I grew up in a place that is identified by county and not city or town, even though they share the same name…"Orange." The county of Orange has many bedroom communities strung together in one continuous suburban sprawl.

It is internationally infamous for real housewives and desperate politicians. In the interest of full disclosure Orange County has gone a long way to shed their image as a right-wing reactionary outpost. In the 2018 mid-term elections, the county roundly rejected the Republican Party. Orange County does not have a single Republican in Congress. That is the reality. The resistance movement is alive and well in “conservative” Orange County.

There is a town in Orange County, California, that is known to my parents as “Are we there yet?” To many it is nothing more than a stretch of pavement on the way to the beach. It is Costa Mesa.  Oh, sure it had been called other things. It was once officially known as Goat Hill and of course unofficially, Okie Heights for the immigrants from Oklahoma who were allowed to live there.

The city sits between posh Newport Beach and the more urban county seat of Santa Ana. It is the town that is between surf city (Huntington Beach) and the painfully white and relentlessly organized city of Irvine. The banality of Irvine makes the place as forgettable as a headache.

If Orange County has a soul, and that certainly is open to debate, it is Costa Mesa. It isn’t the county’s largest community. That would be Anaheim which is is the home to a major-league Baseball franchise, the Angels. Like Orange County itself the team has a perpetual identity crisis and inferiority complex all at the same time. Anaheim is also the home of Disneyland and all that this world-famous tourist destination implies.

Nope, Costa Mesa is the soul of Orange County…damn if that still doesn’t sound like an oxymoron. Like the rest of Orange County, Costa Mesa has that “Hey, does anybody remember what used to be here?” vibe. By the way, if anybody ever asks that question and you’re not sure, if you answer Zody’s or Gemco you have a 50% chance of being right.

For instance, the gigantic Mother’s Market used to be a Borders Books and Music. Talk about food for thought. Before that it was the Mesa Theater.  Of course, now I am just dating myself or an Orange Coast College co-ed, to be more precise.

What has been a constant in Costa Mesa is the Orange County Fair. It is a tradition which has gone on since 1949. It is a ritual that is enjoyed by 1.3 million people each year, but one that I typically eschew. I last visited the fair in the summer of 2003 to see tenor sax man Terry Hanck. He performed nightly during the fair at a cantina on the fair grounds. It was the first time I met the guitar player in his band, Chris Andersen. He was so young they called him “Kid.” The nickname stuck.

I returned to the fair earlier this week, where I saw Orange County's own, Big Sandy and his Fly-Rite Boys open for the Paladins on Sunday, August 11^th.

The show took place in a cavernous auditorium appropriately called The Hangar. It looks like one could have a Boing 747 do a “U-Turn” in the place and not knock over any bottles in the two full bars that sit off to either side of the enormous stage. The sound was surprisingly good in a place that, at first glance, looks like it could be an acoustic disaster.

Robert Williams aka Big Sandy is from nearby Anaheim. He and his band the Fly-Rite Boys seemed justifiably proud to be playing at the Orange County Fair and being on the bill with the Paladins. Williams is a world class talent, a terrific bandleader, entertainer and vocalist.

He and his Fly-Rite Boys started riding that rockabilly wave which was going full throttle in the early 90’s but took it deeper, exploring the roots of that music. They put a decidedly California spin on vintage country, western swing and honky tonk music. Nobody sounds like Big Sandy and his Fly-Rite Boys.

They were the perfect opener to the hard charging Paladins who put their foot on the gas and never let up. Like Big Sandy, the band got started in the 80’s, but really got their legs under them in the 90’s. In the early 2000s the band split up to pursue other musical interests, but were lured back to the concert stage and recording studio over the past few years. The band is guitarist and vocalist Dave Gonzalez, Thomas Yearsley sings and plays bass and drummer Brian Fahey rounds out this powerful trio.  They have not lost the spark that has made them one of the great live acts anywhere.

One of the many things I find appealing about this band is that they continue to attract younger fans. It is refreshing to go to a show that doesn’t look like a halfway house at a senior living center.

Part way through their set, Gonzalez wanted to take a moment to acknowledge a friend and musical kindred spirit, Costa Mesa’s own Chris Gaffney. As Gonzalez said, “He has moved on to the next rodeo.” One would be hard pressed to find a more soulful musician than Gaff. His memory might go a long way to explain why Costa Mesa is the soul of Orange County.  

-  David Mac



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