The last weekend in June included a 3am wake up call, a 5am set up time, the hoisting of a cow and a dog up 14 feet and 6 hours of watching a perfect event unfold on 5th Avenue in NYC. In 6 hours our smartly dressed ambassadors gave away 15,000 ice cream samples.
Dave Matthews Band performed at the DTE Center in Clarkston, MI and we made sure to go visit our new friends. It was a sold out show and the traffic line up to get in the outdoor venue was crazy!!! So our All Access passes came in handy!
We had a wonderful opportunity to have freedom at the venue and see the concert from all angles. We had an overall view from the top railing, we got up close and stood in the front row, just in front of the stage security, we went to the hospitality area behind stage to chat with the people behind all of the magic, and we watched the encore from stage right.
And to be even more obnoxious, when you watch the video you’ll see that the flip video couldn’t handle how close we were to the action.
And just before we left the venue, guess who walked by and said hello? Brett Michaels. He came to watch the show from backstage since he was performing at the venue the following day.
The first taste of summer in Detroit….
When we landed at Bonnaroo, I thought, ‘this is very similar to Vancouver Folk Festival – I know what to expect. It’s just bigger’. Well, this experience was nothing like my experience at Folk Fest. Not because it didn’t have a lot of different stages with an eclectic mix of music. And not because it didn’t have thousands of people flocking together, where bathing suit tops, sarongs and flip flops were the dress code. And definitely not because it didn’t have a delicious assortment of vender food and a huge assortment of jewelry, clothes and other arts and crafts to be sold.
It was so different because we were ensconced in the artists area, away from the masses. And here, we were able to meet the people who put the whole festival together and see how things really work. Here we met the sponsors, the hospitality crew, the bartenders, the volunteers, the production and camera crew, artist management, etc. Really, we met all of the important people.
And what we realized was that everyone takes care of each other and here is where you get opportunities to see things and experience things you never thought that you would.
Years ago, at my very first Vancouver Folk Fest I watched Michael Franti & the Spearheads perform a long ways back from the stage. And it was one of my favourite Folk Fest memories. At Bonnaroo, I had the opportunity to watch the performance from stage left.
Jay-Z always puts on a good show. But standing on an elevated stage left platform beside Stefan (from the Dave Matthews Band), a few feet away from Stevie Wonder, and across the stage from Beyonce, looking out at a sea of people as far as I could see, made a HUGE difference. It took me a while to come down from that Bonnaroo Buzz.
Watching the Zac Brown Band perform on the elevated stage left platform also gave me the opportunity to notice that one of the guys just so happened to be wearing a Rocawear t-shirt and button up woven. Guess our gifting worked!
And we just had to stay to see the Bonnaroo Finale – Dave Matthews Band performance.
Our role at Bonnaroo was to provide a cool lounge for artists to hang out in. “Cool” not only because we had custom couches, flat screen tv’s and DJ Hero, but also because we kept the lounge at a “cool” 70 degrees with our handy dandy air conditioning units. And, when outside is almost 100 degrees with high humidity, 70 degrees is a breath of fresh air.
We also welcomed all of the artists that performed at Bonnaroo to come in for a gifting opportunity for some free swag, which came in handy when people were looking for something new to wear onstage, OR something dry to wear after they finished performing.
But, as you know, there’s no such thing as “FREE”. Our price: autographing 2 t-shirts (one to be donated to Bonnaroo and auctioned off for charity and the other for the Rocawear office) and taking a photograph. Not too steep of a price for a free outfit.
Needless to say, everyone loves free gifts and we had a chance to meet some very cool people. As you can see from the shirts above, many many many people stopped by. Comedians Jeffrey Ross and Andy Richter stopped by, as did some of the guys from Dave Matthews Band, Trombone Shorty (you may have seen him on HBO’s Treme) and Big Sam of Big Sam’s Funky Nation.
Welcome to Bonnaroo! A music festival that takes place on a farm in the middle of Tennessee and draws 85,000 people. 4 days of music, sunshine, humidity and dirt. So…pretty much get used to feeling hot, sweaty and dirty, because that’s just what happens at a music festival at a Tennessee farm in the summer.
People were camped out in the Walmart parking lot and the HUGE traffic line up to get onsite was expected and rather than get frustrated, people used it as a bonding experience and the party started in traffic. Apparently, the locals are not fans of the crowds that roll into town (locals call them ‘Woogies’) but Wal-Mart and all of the surrounding hotels LOVE them.
Once the festival starts on Thursday at noon it doesn’t stop until Sunday night. Seriously. There are performances 24 hours a day. The majority of people camp onsite and there’s no reason to leave.
On Day 1 you could tell who had attended Bonnaroo before because they were wearing rubber rain boots. Apparently it is a Bonnaroo tradition for it to rain during the festival and the amount of mud you have to walk through…well rain boots or any shoes that you can hose off were the appropriate footwear choice.
By Day 4….no one cared. After 4 days of sunshine, ‘knock you off your feet’ humidity, battling crowds of fellow sweaty festival goers, lounging around on the grass (or dirt) listening to music, people just did not care. You’re muddy, you’re dusty, you’re hot and you’re high on…..whatever people get high on at outdoor 24 hour/day music festivals. The music right?
Let me clarify that we were at Bonnaroo for work. And fortunately our party started in the Artist Hospitality Lounge, where we spent all of our days, and most of our nights. The only place that had real air conditioning, right next to the hospitality bar, and, maybe the best part about being in the lounge area – flushable toilets!
We finally made our way out to Little Italy the last time we were in NYC. Unfortunately we had to choose the hottest, most humid day ever to make the trip.
Even though it was great to walk through the pedestrian streets with the “Welcome to Little Italy” signs, the decorative flowers, the sidewalk patios and little markets with fresh mozzarella and prosciutto, we really made the trip to visit the infamous pizzeria, Lombardi’s. Which boasts itself as the ‘birthplace of new york style pizza’ with a coal-fired oven.
Very good pizza. Although, I’m not going to lie, I think I might like Patsy’s better…
On to Chinatown, which pretty much looked like any other Chinatown in any other city. Lots of sidewalk seafood displays. Lots of fresh fruit markets (it just happened to be lychee season so I finally got to show Nathan what Lychee look like).
The one thing that stood out. The chubby ginger cat that sits below the fish display, looking pleasantly full. And I got a testimonial from a local that this cat eats some crazy stuff!
Remember when I was SOO excited to be a “grown up” and be able to choose to be a ridiculous flighty teenager at the GLEE concert? Well…I may have forgotten that whole ‘grown up’ part and turned into a ridiculous, screaming (well…I raised my voice) GROUPY. Some would even say that I fit right in with the 10 year old boys screaming for Simon and Ryan Seacrest.
Kidding. Definitely Kidding. I was not screaming for Ryan Seacrest (but I did take a picture of his car).
But I did manage to find my way into the Nokia Theater while I was in LA to watch the American Idol Finale performance show. It’s just called, ‘being in the right place at the right time’. Or, ‘eavesdropping on your booth neighbour and demanding that he find 2 tickets to the show and telling him that you were going to be his new BFF’.
Regardless of how it happened, I made it into the Nokia Theater, watched Lee and Crystal battle it out live and I’m embarrassingly admitting that I ran like a little school girl to the back of the theatre (with my new BFF saying, “Traci I ran for you, now pick up the pace”) and stood at the gates waiting for somebody (hopefully famous) to come through those back doors. Well, we didn’t have to wait very long before Ellen and Kara came out and actually came up to take photos and sign autographs. I was not properly schooled in the art of celebrity chasing so I awkwardly stood by the gate, half-heartedly called their names and unsuccessfully tried to take photos with them.
I did manage to get someone to sign my “Official American Idol T-Shirt”; however at first I didn’t know what her name was or which season of Idol she was really from. But, it was a start. From there we went to the front of the theatre where the current season Idol’s were making the rounds, taking photos, signing autographs and being interviewed. After 30 minutes of hanging around I started to come out of my Idol frenzy and I thought to myself, “what am I doing? I am NOT this person. I’m not a groupy. I have GOT to get out of here”.
After I slept off my Idol high, I headed back to the convention for the final day and tear down. As soon as I got to the Convention Hall, which just so happened to be beside the Nokia Theater, I saw the media barricades, the red carpet and I started to feel a little tingle of excitement. I mean, who finds themselves in the heart of the American Idol frenzy and doesn’t participate. Don’t worry – I came prepared this time.
With my sharpie and American Idol T-Shirt in one hand and my camera and flip video in the other, I met up with my partner in crime and together we spent 3 hours at the back gates of the Nokia Theater. I know, it’s a long time. But you feel like you put so much time in that you should stay, and then you feel like if you leave you’re going to miss someone really good!!! We saw a lot of people – Christina Aguilera, The BeeGees, a WHOLE bunch of past Idols, Alanis Morrisette, etc. This time I committed to one primary goal – Autographs.
Here is the final list:
Kelly Clarkson, Kris Allen, Brooke (someone or other), Alanis Morrisette, Robin (from the BeeGees), Jordan Sparks, Reuben Studdard, Nick Cannon (America’s Got Talent host OR Mariah Carey’s husband), Orianthe, Kimberly Clark, AND Ellen Degeneres (however she only put on a dot because she couldn’t write on the shirt- but I swear it was her).
Well, I don’t know if I’ll ever do this again, but at least I can say that I did it.
Check that off the list. And I did get a couple of photos…
You spend so much time going to school and growing up and thinking “what do I want to do when I grow up?” and then all of a sudden it’s here – you’re grown up and you think, ‘how did that happen?’
It’s official. I’m a grown up. And it’s not because I’ve graduated from university or because I moved out of the family home (that happened at 17), or because I move from city to city and country to country just because I want to or even because somehow I have a 401k and a stock portfolio. I am a grown up with grown up friends because we have somehow gotten to the point where we can plan a long weekend vacation, fly across the country and CHOOSE to be ridiculous, frivolous teenage girls. But even BETTER than that – we can be “Ladies who Lunch” with martinis, wine and cocktails and while sitting amongst the actual teenage girls, realize that we are in fact grown ups – and laugh at how ridiculous that is!
Erin and I joined forces in LA as the “Ladies who Lunch”, drinking ‘Martoonies on Tuesday’, as our friend Kyle would say. With the realization that we’re grown ups and can do whatever we want to do we had to force ourselves to get moving and leave the hotel. Not because we didn’t want to go out and explore the city, but because when you haven’t seen one of your best friends in 3 months, you have a lot to talk about and 4 days could easily be spent chatting it up poolside.
But the Santa Monica Pier is so much better! Drinking wine and eating antipasta on a heated patio, nothing wrong with that!
Taking the drive along Malibu as the sun sets and ending our night at Duke’s for cocktails and the ‘can’t leave without it’ piece of Hula Pie.
Walking around like VIP’s with our “Front of the Line” passes at Universal Studios and after pressuring Erin to take the Jurassic Park ride with me, laughing hysterically at the look of terror on Erin’s face in the photo they took as we flew down the final crest (unfortunately I have no record of this photo).
Realizing that Hollywood is actually pretty dirty, but feeling compelled to tour the Hollywood Stars and hand and foot prints.
And, the real reason why we hopped on flights from opposite sides of the country. The Glee Concert. Where we joined the thousands of screaming girls (and the two guys that just so happened to be sitting in front of us).
Let me just say…It was AMAZING. So much fun! And it put us in such a good mood that we went on a spending spree – buying flip flops of every colour, random T-shirts, movie posters, CD’s from local up and comers, and all of the Pink Berry and Yogurtland we could eat! The state of California thanks us. Really, we got a thank you note.
I think the only thing that I haven’t mentioned that has to happen on every trip to LA is…yes, you guessed it. A celebrity sighting! Well, wait no more. Let me tell you about that heart-stopping moment when I set my eyes on him. The double take. The elbow to Erin’s side and the whispered words from the side of my mouth, “Is that James Marsden?” Now, if you’re not a girl who loves her romantic comedies and remembers when the unsuccessful series, “Second Noah” came on TV, you may not know who this guy is. But I do, and for a split second (well, maybe 1o seconds) I thought about jumping right back into the elevator and heading back up, even though we were on our way out.
I spent a solid 10 minutes sitting in the lobby glowing. Erin can confirm, I was speechless. Although not enough to prevent me from calling and texting people. And while I was on the phone, all of a sudden I get a kick in the leg and Erin gives me wide eyes and says, “he’s right behind you”. Now this probably did not look subtle at all since Erin tells me that she accidentally made eye contact with him and then he watched as she kicked me. But let’s just say, we were the ultimate of cool, as I watched him roll his two suitcases to his car. I was so overwhelmed that I didn’t think about taking a photo for posterity until after his tail lights were long gone. The only memory I have is the fading bruise on my leg from Erin kicking me.
Alas, no photo, but there are witnesses to this celebrity sighting, so we can call our “Ladies who Lunch” GROWN UP trip to LA a SUCCESS!
What is there to do in Toledo, OH?
I once tried to find a cool restaurant in the downtown area.
There is none.
I have heard that there is a famous Hot Dog place from the TV show Mash.
Never Been.
The only thing that I have heard repeatedly is: Toledo has an excellent zoo.
Turns out all of the animals are put to bed at night and the only animal left to see is their new baby giraffe. He may have been worth the trip.
Adventures On the Road 