Looking down at the low-to-the-ground powertakeoff on a seemingly out-of-place tractor, parked just down the way from Ziggy’s music club, as I walked down the street. Could this be the Farm Aid concert all over again?
Trailing behind it was a trailer that could have housed a pony such as a Shetland but not a full horse, as not even this occurrence with its need that I will show you below has such horsepower. But it was adorned with logos of dozens of sponsors, but for what cause.
The potent plague that is Parkinson’s. As it is seen not necessarily from here to eternity, but from here to a far coast, as there are victims everywhere, more and moreso.
To summarize. The tractor was being taken on a trek from a start in the lower Midwest, to the upper Midwest, then all the way westward across several states.
— And what, there’s even more such need afoot? You know a benefit is for a worthy cause when it gets the Dweebs to play for a full four hours. Springsteen style length. Even more than the local tribute band for The Boss.
Larry Larson is battling stage 4 brain cancer that Mayo was not able to fix, although he’s been back and forth after an initial surgery, and there will be a fundraising event to help him live out his days as best he can, on May 25 at Big Guys BBQ Roadhouse, just up the road from here. As there will still be a long road for Larry and even moreso his family.
The longtime legendary show band that like many has only gotten better and rockier with time plays from 7-11 p.m. And if you think you are worthy to be an opening act — and hey I am not worthy so will not grace you with my presence, unfortunately, only bow down to others who are killer — there is karaoke from 5-7 p.m. And plenty of BBQ dishes, five by my count, during and after. Raffles too.
These days it seems to be a truism, does it not, that as times get tougher for just about everyone, more and more the financial brunt for families hit with a sudden need comes down to such benefits, and we’re not talking just a brunch. You can see the writing on the wall by looking at the changing pace on just about any bulletin board, at places like nightclubs and what have you. And we have come to need them all.
And so many of the backstories just tug all the way back at your heartstrings. And one seems to top the previous one, as more announcements are crammed into the limited room on the spongy, squared spaces. Larson, for example, recently retired and also then married the love of his life, Erin. And now they face this. Relatedly, news of the first benefit of doubtlessly many for slain deputy Kaitie Leising, she only 29, has just trickled past this desktop.
In all cases, about these losses that speak for themselves, enuf said. —
Bringing back in the tractor, it isn’t that big in size, but it packs a big punch. Medically. Emotionally. Physically. Actually, both of these things do.
This bright green tractor is no partially broken-down old Farmall H. It would have to trek on until Washington, D.C. or the state on the other end of the country? (Help out in a corn field along the way?)
Hey, the Parkinson’s it strives to battle can be a real pain. (Imagine if you are a farmer?) People are only now realizing just how painful.
So says Ozzy and so many other rock stars who now have it, at an advanced age. There must be some common theme in their genetics.
But someone has to drive those things like tractors cross-country. Like over-the-road truckers. (What other kind is there?) So pay them more than a historical farmer’s wage.
The hiring wars have come and gone and evolved, and the way they were fought changing as conditions changed, although how much may be a matter of degree. But right now, hirings are on again.
At Brick’s Pizza, they need a dishwasher. Since they have their completely own take on pizza pie, this is a position requiring special skill, (or would that be the chef and/or cook). Other places have the help wanted sign placed for a whole host of other job descriptions. Some of these ads are shown on legs and on placards, some quite small, out on the sidewalk, or taking up a meager part of a glass door. But they are big enough to list in full phrases all kinds of work that needs doing. Shown in type with 72 point letters?
And concerning nearby San Pedro Cafe, they are looking quite descriptively for “passionate” line cooks who make from scratch and who are looking to hone their culinary skills. Call or email or stop in.
These days you might carry out such applications via one of those annoying (unless you are looking for work) small square boxes with black and white squiggles, and even designing such boxes might get you six figures, I would think. I first noticed the newest big but small thing a few months ago on the side of a cab.
Or you could just go the old school way, with two words melded into one to display “arbysjobs,” complete with quirky consonant use mid-word. Reminds me of the “handle,” again an old school term, of one of my favorite music commentators, kirawasareactor. Can she get a handle on Handel? Or that former and now embattled politico hopeful in the Twin Cities, by the fitting name of Warsame.
And lastly, now that we are long gone with the hirings that creeped up near the $19 an hour range when there was a change in prez administrations, WalMart now has partially reverted, and for main and non-overnight shifts where they compensate you, I think, for not being able to take in live bands, to a mere rate of $15!
Here is another matter to wrestle with. Live wrestling back in Hudson, and not out at the old JR! Its downtown baby.
And for you techno phobes like me, this is in-person, not on pay per view. The guy at the counter confirmed that for me, and then glanced over and downward and nodded to the flyer of announcement, also seen all over town. I was angling my glance also, as to anecdote that mere PPV was indeed not on the card.
It was Thursday night in the Hop N Barrel parking lot, and the bout, or series of them, was on. Customers filled the expansive concrete and blacktopped floor and were evenly spaced out across it, including food trucks and the like. The ring itself, which I saw being erected earlier in the day as roadies were actually measuring with tape and such, the overall height of the ropes, was pushed back into a far corner — beyond the great big and high UHaul truck that had them housed and strung them.
So had one thought. There was not far to fall if you were thrown from north and east side, as there literally was brick wall there. On the west and south side, there was a farther fall and — again — a cement floor to smack.