Here’s a look at Bonnaroo’s 4 PM press conference on Saturday, June 11
Photos by Kevin Yatarola
Daniel Lanois on playing Roo with Black Dub:
The good thing about an event like this is you get up on stage and you have a chance to deliver your music in a new way because we are essentially outside of the songs. We fancy ourselves improv artists and we respond to the events that we’re turning up for. So if the energy calls for an extended groove, an extended solo, no problem. We can provide that. And lucky for us, we’ve got Brian Blade on the drums, one of the great improv artists of our time.
Nicole Atkins on festival:
It’s exciting — we’re playing three times tomorrow. All during the day, all three sets — each an hour long. You, know I’m just trying to think Springsteen. A lot of matinees. But, yeah, we haven’t been here since 2008 so were really psyched.
The first time we played here in 2008 was the first time we’d ever played in front of a large crowd.
Jerry Greenfield on Bonnaroo Buzz:
I’m awestruck to be here and what an honor to be up here. Second year Ben & Jerry’s has been here with our Bonnaroo Buzz. It’s a coffee malt ice cream with a whiskey caramel swirl and fudge covered pieces of English Toffee. It’s a fair trade flavor. We use fair trade ingredients and pay fair trade farmers in developing countries a fair wage. It’s so nice to be connected with Bonnaroo with has such a mission of sustainability and environmental responsibility. So it’s a very nice fit for us.
One thing I’ve learned over 32 years is free ice cream is a good thing.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on why he’s at Roo:
For me, being from Harlem and inheriting legacy of Harlem men’s basketball team was really a way for me to pay homage to my community and the game that I love so much. I didn’t find out about team until I was in high school and did some research on them in ’89 after I retired from professional basketball and I wanted to do a movie on them but I had a hard time finding a form. So I wrote a book on the Harlem Renaissance and on the Harlem men’s basketball team. So that gave people an idea of what the story is about and so we raised money for the film and got it done.
Kareem on jazz:
The Harlem men’s basketball team started in 1922 and to this day the 1920s is known as the jazz age. Jazz really dominated the American musical taste at that time and the Harlem Rens played the game to the rhythm and the style of Harlem. They kind of went hand and hand.
Bill Cunnliffe wrote the score and performing on it, we have Herbie Hancock, will.i.am and Chuck D. It was all about trying to show the connection between all the musical forms and hip-hop and R&B are branches off of that root and I wanted to show that and I wanted to show that because the younger generation thinks that everything started in 1990 with Chuck D.’s band so we really have to do some educating.
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