State Fair Blues

I’ve had a love/hate relationship with the Fair since I was a kid. Here’s the breakdown:

Hate: My mother and Auntie Mary used to take my cousin and me to the Midway and made us ride the kiddie rides every year…until we were about 12 years old.

Love: Seeing my friend’s sister become Miss Rodeo and watching her ride around Tingley in all her purple spandex glory.

Hate: Finally being old enough to ride the ‘big kid rides’ and finding out while on the Tilt-a-Whirl that I suffered from vertigo, motion sickness, and possibly sea sickness.

Love: Winning a first place ribbon in 1984 for a piece of jewelry I made.

Hate & Love: Bare with me while unfold this tale of hate and love.

The funniest memory I have of the fair was back in 1992. I was married to a musician back then and was living in San Francisco. For the purpose of this recollection, I will refer to my ex-husband as Earl. Earl and I moved to San Francisco because he joined a well-known bay area band called the Dynatones.

The Dynatones were often billed as a “blue-eyed soul” band. Think Memphis blues and soul mixed with a bit of James Brown and Charlie Musselwhite, and all rolled into shiny shark skin suits and pompadours. They were f-a-b-u-l-o-u-s!

This band traveled no less than 80,000 miles a year! So it was no surprise that they were booked to play what used to be known as the Miller Pavilion at the New Mexico State Fair for several shows.

After playing one of their sets, a man from Tingley Coliseum approached them and said that there was a terrible mix up for the show that night. Ray Price was supposed to headline the Rodeo and never showed up. They needed a band, but quick, and would the Dynatones be interested in playing? After negotiating a deal, the guys were on their way to play on the famous rotating stage!

The backstage dressing room was already stocked with the usual cold cuts, beer, full length mirrors and the stench of horse arena. The guys were excited to be playing such a large venue that was sold out. My mother, mother-in-law and I were escorted backstage to see the band and help them get ready for their big night. Miss Rodeo 1992 was there signing 8 x 10 glossies for the guys and kept asking, “What is the name of the band?” We left the guys, wished them luck and then were escorted to our center stage box seats.

The place was filled with cowboys - old cowboys there to see Ray Price. Ray Price, the guy who had a hit with Heartaches by the Number. The rodeo was over and the lights went out. The spotlight was pointed at the rotating stage and Miss Rodeo announced that Ray Price was unable to come and that everyone should put their hands together for the replacement act – The Dyna…Stones!!! Yup, she called them the Dynastones.

Another spotlight came on and out came a ’66 convertible Mustang with lead singer CC Miller in all his glory. CC was famous for his outrageous outfits and that night was no exception – sparkly blue sequined jacket over baggy pants and a pompadour that was bigger than any cotton candy at the Fair. He was waving to the astonished crowd like a king greeting his subjects.

The rest of the band was already on the stage and this is when the real fun began. CC was his usual showman self and the horn section was already blazing. Tommy Castro was the lead guitarist at the time, Earl was on bass and Big Walter on drums. I can’t remember what song they started their show with, but it could have been James Brown’s Sex Machine or Wilson Pickett’s Funky Broadway. Regardless, it wasn’t country music.

Because the lights were down in the arena, except for those pointed on the stage, the band couldn’t see what was taking place in the stands, box seats, and walkways. One by one, everyone got up and left. Imagine 12,000 cowboys standing up and high tailing it out of there. This was not the music that they paid to hear and those guys dancing around on stage gyrating were not singing Crazy Arms.

My mother, mother-in-law and I watched in horror as Tingley emptied out. And I mean empty! The poor guys were having a blast singing and playing their hearts out. The sound guys for Tingley were even around the stage on their knees with their arms held high, bending up and down doing the “we’re not worthy” bow. My guess is that after almost two weeks of country music, the sound guys were grateful for a change.

I kept scanning the stands hoping everyone just needed a beer and would be back to hear the rest of the concert. No such luck. But there were some diehard fans jumping up and down dancing and singing – three women in the front row having the time of their lives. And the three women were not my mom, mother-in-law or me. These were real fans! And even crazier, they were friends of mine from high school. What are the odds?!

So the inevitable happened. The concert was over and the lights came on. To say there was stunned silence would be an understatement. There weren’t enough people left in the building to have anything other than silence. The guys had no idea they cleared the place. It was awful. Awful until the paycheck came, that is! They made a small fortune that night and well… they got to play on a rotating stage.