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Drawing inspiration from the road. Just don’t hit a coyote:
— You’ll get a variety of song stuff from James Zackary of Cottage Grove, Minn. when he plays at the Willow River Saloon on Friday evening, March 25. These are the formative facets concert-goers can expect to see played out, in Zackary’s own words, and despite his description, he is more than just a sideman: “First and foremost I am a songwriter. I have written and recorded hundreds of songs. When I am on stage I have a five-string bass in my hands and a wireless system for both my instrument and my head set. When I write you can find me behind the piano or at the kitchen table with an old acoustic in my hands. A great deal of my songs start out in the car. If I don’t have my voice recorder with me I would call home to my machine and sing away. Now I have a phone with the voice recorder feature on it,” he said. Patrons can find 30-or-so of those songs online.
“I am currently touring with a bunch of guys in a totally unrelated genre then my original stuff, and these guys are so cool that I love being their sideman,” Zackary said.
— After several weeks drawing from the standard core of bands, the Smilin’ Moose is having one we haven’t seen for a while, Coyote Wild, on Friday night. The group has seven members which allows them to have a lengthy song list, 110 to be exact.
— As you might guess, beer of the month picks at local bars continue to be Irish driven, at least until March 31. Selections stemming from St. Patrick’s Day include Finnegan’s at the Village Inn in North Hudson and Mickey’s at Dick’s Bar and Grill. Incidentally, at the Village, their signs spelled the Irish beer using two differing vowels in the middle, so maybe they should back off a wee bit on the quality control, if you know what I mean.

— Ambergeddon Amber Ale may be the triple A of tough brews, even though you might not expect that from amber beer. The recent presence of this on the market, available at places such as Dick’s and the Village Inn, is billed as meaning “death” to typically weak, lame amber beers, for whom “extinction is imminent.” To counter those, Ambergeddon “brings not just the malt, but also the hops.” Try one yourself to see, if you survive … Likewise with the edgy death theme and skull art to go with, a brand of tequila know as Exotico, and the sometimes floral-themed tattooed skull that makes up its logo, sells for $4 shots at Dick’s. Just to max out, the flyer says “RIP a shot.”
— Speaking of lame, its March Madness time again, and not all the college basketball teams are top-notch seeds, although a wide variety of the contests can be seen at local sports bars. One of them, on Friday evening, features Wisconsin taking on Notre Dame, or as Kozy Korner in North Hudson has said on its sign for several days, Notre Lame. The winner will face the winner of the North Carolina and Indiana game, and hope for an upset, in Sunday’s regional finals.

— The Easter brunch and breakfast at Seasons Tavern carves out a lot of territory, with prime rib carved just for you as you pass through, in what is becoming a less and less common restaurant offering, (and would you want it any other way?) Kind of like taking in that especially good band the night before. And along with the prime rib are lots of other items, such as scrambled eggs, bacon, eggs, cheesy hash browns, French toast, fresh fruit, home fried potatoes, sausage and pastries.

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