July 23, 1982

Through Aug. 1 the Orange County Agricultural Society is presenting its 142d county fair at the county fairgrounds, on the border of the city of Middletown, 60 miles from New York at the junction of Interstate 84 and Routes 17 and 6. Beef and dairy cattle, sheep, goats, arts, crafts, apples, pears, plums, grapes, pies, cakes, breads, needlework, flowers and plants by the thousands will all be competing for the traditional blue ribbons as well as $30,000 in prize money. Entertainment includes puppet shows, motorcycle stunt riding and music by Jimmy Sturr, the polka king. Tonight at 8, it's wrestling (admission, $4 and $6). General fairgrounds admission, $3; $2 for those younger than 12. Open noon to midnight. Information: (914) 343-4826. JAZZ ON GRAND STREET STAGE ''Jazz-Set'' is a play by Ron Milner that attempts to track the path of jazz into mainstream American music. The original music in this work is by the percussionist Max Roach. Mr. Milner, a Detroiter, is the author also of ''What the Wine Sellers Buy,'' ''Who's Got His Own'' and ''The Killing Floor.'' Norman Riley is the director of the cast of six: Rony Clanton, E.L. James, William Kennedy, S. Epatha Merkerson, Monsoor Najee-Ullah and Nick Smith. Performances begin at 7:30 P.M. at the New Federal Theater, 466 Grand Street. Admission, $5; the elderly, $2.50. Information: 598-0400.

In a victory for the Reagan Administration, the Senate tonight approved a proposal for a 10 percent withholding tax on stock dividends and interest received by millions of Americans. The Senate also approved provisions in a tax bill that would raise two consumer taxes - the Federal excises on cigarettes and telephone service. The cigarette tax would be doubled to 16 cents a pack, effective Jan. 1 and running until Sept. 30, 1985, when it would revert to 8 cents a pack. The excise tax on telephone service, now 1 percent, would rise to 2 percent in 1983 and 3 percent in 1984-1985, and then decline to 2 percent in 1986.

Because of an editing error, an arti- cle yesterday on the White House bar- ber shop incorrectly stated the shop's cost arrangement. According to the White House Press Office, all users, including the President and the Vice President, pay $16 and up for haircuts.

International France defied Washington's order barring European companies operating under American license from producing equipment for a pipeline that will supply Western Europe with Soviet natural gas. The French order to proceed with the contracts applies mainly to a nationalized French company using American technology to make 40 turbine rotors for the 3,500-mile pipeline. (Page A1, Column 6.) Iran opened a new drive near the strategic Iraqi oil port of Basra, and Iraq said it had hurled back the two Iranian brigades that led the attack. Baghdad said several thousand Iranians had been killed. (A3:4-6.)

rock at Maxwell's in Hoboken. Echo and the Bunnymen, who are probably the most popular band to have emerged from Liverpool since the Beatles, are at the Peppermint Lounge. George Benson, an exceptional jazz guitarist and a very successful pop vocalist, is at Radio City Music Hall. Angela Bofill is singing her personal urban pop at the Dr Pepper Festival on the Hudson. And there's more, lots more. It's a summer weekend in New York City, and it's alive with pop music of just about every stripe. But what does the variety and the vitality of the pop music that can be heard in New York on this or any given summer weekend tell us about the state of pop music today? Can this weekend's pop schedule be read like tarot cards so that a picture emerges of where pop music is and where it is going?