Post by tempfan on Jan 14, 2005 17:37:54 GMT -5
Temptations find weather less than tempting in North Dakota
Associated Press
BISMARCK, N.D. - Rhythm and blues singer Joe Herndon of The Temptations used words from one of the group's hit songs to describe this city's subzero temperatures and blowing snow.
"It's not 'just my imagination,'" Herndon said Thursday. "This place is cold. This is where cold is made and sent to other places."
The group performed Wednesday night at the Bismarck Civic Center, during the Marketplace for Entrepreneurs, an economic development conference.
Outside the arena, wind gusts topped 45 mph, making the temperature feel like a flesh-numbing 40 below.
The wind chill factor was 38 below Thursday morning as The Temptations waited to board an airplane for balmy Biloxi, Miss.
Road manager Kim Fields, who's been handling the group's equipment for more than 20 years, said the Bismarck stop was the coldest he could remember. He could barely move his hands after hauling the group's equipment inside the Bismarck airport terminal.
Biloxi, he said, should be a little more tolerable, at 70 degrees above zero.
Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., invited the legendary Motown group to Bismarck, and helped raise money from North Dakota businesses to pay for the concert.
Conrad admitted he didn't tell the group just how cold it can get in North Dakota in January. "I told them it was going to be seasonably cool," Conrad said. "I didn't specify how cool."
Conrad said about 3,150 showed up in winter weather that was cold even by North Dakota standards.
"It was great," Conrad said of the concert. "I think everybody had a great time listening to the oldies but goldies."
Otis Williams, who founded The Temptations in 1961, said he could not remember performing a concert in a colder city. It was the group's first visit to Bismarck.
"Being from Detroit, I understand this weather," said Williams, who now lives in California. "But I can't wait to get back to California, mudslides and all."
The Temptations, who bill themselves as the "hardest working group in show business," have performed up to 350 concerts in a year.
Guitarist Adrian Williams said the group got a warm reception in bitter-cold Bismarck. "People in North Dakota need entertainment, too," Williams said.
