As the Bonnaroo News pours in, the What Podcast is back.

It's housekeeping day, a long checklist of chores for Barry, Lord Taco, Brad Seiner.

We've got dates.

We've got pricing.

We've got rumors.

It's a full boat today on the What Podcast.

Which bands this year that matter.

It starts right now.

Welcome back in guys.

It's been way too long.

Hi kids.

I missed those.

Oh boy.

It's such a charmer.

Yeah, it is.

That and hair.

What are you guys up to?

What's happening?

Taco's back on the bus, it seems.

Yeah.

Yeah.

All right.

Why was it on its side the other day?

Was that your bus on the side?

So Taco just.

Okay.

So Taco sent a snap, Barry, the other day.

Of a bus literally sitting on its side in a, in a garage.

Is that how you normally fix the bus?

It's like, I've never.

It's easier to get to the bottom.

It's easier to get to the bottom when you're working.

Well, that's how you trade.

That's how you trade all the ladies.

I know I thought it was so ingenious.

It's like, did you just like reinvent the world of mechanics?

Like, did you just change the whole game of just turning the car on the side?

You know what you just reminded me of?

So when sometimes when I'm asleep and I can't sleep, I get my phone, I go to YouTube and

I landed on one of Russ's game channels and it's like a 15 second loop.

And all I heard was him laughing over and over and over.

And I was like, what a bad dream I'm having.

This is awful.

Yeah.

I don't know what was happening.

I was like, damn.

I wonder, I wonder how many times your wife has woken up thinking that she's sleeping

next to Russ?

Probably, probably a lot.

I wonder how many times she actually has slept next to Russ.

Probably none.

Guys, I got so much to get into.

I don't know where you want to start, but I think the big news in the last couple of

weeks since we've seen each other, we've got dates, we've got pricing, we've got rumors

abounding.

Is it a bounding or whatever?

But we got a lot of stuff to get to where you want to start.

Yeah, let's just go.

I don't know.

We do have dates.

Thank everybody for listening and sticking with us.

We've given you a whole bunch of high five clips.

We know that's not what, you know, that's not a full episode, but we like them.

And I got to say, every time I go back and find one, it's kind of cool.

Well, you know, we'll hit on that again because we're going to talk some Grammys.

Yeah, I mean, that's it's amazing what all we've been able to do and who we've been able

to talk to.

So I think it's why they keep saying yes is confusing to me.

But here's the thing.

They're never coming back.

They don't, they don't get many returning visitors.

Yeah.

All right.

Let's start with the dates.

No surprise here.

We're talking mid-June, right?

Is that Father's Day, Father's Day, Father's Day weekend still, right?

Yeah.

13th.

I love this idea of whenever people are freaking out.

I don't know if I've got less than a hundred messages of people like, do you know dates

yet?

Do you know dates?

We always know the dates.

I think that there's this fear that it wasn't happening.

There's always this fear of like, ah, do you think that they might cancel?

Do you think that they might?

Because, you know, the graveyard is getting populated week after week with festivals just

falling apart.

I was told by...

Sometimes you need a little reassurance.

Maybe.

Yes.

Yeah, maybe.

I just, I got told by somebody deep in the, I won't say from where, but a festival booking

agency, booking agency in general, and said, this is the hardest festival season we've

ever had to book.

We've never had the difficulties that we've had this year and you're seeing, you know,

festival after festival just close up shop.

And if they'll ever come back, I don't know, but maybe it's that festival insecurity and

not thinking that it's going to come back and we might lose it for a year or two.

But rest assured.

Did they offer why?

Did they offer...

Speaking of cancellations...

Go ahead.

Go ahead, man.

Yeah, we lost our local one.

But did they offer why, Brad?

I mean...

Costs, artist costs are through the roof and they just keep going up.

Production costs are through the roof.

And then the ROI on a lot of these, you know, if you, the margins are so small that if you

miss that, you're, you know, you're going to get crushed.

Now I don't think that, you know, the people of Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza and Coachella

have anything to worry about, you know, but a festival like Hangout could struggle.

You know, if you don't sell out or get really close, you're in, you're in, you're, you're

underwater, man.

No, no pun intended.

It's interesting that they would...

It was, yeah, well, there you go.

It's interesting that they would say this is the toughest because I mean, how many festivals

did we lose in the nineties and early two thousands?

Well, this, I mean, this person's only been doing it for...

This only person's been doing it for a decade, 15 years or so.

Fair enough.

But still.

I don't mean to poo poo whatever that person said.

But yeah, you have a bad weather weekend or you have two in a row, you know, an outdoor

festival is tough.

Yeah.

I mean, look, we were talking about this even before the pandemic.

Is the festival thing starting to dry up in general?

You know, you see all of these, especially the bigger bands going on tours is because

they can make more money that way.

And they can very clearly set out their schedule.

You know, I mentioned a couple of weeks ago on Twitter, maybe even on the show that Green

Day is like, I had heard nothing about Green Day because Green Day had a massive tour coming

up and boom, they announced it and they're doing nothing but stadiums.

They can make twice as much money doing a stadium run than they could going, you know,

bouncing from festival to festival.

And these things are not easy to put on.

You can't just like throw in an extra date here and there on the front or back of a tour.

You know, you've got rehearsals, you've got thousands of production people, you've got

sets to design, you've got lights to design and you can't just like add a couple of dates

before that just because you want to do a festival.

A lot of these guys don't really care.

They just, you know, they're trying to get paid.

Those are the big ones and that, you know, the Taylor Swift, she's making, you know,

unbelievable.

From the mid to smalls though.

I mean, that's where the festival has always been a big plus is to the, I don't want to

say the little guys, but I mean, not everybody's in Green Day or Taylor Swift universe.

And as we've said many, many times, you've got arenas and then you've got small clubs,

right?

There's not a lot of eight to 12,000 rooms.

Well, if you're selling eight to 12,000 rooms, Barry, you're a subheadliner at Bonnaroo,

man.

So three to three to eight.

I mean, I think you're thinking about a band that's, I think you're thinking about a 1500

capacity band like a young, the giant, you know?

Yeah, sure.

You can fill a lineup of a full of young, the giants or, you know, milky chances, but

you know, are they really moving a lot of tickets on a, on a large scale?

Especially when it comes to a camping festival that takes so much energy and manpower to

even get there.

So the other thing too, the other artists that I keep hearing about it, I got a hundred

messages about Green Day.

I never thought Green Day was happening.

Informed speculation, I guess.

But the other thing that I keep hearing and, and taco, you can probably reiterate this,

but I keep getting asked about blink 182 because blink is going on this mass, by the way, I'm

sorry.

I'm so sick.

I've been sick for days.

I know I sound like garbage, but I just put it this way.

Blink is doing a massive stadium tour, right?

They're doing baseball stadiums and it starts the weekend after Bonnaroo.

And they've got about a month and a half off from their international tour to, to America.

I'm not saying I'm, I've been told this, but as a guy that's been doing this for a while,

I guess I have an informed opinion about, I don't see any chance blink 182 is a Bonnaroo.

I don't see any way that that would happen.

Now shock me, but I would be stunned if blink 182 added a random Bonnaroo date a week before

their big stadium tour in America starts considering rehearsal time, production, uh, moving that

many people around and, and, uh, the tight timeline that they have.

And again, you're talking about thousands of people on this, hundreds of people on this

crew.

Oh guys, we're just going to start a week and a half early.

That's fine.

I don't know.

I don't, I don't see it.

I will say though, if we're going to jump into rumor season, um, I do, if I had to guess,

now this is not informed speculation, but I think that you're going to see something

as far as headliners go something like in the level of Dave Matthews, black keys, Miley

Cyrus, Fred again, boy genius.

That's where I would probably be thinking and not these already touring massive baseball

stadium sort of bands.

Um, I'd be okay with that.

Everything you said, I'd be, yeah, I think that our, our, our perspective is a little

off here.

Uh, but you know, who knows?

Uh, I, I just have a, I just deep in my gut.

I don't, I think this blink 182 stuff is, is not, is not accurate.

I have a feeling in the next several months, we on this show, and I hope it's true because

we've been talking with, you know, some folks in the, as you have, um, it's a shift and

we knew it was going to be, I mean, as we've said before, Bonnaroo made a big shift with a

lot of their camping stuff and we're going to have them back on with the guys from C

three to talk about that, how it went and what they're going to do next.

But yeah, I, I'm hearing in a nothing like probably what you're hearing, but this is

going to be another shift year.

Um, as you said, with festivals dropping off, figuring out the finances, aren't what they

wanted.

You know, we came out of, I mean, weathered the pandemic, uh, such as it was.

And then you had so many different festivals all over the country that were more localized

boutiques if you want to call them.

And even those are tough.

I mean, the margins, as you said, are, are minuscule.

And you know, we've talked about, I don't know if you and I did, Russ, but just coming

out of moon river, a beer was 16 bucks, you know, how sustainable is that?

You know, a 16 ounce beer is $16.

Not a lot of people that can afford too many of those, you know?

So the realities of the budgeting money, you know, tickets,

No, in camping festival where you can't bring your own in, you know, at least at your camp.

Yeah.

And at some point you start asking yourself, you know, can I afford this?

So,

Well, I mean, it's a, it's a, it's a good point because they, you know, went to the

all in pricing this past week and I don't know what the reaction has been on you guys'

side, but, you know, ticket prices have gone up.

They have eliminated all the fees that exists, at least the hidden fees.

So now you see everything that, oh, there's fees, but you're, but you're upfront.

Yeah, you see them.

And then they sort of stuck it to the upper echelon,

Bonnaroo goers, you know, who probably could afford it.

I think that the biggest change was the camping prices, right?

So there weren't like on lower end camping tickets, those weren't necessarily that affected.

But when you go to like the next level up, did I see where moon Colin colony prices went

from like $500 to $1,500 in a snap of a finger?

No, that's okay.

And if you got an area 931 last year, you got the deal of a lifetime because yeah, it

looks like it tripled in price.

Yeah, that's insane.

Having a thousand dollar markup on a camping price.

And then when you just keep going on the upper echelons, I can't look, it's rarefied air.

I'm not really looking at the prices year to year on VIP.

But I can't imagine the price difference between what just three years ago pre pandemic to

what it is now.

Oh boy, oh boy.

And then we just do this, didn't we just do dynamic pricing last year?

Didn't we just go through this?

Hey, we're going to tear all of the camping prices to see how this worked.

And now we're changing it all over again.

Yeah, well, well, they went through an uncoupling of, you know, the ticket level basis based

on yeah, so we saw this coming.

If you wanted to camp VIP, yeah, the a la carte, the a la carte sort of vision.

And the other interesting thing is that they tear the camping passes is like they do regular

ticket sales.

That that's kind of odd, where if you don't buy your ticket pass, your ticket camping

pass by a certain date, the price goes up.

Right.

And before it was just a flat fee no matter when you bought before it was just an add

on.

Yeah.

Fifty bucks, I think.

But but to be honest, though, who would buy their ticket and then wait three months and

be like, OK, I guess I get the camping now.

It seems a little strange.

I mean, these guys know what they're doing.

So they've seen something you'd like to think.

Well, that's the other thing, too.

I was thinking about when you get to this upper echelon level of VIP and experience

and stuff.

Boy, the amount of math that you'd have to do to see if this was really worth it.

It's got to go through a ton of different, you know, filters.

I don't know where they how they land on the number that they land on and what they're

trying to get out of it.

What is their break neck?

Like, what is their break even number?

I know because, you know, I can't really say, damn it.

Drats.

Let's put it this way.

Certain festivals have, you know, if they sold seventy five VIP tickets, then they're

then they're in the clear and everything else is gravy.

I can't imagine what their number is.

Right.

There definitely is that.

But the other thing is, you know, and maybe you and I are not the right people to be looking

at it.

Not everybody is counting out their dollars.

Not everybody is looking at, well, you know, I only have this in my budget.

A lot of those upper echelon VIP people, it's not about the money.

You know, a lot of it comes from corporate.

Right.

A lot of it comes from you just have the money, which not my universe, you know.

I don't I'm sure there are people who are struggling.

You know, I really want to do that next level.

If I work another overtime for two weeks or whatever, I don't think there's a lot of those.

I think we're talking about people who have the money and and can afford to do it.

And I think that's where the festival has realized there is a market.

Yeah, I think that I would be one of these fringe G.A. plus, right?

Because you know, there's like I don't know why I always try to buy the most expensive

thing that I can afford that is completely unnecessary for my life.

You know, like somebody is going to have to tell me if the G.A. plus was was something

that even, you know, move the needle for them or the next, you know, space up after that

was after G.A. plus are these things that are now very expensive for a budget minded

Bonnarooian.

I do wonder if if they're worth it at that point.

Yeah.

And again, we'll talk to the guys from C3, I hope very, very soon.

But I think there is value.

You know, I just want to hear somebody has actually done it only years like from somebody

who's actually used some of these different tiers and now the prices have changed with

they go back.

And it's the other thing that I wonder about, you know, the guys that are setting the price.

I'd love to know their their thought process of how they how they talk to the people that

have used it, what the conversations are like, what are the what's the feedback like?

And you know, do they get something back that said, you know what, I think that they'd be

willing to spend, you know, two hundred and fifty more dollars.

Well, I'll ask Russ.

I mean, you know, we had a good run back there in the trees.

Is it worth another fifteen hundred dollars compared to where we were?

Yeah, that's a good question.

I mean, we know what it's like back there.

It's awesome.

I don't know that you could really put a dollar dollar value on that.

If I had it, if I had it, I would do it.

If you had it.

Absolutely.

If I had it, I would do it.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

A lot of people say, you know, Bonnaroo is their one vacation every year.

You know, exactly like Disneyland or a cruise or something.

You know, they specifically save up for it and they say any amount's worth it because

that's what they want to do.

And it also depends on who you're with.

You know, if between the three of us, if you and Brad said, you know, fifteen hundred is

not that's right.

Right.

That's where we're going.

I'm committed.

Right.

I mean, I'm certainly not going to sit on the fence and wait.

So I've got to I got to go to a I got to go to a bachelor party in Miami in a couple of

weeks and we have a friend that's going to this bachelor party.

You guys know who I'm talking about.

So I'm not going to say it, but we have a friend and I hear stories about when he goes

for his birthday parties, he'll be like, guys, come on in, come on in, sit down.

We're having let's get three bottles of Dom.

Let's get the tuna tartar.

Then like and he'll just order like the most expensive things on the menu.

And then, you know, once the bill comes, he's like, all right, happy birthday to me.

And all of a sudden, you're stuck with like a twelve hundred dollar bill.

Like, what did I do here?

And I fear that this bachelor party is going to end up like this.

Right.

That's sort of like like Barry.

I would like to do four day VIP.

That's going to cost you nine hundred dollars.

So get a load of me and hang out with me.

It's going to cost you an extra six hundred bucks.

So enjoy.

Yeah.

And we'll see you at the table tonight.

Oh, yeah.

That was that was another one that I would have put on my you know, if I had a best guest

list, Tama Paula sounds like a like a perfect band for this year.

I forgot about that.

I'm glad you brought that up.

You know, I I'm looking at like the four day VIP ticket at nine hundred dollars.

Right.

You get to hang out on the moved hill.

You get to hang out on the hill.

The legendary hill.

I hope to God at some point, Barry, you know, Taka wants to be on the big screen saying

yes or no to a baby.

I want that hill named after me.

God damn it.

I want it to be the Brad Steiner Hill.

At least I'll go ahead and name the part that didn't move after you.

At least here's the least sign that said the hill used to be here.

The Brad Steiner Hill.

All right.

I want that hill.

I want that hill named after me.

You can do anything.

Ken Weinstein, Danny Bonnaroo.

I give me give that hill.

You get the work on it.

You get the which stage on field viewing area.

That's the space right in front of the stage, right?

Because they took down the bleachers.

Yeah, I'm right about that.

So you got an air conditioned VIP lounge, which is OK.

Private bar for drink purchases.

I love this complimentary water refill station.

Thank you.

And then the express lane and then the VIP Thursday night party, which always comes with

a band.

So if I'm I actually you know, I don't remember what the VIP price was last year and the year

before.

I've I've known plenty of people that go for VIP and they have no problem with it.

They like it a lot.

But my question is, is that with VIP, what's the camping price on top of that?

So it's nine hundred dollars for my VIP ticket.

But then where do I go to pay for my camping pass for VIP?

Am I did I miss something?

Well, there is no VIP camping.

That's that's part of their uncoupling.

So if you want to buy a VIP ticket and just slum it out in G.A. with everyone else, you

can.

Yeah.

Or you can you know, you can choose your tier based on short.

Sure.

But what you what it but when I oh, there it is.

OK, I go to the camping session.

There it comes in.

OK.

Oh, boy.

OK, so.

Bremet of car camping in Mooka is five hundred dollars, the darkroom tent is twenty three

hundred bucks.

Boy the RV prices.

Oh, boy.

And then if you want nine thirty one, there you go.

Tacos fifteen fifty five fifteen fifty four was last year is five hundred bucks.

The folks that I know that do that, I know a couple of people from here who have RVs

and they're and because of age, whatever.

They've been for many, many years.

They now have kids that want to go.

And so they make the kids pay for their.

That's funny.

That's funny.

They're like, I'll drive.

But you're paying for my kids.

Pretty good.

So, yeah.

Never heard a better argument to have kids.

Finally one.

We found one.

Daco, we finally found one.

I mean, I will say that the primitive car camping at one hundred and ten bucks, I don't

I don't have a problem with that.

I know it was what, fifty last year or.

Yeah.

I mean, it just.

I mean, look, I went to a bar the other night with Evan Bonnaroo and we he loves that name.

I know.

Yeah.

So it's because he's like, I don't know how the hell I got.

That's because I can't remember his last name.

I know it's in Brad's phone.

That's not what I go.

So we're at this bar with Evan Bonnaroo and we go to this bar because it's the only place

I found in the entire borough of Brooklyn and city of New York that has Narragansett,

a 24 ounce Narragansett taco for four dollars.

That's it.

It's a it's incredible.

It's like it basically free.

You might as well just be sticking my head under the tap and allowing me to drink from

there.

Yeah.

What is I know?

Getting a complimentary refill water station.

So but anyway, the point that I'm making is that everywhere I expect to walk in and spend

ten dollars for a beer, whereas, you know, three years ago it was it was six, you know,

and then three years before that it was, you know, we were still.

Do you remember, Barry?

There used to be a bar and I don't know, Taco never left his house back then.

But there used to be a bar in Chattanooga where we would do penny beer nights where

you'd show up and just throw like 15 cents down and you get 15 beers for all your buddies.

It was all so that women could go in there and drink tequila sodas for twelve dollars.

But you know, you go through this the five years ago where it was five years.

I don't have any price problem with the price going from fifty dollars to one hundred and

ten dollars based on everything that's going on in the economy in the last six years.

It really is interesting.

I'm looking at the wood frame safari tent package comes with a queen bed that would

cost you forty five hundred dollars.

And you get a cooling, I guess, an AC unit.

You get sheets, blankets and pillows for two bedside tables, two chairs, rug lamps, combination.

I would rather overspend on camping than under the overspend on inside center access, wouldn't

you?

Yeah.

Yeah.

But I'm looking at it like, why would I leave this?

This sounds like give me a Walmart parking lot.

I know.

That's because you travel with a forty five hundred allocate.

If you rented out your your bus right now, what do you think you can get it for?

Oh, man.

Oh, yeah.

That's a good question.

It's it's just honestly have blue hair and you get in for free.

Yeah, yeah.

I think I think the real point in all of this is that there are people who have the money

and don't care to spend it.

So, you know, to us, it looks crazy, but there are people who have it.

And for them, like you said, this is their once not just once a year, but maybe for some

people once in a lifetime kind of thing.

You know.

All right.

So this is what I get.

Put a pin in this because I want to go to the I want to go to this wood.

I want to go find somebody with a wood frame safari tent when we're there.

And I just want to go talk to them and be like, hey, so what do you what do you do for

a living?

Why did you choose this camping package?

What was it about this?

And what would you what did you couple it with?

A G.A. or multiple, you know, VIP passes, et cetera.

And I'm more I think about it, I'm really interested in the whole who did you go with?

Yeah, right.

Because, you know, you and your spouse.

OK.

But yeah, like you said, if you try to get a group of people, that's a little tougher,

I would think it is sometimes.

I mean, I would prefer to do the wood frame safari tent.

I know this is going to sound weird, but I'd prefer to not do it with a spouse because

the same bank account.

I would rather go with Barry.

Who's on whose?

Well, if I'm going with Barry's wife, I know that she can cook the feminine cheese is going

to be on point.

But I'd like to go with somebody who can split the cost with me a little bit, because then

twenty two hundred dollars sounds a little bit more manageable over four days.

You know, divide that up.

And theoretically, you spend the other three hundred and sixty days of the year with that

person, too.

So how special?

Yeah, it's a good question.

I don't know.

Depends on whose spouse.

The other man always cuts right through it.

He always gets right to the.

So the other thing that happened while we were gone, Barry, I got to see the My Morning

Jacket It Still Moves show at the Beacon Theatre in New York.

Oh, my God, Barry, does does any band on the planet know how to build to a moment like

My Morning Jacket?

Not that I know.

Oh, God, it's so good.

Consistently is so good.

So they did the album and then they came out and did a couple of other stuff, a couple

of other things afterwards.

And, you know, they're doing this around the country.

But, you know, Jim is just he's he's feeling I'll just put it this way.

After our conversation with him, I kind of changed my perspective on how I look at Jim.

And you can go back and listen to it if you want to.

The Jim James interview is one of the great moments of career.

It's really, really.

He's just so good.

We didn't have anything to do with it.

He was incredible.

But the thing is, like, I see him differently, you know, as he's trying to rethink how his

life is and how, you know, he's going to stay alive.

And you know, he just he's playing it feels effortlessly with a clear head.

And it's just so precise.

Everything sounds so good.

I've told you this before.

I never considered My Morning Jacket a very sessional band for me.

I can't really put them on and listen to it around the house.

I know you can.

But man, there's nothing like My Morning Jacket.

I saw them in a theater, in a theater, Barry.

Yeah, I saw him here at the Tivoli.

They build a set, don't they?

And you mentioned spouse.

You know, it's funny.

I've told this story.

They were here just after Christmas.

So my daughter bought tickets for me.

And Kelly knows how much I love them.

So she said, yeah, I'll go.

And sold out.

Beautiful Tivoli Theater, 1700 people.

First note, everyone stands up 1724 people stand up, but not 725.

And I turn and look at her and she just sat there.

And the first song ends.

And she looked up at me.

And I know the I know the theater manager.

So he said, it's going to start at eight o'clock.

It's going to end I think he said at 1037 something like that, whatever.

And she looked up at me and she said, and how long is it?

And I said, we have two more hours and 30 minutes and we're staying here the entire

day.

And it went a lot like this.

Well that's what I was going to say.

It did for the next 15 minutes.

But eventually, because they build such a great set, she got she got into it.

So but yeah, I'll never forget that.

That's my lot.

My lovely wife.

That is so good.

I guess it's good.

I said all night and we're staying so shut up.

Man I've never felt like it's a good I never felt like I was there on your wedding day

until just now.

That's my wife, man.

It's like, you know, I paint a room and she walks in.

She said, can you fix that?

Did you see that spot up there?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Not looks great.

There's the flaw.

I got to there's some other shows.

I got to see the other one was Death Cabin Postal Service.

Talk about I just you know, 19 20 year old Brad Kidd has never been happier in his life.

Cried like a baby.

I love that album.

My favorite album of all time played in its entirety.

And then Postal Service set, which I had never seen Postal Service before.

They just say like, they've only done two, three tours.

So I never once saw him.

And man, what a what a set.

And then coming up in a couple of days, you had a nice you had a nice interview with AJR

the other day, right?

Yeah.

This kid, man, I've known those kids since they were literally 16 years old.

And they're really kind of low key brilliant.

Right.

And whether or not you like their stuff or not, to me is that these these kids are just

like exactly how I'd want to be if I was in a band with my brothers.

Let's just bang around some stuff, put it on a computer and see what the hell happens.

And then people react to it.

I even was even got to go to the Amazon Music Space in Brooklyn, which overlooks the entire

city of Manhattan and on the album release night.

And these like they just have this fan base that knows every tiny little norsel of Norse

or morsel.

I always get that wrong.

It's more so I get that wrong.

I know I get that word wrong.

You know, the other word I get wrong all the time is like for years I would be like, man,

I'm so thirsty.

I'm perched.

And a friend of mine goes, what are you a fucking bird?

Yeah, you're sitting on a tree.

Yeah, I always get parched.

And now I've gotten so confused because the wife will yell at me so many times about getting

norsel wrong that I don't know which one it is anymore.

I get so lost.

The self-doubt.

I know it's the self-doubt Creakston.

I have no idea what's happening.

So anyway, they know every tiny detail about this band and every little note and every

little thing.

And they're questioning everything.

And you get this fan base.

We're like, so on the front cover of your CD booklet, there is a drawing of a mouse

at the bottom.

Is that indicative of your second song in the third line of the chorus?

They're like, no, we just.

They drew a mouse.

It is so weird that fan base.

But anyway, yeah, they're to see to see them grow.

And Barry, you remember they were in our radio station courtyard in front of, I don't know,

six people and none of them know who knew who they were at 16 years old.

And then a couple of years later, they come and play the run of the Chihuahuas.

And to this day, they still remember me as Chihuahua guy.

And forever forever.

I mean, who doesn't forever know as a Chihuahua guy.

And they they keep I think that this is a bit.

Every time they see me like, hey, Brad, how the Chihuahuas.

I'm like, I don't have Chihuahuas.

So here's The What Podcast we really appreciate it if you spend a minute or two, no more than

two minutes writing a review, giving us a five star little rating that would be lovely.

And it could mean Barry Courter a prize from our consequence family.

Yeah, our good friends at Consequence and the folks over at Apple Podcast have come

up with a pretty clever idea.

All you have to do is follow some links on this podcast and review the show and then

take a screenshot of your review and submit it to them and your name will be put in a

drawing.

They're going to be giving out winners in December.

They'll be giving out winners to they will be picking winners.

Excuse me.

Yeah, they give out winners.

Everyone's a winner.

I would like to.

Will I get a taco?

Will I get a Lord tacos?

My price?

No, no, they said.

Oh, my man.

Come on.

Don't be that way.

Don't be that.

Yeah, it's yeah.

This is a chance to help us out and win some.

Yeah.

When some consequent merges easy is liking and subscribing to the what podcasts on your

Apple Podcasts platform.

Boom.

OK.

I mean, I fumbled that.

No, it's fine.

That's fine.

OK.

That's exactly right.

We nailed it.

Yeah.

Tell Ham one.

Everybody said hi.

Yeah.

Tell Reed and Parker and Parker.

Yeah.

All right.

See you guys.

Bye.

Oh, what did you say? Oh my god, that's right. Hey, so the caverns

Because that was where st. Paul and the broken bones played a couple years ago, right Barry

That venue looks insane

This was indoor it was in and outside right Russ didn't they use the amphitheater as well?

Brad, it's become even better in the outdoors. Yeah, I'm sorry to interrupt you

That was great I'd never been to the caverns before first time going

They've got a great camping area. They've got you know, of course, they've got two venues two stages the

That amphitheater sounds great

I was really surprised with how good it sounded and it's almost like it's got this natural stadium seating because it's kind of

In a bowl, you know where the the ground just kind of naturally

Goes down to where they built the amphitheater and that's the original part right Barry. That's the part that's been there forever

No, no, no the cavern the cave itself. It was the draw when during the pandemic, you know, you couldn't gather inside

so they were looking for something and

they basically started weed eating and

discovered that there were all these rocks in this outdoor space and

With a little work they they cleared the area and move some rocks around and it's become

And I don't want to overstate but it's become sort of the red rocks of this part of the town

What town is it in officially?

Pelham. Oh Pelham. Okay. Yeah, sure

Yeah, just the other it's between

The mountain and Manchester on the Nashville side or on our side on the national side, right Russ

Just you just go. Yeah just down and then go left a little ways. Oh, yeah. I mean

Southern Tennessee

God Barry court or dad, you know growing up in Tennessee. I go straight take the left somewhere

Yeah, turn left at Old Macdonald farm. You'll know where by the tree. What do you expect in the tree that used to be there?

But anyway, I'm a tingly wiggly, you know the vaguely wiggly I always started the vaguely we go to grandma's yeah

Yeah, I always like when people say, you know where the piggly wiggly is. That's not the way you go the other way

People from other parts of the country have no idea what a big wiggly is

Yeah, we used to be ten years ago. It's a cool venue. It's really cool interesting. So who was there? I have some great shows

Just a bunch of bluegrass people I really didn't recognize any names

Didn't really go. I just wanted to check out the venue and you know, he wanted to take

Yeah ran into Brad and Jerry and them from Nashville nice hang out with them nice. Yeah

Oh, yeah, it's cool. Yeah, it was cool. And then me and Bryan Stone saw the B-52s here in oh my god

What were the B-52s doing? Where was that?

Chattanooga Motorcar Fest stop it. Oh

My god, so I

I think that you know, I definitely don't know what I'm saying this way, but man

one of the great

Shows of my life. I love the B-52s so much like you you're never gonna tell me that the B-52 is not a fun show

Ever and I would kill kill if they would just do one more run in like

Smaller club venues like they started in just one more. Give me one more Fred Schneider

Run in a small club. This this is it

And he's I didn't I don't remember why I didn't go but I

Because it was after six o'clock in the evening Barry. We know exactly why you didn't go

I saw I know why I thought it was Sunday night and it was Friday night

My whole schedule was messed up, but I saw him in 82

Come on on the front row and the alumni gym in Knoxville

And then the next night in the back row at the Fox in Atlanta

So I saw a front row and then back row man. They were all man. There's so much

I love the big 52 and I did say see rather jossy

You remember how much I bragged on that was my show to see it by the way. He's obsessed with this jossy

It was great. That was the first

It was funny. I was with Dewar our friend Mike Dewar and my brother my older brother went and

we all commented it was the

Closest thing to a 70s rock and roll show that I've seen in years and years and years if you get a chance to see this guy

It was great. It was so much fun. So not to interrupt. I'm sorry to interrupt but

I've got I've got Ru ham in town ham one is in town and

he's making plans for a

Evan Bonnaroo and Ru ham one so just like live on the thing. Hey Ru ham. We're talking about you Ru ham

Evan Bonnaroo. We're talking about you. There you go. All right, they're very excited

So I am so jealous of this of this b52 story

Because there are just a few bands that are like bucket list things still on the

Sitting out there. I saw a b52s. I'm not gonna lie that it wasn't you know, the way I wanted to see them

But that's not the point. At least I saw them. It's b52s in a club and then the talking heads

It's really all I got left. It's all I got left and this talking heads thing is for real

It's gonna happen and I can't wait, dude. I cannot wait

They're so good. Yeah, yeah, I uh, I'm really jealous

Go ahead just cuz you'll people who listen to the show will appreciate it. But uh, Russ tell them what our friend Bryan Stone

His favorite song of the night was

You remember

uh

Red Lobster

I can't wait to hear Red Lobster

God I love that guy

Yeah

Yeah, what and he was having a great time. He was like, huh, this is great. I know they sound so good

I can't wait to hear Red Lobster. Is is he okay?

No

Did he he was being serious though, right? Wasn't he? Oh, yeah. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Um, oh and uh, who?

John Oates was there right? Did you get to see John Oates Hall and Oates?

Not at the

But the one thing one by the way the demon do you remember the connect you move the connection between

Talking heads and b52s Barry. Do you remember that?

They hate David Byrne

Because because of Mesopotamia

They recorded half an album together and midway through they're like this ain't working

And David Byrne was such a jerk to them and and they were like wait

This is not then they fired him or he fired I don't know what the hell happened

But they hated him and so they finished the rest of the album by themselves

Okay, I if I knew that I forgot. Yeah, that's interesting burn is uh,

He's not a he's not a likable guy. That would seem like it. No

The other three talking heads, you know, I read somewhere that their very first show

I think they were gonna pull. I don't know if it was cb gbs, but they had a show

and

Tina and her husband now husband went down to the venue the night before

And David was there changing the name on the poster to the David Byrne band. Oh, is that right?

Wow

Is that right?

Yeah

Just out of spite probably how did they how they survived that? I don't know. Yeah, have you had

Yeah, is uh stop making sense playing down there anywhere?

I think it did uh one week. Okay, I think maybe at the imax

Yeah, I think or is going to yeah, I mean we've got what a great. I think so unbelievable

I mean, you don't need to hear these idiots talk about stuff makes sense. But um, my god it like I am

So upset that I missed this run in uh in theaters. I I hope it's still playing in new york somewhere, but I was uh,

I don't I don't know if it gets any better. It's it's my favorite musical

Thing that's ever been videoed and put onto moving pictures. I'm obsessed with it

Uh, in fact, I that's what I want to dress up as for Mardi Grasw. I want the big david byrne suit. Yeah

nice, uh

Anything else before we move into grammy noms?

Okay, good

um, so

We've talked about grammy nominations in the process before

Uh, I don't remember why and I don't know what how it came up, but we have two at least two maybe more

uh

bonnaroo

Vets what podcast vets nominated this year?

Who's the third three so we got war and treaty which by the way, what year was that that we we had war and treaty on

The show is that 2017 2018?

That was okay. It was our first. Yeah, it was first year. Yeah, and in 2023 they're nominated for best new artist

Yeah, I want to I want to go back to that. But uh, yeah noah conn, right and uh lark and poe

What was lark and poe nominated for?

Uh that oh very nice

Do you know I ran into her at the elvis castello show? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah exactly. Uh, so um

Wow, that's that's really impressive good for them. I love those girls. Yeah, I like it. They're so sweet. So good

I think I think so what we're seeing is uh, come on the wap podcast get nominated for grammy

That's exactly right. It's part of your career path. Jared is wondering why not him

Jared is aware his mind any day now

How many more times I got to come on the show?

Yeah

uh, so

Yeah, the thing that I wanted to clarify, uh, just in case

Uh, you didn't know how the the grammy voting process goes is that as a grammy voter

I can only vote in a certain amount of categories

so

I mean, there's only a couple hundred grammy voters. So if

In some of these smaller categories, let's say berry and taco got nominated for best jazz instrumental

There's probably only

15 20 people voting in that category because you have to vote in your area in which you were

Uh put on the the the panel, right? You have to vote in that area. So like for me

I'd have to vote in the rock category

But then your other votes are scattered amongst wherever you want to vote

If you don't want to vote for the big ones, you don't have to vote for the big ones

So I could you know, very easily go into

random category here

And vote for insert person and maybe one of seven people voting for that

for that

Uh artist and and then all of a sudden they you know win by two votes

So when you start looking around, you know, you you're probably getting 90 percent

Return on the big categories. So, you know the the voting's a little bit, you know

more

substantial

But you could very easily see a taylor swift split a vote with this person that person all of a sudden boy genius wins best album

Or record of the year or artist of the year? Sure

Which I wouldn't put it past him because that boy genius

Album is one of my favorite ones of the year

Clark and poe is up for contemporary best contemporary blues

All right. So that's a perfect example

I'm glad you use that because how many people do you think are bet are voting for best contemporary blues out of a few hundred?

300 400 people

Yeah, so you you're getting like and to your end to your other point

About war and treaty which we adore they're up for what best artist?

Yeah, i've been around for a minute

That one's always funny to me

Yeah, album of the year when it came out last year

It's always funny how they can twist and turn but but you know

I mean we've always said these lists these lists are for fans. They're they're the whole ideas to get people talking

And that's what they do. Well, that's a cell. It's a cell

Albums, but i'll tell you that's the other thing that happened to on the break

Uh, did you see who I got to say hi to and spend some time with?

Last night. No, not last night a few weeks ago. Oh, that'd be miss miss britney howard

Oh that I thought you meant you're you the picture you sent the other day of you and noah. I thought oh, yeah

Yeah, yeah, you know, yeah. Yeah, you did. Uh, you sent me that too you and britney and so britney

Oh my god. That was the other thing. I'll tell you guys about that

Later, that's not important. Uh, but then uh, so I saw britney invited some of us to the uh, studio to listen to her new album

Which is?

Uh, you can she's a shoe in for bonnar who just pencil it in by the way britney howard

but the new album is fantastic and

We got to talking a lot about the origins of

Alabama shakes, you know

I even reminded her and she forgot about this that the first ever show as the alabama shakes was in chattanooga tennessee

Because before the day before that it was just the shakes

She told me the story on how they became the alabama shakes and um how their manager was like this

Just we just need something that's a little bit more identified. They're like, ah, I got a tattoo of alabama. So just do that

And she gave me a big hug

It was a very

Um, it was a very very fun conversation. It was you know, just just

I don't know barry, you know how much I love her and you know how much I really really care about

The people that I like the artists that I like and when I I get very nervous about spending time with them

Because I don't want them to disappoint me

But this is one of the

Not the other way this is one. No, no, no

I get very no, it's always gonna go bad. I promise I was always gonna but I just i've never

I just time after time after time I spend time with her and it she swells my heart

And makes me feel so happy and full of joy no matter what is happening. This is just one of the most

honest and and forthright and beautiful souls that i've

really ever interacted with I I just adore her on every level and um

Um, well this time next year. We'll be talking about britney howard winning another grammy

that's i'm

That's a great lead in the why i'm so happy for these three artists in particular

I thought our phone interview with noah conn who you knew and know

Uh our interview was the first time I had spoken to him and unbelievable

Interview he was so honest and forthcoming about his mental health issues

And he's also become one of the biggest artists on the planet and he's become huge and mark and poe I go back

When they were the level sisters, i'm pretty sure I did one of the first interviews with them

When they were the there were three of them with the north georgia zone

and I mean

I

Warren treaty. I mean if you listen to this show at all, you know how I feel about tanya

It's one of your top five shows of all time. Oh my god it I talked about it two nights ago

I mean that day

going from davy to warren treaty to

um

mavis staples to nile rogers and crying

Three out of the four shows and the only reason we didn't cry at davy was because he was so happy

Yeah, it was such a great show and we had just woken up and it was hot as hell

It was hot as hell. It was noon

But then we go to warren treaty who and I don't remember why we went to you

I mean, I knew we were intrigued. No, I just liked him. I like the album. Yeah, yeah

and uh, you know, he tells the story about his ptsd and his friend committing suicide after being raped and

And her going over and hugging him during that

And everybody just and he said everybody just turned to your neighbor and and hugged him and uh,

And then we've you know, i've become somewhat friendly with them whenever they come to town. We we meet and so yeah

I care about them. It's not just talk about two genuine souls

They are the real deal, man

My favorite the last time I talked to michael

They were just played mavis's birthday party in los angeles, I think the night before

But we had I had seen them. I don't remember if it was river band or nightfall or whatever

But I was like michael

It's just it's so powerful when you drop down on a knee and you're singing to tanya

And he said if I was on my knee that meant I did something

Uh, yeah, I I gotta imagine I gotta imagine the Barry Courters on his knee in front of the the wife

He he first off he ain't getting back up easily. So

What it took him to get down he's getting down. There's a reason

Yeah, yeah

It was so funny though. They're just so genuine. It's oh i'm so happy for them all three of those

Artists, all right on the house on housekeeping day. Do we have any other uh,

Corners to sweep do we have anything else to get to?

No, we got the dates. We got some

We're hoping to have uh, like I said the korean brad from cc c3 on very soon

And I mean here we are almost middle november. So yeah rumor season is gonna get nasty in the next month and a half

Get ready starting to ramp up. We got the roo clues coming up soon roo clues and we've got some other news some some other

Things coming up that we want to get to so i'm very excited to be back. Yeah, i'm missing you

But we keep saying we're back and then you know

I want to I want to take another month off

Yeah, i'm back and i'm back I never I'm risked either the whole time

Yeah, hundreds. If you honestly if you if you could live stream this show

You would pop it on we can we will you pop it on russ is going to be there the entire time you hit

Play get on he's just gonna be sitting there

Yeah, all right. All right guys. Well, I miss you all and uh, if you uh, if you can

spend a couple of minutes, two minutes tops, doing a little like, a rating, a review, five stars please.

If you've made it this far, I hope to God you're not giving me anything else than five stars.

Give us a small little review, that would be very helpful on all of your devices.

And until then, we'll talk to you soon. Bye bye.