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As Super Bowl beckons, the things to hear, see and be seen goes local, and moves well beyond the Twin Cities

People, and more people, what do they know (to quote John Cougar Mellencamp) … Sometimes quite a bit, and you also might find more when considering how they ride, and what music they listen to:
— A patron at Pudge’s, and presumably the Super Bowl, much later than usual on Saturday night said that his flight had been delayed, there were some other delays involving a snow plow, and that now he was just looking for some comfort food. He was counseled with a long series of back-and-forth directions that showed he was unfamiliar with the area, to try out Denny’s, because it was close to his motel room. He probably ended up at Pudge’s because it’s indeed the first bar over the river.
— The Hudson motels at the week-nights leading up to game day were mostly full, although it depended which lodging place you were looking at, as many people were over in the Twin Cities taking in late-night Super Bowl-related shows, but some were just hunkering down in the cold. (And some were workers, whether in the media or Super Bowl-related service industries). There were several buses in the back of the lot, and some trucks, too, at The Best Western Grand Hotel. This full-roomed situation reminds me and my “posse” of the overflow from the Republican National Convention several years back, when a quick review of the parking lot traffic revealed a TV news station boom truck and also cars from virtually all 50 states (so says a friend of mine Tim, who also made the trek along with a third friend, and chimed in after looking at license plates because he had worked in the rental car industry).
— The many out-of-town visitors hitting the downtown were well behaved on Friday night — reportedly unlike those back in Philly or one might say the amateur-night patrons you find at the time of local festivals — noted local bartenders. I joked with one of them, Matt, that this could be a sign of the Apocalypse, and that his all-time favorite hard-core metal band Slayer might consider this song-writing fodder. He responded that they are already acting on it (does he have an “in” with the band that I don’t know about?)
— Speaking of that celebrity connection, Fox Sports North interspersed their coverage of the Timberwolves game on Saturday night with shots of prominent musicians and athletes who were in town for the Super Bowl. Maybe most crucial because of people he knows locally, including his supermodel wife Heidi from River Falls and a couple of Hudson women he partied with back in the day, is the bassist Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. This time he did show in the Twin Cities, unlike in one of the band’s lyrical laments: “Never made it up to Minnesota …”
— Also on that Fox broadcast were ranked the top 10 already-famous singers at Super Bowl halftimes, as show on sports bar TV. What, they did not consult me for a vote, as a sometimes music columnist/hack?
— An east metro bus had on its destination sign — if this was a person it would be their forehead — “Out Of Service.” But really, since it was traveling down the street? Wonder if it got pressed into use because of all the potential riders in town for the Big Game. But wait, that would be rich people, and they don’t ride public transportation.
— On the subject of ridership, a superlong limo with more stretch than most seen coming to Hudson, and said to be the length of more than five cars — and we’re taking full-size not compact — was spotted in of all places leaving the Eleventh Street bridge. And were talking mid-week, before the majority of the throngs arrived.
— As seen online on Zillow, with an ad helping you negotiate the housing markets in Philly and Boston: “So Over Football? While fans are freezing in Minneapolis, check out this former ice house turned home.” Could be many places in Minnesconsin.
— On the topic on nice houses with people away, I’m watched one of those for a client, (one of my many little side gigs in this new economy), who because of being on vacation described this reversal, (not of fortune like the Vikes, but of direction). She traveled to Philly for an aunt’s 60th birthday, where they will all watch the Super Bowl in a low-key way, which is said not to be the case of everyone out there. Then, after Sunday, they will drive home, while all the people who live in Philly will return back the other direction.

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