OREGON COUNTRY FAIR 2012
FRUITION
SHOOK TWINS
PHOTO BY JOSH LATHAM
Music in the Dust
BUSKERS GO OFF THE BEATEN PATH AT THE FAIR
R
eal Oregon Country Fair-goers remember
“Field Trips” with the Dead: the magical times
when Kesey and his Merry Pranksters pranced
around the grounds, ensuring every last face
was stolen off Owsley’s freshest batch, coaxing
you to slip into the oblivion of one of Jerry’s
jams. Sounds molten just thinking about it.
OK, so maybe the memories are a little fuzzy for Fair family,
but regardless, those times created the enchantment, funk and
mystical energy that the Oregon County Fair holds to this day.
This year’s music stage lineup features offerings in the
genres of folk, vaudeville, string band, jam band, jug band
and rock from around the Northwest and the rest of the
country. Names familiar to Eugeneans ( Shook Twins ,
March Fourth Marching Band, Elephant Revival,
Fruition, JGB ) as well as newer faces ( Brokedown in
Bakersfield , Bear Feet, BrownChicken BrownCow, Hot
Milk ) are set to take the stage.
However, the many brilliant performers not acknowledged
on formal stage lineups remain a Country Fair staple.
“We’ll always have buskers and what ends up happening is,
say, I get over 200 applications for Ambiance, so I can’t hire
everyone,” Fair Ambiance coordinator Ruth Pomplin says.
BY ANDREW HITZ
“I like to bring folks in that I like every two or three
years,” Pomplin continues, “so what they’ll tend to do is if
they can get a ticket to the Fair, they’ll come in and they’ll
busk anyway.”
A beloved Fair band that wasn’t in rotation for a slot this
year is Eugene and Portland’s own Bad Mitten Orchestre .
This folksy vaudeville quintet — whose new record, Baby
Gone Broke On Through, gets its CD release show July 21
at WOW Hall — has had quite the success at Fairs past,
whether on stage, busking or otherwise.
“A lot of our true-blue fans, the number one thing they
say is, ‘We saw you guys at Country Fair years ago and we
just love the band and we’ve been following you guys
around ever since,’” drummer Ian Haight says.
This year Bad Mitten will be sticking to the path, hard
cases open and waiting for your rapt attention. You’ll have
to seek out their mobile hoedown on your own, but word is
they’ll be starting out at Darling.
Longtime busking and street-performance advocate and
Seattle-based folk legend Jim Page will be, as usual, both
taking the stage and roaming the path this year.
“The magic that happens when you’re [street singing] is
that people who have no intention of seeing you, see you,”
Page says. “If you’re lucky and play your cards right, if you
know your trade, if everything is right, then they like what
they see and they’re delighted by what they see.”
Page’s ability to captivate an audience with his songs of
empowerment and revolution is well established, yet at
times it’s his connection to an audience of one that proves
just as, perhaps even more, powerful.
Recalling busking at Fairs past, Page tells the story of
the time he was singing a song called “Oregon Landslide,”
about the 1996 Roseburg landslide caused by a clearcut.
Four people were killed.
“While I was playing,” Page says, “I noticed this guy 20
feet away or so, just standing there listening. And when I
was done, he walked up to me and he said, ‘I knew those
people. They were my neighbors, and I had not been able to
cry until now.’
“He had no idea who I was,” Page recalls. “He would not
have come to see me perform. He would never have known.
But he simply stumbled across it.”
It is exactly these sorts of serendipitous encounters that
reaffirm the magic that makes the Oregon Country Fair
what it is.
“It’s a very important thing for people to do, to find their
mode of expression and how to hone it, to flesh it out,” Page
says. “And you can’t do that without practice. You can’t
read it. There are no college courses. You have to do it. The
Country Fair is great in that respect. It’s very accepting; it
can be whatever you want.”
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BROKEDOWN IN BAKERSFIELD
PHOTO BY ANDREW QUIST
14 JULY 12, 2012
EUGENE WEEKLY
WWW.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM