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The foray into the Final Four has brought music to the fore, finally, on Friday (Chapter One).

Karaoke might as well be king this weekend as locals and people coming over from the Twin Cities as they celebrate the Final Four weekend show how its done:

— The top karaoke pick we have is an old favorite, at the Bungalow Inn in Lakeland. What you will find there on Friday night, again, is a little bit country and a little bit rock and roll. But mostly new country, although rock, some of it hard, occasionally takes over. Their annual Bungalow Idol contest in the dead of winter is just done, but every Friday night karaoke lives on.

— You can also go to the Beach Bar in Lakeland on Friday night and do the karaoke thing there. Life can be a beach, we know, and some of the country music you might find there bears that out. Just take the exit right before the state line (and they play to the border battle), and go a few miles south on The Trail, (that being the name given for the St. Croix Trail.

—  Then there is both the Hudson Bowling Center on The Hill and Dick’s Bar and Grill, which every weekend have not one but two nights of karaoke, in the first mentioned, and DJ music, the second venue listed.

— The new Pudge’s. now named Ziggy’s, which has always each week had more than one night of music, is officially rolling out its five full nights of tunes starting this weekend and a day or two before, with a variety of starting times, steering more to the classic rock end of things with new and not overplayed cover bands brought in — that are unlike anything you’ve ever seen before on the Hudson scene. Take for example, Blue Dream on Friday night and also the HeBeGeBs on Saturday.  And on the other end of the downtown, at Urban Olive and Vine, there will be plenty of acoustic guitar-driven folk and jazz all weekend long, with an earlier start.

–Another new one, The Hudson Tap, will also have a night of karaoke — but only one — on tap for this weekend and going forward.

— Lastly, The  Next Stop in Houlton got things going right off the bat on Friday, starting at 5 p.m., with a folkish guitar trio that was described by workers and patrons alike as “a mix” of players.

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