Hudson Wisconsin Nightlife

Archive for the ‘Picks of the Week’ Category

Godsmack you up-side the head if you’re Chainsmoking with groups with those names, from a guy who helped put it all together

Thursday, April 18th, 2019

Chainsmoking with Alice in Chains is probably not something mom would approve of on her special day, which also might be Easter:
— As it is an April for Alice, (her prospects are finally looking up), a young Hudsonite who helped rehab The Armory venue and make it into a concert site, gave a great buildup for their Alice in Chains show on April 19, and would also recommend Godsmack, (who reportedly got their name from an AIC song), on April 22, in addition to the just announced Prince tribute. The guy helped the concert hall to be remade, from an engineering standpoint, and get it ship-shape for hosting such parties in conjunction with the Super Bowl in 2018. However, he now has gotten a day job, although he also moonlights as a bouncer at Dick’s Bar and Grill. These days, his main engineering foray is to get his timing together for a smoke break, something I’m guessing you wouldn’t dare do at The Armory. Even though one of the main groups to play The Armory during the recent Final Four hosting was, indeed, The Chainsmokers.
— Its that time of year again for The Flood Run set for Saturday, and with rising water levels on the St. Croix, its an apt name. As is the band playing at the Beach Bar, called Overload, a fitting moniker for playing in front of a bunch of bikers getting sick of being cooped up indoors, and stir crazy to finally go riding again. The Beach Bar is the semi-official venue for the all-day run, as it starts there and ends there. And what happens in-between stays at the Beach Bar.
— Its also time for that annual Easter, and to follow mother’s day, brunch and every restaurant to trying to come up with something different, which just might be more of the same. Green Mill specializes in award-winning pizza, and that’s one of the listed options for their brunch, and its much better than morning-after cold pizza. They also have their signature pastas available, and the option of a dish with, count ’em, four different cheeses, which is sure to play big in Badgerland. But with so many items you can try, it taxes my brain to recall exactly which one is the one with all those cheeses. Another venue — outside of the standard  pizzarias and fast food pie providers — with a selection of pizza slices, although not as prominently listed in their menu, is the Postmark Grill. They also feature more than two dozen other items in their brunch.

— Two words follow. On two different bands with names that are essentially two words. For a rock band of a different stripe, go see Tiger Pants at Ziggy’s on Friday, April 19. And also on Friday night, you might take in Shirts & Skins at the Smilin’ Moose, as the time has come — aided by the warming weather — for people to shed their sweatshirts and play some roundball. Especially since the melting ice has gone away, and belting out a song just might be Puddles the Clown, of America’s Got Talent fame.

Rock out with the rabbit? Roger that. Especially when you get Minosas and bloody Mary’s involved

Friday, April 12th, 2019

We hear the rabbit really rocks, especially when there is Whiskey Stone playing just up the street:
— We hear its really fun to party with the Easter bunny when he’s a bit tipsy. On Saturday, April 13, at Dick’s Bar and Grill you can not only say hello to that bunny and have breakfast and dye eggs with kids, but the adults can indulge in Minosas and bloody Mary’s on special, and they are so inexpensive that you shouldn’t forget to buy one for the bunny, because he’s busting his buns in bringing Easter bounty. And he still can keep it Rock Steady when handling those eggs.
While at Dick’s you might stay for their most noteworthy Lenten special, and its all in the seasonings, salmon teriyaki ginger, with all the sides too.
— There is the promise of plenty of surprises along the way, which is really no surprise, when the band Whiskey Stone plays at The Smilin’ Moose on Friday night, April 12. That’s because there are five different genres cited as part of their repetoire.

And now with the final foray of the Final Four, music and other entertainment has come to the fore, even on Sunday Funday, (Chapter two)

Monday, April 8th, 2019

Here is a wrap up of what is on tap, musically or for other entertainment, the rest of this weekend, no matter where you hail from, as it is indeed Sunday Funday:

(For a complete, earlier, listing of what has been going on, see the article below this one).

— Whether a Final Four fan or just a regular, you can still catch the ultimate one-man-bander, guitar wiz Jeff Loven who hails from Minnesota but is well-known in these parts, on Sunday night at Dick’s Bar and Grill.
— If you are an NCAA basketball visitor, or even a local, make note of the taste of Wisconsin that Milwaukee Burger has to offer. They in true Cheesehead form have all the beers that you might expect, plus hamburgers and other such food that are to die for, based on the crowds of people they have been drawing since opening a few months back. However, the staffing levels at Milwaukee Burger make it possible to still serve you fast. So think of old County Stadium or more recently Miller Park (and its brats) and check out Milwaukee Burger at their Hudson location on The Hill, that’s smack dab in the center of where local motels are, especially if you are a visitor, just off off Carmichael Road.
And, other sporting options for watching the finals game — on Monday or anytime before — also are available in the immediate vicinity, in the form of Buffalo Wild Wings and Green Mill.
— Another venue relatively new to the scene, Ziggy’s, has officially unveiled its five nights a week music lineup, at least for this moment on its latter end, so there is more to be seen. On Sunday, on stage for the latter part of the afternoon is Tom Wavra and his acoustic guitar stylings, as he will be every Sunday, so come take in his act soon in April. He follows the old and new, Blue Dream and the HeBeGeBs from earlier this weekend, and there was more yet prior to all the Final Four folks arriving.
–The dance music is pumping seven nights a week, and if you are a group of young guys especially, you might want to check out the new and improved and redesigned Cajun Club exotic dancing venue in Houlton, as only Wisconsin can do it, right across from Stillwater, Minn.
— A little off the beaten path is the Beach Bar in Lakeland, which offered earlier on Saturday a local favorite group that produces a different musical twist, as they are brash with their brass, The Band Habit band. Check them regularly at any number of River Falls locations.
— And let us not forget The Smilin’ Moose, which on Friday night switched up and went with the band Smokescreen — and their talent and availability is certainly no smokescreen — after hosting a regular country act, Tim Sigler, the Friday before. Sigler also is on every Thursday for country night at Ziggy’s, so go see him with your boots on.
— And another ode to the tried and true, despite their name, The Strangers were on stage on Friday at the Willow River Saloon in Burkhardt, followed by Blue Moon on Saturday. They play often at The Willow, not just once in a blue moon, so you can catch them again soon.
— Meanwhile close to Houlton, Big Guys BBQ Roadhouse, which has been host to multiple bands most weekends, opted out this time, at least according to their sign, which only touted a new menu to visitors.

The foray into the Final Four has brought music to the fore, finally, on Friday (Chapter One).

Saturday, April 6th, 2019

Karaoke might as well be king this weekend as locals and people coming over from the Twin Cities as they celebrate the Final Four weekend show how its done:

— The top karaoke pick we have is an old favorite, at the Bungalow Inn in Lakeland. What you will find there on Friday night, again, is a little bit country and a little bit rock and roll. But mostly new country, although rock, some of it hard, occasionally takes over. Their annual Bungalow Idol contest in the dead of winter is just done, but every Friday night karaoke lives on.

— You can also go to the Beach Bar in Lakeland on Friday night and do the karaoke thing there. Life can be a beach, we know, and some of the country music you might find there bears that out. Just take the exit right before the state line (and they play to the border battle), and go a few miles south on The Trail, (that being the name given for the St. Croix Trail.

—  Then there is both the Hudson Bowling Center on The Hill and Dick’s Bar and Grill, which every weekend have not one but two nights of karaoke, in the first mentioned, and DJ music, the second venue listed.

— The new Pudge’s. now named Ziggy’s, which has always each week had more than one night of music, is officially rolling out its five full nights of tunes starting this weekend and a day or two before, with a variety of starting times, steering more to the classic rock end of things with new and not overplayed cover bands brought in — that are unlike anything you’ve ever seen before on the Hudson scene. Take for example, Blue Dream on Friday night and also the HeBeGeBs on Saturday.  And on the other end of the downtown, at Urban Olive and Vine, there will be plenty of acoustic guitar-driven folk and jazz all weekend long, with an earlier start.

–Another new one, The Hudson Tap, will also have a night of karaoke — but only one — on tap for this weekend and going forward.

— Lastly, The  Next Stop in Houlton got things going right off the bat on Friday, starting at 5 p.m., with a folkish guitar trio that was described by workers and patrons alike as “a mix” of players.

You don’t have to jump through hoops, and the eating is easy when watching these ball games, even if you get fired up about your team

Friday, March 29th, 2019

These seafood dishes go way beyond a shrimp basket, and can be filling comfort food if your favorite hoops team loses:
— What to chew on besides the NCAA basketball tournament? Perkins says stop in soon before this spring seafood catch, five of them actually, jumps ship. Especially noteworthy there are the Monterrey shrimp pasta and shrimp po’ boy sandwhich. And what do they have in common besides the signature shrimp? They are loaded with vegetables. Also, Green Mill ups the ante with seven dishes in that vegie vein, led in our view by walleye street tacos, with white corn tortillas stuffed with breaded walleye, cabbage, pepper jack cheese, chipotle sauce, cilantro and avocado, and topped by a light chipolte ranch and pico. Not to mention the walleye dishes to be found at Season’s Tavern in North Hudson, which are more than a baker’s dozen (have you been doing your math when reading this?):
— Also, America’s pastime is here! Grab your glove and peanuts and enjoy some baseball. With nuts provided at Ziggy’s peanut and music bar? Maybe stop there first before leaving Hudson for Target Field? That latter thing, not to mention all across the country, is where Greyhound bus service can help. They say, book today and you can be there in time for the first pitch of tomorrow’s game. If a Greyhound trek is too far, you can always attend the semi-pro baseball games by a new team, played just south of Hudson, where (here’s the tie in) the St. Croix Meadows greyhound racing track used to be.
— The big ol’ beer cans at Village Liquor in North Hudson, positioned on the counter and made locally by Hop & Barrel, are named Ridiculous Idiots. They are a full 11 percent alcohol. Hmm …
— Heard it through the (grape)vine, you’d better brace yourself well for this act. Its Colin Bracewell at Urban, Olive and Vine on Saturday evening, March 30.

— Late breaking news! Easter is coming — OK that’s not so much news — and with that in mind, take note of this offering at Dick’s Bar and Grill. But you’ll have to get your chocolate fix quick and hop on down. Its the Choco Challenge — I’m not sure what that means — with the world’s best spices for the candy going on display/eat starting at 1 p.m. to help battle prostate cancer. As they say, “eat it, film it, show it.” Again, not sure what the offering is all about. But I’ll bet it has to do with the proverbial bunny.

Some of the best wings in the downtown, elsewhere in Hudson, North Hudson, Houlton, and your side hustle happenings, to boot

Friday, March 22nd, 2019

Barkers wings, and more, and this could give wings to prom-like tunes, and Bud and Billy in Burkhardt

— Only Barkers (or on very rare occasion San Pedro, faves cited by my source I met at a St. Paul bar, who didn’t know they were of the same ownership), had only once (upon) a food, anything there other than their himself-described, best-ever wings, which he orders frequently. Just the right level of crispyness, he says, never soggy. In fact, as we talked, he said he was just at Barker’s the day before. And to give that type of food offering more wings, there is a wings challenge for who has the best ones going on at a number of taverns in both Hudson, North Hudson and Houlton for the next few weeks. You can enter for $25 and sample this type of food at six different venues, over and above Barker’s.
— A sign at Shooter’s in River Falls bills this as a prom musical event worthy of the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s, featuring DJ Logan and running around the time frame in which you’d typically see the grand march and thereafter, going on at the tavern this weekend. And across the street at Mel’s Downtowner, who can keep toasty until spring fully hits on their patio that’s been open for over two years. Under the great big awning connected by a door to the main tavern, there is a long bar rail and seating, and has been installed this winter several large doors that fold up and down like you would have in front of your garage. No matter what the weather you can be essentially outdoors. There also are tables on the patio between the awning area described and the wall of the building to the north.
— Dilly, Dilly, buy a Bud (I assume this venue is one of the those who do serve it, and that’;s not universal) and go see Bigly. That’s the band that is bringing their classic sounds to the Willow River Saloon on Saturday evening, March 23.

Are you ready to take your turn and tap into something grand? Head on down to Hudson Tap and make their grand opening a highlight of your night

Monday, March 18th, 2019

At the recently rebuilding Hudson Tap, and with a name like that you know they will honor the old its 5 O’Clock somewhere adage, their renewed grand opening is today (Monday) and you can be sure if they are not going full throttle by this time, (published here right around the start of the dinner hour), they will be soon. It was just a couple of months ago in that same space that Rio Loco cantina, with that sign of the name already looming big on the second floor wall, put an 8-11-inch paper flyer on the door that said they are closed for a time, and working on a new design and club that will be re-opening soon. You know it couldn’t take long for their brand new place to open, as the sign that says Hudson Tap and a brief description was already up. And oh, oh, they had just last week announced that they indeed will be open pronto, and had scheduled a soft roll out to show what they have to offer on March 15 and 17, and you could send them your email to get on the guest list and check it out. But plans change, or at least can be tweaked. At 11:30 p.m. on March 15, they were not officially open and the room was dark, but you could see the impressive line of pinball and other such gaming machines all along the north wall (new) that rivaled the lengthy bar rail along the south wall (already existing). By March 17, granted quite late at night, there was another paper flyer, replacing the old one that had been taken down, that proclaimed we are closed as we are conducting a full-scale staff training session (the ownership of the venue has been VERY good at such detailed education efforts), and that to make sure to come to the grand opening the next day.
But in the meantime, to supplement down the street, the former Stone Tap that had advertised for restaurant space to go along with a condo project, is just now host to a venue called Fiesta Cancun that will be a bit more heavy on food than drink, if only having THEIR sign over one of the two doors. (But now its on both). Fittingly, the place that housed before the aformentioned new Hudson Tap was Rio Loco, and do we note the much south of the U.S. theme? And an aside: A new associate of mine is right now blowing off this extreme snow and heading for, topically, Cancun. A couple of older ones flew to Florida — not quite as exciting, as for better or worse, they let spring break pass first. Both locales could be considered Hudson very, very, south.

Beef barbacoa, roasted cauliflower, pulled pork and semanal …

Thursday, March 7th, 2019

Tacos at a different than usual date and time, cowboy nights and fresh roasted coffee for the a.m. Mmm.
— And if you thought the only option was Taco Tuesday, consider a full seven hours of Sunday Funday with the Mexican food twist, at one of the newer places in town. A full three tacos and one Tallboy of tecate or house sangria for $15. Or five tacos and two Tallboys for $25. These tacos stand tall and are served in full gear with the requestite ingredients at Pedro’s del Este — that’s the venue were talking about here — of handmade corn tortillas, from 3-10 p.m., and can be topped off with beef barbacoa, shrimp, roasted cauliflower, and also pulled pork and taco semanal.
— Thursday nights are cowboy nights, every seventh night, at Ziggy’s nightclub. Catch Tim Sigler tonight, and make it a tradition, starting at 8 p.m.
— Daniel Peterson is roasting his own coffee, located out of Bayport. If this drive is part of your commute, after a full-scale night out, catch your roast.

We on this site deliver the Fat Tuesday beef for something — to sink your teeth into and give you dishes to chew on — and read on your social media device until that sometimes beefy, beaded beauty brushes by

Wednesday, February 27th, 2019

If you chew the “fat” on Fat Tuesday, you’ll get mounds of meaty specials to gorge on and tide you over until that beauty with beads comes along:
— Is Fat Tuesday continuing to get slimmer? Promotional signs (well done but also rare) on how to make it a bit beefier (bad term) are already up about the March 5 holiday at Green Mill, with various food and drink specials along the line of 2-for-1 offerings if you get there before 9 p.m., and Dick’s Bar and Grill.
— At Mike’s Pour E Yum (as I’m sure you’ve heard before if you visit western Wisconsin, love that name) in the town rather than city of Hudson, dinner and later specials include handmade raviolis Wednesday night, and steaks cooked on Wisconsin’s largest indoor wood fire grill Thursday nights. As one visitor from Minneapolis said about the scene in her big city, “I’m not much of a downtown girl …”
— At Urban Olive and Vine, on Friday evening there is Jazz Savvy (chronicled many times over the years on this web page), and Chronic Trio (a bit less publicized), on Saturday night. The latter plays jazz in the bop, swing, and funk traditions, with decades of experience among them, including use of the vibraphone.
— This was on online about “Big Guys:” Namely, “Dating in Your Area, Big, Beautiful Singles Near You. Find Your Soulmate Here.” OK turns out that it was an ad for a dating site, not Big Guys BBQ Roadhouse between Hudson and Houlton. If you go there on Friday night, rather than getting big ‘swinging’ singles, you’ll get the swinging tunes of Contra Band, which could be viewed as a bit playfully risque in its own way. And if you pack away enough of the BBQ to pack on a few pounds, you might even qualify better for the web site.

He’ll give it to you Strait, it was that song by George that got him the Bungalow Idol title, as karaoke rolls on at Lakeland restaurant on Fridays

Tuesday, February 19th, 2019

Just Singing in the Cold, and having a cold one, as in ice cream backstage:

— The month-long run of Bungalow Idol has concluded, and the resulting winner is provided here, Straight Up For You. The entry that survived lots of challenges is none other than older country, in the form of a George Strait cover song, Armarillo by Morning, sung by a fan by the name of Harry. If you still wish to take in such talent, karaoke style, the songs and their singers will continue at the Bungalow Inn in Lakeland on Friday nights throughout the winter, hitting their stride around  9:30.

— Madison Avenue Wine and Spirits is the latest to jump on the Chaute Shayne parade. The distillery on Swasey Street is the latest locally to get onboard with offering regular music, and is hosting the area country and pop singer and songwriter for the second week in a row. The Chaunte Shayne show is set for early evening on Friday, Feb. 22. Then, on Saturday night, its the start of another soon-to-be-repeat performance, by Trandy Blue. Lastly, on Sunday afternoon, its a band with a really cool old school name, Succ It Up Buttercup.

— And its never too cold for ice cream, even though we all scream with frozen jaws about the possibility of obtaining it when at area bar and grill places. But to the rescue, at Ras’ On Main in Hammond, if you get there early enough in the week, and that’s when the temps are lowest for now, is this special: A warm brownie and cold ice cream, or an ice cream cone.