All right let's play a quick game of what's happening here? Take a look at the photo below and give it your best…

Before we get there though I want to point out that this month marks the five year anniversary of columnist Mike Gruenberg. Not only is part of the first father and daughter team to write for the site (alas, Caroline Barrett Budnick is still a few years away) but his essays typically offer guides to artists that merit rediscovery and present the occasional life lesson as well.

And speaking of life lessons this leads us to our photo. What's happening? Well I took the image myself around 8:30AM on Sunday morning at Bonnaroo. That's my rental car airing out its underbelly from atop a tree stump. How did it happen? I will assume all responsibility but in my defense I had just pulled my third all-nighter in a row in order to complete work on the Bonnaroo Beacon. I was exhausted and seeing triple (and not in a good way) when I found myself on top of the stump unable to return to my hotel for the requisite two hours of sleep before picking up the Sunday papers from the printer. Exhausted nearly beyond the point of sentient thought, a few folks (including the man in the photo) took a gander at my predicament, and stepped up huge. Fifteen minutes later, a bleary-eyed Budnick was en route to his hotel. As I was driving back, I was thinking about David Steinberg's recent column and while I must say I do agree with much of what he had to say, I would like to point out that there are still plenty of good folks out there giving of themselves to support our community. Nonetheless, I hereby pledge to look out for stumps (once again, a lovely children's book in the making)…

Oh yes, btw, if you know the man in the photo please send me an email and float me his name and contact info. I owe him my gratitude (and some Jammy swag…)

Later days and peace,
Dean