July, 2002: two young men, Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney, college dropouts the both of them, are working together for an Akron, Ohio property owner, the type of fella who owns a variety of low-rent apartment buildings around town in various states of repair and, well, disrepair. You get the picture. That sort of operation. They're "horticultural technicians" for this property owner. Not to put too fine a point on it, the boys mow lawns for the landlord. Between them, they've got a truck, two lawnmowers and a weedwhacker.