Rock concert at Bridgefest 2013 on Friday night . Click left to make it louder–I mean bigger.

By Paul Goldfinger, editor @Blogfinger

June 21, 2013.    Friday night. I just finished Ted Bell’s history tour.  Ted was riding around on a battery operated scooter which looked something like a motorcycle, except the max speed is 20 mph.   But he might have felt at home over at Bridgefest 2013 because some Riders for Christ had arrived and were given prime parking right outside the GA.

I told Ted to get himself a tattoo of the Great Auditorium  and a biker chick, but Ted demurred.  When I got to the GA, a raucous Christian rock concert was going on.   I listened for awhile at the door, and it sounded very good, even though I didn’t understand any of the lyrics.   I decided to move on when the lead singer asked every one in the audience to shout out their names.    Besides, I was getting the fish eye from the elite guard at the door who evidently didn’t know a Blogfinger when they saw one.

A large crowd of mostly teenagers seemed to have invaded Auditorium Square.  There the OGCMA refreshment folks were selling a ton of hot dogs—-enough saturated fats to feed the Russian army as they headed west.   There were tents set up selling stuff including T shirts.  The Bridge radio station was broadcasting, and it looked like a successful event.  Bridgefest is in its 8th year, and it will go on through Saturday, although it will not deter the Doo Wops.  Nothing but the demise of the Doo Wop generation will do that, but each summer, the Doo Wop audiences look exactly the same, so they evidently don’t age.

These Bridgefest kids evidently were hoping for the New York Philharmonic.  All photos by Paul Goldfinger  ©

Biker dudes and dudesses must be inside rockin’ and rollin’

Fred (L) the hot dog and water man takes a rest while he figures out how to sell a dog to that biker.  It used to be that no one who was bald could be a tough guy, but the hairless thing is now cool in the Grove. Biker man is looking at Fred and thinking ,”Are you looking at me?”  Little does he know, but Fred is a tough guy himself at 6′ 4,” and he, like Samson, has hair.

This song goes out to Ted Bell, the leader of the pack

BETTE MIDLER  from her album  “The Divine Miss M” performing the Shangri Las’ huge hit