True Confessions

Q: What is the greatest human quality?
A: I've always believed it's passion. The first thing I look for in a friend, is are they passionate about something? It doesn't matter if I like it or not, passion defines people, gives us hope in the world and gives a glimpse into that person's soul.

Q: Any dream that you would like to come true that hasn't?
A: My one dream, since I was 20, has always been to write just one song that I feel proud of. If I can do that, I can die a happy man.

Q: Favorite memory with friends?
A: In all parts of my life, my most favorite memories are always around my friends trying to make each other laugh. In high school it was always riding around in cars. In college it was at our favorite boothe in our favorite bar. Now a days it's more going to a nice restaurant and having a good meal with a nice glass of wine.

Q: Thoughts on love?
A: It's different for everybody... but I do believe it exists. You can't help but love a new baby in your family or a long time friend. But actual platonic love between two people is something that's hard to come by and it's not in abundance like "Hollywood" would lead you to believe. I think only "true" love comes from an equal partnership, I believe my parents had that. They both relied so much on each other's wisdom and trust and although some days seemed strange, I could always tell between the both of them the need they had for each other in order to survive. I think that kind of love has disappeared in today's generations, too much emphasis on the "I" instead of the "we." I see it in many of my friends, one person will be the boss, in forms of money, activities and outside friendships, while the other is just barely hanging on, searching for some form of identity and recognition.

Q: What's the most curious record in your collection?
A: In the seventies a record company in LA issued a record called "The best of Marcel Marceau." It had forty minutes of silence followed by applause and it sold really well. I like to put it on for company. It really bothers me, though, when people talk through it.

Q: List some artists who have helped to change and shaped your life.
A: George Harrison, Hunter S. Thompson, David Crosby, Jack Kerouac, Bob Dylan, Brian Wilson, Charles Bukowski, Walt Whitman, Stanley Kubrick, Ma Rainey, Big Mama Thorton, George Lucas, Lead Belly, Lord Buckley, Hank Williams, Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Tom Waits.

Q: List some songs that no matter how long you've known them, that still move you.
A: There are so many... and if you ask me tomorrow the list would change, of course. Gershwin's second prelude, "Pathetique Sonata" (Beethoven), "Here Comes The Sun" (The Beatles), "This Is A Man's World" (James Brown), "Lived In Bars" (Cat Power), "Come In My Kitchen" (Robert Johnson), "The Lee Shore (CSNY), "Sad Eyed Lady" (Bob Dylan), "Love Of My Life" (Queen), "Rite of Spring" (Stravinsky), "It Makes No Difference" (The Band), "Ode To Billy Joe" (Nancy Wilson), "San Diego Serenade" (Tom Waits) "Roy Rogers" (Elton John), "The Warmth of The Sun" (Beach Boys), "Deportee" (Woody Guthrie), I've Been Loving You Too Long" (Otis Redding), "Strange Fruit" (B.H. & N.S.) "Georgia On My Mind" (Ray Charles), "Buckets Of Rain" (Bob Dylan), "So Lonesome I Could Cry" (Hank Williams), "Here In The Real World" (Alan Jackson), "Who'll Stop The Rain?" (C.C.R.), "Christmas Time Is Here" (Vince Guaraldi), "Clair de Luna" (Alexis Weissenberg), "Moon River" (Henry Mancini), "Pocket Full Of Rainbows" (Elvis Presley), "Hey Jude" (The Beatles), "Angel" (Aretha Franklin), "Sunday Mornin' Coming Down" (Johnny Cash), "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head" (B.J. Thomas), "Almost Blue" (Elvis Costello), "The Night They Drove Dixie Down" (The Band), "Walk Away Renee" (The Four Tops), "For What It's Worth" (Buffalo Springfield), What A Wonderful World (Louis Armstrong), "Surf's Up" (Beach Boys), "Here, There & Everywhere" (The Beatles), "Ain't No Sunshine" (Bill Withers), "Martha" (Tom Waits), "Three Little Birds" (Bob Marley), "Unplayed Piano" (Damien Rice), "Smile" (David Gilmour), "Great Gig In The Sky" (Pink Floyd), "Adagio" (Franz Schubert), "Kids & Dogs" (David Crosby), "I'll See You In My Dreams" (Joe Brown), "The Dawntreader" (Joni Mitchell), "Northern Sky" (Nick Drake), "Leavin' On Your Mind" (Patsy Cline), "Song For The Asking" (Simon & Garfunkel), "Empty" (Ray LaMontagne), "The Tracks of My Tears" (Smokey Robinson), "Please Call Me Baby" (Tom Waits), "Fair Play" (Van Morrison), "Are You Sure?" (Willie Nelson), "Get Together" (The Youngbloods), "Something Stupid", "One For The Road" (Frank Sinatra), "Star of Bethlehem" (Neil Young).

Q: What's heaven for you?
A: Me and my love (wherever she maybe) under a tree with a cheap guitar and pawnshop tape recorder; and a car that runs good sitting a few yards away.

Q: What's hard for you?
A: Anytime I want to be creative because I mostly straddle reality and the imagination; it's hard for me to leave that place in my mind and actually commit something to paper or tape because it requires you to leave that world. Talking to and understanding women. Math is really hard. Following orders. Patience with people who can't understand simple things. Politically correct people with no sense of humor. Getting up in the morning.

Q: What's wrong with the world?
A: We are buried beneath the weight of information, which is being confused with knowledge; quantity is being confused with abundance and wealth with happiness. Leona Helmsley's dog made $12 million last year... and Dean McLaine, a farmer in Ohio, made $30,000. It's just a gigantic version of the madness that grows in every one of our brains. We are monkeys with money and guns.

Q: Favorite scenes in movies?
A: R. De Niro in the ring in Raging Bull. Scout being told to "Stand Up! Your father's passing" in To Kill A Mockingbird. Nic Cage falling apart in the drug store in Matchstick Men. The "Bicycle Scene" in Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid. The "Shoplifting Scene" in Breakfast at Tiffany's. When Gen. Pickett says "General Lee, I have no division" in Gettysburg. Han being froze into carbonite in The Empire Strikes Back.

Q: Can you tell me an odd thing that happened in an odd place? Any thoughts?
A: A Japanese freighter had been torpedoed during WWII and it's at the bottom of Tokyo Harbor with a large hole in her hull. A team of engineers was called together to solve the problem of raising the wounded vessel to the surface. One of the engineers tackling this puzzle said he remembered seeing a Donald Duck cartoon when he was a boy where there was a boat at the bottom of the ocean with a hole in its hull, and they injected it with ping-pong balls and it floated up. The skeptical group laughed, but one of the experts was willing to give it a try. Of course, where in the world would you find twenty million ping-pong balls but in Tokyo? It turned out to be the perfect solution. The balls were injected into the hull and it floated to the surface; the engineer was altered. Moral: Solutions to problems are always found at an entirely different level; also, believe in yourself in the face of impossible odds.

Q: You are fascinated with irony. What is irony?
A: Chevrolet was puzzled when they discovered that their sales for the Chevy Nova were off the charts everywhere but in Latin America. They finally realized that "Nova" in Spanish translates to "no go." Not the best name for a car... anywhere "no va."

Q: Do you have words to live by?
A: A friend told me..."Fast, Cheap, and Good... pick two. If it's fast and cheap, it won't be good. If it's cheap and good, it won't be fast. If it's fast and good, it won't be cheap." Fast, cheap and good... pick (2) words to live by.

Q: What will be on your gravestone?
A: If I was going to have one: "Pardon me for not getting up."

Q: What have you learned from childhood?
A: That at every age we are at, we always look back thinking how naive we were at those past ages, but yet somehow think we are at our most intelligent at the current moment. It's some kind of sick joke that wisdom comes with age, like someone said: "Youth is wasted on the young."

Q: Who said, "Half the people in America are just faking it"?
A: Robert Mitchum (who actually died in his sleep). I think he was being generous and kind when he said that.

Q: What remarkable things have you found in unexpected places?
A: 1. Real beauty: oil stains left by cars in a parking lot.

2. Charity from a homeless man.

3. False teeth in pawnshop windows in Reno, Nevada.

4. Great acoustics in Alcatraz Prison, ironic they couldn't talk there when it was a prison.

5. Best steak in a small steakhouse under a bridge in Sausalito, California.

6. Most random crap you would never buy and could never use: Seiverville, TN

7. Teeny Boppers at a Cat Power concert.

8. Poverty in Washington, D.C. ..ironic

9. A homeless man with a beautiful operatic voice singing the word "Bacteria" in an empty dumpster in Chinatown.

10. A Chinese man, in China, who talk southern and his life long dream was to go to Tennessee.

11. Best nights sleep: in a dry riverbed in Arizona.

12. Most people who wear red pants: St. Louis.

13. Most beautiful horses: New York City.

14. A judge in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1890 presided over a trial where a man who was accused of murder and was guilty -- convicted by a jury of his peers -- was let go, when the judge said to him at the end of the trial, "You are guilty, sir... but I cannot put in jail an innocent man." You see, the murderer was a Siamese twin.

Q: Most thrilling musical experience?
A: My most thrilling musical experience is usually when I get a vinyl record that I have not listen to, but I know is good. The hairs on the back of my neck stand up as I pull it out of the sleeve and begin to put the needle on. I lean back in a chair and if the right notes are hit that make a person's heart ache and soul soar, that is music!! Nothing can truly explain the first time someone hears an album of greatness, like Dark Side of the Moon or Pet Sounds for the first time. The orgasm of music in those 20 bars of "A Day In The Life" or little moans in Marvin Gaye's voice when he's really into the music, it just turns you on.

Q: What would you have liked to see but were born too late for?
A: To be 15 in 1963 and experience that culture until 1973, it was the new cultural revolution for America and the World. Definitely The Roman Republic era. The antebellum and Civil War period of America.

Q: What is a gentleman?
A: A man who can play the accordion, but doesn't.

Q: Favorite George Harrison quote?
A: All of the lyrics from the song "Within You Without You," nothing could be more true.

Q: Do you have an alternate life you wish you could lead, but know you probably never will?
A: I've always had a fascination with the movie "Jeremiah Johnson" and to this day, I always want to just pack it in and go off and live it the wilderness. The idea of being on your own, no boss, nothing to answer to, but sadly, after a few weeks out there, I'd probably want to come back because Lost would be on or something.

Q: What do you wonder about?
A: 1. Do bullets know whom they are intended for?

2. Is there a plug in the bottom of the ocean?

3. What do jockeys say to their horses?

4. How does a newspaper feel about winding up paper-mache?

5. How does it feel to be a tree by a freeway?

6. Does anybody worry that Charlie Brown is a 10 year old manic-depressive?

7. When is the world going to rear up and scrape us off its back?

8. Will we humans eventually intermarry with robots?

9. Is a diamond just a piece of coal with patience?

10. Did Ella Fitzgerald really break that wine glass with her voice?

Q: What are some sounds you like?
A:1. An asymmetrical airline carousel creating a high-pitched haunted voice brought on by the friction of rubbing; it sounds like a big wet finger circling the rim of a gigantic wine glass.

2. Street corner evangelists

3. Pile drivers in Manhattan

4. Leaves blown in the wind

5. Horses and trains passing in the distance

6. Children when school's out

7. Hungry crows

8. Orchestra tuning up

9. Saloon pianos in old westerns

10. Rollercoasters

11. Spring peepers

12. Ice melting

13. Printing presses

14. Ball game on a transistor radio

15. Piano lessons coming from an apartment window

16. Old cash registers/Ca Ching

17. Muscle cars

18. Harmonies

19. Babies trying to talk

20. A busy restaurant kitchen

21. Newsrooms in old movies

22. Elephants stampeding

23. Bacon frying

24. A fight bell

25. Japanese arguments

26. Pinball machines

27. Children's orchestras

28. Trolley bell

29. Firecrackers

30. A Zippo lighter

31. Calliopes

32. Bass steel drums

33. Tractors

34. Stroh Violin

35. Muted trumpet

36. Tobacco auctioneers

37. Musical saw

38. Theremin

39. Pigeons

40. Seagulls

41. Owls

42. Mockingbirds

43. Doves
The world's making music all the time.

Q: What's scary to you?
A:1. A dead man in the backseat of a car with a fly crawling on his eyeball.

2. Turbulence on any airline.

3. Sirens and search lights combined.

4. Gunfire at night in bad neighborhoods.

5. Car motor turning over but not starting; it's getting dark and starting to rain.

6. Jail door closing.

7. Going around a sharp curve on the Pacific Coast Highway and the driver of your car has had a heart attack and died, and you're in the back seat.

8. You are delivering mail and you are confronted with a Doberman with rabies growling low and showing teeth -- you have no dog bones and he wants to bite your ass off.

9. In a movie, which wire do you cut to stop the time bomb, the green or the blue?

10. That any politican regardless, McCain/Obama will win and use their new power for personal gain.

11. Anyone who will not listen to someone else's opinion.

12. Officers, in offices, being official.

13. You fell through the ice in the creek and it carried you downstream, and now as you surface you realize there's a roof of ice.

Words of Wisdom by George Carlin

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.

We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years.

We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things.

We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less . We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever , but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stock room. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete...

Remember; spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.

Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.

Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn't cost a cent.

Remember, to say, 'I love you' to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.

Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.

Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.

AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

If you don't send this to at least 8 people....Who cares? George Carlin

George W. Bush Hates White People!

Where are all of the Hollywood celebrities holding telethons asking for help in restoring Iowa and helping the folks affected by the floods?

Where is all the media asking the tough questions about why the federal government hasn't solved the problem? Asking where the FEMA trucks (and trailers) are?

Why isn't the Federal Government relocating Iowa people to free hotels in Chicago?

When will Spike Lee say that the Federal Government blew up the levees that failed in Des Moines?

Where are Sean Penn and the Dixie Chicks?

Where are all the looters stealing high-end tennis shoes and big screen television sets?

When will we hear Governor Chet Culver say that he wants to rebuild a 'vanilla' Iowa, because that's the way God wants it?

Where is the hysterical 24/7 media coverage complete with reports of cannibalism?

Where are the people declaring that George Bush hates white, rural people?

How come in 2 weeks, you will never hear about the Iowa flooding ever again?

A Humble Lesson At Work

Today was supposed to be a great day, LOST is on! I'm up and ready to go, lunch packed, ready for some work. I walk into work, say hello to the girls and begin to get my desk ready for the day's work. When out of the corner of my eye, I see a battery pack on the floor, so me being my OCD self I had to pick it up. I squat down to get it and I feel a slight tear in the rear of my jeans. As the initial reaction of fear begins to overwhelm me, my eyes widen, breath has seize to exist, and a rush of panic ridden ideas roam the mind. Did anyone hear the tear? Is my entire ass hanging out? What the hell is going on? I slowly begin to rise, making small talk with the girls in my office, trying to play it cool. I wonder if they even noticed that I walked out of the room backwards? I quickly power walk it to the men's restroom where I begin to assess the damage. My worst fears are realized, my blue boxers are completely exposed, I practically am wearing a onesie, all I need are the buttons on my backside and I'm good to go! So, what do I do now? Suck it up and continue the day or miss a whole day's work?
So, the moral of the lesson is...If you see a battery pack on the floor, just let it go...

An Observation On Life... Being Content

Sometimes I look at life and look at all the people running around with their lives, as if chickens with their heads cut off, and I just wonder if they even have a clue? I look at the news, and the talk shows and the self-help channels and I see how they're always talking about staying positive or being happy. I look at this, and I wonder if they know that, that's a dangerous game they're playing with human emotion? While staying positive and staying happy is a pleasant idea, it's hardly a goal or a concept that one could ever really hope to achieve on our plane of existence. On this, the dangerous side of always trying to be happy, is that it implies that we're all negative or that somehow the idea of happiness is better than any other human emotion. However, the goal of happiness is not something a human being can achieve by exercising an idea or physical program or artificial substance; it can only be achieved in what I like to call "the art of being content."

There is not enough glory bestowed upon people who are content in western society. We prefer to look at those individuals who are always trying to achieve impossible goals and we glorify them for their victories and sometimes for their failures, but will that one moment in their lives define them and bring them happiness? I often think that those people would feel empty after a defining moment, a "what now?" type of feeling. Then, there are those who chase happiness through drink, drugs, or sex and claim they've found the answer, but have they? No, I've found that the key to one's happiness is just being true to yourself, to stop trying to achieve what "others" would have you do or what "society" demands of you. Life is life and none are the same, and not one person has a clue in how you should lead your own. I think that if people would learn to slow down, they would find that their soul would speak to them and they would see that they really are truly happy. Happiness can not be defined or put to a comparison of someone else's life, it's just an idea. Contentment of one's self is happiness, and you'll find that if you learn to be content, happiness finds you.

- Nicholas Dunn

An Observation On Life... Myself

A Forward
I often have been called "opinionated" by family, I've sometimes been called "guarded" by women, and I'm occasionally called "a trusting soul" by close friends; of these I prefer the latter, but I'll leave it to you.
Of all the people I've been blessed to know in my life, when they've come to me for advice and I wonder "why", they always say "I'm honest with them." While this is considered a pro in most people's opinion, it has sometimes been a con at points in my life. I've sometimes been criticized for being "too blunt" with people and not considering of their feelings or seeing things from their point of view. While I always try to be fair to any one's argument or situation, I feel that some people aren't really looking for the truth, more self deception and are looking to me to confirm their self-doubts. Self deception can be a powerful thing, and one should always be prepared for the negative truth as well as the positive when asking someone for their opinion.
On this, I thought I would write a column on my "observations on life" and human behavior. While some of these will be on things I considered to be growing positive traits of human existence, you should also be prepared for my rants of the negative down slopes of human society. I'll leave it to your interpretation on which is good or bad and expect a pleasant discussion of my interpretations on life.

-Nicholas Dunn

The Slow Death of Bonnaroo?

In a little field in Manchester Tennessee, a music festival called Bonnaroo has been taking place each summer since its creation in 2002. To many, Bonnaroo has become the Woodstock of our generation, a Mecca gathering to show how our generation has great music to offer the world as much as it did in 1969. However, since its creation in 2002, the numbers of people that flock to this little music festival have grown tremendously and the pressure on promoters to get more attractable acts has begun to weaken that message. With more mainstream musicians now allowed to come to the music festival, one has to ask "Is the 2008 Bonnaroo Music Festival the year that "the little festival that could" going to sing its Swan Song?"

A Jam Band Beginning: 2002-2005
Like many music lovers in the southern United States, when the 2002 Bonnaroo was announced I was thrilled with excitement of the idea of a 3 day music festival. I quickly purchased my ticket and prepared for the 3 days of new music I was about to experience. I was amazed at the chance to experience so many new and struggling artists who were dying to be heard and I was eager to be experimental. From my very first day there, I loved it, the feeling of the enthusiasm in the crowds, the friendliness, a feeling of community, and not a negative word was spoken in the entire three days. I had never experienced something like this, it truly felt like a Woodstock event, peace & love as far as the eye could see. Of course, then there were the artists! People tend to forget that the 2002 Bonnaroo was comprised of almost all artists who were not established, accept for the headliners, and really broke many of them into the mass markets of people they were dying to reach. Within these first 3 days of the 2002 festival, I and many others, were exposed to the great talents of: Jack Johnson, John Butler Trio, Norah Jones, moe., Old Crow Medicine Show, Robert Randolph, String Cheese Incident, Ben Harper, Ween and many, many more. Hearing such an array of great music really blew my mind and I just couldn't wait for the next year!

In 2003, the Bonnaroo Music Festival came back with a one-two punch, enlisting great headliners such as Neil Young, Widespread Panic, The Allman Brothers Band, James Brown & the return of The Dead! I was amazed that such great artists would do such a venue and I was eagerly awaiting to see them as well as experimenting again with new and returning small artists from the previous year. This year I chose to invite some of my friends to attend the event with me, the more the merrier. They too, felt the same way I did my first year at the event, a feeling of peace & love, perfect strangers embracing each other and yet again, not a negative word was spoken. This year, once again, exceeded my expectations of the plethora of talented artists who I'd never heard of but would be listening to in the future. The new artists for this year that I had the pleasure of experiencing were: Younder Mountain String Band, Keller Williams, Ben Kweller, Sound Tribe Sector 9, Polyphonic Spree, and G. Love & the Special Sauce. Of course there were some returning veterans of 2002 that also blew away the crowds such as: Ben Harper, Robert Randolph, Galactic & moe. But of course, what really stole the show, for me, was getting to see the living legend Neil Young and the talents of Widespread Panic and The Dead. The 2003 Bonnaroo was the Festival's zenith!

In 2004, I once again began to prepare for the Bonnaroo Music Festival, I was again extremely excited about the returning, new & headlining artists, with a few exceptions. However, this year's festival would prove to me that the festival's bubble was beginning to burst. I was extremely excited to see headliners: Bob Dylan, Steve Winwood, The Dead, David Byrne and Trey Anastasio, however, the inclusion of Dave Matthews Band worried myself and many others as to where the future of festival was heading. Until then, Bonnaroo had always been a festival of more hippie/jam band type music with independent/experimental music thrown in for fun. The inclusion of Dave Matthews Band signaled to me and others that the promoters were trying to attract a different crowd, the more upper middle class college crowd that most hippies prefer not to be around.
It was just one artist though, so I shrugged it off because I really wanted to enjoy my three days of music with the crowds I come to love, this however, was also a very different experience. From the start I could sense a oddity in the crowds, the multi-cultural distinctions, New England and Mid-Western accents that hadn't been there the first two years. A sense of hostility when faced with opinionated people who were there more for drugs than for music and snapped at you when you wouldn't share more than you could spare. I just didn't see the warmth of the previous two years, people were openly pushing others into the mud and stomping on blankets neatly spread along the fields, not an Altamont weekend, but you could feel a hostility in the crowd.
Now, don't get me wrong, the 2004 Bonnaroo was still a great venue! This is the festival that introduced: Damien Rice, Wilco, Mofro, The Black Keys, Calexico, Grandaddy, Blue Merle, and sadly Maroon 5 to the Bonnaroo scene, but Bonnaroo was clearly never going to be the same again.

In 2005, I was unable to attend the festival due to scheduling conflicts with school, but from discussions with friends who went, suggest the festival was the same as the year before. This is supported by basically the same lineup as the 2004 show with headliners Widespread Panic, Dave Matthews Band, Jack Johnson, and the Allman Brothers Band. Also, Bonnaroo continued its tradition by introducing new artists such as: Iron & Wine, Ray LaMontagne, Citizen Cope and M. Ward. However, they also were expanding with many more acts and non-jam band groups such as the Mars Volta.


A Mainstream Bonnaroo: 2006-Present
In 2006 Bonnaroo began it's second phase of entertainment by expanding its search for different genres and appeals to different people. The jam bands were fewer and fewer from years past and the crowds attending Bonnaroo were more different than ever. No other signal that the festival was changing was the absence of the band Widespread Panic, a southern hippie following and yearly tradition. The festival's decision to not invite Widespread Panic sent a clear signal to fans that Bonnaroo would be changing and straying away from the jam band crowd and what had been going on for the past 4 years. This change was also clear in the choices for the headliners: Beck, Elvis Costello, Bonnie Raitt, Tom Petty and the return of Radiohead indicated a more modern, more experimental, more mainstream type music that traditional Bonnaroo fans might not want to listen to. It's choices in newer/unknown artists was different too than in years past inviting artists such as: Death Cab For Cutie, Cat Power, Bright Eyes, Ben Folds, Nickel Creek, Matisyahu and Clap Your Hand Say Yeah. If the announcement of more mainstream headliners wasn't enough, the non jam bands of the lesser performers clearly showed 2006 as the Bonnaroo year of a newer age sound.

In 2007, after a fan backlash of the sudden departure from Bonnaroo's roots, Bonnaroo promoters went with a mixed festival of half jam bands and half new sounds. They welcomed back jam bands such as Widespread Panic, String Cheese Incident, Gov't Mule, North Mississippi All Stars, Ween and new comer Tea Leaf Green. But sticking to their desire to see new age bands and embrace different audiences they invited headliners: Tool, The White Stripes and reunited 80s band The Police. This diversity was also present in the smaller guests as well, ranging from the independent singer songwriter clans such as: Damien Rice, Regina Spektor, and Elvis Perkins to more mainstream sounds such as: The Roots, The Black Keys, and The Decemberists. Clearly, the audience diversity was overwhelming.

As for 2008 and the future, the promoters of Bonnaroo have yet again gone to the more mainstream approach to Bonnaroo, this year though, they have possibly gone too far. The headliners for 2008 include: Pearl Jam, Metallica, Kanye West, Jack Johnson, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Phil Lesh, The Allman Brothers Band, Willie Nelson, Levon Helm, & B.B. King; a very diverse and controversial selection. Bonnaroo promoters have also done the same with the other larger and smaller artists, by making them a diverse artist selection of music. The artists are actually a blend of returning independent artists and experimental ones such as: Iron & Wine, Fiery Furances, Donavon Frankenreiter, Ben Folds, O.A.R., Umphrey's McGee, Derek Trucks, Robert Randolph, Rilo Kiley, and Jose Gonzalez that should keep the loyal Bonnaroo fans at bay and entertained throughout the day. But probably the most saddening change to Bonnaroo's lineup is that the unknown artists are almost non-existent this year, striking down the main reason why music lovers, like me, want to go to festival, to try something new! There are hardly any new artists that I have not heard of on the bill. For example, the artists Tegan & Sara who are touring on there critically acclaimed album "The Con", are making there debut at Bonnaroo as "new artists" but for people like me, they are hardly "new" artists. I'm sure that crowds that have not been in the light on the new sounds of music, will be blown away by the sounds of Tegan & Sara and I for one would love to hear them too, but I want to go to a festival to be surprised!

It is clear from this year's lineup at Bonnaroo, that the promoter's are aiming for numbers, money and keeping the ever growing crowds happy with selection. However, by Bonnaroo reaching out to all genres and people by enlisting grunge, metal, rap, pop, country, blues and southern rock, will this gamble pay off?
Which brings me to my main point and question: Have the promoters forgotten about what happened at Woodstock '99?

When Woodstock '99 was announced I was so excited! I was 18 and had never been to a music festival and wanted to go to the "festival of festivals", after all it was it's 30th anniversary, what could go wrong? I quickly started asking if a few friends wanted to go and began making plans, but when my mom caught wind of me possibly driving up to New York she quickly put an end to it. Luckily for me, that was probably the best thing that could have happen from the outcome of the event. If the idea of the hippy dream wasn't dead already, the Woodstock '99 festival sure dealt it a final death blow. Promoters of Woodstock '99, catering to idea of quick and easy money, got a variety of artists from all different types of genres and singing array of messages or no message at all. There was no message to the masses at Woodstock '99, nothing but exploitation of money. Vendors soon found a day into the event that they were ill prepared not having enough water, food or restrooms for the 3 day event. Instead of dealing with the problem, vendors raised the prices of essentials to generate more money for themselves driving the crowds into a frenzy. Then there was the real problem, the mix of different kinds of music and people. With bands such as: DMX, Godsmack, Ice Cube, Insane Clown Posse, Kid Rock, Korn, Limp Bizkit, Megadeath, Metallica, Rage Against The Machine, and The Red Hot Chili Peppers, the message being put out was anything but "Peace & Love." After two days of hostile vibes, extreme heat and overpriced food and water the crowds of Woodstock '99 were primed for destruction. On the final night of Woodstock '99, the band Limp Bizkit began singing their song "Break Stuff" and that's exactly what the crowds did. Violence and looting began with Limp bizkit's performance and escalated with The Red Hot Chili Peppers, setting bonfires around the stages and even the audio delay tower; ATM machines were broken into and vendors were looted. The New York State Police was quickly called in with riot gear to put down the violence, but was met with little resistance. Later, the New State Police would report that at least 4 rapes occurred, six people were injured, seven arrests were made for violence, and some one-dozen trailers, a small bus and a number of booths and portable toilets were burned in the chaos. Since Woodstock '99, there have not been any other plans or interest shown in promoting another Woodstock.

Now, Bonnaroo has always been greatly prepared with food, water and medical supplies and in all the years that I've to the event, and I have never seen any kind of exploitation of the public. However, deaths at Bonnaroo have been growing each year due to young kids experimenting with drugs and heat exposure. And now, with the potentially hostile sounds and messages of artists like Metallica, Kanye West, and even maybe Pearl Jam the promoters run a risk of causing another Woodstock '99. It just seems that the message of "Love of the Music" is slowly getting lost to "no message at all" or more the capitalization of music that we already have in today's music industry.
I want so badly to be wrong on this, I want to hope it will all work out. I respect all the artists who will play at the festival, I just don't have faith in the difference in musical genres and what they do to the people who are absorbing the vibes that they put out. As Woodstock '99 proved, when people have been put together for 3 days and are exposed to an entire array of emotions caused by different kinds of music, non-prepared officials and just natural causes, any and all things can happen. It might not happen this year or the next, but if the course of Bonnaroo continues to go as it has been these last 3 years I fear that the festival will turn into chaos.

"Oh mama, can this really be the end? To be stuck inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues again!" - Bob Dylan