ROOing the days...Bonnaroo 2013

It's that time again!  The 2013 Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival is here and we were in attendance for our fifth time to this amazing event.  Thanks to the solid music line-up that was announced and the fact that single-day passes were sold for the first time, the tickets went fast and furiously.

Thursday, June 13:  We packed up the pop-up camper and met up with our friends, Wayne and Mike, who were attending their first Bonnaroo this year with us and headed to Manchester.  Traffic was a breeze and we got right in and had camp set-up by early afternoon.

Our Camp Bonnaroo came complete this year with a flag pole and this ultra-cool tye-dye flag that our friend, Wayne created for the occasion.  Well done, sir! - photo courtesy of Wayne Hutton.

Into the fray....the line to get into Centeroo from the camping area on the first day was long but moved well as people were anxious to start their long weekend down on "the farm."

BELOW:  The first good musical performance we saw this year was JD McPherson who channels his inner-Little Richard pretty well into modern original music that gives great homage to the beginnings of rock-and-roll back in the 50's and 60's.

Friday, June 14:  Day 2 of The Roo was packed full of music and fun.

Kicking off the day with a strong noon performance was Bernhoft, a native of Norway with a voice full of soul and an amazing talent for music.  A big part of his show is his live looping of percussion and rhythm guitar or vocals which basically turns him into an amazing one-man band.

BELOW:  One of the big surprises of the day was the California band, He's My Brother, She's My Sister, who we were gonna just stop by and see for a few minutes on our way to another stage and wound up staying for their whole set thanks to their amazing energy on stage and excellent music skills.

A fish-eyed view of This Tent's bustling crowd during the afternoon show by Glen Hansard (of The Frames and The Swell Season fame).  His solo show featured songs from both of those previous endeavors as well as some new stuff delivered beautifully and passionately as always by this fiery Irish busker.



The food is always great, always interesting and always affordable at Bonnaroo.

Next up for us and a great way to end the day was with the legend himself, Sir Paul McCartney.  His show was fantastic at 2 hours and 45 minutes (not bad for a 70-year-old!!).  He covered tons of Beatles tunes and a good amount of his catalog with Wings.  Next to Springsteen's 3-hour-plus show a few years ago, this was one of the best performances we've ever seen on the big stage at Bonnaroo.  Below is a smattering of the classic mop-toppers "8 Days a Week."

Besides tons of numbers with a full band, there was a big section of the show with just Paul and his guitar.  Amazing stuff.

Saturday, June 15: We didn't have to do a lot of walking today since the first four shows we wanted to see were back-to-back in That Tent. We had some sore feet by the end of the day, but it was well worth it.

Leading off the day were Two Gallants from San Francisco.  We caught a little bit of their show a few years ago on a smaller stage and were very impressed.  Their move up to one of the bigger tent stages this year seemed natural and worthy.  They had a big crowd for an early show and put on an excellent performance.

BELOW: Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls were the only band we had not seen before today and they turned out to be a great surprise to us.  Evidently we are behind the times because they drew a huge, exuberant crowd as the short video below will attest.  Their on-stage energy was contagious and Turner's soulful (and witty) lyrics were quite enjoyable.  We will definitely be seeking these Brits out again when given the chance.

Nashville and the state of Tennessee was well-represented with the always-solid Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors taking the stage next.  We have become big fans of these guys over the past few years and their popularity is seeping beyond Music City now with some of their songs showing up in TV shows and movies.  The band is headed by singer/songwriter Drew Holcomb and his lovely raspy-voiced wife (and recent mother to their first child), Ellie.

The crowds swelled out in the sun as the day moved on but we were content in the shade of That Tent waiting on our last (and most anticipated) performer of the day.

As the sun set at our backs, we enjoyed a front-row view of the legendary and first real alt-country performer (in our opinion), Dwight Yoakam and his spectacular band.  Yoakam's  Bakersfield, California, sound has been basically shunned by Nashville for many years  but the troubadour keeps on keeping on, and sounds as good as ever.  It's been several years since we've seen him live and we remember now why we love him so much.  What a great show!

This incredible day was supposed to be capped off on the big stage by one of our favorite live performers, Mumford and Sons, but, unfortunately, they had to cancel their show due to an illness in the band to bassist, Ted Dwane, involving brain surgery to remove a blood clot.  The good news is that Dwane came through the surgery with flying colors and will hopefully be back soon enough that we can catch them down in St. Augustine in September for another one of their "Stopover Shows" like we attended in Bristol last year (see previous blog).  Filling in last minute for the boys from North London was the always laid-back, Jack Johnson, who has graced the big stage before (at our first Bonnaroo actually) and did a fine job this year despite such a short notice.  Besides all of his hits (your forget how many he has until he starts rolling them out) he even did a decent cover of Mumford's "The Cave" and a great little ditty he wrote earlier in the day describing his sudden change from a "low-pro" appearance at Bonnaroo this year just sitting in on a friend's late-night set to climbing up on the huge What Stage to anchor Saturday night of Bonnaroo 2013.  Well done, sir, and well done, Bonnaroo, handling the adversity very smoothly.

Sunday, June 16: We packed up our campground this morning and went and took in a little bit of bluegrass and a visit to the Broo'ers Festival Tent to try some great beers (see Rob's beer blog for more info on that).  After some threatening weather in the early afternoon and the first really hot temps of the weekend, we reluctantly opted to head back early instead of staying late into the night to see Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers close out the festival.  Bonnaroo usually closes out with some jam band that we could care less about (Phish, Widespread Panic, etc.) and it makes for an easy decision to leave early, but Cousin Tom is a different matter and we regretted not catching his show, but back home and exhausted at 9 PM, it seemed like the right idea since they would just be taking the stage.  Another time, Tom, another time.  (Editors note:  thanks in hindsight to Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors for covering two great TP&TH songs in their set at least to give us at least a hint of what we missed.)

That Tent became "The Bluegrass Situation" on Sunday with bluegrass performers scheduled all day including the immensely-talented, Black Prairie, and off-shoot of The Decemberists of which three members play in this band.

Another great and memorable Bonnaroo is in the books for us.  Thanks so much to our friends, Mike and Wayne, for going with us and being great sports with camp set-up and hanging out and watching the music we chose and like for the most part.  Can't wait to do it again next year!!

Bonnaroo Prep-work

We had a few activities around town recently leading up to Bonnaroo this coming weekend that kind of helped us get in the right frame of mind for the massive 4-day music and arts festival:

Friday, May 31 -  Bonnaroo Prep Activity # 1:  Get outside at night and enjoy the "Pretty Lights" (i.e. a band name at this year's festival).  We accomplished this tonight with a visit to Nashville's Cheekwood Gardens to check out the new "Light" exhibit going on there.  We had another great dinner beforehand at The Sushi Train over on the west side of Nashville near the gardens.

A night-time flower garden, Field of Light, is the centerpiece of the exhibition with 20,000 stemmed light-flowers fed by fiber optics infused into the landscape of the gardens including the front lawn of the Cheekwood Mansion (photo above).   Best thing beside the sheer beauty is the fact that most of the materials used are recycled and reclaimed.

This is only the second time British artist, Bruce Munro, has presented his "Light" exhibition  in North America.

This amazing chandelier inside the Cheekwood Mansion was also part of the exhibit.

Friday, June 7 - Bonnaroo Prep Activity # 2:  Go see some live music, preferably from some Bonnaroo veterans.  We did just that as one of our favorite discoveries from a previous Bonnaroo Festival, Sons of Bill, out of Charlottesville, Virginia played the new High Watt stage inside Cannery Row in Nashville. 

The three "Sons of Bill" Wilson (from L to R - Abe, James and Sam) put on a great show at the small but excellent new venue and we were right up front to enjoy it.  Thanks to our nephew, Matt, for attending the show with us.  They had two good local openers also: W.B. Givens, and Andrew Leahey & the Homestead

Monday, June 10 -  Bonnaroo Prep Activity # 3:  Stay out way too late and eat some great food while watching some amazing artists.  We were able to do this by having a late dinner at the ultra-exclusive Nashville restaurant, The Catbird Seat.

Our 9 PM reservations on a Monday night give you some idea of how exclusive The Catbird Seat is.  Our 10-course meal with wine, cocktail and beer pairings was out of this world.  We had a great view of each of our courses being prepared in front of us and the service and staff were excellent.  Presentation of each course was beautiful as well and we didn't get done until after midnight.  It is easily the best meal we've ever had in Nashville.  Our favorite part was the duck course and neither of us were big fans of the fowl before tonight. (photo courtesy of Flickr.com)

New Orleans comes to Nashville...and then Nashville goes to New Orleans

Thursday, May 16 - We had some excellent prep work to get in a "Big Easy state of mind" before our anniversary trip this year thanks to a fantastic show by New Orleans' own, Big Sam's Funky Nation, at Exit/In with local groove-meisters, Captain Midnight and their self-described style of "waterbed rock" opening for them.  We caught BSFN for the first time a few years ago (almost two years to the day actually) down in Gulf Shores, Alabama (previous blog) and they were good then, but this show was even better despite a fairly sparse crowd on a weeknight. Thanks to our friends, Chris and Tarryn, for going with us, just as they did two years ago (but no cars were towed
following the  show this time, thank goodness!!).

Big Sam Williams is a singer, dancer and most of all, a kick-ass trombone player (formerly of The Dirty Dozen Brass Band), who works hard for the money on stage as you can see from the sweat around his collar.

Saturday, May 18 - We took a short afternoon flight down to New Orleans today with our friends, Danny and Brenda, who were also celebrating a wedding anniversary this weekend.  Our friends, Tiff and Brenda (yep, another Brenda), had come down earlier in the day from Chattanooga as well.

Per Tiff and Brenda's recommendation, we stayed at the very cool Place d'Armes Hotel in the French Quarter just off famous Jackson Square.  The place contains great New Orleans charm and history, along with all the modern conveniences including a very nice courtyard and pool.

Our "junior suite" was huge and we loved the exposed brick and the great view of the pool and courtyard.  The room's location at the end of the hall on the third floor (308 for future reference) made it nice for hanging out, entertaining and meeting some of the other guests.  We met some great folks from North Georgia the first night and some other nice folks from Canada the next night.

Beautiful Jackson Square was just a 5-minute walk from our hotel.  We ate dinner and had dirt-cheap drinks on our first night in NOLA at Cajun Mike's Pub & Grub out on the fringe of the French Quarter.

Sunday, May 19 - Happy Anniversary from New Orleans! We spent a fairly lazy 12th Anniversary Day sleeping in and then grabbing a delicious low-country lunch at Chartres House near our hotel. 

We wandered around The French Quarter in the afternoon and wound up for drinks at The Carousel Bar in the Monteleone Hotel. This beautiful and famous watering hole actually does actually rotate at a slow pace (seems faster once you are seated at the bar).  With a little patience all six of us were able to sit together on the spinning libation counter plus our friend, Brad, who moved back down to New Orleans recently and was able to join us for the evening.  We got a great to-go dinner from the tiny and busy Coop's Place and ate back in the courtyard of the hotel (and, no, I did not wait 30 minutes after eating before getting in the pool!)  We had a ton of left-overs which we finished off over the next couple days thanks to the fridge and microwave in our room.

Monday, May 20 - Well, enough of this being lazy.  We got up bright and early (well, "early" for The Big Easy as least) and walked over to Saint Louis Cemetery Number One for a 10 AM tour hosted by Save Our Cemeteries.  This non-profit organization is dedicated to the preservation of several historic "all raised tombs" cemeteries throughout the city.  SLC #1 is one of the oldest and "most beautiful" in New Orleans.  The two-hour tour was informative and interesting.  Some of the highlights included the graves of the first, as well as the first African-American, mayors of the city; the voodoo queen herself, Marie LaVeau; as well as an unoccupied tomb owned by actor, Nicholas Cage.  Many of the tombs are in terrible (and shameful) disrepair, and it felt good to know 100% of tour fees would be going to help and try to honor the many lain to rest here in a more respectful way.

The city-block sized "City of the Dead" is loomed over by the hustle and bustle of downtown New Orleans.

We had a great "tri-anniversary" dinner tonight at GW Fins which has some amazing seafood.

Tuesday, May 21 - I was scheduled to fly back home today while Ashlee was going to pick up a rental car and work over in Mississippi (one of her new territories she's been assigned) for the rest of the week.  But before my late afternoon flight, we had enough time to go check out the relatively new National WWII Museum.  What we thought was going to be just an OK time-killer turned out to be on of our favorite parts of the trip.  This huge, beautiful museum is done right, and they have a couple of interactive add-ons to the entry price that are well worth the money including a 4-D (yes, 4) film narrated by Tom Hanks called "Beyond All Boundaries" that is outstanding, and an impressive and nerve-racking submarine experience called "Final Mission."

That's a full sized bomber hanging in the National WWII Museum.  Check out the people on the walkway above it for scale.  This was just one of several draw-dropping indoor displays.

We walked back to our hotel from the WW II museum along the mighty Mississippi River.

This little darling to me captures the essence of New Orleans: a full belly and a relaxed state of mind.  I took this photo right outside of Cafe Du Monde as we were munching on their famous beignets.   We love you, NOLA, and we can't wait to get back to see you as soon as we can!

Some Flaming Lips, a Couple Black Keys, a third Iron Man and a Great Gatsby

A great show and a couple of good movies filled up our first week of May:

Friday, May 3, 2013 - We were able to grab some general-admission tickets to the SOLD OUT show at The Bridgestone Arena for The Black Keys with opener, The Flaming Lips.  We had another tasty great dinner at Puckett's Grocery beforehand.

OK, they were a little weird (so what if lead singer, Wayne Coyne, cradled a baby doll through several songs) but the sound, fury and visual spectacle that is The Flaming Lips live was worth a look as the opener for The Black Keys.  We even "realized" that their song "Do You Realize" is actually a quite lovely ballad.  And their cover of David Bowie's "Heroes" was spot-on.  We had attempted to see them at Bonnaroo in the past but their set was well after midnight when the folks get even weirder on (and off) the stage.

The amazing Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys with one of several beautiful guitars he sported (and cranked up) throughout the show.  It was an excellent performance from start to finish and while it did not have the glitz and glamour to outdo our favorite show at the arena by Pink, it was definitely the solid second-best performance we have seen there.  With our general admission tickets allowing us to get just 20 or 30 feet from the stage, it was easy to forget you were in a full arena of people as these garage-band rockers did their magic.

Patrick Carney (aka Cymbal Face) keeps the driving beat that The Black Keys are known for. 

Below is a quick snippet of the duo blasting away along with a touring bassist and keyboardist.

Saturday, May 4, 2013 - We caught a showing of Iron Man 3 in IMAX 3D tonight and it was great.  Lots of action, humor and some good twists we didn't see coming.

Saturday, May 11, 2013 - We caught a showing on opening night of the remake of The Great Gatsby in 3D down in Chattanooga with our friend, Mike.  This film had a little extra significance to us three since we listened to the audio-book of it on the way down to Tallahassee back in February to see Duke play basketball against Florida State (see previous blog).  The book was quirky but we found it to be quite a kick, old sport!!  The film followed the book loyally and the acting performances were solid.  The sweeping grand visuals made it an even better experience.

Prince, LOVE, Zip = Vegas

We took a sort of impromptu weekend trip to Las Vegas this past weekend for one specific purpose: to see the one and only Prince in concert. After seeing that tickets were actually available and actually  affordable at a general admission venue and then finding decent airfare out there and back, it kind of became a no-brainer as to whether we should go or not.  Our Bonnaroo-made friend, Bridgette, came along as well, as she too is either as crazy as we are or has the same vision we do to see a great opportunity and take it while you can.
 

Saturday/Sunday, April 27/28th: His Royal Purpleness came on stage at The Joint in the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino for his second show of the night at 11:30 P.M. PST (that's 1:30AM at home) and played for a solid 90 minutes without a break. It was excellent from start to finish. Besides new songs and classic oldies of his, he and his all-girl band belted out some great covers including Wild Cherry's classic, "Play That Funky Music" and "Let's Go" by The Cars. With the show ending at 3 AM (CST), we were pretty dang tired...by the way, did I mention that Ashlee and Bridgette each completed a 1/2 marathon earlier that same day in Nashville as well!!! Amazing job, ladies!!

Sunday, April 28th - We rented a pool cabana at our hotel, Treasure Island (TI), on the strip and planned for a day of relaxation and recovery from the very long previous day.  Those plans were dashed somewhat by a huge group of Canadian businessmen who invaded the pool area with their "party favors" (obviously-rented young female escorts) to the tune of an entourage of easily 50+ people.  Amusing to watch at first, they quickly started to ruin the day for everyone else with their antics and sheer number by hogging the pool, leaving a huge amount of empty alcohol containers everywhere and basically being a loud, disgusting nuisance.  But, hey, it's Vegas.  What ya gonna do?  Their bar bill was much bigger than ours, so they are who gets catered to in Sin City where money talks.


Our evening improved by taking in a great show next door at The Mirage.  It's called "The Beatles LOVE" and is put on by Cirque Du Soleil.  We had front row seats for this dazzling spectacle of sight and sound that was trippy and cool.

Monday, April 29th - We had to get away from the hustle and bustle of Vegas for a while today and get out in the desert some.  We headed over to Boulder City, the home of Hoover Dam, for a planned afternoon of zip-lining.  Before that, we stopped and had a revisit of Hoover Dam and checked out the new Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge that serves as a bypass of the dam and just recently opened.

A back view of Hoover Dam with the massive and impressive (this picture does it no justice) Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge now open for use as a bypass around the canyon and dam.

The new bridge even has a pedestrian walkway on both sides of it allowing for some amazing birds-eye views of Hoover Dam and the cool hairpin curve coming down into the canyon toward it.

Our first zip-lining experience ever.

One of several beautiful collared lizards we saw on our hike to the top of Red Mountain for our first of four zip-line rides.

One of our great guides, Cody, checking out the breaking system on Run # 2.  Unlike many other zip-lines that are tree-top to tree-top, this experience blows those away since it's desert ridge to desert ridge as you can see our starting point far into the distance.   Each run is over 1,100' in length and we reached speeds in excess of 60 MPH.  The weather was perfect with warm temps and a slight breeze.  The views were outstanding.  To say this was one of the best experiences in our life would not be a lie. The line for Run # 3 can be seen above this one running east to west.

Showing off our best sides!  Yep, that's us.  Legs out and ready for launch!! (Photo courtesy of Flightlinez)

Tuesday, April 30th - Our flight home was late in the day and this gave us ample to time to check out a few other places in and around Vegas.

Blissful beauty just 20 minutes out of the glitz and noise of Las Vegas.  The 13-mile loop through the canyon is stunning.

Rock climbers in Red Rock Canyon.  See photo below for scale of this massive wall of rock.

Where Red Rock Canyon gets its name.




The whole of Red Rock Canyon from Highway 157.



We stopped by the MGM Grand Casino and Hotel on The Strip when we got back to Vegas to check it out for a future trip we have planned here in late June.  We happened upon some under-card introductions of the upcoming boxing event: May Day: Mayweather vs. Guerrero. It certainly was creating a buzz and it was fun to be mingling among it.

A Visit to the "51st State"

April 20, 2013 - We flew out this morning for a long weekend in San Juan, Puerto Rico to celebrate my birthday.    

 

We chose this trip thanks to a new route offered by Southwest Airlines and a great opening sale ($110 each way!) celebrating their first destination out of the Lower 48 states .

 

Our flight down connected in Tampa and the plane from Tampa to San Juan was one of Southwest's new 800 series and this particular one we were on looked (and smelled) brand new.  And it was amazingly only about half full.

The flight to Puerto Rico was beautiful as we passed over The Bahamas with tremendous views.

We stayed near the airport at The San Juan Water and Beach Club Hotel, a swanky, art-deco boutique hotel right on the beach that we got a great deal on booking "blind" through Hotwire.com.  We capped off the day of travel with a moonlight stroll on the soft sand beach in front of our hotel followed by some room service and champagne.  Not a bad way to spend a birthday.

Sunday, April 21, 2013 - We got up early this morning to go on a hiking tour of the El Yunque Rainforest followed by a sunset food and walking tour back in Old San Juan.

The only U.S. National Forest that just so happens to be a rainforest also, El Yunque is beautiful and very close to San Juan.

A little over a half mile from the main road down the Big Tree Trail is beautiful La Mina Falls.

Our first of four stops in the Old San Juan Food Tour was on of our favorites.  This traditional Puerto Rican dish is called mofongo and was served at Café' la Princesa .  Under that dome of mashed plantain on the left was yummy grilled flank steak.  The beans and rice on the right were super-flavorful.

With the walking tour starting at 5 PM, we were able to enjoy a beautiful sunset over the harbor during it.  We have been to San Juan just once before for less than a day as a cruise stop.  We did a car tour of Old San Juan and while it was enjoyable, it was nowhere near as in-depth as a tour on foot with our wonderful guide, Hiriam.

As night falls on Old San Juan, the beautiful walled city takes on another great personality.

Monday, April 21, 2013 - We spent most of the day today on the beach, but we did find our way back to Old San Juan again for another cool tour and some more great food.

Good mornin', Puerto Rico!  Enjoying an early morning mimosa up at the roof-top pool of the hotel.

They call it a "Shandy" - light beer (in this case the locally-brewed Medalla Light) and Sprite (or in this case Diet 7-up).  A light, refreshing blend that is a perfect beach drink.  Thanks to our hotel for introducing this drink to us at breakfast so we could modify it slightly and take a few to the beach rather quickly thanks to a Wal-Greens being within walking distance to us for all the ingredients as well as a cheap cooler.

The beach in front of the hotel is beautiful and not very crowded.  Those white legs definitely need that sunscreen!

We spent the late afternoon on a tour of the Bacardi Rum Factory which is free (and they give you two free sample drinks in the open air bar pictured above!!) It's located across the harbor from Old San Juan via a 50 cent ferry ride.  We got back to Old San Juan afterwards for a yummy light dinner of appetizers at The Parrot Club (we loved the black bean croquetas ).  After dinner we went and  found La Taberna Lúpulo (The Hop Tavern), a great craft beer hall with an impressive selection (thanks for the suggestion, Hiriam!).   We ended the evening in Old San Juan with ginger mojitos at the bar inside El Conventa Hotel (yep, the beautiful building used to be a convent and yep these drinks were another Hiriam suggestion).  We sipped these delicious libations outside watching Old San Juan just pass us by on the cobblestone streets on a lovely Caribbean evening.  What a great day!

Tuesday, April 22, 2013 - Another morning walk on the beach before heading to the airport to say goodbye to this beautiful island.  We will definitely return probably well before it actually does become a state which it so should be!!