Bring a dish to pass, just don’t dish out any mishaps:
— A number of local sports bars spent the biggest Packer games of the season, or playoffs, by doing things such as hosting pot luck lunches where everyone brought a dish to pass, which was often supplemented by other football-friendly, free food offerings. These have historically included a lets-all-get-along celebration of the twice-annual Viking-Packer contest at the Mallalieu Inn in North Hudson, and homemade Italian fare or hot dogs at Mudds and Sudds, also in the village. However, with no Green Bay in the Super Bowl, the rule of thumb that’s not quite universal is to play this Sunday low-key as far as food — nothing out of the ordinary. As a worker at Sidetrack Saloon in Roberts termed it, a Packer presence would have increased customer traffic several-fold, so much so that they would have gone beyond shared appetizers and brought in a catered meal.
— The Viking guy who hangs out at Guv’s Place in Houlton says that he only gets out his horned Purple Puppet on rare occasions, when he really needs a lift. I wonder what the puppet status is these days.
— As ESPN would say, there is breaking news about Deflategate, concerning the idea that Patriot footballs aren’t the only things that aren’t too pumped up. There is the revelation that Tom Brady has small hands, first reported by his supermodel wife. She should know. (Just kidding).
— Word has it that in recent times out and about, one person fell one story off a bar deck and another one yard off a bar rail, and both got banged up a bit. This brings to mind one time when surprisingly, no one was hurt when a guy who was dancing downtown to a rock band swung his partner over his head — and dropped her! So a word to the wise, have your fun but be careful out there.
— Someone who was less careful while out in the crowd during a Twin Cities gig actually ended up dead. This is reported by a local singer who was onstage fronting his band at the time, and still sounds shook up, since there apparently was some mischief going on. This is surprising, since these low-key guys — in style of music and in character — aren’t exactly mosh pit material, but it still put a chill on them getting gigs for a while.
— Even though this is the depth of winter, there still have been some well-attended events. The Kozy Korner outdoor bean bag tournament drew 36 people, and the registration for bar olympics held at this and other establishments sold out a week in advance. And to think it was less then two months ago that the Smilin’ Moose on a more balmy day had one of its patio doors open a foot to let in the fresh, but not too frosty air.
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Bring football-friendly food on Game Day? Maybe. New England clam chowder?
February 1st, 2015February 1st, 2015
Sunday’s Super Bowl could have been so much more interesting for local fans, if it wasn’t for the Packers fumbling an onside kick. But even though Green Bay is not in the Big Game, there are ways to live it up. You just have to look a little harder to find the right “option,” like a quarterback deciding whether to pitch the ball.
— If you are a Viking Bar, you didn’t even get as far as your Packer counterparts. So Woody’s in Bayport, on the Minnesota side, early-on got used to the idea that they’d have no team to watch come championship time. So, they decided to just go bowling. It’s the annual Super Bowling Tournament with warmup (even if it’s freezing outside) and draw for pairs at 1:30 p.m. And yes, you are invited to stay for the game afterwards. All skill levels are welcome (much like the NFL) and pairs are based on one high and one low average. Fee is $15 per bowler and includes many food and drink specials. You can signup with the bartender.
— For even better potential results, the Willow River Saloon in Burkhardt is giving away an eight-day trip to a pair of Mexican resorts to a pair of people, for those who stay for the entire game, a sweet incentive even though there are no Packers playing. The prize includes the trip for two with time split equally between Puerto Vallarto and Cancun, with most of the air fare and all other expenses included in the package. Contestants must arrive prior to kickoff and get a card that is punched again when buying the special of five beers for $10. The drawing will be held at the end of the game. My friend Kendra, who has bartended part-time at various places and also has a day job, helped the owner plan some of the business end of the offering, and pointed out that at the Packer games during the season, there were weekly giveaways of trips to Vegas, complete with some major change for spending at casinos.
— At the Village Inn in North Hudson, there will be a free appetizer bar one hour prior to kickoff, with prize giveaways at halftime. A last option worth noting might be the mother of them all, where at Ellie’s on Main a one-time $50 fee will get you all you can eat or drink (with the exclusion of top-shelf liquor). ‘Nuf said.
January 23rd, 2015
Don’t fiddle around with namby pamby heated bean bags to toss this weekend.
— There are two ways, both good, to look at the cold-weather bean bag tournament outside “Kozy” Korner in North Hudson on Saturday, Jan. 24 — featuring a 1 p.m. start that might be the warmest part of a day that’s likely to be balmy by recent standards. The other perspective is that we are Wisconsinites, and our ability to accurately toss with cold fingers a bean bag that I guarantee will be fully inflated is not hampered by frigid temps, even though Kozy has noted that this is an outdoor event, “so dress accordingly.” That precision is important because the top-five two-person teams get cash prizes, with the winner guaranteed something else, a $200 windfall even if there are gusts. And the entry fee for this chance is only $20 per person. Officially, the event is named the second annual SCV Rotaract “Frosty Bags” tourney. It adds free beer and importantly, heaters for participants.
— You can’t keep a good fiddle down, especially when its twice. For the second time in recent months, a fiddle-based act, named aptly Fiddlin’ John, will show his wares at the Willow River Saloon in Burkhardt, this time on Friday night, Jan. 23. Last fall there was an act much like this, named simply The Fiddler, who also graced the stage at the Willow, being made up of some members of a group that plays there as a whole periodically, although longtime band watchers say this is much more than a one-instrument endeavor.
— The TV screens at Buffalo Wild Wings that announce their beer of the month for January list it as Guinness, and add a historic footnote — the proprietor years ago signed a 9,000 year lease for his brewery site. That’s interesting, because by my estimate, that gives you about 9,000 more minutes left this month to enjoy the Irish brew at a discount. This also brings to mind other things at B Dubs, like the fact that seconds before the airing of that promo I’d jokingly told the bartender that I wanted not my usual Miller Lite, but actually a Guinness Lite, which of course does not actually exist. Then popping up on the screens were the trivia player of the same month, named Bobcat, who I must say looked like a trivia nerd with his turquoise shirt and orange tie. And lastly, the screens then showed the other top recent players, some of whom listed their abbreviated home site as Buffalo WI, and brought to mind that orginally I’d thought this “WI” referred to a place in western Wisconsin, not “Wild” Wings. See, you order Guinness and (eventually) you learn.
If you’re going shirtless in this weather to party, at least put on a Packer playoff jersey
January 18th, 2015It doesn’t take a Lambeau Leap to see that the main topics this time around are the cold (still) and Packer football (now that its fully back in gear), as well as the bar signs that tell about these and other things. (And, if you’re reading this post after the Packers’ debacle on Sunday, take note of the sarcastic sign on the Agave Kitchen marquee that quotes Aaron Rodgers and says simply “Relax.” Then, in what’s becoming a trend, that message was reiterated on the marquee of Season’s Tavern a day later, when it read “Relaxed too much.”)
— Even in the coldest of the weather we’ve had, people have been out at night in shirtsleeves — or less. The worst-case scenario was seen when two young dudes were shirtless and in sweat pants at bar time, and when a man had some major bling going on, but again no shirt, while sitting in a small sports car. Since he had to take a ride back to Minnesota, I hope he rectified that clothing glitch. There also was a sweatshirt that someone had taken off and plopped in a snowbank, and it was still there the next night, this time draped over a “sidewalk closed” placard near the patio construction at the Smilin’ Moose. Down the block on a parking meter, there was a similar positioning of a big chunk of carpet; what’s up with that? I think the meter was the same one that was literally late-night hurdled by a very tall blonde earlier in the construction, or should I say football, season.
— With temperatures as they have been, you knew you would see this miscue eventually — a bank sign that said, “-0 degrees.” Math majors they are not, as you don’t really need the “minus” part. And certainly not Saved By Zero. That’s also because I don’t think they have to worry about these things in relatively warm and rainy Seattle, the Packers Sunday afternoon NFC Championship opponent.
— The other night at Dick’s Bar and Grill, there was a man nattily clad in an ill-fitting stocking cap, so much so that when you factor in his facial appearance, he looked just like Bill Belichick, the New England coach whom the Packers just might end up facing this postseason. As a counterpoint, when I was in there after that, the many TV screens showed his quarterback Tom Brady also wearing such a hat, (just looking much better in it, maybe taking tips from his supermodel wife). Truth be told, there has been a man in Dick’s many times who greatly resembles Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers, (who does not look nearly as good in State Farm commercials). As a last note on the subject, did anyone see yet another QB, Jay Cutler, while viewing him at a sports bar, sitting on the bench for a powwow with the Chicago Bears other critical thinkers, and holding a pen that because of the camera angle looked like a cigarette hanging out of his mouth?
— Now that the season has (mercifully) come to an end, a post mortem would be to revisit the incident where a Viking lineman was one of nine people shot near a bar in downtown Minneapolis. This raises a good question (and maybe answers it, too): Why do so many people from the metro forsake the Warehouse District entirely and come to downtown Hudson to party?
What follows is some sage wisdom from some people who do just that. Hudson is less pretentious (most would say) and often more friendly, not to mention safer, drinks are much cheaper, bars are closer together, people who include celebrities can party while under the radar, and of course, we are the first place over the border in a new state where some of the laws are different.
— The deejay at Dick’s yelled to dancers for an applause shoutout, individually, for both the Packers and the Vikings, and the reply actually seemed to favor The Other Side. That’s like because a party bus had just pulled in From Foreign Soil.
— A friend from Hudson I’ve known since back when the Vikings sometimes had winning records is also their official tailgate deejay for home games, and said that during the Packer postseason he will be “downtown” at local sports bars in his Viking gear to rub that fact in, or at least to remember when it was the case.
— A man at Dick’s mentioned that the bar at which he works had two deejays for New Year’s. I asked him where that bar is. He replied River Falls, adding that they have specially customized beer pong tables. “Do they have the logo on them?” He replied again, “the whole nine yards.”
— The latest marquee signs of interest in North Hudson are led by one outside Kozy Korner that read as such, but you had to read both sides to get the gist: On one side was, “Why did the hipster burn his lip?” Then on the other side: “He ate the pizza before it was cool.” Just a block down was this from Village Liquor, with apologies to ZZ Top: “5% off. Wear a pearl necklace.” And then at Agave Kitchen, there was an accurate prediction of a Packer win that read across the bottom as a hashtag “ISEETHINGS.” It was followed the next day by “Nomo Romo.” That same message appeared a bit later outside the Village Inn in North Hudson. (Apparently imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, especially if you’ve been tipping a couple).
January 15th, 2015
A Brit may be coming to run a block, and maybe he also will take in some local music:
— To prepare for the annual One Block Fun Run to benefit United Cerebral Palsy, there are many Dick’s Bar and Grill
patrons among the well over 100 who have signed pledge placards, where only an obscure or quirky nickname is provided, but
perhaps THE most unusual is the one who goes only as “The.” Next would have to be a signature from one of the many people
from Great Britain who happen in while in the area, “Benedict Cummerbatch from England.” You’ve got to wonder if he will be
“coming” back to the States to participate, when it only entails running 100 yards. The event is slated for Saturday, Jan.
17, with registration at 10 a.m. and the run itself at noon. The entry fee is $20 for adults, but you get a lot: A free
beverage, lunch ticket, raffle ticket, Taco John’s coupon and UCP raffle ticket. For kids its $10 and includes a T-shirt
and lunch.
— The Smilin’ Moose will have Flashmob on stage on Friday, Jan. 16, and the last time they played there, earlier last
year, the band offered a show that lived up to its name — both from the action on the dance floor, and from the two
syllables of their name taken separately. In other Moose news, when Rock Godz played there the previous weekend, they
featured a bassist who jumped off stage and did a somersault on the dance floor while not missing a beat, almost exactly
like I saw Ozzy’s lead guitarist do in concert in the mid-80s. And the lead singer sported a baseball cap that when he
turned to face the drummer, had a skull and crossbones where the strap normally is; in fact, all the band members wore
something on their heads. Lastly, when Tim Sigler’s country was the musical act, a worker said the reason the cover was
high on a night where they still were packed is that he’s possibly their No. 1 performer.
— When I took in the male and female duo Wade and Ella as they moved up the road from their native Hudson and did their
once-a-month, early-in-the-month act at Guv’s Place in Houlton, they boasted almost constant harmonizing on songs where you
usually wouldn’t hear it. They might need to be conserving their energy, as area venues they have been penned-in-for during
recent times — and they have been busy — include Maverick’s Corner Saloon in River Falls, the Boardman Bypass, Champs Sports
Bar in New Richmond and the Sail Away Cafe in Afton.
January 8th, 2015
Laughing all the way to go play cribbage and drink root beer whiskey, if the hypnotist prompts you to do so.
— The best things in life are free, but they can be downright hilarious when there’s no cover charge for a hypnotist/comedian. That is the case when Rick Turner puts on his show at the Village Inn in North Hudson on Friday, starting at 8:30 p.m. I asked bartender Sue, “Are you harder to hypnotize if you’ve been drinking?” Her response, “It’s probably easier.” Guess we’ll find out.
— Some things apparently are better done with two people than one. That’s the case with the cribbage tournament this Saturday, Jan. 10 at Dick’s Bar and Grill, as it has a doubles format that had attracted 17 duos — that’s 34 people — as of Tuesday night. There is a $10 entry fee, a cash prize for first, one free drink for all players and other perks such as gift cards for players. You can signup with your bartender for play that starts at 1 p.m.
— You can now buy Uncle Bob’s root beer flavored whiskey at Dick’s, and the flyer promoting it asks “have you seen Uncle Bob?” (Is he one of those funny uncles?) Right above his printed name is shown a fancy, handlebar mustache. Yeah, I think that guy has been around. His brew can even be made into a root beer float but adding horchata liqueur.
— A duo named the MTVs played the Smilin’ Moose lodge late in December, and their song selection was something that the music network could learn something from, as it went beyond the tried and true. They opened a set by playing Johnny Cash, followed by Twin Cities favorites Local H, then followed by Cake.
Starting ten years ago, concerts had The Knack to rock the river
January 7th, 2015The sign at Casanova Historic Liquors says, “Let’s never speak of 2014 again.”
Well, maybe this one time, because that makes it ten years since the first occurrence of one of the most significant concert series in Hudson history.
The other day I was rummaging through my collection of T-shirts — you get a lot of them when you are the newspaper photographer at a lot of charity events — when I came across this old gem: River Rock 2004, to benefit Kevin Smith. He is the longtime owner of the Sports Club steakhouse and bar, which has since become the Smilin’ Moose lodge, and had suffered a stroke and could no longer work. The series of summer rock shows became an annual event for a few years running, and would later aid the fight against Cystic Fibrosis, specifically the family of Tracy Frye and her daughter Nicole.
The concerts were sponsored by the late Jeff Johnson, a local musician who had hits that played on MTV and that made the top 20 adult contemporary charts, and later became a stage manager for some of his contemporaries. Through these touring affiliations, he was able to bring acts such as The Knack, The Smithereens, The Romantics, and most notably his friend Tommy Tutone, to play at the Lakefront Park bandshell. He was also in the process of having The Fixx appear, but that was cut short by some legal problems.
But along the way, there were plenty of interesting happenings.
— Johnson’s friend, Tutone, whose “Jenny” song went viral before going viral was all in vogue, had ailing parents in the Twin Cities and wanted to move to Hudson to be closer to them. Johnson aided his search, while at the same time founding the Twisted Grille, which later became the Agave Kitchen. I remember several things from those days, including one night around 2 a.m. when Johnson was closing down the place as I interviewed him for an entertainment story, and Tutone called and my interview was cut short. The two buds spent ten minutes in the wee hours talking about a property that appeared promising. In those days, there was a night or two a week when Twisted offered a musician’s open stage, and I vaguely recall doing a duet with Tutone. He became known to show up late at places like the former Dibbo’s, guitar slung to his back, and have the rock act of young guns on for the night gladly cede the stage to “Mr. Tutone.” I wrote all about these things back in the day, and even got a friend of mine named Jenny to pose for a photo with a shirt patterned after that song — which she owned from before the time Tutone became a Hudson fixture — and it became an occasional topic of conversation between us for a couple of years.
— A performance by the Smithereens was cut short by heavy rain, but word got to Dibbo’s manager Chuck McGee, and he agreed to have they and their crew carry their equipment quickly through the downpour for two blocks and do an entire performance on the Dibbo’s stage. With apologies to the heavy metal band Slayer, was that wet summer trek Seasons in the Abyss? The band that night, although not Slayer, again ceded the stage, this time for a couple of hours. An aside is that some of the regional papers for which I write did not consider this worthy of a news article, citing budget constraints, so you heard it hear first.
— It became clear that The Knack, and other of the acts too, had much more musicianship than just the hit song My Sharona. A highlight was whipping through a tune by the Doors without missing a beat. Just wish the lead singer of The Knack would have ventured out of his trailer prior to hitting the bandshell, for a scheduled meet and greet.
— A lowlight was a Hudson City Council member, who lives a few blocks away, throwing his weight around during one of the concerts and calling the police with orders to shut the show down because of alleged noise. (Having parked near Second Street, I can attest that the volume wasn’t any greater than at many other such concerts). That and the fact that the clock had not reached the time on the permit that was given.
— All this became possible when Johnson followed up his success with a couple of songs on MTV during the 1980s, and scored a national hit with his new outfit Super Cell. The CD release party was at the Fine Line Cafe in Minneapolis, and I took photos, one of which ended up in the in-flight magazine of Northwest Airlines. I also remember an interview with Johnson, who considered himself a barroom brawler type, in downtown Hudson, during which I had my arm “twisted” and questions were asked over a drink at every bar along the way to his studio just east of what’s now the local library and police station.
— But a lot of good came from those concerts, especially for charity. Nicole’s situation took a more pronounced course a few years after River Rock, when the local woman, who has the Cystic Fibrosis disorder that often becomes worse with age, became pregnant. That’s a circumstance that can be very difficult for people with CF, although that aspect of what hampers its victims hasn’t gotten a lot of press. Because of things such as potential difficulty with the birth process and lack-of-mobility issues when the child arrives, houses must be specially equipped, which can be expensive, and rules for what little aid does exist regulate questions such as remodeling vs. adding on, the family says. Nicole has lived for a quite a while with her mother, Tracey, who does day care that makes housing issues such as space for people even more difficult. And the fact that CF often requires medical treatment that is costly, even with things such as repairing teeth, means that obtaining another residence really isn’t an option. Officials at a foundation that deals with CF have not returned calls to contribute to stories on the plight of mothers who have the disorder, apparently not wanting to make them appear unlike other people who have children. If you wish to help, call the Fryes at (715) 381-5965.
January 2nd, 2015
What happened on New Year’s? Who wore what? And who got married? Read all about it under “Notes from the beat” and “Picks of the week.”
New Year’s: Tie one on or tie the knot, just don’t lose your lens
January 2nd, 2015This was a New Year’s to remember for many people who braved the cold to come out, although more bundled up than usual, but none more than a bartender at Woody’s in Bayport, Mary who got married.
The next day, when one of her co-workers was asked if she had to be on duty the previous night, the response was that she took off for this special occasion. For their part, Mary and her new husband hit the town for a while after the ceremonies were done, then early the next morning got up and ran a 5K race!
Holding a wedding ceremony on New Year’s Eve is not unprecedented; another couple did so as they rang in the new year as the millennium turned more than a decade ago. They took their vows in the back room of the cafe of the former Dibbo’s, then Jerralyn and her hubby had their wedding dance to the music of that night’s rock band. Someone who remembers that far back, my friend Bill, said that he heard a theme all through New Year’s 2015, that they missed the Dibbo’s all-night band and wished that somewhere, anywhere in downtown Hudson there was live music on this night. (There was a group playing at Willow River Saloon, but technically, that’s in Burkhardt).
The dance floor at the Smilin’ Moose was so packed that you wouldn’t want to lose a contact lens, as was one man’s fate. So many people were dancing that he quickly took his search way to the other end of the tavern.
There was one tall guy on the dance floor who literally stood a head higher than anyone around him. (He didn’t need the heeled cowboy boots). At Dick’s Bar and Grill, there was a man just as tall, in a three-piece suit, who looked like a cross between Brendan Frasier and Keanu Reeves. Nearby was another dude in a suit, but with just a brown vest and without any sports coat or tie, although he did have white tennis shoes. So, he looked like David Lee Roth in an old video.
Concerning this type of footwear, one woman wore a little black dress, complete with red canvas tennis shoes. My friend Lana also wore something like that, but on the other end of her body, scores of long, knotted cloth dreadlocks flowed out from under her scarf.
One of the group of women sporting tiaras early at Dick’s was also wearing a Batman shirt with the bat logo. Superhero princess? And would Superman wear a tiara, being a guy, like one of the male patrons did there?
Another piece of persistent headgear was the tiny party top hat. One bald guy had his stuck on about three inches above his ear, with the cord running diagonally down the middle of his head. Another man, with a bit more hair, had his hat worn in exactly the same place.
Breakfast was served at the Kozy Korner in North Hudson starting at 1 a.m. It wasn’t long after that, when the big crowd at the Cajun Club began filing out. There were lots of people, but staff members said the guys were staying belly up to the bar, not the stage area, and they weren’t spending much money or tipping dancers that well — a benchmark for how long the place would stay open that night. They must have spent all their dough earlier, by taking their wives out for an expensive night on the town. (Oops, did I let the cat out of the bag on that?)
A lot of people couldn’t catch up on their sleep for long, as come 11 a.m. the next day, there were college football bowl games. People had to choose between watching the Gophers and Badgers, as the games ran almost simultaneously. At Woody’s in Bayport, virtually all the screens were on the Minnesota team, with only one on Wisconsin. Late in the games, with both teams down by about a field goal, both sets of TVs announced there was only 24 seconds left — in the fourth quarter for the Badgers and the third for the Gophers.
Meanwhile, at Buffalo Wild Wings, a sign had been posted saying to come watch the Minnesota team. (Don’t they know we’re in the Badger State, although that was aired too?) But here’s a clue why: The Gophers were competing in what was officially called the Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl.
December 30th, 2014
It’s soon to be a new year. That means new ways to party. And we’re not blowing smoke.
— They’ll be Smokin’ on New Year’s Rockin’ Eve at the Willow River Saloon in Burkhardt, when Smokin’ Whiskey plays their “prime cuts” from ’70s bands that members of the quintet say they love.
Their song list is heavy with deep tracks from some bands that when combined with their popular standards are on the list eight or nine times. Other examples are Don’t Believe a Word being among five Thin Lizzy tunes, and The Ocean set in the midst of three from Led Zeppelin. The Jimi Hendrix pick is Little Wing and there even are a trio from Robin Trower.
They say their mission statement, which steers far from the usual corporate version, is “to rock your socks off … and whatever else comes with it.”
— Two postings on the Agave sign give the long and the short of it involving New Year’s Eve hours in downtown Hudson. One a few days before said: “Open all night NYE, Dick’s, Ellie’s, Moose, Agave.” It was followed by this somewhat cheesy one: “Holy cow. Moose to have 6 DJs. We only have Kevin.”
— Speaking of the Smilin’ Moose, various staff members were on hand after midnight early Wednesday, blowing up hundreds of balloons in back by the area that bands play. They actually did it the old fashioned way, using their lungs rather than a machine. “That’s why there are so many people here,” said bartender Carla.
— The moose will not be the only hoofed animal with fun afoot. At Season’s Tavern in North Hudson, the longtime band Thirsty Camel, a trio led by drummer and owner Brad, will make another encore appearance before the ball drops. They have been playing around the area for literally decades, and have hit some of the real hot spots in the metro area with their brand of vintage rock. For the early part of the evening, starting at 9 p.m., the band will be situated upstairs to entertain diners with somewhat lighter tunes, (There also will be an arrangement of candles for ambiance, courtesy of Brad’s wife, that will fit in well with some of the band’s favorite songs, including those by the likes of Pink Floyd).
— Various places are going retro and dropping things such as balloons at midnight, and Pudge’s at that time will again even have a ball drop outside on their patio, running fully down the side of their building. And that’s also the time when, at Guv’s Place in Houlton, there will be sign-up for a dart tournament that will start at 1 a.m. and go into the wee hours. Even all the way through those early hours, there will be appetizers from the new menu at Ellie’s on Main, for those who need some sustenance. And for those in need of a ride, no matter how late, the Village Inn in North Hudson has made available a specialized ride service offered for tips, and also planned is using an 11-person motor home belonging to owner Leigh Halvorsen for that purpose.