This is a good several-day stretch to watch the tube at your favorite haunt.
The next few evenings will feature once-a-year viewing opportunities that go beyond even the Wild’s playoff hockey, which may delay dance deejays from getting in the booth, and Brewers league-leading record. Such TV airings of local interest include the NFL draft and The Voice.
— Kat Perkins again was saved at the last moment on The Voice, and again won raves from the coaches and judges despite that. Adam Levine of Maroon 5 fame said she is one of the two top rock-out vocalists they’ve had on the show, and now will be carrying that torch. Kat pulled it off by belting out yet another old school Heart song, Barracuda. Her phone-in ratings over two other candidates for the save fluctuated from an impressive 38 percent and finished off in the lower 30s. And by the way, Kat, your old friend Tom says he wants to see a return to the big black boots and fishnet stockings as you close in on the finale, rather than being as local TV has dubbed you, the singing nanny from Edina. But be careful, he advises, since there were a couple of minor flubbed notes in Barracuda, but not a biggie. You can see for yourself this Monday and Tuesday at 7 p.m., as Kat tries to get past the top five, with the help of her new mentor from Maroon 5.
— Catch Rhino’s longtime guitar player while you can, in the likelihood that they soon play again locally or regionally. It was announced last weekend during a Hudson show that Dave and his trademark Aussie-look cowboy hat will be leaving the band after five more gigs, and he will only will be doing his signature songs on vocals how many more times? Uhm, that would also be five.
— The PA announcer for the Bar Olympics at Woody’s in Bayport was more vocally active then that at almost an other sporting event, chiming in with instructions for the numerous teams almost every minute. The bar, bowling lanes and parking lot was filled to the brim with competitors last Saturday. Watch for a similar event in Hudson or North Hudson sometime soon.
— Attendance at Cinco De Mayo two days later was more checkered. However, at Dick’s Bar and Grill, it was steady all night with hardly a break in the full house. So hoist a Corona, or other less cliche Mexican beer.
— Bartenders at Dick’s also said they expect somewhat the same type of attendance this weekend during many of the hours of continuing NFL draft coverage, although when it comes time for the Viking or Packer picks to be deliberated, lets just say you might have to wait a few more seconds for your drink. You may want to have more than one draft beer during the draft, as the event now goes on for more than just a couple of days. See coverage resume Friday at 7 p.m. and who knows, the Vikings may select yet another journeyman QB.
— You might have to wait a bit longer than a few seconds if wanting your fish picture taken, as the pike paparazzi might take a while to get down the stairs. Such was the case in my entry-level reporting job one Saturday in rural east-central Wisconsin — go figure — as I was preparing to go out for the evening after opening day. It was then that someone on the sauce showed up with supersize sauger and rang the doorbell to my upstairs apartment. Taking in the band would have to wait. (With apologies to REO Speedwagon, indeed, You can tune a piano, but you can’t tuna fish). However, if that lunker is large enough, you can be photographed with it, as part of a time-honored state tradition, especially since this tale originates in Clintonville, home of one of the biggest manufacturers of fire trucks anywhere — speedwagons or otherwise.
The bottom line after this digression: If you follow the flyers posted at Dick’s and decide to take part in the fishing tournament at Beanie’s Resort on Saturday morning at 7 — “People will leave here and head over toward Hudson” — make sure you stop at having your buddies photograph you with your trophy. If you refer to the flyer on the wall for further contest rules, and there are many, please don’t get funky with the fish on the dance floor.
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May 9th, 2014
May 3rd, 2014
Lots of holidays and sports, so why are we watching the Food Channel? By golly, it could be Benny!
— A chef who is a regular at Guv’s Place in Houlton, Benny, works across the river at Smalley’s BBQ and had some air time when the place was featured on a national cable network, The Food Channel, where the well-known host is that cooking guy named Guy. The restaurant is known for its creative and over-the-top use of spices and also its pirate motif. That fits in because some of the decorative pirates, who often find themselves posing for pictures with patrons, are missing legs and have a peg-leg, and Benny does a great job despite the absence of part of one arm. He recently celebrated his birthday, and has said of Smalley’s that they tapped the first keg ever, anywhere, of local Farmer’s Daughter brew, and that if you need your summer party informally catered, just talk to him and he’ll get you some of the best BBQ you can imagine.
— Going wild at a Minnesota Wild game? Bartender Whitney lost her voice after taking off of work and going to her first playoff hockey game ever, and says it was just as intense, on and off the ice, as she had been told by patrons on her shift the previous evening. She added on her next work night that she is addicted, in a good way, and immediately began eyeing season tickets.
— The St. Croix River bridge construction has been underway for some time on the Minnesota side, with the lay of the land shifting along with tons of dirt seemingly from day to day, and for some diehards making the trek between Woody’s in Bayport and the Stillwater haunts quite daunting. However, the work on the Wisconsin side that involves a four-plus-mile detour of Hwy. 35 didn’t begin until March 17, just in time for St. Patrick’s Day traffic, in case you where going to the highly decorated Guv’s.
— On that note, it would seem that an Irish lass would have a full dance card on St. Patrick’s Day, unless she is a bartender and has to work. So what’s up Jessie? Not so much, she said, just dinner with the folks. I told her I’d heard that if you’re really Irish and don’t really celebrate, a leprechaun will come and get you. Not always so, she replied, some of them can be really nice. But she added, you just might have to watch it.
— Recently at the Village Inn in North Hudson, the clock/sign temporarily malfunctioned and read that this drink is for you “if you were born on this date before 2093.” Think that’s just about everybody.
— On those Shake of the Day dice games, where you have to have so many of a kind to get a freebie, I think of another game, where you can get filthy rich by having all the NCAA tournament brackets correctly picked. If you get nine of nine dice to match, is it like the Quicken Loans offer where the winner gets a billion dollars?
— Maybe she’s just a little punchy. A woman recently gave one of the action downtown games, where patrons score points for the power of their boxing punch, the good old bob and weave treatment for the better part of a minute before actually swinging away. Later, at a different haunt while listening to some music, she did the same Muhammad Ali imitation, but this time it was her boyfriend jovially intercepting the punches with extended hands, not a punching bag. Reminds me of a band I saw just west of here, where the frontman did his version of the Ali Shuffle.
— Oh God, yes, I was finally roped into doing the Cuban Shuffle. I found I could handle the first couple of steps, but when it came to the next batch, I always seemed to have the wrong foot in motion, which meant I was shuffeling sideways in the wrong direction from the rest of the dancing horde. Talk about being out on a limb all by yourself!
— The beach party at Dick’s Bar and Grill was full, and so many people there were wearing flip-flops, despite the lingering cold, that you could state that scads were wearing sandals and digging their toes into the sand. So, it wasn’t brought in for nothing.
From the Katwatch: Elite eight was reached with a landslide performance
May 2nd, 2014When Kat Perkins made it to the top 10 for The Voice by singing the lyrics “ooh la la,” it was an obvious choice, said celebrities heading opposite teams, Adam Levine and Blake Shelton.
Then, when it came time to record a “save” and advance to the top eight on Tuesday night, Perkins did so by a landslide.
“If that won’t be good enough to let you win (the competition), I don’t know what will,” Shelton said of Perkins, who is from the Twin Cities and still has lots of fans in the Hudson area, where she used to perform.
Come crunch time, Perkins got a whopping 58 percent of the country’s phone-in vote to advance over two other singers. Such a last-chance “save” singer has never won the overall crown before, but Levine said it now is time. If you vote for her, he virtually guaranteed she will break the drought, move up by way of the back bracket, and win this season’s Voice contest.
Local fans noticed various nuances. It was a rival who early in the show did something more typical of Perkins and performed a Heart song. And the former nanny was back with piercings prominent, in the form of a nose ring, as she has switched around from performing with that kind of hairstyle and garb, to styles that are sexier such as short skirts.
As said by one of her contemporaries who plays Hudson, singer Amy M of the “Miniskirts and Mustaches tour,” Perkins is a small person with a big voice, originating from her big chest.
The Man in Black and the ‘Wicked’ have collective Cash value
May 2nd, 2014Two bands that are new to the Willow River Saloon in Burkhardt provide some entertainment value this that is truly original, making them an easy pick for this weekend.
The Church of Cash on Friday night features a vibe that’s true to being an accurate, down-to-the-detail Johnny Cash tribute band, complete with cover art of a frontman with hands folded in prayer. They go on to say they’re more than simply a “country” band.
Then on Saturday night, its Wicked Sensations, formed in mid-2012 and featuring members of venerable groups such as Austin Healy, The Pearl (which also is known for being the formerly Phat Pearl), Loose Cannon, Bad Jack and Jaded, “Just to name a few,” according to its web site.
Wicked Sensations is fronted in part by someone you might have seen before at the Willow, the gorgeous female singer from Loose Cannon. The band members have a grungy, hard-edged appeal to their look, even though they emphasize the presence of party rock in their set list. They say they provide songs about that “perfect kegger” of peoples’ youth and as advertised consist of: Dionne Yochim, lead vocals and party planner; Tom Holt, lead vocals, guitar and whiskey distiller; Gary Williamson, guitar and brewer; Matt Whaley, bass and bartender; and George Ford, drummer and yes, keg tapper.
The songs are both old and new, and these are the groups that are on their play list more than once: Lita Ford, Alice In Chains, Motley Crue, Gun’s ‘N’ Roses, AC/DC, Whitesnake, Scorpions, KISS, Journey, Maroon 5 and Collective Soul. Others noteworthy for being not-quite Top 40, Dokken, Jackyl, Warrant, Tesla, Finger Eleven, Dio and The Donnas. And, of course, there is the signature song of sorts, Wicked Sensation by Lynch Mob.
Church of Cash was formed, by former Minnesotan Jay Kalk who later moved back here, in Hawaii in 2010. They say they have an uncanny grasp of the Man in Black’s catalog and have spread his gospel with youthful spirit on three different continents, with baritone that “sings like a prairie breeze and stomps like a boot heel.”
Diverse offerings, no doubt, and worthy of them both being checked out on the same weekend.
April 26th, 2014
As far as (newly seasonal) things to do, there will be enough sand to be kicked in the faces of dozens of 90-pound weaklings — OK, there are no such wimpy people around the stellar Hudson nightlife scene — as Dick’s Bar and Grill pours its middle room dance area full of the grit for its annual beach party. Other places do this too, but this in the first one so far this season to celebrate the (eventual) coming of spring. That warm weather has made its initial appearance really late this year, so as far as dress choices you won’t have to worry about getting sand in your bikini.
The party is Saturday night, April 26, although the sand will be poured-in such as through the proverbial hourglass much earlier than the beginning of the dancing. The mountains of the stuff were scheduled to be moved in starting at 8 a.m., according to the flyers all over Dick’s.
The New Skinny kicks things off by performing with a 7 p.m. start, and there is a shift in the sands, with deejay dancing after that time, all the way until close.
Another band, this one new to the local scene but sure to be in the mix in the future at the Smilin’ Moose, was Junk ‘Em on Friday night, which as a highlight brought a young woman on stage to sing part of a pop-punk verse, only to have her tell the frontman that her name is Simply Awesome, a pronouncement that he said he didn’t dispute, but still said he had trouble believing. Incidentally, that frontman looked a lot like Kid Rock, (think the early years with the hat like worn on album covers).
The band was loud and could be heard well up the street, but not nearly far enough so to drown out an even louder performance, that by a midnight fire truck with sirens wailing as it went through the Locust Street intersection. It’s worth mentioning that on the street on the Moose opening weekend, in the lone parking stall in front of the bank, some people from the Twin Cities arrived driving a Bentley said to go for about $270K.
One more snippet to serve as a mini-music review, of a solo act that continues to recur locally, especially at Guv’s Place in Houlton, found that an unusually talkative Kyle Kohila was adding additional flourishes to a non-electric version of the guitar solo to Free Bird that was long enough to close out the evening. He also threw in some quick staccato, same-note picking at times.
One last note on the bartender Andrea wedding of the century from earlier in the month — OK she’s not that old — people are probably now sobered up from the experience, which featured overnight stays in nearby motels just to be safe. One of the patrons reportedly lost his shoes on the six-block walk to get to his room, and there’s no word yet as to whether he ever found them again. We can report that Andrea, who is always in demand for singing the National Anthem at pro sports events, did sing at her own wedding — she hooked up to do that with one-man-band guy Jeff Loven, before hooking up with her new husband a little while later. (A note on the sly, I actually had a dream a couple of nights earlier about the two of them checking into the motel at the front desk).
Singer ‘Kat’ purrs with Heart, and performing ‘Magic,’ to rock the Voice — minus lip ring
April 19th, 2014A Twin Cities singer who has often played venues in the Hudson area has advanced to the fourth and live round of The Voice, which is no surprise to her local fans.
OK, now Kat Perkins as an update has made it through the fifth round, too, covering Magic Man by Heart — a rock band led by Ann and Nancy Wilson that as a little known fact also got its start, in part, singing in Wisconsin watering holes decades back. There’s was the Howard Johnson’s lounge in Wausau, which was advertised in the local paper with postage-stamp-size ads sporting just their faces.
But not to digress, Perkins had changed her look, too, ditching the lip ring she’d sported in the earlier rounds.
One of her local fans, Thomas Bothun, said he would have liked to have seen more of the less is more in her new look — going back to her old trademark fishnet tights, short skirt and puss and kitty boots.
Bothun wasn’t surprised to see”Perkins cover a song by K.T. Tunstall to advance to the third round earlier in the month, since he had seen her perform this and at least one other tune by Tunstall a number of times with her band, Scarlet Haze. Over an almost ten-year period during which he’d seen her perform, that’s a lot of hits covered.
Bothun added he was a bit shagrinned to see that the Tunstall song selected included the lyrics “You’re Not The One For Me,” from “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree,” since in former days, Perkins had the habit of sometimes looking his way if she’d spot him in the crowd.
Perkins also had a habit of once in a while approaching someone like Bothun between sets and giving them a peck on the cheek.
That kind of interaction also made her popular with Bill Heffron, who attended concerts in Hudson for decades and later moved to New Richmond and is an active part of the local scene there. With the recent news, Heffron got a reminder from Bothun and others of late that he still owes them copies of an especially cool video of Perkins he shot (more on than later).
Bothun also said about that recent individual contest on The Voice, that it was noteworthy she triumphed while going up against a duet, not just a single vocalist like herself.
That upward movement was allowed, in part, because judge and coach Adam Levine, of Maroon 5 fame, seems to have a thing for Perkins, Bothun said. It was he who exercised his option earlier in the week to get her to advance, the last singer of the night to do so, by performing an improvised version of Journey’s Open Arms while wearing a sparkly black dress. Her sex-appeal was one of the things that initially gained her fame amongst Twin Cities and Hudson area audiences, and it was sometimes bolstered by singing in a catsuit that complimented her long dark locks, complete with tail, especially on or around holidays such as Halloween or New Years.
Perkins got as far as the third round on the strength of two Fleetwood Mac standards, the second contest of which also involved a duet. Both songs wowed the judges and they raved about her to the point of fighting over who would get to have her on their team. The first song covered, in live auditions, was by Stevie Nicks, Gold Dust Women, and Perkins’ long-held, wavering notes near the end served notice that The Voice had a frontrunner.
When the announcement of Perkins’ initial appearance on The Voice was making its way around downtown Hudson nightclubs in the weekend before the airing, patrons began digging up their old videos of her band playing local venues like Dibbo’s. Some even suggested trying to get them on You Tube.
One of those was Heffron, who walked into the front room of Dick’s Bar and Grill around 11 p.m. that Sunday and immediately began spreading the news to anyone whom he thought might be interested. Heffron said he was soon able to find a number of pieces of video footage he’d shot. One was taken of Heffron himself, as he and a friend dancing right in front of the Dibbo’s stage — with Perkins in the immediate background singing a number.
Chris Martin of Coldplay has been selected as a surprise celebrity coach and his musical style should be a good fit for Perkins, Bothun said. “She looked just giddy when she saw him (introduced).”
Perkins married her drummer in Scarlet Haze a few years ago, and took a few years off to work as a nanny in Edina, Minn., but the itch of the stage got her to come back, via a recent move to Los Angeles. Local followers had last seen her at a farewell Dibbo’s performance, but since then at times wondered aloud whatever had become of Scarlet Haze. But now “Kat,” as she is affectionately known, is back with more songs and even a few more tattoos — don’t tell Bothun’s mom that. She had said she was glad to see the lip ring go.
“I want to thank you for taking me to another level and believing in me,” she told Levine on stage. Another principal for the Voice, in laying the groundwork for things to come, said all the remaining contestants — and there are not many — all have different styles, but Kat is all rock ‘n roll.That even for a nanny, as Levine pointed out.
April 19th, 2014
From the Village to Volbeat at Guv’s Place, and all the letters in between for your weekend (maybe you’d better Rewind, or you’ll be stressed).
With high praise comes high stress, and it’s not too often that a band with those attributes, from so many writers, comes over this way. In stretching the local establishment’s format a little bit, the band High on Stress will play Willow River Saloon on Saturday, April 20. According to those in the know, from Minneapolis to New York City, “Stress” has a rootsy slant, cheeky at times, but always well-written, and drawing comparisons to what made Soul Asylum and the Replacements great, while at the same time escaping being pigeonholed into a particular genre. Whew!
With the band playing at the Village Inn in North Hudson on Saturday night being named Rewind, (think foregone technology), you kinda know what era of music you’re going to hear.
Then, on an ongoing basis on Sunday nights at the Green Mill starting at 8:30, there will be the return of bingo contests. The establishment made a foray into this type of atypical entertainment, for its format, a couple of years ago with trivia-meisters being some of the comely servers dressed in little black dresses. But for the following Sundays, an additional part of the draw will be $1 off Mich Golden Lights and also food specials.
Trandy Blue once again played Guv’s Place in Houlton on Friday night, and their special was 50 cents of “any bottle of beer with a blue label, yippee,” in honor of the band’s name.
And finally, it was as busy as ever when Uncle Chunk played the Smilin’ Moose, on Friday night. Their sound was now a little harder (think the new addition of a Volbeat song). That reminds me of an offhand comment by Brandon, who works at Dick’s Bar and Grill, that Volbeat had been popular for years in Europe before finally gaining a following here last year.
April 12th, 2014
As far as weekend events, its rain, rain, go away, there’s cycling to be done today, after the band had stopped its play.
— The annual Unfrost Your Nuts motorcycle rally should be able to do just that, easily. Rain is supposed to end by about 9 a.m. on Saturday, April 12, and from there it’s warm temperatures for the annual run that features cyclists gathering shortly before noon on the street outside the Mallalieu Inn in North Hudson — sometimes as many as 5,000. It’s free, but a new twist is the vendors in the inn’s parking lot.
— It what is becoming a weekly go-to event, the Friday night band at the brand new Smilin’ Moose was again hopping on April 11 as Bad Girlfriends took the stage. The nightclub that is owned by Twin Cities luminaries — think G.B. Leighton’s Pickle Park and the Wild Bill’s venues — was forged by gutting the former Sports Club and replacing it with a wood-hewn theme and loads of TVs and has been open for almost a month. Some of their acts have bucked the recent trend of soloists and duets and had bands with as many as six players. Next Friday it’s the pop-rock of the veritable Uncle Chunk, considered perhaps the best cover band coming out of the Cities. The Bad Girlfriends performance was noteworthy because of one trifecta and almost another, as they closed one set with a trio of songs from Journey, then opened the next with two straight AC/DC standards.
— Speaking of Bad Girlfriends, they had on sale pairs of lighted red devil horns for $5 — and one horn for $3! Can you truly wear one of those without the other? It reminds me of one guy dancing downtown a while back who had the only one Viking horn and wore it unicorn style, but on the side like it was coming out of his ear.
— And for an event that’s also different, something they specialize in at Dick’s Bar and Grill, there is Sunday afternoon’s doubles cribbage tournament — you can share the thrill of victory and agony of defeat with a partner! Just like those doubles darts tournaments they have at Dick’s on occasions like Valentine’s Day, but on those you better not lose, or you’re really in the doghouse.
April 4th, 2014
If you get right down to the root of the situation, no one should be singing the blues about the entertainment offerings this weekend.
— Just a jog down the expressway, everybody is getting into the act by hosting bands, and many of the venues are having such an offering as a once- or twice-a-year gig.
That’s because in River Falls, this weekend is the annual roots and bluegrass festival.
Here is the band schedule, and there are plenty of them playing from early morning to late at night:
On Friday, its Cousin Dad at Johnnie’s from 6:30-9:30 p.m.; Chris Silver Band at Junior’s from 8:30-9:15 p.m. then the Rambling Rooks at the same venue from 9:30-11 p.m.; and the May North at Shooter’s from 10 p.m.-2 a.m.
On Saturday, its the Rush River Ramblers at the South Fork Cafe from 8-11 a.m.; Barley Jacks with fiddle at Johnnie’s from 1:30-4:30 p.m.; Fish Heads bluegrass jam at Funktion Junktion from 3-5 p.m.; Jack Klatt and the Cat Swingers at the Mainstreeter from 3-6 p.m.; Roe Family Singers at Bo’s ‘N Mine from 3-6 p.m.; Platte Valley Boys at Lazy River from 6-9 p.m.; the Last ReveL at Juniors from 8:30-9:15 p.m. followed by Pert Near Sandstone there from 9:30-11 p.m.; Sans Souci Quartet at Shooter’s from 10 p.m.-2 a.m.; and Horse Shoes and Hand Grenades at Maverick’s Corner Saloon (formerly the Corner Bar) from 11 a.m.-2 p.m.
On Sunday, the lone act is the Cactus Blossoms at the West Wind from 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
There are also plenty of other open jams and demonstrations throughout the weekend.
— This is an event that hails from our childhoods, but will be lived out in what promises to be spectacular form by adults at Dick’s Bar and Grill on Sunday, April 6.
Actual racing in the Hot Wheels derby is sold out, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the fun by watching, starting at 1 p.m.
Dick’s has a large main room and when the tables are cleared is perfect to house all the people, and tracks, at such an event.
— The UW men’s basketball team has made the NCAA Final Four, and the second-seeded Badgers have got to be a favorite over No. 8 Kentucky. Saturday evening’s game will be shown, as always, at a variety of sports bars locally. Many of them have bands or deejays slated to start around 10 p.m. and expect the music will have to begin late, even if that part of the entertainment has already been pushed back a half-hour or so since game time is 7:49 p.m. Everyone from the Village Inn, to the Bullpen Cantina, Ellie’s, Dick’s and Kozy Korner expect that Saturday night, all night, will be crazily busy and they hope that this customer traffic can carry over until Monday’s final if Wisconsin wins in the semis.
— Longtime bartender and singer Andrea is getting married on Saturday, with the venue not being announced on this web site because so many of her countless patrons have said they’d like to be Wedding Crashers, if they find the where-with-all. Andrea is known for singing the National Anthem at pro sporting events throughout the Midwest, often being flown there free of charge to make the appearance, but there’s no word yet if she’ll sing at her own shindig.
Impromptu picking by Spanish man creates Ouds and Ahhs
April 3rd, 2014The reign of the player from Spain was definitely not plain.
When finding himself in Hudson on Sunday night, Amir-John Haddad of Spanish and German ancestry put on a show by playing his Oud, an instrument that drew comparsions to a lute and sitar.
He was joined on stage by veritable longtime bassist and singer Tom Davies, a friend who brought Haddad down to Dick’s Bar and Grill to see the Jeff Loven one-man-band. Loven played lead guitar to complete the unlikely trio of instruments, and they ripped through songs by Metallica (For Whom the Bell Tolls) and Aerosmith (Walk This Way), not to mention Dueling Banjos (without the banjo) and a couple of tunes from Carlos Santana (where the Oud was a much more probable fit). Loven is known for often bringing guest musicians on stage, usually those who are prominent in regional bands, and letting them steal the spotlight for a song or two. For Haddad it was more tunes then that, as he brought his fast, power-picking to the Metallica song, and it was often he who let loose a flurry of staccato notes, not Loven, who is known for just that.
That metal cover of a regular Sunday night song drew raves from even longtime concert-goers who have seen everything. “I know Jeff (is great), but this is the most fantastic thing I’ve ever seen,” said regular listener and occasional guest guitarist Dan McVeigh. He said that in the first collaboration of the trio’s series of songs that was a foreign style, it seemed the way the Oud was played, with its different scales and presentation of octaves, took a little getting used to by the other two guitarists.
Unlike those more conservative looking musicians, Haddad had flowing dark hair down his back, and truly looked like a rock star — and in addition to the long locks and olive skin tone, also had the short stature of the late heavy metal singer Ronnie James Dio. That’s the same kind of hair Loven had when playing with Davies locally and in the Twin Cities in The Kilowatts in the 1990s. Davies went on to other endeavors, such as playing backup for Motley Crue, McVeigh remembers. That newfound fan began greeting people who were coming in the door to hurry up, because they would not believe what they were about to see and the crowd kept on growing as word spread. Many of the patrons began videotaping so they would have a keepsake.
Haddad’s instrument had a clear, see-through body and its strings were arranged in a cone fashion as they tapered to the top, which flared off at a 45 degree angle. The Oud has no frets and its strings produce a plucky sound, since they are made of nylon, McVeigh said.
Haddad, who often plays with a full band and was in the area because of a pair of Minneapolis appearances, followed by a trip to Costa Rico, plays flamenco, oriental, fusion, rock, funk, metal and world music, according to his web site, which also shows him in various poses that could be right off of a metal CD jacket. It added that there are two types of Ouds, Turkish and Arabic, the latter is the most prevalent and features five doubles strings and bass.