#216 - Nick Whitehouse from Live Redesigned / Fireplay

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Hello and thanks for joining me
today on Gears of Gear Episode

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#216.
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Hello again, And yeah, thanks

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for coming.
I'm exhausted.

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Why?
Because Sarah has me working

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like a monkey here.
She's she's got me booked solid

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on on lots and lots of great
podcast episodes.

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And yeah, I mean, things are
just zooming right now.

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We're we're seeing a lot of
forward momentum.

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Lots more traffic, lots more
views, lots more downloads of

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the podcast.
We appreciate everyone paying

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attention right now.
I know we've been accused of

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over posting and that's great.
I'm glad you're seeing our

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posts.
Thank God because for a long

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time you didn't.
And so yeah, things are going

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really, really well at Geezers.
We're we're super happy to to be

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experiencing the growth that
we're experiencing right now and

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we're getting a lot of ideas
thrown at us for new podcast

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guests.
We've got some new sponsors

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coming on board, which is
amazing in addition to the ones

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that we already have who we love
and appreciate very much of

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course.
And so it's a good time.

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It's, it's been a really, really
positive time for Gears of Gear.

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And so, yeah, I, you know, I'm
grateful and really happy.

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And so with that, I'm going to
bring you today's guest who is

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someone who I admire very much,
I think most of you do as well.

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And he's built an incredible
business for himself and for his

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team, both as Nick Whitehouse
but also Fireplay as well.

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So along with some other things
that I think he's going to talk

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with us about a bit today.
So without delay, let's bring on

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Nick Whitehouse.
Hey Nick, how are you today?

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Hi, how are you doing?
Fantastic.

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I hope you don't mind but I
stole a picture from your

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Facebook as you can see on the
background here.

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I mean some beautiful shots.
I forget who the photographer

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was, but really great shot.
Jeff Johnson.

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OK, yeah, now really, really
nice.

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And this one just kind of fit.
You got Carrie right in between

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2 funny looking dudes, so
nothing wrong with that.

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What could be better?
Exactly.

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A a Carrie Underwood sandwich.
I She'd probably pick two

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different men than us.
Maybe.

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But, you know, who cares?
We're here.

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I'm sure she'll be fine.
Exactly.

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So a lot of things I actually
want to catch up with you on and

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and learn about and talk about,
but one thing in particular is

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that I know you've you've
started to rebrand your

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business, your fire play
business.

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Tell tell us a little bit about
that.

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Yeah, we have.
It's exciting actually, and

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we'll be announcing a lot more
over the next few months.

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But kind of coming out of the
COVID era, I realized that what

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we were working for wasn't the
right thing.

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You know, we were trying to
build a really big brand.

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We were trying to build as many
creatives in one place as we

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could.
And I felt that we were kind of

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losing our creativity a little
bit doing that because we were

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taking a lot of work that just
to pay the bills and to cover

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salaries and to kind of do that
and to keep people employed.

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And I think we lost something
and I would discovered that I

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lost something.
The bit that I enjoyed and the

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bit that I enjoyed is trying to
find innovation, trying to find

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cool new things to do and try to
bring that to live events.

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So instead of just going and
seeing the same old thing that

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we've kind of just tweaked a
little bit, you now go and you

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see something that's like, how
did they do that?

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And that's what I always used to
like.

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And I think that's what was
missing when we kind of all

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rushed to come out of, you know,
two years of not doing anything,

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we all just took everything.
So I took a year to kind of

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think about what was really
important and for me, what's

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really important in my work and
in the work that that the

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company that I have does is
being wildly creative and

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pushing innovation.
So it's not just another show.

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It's a show that's exactly
tailored and and created

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specifically for the artists
that we're working for through

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collaboration.
And not just there's some cool

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Instagram moments.
Just create a bunch of those.

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You know.
It's like, well, let's tell you

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a story.
It's so interesting because I

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actually just had a very similar
conversation with another

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British guy this morning and
it's it's when you're looking to

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scale a business, it's very
difficult to remove things.

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It's easy to add things, but
it's difficult to remove things

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and grow the business.
In other words, you know not to

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become quote the Walmart of
whatever business you are,

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right?
And just try to be everything to

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everyone and take anything, even
if it doesn't match what you

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love or what you believe in or
your character or whatever.

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And I've certainly been guilty
of much of the same many times

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in my career, to be honest,
because it's just sometimes it's

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it's very alluring, you know,
It's like, hey, look over here a

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pile of really easy cash, you
know, and you've, like you said,

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you've just gone two years
without work and without much

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cash coming in and with lots of
cash going out.

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And so I could see how you could
fall into that situation.

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But it's amazing that you not
only had the vision but the

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discipline to say, hang on, time
out, stop.

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Let's do something a little
different here, cuz I ain't

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digging this.
Yeah.

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And and I also found there are
people I really like to work

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with.
You know, the creatives that we

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work with, the artists we work
with.

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And I really enjoy that and I
enjoy those people.

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And I think just surrounding
myself with great people.

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The team we have that's coming
out into the new company, it's

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fantastic.
Like all of them are incredible

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and they're also great people.
Like they care about what we're

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doing.
They want to learn.

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They want to grow.
Like some of them are new US.

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In fact, most of them are new
US.

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So it's really cool to be at,
bring that into the, you know,

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into the world that we live in,
where it's time to let the new

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generation kind of come through
and learn from us.

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Yeah, really, really cool.
That's exciting.

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And so the new business is
called Live Redesigned.

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Correct.
So is there meaning behind that

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or is there an attitude behind
that or?

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No, not really.
I just think that we've also

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kind of, you know, we've got to
do business differently in this

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world too because everything is
more expensive.

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The cost of doing shows, it's
pushing ticket prices way up.

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So I think we're gonna, we have
found we've great some great

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partners that ways to do it
where we can help the artist

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make the most out of the shows
that they're doing while we're

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not kind of you know, creating
ticket prices so high that

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people can only go and see one
show a year.

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Yeah, yeah, that's, that's.
Really we're trying to not just

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redesigning the creative side of
it and bringing that back, but

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also trying to have some
economics that match.

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You know, I listened to
something yesterday.

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It might have been a podcast or
something where they were

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talking about this like they
were basically talking about

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quit trying to fit a show into a
budget.

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Whereas instead you're basically
creating a show and you know it.

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It's not so much of, well, we've
got $1,000,000 to spend.

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Let's go spend it, you know and
and fill it with as many moving

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lights as we possibly can.
Instead, start with the creative

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process in the show that you
need to design for that artist

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based on the artist's vision or
needs or wants or whatever.

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It's a very different approach,
you know and and I think

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everyone's so focused on a
transactional way of doing

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business as opposed to a more
emotional and more visionary way

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of doing business perhaps and.
I think that's exactly what I'm

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saying is we got to the point
where you just put 300 moving

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lights on a on a design so when
you turned up a rehearsal you

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could program something cool
because you turn 300 lights on.

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It looks good.
And as I was thinking about what

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was really creative, some of the
best shows I've ever done in my

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career with those Coldplay shows
in ballrooms with six moving

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lights.
You.

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Know, you have to be really
creative with the programming.

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You have to figure out how to
get the emotion into those six

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lights and that teaches you a
lot.

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And I think sometimes for me
that is way better than 1000

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lights all flashing and strobing
at the same time.

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You know, it's funny, I I, I had
Mark Brickman on at one point

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and asked him about, you know,
one of his favorite recent shows

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that he did or whatever.
And he talked about I think it

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was Neil Young with 16 follow
spots at Coachella and that was

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the show, 16 follow spots.
And he said it.

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I loved it.
It was amazing.

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People loved it and.
Our market is a genius, so like

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16 photo spots there probably
look better than anything else.

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Well exactly.
You know, I know front of house

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guys too that you, you know you
ask them do you like this line

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array versus this line array or
whatever.

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And the bottom line is a good
good front of house guy can make

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garbage sound really great, you
know.

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And you know I remember Butch
Allen one time did a a show for

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the band garbage and I never
forgot it because there were

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these these floor lights that
we're just like I was like what

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are those things?
And he goes, I bought them at

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Home Depot.
They're they're like some kind

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of work lights or something and
they were like a real yellowy

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kind of color like a 2000 Kelvin
or something and they just

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looked incredible on the band,
right.

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And I mean, that's taking an
idea, and he didn't do it

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because of the cost.
I don't think it wasn't like,

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hey, we need the best light we
can get for 40 bucks, you know,

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It was just something entirely
unusual.

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Well, you know, I think that's
what that's it, right?

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It's creativity.
Sometimes when we have all this

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technology and we do have the
budgets and we have a ton of

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lights and a ton of video, it's
really easy to just turn it on

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and make it look cool.
Like, yeah, I think back in my

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early days working back in
London, one of the most creative

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things I ever saw, it was a
lighting designer called Nick

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Jevons.
I don't know if you know him,

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but he came in with The Soupy
Furry Animals, which was a

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British band, and he basically
just, it looked like the trust

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had fallen down.
And he put a hundred single park

227
00:13:40,360 --> 00:13:43,440
hands in a random focus and the
whole show in white.

228
00:13:43,440 --> 00:13:47,040
And the whole show was just that
really just used in time to the

229
00:13:47,040 --> 00:13:48,160
music.
And I was like, whoa.

230
00:13:49,960 --> 00:13:52,760
That's so cool.
I mean, I I just love unusual,

231
00:13:52,760 --> 00:13:55,840
different things like that.
I'm I'm honestly getting bored

232
00:13:56,360 --> 00:13:59,240
by the fact that a all moving
lights are amazing.

233
00:13:59,560 --> 00:14:02,000
You know, they're all freaking
good and it's hard to tell

234
00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:06,280
whether is that a clay paki or a
Roby or a elation or an Ayrton

235
00:14:06,280 --> 00:14:08,600
fixture up there.
I don't really know because

236
00:14:08,600 --> 00:14:12,480
they're all so damn good now and
they all kind of look the same

237
00:14:12,480 --> 00:14:15,160
and even in the air, you know,
you like you used to go, oh,

238
00:14:15,160 --> 00:14:17,320
it's got a fat beam, it's a
whatever.

239
00:14:17,320 --> 00:14:20,080
Right now they all look the
same.

240
00:14:20,080 --> 00:14:23,120
They're all really good.
Every rig kind of is starting to

241
00:14:23,120 --> 00:14:26,840
look the same with the video
elements in the 300, moving

242
00:14:26,840 --> 00:14:29,920
lights and whatever.
It is getting a little boring

243
00:14:30,040 --> 00:14:33,040
like you like when somebody
sends a unique element into it.

244
00:14:34,200 --> 00:14:37,440
And I think that's my plan for
this year is to try and figure

245
00:14:37,440 --> 00:14:39,800
out how we do things differently
and we don't do the same look.

246
00:14:39,800 --> 00:14:42,640
And to persuade artists that
it's OK not to have a show that

247
00:14:42,640 --> 00:14:44,320
looks like everyone else's.
Yeah.

248
00:14:44,320 --> 00:14:47,160
In fact, it's probably better.
Yeah, yeah.

249
00:14:47,160 --> 00:14:52,440
I mean, so you're seeing some
unique uses of towers, you know,

250
00:14:52,440 --> 00:14:54,800
some different.
Ways.

251
00:14:54,800 --> 00:14:56,680
Maybe.
I'll Maybe I'll go to Home Depot

252
00:14:56,680 --> 00:15:00,040
tonight and see what.
I can find you never know.

253
00:15:00,040 --> 00:15:02,560
I mean, The thing is, you, you
just never know where that

254
00:15:02,560 --> 00:15:04,080
inspiration is going to come
from, right?

255
00:15:05,280 --> 00:15:07,720
Exactly.
And I think using that stuff,

256
00:15:07,720 --> 00:15:09,600
that's different and people are
like, what is that?

257
00:15:09,600 --> 00:15:12,480
Where did that come from?
Yeah, is what makes things

258
00:15:12,480 --> 00:15:13,960
different.
And it keeps audiences

259
00:15:13,960 --> 00:15:16,040
entertained.
Yeah, obviously you've got to

260
00:15:16,040 --> 00:15:19,280
have still have some musicality
and some creativity of course

261
00:15:19,280 --> 00:15:22,240
into the content and musicality
is really important.

262
00:15:22,240 --> 00:15:25,160
But sometimes I've said it
doesn't matter what you've got,

263
00:15:25,160 --> 00:15:26,680
it's if it's in time it looks
great.

264
00:15:27,120 --> 00:15:31,400
Yeah, I mean, you know, even
down to like you used to be able

265
00:15:31,400 --> 00:15:35,560
to tell that's a country band,
that's a rock band.

266
00:15:35,560 --> 00:15:37,680
You know, the rock band had a
bunch of Vera lights.

267
00:15:37,680 --> 00:15:43,000
The country band had a dozen
Intelli beams and or 24 Intelli

268
00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:47,560
beams, right.
And now it's like, I mean, they

269
00:15:47,560 --> 00:15:51,520
all look like rock shows,
whether it's a jazz artist or a

270
00:15:51,520 --> 00:15:54,640
country artist or a pop artist
or a rock artist.

271
00:15:55,120 --> 00:15:58,080
And I don't know, it's, you
know, this isn't me being a

272
00:15:58,080 --> 00:16:00,680
bitter old guy.
It's just I'm kind of getting

273
00:16:00,680 --> 00:16:02,080
bored.
Like I you're flipping through

274
00:16:02,080 --> 00:16:06,280
pictures on Instagram or
whatever, and concert shots are

275
00:16:06,280 --> 00:16:10,320
looking very, very similar these
days, you know, I liked.

276
00:16:10,360 --> 00:16:14,040
I liked what I liked what Rob
did on Metallica with the

277
00:16:14,040 --> 00:16:16,840
Towers.
Again, a very unique and

278
00:16:16,840 --> 00:16:20,280
different way of doing things.
I don't know if it was Rob or

279
00:16:20,280 --> 00:16:25,320
Dan Brown or but but or a
combination probably thought

280
00:16:25,320 --> 00:16:27,840
that was cool.
You know, I I like some of the

281
00:16:27,840 --> 00:16:31,440
Coldplay stuff that I've seen.
You know, I mean, there's

282
00:16:31,440 --> 00:16:34,680
definitely unique things still
happening, but I don't know.

283
00:16:36,120 --> 00:16:40,080
And it it is hard, it is harder
to go and do that stuff because

284
00:16:40,240 --> 00:16:43,440
you know you have you have to
fight the business managers and

285
00:16:43,440 --> 00:16:45,840
the managers are just like what
are we doing?

286
00:16:46,320 --> 00:16:48,480
Yeah, so.
And why can't it just?

287
00:16:48,600 --> 00:16:51,160
Look like re owner.
Yeah.

288
00:16:51,160 --> 00:16:54,520
And you know, one of the terms
I've heard a lot recently is

289
00:16:55,120 --> 00:16:57,360
we're not so much lighting for
the people in the room anymore.

290
00:16:57,360 --> 00:16:59,160
We're lighting for the Instagram
audience at home.

291
00:16:59,160 --> 00:17:00,720
And I'm like, well, I don't
think that's true.

292
00:17:01,640 --> 00:17:04,680
Like, I want to go to a concert
and enjoy the concert just as

293
00:17:04,680 --> 00:17:06,400
much as trying to look at the
pictures later.

294
00:17:06,960 --> 00:17:09,240
Yeah, so.
There's an argument.

295
00:17:09,280 --> 00:17:10,599
To that, though, what the
essence of it?

296
00:17:11,119 --> 00:17:14,480
There's an argument of that you
know, like and and I keep going

297
00:17:14,480 --> 00:17:18,079
back to this, this Rapinoe from
Live Nation.

298
00:17:18,079 --> 00:17:20,839
I don't know if you saw the
article that he did where where

299
00:17:20,839 --> 00:17:24,480
he said, you know, something
like, you know, the typical

300
00:17:24,520 --> 00:17:28,800
artist has 10 million followers
on social media.

301
00:17:28,960 --> 00:17:31,480
My job is easy.
All I have to do is sell tickets

302
00:17:31,480 --> 00:17:36,920
to 5% of them.
And so when you're thinking 5%

303
00:17:36,920 --> 00:17:41,400
of that artist's audience are
actually physically in the

304
00:17:41,400 --> 00:17:44,400
audience.
The other 95% are viewing on a

305
00:17:44,520 --> 00:17:49,680
on an iPhone.
And so there is some logic to

306
00:17:49,680 --> 00:17:52,960
that that you have to design
shows that look good on a, on a

307
00:17:53,040 --> 00:17:55,600
on a six inch screen or five
inch or whatever the hell the

308
00:17:55,600 --> 00:18:00,200
size of an iPhone is these days.
But it's an interesting concept.

309
00:18:01,000 --> 00:18:03,800
I mean, I'm glad guys like you
were thinking through this.

310
00:18:03,800 --> 00:18:05,600
You know what I mean?
So.

311
00:18:05,840 --> 00:18:09,200
Well, I mean that that's my easy
way to do it is you put, you

312
00:18:09,200 --> 00:18:12,440
know, 1015 Instagram moments in
a show where you know that's the

313
00:18:12,440 --> 00:18:15,880
bit that everyone's gonna post,
and then the rest of it, you can

314
00:18:15,880 --> 00:18:18,800
toast, still be creative, tell
the story, have the UPS and the

315
00:18:18,800 --> 00:18:20,240
downs.
It doesn't have to be full on

316
00:18:20,240 --> 00:18:23,640
flashing all the time, so it
looks good on a 22nd post, you

317
00:18:23,640 --> 00:18:25,920
know.
Yeah, yeah, I know it's it's a

318
00:18:25,920 --> 00:18:29,400
very good point.
It's yeah, I mean it's an

319
00:18:29,400 --> 00:18:32,680
interesting thing again, like
because I I've been one of these

320
00:18:32,680 --> 00:18:35,520
guys who keep saying how can
this keep growing, you know how

321
00:18:35,520 --> 00:18:38,640
like coming out of COVID, it's
just been gangbusters and

322
00:18:39,240 --> 00:18:42,520
average artists doing stadium
tours and stuff like that.

323
00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:48,000
But, but according to according
to Live Nation, at least it is

324
00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:51,640
going to keep growing because we
still have to get to those 95%

325
00:18:51,640 --> 00:18:54,360
of their other audience.
You know, like if these guys

326
00:18:54,360 --> 00:18:59,120
have 10 million followers, all
of them, you know we're missing

327
00:18:59,200 --> 00:19:03,520
a lot of opportunities and and
the appetite to see them live is

328
00:19:03,640 --> 00:19:06,360
is bigger than ever.
It's why?

329
00:19:06,360 --> 00:19:07,600
It is.
I think.

330
00:19:07,800 --> 00:19:10,560
I think we just have to all try
and help with the price point of

331
00:19:10,560 --> 00:19:12,880
tickets because that's the
complaint I hear from a lot of

332
00:19:12,880 --> 00:19:16,000
people is now I've got to pick
two or three shows I want to see

333
00:19:16,000 --> 00:19:19,000
in a year rather than 10.
Yeah, yeah.

334
00:19:19,000 --> 00:19:22,320
And or you end up going and
seeing Styx and REO Speedwagon

335
00:19:22,320 --> 00:19:24,800
20 * a year or whatever, you
know what I mean?

336
00:19:24,800 --> 00:19:28,120
Like if you want to go see the
the big A tours that are out and

337
00:19:28,120 --> 00:19:31,560
stuff, everything's three
$400.00 a ticket and up, you

338
00:19:31,560 --> 00:19:37,840
know, to thousands of dollars,
Which to me is is making it an

339
00:19:37,840 --> 00:19:41,680
elitist kind of event as opposed
to the average person,

340
00:19:41,680 --> 00:19:44,640
obviously.
I think it's just the cost of

341
00:19:44,640 --> 00:19:46,160
everything right now stacking
up.

342
00:19:46,160 --> 00:19:49,480
So you know, right, you go to
the grocery store, things are

343
00:19:49,480 --> 00:19:52,240
more expensive than they were a
couple of years ago, so.

344
00:19:52,480 --> 00:19:53,120
True.
So true.

345
00:19:53,160 --> 00:19:54,920
No and.
Happens to us when designing a

346
00:19:54,920 --> 00:19:57,920
show too.
Well, and the reality of like, I

347
00:19:57,920 --> 00:20:01,000
don't know if you're following
this thing with the the hootie's

348
00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:07,120
in the hootie rebels who are
like hijacking ships and blowing

349
00:20:07,120 --> 00:20:09,440
up ships and stuff going into
the Suez Canal.

350
00:20:09,960 --> 00:20:16,400
And causing freight already to
go like 3 or 4X in cost between

351
00:20:16,400 --> 00:20:20,080
Asia specifically between Asia
and Europe, but it's also

352
00:20:20,080 --> 00:20:22,360
impacting freight everywhere
else also.

353
00:20:22,360 --> 00:20:25,200
So you know it's the last thing
we needed right now is another

354
00:20:25,200 --> 00:20:28,920
freight problem especially
expanding costs.

355
00:20:28,920 --> 00:20:33,120
So you know, I like, I'm
starting to hear tours are are

356
00:20:33,120 --> 00:20:36,960
starting to employ like these
logistics experts and stuff on

357
00:20:36,960 --> 00:20:40,080
staff, you know, who are
constantly paying attention to

358
00:20:40,080 --> 00:20:42,520
these things.
It's the new reality.

359
00:20:42,560 --> 00:20:44,360
Yeah, especially if you're
moving around the world.

360
00:20:44,360 --> 00:20:47,320
I think it is a new reality to
try and do that and find the

361
00:20:47,320 --> 00:20:49,160
most cost effective way to do
it.

362
00:20:49,480 --> 00:20:53,960
Yeah, well, one of the things I
learned in this paying attention

363
00:20:53,960 --> 00:20:58,560
to some of this sort of global
geopolitics or whatever, and

364
00:20:58,560 --> 00:21:02,640
specifically this hootie's
problem is so a lot of people

365
00:21:02,640 --> 00:21:05,560
think, OK, if there's a problem
where they're starting to attack

366
00:21:05,560 --> 00:21:09,960
these, these freight ships and
you know, we can't ship stuff by

367
00:21:09,960 --> 00:21:12,240
sea container anymore, it's OK,
we'll just move it on to

368
00:21:12,240 --> 00:21:14,480
airplanes.
But one of the things that I

369
00:21:14,480 --> 00:21:17,520
didn't know, besides the cost
difference, which is quite

370
00:21:17,520 --> 00:21:19,240
massive.
Well, actually there was one

371
00:21:19,240 --> 00:21:23,720
point during COVID where it cost
more money to ship via sea than

372
00:21:23,720 --> 00:21:28,880
it was by air, which was crazy.
But what I what I found out is a

373
00:21:28,880 --> 00:21:37,080
747 fits 7C containers the the
average large freight ship.

374
00:21:37,280 --> 00:21:39,800
Can you think of how many
containers fit on a freight

375
00:21:39,800 --> 00:21:42,760
ship?
Couple of thousand I think.

376
00:21:42,800 --> 00:21:46,920
10,010 thousand containers
versus 7.

377
00:21:46,920 --> 00:21:49,840
So you know, I mean it's
obviously not something where

378
00:21:49,840 --> 00:21:53,200
you can just say, OK, we'll send
it all by air because then you

379
00:21:53,200 --> 00:21:56,280
run out of space on airplanes
too pretty quickly.

380
00:21:57,400 --> 00:21:58,680
Crazy stuff.
Yeah.

381
00:21:58,680 --> 00:22:01,960
I mean, luckily, I think that
we're getting past the supply

382
00:22:01,960 --> 00:22:04,320
chain issue of the chips and the
things like that and our lights

383
00:22:04,320 --> 00:22:05,720
and consoles and things like
that.

384
00:22:05,720 --> 00:22:07,560
So we are being able to get new
products.

385
00:22:07,720 --> 00:22:10,040
Yeah.
Yeah, back.

386
00:22:10,040 --> 00:22:12,440
So I think we will see a lot of
innovation there with the new

387
00:22:12,440 --> 00:22:14,040
lights and the new things that
are coming out.

388
00:22:14,040 --> 00:22:16,160
There's a lot of cool technology
from a lot of different

389
00:22:16,160 --> 00:22:18,480
manufacturers.
So, yeah, yeah, I think that's

390
00:22:18,480 --> 00:22:22,760
also good to embrace.
Yeah, no, obviously you know

391
00:22:22,760 --> 00:22:26,920
we're a technology driven
industry and and so seeing

392
00:22:27,320 --> 00:22:31,400
innovation is a great thing and
I think we're going to see it on

393
00:22:31,400 --> 00:22:35,640
the control side as well.
Although you know, I know we you

394
00:22:35,640 --> 00:22:36,920
were at LDI.
Yeah, I wasn't.

395
00:22:36,920 --> 00:22:40,000
I didn't go second time in the
history of LDI that I wasn't at

396
00:22:40,000 --> 00:22:44,840
a show.
But I guess one company put up

397
00:22:45,160 --> 00:22:50,480
some sign that said you don't
need lighting programmers or

398
00:22:50,480 --> 00:22:53,600
whatever, just use our new AI
lighting control.

399
00:22:54,360 --> 00:22:57,280
And they've been slaughtered on
social media over that.

400
00:22:58,640 --> 00:23:03,000
I mean, I guess, I guess it
works for a small act, yeah.

401
00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:05,600
And that's not a bad thing.
You know, like one of the when

402
00:23:05,600 --> 00:23:08,920
you've got these starting out
musicians, Nashville bands that

403
00:23:09,400 --> 00:23:11,440
try and elevate their show a
little bit and they just can't

404
00:23:11,440 --> 00:23:13,400
afford anything, it might work.
Yeah.

405
00:23:14,360 --> 00:23:16,680
I wouldn't ever rule it out,
but, you know, as soon as you

406
00:23:16,680 --> 00:23:19,880
get into a decent size, I I I
still think AI has a long way to

407
00:23:19,880 --> 00:23:21,240
go to.
Of course, yeah.

408
00:23:21,280 --> 00:23:23,960
Fill in that creativity because
I don't think you can learn

409
00:23:24,200 --> 00:23:25,480
that.
I don't think the machine

410
00:23:25,480 --> 00:23:28,080
learning can get that because
sometimes it's a feeling,

411
00:23:28,080 --> 00:23:30,040
sometimes it's repeating what
you've done.

412
00:23:30,480 --> 00:23:32,000
Yeah.
So I think that's a really hard

413
00:23:32,080 --> 00:23:34,760
thing, but I.
Think it will get awfully close.

414
00:23:34,760 --> 00:23:38,160
The problem is we're still a
small, a small market in the

415
00:23:38,160 --> 00:23:42,360
grand scheme of things.
So to say, hey, drop all that

416
00:23:42,360 --> 00:23:46,120
stuff you're doing where you're
programming, you know, code or

417
00:23:46,120 --> 00:23:49,280
doing all these massive
opportunities and come over here

418
00:23:49,280 --> 00:23:52,960
and let's make lighting consoles
program themselves in a really,

419
00:23:52,960 --> 00:23:55,960
really smart and and innovative
way.

420
00:23:56,840 --> 00:23:59,280
I just don't see that happening
anytime soon.

421
00:24:00,240 --> 00:24:02,000
We're probably still a couple
years on it.

422
00:24:03,000 --> 00:24:06,000
There is software out there that
can, you can put a track into it

423
00:24:06,000 --> 00:24:07,840
and it will tell you where to
put the hits.

424
00:24:08,400 --> 00:24:11,200
But it's very mechanic
mechanical of where it figures

425
00:24:11,200 --> 00:24:16,160
out, you know it's very based on
maths and you know, just like a

426
00:24:16,160 --> 00:24:18,840
good musician.
Yes, it's all about being in

427
00:24:18,840 --> 00:24:22,280
time but also learning how to
stretch that time and to play it

428
00:24:22,280 --> 00:24:23,760
is what makes some of the best
music.

429
00:24:23,760 --> 00:24:26,720
So I think in lighting that's
also the case.

430
00:24:26,720 --> 00:24:29,200
You have to figure out, you
know, when you take the hit and

431
00:24:29,200 --> 00:24:31,080
when you don't is or just as
important.

432
00:24:31,120 --> 00:24:34,000
And I think that's something
that I've done quite well and

433
00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:35,600
some people are like why don't
you do that one.

434
00:24:35,720 --> 00:24:37,560
So it doesn't make sense because
then you can take this.

435
00:24:38,520 --> 00:24:43,000
Yeah, I did see a couple of
years ago there were some guys

436
00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:46,920
that were working with Pioneer.
They were they were like Dutch I

437
00:24:46,920 --> 00:24:50,720
think and they created some
software, some lighting software

438
00:24:51,080 --> 00:24:54,400
that it was, it was for EDM
music specifically.

439
00:24:54,920 --> 00:24:58,640
And what it would do is it would
listen to the entire track and

440
00:24:58,640 --> 00:25:02,520
analyze the entire track.
And then it knew where all the

441
00:25:02,520 --> 00:25:06,800
bass drops were and where all
the little nuances were and all

442
00:25:06,800 --> 00:25:09,560
of those things.
And it would put in certain

443
00:25:09,560 --> 00:25:12,280
things for all of those.
Like a bass drop would be big

444
00:25:12,280 --> 00:25:14,280
white in your face kind of
stuff.

445
00:25:14,280 --> 00:25:18,560
And you know, and it just knew
the types of things to match

446
00:25:18,560 --> 00:25:21,600
with those emotions or those,
you know, whatever.

447
00:25:22,200 --> 00:25:25,240
And so that was kind of cool.
I mean, I guess it works in that

448
00:25:25,240 --> 00:25:27,320
kind of a situation, But when
you're talking about a live

449
00:25:27,320 --> 00:25:32,120
artist who might change things
up, who, you know, might move

450
00:25:32,120 --> 00:25:36,120
differently, do something
differently, whatever, it's a

451
00:25:36,120 --> 00:25:37,440
little bit different than that,
yeah.

452
00:25:38,360 --> 00:25:41,840
I mean, I mean, I think it's
yeah, but if you put that five

453
00:25:41,840 --> 00:25:43,640
different tracks into that
software, it's gonna make them

454
00:25:43,640 --> 00:25:46,120
all look the same when the bass
drops, you know, or similar.

455
00:25:46,920 --> 00:25:50,160
Well, what you have to do in a
in a 90 minute show is figure

456
00:25:50,200 --> 00:25:52,120
out how you do all those things
differently, you know?

457
00:25:52,400 --> 00:25:54,360
Yeah.
No, that's that's a good point.

458
00:25:54,520 --> 00:25:57,400
I think we're still a ways out.
Like I was actually going to

459
00:25:57,400 --> 00:25:59,640
that was one of the topics I
wanted to talk to you about

460
00:25:59,640 --> 00:26:02,200
because I've always seen you as
kind of an innovator.

461
00:26:02,200 --> 00:26:04,880
Like, you know, I know during
COVID you were one of the guys

462
00:26:04,880 --> 00:26:06,400
that was really doing some of
this.

463
00:26:07,560 --> 00:26:10,480
You know, this, this.
Virtual stuff.

464
00:26:10,600 --> 00:26:15,160
Yeah, virtual crowd stuff where
other people were just, you

465
00:26:15,160 --> 00:26:17,480
know, kind of going, OK, let's
put lots of video screens and

466
00:26:17,480 --> 00:26:19,520
whatever.
But you were actually turning

467
00:26:19,520 --> 00:26:21,880
those video screens into
something and having audience

468
00:26:21,880 --> 00:26:24,640
feedback and stuff like that,
which I thought was so cool.

469
00:26:25,160 --> 00:26:30,240
But you know, so your thoughts
on like artificial general

470
00:26:30,240 --> 00:26:34,480
intelligence, artificial
intelligence as it relates to

471
00:26:34,480 --> 00:26:38,320
our business, it really has no
impact at this time and not for

472
00:26:38,320 --> 00:26:39,120
the.
Foreseeable.

473
00:26:39,120 --> 00:26:42,160
No, I I think, I think it
definitely has some impact like

474
00:26:42,600 --> 00:26:46,240
you know I use the in Photoshop,
they've got that great new AI

475
00:26:46,240 --> 00:26:48,880
tool that can fill in gaps and
help you do renders.

476
00:26:48,880 --> 00:26:51,040
I use that all the time.
So I think there's a lot of

477
00:26:51,040 --> 00:26:55,520
things places we can use it.
And I think, you know, but just

478
00:26:55,520 --> 00:26:57,600
in in what I do, I'm still
pretty old school.

479
00:26:57,600 --> 00:27:02,640
Like I listen to a track and
I'll program it in one go and,

480
00:27:02,640 --> 00:27:05,560
you know, in the dark, put the
lights on, put the previous on

481
00:27:05,560 --> 00:27:07,480
or something like that.
And it's for me, it's more about

482
00:27:07,480 --> 00:27:10,440
feeling it and making people
feel what I feel in the music.

483
00:27:10,800 --> 00:27:11,920
Yeah.
And I don't think there's

484
00:27:11,920 --> 00:27:14,600
anything that's there right now
that can come close to that.

485
00:27:14,720 --> 00:27:17,760
Yeah, yeah, I.
Guess maybe in the future.

486
00:27:18,120 --> 00:27:21,520
Yeah, I don't know.
I listened to Joe Rogan this

487
00:27:21,520 --> 00:27:25,400
morning at 5:00 in the morning
or something, and he had some

488
00:27:25,440 --> 00:27:28,520
sex expert on there and they
were talking about like AI

489
00:27:28,520 --> 00:27:31,720
robots, sex doll things or
whatever.

490
00:27:31,720 --> 00:27:34,360
And they're getting to a point
where they're messing with your

491
00:27:34,360 --> 00:27:37,520
emotions and stuff, sort of
like, what was that movie

492
00:27:37,520 --> 00:27:39,440
called?
El El Makina or whatever.

493
00:27:40,600 --> 00:27:42,200
Yes, Machina.
Yeah.

494
00:27:42,520 --> 00:27:46,200
So, you know, I think, I think
we're, we're a few years away

495
00:27:46,200 --> 00:27:50,960
from where, you know, weird guys
who sit in their rooms playing

496
00:27:50,960 --> 00:27:53,800
video games all day and stuff,
They have girlfriends that are

497
00:27:53,800 --> 00:27:56,440
that are, you know, robots, you
know?

498
00:27:56,760 --> 00:27:59,920
Isn't that a scary thought?
It really is a scary thought,

499
00:27:59,920 --> 00:28:02,080
you know?
And Rogan took it a step further

500
00:28:02,080 --> 00:28:06,160
and said he thinks that babies
being born today are sort of the

501
00:28:06,160 --> 00:28:14,080
last of the the, you know, human
existence as a as a, you know,

502
00:28:14,080 --> 00:28:17,560
as a majority, I guess, of
existence on this planet.

503
00:28:17,560 --> 00:28:23,160
Because after that we're gonna
be virtually replaced by by AI

504
00:28:23,160 --> 00:28:26,400
and by robots and by fake
people, basically.

505
00:28:27,640 --> 00:28:29,400
I mean, it's a definite
possibility.

506
00:28:29,400 --> 00:28:31,920
There is a lot of cool
technology coming out very fast.

507
00:28:32,040 --> 00:28:34,320
Yeah, that's the thing.
Just the speed.

508
00:28:35,320 --> 00:28:38,960
Like, you know, one minute you
got Siri arguing with you, you

509
00:28:38,960 --> 00:28:42,720
know, because she's saying it
wrong or something, and then the

510
00:28:42,720 --> 00:28:45,360
next minute, all of a sudden
we've got these things writing

511
00:28:45,360 --> 00:28:48,240
code by themselves and getting
smarter as they're doing it,

512
00:28:48,240 --> 00:28:51,480
very rapidly.
I mean, you can have an

513
00:28:51,480 --> 00:28:53,840
intelligent conversation with
ChatGPT right now.

514
00:28:54,280 --> 00:28:56,120
It's crazy.
It is wild.

515
00:28:56,360 --> 00:28:57,400
It is.
It amazes me.

516
00:28:57,400 --> 00:29:01,320
Some of the things that you can
get out of ChatGPT and and you

517
00:29:01,320 --> 00:29:04,000
know what's the new one?
I think 5 is the one that's

518
00:29:04,000 --> 00:29:07,640
coming now and it's supposed to
be like you know just leaps and

519
00:29:07,640 --> 00:29:09,640
bounds better.
So I don't know.

520
00:29:10,600 --> 00:29:12,840
I'm somewhere between being
excited and being scared to

521
00:29:13,040 --> 00:29:14,880
death.
Me too.

522
00:29:15,160 --> 00:29:18,240
But I think any of those things
that can help us do our jobs

523
00:29:18,240 --> 00:29:22,280
better without sacrificing, you
know, like the creativity or the

524
00:29:22,280 --> 00:29:26,360
end result or the innovation,
yeah, I think we should use

525
00:29:26,360 --> 00:29:27,320
them.
Like, I always like new

526
00:29:27,320 --> 00:29:28,880
technology.
I've always been a fan of it,

527
00:29:28,880 --> 00:29:31,520
and I've always been the one
that's put my ass on the line to

528
00:29:31,520 --> 00:29:34,080
put it on the show.
When Yeah, you get a lot of blue

529
00:29:34,080 --> 00:29:36,840
screens of death in my time, so.
Yeah, yeah, it's.

530
00:29:37,120 --> 00:29:41,240
But I've heard it compared to a
gun, like where in the right

531
00:29:41,240 --> 00:29:44,800
hands it saves you and your
family from a bad situation, In

532
00:29:44,800 --> 00:29:52,360
the wrong hands it kills people.
And AI and AGI specifically is

533
00:29:52,360 --> 00:29:55,120
sort of we're in that same loop
right now.

534
00:29:55,120 --> 00:29:58,520
You know, like they can make it
a really bad thing.

535
00:29:58,520 --> 00:29:59,680
They can make it a really good
thing.

536
00:29:59,680 --> 00:30:02,520
And I've talked to both sides of
this, like where some people say

537
00:30:02,520 --> 00:30:05,280
it's just not going there.
You know, I see us, you know,

538
00:30:05,280 --> 00:30:08,400
going back to sort of square one
and we're going to be normal

539
00:30:08,400 --> 00:30:10,400
human beings.
I don't know.

540
00:30:10,440 --> 00:30:12,360
You can't kind of put that back
in the.

541
00:30:12,360 --> 00:30:14,760
Bottom I don't think so.
I don't think you ever go

542
00:30:14,760 --> 00:30:16,160
backwards, right?
There's always going to be

543
00:30:16,160 --> 00:30:19,400
someone that pushes it forwards.
Yeah, yeah, I think so too.

544
00:30:19,480 --> 00:30:22,000
I mean.
Like I said, I think there's

545
00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:25,400
lots of places that it makes it
better, makes our lives better,

546
00:30:25,400 --> 00:30:27,680
makes it easier, can help
things, can make it more

547
00:30:27,680 --> 00:30:31,360
productive and give us more time
to actually do business and

548
00:30:31,360 --> 00:30:33,640
pleasure.
Well, that too.

549
00:30:33,640 --> 00:30:37,840
But I mean like, the speed at
which it can accomplish tedious,

550
00:30:37,840 --> 00:30:42,640
lengthy, boring, brutally
painful tasks is is

551
00:30:42,640 --> 00:30:44,760
unbelievable.
You know, like you've got to

552
00:30:44,760 --> 00:30:48,960
create a list of something
that's 10,000 pages long and

553
00:30:48,960 --> 00:30:52,200
it's a repetitive task that
goes, looks for this, finds it,

554
00:30:52,200 --> 00:30:55,520
grabs it, puts it over here,
adds this thing to it, goes to

555
00:30:55,520 --> 00:30:58,840
the next line, does it again.
You can do that in a few minutes

556
00:30:58,840 --> 00:31:01,680
with AI, where it could take you
days to do it by yourself,

557
00:31:01,680 --> 00:31:04,400
right?
I know, exactly.

558
00:31:04,720 --> 00:31:08,240
Yeah, it's crazy.
So you've had, you've had a

559
00:31:08,240 --> 00:31:10,920
pretty successful and
interesting and fun couple of

560
00:31:10,920 --> 00:31:14,160
years, it seems, you know, since
COVID.

561
00:31:14,160 --> 00:31:19,240
But most recently, I think, is
the Carrie Underwood residency

562
00:31:19,240 --> 00:31:23,960
right at at Resorts World.
Yeah, that's been our big kind

563
00:31:23,960 --> 00:31:27,840
of flagship show for a while.
It's, yeah, it's a pretty huge

564
00:31:28,280 --> 00:31:29,840
undertaking.
Yeah.

565
00:31:30,400 --> 00:31:32,760
So you've worked with her a long
time, right?

566
00:31:34,280 --> 00:31:37,280
It would be like the 6th or 7th
year now, yeah?

567
00:31:37,760 --> 00:31:38,880
Wow.
Wow.

568
00:31:39,440 --> 00:31:43,280
So is it still running or is is
that done already?

569
00:31:43,920 --> 00:31:44,840
It is.
It's.

570
00:31:45,680 --> 00:31:47,600
It runs for weeks all the way
through This year.

571
00:31:48,440 --> 00:31:50,080
I think there's two to three
weeks at a time.

572
00:31:50,880 --> 00:31:54,440
And so do you have people on it
still or is it just her, her

573
00:31:54,440 --> 00:31:58,240
team now and you guys?
It's her team.

574
00:31:58,240 --> 00:32:00,840
I still tend to show up at the
start of a new run and in case

575
00:32:00,840 --> 00:32:04,440
we need to add anything, tweak
anything, just make sure it's

576
00:32:04,440 --> 00:32:06,520
all good.
But she's got a great team and

577
00:32:06,520 --> 00:32:08,680
she's got some, you know, the
operators out there are awesome.

578
00:32:08,680 --> 00:32:10,760
So yeah, and the theatre is
fantastic.

579
00:32:10,760 --> 00:32:11,640
I don't know if you've been
there.

580
00:32:11,640 --> 00:32:13,440
No, I haven't yet.
I haven't.

581
00:32:13,880 --> 00:32:16,840
How many seats is it?
They did a great job, 5000.

582
00:32:17,160 --> 00:32:18,480
Oh, OK.
Yeah.

583
00:32:18,480 --> 00:32:19,960
No, I haven't been there yet.
I stayed.

584
00:32:21,320 --> 00:32:23,960
I stayed.
I've stayed different places

585
00:32:23,960 --> 00:32:25,920
every time I go there.
I usually stay at the Wynn, but

586
00:32:27,360 --> 00:32:31,320
I meant to stay there last year
and I for some reason didn't.

587
00:32:31,320 --> 00:32:33,600
But yeah, I gotta go check it
out.

588
00:32:34,880 --> 00:32:38,040
Like you said, for for what
started as a country artist, I

589
00:32:38,040 --> 00:32:41,080
think we have more axis of
motion from Tate on this show

590
00:32:41,080 --> 00:32:43,760
than they've ever put on a show.
Yeah, well I've only seen

591
00:32:43,760 --> 00:32:46,600
pictures and a a couple of
videos of it and it looks

592
00:32:46,600 --> 00:32:49,920
unbelievable.
Huge, Really cool.

593
00:32:50,200 --> 00:32:52,400
I mean, the stage is 2 is 200
feet wide.

594
00:32:52,400 --> 00:32:55,800
It's, you know, 50 feet tall.
It's it's a massive stage.

595
00:32:56,320 --> 00:33:00,520
You also, I don't know if you
collaborated or you did the the

596
00:33:00,520 --> 00:33:04,160
whole thing or whatever, but you
did the Vegas Aerosmith

597
00:33:04,160 --> 00:33:07,120
residency too, right?
Yeah, we did.

598
00:33:07,320 --> 00:33:12,400
Yeah, So is there something
different about doing these

599
00:33:12,400 --> 00:33:16,760
residency designs and shows than
doing a normal touring show?

600
00:33:16,760 --> 00:33:19,000
I mean, obvious.
The obvious thing is it doesn't

601
00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:22,440
have to strike and pack up and
everything else but.

602
00:33:23,680 --> 00:33:26,480
It still does have to strike and
pack up because the residency

603
00:33:26,480 --> 00:33:29,360
model isn't.
We'll sit here until we load it

604
00:33:29,360 --> 00:33:31,200
out.
Most of these residencies are

605
00:33:31,200 --> 00:33:34,840
two, 3-4 weeks at a time, so
they'll still load in and load

606
00:33:34,840 --> 00:33:39,280
out in a couple of days to allow
like the casinos to turn over

607
00:33:39,280 --> 00:33:42,440
the people.
So I think in result in results

608
00:33:42,440 --> 00:33:47,280
world it was Carrie, Katy Perry,
Luke Bryan and they would rotate

609
00:33:47,720 --> 00:33:50,320
and I like do 2-3 weeks at a
time and do that.

610
00:33:50,320 --> 00:33:53,840
So you still have to figure out
how to get it in and out.

611
00:33:53,840 --> 00:33:56,440
The good news with these
residences is there's a lot of

612
00:33:56,440 --> 00:33:58,720
technology in the buildings you
can use that you couldn't

613
00:33:58,720 --> 00:34:01,640
actually do in a tour.
So you know, for example, on the

614
00:34:01,640 --> 00:34:05,280
carry show there's an incredibly
there's a 30 foot long lift that

615
00:34:05,280 --> 00:34:11,239
goes three stories down, which
allows us to do this 200,000 LB.

616
00:34:11,239 --> 00:34:13,960
Waterfall prop which fills the
entire lift that she stands in

617
00:34:13,960 --> 00:34:16,199
the middle of.
And there's just no way we could

618
00:34:16,199 --> 00:34:19,440
ever do that on a tour.
So we can do things in these

619
00:34:19,440 --> 00:34:23,159
residences that you can't do
when you have to like rig into

620
00:34:23,159 --> 00:34:25,880
an arena that's made for sports.
You know, this is purpose made.

621
00:34:26,000 --> 00:34:29,239
It's got the fly tower, it's got
the weight capacity like it's

622
00:34:29,239 --> 00:34:31,320
got everything we need.
What about sound?

623
00:34:31,320 --> 00:34:33,480
Do they sound good these
theaters?

624
00:34:35,000 --> 00:34:38,159
This theater has like, I think
they call it the Lisa system.

625
00:34:38,159 --> 00:34:40,159
It sounds incredible.
It's like surround sound.

626
00:34:40,400 --> 00:34:42,920
There's so much PA, which sounds
fantastic.

627
00:34:43,120 --> 00:34:46,639
Yeah.
Well, I know you know Vegas, old

628
00:34:46,639 --> 00:34:48,360
school Vegas theaters used to
be.

629
00:34:48,360 --> 00:34:52,400
So the sound was, it was almost
like Branson, MO, where it was

630
00:34:52,400 --> 00:34:55,560
super quiet and hardly any bass
because it was all old people

631
00:34:55,560 --> 00:35:00,840
going to these shows.
And you know, obviously that's

632
00:35:00,840 --> 00:35:04,040
changed a huge amount since
that.

633
00:35:04,240 --> 00:35:05,400
Time.
The opposite of that now.

634
00:35:05,600 --> 00:35:07,560
Yeah, exactly.
Exactly.

635
00:35:08,560 --> 00:35:11,400
I think it's better than any
arena that we've kind of played

636
00:35:11,400 --> 00:35:13,360
in with that.
With a show like that, it sounds

637
00:35:13,360 --> 00:35:14,640
fantastic in there.
Huh.

638
00:35:15,360 --> 00:35:18,640
Did you go to the sphere?
Not yet.

639
00:35:18,720 --> 00:35:21,160
I want to.
Yeah, I don't know.

640
00:35:21,160 --> 00:35:23,120
I got mixed, mixed feelings on
it.

641
00:35:23,440 --> 00:35:30,160
Like to me, the first time I saw
video of the U2 show, it took me

642
00:35:30,160 --> 00:35:36,360
30 seconds to to find Bono.
And I was like, I hear him, you

643
00:35:36,360 --> 00:35:38,840
know, I can't find him anywhere
in this video.

644
00:35:38,840 --> 00:35:42,920
Where the hell is he?
It was just so distracting, you

645
00:35:42,920 --> 00:35:44,680
know?
But isn't this going back to

646
00:35:44,680 --> 00:35:46,840
doing something different and
creative that we were talking

647
00:35:46,840 --> 00:35:48,720
about earlier?
It certainly doesn't look like

648
00:35:48,720 --> 00:35:51,360
anything else.
It's a destination to go and see

649
00:35:51,360 --> 00:35:54,160
something incredible.
It's true and and you know, so

650
00:35:54,400 --> 00:35:57,440
if if you're really into the
technology and stuff, that's

651
00:35:57,440 --> 00:35:59,680
what you think.
But at the end of the day, you

652
00:35:59,680 --> 00:36:03,000
know, again a Mark Brickman
quote that he did on my podcast

653
00:36:03,000 --> 00:36:07,200
was he went and saw the Stones
with the, you know, the the four

654
00:36:07,200 --> 00:36:09,320
iPhone looking screens that they
had.

655
00:36:09,840 --> 00:36:13,080
And and he said, you know, they
were beautiful and they looked

656
00:36:13,080 --> 00:36:16,840
amazing and stuff, but and they
made Mick Jagger look small,

657
00:36:16,920 --> 00:36:19,400
like he got lost on stage.
You know, unless you were

658
00:36:19,400 --> 00:36:21,400
looking at the screens, you lost
him.

659
00:36:21,920 --> 00:36:25,240
And that was what happened to me
with Bono.

660
00:36:25,240 --> 00:36:31,520
I couldn't literally find Bono.
Yeah, I but I think that wasn't

661
00:36:31,520 --> 00:36:33,960
the goal.
I think the building overshadows

662
00:36:33,960 --> 00:36:35,920
the band.
In this case, even you too.

663
00:36:35,960 --> 00:36:37,600
Like who?
Who would ever think that?

664
00:36:37,720 --> 00:36:40,560
But.
But I think they did a fantastic

665
00:36:40,560 --> 00:36:43,880
job of it.
It's a, you know, it's it's

666
00:36:43,880 --> 00:36:46,520
everything I've seen.
I haven't been and everyone I've

667
00:36:46,520 --> 00:36:48,880
talked to has said that the
experience is incredible.

668
00:36:49,200 --> 00:36:52,040
Yeah, same, same here.
I mean, you know, people have

669
00:36:52,040 --> 00:36:54,480
just said it's mind blowing, you
know, the technology's

670
00:36:54,480 --> 00:36:56,120
unbelievable.
You're just sitting there in

671
00:36:56,120 --> 00:37:00,160
awe, going wow, like it's the
biggest video screen you've ever

672
00:37:00,160 --> 00:37:05,080
seen and and then some, right?
And I'm excited to see what

673
00:37:05,080 --> 00:37:07,760
other people do with it too.
Because yeah, you know, there's

674
00:37:08,240 --> 00:37:10,880
there's got to be there.
From what I've heard, there's a

675
00:37:10,880 --> 00:37:13,640
lot of tech built into the Dome
where you can do different

676
00:37:13,640 --> 00:37:15,720
things and you can move.
You know, you can actually be

677
00:37:15,720 --> 00:37:17,840
creative in there.
I think this was the show they

678
00:37:17,840 --> 00:37:19,360
wanted to do.
Because you know, once you've

679
00:37:19,360 --> 00:37:21,760
done that full video show with
all those gags that you 2 did,

680
00:37:21,760 --> 00:37:23,840
no one can really do anything
different because they're all

681
00:37:23,840 --> 00:37:25,400
the same gags.
You can change what it looks

682
00:37:25,400 --> 00:37:27,200
like, but.
Well, some of the things that

683
00:37:27,200 --> 00:37:29,400
are going to be interesting are
like the sporting events, you

684
00:37:29,400 --> 00:37:34,160
know, like Dana White putting a
AUFC fight in there, which is

685
00:37:34,160 --> 00:37:38,120
going to be wacky like that.
I can't even imagine what that's

686
00:37:38,120 --> 00:37:41,680
going to look like, so.
I don't know what you know, but

687
00:37:41,800 --> 00:37:43,880
it's not going to look like
anything else, anywhere else.

688
00:37:43,880 --> 00:37:46,520
So it's a reason for people to
tune in, right?

689
00:37:46,520 --> 00:37:48,560
And a reason to take pictures
and post on Instagram.

690
00:37:48,880 --> 00:37:51,640
Even F1, like you know some of
the stuff they did on the

691
00:37:51,640 --> 00:37:54,880
outside of the Dome where you
know the the happy faced guy or

692
00:37:54,880 --> 00:37:58,800
whatever, the eyes would follow
the cars down the track and

693
00:37:58,800 --> 00:38:00,720
stuff, you know, just crazy
things like that.

694
00:38:00,720 --> 00:38:04,840
It's just, it's cool, it's cool,
different, unique.

695
00:38:04,840 --> 00:38:07,000
I don't know how long.
It'll be exciting.

696
00:38:07,000 --> 00:38:10,360
Like maybe, you know, I remember
when the Stratosphere was first

697
00:38:10,360 --> 00:38:15,080
built in in Vegas, it was like,
whoa, that's cool, you know, a a

698
00:38:15,080 --> 00:38:17,960
tower.
And now it just kind of looks

699
00:38:17,960 --> 00:38:21,000
like an old artifact and nobody
really goes there and stuff.

700
00:38:21,600 --> 00:38:24,320
I don't know if that's going to
happen to the spear, especially

701
00:38:24,320 --> 00:38:30,040
when you know panels start
failing and things happen, but.

702
00:38:30,240 --> 00:38:32,880
I'm sure it's a full time job to
keep up with all those panels,

703
00:38:32,920 --> 00:38:34,160
but.
Yeah, it's.

704
00:38:34,240 --> 00:38:37,600
But it's almost like politics
where you're either on this side

705
00:38:37,640 --> 00:38:39,600
or this side.
Like I I've talked to even

706
00:38:39,600 --> 00:38:42,000
people who live in Vegas who
either love it or hate it, you

707
00:38:42,000 --> 00:38:44,480
know, I can't stand driving down
the road and look in that thing

708
00:38:44,480 --> 00:38:46,120
every day.
It drives me crazy.

709
00:38:47,040 --> 00:38:49,160
And then other people are just
like, I can't wait to see what's

710
00:38:49,160 --> 00:38:52,840
on it today, you know?
So yeah, yeah.

711
00:38:53,240 --> 00:38:55,880
I think it's mainly positive
from everything I've seen out

712
00:38:55,880 --> 00:38:56,800
there.
Yeah.

713
00:38:57,480 --> 00:38:58,920
Do you have an apartment in
Vegas or something?

714
00:38:58,920 --> 00:39:00,960
Because you seem to be spending
a ton of time there.

715
00:39:02,280 --> 00:39:03,520
No.
No.

716
00:39:04,360 --> 00:39:06,200
The results world staff know me
pretty well.

717
00:39:07,800 --> 00:39:10,040
Well, you did that rock star
thing too, right?

718
00:39:10,040 --> 00:39:12,480
The with the girls, the girl
band.

719
00:39:13,160 --> 00:39:17,560
What was that about it?
Was just a opportunity to try

720
00:39:17,560 --> 00:39:19,960
and do something different
again, you know, saw a gap in

721
00:39:19,960 --> 00:39:22,240
the market for shows in Vegas a
lot.

722
00:39:22,240 --> 00:39:25,840
Were closing the crowd and the
demographics in Vegas have

723
00:39:25,840 --> 00:39:28,640
actually changed substantially
recently over the last few

724
00:39:28,640 --> 00:39:31,000
years.
And I had a few conversations

725
00:39:31,000 --> 00:39:33,520
with some promoters about it.
And that's, you know, it's down

726
00:39:33,520 --> 00:39:36,520
to this, the new stadium, it's
down to, you know, this.

727
00:39:36,760 --> 00:39:40,080
It's a lot more sporting teams.
It's a lot more Americans coming

728
00:39:40,080 --> 00:39:43,080
than international now.
So you know what?

729
00:39:43,080 --> 00:39:45,280
What do Americans like?
Rock music and country music?

730
00:39:45,320 --> 00:39:47,800
Yeah.
And our, you know, so I think

731
00:39:47,800 --> 00:39:50,000
that there was an opportunity
there and there still is an

732
00:39:50,000 --> 00:39:51,640
opportunity there.
We're still in talks with a few

733
00:39:51,640 --> 00:39:53,920
people to see what we could do.
But I thought it would be fun to

734
00:39:53,920 --> 00:39:56,520
create a show.
Yeah, with a couple of friends.

735
00:39:56,520 --> 00:39:58,760
And, you know, I think it worked
out really good.

736
00:39:58,760 --> 00:40:00,120
I got some great creative
people.

737
00:40:00,120 --> 00:40:03,200
We got some incredible talent
and singers and cast.

738
00:40:03,520 --> 00:40:05,080
Yeah, and.
Yeah, I watched some.

739
00:40:05,080 --> 00:40:06,280
Videos.
There's something fun there.

740
00:40:06,680 --> 00:40:09,040
Yeah, it was.
It was definitely very Vegas,

741
00:40:09,640 --> 00:40:12,600
very rock'n'roll, cool looking
show.

742
00:40:12,600 --> 00:40:15,760
Looked like you put a lot of, a
lot of effort and money and

743
00:40:15,760 --> 00:40:19,080
energy into it and and the band
was good.

744
00:40:20,400 --> 00:40:23,800
So yeah, you know, it's just,
you know, again in Vegas, you

745
00:40:23,800 --> 00:40:27,680
never really know.
It's a fickle audience in a

746
00:40:27,680 --> 00:40:30,880
sense, right?
Like, obviously for big, big

747
00:40:30,880 --> 00:40:35,600
acts like, you know, like Carrie
or whatever, that's going to

748
00:40:35,600 --> 00:40:38,360
sell no matter what, right?
The audience is there.

749
00:40:38,360 --> 00:40:42,360
They're going to be there, but
but when you get into, you know,

750
00:40:42,360 --> 00:40:46,160
smaller theaters and stuff, it's
it's a very fickle hit or miss

751
00:40:46,160 --> 00:40:49,880
audience well.
What we realized trying to do

752
00:40:49,880 --> 00:40:51,920
this is there aren't that many
small theaters anymore.

753
00:40:52,200 --> 00:40:54,120
They've turned them all into
food and beverage outlets.

754
00:40:54,160 --> 00:40:56,960
It's true.
Because there's more money

755
00:40:56,960 --> 00:40:58,760
there.
Yeah, I have a friend.

756
00:40:58,760 --> 00:41:01,960
Who so all those?
I have a friend who was a was a

757
00:41:01,960 --> 00:41:07,040
hypnotist and was there very
successfully I think for like 20

758
00:41:07,040 --> 00:41:11,440
years and they just started
putting so much pressure on him

759
00:41:11,560 --> 00:41:15,680
for the room, you know cuz he
had a four wall deal and they

760
00:41:15,680 --> 00:41:18,800
started putting so much pressure
on him and he just finally said

761
00:41:18,840 --> 00:41:22,480
fuck it, I'm out, I'm tapping
out you know I'm not gonna do

762
00:41:22,480 --> 00:41:27,880
this anymore and and he retired
so.

763
00:41:27,880 --> 00:41:31,120
But I I think still think
there's good opportunity for

764
00:41:31,120 --> 00:41:32,760
that show there.
I think it may work.

765
00:41:33,440 --> 00:41:35,640
There's definitely some people
interested in seeing it work.

766
00:41:35,920 --> 00:41:38,720
Yeah, it's just timing.
You know, Vegas has been through

767
00:41:38,720 --> 00:41:41,880
F1, It's got Super Bowl.
A lot of those spaces are tied

768
00:41:41,880 --> 00:41:44,040
up in what's happening for those
events.

769
00:41:44,040 --> 00:41:47,000
So I think once we get through
that, we might see something

770
00:41:47,000 --> 00:41:50,440
happen.
Get them opening for get them

771
00:41:50,440 --> 00:41:53,680
opening for Carrie for few
weeks.

772
00:41:54,000 --> 00:41:56,280
I mean, she she does love rock
and rock.

773
00:41:56,640 --> 00:41:59,320
Yeah, that'll sell some tickets.
Exactly.

774
00:42:00,280 --> 00:42:03,640
So what else did I want to ask
you about?

775
00:42:05,120 --> 00:42:07,720
What else?
You've had some other big stuff

776
00:42:07,720 --> 00:42:09,320
recently, right?
Billie Eilish?

777
00:42:11,640 --> 00:42:13,880
Billie was the original tour,
it's not a recent one.

778
00:42:14,040 --> 00:42:15,600
We did the Coachella
performance.

779
00:42:16,160 --> 00:42:21,120
OK, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I mean, you just seem like

780
00:42:21,120 --> 00:42:25,000
you've been doing huge stuff
ever since since coming out of

781
00:42:25,000 --> 00:42:27,360
COVID.
And oh, one thing I was going to

782
00:42:27,360 --> 00:42:30,240
ask you, I touched on the fact
that you did some innovative

783
00:42:30,240 --> 00:42:34,080
things during COVID with the the
virtual stuff.

784
00:42:34,920 --> 00:42:39,920
Did any of that carry forward or
or like most ideas that happened

785
00:42:39,920 --> 00:42:42,720
in COVID, it died as soon as we
got back to being busy?

786
00:42:44,040 --> 00:42:48,600
No, it still does exist.
The technology though however is

787
00:42:48,600 --> 00:42:52,480
kind of interesting because the
real time technology from

788
00:42:52,480 --> 00:42:55,520
people's phones into us being
able to do it in a show.

789
00:42:55,520 --> 00:42:57,960
I really think you know when you
talk about what's coming next in

790
00:42:57,960 --> 00:43:00,560
the industry, interactivity is
going to be something that we

791
00:43:00,560 --> 00:43:03,520
can integrate into you know
people in a room show now.

792
00:43:04,120 --> 00:43:06,560
So what we learned from all of
that kind of thing and the way

793
00:43:06,560 --> 00:43:09,040
that the servers work and how we
could connect with those people

794
00:43:09,040 --> 00:43:13,120
and literally have real time
interaction from the phones is

795
00:43:13,120 --> 00:43:16,640
something that I think we can
bring into the next, you know,

796
00:43:16,760 --> 00:43:20,480
life of the things we do.
Do you know a guy in Vegas,

797
00:43:22,800 --> 00:43:25,840
James Brett?
Do you?

798
00:43:26,240 --> 00:43:29,400
Know Apex or Apex is his
company.

799
00:43:30,200 --> 00:43:33,520
Yeah, it's that's what they do.
They it's that interactive phone

800
00:43:33,520 --> 00:43:36,520
thing where you know they can
control your phone and make them

801
00:43:36,520 --> 00:43:38,520
all go blue or whatever they can
control.

802
00:43:38,520 --> 00:43:40,200
Oh yeah, yes, I do know.
Yes.

803
00:43:40,200 --> 00:43:42,480
And might be a different name
back then.

804
00:43:42,720 --> 00:43:46,320
Yeah, but they can do messaging
to your phone.

805
00:43:46,320 --> 00:43:48,600
They can all kinds of
interactivity with your phone,

806
00:43:48,600 --> 00:43:51,480
whether it's things like
announcements or safety or

807
00:43:51,480 --> 00:43:54,600
whatever, but also just audience
interaction, you know, they can

808
00:43:54,600 --> 00:43:58,600
flash your your lights, they can
all kinds of things.

809
00:43:59,640 --> 00:44:02,520
But we're also, you know, what
about the other way around where

810
00:44:02,520 --> 00:44:04,240
the audience can affect the
show.

811
00:44:04,280 --> 00:44:07,480
So that's kind of things that I
think could be, you know,

812
00:44:07,480 --> 00:44:11,040
because that's why people like
the Tik toks, the Instagrams and

813
00:44:11,040 --> 00:44:12,840
stuff like that.
They get an instant content that

814
00:44:12,840 --> 00:44:14,560
can react with it.
They can say that thing, they

815
00:44:14,560 --> 00:44:17,800
can do the comments like, how do
we do that in real time?

816
00:44:18,400 --> 00:44:23,000
Yeah, that's that's a good idea.
Even, you know, having like

817
00:44:23,800 --> 00:44:26,320
comments scrolls somewhere on a
video screen.

818
00:44:26,320 --> 00:44:28,720
You know where the comments are
all coming down.

819
00:44:28,720 --> 00:44:32,440
But choosing the next song you
know.

820
00:44:32,920 --> 00:44:35,560
What's that list?
Yeah, exactly.

821
00:44:35,640 --> 00:44:38,920
Vote Vote on what song's next.
Yeah, exactly.

822
00:44:39,560 --> 00:44:42,560
How about changing the lighting
I mean.

823
00:44:42,560 --> 00:44:44,560
Yeah, exactly.
You could do all of that kind of

824
00:44:44,560 --> 00:44:47,200
stuff.
Yeah, this, you know today we

825
00:44:47,200 --> 00:44:51,760
want, you know, so and so song
to be primarily red instead of

826
00:44:51,760 --> 00:44:54,280
blue, you know, or whatever.
I don't know.

827
00:44:54,280 --> 00:44:55,280
Maybe that's just.
Corny.

828
00:44:55,320 --> 00:44:59,120
But there is technology out
there that can analyze the mood

829
00:44:59,120 --> 00:45:01,360
of a crowd and tell you what
color it should be.

830
00:45:01,720 --> 00:45:04,040
Yeah, like I think they use that
on a few projects, like

831
00:45:04,040 --> 00:45:05,640
architectural projects that I've
seen.

832
00:45:06,320 --> 00:45:08,440
Like it take.
It figures out the mood of the

833
00:45:08,440 --> 00:45:12,400
city and changes like a landmark
to that color, which is

834
00:45:12,400 --> 00:45:15,080
interesting because that could
also work in a show.

835
00:45:15,400 --> 00:45:19,880
Yeah.
So, like, yeah, go on.

836
00:45:20,040 --> 00:45:22,840
Sorry.
I I do think there's a place for

837
00:45:22,840 --> 00:45:25,560
all that technology and, you
know, figuring out how to use

838
00:45:25,560 --> 00:45:26,880
it.
The more you can do to make

839
00:45:26,880 --> 00:45:28,400
someone's show more, more
different.

840
00:45:28,920 --> 00:45:30,720
Yeah.
Like, it doesn't always have to

841
00:45:30,720 --> 00:45:33,000
be about how it looks.
Yeah, it can be how it's done

842
00:45:33,000 --> 00:45:36,280
too.
Yeah, no, it's totally true.

843
00:45:36,960 --> 00:45:42,080
So you, I know you're sitting at
home in in Vermont right now in

844
00:45:42,080 --> 00:45:45,160
the snow.
And what's next?

845
00:45:45,160 --> 00:45:48,520
Like what's What's the next big
thing on your calendar?

846
00:45:50,880 --> 00:45:54,760
We have a couple of really big
stadium shows, actually mainly

847
00:45:54,760 --> 00:45:58,160
in Asia.
So that's the next few months

848
00:45:58,160 --> 00:45:59,760
for us.
It's, it's been like an

849
00:45:59,760 --> 00:46:03,040
interesting start to the year
because you know, when they say

850
00:46:03,040 --> 00:46:05,240
things come in threes,
everything came in threes for

851
00:46:05,600 --> 00:46:08,440
like some massive acts in the
Asian side.

852
00:46:08,440 --> 00:46:12,800
So yeah, that'll be interesting
for us and keep and talk China

853
00:46:12,840 --> 00:46:17,160
forever actually Chinese.
Oh, really?

854
00:46:17,640 --> 00:46:20,120
So yeah.
Very cool.

855
00:46:20,160 --> 00:46:22,360
It's one of them's an artist
I've worked with in the past,

856
00:46:22,720 --> 00:46:25,160
wanted to do a new tour and the
other one's a new artist for us.

857
00:46:25,200 --> 00:46:26,720
So and they're the same over
there.

858
00:46:28,480 --> 00:46:30,880
They're doing, yes, a year of
stadiums.

859
00:46:30,880 --> 00:46:33,400
That's wild.
Totally wild.

860
00:46:33,400 --> 00:46:37,040
Yeah, I love it.
That's that's my next challenge

861
00:46:37,400 --> 00:46:39,440
along with you know, Carrie will
go back into Vegas.

862
00:46:39,440 --> 00:46:41,440
That'll be fun.
We'll we'll go make sure that

863
00:46:41,440 --> 00:46:42,680
looks cool.
Yeah.

864
00:46:42,680 --> 00:46:45,480
And a few other things that just
starting to talk about.

865
00:46:45,840 --> 00:46:47,400
Yeah.
I think it's going to be a

866
00:46:47,400 --> 00:46:49,360
really busy year for everyone.
Yeah.

867
00:46:49,840 --> 00:46:53,400
You know, one of the reasons I
can tell the industry's getting

868
00:46:53,400 --> 00:46:57,880
so much bigger right now is the
number of collaboratives that

869
00:46:57,880 --> 00:47:01,800
seem to be falling together.
You know, where a single

870
00:47:01,800 --> 00:47:07,320
designer on their own is, is
more challenged to do the size

871
00:47:07,320 --> 00:47:09,920
and scope and scale of these
projects.

872
00:47:11,320 --> 00:47:14,160
So you know, more and more
people seem to be putting

873
00:47:14,160 --> 00:47:18,040
together these collaborative or
or collectives or whatever

874
00:47:18,040 --> 00:47:22,240
they're called and you know, you
were one of the early ones on

875
00:47:22,240 --> 00:47:25,560
that too.
Yeah, and I I think there's

876
00:47:25,560 --> 00:47:27,480
always a place for that.
What I actually like at the

877
00:47:27,480 --> 00:47:29,600
moment is changing up who you
collaborate with.

878
00:47:30,560 --> 00:47:31,920
You know, collaboration is
always cool.

879
00:47:32,320 --> 00:47:34,680
Like a different team will get
you a totally different result.

880
00:47:35,000 --> 00:47:39,480
Yeah.
So you know what A, it does keep

881
00:47:39,480 --> 00:47:42,120
it fun and being out of bounce
ideas off people and to be like,

882
00:47:42,120 --> 00:47:44,720
hey, what if we did this and
then coming back with, well,

883
00:47:44,720 --> 00:47:48,520
what if we did this, you know?
Yeah, I think that's always

884
00:47:48,520 --> 00:47:50,360
great.
And you know, I think we're in a

885
00:47:50,560 --> 00:47:53,960
a place where people want to do
cool stuff and I'm as bothered

886
00:47:53,960 --> 00:47:56,760
about making, you know, the the
single name for themselves that

887
00:47:56,760 --> 00:47:58,120
people like to do stuff
together.

888
00:47:58,360 --> 00:48:02,560
Yeah, give me a, give me a
couple of predictions for, for

889
00:48:02,560 --> 00:48:07,880
this year as far as like you
know, whether it's challenges or

890
00:48:08,040 --> 00:48:13,280
innovation or changes or
whatever, like how do you see

891
00:48:13,280 --> 00:48:17,600
this year shaping up?
I think the challenge is always

892
00:48:17,600 --> 00:48:19,280
the same.
Right now is finding great

893
00:48:19,280 --> 00:48:20,880
people.
Everyone's busy.

894
00:48:20,880 --> 00:48:23,720
There's so much stuff out there
that finding the right people

895
00:48:23,720 --> 00:48:28,040
and the and good people is hard.
So getting new talent, getting

896
00:48:28,040 --> 00:48:30,640
new blood into this industry I
think is something super

897
00:48:30,640 --> 00:48:33,440
important so that we can
continue to do great work and

898
00:48:33,920 --> 00:48:37,920
like they can learn and go out
on these tours and you know

899
00:48:38,440 --> 00:48:40,240
learn from the people that are
doing it great right now so.

900
00:48:40,880 --> 00:48:42,080
How do you do that?
Challenge.

901
00:48:42,520 --> 00:48:44,840
What are what are some of the
things, the initiatives that you

902
00:48:44,840 --> 00:48:48,680
guys go through to to find those
people who you want to raise

903
00:48:48,680 --> 00:48:50,640
their hand and say, yeah, I want
to be a touring guy?

904
00:48:53,240 --> 00:48:55,680
We do it less on the touring
side and more on the creative

905
00:48:55,680 --> 00:48:58,240
side.
So like, but I have done that

906
00:48:58,240 --> 00:49:01,200
where I've advertised in places
I've tried to be like, hey, I

907
00:49:01,200 --> 00:49:04,040
want someone to come and work
for me and learn from me, submit

908
00:49:04,040 --> 00:49:06,280
a really creative application
and see what happens.

909
00:49:06,280 --> 00:49:09,560
And I found an incredible person
there.

910
00:49:09,560 --> 00:49:13,160
Now who's like, she was my
associate for a while and now

911
00:49:13,160 --> 00:49:15,240
she's doing stuff on her own
because she grew so quickly.

912
00:49:15,960 --> 00:49:18,040
But she's out there.
She just was the creative

913
00:49:18,040 --> 00:49:20,320
director for Romeo Santos
Stadium tour.

914
00:49:20,960 --> 00:49:22,600
And these are these.
Are awesome job.

915
00:49:24,280 --> 00:49:26,480
No.
She was younger like excited to

916
00:49:26,480 --> 00:49:28,240
get into it.
Not much experience came from

917
00:49:28,240 --> 00:49:32,800
like the VIP world of touring.
So she would do like VIP Nation.

918
00:49:33,320 --> 00:49:34,440
She was like, I want to be a
creative.

919
00:49:34,440 --> 00:49:35,480
I want to be a creative
director.

920
00:49:35,480 --> 00:49:37,040
So I've helped to get there.
Wow.

921
00:49:37,960 --> 00:49:42,440
And we're also about to take on
a new lighting designer who you

922
00:49:42,440 --> 00:49:45,920
know, has done a few acts on his
own but now wants to grow.

923
00:49:45,920 --> 00:49:48,960
So he's going to come in and
help us and learn from us and

924
00:49:48,960 --> 00:49:51,840
learn from Brian, learn from me
like and go there.

925
00:49:51,840 --> 00:49:53,360
So we're always looking for
people.

926
00:49:53,800 --> 00:49:58,640
And I do really like the young
kind of eager people that want

927
00:49:58,640 --> 00:50:02,040
to learn and are open to learn
and and want to come in and be

928
00:50:02,040 --> 00:50:04,320
like, well, this is what I've
got now, what can I learn from

929
00:50:04,320 --> 00:50:07,360
you?
You know, it's also a good point

930
00:50:07,560 --> 00:50:12,880
because I know, like, I'm
probably considerably older than

931
00:50:12,880 --> 00:50:16,760
you at this point.
But as we get older, it's easy

932
00:50:16,760 --> 00:50:19,800
to complain about young people,
you know, Because when when it

933
00:50:19,800 --> 00:50:24,680
comes to things like work ethic
or, you know, just the desire to

934
00:50:24,680 --> 00:50:29,320
work long, painful hours and do
things that aren't on your job

935
00:50:29,320 --> 00:50:32,200
description or whatever, some of
those things are a bit

936
00:50:32,200 --> 00:50:36,880
frustrating.
But when you look at sort of

937
00:50:36,880 --> 00:50:40,200
young people today, like I ask
my son things all the time, he's

938
00:50:40,200 --> 00:50:44,400
19 because I want his viewpoint,
because he's got such a more

939
00:50:44,400 --> 00:50:50,080
creative way of thinking and
they think like the audiences

940
00:50:50,080 --> 00:50:54,120
think these days, right?
And so you know, you almost have

941
00:50:54,120 --> 00:50:57,960
to have a good sprinkling of
those people among your your

942
00:50:57,960 --> 00:51:00,880
crew, or else you're going to
miss great ideas.

943
00:51:03,200 --> 00:51:05,760
I think that, you know, like you
said, there's the work ethic and

944
00:51:05,760 --> 00:51:07,600
things like that.
I still think there are people

945
00:51:07,600 --> 00:51:10,080
out there that will just do
whatever it takes to make it.

946
00:51:10,080 --> 00:51:12,120
And, you know, they know what
they want and they're just going

947
00:51:12,120 --> 00:51:14,480
to do what it takes to get it.
And they're the people that we

948
00:51:14,480 --> 00:51:17,120
tend to find.
Yeah, Which is it's it's

949
00:51:17,120 --> 00:51:19,400
incredibly difficult to find.
But when you find them, you're

950
00:51:19,400 --> 00:51:21,120
like, OK, can work for us.
Yeah.

951
00:51:21,560 --> 00:51:24,080
Is your team completely,
completely remote or?

952
00:51:25,320 --> 00:51:26,280
Yeah.
Yeah.

953
00:51:27,040 --> 00:51:29,000
Do you have an office?
Like, do you have a physical

954
00:51:29,000 --> 00:51:30,000
space somewhere?
No.

955
00:51:31,160 --> 00:51:35,160
Not we used to have New York and
Nashville and a space in LA and

956
00:51:35,160 --> 00:51:40,520
none of them anymore.
Yeah, I have a really cool piece

957
00:51:40,520 --> 00:51:42,920
of software that I've been using
for the last eight or nine

958
00:51:42,920 --> 00:51:45,240
months and people think I own a
piece of it cuz I'm always

959
00:51:45,240 --> 00:51:48,280
talking about it.
But it's called Rome RO dot AM

960
00:51:48,840 --> 00:51:53,120
and it sort of bridges the gap
between being in a real office

961
00:51:53,760 --> 00:51:57,280
and being completely remote and
jumping on to zoom calls at

962
00:51:57,280 --> 00:51:59,680
different points of the day.
So you have, like, on your

963
00:51:59,680 --> 00:52:02,640
screen, you've got a virtual
office, you've got, you can see

964
00:52:02,640 --> 00:52:07,000
people in their offices, and
you've got conference rooms,

965
00:52:07,000 --> 00:52:10,560
you've got a theater where if
you want to do, you know, a

966
00:52:10,560 --> 00:52:13,800
presentation for a group of
students or something, it's in

967
00:52:13,800 --> 00:52:15,880
this theater.
And there's all kinds of cool

968
00:52:15,880 --> 00:52:18,320
features in that, like it's
webinar, basically.

969
00:52:18,320 --> 00:52:22,080
But instead of just being like a
normal webinar, you can invite

970
00:52:22,080 --> 00:52:24,520
people onto the stage.
There's a microphone at the

971
00:52:24,520 --> 00:52:27,240
front of the room, so people can
go up to the microphone and ask

972
00:52:27,240 --> 00:52:30,640
questions.
People can talk to other people

973
00:52:30,640 --> 00:52:33,120
in their row.
They can whisper so nobody else

974
00:52:33,120 --> 00:52:35,000
can hear them.
But the people in that row can

975
00:52:35,000 --> 00:52:37,640
hear things like that.
It's and.

976
00:52:37,680 --> 00:52:40,600
And so I can go knock on your
door.

977
00:52:40,640 --> 00:52:43,240
If I see you in your office, I
just go knock on your door and

978
00:52:43,240 --> 00:52:46,120
you let me in and we have a
conversation and I leave your

979
00:52:46,120 --> 00:52:49,160
office and I'm out, right?
So you don't have to schedule

980
00:52:49,160 --> 00:52:52,040
Zoom calls and stuff.
And there's there's all kinds of

981
00:52:52,040 --> 00:52:54,920
video chatting and recording and
blah blah, blah.

982
00:52:55,000 --> 00:52:57,800
You can do whiteboards and all
kinds of collab stuff and it's

983
00:52:57,800 --> 00:53:01,080
really cheap.
So for us, for my company, it's

984
00:53:01,080 --> 00:53:05,080
replaced Slack, it's replaced
Zoom, it's replaced all kinds of

985
00:53:05,080 --> 00:53:08,480
other cuz it's got a messaging
system that's not quite as

986
00:53:08,480 --> 00:53:10,160
powerful as Slack, but it's
pretty cool.

987
00:53:11,360 --> 00:53:14,440
But you should check it out.
Anybody I know who's virtual,

988
00:53:14,440 --> 00:53:15,920
I'm constantly telling them
about it.

989
00:53:15,920 --> 00:53:19,080
Rome It's super, super cool and
it's.

990
00:53:19,080 --> 00:53:21,440
Cheap.
Yeah, we just found it it you

991
00:53:21,440 --> 00:53:24,120
know, it was easier.
Now we're used to working

992
00:53:24,120 --> 00:53:25,640
remotely.
It works great if we need to go

993
00:53:25,640 --> 00:53:27,960
meet some wave like to them.
Yeah, yeah.

994
00:53:27,960 --> 00:53:33,120
No, that's, I mean I've I was my
company was was remote before it

995
00:53:33,120 --> 00:53:34,880
was cool.
Like we've been remote for, I

996
00:53:34,920 --> 00:53:37,480
don't know, eight or nine years.
So it was funny because when

997
00:53:37,480 --> 00:53:43,120
COVID happened, I was coaching
companies of friends of mine on

998
00:53:43,120 --> 00:53:47,800
how to like move all of their
information to the cloud or how

999
00:53:47,800 --> 00:53:51,200
to use zoom or how to whatever,
because they didn't know how,

1000
00:53:51,200 --> 00:53:52,720
right?
Like they were just a physical

1001
00:53:52,720 --> 00:53:56,640
office with a server over there
in the corner and had no idea

1002
00:53:56,640 --> 00:53:58,760
how to go remote.
So.

1003
00:53:59,480 --> 00:54:02,160
I mean, we were All you'd really
need is a decent Internet

1004
00:54:02,160 --> 00:54:04,840
connection and a cell phone
these days, and you can work

1005
00:54:04,840 --> 00:54:08,320
from anywhere. 100% no.
And I love that by the way.

1006
00:54:08,760 --> 00:54:11,520
But I mean you do miss some of
the I I really like this

1007
00:54:11,520 --> 00:54:15,040
software product just because I
see everyone on my staff pretty

1008
00:54:15,040 --> 00:54:18,560
much every day and and whether
it's a meeting or I just go

1009
00:54:18,560 --> 00:54:20,880
knock on their office door and I
go hey Bob how you doing You

1010
00:54:20,880 --> 00:54:27,080
know it's it's just it's cool
it's kind of a cool reconnection

1011
00:54:27,080 --> 00:54:28,840
to people.
But anyways.

1012
00:54:29,720 --> 00:54:32,440
And we, you know, we are always
on a show, so we always, you

1013
00:54:32,480 --> 00:54:34,520
know, there's always a bunch of
us out there and we get to see

1014
00:54:34,520 --> 00:54:35,960
each other there, so.
Yeah.

1015
00:54:36,240 --> 00:54:37,840
Yeah, I think we appreciate the
break.

1016
00:54:37,840 --> 00:54:40,680
Being remote now and not having
to be there every day because

1017
00:54:40,680 --> 00:54:43,520
you know, there's when you are
on a project site or you are

1018
00:54:43,520 --> 00:54:45,720
trying to deliver a show,
there's some long hours and some

1019
00:54:45,720 --> 00:54:48,920
stressful times.
So yeah, it's nice to well, for

1020
00:54:48,920 --> 00:54:50,440
me, escape to the lake and do
nothing.

1021
00:54:50,760 --> 00:54:53,040
Yeah.
When do you When do you take off

1022
00:54:53,040 --> 00:54:57,840
to China?
In the next couple of weeks.

1023
00:54:58,080 --> 00:55:01,040
Yeah, fun.
Cool.

1024
00:55:01,040 --> 00:55:01,760
I'll.
Be there.

1025
00:55:02,240 --> 00:55:06,400
Anything else I?
Hopefully get some previous, No,

1026
00:55:06,400 --> 00:55:09,760
I don't think so.
No, I just feel like I haven't

1027
00:55:09,760 --> 00:55:11,360
heard anything from you in a
while.

1028
00:55:11,360 --> 00:55:15,120
You've been so busy and stuff,
so I thought it was a good time

1029
00:55:15,120 --> 00:55:17,640
to catch up.
Well, thank you.

1030
00:55:17,640 --> 00:55:19,120
I look forward.
I look forward to hearing.

1031
00:55:19,320 --> 00:55:22,680
I look forward to hearing more
about live, redesigned and and

1032
00:55:22,840 --> 00:55:24,200
I'll be paying lots of
attention.

1033
00:55:24,200 --> 00:55:27,640
I follow you on all the social
media stuff, so I'll be watching

1034
00:55:27,640 --> 00:55:31,120
and paying attention.
And if I know young designers

1035
00:55:31,120 --> 00:55:33,280
who are looking to step up, I'll
send them your direction.

1036
00:55:34,600 --> 00:55:35,920
Absolutely.
Always looking.

1037
00:55:36,320 --> 00:55:38,800
Yeah, cool.
Thanks so much, man.

1038
00:55:40,120 --> 00:55:42,120
Thank you.
Always a pleasure to chat.

1039
00:55:42,440 --> 00:55:45,200
Yeah, likewise later.
Thanks

1040
00:56:02,160 --> 00:56:02,280
None.