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When besting the powers that be, be careful with whom you hang, bar patrons say

As I look back at our often terroristic times, I see you don’t mess with the powers that be, whether they are federal, state or local, and lawmakers or law enforcement, or your partying days — or at least phone freedom to call your buds — may be cut short.
— With all the criticism of the National Security Administration this story, which was never before told, comes to mind. I used to hang with a part-time college student at Pudge’s Bar and talk about writing, and one night he told me he’d met the terrorist who had lived in the Twin Cities and took flying lessons so he allegedly could conduct an attack, and now has been put away for probably the rest of his life. We discussed the possibility of a newspaper article, since he and the terrorist by chance had ended up in the same study group. They never talked about politics or unrest, and the terrorist tried to do guy talk about sports but it was awkward. We agreed that if there was to be any story, it would not be about political agendas, but about what this guy was like — the student noted that one thing that stood out is that he was very easily influenced by other people. But still, the student at one point had a couple of men in black suits show up at his door and take him for a drive, showing him scenes along the way and asking him questions about what he had experienced in those areas. So, we decided to bunch the story, at least for a time, since (here comes the NSA tie-in) we didn’t want to get our phones bugged.
— Here’s another news item that also never got published, from another guy patron at the same bar. It seems that he knew of a situation on Cove Road along the St. Croix River where a neighbor had complained about people walking along the beach a stone’s throw from the water — and the issue occurred about how far from the water the land ownership rights begin. The matter was set to go to court, but again a decision was made not to rock the boat as far as comments on the proceedings, by the guy with the tip himself as he didn’t want to piss off people he had to live near.
— This story was told at Guv’s Place in Houlton, about goings on across the river. A group of people had a bit too much to drink, so they sent out a sober decoy to fake a stumble over to his car. While the local police focused their attention on that person, others in his party who were merely borderline were able to make their way home unscathed.
— Also at Guv’s, another conversation about being head’s up around the authorities: A patron said that when with a fellow cosmetology student in Oakdale, Minn., she got late to class for a compelling reason. She put in gas, then opened the trunk to get her purse and go in to pay. When she came back out, the cops were looking in her trunk. It seems that someone had called in a report of body parts stowed there. The actuality is they were mannequin heads used for haircut training.
— Yet another Hudson connection has been unveiled on The Voice, and she has totally rocked the house, and the judges, in the first two rounds with her version of Fleetwood Mac songs. Cat Perkins of the Scarlet Haze band has some people locally whom she would recognize while on stage and maybe even give them a kiss on the cheek between sets, while playing places like Dibbo’s — maybe even wearing a cat suit complete with tail. When news of her Voice audition spread, people like my friend Bill quickly went to their video libraries to unearth footage of them dancing to Cat’s vocal strains, with her shown in the background.
— Jeff Loven of one-man-band fame almost raised his star to an even higher level, but it turned out he was just too busy with his almost-every-night playing schedule to fit it in. The people from America’s Got Talent had contacted him about performing live his original song — although borrowing heavily from the likes of Metallica — called the Heavy Metal Polka. Jeff trades in his guitar for an accordian on the video, which was filmed showing him in German garb about two years ago at Mike’s Em Pour E Yum in the town of Hudson.
— Do do, do do, do do, do do, as go both the Twilight Zone theme song and others that are pertinent: A bartender at Guv’s says that on two straight shifts the song Tiny Dancer ran through her head for several minutes as she started work — then somebody played the Elton John ballad on the jukebox. Much the same, a patron at Dick’s Bar and Grill said that an obscure ’70s song playing on THEIR jukebox was her fave, to which my buddy Tom sitting the next stool over said he used to play it as part of the horn section back when he was in high school.

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