“MURFREESBORO,” the screen said, “Your Home Away from Roo.”
Randy Ray
2008-05-23
Peaches En Randalia #27 Betcha thought I was going to pick Manhattan for this month, didn’t ya? Well…that would have been too easy, but don’t worry—New York City will get its own Peaches. (Hopefully, you’ve seen a trend by now, as there was a twin-concern theme in 2007.) In the meantime, check out our site’s Jammy feature for thoughts about how I felt about the events at MSG in May— a month that is not as beautiful as NYC in the fall, but still my favorite state to enjoy art, food, the ‘local citizens’, and some crazy used book stores. I have stayed in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, a 45-minute drive from Manchester, for the last three years, while writing for my editor, Dean Budnick on the Bonnaroo Beacon, the on-site daily newspaper, during our Week O’ Fun in June. Dean is a veteran of virtually everything cool [insert significant cultural achievement] about our scene from starting this legendary site to co-founding the Jammys to co-hosting radio programming to films about Wetlands to books about jambands at their peak and the Phish culture before it developed into a huge, overflowing phenomenon. He is also a good friend, and while I am just a writer, we share the same sense of responsibilities away from our music, film and paper-filled desks here at the Jambands.com headquarters in Northeast U.S.A. It is not always easy to be away from our families on Father’s Day, but we’re committed to the festival and we do have a heck of a lot of fun working late at night to get the paper together. Enter one Mike Greenhaus who is the third piece in our little jam triangle at the Roo. While the paper enlists several fine writers, editors and photographers, it is our little trio that seems to still be there at 4am in the morning. Greenhaus, like Budnick, has unlimited energy and knowledge, and it can be quite addictive to be around cats with a keen mixture of tact, information, and humor. Suffice to say, I feel I am fortunate to be spending time with them as we shed some light on the day’s events for the festival-goers. Murfreesboro…always go on the Chamber of Commerce site of any town/city to find interesting tid-bits…I guess I’m still in a Fishman frame of mind after the Jammys because this is a cool little factoid I found about my sweet resting place during the Roo: Mowing and Pruning
The mowing of grass in right of ways and easements is accomplished with five tractors with bush hogs, two front deck mowers, one slope mower, and several string trimmers. Overhead vegetation is trimmed with a tractor mounted boom mower. This equipment is operated by six light equipment operators, two crew leaders, and several full time and part time laborers. Well…there you have it. Why do I drive 45 minutes away to rest? It gives me a chance to refocus after a long day of work and play—oh, and writing about the thrill of it all. Let’s hope this year creates a few dozen other fine memories as we hit Tennessee to cover the festival and catch yet another round of new/old/“WOW, they’re fantastic!” at the Roo. - Randy Ray stores his work at www.rmrcompany.blogspot.com.
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