Unless you’re the kind of person who likes spelunking, the chances are you don’t spend much time in caves.
For PBS, the underground caves of Cumberland Caverns, Tennessee form the perfect acoustic music venue for the latest season of its Bluegrass Underground show.
But how do you get musicians, instruments and television equipment some 300 feet underground to the venue?
Above ground, the duties of transporting instruments, equipment and band members to a gig normally fall to a minivan, tour bus or truck.
That’s fine when exhaust gasses can easily escape, but in the confines of enclosed subterranean tunnels, trapped, noxious exhaust gasses pose a very serious health threat.
Now Nissan, which happens to sponsor the PBS show, is helping PBS by providing all-electric 2012 Leafs to shuttle equipment and musicians to the stage.
“It makes it a lot easier for all of us to breath which is cool,” said Sara Schaffer, one of the musicians taking part. “You could be slipping in and out with people not even noticing. It’s really neat.”
What isn’t clear however, is how the 500-strong crowd got to the concert venue.
We suspect they had to walk.
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