This past weekend I took my middle son and a friend of his to the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee. Most folks ‘round here have never heard of Bonnaroo. Don’t feel alone, I had not heard of it either. Bonnaroo is a 3 ½ day outdoor music festival in the middle of nowhere that offers a wide array of musical artist, along with very primitive housing arrangements. I agreed to lead this excursion knowing full well that it would mean camping out for four nights. And when I say camping out I don’t mean in a RV or travel trailer. I mean in a tent with no electricity and no running water. But my son had heard it was a really good festival, so attempting to be a good father (remember last week’s column) off I went.
On the 8 hour return trip this past Monday I had time to reflect on my festival experience. First the music. I’ve written before about how I love music and many different kinds of music. From a music standpoint, Bonnaroo was a lot of fun. I came away with my musical appetite being well fed. My musical menu included Bluegrass (Yonder Mountain String Band, Sam Bush & Bela Fleck), reggae (Stephen Marley, who is Bob Marley’s son and Israel Vibration), Country (Willie Nelson), the Blues (B.B. King), rock (Metallica and Pearl Jam) and pop (Jack Johnson).
But I must confess that as much as I enjoyed the music, festival life itself was tough on this 48 year old body of mine. While I jog at least several times a week, my legs were not prepared for all the walking. By my estimate I walked at least 10 miles a day and it took it’s toll after four days.
Four days of living out of a tent also reaffirmed my fondness for the following modern conveniences that I normally take for granted. (1) a bed – while an air mattress softens the blow, four nights off sleeping on the ground gets old; (2) a hot bath – four days of sponge baths with water from a jug just isn’t the same as a good ole hot shower (3) a bathroom – they’ve made great engineering improvements to Port- A- Potties, such as better ventilation and a urinal on the side for us fellows. The ladies are also most appreciative of this improvement. But four days of the new and improved Port-A-Potties remind me they are still just a glorified outhouse. (4) air conditioning – four days in south Tennessee in mid June with no air condition. What was I thinking?
Simply Put, while I thoroughly enjoyed the music I’ll leave the Bonnaroo Festival Life to the young folks. As for me, give me a nice bed, a hot bath and a clean toilet. And while you’re at it, bump that AC down a notch too.
From the front porch: Uncle Bob said politicians are like diapers. Both need to be changed often.
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