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- Blonde and Brunette and redheaded group The Divas, decked out divinely in red and white and blue, take the stage in tribute to the troops at the St. Croix County Fair from July 15-19. In advance of the anthems provided by these and five other bands, enter or take in a contest of the most patriotic of flora, in all those colors and more! Poppies are only the start.
I have a plethora of times paraphrased her and made preposterous puns pointing at her pronouncements, about bands that give brand new meaning to long running and return engagement, and all the other activity, old and even new, that just keeps bubbling up at The Fair … I have worked with Gail Maier, an organizer of the St. Croix County Fair that now mid-July resurfaces to its forefront flair this weekend, for several years running now, so here is her on it, verbatim: “Yes, by all means go for it. We especially want to promote The Tribute to the Troops...
- XBox workers get the axe, as there are again calls to overhaul a controversial visa program that brings workers here who are called highly skilled in specialties. Does that include roadies from England? Or do they hit the road, too? Could be, as this program was reformed and renamed under the rule of various presidents, since before the dawn of rock.
The news that Microsoft will fire thousands of workers in both the immediate and long term, related mostly to its once-industry leading XBox gaming system, has raised scrutiny over an old immigration loophole, largely, that allows workers dubbed as highly skilled from other countries, who would otherwise not be let in, to be brought here to solve the labor needs including shortages of mostly large employers. That’s this business news breakdown, in a nutshell, fighting through the gobbledygook. Or so it goes. This company that in a recent year just got done firing many thousands, has now announced it is...
- Did these regular bar fly guys really connect all their dots? Can a simple pill cure the tapeworm Tourette’s that connects most of your organs? Look deeper and take a deep dive into their take on the facts. It’s conservative to say there are huge holes the size of the Strait of Hormuz. Wide part, like the St. Croix …
A few of these local conservative guys actually made some sense — sorta, or at first.(I refer to Trump’s slamming connected to his recent posting of photos of Minnesotan kindergartners allegedly wearing hijabs at a graduation, and a few regular guys chugging down at the local booze hall in a (possibly) less discriminatory way (beer goggled brain?) and thinking out loud (with low vocabulary) that they are what, just another name for khakis? (OK, that last part is fake news.) Spelled with the same number of letters and consonants, and using the same vowels, and I’ll give them that they...
- Did these regular bar fly guys connect all their dots? Can a simple pill cure the tapeworm Tourette’s that connects most of your organs? Look deeper and take a deep dive into their take on the facts. It’s conservative to say they have holes the size of the Strait of Hormuz. Wide part, like that in the St. Croix.
A few of these local conservative guys actually made some sense — sorta, or at first. (I refer to Trump’s slamming connected to his recent posting of photos of Minnesotan kindergartners allegedly wearing hijabs at a graduation, and a few regular guys chugging down at the local booze hall in a (possibly) less discriminatory way (beer goggled brain?) and thinking out loud (with low vocabulary) that they are what, just another name for khakis? (OK, that last part is fake news.) Spelled with the same number of letters and consonants, and using the same vowels, and I’ll give them that...
- See elsewhere on this page a new post. —– On Our No. 250, can we at least unite on a ditty? And hush more about the speech at Rushmore. While Congress carries on with their own, has it become a telethon? (We’d much rather broadcast The Eras, as Swift and her sweetie unite by tying the knot, with Sheeran and Sandler and Stevie.) So not even fall and elections, still our house is divided —– Newly added, more on music fest and heat note observations.
On this holiday weekend, I want to note that with an exception or two, our Union has never been universal, as in unified or united, much less totally uniform in its common and professional and congressional and judicial and presidential opinion, throughout as I will put it, about 244 of its 250 years. Roughly. (Roughrider at the presidential rodeo?) So not to rain on their parade, but it is apt that we have removed the right to piss in the great big reflective presidential pool, which might even help by killing some of the presidentially proliferating algae, or loosening the...
- I’ll be (relatively) 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. And a second edition, an old Obsession, as in a concert.
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. — On another stage, I dissed...
- 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...
- 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...
- 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...
- 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...
- 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...
- I had a dream … And out of it (re)sprouted an ancient spring fertility rite to save the world, or at least my apartment building, or at least my second story window, from a giant lizard peering in, out at T-Rex days of yore. This ritual requires copious amounts of consumption and goes from there to hobbits and lords who are not yet a-leaping, for reasons to be retold in this fanciful, twisted tale (of fiction?) Just watch the use of Why! The letter, that is. And try to catch on to the inside jokes. (Psst. Another tale inside. Or two.)
This is a truly awfuI, twisted tale of villains and heroes, powerful ale if used carefully, giant beasties and smaller hobbyts, but also renewal and redemption. I will ascrybe to an ancient rytual, back to when the tyme gyant lyzyrds peered into second story wyndows of apartment byldings and no amount of walls could keep them out of such urban non-placated places, save this practice that annually, about this tyme of three-day holiday, would save humanity for another year. So in this spryng fertility ryte, go consume copious quantities of hunhy grhym cr’krz and jinjer biyr, deprived of its alcohol as worshippers need to be sober-headed...
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