#224 - Eric Wade

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Hi and thanks for joining me
today on Geese of Gear Episode

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#224.
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Hello.
It's me again.

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Hello.
Isn't there a song like that?

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Hello, it's me again.
I don't know.

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Seems familiar.
So I've had an eventful week.

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So last week, what did I do?
I went to a huge event for a

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software company called Rome,
which is a very cool platform

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that my company uses.
It's a remote company, remote

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business platform where it
really just bridges that gap

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between remote and in person
offices.

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You've got this physical office
on your screen, you can see

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everyone's offices, you can see
who's in, who's out, You can

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knock on someone's door and walk
into their office and have a

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meeting.
It's just more real time than

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booking Zoom calls with your
staff or with your Co workers to

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meet later.
Like instead you just jump in

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and you're in the same office or
you're in a conference room.

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Just a very, very cool software
platform.

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It also incorporates something
called Inbox, which is very much

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like Slack I guess.
We use it entirely for our

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communications globally.
Just a very, very cool platform.

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Anyways, I was a very early
user, my company, We were very

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early into that product and they
call us pioneers and they

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invited me to a big launch event
that they did in Miami last

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week, which was very cool.
I mean it was, I don't know,

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there was 300 and change people
there.

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And I would say there was a half
dozen billionaires in that

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crowd, probably 20 or 3040
people worth more than $100

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million.
Lots and lots of extremely

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successful entrepreneurs, really
successful investors, venture

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capitalists, new founders, just
really super interesting room

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full of people.
You know, I met the founder of

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Shutterstock, I met the founder
of Slice, which is a pizza app

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that's gaining massive success
right now.

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And, you know, just really cool
room of people and they invited

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me there to speak.
So I spoke in front of this

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crowd, which was a little nerve
wracking, but it was fun.

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You know, everyone's interested
in live events, so they loved

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hearing some stories.
So that was kind of cool.

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And then on Friday, I got to go
out and have dinner with one of

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my favorite people in the whole
world, John Wiseman.

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So it was John and his lovely
wife, Tracy, who I'd never met.

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I knew his prior wife, not his
first one, but his second one.

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I think I might have met his
first one too.

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I don't remember, but, but this
was the first time I've met

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Tracy and she's just an amazing
woman, you know, just really,

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really great people.
We had a great time and talked a

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lot about business, talked a lot
about life too.

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And you know, of course with
Wiseman, it's never, never

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quiet, never dull.
And we had a great dinner, just

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really, really fabulous night.
And some of the business

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discussion just kind of focused
around what's going on in the

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industry, What's his book of
business look like?

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What's he hearing from other
people?

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He's hearing a lot of similar
things to what I'm hearing that,

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you know, everyone's panicking
over AQ1 potential slow down.

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And I've talked to a lot of
people who had a rough January

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and they're like, Oh my God,
it's going to be terrible.

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I had some of those similar
conversations last January, yet

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now I'm talking to people who
are saying they had the best

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2023 best year they've ever had.
And so one thing I've learned in

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this crazy business climate that
we're in right now, and I

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actually talked to another big
industry leader this morning

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about this, you cannot look
month by month at your numbers

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anymore.
You have to look at quarters.

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And it's just the way the
business is going right now,

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like especially in our industry,
when one large deal can make or

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break your month, one or two
large deals can make or break

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your month.
And so you have to look at

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quarters as hard as it is to
have a bad month and then a

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really good one and then another
bad one.

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You know, you have to look at
quarters and hope that you're

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hitting your numbers for your
quarters.

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And the other thing that happens
again, I had this conversation

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this morning is then you avoid
doing these things where you're

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doing something crazy, selling
the farm for nothing in the

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middle of a month because you're
panicking because January's soft

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and now, Oh my God, we got to
burn the house down and do

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something.
And instead just trusting your

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numbers, trusting your systems,
trusting your people and

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recognizing that, you know, this
isn't a month by month business

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anymore, it's a quarter by
quarter business right now.

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So you know, I don't know if
that's brilliant or or stupid,

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but for my business, I know it's
probably brilliant.

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It keeps you from jumping off
the bridge every 3rd month.

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Instead, you're you're just
doing it four times a year.

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So that made no sense at all.
I'm sorry, what else did I wanna

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talk about?
ISC.

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I don't remember if I talked
about that on a prior episode.

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Amazing show.
All I've heard is incredible

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stories.
I have to go to that show next

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year.
I've never been to it and

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everyone just keeps raving that
it's just the most incredible

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show.
Up next is Pro Light and Sound,

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which I have been to multiple
times in Frankfurt.

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Massive show that is attached to
something called Music Mesa,

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which is like Nam on steroids.
It's just a massive, massive

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musical instrument show, like
where it's in, I think it's in

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like 8 or 9 or 10 different
halls.

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And like Hall one might be drums
and percussion, Hall 2 might be

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sound systems, Hall 3 might be
guitars, Hall 4.

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So you're taking this bus all
over the place and you've got

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meetings and you've got to take
a bus between these different

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buildings to to get to your
meetings and stuff.

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It's it's crazy.
It's a lot of walking, a lot of

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just a lot of moving around for
that show because you know

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you're going to go from hall to
hall depending on who you're

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meeting with and where.
But it's it's fun and it's huge

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and it and it's pretty exciting.
And the other thing I wanted to

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talk about, and if you don't
know this one, you've just been

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sleeping.
I'm telling you, it's probably

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the most important news that's
come out in the last couple of

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weeks.
Yes, of course I'm talking about

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Lewis Hamilton going to Ferrari.
So why is this big news?

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While Lewis Hamilton has won 6
championships, 6 World

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Championships with Mercedes, and
he has been with Mercedes a

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long, long time, he started his
career with McLaren and then

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went to Mercedes quite early and
he's had a lot of success there.

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Everyone, myself included,
probably believed that he was

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going to retire from Mercedes.
But lo and behold, that sort of

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a lure of going to Ferrari to
finish your career.

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There's just this sex appeal for
every driver we've got to drive

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for the Holy Grail of racing,
Ferrari.

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I've got to do at least one
season, two seasons for Ferrari

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before I retire and whether or
not I agree with that, I don't

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know.
Like it.

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Most of the time it doesn't work
out.

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Very sexy, you know?
And Sebastian Vettel, it wasn't

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that great, Alonzo, it wasn't
that great.

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I mean, there have been some
that went to Ferrari and had

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great success at the end of
their career.

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But for the most part, I think
it's it's sort of more of a sexy

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story in your head than it is in
reality and it never really pans

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out.
But one of the interesting

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things that I saw and and I
don't remember the details of

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the article, but I read an
article that basically said

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Hamilton's deal was worth
something like €400 million.

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And he's only committed, I
believe to two seasons, €400

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million and that includes, you
know, the driver wages but also

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some sponsorship stuff or
whatever, but €400 million.

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And I just thought that this was
just a ridiculous sum of money

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that could never be worth it.
And then lo and behold, as soon

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as they announced it, Ferrari's
stock went up by like a billion

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dollars or something.
So, you know, this is the game

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that's being played.
It's not, you know, I'm going to

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pay you a reasonable wage for a
reasonable job done.

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It's hey, if you can change my
stock price by 100 million, I'll

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pay you 50 million.
And yeah, I mean, I don't know

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what to think about that, but,
you know, I used to be a big

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Lewis Hamilton fan.
I became sort of not a Lewis

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Hamilton fan when he he just got
on his soapbox and became a

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little bit annoying for a while.
He, you know, his fashion and

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his statements were more
important than his driving for

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the past few years and you know,
go figure his success hasn't

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been there recently.
So I know that that's not due to

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the fact that he supported some
interesting causes and stuff,

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but maybe the car just isn't
right up to where it was when he

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was winning with it.
But you know that.

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I don't know.
He just, I kind of lost it on

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him.
I I he lost me a little bit when

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I just like drivers that that
show up on the track, not

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drivers that show up in the
social media and all that stuff.

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Like I don't care about that
stuff.

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I like guys like, you know, Max
Verstappen, the guy's a flashy

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guy and everything, but you
don't see him showing up at the

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track wearing, you know, funny
outfits and stuff.

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He shows up in a racing suit
ready to race, you know?

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It's all about the racing for
him.

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It's not about the show.
And so yeah, Anyways, thought we

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should talk about that.
That's pretty important.

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Formula One.
Anyways, pretty excited about

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today.
I I've always been a fan of this

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guy.
So today's guest is Eric Wade.

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Eric, I'm gonna read his bio
right now.

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Pardon me.
Eric is the principal designer

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and creative director at
Crossfade Design.

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He got his start in the industry
at the ripe old age of 14.

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His mom was a rock singer in the
Dallas area, and he would help

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in the lighting and sound booth
at her shows.

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By 16, he was working for
lighting company, building

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dimmers and consoles from
scratch and renting his own

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equipment to local bands.
At 18, he was the LD for George

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Strait.
That is wild.

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Today, Eric's robust portfolio
includes live events at arenas,

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convention centers, cruise ships
and concert tours.

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Please join me in welcoming Mr.
Eric Wade.

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Hi there, it's me again.
And so I had a problem.

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We had a technical problem.
We ended up losing about the

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1st, 15 or 20 minutes of today's
conversation.

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And so I wanted to take just a
minute and first of all,

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apologize for that because Eric
Wade is a brilliant guy and it

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was just an incredible
discussion of his early years

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specifically.
And so for those of you who

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didn't know, Eric's mom was a
rock'n'roll singer when he was

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12 or 13 years old.
I mean she was for a number of

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years and and so he actually
became her LD and sometimes

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sound person at 12 years old and
would go and do her gigs and

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would run lights and sometimes
audio as well.

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00:13:49,840 --> 00:13:52,720
And you know, this was his
upbringing.

226
00:13:52,720 --> 00:13:59,400
It was one of the things he did.
And then at I think at around 16

227
00:13:59,400 --> 00:14:02,680
years old, he went to work for a
band who owned a club in Fort

228
00:14:02,680 --> 00:14:06,720
Worth and was doing their
lighting at night while during

229
00:14:06,720 --> 00:14:10,680
the day he would go to school
from like 8:00 in the morning

230
00:14:10,680 --> 00:14:13,720
until noon and then at noon
until six.

231
00:14:13,720 --> 00:14:17,600
The school helped set him up
with sort of a work for you

232
00:14:17,600 --> 00:14:23,600
know, schooling gig at a
lighting company that was doing

233
00:14:23,960 --> 00:14:27,440
electronics for nightclubs.
So they were doing dimmers and

234
00:14:27,440 --> 00:14:30,640
and control systems for for
nightclubs.

235
00:14:31,160 --> 00:14:35,880
And so he was working in there
learning how to do soldering and

236
00:14:35,880 --> 00:14:41,120
how to put together these
dimming systems and and light

237
00:14:42,040 --> 00:14:46,040
control systems.
And so he was doing three things

238
00:14:46,040 --> 00:14:48,040
every day.
Basically he'd go to school from

239
00:14:48,040 --> 00:14:51,600
8:00 till 12.
From 12 until 6, Eric was

240
00:14:52,080 --> 00:14:54,040
working in this lighting
factory.

241
00:14:54,040 --> 00:14:56,920
Basically, he would go home,
take a shower, change his

242
00:14:56,920 --> 00:15:01,480
clothes and go to the nightclub
at night and do lights until

243
00:15:01,480 --> 00:15:04,960
about 1:00 in the morning.
And he did this every every day

244
00:15:04,960 --> 00:15:08,040
for a while.
And you know, it was what he had

245
00:15:08,040 --> 00:15:09,920
to do.
His mom was a single parent.

246
00:15:09,920 --> 00:15:11,920
He he needed to help pay the
bills.

247
00:15:11,920 --> 00:15:14,080
She was a rock'n'roll singer.
She wasn't making a lot of

248
00:15:14,080 --> 00:15:16,200
money, even though she had some
pretty cool gigs.

249
00:15:16,200 --> 00:15:21,360
He told me that she was doing, I
believe she was singing with

250
00:15:22,560 --> 00:15:27,320
Stevie Ray Vaughan's band at one
point and she had a successful

251
00:15:27,320 --> 00:15:30,680
audition with Elvis in I
believe.

252
00:15:30,680 --> 00:15:36,560
He said it was July of 1977.
She actually got the gig as a

253
00:15:36,560 --> 00:15:41,080
backup singer for Elvis and then
of course he died in in August

254
00:15:41,080 --> 00:15:44,360
of 77.
So she never actually got to to

255
00:15:44,360 --> 00:15:47,800
perform with him.
But she did go to Memphis and do

256
00:15:47,800 --> 00:15:52,880
the audition and got the gig and
then unfortunately, Elvis died.

257
00:15:54,560 --> 00:15:58,960
So Eric, you know, built a
lighting package.

258
00:15:58,960 --> 00:16:02,560
He went on to rent that lighting
package to local bands in Dallas

259
00:16:02,880 --> 00:16:06,040
and then eventually went to work
for some people that I knew real

260
00:16:06,040 --> 00:16:10,320
well back then as well, Charles
and and Vicki Belcher, who had a

261
00:16:10,320 --> 00:16:15,600
company called Dallas Backup.
And he was there, I believe,

262
00:16:15,600 --> 00:16:18,920
when he was like maybe 17 or 18
years old.

263
00:16:19,920 --> 00:16:24,280
Charles Belcher kind of played
dad a little bit helped educate

264
00:16:24,280 --> 00:16:29,360
him on how to do how to do
things properly and Charles also

265
00:16:29,360 --> 00:16:33,520
gave Eric his first LD gig which
happened to be for George

266
00:16:33,520 --> 00:16:36,160
Strait.
I mean what a place to start.

267
00:16:36,160 --> 00:16:39,400
You're doing arenas with you
know a huge country act.

268
00:16:39,760 --> 00:16:44,320
But remember, this was back in
the day when country wasn't 400

269
00:16:44,320 --> 00:16:46,960
moving lights, it was 2 or 300
bark hands.

270
00:16:47,320 --> 00:16:50,480
And so, you know, it was 4
sticks of Truss and a bunch of

271
00:16:50,480 --> 00:16:55,320
bark hands.
And so he did that for a couple

272
00:16:55,320 --> 00:17:00,760
of years I believe.
And then in 84, Eric went to

273
00:17:00,760 --> 00:17:05,640
Vera Light where he was a
programmer and tech for Vera

274
00:17:05,640 --> 00:17:07,079
Light.
And this was back in the very

275
00:17:07,079 --> 00:17:09,319
early days of Vera Light.
He was working for Wiseman.

276
00:17:09,800 --> 00:17:14,280
And so you would get your own
dressing room where you would

277
00:17:14,280 --> 00:17:16,520
repair the lights with the door
closed and locked.

278
00:17:16,520 --> 00:17:19,240
And it was all very secret, you
know, it was in the early days

279
00:17:19,240 --> 00:17:21,920
of Vera Light.
Very sexy, very interesting.

280
00:17:22,440 --> 00:17:29,560
And I think his Vera Light
career ended with Michael

281
00:17:29,560 --> 00:17:34,360
Jackson dangerous and that was
when he met Peter Morse and

282
00:17:34,440 --> 00:17:37,600
became close with Peter Morse
and the rest is history.

283
00:17:37,600 --> 00:17:42,760
He started doing all kinds of
stuff with Peter Morse and you

284
00:17:42,760 --> 00:17:45,960
know, they've been very close
friends and and very close work

285
00:17:45,960 --> 00:17:50,800
partners since that time, which
I believe was in 911991.

286
00:17:50,800 --> 00:17:54,200
So very long successful
relationship between the two of

287
00:17:54,200 --> 00:17:59,320
them.
And I asked Eric, do you

288
00:17:59,320 --> 00:18:01,560
consider yourself a designer or
a programmer?

289
00:18:01,560 --> 00:18:03,600
And he said both.
And then he went on to tell me

290
00:18:03,600 --> 00:18:05,800
about the four different
businesses that he owns and

291
00:18:05,800 --> 00:18:08,480
operates.
And so I said aren't you an

292
00:18:08,480 --> 00:18:11,560
entrepreneur or a businessman?
And he said, yeah, that too.

293
00:18:11,920 --> 00:18:17,480
And so, you know, he said
basically as a designer he, he

294
00:18:18,280 --> 00:18:22,040
always has to, you know, do his
own programming, doesn't have

295
00:18:22,040 --> 00:18:24,200
to, but he often does his own
programming.

296
00:18:24,400 --> 00:18:27,080
There have been tours where he's
had to bring in outside people.

297
00:18:27,080 --> 00:18:29,440
He'll bring in Troy Ackerman or
someone like that.

298
00:18:30,560 --> 00:18:32,520
And now his sons also work with
him.

299
00:18:32,520 --> 00:18:36,160
I believe you might have heard
that on part of what actually we

300
00:18:36,160 --> 00:18:38,200
were able to save from this
podcast.

301
00:18:38,560 --> 00:18:42,440
But that is sort of the
penultimate when you can have

302
00:18:42,440 --> 00:18:45,320
your sons working for you as
well or working with you as well

303
00:18:45,320 --> 00:18:47,600
in the business and they now go
out and tour.

304
00:18:47,600 --> 00:18:51,280
One of them was with Luis Miguel
and the other one I believe he

305
00:18:51,280 --> 00:18:52,920
said is going out with Janet
Jackson.

306
00:18:52,920 --> 00:18:57,320
So again I apologize for what
just happened.

307
00:18:57,320 --> 00:19:00,000
This has happened a total of two
or three times in the history of

308
00:19:00,000 --> 00:19:03,960
this podcast and this one
unfortunately I was unable to

309
00:19:03,960 --> 00:19:08,760
salvage the 1st roughly 20
minutes of the recording.

310
00:19:08,760 --> 00:19:11,960
So I thought I'd go in there and
just give you the sort of

311
00:19:11,960 --> 00:19:16,080
highlights, the, you know,
10,000 foot view of the stuff

312
00:19:16,080 --> 00:19:19,160
that you missed.
And so there you go and enjoy

313
00:19:19,320 --> 00:19:21,600
the rest of the podcast and here
you go.

314
00:19:21,600 --> 00:19:27,760
Here's Eric.
Today, you know, but you're

315
00:19:27,760 --> 00:19:29,960
right.
I mean to me, you know the Super

316
00:19:29,960 --> 00:19:32,040
Bowl shows that, you know stand
out.

317
00:19:32,040 --> 00:19:35,240
I mean the the very first one
with Michael Jackson years, you

318
00:19:35,240 --> 00:19:37,960
know, that was right after we
finished Dangerous that he did

319
00:19:37,960 --> 00:19:40,960
the the first Super Bowl thing
there, you know, and it was

320
00:19:41,040 --> 00:19:44,600
spectacular, you know, Yeah, but
you know, there's been some

321
00:19:44,600 --> 00:19:47,120
amazing ones.
Paul McCartney's was, you know,

322
00:19:47,200 --> 00:19:49,000
over the top.
You know, there's there's been

323
00:19:49,000 --> 00:19:52,200
some really good ones.
Yeah, Paul McCartney, you know,

324
00:19:52,200 --> 00:19:55,520
I mean I I thought Bruno Mars
recently was pretty good.

325
00:19:56,200 --> 00:19:58,520
Obviously the Michael Jackson
one was pretty good.

326
00:19:59,440 --> 00:20:02,720
You know, Prince I think is the
all time winner for me, like in

327
00:20:02,720 --> 00:20:05,320
the rain in Miami.
That was just, Oh yeah.

328
00:20:05,320 --> 00:20:07,360
That was an increase doing
Purple Rain in the rain.

329
00:20:07,680 --> 00:20:10,240
It was amazing.
That was so good.

330
00:20:10,960 --> 00:20:13,840
And yeah, so I mean, there have
been some really, really good

331
00:20:13,840 --> 00:20:16,320
ones to me.
You know, this one was just like

332
00:20:16,320 --> 00:20:18,520
average.
It was good, but it it was, you

333
00:20:18,520 --> 00:20:19,440
know it.
Wasn't.

334
00:20:19,640 --> 00:20:22,520
I think it's just gotten to the
point where it's it's almost

335
00:20:22,520 --> 00:20:24,880
impossible to outdo some of the
other ones.

336
00:20:24,880 --> 00:20:28,400
You know, they've gone so big
with it and hyped it so much.

337
00:20:28,840 --> 00:20:32,520
Our expectations now are so off
the chart for that halftime

338
00:20:32,520 --> 00:20:34,800
show, right?
You know what the public

339
00:20:34,800 --> 00:20:38,720
perceives and wants is, you know
you're going to have to have 10

340
00:20:38,720 --> 00:20:41,160
times the budget they got and a
lot more time.

341
00:20:41,160 --> 00:20:44,680
So absolutely, it's just what we
expect though.

342
00:20:44,680 --> 00:20:47,240
I mean, you know when you start,
everybody wants bigger and

343
00:20:47,240 --> 00:20:49,600
bigger all the time.
So you're always going to be

344
00:20:49,600 --> 00:20:52,040
fighting that.
It's a it's probably it's it's a

345
00:20:52,040 --> 00:20:53,600
tough show.
I mean that's going to be a

346
00:20:53,600 --> 00:20:55,040
tough one.
You're never going to make

347
00:20:55,040 --> 00:20:57,400
everybody happy.
No, this is the way it is.

348
00:20:57,880 --> 00:20:59,480
But that's but that's every
show.

349
00:20:59,520 --> 00:21:01,600
You know everybody's going to
have something to say about a

350
00:21:01,600 --> 00:21:06,320
show.
So I've always been curious, you

351
00:21:06,320 --> 00:21:08,480
know, And I asked, I think I
asked Troy Ackerman the same

352
00:21:08,480 --> 00:21:10,280
question.
And I've asked a bunch of people

353
00:21:10,280 --> 00:21:13,440
the same question, but are you a
designer or a programmer?

354
00:21:15,160 --> 00:21:17,240
You know, I like to think of
myself as both.

355
00:21:18,360 --> 00:21:20,600
For me, I've always been a
programming designer.

356
00:21:21,160 --> 00:21:23,640
So.
I can't really keep my hands off

357
00:21:23,640 --> 00:21:25,560
the console.
I'm not that kind of person,

358
00:21:26,440 --> 00:21:29,280
although I did on this last
Janet Jackson design.

359
00:21:29,280 --> 00:21:32,920
I strictly just designed it and
I hired Troy to come in and and

360
00:21:32,920 --> 00:21:36,120
associate with me and we had the
kids all programming.

361
00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:40,440
So and it turned out amazing,
you know, So, you know, I these

362
00:21:40,440 --> 00:21:44,200
days I'm, you know, it's it's
weird because I've kind of

363
00:21:44,200 --> 00:21:47,520
transitioned in my career now to
being, you know, like with Janet

364
00:21:47,520 --> 00:21:50,800
right now I'm the tour manager,
I'm the production designer, I'm

365
00:21:50,840 --> 00:21:53,800
doing everything right.
So I mean I'm dealing with

366
00:21:53,800 --> 00:21:57,920
contracts even for her shows.
So you know, I've kind of

367
00:21:57,920 --> 00:22:01,760
transitioned more into that role
and and our company's kind of

368
00:22:01,760 --> 00:22:05,760
gone that direction as well.
Crossfade is more of a we're

369
00:22:05,760 --> 00:22:10,840
like a turnkey for you know,
design firm that you know when

370
00:22:10,840 --> 00:22:14,160
you're you come to us with your
tour and go we got a budget.

371
00:22:14,320 --> 00:22:16,240
Can you just put this whole show
together for us?

372
00:22:16,240 --> 00:22:18,920
That's what we do You know we'll
take care of the budgets.

373
00:22:18,920 --> 00:22:21,320
We take care of hiring all the
vendors.

374
00:22:21,320 --> 00:22:22,760
We take care of hiring all the
staff.

375
00:22:22,760 --> 00:22:26,000
We take care of the design.
We take care of everything

376
00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:29,200
pretty much you know and I mean
down to like with Janet I'm I'm

377
00:22:29,200 --> 00:22:33,200
ordering buses and trucks you
know I'm doing everything so was

378
00:22:33,440 --> 00:22:34,920
that was.
That like always sort of a

379
00:22:34,920 --> 00:22:38,440
planned evolution or is that
something that just as an

380
00:22:38,480 --> 00:22:40,280
opportunist, it just kind of
happened?

381
00:22:40,280 --> 00:22:42,320
Yeah.
Yeah, it just, it just made

382
00:22:42,320 --> 00:22:45,600
sense, you know, because these
days it's, you know, I was

383
00:22:45,600 --> 00:22:47,200
telling somebody this earlier
today.

384
00:22:47,200 --> 00:22:50,640
I did an interview earlier this
morning, but I was telling them

385
00:22:50,640 --> 00:22:54,240
the kind of the same thing is,
you know, back when we were all

386
00:22:54,240 --> 00:22:56,920
really busy programming and
doing all these shows.

387
00:22:56,920 --> 00:22:59,480
Back then it was all about, you
know, record sales.

388
00:22:59,800 --> 00:23:02,480
So we were doing tours to
promote an album.

389
00:23:02,760 --> 00:23:06,120
So the artist never really had
to make money on a tour.

390
00:23:06,120 --> 00:23:09,200
It was more about making a
spectacle out of it to sell more

391
00:23:09,200 --> 00:23:11,280
records.
Right now it's completely

392
00:23:11,280 --> 00:23:13,240
opposite of that.
Now it is.

393
00:23:13,280 --> 00:23:16,280
They go on the road to make
money, you know, and and it is a

394
00:23:16,280 --> 00:23:20,800
business and if if you're artist
and that's where we kind of have

395
00:23:20,800 --> 00:23:23,760
gone with what we're doing is to
make sure that whoever we're

396
00:23:23,760 --> 00:23:26,040
working for and the artists
we're working for makes money,

397
00:23:26,240 --> 00:23:28,560
right.
So I take the budget and I go

398
00:23:28,560 --> 00:23:31,320
all the way down the budget and
make sure that every night

399
00:23:31,320 --> 00:23:33,960
they're putting money in their
pocket and taking it home, you

400
00:23:33,960 --> 00:23:36,360
know, and that's you know, and
that's the only way they're

401
00:23:36,360 --> 00:23:38,560
going to keep doing shows.
I mean, who's going to do what

402
00:23:38,560 --> 00:23:42,200
we do and travel as much as we
travel and be in the, you know,

403
00:23:42,200 --> 00:23:45,760
be in the red after every show,
you know, it's just you can't do

404
00:23:45,760 --> 00:23:48,240
it.
So that's that's kind of our

405
00:23:48,240 --> 00:23:51,280
philosophy now it's more about
working with an act, giving them

406
00:23:51,280 --> 00:23:55,360
something that they can can be
proud of but also make money on.

407
00:23:55,720 --> 00:23:58,520
Yeah, no, it's interesting
'cause I asked you, are you a

408
00:23:58,520 --> 00:24:00,880
programmer or a designer?
But it sounds like you're a

409
00:24:00,880 --> 00:24:02,600
business guy now.
Like it that?

410
00:24:02,600 --> 00:24:04,720
Sounds.
Yeah, I'm pretty much it.

411
00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:06,320
Yeah.
No, I mean your kids.

412
00:24:06,400 --> 00:24:07,720
Get to go out and have all the
fun.

413
00:24:08,400 --> 00:24:10,160
Yeah, they're doing it all now.
Yeah, I mean, I.

414
00:24:10,840 --> 00:24:13,400
I let them handle it.
But yeah, 'cause we have right

415
00:24:13,400 --> 00:24:16,200
now, there's, you know, we
basically have three different

416
00:24:16,200 --> 00:24:18,200
companies or I've worked with
three different companies that

417
00:24:18,200 --> 00:24:22,600
I'm a part of and one of them
is, is just a fabrication shop.

418
00:24:22,600 --> 00:24:25,760
It's just metal work.
And all we do there is pretty

419
00:24:25,760 --> 00:24:29,280
much from now we're mainly
making truck bodies like utility

420
00:24:29,280 --> 00:24:31,240
truck bodies.
So nothing to do with the

421
00:24:31,240 --> 00:24:34,440
industry at all, but but that
business is, you know, off and

422
00:24:34,440 --> 00:24:37,520
running.
So, you know, I've never thought

423
00:24:37,520 --> 00:24:40,880
I'd own a shop with laser
cutters and press brakes and you

424
00:24:40,880 --> 00:24:43,400
know, all that kind of stuff and
I do nothing.

425
00:24:44,760 --> 00:24:48,440
You know what, it happened
mainly because Nemesis are the

426
00:24:48,440 --> 00:24:50,720
UVC company.
We, you know, because I started

427
00:24:50,720 --> 00:24:53,680
that just right before COVID or
right when we thought.

428
00:24:53,680 --> 00:24:57,360
It was happening.
Yeah, I mean, I started in 2019

429
00:24:57,360 --> 00:25:00,360
when I started hearing about
COVID and what could you know

430
00:25:00,360 --> 00:25:01,960
when?
And I went, holy crap, I know

431
00:25:01,960 --> 00:25:02,200
what?
Why?

432
00:25:02,200 --> 00:25:06,320
Didn't you tell any of us?
Yeah, well, why do you tell

433
00:25:06,320 --> 00:25:07,760
quite a bit?
Yeah.

434
00:25:08,320 --> 00:25:10,320
Yeah.
I mean we, we did a lot of

435
00:25:10,320 --> 00:25:14,440
business and you know, basically
what I did is reinvented UVC

436
00:25:14,720 --> 00:25:17,200
lighting with that company.
So, you know, because I had

437
00:25:17,200 --> 00:25:21,080
learned about it from Rick way
back in when I first started in

438
00:25:21,080 --> 00:25:24,720
the clubs because back then it
was the HIV scare, right.

439
00:25:24,720 --> 00:25:27,520
So you had all that going on.
So they would put UVC in the

440
00:25:27,520 --> 00:25:30,240
bathrooms at these clubs
overnight to disinfect the

441
00:25:30,240 --> 00:25:33,200
bathrooms and kill all the
viruses and bacteria and all

442
00:25:33,200 --> 00:25:35,920
that stuff.
I mean you can run UVC in a club

443
00:25:35,920 --> 00:25:39,400
overnight and get rid of that
horrible, you know, beer smell

444
00:25:39,400 --> 00:25:41,560
and all the, you know, the club
smell because it'll it

445
00:25:41,560 --> 00:25:44,200
disinfects.
So I just kind of reinvented it

446
00:25:44,320 --> 00:25:47,480
and you know we sold a ton of
stuff during COVID.

447
00:25:47,480 --> 00:25:51,520
We were busy and I we were
extremely busy and crossfade was

448
00:25:51,520 --> 00:25:53,360
busy.
We went into the bubble with Top

449
00:25:53,360 --> 00:25:57,240
Rank.
You know, we had we had boxing

450
00:25:57,240 --> 00:25:59,760
work going and sports work
because we still took care of

451
00:25:59,760 --> 00:26:02,040
the hockey teams and basketball
teams we take care of.

452
00:26:02,680 --> 00:26:06,760
So all that was still going, so
you know between the three

453
00:26:06,760 --> 00:26:09,160
companies now pretty slammed you
know?

454
00:26:09,200 --> 00:26:11,640
So it it.
Really eats up a lot of time.

455
00:26:11,800 --> 00:26:14,360
The UVC thing blows me away,
though, like that.

456
00:26:14,640 --> 00:26:18,560
Somehow you had this foresight
or vision or whatever that that

457
00:26:18,560 --> 00:26:20,800
was going to be a thing.
And you know, 'cause I know

458
00:26:20,800 --> 00:26:23,920
people who got into the UVC
business, like at the end of

459
00:26:23,920 --> 00:26:27,960
2020 or whatever, you know, but
you were already in it for that

460
00:26:27,960 --> 00:26:29,760
company that's called Nemesis.
Oh, yeah.

461
00:26:29,760 --> 00:26:32,560
No, we, yeah, Nemesis UVC is the
company.

462
00:26:32,840 --> 00:26:34,840
Yeah.
And it's we you know that's so

463
00:26:34,840 --> 00:26:37,880
that's how the metal fabrication
shop came because I couldn't

464
00:26:37,880 --> 00:26:40,840
find any shops that were really
had people working or doing

465
00:26:40,840 --> 00:26:43,400
anything then and everything was
already backlogged.

466
00:26:43,800 --> 00:26:48,080
So my one of my partners and me,
we went John and I bought the

467
00:26:48,080 --> 00:26:51,680
equipment and we got another guy
involved and you know all of a

468
00:26:51,680 --> 00:26:55,200
sudden now we got you know laser
showing, laser cutters showing

469
00:26:55,200 --> 00:26:59,240
up and press brakes and we to
build all the lighting fixtures

470
00:26:59,240 --> 00:27:00,520
basically is what we started
doing.

471
00:27:00,720 --> 00:27:02,680
So we started building lighting
fixtures right there.

472
00:27:03,120 --> 00:27:06,160
Is that still a thing?
Like, did did you know, 'cause I

473
00:27:06,160 --> 00:27:09,920
know how particularly Americans
operate, You know, it's it's

474
00:27:09,920 --> 00:27:12,600
like, whoa, you know, we need to
stop everything.

475
00:27:12,600 --> 00:27:15,320
And then it goes away and all of
a sudden it's like, what?

476
00:27:15,320 --> 00:27:16,280
What happened?
What are you?

477
00:27:16,280 --> 00:27:18,600
Talking about yeah, but in
downtown nobody really cares

478
00:27:18,600 --> 00:27:19,040
anymore.
Now.

479
00:27:19,520 --> 00:27:22,160
Yeah it's I mean we get we're
we're still in it's still

480
00:27:22,160 --> 00:27:25,120
running and it's still doing it
but it's kind of it's very slow

481
00:27:26,320 --> 00:27:29,000
We're we still have some Indian
nation work you know the Indian

482
00:27:29,000 --> 00:27:32,280
nations are still buying stuff
and we're building here and

483
00:27:32,280 --> 00:27:34,600
there and we got some air
cleaners and things like that we

484
00:27:34,600 --> 00:27:38,000
do but it's it's pretty much you
know that's hence why the

485
00:27:38,200 --> 00:27:41,800
machine shop now the fabrication
shop is doing truck beds because

486
00:27:42,080 --> 00:27:44,880
the lighting market for UVC.
Is falling off you pivoted.

487
00:27:44,880 --> 00:27:46,920
Everybody doesn't really care
anymore.

488
00:27:46,960 --> 00:27:48,200
No, we're going to get sick.
Whatever.

489
00:27:48,400 --> 00:27:50,800
No, that's that's how the world.
And I had a good friend

490
00:27:50,800 --> 00:27:53,680
involved.
Yeah, I had a don't know if you

491
00:27:53,680 --> 00:27:56,720
knew Joe.
He used to work for elation.

492
00:27:57,000 --> 00:28:00,320
He was involved with us and Joe
Adams.

493
00:28:01,720 --> 00:28:04,440
So Joe Adams was one of the
original guys in with us with

494
00:28:04,440 --> 00:28:07,280
UVC and we got it going.
He was the one that pushed it to

495
00:28:07,280 --> 00:28:11,000
the Indian nations and him and I
got COVID together at the same

496
00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:13,840
time when we went to.
I don't know whether he got it

497
00:28:13,840 --> 00:28:17,760
from somebody or how we got it,
but him, me and my wife, all

498
00:28:17,760 --> 00:28:21,040
three got it at the, I mean,
within 24 hours of each other.

499
00:28:21,960 --> 00:28:25,160
And Joe.
And Joe passed, yeah, seven

500
00:28:25,160 --> 00:28:26,080
days.
And he died.

501
00:28:26,080 --> 00:28:29,360
He had a pulmonary embolism from
it and passed away.

502
00:28:29,920 --> 00:28:32,600
You know, It was horrible, you
know, young guy, you know.

503
00:28:32,600 --> 00:28:34,280
Yeah, I know.
I.

504
00:28:34,520 --> 00:28:36,960
So that that was, yeah.
I remember when that went down.

505
00:28:37,000 --> 00:28:39,400
Yeah, I didn't realize he was
your partner.

506
00:28:40,320 --> 00:28:41,640
Yeah, he was one of our partners
in that.

507
00:28:41,920 --> 00:28:46,840
Huh.
Yeah, I, you know, I still don't

508
00:28:46,840 --> 00:28:49,200
know to this day.
I don't know that anyone really

509
00:28:49,200 --> 00:28:51,480
knows.
But why did like, 'cause I got

510
00:28:51,480 --> 00:28:53,760
it probably three times or four
times.

511
00:28:53,760 --> 00:28:58,000
I think I got COVID and every
time it was no worse than any

512
00:28:58,000 --> 00:29:01,680
other flu and sometimes not even
as bad as colds that I'd get.

513
00:29:01,680 --> 00:29:04,760
You know?
And to be honest, since 2020, if

514
00:29:04,760 --> 00:29:08,520
I look at all the times I've
been sick since 2020, it's less

515
00:29:08,520 --> 00:29:11,200
than probably the four years
prior to that.

516
00:29:11,680 --> 00:29:14,360
You know, 'cause it pretty much
got rid of the flu and a lot of

517
00:29:14,360 --> 00:29:17,160
the colds and stuff for a long
time, but.

518
00:29:17,200 --> 00:29:20,320
Yeah, it did.
You know, knocking on my wooden

519
00:29:20,320 --> 00:29:22,840
head, I never got really, really
sick.

520
00:29:22,840 --> 00:29:25,920
You know, like I think one of
the times I got it, I I had to

521
00:29:25,920 --> 00:29:28,840
spend a day in bed.
But other than that I just kind

522
00:29:28,840 --> 00:29:31,480
of got on with my days and and I
work.

523
00:29:31,520 --> 00:29:35,000
Yeah, that whatever we got that
week that my wife calls it, you

524
00:29:35,000 --> 00:29:39,320
know, we had OG COVID.
So yeah, yeah, you know, but we

525
00:29:39,720 --> 00:29:43,800
it, it was, it was brutal.
I mean, it was watching your O2

526
00:29:43,800 --> 00:29:46,760
levels and all that stuff and
then the brain fog and you know,

527
00:29:46,760 --> 00:29:49,200
all that garbage.
She lost her taste and smell for

528
00:29:49,400 --> 00:29:51,120
almost a year.
Yeah, my girl.

529
00:29:51,280 --> 00:29:54,040
Oh, for a year.
Yeah, 'cause I never lost.

530
00:29:54,280 --> 00:29:57,000
Every time I got it.
I never lost taste or smell.

531
00:29:57,000 --> 00:30:00,360
And my girlfriend did again.
Why?

532
00:30:00,440 --> 00:30:03,720
Certain people different.
Effects and all of that stuff.

533
00:30:03,800 --> 00:30:05,320
Yeah.
I mean, well, just like the

534
00:30:05,320 --> 00:30:08,760
Indian, the Indian communities,
they're still just getting beat

535
00:30:08,760 --> 00:30:11,440
up with it.
It's it's really rampant, so.

536
00:30:13,200 --> 00:30:13,960
I don't know.
Yeah.

537
00:30:13,960 --> 00:30:17,680
It's it's who knows?
You know, I I like and it's

538
00:30:18,800 --> 00:30:22,480
unfortunately when when you're
like me and you didn't get very

539
00:30:22,480 --> 00:30:24,320
sick from it, it's easy to
downplay it.

540
00:30:24,320 --> 00:30:27,360
But then you got to be careful
because you talk to people and

541
00:30:27,360 --> 00:30:30,320
they say yeah, but my father
died from it or whatever.

542
00:30:30,320 --> 00:30:31,720
Yeah, and I and I can't downplay
it.

543
00:30:31,720 --> 00:30:33,800
I I mean almost a very dear
friend.

544
00:30:34,040 --> 00:30:35,480
Get it the same week as me and
pass.

545
00:30:35,600 --> 00:30:38,240
Away from.
It so you know I you got to take

546
00:30:38,240 --> 00:30:41,160
it serious after that.
I mean it it wrecked you know

547
00:30:41,280 --> 00:30:44,440
his family's life.
You know, it's just, yeah, it

548
00:30:44,640 --> 00:30:47,520
was it was not a good moment.
That was one of the more sad

549
00:30:47,520 --> 00:30:50,320
ones that I remember.
There was a a friend of mine

550
00:30:50,320 --> 00:30:54,840
here in South Florida who was
that obnoxious guy that was

551
00:30:54,840 --> 00:30:57,960
like, on Facebook all the time
going, this is bullshit.

552
00:30:57,960 --> 00:31:00,240
This COVID thing's bullshit.
It ain't even real.

553
00:31:00,240 --> 00:31:01,920
It's the government.
Yeah, right, right.

554
00:31:02,200 --> 00:31:03,720
You know, just ragging on
everybody.

555
00:31:03,720 --> 00:31:07,000
And of course, the minute they
open strip clubs, he'd be like,

556
00:31:07,200 --> 00:31:09,320
hey, I'm going to Rachel's
today.

557
00:31:09,320 --> 00:31:12,520
Who wants to meet me?
We're all going to Rachel's F

558
00:31:12,520 --> 00:31:17,080
COVID and all this stuff, right?
And he was the first person I

559
00:31:17,080 --> 00:31:21,960
knew who died.
He got it Well, I mean, but he

560
00:31:21,960 --> 00:31:25,240
was such an asshole about it.
And I hate to say that God rest

561
00:31:25,240 --> 00:31:29,200
his soul, but you know that he
refused to go to the doctor.

562
00:31:29,320 --> 00:31:31,960
He got it and he wasn't going to
take any medicine and he

563
00:31:31,960 --> 00:31:34,360
wouldn't go to the doctor.
Live The life was real.

564
00:31:34,560 --> 00:31:36,280
Yeah, there's a lot of people
that that were that.

565
00:31:36,440 --> 00:31:38,880
Way.
I mean, and I ran into a lot of

566
00:31:38,880 --> 00:31:41,560
them running the running
nemesis, you know, we ran into

567
00:31:41,560 --> 00:31:43,400
that a lot.
People are like you guys are,

568
00:31:43,480 --> 00:31:45,880
you know, you're selling
witchcraft, you know, it's a,

569
00:31:46,440 --> 00:31:49,000
you know, we're one of those,
you know, door to door guys or

570
00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:51,000
whatever.
You know, it's trying to sell

571
00:31:51,000 --> 00:31:53,320
voodoo.
You know, it's not, it's a

572
00:31:53,400 --> 00:31:56,600
proven, it's a proven science.
It's been used.

573
00:31:57,080 --> 00:32:01,840
I mean it wasn't anything new.
UVC was patented in the 1950s

574
00:32:01,840 --> 00:32:03,840
and it's been used in hospitals
ever since.

575
00:32:04,320 --> 00:32:08,480
So it's it's not, yeah, it's
proven it's, it absolutely

576
00:32:08,480 --> 00:32:10,640
works.
The thing about UVC though, it's

577
00:32:10,720 --> 00:32:12,480
so dangerous.
It's so like.

578
00:32:13,040 --> 00:32:16,080
You know, it can be it's it, it
depends on the exposure.

579
00:32:16,160 --> 00:32:19,320
I mean we we're baking the
lights and you know, it's funny

580
00:32:19,320 --> 00:32:21,400
because Stacey Labarber was
involved with that, with me as

581
00:32:21,400 --> 00:32:26,240
well and his boys and we, you
know, we were exposed around it

582
00:32:26,240 --> 00:32:27,720
all the time.
We just wear something on your

583
00:32:27,720 --> 00:32:29,920
eyes, you know, the most you
could get.

584
00:32:29,920 --> 00:32:32,320
I mean, you'd have to be in it
for a long time.

585
00:32:32,640 --> 00:32:35,000
I mean, we'd be in there doing
tests with it.

586
00:32:35,000 --> 00:32:38,640
And you get a sunburn sometimes
on your neck or something like

587
00:32:38,640 --> 00:32:42,200
that.
It's, you know, it's some people

588
00:32:42,200 --> 00:32:44,080
think you're going to walk in
there, you're just going to die.

589
00:32:44,080 --> 00:32:46,600
You're not going to do it.
I was talking to somebody in LA

590
00:32:46,680 --> 00:32:51,960
about it and they had done like
an XR studio or something with

591
00:32:52,320 --> 00:32:56,200
UVC and he said after like a
week or something they were

592
00:32:56,200 --> 00:32:59,960
starting to see like the the
outside of cables were getting

593
00:32:59,960 --> 00:33:03,840
brittle and cracking and and the
the flooring that they had in

594
00:33:03,840 --> 00:33:07,480
there was was getting all messed
up from the UVC or whatever.

595
00:33:08,000 --> 00:33:10,000
So they they were probably
overexposing things.

596
00:33:10,000 --> 00:33:10,520
I'm.
Sure they.

597
00:33:10,560 --> 00:33:13,000
Were you know you don't you know
you don't just turn it on and

598
00:33:13,000 --> 00:33:16,600
leave it forever I mean we I
actually we did all the I had

599
00:33:16,600 --> 00:33:20,360
all the science so it's really
the exposure times are I mean

600
00:33:20,760 --> 00:33:24,480
it's ridiculous we we actually
did our labs in A at a lab down

601
00:33:24,480 --> 00:33:28,920
in Austin and we actually the
the unit the longest thing we

602
00:33:28,920 --> 00:33:32,400
had to run to kill which you
know I mean even other things

603
00:33:32,400 --> 00:33:34,720
you know was MRSA and staff
right.

604
00:33:34,720 --> 00:33:39,040
So and that took about 15
minutes with our fixture from 8

605
00:33:39,040 --> 00:33:42,400
feet away.
So to completely wipe out MRSA

606
00:33:42,400 --> 00:33:46,560
and staff they did the test on
COVID it was it was about 8 1/2

607
00:33:46,560 --> 00:33:50,040
seconds.
So you didn't need a long

608
00:33:50,040 --> 00:33:53,000
exposure with any of this stuff.
You know, you could run a crowd

609
00:33:53,000 --> 00:33:57,280
out, turn on the lights and let
them run for 5 to 10 minutes,

610
00:33:57,280 --> 00:33:59,800
tops, and then turn it off and
you were good to go.

611
00:34:00,240 --> 00:34:03,640
You know, So what I found a lot
of people doing, and because

612
00:34:03,640 --> 00:34:06,360
people were just buying anything
they could buy at the time, but

613
00:34:06,360 --> 00:34:07,720
they would just turn it on and
leave it on.

614
00:34:08,040 --> 00:34:10,159
You know, they'd leave and go
overnight and just let it run

615
00:34:10,159 --> 00:34:11,400
all night long.
Yeah, it's going to.

616
00:34:11,520 --> 00:34:12,760
It's going to.
Absolutely.

617
00:34:12,760 --> 00:34:15,719
It's like it's like leaving
something out outside in the

618
00:34:15,719 --> 00:34:16,679
backyard.
In the summer.

619
00:34:16,679 --> 00:34:20,199
In Texas, it's the same thing.
You're just putting UV rays into

620
00:34:20,199 --> 00:34:22,199
something. 10 hours must be
better, right?

621
00:34:22,880 --> 00:34:26,080
Yeah, you know, and the thing
you'll look at now, I mean like

622
00:34:26,360 --> 00:34:30,280
all your paints and everything
anymore is got UV protection in

623
00:34:30,280 --> 00:34:32,280
it because they want it to last
out in the sun.

624
00:34:33,000 --> 00:34:36,480
So your paints, your materials,
most everything's got UV

625
00:34:36,480 --> 00:34:39,080
protection in it.
But when you're putting UV light

626
00:34:39,080 --> 00:34:41,880
directly on something you know,
it's like leaving it out in the,

627
00:34:41,960 --> 00:34:45,480
you know, overnight can be like,
you know, leaving something in

628
00:34:45,480 --> 00:34:49,760
the sun for a month, you know.
So let me ask you a couple gear

629
00:34:49,760 --> 00:34:52,040
questions and I'm going to let
you go because I know happy hour

630
00:34:52,040 --> 00:34:57,440
is coming up or something.
So console your your MA.

631
00:34:58,400 --> 00:35:00,080
Yeah we're MA we own quite a
few.

632
00:35:00,080 --> 00:35:04,240
We've got we've got we've got
quite a few full size some

633
00:35:04,240 --> 00:35:08,800
lights you know we got compacts
we got you know the PC wings all

634
00:35:08,800 --> 00:35:11,240
that stuff.
We are all in my house now.

635
00:35:12,080 --> 00:35:16,400
Yeah I mean pretty much yeah I I
was Max's and going down that

636
00:35:16,400 --> 00:35:19,960
line and I still you know I
still love all the all the stuff

637
00:35:20,000 --> 00:35:22,160
that they've done with Onyx and
you know all the stuff that

638
00:35:22,160 --> 00:35:23,600
elations done with that.
Console.

639
00:35:25,280 --> 00:35:29,960
Yeah, the Obsidian stuff is
great, you know, but we're we're

640
00:35:29,960 --> 00:35:33,840
so deep into MA.
It's just what we are now, you

641
00:35:33,840 --> 00:35:36,560
know and that is the majority of
my rentals too.

642
00:35:36,560 --> 00:35:39,360
I mean, my consoles are probably
the busiest thing I have.

643
00:35:39,840 --> 00:35:42,440
Yeah.
So you have a rental company as

644
00:35:42,440 --> 00:35:43,560
well in?
Addition.

645
00:35:43,560 --> 00:35:44,840
Oh, we own.
Other stuff we own.

646
00:35:45,040 --> 00:35:46,920
We own more gear than I ever
thought I'd own.

647
00:35:46,920 --> 00:35:48,440
Yeah.
No, we cross made.

648
00:35:48,440 --> 00:35:51,000
We we own.
We've got mega points.

649
00:35:51,000 --> 00:35:53,520
JDC's, we've got we got all
kinds of stuff.

650
00:35:53,520 --> 00:35:56,960
Motors, Truss.
Yeah, we, I never thought I'd be

651
00:35:56,960 --> 00:36:00,440
in the equipment rental
business, but here I am so.

652
00:36:00,480 --> 00:36:02,760
Yeah, Well, hey, I mean, you
know the.

653
00:36:02,760 --> 00:36:05,400
People that in the previous our
previous suites we've we've

654
00:36:05,720 --> 00:36:09,120
invested heavily into our
previous suites and we we really

655
00:36:09,120 --> 00:36:12,200
started out just wanting to be a
control company, more media

656
00:36:12,200 --> 00:36:17,000
servers control pre vis you know
design work building 3D models

657
00:36:17,000 --> 00:36:20,600
that kind of stuff.
But you know as time grew on,

658
00:36:20,800 --> 00:36:24,560
you know we're we got clients
that you know like Top Rank, we

659
00:36:24,640 --> 00:36:26,680
bought the lighting system for
it because it just wasn't

660
00:36:26,680 --> 00:36:30,880
beneficial to rent it.
So we bought everything and it

661
00:36:30,920 --> 00:36:35,400
stays out all the time so.
Yeah, what about favorite

662
00:36:35,400 --> 00:36:37,400
fixtures?
Any favorite fixtures right now

663
00:36:37,400 --> 00:36:39,320
that that you're?
Really in love with all.

664
00:36:39,320 --> 00:36:41,560
There's some new well there's
some new ones and I'm going to

665
00:36:41,560 --> 00:36:43,720
put few of them on Janet on this
next run.

666
00:36:44,440 --> 00:36:47,160
Shabe's got, they've got a new
fixture out.

667
00:36:47,160 --> 00:36:51,040
It's the pixel curve.
It's the Colorado pixel curve.

668
00:36:51,680 --> 00:36:54,200
Really.
I've got one at the shop right

669
00:36:54,200 --> 00:36:55,360
now.
Brad Haynes sent me.

670
00:36:55,440 --> 00:36:57,720
It is.
I really like it.

671
00:36:58,040 --> 00:37:01,400
I I was in love with the clay
packing one there for a bit but

672
00:37:01,600 --> 00:37:05,600
this one is kind of it on
steroids, you know so it it was

673
00:37:06,200 --> 00:37:09,400
you know as it always turns out
somebody will try to outdo them.

674
00:37:09,680 --> 00:37:12,840
But that one to me right now is
a really great fixture.

675
00:37:12,840 --> 00:37:16,880
But one that really impressed me
the other day is I got I had

676
00:37:16,880 --> 00:37:20,240
Brad come up and bring me a Mac
one.

677
00:37:20,880 --> 00:37:23,160
Martin.
Yeah, so they got this new Mac

678
00:37:23,160 --> 00:37:25,320
one.
It's a really great.

679
00:37:25,320 --> 00:37:27,600
Little small thing is cool.
Yeah, that thing is cool.

680
00:37:27,600 --> 00:37:29,320
It is very cool.
Well, and just the way they've

681
00:37:29,320 --> 00:37:33,160
packaged it with the bar of four
and and you can wall mount it,

682
00:37:33,160 --> 00:37:35,520
you can hang it, you can do all
this different stuff with it.

683
00:37:35,960 --> 00:37:39,200
Like pods and it's lightweight
and the whole the size.

684
00:37:39,200 --> 00:37:43,880
And the form factor, yeah, now
that that fixture as much, you

685
00:37:43,880 --> 00:37:46,320
know, I, I talked to other
lighting manufacturers about it

686
00:37:46,400 --> 00:37:47,560
and they're like it's no big
deal.

687
00:37:48,000 --> 00:37:50,120
You know, that's no big deal.
It's not bright enough, it's not

688
00:37:50,120 --> 00:37:51,480
small enough, it's not this
enough.

689
00:37:51,720 --> 00:37:54,520
But I, you know, I just keep
saying they're going to sell a

690
00:37:54,520 --> 00:37:56,960
billion of those things like.
They're going to sell.

691
00:37:56,960 --> 00:37:59,480
They're going to sell a.
They're going to sell tons of.

692
00:37:59,480 --> 00:38:01,520
Those and it's cheap.
Because we've been we've been

693
00:38:01,560 --> 00:38:04,240
dying for something.
I mean I I the, you know my go

694
00:38:04,240 --> 00:38:09,480
to for the small formats always
been the X4S from GLP you know

695
00:38:09,680 --> 00:38:12,280
great little small light I mean
on Usher as a matter of fact

696
00:38:12,280 --> 00:38:14,160
it's the picture I see in your
background there.

697
00:38:14,400 --> 00:38:17,440
I had a wall on that of 248 of
them.

698
00:38:17,920 --> 00:38:19,560
Wow.
So.

699
00:38:19,600 --> 00:38:22,160
And they were impressive.
You know, they look incredible.

700
00:38:22,160 --> 00:38:23,720
But, you know, that light's old
now.

701
00:38:23,720 --> 00:38:26,240
It's been around.
I'm surprised GOP hasn't

702
00:38:26,600 --> 00:38:29,520
reinvented that one.
I mean, I see that coming.

703
00:38:29,520 --> 00:38:32,000
I think they should because it
was always a great light.

704
00:38:32,360 --> 00:38:35,320
But the Mac one is kind of
what's happened there.

705
00:38:35,320 --> 00:38:38,440
They've kind of reinvented it.
And you know, it's a neat little

706
00:38:38,440 --> 00:38:40,920
light.
Yeah, I think they hit that one

707
00:38:40,920 --> 00:38:43,320
out of the park.
I mean that is just they're

708
00:38:43,320 --> 00:38:46,880
going to again the price point
too like it's you know, dealer.

709
00:38:46,880 --> 00:38:49,280
I think, oh, it's way over 2.
Grand, you know it's.

710
00:38:49,600 --> 00:38:51,960
Oh yeah, no, I yeah, I mean
yeah, dealer on it.

711
00:38:52,360 --> 00:38:53,360
I can't.
I don't think it's more than

712
00:38:53,360 --> 00:38:55,040
about 1500 bucks or.
Something, you know, it's

713
00:38:55,240 --> 00:38:57,800
insane, yeah.
I don't know exactly, I haven't

714
00:38:57,800 --> 00:39:01,320
got a quote yet, but yeah, it's.
I do, but I'm just not saying

715
00:39:01,880 --> 00:39:04,640
I'm being slippery.
But no.

716
00:39:04,640 --> 00:39:07,000
I need to get a quote.
Actually, you just reminded me I

717
00:39:07,000 --> 00:39:08,720
got to e-mail and get a quote
because I need to.

718
00:39:09,040 --> 00:39:11,200
I'm probably just going to buy
the ones for Janet instead of

719
00:39:11,200 --> 00:39:14,480
PRG buying them, but yeah.
I just, I just think that's

720
00:39:14,480 --> 00:39:17,080
going to be a light that people,
you know, they don't say, yeah,

721
00:39:17,080 --> 00:39:20,920
send me 12, they're going to say
send me, you know, 250, you

722
00:39:20,920 --> 00:39:22,040
know.
Yeah, that's it.

723
00:39:22,040 --> 00:39:23,240
It's.
Just going to be something with

724
00:39:23,320 --> 00:39:26,440
lots because it's got so many
applications.

725
00:39:26,440 --> 00:39:29,280
I mean, you know, 8 lights.
It's got the I can't show.

726
00:39:29,320 --> 00:39:32,040
Booth or something.
You know, like just everything

727
00:39:32,040 --> 00:39:33,360
about it.
It's so simple, so

728
00:39:33,360 --> 00:39:35,760
straightforward.
Maybe the only thing they could

729
00:39:35,760 --> 00:39:38,480
have done that would have made
it even cooler is make it, you

730
00:39:38,480 --> 00:39:41,000
know, battery and wireless that
you could just take.

731
00:39:41,360 --> 00:39:43,080
You know, four under your arms
to a trade show?

732
00:39:43,080 --> 00:39:45,920
Absolutely be perfect.
Yeah, yeah, well, maybe it's

733
00:39:45,920 --> 00:39:49,040
coming.
You know the the Mac 1B will be

734
00:39:49,040 --> 00:39:51,720
battery.
You know the Tesla version.

735
00:39:52,200 --> 00:39:53,240
Yeah.
Yeah.

736
00:39:54,080 --> 00:39:56,680
Well you know I know you're on
vacation and I appreciate you

737
00:39:56,680 --> 00:39:59,000
doing this for me.
I we were going to originally do

738
00:39:59,000 --> 00:40:01,920
it last week and and you got
real busy and.

739
00:40:02,040 --> 00:40:04,360
Yeah, it's, it's that's what's
happening right now.

740
00:40:04,360 --> 00:40:06,800
All of a sudden you're like, you
know, you get all this stuff you

741
00:40:06,800 --> 00:40:08,880
think you got this time and
then, you know, and then all of

742
00:40:08,880 --> 00:40:10,560
a sudden you're slammed.
I mean, I've got a corporate

743
00:40:10,560 --> 00:40:13,280
show that just came out of
nowhere that we're doing right

744
00:40:13,280 --> 00:40:15,920
now in Dallas.
And that was what we were trying

745
00:40:15,920 --> 00:40:18,280
to get out the door.
And then, you know, and it was

746
00:40:18,280 --> 00:40:20,480
the last minute.
Joel Young sent the guy my way

747
00:40:20,480 --> 00:40:23,800
and you know, just and I hadn't
heard from Joel in many years.

748
00:40:24,280 --> 00:40:25,600
And.
It was kind of nice.

749
00:40:25,640 --> 00:40:29,240
What's he doing?
He's he's this corporate gig and

750
00:40:29,240 --> 00:40:31,360
other than that he's working in
the medical industry now.

751
00:40:31,360 --> 00:40:35,560
He's like, he's in medicine.
He's doing plasma or something.

752
00:40:36,240 --> 00:40:38,760
Yeah.
So him and his partner or

753
00:40:38,960 --> 00:40:42,000
husband, I guess Ty is, I think
they're married now, but they're

754
00:40:42,440 --> 00:40:44,000
him and Ty.
Both are out of the business

755
00:40:44,000 --> 00:40:46,840
now, I guess for the most part
except you know Joel does this

756
00:40:46,840 --> 00:40:48,360
one corporate client and that's
it.

757
00:40:48,920 --> 00:40:50,440
I had.
No, it's funny, I was thinking

758
00:40:50,440 --> 00:40:53,680
about him a couple weeks ago.
I I wonder whatever happened to

759
00:40:53,680 --> 00:40:55,800
Joel and and I know that's
funny.

760
00:40:55,800 --> 00:40:57,600
You're saying that?
Yeah.

761
00:40:57,640 --> 00:41:00,480
So you know, interesting how
many people that's probably the

762
00:41:00,480 --> 00:41:03,280
biggest problem we got right now
is how many people left after

763
00:41:03,280 --> 00:41:06,480
COVID.
You know the God, it's hard to

764
00:41:06,480 --> 00:41:09,400
find people right now.
I mean finding good people right

765
00:41:09,400 --> 00:41:11,600
now is.
I mean that that's the hardest

766
00:41:11,600 --> 00:41:14,880
thing we have to deal with right
now is staffing and crewing.

767
00:41:14,880 --> 00:41:19,160
And it's you know, because and
one thing I can say is it did

768
00:41:19,160 --> 00:41:21,040
help.
It helped some because there

769
00:41:21,040 --> 00:41:23,400
were some people that just
didn't really need to be in the

770
00:41:23,400 --> 00:41:26,240
business.
But, but then there's some that

771
00:41:26,680 --> 00:41:29,240
you know that we're well, more
qualified and needing to make

772
00:41:29,240 --> 00:41:30,600
more money and now they can, you
know.

773
00:41:30,800 --> 00:41:32,960
Yeah.
People, people are getting what

774
00:41:32,960 --> 00:41:36,080
they deserve in this industry
right now, I think and it's, you

775
00:41:36,080 --> 00:41:39,000
know, I mean for what we do,
it's they should be paid for it.

776
00:41:39,200 --> 00:41:41,720
Well, it's it's going to be
interesting to see how long this

777
00:41:41,720 --> 00:41:45,960
lasts, you know, like because I
know everyone is all the larger

778
00:41:45,960 --> 00:41:47,800
companies anyways.
They're pushing really hard on

779
00:41:47,800 --> 00:41:50,440
the education thing, trying to
bring new people in, new young

780
00:41:50,440 --> 00:41:54,200
people into the industry, right.
You know, you've got a lot of

781
00:41:54,840 --> 00:41:57,960
even designers and stuff.
Like I know Soon Sooner has been

782
00:41:57,960 --> 00:42:01,320
involved in, in really trying to
beat the drama of, hey, you

783
00:42:01,320 --> 00:42:04,000
know, this is a real gig.
It's not a gypsy job or

784
00:42:04,000 --> 00:42:06,360
whatever.
You know you you can make real.

785
00:42:06,480 --> 00:42:08,600
Money.
Yeah, you can make real money

786
00:42:08,600 --> 00:42:12,440
doing this and travel the world
and see cool stuff and and you

787
00:42:12,440 --> 00:42:15,840
know do cool things.
So they're out there doing

788
00:42:15,840 --> 00:42:18,720
marketing basically on the
business, which is important but

789
00:42:19,360 --> 00:42:22,160
because obviously.
We're we're working on something

790
00:42:22,160 --> 00:42:24,280
right now.
We're hoping it kicks off but

791
00:42:24,280 --> 00:42:28,240
we're we're real close to it.
We're talking we're we're real

792
00:42:28,240 --> 00:42:30,520
close to opening up some
rehearsal studios and right

793
00:42:30,520 --> 00:42:34,560
outside of Dallas with Forney
school district and and starting

794
00:42:34,560 --> 00:42:37,600
an education program for our
industry at the same time.

795
00:42:37,960 --> 00:42:40,920
So that's kind of our next big
venture we're working on right

796
00:42:40,920 --> 00:42:43,840
now.
So we would have, you know, 4

797
00:42:43,840 --> 00:42:47,800
sound stages out there, you
know, education division that

798
00:42:47,880 --> 00:42:50,960
takes care of start teaching
lighting guys and sound guys and

799
00:42:50,960 --> 00:42:52,400
all that good stuff.
Sure.

800
00:42:52,560 --> 00:42:56,120
You know, introducing the kids
to a different industry that

801
00:42:56,120 --> 00:42:59,600
they normally wouldn't have
access to, you know, and that

802
00:42:59,600 --> 00:43:01,120
school district's really
interesting.

803
00:43:01,120 --> 00:43:05,360
They, they have a place called
the OC and that is the high

804
00:43:05,360 --> 00:43:07,680
school.
So it's more of a vocational

805
00:43:07,680 --> 00:43:09,720
high school.
You know, you can get in, you

806
00:43:09,720 --> 00:43:13,040
can walk in there as a freshman
in the high school and go, I

807
00:43:13,040 --> 00:43:14,440
really want to be a car
mechanic.

808
00:43:14,440 --> 00:43:16,520
That's what I want to do.
Well, they have a car, They have

809
00:43:16,520 --> 00:43:19,520
an automotive shop.
You and work on cars, your four

810
00:43:19,520 --> 00:43:22,520
years in high school and learn
how to work on cars, how logical

811
00:43:22,720 --> 00:43:24,720
they've got.
Yeah, I know, right?

812
00:43:24,720 --> 00:43:26,800
Curriculum that actually works,
you know?

813
00:43:27,160 --> 00:43:29,920
Yeah.
Beauty shops, catering company

814
00:43:29,960 --> 00:43:32,480
restaurants, they got all this
stuff in this OC.

815
00:43:32,480 --> 00:43:34,920
It's really cool.
It's a it's a really neat

816
00:43:34,920 --> 00:43:38,040
concept.
They were definitely thinking

817
00:43:38,040 --> 00:43:39,440
outside the box when they did
it.

818
00:43:39,760 --> 00:43:44,040
And I mean from learning to Weld
to you know they even have

819
00:43:44,040 --> 00:43:47,360
podcast studios, you know, where
you can kids can go in and do

820
00:43:47,360 --> 00:43:50,920
podcasts and do broadcast stuff.
They put in a theater and an

821
00:43:50,920 --> 00:43:54,640
arena, and now we're talking
about partnering with them and

822
00:43:54,640 --> 00:43:57,720
building these sound stages and
opening up basically an

823
00:43:57,720 --> 00:43:58,520
entertainment site.
Who?

824
00:43:59,280 --> 00:44:03,240
Funded it.
They, well the city funded the

825
00:44:03,240 --> 00:44:07,000
initial project, what it is now
and now it's more they're

826
00:44:07,000 --> 00:44:09,560
bringing on partners kind of
like us with this.

827
00:44:09,560 --> 00:44:13,040
They brought in Eddie Dean.
He's a big BBQ guy in Texas,

828
00:44:13,320 --> 00:44:15,520
brought him in with all the
restaurants and the catering

829
00:44:15,520 --> 00:44:17,680
companies.
You know they've they've brought

830
00:44:17,680 --> 00:44:21,000
on Randy Klein who does like
Texas Style Wrestling.

831
00:44:21,000 --> 00:44:23,360
And you know so they're doing
that out there now and they're

832
00:44:23,360 --> 00:44:26,360
doing you know TV broadcast with
Texas Style Wrestling.

833
00:44:26,960 --> 00:44:30,000
And so it's more about bringing
in partners now too, You know,

834
00:44:30,000 --> 00:44:33,120
develop it like there's a
automotive company that started

835
00:44:33,120 --> 00:44:35,440
with them with the automotive
shop, so they work with real

836
00:44:35,440 --> 00:44:38,520
mechanics and work on real cars.
You know, it's a, it's a real

837
00:44:38,520 --> 00:44:41,600
neat concept.
So kids don't have to just go,

838
00:44:41,840 --> 00:44:43,920
yeah, I've got to go four years
of school and I'll figure out

839
00:44:43,920 --> 00:44:46,040
what I'm going to do there.
You know, they can actually go,

840
00:44:46,040 --> 00:44:49,600
hey, you know, this is really,
you know, they can they can be

841
00:44:49,600 --> 00:44:52,400
around it and exposed and go,
well, I I would really like to

842
00:44:52,400 --> 00:44:54,680
do that.
You know, welding might be my

843
00:44:54,680 --> 00:44:56,800
thing, you know.
So that just makes.

844
00:44:57,360 --> 00:44:57,880
Way too.
You know.

845
00:44:59,320 --> 00:45:01,520
You know.
So yeah, it's a it's a real neat

846
00:45:01,520 --> 00:45:04,600
concept, you know, And I think
we're real close to getting it

847
00:45:04,600 --> 00:45:07,480
off the ground.
It's Crossroads Collective is

848
00:45:07,480 --> 00:45:10,160
the name of the studios we've
already incorporated, and it's

849
00:45:10,240 --> 00:45:12,480
all running.
And you know now the next thing

850
00:45:12,480 --> 00:45:15,520
is just breaking ground.
You know, it's amazing.

851
00:45:15,520 --> 00:45:20,880
I'm during, during COVID or just
before COVID, this industry, we

852
00:45:20,880 --> 00:45:22,640
were so short on rehearsal
space.

853
00:45:22,640 --> 00:45:25,960
And now the new ones, what's it
called?

854
00:45:25,960 --> 00:45:29,320
Elevation in Nashville and
Gateway and.

855
00:45:30,120 --> 00:45:31,600
There's all and there's still
not enough.

856
00:45:32,080 --> 00:45:36,960
Yeah, still not enough.
It's so I mean I've been because

857
00:45:37,080 --> 00:45:39,520
I have to find the buildings for
Janet to rehearse in and Harold

858
00:45:39,520 --> 00:45:41,440
has been working on find a place
for Lionel to go.

859
00:45:41,880 --> 00:45:44,880
And finding buildings or
anywhere to rehearse these days

860
00:45:44,880 --> 00:45:47,440
is it's hard you can't find
anything.

861
00:45:47,440 --> 00:45:50,320
I mean oh the arenas everywhere
we go.

862
00:45:50,320 --> 00:45:52,680
I mean we're we ended up in
we're going to end up doing

863
00:45:52,680 --> 00:45:56,680
Janet rehearsals it looks like
in Fresno you know and we found

864
00:45:56,680 --> 00:46:01,680
an arena there that wasn't busy
so you know it's that's that is

865
00:46:01,680 --> 00:46:04,400
really the area where we need
help right now is sound stages

866
00:46:04,400 --> 00:46:06,920
and rehearsal spaces.
There's just not enough of it.

867
00:46:07,400 --> 00:46:11,960
That's crazy.
Well, you enjoy Park City, you

868
00:46:11,960 --> 00:46:15,160
enjoy your happy hour and.
Absolutely.

869
00:46:15,440 --> 00:46:17,600
I appreciate you taking.
Some time Mardi Gras time.

870
00:46:19,200 --> 00:46:20,680
All right, man.
Go put them up.

871
00:46:20,680 --> 00:46:22,840
Go.
Have fun, all right, man.

872
00:46:23,080 --> 00:46:23,960
Have fun.
Thanks.

873
00:46:24,040 --> 00:46:25,160
Thanks Eric.
Good to see you all.

874
00:46:25,600 --> 00:46:26,960
Right.
Good seeing you, man.

875
00:46:41,240 --> 00:46:41,600
Yeah.