One was shot during heroism, another’s valor took much longer, and you could only see it at Buffalo Wild Wings if your timing was right.
— A man at The Village Inn chimed in on the “Batman” shootings in Colorado, where a couple of his relatives were some of the first ones shot at with guns. This is timely because a recent court action put one of the shooters behind bars for life. One of the members of his family managed to protect another from death by draping himself over them but still, one got bullets in the leg. The main heroic figure, though, went on to save others.
— A highly billed, Ultimate Fight night broadcast ended up going much longer than forecast when some of the bouts were slow in completion. The TV fight package, as viewed at Buffalo Wild Wings and other venues, for that reason did not wrap up its airing until after bar time. That was especially challenging for a very packed B-Dubs, since the establishment closes down earlier than most, at 1 a.m. It did mean, however, that they had a full house virtually all the way to the end.
— Some of those people, however, had to do without their Wings for about four days when the place underwent an extensive remodeling, which had workers going night and day. Two of those stalwarts, who are almost always there near last call, had to find other digs for a day or two. Myself likewise. We all ran into each other at a logical replacement across the street, that being Green Mill. The two women noted that they’d been seeing the dumpsters, so knew it would be pointless to trek over there. That didn’t keep one of them, though, from spreading the closed window awning with her fingers and looking through, just to make sure.
— Just prior to the remodeling shutdown, a worker was placing a sign across an archway, and that meant a ladder was temporarily blocking the main exit. I said to him that there was no way I was walking under it, as that could bring seven years of bad luck to myself and possibly my team, (probably if they are the Vikings?)
— Bartender Darren at the Village Inn replicated the actions of Kelsey at Agave, a fellow Canadian, and returned there to visit family recently, getting back just in time to play in multiple softball tournaments in multiple venues, (his mates just kept calling with late-breaking schedule changes). And after that is said and done, he has to work all Pepper Festival weekend, he stated with just a touch of a grimace. As the sign at the Village says, celebrate “the madness” here. As Darren told me this, a woman came up to the bar wearing a scarf around her neck that just might have (accidentally) been like Pepper Fest colors.
Just like at a place he worked before, Green Mill, where the Canadian parents of a Twin Cities network anchor, from KARE 11, came in and they all celebrated.
— The Kozy crew was out in downtown Hudson, all decked out in bright colored T-shirts that included blaze orange, to celebrate what one of the shirts said was: “The first anniversary of the second annual Hillbilly festival.” Again, is there an inside joke that I’m not getting? What I do get is that the suit-and-tie shirts, with the tie painted on, might not suit everyone.
— You might find it advantageous to quiet down a little bit! Part of the whole idea of trivia is to guess answers before your opponents at the same bar, so don’t go loudly showing out the Buzztime answer and giving it away well ahead of time, like was happening at Buffalo Wild Wings the other night, before the remodel gave way on the many screens to B-Dub TV.
— Rarely since the ’80s have I seen a couple of guys, in the same room at a bar, with the same really tight, form-fitting T-shirt that shows off their big pecs and biceps. Might they be members of the Minnesota Vikings, such as a group of very prominent linemen, one whom had been voted all-pro, who showed up at Green Mill back in the days when their running game was primo? And you know, the parents of one of their cheerleaders were at The Mill recently, (OK, I know there are rules against fraternizing, but isn’t that type of thing why some athletes and others come to Wisconsin?)
— The other night at Dick’s, a guy with perfect blond and coffed hair said, prominently, that he was from Sweden. A bit later, my self-described “artistic” dancer friend added that, since there was no one around to dance for presently, that maybe the Swedish Bikini Team would happen by. Coincidence?
— On the Saturday night of RiverFest, the city was crawling with older folks, some of whom seemed to easily loose track of just where they were, and where the rest of their party was. One woman, however, was right on top of an important matter, adding that she had worked in a bar for 17 years and knew what to do to get served just like that. She must have been onto something, because right at that moment both our drinks came.
— A bigger-than-usual bus, with a trailer behind it, was part of the Sonshine Festival entourage that traipsed back through Hudson from Somerset. That bus was even bigger than the ones you’d seen from OzzFest in years past. There also were smaller trailer-trucks, but hey, not all of these guys are big league rock stars.
— With the prominence of other area festivals that weekend, the downtown scene picked up considerably right after midnight on the final fest day, although it varied by venue. A bartender at the Village Inn in North Hudson said that when he was working an earlier gig on The Hill, set-up workers would come-in all during the week before the extreme mudder fest and party until close, then go back at it the next day. They were not needed during the fest itself, but would show up for tear-down, and partying down, very late in the weekend. A whole bunch of wedding parties came into The Village earlier in the evening, and considering the fact that just up the road was a Christian music fest, maybe that is not surprising.