It’s our last 2 shows of the weekend at the Clallam County Fair. To get to this point, I’ve loaded my drums in the car, travelled 3 hours, set up my drums 3 times for 3 shows, had a mildly upset stomach from eating “road food” and have spent 29 of the past 31 hours “on the road” but not playing the drums. Not to mention the threat of being electrocuted by lightning!
And, even though I’ve played in the band for several years, I’m not in any of the promotional pictures. That’s okay, though, because (from past experience) as soon as I’m included in a band picture, the band breaks up 🙂
Has all this effort been worth it just to play drums at a county fair? Absolutely!
This is the final installment in a series of 3 posts about my mini-road trip to the Clallam County Fair in Port Angeles, WA. The first post covered getting to the gig and our Friday night shows (2 days in the Life of a County Fair Drummer – Friday). Post 2 (Seafood Eggs Benedict, Goodwill and Electrocution) described what we did all day Saturday to kill time and get ready for the shows.
Here’s what happened Saturday evening as we played both shows:
5:00-6:00 PM: Playing at a county fair (or any gig, for that matter) has many challenges both known and unknown. And we’re about to have an hour long set of unknowns!
- Challenge #1: Under the threat of lightning and rain, the band trots on to the outdoor stage. We’re worried about lightning hitting the all aluminum structure. There’s a little bit of a wind so we’re also concerned about the rain blowing in under the roof and soaking our equipment. Finally, we’re not far from a large body of salt water connected to the Pacific Ocean. The humidity is high with the salt air so our hands are sticking to anything made of wood: Like drum sticks and guitar necks!
- Challenge #2: I’m ready to count off the first song when I hear, “And they’re off. Porky’s in the lead followed by Piglet with Bacon Chops bringing up the rear.” The stage is next to a track where small pigs are racing. Ya gotta love a county fair! The band leader turns to me with a smile and says, “Let’s go!” I count the song off and the volume of the full band is louder than the pig race announcer.
- Challenge #3: We’re about 45 minutes into the set and we’re having fun. So far we’ve avoided electrical shock, rainfall and a conflict with the pig race announcer. In fact, the set is going really well. We are having a great show playing a variety of country rock and old time rock & roll tunes. The crowd loves us! There are kids dancing in front of the stage and older folks dancing in the aisles. Those who aren’t dancing are singing and clapping to the music.
All of a sudden I hear a loud Pop-pop-pop-pop-pop… that sounds like thunder. We’re in the middle of a song or else the band would have sprinted off the stage, thinking we were about to get hit by lightning. The popping gets softer…and faster. Then I smell diesel exhaust, like when I’m following a big truck on the highway, and a big cloud of smoking comes wafting across the stage.
I look to the left side of the stage (up wind) and realize one of the tractors from the vintage John Deere collection has been started and is now pumping diesel exhaust fumes into the wind that is blowing directly on to the stage. After a couple of gasps, I had to laugh. What else could happen? The tractor doesn’t run for long and, fortunately, we finish the show without incident.
6:00-6:30 PM: We have to clear our equipment to the back of the stage in order to make room for the next band that plays at 8 PM. After that we hang around the side of the stage, talking to members of the crowd and having some fun with the kid dancers. We joke with some friends who saw us play 3 months ago at a nearby casino. It’s always good to see familiar faces.
6:30-6:40 PM: We change out of our stage clothes and head out to find some food.
6:45-7:45 PM: We end up back at the Cornerstone restaurant where we had breakfast for some great home-style dinners. The band is recognized by a couple people along the way. Our notoriety in the small town is spreading!
7:45-8:00 PM: Drive back to the fairgrounds.
8:00-8:10 PM: We are once again concerned about the band on stage playing longer than planned. Given the problems we had setting up for the first show, we’d like to have as much time as possible to get ready for the 9 PM show.
8:10-8:45 PM: The previous band finishes and we help them get their equipment offstage. I once again set up my drums on the drum rug. This is the 4th and final time that I’ll set up my drums this weekend. I’m getting faster!
We run through a couple songs and the gathering crowd applauds after each song…and for the 4th time this weekend we explain, “It’s just a sound check, folks. Please stick around for the real show.”
8:45-9:00 PM: We change into our stage clothes for the last time this weekend. You can guess what happens next: Grab a water bottle, put in ear plugs and head for the stage!
Yep, that’s me behind the drums in the red stage light: having fun, playing music and enjoying life.
9:00-10:00 PM: The band plays a great show. It’s still very humid. Amazingly, though, it doesn’t’ rain and we have another sticky but great show.
10:00-10:30 PM: I say a quick “hi” to some of our friends from the casino and to some of the folks who watched our show. Then spend some time to quickly packing my drums into soft cases that I use for traveling.
10:30-11:00 PM: The guitar player and I decide to drive home instead of staying another night in a hotel. It’s relatively early and we’re both very much awake from performing and packing. We head back to the hotel, grab our stuff and get on the road.
11:00 PM – 2:30 AM: We head for home. As soon as we get away from the ocean air, the night is clear. We get a call about midnight from a couple of the band members who are at a local restaurant, hanging out with some folks who saw us at the fair. Their food and drinks are being paid for by the generosity of the local people. Even though we missed some fun, I’m glad we’re on our way home.
The rest of the trip is uneventful. I drop off the guitar player and head home. I decide to not alarm the neighbors and wait until the next morning to unload my drums. I’m tired, exhausted really, but it has been a fun and memorable weekend.
I hope you enjoyed learning a slice of drummer life. I really enjoyed playing the gig and writing about it. The guys in the band are great friends and we have a lot of fun together. I hope your musical experiences are as fulfilling as mine. Please leave a comment below to let me know what you think!