(For even more local “flavor,” including pizza, on awards shows — but you’ll need the same attention span scrolling down as was required to get to the end of the Oscars — see reports on other events such as St. Patrick’s Day, Super Tuesday and Leap Year, in the Notes From The Beat and Picks Of The Week departments).
Grammy’s have changed, but they’re not granny’s, more like precocious kids on the red carpet, as these items head a list of what’s happened locally in recent days:
— An area private investigator has another interesting gig going, she’s with the Grammy’s, with a “membership” being the term that’s used, out of the Chicago district. That means, most importantly, that she gets to do some of the voting on who gets what award. I first met her a few years ago at Dick’s Bar and Grill, when she gave me a few details, and coincidentally enough, I came across her business card again just hours before the Big Music Show was slated to start. She declined to comment at length when I called, saying that some of the ways the Grammy’s does their procedures has changed and she is not as much in the loop as formerly, and although still a member, they hesitate to publicize that status too much. Better to call a colleague of hers in L.A. or more locally, attend one of the seminars offered by Jimmy Jam. Would she be watching the show anyway? “Well of course.”
— Speaking of such shows, a local tavern patron said recently that a family he knows, with a Disney patriarch, had two daughters who were prominently featured strutting down the Oscar red carpet. Ah how fast they grow up.
— The PI is not the only one with another gig; one of which you’d want to be more involved with than the other. One of the workers at Dick’s serves in two very different ways: He pours drinks and as a side job, also serves court papers on people.
— The attendees were shoulder to shoulder when GB Leighton played the anniversary celebration at Pier 500 that found a huge tent completely packed. A friend, Jackie, said they arrived at about 9 p.m. Saturday and it just got busier through the 10 O’clock hour, and they later left and could only imagine how full the tent would have been by midnight. There were heaters everywhere on this very cold night, making it somewhat balmy inside, but some still said their feet got cold. Was Jackie surprised that such a big name was pulled in for such as event? “Hey, this is Pier’s tenth anniversary,” she countered. A lighted sign with letters about three feet high that swirled on the roof of the tent reinforced that stance.
— Attendance also was very good at the ’50s themed, Valentine’s Day party at the Village Inn in North Hudson, although it trickled off as the hour got later and the temps got colder. However, once karaoke was done, the nostalgic music continued on via the jukebox and was played well into the night.
— And once more on attendance, the servers at Buffalo Wild Wings say that combined with the Hot Air Affair traffic, and youth hockey tournaments in both Hudson and River Falls, they had a very busy Saturday recently, virtually from open to close, as people staying at surrounding motels became patrons.
— A brown metal statue downtown that shows a hunting dog wielding a shotgun reminds me of a similar looking animal in a North Hudson yard near Kozy Korner that seems to be waiting for someone to, with apologies to Aerosmith, get Back in the Saddle Again, even though that saddle is sagging low. The creature is not actually part of a tree stump, as said earlier, but part of a swing hanging from a tree limb with horse head, tether and bowed limbs. Wanna Go For a Ride after a night out?
— A nearby sign at Village Liquor in North Hudson continues, after several weeks, to say that Christmas gifts from there are never regifted. I don’t doubt that a bit, because if that bit of boughten holiday cheer has been hanging around that long, it in one way or another is sure to have been — to use a shopping term — consumed. Meanwhile, a flower shop in downtown River Falls still reminded men on Wednesday what’s best to get for Valentine’s Day , and although this belated gift suggestion might be better late then never … well not so much.
— With weather warming, a downtown patron in River Falls was seen walking on the main drag wearing only a muscle shirt, which showed off his tattoos. But like so many young people, he did have a hat on.