The Elkhart County Fair in Goshen, Indiana … oh how I miss thee! This week is fair week, and yes, this is a fair you actually attend pretty much every day if you can. Elkhart County’s 4-H Fair is one of the top 100 fairs in the world. It actually has the most acreage, though it’s not all in use. And it was essentially in my backyard.
Elkhart County Fair … nothing like it anywhere.
With the headline of Paul Simon’s arrest today, I was thrown back to my college days where I had an opportunity to see Art Garfunkel in concert.
It was one of those things where I actually hesitated to go for a few reasons:
1. As weird as this may seem, I’m not really a concert goer. See, I’m not a big fan of deviation. I am the girl in the audience who wants the highly processed perfect version I play repeatedly on my system at home. I don’t want to hear new music. I bought a ticket because I bought your album. I didn’t buy a ticket because I think when it comes to all things musical , I believe you have the Midas touch. I also don’t want to hear a scat rendition of your most popular songs, either. There’s a reason the way you sang it for the album made you famous. Please don’t mess with something that made me like you.
2. The cost. The cost is crazy!!!! They are a lot of dough, particularly when you are a teenager, which is when you have time to waste and money to burn (and concerts are one of the few things that can keep you away from your folks all night long with an automatic curfew extension). But to me, that’s a hell of a lot of babysitting gigs and mowed lawns. I could see almost ten movies for the price of one concert (back in the day when my local theater cost $5 a show). They last about as long. And the Dolby Surround lets me catch every word, unlike at a concert where the deafening screams of my fellow goers muffles pretty much every word being muttered on stage. The entire thing ends up sounding like a performance by the teacher from Peanuts. So the ratio of bang to my buck is just not great enough for me.
3. The smell. Inevitably the same smells are prevalent at every concert I have ever been to. B.O., patchouli, beer, cigarettes, baby powder and CK One just don’t mix.
4. Art Garfunkel is not Paul Simon. If you had to see one or the other, I mean, c’mon?
However, regarding the one thing that always seems to matter (and tugs at my heart strings a little, too) – Art Garfunkel had my hair. I was in.
Art being groovy.
