San Francisco might be a world away from Hudson, but they seem to have to same difficulties with their bridges, and the answer proved to be Wisconsin beer!
A couple from California who were in Elk River, Minn. for a wedding, said that as long as they were this close, they just had to make the trek to the Badger State to get a real Wisconsin beer. So Spotted Cow was their pick of the litter when they crossed the river. And, they were pleasantly surprised that here, you even get a beer chaser with your bloody Mary.
But even more so in the conversation that ensued, the couple said that on the long plane flight here, they ended up sitting next to a hard-core rock star. When finding that I sing metal, they immediately asked if then, was I familiar with the band Death Angel. That was the band of the guy in the next seat over. At first, he was surprised they didn’t recognize him, but then opened up and they found him to be well spoken and intelligent. The guy said he actually is into country and jazz as far as his off-the-job-listening, not metal — kind of like Ozzy, whose fave is of all people Whitney Houston. Death metal is the harder of those genres, and he has been playing with Death Angel since a teen in the ’80s.
But back to the new Stillwater bridge that got them over to the The Next Stop in Houlton. They thought the span was impressive, even beautiful, unlike the crumbling although still famous Golden Gate in their community. That one, turns out, is much more like the fading lift bridge a mile up from the new one.
I also met a guy at The Next Stop who had one cigarette in his hand and another atop his ear, that’s double trouble. (And he actually put the one down to strum on his guitar). But more interesting is he has a friend from Hudson named Jeff, who is in a band that actually opened for Fear Factory, a popular act in the heyday of metal, and as the guitarist, Jeff totally shreds it, it was said. The other band ties to him are a guy who now lives in Boyceville and does a popular annual Neil Young tribute, and someone who has played with a iconic band from the other side of the river, The Replacements.