Hypnotic entertainment at fair

Dozens of fairgoers were in for a treat Tuesday night when Britney Spears made an appearance on the Bi-Mart stage at the Douglas County Fair.

It might not have been the real Britney Spears — known for her bubblegum pop music on stage and bizarre behavior off stage — but while hypnotized, 18-year-old Julia Kehoe personified the singer, complete with diva attitude, and gave the crowd a real show.

The pop singer donned a platinum blonde wig and lip synched the words to “Oops! ... I Did It Again.” She thanked her fans for sticking by her through the ups and downs of the last few years and explained why she and singer Justin Timberlake ended their relationship.

“He’s like little,” she said. “And I’m way huger than he is.”

Her stardom wasn’t the only reason, though.

“His hair too,” she said. “He got a perm.”

And with the snap of hypnotist Tammy Harris Barton’s fingers, Kehoe was left standing on the stage, wig in hand, without the slightest clue as to what she was doing.

When Barton questioned Kehoe, the 18-year-old shrugged her shoulders and handed the wig back to Barton before taking her seat among five other people who were hypnotized as well.

After getting the participants relaxed, Barton started the show with “deepening” exercises. The hypnotized subjects made a range of expressions and gestures when Barton told them the person sitting next to them had bad body odor or had passed gas. Then they laughed out loud, and nearly shed tears, when Barton told them they were in a movie theater watching a funny movie, then a tear-jerker.

Once the participants were in a deep hypnotic state, Barton moved on to a runway show. All of the six claimed they were easily the best runway model on the stage — some claiming to have been trained by supermodels Tyra Banks and Heidi Klum — and then strutted their stuff to prove it.

Miss Douglas County Terri Wilcox gave her best model stomp across the stage — complete with a mid-step twirl and blown kiss to the audience — and 16-year-old Michelle Muse donned sunglasses for the full model effect. All of the hypnotized participants struck a few poses at the end of the runway show before Barton snapped them out of their trances.

When Barton asked what they were doing in front of the audience, they all looked around and said they didn’t know what was happening.

“I don’t want to know,” one participant responded.

After the show, most of the participants said they couldn’t remember much about the 45 minutes they spent on stage.

“I don’t remember anything (on stage). I just remember going up the stairs,” Muse said, pointing to the steps leading to the stage.

Muse’s grandmother, who was also hypnotized, said she didn’t remember anything either.

“She (Barton) told me I was a great runway model,” Debra Graham said. “Somebody said I put my shoe to my ear.”

Graham's husband, Frank, watched from the audience and said he wasn’t sure if his wife and granddaughter were really hypnotized, until the runway show.

“That’s when I realized they were out cold,” he said.

David Lemley was the only man hypnotized, and after his best friend Charles Cranford told him about the show, Lemley had one thing to say.

“That’s embarrassing,” he said with a grin.

• You can reach reporter Marissa Harshman at 957-4202 or by e-mail at mharshman@nrtoday.com.

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