Cut the Fat with photographing McPhae, as Cinco de Mayo may be the May holiday to celebrate this weekend:
— Garret McPhae will play at Dick’s Bar and Grill from 6-9 p.m. Friday, May 5, but three days earlier, on Tuesday, the local musician was wondering about updating his flyer photo, which was posted on a nearby pole. In a roundabout way, I told him that I’d done much such photography back in the days before selfies and could take some shots of him at the Friday gig to replace his year-old likeness. Hey this is how I could celebrate Cinco de Mayo, but just minutes earlier I thought I’d missed out. The jukebox ad was hawking songs of that theme, but at 1 a.m. it seemed to stop reoccurring in the cycle. I thought about the skewing effect of the other time zones (Eastern, Mountain, Pacific), and wondered if I’d missed Cinco de Mayo completely! Alas, said the bartender, that was not so, and if anything I’d been thinking about Fat Tuesday. That’s the holiday where you know, women had tended to collect beads and flash their breasts, but all that went out the window with the advent of internet postings, much to the chagrin of the imaginary drummer referenced in the-one-man-band’s act. But you never know, come the Friday holiday and my camera …
— These days, unless as was noted by multiple local bar managers, you’re in a place like West St. Paul, Cinco de Mayo has become mostly a non-event. But there are places like the Green Mill in Hudson, where the venue has multiple specials for both food and drink all day — including siesta time — each with a Mexican theme, such as taco pizza and three types of their brews.
— You could also celebrate that day and the next in a country way at Willow River Saloon in Burkhardt, with the bands Rizer on Friday night and The Strangers on Saturday night. They might hail from a different land then Mexico, but it seems to me there is still a synergy, although my friend Matt hates that word! And to further extend the variety of ethnicity, consider indulging in the group Sushi Roll at the Smilin’ Moose on Friday night.