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A weekend befitting a Final Four foray, and other finery

Believe me, not to Badger you, but the Final Four best quest and other bar biz beckons.

— The Badger mens basketball team begins its bid for a Final Four berth in the NCAA tournament on Friday, March 20, with an 8:20 p.m. contest against Coastal Carolina in the regional quarterfinals.
It’s the first-seeded Badgers against a No. 16 squad, but as staffers at Kozy Korner in North Hudson always say, you never know when the score might get tight when it comes to March Madness. So, even though Wisconsin is one of the heaviest favorites listed, you won’t want to miss what could possibly happen, making it a good idea to make a trip over to Kozy to cover all bases the way the Badger defense covers the lane.
If that weren’t enough, there was a rumor that was considered a “90 percent” certainty as of bar time the previous night that the Badger band would again play at Kozy on Friday, possibly even during the basketball game. The marquee at that time said they were slated in for noon, but that was subject to change. (Sources at Kozy confirmed an 8 p.m. band arrival in a phone interview early Friday afternoon, and said it would be imperative to get their early for a seat). So since this is the third band appearance this March Madness, get ready to order up a Miller beer, as you listen to the horn section do their version of the Steve Miller Band, which if you know anything about Madison is always a favorite. All this was made possible by the weekend women’s hockey Frozen Four games at the Twin Cities Ridder Arena.
— Bands that won’t play in the lane and alleys and byways, but indoors in a prominent spring event — at least 12 of them performing more than 50 total hours of free music — will be at the Roots and Bluegrass Music Festival in River Falls on April 9-12. At least twelve is the operative term, as that many local wineries and breweries, six of them each, will be part of a high-profile but still down-to-earth tasting event to accompany the music weekend.
The fifth annual event has all of its scores of bands all inside, as well as things like one-of-a-kind, high-quality “picking” music contest. Much of the music featured is acoustic and will allow patrons to converse as well as listen.
— Speaking of listening, two of the bands at the Smilin’ Moose, which are favorites there and will almost certainly return soon, gave specialized treatment to cover songs in recent performances. Pop-oriented Good For Gary, which is said to be one of the Moose’s most prized bands and just a notch below the likes of GB Leighton and Tim Sigler, gave a lengthy sax-driven rendition of Eminem. Along those same lines, country band Hitchville covered The Devil Went Down to Georgia and gave the solos an instrumental much like that of Dazed and Confused and No Quarter on Led Zeppelin live albums. There was even musical resemblance to Jimmy Page shredding a violin bow on guitar strings.
— From another group picking up traction locally, the slightly-snarled-sounding vocals of the band Off the Record were perfect for the raw emotions pervading Wish You were Here by Pink Floyd. They played the Village Inn recently.
— What’s better than bowling and bar biz? Sunday Funday will be taken to a new level when Dick’s Bar and Grill teams with the Hudson Bowling Center for their annual Bowlarama, starting at 1:30 p.m. on, of course, Sunday. They suggest that you start the day with breakfast at Dick’s downtown, then move up the hill.

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