Kingsport’s 26th Annual Fun Fest kicked off this weekend and it’s certain to highlight the memories of summer for the folks who live around here. For me, Fun Fest is one of the great reasons why I like living in this little mountain town too and we go a long way back.
Fun Fest has lots of memories for me. Back in 1981, Bill Robinson with The Kingsport Times-News booked our band TenPenny (David Sproles, Marvin Thompson, Kathy Urquart, Kevin Dolan and I think we even had backup singers and horns) to play the some of the first shows. I remember playing the Buck Van Huss Dome opening for a wild and crazy 70s band called HeadEast. That was my first taste of opening for a national artist, but my favorite memory and largest audience I ever played for was the 10,000 right before the big Eastman fireworks display.
Wow. Now that was a show, but what I remember most is when Sproles (an incredible performer), jumped up in the air on ‘Lady You Bring Me Up’ by the Commodores. When he came down, the mic stand broke and he crashed to the stage. We kept playing, but later that night, Bill Robinson showed us his new camcorder and rolled the event backwards and forwards till our sides split with laughter.
It wasn’t much later that my involvement with Fun Fest was forever changed by my Sister in Law, Paula and her twin Louise as their dance academy began the first Showtime at Dobyns-Bennett Theatre. I had just started getting into MIDI instruments and was using hi-tech keyboards to produce the music (I think they called me music director or something like that). I had a great time too, it resurrected all of the great times I had working with them back in high school on musicals and I met a lot of great people who have forever changed my life.
Doug Tweed was the first master of ceremonies. I successful lawyer with Hunter Smith and Davis, his act was a riot and I loved talking to him behind the curtain as we all took this very seriously. We had over 100 children and adult singers moving back and forth from choreographed skits and the rush was intoxicating as we performed several shows to smiling parents and grandparents. I even remember Bruce Looney riding a Harley into the theatre at DB during the high point of the 50s section.
I participated in this great community event up until a few years ago with my brother, his family and several other talented performers and it still flatters me to know that people remember my work and the show still goes on. I had a chance to play the Eastman Stage many times in various levels of performances and that was an incredible milestone.
Life started getting busy with several new original bands and songwriters and I haven’t performed at Showtime, but my work with Fun Fest continues to be one of the highlights of the summer.
I was looking back through a video archive and caught this image of Tommy Dickens and several other of the original organizers of this community event. I recorded the soundtrack on an Ensoniq EPS keyboard and although it was a little cheesy sounding, it was cutting-edge for the nineties. Here’s a link to that oldie…
Several years ago, I also began to work with Fun Fest to produce their website which is now in its 7th year. It’s a hard work to produce, but we have lots of great ideas that have generated over the years and we’re approaching over 10K in sales with almost 100,000 unique visitors each season.
Later on as we started to jump into Internet technologies with The Times-News and GoTriCities, I had a chance to shoot a lot of pictures including some of the first 360 degree panoramas from behind the Fun Fest stage where I was treated to up-close-and personal performances from Willie Nelson, The Doobie Brothers, Dennis DeYoung, Lou Graham of Foreignor, The Pointer Sisters, Alison Kraus and more.
Four years ago, our company The GoTriCities Network decided to expand our involvement with the local music scene and worked with Lucy Fleming to sponsor a “Homegrown Showcase” featuring the best local talent in the region. That started back in 2002 with Yukon, Rob Russell and The Sore Losers, Green Rode Shotgun and The Shazam. Our first show was at the Kingsport Civic Auditorium and although the crowds were small, we still felt we had a good promotion and continued to build the momentum.
Our event is more contemporary than the country and gospel events that highlight the musical offerings and although it’s a mid-week spot, it’s still an important night for young people. We’ve moved the concert outside of the civic auditorium to the stage in front of The Taste of The Tri-Cities and have a guaranteed audience of thousands as they pass by for food and other events.
This year, we’ve entitled the event The GoTriCities Sunset Rock Showcase and at 7pm, we’ll introduce several new modern rock bands including The Only from Johnson City, Ablazing Grace from Bristol, TN, Gretchen from Bristol and Pilot from Johnson City. All of these acts are among the most popular and original acts in the Tri-Cities and although it will be a long day, we’re looking forward to it.
This week, we’ll get the stage setup around noon (I must admit the sweltering muggy July days are tough), the hospitality RV arrives at 2, The Stage will be setup by Steve Bailey shortly after that and if the weather stays cool, we’ll spark up the first band at 7pm. Each will perform for 40 minutes and we’ll reset the stage for another another and it will be over at 11pm.
Fun Fest holds a lot of memories for me, my family and the citizens of Kingsport. We look forward to presenting live local music again and helping others share in the special community memories provided by this popular summer festival.