(For more facts and the fairly fictitious of the frozen, see this web site’s Notes from the Beat department).
Pamela Anderson may be sleek, but you’d still more likely catch her, much less have a conversation, on the St. Croix River than on a Greyound bus:
— Its been well over a year since the theater run of Baywatch, as in the movie version, evoking images of Pamela Anderson in her famous red swimsuit. (Reminds me very much of my Asian friend Pom, not Pam, who is even thinner and being of the same age also looks great in a bikini, but that’s another story). What you may not know is that in the bowels of this suddenly cold winter, we have something to look forward to come spring, as there’s a chance that you could see Pamela in that suit on the St. Croix River. Let me explain. Before she was a superstar, Pamela had come to know some local people and they did her taxes — and you think your returns are complicated, but also think about that as your W-2s come flowing through in the mail. A friendliness developed, and Pamela has made trips up here to The Great Northland to keep acquainted. Mainly, a such acquaintance Nate says he has taken her out on the town on some of those junctures, and everyone has treated her with Minnesota-Wisconsin Nice, not drooled over her as a celebrity. The fact that he downplayed such meetings gives credability to his “I know a Hollywood hottie” story. A sidelight: Nate for a while ran an across-the-various-local-clubs gig with his mechanical bull, and added that Pamela has said she would get on for the ride on the next time up. Urban Cowboy (or Cowgirl?) And Pamela Anderson vs. Debra Winger? You decide.
— Riding the Greyhound bus to hike a holiday trip is not what it used to be. In past days when going to Milwaukee on the cheap, when gas was high, meant you might have to actually sit next to someone and have a conversation — wanted or occasionally unwanted. And who would get the awkward result of your seating choice of whom to sit by, and inflict your attempt at wit? But now there is an equalizer: Social media devices (SMD), or as I’d call them, Significant Meddling Distractors (SMD). Let me explain. Going both to and fro I was parked next to a young adult who spent virtually the whole trip streaming shows on their SMD. And when walking to the bathroom — everyone was doing the same thing. Until the bus was in the station and the lights came on. While stumbling to the door of the bus, they then tried to engage a bit in the very conversation they were missing. Is that what any of your SMD heroes would do?
— Was this indeed four-score? Because of the cold, the number of participants was actually only four-boards worth in the annual, anniversary party bean-bag-tournament of Kozy Korner in North Hudson. Has it already been 11 years? Most of them with a full parking lot for this occasional activity. (Or should I say lawn on the side, snow allowing)?
— Just across the way, at Village Liquor in North Hudson the advertising sign was almost buried under the snow that had been plowed into a questionable space. How do you measure this? How about seeing only the top foot or so of the fire hydrant a few yards away.
— While we are used to seeing tipsy people outside of bars who are very underdressed for the weather, seeing a guy in a T-shirt outside of the Smilin’ Moose in Canada style cold was over the top as far as choice of top.
— What, you want to have more snow? I encountered a woman at the laundromat who was hauling a great big shibang of clothing, so I thought I’d get the door for her. Why was she in sort of a desperate need? With the temps as they are, her septic system froze up, so this is why she was there. So what does this have to do with snow? Despite recent snowfalls, there was a lack of consistent ground coverage that translated to her freeze-up. With that said, she and I joked about the fact that I myself was left unaware and was hauling washed stuff in a great big box, not a laundry basket. Better not to use a shoe box, I continued the metaphor, as that would only work with carrying a dozen or so socks.
— And HudsonWiNightlife is more than classic rock, hip hop and country. As they note, and we report, there was the calling of all traditional sweethearts, to the classic triple-headed jazz experience at the Squire House Gardens in Afton for Valentine’s Day, (which actually was held this past Saturday, not on V-Day itself, but the rave reviews of the jazz music continue on, so it’s still pertinent). That’s because they know what they’re doing, as this was their 22nd time around with this musical three-some extravaganza. And the fact that it was, so to speak, a three-some, means that maybe these traditional couples could continue onward to add some spark to their love life, after being so prompted. Just kidding, as HudsonWiNightlife loves a joke.
— In North Hudson as posted on Nextdoor. “A stay cat that has been hanging round since last summer. Very skittish.” Like that old band, The Stray Cats, just hanging around? How many decades since their singular breakthrough album, (yes its been so long I can use that term). Only the Stray Cats were not at all skittish, what with walking on a fence and chasin’ mice around …
— The ever popular Jenn of gorgeous dark locks is back serving at Green Mill and apparently happy to be “home,” after a hiatus working elsewhere for about two years, to continue a stretch that marked a tenure of what, more than a decade? Still unfazed after all these years.