Celeb new beginnings and endings, with a tie-in to Hudson and HudsonWiNightlife. They are the people that you meet … and could maybe use some dough right now anyway, like the rest of us. But from a symbolic death can come new life.

First in the death-defying, and that’s speaking symbolically, news of late was again the status of Zach Parise – but others follow the bouncing ball, or should I say rolling puck, as various celebs in this post today are third-party friends of friends.
First: It looks like a cool store will be no more. There were online headlines that Francesco will be closing this year. Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t that the fashionable Mall of America boutique that took the given name for Heidi Rayder, the supermodel who grew up in River Falls, moved to the Twin Cities right away and then went worldwide. She now is on the west coast
As it pertains to cash, with that closure consideration and the fact that Heidi is well past her prime years of earning power as a model – even though about a decade ago, she made a comeback at age 38 worthy of her crosstown neighbors, the Los Angeles Raiders — Heidi might want to give it another go. But this time it might not be the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition and years-running as a Victoria’s Secret runway darling, but just maybe the likes of Lane Bryant, as her net worth as listed online could use some bolstering.
And some of those models wore winged dresses.(But now I must say, and must say “former”) that Wild winger Parise looks striking like a longtime Hudson hockey coach, Mike Stoskopf, during the days when the Raiders were terrors in Mad Town with their state titles, coming around the turn of the millennium. (More on facial similarities, or the lack of them, later down in this post). Also, both have been said to have lost their touch just a bit, at about the same age.
So where will Zach end up? The Islanders out in the Big Apple have seen the fruit that still can be born, and the rumors that come with the annual bout with free agency – signing can start near the end of the month – that might be too tempting for Zach to fully let go, since it could be argued that he could use some hockey cash and maybe even more, the endorsements that flow from being in a city that doesn’t sleep.
Zach’s net worth isn’t bad, at about $8 million when last announced online, (more on that below), but he has a Minneapolis mansion to keep up and a family to support. So maybe the buyout that could lead to the Islanders isn’t that bad after all for him.
The Twin Cities will always be home to Zach, but with that last scenario, a question for his many diehard fans might be if he keeps a second home elsewhere – as in a residence – and remains a presence on the local scene.. And money talks, even if in a reverse way, as the prices at Tom Reid’s hockey bar in St. Paul, and many other venues like it in that version of the Deer District outside The Xcel Energy Center, are far lower than anything in New York City.
That net worth number could mean Zach’s financial status runs a bit low, for someone who along with Ryan Suter inked twin $98 million contracts to come back this way. To compare, there are 20 current and (mostly) former NHL players who have a net worth of $50 million or more. Not all of them have crazy-high hockey stats, but one who does is a household name around these parts, Mike Modano. The Great One is doing just great, pulling in at $200 million.
Those online reports note that one thing making it hard to keep up with a current number, is it’s hard to factor in the nuances of current and future spending.
But Zach, who was still listed as being on the “American professional ice hockey team left winger” that is the Minnesota Wild by Wikipedia even days after the buyout, comes from good skater stock. But in recent days, regarding what’s more prominently seen on the internet, if you look hard at the mug shot of the late J.P. Parise, Zach’s pro hockey father – and we are certain about this – one might wonder at the whole switched at birth thing. But again, highly doubt it. Twin Cities medical clinics are better than that.
And the media can be fawning for a hometown hero brought back, at least until they are about to be released from the team, and that was shown over and over when Zach’s goal numbers first started waning, but it was dealt with by using kid gloves until more brash analysis became unavoidable. Why is it only now, for instance, that we hear the point made about Zach asking the hockey brass to move the team to Minneapolis, closer to Zach’s suburban home?
Now closer to Hudson, and the tie-ins are well-chronicled, if only here, so I won’t dive into them again. Just safe to say the lives of these movie and music icons live on, via filming and recordings – and industry magazines. Two covers I saw on a newsstand, right next to each other, were about the current F9 movie and the deceased star of the franchise, and then the rebirth, if only in Photoshop magic, of the REAL Van Halen after Eddie’s death.
Starting from the left rack, longtime actor Vin Diesel, who has a younger lookalike in Hudson who also does film (think of his name as Karenson, to borrow from the Scandinavians), talked inside the mag’s pages about the late Paul Walker, who is also grieved by a local friend who played his son in a breakout flick. But Diesel’s face after years of frequent working and wear and tear does not look like the one we see on the Silver Screen, and he’s a bit scruffy too. Meanwhile, his latest Fast and Furious movie has had great success, mostly, at the box office, leading some to say it may be the greatest franchise in movie history. OK, but Stars Wars anyone?
On the right on the newsstand, was a great big photo of EARLY Van Halen. How so? The lead singer, posed front and center, was David Lee Roth, not Sammy Hagar. Apparently, he could not drive 55 fast enough to get to the shoot! But Eddie was there, as if from beyond the grave, smiling like always.