Get started with your St. Patrick’s Day experience early with a duo that for many years has brought in the green for scores of prominent nightclubs all across the metro and into Wisconsin. The duo The Jorgensons join an ever growing lineup of big bands, so to speak, that have brought their locally popular strains to the burgeoning scene at the roomy Village Inn in North Hudson, making other often even larger clubs green with envy.
That acoustic male and female combo is doing a nightcap on Friday night, Feb. 13, that goes well.
<<But then hey, there’s more festive in a big way coming up, for Cinco De Mayo, to get with dishes and drinks that are truly in sync with being Mexican.>>
That said, Habaranos 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.
And now that that’s mentioned, back to retro, so to speak, going back to the Jorgensons and their longtime hold on the local and regional music scene. into the evening at the Village Inn nightclub. This song example can show the quality that has stood the test of time, but not nearly as long at The Jorgenson tenure, that you are likely to hear: In a recent gig at another spacious inn, named the Bungalow, that is across the St. Croix River in Lakeland and one of the many Minnesota venues to benefit from the band that can be a veritable pot of performance gold, The Jorgensons covered a song in their set of a standard by one of the bands in the classic Alanis Morrissette style. This time around the vocals were shared by both Jorgenson and his somewhat younger sidekick. A special added feature was the way their vocals of somewhat different levels, high and low, but of much the same texture, waned up and down and then drew together again to match each other and at times to briefly take on their own distinct sound.
A band played near here a bit back that featured a duo with a style and look that could be seen as similar, although both older, to a degree. The also still quite comely Pat Benatar, has quite the same look but shorter locks that fall in a way that’s less straight. The guitarist who plays his instrument a bit louder and faster paced then Jorgenson, has hair a lot more tinted with grey and again shorter, this time by lots. They were seen posed with faces close together in a sizeable newspaper ad for a casino concert. In a different image outside the Village Inn, in their big and colorfully lighted neon marquee pitching the performance, their was much a same appearance, but even more of a resemblance.
The band will be back at The Village two weeks later, another Friday in March, this time the 27th, and use largely the same format – -they noted from the stage early in their show — and that’s no April Fool, as that Day is five days later, a number that is barely more than half the size of their full band, which has almost as many musicians as, say, The Doobie Brothers. And yes, that’s No April Fool, but right now a Lucky March Leprechaun.
Speaking of which, also at The Village, another totally experienced act for the St. Patrick’s Day foray, now finally begun in its full form, has another band who like the Grateful Dead meets ZZ Top-with-shorter-beards, and all get tighter harmonies with age. The Old Feral Cats, which despite the name has the cool and verve of the Stray Cats, has also played the main gig in Bayport, the American Legion Hall, to rave reviews that crossed to the other side, that being North Hudson, where patron Whitey holds court, as well as a relative of the ownership family at the Village Inn, and they all feel downright harmonious with one another, musicians or not.
Then there are the mountains of music that include Ten O’Clock karaoke and other revelry flowing from a hilltop, as high as can be, to a waiting Pot of Gold on its very end. It forms an isle that’s set aside from the rest of hill and dale, as the host there, T-Buckets, brings the party back to the area of Somerset. We’ll bey you’ll see it all on the 10 O’Clock news.
The place and people are all brimming with various forms of gaudy green garb. That will get you some gold, as well, as the best outfit of the Irish and beyond gets a $25 bar tab, which can then be back in turn used to buy drinks, a couple of which are a wee bit on the end of some you rarely see, so tuck in your kilt if that’s all right and come on over until close, and throw down some grub so you can Irish gig it away from those leprechauns with gobs of glee on a full gut. Such status is now obtained here by the chugging of $4 Black and Tans and $5 Car Bombs — get them before the more sensitive of the Irish folk note that indeed they are not kosher, as their Jewish pals might say, and call for somewhat sobering consumption consequences. That might not sit well with the best of Irish imbibers and could be a tad difficult to get going now that the hand has struck the hour. That tad is helping the players negotiate the trifecta of power hours, formed to consider the best of hard-hitting specials of 3 for 1.