UPPER LEFT COAST PRODUCTIONS * PO BOX -1222 CANNON BEACH OR
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www.upptrleifeAy.com
“I have not come this far
to worry about where I’m
going now.”
Lance Sterling
(Posted behind the bar in the Old
Oregon Tavern in Lincoln City)
Dear Rev. Billy --
I don't think I have ever written a letter to any
editor or any newspaper, but 1 just read the August
Upper Left Edge and am concerned about your
promised second installment on your visit to the
Oregon County Fair, "The Midnight Show."
One of the joys of the Fair is the giving. We
give the public an experience like nowhere else. We
give each other the pleasure of colors, sounds,
smells and sights not usually available. We share
our painted bodies, our hugs and, I hear still
sometimes, our dope. And, although we wish we
could share all of this with everyone who wanted
some of the Fair life, we can't because of all those
things the "real" world imposes on us - land use
permits limiting the number of people who camp
there, portable johns which we pay to have emptied,
water which gets trucked in every 4 hours all day and
night during the event, damage to that sweet piece of
land where tribes have gathered since the Calapooia,
and on and on. So, mostly, we share with the
people who give to the Fair, who bring and sell their
crafts and work all day cooking for us, who figure
out how to park the maximum number of cars in the
fields, who help the neighbors deal with the
onslaught, who advise people that the police always
have undercover agents training at the fair who might
be watching you light up that joint, so please throw it
away right now,... Sometimes, people who aren't
really part of this sharing and giving Fair scene get to
camp out for the fair anyway, meet the family after
dark and see what that is all about. You got to do
that this year and that's a great example of good
karma and good friends. I'm glad that happened.
What I, and many other fair family, can't have is a
bunch of people eager to see the midnight show
sneaking in at night with no place to stay, no sense
of family, not paying for the shitters and the water.
And i( they can't come, why make them really
miserable by telling them in your fabulous prose
what they are missing. I hate being exclusive
(another of those contradictions of the fair) and there
are options for those who want to be part of the fair
family but aren't, who want to see the midnight
show but c a n 't:
Start your own fair — it’s a lot of work, but a
lot of fun and you probably know enough like
minded people to put it together yourselves and in a
couple of years you would have your own midnight
show. I know it sounds harsh, but that's the only
way this energy will really continue when we are all
too old to sleep on the ground and need help walking
on the rough ground.
Contribute, give and share and earn your way
to your own camping pass — develop a craft,
volunteer for a staff crew, come early and work
construction for the month of June building the
fences, benches and infrastructure you enjoy. Then
you have worked enough to enjoy the gift the
performers give you - one more show Saturday
night because you were too busy during the day
doing your job to be able to catch all the good acts.
Am I being clear? I hope so. Maybe the midnight
show you write about in September will be the stars
you saw through the trees as you listened to the drum
beats, falling asleep. Or the images that still run
through your dreams, repeating the daytime sights of
the fair. Or even the fantastic juggling that was
available in chela mcla every day. But not, please,
what a great exclusive party there was in a certain
meadow on a particular night that might make
everyone want to figure out how they could come
and simply take that piece without giving or sharing
anything more.
CORRECTED FOR PACIFIC BEACH TIDES
Septsmfcer - Tides
WASHINGTON AND OREGON COAST TIDES
DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME
HIGH TIDES
a.m. ft. p.m.
DATE
The Midnight Show
A t th e M id n ig h t show you get love th e old
fa sh io n e d w ay, you e a rn it.
Last month I told our faitliful readers a little about the
Oregon Country Fair and explained that the person who goes
to the Fair for the day has no idea why or how the Fair works
The Fair is a small town which, like an impatient Brigadoon,
appears for a couple of weeks once a year. A lot of the people
who live in the Fair town move there a week or two before the
Fair opens to the public. These are mostly maintenance folk,
they are called the vega-matics because they are in charge of
the vegetation on the site, yeah, volunteer gardeners. And
there are sizable crews who get the water systems up and
going, and the sewage and layout traffic changes and plan for
security. M ost, though, the performers, and the majority of
the booth people, arrive Wednesday or Thursday before the Fair
opens. They set up their tents or repair any damage done to
their booths. Some booths that serve food are already open on
Wednesdays and Thursdays so folks don’t have to cook every
meal around the camp stove. These people mostly come every
year and make a significant percentage of their incomes from
the Fair. Some seem to be there for other reasons, like the
Springfield Creamery booth. They sell the best and cheapest
ice cream and coffee at the Fair, and they always have nice and
amusing folks staffing the booth. It seems more like they just
want to support the Fair and enjoy it than make any money.
Come to think of it most of the folks who live at the Fair are
like that The money is just what lets them do it. The
Creamery booth is next to the Crepe booth where musicians
gather after hours.
For folks who walk around all day in the heat and have their
minds blown by this fantasy world that appears once a year for
three days, the Fair is beautiful. For the folks who live there
after the crowds of the day have been swept away, the sun has
set, the cool evening breeze begun and the magical lighting of
the darkness sprung, it is incredible. The darkened forest of the
Fair grounds becomes alight with lanterns and candles beyond
count or description, colored banners you passed in the
daylight with an appreciative smile take your breath away seen
against the darkness fully lit. Children and chronological
adults adorn themselves with glow tubes so you see a family
of multi colored glow-in-the dark stick people approaching you
on the trail. Free lance fire eaters show their stuff Food
booths arc lit-up, dinner is being served. Friday night dinner
at Chez Ray’s Grits I .a Ritz is a must for all performers.
There is a small stage at this elegant restaurant under the trees,
and performers play for their sup, kt , as is the case at most any
food booth, but Grits La Ritz, is special; besides having the
distinction of having catered for the Grateful Dead for years.
Chef Ray is a saint who can make a salmon grateful to reach
his magic hands This year the ’tickets’ for the Friday night
dinner were a cardboard cut outs of a bow tie (yes, it was a
black tie sort of event) and an eye, you were suppose to put
the tie somewhere near where ties are usually worn, and the
eye was to be pasted to your forehead. (Yeah, kinda like a
third eye sorta thing What?) But the really big deal has
always been the Midnight Show on Saturday night
These days the Midnight show begins about nine; yes it is
because we are all older and some have children to mind, or
grandchildren, and like that But by dark the field in front of
the Main Stage is covered with blankets of every description
1 Wed
2 Thu 3
3 Fri
4 Sat
5 Sun
6 Mon
7 Tue
8 Wed
9 Thu «
10 Fri
11 Sat
12 Sun
13 Mon
14 Tue
15 Wed
16 Thu
17 Fri (3
18 Sat
19 Sun
» Mon
21 Tue
22 Wed
23 Thu
23 •
24 Fri
25 Sat©
as Sun
27 Mon
28 Tue
29 Wed
30 Thu
5:03
6:12
7:31
8:50
9:59
10:58
11:47
0:17
1:04
1:50
2:33
3:16
4:01
4:49
5:45
6:50
8:02
9:09
10:05
10:52
11:32
0:45
1:22
2:19
3:08
4:02
5:01
It.
6.7 5:02 8.2
6.2 5:55 8.1
5.9 7:00 7.9
6.0 8:13 7.8
6.3 9:24 7.9
6.8 10:28 8.1
7.3 11:25 8.3
12:32 7.6
8.4 1:12 7.9
8.3 1:49 8.0
8.0 2:23 8.0
7.7 2:55 8.0
7.3 3:25 7.8
6.8 3:55 7.6
6.4 4:28 7.4
5.9 5:06 7.1
5.6 5:56 6.9
5.6 7:01 6.7
5.8 8:13 6.7
6.2 9:21 6.9
6.6 10:19 7.3
7.1 11:11 7.7
12:09 7.5
11:59 7.9
12:44 7.9
8.1 1:17 8.2
8.2 1:51 8.5
8.0 2:25 8.8
7.7 3:02 8.8
7.3 3:43 8.7
6.8 4:20 9.4
a.m.
LOW TIDES
ft. p.m. ft.
10:50 1.0
11:44 1.7
1:06 0.1
2:22 -0.1
3:35 -0.4
4:37 -0.8
5:31 -1.0
6:17 -1.1
7:00 -1.1
7:39 -0.8
8:15 -0.4
8:49 0.1
9:22 0.6
9:55 1.2
10:31 1.8
11:12 2.3
0:18 0.8
1:23 0.9
2:33 0.8
3:36 0.6
4:28 0.2
5:13 -0.1
5:54 -0.3
6:31
7:08
7:45
8:22
9:01
9:44
10:33
11:55 0.1
12:51
2:08
3:24
4:31
5:30
6:22
7:10
7:55
8:37
9:17
9:57
10:39
11:24
2.2
2.5
2.3
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.6
12:05
1:13
2:27
3:34
4:31
5:21
6:06
2.8
3.1
3.1
2.8
2.3
1.7
1.1
-0.4 6:45 0.6
-0.3 7:32 0.0
•0.2 8:14 -0.4
0.2 8:59 -0.7
0.6 9:46 -0.8
1.2 10:38 -0.7
1.8 11:38 -0.4
A
Rumors of Mark Grace being traded to a
baseball team with a chance to win are
apparently just that And speculation that
Sosa and Grace will defect to Cuba in order to
play on a real team have also been discounted
So once again the Cubs will play out the
regular season in the basement and watch the
play-offs and the Scries like the rest of us, on
television Is it possible that the curse on the
Cubs will actually last 100 years? It’s
getting close. O r maybe, just maybe, next
year we will hire Jim Leyland as coach, buy
some pitching, and actually win it all?
Thanks.
Continued on page 2
ÌIHER. ItF T EB6E. SEPTEMBER
I