When hawking beer and whiskey, is it all really just a bump in the road?
— A Hudson man was among those featured in the annual “how much do you make” lead story in the Parade magazine that accompanies Sunday metro newspapers. Rick Mayer, 60, who it said works as a draft (or would that be craft) beer quality specialist, makes over $53,000 a year. Now that’s the job to have.
— A few months after their removal, the two speed bumps are back in the primary route that leads from the Citizens State Bank parking lot to the Buffalo Wild Wings lot.
They are in the B-Dubs signature colors, yellow and black, no less. But in recent days, and nights, the stop sign onto the main road has been bent over, apparently bumped into by a (possibly tipsy?) driver. That stop sign a few days later was bent back the other direction, and a few days later had been removed all-together. Two days later still, it was back in position, totally upright, “Stop” the madness!
— At the risk of beating a dead (or should I say red) horse, there is more news on the sign the size of a pie plate in the men’s bathroom at the Smilin’ Moose, specifically the one featuring the two Irish lasses going by the name of 2 Gingers and hawking whiskey. Over the last few months, their faces have been doctored many times with something like a mustache or braces. But for a bit now in place of those red-haired women, there is a sign for Redd’s apple ale. Apparently someone saw red over that low-key, although somewhat entertaining, vandalism.
— On Earth Day, a deejay at KQRS said he was observing the holiday by playing 100 percent “recycled music.” I’m sorry, but that’s just “garbage,” even though the plants and trees have greened out with summer here! A woman then called in, and chimed in, that she specializes in “recycling boys.”
— Traffic from Hudson to Guv’s Place in Houlton, and continuing across the river to Stillwater nightspots, for a while now has faced the same one-lane-road weaving around because of bridge construction as was earlier experienced on the Minnesota side for months. The colored barrels are out in force on Wisconsin Hwy. 35 for a full quarter-mile, meaning as Sammy Hagar so famously sang, “I can’t drive 55.” More like 25 mph.
— With the whole Tom Brady suspension over Deflategate that’s been playing out in sports bars, it makes me wonder if I should take that old volleyball in my garage — you know, the one everybody has that’s lacking air — and throw it in the St. Croix River. That way, I could get rid of it before the summer outdoor season and avoid accusations. Speaking of that, it also appears that those footballs ended up looking much like floppy rib eye steaks ready for grilling, whether in the BBQ cooker, or in the press.
— Recently on band night at the Smilin’ Moose, there was Elvis in all his glory, which in this case meant a bright red silk suit, of all things, rather than a white jumpsuit. That wardrobe choice was only topped by the servers wearing cowboy boots, which is fitting because the band playing there was again the frequent act Hitchville, and all-out country. (On the video screen the other night, there was a band member decked out in a pink three-piece suit, just a bit more pale then that paraded by the patron). And, in the Baldwin June Bug Days held recently, there was yet another Elvis impersonator, this time in an official capacity.
— A guy who looks just like the drummer for AC/DC has been the deejay at the Smilin’ Moose on a recurring basis. Is that the heavy metal drummer who has had the major legal troubles of late involving an alleged murder for hire — shall I invoke the term “death metal?” A Twin Cities radio jock recently announced the latest court news, and noted that this guy with the drumsticks just might be ethically following the “Highway to Hell.” I guess will have to wait until his sentencing, which should happen soon, to find out.
— On a recent weekend, it was more than hightime to lay claim to your own personal ladle drink at the Smilin’ Moose, as servers brought these oversize bowls-on-a-handle back and forth to birthday lushes at a greater than usual pace. Several stashes of these big dippers, which feature one of four multi-shot concoctions all with a Moose theme, hang from hooks above the bar, but one server said it was so high volume they even “ran out.”