by Bracey Wilson | Jun 7, 2010 | News Slider
Dr. Briley teaches Old Testament and Hebrew studies. Dr. Terry Briley, likely one of the few Lipscomb professors to ever attend Bonnaroo, first went six years ago to chaperone his younger son. But he’s returned three times since. He says the common perception of the festival and its attendees isn’t entirely accurate. Once you get to Bonnaroo’s 700-acre farm in Manchester, Tenn., you see that “people there are more diverse than you might think.” The crowd does not consist of young people exclusively. Briley says he enjoyed the atmosphere, describing it as “a flashback to the ’60s,” when he was just a boy. He stresses that there is no need for anyone to be afraid while there. Certainly there are people participating in activities of which Lipscomb does not condone, but there is no need to worry about someone hurting anyone else. “One time I was taking pictures of a group of people who were dancing around in funny costumes at a concert,” Briley says. “ One of the guys noticed that I was taking pictures and came over to ask why. Although I told him I was just taking them for my own use, he asked me to delete the one with him in it because he was supposed to be ‘out sick’ from work while he was at Bonnaroo.” Going camping on a farm in Tennessee at the beginning of the summer is not the most comfortable thing in the world. The main complaints are the heat, the dust, and the inability to bathe in anything but sulfur water. Campers must pass through two checkpoints and wait in...
by Chris Shappley | Jun 7, 2010 | Opinion
Tennessee has always had a reputation as a place to hear great music. I know this well: I grew up in Memphis. In Memphis, it was common to see Elvis impersonators around the city. In fact, Presley’s home, Graceland, is the second-most visited house in the country behind The White House. And if you are looking for he real flavor of the city, stroll down Beale Street and listen to classic blues music no matter what time of day. Going to school at Lipscomb in Nashville has provided me with yet another type of music experience. And it’s not just the difference between Memphis blues and Nashville’s country music scene. While Memphis is a city known for its musical heritage, Nashville is known for its musical present, a place where where people from all over the world come to break into the music business. And it’s not just country music; it’s also rock, pop and more. However, in the last nine years Tennessee has garnered a reputation for another kind of musical experience: the music festival. Oh sure, there’s the big CMA festival here in Nashville, but that is an outgrowth of the long-time Fan Fair country music festival. The type of music festival I’m talking about here is one word that has come to describe an experience: “Bonnaroo.” That modern — rock, hip-hop, country and more — music festival takes place only 50 minutes away in Manchester, Tenn. What began as sort of a jam-band celebration in 2002 has evolved. In its ninth year has become one of the biggest and most diverse music festivals in the world....
