The What Podcast The Musician Who Plays Mushrooms Season 9, Episode 38 Published September 30, 2026 https://thewhatpodcast.com/episode/the-musician-who-plays-mushrooms Barry (00:00) But you literally used plants and mushrooms in in the making of your music, right? Tarun (00:07) Yeah, correct. I take bioelectric activity from you know, from mushrooms and plants and and honestly anything that's alive. So I I use these little I I even have one here. Use these little devices that allow me to turn that activity into musical information. This is such a different approach to making music. It still trips me out. Barry (00:35) Welcome back to The What Podcast.. I'm Barry. That's Russ. Russ, if I gave you a shiitake mushroom, could you write a song about it? Russ (00:46) There's not much I could do with a shiitake mushroom or any mushroom, to be honest. Barry (00:49) Could you make a song? I mean, writing a song about it would be one thing, but plugging something into it Russ (00:53) Writing is one thing. Yeah. Barry (00:58) Guys, we've got I think a f a really fun show. I'm very excited about it. we have Tarun, who is an artist from Vancouver, and he performs as modern biology, and he literally makes music with synthesizers, Russ (01:18) Mm-hmm. Barry (01:19) electronics plugged into plants. And I know you're gonna laugh. I know what you're thinking, because I did, Russ (01:26) We did. Barry (01:27) but You can't I mean the the the puns just they write themselves, right? Russ (01:33) I know, but did you did you check out his Instagram or his TikTok or anything? It's it's cooler than you are imagining it. Yeah, yeah. Barry (01:36) I it's it's I think it's terrific. I think yeah. Once we get into it and we start talking about people like Brian Eno and Robert Fripp and Stevie Wonder, you get a better idea of what we're talking about. Russ (01:51) Yeah, that's that's what kind of hooked me, I guess. So I'm I'm Barry (01:54) Yeah. Russ (01:55) really looking forward to that set and really enjoy talking to Barry (01:59) And the reason we're talking to him is that he is on the lineup at CaveFest, which we will be attending October tenth and eleventh. He's Sunday the eleventh in the evening, 5 30, I think, in the cave. Five or five thirty. Thank you. There's the punt. There I mean it starts there. Actually, it starts with Russ (02:14) Five or five thirty, somewhere around there, but he's in the cave, which for a mushroom show, w where else would you be? Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I mean Yeah. Barry (02:24) I thought all musicians made music on mushrooms. That was my first thought. So Russ (02:27) yeah. Mm-hmm. Barry (02:29) Yeah, we're here all week, folks. Try the try the veal. Russ (02:31) Mm-hmm. Barry (02:33) no, he was terrific. I had so much fun talking to him. because it's so unusual, but also because it's so interesting. and I know you and I both like that sort of electronic experimental I don't know what you'd call it beyond that, but Russ (02:54) Or just weird. You know, I just like weird shit. So Barry (02:56) Yeah. Russ (02:56) if anything, you know, like it it's different than just standing on stage and and playing guitar, which I love, but yeah, if if there's Barry (03:04) Yeah. Russ (03:05) a if it's something a little outside the the lines I'm in. Barry (03:09) Yeah. So we've got our interview with him and then we've got our interview with our ticket winner, Abby. Abby. Russ (03:17) Yeah, speaking of CaveFest, Abby left a comment and you know, ran that contest for a few weeks, asked people to tell us why they wanna go, who they wanna see, and A Abby Abby won. So she's very excited, yeah. Barry (03:30) She's very excited about coming. Yeah. Excited about that. She's relatively new to the festival universe, so she and Tarun will both be visiting the cave, the cavern for the first time, so Russ (03:45) Yeah, we got a couple of CaveFest first timers, which is cool. Barry (03:49) Let's take a break and we'll go into Tarun. And like I said, didn't see this one coming. Didn't see, you know, how Russ (03:58) No. Barry (03:58) much fun, but this was a blast. And I can't wait to Russ (04:00) No, it would Barry (04:01) see Russ (04:02) yeah, I'm very excited. Barry (04:08) yeah, there he is. There's Tarun. How are you, man? Tarun (04:11) I'm doing pretty good. Nice to meet you both. Barry (04:13) Typically we focus on Bonnarooo, which is about ten, fifteen minutes away from The Caverns, but we have said many, many times on here that the caverns is our second favorite venue. Tarun (04:23) Ha ha Barry (04:26) we just love Todd Mayo and that whole Jeff and the crew, the venue, which I don't think you've been to, right? Tarun (04:34) I've only been to Nashville once. So th the only time I've been to Tennessee is Nashville. and that was probably fifteen years ago or something. So I'm looking forward to t I mean, I've seen the pictures and it looks super cool. I I can't wait to check it out. Barry (04:49) And where where's home? Tarun (04:51) Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Yeah. Barry (04:53) man, wow. Russ (04:54) Wow, Barry (04:54) So yeah, you're coming a ways. You're gonna Russ (04:54) okay. No wonder, yeah. Tarun (04:56) Mm-hmm. Barry (04:58) you're gonna get a a total culture, Tarun (05:01) I can't wait. I Russ (05:01) No Tarun (05:02) can't wait. Barry (05:04) Shock or whatever. Tarun (05:05) Yeah. Barry (05:06) you work are known professionally as modern biology. And for those who don't know, and and forgive me, but there's just no way we can't make puns about all this. I mean, you make mushrooms with I mean, you make music with mushrooms and you're Tarun (05:22) Ha ha ha. Barry (05:24) gonna perform in a cave. I mean, come on, it just Tarun (05:26) Yeah. Barry (05:27) lends itself, right? I'm sure you've heard them all. Tarun (05:30) Well, I don't know. There's there's a lot of them. There's there's much room for more. Barry (05:37) Well Russ (05:36) Ha ha ha. Barry (05:37) Jeff texted Tarun (05:38) Ha ha. Barry (05:39) and said, I I you should talk to to Tarun. he he makes music with mushrooms. And I said, don't they all? I mean, you know, and he's like, ha ha. But you Russ (05:50) Yeah. Barry (05:52) literally used plants and mushrooms in in the making of your music, right? Tarun (05:59) Yeah, correct. I take bioelectric activity from you know, from mushrooms and plants and and honestly anything that's alive has this bioelectric activity like our nervous systems run on electricity and every time we move it's electrical. So I I use these little I I even have one here. Use these little devices, That allow me to turn that activity into musical information. I actually make these with some friends. and it's a wonderful I've you know, I'm I'm grew up a musician playing in the Indian classical world. My dad is from India, my mom is from Canada. And this is such a different approach to making music. It still trips me out, you know. I'm like, wow, this is wild. Barry (06:44) I'm sure you've told it before and forgive me for asking, but how how did this develop? When you know, at what point did you wake up and say, you know, I bet if I plug something Tarun (06:52) Ha ha ha. Barry (06:54) into this plant? And were there were there Tarun (06:57) Yeah. Barry (06:59) other kind of mushrooms involved? I mean, I'm sure that question comes up too. Are they ever ingested? Russ (07:03) Ha ha ha. Tarun (07:06) Yeah, I mean, I I'll take it one step back. So I grew up playing, you know, Indian classical music, but I studied biology at school and I ended up in a touring band for about fifteen years from my mid twenties to my late thirties. And then during the pandemic that obviously slowed down like it did for a number of artists. And instead of learning how to make sourdough, I got got super you know interested in this world of synthesis, sound synthesis. So I was buying, you know, modular synthesizers and trying to learn how to use them. And I had played synthesizers on stage for many years, but I'd never really dove into the actual synthesis of it. I you know, this the the actual like synthesis of sound and oscillators Barry (07:51) Sure. Tarun (07:52) and filters and you know all sorts of different components. And then during the pandemic I had that time And you know, maybe there was mushrooms of another variety involved, but I became aware of this whole this whole world of plant music which developed in the late 70s actually. So we're 50 years into this experiment. People have been doing this for a long time. And I started acquiring devices and then building my own devices to be able to participate and using the modular synth as a sound source for these experiments. And you know, it was lonely during the pandemic and I was up in the the northern Gulf Islands of British Columbia, which were these little islands that are, you know, even further away than Vancouver is. And spending a lot of time by myself. And I was like, I'm gonna post some of this stuff on the internet. And so I started posting some of my experience on the internet and I realized that there was actually a lot of people out there who were really interested and slightly confused and and that encouraged me Russ (08:48) Yeah. Tarun (08:48) to continue. And you know, this is six years later now and I'm still doing it. So it's a lot of fun. Barry (08:52) I thought when you said you when you got on the internet you found other people who were doing the same. Are there other I mean, I'm trying to I can't remember the name of that. Was it Stevie Wonder that did a a song about plants? Tarun (09:01) Yeah, yeah. I mean, he did the the he did the soundtrack, The Secret Life of Plants, the to the Yeah. Yeah. Barry (09:08) That's I couldn't think of the first part. I knew it was something of plants, but yeah. Russ (09:09) Mm-hmm. Tarun (09:12) Yeah. He was making music. You know, there's that Mark Garson record as well, Plantasia, which people are familiar with. Mark Garson made the music for plants. He was like, you know, you I want you to play this record Barry (09:25) Yeah. Tarun (09:26) for your plants. Stevie Wonder, I think, made it inspired by the movie. But ever since the 70s, it started off at this this community in northern Italy called Damanhour, who started converting this electrical information into MIDI notes, into sort of primitive synthesizers. And now there are, yeah, there are lots of people. I mean, I've we've sold a bunch of these devices and people have been selling these devices for decades now. and so there's a lot of people noodling around with plant and mushroom music, Barry (09:54) Yeah. Tarun (09:54) but I would say perhaps you know, more recently, it's only in the last three or four years where when I tell people what I do, now they're like, I've seen this. You know, it's Barry (10:06) Okay. Tarun (10:06) sort of made its way into like the TikTok world and the Instagram world. Russ (10:07) okay. Starting to Yeah, starting to break through. Tarun (10:11) Yeah. So people are like, I saw this, you know, or and so now there's a little bit more of a mainstream recognition of the idea that it's possible. Barry (10:18) Yeah. And and F Frip and Eno, I mean, they were pioneers in the synthesizer inspired sounds and kinda in that Russ (10:28) yeah. Frippotronics, soundscapes, all yeah. Barry (10:31) Yeah, kinda let's see where the the synthesizer takes us rather than learning how to manipulate the synth of course. I guess a little bit of both. Tarun (10:42) Yeah, I think what I really appreciate about both of those folks' approach is that there was this kind of idea of generative music, which was quite radical at the time. You know, this I and also this idea of like furniture music, Eric Satee's, you know, ambient music, like what Barry (11:00) Yes, yes. Russ (11:01) Mm-hmm. Tarun (11:01) you know, what the it's it was at at that time a very different way of making music, kind of non-directed way. And making music with plants and mushrooms puts you into the same situation where I'm not really in control. I have some subjective control over the oscillator that I'm sending the impulses to. But at the end of the day, and I can control some of the stuff by quantizing on the modular synthesizer. But at the end of the day, stuff is happening and I I don't know what's going to happen. And so there's this need for me and I'm often collaborating with other folks and I will be at CaveFest as well. to just respond and to be very live and it kind of takes us into the you know improvisational experimental jazz Russ (11:42) Mm-hmm. Tarun (11:43) world which I'm comfortable with because I grew up in the Indian classical tradition which is similarly open and you know i improv improvisatory yeah. Barry (11:54) Yeah. I I know Russ (11:56) Yeah. Barry (11:56) I am, and I think Russ is. We we have had a a group here in Chattanooga, one of the founders died a few years ago, but Shake and Ray Levi Society were very well known worldwide in the improv Russ (12:09) Yes. Barry (12:10) improvisation music. so I'm familiar with what you're talking about. Tarun (12:16) Mm-hmm. Barry (12:19) How what how how to phrase this? Does one mushroom make a different sound than another? Does one type make a different sound? Tarun (12:24) Yeah, I Russ (12:25) Yeah. Tarun (12:30) mean it's it's a question that I like to explore live with people. and we'll probably do that because I think I'll have a a few different cultures to play with on stage at CaveFest. the it's hard to give a solid answer there because mushrooms don't sound like anything. I mean, we're literally plugging synthesizers into mushrooms and then we're taking their data and sonifying it. It's called you know, biosonification and data sonification. And it's very similar to what people do with you know, visual data visualization. You can visualize data as this graph or as this graph or as this graph or this moving picture or whatever. And so we're doing the same thing with Barry (13:07) Okay. Tarun (13:08) sound. and so the the idea does one mushroom sound like another mean a lot of it comes to what subjective choices the artist myself is making. But if you look at the data And we I often I we run these citizen science experiments as well, once or twice a year where we get people all over the world to do the same experiment with the same gear on the same day with the same plant. And we have found a remarkable amount of agre agreements between these these experiments. So there are patterns in these plants. And there's a a whole world of scientific research that I'm constantly engaged with. And I know a lot of the people on the front lines doing this research. So they're There definitely are patterns, but I would say we're about a decade away from being able to answer that question for real because the idea of fungal electrophysiology is a very new one. You know, the most sort of frontier labs in fungal research are just now exploring what happens with electricity underground through mycelium. And so being able to differentiate different types of fungal culture from each other based on their electrical activity, we just don't know yet. but I s I certainly think it's fun to experiment. And I I also think we shouldn't leave all the fun to the scientists. I think what I love about this gear is that it's simple. You can make it by yourself if you've got some persistence and know how to solder and, you know, can make it through some YouTube videos and order some parts. But you can also buy very affordable devices and sort of participate in these science art experiments. And I think that, you know, we might get there with the answer to that question sooner than the labs who are kind of restrained by you know, funding and and whatnot. Barry (14:48) Do certain types of plants work better, inspire you, change for you differently? I mean, is you know, an azalea versus a a mushroom Tarun (15:01) Yeah. Barry (15:03) and and Russ (15:03) Yeah. Barry (15:04) I'm I know it sounds funny, and I'm really asking that earnestly. I'm not being snarky. Tarun (15:08) Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Barry (15:09) and and and I I would assume environment. You know, you're gonna Tarun (15:14) Mm-hmm. Barry (15:14) be in a cave, I'm gonna assume that's gonna have some sort of different inspiration than an open field or you know, or an arena or a small room, so Tarun (15:24) Mm-hmm. Yeah. I mean, I'm I think one of the wonderful things about this practice is that it certainly feels like we're scoring the moment together. and everything is influencing the output that we're getting. You know, our own electrical activity, our electrome as humans are is influencing the mushroom that we're working with. The electricity in the synthesizer with all of the cables is affecting the mushroom. There's this huge feedback system. That's happening. And similar to Frip and and Eno, it's a generative system which is which is very much alive. This idea of like cybernetics, you know, there's a sort of ghost in the machine. At some point in time, the system is is larger and more interesting than the sum of its parts. And that's what inspires me as an artist. and in terms of locations, I love being outside. I love being in new places. I've never played in a cave before. So I'm really I Russ (16:19) I was about to ask if you've ever done this in a cave before. Tarun (16:21) I've never done it in a cave, so we'll see what happens. And then working Russ (16:24) Yeah. Tarun (16:24) with strange plants. You know, when I my my dream one of these days is to work with a corpse flower. And corpse flowers are these relatively iconic, stinky flowers. They're called corpse flowers because Barry (16:36) Mm-hmm. Tarun (16:36) they when they bloom, but they they smell like corpses, but they only Yeah. But they Barry (16:39) They s smell like a rotting corpse, exactly. Russ (16:41) Mm-hmm. Tarun (16:42) only bloom like once every two or three years, and they only bloom for twenty four hours. So you have to be on it, you know. and I haven't caught one yet. You know, I have a few friends in various gardens around the country and so they're like, Yo, dude, this one's gonna bloom in a two days. Can you Barry (16:58) Yeah, yeah. Tarun (16:58) make it? And I haven't make it yet, you Russ (16:59) Yeah, you you Tarun (17:00) know. Barry (17:01) Whereas one of s maybe one of the more unusual places you have done this. Tarun (17:06) That's a good question. I mean, I've I've traveled all over the world. So I've had I've had some fun. I was just doing this this expedition with a number of mycologists, fungal researchers up on the kind of northwest coast of British Columbia. So this is again in Canada, and it was a wild expedition because we were actually sampling, doing proper scientific sampling. of these cores, these fungal cores, trying to get an idea of the fungal biodiversity in these remote regions and also trying to provide the local indigenous folks with some ammunition, with some evidence to get the provincial government to stop cutting down all these old growth forests. So we were in these remote old growth forests and we were flying in with float planes into these remote lakes. And then there's no way to get from the float plane to the shore because there's no docks. So, you know, we'd have to fly into the float plane, then we'd strip down to our bathing suits, put all of the equipment into dry bags, including my little synthesizers, and then swim to shore, sort of navigate the shore, get up, you know, and it was like it's cold. It's not warm. So like quickly be running around in the forest and there's grizzlies and all sorts of things that you have to have to sort of watch out for and then set up all of our gear and it's like sort of pouring rain and get everything done, take out the synthesizer, get some readings, take some little recordings and then sort of put everything back in a dry bag and and head back to the plane and then go on to the next site. So I think that's you know, that's sort of the James Bond of sound synthesis. And that's that's it. Yeah. Yeah. Barry (18:40) That qualifies. Russ (18:40) Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Barry (18:46) have you ever repeated? I mean, is it the kind of thing that you ever repeat a song or a a piece? or is every every performance completely unique? Tarun (19:00) Yeah, there's that's that's a great question. I mean, there's a certain I I I every performance is unique. That's you know, because the sort of main melodic element is coming from a plant or a mushroom, I don't have any control about what's gonna happen there. But over time, over the last five or six years, I also tend to work with you know, the same musicians. I'm about to do a tour right after CaveFest, I'm doing a tour of North America with, you know, as a quartet. And I find that as we sort of engage over multiple shows together, we do find ways that we can move. So it might not sound the same to the audience, but we'll find certain techniques that work with this, you know, Barry (19:44) Sure. Tarun (19:45) kind of bubbling bioelectric Russ (19:45) Mm-hmm. Tarun (19:48) signal. And then you can go in with, you know, if you go in with an idea of like, okay, we're gonna quantize the mushroom or plant information to, you know. G mixed Elydian scale or something, then at least the other musicians sort of know in what tonal world we're going to exist in. And then there is the ability to sort of move it in a certain direction. We don't know exactly where we're going to get, but I would say it's there's a constant sort of push and pull that's happening. Because if you go in with a set idea, it's not going work out. But you can go in with some, you know, maybe a motif or something that might work. Barry (20:28) Yeah, along those lines, does it typically again the puns. I mean, is it tip would you describe it as more mellow music? Is it always mellow? Does it get raucous like a f like an Eno, you know, some of his his synthesizer he c he can he can do ambient or he could take you way on up there. Tarun (20:50) Yeah, I mean I come I come from a dance music background actually. And so I played at a festival in Czech Republic this summer where they had hired me, you know, based on what they've seen on the internet, which is largely chill music in gardens and whatnot. But it became clear to me, you know, as I was sort of I was there the night before and they had me for like an eleven o'clock set or something, and I went to the stage and it was like a banging dance party. So was like, I cannot Russ (21:18) Yeah. Barry (21:18) Yeah yeah. Tarun (21:19) If I get up Barry (21:20) Yeah. Tarun (21:20) there and play ambi music, everyone is gonna leave. Like this is not the Barry (21:24) Yeah. Tarun (21:24) thing. And so I, you know, I know how to play dance music and I have all my drum machines and everything. So I played a dance version of the set and it went amazing. You know, it was so fun. You had all these these Czech folks just going nuts for mushrooms. And, you know, I had my sort of like drum machine, my 606 roll a drum machine there as well. And I'm sort of like playing beats. So it can really, you know, it can really go in whatever direction you want. And you can use that, natural impulse to modulate drums. You know, it doesn't have to be just for you know, oscillators that are producing pleasant tones. And I think that it's dangerous too to make it too pleasant because, you know, nature, sure, nature has a pleasant side on a calm day on the ocean, but it's not always like that. And I Barry (22:09) Yeah. Tarun (22:10) I don't think it's particularly Russ (22:10) Mm-hmm. Tarun (22:11) honest to make it seem like nature is a sound bath, you know, 'cause like it's chaotic out there too. Russ (22:16) Yeah. Barry (22:17) Yeah. Tarun (22:18) Yeah. So I I tend to I tend to to go abroad and we'll see what the I don't know when I'm playing like what time or what the vibe will be like at CaveFest, but there's generally some you know, it's not all chill, I would say. Barry (22:30) I mean I like it a lot, but this is Russ is a big King Crimson fan, Rush fan, I yeah, Frippenino. who I I I Russ (22:38) Yeah, Barry (22:39) like all of those too, but this is right in your wheelhouse. Russ (22:43) Yeah, as soon as you drew that parallel to Fripanino, yeah, I'm I was like, I'm in, so I'll I can't wait to be there now. Tarun (22:48) Nice. Barry (22:50) Yeah. Well if you're wandering around look for a green seventy eight Westfalia, Tarun (22:56) Okay. Barry (22:57) we'll be hanging out. Come have a beer, Russ (22:58) Yeah. Barry (22:59) whatever, a little Tarun (22:59) Okay. Sounds great. Love it. Barry (23:02) I I always like to give away Russ's moonshine, so we'll we'll make you comfortable. Come on by. Tarun (23:05) I love it. I Russ (23:05) Yeah. Tarun (23:08) love it. Okay, sounds good. Barry (23:13) Hey guys, if you're enjoying the show, please take a moment and subscribe to our YouTube channel and rate us five stars on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Yeah, there you go. I I I when it was when we finished talking, I I kinda got in the car and I was like, I really wish I'd explored that whole difference between like a shiitake and you know, an oyster head mushroom or you know, the different you know, that'd have been kinda funny, but Russ (23:43) Yeah, we didn't get into like the biol biology of it. Like what did you know, but yeah, it was gonna be a great show. we it could have gone a Barry (23:48) I think he could. Don't you? Russ (23:52) lot of places. He was excited to talk about about what he does and I'm I'm pretty excited to watch it. Barry (23:58) Yeah, that's I I I hope we struck the right tone. I he's very serious about his music and he's very good at it and I I I appreciate it. I mean I I got it. I I'm looking forward to seeing him. So And thanks to Jeff and Todd and the guys at the cabin and CaveFest, we had two tickets to give away and we ran a contest for a couple of weeks. We just simply asked people to Hey, do you want to go? Why? And who are you bringing somebody? And do you promise you'll come? And Abby was our winner. You put it all on some sort of wheel, spun the wheel. She was the winner. She's super excited. she to me is a classic newer festival story. Went to her first one, Bonnaroo, what, 25? Russ (24:57) Yeah, I know, yeah. but you know, she's Barry (24:58) And it sucked horribly. What you Russ (25:02) she's the kind of person you hope to see, you know, up and coming as far as Barry (25:05) Exactly. Russ (25:06) a festival attendee and enthusiast. I mean, you know, those of us we've been doing it for years, but there's always people, you know, who haven't done Barry (25:14) Yeah. Russ (25:15) that, who haven't gone to all these shows, so Barry (25:17) Literally preaching to the converted when she says, We went to 2025, 50 of us flew in from all over. It sucked, rained out. We went to Atlanta and had a great time. You understand, right? You get it. I get, yep. Exactly. Russ (25:29) Yeah, and that's I I get it completely and and that's the right attitude. I mean, so many people have, you know, probably would be like, I'm never going back there again, you know, it got canceled. But she figured out how to make it into a a a a fun event just like we all did and it didn't deter her from trying again. Now she's hooked, yeah. Barry (25:45) Yep. Yeah, now she's hooked. Yeah. I say that nobody listening is like, There's no way 'cause they're gone. Those people have moved on to some other event, but the rest of us are like, yeah, that makes perfect sense Russ (25:58) Yeah, they they left I know, they left their Reddit comments and then just moved on, so yeah. Barry (26:03) Exactly. The rest of us are like, heck yeah, I'm going to another one. And another one. And another one. So Russ (26:08) Yeah. Right. Barry (26:11) that's awesome. That's perfect. I and I can't wait to meet her. and seriously, well, no, that's not fair. I was gonna say if you wanted to go, you know, reach out, but that's not fair to her, so she'll figure it out. Yeah. Russ (26:26) I think she'll be able to find somebody, yeah. Yeah. Barry (26:34) Abby, there you are. You're going to cave fast. Abby (26:35) Hello. I'm so excited. Barry (26:40) Where are you calling from? Abby (26:42) I live about an hour north of Atlanta. Yes. Barry (26:45) Okay, all right, so you're Russ (26:46) Okay. Yeah, not not far. Barry (26:47) right here where we are, almost. Abby (26:49) Yeah, I'm not far at all. Barry (26:51) Awesome. So you will make it. That was our requirement. Have you been before? Abby (26:53) Yeah, it yeah, it'll it's like an hour and a half from my house. It's light work. Russ (26:59) Ha ha. Abby (27:00) I haven't. I'm it was I started wanting to go probably back in March, whenever I knew it existed, and I wasn't gonna think I was gonna swing it because I went shaky knees last weekend, as did you guys. So, I Russ (27:12) Mm-hmm. Abby (27:13) was really excited for you guys to message me the day after Shaky Knees and put another festival on my lineup for the year. Russ (27:18) Maybe this one won't get cancelled. Barry (27:20) Yeah. If Abby (27:21) I hope not. Barry (27:22) it will go inside. They have a roof, I'm pretty sure. We can get everybody in there. Russ (27:24) Yeah. Right. Barry (27:28) well, since it was just so recent, what'd you think of Shaky Knees? Abby (27:32) I loved it. I was obviously really bummed with the rain. My top two artists to see that weekend were Pierce Savale and Twenty One Pilots, which I was halfway home by the time they announced that Twenty One Pilots was gonna go back on. But I still had lots of fun. I got to bring a few of my friends that never have been to a festival before, which was a blast and it like sparked something in them that I'm just gonna keep egging on. Barry (27:55) What is your sort of festival history besides I mean obviously that? So 'cause 'cause CaveFest and Shakier they're different, different Abby (28:02) Mm-hmm. Yeah. Barry (28:03) genres. So what have what else have you been to? Abby (28:07) So my very first festival, big, big sad moment was Bonnarooo twenty twenty five. I went with a group Russ (28:14) Mm. Abby (28:15) of about fifty people in group camping. It was so many of us. Barry (28:17) Ooh ouch. Russ (28:19) Fifty, wow. Abby (28:20) People flew from San Francisco, Colorado, like all over. And we all drove up, like rented a van to put all our canopies in. Like it was a thing. Then it obviously, as we all know, Russ (28:33) Then it wasn't a thing. Yeah. Abby (28:34) Yeah, then it wasn't a thing. So we all just like partied here in Atlanta for the weekend and and we called it Housearoo and it was really fun and it like that just brought there was no better way to like bring festival culture to me when I had never experienced before. And I was like, Well, this is awesome. I'm going next year for sure. So then I did Shaky Knees last year, which I loved it. Russ (28:55) Mm-hmm. Abby (28:56) I lived so close to at the time I was living twenty minutes from Atlanta, so it just made sense for me to go. and then did Bonroo this past year. Russ (29:03) Yeah, you have to at that point. Abby (29:04) Yeah, it I was like, why would I not go? And it was a great lineup last year too. Russ (29:08) Mm-hmm. Abby (29:08) I got to see backseat lovers at Barricade, which was awesome. And then did Bonaro this year, which was so fun. It was really hard on my body this year, but it was a blast. And then Shakin is this year and now CaveFest. Barry (29:21) What is it that draws you to CaveFest? Abby (29:24) I I wouldn't say I'm like the biggest bluegrass fan. Like I could name like maybe two people on the lineup, I'll be honest. And hopefully a big fan that entered the giveaway doesn't like shoot me for that. But but I do like Russ (29:31) That's that's more than what I could name. Barry (29:33) Yeah. Abby (29:35) I'm really excited to go to a festival when it's not a hundred degrees out and like do a camping festival when it's not a hundred degrees out. Russ (29:42) Yeah. Abby (29:42) And also like I just love music all around. I play a few instruments. All my friends are in bands of some sort, whether it's metal or rock or folk or whatever. So I like to just like sit and listen to music. It doesn't really matter what type of music it is. Barry (29:57) What is your camping game like? You pretty good? You get better at it? You ready for it? Abby (30:01) Yeah, I I brag about my campsites. I do I have one of those canopy co cubes that doubles as a tent. But I think for CaveFest I just got an SUV. So I think I'm gonna do the sleeping in the car thing and then just set up like a little common area. Russ (30:18) Camp camp in the car, yeah. Barry (30:20) Who are the two people and who else are you gonna see? Because I have somebody to recommend now. Abby (30:24) So I know okay, okay. I know Healing Russ (30:27) Mm-hmm. Abby (30:28) Appalachia and then my gosh, there was another one and I couldn't name the name now. But I'm really excited to see obviously like the fish tribute that they're doing and then the Bob Weir tribute. Barry (30:39) Well, I think Russ and I can highly recommend modern biology. Abby (30:44) Okay, I'll put it on the list. Russ (30:44) Yeah. We just talked to him. Yeah. he makes music with mushrooms. Abby (30:52) Wow. Russ (30:52) Literally, yeah. Barry (30:54) Uhhuh. Go ahead, react. What's your what's your first reaction? Abby (30:56) That's like in like what way? Like taking Russ (30:59) Yeah. Abby (30:59) mushrooms and making music or like with the plant itself? Russ (30:59) Yeah. Maybe both. Barry (31:04) It's a fair question. It's a great question. Abby (31:07) Or both. Barry (31:11) he is a musician and figured out how to connect plants, namely mushrooms, with synthesizers and electronics and he makes music Abby (31:21) Mm. Barry (31:23) and I had a ball, Russ. I I had so much fun talking to Russ (31:27) Yeah, it's once we kind of learned out what he's doing, it it's gonna be pretty fun, I think. I'm very much looking Barry (31:33) Yeah. Russ (31:34) forward to that show. Barry (31:35) Yeah, I am too. And I highly recommend it to everybody. So you're bringing somebody with you. Abby (31:41) I have no clue who. I it's so last minute for me that wow, I've got nothing going on. It's festival season here in Atlanta. It's cooling down. So there are lots of like local stuff going on. So all my friends are either selling art at them or performing as musicians at them. One of my Russ (31:55) Hmm. Abby (31:57) best friends is performing at Choctoberfest in Marietta that weekend. So I still have to figure out who's gonna come with me, but I'm sure whoever comes is gonna have as much of a blast as I do. Yeah. Russ (32:05) Yeah. You you got you got a little time to find somebody. Barry (32:10) Well, when this comes out, you'll probably the phone will be ringing off the hook. You mean your your new best friend Abby (32:13) I'm sure. Russ (32:13) yeah. Yeah. Barry (32:16) from Seattle is gonna be one Abby (32:17) He Barry (32:18) to Yeah. Russ (32:18) Yeah. Email Abby at No, I'm kidding. Yeah. Abby (32:20) Ha ha ha. Barry (32:24) Well, I'm excited for you and thank you for listening to our crazy show. I we we like to think we're the reason you're going. So I was I was Abby (32:34) You are the reason I wouldn't I think I heard about the Festival on Y'all's podcast, so you probably are Barry (32:40) Nice. Abby (32:40) the reason I'm going. I'm so grateful. Russ (32:41) There you go. Hopefully, yeah. Abby (32:43) I've never won anything Barry (32:43) Well, we Abby (32:44) in my life. This is huge. Russ (32:46) Ha ha ha. Barry (32:47) You know, it's funny, th I don't know if you saw, but you actually won an actual wheel. Russ found a wheel and put everybody's Abby (32:56) Really? Barry (32:57) name on there. Russ (32:58) Yeah. I just took everybody's name that entered that left a comment and put in the wheel and just spun it and the and your your your name came up. Barry (33:06) Well, it reminded me one of my all time favorite bits that we used to do was Bonarulette. And it was a completely made up bit where we we would say, Let's spin the wheel and land on a band that we've never heard of, and then we would talk about and play a little music. That was back before copyright would kill us, but sat in my basement and we'd say spin the wheel and Russ would go Russ (33:34) Very, very high tech. Yeah. Barry (33:35) Yeah, it was so much fun. It was great. but you actually won. You we spun the wheel and you won. So you coming the whole weekend, you're doing the whole bit. Abby (33:46) Yeah, I am. I'm and then I'm thinking about maybe even like going up a day early and just like 'cause I already have my camping stuff and just like going to a local Russ (33:55) Mm-hmm. Abby (33:56) campsite just so it can hit nine AM, I can get in the gate and just like start the day swinging. Russ (34:01) There you go. That's smart. Barry (34:04) would I be wrong, Russ, in saying she might reach out to the cavern people? I mean they have campsites. I wonder if you could get in there early and you'd just be early. Unless you wanted to go some other place. Russ (34:13) They might they might yeah. I don't know when they start letting people in. That could be. Unless you just wanted to, you know, pick a different spot. There's there's lots of spots around there for sure. Abby (34:22) I would be grateful to just stay there. That would be the easiest. Russ (34:25) Yeah, okay. Yeah, we'll we'll look into Barry (34:27) That was my Russ (34:27) that. Barry (34:28) first thought. My second was you gotta go into Manchester and go to Calm and John, right? And they probably let you sleep in their parking lot. I know I know a guy. Abby (34:35) They would let me sleep there. I Russ (34:35) they let me sleep in their parking lot. Yeah, that's not a bad idea. I might it might I might do that, actually. Abby (34:40) do have I have the really unfortunate thing that I'm gluten free, so I've never actually enjoyed Common John in my Barry (34:47) Well. Abby (34:48) two years of going up to Manchester. Russ (34:49) I wonder if they have any gluten free beers. I know that exists. I don't know if they make any, but hm. Well, they Barry (34:55) All right. Russ (34:56) got they got other stuff too, I'm sure, but I've only had the beer. Barry (34:59) Well you raised Abby (34:59) Yeah, I could just like go drive past the farm and like cry a little bit and Russ (35:03) At le yeah, just just let it out a little bit. Barry (35:07) That raises another question. What are you gonna do for the next year and a half or year and yeah, year and a half? 'Cause we're trying to figure out Abby (35:13) I don't know. Barry (35:14) right here on the What Now podcast. Abby (35:18) I have no Russ (35:17) Yeah. Abby (35:19) clue. I was well, my next go-to is gonna be Okeechobee, and Okeechobee just announced this past week that their hiatus is starting. So Russ (35:28) They sure did. Abby (35:29) I don't know. I'll be on the lookout. Bourbon and Beyond is on my watch list. I'm interested Barry (35:34) Yeah, we've Abby (35:35) in Hula, but I'm not a huge EDM person. So I don't know. But I'll definitely be keeping an eye out. I have a friend at all things go right now. So we'll see how he reports back and lets me know how that one is. Russ (35:48) I might have some bad news. I think that one got either delayed or cancelled Abby (35:51) Then New Russ (35:52) too. Abby (35:52) Yeah, New York got cancelled, D C did not, and he's in D C so he got really lucky. Yeah. They put on like two Russ (35:56) okay. There's two different w okay, all right. Well he lucked out then, yeah. Abby (35:59) festivals at the same time. It's really intriguing. Russ (36:02) Gotcha, okay. Barry (36:04) All right, Abby. Can't wait to see ya. Two weeks. Abby (36:06) I cannot wait to see it's so close. Thank you guys so much. I'm so grateful. Russ (36:09) Yeah, yeah. Start packing. Yeah. Find fum find somebody to bring with you. Barry (36:09) Congratulations. Abby (36:15) I will, don't worry. Barry (36:16) Yeah. If you don't rush those people. Abby (36:20) Okay. Russ (36:20) I can always find somebody, yeah. Barry (36:27) All right. Well what once again, Russ, I'm amazed that we are whatever, three months post Bonnarooo cancellation and we I think we're do having as good a show as we could have if there was one coming up. So Russ (36:45) Ha ha ha Barry (36:47) I certainly did. This was a lot of fun. Russ (36:50) Yeah. Barry (36:50) Just to tease i I don't know if it's gonna be next week or the week after or when it but it'll be soon. Our senior correspondent Trevan and junior correspondent David, who are great friends and been on the show multiple times individually and together. They are this weekend up in Louisville at Bourbon and Beyond, and I'm getting daily reports from both of them. Can't wait to hear from it. That lineup, Russ. It it literally is my playlist. I'm so, you know, wishing I was there. And David especially has some stories from his flight that we'll get into later. some celebrity sightings that he had. So these guys well, what would you say? They've become veteran festival goers. They don't mind traveling. They go all over. They've been to camping. They've done VIP. They've done not VIP. So it's always good to hear from them. Cause they know what kind of they anticipate what kind of questions we might ask. You know, was how was the bathroom line? How was the food line? How was the accommodations? That kind Russ (38:05) Mm-hmm. Barry (38:06) of thing. So we'll get into that probably later on. But anyway, just we'll catch up on bourbon and beyond later on. But there's also been some news, some not so good news. While excited to hear that Shaky Knees last week sold out, which is amazing and encouraging. This week we got some not so encouraging. A couple of festivals have kind of taken the hiatus route, huh? Or True. Fair, fair, fair. Russ (38:35) Well, I mean, Jakey Nees was not without its own issues. You know, we had to evacuate, which just about every other festival that weekend, last weekend, also did. lots of weather came through, especially in the northeast, south, just you know, either forced Barry (38:52) Good point. Russ (38:53) an evacuation or a delay or or an outright Barry (38:56) Yeah. Russ (38:56) cancellation. Barry (38:57) Baseball games canceled. Yeah, yeah. Russ (38:59) Y yeah, I mean it not even limited to just music. It's pretty much any outdoor event is having having to face this. And then yeah, we've we find out, you know, there's more festivals that just announced this week that are there are being on hiatus, Okeechobee for one, and or other festivals that have also had, you know, days cancelled or whatever. Global Citizens Festival, All Things Go, New York City. Oceans calling, Okeechobee, Lost Lands, Riot Fest, Louder Than Life, have all had either a cancellation or a pause or something. Barry (39:37) Not good news. and I don't I mean I don't know what to make of it. I'm not even gonna you know, other than the other than the folks who say, Why don't why doesn't Bonnarooo move from June to the spring or September? Here's why. You know, there's no guarantee. Russ (39:54) There's no safe time of the year to do any of this. I mean, i i it's a risk no matter what. So, you know, you can say, move it, this won't happen, but that's not true. Barry (40:03) Yeah. All right, man. I will talk to you next week, and we will see where this adventure takes us.