While River Falls and New Richmond are known for their parades, cooking contests, bed races, medallion hunts and other prominent ways to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day on Tuesday, there also is revelry to be found in a place located between them, that being Hudson.
Paddy Ryan’s in the town of Hudson is an Irish themed establishment (need we say more), and Green Mill starts early with a deejay and things such as jello shots on Saturday evening. At Dick’s Bar and Grill, the food choices for the holiday go a bit beyond corned beef and cabbage, with the additional offerings of red cabbage and homemade soup, as well as breakfast, which I’m guessing will be better attended Tuesday morning than the same time Wednesday. (And for Irish food, don’t forget Mulligan Stew at Green Mill).
The Village Inn in North Hudson has its second band in four days when Jawsy with Amanda, (that’s the way the ownership of the inn, where Amanda now works even more often, is terming it on their sign), take the stage on Tuesday when the sun is still a wee bit away from setting, at 7 p.m. The band Off the Record on Saturday starts it up at a more conventional time, at 9 p.m.
If you need something beyond St. Patrick’s Day to get your March Madness going, there is the Big Ten Conference Tournament at which you can check out the Badger men’s basketball team. The quarterfinal game was set for Friday at 11 a.m., with the winner playing on Saturday at noon. The finals are Sunday at 2:30 p.m. As is pointed out by Ryan at Kozy Korner in North Hudson, which has all the games, you never know when a lower seed might threaten an upset, or even bring a lead into halftime, making even the preliminary rounds interesting.
You can also try Dick’s for the contests, as they say, “If you can’t catch the games in Vegas, Dick’s is the next best place.”
Or, visit Buffalo Wild Wings, which will open a couple of hours early at 9 a.m. from March 19-22, as the cager postseason continues. Someone with a basketball past and from an enemy bar was there on Thursday night to get the lowdown for his pool picks. Both eyes were on the TVs, and one hand on the wings and another on his app.
As far as that goes, both hands will likely be clapping during the more than 50 hours of music at the River Falls Roots and Bluegrass Music Festival on April 9-12.

It’s North Hudson versus North Dakota.
When the UW Badger women’s hockey team travels to Fargo for postseason play, it can be a long haul, so along the way, the band will haul in their horns for pizza at Kozy Korner.
The Badger marching band will for certain be at Kozy at 4:30 p.m. Friday, March 6, unless a flat tire or some act of God delays them, the locals say, as they will be on their way heading northwest, rather than on their return trip home.
Then there is the weekend. If the Badgers win on Saturday, they hit the arena in Fargo again on Sunday. In that case, they would make their way back to Kozy after the game, arriving at 7 or 8 p.m. It’s hard as the ice of the rink to say exactly when, as the trip from North Dakota can bring blizzards or just plain long miles.
If the Badgers lose on Saturday, they’ll take a different route home, and that would mean the earlier performance at Kozy would be a one-and-out.
Twenty to 25 band members typically sign up to go westward, as there is a minimum and maximum number for the trip. Once here, they’ll play for 15 minutes — about three or four songs worth — then chow down amongst the locals, and finally play for another five minutes or so.
With the close proximity that comes from two dozen band members and their instruments, wherever you sit, you’ll be rubbing elbows with a Badger band member. The members obviously love the pizza and other food because as owner Ryan points out, hey, they keep coming back. Another draw is that they see player photos on the wall and comment, “hey, we know this guy.”
— On the other end of the music spectrum locally, and with another Fargo connection, Maverick’s Corner Saloon in downtown River Falls has its regular “mix” of deejay music on Thursday and Friday nights. On Thursday, its K-Drive, who lists his hometown as Rotterdam and is known for playing hard electro sounds. Then on Friday, its DJ-Wissota with his yes, “Sconnie Sound.” Born in Eau Claire, he cut his teeth in the Fargo bass music scene and is known for being a polite entertainer who forsakes all the attitude as much as a turntablist dealing largely with funk and electronic dance music.

— For yet another different turn on the music, since there will be much more than just live bands, check out the fifth annual Roots and Bluegrass Music Festival in River Falls on April 9-12. Also on tap are a flatpicking bluegrass contest that is billed as being championship caliber and the only one of its type, and a music instrument appraisal where you can find out how much that antique stringed or wind instrument you have is worth.

No trouble is expected when The Village has one of its first bands under a new design.
— Trouble Maker is a longtime variety and party music band, so why not go see them at the Village Inn in North Hudson on Friday evening, Feb. 27, and at the same time check out their new renovation. A not-too-tall, 15-foot-long-wall has been removed from the center part between the main room and the back area, where the band will play, which really opens up the atmosphere. Many long, cafeteria-style tables have been replaced with smaller, square ones, for a more intimate setting. And right in the middle of the back portion are two bigger-seating additions with tall chairs, much like mini-bars.
— History has proven that what’s Good For Gary just might be good for you, too. This longtime favorite rock band, playing in prominent venues all across the metro area, will perform at the Smilin’ Moose on Friday evening. However, it is unlikely that they will feature as many instruments as the country group Hitchville a few Fridays ago, which at one point had a mandolin and keyboard going at the same time.
— And when a band of five women, Rebel Queens, was on at the Moose last Friday, the set list was intriguing and included a dead-on version of the tough-to-cover Ballroom Blitz by Sweet. Speaking for myself, I tried to do the Blitz three times in karaoke, and audience members said the first time was killer, but the other two proved to be one of very few occasions when I couldn’t pull it off. The others, in my estimation, were tunes by Deep Purple and AC/DC.
— Bands that can pull it off, at least 12 of them, will be at the Roots and Bluegrass Music Festival in River Falls on April 10-12. At least twelve is the operative term, as that many local wineries and breweries will be part of a tasting event to accompany the free music weekend.

If you like female vocalists who provide stylings you don’t always see, or for something completely different euchre tournaments, this weekend might be for you:
— The Rebel Queens take the stage at the Smilin’ Moose, a high-energy, all-female five-some that play classic rock and for a differing twist, punk music, from the likes of Joan Jett, the Ramones, ZZ Top and Blondie. For their show on Friday night, Feb. 20, they promise a lot of glitter and riot girrrl attitude.
— Also on Friday night, across town at the Village Inn in North Hudson, there will be another woman on lead vocals for Solving 27, which covers and I quote their web site, “Adele Zeppelin Doors Alice in Chains Sugarland Miranda Lambert and more.”
— But not every singer is a woman. Dave Synder is back playing in Hudson, and brought his song list that runs something like 500 tunes to Stone Tap last Saturday, the second straight weekend they’ve had live music, both being of the solo, acoustic variety. It’s worth noting that the last time I was in Stone Tap, the Rolling Stones, fittingly, were playing on the jukebox with Gimme Shelter, a song that’s anything but acoustic, but probably appropriate given the harsh temps these days.
— And then there are things far from punk, those back-to-back euchre tourneys, at 2 p.m. Saturday at Dick’s Bar and Grill, and at noon Sunday at Kozy Korner in North Hudson.
— Do you really need a “shotgun start” for an indoor miniature golf tournament? Apparently, when its markedly inside and called the “Cabin Fever Classic.” The early Saturday event in New Richmond also features dinner, prizes, and oh yes, a tour of nine favorite area pubs. It is being held in part through the efforts of the local Chamber of Commerce, which has more information, but the event may have sold out.
— And speaking of keeping things inside, since recent nights and even days continue to be cold out there, it’s appropriate to point out that the fifth annual Roots and Bluegrass Festival in River Falls, coming up April 10-12, has all of its scores of bands indoors, as well as things like tasting activities and high-quality “picking” music contests. The twelve different venues offering bands will essentially crank up the heat, compared to outside, if not necessarily the volume, as much of the music featured here also is acoustic and will allow patrons of the free shows to converse as well as listen.

After many band lineups and CDs, they’re now Rough Housing it:
— They bill themselves as “playing everything from AC/DC to the Foo Fighters to Zeppelin” across a five-state area, but they will be at the Willow River Saloon in Burkhardt on Friday evening. That band, Rough House, has had many different lineups and played and put out CDs under various names since the ’80s. The group Tongue in Cheek started things off, as vocalist and guitarist Bryan Erickson was joined by Mike Torok playing lead guitar on songs that were half originals and half covers. After some personnel changes, the band Torok was formed, releasing three CDs through Nightmare Records, at least one quite “metallic.” In 2006, the disc Addiction of Fools sold out and drew excellent reviews the world over. Then, Torok went back to playing with the much heavier sounding Impaler, while Erickson released Epiphany with the group Son of Eric. It got great reviews from webzines and music magazines from around the globe.
Around 2009, their new band Strutting Hacks became The Party Army, which was renamed Rough House with the addition of Tom Croxton on drums and Shawn Penny on bass and vocals.
— Another opportunity to go totally Old School, with another band that travels all over to gigs, is when The Dweebs play their old-time nerd rock at the Smilin’ Moose, also on Friday.
— You can’t cook at this late juncture, but you can still eat. And isn’t that the advantage that brings people out anyway? Spots for the annual chili cooking contest at Dick’s Bar and Grill are full, but people can still come sample and help determine the winner. A flyer on the wall says it starts at 1 p.m. Sunday and in addition to all the details, shows a shadowy character with hat in the background that looks like the main villian from The Blacklist (that being “Red” who is maybe making red chili?) Not to digress further, there will be prizes that include most unique chili and best presentation. When my friend Tom and I viewed the flyer last weekend, he noted that he’d just finished watching an episode of The Simpsons featuring a chili cookoff. It’s certain that the chili at the Dick’s contest will look and taste better than if Homer was making it.
— Kudos for these recent vocal stylings: A rock band that’s a frequent guest at the Smilin’ Moose had a male member gender bend and sing Bad Romance by Lady Gaga; soloist Jason Jerry, getting back into the local music scene, at Stone Tap in conjunction with the Hudson Hot Air Affair, displayed a rich and soulful tone; and a cameo musician for Jeff Loven at Dick’s Bar and Grill was dead-on with another gender bend, this time Four Non-Blondes.
— A longtime Hudson area bartender also has the day job of being a school principal in St. Paul. As the result of a contest with his students, he agreed to dye his hair for several days — and they get to pick the color. He and his co-workers agreed the choice by the students would be a no-brainer, hot pink. See him in all his new-found glory when he works a couple of different shifts, fittingly on the late side, at the Village Inn in North Hudson this weekend.

The hot tickets in music this weekend have only begun when thinking of acts directly connected with the Hudson Hot Air Affair.
What is old becomes new again as Jason Jerry performs at Stone Tap on Saturday night, a gig that was a late announcement, as far as those having a tie-in with the longtime ballooning event.
Jerry’s sets will be acoustic country, rock and folk so people can converse — or listen intensively, since they’ll showcase his newer style that’s heavy on telling stories. Think John Prine and even some songs Jerry has penned himself.
In former days, he was a guitar wiz who helped lead open jams at Dick’s Bar and Grill and other places around the turn of the millennium. He stopped playing for a while, having developed carpal tunnel problems that made it difficult to perform.
But all that is past now, as he’s fine tuned his style while doing things such as sitting around the campfire and has been back in the game for the last year-and-a-half, learning new songs that often are unlike the overplayed standards on the radio. He said that he’s learned from other musicians encountered in days both old and new.
Jerry is slated to play from 8-11 p.m.
There are other acts burning up the stage this weekend:
The Flashbacks play the Village Inn in North Hudson on Saturday, and their flyer bills the music as smoking classic rock and the hottest new country in a show that  “is on fire” at the Village. If more evidence is needed, at the bottom of the flyer are two flaming matchhead creatures.
But where there is hot, there is also cool, as in cool cats. To that end, the TC Cats start playing at 6 p.m. Friday, meaning they’ll on stage when the torchlight parade of the Hot Air Affair passes through the downtown, unless they happen to be on set break. The Cats feature ’50s and ’60s doo wop, as well as not just classic rock, but classic rock ‘n roll.
At the Smilin’ Moose it also will be smokin’ on Friday night, as one of the favorites among the dozen or more bands that regularly play there, Tim Sigler, hits the stage to be their first music offering of the month for the second 31-day-period in a row. You can tell from the occasional cowboy hats seen in the crowd, that he’s country but not TOO country.
It gets even hotter at Woody’s in Bayport on Saturday evening, for the seventh annual Sexy in the City romp from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. that features 11 vendors with Valentine’s Day friendly wares. Then, a deejay spins tunes from 9 p.m. to close.

Sunday’s Super Bowl could have been so much more interesting for local fans, if it wasn’t for the Packers fumbling an onside kick. But even though Green Bay is not in the Big Game, there are ways to live it up. You just have to look a little harder to find the right “option,” like a quarterback deciding whether to pitch the ball.
— If you are a Viking Bar, you didn’t even get as far as your Packer counterparts. So Woody’s in Bayport, on the Minnesota side, early-on got used to the idea that they’d have no team to watch come championship time. So, they decided to just go bowling. It’s the annual Super Bowling Tournament with warmup (even if it’s freezing outside) and draw for pairs at 1:30 p.m. And yes, you are invited to stay for the game afterwards. All skill levels are welcome (much like the NFL) and pairs are based on one high and one low average. Fee is $15 per bowler and includes many food and drink specials. You can signup with the bartender.
— For even better potential results, the Willow River Saloon in Burkhardt is giving away an eight-day trip to a pair of Mexican resorts to a pair of people, for those who stay for the entire game, a sweet incentive even though there are no Packers playing. The prize includes the trip for two with time split equally between Puerto Vallarto and Cancun, with most of the air fare and all other expenses included in the package. Contestants must arrive prior to kickoff and get a card that is punched again when buying the special of five beers for $10. The drawing will be held at the end of the game. My friend Kendra, who has bartended part-time at various places and also has a day job, helped the owner plan some of the business end of the offering, and pointed out that at the Packer games during the season, there were weekly giveaways of trips to Vegas, complete with some major change for spending at casinos.
— At the Village Inn in North Hudson, there will be a free appetizer bar one hour prior to kickoff, with prize giveaways at halftime. A last option worth noting might be the mother of them all, where at Ellie’s on Main a one-time $50 fee will get you all you can eat or drink (with the exclusion of top-shelf liquor). ‘Nuf said.

Don’t fiddle around with namby pamby heated bean bags to toss this weekend.
— There are two ways, both good, to look at the cold-weather bean bag tournament outside “Kozy” Korner in North Hudson on Saturday, Jan. 24 — featuring a 1 p.m. start that might be the warmest part of a day that’s likely to be balmy by recent standards. The other perspective is that we are Wisconsinites, and our ability to accurately toss with cold fingers a bean bag that I guarantee will be fully inflated is not hampered by frigid temps, even though Kozy has noted that this is an outdoor event, “so dress accordingly.” That precision is important because the top-five two-person teams get cash prizes, with the winner guaranteed something else, a $200 windfall even if there are gusts. And the entry fee for this chance is only $20 per person. Officially, the event is named the second annual SCV Rotaract “Frosty Bags” tourney. It adds free beer and importantly, heaters for participants.
— You can’t keep a good fiddle down, especially when its twice. For the second time in recent months, a fiddle-based act, named aptly Fiddlin’ John, will show his wares at the Willow River Saloon in Burkhardt, this time on Friday night, Jan. 23. Last fall there was an act much like this, named simply The Fiddler, who also graced the stage at the Willow, being made up of some members of a group that plays there as a whole periodically, although longtime band watchers say this is much more than a one-instrument endeavor.
— The TV screens at Buffalo Wild Wings that announce their beer of the month for January list it as Guinness, and add a historic footnote — the proprietor years ago signed a 9,000 year lease for his brewery site. That’s interesting, because by my estimate, that gives you about 9,000 more minutes left this month to enjoy the Irish brew at a discount. This also brings to mind other things at B Dubs, like the fact that seconds before the airing of that promo I’d jokingly told the bartender that I wanted not my usual Miller Lite, but actually a Guinness Lite, which of course does not actually exist. Then popping up on the screens were the trivia player of the same month, named Bobcat, who I must say looked like a trivia nerd with his turquoise shirt and orange tie. And lastly, the screens then showed the other top recent players, some of whom listed their abbreviated home site as Buffalo WI, and brought to mind that orginally I’d thought this “WI” referred to a place in western Wisconsin, not “Wild” Wings. See, you order Guinness and (eventually) you learn.

A Brit may be coming to run a block, and maybe he also will take in some local music:
— To prepare for the annual One Block Fun Run to benefit United Cerebral Palsy, there are many Dick’s Bar and Grill
patrons among the well over 100 who have signed pledge placards, where only an obscure or quirky nickname is provided, but
perhaps THE most unusual is the one who goes only as “The.” Next would have to be a signature from one of the many people
from Great Britain who happen in while in the area, “Benedict Cummerbatch from England.” You’ve got to wonder if he will be
“coming” back to the States to participate, when it only entails running 100 yards. The event is slated for Saturday, Jan.
17, with registration at 10 a.m. and the run itself at noon. The entry fee is $20 for adults, but you get a lot: A free
beverage, lunch ticket, raffle ticket, Taco John’s coupon and UCP raffle ticket. For kids its $10 and includes a T-shirt
and lunch.
— The Smilin’ Moose will have Flashmob on stage on Friday, Jan. 16, and the last time they played there, earlier last
year, the band offered a show that lived up to its name — both from the action on the dance floor, and from the two
syllables of their name taken separately. In other Moose news, when Rock Godz played there the previous weekend, they
featured a bassist who jumped off stage and did a somersault on the dance floor while not missing a beat, almost exactly
like I saw Ozzy’s lead guitarist do in concert in the mid-80s. And the lead singer sported a baseball cap that when he
turned to face the drummer, had a skull and crossbones where the strap normally is; in fact, all the band members wore
something on their heads. Lastly, when Tim Sigler’s country was the musical act, a worker said the reason the cover was
high on a night where they still were packed is that he’s possibly their No. 1 performer.
— When I took in the male and female duo Wade and Ella as they moved up the road from their native Hudson and did their
once-a-month, early-in-the-month act at Guv’s Place in Houlton, they boasted almost constant harmonizing on songs where you
usually wouldn’t hear it. They might need to be conserving their energy, as area venues they have been penned-in-for during
recent times — and they have been busy — include Maverick’s Corner Saloon in River Falls, the Boardman Bypass, Champs Sports
Bar in New Richmond and the Sail Away Cafe in Afton.

Laughing all the way to go play cribbage and drink root beer whiskey, if the hypnotist prompts you to do so.
— The best things in life are free, but they can be downright hilarious when there’s no cover charge for a hypnotist/comedian. That is the case when Rick Turner puts on his show at the Village Inn in North Hudson on Friday, starting at 8:30 p.m. I asked bartender Sue, “Are you harder to hypnotize if you’ve been drinking?” Her response, “It’s probably easier.” Guess we’ll find out.
— Some things apparently are better done with two people than one. That’s the case with the cribbage tournament this Saturday, Jan. 10 at Dick’s Bar and Grill, as it has a doubles format that had attracted 17 duos — that’s 34 people — as of Tuesday night. There is a $10 entry fee, a cash prize for first, one free drink for all players and other perks such as gift cards for players. You can signup with your bartender for play that starts at 1 p.m.
— You can now buy Uncle Bob’s root beer flavored whiskey at Dick’s, and the flyer promoting it asks “have you seen Uncle Bob?” (Is he one of those funny uncles?) Right above his printed name is shown a fancy, handlebar mustache. Yeah, I think that guy has been around. His brew can even be made into a root beer float but adding horchata liqueur.
— A duo named the MTVs played the Smilin’ Moose lodge late in December, and their song selection was something that the music network could learn something from, as it went beyond the tried and true. They opened a set by playing Johnny Cash, followed by Twin Cities favorites Local H, then followed by Cake.