Even the most diehard longtime business owners have to retire someday.
Even if like me, they’re German. (On a writer’s salary, I probably will never able to fully hang it up). And these three departures are so recent that its likely their pensions have not yet fully kicked in.
So we start with the Winzer Stube in downtown Hudson, which as a German restaurant had roots there and the owner often returned back for business purposes. You can only globe-trot like that for so long, unless like some former traveling salesmen I know, its for pleasure not work, and they hit it hard for a while after hanging up their shirt and tie for what I’ll call a leisure suit and flip-flops (how’s that for a style combo).
But back to that German joint, it marketed itself as being rated the fifth best in the country. You don’t get that way without having a crazy ethnic-driven work ethic. But places like that never really close, venue-wise, just change hands, so now has been opened the Black Rooster restaurant, perhaps named for those cool dark basement digs.
Then the store in New Richmond that like a model, can go by just one name, Vintage. Packing in all those great finds, in a way that’s orderly, saps the energy of even a young person. There was a slow rollout of deeply discounting items for quick sale, and other much-bigger-than-trinkets set outside on the edge of sidewalk and offered for free. I met the new owners by chance, who had just bought the building, and were moving out the last of it in favor of a second venue on the other end of the Twin Cities. What would become of the big New Richmond building? The couple said I would have to stay tuned.
Last of this trio is Chapter 2 Books, on the east end of Locust Street in Hudson. The owner who seemed to always be behind the counter, and was a combo of slightly terse and pleasant, appeared to just be overtaxed by all the new basics of doing business, in a town that had a transitional clientele during the height of the pandemic. When approached for an ad on my blog, he said he’d prefer to wait until after all those youngsters from the Cities stopped coming over and raising Cain, not to encourage such types to come into his store.
Relatedly, just down the way on the main drag, The 517 eatery ended its short run in a between-blocks building that has not been kind to a series of such business owners. In this day of hard-to-fill-positions, it had been advertising for everything from managers on down — virtually everything but wait staff. The first sign, in early June, said that the venue would be closed for a few weeks while conducting a restructuring. Then later in the month came the axe falling, that they would be closing and the building soon put up for sale. A nice addition, repeated from the first sign, was that if you had unused gift cards, call to have them refunded.
The old Season’s Tavern in North Hudson, now empty for years, falls into this realm. For a long time, one of the the realtors listed on their Big Sign went by the name of “Johnson.” A very unscientific search revealed that in the greater market area for the tavern there are 57 agents by that surname (OK, just kidding).
And also, in New Richmond, despite some heavy housing construction on certain ends of town, there are some name businesses on the south side that now have their lots empty. To wit: The local movie theater, a big box automotive store, and the local Freedom Value Center (or so it was).

The parallels to national acts are without parallel.
With that said, I was sure that Yam Haus would be back on the national stage again soon, so no rush to laud them. Having YouTube subscribers and monthly listeners on Spotify that are scratching 100,000 each, they wound up being in the Haus and starring on a noted U.S. music talent show. But at least in this particular case, in spring, the house ended up being made mostly of sand. Enter Sandman? Their foray into national attention ended with the first round, although that round was, again, well noted.
So, Minneapolis-based band Yam Haus has already busted out of its small-town Hudson roots. It represented Minnesota, not the Badger State, on NBC’s signature show hosted by Snoop Dogg and Kelly Clarkson.
Composed of Lars Pruitt on lead vocals, Jake Felstow on drums, Zach Beinlich on bass and Seth Blum on guitar, the four have opted for alt pop. For Lars, that’s unlike a namesake who has made his fame through metal-band drumming. He takes the lead in on-stage banter and interaction with the guitarists, as I first witnessed at Pepper Fest.
Pruitt, Blum, and Beinlich met when Hudson High School students.
Then in 2017, there was Yam Haus. Since then, they’ve filled arenas across the Midwest, including First Avenue in a gig that has not been rivaled there by a local band for over a decade, and played major festivals, like Basilica Block Party. Weezer step aside. Although there have been many acts with strong Hudson ties that have played well, and very far into the top 20 of shows like American Idol. And on the other end of the state, the billboarded name Von Maur seems to owe to the word structure of Yam Haus, at least in number of letters, placement of vowels and even the visual shape of consonants.

— Speaking of visuals, it was just Father’s Day, and this item is about what dad truly believes in — maybe one thing more than the other. I might have to ask him, as he just got off the garden tractor after using it to survey a yard project involving my brother’s house, and as he leaned to the side to I guess prevent tipping, I said to my bro, “He’s driving a Simplicity. Which means it has no side bumpers. Because … it’s a Simplicity.”
Anyway, on the way back, we passed that wonderful tandem of shops I’ve alluded to before, Your Father’s Mustache salon or sorts, and a psychic spiritual advisor. Now I love most psychics as they know me well, but I gotta tease. I’ll bet that when you are driving there for a reading, they will divine that dad is in the next-door getting his handlebar trimmed. Also they will predict that the barber pole will still to there in red and white the next day. —

But back at it, the contest from the producers of The Voice and Eurovision Song Contest, brings together 56 artists representing every state and territory. The American Song Contest will tab its best hit single.
Yam Haus, which stands for “you are me,” and is happier then Metallica’s largely similar signature line in Sad But True, faced music acts of all sizes, for the chance release their tune through Atlantic Records. Putting together the show has been dubbed a Herculean task, executive producer Audrey Morrissey (cool rock last name) said in a press release, along the lines of staging the Flight of Icarus. (I met the guy, at the old Dibbo’s, who was a big part of producing that Iron Maiden stage show).
Could they, still, be the next big song? Epic masterpiece also?

This could the the northern exposure of the St. Croix County music scene. Northwest corner.
It is, the way I see it, a deejay style that features what are not full stanzas, but what could be seen as a line or two, that mix this in a different style and then merge it, taking it off in a new direction that is different but has common rhythm, then bringing them back together. It more commonly is termed mixing and sampling and other styles, and often features an electronic music vibe, at times harkening toward hip-hop.
All sorts of these variations, from many different acts, can be seen this weekend at a festival in Somerset, at a huge and lauded outdoor music venue than is more often thought of for rock shows. I know of this because a nephew, isaak, (stage name and when getting tickets you have to get it right, as for Caps you’d have to go with his recently obtained MBA from the little ol’ state of Texas). He is again one of the performers, as he has been honing his act with great gigs since his early teens, and I knew right away, even though that was back about a decade, that I was hearing something unique. Mixing and matching was at another level.
More of this scene can be seen at the Wild Badger, just up the road in New Richmond, on most weekends. In particular, striking my fancy for those things beyond the ordinary, is DJ Kurt, also known as Just Kurt, minus the German squibbles over the top of the vowels that I purge out even though that is my heritage. Even if its Old School, you gotta have a whole lotta love for equipment that includes a record-player turntable front and center. And to change it up, but much of a similar practice, there is also often there DJ Kris Holliday.
This style that went beyond just spinning tunes, but leaned toward performing music, even if recorded in advance, began with DJ J Strong at Dick’s Bar and Grill in Hudson two nights a weekend, again almost a decade ago, with his dubbed references to bring in rock ‘n roll. There is also the request option of Aaron RamonMC, who no doubt has much the same attitude of both the seminal punk band whose name begins with those letters, and the main gig, who is known to spice it up with intense, urban-street-language. But as far as numbers of dancers, the Smilin’ Moose just up the road soon built on it and took it to a new level.

Shelby’s benefit event in her “hike to remission” from cancer, taking place Saturday afternoon and into the evening at Mallard’s in downtown New Richmond, goes beyond the typical in raffle items.
This takes the form of a several-item gallery of guns, pro game tickets for four, ATVs and more that have great monetary value, as you can tell anytime the product description goes into dozens of words.
There is music by more than one act, if you include the longtime favorite Ponzi Scheme band that takes the newly established stage afterward, and into the later hours, as Mallard’s opens up what will be a regular weekend excursion into rock ‘n roll, to compliment its signature food from all over the map, and drink. The current big gaming room will be revamped for music to facilitate the staging process. All the better for taking in those eyes, regardless of mask or bandana, and you just might catch them if you catch her working behind the bar-rail.
And the nextdoor Wild Badger bar also opens up its back patio for the summer, with the Oatmeal band and Chris Snyder playing. (The seats/instruments that in May had been housed at the rear of the stage, and separated from the rest of the audience area by a dangling downward, informally set yellow police line, will be brought on and put into force, a harbinger of what this weekend will offer. A prelude had been slated for last Friday, as the creatively spelled Nici Peper took to the guitar).

Pea Soup Days in Somerset features two musical groups, one that’s collected rave reviews locally and around the broader region for years, and the other, while well established, hitting their home turf as a debut in the village.
The festival runs this Thursday through Sunday, June 9-12.
Phil and the Blanks serve the role of the fest’s musical opening act on Friday night, and the ultimate killer band of both the sexes, Bad Girlfriends follows on Saturday night. Phil as the good doctor, in onstage banter, might have a few things to say about those bad girls and boys following him.
Phil will front his New Richmond-based band when it treks down the way to Somerset, a hometown of one of the members, and play there for the first time. Look out Ozzfest!
Their covers include The Eagles, Beatles, Doobie Brothers and Eric Clapton, so their sound can be guitar-driven or have other focuses, and vary from a bit heavy to light rock.
They also will go around again with a new set of their originals. That’s right, the second time around with that.
And they may indeed wear their sunglasses at night — like in some of their cover art — come the second set, as the show simply smolders.
Bad Girlfriends rocks and also dips into country, classic and current, and there is a fiddle player in the band, prominently placed onstage.
They also step out of the normal cover band realm and deliver a powerful performance, of course, and you could say epic, of music by the Tran-Siberian Orchestra. They also have enough vocalists, multiples of both genders, to rip through a diverse set list that goes beyond the standards and includes the likes of Dropkick Murphy’s, Joan Jett and Elle King.
Rocker Tommy D has four different tasks with the band and bears resemblance to Axl Rose, often complete with a Bad-Ass headband, as the Bad Girlfriends do covers of that group. And to my buddy Tommy B and his cool Axl imitation, with hands all around the mic and/or harmonica, you’ve got some competition.
Music starts at 8 p.m.
The annual parade features the Somerset Marching Band, an announcer’s area in front of the Village Hall, and has almost 40 entries, which will take a new route through the village.
Grand marshal is Dave Bracht a longtime community supporter, as he started the bi-annual Haunted Hayride and the circus that comes to Somerset every other summer, so show him some love by attending various of those events. He is a former president of the Somerset Lions Club and founding member. He is the owner of Dave Bracht Real Estate.
The lineup of the golf tournament, held at Bristol Ridge, is complete and the softball tournament brackets were recently posted on the Pea Soup web page.