The 2016 Illinois State Fair is in full swing right now. In spite of a rough start which included heavy thunderstorms and flooding, for the most part, the middle week of the fair has been clear skies and mild evenings.

This year Fun DMC was invited to play at the Robert “Chick” Fritz’s Coors Light beer tent again. I know it is something that all of us were looking forward to, however this year was not without its challenges. A couple of months ago, our drummer Talon informed us that the state would be sending him to Tennessee for job training during most of the month of August. As the rhythmic heartbeat of the band, this was devastating news.  Never one to back down from an obstacle, rather than forgo the fair this year, we sought out a substitute to get us through the week.

While it is not uncommon for bands to run with substitutes, I should point out the complexities of this undertaking. As Fun DMC has grown and evolved, so has the job description of each performer. The drumming position in Fun DMC not only requires one to be a proficient drummer, but also one who can consistently play along to a click track with vocal cues, change up speed in an instant, smooth out otherwise tough transitions, and learn a lengthy yet unconventional set list.  It’s not as if a drummer, regardless of how good of a drummer they are, can just walk in with their general knowledge of pop and rock music standards and sit down and play through our set list. It’s almost the equivalent of learning the entire script of a musical.

Enter Michael Sawczak.

Now whenever a need for a musician arises, it would seem that everyone has a friend or a cousin who plays an instrument. So when Aaron recommended that his 19-year-old cousin could be a candidate, I was confidence in Aaron’s standard, but I was still unsure at how anyone would approach this monumental task in such a short time. As anyone who saw us play at the Illinois State fair Tuesday and Wednesday night can attest to, it turns out Michael was more of an up for the challenge. In fact, he was so good that there were times I forgot that it was not Talon Holmes behind the drum kit. Of course there were moments where Michael added his own artistic flair which always resulted in smiles from the front line performers.

On Tuesday night the Coors Light tent was filled with concert goers from the Dierks Bentley grandstand show. It had been a while but we dusted off our country medley specifically for this crowd. Needless to say, it was a hit for everyone there and it turns out that this country crowd was very diverse in their tastes as they equally enjoyed many of our more hip-hop and pop influenced songs. The next night we were joined by the crowd from the KISS concert across the street. They were equally as enthused, particularly by our ‘80s Medley and our Metallica/Journey mashup, “Don’t Stop The Sandman.”

On Wednesday night, the band had the pleasure of celebrating the birthday of our own Paige Martin’s mother, Betsy. Betsy, Craig, and the entire Martin family have long been supporters of the band and we could not have been more excited that to have her celebrate her special day with us. Our own Talon Holmes was celebrating a birthday as well, but unfortunately he was doing so in Tennessee. However, the band was able to gather on stage at the end of the night for one final performance of “Happy Birthday” via video, dedicated to our missing drummer.

And with that, the Fun DMC trailer slowly rolled through an empty fairgrounds and our very worn out band members returned to their respective homes. The Illinois State Fair, it’s faults notwithstanding, is always a favorite venue for Fun DMC and we are looking forward to 2017.