#244 - Claude Viens

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Hello and welcome to Geyses of
Gear Episode #244.

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00:00:05,760 --> 00:00:08,760
Today's podcast is brought to
you by ACT Entertainment.

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This episode is also brought to
you by Gearsource.

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Founded in 2002 with an
ambitious mission to support

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live events, businesses buy and
sell gear globally.

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episode 244?
We're back and it is that time

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of year again.
What time is it, you ask?

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Great question.
It is Eurovision Song Contest

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time.
So it just happened last week

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and it was the 68th edition of
the Eurovision Song Contest and

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it took place in Sweden, in
Malmo, Sweden.

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And the winner is Nemo from
Switzerland.

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So there you go.
I know you were dying to hear

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that.
And probably more appropriately

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or more applicably to our
industry is the usual orgasm of

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gear involved in putting this
show on.

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And so I'm going to go down sort
of a summarized version of this

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list.
But audio, I'm not really going

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to go into too much.
It was a bunch of digico

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consoles and a ton of L acoustic
K1 and Cara systems.

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I think there was some outline
stuff there.

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It was just a a ton of audio
equipment.

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And I think there were like 4
digico consoles, you know, just

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crazy amounts of gear.
Lighting though was nuts.

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So 708 active universes were
utilized, 708 universes, 52 robe

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Forte HCF.
And I'm not sure what HCF means,

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but I'm sure someone's going to
tell me 14 Robe T twos, 57 robe

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T ones, 169 Rocks Light Cluster
S2.

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I'm not sure what that is.
I think it's some sort of a

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Blinder 22 Claypacky Skylos.
So those are the the larger

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laser fixtures that do the sky
tracking stuff. 376 Claypacky

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Tambora Linear 8RE Sky Panel,
S30C16 Estera Hydro Panels, 32

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Estera Titan Tubes, 32 BB and S
pipeline reflect bicolor and I'm

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not sure what that is.
That must be a British thing or

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something. 360 Airton Ravalli,
which I would think is probably

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the largest use thus far of of
Ravalli's 'cause it's pretty new

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fixture 138 brand new Airton
Kayalami's and I don't know if I

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said it right, I know it's quite
funny, but Olaf, I I watched a

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video of Olaf from from this
show.

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Ola Melzig talking about the
Kayalami and he calls it the

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Salami because he can never
really remember the name.

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I think 43 Ayrton.
Hurricon Wash 2 Ayrton EUR 2.

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Is that the right number?
Maybe I cut a number out of that

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one, but says 2 Ayrton Euros 525
Chauvet Pixel Bar 1628 GLPJDC

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ones.
Funny they didn't use JDC twos

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on this. 264 Mac ones, Martin
Mac ones, 40 Martin Mac Aura XI

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PS So that is quite a list.
I think it's just over 2000

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fixtures in total and wow, you
know, and I watched the show or

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I watched parts of it.
I've seen a bunch of videos of

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it and you know, lots of lights
for sure.

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Lots and lots of lights.
Did it blow me away?

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Maybe not, but lots and lots of
lights.

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And you know, it's impressive
from just a scale standpoint, I

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guess.
What else is going on?

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Plaza Leeds is today and
tomorrow, the 14th and 15th of

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May, which is yesterday and
today I think.

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And by the time you hear this,
it's a week ago, so forget about

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it.
And of course my favorite topic

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once again is AI.
So I'm kind of excited this week

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because I'm a geek and I use
ChatGPT almost like it's my best

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friend.
And GPT 4 O arrived this week,

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so I thought it was 40, sort of
with a typo in it because it's a

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big four and a little O, but
it's actually four and the

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letter O.
And I forget what it stands for.

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Omni I believe is what the O
stands for.

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But it arrived this week.
I think it officially dropped

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either yesterday or the day
before, which would be the 13th

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or 14th of May.
And what have I noticed?

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I've noticed it's quicker.
I've noticed that they've

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definitely spent some more time
on the the sort of human

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interface, the human slash voice
interface on it.

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It is meant to be used with your
voice.

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It's meant for you to have a
conversation with it.

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And that's on my phone anyways.
That's how I've been using

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ChatGPT is really just having a
conversation saying, you know,

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I'd really like to design
something like this with this

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and this.
What do you think, you know?

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And maybe we could add this and
and then of course, you know,

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really again, it all comes down
to the prompting.

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It comes down to how you're
prompting who you're acting

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ChatGPT to behave like.
Do you want it to be a lawyer?

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Do you want it to be a doctor?
Do you want it to be, you know,

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a website designer And.
And then exactly what your

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expectations are for output.
So you know, you don't want to

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be wishy washy.
Otherwise it makes up some

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pretty wacky stuff.
And I'll tell you one of the

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things that continues to plague
me and and probably others who

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who rely heavily on ChatGPT at
this point is when you are

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creating specifically things in
Dolly graphics, images,

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etcetera.
And you say, I want it to have

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these words on it or I want it
to be a logo for this company

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name or whatever spelling errors
like crazy.

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And you'll say correct your
spelling errors and then it'll

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spell something else differently
and fix the words that you had

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before.
And that is a frustration that

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I've found and and in
researching it, it's a

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frustration that a lot of people
have found.

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One of the great things that
really is going to come out of

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this new four O is a lot of new
virtual assistant capabilities

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and tools and functionality.
Which I think is one of the

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things that at least I've always
said and I know a lot of people

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have always said that the early
stage of this large language

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model, ChatGPT kind of stuff.
One of the pieces of low hanging

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fruit is probably going to be
this whole personal digital

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assistant thing where it books
your flights.

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It does this, it does that, it
does like a lot of things that a

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a busy executive or a busy
person would want help with.

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I'm not saying it's gonna
replace personal assistance, but

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I think it's going to augment
them or for people who don't

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have them.
Like I don't have an assistant,

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never really have as busy as
I've been.

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I've always preferred to do
things on my own pretty much,

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and I think I'm pretty hard to
keep track of sometimes.

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It was funny.
I actually had an assistant one

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time at Martin.
I can't remember her name.

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Anyways, whatever her name was,
nice lady.

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But she was so frustrated
because, you know, I was booking

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my own meetings, I was booking
my own flights.

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She didn't know where I was half
the time.

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This was, you know, before
iPhone and so you know, it was a

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more frustrating experience for
her than it was for me, I think.

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But I'm just one of those guys
likes to do stuff on my own, but

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it is nice to get help.
And so yes, I'm using a lot of

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different AI tools and you know
I I look for AI tools that

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really help to improve my day,
help me focus on sort of that

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20% stuff that's really
important to me.

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And that I guess offers the
biggest returns to me while a

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lot of the simpler things the
the more menial or repetitive

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tasks.
I will look to tools, ChatGPT

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but also many others that are
very specific, very purpose

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created, you know things that do
very specific things.

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And you know I've been playing
with a lot of those recently and

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they're excellent, they're all
excellent.

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I mean the problem is and and I
was actually talking with Sarah

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about this, this morning, you
don't want to over commit.

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So like let's say you find
something that's really great at

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creating presentations which we
have and we've been using

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something called Gamma, which is
excellent for creating

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presentations but also websites.
You can do a full website in a

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few minutes on Gamma and it will
even publish the website to the

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Internet.
But you don't want to over

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commit and sign up for a year on
these things because you know

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there's a hundred more coming
like next week and and the bar

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just keeps going up and up and
up and up and they just keep

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getting better and better.
You know one of the, So what

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else let me go through, what
other news was there in AI

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world?
Interesting talk last week with

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Jim from Vectorworks on some of
the ways they've been

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incorporating AI and and how
they're also being cautious and

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mindful of the fact that they
don't want to cut designers legs

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out from under them or
programmers legs out from under

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them.
And one of the ways I've used AI

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and I'm sure a lot of other
people, you know when you're on

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Zoom calls or any kind of video
meetings, zoom meet, whatever,

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are you using any kind of a
personal assistant to come on

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that call with you and take
notes?

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And I'm finding more people are,
but most tech people are like

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not so much in our industry.
But when I have a meeting with

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someone in the tech world, they
always do.

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But people in our industry
still, it's kind of a slow

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they're slow to adapt to this
thing where you're using a tech

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like a robot basically to come
in and take notes.

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But we I've mentioned it before,
but my company is on something

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called Rome, which is a very
cool virtual office platform.

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And if if you're ever listening
to this and you'd like me to

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demo it, or you'd like even the
company to demo it, I have no

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deal.
I have no kickbacks, I have no

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payment.
They're not a sponsor.

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I just love the product.
I pay to use it, just like

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everybody else does.
And the cool thing is, there's

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only one price.
It doesn't matter if you're IBM

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getting Rome from them or if
your little old gear source

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getting Rome from them, but Rome
has something called Magic

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minutes which records our
meetings and it's not recording

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the video, it's just recording
notes and the cool thing.

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So it'll spit out a summary.
It'll basically say here's the

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high level stuff you talked
about.

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Here are some takeaways or
action items from the meeting

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and you know, here's maybe some
follow up you need to do well

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from there.
Anyone who was in that meeting

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will get that e-mail and we'll
be able to go in and ask

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questions and say did we talk
about this, did we talk about

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this?
Were there any details about the

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dimensions of the stage for this
show or whatever?

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And it'll give you back all of
the notes from those specific

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things.
So even though it's showing you

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a very summarized view of the
notes, it's got all of the notes

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and we'll package them however
you want.

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It's pretty, pretty excellent.
I use it all the time.

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So yeah, that's sort of my AI
section for this week.

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Thanks very much.
Actually Eric Loder reached out

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to me after the last episode,
one of the recent episodes, and

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he heard me talking about Sam
Altman I think.

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And Sam Altman is the the CEO of
ChatGPT Open AI and Sam has been

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on a couple of interesting
podcasts recently.

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If you listen to podcasts, I
really liked the Lex Friedman

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Sam Altman podcast, very good.
And also just in the past four

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or five days was there's a
podcast called All In which is

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another tech podcast and Sam was
on that and that was also very

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00:14:57,040 --> 00:14:58,960
good.
It gives you a good, like, I

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00:14:58,960 --> 00:15:01,640
know a lot of people out there
just want to dispel this and

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00:15:01,640 --> 00:15:04,320
throw it into the garbage and
make it go away.

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00:15:04,320 --> 00:15:06,360
This whole AI thing, it's not
going to happen.

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00:15:06,360 --> 00:15:08,200
You know, that's just not going
to happen.

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00:15:08,200 --> 00:15:10,040
It's not going away.
It's not going to disappear.

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00:15:10,040 --> 00:15:14,800
You can't wish it gone.
But I think listening to Sam

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00:15:14,800 --> 00:15:18,760
who's who's sort of really
positioned right now as one of

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00:15:18,760 --> 00:15:22,760
the leading guys in the AI
world, listening to him talk is

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00:15:22,760 --> 00:15:25,640
actually rather calming because
there are a lot of safety

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00:15:25,640 --> 00:15:30,440
concerns and security concerns
and and there's a lot of thought

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00:15:30,440 --> 00:15:33,960
and and energy going into, you
know, keeping the world safe

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00:15:33,960 --> 00:15:38,720
with with all of these very
rapidly learning AI models out

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00:15:38,720 --> 00:15:41,400
there.
So check out those podcasts.

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00:15:41,400 --> 00:15:46,000
And as far as our podcast, if
you don't mind, Please remember

240
00:15:46,000 --> 00:15:50,400
to like and subscribe to
whatever medium you watch or

241
00:15:50,400 --> 00:15:55,040
listen to our podcast on.
Certainly it's gaining momentum

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00:15:55,040 --> 00:15:57,160
on YouTube.
That's still our smallest

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00:15:57,160 --> 00:15:59,720
platform.
We get, you know, couple 100

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00:16:00,080 --> 00:16:03,800
views per episode maybe and
starting to climb up because we

245
00:16:03,800 --> 00:16:05,840
do all the shorts and stuff and
they're getting a lot of

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traction.
Our biggest platform today is

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00:16:09,880 --> 00:16:13,040
somewhere between Spotify and
Apple.

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00:16:13,360 --> 00:16:18,240
Apple, of course, is audio only.
Some people prefer to to consume

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00:16:18,240 --> 00:16:21,640
podcast audio only.
Still, I do about half and half

250
00:16:21,640 --> 00:16:25,040
now, half audio, half video.
If I'm out for my walks or

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00:16:25,040 --> 00:16:28,800
whatever, I do it on audio, but
I will give you a hint or a

252
00:16:28,800 --> 00:16:33,080
pointer.
If you use Spotify, you can do

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00:16:33,080 --> 00:16:36,680
audio and video and it'll
basically keep your place

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00:16:36,680 --> 00:16:39,560
wherever you are.
So if you're listening and then

255
00:16:39,560 --> 00:16:41,720
you get to a place where you
actually want to watch the

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00:16:41,720 --> 00:16:46,800
podcast, you can just click on
the video and it'll be right at

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the same spot you were listening
at.

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So Spotify is, you know, as far
as a user experience or user

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00:16:55,720 --> 00:16:58,040
interface.
I really like it a lot for

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00:16:58,040 --> 00:17:01,880
podcasts, and that's kind of
where I listen to a lot of my

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00:17:01,880 --> 00:17:03,400
podcasts if they're available
there.

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00:17:03,400 --> 00:17:08,760
Joe Rogan, I listen to and watch
on on Spotify as well and we

263
00:17:08,760 --> 00:17:12,160
host our platform or our podcast
on Spotify also.

264
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So I think there's some extra
benefit there as well.

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00:17:15,119 --> 00:17:20,119
So yeah, please though, when you
listen to it like those episodes

266
00:17:20,119 --> 00:17:22,119
that you do like, don't like the
ones you hate.

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00:17:22,880 --> 00:17:27,480
Fortunately for us, there's not
a hate little emoji or whatever,

268
00:17:27,880 --> 00:17:32,000
but like the ones that you like
and please subscribe, all of

269
00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:33,640
that helps us.
You know, there's all these

270
00:17:33,640 --> 00:17:38,200
crazy, you know, Internet and
Google algorithms and things and

271
00:17:38,200 --> 00:17:41,760
the more likes and the more
subscriptions we get, the better

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00:17:41,760 --> 00:17:43,960
the podcast does.
That's good for us, it's good

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00:17:43,960 --> 00:17:46,920
for our listeners and it's good
especially for our sponsors.

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So please, I would appreciate
that.

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00:17:50,840 --> 00:17:53,960
And even comment, you know,
whether it's on YouTube or on

276
00:17:53,960 --> 00:17:58,400
Spotify, you can put comments on
the podcast itself and those are

277
00:17:58,400 --> 00:18:01,120
all helpful as well.
So I appreciate that very much

278
00:18:01,560 --> 00:18:04,600
and we still have a couple of
spots available in June.

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00:18:04,600 --> 00:18:09,640
We're booked up in May.
I think June is about 8590%

280
00:18:09,640 --> 00:18:12,760
booked according to Sarah.
There's a couple of spots open.

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I think there's one near the
beginning and then maybe one or

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00:18:16,200 --> 00:18:19,880
two near the end.
So that's just producer at

283
00:18:19,880 --> 00:18:23,760
geezersofgear.com.
Reach out to Sarah and fill the

284
00:18:23,760 --> 00:18:27,000
spot again, the criteria is the
bar is low.

285
00:18:27,360 --> 00:18:30,040
Are you interesting?
You know, that's really all that

286
00:18:30,040 --> 00:18:33,600
matters to us is that you're
interesting and our listeners

287
00:18:33,600 --> 00:18:37,240
are going to to like you, find
you interesting.

288
00:18:37,240 --> 00:18:38,800
So they don't even have to like
you.

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00:18:38,800 --> 00:18:40,560
They could hate you and find you
interesting.

290
00:18:40,560 --> 00:18:47,040
I think some days that's me.
So today's guest and God, I

291
00:18:47,040 --> 00:18:48,680
don't know how to say his last
name.

292
00:18:50,240 --> 00:18:52,880
The first name is Claude or
Cloud.

293
00:18:52,880 --> 00:18:55,000
I'm not sure how he pronounces
that either.

294
00:18:55,000 --> 00:19:00,760
The last name is viens.
Claude is a Product Specialist

295
00:19:01,440 --> 00:19:05,440
for Lighting at AVL Media Group,
one of our sponsors in Montreal,

296
00:19:05,440 --> 00:19:07,640
Canada.
Cloud is responsible for

297
00:19:07,640 --> 00:19:10,080
projects and support in North
America.

298
00:19:10,560 --> 00:19:14,120
He spearheaded AV LS continued
growth in the professional

299
00:19:14,120 --> 00:19:16,080
lighting and visual effects
marketplace.

300
00:19:16,680 --> 00:19:20,960
He has 30 plus years of
experience spanning a wide range

301
00:19:20,960 --> 00:19:25,600
of disciplines from lighting,
live events, lighting design,

302
00:19:25,920 --> 00:19:29,120
stage lighting, lighting
control, tour management,

303
00:19:29,120 --> 00:19:32,640
architectural lighting, LED
lighting systems and event

304
00:19:32,640 --> 00:19:35,600
planning.
Claude's international

305
00:19:35,600 --> 00:19:38,280
experience as a lighting
designer, programmer and board

306
00:19:38,280 --> 00:19:41,320
operator in every type of
production from music to dance

307
00:19:41,320 --> 00:19:47,720
to film is an incredible benefit
to AVL Media Groups customers as

308
00:19:47,720 --> 00:19:51,520
they look to the industry
leading technology to help them

309
00:19:51,520 --> 00:19:55,160
wow their audiences.
Claude has his own podcast

310
00:19:55,160 --> 00:19:59,240
called Backstage Cowboys.
He started it in 2018.

311
00:19:59,720 --> 00:20:04,520
He has also written 2 self
published books which I intend

312
00:20:04,520 --> 00:20:08,160
to talk about.
So please welcome to Geezers of

313
00:20:08,160 --> 00:20:13,080
Gear, Claude Viens.
Hello Claude.

314
00:20:13,080 --> 00:20:14,160
How are you?
Hey.

315
00:20:14,160 --> 00:20:15,960
Marcel, I'm very well.
How are you?

316
00:20:16,360 --> 00:20:19,920
I'm pretty OK What is it?
Wednesday.

317
00:20:19,920 --> 00:20:23,680
It's Wednesday as we record
this, so I'm halfway through,

318
00:20:24,240 --> 00:20:26,240
you know, getting my ass kicked
this week.

319
00:20:26,240 --> 00:20:28,320
I guess it's it's been a good
one.

320
00:20:29,600 --> 00:20:33,360
OK, OK.
So Wednesday is OK and I suppose

321
00:20:33,360 --> 00:20:37,600
Friday is the day.
Friday, Friday for me.

322
00:20:37,960 --> 00:20:40,760
So I've never been one of these
guys who works for the weekend.

323
00:20:40,760 --> 00:20:44,160
I've I've always loved Mondays
for some crazy reason.

324
00:20:44,160 --> 00:20:45,840
I love work.
I love what I do.

325
00:20:46,280 --> 00:20:52,160
And so I've always really liked
Mondays, but lately I really

326
00:20:52,160 --> 00:20:55,040
kind of do like Fridays.
You know, I I try not to book a

327
00:20:55,040 --> 00:20:58,480
lot of meetings on Fridays.
Fridays for me are kind of like

328
00:20:58,640 --> 00:21:01,760
a it's, I wouldn't call it a
free day, but it's a day when I

329
00:21:01,760 --> 00:21:05,360
get to do a lot more thinking
and a lot less in and out of

330
00:21:05,360 --> 00:21:09,000
meetings all day, typically.
I mean, sometimes Fridays are

331
00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:12,320
just as crazy as every other
day, but that's how I like to

332
00:21:12,320 --> 00:21:15,800
line it up anyways.
And and you know, I tend to work

333
00:21:15,800 --> 00:21:18,560
all weekend too.
So it just feels different

334
00:21:18,560 --> 00:21:20,120
though, you know, It just feels
different.

335
00:21:20,800 --> 00:21:24,000
Well, for me, Monday used to be
my day off in my touring days.

336
00:21:24,640 --> 00:21:26,920
It was a quiet day when
everybody went to work and I

337
00:21:26,920 --> 00:21:29,720
could do whatever I want and no
traffic and it was all good, you

338
00:21:29,720 --> 00:21:30,520
know?
That's cool.

339
00:21:30,600 --> 00:21:34,440
Yeah, yeah, that's cool.
You know, so this is kind of

340
00:21:34,440 --> 00:21:35,920
fun.
I get to do a podcast with a

341
00:21:35,920 --> 00:21:40,560
podcaster and it's strange.
For me though, is it?

342
00:21:40,720 --> 00:21:43,200
Yeah.
I feel I'm on the wrong side of

343
00:21:43,200 --> 00:21:45,440
the mic here, yeah.
Well, you know what?

344
00:21:45,440 --> 00:21:49,040
You know, First of all, I
respect the fact that you have a

345
00:21:49,040 --> 00:21:51,440
mic.
You know, I don't know if it's

346
00:21:51,440 --> 00:21:54,800
one of your pet peeves, but I
certainly, I love when somebody

347
00:21:54,800 --> 00:21:57,520
has a proper microphone and God
forbid, even headphones

348
00:21:57,520 --> 00:21:59,720
sometimes.
Yeah, it makes such a

349
00:21:59,720 --> 00:22:01,640
difference.
Like, I I love good audio

350
00:22:01,640 --> 00:22:04,960
quality on podcasts that I
listen to, so I also like to

351
00:22:04,960 --> 00:22:07,400
produce one with decent quality
as well.

352
00:22:07,400 --> 00:22:09,240
But generally it's not in your
hands.

353
00:22:09,240 --> 00:22:11,800
As you know, like somebody comes
into a Zoom call and they're

354
00:22:11,800 --> 00:22:14,920
talking to a computer that's
four feet away or something and

355
00:22:15,200 --> 00:22:19,680
or onto their cell phone.
And it's not always the best

356
00:22:19,680 --> 00:22:22,960
quality, but.
Or the line bombs off, bombs up

357
00:22:23,120 --> 00:22:24,480
halfway.
Yeah.

358
00:22:24,600 --> 00:22:26,280
And.
And you have to change to a

359
00:22:26,280 --> 00:22:28,000
different platform.
I've done that once.

360
00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:30,160
So I have an interview that has
two different sounds.

361
00:22:30,560 --> 00:22:33,800
Oh, I have so many of those.
Because what happens, like some

362
00:22:33,800 --> 00:22:38,920
of mine go 3 hours, you know,
and so their air pods will die

363
00:22:38,920 --> 00:22:41,240
and then they'll be ruffling
around trying to find another

364
00:22:41,240 --> 00:22:44,280
set of headphones or another
microphone or something, and

365
00:22:44,280 --> 00:22:48,360
then that something goes wrong.
And I've had so many of those.

366
00:22:48,360 --> 00:22:53,280
Like, literally so many of them.
But I apologize for my cracky

367
00:22:53,280 --> 00:22:55,480
chair, by the way, It's.
It's all good.

368
00:22:55,840 --> 00:22:58,920
Yeah, this is, this is the chair
I've had for years and years.

369
00:22:58,920 --> 00:23:01,080
I've been.
I was gigging with it back in

370
00:23:01,080 --> 00:23:04,080
the days when I was I was
working on movie sets.

371
00:23:04,360 --> 00:23:07,680
Oh really?
Yeah, I I spent some money and I

372
00:23:07,680 --> 00:23:11,440
bought a quality chair.
Because you could be literally

373
00:23:11,440 --> 00:23:15,240
sitting behind a light board for
14 hours.

374
00:23:15,400 --> 00:23:18,040
Yeah.
And and in those 14 hours, you

375
00:23:18,040 --> 00:23:20,880
could have like a stretch of six
hours where nobody just needs

376
00:23:20,880 --> 00:23:22,640
anything.
So you're just sitting on your

377
00:23:22,640 --> 00:23:24,680
chair?
You know what's funny is that

378
00:23:25,280 --> 00:23:29,480
often times I will ask people,
especially lighting designers or

379
00:23:29,480 --> 00:23:32,880
front of house engineers or
whatever, I'll ask what are like

380
00:23:33,120 --> 00:23:36,160
3 pieces of gear you won't leave
the house without?

381
00:23:36,520 --> 00:23:40,120
And so many people say a comfy
front of house chair.

382
00:23:40,360 --> 00:23:43,400
Oh yeah, you know it.
It just makes such a difference

383
00:23:43,640 --> 00:23:45,000
because you're spending so much
time there.

384
00:23:45,400 --> 00:23:47,080
Exactly.
But it's been all over, so now

385
00:23:47,080 --> 00:23:48,840
it's it's really getting cracky.
But.

386
00:23:49,080 --> 00:23:50,880
Yeah.
Well, still what happens?

387
00:23:51,200 --> 00:23:53,800
The good news is I have noise
cancellation on my side, so

388
00:23:53,800 --> 00:23:55,240
we'll get rid of it.
Super.

389
00:23:55,480 --> 00:23:57,360
So do you play guitar or bass or
both?

390
00:23:58,480 --> 00:24:01,400
OK, so both over your right
shoulder there.

391
00:24:02,360 --> 00:24:08,640
For the last five years I've
been playing bass, but it's I've

392
00:24:08,640 --> 00:24:14,880
started playing music in 69.
Oh yeah, I funny, funny story.

393
00:24:14,880 --> 00:24:18,480
I was five years old and and my
parents brought me to the living

394
00:24:18,480 --> 00:24:21,440
room and there was this thing in
the middle of the living room

395
00:24:22,960 --> 00:24:24,480
and they asked me, do you know
what that is?

396
00:24:24,680 --> 00:24:29,440
I said a heater.
They lifted the cover and it was

397
00:24:29,440 --> 00:24:31,600
a cord organ.
Oh wow.

398
00:24:32,280 --> 00:24:33,800
Wow.
That's funny.

399
00:24:34,440 --> 00:24:37,640
So I started playing the organ
in 69 and all the way up to the

400
00:24:37,680 --> 00:24:40,240
80s.
Wow, when I was playing in a

401
00:24:40,240 --> 00:24:43,120
band that sounds like you're
exactly the same age I am if you

402
00:24:43,120 --> 00:24:46,600
were five in 69, because there
you go, I have a big birthday

403
00:24:46,600 --> 00:24:48,120
coming up this year.
Oh, really?

404
00:24:48,120 --> 00:24:49,560
Mine.
Mine isn't yet.

405
00:24:49,560 --> 00:24:51,640
Mine's in in a month, Actually,
A month.

406
00:24:52,480 --> 00:24:53,720
Actually, it's less than a
month.

407
00:24:53,720 --> 00:24:56,840
Now it's a month, less a week.
So two days.

408
00:24:56,960 --> 00:25:00,160
Is that a celebration for you or
is it a downer?

409
00:25:01,320 --> 00:25:02,880
It's a big downer.
Yeah.

410
00:25:02,880 --> 00:25:06,920
I mean, just, you know what,
like part of me should think

411
00:25:06,920 --> 00:25:09,520
it's a celebration.
First of all, my dad died at 52

412
00:25:09,520 --> 00:25:13,680
years old and so I've outlived
him already, so it should be a

413
00:25:13,680 --> 00:25:17,400
big celebration in that regard.
I'm relatively healthy.

414
00:25:17,400 --> 00:25:21,120
I'm relatively successful.
I've had a great life and all of

415
00:25:21,120 --> 00:25:24,040
those things, so it really
should be a celebration.

416
00:25:24,480 --> 00:25:30,360
But God, it's 60, you know?
It just feels so old, you know?

417
00:25:30,880 --> 00:25:35,320
So yeah, I mean, fifty was rough
for me too, and I don't know

418
00:25:35,320 --> 00:25:38,720
why, Because, you know, 40, I
didn't care at all. 30, I didn't

419
00:25:38,720 --> 00:25:42,400
care at all.
But 50 all of a sudden I think

420
00:25:42,400 --> 00:25:45,760
it's 'cause you grow up as a kid
thinking 50's old.

421
00:25:46,280 --> 00:25:49,080
Yeah.
And now here you are, you just

422
00:25:49,080 --> 00:25:52,560
turned old and then you're like,
well, jeez, at least I'm not 60.

423
00:25:54,280 --> 00:25:57,920
So you spend 10 years thinking
that and here I am looking at it

424
00:25:57,920 --> 00:25:59,240
so.
What about you?

425
00:25:59,680 --> 00:26:01,480
Probably it was the opposite
really.

426
00:26:01,480 --> 00:26:03,960
I found the 30s were hard
because that's when you're

427
00:26:03,960 --> 00:26:07,160
struggling to build a career, to
raise a family.

428
00:26:07,960 --> 00:26:11,640
You're always running after
money and 40s.

429
00:26:11,640 --> 00:26:15,640
I started getting some, you
know, some ease, but The thing

430
00:26:15,640 --> 00:26:23,200
is I started this career as a a
lighting, you know, LD lighting

431
00:26:23,240 --> 00:26:25,600
designer, lighting programmer,
call it whatever you want.

432
00:26:26,200 --> 00:26:31,800
And I was 39.
So had I known probably when I

433
00:26:31,800 --> 00:26:35,320
was in school I could actually
earn a living doing this.

434
00:26:35,320 --> 00:26:38,120
I might have done it earlier but
no.

435
00:26:38,120 --> 00:26:42,280
I've been through all sorts of
stuff and and at 39 I just

436
00:26:42,280 --> 00:26:45,280
pulled the the plug and I said
hey, how about if I just try

437
00:26:45,280 --> 00:26:49,840
doing what I want to do.
And and that's how it started.

438
00:26:49,840 --> 00:26:53,440
So for me at 4040 was a
revelation.

439
00:26:53,440 --> 00:26:57,600
It was like, oh, we can start
having fun now and and earn a

440
00:26:57,600 --> 00:27:00,440
decent living.
Yeah, so that's cool.

441
00:27:00,600 --> 00:27:02,160
Yeah, so.
For me it's the opposite.

442
00:27:02,160 --> 00:27:03,800
I'm getting younger as I get
older.

443
00:27:03,800 --> 00:27:07,120
I'm actually in better shape now
than when I was 20, so.

444
00:27:07,160 --> 00:27:10,760
I kind of am too, because I
don't have a lot of the demons

445
00:27:10,760 --> 00:27:13,960
that I had when I was 20, you
know, I'm not as I'm not living

446
00:27:13,960 --> 00:27:17,480
as rough or or wild or whatever
you want to call it as I did

447
00:27:17,480 --> 00:27:21,040
when I was 20.
But you know, recently I've I've

448
00:27:21,040 --> 00:27:25,040
definitely, since since 50, I've
definitely focused a lot more on

449
00:27:25,040 --> 00:27:30,080
health and longevity and and
realizing, realizing that hey, I

450
00:27:30,080 --> 00:27:34,840
can kind of extend my health
span here to, you know, my later

451
00:27:34,840 --> 00:27:37,560
years.
So, so many people are focused

452
00:27:37,560 --> 00:27:40,480
on that final year.
Like is it going to be 85 for

453
00:27:40,480 --> 00:27:44,960
me, whatever that year is, I
want to live life until like a

454
00:27:44,960 --> 00:27:46,920
month before it, you know what I
mean?

455
00:27:46,920 --> 00:27:48,880
Like I want to be doing what I
want to be doing.

456
00:27:49,160 --> 00:27:52,840
Like Mick Jagger, you know
seeing him the other day I I

457
00:27:52,840 --> 00:27:56,600
watched a video of him in Las
Vegas and he literally ran from

458
00:27:56,600 --> 00:27:59,880
like the stage all the way out
to I guess it's AB stage or

459
00:27:59,880 --> 00:28:02,960
they've got a ramp going out to
the to the front of house or

460
00:28:02,960 --> 00:28:06,480
something.
But he sprinted like he ran like

461
00:28:06,480 --> 00:28:13,360
a 16 year old and he's 80, you
know and and so living the life

462
00:28:13,360 --> 00:28:17,600
you want to live with health and
not like being stuck in bed or

463
00:28:17,600 --> 00:28:20,760
or on a couch with your feet
elevated or whatever it is,

464
00:28:20,760 --> 00:28:21,200
right?
Yeah.

465
00:28:21,480 --> 00:28:25,000
That to me is is what I'm trying
to do.

466
00:28:25,000 --> 00:28:31,840
So whether that number is, is 75
or 85 or 100, I want to live

467
00:28:31,840 --> 00:28:36,400
life right up to that point.
You know, I I don't want the 10

468
00:28:36,400 --> 00:28:41,240
years of dementia or 10 years of
whatever else it is, and I'm not

469
00:28:41,240 --> 00:28:43,840
knocking any of people who have
that or anything.

470
00:28:43,840 --> 00:28:46,760
I'm just saying if I can help it
now, I wanna do the things that

471
00:28:46,760 --> 00:28:49,040
I need to do to be healthier
later.

472
00:28:49,360 --> 00:28:54,520
Yeah, I was gonna recommend you
a book that I read a few years

473
00:28:54,520 --> 00:28:57,800
ago and I actually rebought in
the form of audiobook.

474
00:28:58,280 --> 00:29:00,880
It's called Younger Next Year.
I've done it, yeah.

475
00:29:01,200 --> 00:29:04,640
You've done it.
Yeah, yeah, Robert Roth who is

476
00:29:04,640 --> 00:29:07,560
now with OK, so wait, he was
Christy.

477
00:29:07,560 --> 00:29:10,240
Now he's 4 Wall.
Robert Roth is with four Wall

478
00:29:10,680 --> 00:29:14,200
and he's I think turning 70 this
year.

479
00:29:14,720 --> 00:29:17,120
And the guy just has energy for
days.

480
00:29:17,640 --> 00:29:20,760
You know, he's one of the top
touring lighting executives out

481
00:29:20,760 --> 00:29:23,480
there.
He was he had his own company

482
00:29:23,480 --> 00:29:27,400
called RA Roth in in Atlanta for
a long time sold that company to

483
00:29:27,400 --> 00:29:32,920
PRG was with PRG for a long time
then Christy for a long time and

484
00:29:33,480 --> 00:29:39,240
and just recently went to to
four wall and but I don't know

485
00:29:39,560 --> 00:29:44,000
10 years ago probably he he said
Marsal you got to read this book

486
00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:47,960
and so I bought a paper copy of
it and and an audio book as well

487
00:29:47,960 --> 00:29:49,560
and I've listened to it multiple
times.

488
00:29:50,320 --> 00:29:53,840
Yeah, I like it a lot.
Well, it and it and it works.

489
00:29:54,160 --> 00:29:56,560
Yeah, it really works.
Yeah, yeah.

490
00:29:56,560 --> 00:29:59,880
No, I agree with you.
And you know, like they say

491
00:29:59,880 --> 00:30:02,440
basically the same thing.
Like we're all going to die.

492
00:30:02,440 --> 00:30:05,240
Like this thing does have an
expiration date on it at some

493
00:30:05,240 --> 00:30:07,600
point.
But why not live really well up

494
00:30:07,600 --> 00:30:10,320
until the point that you die?
How about living and being

495
00:30:10,320 --> 00:30:14,240
healthy and like, they go snow
skiing in their 70s and stuff

496
00:30:14,240 --> 00:30:17,080
like that.
And no, it's a great book.

497
00:30:17,080 --> 00:30:18,920
I recommend it to anybody
younger next year.

498
00:30:19,240 --> 00:30:22,360
Really good book.
Well, anybody our age, let's

499
00:30:22,360 --> 00:30:24,320
say.
Yeah, you know, yeah, because

500
00:30:24,320 --> 00:30:27,000
before that you don't.
You don't take it seriously.

501
00:30:27,000 --> 00:30:29,200
In your 40s, you don't think
about that kind of stuff.

502
00:30:29,200 --> 00:30:31,880
Longevity.
In, in your 50s, you start

503
00:30:31,880 --> 00:30:34,440
going, well, wait a second, you
know, my knees hurt and they

504
00:30:34,440 --> 00:30:36,680
didn't used to hurt before.
What's going on?

505
00:30:36,920 --> 00:30:42,640
You know, So yeah, so you were
telling me about the you're a

506
00:30:42,640 --> 00:30:45,600
bass player now.
Is that because nobody else

507
00:30:45,600 --> 00:30:48,200
wanted to play bass or or was
that a choice?

508
00:30:48,520 --> 00:30:51,840
No, it's a choice.
And I've always loved bass.

509
00:30:51,840 --> 00:30:55,640
I I was a songwriter back in the
80s and I used to.

510
00:30:55,720 --> 00:30:57,880
My favorite part was writing the
bass lines.

511
00:30:57,880 --> 00:31:01,120
But I was never a bass man.
So either I hired a bass man or

512
00:31:01,120 --> 00:31:03,760
I played it on the keyboard and
try to make it look as real as

513
00:31:03,760 --> 00:31:05,800
possible.
Our sound as real as possible,

514
00:31:06,000 --> 00:31:08,080
which I did a pretty good job
at.

515
00:31:08,480 --> 00:31:11,800
Because when you know when you
know how it's supposed to feel,

516
00:31:12,240 --> 00:31:15,560
you can play around with your
keyboard and your your Bender

517
00:31:15,560 --> 00:31:18,880
and whatever and and try to get
that natural feel.

518
00:31:19,160 --> 00:31:27,400
Yeah, But when I turned 54, I
believe I I just figured, hey,

519
00:31:27,960 --> 00:31:30,880
why don't I just buy a bass and
start playing.

520
00:31:31,120 --> 00:31:33,760
Yeah.
And luckily I was working for,

521
00:31:33,760 --> 00:31:36,920
you know, for who I'm working
now, AVL Media Group, which is a

522
00:31:36,960 --> 00:31:40,520
division of Intellimix, which
used to carry a lot of musical

523
00:31:40,520 --> 00:31:42,480
instruments.
Yeah, how convenient.

524
00:31:44,120 --> 00:31:47,240
How convenient, exactly.
So I went to Steve Barber and I

525
00:31:47,240 --> 00:31:49,360
said, OK, what's the coolest
place I can buy, you know?

526
00:31:49,920 --> 00:31:53,520
Yeah.
And I started looking at at at

527
00:31:53,520 --> 00:31:57,440
the the offerings.
Yeah, actually this is cool,

528
00:31:57,440 --> 00:31:59,880
'cause we have we have image,
right?

529
00:32:00,000 --> 00:32:03,560
Yeah, that's going to suck for
the people just listening to it,

530
00:32:03,560 --> 00:32:06,040
but.
Well, it's a it's a Dean

531
00:32:06,040 --> 00:32:08,560
Hillsborough John Lohan
signature.

532
00:32:08,720 --> 00:32:10,600
Oh, cool.
That's very cool.

533
00:32:10,960 --> 00:32:13,240
Yeah, it's, you know, it's a
decent base.

534
00:32:13,240 --> 00:32:14,440
It's not.
Yeah, it's not.

535
00:32:14,480 --> 00:32:18,160
It's not anything you know,
worth thousands of dollars.

536
00:32:18,200 --> 00:32:22,200
Yeah, but it plays well and it
sounds good and you know, it's

537
00:32:22,200 --> 00:32:24,360
just like lighting.
We talk about this a lot when

538
00:32:24,360 --> 00:32:27,440
we're talking about lighting.
Everything's good now, You know,

539
00:32:27,440 --> 00:32:30,760
it's not like you've got good
way over here on one side and

540
00:32:30,760 --> 00:32:32,880
really crappy way over here on
the other side.

541
00:32:33,240 --> 00:32:35,960
Everything's good.
So it's just a matter of

542
00:32:36,240 --> 00:32:39,400
choosing what you like the most.
You know there's there's not

543
00:32:39,400 --> 00:32:43,480
this massive gap between like
Fender and Gibson and everything

544
00:32:43,480 --> 00:32:45,880
else.
You know exactly.

545
00:32:45,960 --> 00:32:49,600
I mean it's it's hard to make a
bad instrument now with all,

546
00:32:49,600 --> 00:32:52,200
yeah, you know, with all the the
resources.

547
00:32:52,600 --> 00:32:56,240
Yeah, yeah, I know a lot of
people who make, like make their

548
00:32:56,240 --> 00:32:59,400
own guitars now and you know,
you can buy components from a

549
00:32:59,400 --> 00:33:01,760
variety of sources, including
Amazon.

550
00:33:02,200 --> 00:33:05,840
But, and you know, they're just
kind of creating these

551
00:33:05,840 --> 00:33:10,720
Frankenstein guitars and and
doing a really nice job of it.

552
00:33:10,960 --> 00:33:14,000
So cool instruments out there.
Yeah, I kind of went the

553
00:33:14,000 --> 00:33:17,160
opposite direction.
So I I had a really weird start.

554
00:33:17,160 --> 00:33:22,240
I started as a singer and I was
in the 6th grade, so I think I

555
00:33:22,240 --> 00:33:28,240
was about 13.
And you know, we were doing

556
00:33:28,240 --> 00:33:29,680
gigs.
We were doing big gigs, like I

557
00:33:29,680 --> 00:33:33,360
was signing autographs and stuff
when I was a singer at 13 years

558
00:33:33,360 --> 00:33:37,200
old.
And our manager fired our bass

559
00:33:37,200 --> 00:33:39,520
player one day.
And our manager was a Catholic

560
00:33:39,520 --> 00:33:41,720
priest.
This story gets crazier, trust

561
00:33:41,720 --> 00:33:45,440
me.
And he fired our bass player and

562
00:33:45,440 --> 00:33:49,280
said, you know, here, Marcel,
learn to play it at rehearsals.

563
00:33:49,280 --> 00:33:52,880
He says learn to play it.
And you know, it's like 4 weeks

564
00:33:52,880 --> 00:33:56,080
till our next gig or whatever.
So I had to learn to play an

565
00:33:56,080 --> 00:33:57,720
instrument.
Didn't play any.

566
00:33:57,920 --> 00:34:01,080
I I played a tiny little bit of
guitar but like just twang,

567
00:34:01,080 --> 00:34:04,000
twang, you know, smoke on the
water or something.

568
00:34:05,560 --> 00:34:08,520
But you know, I had to not only
learn to play an instrument, I

569
00:34:08,520 --> 00:34:11,760
had to do 40 songs in four
weeks.

570
00:34:11,880 --> 00:34:13,760
You know, that's a challenge.
And sing.

571
00:34:13,760 --> 00:34:16,679
I was the singer, so I had to
sing and play.

572
00:34:16,679 --> 00:34:19,840
Singing and playing bass is
yeah, it's something.

573
00:34:19,840 --> 00:34:22,760
It takes a minute and I only had
a minute to figure it all out.

574
00:34:22,760 --> 00:34:25,120
And somehow I did though.
I mean I became a bass player

575
00:34:25,120 --> 00:34:29,440
and a singer and I still, I
still struggle with that, yeah.

576
00:34:29,520 --> 00:34:34,199
And then went on to decide I
just want to be a bass player

577
00:34:34,199 --> 00:34:35,560
now.
And I just kind of backed up a

578
00:34:35,560 --> 00:34:38,440
little bit on the stage and I
did background vocals for the

579
00:34:38,440 --> 00:34:40,560
most part and and didn't sing
quite as much.

580
00:34:41,000 --> 00:34:45,639
But then I went to work for a
music store and ended up being a

581
00:34:45,639 --> 00:34:49,280
part owner in a chain of music
stores based out of Calgary.

582
00:34:49,880 --> 00:34:54,400
And you know, selling all this
stuff and whatever.

583
00:34:54,400 --> 00:34:57,240
I just got rid of all my stuff.
I never played anymore and

584
00:34:57,240 --> 00:35:00,640
whenever I picked something up
it was always a guitar and you

585
00:35:00,640 --> 00:35:03,920
know because you were always
like showing expensive guitars

586
00:35:03,920 --> 00:35:07,280
to kids or whatever and and so
you'd play a couple little notes

587
00:35:07,280 --> 00:35:10,360
and you'd figure some stuff out
to just demo a guitar or make a

588
00:35:10,680 --> 00:35:15,200
a amp sound good or something.
And so now I own a bunch of

589
00:35:15,200 --> 00:35:20,240
guitars and I think 1 bass and I
I don't if I pick anything up

590
00:35:20,240 --> 00:35:26,320
it's a guitar not a bass.
But I have a peeve though and I

591
00:35:26,320 --> 00:35:31,240
wonder if you're this guy.
Let's hope not guitar players

592
00:35:31,240 --> 00:35:35,800
who become bass players and play
the bass like a guitar.

593
00:35:35,880 --> 00:35:38,720
Like, I mean just basically it's
a guitar, but it's only got 4

594
00:35:38,720 --> 00:35:41,560
strings, yeah.
And I don't like it.

595
00:35:41,560 --> 00:35:43,280
Like it's not the same.
Feel.

596
00:35:43,400 --> 00:35:48,880
Neither do I.
Yeah, I don't mind melodic bass.

597
00:35:49,040 --> 00:35:52,800
Yeah, up to a certain point.
There are some great songs out

598
00:35:52,800 --> 00:35:56,080
there that have melodic bass.
Well, like Geddy, Lee, Geddy

599
00:35:56,080 --> 00:35:57,760
Lee.
Yeah, well, exactly.

600
00:35:57,960 --> 00:36:03,440
You know, but bass is the
infrastructure of a sound along

601
00:36:03,480 --> 00:36:04,800
with the drum.
Yeah.

602
00:36:05,400 --> 00:36:11,320
So I think that it should just
be like the what do you call the

603
00:36:13,000 --> 00:36:15,160
foundation?
Yeah, I agree with you

604
00:36:15,160 --> 00:36:16,160
completely.
Yeah.

605
00:36:16,160 --> 00:36:20,120
And a really good bass player
could just be going dunk, dunk,

606
00:36:20,160 --> 00:36:23,000
dunk, dunk, dunk like, I mean,
it doesn't have to be, you know,

607
00:36:23,000 --> 00:36:26,480
all kinds of crazy licks and
stuff, but it just makes that

608
00:36:26,480 --> 00:36:30,080
foundation so solid.
And you know, I know so many of

609
00:36:30,080 --> 00:36:32,520
those guys who do it really,
really well, and there's a few

610
00:36:32,520 --> 00:36:36,960
guys who are really good bass
player slash guitar players, and

611
00:36:37,360 --> 00:36:41,440
you didn't hear the intro.
My intro and outro music is a

612
00:36:41,440 --> 00:36:45,520
Gotto song.
And so Greg Gotovitz is a very

613
00:36:45,520 --> 00:36:50,400
good friend of mine, one of my
best buddies and he's a guy who

614
00:36:50,560 --> 00:36:55,800
was a very good bass player,
very good singer and is also a

615
00:36:55,800 --> 00:37:00,480
great guitar player.
And so, you know, he, he played

616
00:37:00,480 --> 00:37:03,040
the instruments differently.
He didn't just play a bass like

617
00:37:03,040 --> 00:37:06,200
a like a different guitar, you
know, so.

618
00:37:06,680 --> 00:37:09,640
Well, sometimes you can adapt.
I mean, if I'm actually, if I'm

619
00:37:09,640 --> 00:37:12,360
playing alone, yeah, just having
fun.

620
00:37:12,360 --> 00:37:14,120
I'll be all over the neck.
Yeah.

621
00:37:14,120 --> 00:37:17,720
If I'm playing with other
people, I'm just sitting They

622
00:37:17,800 --> 00:37:19,240
they what they call the money
notes.

623
00:37:19,440 --> 00:37:21,720
Yeah.
Down at the at the end of the

624
00:37:21,720 --> 00:37:22,480
neck.
Yeah.

625
00:37:22,480 --> 00:37:25,440
What really makes the sound, the
the the, the song sound good.

626
00:37:25,600 --> 00:37:27,080
Yeah.
That's that's where I'll be

627
00:37:27,080 --> 00:37:29,360
navigating.
And I'll just try to, you know,

628
00:37:29,360 --> 00:37:31,840
stay in my spot and, yeah, not
so.

629
00:37:31,880 --> 00:37:33,960
Do you actually gig?
Do you Do you go out and gig

630
00:37:33,960 --> 00:37:34,920
with guys not?
Really.

631
00:37:35,240 --> 00:37:37,080
No, not really, No.
Get together.

632
00:37:37,080 --> 00:37:40,320
Don't want to.
It's just, well, I'm still

633
00:37:40,320 --> 00:37:45,080
working a lot, yeah, So and and
I'm starting to think that at

634
00:37:45,080 --> 00:37:50,560
this time and age, I'm not sure
I really have time to work.

635
00:37:52,200 --> 00:37:55,000
So many other things to do.
Yeah, it's funny.

636
00:37:55,000 --> 00:37:58,400
Anyway, Yeah, it's.
Funny, seeing that people seem

637
00:37:58,400 --> 00:38:02,240
to be living older and older.
Yeah, like my father's 83 and he

638
00:38:02,240 --> 00:38:03,920
didn't see that one coming.
Yeah.

639
00:38:04,200 --> 00:38:06,720
So I figure OK if I'm going to
be around till I don't know

640
00:38:06,720 --> 00:38:09,680
9095, which is thinkable.
Yeah.

641
00:38:10,280 --> 00:38:12,040
Oh well, I better have a lot of
money.

642
00:38:12,040 --> 00:38:14,360
Stashed up, you know?
Yeah, that's the thing, huh?

643
00:38:14,400 --> 00:38:17,240
So I'm not in too much of a
hurry to pull the plug like my

644
00:38:17,240 --> 00:38:19,120
father did at 50.
Yeah.

645
00:38:19,560 --> 00:38:22,120
Well, you know the other weird
thing, and sorry to go down this

646
00:38:22,120 --> 00:38:27,360
morbidity route, but my
girlfriend and I were talking

647
00:38:27,360 --> 00:38:31,800
about this like, OK, so let's
think, what if you were able to

648
00:38:31,800 --> 00:38:35,520
live to 110 or 120 or whatever?
Because with all of the

649
00:38:35,520 --> 00:38:40,160
longevity hacks and stuff that
are happening now, it's not

650
00:38:40,400 --> 00:38:44,160
unthinkable that you could live
to 120 a 125 years old,

651
00:38:44,520 --> 00:38:47,560
actually, reasonably.
I'll just say this, I've I

652
00:38:47,560 --> 00:38:50,680
always tell everybody I'm going
to live to 120.

653
00:38:50,920 --> 00:38:53,560
Yeah, OK.
And this is my philosophy.

654
00:38:53,800 --> 00:38:56,880
If I make it, I'm right.
And if I don't make it, nobody

655
00:38:56,880 --> 00:38:58,840
will ever have the occasion to
tell me I was wrong.

656
00:38:59,000 --> 00:39:00,480
That's true, huh?
Yeah.

657
00:39:00,800 --> 00:39:02,040
Yeah.
Tell me I'm wrong.

658
00:39:02,280 --> 00:39:04,080
I dare you.
I don't care.

659
00:39:04,360 --> 00:39:07,960
No, it's totally true.
Well, and there's a guy, I

660
00:39:07,960 --> 00:39:12,360
forget his name.
He did a book called Superhuman

661
00:39:12,360 --> 00:39:16,960
that I listen to.
He's a bio hacker and, you know,

662
00:39:16,960 --> 00:39:20,920
a longevity guy for sure.
And he talks about, I think he

663
00:39:20,920 --> 00:39:23,400
thinks that he's going to live
to 160.

664
00:39:23,960 --> 00:39:27,800
And, you know, but he's
literally like, you know, one of

665
00:39:27,800 --> 00:39:30,520
these guys that's pumping all
kinds of different wacky things

666
00:39:30,520 --> 00:39:33,560
into his body and trying every
experimental everything that he

667
00:39:33,560 --> 00:39:38,000
possibly can and just milking
every inch out of every single

668
00:39:38,200 --> 00:39:41,720
cell in his body.
But what we were talking about

669
00:39:41,720 --> 00:39:43,880
my girlfriend and I.
So let's say you could live to

670
00:39:43,880 --> 00:39:49,600
120.
After 80, I think life starts

671
00:39:49,600 --> 00:39:52,920
getting lonely because your kids
are grown up.

672
00:39:52,920 --> 00:39:56,440
They have their own kids that
becomes their sort of core unit.

673
00:39:56,440 --> 00:40:00,080
Them and their kids, their
parents are more of a a pain in

674
00:40:00,080 --> 00:40:03,680
the ass than they are like
somebody that they want to spend

675
00:40:03,680 --> 00:40:07,040
a lot of time with anymore.
A lot of your friends have died.

676
00:40:07,240 --> 00:40:10,080
Most of your friends sometimes
all of your friends, sometimes

677
00:40:10,080 --> 00:40:12,960
your siblings may have already
passed on or whatever.

678
00:40:12,960 --> 00:40:15,880
Your siblings are older or less
healthy than you and they've

679
00:40:15,880 --> 00:40:20,120
passed on and so I'm just
imagining that like.

680
00:40:20,600 --> 00:40:23,400
You're in great shape or
whatever you're you're healthy,

681
00:40:23,400 --> 00:40:26,560
you're going to live to 100
years old, but everyone around

682
00:40:26,560 --> 00:40:29,280
you has died and it just becomes
so lonely.

683
00:40:29,280 --> 00:40:31,880
So not only are you looking at
your cash going, jeez, I'm

684
00:40:31,880 --> 00:40:33,880
running out of money.
If I knew I was going to live to

685
00:40:33,880 --> 00:40:35,920
100, maybe I would have saved
more.

686
00:40:36,520 --> 00:40:39,120
But you're also looking around
you and going, I don't know

687
00:40:39,120 --> 00:40:41,440
anyone anymore, you know, it's
kind of weird.

688
00:40:41,560 --> 00:40:46,200
Then again, I think Madonna has
has a solution to that.

689
00:40:47,240 --> 00:40:49,640
Just reinvent yourself.
Yeah, that's true, huh.

690
00:40:49,840 --> 00:40:51,000
That's true.
Let's.

691
00:40:51,000 --> 00:40:53,200
Go somewhere else.
Keep, keep being creative.

692
00:40:53,400 --> 00:40:55,720
Yeah.
I mean, I I always figured

693
00:40:55,720 --> 00:40:57,960
there's a lot of stuff I'd like
to do now that I don't have

694
00:40:57,960 --> 00:41:00,680
time.
And I figure while I'm I got to

695
00:41:00,840 --> 00:41:04,080
keep some projects for later in
case I'm still around.

696
00:41:04,320 --> 00:41:07,680
Yeah, yeah, that's true, huh?
That's how I see it, and it's

697
00:41:07,680 --> 00:41:09,440
not.
It might not be with my friends,

698
00:41:09,440 --> 00:41:11,960
might not be with my kids.
We'll see what happens.

699
00:41:11,960 --> 00:41:14,320
We'll, we'll just move on to
something else, yeah.

700
00:41:14,960 --> 00:41:17,720
So, so I touched on it earlier.
You have a podcast and it's

701
00:41:17,720 --> 00:41:22,800
called Backstage Cowboys.
And so first of all, you know,

702
00:41:23,120 --> 00:41:28,800
tell me how that came about and
the name and and are you still

703
00:41:28,800 --> 00:41:31,160
doing it?
And yeah, tell me about

704
00:41:31,160 --> 00:41:34,400
Backstage Cowboys.
Well, I I am still doing it.

705
00:41:34,480 --> 00:41:38,280
I'm not recording episodes
regularly because I'm pretty

706
00:41:38,280 --> 00:41:40,800
sure you're the best person to
understand that.

707
00:41:40,800 --> 00:41:43,080
It's very time consuming.
It is.

708
00:41:43,360 --> 00:41:48,280
So whenever I have, you know,
some time to myself, I'll I'll

709
00:41:48,280 --> 00:41:52,160
reach out to some people and or
if if there's an opportunity

710
00:41:52,160 --> 00:41:56,640
somewhere, I'll just record an
an episode and and put it up

711
00:41:56,640 --> 00:42:01,000
there.
The idea came maybe some 10

712
00:42:01,000 --> 00:42:04,400
years ago.
I was head of lighting

713
00:42:04,400 --> 00:42:10,400
department at Coda Focus Aerial
Lighting video shop in Montreal

714
00:42:11,160 --> 00:42:17,080
and at on Friday afternoons we
if if we weren't loading a truck

715
00:42:17,080 --> 00:42:20,440
or something, we were just, you
know, chilling.

716
00:42:20,920 --> 00:42:24,080
And we were at the back of the
shop having a beer and talking

717
00:42:24,080 --> 00:42:28,440
about all sorts of stuff and so
many great stories came out of

718
00:42:28,480 --> 00:42:33,080
of those gatherings.
And at some point I had a

719
00:42:33,080 --> 00:42:36,320
partner back then who was
handling the the audio section

720
00:42:36,840 --> 00:42:41,240
and I said hey, wouldn't it be
cool like to share these stories

721
00:42:41,720 --> 00:42:45,800
with whoever wants to hear them.
Why don't we just start a

722
00:42:45,800 --> 00:42:48,800
podcast or something and the guy
says, yeah that's cool, I do.

723
00:42:49,160 --> 00:42:57,880
So at some point I moved on and
and he actually he went to what

724
00:42:57,880 --> 00:43:00,360
was it Vietnam or something like
that Taiwan.

725
00:43:00,560 --> 00:43:04,560
Anyway, he went there for a
while and and when he came back

726
00:43:04,560 --> 00:43:06,720
I had already put everything in
place.

727
00:43:07,120 --> 00:43:11,440
I figured you know we we need to
do this for real and but when he

728
00:43:11,440 --> 00:43:14,320
came back he got a job at solo
tech and he was very busy.

729
00:43:14,320 --> 00:43:17,840
So I said yeah OK well whatever
I'll just carry on the project

730
00:43:18,640 --> 00:43:21,920
at the same time.
The idea was to create a sort of

731
00:43:21,920 --> 00:43:27,400
lounge where old guys and new
guys, you know guys and girls

732
00:43:28,280 --> 00:43:32,400
could meet up and and mingle and
share stories and learn stuff.

733
00:43:32,400 --> 00:43:37,160
And I was, I was really aiming
towards education and helping

734
00:43:37,400 --> 00:43:41,880
the younger guys make their way
into this this mess or?

735
00:43:44,040 --> 00:43:46,240
This wonderful business.
Yeah, this wonderful business.

736
00:43:46,240 --> 00:43:47,960
That's what I that's what I
should be saying.

737
00:43:48,120 --> 00:43:51,120
Yeah.
So anyway, if if I had that when

738
00:43:51,120 --> 00:43:54,080
I was young, I might have done
the the move earlier as I was

739
00:43:54,160 --> 00:43:58,520
saying.
So yeah, I just decided to to

740
00:43:58,520 --> 00:44:01,240
start that.
So I created the backstage

741
00:44:01,240 --> 00:44:07,040
cowboys.com website and the
podcast and A blog and then then

742
00:44:07,040 --> 00:44:09,520
a a YouTube channel with a
couple things where I do

743
00:44:09,520 --> 00:44:11,360
sometimes I do product reviews
on that.

744
00:44:12,160 --> 00:44:15,800
Now for the products I have the
opportunity to play around with

745
00:44:15,800 --> 00:44:19,840
since I work for distributor
sometimes and I'm the I'm the

746
00:44:19,840 --> 00:44:21,360
honest guy.
Yeah.

747
00:44:21,800 --> 00:44:25,360
So I'll I'll grab a product and
I'll I'll do an honest review on

748
00:44:25,360 --> 00:44:28,120
it.
Whether I'm whether it's my boss

749
00:44:28,120 --> 00:44:33,320
or not that's distributing it.
I'm always honest and even like

750
00:44:33,320 --> 00:44:36,840
when AVL hired me first thing I
said is you know the wrong the

751
00:44:36,880 --> 00:44:39,200
the the worst thing you can do
is sell the wrong product to

752
00:44:39,200 --> 00:44:41,680
somebody because those are all
my friends out there on the

753
00:44:41,680 --> 00:44:44,040
field.
So if it you know if something

754
00:44:44,040 --> 00:44:46,120
goes wrong at 3:00 AM, I'm
getting the call.

755
00:44:46,280 --> 00:44:49,000
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Let's get this right from the

756
00:44:49,000 --> 00:44:51,440
start, OK?
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

757
00:44:51,440 --> 00:44:54,120
So if I have what you need,
fine.

758
00:44:54,120 --> 00:44:57,200
I'll be more than happy to to,
you know, to to provide it.

759
00:44:57,200 --> 00:44:59,680
And if I don't have what you
need, I won't have a problem

760
00:44:59,680 --> 00:45:03,000
sending you to a competitor
because that's what you need.

761
00:45:03,360 --> 00:45:05,920
Yeah, yeah.
So that's interesting.

762
00:45:05,920 --> 00:45:11,320
So you've done, I think I read
you've done 26 episodes so far.

763
00:45:12,360 --> 00:45:13,720
I think you know better than I
do.

764
00:45:13,840 --> 00:45:17,240
So around, yeah.
So you haven't been quite as

765
00:45:17,240 --> 00:45:20,680
active as we are, 'cause you
started a year before us.

766
00:45:20,680 --> 00:45:24,920
We started in 2019.
Similar idea, by the way.

767
00:45:25,480 --> 00:45:29,200
The funny thing about geezers of
gear, though, is when we started

768
00:45:29,200 --> 00:45:32,480
it, the geezers were me and one
of my employees who worked for

769
00:45:32,480 --> 00:45:34,440
me.
We were the geezers.

770
00:45:34,440 --> 00:45:37,240
We were basically old guys that
were going to talk about gear

771
00:45:37,800 --> 00:45:41,840
and then we had people reach out
to us and say hey I want to come

772
00:45:41,840 --> 00:45:45,600
on your podcast and and you know
I think I'm a geezer I could

773
00:45:45,600 --> 00:45:49,120
probably come on and so it kind
of shifted where the geezer

774
00:45:49,120 --> 00:45:51,720
became the guest more than it
was us right.

775
00:45:52,280 --> 00:45:56,280
And but, you know, we've had
lots of young guys, young girls,

776
00:45:56,280 --> 00:46:01,600
ladies on the podcast.
And so Geezers of Gear now is

777
00:46:01,600 --> 00:46:04,840
just kind of a funny name that
sometimes is in the way, you

778
00:46:04,840 --> 00:46:06,920
know, because people are like,
well, I don't know, I'm if I'm

779
00:46:07,000 --> 00:46:09,360
old enough, but I'd like to come
on your podcast.

780
00:46:10,480 --> 00:46:11,800
No, you're good.
You're old enough.

781
00:46:13,640 --> 00:46:19,640
Sorry I had to cough there.
So yeah, you know, I again, I

782
00:46:19,640 --> 00:46:21,560
mean it.
It's fun talking to a podcaster

783
00:46:21,560 --> 00:46:25,640
because you know, AI like to
geek out on technology and how

784
00:46:25,640 --> 00:46:28,760
to do a good podcast.
And you know, like I said, I I

785
00:46:28,760 --> 00:46:32,240
appreciate the fact that you
have a microphone, you know,

786
00:46:32,240 --> 00:46:35,200
because not everyone does and I
don't, I don't force it on

787
00:46:35,200 --> 00:46:39,880
people like the bigger podcast,
the the the guys and girls who

788
00:46:39,880 --> 00:46:43,040
are doing podcasts for millions
of of people and they're they're

789
00:46:43,040 --> 00:46:47,600
bringing in, you know $100,000
or more an episode for

790
00:46:47,680 --> 00:46:50,400
sponsorship and stuff.
What they'll do is they'll

791
00:46:50,400 --> 00:46:54,320
package like an audio package
and send it out to the to the

792
00:46:54,320 --> 00:46:56,440
person and sometimes even a
video package too.

793
00:46:56,440 --> 00:47:00,440
And they sometimes send a person
out to set it all up and create

794
00:47:00,440 --> 00:47:03,800
a remote video studio for the
the guest.

795
00:47:05,280 --> 00:47:08,160
Obviously for you and I, we
can't really do that.

796
00:47:08,280 --> 00:47:10,480
You know we can't be sending
equipment out too and.

797
00:47:10,600 --> 00:47:12,600
That's not the goal either,
right.

798
00:47:12,720 --> 00:47:15,920
Yeah, I mean, you can create a
great content without

799
00:47:15,920 --> 00:47:20,880
necessarily being high end.
Yeah, by just being, like, good

800
00:47:20,880 --> 00:47:23,440
enough that it's pleasant to
listen to.

801
00:47:23,760 --> 00:47:25,440
Right, exactly.
Yeah.

802
00:47:25,920 --> 00:47:28,680
And you know some of the tools
now too like the one that we use

803
00:47:28,680 --> 00:47:35,160
Riverside has a lot of audio
processing in it and so and it's

804
00:47:35,200 --> 00:47:38,120
all up processing.
So they're basically assuming

805
00:47:38,120 --> 00:47:40,560
that people are treating this
like a zoom call talking

806
00:47:40,560 --> 00:47:42,400
directly into their laptop or
whatever.

807
00:47:42,400 --> 00:47:45,400
So they're doing echo
cancellation, noise

808
00:47:45,400 --> 00:47:50,920
cancellation, enhanced audio,
they're levelling audio.

809
00:47:50,920 --> 00:47:53,720
So I don't have to worry about
that anymore as far as making

810
00:47:53,720 --> 00:47:57,400
sure that the mix is right.
They'll they'll just fix the mix

811
00:47:57,880 --> 00:48:00,080
and.
I know everybody does.

812
00:48:00,080 --> 00:48:02,960
Like I do hang coats and
blankets all around to just

813
00:48:04,000 --> 00:48:07,160
yeah, down the echo.
Yeah, well you don't need to

814
00:48:07,160 --> 00:48:08,840
anymore.
You just don't need to anymore.

815
00:48:08,840 --> 00:48:15,600
I mean with with audio, sort of
audio specific platforms out

816
00:48:15,600 --> 00:48:20,080
there that make the tools so
that you can record really good

817
00:48:20,080 --> 00:48:25,120
audio even directly off your
iPhone, you know, it's not

818
00:48:25,120 --> 00:48:28,080
really necessary.
So not everybody is gonna have a

819
00:48:28,480 --> 00:48:33,360
a sure SM 7B or you know, a big
mixer or any of that stuff.

820
00:48:33,600 --> 00:48:36,640
It's like me like I I keep
buying cameras thinking I need a

821
00:48:36,640 --> 00:48:40,480
five $600.00 camera to record my
podcast and I always end up

822
00:48:40,480 --> 00:48:44,000
right back on my laptop camera,
'cause it's just the easiest

823
00:48:44,000 --> 00:48:45,560
thing.
I'm sitting right here, the

824
00:48:45,560 --> 00:48:48,440
camera's right there, you know,
I don't need to download or

825
00:48:48,440 --> 00:48:50,520
upload anything.
It's pretty straightforward.

826
00:48:51,080 --> 00:48:53,200
Well, I've.
I've tried APTZ camera lately.

827
00:48:53,520 --> 00:48:56,720
Yeah.
And because I'm, I'm, I'm going,

828
00:48:56,840 --> 00:49:00,080
I'm going somewhere else here.
Yeah, I just had an idea.

829
00:49:01,200 --> 00:49:02,480
Yeah.
Because sometimes I do

830
00:49:02,480 --> 00:49:06,080
presentations and I had to talk
to a bunch of dealers in the

831
00:49:06,080 --> 00:49:09,000
States, and I had to present
some Spotlight fixtures.

832
00:49:09,160 --> 00:49:14,840
Yeah.
And I actually, I I wanted to do

833
00:49:14,840 --> 00:49:17,840
something a bit more dynamic
than just sitting in front of my

834
00:49:17,840 --> 00:49:20,000
laptop.
I wanted to be able to show some

835
00:49:20,000 --> 00:49:25,160
gear and actually open up a spot
and show what, why this spot is

836
00:49:25,160 --> 00:49:29,400
particular and you know why, why
this is better than anything

837
00:49:29,400 --> 00:49:30,840
else that's out there, right?
Yeah.

838
00:49:31,360 --> 00:49:35,480
So I pulled out a PTZ camera
because we're doing BZB gear now

839
00:49:36,200 --> 00:49:40,240
and we're distributing that in
Canada and we'll.

840
00:49:40,240 --> 00:49:41,640
Have to hit you up for a camera
after.

841
00:49:44,120 --> 00:49:46,600
Well, we can talk to Steve about
it, I'm pretty sure.

842
00:49:47,640 --> 00:49:50,440
But anyway, I pulled out a
camera right out-of-the-box,

843
00:49:50,520 --> 00:49:52,400
hooked up my computer, opened
up, Zoom.

844
00:49:52,920 --> 00:49:55,640
Bam.
It was following me all over the

845
00:49:55,640 --> 00:49:57,320
showroom.
It was amazing.

846
00:49:57,320 --> 00:50:01,200
You just have to.
You just have to understand how

847
00:50:01,200 --> 00:50:04,160
the camera thinks, because
there's a whole bunch of

848
00:50:04,160 --> 00:50:07,160
settings in there.
You can actually set zones and

849
00:50:07,160 --> 00:50:09,680
that it won't move between this
point and this point, but if you

850
00:50:09,680 --> 00:50:11,840
pass that line, then it'll
adjust on you.

851
00:50:11,840 --> 00:50:16,160
So it's not constantly moving.
But I found out that if I want,

852
00:50:16,280 --> 00:50:20,120
if I move over like to a
specific spot and I want to show

853
00:50:20,120 --> 00:50:23,520
something, but the camera zoomed
on me right, and then I'll go

854
00:50:23,520 --> 00:50:27,840
past that spot and then I'll
come back like 2 feet and then

855
00:50:27,840 --> 00:50:29,320
the camera won't move for two
feet.

856
00:50:29,320 --> 00:50:31,440
But it's actually focused on
what I want to show.

857
00:50:31,440 --> 00:50:34,480
So you just have to sort of play
around with that.

858
00:50:34,800 --> 00:50:37,480
But I was really amazed.
I mean that the the pan, tilt

859
00:50:37,480 --> 00:50:40,480
and the zoom were actually plug
and play.

860
00:50:41,040 --> 00:50:45,880
Yeah, I was using one called
osmos or something like that.

861
00:50:45,880 --> 00:50:49,800
I can't remember the name of it,
but I, you know, I just still,

862
00:50:49,800 --> 00:50:52,880
again, I I prefer using the
camera in my laptop just because

863
00:50:52,880 --> 00:50:55,440
it's easy and it's right in
front of me all the time and I

864
00:50:55,440 --> 00:50:58,280
don't have to worry about where
it's going or if, yeah, you

865
00:50:58,280 --> 00:51:01,200
know, if it's aimed at something
I don't want it aimed at or

866
00:51:01,200 --> 00:51:05,960
whatever, you know, so you can.
Actually, just move away from

867
00:51:05,960 --> 00:51:07,920
the image if you need to do
something you know.

868
00:51:08,120 --> 00:51:08,920
Correct.
Yeah.

869
00:51:09,080 --> 00:51:12,320
Yeah.
Or I pause it and go do

870
00:51:12,320 --> 00:51:15,520
something, you know?
But generally I don't do

871
00:51:15,520 --> 00:51:17,240
anything.
Like I'm sitting in front of the

872
00:51:17,240 --> 00:51:20,440
camera talking to a guest and
and I just want to be focused on

873
00:51:20,440 --> 00:51:22,760
the guest.
And I just found this to be the

874
00:51:22,760 --> 00:51:25,760
easiest way.
But yeah, I mean it.

875
00:51:25,760 --> 00:51:27,760
It's cool.
And you know, the cool thing is,

876
00:51:27,760 --> 00:51:30,880
because of the popularity of
podcasting, there's more and

877
00:51:30,880 --> 00:51:33,520
more companies who are making
like this is a podcast

878
00:51:33,520 --> 00:51:35,760
microphone, This is a podcast.
Boom.

879
00:51:36,520 --> 00:51:40,360
You know, I'm using a podcast
piece of software.

880
00:51:40,360 --> 00:51:43,560
I'm using a Switcher over here.
That's a podcasting Switcher.

881
00:51:43,560 --> 00:51:48,240
I'm using a podcasting mixer.
And when everything is made for

882
00:51:48,240 --> 00:51:51,080
podcasting, it just makes it,
you know, that much easier.

883
00:51:51,120 --> 00:51:54,240
And I don't know, things just
seem to work better.

884
00:51:54,920 --> 00:51:56,800
I have a hard time getting
accustomed to that.

885
00:51:57,280 --> 00:51:58,840
Yeah, I figure a mic's a mic,
right?

886
00:51:58,960 --> 00:52:01,360
I've got a I've got a condenser
mic here.

887
00:52:01,400 --> 00:52:06,240
Yeah, I've had it for 25 years.
Yeah, and it works great.

888
00:52:06,240 --> 00:52:08,600
That would.
That was way before podcast era.

889
00:52:08,880 --> 00:52:12,680
Yeah, yeah.
It sort of reminds me of poutine

890
00:52:12,760 --> 00:52:16,960
sauce.
I don't get where this is.

891
00:52:16,960 --> 00:52:18,400
Going I just made a left.
Turn here.

892
00:52:18,680 --> 00:52:20,520
I like it.
I like poutine sauce.

893
00:52:20,520 --> 00:52:24,280
There'll be, there'll be a link,
believe me, poutine sauce.

894
00:52:24,280 --> 00:52:27,360
Here's the thing, they actually
sell a thing called poutine

895
00:52:27,360 --> 00:52:31,280
sauce, OK.
And and I laugh every time.

896
00:52:31,280 --> 00:52:33,520
I think there's no such thing.
It's just gravy.

897
00:52:33,920 --> 00:52:36,040
Yeah, that's all it is.
It's gravy.

898
00:52:37,000 --> 00:52:38,760
You don't need to call it Putin
sauce.

899
00:52:39,120 --> 00:52:42,040
Yeah, that's funny.
No, that's a good point because

900
00:52:42,040 --> 00:52:45,400
you can get $20 more by calling
a mic a podcast mic.

901
00:52:46,000 --> 00:52:47,720
Exactly that.
That's my point.

902
00:52:47,760 --> 00:52:49,920
I get it.
Yeah, I completely get it.

903
00:52:50,120 --> 00:52:53,440
Because, I mean that mixer I
have, I mean, it works

904
00:52:53,440 --> 00:52:55,680
beautifully for podcasting.
Yeah.

905
00:52:55,680 --> 00:52:57,760
Actually, what is it?
It's a recording station.

906
00:52:58,120 --> 00:53:00,440
It's a digital audio recording
station.

907
00:53:00,520 --> 00:53:03,480
Yeah.
But you know, I find that when

908
00:53:03,480 --> 00:53:07,760
you use podcasting tools, you
know, it's like, I've got this

909
00:53:07,760 --> 00:53:11,160
little device called a stream
deck, and when I'm recording our

910
00:53:11,160 --> 00:53:13,960
intros and stuff and I'm trying
to get it out here without

911
00:53:13,960 --> 00:53:16,120
pulling the cord out of it, Oh.
Yeah, yeah, I know that.

912
00:53:17,080 --> 00:53:19,400
That is amazing.
The what a what a beautiful

913
00:53:19,400 --> 00:53:21,800
invention.
So when I'm recording all of our

914
00:53:21,800 --> 00:53:24,240
intros and stuff, I just hit
buttons on this thing and it

915
00:53:24,240 --> 00:53:26,920
brings up different screens for
me with different logos.

916
00:53:26,920 --> 00:53:30,760
And it'll record, it'll pause,
it'll do all kinds of different

917
00:53:30,760 --> 00:53:35,480
things, you know?
So play music, you know, it'll

918
00:53:35,480 --> 00:53:37,480
do all kinds of things.
And then on my mixer I've got

919
00:53:37,480 --> 00:53:39,640
all these funny sound effects,
You know, where you could do

920
00:53:39,640 --> 00:53:42,760
clapping and birds chirping and
ridiculous sounds.

921
00:53:42,760 --> 00:53:44,840
If you do all that stuff live,
right?

922
00:53:44,840 --> 00:53:45,360
Yeah.
I don't.

923
00:53:45,360 --> 00:53:47,520
I edit afterwards, which is
Yeah.

924
00:53:47,520 --> 00:53:50,760
TD Yeah, yeah.
So, you know, I mean, I just

925
00:53:50,760 --> 00:53:54,040
like some of those tools and and
I've, I've found that well and

926
00:53:54,040 --> 00:53:57,520
and Riverside, I will tell you
like you know, one of these days

927
00:53:57,520 --> 00:54:00,080
I'll share a screen with you and
show you how the editing works

928
00:54:00,080 --> 00:54:01,680
on Riverside and you'll be blown
away.

929
00:54:01,680 --> 00:54:04,640
You'll be like, OK, that's what
I'm doing from now on, 'cause if

930
00:54:04,640 --> 00:54:08,040
you're spending an hour editing,
I guarantee Riverside will get

931
00:54:08,040 --> 00:54:10,440
that down to 10 minutes.
It's just so.

932
00:54:10,480 --> 00:54:11,960
Easy.
That's where the few months

933
00:54:12,440 --> 00:54:14,960
makes a difference.
Like you're not quite 60 yet.

934
00:54:14,960 --> 00:54:18,880
I'm 60, so now you're teaching
me all this stuff and I'll you

935
00:54:18,880 --> 00:54:21,200
know where podcasting is at
right now.

936
00:54:21,400 --> 00:54:23,360
And I'm still trying to use the
old tools.

937
00:54:23,920 --> 00:54:27,600
And I and I kind of don't
understand what podcasting

938
00:54:27,600 --> 00:54:31,920
equipment necessarily has more
than regular recording

939
00:54:31,920 --> 00:54:33,760
equipment.
And now I'm starting to

940
00:54:33,760 --> 00:54:36,560
understand, yeah.
Well, I'm happy to talk to

941
00:54:36,560 --> 00:54:38,680
anybody.
I I'd talk to you about that

942
00:54:38,680 --> 00:54:40,640
stuff anytime.
It's got nothing to do with age

943
00:54:40,880 --> 00:54:43,520
or even the length of time.
I'm just nuts.

944
00:54:43,560 --> 00:54:45,200
I'm nuts when it comes to this
stuff.

945
00:54:45,200 --> 00:54:48,000
Like I'm always A looking for a
better way to do everything, B

946
00:54:48,000 --> 00:54:50,000
looking for an easier way to do
everything.

947
00:54:50,000 --> 00:54:53,080
So I've got this crazy
efficiency brain, you know,

948
00:54:53,080 --> 00:54:56,520
where it's like there's got to
be something that can shave 4

949
00:54:56,520 --> 00:55:00,520
seconds off of this process.
And so I'm always looking for

950
00:55:00,520 --> 00:55:05,720
new tools and it's crazy.
It's something that's probably

951
00:55:05,840 --> 00:55:09,360
slowly driving me completely
nuts, but I.

952
00:55:09,360 --> 00:55:15,160
Can certainly relate to that.
Maybe being from Quebec is my

953
00:55:15,160 --> 00:55:17,560
mentality is a bit different.
Where I'm used to working with

954
00:55:17,560 --> 00:55:19,040
no budget.
Yeah.

955
00:55:19,040 --> 00:55:22,240
So I'm used to trying to make
things work with whatever I have

956
00:55:22,240 --> 00:55:23,400
handy.
Yeah.

957
00:55:23,400 --> 00:55:26,520
And.
And at a point you you realize

958
00:55:26,520 --> 00:55:29,200
that, well, it's not the most
efficient way of doing things.

959
00:55:29,400 --> 00:55:32,640
Yeah, that's true.
But I mean, I'm.

960
00:55:32,640 --> 00:55:38,360
I'm similar to in that I'm
trying to repurpose things or

961
00:55:38,360 --> 00:55:41,440
whatever, but it's just when it
comes to the things I guess that

962
00:55:41,440 --> 00:55:44,400
really matter to me and putting
out a good podcast really

963
00:55:44,400 --> 00:55:47,360
matters to me.
I always want to do the best job

964
00:55:47,360 --> 00:55:50,960
I can.
Yet until just recently I've

965
00:55:50,960 --> 00:55:54,920
done it completely on my own,
you know, while running a couple

966
00:55:54,920 --> 00:56:00,600
of companies at the same time.
And now I have Sarah who's our

967
00:56:00,600 --> 00:56:03,240
producer and she does a lot of
the background work like you

968
00:56:03,240 --> 00:56:07,120
said, you know, going out and
booking guests and even dealing

969
00:56:07,240 --> 00:56:11,920
dealing with sponsors and and
now she's even getting involved

970
00:56:11,920 --> 00:56:14,880
in in some of the editing
process and hopefully we'll take

971
00:56:14,880 --> 00:56:17,960
that all over at some point.
So really all I'm going to have

972
00:56:17,960 --> 00:56:22,200
to do is show up and and record
the podcast, That's the general

973
00:56:22,200 --> 00:56:27,120
idea anyways.
But yeah, so anyways it's fun.

974
00:56:27,280 --> 00:56:30,120
I I'm always happy to get on a
call with you and and talk

975
00:56:30,120 --> 00:56:31,520
through all the geeky stuff
though.

976
00:56:33,360 --> 00:56:37,440
So 30 years in the business and
you mentioned I think that you

977
00:56:37,440 --> 00:56:39,840
started in lighting design or
no?

978
00:56:41,480 --> 00:56:46,000
Well, I'm.
I'm trying to figure in my head

979
00:56:46,000 --> 00:56:51,200
here how far back I need to go
to get this, to get this done.

980
00:56:51,440 --> 00:56:55,280
And by the way, I I say this
every time I I speak publicly.

981
00:56:55,920 --> 00:57:00,360
I'm a French guy and sometimes I
start thinking in French and I

982
00:57:00,360 --> 00:57:03,400
speak in English and translation
doesn't always make it, so

983
00:57:04,560 --> 00:57:06,560
that's OK.
Yeah, I might say something

984
00:57:06,560 --> 00:57:09,000
weird once in a while.
It's OK You wouldn't be the

985
00:57:09,000 --> 00:57:10,760
first person.
I'm pretty sure.

986
00:57:10,840 --> 00:57:12,800
I've heard a lot of weird things
on this podcast.

987
00:57:12,800 --> 00:57:16,800
I promise you, Yeah.
So actually lighting business,

988
00:57:16,800 --> 00:57:21,880
how how that started?
Let's go back to the days where

989
00:57:21,880 --> 00:57:26,760
I was, I was a computer
technician and I was working for

990
00:57:26,800 --> 00:57:31,000
John Santi, which this was
before the 911 call center.

991
00:57:31,080 --> 00:57:34,920
You'd have you had a number for
firemen, you had a number for

992
00:57:34,920 --> 00:57:37,480
police, and you had another
number for an ambulance.

993
00:57:37,960 --> 00:57:41,120
So I was working for working for
the, the, the ambulance section

994
00:57:41,640 --> 00:57:44,440
and I was, you know, working on
the computer type.

995
00:57:44,440 --> 00:57:49,200
Then we used to pull cables,
coax cables so that computers

996
00:57:49,200 --> 00:57:52,480
could talk to each other.
And I also had a a cabling

997
00:57:52,480 --> 00:57:55,720
company back then on on on my
own.

998
00:57:56,680 --> 00:58:03,080
And at a certain point I sort of
thought that I can't keep on

999
00:58:03,080 --> 00:58:08,080
doing this forever because it
was a, it was a union house, it

1000
00:58:08,080 --> 00:58:10,680
was, you know, it's government
based.

1001
00:58:10,680 --> 00:58:14,920
It was a good job.
We had, you know, could pay was

1002
00:58:14,920 --> 00:58:17,320
OK, but we had a lot of
advantages.

1003
00:58:18,240 --> 00:58:22,200
But everybody was depressed in
there because they were always

1004
00:58:22,200 --> 00:58:24,080
asking for more.
And they figured that the only

1005
00:58:24,080 --> 00:58:27,080
way to get more is to, I don't
know, cry, I guess.

1006
00:58:28,440 --> 00:58:29,760
And I figured, well, you know
what?

1007
00:58:29,760 --> 00:58:33,480
I mean?
I don't need to depend on the

1008
00:58:33,480 --> 00:58:35,960
government to decide what I need
to do.

1009
00:58:36,400 --> 00:58:40,360
I'll just, you know, make a left
turn and and do something else.

1010
00:58:41,040 --> 00:58:46,200
So my, a lot of members of my
family were financial advisors.

1011
00:58:46,840 --> 00:58:49,960
So I decided to follow in their
footsteps and become a finance

1012
00:58:50,240 --> 00:58:52,040
financial advisor.
So.

1013
00:58:52,040 --> 00:58:53,200
Oh, really?
Yeah.

1014
00:58:53,200 --> 00:58:56,520
Yeah.
So around 93 I quit my job,

1015
00:58:56,880 --> 00:59:01,720
started selling mutual funds and
doing tax reports and selling

1016
00:59:01,720 --> 00:59:06,920
some insurance also, and only to
find out that that's boring

1017
00:59:06,920 --> 00:59:08,920
stuff, man.
Yeah, sounds boring.

1018
00:59:09,360 --> 00:59:10,960
And and it just didn't feel
right.

1019
00:59:11,000 --> 00:59:16,000
I was in my 30s and it was like,
I'm telling this 75 year old man

1020
00:59:16,000 --> 00:59:20,080
who's obviously a lot richer
than I am, how to manage his

1021
00:59:20,080 --> 00:59:22,440
money.
Yeah, it it felt wrong.

1022
00:59:22,440 --> 00:59:23,360
I had.
Yeah, I was.

1023
00:59:23,520 --> 00:59:27,760
I was very well backed up by
companies and and you know,

1024
00:59:27,760 --> 00:59:30,680
among my family who were, we had
some experts in there.

1025
00:59:30,680 --> 00:59:32,720
My father was a financial
planner.

1026
00:59:32,720 --> 00:59:40,280
He was and he still still is.
So sure I had a lot of advice

1027
00:59:40,520 --> 00:59:42,560
all around me, but it just
didn't feel right.

1028
00:59:42,800 --> 00:59:48,760
Yeah.
And in 2000, my mother died of

1029
00:59:48,760 --> 00:59:53,520
brain cancer at 59.
And it kind of, it kind of shook

1030
00:59:53,520 --> 00:59:56,360
me and it, you know, I figured I
thought my mother was going to

1031
00:59:56,360 --> 00:59:59,920
live forever, right?
So when I saw that, I said, OK,

1032
00:59:59,960 --> 01:00:02,800
OK, is this how life works?
All right.

1033
01:00:02,800 --> 01:00:05,600
So this stuff can happen to you.
All right.

1034
01:00:07,240 --> 01:00:12,040
It just gave me a different look
on life and and kind of the

1035
01:00:12,040 --> 01:00:14,760
urgency to do what you need to
do.

1036
01:00:15,120 --> 01:00:18,880
Yeah.
And just about at that time, my

1037
01:00:18,880 --> 01:00:23,160
best friend who was in a band
with me back in the 80s, he used

1038
01:00:23,200 --> 01:00:26,600
to imitate Elvis.
And yeah, a little anecdote on

1039
01:00:26,600 --> 01:00:29,120
that.
I was, I was, yeah, no, he was.

1040
01:00:29,120 --> 01:00:31,480
He was singing in English, but
nobody could really make out

1041
01:00:31,480 --> 01:00:35,160
what he was singing.
But it didn't matter because

1042
01:00:35,160 --> 01:00:37,240
where we were playing, nobody
spoke English anyway.

1043
01:00:37,240 --> 01:00:41,160
So yeah, but he had the
intonation, he had the look and

1044
01:00:41,160 --> 01:00:42,200
all that.
So it was good.

1045
01:00:42,600 --> 01:00:46,240
And at some point the band kind
of kicked me out because I was,

1046
01:00:47,000 --> 01:00:50,200
I was just a pain, you know,
it's for me.

1047
01:00:50,200 --> 01:00:53,640
You had to hit the right chord
and, you know, make it really,

1048
01:00:53,880 --> 01:00:58,400
because music is, music is
feeling and there's a reason why

1049
01:00:58,400 --> 01:01:01,640
a specific chord is there.
It makes you, it makes you feel

1050
01:01:01,640 --> 01:01:03,440
something.
And they were just doing it

1051
01:01:03,440 --> 01:01:06,400
straight, you know?
So you're a.

1052
01:01:06,400 --> 01:01:08,320
Perfectionist.
Yeah sort of.

1053
01:01:09,200 --> 01:01:11,520
So they got tired of me.
They kicked me out and then they

1054
01:01:11,960 --> 01:01:15,400
they they told the the singer
that well let's just tell him

1055
01:01:15,400 --> 01:01:18,240
we're quitting we're we're
stopping the band and once he's

1056
01:01:18,240 --> 01:01:21,920
out we'll just continue And he
said yeah fine no problem.

1057
01:01:22,320 --> 01:01:26,280
So when they, when they kicked
me out, he, he he left the band

1058
01:01:26,280 --> 01:01:28,320
too.
And we became best friends and

1059
01:01:28,320 --> 01:01:31,320
we're like, we've been we've
been together for 40 years.

1060
01:01:32,160 --> 01:01:37,200
And so yeah, and he and he
married my wife's best friend.

1061
01:01:38,160 --> 01:01:41,240
So the four of us have been
together for 40 years.

1062
01:01:41,400 --> 01:01:44,200
That's why we literally have
dinner every night.

1063
01:01:44,640 --> 01:01:46,480
Yeah.
I love seven days a week

1064
01:01:46,640 --> 01:01:48,080
together.
That's cool.

1065
01:01:48,360 --> 01:01:49,400
Cool.
But anyway, weird.

1066
01:01:50,360 --> 01:01:52,240
Yeah, it is.
It is.

1067
01:01:52,240 --> 01:01:54,480
It's it's a special stuff.
Someday I'll have to write a

1068
01:01:54,480 --> 01:01:57,760
book on that because we've been
so we've been so much so.

1069
01:01:57,760 --> 01:02:02,480
Anyway, someday he he walks into
my office and he, he was head of

1070
01:02:02,560 --> 01:02:07,120
the computer department at an
engineering firm in Montreal.

1071
01:02:07,800 --> 01:02:10,440
And I had my, my, my financial
business.

1072
01:02:11,160 --> 01:02:13,560
And he comes walking in my into
my office and he says, oh, I

1073
01:02:13,560 --> 01:02:16,600
just got a a call from an old
friend of mine in Ontario and he

1074
01:02:16,600 --> 01:02:20,360
says he'd like us to organize a
show like we used to do back in

1075
01:02:20,360 --> 01:02:23,360
the day.
You know, I said you crazy, we

1076
01:02:23,360 --> 01:02:25,920
don't have time for this.
I got my business, you got

1077
01:02:25,920 --> 01:02:28,160
yours.
I mean he.

1078
01:02:28,280 --> 01:02:31,160
And anyway, whatever.
A couple weeks later we were on

1079
01:02:31,160 --> 01:02:34,040
the road with this old van and
we were going to do the show

1080
01:02:34,520 --> 01:02:37,560
with a bunch of talent that we
had gathered all around us.

1081
01:02:37,760 --> 01:02:42,560
Yeah.
So within that talent that we

1082
01:02:42,560 --> 01:02:47,160
had with us were five little
girls who were 10 years old and

1083
01:02:47,160 --> 01:02:51,600
they would just eat the stage.
They, you know, we we just, we

1084
01:02:51,600 --> 01:02:54,000
were just amazed.
We said, geez, they they get a

1085
01:02:54,000 --> 01:02:56,400
hell of a show, you know?
Yeah, so.

1086
01:02:57,040 --> 01:02:59,320
What did they do, though?
They were singers or dancers?

1087
01:02:59,320 --> 01:03:01,280
Or they.
Were just dancing and singing.

1088
01:03:01,280 --> 01:03:03,760
But actually lip sync performed
more than anything else.

1089
01:03:03,800 --> 01:03:07,520
Yeah to the Backstreet Boys and
whatever was going on at the

1090
01:03:07,600 --> 01:03:11,320
time.
And my friend said hey, when we

1091
01:03:11,320 --> 01:03:15,320
came back from that show we we
were that's funny because we

1092
01:03:15,320 --> 01:03:19,360
were driving back and we figured
oh we're we're too old for this.

1093
01:03:19,360 --> 01:03:22,880
We're never doing this again.
And a couple weeks later he had

1094
01:03:22,880 --> 01:03:28,960
his his music and dance school.
He opened up that and yeah, and

1095
01:03:28,960 --> 01:03:31,760
and anyway those those little
girls, he he said, why don't we

1096
01:03:31,920 --> 01:03:36,120
give him a chance, Why don't we
do something, you know do some

1097
01:03:36,120 --> 01:03:37,920
shopping center shelves or
something like that.

1098
01:03:38,560 --> 01:03:42,120
And I say, yeah, sure, why not.
So I put together some a

1099
01:03:42,120 --> 01:03:46,600
lighting kit with whatever I
found in scrap yards and I built

1100
01:03:46,600 --> 01:03:50,520
my first lighting console out of
household simmers.

1101
01:03:51,280 --> 01:03:52,520
Wow.
Yeah.

1102
01:03:52,680 --> 01:03:53,920
And then later.
We had and what year?

1103
01:03:53,920 --> 01:03:56,840
This is in the 90s.
That was in 97.

1104
01:03:58,080 --> 01:04:00,120
That was just before the ice
storm actually.

1105
01:04:00,120 --> 01:04:06,000
And that ice storm kind of kind
of played in favor for us

1106
01:04:06,400 --> 01:04:11,360
because a lot of people had TV
antennas and they all broke with

1107
01:04:11,360 --> 01:04:14,040
with the ice.
So we went around asking people,

1108
01:04:14,040 --> 01:04:16,360
you want to get rid of your your
antenna, we'll take it down for

1109
01:04:16,360 --> 01:04:18,280
you.
And we've gathered them up and

1110
01:04:18,280 --> 01:04:22,960
we hired a guy that that put a
decor together and we actually

1111
01:04:23,520 --> 01:04:28,720
created a monster.
Those little girls went on to

1112
01:04:28,720 --> 01:04:32,680
becoming a a local group called
the Baby Spice.

1113
01:04:33,600 --> 01:04:37,680
So they were actually Spice
Girls impersonators, huh?

1114
01:04:38,120 --> 01:04:40,800
At first just lip synching and
then after that starting to

1115
01:04:40,800 --> 01:04:43,280
record.
We had a couple of OK singers in

1116
01:04:43,280 --> 01:04:49,000
there and then then good singers
and they kept us on tour for six

1117
01:04:49,000 --> 01:04:52,000
years.
Jesus. 650 shows.

1118
01:04:52,480 --> 01:04:55,320
And did, did you guys, did you
like own a piece of them or

1119
01:04:55,320 --> 01:04:58,080
something like did you have them
signed to some sort of an

1120
01:04:58,080 --> 01:05:01,480
agreement or were you?
Just they had they they had a

1121
01:05:01,480 --> 01:05:05,600
contract with the producer and
and we were just the crazy guys

1122
01:05:05,600 --> 01:05:08,080
in the in the back making all
this happen.

1123
01:05:08,320 --> 01:05:11,520
Yeah, we we just decided, hey,
we're going to do shows like if

1124
01:05:11,520 --> 01:05:15,760
it was, I don't know, share.
Yeah, interesting.

1125
01:05:15,760 --> 01:05:18,160
So.
We're so I I learned all about

1126
01:05:18,160 --> 01:05:21,280
lighting at that time.
But what do you?

1127
01:05:21,280 --> 01:05:25,280
Say that you were building a
console because, like, if you

1128
01:05:25,280 --> 01:05:28,320
told me it was the 70s, OK, that
makes perfect sense.

1129
01:05:28,320 --> 01:05:33,040
But in the 90s, like 97, I think
the hog was already out, wasn't

1130
01:05:33,040 --> 01:05:34,320
it?
Yeah, the hog too come out in

1131
01:05:34,320 --> 01:05:37,680
like 94.
It started off with just simple

1132
01:05:37,680 --> 01:05:43,120
dimmers and and lights and at a
certain point the producer who

1133
01:05:43,120 --> 01:05:46,840
used to buy you know
bankruptcies and stuff like

1134
01:05:46,840 --> 01:05:49,400
that.
Yeah, at some point delivered a

1135
01:05:49,400 --> 01:05:52,120
bunch of cases at the local
where we were.

1136
01:05:52,680 --> 01:05:57,200
And I opened up those cases and
I find track spots, tie in track

1137
01:05:57,200 --> 01:06:01,480
spots and some kind of console I
never could understand.

1138
01:06:01,480 --> 01:06:05,680
I don't even know what it wasn't
up to this day but I did get my

1139
01:06:05,680 --> 01:06:10,640
hands on on an American DJ thing
and and I put something together

1140
01:06:10,840 --> 01:06:12,840
that that's how I started
playing with moving lights.

1141
01:06:13,360 --> 01:06:14,200
Interesting.
Yeah.

1142
01:06:14,480 --> 01:06:16,680
Yeah.
And it it just grew.

1143
01:06:16,680 --> 01:06:19,840
And then I did some studio work.
I wrote a lot of songs for the

1144
01:06:19,840 --> 01:06:23,400
girls and all that.
And so we did, you know, quite a

1145
01:06:23,400 --> 01:06:29,280
bit of of things over the years.
And when the tour ended, at some

1146
01:06:29,280 --> 01:06:33,400
point where it was just, you
know, it just didn't happen

1147
01:06:33,400 --> 01:06:37,320
anymore and we were tired of
being poor.

1148
01:06:38,000 --> 01:06:41,280
I'll be honest with you, that's
that was pretty much the the day

1149
01:06:41,280 --> 01:06:44,200
that I decided to stop doing
music and stop doing all that

1150
01:06:44,200 --> 01:06:48,200
because I just figured, hey, why
don't I start making a decent

1151
01:06:48,200 --> 01:06:49,600
living here?
Because.

1152
01:06:49,800 --> 01:06:51,680
Because we were just living off
our passion.

1153
01:06:52,080 --> 01:06:56,080
Yeah, I understand.
My first thing I did when when

1154
01:06:56,080 --> 01:06:59,360
the the tours ended, I knocked
on the door of close to focus

1155
01:06:59,360 --> 01:07:01,720
and I said, well, I went to solo
tech too.

1156
01:07:02,080 --> 01:07:06,280
I said, hey, I'm, I'm free.
That was, that was solo tech

1157
01:07:06,280 --> 01:07:08,960
when it was Denis La Francois,
right?

1158
01:07:08,960 --> 01:07:12,040
Yeah, like this is exactly
before the current version of

1159
01:07:12,040 --> 01:07:14,400
solo tech.
Yeah, but I just went to to the

1160
01:07:14,400 --> 01:07:16,800
lighting department and said,
well, OK, I just finished a tour

1161
01:07:16,800 --> 01:07:19,400
and I'm sort of available and
they said, well, send us your

1162
01:07:19,400 --> 01:07:21,680
your resume.
I said, OK, that means you don't

1163
01:07:21,680 --> 01:07:23,640
need me.
So I moved on to Cloda.

1164
01:07:23,920 --> 01:07:26,160
I knocked on the door and I
said, hey, I'm available and

1165
01:07:26,160 --> 01:07:29,680
they said, OK, go go see the
shop manager.

1166
01:07:30,240 --> 01:07:33,760
And he had me soldering cables
at the back of the shop for 9

1167
01:07:33,760 --> 01:07:38,000
bucks an hour and I took it.
I actually took it.

1168
01:07:38,160 --> 01:07:41,120
I said hey, OK you you want to
give me a chance?

1169
01:07:41,560 --> 01:07:42,560
All right.
I'll take it.

1170
01:07:42,840 --> 01:07:44,680
Yeah.
Two weeks later, I was out on

1171
01:07:44,680 --> 01:07:46,920
the road as Head Electric.
Yeah, so.

1172
01:07:46,920 --> 01:07:49,480
Well, I mean, who were you to
say no to something like that

1173
01:07:49,480 --> 01:07:52,040
because you wanted to step into
a new industry?

1174
01:07:52,040 --> 01:07:56,600
You've got no, you know, you've
got no background or history or

1175
01:07:56,600 --> 01:07:58,360
experience or credentials.
Yeah.

1176
01:07:58,760 --> 01:08:00,800
So they're taking a chance on
you.

1177
01:08:00,800 --> 01:08:02,720
They're putting you at the
bottom of the totem pole.

1178
01:08:02,720 --> 01:08:05,760
And I know a lot of guys who did
that exact same thing that you

1179
01:08:05,760 --> 01:08:09,440
did but worked for free, you
know, for three months, six

1180
01:08:09,440 --> 01:08:12,320
months, whatever, You know, hey,
we'll give you concert tickets

1181
01:08:12,320 --> 01:08:15,480
or we'll give you a lunch every
day or something, you know.

1182
01:08:16,560 --> 01:08:23,000
So how was So this?
I'm at Harry Cloda, probably

1183
01:08:23,000 --> 01:08:30,960
929192, which was my sort of
early days with Martin, while

1184
01:08:30,960 --> 01:08:33,600
Martin's distributor Trackman at
the time.

1185
01:08:34,439 --> 01:08:36,399
And I did a bunch of business
with Harry.

1186
01:08:36,399 --> 01:08:38,359
I I like Harry.
He's a colorful guy.

1187
01:08:38,760 --> 01:08:42,600
Colorful guy.
Indeed, I got to get him on my

1188
01:08:42,600 --> 01:08:44,359
podcast.
Yeah, I remember.

1189
01:08:44,399 --> 01:08:48,720
I remember some really funny
evenings with Harry, you know,

1190
01:08:48,720 --> 01:08:51,840
or celebrations, let's call
them.

1191
01:08:52,760 --> 01:08:54,479
With Harry.
We had a lot of fun.

1192
01:08:54,560 --> 01:08:55,800
I haven't talked to him in a
long time.

1193
01:08:55,800 --> 01:08:57,080
I got to reach out to Harry one
of these.

1194
01:08:57,080 --> 01:08:57,680
Days.
Yeah.

1195
01:08:57,680 --> 01:09:00,840
I talked to his son.
Corey now quite regularly.

1196
01:09:01,359 --> 01:09:07,319
Does Harry still work?
No, he's he sold well, he sold

1197
01:09:07,319 --> 01:09:09,160
the building a few years ago,
OK?

1198
01:09:09,399 --> 01:09:15,920
And then he downsized.
And now I know that all audio,

1199
01:09:16,080 --> 01:09:19,080
video and lighting were sold to
LSM, OK?

1200
01:09:19,319 --> 01:09:24,359
And I think, well, there's still
the the inflatable games.

1201
01:09:24,800 --> 01:09:26,479
Right.
He did really well in that

1202
01:09:26,520 --> 01:09:28,359
business.
Yeah, that Danny's a carry on

1203
01:09:28,359 --> 01:09:32,479
this, this sort of in charge of.
I don't know up to this day if

1204
01:09:32,479 --> 01:09:36,240
Harry's still involved or if
Danny owns everything or not

1205
01:09:36,240 --> 01:09:37,760
exactly sure.
Interesting.

1206
01:09:37,760 --> 01:09:40,240
I know that the the games are
still happening.

1207
01:09:40,600 --> 01:09:43,720
I'm not exactly sure if Harry's.
I know he was he was sick at a

1208
01:09:43,720 --> 01:09:44,439
certain time.
He.

1209
01:09:44,439 --> 01:09:45,160
Was.
Oh no.

1210
01:09:45,359 --> 01:09:48,240
Had an operation all that, but
apparently he's he's OK now.

1211
01:09:48,479 --> 01:09:52,160
Yeah, yeah, he was a good guy.
I had a lot of fun with Harry.

1212
01:09:52,279 --> 01:09:54,800
It was always interesting.
It was never boring.

1213
01:09:55,560 --> 01:09:57,240
Oh, for sure.
Never boring.

1214
01:09:57,440 --> 01:09:59,840
Well, and your boss as well.
I've known him a long time.

1215
01:10:00,680 --> 01:10:06,160
Yeah, I haven't, I I I am.
I met Steve, actually, when he

1216
01:10:06,160 --> 01:10:08,120
hired me for the first.
Really.

1217
01:10:08,440 --> 01:10:08,760
Yeah.
Huh.

1218
01:10:09,600 --> 01:10:11,120
Yeah.
I've known him.

1219
01:10:12,120 --> 01:10:16,240
I'd lived in Canada.
I think I knew him probably in

1220
01:10:16,240 --> 01:10:19,600
the 80s.
You know, I've known him a long,

1221
01:10:19,600 --> 01:10:25,240
long time, but another good guy,
really smart guy, you know, he's

1222
01:10:25,240 --> 01:10:30,440
done a lot of really bright
things and and so anyways, let

1223
01:10:30,440 --> 01:10:33,720
let's get back to your story,
'cause we'll get to AVL, but so

1224
01:10:33,720 --> 01:10:37,240
you spent a few years at Cloda.
Well, yeah, actually, I was at

1225
01:10:37,280 --> 01:10:42,720
Cloda for a while and I was just
freelancing and after a while,

1226
01:10:42,720 --> 01:10:47,760
then I started doing a tour.
So I did a lot of, I did a lot

1227
01:10:47,760 --> 01:10:51,120
of comedy.
I also did dance.

1228
01:10:51,120 --> 01:10:54,160
I did music, films, all sorts of
things.

1229
01:10:54,160 --> 01:10:57,960
I've yeah, been touring all over
the place and designing lights,

1230
01:10:58,280 --> 01:11:01,520
Yeah.
And yeah, after.

1231
01:11:01,520 --> 01:11:04,480
Why comedy?
I was lazy.

1232
01:11:04,960 --> 01:11:07,680
Yeah, comedy's cool because it's
very simple.

1233
01:11:07,680 --> 01:11:11,040
You get to the venue at 3:00 PM.
At 4:00 PM you're already

1234
01:11:11,040 --> 01:11:15,440
drinking beer and I have I have
a funny anecdote on that.

1235
01:11:15,440 --> 01:11:18,160
I was doing a a show and saying
also to show you which is

1236
01:11:18,360 --> 01:11:19,920
basically half an hour from my
house.

1237
01:11:20,720 --> 01:11:24,480
And so we go, we back up the
truck and we we we load in,

1238
01:11:24,480 --> 01:11:26,280
start putting up the decor and
all that.

1239
01:11:26,280 --> 01:11:28,240
So at you know 4:00 PM we're
done.

1240
01:11:28,600 --> 01:11:30,920
So we're at the restaurant
drinking beer eating.

1241
01:11:30,920 --> 01:11:33,920
And I was I was a heavy guy I
was like 280 lbs.

1242
01:11:33,920 --> 01:11:42,080
Back then and and so we get to
the venue around 6630 and I got

1243
01:11:42,080 --> 01:11:46,200
a call from the the comedian's
girlfriend said he's sick.

1244
01:11:47,160 --> 01:11:50,800
He's got gastro.
He just cannot leave his room.

1245
01:11:51,680 --> 01:11:53,120
We're going to have to cancel
the show.

1246
01:11:53,480 --> 01:11:57,480
And this was a cabaret kind of
venue, so people were starting

1247
01:11:57,480 --> 01:11:59,080
to arrive.
And I said, oh, that's not good.

1248
01:12:00,520 --> 01:12:04,840
And and what's worse is that I'm
in no shape to to to dismantle.

1249
01:12:04,840 --> 01:12:08,200
Right now I'm in.
I'm in shape to sit down and do

1250
01:12:08,200 --> 01:12:10,440
this show and sleep through the
show.

1251
01:12:10,720 --> 01:12:14,320
And I used to do that regularly.
I used to fall dead asleep

1252
01:12:14,320 --> 01:12:17,560
during the show.
And whenever there was a queue

1253
01:12:17,560 --> 01:12:20,640
coming up for some reason, I
would just, well open my eyes,

1254
01:12:20,840 --> 01:12:22,760
hit the button and then go back
to sleep.

1255
01:12:23,000 --> 01:12:25,440
That's hilarious.
That's hilarious.

1256
01:12:25,440 --> 01:12:27,520
So when you're a lazy guy,
that's the kind of show you want

1257
01:12:27,520 --> 01:12:28,360
to do.
Yeah.

1258
01:12:28,720 --> 01:12:30,640
Yeah.
Well, comedy's big in Montreal

1259
01:12:30,640 --> 01:12:32,680
too, right?
So I'm I'm guessing there was a

1260
01:12:32,680 --> 01:12:36,280
lot of it available.
And and the other thing is

1261
01:12:36,280 --> 01:12:39,880
there's a there's a comedy
school because I set out the W

1262
01:12:39,880 --> 01:12:46,040
MO and and they put out dozens
of comedians every year so and I

1263
01:12:46,040 --> 01:12:47,680
actually worked for them for a
few years.

1264
01:12:47,680 --> 01:12:52,360
I did their the the when when
the the students finish their

1265
01:12:53,560 --> 01:12:57,840
finish their their their courses
at the end they do some kind of

1266
01:12:57,840 --> 01:13:02,120
a tour throughout Quebec and
sometimes New Brunswick and

1267
01:13:02,360 --> 01:13:04,560
that's that's part of their
course.

1268
01:13:04,800 --> 01:13:08,080
So I was, I was a lighting
designer on that for a couple of

1269
01:13:08,080 --> 01:13:10,400
years.
So I kind of met, you know,

1270
01:13:11,320 --> 01:13:14,000
some, some comedians that are
very famous today.

1271
01:13:14,000 --> 01:13:16,200
I saw them.
Yeah, I saw them at their very

1272
01:13:16,200 --> 01:13:18,240
beginning.
Well, I know I've been in

1273
01:13:18,240 --> 01:13:22,280
Montreal in the summer when the
the comedy festival's there and

1274
01:13:22,360 --> 01:13:25,760
you know, just super fun.
Such a great place to be, you

1275
01:13:25,760 --> 01:13:27,320
know?
I know in the business it's a

1276
01:13:27,560 --> 01:13:32,040
kind of a pain cuz it's so crazy
in the summer in Montreal, but

1277
01:13:33,160 --> 01:13:36,640
but I thought that was so cool.
Like what a cool city to be in

1278
01:13:36,720 --> 01:13:38,760
in the summer when that's going
on, you know?

1279
01:13:39,080 --> 01:13:42,600
Yeah, but for sure.
And what's that show that was

1280
01:13:42,600 --> 01:13:44,160
out Of Montreal, too?
Laugh.

1281
01:13:44,160 --> 01:13:45,080
Something.
Laugh.

1282
01:13:45,200 --> 01:13:47,960
Just for laughs.
Just for laughs, yeah, that was

1283
01:13:47,960 --> 01:13:49,400
a pretty big deal for a long
time.

1284
01:13:49,400 --> 01:13:50,720
I don't know if it still is,
but.

1285
01:13:50,720 --> 01:13:53,920
Well, it's there was a problem
with that.

1286
01:13:53,920 --> 01:13:59,680
At some point, just for laughs,
the owner got.

1287
01:14:00,120 --> 01:14:01,840
Caught up, it was no longer
funny.

1288
01:14:02,160 --> 01:14:04,080
Yeah, exactly.
It was no longer funny.

1289
01:14:04,080 --> 01:14:08,920
He got caught up in, you know,
sexual abuse stuff, accusations

1290
01:14:08,920 --> 01:14:10,840
and stuff like.
That so it was just from a

1291
01:14:10,920 --> 01:14:12,720
little bit more than laughs,
yeah.

1292
01:14:13,280 --> 01:14:15,360
Yeah, exactly.
But just for laughs and

1293
01:14:15,400 --> 01:14:18,160
afterwards, Yeah, so there's
gravy.

1294
01:14:18,160 --> 01:14:20,440
And now there's a couple of
other organizations.

1295
01:14:21,280 --> 01:14:24,720
But yeah, comedy is very still
very, very strong.

1296
01:14:24,720 --> 01:14:30,560
I mean, a good comedian will
will tour for years and years.

1297
01:14:30,680 --> 01:14:34,240
It's it's very easy to sell a
comedy show in in the back,

1298
01:14:34,520 --> 01:14:37,200
whereas music shows are having a
hard time.

1299
01:14:37,800 --> 01:14:38,840
Really.
Yeah.

1300
01:14:39,240 --> 01:14:40,360
Huh.
Yeah.

1301
01:14:40,360 --> 01:14:43,440
So if you're if you're a well
known band and you start

1302
01:14:43,440 --> 01:14:46,560
touring, you might tour for a
few months.

1303
01:14:47,040 --> 01:14:50,640
Whereas the the better
comedians, the ones that have a

1304
01:14:50,640 --> 01:14:55,680
lot of, you know, a lot of
followings, they'll tour for

1305
01:14:55,680 --> 01:14:57,480
years and years.
Wow.

1306
01:14:58,160 --> 01:15:01,840
I I didn't know that there was a
problem with music there.

1307
01:15:01,840 --> 01:15:04,680
Why is that?
I don't know.

1308
01:15:06,160 --> 01:15:08,520
I don't know.
There's just a lot of, a lot of

1309
01:15:08,520 --> 01:15:12,080
demand for for, for laughter.
I guess people forget about.

1310
01:15:12,120 --> 01:15:15,360
Life not a bad thing and.
This is, this is an old

1311
01:15:15,360 --> 01:15:18,880
phenomenon.
It was like that back in the the

1312
01:15:18,880 --> 01:15:20,080
30s.
The 40s.

1313
01:15:21,080 --> 01:15:23,240
People were were living
miserable lives.

1314
01:15:23,240 --> 01:15:27,160
There were no jobs, yeah, but
they would spend like the $0.05

1315
01:15:27,160 --> 01:15:30,080
to go to the theater and watch
people make them live.

1316
01:15:30,080 --> 01:15:31,720
Or whatever.
Yeah, exactly.

1317
01:15:31,720 --> 01:15:33,400
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah.

1318
01:15:33,400 --> 01:15:36,440
That's that's interesting,
'cause, you know, music, live

1319
01:15:36,440 --> 01:15:39,280
music is selling so well
everywhere right now.

1320
01:15:39,280 --> 01:15:42,400
Like, it's just, it's insane
what's going on right now.

1321
01:15:42,400 --> 01:15:44,080
I love it.
I mean, it's amazing for the

1322
01:15:44,080 --> 01:15:48,280
industry and stuff, but I'm just
blown away by the appetite for

1323
01:15:48,280 --> 01:15:51,760
live music.
It's it's wild, you know, yet.

1324
01:15:51,880 --> 01:15:55,360
Like, I think, you know, it's
funny, 'cause I think in Canada,

1325
01:15:55,360 --> 01:16:00,280
a lot of cities in Canada,
Calgary included, have better

1326
01:16:00,280 --> 01:16:04,000
live music scenes than a lot of
the bigger cities in the US,

1327
01:16:04,000 --> 01:16:07,000
which is kind of weird.
Like, you know, here, if I want

1328
01:16:07,000 --> 01:16:10,160
to go out on a Wednesday night
and see a band at a local club

1329
01:16:10,160 --> 01:16:13,320
or whatever, it's not that easy,
you know?

1330
01:16:13,320 --> 01:16:16,360
It's just really not that.
Yeah, I could go to a venue and

1331
01:16:16,360 --> 01:16:20,640
see, you know, a big band and
pay $500.00 for tickets or

1332
01:16:20,640 --> 01:16:22,440
whatever.
But I'm talking about having a

1333
01:16:22,440 --> 01:16:25,840
couple beers, seeing a really
good band in a bar, you know,

1334
01:16:25,840 --> 01:16:29,000
like you used to do all the time
when I was playing in bars when

1335
01:16:29,000 --> 01:16:32,160
I was young.
It just doesn't exist as much

1336
01:16:32,160 --> 01:16:35,000
here, you know?
It's kind of a dead thing right

1337
01:16:35,000 --> 01:16:38,120
now.
Whereas live music in general is

1338
01:16:38,120 --> 01:16:40,680
huge, massive.
Yeah, yeah.

1339
01:16:41,200 --> 01:16:44,480
So one of the things I think is
really cool about your current

1340
01:16:44,480 --> 01:16:47,320
employer, AVL Music Media Group,
sorry.

1341
01:16:47,440 --> 01:16:55,280
And is is basically the way that
you guys work with the brands

1342
01:16:55,280 --> 01:17:00,120
where you're not, it's not the
traditional distributor

1343
01:17:00,120 --> 01:17:04,760
manufacturer model where you
know you're responsible where

1344
01:17:04,760 --> 01:17:09,120
you pay you know 40% less than
the selling price or whatever.

1345
01:17:09,120 --> 01:17:13,400
You make a a big profit margin
and you're responsible basically

1346
01:17:13,400 --> 01:17:18,080
for everything from your
incoming dock to the outgoing

1347
01:17:18,080 --> 01:17:20,440
dock and to taking care of the
customer and all of those

1348
01:17:20,440 --> 01:17:23,600
things.
Now instead you act almost more

1349
01:17:23,600 --> 01:17:28,560
like a fulfilment center and
support center, but you charge a

1350
01:17:28,600 --> 01:17:34,400
a much smaller profit on it.
And I think in a sense it's a

1351
01:17:34,400 --> 01:17:39,800
win win because the manufacturer
maintains control of branding,

1352
01:17:39,800 --> 01:17:43,280
because from what I understand,
and you can tell me when and if

1353
01:17:43,280 --> 01:17:45,840
I'm wrong on this.
But if if you're dealing with

1354
01:17:45,840 --> 01:17:49,360
Zoom, for example, the invoice
will come from Zoom, it won't

1355
01:17:49,360 --> 01:17:53,600
come from AVL, you're dealing
you're basically buying directly

1356
01:17:53,600 --> 01:17:58,120
from Zoom's Canadian office,
even though it's not technically

1357
01:17:58,120 --> 01:18:00,680
from Zoom's Canadian office,
it's from AVL.

1358
01:18:01,880 --> 01:18:04,920
Is that all correct so far?
That is correct for that

1359
01:18:04,920 --> 01:18:06,720
particular brand.
Yeah, so.

1360
01:18:06,720 --> 01:18:09,600
So maybe I'll shut up and you
can explain to me the the.

1361
01:18:09,720 --> 01:18:13,520
Differences explain up to a
certain point, yeah, here's the

1362
01:18:13,520 --> 01:18:14,760
thing.
I'm a product guy.

1363
01:18:15,200 --> 01:18:18,320
Yeah.
So I talk about products and I

1364
01:18:18,320 --> 01:18:24,880
try to to to to find the proper,
the proper thing for what you

1365
01:18:24,880 --> 01:18:27,520
need to do.
And I'm, I'm more on the

1366
01:18:27,520 --> 01:18:30,960
technical side.
So I'm, I'm technical advisory,

1367
01:18:30,960 --> 01:18:37,240
I will, I will help the
salesman, you know finalize the

1368
01:18:37,240 --> 01:18:41,560
sale because I I'm able to
understand the client's needs

1369
01:18:41,840 --> 01:18:45,760
and find the proper product and
if so make a design.

1370
01:18:46,000 --> 01:18:50,840
I've done that many times.
Whereas as soon as we start

1371
01:18:50,840 --> 01:18:54,360
talking about money, profit
margins and who charges what, I

1372
01:18:54,360 --> 01:18:59,920
back away.
Yeah, I I, because my world, I'm

1373
01:18:59,920 --> 01:19:03,800
talking with the mostly with the
end user.

1374
01:19:04,160 --> 01:19:06,040
I see.
I'm talking with the people who

1375
01:19:06,040 --> 01:19:07,720
are actually going to work with
the gear.

1376
01:19:08,160 --> 01:19:11,840
So we're having a technical
conversation and we're just

1377
01:19:11,840 --> 01:19:14,840
making it practical.
We're just making it work, yeah.

1378
01:19:15,000 --> 01:19:17,760
You're more interested in the
application and the technology

1379
01:19:17,760 --> 01:19:20,000
and and.
Yeah, if I if I was really

1380
01:19:20,000 --> 01:19:24,360
interested in interested in all
that administration stuff, I'd

1381
01:19:24,960 --> 01:19:27,200
I'd still be a financial
advisor.

1382
01:19:27,600 --> 01:19:30,720
Yeah, yeah, so.
At some point I I sort of backed

1383
01:19:30,720 --> 01:19:33,800
away from that and I said hey
let's let's just concentrate on

1384
01:19:34,000 --> 01:19:36,920
on what I love to do.
Not that I don't know how much

1385
01:19:36,920 --> 01:19:40,520
it cost.
I I do OK And people ask me how

1386
01:19:40,640 --> 01:19:43,840
how much is this?
I'll I'll tell a white lie and

1387
01:19:43,840 --> 01:19:45,760
say I don't know.
You'll have to ask your salesman

1388
01:19:45,760 --> 01:19:48,320
for a quote.
That's not true.

1389
01:19:48,320 --> 01:19:51,000
I I do know what the price of
stuff is.

1390
01:19:51,600 --> 01:19:54,680
But The thing is, I I don't
wanna have that conversation.

1391
01:19:54,720 --> 01:19:57,160
I wanna yeah, I wanna stay
technical.

1392
01:19:57,520 --> 01:20:00,160
Plus sometimes it's better
anyways, you know, like I know

1393
01:20:00,160 --> 01:20:02,840
that I've been in companies
where they did that, where they

1394
01:20:02,840 --> 01:20:06,880
separated sort of that technical
slash application slash spec

1395
01:20:06,880 --> 01:20:11,480
side of the business with the
actual sales and and money side

1396
01:20:11,480 --> 01:20:14,320
of the business.
And sometimes that's really

1397
01:20:14,320 --> 01:20:18,000
important because there might be
a strategy at play with the

1398
01:20:18,000 --> 01:20:20,680
sales management or sales
person.

1399
01:20:21,080 --> 01:20:25,120
And so, you know, price is is
maybe a little more complicated

1400
01:20:25,120 --> 01:20:28,600
than that, you know.
And and also I've found

1401
01:20:28,600 --> 01:20:32,760
sometimes technicians getting
involved in the pricing part of

1402
01:20:32,760 --> 01:20:37,640
the the deal or the the commerce
side of the deal or whatever,

1403
01:20:37,920 --> 01:20:40,160
sometimes can get a little
messy, 'cause they don't know

1404
01:20:40,160 --> 01:20:42,440
that there's some politics
involved where we can't sell

1405
01:20:42,440 --> 01:20:45,200
direct to this guy because of
this guy over here.

1406
01:20:45,480 --> 01:20:48,840
But we need to do this little,
you know, roundabout deal to

1407
01:20:48,840 --> 01:20:51,920
make sure that he's taken care
of and doesn't feel slighted.

1408
01:20:51,920 --> 01:20:55,480
And so, yeah, so sometimes
you're stepping into a mud

1409
01:20:55,480 --> 01:20:57,640
puddle and you don't really see
it, you know.

1410
01:20:58,480 --> 01:21:03,000
So that makes a lot of sense.
But you know again I I like the

1411
01:21:03,000 --> 01:21:06,800
way that you guys have have
created that business there.

1412
01:21:06,800 --> 01:21:12,160
Like when, when when Steve told
me about it, I was like, that's

1413
01:21:12,160 --> 01:21:14,760
really interesting.
Like why don't more companies do

1414
01:21:14,760 --> 01:21:16,120
that?
Because that seems like the

1415
01:21:16,120 --> 01:21:20,920
future to me where you sort of
decentralize or separate those

1416
01:21:20,920 --> 01:21:25,360
components of, you know, oh, do
you want us to carry inventory,

1417
01:21:25,360 --> 01:21:28,280
you inventory for you, it's
going to cost this much.

1418
01:21:28,280 --> 01:21:31,400
Do you want us to manage just
the sales and marketing side of

1419
01:21:31,400 --> 01:21:32,560
it?
It's going to cost this much.

1420
01:21:32,560 --> 01:21:34,120
Are you going to handle your own
marketing?

1421
01:21:34,280 --> 01:21:38,560
OK, now it only costs this much.
So you know, it makes a lot of

1422
01:21:38,560 --> 01:21:41,760
sense, like especially with the
whole Amazon fulfillment thing

1423
01:21:41,760 --> 01:21:44,120
and stuff.
Like it seems like more and more

1424
01:21:44,120 --> 01:21:45,760
businesses are moving that
direction.

1425
01:21:46,320 --> 01:21:47,240
Oh yeah.
For sure.

1426
01:21:48,000 --> 01:21:53,880
Well, The thing is it's, it's,
it's an adaptation depending on

1427
01:21:53,880 --> 01:21:58,440
how the manufacturer sees it and
and what the market needs, Yeah,

1428
01:21:59,280 --> 01:22:02,800
but yeah, for sure different
products are are managed

1429
01:22:02,800 --> 01:22:05,520
differently.
Yeah, depending on like that,

1430
01:22:05,520 --> 01:22:09,680
like I said all all of that.
But in the end, we're trying to

1431
01:22:09,680 --> 01:22:14,960
be there for for whoever needs
it, yeah, And and trying to

1432
01:22:14,960 --> 01:22:19,560
offer turnkey, yeah solution.
What lighting products do you

1433
01:22:19,560 --> 01:22:21,400
guys offer?
OK.

1434
01:22:21,400 --> 01:22:27,520
Well, we have several lighting
lines our, our, what should I

1435
01:22:27,520 --> 01:22:30,400
say, consumer level line is
Blizzard.

1436
01:22:30,760 --> 01:22:33,560
OK.
So Blizzard is it's Chinese

1437
01:22:33,560 --> 01:22:35,720
products, American owned
company.

1438
01:22:36,080 --> 01:22:39,960
Yeah, so I know I'm very.
From Blizzard, Yeah, OK so so

1439
01:22:39,960 --> 01:22:42,560
they've they've got a pretty
good offering and actually

1440
01:22:42,920 --> 01:22:46,840
Blizzard kind of remind me of
Hyundai because in the beginning

1441
01:22:46,840 --> 01:22:53,040
it was like OK, so it's it's
it's affordable consumer level

1442
01:22:53,160 --> 01:22:58,440
products and at a certain point
they started developing better

1443
01:22:58,440 --> 01:23:01,720
products, they started going
towards more high end stuff.

1444
01:23:02,400 --> 01:23:08,080
Now they're offering really,
really cool products, ETL

1445
01:23:09,880 --> 01:23:12,000
without up to par.
I mean if you're, if you're

1446
01:23:12,000 --> 01:23:15,600
looking at competitor products,
you're not afraid to go to a

1447
01:23:15,600 --> 01:23:18,440
shootout or something, yeah.
You know, it's interesting

1448
01:23:18,440 --> 01:23:21,720
because, like, you definitely
don't have to make excuses

1449
01:23:21,720 --> 01:23:25,880
anymore for products like that.
Like I, you know, I remember

1450
01:23:25,880 --> 01:23:30,200
back in the day as we old people
say you know if it wasn't

1451
01:23:30,200 --> 01:23:34,840
European or American made it was
gonna be frowned upon.

1452
01:23:35,160 --> 01:23:42,360
And especially Chinese products
and it's Chinese and they had a

1453
01:23:42,360 --> 01:23:47,120
real stigma attached to them
where they really couldn't get

1454
01:23:47,360 --> 01:23:50,120
over the DJ hurdle where DJ
lights.

1455
01:23:50,120 --> 01:23:52,600
You can't get past DJ lights
with this product.

1456
01:23:53,040 --> 01:23:57,280
And I think, I don't think I
know that companies like Elation

1457
01:23:57,280 --> 01:24:01,680
and Chauvet have managed to
really crush those barriers

1458
01:24:01,680 --> 01:24:03,680
down.
And now you're seeing like in

1459
01:24:03,680 --> 01:24:06,840
the intro, I read the equipment
list from the Eurovision last

1460
01:24:06,840 --> 01:24:09,360
week and there was a lot of
Chauvet stuff on it.

1461
01:24:09,680 --> 01:24:13,840
Yeah, you know and and by the
way, you know, there's a lot of

1462
01:24:13,840 --> 01:24:16,040
other Verilite is made in China
now.

1463
01:24:17,200 --> 01:24:20,440
You know a lot of products that
people that high end is made in

1464
01:24:20,440 --> 01:24:22,240
China now.
Like a lot of products people

1465
01:24:22,240 --> 01:24:26,440
think are American companies
are, like you said, they're

1466
01:24:26,600 --> 01:24:30,040
maybe American owned, sometimes
American engineered and

1467
01:24:30,040 --> 01:24:36,400
designed, but made in China.
So I had a business partner who

1468
01:24:36,400 --> 01:24:39,160
used to always say there's
there's a big difference between

1469
01:24:39,160 --> 01:24:46,880
made in China and Chinese made.
And so, you know, and I again, I

1470
01:24:46,880 --> 01:24:49,400
was around in the early days
when Chinese moving lights

1471
01:24:49,400 --> 01:24:52,560
really were garbage, you know,
because they could, they could

1472
01:24:52,560 --> 01:24:55,360
copy the hardware, but they
could never really copy the

1473
01:24:55,360 --> 01:24:57,360
software.
They had a hard time reverse

1474
01:24:57,360 --> 01:25:00,400
engineering software.
So it took a long time for them

1475
01:25:00,400 --> 01:25:03,360
to get the movement smooth.
Instead of going like this and

1476
01:25:04,080 --> 01:25:07,600
and getting it to go back to the
same spot every time and stuff,

1477
01:25:07,600 --> 01:25:10,120
you know, the little simple
things they, they really

1478
01:25:10,120 --> 01:25:13,240
struggled with today.
Everything is amazing.

1479
01:25:13,720 --> 01:25:16,600
Everything's good.
Yeah, whether you're talking

1480
01:25:16,600 --> 01:25:21,000
about a $10,000 Clay Paki
fixture or a $2000 Blizzard or

1481
01:25:21,480 --> 01:25:24,400
or American DJ fixture,
everything's good.

1482
01:25:25,280 --> 01:25:27,080
It really is.
Exactly.

1483
01:25:27,440 --> 01:25:30,160
So yeah, what else do you have
other than Blizzard?

1484
01:25:30,640 --> 01:25:33,760
The the other we well, we we
used to have Aval lights.

1485
01:25:34,120 --> 01:25:35,560
OK.
Yeah, right, of course.

1486
01:25:35,560 --> 01:25:36,360
And then Roby.
Yeah.

1487
01:25:36,520 --> 01:25:43,560
And I have to mention it because
when I when when AVL hired me, I

1488
01:25:43,560 --> 01:25:46,960
was actually Head of Lighting
department at Coda, Yeah.

1489
01:25:46,960 --> 01:25:49,680
And I was heading for
retirement.

1490
01:25:50,040 --> 01:25:52,680
Yeah.
So I yeah, I was going to go do

1491
01:25:52,680 --> 01:25:56,120
conferences and write books and
talk to people and do other

1492
01:25:56,120 --> 01:25:58,280
stuff.
And I was down to four days a

1493
01:25:58,280 --> 01:26:01,840
week and I was training this my
my assistant.

1494
01:26:01,840 --> 01:26:03,960
And I was heading for three days
a week.

1495
01:26:04,560 --> 01:26:10,400
And then I got the call and and
they say, yeah, AVL Media Group,

1496
01:26:10,400 --> 01:26:16,160
I said OK, distributor OK was
absolutely not familiar with the

1497
01:26:16,160 --> 01:26:18,960
distributor world.
And they said, yeah, we need a

1498
01:26:18,960 --> 01:26:24,480
product specialist because we
have GLP and they were working

1499
01:26:24,480 --> 01:26:29,040
on some other brands and and
that they needed somebody in

1500
01:26:29,040 --> 01:26:31,280
house that knew what that stuff
was.

1501
01:26:31,560 --> 01:26:33,560
Yeah.
And I said Oh well that's

1502
01:26:33,560 --> 01:26:36,200
interesting.
I had, I didn't know that there

1503
01:26:36,200 --> 01:26:39,800
was a you know a next level
because the only next level that

1504
01:26:39,800 --> 01:26:44,120
I could think of was designing
you know, sets and and doing

1505
01:26:44,160 --> 01:26:46,880
technical drawing and stuff like
that, which I wasn't really

1506
01:26:46,880 --> 01:26:49,920
interested in.
So I figured hey this is, this

1507
01:26:49,920 --> 01:26:54,480
is interesting, so I actually, I
actually got hired on the fact

1508
01:26:54,480 --> 01:26:56,960
that they had GLP.
So why?

1509
01:26:57,080 --> 01:26:59,760
Why is that?
Well, because I I'm, I'm

1510
01:26:59,760 --> 01:27:04,920
guessing it's because if if GLP
is going to deal with the

1511
01:27:04,920 --> 01:27:07,040
distributor, there has to be an
expert.

1512
01:27:07,720 --> 01:27:09,760
Oh, I see.
Yeah, they needed to step up

1513
01:27:09,760 --> 01:27:11,520
their game a little bit.
Exactly.

1514
01:27:11,520 --> 01:27:13,920
There has to be somebody in
there who knows what this stuff

1515
01:27:13,920 --> 01:27:16,520
is and who can answer questions
and get things working and all

1516
01:27:16,520 --> 01:27:18,840
that.
Yeah, so and and so I was the

1517
01:27:18,840 --> 01:27:21,400
guy and I've had.
Yeah, sure, I'll.

1518
01:27:21,400 --> 01:27:22,440
I'll do that.
No problem.

1519
01:27:22,440 --> 01:27:26,640
My first mandate was actually to
write a list of stuff I wanted

1520
01:27:26,640 --> 01:27:28,880
to play with and put together a
light shovel.

1521
01:27:29,320 --> 01:27:33,480
Yeah, well, this is cool.
So anyway, I did that.

1522
01:27:34,120 --> 01:27:35,600
Yeah.
Fun work for sure.

1523
01:27:35,920 --> 01:27:38,960
So on top of GLP, they told me
we're working on getting a

1524
01:27:38,960 --> 01:27:41,880
console line.
So I kind of backed away for a

1525
01:27:41,880 --> 01:27:45,800
second and I said, which one?
And they said EVO lights.

1526
01:27:45,840 --> 01:27:48,040
Oh yeah, OK.
I know EVO lights.

1527
01:27:48,040 --> 01:27:49,840
That's cool.
Sure.

1528
01:27:50,200 --> 01:27:54,560
So that actually happened.
And a couple months later, I was

1529
01:27:54,560 --> 01:27:59,360
in London getting trained on all
the all all, all their their

1530
01:27:59,360 --> 01:28:03,000
offerings.
So it's and it's been 7 years

1531
01:28:03,240 --> 01:28:06,720
of, you know investing myself
with Aval Lights.

1532
01:28:07,320 --> 01:28:12,800
So it was it was kind of a a
hard news because when when Roby

1533
01:28:12,800 --> 01:28:16,840
bought Aval Lights, I I know
that they in Europe, they they

1534
01:28:16,840 --> 01:28:19,760
took over distribution because
that was that's their model of

1535
01:28:19,760 --> 01:28:21,920
business.
And then it happened in the

1536
01:28:21,920 --> 01:28:23,560
States.
So I figured, OK, just a

1537
01:28:23,840 --> 01:28:25,880
question of time before it
happens in Canada.

1538
01:28:26,200 --> 01:28:29,040
Unless they simply don't care
about Canada and it's just like

1539
01:28:29,240 --> 01:28:32,600
not enough business.
But sure enough, it happened.

1540
01:28:33,800 --> 01:28:37,480
So I note to myself, do not get
attached to a product.

1541
01:28:38,440 --> 01:28:42,200
Yeah, well, it's.
It does suck though because like

1542
01:28:42,480 --> 01:28:46,520
like you said you, you invested
time because yeah, they didn't

1543
01:28:46,520 --> 01:28:51,520
always have the D9 or the Tiger
or the No exactly.

1544
01:28:51,760 --> 01:28:55,040
They didn't always have those
great products and and so now

1545
01:28:55,040 --> 01:28:58,160
they've got the D9 and you're
like OK, finally something

1546
01:28:58,160 --> 01:29:01,320
really exciting that we can get
in, you know wrap our heads

1547
01:29:01,320 --> 01:29:04,480
around and now you lose it, you
know.

1548
01:29:04,480 --> 01:29:09,000
Yeah, but then again, I mean,
I'm still very fond of the of

1549
01:29:09,000 --> 01:29:11,560
the product.
I still use it every day.

1550
01:29:12,080 --> 01:29:15,920
And it's for me I've, I've
always preached that Avo Lights

1551
01:29:15,920 --> 01:29:17,640
was the best lighting console in
the world.

1552
01:29:17,800 --> 01:29:23,280
Prove me wrong.
Not that I'm the Spice Hog or MA

1553
01:29:23,280 --> 01:29:25,360
or or the other brands out
there.

1554
01:29:25,360 --> 01:29:28,840
I mean, I use them all.
I know them all and they're all

1555
01:29:28,880 --> 01:29:32,720
very good.
I've always said the best

1556
01:29:32,720 --> 01:29:35,080
console in the world is actually
the one you know.

1557
01:29:35,880 --> 01:29:38,280
Well, and so here's the
difference between you and I,

1558
01:29:38,280 --> 01:29:41,080
being you a technical guy, me, a
commercial guy.

1559
01:29:41,600 --> 01:29:44,320
To me, the best console in the
world is the one that everyone

1560
01:29:44,320 --> 01:29:47,080
wants.
So you know that's that's the

1561
01:29:47,080 --> 01:29:49,960
best console.
And right now, that's the MA 3,

1562
01:29:51,040 --> 01:29:53,920
and #2 is the MA 2.
Yeah.

1563
01:29:54,160 --> 01:29:56,160
So.
And now I'm not saying it's

1564
01:29:56,160 --> 01:29:58,600
technically the best.
I'm not saying if I was a

1565
01:29:58,600 --> 01:30:01,240
lighting programmer, it's the
one that I'd want to use.

1566
01:30:01,480 --> 01:30:03,560
I'm just saying that's the one
that everybody wants to buy.

1567
01:30:03,560 --> 01:30:06,360
So if I was going to fill a
warehouse full of consoles,

1568
01:30:06,360 --> 01:30:09,280
that'd be the one.
Yeah, well, there's a logic to

1569
01:30:09,280 --> 01:30:14,000
it too.
It it just, when MA came up with

1570
01:30:14,000 --> 01:30:16,560
the MA one, it was
revolutionary.

1571
01:30:16,720 --> 01:30:18,360
It was nothing like.
Yeah.

1572
01:30:19,160 --> 01:30:22,880
And and then people started
adopting it.

1573
01:30:22,880 --> 01:30:26,880
It became the industry standard
because it could do things that

1574
01:30:26,880 --> 01:30:30,120
nothing else could do.
And then people got used to it

1575
01:30:30,120 --> 01:30:34,080
and then they put out the MA 2,
which was continuity.

1576
01:30:34,080 --> 01:30:36,600
That was fine.
And then sometime after that,

1577
01:30:36,640 --> 01:30:42,040
Avolites came up with something
that kind of, yeah, that kind of

1578
01:30:42,040 --> 01:30:45,840
lived up to it up to a certain
point, but for half the price.

1579
01:30:46,600 --> 01:30:51,840
So all that was interesting and
and in the meantime, MA put out

1580
01:30:51,840 --> 01:30:55,120
the MA 3.
But then Avo came up with the

1581
01:30:55,120 --> 01:30:59,880
Diamond 9, and that Diamond 9 is
up to par as far as I'm

1582
01:30:59,880 --> 01:31:03,080
concerned.
Problem is, MA is well

1583
01:31:03,080 --> 01:31:06,960
established and all I can
understand.

1584
01:31:06,960 --> 01:31:11,200
All of my my friends that are
still out there programming

1585
01:31:11,360 --> 01:31:14,640
lighting desks, they've been
programming MAS for years.

1586
01:31:14,680 --> 01:31:16,640
They're kind of in their
slippers, right?

1587
01:31:17,040 --> 01:31:19,000
Yeah.
It's, it's a comfortable feeling

1588
01:31:19,000 --> 01:31:22,680
knowing your instrument.
So you're not going to make a

1589
01:31:22,680 --> 01:31:25,280
move just because there's
another product out there that

1590
01:31:25,400 --> 01:31:28,040
does just as good, right?
Yeah.

1591
01:31:28,320 --> 01:31:34,320
Well, I will tell you though
like during COVID, so there was

1592
01:31:34,320 --> 01:31:38,560
a perfect storm created and a
perfect opportunity for Avo.

1593
01:31:38,560 --> 01:31:44,200
And unfortunately AVO, it wasn't
a big enough company in a sense

1594
01:31:44,280 --> 01:31:46,640
to to pounce on that
opportunity.

1595
01:31:47,120 --> 01:31:52,080
And so, you know, the MA Three
came out and it had a lot of

1596
01:31:52,080 --> 01:31:54,800
problems initially.
Well, it was an empty shell.

1597
01:31:55,320 --> 01:31:57,080
Yeah.
It did the same thing with the

1598
01:31:57,080 --> 01:31:58,760
MA two.
They put out the hardware and

1599
01:31:58,760 --> 01:32:00,040
then they developed the
software.

1600
01:32:00,320 --> 01:32:04,600
So it had quite a few problems
when it came out and then COVID

1601
01:32:04,600 --> 01:32:09,360
happened, so they didn't even
really get a chance to get

1602
01:32:09,520 --> 01:32:12,240
people to use it and to get
people to like it.

1603
01:32:12,240 --> 01:32:15,200
And it was just dumped, you
know?

1604
01:32:15,200 --> 01:32:19,640
It was like, we hate this thing.
I give me back the MA twos and

1605
01:32:19,640 --> 01:32:21,520
you know, I own a used equipment
business.

1606
01:32:21,520 --> 01:32:24,560
I don't know if you know that,
but I own Gearsource and.

1607
01:32:24,760 --> 01:32:25,440
I didn't.
I wasn't.

1608
01:32:25,720 --> 01:32:29,320
I wasn't aware.
Yeah, so Gearsource on MA2

1609
01:32:29,320 --> 01:32:35,120
consoles, we watched them go
from, let's say early 2020.

1610
01:32:35,120 --> 01:32:42,160
They were around $12,000 US.
We saw them go up to about

1611
01:32:42,160 --> 01:32:47,720
$30,000 over the next couple of
years as people did not want MA

1612
01:32:47,720 --> 01:32:50,320
threes and they really wanted MA
twos.

1613
01:32:50,600 --> 01:32:53,760
Now we've seen the price really
start dropping on MA twos

1614
01:32:53,760 --> 01:32:57,200
because MA threes are more
widely available and also the

1615
01:32:57,200 --> 01:33:01,680
software is pretty rigid and and
sturdy now and and it's much

1616
01:33:01,680 --> 01:33:06,880
more reliable and people like it
again and so, but I think in

1617
01:33:06,880 --> 01:33:12,880
that time in that sort of 2020
to 22 or yeah, probably 2020 to

1618
01:33:12,880 --> 01:33:17,560
22, I think AVO had a really
cool opportunity to jump in

1619
01:33:17,560 --> 01:33:20,360
there and fill a void.
And I There's one thing I can

1620
01:33:20,360 --> 01:33:23,080
say for AVO Lights, though.
When they put out a console,

1621
01:33:23,240 --> 01:33:28,480
it's ready, It's roadworthy.
It it's complete, it works, it's

1622
01:33:28,480 --> 01:33:32,960
stable.
And another thing I really

1623
01:33:32,960 --> 01:33:36,000
appreciate is that they don't
rewrite the software from one

1624
01:33:36,000 --> 01:33:38,920
generation to another.
It just evolves.

1625
01:33:39,480 --> 01:33:44,440
So if you learned Avo Lights 10
years ago, you can grab AD 9 and

1626
01:33:44,440 --> 01:33:48,360
do whatever you know how to do
and it still works.

1627
01:33:48,360 --> 01:33:49,640
It's gonna make sense.
It's.

1628
01:33:49,640 --> 01:33:52,080
Just more.
There's more ways of doing

1629
01:33:52,080 --> 01:33:55,240
things, there's more features
that have been added that you

1630
01:33:55,240 --> 01:33:58,200
might wanna learn, but basics
are still there.

1631
01:33:58,400 --> 01:34:01,680
And it looks cool.
Yeah, well, it's a cool looking

1632
01:34:01,680 --> 01:34:03,920
console.
It's a really cool looking desk

1633
01:34:04,280 --> 01:34:06,040
if if you're bored one of these
days.

1634
01:34:06,040 --> 01:34:08,920
I I just had Steve Warren, you
know Steve, right?

1635
01:34:08,960 --> 01:34:11,040
Yeah, from Avo.
Yeah, I just had him on the

1636
01:34:11,040 --> 01:34:16,000
podcast a couple weeks ago.
He's in Portugal ripping apart

1637
01:34:16,160 --> 01:34:18,960
some old ancient ruins and
turning them into houses.

1638
01:34:18,960 --> 01:34:23,280
So he bought some land in in
Portugal and it's got some

1639
01:34:23,280 --> 01:34:26,440
houses on the land that's that's
literally ruins.

1640
01:34:26,440 --> 01:34:30,720
It's like 200 year old houses
that have no roofs and stuff and

1641
01:34:30,720 --> 01:34:33,880
he's building them into homes
and he's going to live there.

1642
01:34:33,880 --> 01:34:35,240
Him and his wife are going to
live there.

1643
01:34:35,240 --> 01:34:39,120
So and they're going to have
like a drop in Community Center

1644
01:34:39,120 --> 01:34:41,960
kind of thing and a yoga center
and all this stuff.

1645
01:34:41,960 --> 01:34:44,360
Like he's got these these
visions for the place.

1646
01:34:44,840 --> 01:34:47,440
But he's such a great guy.
He's one of my favorite people.

1647
01:34:48,920 --> 01:34:51,320
Just such a spirit about him,
you know.

1648
01:34:51,560 --> 01:34:53,320
I'll definitely give that a
listen.

1649
01:34:53,560 --> 01:34:55,680
Yeah, yeah, it's fun.
It's fun.

1650
01:34:56,240 --> 01:34:58,920
So anything else?
Any other lighting products?

1651
01:34:59,000 --> 01:35:02,600
Do you still do GLP?
Yes, we still do GLP.

1652
01:35:03,280 --> 01:35:05,200
It's.
An exciting time for GLP.

1653
01:35:05,200 --> 01:35:06,720
You got some?
Pretty cool stuff coming out.

1654
01:35:07,400 --> 01:35:10,400
I, I I like the the mentality of
GLPI.

1655
01:35:10,400 --> 01:35:13,920
Don't know up to what point we
can use swear words on this.

1656
01:35:13,920 --> 01:35:16,400
You can use any word you want.
Oh, that's good.

1657
01:35:16,960 --> 01:35:18,320
I have that mentality.
Too good.

1658
01:35:19,160 --> 01:35:22,120
Their slogan is We give a fuck.
Yeah, yeah.

1659
01:35:22,320 --> 01:35:23,200
Why?
You really do.

1660
01:35:23,520 --> 01:35:26,160
You can really do.
And I'm having an an anecdote on

1661
01:35:26,160 --> 01:35:29,440
that too.
At one point we were setting up

1662
01:35:30,360 --> 01:35:34,920
the Lady Gaga tour, which was
which was started off in

1663
01:35:34,920 --> 01:35:39,200
Vancouver and Solo tech got the
the contract to do the tour, the

1664
01:35:39,200 --> 01:35:42,200
Joanne tour.
So we were setting up like a

1665
01:35:42,240 --> 01:35:48,160
wall of 256 JDC ones and
interlaced with bar 20s.

1666
01:35:48,920 --> 01:35:54,240
And so I went over there and
helped set it up and at the same

1667
01:35:54,240 --> 01:35:57,880
time get some training from Carl
Wake, who's the head engineer.

1668
01:35:57,880 --> 01:35:58,720
There.
Yeah, I know, Carl.

1669
01:36:00,040 --> 01:36:04,280
And at some point, they had a
problem with the JDC once 'cause

1670
01:36:04,280 --> 01:36:08,720
it was first generation, right?
Yeah, they were the first to be

1671
01:36:08,720 --> 01:36:13,480
delivered and there there was a
humidity getting into the into

1672
01:36:13,480 --> 01:36:16,080
the circuit boards and they were
starting to lose pixels.

1673
01:36:17,000 --> 01:36:20,000
So at some point they they
figured out the problem.

1674
01:36:20,200 --> 01:36:25,440
So when the tour landed in LA,
there's a team of GLP people

1675
01:36:25,640 --> 01:36:31,880
that just went to the venue and
they took down the 256 fixtures

1676
01:36:31,880 --> 01:36:35,440
and put up wow damn did that.
They they they did the whole

1677
01:36:35,440 --> 01:36:37,680
thing.
They did the the, the, the tear

1678
01:36:37,680 --> 01:36:40,280
down and the and the install of
the new fixtures and they said

1679
01:36:40,280 --> 01:36:43,880
here you wow, you're good to go.
Now when they say we give a

1680
01:36:43,880 --> 01:36:46,360
fuck, yeah.
Well, and that's a small

1681
01:36:46,360 --> 01:36:48,760
company, that's not Roby, you
know what I mean?

1682
01:36:48,760 --> 01:36:51,800
Or Mark exactly like that's,
that's a little German company

1683
01:36:51,800 --> 01:36:53,960
doing that kind of service.
That's impressive.

1684
01:36:54,040 --> 01:36:55,680
That's really.
Lately, I I asked.

1685
01:36:55,680 --> 01:36:56,920
Mark Ravenhill.
I said.

1686
01:36:57,480 --> 01:37:02,000
Well, there's a Chauvet fixture
that's pretty close to the JDC

1687
01:37:02,000 --> 01:37:02,960
one.
Yeah.

1688
01:37:02,960 --> 01:37:05,480
And I said, so how, how do you
deal with that?

1689
01:37:05,480 --> 01:37:07,080
I mean, how, how does it
compare?

1690
01:37:07,320 --> 01:37:09,200
And he says, oh, it's probably
just as good.

1691
01:37:09,840 --> 01:37:12,080
Yeah, it doesn't really matter
because we're on to the next

1692
01:37:12,080 --> 01:37:13,200
thing.
Yeah, it's.

1693
01:37:13,880 --> 01:37:16,840
True.
Yeah, so that's it's another

1694
01:37:16,840 --> 01:37:19,240
mentality.
They're actually creating lights

1695
01:37:20,080 --> 01:37:23,880
that the the designers want.
Yeah, they want the next thing.

1696
01:37:24,240 --> 01:37:26,160
Go figure, right?
Like, yeah, they want what

1697
01:37:26,480 --> 01:37:30,000
people want for make things
people want and they'll spec it

1698
01:37:30,000 --> 01:37:32,360
and they'll buy it and wow, what
a concept.

1699
01:37:32,640 --> 01:37:36,520
So it's a designer's thing.
Yeah, yeah, it always has to.

1700
01:37:36,880 --> 01:37:39,800
I mean, when I worked at Martin
in the 90s, if you build stuff

1701
01:37:39,800 --> 01:37:43,360
that designers want, companies
are going to have to buy it at

1702
01:37:43,360 --> 01:37:44,720
some point, right?
Exactly.

1703
01:37:45,080 --> 01:37:46,800
And then take care of the
company too.

1704
01:37:46,800 --> 01:37:49,200
Like, that's the other thing.
Like if you, well, yeah, if you

1705
01:37:49,200 --> 01:37:52,680
just force it on designers and
the company has to buy it and

1706
01:37:52,680 --> 01:37:55,760
you don't take care of them and
and you have service nightmares

1707
01:37:55,760 --> 01:37:58,440
and all kinds of things like
that, that's not going to go

1708
01:37:58,440 --> 01:38:00,080
very well.
Either That's something you have

1709
01:38:00,080 --> 01:38:02,240
to give GLP.
That's top notch service.

1710
01:38:02,520 --> 01:38:05,600
Yeah, whatever you need.
You need parts, you need advice.

1711
01:38:06,760 --> 01:38:11,800
Actually, Carl flew down from LA
to Montreal to train the Circus

1712
01:38:11,840 --> 01:38:14,400
Sade folks.
Because they were going on tour

1713
01:38:14,400 --> 01:38:16,600
with the GLP fixtures.
Yeah.

1714
01:38:16,600 --> 01:38:19,960
And they wanted to be able to
repair them on the spot rather

1715
01:38:19,960 --> 01:38:23,360
than send them back to to AVL,
which was logical because, yeah,

1716
01:38:23,520 --> 01:38:25,680
you know, all over the world.
Oh, wow.

1717
01:38:25,680 --> 01:38:28,880
We just trained their their own
technicians, yeah.

1718
01:38:29,520 --> 01:38:31,840
Well, it's an exciting time,
like I said, for that company

1719
01:38:31,840 --> 01:38:35,720
right now, because you know JDC
2 and all the other new stuff

1720
01:38:35,720 --> 01:38:40,120
that they've got coming out.
You know Annalise, I, I used to

1721
01:38:40,120 --> 01:38:42,520
work with Annalise at Martin for
a number of years.

1722
01:38:42,800 --> 01:38:48,840
She was our trade show person
and when I ran much of Martin in

1723
01:38:48,840 --> 01:38:53,400
the 90s and became very good
friends, I really like Annalise.

1724
01:38:53,560 --> 01:38:54,960
And she does a great job over
there.

1725
01:38:55,360 --> 01:38:58,400
Yeah, she does a good job there.
She's awesome.

1726
01:38:58,840 --> 01:39:04,240
So we have that we have, we have
another company which do

1727
01:39:04,240 --> 01:39:08,000
theatrical, high end theatrical
lights which is spotlight.

1728
01:39:08,640 --> 01:39:10,800
OK.
So this is out of Milan, Italy

1729
01:39:11,640 --> 01:39:19,760
and they they came up with
something it's, it's, it's how

1730
01:39:19,760 --> 01:39:23,360
can I say the relation with that
company is this is is very

1731
01:39:23,360 --> 01:39:27,040
particular because everything is
made in house, it's all 100%

1732
01:39:27,040 --> 01:39:30,800
made in Italy and they they have
their own factory.

1733
01:39:31,680 --> 01:39:36,480
So whatever you need, if, if you
need something customized or or

1734
01:39:36,480 --> 01:39:39,880
whatever or if you need a part,
I mean they started recently

1735
01:39:39,880 --> 01:39:42,800
getting rid of the parts they
made for they they had for

1736
01:39:42,800 --> 01:39:46,040
fixtures they made 50 years ago.
Yeah, so.

1737
01:39:46,400 --> 01:39:48,720
That's law.
That's law in Italy.

1738
01:39:48,720 --> 01:39:51,280
So, you know, I have a lot of
experience there because of

1739
01:39:51,280 --> 01:39:58,320
Komar, the company that I was a
part owner in purchased Komar in

1740
01:39:58,320 --> 01:40:00,200
2000.
No.

1741
01:40:00,320 --> 01:40:07,880
Was it 2099 maybe And.
Just learning some of their laws

1742
01:40:07,880 --> 01:40:11,080
and some of the ways they do
things, but that that mentality

1743
01:40:11,080 --> 01:40:15,000
of hey, you want one of the
colors changed by you know this

1744
01:40:15,000 --> 01:40:18,320
much or whatever we can do that.
You know they they were very

1745
01:40:18,320 --> 01:40:21,600
much into customizing things.
There's a downside to that.

1746
01:40:21,600 --> 01:40:23,960
You know you end up with
fixtures that don't match other

1747
01:40:23,960 --> 01:40:26,720
people's fixtures at the end of
the day because you had some

1748
01:40:26,720 --> 01:40:29,560
small adjustment in color or in
this or in that or.

1749
01:40:29,560 --> 01:40:31,960
Whatever.
Yeah, well, those are specific

1750
01:40:32,040 --> 01:40:36,600
adjustments, yeah.
Whereas I've we've been through

1751
01:40:36,600 --> 01:40:43,440
that with Spotlight where ESPN
wanted a specific for now 50

1752
01:40:43,440 --> 01:40:47,240
Watt for now it was available in
Cool White, Warm White and they

1753
01:40:47,240 --> 01:40:50,480
wanted RGB White.
So they actually developed it

1754
01:40:50,480 --> 01:40:51,760
for them.
Wow.

1755
01:40:52,240 --> 01:40:54,160
And and that worked out really
well.

1756
01:40:54,160 --> 01:40:58,840
But that's that's a fixture so
the fixture itself is you know

1757
01:40:58,880 --> 01:41:02,280
it's it's it's a new thing and
it's well it was a new thing

1758
01:41:02,280 --> 01:41:05,040
back then back then but it's a
fixture.

1759
01:41:05,040 --> 01:41:09,640
It's not an an original fixture
that's been modified But I I I

1760
01:41:09,640 --> 01:41:13,840
am going through that right now
with with Disney who wanted to

1761
01:41:14,920 --> 01:41:18,600
to look at a a fanless Cyclike.
Yeah.

1762
01:41:19,720 --> 01:41:23,720
And the the Cyclike from from
Spotlight was very appealing for

1763
01:41:23,720 --> 01:41:27,760
them, but it had fans and they
have a policy of no mechanical,

1764
01:41:29,000 --> 01:41:33,360
no, no mechanics in in the in
the equipment, just a question

1765
01:41:33,360 --> 01:41:34,880
of maintenance.
OK.

1766
01:41:34,880 --> 01:41:37,360
So, so yeah, actually, you
Spotlight.

1767
01:41:37,360 --> 01:41:39,400
Turn around so you have heat
problems, Yeah, yeah.

1768
01:41:39,400 --> 01:41:41,160
And then And then you got a
whole different maintenance

1769
01:41:41,160 --> 01:41:42,960
issue.
Exactly.

1770
01:41:43,440 --> 01:41:45,680
It's it's always a trade off,
right?

1771
01:41:45,720 --> 01:41:47,640
Yeah, we can get rid of the fans
no problem.

1772
01:41:47,640 --> 01:41:49,160
You you think they're high
maintenance?

1773
01:41:49,160 --> 01:41:51,360
Yeah, just wait until you take
the fan away.

1774
01:41:52,320 --> 01:41:54,960
Yeah, well they did it.
So apparently they found a way

1775
01:41:54,960 --> 01:41:56,200
to do it.
Yeah.

1776
01:41:56,640 --> 01:41:58,880
But then again, it's it all
depends on the environment

1777
01:41:58,880 --> 01:42:00,880
you're working in.
What?

1778
01:42:01,120 --> 01:42:04,080
It's the main guy from CBC.
What's his name?

1779
01:42:04,080 --> 01:42:07,320
Is it still the same guy that I
knew for like 25 years?

1780
01:42:07,320 --> 01:42:08,840
I can't remember his name
anymore.

1781
01:42:09,280 --> 01:42:12,400
Hold on a second.
The main like designer specifier

1782
01:42:12,400 --> 01:42:17,640
for all the CBC stuff.
Oh, I'm getting old, man.

1783
01:42:17,760 --> 01:42:19,240
I can't remember his name
either.

1784
01:42:19,240 --> 01:42:21,920
SO2 old guys trying to remember
a guy's name that we haven't

1785
01:42:21,920 --> 01:42:26,040
talked to in a couple of years.
I used to see him at every trade

1786
01:42:26,040 --> 01:42:30,200
show and he'd always come up to
me and say my Slotkin Plotkin, I

1787
01:42:30,200 --> 01:42:32,720
can't remember.
I mean, I could probably look it

1788
01:42:32,720 --> 01:42:35,920
up in my own system and tell you
who it was, but it doesn't

1789
01:42:35,920 --> 01:42:37,280
matter.
I was just wondering if it was

1790
01:42:37,280 --> 01:42:41,880
somebody that you knew.
Yeah, yeah, I think it's Plotkin

1791
01:42:41,880 --> 01:42:45,480
the, the, the last name.
It doesn't ring a bell.

1792
01:42:46,080 --> 01:42:47,600
That's not who I'm thinking of
anyways.

1793
01:42:47,600 --> 01:42:50,360
But I mean, probably the last
time I did any business with him

1794
01:42:50,360 --> 01:42:54,360
was, I don't know, 15 years ago
or something.

1795
01:42:54,360 --> 01:42:57,120
So it's probably the person's
retired by now who I was talking

1796
01:42:57,120 --> 01:42:59,120
to.
But he was there forever.

1797
01:42:59,120 --> 01:43:02,960
I mean, I knew him for years and
I'd see him at every trade show

1798
01:43:02,960 --> 01:43:07,200
and he'd, he'd always come up
with some wild idea for a a

1799
01:43:07,200 --> 01:43:10,120
change to a fixture or a new
fixture or whatever.

1800
01:43:10,640 --> 01:43:15,360
And, you know, if if I was with
Calmar at the time and Bruno

1801
01:43:15,360 --> 01:43:18,680
from Calmar was there, you know,
typical Italian factory owner

1802
01:43:18,680 --> 01:43:23,280
and and very smart, sort of
genius thinker, he would say,

1803
01:43:23,600 --> 01:43:26,480
yes, we'll build it immediately,
you know, and and he'd go back

1804
01:43:26,480 --> 01:43:29,600
to the factory, stop everything
and create his fixture for the

1805
01:43:29,600 --> 01:43:34,280
guy at CBC.
Well, I mean, not thinking it

1806
01:43:34,280 --> 01:43:37,920
had to have CSA approval.
It had to have this, it had to

1807
01:43:37,920 --> 01:43:40,640
be ready for this.
You had to produce 100 of them.

1808
01:43:40,800 --> 01:43:44,000
They all needed to be the same.
Like it's a little more

1809
01:43:44,000 --> 01:43:47,360
complicated than going back to
the factory and building 1, you

1810
01:43:47,360 --> 01:43:48,960
know?
Oh yeah, for sure.

1811
01:43:49,320 --> 01:43:53,120
Funny stuff, I I love Italian
people like, I love, I love

1812
01:43:53,240 --> 01:43:59,280
their passion towards creating
beautiful products and quality

1813
01:43:59,280 --> 01:44:02,640
and all of those things.
At the end of the day, like, I

1814
01:44:02,640 --> 01:44:06,760
mean it's I've always looked at
it as sort of like a Ferrari

1815
01:44:07,000 --> 01:44:09,640
esque sort of thing.
Like, you know, you might have

1816
01:44:09,640 --> 01:44:12,880
to carry a few extra tools in
your back pocket than if you

1817
01:44:12,880 --> 01:44:16,640
were to use, you know, either a
Chinese manufactured or American

1818
01:44:16,640 --> 01:44:20,600
manufactured product.
But it's going to have a lot of

1819
01:44:20,600 --> 01:44:23,200
horsepower, and it'll be fun as
hell to drive, you know, Oh.

1820
01:44:23,200 --> 01:44:24,640
Yeah.
Well, I can tell you the

1821
01:44:24,640 --> 01:44:28,280
experience I have with Italian
fixtures, it's just the, the,

1822
01:44:28,320 --> 01:44:31,240
the ease of maintenance really.
Yes.

1823
01:44:31,240 --> 01:44:34,200
And that's that's well we were
talking about PTZ cameras

1824
01:44:34,200 --> 01:44:37,520
earlier and the and the
presentation I made presentation

1825
01:44:37,520 --> 01:44:40,440
was on spotlight fixtures and I
actually opened up a fixture

1826
01:44:40,800 --> 01:44:44,560
right, live, right, right during
the presentation and two screws

1827
01:44:44,560 --> 01:44:46,280
and the power supply got in your
hands.

1828
01:44:46,680 --> 01:44:52,560
That's the kind of thing I've
seen, You know, stuff happens,

1829
01:44:52,560 --> 01:44:55,120
right?
I mean we sold two fall spots to

1830
01:44:55,120 --> 01:45:01,200
an Academy in Culver IN and when
they got there for some reason

1831
01:45:01,200 --> 01:45:03,080
one of the two fall spots wasn't
working.

1832
01:45:03,560 --> 01:45:05,560
Yeah.
So it's this is spotlight, this

1833
01:45:05,560 --> 01:45:10,200
is unacceptable.
So I went up to to to my service

1834
01:45:10,200 --> 01:45:12,880
area and I asked the guys, well
what do you know about these

1835
01:45:12,880 --> 01:45:15,560
spotlights and can you tell them
do you have an idea why one of

1836
01:45:15,560 --> 01:45:18,280
them is not working?
And they said yeah, during CSA

1837
01:45:18,560 --> 01:45:21,800
they put the the light back
together a bit quickly and they

1838
01:45:21,800 --> 01:45:25,480
broke a cable.
So they sort of fixed it really

1839
01:45:25,480 --> 01:45:29,240
quickly and didn't have time to
put it on the the test bench

1840
01:45:29,240 --> 01:45:30,600
because it had to ship right
away.

1841
01:45:31,400 --> 01:45:32,760
OK, I get it.
I get it.

1842
01:45:32,840 --> 01:45:35,240
OK.
So we know that this is the part

1843
01:45:35,240 --> 01:45:37,720
that's that's failing.
Oh, so you're doing the field

1844
01:45:37,720 --> 01:45:40,520
CSA stuff, the stuff where they
come out to your shop and do the

1845
01:45:40,520 --> 01:45:41,440
CSA?
Yeah, exactly.

1846
01:45:41,440 --> 01:45:44,400
I remember having to do.
That stuff with your for certain

1847
01:45:44,400 --> 01:45:46,040
products, we still have to do
that.

1848
01:45:46,080 --> 01:45:48,640
Yeah.
And anyway, I figured, OK, so I

1849
01:45:48,640 --> 01:45:51,480
just pulled the part from one of
our spotlights jumped on a

1850
01:45:51,480 --> 01:45:53,280
plane.
I went to see Steve, Steve

1851
01:45:53,280 --> 01:45:55,520
Costers and I said, Steve, we
have this problem.

1852
01:45:55,520 --> 01:45:57,600
This problem.
And I have the solution.

1853
01:45:58,120 --> 01:45:59,720
Yeah, says.
Yeah, go go fix it.

1854
01:46:00,360 --> 01:46:02,240
So.
Next morning I knocked called

1855
01:46:02,240 --> 01:46:06,560
the door and the and, and the
client was a very, very nice

1856
01:46:06,560 --> 01:46:08,880
lady.
She opens up the door and was so

1857
01:46:08,880 --> 01:46:10,880
surprised to see me there.
Said, weren't you in Montreal

1858
01:46:10,880 --> 01:46:12,400
yesterday?
I said yeah, but you have a

1859
01:46:12,400 --> 01:46:14,480
broken spot, a follow spot, and
that's unacceptable.

1860
01:46:15,640 --> 01:46:18,600
So I walk in there 20 minutes
later, didn't even take the spot

1861
01:46:18,600 --> 01:46:21,560
off the stand. 20 minutes later
it was up and running.

1862
01:46:21,920 --> 01:46:24,040
Oh, that's cool.
And that's that's memorable

1863
01:46:24,040 --> 01:46:26,160
stuff though, that that keeps
clients for you.

1864
01:46:26,160 --> 01:46:28,520
You know what I mean?
Like that those kind of stories

1865
01:46:28,520 --> 01:46:31,920
are the one about GLP in LA
taking all the fixtures down or

1866
01:46:31,920 --> 01:46:34,800
whatever like that.
Those those stories are the ones

1867
01:46:34,800 --> 01:46:37,080
that you remember.
And it's funny because a few

1868
01:46:37,080 --> 01:46:41,160
weeks ago I had somebody on who
was involved in a Super Bowl

1869
01:46:41,160 --> 01:46:43,520
halftime show that I was
involved in with Martin.

1870
01:46:44,000 --> 01:46:46,440
And all he could remember is
Martin flew in all these

1871
01:46:46,440 --> 01:46:51,920
engineers and texts and stuff
from Denmark directly to to look

1872
01:46:51,920 --> 01:46:54,760
at some of the problems or
concerns that we had in dealing

1873
01:46:54,760 --> 01:46:57,760
with these lights.
And it was the first show of

1874
01:46:57,760 --> 01:47:00,120
that size for Martin.
So they were very

1875
01:47:00,120 --> 01:47:05,720
enthusiastically there to
support their product and that

1876
01:47:05,720 --> 01:47:10,600
kind of stuff is necessary.
So I I wanna, I know that not

1877
01:47:10,600 --> 01:47:13,400
very many people in our industry
and you know, there's one in

1878
01:47:13,400 --> 01:47:17,160
particular, Richard Kadena, but
not very many people have have

1879
01:47:17,160 --> 01:47:20,680
self published books and and
written books.

1880
01:47:21,160 --> 01:47:24,520
And the interesting thing about
you, you have a couple of books

1881
01:47:25,040 --> 01:47:27,320
but neither one is about the
industry, neither one is about

1882
01:47:27,320 --> 01:47:28,560
lighting.
Yeah.

1883
01:47:28,880 --> 01:47:31,000
And so, so tell me a little bit
about that.

1884
01:47:31,000 --> 01:47:33,680
Like how were you always a
writer?

1885
01:47:33,680 --> 01:47:35,120
Did you just suddenly become
one?

1886
01:47:35,120 --> 01:47:38,280
How did that happen?
Well, I've, I've, I've been,

1887
01:47:38,520 --> 01:47:41,440
I've, I've pretty much always
written, but I've never done

1888
01:47:41,440 --> 01:47:44,920
anything with it.
And I do have a book about the

1889
01:47:44,920 --> 01:47:48,560
industry that I've been working
on for about, I don't know,

1890
01:47:49,240 --> 01:47:52,000
seven years, eight years,
something like that.

1891
01:47:52,440 --> 01:47:54,080
And I'll probably never finish
it.

1892
01:47:54,080 --> 01:47:56,400
I don't know.
Yeah, we'll see how that turns

1893
01:47:56,400 --> 01:47:58,720
out.
The book is it.

1894
01:48:00,120 --> 01:48:03,480
It's strange.
Like I said, I was a heavy

1895
01:48:03,480 --> 01:48:05,760
person.
I was very, very out of shape

1896
01:48:05,760 --> 01:48:10,400
and and overweight.
And at a certain point I I had

1897
01:48:10,400 --> 01:48:15,800
to, I had to make some decisions
because I was like at 40.

1898
01:48:15,800 --> 01:48:18,400
I was lazy.
I was just gigging whatever.

1899
01:48:18,400 --> 01:48:21,200
I felt like gigging and.
Sleeping at the console.

1900
01:48:21,400 --> 01:48:24,280
Yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly.
Sleeping at the.

1901
01:48:24,320 --> 01:48:27,240
Console talked about.
That long rides, lots of

1902
01:48:27,240 --> 01:48:29,680
restaurants and didn't really
matter.

1903
01:48:29,680 --> 01:48:32,280
I was, I was living in AII had a
house.

1904
01:48:32,320 --> 01:48:35,960
It was like, you know, those
those mobile houses, yeah, it

1905
01:48:36,280 --> 01:48:39,720
was a nice one, but it was, it
was still a mobile house, so

1906
01:48:39,720 --> 01:48:42,960
very, very inexpensive.
So my cost of living was really

1907
01:48:42,960 --> 01:48:45,440
low.
So I, you know, it was always

1908
01:48:45,920 --> 01:48:51,920
just really, really chill and
and at a certain point I know my

1909
01:48:52,000 --> 01:48:54,960
my wife, after all these years
of all craziness that's been

1910
01:48:54,960 --> 01:48:59,080
going on, she was still around
and I figured, well, if she's

1911
01:48:59,080 --> 01:49:01,120
still around then maybe I should
do something for her.

1912
01:49:01,120 --> 01:49:05,880
So I decided to buy a good piece
of land and and build a house

1913
01:49:05,880 --> 01:49:10,080
for her decent house and next to
a river and all that.

1914
01:49:10,440 --> 01:49:15,640
So, but that also implied that I
needed to make to earn a decent

1915
01:49:15,640 --> 01:49:18,520
living.
I I had to make real money and I

1916
01:49:18,520 --> 01:49:23,000
also had to have enough energy
to go through all that.

1917
01:49:23,600 --> 01:49:26,880
Because, you know, this is
there's a lot of work to be done

1918
01:49:26,880 --> 01:49:28,320
when you're when you're building
a house.

1919
01:49:28,320 --> 01:49:31,920
Yeah, of course.
So that kind of woke me up.

1920
01:49:31,920 --> 01:49:36,480
And I I I I figured, you know,
this lifelong problem I've been

1921
01:49:36,480 --> 01:49:40,880
having of being overweight and I
had to deal with it and I had to

1922
01:49:41,160 --> 01:49:45,720
find a solution.
So I sort of invented a solution

1923
01:49:45,720 --> 01:49:47,960
that worked.
Interesting.

1924
01:49:48,080 --> 01:49:54,040
Yeah, And once I had done that,
then I figured, oh, maybe other

1925
01:49:54,040 --> 01:49:56,640
people would like to know what
I've been through.

1926
01:49:56,640 --> 01:49:59,000
Because I've.
I've learned a lot in the past

1927
01:49:59,000 --> 01:50:01,600
by reading books.
Books by experts.

1928
01:50:02,280 --> 01:50:04,880
Fine.
But I love to read books by

1929
01:50:04,880 --> 01:50:09,840
people like me who were nobodies
and were able to do, you know,

1930
01:50:09,840 --> 01:50:14,480
something special, something
that a lot of people aren't able

1931
01:50:14,480 --> 01:50:18,240
to do with nothing.
You know, they just out of

1932
01:50:18,240 --> 01:50:20,600
nowhere.
Just just an example.

1933
01:50:20,600 --> 01:50:23,800
You take Anthony Robbins, who
didn't even have a college

1934
01:50:23,800 --> 01:50:26,720
degree and was able to, you
know, it was probably one of the

1935
01:50:26,720 --> 01:50:29,040
most influential people in the
world right now.

1936
01:50:29,920 --> 01:50:33,440
So I figured, yes, if nobody
like me can achieve something

1937
01:50:33,440 --> 01:50:36,240
like that, even though it's, you
know, it's nothing great, but

1938
01:50:36,240 --> 01:50:38,720
it's it didn't did make a
difference in my life.

1939
01:50:39,200 --> 01:50:40,880
I figured, why don't I just
share that?

1940
01:50:41,480 --> 01:50:44,120
So round numbers What?
What was the weight loss?

1941
01:50:44,120 --> 01:50:45,080
How?
How much weight?

1942
01:50:45,960 --> 01:50:48,040
Figure about 80 lbs.
Wow.

1943
01:50:48,240 --> 01:50:51,280
Yeah, that's that's significant.
No, Some people lose a lot more

1944
01:50:51,280 --> 01:50:55,040
weight than that, but it was
the, I think.

1945
01:50:55,040 --> 01:50:58,600
I think it was the method that I
developed that really worked.

1946
01:50:59,120 --> 01:51:01,960
Give me the give me the 10,000
foot view.

1947
01:51:02,440 --> 01:51:04,280
Yeah, absolutely.
I'll do that.

1948
01:51:05,360 --> 01:51:08,840
It's very simple.
I it it.

1949
01:51:08,840 --> 01:51:11,560
I figured if I was going to make
a change, it would have to be

1950
01:51:11,560 --> 01:51:13,160
for it would have to be
permanent.

1951
01:51:13,480 --> 01:51:15,840
Yeah, I was not going to,
because if you make it a

1952
01:51:15,840 --> 01:51:19,160
temporary effort at some point,
it's like pulling on an elastic.

1953
01:51:19,680 --> 01:51:22,200
If you pull hard enough, it'll
snap back in your face at some

1954
01:51:22,200 --> 01:51:24,440
point.
So that's what dieting is all

1955
01:51:24,440 --> 01:51:25,800
about as.
Far as I'm concerned.

1956
01:51:26,240 --> 01:51:27,480
Yeah.
So I figured if I'm going to

1957
01:51:27,480 --> 01:51:29,560
make a change, I'm going to make
a small change, but I'm going to

1958
01:51:29,560 --> 01:51:31,440
make it for life.
So I cut butter.

1959
01:51:33,360 --> 01:51:36,400
That's how it started, yeah.
And then cascaded onto more

1960
01:51:36,400 --> 01:51:38,800
stuff.
Started an exercise routine that

1961
01:51:38,800 --> 01:51:43,120
was only 10 minutes a day, but
every day, Yeah, And.

1962
01:51:43,160 --> 01:51:45,560
And that's it.
That's how it started, yeah.

1963
01:51:45,920 --> 01:51:47,760
And after you know what's?
Interesting about that though,

1964
01:51:47,920 --> 01:51:51,600
like a lot of the longevity
doctors and stuff now, grass fed

1965
01:51:51,600 --> 01:51:54,160
butter is actually good for you.
It's one of the healthy fats,

1966
01:51:54,880 --> 01:51:59,800
butter and and avocado, which
they were both always sort of

1967
01:51:59,880 --> 01:52:02,160
dragged through the dirt as
being their fats.

1968
01:52:02,160 --> 01:52:03,960
You can't have those, those are
fats.

1969
01:52:04,440 --> 01:52:08,120
But now scientists have finally
figured out that healthy fats

1970
01:52:08,120 --> 01:52:13,520
are good, and grass fed butter
and avocado are very healthy

1971
01:52:13,520 --> 01:52:16,600
fats.
So yeah, it was.

1972
01:52:16,600 --> 01:52:19,680
It wasn't the ingredient as much
as the the method.

1973
01:52:20,240 --> 01:52:22,080
Well, what were you putting the
butter on too?

1974
01:52:22,200 --> 01:52:24,120
Well, probably just.
To give you an.

1975
01:52:24,120 --> 01:52:28,120
Example, when you finish your
gig at midnight one in the

1976
01:52:28,120 --> 01:52:31,400
morning, you get it.
You get home at 2:00 AM, Didn't

1977
01:52:31,400 --> 01:52:33,240
really have time to eat or
whatever.

1978
01:52:33,240 --> 01:52:36,720
So if it's pop, pop two pieces
of bread in the toaster, then

1979
01:52:36,720 --> 01:52:39,840
pull out the peanut butter, the
butter, the jam, whatever else

1980
01:52:39,840 --> 01:52:42,480
is lying around in the kitchen.
And then the toast come out.

1981
01:52:42,480 --> 01:52:44,480
And then you put butter, peanut
butter, and jam.

1982
01:52:44,480 --> 01:52:47,680
And while you're eating those,
you're sticking two other pieces

1983
01:52:47,680 --> 01:52:50,400
of bread in the toaster.
And while they're while they're

1984
01:52:50,400 --> 01:52:52,920
toasting, you're still hungry.
So you pull out the cookie bag,

1985
01:52:53,240 --> 01:52:56,880
start eating cookies, and then
bring out the toast and then put

1986
01:52:57,040 --> 01:53:00,440
butter, peanut butter, jam and
why not crumbled cookies on top

1987
01:53:00,440 --> 01:53:01,440
of that.
Yeah.

1988
01:53:01,720 --> 01:53:05,080
Then while I'm eating those, I
pop two more in the toaster.

1989
01:53:05,080 --> 01:53:08,040
So and and then I pull and then
I want to make it more original.

1990
01:53:08,040 --> 01:53:10,960
So I pull out 22 slices of
cheese and put that on top of

1991
01:53:10,960 --> 01:53:12,560
the whole worst.
I'm not kidding.

1992
01:53:12,600 --> 01:53:13,920
I was.
Really a problem?

1993
01:53:14,400 --> 01:53:18,520
Yeah, but it's funny because you
said butter and what are they in

1994
01:53:18,520 --> 01:53:21,280
Atomic Habits?
I forget what he calls that.

1995
01:53:21,280 --> 01:53:24,920
Like not the anchor or the
magnet or something, but it's

1996
01:53:24,920 --> 01:53:28,400
like the thing that you
attribute it all to is the

1997
01:53:28,560 --> 01:53:30,560
butter.
But the butter really wasn't the

1998
01:53:30,560 --> 01:53:33,160
problem.
No, it was the sort of tidal

1999
01:53:33,160 --> 01:53:37,480
wave of junk that that created
exactly bread and cookies and

2000
01:53:37,480 --> 01:53:38,760
all of the other.
Stuff, right?

2001
01:53:38,800 --> 01:53:40,360
Yeah.
I had a magical recipe.

2002
01:53:40,360 --> 01:53:43,000
I'd Yeah, peanut butter between
my cookies because they would

2003
01:53:43,000 --> 01:53:45,200
stick together.
I could carry more from the

2004
01:53:45,200 --> 01:53:46,920
kitchen to the living room.
Oh my.

2005
01:53:47,000 --> 01:53:50,360
God, you were bad, man.
Bad.

2006
01:53:50,680 --> 01:53:51,720
You were bad.
I can't.

2007
01:53:51,720 --> 01:53:54,680
Believe I'm still healthy.
Yeah, yeah.

2008
01:53:54,680 --> 01:53:57,640
Well, you know what?
You stopped in time like you.

2009
01:53:58,160 --> 01:54:00,880
That's the problem.
You know, friends of ours, I'm

2010
01:54:00,880 --> 01:54:05,240
sure you have similar problems
who are either dying or dead or

2011
01:54:05,320 --> 01:54:09,920
very sick.
You know they didn't stop in

2012
01:54:09,920 --> 01:54:13,760
time, You know, because all of
this stuff is reversible, in a

2013
01:54:13,760 --> 01:54:17,680
sense, you know, Certainly
cancer's a tough one, but all of

2014
01:54:17,680 --> 01:54:19,920
most of this stuff is
reversible.

2015
01:54:19,920 --> 01:54:22,120
Yeah, you just have to stop
earlier before.

2016
01:54:22,640 --> 01:54:23,600
True.
Me too.

2017
01:54:23,800 --> 01:54:25,480
Me too, you know.
Me too.

2018
01:54:25,480 --> 01:54:29,160
And and you know I'm I'm still
dealing with sort of some

2019
01:54:29,160 --> 01:54:33,240
residual effects you know that I
I have to pay attention to

2020
01:54:33,240 --> 01:54:38,760
specific to my heart and but
it's for things that I did bad

2021
01:54:38,760 --> 01:54:42,600
in in you know 30 years ago.
It's not for stuff that I'm

2022
01:54:42,600 --> 01:54:44,760
doing right now because I live a
pretty healthy life now.

2023
01:54:45,560 --> 01:54:48,760
So and the other book was what
the other book was.

2024
01:54:49,200 --> 01:54:53,920
Well the other book was pretty
much the story on on the whole

2025
01:54:53,920 --> 01:54:55,840
house thing.
Oh, OK.

2026
01:54:55,960 --> 01:54:58,000
How?
How I was able to buy the house

2027
01:54:58,000 --> 01:55:02,520
I live in now and I absolutely
did not have the means to do

2028
01:55:02,520 --> 01:55:03,280
that.
Yeah.

2029
01:55:03,760 --> 01:55:07,720
And yeah, the, the, the, the big
part of the story is that I I

2030
01:55:08,040 --> 01:55:12,400
told my wife that I was gonna
look into getting a, a brand new

2031
01:55:12,400 --> 01:55:16,200
house and you know, on a
specific lot back back to a

2032
01:55:16,200 --> 01:55:18,960
river, you know, in a specific
area.

2033
01:55:19,560 --> 01:55:22,760
And and at some point I just got
scared.

2034
01:55:23,280 --> 01:55:25,360
Yeah.
And I was gonna back away and I

2035
01:55:25,360 --> 01:55:28,880
found my wife crying.
And that was the trigger.

2036
01:55:28,960 --> 01:55:31,320
I was like, Oh no, this no, I
can't let this happen.

2037
01:55:31,320 --> 01:55:34,320
Yeah, I gotta do this.
So now I have to do it and I

2038
01:55:34,640 --> 01:55:38,120
have to find a way.
So that's the it's actually that

2039
01:55:38,120 --> 01:55:39,960
second book is not exactly a
book.

2040
01:55:39,960 --> 01:55:44,360
It it was a conference speech
and I had written and that that

2041
01:55:44,360 --> 01:55:49,920
I was actually starting to to do
when AVL called me and then I

2042
01:55:49,920 --> 01:55:55,320
put that on hold and maybe a
year or two down the line I

2043
01:55:55,320 --> 01:55:59,200
decided well why don't I just
record it and make it available.

2044
01:55:59,560 --> 01:56:00,840
That's cool and that's what I
so.

2045
01:56:00,880 --> 01:56:02,800
How can people get these both
of?

2046
01:56:03,080 --> 01:56:04,880
Them.
They're available everywhere.

2047
01:56:04,880 --> 01:56:09,680
On Audible, Amazon.
Yeah, on the iTunes.

2048
01:56:09,960 --> 01:56:11,680
What are the What are the two
books called?

2049
01:56:12,160 --> 01:56:17,000
So the the first book is called
I Gotta Remember What It's

2050
01:56:17,000 --> 01:56:22,160
Called, the Most Powerful Weight
Loss Device Ever Made to Human

2051
01:56:22,160 --> 01:56:24,920
brain.
There you go, That's.

2052
01:56:24,960 --> 01:56:28,720
The book that was, it was sort
of a parody towards all those

2053
01:56:28,720 --> 01:56:31,120
gadgets that they sell to make
you lose weight.

2054
01:56:31,120 --> 01:56:33,800
And I figured, yeah, well, the
most powerful device, you

2055
01:56:33,800 --> 01:56:36,080
already own it.
Retrain your brain, yeah.

2056
01:56:36,160 --> 01:56:40,480
Yeah, and the other one is how
to how to overcome man's biggest

2057
01:56:40,480 --> 01:56:44,440
obstacle himself.
A common theme?

2058
01:56:45,280 --> 01:56:46,760
Yeah, yeah.
And.

2059
01:56:46,760 --> 01:56:50,480
It's I didn't go out of my way.
I just recorded it.

2060
01:56:50,680 --> 01:56:55,840
Yeah, the the, the audio book.
I kind of, I kind of, you know

2061
01:56:55,840 --> 01:57:00,640
made some effort.
I I I I like to say that I

2062
01:57:00,640 --> 01:57:05,920
recorded it on my iPhone.
The only part that people may

2063
01:57:05,920 --> 01:57:09,720
not be aware of is that I was
using this mic and had had it

2064
01:57:09,720 --> 01:57:14,080
plugged into an Avalon Pre app.
So you were storing it on your

2065
01:57:14,080 --> 01:57:14,880
iPhone?
You weren't.

2066
01:57:14,880 --> 01:57:17,920
Really recording it on your and
I actually recorded it in my

2067
01:57:18,080 --> 01:57:20,520
walk in closet, which was the
deadest room in the house.

2068
01:57:21,160 --> 01:57:24,200
Cool, cool.
But anyway, so I did that.

2069
01:57:24,200 --> 01:57:26,840
But for the the second one it
was just a conference.

2070
01:57:26,840 --> 01:57:30,080
So I just I it's it's not as
good quality but I just figured

2071
01:57:30,080 --> 01:57:33,000
I'd have to get it out there and
yeah and and move on.

2072
01:57:33,280 --> 01:57:37,640
So I'm guessing, like most
books, you're not quite getting

2073
01:57:37,640 --> 01:57:41,040
rich from them yet.
I'm.

2074
01:57:41,720 --> 01:57:44,520
I'm not even.
That's not even a thing.

2075
01:57:44,920 --> 01:57:46,480
Yeah.
No.

2076
01:57:46,600 --> 01:57:49,520
Definitely not.
Well, I The thing is, I mean, if

2077
01:57:49,600 --> 01:57:52,520
whatever you do, whatever
content you put out there, you

2078
01:57:52,520 --> 01:57:56,960
have to put a lot of energy into
getting it to people and

2079
01:57:57,440 --> 01:58:00,440
promoting it and all that.
I had started doing it in the

2080
01:58:00,440 --> 01:58:02,760
beginning and then I moved on to
something else.

2081
01:58:02,760 --> 01:58:06,400
So I just let it there.
No, I'm not making any money

2082
01:58:06,400 --> 01:58:07,960
off.
That, But even then, I mean,

2083
01:58:07,960 --> 01:58:11,800
even if you do put a lot into
it, the percentage you're

2084
01:58:11,800 --> 01:58:17,160
probably got a higher likely
outcome of becoming a rock star

2085
01:58:17,160 --> 01:58:24,080
or a movie star or a wildly
successful Unicorn entrepreneur

2086
01:58:24,080 --> 01:58:27,880
or whatever then you do of
becoming a successful author,

2087
01:58:27,880 --> 01:58:30,520
author.
Because for sure there's so much

2088
01:58:30,520 --> 01:58:33,040
content out there.
There's so much free content out

2089
01:58:33,040 --> 01:58:35,960
there now.
Like, even I'm an audiobook

2090
01:58:36,000 --> 01:58:39,000
junkie and even I struggle
sometimes, 'cause I'm like,

2091
01:58:39,000 --> 01:58:42,000
well, you know, why would I buy
the audio book when I can go

2092
01:58:42,000 --> 01:58:46,160
listen to, you know, a whole
bunch of half hour or one hour

2093
01:58:46,160 --> 01:58:49,440
segments on this person where
they get into much more detail

2094
01:58:49,440 --> 01:58:51,240
than they did in the book even.
Yeah.

2095
01:58:51,840 --> 01:58:54,520
And it's more timely, 'cause
they just recorded it last week,

2096
01:58:54,520 --> 01:58:56,520
the book they recorded two years
ago or whatever.

2097
01:58:56,520 --> 01:58:57,080
Right.
So.

2098
01:58:57,080 --> 01:58:58,520
Yeah.
And sometimes there's a lot of

2099
01:58:58,520 --> 01:59:01,240
content.
There's a lot of irreverent

2100
01:59:01,240 --> 01:59:03,360
content.
Yeah, In a book, just because

2101
01:59:03,360 --> 01:59:05,960
they have to fill like the 500
pages or something like that.

2102
01:59:05,960 --> 01:59:06,840
True.
Yeah.

2103
01:59:07,040 --> 01:59:11,240
Yeah.
So it's like a 10 page point

2104
01:59:11,320 --> 01:59:14,960
that takes 500 pages to make.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.

2105
01:59:15,120 --> 01:59:17,640
Which is one thing I decided not
to go that way.

2106
01:59:17,640 --> 01:59:22,240
So it's a really short book.
I think it's the audio book.

2107
01:59:22,240 --> 01:59:23,680
I think it's.
Two hours or something like

2108
01:59:23,680 --> 01:59:26,080
that.
And then your goal was to then

2109
01:59:26,080 --> 01:59:29,880
go out and become a public
speaker as well, which is

2110
01:59:29,880 --> 01:59:33,440
obviously a very good model and
a very successful model for a

2111
01:59:33,440 --> 01:59:36,200
lot of people.
Like, even if the book doesn't

2112
01:59:36,200 --> 01:59:38,800
sell, that's not the intention.
The intention is that it gives

2113
01:59:38,800 --> 01:59:40,360
you credibility as a public
speaker.

2114
01:59:41,080 --> 01:59:43,320
I'm an author.
I'm a celebrated author.

2115
01:59:43,320 --> 01:59:46,640
I'm a published author or
whatever the word is, right.

2116
01:59:46,800 --> 01:59:49,280
Yeah, Yeah, that's right.
And so by being a published

2117
01:59:49,280 --> 01:59:52,840
author, you can now go out and
use that to promote your.

2118
01:59:53,080 --> 01:59:56,360
So did you do what's it called,
Toastmasters and all of that

2119
01:59:56,360 --> 01:59:58,360
stuff or?
Did you just?

2120
01:59:58,440 --> 02:00:00,760
No, no, no.
We just put it out there.

2121
02:00:00,760 --> 02:00:03,600
On what was it?
Createspace.

2122
02:00:04,080 --> 02:00:07,320
It was the Amazon platform, so
you can actually get a paper

2123
02:00:07,320 --> 02:00:09,840
copy if you want.
No, but I mean for the public

2124
02:00:09,840 --> 02:00:12,480
speaking thing like did you go
no training or anything?

2125
02:00:12,480 --> 02:00:14,400
I didn't make it.
I didn't make it all the way

2126
02:00:14,400 --> 02:00:16,480
there.
I was starting to look into

2127
02:00:16,800 --> 02:00:20,560
different platforms.
Yeah, because I was still

2128
02:00:20,920 --> 02:00:22,560
breaking it in.
Yeah.

2129
02:00:22,560 --> 02:00:26,800
So I was still doing
presentations for local, you

2130
02:00:26,800 --> 02:00:30,800
know, things around me just to
break it in and and get used to,

2131
02:00:30,800 --> 02:00:35,200
you know, to the idea of of
doing public speaking and make

2132
02:00:35,200 --> 02:00:40,240
it at ease.
And my my point was, you know,

2133
02:00:40,240 --> 02:00:45,960
working a lot with comedians.
Actually one of one of my things

2134
02:00:45,960 --> 02:00:48,520
I would have liked to do when I
was young was be a comedian

2135
02:00:48,520 --> 02:00:50,920
myself.
So I figured I could mix both.

2136
02:00:51,320 --> 02:00:55,240
And and be a public speaker and
be entertaining at the same

2137
02:00:55,240 --> 02:00:57,160
time.
Yeah, Yeah, which are my

2138
02:00:57,160 --> 02:00:59,880
favorite.
I love public speakers who have

2139
02:00:59,960 --> 02:01:01,760
some personality and stuff like
that.

2140
02:01:02,320 --> 02:01:04,760
Yeah, you want a good laugh too,
you know, right?

2141
02:01:04,960 --> 02:01:06,720
No, but it's just like it's
boring.

2142
02:01:06,720 --> 02:01:09,280
Unless somebody throws some
humor and personality into it,

2143
02:01:09,280 --> 02:01:12,480
you know, it's it just makes it
all that much more interesting.

2144
02:01:13,080 --> 02:01:16,800
I I'm a junkie for public
speakers, like I'll go see if I

2145
02:01:16,800 --> 02:01:19,880
see keynote speakers in Vegas
and it's not even for my

2146
02:01:19,880 --> 02:01:21,760
convention.
I'll go listen to the, you know,

2147
02:01:22,240 --> 02:01:23,840
I just, I really like that
stuff.

2148
02:01:23,840 --> 02:01:26,440
It's a lot of fun.
I did a lot of corporate gigs.

2149
02:01:26,440 --> 02:01:28,280
I was a light guy.
And I've.

2150
02:01:28,320 --> 02:01:31,000
I've met some really cool public
speakers.

2151
02:01:31,000 --> 02:01:33,920
Yeah, that's what I was.
That's what was inspiring me.

2152
02:01:34,080 --> 02:01:36,160
Yeah.
But like I said, when the AVL

2153
02:01:36,160 --> 02:01:40,080
thing came along, I went, oh,
you know what, I wouldn't mind

2154
02:01:40,080 --> 02:01:41,320
doing that.
So did you.

2155
02:01:41,320 --> 02:01:44,560
Grow up on Tony Robbins.
You didn't.

2156
02:01:44,640 --> 02:01:48,040
Grow up on Tony Robbins.
I discovered Tony Robbins late.

2157
02:01:48,360 --> 02:01:49,960
Yeah.
But.

2158
02:01:50,320 --> 02:01:54,280
But then again, I think I read
just about every book he read to

2159
02:01:54,280 --> 02:01:58,200
become what he is now.
Because my mother had a library,

2160
02:01:58,200 --> 02:02:03,000
but I I actually inherited that
library when she passed away And

2161
02:02:03,160 --> 02:02:09,040
and I could recognize stuff from
all the other people that that I

2162
02:02:09,040 --> 02:02:13,520
have had read books on.
Because what Tony did actually,

2163
02:02:13,520 --> 02:02:16,280
he he just took all that
knowledge and brought it into a

2164
02:02:16,280 --> 02:02:18,720
package people could understand.
Yeah.

2165
02:02:19,320 --> 02:02:24,880
Yeah, I I started listening to
him like 198182.

2166
02:02:24,920 --> 02:02:28,880
You know, I've I've been a Tony
Robbins guy forever and lately

2167
02:02:28,880 --> 02:02:32,120
he's lost me a bit like he's
become a little too polished

2168
02:02:32,120 --> 02:02:35,960
salesman now.
And plus, it's just repackaging

2169
02:02:35,960 --> 02:02:40,800
of the same content that he used
4050 years ago, you know, So

2170
02:02:40,800 --> 02:02:43,000
it's like, how many times do I
need to hear?

2171
02:02:43,360 --> 02:02:46,120
Yeah, Last time I, I, I, I
looked at one of his

2172
02:02:46,120 --> 02:02:50,040
presentations.
I was like, I'm, I'm looking at

2173
02:02:50,040 --> 02:02:53,880
the public he's speaking to and
it's just not me.

2174
02:02:54,360 --> 02:02:58,120
Yeah, yeah, they're all dancing
around and jumping up and down

2175
02:02:58,160 --> 02:02:59,120
and stuff.
Yeah.

2176
02:02:59,640 --> 02:03:01,320
Yeah.
Which is, I mean, that's his

2177
02:03:01,320 --> 02:03:06,680
thing now is change your, yeah,
change your energy and change

2178
02:03:06,680 --> 02:03:08,560
your outcome and all of that
kind of stuff.

2179
02:03:08,560 --> 02:03:13,160
But it's just a little too,
yeah, it's a little silly for me

2180
02:03:13,160 --> 02:03:16,840
now, like, and it's it's sad
because I really like He

2181
02:03:17,040 --> 02:03:19,840
actually probably was one of the
guys who made a difference in my

2182
02:03:19,840 --> 02:03:22,160
life.
Like I was listening to his

2183
02:03:22,160 --> 02:03:27,240
cassette tapes when I was, you
know, 1617 years old and really

2184
02:03:27,240 --> 02:03:31,440
learning from him, like really
like picking up as much stuff as

2185
02:03:31,440 --> 02:03:33,680
I possibly could.
That said, hey, you don't have

2186
02:03:33,680 --> 02:03:37,640
to be a, you know, a a broke,
dumb, fat idiot.

2187
02:03:37,640 --> 02:03:39,560
You can actually make something
of your life.

2188
02:03:39,560 --> 02:03:41,600
And I'm like, really?
Yeah, Yeah.

2189
02:03:41,600 --> 02:03:44,960
Yeah.
So yeah, that's interesting.

2190
02:03:44,960 --> 02:03:47,200
Well, congratulations.
I mean, the book thing is cool.

2191
02:03:47,280 --> 02:03:51,520
You know, again, writing,
publishing, putting books out

2192
02:03:51,520 --> 02:03:53,800
there, putting your story out
there, especially when it's so

2193
02:03:53,800 --> 02:03:56,760
personal is building your own
house for your family and stuff

2194
02:03:57,440 --> 02:04:00,760
is amazing, especially when you
know that you're not doing it to

2195
02:04:00,760 --> 02:04:03,440
get rich like.
Yeah, it's a simple story.

2196
02:04:03,440 --> 02:04:07,120
And it's, yeah, you know, like
once again I'm I'm doing this

2197
02:04:07,120 --> 02:04:09,040
because maybe I can help
somebody out there.

2198
02:04:09,040 --> 02:04:11,760
I got some letters from people
like in Denmark.

2199
02:04:11,760 --> 02:04:15,200
And, you know, you don't know
where this stuff travels, right.

2200
02:04:15,520 --> 02:04:18,440
And Yeah.
This lady who had like a

2201
02:04:18,440 --> 02:04:21,720
revelation.
Yeah.

2202
02:04:22,200 --> 02:04:23,840
One of those words that don't
translate.

2203
02:04:23,840 --> 02:04:24,440
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.

2204
02:04:25,240 --> 02:04:29,160
So, yeah, she said, oh, I always
knew it was in the brain, but I

2205
02:04:29,160 --> 02:04:30,800
couldn't put my finger on it.
Now you.

2206
02:04:31,520 --> 02:04:32,320
Fine.
OK.

2207
02:04:32,320 --> 02:04:35,480
So I hope somebody.
I'm very happy with that.

2208
02:04:35,840 --> 02:04:38,000
There's nothing special about my
story.

2209
02:04:38,000 --> 02:04:42,680
It's just I figured, well, maybe
if a schmo like me was able to

2210
02:04:42,680 --> 02:04:45,680
do something with himself, then
maybe somebody else might get

2211
02:04:45,680 --> 02:04:48,120
inspired by it.
Yeah, that was the whole idea

2212
02:04:48,120 --> 02:04:50,960
behind the story.
No, that's that's really super

2213
02:04:50,960 --> 02:04:53,000
cool.
Well, I appreciate you taking

2214
02:04:53,000 --> 02:04:54,960
the time today to do this.
It's been fun.

2215
02:04:54,960 --> 02:04:56,160
It's been cool getting to know
you.

2216
02:04:56,160 --> 02:04:58,960
I didn't know you before.
Even though we both come from

2217
02:04:58,960 --> 02:05:03,080
the same country, Canada, I
spend the summers now up and I

2218
02:05:03,080 --> 02:05:05,760
have a place in Canmore, just
outside of Calgary, in the

2219
02:05:05,760 --> 02:05:11,000
mountains very close to Banff.
And so I'm leaving in two or

2220
02:05:11,000 --> 02:05:12,960
three weeks to go out there for
the summer.

2221
02:05:14,080 --> 02:05:18,560
And you know, it's not vacation.
It's it's just a different set

2222
02:05:18,560 --> 02:05:20,320
of scenery.
You know, I happen to love the

2223
02:05:20,320 --> 02:05:22,760
mountains.
I don't like the cold so much

2224
02:05:22,760 --> 02:05:24,760
anymore, which is why I go more
in the summer.

2225
02:05:25,600 --> 02:05:28,960
But but yeah, I miss a lot of
things about Canada.

2226
02:05:28,960 --> 02:05:32,720
There's other things I don't
miss, but we won't go into that.

2227
02:05:33,560 --> 02:05:35,160
But yeah, I appreciate you
taking the time.

2228
02:05:35,880 --> 02:05:42,000
I'm in South Florida, I I live
in Palm Beach, FL basically and

2229
02:05:42,520 --> 02:05:48,120
I've been here since, well, I've
been in South Florida since 1991

2230
02:05:48,960 --> 02:05:54,120
is when I moved down here.
So been here ever since, and I

2231
02:05:54,120 --> 02:05:57,120
built my place up in Canada
about 20 years ago and been

2232
02:05:57,120 --> 02:06:01,160
going back and forth ever since.
So I love it.

2233
02:06:01,160 --> 02:06:02,960
It's sort of the perfect mix
right now.

2234
02:06:02,960 --> 02:06:04,240
It's just as you're getting
older.

2235
02:06:04,480 --> 02:06:07,320
Every time I go, it's like, OK,
did I get all my prescriptions

2236
02:06:07,320 --> 02:06:10,200
done?
Have I seen the doctor?

2237
02:06:10,200 --> 02:06:15,160
Am I worried about anything?
So yeah, it gets harder as you

2238
02:06:15,160 --> 02:06:18,080
get older, of course, But as
long as you stay healthy, like

2239
02:06:18,080 --> 02:06:19,880
you said, it's.
Yeah, exactly.

2240
02:06:20,080 --> 02:06:23,240
That much easier.
Well, say hello to Mr. Kosters

2241
02:06:23,240 --> 02:06:24,520
for me.
I like that guy.

2242
02:06:24,520 --> 02:06:28,280
He's a good man.
And and when you kick your

2243
02:06:28,280 --> 02:06:31,320
podcast back into gear, let me
know if you want me to come on

2244
02:06:31,320 --> 02:06:34,080
someday we can have another talk
in the opposite direction.

2245
02:06:34,360 --> 02:06:36,320
Absolutely.
I would love that.

2246
02:06:36,520 --> 02:06:37,640
Yeah.
Perfect.

2247
02:06:37,800 --> 02:06:40,920
Thanks a lot, Fi.
Well, you have a great non

2248
02:06:40,920 --> 02:06:44,000
vacation there and and we'll
touch base when you get back.

2249
02:06:44,000 --> 02:06:45,080
Absolutely.
Yeah.

2250
02:06:45,560 --> 02:06:47,760
All right, all right.
Well, thanks a million for this

2251
02:06:47,760 --> 02:06:49,200
opportunity.
I really, yeah, really

2252
02:06:49,200 --> 02:06:50,400
appreciate it.
No problem at all.

2253
02:06:50,400 --> 02:06:51,760
Thanks for coming.
OK.

2254
02:06:51,760 --> 02:07:08,600
Take care.
None.