Three Weeks In June

PROLOGUE

Three Days of Rain, Mud, Sun & Music!

DAY ONE – FRIDAY: On the Which Stage -- Mexican/Texan rock band Los Lonely Boys were, officially, the very first band to perform at Bonnaroo. New Monsoon plays at Another Tent, Yonder Mountain String Band took the Which Stage next with their energetic, hootin' hillbilly take on bluegrass, before combining the high-pitched vocals of bluegrass founder Bill Crimson, and alternative country music artist Neko Case played in the This Tent appearing with the Canadian rockers the Sadies.

Patti Smith performed a set before Ani DiFranco and Gillian Welch along with guitar virtuoso David Rawlings, who lit up This Tent with traditional standards like I'll Fly Away (O Brother Where Art Thou?), and songs from their new album Soul Journey along with a compelling acoustic version of Manic Depression by Jimi Hendrix.

Wilco played next at the What Stage. String Cheese Incident plays the Which Stage, while Chris Robinson and his New Earth Band played, while Bob Dylan followed with a full set of his own written song standards like Highway 61 Revisited and Don't Think Twice It's Alright along with playing versions of Hank Williams' You Win Again and Townes Van Zandt's Pancho & Lefty.

Yo La Tengo plays That Tent while Dave Matthews and Friends, including Trey Anastasio of Phish, finished the evening at the main stage collaborating on songs ranging from the Rufus' and Chaka Khan tune, Tell Me Something Good to Up On Cripple Creek by The Band, as well as doing tracks off Matthews' first solo album, Some Devil.

Comedians today are Jim Norton and Rich Vos performing at the Comedy Tent.

Vida Blue plays late show at That Tent with Praxis playing late night at This Tent. Another band simultaneous to these acts are over at The Other Tent and at 1:30 AM, Danger Mouse was spinning at Another Tent. There was also a late night parade with people throwing beads off a float with William Jung performing She Bop.

DAY TWO – SATURDAY: Los Lobos takes the What Stage at 12:30 with Gov't Mule and Warren Haynes then playing the What Stage performing their blues-rock style of music.

Gomez plays the Which Stage before Kentucky natives My Morning Jacket performed at the same Which Stage and replacing Willie Nelson, who sat out this year’s festival with a carpal tunnel issue, is Steve Winwood whom plays on the What Stage. At This Tent is Doc Watson joined by grandson Richard. The 82 year old Watson's unique styled guitar work is a perfect baritone during classics renditions like, Blue Moon of Kentucky and jazz standards like Summertime.

Sam Bush and The Del McCourey Band play This Tent. Damian Rice is at That Tent while the Jazz Mandolin Project play The Other Tent at the same time The Dead plays Which Tent. Amidst the pouring rain and muddy grounds, The Dead started the set fittingly with Tennessee Jed, before doing The Weight, a song originally by The band and then they end the set with a version of Pink Floyd's Shine On You Crazy Diamond. The encore is Box of Rain.

Late night shows at the which stage is with Les Claypool and Primus with Ween at This Tent and Robert Randolph and The Family Band at That Tent.

DAY THREE – SUNDAY: Sundays music began at 1:00 PM with bands like Leftover Salmon at This Tent and Burning Spear opening the day at the What Stage with Moe playing an incredible set later on also at the What Stage.

Taj Mahal at the Which Stage begins at 2:00 PM bringing his typical blues revival on Sunday playing songs like She Caught the Katy and Corrina, both off his 1968 album The Natch'l Blues. Other bands that play during the day are Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra and Femi Kuti at the Which Stage with Medeski Martin & Wood ending the day on the same Which Stage.

David Lowery did sets with both Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven before Barbara Cue played at This Tent. Marc Ribot y Los Cubanos Postizos opened the day at That Tent playing live before The Bad Plus and Soulive. Material also played That Tent and Marc Broussard did his set before Donavan Frankenreiter and Guster at The Other Tent.

Talking Head front man David Byrne follows Moe. on the What Stage. Trey Anastasio ends the festival performing his solo show at the What Stage.

CHAPTER ONE (I): FRIDAY IN JUNE

Any time we declare a war on something in this country, it seems to improve; I wish the government would declare a war on hot chicks because there would be ten of them on every corner giving themselves away

I have just been fired from a job for the third time in my life. All of those times have been by Warner Music companies. I have had so many jobs since I was in high school. I am not even sure if getting fired three separate times from the same company is as bad as actually getting hired three separate times by that same company. This could now be the perfect time for me to relocate to Hawaii to report on a gonzo-styled account of a marathon run held on that island. Although it is an election year, I could spend time traveling on a campaign trail covering the Democratic Party primary selection. If it were January, I could head out to Las Vegas to write about the Super Bowl, however, we are in June today, and I have three weeks of vacation time.

I am blazing down the hill from my house that is situated on the Universal Studios side of the Hollywood Hills. I am driving myself to the Burbank Airport. It’s a perfect sunny day as I head into the valley. I am finding it very easy to rationalize why I will not have any cash after rushing from the house to the airport. Every ATM machine is conveniently located on the other side of the street while I drive myself quickly eastbound the entire way down Cahuenga Boulevard. I am sitting at the traffic light ready to make that left turn into the Burbank Airport entrance area and as the cell rings, I am staring to the right side of the car looking directly at the Marriott hotel. Where you at? is what I am asked right away as I pick up that phone. I let her know that I am about to make the turn onto the street that takes you into the small regional Burbank Airport. I am driving by the baggage claim area before the street guides me towards the left passing by the people in the waiting areas on the sidewalk. The one way road then guides me to drive the vehicle around to the short term parking garage entry. I am thinking while I exit the car that I have everything on me that I would need for this trip. I am not really carrying much onto the plane today. I need to walk down two sets of metal stairs. I can see through the stairs into the parking structure down to the first level and to the ground as I make the turn continuing downward after parking the ION on the second floor. Now, that I am at the ground level with the airport across the street, I can walk across it rather easily in between the painted yellow lines that make up the walkway in front of the bright yellow corvette with plenty of time for me to give a nod and a slight smile to the driver as the car stops directly to my right side. And, even though there were many people milling around outside the baggage claim area, there are also a few people with bags in their hands crossing this same street in this same walkway but walking against me and towards the parking garage. A few more people pass me as I walk towards the airport terminal. Other people are also waiting for what I think to be their rides while standing at the sidewalk curb. I briskly walked around and in between the crowd of people in the baggage claim area walking straight through the automatic doors that swung inward in front of an empty line at the security area. My personality seems to be well received by the TSA person after engaging her with cordial conversation about the empty airport area. The metal detector allows me through the security areas without any beeps going off and honestly, I have never been beeped in one of those things in any airport or in any travel situation. The screening machine is above the conveyor belt that rolls out my black back pack which I grab before beginning the walk down the long terminal at the Burbank Airport. There is not one person seen by me as I walk down the hallway. I have nothing to view so I do notice the blue colored walls that are leading me down the empty hallway until I curve towards the right to walk around the roped off area that is marked under construction. I get to the terminal gate 96 at the Burbank Airport, and before I think about sitting down in the terminal area, I see that the airline is boarding its’ passengers. I have plenty of time to set myself down in my seat on the plane after walking outside through the two glass doors that had to be pushed outward by using my right hand and shoulder to hold open the rather heavy door. I walk up the stairway ducking a bit at the top as I enter the plane through the doorway. After placing my bag in the compartment above the seat, I sit down in the middle of the plane next to the window. The plane sits on the tarmac as the flight attendants get the inside of the airplane ready for its takeoff, and after a few minutes time, the plane begins to roll back slowly as I peer out the window noticing that we are moving backward. I could take my three weeks of unused vacation time to just fly across the country. My feeling is that if I do not start this journey today, I know exactly what I am going home to do today. If I do start this journey today, my future is basically unwritten with adventure until it ends. As a kid in high school, and as a college student, I spent a lot of time traveling around the United States. I had also driven to sight-see all over much of Europe after graduating from college. I spent a lot of time being on the road. I would take odd jobs for days at a time and for weeks at a time as the way for me to be able to afford that lifestyle. As I started working professionally after graduation from the University of Maryland in College Park, and as I found a career in the music industry, I spent less time on the road. I did manage to see 381 Grateful Dead shows with Jerry and probably another 110 Jerry shows, and I am probably pushing seeing more than 200 something Phish shows as of today. I think that when I did put myself on the road, I always learned something new, met new people, experienced many cultures and whether positive or negative, the best adventures answer great questions that at the beginning of it, you would not have thought to ask yourself. Journeys and adventures begin when everything can potentially go wrong on it creating what will be an experience in one’s life. I realize that about that part of my life. I go on thinking about it even more as I look down at the wing of the airplane

After taking a long deep sigh and as I take in a quick breathe of air, all I can think about now is me touching the walls deep in a canyon, while looking upward to see a sliver of light a thousand feet high from where I stand at the ground level. The Canyon Hike Guide Book is visible even though it is tucked in deeply in the outer part of the small bag that had been placed horizontally on the airplane floor underneath the seat in front of mine. I am actually now thinking about the first time I had ever hiked the Russian Gorge in the Zion National Park. That was a trip I took with two people during part of my lost weekend that was 8 months. These Stanford students and alumnus had manufactured tens of thousands of dosages of LSD which is equal to about 200 filled Visine Bottles. The magic on that 5 mile hike up the Virgin Gorge River was the first time I had ever been so deep in a canyon. I was also very far into the range of mountains. I was so far into it; I could be touching the two walls of that canyon with my two hands spread out to the sides of my centered body. And, I would only be able to see a sliver of light up in the sky. Even though I was deep down at the ground level in the gorge and even though it was in the middle of daytime, the intricate grooves and contours carved into those walls illuminates in natural ways because of the sun light. And coupled with the clouds above head, the sun shines down the canyons making for some great things to see. I remember that day, there was thunder that I heard myself but it was well into the distance as it echoed throughout the canyons in that part of the land. That thunder sound at first, was so unassuming that we continued to walk a long way before I heard that thunder not only happening again, but it also was louder as the rainstorm came closer to where we in that gorge. We were no less than five miles deep in the gorge at Zion. Those trippy sounds echoing throughout that canyon in that ominous way also started happening in quicker intervals in between sounds. After my hiking partners looked at me without even needing to say one word, we realized very quickly that again, we were no less than those 5 miles in the Virgin Gorge. After we did start that hike back towards the beginning of those trails, I explained to the other people with me that day that we should head back the other way. And, as they continued to walk slowly on the river floor, stepping over rocks using a stick to help them stand upright, they continued on walking against the flow of the fast running river water. They were also still admiring those canyon walls with the colors created from the sun light shining down through the cloud line, and into the bottom of the gorge. I insisted that it is now time for everyone to turn back to walk towards the entrance of the trail, and to where we started the hike that day.

The rains starts lightly and then turns to a steady down pour as I look ahead to see my hiking partner pick up his pace walking much faster back towards the entrance of the Gorge trail. At this time, he is well ahead of me as I see waterfalls forming instantly above my head and also ahead of me off the high canyon walls. There is rain now pouring down whereas just a few minutes beforehand, the same canyon walls were a hot dried up desert ground. What was a dry desert canyon land, with stone canyon walls, is now seen with waterfalls forming from the rain building up at the top of these canyons. As the river begins to fill up with more and more water, I then realized the sense of urgency that maybe it was time to stop the pondering and to get myself back to safer ground. In minutes, the river really started to fill up to flow much heavier with the levels now up to my knees. After turning a corner, I see a group of people hovered to the right side of me in a cave. The water started flowing heavier getting higher than my thighs again, in minutes time. Eventually, the water was above my waist and as I get closer to that other group of 4 people in the cave area, I was able to get the family in the cave, to walk with me to the entrance of the gorge and to lower levels of water. The family is visiting Zion from Germany. The blonde girl in that family was directly in front of me with water above her neck as she raised her head up to keep her mouth above the river water. She is holding her back pack above her head with two hands. I tap her to let her know that I am grabbing the bag and I told her then to grab on to me as I walked the both of us to the complete other side of the river. We were finally very close to the entrance of that hiking area. The girls’ family was now making their way to that same area when I extended my arm to give the woman and the man, both a lift up to the higher ground we just climbed on. I remember feeling very positive and excited afterward, yet I may have taken for granted the dangerous situation I was in that day. The German family then spoke to me in broken up English grammar, which I understand to be their appreciation to me for helping the family across the river.

That was when the other people in my group stepped up to the boulder where we started the hike that day. All of us then walked back up to the parking area to the same Jeep I am traveling in today. I began to notice the many newly formed pouring water falls all over the place. The rock climbers that had obviously been scaling the face of these once dry mountain walls were now sliding briskly down their ropes trying to get off that wet face during this thunderstorm. It was a surreal visual because I would have never noticed the amounts of climbers hanging on those faces before the rain started that afternoon. And as we started that drive out of the National Park in Utah that day, I looked through the driver side window to watch the climbers glide down to the base of that mountain face. As I sat in the passenger seat in that vehicle that day, I looked forward into the streaming rain that is now hitting the front of the windshield. The Jeep wipers are working at its top speed level. The people in the car are basically silent with no one really talking about anything while staring out of the respective Jeep windows. However the music is playing lightly as the rain hits the car which is what I hear making what are clanking sounds. I am staring out in front of the vehicle windshield just thinking about what happened that magical day. I then realize that what I thought was rain being pelted down onto the street, and then bouncing up off the street into the air, were not raindrops, and were actually frogs. Thousands of frogs must get displaced during rain storms after the rainwater hits the ground. They were now trying to cross the same road that we were driving out to leave the Zion National Park. The driver of the Jeep vehicle must have squashed thousands of frogs while they tried to jump across the street. As we drove out on that road for a few miles and towards that Zion front gate, I asked myself if that is how that Frogger arcade game came to concept before growing into being a popular household video game. I don’t use any products that have had any animals in it, and I will not use products by companies if they ever tested on animals. Therefore, the only comic relief that I could get into my head after being in a car that killed thousands of frogs was to think about an arcade game.

I now turn from looking out through the glass in the airplane window that is next to my seat in the row where I am in on my flight today. I look down at my bag to see the Canyon Hiking guide which I grab from the back pack. I view the guide so I can read about the area I want to drive into the next few days. There is a picture of what looks like pristine white walls, in a canyon land referred to as Navajo Nation printed just underneath the photo. I read on that it is part of that Colorado mountain range plateau that begins and ends in the northern parts of Arizona and New Mexico. I have read many articles about the areas that I am planning on visiting this week. I realize quickly that it is considered to be one of the best slot canyon areas in this bottom part of the Kaibito Creek located in the Navajo Nation area in northern Arizona. I am now reading about the narrows area referred to as, Starting Water Wash, while also visualizing the big drop-offs in the canyon. I was then thinking that one of the best entrances and approaches towards it could be from Lake Powell. You can get in and out of that area rather easily from this middle part of the West Canyon. The water holes in this area are some of the top photogenic canyon slots in the world. There are five narrow parts of the Antelope Canyon. One of the most unusual waterfalls in the world is also located down in the lower end of Chaol Canyon. Which I then read is a part of the familiar Lower Kaibito Falls, and its topography is made up of Limestone within the Navajo Sandstone. The Middle part of the Kaibito Falls is also no doubt one of the top areas to hike. But, what I cannot wait for today, is to get in and to get out of these canyons with my skillful chimney work in areas like Butterfly Canyon. Much of that mountain range up in Utah remind me of areas of Israel with rock formations that grow from the ground straight upward almost in what looks like a cylinder shape, which leads to the loose rocks you see falling off the sides making a rather distinctive shaped heap of red rock. The trails I want to visit come up from the lower right hand side of rock slides and my goal this week is to hike through one of these areas in Navajo Nation.

I close the guide book placing it in my lap as I lean my head back against the back seat cushion on the plane. I am realizing that I have no clue what I am going to do with my professional life today. As it stands for the next 3/4ers of this year, I cannot go back to work at any major record company. Besides, I have stagnated in a very bad way at my jobs; my last one has been so bad that I had been sent to Human Resources written up by a supervisor for doing too much work. Not only have I now been canned from Warner companies three times in my life, there is also a document on record in their legal files stating that I am forbidden from doing any work at my house, and after normal business hours. I was also forced to take at least a half an hour lunch break every work day. I was also not allowed to work for more than a seven hour and thirty minute period every day. And, that company does not like to pay its artist their earned royalty money. If you have ever heard an audit settlement happen at a label, let alone at a Warner Music Company, you realize that after one sentence and a few giggles amongst those executives, they settle for hundreds of thousands of dollars less than what is truly due to the artist. There are also so many conflicts with that same lawyer handling the audit for the artist, and the same lawyer is the so called legal representation for the president of the label, so to speak, let alone for 20 other acts on the label. Once an audit is settled, whatever money on top of that settlement is 100% for the label. As a matter of fact, that company is so bad at paying royalties today; it uses the Universal staff, royalty and accounting system. They are so bad at doing royalties today; they are using the staff people at a competing company, to do their royalty statements every pay period.

Obviously, the eleven hours in County, was the beginning of the end with me at that company this last time around, and now, as I think about being taken in by the T.R.A.P.P. police, for the 4 outstanding warrants, that was pretty much the only time in my life where I could not talk my way out of a situation. That was also how I learned about the criminal justice system. I had called someone that September day, asking him to go to my house in Hollywood Hills to rummage through my files at