This week we have the honor of talking to the Senior VP of Promotion Operation of Columbia Records, Jim Burruss on the air with us. Jim's extensive knowledge of the industry and his deep passion for music and Bonnaroo make him the perfect guest to talk about what it means to be a Bonnaroo vet. Plus, we invited some of our camp mates from Camp Nutbutter to the show...welcome Bryan Stone and Nick Turner!
Topic: Bonnaroo
Guest: Jim Burruss
Hey, hey, hey, hey. How y'all feeling? Journey through the stories that define the artists playing Bungaroo. Who are they? What are they? What will you see? The what? Which bands? This year's show is about the What are they? This year, that matters with Brad Steiner and Barry Courter. Barry Courter, are you smiling today? I am smiling. Are you smiling today? Big smile. Why you got a big smile on your face today there, Barry Courter? Because this is another great day for a podcast. It is always a great day for a podcast. This is the What Podcast with Barry Courter from the Chattanooga Times Street Press. I'm Brad, signing from Hits 96 WDOD in Chattanooga, Tennessee. So today is a little bit of a different format today. We're shaking it up just a little bit. Not going to follow the tried and true method. We're going to talk to a longtime Bonnaroo vet, the senior vice president of promotion operations, Jim Burris from Columbia Records. And then we're going to talk to some of our friends who are also Bonnaroo vets. This is a Bonnaroo vet themed show today. I like how you say the tried and true method is if we've been doing this for years and years. I had a tried and true method. We've been doing it since back in the war. You remember the one. Actually what I love about this podcast is that we get to make it up as we go. And this was another fun idea. I think I hope people are going to like it. Been excited to talk to Jim since we started. OK, so Jim is, let me give you a backstory about Jim Burris. Now you don't know what his name is. You don't know who he is, probably, but this is a major, major player in the industry, especially at Columbia Records. I didn't know who he was and nor should I. I'm just some radio flunky in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Well, I happened to be at the Grammys a few years ago and again, shouldn't have been there. There's no reason for me to be there. We're getting ready for the Grammys and I'm sitting outside of a hotel and I've got the whole Tom Ford suit on and we're just hanging out and waiting for our friend who's the guy getting us the tickets. So we sit down outside of this swanky L.A. hotel and our friend walks up and he introduces us to Jim Burris. And of course, I don't know who he is. He doesn't know who I am. But we sit down and we sat literally for two hours just shooting the shit, watching pretty girls walk by. And it was unbelievable. It was one of the best nights of my entire life. We literally didn't want to go to the Grammys because me and him struck up such a good conversation and you'll know why you struck up a good conversation coming up in a bit because that's how good he is. I was getting ready to say I would be surprised at that story had I not spent an hour on the phone with him yesterday. He's what we call at the newspaper a one question interview. He's perfect. He's amazing. How are you? He's got so many stories. He's got so much perspective. And ever since ever since then, like I after I found out who he was, I they told me that like who was like, why was he talking to me? Like what did like how in the world? He's just a great dude. He's got so many great insights about the industry and how he's seen it changed and what Bonnaroo has meant to the industry. And that's what sort of the reason why, you know, every time he comes to the camp every year he'll stop by a camp and, you know, he's become our friends now. And this is what we decide to talk every time every year. We talk to him about the same sort of stuff. He comes by and he takes a tour. He always likes to see what's new. There's always something new. We're adding a water slide this year, Jim. And you know, he mentions it in our conversation. But I remember last year when he kind of looked at his watch and said, oh my gosh, I got to go. Yeah, work to do. He hung out for quite a while. And what I like and you hear it definitely in our talk is he's just passionate about music. That's right. And loves it just like us. That's the connecting. And that's why I not only is because he's a good dude, but that's why he fits in so well at our camp. Yeah, absolutely. Because he loves this no matter, you know, what kind of access he gets. And let me tell you, it's pretty damn good. He swings a big bat. Yes. He's still he's still out there sweating it just like everybody else is. That is awesome to me. Yeah, absolutely. You hear it. I mean, you you guys are going to hear it. It seriously was like basically a one question. How are you? And we laugh about it. We couldn't have written the script. Yeah. You know, anybody couldn't have. And it's much like the St. Paul interview. It went so well. We just decided to make this today's podcast. And what we've decided to do for the second part of it is bring in some of our campmates, which we mentioned last week as a side or a joke in a couple of people texted or emailed and said, I'd love to hear that. And so let's be honest. And let's be honest. They ain't got much to do. They don't have anything else to do. Sad, lonely people. All right. So we'll introduce to them here in a little bit. And then the final part will be us drawing the winner of the Bonnaroo tickets. And thank you so much for all of your comments, all of your questions, all of your input throughout the course of this podcast. Up until today, we're going to draw a winner from all of your comments at the what podcast dot com. So without further ado, Jim Burris, the senior vice president, promotion operations for Columbia Records. Hello, sir. Well, hello, Jim Burris. How are you? I'm doing pretty well. Thanks. How about you? Welcome to the what podcast, the most listened to podcast in the history of podcasts about Bonnaroo. I love hearing that. Now, Jim Burris is the senior vice president promotion operations of Columbia Records and Bonnaroo vet. How many Bonnaroo's have you been to, sir? That is a good question. I believe I've been to nine now. Okay. All right. That's a pretty good number. Why did you originally say, you know what, I'll go to Bonnaroo? You know, it was one of those things that I had a number of trusted friends that said, you know, this is the premier place to go for music. This is where the music junkies go. There were many other festivals are on the scene and, you know, everything was kind of crazy at the time. And I said, I'll go. And I went and it was absolutely true. I love the people. I love the music. I love the art. Everything seemed to blush, you know, blend together. Hey, Jim Perry quarter here. Good talking to you. Thanks for doing this. Of course. That's the answer that, you know, not exactly, but sort of that I was hoping for. And the reason that I was really excited to talk to you about this is. Let me interrupt you for one sec. I'm getting a bleed through on a baseball game in my ear. Oh, yeah. There you go. Yeah. I was listening to the Mets game. Sorry. Well, you're lucky I said baseball because normally I equate that to a sport that the Yankees play and not the Mets. So I, but you know. OK, well, the second best record in baseball tells you that the Mets are doing OK. We'll see. We'll see you at the end. I hear this every year, but that's OK. Keep your dream alive. Hey, it's all I have right now, Jim. It's all I have. I'm a Mets fan. No, you don't. You don't. You're absolutely under triple digits. You're actually in the double digits before Bonnaroo begins. So feeling OK right now. Absolutely. But yeah. So, yeah, I think truthfully, you know, to go back to your original, you know, the question, you know, it really did come down to the music. Somebody asked me the other day why I didn't why I didn't go to Coachella. And I kind of joked about I didn't have the right uniform. I didn't have the right clothing, you know, the right headdress. And I never felt that that was really what was the case when I got to Bonnaroo. And maybe it's because the farm of 770 acres is, you know, kind of enclosed, so to speak. You don't have to leave to go to hotels or anything like that. And even if you did, you were lucky enough to get one of the point zero zero one percent hotel rooms that are on or around the Manchester area there, it's a half a mile away. So you're always on site. And I also think because you don't have curfews and that this is a kind of like a living organism. It's happening at all times. And it's not just music that's happening. You know, I mean, I can't tell you how, you know, the comedy tent. Now they've got movies. It's even going by and seeing, you know, a lot of the vendors, the arts. I just saw today I just got a new email talking about the food vendors. The brewery tent is now back in effect and stuff like that. So it's a great big offering. And I think all of that adds to the community. I also believe back in the day when Superfly started this whole thing, they started a code of ethics. So, you know, they didn't want, you know, bad people, so to speak. And, you know, there was the high five Fridays and they celebrate a lot of that and they continue to celebrate that, especially on their socials and what have you. So it just brings that whole community together again, based in anchored by music. I feel like Jim should be hosting this podcast and not me. Do you have any questions for us? No, no, no, no. I just, you know, I got really lucky in my life. I got involved with music at a very young age. I've been able to have it as, you know, as my vocation. Obviously, it's my career, but it's one of those things that I get excited. I get jazzed about, you know, that, you know, we have a group of us. I mean, you know, obviously you guys are part of that group and, you know, there are things and places and people that we want to go see and, you know, relive, so to speak. And then there are these people and places and things you want to go explore. And I can't tell you how many places and things that I've seen, you know, on the farm that I didn't know about, you know. I mean, I'd always liked Dr. Dog, but I'd never seen him. Loved him. Absolutely loved it. I actually showed up to, you know, Royal Blood and thought, okay, I'm at the wrong tent. The next thing I know is I'm looking through my booklet. I had no idea it was two guys and one guy is playing bass and not a guitar. I'm like, wow, there's a lot more music coming out of that. And so, you know, it's just some of those aha moments. And then some of those aha moments are like, why didn't I ever know about this? Or how did I not know that there were two people in this band? You know, that kind of thing. And as somebody who's actually in the industry and you don't know this, that's, you know, if you're caught by surprise, that's pretty, that's pretty special, I'm sure. Well, yeah, I mean, I guess to a degree. I mean, I certainly don't know, you know, a lot and we do kind of get insulated. I'm very lucky for the label that I work for. You know, we have a very broad brush stroke, you know, a very deep history and a breadth of music, but there's just so much more that's out there, you know, and, and it covers just so, so much. And, and I think that's, you know, you know, another piece of it that this gives me that opportunity, especially over the four days that are, you know, that are, that are going on that I can really, really kind of let loose and see things and get out of my comfort zone. See, this, we couldn't, I don't think we could have scripted. Because this is so important that I think if for the people who've never been, they don't quite understand. Because Ashley Caps, of course, is a co-founder, said a very similar thing. And that's why I was excited to talk to you because you guys do like we do. We show up, we become fans, we do everything that a fan does. I mean, you're not there. I've never seen you there trying to, you know, VIP your way around things. You don't, you know, got to get the super secret, whatever, you know, out back. Wait, wait, what's wrong with that? Because that's sort of what I do. That's where Brad and I differ. That's where we differ. It's the experience. So that's why we don't see you, Brad. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, he's getting the super secret. But it's the experience that, that is Bonnaroo, that is what makes it so unique. And that's what I love hearing you say that you enjoy about it. I really do. Yeah. And what you do is sort of the common theme about practically everybody that talks about Bonnaroo is that you romanticize it. You think about it almost like a girlfriend you keep seeing once a year. And it's, you know, that's good. Yeah. And I come back to her every year and every year she comes around. It's a blast. And about the time you're sick of her, it's Sunday. I could drive right on home now. Now I can go home. That's so true. And it's funny because I literally made my plane ticket or my plane reservations, I got my tickets a few weeks ago. And I, you know, obviously it starts on Thursday, but I'm coming down on Thursday morning. I've landed in Nashville, I drive down and I'm kind of excited to get to that point where I go pick up my credentials. And I'm fortunate enough that I do have credentials. So I have that and, but I go and every year I say the same thing. I say, well, you know, Thursday is kind of like the beginning day. I can do the happy chat, say hi, kind of make my way around. Maybe I'll walk the farm a little bit and see if there's, you know, something new or, you know, something I hadn't seen, you know, just kind of familiarize myself. And the next thing I know is it's three o'clock in the morning. I'm like, oh, well, I don't know how that happened. And you know, and truthfully, you know, these conversations were, I can't tell you how many times in a professional setting or a cocktail party, you know, a social situation, you know, you kind of go in there and you work the room and you kind of, kind of get in, you're almost looking sadly enough over somebody's shoulder to see who's the next most important person or who you have to actually see. I never felt that way there. I've always felt that I never have enough time to spend with people. You know, I read last time we were there, I think we spent two hours together just, you know, off to the side of the campsite. And, you know, I realized that I had to leave because I had an artist that was going on. I'm like, I'm so sorry. And I felt like we got cheated. Yeah, you couldn't get that second Bloody Mary, could you? Well, the first one was very, very good, by the way. You're welcome. I am the Bloody Mary master of camp, I'm sure. I guarantee it. That and a few other of the beer specialties, no doubt. When you first went, and I always liked the original feeling that you had when you walked into Bonnaroo. You probably didn't know what to expect. You were going on what somebody had basically told you about the festival to begin with. When you first walked in, what was the first thing you saw? What was the first thing that caught you off guard? And what's the first thing that made you say this might be pretty special? Well, I'm going to answer that in a couple of ways. First and foremost, I drove down and there was a complication and problem with the main highway that went down. And I was fortunate enough to have like the secret map to be able to go in the back way. And I did. The big oak tree with the yellow ribbon, right? That's exactly what it was. It was the big oak tree. And I'm like, look, I'm from the Midwest. I'm from Missouri. I don't know exactly what an oak tree looks like. So I made that turn. I'm going down there. I'm like, God, I hope this is right. And then I turn again and I'm down there. And all of a sudden I see miles and miles and miles of cars. And I see people, you know, if I'm in traffic, look, I live in New York. If I'm in traffic, I'm going to a Yankee game. I'm trying to get over to, you know, see a show over in New Jersey at the Meadowlands or something like that. I'm, I'm suicidal and homicidal by the time I get there. I'm there and I'm seeing people, you know, going from car to car, running up there, sharing beer, sharing this experience is honking, having flags. You know, it was like, it was like a rainbow of color, emotion and passion. And so once I did get in there, I, you know, same people, I'm hearing all kinds of music coming out of people's cars. Everybody's friendly. And I would, I parked and I parked right behind the main stage, the what stage. And I looked and I'm like, holy cow, that is huge. I mean, I felt like I was back at a skyscraper. I'm like, and then you see the buses and then you see the trucks and you realize, you know, this is a work in progress. And that work in progress is the 770 acres that are there is an empty farm that they truck everything in and truck everything out. Now granted today, there are a few structures that stay there, et cetera, but that's what happens over, you know, uh, you know, many years, you know, over a decade of, uh, of the celebration. But then I started to walk around the grounds and I could not believe the enormity of it. And then I kind of got into that operational thing. Well, how do you have all these different tens of pages and the other, and you're like, well, do they play at the same time? Well, how come this one doesn't drown out that one? And I'm like, oh, that just must have it orchestrated or people go from point a to point P, you know, like the, the hands of a clock. No, they actually have it going at all times. And again, it's really interesting because rarely will you find, especially at Bonnaroo that things stack up where you don't get to see what you really want to see. I'm not granted. You do have to plan a little bit ahead because there are commute times to get from, you know, the what stage all the way to, you know, this stage or the tent or, you know, what have you, or you don't get over to get your Amish donuts, you know, whatever you're into, you know, you have to plan a little head ahead, but it's always been a fairly easy negotiable to negotiate. And each year it seems to get a little easier. Like somebody went, well, you know what? This would make more sense or on this, we should do that. So and I've gone to other festivals. Don't get me wrong. I'm not going to mention them because I don't want to make it sound negative to anybody, but there's not anything that I've gone to that has matched this. Right. Certainly not. For me, I've done my job. I've written at the newspaper now for 30, almost 30 years, 31 years. The first Bonnaroo that I went to, it kind of crystallized in my head and it very definitely crystallized in my head after seeing McCartney. But the first Bonnaroo I went to reminded me of why I got into the business. I had started to become, it was jaded. Everything was same. I was just kind of chugging along doing it and it completely re-energized me. And then the McCartney was the reason I got into music at all was the Beatles. And when we talked to Ashley, I reminded him, Brad and I, I introduced him at Forecastle and Brad thanked Ashley Capps for saving music. We had a nice long conversation. There might've been some bourbon involved. I don't tend to bloviate much, do I? No, but I think he was very honest. And from your point of view, what did Bonnaroo do for the music industry? Cause it really was the first one to prove that American festival. I mean, we had Coachella and Lollapalooza, but Bonnaroo, in my opinion, we now have hundreds of festivals. It sort of, it definitely kicked the live music festival, but did it do anything to the music industry as a whole from where you sit? Well, I think, you know, yes, I do believe that. I believe it kind of helped congeal it. Again, you know, we are now so used to having things so compartmentalized. I mean, think about what radio is today. You don't just have a pop radio station or a top 40 radio station. When I was growing up, a top 40 radio station played the best top, the 40 hits from all different kinds of music, whether it was an R and B or country or, you know, whatever that might've been. And it kind of seems to me that that's what Bonnaroo is. Now, I'm not saying it's pop by any stretch, but you do have pop, you know, leaning and sensitivities there. But it gives you the breadth and that deep feeling of everything and it cross-pollinates. So I believe it helped us to turn people on to more music, to give them that access and obviously a platform where people can, you know, really go out and enjoy. And it's not one of those things where I'm going to show up at this tent to see this band just to be seen. I'm there because I'm exploring. I'm curious. I like them. I want to see them again. And I think that platform, you know, is extremely important to have. And again, one of the things that I love the most, and that's not just because of Bonnaroo, I love the sense of discovery. You know, I know that today I'm a true radio guy, but obviously with what goes on, and I share a lot of different types of music. I still play vinyl. You know, I still play CDs. I still listen to the radio and I stream, you know, and I use a little bit of everything and I learn and I digest and everything like that. I love New Music Fridays. I mean, I sit there and I can't wait to get up on Friday morning and look, you know, to see what's out and who's out and discover. And I kind of get that feeling when I go down there, you know. Again, I kind of drank the Kool-Aid from the very first time I went there. And you know, going back a couple of questions ago when I first got there and what was my first indication, one of the guys that had originally told me, you got to go down, I can't explain it to you, you just got to go. And it's like, yeah, you know, it's like one of those things that you kind of have to be there, you kind of have to experience it. You can look online, you can check out the pictures, you can look at the artists, you can look at the food pages and everything that goes with it. But there's just something there, you know, that grabs you and won't let go. And the only way to get that is to be there. Now, again, back to this, does it help us? I do. You know, from a promotion and marketing standpoint, I believe it gives us the platform. I lived in San Francisco for a number of years. And there are a couple of venues in San Francisco alone, the Fillmore there. If an artist went there, they turned it up. For whatever reason, you did not see a bad show there. I have that same feeling when I go to Bonnaroo. It feels to me that they go there for something. And that McCartney show that you were talking about, I was there and I was very excited to see it. And I took my son, and he's been with me probably 80 or 90% of the times that I've gone down there ever since he graduated from college. It was kind of one of those things he didn't have a job and I said, come with me. And he wasn't excited to go. He knew, oh, you know, one of the only surviving Beatles. And I go, you have no idea. You have to see this. This is much larger, much bigger, and much more different than you could imagine. I think we were in the third song and he got down on his knee and I thought, well, this is weird. He's not proposing to me. And he goes, this is me apologizing to you and eating crow. I was wrong. And three and a half hours later, he looked at me after he sang every song. He nearly had a tear in his eye and he's like, holy shit, dad, this is amazing. That was one of those moments. I was bawling like a baby and I was never a Beatles fan, but I cried at least three times that show. I don't know why, but it just evoked some sort of emotion that cut right through me, man. And what you were saying, Jim, is the band's turning it up. I got the feeling and I'd seen him before that that was a, let me show you young kids how I can still rock and roll type of moment for Paul. I mean, it was, it was huge. Yeah. And I think for him and other artists for that matter, you know, we see this a lot. We represent Bruce Springsteen and we have a number of, you know, of heritage and classic artists. And I'm all for a parent or, you know, loved one or friend to take a younger person. And I can't tell you how many times I go see and see an eight or nine year old kid there with their parents trying to relive something that they had with Bruce Springsteen or Roger Waters, David Gilmore, those types of artists that we represent. And I love that, but I don't see that at Bonnaroo. I see everybody going there for a specific reason, but I do see the milestone theory coming back where something happens, something is heard or something is recreated that takes people back. And maybe it doesn't take them back, but it takes them back to like, for example, there's a couple of Paul McCartney songs that, of course, my son doesn't know about it. He's too young. He didn't live at that particular time, but he knows what it meant to his mother. And it was so funny because he took his iPhone out and he's recording a couple of things and sending short video clips to her like, mom, check this out. And it meant the world to her, but it also touched him in a way, you know, that he thought enough to act and react and do that. Well, it goes to show you how great that show is because I don't think a podcast has gone by where we haven't brought the show up. But you know, I walked into a friend of mine who actually is a podcast listener. His name is Dan. He's Bonnaroo Santa. If you follow any sort of Bonnaroo caricatures, he's Bonnaroo Santa. You walk around basically as Santa with a big white beard. I ran into him after the McCartney show and I said, what'd you think? And he just, just dead faced. This is a big, you know, very boisterous man who's got reactions that just make you giggle because he's just a big caricature. His face goes stone, stone white. And he said, it was almost too much for me to get through. And I said, why Dan? I mean, you loved it. You're Packer Pete. What's the, what's the problem? He said, because every song had a memory tied to it. Every song that I, that I listened to was a song that I broke up with my girlfriend one time or that my kid was born to or that I proposed to my wife with. Every single song was tied to a life moment of his and it was too emotional for him to actually get through that to me. That's pretty strong. I don't think you get that at the Phillips arena. No, no, no. So, so true. No, you're a hundred percent right. You're a hundred percent right. And again, going back, going back to that, you know, that moment, you know, that that's an artist that, that not only met, but exceeded expectations. And I don't know why, because, you know, certainly we know that he's going to be on a particular tier to do it, but is it the farm? You know, is it what everybody brings together and it comes together and you know, he has to and the band has to feel that when they're up there as well. Absolutely. I saw him in the Omni years and years ago and it was nowhere near that. Right. It was, it was what you just said. I was there because I was getting to see a Beatle. Sure. Hey, just to double back about industry changes and it struck me being a radio guy who is very dependent on the record label and you being a guy who works at a record label. Do you think that because of Bonnaroo and the artists that they choose and sometimes the artists they choose because they have this platform, Bonnaroo, it allows them to be successful without really a label framework. They can be successful at something like a festival circuit and doesn't that in turn challenge you guys to up your game and make much better decisions about artists and who you promote and who you put money behind, et cetera? Yeah, I think that's a fair assessment. I think, not to sound general, but I think that we and any label that's going to be successful and any label that's going to go out and properly represent their artists and the music they're in, you know, they have to think about that all the time. And I do believe having outlets like this is very key and very important to do. I mean, the music discovery is done, you know, fortunately we have radio and we're always going to have radio and you're going to always see the polls that come out or the pie charts that come out. You're only going to vacillate one or 2% a year up or down with regard to people falling off. It's there. And the up years, by the way, are usually because of political coverage, news coverage and stuff like that. But from a music standpoint, 100%, you know, we, like I said, we use that new music platform because that's what they call it on a Friday morning. We have changed, you know, our view on when music should come out and how it can and should be ingested. Look, when I first got into this business, we sold recorded music and that was it. That was our revenue stream. That's all we did. We promoted and marketed artists to be able to sell recorded music. Now there are so many different pieces of the pie that have been monetized. Unfortunately, that is really, really good for an artist because all they had was a little slice of the pie that was sales and then they're touring and possibly merchandise revenue. But now they can take anything from a sync license that comes off of a television show, a commercial or anything that comes with it. And there's a thousand and one other things, you know, that are that are part of it. We have to step up our game. And your label has a perfect example of that in Leon Bridges. Yeah, you know, Leon's one of those. And we always one of the things that we've loved is and we're great. And again, not to beat a dead horse, but we have a hundred and thirty year rich history here. And, you know, with our history is artists that can go out and perform and do live. You know, I mean, we don't put them out in a boot camp and, you know, go go hit the road for two years. You know, we have artists that we put songs out. And I mean, right now we have an incredible new artist called King Princess. First song came out called 1950 song just released last Friday called Talia, 19 year old girl from Brooklyn, living in Los Angeles. Incredible voice. OK. And all of a sudden we started to get a little buzz from the online chatter and online community. And we started to see some Shazam tags throughout the various marketplaces. We started to get some radio airplay and blogs started picking up critical mass, you know, what have you. And all of a sudden it's a groundswell. OK. Has not performed a show yet. Right. OK. So, you know, that's that's the flip side of that. And then you have artists that go out there and they'll put, you know, three hundred shows in before they've recorded a record. Or you have a band like Soul Asylum who was, you know, on Columbia Records years and years ago that had five or six records under the belt before we got them. Incredible touring band. And if you would sit and listen to one of the records, you'd be like, that's not who I saw last night. Right. Or you could see them and then go put on the record because they could never translate that sound that they produce that they performed in and had live to what they recorded. And once we finally got that magic, that was their most successful, you know, commercially successful album. You know, and that becomes difficult as well. You know, measuring success, you know, for us, you know, going back to what I said, you know, for us, it was to be able to break an artist so we could actually have that monetized piece out there, whether it was an album, a cassette, CD, you know, you know, digital download, whatever it may be. But also now, you know, to sell concert tickets, make sure that they're, you know, they're stacked up with their their own revenue streams, et cetera. But yeah, no, it's a it's a it's an interesting time. I will tell you the one thing that you will never do in the music industry, right? You will not ever wake up and grind your teeth because you don't want to go to work. And there will never be a day that is the same as yesterday. You know, your audience gets older, your demographic changes, your psychographics change. And you know, you see that radio and going back to what I was talking about earlier, that top 40 format is not just that top 40 format anymore. Now there's four or five different, you know, machinations of it, whether they lean rhythm or whether they lean, you know, more adult and trying to go after an older listener. Some just try to go for free mail somewhat men. You know, it's like whatever it may be. And it's quite difficult because radio's model is, you know, to generate listeners and those generated listeners then are turned and sold to advertisers, et cetera. So it just depends on what that niche is. And everybody kind of carves out their own little their own little place of it. So it's great from a listener standpoint because, you know, they have so many different opportunities to listen to out there. It makes it tough, you know, to be able to slot those artists and be able to get that kind of exposure out there because there is such a broad brush stroke. We think everybody, you know, should listen to Paul McCormick. We think everybody should be listening to King Princess and her new music and things that are coming up. But obviously, that's not the way. But we're still going to try to make it that way. Jim, I knew this was going to be fun. And I think I think listeners are going to love it because what they're going to hear is passion. I think it's so important to hear that passion for music and festivals and all that sort of thing. And this is this is sort of like talking to Jim sitting around camp. Exactly. This is exactly like this is camp. Exactly. It kind of puts to the lie that the whole industry is run by suits who don't even listen to me. I got a hit maker today. Yeah. What are the numbers, the percentages? But I got to ask, how do you do Bonnaroo? Do you camp? Do you RV it? You said you drive down sometimes, you fly down sometimes. Are you a hotel guy? Do you stay on site the entire time? I am a hotel slash motel guy. I'm very fortunate because I get a room either through our artist or through the promoter. I stay literally right back near the Starbucks, which, by the way, is extremely important to me. And I do that because I call it the one season. Actually, I do that. That's good. You know, it's certainly not two seasons and it's guaranteed not the four seasons. That's true. Look, I grew up camping and everything. I don't sleep well to begin with. I am up at all hours of the night, but I have to be connected. My wife makes fun of me because I have two computers out, an iPhone and an iPad at all times. So, you know, while it's all fun and games and I do this because of my passion, we are looking at a lot of numbers. We all do have a lot of spreadsheets and stuff. And again, I don't sleep well. It's probably most important for me to have my own room, my own setup out there and then charging stations. But my morning starts at Starbucks at nine in the morning. I start at the hotel and I go over there at nine and that's usually when my first meeting is and I sit there and I have meetings up until about 11, 1130 and I go back and then I kind of clean up shower and I'm usually on site by one o'clock. And my usual time is I'll tap out around somewhere between three and four. Yeah, that's good. And by the way, you get enough camp time by dropping by Camp Nut Butter. You do. Well, that's guaranteed. You do spend plenty of time around camp. It's fun. I mean, now granted, it ain't it ain't slumming. We try to make the amenities very nice for our guests, but everybody is very nice. And the spiritual awakening that goes on is even more important. So I always feel like I have a very kind way of putting it. But no, you know, it's funny because you do go home, you go home tired, you go home achy and it's not just, you know, everybody thinks it's one big party and, you know, it is and it isn't, you know, it depends on what you do. You know, I've been down there. I think the peak I had done, there were 14 artists performing at various times and places and what have you. This year, I think I'm four or five. So it'll be better for me to be able to relax, to have a discovery, to be able to have time with people. And the other side about it is there are business opportunities and there are industry people that are down there. So, you know, there are those opportunities and moments that go on. So I want to be able to take advantage of that. Have you made your list yet? You know who you're seeing? You got you got your playlist ready to go? I have not done it yet. And it's funny you mentioned that. Normally I'm much farther along than this and very similar to like a fantasy baseball or football draft. There are a number of us that need to get together and we will start to send our list out and we'll start to cross, you know, cross things off. And, you know, look, I know I'm going to have to have a window of time to be at this barbecue, at Nut Butter. I've got to be a couple of different places. And, you know, so I have to I have to work it all out. So it's not just showing up and trying to figure it out. It's hilarious to me the idea that Jim Burris is standing backstage somewhere with a bunch of industry people and him saying, hang on a second, I'll be right back. I got to go to Nut Butter. It's funny because I've brought a couple of guests over, including my son. And they're like and I've told him, I go, you know, we got to go to Camp Nut Butter. And they look at me like, what are you talking about? And when I get there, they like nobody just like walks in. They have to stop and look at this. You got to take it all in. You have to take it all in, you know, from the heads to the, you know, to the twister board to, you know, the various lights. And, you know, of course, somebody I won't mention who that is has a real swanky tent with a bed that's elevated up off the floor. And I might add a mirror in the corner. I don't know. Just vanity. He's been there, folks. He didn't make this up. Can I just defend myself for a second? The hair is the moneymaker and it needs to be on point at all times. OK, I was just about to mention the bureau that had the number of products and combs and brushes and all other kinds of things. I mean, that that scene itself might need its own generator. You know, who knows? Let's share a list very soon. We can't wait to see you here. And actually, we're like 45 days. My goodness. For almost four weeks away, almost a month away. That's awesome. That is so amazing. I'm so excited. I can't wait to see you, Jim. Likewise. Let me ask you, who are you looking forward to seeing? Oh, man, we've got our special picks show coming up in a couple of weeks. But I don't think I'm more excited about anything like I am the two Bon Iver sets. We talked about this last week on the show. I love Bon Iver so much. I think twenty two a million is a masterpiece and I can't stop talking about it. How that works on the witch stage is, to me, the most exciting question of the entire festival. I think that Japanese breakfast is one that I'm very, very excited about. I love Mavis Staples with all of my heart. I can't wait to see her again. And then, you know, Anderson Paak. Yeah. And I'm a sucker for Anderson Paak. I think Anderson Paak is a genius. And who we did, we played a thing called Bon Iver Roulette a couple of weeks ago, Jim, where we put names in the hat that we not really didn't know anything about, spun the wheel and then listened to part of a song. Who all did we come up with? Well, there's one in particular on Thursday that I can't stop thinking about is Doron Jones and the Indications. And then there was, oh, what was that other one, Barry? Was it Liz? No, no. No, it wasn't Lizzie. Pigeon's Playing Ping Pong is a discovery on Thursday that you're going to like a lot. And what is the, hang on, I'm going to find it. It's a soul artist. Oh, the Indian, the Indian, Davy. Davy. Davy. Davy. Davy. Davy. This guy's got a great sound. So great. It's very soulful. It's very Leon Bridges, honestly. It's a throwback. Oh, great. Yeah, I'm very excited to figure out if that's something that's really got heat on it or not. By the way, going back to Leon, you know, with his new album and everything like that, I passed over that real quick because I didn't want to sound like that record guy that I was going to sit here and promote and market. But you obviously mentioned it. You obviously set it up. So I'm going to give you the softball, Jim. That's great. And I decided this isn't my show, you know. But you know, going back to, you know, there's a couple of things on there, you know, because I think this year didn't they or maybe last year they started it, but this year they're going to continue it. Isn't the other tent really kind of going to be more EDM kind of style stuff? Yes. Yeah. So you'll find stuff down there. You know, obviously bass neck, there's not going to play down there. And I don't know about the glitch mob, but you know, you can find some really cool stuff down there and that going back to the kind of the flavorful thing. You know, we used to make fun of the comedy tent and or the movie tent because if you were too hot, you could always go hang out there. And then guess what? They have really great movies and they have really great comedians, you know, that are there. So that's out of the way. But now they've started to do some of these little niche things. You know, in that stage was always, I think it was either Friday night or Saturday night. If you were there between midnight and three in the morning, you were guaranteed to somebody whether to see somebody, you know, whether it was MGMT or the Imagine Dragons or somebody like that. There was some emerging talent that was going to come out of that. That was, you know, phenomenal. We all know about, you know, the what stage and stuff like that. But there's going to be some really great stuff like I have not seen, you know, St. Paul and the Broken Bones yet, but I cannot wait to see how you'll guarantee you see me there. Get ready. I mean, it was one of the highlights of my professional career to talk to Paul. It was the best interview we have ever had or I've ever had. The guy is just so genuine until today, until this moment. He's just so genuine. He puts every single ounce of his body and his spirit on stage. And you can't help but to but to try and give at least something back to him while you watch him. I'm so excited about it. We did two shows with him, Jim. So that'll give you two hours to kill while you're driving down in a month. I love it. Yeah, he was great. He really was a lot of fun. We'll see you soon, Jim. Thank you so much for all the time. And I can't wait to see you. Are you bringing the son this week? This year is the is the no, he's he's he's got a friend. He's in that age group where he's got a lot of friends getting married and he's the best man in one of these weddings. So he's got to go do that. But I'll be there. Brady will be there with me again this year. So he made the cut. He made the cut. Is his beard returning for the Tennessee Heat? Yeah, the beard. The beard will be there. It's trimmed up, but it'll be there. And I can't wait. So I look forward to seeing you on the farm. I can't wait to hear some great music and and put our faces back together. I love you. We'll see you soon. Thank you so much. All right, guys. Thank you. Now, unfortunately, Leon Bridge is not performing at Bonnaroo 2018, but Doron Jones is. He opened up the podcast, Doron Jones, and now we go into part two with Leon Bridges. Yeah, it's a great symmetry to me. Leon Bridges a couple of years ago was one of the great shows I've seen the entire time. He felt like you were finding somebody. That and I felt like I was in 1960 watching Sam Cooke. And I get a lot of that. I was so good. I get a lot of that from Doron Jones and Indications, the band that we open up the podcast, playing Thursday, by the way, may just make Brad's picks the episode that we pick our festival of choice or artists of choice for the festival. It may just make my picks for this year. I think it's important that we played those two as well, because that's the type of thing you can discover if you get out of your box or get off your list or whatever. That Leon Bridges was amazing. I fully expect Doron Jones to be just as great. It's sort of like you can find these things if you ever leave camp. But these guys hardly do. Our campmates from Camp Nut Butter. We decided to bring them in. Let's bring them in here. Let's have a little camp nut butter. We've had one Bonnaroo vet already at the What Podcast now with Jim Burruss, the senior vice president of Columbia Records Promotion. Now we have our vets, our team, half of our team from Camp Nut Butter in studio for the What Podcast. Welcome guys. The better half. Actually, my title is way better than Jim's. Really? I'm the boss of the. Boss. Boss man. So let me introduce you to the production guys. Yes. Let me introduce you to some of our camp mates at Camp Nut Butter. That's Nick Turner, Nicky T, who actually designed all the graphics that you see at the What Podcast. Graphic genius. Slow down. Okay. And the guy that designed all of our heads. We have giant cartoon heads on sticks. I was thinking on the way over, how can we put pictures of some of this stuff? We can put them on Twitter. We can probably tweet them to What Underscore Podcast probably. And then we have local radio flunky, Brian Stone. Hi buddy. Yes. You have the second most listened to podcast. That is just not even close to being true. I have the most listened to podcast in the city of Chattanooga. And how long has yours been going on? Going on almost two years. Okay. And how long did it take you to get 7,000 downloads? I haven't done the math recently. I'm not sure. Okay, good. It took a few minutes, but it took a while to build. You don't go number one overnight, right? We did. Well, no, you went number two overnight. We did, we did. Okay. I got you. How many countries are you heard in? Well, it depends on how much spam. He's barely heard in this country. Let's be honest. I'm obsessed. It depends on how many bots have downloaded. Can we talk states? How many states do you get through? Very regional show. Very regional show. No kidding. When you're screaming about local politics, I don't know if it's going to be a hit in Japan. Yeah, it doesn't sell in Korea. I like Bonnaroo. So this is half of our team. The other half is made up of some industry people, a random man who talks deep and we don't really ever know what he says. The wife, who else am I missing from our campsite? Three years ago, we had what, like 18? It felt big. It felt like it was never ending. People were looking at us as scots because we were hoarding parking places. Yes, we take off a very large swath of land. Well, every time we get there on the first day and you guys start running around staking territory, like it's the gold rush out west, I always feel like we're doing something wrong. We're taking too much space here. Can I be honest? You are doing something wrong. You're not doing anything. You just stand there. I try to help, man. I feel like I'm doing something that's against the rules. Setting up at Bonnaroo is against the rules? No. Taking an acre of land is against the rules. That's because he gets there actually like on Tuesday. He likes wandering around at night. That's my favorite. On a Wednesday night? That's your favorite night. I love it. Why do you love it? Just wandering. Music. Because he doesn't have to miss everything. Yeah, you're the king of missing every shot. I saw 19 bands last year. You are such a liar. I saw 19 bands last year. I hadn't seen 19 bands in the 10 years prior combined. You're talking about the songs you listened to in your CD player in your crappy shitty car. You're not talking about bands that you saw at Bonnaroo. That's not true. Last year I went all out. So you showed up on Wednesday and now can you get into Bonnaroo on Wednesday? I didn't think that you could. Sometimes you can, sometimes you can't. On foot you can. Through our interests. How else are you getting into Bonnaroo, Brian? Driving your car. You have a Segway? You're driving a Segway through? Driving your car in and setting up camp I don't think is necessarily available for everybody. I love this guy thinking he's going through rollerblades. But if you want to walk in and just act like you own the joint, you can walk in and just go hang out on the grounds where there's not but maybe 100 people scattered over. And they're still setting up. And remember we got the Instagrams from him of them setting up beer tents. That's right. It's just a fascinating sight for me. Now I ask that because I don't think that's open to the general public. You can't really just walk in on Wednesday and see them. You absolutely cannot. Okay so you walk out and then you go through the main arch and then you go walk around the campsites in the main camping area. Is that your Wednesday tradition? I did that on Thursday. If I did that on Wednesday they wouldn't let me back in. Alright so what do you see when you walk in on Wednesday? What is the feeling that evokes from you? It's just the excitement overall of a big weekend. If it's a cooler nice night that helps out as well like it was last year. It's just the excitement really. And just to be on the grounds and all the stages are lit up. They're testing lights. All the side tents have all their lights and people are on stage. It's just a really, no one's going to stop you if you just want to walk up there and jump on stage if you wanted to. You want to try that this year? Give it a go pal. Let's see how well that works. I'm telling you there's barely anybody around. Nicky T what day do you get there usually? I try to get there after everyone's already set up. Oh thank you. I appreciate the help. I have noticed that Nick usually gets there after everything is where it needs to be. That's a pro move right there. But his move is always like, pro tip. Yeah but guys look at all the things that I've brought. Bring all the Bloody Mary procurement. By the way he's our Bloody Mary guy. Last year I had to take the Bloody Mary crown because you didn't show up. You bailed on us. How do you guys take my Bloody Marys versus Nicky T's Bloody Marys? It's all Nicky T. Oh you jerk. Yeah you don't really know what you're doing. Yours is alright but it's transformative. You don't really know flavor. That's the problem. Oh gotcha. I mean look at me. I know flavor. I am flavor. You know you remember was it last year that we had to wake him up? He kept sleeping and we were all like, we want a Bloody Mary. Get up. And when he finally got up he said, I think y'all are just using me. I spent six hours in a hammock that day. Yes you did. It was comfortable. You know what he said when he got up from that nap, that six hour nap. He had just had a baby. He woke up from that nap and he said, don't you dare tell my wife I just slept for six hours. It was the best. He did say that. Now you were the one that actually got me onto Thursdays. Because you just said, why don't we just go on Thursday. And I didn't realize until the first Thursday that we went how magical Thursday was. It's so green. It's so green and it feels like people are fresh. They're happy. They're alive. Everybody is on their best behavior and as happy as they could possibly be. By Saturday all that attitude sometimes changes. I won't say all. A lot of that attitude changes because it's a tough weekend no matter how much fun you're having it's still a very tough weekend. There is not a better description of how human beings can wither away than the time lapse photo of Brian Stone from Thursday to Sunday. Well there was one year where it was really bad. That is every year. You're talking about every single year. Yeah it beats me up pretty good. So this is the thing that happened last year at camp that we have a lot of people that just pop in. We have a lot of popper inners. One guy at our camp. They follow the light in the sky. We have a lot of lights. So basically one guy at our campsite said this is sort of like the Merv Griffin show. You don't know who's going to sit down on the couch and become a guest. The literal couch. Actual couch. Yeah we bring an actual leather couch. Now last year Brian brought a spectacular guest. A spectacular guest. Nick you missed this. I woke up in a dead sleep. You didn't miss anything. Dead sleep. Brian had brought back a girl. A girl. Yeah the first time I think that he has seen a girl. The first time I've seen a girl. So she shows up at our camp and he's trying to be Mr. Big Shot, look at our campsite etc. And Brian you know they're milling around talking about little oozy vert. I don't know what the hell they're talking about. But I would get woken up from a dead sleep in the middle of the day in a nice beautiful nap to this girl sounding. That was legit. It's kind of funny now. At the time I didn't think it was very funny. The sounds that were coming out of her mouth were unlike anything I have ever heard somebody be able to produce. If you're going to smash. What does that mean? I think it's what they say nowadays. By God if that's what she sounds like. Oh man. And so would you like to give the nickname that you. I'm not going to do that because it will give away her name. I don't want to do that. But can you up your guest game this year? Can you possibly. I'm flying solo. I don't want to mess with this. You don't say. I'm flying solo. That's the way to do it man. I know you come stag every year but at some point you get the motivation to seek out. Something. Something. Anything. Anything. Any sort of interaction. I don't know with an artist, with a band, with a show, with a beer. Something. Can you interact with something? This is what the weekend is. All weekend. This right here. This podcast. Just listen to it over and over again and you know how this goes. So there is not a person on this planet that is more aligned with me and my musical taste than Nicky T. So I'll start with him. Nicky T. do you have suggestions for this year? What are you going to see? As a Bonnaroo. By the way how many Bonnaroo's is this for you? Is this five or six? I think this is six. Six. Six. Okay. All right. So who are you looking at this year? What is your discovery? What are the one you're really excited about? Oh well you guys put me on to Davey which just sounds like it's going to be a fun show. Are you into Davey? We just talked about that. Yeah I mean I feel like it's just one of those shows that you know you're going to have a good time at. Yeah. Probably nobody's going to be there. That's right. And so those are always the best ones. Those are my favorite shows. When it's really hot in the middle of the afternoon you're practically one of you know three hundred people in that tent. Yeah I'm all in on that. Yeah I think another one is probably Japanese Breakfast for me. I love Japanese Breakfast. I just thought that album this year is just a great album. Everything I've seen of her live looks awesome. She's amazing. She's absolutely amazing. She's covering the cranberries. This is exactly the two artists that I told Jim Burris about. It's like me and Nick are living parallel lives. Now I can't wait to hear Brian Stone's suggestion. Let me guess Eddie Vedder. Wait wait wait. Let me explain. I pulled out the list. I don't remember who's there. Let me explain how this is going to go. Brad is going to say Brian do not miss this show and Brian is going to say I'm not going to that show. Right. I refuse to see that band. Brad is going to say go to that show. Brian is either not going to go to that show and on Sunday say I wish I had gone to that show. I'm going to show up and be like this guy's great. Yeah it always occurs somewhere around the end of June. Brian Stone comes to me and says boy I really blew it on Courtney Barnett. Well that's the best example ever. That is the best one. Every single year. Spoon would be another one. I have a question since we're all here and we've all done it many many times. What are the things we've all learned? Because we all do it differently. Brian likes to get there even earlier than we do. I used to try to get there first thing Friday. Now I like to get there Thursday so I don't have to do. I can get there and relax. We've even started going on Wednesday night so that we can wake up there on Thursday. There's really no reason not to. Especially we're so close. But like you know you're not kidding about that everybody's there fresh on Thursday and by Saturday they're worn out. So everybody always says pace yourself. They're not kidding. So I mean what are the sort of things that we've all learned over the years? I mean you pretty much just laid it all out there pacing yourself. You know I've messed up in the early years and had a handful of too many drinks in the middle of the afternoon and you're done for potentially a full 24 hours at that point. Showers we have good access to. So I mean we've got things pretty good right now. They fixed that I think for most everybody from what I understand. I was thinking about that because one year you get there and nobody showers because it's so hot and everybody. And I didn't I couldn't sleep. I drove my own self out of the tent. I was so rank. So shower when you can. Sleep when you can. Go ahead Nick. Yeah the shower secret is 1am or later is the prime time to hit the showers. Or afternoon and in the evening during the day if you're going to go during the day. See what's the point? Then you just walk out and get all disgusting again. Yes. There's still a point. And then you still got to get into your tent with your old feet. Yeah I do often times get into my tent with my own feet. So I'll tell you the reason why I like his theory better than yours Brian is because at 3 o'clock in the morning it's freezing cold getting out of that shower. That's what I want. I need that absolutely chill to my bone. At 3 o'clock in the morning I'm passed out on genitalia. So my 3 o'clock in the morning, 4 o'clock in the afternoon, 2 p.m. it doesn't matter. So the thing that I will tell everybody is there's a couple of things. One, I refuse to get drunk at Bonnaroo. I refuse. That's the word. You cannot be hungover. It is the absolute worst feeling. It's about 8.30 in the morning when the heat hits. There is not a worse feeling on the planet than being hungover at Bonnaroo. And the second thing, and I don't know how anybody out there does it, but sex at Bonnaroo. Yeah. I can't wrap my head around that sex at any festivals to me. Any sort of outdoor camping festival. No one is going to be touching me. It sounds a little strange. If you're going to smash. If you're going to smash. I'm still not interested in smashing. Nor the women that you bring around. One other thing though. I've never left with a pair of shoes I came with. By the end of the weekend my shoes are so murdered. I just throw them away. That is funny. We do go on a Walmart run just for shitty shoes. We just go buy shitty shoes because we know we're never going to use these again. I just throw them away. That may be a chicken and egg thing, but okay. I understand. Ryan, your picks this year? Do you have something that you like? I don't like this year's lineup. I've said it from the beginning. You know why? Because there's no hellfire. Hell, hell, fire. You don't even have any idea what half these jokes are. I said that about last year's lineup for sure, and I was very, very, very wrong. You said that your Pearl Jam was there. No, I did not. I said that was the best lineup year. So early on, the only band I'm overly excited for that I've thought about recently, like The Dreamers on Thursday, is going to be my Thursday act. After that, Moon Taxi, I'm sure I'll be nearby. Paramora I'd like to give a listen to. Alt J. Bon Iver, I guess. You're not going to like Bon Iver. I don't quite get it. Don't worry about Bon Iver. Now, do you know anything about Muse? Have you ever spent a second with Muse? A little, yeah. And? I can go either way. I mean, if I'm nearby, I'll go check it out. It's a little not quite my speed, but it's not far off of where I would normally be. You know, Sheryl Crow, what the hell, why not, I guess. We'll see. Eminem, I got no interest in. The Killers is Sunday night. If all goes to my plan, I'll be gone by the time they take the stage. I usually stay till Monday. This year, I don't intend to do that. So Nick, I think that if I'm going to give Brian Stone the band that he needs to go to. That I likely won't, but I'll still listen. That you won't go to, but then a month later you're going to say to yourself, why did I miss this show? I think you and I are going to say the same thing, but what are you going to say? What are you going to suggest to Brian Stone, Nicky T.? And this is like my preference as a band or just somebody I think Brian would like? That Brian's going to like. That Brian absolutely will lose his mind over that he has no idea even exists right now. I forgot, Old Crow Medicine shows here. I only said that because I figured your reaction would be somewhere in the neighborhood of... Well, I think the revivalist is probably like something Brian Stone would just... Really? That shocks me you'd say that. You know what I'm telling him? Sir Sly. Do you know anything about Sir Sly? I do know Sir Sly. I know the revivalist and Sir Sly. He's just saying that because he's never heard of them and he knows that he's going to get roasted. I'm going to say Rosie Davey. Yeah, Davey's great. I still don't know. I haven't picked up on this Davey thing yet. Sir Sly I'm aware of very much, I don't think I like the revivalist. I'm not sure. That's a wish I knew you, right? Then you need to go back and listen to the podcast. The other thing I'll say that you should go see that I know you won't is Anderson Pack and the Free National. It is an absolutely amazing show. Yeah, I've never quite understood your Anderson Pack thing. You are down on every single artist. You've been telling me about Anderson Pack for a long time. Three years at least. Every time I wonder when I sample it, I don't understand why that he thinks I'm going to like this. You're out of your mind. You legitimately have the worst taste. I think we just saved a lot of listeners having to come by Camp Nut Butter because you just got the whole weekend. That was pretty much it. That was pretty much it. I just wanted to say too, I probably not explained where the name came from. That's true. Everybody thinks it's just dirty or something. Yeah, everybody thinks we're just talking about like ball grease. It's a pretty stupid name to be honest, but it sticks. That's why it's stuck. It's because Brad's wife makes nut butter and it's just a funny word. And the first year you heard her say that. I just laughed and laughed and laughed. Because you thought it was a synonym for something that the kids were saying at the time. The kids. Yeah, the kids. What do these young folks speak about nut butter? What does that mean? That's all this nut butter and smashing going on. And the next thing I know, we have a marquee with this gross looking dripping nut butter and lights. That's peanut butter, sure. It's awesome. That's our food of choice. So you bring the pimento cheese, we bring the nut butter. Exactly. Yeah, because peanut butter and jelly sandwich is sort of our go-to thing. It's not like we're cooking workhorse meals back there. There's no cooking. Guys, I'm so excited. I'm so glad you guys came by. So am I. Welcome to the What Podcast. You can listen online anytime, thewhatpodcast.com. I guess we got to come back and draw for a ticket. Yeah. I guess that's the last thing to do. Somebody gets the win this week. Oh, do I get that? I think you're fine. Yeah, that would be bad, wouldn't it? And the winner is Nick Turner. My choice for Brian Stone, our camp nut butter camp mate, Sir Sly and Run. Now, we want to reward you for being such a great listener of the podcast and a friend of ours. Let's be honest, these are not listeners. They are friends. That's right. Yeah. So we want to give you a little treat, and that's Bonnaroo tickets. That's a big treat. That's a sort of a pretty big treat. That's the kind of friends we are, though. By the way, and we're throwing in the camping, too. No small thing, that. All right, so. It'd be weird if you just had a ticket, no place to sleep. Would you do you want to do the honors? Do you want to make the pick? You want to draw a name out of the hat? All right, you go do that and then just hand it to me and I'll make the phone call. All right, we'll just call the person live on the air. We're about to make somebody's week. Yeah. And summer, I hope. Hello. I'm looking for Drew. Yes, this is Drew. Hey, Drew, Brad Steiner and Barry Courter from the What Podcast. How are you? Oh, good. Hey, guys, what's up? It's an odd call. I know I saw the chat and I actually stepped away. I'm like, I'm kind of hoping this is someone. Well, we thought so. Well, we you know, me and Barry just hang around each other all the time, just calling random people who listen to the podcast. It's just sort of what we've done with our lives. Yeah, man. Yes. What's up? You know, it's called. Say hi, Chad. How you doing today? Yeah, I'm ready for the weekend, man. We're left in 40 days. Actually, you know, it's funny is I got my buddy who I met Bonnaroo a couple years ago from Texas in town. So like I got that to look forward to this weekend. So a little connection of continuing. Right. What do you guys do? Where are you from, by the way? I'm from Pittsburgh. I live up here in Fort Worth, Texas. You bastard Penguin fans. I know. I know. All last year, I just like, you know, I'm just not going to say anything. Yeah. I knew everyone was on the it was opposite the year before because the Sharks beat the National Predators. Everyone's like, all right, you know, come up. Whatever. Now it's like, oh, you're the enemy. Yeah. And now and now you're beating my Washington Capitals, which I'm very upset about. I know. I know. And you know, I thought the team had it, but yeah, they can score and they score fast. So here's the reason why we called. We didn't call just to shoot the shit. We actually called you with some pretty good news. Barry, would you like to tell him the good news? Yeah. You're the winner, man. Oh, you guys kidding me? Really? You're the winner of what? The winner of the ticket. Oh, okay. And the ticket. Oh my God. You guys are the best. You can tell Barry's not a radio guy because a guy would have built this up. I was just meaning he's a winner. I don't know anything about tickets. Drew, Drew from Pittsburgh. This is what has happened. We have just drawn your name and you, sir, have won tickets to Bonnaroo 2018 from the What Podcast starring Barry Porter and Brad Snyder. Congratulations, buddy. This is the best ever. Oh my God. Did you already have tickets, by the way? Okay, I did. I have a group, but I have a friend who I was entering all these contests. I have a friend who cannot afford it. So I already know someone. I'm like, if I win tickets somewhere, are you going? He's like, yes. That's awesome. Well, we're hooking you up. We drew your name out of the hat. Congratulations and thank you so much for listening to the podcast. All right. No, I love it, man. Like I said, I'm being honest in those emails. You guys take me back. It's like being in a campsite, just hearing people talk about the stories. And there's so many sets I wish I would have seen that in hindsight I know about and like Portugal Man and 2011 and all that. Right, right. I mean, I got the tattoo on my arm, man. I love it. Wait, you got the What Podcast tattooed on your arm? No, no, no. I got the the arch from 2011. Oh, that's awesome. Here I went. That's cool. Yeah. Take a picture of it and snap and send it to us. We'd love to put it on the website or something. You know, I got both of you on Twitter. You'll see my name is like Drew a crowd. I forget what I had. It's a truth. I'll do that. All right. Please do. Thank you again for listening to the podcast and we'll see you on the farm. All right, buddy. All right, man. Thank you. All right. There you go. The What Podcast next week. What do we got? We're going to talk to Mike Greenhouse from Relics Magazine. Relics Magazine, one of the early adopters of the What Podcast. They got in really early and Mike reached out and said nice things. And if you say nice things to Barry, you'll be his best friend forever. Yeah. No question about it. I'm a soft touch. Now, Mike is and I'm excited about it. Mike, they do the Bonnaroo Beacon for folks. Ah, OK. And Mike has been there. I think I remember every year except the first one. So really, really looking forward to. Did they have a beacon the first year? That I don't want. That's one of the things we'll ask. I don't know. OK. Barry, anything else? We're still working on First Aid Kit? Is that still happening? Still working on First Aid Kit, absolutely. And working on a couple of comics, too. Oh, that'd be awesome. I'd love to do that. I got an email yesterday or today confirming that we're trying. OK. But you don't like the comedic stylings of me. Am I not good enough for you, Barry? It'd be tough. OK. We'll talk to you next week. Hey, hey, hey, hey. How y'all feeling? Journey through the stories that define the artist's playing Bonnaroo. Who are they? What are they? What are they? What are they? What are they? What are they? What are they? What will you see? The what? Which bands? This year? That matter? With Brad Steiner and Barry Courter.
Listen Via:
