Must reference a bad new-business-story headline, inadvertently from back in the day, (with the name changed to protect the, well, somewhat innocent), Beatrice has been open since March. Must admire that kind of stamina. Hope her store has that much shelf life, as the ‘we’re open’ signs have been up everywhere, taking various formats by storm. Now that, going back …

Big business, and bigger banners for beer, burgers and brats — and maybe even brandy — beckon on the beat. And that beat, as per the previous headline, is one I had as an editor on duty at the good ol’ Hudson Star-Observer; the mistake was caught and fixed after a laugh, but what is happening to businesses trying to find ways to stay “open” these days is no laughing matter. And while businesses in Minnesota tended to run for cover, their counterparts in Wisconsin were far more creative in refusing to knuckle under and keeping the lights on. Here is a snapshot of their stories, and how they’ve been promoting themselves with the signs you’ve seen before even considering an entry, (with much more to come on this topic on this web site, as it continues to unfold):
When the virus was first at bat, there were a virtual gaggle of ways to get the message out that things would not be the same for a while for conducting commerce. And even now, the Agave Kitchen and Bullpen Cantina chipped in with more than cow chips for fodder, having their bull’s head propped up at the top of orange cones that were front and center at either end of their dedicated parking area on Second Street, and then bent around the corner for greater ease of takeout. Then the veritable heads of the bull on top of the cone, filling the hole on top, were Taken Down For A Time, possibly at the bequest of the Zoning Police, only to be Back Up In Black come August. Some of them right away — not just on the wall or on the curb, but even in the highway right-of-way — were signs saying “open” and were in big letters, capital letters, colored letters and even multicolored letters, and a range of sizes, shapes and wired-down paper versus cardboard, plastic placards with a pair of sides, or Light Up Everybody neon, to boot. Some off the wall said temporarily closed, some indefinitely and everywhere between. One village bar took the time to make a massive cleaning and another smack-dab downtown took it to another step of complete remodeling, a process lasting many days before there was any consideration of takeout or delivery. Indeed some places had a menu that did not match well with bringing it to you, and if there was little space near the front doors, because of a concrete partition or handicapped-only spaces, things got even dicier than pepper pieces on a pizza. The champ of such creative vagueness was a place that hawked their own brewed beer “on tap,” brought to you in anything than a frosty mug.
Soon there were as many as three parking spaces in a line that were closed for anything but takeout, and places found ways to keep up the taking of orders without coaxing people too far into their joint. Others posted small signs that asked people to wait to be seated — when only two or three steps inside the vestibule, but still being spacious enough to let them sit at a table there. And if people at that venue, Key’s Cafe, felt more comfortable with the meal being brought out and even carside, they would comply in much like the old A&W. (Again, no firm word on whether frosty mugs are a part of that picture).

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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