The What Podcast
Church Boners React to Bonnaroo Ticket Contest Entries
Season 9, Episode 6
Published January 21, 2026
https://thewhatpodcast.com/episode/church-boners-react-to-bonnaroo-ticket-contest-entries

One of the things that Bonnaroo has always been for me is kind of like a lighthouse.

It's always been that thing that keeps me going. I love Bonnaroo, but in a way it is my lighthouse.

It's my lighthouse that keeps me wanting to stay healthy enough to continue doing it.

People talk about Bonnaroo changing. Bonnaroo really don't change in my eyes.

Bonnaroo is forever young. That's what Bonnaroo is.

Good morning. How are you, Russ?

I'm doing okay. You can probably tell from my voice I woke up with a little

cruddiness. I'm doing better than Brian, who is not here, as you can see.

You guys will notice Brian is not here. He's not well. Russ, I don't know if... It's a Sunday

morning. I grew up Catholic. I don't know about you, so I don't know Sunday mornings.

You know, you kind of feel a little special. Maybe I've got a little something going on.

Maybe like a church boner type of thing. Is that what's on your mind on a Sunday?

Yeah. That's what got me up for sure.

Heads up, I guess. If you're listening with your kids in the car,

you know, maybe you might want to put the headphones on or something. I don't know.

No, I'm so excited. We have a great show, a surprise show, because Brian reached out and said

he is not well. Russ kind of texted back and said, do we need a guest? And I thought, I know exactly

who. And so I looked in my phone and I called my friend Rick Watts from Church Boners.

What else does one do?

Yeah, good call. I was glad to catch up with them. And yeah, you know, they're always down to come

on the show and talk about it with us. So great, great pick. And I love their insights into these

entries that we're going to play here coming up. So yeah, they, it was not completely random.

I mean, it was random that I called him yesterday, but they have been on my mind because we haven't

really heard from them since June. And you know, the festival, when it canceled, these Church Boners

for you guys, their camp is right there by the arch. Everybody knows Church Boners because it's

a funny, I mean, it's a funny camp name, but they also are classic. Is that the right word? I mean,

they are so representative of Bonnaroo. Oh, yeah, 100%. Yeah. And we've had them on the show before,

I think last year. And they got into the origin of the Church Boner story and all that. So go back

and listen to that. You know, we don't get into it here, but it is a pretty interesting group and

really interesting stories. But I want, yeah, I wanted to hear from them because of their group.

And I was glad to hear they're all back in. Everybody's back. They're coming back.

You know, that was, they're excited just like us. Yeah, that was one of my real questions.

But they also, Rick and Sean joined us as we play a bunch of

contest entries. And as you will hear, guys, oh my gosh.

What have we gotten ourselves into?

What? Seriously, seriously, what have we done? I mean, you know, I kind of joke at one point,

you know, like we've all walked by the grocery store and they've got the bucket out and you

put your name on a ticket and you put it in the bucket and you hope to win something.

This ain't it.

You guys are so passionate and you're so giving. I mean, there's so many entries

where people are trying to win for somebody else, not just for themselves. And if you are trying to

win for yourself, it's because there's a story and something. So yeah. And these aren't just,

oh, I want to go because I want to see, you know, nobody says that. They want to go or they want to

go with somebody that could use, you know, a vacation, a break from reality. I mean, you know,

just because of what they're going through. And yeah, there's a lot of stories, a lot of stories

coming up that. Unbelievable. I wish we could, I wish we had a thousand to give away because

everybody's deserving. And I think you hear that from Rick and Sean, they would,

even they were like, y'all have a tough job.

Yeah. So I don't know what's going to happen with that. But anyway, can't thank you guys enough.

We. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there's still time to enter. I mean, we're coming down towards the end,

but you can call us 423-667-7877. You can leave a voicemail. You can email us comments at the

what podcast.com send us some pictures, send us a video. You can upload a video. The what.co

slash when is a link that has all the details. And yeah, we'll see how many more we get

and finish strong. It's going to be, it's going to be exciting.

All right. And until then, here's our interview with Rick and Sean from the church boners,

great guys. And I had a lot of fun. I had a lot of fun talking to them.

Me too. Nothing like spending the Sunday morning with church boners.

All right. Here we go.

There they are. There's Rick. There's Sean. How are you guys?

Hey, good morning. Good morning. Sunday's time for the church boners.

It is time. Yeah.

It is Sunday, what are January 18th. Russ reached out yesterday. Brian is sick. You guys will notice

he's not here. Yeah, he's got uncontrollable diarrhea. I can't believe he told us that.

Oh gosh. Yeah. Yeah. Paint that picture. You can't argue with that.

No, there's no argument. Good point. And so Russ said, do we need a guest? And I said, I know who.

And so I picked up my phone and I dialed, uh, not thinking, you know, it's basically like walking up

on somebody's front porch and saying, Hey. And so I called Rick and he was like, dude, I'm sick as

hell. Oh, get out. And I'm like, I'm so sorry. Can you be on the show tomorrow? And he's like,

and so you did. And so thank you. And you called your son, you called Sean and here you guys are.

And I appreciate it so much. And that's my long way around saying thank you.

Sean was running crazy yesterday. And, um, so he pulled it together.

It's been a week. Yeah. I don't even, I mean, it didn't even dawn on me like that. I mean,

I just was like, you know, I'll call Rick and he was like, dude, you want me to do what?

Hey, you know what? We, we normally are not after attention all the time, but when it comes to

church boners, we're all about it. You know, so thanks.

Well, I just wondered what was up with you guys. So give us an update. Uh, what truth, uh, for

people who don't know church boners, obviously it's a hilarious, hilarious name, which we love,

but you guys are, um, every bit as much Bonnaroo as everybody else that I can think of. And that's

why I was wondering, I'm like, what's going on with you guys? So give us an update. What's

going on? Well, what we're looking forward to is we always do a winter, uh, meetup, um, for everybody

that can, can come. And so we've got to, we've got a trip in a couple of weeks and, uh, Mammoth

Falls, Kentucky or Mammoth Caves, I guess is what it's called. And so a bunch of us are, uh, are all

going to, um, are going to, are going to hang out. Uh, and we actually got a little prelim to that.

Um, a few of us actually, we were, we were near Chattanooga, uh, last month and, um, uh, it just

randomly, uh, some folks had a free cabin. So we, we, uh, we met up with, with, uh, with some of our,

with some of our boners. Um, this was a little different because they were children, but, uh,

um, it was a lot of fun. Uh, but unfortunately, one of our, one of our boners was Shaft and we

had our own cabin. So our cabin was like the party cabin, you know. Oh, it was a party with Shaft.

Nice. Yeah.

Where are you guys as far as group? Uh, uh, obviously, uh, last year was such a weird

year. And so I, I kind of want to catch up on church boners. You guys are that, uh, camp,

right? Group camp that everybody knows as soon as you kind of come into the-

No, they're right by the arch.

That's what I mean.

So we're not really by the group part, you know, the group somewhere else, but no, we're,

we're in GA, what do they call it? Starship or, you know, but, uh, we're right by the arch,

right on the road and, um, they're every year. Now they changed it up a little bit this year. So

people that came up near the arch was kind of expecting to see us probably right by the road

where they put a barrier this year, uh, for safety, I think. And, um, so they had a big field in front

of us before you get to the arch, but it was still great. We loved it, you know? And then I think,

so that's where we're located. And, you know, so if you go inside of the arch, you're gonna,

you're gonna run into us at some point in time. Um, but as far as this year and the way things

happened this year, I don't really think it affected our group at all. You know, we're,

we're locked and ready to go next year, you know? So, um, you know, we ended up,

Friday ended up being our best day that we've had in years. Friday was awesome.

I mean, Friday was like, uh, it was like old Rue. I mean, the OGs came out and made the best of it.

Uh, and I mean, honestly, you know, we, we'd been in town since Monday. And so we had a pretty

full week and we left at like noon on Saturday. And I mean, obviously bummed that we missed all

those shows, but I mean, we made the best of it. And honestly, Friday was so weird,

especially Friday night. Um, everybody's just like, you know, everybody's realizing they got to leave

the next day. And so it, the campground was lit and, uh, and honestly, I had, I had so much fun.

And I mean, uh, uh, you know, uh, I saw Brad Parker's post and I sent him a message like,

you know, cause he's all bummed out. Like they'd let, let everybody down. I was like, man,

like we're ready for presale. You know, I mean, it's, it's Monterey and if you

have the right mindset, it's, it's going to be fun and there's nothing they could do about it.

Yeah. How many of you guys, how many boners are there? 15 probably. You know, but you know,

there's not a locked in number, you know, it kind of fluctuates, but if you got right down to it,

there's probably 40 of us, you know, that ever since we've started the group and it's like a

Baptist once a boner, always a boner, you know, so yeah, we're going to do this all day.

Aren't we?

I love it. And Rick, where are you? Where's home? I'm in Birmingham.

And Sean, where are you?

Tupelo, Mississippi.

All right. So we're Southern and Russ obviously is in East Brainerd, Chattanooga now and I'm in

downtown Chattanooga, Missionary Ridge. So just to let everybody know, but you guys have,

there's boners everywhere, right? Boners all over the country?

Yeah. And international as well. We, yeah, we, we've, we've got, we have a boner in Australia

and we've got, we've got, we've got a Korean boner that she, we met her randomly and then she

came back two years later and brought up, brought her boyfriend and we got a bunch of Canadian

boners. We, we were, we had a big Canadian contingent for a few years there, but we all keep in touch.

We've got it. We've got a, a private group and we're, we're always talking and then we've got a

group text and I mean, that's what's great about Bonnaroo and then you see with like groups like

Loophole, people were talking about Bonnaroo every day and I mean, that's just so unique to the

festival and we, you know, we all met through Bonnaroo, you know. Yeah, that's, I mean, I don't

think we can stress that part enough. That's why I wanted to have you guys on and I'm so glad

we're doing it because that's the thing and we're going to listen to some, some of our contest

entries here in a little bit and I want you guys, guys to listen to them as well

because that's the thing we're noticing. This community, it's unbelievable as I've,

I keep saying it. We all have the same story, but we have different stories, right? I mean,

it really doesn't matter where you're from, but we all feel this way. So Korea, Canada,

it's a worldwide phenomenon. Yeah, it'd be great if we could have like a reunion and get a lot of

those back one year. The people that we hadn't had in a while. Yeah, I hadn't even thought about that.

How many have come and gone? We've lost, we've lost a couple due to the success of them getting

older and getting more money and moving over to VIP. We got, we got a couple that counts out

in the trees now and then we got, we got our group from Canada that came five, ten years ago

and they, you know, so we've got a few that just came and stayed with us for a year or two and then

they don't, they just don't come every year. So I'd say we probably got 15 that, that are still

connected with us and we still talk, but they don't really go to Bonereo as much anymore.

Yeah, that's what's interesting is people come and go. I mean, we talked about this a little

bit last week on our show, or maybe it was the week before the fact that, you know, we've got

people have families, they've grown up, they were, we've got people going to Bonereo now that were

not even born in 2022 and now they're coming to Bonereo, their siblings, their brothers and sisters,

their wives, whatever. It's amazing. So I think it's so cool. I'm always jealous of

the folks that are, it is their first Roo and y'all talk about the percentages.

And I mean, it's just like, you know, we, we're kind of hardened to it a little bit, you know,

I've been going every year since 2007, but I just remember how magical and like confusing it was the

first year. And so when people were doing their first Roo, like it's, I'm just like, man, just

like to see it in their eyes because it is, you know, you think about it, it's, I mean, it's just

this like huge city that just pops up from this one magical weekend. And I mean, I don't think,

you know, I've go to a lot of different festivals, city festivals, smaller camping festivals,

but I mean, there's, there's just really nothing about like Bonereo. It's just this big pop up city.

And if you didn't even go into center and just stayed in the campground, you'd still have like

the time of your life. It's amazing. I think if I remember right, Rick, you've been on a couple of

times on our show, but I remember one of your, your stories, if I'm, if I don't want to put words in,

but how Bonereo changed your mindset. You know, you're from Birmingham, Alabama. You had an idea

of what the world was like. And then you went to Bonereo and it was like, oh my God, I'm, I, this is,

this is mind blowing. Again, I'm putting words in your mouth.

Rick No, I appreciate that. It, it gave me room for my mindset, I think, you know, I've always been

open-minded and, you know, and, and, you know, this is maybe not the right wording for it, but I kind

of, I kind of had a, a life card doubt for me that was in a very closed-minded area, you know, and,

and a closed-minded group, the closed-minded lifestyle, you know, and, and even though I've

always had more of an open mind, you know, really I don't even take it credit for that. I'm born

with it, I think, you know, I think we're all, you know, and it's just the way I'm wired. And,

but Bonereo showed me the world that I've always felt, but didn't see. That's the easiest way I

could say it, you know, and I've, I've, I've saw people being themselves. And in a lot of the world

that I had lived in, people was what they were wanting to be perceived to be. And that's too

deep, but, but that's what I've kind of felt. Like I felt like when I went to Bonereo, I saw

people being themselves without fear of judgment. That challenged me.

Yeah. And non-threatening. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's, yeah. I remember you telling that story.

And I always thought that was pretty impactful because I, we hear that a lot. We're going to

hear that in the, these entries. Bonadad, the Rick is Bonadad and he has his own, he has his own flag.

People come by every year and ask for him. And in our group, he is, he is our Bonadad. And I know,

especially I've had a challenging last year, a lot of us call Rick, you know, because a lot of us

either don't have dads or don't have relationships, but like Rick has been like, he's like, he's,

he is literally Bonadad and he's, you just, you just heard him talk. I mean, he's great with advice.

You know, he's, you know, he's, he's gone through his own journey of changing his mindset. And I

mean, it's, it's, it's amazing. I love when people come by and go, you know, I need to,

I need to get a hug from Bonadad every year. So, you know, we, we love our Bonadad.

We, I don't even think we get all of the folks on this show and I don't know how I wish we can do

it, Russ, but I know from Reddit and all the other socials, there's so many different groups

that have this type of experience like we do where it's year round.

I think we kind of talked about it last week. You know, I wouldn't know Russ, I wouldn't know Brian,

I wouldn't know Brad, really, except for Bonaru. I wouldn't know you guys, but I feel like, you know,

we're friends. I, I literally have Rick in my phone so much so that I bothered him on the couch

yesterday. I feel like I walked up to your front porch and said, hey,

I was glad to hear from you. It's me. So, I mean, I wouldn't have that universe if not for Bonaru.

So it's pretty amazing. So I guess one of the questions and you answered it that I had was

all your group, you're all in, everybody's back in, you guys are doing just everything like normal,

right? Nothing changes for us. Awesome. We already bought our tickets. We're good. We're all good.

We were waiting on that pre-sale. We're ready to go. All right. Well, let's take a break. And when

we come back, we're going to listen to some entries and get your thoughts on that if that's okay.

Here we go.

All right. I don't know, Rick, Sean, you guys, I don't, I mean, I don't assume that you guys listen

to our silly show every week, but we have been inundated with contest entries. We are so appreciative

of everybody that listens to the show. Number one, number two, that has taken the time to

enter our contest for two tickets. I get that you want to win, but Russ, I can't, I mean, I'm stunned

at the number of people who not only are entering, but they're entering for other people. Yes. That's

that's just, I wouldn't enter for you. I mean, I love your brother, but I don't give a shit whether

you win tickets. Sorry. Appreciate that. Yeah. I'm just being honest. No, it is amazing. It is amazing.

Yeah. Like there's so many people that are calling in for somebody else and you know, you'll hear

more of that today. So it's a pretty, pretty selfless thing. I mean, usually you would expect

people just to be like, Hey, I want to win tickets. Thanks. But yeah, these are very heartfelt,

personal stories and you know, it's, it's going to be tough to choose. Honestly, there's so many

people that, you know, you hear one, you're like, Oh, we got to give it to them. And then you hear

another, Oh, we got to give it to them. So many people are deserving of this. I wish we had,

you know, more tickets to give away, but you know, it's going to be a tough decision.

Yeah. So I didn't tell you Rick, but you're the one that's going to have to pick.

No pressure. No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. We'll, we'll figure it out, but Russ is not wrong. It's

amazing. It's so cool. You guys are great. You're, we're going to hear what 11 or so.

Yeah. I just got a bunch and I mean, we could go all day. There's so many of these.

Yeah. And it's so sweet. You guys are so cool that you're care about other people. So,

all right, let's play the first one. Cause I want to hear it. I'm talking

Rick and Sean. I'm glad you're here. Cause I think you might recognize this first one. I want to see

if you, if you recognize who this is. So this, and this, he submitted the video, so you'll see him.

Here we go. Hi, my name is Gavin. The reason I want to win tickets to Bonnaroo this year

is because I have lots of tapestries and primarily this, this, this, that string lights

attached to a piece of art that I found somewhere. And yeah, I think it'd be really cool to have at

my campsite and just to have set up for people to enjoy no matter what they might be partaking in

for the night or multiple nights, I should say. But yeah, I have all these tapestries and stuff

to set up at my campsite. And I, my, my campsite last year was severely lacking and then it got

rained out as I'm sure you guys remember. But yeah, there's just a lot that I've been,

that I want to have at my campsite. Primarily, I just, my favorite moments are just sitting

around the campsite with all my favorite people and new friends that I've met and

just making new memories. Like the, I mean, going to the sets is always great and, and seeing,

I mean, some of my favorite artists were there last year, but it got rained out. So I didn't

get to see any sets. But I'm really anticipating this year because there's a lot of people going

with me this year. Like my first year in 2020, 2024, I went by myself and I didn't even have a

campsite. It was just me and my camper van. But yeah. Wow. So that's, that's Gavin. He camped next

to us at Cave Fest this past year. Oh, okay. I recognize you. Yeah. Yeah. Nice. Yeah. We,

I remember we tried to jump him off because he had a dead battery in his car and I don't think we,

he got it going. So I'm glad to see at least that he made it home.

Yeah. I, I, I waited, we, we, we, we waited and made sure Gavin got on his way, but Gavin,

he had a good, he didn't let it get him down, man. And he's just so chill. Like we love Gavin.

He had the best attitude. Yeah. I mean, for somebody who was basically stranded, he was like,

yeah, that's cool, man. You know, so he was a lot of fun to hang out with the whole weekend.

Barry, I wish you were there for Cave Fest. You'll have to join us. I missed that one. I've been to

the other three, two, two. Yeah. I didn't go to that one. I think we had some family thing,

but yeah. All right. What do we got? Let's see. We've got a bunch pulled here. Let's play.

Well, this one is Tori. Hello, the what? This is Tori and my Botaru win ticket story

involves nuns love Sally without her wine and the season of the sticks. So growing up,

I wanted to be a nun. Yes, a nun. So obviously I didn't date much. When my vocation aspirations

eventually changed, I realized that I needed to do some inner work and learn how to be fully myself,

whatever that meant. Fast forward to this year. I started dating my best friend of two years.

This year has been a year of first for me. First kiss, first boyfriend. And I turned the big age,

the big wonderful age of 40. My guy, my lovely person got me into role model and I got him into

Noah con. I see that they are headlining of that beautiful Sunday at the farm. So Botaru would be

my first concert at first festival. I used to feel embarrassed about being older and having

somebody first just now happening. But now I think I'm lucky to have somebody first yet to come.

Never believe anybody who tells you that the best is behind you. I would totally disagree with that.

So that is my quick in a nutshell with Botaru tickets story. Thank you. How awesome is that

one? Wow. She had me at nine. Yeah. Did the church owners need a nun? Are you recruiting?

We had one for a couple years there, but he's a college professor now and he won't come back.

You won't show his face anymore. All right. So I grew up in Catholic church. So I mean,

several of my teachers were former nuns. We had nuns that were my teachers. So that one hits for

me. Yeah, that's for me. Yeah, that's so cool. It's like you were saying, you always remember

your first Botaru. She's at the age of 40 and is experiencing all kinds of firsts. So you always

remember your first everything. And that's like what she said, pretty cool. Your best days are

not behind you. There's always something new to look forward to. A few things I really liked about

that one is her doing the inner work she's talking about and how she's changing so much. She's 40 and

she's doing these things for the first time. And I just really liked her vibe a lot. Yeah, 100%.

So I got home from work Friday and my wife, we're in our sixties, she's watching Harry Potter.

And she said, I've been watching this for the last hour. I've never watched it before. And I called

my daughter and I said, your mother is watching Harry Potter. And she said, I'm so jealous that

she gets to watch it for the first time. So like what you're talking about, Sean. And we all thought

that when Harry Potter came out. It was like, I don't want to read the books because I don't want

to see the movie because I want to, you know, anyway. So isn't that funny? Well, good for her.

Good for Tori. Love it. Love that one. That was awesome. What do we got? This one, I think, is

our first celebrity call in. So you hear this.

We all know the Pondo Maniacs out there have missed them. I have one question to ask you.

I say two. What you gonna do when Hookamania runs wild on you? And brothers, what you gonna do

when Pondo gets those tickets from you? Can't say no to the Hookamania. Hell yeah, brother.

Hell yeah. Hey, if that guy wins. Pondo approved. If that guy, if that guy wins, we gotta, we gotta

hook him up with John Cena's cousins because that's John Cena's cousins. Are you familiar

with that group? Yeah, they've written in before. Yeah. Yeah. They challenge us to wrestling matches

every year. And we, one of these days we're gonna, we're gonna do it. But yeah, that guy would fit

in really well with John Cena's cousins. So shout out to those guys. All right. What do we got?

This one. Okay. If you remember either last week or a couple of weeks ago, we played one from Gabby

and she got a little emotional in her message. Well, she's called back in again. So I'll play

this one from Gabby. Hey y'all. I've called once and I also left a message on the email part,

but I'm calling again just because I have high hopes and I've been checking my email every single

day. Just waiting to see. My name is Gabrielle Jefferson. I don't know how long ago it was,

but I sent my first voicemail in I'd say probably a week or two, but I'm just calling again to say

it's been on my mind. It has been on my mind every single day. I have entered multiple,

multiple giveaways and this one is the last one I have the chance to win. So I just wanted to put

my name out there again. Maybe tell you a little bit more about myself. Last time that I called,

I ended up crying talking about how much I love the farm and how my experience last year was ruined.

And it was my first year and how I really want that redemption, you know,

but I thought maybe I should tell you a little bit more about myself. I am born and raised in

Richmond, Virginia. I have six siblings. I'm the middle child of six siblings, four younger sisters,

two older brothers. So I've always been the mother figure of my siblings because I am the oldest

daughter. And something that's so important about that to me is that I have always had this sense of

fun when I'm alone and with my friends. And when I'm at home, I have this nurturing aspect that I

just take care of everybody. I love doing things around the house, helping out, cooking, cleaning.

I do go to school full time. I do have a job. I'm a very busy, independent, but also caring person

of my family. And one of my favorite parts of the summer is being able to take a little trip for

myself, being able to take a step back and focus on myself and my peace and my own love and prayer

for myself and being able to spread that with people who are also taking breaks for them.

And that's what I felt at Waterloo last year while I did get to experience the one day.

It was just people letting go, laying back, enjoying their life and enjoying the love around them.

And that's something that's so special to me because I still get to come home and spread all

that love that I gained while at Bonnaroo. And I think that is so incredibly important. I think

that's one of the most important aspects of going to Bonnaroo. And that's why I'd like to experience

it again. It's really important to me to keep on and maintain that freedom aspect of my life,

that I still get to go out and do something because my whole life has been hard. My parents

are divorced. I grew up in a pretty abusive household with my father and being able to take

a step away from that trauma and what the real world brings to that trauma. And just like I said,

being able to lay back like that is so important to me. And like I mentioned,

okay, so it gets cut off there and she does call back in with some more. So normally I wouldn't

play a second one, but I wanted to play this one. So here we go. Hi, my name is Gabrielle Jefferson.

My last voicemail got cut off a little short and I just wanted to go ahead and finish that up for

you guys. I stopped where I was talking about being a full-time college student while also

dealing with a lot of family stress and taking care of my family.

So, one of my goals is to become an outdoor environmental rehabilitation specialist working

with inmates who are about to be released. One of my reasons for that is that life is unfair.

Life is so unfair and a lot of the times we can get ourselves into really messy situations.

Inmates are no different to that. These are people who just haven't had a great chance at life.

People who need the help and they need guidance and most importantly, they don't have anybody to

listen to them. What I want to do with that is something that has always helped me is the

outdoors. One of those places being the first time I stepped foot on that farm, being outside

in an environment where you feel the earth connecting with you spiritually is one of the

most healing places I have or healing experiences I've ever experienced. It's really important to

me that other people feel that too and I think something that could really help a lot of inmates

is learning how to care for the environment so that they can start caring for you. So, I would

love to have a small program where inmates come to my facility, work with me for the day,

we'll work on planting, taking care of animals, talking to the earth, connecting spiritually with

it. I really think that that's something that Bonnaroo taught me my first time. I'm only a

second year college student so I actually just recently switched to the criminal justice route.

I initially was in environmental sciences, now I'm merging them and that is because of what Bonnaroo

taught me in my short experience while I was there. So, like I said in the last voicemail that I sent,

this is now my third voicemail I'm sending and I also emailed. I'm very courageous about winning

this. I really want to win this. I feel like it would help me and it would guide me and this would

be my chance to keep going to Bonnaroo. If I can go again then I will keep going. I just need to

get back on that farm. So, yeah. Thank you guys so much for this opportunity. I'm really, really

honored that you guys are doing this. I think this helps out a lot. Anyone who gets the ticket,

I think this is going to really benefit them. So, thank you guys so much.

All right. What do you got next? This one is Jason. Hey, What Podcast? My name is Jason.

Jason from Baltimore but living in Virginia. I was originally calling to enter for myself for tickets

to Wayne. Sorry, there's an ambulance. I actually don't live in Baltimore anymore so that's just

funny. Jason's on the run. Yeah. But I've been going to Bonnaroo since 2016. The only times I've

missed is when it was canceled because of Mother Nature or the two times I blew my knees out and

couldn't make it. But I originally wanted to enter for myself, like I said, to drag one of my

friends with me. But after listening to the podcast and hearing everybody else's stories, I'm giving my

spot or entry to Gabby from VCU because, wow, that was emotional. And actually it's funny because I

wanted to go to VCU for my master's program so I take it as a sign. I can go. I will go. I have it

tattooed on my arm. I'll send you guys a picture. But yeah, give it to Gabby. And also it's cool to

hear how many entries y'all are getting. I've been listening to y'all since like 2019, 2020,

something like that. And I remember that it definitely wasn't this many. But it's cool to

see y'all grow and happy for you. I actually got to meet y'all last year. That was pretty cool right

before the apocalypse rolled in. But happy root. Love y'all. Yeah, we're amazed. I don't know why

this year is different because we've been giving tickets away since 2018, every year since we've

been doing the show. But this year, man, we're getting lots and lots of entries and love it.

So yeah, it's gonna be hard. And he did send some pictures because he was one of the ones that met

up with us at the beer exchange Friday, Friday morning before it all went downhill. So all right,

play another. All right. Well, this one is let's play Kira. And Kira has called in about five or

six more times since the last episode. And she's had about three other people calling for her

friends and co workers and whatever. So here's and then she also submitted a PowerPoint, which

we'll put up on the screen too. But we'll play this voicemail. Yeah. Hey, the What Podcast.

It's Kira. I'm in a little bit of shock right now. We might have a baby Bonarubian coming.

Yeah, I took a pregnancy test today and I think I'm pregnant.

In shock a little bit wanted to tell you guys since you know, I've been calling you about

everything else. Anyway, happy Roo. I'm gonna go celebrate with my fiance. Have a good day. Bye.

Do you think she told us first or or her fiance? I'm hoping. I'm hoping it was her fiance first,

but I have a feeling we were her first call. Yeah. So yeah, I feel like we've gone through like every

stage of life with some of these people. You know, call in and give us updates on everything.

You know, that's that's a first. I don't think we've ever had anyone call in and

say they were pregnant. So no, no, we've never had a baby announcement.

But I know we've had weddings, weddings, so breaking news here on the What Podcast. All right.

All right. What else? Here's a video from Parker. What's going on? Lord taco, Gary and Brian and

maybe Elizabeth if she's there. This is my ticket entry. I'm actually not calling on my behalf.

I'll still listen to you guys whether I win or not. I work for FedEx. So I'm always I'm always

down to listen to some dudes talk about some music. So every Wednesday I'm looking for it. But I'm

calling on behalf of my brother. He he just deserves so much better than everything. I guess.

Um, I just never met somebody who tries to be so kind, puts other people first and strives to be

happy themselves. He just puts other people before himself sometimes at his own expense. But

anyways, he was diagnosed with bipolar right before 2025 when we were going. And

if you ever if you've ever dealt with anything like that, you know what it takes to get diagnosed. But

uh, yeah, I'm just he's coming. He's working a ski season right now in Montana. He just kind of

needed a break already. So he went out there to work ski season. I live with him too. I'm watching

over the house. But he's coming back in April and surprise him with some tickets for Bonnaroo would

be super cool because we talked about going he's like big fan of turnover and flip turn all the

turns. We saw a turnstile this year on tour, but uh, yeah, he's just a big music head and this is

like hit. This is a lineup geared towards him. So the win him some tickets would be pretty sick.

Anyways, I don't want to make it a sob story. Sorry. It's kind of I filmed like five of these

and this was the most I was able to talk. So anyways, thank you guys. Thank you, Parker.

Thank you, man. I love his hair. I'd like to have that.

But I mean you guys, Sean and Rick, you see, right? I mean, there's so many people who have

entered these for somebody else heartfelt heart. I mean, heartfelt. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. This isn't just

a one-win tickets. Yeah. Yeah. But Bonnaroo is just good people. It attracts good people

and these are all good people. You can tell. Yeah. That's why I wanted to have y'all join us

for this because you get it, right? I mean, a hundred percent. Yeah. All right. I don't know

how you're going to do it. We don't either. Let's, let's hear another one. This is Alexa.

Hey guys, my name is Alexa. And despite being originally from San Diego and my 32 years on this

planet, I've somehow never been to a music festival like Bonnaroo, which is crazy considering

these lineups are filled with people I grew up with and I love, and there's nothing I love more

than collecting a trinket. This year, I've decided to live my life with a more now or never mentality

and I would love to be considered for these tickets in order to scratch this itch of going

to a music festival like Bonnaroo. I got a taste of Bonnaroo last year while working on the outside

with Monster Energy and of course meeting people at the bars after it got canceled. And all I felt

was this intense sense of FOMO. The people who go to it seem to have such a fun and positive

energy about them. And in this day and age, we could all use a little more of that. As an added

bonus, I found y'all on TikTok and I was looking for a new podcast. So for me, this is kind of a

two for one. It's supposed to be super cold this week. So stay warm and thanks for listening. I

wish you all the best. Pretty cool. Yep. It's a good one too. Yeah, they're all good. Uh, let's

see. I think we've got one from oh yeah, Barry, you mentioned this one. Let's play this one from

Joe. Hello, what podcast? Joe Lopez here. Just wanted to turn in an entry for this week. Standing

outside because I'm waiting for my grandkids to get off the school bus, which is about to pass us

right now. So wanted to let you know this contest entry isn't more so for me. It's for their father.

He's going through a rough patch right now. Family nonsense. So, but it will all work out the way it's

supposed to. So, uh, last summer he introduced me to TurnStyle. Um, great band, great live. Everyone's

going to be excited to see them. I would love to introduce him to Bonnaroo. He always asks about it.

He questions it. When I went the first time in 24, he had so many questions on how it would go. So

I would love to take him out to that, um, get him away from, I don't want to say reality for a moment,

but just get his mind somewhere else. Um, full of positive uplifting and full of all the love that

the farm has to offer. So hopefully you guys can choose us and we'll see you on the farm. And if

there are any football fans out there, go check. That's a great beard. Yeah, it is. But you gotta

love a parent pulling for their kids, you know? Exactly. Exactly. I mean, Russ, if we've gotten

100, 140%, 45% are people asking for other people? Very much so. 65. Am I? It's, it's a, yeah,

it's more than half. Yeah. Unbelievable. I've never seen anything like that. I mean, I can't, uh,

you know, I, I, I don't think I ever walked up to like, uh, you know, whatever the grocery store is

and they're, you know, put your name in a bucket. I never wrote your name ever.

That's why I didn't win. I was counting on you, Barry. It never entered my mind

to put someone else's name. I know. I'm so amazed and humbled if that's the right word.

That's the right word. Uh, it's amazing what you guys are doing. So how many more we got, Russ?

One or two. Let's see. Yeah. Go down the list here. Cause I've been kind of hunting and pecking.

Did we play this one? Let's see. This is Jonathan. Hey, this is Jonathan. Um, up from New Jersey.

Um, I'm not calling because I deserve these tickets. Honestly, I'm calling because my two

younger brothers do this past year has thrown every kind of curve ball at them and they've,

they've had a look with more strength and heart than most people I've ever seen. They work hard.

They never complain and they really take time for themselves. Uh, they've, they've never been to

Bonnaroo. In fact, I don't even think they've ever been to a music festival in life at all.

Um, I just want them to have a moment to breathe, to have fun, to feel like the world isn't against

them for once. But if you choose us, I'd be right there beside it. I already got my ticket.

Be my first Bonnaroo as well. But, um, if you choose us,

we'll be making memories to carry with us for the rest of our lives.

So, um, yeah. Thank you for listening. Uh, I'll be, I'll see you there. Yeah.

Yeah. Once again, they, you know, asking for someone else. That's, that's amazing.

All right. Uh, let's take a break and come back and gather ourselves, uh,

blow our noses. Yeah. If we can, I'll be right back.

All right. And we're back. Uh, no kidding guys. You see what we're up against,

Rick, Sean, seriously. What, what are we going to do? How are we going to pick?

I have no clue. What do you guys think? I mean, this is what we're, what we're listening to.

These are hundreds, hundreds of these, and they're all so heartfelt, so passionate

and so Bonnaroo, right? I mean, they're all just wonderful people. And I mean,

that's just a reflection of Bonnaroo and all the people you meet and people to stop by your campsite

and, you know, all the stories you share about what's been going on in your life and being able

to disconnect. I mean, I relate to so many of those. Um, well, uh, we will, we will figure out a way,

and we will pick a winner and I hope, uh, everybody who has entered gets to go in some form or another.

Me too. And thank you all for these things. I mean, I can't express, um,

uh, my, my own emotion. I get it. Uh, you guys are great. You understand the festival. You understand

why we're so passionate about it. We do this every week. Uh, and this answer is why. I mean,

I don't, I'm just touched. I'm touched by how many are asking for other people. And that's, I would, um,

I would kind of struggle not picking one that's asking for somebody else. However,

the, um, I forget their name, everybody's names, but the, uh, the nun, when it was the nun and

has went to do a lot of that stuff. Tori touched me deeply and I think she was kind of in it,

you know, entering herself in there. And, and I think that was beautiful in itself, you know,

so that makes it even harder. But, um, yeah, yeah, it's just,

it's just shows what Bonnaroo is all about. 100%. Um, all right, Rick, we were kind of talking

off air a little bit. You had a couple of things you wanted to, to maybe mention, um, add to.

I don't know. I just had a thought. I had a thought this morning. I was

kind of thinking about everything and, um, yeah, a couple of things. Bonnaroo is always,

okay, so I'm one of the older people at the festival. Um, I, and what I, what has happened,

I've been going since I was 48, I'm 64. And, um, one of the things that his Bonnaroo has always

been for me is kind of like a lighthouse. It's always been that thing that I think about that

I've got to keep my health good enough to be able to continue to go. Um, and in the past,

I would say, okay, I'm fixably walking 10 miles a day or whatever. I better get ready for that.

And, and I've had friends that would go climb mountains in Europe and all this stuff. And

Bonnaroo has always been that for me. It's always been that thing that, that, that keeps me going.

And, um, but so in a way that's what, that's kind of what I wanted to share is, you know, as people,

um, I love Bonnaroo, but in a way it is my lighthouse. It's my lighthouse that keeps me

wanting to stay healthy enough to continue doing it. But not only that, it's, it's also been

a lighthouse for me to, to stay close to the youth. You know, I think about Bonnaroo,

people talk about Bonnaroo changing. Bonnaroo really don't change in my eyes. Bonnaroo is

forever young is what Bonnaroo is. And we're getting older, but Bonnaroo don't change. Bonnaroo

is always going to be young. And it keeps me attached to the youth. And, um, I'm not one that

looks at the youth and, and shakes my head. And, uh, so, so that's what I wanted to share. I feel

like for me, Bonnaroo was that lighthouse that always keeps me looking forward. And, um, I'm

thankful for it. Wow. I didn't see that coming, but that is extremely well said. Yeah, I'm,

I'm with you. I'm 62. I don't look at Bonnaroo like it should change for me. It should not be,

um, I don't feel like it should look at, it should make 62 year old Barry happy.

It, it, I should be like, what are the 22 year olds into, you know, and they're in the EDM.

So yeah, they're into the, the other stage and the changes. So you said it a whole lot better.

Yeah, it's a good point because the, you know, there is a lot of, a lot of people complain about

old Bonnaroo's change. It's not like it used to be, but you know, so these people never been,

so they don't have that, you know, what it used to be. They're just looking at what it is now.

And, you know, to them, it's, it's a new and exciting thing and it's always going to be that

way, you know, for somebody who's just getting into it. So yeah, it's pretty good point.

If you came up in like, if you came up in like the jam band scene and then, and then you want to,

you know, bitch about, they're not being, you know, that much representation of that at Bonnaroo,

but the EDM scene is the jam band scene now. I mean, that's the same kids. It's, it was us,

you know, but I mean, you know, if, if, if, if Bonnaroo just stayed, you know, stagnant,

Bonnaroo wouldn't exist. You know, there's, there's a lot of niche festivals and those are all great

and I go to them, but Bonnaroo, you know, it's, you know, it, it, it, it, it moves and it evolves

and, and I'm just, I'm happy to be a part of it. You know, it's, I've loved watching it change,

you know. So we just played this week, last week and the week before probably 40, 30, 40. Nobody

said, nobody said I saw my best show there or my favorite show there. It's all about the vibe. It's

about the, how much it means to them. And if you listened, I mean, to your point, Rick, we've got a

40 year old nun, we've got a 20 year old, you know, 18 year old, a 64 year old, a 62 year old,

who, who this festival lets them be who they want to be. Yeah, that's a great point. I'm so glad you

said that and you said it very, very well. Beautiful. All right. I can't thank you guys

enough. Thank you everybody for your entries. We will pick a winner next week. Next week. Yeah.

Yeah. Unbelievable. Yeah. And from there, hopefully Brian will be back. Hopefully he's feeling better.

But thank you, Sean. Thank you, Rick. Thank you everybody for listening. Hit that subscribe

and all that like and leave a review and do all that stuff. It means a lot to us.

Yep. All right. Peace.