{"id":12984,"date":"2010-08-30T12:00:09","date_gmt":"2010-08-30T17:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=12984"},"modified":"2010-08-29T12:04:49","modified_gmt":"2010-08-29T17:04:49","slug":"a-day-at-the-fair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=12984","title":{"rendered":"A Day At The Fair"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the highlights of my social season (such as it is) is the Northern Alliance Radio Network’s broadcasts from the MN State Fair. \u00a0We always do two Saturdays (in and among a few weeknights here and there), and it’s always a blast.<\/p>\n

And this year, I have a camera (sorta)!<\/p>\n

Walking onto the fairgrounds this year (Dan Patch just west of Cosgrove), there was a new addition – O’Gara’s has built a big honkin’ Irish pub next door to our lot!<\/p>\n

Complete with bagpiper!<\/p>\n

\"Piper

Piper in front of O'Gara's.<\/p><\/div>\n

Nothing for great radio like bagpipes in the background! You can take mah acoustic isolation, but ye canna take mah freedom!<\/p>\n

When I get there, Hugh Hewitt<\/a> was relaxing, getting ready to go on the air with John Hinderaker and Brian Ward:<\/p>\n

\"Hugh

Hugh Hewitt<\/p><\/div>\n

They chatted politics for a bit…<\/p>\n

\"John

John Hinderaker with Hugh Hewitt<\/p><\/div>\n

…although for the most part they just bagged on Hugh’s producer, Duane “Generalissimo” Patterson…<\/p>\n

\"Duane

Duane "Sheep Terminator" Patterson<\/p><\/div>\n

Who had, for the first time in the 153 year history of the MN State Fair, killed a sheep in a shearing contest.<\/p>\n

In the meantime,\u00a0Brian “Saint Paul” Ward got things organized for the highlight of every single years’ NARN1 broadcast – the Scotch Egg eating contest. \u00a0Of which more later.<\/p>\n

\"Brian

Brian "Saint Paul" Ward<\/p><\/div>\n

Ed Morrissey showed impeccably <\/em>bad timing by arriving \u00a0just as Brian was looking for the mandatory fifth contestant to make the quorum required by the International Scotch Egg Sports Federation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

(Me? \u00a0I begged off claiming illness. I wasn’t lying; I would have gotten sick if I’d had to bolt down a Scotch Egg. \u00a0It woulda sat in my stomach for the next two hours in the sun like a remorseless lurking assassin).<\/p>\n

Not afraid of getting sick was Atomizer, one-time co-host of the NARN (no, literally; one time. \u00a0He sat in for the first segment of our first show, back in 2004. \u00a0And never again) and coblogger at Fraters Libertas<\/a>, whose stomach and liver make Shane McGowan look like Mother Theresa.<\/p>\n

\"Breakfast

Breakfast of Champions: Atomizer with a cigarette, a Guinness and a Scotch Egg.<\/p><\/div>\n

Finally, Saint got a quorum together – Duane, Ed and three other contestants:<\/p>\n

\"The

The human drama of athletic competition...<\/p><\/div>\n

Brian had a quick chat with Lindsey, who’s represented the Scotch Egg vendor for seven straight competitions now…<\/p>\n

\"Brian

Brian and Lindsay<\/p><\/div>\n

…and, finally, launched the big event:<\/p>\n

\"Were

We're off!<\/p><\/div>\n

After a hard-fought battle at near-record speed, we had a winner!<\/p>\n

\"Winner!

Winner! One of the contestants - I'm not naming names - walked behind the booth and launched right after the contest. <\/p><\/div>\n

The NARN1 guys wrapped up after that, as I wandered about. \u00a0I got to chat with Kate…<\/p>\n

\"Kate,

Kate, the Marketing and Promotions person. And, at the fair, just about everything else.<\/p><\/div>\n

…the person who actually makes the NARN broadcasts at the fair work<\/em>, and of course the folks in the Merch booth…:<\/p>\n

\"\"

The Merch booth. That's Kirsten, who normally sells air time (and could sell a Harley to Tim Gunn), but was doing a brisk trade, especially in "Nobama" T-shirts. <\/p><\/div>\n

…who make it profitable!<\/p>\n

And then it was the top of the hour, and NARN2’s turn. \u00a0John and Brian left, and I set up on the “Dave’s Floor Sanding Broadcast Deck”.<\/p>\n

\"My

My view from the host's chair<\/p><\/div>\n

Ed, too:<\/p>\n

\"Ed\"

Ed<\/p><\/div>\n

We interviewed Pat Anderson…:<\/p>\n

\"Me,

Me, Pat Anderson, and Ed.<\/p><\/div>\n

…and Tom Emmer…:<\/p>\n

\"Emmer

Emmer with Ed.<\/p><\/div>\n

They both drew a crowd…:<\/p>\n

\"Spectators

Spectators during the Emmer interview<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Emmer

Emmer and Ed on stage. I'm out in the crowd with the wireless microphone, getting questions.<\/p><\/div>\n

More next week. \u00a0And maybe a tour of the fair itself…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the highlights of my social season (such as it is) is the Northern Alliance Radio Network’s broadcasts from the MN State Fair. \u00a0We always do two Saturdays (in and among a few weeknights here and there), and it’s always a blast. And this year, I have a camera (sorta)! Walking onto the fairgrounds […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-narn"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12984"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12984\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12986,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12984\/revisions\/12986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}