K-D-G: BonnaROO

It's a Cajun term that means "havin' a good time."

Describing Bonnaroo as a good time might be the understatement of the year. An exhilaratingly utopic carnival for grown-ups might be getting a little warmer. And wait, where are the grown-ups?

My mental preparation for four days of amazing music and fun began with a gorgeous drive through the countryside of Illinois, Kentucky, and Tennessee. While driving through Mainstreet, USA in McLeansboro, IL, my troublesome front undercarriage/bumper started dragging for the 27th time. I pulled to the side of the road so that I could get out of the car and try to bend the plastic upwards to prevent it from dragging one more time. I hear a "Hey little lady, it looks like you gotta problem there!" from two forty-somethings in overalls and trucker hats sitting on their porch, hanging out in rocking chairs. "You need some help - let us give you some!"

Before I know it, Dennis is walking up the street to the local mechanic to get some wire, and Gary is inviting me into his shop so that I can "sample the goods." The goods? Gary owns a wine supply shop in one of the only two "clean" counties in Illinois, where it is illegal to buy or sell alcohol, and so people make their own in their basements. And to make your own booze, you need supplies. Fermenting bucket? - check. Bottle brush? - check. Having car trouble? - no problem. A shot of homemade cider beer to take the edge off your afternoon? - thank you sir! I love the internet: I found Gary's website and can check up on the business periodically. My one regret: not getting to meet Gary's partner Jim, aka "The Wine Daddy." I am so intrigued.

I got to Manchester, TN and was greeted with ginormous hugs from friends Alex and Jeff, who took me on like a little sis and hooked me up with press access for the weekend. I am so lucky. I am going to keep on trying to send positivity and love into the world and will see what comes up. Good things have been having their way with me lately. Everybody's happy.

The first band I saw at Bonnaroo was MGMT, where I was hanging out on the side of the stage with the festival organizers and various artists performing that weekend. I just cannot get sick of "Time to Pretend." Found my two lovelies from home, Jen and Rebecca, and then proceeded to run around the festival like a kid with too many lollipops seeing Nicole Atkins (Feist on Broadway), The Felice Brothers (good-time Americana), Vampire Weekend (Peter Gabriel in Nantucket-Reds on vacation in Jamaica) and Lez Zeppelin (hot-as-hell lipstick lesbians playing Zeppelin covers). The Lez frontwoman has killer pipes, and the entire band is f-ing good.

Also, took two diversions to some of the extra special bonus tents that make Bonnaroo so special. One was a huge disco, where the DJ was mashing up MIA with Biggie:

The other was the Rock-Star Karaoke tent, where Jeff did his world famous rendition of Bell Biv DeVoe's "Poison" and picked up groupies along the way:

Friday morning is when I kicked off my caffeine diet. I do not know how I kept on my feet for so many hours throughout the next three days. First was a strong set by Steel Train. Jose Gonzalez, an Argentine folk singer who grew up in Sweden, was just plain gorgeous (in every regard). Next I ventured into the New Orleans tent, which was so cool that IT CAN ONLY BE DESCRIBED IN ALL CAPS, and which became my stomping ground for the rest of the festival. They essentially built a jazz club in the middle of Bonnaroo with air conditioning, Abita Purple Haze and absolutely delicious Cajun food, along with incredible music from the club scene in NOLA. Big Sam's Funky Nation extended me a warm welcome. FEMA: Fix Everything My Ass. Big Sam: now we're talkin'.

Stephen Marley and clan were dope, especially the adorable four year old who was waving the Jamaican flag around during Buffalo Soldier. The Swell Season were so sweet - I wish that I had seen their entire set. The Raconteurs killed it as always, except that I still think that Jack White wrote better songs when it was just him and Meg...

Back to the NOLA tent where I saw Anders Osborne upon recommendation from my dad (impressive), who was the sickest, nastiest guitar player I have ever seen up close. Damn. Then, the M.I.A. hipster tribe dance party. Then, a "nice" "shower" and nap time before more Anders and then the most important event of the weekend: My Morning Jacket.

The swells, the rain, the glow stick wars, the sly smile you exchange with a stranger...like, this whole thing feels soooo good....

I'm not sure how much more I can say, or how much more I remember. Basically, if you haven't seen MMJ live, your life could be better.

Saturday: I can't keep listing every damn band I saw, but Mason Jennings played irresistibly simple folk (which sounds even better from the side of the stage) and B.B. King was even more legendary than I imagined.

Also, I detoured to yet another Bonnaroo idiosyncrasy that was SO DAMN COOL. It is called the Silent Disco - DJs spin club music which you can only hear if you are wearing wireless headphones - and so everybody who walks by just sees a bunch of people dancing around in complete silence like they're out of their minds. You think to yourself, "I want whatever they're having...", and then you actually can without needing to kill any more brain cells than you already have over the past 48 hours.

Levon Helm (from The Band) and the Ramble on the Road - awesome. Zappa Plays Zappa - ridiculously cool. My daily 9PM shower and nap - so awesome and ridiculously cool. Chromeo - super fun and kind of obnoxious. Lupe Fiasco - my new favorite hip hop artist. Kanye West - such a freaking chump.

Sunday had two major highlights. One was seeing this 22 year old kid named Trombone Shorty at the NOLA tent - hot DAMN! I have never seen someone play the trumpet and trombone like that - circular breathing that went on for minutes and minutes. His style is like a jazz/funk/rock hybrid. His cover of "Let's Get It On" was delicious. His cover of Green Day's "Brain Stew" had me three feet in the air.

The second was getting to sing karaoke with a live band. Yup, that's right folks - I get to say that I performed at Bonnaroo. Tramps like us baby!

More about Sunday: Solomon Burke had so much soul. He also had two back-up singers who tended to his every need, i.e. bringing water, removing his tie, wiping the sweat off his brow after every song...

Rogue Wave sounded great. Allison Kraus and Robert Plant played an amazing set, which was way more Bluegrass Belle than Zep. Hanging out with high school friends Jen and Rebecca, and getting to introduce them to Jeff and Alex, was so special.