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They could be the sunshine of my love, getting there from passing by sunflower fields forever. Or at least what would turn out to be back-to-back nights on stage in Stillwater. The venue for the band was The Freighthouse, and the freight coulda been bunches of bales of sunflowers. At least the falling rain would help them grow, in their playing, so we could be Sippin’ On Sunflowers. And to dip down well into Pierce County, the usual suspects strumming on Saturday night would be, well, The Usual Suspects.

They promised to be sunshine on a cloudy day, but when the rains came on Friday night, the last one in May, the band had to postpone their show until the next night, the opening one in June. So to go Sippin’ On Sunflowers, and see them at the Freighthouse, maybe while munching on sunflower seeds, you would have to — like us — double back on the eve of The First, the time when the band was rescheduled, after Slip Slidin’ Away.
We were attending because a friend of my friend — who also saw another of her friends right upon walking in the door to get out of the downpour — knows one of the players, from River Falls. So our trek was made through the towns and byways to get you from there to Stillwater, a ride that even features some small fields of, you guessed it, sunflowers popping up here and there. Thus going on back, was needed, so buck up buttercup or you might be let down.
Also, if you are one of the usual suspects, you could be affiliated with any number of bands by that name across the country. Or you could be in the crew of veteran rockers that will play The GasLite in Ellsworth on Saturday night, June 1. As displayed on their logo, they feature three guitarists (including bass) as everyone in the band plays an instrument, no lonesome lead singer, and are known to bring surprise guests to the stage, which is a gas. You may have caught them here also in spring, 2023, as they are indeed The Usual Suspects, from beyond the metro in Minnesota, but don’t show up in these parts all that often.
But back at the Freighthouse, I came in with low expectations since I had heard from a couple of people seen in downtown Hudson that their Stillwater had gotten rowdy at certain spots, and when considering where the news was conveyed, that’s saying something. But the stay of myself and my date was very pleasant, even if the main patio was being basically washed away from music. The street and its adjoining parking lots, absent one of the closeby spaces we took, were very much full, but inside the Freighthouse there were about four small groups of people hanging around, taking up all the corners of their tables.
We saw another couple from the Little Canada area right off, but even while engaging in a bit of conversation before taking the table next to them, the server was very attentive. She was helpful about menu choices, but wasn’t aware of live music being on tap, since this was the first weekend following the Memorial Day shiftover.
We just stuck with the basic chips and sauce, passing on the loaded nachos since my date wanted to be slim on guacamole touching corn. I was surprised to see a variety of choices of NA beer, and took the Bud Zero for a fivespot. The bean dip she ate was plentiful, and the salsa even moreso, said not to be too hot and turning out to be just right for my tastes, that can handle any level of heat. The chips were of average freshness, though some small in size, but that was more like simply the difference between a teaspoon and tablespoon. Even though we did not add an entree, there was a bit of all three components leftover. (We opted to leave early and try back the following night.)
When paying, the server did not produce paper receipts, with all those usual multiples that again are the usual suspects, rather showing me the prices on her electronic tablet. I guess that’s one of the newer, new things these days.

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