We Enlist in Pondo's Army

Hey everybody, welcome back to the What Podcast.

I'm Barry.

If you're in the middle of the pack, blue ribbon hat, as always is Lord taco.

He's an actual lord, we explained that many times.

And this week, you'll notice that Brad is not with us.

As we explained last week, Brad and Hillary are moving from moving from New Orleans to

New York, he's taken a job up there.

Obviously, we wish him well.

But I know they got there safely.

Glad to hear that.

And he'll be back as soon as he can.

But with us is a special guest who you guys, most of you guys will probably no doubt recognize

the name Pondo.

We're going to talk.

He's a veteran as we are.

We're going to talk about his experience at Bonnarooo and how excited he is to be back on

the farm and what he's looking forward to.

Just get another another take from it.

So Pondo, thanks again for doing this.

No problem.

I was hitchhiking and you know, I know Brad's not here this week.

I was hitchhiking and this guy on a PBR hat was driving by saying he wanted the people

to talk to and he couldn't find anybody.

And I said, well, I'll do it.

And he said, no, we're not taking you.

And then I slipped him a 20 and hey, here I am.

Wow, that's amazing.

It works.

That's 20 bucks.

It's 20 bucks.

That's right.

That's the level of screening.

That's right.

It's been a while since we've been on the farm.

I think the one thing I think that stands out for everybody, at least from my point

of view, is the fact that we're actually getting a chance to go back to something that we enjoy

and that we love and we cherish for people who have gone multiple times.

This has become like an event, a rite of passage each year.

Going to Bonnaroo is like a family reunion or like meeting loved ones that you haven't seen

in a long time.

It's so powerful and so just energizing.

It's like my body permanently knows when June is.

It's like my brain will sit there and say, okay, it's March, it's April.

Once May comes around, the brain starts working a little bit.

And then June comes, if I hear the word Manchester United on TV, I'm not thinking soccer.

Drop the United.

I'm thinking Bonnaroo, the farm, and we're heading there.

Are you guys super excited about being back?

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, I'm glad you set it up that way because that's kind of... I think I said on the last

show that I have developed sort of a rhythm throughout the year.

Like you said, when you hit May, for us it starts, or for me, it starts in January with

the lineup release and because of this podcast, even before we started doing the podcast,

I think we were talking about it year round.

And in fact, that's why we started the podcast because I think Brad and I said, this is nuts.

We're talking about an event that happens four days then out of the year in June and

we're talking about it.

And if we are, others probably are as well.

So that's why we started this, but there definitely had become a rhythm.

January, you start looking at that lineup, you spend the next several weeks talking about

it.

You hit May or even a little earlier and you start thinking, I need to get all my equipment

out.

I need to make sure the rats haven't eaten holes in it and I know where it is and that

I didn't leave the batteries in anything.

Start buying supplies.

What am I going to take this year that I didn't have last year?

I mean, all those things start playing in and not having that.

What we did last year, we very much did.

Everyone was packed up and ready, but it still kind of left a little hole maybe.

What's the last two years been like for you?

Well, let's go back first real quick.

When did you start going?

How many years have you been going?

I have been going nonstop since 2008.

The story and it kind of goes with the buckinghorns on the clock.

I didn't notice.

Really?

I'll tell you something.

This is a secret.

Girls love a nice big clock.

Make sure you have an L in there or you get sexualized.

Especially at work.

I know, two jobs.

Anyways, 2008 was the first year that I went and me and a good friend of mine went with

some other people.

We had gone to Woodstock 99 and he dressed up as a psychedelic cowboy and he got on the

DVD.

You're going to go to Boderoo and he goes, it's your turn.

At that time, Flavor Flav was a rapper real popular and he wore Viking horns and guess

what else?

Clock.

I went and I established kind of the alter ego of Pondo and I said, you know what would

be really great if we started something called the Pondo Army?

Originally, it was more of a rib or a gag or something.

Then I noticed like people online.

I was on a website called Infru where we were going, you're going to wear the outfit again

next year, right?

And I'm like, oh God, I had never even thought about it.

And then I said, well, if we're going to do that, let's develop this Pondo Army into something.

And what the Pondo Army states is that let's say for example, Barry likes heavy metal and

we know Lord Taco loves Zamfear and his pamploo.

And let's say I listen to Britney Spears.

He's a master.

Oh, agree.

We may not like each other's music, but we'll respect it.

I'm never going to dog you for what you listen to because to me, if we can all get along

musically, just imagine how much we could accomplish in this world.

Things are always going to be different.

You're always going to have different opinion, but be willing to respect it and embrace each

other and we'll all do it collectively together.

And if you can do that and if we could get some of these important people to do it, man,

this place would be a much better place.

And that's how the whole thing started.

And I passed out Pondo Army membership cards every year.

So if you see me come up to me and say, I want my card, I'll give you my card.

But for the past two years, I haven't been able to pass them out.

So every year since 2009, didn't do it the first year, but ever since I've been passing

out those cards and some people treat it like a where's Waldo.

They'll be like, man, I looked for you all weekend because you know, it's 700 acres.

So there's a lot of things.

It boggles my mind because I'm thinking why in the hell would anybody spend four days

looking for me?

I wouldn't I mean, I don't own mirrors in my house for a reason because I look like

this guy.

All right.

So I started in 07.

I went to the first one for the first day and then I've been going ever since since

07.

The clock when you when you mentioned Flava Flav.

Now I got to tell it.

So the day after their performance in the media tent, Jeanine Garofalo, who was one

of the comics there, was doing the media event.

And she said, did you guys hear what Flava Flav said?

I mean, what comic the insult dog said last night in the comedy tent?

And we're like, no, I mean, some people had but you know who insult the comedy?

Right, right, right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Try.

Excuse me.

Yeah.

Try the insult.

Yeah, I know I had that somewhere convoluted.

He said, you know why he wears that clock so that he can tell how far back he set the

civil rights movement.

That's all anybody was talking about that whole next day.

It's so funny.

You know, I'm not at all surprised by your story.

I mean, I am because it's hard for people who've never been to Bonnarooo to understand

why that's not so surprising.

The fact that, you know, you created something and people are into it.

There's something about that event that brings people together.

You said if we can come together by music every time I leave there, I say to everybody,

why can't we be like this year round?

Yes.

You know, yes.

Or take it home with you.

We did.

Just and why?

I mean, everything from, you know, if you see a piece of trash, pick it up and throw

it away.

Don't just add to it.

I mean, certainly don't just step over it.

Pick it up.

Yeah, it's simple.

And if everybody does it, you know, the place is pretty clean and treat people kindly.

You know, I've told the story many, many my first time going up there standing in line.

And it's as you said, you know, at that time it was closer to 90,000 people.

It was 80,000 when it sold out.

And so you, you know, you think it's crowded people.

It's hot.

People are going to be short tempered.

But I mean, I can remember standing in line and people would say, oh, I forgot something.

And they'd leave and come back and everybody like, go ahead, man, get back.

You never see that anywhere else.

And you're like, whoa.

Yeah.

I mean, that was stunning.

And then, you know, I thought I'd go by the lost and found just to see what was lost and

what was found.

And some guy was there getting his wallet.

He'd lost it the night before in center in the, in the main stage area, you know, crowded

is, and somebody had turned it in.

He was like, everything's in it.

All my money still.

Wow.

Somebody found it, made the trip, you know, to turn it in.

And the guy was like, only at Bonnarooo, you know, those kinds of things stuck out to me

and have stood with me.

I've only seen, I was able to say I've never seen a crossword until the last one.

And there were two volunteers.

They were a husband and wife and they'd probably been at about an hour, 11 and a half of their

12 hour shift.

And he was not having it.

He started yelling at her about go get me a Coke or water or something.

That's the only, only crossword I've ever, ever seen or heard.

That's just, you know, treat people the way you want to be treated.

It's the code, right?

Right.

It's funny that you bring up lost and found because one year I went by and Lord taco was

there and lost and found and nobody was playing on.

Nobody wanted to pick him up.

Everyone said he's always been lost.

So, you know, I don't know.

I don't know what happened with that.

They had him in that cardboard box in the kind of where we picked him.

I think Brad.

Yeah, no, no one else wanted to admit to knowing me.

So well, and Brad waited till Monday morning because he knew he could get him cheap.

That is one of my favorite things too.

On Monday morning when you're leaving, look at everybody because if you want to see what

an extra on the walking dead looks like, that is it.

Because everybody's like, well, they look like I look now.

So I'm not no stretch for me.

Yeah.

Monday morning or Sunday morning.

Cause Sunday I'm an early riser.

I get up and it always amazes me those people who go all night long on Saturday.

And when the sun's coming up, I'm getting up going to get coffee and they're going to

their tent.

Yeah.

And I'm thinking you're not going to sleep long.

It's sun's up.

You know, that's it.

Yeah.

That'd be miserable.

Uh, how many people do you go?

First of all, where do you come from?

Okay.

I came from a little town called Henderson, Kentucky.

We're near Evansville, Indiana and uh, Henderson, Kentucky is actually famous for absolutely

nothing.

So it works out pretty well that I get, it's about a three and a half hour drive.

I've gone with as many as six, but now we have four that, uh, we that all together now.

Um, one of my best friends, Dave, he goes with me and, and the ages are crazy because

I just turned 48.

My birthday was Saturday.

Uh, then my best friend, he's 47.

He goes and uh, then we got a woman who's 63, maybe 64.

If I get her age wrong, if I get Cindy's age wrong, she'll come back and kill me.

So I'll just say she's 49.

And then we have her grandson who's 19, Braden.

He goes and then I really special friend of mine whose nickname is sweetness.

I'm going to try to get her to go next year.

Um, it's weird because you brought up something.

I try to explain and sell people on Bonnarooo and until you go, you can't do it.

It's like the grand Canyon.

You try to explain the great Canyon.

It's big.

It's a lot of rocks.

You can't explain it forever, but until you go and actually see it, you know nothing about

the grand Canyon and Bonnarooo is such a unique experience for everybody.

And the one thing that I love is both.

You guys could go see totally different sets than me.

You could get up early.

I like, I could be one of those struggles coming back.

We could have totally different experiences and still absolutely love every second of

it.

And I try to share those experiences and I try to explain to people that Bonnarooo is

something you have to experience watching it on TV, watching it online.

It's great.

There's nothing wrong with that, but it's not being there.

And that's one thing I can say that separates this festival from so many others.

Yeah, I totally agree.

I mean, I'll ask Russ while he's sitting there cause this will be what?

Four for you.

18 was my first one.

I went to 18 and 19 and then I went to exit 111, which I get, doesn't really count, but

that's the last time I was on the farm.

Right.

And, and, and, uh, taco is a little bit of an outlier because he loves to camp.

In fact, he's in, in the bus and that's what he camps in that.

He does that on the regular.

Um, I camp once a year and it's at Bonnarooo.

Yeah.

And prior to Oh seven, that's the reason I didn't go in two through six is the idea of

sleeping on the, you know, on a, in a field in Manchester, Tennessee, especially, you

know, at that time, to be honest, you know, mostly jam bands and also, you know, I was

late and later in life with children and, uh, you know, it just was not in nowhere on

my radar.

Um, I knew from that first visit, how cool it was, right.

And how different it was, but the camping part of it.

And I say that because that's usually what you get when you mention it to anybody who's

never been.

Yeah.

And that's, that's what sold me on it.

Yeah.

Well that sold you and that turns a lot of people, I mean, I can't tell you how many

times I've said, I go to Bonnarooo every year and people look at me and they say, you camp?

You sleep in a tent?

You know, surely you get a hotel room.

I'm like, no, I don't.

In fact, I don't know about you, Ponda.

You may not have had, have the opportunity, but like Brad leaves the site every day.

I don't want to ever leave when I'm there.

I, it breaks some sort of magic spell or something.

And one of my best friends said something and it got, uh, plus with first off of leaving

and secondly, with going to camp.

Every time you go to camp or you leave, you risk missing something.

In 2008, the coral reefers were playing in center and we are sitting at camp and everybody's

kind of tired.

Nobody wants to go in and everything.

I said, Oh, let's wait and go in.

We go in and we missed some guy that played with them.

Some guy named Jimmy last name Buffett.

Yeah.

So by us being lazy and not wanting to go in, we miss Jimmy Buffett.

And I mean, that's a once in a lifetime experience for me, you know, and like I tell everybody

when you're at, if you leave and you go to the hotel or, and you do a lot of media, a

lot of my friends that, that take foot, do the photography thing will go to the hotel

and I'll say, you risk missing something.

Well, it's three o'clock in the morning.

I said at Bonnarooo, you risk missing something at three o'clock in the morning.

So it's just, you know, well, in my case, it's not just a show that I might miss or

a star.

I might miss a great time at camp.

I mean, Brad and I were laughing this past weekend, not during the show.

We met downtown for a couple of beers with another campmate and we just laughed about,

you know, the stories that we picking on each other at midnight, you know, or later.

That's, that's the part that I can't, I can't explain to people who, you know, when I say

I go to Bonnarooo, they say, you sleep in a tent?

Yeah.

Well, as we've said on here many, many times, we bring our own carpet.

We have a ginormous tent.

We have a bloody Mary tent.

Nice.

You know, we do it upright.

We have a picket fence.

It's nice.

It's not like we're sleeping in mud, which I think for some reason that's the image.

They don't understand the 24 hour.

This becomes a community.

You bond with your neighbors.

You'll end up talking to them and maybe they know somebody that you should see that you've

never thought about.

Oh, absolutely.

There was one year that we went.

I don't remember if there was a, um, there was a group that was playing and I don't remember

who it was.

And they're like, have you seen them before?

And I said, no, you should really check them out.

We went and they were like one of the top three acts we saw the whole weekend.

And it's such an, it's such an amazing feeling because then you're like, oh wow, I didn't

know about them.

And I found out about them.

And I think especially for people like me that are older, I think another drawback now

is a lot of people say, well, I don't know people on the lineup or I don't know as much

of the lot because it's younger.

Explore a little bit.

Take, take, take one day out of your schedule and just go through Spotify or do something

like that and explore.

And I said, you might find that you're going to find five acts.

You knew nothing about that.

All of a sudden you're just dying to see.

Yeah, that's, I, again, for me, the importance of this festival in my life, and I'm not overstating

that is as a, as an entertainment writer, that's I've from since about 1982, you know,

I've written about music, I've reviewed shows, uh, but quite honestly, it was all arena shows

and small venue shows that I was going to.

And there was a lot of sameness.

Uh, it was the same show, you know, they're going to do three songs.

They're going to say, hello, Chattanooga band.

They're going to tell a bad joke.

You know, they're going to do two encores.

It's going to be 90 minutes to the minute and you're going to go home.

It didn't matter if it was a rat.

Well, a rap show, those were different, but a country show or a rock show or whatever

that it was, you could tell management, you know, they had a lot of the same core.

Choreographers and managers, just sameness.

Uh, Bonnarooo changed all that for me in that, not just me, but everybody who went suddenly

just what you said, Pondo that became the game was to discover the next favorite band.

You know, if you could turn one of your buddies onto it, that was double bonus, right?

Right.

Yeah, that's exactly right.

And that's a huge part of it for all of us and the other part of it for us.

And I don't know how you and your group is, but we almost never attend the same show.

And we, if we do, we never go together.

What we usually do is we have a young and the one that's 19, we don't know where he's

going to go.

He's, he's, he'll do a little bit of EDM, probably more than we will.

And then like, uh, usually, uh, his grandma, grandmother will go with him sometimes.

And then usually me and my best friend will go to a show, but a lot of times on super

jam night, that's where we get split up because super jam is so special and so unique.

And this year, the 1984 aspect of it's going to be just, you know, so we, we might all

go to that show, but a lot of times, um, you know, it's what's pretty amazing is.

To brag on, on Cindy, who is 60 ish.

Uh, I have never been in the pit for a headliner and I've gone since 2008.

She's gone, I think five or six times and she's already been in the pit for two headliners

and she's 60 ish.

So you know, it's like, it's like, there's literally something for everybody.

One thing I did want to touch on real quick is it has been two years.

Um, anybody who follows me on Twitter, and if you don't, I will do a shameless plug at

Pondo knows best.

Am I handle on Twitter?

Uh, and I do follow both of you gentlemen and Lord taco.

Good Lord.

If you could understand his tweets, please, someone give me a book and, and, and decipher

some of that stuff, especially at like two in the morning after I've had some liquid

courage, but it doesn't matter what time of day it is.

I still don't understand it.

That's the problem.

Um, just in the past year alone for me has been absolutely horrific.

I know everybody's had situations, but, um, last year, uh, August 31st, my mom passed

away from COVID.

I was in a hospital with COVID and both of us have been vaccinated to the fullest extent

at that time and, um, doctor coming there while I was in there and told me you have

a 30% chance to live while I found out later that that was inflated.

I wasn't supposed to make it.

Uh, so then my mom passed away.

And then in January I got readmitted into the hospital for a dehydration and that was

because I was still sick from after effects of COVID.

They happened to do a CT scan and they found a mass on my left kidney.

So I had cancer of the kidney and, uh, I tell everybody, I said, man, I must've had a hell

of a party because I woke up next day.

I'm missing a kidney.

They had to take the whole kidney out.

And so, and, and there's been a bunch of other small things that have gone along with it.

And so this year I'm going to appreciate Bonnarooo more than I ever have.

Uh, whenever we're on that long road going in and I got goosebumps talking about it now,

I will probably start crying.

And the moment we parked that car and get out and I see that grass and I feel the sun

on me and I see the Ferris wheel and I see everything and everybody going every which

way and people laughing and you can probably already smell the porta potties that are outside

of center room.

That moment is probably going to be one of the best moments of Bonnarooo ever.

And I'm actually probably expecting to break down and cry for awhile.

I'll probably be no good for about 10 or 15 minutes and then I'll get back in Pondo mode

and I'll be ready to go.

But I have missed that place so much.

It has become a fabric of my life and you know, you talked about four days earlier,

you know, four days out of the year you go and do this.

Most of the year I don't wear this.

Most of the year I worked at a auto parts factory.

Well, except recently since I lost my kidney, I haven't been there because I've been out

for F and L.A. but you don't know how many people do not know me as Brian.

They know me as Pondo.

They will see me out places.

I will go to Nashville or whatever.

Hey, Pondo!

I'm like, wow!

And they recognize me without the ridiculous get up.

And it's amazing that this is a place where you can go, let your hair down.

Well, Taco doesn't have much hair so we'll let that go.

I just got a haircut.

And be whatever you want to be for a few days.

Let go of everything at home.

Plug out.

And just go and have the best amazing time.

And think about how many people you've met at this festival.

Well, not just.

But at the events that we've had, Taco's stories of running into people like you just said

out and they recognize his voice or the hat or something.

Brad ran into, you know, a listener two weeks in two weekends ago down in New Orleans.

Yeah, it happens.

But beyond that is people like you, obviously the guys at RooHamm and Charlotte and Daniel

with the Rue bus.

I mean, we speak fairly regularly, you know.

Yeah, almost daily.

Become friends with all of these people and keep up through Reddit or emails or texts

or whatever.

It goes beyond, you know, a website or whatever.

It's personal.

These are people who care about right.

Yeah, we understand.

We don't get into it too much, but it has been a tough year for all of us as well.

And that this event this weekend, the fact I started writing a column for one of the

magazines we do trying to talk about this.

And typically when I get the first sentence, I'm essentially done.

I've written three of them already.

I've completely restarted twice, which is very rare for me because it just when I get

down to a certain point, I'm like I haven't said anything that I wanted to say yet.

You know what I mean?

Because it has to be a certain length.

So it's remarkable to me, it's remarkable to me that five years in and in year three

of an event that hasn't happened, we still are talking about it.

Correct.

But again, as I said earlier, I'm not surprised.

It is when it's surprising when you say it out loud like that.

But to you and and taco and and Brad and everybody else, it's not at all surprising because I

mean, how many times have you listened to our podcast or someone else's and had, you

know, somebody call in and say, Oh, my friends are so tired of me talking about Bonnarooo

all year long.

It's like I was trying to tell explained what your podcast is about one day and I was telling

some friends, I said, you got to listen to the what podcast and they're like the what

I said precisely and they said, is this Abbott Costello?

I said, no, it's the what podcast.

It took a few, took a few go arounds, but I said, trust me, if you listen, you will

gather so much information and you might wear a PBR hat in the future.

That's why I told them.

We are well aware it's a stupid name, but it made perfect sense when we conceived it.

Yes.

As you know, the what you know, the way they name the stages, the what, which this, that

and the other.

And when we reached out to Bonnarooo and said, Hey, we're, we think we want to start this

podcast.

They said, we're thrilled.

Please do, but you can't use a Bonnarooo in your URL or you can't use any of our graphics.

So you know, and of course we're thinking it'll be what three months at best.

Yeah.

We, we thought one season and we'll be done.

Yeah.

So, you know, see you.

And anyway, it works and a taco is done.

As I said, last couple of shows done a terrific job with our website, uh, which by the way,

I wanted to mention, we got, I got a lot of emails from people who said, Hey, I'd love

to have some of the stuff from your basement and I'm a hundred percent serious, you know,

but buy a t-shirt or something just so we can kind of cover the costs.

And I've started a pile and yeah, I'm glad to get shameless plug, shameless plug, shameless

plug, the whole point for me is to empty this basement out of stuff.

But that was a lot of fun and it was fun getting, uh, getting emails from, from people.

Um, so what are you, I mean, you, you said really, and, and happy birthday and I'm glad

you're better.

Absolutely.

I mean, I was kind of following that.

I w I wasn't going to bring it up publicly unless you wanted to.

Well, this is my best birthday present right here.

Yeah.

Come on the one.

I mean, that's, that's what I think.

Happy birthday.

Thank you.

Glad we could do it.

Thank you.

Um, I wanted to go back and ask, I'm intrigued by the, the grandmother and grandson going,

um, I've been with both of my kids and I remember the first year my son was, he would have graduated

high school and I was like, bad news, man, dad's going to be there too.

And he's like, I don't care.

You know, I thought he would, you know, I'd be harsh in his mind.

I was just trying to imagine, I was just trying to imagine me at Bonnarooo with my grandmother.

Like I just, I know, right?

First off, first off, I definitely want to let you guys know this.

Cindy is not your typical grandma.

She is had to be the case.

She's, uh, like I said, she's been in a pit twice.

She's a mate, amazing woman.

Um, she is a breast cancer survivor and she goes out and she parties just as hard as anybody

else there.

And Braden is 19, got a good, got a good head on his shoulders and introduced her like as

soon as the, as soon as the lineup comes out, he'll be like, okay, we're going to go see

this, this and this.

She'll play something.

He'll play something for her.

And you're like, she's like, no, no, no, you're going to go see that.

I'm not going to go.

But you'll hear something like I think this year, um, she heard Nathaniel right lip in

the night sweats and she wasn't real familiar with them.

And then she's like, wait a minute, we're going to go see them.

And so, you know, and it's, it's an, it just, again, shows the dynamic where you can literally

be pretty much as long as you're old enough to go.

And that's, that's a subject for, you know, another day, but anybody can go, uh, from

ages.

You know, I remember when the body greenies went, I don't know if you guys were familiar

with them.

They were all and they were amazing.

And I watched earth went in fire with them right in front of me.

And you know, um, you have literally four grandmas that they're right in front of me

and I'm talking to them and they're enjoying every minute of it.

Of course they go at night, you know, they, they come in, they don't, but that's just

like amazing.

So it's literally a festival for everybody.

The one thing that I will say that, that you have brought up a couple of times, it's not

a festival.

It's an event.

And I've used that line a couple of times.

So I don't know if I picked it up from you or we stole it from someone else, but that's

the best way to put it.

It's not an event.

It's not a festival.

It's an event.

And now with the plazas going on, there's so much going on that it truly is an event

because there's stuff everywhere now.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I think that's really cool.

I can't imagine being able to go with a grandparent or a grandson, a grandchild.

And, you know, either way is really cool to be able to share something like that.

But the other thing we've said is the only, the only real couple of rules and I've had

parents ask me before, cause you know, they'll, they'll say, you go every year.

My kid wants to go, you know, their high school age or whatever.

My only thing is if they're the type of person who finds trouble, they'll find trouble.

If they're a level headed mature kid, they won't have any trouble at all.

Again, they, people take care of each other.

You know, but if you're just that kind of kid that somehow always seems to be in trouble,

you can find it there, but you can find it anywhere.

The other thing, and we've said it on here many times is don't come with a spouse or

a significant other unless you're both really into it.

Cause it's not a halfway event.

Oh gosh, is that a true statement?

It's not a, it's not a test the water kind of event, is it?

Correct.

Yeah.

Correct.

Come ready to have fun the whole time and explore.

My point about us not going to the shows together is not that we don't like each other, but

it's that it's, it's goes along the same lines is if taco says, I want to go see Nathaniel

and I don't, right.

He'd not feeling guilty and I'm not feeling guilty.

You know, I'm not, I'm not going to mope and pout and he's not either go have fun and we'll

meet back.

And that's, that's our whole group is that way.

And I think it's really been important that everybody understands that.

One thing I want to mention just in case people are new to your podcast, which by the way,

if you're not listening on a regular basis, please do because I have learned countless

things from, uh, you know, Brad's not here, but all of you guys have taught me something.

I'm not wearing a PBR hat though.

Um, the one thing that, that Bonnarooo has, I, I, I'm not a drug user.

I don't, and I don't participate and I usually don't drink when I'm there, but they have

a good policy there of a, you know, if you see somebody messed up or you're with a friend

who's messed up, who's done something, maybe they shouldn't have, or as party too hard,

they have the, you know, just, just get, get them there, get them some help.

They're not right there to judge.

They're there to try to get you better.

And I love that policy because especially with EDM becoming way popular now, and a lot

of people associate drugs with EDM and that's, that's, I think a stereotype, maybe it shouldn't

be, but the, you know, don't ask what, what's going on.

They just want to help.

And the not judging is something that I think makes that festival really, really good, especially

for people who maybe have a tendency to do things that they shouldn't do.

I'm not suggesting at all, you guys need to go get messed up or something like that.

But if you see somebody who needs help and you're afraid I don't want to take them because

they're going to get in trouble for being on drugs.

No, help them because by helping them, you're going to keep them out of a situation where

maybe they can get help and enjoy the festival and maybe not get sick or perhaps even worse.

That's right.

Yeah.

That I have, again, the only real rule in my opinion is don't be an idiot.

Don't, don't make them do something to you.

They don't want to do right.

They don't want to kick you out.

They don't want to arrest you.

They don't want you to be sick and they certainly don't want you to die.

So yeah, take care of yourself.

And you know, the extra days and the fact that we have not been there for a while really

has me worried about people hitting it going too hard.

That's why I said that because I'm really worried about that.

Yeah, me too.

Me too.

I mean, I your point about seeing the grass and feeling the sun.

I'm the same way.

And I know even in the last time we were there, you know, we what do we say?

Don't go hard on that Wednesday and then all three of us went pretty hard on that.

Yeah, I was guilty of that too.

Yeah.

Which makes Thursday terrible and half a Friday terrible.

I think about it as a it's a it's a marathon, but I am very worried because we've been

so pent up for so long.

You know, it's going to feel like free at last kind of ready to go kind of thing.

So take care of each other, you know, really be considerate of that.

What are the other lessons that you that you've learned?

You know, you've been there as many times as I have and every one of them is different,

but there are definitely some things both from the camping and pacing myself and food

and all of that.

You mentioned I don't do I don't do drugs.

I wish I did because that would be the perfect place.

I've always said that.

Yeah, me too.

I've always said if I did drugs because everybody looks at the outfit and they assume so I get

offered like all kinds of hey man, here's this.

Here's this.

No, no, I'm good.

No, no, I'm good.

You're not going anywhere.

You're not driving.

Right.

Everything is there.

Yeah, I do good walking back to camp just on soda.

So I don't know what I would do if I was too bad.

And that's the same with everybody.

They must be like a week long party and drinking.

I'm like, nope, one word or two words, porta potties.

I do have I do have a couple of simple rules that I tell everybody.

One is pace yourself.

It is not a sprint.

It's a marathon.

If you want to drink, that's fine.

But drink in moderation.

Don't don't sit there and say, okay, let's just doubt because like you got you brought

up Thursday and Friday.

You're miserable and you end up missing sets and you you end up having nice trips to porta

potties to just just that's if you're thinking about having that last shot or whatever, just

consider porta potties all morning long.

Right, right.

Because you don't want to be in there before they're cleaned unless you want to go into

all the way in the center room to make yourself a schedule and don't worry about it.

Yeah.

And if you miss somebody, I promise you it's not the end of the world.

I hate when I see these people.

I'm going to spend 30 minutes at this show and 10 minutes at this show and five minutes

at this show.

You know what you're going to see?

You're going to see a lot of dust walking back and forth.

Yeah, that's right.

And one thing I'll tell everybody else, make friends with your neighbors because nine times

out of 10, they will have something that you forgot.

You're like, oh, I forgot that and your name and your neighbors guy and it makes yourself

a community.

So it helps against people being around your site that maybe shouldn't be, you know, like

if I say, hey, these are the four people we're going to have here and your neighbor says,

well, these are the three people and you come back and you see some people that shouldn't

be there.

You know, they shouldn't be there.

So that might even help you out a little bit.

I tell everybody to pack a Sharpie because you never know.

You might run into Lord taco and you might want to dang autograph somewhere.

You know, you never know who you'll run into at a center room.

I bet a couple of famous people in center room and had them sign a shirt or two.

The last thing that I tell everybody is your main goal there is to have fun and a good

time.

And if you don't feel like you're having fun or a good time, then you could probably do

something else.

Yeah.

If you're at a show and it's you're just not feeling it, there are probably at least three

or four or five other acts playing and with the plazas, all other things going, there's

plenty to do and you can go off by yourself.

You don't have to have somebody attached to your hip.

Right.

And I recommend taking some time and just going off by yourself.

Yeah.

Away from the group.

I haven't thought about it that way, but that's a, that's, we've been saying the same thing,

but not only, you know, don't be somebody else's dead weight.

You know, don't, don't bring them down if they want to go somewhere else and don't feel

bad if you want to go somewhere else.

Go do it.

There's, there's more than enough to do and you'll meet back up at some point, you know,

don't get your feelings hurt.

I tell everybody a good meetup spot.

If you need a meetup spot, the clock tower is always there with the, or the, or it's

not a clock tower anymore.

Now it's the Bonnarooo tower.

You could always meet right there at a certain time and you go there, you're easy to be seen

and that makes it easier.

Uh, find a spot or in front of the Ferris wheel or something like that.

Or if both of you can get back to camp and you're not directionally challenged, meet

back at camp.

Um, I know for some people it's difficult because if you're like a 40 minute walk, maybe

you don't want to do that.

Maybe you want to meet back up.

Don't be afraid to go off on your own because you might find something amazing going on

that you never would have found otherwise.

Yeah.

If you are in a group too, uh, along those lines, uh, when you get there, walk around

as best you can, get the lay of the land and, and take visual markers, write them down if

you have to.

It's a huge place.

Uh, you know, we, we've been there enough.

I feel like I could, I won't get lost.

I know where I am, but when you first arrive, it's overwhelming.

Um, and it looks completely different at three in the afternoon than it does at three

in the morning.

Yes.

So get your visual markers and also, uh, consider your phone.

Phones are probably not going to work.

Right.

I would have go ahead and assume that your phones are not going to work.

So if you, you know, you leave your buddies and say, I'll text you where I am in an hour,

they may get it in an hour.

They may not.

Or they might get it in five hours.

I do that for, you know, from a work standpoint, I leave, I leave here with a whole list of

things I'm going to do.

I'm going to send updates every hour and pictures and it never works, you know, maybe in the

morning and that's about it only cause I get up before everyone else.

So just, you know, bank on that.

So figure out some way to communicate, you know, if you're there with a large group or

you're there with kids or whatever, you know, we're going to meet at such and such a place.

Like you said, the clock tower, the Ferris wheel or, um, the mushroom, the water fountain,

you know, whatever, there are plenty of locations and you'll figure out there, they're central

to where you're mostly going to be.

Um, we've talked a long time about what to bring and those sorts of things.

Uh, for the most part, I think, you know, bring, bring, you're probably going to want

to bring less than what you think.

Yep.

You know, they're absolutely, especially now, uh, in the last several years with the stores

and the onsite vendors and all that.

If you forget something, you can get it.

Sure.

You know, it may cost an arm and a leg, but it may cost more than you want to spend, but

you can, you're not going to be without.

And the food is really good.

I haven't found the food to be outrageously expensive.

Plus you're not going to want to eat three huge meals a day.

Sure.

Again, port-a-potties.

I got to give a shout out to my guys at roadie rolls.

They do a food truck at the gourmet food truck, a roadie rolls.

They're a farm to table.

Uh, Corey and his gang are there every year.

They're amazing people.

I've actually gone on the truck and made a roadie roll for myself at Bonnarooo.

Uh, they are, they're located in, uh, Charleston and Atlanta.

If you get a chance to visit their green truck, please do.

Tell them Pondo sent you it's amazing food.

If you don't know what a roadie is, what a, what a roadie is or a roadie roll is, look

it up.

I'm on their website at roadie rolls.com and I, I sponsor those guys year round and they're,

they're just humble, really good people and they want to feed you.

I'm telling you right now, they would love, love to have your business.

That's that's, you know, that's one of mine.

I, I for so long, for the first several years, didn't eat anything on site.

Oh wow.

I brought my own thinking I was saving money and you know, again, I didn't bring much.

And then I'll be honest, I kept hearing, uh, campmates say talking to the Putin.

They kept saying Putin and you know, I was too embarrassed to ask.

I thought it was some, uh, something obscene over making a joke.

And then I went and had it and they haven't been back.

Unfortunately the vendors, um, but yeah, the food is great.

And I'm curious, uh, because of what you said and, and the camp rhetoric guys and rebus,

I mean, Daniel has got so many things planned.

There are going to be so many, many events within Bonnarooo.

I'm really curious to talk to people in July and August to see how it went.

You know what I mean?

How it went actually went compared to what they thought it was going to be.

Well, I think with the plazas exploding this year, I think there's good with so many bands

playing and another shameless flood for people who don't know rebus is having a Wednesday

pre-party.

Make sure you go to that.

Hang out with those guys are fantastic.

Wonderful people.

Uh, you won't meet it, meet nicer people.

At least Daniel paid me 10 bucks to say that.

So I'm telling you right now, he gave me five.

Wait a minute.

Really?

Really?

He gave me 10, but it was like, it looked like monopoly money, but it's good anyway,

right?

But you're right.

They are super nice people.

And that's, that's what I mean.

That that event's going to be huge.

I hope, I hope he knows what's coming.

Yes.

But it's not just that there are so many other events.

And uh, uh, you know, as you said, we're all going to, and I've asked, uh, by the way,

in case people are wondering, I ask when the lineups, the actual schedules coming out and

probably in the next, uh, I would say five or 10 days, if not sooner.

Cause it seems like, and it's not because of us necessarily, but it seems like as soon

as I send an official inquiry to the people who should know, it comes out about a day

or two.

They're waiting on you.

Yeah, I don't, I don't think it's that I just think the holds, you know, energy of

the universe is thinking the same thing.

So they're on it.

So we should be getting that.

But yeah, that'll be the next fun is to sit down with that thing and say, I'm going to

go here.

I'm going to go there and then we go there.

And then you get on site and you throw it in the trash and you never see it again.

But it's a lot of fun.

You know, I'm wondering how, again, you know, where in the woods and the stuff going on

outside the schedule this year might be bigger than it's ever been just because there's going

to be so many different, like there's a band that I really want to see on Thursday, the

main squeeze.

I followed those guys for years and they're not playing Bonnarooo at all except for out

in the plazas.

Yeah.

So I definitely want to go see them.

So I'm wondering how many conflicts there's going to be this year because there's going

to be so many different things going on.

I think FOMO FOMO could be the real issue this year.

It always is.

As you said, you know, we all think we're so afraid of missing out, missing that show

and we all do.

But now and it's so big, you know, I can't imagine I'm going to see the what stage and

then I'm going to go back out into the plaza and catch this thing and then back.

No, you're not.

Right.

You're going to have to make some hard choices.

You're going to have to make some choices.

And some of them might be, you know, instead of thinking you're going to bounce back and

forth, I'm just going to go to this part of the farm and hang out and just see what happens,

which is legitimate.

I think with all the events that they have planned, you could do that and have a great

time.

What we don't know is what Jam Trax is going to do if it's if it's going to be organized

and big enough that, you know, we could sort of catch a ride and get from one place to

the other.

But man, that's that's going to be the wild card.

I think that is going into it.

That is either going to be the greatest idea that bottom row has had in a long time or

it's going to be a cluster.

You know what?

And I don't know if that word's hyphenated or two words or one word altogether, but that

that scares me because my fear is if it runs well and they run it great, then this could

be a game changer, especially when it comes to plazas.

If it doesn't run well, then you could have somebody that's in pod one that's all the

way over and pod seven.

And now they're trying to figure out how to get back and there's no transportation and

they're completely lost.

That's the one thing that worries me.

Yeah.

I mean, it's a long line and all that.

Yeah, absolutely.

It's a it's a terrific idea and long time coming.

But it's like everything.

It's got to work well.

All right, man.

Taco, you got any other questions?

You know, I went one other shame.

I was going to ask and let you know, I do have one more shameless plug.

Tuesday night, my buddy Eric, he is the official DJ of the Pondo Army.

It will be in our GARV.

He's got two fireball canopies set up and he said you'll hear music come in there and

he spins.

And if you follow me again at Pondo Knows Best on Twitter, I will give you more information

once we know more.

And I do have one final question.

I've been asking everybody who's the one act that I need to see this year?

And I'll start with Taco first.

I'm going to you were talking about there's a Plaza lineup.

I'm going to say Paul Cawthon.

He did a thing with what was his name?

Orville Peck.

And I loved Orville Peck.

I saw him at Shaky Knees last year.

And yeah, they do.

They do a song together and his solo stuff is great too.

And so that's actually one of the ones I'm really looking forward to seeing.

But he's going to be I think it's a Thursday night Plaza show.

So yeah.

All right.

You're on the spot now.

Taco gave his give me yours.

I know I wasn't expecting that.

I should have.

I'm going to go with Goose.

I'm not going to go with any of the names that I assume you probably already have on

your list and Goose might be on the it is but that's okay.

Tell people who don't know.

Yeah, Goose.

They just they were the ones that were on the the online thing that they did a year

and a half ago that you know over that weekend.

The would have been weekend and I just thought they were terrific.

Briston not Preston.

I've seen so many lineups now.

I'm having to relook the one I'm curious about is Robert Grant plant and Alison Krauss.

Anytime you get to see you know Robert Plant, you know, it's like seeing a beetle almost.

He's one of the legendary figures.

Well, you know, they played there before.

They did and I saw that same show here in a theater.

Briston Moroney is another one that I've become a big fan of the one that I've been telling

everybody I'm going with lesser.

No, obviously I would say the main squeeze but a lot of people know who they are.

So I'm going to go with one that's a little bit under the radar.

It's I'm going to be on the who stage her name is Charlotte Sands.

She's a young woman that's coming out of the Tennessee area and and she's got a sound if

she can get the right backing behind her with her look.

She has a chance to go places and plus she's easy on eyes.

So you know that makes it easier for guys to go see her and she she's got really good

vocals and I don't know when she's going to play on the who stage.

She may be up against some heavy hitters but I really expect Charlotte Sands to have a

really good show there.

I think the Herbie Hancock one's going to surprise a lot of people.

Yes, we surprised how many people I know want to go see that.

Yeah, people who can't go.

A couple of friends of mine up in New Jersey.

They just had a daughter named Violet and they know who they are if they're listening

and they can't go this year and I said, man, we want to see Herbie Hancock and I said,

well, you know when she gets a little bit older, I'll appreciate her being cocked too.

So yeah, I think that's I think that's sort of the Lionel Richie.

You know how I see it's a legacy act but that was Lionel as I've said was my my blunder.

I think you can go see Lionel Richie.

No, I thought Lionel was the worst act they'd ever signed.

I thought Bonnarooo had lost its mind and turns out people are still talking about it was

good.

It was good.

I've heard I've heard and I think Herbie's going to be like he's going to be that for

a lot of people.

There's a bunch of them.

But to your back to your point, as we've said on here many times, Thursday night is a great

night for discovery.

Just go and you know, pick pick several people who actually do that each day.

Pick one name you've never heard of.

If nothing else, do a walk by and give it a chance because one thing we've learned is

the folks who book these know what they're doing.

Not everyone, you know, might be your favorite, right, but you know, they're good at what

they do.

Correct.

And so give it a chance.

The other one, just because it's you talk about shameless plug, Isaiah Rashad is a Chattanooga

guy.

Right.

And I think we talked about I think he's highest on the lineup from Chattanooga that that I

can remember.

He's on that third line on Friday.

So going to definitely go see him and glad to see he's on there.

So yeah, that's a good.

That's a tough question you ask.

You know, I don't I don't always know everyone else is what they know and don't know.

I just I mean, even if it's somebody that like Goose is a great answer because they

are a band that play so hard.

Yeah.

They're going to give you a performance, even if you don't necessarily think their music

is your cup of tea.

Watching them perform.

Definitely.

And you need to do it.

You know, it's yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, we somebody brought up one of my best friends who I've known forever out of the

blues and man, I can't stop listening to Courtney Barnett.

And I'm like, yeah, that was a Thursday night fine for us.

Yeah.

And I really know who it was, but I'm not much on country, but I'm way big on Courtney

Barnett and just just such power and her voice and her lyrics land.

They hit you in places that you weren't ready for.

If you're not prepared for it, it can take you to an emotional journey for sure.

And obviously Warren treaty we've talked about on here.

Leon Bridges were both.

Those were both acts that I knew, you know, the name, the show that I saw fell in love

and now, you know, top three or four acts of all time for me, new acts.

Right.

So you never know.

You know, one other thing band that I think it's really going to deliver and a lot of

people have made comments about them playing is the chicks.

I really think well, formerly known as the Dixie chicks.

I really think the chicks are really going to bring a great performance there.

I think their set is going to be pretty sweet.

I do expect a huge crowd for that.

And even if you don't like country, I think you will like their set.

So I'll check that out.

Obviously.

That's right.

Yeah.

You don't get very many people who just mail it in, right?

Ed Bonnarooo.

Correct.

Very, very few that I can think of.

There've been some, but not many.

So all right.

Well man, thanks so much.

Thanks for listening.

Thank you of all.

Oh, thanks for the podcast.

It keeps you in the know.

Uh, it, you find out things that you didn't know and the banter is pretty good and tell

Brad he missed out hanging out with Pondo, but hey, you know, that's okay.

Yeah, we'll do it.

No tell.

He's unpacking.

If that makes you feel any better.

Yeah.

Yeah.

He would much rather be here.

I'm sure.

I wouldn't want to be doing what he's doing.

All right, man.

Well, thank you so much.

What are we under now?

Uh, in, into the fifties, right?

Fifty days or so.

Fifty.

Uh, yeah, definitely less than three months.

Yeah.

I think it's around maybe a little bit under eight weeks, maybe a little bit somewhere

running there, you know, time to start packing.

I've already got my corner in the front room.

I have a Bona Roo pile and it pretty much stays there year round.

It used to be in there for like three months, then four months.

And now it just stays in the corner.

Like people come and say, what's that you move it now?

It's a powdery pile.

Everything's okay.

Cause if I unpack it, it just turned right around.

It's right.

All I gotta do is make sure that, you know, that the, uh, the vermin haven't got to it.

There aren't holes in something you need and, uh, your tent poles are still there.

You didn't use them for something else.

Right, right, right.

Thank you guys so much for having me.

One more thing I do want to plug for those of you doing the Bona roots dinner on Thursday,

uh, I will be there as well.

You'll be able to spot me.

I'm wearing the Viking horns and the clock come by and say, hi, uh, if I have a mouthful

of food, let me swallow first.

And then I will say hello to you.

And I hope to see as many of you guys that can on the farm this year.

For those of you who want Pondo army cards, please do not hesitate.

I'm easy to talk to.

I promise you.

And the restraining order is just another way of saying I love you.

So trust me, we'll get along fine.

Thanks so much, man.

No, yeah, sounds great.

Thank you.