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.

UFO Days in Elmwood took root, among many other sightings, of a spacecraft above a rock quarry, complete with laser show, decades ago, so it’s fitting that amidst its music acts there would be rock.
And maybe a guest appearance by members of a band of many brothers who then come out of a pod together. (Just kidding, but such humor abounds at UFO Days, held again this weekend.)
There is Carly Rogers (rather than Simon or Wayne) on Thursday evening, July 25, who opens things up like a pod with her performance at The Sandbar, Hoft and Teressa on Thursday in a basically simultaneous show at Kern’s Kurbside on Thursday evening, and in street dances, 3 Bucks & Change on Friday night, and the Rebel Queens on Saturday night. Both the above-named bars have live music on Sunday afternoon.
The band, that plays for, 3 Bucks & (some) Change, hits hard with the Doobie Brothers and their song Long Train Running, by use of (we’ll go with their Caps), Flute, Guitar, Harmonica, Mandolin, Percussion, Trumpet and yes Vocals, and the Music Genres of Country, Dance, Jazz, Polka, Rock and World Music.
New attractions at UFO Days 2024 are, among other things, confirmation of five different speakers/authors/scientists giving podcasts (fitting) and speeches and video.

There could be star power, as it’s rumored that resident-alien mascot Ofu himself will moderate some of the presentations. (If not he for sure will be at the parade at 2 p.m. Sunday.)
That’s if he can find nearby housing, as he allegedly has been foreclosed upon by those nasty Men In Black, who have government orders not to attend the proceedings, so less star power as far as actual bigger-name actors. But Ofu has reportedly put up his spaceship as collateral to buy local houses that in actuality, have entered into the alien ambiance via an activity new this year, a decorating contest, where he hopes to live with his fellow aliens brother Nofu and alien animal lifeform and pet Fufu. Nofu, a doctor in alienology, hopes to raise mortgage money by operating triage units, as there is plenty of such need these days, at the bottom of the very quarry, or crater, where local police officer George Wheeler first saw his spacecraft scoping out medical experiment sites back in the 1970s. It is thought that some of the rock crystals, or minerals there, can be very useful in other-worldly healing.
OK, most of that is standard UFO Days humor. But the five presentations and the house decorating contest are real.
And for a preview of the act at this alien fest that might be considered its apex, the Rebel Queens on Saturday night, see a followup post in about two days.

So it finally happened. Some wingnut with a weapon winged the wigged ear of a presidential candidate.

It’s amazing this didn’t take place sooner. Or that Biden was not the one shot at. Such rigors had not occurred since 1981, when someone took a potshot at Ronald Reagan. But history repeats itself.

But really, the political climate is much the same in present day as it was 44 years ago. Just the faces that are endangered have changed.

Let’s have at it. 1980s and now. A polarizing leader and/or opposition, who has run up high budget deficits, charisma over character, fear-mongering (and warmongering) versus pacifism (if you look closely), extremely divergent views of what is morality and ethics, an overall lack of (perceived?) morality in the culture, and as was in the 1960s, musicians were about the only ones out there preaching justice.

Not to digress further but … Heavy metal and the like, with their lyrically poignant themes, was heavily on the rise — at one point playing a concert in front of 1.6 million people in Russia and Mr. Gorbachev — and it’s on the re-rise now, and it was as if Ronald Reagan had given birth to the metal genre. (For all his pontification, it was under his command that this fine country sponsored at least one torture school, applied largely to poor farmers and pious nuns in central America, all in the name of fighting an overtrumped communist threat, and largely, it could be argued, for political gain. And decades later, we still have a prison for our opponents where the conditions are hell, not a hell of a lot better.)

Back in my teens back in the Reagan Era, in a household where politics as usual weren’t really followed, there was quite a bit of talk about Carter transitioning into Reagan, and who got a bad rap.

And so we as a country argued about ethics, and continue to argue.

And marginalized groups get violent. And counter-violent? As per the dictates and limits of their philosophies. In our country that is increasingly like the Wild, Wild West in its use of gunfire.

I now, and most prominently, will offer this, as in the mantra of location, location, location. I cite continuum, continuum, continuum …

I am not condoning that anyone shoot a president, or leader in religion or the arts, or what have you. But I think there comes a tipping point, however far afield, where it could be argued that the world, or at least the majority of its members, would be better served if a particular leader were taken from power by whatever means necessary. This is not an advocacy statement, merely one that is boldly philosophical in its pragmatism.

Obviously, such a tipping point would have to find its end practically buried in the ground. This is where the continuum comes in, way at or near its end point. There are (at least a certain few) dictators in this world, and have been for time immortal, that could be said to fit the bill – get the bums outta here. But even that judgment is subjective, so best left alone if at all possible. Do not pre-judge what a leader will do, but maybe their policies will not show to be badly damning until after they play out on the national and world stage. I gotta mention, as one example, Bush and the 2007 fallout of One Of The Greatest Banking Crises To Hit The USA.

But much more telling and flat out dangerous with what’s at stake — what if, in say mid-1930s Germany, a citizen with rooftop rifle who might be thought to be enlightened had a clear shot at Hitler. Should he take it?

Or a more gray area, what if that future leader is someone from the (very) Far Right in Europe?

There is a (rare) exception to every rule. And I am here to say that such exceptions are very few.

With that said, just where is there such a tipping point? And who makes the determination? And what in exact terms are the criteria for such? These are very, very thorny questions … So if it seems I am dancing around the question, that’s why.
Again, on where to place that tipping point, people have varying tolerances, which obviously can be a good thing, or bad in that if we will let them get away with more, the damage is done first and it may be beyond repair. Will Hitler stop with Poland? Would Russia in the 1980s stop its expansionism in the height of the Cold War? Will Putin stop with the Ukraine?

Various philosophies have offered guidance on how much we would take – and they too pad their suggestions with utmost caution.

In the end, maybe all of this needs to be left to the infinite, and inevitable, but only eventual triumph of the marketplace of ideas, that truth will after all prevail.

But the very threat should guide leaders who think to get too greedy. And we must thank God for Biden exercising as much restrain as possible right now, and urging profound calm. He must know deep in the back of his mind that for sheer political expediency, nothing could have been better for him than for the shooter to be better at his craft.

But there are better thinkers out there than I, and here is a sample of what they offer.

Turn the other cheek, main guideline. And in any distribution of justice, the punishment must fit the crime, and not be any harsher. That’s where we get the meaning behind “an eye for an eye …”

Then in a philosophy that’s at a counterpoint to that in the Bible. If someone wrongs you and will not repent, give them every chance, in a one last chance, to make amends, and if not you are said to have an ethical right and yes even responsibility, to dispatch them, presumably to take them out of the gene pool. That comes from Satanism, in the main way it is practiced.

So both sides have weighed in, and many in-between, which in itself shows that it’s a vital issue, and neither says to just go out and shoot straight at someone who has allegedly done you wrong.

Deep Purple singeth, “See the blind man, shooting at the world … Wait for the ricochet.”

So what to do? How about this as an approach: When a leader is deemed to have simply gone too far, take away legislatively the executive functions that allow him or her to proceed unfettered. For this to be done at the ballot box may not be too practical, sorry to say, but this is where the added checks and balances of the Supreme Court come in. Have this body be by election of the people only, so a president cannot basically buy their way into more power by using the judicial branch, and have the requirement for seating this justice be not a simple majority, but a 6-3 margin, to minimize the potential damage of unwise use of the ballot.

If time becomes timeless, they may be the fairest of the fair, in this case the one for all of St. Croix County held in Glenwood City all this weekend.
The Memories are back there, again, and again, such as this Saturday at 7 p.m. with their musical variety show. (The following is an interview, slightly edited for timeliness, that ran on this website in 2016.)
Just how long ago does such recognition throughout the region and beyond, well, go? As far as The Memories, they were inducted to the Wisconsin Association of Fairs’ Hall of Fame way back in 1995.

— In last weekend’s square off between the popular pair of River Falls Days and New Richmond’s Fun Days, which merited a one-two placement on the front page of the Hudson Star-Observer, Hudson between bergs was otherwise left out in the cold, for nightlife traffic. Of those few out, two of them (solitary?), a woman and man, were complaining at length of much more than a minute, that someone was following them. Should be easy to spot the guy.
How many were out in RF, not to mention NR? One guy put it this way, if you ventured just outside of any bar or business, there were so many people crowding onto the sidewalk to take their smoke, that no one else could find the sidewalk. Bookends too, for the Marlboro and Mainstream Manly Morris Tobacco booths. Haha. —

As many groups do, The Memories got their start singing and playing music while in high school choir and band in Boyceville, not far from the fairgrounds. In summer 1972, they were asked to perform for a friend’s wedding dance and 44 years later Warren Petryk and Tim Stevens are still making music together. They now have performed at the county fair for 37 straight years.
In what started out as a very part-time adventure, Warren and Tim, along with classmate and fellow founding member, John Lynch, performed anywhere and everywhere they could: village halls, golf courses, high schools, community festivals, wedding dances, night clubs, bowling alleys, street dances, ballrooms, barn dances, supper clubs and even ski resorts included.
There have been many highlights through the years. Among them are:
– In March 1975, the group won first place at a regional talent contest held at the Black Steer Supper Club in Eau Claire, the first of many such contests captured.
– In 1979, they performed the entire six-day run of the Northern Wisconsin State Fair, serving as its Goodwill Ambassadors.
– Appeared as the opening acts for several nationally known artists, such as Merle Haggard, Alabama, The Oak Ridge Boys, Ricky Nelson, Ray Price and a special show with Barbara Mandrell at the 1979 Barron Farm and Feather Fest.
– In 1983, they took first in the country band contest of the Rhinelander Hodag Country Music Fest, and the same year were winners in the Wisconsin Country Music Band Contest sponsored by Wrangler Jeans and Dodge Trucks. That’s Old School.
– Produced over (now more) 30 different recordings, which include 45s, albums, eight-track tapes, cassette tapes and compact discs.
– Performed annual Christmas concerts at the Mabel Tainter Theater in Menomonie for 30 years, (back in 2016) and counting.
And, the seed that planted the whole entertainment bug: Being runnerup in the Boyceville Cucumber Festival talent contest in 1971 for a cash prize of $10.
At their peak, “The Boys from Boyceville” were full-time entertainers and traveled from coast to coast for 200 days a year. In 1995, they scaled back to a part-time schedule, and in September 2000, Tim and Warren began a new phase when they started performing as a duo. Today, they continue the tradition of their trademark, “Music, Laughter and Wonderful Times,” by appearing at a select number of events each year, obviously including the county fair.
“I think there a few things that make us ‘different.’ We try our best to make sure our shows feature great songs, performed well from a musical standpoint. But also, that our shows are entertaining, interesting and fun for our audiences,” Tim said, adding that the band members were fortunate that they were best friends before they started performing together. “We have been told many times through the years that our friendship really comes across to our audiences when we are on stage.”
Growing up together in western Wisconsin, they not only know each other extremely well, but also their audiences and the people and history of the area, even beyond the pandemic. “We bring that to the stage with us,” Tim said.
“As far as what is different with our show as a duo, it may sound basic, but I think we have continued to develop a tighter performance ….and that comes from being on stage with the same guy for thousands of performances for nearly 44 years,” (now 52), Tim said, adding that for the last 16 of those years, there was actually the involvement of “two friends – Warren and myself.”

A half hour following this 7 p.m. show, there is more free live music, across the way and part of the midway.
The Weekenders then will bring it with honky tonk classic country with an attitude! This could be the reincarnation of Willie and Waylon and the Boys, and Hank Williams, the original one, combined. Sure to be train songs.
Also fittingly, this is held at the Tiffany Creek Pavilion, north of Horse Arena, so gallop in. They may sing, save a horse, ride a cowboy, like them.

If that’s not enough, at 9 p.m. there is something dreamingly different, if you are not spreading yourself too thin, that in Lizzy the Dream Girl, who is a very entertaining hypnotist.

There is something in the music, with two acts starting it off on Friday evening, of the St. Croix County Fair that even that curmudgeon in your family could love. Of those, few could crab about the Crabgrass Band, and the White Side Walls has been around since near the beginning of doo-wop. So there is something for all ages, even those who count their carbs while watching the solos of Crabgrass grow. And those who made them their meals – and exposed them to classic music.
The fair’s music, the main parts of it, start taking the stage in Glenwood City before the sun sets on Friday, and then there are two more bands on Saturday evening.

— Booster Days and there was breakin’ stuff, like Korn: Somebody smashed the lower right one-quarter of the family barber shop, near the corner of Vine and Second, probably kicking it in, like the Beastie Boys. For a day or two, the big placard that said “open” was placed behind to block the door’s crackage, and then it was fixed, like the end, and added to the right window alongside was something even far more impressive was added: A lifesize image of someone who I think was supposed to be one of the proprietors, complete with handlebar ‘stache and a cool ‘doo called by tattoo ‘classic.’ And at my building there also appeared, at first glance, to be some cracks in the side glass of the door, but low and behold it was only some long leaf reflections. —

Crabgrass, hailing from Baldwin where they are likely to have some of that, in a good way, like many groups is a fun band that plays classic rock as well some newer rock, read contemporary and this makes them different, and country, but we can’t say for sure it’s classic. Could be newer too, in what could be seen as a theme here. And they are said to shoot a great golf game, between actively hitting community fests. As they are on par with their hitsmanship. And Crabgrass locally, and there are a number of stateside bands taking that same name, could be seen as playing the Cranberries. Or so I think.
But although there are two stages at the fair, concert-friendly distance apart, they are only what could be seen as a warmup act for … And there have been drum rolls many hundreds of times …
The White Side Walls.

Hailing from the golden days, as they see it, of their type of music back in the days from 1954 to 1964, with yes the summer of love smack dab in the middle, they have a full as can I say it, Woodstock, 65 bands on their play list. Most of them have a second song by such an artist, as well, but don’t load up on any one – although Elvis is obvious – as they run the gamut from the standards you would expect to those cool B-sides and bands that are great but not popularly known to be on the A list.
Founder Hound Dog, Swanee (hey I recognize that name from going way back in the machine), Bobby Maestro (gotta love that name too), all share keyboard duties, which is really cool, not just that one guy in back who is on the piano once in a while, and one other thing they share is that they are from both our states. Since the White Side Walls had their genesis almost 50 years ago — that’s longer ago than even the now aging Phil Collins or other bandmember Peter Gabriel — their signature Rock ‘n’ Roll Revue has been the Midwest’s top 1950s and 1960s doo-wop and show band of light to moderate rock and roll, and all styles rolling around those genres, with a loyal fan base that had continued to grow even years back and show support for their fave five-member group.
I first saw them at a more suburban and large community fest closer to the onset, and they were tight in both their arrangements and vocal harmonies, and the way they and their instruments took advantage of, and indeed filled the entire stage, so you could see every member. And they even still have most of their hair, upon last look.
The White Side Walls come on at 7 p.m. and at a different stage (yes the fair has two!), the Crabgrass Band plays at 7:30. Slightly staggered, so take in a bit of both?

You may find it strange that I, a Democrat, am questioning Trump’s 34 felony count conviction — success obtained — and building a case for replacing it with trial for a single lesser count.
“And Justice For All” proves poignant all over again, if only in a bass-ackwards sort of way. It’s not just a Metallica concert banger.
Here’s the first of my two-part jist. Haven’t you, virtually all of you, ever fudged on your income taxes, which is even more a concern than what you put in the memo slot of your personal and/or business accounting. So in this rare case, are Trump’s travails even really a crime, or is the crime a creative mashup of existing laws, force fit into a new legal argument against a specific offender, done by attorneys over-eager for an indictment.
So dudes, (forego?) entry of “dues?” Your “baby” needs new shoes? Or spike heels? Just list that you’d bought them for your secretary, or …, and write-off the purchase for (expensive but she needed a bonus) wardrobe allowance, (though maybe have your fingers flip when entering the year.) Such practices are common enough that they don’t even make special two-way pencils for facilitating the two separate sets of these books. Can be a myth, but only involving Bond and his bombers. In England they may have different laws, and if I understand right, they use spanking for punishment, which might prompt Trump to rush to the barrister. Or, indite Q if he kept no paper trail of fake ink. From and for those (mad) scientists who’d stick all of combined human intelligence and intellect into the size of a fingernail clipping. A bonanza of potential legal fodder.
The sentence? Trump awaits July 11. Like the last two letters of and in Hell. Or 9-11.
The Judge: Trump would not necessarily have known about campaign law language in 1916, even after bragging bigtime about it to Larry King in the 1990s. But thousands of hours in lawyer time have been logged. Maybe they just should have used a few more to research the differences enacted in 20-or-so years. Then make a decision on Trump’s where-with-all of such hush-money wonderment.
Do Trump’s legal misdeeds matter to you, a witness was asked? Not at all. “I’m a businessman myself.” Did you too cheat the IRS/others? And are now cavalier about it?
In the same half-hour, it was revealed that billionaires each year bilk the government out of $150 billion.
Note not millions of dollars. With Trump’s legal defense cost it would take a few dollars from every man, woman and child in the US. Sell to them many more signed Bibles and/or ill-gotten Stormy Daniels posters. Her (basic and not black dress?) of “fee charged” was likely quite extravagant, but needed since there’s been divestiture in Stormy Daniels movie companies.

Still, Trump was delaying the agreed upon payments at “length” until close to the “vote.” He complained it was too cold in the court room, like him in the bedroom, with shrinkage. Dante would have to weigh in on this: Fire and brimstone, and fury and false figures floundering. No temp interest was expressed until Trump arrived off the bus, then was thrown under the bus, in both cases like the flick reviews.
Exit from the court was made into a range of limos. Not a jail cell, if just the right size to puke in, wait that could be from her succumbing, but Trump will likely be treated to somewhat bigger corporate measurements? Would his eventual cell indeed be larger? With the Chambers, and not Marilyn, being the size of a love seat, only.
This since not much knowledge and less room is needed in appealing and accommodating any legal documents; they’ve appallingly been back at his estate.
Way back at the start, it was revealed that the trial viewership from John Q Public — measuring its IQ? — was at 97 percent when Stormy Daniels stormed up to the stage, was expected to drop to 61 if Trump took the stand, and hovered around 59 percent during miscellaneous experts. Who would you want to watch, and it could be worse if at a trial for multiple murders, as serial killers are invariably really ugly? (Or trust stats from?) (If power of the press, ever Trump and I were to be picked out of a lineup, mano-a-mano, by Stormy Daniels if she had worn a blindfold and had to choose her former lover by “feel,” pundits dropped their cringeworthy viewer estimate to 13 percent. Dips to single digits when Trump takes off his rug, and lower single digits when he puts it back on.) 

But getting back to the less whimsical … Stormy Daniels was paid a $130,000 hush money fee — eventually. I have to wonder, with the added caveat that I’m thinking this was not done for free in the first place, would that not be prostitution? Making Trump out to be a john? And Stormy Daniels an accompliss? However, in any case, the acts she did may have served as a soon-coming presidential service, since this is the hardest job in the land and sex relieves stress and anxiety. Just not administered with a DC doc’s care. Would Trump give Stormy Daniels a pardon later, or chide her with a bad review. So if Trump’s legal bills continue to skyrocket like a Fourth of July firecracker, maybe he’ll have to operate a special edition of the major Capital newspapers and limaric contests, with an entry fee, and belly up on paying the winner, like this was a casino construction project all over again. My fave from a prior presidency as precedent printing was the winner who referred to skillful Monica Lewinsky “playing the presidential flute.”

— Foregoing limos, the 11th annual Tractor Caravan, growing in popularity and held in conjunction with the St. Croix County Fair, is in memory of Dick Sullwold.
It’s a full week ahead of the main events as the kickoff, that starting Wednesday, mid-July. So bring your farm tractor on Saturday of most any model and take an old-fashioned tour of eastern St. Croix County and its hills and fields and byways, county and maybe state highways and town roads and bergs. The caravan leaves the fairgrounds in Glenwood City at 10 a.m. The full 2024 route has just been determined.
And then Saturday, July 13, its not only the start of SCC Fair judging, but the Theatre of Pain back at The GasLite in Ellsworth as part of a motorcycle rally to aid the battle against teen suicide starting at The Corral in Durand, kickstands (kickstarted?) and up at 11 a.m. On the other end, the Motley Crue tribute band, the one many think the best coming out of the Twin Cities, takes the outdoor stage at 8 p.m. and has a bandanda lead singer who really fits the bill visually, and the warmup act Ratz, the recompense theme here is they go Round and Round as a same-era-and-style Ratt tribute band, also sports such a photo in their promo. There is a live auction right after the ride. Those with a BATS wristband get free camping overnight. —

When does 97 percent pale as compared to an almost full 99 percent? We’ll deal with the rampantly seen 99.99 percent figure on virtually every bottle of water or whatever, at a later time. And what if the typically named for all kinds of things 10 percent, or even 15, is put to the test, as far as parts of the population, 85 or 90 percent unknown. Parts is parts?
When big events are the focus, it can be fickle, so don’t fixate on the number, when it comes to actually naming how many people were there. Especially when there is the sophomore jinx or boom, when the first year drew more than hundreds but maybe a thousand or two.

— Its Hudson Boosters Days again, from July 4-7, and the event founders continue their (could be seen as) longtime love/hate struggle with bringing in new blood or rerunning old tried and true bands. Which could be read as re-treads.
The Friday and Saturday headliners are the ones you usually see, Flashmob (with POP Syndrome opening), and Bigly (cool band). The festival could though, be in part the Days Of The New: Ragtown as Sunday night headliner (cooler band), 30 Minute Difference as the warm-up act on Saturday, Stephan Geisinger Band opening for Incognito on Thursday, and “stuck in the middle with you” on prime time Saturday afternoon, oops actually Sunday after church, worship director Sari Althoff and also Latria of St. Patrick. —

As the overall month comes to a close, bring in the recent Valleywide Pride Fest. (Long in coming, you these days need to specify which one.) Someone in the know downtown said that attendance was down just a bit, as she would normally be serving a certain crowd when the event wrapped up at 4 p.m. But the location had been shifted to Hudson High School, rather than the previous year’s Lakefront Park, as so much depends on the weather. Authorities who coordinated the shift say it’s likely to have been attended by 1000 to 1500 people. (Note, to Joe, be careful how many zeros you list, as they are not absolute. You can always beg off by saying you meant to hit a K as they are close to each other on the keyboard. Once, Twice Three Times A Lady, number-wise as far as distance between keys, if you take into account the angling that is basically a backslash. But now more on the zero to 100 barometer.)
Just how many people in the greater Hudson area of 50,000 and beyond are of an ilk – and here we get into a whole string of capital letters – where they would be interested in this end of the literal rainbow. The number in the population has been said to be 10 percent, now more likely 15 percent, and keeps going up, especially if you factor in the bi-curious crowd. So that’s a lot of people. A number to be reckoned with, and take note of all that you politicians.
More on that, but first I play more with the percentages. What are some others that hover around that-from-on-digit-to-two realm?
The same day as the Pride Fest, local version, there over in The Cities was Refugee Day. (Only a day? Really? We started having immigrants centuries ago.) With the local recognition, just in terms of numbers of people affected, both here and especially around the world, we now are really running up a tally. This blows that 15 percent figure out of the water.
Here are a few other such percentage instances. Over again, at Buffalo Wild Wings, I am waiting with bated breath for the finale of now, after-now-post-most-playoffs and the accompanying drink specials, how much of a dip there will be in beer sales. I suspect that here in Wisconsin it will not be a lot, but at BWWs elsewhere in the country it’s assuredly double digits. Triple in any places still holding to prohibition.
The COPA soccer cup currently on many sports channels is the next most popular of such since Copa Cavana, (is this Spanish or English spelling?) But now that the superstar from France broke his nose, not just nicked his lower femur, estimates are that viewership may be down a full 3 percent – wait a minute, that would be a typical if high number of goals scored, I meant to say 25.3 percent, a stat like all those in sports is very specific. And what effect will it have on online betting? None really, since the number of gambling addicts in our country, such as is its current nature, is said to be up 39 percent. They will find a handle.
The Boston Celtics celebrated their umpteenth NBA title with a parade through very high heat, although as a dissenting voice it was not unprecedented. Attendance was only down 8 percent when the temps were at 93 degrees, but rose to 17 percent once it reached 97. OK I’m kidding, as many brave Bostonians turned out and beat the heat.

But back to the Pride Fest. It was moved to higher ground, two miles eastward up multiple bluff lines, because of seemingly endless rain and its effect on flooding down by the river and its park, (more on this in a coming post.) But there may have been a potential upside, says this curmudgeon. The initial fest drew, also, lots of anti-gay protestors and if you want to find a method to the madness, consider that if you went out and bought an assault rifle, you could take out a lot more people in a position above the bluff looking down at the park, then at a tight-fit school. Although that hasn’t stopped riflemen from doing killer damage at such in the past.
So the number of attendees were actually larger and remarkable. But that sophomore jinx, seen by so many artists in music and elsewhere? Either you can find it tough to live up to the original, or if it comes to protests, they saw that they had made some traction, and came back louder and meaner.