This year at Bonnaroo, in the daily Beacon, we offered not only our classic “Bon or Oo” Q and A’s but also a new feature we called “My First Roo.” For one reason or another a few slipped through our grasps down at the festival, so we offer them up to you right here

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Bon or Oo: Stephen Malkmus

The world would be a better place if everyone listened to
Christian psych music

Name a song you sing in the shower or your car but never on stage
The Life Savers jingle

What songs that bands often cover would you be happy never to hear again
“Franklin’s Tower,” “Dear Mr Fantasy”

What song could you hear again and again
“Stella Blue”

The one thing nobody knows about me is
I share a birthdate with Richard Burton

Name a song of yours that you really dig but others don’t seem to appreciate
“Water and a Seat”

Greatest TV show ever
Sopranos

Greatest book
White Jacket, Herman Melville

Who is the nicest person in the music community
Rebecca Gates, Spinanes

Who is the worst dressed
Blink 182

True or false drummers are under appreciated
Not by me

True or false guitarists are over appreciated
False. But certainly bad guitarists in popular groups are probably over appreciated.

True or false, the best pick-up line in the world is, “Hey come out to my gig and see me play”
Not bad.

If I weren’t a musician I’d be a
Phone sex addict

% of professional musicians you know about whom you’d say hey that guy/gal’s pretty cool
90%

What’s your problem with the other 10%?
Too proud and selfish, not too bright.

If you could invite any three people living or dead to join you in a sumptuous pre-show meal who would they be?
Bob Dylan, George Bush, Indira Ghandi

Greatest music movie ever made?
Decline of Western Civilization

At Bonnaroo I’m looking forward to seeing
Be Your Own Pet, Sonic Youth

Bon or Oo
N/A

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My First Roo: Bobby Lee Rodgers

What were your expectations prior to your first trip to Bonnaroo?
I thought it was going to be a good thing for us. My expectation was it would add to our wheel of vision and get our name out there. And it’s really helped our band a lot because if we had not done it we’d be in a totally different place right now. Every place we play somebody says, “Yeah I saw you at Bonnaroo.” And I’m like, “Man, that’s why they’re there in the building. [Laughs] So it did everything I thought.

What were your initial impressions when you arrived that first year?
I was like, “How can this many people come to see music?” [laughs]. We’d been playing a lot of festivals but my first thought was, “Man this is big.” I know that’s pretty simple. [Laughs]

Describe the music that you found most moving or enjoyable at your first Bonnaroo?
Del McCoury. It blew me away. They put one mike up there in front of like 20,000 people and they played and it blew me on the ground. It was so pure and real and the band, that’s family stuff, family harmony. Incredible musicianship, incredible music and wow, it just blew me away.

What do you remember most about your own performance?
The thing I remember is I walked out to make sure my stuff was working okay and when I turned around I could not see the end of the crowd. That’s the first time that’s ever happened [laughs].

Looking back at your initial experience at the festival, what was your quintessential Bonnaroo moment?
The last time I saw Mike Houser play. I remember sitting on the balcony behind Panic when they were playing and I looked down and thought, “This is the last time I’m going to see him play.” He was so frail then, it was so sad. He could barely hold himself up, he was really, really sick. And I sat on the balcony and I remember watching all those people who were so happy and he could go out knowing he could make that many people happy. It touched me. I was just so happy for him that it could be one of his last memories. I would think he probably felt like that, he could just keep going, keep going. And that’s the last time I saw him.

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Bon or Oo: Donovan Frankenreiter

The world would be a better place if everyone listened to
The Black Keys

Name a song you sing in the shower or your car but never on stage
“Just the Two of Us”

What songs that bands often cover would you be happy never to hear again
I never get sick of other people’s music

What song could you hear again and again
“I Don’t Want to Wait in Vain,” Bob Marley

The one thing nobody knows about me is
I drink a lot of coffee in the morning

Name a song of yours that you really dig but others don’t seem to appreciate
I really enjoy that song I wrote “Call Me Papa” about my little boy and being on the road away from him.

Greatest TV show ever
Seinfeld

Greatest book
Chronicles, Vol.1 by Bob Dylan

Who is the nicest person in the music community
Right now, at the top of my list, it would have to be Luke Lewis, the president of Lost Highway Records. I sat down and had a talk with him and he just a straight-shooter, one of the coolest guys I ever. I didn’t know one thing about Lost Highway and I was like, “This guy is so cool, I just want to be a part of this label no matter what it is.”

Who is the worst dressed
Probably me, for sure [hearty chuckle]

True or false drummers are under appreciated
Very true

True or false guitarists are over appreciated
Probably true [more chuckling]

True or false, the best pick-up line in the world is, “Hey come out to my gig and see me play”
That might be true if you’re a musician and you’re single. [Donovan then asks his wife next to him if indeed he used such line. Answer: no].

If I weren’t a musician I’d be a
I’d just continually be a professional surfer, what I’m doing

% of professional musicians you know about whom you’d say hey that guy/gal’s pretty cool
95%

What’s your problem with the other 5%?
I’m like a fan like anybody else so if I’m backstage and I see somebody- I know it gets difficult for people at times- but you know sometimes I ask people, “Hey, can you sign this for me?” And they’ll look at me like I’m an ass. Those are people I’m like, “Oh, I’m sorry. I’ve just loved your music for the last 20 or 30 years. You can’t fu$*!ng sign my napkin?

If you could invite any three people living or dead to join you in a sumptuous pre-show meal who would they be?
Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley and Elvis Presley.

Greatest music movie ever made?
The Last Waltz

At Bonnaroo I’m looking forward to seeing
All the people

Bon or oo
Bon

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My First Roo: Joel Cummins

What were your expectations prior to your first trip to Bonnaroo?
We knew we were going to be in this huge festival and it was going to be bigger than anything we’d ever been a part of. I remember we really bugged our manager and booking agent every day: “Did you call them today to see if we can play?” When we finally got the invite, we were absolutely thrilled and we knew it would be a huge opportunity for us to play in front of a lot of new people.

What were your initial impressions when you arrived that first year?
The fact that we were able to play on the first dayat first we were nervous that people wouldn’t be there, yet. Everybody was so excited about being there. WOWI really hope I don’t lose the draw on where I sleep in the tent; I didn’t want the spot in the sun because it’s going to be really hot at 7AM. I lost. I found the Arcade Tent and got some refuge from the sun and got some Golden Tee in.

Describe the music that you found most moving or enjoyable at your first Bonnaroo?
It was great to see Ani DiFranco in a different environment. I’ve had some absolutely amazing Bonnaroo experiences. Also, Damien Rice and his cello player were absolutely unbelievable. There’s some music that when you hear it for the first time, you don’t need to know it. That was just a phenomenal stand out for me. Getting to see Taj Mahal was awesomethe joyful blues.

What do you remember most about your own performance?
Right in the middle of a crucial point, the power got knocked out. Somebody walking across the back of the stage knocked out a chord and didn’t realize that was the power. I remember trying to get anybody’s attention: “Come onget the power!” And I looked back at Mike [Mirro, former UM drummer] and Andy [Farag, UM percussionist] and said, “DRUMS! DRUMS! Keep that energy going!”

Looking back at your initial experience at the festival, what was your quintessential Bonnaroo moment?
Being able to walk around and take it all inthis was one of the early moments in our career when I felt really proud of us being a part of something. We might actually leave from this monumental event and people might know Umphrey’s McGee.