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As Hop and Barrel now has them going nose to nose as far as the NFL’s Border Battle, with their Minnesconsin brew, you can hit the hot sauce with your beer, one last heat-it-up as summer wanes

(For more updated information on how football colors our worlds on Sundays, and sometimes, Monday, Saturday and Thursday as well, see the Notes From The Beat Department).

Summer yields to fall, and football in this Sunday’s Real NFL opener for locals, as the entertainment options are in flux as seasons change:
— When do two join as one, which is especially poignant considering that its a Border Battle NFL weekend for WI and MN? Its Minnesconsin, and that particularly named brand of local craft beer. The big flyer (almost as large as a beach blanket as a last summer reference) on the window at Hop and Barrel shows its monsterly mascots, one from each state, flanking the Mississippi and St. Croix Rivers and connected by staples to their noses.
— This special is the Hot Ticket, for what else in Wisconsin, as all things are better with beer: Spice up your game day at Buffalo Wild Wings with not just their signature brewery “red zone” sauce, but also hot Nashville chicken and hot southern chicken, as well. But get them fast, before your team is out of playoff contention.
— This is a pitcher that, it seems, is more than just a pitcher: All day Sunday and during NFL games on Monday and Thursday, is the $5.99 pitcher for 48 ounces of Coors Light at Green Mill. Just to stick it those mountain climbers, the house claims an exemption for Denver Bronco fans (just kidding).
— Catch the order here of teams listed top to bottom, which tells the Border Battle tale via a sports sign at Season’s Tavern in North Hudson: First up are Brewers, then Packers, and Twins and finally Vikings. Fitting?
— And its that time of year again for the good ‘ol GM as I call it … A woman at Green Mill said that yes, hey, its an initial weekend of Packer football and how does this affect my life. What followed with the other patrons at the bar was a NFL team-per-state, almost, lesson in geography per stadium.
— The music at this weekend’s Bacon Bash in River Falls will be much like some of the more fatty varieties of that meat, not as tasty as it could be but still something you will like if you are a long-time fan of the tried and true and at this point in their careers, predictable. Most of the bands are some of that and in bacon terms are “boiler” plate, like the veterans of the local scene Tommy Bentz Band and Everett Smithson. But since this is a meat fest, you have to love this choice of band names, Little Wing, on Sunday at 10:30 a.m. You also have to love the pig photos/art work, and the live radio broadcast of the big NFL game of the day.
— Better to vape too late than not vape at all, as there was a Friday the Thirteenth themed super special at places around town, and people I know will vouch for its value with various and varied vape varieties being vaunted. The observance is rumored to run into the full weekend, all day and into the evening, for you stoners who are just getting up. So why am I first reporting this now? Call it being superstitious, but I have a fear of publishing much of anything on the Friday the Thirteenth holiday. So its today, and to mention an industry buzz phrase, the whole thing could still be “flaming” onward.
— To combine a pair of weekend observances, the guy right in back of me in line at Freedom Value Center, sporting a Packer shirt, looked just like one of the stoners in one of those Bill and Ted movies. To his credit as far as being astute, he saw that I was carrying only one item and reiterated that I should go ahead in line. Guess he hadn’t smoked his joint first.
— This Saturday’s Prairie Burn music festival at the forever-venue band shell in Lakefront Park has nine acts, the most noteworthy among locals being Reed Grimm. (No truth to the rumor that opening for them is the Grim Reaper, which rolls off the tongue much like the local guy’s name if you can for the moment be dyslexic), by Blue Oyster Cult.
<From the vault>
— There is still no word that if after the recent concert at Treasure Island, Kid Rock made an appearance in River Falls, much less on his way to”summer-time in Northern Michigan.” That’s where you might have found him, in RF’s Emma’s Bar, back in the day. His then squeeze, James King, partied at one time way back with her good bud, RF supermodel Frankie Rayder, and yes, they both have the masculine sounding names. Also no word if Van Halen — again repeating history — partied down for several days at the Afton House Inn after their recent gig.
— Hey buddy, the classic British car show was last month. Or maybe it does fit. He was seen at the host venue, Dick’s Bar, wearing more then just a kilt, but the whole enchilada, so to speak, of bagpipe-player attire.
— Hey Carmen, the maiden herself, how was that Iron Maiden concert you saw in the Cities? I will have to say that Bruce probably cranked out Run To The Hills better than Carmen has seen me sing while she’s  waiting in the wings, much like being backstage, even when I brought down the house. At the moment, I’m flaming with song much like the Wicker Man; I’m sure Carmen knows the reference to that long forgotten classic, a staple of mine lately and rediscovered, if only by me, so lets Go Blondie!

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