There is something in the music, with two acts starting it off on Friday evening, of the St. Croix County Fair that even that curmudgeon in your family could love. Of those, few could crab about the Crabgrass Band, and the White Side Walls has been around since near the beginning of doo-wop. So there is something for all ages, even those who count their carbs while watching the solos of Crabgrass grow. And those who made them their meals – and exposed them to classic music.
The fair’s music, the main parts of it, start taking the stage in Glenwood City before the sun sets on Friday, and then there are two more bands on Saturday evening.
— Booster Days and there was breakin’ stuff, like Korn: Somebody smashed the lower right one-quarter of the family barber shop, near the corner of Vine and Second, probably kicking it in, like the Beastie Boys. For a day or two, the big placard that said “open” was placed behind to block the door’s crackage, and then it was fixed, like the end, and added to the right window alongside was something even far more impressive was added: A lifesize image of someone who I think was supposed to be one of the proprietors, complete with handlebar ‘stache and a cool ‘doo called by tattoo ‘classic.’ And at my building there also appeared, at first glance, to be some cracks in the side glass of the door, but low and behold it was only some long leaf reflections. —
Crabgrass, hailing from Baldwin where they are likely to have some of that, in a good way, like many groups is a fun band that plays classic rock as well some newer rock, read contemporary and this makes them different, and country, but we can’t say for sure it’s classic. Could be newer too, in what could be seen as a theme here. And they are said to shoot a great golf game, between actively hitting community fests. As they are on par with their hitsmanship. And Crabgrass locally, and there are a number of stateside bands taking that same name, could be seen as playing the Cranberries. Or so I think.
But although there are two stages at the fair, concert-friendly distance apart, they are only what could be seen as a warmup act for … And there have been drum rolls many hundreds of times …
The White Side Walls.
Hailing from the golden days, as they see it, of their type of music back in the days from 1954 to 1964, with yes the summer of love smack dab in the middle, they have a full as can I say it, Woodstock, 65 bands on their play list. Most of them have a second song by such an artist, as well, but don’t load up on any one – although Elvis is obvious – as they run the gamut from the standards you would expect to those cool B-sides and bands that are great but not popularly known to be on the A list.
Founder Hound Dog, Swanee (hey I recognize that name from going way back in the machine), Bobby Maestro (gotta love that name too), all share keyboard duties, which is really cool, not just that one guy in back who is on the piano once in a while, and one other thing they share is that they are from both our states. Since the White Side Walls had their genesis almost 50 years ago — that’s longer ago than even the now aging Phil Collins or other bandmember Peter Gabriel — their signature Rock ‘n’ Roll Revue has been the Midwest’s top 1950s and 1960s doo-wop and show band of light to moderate rock and roll, and all styles rolling around those genres, with a loyal fan base that had continued to grow even years back and show support for their fave five-member group.
I first saw them at a more suburban and large community fest closer to the onset, and they were tight in both their arrangements and vocal harmonies, and the way they and their instruments took advantage of, and indeed filled the entire stage, so you could see every member. And they even still have most of their hair, upon last look.
The White Side Walls come on at 7 p.m. and at a different stage (yes the fair has two!), the Crabgrass Band plays at 7:30. Slightly staggered, so take in a bit of both?