Make a Joyful Noise, in any number of different forms. A recent retiree from the Twin Cities, a step that allows him to partake further into in his many music endeavors, Alan Busby with his trio called Joyful Jammin’ plays Urban Olive and Vine on Saturday evening, Sept. 19. Busby, whose makes us recall the Alan Parsons Project, leads three trios in the region and other acts that include a Carole King/James Taylor tribute band.

The leader of this band is definitely not five-foot-three? Especially on the Newly Reopened Gridiron to be celebrated this Saturday night. But more of that in a moment. The newest of the new bands to crash Ziggy’s in Hudson is Grand Theft Audio, and you can’t miss the reference to the popular video game you can play while cooped up inside, and now that you venture out can see many more others who are also kicking stir craziness, by getting behind the wheel. In in sports cars of all colors of the rainbow, like a comfort food icy or three gone wild, and in size everything from roadsters that won’t go up much higher than the waist, (more linkage to that Big leader of the band referenced right off the bat). to those old Big Boat cruisers that were actually made of real heavy metal. And oh, about the Audio thang, they have a guitarist that appears to me, at least in a somewhat blurry photo, to look like Aaron Rodgers, and I swear I’ve seen such a guy or three at Dick’s on weekends. Take that QB Cousins.

Next is the Saturday Night Live of Urban Olive and Vine, featuring a small group that starts a bit earlier — maybe have dinner there? — so you don’t have to wait long to continue the quest for music and can take in both acts downtown, with the latter band boasting everything from marimbas to congos to flute. Oh yeah, the band name is Easy Groovin’ and not to be confused with that rockier song, Easy Living, from back in the 1970s. That I dare say is before the venue I described was in existence.

And regarding any inferred QB rivalry, were there that many music acts in the three-day weekend? You do bar math and decide. And I will suck up and try not invoke a reference to that venerable local rock group, Eight Foot Four, although its tempting. Ziggy’s put the zang (is that a word? It is now), in the holiday again, with a new raft of rock and even dance tunes, which is somewhat new to them.  The pop-ish end plays out too, with Drink 182, you read that right, invoking the best of the 1990s on Saturday night, and what better way to cope with the end of summer than to down a few. On Sunday night its “MPD” dance stuff and we are not talking the Minneapolis Police Department, and if you hurry its the new hurrah of an old act, 5 Minute Major, and HudsonWiNightlife gets a 2 minute minor for cluing you in late. And to round out the analogy, there is more dance music at the Smilin’ Moose and Dick’s all weekend, with acoustic music to boot, and to push it one number past, the new wave of Urban and Olive music throughout.

You won’t want to cry if you lay eyes on him now, as the thrill may not be gone, but the beard is — and has been.

Caught up with the one known as The Younger Of The Two Basketball Brothers when things were closed and opening still seemed Like Just A Day Away. This server and the elder (did I say that?) statesman and bartender at Dick’s grew out his still very black beard with the promise of not trimming it with more than a well-placed clip or two, (the ladies assumed), until the drink again flowed indoors at his longtime place of employment. But it wasn’t as long as November, as far as the vote of the opposite sex, and the chance to hit the woods where the virus was we hope as spread out as the prey being hunted, that the fairer sex among owners teased to stuff that idea and trim away any resemblance to James Harden. So no go for now on, say, anything more than a slight goatee — unless later going goat hunting on a mountaintop.

But also during this downtime, in which Dick’s was one of the few places that didn’t jump into a takeout tack right away, they retooled their dance music area to have far more than Tool, if they ever did, and also shore up the restaurant and front bar room. That’s where you would come in and make your way around by visiting the north side horseshoe and entering the middle area where young men and women strut their stuff; and even an old guy can show what he’s got by picking a dollar bill off the floor with his teeth and very little bend of knee. And we think that skill is more essential then the much younger gent who tried to skirt the cover change of — again — a dollar bill by making a limbo move. But wait, there’s more and its really less, to be of service in these virus times and who knows, to bring in more men and women from Minnesota than even on the re-opening weekend, the cover has been waved.  So it would have to be elsewhere to raise some revenue so all could be clean-shaven and given no quarter, as that’s the added price of a whiskey sour these days. But you’re still 75 cents ahead …

<<Floating another idea that actually took root before being pre-empted by The Black Crowes a year or two later when their rock tunes were rock solid, but their loading up of other mainly odd instruments to push the boundaries of rock toward  folk, but went up in a cloud of dust; or was that some other Purple Haze that brought That Smell?>>

It has been a few Metallica-less years at Float-Rite Park, but their flat-plane surface will greet Lars and the like on the evening of Aug. 29 in the band’s first concert this year, but it will be on the big screen literally, as a drive-in theater motif will be the method of delivery. Its been decades since I covered the metal of Metallica in a story for the Eau Claire-Leader Telegram and every note and word was as clear as a whistle — even when the lead guitarist started off “One” atop a huge triangle of blazing scaffolding, ax slung below between his legs being all that could be seen. As for the local connection to Hinder, the band at one point also long ago was on the verge of playing a gig at the iconic old Dibbo’s, as a stopgap stop between performances in the Twin Cities and Milwaukee-Chicago. But as deals sometimes go, it fell through, perhaps because of the going rate for Hinder was not on the hind end, and it had largely been suggested by a man from Hudson who knew the band, not always a standard channel. Another part of this touring concert mix has been the lighter tones of the band Daughtry, fueled by a near-total-take on meet and greets with him. In these grim virus times, I guess it can’t always be OzzFest, although the alleged Prince of Darkness (I would dispute that as a source for downplaying Daughtry) might have some pull here. Better to go to Ziggy’s in Hudson on Saturday night and thereby approach Critical Mass in a constructive way, before it leaps into into critical condition — for an encore?

<<To take what is Kozy and expand on it around town, with the focus being fantastic food and drink that started with early spring holidays, and may now elicit memories of such traditions as they played out in earlier (better?) years, check out April and May postings — sorry about the breadth and depth of those pieces, or should I just cut the crap and add they’re just long — on The Headliner department. As for celebration of this Fourth, as all but the grilling again basically crapped out, you can still be left with the recall of the sights, sounds and smells of all the holidays prior to mid-summer — and can also be enjoyed all year with a little creativity — and relive the ongoing tastes they put in your mouth via vicariously the best of times. JW>>

So close, to July Fourth and with standard stuff going bye bye, here’s a possibility for a festivity of a different but much related type, originating in a different country, different flag (see later) … different food:

For Cinco De Mayo, get with dishes and drinks that are truly in sync with being Mexican and on The Fourth, get wrapped up in a phrase that can be viewed two very different ways, Tex Mex, although they go way beyond that experience. As they are indeed experienced.
Habanaros on The Hill is the real deal, both because their Mexican food is more authentic then virtually all places that make such a claim, and when you look at what you get for your money, rivals even other places nearby such as Taco Johns and Taco Bell. That is because in their extended, broad happy hour, it’s max out true Mex. Want festive food now that the virus has taken hold, this is your place, as shown by the accurately Aztec god standing between signs of specials. There are 2-for-1 specials on hump day Wednesdays, not just their competitor’s buy one and get 50 percent off the second, to make you truly happy, on not just the usual stuff, but also house margaritas and other margaritas based on actual Corona Premium (aptly named these days on two different fronts). The specials go beyond the usual Mexican fare in this country, and feature names such as Pastor (like a spiced up shepherd’s pie), Cartinas (often using pulled pork and branching off far beyond the usual taco meat), Pollo (with main items and spices of other ethnicities often inserted), Arroz (adding tomato laden rice), barbacoa, and other meats such as chicken and beyond — and don’t forget the steak — and cheeses. Plus, there is a dish spelled like the fajitas that are part of the list of specials but again, beyond. For the record, this is flauta, with again, chicken being central.
Make this your target and trek here, just north of Target.

So Close, So Close and Yet So Far? Not for the lovers of the ‘Korner’ pizza, where you can get delivery, for no extra price at all in the vast majority of cases and places, or just a sheckle or two more than if trekking out with the Kozymobile and hitting the nearby townships.
— Want to get your gourmet pizza delivered to your door and the cheese is still bumbling? Or if you don’t want it so spectacularly simmering, have so much “dough” left off your delivery cost that you can pile on enough added toppings to help the underlying cheese serve you a solid for thickness sake and simmer down slightly, to just the right doneness? Enter Kozy Korner in North Hudson and their delivery within that same village and also the city of Hudson free of charge, and the pies are not pricey to begin with. And if their delivery guy, and maybe its the cool main owner himself Ryan who pulls up, has to extend his route a little further, toward Houlton and also into the towns of Joseph and Hudson, its only $1 to $3 more than if you’re eating inside the multi-roomed pizzaria, which of course is being the subject of reopening. So you can still have a good douse of extra pepperoni and/or other Italian sausage for your tummy and change remaining for your pocket.
— These days you can still find your music fix if you know where to look, as actual concerts are nary a few. And we at HudsonWiNightlife will guide you there, even though you may have to live without that loud guitar. So what gives? Book-readings of the totally intimate setting so many singers love can still be found, but you may have to go spoken word, and those words might actually be only in your own head. And you now know what I’m getting at. Hey, Old School before even The Stones, pick up a book! So this is the way you win that war against False Metal, so to speak, grab the thingee in bindings and open it up. It will not be actually read aloud at Hudson Bagel on Carmichael Road for you non coffee-shoppers, as the temporal power of the virus has for now shut down that kind of book recitation, but in this and other cases locally, you can turn loose the power of your own mind ala Bruce Dickensen, the prolific author and swordsman turned long-time lead singer of Iron Maiden, and buy a copy of many such a treatise by many authors. That gets you acquainted (or-reacquainted), with symbolism that forms the mysticism of metal, or the verbage on many different fronts that indeed gets your creative juices flowing by unlocking the power of your mind. The one book cover that really intriqued me got my groove going with subject matter that seemed to be framed with mythological beasts, sword and sorcery, and vamps of all kinds. Like many a concert I have listened to and seen with all sorts of props amongst the band members, but without going so far as to cause stage fright. Ozzy would likely endorse this sense of balance, which he has said is found in his collecting of both crucifixes and demon figurines.
Buy hey, the live music in some forms and venues has now, finally, come back. For example, Ziggy’s has brought back their music performances of many kinds, from soloists to full bands, culminated in quartets or quintets in-concert on Friday nights. The latter is also again present, usually in a like time frame and style of classic and modern rock, or southern rock or new country — at The Smilin’ Moose, starting on the very evening of this written piece.

(Virus or not, is there a vigil in the village? Look elsewhere my friend, such as on The Headliner — is that God?)

When they say they open at open, they mean it … And the prices will really open your (bleary) eyes:
— The sign at Kozy Korner in the village of North Hudson has on most days said they open at either 11 or 8 a.m.,
depending on whether its a weekday or weekend, and now-needed “delivery starts at open.” And that’s for certain
not a few moments in time later, but truly on the hour. These last couple of days they are redacting their verbage to
make it better serve customers, who can venture into the double-door gathering area and then a couple feet inside
before being stopped by a series of velvet ropes, theater style, that thus indeed look kozy and prompt patrons to
give their order for pickup — and that often might include a special breakfast pizza. Or the Wednesday wonder of
specials, a K-esquedia, if you have Mexican on your mind. And Monday welcomes in each new week with $10
wings and beer, hard to beat. Plus, on each of the five days of Monday-Friday, from 11 a.m. to 6 pm., the koziest of
all extended Happy Hour Specials. But wait, there’s more, because as they’ve recently said, and you’d have to wait
and see the sign, there is an additional offering that’s very kozy with your money. Surprise? Well, we knew this was
coming, there now is limited seating available inside, to compliment the roomy enclosed outdoor patio, and
accommodate both rules and our recent rain. They can even use a slice of their hearty pizza to prop open the door
so you can come in. But, really, you’d rather eat it.
— Just up the way is the special advertised at Village Liquor for a fizzy, we’re assuming but in a good way, drink called
Vizzy, and I have to wonder if it is endorsed by Ozzy himself. But this brew is in various medium sizes, meaning you
can get it for pennies on the dollar for what it would cost for a Black Sabbath ticket, plus have enough left to get
one to go, to boot, after listening to the iconic-but-not-fashion-statement Fairies Wear Boots. But guesswork also
suggests that Mr. Osbourne, also known for helping write Mr. Crowley, and they both are known for their excess,
would want the full 30 pack — and another to go.