Getting kids to the desert of New Mexico requires investing in the strange. Not a freak show, that has too much realism. An extravaganza which will allow the unpredictable to happen, involuntarily.
Management wants a controlled show. "Thanks everybody for coming, great time. Gotta go. Thaaaannks!" Bogus Slogan wants the unpredictable. Why not. Nothing better could happen in any show.
The band also knows their limits. Payrolls and families and friendships. Lawsuits cost money, so when the group makes a contract they will be there for the fans, the music and their own paycheck. Not for the promoters nor for the sponsors. They are on their own. They're big boys and girls. So if the unpredictable comes along, surfs up.
The extravaganza for Kandy's Hideaway in White Sands, NM was a re-enactment, full scale, of the Alien landing in Roswell, NM in 1947. Scholars were consulted. So much prep time was needed and the crowd of believers grew so large that the summer date had to be reset in October. It didn't delay until Halloween because every one wanted to be home in time for Trick O' Treat. It wasn't in Roswell because there were not enough motel rooms.
What set the stage, from before the first note was played, was the necessity of alternate endings. Conspiracy was never more well defined than by the opponents to your belief. To get the concert, both sides had to allow the other to re-enact their version. To take the place of the "weather balloon," that side's organizers bought old hot air balloons. Two, both painted white. For one balloon they removed as much metal as possible and filled its basket with as much fireworks as possible. No need to describe the elaborate wireless detonator, fuse delay, stacking protocol...
The first balloon had been "destroyed" in the pre concert re-enactment. The second stood fixed on the ground, near the stage, as a prop to support the group's theory. An hour into the Bogus Slogan set, the second lifted off. Whether the detonation was accidently tripped, or deliberately and with malice set off, is a new eternal mystery. But the effect was several levels above reality.
The basket had barely risen 60 feet, but every one saw it moving. Even the band, mid-song, began repeating the chorus of "1000 Suns Known", saw the ripping explosion... The fireball that curved into gravity... Felt the physical blow of the explosion's sound wave. The rather large fireball hit the sponsor's vip tent at the exact corner where the post concert liquor had been stored.
The secondary explosion vaporized every molecule of alcohol. The crowd cheered and began to chant "Balloon go boom!" The band spontaneously wrote and played their next hit single, "Fireball of Love (...and the balloon go boom)." Every body had a good time.
Bogus Slogan Poster #83 - Inside View
