#214 - The Sponsors - talking about the industry - looking back and ahead to 2024

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Well, hello and welcome to the
episode called Sarah Fixing Her

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Hair.
I like how you got that bit in

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at the beginning.
I just kind of threw this on

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her.
I said, hey, by the way, why

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don't you jump in and record
this like about one minute

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before we recorded it.
So this is officially, what

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episode number is this?
Sarah, I'm going to ask you.

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You're.
The producer Come on, produce a

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number.
Give me a.

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Number. 214214 It is episode
214, so this is a special

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episode which is by and for our
sponsors.

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We've had four real core main
sponsors this year and then one

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additional one that kind of
popped in for a few episodes,

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you know, I will tell you.
So all four of those core

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sponsors are included in this
podcast.

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I wanted or we wanted to hear
directly from our sponsors

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basically, what do you think
about the State of the Union?

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Where do you think we're headed
as an industry this year?

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And you know really gratitude
like just to thank them and and

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you know I keep saying it but
without sponsors.

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You know, if I had to do all the
work myself without the lovely

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Sarah and also you know, without
even having the bills paid

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because it does cost money to
produce a a podcast whether you

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you know that or not it really
does cost money.

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And so I mean really the
sponsors make it happen.

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We're very happy.
We're very proud.

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We're very grateful for those
sponsors, especially, you know,

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and I hate to call out any
individual sponsors, but Elation

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and ACT have been with us since
the very beginning of this

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podcast four or five years ago,
Very supportive.

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We're very appreciative for both
of them, but for everyone.

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And so also Sarah is actually
reaching out to a bunch of new

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sponsors right now because we're
planning to add I think 2:00 to

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4:00 new sponsors this year.
And that doesn't take away from

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or devalue or water down the
sponsorship value.

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It actually we're changing how
we're representing sponsors and

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making sure that I think you've
seen recently especially with

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Sarah coming in, you know she's
stepping up social media to

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present those sponsors and thank
them and and everything else.

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So anything you want to.
Have more.

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Basically, yeah.
There's going to be more of

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everything when you know,
sponsors come on board.

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You know we want to be seen
every day.

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You know, you may get sick of
us, but we want you to see us

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every day and we do want to show
our appreciation to the

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sponsors.
And you know, even since I've,

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I've got just over a month now
I've been on board and you know,

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the everyone's been so lovely to
me, You know, they're sort of

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responding to me, all the rest
of it.

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So it's been fabulous.
And then when we came up with

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this idea for this podcast,
Marcel was like, yeah, let's do

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it.
And again, we've got everyone on

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board, so it's great for
everyone to see them as well.

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Oh this was your idea and and
it's a great idea because the

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conversations I've had so far
with three of the sponsors and

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and we're about to do the 4th
one right now before this gets

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published next week I guess.
And so yeah great idea.

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We're going to continue doing
things like this calling on the

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sponsors For more information.
You know getting people who work

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for those sponsors to come in
and and talk to us not because

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we owe it to the sponsors or
anything but because they're all

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interesting people.
I mean if you think of who our

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sponsors are now you you've got
you know Eric Loder at ELATION

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and the rest of the people at
ELATION, Ben Saltzman at ACT and

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the rest of the people at ACT,
Mike Cannon.

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Everyone knows Mike Cannon, Dan
Anderson we had on or Daniel.

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Sorry, we had on this episode as
well.

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Great guy.
So yeah, I mean, we wanna hear

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from these people and it makes
for interesting chats.

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And to be honest with you from
these chats, I think we'll end

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up doing like a whole episode,
you know, because everyone's

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chat was so good and it wasn't
just about their businesses, it

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was about everything.
So you know what base for more?

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Well, there are loads more.
Well, I mean again as if you

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look at you know these chats
that you're about to hear here,

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you know basically roughly 20 to
30 minutes per company, four

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companies, very different
companies.

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Two are are what you would
probably call rental companies,

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one is a dry hire rental
company, very large, one main

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light.
The other one is a small

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regional rental company
primarily focused on commercial

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or industrial events, corporate
events and all just very, very

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different answers.
Two leading manufacturer slash

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distributors who are both you
know multi $100 million

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companies not small companies.
And so to get everyone's

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viewpoints is is just really
fantastic and I'm glad we shoved

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this all.
Into one.

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Episode.
You're forgetting Brad as well

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from Gearsource.
Yes, we do.

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Have the lovely.
Brad, I keep forgetting about

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Brad.
Yeah, there's five.

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Well, I try not to give too much
credit to Gearsource, even

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though it pays most of the
bills.

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Yeah, it pays most of the bills.
So yes, there is.

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Gearsource is our fifth sponsor.
I keep forgetting about them.

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So.
So yeah, I mean, let's let's

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just go ahead and get these
talks.

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Started Bye Sarah, Bye.
Well, hello there Mr. Eric.

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How are you?
I'm doing well, Marcel.

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How are you?
I'm great.

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Merry Christmas, buddy.
Merry.

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Christmas are.
We allowed to say that, Yeah,

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we're allowed to say that We're
both absolutely.

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We're both absolutely
Christians.

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How'd it go?
This is being recorded on what

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we Canadians and Europeans would
call Boxing Day.

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Well, I guess Brits too, because
they're no longer Europeans,

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supposedly, which I argue with
my girlfriend about that all the

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time.
By the way, she says no, we're

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still Europeans, we're just not
part of the EU.

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And I'm like, well, isn't that
Europe?

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But yeah, that one's it's.
Good Christmas.

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Christmas is good.
You know, it's different now

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when your kids get older.
You know, it's not as exciting

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as it used to be, but it's, you
know, just get good getting the

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family together.
You know, we're going to see the

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rest of our family for the years
and then, you know, I got to

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play golf, so that was always
fun.

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Well, there's a shocker.
How many rounds have you played

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since you closed up office?
No, just one.

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I actually, I hurt my back a
little bit yesterdays.

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But I did some therapy.
I feel better today.

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So.
I hurt my back.

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Every time I play golf, it's got
something.

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To do with swinging way too hard
and thinking I'm Tiger Woods.

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Yeah, and I don't think it was
the golf, but, you know, just

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get just getting old.
Yeah, yeah, it's hard, man.

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It's hard to do anything
anymore, like without tons of

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pre work and after work.
And you know, cuz like skiing.

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I've I've been skiing since I
was 7 to 8 years old I think,

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and I ski pretty well.
But now I'll do one or two runs

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and I'm dead.
I'm like ready for a hot tub,

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you know, and I don't know what
to do about it.

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Like, I guess I could do skiing
exercises for three months

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before I go skiing for three
days.

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But the problem is, most of the
friends that I ski with up in

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Canada, they ski 100 days a
year.

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I ski 4.
Can't keep up with them.

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Yeah.
No, you just, you don't have

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those muscles anymore, you know,
or or they just don't stay as

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fresh as they did when I was
younger, you know, like when I

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was even 40, I could, I could go
skiing three days a year and

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have no trouble.
Yeah, I'd be a little sore the

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second day or whatever, but I
get it, believe me.

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So you've got your daughter back
from England, from College in

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England.
So that's.

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Going to be cool, yeah.
Yeah, it's fun.

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It's, you know, she's doing
good.

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She's ready to, you know, into
her second semester, I guess the

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college or whatever there.
And it's exciting.

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So she's happy.
She's.

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Doing well.
And it's not like kicking her

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ass.
It's not.

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Like, no.
It's interesting actually, the

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load.
It seems like the first semester

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workload was very mild and they
kind of told her, listen, you're

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we're going to start you slow,
but second semester you just got

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two more classes and things
really pick up.

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So I think, I think it's good.
I like that that they start,

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especially when you're studying,
you know, internationally it's a

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lot, a lot of change, right.
So I think in general, I think

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for college kids coming in, you
know, they all like to party and

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go out and drink and do all that
stuff.

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So they get that out of their
system first semester and then

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OK, time to buckle down and.
She hasn't introduced you to her

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new British boyfriend yet or
anything.

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Not yet.
Not yet.

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That's good.
It's coming.

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It's coming.
Pop.

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I'm sorry, but it's coming.
All kids grow up, unfortunately.

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It's nice.
I I think we talked before we

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started recording or maybe just
when we started recording about

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how it's changed.
And you know, it's very much the

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same for me.
Like the present opening

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ceremony was very short.
And you know, then he's gone off

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driving his SIM in his room or
whatever and or dealing with his

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friends or something.
So yeah, it's just not the same.

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Used to be a whole day event.
Now it's 10 minutes and gone.

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Yeah, exactly.
Except for meals when they get

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hungry.
Yeah, I was going to ask you,

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and this is more to talk a
little bit about the industry

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and stuff, but I wanted to ask
you, I saw on social media

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recently the Saint Louis Arch
had been lit by some Proteus

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something or other Proteus.
Which one?

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Brutus Brutus.
By the way, have you listened to

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my bloopers yet?
Yeah, I listened to that you.

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I know you love our You Love our
Proteus series.

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Oh my God.
What you guys have to do is

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before sending me those promos,
read them out loud.

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Like just.
Read it, We say it, we say it

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every day, we say it every day.
So it's easy for us.

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So yeah.
Now these are there's a 7076

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Proteus Brutus Down permanently
installed at the Saint Louis

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Arch.
OK, they turned it on last week

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or yeah, maybe 10 days ago now.
And you remember Michael O'Keefe

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from TPI of?
Course so.

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He he did the project.
You know he a year ago he came

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to me and said, Eric, you got
this new life at 70,000 lumens

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and I think it'll work great on
this project.

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Can we do a mock up?
And I said sure.

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So in November we went and did a
mock up with six units last year

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and you know it showed it to the
committee that's in charge of

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the Gateway Arch and and the
designer and all that And they

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were impressed.
Yeah.

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So you know, as most things do,
it takes a while to get done.

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And yeah, finally got installed
and and it's, it looks great.

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So a couple questions.
One, I mean, I'm assuming that

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this became a much easier
solution than the alternatives,

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which you know, we both know in
the past would have been some

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sort of either Xenon or or you
know, metal halide or something

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that obviously wouldn't do some
of the cool things that you're

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doing.
And then Part 2 is what kind of

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cool things are you doing?
Like they're not just sitting

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stationary in white, are they?
Well, for now they are.

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You know, it it because it's a
National Monument, it literally

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takes an act of Congress to make
any change to how you light it.

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Yeah.
So you know they have done

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different things in the history
they've they've lit the arch up

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for years with different
technologies but and but they

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would put they would put gels on
the lights or they would you

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know do different things.
But now you know, obviously you

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know LED's finally bright enough
to do this application and of

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course the lights can do a lot
more than what they're using

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them for.
But they have they have a lot of

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experience now having you know
maintained a lighting system

226
00:12:25,280 --> 00:12:28,800
there for however long they know
what works, what works and

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00:12:28,800 --> 00:12:30,520
doesn't.
And the fact that they are

228
00:12:30,520 --> 00:12:33,800
automated fixtures helps them
park them in a position where

229
00:12:34,080 --> 00:12:38,760
you know birds don't go on the
lens and you know, you know

230
00:12:38,760 --> 00:12:43,760
vandals and and you know
exactly, you know vandals and

231
00:12:43,760 --> 00:12:45,960
different things.
So you know, I think they, you

232
00:12:45,960 --> 00:12:48,360
know, you know let's let's see
how it goes.

233
00:12:48,360 --> 00:12:51,320
But it's they'll be able to do a
bunch of cool stuff when you

234
00:12:51,320 --> 00:12:54,280
when they turn it on every
night, it actually fades up.

235
00:12:54,360 --> 00:12:56,880
You know they've controlled it
where it fades up and fills the

236
00:12:56,920 --> 00:12:59,440
arch in the 32nd time sequence.
So that's why that's cool.

237
00:13:00,360 --> 00:13:02,640
For people that want to go there
and kind of watch it turn on,

238
00:13:02,640 --> 00:13:04,800
it's, you know, instead of just
kind of dimming up.

239
00:13:05,120 --> 00:13:07,880
Yeah, I would.
Guess at some point that they

240
00:13:07,880 --> 00:13:12,560
will probably like allow
companies or people or

241
00:13:14,080 --> 00:13:19,360
associations to like either bid
for or request color, you know

242
00:13:19,360 --> 00:13:22,920
pink for breast cancer and those
types of things.

243
00:13:23,640 --> 00:13:26,000
Yeah, I think national holidays
would be, you know, on the

244
00:13:26,000 --> 00:13:27,800
table, 4th of July, that kind of
stuff.

245
00:13:28,000 --> 00:13:30,880
Yeah.
And you know maybe for certain

246
00:13:31,720 --> 00:13:34,200
causes I don't think they want,
I don't think they'll

247
00:13:34,200 --> 00:13:37,440
commercialize it necessarily,
but because it's a National

248
00:13:37,440 --> 00:13:39,720
Monument, but I think you know
the fact that they went from

249
00:13:39,720 --> 00:13:43,000
7000 Watt fixtures to 1200 Watt
fixtures, they're saving a lot

250
00:13:43,000 --> 00:13:48,920
of energy.
And you know, I think they, you

251
00:13:48,920 --> 00:13:51,080
know, they just the flexibility
they'll have at the system now

252
00:13:51,080 --> 00:13:53,080
is.
Yeah, well, I remember when I

253
00:13:53,080 --> 00:13:55,920
provided an LED package to the
Miami tower.

254
00:13:56,960 --> 00:14:01,600
One of the earliest things that
started happening is accompanies

255
00:14:01,800 --> 00:14:06,080
the Miami Dolphins like sports
franchises, movies.

256
00:14:06,640 --> 00:14:09,960
So I remember Bad Boy, I think
it was Bad Boy Two or something.

257
00:14:09,960 --> 00:14:13,240
Wanted the building a certain
color for a certain scene of the

258
00:14:13,240 --> 00:14:18,200
movie, and they charged an
enormous amount of money to just

259
00:14:18,200 --> 00:14:22,320
like go think and change the
color of the entire building,

260
00:14:22,320 --> 00:14:23,960
right?
Yeah, it'll be interesting to

261
00:14:23,960 --> 00:14:27,600
see if like, you know, the Saint
Louis Blues or the Cardinals or,

262
00:14:27,600 --> 00:14:30,960
you know, one of the one of the
sports teams will want to get it

263
00:14:30,960 --> 00:14:33,040
colored if they're in the World
Series or whatever.

264
00:14:33,080 --> 00:14:35,080
So, you know, we'll see what.
We'll see what happens.

265
00:14:35,080 --> 00:14:37,600
And it's exciting.
You know, it's one of those,

266
00:14:38,160 --> 00:14:41,880
it's one of those projects for
me that, you know, I was happy

267
00:14:41,880 --> 00:14:43,880
to be involved in the beginning.
Michael came to me.

268
00:14:43,880 --> 00:14:46,520
We've known Michael for 20 years
plus, I think we took him.

269
00:14:46,600 --> 00:14:49,040
Did we take him to Denmark?
I don't remember.

270
00:14:49,400 --> 00:14:52,640
I don't remember either.
But you know we've known Michael

271
00:14:52,640 --> 00:14:56,000
a long time and that he the fact
that he came to me and and you

272
00:14:56,000 --> 00:14:59,680
know my team, we went and did it
and we got the deal and the fact

273
00:14:59,720 --> 00:15:00,200
that.
You have a.

274
00:15:00,200 --> 00:15:03,280
Light called the Brutus probably
didn't hurt.

275
00:15:04,560 --> 00:15:06,120
Yeah, you know.
It needed to be.

276
00:15:06,160 --> 00:15:08,080
It needed to be a bright light.
Badass.

277
00:15:08,840 --> 00:15:10,520
Yeah, yeah, it needed to be
bright.

278
00:15:10,760 --> 00:15:12,960
How?
How tall is the like center

279
00:15:12,960 --> 00:15:15,560
point of the arch?
Without going to Wikipedia, I

280
00:15:15,560 --> 00:15:19,200
think it's 650 feet or 600.
It's up there.

281
00:15:19,520 --> 00:15:22,520
Yeah, it's tall.
And all the lights are mounted

282
00:15:22,520 --> 00:15:25,960
underground in these kind of
pits that you know you have

283
00:15:25,960 --> 00:15:28,960
access to and all that and
drainage and pump systems and

284
00:15:28,960 --> 00:15:30,920
all that.
So it's, it's pretty quick the

285
00:15:30,920 --> 00:15:34,160
light shoot through these metal
grates and you know there's some

286
00:15:34,160 --> 00:15:37,280
on the West side, I think
there's 48 fixtures on the West

287
00:15:37,280 --> 00:15:40,600
side, the Saint Louis side of
the arch and then there's 2028

288
00:15:40,600 --> 00:15:44,120
fixtures on the east side which
is the Illinois side of the

289
00:15:45,520 --> 00:15:48,040
nation.
So pretty, pretty impressive,

290
00:15:48,440 --> 00:15:51,280
pretty impressive thing to see.
Yeah, that's very cool.

291
00:15:51,280 --> 00:15:52,960
Congratulations.
That's a cool project.

292
00:15:52,960 --> 00:15:55,200
I mean it, you know, we're
getting older.

293
00:15:55,200 --> 00:15:57,760
It's one of those ones that you
look back and you go, I remember

294
00:15:57,760 --> 00:16:00,440
that, you know, and it'll pop up
in your memories every year on

295
00:16:00,440 --> 00:16:04,040
Facebook and you'll post it
again, you know, I mean, anytime

296
00:16:04,040 --> 00:16:08,400
you like that iconic a building
or a monument, especially like

297
00:16:08,400 --> 00:16:11,800
that one, that's proud moment,
that's bigger than just a job,

298
00:16:11,920 --> 00:16:15,120
right.
You've sold bigger jobs than 72

299
00:16:15,120 --> 00:16:18,280
lights, but probably not many
bigger than this from a

300
00:16:18,280 --> 00:16:21,400
standpoint of, you know, just
what it means, right.

301
00:16:21,400 --> 00:16:23,400
So it's cool, very cool.
Congrats.

302
00:16:24,240 --> 00:16:29,280
So I just have, I have basically
a few questions that I'm sort of

303
00:16:29,360 --> 00:16:33,120
asking everyone, all of our
sponsors.

304
00:16:33,120 --> 00:16:35,720
So you're obviously first of
all, thank you very much for

305
00:16:35,720 --> 00:16:39,440
being one of our, probably our
very first, if not one of the

306
00:16:39,440 --> 00:16:44,280
first sponsors of our podcast
and stuck with us through thick

307
00:16:44,280 --> 00:16:46,800
and thin, through COVID, through
all kinds of things.

308
00:16:46,800 --> 00:16:51,800
And we appreciate you.
We appreciate elation, and I

309
00:16:51,800 --> 00:16:55,360
always enjoy having you on the
podcast, of course, even the one

310
00:16:55,400 --> 00:16:59,120
time where you had to record it
twice in full on your 50th

311
00:16:59,120 --> 00:17:00,800
birthday.
On my birthday, yeah.

312
00:17:01,040 --> 00:17:02,960
Yeah, yeah.
Which I will never forget,

313
00:17:03,000 --> 00:17:05,920
believe me.
You talk to me about stories

314
00:17:05,920 --> 00:17:07,720
that I repeat, and that's
definitely one of them.

315
00:17:07,720 --> 00:17:10,960
Because it sucked.
That was terrible.

316
00:17:11,480 --> 00:17:19,119
So, yeah, but so Speaking of
2023, sort of the results in our

317
00:17:19,119 --> 00:17:22,640
industry, like what what our
industry looked like, would you

318
00:17:22,640 --> 00:17:27,400
say that 2023 was better than
expected, worse than expected or

319
00:17:27,400 --> 00:17:31,920
as expected?
Well, I I don't think any of us

320
00:17:31,920 --> 00:17:36,480
expected a lot of the events
that happened in 2023 going into

321
00:17:36,480 --> 00:17:37,800
the year.
I think we were all very

322
00:17:37,800 --> 00:17:40,080
bullish.
You know 2022 I think for

323
00:17:40,080 --> 00:17:42,400
everybody was a record year
because of all the pent up

324
00:17:42,400 --> 00:17:47,080
demand because of you know the
shutdown and COVID and all that

325
00:17:48,400 --> 00:17:51,520
you know.
So 2022 is one of the the years

326
00:17:51,520 --> 00:17:54,320
that will be the new you know
it's going to be how do we get

327
00:17:54,320 --> 00:17:57,160
back to that level.
I think you know going forward

328
00:17:57,880 --> 00:17:59,520
because there was so much pent
up demand.

329
00:17:59,840 --> 00:18:01,880
I think we were all hopeful
going in we were all hopeful

330
00:18:01,880 --> 00:18:02,960
going to 20.
Oh, we have.

331
00:18:02,960 --> 00:18:06,040
We're going to grow 10%, twenty
percent 23.

332
00:18:06,760 --> 00:18:09,680
I mean I'd be surprised if if
many companies unless you had a

333
00:18:10,080 --> 00:18:13,560
standout product or finally got
to delivering to us, you know

334
00:18:13,560 --> 00:18:16,040
maybe you didn't deliver as much
as you could in 22 and now

335
00:18:16,040 --> 00:18:20,440
you're delivering in 23.
But for us, I, you know I think

336
00:18:20,440 --> 00:18:23,320
we would have been happy to be
flat this year or up a little

337
00:18:23,320 --> 00:18:28,320
bit, you know and we are not,
we're just below that.

338
00:18:28,320 --> 00:18:30,560
But overall for us it's a good
year.

339
00:18:30,560 --> 00:18:34,920
So we can't, especially when you
consider, you know, there's two

340
00:18:34,920 --> 00:18:37,800
wars going on.
There's the the interest rates.

341
00:18:37,800 --> 00:18:41,040
There's We had the film TV
Strike, which was a big gut

342
00:18:41,040 --> 00:18:42,520
punch to a lot of our.
Industry.

343
00:18:42,520 --> 00:18:43,680
Yeah, we.
Forget.

344
00:18:43,840 --> 00:18:48,280
About some of ours, yeah.
You know the the, the, the

345
00:18:50,840 --> 00:18:53,640
manufacturers that really focus
on that market I think took a

346
00:18:53,640 --> 00:18:57,600
big hit this year and
fortunately elation we're pretty

347
00:18:57,600 --> 00:18:59,480
diversified into a lot of
different verticals.

348
00:18:59,480 --> 00:19:02,200
So yeah, it affected our
business, but.

349
00:19:02,200 --> 00:19:05,400
What about Ari?
Like with the timing of buying

350
00:19:05,400 --> 00:19:08,280
Clay Paki and then boom, all of
a sudden that happens.

351
00:19:10,000 --> 00:19:13,680
I mean it's definitely you have
to have a strong stomach to to

352
00:19:13,680 --> 00:19:16,120
weather.
I mean it's almost another COVID

353
00:19:16,120 --> 00:19:20,560
type event for that industry
because it shut down, it shut

354
00:19:20,560 --> 00:19:22,120
down and in.
Some sense worse.

355
00:19:22,440 --> 00:19:24,960
I mean, I don't know.
Like in some sense worse because

356
00:19:24,960 --> 00:19:27,760
it's completely shut down.
Yeah, Crazy.

357
00:19:28,120 --> 00:19:30,120
Well, there was, there was some
stuff still happening.

358
00:19:30,240 --> 00:19:32,320
I mean game shows and things
that didn't need a lot of

359
00:19:32,320 --> 00:19:35,520
scripts but the but the film
industry if they had a lot in

360
00:19:35,520 --> 00:19:37,880
the can from 22.
So I think, you know, that's why

361
00:19:37,880 --> 00:19:41,160
it lasted so long, but now
they're back and I think that'll

362
00:19:41,160 --> 00:19:44,520
help us next year.
You know, I think interest

363
00:19:44,520 --> 00:19:48,240
rates, you know, we, we expected
a lot of people to still invest

364
00:19:48,240 --> 00:19:49,920
in 23.
And I think the rental companies

365
00:19:49,920 --> 00:19:52,720
started to realize, whoa, you
know, money's money's a lot more

366
00:19:52,720 --> 00:19:55,560
now and we're just going to try
and use what we can.

367
00:19:55,560 --> 00:19:57,960
We're going to, you know, keep
our commitments on purchasing

368
00:19:57,960 --> 00:20:00,640
what we plan to purchase, but
we're not going to go crazy this

369
00:20:00,640 --> 00:20:06,880
year and buying, right?
Well, and add add to that, you

370
00:20:06,880 --> 00:20:08,960
know the fact that they had to
start paying back the cheap

371
00:20:08,960 --> 00:20:12,200
money that they got during
COVID, you know the timing was

372
00:20:12,320 --> 00:20:14,880
during this year that most
companies had to start paying

373
00:20:14,880 --> 00:20:17,960
that money back and there was a
lot of debt taken on by our

374
00:20:17,960 --> 00:20:21,200
industry at that time.
So, well, a lot of people, a lot

375
00:20:21,200 --> 00:20:24,800
of people had purchased in 22
for the 2023 tours, right?

376
00:20:24,800 --> 00:20:27,880
So a lot of, a lot of the buying
we saw last year was actually

377
00:20:27,880 --> 00:20:30,840
for business this year.
All the big stadium stadium

378
00:20:30,840 --> 00:20:33,120
tours that were out there that
had thankfully a lot of our

379
00:20:33,120 --> 00:20:36,480
lights on it, you know, that
stuff was bought in 22, So yeah.

380
00:20:37,200 --> 00:20:41,120
Yeah, I don't know.
Didn't Matthias or you or

381
00:20:41,120 --> 00:20:44,840
somebody see this all coming
with these crazy number of

382
00:20:44,840 --> 00:20:47,560
stadium shows?
Or was that just incredibly good

383
00:20:47,560 --> 00:20:51,720
luck that you happen to have an
outdoor very bright fixture?

384
00:20:52,840 --> 00:20:56,440
No, I mean, you know, design
designers, you know, came to us

385
00:20:56,440 --> 00:20:58,960
a few years ago and said listen,
you know, especially after

386
00:20:58,960 --> 00:21:00,840
COVID, more and more shows were
going outside.

387
00:21:00,840 --> 00:21:04,320
People felt more comfortable
going to shows outdoors.

388
00:21:04,920 --> 00:21:07,960
So because of our Proteus range
we knew that you know and we've

389
00:21:07,960 --> 00:21:13,600
seen a lot of success on Proteus
Maximus in 2021, well 20 not but

390
00:21:13,600 --> 00:21:18,520
2122 you know I think we we knew
that there was more appetite for

391
00:21:18,520 --> 00:21:23,280
big outdoor fixtures and you
know produce hybrid we launched

392
00:21:23,280 --> 00:21:27,720
in 2017 and you know what so
we've already been on the market

393
00:21:27,720 --> 00:21:29,600
for five years with that
product, had a lot of

394
00:21:29,600 --> 00:21:32,600
experience.
So we just grew that line, LED

395
00:21:32,720 --> 00:21:36,040
again, got bright enough to be
now you know in an outdoor

396
00:21:36,040 --> 00:21:39,760
fixture and you know we still
have discharge lamp.

397
00:21:39,920 --> 00:21:42,520
We just launched the Proteus
Hybrid Max, which is the

398
00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:46,440
evolution of Proteus Hybrid.
And you know, it's smaller, it's

399
00:21:46,440 --> 00:21:50,560
brighter, it's faster, it's less
money, you know, So the

400
00:21:50,560 --> 00:21:53,880
technology's caught up now, five
years later, six years later,

401
00:21:53,880 --> 00:21:58,200
almost that, you know, the
discharge lamps are still viable

402
00:21:58,200 --> 00:22:00,640
for being hybrid fixtures, but
everything else is LED.

403
00:22:00,800 --> 00:22:04,640
And you know, the tours, the
tours have benefited from it.

404
00:22:05,320 --> 00:22:08,280
Yeah, yeah.
That's.

405
00:22:08,280 --> 00:22:11,480
An interesting, interesting
point and I mean for sure

406
00:22:11,520 --> 00:22:17,360
elation went hard and heavy on
on IP stuff I think before

407
00:22:17,360 --> 00:22:20,360
pretty much anyone else did like
where you had sort of a full

408
00:22:20,360 --> 00:22:22,520
range of product before anybody
for moving.

409
00:22:22,520 --> 00:22:24,360
Heads, yeah, moving, moving
heads.

410
00:22:24,360 --> 00:22:27,000
I mean, you know, give credit
where credit's due.

411
00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:30,080
SGM was the first to push it
that envelope.

412
00:22:30,480 --> 00:22:33,600
Yeah.
But you know, I think we were

413
00:22:33,600 --> 00:22:36,760
able to we they were LED and it
wasn't bright enough so we went

414
00:22:36,760 --> 00:22:40,400
discharge and it was bright
enough and and we, you know that

415
00:22:40,400 --> 00:22:45,920
LED caught up.
So now moving on to 2024, same

416
00:22:45,920 --> 00:22:48,960
questions.
You know your expectations from

417
00:22:48,960 --> 00:22:52,080
the industry, not necessarily
relations business, 'cause I

418
00:22:52,080 --> 00:22:55,520
know that that might be secret
or whatever, but do you

419
00:22:55,520 --> 00:22:59,640
anticipate growth?
And if so, what sort of

420
00:22:59,640 --> 00:23:03,080
percentage is it going to grow
by 10 percent, 5%, whatever?

421
00:23:03,360 --> 00:23:07,840
Is it going to drop or is it
going to stay flat for next

422
00:23:07,840 --> 00:23:10,040
year?
I mean I think we're, we're

423
00:23:10,040 --> 00:23:13,080
targeting growth next year.
I think, you know, with interest

424
00:23:13,080 --> 00:23:17,040
rates supposedly starting to
come down, you know, it is an

425
00:23:17,040 --> 00:23:21,640
election year for us here in the
US It doesn't really affect the

426
00:23:21,640 --> 00:23:24,080
rest of the world, but I think
it'll be interesting year from

427
00:23:24,080 --> 00:23:30,040
that perspective.
There'll be a lot of, you know,

428
00:23:30,040 --> 00:23:33,520
money spent on that.
I think the TV film, the TV film

429
00:23:33,520 --> 00:23:36,560
business will be back.
You know, there's been a lot of

430
00:23:36,680 --> 00:23:38,640
investment coming into this
industry.

431
00:23:38,640 --> 00:23:42,800
If you follow, you know, the PIF
Saudi, you know they they

432
00:23:42,920 --> 00:23:45,280
they've invested into the live
golf or they've invested in the

433
00:23:45,280 --> 00:23:46,680
Live Nation.
They've invested in the

434
00:23:46,680 --> 00:23:48,480
entertainment.
I see, I see lots of lighting

435
00:23:48,480 --> 00:23:50,920
designers flying.
Lighting lighting designers are

436
00:23:50,920 --> 00:23:54,120
flying back and forth to Saudi
all the time from Europe or from

437
00:23:54,120 --> 00:23:56,360
the US.
So there's a lot of investment

438
00:23:56,360 --> 00:23:59,240
going on in entertainment.
So I I would expect the industry

439
00:23:59,240 --> 00:24:02,560
to do well in 24.
Yeah I that's another great

440
00:24:02,560 --> 00:24:10,040
point I have I've been in talks
with AUK based financier who is

441
00:24:10,040 --> 00:24:16,440
very anxious to invest in a
startup that I'm about to get

442
00:24:16,440 --> 00:24:21,880
started on here and we've been
talking a lot about specifically

443
00:24:21,880 --> 00:24:27,760
Saudis who are extremely excited
about the live event space and

444
00:24:27,880 --> 00:24:29,720
especially the technology side
of it.

445
00:24:30,160 --> 00:24:33,840
And so that's been an
interesting talk where they're

446
00:24:33,840 --> 00:24:37,160
just like you know hurry we want
to give you our money you know

447
00:24:37,160 --> 00:24:40,840
how much can we give you.
And of course you have to show

448
00:24:40,920 --> 00:24:44,440
good growth and everything else,
but they're very excited for our

449
00:24:44,440 --> 00:24:46,360
industry and that's a good sign
and.

450
00:24:46,360 --> 00:24:47,960
I.
Mean Look at the look at the F1

451
00:24:47,960 --> 00:24:50,400
thing in in Vegas.
You know, crazy.

452
00:24:51,040 --> 00:24:53,960
I mean Vegas is just
unbelievable, you know the the

453
00:24:53,960 --> 00:24:57,640
amount of growth that's going on
there and and it just you know

454
00:24:57,640 --> 00:25:00,360
doesn't seem to stop and the and
the city seems to be handling it

455
00:25:00,360 --> 00:25:04,560
pretty well.
Yeah, well, except for F1F1.

456
00:25:04,560 --> 00:25:07,440
Kind of broke the city for a few
few weeks.

457
00:25:08,360 --> 00:25:10,560
Yeah, but it'll be better next
year.

458
00:25:10,920 --> 00:25:12,800
Yeah, but that, that whole
sphere, the whole sphere

459
00:25:12,800 --> 00:25:15,360
project, I mean just everything
going on there that.

460
00:25:16,240 --> 00:25:18,960
Hey, Speaking of Speaking of
Live Nation, did you see the

461
00:25:18,960 --> 00:25:24,800
article Rapinoe with the I don't
remember the exact numbers, but

462
00:25:24,800 --> 00:25:29,320
he was talking about how artists
now have 10 million followers.

463
00:25:29,680 --> 00:25:33,120
And he says his job is easy
because all he has to do is sell

464
00:25:33,120 --> 00:25:36,920
tickets to 5% of those followers
and he sells out an entire tour.

465
00:25:37,440 --> 00:25:41,160
And I found that to be a really
interesting because that's where

466
00:25:41,160 --> 00:25:43,760
he's showing his growth is
coming from tapping harder into

467
00:25:43,760 --> 00:25:46,040
those artists social media
platforms.

468
00:25:47,720 --> 00:25:49,880
That's I haven't seen that
article, but that totally.

469
00:25:49,880 --> 00:25:51,320
I'll send it to you.
I'll send it to you.

470
00:25:51,320 --> 00:25:55,120
It's a really interesting
article, really interesting.

471
00:25:55,120 --> 00:25:57,880
I mean, and again, maybe they're
just looking for incremental

472
00:25:57,880 --> 00:25:59,280
growth or something, I don't
know.

473
00:25:59,280 --> 00:26:02,120
But but I never looked at it
like that.

474
00:26:02,120 --> 00:26:05,400
Like there's just so much more
capacity and there's such a

475
00:26:05,520 --> 00:26:10,480
hunger for live music.
And he also looks at it as

476
00:26:10,480 --> 00:26:12,840
streaming.
Being a part of that streaming

477
00:26:12,840 --> 00:26:17,160
plays a role but most people who
are following somebody on social

478
00:26:17,160 --> 00:26:19,840
media are really excited to get
out and see them live and and I

479
00:26:19,840 --> 00:26:22,400
think that's a good trend for
for our business as well.

480
00:26:22,720 --> 00:26:27,480
For sure.
And then finally, give me a

481
00:26:27,480 --> 00:26:30,320
prediction.
Give me, give me Eric's big, big

482
00:26:30,320 --> 00:26:33,600
thought for 2024.
A product trend to market trend,

483
00:26:33,600 --> 00:26:36,640
or even The Beatles or or Led
Zeppelin are getting back

484
00:26:36,640 --> 00:26:40,840
together and both of those bands
are going to run out of players,

485
00:26:40,840 --> 00:26:45,200
so they better hurry, I guess.
If ACDC can do it with like one

486
00:26:45,200 --> 00:26:50,320
or one or two originals,
probably Led Zeppelin and The

487
00:26:50,320 --> 00:26:53,200
Beatles could as well.
But so yeah.

488
00:26:54,280 --> 00:26:57,720
Anything.
Well, I think, I think, you

489
00:26:57,720 --> 00:27:00,640
know, I went to a show at a
House of Blues not too long ago

490
00:27:01,880 --> 00:27:05,720
and you know, I think the small
shows are going to come back.

491
00:27:05,720 --> 00:27:08,600
You know the piece because going
to a big stadium tour, you can

492
00:27:08,600 --> 00:27:11,760
only afford that you know once
twice a year kind of thing to

493
00:27:11,760 --> 00:27:13,920
take the whole family.
I but I think you can afford

494
00:27:13,920 --> 00:27:17,080
going to a house with smaller
venue shows I think are going to

495
00:27:17,080 --> 00:27:22,000
make a comeback this year and
it's you know lower cost for the

496
00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:24,360
production.
You know there's lots of

497
00:27:24,360 --> 00:27:26,560
benefits for these artists.
So I think you know that you've

498
00:27:26,560 --> 00:27:31,320
seen the casino shows, the the
indie casino tour bands and and

499
00:27:31,320 --> 00:27:35,000
all that kind of stuff the last
couple years and that's done

500
00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:39,240
well for us as you know also.
But I think the smaller venues,

501
00:27:40,160 --> 00:27:41,920
I think we'll see a a comeback
on those.

502
00:27:42,360 --> 00:27:46,120
The nightclub business, you
know, also has not been amazing

503
00:27:46,120 --> 00:27:50,360
the last few years and I think
we'll see some of that start to

504
00:27:50,360 --> 00:27:54,440
come back too.
The smaller shows I think have

505
00:27:54,440 --> 00:27:57,000
been happening, It's just we've
been paying so much attention to

506
00:27:57,000 --> 00:28:00,280
the big ones.
But you know, like as an

507
00:28:00,280 --> 00:28:02,960
example, the Hard Rock here,
which I guess would be a middle

508
00:28:02,960 --> 00:28:06,520
sized show, the the Hard Rock
Live or whatever it's called

509
00:28:06,520 --> 00:28:08,600
here, the live venue at at the
hotel.

510
00:28:10,480 --> 00:28:13,040
But that that place is booked
constantly.

511
00:28:13,040 --> 00:28:16,360
Like they're buying every artist
that comes anywhere near

512
00:28:16,360 --> 00:28:18,680
Florida.
They're buying it, and there

513
00:28:18,680 --> 00:28:23,840
might be 4 concerts a week in
that place sometimes and like

514
00:28:23,840 --> 00:28:25,640
more than I've ever seen at any
venue.

515
00:28:25,640 --> 00:28:28,360
So maybe that's a little larger
than what you're talking about.

516
00:28:28,360 --> 00:28:30,040
You're talking House of Blues
size?

517
00:28:30,120 --> 00:28:34,040
Yeah, I'm talking, yeah, 3000
and under small venues.

518
00:28:34,080 --> 00:28:36,120
I mean, that's where my daughter
want, my daughter wants to go

519
00:28:36,120 --> 00:28:37,880
see shows there.
She doesn't want to go see shows

520
00:28:37,880 --> 00:28:40,520
at the stadiums, you know.
I kind of agree with her.

521
00:28:40,600 --> 00:28:42,800
I'd much rather see a band in a
small venue.

522
00:28:43,040 --> 00:28:46,720
And the problem now is though
that it's such a cash grab for

523
00:28:46,720 --> 00:28:50,760
the bands to to do these 360
deals with Live Nation and and

524
00:28:50,840 --> 00:28:53,680
and do the bigger venues sell as
many tickets as you can as fast

525
00:28:53,680 --> 00:28:56,800
as you can And selling into a
smaller venue you're going to

526
00:28:56,800 --> 00:28:59,320
get the up and coming acts, the
new acts, which is probably

527
00:28:59,320 --> 00:29:01,000
what's more interesting for her
anyways.

528
00:29:01,040 --> 00:29:05,680
Yeah, but an up and coming back
act can explode so fast now with

529
00:29:05,680 --> 00:29:07,880
Spotify and, you know, all these
other channels.

530
00:29:10,040 --> 00:29:11,040
So it's.
Interesting.

531
00:29:11,160 --> 00:29:12,120
I think it'll be cool.
I.

532
00:29:12,160 --> 00:29:14,120
Think that'll be a trend.
And I.

533
00:29:14,120 --> 00:29:16,480
Mean I'm I'm excited.
I'm excited to see Van Halen.

534
00:29:16,480 --> 00:29:19,360
I'm excited, you know, to see if
some of the older bands get

535
00:29:19,360 --> 00:29:22,520
together and go out and and it's
gonna be cool.

536
00:29:22,720 --> 00:29:24,240
Oh, you mean the Sammy Hagar
one?

537
00:29:24,600 --> 00:29:27,320
Although they they got.
Kind of a gut punch with the

538
00:29:27,320 --> 00:29:30,000
whole I don't know if you saw
the Satury anything where he

539
00:29:30,000 --> 00:29:31,840
butchered.
What song was it?

540
00:29:31,840 --> 00:29:37,840
Unchained, I think, And and just
got slaughtered on social media

541
00:29:37,840 --> 00:29:40,960
for it, you know, everyone was
like, Oh my God, Joe, what are

542
00:29:40,960 --> 00:29:43,320
you doing to this song?
You've destroyed it.

543
00:29:43,600 --> 00:29:45,480
And he came out and
acknowledged, hey, I did a

544
00:29:45,480 --> 00:29:47,880
pretty bad job.
I'm back into guitar lessons

545
00:29:47,880 --> 00:29:50,480
now, figuring it out, you know.
Well, they're gonna rehearse.

546
00:29:50,480 --> 00:29:52,120
They're gonna rehearse and
Polish it for sure.

547
00:29:52,200 --> 00:29:54,600
Right.
Well, they did it live on like I

548
00:29:54,600 --> 00:29:56,400
think it was on Howard Stern or
something.

549
00:29:56,800 --> 00:29:59,880
And yeah, it just didn't go well
at all.

550
00:29:59,880 --> 00:30:04,920
So yeah.
I don't know if you know like

551
00:30:04,960 --> 00:30:06,960
*NSYNC is.
There's, there's about that and

552
00:30:07,360 --> 00:30:08,800
there's like fans that'll get
together.

553
00:30:09,960 --> 00:30:13,760
Interesting.
And bonus question, you know,

554
00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:16,640
not only have you been a sponsor
of ours since the very beginning

555
00:30:16,640 --> 00:30:18,280
of time, but you've been a
listener.

556
00:30:18,280 --> 00:30:20,680
I mean, you were one of the
first listeners too.

557
00:30:20,680 --> 00:30:24,960
You, you've always been very
kind about sharing your opinions

558
00:30:24,960 --> 00:30:26,880
with me, even when they're not
so kind.

559
00:30:27,320 --> 00:30:31,920
And I appreciate that, by the
way, but I I always have liked

560
00:30:31,920 --> 00:30:34,280
that you've got a long commute
to work.

561
00:30:34,520 --> 00:30:37,560
I'm sure you don't like it as
much as I do, but you often

562
00:30:37,560 --> 00:30:41,400
listen to the podcast and then
you'll either call me or send me

563
00:30:41,400 --> 00:30:43,520
a text when you get to your
office or something and you'll

564
00:30:43,520 --> 00:30:46,360
say, hey, this was really good.
I like this, I didn't like this

565
00:30:46,360 --> 00:30:50,160
or whatever.
Who would you like to see a

566
00:30:50,160 --> 00:30:52,920
spring on geezers of gear in
2024?

567
00:30:54,040 --> 00:30:57,960
Anyone.
Well, I mean, like we talked

568
00:30:57,960 --> 00:31:00,760
about Michael O'Keefe earlier,
he might be a good one to talk

569
00:31:00,760 --> 00:31:02,040
to.
He's been in the business a long

570
00:31:02,040 --> 00:31:05,400
time and he's kind of from a
different, a different part of

571
00:31:05,400 --> 00:31:08,680
our industry than the
rock'n'roll side that I think

572
00:31:08,680 --> 00:31:14,840
we, we tend to focus more on.
But I I think, yeah, I don't

573
00:31:14,840 --> 00:31:17,360
know, you know, I love hearing
designers.

574
00:31:17,360 --> 00:31:22,920
You know, the designers again,
you know, they they manage so

575
00:31:22,920 --> 00:31:29,960
much politics and relationships
and you know, not only with

576
00:31:29,960 --> 00:31:32,000
their customers but with their
vendors.

577
00:31:32,520 --> 00:31:35,640
And you know, I think the
designers really offer you.

578
00:31:35,680 --> 00:31:37,680
I'd love to hear more designers
for sure.

579
00:31:37,720 --> 00:31:39,440
I mean, I know that you've
always spoke trying.

580
00:31:39,600 --> 00:31:41,320
They're all so busy.
You know, that's one thing I

581
00:31:41,320 --> 00:31:45,400
will say about LDI this year was
I saw more designers this year

582
00:31:45,720 --> 00:31:48,480
than I've seen in a long time.
And I think it was the timing of

583
00:31:48,480 --> 00:31:51,760
the the, you know end of the
year but also maybe a Sunday,

584
00:31:51,760 --> 00:31:54,320
Monday, Tuesday, you know
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday.

585
00:31:54,920 --> 00:31:57,400
So I think that was the
designers really came to LDI

586
00:31:57,400 --> 00:31:59,960
this year and that was the best
part for me of of LDI this.

587
00:32:00,040 --> 00:32:01,120
Year.
I've heard they're booked for

588
00:32:01,120 --> 00:32:04,480
the same dates, or the same
basic weekend or whatever

589
00:32:04,480 --> 00:32:06,920
weekdays.
It's the following weekend, but

590
00:32:06,960 --> 00:32:09,240
yeah, it's a Sunday, Monday,
Tuesday, but it's the 8th, 9th,

591
00:32:09,240 --> 00:32:11,560
10th I think.
Don't quote me, but I think it's

592
00:32:11,560 --> 00:32:12,040
something.
Like that.

593
00:32:12,040 --> 00:32:15,440
I think you're right the. 3rd,
4th or 6th, 3rd, 4th whatever.

594
00:32:15,480 --> 00:32:17,040
It was.
No, I think, I think you're

595
00:32:17,040 --> 00:32:19,280
right.
I I hope they keep it there.

596
00:32:19,280 --> 00:32:21,080
I mean it it seems to be a
little easier.

597
00:32:21,080 --> 00:32:26,400
I always hated sort of that week
of Thanksgiving, actually, it

598
00:32:26,400 --> 00:32:29,080
worked out great for me because
I'd go straight from Vegas up to

599
00:32:29,080 --> 00:32:33,360
Canada and it was a really short
flight to get up to my house and

600
00:32:33,360 --> 00:32:36,800
I'd go skiing for a few days.
And it's not Thanksgiving in

601
00:32:36,800 --> 00:32:39,760
Canada at that time, so the ski
hills are empty.

602
00:32:40,040 --> 00:32:41,920
And so it worked out really
well.

603
00:32:43,520 --> 00:32:46,320
And most of the designers that,
you know are working so hard and

604
00:32:46,640 --> 00:32:49,000
people in production are working
so hard leading up to

605
00:32:49,000 --> 00:32:50,760
Thanksgiving and even into
Christmas.

606
00:32:50,760 --> 00:32:53,240
A lot of our, a few of our
customers couldn't come because

607
00:32:53,240 --> 00:32:54,440
they're doing big Christmas
shows.

608
00:32:54,440 --> 00:32:59,000
But you know, I think it's, it's
it's there's never a perfect

609
00:32:59,000 --> 00:33:01,160
time.
You got to, you know, you got to

610
00:33:01,160 --> 00:33:03,520
kind of just pick it.
And I think LDI is going to be

611
00:33:03,520 --> 00:33:05,680
in this time slot for a while
because of F1.

612
00:33:05,880 --> 00:33:10,040
Yeah, you're right.
If if you could help me give a

613
00:33:10,040 --> 00:33:13,360
nice little poke to Matthias
because he promised to come on

614
00:33:13,360 --> 00:33:16,640
and then he's always busy and I
know you keep him really busy,

615
00:33:16,640 --> 00:33:20,240
but I want to get him on.
I I think he's a brilliant guy.

616
00:33:20,240 --> 00:33:22,720
He's obviously somebody that
people would like to hear from.

617
00:33:22,920 --> 00:33:27,160
I've actually had people request
me to get Matthias on and so

618
00:33:27,160 --> 00:33:29,000
give him a poke.
Give him a poke.

619
00:33:29,040 --> 00:33:32,160
That's a. 2024 goal.
Yeah, yeah, I know.

620
00:33:32,160 --> 00:33:33,960
I'd love to get Matthias on.
I think it'd be really

621
00:33:33,960 --> 00:33:35,920
interesting.
Cool.

622
00:33:36,520 --> 00:33:40,360
Well, I appreciate you Eric and
and Merry Christmas, Happy New

623
00:33:40,360 --> 00:33:43,880
Year, all that stuff and
hopefully I get to see you soon

624
00:33:43,880 --> 00:33:45,400
too.
Thank you, Marcel.

625
00:33:45,480 --> 00:33:47,120
Let's do it.
All right, my friend.

626
00:33:47,480 --> 00:33:48,920
See ya.
Well, hey, Dan.

627
00:33:48,920 --> 00:33:51,280
How are you?
I'm doing well, Marcel.

628
00:33:51,280 --> 00:33:52,800
How about yourself?
I'm OK.

629
00:33:52,800 --> 00:33:55,120
Merry Christmas and merry.
Christmas to you.

630
00:33:55,760 --> 00:33:58,000
Before I screw it up, is it Dan
or Daniel?

631
00:33:58,000 --> 00:34:01,400
Cause I've seen both.
Daniel is preferred.

632
00:34:01,400 --> 00:34:04,640
My dad's name is Dan and I had a
best friend's name that was Dan

633
00:34:04,640 --> 00:34:07,320
and it just got confusing.
So Daniel works the best.

634
00:34:07,400 --> 00:34:10,360
Then forever you shall be known
as Daniel.

635
00:34:11,880 --> 00:34:16,480
Most people like you are are
pretty sort of meh about it.

636
00:34:16,480 --> 00:34:18,320
Like you don't really get upset
or.

637
00:34:18,320 --> 00:34:20,440
Anything.
I have a friend whose name is

638
00:34:20,440 --> 00:34:23,920
Michael, and God forbid I call
him Mike.

639
00:34:23,920 --> 00:34:26,040
I mean, it's like the end of the
Earth.

640
00:34:26,040 --> 00:34:27,840
He's like, I don't call you
Mark.

641
00:34:28,080 --> 00:34:32,400
I don't call, you know and I'm
like, OK, sorry you are Michael.

642
00:34:33,080 --> 00:34:35,080
That's right.
Forever ingrained as Michael.

643
00:34:35,080 --> 00:34:36,199
That's right.
Exactly.

644
00:34:36,239 --> 00:34:40,040
Well, I mean, believe it or not,
as much as I offend some people,

645
00:34:40,040 --> 00:34:45,320
I I try hard not to usually.
You know, I I, I generally try

646
00:34:45,320 --> 00:34:47,480
to call people by the name they
want.

647
00:34:47,480 --> 00:34:50,120
Unless we get into all those
pronouns and stuff, and then it

648
00:34:50,120 --> 00:34:55,600
gets a little weird.
But anyways, yeah, so good

649
00:34:55,600 --> 00:34:58,920
Christmas, presumably.
Absolutely, yeah.

650
00:34:59,280 --> 00:35:02,240
No complaints for me.
It's always kind of one of those

651
00:35:02,240 --> 00:35:05,360
times to rest and reset, but
you're always rushing around to

652
00:35:05,360 --> 00:35:07,720
see family.
So grateful for the opportunity

653
00:35:07,720 --> 00:35:09,680
to see family.
We did the little bit of a break

654
00:35:09,680 --> 00:35:13,120
and now we're diving into the
New Year celebration and into a

655
00:35:13,120 --> 00:35:15,000
great 2024.
Yeah.

656
00:35:15,000 --> 00:35:17,920
I mean our our industry, you
talk about that little break and

657
00:35:17,920 --> 00:35:21,760
our industry tries really hard
to check out at this time, but

658
00:35:21,760 --> 00:35:23,560
it's so hard.
I mean there's just so many

659
00:35:23,560 --> 00:35:26,080
things going on and we are in
the live event space, right.

660
00:35:26,080 --> 00:35:30,640
So but I know what like one of
the things I love and always

661
00:35:30,640 --> 00:35:35,880
have for my 30 plus years in
business about this time of year

662
00:35:35,880 --> 00:35:39,840
is sort of that reflection and
looking ahead planning and all

663
00:35:39,840 --> 00:35:42,120
of that stuff.
So you know it's a combination

664
00:35:42,120 --> 00:35:45,520
of looking backwards and looking
forward to see you know what

665
00:35:45,520 --> 00:35:48,560
what can we do better based on
what has happened in the past 12

666
00:35:48,560 --> 00:35:50,880
months.
And I know for my own business

667
00:35:50,880 --> 00:35:55,200
that's a long list.
So, so yeah, I'm I'm sure you're

668
00:35:55,200 --> 00:35:56,640
the same and we're going to hear
some of that.

669
00:35:56,640 --> 00:36:01,800
But before we do, so first of
all, thank you very much for

670
00:36:01,800 --> 00:36:03,320
being a sponsor of geezers of
gear.

671
00:36:03,320 --> 00:36:07,480
We appreciate you very much.
And I can tell you without

672
00:36:07,480 --> 00:36:11,200
sponsors I wouldn't be doing
this show because not because I

673
00:36:11,200 --> 00:36:14,280
make money from it, because I
certainly don't, but although

674
00:36:14,320 --> 00:36:19,880
I'd like to someday, but it does
cover the costs And you know,

675
00:36:19,880 --> 00:36:21,480
now we we.
Have.

676
00:36:22,280 --> 00:36:25,800
Second, mouth to feed, which
really is our first mouth to

677
00:36:25,800 --> 00:36:31,000
feed, which is Sarah.
And you know, Sarah has taken on

678
00:36:31,000 --> 00:36:32,360
a lot of the production, believe
it or not.

679
00:36:32,360 --> 00:36:34,520
I've done this entirely by
myself.

680
00:36:34,520 --> 00:36:41,120
I I upload, download, promote,
record, everything I had been

681
00:36:41,120 --> 00:36:45,440
doing by myself.
And so now Sarah has taken on, I

682
00:36:45,440 --> 00:36:47,680
don't know, 70% of that work.
And I do.

683
00:36:48,280 --> 00:36:51,040
I do the easy stuff like talking
to great people.

684
00:36:51,800 --> 00:36:55,160
So we do appreciate you, but
you're probably one of the

685
00:36:55,160 --> 00:36:57,760
lesser known sponsors that we
have.

686
00:36:58,520 --> 00:37:01,320
Give me a give me an elevator
pitch on who is Stratum?

687
00:37:01,320 --> 00:37:03,600
What do you do?
Absolutely.

688
00:37:03,640 --> 00:37:07,000
So we're a boutique production
company located in the Midwest,

689
00:37:07,000 --> 00:37:11,520
Lincoln NE specifically
primarily help event planners

690
00:37:11,520 --> 00:37:14,080
and meeting planners host
corporate events.

691
00:37:14,560 --> 00:37:18,800
We do a little bit as far as
venue management and live event

692
00:37:18,800 --> 00:37:21,320
music wise.
But primarily we stay in that

693
00:37:21,320 --> 00:37:24,000
corporate space really have a
passion for just partnering with

694
00:37:24,000 --> 00:37:28,000
people and helping them execute
memorable events that captivate,

695
00:37:28,160 --> 00:37:29,800
communicate and connect human
beings.

696
00:37:29,800 --> 00:37:32,680
Because at the end of the day, I
think that's really what we

697
00:37:32,880 --> 00:37:36,960
exist for in the event space.
If we can build a connection, if

698
00:37:36,960 --> 00:37:39,320
we can communicate a message
really, really well, or we if we

699
00:37:39,320 --> 00:37:42,720
can captivate an audience, I
think that that's really what we

700
00:37:42,720 --> 00:37:44,920
should all be driven by and
motivated by.

701
00:37:46,440 --> 00:37:48,680
I mean that's a great way to say
it.

702
00:37:48,680 --> 00:37:51,880
And you know, I guess one of the
things that surprises me a

703
00:37:51,880 --> 00:37:56,520
little bit, I didn't really know
that there was much of A

704
00:37:56,960 --> 00:38:00,240
corporate or convention business
in Nebraska.

705
00:38:00,600 --> 00:38:05,000
And so are you traveling outside
Nebraska a lot or is it really a

706
00:38:05,000 --> 00:38:08,840
vibrant market within Nebraska?
I mean I wouldn't call it

707
00:38:08,840 --> 00:38:10,440
vibrant.
I I would say it's growing.

708
00:38:10,440 --> 00:38:14,200
Lincoln is kind of known as the
the Silicon Prairie.

709
00:38:14,200 --> 00:38:16,800
There's a lot of startups here
that are doing well in the tech

710
00:38:16,800 --> 00:38:20,000
industry.
Omaha is just 50 miles down the

711
00:38:20,000 --> 00:38:22,000
road from us.
Omaha has a much more vibrant

712
00:38:22,000 --> 00:38:25,360
space, but we do well for for
ourselves in the area.

713
00:38:25,360 --> 00:38:29,160
We do travel quite a bit across
the United States, North America

714
00:38:29,160 --> 00:38:33,240
specifically, but by and large
most of our businesses probably

715
00:38:33,240 --> 00:38:37,280
within a day's drive of of
Lincoln and like I said, we just

716
00:38:37,600 --> 00:38:39,480
we love partnering with people
in the Midwest.

717
00:38:39,480 --> 00:38:41,720
We we align with a lot of those
values.

718
00:38:41,720 --> 00:38:46,160
We know that business model.
So being able to help and

719
00:38:46,160 --> 00:38:48,520
support people locally is
crucial for our business.

720
00:38:48,680 --> 00:38:53,520
Yeah, well, I I follow you on
socials and I can say that you

721
00:38:53,520 --> 00:38:57,120
do some amazing work from from
the pictures and articles I've

722
00:38:57,120 --> 00:39:02,880
read and stuff, and you also
have been very active on social

723
00:39:02,880 --> 00:39:06,840
media.
You also were a company that I

724
00:39:06,840 --> 00:39:12,320
noticed coming out of COVID just
seemed to have better ideas than

725
00:39:12,320 --> 00:39:16,120
a lot of other businesses who
sort of kind of creeped out of

726
00:39:16,120 --> 00:39:18,360
COVID.
You kind of went boom out of

727
00:39:18,360 --> 00:39:21,120
COVID and really seemed to have
a game plan.

728
00:39:21,760 --> 00:39:27,240
Was that by accident or?
I mean, I don't think anything's

729
00:39:27,240 --> 00:39:28,800
by accident.
I think that we really set

730
00:39:28,800 --> 00:39:31,280
ourselves up for success in
2020.

731
00:39:32,040 --> 00:39:34,880
This is something I I tell
people still to this day is I'm

732
00:39:34,880 --> 00:39:38,080
thankful for 2020.
As difficult as that was, as

733
00:39:38,080 --> 00:39:41,680
challenging as that was, it made
me a Better Business owner.

734
00:39:41,680 --> 00:39:45,160
It made me a better just overall
technician.

735
00:39:45,160 --> 00:39:46,960
There's so many good things that
have come out of that.

736
00:39:46,960 --> 00:39:50,360
Although it was a bad situation,
I think that we were able to

737
00:39:50,400 --> 00:39:53,760
actually grow our company
through that year, which is.

738
00:39:54,080 --> 00:39:55,520
Wow.
I mean, that's impressive.

739
00:39:55,640 --> 00:39:59,040
Yeah.
It's it's not a standard or a

740
00:39:59,040 --> 00:40:02,320
common thing that you hear.
So I think just applying a lot

741
00:40:02,320 --> 00:40:06,800
of intentionality to who we want
to service, having a good

742
00:40:06,800 --> 00:40:09,680
product or if not a great
product to be able to offer to

743
00:40:09,680 --> 00:40:12,440
somebody and just continue to
plan and move forward.

744
00:40:12,440 --> 00:40:16,480
I mean, I think a lot of what
2020 was spent for me

745
00:40:16,480 --> 00:40:20,520
specifically as the owner was.
Strategizing and building like,

746
00:40:20,520 --> 00:40:22,200
OK, this is going to end at some
point.

747
00:40:22,240 --> 00:40:25,120
It's How do we, how do we come
out of this and how do we not

748
00:40:25,120 --> 00:40:27,920
fall flat on our face in doing
that?

749
00:40:28,120 --> 00:40:32,280
Yeah, no, I I completely agree
and and I'm glad you said that

750
00:40:32,280 --> 00:40:35,880
because you know so many
companies, most companies in our

751
00:40:35,880 --> 00:40:38,920
industry will look back at 2020
and say, Oh my God, that was the

752
00:40:38,920 --> 00:40:41,480
worst time ever.
And, you know, one of the

753
00:40:41,480 --> 00:40:45,360
problems I had during that
period of time was with the

754
00:40:45,360 --> 00:40:47,400
people who just took it as
downtime.

755
00:40:47,920 --> 00:40:50,640
And, you know, I'm not judging
anyone.

756
00:40:50,640 --> 00:40:52,840
I'm not saying that's a bad
thing or whatever.

757
00:40:52,840 --> 00:40:57,680
But in my opinion, if you're a
business owner or a salesperson

758
00:40:57,680 --> 00:41:02,760
or a technician or a, you know,
a a programmer, board operator,

759
00:41:02,760 --> 00:41:07,760
whatever, upskill, you know, use
that time to learn another

760
00:41:07,760 --> 00:41:11,600
console, to learn another
language, to, you know, teach

761
00:41:11,600 --> 00:41:14,040
your children something,
whatever it is, but find

762
00:41:14,040 --> 00:41:19,440
something productive to do with
an incredible opportunity for a

763
00:41:19,440 --> 00:41:22,760
business that has no time to do
anything right.

764
00:41:22,760 --> 00:41:26,160
We're always busy.
And so you know you had this

765
00:41:26,160 --> 00:41:29,880
this sort of pocket of time
where you could do anything you

766
00:41:29,880 --> 00:41:35,160
wanted and so many people chose
you know Netflix and and

767
00:41:35,960 --> 00:41:40,240
honestly I just think that was
wasted time in that in that

768
00:41:40,600 --> 00:41:43,120
situation so.
Oh, I I would wholeheartedly

769
00:41:43,120 --> 00:41:44,480
agree.
I think the thing that was

770
00:41:45,160 --> 00:41:47,360
beautiful about what our
industry did in 2020 is that

771
00:41:47,360 --> 00:41:49,360
they a lot of the training
became free.

772
00:41:49,760 --> 00:41:51,920
There were so many resources put
out there.

773
00:41:51,920 --> 00:41:57,480
I mean the opportunity to learn
in that year was I mean the the

774
00:41:57,480 --> 00:42:00,800
risk tolerance or or the barrier
to entry was nothing.

775
00:42:00,800 --> 00:42:04,240
You didn't have to pay to go
learn how to program on a grand

776
00:42:04,240 --> 00:42:07,440
May because ACT waived those
fees for the year there were all

777
00:42:07,440 --> 00:42:10,320
of this free training.
So to your point, I think it is

778
00:42:10,320 --> 00:42:13,680
very interesting how a lot of
people did maybe neglect that

779
00:42:13,680 --> 00:42:19,240
downtime as, OK, let's take a
breath when they could have been

780
00:42:19,240 --> 00:42:23,280
utilizing some of that time to
just maybe sharpen their skills

781
00:42:23,280 --> 00:42:25,400
a little bit, yeah.
Yeah, absolutely.

782
00:42:25,400 --> 00:42:29,720
And how about using that time to
learn to break things or to

783
00:42:29,720 --> 00:42:33,400
fail?
Try things that you wouldn't try

784
00:42:33,400 --> 00:42:37,840
when you're slammed busy, but
now you can go out and try those

785
00:42:37,840 --> 00:42:40,440
things and nobody cares if you
fail at this point.

786
00:42:40,440 --> 00:42:42,840
Like, big deal.
You know, I tried something.

787
00:42:42,840 --> 00:42:45,480
I looked stupid.
Move on to the next thing.

788
00:42:45,480 --> 00:42:48,600
I know some really stupid ones
that I won't bring up right now,

789
00:42:48,600 --> 00:42:53,000
but there were some really weird
pivots and stuff that didn't do

790
00:42:53,000 --> 00:42:56,240
very well, and I'm sure those
people would look back and go,

791
00:42:56,240 --> 00:42:57,480
hey, you know what?
I tried something.

792
00:42:57,480 --> 00:43:00,040
It didn't work.
And that's how I look at it too,

793
00:43:00,040 --> 00:43:03,320
by the way.
So fast forwarding here a little

794
00:43:03,320 --> 00:43:07,520
bit, so you know I'm sure like
everyone else 20/21 was sort of

795
00:43:07,520 --> 00:43:11,160
that coming out year when when
business started coming back

796
00:43:11,160 --> 00:43:18,120
2022 went nuts and then 2023 you
know I would assume for your

797
00:43:18,120 --> 00:43:21,880
business was was similarly crazy
to 2022.

798
00:43:21,880 --> 00:43:26,600
And because you're so much more
focused on on corporate, it

799
00:43:26,600 --> 00:43:29,960
probably took a little bit
longer to get to that mayhem

800
00:43:29,960 --> 00:43:34,760
like concert touring and stuff
got real big in in 21 and 22.

801
00:43:35,160 --> 00:43:39,920
I think corporate took a little
longer to come out, right.

802
00:43:40,880 --> 00:43:43,160
Absolutely.
Yeah, I mean I think we we

803
00:43:43,160 --> 00:43:50,160
stabilized a lot more in 2023
than we did in 20/22/2022 was I

804
00:43:50,160 --> 00:43:56,560
mean revenue wise, I think we we
six had a multiple of 6 as far

805
00:43:56,560 --> 00:44:01,920
as growth revenue wise.
So that was an absolute crazy

806
00:44:01,920 --> 00:44:05,400
growth year for us.
And then this year we haven't

807
00:44:05,400 --> 00:44:07,560
seen that same growth.
We've we've seen growth but it's

808
00:44:07,560 --> 00:44:12,560
not been the the running and
gunning that we saw of 2022.

809
00:44:12,560 --> 00:44:16,240
So I think it it has taken more
time.

810
00:44:16,240 --> 00:44:19,640
I think people have kind of
levelled off as far as their

811
00:44:19,640 --> 00:44:22,440
desire to host events.
I think they're being more

812
00:44:22,440 --> 00:44:24,760
strategic about it.
I think that there's a lot of

813
00:44:24,760 --> 00:44:28,160
pieces that are being considered
now instead of, hey, let's just

814
00:44:28,160 --> 00:44:31,880
rush back to get people back in
a room, let's let's put some

815
00:44:31,880 --> 00:44:34,760
thought into this.
Whether that is the the concert

816
00:44:34,760 --> 00:44:37,240
and touring or the corporate
space.

817
00:44:37,240 --> 00:44:41,720
Both those spaces have, in my
opinion and my perspective, have

818
00:44:41,720 --> 00:44:46,000
taken a little bit of a
different stance this year as

819
00:44:46,000 --> 00:44:49,200
far as let's let's do this well,
let's get it out there, create

820
00:44:49,200 --> 00:44:52,400
something incredible instead of
just seeing how many arenas we

821
00:44:52,400 --> 00:44:54,280
can hit or how many ballrooms we
can fit in.

822
00:44:54,840 --> 00:44:57,800
Yeah.
So you know, and by the way,

823
00:44:57,800 --> 00:45:00,800
that's not uncommon.
You know what you just said,

824
00:45:00,800 --> 00:45:04,680
like I, I have spoken to many
companies who say that 23 was

825
00:45:04,680 --> 00:45:07,880
just crazy, a record year, you
know, biggest ever, blah, blah,

826
00:45:07,880 --> 00:45:10,840
blah.
But for the most part, people

827
00:45:10,840 --> 00:45:15,200
have said either we lost a
little bit off 22 or we gained a

828
00:45:15,200 --> 00:45:19,520
little bit on 22.
But it was a very similar year

829
00:45:19,520 --> 00:45:23,120
to 2022, except much more
organized and probably more

830
00:45:23,120 --> 00:45:24,640
profitable because you weren't
just.

831
00:45:25,040 --> 00:45:27,080
I don't care what it costs, we
got to get the gear.

832
00:45:27,080 --> 00:45:30,000
Here, I don't care what that guy
costs that I need on the show, I

833
00:45:30,000 --> 00:45:32,720
need a guy or I need 10 guys or
whatever, right?

834
00:45:32,840 --> 00:45:35,440
Exactly.
This, this year got a little

835
00:45:35,440 --> 00:45:40,080
more normalized, similar revenue
but normal, much more normalized

836
00:45:40,080 --> 00:45:42,520
from a standpoint of operations
and costs and stuff.

837
00:45:42,520 --> 00:45:48,480
But so as you were planning for
2023 and now as you look back on

838
00:45:48,480 --> 00:45:53,040
2023, would you say that it was
better than expected, worse than

839
00:45:53,040 --> 00:45:57,800
expected or as expected?
I think that there were a lot of

840
00:45:57,800 --> 00:46:01,080
moments in our company
specifically that show it as

841
00:46:01,080 --> 00:46:05,960
better as expected.
We were able to improve a lot of

842
00:46:05,960 --> 00:46:10,560
our process as a company and get
more of the right people

843
00:46:10,560 --> 00:46:13,720
ingrained into our company and
our culture that are going to in

844
00:46:13,720 --> 00:46:16,320
the end pay off for our end
users and our clients.

845
00:46:17,040 --> 00:46:21,560
So I think that that's a lot of
what we focused on and a lot of

846
00:46:21,600 --> 00:46:26,360
as I reflect back dollars matter
of course, but what about the

847
00:46:26,360 --> 00:46:30,880
process and the building, right.
I think that I take a little bit

848
00:46:30,880 --> 00:46:34,240
of a different philosophy to
building a company as far as I'm

849
00:46:34,240 --> 00:46:36,360
not so concerned about what was
done this year.

850
00:46:36,360 --> 00:46:40,040
While that's important, what
about building something so next

851
00:46:40,040 --> 00:46:42,280
year we can be incredible, the
year after that, the year after

852
00:46:42,280 --> 00:46:44,840
that, the year after that.
So I I think it's better than

853
00:46:44,840 --> 00:46:49,040
expected from my perspective in
a in a lot of different ways

854
00:46:49,040 --> 00:46:52,200
rather than revenue.
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

855
00:46:52,200 --> 00:46:55,000
I mean you're you're obviously
very focused on the quality of

856
00:46:55,000 --> 00:47:00,040
the product that you're putting
out and and that's that's also

857
00:47:00,040 --> 00:47:02,640
being growth focused.
You know like if we put out a

858
00:47:02,640 --> 00:47:06,680
great quality product, people
are going to use this more and

859
00:47:06,680 --> 00:47:10,680
and more into the future.
So you know whether it's your

860
00:47:10,680 --> 00:47:14,640
own business or the industry,
what would your 2024

861
00:47:14,640 --> 00:47:16,720
expectations be?
Would you, would you be

862
00:47:16,720 --> 00:47:20,360
expecting more growth, would you
expect things to drop a little

863
00:47:20,360 --> 00:47:25,240
bit or a lot and or just pretty
much to stay flat on on what

864
00:47:25,240 --> 00:47:28,960
happened in 2023?
I I mean some of the venues that

865
00:47:28,960 --> 00:47:33,760
we manage are booked way more in
2024 than they were in 2023.

866
00:47:33,760 --> 00:47:38,600
So I think that we are, I guess
we're anticipating a lot of

867
00:47:38,600 --> 00:47:43,440
growth again in 2024.
I think the, the thing that we

868
00:47:43,440 --> 00:47:47,920
have to maybe consider is we're
going into an election year

869
00:47:47,920 --> 00:47:51,440
which it doesn't matter where
you land on that, there's always

870
00:47:51,440 --> 00:47:55,320
turmoil and there's always some
risk involved with that.

871
00:47:55,320 --> 00:48:00,000
So I think early projections on
my side from just again my

872
00:48:00,000 --> 00:48:03,760
perspective and what we see is
that 2024 could be another big

873
00:48:03,760 --> 00:48:07,640
growth year for us specifically,
but I think that the industry as

874
00:48:07,640 --> 00:48:11,160
a whole could grow again.
I think 2023 was kind of that

875
00:48:11,160 --> 00:48:14,920
reset year, a lot of settling in
and now people are going to look

876
00:48:14,920 --> 00:48:18,280
at OK, how can we, how can we
engage and improve on what we've

877
00:48:18,280 --> 00:48:23,120
built upon and get out there
more and be just in the public

878
00:48:23,120 --> 00:48:25,200
eye more or or however that
looks.

879
00:48:25,440 --> 00:48:28,960
Yeah, 24 is is a real
interesting year, you know.

880
00:48:29,640 --> 00:48:33,520
And by interesting, I mean
screwed up because not not just

881
00:48:33,520 --> 00:48:38,440
the election but you know, the
potential of of recession, this

882
00:48:38,440 --> 00:48:41,240
looming recession that we've
been talking about for a year.

883
00:48:42,480 --> 00:48:46,120
But you know, geopolitical stuff
too.

884
00:48:46,120 --> 00:48:49,760
You know, I've been paying a lot
of attention to some of the

885
00:48:49,760 --> 00:48:53,280
things that are going on in
Europe and Asia and obviously

886
00:48:53,400 --> 00:48:56,000
two different wars that are
being battled right now.

887
00:48:56,360 --> 00:49:02,040
So you know that all has an
impact probably not so much on a

888
00:49:02,040 --> 00:49:06,120
local market like Lincoln NE.
But certainly for some of those

889
00:49:06,120 --> 00:49:09,640
companies that are that are
utilizing your services in that

890
00:49:09,640 --> 00:49:13,840
local market may be impacted
with their European offices or

891
00:49:13,840 --> 00:49:17,040
or somewhere else in the world
or freight costs or you know

892
00:49:17,040 --> 00:49:21,160
sort of that downstream effect
of having two wars and all kinds

893
00:49:21,160 --> 00:49:24,880
of political unrest and and
other issues going on in the

894
00:49:24,880 --> 00:49:27,280
world.
So.

895
00:49:28,000 --> 00:49:31,600
For 2024, give me a big
prediction and and anything you

896
00:49:31,600 --> 00:49:38,200
know, the Sky's going to fall.
You know, we're going to get our

897
00:49:38,200 --> 00:49:44,080
first woman president.
Yeah, You know, that's a really

898
00:49:44,080 --> 00:49:48,800
good question actually.
I mean, I to to the point of the

899
00:49:48,800 --> 00:49:51,560
looming recession, as
unfortunate as it is, as it is,

900
00:49:51,560 --> 00:49:53,720
I think that there's a lot of
that that's going to come into

901
00:49:53,720 --> 00:49:56,880
play in this next year.
So maybe the sky is going to

902
00:49:56,880 --> 00:49:59,040
fall.
I think, I think the key for a

903
00:49:59,040 --> 00:50:03,000
lot of people is to not focus on
that and to focus on improving

904
00:50:03,360 --> 00:50:06,360
what you can control, right.
I mean I think that that's a lot

905
00:50:06,360 --> 00:50:10,360
of the, the mistake that people
make is they're so concerned

906
00:50:10,360 --> 00:50:13,760
with what's outside.
And if they were to just take a

907
00:50:13,760 --> 00:50:17,480
moment and focus on how they can
improve their skills, I mean

908
00:50:17,480 --> 00:50:19,680
this carries over from the
conversation we just had a

909
00:50:19,680 --> 00:50:22,320
couple minutes ago.
If we could just improve and

910
00:50:22,320 --> 00:50:27,560
continue to focus, I think a lot
of things that I look at is if

911
00:50:27,560 --> 00:50:29,680
we talk about recession, I've
studied history a lot.

912
00:50:29,880 --> 00:50:34,160
If we go back to the 20s and
30s, the one thing that grew a

913
00:50:34,160 --> 00:50:38,240
lot was entertainment, right?
Because even even in a downturn,

914
00:50:38,240 --> 00:50:40,000
there has to be entertainment
involved.

915
00:50:40,400 --> 00:50:44,040
And I think so many people don't
look at that as an option and

916
00:50:44,040 --> 00:50:46,360
they just say they just want to
throw in the towel and be like,

917
00:50:46,360 --> 00:50:48,800
oh man, well, the sky is
falling.

918
00:50:49,600 --> 00:50:51,800
I better just call it quits too
instead of saying, no, there's

919
00:50:51,800 --> 00:50:55,920
an opportunity here.
How can we actually help people

920
00:50:56,080 --> 00:51:00,000
make it through this in a in a
way that makes them smile or or

921
00:51:00,000 --> 00:51:02,200
improves their life in in any
capacity?

922
00:51:02,200 --> 00:51:04,280
You're you're so right.
You know, and I, I've always

923
00:51:04,280 --> 00:51:08,960
said that like I I remember I've
been 20 years ago or more

924
00:51:08,960 --> 00:51:11,960
talking to people about the fact
that no matter what's happening

925
00:51:11,960 --> 00:51:14,040
in a local economy.
If the right.

926
00:51:14,400 --> 00:51:17,360
Show comes through or whatever
everyone's going and and I

927
00:51:17,360 --> 00:51:21,160
always used Mexico City as an
example like I remember and it

928
00:51:21,160 --> 00:51:25,120
had to probably be in the 90s or
something, which you know, I I

929
00:51:25,120 --> 00:51:27,800
don't know how old you are, but
probably not much older than

930
00:51:27,800 --> 00:51:32,400
that.
But Madonna did a concert in

931
00:51:32,400 --> 00:51:35,360
Mexico City and it was like
100,000 people.

932
00:51:35,880 --> 00:51:40,240
And these are people who don't
have nice cars, who don't make

933
00:51:40,240 --> 00:51:44,560
much money, who don't eat fancy
food or or whatever.

934
00:51:44,760 --> 00:51:47,080
But when it comes to
entertainment, you know, they'll

935
00:51:47,080 --> 00:51:50,200
buy a nice bottle of tequila and
they'll go to a Madonna concert.

936
00:51:50,600 --> 00:51:53,600
And it doesn't matter what it
costs, right?

937
00:51:53,600 --> 00:51:56,280
They just, they figure it out,
they find the money and they go

938
00:51:56,280 --> 00:51:58,280
and they entertain themselves,
you know?

939
00:51:58,400 --> 00:52:02,600
Absolutely.
I mean I think that that is such

940
00:52:02,600 --> 00:52:05,520
a a lasting truth that we can go
into this year for.

941
00:52:05,520 --> 00:52:09,440
And I I mean honestly I hope I'm
wrong because the impact of a a

942
00:52:10,080 --> 00:52:13,640
recession actually hitting.
I mean that's gonna, that could

943
00:52:13,640 --> 00:52:17,720
be ugly in a lot of ways.
But to to your point, if if the

944
00:52:17,720 --> 00:52:21,000
right show comes in, if you're
doing the right things, you're

945
00:52:21,000 --> 00:52:22,680
going to be able to entertain
people and you're going to be

946
00:52:22,680 --> 00:52:24,000
able to continue to move
forward.

947
00:52:24,120 --> 00:52:27,320
Even on the corporate stuff
though, that you do like, you

948
00:52:27,320 --> 00:52:30,960
know, when there's a recession,
a couple of things that can be

949
00:52:30,960 --> 00:52:35,280
positive also happen.
One is is that companies look to

950
00:52:35,280 --> 00:52:37,520
take other companies.
You know, lunch.

951
00:52:37,960 --> 00:52:39,920
And so.
They'll be out there, you know

952
00:52:39,920 --> 00:52:43,080
pawning their wares and and
making sure their team is dialed

953
00:52:43,080 --> 00:52:46,080
in and and they've shown their
latest products and everything.

954
00:52:47,400 --> 00:52:51,120
But but also you know, you're
just, you start focusing on

955
00:52:51,120 --> 00:52:55,600
what's most important to your
business specifically and you

956
00:52:55,600 --> 00:52:59,560
know building on those things
and yes, you know, certainly you

957
00:52:59,560 --> 00:53:02,560
can look at cutting budgets and
and going Oh my God, we better

958
00:53:02,560 --> 00:53:04,200
tighten our belt.
You know this is going to be a

959
00:53:04,200 --> 00:53:08,320
tough year and one of the first
things that go is, is marketing

960
00:53:08,320 --> 00:53:14,120
costs and things like you know,
meetings and and trade shows and

961
00:53:14,440 --> 00:53:19,160
all of those corporate sort of,
I don't know what you would call

962
00:53:19,160 --> 00:53:21,520
it voluntary expenses or
expenses that are not

963
00:53:21,520 --> 00:53:25,160
necessarily things that you
absolutely have to do, right.

964
00:53:26,120 --> 00:53:28,240
Right.
So well and I I think that there

965
00:53:28,240 --> 00:53:32,360
are some people that will do
just the opposite and see that

966
00:53:32,360 --> 00:53:34,120
as an opportunity to continue to
grow.

967
00:53:34,400 --> 00:53:37,160
And hey, we still need to go in,
engage with our client base, but

968
00:53:37,160 --> 00:53:38,440
let's just do it in a smarter
way.

969
00:53:38,440 --> 00:53:41,400
Let's instead of spending
$100,000 on AV, let's spend

970
00:53:41,400 --> 00:53:43,640
25,000 and get creative with
them.

971
00:53:43,840 --> 00:53:46,120
Yeah.
Any thoughts on like a

972
00:53:47,360 --> 00:53:51,880
prediction for a product trend
or a sort of something new

973
00:53:51,880 --> 00:53:53,880
that's going to come out that's
going to change the world?

974
00:53:56,640 --> 00:54:02,840
Man, I I don't even, yeah, I I
haven't had a lot of time to

975
00:54:02,840 --> 00:54:04,080
actually sit down and think
about that.

976
00:54:04,080 --> 00:54:06,400
I've been a busy business owner,
so there's there's not been a

977
00:54:06,400 --> 00:54:08,240
lot of, a lot of consideration
with that.

978
00:54:08,400 --> 00:54:11,880
I'm going to be interested to
see how immersive sound

979
00:54:11,880 --> 00:54:14,200
continues to evolve.
I think this year opening up

980
00:54:14,200 --> 00:54:18,280
this year and a lot of eyes
being focused on how that that

981
00:54:18,280 --> 00:54:19,880
works and that immersive
experience.

982
00:54:19,880 --> 00:54:22,600
I think more energy is going to
start to get pushed into that

983
00:54:22,600 --> 00:54:26,800
area.
Obviously I'm a lighting guide

984
00:54:26,800 --> 00:54:28,560
by trade.
That's kind of how I grew up

985
00:54:28,560 --> 00:54:32,000
into this industry.
So any new lighting fixtures

986
00:54:32,000 --> 00:54:34,280
that come out I I'm always
amazed by.

987
00:54:34,280 --> 00:54:36,720
But at the end of the day it's
still just a light with a lens

988
00:54:36,720 --> 00:54:38,960
at the end of it.
It just it's faster, it's

989
00:54:38,960 --> 00:54:40,320
brighter, it's whatever it may
be.

990
00:54:40,320 --> 00:54:44,240
So I did not make it to LDI this
year.

991
00:54:44,240 --> 00:54:47,200
We had a couple of more shows
that we.

992
00:54:47,680 --> 00:54:50,440
Yeah, there there, there was a
trend at LDII, wasn't there

993
00:54:50,480 --> 00:54:53,680
either, but I've talked to a lot
of people about it and one of

994
00:54:53,680 --> 00:54:59,480
the big trends is this lumens
per pound concept lights are

995
00:54:59,480 --> 00:55:02,320
getting smaller and lighter all
of a sudden.

996
00:55:02,320 --> 00:55:05,760
And so Martin came out with
something called the Mac One,

997
00:55:05,960 --> 00:55:09,400
which is like, I'm going to
probably misquote this, but I

998
00:55:09,400 --> 00:55:14,840
think it's £9, it's like 4 1/2
kilos or 4 kilos, 9 or 10 lbs.

999
00:55:16,080 --> 00:55:21,080
And oh God, I don't remember the
lumens, but it's it's bright

1000
00:55:21,080 --> 00:55:25,080
like, it's it's bright like a
Mac aura almost right, Really

1001
00:55:25,080 --> 00:55:27,520
nice, really nice features.
Tiny.

1002
00:55:27,520 --> 00:55:30,360
Like really, really tiny.
And they make this. 4 bar thing

1003
00:55:30,480 --> 00:55:32,320
that.
You can mount in all kinds of

1004
00:55:32,320 --> 00:55:35,640
different ways and really,
really cool and very

1005
00:55:35,640 --> 00:55:37,920
inexpensive.
Like something like 2 Grand

1006
00:55:37,920 --> 00:55:39,560
Retail for it, right?
Wow.

1007
00:55:39,800 --> 00:55:43,760
So those are gonna just sell by
the 10s of thousands because?

1008
00:55:43,760 --> 00:55:45,760
Yeah, they will.
For stuff like what you do, you

1009
00:55:45,760 --> 00:55:47,360
can pop lights in everywhere,
right?

1010
00:55:47,360 --> 00:55:51,240
And it's small, it's light, it's
easy, pretty painless.

1011
00:55:53,240 --> 00:55:56,560
A bunch of other companies did
similar things where they came

1012
00:55:56,560 --> 00:55:59,360
out with smaller fixtures that
are still really bright.

1013
00:55:59,920 --> 00:56:03,280
And so I see that as being a
continuing trend like we went

1014
00:56:03,280 --> 00:56:05,680
bigger and bigger and bigger and
bigger and bigger for a while.

1015
00:56:05,920 --> 00:56:10,520
It's got to be 50,000 lumens.
Ours is 75,000 lumens, you know,

1016
00:56:10,720 --> 00:56:12,520
and.
I mean, it's OK if you need to

1017
00:56:12,520 --> 00:56:16,160
light a building 2 miles away or
something, but you know, when,

1018
00:56:16,160 --> 00:56:19,240
when you're lighting a trade
show booth or a corporate

1019
00:56:19,240 --> 00:56:23,640
meeting or a ballroom or
something, you don't need 75,000

1020
00:56:23,640 --> 00:56:28,120
lumen fixtures, right?
You need reliable, small, easy.

1021
00:56:29,440 --> 00:56:32,320
And yeah, so I'm seeing a lot
more of that stuff.

1022
00:56:33,640 --> 00:56:35,960
Personally, I think there's
gonna be a lot more wireless

1023
00:56:35,960 --> 00:56:40,880
battery stuff coming out with
better batteries, longer life on

1024
00:56:40,880 --> 00:56:44,520
it, cuz life has been an issue.
And that fits into the trend of

1025
00:56:44,520 --> 00:56:47,960
smaller and less power and more
efficient and all that stuff.

1026
00:56:47,960 --> 00:56:51,840
So absolutely.
Yeah, last question.

1027
00:56:53,240 --> 00:56:56,480
So you're a sponsor you you
support this podcast.

1028
00:56:56,480 --> 00:56:59,160
Who would you like to see on it
that that either you've already

1029
00:56:59,160 --> 00:57:03,040
seen once and want them back, or
maybe somebody that you haven't

1030
00:57:03,040 --> 00:57:07,200
seen yet?
I'm pretty sure I I think it

1031
00:57:07,200 --> 00:57:10,440
might have been 2020.
So Christian Jackson is

1032
00:57:10,520 --> 00:57:13,760
actually.
I learned so much from his

1033
00:57:13,760 --> 00:57:15,440
YouTube channel when I first
started.

1034
00:57:16,040 --> 00:57:19,480
Much like this podcast, I think
that there's a a lot of lessons

1035
00:57:19,480 --> 00:57:23,800
that I were was able to take on
and learn by listening to this

1036
00:57:23,800 --> 00:57:25,720
podcast.
I think Christian Jackson is a

1037
00:57:26,040 --> 00:57:28,640
one of those people.
I mean he kind of flies under

1038
00:57:28,640 --> 00:57:32,000
the radar a little bit, but he
is such a incredible programmer

1039
00:57:32,000 --> 00:57:36,200
and more so he teaches so much
like he he's willing to share

1040
00:57:36,200 --> 00:57:40,240
his knowledge to to no end.
And I think that that would be

1041
00:57:40,240 --> 00:57:42,280
another interesting guest to
have on.

1042
00:57:42,600 --> 00:57:46,560
Well, and he's sort of the OG
YouTube in our industry too.

1043
00:57:46,560 --> 00:57:50,840
Like, nobody got into YouTube
and did what he's done and I

1044
00:57:50,840 --> 00:57:53,320
don't remember.
He's got like, I don't know,

1045
00:57:53,320 --> 00:57:55,720
100,000 followers or something
on YouTube.

1046
00:57:55,720 --> 00:57:58,640
It's crazy.
But yeah, that'd be a great one.

1047
00:57:58,640 --> 00:58:02,600
I I I wouldn't say I've
forgotten about Christian, but

1048
00:58:02,600 --> 00:58:05,240
when he came on he laughed
because he was, I think at that

1049
00:58:05,240 --> 00:58:07,840
time, the youngest person we'd
ever had on the podcast.

1050
00:58:08,920 --> 00:58:11,560
So now he's a little bit older.
We'll have to get him on again.

1051
00:58:12,720 --> 00:58:14,400
Absolutely.
Some more experience, some more

1052
00:58:14,400 --> 00:58:17,520
insight, he'll be able to add a
lot of value I think.

1053
00:58:17,640 --> 00:58:21,280
Yeah, How many shows you got to
do for for New Year's?

1054
00:58:23,160 --> 00:58:27,360
We actually only have three
shows for New Year's, so not not

1055
00:58:27,360 --> 00:58:31,240
anything crazy, but then we kick
off right in January with a lot

1056
00:58:31,240 --> 00:58:33,600
of larger corporate shows that
we do every year.

1057
00:58:33,600 --> 00:58:38,240
So it's kind of that breath and
we exhale as we go into New

1058
00:58:38,240 --> 00:58:42,040
Year's and then start sprinting
right away at the beginning of

1059
00:58:42,040 --> 00:58:43,520
January.
Rest is over.

1060
00:58:44,400 --> 00:58:45,880
That's right.
It is over.

1061
00:58:45,880 --> 00:58:47,960
It was good while it lasted.
Yeah.

1062
00:58:48,080 --> 00:58:51,240
Well, thank you, Daniel, so much
for taking a minute to do this

1063
00:58:51,240 --> 00:58:53,760
with me.
And again, we appreciate you

1064
00:58:53,760 --> 00:58:58,600
very much being a sponsor of
Geezers of Gear and look forward

1065
00:58:58,600 --> 00:59:00,320
to doing lots of cool stuff next
year too.

1066
00:59:01,160 --> 00:59:02,560
Absolutely.
Thank you so much for having me

1067
00:59:02,560 --> 00:59:04,280
on.
It's always a pleasure to be

1068
00:59:04,280 --> 00:59:06,800
able to chat with you.
Like I said, love supporting a

1069
00:59:06,800 --> 00:59:08,480
podcast that has given me so
much value.

1070
00:59:08,480 --> 00:59:10,600
So thank you.
I appreciate that.

1071
00:59:10,800 --> 00:59:12,960
All right my friend.
All right.

1072
00:59:12,960 --> 00:59:15,280
See ya.
Mr. Ben, how are you?

1073
00:59:16,320 --> 00:59:18,920
Hey, good morning or good
afternoon I suppose at this

1074
00:59:18,920 --> 00:59:20,720
point, right?
It is, yeah.

1075
00:59:20,960 --> 00:59:26,800
So Ben is actually recording
this with me on a Sunday and on

1076
00:59:26,800 --> 00:59:29,400
New Year's Eve.
So you're a, you're a superstar

1077
00:59:29,400 --> 00:59:31,000
for doing that.
We were actually going to record

1078
00:59:31,000 --> 00:59:34,840
during the week and Ben.
Had a bit of a blowout in his

1079
00:59:34,840 --> 00:59:38,120
home.
Well, fortunately, it wasn't my

1080
00:59:38,120 --> 00:59:42,000
home.
So I spent last week deep in the

1081
00:59:42,000 --> 00:59:47,440
heart of southwest Texas, where
my father-in-law lives in a town

1082
00:59:48,000 --> 00:59:50,920
small.
It's on the Guadalupe River and

1083
00:59:50,920 --> 00:59:54,200
it's such a small town that
there's no convenient hotels.

1084
00:59:54,520 --> 00:59:58,800
So when going to visit him, we
did a VRBO of AI call it a

1085
00:59:58,800 --> 01:00:00,840
fishing shack, but it was, you
know, it was a three bedroom

1086
01:00:00,880 --> 01:00:02,360
home to be.
Yeah, yeah.

1087
01:00:02,720 --> 01:00:05,480
Well, you know, single story, 3
bedroom home right on the

1088
01:00:05,480 --> 01:00:07,240
Guadalupe River.
It was very nice, part of a

1089
01:00:07,240 --> 01:00:13,200
compound so cold in Texas for
the past few days that the well

1090
01:00:13,200 --> 01:00:15,600
pump froze.
So we had no water when we.

1091
01:00:16,560 --> 01:00:17,760
What day is today?
Sunday, right.

1092
01:00:17,920 --> 01:00:21,440
So we had on Friday morning and
Saturday morning we had no water

1093
01:00:21,440 --> 01:00:26,720
in the house from, you know
probably sometime around 3:00 AM

1094
01:00:27,000 --> 01:00:30,480
until around 1:00 PM when it got
warm enough that the well pump

1095
01:00:30,480 --> 01:00:32,280
thawed and we had water again
for a while.

1096
01:00:32,520 --> 01:00:35,080
So.
So we had, I think we had

1097
01:00:35,080 --> 01:00:40,200
planned to do this on Friday and
it was just a bit too much while

1098
01:00:40,200 --> 01:00:42,720
trying to make sure.
No, I get it.

1099
01:00:43,160 --> 01:00:45,880
I get it completely, All those.
Exciting things you go through

1100
01:00:45,880 --> 01:00:46,680
at a time.
Yeah.

1101
01:00:47,200 --> 01:00:50,000
So thank you for your.
Flexibility and for delaying

1102
01:00:51,120 --> 01:00:55,880
you're you're you're watching of
I think is it Baltimore and

1103
01:00:55,880 --> 01:00:58,320
Miami coming up in 20 minutes.
It is, yeah.

1104
01:00:58,840 --> 01:01:02,200
It's a huge game, you know.
Yeah, really it's Whoever wins

1105
01:01:02,200 --> 01:01:07,000
this game leads the AFC and puts
themselves in a pretty good

1106
01:01:07,000 --> 01:01:09,320
position.
So it's a huge game.

1107
01:01:09,320 --> 01:01:13,400
And it's also MVP status.
Like basically people are saying

1108
01:01:13,400 --> 01:01:18,080
it's either Tua or it's Lamar
Jackson, whoever wins the game

1109
01:01:18,080 --> 01:01:20,360
kind of thing.
But we'll see.

1110
01:01:20,360 --> 01:01:22,680
I mean, I think it's gonna be an
interesting game, I think.

1111
01:01:22,840 --> 01:01:25,160
Exciting time for a South
Florida resident.

1112
01:01:25,480 --> 01:01:27,960
It really is for once.
I mean, we've got a hockey team

1113
01:01:27,960 --> 01:01:29,520
that's winning.
We've got a football team that's

1114
01:01:29,520 --> 01:01:31,400
winning.
I don't know anything about

1115
01:01:31,400 --> 01:01:33,640
baseball or soccer, so I
couldn't tell you what they're

1116
01:01:33,640 --> 01:01:34,640
doing.
The heat, I think.

1117
01:01:34,640 --> 01:01:36,120
Soccer.
I'm not sure, but.

1118
01:01:37,360 --> 01:01:39,760
Whether your soccer team is
winning or not, you certainly

1119
01:01:40,120 --> 01:01:42,960
have a ticket draw.
Yeah, yeah, no kidding.

1120
01:01:42,960 --> 01:01:46,520
Yeah, I mean, it's you know what
I I have.

1121
01:01:46,520 --> 01:01:48,280
Jersey sales aren't doing too
bad either.

1122
01:01:48,440 --> 01:01:52,280
I have a friend who who goes to
those games, the Inter,

1123
01:01:52,280 --> 01:01:56,400
whatever, it's called Inter,
Miami and he said ever since

1124
01:01:56,400 --> 01:02:01,920
they got him.
Tickets went from $40 to $400.00

1125
01:02:02,400 --> 01:02:06,280
and I'm like, wow, man, I like,
I didn't even know we had a

1126
01:02:06,280 --> 01:02:08,480
soccer crowd here.
But I guess with all the South

1127
01:02:08,480 --> 01:02:13,240
American people and stuff, we're
bound to, and all it took was

1128
01:02:13,240 --> 01:02:15,760
bringing in, you know, the.
Biggest player in the world or

1129
01:02:15,760 --> 01:02:16,880
whatever.
Arguably the.

1130
01:02:17,080 --> 01:02:19,560
Ownership group.
The player you got to go anyway.

1131
01:02:20,000 --> 01:02:21,360
Yeah.
No, it's interesting.

1132
01:02:21,640 --> 01:02:23,760
So before we get into it, I'm
just going to ask you 3

1133
01:02:23,760 --> 01:02:25,720
questions.
But before we get into that, I

1134
01:02:26,440 --> 01:02:30,960
first of all, I wanted to
applaud you for your leadership

1135
01:02:30,960 --> 01:02:37,320
and your, you know, just
stewardship of of just the

1136
01:02:37,320 --> 01:02:38,960
ideas.
And you know, I talked to you a

1137
01:02:38,960 --> 01:02:40,880
lot and stuff.
But the things that you've done

1138
01:02:40,880 --> 01:02:44,880
with ACT this year, you kind of
started the year telling me we

1139
01:02:44,880 --> 01:02:47,960
want to evolve a little bit.
We want to, we want to grow, we

1140
01:02:47,960 --> 01:02:49,560
want to do some things
differently.

1141
01:02:49,560 --> 01:02:51,800
We don't want to be known as a
lighting company.

1142
01:02:51,800 --> 01:02:53,600
You changed your name to ACT
Entertainment.

1143
01:02:53,600 --> 01:02:57,360
You've changed your logo and you
went out and got a huge audio

1144
01:02:57,360 --> 01:02:59,440
brand.
You, you've bought a couple of

1145
01:02:59,440 --> 01:03:03,400
companies that are sort of
outside the the sort of center

1146
01:03:03,400 --> 01:03:07,400
of of lighting and so I mean
it's been an incredible year for

1147
01:03:07,400 --> 01:03:10,360
ACT.
It's been an exciting time and I

1148
01:03:10,360 --> 01:03:12,800
have to applaud our team for
doing a great job.

1149
01:03:13,480 --> 01:03:17,800
As you mentioned, we began a
distribution agreement with PK

1150
01:03:17,800 --> 01:03:23,760
Sound and manufactured in your
hometown, Calgary AB.

1151
01:03:23,960 --> 01:03:26,320
All right, yeah, Calgary AB.
Sorry, I was trying to say

1152
01:03:26,320 --> 01:03:28,560
Calgary AB Cannon and I tripped
on my tongue there.

1153
01:03:30,040 --> 01:03:32,960
Yeah.
Anyway, so you know, great brand

1154
01:03:32,960 --> 01:03:36,480
Jeremy James and his group and
then Ralph Mastron Jello, who

1155
01:03:36,480 --> 01:03:39,000
joined us after a very a storied
career.

1156
01:03:39,640 --> 01:03:43,800
Ralph, those people where you
can walk into an arena anywhere

1157
01:03:44,160 --> 01:03:46,760
on the anywhere in the world and
he's going to know somebody from

1158
01:03:46,760 --> 01:03:49,960
the house.
He's an amazing guy and really

1159
01:03:49,960 --> 01:03:53,440
looking forward to you know we
we we began last year but it was

1160
01:03:53,440 --> 01:03:56,360
kind of a soft beginning.
We had them at LDI with us.

1161
01:03:56,640 --> 01:03:58,840
This is the year we're really
launching together and it's

1162
01:03:59,320 --> 01:04:01,800
really excited about that.
And then as you mentioned we

1163
01:04:01,800 --> 01:04:07,080
acquired TV One which is the
manufacturer of the TV One line

1164
01:04:07,080 --> 01:04:08,840
of products and also Green
Hippo.

1165
01:04:08,840 --> 01:04:14,280
So going to you know then I
think we finished that about 27

1166
01:04:14,280 --> 01:04:17,960
days ago, so again. 24 We're
we're, we're a very.

1167
01:04:17,960 --> 01:04:21,240
Different company going into
2024 than we were going into 20.

1168
01:04:21,240 --> 01:04:23,680
24 absolutely.
No, I mean you're you're these

1169
01:04:23,680 --> 01:04:26,720
are all really amazing moves.
I don't know much about TV One,

1170
01:04:27,200 --> 01:04:31,080
but you know Green Hippo
obviously a huge product line

1171
01:04:31,560 --> 01:04:36,400
and really great addition to you
know not only your your lighting

1172
01:04:36,400 --> 01:04:37,960
products but your control
products.

1173
01:04:37,960 --> 01:04:41,840
I mean obviously when you look
at MA and and Airton and a lot

1174
01:04:41,840 --> 01:04:43,400
of the other stuff that you
have.

1175
01:04:43,400 --> 01:04:45,360
MDG Robert Juliet.
Right.

1176
01:04:45,360 --> 01:04:50,200
But what's missing you know is
exactly what you went out and

1177
01:04:50,200 --> 01:04:52,840
got and and so no, I I think
it's excellent.

1178
01:04:52,840 --> 01:04:56,760
And so I guess some of this
stuff while PK specifically

1179
01:04:56,760 --> 01:04:59,720
probably ultimate support I
guess, which is also relatively.

1180
01:04:59,720 --> 01:05:03,040
New ultimate support was an
acquisition in 2022, yeah, yeah.

1181
01:05:03,520 --> 01:05:07,000
Oh, so I guess PK really they're
coming out party is is Nam.

1182
01:05:07,640 --> 01:05:08,920
Yeah, They'll be Nam.
They'll be.

1183
01:05:08,920 --> 01:05:09,760
I isn't.
Really.

1184
01:05:09,760 --> 01:05:12,160
An audio show, as much as some
people would argue it is.

1185
01:05:12,720 --> 01:05:17,400
We were together at AES in in
New York I think in November or

1186
01:05:17,400 --> 01:05:20,280
October, I can't remember.
But really, really Nam is the

1187
01:05:20,280 --> 01:05:24,400
coming out party.
We'll we'll have a play and have

1188
01:05:24,400 --> 01:05:25,960
our team there ready to talk to
people.

1189
01:05:26,200 --> 01:05:31,360
Really exciting.
So just to get into this, really

1190
01:05:31,360 --> 01:05:33,680
it's just three questions that
I'm looking at.

1191
01:05:33,680 --> 01:05:38,120
And so first for our industry,
you know, I know 20/22 was an

1192
01:05:38,120 --> 01:05:42,040
insane year.
Everyone that I spoke to record

1193
01:05:42,040 --> 01:05:45,400
years, you know, just absolutely
blew it up.

1194
01:05:45,400 --> 01:05:47,640
Biggest year they've ever had,
yadda yadda yadda.

1195
01:05:48,080 --> 01:05:52,200
And really most people were just
trying to get back to 2019

1196
01:05:52,200 --> 01:05:55,240
numbers and then all of a
sudden, you know it was just

1197
01:05:55,240 --> 01:05:57,960
this massive year.
I've heard from a lot of

1198
01:05:57,960 --> 01:06:00,760
companies, some who have
actually come on this interview

1199
01:06:00,760 --> 01:06:05,320
with me, but I've heard from a
lot of companies that 23

1200
01:06:05,840 --> 01:06:10,720
represented a bit of the same
but sort of a hangover to like

1201
01:06:10,960 --> 01:06:15,960
you know they expected to be 10
or 15% up or 20% up and and they

1202
01:06:15,960 --> 01:06:19,880
were 5% down or flat.
Yeah.

1203
01:06:20,440 --> 01:06:23,360
So you know give me, I'm not
asking for your sales, I know

1204
01:06:23,360 --> 01:06:26,800
you guys are a private company,
but you know your your outlook

1205
01:06:26,800 --> 01:06:30,280
on sort of the industry, what
2023 meant in the industry?

1206
01:06:30,320 --> 01:06:34,600
From a revenue standpoint?
I think 2023 was just a really

1207
01:06:34,600 --> 01:06:38,840
strange year and part of it,
part of it depended on

1208
01:06:39,000 --> 01:06:42,840
specifically where in the
industry you operate, right?

1209
01:06:42,920 --> 01:06:45,720
Obviously, we had what I refer
to as the Hollywood strikes,

1210
01:06:46,000 --> 01:06:50,240
right?
So you had the WGA and the the

1211
01:06:50,760 --> 01:06:54,920
the SAG strikes and so obviously
I say Hollywood not

1212
01:06:54,920 --> 01:06:57,720
geographically but the part of
the industry that records film

1213
01:06:57,720 --> 01:07:02,320
and TV.
You know, so any any rental

1214
01:07:02,320 --> 01:07:05,960
company or any event company
that had a had a not even a

1215
01:07:05,960 --> 01:07:09,680
concentration but let's say you
know I, I talk, you know I I was

1216
01:07:09,680 --> 01:07:13,920
talking to the CEO of one of the
top three rental companies and

1217
01:07:13,920 --> 01:07:17,560
he was saying you know 20% of
their business came from

1218
01:07:17,560 --> 01:07:20,040
Hollywood, right.
So you know think about think

1219
01:07:20,040 --> 01:07:23,760
about lopping 20% off of your
company and you know it was what

1220
01:07:23,760 --> 01:07:26,160
was it, it was May through
November, right.

1221
01:07:26,160 --> 01:07:30,000
So you know however many months
that isn't math you had that

1222
01:07:30,000 --> 01:07:33,680
much of the year where you know
for some people it was 20%, for

1223
01:07:33,680 --> 01:07:36,760
some people it was 99%, right.
So you had a, you had a lot of

1224
01:07:36,760 --> 01:07:39,320
strange, a lot of strange
things.

1225
01:07:39,320 --> 01:07:42,880
But then you had people who
maybe with a high concentration

1226
01:07:42,880 --> 01:07:45,720
in concert touring.
And I think 2023 was, you know,

1227
01:07:45,760 --> 01:07:50,360
the greatest concert touring
year in history until 2024,

1228
01:07:50,360 --> 01:07:52,320
which we're expecting.
You know, if you, you know, you

1229
01:07:52,320 --> 01:07:55,040
look at the data that Live
Nation is putting out and we

1230
01:07:55,040 --> 01:07:58,240
talked to our customers, you
know we we had a huge surge of

1231
01:07:58,240 --> 01:08:03,040
orders coming in right at the
end of the year, all looking for

1232
01:08:03,040 --> 01:08:06,040
delivery towards the end of the
first quarter, right.

1233
01:08:06,040 --> 01:08:08,840
So sometime in March we have,
yeah, I think there's not a

1234
01:08:08,840 --> 01:08:11,360
single rental company you can
pick up the phone and talk to

1235
01:08:11,360 --> 01:08:13,920
right now who's not going to
tell you they're booked for next

1236
01:08:13,920 --> 01:08:15,880
summer or they're booked for the
spring.

1237
01:08:16,479 --> 01:08:19,680
And I think those companies also
honestly did fairly well in

1238
01:08:19,680 --> 01:08:23,240
2023, right.
So you know sure for as you know

1239
01:08:23,240 --> 01:08:26,479
if I put on my manufacturer hat
for a second or I think about

1240
01:08:26,479 --> 01:08:29,439
the distribution area of our
business you know we're

1241
01:08:29,520 --> 01:08:33,920
obviously coming out of COVID.
There was a growth rate of you

1242
01:08:33,920 --> 01:08:38,279
know 300% or 500% or whatever it
was because our everything

1243
01:08:38,279 --> 01:08:41,160
dropped 50% going in you know
because of COVID right.

1244
01:08:41,160 --> 01:08:45,840
So you know the the the velocity
of that growth rate is you know

1245
01:08:45,840 --> 01:08:49,120
the end of the the industry is
not going to grow that much

1246
01:08:49,479 --> 01:08:53,080
again in any given year.
But we are definitely back to

1247
01:08:53,080 --> 01:08:56,120
what we consider a normalized
growth pattern whether that's

1248
01:08:56,120 --> 01:09:01,720
you know you look at 20, you
know 2012 ish to you know March

1249
01:09:01,720 --> 01:09:04,040
of 2020.
And I think if you smooth out

1250
01:09:04,040 --> 01:09:06,840
the curve of COVID, we've
actually beaten that.

1251
01:09:07,080 --> 01:09:10,560
The industry has beaten that
over the last, you know, 4 plus

1252
01:09:10,560 --> 01:09:13,319
years at this point.
And I no and it.

1253
01:09:13,520 --> 01:09:16,439
Would really expect that to
continue for you know again you

1254
01:09:16,439 --> 01:09:19,200
know I don't know that the
Hollywood strike ending is going

1255
01:09:19,200 --> 01:09:22,880
to cause you know I don't think
we're going to come storming out

1256
01:09:22,880 --> 01:09:24,960
of the gate.
But as though at that as that

1257
01:09:24,960 --> 01:09:27,600
industry starts to restart and
remember all those studios are

1258
01:09:27,600 --> 01:09:29,760
real estate companies now,
right, That's really what they

1259
01:09:30,359 --> 01:09:34,120
are you know So as that part of
the industry starts to restart

1260
01:09:34,120 --> 01:09:37,640
again and then you know again
put on the manufacturer hat for

1261
01:09:37,640 --> 01:09:39,960
a second you think about what's
going on in the rest of the

1262
01:09:39,960 --> 01:09:41,760
world, right.
And I, you know I know you

1263
01:09:41,760 --> 01:09:43,680
haven't you have a worldwide
audience, right.

1264
01:09:43,680 --> 01:09:48,160
We're we're very you know we're
we're very North American

1265
01:09:48,160 --> 01:09:50,800
centric in in the guest list
sometimes.

1266
01:09:50,800 --> 01:09:53,960
But I think you have a lot of
listeners, you know, if you look

1267
01:09:53,960 --> 01:09:57,720
at what's going on, you know, in
Saudi Arabia and other parts,

1268
01:09:57,760 --> 01:10:01,880
you know that that's that's
going to be a huge hot bun of

1269
01:10:01,880 --> 01:10:05,120
activity for the next.
Well, for the next I was.

1270
01:10:05,160 --> 01:10:07,400
Going to say for the next
decade, but probably for the

1271
01:10:07,400 --> 01:10:11,320
next forever, right?
So I think, I think anyone who's

1272
01:10:11,600 --> 01:10:15,360
manufacturing equipment, anyone
who's manufacturing

1273
01:10:15,360 --> 01:10:20,760
entertainment technology should
continue to be quite excited and

1274
01:10:20,760 --> 01:10:25,360
bullish about you know the
industry and the the, the growth

1275
01:10:25,360 --> 01:10:27,760
in the industry.
I I completely agree with you

1276
01:10:27,760 --> 01:10:30,800
and you mentioned Live Nation
and I've mentioned it many times

1277
01:10:30,800 --> 01:10:33,680
on here, but sure, but they have
this really cool approach where

1278
01:10:34,480 --> 01:10:39,160
Rapinoe put out an article
saying that that his his

1279
01:10:39,160 --> 01:10:43,440
customers or his artists
basically have 10 million

1280
01:10:43,440 --> 01:10:46,920
followers on social media.
All he has to do is sell tickets

1281
01:10:46,920 --> 01:10:52,040
to 5% of those people and you
know and he sells out a tour and

1282
01:10:52,040 --> 01:10:54,080
you know when you look at the
math like that it's pretty

1283
01:10:54,080 --> 01:10:55,760
incredible.
So what they're really trying to

1284
01:10:55,760 --> 01:11:01,200
do is start tapping you know
sort of multi multimedia type of

1285
01:11:01,200 --> 01:11:03,880
approach where you're you're
tying into the social media and

1286
01:11:03,880 --> 01:11:08,400
tying into you know between
streaming and and live events

1287
01:11:08,400 --> 01:11:09,680
and all of those different
things.

1288
01:11:09,680 --> 01:11:13,080
You're just kind of trying to
bunch it all and and have a have

1289
01:11:13,080 --> 01:11:15,000
a thread that goes.
Through the whole thing.

1290
01:11:15,000 --> 01:11:18,680
So it's pretty interesting.
It's it's, you know, I kept

1291
01:11:18,680 --> 01:11:23,360
thinking the bottom was going to
fall out a little bit and it

1292
01:11:23,360 --> 01:11:25,520
hasn't.
And now I've actually sort of

1293
01:11:25,520 --> 01:11:28,000
changed my opinion to where I
don't think it will.

1294
01:11:28,000 --> 01:11:30,480
I think there's a larger
appetite for live.

1295
01:11:30,480 --> 01:11:32,120
Events than what we're currently
feeling.

1296
01:11:32,680 --> 01:11:36,040
And it's huge.
You know, again, it's, you know,

1297
01:11:36,160 --> 01:11:40,600
we all if you wake up in the
morning and turn on the news,

1298
01:11:40,760 --> 01:11:42,360
right.
And I think that was another

1299
01:11:42,360 --> 01:11:47,360
part of the story of 2023 is we
certainly spent month.

1300
01:11:47,680 --> 01:11:50,640
I think thinking back, it feels
like it was the middle of the

1301
01:11:50,640 --> 01:11:55,480
year, right, where everyone, you
know, economists were doing

1302
01:11:55,480 --> 01:11:57,920
their best to convince us that
there was going to be a

1303
01:11:57,920 --> 01:11:59,280
recession.
Right.

1304
01:11:59,720 --> 01:12:03,080
The reality is there.
You know, we're we're still

1305
01:12:03,080 --> 01:12:06,240
waiting for the recession that
we've been promised for the last

1306
01:12:06,240 --> 01:12:10,480
three years, right.
And you know again I'm, I'm not

1307
01:12:10,480 --> 01:12:15,720
an economist, I, you know it's
it's way outside my purview and

1308
01:12:15,720 --> 01:12:18,200
area of expertise to understand
what's going on there.

1309
01:12:18,200 --> 01:12:22,720
But I think that had, I think
that had a real hangover on some

1310
01:12:22,720 --> 01:12:28,960
of the purchasing decision
making in our industry, right.

1311
01:12:28,960 --> 01:12:31,960
You know if you were, if you're
reading the news, July ish,

1312
01:12:32,000 --> 01:12:34,920
August ish, you know you just,
you really weren't feeling good

1313
01:12:34,920 --> 01:12:36,080
about waking up, right.
Yeah.

1314
01:12:37,040 --> 01:12:39,280
Well, I don't usually.
I personally, I don't usually

1315
01:12:39,280 --> 01:12:41,800
pay attention to it's a it's an
election year.

1316
01:12:41,800 --> 01:12:43,720
And all of those.
Types of things like I don't

1317
01:12:43,720 --> 01:12:45,720
think our industry.
Follows a lot of that stuff.

1318
01:12:46,120 --> 01:12:48,280
I'll tell you what's scaring the
shit out of me right now.

1319
01:12:48,280 --> 01:12:51,600
And you know, I follow some of
this geopolitics stuff because

1320
01:12:52,040 --> 01:12:56,560
my business really moves
equipment around the world.

1321
01:12:56,560 --> 01:12:58,800
Like we're not dealing with a
North American market.

1322
01:12:58,800 --> 01:13:02,000
We're dealing with Asian stuff
coming into North America, North

1323
01:13:02,000 --> 01:13:04,440
American stuff going into
Europe, etcetera.

1324
01:13:04,440 --> 01:13:07,600
We're moving stuff around.
And So what these hooties are

1325
01:13:07,600 --> 01:13:10,400
doing right now, like in the
Suez Canal and the Red Sea and

1326
01:13:10,400 --> 01:13:13,960
stuff is scaring the shit out of
me, You know, cuz like I've

1327
01:13:13,960 --> 01:13:18,080
already heard container prices
are already 3X between Asia and

1328
01:13:18,080 --> 01:13:22,240
Europe because they have to
travel like thousands of miles

1329
01:13:22,240 --> 01:13:24,360
additional.
And you know, they're they're.

1330
01:13:24,360 --> 01:13:26,560
Bringing and Ukraine is blocking
the trains.

1331
01:13:27,120 --> 01:13:28,320
Right.
Another problem.

1332
01:13:28,440 --> 01:13:31,480
Yeah.
So I mean this stuff definitely

1333
01:13:31,480 --> 01:13:36,560
has a cost and and you know if
you go back to freight shortages

1334
01:13:36,560 --> 01:13:40,040
and and these supply and demand
issues that we ran into in

1335
01:13:40,040 --> 01:13:42,680
2020-2021.
Yeah, you know.

1336
01:13:42,680 --> 01:13:45,000
That is, that's a beating on our
end.

1337
01:13:46,000 --> 01:13:48,520
Remember, I am.
I am literally the worst

1338
01:13:48,520 --> 01:13:50,280
predictor in the history of
time.

1339
01:13:50,280 --> 01:13:53,360
I'm the one who said COVID was a
90 day problem and we all needed

1340
01:13:53,360 --> 01:13:56,600
to focus on day 91, right?
I was right there with you,

1341
01:13:56,600 --> 01:13:57,880
buddy.
You know so.

1342
01:13:58,040 --> 01:14:00,280
I was as big a Jackass as you
were on that one.

1343
01:14:01,000 --> 01:14:02,640
Weisman thought it was a few
weeks.

1344
01:14:03,200 --> 01:14:04,960
Yeah, so.
He was even worse.

1345
01:14:05,400 --> 01:14:08,320
We tagged him somewhere.
No, I mean none of us.

1346
01:14:08,320 --> 01:14:10,280
Can predict this stuff.
You know, none of us can.

1347
01:14:10,280 --> 01:14:11,400
Predict this stuff.
You can just.

1348
01:14:11,800 --> 01:14:15,120
Sort of plan for for the worst
and and you know groove with the

1349
01:14:15,120 --> 01:14:19,240
best if you can so. 2024.
It.

1350
01:14:19,440 --> 01:14:23,920
It sounds to me like you're
expecting growth in 24, but

1351
01:14:23,920 --> 01:14:26,960
probably.
Regular growth like back to sort

1352
01:14:26,960 --> 01:14:32,480
of you know the 2017 to
20/18/2018 to 2019 like. 10%,

1353
01:14:32,760 --> 01:14:36,920
six percent, 8%, fifty, you
know, 6%, eight percent, 20%,

1354
01:14:36,920 --> 01:14:39,600
you know. 2300.
Percent whatever the number's

1355
01:14:39,600 --> 01:14:41,200
gonna be, the number's gonna be
right.

1356
01:14:41,200 --> 01:14:42,800
Yeah.
The market is growing.

1357
01:14:43,040 --> 01:14:46,280
There's more live events.
There's more installations that

1358
01:14:46,280 --> 01:14:49,680
need entertainment technology,
you know, there's there's all

1359
01:14:49,680 --> 01:14:52,120
kinds of, you know, there's
construction projects, there's

1360
01:14:52,200 --> 01:14:54,040
all kinds of things happening
around the world.

1361
01:14:54,400 --> 01:14:59,920
And you know that's only going
to continue as time goes on.

1362
01:15:00,320 --> 01:15:04,160
Yeah, you know on Wiseman
recorded a podcast which I think

1363
01:15:04,160 --> 01:15:05,640
comes out next week or
something.

1364
01:15:06,120 --> 01:15:10,440
And he was talking about
somebody in their finance team

1365
01:15:10,440 --> 01:15:12,640
or something coming in and
saying, you know John, we're

1366
01:15:12,640 --> 01:15:15,600
going to need you know, to add
another 12 million to the budget

1367
01:15:15,600 --> 01:15:18,280
next year or whatever.
You know, are you going to get

1368
01:15:18,280 --> 01:15:19,520
that?
Where, where are we going to get

1369
01:15:19,520 --> 01:15:20,480
that from?
And he's like.

1370
01:15:21,080 --> 01:15:23,880
Get the hell out of my office.
You know, just get out of my

1371
01:15:23,880 --> 01:15:26,280
office.
What's going to happen is going

1372
01:15:26,280 --> 01:15:28,040
to happen.
That's what's going to happen.

1373
01:15:28,040 --> 01:15:31,280
You know, I can't just pretend
that there's another 12 million

1374
01:15:31,280 --> 01:15:33,720
when I have no idea what's
what's coming.

1375
01:15:33,720 --> 01:15:34,920
You know, there could be another
war.

1376
01:15:34,920 --> 01:15:36,560
There could be 14.
Wars.

1377
01:15:36,560 --> 01:15:38,120
I have no idea.
So.

1378
01:15:39,080 --> 01:15:42,200
It's our job.
It's our job to try to predict

1379
01:15:42,200 --> 01:15:43,240
the future.
Yeah, right.

1380
01:15:43,640 --> 01:15:47,240
I mean, I'll tell you what if we
do, if you came within, you

1381
01:15:47,240 --> 01:15:51,480
know, 10 or 12% of your forecast
this year of of your budgeted

1382
01:15:51,480 --> 01:15:54,920
forecast this year, I think,
damn, you did good.

1383
01:15:55,200 --> 01:15:58,360
You know, and I've talked to a
lot of people who have and I've

1384
01:15:58,360 --> 01:16:01,600
talked to some people who were
wildly off either direction,

1385
01:16:01,600 --> 01:16:03,040
like they thought they were
going to lose money and they

1386
01:16:03,040 --> 01:16:04,400
made money.
So.

1387
01:16:05,600 --> 01:16:08,840
So yeah, and give me a big
prediction.

1388
01:16:09,000 --> 01:16:12,440
Give me a big bold prediction.
It could be somebody who's going

1389
01:16:12,440 --> 01:16:17,000
to dust off their retirement,
you know, stuff and and come

1390
01:16:17,000 --> 01:16:19,440
back out and tour.
It could be a market trend,

1391
01:16:19,440 --> 01:16:22,840
product trend.
What are you thinking?

1392
01:16:23,240 --> 01:16:25,440
Something wild?
COVID is a 90 day problem.

1393
01:16:25,440 --> 01:16:28,320
That's my prediction.
I've sworn off predictions.

1394
01:16:28,880 --> 01:16:31,040
I've sworn off predictions.
Sworn off predictions.

1395
01:16:31,400 --> 01:16:35,960
Yeah, you know, I think the
world is going to adopt

1396
01:16:37,200 --> 01:16:40,200
automated line array systems
that move in the air.

1397
01:16:40,680 --> 01:16:43,120
And you don't have to drop them
to reposition them.

1398
01:16:43,600 --> 01:16:45,600
I'm the world's huge fan of your
prediction.

1399
01:16:45,920 --> 01:16:47,760
There you go.
There you go.

1400
01:16:47,840 --> 01:16:49,600
You can pay me later.
There you go.

1401
01:16:50,000 --> 01:16:52,080
And so, bonus question.
Give me a guest.

1402
01:16:52,080 --> 01:16:56,240
I should get on this podcast.
Oh, wow.

1403
01:16:56,320 --> 01:16:58,040
I wasn't prepared for that
question.

1404
01:16:58,360 --> 01:17:00,800
Yeah, right.
Well, I'm finally old enough to

1405
01:17:00,800 --> 01:17:03,000
be a geezer, so.
Yeah, yeah.

1406
01:17:03,920 --> 01:17:05,840
We should do another one and
just talk.

1407
01:17:05,840 --> 01:17:08,200
A little about what's wrong,
Think about that and I will send

1408
01:17:08,240 --> 01:17:10,280
you an e-mail.
Well, that's no good for a

1409
01:17:10,280 --> 01:17:12,040
podcast.
What doesn't e-mail do to the

1410
01:17:12,040 --> 01:17:14,280
people who are sitting here
listening to this going Why

1411
01:17:14,280 --> 01:17:17,320
can't Ben come up with a name?
It gives them something more.

1412
01:17:17,520 --> 01:17:19,440
It gives them something more
interesting to think about.

1413
01:17:19,480 --> 01:17:23,040
How about Ralph?
OK, it's a good idea.

1414
01:17:23,040 --> 01:17:23,920
It's.
A good idea.

1415
01:17:24,120 --> 01:17:26,120
Love to get Ralph on that would
be fun.

1416
01:17:26,320 --> 01:17:28,400
And we don't even have to talk
about ma consoles.

1417
01:17:28,400 --> 01:17:32,800
We can talk about art,
photographs, cars, race cars,

1418
01:17:32,960 --> 01:17:34,640
racing drivers.
I don't care.

1419
01:17:34,720 --> 01:17:35,720
I'll give them a call and I'll
see.

1420
01:17:36,200 --> 01:17:38,000
All right.
All right, my friend.

1421
01:17:38,000 --> 01:17:40,320
Well, happy New Year to you.
I appreciate you taking the time

1422
01:17:40,320 --> 01:17:43,560
out on a Sunday on New Year's
Eve to do this and.

1423
01:17:43,560 --> 01:17:45,040
Happy New Year to you as well
and.

1424
01:17:45,680 --> 01:17:47,520
Hope you get to shower before
you eat tonight.

1425
01:17:50,640 --> 01:17:53,320
Yeah, yeah, no, I appreciate it,
buddy.

1426
01:17:53,960 --> 01:17:56,840
All right.
Have an amazing time and and

1427
01:17:56,840 --> 01:17:59,040
we'll chat next year.
All right.

1428
01:17:59,040 --> 01:17:59,720
Stay safe.
Enjoy it.

1429
01:17:59,720 --> 01:18:00,160
See you, pal.
Bye.

1430
01:18:01,360 --> 01:18:05,280
In the enviable position of
being in the same company I am

1431
01:18:05,280 --> 01:18:06,840
and I can't answer my own
questions.

1432
01:18:06,840 --> 01:18:12,000
So seeing that you're the next
in command you can you can be

1433
01:18:12,000 --> 01:18:14,120
the one who's up to bad and
answering these.

1434
01:18:14,120 --> 01:18:18,040
So it's going to be funny asking
questions about you know your

1435
01:18:18,040 --> 01:18:23,200
viewpoints of our company when
I'm in the company every day.

1436
01:18:23,200 --> 01:18:26,360
So, you know, maybe the
questions that I'm going to ask

1437
01:18:26,360 --> 01:18:30,800
you, which are going to be more
related to, you know, of how the

1438
01:18:30,800 --> 01:18:33,280
industry's doing and stuff,
let's maybe keep them more

1439
01:18:33,280 --> 01:18:36,640
industry related, not
necessarily specific to gear

1440
01:18:36,640 --> 01:18:41,480
source, but I mean aside from
that, so we're recording this.

1441
01:18:41,480 --> 01:18:44,400
People are going to hear this a
couple days after Christmas at

1442
01:18:44,400 --> 01:18:45,960
least.
I mean the people who hear it

1443
01:18:45,960 --> 01:18:48,200
the first day are going to hear
it a couple days after Christmas

1444
01:18:48,520 --> 01:18:51,280
and then obviously in
perpetuity.

1445
01:18:51,280 --> 01:18:54,680
But as we're recording it, we're
a couple of days before

1446
01:18:54,680 --> 01:18:58,800
Christmas right now.
And so I think you're traveling,

1447
01:18:58,800 --> 01:19:01,720
right?
For the holiday I am, I'm, I'm

1448
01:19:01,720 --> 01:19:03,040
doing a lot of traveling
actually.

1449
01:19:03,040 --> 01:19:05,680
I'm driving down.
I live in Northern California,

1450
01:19:05,960 --> 01:19:09,400
so we're driving down with my
family and my dogs to Los

1451
01:19:09,400 --> 01:19:12,400
Angeles to hang out with my in
laws for a couple of days.

1452
01:19:12,400 --> 01:19:15,040
And then from there, we're
flying to Denver to hang out

1453
01:19:15,040 --> 01:19:20,400
with my family for a few days
and then flying back to LA and

1454
01:19:20,400 --> 01:19:22,480
driving back up.
Holy shite.

1455
01:19:23,120 --> 01:19:25,240
Yeah, lots of fun.
That's a lot.

1456
01:19:25,680 --> 01:19:27,920
You know, you got this thing
called Southwest Airlines,

1457
01:19:27,920 --> 01:19:29,360
right?
You can get from like Northern

1458
01:19:29,360 --> 01:19:31,000
California to Southern
California.

1459
01:19:31,000 --> 01:19:34,520
It's really fast.
You can, but then you can't take

1460
01:19:34,520 --> 01:19:36,800
the dogs and then I have to put
them in.

1461
01:19:36,880 --> 01:19:38,960
I have to board them or do
something with them.

1462
01:19:39,240 --> 01:19:41,840
We have some friends here that
typically would watch them, but

1463
01:19:42,040 --> 01:19:43,520
they're not going to be here for
the holidays.

1464
01:19:43,520 --> 01:19:45,600
So we have to.
We're taking them with them.

1465
01:19:45,840 --> 01:19:48,360
That's a lot to ask people over
the holidays, like, yes.

1466
01:19:48,360 --> 01:19:51,520
Hey, do you mind walking my dogs
and feeding them every day and

1467
01:19:51,520 --> 01:19:53,680
stuff?
Don't you live on a bunch of

1468
01:19:53,680 --> 01:19:55,440
land though?
Can't you just let them loose

1469
01:19:55,440 --> 01:19:57,000
and they can go out and?
Well, that's what they do.

1470
01:19:57,000 --> 01:19:59,680
And the people that watch us
watch them are actually they

1471
01:19:59,680 --> 01:20:02,760
live on in our guest house on
our property and they also have

1472
01:20:02,760 --> 01:20:04,520
a dog.
So it's kind of a back and

1473
01:20:04,520 --> 01:20:05,760
forth.
So it wouldn't be a huge deal

1474
01:20:05,760 --> 01:20:06,800
for them if they were.
Around.

1475
01:20:06,800 --> 01:20:11,840
But yeah, they're going away.
Yeah, they were probably like,

1476
01:20:11,880 --> 01:20:13,240
you know, we were going to ask
you.

1477
01:20:17,440 --> 01:20:19,680
So yeah, I mean, that's fine.
I'm.

1478
01:20:19,680 --> 01:20:23,600
I'm actually boring as hell
staying at home and having a

1479
01:20:23,600 --> 01:20:25,880
whole bunch of family over.
So we're cooking up a storm.

1480
01:20:25,880 --> 01:20:30,120
And today I was dumb enough to
go two days before Christmas to

1481
01:20:30,520 --> 01:20:34,160
Costco and Trader Joe's, both in
the same morning.

1482
01:20:34,520 --> 01:20:37,560
And I got to tell you, I don't
know if it's a sign of the

1483
01:20:37,560 --> 01:20:41,400
economy or locker.
I don't know what the hell it

1484
01:20:41,400 --> 01:20:43,320
is, but there was nobody there.
It was pretty damning.

1485
01:20:44,120 --> 01:20:46,640
I think luck, you know you're
before the weekend, you were

1486
01:20:46,640 --> 01:20:50,120
smart to get in early and and do
it before Saturday.

1487
01:20:50,440 --> 01:20:53,120
Yeah, I know there's a lot of
people listening right now that

1488
01:20:53,120 --> 01:20:55,760
probably wouldn't accuse me of
being smart, having done that,

1489
01:20:55,760 --> 01:20:59,920
but I think I just got lucky.
I think I picked the right time

1490
01:20:59,920 --> 01:21:02,920
and and got in, got out, and it
was super easy.

1491
01:21:02,920 --> 01:21:04,320
It was crazy.
I was like.

1492
01:21:04,480 --> 01:21:06,280
Must have been Karen's doing.
Certainly wasn't.

1493
01:21:06,280 --> 01:21:08,560
Yours.
I think so, because like even

1494
01:21:08,720 --> 01:21:11,080
you know Costco.
Like, how often?

1495
01:21:11,520 --> 01:21:13,960
I don't know if you go to
Costco, but how often do you go

1496
01:21:13,960 --> 01:21:17,640
in, get all your stuff and then
walk straight up to an empty

1497
01:21:17,960 --> 01:21:23,640
cashier and you're like we were
parked in, got our stuff, got

1498
01:21:23,640 --> 01:21:27,560
out in 15 minutes?
Although I I do sometimes kind

1499
01:21:27,560 --> 01:21:30,520
of play a a game when I go to
Costco, I make it a goal to see

1500
01:21:30,520 --> 01:21:33,480
how few items I can actually
leave with, and it usually is

1501
01:21:33,480 --> 01:21:36,320
way more than I intended but it.
Always is, yeah.

1502
01:21:36,320 --> 01:21:39,120
Like I go in for toilet paper
and come out with home theater

1503
01:21:39,120 --> 01:21:40,520
seating or.
Or.

1504
01:21:40,560 --> 01:21:42,960
A washer and dryer or something,
you know?

1505
01:21:43,000 --> 01:21:46,200
It's like, why do I have all
this stuff, you know?

1506
01:21:46,480 --> 01:21:51,200
A million bananas and yeah.
Right, enough bananas for a

1507
01:21:51,200 --> 01:21:52,880
village.
Yeah, I know.

1508
01:21:52,880 --> 01:21:54,800
It's, it's crazy, but it's
tempting.

1509
01:21:54,800 --> 01:21:56,560
I mean, everything looks
appealing.

1510
01:21:56,560 --> 01:21:59,080
The one that's getting me these
days, and we talked about this

1511
01:21:59,080 --> 01:22:02,800
earlier, but the televisions, I
mean, the televisions are just

1512
01:22:03,240 --> 01:22:05,600
out of control now.
Like, it's crazy.

1513
01:22:05,600 --> 01:22:09,080
Like I walk in and right as you
walk in the door and trust me, I

1514
01:22:09,080 --> 01:22:13,360
have enough TVSI don't need any.
But you see this like 85 inch

1515
01:22:13,440 --> 01:22:16,320
OLED TV for like 3 grand or
something.

1516
01:22:16,320 --> 01:22:18,000
And I'm going.
What?

1517
01:22:18,400 --> 01:22:22,200
Like, I need that thing so bad,
you know, I got to have it.

1518
01:22:22,520 --> 01:22:23,880
I got no.
Place makes you Makes you

1519
01:22:23,880 --> 01:22:25,960
question why you need an LED
wall in the industry.

1520
01:22:25,960 --> 01:22:28,320
No, not really.
I just made a bunch of people

1521
01:22:28,320 --> 01:22:28,800
cringe.
Well.

1522
01:22:29,720 --> 01:22:33,600
Pretty pretty soon LG is going
to have you know, TV's that are

1523
01:22:33,600 --> 01:22:37,000
as big as LED walls, I guess.
I don't know, they just keep

1524
01:22:37,000 --> 01:22:39,800
getting bigger and nicer and
like these OLED screens.

1525
01:22:39,800 --> 01:22:42,520
The pictures amazing and it's
like 3 grand and then you can

1526
01:22:42,520 --> 01:22:48,960
get like I think I saw a 75 inch
today for 599, a 75 inch

1527
01:22:49,000 --> 01:22:50,120
television.
Pretty crazy.

1528
01:22:50,560 --> 01:22:52,600
I mean, at some point you run
into the limitation of like,

1529
01:22:52,600 --> 01:22:54,640
just what can you fit in a car
or in your door?

1530
01:22:54,640 --> 01:22:57,840
So then you get a consumer
version of an LED wall.

1531
01:22:57,840 --> 01:23:00,360
You just get, you know, a
seamless monitor that comes in a

1532
01:23:00,360 --> 01:23:04,320
box that's, you know, 18 by 18
and it's got 20 panels in it.

1533
01:23:04,960 --> 01:23:07,800
Yeah, I mean, and then maybe
they're just gonna roll up like,

1534
01:23:07,840 --> 01:23:11,080
you know, wrapping paper and you
can just roll the thing out onto

1535
01:23:11,120 --> 01:23:12,920
a wall and you've got a I've
seen.

1536
01:23:12,920 --> 01:23:16,440
That actually that it is like a,
it's a, it's a flexible thing

1537
01:23:16,480 --> 01:23:20,120
it's you know it was a, it was a
like a test product R&D type

1538
01:23:20,120 --> 01:23:23,480
deal but.
I remember LG had something that

1539
01:23:23,480 --> 01:23:30,120
they called something Wall, but
they were just using it for

1540
01:23:30,120 --> 01:23:32,360
photographs.
It was like it was like a a

1541
01:23:32,360 --> 01:23:39,440
photo frame thing, but it was it
was like 2 or 3mm thick and like

1542
01:23:39,600 --> 01:23:42,480
unbelievable resolution.
Just a beautiful, beautiful

1543
01:23:42,480 --> 01:23:43,880
picture.
Like I was looking at it going,

1544
01:23:43,880 --> 01:23:47,080
Oh my God, like beautiful.
Ridiculous.

1545
01:23:47,080 --> 01:23:49,160
It's like the wallpaper, that's
an LED light.

1546
01:23:49,160 --> 01:23:51,440
It's like a big OLED LED
fixture.

1547
01:23:51,840 --> 01:23:53,960
Yeah, yeah, that's cool.
I.

1548
01:23:54,600 --> 01:23:57,400
Don't know why you want your
whole wall to glow, but maybe.

1549
01:23:57,880 --> 01:24:00,760
Well, why not?
I guess cuz you can you can see

1550
01:24:00,800 --> 01:24:02,760
it.
I could see a ceiling doing it.

1551
01:24:02,760 --> 01:24:05,280
That would make more sense, but
you just walk in and staring at

1552
01:24:05,280 --> 01:24:07,120
light seems painful.
Yeah.

1553
01:24:07,680 --> 01:24:10,400
Hey, you know, we haven't really
spoken and certainly haven't

1554
01:24:10,400 --> 01:24:13,600
spoken on a podcast about your.
I know you were at LDI, I

1555
01:24:13,600 --> 01:24:16,680
wasn't.
What do you think were like a

1556
01:24:16,680 --> 01:24:18,440
couple of the hot products at
the show?

1557
01:24:20,240 --> 01:24:22,560
That's interesting.
I was only there for a short

1558
01:24:22,560 --> 01:24:25,440
period and I had several
meetings and stuff.

1559
01:24:25,440 --> 01:24:28,160
So I I definitely walked the
floor and I saw some things I

1560
01:24:28,160 --> 01:24:31,320
didn't get, like full deep demos
on some of the things that I

1561
01:24:31,320 --> 01:24:34,960
would have liked to have seen.
But the stuff that I did see

1562
01:24:34,960 --> 01:24:41,680
that caught my eye was #1 Clay.
Paki has a new, I think they

1563
01:24:41,680 --> 01:24:42,920
call it.
I'm trying to remember the name.

1564
01:24:42,920 --> 01:24:46,360
It's MIDI Bee or something like
that, but it's a it's like a

1565
01:24:46,360 --> 01:24:49,160
miniature profile moving head or
a spot.

1566
01:24:49,160 --> 01:24:50,560
I don't think it has shutters,
but it's a mini.

1567
01:24:50,720 --> 01:24:54,320
It's a mini spot, but it's
literally, it weighs 18 lbs and

1568
01:24:54,320 --> 01:24:56,800
it's like not the size of your
laptop.

1569
01:24:58,080 --> 01:25:01,320
It's itty bitty, but it was it
was bright and it was actually a

1570
01:25:01,320 --> 01:25:05,240
good quality of light and had
some interesting features behind

1571
01:25:05,240 --> 01:25:06,240
it.
I have no idea what the price

1572
01:25:06,240 --> 01:25:08,160
point is, but that was
interesting.

1573
01:25:08,240 --> 01:25:10,160
Obviously that's not going to
have a lot of place other than

1574
01:25:10,160 --> 01:25:12,800
maybe some scenic things in like
a rock'n'roll environment.

1575
01:25:12,840 --> 01:25:13,320
I don't.
Know.

1576
01:25:13,440 --> 01:25:16,280
Certainly that that's.
A trend right now, that's a

1577
01:25:16,280 --> 01:25:20,800
trend right now the smaller size
and and I kept hearing this

1578
01:25:20,800 --> 01:25:24,920
thing of of like lumens per
pound or something Oh.

1579
01:25:25,000 --> 01:25:27,960
That's an interesting metric.
Lightweight is the other big one

1580
01:25:27,960 --> 01:25:30,120
right now.
Like you said, that one's 18 lbs

1581
01:25:30,120 --> 01:25:33,920
and that Mac one is like what is
it 10 lbs or something?

1582
01:25:34,360 --> 01:25:37,000
Yeah, something like that.
That obviously was a hit of the

1583
01:25:37,000 --> 01:25:38,800
show, you know for for good
reason.

1584
01:25:38,800 --> 01:25:41,320
It's a really good looking
fixture and it it definitely is

1585
01:25:41,320 --> 01:25:43,920
going to take the place of what
the Mac or used to, you know,

1586
01:25:43,920 --> 01:25:45,000
it's got the, for now lens on
it.

1587
01:25:45,000 --> 01:25:46,960
It looks really good, the lights
good, it's pretty bright.

1588
01:25:47,440 --> 01:25:49,680
Yeah, it's got.
Different configurations, A

1589
01:25:49,760 --> 01:25:50,680
couple.
Grand.

1590
01:25:51,320 --> 01:25:55,080
Yeah, yeah, I think dealer is 15
or 1600 or something like that.

1591
01:25:56,160 --> 01:26:02,680
Yeah, sorry, it's cheap.
But you know, it's those were

1592
01:26:02,680 --> 01:26:05,240
interesting.
Another one that I thought was

1593
01:26:05,240 --> 01:26:07,520
interesting that I tried to find
but I didn't actually see in

1594
01:26:07,520 --> 01:26:09,880
person.
Corey Easterbrook told me that

1595
01:26:09,880 --> 01:26:12,960
there are a couple of fixtures
out now that have electronic

1596
01:26:12,960 --> 01:26:16,520
Frost, that there's some Acme
fixtures that have it and Chavez

1597
01:26:16,520 --> 01:26:21,080
fixtures that have it and it's
the same tech behind like the

1598
01:26:21,080 --> 01:26:23,520
window frost.
Where you turn it on and they.

1599
01:26:23,520 --> 01:26:24,920
Say like transparent or
whatever.

1600
01:26:25,160 --> 01:26:27,120
Yeah.
So it's like a variable frost

1601
01:26:27,320 --> 01:26:30,440
that's electronically controlled
rather than having a disk or

1602
01:26:30,440 --> 01:26:32,640
anything.
So I really wanted to see that,

1603
01:26:32,680 --> 01:26:35,800
but it was like by the time I
learned that, it was, you know,

1604
01:26:36,160 --> 01:26:39,240
hour 27 of the of the last day,
so.

1605
01:26:39,640 --> 01:26:43,120
I don't even want to have to
look into that.

1606
01:26:43,160 --> 01:26:44,880
Yeah, I know it's a pretty
interesting idea.

1607
01:26:45,200 --> 01:26:49,920
Whether or not it's reliable and
has good image optics is another

1608
01:26:49,920 --> 01:26:52,680
question and obviously open to
opinion, but it's a cool idea

1609
01:26:52,680 --> 01:26:54,440
and certainly could open the
doors to a lot of things.

1610
01:26:54,560 --> 01:26:57,600
Well, the good news is that
technology must be coming down

1611
01:26:57,600 --> 01:27:01,040
in cost then, because I know I
looked at it one time for a

1612
01:27:01,040 --> 01:27:05,400
conference room.
And I mean, it was ridiculously

1613
01:27:05,400 --> 01:27:08,840
expensive.
It was like obscene cost, right?

1614
01:27:08,840 --> 01:27:11,440
And obviously variable frost in
a fixture, we're talking about

1615
01:27:11,440 --> 01:27:12,240
a.
A piece of.

1616
01:27:12,240 --> 01:27:14,720
Glass that might be that big or
whatever, but still the.

1617
01:27:14,720 --> 01:27:17,120
Controller is probably more
expensive than the the actual

1618
01:27:17,120 --> 01:27:20,440
diffusion part.
But I mean, think of what it

1619
01:27:20,440 --> 01:27:23,520
would do for, you know,
obviously the window covering

1620
01:27:23,520 --> 01:27:26,560
industry would be screwed
because nobody would buy blinds

1621
01:27:26,560 --> 01:27:30,240
anymore before.
Or you know any of those things.

1622
01:27:30,240 --> 01:27:33,760
Blinds, drapes, you know,
whatever you call the roll down

1623
01:27:33,760 --> 01:27:36,160
shades, you know that would go
away.

1624
01:27:36,280 --> 01:27:37,480
You don't need it.
That's cool.

1625
01:27:37,480 --> 01:27:39,360
I I didn't hear about that one.
I'm gonna have to check that

1626
01:27:39,360 --> 01:27:40,680
out.
Yeah.

1627
01:27:41,080 --> 01:27:44,280
Yeah, I'm curious to see it in
person at some point, although I

1628
01:27:44,280 --> 01:27:46,680
don't really get fixture demos
cuz I don't work at a rental

1629
01:27:46,680 --> 01:27:49,000
company anymore.
So yeah, I'll have to make a

1630
01:27:49,000 --> 01:27:50,880
point to.
Do that, Yeah, we don't.

1631
01:27:50,880 --> 01:27:52,560
We don't often get to touch
fixtures.

1632
01:27:52,560 --> 01:27:57,600
They just kinda magically fly
through this software of ours.

1633
01:27:58,240 --> 01:28:00,520
So.
Speaking of which I've actually,

1634
01:28:00,520 --> 01:28:03,560
this is an interesting and
unique episode that we're doing

1635
01:28:03,560 --> 01:28:05,640
where we've got all of our
sponsors on one episode.

1636
01:28:05,640 --> 01:28:09,120
So we can't sit here and talk
for an hour because it's going

1637
01:28:09,120 --> 01:28:11,200
to then be 10 hours long or
something.

1638
01:28:11,920 --> 01:28:19,960
So Speaking of 2023 specifically
this year, do you think that

1639
01:28:19,960 --> 01:28:25,080
overall the year was better than
expected, worse than expected or

1640
01:28:25,080 --> 01:28:27,440
as expected.
So a year ago you were sitting

1641
01:28:27,440 --> 01:28:29,320
thinking what's next year going
to look like?

1642
01:28:29,600 --> 01:28:32,880
And I don't necessarily mean
gear source specifically, I mean

1643
01:28:34,040 --> 01:28:36,760
could be the used market, the
used equipment market, the

1644
01:28:36,760 --> 01:28:39,840
availability of used gear,
pricing on used gear, etcetera.

1645
01:28:40,960 --> 01:28:44,880
So what do you think?
Well, you know, when I think

1646
01:28:44,880 --> 01:28:48,640
about that, I think about sort
of what the craziness of 2022

1647
01:28:48,640 --> 01:28:53,040
was and the insanity of what was
going on with supply and demand

1648
01:28:53,040 --> 01:28:57,240
and with, you know, the shows
happening at any time of year on

1649
01:28:57,240 --> 01:29:00,480
top of each other, 27 at a time,
because everybody was trying to

1650
01:29:00,480 --> 01:29:04,800
get back from COVID.
So I feel like 2023 really

1651
01:29:04,800 --> 01:29:08,200
relaxed out of that some and the
second-half of the year started

1652
01:29:08,200 --> 01:29:11,800
to normalize and get back to
sort of the typical cadence of

1653
01:29:11,800 --> 01:29:13,880
the industry, at least from what
I saw.

1654
01:29:14,520 --> 01:29:18,080
And I think that's a good
expectation for 2024 and beyond

1655
01:29:18,720 --> 01:29:21,840
is that we will get back to a
lot of those sort of more normal

1656
01:29:21,840 --> 01:29:24,560
calendars and more normal
schedules.

1657
01:29:24,880 --> 01:29:26,600
Certainly business was still
good.

1658
01:29:26,600 --> 01:29:29,360
I've heard from many people that
you know they had killer years

1659
01:29:29,360 --> 01:29:33,520
and excuse me did did some
pretty amazing numbers on things

1660
01:29:33,920 --> 01:29:37,160
in the used gear market
specifically because of that

1661
01:29:37,360 --> 01:29:39,200
normalization of supply and
demand.

1662
01:29:39,200 --> 01:29:42,360
We really saw an uptick.
You know, coming out of COVID, a

1663
01:29:42,360 --> 01:29:44,040
lot of people have the
assumption that the used gear

1664
01:29:44,040 --> 01:29:47,160
market was killing it because of
the opportunity and the

1665
01:29:47,160 --> 01:29:49,560
potential during COVID and
shortly after, but.

1666
01:29:49,760 --> 01:29:51,600
Isn't it funny how that happens
though, Brad?

1667
01:29:51,600 --> 01:29:54,840
Like, you know, people like I
remember last year, even in

1668
01:29:54,840 --> 01:29:58,200
2021, people like, Oh my God,
you're in such a perfect place.

1669
01:29:58,200 --> 01:30:01,520
But the problem with our
business or our industry, our

1670
01:30:01,520 --> 01:30:06,160
part of the industry is that it
is supply and demand and we

1671
01:30:06,160 --> 01:30:08,920
always have those at the wrong
time.

1672
01:30:08,920 --> 01:30:13,120
So we've got loads of supply and
no demand which was COVID 2020

1673
01:30:13,680 --> 01:30:16,400
and then we've got loads of
demand and no supply which was

1674
01:30:16,400 --> 01:30:19,920
2021.
And then you know 2022 kind of

1675
01:30:19,920 --> 01:30:22,360
was still crazy, but it
normalized a little bit where we

1676
01:30:22,360 --> 01:30:26,280
had some supply and some demand
and did OK.

1677
01:30:26,760 --> 01:30:31,400
And and then this year the
demand, well, I don't know you

1678
01:30:31,400 --> 01:30:34,040
might have been ready to say
this, but the demand seemed to

1679
01:30:34,040 --> 01:30:37,800
go down a little bit because the
supply went up so much on the

1680
01:30:37,800 --> 01:30:40,240
supplier side, on the new gear
side.

1681
01:30:41,040 --> 01:30:43,160
Yeah.
Well, I I would say, I wouldn't

1682
01:30:43,160 --> 01:30:47,360
say that it went up so much that
or the demand went way down that

1683
01:30:47,360 --> 01:30:49,120
it was like below expected
levels.

1684
01:30:49,120 --> 01:30:52,440
I would say that it went down to
the norm right towards what you

1685
01:30:52,440 --> 01:30:55,680
would typically see. 20/22 was
nuts.

1686
01:30:55,680 --> 01:30:57,800
Everybody was trying to get
everything because you couldn't.

1687
01:30:58,120 --> 01:31:00,160
So the demand was, you know,
through the roof.

1688
01:31:00,160 --> 01:31:03,400
But 2023 really brought that
back to reasonable levels and

1689
01:31:03,400 --> 01:31:08,000
people were making more I'll say
intentional purchases and maybe

1690
01:31:08,000 --> 01:31:12,560
more thoughtful purchases rather
than just like send money, give

1691
01:31:12,560 --> 01:31:15,000
me light, I don't care what it
is.

1692
01:31:16,480 --> 01:31:18,720
You know it was it was more
intentional and it was more

1693
01:31:18,720 --> 01:31:21,320
methodical.
We did see some prices normalize

1694
01:31:21,320 --> 01:31:25,080
on things as well.
So like, you know, the CL5 that

1695
01:31:25,080 --> 01:31:30,280
was so crazy through all of
COVID plus the DM Seven came out

1696
01:31:30,280 --> 01:31:34,200
and that kind of killed the, the
extreme pricing on CL5.

1697
01:31:35,280 --> 01:31:37,680
Yeah, now it's. 40%, it's down
back.

1698
01:31:37,680 --> 01:31:41,600
To you know 20 to 30 grand for
ACL 5, which is much more where

1699
01:31:41,600 --> 01:31:44,680
you would expect it to be rather
than the 45 or whatever it was

1700
01:31:44,680 --> 01:31:48,840
for a couple of years.
Yeah, I think you know business

1701
01:31:48,840 --> 01:31:50,720
was strong.
There's a lot of potential in

1702
01:31:50,880 --> 01:31:54,640
what things are doing, but it's
more back to predictable

1703
01:31:55,200 --> 01:31:58,600
valuations and predictable
needs, which is really what you

1704
01:31:58,600 --> 01:32:00,760
need for, you know, a healthy
business and healthy growth

1705
01:32:00,760 --> 01:32:04,400
within an industry.
So your expectations for 2024

1706
01:32:04,480 --> 01:32:12,000
again growth drop or stay flat?
I think it's going to grow on

1707
01:32:12,000 --> 01:32:14,920
the equipment side of the
industry and I think that that's

1708
01:32:14,920 --> 01:32:19,800
driven largely by two things.
So number one is again with that

1709
01:32:19,800 --> 01:32:23,480
sort of thoughtful purchasing
plan that people are going to

1710
01:32:23,480 --> 01:32:26,320
make more investments rather
than just grab whatever they

1711
01:32:26,320 --> 01:32:28,240
possibly can because they have
to have it.

1712
01:32:28,440 --> 01:32:32,640
So you're going to see more
people going back more to, you

1713
01:32:32,640 --> 01:32:36,960
know, large volume purchases
where they can or making really

1714
01:32:36,960 --> 01:32:39,680
strategic decisions about what
equipment they're purchasing.

1715
01:32:39,880 --> 01:32:42,760
But with some of that on the
used gear market comes with, OK,

1716
01:32:42,960 --> 01:32:45,920
more thought into when can I get
used, when does it make sense to

1717
01:32:45,920 --> 01:32:49,360
get used, not just I have to buy
used because I can't get new.

1718
01:32:49,360 --> 01:32:52,080
Yeah, Yeah, exactly.
So I think that's going to come.

1719
01:32:52,560 --> 01:32:54,520
It's funny you say that.
Because I've spoken to lots of

1720
01:32:54,520 --> 01:32:58,320
manufacturers who say one of the
cool things that COVID did is it

1721
01:32:58,320 --> 01:33:01,800
made people plan more.
Which means that manufacturers

1722
01:33:01,800 --> 01:33:05,400
didn't necessarily have to just
have all the inventory in the

1723
01:33:05,400 --> 01:33:08,760
world all the time, just in case
somebody got a show, right?

1724
01:33:08,760 --> 01:33:12,160
Like there were actually
forecasts being delivered and

1725
01:33:12,160 --> 01:33:14,200
things like that.
Like, hey, we're gonna need this

1726
01:33:14,200 --> 01:33:17,880
many in Q1, this many in Q2.
And of course, there's always

1727
01:33:17,880 --> 01:33:21,400
the emergency buy or whatever,
but for the most part it got

1728
01:33:21,400 --> 01:33:24,200
much more organized over the
past couple of years as a

1729
01:33:24,200 --> 01:33:26,880
result.
Yeah, we'll see if that sticks.

1730
01:33:26,880 --> 01:33:30,000
You know, that's always the if
you if you let people off the

1731
01:33:30,000 --> 01:33:32,840
leash, then they they will go
back to old bad habits.

1732
01:33:32,840 --> 01:33:34,680
So it's true.
Hopefully it stays that way.

1733
01:33:34,680 --> 01:33:41,360
But yeah, it's certainly a perk.
So give me, give me a a big 2024

1734
01:33:41,360 --> 01:33:45,000
prediction and and you know,
pick the, pick the category,

1735
01:33:45,000 --> 01:33:48,760
pick the the, whatever you want.
But it could be a product trend

1736
01:33:48,760 --> 01:33:53,320
to market trend, a Beatles
reunion tour, you know, give me

1737
01:33:53,320 --> 01:33:55,520
a big prediction.
Sure.

1738
01:33:55,520 --> 01:33:58,000
Well, I'm a lighting guy, so
I'll, I'll keep it in the

1739
01:33:58,000 --> 01:33:59,800
lighting world because that's
what I actually know about and

1740
01:33:59,800 --> 01:34:04,640
don't just make things up with.
But I think what we've seen

1741
01:34:04,640 --> 01:34:07,880
since the the launch of really
the Stelos.

1742
01:34:07,880 --> 01:34:11,760
But last year the success of the
Cobra, the Cobra fixture from

1743
01:34:11,760 --> 01:34:15,840
Ericsson and for anybody who
doesn't know, those are both RGB

1744
01:34:15,840 --> 01:34:20,400
laser sourced fixtures.
And while there are some

1745
01:34:20,400 --> 01:34:23,480
challenges specifically in the
US around variances for those

1746
01:34:23,480 --> 01:34:27,800
things, as I understand it, the
Cobra just was an absolute

1747
01:34:27,840 --> 01:34:31,120
killer deal for Airton and one
of the best selling fixtures

1748
01:34:31,120 --> 01:34:34,160
they've ever had even with the
challenges within the US.

1749
01:34:34,160 --> 01:34:39,600
So I think that trend is going
to start to push into other

1750
01:34:39,600 --> 01:34:41,720
manufacturers.
You know, we've seen the IP

1751
01:34:41,720 --> 01:34:44,000
trend that's happened over the
last three or four years that

1752
01:34:44,320 --> 01:34:47,040
basically everybody has a
complete IP portfolio.

1753
01:34:47,440 --> 01:34:50,880
But I think we're now starting
to see the viability and the

1754
01:34:50,880 --> 01:34:55,160
market adoption for the next
thing past LED and I I think

1755
01:34:55,160 --> 01:34:58,640
it's going to be lasers like it.
It has to be in in my mind at

1756
01:34:58,640 --> 01:35:00,240
least.
Yeah.

1757
01:35:00,240 --> 01:35:03,680
And you know, I think maybe our
industry needs to rally together

1758
01:35:03,680 --> 01:35:06,800
a little bit, just like with
COVID, when Strickland always

1759
01:35:06,800 --> 01:35:10,160
said the problem is instead of a
big battleship, we're pulling up

1760
01:35:10,160 --> 01:35:13,000
to Congress in a bunch of 100
canoes, right.

1761
01:35:13,560 --> 01:35:16,040
And it's the same problem when
you get to something like this

1762
01:35:16,040 --> 01:35:19,640
variance, you know, hey, we want
to, we want to somehow lobby the

1763
01:35:19,640 --> 01:35:23,360
FDA to get rid of this crazy
variance in in the US that

1764
01:35:23,360 --> 01:35:25,680
shouldn't be there.
Because it's not like we're, you

1765
01:35:25,680 --> 01:35:28,800
know, taking lasers that are
cutting people's arms off and

1766
01:35:28,800 --> 01:35:31,200
stuff and aiming them at people
like weapons.

1767
01:35:32,520 --> 01:35:34,080
You know, these are safe
fixtures.

1768
01:35:34,080 --> 01:35:36,680
They're they're no less safe
than any of the other lighting

1769
01:35:36,680 --> 01:35:39,480
fixtures that we're selling.
And in some cases, a Sharpie is

1770
01:35:39,480 --> 01:35:42,520
more dangerous than any of the
laser fixtures out there.

1771
01:35:43,240 --> 01:35:45,640
Well, and until this became a
thing, it was never a need to

1772
01:35:45,640 --> 01:35:48,400
have that conversation, right?
So it's not a surprise that it

1773
01:35:48,400 --> 01:35:51,240
never happened because there was
no, no reason, right?

1774
01:35:51,280 --> 01:35:53,320
Laser projectors aren't pointing
at people.

1775
01:35:53,320 --> 01:35:55,040
They're pointing at a wall, or
at a screen, or.

1776
01:35:55,040 --> 01:35:56,960
You certainly could.
There's no law against it.

1777
01:35:57,520 --> 01:35:58,720
Yeah, yeah.
You know, that's.

1778
01:35:58,920 --> 01:36:01,760
That's true.
You can scan an an audience with

1779
01:36:01,760 --> 01:36:06,360
A25K laser or a laser video
projector and nobody goes to

1780
01:36:06,360 --> 01:36:07,600
jail.
Nobody gets fined.

1781
01:36:07,600 --> 01:36:10,360
You know so.
Yeah, it's.

1782
01:36:10,400 --> 01:36:12,200
It's.
Goofy, and it needs to be fixed.

1783
01:36:12,200 --> 01:36:15,520
But I think it's going to take
more than just Clay Paki, more

1784
01:36:15,520 --> 01:36:18,880
than just Ayrton.
It's going to take the industry

1785
01:36:18,880 --> 01:36:22,480
sort of getting together and
maybe hiring a lobbyist and and

1786
01:36:22,480 --> 01:36:25,880
getting in there and and getting
it changed.

1787
01:36:25,880 --> 01:36:27,760
It's probably something that
nobody's looking at because

1788
01:36:27,760 --> 01:36:29,240
nobody screamed loud enough,
right?

1789
01:36:29,560 --> 01:36:32,120
Yeah.
Well, as I understand it today,

1790
01:36:32,120 --> 01:36:35,800
to buy any of those fixtures in
the US now, so originally it was

1791
01:36:35,800 --> 01:36:38,480
like you couldn't buy them, you
had to, you had to demo them and

1792
01:36:38,480 --> 01:36:40,600
then there had to be a factory
representative or whatever.

1793
01:36:40,600 --> 01:36:43,720
So they got around those things.
But now as I understand it, to

1794
01:36:43,720 --> 01:36:48,000
purchase you have to have gone
through the certification to

1795
01:36:48,000 --> 01:36:50,720
hold a variance and you have to
take a safety test kind of

1796
01:36:50,720 --> 01:36:54,200
thing.
So it's like a permit basically.

1797
01:36:54,440 --> 01:36:58,560
And then in order to have a
legal transaction as a seller,

1798
01:36:58,560 --> 01:37:01,120
you have to show proof that the
buyer has those things.

1799
01:37:01,360 --> 01:37:04,000
How you report those, I don't
know who you know who's who's

1800
01:37:04,000 --> 01:37:05,480
overseeing that, but.
Yeah.

1801
01:37:06,040 --> 01:37:09,160
Well, and the challenge for
these manufacturers is, yeah,

1802
01:37:09,160 --> 01:37:11,640
they can sell them in Europe,
but the problem is the US is

1803
01:37:11,640 --> 01:37:15,000
more than 50% of the market for
most of these companies.

1804
01:37:15,000 --> 01:37:17,600
So you know, Europe ain't going
to cut it.

1805
01:37:17,600 --> 01:37:20,080
Like even if it's a really
successful Ayrton fixture

1806
01:37:20,080 --> 01:37:23,720
selling it in Europe to make it
viable as a line of product like

1807
01:37:23,720 --> 01:37:27,640
what Klaypaki have built.
Claypacky's a smaller company

1808
01:37:27,640 --> 01:37:32,080
and and they can probably get by
having a full line like that.

1809
01:37:32,160 --> 01:37:34,960
That Skylos thing I think is
kind of cool.

1810
01:37:34,960 --> 01:37:36,680
I don't know if it's bright
enough, I haven't seen one in

1811
01:37:36,680 --> 01:37:41,320
person, but and then they've got
the mini Stelos that somebody we

1812
01:37:41,320 --> 01:37:45,840
talked about the Stelos and the
variances on a podcast recently

1813
01:37:46,120 --> 01:37:50,960
and the Claypacky distributor
from Canada sent me a message on

1814
01:37:50,960 --> 01:37:53,360
on Facebook or something and
said hey Marcel, just to

1815
01:37:53,360 --> 01:37:58,680
clarify, yeah, in Canada we
don't need variances, but for

1816
01:37:58,680 --> 01:38:01,720
the US we have this, I think
it's called a mini Stelos or

1817
01:38:01,720 --> 01:38:06,040
something and it comes in below
the the requirements.

1818
01:38:06,040 --> 01:38:09,200
So even though it's a laser
fixture, you don't have to have

1819
01:38:09,200 --> 01:38:11,760
a a variance, but I don't know
how bright that is.

1820
01:38:11,760 --> 01:38:14,400
Like I know the number used to
be 4.9 milliwatts.

1821
01:38:14,400 --> 01:38:17,920
I'm sure you don't have a 4.9
milliwatt laser in that thing,

1822
01:38:17,920 --> 01:38:19,440
cuz that would suck.
Yeah, I know.

1823
01:38:19,600 --> 01:38:22,000
I I have no idea what it is.
I mean, I've seen that that

1824
01:38:22,000 --> 01:38:24,800
fixture, just the body of it,
it's it's pretty small, it's

1825
01:38:24,800 --> 01:38:28,080
smaller than a Sharpie.
So I don't.

1826
01:38:28,080 --> 01:38:30,520
I have no idea what it does in
terms of power or features, any

1827
01:38:30,520 --> 01:38:33,200
of that stuff.
Yeah, well, that's a that's a

1828
01:38:33,200 --> 01:38:37,600
bold prediction, I must say.
I probably don't agree with you.

1829
01:38:37,600 --> 01:38:41,040
Yeah, I think.
It might be a bit premature, I

1830
01:38:41,040 --> 01:38:42,400
think.
Yeah, people are gonna start to

1831
01:38:42,400 --> 01:38:46,480
plan for it now five years, but
then look in 2025 or 2026,

1832
01:38:46,480 --> 01:38:48,480
that's gonna be sort of the next
week's step.

1833
01:38:48,800 --> 01:38:51,440
No, I think it, I think it
absolutely should happen.

1834
01:38:51,440 --> 01:38:54,320
It's a beautiful light source
and I think it's got a place

1835
01:38:54,720 --> 01:38:57,320
and, but I think they have to
get around the variance first

1836
01:38:57,320 --> 01:39:00,560
and that's gonna take a couple
of years, I think potentially.

1837
01:39:00,640 --> 01:39:02,440
So I don't know, maybe
somebody's working on it and I'm

1838
01:39:02,440 --> 01:39:05,240
going to get another correction
via e-mail or something saying,

1839
01:39:05,600 --> 01:39:08,120
you know, hey Marcel, you idiot,
the variance is being dropped

1840
01:39:08,120 --> 01:39:10,760
next week, you know?
So it'll it'll be Michael

1841
01:39:10,760 --> 01:39:12,840
Strickland's new new side
project.

1842
01:39:12,920 --> 01:39:15,960
Yeah, and so I've got a bonus
question for you.

1843
01:39:16,240 --> 01:39:22,440
Who would you like to see us
bring on geezers of gear besides

1844
01:39:22,440 --> 01:39:25,000
you or your dogs or?
Right.

1845
01:39:25,000 --> 01:39:27,680
Well, you've had so many people
it's hard to keep track, but.

1846
01:39:27,760 --> 01:39:30,840
We have a few.
Have you ever had?

1847
01:39:31,040 --> 01:39:34,600
Now I'm blanking on his name.
Richard.

1848
01:39:34,640 --> 01:39:39,120
High End, Richard.
Bellevue, yeah.

1849
01:39:39,120 --> 01:39:40,000
You know what?
Yeah, Richard.

1850
01:39:40,000 --> 01:39:42,200
Bill.
It's a good reminder because

1851
01:39:42,560 --> 01:39:45,760
I've talked to Richard so many
times about coming on and he was

1852
01:39:45,760 --> 01:39:51,440
involved in some legal
discussions and didn't want to

1853
01:39:51,440 --> 01:39:54,520
come on a podcast cuz he wants
to be able to speak openly and

1854
01:39:54,600 --> 01:39:57,640
honestly and everything else.
But I would think that he's

1855
01:39:57,640 --> 01:40:01,360
through all of that now.
So that's a that's a great Sarah

1856
01:40:02,640 --> 01:40:04,800
noted.
You know we gotta get, we gotta

1857
01:40:04,800 --> 01:40:07,760
get with Richard Bellevue.
He'd be an amazing guest,

1858
01:40:07,760 --> 01:40:10,520
actually one of the smartest
products.

1859
01:40:10,520 --> 01:40:13,520
He's got so much insight to
things and and was so involved

1860
01:40:13,520 --> 01:40:16,600
in the history of how lighting
became what it is today.

1861
01:40:16,720 --> 01:40:20,400
Yeah, yeah, you know, another
one along that same vein, but

1862
01:40:20,560 --> 01:40:24,080
younger and and fresher or newer
in the industry or whatever you

1863
01:40:24,080 --> 01:40:27,160
wanna call it, is Matthias from
from Elation.

1864
01:40:27,160 --> 01:40:29,720
And I've spoken with Matthias.
He promises he's gonna do it.

1865
01:40:30,000 --> 01:40:32,840
He's just, he's always busy.
They keep launching frigging new

1866
01:40:32,840 --> 01:40:36,280
fixtures over there at Elation.
So yeah, yeah.

1867
01:40:36,440 --> 01:40:38,200
Have you ever, have you ever had
Yvonne on?

1868
01:40:38,720 --> 01:40:40,840
I mean, he's a he's harder
because he doesn't.

1869
01:40:41,760 --> 01:40:44,280
He's not as strong in English as
he is in French, certainly.

1870
01:40:44,760 --> 01:40:47,480
Well, and we ended up talking
half the podcast about racing.

1871
01:40:47,480 --> 01:40:51,720
So I'm sure yeah, Yvonne is the,
for those who don't know, the

1872
01:40:51,720 --> 01:40:55,040
founder of Ayrton and huge
racing fan named the company

1873
01:40:55,040 --> 01:40:58,560
after Ayrton Senna.
And so, yeah, him and I had a

1874
01:40:58,560 --> 01:41:01,680
pleasant talk.
I mean, Yvonne is very

1875
01:41:01,680 --> 01:41:04,360
passionate about lighting and
about his fixtures and stuff.

1876
01:41:04,360 --> 01:41:08,200
But yeah, he's a little hard to
to pull stuff out of

1877
01:41:08,280 --> 01:41:10,240
occasionally and his language is
a bit tough.

1878
01:41:10,240 --> 01:41:14,120
But I really enjoyed it.
I actually interviewed him at

1879
01:41:14,160 --> 01:41:18,360
LDI 4 years, five years ago.
I don't know what year it was,

1880
01:41:18,360 --> 01:41:22,160
but but he was great now.
And I'll tell you what I mean,

1881
01:41:22,160 --> 01:41:26,880
we're not a huge industry.
I'm already doing do overs like

1882
01:41:27,080 --> 01:41:29,800
I've I've got, I've had loads of
people on multiple times.

1883
01:41:29,800 --> 01:41:33,560
Chris Mcmean was on again last
week and I've had Chris Mcmean

1884
01:41:33,560 --> 01:41:37,280
on before.
You know, it's it's about

1885
01:41:37,280 --> 01:41:39,080
interesting people, interesting
stories.

1886
01:41:39,080 --> 01:41:41,360
It doesn't matter if it's
somebody that we've already had.

1887
01:41:41,360 --> 01:41:44,480
So, but we'll definitely reach
out to Richard Bellevue.

1888
01:41:44,480 --> 01:41:46,880
That's a good one.
Have you ever had Brad Schiller?

1889
01:41:49,680 --> 01:41:52,240
He's with Martin, but he's a
he's a similar he's he's sort of

1890
01:41:52,240 --> 01:41:54,800
like.
I know Brad really well, but I I

1891
01:41:54,800 --> 01:41:56,000
can't remember if I've had him
on.

1892
01:41:56,000 --> 01:41:57,760
I don't think I have to be
honest with you.

1893
01:41:57,960 --> 01:42:01,360
You know, it's like Rob Koenig,
who who I had last week,

1894
01:42:02,400 --> 01:42:06,480
Metallica's LD, I just assumed I
had him on before.

1895
01:42:06,480 --> 01:42:09,760
Like I I almost remembered in my
own head talking to him.

1896
01:42:09,760 --> 01:42:13,840
And so I was talking to him and
I was like, yeah, you know, we

1897
01:42:13,840 --> 01:42:16,480
got to get so and so or so and
so and he's like, yeah, yeah,

1898
01:42:16,680 --> 01:42:19,800
yeah, you know, like he was kind
of grumpy because I I wasn't

1899
01:42:19,800 --> 01:42:22,480
inviting him on And I'm like,
holy shit, you've never been on

1900
01:42:22,480 --> 01:42:23,720
the podcast.
And he goes, no.

1901
01:42:24,200 --> 01:42:26,080
And I'm like, OK, well let's get
that booked.

1902
01:42:26,080 --> 01:42:27,480
So.
That was a great.

1903
01:42:27,480 --> 01:42:29,680
Discussion.
Yeah, we, we talked last week.

1904
01:42:29,680 --> 01:42:32,760
So anyways, Brad, I appreciate
you taking a few minutes and

1905
01:42:32,760 --> 01:42:36,920
doing this with me and I
appreciate your insight.

1906
01:42:36,920 --> 01:42:41,360
And yeah, so this will be out I
think either next week or the

1907
01:42:41,360 --> 01:42:44,320
following week, I'm not sure.
Well, thanks to everybody

1908
01:42:44,320 --> 01:42:48,800
listening and happy holidays.
And if it's not holidays when

1909
01:42:48,800 --> 01:42:51,960
you listen to this, good luck.
See you, buddy.

1910
01:42:52,720 --> 01:43:00,560
Thanks, bye.
Well, hello, Rick.

1911
01:43:00,560 --> 01:43:03,800
Rick McKinney from Main Light.
Hello Marcel.

1912
01:43:03,960 --> 01:43:06,040
How you doing buddy?
I'm good.

1913
01:43:06,040 --> 01:43:09,120
How about you?
I'm alive, you know, I I somehow

1914
01:43:09,120 --> 01:43:14,640
survived 2023, the year of the
God.

1915
01:43:14,640 --> 01:43:15,920
I don't even know what to call
it.

1916
01:43:15,920 --> 01:43:19,120
Like I I can think of some
really bad words, but we'll try

1917
01:43:19,120 --> 01:43:20,520
and keep it clean 'cause it's
the holiday.

1918
01:43:20,520 --> 01:43:22,280
Season well, happy, happy New
Year.

1919
01:43:22,280 --> 01:43:25,440
Hopefully 2024 will be crazy for
everybody.

1920
01:43:25,440 --> 01:43:28,000
Yeah.
No, I mean, that's sort of why

1921
01:43:28,000 --> 01:43:31,080
we're doing this is really to
get a gauge from some people, I

1922
01:43:31,080 --> 01:43:33,960
think, who really know what the
industry's doing, what it's done

1923
01:43:34,440 --> 01:43:37,120
this past year, what it might do
next year.

1924
01:43:37,920 --> 01:43:40,280
I talk a lot about that on my
podcast I had.

1925
01:43:40,960 --> 01:43:45,960
I had John Wiseman on, well, I
think it's yesterday by the time

1926
01:43:46,240 --> 01:43:49,320
this gets posted.
Or was it last week?

1927
01:43:49,320 --> 01:43:50,960
I don't know.
Anyways, it was a week ago

1928
01:43:50,960 --> 01:43:54,200
probably or yesterday.
But I had John Wiseman on

1929
01:43:54,200 --> 01:43:57,920
episode 213 and if you don't
know John, John's sort of at the

1930
01:43:57,920 --> 01:44:01,200
top of the food chain of of
account reps or account execs

1931
01:44:01,200 --> 01:44:06,400
for for the lighting touring
business and he had a a pretty

1932
01:44:06,400 --> 01:44:12,520
good feel for things and and
then George Masik from, well,

1933
01:44:12,520 --> 01:44:14,120
actually he won't be on till
next week.

1934
01:44:14,120 --> 01:44:16,680
So now I'm confused with all of
my timing.

1935
01:44:16,680 --> 01:44:22,320
But George Masik from Clay Paki,
you know, I love getting people

1936
01:44:22,320 --> 01:44:25,040
like that on the podcast and
just talking to them about where

1937
01:44:25,040 --> 01:44:28,200
they think the industry's going.
Oh yeah, It's it's always good

1938
01:44:28,200 --> 01:44:29,880
to get everybody's perspective
for sure.

1939
01:44:30,080 --> 01:44:32,320
Yeah, Well, and you guys, I mean
one of the.

1940
01:44:33,120 --> 01:44:35,880
Great reasons.
One of the one of the things

1941
01:44:35,880 --> 01:44:37,960
about Main Light that's so
different than than other

1942
01:44:37,960 --> 01:44:41,480
companies, most other companies
is the majority of your business

1943
01:44:41,480 --> 01:44:44,040
is, is dry hire rentals right
Like or if not.

1944
01:44:44,040 --> 01:44:45,280
All of your business,
absolutely.

1945
01:44:45,440 --> 01:44:47,280
Yeah, it's it's majority for
sure.

1946
01:44:47,280 --> 01:44:49,760
It's it's what we're known for.
You know we've been doing dry

1947
01:44:49,760 --> 01:44:54,080
hire strictly for 20 plus years
at this point.

1948
01:44:54,120 --> 01:44:56,640
You know, it's it's been a good
thing for us.

1949
01:44:56,840 --> 01:44:58,600
And you've been there over 20?
Years, right?

1950
01:44:59,200 --> 01:45:02,520
I have been with the company for
24 years and as of November in

1951
01:45:02,520 --> 01:45:05,640
2023, it's based in a plenty a
great place to work.

1952
01:45:06,000 --> 01:45:08,000
Who's a tougher boss?
Mike Cannon or?

1953
01:45:09,600 --> 01:45:13,760
Itis, you know, they they both
have their their, their their

1954
01:45:13,760 --> 01:45:18,840
good their good points and and
you know everybody's, you know,

1955
01:45:19,320 --> 01:45:22,960
I get along with just about
everybody that I work with.

1956
01:45:22,960 --> 01:45:26,520
I put my nose to the grind and
do what I need to do, and that

1957
01:45:26,520 --> 01:45:28,280
always just seems to work out
well for me.

1958
01:45:28,280 --> 01:45:31,360
And I I get no Flack from
nobody, from anybody in most.

1959
01:45:31,360 --> 01:45:34,560
Yeah, I.
Don't think you could pick two

1960
01:45:34,560 --> 01:45:35,640
different bosses either, you
know.

1961
01:45:36,400 --> 01:45:38,120
I'll tell you, you're absolutely
right.

1962
01:45:38,120 --> 01:45:40,640
They are definitely on different
sides of the spectrum.

1963
01:45:40,920 --> 01:45:42,880
I.
I have a quick funny itis story.

1964
01:45:42,880 --> 01:45:47,240
So I didn't know itis and you
know I I came from Canada.

1965
01:45:47,240 --> 01:45:49,760
I went straight into Martin.
I worked for Martin for a number

1966
01:45:49,760 --> 01:45:52,160
of years.
Martin never did any business

1967
01:45:52,160 --> 01:45:54,680
with itis 'cause he was always a
high end shop at the time.

1968
01:45:55,360 --> 01:45:59,320
And I left Martin and went to
work for High end for a little

1969
01:45:59,320 --> 01:46:03,920
while and Craig Burroughs took
me around the Northeast to

1970
01:46:03,920 --> 01:46:07,320
introduce me to some customers
and itis was one of them.

1971
01:46:07,760 --> 01:46:12,720
And so we decided to play golf
and we're on the first tee.

1972
01:46:13,440 --> 01:46:16,880
And you know, I just sense of
humor, of course, right.

1973
01:46:16,880 --> 01:46:20,960
So, you know, I'm, I'm doing my
little waggle with the driver

1974
01:46:20,960 --> 01:46:22,600
and I go to pull the driver
back.

1975
01:46:22,600 --> 01:46:25,240
And every time I went to pull
the driver back, he he gave me a

1976
01:46:25,240 --> 01:46:28,880
little squawk, you know?
Oh, yes.

1977
01:46:29,240 --> 01:46:32,640
And I didn't.
I didn't know that I just had

1978
01:46:32,640 --> 01:46:35,880
Tourette's.
And so finally I turn around and

1979
01:46:35,880 --> 01:46:37,480
I'm like, would you shut the?
Fuck.

1980
01:46:37,560 --> 01:46:41,000
Up already like I'm trying to
hit the golf ball, damn it you

1981
01:46:41,040 --> 01:46:44,920
know, and and he's like, oh did
I make noise.

1982
01:46:45,880 --> 01:46:49,080
And I'm positive to this day,
and I've never asked him, but

1983
01:46:49,080 --> 01:46:53,040
I'm positive to this day he was
messing with me and and he was

1984
01:46:53,040 --> 01:46:57,000
doing it on purpose.
There is a very good possibility

1985
01:46:57,000 --> 01:46:58,560
of that.
You know, there's nobody that

1986
01:46:58,560 --> 01:47:00,920
was any more of a trickster than
I did, for sure.

1987
01:47:00,920 --> 01:47:04,600
And I'm sure we're not done with
it at this point in our lives

1988
01:47:04,640 --> 01:47:05,760
either.
It'll be back around.

1989
01:47:05,920 --> 01:47:08,240
Oh hell yeah.
Did he ever stop in to visit or

1990
01:47:08,240 --> 01:47:10,680
anything?
You know, to be honest with you,

1991
01:47:10,680 --> 01:47:14,200
I work remotely most of the
time, so if there was a stop by,

1992
01:47:14,200 --> 01:47:18,440
I don't see it because I I work
the business out of all four

1993
01:47:18,440 --> 01:47:20,200
offices.
And I see, yeah.

1994
01:47:20,800 --> 01:47:26,240
I have no need to be in one
office so he just, if he does,

1995
01:47:26,240 --> 01:47:27,880
stop being that I haven't seen
much of it.

1996
01:47:28,160 --> 01:47:31,040
Yeah, yeah, I miss the guy.
I I call him every once.

1997
01:47:31,040 --> 01:47:33,400
In a while.
I do to to yell about politics,

1998
01:47:33,440 --> 01:47:38,760
but so what's what's your role
and title in the company?

1999
01:47:38,760 --> 01:47:42,560
I know it's all very different
now that it's that it's under

2000
01:47:42,560 --> 01:47:45,520
the Canon development Group or
whatever the heck it's called,

2001
01:47:45,520 --> 01:47:48,960
but and it's obviously grown
tremendously over the past

2002
01:47:49,160 --> 01:47:50,600
couple of years.
What?

2003
01:47:50,600 --> 01:47:51,920
What?
What is it you do?

2004
01:47:52,960 --> 01:47:55,000
Well I'm the national rental
manager.

2005
01:47:55,000 --> 01:47:57,440
I've been that for about the
last two years since we've

2006
01:47:57,440 --> 01:48:02,320
expanded to to four locations.
We have a location of course the

2007
01:48:02,440 --> 01:48:05,840
the first where where I started
and where the company started in

2008
01:48:05,840 --> 01:48:09,200
Wilmington DE.
Then we opened our shop in Las

2009
01:48:09,200 --> 01:48:13,520
Vegas which was closer to to
Michael and and and where he he

2010
01:48:13,520 --> 01:48:17,000
does his business.
So we opened that one next and

2011
01:48:17,000 --> 01:48:20,800
then we opened the National shop
and then just this year opened

2012
01:48:20,840 --> 01:48:22,640
the, the Teterboro, New Jersey
location.

2013
01:48:22,640 --> 01:48:28,680
So we've got a pretty
widespread, we're pretty

2014
01:48:28,680 --> 01:48:32,080
widespread now which is kind of
what I always wanted to because

2015
01:48:32,080 --> 01:48:35,120
it's it's like it was constantly
shipping to the West Coast and

2016
01:48:35,120 --> 01:48:37,880
things like that in the past.
And it was just like, gosh, it

2017
01:48:37,880 --> 01:48:40,880
would be so nice just to have
somewhere central, you know,

2018
01:48:40,880 --> 01:48:43,040
somewhere on the West Coast
where we could service these

2019
01:48:43,040 --> 01:48:48,360
customers and it's win, win,
win, win situation 100%.

2020
01:48:48,520 --> 01:48:51,800
I would assume the Vegas office
like grew like a weed

2021
01:48:51,840 --> 01:48:54,760
immediately, and probably even
to.

2022
01:48:55,240 --> 01:48:56,880
I don't know if it's your
biggest office, but it's

2023
01:48:56,880 --> 01:48:58,800
probably pretty damn close I
would guess.

2024
01:48:58,920 --> 01:49:03,440
It it's it's doing really well.
You know it's we're we're we

2025
01:49:03,440 --> 01:49:06,200
were East Coast company for the
most part to start.

2026
01:49:06,200 --> 01:49:09,240
So that's where a lot of our
business, our core business was

2027
01:49:09,240 --> 01:49:11,960
from.
But of course by adding the

2028
01:49:11,960 --> 01:49:15,480
Vegas location, all those
customers that we dealt with on

2029
01:49:15,560 --> 01:49:17,760
the West Coast, it makes it so
much easier for him.

2030
01:49:17,800 --> 01:49:22,840
So it increased exponentially.
So all good.

2031
01:49:23,040 --> 01:49:26,040
No it makes huge sense and and
like you said it's closer to

2032
01:49:26,040 --> 01:49:28,800
home for Cannon.
So, so no it's good.

2033
01:49:28,800 --> 01:49:32,520
It's I've enjoyed watching the
company grow and and again I

2034
01:49:32,520 --> 01:49:36,720
love itis I I miss the guy but
I'm so impressed and happy to

2035
01:49:36,720 --> 01:49:39,520
see what Michael has done with
Main Light.

2036
01:49:39,520 --> 01:49:41,680
I think it's a great brand.
I think it's a great company.

2037
01:49:42,040 --> 01:49:44,880
I'm happy to see that all the
key people are still in it.

2038
01:49:45,280 --> 01:49:51,400
You know yourself and and and
Gio and and Randy and you know,

2039
01:49:51,400 --> 01:49:55,240
I mean the key players are still
involved and that's great

2040
01:49:55,240 --> 01:49:58,000
because it doesn't always.
Yeah, Michael definitely put a

2041
01:49:58,000 --> 01:50:00,320
breath of life back into the
company for sure.

2042
01:50:00,640 --> 01:50:03,520
There is no doubt about it.
It's been it's been great since

2043
01:50:03,520 --> 01:50:06,200
he's taken over.
Yeah, so I, you know, I'm not

2044
01:50:06,200 --> 01:50:08,680
going to keep you here all day.
I I really just want to get into

2045
01:50:08,680 --> 01:50:12,840
a few questions and I've, you
know you're one of, as I said

2046
01:50:12,840 --> 01:50:16,520
one of our key sponsors and I've
asked all the other sponsors the

2047
01:50:16,520 --> 01:50:18,760
same questions and got all kinds
of answers.

2048
01:50:19,560 --> 01:50:22,240
But there's kind of a line, a
thread that goes between the

2049
01:50:22,240 --> 01:50:26,640
answers that that tells me that
everybody's probably right.

2050
01:50:26,720 --> 01:50:31,640
And so the first question or or
the first series of questions I

2051
01:50:31,640 --> 01:50:37,000
guess is regarding 2023 and this
can be this can be main light.

2052
01:50:37,000 --> 01:50:40,000
This can be your view of the
industry from main light.

2053
01:50:40,000 --> 01:50:44,520
'S.
Set of glasses, but the business

2054
01:50:44,600 --> 01:50:49,240
overall in 2023?
Better than expected, worse than

2055
01:50:49,240 --> 01:50:51,840
expected, or just like you
thought it would be.

2056
01:50:53,520 --> 01:50:57,120
I'm going to have to say that it
was pretty much as expected due

2057
01:50:57,120 --> 01:51:01,760
to all the the, the, the
weirdness that happened in 2022

2058
01:51:01,800 --> 01:51:04,920
and the fact that you know that
we business was picking up in

2059
01:51:04,920 --> 01:51:07,760
2022, but you never knew when it
was going to.

2060
01:51:07,760 --> 01:51:09,680
The job was going to cancel
early.

2061
01:51:09,680 --> 01:51:12,680
You know, if a tour went out the
door, you know, if it were going

2062
01:51:12,680 --> 01:51:15,400
to come back and for two weeks
instead of eight, you know that

2063
01:51:15,400 --> 01:51:18,000
was the what we were dealing
with in 2022.

2064
01:51:18,520 --> 01:51:22,280
You know, it was it was
definitely, you know, less, much

2065
01:51:22,280 --> 01:51:26,840
less of a fear in 2023, whenever
we sent out a job that it wasn't

2066
01:51:26,840 --> 01:51:29,920
going to cancel.
So I'm going to say things were

2067
01:51:29,920 --> 01:51:32,440
as expected.
I was expecting things to go

2068
01:51:32,440 --> 01:51:38,120
much better than 2022. 20/22 was
good in comparison of course to

2069
01:51:38,120 --> 01:51:42,920
2021 but we did have that that
that's still a lot of questions

2070
01:51:43,080 --> 01:51:47,560
going on and and people still
getting sick and COVID and that

2071
01:51:47,560 --> 01:51:52,920
was canceling a lot of jobs.
So that was a major part of of

2072
01:51:52,920 --> 01:51:56,040
the 2023.
Is it just knowing that stuff

2073
01:51:56,040 --> 01:51:58,440
was coming back?
Do you think as an industry we

2074
01:51:58,440 --> 01:52:01,120
grew in in 23?
I do.

2075
01:52:01,240 --> 01:52:07,680
I really I I I do just because
of of I we're we're also just

2076
01:52:07,680 --> 01:52:09,640
towards the end of the year
starting to see more corporate

2077
01:52:09,640 --> 01:52:14,160
come back more trade show stuff.
So this is all important to our

2078
01:52:14,160 --> 01:52:17,400
industry which was kind of lost
for the last three years for the

2079
01:52:17,400 --> 01:52:20,000
most that's true.
So well and you know it's good,

2080
01:52:20,160 --> 01:52:23,000
it's good to see that come back
and I think 2024 is going to be

2081
01:52:23,000 --> 01:52:26,440
even greater because because of
that aspect of the business

2082
01:52:26,440 --> 01:52:28,200
coming back but.
You know what?

2083
01:52:29,640 --> 01:52:32,600
You know one thing our industry
doesn't seem to pay a lot of

2084
01:52:32,600 --> 01:52:37,600
attention to, but I've had and
again you're the the 5th sponsor

2085
01:52:37,600 --> 01:52:42,920
now that we've talked to about
this stuff, but I've had a lot

2086
01:52:42,920 --> 01:52:47,760
of people concerned about the
election year, the E word about

2087
01:52:47,760 --> 01:52:52,680
the R word recession.
Not, not concerned like tours

2088
01:52:52,680 --> 01:52:55,560
are going to cancel or anything,
but it could impact things like

2089
01:52:55,560 --> 01:52:57,400
what you just said, the
corporate stuff that's been

2090
01:52:57,400 --> 01:53:01,240
coming back.
It wouldn't take much for wars

2091
01:53:01,240 --> 01:53:04,480
and all of these crazy
geopolitical things that we've

2092
01:53:04,480 --> 01:53:07,720
got going on in the world to
sort of upset what's.

2093
01:53:08,360 --> 01:53:09,640
Happening.
It certainly could.

2094
01:53:09,640 --> 01:53:12,160
And interest rates are not fun
to deal with right now, too.

2095
01:53:12,160 --> 01:53:14,760
That's also something that we
have to consider.

2096
01:53:15,640 --> 01:53:18,480
There might not be as much
purchasing next year just

2097
01:53:18,480 --> 01:53:21,920
because of of the the interest
rates that could.

2098
01:53:22,040 --> 01:53:23,560
Help you that could play.
Right.

2099
01:53:23,560 --> 01:53:25,440
Yeah.
That that, that that that could,

2100
01:53:25,560 --> 01:53:28,200
but that that's where that's
where mainly is going to help

2101
01:53:28,200 --> 01:53:30,880
out a lot of people is whenever
companies have reached their cat

2102
01:53:30,880 --> 01:53:34,160
that's cat backs et cetera, you
know we're we're going to have

2103
01:53:34,160 --> 01:53:36,240
the equipment.
Yeah exactly.

2104
01:53:36,240 --> 01:53:39,520
So you know that's what we're
we're we're here to help.

2105
01:53:39,520 --> 01:53:42,760
So it's always I'm looking
forward to 2024.

2106
01:53:42,800 --> 01:53:46,240
Has supply chain still been an
issue for you guys in 23 or or

2107
01:53:46,240 --> 01:53:49,600
that's pretty much settled?
Beginning of the year, we were

2108
01:53:49,600 --> 01:53:52,680
definitely seeing it, but in the
in the first three to four

2109
01:53:52,680 --> 01:53:55,480
months and then the like the
last six months, it's gotten a

2110
01:53:55,520 --> 01:53:59,560
lot better in 2023 with getting
the parts we need to keep the

2111
01:53:59,600 --> 01:54:01,160
lights out working to.
Yeah.

2112
01:54:01,320 --> 01:54:04,280
So yeah, it's much better the
second-half of the year.

2113
01:54:04,560 --> 01:54:07,240
That's good.
So you're expecting this year

2114
01:54:07,240 --> 01:54:10,680
more of the same or or do you
think 24 is going to be wildly

2115
01:54:10,680 --> 01:54:12,640
different?
Do you think it's going to keep

2116
01:54:12,640 --> 01:54:14,360
growing?
Is it going to be flat?

2117
01:54:15,240 --> 01:54:18,440
I think it's it's going to grow.
It's going to grow a little bit,

2118
01:54:18,440 --> 01:54:20,440
you know, there's I think
there's going to be, there's

2119
01:54:20,440 --> 01:54:23,440
going to be larger tours this
year that didn't happen last

2120
01:54:23,440 --> 01:54:26,560
year because people are are are
more comfortable with it, you

2121
01:54:26,560 --> 01:54:28,000
know.
So there's I think there's going

2122
01:54:28,000 --> 01:54:32,240
to be, there's going to be more
stadium tours next year or

2123
01:54:32,920 --> 01:54:34,800
that's bigger acts coming out.
That's wild, you know.

2124
01:54:35,520 --> 01:54:38,120
The number of stadium tours
blows my mind.

2125
01:54:38,120 --> 01:54:40,280
I talk about it all the time on
my podcast.

2126
01:54:40,280 --> 01:54:43,880
Like the fact that Mötley Crüe
is doing stadiums, you know, and

2127
01:54:43,880 --> 01:54:49,160
and the weekend and all of these
acts that to me are arena acts

2128
01:54:49,160 --> 01:54:52,080
are are out filling stadiums
right now.

2129
01:54:52,080 --> 01:54:54,760
There's such an appetite for
live music.

2130
01:54:54,880 --> 01:54:57,360
There certainly is.
There certainly is an appetite

2131
01:54:57,360 --> 01:54:59,960
for it you know and that's great
for our industry.

2132
01:55:00,640 --> 01:55:04,480
Oh yeah, we we had a, we had a
great run with a with a customer

2133
01:55:04,480 --> 01:55:06,360
of ours and a comedian this past
year.

2134
01:55:06,520 --> 01:55:10,680
So you know the it's it's it's
all it's business is all there.

2135
01:55:11,520 --> 01:55:15,000
Yeah, yeah.
And, you know, apparently, like

2136
01:55:15,000 --> 01:55:18,440
if you listen to to Live Nation,
it's growing.

2137
01:55:18,440 --> 01:55:21,480
You know, like they think that
there's a huge amount of of

2138
01:55:21,480 --> 01:55:24,880
untapped potential still to grow
for live events.

2139
01:55:24,880 --> 01:55:28,280
So, you know, hey, I mean,
there's gonna continue.

2140
01:55:28,280 --> 01:55:30,080
Getting a.
Shortage of equipment this year

2141
01:55:30,080 --> 01:55:33,400
apparently, so main light is
gonna capitalize on that I'm

2142
01:55:33,400 --> 01:55:35,880
guessing.
We're here to help for sure.

2143
01:55:36,320 --> 01:55:38,120
So give me, give me a big
prediction.

2144
01:55:38,960 --> 01:55:42,800
Anything you know, a a tour that
might get a band getting put

2145
01:55:42,800 --> 01:55:46,640
back together, a market trend
like lights coming from outer

2146
01:55:46,640 --> 01:55:48,720
space, I don't know.
But anything?

2147
01:55:48,720 --> 01:55:53,920
You know, maybe maybe we can get
something to happen like Virgin

2148
01:55:53,920 --> 01:55:57,280
Atlantic and Yellow to come out.
You know, where we do the first

2149
01:55:57,280 --> 01:56:00,520
show in outer space, where we
build, where we build an arena

2150
01:56:00,520 --> 01:56:03,640
in outer space and we floated
out there and we have Richard

2151
01:56:03,640 --> 01:56:07,400
Branson fly people out to it and
we have like one of the most

2152
01:56:07,400 --> 01:56:09,880
spectacular yellow, yellow shows
ever.

2153
01:56:10,040 --> 01:56:11,960
You know, that's kind of
something I would like.

2154
01:56:12,840 --> 01:56:15,200
That sounds fun.
I don't know if I can take it,

2155
01:56:15,200 --> 01:56:18,240
but.
But for real, you know, I'm, I'm

2156
01:56:18,280 --> 01:56:21,240
a big, I like the old school
bands like Electric Light or I'd

2157
01:56:21,240 --> 01:56:23,480
love to see Jeff Lynn bring it
back out again.

2158
01:56:23,520 --> 01:56:26,160
And with the production, With
the production, it deserves

2159
01:56:26,160 --> 01:56:28,600
something like.
That, you know, I Speaking of

2160
01:56:28,600 --> 01:56:32,760
old school bands, I just started
listening to a podcast that was

2161
01:56:32,760 --> 01:56:37,280
recommended to me.
Where the heck is it?

2162
01:56:38,120 --> 01:56:40,000
It was.
I wasn't recommended to me.

2163
01:56:40,000 --> 01:56:43,480
I was listening to Rick Rubin
talking somewhere, and Rick

2164
01:56:43,480 --> 01:56:47,600
Rubin mentioned this podcast
called A History of Rock Music

2165
01:56:47,600 --> 01:56:50,920
in 500 Songs.
It's incredible.

2166
01:56:50,920 --> 01:56:53,000
It's it's a that sounds.
Really cool.

2167
01:56:53,320 --> 01:56:56,400
British guy named Andrew Hickey
and and like every episode,

2168
01:56:56,400 --> 01:57:00,320
like, I just listened to the
episode about Hey Jude and it

2169
01:57:00,320 --> 01:57:02,240
goes into way more than hey,
Jude.

2170
01:57:02,240 --> 01:57:05,640
But you know, I don't know that
much Beatles history, you know,

2171
01:57:05,640 --> 01:57:07,840
cuz I was never a massive
Beatles fan.

2172
01:57:08,240 --> 01:57:09,920
But it's so.
Interesting.

2173
01:57:09,920 --> 01:57:13,720
Like I learned so much in a 90
minute podcast or whatever.

2174
01:57:14,160 --> 01:57:16,160
But yeah, send me the link.
I'd like to check that out.

2175
01:57:16,240 --> 01:57:18,360
Yeah, I will.
I'll send it to you for sure.

2176
01:57:19,600 --> 01:57:23,480
So, yeah, I mean, what about
product trends, anything?

2177
01:57:23,800 --> 01:57:27,760
Do you see anything evolving,
changing?

2178
01:57:27,760 --> 01:57:30,360
Like, I'll give you one thing
that I've noticed.

2179
01:57:30,360 --> 01:57:33,640
And I wasn't at LDI, but I've
paid a lot of attention to what

2180
01:57:33,640 --> 01:57:36,080
went on at LDI.
And there's this new thing where

2181
01:57:36,080 --> 01:57:41,560
it's lumens per pound or lumens
per kilogram or whatever, where

2182
01:57:41,600 --> 01:57:45,880
lights are getting smaller and
lighter, you know, like that

2183
01:57:45,880 --> 01:57:48,440
little Mac, which I'm sure
you'll have thousands of them in

2184
01:57:48,440 --> 01:57:49,720
your inventory.
Oh yeah.

2185
01:57:49,720 --> 01:57:53,920
And you know that's kind of what
I was thinking is, yeah, it's

2186
01:57:53,920 --> 01:57:57,480
it's all the product trend, you
know, like the Martin Mac one

2187
01:57:57,480 --> 01:58:00,680
and it's, it's getting as much
punch as you can out of a small,

2188
01:58:01,000 --> 01:58:04,240
out of a small fixture we have.
There's a lot of large fixtures

2189
01:58:04,240 --> 01:58:06,320
with with a lot of lumens out
there right now.

2190
01:58:06,320 --> 01:58:10,680
They've stepped it up in the LED
market for sure but now we need

2191
01:58:10,680 --> 01:58:13,960
to it's it's now the small
fixture that's gonna that we

2192
01:58:14,400 --> 01:58:16,160
that people are looking for with
that punch.

2193
01:58:16,880 --> 01:58:19,920
So I think that's gonna be an
important trend for the what.

2194
01:58:19,960 --> 01:58:23,800
About what about IP ratings like
you know are, do you see us

2195
01:58:23,800 --> 01:58:26,920
getting close to a point where
people won't buy fixtures that

2196
01:58:26,920 --> 01:58:30,720
aren't IP?
You know, we're kind of in that

2197
01:58:30,720 --> 01:58:33,320
boat where of course the
majority of our inventory is

2198
01:58:33,320 --> 01:58:36,200
being pushed in that direction
because of what we do and dry

2199
01:58:36,200 --> 01:58:38,040
hire you.
You want to make sure that the

2200
01:58:38,040 --> 01:58:41,960
equipment stays in good shape
and the IP rated fixtures are

2201
01:58:41,960 --> 01:58:45,440
the way to do it.
You know it makes total sense.

2202
01:58:45,440 --> 01:58:48,080
It don't really depends on you
know where you're doing your

2203
01:58:48,080 --> 01:58:51,760
shows mostly.
It it makes you so much more

2204
01:58:51,760 --> 01:58:55,120
flexible and versatile too,
because like if you have for

2205
01:58:55,120 --> 01:58:58,360
example, let's say you're down
to your last 12 lights in your

2206
01:58:58,360 --> 01:59:02,360
shop and their IP fixtures.
You can use IP fixtures indoors,

2207
01:59:02,360 --> 01:59:04,560
but you can't use non IP
fixtures.

2208
01:59:04,560 --> 01:59:07,200
Outdoors, yeah.
And that's that's kind of the

2209
01:59:07,440 --> 01:59:11,560
the reason we we had behind
whenever we decided to to jump

2210
01:59:11,680 --> 01:59:16,080
heavier into IP in in the 2023,
yeah and 2022 of course.

2211
01:59:16,080 --> 01:59:19,680
Yeah, and now some of the stuff
coming out either from Elation

2212
01:59:19,680 --> 01:59:24,760
or even Chauvet.
Certainly Ayrton IP fixtures are

2213
01:59:24,760 --> 01:59:27,960
not as expensive as they were,
like they used to be 30% more

2214
01:59:27,960 --> 01:59:30,800
than a non IP fixture.
They're not as heavy as they

2215
01:59:30,800 --> 01:59:32,320
were, they.
Used not as heavy, that's.

2216
01:59:32,320 --> 01:59:33,480
So much.
Heavier.

2217
01:59:34,440 --> 01:59:37,760
The weight is the huge thing and
that's what kept us out of the

2218
01:59:37,760 --> 01:59:41,640
IP market originally was, you
know, we had a few fixtures, but

2219
01:59:41,640 --> 01:59:44,520
my God, whenever you're putting
them on the trusses to test them

2220
01:59:44,520 --> 01:59:47,080
and things, it's just like,
well, we can't have too many of

2221
01:59:47,160 --> 01:59:50,400
these.
But with the weights coming

2222
01:59:50,400 --> 01:59:54,120
down, that's probably the most
important part in my opinion,

2223
01:59:54,560 --> 01:59:57,080
was the fact that we were able
to get the weights down.

2224
01:59:58,000 --> 02:00:03,560
Do you have any role in the
selection of equipment like is

2225
02:00:03,560 --> 02:00:04,560
it by?
Committee.

2226
02:00:04,560 --> 02:00:06,440
Is there?
Are you part of a committee that

2227
02:00:06,760 --> 02:00:09,200
determines?
Essentially, yes.

2228
02:00:09,200 --> 02:00:12,440
You know, we we get, we get
requests all the time for stuff

2229
02:00:12,440 --> 02:00:16,000
that we don't have and we keep
we keep a list of of the items

2230
02:00:16,000 --> 02:00:19,720
that people are asking for.
And as that list grows, we look

2231
02:00:19,720 --> 02:00:23,600
at that list seriously as as
what to consider for our next

2232
02:00:23,600 --> 02:00:25,600
purchase.
Yeah, yeah, that makes.

2233
02:00:25,800 --> 02:00:28,880
Sense.
So I I'm big part of of of what

2234
02:00:28,960 --> 02:00:32,000
we purchase in the future just
based on requests.

2235
02:00:32,160 --> 02:00:33,120
Yeah, yeah.
Good.

2236
02:00:33,720 --> 02:00:37,480
You live in Delaware still.
I live in Lancaster County,

2237
02:00:37,480 --> 02:00:41,080
Pennsylvania.
I live just S southwest of

2238
02:00:41,080 --> 02:00:43,520
Lancaster, PA Cool.
Yeah, the farm.

2239
02:00:43,520 --> 02:00:44,800
Do you?
Do you have to travel to the

2240
02:00:44,800 --> 02:00:49,720
shops an awful lot?
I go into the Delaware office

2241
02:00:50,440 --> 02:00:53,760
once a month in New Jersey
office every other month.

2242
02:00:55,320 --> 02:01:00,240
Nashville 2 or 3 * 4 * a year.
In Vegas, two or three times a

2243
02:01:00,240 --> 02:01:01,640
year.
Yeah, that makes.

2244
02:01:01,680 --> 02:01:03,760
Sense mostly work here remotely
from home.

2245
02:01:04,240 --> 02:01:05,640
Well, you guys have such a great
team.

2246
02:01:05,640 --> 02:01:09,200
I mean, it's not like Nashville
needs you there or whatever,

2247
02:01:09,200 --> 02:01:10,280
right?
Like it's.

2248
02:01:10,280 --> 02:01:12,720
Nice it's all about.
It's all about having putting

2249
02:01:12,720 --> 02:01:16,160
the right people in place and
making sure that the job gets

2250
02:01:16,160 --> 02:01:18,360
done on all levels, which is
what Main Light does.

2251
02:01:18,360 --> 02:01:21,400
So I'm happy to to be working
for such a great company.

2252
02:01:21,560 --> 02:01:25,760
It is a great company and I'm,
I'm, I'm happy that they're one

2253
02:01:25,760 --> 02:01:28,000
of our sponsors, because when
they're not our sponsor anymore,

2254
02:01:28,000 --> 02:01:30,400
then I'll just talk shit about
Canon and I'll say Main Light's

2255
02:01:30,400 --> 02:01:31,880
a shitty company.
They used to be good.

2256
02:01:31,880 --> 02:01:34,160
I remember when they were good,
but they're not going anymore.

2257
02:01:35,760 --> 02:01:38,400
So a bonus, bonus question for
you.

2258
02:01:38,400 --> 02:01:41,600
And I don't know if you've ever
heard our podcast, but we get a

2259
02:01:41,600 --> 02:01:44,520
We get lighting designers on
front of house engineers,

2260
02:01:44,520 --> 02:01:49,200
managers, production managers,
tour managers, company owners,

2261
02:01:50,280 --> 02:01:53,480
account execs, all kinds of
people.

2262
02:01:53,480 --> 02:01:56,560
Anyone you'd like to see us
bring onto the podcast?

2263
02:01:58,480 --> 02:02:00,080
Have you ever had Mike Finnicaro
on?

2264
02:02:00,080 --> 02:02:01,400
I don't believe you have.
Have you?

2265
02:02:01,680 --> 02:02:03,280
No.
He would be great.

2266
02:02:03,320 --> 02:02:05,200
He's a he's a good.
He's a good guy.

2267
02:02:05,200 --> 02:02:07,960
Great personality, good person
to talk to.

2268
02:02:08,600 --> 02:02:10,720
I would recommend Mike Finn
Finnicaro.

2269
02:02:11,080 --> 02:02:15,320
The only reason I know Mike Finn
is is through Cosmo posting

2270
02:02:15,320 --> 02:02:17,920
thousands of pictures of him and
Mike and.

2271
02:02:18,000 --> 02:02:20,440
He's a great guy.
If you could do me a favor and

2272
02:02:20,440 --> 02:02:23,480
just shoot me back an e-mail
with his e-mail address, that

2273
02:02:23,480 --> 02:02:26,040
would be super helpful and we'll
reach out to him and see if he's

2274
02:02:26,040 --> 02:02:28,000
interested in jumping on that
would.

2275
02:02:28,000 --> 02:02:28,640
Be really?
Absolutely.

2276
02:02:28,640 --> 02:02:29,960
Thanks.
Thanks for that suggestion.

2277
02:02:30,520 --> 02:02:32,920
Well, happy New Year and thanks
for taking the time to do this.

2278
02:02:32,920 --> 02:02:35,440
We appreciate you jumping in and
doing it and we appreciate main

2279
02:02:35,440 --> 02:02:39,200
Light very much and.
Happy New Year and thank you.

2280
02:02:39,680 --> 02:02:41,200
All right my friend.
See ya.

2281
02:02:41,360 --> 02:02:43,200
All right, Marcel.
Well, we appreciate it.

2282
02:02:43,320 --> 02:02:44,440
Take care.
Thanks man all.

2283
02:02:45,120 --> 02:02:45,320
Right.
Bye.