Fantasy Island

Songwriter sings about Put-in-Bay. Drunken revelry follows.

At his concert in Valley City tonight, Wayne Faust will sing a bunch of songs he wrote about party-central Put-in-Bay. The Colorado-based troubadour was a summertime staple at the island’s Beer Barrel Saloon in the ’90s. His repertoire consists mostly of satirical songs about the local “Disneyland for drunks” -- including the crowd favorite “Save the Beer,” which is about a crew that sets sail with 450 cases of Old Milwaukee. “When the boat starts going down,” says Faust, “they dump the captain.”

Faust has logged more than 5,000 shows throughout the world since he started performing three decades ago. His sets are packed with songs from his 10 CDs and stories from his book, Thirty Years Without a Real Job (or How I Made a Career in the Entertainment Business and Still Had a Life). He also writes on-the-spot tunes suggested by the audience. “Somebody will yell peanut butter! Someone else will yell G-strings!,” says Faust. “Right that second, I come up with little ditties.” Also look for Sven, a two-foot wooden Viking statue that shares Faust’s stage. It’s electronically rigged to strum a guitar to the music. “Of course, everyone in the audience has been drinking,” laughs Faust, “so they think he’s really alive.” www.cherokeehillsgolf.com.