A fair set of musicians...and drivers

David Allen posted the 2008 musical lineup for the Los Angeles County Fair. I'll just highlight a few of the acts:

The Doobie Brothers with special guest
Grand Funk Railroad
Sunday, Sept. 7
8 p.m.

The Doobie Brothers
A music group known for blues based songs with a rock edge, often with lush vocal harmonies. An assemblage of musicians specializing in country based rock featuring instrumentation such as violin and finger-picked acoustic guitar combined with electrical instruments and drums. A musical entity recognized for incorporating sophisticated jazz stylings into “popular hit” songs. A “rock” band, origins circa 1970, with a reputation for exciting live performances and skillful musicianship. All of these have been used to describe the Doobie Brothers, one of rock & roll’s most recognizable and successful bands of all time. Having sold more than 50 million records worldwide, including hits “China Grove,” “Long Train Running” and “Black Water,” the Doobies defy categorization.. “Listen to the Music” and so much more.

Grand Funk Railroad
One of the ‘70s most successful hard rock bands, playing with a loud simple take on the blues-rock-power trio sound and strong working class appeal. They scored a big hit No. 1 single with “We’re an American Band,” and they’ll raise the roof of the Fair with more Top 40 hits like “Rock & Roll Soul,” “Walk Like a Man,” “Some Kind of Wonderful,”” Loco Motion” and “Shinin’ On.” Get ready to party down.

When you see these old bands appear, you always wonder who is actually in the band these days. Are any of the original members still there? Ah, but it doesn't matter, just as long as it sounds kind of like what the band used to sound like.

Monster Truck Madness
Thursday, Sept. 11
8 p.m.
Presented by ATT

Bring ‘em on. They’re big, they’re loud and they’re really popular. Join in the fun when the monster trucks return to the Fairplex Park Grandstand as part of the Adrenaline Nights series of high action entertainment. Scheduled to perform some serious dirt remodeling, spinning and jumping are the big boys, Bounty Hunter, Natural High, Iron Outlaw, Jurassic Attack, Maniac, Nasty Boy and Unnamed Untamed joined by a legion of alternates called Rock Star, Deal Breaker and Playing for Keeps. Get ready for a great dirty time.

OK, it's not music, but it's fun. I've seen monster trucks at Fairplex on July 4, and I guess it just appeals to me. My teenage daughter wasn't quite as impressed. Our houseguests were too polite to say anything one way or the other.

Jessica Simpson
Saturday, Sept. 20
8 p.m.

Welcome this talented artist with universal appeal, an international singing and movie star and media darling. Raised in Dallas, Texas, Jessica began her performing career by sharing the stage with famous gospel acts. With her unmistakable voice and unique pop sound, Jessica caught the eye of Columbia Records. She joined a tour in support of the boy-band 98 Degrees and quickly burst onto the music scene in 1999 with her debut release “Sweet Kisses.” Her RIAA-certified double platinum debut featured Jessica’s massive breakthrough hit, “I Wanna Love You Forever,” which hit No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. With the quadruple-platinum album, In This Skin, Jessica’s debut as a songwriter and the album’s single “Sweetest Sin,” soaring to the Top 40, her career was launched. Her eighth album, Jessica returned to her country roots, producers and country artists in Nashville. Release date is Fall 2008. When not singing, Jessica lit up televisions in the popular reality show “Newlyweds” featuring her and now ex-husband Nick Lachey on MTV and the big screen with such movies as “The Dukes of Hazzard.”

OK, Simpson's been fighting for some country credibility. I don't know whether she's achieved it (Jamie at Eye of Polyphemus thinks she missed the boat), but you have to wonder about the publicist who wrote the stuff above. It takes some...well, some something to come up with the phrase "the popular reality show 'Newlyweds' featuring her and now ex-huband Nick Lachey."