1960 Redux

Tonight my husband, Frank, and I went to a concert at our county fair sponsored by the local “oldies” radio station. We saw the Grass Roots, a band I really liked in the late 1960s. In fact, one of my favorite songs of all times is “Temptation Eyes” by the Grass Roots.

Frank and I went early in order to take in the fair before the show, but it didn’t take long to realize we weren’t going to ride any rides or play any games of chance on the midway, nor were we going to eat anything “on a stick” or fried, which seems to be the only fair fare offered anymore. We took our concert seats early to people watch. We saw several folks we knew and compared notes. Frank saw a former co-worker, I saw a girl I went to first grade with. It was fun to observe the crowd from our upper section seats and try to find someone we knew. I saw my cousin, Bunny, Frank saw the sales manager from our insurance company.

I said, “There’s the guy from the Grateful Dead concert.” Frank gave me an odd look, because, contrary to popular belief, we have never been to a Grateful Dead concert. And then he saw him; a total Dead-Head. Sitting an aisle over and a few rows in front of us was a sixty-something-year old in a tie-dyed t-shirt, jeans and a ball cap with a feather poking out from the crown. He had a glazed look which suggested his brain was fried from too much acid in the 60s or too much pot in the parking lot at the fair.

The minute the show began our Dead-Head was on his feet (much to the chagrin of the family he was seated in front of) and rocking out to “I’d Wait a Million Years.” He proceeded to dance erratically to every song, at times threatening to topple over on the people in front of him. At one point he tired of the constraints of a mid-row seat and moved to the row overlooking the floor seats. From this new vantage point he could keep his glazed eyes on the band while simultaneously entertaining those of us near enough to see him and threatening to fall on top of unsuspecting floor seat occupants.

I did enjoy the Grass Roots but, I must say, the Dead-Head put on a much better show. His writhing dance movements and his awesome air guitar performances were MTV-worthy. In spite of repeated requests from Security to return to his seat, he continued to entertain until the final encore of “Midnight Confession.”

I am happy to report that the Grass Roots (or a bunch of guys who call themselves the Grass Roots) put on a great show, especially when they sang “Temptation Eyes” (second to last song), but perhaps the real show was in my section, performed by a guy who never left the 1960s.