Don’t put those Halloween costumes away just yet, as there are more scary deeds to be done, such as attending the “after party” with prizes for the haunted holiday at the Village Inn in North Hudson on Saturday, Nov. 4. This proves that Halloween is an observance that does not end with the end of October, much like having the extended birthday 30-day month that many people celebrate.
There will be a deejay/karaoke from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. at the Village, and to help you get your courage up, and (costume/song) game on, groups of people can get 96-ounce hoppers of sponsor Michelob Golden Light, which is billed on many coasters as The Gold Standard, for only $20. And of course, there are costume prizes, to see if you have what it takes to take home $75, or other cash awards.

(For a complete wrap up on the party costumes that were precursors to The Big Finale At The Village on Saturday, several days after the lightweights shut down their efforts, see this web site’s Notes From The Beat department).

On the Friday and Saturday — and even Thursday — before Halloween itself, you can get the whole experience in and around Hudson (these are recommended events such as costume parties that answered an all-call of sorts for the scariest of the scary):

— The costume party at the Bungalow Inn in Lakeland, set for Friday and starting early, is the perfect way to kick off your Halloween celebration, as they say this can be a preview for how well your costume will go over in the rest of the weekend, if you are one of those go-getter, costume-contest hoppers. And there is karaoke and deejay Cory as well at the Bungalow, so you can strut your stuff and show off your voice to further impress the judges, and can be in part emboldened by drink specials. Things get started at 9 p.m., with registration at 10 and judging at 11, to win cash prizes. You must be present to win, so stick around.
If the start-of-Halloween-things on Friday does not fit into your busy costume-contest schedule, you can always go to a Plan B at the Bungalow and take in the act of Nici Peper, a longtime local music stalwart, on the very Tuesday of the haunting day itself. She plays at the Bungalow about once a month on Tuesdays — one of the few local places outside of the metro you will find her on a regular basis — again starting early during part of the dinner hour. Nici won the title of Minneapolis’ most authentic artist at the Wholly Guacamole contest, and was one of six finalists nationally. Whether performing solo, as part of Firefly, with The Big Smooch, or in other configurations, Nici radiates by performing indie, Americana, folk and mixing in other rootsy styles. She is influenced by classic storytellers and her voice has been described as vintage and soulful. Nici has opened for Brett Michaels, Elvis Monroe, GB Leighton, Dan Navarro and others. She has recorded in Nashville, toured extensively, has been on Twin Cities Live and Fox 9. Nici hosts an open mic Tuesday evenings and a songwriter showcase with the Soiled Doves, while working on her first solo album which is due out this fall.
— Join Seasons Tavern for a night of tricks and treats, including mood-making drinks, on Saturday night (not live but dead). There is as always live music by Thirsty Camel, which has become a tradition, starting at 8 p.m., and this camel is showing the same hump patterns as formed by the line of tombstones in the lead photo on the Season’s Facebook site. The costume contest has prizes for first, second and third place. Winners announced at 11 p.m. Stop in early, when the ghoulies are just getting going, for prime rib dinner starting at 3 p.m. And Seasons is more than walleye and fish fry, as the prime rib is also attracting raves from online commentators. And you can get it a little rare, if you wish, in honor of the upcoming Halloween holiday, or conversely, with quite a crisp. Either way, its fits with the Halloween motif.
— In this case, sexy is really, really in, as there will be the first annual Cajun (Club) Halloween on Friday, offering free cover with costume, spooky drink specials — don’t let the ladies scare you — and culmination of a costume contest at midnight. First place is a $100 bar tab, second a $50 bar tab and third a mystery prize (lord only knows what that might be!) Free giveaways will be offered throughout the night. A sponsor is Bud Light, and who knows, you might make a best bud during the evening.
— The Halloween observance is not the only gig at The Willow River Saloon in Burkhardt on the holiday weekend. On Friday night, the venue celebrates its 20 years in business, which is longer than a lot of establishments last. And it’s fitting that the musical host of the party is a band that’s been around for much the same length of time, and plays The Willow frequently, that being the Zebra Mussels. The same could be said of Saturday night’s band, The Strangers. They serve as the informal hosts of the costume party at the Willow, where during a break from the main music on Saturday night, people can get out on the floor and dance it up, and at the same time serve as each others judges for winning of prizes. The Willow has been known to on some years extend its costume party to both nights of music, and this time around you will likely see costumed creatures on Friday, as well, although there won’t be formal voting. That’s not necessarily to say that members of the Zebra Mussels won’t dress up, or have something else up their sleeves as far as donning costumes.
— But it is Bill’s Gun Shop and Range on The Hill in Hudson that really offers a chance to shoot-it-up, that being a chance to blow away pumpkins at $5 apiece. This will help you get your sights on the Halloween to come, as it is offered from 3-8 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 26.

There’s no one quite like Otis, a parttime bouncer at Dick’s, to do Halloween right, via the big screen — or maybe its a smaller one at home. As Halloween neared and Friday The Thirteenth came and passed, he had some rare off time from his day job, and come nightfall went on his annual 14-hour-straight horror flick binge. The focus was, you guessed it, the Friday the Thirteenth movies, of which he guessed there must be, bye gosh, at least 14. But the one thing that truly scares him? Anything with the Catholic Church and exorcisms. Otis said he grew up Catholic, attending the very conservative St. Agnes parish in the Twin Cities, and there has just something creepy about that place. That is not the only time I’ve heard this.
I bought a chain saw, very cheap, not as a Halloween prop but to cut some wood out in the Back Forty. OK, I barely own an acre much less 40, and maybe I was being penalized for being such a cheapskate, but I blew out not one but two tires and had to walk the last half-mile home, past Season’s Tavern, which is said to be haunted, and all the while carrying the chain saw. At least one of my neighbors, who are familiar with my Halloween night displays that include moving props, told me that all I needed was, well, a leather face to go as Leatherface.
Likewise, later that day as the sun was setting, I saw a guy walking through same area carrying shovels (plural). Could he dig a grave for me with them? After hours in the yard, I mowed lawn and the result of the too-long grass spraying was what resembled a crop circle; I think I gotta lay off the sauce.
That evening at Pudge’s, I spotted a Gothic girl, who looks like a musician for Bad Kitty, which played that venue on Friday night. She had, you guessed it again, deep purple nails.
Even later that night, at Wal-Mart buying Halloween candy, I noticed a police line draped across the booth that was part of the cashier’s station and warned “beware,” do not enter. So how do I pay for my goods? I feared that if I didn’t, I might get caught up in the webs between the checkout aisles and the door.
One more late night bite, at a convenience store. It was the “beware” sign on the bathroom door (was it a bit too smelly if you go inside?) Also, they made note that ladies using their store are BOOtiful; and the guys are BOOtilicious. And at Shiners in Lakeland, they had earlier in the month held a self-described volleyBOO tournament of terror.

And then there was Double Trouble with the colors that put the fun in football and its food:
— If you can believe the gridiron-based ad, Skittles candy would have you call an eatible — as audibles are far too dated — and sprinkle them not on your face, but on a foam finger cake. Other football grub we had for the big inter-division game was a yellow and dark blue cake with a pigskin in the middle. Dark blue? It seems they couldn’t make up their minds about going purple or green as the secondary color. Turns out the Vikings big win put that issue to rest. Then there was the dog decked out with not only a pro football sweater but also skirt, that had of all things a Bears theme, (just who is No. 13?), and loved the treats that were given (were they Skittles?). And a Houlton bar, the one with the classic two-sided sign that shows, alternatively, either a downtrodden Packer or Viking, that for the Big Game was offering $1 beers for scores made by the Vikings, not the Packers. And when you consider how the game played out, they must have given out a lot of brews, that being a Wisconsin thing. Lastly, at Dick’s, management did not know until it was pointed out to them by a staffer, that they scheduled their big soup cookoff for the exact same time as the big Sunday game, from noon to 3 p.m. So since they had doubled up on their promotions, they really had an issue to tackle. At least they didn’t triple up, by doing something even further like the annual Drive Your Tractor To The Bar Day at Meister’s. That would be much more feasible, with them being in rural Boardman, not downtown Hudson.

“Looking down from a motel room” takes on a new meaning with the death of Tom Petty, and dozens of others in Vegas, with the link being Jason Aldean, as noted after-the-fact by a music fan at a local nightclub.

— Some tragedies go in twos. Aldean, who was performing on the night of the mass shooting in Las Vegas, has been known to do a lot of covers by the iconic artist who died on a heart attack at around the same time, Tom Petty. That word from a fan I saw at the Smilin’ Moose, who was fresh off experiencing such a show by Aldean. On the night when the cardiac arrest occurred, Last Dance With Mary Jane sang out its signature line, “Looking down from a motel room/Nightfall will be coming soon … I walked to the road,” as I walked in the door of Dick’s Bar and Grill.
Petty also was listed as an influence by the Nato Coles and Blue Diamond Band, which played in Roberts recently. But back to the shooting, the Facebook page of a friend and lover of music that includes that of Petty, had a respondent who said he was working the desk at that motel across from the concert scene — and unwanted host of the shooting several stories up — that night. He noted that he was impressed beyond words by the flooding of volunteer help to those who needed it, by people from all walks of life.
Lastly, the next time I heard a song after that inadvertent Dick’s tribute, it was one of those “pithy” tunes — I have heard that word bantied about in the national music press as associated with Petty — by John Mellencamp. I had also thought that the same two artists were alike in that way, and were interchangeable in my mind, with their style of hometown-based lyrics and instrumental tone. Being from north-central Wisconsin, you would think that would have endeared him more — despite Petty’s totally straight long hair and John Lennon-like glasses — to one of my relatives, who in Petty’s heyday said dismissively to his wife, “what would you say if I looked like that?”
On a lighter tone:
— A 30-something man at the Smilin’ Moose said he’d seen Eric Church in concert 14 times, starting with a ticket he bought for $8 when he was quite young, at a northern Wisconsin festival. Rural Wisconsin and beer drinking and a country act … hmm. Add to that, a local bartender looks just like Church when he dons his sunglasses after being out and about away from his drink-pouring job.
— Bill Murray, a native of Chicago but more pertinently a former fixture in Hudson, was on a late night talk show where he gabbed at length about the Cubbies postseason chances, rather than his own St. Paul Saints, of which he has been an owner. He borrowed a shtick from the antics that are seen at Saints games, namely firing T-shirts from an air gun into the crowd. Murray was a friend of the late owner of Dick’s Bar and Grill, Fred Kremer, and would stop in for a dinner — or drink — whenever he was in St. Paul on business.
Next up on the show were repeated toasts with rum, (not the Jag that is the favorite in St. Croix County, but if you think about the taste, not too much different). And then spoken of was, also at length, from he of many talents, his collaboration with a German man to record a best-selling classical music CD. (Sure, not the Blues Brothers, by any means, but it will pass). Murray met the man on a plane trip. This is much like the immediate bond struck up by a California couple who flew to Wisconsin simply to have a beer, and ended up talking to the guy in the next seat, a musician — but definitely not a cellist — with the group Death Angel. (See that story a few items down on this page).

Halloween costume shopping at the Hudson Goodwill store is not only very inexpensive, but offers a diverse set of attire. They have odd-ball but fantastic costumes the Big Box Stores don’t carry, and the choice to buy the pieces you need, but necessarily the whole kit, just the accessories you require, not pay for the rest, their managers say. An example is a Darth Vader mask; you can pay for just that and utilize that black robe you already have in your closet, if you desire, and save because of shopping Goodwill and getting an already reduced cost. And they have many different styles of wigs, for example, not just one or two. On top of this, you can get a 25-percent-off offer on Halloween fare if you bring in a bag of donated materials.

(Also, check out this web site for periodic updates on “pre-haunt” happenings and decore around town in the local clubs, as well as where the best costume contests are — on three, you read it right, different nights — as this big night of Halloween revelry nears).

It’s this kind of commentary on current events that just might get this web site a Pulitzer, since hey, it can’t be used as a fish wrapper since its not on paper. And for more on Husker Du than what’s in the paper, including local tie-ins, see this site’s Notes From The Beat department:
— On the night that the Twins officially made the playoffs, as a wild card, for what seems the first time since prohibition, a friend of mine was bartending and at the same time teasing a fan of another team: See, I told you (the berth) would happen. That night he was making it a point to check out the Twins game, even though still in regular season, in as full a way as possible. And he made it abundantly clear he didn’t give a damn what happened with the Packers on the same night. All this reminds me what transpired the last time the Twins won the World Series, when I was essentially a Hudson bureau writer for the St. Paul Pioneer Press, and western Wisconsin really got behind — finally — the dreaded Minnesota team late in the process. A women accidentally rammed into me with her cart while grocery shopping, and said “Oh sorry, I was thinking about the Twins game!” But this was the days before blogging, and you were not supposed to interject yourself into the story. So my editor said to simply tell this anecdote in the third person. These days, it’s what I specialize in.
— So Hugh Hefner has died at age 91, and he still was not considered creepy. Being a middle-aged man who hangs out way too much, I’m wondering how he pulled that of. Let me explain. Over time, since I say brief hellos to people I enjoy, but don’t make an overt attempt at all to pick up women, or hang out with a particular wingman (at least on most nights) or a certain crowd, I am thought by some people to be, take your pick, gay, a cop, a drug informant, or — and yes I’ll invoke the C word — creepy. I do get that thrown in my face occasionally by some insecure young punks. To which I will offer two things: (1) A bouncer I respect at Dick’s said that if every guy that was ever accused of being creepy, and it was asked of him to throw out that guy, was not allowed in the bar, there would be no guys ever left in the bar; and (2) as far as the allegedly gay thing, a couple of my gorgeous friends have said that if it was OK with me, they would put on a show of affection and dispell any doubt. But Hef managed to pull off not being creepy. So I look at it this way, hmm, do the math. He got to be 91 and I am currently 56, so that gives me 35 years to work toward living up to his standard. (What was I saying about not introducing myself into the story?)
— The place that is to be the new Ellie’s has been gaining traction with its remodel, as is judged by the numb er of construction workers I saw worked on the front facade, three and counting. That is only rivaled by the pace of the redo being done just down the block on what was the Negret urban winery building, now to be called Hop ‘n Barrel. In both cases, continue to hop to it.
— When The Pres called out The NFL about its protests related to Blacks Lives Matter, it seemed that — go figure — the only sports figures who weren’t backing the pro football players were those in NASCAR. As Richard Petty began to say, and I quote, somewhat accurately: “The NFL don’t …” Hey, if he can’t be grammatical … But go figure.

Just who clarify for me, is Husker Du? Even if you have a “heart” for Hart, it may depend on an umlaut.

— The latest death on the rock scene, Grant Hart of the so-termed iconic and influential Twin Cities-then-national alt-punk group Husker Du, has me wondering — since I’m from central Wisconsin and didn’t move to Minnesconsin until 1989 when the band quit performing together — Just who exactly are these guys? I’ve heard plenty of praise, but few actual songs. The question was posed to a friend who grew up in Edina — and like me is almost exactly the same age as Hart — and she initially said she didn’t know of him either, and then changed her answer up, down and around when wondering out loud how you pronounce the first “U.” That’s the first of two umlauts in their band name, which might make for the odd bedfellows of Scandinavian punk. At least their subsequent side projects went by the names of more standard English, which generally might make them more recognizable, even to someone like me, who is known for knowledge of obscure rock trivia.
— As football makes its return, people just get excited. This was the case with a fan at Buffalo Wild Wings that looked just like Nick Saban, the Alabama coach, but with a crewcut. Minutes earlier, Saban had gotten just as animated in a postgame interview, and even had to be bleeped. Then his buddy also became talkative, noting that in a different sport that was on a different TV, the Brewers were closing out their win, but needed to get an out from a batter who the guy said was notorious for fouling off pitches. Even with two strikes on him, I was told that there’d likely be ten more foul balls. It turns out there were four. Is that a Big 10-4? Lastly, the coasters that were setting in front of us had a Vikings logo. I guess their season-opening victory held more weight than that of the Packers. But then there was last weekend’s losses by both teams. What a difference a week makes.
— Here’s a sneak preview of the venue coming into the old Ellie’s, which you can’t see very often, since it is now shuttered in plastic. But that didn’t mean you couldn’t look through a single small window when its late night. That’s unlike the rest of the storefront, which has been shrouded in plywood during construction. The bottom line, based on my viewing: The general layout, as far as which walls are where, has not at this point changed from the previous user. But there is outside scaffolding that extends to the upper floor.

San Francisco might be a world away from Hudson, but they seem to have to same difficulties with their bridges, and the answer proved to be Wisconsin beer!
A couple from California who were in Elk River, Minn. for a wedding, said that as long as they were this close, they just had to make the trek to the Badger State to get a real Wisconsin beer. So Spotted Cow was their pick of the litter when they crossed the river. And, they were pleasantly surprised that here, you even get a beer chaser with your bloody Mary.
But even more so in the conversation that ensued, the couple said that on the long plane flight here, they ended up sitting next to a hard-core rock star. When finding that I sing metal, they immediately asked if then, was I familiar with the band Death Angel. That was the band of the guy in the next seat over. At first, he was surprised they didn’t recognize him, but then opened up and they found him to be well spoken and intelligent. The guy said he actually is into country and jazz as far as his off-the-job-listening, not metal — kind of like Ozzy, whose fave is of all people Whitney Houston. Death metal is the harder of those genres, and he has been playing with Death Angel since a teen in the ’80s.
But back to the new Stillwater bridge that got them over to the The Next Stop in Houlton. They thought the span was impressive, even beautiful, unlike the crumbling although still famous Golden Gate in their community. That one, turns out, is much more like the fading lift bridge a mile up from the new one.
I also met a guy at The Next Stop who had one cigarette in his hand and another atop his ear, that’s double trouble. (And he actually put the one down to strum on his guitar). But more interesting is he has a friend from Hudson named Jeff, who is in a band that actually opened for Fear Factory, a popular act in the heyday of metal, and as the guitarist, Jeff totally shreds it, it was said. The other band ties to him are a guy who now lives in Boyceville and does a popular annual Neil Young tribute, and someone who has played with a iconic band from the other side of the river, The Replacements.

It wasn’t fair summer weather, but people did what they could to watch the big win by Mayweather over McGregor, and avoid zombies (from the annual pub crawl or those newly nuked?) at the same time.

— At first I thought there were enough young adults to be waiting for two party buses. On a recent Saturday night there were about 70 people gathered on the sidewalk next to front glass windows of the Agave Kitchen, and were at one point joined briefly by a police officer, to watch as best they could the latest Ultimate Fight of the Century shown only by a TV pay-per view situation. (That means there was about one such spectator for every weigh-in, fight-before-the-actual-fight word that McGregor uttered). I even saw a couple known years ago from the Beach Bar in Lakeland, and now living as polar opposites from Hudson by residing near Roberts, who said they just don’t get out much anymore but this was a special situation. Around the downtown, there were people gathered in small groups and “fighting” for the best spot to view the bout on individual’s social media equipment, such as on outside patios, even though it drizzled occasionally.
— Upstairs at one of those places, the Smilin’ Moose, dancing the night away were members of a bachlorette party where the theme was old pro sports jerseys. Between all of them, they covered virtually every major pro league, and it had been a while since anyone honored ol’ No. 91, Dennis Rodman, that way. The woman was swaying as much while she strutted as one of the missiles, say at around 2,000 feet, from a launching pad of No. 91’s buddy, the nuke-happy, North Korean dictator.
— They are at once the problem and the answer. I saw three zombie signs on a Minnesota car, one of which said zombie infestation response team. Is that to save us native Wisconsinites after they all come over, say from the annual, Twin Cities zombie pub crawl? And another oddity: A car’s license plate had a “Packer” plastic frame around the edges, but it was a Minnesota plate. Is that legal? Or do you end up paying things such as taxes on both ends of Minnesconsin?
— My neighbor, a former Pepper Fest king, has a figurine of a little girl in a summer dress and hat sitting on the stone wall of his immaculately landscaped front yard. To the point that a biker who happened by gazed at it all the way through his left-hand turn. Just the other day, the figure was replaced by that of a Roman soldier all decked out in gold foil. Just in time for Pepper Fest? Coincidence …?
— The Pizza King and active local crooner, Rich Raley, said that over Pepper Fest he was extremely busy delivering not only pizza there, but his new side dish, cheese curds — to the tune of a case or two every few hours all weekend. That would seem to relate to what was said by a guy a few bar stools down, a transplated Chicago resident, who was experienced for the first time Pepper Fest; and what are these new, cool things called cheese curds?
— The festival is ripe for more humor. As I told as a joke to a North Hudson friend who jokingly declares me as her “fun stalker” — don’t read anything into that ladies — what do us stalkers do in our spare time? They go to Peeper Fest, of course!
— The I’m Trying To Be Trump singer on America’s Got Talent lost this time, to the hoots and chagrins of people at the sports bar. But as Trump being Trump, in typical Trump fashion, he carved out a win anyway by giving the judges tickets to his upcoming show in Vegas. At a Trump owned hotel?
— Two similar odd moments on bar TV: (1) The closed captioning for a commercial on the best brew in Minnesota must not stretch into Wisconsin, as it repeatedly listed Schell’s beer as Shell’s, minus the C, a miscue that has also been seen at some nightclubs on this western end of the Badger State; and (2) the captioning praised the rapping done by a late-night talk show guest, but they had it as “wrapping.” All wrapped up and nowhere to go? And one more related possible gaffe: A pro athlete was in the sports-bar-TV news, by the name of Lucky Whitehead. Guess what he’s feeling good about is that he’s not known for blackhead pimples.