Stack of Surprises

After last night's concert, I can honestly say I understand why Blue Oyster Cult is doomed to the county fair and casino circuit. While they were passable when performing "Burnin' For You," their performance of "Godzilla" was disappointing enough that we left and wandered around the fairgrounds. The major exception was the bassist, Richie Castellano, whose solo showed that his talents are being wasted. He pulled off a riff that would've impressed Les Claypool.

A friend suggested that they would probably be better playing in a small indoor club, rather than outside while it was still light outside. "It's pretty sad when the flashing lights on the corndog stand are more impressive than the band's light show." But really, I think the band just needed a LOT more cowbell.

The rest of the fair was pretty much the same as every other year. This is the first time I didn't ride the Zipper, mainly because the line was too long. The mullet count was disappointingly low, but we did see a lot of "farmer burns," those deeply dark reddish-brown tans that people develop when they're working outside all summer long. The fair food gets stranger every year. This year someone added "pork chop on a stick" in addition to deep-fried Oreos. The one carnie I spoke to was complaining bitterly about the cold weather, compared to his home in North Carolina. It was 82° yesterday.

While wandering around, we ended up at the other stage, where a local band called The Stack was doing its best to be heard over the BOC sound system. They were fantastic! I don't even mean "fantastic for a high school band." They started playing as a cover band a couple years ago while still students at Corvallis High School, and have won most local Battle of the Bands competitions they've entered, including at the State Fair in 2004. They now primarily play original music and have sold more than 500 copies of their self-produced CD and the release party for their second CD will be August 11th at the Oddfellows Hall downtown. If we had known, we would've skipped the other show entirely.