I Miss my Michigan State
By
Glenn Peppers
You ever make a complete mess in the kitchen, trying to recreate something edible that was once so dear to you that you just had to at least try recreating it? Well, that was me last year in my kitchen trying my hardest to make me one of those, carnival style, good ole fashion Elephant Ears. You know the ones, like at the Michigan State Fair! Well as you know, our Michigan State Fair was shut down after its run that year in 2009 by a decree from former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm. The thing that bothered me most of all about this whole shut down process was the seeming lack of protest from the people. There was hardly any concerned news coverage of and for the people who supported and loved the Michigan State Fair. Petitions were signed, and there was a sea of concerned citizens I knew of who were all but ignored by local media concerning this issue. I felt that there was a media Blackout on the subject. So as if it had just faded into nothingness, the Michigan State Fair (America
I’m sure there are a great many Michiganders who have fond memories of the Michigan State Fair. It’s been apart of my life here in Southeastern Michigan for basically all my life. Before I could speak and articulate my feelings as a child coming out of my toddler stage, I remember (in snippets) my mother and my father taking me to my first State Fair. I don’t remember much from that first day, but what I do remember has stuck and held fast in my brain for almost five decades. First off I remember it was overcast that day, and I remember an amazing Fire Eater, blowing great plumes of fire and black smoke out of his mouth, and consuming those same flames using these long burning sticks that looked like giant flaming Q-Tips. There was also this very odd little fellow. A sword swallower; this very limber cross legged Asian man wearing the official Hollywood stereotypical white turban upon his head was like nothing my childhood eyes had ever seen. This was my first exposure to Side Show Entertainment. I was dumbstruck in that I had no idea the human body could do such a thing as shallow a sword. At my age, I had trouble not wetting my pants and keeping down Gerber foods, let alone think about swallowing a sword.
But by far the most impressive thing I saw that day was not just the Pigs and the Goats, and the Baby Chicks; it was the man on the motorcycle inside this round caged black steel globe who rode round and round on the inside of it, top to bottom/side to side as another man stood in the middle of that cage unharmed by this motorcycle daredevil racing around it doing figure eights, chris-crosses and thrilling near misses, just inches from the fearless man standing inside that cage. I can still smell the burning oil, and the leaded gasoline from the motorcycle engine. Fresh in my mind are the small spews of blue smoke, and the sound of the muffler from the tail pipe with each engine sputter. That my dear friends was my first experience ever hearing and seeing a motorcycle.
A year later, my eldest sister (a teenager) took me to the Fair with her boyfriend and a bunch of her girlfriends. This is where I got a look at what a real Radio DJ looked like. I was all of four years old, I think! WJLB AM had a booth set up near a concession stand that sold cotton candy and lemonade. I recognized the voice coming from the external speaker on top of the booth. It was Ernie D. (real name, Ernie Durham) He was an exciting DJ on WJLB am Soul Radio that I listened to throughout the early to mid 1960’s, and I finally got a chance to see what the voice on the radio really looked like. As always, he looked nothing like I imagined. His catch phrase was “WOOOOoooooo-WEEeeeeeeeeeee! its Ernie D on WJLB!” All the kids in the vicinity were gathered around his booth. This was also the day that I first heard Calypso music. There was a parade on one of the Fair avenues with folks all dressed in bright yellow, orange, and red attire, and playing steel drums. Believe it or not, that song (whatever its name) still resonates inside my brain to this day!
The first real concert I ever attended in my life, was at the Michigan State Fair. After my mother passed away in 1962, (I was 6 years old), that fall, my father took me to the fair, just he and I where we mainly walked around, ate and looked at the new model Ford and Chevy cars for that year; and to see Ray Charles who was appearing at the Band Shell that evening, around 8pm. Being only six years old, I was very small, so my father had to put me up on his shoulders in order for me to see once a crowd started to gather at the Band Shell. That cold autumn evening, I remember George Kirby (a popular African American television comedian, actor and impressionist) emceed and opened the show. All clad in his nice black tuxedo, Kirby told jokes and did impressions of Sammy Davis Jr. and James Cagney and Nat King Cole. Then of course, Ray Charles came onto the stage and set the night on fire. I could barely see, as there were other much taller people standing about, and Pop, well he was a short guy like me, but I saw enough. I sure heard enough to know that I too wanted to be an entertainer one day. I was hooked!
It was cold that night indeed! The crowd had weened, and our view improved significantly! That night I was sure and certain that in my life, nothing would ever sound as good as live music! Getting colder, and later, Pop and I left before Mr. Charles made his curtain call. On the way home, I remember the soap bubbles from my yellow bubble blowing toy saxophone chilling my fingers to the bone on our bus ride back to the east side. My memories are locked in tight, whereas the State Fair eventually became a yearly tradition that evolved with me, and I with it, every year! Sure there were gaps in my State Fair attendance times. From ages 10 through 12, I did not attend. There were gap attendances in my mid-twenties as well. Seems that work and grown up responsibilities takes precedence over elephant ears and corn dogs sometimes! Still I’d drive by the fair on the way to work when it was Fair time, and I’d smile when I saw all the colored lights and heard the sound people riding rides, carnival music playing, and the ferris wheel spinning round and round. Because I knew it was there, in my heart I knew it would always be there for me, if I just wanted or needed to go! Man was I wrong about that!
Ages 13 through 19 were very special times for me and the Michigan State Fair. Sept 9, 1971 was my first official teenage concert that I attendant on my own with friends. The concert was The Jackson Five, appearing at the Grandstand raceway area. Boy was I in for a shock that day! There would be close to 40.000 people there for the 4:30pm show. A young and then unknown band named The Commodores opened the show, all dressed in white jumpsuits and playing other artist’ material, as they didn’t have a record release at that time, although they were an entity affiliated with Motown. This was just a few short years before their instrumental release of “Machine Gun” Their first Motown record release.
I was blown away at the sea of people that day; most of which were girls! It seemed as if my entire neighborhood (of kids anyway) walked west on State Fair Street after school to see The Jackson Five that day at the State Fair. The screams, the music, and the atmosphere was electric! I hadn’t seen anything like it, and I was undone! By that time in my young life, father had (unintentionally) moved us closer to The State Fair area, so a walk from Dequindre and State Fair street to the Fairgrounds wasn’t a bad thing at all! I call that day, one of the most perfect days of my life. Nothing went wrong that day. After the concert, my friends and I rode thrill rides, ate state fair cuisine and clumsily tried to talk to still insanely excited girls who were hopelessly lost and starry eyed over The Jackson Five! Us guys played, ate and rode all the rides hanging around for the second show at 8pm, yet we eventually decided that we really didn’t need to see the the whole show again. Besides, it was a school night!
My State Fair had everything! Many a year, I bought fresh homemade Honey and Jam from Michigan Detroit
No comments:
Post a Comment