As Bonnaroo week kicks off, the crew records a special on-location episode at Lo Main in Chattanooga, diving into last-minute festival prep, weather worries, and the unique culture that makes Bonnaroo a can't-miss event. The hosts and guests, including long-time campmate Tara Viland (now in charge of events and programming at the Chattanooga Choo Choo) and Cassie Wanamaker (celebrating her 10th "Bonnaversary" and fourth year attending sober), share packing tips, weather-proofing strategies, and the importance of patience and flexibility for a successful festival experience. The conversation highlights the unpredictable Tennessee weather, the value of practical gear like rubber boots, and new festival features-such as Bonnaroo's QR code lock screen for lost phones.
Russ is already en route to Manchester, where he plans to meet up with friends at Common John Brewery to sample the new Camp Reddaroo beer (and hopefully sleep in their parking lot). The rest of the crew arrives later in the week. Don't miss The What Podcast live from The Farm! Join us Thursday at 4PM in Planet Roo for Podcast Party with a Purpose, featuring special guests and a look at Bonnaroo's impact on the local community.
Listen to this episode here or watch it on YouTube. As always, subscribe to The What Podcast wherever you get podcasts for weekly updates on Bonnaroo and festival news!
Topic: Bonnaroo
Guests: Tara Viland, Cassie Wanamaker
00:00 | Intro |
01:01 | Packing for Bonnaroo |
04:23 | Change your phone's lock screen |
06:42 | How to get help from Bonnaroo |
10:09 | Weather |
12:53 | Parachute People |
14:04 | Our travel plans |
18:08 | Tara joins |
26:18 | Cassie joins |
48:50 | Russ in Manchester on Monday |
52:02 | David Bruce on Hulu |
56:23 | The What Podcast live at Bonnaroo |
59:51 | Outro |
And so we're going to go there and eat dinner and drink beer and hopefully interview them.
They said they would do an interview.
Awesome. Cool. Very cool.
And then I hope I can sleep in their parking lot.
Let's think about that.
I was thinking, well, then you got to figure out a place to stay.
But the response was, well, we just stay in your parking lot.
Maybe I just stay here.
I hope I can sleep in their parking.
I mean, that'd be awesome.
Every way you can get accu, accumulated to not being at home.
Hey, you should take that opportunity.
Welcome to the What Podcast.
This is a special edition.
We are recording live on location at Lo Main, my nephew's bar
right around the corner from where we live, more or less.
Brian and I anyway. From us anyway. Yeah.
A little bit of a drive for you.
Not too bad. 15, 20 minutes.
Yeah, it's a cool location.
It's Sunday, the Sunday before Bonnaroo.
It's packing day, I guess.
Right. For most of us. Right.
Today is the day that. Yeah, I started yesterday on Saturday.
Just the initial, you know, yeah, runs to pick up the junk food and.
Do you make a list? Are you a list guy?
I am a list guy. Yeah. Oh, yeah.
This guy. No, I'm a pin to pay.
I mean, with, you know, this thing every week.
Yeah, I mean, I yeah, I've got notes on my phone.
I will never look at them again.
Yeah, you had to drive back home because you forgot your clipboard.
I forgot my clipboard.
It's like, oh, I forgot my clipboard.
But we're here.
We've had a couple of special guests, which we'll
we'll get to the Veland family was Sir minus Kai
Stratton, Joe and Tara were here.
And you're going to hear a little bit from Tara.
Cassie was here.
You're going to hear quite a bit from her.
We're all talking about getting ready for the greatest week of our lives.
It's here. This is the week.
Yeah, I mean, it's my other month.
April is my month. June is my other month.
And I'm ready.
The weather has been all the talk. Yeah.
You know, it's been a little too early, though, for a lot of that weather talk.
But it's been a very wet and mild southeast temps so far.
And I still think we're going to be a little mild, but we're going to be
we're going to have some thunderstorms rolling through.
I mean, for the last month and a half in the state of Tennessee,
every other few days, there's two or three cells that just
roar through the whole state and they don't park on top of you.
No, no. And and ruin your whole day.
They'll ruin about 20 minutes.
And then unless they knock a tree on top of your house, which
which is happening around here this week.
Last night all over town.
So it won't park on top of you for long, probably.
But there could be another one about an hour away after that.
So we'll just have to see.
You know, I mean, we haven't had to we have not had a Bonnaroo
with consistent rain issues for as many years as I can remember.
We've had some storms come through, some cells evacuate.
We've had that hurricane. We've had.
Well, I'm taking away the the.
Yeah, the severe ones.
But most years like I have my rubber boots, the glass boots.
I still haven't used those.
And I've had them for almost a decade because I haven't needed them.
I think I'll need them this year.
If you're shopping, go to Walmart, whatever.
They're 20 bucks, if anything.
The advantage to them and I did use them one time.
The problem when it gets wet is you got all the people
walking through these puddles and the puddles become suddenly huge.
So you got to try to find a way around.
If you've got the boots, you walk right through it.
Yeah. And that's a huge advantage.
Other than the fact, I don't know how.
Maybe some of these are nicer, cost more, more designer.
They're very uncomfortable.
They're not comfortable.
They're very uncomfortable.
So if you're doing a lot of walking, yeah, that's going to be an issue, too.
But without them. Yeah.
And if you get into what you just described, it doesn't matter.
Uncomfortable. They are.
They're your best line of defense.
I agree. 100 percent.
So there's that.
What other advice do we have going on?
Well, the I saw Bonnaroo posting about the the lock screen that any.
This has been a hack.
People have talked about for for as long as I can remember.
Make your own screen saver lock screen
that has a way to get get a hold of you on your cell phone.
If you if you lose it.
And this was just announced the last week that Bonnaroo is actually
they have one of these is a QR code.
It makes it for you.
And when I was in Mexico last week, I was at this area was
a stage and it was a show for the night.
Not necessarily a rock show.
I don't know what it was.
Could be a magic show. I'm not sure.
But everybody was gone.
And so there's all these seats.
So I went to sit in the seats to just kill some time.
I look over.
There's a cell phone sitting on a chair and I'm like, Oh, no.
Like that person's day is ruined.
Yeah. And what do I do with this thing in that setting in Mexico
and Manchester, Tennessee or two different places to be?
But you still don't know exactly what to do sometimes.
If they had that lock screen and I hit the I scan the code
that at least gets you one step closer.
So I thought Bonnaroo like active proactively making that part of their
offering is a data gathering for sure.
But it's a it's a really cool thing to have.
So if you haven't seen that, it's a quick sign up and you can just have your phone
automatically have a QR code that will immediately help you locate your phone.
Do that. And if you find somebody's phone, turn it in.
I mean, yeah, I mean, they have a loss and found you can trust it.
Bonnaroo that was at the resort in Mexico.
I don't know that they had a loss and trial.
Trust that I lost and found that I could trust.
That's part of the code.
That's one of the cool things that I've always seen is
it's almost like a point of pride if you find something like that,
that you go the extra effort to turn it in.
Yeah, it makes you feel that guy.
Be that guy. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. But you're going to run into a lot of people who are not going to necessarily do that.
So this is just an extra safeguard for that.
I think it's I'm going to put it on mine, even though I mean, it's one of those,
you know, knock on wood deals.
Pretty good about not losing my phone.
You know, we were talking to Tara earlier.
She talks about losing her phone every other minute.
Yeah. Come on, Tara, get your shit together.
What's going on? The other thing we've seen a lot of things online.
The socials about people getting parking passes, not getting
having questions.
A lot of that might be late buyers.
It could be some of the purchasers.
My point is, I'm going to take Brad Parker at his word.
He said, you know, reach out to that info at Bonnaroo dot com.
And it's a live person.
Yeah. Somebody will actually read it and respond.
Yeah. And I would do that rather than, you know, keep asking people on Reddit
or whatever. Yeah.
They're the ones who can make it.
They can fix it. Yeah. Because the one on Reddit is just going to try to make
an unfunny joke about how stupid you are on the next on the next post.
But I would not waste a moment on that if you're having parking ticketing issues.
Jump on that. Well, I mean, at this point, you know, it's Wednesday, but
you can never start too early on that.
No, and they're usually I mean, my experience, they've been really good
about fixing things.
I mean, as long as everything's legit and you've got an actual problem.
Yeah. But try to fix it. Don't wait.
I mean, if you have a problem, reach out sooner rather than later,
because the closer we get to this thing, the more overwhelmed they're going to be.
So if you know, you know, the high school
is where check in for a lot of things, not just media and sponsors and guests.
It's for picking up tickets.
Yeah, that's all that's the box office.
That's the box office is the high school.
And if you've been there, you can walk right in, walk right out,
or you can walk right in and be there for a couple of hours. Yeah.
So but they're the ones who can fix it.
Yeah. So you never know what you're going to run into.
So just be aware of those things.
And again, bring a good attitude.
They're there to help.
A lot of times it's their first time.
So, you know, cut them a little slack.
Don't come in with your hair on fire.
It's they'll make it. It's the it's the one piece of advice
that I've given to anybody.
And I've been asked about this festival for my entire life.
And the first thing I always say is, and you're talking to the guy
with no patience at all, have all the patience you've ever had in your life.
Have patience. Learn to have some patience.
Or don't go.
Yeah, it's going to be very difficult if you're not a patient person.
It's it's never not great.
And that's Brian and I are perfect examples.
We say this to each other all the time. It always works out.
It rarely has ever not worked out almost the way,
maybe not exactly, but the way we hoped that it would go.
And that story is not unique to us.
No, I've talked to so many that have the same concerns
just in a different universe of problems.
And most times it works out.
So absolutely.
Things have a way of just falling into place.
Yeah, especially if you've done this before.
But, you know, that's that's the beauty of a festival like this.
You want it to continue to grow.
And you hope there's a lot of people who have never done it before.
And hopefully listen to this show so we can tell you how to figure it out.
At least the best we can.
I mean, it's it sounds silly, but a lot of times
what you think is the worst thing that could happen
ends up being something you didn't see coming.
Yeah, the worst thing in here yet better.
There might not be a worse thing, but that's probably not it.
Yeah. And be ready in case it does.
Yeah, you meet somebody because of it that turns out to anyway.
Come ready to have a good time.
And the only thing with the weather that's been concerning me
is the potential because of the way these storms
have been rolling through here for the last month
is that if they come through next week or this coming week, this week,
like they have the last three weeks, then there could be center evacuations.
There could be because most of these come with lightning,
at least within whatever the designated mileage area is.
That's what worries me because unlike city festivals, which will wipe out sets,
Bonnaroo will not wipe out sets, but it just it creates.
I only have about three or four memories of 20 years
of where this really threw havoc into the day.
And so hopefully we don't have that.
Hopefully if it's just wet, then you can just go get wet,
put on a poncho and go watch music.
It's not ideal.
But if there's anything more severe than that, if there's any lightning in the area,
they have a team that monitors weather and all that they will.
Yeah, if they if they'll make the call, if you need to evacuate center,
that really makes things a mess along those lines, though.
Two years ago is a good example.
Remember, we had to vacate the beer exchange.
Mm hmm.
When you leave your camp,
either put your tent down and or stake it and
or the easy, that's what I mean.
Tent them down. Yeah.
Bring it down to about half last night, for example.
This is Sunday morning, Saturday.
So Saturday, three days before Bonnaroo starts,
we had seventy five mile an hour winds go through here.
So you can imagine what an easy up does in a seventy five mile an hour gust of wind.
Yeah. You got a little sad tent like mine flying around.
It's going to be OK. Yeah.
You got a big metal like high quality easy up brand.
Yeah, it's a killing.
That thing's going to do some major damage and potentially hurt somebody.
Gonna hurt somebody or your car or so.
Consider that also put your as we said on the notes last week, put your bedding,
put your clothes in your car and roll the windows up.
Yeah. You don't want those to get soaked.
You don't want all that getting wet.
So plan on some sort of rain event.
Brian said even if it's 10 or 20 minutes, it can still mess up.
Oh, man. That's up your day.
I mean, hopefully we're worried about nothing, but there's
there's no reason not to be this isn't a worrywarts, right?
This isn't being negative.
This is a keep experience. Yeah.
Keep this. We've seen we might get lucky.
Miss every bit of it. Absolutely.
But all right. What else you got?
I just want to throw it out.
The parachute people. Oh, yeah.
The parachute people I saw.
I'm not going to pretend like I follow along and know what they're doing all the time.
But they're taking a step back.
The classic pause button labor of love, like so many things
that come out of Banra that make it so great.
I believe that's a parachute people project as well.
And boy, does that go back 10 years or more that they've been doing that more?
If you're you've got to be very new to not know what the parachute people are.
And I think it's just a case of.
You know, life.
How long can we take a big thing and flop it around in the air
so people can hang out underneath that and, you know, the people doing it
have jobs and lives and family drag.
It's like a it's like a baseball field tarp. Yeah.
But I have I have been under that thing two or three times out at the what stage.
And it's a beautiful aerial pic when that thing's really flowing.
And it's so cool.
And so parachute people hope you're able to get back out on the festival circuit
and certainly to Bonnaroo.
But that was the latest I saw this week that they were scaling back a little bit.
So you're going tomorrow.
I'm leaving tomorrow.
You'll be up there.
You're going to meet with Evan Bonnaroo
and maybe talk to some of the folks from Common John about their beer.
That's the plan. Yeah.
The new can for this year. I like it.
I will just say like last year better.
But this year is a good looking can, too.
So I want one. So yeah.
Give me one, please.
I'll grab one. I'll grab as many as I can.
I know. Yeah.
But it doesn't matter.
That brain better be working.
We've got a long list of things for you to take care of this week.
And then you'll hopefully meet up with our friend David Bruce.
I am Bonnaroo.
Yeah. So I'll go up Monday, hopefully sleep in the Common John Park and live
or somewhere. We'll see.
Then go and meet up Tuesday with David Bruce and then we can go in and get set up.
And then by the time you all show up, when are you all coming?
What Thursday? Thursday.
All right. Everything.
I didn't get to work. Everything was.
Walmart kicked you guys out now.
I don't know. You can still.
Walmart's still a Walmart still.
But it's just if you want to get a good night's sleep,
I don't think Walmart's the place where it's loud.
It's loud. There's trucks coming in all night long.
There's people party and there's people playing music.
So I'm a little surprised this is maybe part of a topic of
of Manchester, the panel of just things over the years.
I'm a little surprised they allow it, but that might just be more to
the embracing of the festival of the entire community that.
Yeah, sure. Y'all can crash out here
because you go to any other Walmart parking lot
and just want to park your car overnight.
My good chance it won't be there the next day in a lot of areas.
So if they're allowing that and continue, then then they're
then they understand the Bonnaroo Lord.
I got some other options undisclosed that I won't go into.
So don't give up some other driveway.
Yeah. Yeah. I'm not giving up all my secrets.
Don't give up the secret spots. Yeah.
All right. So again, today's show, we're going to talk to Tara. Yep.
A little bit.
She's back at camp with us, the villains.
This is interesting because they've been part of our camp.
She's a veteran.
I love she went like just
the first year, didn't know what she was getting into some security
basically probably for a free ticket, if I remember that story right.
And it literally changed her life and led her into a career path.
And it's been an event management and overall venue management,
not necessarily music only, but venue management now runs
or director of programming to the Chattanooga Choo Choo.
So you don't have to know anything about this town to know that
that landmark and all that can be reverse engineered
to showing up at Bonnaroo and throwing a yellow shirt on and being, you know,
yeah, go park those cars there and, you know, 18 years later.
But just to show you how this thing has evolved.
So her daughter, who's now 18,
who has been going since she was 12,
at least will be camping with her former classmates for their
they will be going to their first time.
And Tara and Joe are bringing their 12, almost 13 year old son
for his first for his first.
And so, yeah, so it'll be the first one
where Tara and her now 18 year old daughter and they are many me's.
I mean, they are they are best buds in the best of ways.
Like it's it's it's pretty remarkable, actually.
And so I know there's she's not going to say it.
I know there's a part of Tara who's like hearts a little bit.
Absolutely. But she's not she's with her friends and she's not going to be.
But she's got her boy.
So there'll be a new experience to be to be created.
And so that'll be really neat, too.
But I'm happy to have him back in camp, if nothing else,
because I need more people to leach off of.
You need that cold brew.
That's right. She's the cold brew bringer.
All right. And so and then we got Cassie and then we sort of wrap it up
with our thoughts. So all right.
Do you find yourself diving into all the junk food that you haven't packed yet
as you have you stockpiled it up?
So I got a bunch of rice crispy treats and I ate half of them last night.
So I guess I got to go back store and get some more rice crispy treats.
Do you have this problem, too?
Well, you know, I haven't shopped for groceries yet.
Well, if you wait late enough, you don't get stuck doing that.
You take a little you know what?
And then you're starving.
Yeah. No. And you know, we've
from years of like sliced cheese in the cooler getting wet or peanut butter
and you didn't bring something to clean it off or, you know, there's just
or you got a watermelon and you don't have a knife.
I mean, we've just had so many issues
that we don't even really bring anything besides snacks.
We we kind of we budget everything to just eat.
Yeah, I've gotten closer to that, too.
We're at a heavy snacks and drinks, that kind of stuff.
So I've already made two grocery store runs because I keep eating my snacks.
Yes. That's what I'm saying.
It's like, damn it, man. What's going on here?
But yeah, I mean, I'm getting close to already ready about week out
and I'm feeling pretty good.
But yeah, I will realize by the time this drops in the middle of the week.
Oh, shit, I forgot about a bunch of stuff or I ate half my food.
You know, but I think to this is something,
especially like I was saying with all the the tick tocks and all the things
and all the lists and all this stuff.
And everybody's so worried about being prepared where I think the first year
I had seven dollars to my name and never went without, you know,
and being unprepared is also a fun part of it because that's how you make friends.
Yeah, that's how you, you know, bond.
Who's got a, you know, yeah, there's just so many ways.
And I think last year in camp, we had it was back in G.A.
And somebody brought a wine bag and they started slapping the bag.
And I just sat back and I was like, so sweet.
You know, I was like, oh, I mean, I didn't partake.
Obviously, but I used to.
Yeah, I used to.
And it was like going to what he's there slapping the bag and walking around.
And and I just it's those small parts of being unprepared.
I think that really make it one of my make it fun.
Earliest memories, I parked next to a guy and never met.
He was from Mobile, I think.
And we got back to our vehicles at the same time.
And he was trying to reach into his truck
because he had made a bed on top of it and all this.
And he's like, I wish I had a long stick with a hook on it.
And I had made this bamboo stick with literally a hook that I taped.
And I'm like, you mean like this?
And he went, oh, my God, you know. Exactly.
And then he had like ice cream sandwiches.
Totally random.
He's like, I wish I had ice cream sandwich.
There you go.
So, yeah, those are the things.
Bring something to share with your with your neighbors and make friends.
And before we wrap up this open here,
what are your expectations for your your 12 year old son
in his first his first excursion here?
I mean, you have a good
plenty of experience here now, but your daughter, Kai, was
over the moon excited about this at the youngest age you could possibly imagine.
And your your son is a more aloof type.
He is not which, which you know what?
That is near and dear to my heart.
He is an observer.
But yeah, he doesn't look like he wants to do anything. No.
So do you think so? He's 12.
He's almost 13.
Yeah. Do you know he's going to enjoy this?
Are you hoping he will?
So, you know, Kai was a very obvious like music fan.
We did festivals at a midtown.
You go to, you know, Fourcastle.
There are many.
We went to all these festivals and all these shows.
And that was our bonding, right?
Like that was it.
And yes, it strengthens is a little more calm and chill and doesn't,
you know, freak out like I was wearing outfits, you know, and goofy stuff
and wearing birthday.
Yeah, he doesn't care about that.
He is like not in it.
He's going to be very stylish, very, you know, whatever.
But I think that the biggest thing is that there was a minute
where I was worried that he wasn't going to be into music, you know?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sometimes people are.
I was like, oh, no, is this child mine?
Like what is happening?
And that's a real fear.
I know. And I'll tell you what.
Switched to birth.
He has a four day playlist on his Spotify right now. OK.
He is obsessed with music.
He's just quieter about it.
What are a couple names that he's excited about?
Like Tyler, the creator stuff up his alley.
Definitely, Tyler.
He is leaning more towards hip hop.
So there's some artists that I don't really know, but I'm trying to get into it.
So obviously, Tyler's a big part of our our life, too.
We got to see him at forecast, so kind I did.
So, you know, it's it's just a big extra plug.
So when I told him that we had seen him, you know, last year, I think
he's a little upset about that.
So, yes, I think it's just going to be maybe not as much flair,
but just as much fun.
Does he ask a lot of questions or no?
No, just I'm not shocked for that.
No, he's going to he's going to have a shock.
He's going to have a culture shock when he goes in.
And that's what I'm most excited about.
Can can we tell the story about
Kai's friend?
Oh, you're going to get me in trouble.
Let's just say this.
I don't want to embarrass anybody, but I think it's an important.
It is. I think I think there's something about at some point,
you know, from 12 to 15.
You don't want to hang out with your parents as much.
Man, I totally get that.
We've got rules in place.
The mama teedogs rules that we've created, but
not everybody can hang there.
That's the point. That's why I brought it up.
And so it's a it's hard.
And I think our friend made it one day.
Yeah, Kai Kai brought it.
You guys brought one of Kai's friends a couple of years ago.
And it just it got it just didn't work.
It did. And I'll say this, you know, she's going off and
she's got a couple of friends that it's their first years.
And she's going to be out with all of them.
Oh, yeah. They're going all G.A. and all.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So I was, you know, I was like, all right.
Good luck. It's a canon.
They're going to have a tie.
It now. I'm going to have to figure out what that looks like.
That's why I brought it up, because we've made the point
many, many, many, many times.
You go with your whole family.
We made the point.
Don't bring a spouse if your spouse is not as committed as you are.
Yeah. You won't argue the whole time.
Oh, my God. You will argue the whole time.
Yeah. Yeah. If if the person you're bringing entertainment
and fun is your job, it's a bad weekend for both of you.
Yeah, there's many years I came by myself and many years that Joe and I
went together and I'm lucky in that that we've we've had a good time.
And I guess they were celebrating our 15 year
anniversary wedding anniversary and our honeymoon was at Bonnaroo.
So it's we definitely learned together.
My wife came one day,
saw Bruce Springsteen and I had to make her go.
Yeah, I'm like, bye.
And now she's like, go have fun.
Yeah, I'm not. I don't want any part.
I know a lot of of of Kelly's age range
types, women that that have made a trip up there just for that one band
they want to see through, possibly through somebody who had a connection
through different avenues I've had and time of their life.
Yeah. But get me the hell out of here.
Yeah, it's not.
Let me see my show and get out.
And I mean, I say there's no wrong way to do Bonnaroo.
You want to go see the boss and leave?
Yeah. Then you've done Bonnaroo as good as you need to do it.
But the point about kinder friend is if you're not 100 percent
committed on your own, it's going to be a long weekend.
Yeah, I'm excited to hear all the stories.
Yeah. And if she hangs out with us more, she might.
You might be cooler than her friend.
We might need to save a spot.
You know what? Here's what's going to happen.
She's 18. You got about two, three years.
Then she'll come back and realize how cool her parents are.
Yeah. And how cool we are.
Well, she already knows that.
Can't bury the can, dad.
That's right. Thank you.
All right. Let's take a break. We'll be back.
How are you? I'm doing so good.
How are you? I'm great. Welcome.
Welcome. Thank you.
So excited to be back.
Yeah. Cassie, I have trouble saying your last name sometimes.
Wanamaker. Wanamaker.
It's probably easy to spell out.
I just haven't ever done it.
Well, everyone always puts two N's, but it's one N.
So, you know. All right.
You've been on the show before. Yes.
What was the occasion? I don't remember.
We did a sober Roo episode.
She's a sober Roo or two. That's right.
And then I was on another one, I think,
just talking about Bon Roo prep tips and tricks.
Yeah. But the memorable one is the sober Roo episode.
That's right. Yeah. Sorry.
I can't remember. And let's reset that real quick.
You. This is your 10th year.
Am I going on just following your socials?
This is my 10th Bonniversary Roo.
Yeah, that's a big number.
Everybody between you and Terry, you both have some milestones.
And how many years going now? Sober.
Four. My four year anniversary of alcohol free is actually on June 13th.
So that I believe that's Friday this year.
All right. Look at that. Celebrating right on the farm.
So did you. So you decided to quit drinking while you were on the farm?
No. Four years ago, that's whenever Bon Roo was a different weekend
or a different I think it was later in the month of June.
So like June 13th wasn't Bon Roo then.
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. So.
But right at the same. Yes, yes. Same time.
So. Talk about that a little bit.
This would be your third third. Yeah. Yeah.
I mean, and I just think this is such a great topic.
It is. And Cassie's about 10 years younger than me.
So you got a 10 year jump on me on this. Good for you for that.
At mid my mid 30s, I might as well have been my mid 20s.
Yeah, there wasn't much difference.
Has it changed at all?
I mean, because and I'm speaking from a real point of just complete ignorance.
I can't imagine me at 20, 30, 40,
going with my friends and being the only one sober type of thing
or going to a festival and, you know, because that's part of it.
And I know we talked about that before.
And you have to talk about it again.
Yeah. Is year four any different than the first year going sober?
Are you just better at it or is it? I'm better.
Is it because of dummies like me who keep asking you about it
that even comes up? You know what I'm saying?
I'm happy to talk about it.
No, I just I think I get better with age and with time spent on the farm.
I get just better at surviving, better at doing it.
And doing it sober is actually so much better than for me.
You actually remember the show.
Yeah, you remember the shows. I'm not hungover.
I'm not trying to battle, like just exist and survive,
like on top of having a horrible stomachache, on top of having a horrible headache.
It's just nice to be able to like perform.
I feel like I'm on Survivor and I'm like killing it
now that I don't have the crutch of being hungover.
Do you still do late nights? I do.
Yeah. Center is actually so stimulating for me.
Like I can just stay up even without.
I mean, you'll still feel like hell in the morning, but it won't be because you drink.
It'll just be because you went to bed at four after the pretty lights set or whatever.
Yeah. I just make sure to be properly hydrated and properly fed.
And I can pretty much stay up till sunrise.
Which is easy to do when you're not consumed by booze all weekend.
It's easier to eat when you're supposed to.
It's easier to hydrate when you're when you're supposed to.
So how many people do you go with?
I have gone solo the last three years. This is my third year going solo.
Is that on purpose or is or do you have no friends?
Well, where I was going with it is you become like, you know, the D.D.
Everybody assumes, oh, she's not drinking.
She'll take care of it. I disappear before it's time to leave.
You're worthless.
Oh, time to leave.
You're counting on him for anything.
Yeah, it happened. So that's why I wouldn't ask him.
Well, I know what I'm asking.
Yes, yes. I go solo.
I camp in it's formerly called Shiroo, but now it's called the beyond.
So it's like for LGBTQ and women that community camp.
And we're right next to solo roo.
We're right next to sober roo and we're right next to family roo.
So it's like it's pretty quiet.
So that is as wholesome as bond.
Oh, yes. Yes. It's it's quiet over there.
I like to get my sleep on the farm. I do.
But I have various groups that I meet up with.
My main group that I hang out with, they do RV.
There's about five of them, I think.
I mean, after 10 years, you don't have you.
You can show up solo and find your people.
Oh, yeah. And even if they're just fringe people that aren't quite your people yet,
they will be by the end of the weekend.
Oh, yeah. And I have several people that I only hang out with at Bonnaroo.
I only talk to them at Bonnaroo when their name pops up on my phone.
I'm like, yes. Yeah. And it's great.
There's a dozen of those for me, for sure.
Minimum. Yeah. And that's what makes going.
That's it's the it's the family reunion, you know, in some ways. Yeah.
Does it change your how you plan your Bonnaroo?
Like he mentioned, the late nights and all that.
Had changed any of that at all or made it easier to stay up late?
Yeah, much easier.
Like I said, I don't I'm not married to my hangover,
so I can pretty much do whatever, see whatever. Yeah.
So what are you looking forward to this year? Nelly Nelly.
Avril Vien. I'm feeling nostalgic this year.
You're going emo angst 2000.
And I'm I am here for it.
Yes. I'm the first person that said Nelly and anything that I've been listening.
Well, listen, it's getting everything for the last couple of years.
Am I thinking of somebody else? No, I think you're right.
I just in all the things I've been listening to, nobody said Nelly.
Well, you know, that's a hit song. It's getting hot in here. Yeah.
That is like the Bonnaroo anthem, I feel.
So I'm pretty pumped about to hear that live.
Do you remember what stage he's on?
The witch, I believe, which is disappointing to me. But where do you want him?
Well, I think I know the answer.
I don't think I won't just Nelly.
I think you're great where you are in the witch stage, Nelly. OK.
Because he's probably not going to be it's probably not going to be the what we can
get to our right.
Our our our very similar
love of the what stage we can get to that in a sec. But
what else are you looking forward to?
Oh, let's see. Dom Dalla, John Summit,
Gorgon City Sunrise set. Very excited about that.
She said she should be at the other.
You'll be at the other. I'll be the other. I will. I will.
But I do like what stage more is that an unpopular opinion?
No. Well, you know, it's not here.
No, it's the greatest stage in the world.
Yeah, I implore you, anybody, nobody is a Bonaroovian is going to disagree with this.
Yeah. Find me a stage
that's that's in a similar setting.
Like, I mean, the the sphere stands alone as a venue.
Find me a festival stage in this world.
I don't know. Maybe Glastonbury stage is something to behold.
Looks pretty cool. Doesn't look like the what to me.
And if you look at American festivals all across the the the landscape
that we've been to some and we follow along all of them, they don't compare.
They don't compare.
Today is Sunday when we're recording this.
What is the rest of your day like?
You've done this enough times.
And I'll ask both of you guys the same thing,
because I know what I'm doing the rest of the day.
What what what is the the rest of the day?
Well, I go in on Tuesday just like Lord Taco.
So I only have 48 hours left.
I don't know. OK. Well, I'll be there on Tuesday.
Tomorrow. I'm leaving tomorrow. No, you're not.
I'm leaving tomorrow. I'm so jealous.
Well, he's getting earlier. I think he's insane.
I know it's going to be you're going to have a blast.
But when did you start packing a couple of months ago?
Now, all right. Are you like everybody else when you get back?
Like a week from now, you get home.
I mean, I have a routine.
All the clothes go in the laundry tent.
I hang if it's wet, you know, so it dries,
put everything in the plastic tubs and they go right away.
Put it right away. I do it immediately because if I don't,
I'll forget and then it gets lost.
Do you have that sort of routine that way?
You know where it is. Yeah.
Yeah. I keep a couple of Bonnarooy tubs just like in my house,
just for Bonnarooy stuff, and I don't have to repack it every year.
It's really great.
Yeah. And you don't have a husband and kids to get into it
and lose it all year long. Exactly.
Neither do I, husband or wife.
And I don't have to worry about any of that either.
So what about me?
Well, we're close to husband and husband and husband.
Got married. But I haven't seen you going through my Bonnarooy stuff
and losing it. Yeah.
No, I know better. Every time.
The suggestion is make sure you go through everything and make sure
it's exactly perfect.
I don't follow that rule exactly because where I left it,
it sat there for three hundred and sixty five days.
Yeah, me too.
So I know I don't have to set up every single thing, even though you should.
Yeah, I still want to touch it just because I want to make sure it doesn't
stink or needs to wash or didn't get moldy or, you know, whatever.
So yeah.
Well, when I get back, I usually leave all my stuff scattered on the ground
in the in the garage.
I think this is a pretty common theme.
Maybe a month. Yeah.
Shake the sand out of it.
Maybe six weeks at Piles still sitting there.
Yeah. At some point, I have a full cleanup put away neatly.
And it's it's I started going through it last night.
It's all sitting there in crates ready to go.
And I just double check. And there you go.
Is there anything new you've added?
Like we've added the misting fan that you bought. So excited.
I'm very excited. Oh, misting fan. That's exciting. Yeah.
Well, the main new thing for me is that I bought a VIP ticket this year. OK.
Yeah, she's all. Yeah.
So I'm doing VIP.
It's my treat for my 10th Bonniversary.
And I'm very, very excited.
What are you expecting?
I'm expecting to not stand in line.
And if I do, I will have a word. I'm just kidding.
I want to speak to the manager.
Well, we actually know the manager.
Well, I'm just excited to have the center room VIP lounge.
I'm excited to have that closer section of viewing up at the what and the which.
I'm excited for VIP lockers, which was an extra cost.
But anyway, and the separate line to get into center room last year.
No, I guess that was two years ago when pretty lights played.
I stood in line for about an hour and a half and almost missed the set.
So I don't want to stand in line at the arch anymore.
I want to pass everybody.
Yeah. Was that the tipping?
A little bit. Yeah. Yeah, I think so.
There's nightmare stories of getting stuck in the arch line. Yeah.
That's why I can't go to the coffee exchange, everybody.
I'm sorry. Get an extra pack of coffee.
Want to give it to me? I'll take it.
I can't make it out there because it will have just opened on Thursday at 12.
And the coffee exchange is at 1230 in group camping.
And I wanted to go swap some beans.
But I can't take the chance of there being such volume
because so many people are ready to get in at noon on Thursday if the weather is good.
And then I'm stuck two thousand deep trying to get in while y'all are like,
where the hell is this asshole Brian?
We're supposed to be doing a work work here.
So if you don't mind, walk me through because we've we've talked about
these different packages, but I've never really like what does that mean?
So you got what?
I've got a VIP center route ticket and then I've got a that is called
the Beyond Community Parking Camping Pass.
So you'll be where I'll be in Plaza Six or Pod Six,
as we also call it on the show.
Yes, they're pod pod six.
Yeah, that's where I'm at.
Not too far from group camping close to the Grove.
So you'll be in your car with a tent just like everybody else.
But you upgraded to VIP, which gets you in quicker.
Yep. Get you better access close to the stage.
Get you you set up the locker locker.
Yeah. The lounge is like, OK, air conditioned, has TVs of the shows
playing at all times. And there's sounds like my kind of place.
We get free so water, red hot chili peppers.
So that's interesting.
Yeah. And there's that's what I was always trying to figure out is
I know you said there's sort of a la carte, but it really is.
Yeah. And you get you get perks like we I think we get two free
merch merchandise gifts.
So whether that's a poster or shirt, I'm not really sure.
But we also get a free dinner on Thursday and a free brunch on Sunday
included in the ticket. Sounds pretty good.
Mm hmm. I'm going to get our own.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. There's no hesitation there.
To be fair, this is not free.
You know, it's not free, but at least double of G.A.
OK. Yeah. So another three hundred fifty.
I mean, double the price if you double plus your experience.
Well, it's worth the dollar amount.
Yeah. Just basing it on that. Yeah.
All right. I get it.
We get in there and it sucks.
Yeah. Come back and talk about it after the festivals.
Yeah. If you're standing in line,
we'll be talking in a couple of weeks, won't we?
Yeah. And air conditioned bathrooms.
That was a big one in center.
So they've had a lot of time to work on this VIP stuff.
And I have full confidence it'll go pretty well for you.
Yeah, I think so.
Because I was in some VIP areas that I just wasn't necessarily
supposed to be in 2014, 2015.
I know the Elton John year I was and I was just kind of like
and I was I was used to really good accommodation.
So I was being a little bit me about it.
Yeah. Yeah. Sucks.
What are you all doing here?
Can't even get in. Can't even get out.
That was 12 years ago.
11 years ago. That type of thing. Yeah.
But I'm excited.
And I've been going 10 years now and I still don't know where to stand
at the which stage to hear it properly.
You can't know.
I'm excited to be up in an actual like VIP viewing area,
because maybe that's the spot.
It's a little different every year to find that sweet spot.
I would say the which stage is at its prime
production level right now.
Sound lighting, just overall look.
But it's still it still has its challenges because it's a
it's an erected from the ground up.
There's no foundation for that stage.
What stage has got the bones of it all year long?
And it's much easier for production.
The witch starts from all the way to the top.
And then you're right there in the middle shooting out towards
where all the noise pollution is.
So it starts to you know, starts to run together.
So it's not a failure of engineering sound engineering on Bonnaroo.
It's it's not it's not a real easy fix for anybody in any setting.
And but it's still managing some amazing shows on the witch.
And I always look forward to it.
Be curious to see what the Infinity stage does to it.
Oh, yeah. I want to ask you that.
How did we forget what?
Do you think you're getting in the Infinity stage?
And if you do, which what are you trying to aim for?
Well, I think isn't the first Infinity show of Tate B.
Is that correct?
On Thursday, I probably will not be going to that one,
because I feel like every one of their mom will be there.
You're going to need to I think like five to choose from and hope one of them works.
Yeah, I want to go to the Rebecca Black DJ set.
I think that's on Friday.
No, it's on Thursday. Thursday.
That's the thing. It's not Friday.
OK. It needs to be on Friday.
Yeah, that's what I've been saying.
It might run into.
Run into Friday. Run into Friday.
She better play that.
I don't know. She will.
I think she's trying to like not, you know,
she's trying to be known for other things besides Friday.
So we'll see.
But I'm excited for Rebecca Black on Infinity.
I know there are some other.
I need Sasquatch.
I want Sasquatch in the Infinity.
That's what I need.
Eleven o'clock on Saturday.
We'll see how it goes.
He's going to be in the in the Christmas barn, I think.
Right. He's playing four times.
I think it's not the Christmas barn anymore.
It's just Snake and Jake.
Just the Snake and Jake.
Not the Snake and Jake Christmas.
Yeah. Wow.
I think somebody's skinning a dog behind us.
I don't know what's happening.
Hopefully you guys can't hear that.
We're still in a little ruralish Tennessee.
I thought it was an ice cream truck.
That or a.
All right. So in the in the in the spirit of the the gifting
and the and the candy, as they call it, and the trinkets
and all that kind of stuff, you hear locally our
our city public library has a really cool floor
where you can if you're a member or you're a cardholder or a city resident,
you can do all kinds of cool things and Tara.
Part of that is surprises for for when we get there.
But you've utilized this as well.
What were you making for to be given away?
So I made one hundred and fifty buttons.
You can clip on your shirt, your backpack, your hat.
Old school. Just pin it on your shirt.
Circle buttons almost like old
political campaign.
Yeah. You know, and I'm calling them my intrusive, intrusive.
You know, thought pins just because they're a bunch of random like things
in my head that maybe no one else will get.
But I brought three for you.
You have it. Do we get gifts?
Oh, that's a roundabout way to get.
Hand me my gift. Yeah, I did.
He is a professional. Yeah, he is a professional.
Shout out to the Tennessee or excuse me, Chattanooga downtown library.
Got to love libraries. Yeah.
I work for a library. Yeah.
Mary loves that.
I made one hundred and fifty buttons for like six dollars.
Yeah. So shout out to the Chattanooga downtown library. OK.
Brian, yours is first.
First off, can I swear on here? Of course. OK.
Hell yeah. What stage?
Ho, because you're the only person I know besides me that's obsessed
with the what stage. Look at that.
From one what stage to another. Look at that.
This is I like when people pay attention.
Look at that.
What? That is a wonderful thing.
Thank you so much.
Actual thought.
I would put that on that dumb hat we were talking about.
That'll go on my dumb hat that I'll bring. All right.
Lord Taco, this one is for you.
It says the bees at what stage are real?
Because I just feel like if you told people that the bees
of what stage were real, they would believe you.
You know what? I don't believe anything you told me.
I'm glad you said this.
It might be because we talk about it too much.
People are starting to not believe that there's actually bees over there.
Why would they not? Why would they not think that?
I don't know. It's real there.
And they're vicious.
Stay away.
So that's where we're talking.
Thank you. You're welcome for Barry,
because you're you're like Daddy Bonnaroo.
You're the veteran. You've been doing this.
Well, I guess you do.
But you've been doing this while he's way.
So this one fits for you.
It says, I remember when they were called pods.
Oh, nice. That's great.
This is so cool.
So you said you made how many?
One hundred and fifty.
And they're all they're all different.
One hundred and fifty different ones, different ones, different ones.
Of my intrusive thoughts.
And so you're just it'll just be part of the the currency
and the trade on the farm. That's awesome.
I have not ever dived into that as much as I should.
I never I only take I never give.
Yeah, I don't see you handing gifts out.
No, no, no.
I do this wonderful show for you people.
What else do you want?
You are all we have are stickers.
There you go. I am the gift.
Brian is the gift.
Yeah, that's not true.
I have one of your face.
I don't have one of other of your faces.
Oh, we've got more faces this year.
Yeah. I've told you the story last year when I handed that woman my face.
I think so.
I still have nightmares about.
Yeah, she she wasn't sure what was going on.
She's like, what is this?
Megalomaniac is handing out pictures.
They're on the back of this.
She's like, what is this?
And you said it's it's my face.
As if that makes it better.
I know. Yeah.
Boy, she cut right through.
I can still see those.
Yeah. I mean, it's not the best way to promote something
that the person you're given to might not know what it is.
But those fat head things go back to when we on sticks
at our at our at our camp 10, 12 years ago.
So yeah, I'm looking. There is a reason.
It's not that we have giant.
We didn't surround one day and say we need to make stickers for the show.
And what they need to be is our three heads.
All right.
This was never the speaking of the face stickers.
I noticed when you pulled in the last year or maybe two years ago,
I put my face on top of your face on the back of your car.
You did. And it's still there.
It is still there.
Take it off. No.
And I've you know, many times I've thought of I need to get that stupid sticker
off my car.
And I never did because well, look at my car.
It looks like hell might as well leave your face on it.
You know, I think value on that car.
I feel like if you all brought the face stickers to your live podcast
on the farm, those will be that's the place to do it.
Yeah. Not the random person walking around.
I mean, it was at the beer exchange and people seem glad to get it
except for that woman. Yeah.
Just looked at me like, what are you doing?
Well, it's because you want to my face. That's why.
Well, I did think about that.
It'd be different if I gave like years away or years away.
Yeah. To give her mine.
Here's a picture of me on a sticker. I guess.
You know, a former longtime
camp nut butter
of camp made of ours.
Nick Turner designed those.
Yeah. Yeah. Nicky T. Yeah.
Nicky T. And they're great looking.
They're great looking. Yeah. They're great.
All right. You had something you want to talk about.
Oh, I well, I just want to say, you know, my favorite thing about being at this bar.
Old style. No. When you finish your beer.
Chuck. Well, almost close enough.
Wild man. I didn't go to my part. Yeah.
And your part was throwing a beer can across the road.
That's your favorite part. Hey, that's a good part.
That's funny. Yeah.
So it's a little mean. How's that supposed to go?
Well, yeah. There's a lot of them.
Why do you think there's a basketball goal right there?
I figured it wasn't for throwing beer cans in, but it's certainly sticking up.
He's shoveling up right now. It certainly can be.
He picks them up. Yeah, it's a thing. It's a real thing. OK.
Aluminum's at an all time high in the Recycling market.
Yeah, we're we're contributing.
No, let's talk about my plans.
Let's talk about me. OK, let's do it.
Enough about all of you.
Yeah, I've sat here and waited for what?
An hour and a half. All right.
What is my favorite thing about Lord Talk?
Yeah. Yeah, let's hear it.
Your attitude easily. Good answer.
You've got to answer.
He's the easiest get along, get along guy I've ever met in my life.
But the itinerary for you, as always, as long sounds like it's even longer now.
It's extended this year because I'm leaving tomorrow.
Today is Sunday. I'm leaving Monday.
I'm going to we're going to meet up with Evan Bonnaroo
and then probably a bunch of other people at Kamajan Brewing,
who makes the beer.
They have a specific, specific can for Bonnaroo this year.
It's King Gizzard themed. Nice.
And so we're going to go there and eat dinner and drink beer
and hopefully interview them.
They said they would do an interview.
Awesome. Cool. Very cool.
And then I hope I can sleep in their parking lot.
Let's think about that.
Let's say I was thinking, well, then you got to figure out a place to stay.
But the response was, well, we just stay in your parking.
Maybe I just stay here.
Back that I hope I can sleep in their parking.
I mean, that'd be awesome.
Every way you can get accu, accumulated to not being at home.
Hey, you should take that opportunity.
Brian, if I said to you,
why don't you?
How excited would you be to drive to Manchester
and find a place to sleep in a parking lot?
Would you be fired up now? No.
At any time?
Fifteen years ago, maybe.
I think that's I mean, you'd still have to talk me into it
and give me some good options.
Well, if they say no, I've got some backup.
I slept in the Holiday Inn.
This doesn't mean anything to anybody nowadays, but the Holiday Inn,
which used to be the big main hub of check in, I've slept in that parking lot.
Countless times.
But that was a much more comfortable situation.
Yeah, not as much as showing up at just like a Walmart or a brewery.
But, you know, Manchester is a chill town.
They don't really care.
That's what I'm counting on.
And the beauty of that to me is that that's just like day one.
Yes. Yeah, that's the part that I can't get next.
Yeah. Then Tuesday, I'll wake up Tuesday.
Go get checked in.
Hopefully meet up with David Bruce and then we can go in and get set up.
Yeah. Yeah.
I mean, and this is early exploration of of our of our camp area.
You will be able to be the king ruler and decide what property is going to be yours.
So do it wisely, please.
I know you will, but I'm just and I'm sure when you're watching this,
he'll he'll post pictures of like the last two years
where it's you all by yourself.
I'm going to be the only one.
Yes. With all his friends and the big ducky, the big ducky thing,
the inflatable duck, got to have the inflatable.
That's what I mean.
It's like him in a parking lot looking forward to that.
And then two days of you by yourself.
Yeah. Well, you know, maybe we'll have David Bruce this year.
Yeah, that's true.
Speaking of how awesome is it
that he's going to be featured on the Hulu?
So awesome. Yeah. Special.
If you guys don't know, I'm sure you do.
I am Bonnaroo, David Bruce.
Hulu has started being, I guess, the provider of the live stream.
They're the Bonnaroo live stream partner.
Yeah. And they've reached out to him and they want to feature him.
Not just like a little bit.
It's going to be a full on thing and well earned.
Yeah, they're going to use him for like a well.
They're going to first of all, they're going to have his pictures,
his prints in the background.
It's like wallpaper to the wallpaper to the backdrop of their set or whatever.
Which if that's all it was is certainly a nice honor
and anything that comes on top of that.
But he beat me to the punch.
I've been thinking, like our next step, we're taking over Hulu.
OK, The What Podcast is taking over.
That's our goal. I like it.
Taking over at least a segment.
And I could go deeper into why I think that's possible, but I won't.
Hulu, I love you. I love you. Hulu. Such a great job.
Call me.
I'd love to help you out.
Make it actually worth watching. Sorry. Go ahead.
So if you don't know, we should reset a little bit. David Bruce,
if I can do this quickly, because if it's possible,
his wife called him 12 years ago.
Yes. Yeah.
And said, have you ever heard of Bonnaroo?
And he said, yeah, it's this music festival in Manchester, Tennessee.
And she said, well, your daughter, who was in college,
wants to go with her roommate.
Well, now they're in.
They're not in Tennessee.
They're in upstate New York.
New York. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
This is a music festival that's 16 hours away.
And he said, oh, I'd like to go.
And so he reached out to the roommate's dad.
Yes. So we'd never met.
He'd never met.
They said they both said we'd like to go.
So he jumps in a car with a guy he'd never met before, drives 16 hours,
brings his camera.
He's a amateur photographer, right?
He works for the Department of Transportation, I think he works.
I don't know what he did at the time, but he works now for the New York
State Senate. OK.
Graphic design and stuff like that.
So he starts taking black and white pictures, falls in love with the festival,
determines on the spot that he's going to come every year on his own
and take these black and white pictures.
And it's all film.
But yes, yeah, digital film.
I don't think it's 35 million.
I thought he had 120, but maybe it's but it's all film either.
I don't know the technical. No digital. Yeah.
Oh, we film. And it was at that time.
It was just for him. Yeah.
No, no ulterior motive.
Nothing paid his own way.
And I don't know. And this is what we need to ask him.
I don't remember how it got out that it was happening.
I don't remember if he was on our show.
I kind of want to think that it was probably us.
Yeah, it's probably us.
But had to been had to.
Bonnaroo, yeah, Bonnaroo reached out a couple of years ago and said,
we'd like to display some of your photographs on the site.
And he's like, obviously, yes, please.
So they said, send us three.
He sent three. They loved them.
They said, send five more.
And he ended up sending 20 and he shows up, what, two or three years ago.
And they're like.
Eight by 20, or yeah, they're like,
they're like wheat pasted all along the fence line.
Yeah, 20 of them or so.
Anyway, it's such an amazing story.
He's such a great guy, so talented.
He gets the festival as well as anybody.
I can't think of a better
Bonnaroo type of story than David Bruce. Yeah.
So I mean, there's so many of them.
We've talked to many of our guys, Caleb and the Bonnaroo yearbook,
who we thought he was stomping on his idea.
And then they talked about it.
I said, no, you're doing your thing.
I'm doing mine.
And I see Caleb really doing a bunch of his socials and all his stuff.
So it's it's neat.
I mean, this dumb show you're listening to.
It's neat how many things just just come out of something like this
over these two plus decades.
So we need something to all of us.
So speaking of this dumb show, this is our last chance.
We got to promote our live podcast.
Speaking of our dumb host, yeah, like me.
What you do that taco come if you're coming to Bonnaroo,
come see us Thursday
4 p.m. on the house stage in Planet Roo in center.
We're going to do a live podcast.
It's going to be we're going to we talked about we're getting some guests, right?
We will have Brad Parker, Parker,
who runs the festival, as everybody just says, Brad.
It's amazing to me all the reddits and the podcast.
Everybody just says Brad said this.
Brad said, well, he's put himself out there to his credit
as far as the face of the festival.
I mean, I mean, I think that's fair to say that right now he's kind of the face of.
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
And in the best way possible.
Yeah. And I can't think of anybody else.
You know, we all know if I knew him a little better, I'd make some jokes about that.
But I don't know.
I don't know. He ain't like our Brad where I could just start railing on anyway.
But that's really a testament to his work and their whole team
to get in there and get into the Reddit threads.
And like, I don't even look at the Reddit threads whenever I hear, hey,
they're talking about doing the read.
I'm like, OK, whatever.
Didn't see it. And I won't. Yeah. You know, he
that really. Yeah.
You got to get you got to get through the weeds.
But that's everything they do is keep it's keeping a touch point
with with the with the average festival goer.
And that's why it's got to that.
Well, our topic of discussion, we're going to have Brad.
But the topic is what the farm.
I don't remember the exact wording, but it's basically
what is the impact that Bonnaroo has on a small town like Manchester
over the course of the, you know, a couple of decades.
And I think we're the right I think we're the right people to ask that
to ask that question.
And yeah, so like if it was me promoting this, I'd be like,
well, you know, if you want to come.
Whatever, you know, is my hype guy.
There might there might be better things.
There might be better things.
I wouldn't go. I mean, I mean, what if it's not good?
What if it was horrible?
But no, we hope to be hot.
Of course, it'll probably be raining at four o'clock.
I told you that. Yeah.
Positivity does this.
Come see us. Come see us Thursday at four p.m.
We're going to be on stage. We're going to do a little Q&A.
We're going to do a hug and howdy.
We're going to have a great time.
It's going to be a lot of fun.
Yeah, all seriousness. It's going to be great.
And it's a thrilling situation for me. I'm happy.
And the next day, the RooHamm guys will be doing their they're going to talk about
how AI and digital and technology.
Technology. Yeah, they unveiled their topic, which I'm very excited
about them getting the spot on Thursday.
No, on Friday. We're Thursday.
Friday, Friday at four.
All of this is at four p.m.
And then Saturday's rubas, the real rubas guys.
And they're going to be talking about their totem, their project
where they're providing
scholarships, basically, for people to come and enjoy
Bonnaroo and learn the whole festival life.
So pretty cool.
This is the festival. People came up with the idea.
Yeah, reached out to shout to all of us.
So good for them.
Always trying to think of new ways to make it better.
So all right. What else?
So I think that about covers it mostly.
Oh, last thoughts here, Cassie.
I mean, it's time. It's time.
Happy room. It's time to mess around now.
No, no, it's real.
Two more sleeps till I'm there.
There it is. One more sleep till Russ is there.
I love that. No more sleep.
That's what my granddaughter says.
How many more sleeps till my birthday? Right. It's funny.
All right. Four more sleeps for me.
Yeah. Yeah, I'm not getting there on Monday.
I look forward to all the pictures and social media, though.
Look forward to seeing it.
Look forward to see both of you.
I was Cassie on Instagram's got a lot of cool stuff
all the time with things she does locally here in Chattanooga.
But also your Bonnaroo content, I can imagine, will be quite good to look at.
So, yeah, shout out your city.
Yeah, you're your social.
Instagram. Yeah.
Or OK. No, I don't want to.
Sure. Instagram is Cassie Frass underscore.
I'm sure you can spell it correctly.
You don't have to spell it. Cassie Frass.
Cassie Frass underscore.
You can't spell that. Don't worry about it.
Easy to find. All right. Very cool.
All right. See you guys in a week.
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