Chubby Checker-Austin Mahone

We've been twisting and shouting all day!  Chubby Checker was in the house early this morning and ready to party.  At 71, the man can still twist and put on a great show.  He was an absolute sweet man.  He even serenaded me when I was taking his guests to some special seating. They rolled in on a bus that he bought from Paula Abdul in the 80's.  We ended up getting him a special plate of ribs from the Dino BBQ because he "lives up to his name" when it comes to meals.  His show consisted of bringing up a group of ladies that danced around on the stage and then a group of men to do the twist.  As his show was ending Austin Mahone was standing on the stage watching.  He called him over and the crowd erupted!  It was all the tweens in the crowd waiting for his show.  We're talking the screaming, crying, crazy girls.  They were everywhere today.

Chubby's vintage bus

Chubby Checker with Austin Mahone and his dancers

Austin is a YouTube find.  Let's say the next Justin Bieber, or so they say.  The little girls were all over the fairgrounds today.  We had to book a separate room for his meet and greet because it usually takes place during his sound check but since we don't have a closed sound check they needed a different setup.  It took weeks to organize the room, the production, etc but it all went well.  Thank goodness, Seth my co-worker was here seeing the fair.  He took care of overseeing the event with the 160+ people while I stayed with Chubby and his signing after his show.  Austin did a short acoustic set and then took pictures.  Every time he moved anywhere there was a mob of people.  We were sending security everywhere with him.  His show was a short track show but was full of choreographed dancing, singing and screaming fans.  Austin wasn't feeling well but managed to get through the show.  Chubby's crowd was actually larger than his!  We had a State Trooper parked in front of the runner vehicle to escort him out.  The crowd swarmed the backstage fence and as they departed the crowd just ran toward the car screaming.  It was like tiny little ants swarming toward the ant hill.

Austin and his Mahones