🚀 go-pugleaf

Cubit wrote:
> So, what is so great about the state fair?  My local county fair is a mix of
> stinky 4H areas, a building with quilts that have ribbons, and some
> amusement rides thrown together with chewing gum by carny people.

That's the California State Fair all right.  It's just a big version of
the county fair.  They used to call it Cal Expo, but the promoters must
have had pangs of guilt for calling such a moth-eaten event an "expo",
so they dropped the Cal Expo name some years back.

But, if you're lucky you can meet Jim Hall from Yard Birds garden
center.  He used to always DJ from there.

> Last I saw the stage
> show, they had brassy music from the 40s.  It is hot and dusty.

Look for county fairs to start changing that.  A friend was
experimenting this year with the Solano County fair, by bringing in
local bands featuring country music, hip hop, New Orleans style, and
even ALO and Chuck Prophet.

ALO (Animal Liberation Orchestra) is a particular favorite of mine as
I've seen them evolve from playing 80-seat rooms to 1500 seat venues
(and the bass player used to wait on me for lunch every day before he
became a fulltime musician).  And they know no limits on genre.  They
play everything from bluegrass to funk.  These guys will be major
stars.

But the people who run the California State Fair will never get hip
enough to book groups like ALO.  The California State Fair is a hick
fair.