Billy Strings Reopens Chattanooga's Restored Tivoli Theatre
Billy Strings is reopening the Tivoli Theatre in Chattanooga, a 105-year-old landmark that just finished a $75 million restoration. We sat down with Nick Wilkinson of the Tivoli Foundation to find out how it happened, why a city spends that kind of money on a theater, and how the live music business really works.
Billy plays two nights at the Tivoli (Oct. 20 and 21) in a room of about 1,600 seats, during IBMA week. Nick explains how the reopening came together, how the ticket lottery works, why tickets can't be transferred, and how the free block party outside works, with the show projected on giant LED screens outside the venue.
Then we get into the bigger picture: why it took so long, who paid for it, why touring is now how artists make a living, the "no runny eggs" rule that keeps big acts coming back, how Live Nation and Ticketmaster fit in, where ticket fees actually go, and what's next for concerts in Chattanooga.
Listen to this week's episode here or watch it on YouTube. As always, subscribe to The What Podcast wherever you get podcasts for weekly updates on Bonnaroo and festival news!
Guest: Nick Wilkinson
Chapters
- 00:00Intro
- 03:07Interview: Nick Wilkinson, Tivoli Foundation
- 04:12Billy Strings and the Tivoli reopening
- 11:28Why the renovation took so long
- 23:52The music industry, no runny eggs and Live Nation
- 44:44Takeaways and festival news
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Billy Strings Reopens Chattanooga's Restored Tivoli Theatre
Nick (00:00)
Billy comes to town and we kind of had this wild idea. What if you reopen the theater? I think he really liked the idea of helping celebrate beautiful historic theaters like the Tivoli. And I think it's probably more beautiful than it even was in nineteen twenty one when it opened the first time and now it's a hundred and five years old.
Barry (00:25)
Welcome back to The What Podcast.. This is gonna be an interesting episode. had a couple of things fall into my lap that I thought would be interesting. And you'll notice that Russ is not with us. Russ is under the weather. you also notice if you watch every week that Brian is with us, and that is because I thought you might find this topic interesting, and I think you did.
Bryan (00:52)
yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll we'll get to it here shortly if you get a little bit of catch up here on the front end. But Nick Wilkinson, what's his his exact title? Executive director? He's the boss
Barry (01:00)
He's probably president. He's probably president, I think, of the Tivoli Foundation. he's the boss with
our two or three actually municipal facilities. The Tivoli Theatre, which is about sixteen hundred and something people, the Memorial Auditorium is about 3,700, and the Walker Theatre, I think, is about 800. if you're not from Chattanooga, you don't care. You're probably wondering why am I even telling you that? It's because I think most
bigger cities have similar and the Tivoli has just been renovated, $75 million. And we talked with Nick at length about why the city would put that kind of money into it. We talk about the industry. we talk about Billy Strings, which is who is performing this week as part of a grand opening celebration and sort of tied into the IBMAs, which is here in Chattanooga. So
Bryan (01:59)
Yeah,
as we speak, as as this is going on or you know, this is available to be consumed, IBM A has taken over Chattanooga. So as you joked last week, as we were at CaveFest, the Bluegrass Correspondence Podcast for the month
Barry (02:14)
Right.
Bryan (02:14)
of October is is here. And you know, no take some joking aside, it's a fun event. It's a great you know, I I was looking for every reason to say this is not that.
Big a deal. Like who cares? When when we got I because we were we we've had some festival issues in Chattanooga and meaning keeping them. They tend they've been leaving. We've been having trouble supporting them. And so this was an effort to kind of fill that void. And I thought, pfft, whatever. I was wrong as usual when I jumped to
Barry (02:45)
Yeah.
Bryan (02:45)
conclusions like that. It's a very fun event. They're getting beautiful weather all weekend or all week, I should say,
Barry (02:51)
Yeah.
Bryan (02:51)
into the weekend. And Billy Strings is here for two nights and a sixteen hundred.
capacity building and and and the the block party now that they put together, which we'll get to the details later on just a little bit in the show. What a what a cool thing here.
Barry (03:07)
All right, here we go. Great conversation. I hope you guys I know it's Chattanooga centric, but I think you'll enjoy the information no matter where you live.
All right, there he is, my friend Nick Wilkinson. How are you, man?
Nick (03:26)
Good, Barry. Great to be with you and Brian.
Barry (03:29)
Love the background. That's an old photo of the Tivoli Theatre, right?
Nick (03:34)
Yeah, I need to really update that because that was probably s eight to twelve months ago when I uploaded that as my background. now it's sparkling, it's beautiful, it looks amazing. obviously in anticipation of the upcoming shows that we have and all the great shows we have coming.
Bryan (03:56)
Eight
to twelve I thought you were about to say eight to twelve years ago. It feels like that's how
Nick (03:58)
Well.
Barry (03:59)
No, it feels like it.
Bryan (04:00)
that's how long it's been since the the revenu renovation started, but boy, it's been moving fast. We'll get to that in a minute. But Barry, go ahead. And and again, Nick, thanks so much for joining us.
Barry (04:12)
You have Nick, a huge event. Billy Strings is performing tonight and tomorrow there at the newly refurbished, newly renovated, just opening Tivoli Theatre. And for those of you who are thinking, why do I care about Chattanooga and the Tivoli Theatre? 'Cause you're in, you know, Bend, Oregon or somewhere like that, we're gonna get into sort of why.
I think it's relevant because it's a live music thing. So I want to talk about why you guys spent seventy-three million dollars.
Nick (04:50)
No seventy five.
Barry (04:51)
Seven don't
Bryan (04:52)
Get it right, Barry.
Barry (04:53)
don't skip those two, those last two, man. on renovating this hundred and something year old theater. So two things I want to talk about. Let's talk about the belly strings things first, because you're doing something really cool. and that's why I thought to to reach out to you. tell us about the event tonight. It's not just the the event inside the venue. You're doing some stuff outside, right?
Nick (05:20)
That's right. Yeah. We're so the like you mentioned, the entirety of the project, the seventy-five million dollar Tivoli Performing Arts Center project that we're undertaking includes a complete restoration of the Tivoli, a renovation of the space adjacent to it and this building that we purchased. It's not quite ready, but we are gonna be opening up the Tivoli Theatre tonight.
For the Billy Shrink shows. We really wanted to celebrate the fact that Billy is a huge advocate and supporter of the International Bluegrass Music Association. And as you might know, we already host the award ceremony at Memorial Auditorium, which
will be Thursday.
Bryan (06:08)
We will be there.
Nick (06:09)
Yeah, which is a great event. Billy comes to town and we kind of had this wild idea of hey, on the construction schedule.
It looks like we'll be done a few days before IBMA. What if you reopen the theater and reached out to his team? You know, initially I think they were like, it seems a little dicey. And then Billy, I think it I think it really was Billy. I I'd I'd don't quote me on that. I guess I'm online, right? Doesn't matter. but I I think he really liked the idea of helping celebrate beautiful historic theaters like the Tivoli. And Barry, you're right.
A lot of communities have beautiful old historic theaters. No community has as beautiful and historic and just symmetrically wonderful theater like the Tivoli does. That like like Chatnica does in the Tivoli. It's it's truly magnificent and it's the most beautiful it's ever been. I I l like I think it's probably more beautiful than it even was in 1921 when we reopened when it opened the first time and now it's 105 years old.
Bryan (07:19)
Yeah, I'm really excited about I won't be there for the Billy shows, but I'm excited to get in the door as soon as I can, Nick. And I was I was gonna go there quickly. How did did the Billy thing come together? And you say you don't know, or or you don't know for sure, don't quote you on it. I believe you that Billy said gave this thumbs up because this he's the kind of act that would normally like just his es echelon, man. I can sell three times ten times those tickets, you know, anywhere
Nick (07:46)
Absolutely.
Bryan (07:47)
else. Why would I do that?
I i I gotta believe it's it's because of his love for the the the the festival, IBM A and and their conferences and and the South and he's just he's a cool guy. I
Barry (08:00)
Yeah.
Bryan (08:00)
mean it's it's just not that normal you find somebody that's that chill and that easy to deal with. So the Tivoli's ready to go though. You said the the the adjacent building that I was gonna ask you too, do you you guys purchase that and the Tibley foundation is gonna be
having a lot of other programming and things going on in that. That's not quite ready yet though, but the theater is.
Nick (08:21)
The theater is pristine. It's the most glorious it's ever been. It looks amazing. You know, the Tivoli Theatre is the the reason it's called the Tivoli is because it's based on this incredible villa outside of Rome, on the exers of Rome, where there is what a lot of people refer to as the Tivoli Fountains. the villa is called the Villa de Estes. It's from the sixteenth century.
And it's this immersive experience that you walk through, it's gardens, it's fountains, it's it's it's intended to be kind of a breathed-in kind of architecture. And the Tivoli was intentionally designed to model that. And and I know that so many of us who've probably grown up here have just thought the Tivoli was a beautiful place.
But
Barry (09:10)
Right.
Nick (09:11)
now all of those features that were intentionally designed to model.
The Tivoli fountains and the Villa de Esta really just they shine and they pop out of the walls. The Tivoli itself is a work of art. I mean, every little feature and ornate facet of the
Bryan (09:27)
yeah.
Nick (09:27)
building is truly designal. From the minute you walk up and you see the terracotta brick, you walk into the foyer, you look up, you see now it is a beautiful, basically European palace ceiling. You walk into the the lobby.
And then you walk into the beautiful auditorium. It's simple it's truly supposed to replicate what happened at the Villa de Estah. And and so yeah, I I I think it's it's gonna be remarkable for folks to see. I think it's gonna be remarkable for folks that experience and take it all in. I'm a little worried about people getting logjamed when they walk in because they're gonna be so just blown away by how beautiful
Barry (10:05)
Looking up.
Nick (10:05)
everything is. We're gonna have to like really do crowd control and traffic control.
Not to mention everything that's gonna be going on outside, but it's truly I think gonna be one of the greatest events that's ever happened in Chattanooga this
Barry (10:17)
Yeah.
Nick (10:18)
this this tonight and tomorrow.
Barry (10:20)
Little piece of trivia. It was the first place, first such venue in the South that had air conditioning. Which it's what what they call it, it's it use it it
Nick (10:31)
They didn't and they didn't even call
it c air conditioned. They called it conditioned air, I think,
Barry (10:34)
Yeah.
Nick (10:35)
back in the day. And we That's sexy.
Bryan (10:36)
Come on down to the conditioned air theater, downtown at Tavoli Theatre. Well,
I'll tell you though, Nick, you talk, I can't mean you you're selling it. You're selling it. Because if you just went into the theater and you get you're talking to a bunch of people been here, you know, us on the show for our entire lives, and there'll be some people who who don't know what we're talking about, and some people know exactly what we're talking about. But you walk in and with an eye that just is not paying real close attention the last 10, 15 years, 20 years.
It's was already beautiful. It just
Barry (11:03)
Yeah.
Bryan (11:03)
if it's when you looked close, it's like, you could do a little there, a little bit over there, look at that over there.
Barry (11:07)
Yeah. Yeah.
Nick (11:07)
Yeah. Yeah.
Bryan (11:10)
But if you didn't do that, like me and Barry would do, you're just going having some drinks and going to a show, it was already, you know, it's it's still a beautiful building. let me ask you real quick, Barry. I know you want to go several directions here. The question that every Chattanoogan who knows nothing about this other than they they're looking forward to it opening, why why did it take so long?
It feels like it's been so many years and everybody I know who thinks I know everything in the music world, which I don't, is like, Well, what's going on? Why'd it take so long? I'm like, I guess it just takes a long time. It just I mean I'm
Barry (11:43)
Probably
probably seventy five million reasons.
Bryan (11:45)
It's a serious question,
Nick (11:46)
Yeah.
Bryan (11:47)
but and I I I don't need a a a life changing answer, but it just
long long renovation
Nick (11:52)
No, it's a very fair question.
Bryan (11:53)
long renovation.
Nick (11:55)
You know, if you're gonna do something this bold, this ambitious, you gotta stay your course. You gotta hold your to your guns. And thankfully our team and our board and our organization said, Let's shoot for the moon and see what happens.
Bryan (12:13)
Yeah, great.
Nick (12:14)
And in our business, we are very much in the planning business. we were talking like I I say that
We we were so lucky to host Hamilton last year, the great Broadway musical. we sold probably thirty-three thousand tickets, biggest event ever in Chattanooga in terms of a ticketed concert or or or Broadway show. We started planning Hamilton pre-COVID, if that gives you any sense. And it played off in 2025.
Bryan (12:43)
Wow. Okay.
Nick (12:44)
So in our business, you have to plan so far in advance.
Barry and I have a great mutual friend named Dave Holster, who I always say has forgotten more than I'll ever learn in this business. And and you and Dave and all of our team, Courtney, Sam, everybody's the all the real the real the smart people in the room, I should say, unlike me, we all realized we had to start thinking about, you know, knowing that Tivli was gonna get restored. How do we reconfigure Memorial Auditorium?
To accommodate all the activity that we would have had at the Tivoli. So we put in a curtain system. We have a dual configuration now in the Moore Auditorium where it's 2,200 seats up to 35, 3,800 seats, whatever it may be. So we we knew that was coming. We knew we had, we are very lucky that we had an opportunity just to relocate some shows that might otherwise have played off at the Tivoli. A lot of communities, when they do a massive restoration like this, they just have to shudder. And everybody just has to kind of hope and wait.
We were lucky we didn't have to do that. We were able to continue to bribe provide all the programming, all the content. And like Barry said, there are 75 million dollar reasons.
Bryan (13:55)
Yeah.
Nick (13:56)
75 million dollars worth of reasons, I should say, for
Barry (13:59)
Yeah.
Nick (14:00)
why it took so long. It's the combination of it's the most convalided capital stack you could ever imagine. It's tax credits, it's like loans, it's fundraising. 90% of
Bryan (14:13)
Yeah, donations, I'm sure, a little bit, right?
Nick (14:15)
it is privately sourced.
So I mean, it it takes a second. I would have loved for somebody to have come out of the woodwork and said, Here's a hundred million dollars, just go do this
Barry (14:25)
Yeah.
Bryan (14:25)
Knock it out.
Nick (14:26)
And I still I will still love. So if you're watching this, please.
Barry (14:30)
Yeah. You'll take a check.
Bryan (14:30)
Yeah, yeah. They'll still take him.
Nick (14:31)
You can go to chibleychattanooga.com
and and help us out. But but no, I mean it just takes a while. But if it's worth doing, it's worth doing right. It's the jewel of the South. And we said we're not gonna, we're not gonna, you know, we could everybody always said you could just slap some paint on it and do some things here. No. The place has to be preserved. It is our Louvre, it is our
Bryan (14:52)
Yeah.
Nick (14:53)
Versailles in Chattanooga. And we're gonna make sure it looks every bit worthy of it.
Bryan (15:00)
All right everybody in Chatter, stop asking me why it took so long. We know now.
Barry (15:03)
Yeah. Well, no, I I think it's a
Nick (15:04)
Ask me.
Barry (15:05)
I think it's a great question and it it's a great point. And it's part of why I wanted to talk about this today, because I think it and it gets again, not just because it's Chattanooga. This is true for any place. you guys are planning for the next hundred years. That's why you spend seventy five million dollars on a thing like this. It becomes a city center, it becomes a heartbeat, it becomes a place where
You have things like concerts, movies, Broadway shows, those sorts of things. I mean, I I I know Brian loves it as much as I do. I mean, you know, it was it was where I saw the first Broadway show. It was where I saw the first symphony show. I mean, as a kid when they would pile us into a bus and take us down there for a symphony show at Christmas or whatever, right?
Or if you were lucky enough you got to actually get on stage for a recital or a ballet. Or in my case, when I was in high school, the s the Chattanooga the Christian what was it? CYO. we used to do our shows there when I was at Notre Dame Catholic School. I mean, that was huge, huge to be able to be up on that stage for three or four shows. So
It's a big deal and it's and that's why y you're spending that much money, right?
Nick (16:30)
Well, you know, I think Barry, one of the things, and I probably bore you with this before, but I think one of the things that really like drove your exact point home to me was after I took my job at the foundation, my uncle called me and he said, You know what your grandparents did for their honeymoon? And they were depression era people, they had no money.
So their big fancy honeymoon out of Birmingham, Alabama, was to go to Chattanooga. And one of the like highlights of their honeymoon was to go see a movie at the Tivoli. And
Barry (17:10)
Yeah, see, there you go.
Nick (17:12)
I was like, well, dang, now there's a real resonance here. And it's it's important because.
That was fifty years what but no probably what seventy years ago, whatever the heck. Seventy years from now, people are gonna be talking about going to their honeymoons at the Tivoli and it has real import to everyone.
Bryan (17:37)
Well, that might seven years from now they might be talking about those legendary Billy Strings shows that this town was fighting
Barry (17:42)
That's right. I was there. I was there. That type of thing.
Nick (17:44)
that's for that's a given.
Bryan (17:46)
themselves to try to get tickets to this elusive show for because of the seating capacity and the and the just still hard to understand the massive impact that Billy Strings brings on music in the current day landscape. The idea to move this thing or to give people an opportunity to view it.
outside the the venue in a street party kind of thing. Whose idea was that?
Nick (18:14)
You know, I it was it I think it was a combination, but I give all the credit to Billy and his team and and March one, his promoters, and just like I think they had they we were kinda all thinking about it. You know, like you said, Billy f I think he's just sold out two or three nights at Bridgestone.
Bryan (18:34)
Yeah, every year and yeah, and in the spring. If p packs in.
Nick (18:36)
In in Nashville. I mean
that's and that's twenty something thousand seats and he's sold it out
Bryan (18:42)
Easily eighteen to twenty, yeah.
Nick (18:44)
yeah, and sold it out immediately, just like our shows, of course, and we're sixteen hundred thirty or so seats. So they really it's a gift. You know, the the show in its of in and of itself is a gift to local Chattanooga.
And then I think they thought, let's let's see how we can amplify this. We kind of came up with this whole concept of a block party. We're cl shutting down seventh to eighth street. We're gonna project the show on two giant LED boards at the end of eighth street. the festivities get started around five o'clock each night. And i it's just both nights, both nights.
Bryan (19:22)
Okay, so it is each night. Both nights are doing it. That's great.
Nick (19:26)
And he's he was alre he already is streaming these shows on Nuggsnet. I'm not sure if either of y'all you I bet you both do, listen to Nuggsnet. I I listen to a lot of
Bryan (19:34)
Yeah. Nugs dot net, yeah.
Nick (19:37)
NugsNet shows. I can see behind you that you've obviously listened to a lot of NugsNet shows.
Barry (19:42)
Yeah.
Nick (19:43)
it's and so he already was doing that, and so they're just gonna broadcast that stream. And it I mean, what a gift to the community and what a way to celebrate the Tivoli, everything happening in this
City for the IBM A and it's it's it's really remarkable. It's very G
Bryan (20:01)
Barry, I'll let
you take this back. I want one more on this real quick. Is that, I mean, I'm not telling anything you guys don't already know, or maybe that anybody listens doesn't already know, but the, the, the lot, the parking lot party of the jam band scene that has just gravitated towards Billy. This is this is exactly the kind of thing that they
Barry (20:21)
Yeah.
Bryan (20:21)
would half of them would want on every show at all. You don't even have to go inside. We can keep the party out here. What a
Nick (20:27)
It's
like a shakedown street on steroids.
Bryan (20:30)
what a time that's gonna be. Anyway, no question, just thought. Just just just me interjecting. Go ahead, Barry.
Barry (20:35)
Yeah, to be clear, so if you have a ticket and you're lucky enough and you got it in whatever that five minutes that it took to sell all, right? I mean, didn't that thing sell
Bryan (20:44)
Yeah.
Barry (20:44)
out in no time?
Nick (20:46)
Well,
they they had a we had a local pre sale and then they did a lot and Billy's team i they're so like deliberate in terms of the fact that trying to give everyone access, they do a lottery. So you could sign up for a lottery. I think it was started Tuesday or Wednesday, the lottery closed on Monday night, and then people were notified Tuesday morning whether or not they won the lottery. And it's just a random lottery system.
I I do believe that like ninety percent of the folks who were in the lottery are from within fifty miles or closer. So
Barry (21:23)
Okay.
Nick (21:24)
but they do that intentionally to to make sure that it's it's a fair, equal opportunity. You also can't
Barry (21:28)
Yeah. Right.
Nick (21:29)
transfer tickets. So any of this noise out there about five thousand dollar tickets or whatever, those are not billed tickets. And if those tickets are out
Bryan (21:37)
Yeah, that's just junk on stuff ovens. Yeah, don't don't mess with that.
Nick (21:40)
there, then they'll get canceled and they'll who
the next on the waiting list and there's tens of
Bryan (21:45)
Don't mess with that, yeah.
Nick (21:46)
thousands of people on the waiting list.
Barry (21:48)
But if you're if you're listening and you don't have a ticket, so if correct me if I'm wrong, Nick, you guys are you're fencing off basically the median between seventh and eighth in front of the Tivoli. And you'll be o if you have a ticket, you can get into that side of Broad Street. If you don't, it's free. You can go downtown to the other side and see watch the show on the screen. Is that right?
Nick (22:14)
So 7th to 8th Street, the entirety of that block is going to be closed off. we'll have barricades, security, all that sort of stuff. the the the property owners who are along that side or who, you know, traffic in or out, ingress, egress, in and out of that area, they've been wonderfully accommodating and helpful. But the entirety, so b north and southbound, both sides of the road, the entire block is shut.
And so it's starting around five, yeah, it they'll it'll be a just a a big block party. and folks can come out. We'll have a lot of concessions. I really am encouraging folks to go to some of the local establishments in our community. One of the things,
Barry (22:57)
Mm-hmm.
Nick (22:58)
one of the reasons we did this Tivoli project was to bring the Tivoli out of the Tivoli, so to speak. And so we have great restaurants all around the Tivoli. So go to all those great restaurants, have a bite.
Come to the festival, go to the restaurant, come to the festival, go to the restaurant. You know, whether,
Barry (23:14)
Yeah.
Nick (23:15)
you know, and then if you got a ticket, come into the show. But I hope it's just a celebration of the city center of Chattanooga. But yeah, the entirety, the that entire whole block is gonna be shut.
Barry (23:24)
Yeah, and the weather should be awesome. Unlike all the other, I don't think there's
Bryan (23:26)
And
Barry (23:28)
a hurricane coming, so
Bryan (23:30)
I just checked the weather as we
were getting ready for the show. Seventy-one seventy-two in bright high blue skies for the next few days.
Barry (23:36)
Awesome. Yeah.
Nick (23:37)
I haven't been checking it every second.
Bryan (23:41)
It's gonna be it's gonna be a time. I mean, I I didn't even know about this. I've been out of town a lot recently. We've been doing several different things. I didn't realize it and I thought, holy wow. And now I can't wait. This is great stuff, Nick.
Barry (23:52)
All right, so I wanted to ask you, you're a Bonnarooo guy, you've been. You are a music lover. I didn't I didn't know. I heard you on a pot another podcast the other day. I didn't know your dad was I knew he was somehow involved, but I didn't know he was an actual musician. Was a drummer, right? Played with who?
Nick (24:11)
He played with a lot of guys. He played with Michael Martin Murphy. He was on that song Wildfire. If you're ever at Target at two o'clock in the morning, you can hear it there. he played
Barry (24:19)
She ran calling wildfire. Holy cow, who done know that song?
Nick (24:23)
with a guy named Larry Coriel, who was probably the f father of jazz fusion. he was a Indiana music school guy. He met my mother there. Yeah. So, and it's a bizarre twist that, yeah, somehow I have no talent.
Barry (24:40)
No, that's
not true. I don't know what it is, but I'm sure there's
Nick (24:41)
Yeah. Hmm.
Bryan (24:42)
We haven't found it yet, but
Nick (24:45)
You find it let me know.
Bryan (24:45)
raising seventy five
mil, maybe that's it.
Barry (24:48)
Yeah, you're raising money. That's your so the reason I I I say that is let's talk a little bit about where we are, where you what you see the as an inside baseball. where is the music industry? you obviously think it's it's worth spending seventy five million dollars to create a venue. and it's not just music that comes, but that's a big part of it. So
You know, we're hearing we're we obviously cover festivals. That's our big focus, Bonnarooo being the main one. Weather
Nick (25:23)
Do a great job.
Barry (25:24)
has become a an issue, gas prices are an issue, bans coming out of COVID. you know, we're getting numbers for an event that they weren't getting before. Those numbers are not going down, so it's more expensive to book is is what we're hearing.
is my point. What w what do you think? Where does where's the music industry and what are the issues right now?
Nick (25:54)
Well, I think and we're I'm very lucky to work with a lot of really great pros. I already mentioned Dave earlier. We work with some great folks at Live Nation, used to be AC Entertainment, who really have a real finger on the pulse of this business. But from what I can see, the touring is how most artists are now making their living by being a brilliant artist.
Bryan (26:21)
Mm-hmm.
Nick (26:22)
You you've got the mega artists and those that's that's sort of separate. But having places like the Tivoli, like the Memorial Auditorium, like the Walker Theatre, that's how artists are now sustaining themselves. It it's not on record sales, obviously, the streaming services. And listen, I just was streaming music five seconds ago. So I'm not denigrating that, but they don't make the margins they used to make on those sorts of that kind of income. Used
Print an album and sell it. You made so much money on each album. Those days are over. The way you make money is by touring. And it's a, it's a slog. And these artists have to tour 40 to 60 days a year or shows a year just to kind of make ends meet. and and so we lean into that with projects like the Tivoli, because we know that that's gonna be the backbone of how you know the music ecosystem is gonna work.
we thankfully are able to work with some of the very best in the business. We work with all the big agencies, all the big, you know, managers. I have a whole saying that's, you know, no runny eggs, which means if and and this is from Courtney Keene, who I'm lucky enough to work with, Courtney who worked with Eric Clapton, with Beyonce, with all sorts of are or
Barry (27:41)
Yeah, she's great.
Nick (27:43)
just incredible people. not not Beyonce, J Lo.
she always has a a statement that says no runny eggs. And what that means is when the tour shows up in the morning, from the the stage hands who are helping load in the show to the production folks to everybody on site, if there are bad eggs and the catering's not intentionally and thoughtfully just great, then the whole day is gonna be not that great. And so we have taken a deliberate
effort or made a deliberate effort to make sure that's the case. And that has worked. and now all the agencies, all the management, all all the artists, you know, a lot of these agents, they have five or six people. You guys understand this, I know, but they have five or six major acts probably in their stable. If one of those acts has a bad experience, you ain't getting them back. And for
Bryan (28:37)
Yeah.
Nick (28:37)
so long, Chattanooga had that reputation. We've thankfully turned that around. I think the future for Chattanooga is incredibly bright.
I think at the right time and place, larger venues make a lot of sense. At the currently having, you know, when you do a $75 million project, you have to do a lot of market studies. So I know exactly where we are as a market. And I know we can handle and not handle. We can't handle a 12,000 seat amphitheater right now. But what we can do is activate places like Erlinger Park, other great venues, and then
I'd love to see s five, seven, ten years from now that we have the capacity to continue to grow everything. In the meantime, obviously we're gonna be just we're not slowing anything down on more auditorium. We're not gonna s slow the show count down there. We're just gonna add the Tivoli back online and I think we're gonna see the most vibrant entertainment ecosystem Chatting has ever experienced.
Bryan (29:32)
Quickly on as far as how you know the industry talks, just to give people an understanding, like, you know, the the bands that come through, managers, that kind of thing, to give people who might not be familiar with our our area, it wasn't all that long ago you you couldn't get a drink in our f in our in our old in our
Nick (29:48)
Mm-hmm. Well, yeah.
Barry (29:49)
Yeah, you can take your food. Yeah.
Bryan (29:51)
old festivals. You couldn't have a a bite, and I even some popcorn, right? And that was a different power structure in our city in a little bit it's been some time now.
but it it took a long time for us to just convince people like for people to have a good time, you gotta treat them like they're not children. And you guys have really before this, right? Like before this renovation idea came on any of our radars, that had been already shifting. And I don't know who to give the credit to. Maybe it's all you, Nick. I don't know. Maybe it is. But the Walker Yeah and
Barry (30:19)
It's yeah, it is. It's Tivoli Foundation, it's Nick, yeah. Yeah, the quote was, Brian, just to cause it's so funny, the quote
Nick (30:22)
No, it's
Barry (30:26)
was from one of our city founders. They did wouldn't allow food. You could go to concessions, but you had like five minutes to drink your and
Bryan (30:32)
Yeah, scarf it down, go sit down.
Barry (30:34)
the the quote was people would be spilling their sloppy joes all over the furniture in in there. And I'm like, first of all, who's selling?
Bryan (30:41)
That might have been Robert Walker
himself.
Was that yeah, Robert Walker himself?
Barry (30:43)
That's exactly right, it was. I'm like, who the hell
is serving sloppy jones number one?
Bryan (30:48)
A nineteen seventies mayor
of Chattanooga who the namesake of the theater. really?
Nick (30:50)
I I worked for Mayor Walker at Strang Fletcher,
Barry (30:53)
Did you really?
Nick (30:54)
Caragher, Walker, Smith Hodge as a runner back in the day. And he's a
Barry (30:58)
Wow.
Nick (30:59)
he was a lovely, wonderful man. but yeah, it was just a different s governments
Bryan (31:04)
Different time frame.
Nick (31:05)
are
Barry (31:05)
Yeah, yeah.
Nick (31:05)
not intended to run music venues. And that's just
Bryan (31:07)
No, they're not. But
also we our local team, again, to get a little bit fill in the blank on a little of this, is the Chattanooga Lookouts, a double A baseball team who just built a brand new stadium that you were also have partnered with for programming outside of of your normal spots, the old theaters, with the ni with with some additional outdoor events too. So you guys have really leaned into not just the renovation here in the in this town, but the live local music ecosystem and fueling it from every
vantage point that you can and and that's that's just a testament to you what you guys are doing.
Nick (31:41)
Well, I appreciate that. You know, I I I'm just I think all of our team let's just make cool things happen in our community.
Bryan (31:48)
Yeah.
Nick (31:49)
And and also let's there's there's a lot, there's hundreds of people just directly who work for us and and benefit from that, whether you're a stage hand, whether you're an usher, whether you're a concessions worker with security, whatever it may be. and if we have the ability to to make cool things happen and
one venue or now soon to be four, now almost five with the Bobby Stone Theatre coming online. Why not just keep making the cool things happen and keep,
Barry (32:18)
Yeah.
Nick (32:19)
you know, helping our our city and and the people that we love and that work with us.
Barry (32:24)
I wanna emphasize and reiterate what you said with the no runny eggs. I've I've not heard that and I didn't know that came from Courtney Dave, the aforementioned Dave Holster, and I've said it on this show many, many times. He always told me when the band arrives in the morning, if the coffee's hot and the donuts are fresh, it's a good day. And if the coffee's cold and the donuts are stale, it starts a bad day and and things can go downhill from there.
Going back to CaveFest, Brian. You and I we laughed last week about our buddy Todd Mayo talking about standing outside the women's bathroom listening to the women talk about how nice the toilet paper was. it's those kind of details. It's when you got online to buy the tickets, did you have a problem? When you got your tickets, did you have a problem? When you got to the show, did you have a problem? Those kind of things are what people take away. I go back to Moon River.
leaving and and Jeff Quay are our buddies wearing a banana costume, telling everybody, Thank you for coming. I remember that. You know, why do I remember that? Because it was so unexpected.
Nick (33:30)
Forgot not that.
Barry (33:31)
It was so silly, right?
Bryan (33:32)
To that is
specifically with with when we had our washout day before this started to happen to every festival around at Moon River, to to the to your family of theaters, the Memorial Auditorium has been doing all the heavy lifting for the last three, four years. Shift on a pivot and throw a show there for a day. Like those kinds of things. It's like even if that show maybe that show wasn't even any good, right? I don't know. It doesn't matter. Doesn't matter whether the show was good. It's it's the lasting impression that that you leave you leave.
And again, not a question, just
Nick (34:00)
I'll I'll say when we
we were able to move that show to Memorial, it was really good. I mean when you see Charlie Crockett jamming with
Bryan (34:07)
I used to drink back then a lot. I don't remember what was going on.
Nick (34:10)
Leon Bridges backstage, just kind of just riffing, you're
Bryan (34:13)
Yeah. Yeah.
Barry (34:15)
Yeah.
Nick (34:15)
like, something incredible is about to happen. And it didn't.
Barry (34:18)
Yeah. Something cool happened, yeah.
Bryan (34:19)
Yeah. Yeah. Well
I we had to wait around all day to try to get back in that festival and that meant, you know, go go go.
Barry (34:26)
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Nick (34:27)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.
I know.
Barry (34:29)
No, that's a great point though, Brian, 'cause you ya you got the email. Hey, you're gonna get refunded for today. And by the way, there's a pop up show down the street. Come on. yeah, it's awesome.
Bryan (34:36)
Yeah. it's free. It's free.
Barry (34:42)
Awesome.
Nick (34:42)
Yeah. I didn't know if we were gonna
have three hundred people or three thousand people. And it was three thousand.
Barry (34:45)
Yeah.
Bryan (34:45)
I don't know if anybody
could have pulled that off in this country except for this town. I mean that. I
Nick (34:49)
Yeah. It it's
our team. It's Courtney. It's Dave. It's it's Sam Ford. It's Matt McGall. It's I mean, we I I am lucky enough
Barry (34:55)
Yeah. Sam was coming back from vacation.
Nick (34:58)
to work with the most talented people in the world. I hope they're not watching this because they could realize that they could go anywhere in the world to do what they're doing. but I'm very fortunate. I mean, we're
Bryan (35:05)
Hey, can you get yeah, start payout there, Dick? You got seventy five over there.
Nick (35:11)
so lucky to have that caliber of talent in our community.
Barry (35:14)
Well,
they're like you. they're like you in that you you go to these things. Ashley Cap is the same. We've mentioned I think Brian, you mentioned it a week or so ago. Ashley's, you know, and and Todd Mayo. Yeah.
Bryan (35:23)
He would hang out with his constituents, if you will.
Barry (35:25)
Todd's Todd's out there in the audience watching her show, just like you. You so you come at it from that sort of, you know, what would I want? What would I expect? And that it shows. So it's important. All right.
Nick (35:41)
Well,
I I get to work with a lot of way smarter people than me. That's all I'll say.
Barry (35:44)
No, I
told I people won't know, but our buddy Denton, I told him just the other night, you guys have a great team. It's a it's you guys are really, really good. Yeah.
Nick (35:53)
Ninson for mayor, is what I always
Bryan (35:55)
Well,
Nick (35:55)
say.
Bryan (35:56)
so one question quickly for me, probably basically one of my last ones here, 'cause I I I could do this, you know, we we hope to spread out to a b a a a wider audience outside of Chattanooga. On a Chattanooga basis, I could talk to you for like two hours, Nick. The the Tivoli with with the Chattanooga Lookouts, the the idea with our local team w is to bring some music consistently into that minor league ballpark. And that's the last I'll do on a local question, but
Nick (36:23)
Yeah, no, I think our goal would be, you know, somewhere between two, three to five shows a year in that ballpark. I think that's what our market can sustain.
Bryan (36:31)
Like like
a bit like a bigger size, like we're gonna put a stage on the field kind of thing. Are we talking about that? Great.
Nick (36:35)
Yeah, no, full production, big, big event. We are actively
talking to agents and artists about it right now. Our goal, and I feel pretty certain we'll have an announcement before the end of the year for some shows in 2027 that will take place. One of the nice things about a a baseball stadium is you know the schedule, right? The MLB,
Bryan (36:56)
Yeah.
Nick (36:57)
they determine the schedule. So it's unlike my business for, you know.
Bryan (36:59)
A year in advance, usually, yeah.
Nick (37:01)
Dave Chappelle might just call the week before and say he wants to play a show, which he did.
Bryan (37:05)
Like he did. Like he did.
Nick (37:08)
in the baseball world, that's not gonna probably happen. I don't think the Braves are gonna call and say, Hey, by the way, we're gonna play tomorrow. So so
Bryan (37:13)
Well, yeah, I'm gonna play today.
Nick (37:14)
you have the ability to really forecast. And so, I I think we're gonna have some exciting announcements very soon.
Bryan (37:22)
Okay. I
ask it that way because the new stadium is is just it's top of the line in the country and there are many people, baseball
Nick (37:28)
That's the project.
Bryan (37:30)
heads that will that will agree that there's not much better in this in in the country in this level of baseball. But there's a lot of space. Like you could do some smaller shows, five thousand shows, five thousand capacity shows and some of their like banquet style rooms. But we're but we wanna see we as the big music fan in the town, we wanna be out on a you know, out in a big
We wanna see something out in the outfield like we see in Atlanta or these places. So I'm glad to hear that that's that that's what you guys are working on. 'Cause that's what it sounded like. That's what I thought, but I hadn't talked to you since the announcement.
Nick (38:00)
It
is our amphitheater.
Barry (38:02)
Yeah. There we go.
Bryan (38:03)
That's the all the amphitheater we need, Nick. I could already
I I we're in complete agreement on this.
Barry (38:08)
I have one more and it's kind of a bigger question and I'm sorry to to hit you with it last, but s let's so to kind of tie everything together. You talked about the no runny eggs, how important that is. you talked about having the nice venue. How important is having a relationship with a live nation who some people, you know, are just gonna hate it. Can't, you know, it's the devil incarnate, right? But
How is that that relationship? It because one of the things that Dave Holscher said to me and Ashley Capp said to me years ago, talking about building the music market in Chattanooga, they kept saying it takes time. You have to build these relationships. You have to prove to the audience, to the acts that we have a venue, we won't have runny eggs, you know, that sort of thing.
That takes time. So talk about that the importance of that relationship and the the the the building it, I guess.
Nick (39:17)
Well, you know, when the Tivoli Foundation was started, it was a a non profit board of full of volunteers and you know, bank presidents, CEOs of other industries, nothing to do with music. So they realized they needed to bring in somebody who was best in class. We we put out an RFP, we had several people, you know, respond to that. We chose AC Entertainment, which subsequently was acquired by Live Nation, probably the largest promoter in the South East.
at the time. And and they simply, we know, in in our case, they're actually the they buy the shows for us and they market the shows for us. We are the actual promoter, i.e. we make or lose the money. But by working with, and I think one of the cool things about the foundation, and I hope this is something that kind of gets replicated in Chattanooga, is for so long, and I say this as a native Chattanoogan, we always said.
Well, we're Chattanooga. We can do this ourselves. We don't need to try to figure out and have some outside person tell us how to do it. Well, you know what? There's some value in having some of the best in the industry
Bryan (40:24)
Yeah, there is yeah.
Nick (40:26)
show you how to do it. And
Barry (40:25)
Yeah. Yeah.
Nick (40:27)
that's worked I think magnificently for us. And I think the success that we've seen, I will say when you're doing a $75 million project, you've got to get a lot of Wall Street folks really happy and content with what you say you're going to do.
Without the accompaniment of a live nation or or the you know, the realization that you're working with the very biggest and best in the business. You know, we worked with we we got a we our contract with Ticketmaster was before we even had a contract with AC Entertainment slash Live Nation. The there's the venues like us benefit so much from the fact that Ticketmaster is Ticketmaster. And I I tell them all the time.
Maybe they'll hopefully they'll watch this. You guys should use us as your poster child for why you're not the big bad person in the room. Otherwise, you know, the fees that we get to experience through the ticket sales go straight back to the venues. especially for, you know, small nonprofit historic theaters like us, it's hugely important. And so working with the very best of the business, it's a major source of how we're able to take proceeds and
put it back into the light bulbs on the marquee, the new beautiful LED board, Poseidon's wave that's flowing around the lobby of the token that you'll notice for the first time ever. That's how we make our how we make that sort of things happen.
Bryan (41:55)
So those fee one one last thought on that. What those fees that they're additional on tickets, and we all know in the last thirty years of buying tickets, they used to always be called the convenience fee. Right. It was real easy to say, yeah, this ain't that convenient for me, guys. Just add a bunch of extra money. But there the there's a lot of fees that are on tickets. Those go in many cases, or in this one specifically, back to the to to this local organization and the venue itself, is what you're saying.
Nick (42:23)
Yeah.
Absolutely. No, and and that's I think that's
Bryan (42:25)
Well, and then I don't mind paying it.
Nick (42:27)
it's yeah, and I don't think that's very well understood. You know, the gravity
Bryan (42:31)
No, it's not I didn't know that.
Nick (42:32)
is gravity. You're gonna the cost of something is the cost. We could we could adjust that. The fees couldn't come to the Tivoli, the tickets are gonna have to be twenty three dollars more a piece.
Bryan (42:45)
Yeah, so you're gonna pay it one way or another, why not have it go to the theater and the and the infrastructure in the in in the organization that you I mean, if you're passing through, which doesn't happen as much here as it's starting to, and you're passing through and you wanna go see a show at the cool theater 'cause Billy's playing, I mean you don't care that those that those dollars go to you. You know they don't care where those dollars go. But me
Nick (43:06)
And a lot of
the folks, thankfully that we have, thirty five, forty percent of the people who come to the shows that we have at the Tivoli and Memorial and Walker are from out of the fifty mile radius of Chattanooga.
Bryan (43:17)
Thirty five,
forty, that that's pretty high percent. So they don't
Barry (43:18)
Well, I thought I was
Bryan (43:19)
care, but locally the us Chattanoogans do. And so I'll happily give you ten extra bucks or whatever it is.
Nick (43:26)
Well, we'll appreciate it.
Bryan (43:27)
yeah. Well, I mean, you know, I mean I still want a cup I still want a cup, Nick. I'll still
Barry (43:29)
He's good for it.
Bryan (43:32)
be hitting you up on that.
Barry (43:34)
All right, man, Nick, thank you so much. I knew this would be fascinating. guys, if you're listening today, hopefully Russ can get this out on Tuesday today. go see the Billy Strings. Even if you don't have a ticket, you can go downtown and hang out and watch it on the big screen. It's gonna be a gorgeous night out. Go downtown,
Bryan (43:53)
Yeah, I'll be there.
Barry (43:54)
eat somewhere, get a cocktail, have a good have a good make a night of it. And I can't wait to see the venue.
Nick (44:01)
We can't wait to have everybody back. we like to think of the Tivli reopening as our gift to Chattanooga and I hope everybody will come pull the wrapping paper off and help us celebrate.
Bryan (44:12)
this is exciting stuff. I'm not just making this up for 'cause we gotta throw a show together real quick. This is exciting stuff and the town's looking forward to it. I that's why the question always kept coming up. What's taking so long?
Barry (44:22)
Yeah.
Nick (44:23)
It's it's still so long away, guys. It's like still two whole days away.
Bryan (44:26)
Yeah,
it's gets in a few hours.
Barry (44:28)
Right, right, right.
Hey guys, if you're enjoying the show, please take a moment and subscribe to our YouTube channel and rate us five stars on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. All right, there you go. That was a great conversation, I thought, Brian. What are your what are your takeaways? I there was a lot of things in there that I was glad to hear.
Bryan (44:56)
My takeaways are a lot of local rumor and podcasts and Reddit posts. There's a lot in there I got. There's a little tiny bit cryptic that won't that won't mean much to any of you guys for the most part. But we've got this big rather than be weird and and not say at least what I'm thinking of, we have this this idea of an amphitheater in town. This
Barry (45:22)
Yeah, ain't an. Ain't an.
Bryan (45:24)
this like
ridiculously like Nashville, Los Angeles, big time city spending of money and luxurious kind of thing. And the way Nick talked about it, I just and the way that they're what they're doing, I was like, yeah, I see what's going on here. And this is good. This is good. I like I because we don't need it. You know, for those who don't know, we do not need this
Barry (45:45)
No. Correct.
Bryan (45:47)
high-end expensive pricing out half. We're we are a median
income city and surrounding area quite low. Like we we have a lot of nice and expensive things around here, but our overall median income is of is is rather low. Our mayor talks about this. And that's one of his biggest challenges is that we don't make enough money in this city.
Barry (46:13)
Yeah. The other thing and he didn't say it, but I I will. W there is a misperception that because of our proximity to Atlanta, Huntsville, Birmingham, Nashville, Knoxville, people think, all these bands will stop in Chattanooga on their w
Bryan (46:26)
Yeah, they'll just stop on their way.
Barry (46:28)
on their way, and they think it's an advantage. It's not. It's the opposite. They're gonna go to those big cities 'cause they can sell ten, twelve thousand seats or whatever, and they're just driving right by us 'cause we're ninety minutes. So there's that misper
Bryan (46:41)
Yeah, 'cause they're not gonna make
that kind of return here.
Barry (46:43)
Correct.
Correct. That's number one. The other my takeaway was I and and I think you were surprised as well, the the Live Nation, the the fees, the convenience
Bryan (46:54)
Yeah, yeah.
Barry (46:55)
fees that are on the added on go back to the building. They help, as he said, help buy the light bulbs for the sign and the the the improvements and stuff. That was interesting.
Bryan (47:06)
Yeah, never knew. I didn't know where that money went. I figured it was just dead money that went into the pockets of the highest suits, right? Like
Barry (47:12)
Yeah. Yeah.
Bryan (47:14)
and and so did to know and you know the the cynic, which I normally am, the cynic would say, Yeah, well, okay, sh sure, cool story. I mean the money's going in somebody's pockets, are you actually using it? And I that's not me. That's not that's not
Barry (47:25)
Right. Right.
Bryan (47:27)
me on this one. Plus, you know, we're talking about things, you know, that that that both of us love and enjoy.
as much as anything. So I'm gonna be an apologist, certainly. But at time when it's needed, which I don't think it's needed here, but our ballpark is beautiful. We we just got a lot of entertainment options here and it's working and I yeah, I be but being too bold, too big, trying to trying to get you know out in front of our skis, as they would say. Yeah,
Barry (47:58)
Right.
Bryan (47:59)
no, the burn the the money for these bands is made in Birmingham, Nashville
Knoxville, Atlanta. The fact that we're right in the middle is a nice thing that we can try to take advantage of at a time. But to
Barry (48:09)
Yeah.
Bryan (48:10)
think that that's the reason that this works is crazy.
Barry (48:13)
No, it's the relationships, like he said, the no runny eggs. That was that was interesting too. And I've heard it
Bryan (48:18)
Yeah.
Barry (48:18)
I I didn't hear it. I've not heard it put that way before, but that makes perfect sense. Treat people nice and they'll come
Bryan (48:24)
Yeah.
Barry (48:25)
back. Treat like crap, they won't come back. Whether you're an artist or a or a fan, a patron, so
Bryan (48:30)
And
for and for for anybody who's forgotten and we didn't mention it, Billy did this last year. He came
Barry (48:36)
Uh-huh.
Bryan (48:36)
in and played two nights at our other another f it's it's a new newer development theater, but perfectly good theater, but it's still only a twelve, thirteen hundred capacity.
Barry (48:49)
Yeah, right.
Bryan (48:50)
So he's done this two years in a row because I I think it's as simple as he likes the event and he he la he's a southern guy.
And he gets treated well in Chattanooga. So why not give him a party and now throw a parking lot party, which I mean, I ba barely we barely talked about as far as the the lot culture. But man, there's some of us, and I'm putting me in that category. That's the big that's the most fun part of it. That is the
Barry (49:16)
Yeah, exactly. Exactly.
Bryan (49:18)
most fun part of it. The guy the the and and and in in southern football culture, you understand this. The tailgate party before the game is
often way more fun than the game. So same kind of concept.
Barry (49:29)
Yeah, absolutely.
Bryan (49:30)
Big time. I can't wait. I'm I'm gonna be there for sure.
Barry (49:34)
Also, kind of real quick, because I haven't seen you since last week we at CaveFest. What a cool event, right?
Bryan (49:41)
Yeah, CaveFest went off well. And you know, we briefly we did a very short show. Thank you for for partaking in it. If you did, I enjoyed it, thought it turned out pretty well for a quick 30-minute hit. but that was two weeks in a row, Scholesfest and then to CaveFest, where it was threatened by rain for me, worse with CaveFest. And and I was just like, I know, I'm just PTSD over here, man. It's just like I don't ever want to go to a festival again. I c I don't this is a lot of I mean, and and you know joke aside, it's a lot of
You know, we've talked about it. It's a lot of work. It's a lot of anticipation. It's a lot of emotion. It's a lot
Barry (50:16)
Right.
Bryan (50:17)
of e you know, s emotional equity. And then, you know, even if you if you do get to do it, it gets it gets washed out. And neither did get washed out. So CaveFest is was great. I mean, we talked about it briefly. The grounds held up all weekend.
Barry (50:31)
Such a great venue.
Bryan (50:32)
All weekend. By the time we left, me and Beth left late, about two thirds of the way through Rollins and
Welch who were closing
Barry (50:42)
Yeah, curious.
Bryan (50:43)
it and yeah, great stuff. as always. What a what a what a great weekend.
Barry (50:47)
I I thought about that
that night and even the next day I was like, God, it rained the whole time and it was still pretty great. I I can't think of too many venues that you know, can do that.
Bryan (50:59)
Yeah, and
you guys might have well no, but that was just last week's show. they they're doing ten percent off twenty twenty six prices for next year. If you
buy early bird in October, so instead of ninety-nine dollars, which do you know, it'll cost you more than ninety nine dollars, but that's the starting point, it's eighty-nine dollars. So if you enjoyed it that much, want to go again, you know you're likely do it, save a couple of bucks and buy in advance. But it's already so cheap, it doesn't really matter.
Barry (51:27)
Yeah. Yeah. Hundred
bucks, ninety, yeah.
Bryan (51:30)
Yeah. It turns out to be more like 150 after you charge things up in a little bit. But I mean, for a couple days, a couple three days of music and and all that's a great deal. So yeah, wonderful, wonderful weekend as always. But of course, I knew that. I knew that was gonna be the way it was. yeah, just a couple things quickly. So I s went on my obsession with Jesse Wells continues. the singer songwriter that did a little Bonnaroo hit, as you guys all know. Went and saw him in Nashville, just a standalone show.
And when I got back, me and Beth caught up before she did a little travel this weekend, and and I lay around and watch football for the rest of the day. Treefort Music Fest. You familiar with that name? I I'm
Barry (52:11)
Mm mm mm. Yeah.
Bryan (52:13)
barely am and it's only because of her. It's at it's in Boise, Idaho. Treefort Music Fest, downtown Boise, Idaho. This is a big deal, it's not a small thing. it's had good lineups the last few years.
Courtney Barnett, I'm just naming ones that I know the that goes further than this. Courtney Barnett, Orville Peck, Modest Mouse, our guy and our our our friends, Hey Nothing, and my guy Jesse Wells. So she's gonna try to go to that in the spring of next year. That was just announced in the last few days. I don't know that I'm going to Boise. I don't
Barry (52:48)
Yeah.
Bryan (52:49)
know that, but it's a so there the festival machine, though it's having issues and hiccups.
You know, cancels and pauses and all these things. It's still happening and there's still festivals to go see. So you can keep that one in mind. And before we get I I thought of this halfway through the conversation with Nick is that I'll I'd I mean I've gotten to know Nick a lot over the last several years now. But in twenty twenty two, I didn't know Nick Wilkinson. And I wa but a a mutual friend and maybe more than one, but one in particular.
Comes up in a bus, caravan for for a a day of, I believe it was Billy Strings night. It was Billy Strings tool, the headliners that night,
Barry (53:35)
Mm-hmm.
Bryan (53:35)
war on drugs earlier. It was that yeah, that year anyway. And and we're all drinking and having a big time and and he's name dropping you and everybody else. We're all name dropping everybody, right? We're all just having a big guy's yucking up. It's almost like a frat party. And then I'm like, wait, that's the that's the guy that
Barry (53:54)
That's yeah.
Bryan (53:54)
runs the
All the t the theatre is in Chattanooga.
Barry (53:57)
Yep.
Bryan (53:59)
I hope I didn't say anything stupid. He wouldn't have remembered it, neither would have I.
Barry (54:01)
No well it it a bit yeah, it'd have been mutual.
Bryan (54:06)
Neither would have I. It was a big night, beautiful weather and the war on drugs, one of my favorite shows of this decade at Bonnaru anyway. I that popped in my head as we were talking to him, but sorry, go ahead.
Barry (54:16)
The
did you see the High Water High Water in Charleston lineup? Jack Johnson, Deathcab,
Bryan (54:20)
Yes, yes, I don't
Barry (54:22)
Revivalist, Mountjoy, Rainbow Kitten, Head in the Heart, Congress, the Ban I know. I know that one.
Bryan (54:26)
That's good. That's a good one.
Barry (54:30)
That is a good one.
Bryan (54:31)
And Charleston's a great city. Haven't been there in a long
Barry (54:33)
Yeah. Yeah, that might be one.
Bryan (54:35)
time. I doubt I'm gonna do it, but that's a great lineup in a great city. What time of year?
Barry (54:42)
just twenty twenty seven. Where is the date? April. April seventeen and eighteen.
Bryan (54:45)
Sorry. okay, April.
Barry (54:47)
There it is.
Bryan (54:48)
Well you can go to Boise in the beginning of April and then you can go to Charleston. we're we're setting up your whole year for you guys.
Barry (54:54)
Yeah.
Bryan (54:55)
No Bonnarooo., no problem.
Barry (54:57)
Yeah, there's things out there. All right, so good show. Thanks to Nick. our next show we will Thursday night be at the again, Dagnanty Memorial Auditorium for the IBM A. there's the shirt. There it is.
Bryan (55:13)
Here
here's a shirt I got at CaveFest that I'm going to wear with a sport coat.
Barry (55:18)
Awesome. Can't wait. Look at that. Yeah,
Bryan (55:21)
I told you it's obnoxious.
Barry (55:22)
it is. All right. So Bluegrass, the what now The What Podcast., the weather channel, the what
Bryan (55:28)
What now?
Barry (55:29)
now of a podcast. What a rebranding with multiple. All right. Brian man, I enjoyed it. Good to see you again.
Bryan (55:33)
Yeah. What now? Bluegrass and weather. On the hour, every hour, on your way on your drive home. Yeah, no.
Barry (55:42)
This is a good episode. I knew you'd enjoy it and
Bryan (55:46)
I'm just glad I got back from Nashville on time and so it I'm glad it worked and I look forward to being at the awards at the memorial on Thursday and we'll see ya next week on that one.
Barry (55:55)
Alright guys, thanks.
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