Greetings all! We have arrived at the start of another wonderful summer (hopefully). Summer has always been my favorite season (not because my birthday just so happens to fall smack dab in the center of it) but because of the freedom most people tend to have during the season. Every Summer that I can remember, I remember vividly; the smells, the music, the friends and the amount of joy that I have felt with each Summer's past have been unforgettable for me.
My first experience thus far this Summer season was going to Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee. I love live music and the lineup was phenomenal, how could I say no? From start to finish, this was an amazing journey. I found my way from Washington, D.C. to Tennessee with two very nice women I met online from Zimride.com. I am one to trust the kindness of strangers, as it has never gotten me in to any trouble so I wasn't worried about what could have happened. I was surprised by how open, friendly and genuinely interesting these two girls were (one was twenty two, the other twenty eight). We stopped along the way and grabbed some fast food for the journey, and to another surprise, the twenty eight year old girl paid for all of us; I could tell already that we were going to be a tight group. We took turns driving throughout the night until we reached Manchester around six o'clock in the morning.
Apparently, there is a Bonnaroo tradition of meeting up in the Manchester Wal-Mart parking lot and partying until the morning. When we arrived, it was evident that people had a good time just a few hours before. There were tents lined up, RV's and people sprawled out throughout the large parking lot. We were exhausted by the time we arrived so we slept in the car for about two hours. We then made our way to load up on snacks and alcohol. Apparently alcohol is not sold in Tennessee until 8am so the line was extremely long before that time (keep in mind that I don't drink so buying a simple Gatorade was a pain because I had to wait behind a ton of people buying beer).
My group of three linked up with a couple of other guys that were friends with one of the girls. After some time spent getting everything together, we finally made our way down that long and windy rural road in to the campground site. The girls I rode with had loaded the trunk with liquor, beer and had quite a bit of drug paraphernalia with them. When we arrived the gate, our car was not searched (I think it was because we all have kind faces!) and they let us right in; the two other guys in their car were not so lucky, they had everything removed from their car and had some of their marijuana taken away. After a lengthy search of their vehicle, they were finally allowed in. We were directed where to park and could set up our campsite right next to the car in a massive field dubbed "Tent City". We started to build our tent and this was the beginning of seeing a lifestyle that was almost foreign to somebody from the suburbs, like me.
Everybody was talkative and helpful to one another. I helped set up the tent of the girl whose car we took, then I helped set up the tent of the other girl who came with us. After that, we set up the tent of the two guys we met up with and helped other random people set up their tents around us. We started talking to people in nearby tent to become familiar with one another and make some new friends. Everybody was extremely gregarious and genuinely caring. We had set up a hang-out tent in the middle of all the surrounding tents so we would have a place to sit, talk, drink, eat and for the others in my group to enjoy some less-than-wholesome activities.
I had discovered that one of my old friends was also at the festival and his tent was set up in another section of the tenting area (about 20,000 tents were spread out). I hung out with his group for a little bit and went back to my campsite. By that time, my group was noticeably intoxicated but everybody was calm. I hung out with them for a while, they inquired about my not partaking of the drug usage and were very cool about it (I was then dubbed 'the sober guy'). My group was more into the electronic/dub step music, I was more there for the Indie Rock so I ventured into the festival myself. It was about a half hour walk from our camp site to that amazing Bonnaroo arc entrance point. Along the way, I witnessed things that would not have been the same if they were in "normal" society. For instance, one camp group had sprawled out a large blanket labeled "Trade Blanket, please use the honor system" so people could put down things and trade them for other things. By the end of the festival, it was covered with granola bars, tampons, condoms, tee shirts, camping supplies but the honor system was certainly in tact there. There was a tent of monks singing "hari krisha" and looking for people to join in. There was so much information being passed around, people spraying water mist to cool others down and a whole lot other going around.
I was waiting in a long line to get to the arc and some people were passing by but all in all, people were waiting their place in line, out in the hot sun. I overheard the guys in front of me saying they wouldn't try cutting the line and were even willing to miss a band they wanted to see, just to be decent people. This was a theme I saw early on and throughout the whole weekend; People wanted to be friendly, nice, helping and genuine.
Everybody that was smoking, was sharing their weed. Nobody was pushing to get up close to a stage, people were sprawled out all over the farm grounds to see bands. It was an atmosphere of 80,000-90,000 people who were all one family. The second day, I started carrying my water bottle around and towards the end of performances, I would start tossing the water all around so people would get a nice "shower" for about ten seconds, I got a lot of love from people when I did (if you look during the end of "What You Know" by Two Door Cinema Club or "Sweet Disposition" by The Temper Trap, you might see me!). The girl that drove us to Tennessee had lost her keys one of the nights so I volunteered to hike all the way to lost and found to see if I could find them; when I got there, I was amazed and delighted. There was a long line of people who had lost various items but almost everybody was finding them there at lost and found. Lost and found was not in a very convenient place, it was outside the actual festival. I saw hundreds of smartphones, car keys and even sunglasses.. yes, sunglasses. In what other environment would somebody find sunglasses and walk twenty minutes out of their way to turn them in? Only at an event like that.
Bonnaroo had a loving environment, be it through drug usage, sharing of food, or just genuinely helping of others, everybody seemed to care for everybody else. This is not something we witness in our everyday life. Our Capitalistic society has extracted our humanity from within us. At Bonnaroo, everybody wanted to witness some wonderful music and have a great time. We all were there for the same reasons. Living in this society where we focus on ourselves, aren't we really all just working towards the same goals? We all want a nice house, a nice car and overall a cushy life... we don't need to step on each others toes to get to that level!
If we all help one another, whether they are your neighbor, a member of your religious community or just a random stranger, we will all benefit. It's a general mentality that if somebody takes time out of their day to help another, then they are at a loss, and this is not the case. Let's all work towards being global citizens.
My first experience thus far this Summer season was going to Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee. I love live music and the lineup was phenomenal, how could I say no? From start to finish, this was an amazing journey. I found my way from Washington, D.C. to Tennessee with two very nice women I met online from Zimride.com. I am one to trust the kindness of strangers, as it has never gotten me in to any trouble so I wasn't worried about what could have happened. I was surprised by how open, friendly and genuinely interesting these two girls were (one was twenty two, the other twenty eight). We stopped along the way and grabbed some fast food for the journey, and to another surprise, the twenty eight year old girl paid for all of us; I could tell already that we were going to be a tight group. We took turns driving throughout the night until we reached Manchester around six o'clock in the morning.
 |
| The Arc |
Apparently, there is a Bonnaroo tradition of meeting up in the Manchester Wal-Mart parking lot and partying until the morning. When we arrived, it was evident that people had a good time just a few hours before. There were tents lined up, RV's and people sprawled out throughout the large parking lot. We were exhausted by the time we arrived so we slept in the car for about two hours. We then made our way to load up on snacks and alcohol. Apparently alcohol is not sold in Tennessee until 8am so the line was extremely long before that time (keep in mind that I don't drink so buying a simple Gatorade was a pain because I had to wait behind a ton of people buying beer).
My group of three linked up with a couple of other guys that were friends with one of the girls. After some time spent getting everything together, we finally made our way down that long and windy rural road in to the campground site. The girls I rode with had loaded the trunk with liquor, beer and had quite a bit of drug paraphernalia with them. When we arrived the gate, our car was not searched (I think it was because we all have kind faces!) and they let us right in; the two other guys in their car were not so lucky, they had everything removed from their car and had some of their marijuana taken away. After a lengthy search of their vehicle, they were finally allowed in. We were directed where to park and could set up our campsite right next to the car in a massive field dubbed "Tent City". We started to build our tent and this was the beginning of seeing a lifestyle that was almost foreign to somebody from the suburbs, like me.
Everybody was talkative and helpful to one another. I helped set up the tent of the girl whose car we took, then I helped set up the tent of the other girl who came with us. After that, we set up the tent of the two guys we met up with and helped other random people set up their tents around us. We started talking to people in nearby tent to become familiar with one another and make some new friends. Everybody was extremely gregarious and genuinely caring. We had set up a hang-out tent in the middle of all the surrounding tents so we would have a place to sit, talk, drink, eat and for the others in my group to enjoy some less-than-wholesome activities.
I had discovered that one of my old friends was also at the festival and his tent was set up in another section of the tenting area (about 20,000 tents were spread out). I hung out with his group for a little bit and went back to my campsite. By that time, my group was noticeably intoxicated but everybody was calm. I hung out with them for a while, they inquired about my not partaking of the drug usage and were very cool about it (I was then dubbed 'the sober guy'). My group was more into the electronic/dub step music, I was more there for the Indie Rock so I ventured into the festival myself. It was about a half hour walk from our camp site to that amazing Bonnaroo arc entrance point. Along the way, I witnessed things that would not have been the same if they were in "normal" society. For instance, one camp group had sprawled out a large blanket labeled "Trade Blanket, please use the honor system" so people could put down things and trade them for other things. By the end of the festival, it was covered with granola bars, tampons, condoms, tee shirts, camping supplies but the honor system was certainly in tact there. There was a tent of monks singing "hari krisha" and looking for people to join in. There was so much information being passed around, people spraying water mist to cool others down and a whole lot other going around.
I was waiting in a long line to get to the arc and some people were passing by but all in all, people were waiting their place in line, out in the hot sun. I overheard the guys in front of me saying they wouldn't try cutting the line and were even willing to miss a band they wanted to see, just to be decent people. This was a theme I saw early on and throughout the whole weekend; People wanted to be friendly, nice, helping and genuine.
Everybody that was smoking, was sharing their weed. Nobody was pushing to get up close to a stage, people were sprawled out all over the farm grounds to see bands. It was an atmosphere of 80,000-90,000 people who were all one family. The second day, I started carrying my water bottle around and towards the end of performances, I would start tossing the water all around so people would get a nice "shower" for about ten seconds, I got a lot of love from people when I did (if you look during the end of "What You Know" by Two Door Cinema Club or "Sweet Disposition" by The Temper Trap, you might see me!). The girl that drove us to Tennessee had lost her keys one of the nights so I volunteered to hike all the way to lost and found to see if I could find them; when I got there, I was amazed and delighted. There was a long line of people who had lost various items but almost everybody was finding them there at lost and found. Lost and found was not in a very convenient place, it was outside the actual festival. I saw hundreds of smartphones, car keys and even sunglasses.. yes, sunglasses. In what other environment would somebody find sunglasses and walk twenty minutes out of their way to turn them in? Only at an event like that.
 |
| The trade blanket |
Bonnaroo had a loving environment, be it through drug usage, sharing of food, or just genuinely helping of others, everybody seemed to care for everybody else. This is not something we witness in our everyday life. Our Capitalistic society has extracted our humanity from within us. At Bonnaroo, everybody wanted to witness some wonderful music and have a great time. We all were there for the same reasons. Living in this society where we focus on ourselves, aren't we really all just working towards the same goals? We all want a nice house, a nice car and overall a cushy life... we don't need to step on each others toes to get to that level!
If we all help one another, whether they are your neighbor, a member of your religious community or just a random stranger, we will all benefit. It's a general mentality that if somebody takes time out of their day to help another, then they are at a loss, and this is not the case. Let's all work towards being global citizens.
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