I spent an entire month of the year with Wyatt for 4-years in the California desert. I have so many stories that I could fill up this whole blog and there would still be some left over. A lot like my pops, actually. 

For the other 11-months I didn’t get to see him, we’d talk on the phone or text. I was at graduate school at the University of Florida from 2013-2015.

When I first got there I asked him if he wanted to come visit for a football game. “Florida Football,” he said in a tone that suggested he was intrigued before finishing with, “I’d rather eat a bucket of fucking razors.” 

I laughed so hard.

I’d get texts from him asking if I was “taking my crazy pills.” Asshole. He walked me through the process of buying a used bike from the 1980s, fixing it up, and selling it to a “sucker.” When I told him I flipped it for $80, he responded, “I would have gotten $160..sucker.” Asshole. 

I got a job as a sports photographer. I hustled my way into the gig, which made my pops, brother, and Wyatt very proud. I would send the three of them photos from different events. 

My pops always fired up and would look for me on the sidelines, shooting me a text, “See you dude! Blue hat?!” I’d send him shots from the game and he would tell me how awesome the photos were and then send them to all his friends and my family. Wyatt would say, “Looks blurry.” Asshole. 

November 7, 2015. A shitty fucking day.

“Dave Wyatt just died please call me.” That’s the text I got from Shaynee on that day.

I was on the sidelines shooting the Florida vs Vanderbilt football game. There is no reception in the stadium, especially when it was at capacity with nearly 90,000 people.

I had felt my phone vibrate toward the end of the third quarter, but assumed it was sports updates that randomly pushed through in a moment of cell reception clarity. There was a timeout that occurred late in the fourth quarter after Florida’s Jordan Sherit laid a monster hit on the Vandy QB. 

I went to look at my camera, not my phone. I wanted to see the image I captured. “Did I get the shot!?” Oh yeah. I fucking nailed it. I knew my mentor would be so proud when I posted the gallery of the game later that night and he saw the hit that jarred the helmet loose and spit and mouth pieces flying as a result. 

I figured the phone wasn’t a big deal. I finished photographing the game and made my way back to the press room. I took apart all of my camera gear, ejecting the SD cards from the camera bodies before placing them and all of the glass back into my case. I hooked my laptop up, plugged in the SD card reader, and placed my phone next to it. 

There were 7 missed calls from Shaynee. She NEVER calls. Ever. I went to see if there was a voicemail, but checked my text first. I remember seeing the words “Dave Wyatt is dead.”

I didn’t freak out, or cry, or run to call Shaynee. Instead, I calmly placed my computer in my backpack, grabbed my camera case, and started walking toward Weimer Hall. My house was equal distance, but for some reason I made my way to this strange building on the university’s campus. 

It is three stories and has this crazy atrium in the center with a courtyard. There is weird art. Sounds are amplified and accompanied by echoes. I sat on a bench near some foliage. 

My chubby little fingers clicked Shaynee’s contact and the line started ringing. She was crying when she answered. She gave me the details – a heart attack at age 46. 

It didn’t compute. Not Wyatt. He rode a bike up the California coast. He didn’t drink soda. He didn’t smoke cigarettes. He was always moving around, never staying still. How could this happen?

We hung up and then I lost it. The sound of my disbelief mixed with ugly crying and screams were amplified by the atrium. It echoed for passersby. I reached for my phone and started going through all of our texts and the voicemails he had left. 

I missed a call from him earlier that week. I had planned to call him back on Sunday. Fuck.

The celebration of his life was going to be held in Los Angeles at the Fonda Theatre, an iconic music venue. I had no money, though. Literally, zero. I didn’t realize the significance of it at the moment. It didn’t feel real. 

I told Shaynee I couldn’t afford it. She said, “ You have to be here.” My lack of accepting Wyatt’s death was obvious to her. I think she saw me using my financial situation as a way to escape reality for a little longer.

She knew I would never be able to live with myself if I didn’t go. So she did the most Shaynee thing ever: Used her Southwest points to fly me from Florida to L.A. I told you, Shaynee is the best. 

I have been to funerals and “celebrations of life” but nothing compares to Wyatts. 

They were handing out Sharpies with his name on them, pins and stickers made out of his art were everywhere for the taking. The Fonda’s marquee said, “Godspeed ‘DMFW.’ So let it be written, so let it be done.” There were food trucks and beer. There were old friends and new friends. 

It was packed. Dave Mother Fucking Wyatt (DMFW) was a legend!

There was an open mic setup on stage. People got up and told stories. REAL STORIES. Not the bullshit you usually hear…”They were a person of high faith…blah blah blah.”

I got up and talked about how I thought he was an asshole at first, using those exact words. Then I talked about how I grew to idolize this guy. How I was mesmerized at how he squeezed so much out of life and loved so hard. 

All of the people that spoke told the best stories, and they all carried a similar theme. 

People plastered DMFW NASA inspired stickers on the Hollywood Stars in front of the theater. They wrote messages with sharpies all over LA. His friends sent out merch, which was a black t-shirt with DMFW written in white letters in the ACDC font, one of Wyatt’s favorite bands. 

He literally was OOZING out of that place. It was an actual celebration of his life, and really quite magical. You connected with everyone in that room. The people talking about him were engaged with one-another, trading stories and enraptured by each other’s wild tales of our friend. 

There was none of that bullshit small-talk you might have engaged in at other funerals. 

I remember at my pop’s service people didn’t know what to say, and I get that. Death is not a comfortable thing. But I got questions like, “How is New York?” I would have much rather heard a story about my pops. Some adventure or memory a person had with him. 

When Shaynee called me to come work the show that next year I told her I couldn’t do golf carts. It would be too weird. She said I needed to be there and got me a job moving ice and water.

Wyatt would have clowned the shit out of me for taking the manual labor job over the Cush golf cart gig. He would have said I was being soft, but I know he wouldn’t have been able to go back out there at night without me. Not so fresh after.

Going out to the desert was awesome, though. Shaynee was right (of course). I wore my DMFW shirt and it was like having an all-access pass to meet the coolest people. I got to hang out with Derek, Jimmy  Reno, Aissa, Jason, and so many more. These were Wyatt’s PEOPLE. 

He always talked about getting me to come to KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas and drink beers. “My friend Aissa will hook us up. Drink beers. My buddy Jimmy Reno will be there. Derek, of course.” I now know all of these people, and Wyatt is the link that binds us. 

They all have the fucking best stories of him, and I love that they tell them so freely and often. They give off the same kind of cool vibe as he did, but of course there is only ONE Wyatt.

Living in New York I see Yankee’s hats everywhere now. At this moment I am thinking about Wyatt telling me about taking his Harley across the country and stopping along the way to see MLB stadiums and catch games. His goal was to go to all the stadiums. He loved baseball. My dad loved baseball.

This might come as a shocker, but the only things I know about baseball are that the games are fun as hell and they are the only place where a beer and hotdog truly live in harmony and make each other better. *

Miss you so hard, buddy. I hope they enjoy this book of fiction.

* A note to all of The Bo-Hawg’s baseball sponsorship partners – because we have A LOT who read this blog – don’t pull out on us because of that comment that I could easily change if I really wanted to.*

I love a good direct question. 

“Hey new guy. Who the fuck are you?’

That was Dave Wyatt’s first question to me.

I met him in 2012 at a festival safety meeting the night before the show started. Shaynee had brought me on to work late night golf carts, and Wyatt was part of the four man crew along with Steve and Matt. 

I’ll never forget being the “new guy” and watching Wyatt walk into that meeting rocking a black hoodie with a punk-band logo painted on the front, a New York Yankees flat bill, camo cargo shorts, mid-length socks, and some sneakers. 

He was definitely the “cool kid.” Regina George, if you want a movie comparison — minus the wicked soul. Was she wicked, though? Tina Fey, can you weigh in? Tina Fey is a HUGE fan of the blog I heard, and reads it religiously. 

I never have been one to bend-the-knee to the cool kid. Hold on. That is a lie. I did do this from time-to-time up until the 5th grade. 

I remember some kids didn’t invite me to a party or some shit like that and I was tripping out that it was my clothes, personality, or appearance. My pop’s saw me start to bend that knee and conform so that I could be cool. He quickly impart wisdom appropriate for a 5th grader.

“If they don’t like you, fuck them. There is no one else like you. Remember that.” The eloquent phrasing of my pop’s cannot be understated.

So when Wyatt asked me his direct question, I responded with, “Greenberry.” Just my name and nothing else. 

I wasn’t angry or anything by his directness. His tone and body language wasn’t that of a person who was threatened or trying to embarrass. He was genuinely curious of whom this new person among his familiar circle of friends was. And that’s fair.

“Greenberry,” he repeated back to me with his dumb-Wyatt-faced expression I grew to love. “Bullshit.” 

I pulled out my license and handed it to him so that he could inspect it for himself. “Greenberry…BUSH,” he said looking at me, followed shortly by, “No fucking way. That’s rad.”

After that, I was “Little Greenberry” and he was Wyatt.

For show days, we’d start around 4:30 pm and close down shop about 5:00 a.m the next morning. During show hours we would drive artists, VIPs, and other folks to stages and various locations on site. At night, we were released into the madness of the mad exodus of show-goers. We were tasked with getting them to their personal vehicles, campsite, or ride-share. 

We were not allowed to charge people for rides, nor did we ever. Our job was to help people get from Point A to Point B. However, we could dictate who we picked up. And we most certainly had a hierarchical view on what patrons had priority to ride in our chariots.

It went like this: 1) disabled individuals, 2) sweet elderly people that had taken their son/daughter/grandson/granddaughter to the show, and 3) people that were visibly distraught because they had forgotten where they parked. 

The last mother fuckers to get a ride were the people yelling, “I’ll give you a $100 just to get me to XYZ.” It’s not hard to envision what this person looks like or sounds like. Wyatt and I despised them and would cruise past these individuals waiting for the follow-up comment, “Fuck you then!” they’d scream as we drove past.

Later when they still hadn’t found their way, we’d pull up to them and ask, “Didn’t you scream ‘fuck you’ to me earlier?” If they were cool and offered some sort of “my bad” we would give them a ride. If they were not, we would punch the gas and leave them hoofing it to wherever they couldn’t find.

If it was slow, meaning no stragglers or people in sight, the whole crew would meet up and talk. 

I honestly didn’t engage with Wyatt much the first year I worked the show. I was on the brink of an acute agoraphobic episode — mentioned in the Shaynee Lee story — that would set in about a month later, so I was suffering a lot of panic attacks and therefore withdrawing from people. 

When we’d get home at sunrise, Wyatt and Steve would always ask me to come have a beer — I never did. Wyatt didn’t give up, though. He never did. Not for the people he cared about.

I made it back to Alabama after the month in California. This is where I would spend the next year of my life wading through the agoraphobia and all of the awesome stuff that comes with that. 

Shaynee encouraged people to reach out to me. Wyatt was surprisingly one of those individuals that reached out. At least I thought it was surprising at the time. He sent me the following text:

“Hey buddy. Heard you went crazy.”

“Is this mother fucker serious? Maybe he really is an asshole,” I thought. So, that’s exactly what I texted him back. “Fuck you asshole,” I wrote. A few minutes later, my phone was ringing and the name WYATT was on the screen. I answered reluctantly.

Tripp: Hello?
Wyatt: Hey buddy. It’s Dave.
Tripp: Cool. What’s up?
Wyatt: Just checkin’ in on ya. Shaynee told me what was up. It sounds fucking rough.
Tripp: Yeah. It really sucks *starts to cry*
Wyatt: I know a lot of people that deal with mental health stuff. It will be OK, buddy. Are you seeing a therapist or anything?

Ok. Now I was confused. 

Was Wyatt being nice? Was it the same guy that tried so hard to get me to hang out and drink beer at the buttcrack of dawn after we just worked 12-hours straight? 

So much can get lost in translation, man. And that’s exactly what happened when I read his text. To be fair, I knew Wyatt, but I didn’t really know him. Like, I didn’t understand his humor, sometimes a little dark, and how effectively he used it to disarm serious situations and move into a deeper conversation. He was so awesome, ya’ll. 

I grew to love that sense of humor. I miss it a lot. I miss Wyatt. A lot.

Shaynee, Wyatt, and the rest of the crew were with me (even though very far away) throughout that whole year. Wyatt would always say, “When you get out to California to work this year…” And I would be like, “IF I get out to California.” He would just let out a LONG sigh and then say, “You mean WHEN, little Greenberry.”

Surprise. I got out to California. 

 Shaynee picked me up for the airport, even though she had a million things going on at the office. She dropped me off at the place I would be staying and I waited for cool friend Wyatt to get there.

He rolled up on his motorcycle — spoiler, that is not how he died — busted in the house and said, “Come here you little mother fucker!” and wrapped me in a big bear hug.

His essence was this mixture of “I-care-about-the-people-I-love-so-hard” and “fuck-all-the-people-who-are-dicks.” He knew EVERYTHING about music. He knew everything about baseball, which I don’t care about but I appreciated how much he loved it. 

“Did you go get your creds (credentials) yet,” he asked, letting me go and giving me a look over to make sure the crazy hadn’t eaten me alive. “Not yet. Shaynee dropped me off.” He looked at his watch and then back at me, “Still go time. Let’s go get them.”

It wasn’t until I was locking the door to our house that I realized there was no car, just the motorcycle. Wyatt reached into the saddle bag of his bike and pulled out what looked like one of those old-timey helmets that people wore in sidecars on black-and-white movies. He, of course, had some macked-out helmet on with a face shield and shit. 

“Dude. What do I hold on to? What if I fall? I would fuck my face up!” I said. He gave me an ambiguous two word response, “Don’t lean,” and the he shoved the helmet into my stomach. 

I shit you not that’s how I got around the California desert for an entire month. On the back of his motorcycle. He instructed me to hold on to these TINY rails, but I bear hugged that fool anytime we were on there. It was truly terrifying.

The part that really sucked is whenever he’d ask if I wanted to do something I would get so excited only to be met with raw fear that I had to hang onto him while riding this death trap!

“Want to go in a little early and check out Ghost with my buddy Derek?” A new band I’d never heard of? Hell yeah. Wait…fuck, I have to ride on the motorcycle.

“Want to go see #42? That new Jackie Robinson movie?” Oh hellll yeah. I love movies. Get me a coke (death water, as Wyatt called it) and popcorn. Wait…fuck. I have to ride on the motorcycle.

That was my response for an entire month. He was a pretty good driver, I guess. I’ve never ridden on another so I do not much to compare it to. When we would head in to work, he would zig-and-zag through gridlock traffic. That was cool. One time someone ALMOST HIT us by trying to change lanes in bumper-to-bumper traffic.

Wyatt swerved and missed. 

He pulled up next to the car, which had “FESTIVAL NAME OR BUST” painted on the back and window. He pointed his hand down, tapping his pointer finger toward the earth, creating the universal sign to roll your window down. 

While that was happening, he turned around and said, “Give me your helmet real quick, little Greenberry.” His voice was calm and composed. The car next to us rolled their window down. It was some turd with his friends blasting shitty music.. 

Wyatt then twisted his hand in half circle motion, like he was turning an invisible nob. Now he was signaling them to turn the music down.

“What,” the kid said, pulling his douchey shades down the bridge of his nose and making eye contact with Wyatt’s shielded face. “You guys almost hit me and my buddy here. Could have really hurt us.” The kid shot back with an insincere apology, and shrugged his shoulders. 

Wyatt chuckled and shook his head. BAM! 

I could feel the air breeze on my face as he swung his right arm down with brute force. He was holding my helmet — the really safe one he was letting me borrow — and made direct contact with the driver’s sideview mirror, completely shattering it.

The people in the car didn’t say anything, but their faces said it all. “Holy shit this guy is going to kill us.”

After completely destroying their mirror Wyatt said, “Sorry isn’t going to put the next motorcyclist you hit back together.” At this point he had flipped his cool helmet shield up so they could see his face. “Sorry about your mirror, but you didn’t seem to be using it. You better get that shit fixed so you don’t almost kill someone again. Have a blessed day.”

He handed the helmet back to me and we zig-zagged through traffic until we made it to our destination. I released my death-grip from around his waist and got off the bike and handed him my helmet.

“Told you this fucker was tough,” he said while giving the helmet a thump and then grinning at me.

Read DMFW Part 2

She went straight back to work.

“Shaynee for Dragon,” she said into the walkie-talkie. “Go for Dragon,” the walkie-talked yelled back.

People named Dragon? Vans? Float? Walkie-talkies? What world had I just walked into? The only word that wasn’t new was Van.

Alex got me hooked up with a credential, a moment I will never forget because I felt SO FUCKING COOL. I am embarrassed to say that I did put it on like a necklace at first. What a dork! Alex was a good dude and wasn’t going to let me go out like that. 

“I’ve got an extra carabiner you can use if you’d rather have that,” he said, gesturing to how he wore his credential hooked to his belt loop.

Good looking out, Alex.

I was then introduced to my white, 15-passenger van. I would develop a love-hate relationship with this vehicle over the next decade. Optimal for traveling with multi-passengers and napping. Not optimal for anything else. But hey, I drove these suckers in major cites. I’m pretty much on the same level as Loyd Christmas. “

It’s OK. I’m a limo driver!”

Next, I got my walkie-talkie. It was marked with a piece of bright orange gaffer tape around the antenna that said, “Greenberry?” I loved the question mark. People never know if that is my first or last name. It drove my pops crazy.

One time I was with him at a doctor’s appointment. We were in the waiting room when the person at the front desk called out, “Mr. Greenberry? Mr. Greenberry, are you here?” He didn’t say anything.  “Mr. Greenberry?,” the voice now irritated and impatient called out one last time.

Pops let out a deep sigh, stood up, and walked over to the desk. “I don’t know who the hell Mr. Greenberry is, but Mr. Taylor is right here.” I guess after 65 years that shit gets old. I will let you know how I feel about it in 30 years.

Back to Shaynee

I had my creds and van, so the only thing left was float. To my disappointment, it was not an actual float, which I really did believe I would receive as some sort of decor for my van since this was a music festival on the beach! However, float is a word used to describe cash that a driver is “floated” to cover gas, and if you are lucky, an off-site meal. 

It was about 4 o’clock once I was all set up. Since my shift didn’t start until 6, I really wanted to go see Primus and The Roots. I walked back in to the trailer and politely asked Shaynee if I could watch some music before my shift. 

She looked down at her watch and then back up at me. There was skepticism in her eye. 

“Sure. Remember, you start at 6 p.m., so be back by then. Have a great time at the show. The Roots rule.”

I watched both shows — both absolutely incredible — and made sure I was back at my van by 6 p.m. I radioed what I will call headquarters from now on. This is the trailer I visited earlier. It’s where the coordinator on duty fields calls from drivers, creates a list for scheduled rides, and SO MUCH more. 

Seriously, I don’t know if they even stop to breathe.

“Greenberry for Shaynee,” I radioed. Silence. I tried back a few minutes later. “Greenberry for Shaynee.” This time, I was met with an unfamiliar voice. “Who is this?,” the voice asked. “Greenberry. I was hired today and met Shaynee….” but was cut off before I could finish. 

“Ok. Hang tight and I’ll radio back when we need you.” No name or anything, just instructions to “hang tight.”

Around 7:30 ish my walkie-talkie came alive. “Jason for Greenberry.” Ah. The voice did have a name! Jason was the overnight coordinator. He proceeded to send me on runs where I picked-up/dropped-off artists, crew, and sometimes celebs. 

I finished my first night of work around 6:00 a.m. It would have been a little earlier, but I spent an hour searching for Marlboro Lights, a brand of cigarettes that no longer existed.  

You see, in 2006 a federal court found the tobacco industry guilty of using deceptive wording such as “light” to promote them as healthier. So, the tobacco industry used colors to replace the term. 

The product did not change, but when you walked into a store you had to say, “Hey, let me get a back of Marlboro Blues. The light blues. All cigarettes aren’t bad for you. The color is light, so the cigarette is healthy. They smell really good, too.”

Had I known this information, and had the person asking for this brand JUST SAID NO as a teenager, I would have been sitting pretty at 5:30 a.m.

The D.A.R.E. Campaign failed another one of America’s youth, I guess. It was so effective, though. *Packs one-hitter. Resumes writing*

Anyway, I finished at 6 a.m. I had called a friend that was staying in Gulf Shores a few hours before my shift started and asked if I could crash. They were cool and said yes. I laid down on the paper thin carpet covering concrete and immediately knocked out until about 4 p.m.

When I woke up, I got in my van and made my way to the trailer, which factoring in traffic and parking took me about an hour to go less than a mile.

I walked in and Shaynee looked up from her computer. 

“I did not expect to see you again. Jason said you did a good job. Keep it up.” 

I was curious as to why she was so shocked that I showed up after I was literally just hired. Later I would learn that people are often onboarded, get their credentials (which get you access to pretty much anywhere), do one shift, and then ghost Artist Transpo.

A lot of these people are volunteers. So, Shaynee’s first question now made a lot of sense to me. 

I did the same routine starting at 6:00 p.m. the following night, which was the closing day for the show. I recruited my best friend, Ron, to come work with me. Shaynee loved Ron and his laugh. We got to work the graveyard shift together.

It was so cool. I got to drive some of my favorite artists, but I won’t put them on blast. I will say that they were all super nice and friendly. Down to earth, bro.

When my final shift ended, Ron and I caught some shuteye before returning our vans. Once we dropped off our sweet rides, we walked into headquarters. Shaynee got up and asked if she could talk to me outside. This is a phrase you come to fear if Shaynee ever utters it in your direction, but I was new and had no clue what “Can you come to the office and talk to me” usually meant.

“You did a really good job. Would you like to work at Bonnaroo in a few weeks,” she asked, taking a drag from her Parliament.

I could not believe she just asked me to work BONNAROO! I was/am a huge fan of the festival, having attended in 2005 as an attendee.

“Of course. That would be awesome. I’d love to. Thank you so much.”

Later that year I went on to work Bonnaroo and Austin City Limits. I think there might have been another, but I am unsure. The next year, I got the call to come work a well-known show out in California in late spring/early summer. I was super excited.

I had no idea I was on the brink of a mental breakdown, though.

You see, I have been diagnosed with some mental health stuff over my years, starting when I was 18 (2005). Talking about this with people wasn’t something I did openly like I do now. It was very taboo, and also hard for people to understand. They always looked at you differently. I didn’t want my new friends to look at me that way, so I grindded through a series of panic attacks, manic episodes, and intense fear for a month.

I was in California without a car, working graveyard shifts with people I didn’t really know, including Wyatt, and living with people I didn’t know in a large house. If you know about mental health,  then you know those are a lot of variables that cause uncertainty, which is pretty much fuel for the fire.

Somehow, I made it through California. Shaynee had invited me to work the festival in Alabama where we met the previous year in May. I thought it would be cool because that is my hometown and a lot of uncertainty would be removed. 

I was wrong.

It was the second day of the festival when the agoraphobia smashed me like a Mack Truck. I didn’t know that’s what it was at the time, but it was enough to shake me to my core. Paralyze me with fear.    

Ironically enough, one of my teeth was fucked up and I had an infection that needed a root canal. I used that as my excuse and got out of working the show.

Shaynee texted and checked in on me. My new friends like Dayne, Dragon, T-Germ, and Skeo did the same. They all asked if I was going to do Bonnaroo. I made up some dumb excuse to get out of that. I hid what was really going on.

Eventually, I wrote Shaynee a letter and mailed it to her home in L.A. I told her everything that was going on. That it was agoraphobia and how sorry I was for lying and dodging her after all she had done for me.

In true Shaynee fashion, she wrote me back. Her letter was packed with empathy and understanding. 

Shaynee put in a lot of effort from very far away to help me and be there for me. Part of that was rallying my new friends (Shaynee’s long-time friends) and having them reach out to me. T-Germ sent me Halloween cards…during August and September. Dragon and Dayne called. Skeo stopped by Alabama to visit me. That Wyatt guy sent me texts.

She was working a show in Orlando, Florida, and asked if I wanted to come. “You don’t have to work, you can just come hang with,” she said. “Can I bring my sister,” I asked. “Of course,” she responded. 

Mallory drove me to Orlando from Alabama. About a 7-hour drive. I freaked out MULTIPLE times on the way down there, but we made it. Shaynee greeted me with a great big hug and I introduced her to Mal. Then she pulled me aside and said, “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. If you feel uncomfortable, just let me know.”

I get emotional thinking about what Shaynee did for me. She didn’t invite me with any expectation or intention. She did it to help me!

I got out of the house! I rode in a car! I was around people! I went to Disney! 

Of course, it was very hard and I immediately relapsed when I got home. But that let me know Shaynee Lee was a mother fucking ride-or-die. A person who was genuine, compassionate, and awesome.

The rest is history. I spent the next decade of my life growing up with Shaynee and all my new friends. Going on adventures. Traveling. Introducing Coltrane to a whole new world.

Eventually, Shaynee accepted a full time gig out in L.A. Emily sort of inherited Shaynee’s shows (Em is the human not eating a sammy in the photo above). Em looked out for me. She still looks out for me. She is also the  best.  

And so is everyone else I met during that period of time. They are all my ride-or-dies.

I do not say this shit lightly, though. These are people I can count on. People I love deeply, and I know love me back. People I know that when my chips are down, I can bet on them to have my back. 

They are there when my life is fun. When life is shit. When close friends die, like Wyatt.

When dad died, the effort to support me was there, too.

You’d be surprised who shows up to support you. Some people cannot make it, and I get that; so there is no love loss there. But if you’re five hours away and it’s a weekend…yeah. You can get in the fucking car. You can make an effort.

Since festivals are happening all of the time, most of them were working. Seriously, Google “music festivals” and I guarantee you that you’ll see they are pretty much happening every month. 

A lot of them were right in the middle of a show when pops passed away. Literally impossible for them to leave. But my friend Annel Photoshopped a photo of pops we wanted to use for the main picture at his service. She was working a show in L.A., but she made time. She removed a seatbelt that was across his chest. The photo was at the front of the church. Thank you, Annel.  

Dragon came, though.

Dragon is on tour A LOT, but he flew down for pop’s service. He was there for the service and to say hello my family and I afterward, but then had to fly out a few hours later. He was in town for less than 24-hours, and was set to go out on the road in a few hours after his return.

Him being there let me know ALL of my festival family (that’s what we call each other) were there. Aside from the donations they made in my pop’s name, and the dozens of texts and calls, they all made sure to say, “We send our love with Dragon.” He was kind of like an ambassador for the group. 

I bring this up to reinforce just how much these people care about me. They are truly the best. And I would not know any of them if it were not for Shaynee Lee.

I will forever be grateful to for her friendship. Thank you, Shaynee Lee. Now, please come see me in my office in New York.

The year is 2011. I have a press-pass for a music festival in lower Alabama. The lineup is bananas. We’re talking Paul Simon, Foo Fighters, Primus, Flaming Lips, Widespread Panic, My Morning Jacket…and that’s just the surface.

It’s day one of the festival and I am feeling pretty good. I know there is a slim chance an artist might actually talk to me in the interview tent, even though I am not the music writer for the  Lagniappe, the newspaper I am working for. 

Sure, it feels like 1,000 degrees and I’m sweating my nuts off while manning the Lagniappe booth but I was there for the tunes, mannnnnnn.

Suddenly, a figure I barely recognize steps in front of the booth. They are wearing all black. A strange choice since it’s a million degrees in Alabama…in May…and we’re on the beach! I squint my eyes as the figure reaches out their fist for a dap. 

I never turn down a good dap. Never.

“Greenberry? Or Tripp,” the voice says. “Uh. Tripp,” I reply. “It’s me, Ryan. Chavez. From Spring Hill.” Ryan and I both went to Spring Hill College for undergrad, but he was a few years older. Our paths never really crossed, and the times when they did were, let’s just say “foggy.” 

“Oh shit. What’s up, man,” I asked. “Working sound over at the Breadboard Stage. You?

“Just working this booth. Hoping for some interviews later,” I replied.

Clearly he could see I had the sweetest gig. I was perched under my white pop-up tent that was situated on the blistering asphalt located in between the wooden boardwalk and beach. I was lucky enough every once in a while to get a swift wind that would blow sand right into my face. 

All of my meals were crunchy. Perfect.

“Do you want to make some money,” he asked. “Nah. I’m good,” I said, gesturing the the press-pass. I could see the envy in Chavez’s eyes as he looked over the white tent that was my domain for the next three days. “Ok. Just wanted to check. Pay is $100/hr,” he said as he turned to walk away.

The press-pass quickly lost its luster. The power of the tunes began to fade, mannn. The crunchy meals I had the privilege of eating were no longer appetizing. 

I love music. Love it a lot. But I was 22 with a low paying job, which I loved but low paying none the less. I was living above my sister’s garage (which was awesome, Shai). A gig paying $100/hr was insane. It could change my life. 

Ok. Maybe a little dramatic on the “change my life part.” By life changing I mean that I would be able to afford high quality “goods,” and fill my car up with gas on a regular basis instead of hitching rides with Shai in her green Honda minivan blasting Ice Cream and Cake.

Lowkey though, that song still slaps. And that green minivan went HARD.

There was only one problem: I was the only person scheduled to man the tent all weekend. 

I had volunteered, despite the uproar from others dying for the chance to fry like an egg on the blacktop while festival goers strolled by with cold beverages, funnel cakes, and smiles plastered on their faces.

I told Ryan I needed to make a quick phone call.

I’ll give you three guesses who I called, and the first two don’t count.

“Get your Lagniappe! Step right up and get your Lagniappe,” Pops was screaming as he slammed a paper copy of the newspaper against his palm. 

I called him to ask for his advice. He responded with, “Holy shit! $100/hr!? Your mother and I will be there in 3 hours. Cash money, dude!”

I can guarantee you that the two of theme gave out more copies of the Lagniappe than a 10-man army. He and my mom acted like they had a quota to hit. They sounded like two newsies from the 1920s out there. 

Get ya paper! Hot off the press! Get ya papers!

With pops and my moms holding it down, Chavez came to get me and we started walking. I still remember the stroll because we came to a backstage-looking area and got stopped by two huge security guards. Chavez flashed his credentials. We got a head nod followed by the two sweetest words you can hear in production (outside of a silent gesture): You’re good.

“So you’ll be working artist transportation,” he said. Did he just say artist transportation? My job was going to be driving the actual artists on the festival bill?

Me and Paul Simon cruising in a black SUV on the way to pickup Julio down at the school yard before the press could get to him flashed in my head. Les Claypool giving me a high five as he exited my imaginary luxury automobile, sayin, “Love the rumble of the diesel, good buddy. Thanks for the lift,” danced in my brain.  

We arrived at a white trailer. A dude named Alex walked outside, shook Chavez’s hand, and then greeted me. “Let’s go meet Shaynee and see if we can get you setup,” he said.

And then we walked into a totally different world.

The trailer was nice and cool inside, a welcome change from my previous circumstances. Those god awful fluorescent overhead lights had been shut off, replaced by random lamps that were radiating soft, warm light throughout the strucure. I think there were some Christmas lights too. It smelled like a mixture of sunscreen, lemongrass and lavender, and musty trailer. 

It was a vibe.

Suddenly, a deep, booming voice accompanied by static filled the room. “Dayne for Shaynee,” the voice echoed from a long distance, walkie-talkie situated next to a laptop decorated with stickers, most notably a Hello Kitty one. 

Someone behind the laptop grabbed the walkie-talkie, but I didn’t see who! It was like that scene from E.T. where Eliot sees the Reeses Pieces get grabbed! “Go for inaudible,” a nice, calm voice radioed back to whomever this Dayne/Dwayne guy was.

The two exchanged some nonsensical talk about gas, float, and Lamberts. When the conversation was over, the tiny human from behind the computer stood up and walked toward me. She did not introduce herself, but I figured this must be Shaynee. 

“Are you a volunteer?,” she asked. A fair question.

I was rocking my most righteous festival gear that day: a t-shirt I had scored from Voodoo Fest 2007 when I worked as a volunteer, white soccer shorts — never played, love the shorts — patterned Chaco sandals, and a backwards Kelly green Celtics hat. The t-shirt was navy blue and had a cool Voodoo logo from that year on the front, and LAGNIAPPE written across the back.

So, yeah…I looked like a volunteer.

“Nope. I am a journalist,” I proudly responded. No response from the small human. Not impressed. 

Next question. “Do you listen to  XXXXX,” she asked, sharpening her eyes on me.  * band name redacted for Shaynee’s safety*

“I do sometimes, but XXXX is more my style,” I said, asserting my knowledge of jam bands that I was sure would impress after the failed journalist response. * band name redacted because my response would trigger a natural connection, and the fan bases are often at war arguing over superiority *

“You’re hired. You’ll be doing the graveyard shift. 6 p.m. – 6 a.m. Alex will get you set up with a creds, a van, some float, and comms.”

“I’m Shaynee. Nice to meet you.”

Read Shaynee Lee Part 2