Man of the Year, and almost midnight with its Shadows on the Wall.
— The group Six to Midnight stresses its diverse play list, which is designed to include “the lightest dance tunes to the heaviest hard rock hits,” and brings its act to the Smilin’ Moose on Friday, May 8. The 100-plus song set list, which is heaven and hell to an old metalhead like myself, has songs from the past and present from the likes of Ace of Spades, Godsmack, The Ramones, My Darkest Days and Volbeat. Also on a personal note, the band is also known for their You Tube version of Cupid Shuffle, which is a popular dance number at The Moose, getting dozens of people out on the floor. (On a couple of occasions, I was an observer close to getting my back pushed up against the wall as the crowd moved forward, then back). Six to Midnight, which could just be an Iron Maiden reference, has played alongside acts such as Seether, Saliva, Saving Abel, Good Charlotte and GB Leighton, who also has ties to The Moose.
— Soon, come the end of May, a North Hudson man of the year will be selected by the principals at Kozy Korner. The event, one part charitable event and another part good-natured humor that can be self-deprecating, sees a field of several dozen people gradually eliminated until a winner is named.
The low-key event is in its fifth year. The voting runs six weeks and helps charitable causes. In this just-for-frivolous-fun event, contestants go head-to-head at Kozy each time around, and it costs $1 to vote. There is no limit on how many times you can cast your ballot, and since this is for charity, that’s all the better.
This year, the charitable recipients are the Koller family from Seventh St. North in North Hudson. They lost their home in a fire.
— It was the less-than-obvious retro choices when the band Shadows on the Wall played the Village Inn in North Hudson, as they went back-to-back-to-back from Prince, to Steelers Wheel, to You Can’t Always Get What You Want by the Stones. The quintet features four guitarists, one of whom was formerly with The New Skinny, a group of local guys.