Lisa Denton and Barry Courter
LISA DENTON: Barry, you’re not much of a buttoned-up kind of guy anyway, but when I look at you in the days leading up to Bonnaroo, I know that you’re going to get even more unbuttoned. So to speak.
Come Thursday, your work clothes will change from Oxford shirts and khakis to T-shirts, floppy shorts and do-rags. I bet I’d barely recognize you.
BARRY COURTER: You’ve never seen me in my tie-dyed do-rag, have you? I actually have one for each day of the festival. While they’ve added permanent showers and toilets, I haven’t heard anything about laundry. Maybe next year.
I’ve looked at the weather forecast and I might be more interested in wearing ice packs and frozen do-rags. They predict 97 degrees on Thursday. Hurray. I’ve heard tell of people going before the Devil himself and saying, “I’ll come in, just don’t send me to Manchester in June.”
You know I love Bonnaroo, though. I’ll actually be up there on Wednesday so people can get updates on the Times Free Press’ Twitter and Facebook pages, as well as full stories and photos in the paper.
But don’t forget, Riverbend starts Friday also. I’m looking forward to that as well.
LISA: I might have to bust out my own do-rags for that. You’d think there might be a breeze off the river, but it’s usually hot as blazes. The first weekend gives us two country artists – Thomas Rhett and Chris Young – plus Heart, Trampled by Turtles, ZZ Ward and Bo Bice with Blood Sweat & Tears.
BARRY: That’s a pretty good start. I’m especially disappointed that I’ll miss Heart and ZZ Ward.
LISA: But before we get to either festival, we can spend tonight with guitarist Buckethead at Revelry Room. His real name is Brian Carroll, but fans know him for the Michael Myers mask and the KFC bucket he wears on his head – a look he got from watching the “Halloween” movies and eating takeout chicken.
He told Guitar Player magazine in 1996: “I was eating it, and I put the mask on and then the bucket on my head. I went to the mirror. I just said, ‘Buckethead. That’s Buckethead right there.’ It was just one of those things. After that, I wanted to be that thing all the time.”
BARRY: It’s interesting he tells that story as if he’d stumbled across Excalibur or the Holy Grail, right?
LISA: I’ve tried telling my mirror, “Lottery winner,” but no luck so far.
BARRY: Try wearing a chicken bucket when you say it.
Also, I don’t know if you’re hep to hemp, but on Saturday, the Chattanooga Public Library will host an educational event as part of Hemp History Week. It’s a national thing but the first time we’ve been involved. It’s about telling people that hemp is not marijuana and that it actually has all kinds of practical uses like food, clothing and rope.
LISA: I would make a joke, but there’s an advocacy group called Vote Hemp that takes offense to such things because it confuses people into thinking that hemp and marijuana are the same. So no pot shots from me.
Get event details every Thursday in ChattanoogaNow or online anytime at www.ChattanoogaNow.com.
Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354. Contact Lisa Denton at ldenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6281.