Contact us
Back to All Posts

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.

Share the Post:

Related Posts

  • I’ll be brief and punchy with this headline notation, as we transition to giving you more and sometimes shorter choices. And you may notice some of that as you beckon forward. It’s circular. Like a flush. Be careful what you mix, heads vs. text, drinks vs. food, and all kinds of potions — that may go bump in the night. —– Punchy, potentially, but I digress or progress with a new patriotic addition.
My mom has told me not to be a potty mouth when I write, as she certainly would not appreciate hardly any of the standup humor on say, Comedy Central Radio. SNL maybe. But after 11:30 p.m. … But there comes a time where a man must make a stand. And for this jokester, it was now when he had to choose whether to pass on the opportunity that would otherwise bite him in the butt, for in front of and behind him is the Mother Lode. Or should I say load. Or “Mothers” of Invention. Heh heh, heh heh, Butthead, look...
Read More
  • This coulda been Vanna White’s next Big gig In The Sky, if the scaffolding was not so high. So this is how the project went, by the letters and numbers, of get Trump’s name erased from the Kennedy Center. The $250 bill might be tougher. Sad but true. So, What are there more of going on right now, wars or Trump pet construction projects?
So the wall is down. Of letters, that is. Not down by Mexico. Cemented into the concrete. Of the Kennedy Center. Where music has sat. (Near where a now defunct wrestling arena rusts in peace. Or a bloodied White House lawn. With leftover paper cups and plates, more likely bowls and small utensils, anyone?) Or more ornate than inside? A tarp the size of Pennsylvania, the predominant battle state, covers workers as they chip. So geez, how big are the letters? Four times 50 living workers high? But now none remain, or so we are told by flunkies. Or is...
Read More
  • Stressed out as a caregiver? She’s back at yah. This is a rare case of a husband and wife being joint caregivers — for each other — aided and abbetted by the fact that they have a lot of the same disabling conditions. So she shovels snow using a walker/scooter, while he cooks gingerly using a microwave and offers her a plate when she sits down, in an easy chair, in a reversal and new take on traditional roles. Whatever it takes. Necessity is the mother of invention. —– In a new add, Towns and the champion Knicks got kicked around but still got their kicks in the long run … As do Norwegian dancers.
A few years back, I wrote an article about Hudson Deacon Tom Kroll and how he did so many extra dutiful tasks, his living out the Gospels tirelessly, when his wife was ill, in addition to his regular job. I was inspired at the time to pen this, about my own lovely, disabled wife — we were separated briefly but now back together with our 40th anniversary this month, as wholehearted caregiving has many strains — and how an atypical view of standard roles, out of necessity, made things work, as far as our approach to work and home that’s...
Read More
  • He says, and goes fishing with the boys. She says, then goes to the middle of Texas, inviting her mates to a ranch/villa built for the ages. The bachelor and bachelorette parties were on the same night, but though very different, they had some things in common … like the snakes, at least three kinds, to avoid. (None with exotic dancer.) But while away, they did not avoid each other, completely. He made a phone call. —– Just added, last call included a Carolina cowpoke.
What do fishing, maybe in the dark, thus a Texas ranch, snakes of various types and do they come or stay out after dusk, eating either and only fine food or snacks, and a game of cards — likely just one each — have in common. And no strippers or Chippendales. And an only half or quarter, not full Monty. (Who is Monty anyway?) Or cowboy or cowgirl hats. Although there was some dress-up. More Barbie than boots on, I think. It’s an easy answer, connected and conflicting, but not in all or dirty ways, bachelor and bachelorette parties. One of each...
Read More
  • Full metal jacket? Hey, I wasn’t exactly to the point of going Rob Halford. But tastes aside, there must be some reason why after 26 years I was shunned, like going Bob Daisley by Ozzy at his reunion? OK, I know, my style may not have fit with the packed crowd. And the last couple of times for this, I tried to do too much with ad-libbing. So yeah, I get that this time around, I was the somewhat unusual choice to be the one left off the set list, with singers clamoring to get up there. But seriously, just being analytical of strengths and weaknesses as a singer here, no hard feelings. I’m not Dio. (Or Traveling Wilburys, a when jumping inside, inside joke.)
It was clear to me at the most recent Jeff Loven music show in Hudson, for Memorial Day weekend, that there has been a changing of the guard. The sword has been passed. New blood, like Yungblud, has been brought in. And, I must say, loyalty — amongst the devotees who travel frequently and all across the two-state area to virtually all of Jeff’s shows — has been rewarded. They are the royalty, in what just makes good business sense that I can appreciate. In a significant but not unprecedented altering of course, I was not one of those asked...
Read More
  • Songs by Napalm Death? A fire swept down my very street today, where the babies were burned. (But alas, a new A/C unit is on its way up the freeway.) The Stones did not leave these themes unturned, either, or should I say unrolled. Oh wait, this all was my cooker of an apartment, and we are not talking the kitchen. But all these matters will become more pressing, a pressure point, as the new normal especially in southern climes is temp well into the triple digits. It is these people, the third world, and their heat stroke not mine, that most concern me. (Another example of hellfire temps just added. Sin after Sin.)
Trial by fire. My broiling heart in my efficiency flat still beats a bit, in concern over those boiling over in worse apartments in a Chicago tenancy, or on an ocean island instantly-burn-your-feet beach or dessert, or forced to endure ice baths just to keep cool — or simply be offered no way to maintain an ice-dripping body other than also read a non-cookbook at the library, or select not a big steak you can’t afford but a 73/27 burger from a freezer and slap it on your forehead. Just not too hard. All these things are ones where you especially today either burn or...
Read More
Scroll to Top