Contact us
Back to All Posts

Until death do us part, from the past and recent music scene, karaoke, and even what’s on that car stereo, as they are Memorialized on this weekend and forever, along with those who have served in other ways

Lately, there has been on the bar scene the life and death of Riley, several times over.

I have noticed on the last few Wednesdays and their karaoke at The Nutty Squirrel in River Falls, this person has been eulogized like THEIR life depended on it, on a sign behind the karaoke-meister. Better then even tribute band could do to many other rockers. So much so that if I spelled the name wrong, I’m sure they’d boo me off the stage. And please take that route if you can’t find in in your heart to forgive me for being glib, rather take to heart “Remembered and not forgotten.”

Also of note in that vein, there was the talented musician who died too soon, now that social distancing rules are being eased or completely revoked. If only this orchestra type out in New York could have hung out too very much longer, as he and his wife, who I met at a class reunion for my wife (the former was the only one who could make it, as she was batching it, for a reason). They had made their relationship work, despite her being home in Minnesota, which has to be the ultimate victory despite the odds, over social distancing. “I hear you calling but I can’t come home right now. Me and the boys are playing, and we just can’t find the sound. Just a few more hours and I’ll be back home to you … what can I do?”

Sometimes not that much, unfortunately, as was  seen by a friend recently as characterizing the passing of Luther Vandrous and a bit over five years ago, Prince, not to mention Bill Withers. None them were being greatly eulogized on the radio, he said despite their differing styles while aptly cranking the car stereo and then … that song came on, you know the one … And a lullaby by Luther too.

<<And now lets get political, political>>

The afterdeath of this post just has to include the passing of a politician, since the time ago it takes to navigate the length of the river he loved, and get the St. Croix on National Wild And Scenic Rivers protection, although it only goes so far, for so long.

Sen. Walter Mondale was much more than halfway in his efforts at such conservation, although his beloved Minnesota could only claim half-frontage of the in some places wide and in some places narrow stream. (I wonder what he would think, after its salvage for future generations to use or abuse, the ongoing erosion of the Apple River tributary from tubing. Further north resort rivers have held out their pristine nature longer). So the connection of his Deeds Definitely Not Done Dirt Cheap makes his passing applicable for a nightlife post, especially since the tubing now has finally, fully opened up again, basically becoming official in this time, the agreed-upon first week of summer, where everyone is now being said to hit the outdoors again like demons, like the fans at an Ozzy concert).

So the fit with politics today is thus appropo in this statement attributed to Mondale:  We did what was right, followed the rules, and were fair. Mondale 101, or is it 470?

Last on the list of statements made, at the turn of the year, that could turn the world on its ear if taken out on context. “The year 2020 also saw the deaths of the pope and the queen …” Oh, it continued to say, “praying for those who died.”

 

Share the Post:

Related Posts

  • Blonde and Brunette and redheaded group The Divas, decked out divinely in red and white and blue, take the stage in tribute to the troops at the St. Croix County Fair from July 15-19. In advance of the anthems provided by these and five other bands, enter or take in a contest of the most patriotic of flora, in all those colors and more! Poppies are only the start.
I have a plethora of times paraphrased her and made preposterous puns pointing at her pronouncements, about bands that give brand new meaning to long running and return engagement, and all the other activity, old and even new, that just keeps bubbling up at The Fair … I have worked with Gail Maier, an organizer of the St. Croix County Fair that now mid-July resurfaces to its forefront flair this weekend, for several years running now, so here is her on it, verbatim: “Yes, by all means go for it. We especially want to promote The Tribute to the Troops...
Read More
  • XBox workers get the axe, as there are again calls to overhaul a controversial visa program that brings workers here who are called highly skilled in specialties. Does that include roadies from England? Or do they hit the road, too? Could be, as this program was reformed and renamed under the rule of various presidents, since before the dawn of rock.
The news that Microsoft will fire thousands of workers in both the immediate and long term, related mostly to its once-industry leading XBox gaming system, has raised scrutiny over an old immigration loophole, largely, that allows workers dubbed as highly skilled from other countries, who would otherwise not be let in, to be brought here to solve the labor needs including shortages of mostly large employers. That’s this business news breakdown, in a nutshell, fighting through the gobbledygook. Or so it goes. This company that in a recent year just got done firing many thousands, has now announced it is...
Read More
  • Did these regular bar fly guys really connect all their dots? Can a simple pill cure the tapeworm Tourette’s that connects most of your organs? Look deeper and take a deep dive into their take on the facts. It’s conservative to say there are huge holes the size of the Strait of Hormuz. Wide part, like the St. Croix …
A few of these local conservative guys actually made some sense — sorta, or at first.(I refer to Trump’s slamming connected to his recent posting of photos of Minnesotan kindergartners allegedly wearing hijabs at a graduation, and a few regular guys chugging down at the local booze hall in a (possibly) less discriminatory way (beer goggled brain?) and thinking out loud (with low vocabulary) that they are what, just another name for khakis? (OK, that last part is fake news.) Spelled with the same number of letters and consonants, and using the same vowels, and I’ll give them that they...
Read More
  • Did these regular bar fly guys connect all their dots? Can a simple pill cure the tapeworm Tourette’s that connects most of your organs? Look deeper and take a deep dive into their take on the facts. It’s conservative to say they have holes the size of the Strait of Hormuz. Wide part, like that in the St. Croix.
A few of these local conservative guys actually made some sense — sorta, or at first. (I refer to Trump’s slamming connected to his recent posting of photos of Minnesotan kindergartners allegedly wearing hijabs at a graduation, and a few regular guys chugging down at the local booze hall in a (possibly) less discriminatory way (beer goggled brain?) and thinking out loud (with low vocabulary) that they are what, just another name for khakis? (OK, that last part is fake news.) Spelled with the same number of letters and consonants, and using the same vowels, and I’ll give them that...
Read More
  • See elsewhere on this page a new post. —– On Our No. 250, can we at least unite on a ditty? And hush more about the speech at Rushmore. While Congress carries on with their own, has it become a telethon? (We’d much rather broadcast The Eras, as Swift and her sweetie unite by tying the knot, with Sheeran and Sandler and Stevie.) So not even fall and elections, still our house is divided —– Newly added, more on music fest and heat note observations.
On this holiday weekend, I want to note that with an exception or two, our Union has never been universal, as in unified or united, much less totally uniform in its common and professional and congressional and judicial and presidential opinion, throughout as I will put it, about 244 of its 250 years. Roughly. (Roughrider at the presidential rodeo?) So not to rain on their parade, but it is apt that we have removed the right to piss in the great big reflective presidential pool, which might even help by killing some of the presidentially proliferating algae, or loosening the...
Read More
  • I’ll be (relatively) brief and punchy with this headline notation, as we transition to giving you more and sometimes shorter choices. And you may notice some of that as you beckon forward. It’s circular. Like a flush. Be careful what you mix, heads vs. text, drinks vs. food, and all kinds of potions — that may go bump in the night. —– Punchy, potentially, but I digress or progress with a new patriotic addition. And a second edition, an old Obsession, as in a concert.
My mom has told me not to be a potty mouth when I write, as she certainly would not appreciate hardly any of the standup humor on say, Comedy Central Radio. SNL maybe. But after 11:30 p.m. … But there comes a time where a man must make a stand. And for this jokester, it was now when he had to choose whether to pass on the opportunity that would otherwise bite him in the butt, for in front of and behind him is the Mother Lode. Or should I say load. Or “Mothers” of Invention. — On another stage, I dissed...
Read More
Scroll to Top