Contact us
Back to All Posts

Dance like the devil to mayhem music, or to a DJ, to get your game on — and your costume seen

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.

Share the Post:

Related Posts

  • Urban Table has solo and duet acts already in the books, and the tunes put in its vault, as they’ll soon be brought back for more music events. and positioned practically tableside tonight in their designated intimate enclave, has been enlisted an acoustic ensemble, turning it into an ample stage, and then another band next Saturday, just for starters. Bluesy, yes, and even jazzier. And always eclectic.
This about all that soft jazz, and a whole lotta related offerings, taking a renewed seat at the table, like a not-seen-for-a-while relative at Thanksgiving dinner, as they have plenty of quick eats or full meal to go with the music too, at a venue that adds another element to the local song scene. It’s an intimate setting, where you can be not much more than an arm’s length or two from one of the players as the regele you with their sung stories — and still stay out of reach and vocal range of that odd uncle, but close...
Read More
  • Clarity. Craft. Better together. Like a guitar harmony. Or Clarity & Craft Co., for penning business proposals that turn old notes and rough drafts into persuasive plans for your client’s action. Like a concerto. Choir to double down, on composing ditties.
Business writing, and even life, is like penning a song. It moves through the various seasons, like The Rain Song. (Snow coming soon.) But the very season at which we choose to begin is telling. And it may vary. For each client’s, or band’s needs. Or the second side of an album. They say keep your friends close, your enemies closer, and your bandmates closest, because they are the ones you hole up with for long periods and churn out the creative process. One of those for me, is the pen during the day, and voice at times at night when...
Read More
  • Nicolas Cage has been around locally for weeks filming one of his latest projects. Could ‘Parish’ be considered a cage match between he and St. Michael the Archangel, a local parish, with sword slitting sinner’s neck, considering his bent for projects of a spiritual and apocalyptic nature?? But farmhouse famously. Read on, or see it in a theater soon …
When I first heard that star actor Nicolas Cage was in town for an extended stay to film one of his new movies, it didn’t take too much of a deep dive to discover that the film and its protagonist takes the name of Parish, which made me think it had something to do with things post-apocalyptic and churches, like some of his past flicks. (Spoiler alert: It actually is not a parish in the sense of the name of a church, but has that end of the world and eternity vibe, as it’s about a man who decides to hole up in his adapted...
Read More
  • MAGA goes South, and everyone from South Park to various ends of St. Croix County ‘can plainly see’ it. Yes, Republicanism may have won the day in the county, but in the final tally in the state, and country, it was curtains for them keeping a majority, being tied too closely to Trump. aberations in that county voting were Knoke vs. Zimmerman, and the early tallies in Town of Hudson absentee voting.
Mr. Hat, meet Mr. Reality, meet Mr. Mandate. Via Mr. Crowley. If you don’t get that post-election humor, then there’s no hope … When it concerns the latter, check out the Ozzy song and it’s message, “won’t you ride my white horse” and “did you think you were pure,” see if you then get the gag, as a U.S. dictator’s realm falls in a landslide rarely seen. “Your lifestyle to me seems so tragic.” As the last midterm election tallies are being, well, tallied, South Park (and later SNL too) roared on with its satire on Wednesday night, getting going at it...
Read More
  • Sick of getting flyers in the mail, as many as five a day, and leaving no room in the box for the postman? Even if they happen to target a political interest of yours? I went through more than 100, so offer this synopsis, which got very detailed, as your primer for when you go to the polls today. (See results here in coming days.)
The divide in politics these days is not still as much left vs. right, with granted little center, it’s become the informed vs. the uniformed or downright ignorant, and by the flyers politicians put out, you can see they are catering to this predilection. So I propose a solution, though radical, as long as these days we’re throwing that word around all over the place even when it’s not merited, and it’s mentioned literally hundreds of times in Republican flyers across the state: If you are not going to educate yourself, don’t vote. If you think about it, this is very Darwin-ish. Another...
Read More
  • Few inflatables? Just Chip away at the beyond-rigatoni-like-structured (Penne please?) them plastic bones? Halloween has come crashing to a sugary candied conclusion. But not before the alley cats were spooked, if they were not caught with their costumed tails between their legs, (no prizes), or by a pirate that’s DEPP-osed, (maybe.) Or, did Zappa do it? Double, double P. —– But hence, tomorrow is Election Day, and I will provide detailed coverage and how-to-fight-through-the-chaff analysis that will include the local polling numbers. You will see that much sooner here than in the local paper, as they do not staff elections firsthand.
Hark Halloween has been buried, as the big inflatables are now being sacked and stored — they were slowly being replaced anyway by some bigger creatures of all, very tall types and rounds lengths of plastic, currently used as the centerpieces, not the ones that often end up laying flat on the ground, strung out. As far as the bigger than gourds, such pumpkins were seen around town at the bars and antique shops, such as three of carefully chosen shades set in a triangle, of all different colors were the shapes painted on — they being squares and circles of...
Read More
Scroll to Top