State Fairs, an annual American ritual, are a willingly accepted assault on the senses--visual, acoustic, gastric (fried beer the latest delicacy)--and a voluntary yielding of personal space to strangers.

"Chadbourne, like David Foster] Wallace does in prose, brings back amazing images in his signature, close-up style. With his wide-angle lens and flamboyant use of color he finds the kinds of insanely tight juxtapositions that bring to life the crash and chaos, not to mention the pressing humanity, that is the true experience of a fair at full frenzy."--Bill...