Hudson Wisconsin Nightlife

The Day The Music Died and then became A Month or More and then made lyrics and instrumentals carry on at least a partial revival, (maybe to just be closed off again soon), makes some nightclub owners cry less in their beer (but still only the 12 ounce kind).

July 11th, 2020

(Before we could even consider rolling out the barrel and getting the economy via businesses opened again, things essential still were in need of want. Foremost among them — food. With ongoing record unemployment levels, it was all the more important to do things like feed your family, for cents on the dollar, so you could pay the rent or the mortgage. As part of an ongoing series of tips you won’t find anywhere else, to help you do such vital things, from the frugal/cheap German, see the fourth and fifth posts below on this page. And tell them HudsonWiNightlife sent you.)

The rollout to reopen Wisconsin’s businesses, with the bar end basically leading the way for good or bad and volume or no volume — and we’re talking not about music decibel level, but how much customer traffic comes forth and can bring risks in itself — and has been described as a virtual viral Wisconsin Wild Wild West, but in Hudson we are only talking, golly, Festus style severity, and that terming comes from the guv himself whose order was struck down to open the floodgates as right here is defined beer on tap. So it also has been characterized as slowly unfolding, mostly, with the bigger crowds in early-on-days being met with checkered weather, creating a patchwork of couple-hour busy spurts then famine, with the bar-belly-up people — and we’ll deal with that issue in a soon-coming post since the bar scene in the two-state area has been called the now defining factor in how we beat the virus — showing up at times you’d least expect in the tavern day, say really early at Guv’s Place, prior to even their well-known dart league starting. When factoring in brunch considerations and the happy hour hosting that is an independent kettle of fish; or is it, St. Croix County is just now on board to be a prime offender/originator as when its comes to partying, it’s only a couple of weeks now that the Mask People have fully appeared, and hopefully that also will keep viruses from rampaging across the border like some invisible Zebra Mussel, and this has really spurred the noticing and interest of visitors from the Milwaukee area. They spy the downtown Hudson sidewalks whether early or late, and the people interspersed between the vast number of promotional chalk signs — being from a southeast point that has been more of an incubation center.

<<Those who belly up to the bar may be the crux of a second wave, and this will be fully explored later as a popcorn-machine-meets ATM-machine crunch.>>

And some food venues have elected (purposely chosen word) that it might have been too early to open up at all, and they may have been Prophet, Priest (in the Judas sense) and King (in the Crimson and Diamond and Elvis sense). Every report you see has a far different take on the matter, largely dependent on location, location, location and the patchwork of health and what’s-allowable-where rules from different of those jurisdictions that differ widely by again, location, and can be at odds with each other. And some businesses have elected to stay the course further before fully opening their doors again, and not in any conceivable way put at-risk their customers and staff, and that decision can be driven by simple need for cash flow to start up again, and can you afford to wait it out. Here we go, local, and there are some rare but basically rich enclaves where there is simply enough money around in the mix to buy you a bit, or more than a bit, of time before you are finally forced to act. Uhm, where do you think Hudson fits in? And there you have it, another take in writing on why everything can be seen as ying or yang, this time from HudsonWiNightlife. And you think I’ll stop there? OK, some local businesses in the bar, food (broadly considered) and even salon focus have seen a full-fledged boon a couple of days ago, and some not nearly as much, and maybe that is a factor on a fast, whole-hog reopening when finally allowed, and for some not as much of a reason to rush. Part of this no doubt is the dependence on favorable weather and even on what days and even time of day it finally hits, as when there was that first warm day and timed around a three-day holiday, it looked like days or yore when magic filled the air downtown. We will ferret this out further.

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This newly contracted guru of how to chemically Keep The Country Clean and virus at bay — that’s the hand with the bottle — did the unthinkable with the other and obviously should have known better than anyone, HE SHOOK THE TRAINEE STYLIST’S HAND! A voice inside my head that said don’t look back, you can never look back, silently screamed NOOO! Where is Mr. Bill when you need him. Or maybe just Eddie, and save the fair maiden.

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So of all the oodles of tidbits that are telling about this whole reopening situation, even now that its been here, sorta, for a bit, how does this scribe who has all kinds of virus stories backing up in the stack and just can’t find the virtual space to print it all just like that, pull a rabbit out of the hat (hey, dated Easter reference) and dig up lots of newer news to keep things from getting trite? He has to act soon, we realize, as the soon-to-be second wave brings up all kinds of new contingencies, and what was old becomes new again, but will for a second go-round, majorly, require much more tweaking to work around that time snag, but that kind of redact is what HudsonWiNightlife is made for (we hope).
So what do many men of a certain age and ilk do — and we are not talking Viagra and all its counterparts, soon to be bought up by one company and create a monolopy, we are told, but not sure by whom or where. HudsonWiNightlife finally goes to the barber and gets a haircut for full throttle verification that also includes accurate scraping of the neckline, as much like bartenders, stylists know what the latest is, and most will freely share it, and even moreso if they are a female as talkative as the well-to-do ladies drying their hair.. Just check out any number of scenes in something like a Spike Lee joynt.
With that color of celluloid brought up, we must realize that how one sees that type of Protesting Light done in Hudson, until lately now when the shit-has-totally-hit-the-very-fancy-fringe factor and in this conservative white community and meant more outrage, is often: A middle-aged white guy standing outside at the curb, and not right on the edge, of his work at Accounting by St. Croix or such, semi-politely holds and wafts but not really waves a protest sign that features a watered-down paraphrase of an old Who song, while on his lunch hour. And this we must emphasize this is NOT the worker, in accounting I think, at a local drug store who lives in Oakdale and is much closer to the full force of the protests and who unwittedly inspired this admittedly very generic attempt at sarcasm. More gleaming is the sign in a vacant looking storefront in New Richmond, close to the now exploding bar scene in this now burgeoning city, on the following day, that stated the simple truth about the simply horiffic death in that simple three-word slogan. Or as my buddy would say: Horrendifying. So when the inevitable march with protest signs took place in Hudson, but was far less likely to shut down even a lane of main street then the lack of luck The Cities have had with closures of major highways, comparisons are readily apparent: To wit, the photos in the local paper showed exclusively young white women not screaming but chanting as one mass, shoulder-to-shoulder and kickin’ tha’ distancin’ thang to the curb. But as a slightly barbed counterpoint, without ever leaving the building as per Elvis, read on:
If you want something also timely and even a bit more biting, this from the pharmacist, who made the I think hilarious if not long remark when starting to work his 16-hour days, seven days a week, and said humor will get us all through, even though once he started wearing down from this grind, for the first time and then many more to come, I recall he looked very stressed and found it very difficult to laugh at our silly jokes, but here’s one that flew like, well you’ll see: I m going to talk to any of my older customers who are bearing a cough, then immediately catch a flight out while they still were being offered each night, to of all places Hawaii and their still-getting-rich hotel owners who put up a couple of cashiers as the first wave of defense, and then I’m going to let it be known that I might be one of those people they’d been fearing, and offer for the cost of a cheap domestic beer and an uhm $1,000 deposit, to go to the next place over instead to keep safety first for a few minutes and do the repeat of the same, and so on. Then by Sunday night he’d lay out plans to buy half the island. Why only half, you say, and the east half to boot? Ever hear of social distancing, mainland boardroom style? When the virus ebbs just a bit, its off on a cruise to Bermuda! Cash and carry.
The salon was now again open, but still could not shave off my mustache, much to my mother’s chagrin but my wife’s past delight, as that type of snipping can only be done in a licensed way by a barber, due to precious health concerns that existed prior to the era of the virus. Thus a good old boys network? She could at least be allowed to trim. And thus she did, prior to the ultimate botch of social distancing. In that case a man came around with a bleach bottle that was far more than could be handled by any blonde, in one hand, so what does he do with the free one? OK, get your mind out of the gutter, as this is a salon not a porno set. This newly contracted guru of how to chemically keep the virus at bay — that’s the hand with the bottle — did the unthinkable with the other and obviously should have known better than anyone, HE SHOOK THE TRAINEE STYLIST’S HAND! A voice inside my head that said don’t look back, you can never look back, silently screamed NOOO! Where is Mr. Bill when you need him. Or maybe just Eddie, and save the fair maiden.
I thought this was a hoot but still a glitch, and in the light of changing the subject matter around asked how the common good could be protected by taking the extreme lengths of cut hair that abound and can be donated to those who have little or none, when it would fall to the floor, like The Bodies Hit The Floor, and that could be literal if the virus abounds in the stray hairs. Perhaps You’ve Got Another Thing Coming, since just then stage right there was one of the many guys these days who have created a style so it could be followed, the football length beard mastered by the musician in ZZ Top of that name, then call James Hardin, and even the lead singer for Slayer of all people right before the gray caught up and they hung it up while still on top. Everyone seemed to be sporting such these days, and the ladies of the houses who might be holy will come by with a pruning sheers and say, Get Out Of My House If You Don’t Cut That Hair! And there are places she could go with that, ugg, that you don’t want to mess with.

<<We are newly open for business in the broadest sense, but that can at times exclude those ill and infirm, kids, the time challenged and nail-biters.>>

The concerns that are crucial, as we carry forth in the consummate conditions of kicking the virus to the curb, and here is a clearinghouse of the best and brightest and boldest. You can only stay as a patron for 90 minutes before it is kindly suggested that you depart, and that long trip to the bathroom will not save you. We love children, but kindly keep them at home before you come in and have your nails done, saved by a sitter who is biting the bullet and cannot partake in the same as far as the state of her nails, long getting scruffy from dealing with your Terrible Two, as in the original stay-at-home vernacular, stated with specific verbage, there were no restrictions on travel to get to some places where you would child-sit if a “nanny,” but a teen needing some “baby-sitting” dough is cut no such slack, as hey she is being proactive to get together her cash BEFORE the student loan death knell hits. Don’t Call Us Child, We’ll Call You, as if you want to order takeout at parts unknown, or at least undisclosed, you are being asked to kindly wait in the reserve seating area right inside the door, until your number is called, and that burger thus must be good. Social distancing being enforced in a gentle manner by signs of multiple variations of the famous Six-Foot, as in signs on the counter spaced about every two yards in a rounded bar-rail, (is that a contradiction in terms?), to say where you can plop yourself safely, As Perpetual And Keep The Country Clean. At Wal-Mart they right you all the way and around Six Ways From Sunday to get in just the right tack of their multiple doors, but the greeter is overtly smiley to make this bearable, or sometimes not, where luck of the virus draw kicks in or not. And then there are the signs using stick-ish figures, like you’d see on bathroom doors, spaced apart so there was no way they could hold hands, thus illustrating the point.
Decorations you can see on the dash-food-holding-area, to steer you inside for steak and such so you can order takeout, were the stock and trade of the people at Agave Kitchen and Bullpen Cantina, forming two parts of the same multi-level eatery, and showed with the cattle head that’s full-on like their food and not just the boney skull like in the Westerns … The point? Someone, and I suspect the Zoning Police, told them to Take Down Your Country Club and put the horns elsewhere. Fear not, another same-size version of that item was soon up, lower on the stick and further away from the main hub.
Wow on that first night open, a fave bartender at Starr’s was really decked out in makeup, unusual for her, hair fashioned incredibly up — and those ruby lips that would put The Eagles and Witchy Women to shame, or would they be Lipps Inc, although that dance music reference is before her time, when such tunage was first getting going. Young lovely meets Old School, (I love that phrase). Why? My idol of throwing out there a quaint reference to music lyrics, Chris Berman, was the guy who started this vehicle. I’ve tested the waters he parted by going deeper into the more obscure, as I’m sure you have noted.
Lastly, so many stores, largely in the realm of big retailers, which might make it make sense because of overall means, there are many an offering for people disabled, elderly or at-risk medically, of special shopping hours once or twice a week that are free from crowds — unless there are too many there from the disadvantaged community that the aisles have swallowed up them and any extra room. And what may such people be finding in observance of June Dairy Month, now extended into another J word(s), that being July journalism? The worship locally of Ellsworth cheese curds that abounds and is shown in such a way at Kwik-Trip with a special on both a full, near-pound package of these precious nuggets, (again mind out of the gutter), and for just a two-spot more — and that term is my word, re-enacted — you can add the butter to slather on the cheddarish curd, by cheddarish curd and keep the dairy lobby happy. And the special service, not sauce, populace time-frame served, is usually more along the line of one hour, and held in almost all cases at opening, on the days when it also can serve a business purpose for bringing in patrons at generally slow days. So everyone wins a bit, and especially the makers of Mongo-Plus-Clean-It-All products (just kidding, my wife just bought two).

Posted in The Headliner | Edit Comments Off on The Day The Music Died and then became A Month or More and then made lyrics and instrumentals carry on at least a partial revival, (maybe to just be closed off again soon), makes some nightclub owners cry less in their beer (but still only the 12 ounce kind).

What, reverse order? And did I reverse it again? I think that’s a leprechaun thing, and he did not get enough of his full-filling gags in a cut-short holiday, even for Paddy Ryan’s, who again cries for relief from such crunches from closures? Well it goes on and on and on, as more crucial dates on the calendar mount, and did he put some funny dust in my green tea? You decide.

July 6th, 2020

The lines have been drawn, as many pub and grills have done their best to reduce table seating to safety limits by simply moving straight backward many massive pieces of furniture, to the point where all or nothing presence of what’s allowed on top the linolium can smack of inefficient planning and giving no heed to the long lines of thin tables, at times from nearly one end of a large room to another, that could easily be more condensed. (There’s just no need for any now-created dance floor that is so big it will hardly ever be even half-full). This push-it-out-of-the-way often appears to be done on a wing and a prayer, although not a Little Wing, as that wing-it-ness would not consider stage room for a Hendrix and Vaughn.
But at Paddy Ryan’s Irish Pub in the town of Hudson, it still is done with all the organization-of-icons-is-artlike ambition of a Celtic Cross. That was clear when a day before their recent reopen-the-dining-area thrust, and even early on in that precursor day where before they’d be serving their breakfast that features just as ambitious use of ingredients that are Irish through-and-through with other twists added, the owner and others of his staff were hard-at-it getting the tables hoisted across the midway to the multiple wings, where they were two-deep in front of the huge and high windows that help bring light to nu-Irish dinners, but still spread out enough both lengthwise and up-and-down to be safe to be sure. And in the center of that arrangement in the large dining hall, is a single big table, easily able to sit four like a clover of that many pedals, with the obligatory six foot of floor between this crown jewel and its queen, and the other tables that fill only-perfectly the gap like a synapse so others can partake in parsnips fit for a princess.
Over-the-top-verbage, no doubt, but befitting those who are fantastically fair and find us fascinated before the fall. All of this well-thought-out spaceousness, right upon first sight, brought back memories of a fast friend, a wisp of a lass who I have not seen for many a year, but for whom many would ride many a mile. Sound like Irish prose? Her hair did not have all the red brightness of some, rather it was more subtle, with her no-wasted-slight-curves bringing on the attention, and though she could definitely not mix in with a crowd, her still slim frame would still make her in some people’s eyes have a presence known well before they could even peer into her a-bit-dark eyes. Maybe that is what has just caused me with my mind’s eye, to notice before the blowing wind could change the angle of my gaze, that the last time I’d seen her, she was poised in the very seat of the four that I remember should be given the preferred position befitting royalty.
Cripe did I lay that on thick. Maybe better for you to go see for yourself this big and slightly redacted White Room With (Green) Curtains At The Station, and have Paddy Ryan’s staff deliver what’s among their dozens of kinds of food that are thusly laying it on thick, sauce and accompaniments, and fit for a prince. Hey, the wait staff can now get it to you so much faster, going a route that’s almost as the crow flies, so enjoy. I will.

Posted in Notes from the Beat, The Headliner | Edit Comments Off on What, reverse order? And did I reverse it again? I think that’s a leprechaun thing, and he did not get enough of his full-filling gags in a cut-short holiday, even for Paddy Ryan’s, who again cries for relief from such crunches from closures? Well it goes on and on and on, as more crucial dates on the calendar mount, and did he put some funny dust in my green tea? You decide.

The Never-Ending Story begins, again, with a memory of a lass from my past, that was allowed when Paddy Ryan’s unveiled a slightly new, social-distancing friendly, layout to its big dining room upon full reopen of that style of service. And this wasn’t just a simple push-back of several tables. Still can say hello, just not hug. See above and in Notes From The Beat Department.

July 6th, 2020
  • With that build-up, insert the possibility of various green teas and other such shades and strengths of ale and beyond (lots of them) that go with being an Irish Entrepreneur, and throw in two pounds of sauerkraut that can be sold at a grocery just down the highway as a family pack, respecting Erin and her bountiful precious ilk, at a price half as what is also named here as fare, that being corned beef flats to complete a cool sandwhich. This can be done with Paddy Ryan’s or purveyors who could learn a thing or two from them, and they schooled both me and my lovely Irish wife, also on now-again dining-in ways to make the overall experience way above par. So, go to it with them as we did, between 4-9 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, as new hours of opportunity (the newer Irish Catholics put it that way) under these times that call for us to be all-in with respecting social distancing, and owner Kirk himself comes on the phone message and strives to describe the degree of safety needed (go all out), complete with appropriate pauses now and then in his well-formed sentences. Think I (awkwardly?) embellished there; just check where you are routed to now, up above and even heavenward from above, and you can tell my wife and you can groan with her:

Posted in The Headliner | Edit Comments Off on The Never-Ending Story begins, again, with a memory of a lass from my past, that was allowed when Paddy Ryan’s unveiled a slightly new, social-distancing friendly, layout to its big dining room upon full reopen of that style of service. And this wasn’t just a simple push-back of several tables. Still can say hello, just not hug. See above and in Notes From The Beat Department.

Bring back the Old School, even if school’s long been out, summer read. But just how bookish are you, to banish the newfound boredom? And what prevails in those pages? Want to cook up some excitement, and kick up some dust from what had been shelved in these stay-at-home times, giving your kitchen appliances, rather than your abs, a workout? And why do I sense a silly Weezer reference here?

July 6th, 2020

With very few entertainment options currently, read a book? Or a cookbook? During times when docs say even your local, low-grade newsprint daily, after being handled by dozens of people before it gets to you, can carry a virus much worse than an annoying stomach bug?
So what to do, when even your vaunted asparagus in the freezer could start getting a little vile, stemming from the very day the virus itself took your appetite from you and kept you from kicking your Irish up, for maybe the first March in time? Always wanted to unlock your true culinary self, and get healthy to boot, and certainly not give in to the desire to binge on ice cream during Dairy Month, and too much German chocolate cake as a dessert during its dedicated week? Whip through a Fresh and Natural store flyer, ready for your taking right when you walk in the door of what is a spacious foyer for social dining considerations, that cuts to the chase and doesn’t give you loads of of unnecessary verbage to sift through. After all, these days we seem to be having more and more constraints on our time, and at Fresh and Natural there’s a store design that smacks of functionality, not being a monument for some architects to themselves. The aisles are well arranged, little wasted space, although social distancing will always be respected here, and unlike the big box stores you don’t have to cover an area the size of a football field to pick up what you need. And the food is healthy for all sorts of reasons, and today more than ever we all need to be watchguards of that for ourselves on various fronts, and its great to get a little help to steer you the right way, and that also includes but is not limited to the Stairmaster, if you are going stir crazy.
So when did all this extra need get going?
Just a wee bit ago on St. Patrick’s Day proper, and quickly into the early evening, reams of stores of all types were told they must shut down pronto, as in the usual start of places having half-price appetizers. (See an inside column for a coming out and/or going away party, using an “arrangement” that’s not half bad. Across departments there are many more tips to not only entertain, we hope, but be recipe and cost-cutting bonanzas for all different ethnic varieties of food). So why not get much healthier food to boot, and at the same time take an absolute, total pass for that day on the chance to unveil your Irish? Go home and go to bed before any of the cool Irish musicians even start setting up their stages, for naught. Your full 24 hours of Erin simply has to wait for another day and might be quite off into the future. So how did and does the green go forward from here and triumph?
It thus starts with food, and enter the picture the Fresh and Natural locations in Hudson and Shoreview. Like birthday parties that become lengthy observances, like a virtual fulltime job, and I know this from some friends who seriously do want it to be all that, things extend with regular ongoing celebrations in what becomes an — official they’ll tell you — bonafide birthday month. The Irish emulate that when their favorite holiday is on a Monday and thus into Tuesday morning, and St. Patrick’s Day actually starts for them with corned beef and cabbage — or a host of lesser hyped meals that I myself will hype in a minute via Fresh and Natural — on the previous Thursday or early Friday for sure, with dinner, lunch or even breakfast, (and yes Virginia, of the dozens of intriguing Irish eats you can easily make yourself, there are even quite a few for when you rise in the morning and need a boost to hit the very ground running as to dodge all those newly enabled leprechauns who don’t ever seem to be more than knee-high. Plenty more such yarns of leprechauns acting up in future posts).
Local nightclubs have followed suit with their St. Patrick’s Day revisited drink specials, hardly any need to dig into your pockets for anything but a wee bit of change on your dollar — and each and every O’Donnell loves that — where even the most stout beer cost is slashed on the 17th of each and every month. So everyone is Irish an additional 12 days a year. And add another such food date when Paddy Ryan’s, not far down the highway from Fresh and Natural, pulls out all the stops not only in March, but also exactly six months later for a half-St. Patrick’s Day. And the food is bountiful, never a “half paddy.”

<<And if you can’t tell just why you couldn’t make it then, and now to finally cut to the chase of cheddar and chowder for chow, here’s how that Fresh and Natural flyer saved that day, through extending the window to the time it will need a bug screen, and then be by all means Irish.>>
— Colcannon is a long-back traditional dish made with mashed potatoes and cabbage, milk and butter, and sometimes with leeks and bacon added for flavor and just for fun, or a primer for cooks who shop then chop for a veganized version. It is called just as delicious as the meatier version above, including the middle two items of the six, which is expected to be central to cooking plans for June Dairy Month. And come that time, you can even find a whole boatload of filed-card recipes range of things, some of which I had not heard of before, and smack dab in the middle of that in a veritable laundry list of how you can use the aforementioned leeks. But as far as the colcannon, the whole recipe is featured in the March version of the Fresh and Natural newsletter, and even now that its summer there is the option of 10 percent off on certain days — which could get you an extra quaff of kiefer (a full quart?) Colcannon is said to make great comfort food, now and later. Options are to use tempeh bacon, and coconut butter for a creamy consistency, according to Fresh and Natural, for a great plant based dish.
— Now is the time for homemade sauerkraut with garlic dill, as the Irish meet the Germans — they had their food week too — as my family used to say and ponder. Not only is it called nice and easy, it is filled with probiotics, which are vital to keeping everyone’s bodies healthy, as the immune system is in our gut, and healthy bacteria from those probiotics is an aid to keep the good flora of bacteria in the stomach area at a good count. Uhm, probiotics in the form of pills? It’s also beneficial to add them to diet in the form of fermented foods. Homemade sauerkraut keeps well in the fridge for a few months. Add it to salads as a tangy topper, (and then can do without too much cheese, or heavy sauces), or use it in various sandwiches (don’t rely, again, too heavily on cold cuts).

At Fresh and Natural, assorted ice teas based on green bring on-board raspberry in healthy recipe and also cool style, to pair with so many others, and rest assured its indeed organic and dairy free, (HudsonWiNightLife uses two different verbal enhancers).

Posted in The Headliner | Edit Comments Off on Bring back the Old School, even if school’s long been out, summer read. But just how bookish are you, to banish the newfound boredom? And what prevails in those pages? Want to cook up some excitement, and kick up some dust from what had been shelved in these stay-at-home times, giving your kitchen appliances, rather than your abs, a workout? And why do I sense a silly Weezer reference here?

This man’s story as he headed east, and needed to make it blazing a trail just a bit: Fight that fire with fire(works), Venture store style, as far as where you shop. If time means you can’t wait to get to your fave spot and shoot off, enlist the help of Venture Fireworks, in order to exercise your Right To (Promptly) Party

July 5th, 2020

Let me venture a guess that Venture Fireworks in the town of Hudson would never let you have as bad an experience as a Minnesconsin man over a two-day period at one of those big box stores further into St. Croix County. The locally owned and operated store simply handle customer traffic, which is plentiful enough to show their popularity, much better in part via use of their large staff that just keeps racing around but fully under control and thus use their Wisconsin work ethic. They keep the shelves full of all the many choices, to the point of getting on their knees or being prostrate with the just-the-right-size items in order to restock each particular shelf, so there never was a need for customers, although legion, to wait at all — unlike the ordeal you are about to read with a place further toward Eau Claire.
The lines in Roberts were not only out the door, but stretched well into the parking lot, however not quite as far as the porta-potties around the corner that would salvage a use for the wait. At the end of the night there, when it was clear that in part because of remaining people, some of whom could not make up their minds about which if any of the inventory items they would buy, people were turned away as the minute hand on the clock moved past half. The promise was made that they would be served a discount if they came back the next day to try again, which likely was not pleasing to the many people from Minnesota there. But when morning came, and potential clients came edging back, their promise of keeping the two-for-one special was disavowed, the area man said. So all those can’t-be-rebagged goods that were present in excessively large quantities in the first place, ended up being really pricey.

Posted in Notes from the Beat | Edit Comments Off on This man’s story as he headed east, and needed to make it blazing a trail just a bit: Fight that fire with fire(works), Venture store style, as far as where you shop. If time means you can’t wait to get to your fave spot and shoot off, enlist the help of Venture Fireworks, in order to exercise your Right To (Promptly) Party

So Just Tell Me What You Want, What You Really Really Want. I Know SomePlace We Can Go — venture to Venture Fireworks. The fact that’s come to the fore, is that they will elicit wonderful ways to shoot ’em up from all over the area.

June 28th, 2020

Its time for the booster of days that’s of a bunch of buys to step in with their body of work, as in fireworks and save the local celebration both this day and especially this evening and into the night, as the City Of Hudson fireworks display appears to be a cancellation, as of Friday morning.

But the show must go on, even if the traditional of the two major components, classic rock and country bands, and the weekend municipal fireworks show, is a no show during Booster Days. But the flash over the St. Croix River on the Fourth holiday, and virtually any other park, backyard or byway that can legally be host, is something everybody flooding into Hudson from the Twin Cities and virtually anywhere else beyond in a self-described several-county area, can be emulated by the help of SomePlace We Can All Go. Its just off of Exit Four to the north, and everyone can still love Saturday night, with the help that’s been there and very well used all along, that being locally owned and operated, and we night add staffed, Venture Fireworks.
So as people made their way down the freeway, they could have noticed what is a sign of things that were happening at the moment and still a few more days to come, a beer van with an apparently hot-blooded-by-its-blazing colors, T-Rex painted on the the back, and breathing fire. That could be symbolical of what What Is and What Will Be as an entertainment option, so scarf up one of those Toppling Goliath brews and see what awaits as part of your Venture. This is in the hundreds and hundreds of equally brightly colored boxes filled with lines of soon-to-be-producing sticks that will blaze big, and just as many stacks of circular shaped orbs that will do the same, and on and on. The dozens of large flags greet you at Venture Fireworks, large blowup figures that are even larger extend the welcome, and the encumbering and huge lines of people at the Big Box Fireworks places, well they simply are not to be found at Venture Fireworks. They’ve got the volume covered.
And the price is nice, too. Other vendors give you the two-for-one rates on oversize items and other such cost gimmicks, but Venture Fireworks prides itself on foregoing the trickiness and giving true value in the options for various volumes of What We Really Really Want. For this kind of stuff, there are deep, double-digit discounts that take account considerations that can fit almost anyone’s situation.
If you trek four minutes up the freeway after crossing the St. Croix River, you can exit to get stuff that goes boom in the night and be back in the time it takes to play a couple of favorite songs on the radio, then celebrate more of the loud bang or the subtle pop. The full and friendly staff is studious, and conversant about the many fireworks they sell. This makes it a mid-summer night’s dream, as they are open until 9 p.m.
There are military and cash discounts available. Venture Fireworks can be found at 631 Commerce Drive, Hudson, WI 54016, just north of Interstate 94 off Exit Four in the town of Hudson. Contact them at (715) 386-8757, or at www.venturefireworks.com, or on Facebook. Please mention this article if you patronize Venture Fireworks.

It is almost time for a weekend update, provided as a snap, crackle and pop, as the date on which July Fourth falls allows those cooped up indoors since the start of spring to experience in a renewed way those sounds and sights that fireworks invariably bring. The Big Bang brightness can blaze up the bluffline airspace of the big river — but at a safe enough height above the tree line to with seemingly boundless beauty supply, up high, a special spirit to social distancing — even from hundreds of oaks and their countless colors that evolve dependent on how far up they rise, and point the way while climbing to a realm usually seen only while in hot air balloons. And then when completely over land, the trees can yield to fireworks that reflect, glow and shimmer, starting at the edge of the wide St. Croix River and lasting to be viewable from town, whether they’re fired by amateurs or pros, from a big municipal park or a moderately sized backyard.
This view of, if one over land, or two over water, means there’s a lot more to be seen on a steady basis all through the holiday weekend, than just when the city sets theirs sky-rocketing. Now that the-stay-at-home edict has waned almost to non-existence, and people don’t have to watch from their houses, only one at every window please, and many individual people are again shooting off their own as part of the Fourth weekend, it’s indeed the time of the season for lovin’ your own special ‘works.
So yes, Virginia, there will again be the blasts and flares, and certain high exploding shells that feature circular patterns up where eagle dare, done to the taste and specs of everyone in your family, and your city. But this year people will be trying to cram all this into a much smaller window of time because the possible presence of that nasty virus that’s also exploding in magnitude, at least prior to this holiday. So the streaking multiple paths of mini-missiles have not been seen too much yet. But wait a minute …
In somewhat recent times, well before the month has turned, this is where Venture Fireworks has found their venue a vital part of what’s to be obtained in the Hudson area. For the bulk of June and before, only by appointment made in advance at the store, small groups of shoot-to-thrill revelers found they could get all things going bump in the night, that visitors and local fireworks fans could visualize as a substitute for part of their own Dream Theater, which would have to get them by for a time. But if your group’s been for a wedding party, engagement, birthday, anniversary, retirement, promotion, or even — make sure you’re pointing the right direction — divorce party. And the staff at Venture Fireworks is knowledgeable and experienced but careful to listen to your own ideas, professional with terms bantied about but still friendly in explanations, and patient with newcomer clients but still right there when you need them to answer a question, no matter if you’re both in a different section of the long aisles, in part aided by an open midpoint to walk through and see even more. The Venture Fireworks ownership says they strive to be Johnnie on the Spot as much as possible to meet the needs and in particular the schedules of all who make the trip over Interstate 94 to the Exit Four, then north and curving around the back of truck stop, then proceeding a few blocks. And if the staff can be that attentive with the quite close to full house bunches of people around July 1, the observance of the midpoint for 2020, think how much facetime they will be able to give you if being part of that earlier, appointment-based time.

Posted in The Headliner | Edit Comments Off on So Just Tell Me What You Want, What You Really Really Want. I Know SomePlace We Can Go — venture to Venture Fireworks. The fact that’s come to the fore, is that they will elicit wonderful ways to shoot ’em up from all over the area.

Another take on the description of music acts that he leads, trio, hits the stage jammin’ on Saturday, on top of an aforementioned star down the street of the added three inches, not necessarily the three chords. It’s a virtual slam dunk of joy when taking on Urban Olive and Vine on Saturday, since being taller in stature on both the stage and the court than 5-foot-3. Danzig and Dio take note, its Alan Busby’s time..

June 27th, 2020

Make a Joyful Noise, in any number of different forms. A recent retiree from the Twin Cities, a step that allows him to partake further into in his many music endeavors, Alan Busby with his trio called Joyful Jammin’ plays Urban Olive and Vine on Saturday evening, Sept. 19. Busby, whose makes us recall the Alan Parsons Project, leads three trios in the region and other acts that include a Carole King/James Taylor tribute band.

The leader of this band is definitely not five-foot-three? Especially on the Newly Reopened Gridiron to be celebrated this Saturday night. But more of that in a moment. The newest of the new bands to crash Ziggy’s in Hudson is Grand Theft Audio, and you can’t miss the reference to the popular video game you can play while cooped up inside, and now that you venture out can see many more others who are also kicking stir craziness, by getting behind the wheel. In in sports cars of all colors of the rainbow, like a comfort food icy or three gone wild, and in size everything from roadsters that won’t go up much higher than the waist, (more linkage to that Big leader of the band referenced right off the bat). to those old Big Boat cruisers that were actually made of real heavy metal. And oh, about the Audio thang, they have a guitarist that appears to me, at least in a somewhat blurry photo, to look like Aaron Rodgers, and I swear I’ve seen such a guy or three at Dick’s on weekends. Take that QB Cousins.

Next is the Saturday Night Live of Urban Olive and Vine, featuring a small group that starts a bit earlier — maybe have dinner there? — so you don’t have to wait long to continue the quest for music and can take in both acts downtown, with the latter band boasting everything from marimbas to congos to flute. Oh yeah, the band name is Easy Groovin’ and not to be confused with that rockier song, Easy Living, from back in the 1970s. That I dare say is before the venue I described was in existence.

 

And regarding any inferred QB rivalry, were there that many music acts in the three-day weekend? You do bar math and decide. And I will suck up and try not invoke a reference to that venerable local rock group, Eight Foot Four, although its tempting. Ziggy’s put the zang (is that a word? It is now), in the holiday again, with a new raft of rock and even dance tunes, which is somewhat new to them.  The pop-ish end plays out too, with Drink 182, you read that right, invoking the best of the 1990s on Saturday night, and what better way to cope with the end of summer than to down a few. On Sunday night its “MPD” dance stuff and we are not talking the Minneapolis Police Department, and if you hurry its the new hurrah of an old act, 5 Minute Major, and HudsonWiNightlife gets a 2 minute minor for cluing you in late. And to round out the analogy, there is more dance music at the Smilin’ Moose and Dick’s all weekend, with acoustic music to boot, and to push it one number past, the new wave of Urban and Olive music throughout.

You won’t want to cry if you lay eyes on him now, as the thrill may not be gone, but the beard is — and has been.

Caught up with the one known as The Younger Of The Two Basketball Brothers when things were closed and opening still seemed Like Just A Day Away. This server and the elder (did I say that?) statesman and bartender at Dick’s grew out his still very black beard with the promise of not trimming it with more than a well-placed clip or two, (the ladies assumed), until the drink again flowed indoors at his longtime place of employment. But it wasn’t as long as November, as far as the vote of the opposite sex, and the chance to hit the woods where the virus was we hope as spread out as the prey being hunted, that the fairer sex among owners teased to stuff that idea and trim away any resemblance to James Harden. So no go for now on, say, anything more than a slight goatee — unless later going goat hunting on a mountaintop.

But also during this downtime, in which Dick’s was one of the few places that didn’t jump into a takeout tack right away, they retooled their dance music area to have far more than Tool, if they ever did, and also shore up the restaurant and front bar room. That’s where you would come in and make your way around by visiting the north side horseshoe and entering the middle area where young men and women strut their stuff; and even an old guy can show what he’s got by picking a dollar bill off the floor with his teeth and very little bend of knee. And we think that skill is more essential then the much younger gent who tried to skirt the cover change of — again — a dollar bill by making a limbo move. But wait, there’s more and its really less, to be of service in these virus times and who knows, to bring in more men and women from Minnesota than even on the re-opening weekend, the cover has been waved.  So it would have to be elsewhere to raise some revenue so all could be clean-shaven and given no quarter, as that’s the added price of a whiskey sour these days. But you’re still 75 cents ahead …

<<Floating another idea that actually took root before being pre-empted by The Black Crowes a year or two later when their rock tunes were rock solid, but their loading up of other mainly odd instruments to push the boundaries of rock toward  folk, but went up in a cloud of dust; or was that some other Purple Haze that brought That Smell?>>

It has been a few Metallica-less years at Float-Rite Park, but their flat-plane surface will greet Lars and the like on the evening of Aug. 29 in the band’s first concert this year, but it will be on the big screen literally, as a drive-in theater motif will be the method of delivery. Its been decades since I covered the metal of Metallica in a story for the Eau Claire-Leader Telegram and every note and word was as clear as a whistle — even when the lead guitarist started off “One” atop a huge triangle of blazing scaffolding, ax slung below between his legs being all that could be seen. As for the local connection to Hinder, the band at one point also long ago was on the verge of playing a gig at the iconic old Dibbo’s, as a stopgap stop between performances in the Twin Cities and Milwaukee-Chicago. But as deals sometimes go, it fell through, perhaps because of the going rate for Hinder was not on the hind end, and it had largely been suggested by a man from Hudson who knew the band, not always a standard channel. Another part of this touring concert mix has been the lighter tones of the band Daughtry, fueled by a near-total-take on meet and greets with him. In these grim virus times, I guess it can’t always be OzzFest, although the alleged Prince of Darkness (I would dispute that as a source for downplaying Daughtry) might have some pull here. Better to go to Ziggy’s in Hudson on Saturday night and thereby approach Critical Mass in a constructive way, before it leaps into into critical condition — for an encore?

<<To take what is Kozy and expand on it around town, with the focus being fantastic food and drink that started with early spring holidays, and may now elicit memories of such traditions as they played out in earlier (better?) years, check out April and May postings — sorry about the breadth and depth of those pieces, or should I just cut the crap and add they’re just long — on The Headliner department. As for celebration of this Fourth, as all but the grilling again basically crapped out, you can still be left with the recall of the sights, sounds and smells of all the holidays prior to mid-summer — and can also be enjoyed all year with a little creativity — and relive the ongoing tastes they put in your mouth via vicariously the best of times. JW>>

So close, to July Fourth and with standard stuff going bye bye, here’s a possibility for a festivity of a different but much related type, originating in a different country, different flag (see later) … different food:

For Cinco De Mayo, get with dishes and drinks that are truly in sync with being Mexican and on The Fourth, get wrapped up in a phrase that can be viewed two very different ways, Tex Mex, although they go way beyond that experience. As they are indeed experienced.
Habanaros on The Hill is the real deal, both because their Mexican food is more authentic then virtually all places that make such a claim, and when you look at what you get for your money, rivals even other places nearby such as Taco Johns and Taco Bell. That is because in their extended, broad happy hour, it’s max out true Mex. Want festive food now that the virus has taken hold, this is your place, as shown by the accurately Aztec god standing between signs of specials. There are 2-for-1 specials on hump day Wednesdays, not just their competitor’s buy one and get 50 percent off the second, to make you truly happy, on not just the usual stuff, but also house margaritas and other margaritas based on actual Corona Premium (aptly named these days on two different fronts). The specials go beyond the usual Mexican fare in this country, and feature names such as Pastor (like a spiced up shepherd’s pie), Cartinas (often using pulled pork and branching off far beyond the usual taco meat), Pollo (with main items and spices of other ethnicities often inserted), Arroz (adding tomato laden rice), barbacoa, and other meats such as chicken and beyond — and don’t forget the steak — and cheeses. Plus, there is a dish spelled like the fajitas that are part of the list of specials but again, beyond. For the record, this is flauta, with again, chicken being central.
Make this your target and trek here, just north of Target.

So Close, So Close and Yet So Far? Not for the lovers of the ‘Korner’ pizza, where you can get delivery, for no extra price at all in the vast majority of cases and places, or just a sheckle or two more than if trekking out with the Kozymobile and hitting the nearby townships.
— Want to get your gourmet pizza delivered to your door and the cheese is still bumbling? Or if you don’t want it so spectacularly simmering, have so much “dough” left off your delivery cost that you can pile on enough added toppings to help the underlying cheese serve you a solid for thickness sake and simmer down slightly, to just the right doneness? Enter Kozy Korner in North Hudson and their delivery within that same village and also the city of Hudson free of charge, and the pies are not pricey to begin with. And if their delivery guy, and maybe its the cool main owner himself Ryan who pulls up, has to extend his route a little further, toward Houlton and also into the towns of Joseph and Hudson, its only $1 to $3 more than if you’re eating inside the multi-roomed pizzaria, which of course is being the subject of reopening. So you can still have a good douse of extra pepperoni and/or other Italian sausage for your tummy and change remaining for your pocket.
— These days you can still find your music fix if you know where to look, as actual concerts are nary a few. And we at HudsonWiNightlife will guide you there, even though you may have to live without that loud guitar. So what gives? Book-readings of the totally intimate setting so many singers love can still be found, but you may have to go spoken word, and those words might actually be only in your own head. And you now know what I’m getting at. Hey, Old School before even The Stones, pick up a book! So this is the way you win that war against False Metal, so to speak, grab the thingee in bindings and open it up. It will not be actually read aloud at Hudson Bagel on Carmichael Road for you non coffee-shoppers, as the temporal power of the virus has for now shut down that kind of book recitation, but in this and other cases locally, you can turn loose the power of your own mind ala Bruce Dickensen, the prolific author and swordsman turned long-time lead singer of Iron Maiden, and buy a copy of many such a treatise by many authors. That gets you acquainted (or-reacquainted), with symbolism that forms the mysticism of metal, or the verbage on many different fronts that indeed gets your creative juices flowing by unlocking the power of your mind. The one book cover that really intriqued me got my groove going with subject matter that seemed to be framed with mythological beasts, sword and sorcery, and vamps of all kinds. Like many a concert I have listened to and seen with all sorts of props amongst the band members, but without going so far as to cause stage fright. Ozzy would likely endorse this sense of balance, which he has said is found in his collecting of both crucifixes and demon figurines.
Buy hey, the live music in some forms and venues has now, finally, come back. For example, Ziggy’s has brought back their music performances of many kinds, from soloists to full bands, culminated in quartets or quintets in-concert on Friday nights. The latter is also again present, usually in a like time frame and style of classic and modern rock, or southern rock or new country — at The Smilin’ Moose, starting on the very evening of this written piece.

Posted in Picks of the Week | Edit Comments Off on Another take on the description of music acts that he leads, trio, hits the stage jammin’ on Saturday, on top of an aforementioned star down the street of the added three inches, not necessarily the three chords. It’s a virtual slam dunk of joy when taking on Urban Olive and Vine on Saturday, since being taller in stature on both the stage and the court than 5-foot-3. Danzig and Dio take note, its Alan Busby’s time..

It is finished. The lack of many kinds of spiritual fulfillment, that is. And a bit before churches were allowed to be open at 25 percent congregation capacity, you could still find a way to be the 13th disciple, as there was one spot to pray and meditate for that number of hours if you know where to locate it. Or march to the beat of a different drummer and do these things while on a labyrinth, striving to locate a chaplain who just keeps on trucking, boarding the Peace Garden not Train, or while taking a trek through the Cemetery, but not Pearly Gates of Pantera..

June 5th, 2020

You can still pray and/or meditate under the area social distancing and closure restrictions, if you can locate the right place, but it might not be in a church gathering area itself with a full congregation and you can’t really manage it it with a prayer partner. But still the live-streaming of services, not just the Sunday morning ones, but smaller prayer vigils all weekend long, has become the new way to manifest Mass — even if the few other “essential” activities that had still been done indoors at the churches, rather than just a kibbitz for a very brief moment in the foyer, and now have gone the way of the old Habit, were curtailed — no exceptions — so filming of Father could be done upstairs.
So an old friend of mine who is a solo singer/songwriter and performed for a few months in downtown Hudson, Sarah Pray, is not someone that can get your spritual juices going as a part of a duet with you, or full band, no matter how pretty her long dark locks are, and friendly enough to procure a Sarah Smile. There is not enough room in the current Agave kitchen, up in front, where a full-size table now is, but not one that’s any longer than the one in mother’s kitchen. And forget bringing in another old act, Metal Church, in from any place of worship at all using the out door The 1980s had seen AIDS but not This Virus.
But if you can distance from being near the roadies, if you have any, and don’t require an audience or a rhythm guitar player, there still is one place you can go — and you impromptu concert with yourself can go on for a full 13 hours, including the encore. But like in so many cases these days, you have to limit it to one, even if there is lots of applause from the next room in the “venue” I’m going to suggest, which could have a Seventh Street Entry and First Avenue vibe going on and last a whole 13 hours. That praise would have to be for the main act, who has been pleasing throngs of people, as many as 5,000, for about 2,000 years. And few can just Let Him Be, or be an opening act, but there is a veteran backup band of brothers.
OK, I’ll quit being coy, and tell you a place you can still worship in your own way, and this will have to be satisfying enough for these days when so many options for spiritual expression through things that start with music and take many other forms, have been shut down. If you go to St. Patrick’s Catholic Church on Hudson’s east side, and maybe only that place around, the chapel featuring Blessed Sacrament with about 12 pews each, on a right and left side is open for obviously “private” prayer from virtually sun-up to sun-down, each and every day, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. That’s like that all-day worship session that used to be done by the Israelites, much to the chagrin of their even-in-those-days-sometimes-hyper children — and you think you thought Father’s homily was long! Formal observance of Adoration, basically a one word name, has been suspended for a while, meaning a goal for a record number of continuous months with at least one person present just might be in jeopardy. But people can still bring a rosary, though it is not come one, come all. And no ushers.
To weekend update, you no doubt have heard that there as of virtually now are allowance of churches holding their services as long as the capacity isn’t more than 25 percent. The main thrust of the backlash from a governor was faced by Walz in Minnesota, when the Twin Cities archbishop defied the order of no more than ten people at a time being present, and not closer than six feet apart. God won this one again, as there was a relaxation to the “one-quarter” rule announced at basically the same time as a cavaet that objectors wanted more membership at once would not be harshly treated. Not nearly what Jesus faced. That is finished. Forget the Sign, of Peace and Holy Water is not nearly the cherished thing it once was; can’t even take solace in wafting in the part being evaporated. But I think we can allow insence, as long as that chain in front of Father is Really Long. Word is still out on those ushers at the cathedral who have been known to stearnly “suggest” that parishioners not congregate in the back near the area where the cool Navitity and its Holy Family and related members are, rather take a seat while allowing reasonable distance between each other. In Jesus’ day that would have required a lot of straw piles. And no more than three wise men. Shepherds, continue first with your Run To The Hills
There is an obvious question here. Who gets to be part of the chosen few, in this case 25 percent, who can continue in the main area where there are the pews. Can some of those Roman soliders be on retainer and use their skills to keep the percentage from swelling to 26 or 27? Will there be a drawing of lots? Jesus will not be feeding the 5,000. Silly commentary, no doubt. But it shows that even the things we continue to not necessarily be sacred, but shown in practices that edge toward the status of doctrine, can be temporal when tweaked by the likes of men. So take them as and when they come, and don’t, as my wife would say to me, be a Creaster. It was just weeks ago that we were weighing if their even would be an Easter as we’ve known it. So I say get your religiousness in as it is presented in front of you. And if you are like me, that includes music in so many forms.
And now other local varieties to kick in your spiritual: (1) The prayer labyrinth that weaves though much of the outside footage of First Presbyterian Church, within walking distance of St. Patrick’s, although some say it could be even larger, like a couple of those in the Stillwater area from whence their designer hails. (2) The much similar but much bigger cemetery walk from St. Patrick’s, although their Cemetery Gates are on the other end of town, that includes even more woods and more woods. (3) The Transport For Christ chaplain by name of Tim Sackett, who had hailed from the Hudson truck stop and now because truckers are getting their spiritual fix from the radio and such is retired — or as the Catholics would say, in residence — can still likely be found in Hudson proper, and I’m sure would love to talk. Just don’t ask him what he thinks of Ozzy’s Bark at the Moon. (4) The peace garden in the middle of the parking lot at O’Connell’s Family Funeral Home, which is packed full of artful decore and greenery just starting to color out for summer, not exactly a mosh pit since its full of metal and wood and leafy arrangements rather than elbows touching each other and thus respectful of social distancing. But it is at a concert or theater that perhaps we could have learned a way to better get around these things better and sooner, taking the velvet roping approach and putting needed sideways spacing between patrons and only leaving to chance your breath on the back of the fan in front of you. Put another way, only sit on one side of the pew, and leave enough space going forwards and backwards from you so your finely honed falsetto is not too iritating.
There is more for another time, as HudsonWiNightlife is trying vainly not to Ramble On, and the focus even moreso is the the infamous — did I make him so? — Fr. John and his mates. And also, just what is so special to a local man about his almost daily and long excursion to that St. Patrick’s chapel, in part because of who he meets up with, for not quite like the Fishers of Men on the small boat, quite prayfully respecting social but not spiritual distancing.

Posted in Notes from the Beat | Edit Comments Off on It is finished. The lack of many kinds of spiritual fulfillment, that is. And a bit before churches were allowed to be open at 25 percent congregation capacity, you could still find a way to be the 13th disciple, as there was one spot to pray and meditate for that number of hours if you know where to locate it. Or march to the beat of a different drummer and do these things while on a labyrinth, striving to locate a chaplain who just keeps on trucking, boarding the Peace Garden not Train, or while taking a trek through the Cemetery, but not Pearly Gates of Pantera..

Kozy Korner has had its ‘opening’ data specified in three separate places on its marquee for weeks, before its reopening with limited seating — but the aforementioned delivery and takeout goes on

June 3rd, 2020

(Virus or not, is there a vigil in the village? Look elsewhere my friend, such as on The Headliner — is that God?)

When they say they open at open, they mean it … And the prices will really open your (bleary) eyes:
— The sign at Kozy Korner in the village of North Hudson has on most days said they open at either 11 or 8 a.m.,
depending on whether its a weekday or weekend, and now-needed “delivery starts at open.” And that’s for certain
not a few moments in time later, but truly on the hour. These last couple of days they are redacting their verbage to
make it better serve customers, who can venture into the double-door gathering area and then a couple feet inside
before being stopped by a series of velvet ropes, theater style, that thus indeed look kozy and prompt patrons to
give their order for pickup — and that often might include a special breakfast pizza. Or the Wednesday wonder of
specials, a K-esquedia, if you have Mexican on your mind. And Monday welcomes in each new week with $10
wings and beer, hard to beat. Plus, on each of the five days of Monday-Friday, from 11 a.m. to 6 pm., the koziest of
all extended Happy Hour Specials. But wait, there’s more, because as they’ve recently said, and you’d have to wait
and see the sign, there is an additional offering that’s very kozy with your money. Surprise? Well, we knew this was
coming, there now is limited seating available inside, to compliment the roomy enclosed outdoor patio, and
accommodate both rules and our recent rain. They can even use a slice of their hearty pizza to prop open the door
so you can come in. But, really, you’d rather eat it.
— Just up the way is the special advertised at Village Liquor for a fizzy, we’re assuming but in a good way, drink called
Vizzy, and I have to wonder if it is endorsed by Ozzy himself. But this brew is in various medium sizes, meaning you
can get it for pennies on the dollar for what it would cost for a Black Sabbath ticket, plus have enough left to get
one to go, to boot, after listening to the iconic-but-not-fashion-statement Fairies Wear Boots. But guesswork also
suggests that Mr. Osbourne, also known for helping write Mr. Crowley, and they both are known for their excess,
would want the full 30 pack — and another to go.

Posted in Picks of the Week | Edit Comments Off on Kozy Korner has had its ‘opening’ data specified in three separate places on its marquee for weeks, before its reopening with limited seating — but the aforementioned delivery and takeout goes on

Where the green ends and that’s a basketfull, white and other colors begin, to make a case for an indeed full case of produce at Family Fresh

May 16th, 2020

Working the green game for (hopefully) greenbacks, and not just vegies for what my uncle calls his ground game:
When playing the many other greens, not just grains, no one has the assortment of Family Fresh in River Falls (where my contact is) and New Richmond. There I go way back, way back, when first saw that quite round fruit with little stick em’s sprouting off the sides, with a name I couldn’t even pronounce (read tropical), but hey, a sampling made it clear its got a great taste is all its own. There are literally dozens of such make-a-killing-at-your-dinner-party, (now that they are allowed again, if people don’t hang too much as the buffet table you’ve put out, via Family Fresh and still as current as all their green fare). A reference to a very-much-like-that, aforementioned big fruit even minus the husk but very pineapple, which I just absolutely have to throw in there, is Green Jackfruit in brine. And its not all just all things Green, which can carry forward as a deal the extended St. Patrick’s Day, as many virtually everyone is co-opting, a really cheap, occasional cabbage at a pure 39 percent a pound, but in shades other shapes, colors and sizes that can turn your grad’s fruit tray into a virtual calidoscope.
— That’s just an example of how stuff languishing in your fridge — OK maybe the Jackfuit is a exception –can fill up main things such as your salsa, with other somewhat secondary as-such enhancements, providing with the bounty that simply adds to it — various fruits, crumbled taco chips, and lime and other potato chips, about four in each of category, and that include as a base mayo, BBQ sauce, ketchup, more salsa, and even tofu for those who kinda lost out on Easter and its meatiest. Throw into the mix of the hottest of the hot peppers, and even horseradish sauce, and see who can do with the most flaming throw-in, as this is the time of year for grass fires, amongst the men in the household, who you could have compete to see who could best wolf-down magna, or maybe its You Go Girl .. until at least July Fourth. Screwed up my buddy? There are always those more secret jars of sauces found in a jar down in the basement that could save you from being a fire-breathing dragon, or make needed a Mexican beer, needless to say post-Cinco De Mayo.. With that said, its just over a year now since the whole chili feed thing has been foremost, and then of course motorycle rallies to follow, and with the cold temps and social closures being of paramount concern, the heat has been on so to speak, and it appears lack of participation has been in the offing …
— And for the Passover season, you can get at a great price at (some) local supermarkets, salad and lentils with cucumber dressing, (and lentals come in as many colors as bell peppers), and also some Jewish rye to keeping it kosher, as these same places.
— Now might be the time to jazz up your pasta, with its various shapes and forms, throwing in some holiday turkey and vegies such as broccoli and carrots, as well as cream of (insert this blank) soup. This in case you get tired of the old turkey (and also ham?) sandwiches, and if you read the reference as turn-key, there are indeed varying options that include, but are not exclusive of bogging down your freezer, as virtually all of the weekend flyers have aspargus as a bedding (my wife’s favorite). Mom likes to be frugal, but please forego the cost savings, down to nothing spent, on that powdered milk in the back of t he cabinet — not on the day she is waiting to be pampered, so just don’t reproduce this format as a double down for Mother’s Day itself if you forgot HER fave, better to hold off to Father’s Day and combine roses, too, make THAT YOUR DOUBLE DOWN. As in two dozen roses?

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