The Roo Experience (Part 2, Thursday)

Part 2 (Cont'd)

After about the 4th hour of waiting in line, starting and stopping on this back road which seemed to lead us nowhere, we thought we would be there by now. The feeling of missing out on stuff, whatever that may have been, was starting surface. I kept thinking to myself, this festival is 4 freaking days, chill out man! Later, rather than sooner we reached the entrance with a big sigh of releif. The only thing on my mind when i saw the entrance was, WHERE ARE THE TICKETS! After the breif feeling of unecessary nervousness, we pulled out the tickets, then worried about the "weak" search which we garunteed ourselves that we were straight. yep, your damn right we had thought about this very moment for a some time now and we weren't going to let it ruin our experience here at Bonnaroo. With our festival bracelets in hand, next priority...find a spot, set up camp.

At this point in our long journey to Bonnaroo, all we we cared about was setting up camp, not really worrying about how close we were to the festival ground because we were already pretty cashed. As we were lead to our camp site, I already started to feel the energy brought by all the people surrounded by us. Kind of ironic, but as chaotic as it may have seemed with all of these people, I felt at ease given the harsh trek from Austin, plus the 7 hour wait to get in...we were finally here. This was tent city, as far as the eye could see, this was tent city. I felt the good vibes all around as we quickly got aquianted with our neighbors(local kids from Tennesse, a couple which were professors from Duke, some Austinites UT) as we helped each other set up camp and offered up our assistance if needed. Gosh, there were people of all walks of life here, all for one reason...to have a great expereince, whatever that expereince may have been. The weather didn't matter, your skin color didn't matter, nothing seemed to matter, everyone was on level ground with one another, and it was truely and eye opening expereince. I'll admit I was wide eyed from the moment we arrived in Manchester.

When we starting setting up camp, the festival had already began and we could hear the music which was almost a reminder to us to HURRY UP!  We were finally ready to head out to the festival ground once making sure our site was secure. Equiped with the map, schedule, camelbak (lifesaver) and goods, we made our way over to the entrance to enjoy some Thursday night festivities. If you look back at my last post, from the sky view, our camp site was bottown left hand corner so we had a fairy decent walk to the ground...but at this point nothing mattered, we were at bonnaroo, the anticipation and adrenaline was enough fuel. On the way to the festival grounds, there were tons of vendors ranging from glass blowing, food, music, clothes...you name it, it was there. If you were to look at me there walking through the trail to get to the entrance, i garuntee you i would of looked like i was on something. I couldn't help but look around at just about everything in site from people, to tents...I was taking everything in, wide-eyed as can be, i didn't know what to think... I guess you can say I looked like i was in a perma-daze! Before i knew it, we arrived at the entrance...this was the view during the day



Thursday night was slated to be a chill night, no big headliners where slated to play, but good bands were definitely on the schedule. That night, we walked over to "that tent" to catch neon indian, and band who originated in Denton, Texas who was quickly becoming more recognized. They were absolutely awesome, they really kicked on the festival for us on a great note laying down some of their tracks such as 'deadbeat summer' which was only right givenen the time of the festival. We stayed for pretty much the whole show which seemed to be a big dance, groove party...really fun. After the we swung over to "this tent" to catch a band i had never heard before, they were called 'The Dodos'. We were feeling pretty chill after the neon indian set so we decided to relax outside the tent to we could hear the music and sit down for a little. When we sat down, we started talking to some people beside us from Canada and chilled for a while with them. The Dodos were surprisingly pretty good, they were a nice jam band, perfect when you wanna chill. After they were done with their set, we decided to move on and stop on our way out to listen to a group one of our neighbors recommended to us, the 'Temper Trap'. They sounded really good, and i realized i knew one of their songs without even knowing them as a group, "Sweet Disposition". All of their songs seemed to have these mezmerizing guitar riffs which made their performance a feel good show...I was pleased.

As we started back to our tent, i couldn't have been more pleased with Thursday, which seemed to never end. Since we had 3 more days to go, we decided to pack it in early in order to sustain the heat as well as the rest of the festival. Also, I really didn't have a desire to see 'Wale' or 'Lotus, but was disappointed that i didn't get to see the 'XX'...Oh well, can't see em all. Plus, we had a big festival lineup ahead of us, I mean come on, Stevie wonder Jay-Z, Deadmau5... I wasn't worried at all. Once we arrived at our tent,  we took a nice breather which sent us dwelling on how thursday unfolded as well as the great times soon to be had in the next couple of days. Just remember, whenever you try something new...taste with an open mind...let the experience take you on its ride...find the good in things...enjoy it

Part 3 coming soon...yes i will eventually talk about food



The Roo Experience 2010 June 10th-13th

About one year ago today, I was still in college, at my apartment, with several friends watching the Bonnaroo 2010 lineup being revealed. (might I add, through a stupid system where one band was revealed every 15 minutes) Other than the revealing system, my excitement about the festival had just begun. Neither me nor my friends had ever been to a big festival before(and I have lived in Austin for how many years?), so I'll admit, I didn't really think it was real when I said, "we're going to Bonnaroo". As the bands were being revealed, my emotions were on a rollercoaster per se, here a good band, there a band I had never heard of...there's the first Headliner... Regardless of the initial releasing of the lineup, I knew the festival would not dissapoint just from looking at past lineup's.

After we purchased Bonnaroo tickets, the realization that we were actually going to the festival started to sink in, but only a little. By Wednesday morning, June 9th about 5am is when we decided to head towards Manchester, TN in order to arrive the night before in Nashville, TN. Despite being rained on while loading up the truck while I was about half asleep, I was happy we were on the road. The truck was absolutely loaded down to where there were exactly 3 seats available. On the way out from Austin, we decided to grap my canopy which proved to be a life saver in the 100 degree heat during the festival days. I have no idea what we would of done without it because after about 8am, you can forget about staying in your tent, it practically turned into a sauna by 9. Each of us drove about 1/3 of the way  trudging through the horrible roads of the south while we listened to bands soon to be heard at the festival. When we arrived at our hotel in Nashville, I was so anxious i could barely fall asleep, but given the harsh 13-14 hour drive, I almost couldn't wake up.

After waking up, grabbing breakfast, and getting on the road around 8, we would soon arrive in Manchester around 9am, greeted by a bevey of cars...I remember feeling so anxious that i just wanted to start setting up my tent, and all this traffic seemed like a joke. All my research told us that if we arrived around the morning, (not the early not to late in the morning) we would get a great camp ground spot and wouldn't have to wait to long before entering the festival. Well, as some of us know, everything isn't black and white, and somtimes plans can hit the shitter, real quick. After coming to terms with the traffic, we gathered ourselves, turned on the Bonnaroo radio station and kept our spirits high by talking about how crazy this experience would be. There was so much traffic that people were literally stepping outside their cars to hang out while traffic was at a standstill. I remember seeing people outside of their cars, happy and crazy as can be as they were awaiting entrance to the festival. This made the wait a little better knowing we were all on level ground. After a little fun playing with the walky talkys, taking and alternate route, chatting outside our cars with fellow patrons about which bands we were looking forward to seeing, watching cows chase a dog in a field, starting, stopping, starting stopping, watching locals watch the long line of cars, we finally arrived at one of the several entrances.

7 hours passed by while we were waiting in the long line to get in...but little did we know our Bonnaroo expereince was just beginning.

Part 2 coming soon...

Bonnaroo food will be mentioned in my later posts...

For people who don't know me, food is probably the single most thing that intrigues me the most in Life. Not just because I love eating, but food can tell me lot of about ones cultural background which really fascinates me. Ever seen the show Bizzare Foods on the Travel Channel? Well my take on the show is that nothing really is bizzare to me. Some food practices may seem weird or bizzare to us because we cannot wrap our brains around things that are different to what is in our everyday lifestyle. I'll admit because of my upbringing I probably would not enjoy some foods, but I will always taste with an open mind. Taking into account where the food came from, who prepared it, how it was prepared, how it was presented, along with the people I expereince the food with can shape a food experience for me. I encourage you all to try this method of eating, I think it can immediately change your way of eating in addition to what you eat.  

As you can tell, food obviously is the driving factor behind my desire to blog. I also feel that one can gain a deeper understanding of oneself, the world, life, because everyone is able to relate to food. This brings me to my first food blog topic and dish which is respectively, Pho. No, you cannot find this dish at a fast food, or chain restaurant because it might be a little too fresh for those places.

Now for some brief history. It has been said that Pho originated in in Vietnam in the late 1880s after the french left. The dish started from the use of beef bones to make a broth along with beef meat to add some sustenance. After communist took over northern Vietnam, people who fled to the south evolved the dish to what we have became familiar with. After the fall of Saigon, native Vietnamese fled to the U.S. along with their culinary expertise. Over time, the pho recipes adapted to western tastes (like all other cultural dishes i.e. Tex Mex not mexican food) but the basis of the dish remained the same. Pho usually contains clear beef or chicken broth, rice noodles, various cuts of beef, chicken or your choice of meat and fresh herbs. Some of my favorite ingredients i like to add are jalepenos, chile sauce, a crapload of lime, hoisen sauce, and my favorite, the ginger fish sauce.

The things i like most about this dish are its freshness and soothing qualities. Depending on where you eat, most of everything in this dish is whole, natural, and fresh. Whether your choice of meat is beef, or chicken, you cannot go wrong with any meat additive. After discovering this dish, and eating it many times and again, i feel there is a certain art to eating Pho. Although I do not think there is a wrong way to eat anything, I feel if you eat Pho the right way you can saver the full effect of this soothing dish. This is a dish you can eat, in my opinion, anytime of the day whether you are sick, healthy, drunk. This dish is bound to instantly make you feel warm inside. Also, spring rolls are good as an ap-a-teaser(shrimp). Shared best with good company.  One of my favorite aspects (did i say that already?) about Pho is because of its freshness, you don't have that shitty full feeling after you eat as if you are coming down off a huge sugar high. Anyways, go out and try this dish, it will not disappoint, but just remember...Taste with an Open Mind.