DFW reads from Ticket to the Fair (anthology reading, ~2003)

source

TL;DR

A six-minute clip: DFW reads what he introduces as a small snippet — the "Illinois State Jr. Baton-Twirling Finals" set piece (event name per the published ASFT text; spoken in the expanded junior form) (Aug. 14, 1994, the McDonald's tent) — from the Harper's state-fair piece, at what he says is an anthology event (his anthologized piece, he explains as-aired, comes from something Harper's ran under a title he recalls as 'Ticket to the Fair'). No Q&A, no other content. Canonical text: "Getting Away from Already Being Pretty Much Away from It All" in A Supposedly Fun Thing.

What's read

The baton-twirling sequence complete: Sugar and Spice division, the judges from the University of Kansas, errant batons "whistling wickedly" into the crowd (published ASFT wording; his spoken aside insists none of it is invented), the armed-service medleys, the Desert Storm tribute routine, the dad with the Toshiba viewfinder taking "a tomahawking baton directly in the groin" (published ASFT wording, verified), plus DFW's retreat as a baton caroms off the inflatable Ronald's thigh.

Why it matters here

Minor; mainly a sample of his comic-reportage timing read aloud. The spectator-hazard slapstick sits inside the essay's larger argument about Midwestern communal fun vs. coastal irony — the theme discussed at length in the WPR 1997 interview.

Cross-references

A Supposedly Fun Thing: canonical text.
Bookworm 2003-05-08 (D'Agata) — identifies the mystery anthology as The Next American Essay (D'Agata, 2003) and airs the same excerpt, dating this clip to the 2003 promotion season (date moved from undated; whether the two recordings are one event or two stays open).
WPR 1997: the fair piece discussed (clogging, 4-H kids, carnies).
IJ connections: mass fun venues and their dark seams; Eschaton's descent into projectile chaos as the fictional cousin of the baton bombardment.