Hudson Wisconsin Nightlife

Space walk. A Planet Caravan, literally, to go on a fall stroll spanning three sidewalks. Plus other fact giveaways and fests too many to number, with music too, and at least one on The Sabbath, though not black like that in the above title song. More white like the oblique and obscure, in-orbit Cream reference, strolling along through the middle of the first sentence. (Test your knowledge of trivia, musical too, as this Planet Walk journey unfolds, and you might see Street Light People.)

September 18th, 2024

This is the salt of the earth, and the sunshine of our more-than-global love, all laid out on a sidewalk to give the planets a solar system spin. Or sidewalks. Beginning outside the Hudson Public Library is a nine or ten orb if you’re counting, walk that goes a ways, starting with the sun and then progressing onward, complete with many planetary quips each, if you weave down enough sides of streets. But this is bigger than Texas, so no Pantera and “Walk” … only reverberating puns about Plant Caravan by Ozzy and friends in Black Sabbath. Although they have musically covered each other.

Anyway, welcome to the Planet Walk. An educational space-based odyssey that shrinks the almost-million-mile-across sun and the solar system it gave birth to — interesting fact — down to a half-mile. (And the sun, if you’re keeping score while deep Space Truckin, clocks in at eight inches rather than minutes in this replica. Although it might take you that long to complete the walk.)

— On the figure of eights, also in inches, Linus and I offer this endeavor. County Market has their clerks putting out dozens of what they call The Great Pumpkins, known because they all are more than that figure in diameter, maybe even by a measure of two-fold and are placed not in a row, though there’s that too along a fence between the entranceway and the store parking lot, but in a big bin. And at the shrub area of Associated Bank a couple of blocks away are three small spook-like signs on sticks that evoke the harvest and do not skip all the way ahead to Halloween. —

Interestingly, walking this way, the “earth” is not positioned next to the main flight of stairs leading up to the library, rather in turns Venus mostly, and Mars are thus there, and they are all right, thank you to The Beatles. And after Mars, as an asteroid belt of sorts, there is a waist-high so to speak gap in the chain of planets heading westward … until you get to the next sidewalk going south like the Southern Cross. But no Northern Lights. So it’s about a hundred yards up the next street that you again pick up the pace of your walk, with Jupiter and Saturn. And then again the rest, as you Head East. (We tend to think that Pluto is at the other end of the county.)

This season also brings yet more fall fests, like the themed one in the late-Saturday-in-September event in the town of St. Joseph where you can meet the firefighters of honor — then dunk them in a tank made for that reason. (Check their web site). There also will be such things as at the one on Sept. 28, the fall festival of St. Francis offering food and fun and friends, when you log it into your mileage book to Lakeland. Things start with a blessing of pets (no deer until after Thanksgiving and the annual hunt, thank you) at 1 p.m. as they frolic to the Assisi parish, then a bunch of other stuff to do with the kiddies, Mass at 4 p.m., a dinner that includes beer and wine for most attendees, as the tickets are $15 for adults and older children, and $8 for those 12 and under. Hey, not the bread, that wine isn’t as free as weenies on buns, though this being a church, they have a full stock. Then a bonfire to toast those weenies, while you listen to music.

It also is the time of year for … Halloween decor, sprouting up at a store near you. And maybe a yard next door? Better be a big one, speaking of the size of the monster and the monstrously big section of shelves where you found it. As at Fleet Farm, where just a few words into their small main ad-subhead, they hawk “inflatables,” you now already see them everywhere, like Frankie after quaffing a stein. But the one taller than a basketball hoop, also bent over at odd angles, that you tend to see around is of a giant skeleton! With no globs of flesh dangling!

Speaking of meat, Fleet Farm is also offering $20 off on a Biaggia Pizza snac … Plus, shop deals of other small kitch … And that’s where the adhead ends on my device, prematurely as it’s for bigger than that kitchen gear, not the free typically small- to medium-size food outlay for your NFL Sunday ticket party, if you are a fan favorite enough to have dozens of guests.

At Kwik Trip, online version, they are advertising a winner-take-all contest where you could get a pair of primo Packer-Viking football tickets in the fan zone, for you and your significant other who may be of the other persuasion, in what’s termed a suite cabin seat deal. But you gotta wait to redeem until Dec. 29. And even then there are only “standard” hotel accommodations. But there is a free $100 gift card, to their place only.

Or just go to that Smilin’ beast of a downtown Hudson venue that’s hawking as their MVP (munch various pickles) smash burger “Moose sauce” along with, of course, chopped pickles. Lord, or at least the football gods, knows you can’t have one without the other.

Posted in Killer Metal Lyrics | Edit Comments Off on Space walk. A Planet Caravan, literally, to go on a fall stroll spanning three sidewalks. Plus other fact giveaways and fests too many to number, with music too, and at least one on The Sabbath, though not black like that in the above title song. More white like the oblique and obscure, in-orbit Cream reference, strolling along through the middle of the first sentence. (Test your knowledge of trivia, musical too, as this Planet Walk journey unfolds, and you might see Street Light People.)

Grab your blankie and bowl of popcorn, and party food, and a beer for you and your vice and set it on your TV, not polo, cabinet. The Great Debate, (or it ain’t), Second City version, between The Great White Ape and the Great Black Woman Hope is hence. After 90 minutes, will anyone be left standing? And the moderator still be moderate? (Some updates were added to this post as it played out.)

September 10th, 2024

There will be many millions tuning in to watch not the Super Bowl, as this is not as superb, but it is Must See TV as The Donald — does anyone still call him that? — goes toe to toe with in some cases better style, Kamala Harris to see who runs this country and can make it great again (is that phrase a trademark?) Not that it matters, and just ask Jack White and Seven Nation Army, though there will be no one present in the audience. Unlike you getting upset and quaffing your cheap beer, the third one now, too fast at the sports bar.

So get ready to first settle in with some popcorn in front of your sofa, if it has not be repossessed, and then at some point throw it at the television screen. Bereft of the ref.

— On a lighter note. The mongo marquee at Agave Kitchen, celebrating their birthday soon and others with their accompanying jokes, via my family, may be coming, says thus: 343. Today for a few past days. 630.

Is there some major event I’m missing? 420 or such again? (Would HudsonWiNightlife do that? Or own up to it? I think I just did.) But note the first three digits sum up to a perfect 10. And the last three digits only a nine.

Also, this is the time of the season for fall fests, and leading the way only in this month are churches. To wit: a Catholic church in Stillwater is putting out the word and the plate for not one, but two fall festivals, a week or two apart. Hey, there are two such churches in the city, St. Mary’s and St. Michael’s two blocks apart near the downtown, so maybe that makes sense. Too, refer to their website(s) for more info, since right now I gotta go … —

But key points to watch, and back to the debate:

Can Trump find a way to negate the debate rules that say only the moderator can ask questions, and rant on with a bad-willed romp about Kamala’s hair? He says she needs bangs.

Can Kamala, better than Biden, counter Trump’s incessant and repeated and repeated lies? Mega, maga. And can you as a viewer sort them out from the very few bits of truth? Yes he wears a rug. Pick a Jeopardy-like topic to hone in on, such as crime, the economy, the border, but don’t prize actual facts.

Count the number of times Trump speaks in an absolute, with the only gray being hair and waffling on answers. This is the reason his rhetoric falls flat as his hair — and you can use this nugget to impress you guests — as he says everything has a fault like “the worst ever” on things like the treatment of the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. Top ten? Maybe. But Public Enemy No. 1? Not plausible.

Look for that occasional more-than-12-letter, not four-letter word, from Trump, other than antidisestablishmentarianism. He might pop one of his brain cells on that one, leaving him with even fewer than Biden. Both sides say they are for change, but every candidate going back to earlier than the Millennium has spouted that useless and pointless rhetoric. He is beholden.

Look up on Google the definition of delusional disorder and narcissistic disorder and see if you can diagnose either one of the candidates, (with more points given to you for one over the other.)

See if Harris can set herself apart from Biden as far as agendas on policy, since she has had only a couple of months to do so as the First Woman. That’s not much time. In our era of technology, new information comes to light constantly, so stances can change quickly, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing, but that needs to be articulated. So will she continue much longer to be fractious on fracking? And see if with Harris not like, say, The Supremes, her voice cracks as she describes the various points. (And certainly, some things would disappear from the plate, such as the border and its potential wall. Harris was said to have not addressed her positions on various issues, maybe true, but mainly because she was trying to be heard over Trump’s blather.)

Will Harris appeal to more sub and constituencies then her opponent, and his cast of characters consisting of cantankerous construction crews? And billionaires who want to be trillionaires? 

And those who have such a fraction as their attention spans. And the ability to stick to a point. (And allow a lack of need for constant one-minute clarifications, and the looks of cross-armed horror while correcting the misstatements, and shock during the frequent (dozens? hundreds?) of way-out-of-whack interruptions. Alleged animal butchering and eating by immigrants of our prized pets? Do such topics seem presidential? Tripling or quadrupling of gas prices here? Huh? Even locally, her alleged legal bailing out of jail of Minneapolis marching and torch-wielding thugs? Again huh, huh. And the best economy basically ever? Pluuuleeze.)

And how Harris of one singular dress sticks it to Trump with heels of five vs. three inchs. It all spikes at 8 p.m. CST.

(The following written as I watch this. Are we talking about a years-back return to the need of phones ringing for prez-government-psych doctors, and government-sponsored and door-to-door, Thorlike-warrior police for other non-white origins of immigrants as I make a pun, and opponents? Trump doesn’t deny these and so many other evils. Just bitches about them and rambles endlessly, and it’s getting worse, when Harris often sighs noticeably but doesn’t devest him. Tit for tat and she could even have been much, much harsher. She can’t shut him up, or can the moderator, and have him actually debate. Will we have to at some point physically muzzle him?)

Grade: Stick on topic and not have the volume of verbage set at a 70/30 percent ratio. Everyone sees it different ways. I see a more and more unhinged but sometimes maybe even purposeful maniac. Oddly, Trump’s ramblings did not seem to go on the attack about the economy. Key observation?

Posted in Killer Metal Lyrics | Edit Comments Off on Grab your blankie and bowl of popcorn, and party food, and a beer for you and your vice and set it on your TV, not polo, cabinet. The Great Debate, (or it ain’t), Second City version, between The Great White Ape and the Great Black Woman Hope is hence. After 90 minutes, will anyone be left standing? And the moderator still be moderate? (Some updates were added to this post as it played out.)

Black is the new orange? So retro. What about purple? Colorful language. Said when you semi-officially, and make that woefully, enter Badgerland from far afield Minnesota via bus? Will they make you bleed red? As thus-colored fall leaves approach, as does the start of school. Green transfers into gold, as words play.

September 9th, 2024

The Flixbus driver ruled the four-or-more lanes, like their German autobahn, duly noting all the four- or-five-year, some of them new, college students who were ready to board, and asked the crew increduously for a second time midweek if this is the final day for dorm move-in. I bellowed from mid-bus, “No it’s orientation time.”

For my various nieces and nephews, in transit by the smaller bus that is UHaul, from Madison to Milwaukee and back, or vice versa. One also drove from the Dallas area with a scared-enough-to-be-shaking kitty with an about-one-year-old, one bum leg. That limb’s not shaking.

The-same-day, I spied a couple of girls thus climbing on the big bus, the distance as between a set of sticked-yard-lines ahead of me, wearing Minnesota Gopher and their grid maroon sweatshirts. So I pulled up alongside their seat and asked if they knew this was Badgerland and that might get some good-natured, lineman-like pushback from other passengers who were also U bound on this might-a-well-be Uline, across company and country.

At a set of tennis courts near campus a couple of young men were seen tossing around instead a football on the side court a few feet away from both one of the fences and the doubles-court line running north and south. But with no crowds cheering, and not raising a big racquet, these football throws weren’t seen as one foot fault, much less a double fault. The distance between the men was about the same as when we’d run square-outs at a group of teens ourselves while playing two-on-two, passing-only touch football in the full-acre backyard.

After the first day of class, there was more fire and catch, this time between a pair of faux players who were straddling a to-get-a-first down pedestrian crossing set of stripes laid sideways in the parking lot of a church school. They were also wearing the colors …

As were a lone customer and groups of clerks in maroon shirts, T-shirts this time, at a local grocery store grabbing halftime grub, as in the forbidden form of cheese. They could of also purchased, out front, from among the dozens of flowers on the potted plants showing a big upper-case green G on their clay cases that would soon be falling to the ground, in the fall as the football season progresses, and be grounded semi-intentionally. Pick Packer peonies? And through a nearby park, concert-goers at a Lions Club fest, clad in pumpkin-piqued orange (blouse) and black (boots) to create tiger-like stripes? (Though Detroit has single-tone uniforms.)

But there would be a Vikes possibly-played-to-victory — it turned out to be a big one — on this Sunday as well, as was held in celebration at Dick’s Bar and Grill through the late afternoon and early evening and then until bartime, by a man who bore a Central Division Champions shirt circa 1994. He spoke of a full day of viewing. But then short-circuited after that. Perhaps by electrocution as Halloween gear has been sprouting up here and there at stores everywhere. Like at Walgreens, and I wouldn’t bet against Green- and Gold-colored themes.

And when was it last that Green Bay was a champ? A nextdoor light pole was spelling out its suggestion in its four digits, “2021.” 

Or don’t wager against Bucky. A wafting billboard boasted the badger doing push-ups, in tandem with a Madison-based credit union, saying he’d do one for every sponsored credit card swipe. Sans sit ups?

Posted in Killer Metal Lyrics | Edit Comments Off on Black is the new orange? So retro. What about purple? Colorful language. Said when you semi-officially, and make that woefully, enter Badgerland from far afield Minnesota via bus? Will they make you bleed red? As thus-colored fall leaves approach, as does the start of school. Green transfers into gold, as words play.

You ‘wonka’ outlaw music fest? Willie and Bobby and Johnny offer it over this Labor Day weekend and after and before that’s full of things to do, led by these octogenarians or approaching. Applauded by signs and T-shirts. Including ones that included, possibly, pulling a double on Labor Day to make the donuts whether it be Dunn Bros. or Dunkin’ orange for pumpkin-fests. Dunk ’em during pumpkin-palooza.

August 31st, 2024

With less hoopla than there used to be, the Somerset mega-concerts have forged on to create fire with their music, although maybe in smaller scale with their tuneage, but not tenacity. So still, full-out shows to be reckoned with.

Namely, Nelson seems to be the name. As is Willie and Waylon and the Boys. (So as this summer that featured much to view — like killer sunspots and their Northern Lights if you really want a light show — with its concert music and more closes out and thus sunsets, the Outlaw Music Festival first hits the village.) He is the headliner, but there also is Old School as in Bob Dylan, and not quite as Old School as in John Mellencamp, (no cougar, that’s squashed  as the area is being more and more urbanized), and as the melons now start to mushroom into mush. But there is the scarecrow effect to make them into part-outlaw to fit the name of the fest, as the man mostly made Farm-Aid back in the day, and Dylan as a poet rebelled against society in a way bigger than his pen.

— We just had national dog day and I’m not gonna whiff but woof and make it a week.

A leading re-tail-er (a second-hand or paw store?) jumped on the bandwagon that is the puppy train and was barking about toys for not only terriers but terrestrials too. You could get 130 bucks off an iPad that is ninth generation and does that make it ninth pup of a ninth pup … —

I just met a young man with big and cool hat from Arizona – through which I think Dylan roamed, in character, in his song Tangled Up In Blue — who loves the man’s music, and we are thinking about collaborating more. In the meantime, since moving here and now back for a time, like the vagabond character, I was introduced to some of Dylan’s deeper cuts and harsher bit of his rebel nature, even though he is now 83 and looks like older, and my mom of the same age and Willie-like look who frankly looks better. See him and the boys on Sept. 6 at the Somerset amphitheater. Involving Dylan, he has been on a tour taking the name of the rough and rowdy, which adds a big multi-layered keyboard and a flashing light show, to go along with his poetry.

And this same weekend is host to another rip-roaring fest, the local Lions hometown version, which is sure to again fill Lakefront Park for another year, featuring much music and more, but not a full-flown safari.

Over in New Richmond, I recently – well a full week ago — saw a woman wearing a T-shirt that could be a concert preview, teasing in big letters when appropriate Willie and his whole name, and what it brings. You’d have to see it. So finally now, call him Willie Nelson.

Prior to the concert, as September enters, there are other options, many food-fueled. Green Mill in neighboring Hudson has a BOGO on burgers on Labor Day, and across the street, Buffalo Wild Wings offers regularly these days a triple (as in the meat) bacon cheeseburger. Across the freeway, Habaneros Mexican restaurant has unveiled its new burria menu. And the same sign says that they are now open most Mondays.

Downtown, Dunn brothers coffee shop this same weekend rolls out, its door says, like a circular squash, what could be called pumpkin-athon (a ton if it) or pumpkin-fest, to ring in the new fall season. And as across a side-street from a music club, who knows,  they Dunn could be offering tunes, like with Brooks, or the likes of Smashing Pumpkins, but we are not sure if canned music is on the menu and these days the censors abhor any reference to anything that could be seen as violent, even if time honored. It’s, well, Dunn not Dunkin’ but we suspect there will be, with such, spiced coffee-type drinks and maybe a few doughnuts. We add pumpkin infused latte and muffins and the like.

The server, (as a piper?), knew all the pumpkin-pied stuff right off the bat, and each franchise location has the freedom to have some of their own creations, so I have referenced many here. But across there many stores — there is another to the south on Hanley Road — there is the Pumpkin Dunn Dirty, a drink that looks potent with its layers of first very dark brown and then a cream color on top, with then more cream, that is said to have just for starters a combo of their signature Nitro Cold Brew and Pepsi too. Then ladle on the pumpkin, of course.

Posted in Killer Metal Lyrics | Edit Comments Off on You ‘wonka’ outlaw music fest? Willie and Bobby and Johnny offer it over this Labor Day weekend and after and before that’s full of things to do, led by these octogenarians or approaching. Applauded by signs and T-shirts. Including ones that included, possibly, pulling a double on Labor Day to make the donuts whether it be Dunn Bros. or Dunkin’ orange for pumpkin-fests. Dunk ’em during pumpkin-palooza.

Where to get the big breakdown on not only what the main vote totals were in this contentious recent election, here on the St. Croix County end, but even how they fell in certain jurisdictions and the absentee ballot basics, as they told a bold tale? There were differences, as to where and when you voted, and see it right on this website soon. (And likely nowhere else.)

August 17th, 2024

This would be some cool info on your fave candidates, and referendum questions thumping in your chest and — at least we hope — brain, for you politics junkies. Was it true, the red before the blue? Town vs. city, and certainly different when sent sooner. This site is currently undergoing a major redo, and thus an improvement, so you may have to be patient with this post’s posting time. Good things come to those who wait, even when it deals with something as instantaneous as the internet. (Should be posted by midweek.)

Lordy, it is time! So here goes. And you just might find it an interesting post if you stick with it past the narrative of numbers:

St. Croix County has somewhat of a political disparity depending on where you are in it, but generally is about as red an area as you will find. From the east end and its farmland that constitutes a work-the-land, deep-seeded way of life that for many, inexplicably, votes conservative as its very farming becomes almost as much a political ideology as an occupation. To the west end and the more politically potent and rich, big Hudson area that virtually bleeds red, except for a block of the more intellectual, and then a stone’s throw further west the St. Croix River bluff line that entertains both liberal nature lovers and the well-heeled who cruise through it in million-dollar yachts.

This range showed, to a degree, in the specifics of the polling results on Aug. 13, but as a reporter and observer assigned by more than one media outlet, I was eager to find how much of a difference there would be between the 14 precincts of the mostly rural but large population base in the town of Hudson, versus the county as a whole. (I primarily was onboard to report results, as they came in, for the Associated Press, first at the town hall and then with its broader reach at the county government center. AP has now deemed elections to be so important with their contentiousness, that they have me staff both places.)

The most striking result I found was the big difference between those who were eager enough to vote early, and those who did it onsite on election night.

The highest profile race involved originally-from-California-rich-businessman Eric Hovde, who was a virtual shoe-in during this partisan primary election to go head-to-head for a U.S. Senate seat come the early November finale, against Democrat Tammy Baldwin.

Hovde garnered 7012 votes, but that was only about 80 percent of the total, as the only real question was who would be runner up. Having seen it on a single sign, I was familiar with the name Rejani Raveendran, a mother who ran on a platform largely based on defunding police, and then Charles Bauman. The mom got 739 votes county-wide, with Bauman at 706, but it was a little different at the 14-precinct town level. She received 72 votes to Bauman’s 47, and for early voting it was a closer margin, 17-13 in favor of Bauman, with Hovde chiming in with 563 and 82, in the town voting categories. In general terms, each opposition candidate got about 10 percent of the vote in the various stats breakdowns, although Raveendran’s in-person town total was more impressive.

Another race of high local interest found Rob Kreibich, a leader of the Chamber of Commerce in New Richmond, raking in 2412 county votes to the higher tally of 2465 for Brady Penfield, for the representative for Assembly District 28, on the Republican side. (There was no voting for this office in the township.)

Lastly among those races contested, 3872 county residents picked Kyle Kilbourn and 3195 did Elisa Rae Duranceau, who in an odd quirk only I would point out came in with a dual name-recognition advantage — much like being a celeb — of being the only candidate using a third, could-be middle name, and having the likeness in name of popular rock band Duran Duran, a fave group of one of my drivers. In the town, the winning margin was far greater at 287-213, but the pace was narrowed to 122-96 in early voting there, for Democratic representative to District 7 in Congress.

But the two referendum questions were the one showing the largest local distinctions. The first, to prohibit the state of Wisconsin from delegation of appropriation of power, whatever that means, was turned down at the county level 8502 to 8364, but it won in the town 716 to 629, although in the early voting it was defeated in the town by the large margin of 259-98, for an overall deficit of 888 to 814 there.

The second question, to require the state of Wisconsin to allocate federal monies, also lost in the county 8523 to 8387. So for the two queries, the voting was along straight lines, as in the town it was OK’d too, by a wider gap, 722-626, with the early tally being much different at a 265-92 loss. All this found only a small handful of residents changing their votes from one to the next, although there were a couple-dozen more people voting on the second question.

The turnout was said to be good by varying degrees by clerks, although they were able to tear down the voting booth apparatus, and compile their total results earlier than usual, by about a half-hour. One worker at the town level, in relaying to me the summary of results, which were broken down into two subtotals of the voting types, in-person or early, had trouble finding one race listed on the sheets and quickly concluded that it was not applicable for the town voting. Because of the consistency of the voter preferences, almost like voting along party lines, election workers often could just place the per-voter sheets in front of them in one stack or the next.

A total of 8459 voters cast ballots for the Hovde-led race, outpacing the other hopefuls. By comparison, the 2022 partisan election drew about 5300 voters for Democratic races in the county, and about 8000 for the Republicans. In the following main general election in November 2022, about 44,000 county residents cast ballots when taking into consideration the two parties.

Now we get past the junk only interesting to political data junkies, and slide in some sarcasm. There was enough leverage by parties beyond the red and the blue to get on the ballot. There were the Libertarians, not like Lago but it comes to mind when writing, and with the initials on the side of the ballot that indicated them, it looked like we were headed into the territory of every short four-letter-word for name but Woke, but not Maga and definitely not Mar-a. There also was the presence of the Constitution and Wisconsin Green parties, to invoke longer spelled and more complete names.

An election worker who knew me asked if I also knew just who had been for an hour sitting in a car across the lot, kinda a lemon not a limo. I said oh, that’s my driver. (Is it now that I am important enough, and get paid enough for these gigs, to play my Trump card or car and have my own driver?) As it was, the driver of this humble not Hummer car told me that he’d always had a question for a law enforcement officer, but was never in the right place or time to ask. But now it had come, at the county fair not in St. Croix, but Pierce in Ellsworth, as there was a new sheriff in town, literally, via recent elections. Emboldened by the fact that he’d known the previous one, he blundered forward: Why is it that Corvettes never have front license plates? Outta the other end of the county?

Hmm, let me think about that, came the answer. I’ll keep an eye out.

The driver added that he might be needing another seat for another passenger, as the lot was emptying and a frantic woman came up to him about 8:10 p.m. and asked, like he had as much authority as the prior person cited, if she could still vote.

We need more people like her, as shown by the addition that had gotten through to place those two referendum questions. Somebody managed to sorta sneak them in, when few were looking. To me it seems like some pork barreling pols politicizing the polls.

Posted in Killer Metal Lyrics | Edit Comments Off on Where to get the big breakdown on not only what the main vote totals were in this contentious recent election, here on the St. Croix County end, but even how they fell in certain jurisdictions and the absentee ballot basics, as they told a bold tale? There were differences, as to where and when you voted, and see it right on this website soon. (And likely nowhere else.)

MTV and Country Fest. Bon Iver and Immigrant Song. These were among the themes and thematic music at Eau Claire for Kamala, filling a cold diversity gap on a hot day, which the GOP has joyfully reaped. This presidential rally, right after VP picking, would counter the hate.

August 12th, 2024

We were able to pull into the big rally for Kamala Harris in our small car with relative ease, getting there through back country roads almost three hours in advance, and getting through the gate was also easy.
We were directed to slot ourselves into a small space between two full lines of vehicles about thirty yards apart, with the help of a young guy wearing an old MTV T-shirt from back in the ’80s. Clinton or Carter as a key choice, I asked him, to a chuckle.
But there was the serious matter of that just a day or two earlier, Harris had tabbed as her running mate Gov. Tim Walz of neighboring Minnesota, making Eau Claire as a rally choice an easy one, but no Border Battle here, an hour’s journey after crossing the St. Croix River.
My wife had said, when Biden faltered, that perhaps the roles should be switched and Harris be the next president, with Biden as her VP. She wrote to her with the suggestion, much as she had done to State Senator Tammy Baldwin with the tip that over near Hudson, there are only Twin Cities TV and radio stations, so put your ads there.
The next day, an invitation to the rally followed.

— The British Invasion was back — nothing to do with the prime minister getting re-elected — but this time it did involve Bobbies. That primo Euro auto show hit Walnut Street and beyond and filled it and the overflow as such, extended until the next night, a Sunday. That’s when My Favorite Bouncer at Dick’s Bar and Grill said, “this was a day. A day. I’m glad it’s over.” Earlier, the cops had to show, been all was resolved in fine and stout British manner without incident. (My accent of that type was called the worst ever, right before closing, although I joked that at one time I had been one of the Bobbies, like anyone would want that one these days.) At that time, going out, the cars were said to have been up and down, on the opposite side of the street then usual, of course. And then there was talk of going right down the middle … —

— This weekend we enter into sparsely charted earlier territory, again, with the bands we pump, and the last time I said that, for Bigly and such at Booster Days, they turned out to actually be pretty solid although mainly straightforward and nothing fancy. But this weekend at a new and with expanded activities Pepper Fest in North Hudson, the newer blood is on Friday night with Ember (the name to me sounds a bit like, and has the German flavor of, Rammstein.) Then at the Tarnation Tavern in River Falls, on that same Friday night it’s Flannel Brothers (it is my birthday weekend and believe me, I go back further than grunge which is what the name evokes) and on Saturday night Ghosts of the Mississippi (I hope at my advanced age I don’t become a ghost before the act hits the stage.) —

We got to our seats early, also, as musical guest Bon Iver’s crew was setting up right in front of us, and their sound checks were checking in. This venue was by rally attendees said to be the site of the killer concert that is Country Fest, with a big “district” building in back, and all the usual extra big lighting and sound booth buildings about a great big Walz football field’s length to the back. There must have been a vacancy on this day, with no band other than Bon Iver slated for the venue. As it was, the Ides of Iver were available on a day’s notice, and they apparently had a place to go to that evening, as the roadies were tearing down even before there would have been a main encore. During set-up, there was a woman doing her thing in killer shades and the proverbial headphones popular back in the day when Bon Iver first made their mark.
There was a gap in time before the heavy hitter speakers came on for the next past of the rally, but the bass kept thumping. The lightweight ones had been on before the mini-concert, several of them. There had also been a miniwave, with people standing and raising arms in the air, but those arms came down once there was a gap in the bleachers and the wave hit its metaphorical shore.
The many Secret Service, this day’s Men In Black, were walking about in their sunglasses in the bright sunshine, but some of them wore — gasp! — ties that were red in color. Blue shirts though, more fitting.
An eagle flew overhead, no turkeys or turkey vultures, drawing gasps and cheers from the crowd. Soon also flew over the first of many helicopters — was it Kamala? The loudspeaker bore the message, twice, “The party (or program) will continue shortly.” The heat was coming on and crews were out and about, especially up front, handing out bottled water aplenty — they must have had a special volume deal with Sam’s Club — and even some energy drinks so to stick with the speeches. There were a handful of people who passed out in the crowd, after hours, and needed medical treatment, and Walz stopped his speech in respect as they attended to one of them. No sweat. Think the Republicans would do that?
Sign language soon got going, with two different women making the signals. The next, totality texting said to Text To Win 30330, which is threes rather than the twos of 2024. There was 24007, to Tammy Baldwin. But all of us were told to get on our social media and send messages as they spoke to make amends for the political misdeeds of many, but wouldn’t you know it, there was scant little reception in our broad area. Such was shouted by a couple of people in back of me. “But we all know why we’re here,” a speaker said, reinforced by others.
Walz soon came on, at mic stand, and said it must have been good to have a speaker who could actually pronounce the name Eau Claire, unlike those monosyllable if they can manage even that speaking Republicans. He noted that some of his family members are Badgers and it is good that despite all the teasing back and forth they are Gophers can get along, unlike the hatred of their foes. “That’s right,” reinforced an attendee. Walz, as a head coach, won a state high school football title, over in his state in an effort to emulate The Packers, or the teams from his Nebraska roots. But there would be no Minnesota Rouser on this day. Also, this was not a time to relive the past, but to learn from it.
Harris was next up, espousing similar themes in a 20 minute-talk.
A state secretary of state, before Walz, said that the hour had been struck for Midwestern Nice to transfer to Midwestern Vice.But there were a few cuss words tossed in here and there by the speakers, as these dire times call for gravity. “Hell Yeah,” like the band, our day is here. A sample of background tunes that were played included The Immigrant Song, by Led Zeppelin.
The initial speaker, a dark-skinned person from the area, was a transgender father of “two amazing brown girls” who showed that diversity can exist here in the midst of, with heart, the often conservative farm country. And his two girls had been in need of special assistance in their classwork, something Republicans want to cut as far as budget, and to top it off, two of his family members as well were teachers, like Walz.
Rousing it up was a woman in a pink cat lady hat and a shirt that played on the theme, saying Democratic catwomen are the life of the party. Also themed, going back to its origins of four years ago with her, was the idea that the Republicans “can’t grab my pussy.”On the way out from the rally, three women were praising the cops for not so much their service but their looks. They were hot on a hot day, pulling loads of cased gear out of two vehicle trunks. I felt I just had to ask, but did not, are you referring to the Secret Service guy or the Eau Claire policeman? And could they get the steel fence opened to let people out to walk through an open field, which appeared to be an aim? Hey, I joked, are they looking for a bolt cutter
Back at the car, next to its parked place, two members of a couple climbed aboard their bicycles. They told passerby after passerby that they lived only a short distance away, but after a car ride wasn’t getting them much closer, they went back home and got their bikes. “At least you don’t have unicycles,” I told them, and gained a laugh in these trying times.

Posted in The Headliner | Edit Comments Off on MTV and Country Fest. Bon Iver and Immigrant Song. These were among the themes and thematic music at Eau Claire for Kamala, filling a cold diversity gap on a hot day, which the GOP has joyfully reaped. This presidential rally, right after VP picking, would counter the hate.

With school coming, youth is served, straight up and sure to stir your ears and palette, with music this weekend that’s accompanied by olive-oriented food; and shortly after the gig for Kamala Harris, there on Friday night are also Bon Iver vibes, (Elly Rowan, a student musician, plays too), in local shows.

August 9th, 2024

The ilk of Bon Iver is hard to find in influence or in person, but can be seen locally on stage on Saturday, after the man of consistently high-register vocals and his band themselves played five songs for highest office hopeful Harris two days earlier, and there were even more speakers than musical numbers.
(More coverage of that rally follows in a post soon, as HudsonWiNightlife was in the second row in front of Bon Iver over in Eau Claire.)
This gig and another act, over at The Phipps Center for the Arts, caught the ear of a volunteer worker. So go register. Vote for music.
Hey also in this roundup, school whether it be for music or general studies, starts up soon. Youth is served on Friday evening, as Urban Olive and Vine in downtown Hudson serves up its trademark food while you listen to high school student Elly Rowan emulate like minded we assume Cyndy Lauper. the Beatles, Coldplay and more. Though young, she is a longtime student of fellow frequent Olive-ites Andy and Kathryn Karg at 2gether Productions, and Elly enjoys gigging all over the east metro area. Catch her before she’s back at school, still playing but with her basketball courts competing for stage time. Urban Olive and Vine often brings in such student talent.
Then on Saturday night at Juniors Tap House in River Falls, is houseboats, namely Matthew Mitchell, a native there, who is sonically between Bon Iver, (which is fresh off playing the Kamala Harris rally in Eau Claire where he is a native, and even my non-musical mom in Milwaukee had been gaga gigging from afar), The Cure (I love singing Love Song), and Bruce Springsteen (a very different version than what you’ll get from the very hard-picking of local country stalwart Tim Sigler.) How so? Matthew’s biggest influences are the very intimate songwriting and understated, stripped-down style of artists like Joni Mitchell (no relation) and Nick Drake. With thoughtful and relatable original songs.
Earlier on Friday, at the Phipps Center for the Arts, is not necessarily Motown but the down-south and downhome musical stylings of a man named Mo, according to a Thursday vol at the Dem headquarters across the block, who said she might take in the show because it’s said to be even better than most typical such fare.
And then there is the more original than yet another Friday fish fry. For Aug. 22, you can reserve a space for Hudson Tap and it’s hosting with Brickhouse Pizza of a five-course meal that assures more than a dozen total toppings along with drink pairings, and earlier for Aug. 15, a bourbon and cigars event at Bennett’s Chop and Railhouse that brings the best brands of heaven and hell for your indulgence.
You can follow up this rotating Friday fare with a Saturday evening, truck and tractor pull event at the Hammond Heartland Days, following up with much more torque and horsepower on a much more stripped-down tractor tour at the St. Croix County Fair three weekends earlier, across county highways and dirt roads.

Posted in The Headliner | Edit Comments Off on With school coming, youth is served, straight up and sure to stir your ears and palette, with music this weekend that’s accompanied by olive-oriented food; and shortly after the gig for Kamala Harris, there on Friday night are also Bon Iver vibes, (Elly Rowan, a student musician, plays too), in local shows.

It doesn’t get much more country than Maiden Dixie, a rural chick and three instrumentalists, and the four players in the Nathan Hansen Band. They raise the country in its midst at Hammond’s Heartland Days this weekend.

August 6th, 2024

Hammond Heartland Days brings the best of country music in the region to their festival this weekend, triumphing over the scores of rank and file bar bands.
Maiden Dixie begins the musical mastery on Friday night, Aug. 8, and then Nathan Hansen caps it off on Saturday night.
It winds down when they bring country tunes for the second straight night. You can tell a band by their videos. The Nathan Hansen promos feature slickly made videos with close cropped editing, especially of the crowd shots. And the numbers out there cheering are large. The audio plays lots of instrumental breaks of whirring guitars, and well-placed drum fills, backing up vocals that have just the right amount of twang and groove.
The night before it’s Maiden Dixie. The band has more than 100 songs on its set list, and their multiple cover song renditions by bands number 18, and at least five bands chime in at three or more. They also have several originals, and a couple from AC/DC.
You can even message ahead and request a song. One couple went to see a number of bands during their wedding planning process and Maiden Dixie was an easy choice. The duo ended up taking them in three times, and listened to detailed responses to their many questions — at the height of their busy season. The request list was lengthy, and a few surprise numbers even were added.
A bar owner or two copied on being able to meet those requests.
Maiden Dixie is said to be able to accommodate any venue with its diverse set list, which is very helpful at Heartland Days.
That goes double for both a listener during Hudson’s Booster Days, who was working the Drink Ticket booth, and from another band in the stage behind.
Lastly about song selection, a man not a frequent country music listener said he knew the majority of the tunes — even though he usually doesn’t stay out late anymore.
Prior to the country acts, the dance floor under the pavilion is ruled by those spinning records. Friday from 5-8 p.m., go gig to Dr. Groove. Then all day on Saturday, noon to 8 p.m., its the Kar Jackers as the deejay.

Posted in The Headliner | Edit Comments Off on It doesn’t get much more country than Maiden Dixie, a rural chick and three instrumentalists, and the four players in the Nathan Hansen Band. They raise the country in its midst at Hammond’s Heartland Days this weekend.

They coulda written a rap song about this! Or gone back to singing more blues. The Noyz was started up yet again by The Man Who Has No Name, or many. Alert Rage Against The Machine. We now apparently have one more killer cat-lady. But not dragging around any kittens. For better choices in wordings, at local events, see the end of this post.

August 2nd, 2024

Pull yourself off the stage, please! Grab that leash for his neck, or is it a noose, and be such a shepherd, before he doth pluck away with his tongue again. And they thought they had the In-Advance Vance Advantage.
But they’d done it again, and didn’t even wait for Trump to get to the speaker at a convention of Black journalists, and do his take on Archie Bunker, and the mind reels of him sparing with Tyler Perry’s mom character and two of her sisters. (Actually, they were three leading female black journalists).
Vance as his VP pick had just parlayed a shared vice: Putting his foot in it, about motherhood or lacking it, and then having his mates shoot his tootsies again by claiming The Left got it wrong, about feeling any bitterness. And the group from The Right have since doubled, tripled and quadrupled down on their gaffes.
Wait, isn’t having a bunch of children, if a “Welfare Queen,” what the Republicans used to be all about rallying against. Which is it? And now on stage with a bunch of convention reporters, so more mics on, for the likes of …
“Ya’ll best know what that thar community you be, in the ‘hood.” OK and yes, I seriously doubt that most Black people, or even rednecks, really talk like that. But we’re right now in Archie Bunker Land Speak and see my end to this post, as its setting cities are much similar to the above. After all, this post is about massively over-generalizing.
What do we call he who (first) sayeth?

— Prewarning of a blantant preview to the popular local BBQ restauranteer I’ll call Mr. J. What’s in a name? Who has on the sidewall of his semi-size food and transport truck, out there at area fests, an image, I’m sure and again lifesize, of a striking lady I know also in the biz who I’ll call Ms. S. They are portrayed standing side-by-side an also smokin’ grill. But only she, with a history as a fitness instructor and show competitor, is shown in a quite short red skirt. So hey, I got reacquainted by trucking. Hate to say it Jethro, but though burly, I doubt people are looking at you. And then up the way, the distance that could be moved by a flaming and flashing flare, the also local Demon Rum truck carried on to pick up more people. Theme here? And not flickering. —

He who slammed our current vice president coulda been a Justice, or a Jethro or Jed, but we’ll just call him JD, or is it J.D. as he has been known as a man of so many names, deserving of few? Or DC, or JV, or touches of JC? No, necessarily not that one. So this take from JW.
Maybe such a catwoman, so dressed all in leather, would better be that lady legislator from Arizona so famous for her bright kitty yellow catsuit, or oh, it’s actually a dress. So just what do her ilk want in a woman? The old madonna/whore thing? (Maybe Stormy Daniels?) Someone who will serve, a very partly presidential function, of orally servicing the Royal Penis, as in the Eddie Murphy vehicle Coming to America, then just be silent. Or silenced.
Why bring in more name-calling? Aside from the fact that it fits, and that they started it, there’s this: The conservatives fall flat when they overgeneralize.
We are of course talking about the remark made by Mr. Vance, basically that child-less cat ladies have taken over, connecting it to the idea that they are bitter over, basically, not having the aftermath that comes following nine months of dragging around being bloated.
OK, there is a wonderful side to the experience, at least for many. And I am sure that there are women — mostly conservatives — who feel like they have majorly missed out for not having it. But overall, it’s not too many. And some are indeed bitter, I’m sure, but only a number that makes the fraction of that pie get sliced even slimmer. It’s not nearly everyone.
But some will make you think it is, for political gain. Or maybe because they are truly that dimwitted.
First, his wording is all about those miserable few women just taking over. But what? Culture? Business? Politics? The Arts? The only conceivable one where anyone should care is the second named, only one of the four, and only if she’s your boss. Career is all-in-all for some, but not all. There is the idea of having a ball buster deeply desiring to be on the rise, and kids just getting in the way. So that is something deeply un-Republican, a (married) woman not wanting to have children. (So back to my start.)

And this is not all fun and games. It can cut deep. Like for those you cannot have children. And might see going in vitro vanquished.
My own story. And that of my wife. We are among those where having kids was just not in the cards, and I could not bear her any children, for a variety of physical reasons, deeply steeped in neurology for both of us, financial constraints and being simply too strained healthwise to care for children. Adoption wouldn’t work either. But I supported her career, which she loves, and it did allow her to work with children and find that an outlet, so there is the option of being a teacher or other educator, or nurse, or doctor, or child care worker, so many have found that a useful tool for nurturing. And not being bitter.
If Ms. Harris is bitter about anything, it must be Mr. Vance. And for Mr. Trump, who has seemed to be saying he will not debate her, she’d make mincemeat out of either one. This would not be like debating Biden, who with his reactions to absurd comments isn’t as quick on the draw as he once was.
All this rhetoric — and yes, I know I am adding to it, but fight fire with fire — makes it little wonder that down in rallies, there are shootings. But relatively little noise was heard in the mainstream about the fact that in Milwaukee, just outside the perimeter of the RNC, a man wielding two knives was shot and killed by police officers visiting to provide security. A local advocate made the interesting comment that it would be helpful for such officers to be among those regularly on patrol in the immediate area, and knowing the walk and the talk of those streets.
And the RNC was held in Milwaukee, small by comparison to most metro areas, so it simply doesn’t have that kind of officer capacity. There exists a need to bring in others. But seriously, from Ohio, in the conservative rust Rust Belt, like some of the shooting police? And the land of Vance. So at least give them a hefty dose of training about the Badger State.
But that, and funding security in the first place, would cost money, and Milwaukee just doesn’t have the tax base. So how’s this for an idea: Don’t put your hat in the ring to host such conventions at all? Yes, you’d lose the tourism revenue. But some of those businesses are run by Black folk, and those pounding their fists on the big stages don’t exactly support the cause.
Even the airport apparently could be considered too small, as some of the cops got stuck there when flights were severely delayed. I hope there were no rallies to prompt fights back home. And indeed, Our State does not have a second, viable backup option.

On a lighter note on the topic of enforcement, this time moreso enforcing good vibes. The Hudson Police are celebrating and entertaining and educating during the community night out observance on Tuesday, Aug. 6. One catch, in the way their announcement is worded. It reads, in the biggest and boldest of its letters: Join the Hudson Police Department. Not to become a junior officer, though, just an invitation to their annual good-will event at Lakefront Park, filled with family fun, demonstrations, grub and light music by veteran guitar picker Alex Zachary.
Another such announcement, tacked to a local bulletin board, is much more wordy and up-front in recruitment pitch. It says simply, that Uncle Sam Wants You, since you could be an officer too, and lists with numerous pull-out bullet points and more than 200 descriptive words the advantages of signing up, even if as a reservist.

Posted in The Headliner | Edit Comments Off on They coulda written a rap song about this! Or gone back to singing more blues. The Noyz was started up yet again by The Man Who Has No Name, or many. Alert Rage Against The Machine. We now apparently have one more killer cat-lady. But not dragging around any kittens. For better choices in wordings, at local events, see the end of this post.

They can groove with grit and glam and go off on solos, short and long. The Rebel Queens all-woman band takes the likes of Def Leppard and amps it up a little, perfect for an outdoor performance like their street dance at Elmwood’s UFO Days.

July 26th, 2024

As girrrls who emulate and idolize the gals in that ’70s group The Runaways, they have “run away” from their base in Minneapolis to a small town southwest of Eau Claire, come July 27.
The Rebel Queens will be rockin’ with a yell at Elmwood’s UFO Days on Saturday night, and this is definitely not ordinary festival fare, as this band of five women invokes Joan Jett and Def Leppard and Led Zeppelin with grit and even more power, as they rip through covers and several originals. And yes, they have Billy Idol and Rebel Yell on the set list.

— Outside my building, there is roofing going on in this the season of construction. Which means there until the other day was a dumpster in the street’s parking zone and a ladder from the rooftop — this ain’t no rooftop bar, like just down the block — to the curb between said street and the sidewalk. Don’t walk under it, maybe in stroller with your 13-year-old baby like in the Stevie Wonder song Superstition, or there are seven years of bad luck. And don’t lose track of such things if walking back home drunk from The Smilin’ Moose.
So I veered around the ladder and did the tightrope walk along the edge of the curb. Then reminded two young ladies walking the same stretch of sidewalk that its bad for your luck’s health the stay on the straight and narrow, so to speak, of the sidewalk, with what was coming up.
Sure enough, they deviated course from the main part of the walkway, and took a bend with their walk around the ladder. No pieces of torn-up shingle would fall on them. —

These rebel ladies have been known, at least the lead singer, to be poised in an on-motorcycle pose onstage, ala Priest or should I say priestess, and the group isn’t at all bashful at having all its members take their turn doing solos, whether for just a few bars or extended. They place music from some of the harder bands of the ’70s and ’80s, but show variety, and in interviews this ten-year-old outfit has really lit up about taking in a show by the also all-woman group, and influence, Vixen from back in that heyday, and sharing the stage along with a renowned guitarist from Alice Cooper’s band, Nito Strauss, at First Avenue’s Seventh Street Entry. They say they like doing outdoor shows and have also played prominently (twice) at Cadott’s summer Rock Fest, and The Full Throttle Saloon in Sturgis. The Rebel Queens at such shows can be a bit saucy and sexy, and although still keeping some of their early glam rock imagery, tone it down a little for family-oriented shows. And they do also get into songs by the plainer Janis Joplin. And back to glam with Aerosmith.
Their songs have gotten plenty of airplay on The Current in the Twin Cities, and at times have been in regular rotation.
The group has kept two consistent members throughout its course, but at other positions has changed players now and then, and the result has been really honing their sound and style. And their relatively new lead guitarist, for example, really kicks it.
But we start with the lead vocalist. You can hear strength with a bit of rasp in her powerful voice that reminds one of Joan Jett, but in some songs, including a cover and adding a bit of wail, she could be the female version of the lead singer from Jackyl. The vocal guts and volume are also like that of a number of other prominent female singers, and at times amped up from that.
They speak of being existential in their lyrics writing of originals, and there is substance there. One of their many music videos shows the group’s members riding down a lonesome country road and stopping on the shoulder to do some singing and partying, and passersby a bit at a time join the gathering until it becomes, as the song sings about in a common theme, a full blown celebration of community and the empowerment that comes with that. During the outtro, a single vehicle is shown driving away, back the other direction.
Another original speaks of not needing to be dependent on a man, financially or otherwise, and going on a cross-country journey without him and finding herself, then returning stronger. This could be singing verse like Miranda Lambert, on steroids and higher voice and snarl.
My favorite, though, is an extended version of a performance at our area’s Doghouse, about a month ago, of Ted Nugent’s Stranglehold, where the guitarist does some creative stuff I’ve seldom seen, and despite going on much longer than even Ted himself, it stays fresh and interesting. She takes more than one turn of sliding her fingers up and down the guitar neck, several times in succession, and in the bit where she rapidly plucks with both hands, she has them held several inches apart, not on adjoining frets. The singer near the end comes in with a wail matching the guitar, ala Pantera’s Cemetery Gates. All around there are stands of roses, a symbol of the band.
There may be a bit of symbolism here, as the song makes reference to wielding of power, and the musicians when not playing their solos take a seated position, possibly showing deference to a masterful performance by one of their mates.

Posted in The Headliner | Edit Comments Off on They can groove with grit and glam and go off on solos, short and long. The Rebel Queens all-woman band takes the likes of Def Leppard and amps it up a little, perfect for an outdoor performance like their street dance at Elmwood’s UFO Days.

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