The St. Patrick’s Day foray has now finally began in its full form, with mountains of music and revelry flowing from the hilltop as high as a rainbow’s Pot of Gold, from an isle on it that’s set aside from the rest, as T-Buckets brings the party.

The place and people are all brimming with various forms of green garb. That will get you some gold, as well, as the best dress of the Irish and beyond gets a $25 bar tab, which can then be back in turn used to buy drinks, a couple of which are a wee bit on the end of some you rarely see, so tuck in your kilt if that’s right and come on over until close, and throw down some grub so you can Irish gig away from those leprechauns with gobs of glee on a full gut.

There’s lots of music Up Nort’ and there’s more than a fiddle and a drum in the band this weekend, the first one in February. Yah Sure You Betcha!
This year the Hudson Hot Air Affair features a bakers dozen different music shows, up quite a bit from most years, that run the gamut as far as styles.
— The Flannel Brothers mix rootsy Americana standards with other popular genres as they deliver foot-stomping passion, true to the Flannel, shown in photos online with a look by the band of old school (older guy) badass, and even a combo of old and new buildings such as seen at any dairy farm in the land, on their home page, full scale. This sets them apart when they play Madison Avenue Wine and Spirits on Saturday all evening long, as part of their Backwoods Bash gala. The fan favorite Flannel have a long set list that has one song by one artist — and steering way away from the rock cliches — with the only exception being Tom Petty, God rest his soul, being the only duplication. Powerful vocals with blended harmonies are key to the Flannels’ performance. Up-tempo songs will keep your toes tapping and dancing the entire show. So these are not your mother’s Nort’ standbys.
Giving the Flannel as fan favorite another fierce force are indoor axe throwing and hammer schlagen (careful, don’t hit one of the distillery vats!), Blue Ox spirits, theme cocktails, and making it Nort’ hotdish and hot beef sandwiches all for free admission and a cash food and bar.
— Roberts-based Boondoggle, with players of various ages, is known for their imposing stage-presence and own take on largely traditional country but also much more, with that kind of riffs, driven by the sheer height of some of the band members, which is even more impressive on a raised stage. Even the bass player is six-and-a-half-feet-tall and has the mojo usually seen in vocalists. “We play music by Elvis, the Beatles, the Stones, Skynyrd, Led Zeppelin, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Dwight Yoakam, and anything and everything around and in-between,” they say, covering an impressive five decades, as drawing from the youth vs. wisdom that is a heyday of the band.
Boondoggle provides the music, and might even tone it down a bit to allow for chit-chat during the gourmet Taste of the Hot Air Affair about Badger-based appetizers, chocolates, cheeses and sweets at the Hudson House Grand Hotel on Saturday starting at 7:30 p.m. Make sure to fly on over.
– Wicked Garden gets more specific with its sound, down and dirty and gritty, at Ziggy’s on Friday night, covering the grunge power groups that filled the top 100 charts in the 1990s, such as Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Stone Temple Pilots (hence the cover band name) and Alice in Chains. They also cover several grunge-influenced bands from today, that started strong almost two decades ago and since has kept a strong following, such as Tool, Foo Fighters and Queens of the Stone Age.
— Good for Gary, which plays the Smilin’ Moose on Friday, does quite well when it lays it out there, as they specialize in current and past dance hits, but in a twist that’s different than most, focus on the newest Top 40 songs. With a seven-piece line-up, (also unusual), there’s no hip-hop, pop or dance song they can’t cover, they say, adding it is likely that you will hear some Lady Gaga, Eminem, Usher and Rihanna at every show.
– Everything goes better with live music, but it doesn’t need to be making-your-ears-bleed volume. So noted by Jazz Savvy, a trio rather than duo, that provides, among other things, classical jazz when they again hit Urban Music and Vine all Friday evening: “Never intrusive or sonically aggressive, Jazz Savvy gives you and your guests a memorable listening experience that will make them smile (and allow conversation),” they say. Its great patio music and that’s largely how they started into the mainstream in Hudson, with a whole summer of jazz at Pudge’s, before it was Ziggy’s music bar.
— Alan Busby makes a return, again, to Hudson, where he’s played quite a bit in recent months, spicing up the mix at Urban Olive and Vine on Saturday evening, part of an acoustic trio.
— Other music is at: Smilin’ Moose on Saturday until close ( DJ that steers to more to a younger hip-hop, dance and country crowd, Dick’s Bar and Grill on Friday and Saturday night until close (variety of danceable songs and a bit more rock); Karaoke both nights at Hudson Bowling Center; and Sunday until close, Jeff Loven’s one-man-band, which is in the process of unfolding his revised set list, for those who haven’t seen the guitar (and yes vocal) virtuoso for a while.
Contact www.hudsonhotairaffair.con for more information.

Hello: This is Joe Winter, the guy with the music and entertainment web site, getting back to you on your readership request from a bit back, after we talked and you I believe viewed my press release. I did in many cases do the Halloween and band preview. I wrestled with how to best honor that request, since I am a very good writer, but on the techno end of things, not nearly as so much so. Thus what follows is my secondary press release on hits, which I hope can frame the subject and its raw numbers, as well as a second copy of my main press release. If this does not suffice, I can get some assistance from my technology helper to get you the report you said you might like to see originally. Sorry about the jumping through hoops and time lag and my long written spiel, with the holidays around. Joe.

Hello from Joe Winter, the music and entertainment blogger. This press release might answer the questions you wanted addressed on readership. I sent below, again, my main press release, as well.
I am on Google Analytics, but it seems to miss most of my hits and gives widely conflicting numbers, and even crazily high upward spikes, in what they do register. There do seem to be numbers of hits in the hundreds. One blogger I know said it best: If I get 75 “likes” how is it that I can only be getting seven “hits.” People in the computer industry have heard many such complaints. (More on that later in the email, so please read it through). Thus, anecdotal info takes on a greater value.
All my hits spike upward on days I post new editorial content, so to give advertisers the best bang for their buck, I try to post that in addition when I run a significant ad.. Not to just be an apologist, but I get up to 50 emailed comments about my web site a day, and people say they view the site, love it and will visit again. That 50-reader number doesn’t even include people who read and don’t comment.
Examples of all this:
— There are at least five times where I made light of something like a typo on a marquee sign, just to make the place sound interesting, even its by a non-advertiser, and it has existed for a couple of weeks already. But the day after my post it is miraculously fixed by the venue. So I know someone is paying attention.
— At a long-time stand-by tavern, the bartender gave me wrong information about the start time of a band, saying it was a few hours earlier, ouch, and scores of people showed up wondering why the music had not started until a bit later. The only way they could have gotten that information was via my web site.
— Most Hudson people are commuters and do surfing from work, which I am told will not always register as hits, (see more on that below), and Google made a reference saying less than one in 200 of my hits come from desktop computers, which is what you would have at work. There is simply no way the number could be that low, so it lends credence to the idea that very many readers from their work are being blocked.
— Some of my regular email commentators from Minnesota don’t even have their city of origin pop up anywhere in my Google chart, so you know they have been missed.
— Whenever I post a story, there are dozens of readers who immediately view my site, meaning they must have tagged it. However, after those first few minutes kick in, Google at times may not register anything at all, which again seems suspect. And, when the day is done, the amount of hits tallied may actually drop significantly, which also makes you wonder about their accuracy.
The vast majority of people in Hudson work in the Twin Cities and surf from there, and Google views them as spam, and doesn’t list them as legit hits, even though these people are still reading things such as my site. Sometimes, too, I’ve been told, companies have a “firewall” in their computer system to block these as being recorded as hits.
Advertisers say I do something with my format that no one else does, and they read it for pleasure, not just business, and some have even run special promos based on my site, which attracts music fans from all over into classic rock, southern rock, country and hip-hop. Again, where are they as far as hits?
I know this all is a bit nebulous, but I hope it helps frame things.

Also, Google does have value in showing the cities where the greatest percentage of readers come. Hudson leads, then the Minneapolis-St. Paul area (to see where to go when they come here), and cities in western Wisconsin. I also have many readers from Chicago, who are looking for a guide on what to do when they come for a weekend. I’ve been told by other bloggers that any site related to the St. Croix River Valley will get such traffic, simply for the tourism reason.
A lot of commentators say they’ll bookmark my site, and Google says my average reader stays on for a longer time than usual, on average up to four-plus minutes so you know they are reading the ads, not like a newspaper where an ad might be buried way in the back. I have over a dozen local clients who are regular advertisers, and they have said they feel the ads on my site bring in more business. I’m sure they would give a recommendation and I have testimonials. Thanks, Joe Winter

Hello: This is Joe Winter, a longtime music, nightlife and entertainment blogger who has a well-read web site on these types of activities locally. I had a conversation with one of your associates awhile back, right before we talked. I believe we could do some beneficial work together, as being very festive is in both are stocks in trade. I’ve run the site for five years, and one thing I do is promote events and companies that relate to entertainment and also music, and do new business “advertorials” when places have fairly recently opened, or have a change in design or focus, and I think both of our ventures reach the same demographic of clients.
I get 50 e-mails a day in which people rave about the site’s content, which is a combination of editorial content and event ads. It even got a mention on Yahoo! News. My clients include River Falls Chamber of Commerce and their annual bluegrass festival, Bacon Bash, area wineries, Hudson Booster Days, Hudson Hot Air Affair, Demon Rum, Hudson Scuba, Pedro de Este, Pudge’s Bar, Venture Fireworks, Roberts Good Neighbor Days and some of their venues, St. Croix County Fair, an all-summer series of articles on jazz at a local club, a season long Packer and Viking football promo for a pub, on a regular basis numerous area nightclubs … OK you get the picture.
You may want to check it out, HudsonWiNightlife.com. (Don’t let the name throw you, as I have readers and advertisers from all over the Twin Cities two-state area). Google says the highest number of hits come not only from the St. Croix Valley, but also from Minneapolis, and even Chicago, as having read my blog and viewing it as a primer for where to go when they get here, many of them say they will come this way to have some fun. To that end, I have a weekly Picks of the Week department that’s like a community calendar for recommended events. On this, I give more than just the dates and times of an event, such as a band playing, I also run a few paragraphs of info to flesh it out. I should note that I don’t publish this just for my own enjoyment; there is a nominal $10 fee for Picks of the Week ads (they are negotiable as far as price, even at that low cost).
There also is an option, as I said, of a full-length article, run on my home page, that can promote a relatively new business, or changes in club design or focus, and say why people should patronize it. I charge a bit more for this, but at $35 for a medium-length piece that as a rate is always is negotiable to boot, it is still a real deal compared to, say, taking out an ad in the local newspaper, where your ad might get buried in the back anyway and not even get noticed. By contrast, Google tells me that the average reader stays on my site and reads for about four minutes, which other bloggers note is unheard of in the industry, and means they would read every word of an advertorial such as yours.
The web site is an extension of a column I wrote for years for the Hudson Star-Observer, until I got downsized after 16 years. So many people asked me when I was going to resurrect it that I decided to do just that. People tell me they enjoy a web site that can be witty and promote a subject such as nightlife at the same time. The word of mouth has spread widely – just like the business cards I hand out when doing things like reviewing bands.
There are a whole variety of clubs I work with, some frequently, and some only when they have special events, and either is OK. Please let me know if we could do business. I’m sure some of the club owners would give a recommendation, if needed, as some of them simply swear by my blog and the results it gets for them.
Thanks
Joe Winter
wntrrptr1961@gmail.com

Lets rock hard and just get in it for the hard sell this weekend, (and that’s no April Fool!):
— This is just flippin’ crazy. North Hudson resident Burt Yardly will be on the DIY national TV network on Saturday night, April 1, for the newest episode of First Time Flippers. Houses that is. Burt works at First American Bank, one of a conglomeration of financial institutions on Hudson’s south side going toward the industrial park, and has been a licensed mortgage broker since 2011. What better place to view him doing his thing than the sports bars that are his ol’ North Hudson stomping grounds, such as Kozy Korner, which has his event promoted on their sign. The show starts at 8 p.m. And then its only a day or two before you can watch another showdown, as the Twins and Brewers take the field for their (afternoon) openers. In both cases, view it locally.
— This to report on the front of, on St. Patrick’s Day everyone is Irish. The Hunyuks really lived it out while playing to a shoulder-to-shoulder crowd at Bobtown Brewhouse on the Saturday after the Irish holiday, following the downtown Roberts parade they helped sponsor. At least one of their sets was heavy on American Irish music, broadly defined by one of my local sources as the tuneage fancied by real Irish immigrants back in the day, when they were longing for their homeland after landing in American ports such as New York.
— Not that kind of music, but the whole raft of country rock, modern and traditional country, and classic rock will all be the order of the day(s) at the Willow River Saloon in Burkhardt this weekend, with Country Outlaws taking the stage on Friday night and Still Runnin’ on Saturday night. Update the rock a bit with Good For Gary at the Smilin’ Moose on Friday night.
— And make it rock hard at Dick’s Bar and Grill by ordering, with an edge but also on a first-name basis, a Henry’s hard soda in the advertised flavors of grape and orange, and also kiwi! Just kidding on that last flavor.

It’s October, and that means not merely music, but much more:
— Jeff Loven indeed “got the band back together,” as he is fond of saying, when guitarist Brent made an appearance at his One
Man Band show. Back in the ’80s, when Jeff cut his teeth with the heavy metal band Obsession, Brent opened for him as a 15-
year-old Wunderkind. They on that recent Sunday teamed up to rip through Eruption by Van Halen.
— With Halloween coming, the band choices picked by clubs are apparently effected. One named Shadows on the Wall will play at
Dick’s Bar and Grill on Wednesday, Oct. 15. The only non-Halloween aspect is that they take the stage in the early evening, not
the midnight witching hour.
— Halloween drink specials abound at Pudge’s Bar and Grill, such as the Blood Clot Shot and Dead Dude. Of particular interest,
though, is The Cyclopse, which goes for $2 each and as you might guess is based on using an “eyeball.”
— The folks at Stone Tap figure that their many Oktoberfest beer specials will bring in customers, some of them stopping in
after spending some introductory time across the street at the German themed Winzer Stube, which of course is offering more of
the same. Some of the others having Oktoberfest beer specials include Dick’s and Casanova Historic Liquors.
— When the soulful six-member band In2ition took the stage at the Smilin’ Moose on Friday, it was led by perhaps the funkiest
bass player around, who never went more than a few seconds without making a cool body movement. Look for them to play again
soon.

Whether KFAN or other faves, it’s a gas to be a fan:
— The classic rock anthems and dance music “get a little higher” as far as variety and tempo when High Octane will burn up the
stage at the Willow River Saloon in Burkhardt on Saturday night. The veteran five-member group is billed as among the hardest
working, high energy, get-your-buzz-on bands that you’ll find. As they say, “High Octane is rocket fuel.” That is seen by cover
songs as diverse as Cold Gin by KISS, Sex Type Thing by the Stone Temple Pilots, and Symphony of Destruction by Megadeth.
— Singer and bartender Amanda gave her mini-review of the band Off The Record, which played at one of her workplaces as part of
a twice-in-a-week foray around the area that included Guv’s Place in Houlton. She went back to bus tables around the stage area
a few days later, while working at Dick’s Bar and Grill, and gave a one-word platitude, paused, then embellished that they did
their usual great job.
— Speaking of mini-reviews, the latest Viking appearance and KFAN radio live broadcast from Woody’s in Bayport on Friday drew
as many parked cars up and down the street there as I can remember seeing. That despite the team’s embarrassing loss to the
Packers the night before, and the fact that one of the Viking girls giving away prizes didn’t know which team member was on the
air. (Low and behold, it was none other than Brian Robson). The event did have a Lambeau Field feel to it however, as one guy
wore a Pabst Blue Ribbon T-shirt that was purple in color, (go figure), and Robson talked for a couple of minutes about how
experiencing the Ice Bucket Challenge was far colder than any type of Ice-Bowl-experience he’d had.
— When Cherry Gun played at the Smilin’ Moose, there were periodic several-second blasts of colored concert-style smoke that
were really thick at times. Less thick was the output of the wind machine that blew through the lead singer’s blonde locks.
Could either or both of those things be thought of as a smokin’ “Gun” at the Smilin’ Moose?

Of mice and bats that are even bigger, and bolder, then pesky insects around these parts and their nightlife.
— When the Smilin’ Moose opened, some people expected there might be mosquitoes in attendance when the big patio-styles windows were opened. What they didn’t expect were the occasional visit by one of the downtown bats, which left one of the bartenders literally stunned. Just like at the Freedom Value Center when while gassing up, one was seen doing foot-high flips off the pavement. Between those two incidents, fittingly, 93X played Bat Country by Avenged Sevenfold.
But that was nothing compared to a couple of bat encounters on my entry level job — that Ozzy wouldn’t even be able to top. When one took off midday and started swooping over the top of a quartet of cubicles, I grabbed a baseball bat from by my door — why it was there I don’t remember — and swung blinding. Oddly enough, I connected with such force that the guts flew 15 feet away and landed on the bosses desk.
So a few nights later, before deadline on a weekly newspaper, I played rock radio but it didn’t scare away another bat, which took a perch on the crevice between a 15-foot-high ceiling and the wall back in the print shop. I grabbed a pen, this time, and threw. It pierced the bat and it fell dead on the floor.
That was enough for me to have a sign, “Our hero,” placed on my door. Such would not be the case with the last rodent encounter of which I will tell you. I was part of a two-couple tandem that saw a mouse when getting ready to go out for the evening, and the women insisted they simply would not leave without the mouse being caught. They then waited in the car in the garage. So, the brainstorming men that we are, we found a half a hot dog in the fridge and put it in a napkin, with the end barely pointing out. It was displayed briefly as we walked over to the garbage can — see honey, we caught the sucker — and then off to see the band. (We love the ’80s, but I don’t think it was Ratt. Maybe Modest Mouse).
— A fan at Buffalo Wild Wings quite wildly cheered a three-pointer even though it provided a whopping 15-point lead with only 90 seconds left in a loss by the Miami Heat in an NBA Finals game. What made it interesting was that he was wearing a LeBron James jersey from back in his days with Cleveland. A few nights later a man who said he was born in Mexico requested with broken English that the basketball be switched off in favor of soccer’s World Cup. He was surprised to find that the bartender was even more fluent then he in the ways of soccer, and that the brackets were listed on the wall. The man, who later moved to Texas, then talked with me in a wideranging conversation that included a lot of references to traditional Catholicism, such as is practiced in Mexico.
— Those same people might not like it that so many people again flooded over the border to St. Croix County to get married, this time same-sex couples taking their earliest advantage of a new Wisconsin law. A few weekends back, a couple of lesbians introduced themselves and accepted kudos from the band on just being engaged. At the time, I just had to ask, I assumed that they were from Minnesota with all the hub-bub that’s being going on there about gay marriage. Turns out that they were from right here in Hudson.
— There have again been a couple of noteworthy deaths, and one of these people, Randy Westerling, was thought well enough of to have his remembrances posted on three different store marquees in town.
— One his last day of work at Green Mill, an employee was held in such high esteem that his car was criss-crossed inside and out with a police line as a gag, even though the car was such a junker it was virtually a crime.
— A man getting his ID checked at the Smilin’ Moose had apparently been at another concert that Friday the 13th. He said of the stripes on his arms, “I got poison ivy when I was in Somerset.”

Dubstep, moombahton and glitch-hop, and jazz, too.
— A huge music festival, with dozens of acts, comes to the Somerset amphitheater and will go virtually all weekend from Aug. 9-11 when factoring in camping and afterparties. It will feature all kinds of music for the young crowd, with diverse styles that include things called dubstep, moombahton and glitch-hop, often presented in a complex way, and even stuff an older rocker such as myself would recognize, such as The Wailers of Bob Marley fame, and the Indie rock group Passion Pit. Pages of information can be found online for set schedule, camping, tickets, afterparty stuff and much, much more (literally) by going to somersetfestival.com.
— This weekend, of course, will also feature another JazzSpring performance at Pudge’s Bar on their patio, and now that they are established locally, its time to recall favorite performances. I liked the smooth, flowing melody that came as part of a sax solo when I first saw them in June. To determine your favorite memory, check them out for yourself on Thursday starting at 7:30 p.m. or Friday at 8 p.m.
— Amanda and her duo A & W played their first of what will likely be many performances locally at Dick’s Bar and Grill, fitting since she bartends there. Amanda provided the percussion by both sitting on, and pounding with her hands, a rigged-up crate that was done in much the style as Saving Starz in their duos. A & W with Amanda on vocals did some songs that steered far from the usual classic rock, beyond the covers typically chosen by a female singer.
— Much the same from Christy Sperling, who is fast becoming an ongoing local presence, when she covered Who Will Save Your Soul by Jewel in a solo performance at the Village Inn in North Hudson to help celebrate the birthdays of stalwarts Diane (her 50th) and Joey (his 30th) last weekend.
— Lastly of note, when River Falls Days was held earlier in the summer, there were the usual bands in the usual venues, but Johnnie’s Bar also got in on the act by having three bands in three days, Chimney Fish, Old School and Dave Snyder.

Music lights up the night in more ways than one:
— The JazzSpring shows that have been taking place on the patio at Pudge’s Bar have been garnering attention that’s being talked about by music lovers in nightspots all the way to North Hudson. A regular downtown Hudson patron walked into the Village Inn in North Hudson, took a seat at the bar and immediately described with vigor what he’d seen just minutes earlier driving down the main drag a few miles to the south. There was something really musically different going on at Pudge’s, he told the bartender and other patrons, and since he had the windows rolled down could soon tell it was “funky jazz.”
That music, as well as other forms of jazz, is provided by the duo JazzSpring at Pudge’s each Thursday in summer starting at 7:30 p.m. and Friday beginning at 8 p.m.
— The blackout night at Dick’s Bar and Grill again had a full house dancing in the dark, with black tarp covering the windows and doors and only glow sticks and black lights providing any illumination — with an exception this time around: The till, which was kept busy, shown a brief blue hue when it was rung up. Also, the bouquets of a bachlorette party were glowing, as they were stuck with the sticks. If you missed the semi-annual event, check it out this winter.
— On Wednesday night at Dick’s, country guitarist Mark Stary added some plucky twang to his solos during the last two songs of his first set, the last number of which was Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison, as he reached into his vault of tunes to play rock, blues, oldies and originals, as well. Some of each of these styles can be found on his soon-to-be-released new record, as Stary has been a full-time musician for almost a decade. You can catch Stary and his bass player, Brian Johnson, again soon since they play Dick’s once every month or so.

Of Perry Como, Tico Tico and country
— JazzSpring’s weekly selections on the Pudge’s patio are branching out.
“Lately we have gotten into playing the traditional song, ‘Battle Hymn of the Republic,’ because it has such a bluesy, 6/8 gospel feel,” said Melissa Stoudt, flutist and saxophonist for the duo JazzSpring.
A couple of other signature tunes on their set list are ‘Well You Needn’t’ by Theolonius Monk and ‘Tico Tico’ by Zequinha Abreu. “JazzSpring’s pianist, Ann Marie McIntire, created a pretty funny arrangement for Tico Tico with a dramatic tango type interlude and a ‘swingle singer-esque’ chrous. You gotta hear it,” Stoudt said.
This Thursday and Friday, July 25 and 26, Herb Reinke, a guitarist, is sitting in for McIntire. Reinke played for a while as Perry Como’s guitarist and he pulls a beautiful sound out of his guitar, Stoude said. Connie Dussl will also be singing some tunes. Music starts about 7:30 p.m.
For more information, check out JazzSpring.com.
— Longtime area guitarist and singer Mark Stary, who is no stranger to Nashville, brings his unique style and attitude of hard country to Dick’s Bar and Grill on Wednesday night, July 31. Mixed in with the potent finger-picking are some smooth, mellow strains. A second guitarist who is regular with Stary and joins him on stage to produce that signature sound is Brian Johnson — and not the one of AC/DC fame.