State Fair '07

I've gotten my fill of the Fair for another year. I went last Sunday Java and Carl for about 5 hours or so, and then yesterday with family for somewhere in the neighborhood of 14 hours. I consumed enough calories to feed a small African nation for a day and a half, most of those coming from cheese curds, mini doughnuts and fresh chocolate chip cookies.

I don't know how he hears about these things, but Java's mission on Sunday was to find the booth that sold Viper Jerky, which he had heard billed as the hottest jerky ever. After looking for most of the day, he ended up asking another jerky stand where it could be found, which was fortunately close to the All-You-Can-Drink Milk Booth. As Carl and I watched with curiosity and barely concealed hilarity, Java ate one of the two small pieces he had bought, tearing up after the first bite. It made me curious enough to try some, so I had a bite of the second piece. It was about as hot as eating a whole plate of fairly spicy thai food very quickly. Impressive, but only for the heat-it didn't have any other taste. I was fine, Java not so much.

Most of the time Sunday was just spend in a delicious wander from food to food, looking at various exhibits and what not. I did get to see Etta James, Al Green and B.B. King perform last night, which was cool. Although I would have liked to see more of B.B., as he only played a 50 minute set and talked for a good portion of that. Not that I didn't enjoy hearing him talk; he told several good stories, the best of which was about him slipping over to the "good" (read: white) side of the tracks as a young man in Mississippi under cover of darkness and taking a long drink from a segregated water fountain (after the concert I started working it out-B.B. was over 40 by the time the civil rights movement gained momentum in the 60s. Wow.). It's amazing that he's still touring at age 81 (82 in September), especially with the health problems he has (diabetes, bad joints, etc). The biggest cheer of the night was when he repeated a line he had just sung, saying "I'm going to play until I die, folks." It occurred to me that when he finally does go we're going to miss his voice almost as much as his guitar. It's still as powerful and vibrant as ever, and I'm glad I got the chance to hear it in person at least once. That's history right there.