I’m a little sore this morning. Yesterday I took requests and spun tunes for the 12th Classic British Car Show out at the old Columbia Speedway. This was my fifth year with the show and I always look forward to it. And dread it just a little at the same time.
Left: (Courtesy of The State Newspaper) This is what the event looked like two years ago. That year, I was in the small turquoise tent next to the big white one in the middle of the picture. This picture was taken in the morning during the registration and parking period before the big crowds arrived for the Tartan Day South celebration on the far side of the infield. About 50 more late arriving cars and 20,000 attendees were still to arrive. Let’s get the “dreading” part over with first. There is a lot of gear that has to be moved four times in one day (from my house to the car, from the car to the DJ tent, from the DJ tent back to my car and finally from my car back to where I store it at home.) All in all it is about 200 pounds of gear. Here is my checklist; 2 speakers with stands, 1 stereo public address amplifier, 1 box of heavy speaker cable, 1 box containing the wireless microphone, back up microphones and power distribution box, 1 box of light audio cables to connect all the audio pieces parts to the amplifier, and finally one bag holding my computer, mouse, a pair of glasses and the other odds and ends needed to complete the DJ Rig. Fortunately this is a daytime outdoors event or there could be a light kit to go along with all this.
I’m also fortunate that the British Car Club supplies the power, the tent and the table and chair. For the past couple of years, we have had power from an outlet 75 yards away over on the Tartan Day South half of the infield. All that could double the weight and probably outstrip my GMC Acadia’s load capability, but that’s what trailer hitches are for.
Yesterday was mostly cloudy and cool, a good thing since I was warmed up enough by the time I unpacked the gear and got it set up in the tent. Unlike most of my gigs, the audience was already driving in and parking their British cars in the display area in front of the tent when I arrived. So, once everything was powered up. I tested the microphone and started the first song and I was on. I fine tuned the power and equalizers while that song was playing. The secret is to always kick of the event with a song that I know intimately. In this setting it is about opening up the treble a little more to match the propagation of the bass which travels well in an open space.
From that point on, it becomes almost the same as doing the old “Doug Broome’s Nighbeat Show”, the one big difference is that there are a lot more songs played back to back with no talk than a radio show. No station IDs, jingles, PSAs or promos; just music. There are commercials however as I thank the show sponsors or go by one of their tents to talk about what they have at the show. There are announcements about the show, when registration ends, when is lunch (the most important one of all), when judging begins and ends, and finally the time for the raffle and the presentation of the more than 50 trophies to the car owners.
The best part of the show is how similar it is to the old Doug Broome’s show at WCOS; all throughout the show folks walk up and tell me their requests. Instead of handing them to me on scraps of paper or napkins, they just tell me what they want to hear and I look them up on my DJ software and place them into my play queue for the auto-DJ to play automatically.
This makes it better than the old radio show because I have a lot more time to talk with the folks who come by the booth. Many of them are my old WCOS and new WUSC-FM listeners. So it is time to visit with old friends and make new ones. Sometime around 11 AM the folks who came for the Tartan Day South show on the other side of the infield begin crossing over and that’s when things get really busy, the way I like it.
Left: Yesterday's DJ Tent. I had a special treat when Alex Gabbard, author of the book “Return to Thunder Road” came by. We talked about the 1958 movie “Thunder Road” which starred Robert Mitchum. His book is a background to that movie and the moonshining culture that existed back in the day. I learned for the first time that the name “Thunder Road” was not a Hollywood creation, there was no local road in eastern Tennessee by that name, but the Federal Project was “Operation Thunder Road.” The film was based loosely on an incident in which a driver transporting moonshine was said to have crashed to his death on Kingston Pike in Knoxville, Tennessee between Bearden Hill and Morrell Road. For those of you interested in the movie Mitchum’s son James who is 77 has a General Store and “Thunder Road” museum along that stretch of road.
Alex told me that the moonshiner’s cars of the time could outrun any stock car racer. Back in those days, before interstate highways came into being, the rural highways had almost no traffic on them. So the moonshiners would run these highways, avoiding towns at speeds up to 160 miles per hour. They would bring their cars out of the barns where they were hidden after dark and return them before dawn, so no one could see them. According to Alex, there was one driver who made the run two nights a week from just east of Knoxville Tennessee to Raleigh NC and back. He left with a full load just after dusk and returned empty but richer before dawn broke the next morning. His route had no stop lights and a very few and totally ignored stop signs.
Alex gave me an autographed copy of two of his books and I’m already into the second chapter of “Return to Thunder Road.” Just in case you are wondering Robert Mitchum’s “The Ballad of Thunder Road” got played not one but twice yesterday. I loved that movie as a 13 year old. So it was definitely an interesting conversation especially considering that it was held in the infield of The Columbia Speedway which was the site of auto races for NASCAR's top series from 1951 through 1971. For most of its history, the racing surface was dirt. The races in April and August 1970 were two of the final three Grand National races ever held on a dirt track. The track was paved before hosting its last two Grand National races in 1971. Yes, Nascar royalty including Richard Petty roared around that dirt track during the time we were running commercials for the track on WCOS – AM back in the 60s.
Thanks to everyone who came by with requests and memories. That made all the heavy lifting worth it. It was a great day. Oh MY!
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