Bonnaroo 2008 June 12-15th

A Bonnaroo editorial
By JT Pilaf

I was as giddy as a school girl, my nipples were so hard they could cut glass, these were just how high my emotions were flying a day before we were to leave for Manchester, TN, home of the Bonnaroo Music Festival. Wednesday the 11th 2:56 PM, I lock up my office door at work and sprint for my car in the back parking lot (unfortunately, running over an 85 year old lady in the hallway doing PT). She's fine. I get home, pack the van, and cruise over to the Isle of Grande to pick up my brother in law. After loading his stuff, we're off to Butler, PA to pick up my other Bro in law. Soon, truck packed, camper tightly sealed, we leave at 9:31 to embrace an all nighter to the promised land. Luckily it was an uneventful trip (going fairly quickly) we arrive in Manchester at the Holiday Inn to pick up our press passes at 11AM. We set up camp in the press area and take a quick fiver before the activities begin after dinner.

That orange fence you see... yeah, that didn't keep the ticks from burrowing into our soft flesh.

Thank goodness we had a camper and not a tent. Thunderstorms made life and sleeping difficult for a few Roo-goers.
Thursday's main event was Dark Star Orchestra and Lez Zeppelin.

Friday afternoon :45 minutes into Drive By Truckers set, I dehydrated and passed out into the steel rail you see in the picture. Only my nose and pride (and sunglasses) were bruised. Thank goodness the folks around me had a bag of ice they donated to my neck, 20 minutes latter, me soaked, the ice was gone. Both Mike and Bill attended to my wounded party image. Only after the show was over though. They were having to much fun to let me spoil it.

One concert that really surprised me was Willie Nelson's. I don't like country music and was never really a Willie fan. I wanted to see him though, because of his legend status, just to say I did. Unckie knows, you have to keep on crossing things of the list of life.





As you can see, it was more important to get a few of the fans, rather than focus in on Willie. Willie, BTW, just turned 75 in April.

Our neighbors to the east, did not have a traditional camping shelter. Instead, strung together by beads and love, they outfitted themselves in circa Swiss Army Tent style. Whenever I felt a sneeze a comin', I went to Jane for a tissue.

Eating is always an adventure when the three of us get together. I can say with honesty, that neither of us our concerned with how we look. Rather, we care, what goes in us, this meal consisted of either Canadian bacon or pre-cooked bacon on a bagel. Other meals included, turkey or chicken dowsed in hot sauce in a tortilla.

Oh yeah, it was hot.

There were a few bands that I didn't know about and totally loved. The Avett Brothers were awesome, high energy, folk-rock. They blew me away. That's hard to do to.

At the end of the set they were all soaked.

Another band that blew me away were Metallica. I was never a fan, but what a show they put on. High energy with a pounding sound. No pictures... sorry.

Here's where we were sitting for Ben Folds. Using our VIP status we sat, for once, while the peasants below toiled in the grass. I'm not exactly sure what that means.

The talk of Sunday was Kanye West. First, he wanted to be on the big stage so he requested he start at 2:45 AM and play until 4:45 AM... BUT, and a big butt, he didn't arrive on stage until 4:45 AM, he made everyone (and I'm sure there were very few left) wait 2 hours until this royal prima Donna took the stage.

And then, a sight for sore eyes... my ol' friend Mustafa. Jamming with the crowd while Yonder Mountain String Band filled the Tennessee air with rootin' tootin' bluegrass, the life of the party, still obviously hung over from the the big Millennium New Years (8 years ago). Mustafa, barely able to focus, but still able to get in one last drag.


What a festival Mustafa, take care.

Adventures in O'Hare

Wednesday started out like an OK day. Flew to Chicago, on time, did my work and then drove back to the Chicago O'Hare Airport. Checked in for my flight and discovered that it was delayed an hour. No big deal...I have had worse delays.

I sat at the airport, admired the giant dinosaur in concourse B and waited for my flight. I watched as other flights around started to become more delayed and cancelled. And I felt sorry for those suckers who were going to have to site around the airport and wait.

Then my flight got delayed more and more. 5pm became 6 then 6:45. I didn't see what the big deal was. The weather outside looked like perfect flying weather.

Then they cancelled my flight! I couldn't believe it. I watched as other planes were landing and I couldn't understand why it was cancelled.

Oh well, it was now time to race to the customer service booth and try and get on a new flight.




I guess a lot of people were in the same boat as I was because the line was pretty long. I was re-booked on a 9:30pm flight, so all there was left to do was wait. A trip to the bar sounded like a pretty good idea.

The prospect of the 9:30pm flight leaving on time wasn't good. The departure time changed to 10pm then 10:30pm then 10:45pm. People were getting pretty angry.




It became obvious that the flight wasn't taking off so I called it quits and went to a hotel for the night. And it was worth it. They had the most well stocked mini bar I had ever seen. for $10 you could get any 3 oz. bottle of liquor you wanted!

The next morning I headed back to the airport for my flight. of course the 7am and 10am flight were sold out so I had to settle for a 1:30pm flight. As I was going through security I got picked for extra secuirty measures.

Lucky me. They swabbed my bag and apparently some type of explosive material was detected on it. A thorough search was required. The contents of my bag were emptied and everything including an old snotty kleenex were swabbed and examined. Apparently I was not a threat as I was cleared to pass and board my plane. I got back to Buffalo at 4:30pm and was sure glad to be home.