of Fourth and Sommers in North Hudson, and the east side of Second Street about three blocks from the bridge in Hudson.
The football parties have begun, so you want to get there early, right? A house-party, backyard-big-top-gala, specifically for the Green and Gold, (that’s a hint) did not go strong until game time itself, or just beyond. That draw of visitors was not there, gaining only two cars more or less by the start of the fourth quarter for the noon game, before hitting its stride. Where was this place, where the Packer fans reside and welcome those of their true colors?
Answer: A decades-long home of such gatherings, North Division of the street side, on the cul de sac just west of Fourth Street in North Hudson.
Now that you’ve had a week to put on your thinking caps, here is some 9/11 trivia:
Say did you see that an online commentator had a question on whether observances would be held again this year that come close to straddling the state lines, and had become one of his faves. Where exactly is this trek?
Answer: A big rig caravan starts at Manning Avenue and continues on the St. Croix River Bridge at Hudson. The query was posted on the Nextdoor online bulletin board for the Village of North Hudson, several miles to the north.
There was an attractive lady sitting at the lower bar-rail (hint), cooling her face and very dark locks by using a coaster as a fan, and describing the intricacies of getting the sound system operation just right, with the sound guy and performer working in tandem. Who is he and at which music club?
Answer: Ziggy’s is the place with the helpful Hudson fan, and the country crooner is Tim Sigler.
Where can you see (virus-era) either a single igloo/tent/dome, or could view (pre-virus) a bunch of these warm-it-up shapes?
That would be in a yard on the west side of Second Street in Hudson, or on a patio at Pier 500 on the east side of First Street.
Remember this Andy man, who for the moment lives on via A Great Big Neon Broadway Sign, (OK that’s an exaggeration, as the message is only at a convenience store), from the ‘toons way back? It reads Coffee and Capp, 99 cents, all sizes. Where can it be seen? (Hint, in the city, village, town, ward, district, berg, OK, I guess that’s not much of a hint).
<<It’s a place for icons like Andy Capp, at the former Freedom store in North Hudson, which was formerly Tom Thumb and is now owned by an overseas conglomerate based in Ireland. They must love their Joe there also. And Hi, Just One Rose Who Knows Your Name!>>
Forget miss information {sic} touted online for The Biggest Baddest refuse removal place on the planet — post merger – and it thusly becomes two words so it must be important. As far as thee ol’ Christmas trees, as I am Mr. Information, where were those holiday shrubs first appearing at the edge of the curb in order to be ditched for pickup?
<<Where Fourth Street North teams with Cherry Circle, on its north end, there was a tree to be seen as soon as the New Year was upon us. Gosh, I didn’t know there is holiday garbage trucking, but I would be grateful. His neighbor across the street quickly followed suit as did the neighbor Two Doors Down. Green stuff like garland could still be seen at those front windows.>>
These days, all that is indeed out there is remote, and see if you can guess how so in what follows: Where is the golf course in western Wisconsin that is kicking ass as far as offering not just one-remote-to play simulator course, but several of the top ones across the country and world, (Hint: You might check out one of the neighboring options, T-Buckets bar, for its many and varied forms of entertainment, after Strokes The Word, to post the ones you cut and then boast over a beer, your only tee-off and putt success (that’s two) on a par three. And then trek back through North Hudson on your way back to The Cities, (and yes we know where you hail from moreso then ever these days and there are many of you), and then hit the remote darts capital of the known universe, as the spaceship with such a sharpened nose crashed because the Science Wasn’t There. Where are these two places?
<<It’s the St. Croix National golf club as you roam toward the expressway through Somerset. And for the darts, check out Guv’s Place on the north end of North Hudson.>>
This question leads from New Jersey, and not from The Boss. A national media personality and former drummer, whose band I reviewed back in the day, shared his top trick-or-treating tales, and they included taking his kids to four-story mansions where the family — Texas Chainsaw type? — would do things such as put evil eyes up top on the windows and a great big smile on the garage door at bottom. Then they would bolt from their perches on the porch this season and come running at you as The Seasons Don’t Fear The Reaper started playing. (How you interpret the song depends on who you think The Reaper is). The second tale was another drummer, Keith Moon of The Who, and definitely not Moon the local radio host midday, who accidentally drove a Cadillac into a mansion’s swimming pool at a time that didn’t quite jive with when it was popular to do so, at least in movies. Who Is This Man And Where Does He Come From, to quote Judas priest.
<<This new radio host on KQRS five nights a week, who has a story and insight about seemingly everything, is Tom Gorman, who was with the Black Crowes and later ventured into sports radio>>
There was just enough snow to get a plow jockey like me (literally) to chip in, and the beneficiary looked a lot like my mom, so Buddy You Best Believe Her. The daughter of this lovely lady was said to, along with her friend from work, be in “withdrawal” in a good kinda way from the music scene in the Minneapolis club district and of course in the St. Croix Valley too. Where did we all have this mutual lamentation of concerts From What Is And What Will Never Be?
<<At a nice but not too fancy home kept in the loop at the end of Fourth Street North, not the Starr’s Bar end, and not because of Death Metal>>
First there was the online recipe for creamy bacon studded buttery beans, then on Twin Cities radio a mention of using such flavors to kill what ails you, or some such thing. At what fest in what area city will you find these ways to cook and more — and as early as early summer, it was thought that this event that’s likely the largest in the country could go on?
<<That would be the dreaded-by-mainstream-food-critics Bacon Bash in River Falls, their fall answer to apple festivals like the one up the road in New Richmond, ‘cuz if we have not heard by now from their PR machine, such as it is and hey I am part of it, the many ways to use the Great American Meat probably is not gonna happen. So there will have to be other ways — an apple a day — to feed the 5,000 that typically flock to RF for this.>>
One the subject of Numbers — not as written in the Bible for you Black Metal artists, and still God bless you all, as Ozzy so often says, sorry — how many authentic brews from not only the area and the region, but out of this country can you get at Winzer Stube, often referenced as the fifth best German restaurant in the whole country?
<<Even even twelve, not a baker’s dozen but right up there, from the country of the origin all ALL my ancestors, come from Germany itself, as says a sign that greets people as they dine tableside on the braod sidewalk.>>
What is old is new again, as I am asking you take a gander at what has been a golden goose, so to speak, due to its the presence in Downtown Hudson. Just what venue is making the most of its twelfth anniversary in business? The years fly by. (The observance has been ongoing for a bit).
<<That would be the Agave Kitchen and accompanying Bullpen Cantina upstairs, that you might not necessarily know about. The celebration is noted by a big chalk rendering on the wall by the front door. If you saw this, tell Paul the owner that he should advertise for pay a bit more! And it is a leader in the comfort food realm, mostly restaurant or mostly bar, that is so vital these days in keeping our wits about us to soften the blow of the virus in this time of near turmoil. Agave means staying power>>
If you think you can think like Joe, you will know which two of the multitude of not-thought-of entertainment options you can use, based on the following recommendation, that I’ll say for dealing with ongoing stir-craziness are the bestest of the bestest. (And the first one just be remedial English). But seriously, a hint: They will give you hours and hours of watching or streaming for each of the ten or more installments, in thus way pushing this option over the top compared to others for sheer volume of entertainment. So if you are psychic, read below to see how well we did.
<<A new cable channel, Pluto, spends lots of its air time playing reruns that are actually cool, those being classic NFL football games that dig deep into the vault, not just the ones you might expect without needing to huddle on it. (Disclaimer: There are not too many Viking games, and The Pack Attack misses some obvious choices, such as this one that has always made me wonder, the 1980s Monday Night Classic where BOTH Washington and Green Bay scored over 40 points, without needing an OT. You might say, one of by air, two if by Adrian.
And my second choice: Groups of movies on a top ten theme, back to back to back, of the bestest of the bestest, here I go again, such as the recommended top James Bond flicks of all time, spanning the globe to come up with all the various leading man Bonds>>
To Get Satisfaction is if you want a bartender who is quick with a joke and a light up your smoke, to point you in the direction of even more such banter. Try these last two weeks worth on for size. Since the virus is only 19, it can’t even be here at the bar. Exercise makes your body look great, but so does tequila, so its your choice. Where was this silly sign? If you can guess, you might even check it out for this current week’s slogan.
<<The Village Inn in North Hudson, which flips between such jokes and the specials of a given month. And while we are only scantly sponsoring scat humor, we thought you might like tolerating this at The Village: Poop is not something we really joke about. But it’s a solid. >>
With a fear among many of us that the Stay Closed At Home rule will be reopened not long after it had loosened things up again, what is the Hudson fast food joint that just put on one side of their sign “drive through only.” A hint: There slogan is We Have The Meats, and still do if you are driving, but God Forbid keep your hands on the wheel.
<<It’s Arby’s on The Hill, and lets see if neighbor food places follow suit, like kitty-korner gas stations>>
As seen on a billboard, of the bar that are asked you to guess. It is offering $1 off the second drink for snowmobilers who come in, although there obviously will not be takers for a few more months. Again, name that bar (here’s a hint, it’s not in hoidy toidy Hudson, or even North Hudson):
<<The snowmobile-friendly bar is the Barnboard Grill and Saloon on the edge of Roberts. Again, don’t drive or even snowmobile after imbibing. At the least you might get a face full of fluff>>