Just a few weeks away from the greatest week of our lives.

The day I die, I probably want to be at Bonnaroo.

Here's the weird thing about what's been going on in the conversations, either on Reddit or you go on the Info-Roo or even amongst our friends.

Why is no one talking about the National?

I can't believe how little of a conversation I've heard about the National being at Bonnaroo this year.

Because, dude, the second I watched that National documentary, everything changed.

Alright, that's my only thought as we start the show.

Welcome to the What Podcast, a podcast for Bonnarooians by Bonnarooians.

About Bonnarooians, Barry Courter from Chattanooga Times-Street Press.

I'm Brad Steiner from Hits96, WDOD in Chattanooga, just a few weeks away, BC.

Drove by the site Saturday.

Did you? Did you stop in?

Did not, did not. Had to go to Nashville, so drove by. Not much is happening up there yet.

It is amazing when they actually get started.

Yeah.

Like, you would be stunned at the day that they actually start building the site.

Well, they move in, because I know when my daughter was working with them, she would be there two weeks ahead.

So, I mean, they go up there.

Well, see, that's what's stunning about it.

It's just two weeks.

It takes them two weeks to put all this together, and frankly, it really puts it together in the last, like, day and a half.

Pretty much. Pretty much. They're still working when we get up there.

Yeah, I mean, they're literally still building roads when we get up there.

Absolutely.

I mean, they're, like, putting stuff together on Wednesday morning.

I don't know, do they let, do most people, they're not able to get in on Wednesday to the site.

I guess we're not either. We just walk in.

No, but, well, we are, no, we are.

Because we'll go up for that media event, you know, at noon there on Wednesday, and then they, what, let us start going in that night.

Check in.

Yeah.

But if you remember, and not to give too much away, because you guys already know it out there, but people keep arriving earlier and earlier and getting in line,

and they just, to alleviate that bottleneck, they put them on site.

Well, to that point, did you check out, when they released the schedule, and now subsequently on the brand new app, did you notice that there's an extra day on the schedule?

I did, yeah.

It is, there are things on the app for Wednesday night.

For Wednesday night, I know.

I don't know what these things are, but they've put them as part of the schedule Wednesday night.

I know.

That's insane to me.

It's going to be a whole week long thing before too long.

Yeah.

So, so there's a Wednesday night schedule out, and by the way, speaking of the app, we played around with it for the first time last night.

We all got together, we all, the few of us got together, and started going through, boy, that app works so much better.

It is such a better user experience, a better UI, especially when it comes to the schedule.

Like, scroll through the schedule, like before the grid was a disaster on the app, you know.

I just didn't even use it anymore.

I actually came up with this idea that you take a picture of the schedule with your phone and then set it as your home screen.

This is as good as I could do.

Saves your battery, you don't have to keep opening the app every time.

But if you're going through making your schedule right now, try that new schedule grid.

It is so much easier to scroll through.

Now, the only weird part of it is if there's like a midnight show or a one o'clock show on Friday night, it's for some reason on the Saturday schedule.

Oh, it rolls over?

Yeah, it goes to a whole other day, which is, I like literally I was looking at it.

I was like, where's Post Malone? Post Malone's not even on Saturday.

He's not on the schedule. This app screwed up.

No, it's on Sunday. It's on the Sunday day schedule.

It's going to throw some people for a loop, but it looks good.

Well, we've already talked about that.

People just make your schedule for your meetings, leading up to it, have fun.

And then when you get there, it all goes out.

Yeah, it's not going to work.

Right.

So, I've re-evaluated my Sunday schedule and based on the artists I'm going to see on Sunday, I think that we might as well just be ratchet.

We've got so many ratchet acts that we're going to go see on Sunday.

I might be wearing booty shorts.

Well, we talk about this a little towards the end of this episode, I know, but I wanted to revisit again.

I think the whole way you and I have done this in the past and the way we probably are thinking we're going to do it, I think is out the window.

Okay. Well, I mean, if you say so, you're the boss.

I think there's just so much to do.

Well, no, I mean, you know, we spend a lot of time in Camp Nut Butter and waiting for the acts that we want to see.

But now with all the stuff that's out in GA, all the other things we want to visit, the group camping that we want to visit, the interviews that we're hoping to set up.

One of our campmates last night said, you know what, Saturday morning or Sunday morning, we should adult Bonnaroo and go have a beignet.

I said, what? What do you want to do? What? Adult Bonnaroo and go have a beignet.

But like we talked about this last year and we had that rogue party revelation.

And we've gone to Bonnaroo 15 years. I've never heard of a rogue party, but it's right there on the schedule.

Exactly. Exactly. Right there. And we could have done it. We didn't do it.

The beer exchanges and all that stuff.

So you're going to have to remind me when the beer exchanges.

I will.

Because if it's Friday, we got a big, we got big trouble.

That's what I'm saying though, is if it's any time we get a good time.

At any point, it's going to be bad timing.

There's just a lot. And you know, you're as bad as I am at not wanting to go by a schedule.

I don't like things scheduled for me.

Right. Mainly because I'm lazy.

Right. And I may want to change my mind at that time.

Right. And I sometimes get stuck in a chair.

Exactly. Exactly. Or the other side of the center room or something.

Or the heat has gotten to the point.

I legit, and I don't think I told the story on the air.

Last year, who, oh, I turned down an interview. It wasn't Sir Sly. Who in the hell was it, Barry?

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Oh my God. When you find out who it is, you are going to punch me in the face.

Every one of the what podcast listeners would get so mad at me.

Who I turned down all because I didn't want to walk across the entire Festival grounds.

And they rescheduled that like two or three times for you, didn't they?

Yes, they did.

They tried very hard to make it work.

Very hard to make it work. And I was way too lazy for it.

Just didn't. Just didn't. Couldn't make it. Couldn't be bothered.

Do you want to take a stab at who the artist was that I conveniently passed on three times?

You're going to be so mad at me.

It wasn't Chance, but it was somebody like that.

Alt J.

It would only be the biggest artist that we've talked to on this show.

I said no. All because I didn't want to walk all the way across the Festival grounds.

And be honest with you, do you remember when it was?

It was right after we talked to Bozzi on site and we had such a bad experience with Bozzi.

So if we didn't tell you this either.

So on site, Bozzi wanted to do another interview with us.

We talked to Bozzi last year in the Bonnaroo first timers.

And I hate to say this about the kid because he actually is a nice kid and he's done very, very well for himself.

But when his time to interview came around, they wanted to do it before the show.

And then they saw the crowd response and how it was getting bigger and bigger.

So he said, no, I want to do it after the show now.

So we go to him after the show.

And of course, they put five people in front of us for an interview.

And then by the time our time rolls around, Bozzi decides to take a break, smoke a cigarette literally five feet away from us with his back to us.

Yep.

Didn't we find him the cigarette?

Yes.

Neither one of us smoked, but we somehow found him a cigarette.

And then he said, yeah, you'll have a seat.

And he stood in the doorway of that.

And we waited for 15 minutes.

And smoked cigarette.

With his back to us.

While we cooled our heels.

And we were so irritated by that, we decided not even to run it.

We trashed it.

And then it basically ruined the rest of the schedule for the day because he pushed us back.

And I was just so irritated at that point.

I didn't want to go all the way back and try to find Alt J.

It was a bad move.

I can't believe I chose Bozzi over Alt J.

So when you talk about all the things that are available to you and all the things that you can do, whether it's campground specific things, going to see friends.

We have a campmate, Bryan Stone, who's in here a couple weeks ago, who is bringing his girlfriend.

Well, his girlfriend won't be with us.

She'll be out in GA.

So he's literally going to be camping in GA the entire time and coming back and forth to where we are.

We'll never see him.

But the way that I was thinking about this is he's sort of got it right.

Because he's going to be able to be everywhere the whole time.

He's going to be able to bounce around and see every GA camp experience that he wants because he's literally going to be there.

And that, to me, is what I feel like we have missed and where we want to expand.

That's sort of our goal this year.

That's what I'm saying.

It's going to be a completely different experience for both of us.

I kind of wish the lineup was worse.

That's a good point.

I wish it was three years ago.

But here's the thing that we want to focus on today.

When we started thinking about the Bonnaroo experience and all the things that you have to do, the one place that I think that we've missed a little bit,

the things that actually occupy your day more often than you give them credit, and that's the vendors, the people that you spend your money with, the food, the nonprofits, the places that you shop.

Those kind of things, to me, are part and parcel of the entire experience because not only do they handcraft a lineup and curate experiences around campgrounds,

but they handcraft and curate sponsors, partners, and businesses that they want inside their festival.

Yeah, that was something Jeff Cuellar talked about, how they pick them, what the mission, how they have to mesh.

You know, because you think about it, it would be easy for them to take a big fat check from XYZ business.

Hello Budweiser.

Yeah, you can name hundreds that would be glad to be there.

And from the start, that was one of the things that sort of jumped out at me, is you could tell, well, first of all, you don't see sponsorship signage everywhere.

I love that. You know I love that.

And you could tell that the people that are there are there for a reason.

They match that eco-friendly or social issues now.

It's brand specific. It's things that make the Bonnaroo brand that much stronger.

And reflects their values, which you know I am obsessed with.

Yeah, you can tell when you walk around that there was thought put into all of it.

A lot of the people, the vendors have been there every year.

We talked to one for this show who doesn't go to all the festivals.

That's all he does is festivals, but it's not every single festival.

Well, you might be talking about the first name that came to mind when we said, let's talk to some vendors.

Let's talk to some sponsors.

Who do you think of first when you think of Bonnaroo food?

Spicy Pie.

You think of Spicy Pie. We all, I'm stunned.

I'm stunned some of the revelations that I found out about Spicy Pie and their relationship with Bonnaroo.

It was the first call I made. It was the first one that we reached out to.

Because Spicy Pie is like, it's integral to the Bonnaroo experience.

When I go to a festival and I don't find Spicy Pie, I just assume that they're going to be there.

When they're not there, oh man, I'm pissed.

Yeah, and it's one of those, I think we even, we talk about it, we laugh.

I think you said it's really good at 2 a.m.

Yeah.

And we all agreed it's good at 2 p.m.

Yeah, pretty much.

11 a.m. or anytime.

So we got in touch with the guy who runs, owns, operates Spicy Pie, the guy who has put in his blood, his sweat and his tears.

Oh God, I hope he hasn't put blood in his pizza.

Either way, it still tastes delicious.

Michael from Spicy Pie, how are you, sir?

I'm doing great. I'm doing great. How are you?

Oh man, we're so excited. We're so happy to talk to you.

It's like when I go outside and it's warm, I smell Spicy Pie in the air.

That's fantastic.

I bet you do too, when it's cold even.

Yeah, it doesn't matter what temperature it is. Spicy Pie goes great with any, especially during festival season.

I think that most people would be very surprised to learn that you guys don't just exist at festivals, you actually have a real store.

No, we don't.

You don't?

We do not have a real store. No, we just do festivals.

Stop it.

We have 100% festivals only.

Wow.

That's it.

So how in the world did that start? Because I was convinced that you guys had an actual physical location.

We don't. We don't. No, it started back in the year 2000.

The previous owner started it up with his wife and just grew it over the years.

And back in 2004, they started doing larger and larger festivals.

And here we are today doing Coachella for the 15th year and Banari for the 15th year.

And it all started because they wanted to do just festival food or just like on-site food or was it like a food truck, an early edition food truck, something like that?

Well, interestingly enough, they wanted to be able to enjoy certain parts of the year away from the states and do some traveling.

So they found an industry where it was really hot and heavy during certain parts of the year.

Literally.

And so they thought that if they were here, they could take some time and enjoy life for themselves and do some traveling.

So that's what they did.

What kind of foods were they doing?

And I guess what I'm asking is, has it evolved?

Because in 2000, I mean, the festival scene was not what we know it today.

So I don't know how many.

No, it was a lot smaller to my knowledge.

It was a lot smaller and they had to do a lot more traveling.

And back then it was a very small outfit.

And I think they were doing everything from breakfast foods to sandwiches to pretty much whatever, whatever was selling, I guess, at the time.

And what is the difference?

They even did coffee.

No, no kidding.

Well, what was the difference between the product that they had then as opposed to what it is now?

Oh, that's interesting.

I think they did a lot more breakfast foods, coffee.

But they weren't doing pizza, though.

To my knowledge, no, not initially.

OK.

And so when you took it over, you took over this entire like food service industry and eventually you had to turn it into just a pizza operation, right?

Well, they had already had done that.

I've owned the company now two years.

OK.

So they've been doing pizza now for quite some time.

OK.

And so it became official.

So Spicy Pie to me, the reason why I think it lives in so much lore around festivals times is for two reasons.

One, it's just such the perfect festival food.

It's the perfect walking food.

It's the perfect way to it's the perfect quick bite.

It's exactly what your body needs at all times of the day, no matter where you are.

That's the first thing.

The second thing is, is that the product is so good, it's so heads and above some pizza places that we even have in this city.

So I'm trying to figure out like when did that magic start?

Because it had to go from like like coffee and pastries and whatever to a pizza.

And then eventually it became the Spicy Pie that we know today.

I wonder when that actually happened.

I would say in the early 2000s.

Really?

Fairly soon after.

OK.

And should just to put an exclamation point on what Brad's saying and for guys out there who have not had Spicy Pie,

I got asked just yesterday by a co-worker who doesn't go to Bonnaroo, is the food any good?

Yeah.

Do you have to bring food?

And I was like, no, it's awesome.

It's the biggest misnomer of all of this.

Exactly.

Which is why we wanted to talk to you.

And one of the things that always comes up first, certainly in our camp, is Spicy Pie.

Spicy Pie, always.

Now, when you go to a festival, how many festivals do you do around the country, by the way?

We do a little over 30 now.

Oh my God.

Wow.

That's a big tall order.

How many pies are you estimating going through on a regular, say, Bonnaroo weekend?

Oh my goodness.

You know, I'd have to do some math to be honest with you.

Really?

Yeah, I don't have that number off the top of my head.

Do you remember certain years being bigger than others?

Oh, for sure.

A lot of it has to do with the lineups and the attendance.

It really makes a huge difference.

It makes that big a difference even for you.

I can imagine making a difference for a smaller vendor, maybe a vendor who's only been there

a couple of years who has a very specific type of product.

But your product is loved by practically everyone.

And I can't believe that even the lineup affects you to that point.

Oh, sure.

We see a definite difference in the amount of not only customers, but spectators.

I am a field.

And obviously, when you grow a field 10, 20,000 people, it makes a huge difference in how

much food you need to prepare and provide for the customers.

To Brad's question, because I think it's the kind of thing that, like, I have no concept.

If you told me you did 10 pizzas or you did 10,000 pizzas, I wouldn't know which number

was closer to the truth.

So I mean, on a good festival or any of your good festivals.

Like, for instance, what you're expecting today or tomorrow.

What's a high?

We do thousands.

We do thousands for sure.

That's what I thought.

A slice at a time.

A slice at a time.

Well, you know, it all depends on the size of the event, too.

I mean, sometimes we do five booths.

Sometimes we do one booth.

It makes a huge difference.

And for somebody like you who has to order all of this product, first off, you know,

the calculations that you have to do to just order dough.

I mean, I can't imagine just flour in general.

How are you getting the product that you specifically need for the pie that you make to insert

festival grounds here?

Because you've got to work a specific flour, a specific type of ingredient.

How do you get it to you?

Yeah, that's a good question.

You're not buying the one pound bag.

No, you're not.

No, no, no, no.

We work with food purveyors and they're familiar with us.

We work with them in the past and they know what we need to order.

And then I work on quantities and all of that gets brought in through food purveyors,

through the large companies that provide food to every other restaurant out there.

And has there ever been a year where you're like, I either ordered way too little or way too much?

Absolutely.

That's one of the biggest difficult decisions.

Well, it depends.

Too little, you figure it out.

You run out and you try to find what you need to be able to produce more.

Or you get stuck with a bunch of extra product and you either give it away to charities or to food banks.

Or you take it and you feed your own people.

We figure out ways of using food.

Okay.

That's one of the things, and we had last year as a guest, and I won't get their exact name right,

but the food bank that services Coffee County and Grundy County,

they come by guys like you every day, don't they, and get extras?

They'll be usually at the end of the shows, yeah.

Because a lot of times, if we have some food prepared after the end of each evening,

we're not allowed to keep that food.

We don't want to keep that food because it becomes dangerous.

So we end up usually feeding the staff around, not our staff, but security

and some other people maybe cleaning the grounds and stuff like that.

So it doesn't go to waste.

Don't build by any means.

And people are appreciative of it too.

When they're working at 2, 3 o'clock in the morning and they're hungry,

usually we have a little extra that they can protest on.

Sometimes you have one booth, sometimes you have five booths.

How many people do you guys actually employ?

Or are these people that you're pulling that are usually locals?

Are you bringing any sort of like your own staff around the country?

We're pulling locals. Most of it's pulling locals.

Okay. And you trust them to make the product that you want,

or do you have specific people just making the pies entirely?

For the most part, people that are making the pies are people that have been with us for a while.

Yeah. We trust those people that have been trained

and that have done it over and over and over again,

especially in events where we have to pump out volume

and make a consistent, good tasting product.

So my brother had a pizza place for a while,

so I know the amount of prep, especially getting the dough.

I assume from what you just said, at the end of the day,

you have to get ready or everything. How much can you prep?

Oh, God. What a great question.

Well, for the most, a majority of everything is set.

We do a lot of pre-ordering in that we've got to prep the vegetables,

the onions, and things along those lines.

All the cheese comes free shredded.

We try to cut it.

We limit the amount of prep that we have to do

because there's just so much to do during the show

that prep becomes a difficult chore.

So making the sauce is a three or four step process,

but it doesn't take that long.

So we have pretty well set processes around everything.

Now, this might be a little bit too inside baseball,

but when you make your decisions on where to go and where not to go,

where to best put your product,

is there a drop dead number of people that are going to determine

whether or not you show up?

Is there a guarantee amount of sales that you're looking for?

Or are you willing to go to a smaller festival and just see what happens?

Ultimately, it comes down to the festival itself,

how many people are projected to be there.

If the festival is super, super small,

it just doesn't make business sense to go to that festival.

I wouldn't even break even, so why would I do that?

So ultimately it comes down to how many people are there.

And then I also try to figure out how much food is also going to be offered too,

because sometimes some festivals,

they're upside down on the amount of food versus the amount of attendees.

And when that happens, everybody loses.

Everybody loses.

What's a day like for you? When does it start? When does it end?

During the festival time,

it probably starts at 7.30 in the morning and goes until about,

depending on the festival, 3 to 4 in the morning.

That's what I thought.

Let's be honest, that's a lot like my schedule. It's just not working.

But you keep saying at the show, you keep saying that over and over,

you don't really ever get to see any shows, do you?

Oh no, I've never enjoyed any shows. I'm working now.

So you get to go, this is just the most amazing thing in the world.

You get to go to some of the most incredible experiences around the country.

You get to be a part of something that is like actual magic for hundreds of thousands of people.

And you get to experience none of it.

The inside of a truck.

For the most part, yes.

Now let me ask you this. Have you ever walked, I'm sure you have,

but what is it like for you to leave the tent in a 300 degree oven

and just walk around Centauru for a little while?

Oh, it's amazing. It's amazing to see the people

and to see how really into the experience they are.

And it makes you smile. I love being in this environment.

It's a lot of fun and I really enjoy it.

Are there certain festivals that you can tell have that experience

and have that feeling over some of the others?

I think it really depends on the festival and the type of music.

We do a punk festival. It is an entirely different feeling

than going and doing an EDM festival.

Different, different. Totally different.

But ultimately they're all there for the music.

And Spicy Pie is there to fill their bellies with consistent, good tasting food

so they can get back to the music.

A lot of it comes down to, I think one of the reasons why Spicy Pie is so popular

is because we can get food on their plate and into their mouth quickly.

And it allows them to get back to the next stage that they want to go to.

That's a great point.

Mike, every sort of industry always has their funny stories,

their stories that they share with each other.

Are there funny stories? Are there those 3am, 2am kids asking for, I don't know, whatever.

I can't even imagine.

No, we see it all.

Just a couple of weeks ago we were at a festival

and a certain individual was enjoying the event too much

and he decided that he needed to climb on top of a tent.

One of our tents. And so we had to help him down.

At least he didn't try to climb in the oven, Mike.

Yeah, thank goodness it wasn't on top of our tent, it was on top of our neighbor's tent.

But we were there to help them too.

But yeah, we're all in this together.

It's really a community of restaurants working together.

If you go to 30 some odd festivals a year,

if you had to choose one to not actually work and go to, which one would it be?

Oh, see, I would be aging myself if I told you that.

You know, I would give my teeth for another desert trip, honestly.

Only because that's more my style of music.

But I really love the big ones. I love Bonnaroo and I love Coachella.

They're both fantastic shows, high production grade,

and the people you work with are just top notch.

That brings a question to mind I hadn't thought of before.

Brad and I have talked about Bonnaroo and the fact that we don't feel like

they have their hands in our wallet all the time.

Has the festival industry, I mean, how do they approach you guys?

Do they see you as partners? Do they see you as the enemy?

Do they see you as part of the appeal and they need to take care of you?

You know what I mean? That can make a big difference.

Whether you feel welcome or not.

Regarding Bonnaroo, I think they do see us as partners.

I think that they know that the festival wouldn't happen without us.

And that they need to work with us to be able to provide a positive,

safe experience for everyone there and keep bringing those people back

to really a fantastic festival.

Not just that, I guess what I'm thinking is they could price you out of it,

I guess is what I mean.

They see the value of you being there more than the few extra dollars

they might get for pricing you out of it.

I would agree. It's actually one of the most equitable.

Go to these festivals and you're wondering why people are paying $14 for a hamburger

and $10 for fries or whatever.

It's basically because of the festival.

Yeah, that's what I mean.

It's that environment for sure.

You're in an environment where people are making money

and just kind of the name of the game, I guess.

It gets to the point that we made before and I made earlier,

is we want to eat there.

And if it was $15 for a $4 burger, we wouldn't.

We would bring our own food.

But we bank on getting a good meal or two every day of the festival.

We're counting on Bonnaroo to do a couple of things,

to curate an amazing playlist of artists that we can watch

and curate a food experience too.

They do a really, really good job of it.

It's not just in Centeroo.

They've curated food experiences outside into campgrounds too.

Is that somewhere that you guys are set up as well or are you just inside Centeroo?

We're in Centeroo, we're in campgrounds, we're in the main stage area.

We're by which stage?

We're by several different areas.

We have two in the main stage area.

This year I'm really excited.

The lineup is amazing.

I'm expecting a fantastic turnout at Bonnaroo this year.

Have they told you an estimated number yet as far as the vendors?

They have not.

When do you usually get that, by the way?

I have to ask for it.

I haven't gotten around to that because I'm working on another one right now.

Yeah, a little thing called Coachella this week and next.

Yeah.

It really is just a phenomenal story.

When we started talking about doing an episode of vendors,

we do artists each and every week.

We do the experience of Bonnaroo.

Then it struck us a couple of weeks ago,

why don't we talk to the other part of the experience,

the vendors that are slaving away.

They are just beating up themselves, making products for us.

The first name that came to mind was SpicyPie.

You guys have left an indelible image in the festival world.

It's because you've got a fantastic product and the ease of use.

It's not just the ease of use.

It's not just that it's affordable.

It's because it's really, really, really good.

There's a reason why so many people have...

I think it's fascinating.

It's a fascinating story.

So many people know your brand,

a brand that doesn't even have a brick and mortar store.

That's phenomenal to me. Absolutely phenomenal.

Yeah.

Well, thank you.

I really appreciate the kind words.

Final question for you that I have.

Have you ever thought about opening a brick and mortar store?

If you did, where would you put it?

Oh, yes.

That's why I would have to do some more research, to be honest with you.

I have thought about it.

That may be the next step for SpicyPie.

Because you're right.

People do recognize the name.

People do recognize the brand.

I hope that someday to be able to bring it to people outside of the festival space.

But right now, it's special.

It's special in that it comes at just festivals.

In fact, I get a lot of social media requests to show up to all these other festivals.

And a lot of times it's not my decision.

And that's a misnomer to a lot of people out there.

They think that I can just show up and sell.

And unfortunately, I have to be accepted to show up.

Man, that is a great point because I've walked around Lollapalooza.

I'm like, man, we're a SpicyPie.

Exactly. Exactly.

And they have a very specific amount.

They want locals and they want bad.

I think those are the two things that Lollapalooza chooses for food.

Local and terrible.

I've applied several times to Lolla.

But I know that they usually just hire the local vendors.

It's extremely difficult to get into that.

Good for them.

From what I understand, it's local and it's very expensive for locals.

At least they have a plan.

And the final thing, though, when it comes to the brick and mortar store and festivals,

you're right.

You have created something incredibly special that you can only find at a festival.

And I don't know...

What part of the country do you live in, by the way?

We're in Southern California.

Okay. All right.

So SpicyPie, more often than not, if it was going to have a home base,

it's going to be probably in California, huh?

That's where it might start.

But you know, I've had offers to open up the brick and mortar in Kentucky.

And I have some other interests in other areas of the nation as well.

It's just I'm not ready to jump right off that ledge yet.

Wouldn't it be great if it was just in the most random place in America?

Like Manchester, Tennessee.

Yes.

You know, there's nothing wrong with that.

You know.

You've got to make it work, you know, guys?

You've got to make it work.

Well, man, you do every year for us.

Yeah.

And I can't wait to stop by SpicyPie sometime during the festival.

Hopefully we'll get your number.

Stop by and take a picture with you because you are definitely a hero in the Bonnaroo world.

So we'd love to meet you this year at the festival, buddy.

I would love that.

In fact, if you do come up to the booth, definitely ask for me and we'll work that out.

All right. Beautiful.

Thank you so much.

Yeah, have a great one.

This was every bit as interesting as I thought it would be.

Thanks.

I could keep going, honestly, but I'm just going to bore the hell out of you.

Yeah, thanks, man.

You got to serve something, ain't that right?

I know it gets dark, but there's always a light.

You don't have to buy in to get into the club.

Trade your worries.

You got to show up if you want to be seen.

If it matters to you, Ma, it matters to me.

I'm going to fall hard, yeah, I know I am.

When the clouds crack up, I laugh with them.

There ain't no man who can't save me.

There ain't no man who can't save me.

There is one man that can save me, and it's Michael from SpicyPie.

There is not a person more important on the festival grounds than Michael from SpicyPie.

Maybe the girl from Cray Musty's.

Yeah, you like that one, too.

I love a Cray Musty.

Do you eat SpicyPie every day of the festival?

Oh, yeah, probably.

If I had to guess, I mean, four out of five days, yeah, definitely a SpicyPie.

I definitely have a Cray Musty every day.

Okay.

I definitely have a veggie jalapeno corn dog every day.

And this year, there'll be a beignet in there somewhere.

Yeah, some sort of croissant, because I'm adulting one day.

I guess I'm going to do yoga maybe one day.

I don't know.

No, you're not.

So, you know, we have a weird relationship with Bonnaroo being so close in Chattanooga.

And a few years ago, a local company decided to collect junk, basically.

You know, we're pretty lazy.

We're pretty lazy at Bonnaroo.

We have left so much garbage there, you know, not just accidental garbage.

We try to do our best, but just product, stuff that we bought, either because it got destroyed

and we just couldn't do anything with it or we couldn't have room for it because we're rushing to get home.

You know, all that stuff that gets left, something actually happens to it.

Something actually becomes of it.

And it turns out most of that stuff finds its way back here to our hometown, Chattanooga, Tennessee.

That's right. And we actually have a little breaking news in that regard.

You know how we love to break news on this.

Oh, yeah, that's our wheelhouse.

That's what we do, man.

No, Marybeth Sutton started this gear closet is what it was called.

Just this week, they've renamed it to Waterways to more reflect the broad specter of what they do.

But they go around the campsites on that Monday, the Monday when it's over,

gather up the leftover camping gear, tents, sleeping bags.

She said not too many coolers, but some things like that,

that they think that they can clean up or that are in pretty good shape.

And they take them, bring them back here to Chattanooga.

And then they what? What do you say? They that next Thursday, I think.

Yeah, they sell them throughout the week.

So if you get back as soon like if you're driving back home

and you happen to go through Chattanooga on, say, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, if you stop by this place,

because you're going to find a load of gear that might help you next year.

Yeah. And it's like we said, people who couldn't fit it all back into the car

didn't want to fit it all back into the car.

And so they leave perfectly good stuff and they use that money for their mission,

which is basically clean water. Right. Right. So pretty cool.

Yeah. They work hand in hand with the people that you see picking up all the recycling and all the garbage,

which, by the way, does an amazing job. And she's she talks about that here later on in a second.

But you're right. Something's got to be done with all of this stuff.

And if you can take that stuff and have somebody transport it,

then sell it and then make money off of it that then can be donated to things like clean water.

Yes, that fits the Bonnaroo brand value 100 percent. Right.

I mean, I think their goal would be to have everything either taken away and we use like this or composted.

You know, that's a big, big thing that you see all the silverware cups, paper product, all that stuff gets composted

and left right there on the farm, which is a farm. So it gets used.

Marybeth Sutton and Mike Green, Mike Green from Tenant Waterways.

You just said it. I almost forgot already. Come on, Barry.

Waterways, you guys, we're going to say this quickly and then move on because you're changing your name and everything.

But you were Gear Closet, which is how some people might know you.

Yes. A lot of people around here know us as the Gear Closet because that's how they have interfaced with us in the past.

Right. And what we want to talk about, because I'm fascinated, is on Monday,

when the festival is over and you had your four or five days of fun and suddenly that five ounce tent looks like it weighs about five million pounds.

It ain't going back in the car. Right. So it just stays, right? Yeah.

And that's where you guys come in. What do you do with them?

Well, and so, like you said, it looks like I just can't carry it out.

Last year, it was really interesting because they had the rainstorm on Sunday afternoon.

And so that we found tents that were even completely still full of water when we got there on Monday.

Yeah. A lot of that wasn't water.

It was a Monday, let me believe. It was a Monday. Well, no, some of it was water, but it was mixed.

But to answer your question, which I completely went around, all of the stuff that we bring back,

we have volunteers go out and help make Bonnaroo a more sustainable festival by gathering up somebody else's trash.

And then we come and we have a big yard sale.

And anything, any money we raise goes back to helping the environment here in East Tennessee.

Oh, that's awesome. Did Bonnaroo approach you guys or did you guys approach Bonnaroo?

We approached Bonnaroo about five years ago.

And when, if you look at the email chain for the woman who finally responded back, there was probably 30 people had passed this email along that I had sent to Bonnaroo.

And Molly Herman from Clean Vibes emailed me back. Clean Vibes is simply awesome. They really want to do a good job.

Look, I go to a lot of festivals around the country. There is not a better organization than Clean Vibes because the just, oh, by the way,

just take a gander at the festival, just the wet stage, say three, four o'clock in the morning.

If you get a chance to stick around that night, by the time you get back into Centeroo at 12 o'clock, it is pristine.

How in the world that is possible? It's unbelievable.

Well, if you get up early enough, as I do, you see how that works.

It is like they have like hundreds of volunteers who fan out with garbage bags and they do a sweep.

They do. They do a sweep and it's gone in no time.

Yeah, it's a really good organization.

But the other thing they do is they encourage people who are at the festival to help by, you know,

pick up all of these cigarette butts and we'll give you a prize.

And it goes to show you that you don't have to really convince the Bonnarooian all that much to do it because it's sort of in their blood anyway.

If you're going to Bonnaroo, you're going there, like we've said so many times on the show, their brand values are almost your brand values.

As a human being, they're your values and you're going and supporting this place because they share so much of you inside of them.

So it's not too much of a leap to ask them to do that.

Now, would it be difficult to do it, say, oh, I don't know, at Riverbend here in Chattanooga? Yes.

That's a much different operation.

Well, you talk about that. And I think it's that educational thing.

People get it that you'll see people walk 10, 20 yards to throw something in a garbage can rather than drop it on the ground.

Moon River, which was here on Coolidge Park last year, so many people commented about that when it was over.

Seeing their neighbors stand up when the show is over, gather their trash and walk it and throw it away.

Yeah, because this is our space too. Especially at Bonnaroo, we're all living in this space.

I mean, most people are literally sleeping on the ground where the trash is.

So let's try to keep that a little tidier.

Mike, I'm going to get to you in a minute because I understand this is going to be your first one.

Sure. You've never actually been to Bonnaroo?

I have been to Bonnaroo five times before.

Every year it definitely gets a lot cleaner.

And this was like 10 years ago when I last went.

So just hearing all the strides that they've made since then, it's pretty impressive.

And just as a festival in general, it's a completely different operation.

Totally. So let's talk numbers.

Those are the kind of things people like. How much trash will you...

It's not trash to you guys. It's gold, right? It's cash.

How much will you pick up? It's clean water to us.

There you go. The end result.

How much will you pick up? Who was it we had a couple of weeks ago, Brad,

that was talking about making that eight-hour drive back to Minnesota or whatever

with four sweaty, stinky, hungover guys and the equipment they couldn't fit in, so they just got in and drove.

So people leave, and I want to ask you what kind of things people leave.

What's the number? What's the quantity? What's a good average?

I think in the last few years we've averaged between six and eight thousand pounds of treasure

to take back and see what we can do with it.

Wow. And is most of it broken?

That's what I'm asking. Do you only take usable stuff?

We mostly take usable stuff.

If we could figure out a way to get Patagonia or somebody to take the tents and the chairs that were broken

and turn it into something useful, we'd get that too, and we'd at least double what we would pick up.

Because there's so much that is broken.

Yeah, because there's probably a whole load of people that would pick up a insert tent here that's got extra parts.

I mean, if I could find a broken tent that's got one broken arm, yeah, I could make that work, sure.

The numbers guy, do you know? Is that her? Is she?

I'm still coming up to speak with her.

The numbers, but...

What kinds of things, Marybeth? I know we talk about tents, but it's all kinds of stuff.

It's four thousand pounds of flip-flops, isn't it?

All left feet.

Actually, all left feet. No, I guess the number one thing that we pick up? Tarps.

What if they've got a hole in them? What do you do with them then?

Well, let's consider that I have 30 volunteers out there, and we're working out in the hot sun, sweating and smelling that von-eroo smell.

By the time, you know, after lunch comes around, tarps with holes in them are staying there.

Are they? Okay.

In the morning, we pick up tarps. Every tarp.

Yeah, you're feeling good about it in the morning, aren't you?

If we had 60 volunteers, then maybe we would fill up that trail.

Do you have to be gone by a certain time? Or could you, if you wanted to, stay or come back on Tuesday or Wednesday?

We could. We could. If we had enough volunteers.

US Express has donated a trailer for us.

No kidding.

For several years now. It has been a godsend. They have been fabulous.

And if it wasn't for them, we wouldn't be able to do this.

I was literally about to ask, you're not just doing this like in the back of my GTI.

The first year we did it, we rented a truck from U-Haul, and we, it was as big as this room is, and every square inch of that truck was full.

I don't doubt it. I don't doubt it.

See, it's so fascinating because this benefits Bonnaroo. It benefits the program.

It benefits me because I need some gear.

Yeah, and then you go get gear. I mean, what a great idea.

And it benefits the environment around this whole area.

So the giant truck literally drives through pod two?

The giant truck is parked before Bonnaroo.

Okay.

And we have trucks and trailers that we drive all around the whole area.

So they leave like the back end.

Yeah, we have teams of people hitting different areas of Bonnaroo, and we send everybody out and then have a team also at the big truck unloading and packing the trucks.

Who's in charge of packing? Is that you?

No.

Okay, because that's got to be a really difficult job of trying to pack everything in to maximize space.

This would be a really great job for anyone's old man.

It ain't me.

This is my dad's great business.

Pull it all out and redo it.

If somebody really organized, absolutely crazy.

Somebody with OCD, not the job for them.

Three-fourths the way through the truck. Take it all out.

Take it all out.

Yeah, wherever you do this.

I got a corner.

Usually the very, I guess it's the front end of the truck.

The part packed first is usually packed really nicely.

Sure.

Yeah, the back half, not so much.

They do this with this kind of gear. I mentioned last week the food bank, the Grundy County, Coffee County food bank that goes around at the end of the evening.

Wait, they don't find used food, do they?

Not food, but unsold or under double-fledged.

Yeah, they go around to all of the caterers and pick up whatever's left over.

They do a fabulous job.

That's amazing. Every year I get a report from the Bonnaroo folks of here's how much went to landfill.

Here's how much went to reused, recycled food.

It gets smaller and smaller every year, the amount that goes to the landfill.

What happens if, okay, let's put it this way.

How can you tell the difference between something that has been left or something that's been lost?

Let's say I lose something and you guys have picked it up. Is there a grace period there before it goes available to be sold?

Well, if somebody calls us and we find something that is theirs, we'll give it back to them.

We frequently do find wallets and phones and that kind of thing. That kind of thing we turn into lost and found.

Okay. So you can pretty much tell what's lost and what's not.

Yeah. And the funniest thing, and you asked me about a funny incident, is we have followed the police and the paramedics around as they collapse tents to make sure everybody inside is, if there's anybody inside.

Knock, knock.

Yeah. Knock, knock. Are you okay?

Yeah, that's kind of scary.

What are the funny, I mean, what are people, I have a suit and clothing that probably shouldn't have been there.

I love the decorations.

Oh, yeah.

The decorations that people have at their campsites, like you said, you have to make it your own little space for a few days.

Sure.

You know, from the blow up dolls and cactus to the futon. I mean, they have everything, lots of rugs and streamers and lights and that kind of thing.

Yeah, we have up to 800 square feet of carpeting at our campsite. So, and I guard it with my life. I want that carpet.

One year we came back, I left early and there was another rainfall on a Sunday like that.

And I came back and I talked to some of the campmates and said, hey, so I can get some of those rugs back?

He said, nope, we left them.

I wanted to cut his throat that day. I was so mad.

Do you understand how hard it is to get the kinds of rugs that are appropriate for Bonnaroo before Bonnaroo?

I mean, yeah, I could probably do it on June 15th, but boy, I got to hold on to that for 360 days. I'm not going to be excited.

Give me my rugs back.

How does it work for you guys when you come back? Because you have like a sale not long after.

Right. So we that we tend to wear our volunteers out on the Monday, which is why we don't go back.

But and then US Express will pick up the trailer and then deliver it to the gear closet.

And by Wednesday, we basically have a yard sale.

It's that quick.

That quick. And by the next week, most everything's gone.

That was my next. So if somebody because I know some people stick around the area maybe before they go back home.

So if they wanted to go see, you know, if there's some tents or whatever, Wednesday.

Yeah. OK.

And the coolest thing is it's so heartening to see people coming and trying out a tent and they've never gone camping before.

And we're showing them how to put a tent up and what are you supposed to do and how do I.

And they're getting it for 20 bucks. Yeah.

And so that's the other real benefit is we're getting people reconnected with the outdoors who maybe never gone camping.

It gave me a great idea for a business, Barry.

We could set up other people's camps and by we, I mean you.

I knew what you meant. Yeah. He's a leader. He's a giver.

He's a witness. I do like directing.

He's Kevin Hart. He's a witness.

I had a Harrison Bay who does that. Not at Bonnaroo.

But he will. You can just say I need a camp set.

Would you set it up and he does it for you. That's it all up.

I do the same thing. Wow.

I'm as long as Barry's the one doing it.

So how many do you actually say you actually go to Bonnaroo.

OK. And so do you go along with like clean vibes or are you volunteering with them throughout the.

Yes. We're going with clean vibes.

We are kind of two of us, myself and usually Barry Schultz or Chris Calhoun,

because the three of us have done this every year, will go and work with clean vibes that week.

And then we set up. We also do another cool thing as we set up these big bags.

So if people, you know, the Bonaroovian spirit, if people know that they just can't take this with them,

they can put it in these big construction bags that we put at all the pods and just leave it.

Well, there we go. Didn't know that. So anybody's listening.

You like those guys that are coming from Canada or whatever, they don't have a way to send stuff back.

If they want to make a little extra effort, they can walk it over and then it gets done.

Is your goal on that Wednesday to get rid of everything?

And you don't have to give away secrets, but you said 20 bucks maybe.

If at the end of the day, does it become 10 or hang on?

We'll give it a week. And then we don't have a large storage space.

I didn't think so. That's why it doesn't live there year round is what we need to say.

How many people are actually in clean vibes that are volunteering at one time?

You know, I don't know the answer to that question.

Because it feels like a massive operation.

It is.

I know a lot of people who are listening to this probably don't get a chance to do this,

but if you ever, ever ever find yourself, get the opportunity to drive through that sort of recycling center

that they put, just the trash center, it is an entire maybe two city blocks.

It's massive.

I mean, that's the way they took us through last year into like the press thing.

I've never seen like an operation.

I mean, we've seen the nuts and bolts of this place for 15 years.

I've never seen where they put the trash.

I think the composting is the most impressive because you take all of that.

That plastic where is composted.

All of that stuff on site and then return to the gardens, return to the fields and it's dirt.

How expensive is it to put a composter in the middle of a farm for five days?

It's a pile.

It becomes a big city.

It's the fifth largest city in the state, right?

But then they got to do something with it.

This one, like what happens to that big giant pile?

I want to know who takes that big thing and moves it that way, you know?

That's what Bill does.

The guy with the tractor.

That's what Bill does.

His name is Billy.

He lives down the road.

That's probably how that hill keeps getting bigger.

That's right.

They just put it at the end.

That's why it's getting closer.

They're piling all the plastic into the ground.

I knew it, Barry.

No, they're not.

We figured it out.

I knew it.

Actually, I think they're using it to grow gardens.

I really think that they're using it to enrich the soil out there.

At some point in the near future, the entire wet stage is going to be made out of composted plastic.

You're going to see a little thicker cup sticking up.

Mike, what are you going to do with the group?

I can't let you just be quiet the whole time.

I guess I'm going to go to Bonnaroo for a sixth time, but this time to help clean up.

As what?

What title or whatever?

Just help?

Yeah, your shop manager.

Manager of the gear closet.

So he's Mr. Logistics this year.

Sounds fun and scary.

What are the most popular things that people come in looking for?

Is it tents?

Tents, just rugs, actually.

People go out with a lot of rugs.

Chairs.

People love the chairs.

If I could tell anybody the thing that changed our camp was the year that I realized we should

just lay down carpeting because it changes the entire field.

It's so much better because at the time, this was 10, 12 years ago when there were still

some sort of bug stuff happening.

I know we talked last week about there's just no bugs.

There's never a bug around there because we think that they do.

I don't think I want to know.

That's what I said.

But you know what we're saying.

There's no bugs.

It's been 10 years since I've seen a spider.

I mean, it just doesn't happen.

So at the time, I was so scared of bugs entirely.

So we laid down all of this carpet and you just don't realize how it changes the entire

field.

Well, not just the bugs, but remember the first year they moved us into the woods and

they had mowed and there were literally death spikes sticking up every year.

Chunks of oak trees everywhere.

They had cut down the yearling or whatever, the new trees.

And it just, right, especially if you were...

Right, so your flip flops.

Flip flops.

It was a bad thing.

Yeah, it was tough.

The carpet was great.

It was rough.

Real quick one more.

What is the sort of most expensive thing people leave?

The, oh my God, I can't believe they left this behind kind of stuff.

Anybody ever leave a Yeti cooler?

We have not found a Yeti.

We found some really fancy coolers.

Last year it was this incredible grill set, a propane grill set, really fancy.

You can't bring propane in a potter room.

I guess it was propane.

I don't know.

They snuck that in.

No kidding.

But it was the fanciest grill thing that I've ever seen.

And they just left it.

Yeah.

See, because my daughter was...

I'm so glad you didn't say a baby.

Well, my daughter was in charge of Lost and Found her last year and somebody had tried

to get a goat in.

They had matching tight-eyed t-shirts.

He had to leave the goat behind.

Yeah, I'm looking for a drone this year.

Somebody who tries to drone their gear into camp via...

That's your business.

Yeah.

Well, somebody tried that and they got busted.

Yeah.

Yeah, somebody got busted on that.

We heard the, I don't know, it's an urban legend of the guy who had a golf cart delivered

at the front gate.

No, no, no, no, no, no.

That's not an urban legend.

That is a record guy that I know for a fact.

I've literally seen it happen.

He got a golf cart delivered to the backstage gate and he's like, yeah, that's mine and

picked up his golf cart and drove it right into the festival.

I swear to God.

That's the most bizarre thing I've ever seen.

That's our business idea.

Golf cart rentals.

It was also like 10 years ago before they really put in security.

I think he drove up then and took a placard off one of the official ones.

He's done that before too.

Yeah.

Nice.

I respect the hustle.

Hey, man knows what he's doing.

That's where I learned all my good tricks.

All right.

Well, very cool.

Anything else?

Is there a website or anything like that?

Website is mywaterways.org.

It's cool what you're doing.

Thanks.

Got it.

On the left side, we got Skoo lane.

You better get that bag, Barry.

Get that bag.

You better get that bag before you leave or else your closet slash waterways will get

it and bring it back to Chattanooga.

This is the What Podcast, a podcast for Bonnarooians, by Bonnarooians.

Thank you so much for spending as much time as you do with us.

We really do appreciate it if you get a chance, rate and review the podcast and wherever you're

getting it in your app store, either Apple or Google Play, on and on and on.

It really helps.

It really helps your friends find it.

It really helps us figure out who's listening, why you're listening, and then it helps us

better connect with you in the future.

So do that or drop us a comment at the whatpodcast.com.

I want to go ahead and tell you next week we will not have a show.

So I apologize for that in advance.

We try to give you a little bit of a warning for it, but I've got a little thing happening

on Saturday and there will be no possible way that I can do this next week.

Brad's going to be busy.

There's no possible way.

It'll be worthless on Sunday.

Well, I've got a Bonaru artist coming to town to play my free little Ryan and the Tuawas

Festival Drax project.

So I get to see a little taster, a little teaser of what they're going to bring to Bonaru.

So if you're in and around Chattanooga, come by May 4th, 1st Tennessee Pavilion and watch

some Tuawas race.

It'll be a big, big dopey fun.

The last part of this three-legged stool when it comes to vendors.

So you've got the people for profit making money and feeding you.

You've got the people that are cleaning up after you.

Then you have the nonprofit section of this where they want to espouse the Bonaru brand

and the Bonaru values, but also make a difference in the world and teach you something.

And that's a lot of this festival.

If you're willing to take some time away from whatever it is that you're doing and wander

around Sinaru and some of the shopping plazas, you're going to find some really, really informative

things.

Yeah.

Yeah.

There's a lot of things.

We're talking to Phil with Youth Making Ripples.

It's an organization.

I think I kind of joked during our discussion today that here we are in the middle of Tennessee

and Manchester and we've got these two organizations that are working to keep clean water, in particular

with this group, clean oceans, just to educate people on what that plastic does, that straw

does, that you throw away, all those sorts of things.

And so...

Isn't it amazing in the last year and a half we all just had this big light bulb flash

in our head?

Oh yeah, straws.

Yeah.

Those things suck.

What a bad idea plastic straws are.

Exactly.

Which by the way, I never liked a straw to begin with.

You know why?

Because whenever I get a straw from a restaurant, the tip is out of the water, right?

The tip is out of the drink.

Well, how in the world do you think the person that grabbed it got it in there?

That's why they leave the little piece of paper on now, your better restaurants.

Yeah.

Oh, the better restaurants.

Your olive gardens of the world.

Yes.

Your fine dining establishment.

They leave the tip, the condom on there, the paper condom on the straw.

You're always worried about the tip, Barry.

You're always worried about the tip.

But yeah, so this is another one of those organizations that the Bonnaroo folks have

partnered with because it serves, meets their mission, meets their agenda.

And like you said, every day when you're up there, when there's not music being played,

you know, take 10 minutes, walk around, check out all those things.

They literally turn it into a city.

Give them just a few minutes of your time.

A few minutes of your time can really make a huge, huge difference.

I mean, just the interactive nature of what he has built each and every year at the festival

is worth you checking out because they put in a lot of time on it.

And you know, that's what we're here to do is support each other.

And I didn't even know they existed.

Honestly, I had no idea.

And to top it off, they've been there like five years in a row.

Yeah, I want to support if Bonnaroo is picking out artists for me to check out because they

think that they know my lane with insert artists here that they put on the Miller Lite stage

or now the Who stage.

They've specifically found this organization.

They want to show me for a reason.

And because of that, I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and see what they

have to say.

Well, and what's interesting thinking about it now is how it's national or even international

some of this stuff.

You know, you and I, as you said a few minutes ago, we tend to think Chattanooga centric

because that's where we are.

And we're only an hour away from Manchester.

So we think about things like that.

Waterways just happens to be here in Chattanooga.

But Spicy Pie is located, what do you say, California?

It doesn't really have a location.

Yeah, it doesn't have a storefront.

These youth making ripples is concerned with ocean, keeping the ocean clean.

So it doesn't matter where you're from.

All these things affect all of us.

All right.

Let's talk to Phil from Youth Making Ripples.

Thanks for joining us on the What Podcast, Phil.

Yeah, no problem.

Thanks for having us.

Tell us about what you guys do.

So yeah, Youth Making Ripples is in its sixth year.

We started as grad students just doing public outreach and it quickly blossomed into a national

film festival for students.

And we challenge K through 12 students to make films that promote ocean conservation.

And then those films compete every year in a competition and they travel the country

to different film festivals to raise awareness about the threats that our oceans are facing.

And they also provide solutions on what local communities can do to help.

We also do educational programs to help with teacher development and with technology and

implementation of new curriculum in the classroom.

Are you guys going to be actually at Bon Root, at Planet Root doing educational stuff?

We are.

We'll have a booth.

The booth will be interactive.

We're going to, this year we're focusing on plastic pollution in the ocean at our booth.

We'll have different interactive games and exhibits that people can come and check out.

We're going to be promoting reusable straws.

So we'll have those there for interested parties.

We're also going to do an academy class this year.

It's called Gross Things That Marine Animals Do.

And it's on Saturday at three o'clock.

And we'll talk about the gross animals in the ocean, but also why they are important.

How many of those things actually happen at Bon Root?

By some of the people.

I was thinking Brad does that segment on his radio show.

It's gross things Brad does.

One of the fun components of that activity in the academy that we do is we challenge

people to make their own mucus bubble.

That was my nickname in high school.

So I'm very familiar with that.

Sure.

You're stealing your bits, man.

There's some fish species out there that use a mucus bubble to protect themselves from

being eaten by predators.

And so it's kind of a fun activity.

We're also going to be on the solar stage this year, which I think they changed the

name to the Howe stage.

Yeah, the Howe, sure.

Right.

So we're going to be doing a Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me ocean style trivia on Thursday.

Nice.

Can the winner get a Carl Castle like voicemail from Barry Courter?

You know, we're trying to figure out a way to get one of the one of the Joc Cousteau

family members to be the voice of the of the answering machine.

But we haven't maybe he'll hear this and he'll call in and let us do that.

Yeah, we're big with the Cousteau family.

You know, I was just thinking, Phil, you know, we're laughing, we're joking.

But I mean, this year alone, we're seeing the straw thing has become a big deal.

And I think they found cut open a what was it a blue whale the other day and had 45 pounds

of plastic inside of it.

And we're learning that that contact lenses have become a huge problem, right?

Because they absolutely.

Yeah.

And we're going to wash them down the sink and then the fish see them and eat them.

And there's so many of them that it's become a huge problem.

So this is one of those things that seems so obvious.

And yet we have such a massive problem.

Right.

I mean, the average straw, I think, is used for one to two minutes and then it's discarded.

It's single use plastics.

And that's one of the messages that we're going to have this year at Bonnaroo's.

Just be conscious of your single use plastics.

Use a reusable water bottle.

Skip the straw or use a renewable straw.

Because when that plastic gets into the ocean, it stays there for hundreds of years.

And some of the plastic breaks down into what we call microplastics.

And that has an effect on the food web as well.

How many years have you guys done this at Bonnaroo?

This will be our fourth year in Planet Roo.

Oh, nice.

We're very excited to be back.

Now, do you try to do something a little bit different every year?

Do you create an entire program or are you taking the similar things that you probably

say throughout the year to Bonnaroo?

We try to tweak the Bonnaroo activities and messages we do each year depending on, we

look at the Bonnaroo sustainability report and we try to adapt to that to keep the focus

in with what people at Bonnaroo want to see.

Do you do other festivals?

We haven't done any other festivals yet.

We're starting to branch out and to do that this next coming year.

But we do a lot of local film festivals where we're based out of, but also at local high

schools and middle schools in different regions of the country.

Where are you guys based out of?

We're based out of St. Petersburg, Florida.

So how in the world did you get connected to Bonnaroo four years ago?

We used to be part of another organization that got linked in and then that organization

changed their focus and we wanted to branch out and keep doing the Bonnaroo sustainability

partnership and so we kept reaching out to Bonnaroo.

It's remarkable when you really start stepping out and it goes back to the same argument

that me and Barry have been saying for a year and a half and how difficult it is for us

to break out of our box and just go to GA and see all the stuff that's happening in

the plazas.

There's so many things happening at Bonnaroo that are outside of the realm of just music

or camp.

And Planet Roo is one of those places that you walk around maybe 200 times a weekend,

but if you spent just a half an hour killing some time in between sets, you could find

a load of stuff.

If you spent half an hour at the brewer's tent, you could find five, six different craft

beers that you've never tasted before.

One of our favorite things to do on a Friday morning or a Thursday morning when the vendors

are set up is shopping day.

If we've got a light morning, that's when I'm going to go poster shopping.

That's when the ladies at camp go dress shopping to get their finest Bonnaroo Sunday wear.

And Planet Roo is another one of those things.

The community dinner that they do that a lot of people forget about, the academy that's

inside that hay bale building, the house stage.

They do yoga every morning.

There's so much going on that you almost take it for granted.

You take it for granted thinking like, oh, there's music happening all hours of the day,

but you totally forget about these individualized sort of places inside Santa Roo and even outside

of the campsite that have a lot of impact, like you guys.

It sounds to me like you guys do a pretty bang up job then, huh?

Well, we do.

It's really great because it's such a diverse audience and people are coming from all over

the country.

So you really get to share these messages that some of our students have been cultivating

over the years and let people know.

Even if you're in a landlocked state, you can still be having an effect on the ocean.

These are the ways that you can change those behaviors.

It's really eye opening and we tend to get a lot of positive response from the people

at Bonnaroo.

It's fantastic because of all those points that you just said.

It's something different.

You can take a break.

You can take a half hour from sitting in the sun, go find that big oak tree in Planet Roo

and hang out under that for a little bit.

Just 20 or 30 different nonprofits at Planet Roo.

It's all because Bonnaroo is really good about collecting and finding moments.

You can find those tiny little moments anywhere you go.

It sounds to me like you're interactive activities.

You were saying earlier how you're going to have the gross stuff in an ocean.

We had this grand idea one year that lasted about nine seconds.

We were like, well, we could bring a kiddie pool.

Then we said, wow, imagine how disgusting that will get in maybe 15 seconds.

It was a bad idea.

Think about, we're talking about lanes.

We keep talking about lanes and this is one of those ways.

They've always had these sorts of groups, vendors, whatever you want to call them in

center Roo.

A couple of years ago, they opened it up to Soberoo, if you remember.

Think about that.

Groups that not that long ago would have been partying like everybody else and decided that

Soberoo was the way to go and then created a support group and Bonnaroo said, yeah, come

on.

That it may seem counter to some people's way of thinking, but that's the way they are.

It keeps coming back to the same thing that I've been screaming about forever.

The difference between insert festival here in Bonnaroo is that you know exactly their

brand values and someone's brand values are the ones that you really like and the ones

that you attach yourself to are the brands that you're going to keep coming back to for

the rest of their existence, at least.

This is just another way that their brand integrity is to me, bar none.

Yeah, and that's what makes Bonnaroo so unique compared to other festivals that are out there

is that they have these different paths, if you will, for people to explore and it's more

than just the music.

Are you a music fan in general?

Have you been to a lot of shows at Bonnaroo or do you guys go through the night?

By the way, that's that's the question I'm asking.

How late do you guys go to on a normal daily basis?

So we will be at Planet Roo every day until eight o'clock.

Oh, wow.

That's a late day.

Yeah, yeah.

But we have a team of people that are there with us, volunteers, and that allows everybody

to take a break to go see some of the acts that they want to see and explore.

So we get a fair share of music as well.

Will you be showing some of these video clips of some of the young people like I've seen

on your website and will you be recording new ones while you're there?

So we won't be recording new ones just because sound is a little bit of a tricky component

to take care of while you're at the festival with all the different sounds going on.

But we have tried to show films in the past.

We usually try to do it if we are able to, depending on where our booth is positioned,

shut the tent down right before eight o'clock when the sun's going down.

Sometimes we can broadcast the films up onto the inside of the tent, but it really just

depends on what the sun's doing.

I mean, look, I've been there 15 years.

I didn't know anything about your organization.

Those are the kinds of like hidden gems that you can still find no matter how many times

that you go to Bond Roo, no matter how many stones you're unearthing, you can keep finding

more and more and more if you keep searching.

So man, I appreciate you jumping on the old show with us, the old podcast with us, and

hopefully we'll see at Bond Roo, right?

Yeah, guys.

Thanks so much.

Come by the tent.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

Thanks again.

Thanks.

The what podcast?

A podcast for you, the Bonnarooians by us, the Bonnarooians, Barry Cordard, Brad Steiner.

Thank you for joining us on another award winning episode.

What award did we win today in their Barry Cordard?

Best podcast about Bonaroo ever.

Okay.

Well, there's only one.

I know, just made it up.

We did it.

Man, what a, to me, I really like this.

I really enjoyed the conversations.

The fact that we got to hit pretty much all the areas that, you know, I don't know, I'm

really proud of the way the Bonaroo picks and chooses their specific partners and how

you don't really get much of this from any other festival in the country.

You don't get much of this kind of stuff.

And it just, what's, what makes the entire experience unique.

And frankly, you know, you could have figured that out with Shakedown Street, you know,

years and years and years ago, you know, when guys are selling you dryer doors as you walk

through, you know, you knew that was something was unique.

But once you get inside, Bonaroo makes very, very clear what their brand values are and

what they're after.

And I think these are the three organizations that I've represented pretty damn well.

Yeah, these are three.

Think about, you know, what did they add last year?

Laundry.

Oh, that's right.

They added laundry options out in GA.

That's right.

That's listening to your customer base.

And you're right.

They could have, they could literally open vending up to anybody and everybody and it

has to have a purpose and it has to match their purpose.

As Jeff told us in an earlier podcast.

So it's just fun to me.

And the first couple of times going and walking through there and seeing that sense of purpose,

you know, that all these things made sense.

They weren't necessarily things that I knew anything about and knew existed.

And it changes.

I told you, I mentioned Soberoo now has a, has a place, you know, they've done voter

registration, you know, during election years.

They've done, I think there's a parade, LBGT parade this year.

There's a 5k.

There's a 5k.

Well, yeah, that seems mean.

It does.

We know somebody that's ran it by the way.

And he came back that after that heat stroke of a race that he put on, I thought the guy

was going to fall out.

Already walked 10 miles.

Now he's going to run another three.

Yeah, but barely.

It's just all part of it.

And it's an interesting part of it.

And I'm glad we did this episode.

And it was interesting to me.

I can't imagine how much pizza they turn out.

It's so much pizza.

He can't count it.

That's what's so fascinating about it.

All right.

The What Podcast back in two weeks.

We'll talk to you then.

Thanks for listening.