#246 - Mike “FINN” Finocchiaro

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Hello and thanks for joining me
for episode #246.

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Today's podcast is brought to
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OK, so that was a little weird.
I have AI, have a temporary

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system I'm using right now and
I'll tell you more about that in

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a few minutes.
But yeah, it's causing me a

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little bit of anxiety and some
funkiness, but we'll get through

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it 'cause that's what we do.
We make it work.

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And so anyways, I want to
dedicate at least part of the

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intro today to our, and I say
our, I mean our, the industry

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great friend, Craig Burrows, who
of course passed away last week

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sadly and tragically and
suddenly.

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And so yes, Craig was sick.
Yes, Craig had a very, very

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angry bout of cancer that came
back a couple of times.

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We don't yet know if that's
ultimately what caused his

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demise, but I guess there's some
suspicion around that.

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But anyways, yeah, we thought he
beat it and sadly, Craig is gone

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now.
And so my own story, I know

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everyone has theirs.
My story, basically Craig and I

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met in the early 90s and at the
time he was already at High end

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Systems and I was at Martin.
And one thing I would say is

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Craig was a fierce but fair and
fun competitor.

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And, you know, every time we saw
each other at trade shows, at,

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you know, bars at trade shows,
inevitably and or even, you

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know, crossed paths at a
customer demo or whatever it

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was, Craig was always super
cool.

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He'd, you know, we'd hug or we'd
shake hands or whatever it was.

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And we could always have a beer
as buddies and you know, and

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then try and gut each other in
the sale, you know, try, try to

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kill each other in a sale, but
but hugging it out at the bar

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afterwards or whatever, right.
It reminds me of UFC fighters.

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But you know, I we just hit it
off right away.

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I always said this guys cool.
You know, I I love high end

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systems.
I really like Craig.

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I really like Robert Mochrie.
I really like Richard Bellevue

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and Lowell Fowler.
Like he was just one of those

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guys that was just such a cool
part of such a cool company.

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And you know, to me, Craig,
Robert, Richard Lowell, Bob, you

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know, they symbolized what high
end was.

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And and you know, really that to
me was the company when all

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those guys were gone, that
company to me in a lot of ways

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just disappeared because, you
know, product is product is

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product.
I think we're showing that right

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now.
The industry is showing that,

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you know, everybody's got really
great products.

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So at the end of the day, it
really still comes down to who

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the people are that you're
dealing with in these companies.

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And you know, to me, Craig was
one of the founders of that

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philosophy.
And as was I, I probably was as

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well.
I had a lot of friends when I

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worked at moving light
companies.

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And you know, some of those
friends were competitors, some

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were customers, some were
whatever.

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And then, you know, eventually I
left Martin and I got a really

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weird call from High End to come
and meet with them and possibly

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join them.
And I did meet with them and

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they pretty much rolled out the
red carpet and brought me on to

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their team.
Again, a funny story, me and

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Wiseman, both the exact same
day, started in the company and

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we were both a secret.
So we both showed up in their

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building and everyone just kind
of went, what are these guys

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doing here?
And you know, even Craig didn't

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know.
Craig Mochrie, they didn't know.

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So when we showed up, they kind
of went, whoa, what is going on

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here?
And you know, one of the stories

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I don't think I've ever shared
is, is Craig and I Craig took me

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under his wing on his first
Northeast or on my first NE road

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trip as a high end employee.
And Craig always handled the

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northeaster, not always, but for
a long period of time, Craig

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handled the Northeast for high
end.

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And so he introduced me to Itis.
That was I think the first time

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I met Itis was with Craig on
this road trip in 1997, I

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believe.
And we were in a meeting with

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Dean Danowitz at Starlight, one
of the local competitors to Main

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light and still very successful
company.

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And I met Dean.
He introduced me to Dean.

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And remember some of these
people, I didn't know them

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because back in the early days
of moving lights, you had your

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brand, you were a high end
house, you were a very

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lighthouse, you were a Clay Paki
house, you were a Martin house.

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And you really didn't cross over
those lines very often.

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So I didn't have access, plus I
didn't have the product to

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compete with high end in most
cases, but I didn't have access

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to the high end dealers,
customers.

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And so whenever, you know, high
end had these, you know, like

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the main lights of the world
generally, there were people

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that I could wave to at a trade
show and they might know who I

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am, but I was never selling them
product.

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I didn't have a relationship
with them.

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So anyways, we're sitting in
Dean Danowitz's office and I

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don't think we had any product
with us.

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But Dean wanted to bring up a
complaint and Craig said, shoot,

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bring it.
And he says the Nebula Hazer,

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you know, you made me buy eight
of these things or whatever

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number it was 4, two, I don't
even remember.

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But you made me buy these nebula
hazers.

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And those of you who are young
probably don't remember that

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High End made a product called a
Nebula Hazer.

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Nebula was a cool name for it.
It was nebulous.

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It was, it was probably not the
best product High End ever made.

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And Dean made us very much aware
of that.

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Dean said Craig, The thing is
shit.

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And Craig didn't even try to
defend it.

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Like he'd, and I'm sorry, Lowell
and Richard, if you're

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listening.
But instead of trying to defend

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a bad product, Craig had the
greatest line.

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And I, I remember it almost
verbatim right up to this day.

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And I've used it myself a couple
of times since then.

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But Craig just in his Texas
accent said, well, you know,

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everyone has to kick out a turd
every now and then.

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And I just cracked up.
And Dean tried to hold the

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straight, straight face and then
he cracked up as well.

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And, you know, it's just to this
day, it strikes me as one of the

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greatest all time comebacks to,
you know, your product is shit.

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He just said, you're right, it's
shit.

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And every once in a while you
make a mistake, we make a

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mistake.
But the way he said it was, you

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know, everyone kicks out a turd
eventually.

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And yeah, it was just classic
Craig.

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You know, he wasn't going to
lie.

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You know, he wasn't going to
make up excuses and and tell you

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our products great.
And you just don't know how to

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use it properly or whatever.
That just wasn't him.

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And right up until last week,
you know, I mean, that's just

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how Craig conducted himself.
It's how he did business.

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And it's probably why he has so
many friends who have been his

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customers for 25 or 30 years.
You know, another thing is

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during COVID, Craig and I spoke
pretty much weekly.

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You know, Craig was quite often,
if not always part of the weekly

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Zoom calls that I was doing and
really showed a lot of

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leadership on those calls and,
and just mentorship and guys,

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we're going to get through this,
you know, don't worry, we'll get

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through this.
But in between those, those

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happy hour calls that I was
doing every Wednesday, him and I

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would speak often and you know,
of course he was going through

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what he was going through as
well.

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His his illness.
And I think during COVID he had,

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he was sort of on an in between
where he was kind of healthy.

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And then at some point during
COVID, he had to fight it again.

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But, you know, we would speak
about issues in the industry,

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challenges in the industry,
solutions to some of those

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challenges.
But most of all, we would talk

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about humans.
We would talk about people and

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how they were hurting and how we
could help.

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And as everyone knows, and I
know as well as anyone does,

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Craig loved and cared deeply
about humans.

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I mean, you know, to me, it's
probably his greatest trait is

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that he was genuine and he
really cared about people.

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He loved people and he showed
it.

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You know, he, he gave the best
hugs and, you know, he was

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always smiling.
He was always nice and fun and

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happy to be around and always
brought the room up.

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You know, never brought it down,
always brought it up.

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And, you know, I wish I could
live as as happy and and

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grateful and cheerful as Craig
did.

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And so most recently, Craig
called me on a Thursday, I think

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a Thursday or Friday, and it was
the week of the Miami Grand

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Prix.
And he says, Marcel, as luck

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would have it, I have an extra
ticket.

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In fact, I have two.
And they have your name and your

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son, the racing driver, Jeremy's
name on them.

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I'd love for you to come.
And so of course, we took him up

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on it.
He knew I was a fan and he knew

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my son was a driver and, and
would probably, you know, do

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backflips to, to get into that
race.

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And so not only did we get into
the race, but I mean, Roby did

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it right.
Like, you know, the, the suite

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that they had or the, the room
that we were a part of was

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incredible.
It's the first time I've ever

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watched a race in air
conditioning.

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And other than being in the
house watching it on television,

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of course, but it was
incredible.

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The group who were there were
really nice people.

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I appreciated it and I was very
grateful to be a part of it.

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But more so my son was super,
super grateful.

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And after the weekend, Jeremy
said to me, Dad, that guy Craig

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is one of the nicest guys I've
ever met.

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He really was a great guy.
And he was.

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And to be perfectly honest,
Jeremy, when I told him on

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Friday that Craig had passed
away, he was like, no, dad, no,

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that's just not fair.
Like that guy is a great guy,

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but you know, as as Jeremy knows
and I know and we all know, I'm

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00:13:56,320 --> 00:14:00,560
not telling you any secrets
here, but unfortunately the good

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00:14:00,560 --> 00:14:05,120
guys go to And so.
But yeah, while I was at that

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00:14:05,120 --> 00:14:08,560
race with Craig, you know, I'm
so happy I got to do that

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00:14:08,560 --> 00:14:12,320
because I feel like we just
closed a lot of loops.

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00:14:12,320 --> 00:14:15,840
We had a lot of conversations,
deep conversations about life,

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00:14:16,640 --> 00:14:22,800
about his health and about
business, about Roby, about

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00:14:22,800 --> 00:14:27,400
other companies in the industry.
And we, we just got to spend

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00:14:27,400 --> 00:14:30,960
some quiet time together, him
and I like two or three hours of

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00:14:30,960 --> 00:14:34,200
real deep conversation and I
loved it.

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00:14:34,280 --> 00:14:38,400
And I feel like he loved it too.
We walked away from it better

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00:14:38,400 --> 00:14:44,120
people, both of us.
And so unfortunately, I had no

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00:14:44,120 --> 00:14:46,800
idea that two weeks later he was
going to be gone.

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00:14:47,320 --> 00:14:49,760
Otherwise, you know, the hug
that I gave him at the end,

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00:14:49,760 --> 00:14:53,680
which was a really great Craig
hug, but it would have been

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00:14:53,680 --> 00:14:55,400
different.
It would have lasted longer.

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00:14:56,960 --> 00:15:00,560
I probably would have squeezed a
little harder and I might have

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00:15:00,560 --> 00:15:01,800
stayed longer too.
I don't know.

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00:15:01,800 --> 00:15:04,120
I might have stayed and had
dinner with them that night or

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00:15:04,120 --> 00:15:06,400
something.
But I'll miss him.

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00:15:07,080 --> 00:15:09,400
I love that guy.
He's an amazing guy.

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00:15:09,400 --> 00:15:14,840
He was a good friend to me for
30 years and to so many of you

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00:15:14,840 --> 00:15:16,600
and to so many others in the
industry.

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00:15:16,600 --> 00:15:24,840
So see on the other side, buddy.
So with that said, let's lighten

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00:15:24,840 --> 00:15:27,400
it up a little bit.
So Roe, one of our great

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00:15:27,400 --> 00:15:30,760
sponsors, was at the Cannes Film
Film Festival last week and they

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00:15:30,760 --> 00:15:35,560
showcased the power of virtual
production in cooperation with

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00:15:36,400 --> 00:15:40,400
Faber Stipe, whatever that is,
and the Institute of Immersive

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00:15:40,400 --> 00:15:43,720
Media, 77th Annual Cannes Film
Festival.

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00:15:43,720 --> 00:15:47,720
So that was a pretty big event
for Roe, and I'm sure it went

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00:15:47,720 --> 00:15:49,800
over big.
They just can't seem to help

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00:15:49,800 --> 00:15:53,040
from winning right now.
So Roe is on top of the world

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00:15:53,040 --> 00:15:55,640
and deservedly so.
I mean, they made the

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00:15:55,640 --> 00:15:59,000
investment, they built the right
products, they've done a lot of

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00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:01,360
the right things.
So good on them and we're super

257
00:16:01,360 --> 00:16:05,400
proud and happy to have them as
a supporter and sponsor of

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00:16:05,440 --> 00:16:08,840
pieces of gear.
And of course, it would not be

259
00:16:09,320 --> 00:16:12,320
geese of gear in 2024 without an
AI update.

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00:16:12,720 --> 00:16:17,480
So a few things that I tripped
over on my way to this podcast.

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00:16:18,400 --> 00:16:23,200
George Lucas has stepped into
the conversation about AI in in

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00:16:23,200 --> 00:16:26,200
movies and film making and
writing and stuff.

263
00:16:26,520 --> 00:16:29,680
And you know that there have
been even strikes over this

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00:16:29,680 --> 00:16:33,280
where, you know, everybody is
saying, you know, we want to be

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00:16:33,280 --> 00:16:36,440
protected from AI.
We want a piece of, you know,

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00:16:36,440 --> 00:16:42,840
whatever, you know, I keep
saying it like get on the bus or

267
00:16:42,840 --> 00:16:45,000
get under the bus.
It's going to be one of the two.

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00:16:46,200 --> 00:16:52,520
And so basically what Lucas said
is that AI and film making is

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00:16:52,520 --> 00:16:55,480
inevitable.
Despite whatever resistance is

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00:16:55,480 --> 00:17:00,840
against it, whatever headwinds
it has, it's inevitable and it's

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00:17:00,840 --> 00:17:04,079
coming.
And so I was just thinking, does

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00:17:04,079 --> 00:17:06,760
that ring a bell for any of us
in this industry?

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00:17:06,760 --> 00:17:10,160
You know, I mean, this is George
Lucas of Star Wars fame.

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00:17:10,160 --> 00:17:13,800
He's, you know, one of the the
big daddies out there.

275
00:17:13,800 --> 00:17:18,200
And he's saying it's inevitable
and you got to get comfortable

276
00:17:18,200 --> 00:17:21,680
with it.
And although he does still say

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00:17:21,680 --> 00:17:24,160
that, he believes it's going to
be a tool that's going to make

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00:17:24,160 --> 00:17:27,160
people more creative.
But there are going to be

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00:17:27,160 --> 00:17:31,040
massive components of films that
will be completely generated by

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00:17:31,040 --> 00:17:36,360
AI.
XAI, Elon Musk's company, AI

281
00:17:36,360 --> 00:17:39,880
company, which sits alongside
Tesla and SpaceX and all of the

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00:17:39,880 --> 00:17:46,840
other ones got a $6 billion
investment, which raised his his

283
00:17:46,840 --> 00:17:52,040
cap, his valuation post money to
$24 billion.

284
00:17:52,560 --> 00:17:57,400
And of course, he and they have
big plans ahead.

285
00:17:57,720 --> 00:18:00,840
I wouldn't bet against Elon Musk
and Xai.

286
00:18:01,080 --> 00:18:04,560
One of the things I like about
Elon being in this space is that

287
00:18:04,560 --> 00:18:09,160
he is very conscious about the
bad side, the downside of AI.

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00:18:09,400 --> 00:18:12,200
He's very careful.
He wants regulation, He wants

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00:18:12,200 --> 00:18:18,000
some limits.
And so I'm pretty happy with the

290
00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:21,000
fact that he got a big
investment and he got it from

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00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:26,240
like all of the big names,
Sequoia Capital and Andreessen

292
00:18:26,240 --> 00:18:33,440
Horowitz and, you know, all of
the big Silicon Valley VC

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00:18:33,440 --> 00:18:36,000
investors.
So that tells me that they

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00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:38,200
expect him to do really well.
And I like that.

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00:18:38,960 --> 00:18:42,320
And by the way, as a side note,
has anyone noticed that the B

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00:18:42,600 --> 00:18:47,240
has replaced the M when it comes
to talking financial numbers?

297
00:18:47,520 --> 00:18:50,240
Like there's nobody talks about
millions anymore.

298
00:18:50,240 --> 00:18:52,800
It's billions.
It's crazy how this has

299
00:18:52,800 --> 00:18:54,920
happened.
Like I've been noticing this for

300
00:18:54,920 --> 00:18:58,640
the last year or so.
We don't talk about millionaires

301
00:18:58,640 --> 00:19:00,240
anymore.
We talk about billionaires.

302
00:19:00,240 --> 00:19:02,520
We don't talk about valuations
in millions.

303
00:19:02,520 --> 00:19:06,040
We talk about it in billions.
I remember not that long ago

304
00:19:06,040 --> 00:19:10,240
when people were blown away that
Facebook got a valuation, or I

305
00:19:10,240 --> 00:19:12,760
think it was Instagram got a
valuation of a billion dollars

306
00:19:12,760 --> 00:19:16,040
or got a billion dollar deal, or
YouTube got a billion dollar

307
00:19:16,040 --> 00:19:19,120
valuation or whatever it was.
I mean, imagine those

308
00:19:19,320 --> 00:19:23,240
evaluations today, like YouTube
looks like a frickin bargain

309
00:19:23,240 --> 00:19:26,160
basement deal that Google got
when they bought YouTube for a

310
00:19:26,160 --> 00:19:28,760
billion dollars.
Like it's, I don't know what

311
00:19:28,760 --> 00:19:32,080
it's worth, but I would guess
YouTube is worth $100 billion

312
00:19:32,080 --> 00:19:35,160
today.
So that to me was probably a

313
00:19:35,160 --> 00:19:37,120
pretty safe bet.
It's probably worth more than

314
00:19:37,120 --> 00:19:39,840
$100 billion.
If you think of the platform

315
00:19:39,840 --> 00:19:42,320
that YouTube has now and the
number of users they have and

316
00:19:42,320 --> 00:19:46,240
the amount of content that they
have, it's unbelievable.

317
00:19:47,840 --> 00:19:54,560
Netflix CEO says AI won't write
better screenplays or surpass

318
00:19:54,560 --> 00:19:58,080
great performances.
Instead, those who use AI

319
00:19:58,080 --> 00:20:01,640
effectively might pose a
competitive edge.

320
00:20:01,840 --> 00:20:05,280
Again, does this ring a bell?
I've talked about this a whole

321
00:20:05,280 --> 00:20:08,960
bunch of times on the podcast.
I think lighting designers and

322
00:20:08,960 --> 00:20:12,680
lighting operators in front of
house engineers and video

323
00:20:12,680 --> 00:20:15,760
directors and creative directors
of all kinds.

324
00:20:16,240 --> 00:20:20,920
Will be better at their job
because of AI, not replaced by

325
00:20:21,000 --> 00:20:23,040
AI.
And those are the ones who

326
00:20:23,040 --> 00:20:25,320
embrace it, especially the ones
who embrace it early.

327
00:20:26,360 --> 00:20:30,040
Get on it, folks.
What else?

328
00:20:30,040 --> 00:20:33,240
So I mentioned earlier that I'm
using a different microphone.

329
00:20:33,240 --> 00:20:34,880
You can probably see it.
You probably hear the

330
00:20:34,880 --> 00:20:36,400
difference.
Let me know how it sounds.

331
00:20:37,640 --> 00:20:43,800
But I have shipped off my normal
podcasting system, the mixer and

332
00:20:43,800 --> 00:20:46,880
the microphone and everything,
even the red mic cord that

333
00:20:46,880 --> 00:20:50,520
you're so accustomed to seeing
right here has shipped off to

334
00:20:50,520 --> 00:20:53,800
Canada.
So my car left yesterday

335
00:20:53,800 --> 00:20:57,400
morning.
So said son decided he really

336
00:20:57,400 --> 00:20:59,200
wanted to drive my car to
Canada.

337
00:20:59,200 --> 00:21:01,640
I was just going to rent one in
Canada.

338
00:21:03,040 --> 00:21:05,840
And he said Nah, I want to drive
it up there.

339
00:21:05,840 --> 00:21:11,920
So he took my BMW and him and
his buddy O2 B 20 again, you

340
00:21:11,920 --> 00:21:15,040
know, but him and his buddy left
Florida yesterday morning and

341
00:21:15,040 --> 00:21:19,120
they're somewhere in Texas right
now as I am recording this and

342
00:21:19,240 --> 00:21:21,840
having a great time.
You know, they found some hotel

343
00:21:21,840 --> 00:21:26,760
in Alabama last night and next
to a skate park.

344
00:21:26,760 --> 00:21:29,440
And so they brought their
skateboards and scooters and

345
00:21:29,440 --> 00:21:32,040
stuff and they they went and hit
the skate park before getting

346
00:21:32,040 --> 00:21:34,760
back on the road again.
So yeah, they're having a great

347
00:21:34,760 --> 00:21:36,520
old time.
But anyways, my podcast system

348
00:21:36,520 --> 00:21:40,200
went with them up to Canada,
along with my pizza oven.

349
00:21:40,200 --> 00:21:42,680
My uni pizza oven is on its way
to Canada.

350
00:21:42,680 --> 00:21:45,600
So pizza parties for all who are
in Canada, come on over.

351
00:21:46,320 --> 00:21:49,920
And what else?
If you want to be a guest on

352
00:21:49,920 --> 00:21:54,600
this podcast, please, we want
you again, the bar to become a

353
00:21:54,600 --> 00:21:57,560
guest isn't incredibly high,
it's high.

354
00:21:58,600 --> 00:22:00,920
We want you to be interesting.
Are you interesting?

355
00:22:00,920 --> 00:22:02,920
Are you funny?
Do you have some great stories?

356
00:22:02,920 --> 00:22:05,320
Do you like to talk?
Do you like to share those

357
00:22:05,320 --> 00:22:07,640
stories?
We'd love to have you as a guest

358
00:22:07,640 --> 00:22:11,040
on the podcast.
So contact Sarah, our producer,

359
00:22:11,880 --> 00:22:15,920
and it's an easy e-mail address,
producer@geezersofgear.com.

360
00:22:16,280 --> 00:22:19,640
And she will do a little
screening to make sure that you

361
00:22:19,640 --> 00:22:23,920
meet that massive criteria that
we require and she'll get you

362
00:22:23,920 --> 00:22:26,760
scheduled.
So it's as easy as that and we'd

363
00:22:26,760 --> 00:22:29,280
love to have you.
And remember if you're listening

364
00:22:29,280 --> 00:22:32,120
to this, like and subscribe
wherever you're watching or

365
00:22:32,120 --> 00:22:35,400
listening to it, that helps me
and helps us tremendously.

366
00:22:35,400 --> 00:22:38,720
It helps grow the podcast.
And as I've said before, as we

367
00:22:38,720 --> 00:22:42,360
grow the podcast, it becomes
better for listeners, it becomes

368
00:22:42,360 --> 00:22:44,560
better for guests, and it
becomes better, of course, for

369
00:22:44,560 --> 00:22:46,520
our sponsors as well.
So we appreciate you.

370
00:22:46,520 --> 00:22:49,600
Please like and subscribe,
comment even if you hate it.

371
00:22:49,600 --> 00:22:53,760
I don't mind those comments.
I've had my butt ripped out by

372
00:22:53,760 --> 00:22:57,400
some of these people commenting
about myself driving car

373
00:22:57,760 --> 00:22:59,200
comments.
It's OK.

374
00:22:59,200 --> 00:23:00,760
I don't profess to know
everything.

375
00:23:00,760 --> 00:23:04,920
I just like to talk a lot.
So thank you again for liking

376
00:23:04,920 --> 00:23:08,800
and subscribing to our podcast.
And so today's guest is going to

377
00:23:08,800 --> 00:23:11,840
be a popular one.
This will be probably listened

378
00:23:11,840 --> 00:23:14,120
to a lot.
Right up there with some of the

379
00:23:14,120 --> 00:23:20,800
most recent really great ones.
But Mike Finn Finocchiaro, and

380
00:23:20,800 --> 00:23:26,640
I'm sure I butchered that.
Finn is a 25 year veteran of the

381
00:23:26,640 --> 00:23:29,480
live event industry.
With roots as a touring lighting

382
00:23:29,480 --> 00:23:33,120
technician and a successful
career in event production, Mike

383
00:23:33,120 --> 00:23:35,600
has grown to be one of the most
well respected production

384
00:23:35,600 --> 00:23:39,280
managers working today.
Over two decades spent touring

385
00:23:39,280 --> 00:23:42,720
the world, Mike honed his skills
as a master of organization

386
00:23:42,840 --> 00:23:45,640
while overcoming some of the
most technically challenging

387
00:23:45,640 --> 00:23:49,000
production designs, venues, and
event logistics.

388
00:23:49,000 --> 00:23:53,480
In the process, Mike developed a
heightened sense of efficiency,

389
00:23:53,680 --> 00:23:57,920
reliability, and diplomacy as
his production experience grew

390
00:23:57,920 --> 00:24:00,760
throughout the years.
Now operating with a broadened

391
00:24:00,760 --> 00:24:03,920
scope, Mike leads a production
team with the same ideals.

392
00:24:04,800 --> 00:24:08,920
Big Fin Productions is the
byproduct of over 25 years of

393
00:24:08,920 --> 00:24:13,440
workflow development, bringing
countless productions to life.

394
00:24:13,480 --> 00:24:16,520
As a production partner, Big Fin
Productions delivers top level

395
00:24:16,520 --> 00:24:20,880
shows on time and on budget.
With a deep pool of resources

396
00:24:20,880 --> 00:24:23,840
and a passion for streamline
production, Big Fin Productions

397
00:24:23,840 --> 00:24:26,840
has become a go to for
successful production

398
00:24:26,840 --> 00:24:30,600
management.
Please welcome Mike Finn.

399
00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:38,480
What is it?
It's Tuesday.

400
00:24:38,680 --> 00:24:41,360
I these Monday holiday things
messed me up.

401
00:24:41,360 --> 00:24:43,720
Screw you up, right?
They messed me up man.

402
00:24:43,840 --> 00:24:47,760
It feels like Monday.
It does and well, it feels like

403
00:24:48,080 --> 00:24:52,560
super Monday because I came in
today with exponentially 2 days

404
00:24:52,560 --> 00:24:54,960
worth of work, right?
It just seems like more than if

405
00:24:54,960 --> 00:24:58,200
it was a regular Monday Tuesday
with all the Monday stuff piled

406
00:24:58,200 --> 00:24:58,960
on top of it.
But we're.

407
00:24:59,080 --> 00:25:01,320
Going to do you still travel or
or?

408
00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:05,240
I do.
I try to stick in Vegas as much

409
00:25:05,240 --> 00:25:06,920
as I can.
I'm back and forth between Vegas

410
00:25:06,920 --> 00:25:09,320
and LA.
We're looking to open up a venue

411
00:25:09,320 --> 00:25:11,280
in LA.
That's one of our next projects

412
00:25:11,280 --> 00:25:12,840
here, one of the next phases of
my life.

413
00:25:12,840 --> 00:25:16,760
But I do try to stick close to
home and, you know, just take

414
00:25:16,760 --> 00:25:19,760
short trips, go in, get job
started, things like that and

415
00:25:19,760 --> 00:25:22,400
then, you know, and then get
back to it because, you know, we

416
00:25:22,400 --> 00:25:24,840
got a lot going on here.
Vegas is our base operations

417
00:25:24,840 --> 00:25:28,680
for, you know, the whole US.
So every time I leave, I come

418
00:25:28,680 --> 00:25:30,520
back to a pile of work.
Like we were saying earlier, I

419
00:25:30,520 --> 00:25:32,640
like to be around and stay on
top of it.

420
00:25:33,080 --> 00:25:37,320
Yeah, when you talk about a a
venue in LA, So what's what's

421
00:25:37,320 --> 00:25:40,360
that all about?
You know, after all these years

422
00:25:40,360 --> 00:25:43,560
of doing what I'm doing, I kind
of and working in venues all

423
00:25:43,560 --> 00:25:45,840
over the planet, I want my own
space.

424
00:25:45,840 --> 00:25:49,360
You know, we're thinking like
maybe like old school, bring

425
00:25:49,360 --> 00:25:52,640
some of that old school back,
like cabaret dinner style, like

426
00:25:52,760 --> 00:25:55,960
with the big booths, like
picture Elvis in Vegas back in

427
00:25:55,960 --> 00:26:00,800
the 70s with, with some good
acts, you know, to just really

428
00:26:00,800 --> 00:26:03,400
bring some like quality
entertainment and just have a

429
00:26:03,400 --> 00:26:06,200
good time.
Like just kind of spend some of

430
00:26:06,200 --> 00:26:09,040
my years living out my vision
and just having it, having it my

431
00:26:09,040 --> 00:26:09,480
way.
That's.

432
00:26:09,480 --> 00:26:11,280
Kind of good for you man, Good
for you.

433
00:26:11,440 --> 00:26:15,720
Sounds fun and So what kind of
music are you envisioning?

434
00:26:15,720 --> 00:26:17,360
Or just all kinds?
Whatever.

435
00:26:17,400 --> 00:26:19,440
I mean, I always, you know,
we're, we're definitely going in

436
00:26:19,440 --> 00:26:23,840
the, you know, in a glam
Hollywood kind of style.

437
00:26:24,440 --> 00:26:27,720
My girlfriend and I are looking
at doing something that's like

438
00:26:27,840 --> 00:26:31,880
an adult Hollywood, maybe do
some burlesque, some comedy,

439
00:26:32,080 --> 00:26:33,960
that kind of stuff, you know,
just something up.

440
00:26:34,520 --> 00:26:36,000
Yeah.
Something fun, something that

441
00:26:36,000 --> 00:26:38,880
we, we enjoy putting on.
And, you know, nothing too big,

442
00:26:38,880 --> 00:26:41,720
nothing too crazy.
I don't wanna have my life

443
00:26:41,720 --> 00:26:44,080
revolve around it.
I wanna be part of it and I

444
00:26:44,080 --> 00:26:45,880
wanna enjoy it.
I wanted to be something that I

445
00:26:45,880 --> 00:26:49,440
could go enjoy outside of the
business that I'm in right now,

446
00:26:49,440 --> 00:26:51,240
you know, I mean, so.
Have you already got the space?

447
00:26:51,240 --> 00:26:53,440
Like how far are you?
Or is it still just an idea?

448
00:26:53,640 --> 00:26:55,720
New into it.
We just started looking at

449
00:26:55,720 --> 00:26:58,240
spaces online.
We've talked to a few Realtors.

450
00:26:58,800 --> 00:26:59,760
We're just really getting it
going.

451
00:26:59,800 --> 00:27:02,120
Like six months I think is where
we're really talking about like

452
00:27:02,120 --> 00:27:03,440
being able to jump into this
thing.

453
00:27:03,760 --> 00:27:05,800
Very cool.
Good luck with that man.

454
00:27:05,800 --> 00:27:06,520
Yeah.
Thanks.

455
00:27:06,760 --> 00:27:09,240
I I'll have to check it out when
I'm in LA.

456
00:27:09,240 --> 00:27:11,680
I'm, I'm on the board for a
company that's in LA.

457
00:27:11,680 --> 00:27:13,000
So I'm getting there a lot more
now.

458
00:27:13,000 --> 00:27:16,200
I hadn't gone and I don't know,
four years or something since

459
00:27:16,240 --> 00:27:18,960
before COVID, but now I'm there
every quarter for.

460
00:27:18,960 --> 00:27:21,760
Boarding out there I love guess
what I'm in Vegas, but I love

461
00:27:21,760 --> 00:27:23,320
the ocean.
I love being out there.

462
00:27:23,320 --> 00:27:26,560
I love the weather.
I just that just a different set

463
00:27:26,560 --> 00:27:31,160
of I don't know a different set
of weather every day.

464
00:27:31,200 --> 00:27:33,000
That's what I like.
I like to be able to be like

465
00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:35,360
feel that feel the ocean around
me, that kind of stuff.

466
00:27:35,360 --> 00:27:38,800
You know, the desert is it's got
its own thing, it's it's own

467
00:27:38,800 --> 00:27:41,240
benefits and it's pluses and
everything, but I definitely dig

468
00:27:41,240 --> 00:27:42,000
the ocean too.
So I.

469
00:27:42,960 --> 00:27:45,400
Things don't really change a lot
with the weather in Vegas, no.

470
00:27:45,920 --> 00:27:47,680
No, it's the same.
And then it gets hot and that's

471
00:27:47,800 --> 00:27:50,120
it, you know, And it's nice.
I enjoy it.

472
00:27:50,120 --> 00:27:53,200
I'm a car guy, a motorcycle guy,
so I definitely dig the weather

473
00:27:53,200 --> 00:27:55,440
and that capacity.
But I like the ocean.

474
00:27:55,440 --> 00:27:58,000
I think it's very calming and I
think in my later years that's

475
00:27:58,000 --> 00:27:59,040
that's where I want to be
hanging.

476
00:27:59,040 --> 00:28:00,200
Out.
Yeah, I'm with you.

477
00:28:00,200 --> 00:28:01,920
I love the ocean.
You're down there in Florida,

478
00:28:01,920 --> 00:28:03,040
you get it.
That's that's important.

479
00:28:03,400 --> 00:28:06,280
You know, and everyone always
says, and I don't necessarily

480
00:28:06,280 --> 00:28:08,640
agree, but I kind of do.
I guess if you took it away from

481
00:28:08,640 --> 00:28:11,280
me, I'd probably agree.
But I have a house in the

482
00:28:11,280 --> 00:28:16,480
mountains in Canada, in the
Rockies and, and I live in South

483
00:28:16,480 --> 00:28:19,560
Florida and everyone says, oh,
my God, you have the best of

484
00:28:19,560 --> 00:28:21,680
both worlds.
And sorta, yeah.

485
00:28:21,720 --> 00:28:25,120
I mean, and, and I'm kind of for
the first time ever, the past

486
00:28:25,120 --> 00:28:26,880
couple of years, I've been
taking advantage of it.

487
00:28:26,880 --> 00:28:32,120
Like I go, I'm leaving next week
and I'll be there until, I don't

488
00:28:32,120 --> 00:28:36,040
know, October or something.
And and then I come back here

489
00:28:36,040 --> 00:28:40,160
when it's getting freezing cold
up in Western Canada and come

490
00:28:40,160 --> 00:28:42,000
back to South Florida.
It's probably getting hot right

491
00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:43,720
now, right where you're at.
I mean, yeah, it's somewhere.

492
00:28:43,720 --> 00:28:46,160
It's probably starting to get
that sticky right.

493
00:28:46,160 --> 00:28:51,440
Yeah, I'm in, I'm in Palm Beach.
But it's been unseasonably hot.

494
00:28:51,440 --> 00:28:55,280
Like it got into the high 90s a
couple weeks ago in in early May

495
00:28:55,280 --> 00:28:57,280
and that typically doesn't
happen.

496
00:28:57,280 --> 00:29:00,720
But yeah, it's it's unseasonably
hot right now, so.

497
00:29:00,960 --> 00:29:02,640
So you're going to bail?
It's, I get it, smart, unless

498
00:29:02,640 --> 00:29:03,720
it's good to have options,
right?

499
00:29:04,000 --> 00:29:07,480
Yeah, yeah, I mean, the only
downside in Western Canada

500
00:29:07,480 --> 00:29:10,120
recently has been, you know, the
fires.

501
00:29:10,120 --> 00:29:15,040
So like last year was good.
The year before that was there

502
00:29:15,040 --> 00:29:18,600
was just so much smoke and, and
most houses up there, mine

503
00:29:18,600 --> 00:29:20,120
included, don't have air
conditioning.

504
00:29:20,120 --> 00:29:24,800
So you leave windows and doors
open and when, when it's brutal

505
00:29:25,120 --> 00:29:27,520
smoke, you want to close your
windows and stuff so you don't

506
00:29:27,520 --> 00:29:31,560
have that stuff blowing in, but
it's just so hot then inside and

507
00:29:31,560 --> 00:29:34,600
there's no air moving.
And so, yeah, it, it can get

508
00:29:34,760 --> 00:29:37,200
crappy because of the smoke.
But other than that, I mean,

509
00:29:37,720 --> 00:29:41,880
like, it'll be cool one day down
into the, you know, high 30s,

510
00:29:41,880 --> 00:29:44,120
low 40s at night.
And then the next day it'll go

511
00:29:44,120 --> 00:29:47,040
up to, you know, 82 or 83 or
whatever.

512
00:29:47,160 --> 00:29:49,440
Well, hopefully the Fires keep
to a minimum, right?

513
00:29:49,440 --> 00:29:51,680
I mean, that's, yeah, that's the
win, win right there for you.

514
00:29:51,760 --> 00:29:55,840
Yeah, yeah, I mean, it's been a
shitty season so far, but who

515
00:29:55,840 --> 00:29:57,600
knows?
Like, they need a bunch of rain,

516
00:29:57,600 --> 00:30:00,480
and that'll calm the fires down.
Hopefully.

517
00:30:00,800 --> 00:30:01,760
Yeah, Hopefully.
So.

518
00:30:03,880 --> 00:30:06,520
Over 25 years in the industry.
What's that?

519
00:30:06,680 --> 00:30:07,440
How?
How long?

520
00:30:07,480 --> 00:30:10,920
30 now that you you pulled up an
old website that was that was

521
00:30:10,920 --> 00:30:12,400
Big Fin Productions.
We made that.

522
00:30:12,720 --> 00:30:14,200
Yeah, you can.
I looked at the picture.

523
00:30:14,200 --> 00:30:15,720
I'm like, man, I don't look like
that anymore.

524
00:30:15,960 --> 00:30:18,520
That was, that was a couple
years ago for sure.

525
00:30:18,920 --> 00:30:23,040
Yeah. 2015 when we launched Big
Fin, Big Fin Productions.

526
00:30:23,640 --> 00:30:27,040
Yeah, we, we were Mike Finn
Productions for from 2006 on.

527
00:30:27,040 --> 00:30:30,960
2015 we decided to make it more
of an entity and instead of just

528
00:30:30,960 --> 00:30:33,320
me, Mike Finn expected me to be
on every job.

529
00:30:33,320 --> 00:30:36,400
Once we became Big Finn, it
really opened up a lot of

530
00:30:36,400 --> 00:30:39,960
opportunity for us to have a, a
people in place and staff in

531
00:30:39,960 --> 00:30:44,400
place instead of just myself.
So we did that. 2015, the newest

532
00:30:44,680 --> 00:30:47,680
incarnation that works hand in
hand with Big Finn Productions

533
00:30:47,680 --> 00:30:50,800
and all the other Big Finn SLC.
Some of the other companies that

534
00:30:50,800 --> 00:30:53,720
we have is a big fit
international and that's the

535
00:30:53,800 --> 00:30:55,960
newest website there.
That's where I actually look the

536
00:30:55,960 --> 00:30:58,080
way that I do now.
A little heavier snack, a little

537
00:30:58,080 --> 00:31:01,240
beard, but we're we're about, I
started in 93.

538
00:31:01,240 --> 00:31:04,680
So we're about, you know, 3030
plus years in at this point.

539
00:31:04,880 --> 00:31:06,320
Wow.
Yeah, it's been a long.

540
00:31:06,480 --> 00:31:08,480
Run it's and.
It goes fast.

541
00:31:08,760 --> 00:31:11,040
Yeah, well, trust me, I know.
I get it.

542
00:31:11,040 --> 00:31:13,880
I'm, I'm, I've got a big
birthday in a couple of weeks,

543
00:31:13,880 --> 00:31:17,000
so I'm not super excited about
that one.

544
00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:21,720
But you know, the, the flip side
of of having a big birthday is

545
00:31:21,720 --> 00:31:24,400
not having a big birthday.
So I guess I'll take it.

546
00:31:24,560 --> 00:31:25,840
It's the best years of our life
man.

547
00:31:25,840 --> 00:31:27,600
I'll say that.
I had a lot of fun in the past,

548
00:31:27,600 --> 00:31:30,920
but right now I am truly living
my best life.

549
00:31:31,360 --> 00:31:33,200
Good for you.
Well, it's where I want to be.

550
00:31:33,240 --> 00:31:35,600
I don't regret one second of of
where I've been.

551
00:31:35,600 --> 00:31:39,320
It's been a hell of a ride.
And you know, I'm ready for all

552
00:31:39,320 --> 00:31:41,200
the next chapters.
And that's where the venue comes

553
00:31:41,200 --> 00:31:42,400
in.
We're doing a lot of charity

554
00:31:42,400 --> 00:31:45,040
work.
I mean, everything that I have

555
00:31:45,040 --> 00:31:47,680
an opportunity to do now that I
definitely wouldn't have been

556
00:31:47,680 --> 00:31:50,360
able to do 10 years ago or even
ago, so.

557
00:31:50,360 --> 00:31:52,880
Well, yeah, I mean, having some
success and knowledge and

558
00:31:52,880 --> 00:31:56,600
experience and stuff puts you in
a position where you get to use

559
00:31:56,600 --> 00:31:58,520
those things for.
You do what you want to do

560
00:31:58,520 --> 00:31:59,760
instead of what you have to do,
right?

561
00:31:59,760 --> 00:32:00,920
That's the goal.
That's.

562
00:32:01,080 --> 00:32:03,280
The goal?
Doing what you want to do and

563
00:32:03,280 --> 00:32:08,160
and change the world in a way
that that you see benefiting all

564
00:32:08,160 --> 00:32:10,440
instead of yeah.
Yeah, my girlfriend asked me all

565
00:32:10,440 --> 00:32:12,080
the time, you know, would you
retire?

566
00:32:12,080 --> 00:32:15,240
And I'm like, I don't think so,
you know, like I might change

567
00:32:15,240 --> 00:32:18,120
what I do at some point if
somebody comes along and pays me

568
00:32:18,120 --> 00:32:22,120
a stupid amount of money for my
company, you know, I may go, OK,

569
00:32:22,120 --> 00:32:24,720
yeah, like let's do that.
Cause I've been doing the same

570
00:32:24,720 --> 00:32:27,680
thing for 20 years ish.
I mean, I do a lot of other

571
00:32:27,680 --> 00:32:32,000
stuff, but you know, I've had,
I've had my company for, for a

572
00:32:32,000 --> 00:32:34,840
little over 20 years and I love
what I do.

573
00:32:34,840 --> 00:32:38,240
I love the company and
everything, but I love different

574
00:32:38,240 --> 00:32:39,560
things.
I love adventures.

575
00:32:39,560 --> 00:32:41,200
You know what?
Is retirement though, right?

576
00:32:41,200 --> 00:32:44,600
Is retirement, you know, people
picture it sitting on a on a

577
00:32:44,600 --> 00:32:47,760
dock fishing or something.
But to me, retirement is just

578
00:32:47,760 --> 00:32:51,600
doing what you want to do,
strictly doing what you want to

579
00:32:51,600 --> 00:32:53,400
do, and that with the.
People you want to do it with.

580
00:32:53,960 --> 00:32:56,080
Yeah, that's it.
You know, having A and.

581
00:32:56,080 --> 00:32:59,400
What do you do every day?
You do what you want to do with

582
00:32:59,400 --> 00:33:00,640
the people you want to do it
with.

583
00:33:00,640 --> 00:33:01,520
So why?
Retire.

584
00:33:01,760 --> 00:33:04,520
To me, it's not sitting back and
wasting away.

585
00:33:04,520 --> 00:33:08,480
It's, it's really accelerating
your life and doing, you know,

586
00:33:08,480 --> 00:33:11,840
enjoying the fruits of what you
put your time into for the past,

587
00:33:12,080 --> 00:33:15,080
however many years and, and
being able to do what truly

588
00:33:15,080 --> 00:33:17,160
feels good to you and, and to
help shape the world the way

589
00:33:17,160 --> 00:33:18,160
that you see that should be
shaped.

590
00:33:18,160 --> 00:33:21,480
Yeah, I mean, it's like, I like,
I love the water, I love boats,

591
00:33:21,560 --> 00:33:24,040
but I couldn't sit on the beach
every day.

592
00:33:24,160 --> 00:33:26,240
There's just no way.
I'd go crazy.

593
00:33:26,240 --> 00:33:28,720
I'd lose my mind.
I get through like a couple

594
00:33:28,720 --> 00:33:30,320
days, right?
You get there, you're like, OK,

595
00:33:30,320 --> 00:33:32,240
this is good.
You start to calm down after the

596
00:33:32,240 --> 00:33:34,880
second day.
Third and 4th day you're OK.

597
00:33:34,880 --> 00:33:37,960
By the 5th or 6th day you're
like, OK, I need to go do

598
00:33:37,960 --> 00:33:38,840
something right?
Yeah.

599
00:33:39,480 --> 00:33:41,120
Not to it.
No, I'm that way too.

600
00:33:41,280 --> 00:33:42,920
I mean, we're not.
Long term.

601
00:33:43,320 --> 00:33:46,080
Yeah.
Well, and the other thing is,

602
00:33:46,080 --> 00:33:48,960
like most people I know who go
through, call it a normal

603
00:33:48,960 --> 00:33:53,800
retirement, end up dying two
years later or whatever, You

604
00:33:53,800 --> 00:33:56,720
know, it's like when you don't
have that passion every day and

605
00:33:56,720 --> 00:34:00,760
the thing that drives you every
day, it seems like, you know,

606
00:34:00,920 --> 00:34:04,800
something happens.
Like, yeah, to your biology, you

607
00:34:04,800 --> 00:34:06,240
know, you.
Start rusting, right?

608
00:34:06,240 --> 00:34:09,639
I mean really, it's funny.
So I, I'm in these old cars and

609
00:34:09,639 --> 00:34:11,639
I just, we, we pulled apart a
64.

610
00:34:12,880 --> 00:34:14,560
I have a lot, I have a lot of
Cadillacs.

611
00:34:14,560 --> 00:34:15,760
I mean, that's, that's been my
thing.

612
00:34:15,760 --> 00:34:17,320
I'm big fan.
Obviously that's what we're all

613
00:34:17,320 --> 00:34:19,800
about.
But I have a 64 Fleetwood and,

614
00:34:19,800 --> 00:34:21,880
and it's having some problems
and it's the carbon.

615
00:34:21,880 --> 00:34:23,760
Why?
Because it's been sitting OK.

616
00:34:23,800 --> 00:34:26,800
It's just been sitting with gunk
and old gas.

617
00:34:27,560 --> 00:34:29,080
That's retirement.
You know, I don't want to be

618
00:34:29,080 --> 00:34:31,679
that Fleetwood.
I want to be somebody that stays

619
00:34:31,679 --> 00:34:34,639
sharp, stays on the move.
I always say big fan also like a

620
00:34:34,639 --> 00:34:36,600
shark.
Got to keep moving all the time,

621
00:34:36,600 --> 00:34:37,800
right?
Got to keep moving or you die.

622
00:34:37,800 --> 00:34:40,800
You just got to keep swimming
and and finding new things to go

623
00:34:40,800 --> 00:34:43,000
after and that keeps.
Yeah, yeah.

624
00:34:43,000 --> 00:34:44,880
You know, it's funny.
I was talking with my my

625
00:34:44,880 --> 00:34:48,320
girlfriend just like probably
last week about this.

626
00:34:48,320 --> 00:34:51,480
I said, you know, humans, we're
just like boats.

627
00:34:51,480 --> 00:34:54,239
Like every time I've had boats,
when they sat in the Marina for

628
00:34:54,239 --> 00:34:57,200
three or four months and I
didn't touch them when you'd get

629
00:34:57,200 --> 00:34:58,880
on it, there was always things
broken.

630
00:34:58,880 --> 00:35:01,280
And I said, you know, it's the
same thing when you get into

631
00:35:01,280 --> 00:35:06,080
your 50s as a human, you know,
if you're not exercising, like

632
00:35:06,400 --> 00:35:08,680
you'll wake up one morning with
sore knees, you'll wake up the

633
00:35:08,680 --> 00:35:11,200
next morning with sore ankles,
you'll wake up the next morning

634
00:35:11,200 --> 00:35:13,840
with something else wrong.
You know you need to keep

635
00:35:13,840 --> 00:35:16,160
working this stuff for else you
run into Pro.

636
00:35:16,200 --> 00:35:19,160
And I just, I just, I turned,
yeah, I'm going to be 52 this

637
00:35:19,160 --> 00:35:21,200
year.
But last year it was like after

638
00:35:21,200 --> 00:35:23,440
I turned 50, it was like the
check engine light went on,

639
00:35:23,440 --> 00:35:24,840
right?
I realized that there was like

640
00:35:24,840 --> 00:35:28,280
health problems and I didn't
even know about diet, things

641
00:35:28,280 --> 00:35:31,520
like that, all these things that
were kind of hanging with me

642
00:35:31,520 --> 00:35:33,200
last year.
And I wasn't, I didn't feel like

643
00:35:33,200 --> 00:35:35,840
I was firing on all cylinders.
You know, I just, and I

644
00:35:35,840 --> 00:35:38,680
attributed to getting old.
Once of the doctors got checked

645
00:35:38,680 --> 00:35:40,320
out, they said, you know, your
blood Sugar's high.

646
00:35:40,320 --> 00:35:42,480
You got to do this change your
change your diet a little bit.

647
00:35:42,840 --> 00:35:45,360
I did change my diet, started
hitting the gym a couple times a

648
00:35:45,360 --> 00:35:49,560
week and the energy level came
back stronger than it's ever

649
00:35:49,560 --> 00:35:52,000
been before.
And I feel like that is part of

650
00:35:52,000 --> 00:35:55,040
it is don't let yourself waste
away like keep yourself, keep

651
00:35:55,040 --> 00:35:57,320
yourself active, especially in
your later years.

652
00:35:57,320 --> 00:35:59,120
I think it's all.
Yeah, well, and you know what?

653
00:35:59,120 --> 00:36:01,680
Like nobody likes to talk about
this, but have you ever tried

654
00:36:01,880 --> 00:36:03,800
testosterone?
No.

655
00:36:04,080 --> 00:36:06,080
Is that a good thing?
It's amazing.

656
00:36:06,400 --> 00:36:08,960
It is friggin amazing.
I stopped taking it because I

657
00:36:08,960 --> 00:36:12,560
have to really focus on my heart
and one of my doctors says it's

658
00:36:12,560 --> 00:36:15,080
bad for my heart.
Another doctor says it's really

659
00:36:15,080 --> 00:36:18,600
good for my heart.
So, you know, I'll, I'll err on

660
00:36:18,600 --> 00:36:21,760
caution on this one just because
you know, my dad died of a heart

661
00:36:21,760 --> 00:36:23,120
attack at you.
Don't want to screw around with

662
00:36:23,120 --> 00:36:23,840
your heart?
Not at all.

663
00:36:23,840 --> 00:36:25,320
Yeah.
I pay a lot of attention to that

664
00:36:25,320 --> 00:36:30,680
situation and but it's amazing.
I mean, it makes you crave

665
00:36:30,680 --> 00:36:35,760
exercise, it makes you crave
good food and your attention.

666
00:36:36,080 --> 00:36:41,920
And just like, you know, those
two 3:00 desires to lay down and

667
00:36:41,920 --> 00:36:45,720
nap or whatever, that goes away.
Like, I mean, it's a real thing.

668
00:36:45,720 --> 00:36:49,120
Like your testosterone level, if
you're a normal male in their

669
00:36:49,520 --> 00:36:54,520
early 50s is probably down to
like 300 now or something.

670
00:36:54,520 --> 00:37:01,360
And it should be anywhere from 7
to 1100 and and so it honestly

671
00:37:01,360 --> 00:37:04,480
like it is amazing.
They told me even the.

672
00:37:04,720 --> 00:37:06,160
Diet and exercise.
So that's what I've been hitting

673
00:37:06,160 --> 00:37:07,800
pretty hard is.
Like diet and exercise is

674
00:37:08,000 --> 00:37:09,200
amazing.
Yeah, but.

675
00:37:09,560 --> 00:37:11,440
Yeah, it's definitely.
Worth asking about.

676
00:37:11,960 --> 00:37:16,600
Yeah, I mean, taking
testosterone, that the diet and

677
00:37:16,600 --> 00:37:19,480
exercise just has a whole nother
level of impact.

678
00:37:19,480 --> 00:37:23,560
It just works so much better and
it's sort of a dirty secret that

679
00:37:23,560 --> 00:37:25,760
nobody wants to tie.
Have you ever taken

680
00:37:25,760 --> 00:37:27,880
testosterone?
You know, it's like this weird

681
00:37:28,280 --> 00:37:30,960
thing where nobody wants to talk
about it because I guess it

682
00:37:30,960 --> 00:37:32,880
makes you less of a male or
something.

683
00:37:32,880 --> 00:37:36,840
I don't know.
But to me it is incredible.

684
00:37:36,840 --> 00:37:39,080
Now there's some weird stuff
there.

685
00:37:39,200 --> 00:37:41,920
It's funny because I had this
conversation on my podcast with

686
00:37:42,080 --> 00:37:46,800
Dearson a couple of months ago
and we had a similar experience.

687
00:37:46,800 --> 00:37:52,600
But I, I will never forget the
first time because the doctor

688
00:37:52,600 --> 00:37:55,840
was like, do you want to come
into our office and have the

689
00:37:55,840 --> 00:37:58,240
testosterone administered
because it's a needle in your

690
00:37:58,240 --> 00:38:00,600
ass?
And I'm like, no, no, no, no, I

691
00:38:00,600 --> 00:38:02,800
can do that myself, don't worry.
And he goes, well, you know,

692
00:38:02,800 --> 00:38:04,400
it's a little tough the first
couple of times.

693
00:38:04,520 --> 00:38:06,760
But medical needles?
Not my thing.

694
00:38:07,280 --> 00:38:11,200
No, it's it's not easy.
And I will tell you it doesn't

695
00:38:11,200 --> 00:38:15,000
sound near as hard as it really
is to put a needle in your ass.

696
00:38:15,000 --> 00:38:19,320
And it's a big needle too, and
it has to hit sort of on the

697
00:38:19,320 --> 00:38:23,280
right angle.
And so I literally was bleeding

698
00:38:23,280 --> 00:38:26,160
all over my bathroom.
I kept poking my ass and I bleed

699
00:38:27,120 --> 00:38:29,400
and 'cause I couldn't get the
needle in properly, 'cause you

700
00:38:29,400 --> 00:38:33,040
really do have to jam it in.
And I'll tell you, the first

701
00:38:33,040 --> 00:38:36,760
time was unbelievable.
Like it looked like I murdered a

702
00:38:36,760 --> 00:38:39,160
family in my bathroom.
And.

703
00:38:39,160 --> 00:38:41,160
Not qualified to do that what
whatsoever.

704
00:38:41,160 --> 00:38:43,600
I think that's one of the
reasons why I stuck so hard to

705
00:38:43,600 --> 00:38:46,280
like adhere to what the doctor
said with getting my health

706
00:38:46,280 --> 00:38:48,320
together is I don't want to go
on insulin, right?

707
00:38:48,320 --> 00:38:49,840
They say that's something like
that.

708
00:38:49,840 --> 00:38:51,760
You know, if you don't get your
blood sugar under control, you

709
00:38:51,760 --> 00:38:53,640
can be one of those guys that
has to have insulin every day.

710
00:38:53,840 --> 00:38:56,080
I can't imagine sticking myself
with a needle every day.

711
00:38:56,080 --> 00:38:58,960
So at this point moment though.
Because that's that's a tiny

712
00:38:58,960 --> 00:39:01,680
little needle in your stomach
and you barely feel it.

713
00:39:01,680 --> 00:39:02,440
That's.
Terrible.

714
00:39:02,720 --> 00:39:03,200
No.
But you.

715
00:39:03,200 --> 00:39:06,040
Barely feel it.
Seriously, because when I was

716
00:39:06,040 --> 00:39:09,480
doing testosterone, they also
made me do this other HGH or

717
00:39:09,480 --> 00:39:14,240
whatever it was, but.
And so you had to do a little

718
00:39:14,240 --> 00:39:16,640
needle in your stomach too.
That one didn't bother me at

719
00:39:16,640 --> 00:39:17,960
all.
Like you could barely feel it.

720
00:39:17,960 --> 00:39:19,440
And I'm not a needle guy, trust
me.

721
00:39:19,440 --> 00:39:22,440
Thank God, because I played in
bands and toured and all that

722
00:39:22,440 --> 00:39:25,920
stuff and I didn't like needles,
so there was none of that going

723
00:39:25,920 --> 00:39:26,800
on in my life.
Yeah, that.

724
00:39:27,240 --> 00:39:28,920
May be a beneficial thing over
the years, right?

725
00:39:28,920 --> 00:39:31,280
Zero desire to do that.
Yeah, I agree.

726
00:39:32,280 --> 00:39:34,800
But yeah, the needle in my
stomach didn't bother me at all.

727
00:39:34,800 --> 00:39:38,200
The one in your ass is holy.
Christ, is that hard to do?

728
00:39:38,680 --> 00:39:42,120
It just isn't easy.
Yeah, even when you get used to

729
00:39:42,120 --> 00:39:44,320
it, it's not easy because it's
like, oh, I know this is going

730
00:39:44,320 --> 00:39:47,200
to hurt ow because you got to go
into the muscle.

731
00:39:47,200 --> 00:39:48,520
It goes straight into the
muscle, right?

732
00:39:48,960 --> 00:39:50,080
Yeah, that doesn't sound.
Fun.

733
00:39:50,080 --> 00:39:52,400
Not at all.
I think I'm I'm trying to stick

734
00:39:52,400 --> 00:39:54,840
to like I don't want to be on
any medication at all.

735
00:39:54,840 --> 00:39:56,880
That's.
I'm with you, I'm the same way.

736
00:39:56,920 --> 00:40:00,360
Somehow managed to like just
stay away from all of it.

737
00:40:00,480 --> 00:40:01,920
That's that's where I want to
be.

738
00:40:02,240 --> 00:40:03,920
So that's that's what I've been.
Doing right idea.

739
00:40:04,440 --> 00:40:05,800
Yeah, work hard to do it, man.
That's all.

740
00:40:05,840 --> 00:40:07,640
You tell me.
I got to drop a little bit of

741
00:40:07,640 --> 00:40:10,240
weight and hopefully everything
at that point starts, you know,

742
00:40:10,240 --> 00:40:13,440
coming back clear again.
Yeah, Yeah, I completely agree

743
00:40:13,440 --> 00:40:15,240
with you.
I had that conversation with

744
00:40:15,240 --> 00:40:18,400
Robert Roth last week because
Robert turned me on to, and you

745
00:40:18,400 --> 00:40:21,160
might even check this out.
There's a book called Younger

746
00:40:21,160 --> 00:40:25,240
next Year and Robert turned me
on to that a little too early.

747
00:40:25,240 --> 00:40:27,960
I think I was probably in my
late 40s when he told me about

748
00:40:27,960 --> 00:40:31,920
that book.
And but it's amazing and it

749
00:40:31,920 --> 00:40:34,320
really is just, it's about diet
and exercise.

750
00:40:34,320 --> 00:40:36,320
It's about changing your
lifestyle a little bit.

751
00:40:37,440 --> 00:40:39,680
Sleep is the other big.
One, I mean, they've been

752
00:40:39,680 --> 00:40:41,280
telling us that for as long as I
can remember.

753
00:40:41,280 --> 00:40:43,480
I don't know how I lost, lost
sight of it.

754
00:40:43,480 --> 00:40:46,000
You know, I guess you get busy
and you just, you're working so

755
00:40:46,000 --> 00:40:48,920
hard, you're building your
empire and you're eating what

756
00:40:48,920 --> 00:40:51,160
you can when you can.
You're not getting the right

757
00:40:51,160 --> 00:40:53,160
rest.
You're stress, they say, is a

758
00:40:53,160 --> 00:40:56,880
huge factor in all that.
And stress, sleep or makeup.

759
00:40:57,600 --> 00:41:00,440
Is another big one, you know,
who knew, you know, like, I

760
00:41:00,440 --> 00:41:02,720
mean, The thing is I think it
almost sounds too simple.

761
00:41:02,720 --> 00:41:04,560
Diet and exercise, it sounds too
simple.

762
00:41:04,560 --> 00:41:07,680
So everybody's looking for this
magical, you know, drug or

763
00:41:07,680 --> 00:41:10,480
solution or whatever.
And you know, I'm glad that a

764
00:41:10,480 --> 00:41:13,040
lot of the bad information now
is starting to come out on

765
00:41:13,040 --> 00:41:15,920
Ozempic cuz I was worried.
I have so many friends who have

766
00:41:15,920 --> 00:41:19,480
been taking that and I'm just
like, it seems fishy to me.

767
00:41:19,480 --> 00:41:20,840
Yeah, I know anything that
works.

768
00:41:20,840 --> 00:41:23,400
That well and I, I kiboshed it
after a little bit.

769
00:41:23,400 --> 00:41:24,600
I was like, I don't like this
shit, man.

770
00:41:24,640 --> 00:41:26,360
Like again, back to the
medication.

771
00:41:26,360 --> 00:41:28,840
They were like, you gotta get
your diet under control, that

772
00:41:28,840 --> 00:41:31,280
kind of thing.
And I feel like, again, I don't

773
00:41:31,280 --> 00:41:33,760
feel like I was overeating.
I feel like I was eating at the

774
00:41:33,760 --> 00:41:35,960
inappropriate, the wrong thing
at the wrong times.

775
00:41:35,960 --> 00:41:37,960
You know, you're cutting off a
job at 2:00 in the morning.

776
00:41:37,960 --> 00:41:39,400
What do you drive?
You're driving through

777
00:41:39,400 --> 00:41:41,080
somewhere, right?
Because there's no food in the

778
00:41:41,080 --> 00:41:43,440
fridge and you got to eat
something because you haven't

779
00:41:43,440 --> 00:41:45,720
eaten in 10 hours.
So you're eating a burger?

780
00:41:45,720 --> 00:41:47,760
Carbs.
Carbs and sugar are the easiest

781
00:41:47,760 --> 00:41:49,240
things, right?
Not the most pleasing.

782
00:41:49,720 --> 00:41:51,440
But you know what though?
You're Italian.

783
00:41:51,440 --> 00:41:58,160
Like I mean the the real Italian
from Italy diet is so good, like

784
00:41:58,160 --> 00:42:01,160
the whole Mediterranean thing,
fresh ingredients, fresh

785
00:42:01,160 --> 00:42:03,600
ingredients, very few
ingredients.

786
00:42:03,600 --> 00:42:06,000
It's what I love about Italian
food, but it's also what's so

787
00:42:06,000 --> 00:42:07,400
good about it for.
You delicious.

788
00:42:07,440 --> 00:42:09,640
It's fresh and delicious.
It's delicious and fresh.

789
00:42:10,040 --> 00:42:12,760
Again, the food that we get in
America, here, it's, it's a sad

790
00:42:12,760 --> 00:42:15,480
state of affairs.
It's processed, it's treated,

791
00:42:15,480 --> 00:42:18,200
it's all those parables.
I feel like the old guy get off

792
00:42:18,200 --> 00:42:20,960
my lawn saying these kind of
things, but I I, I'm watching it

793
00:42:20,960 --> 00:42:24,120
change and you know, and that
you just see it more and more

794
00:42:24,120 --> 00:42:26,400
and more that this is.
Worse and worse too.

795
00:42:26,560 --> 00:42:30,760
Like it, it just as we keep
pushing for lower prices, you

796
00:42:30,760 --> 00:42:33,520
know, it, it just keeps getting
worse, you know, because all

797
00:42:33,520 --> 00:42:37,200
they can do is is process it
more to sort of stretch it out

798
00:42:37,200 --> 00:42:39,720
more and make more profit and
whatever it is.

799
00:42:40,000 --> 00:42:43,760
So funny story when I first
because I really got into

800
00:42:43,760 --> 00:42:45,280
exactly what you're talking
about.

801
00:42:45,280 --> 00:42:50,600
So a Whole Foods diet, real food
and, and the best food you could

802
00:42:50,600 --> 00:42:52,400
get.
So it was only grass fed beef

803
00:42:52,400 --> 00:42:54,280
because I didn't use to eat beef
because I thought it was going

804
00:42:54,280 --> 00:42:57,840
to give me a heart attack.
But the truth is you can eat

805
00:42:57,840 --> 00:42:59,400
beef.
It's actually pretty good for

806
00:42:59,400 --> 00:43:01,360
you.
And there's there's, there are

807
00:43:01,360 --> 00:43:03,600
nutrients that you can only get
from beef too.

808
00:43:03,680 --> 00:43:06,720
And, and you know, Chris Lowe's
will come on and, and shame me

809
00:43:06,720 --> 00:43:09,360
for saying that, but sorry
Chris.

810
00:43:09,360 --> 00:43:12,560
But there are, he knows that
there are certain proteins that

811
00:43:12,560 --> 00:43:15,920
you really can only get in the
right amounts from beef.

812
00:43:16,440 --> 00:43:20,920
And, but you know, so if you get
grass fed beef and pasture

813
00:43:20,920 --> 00:43:24,400
raised eggs and all of those
types of things, it's actually

814
00:43:24,400 --> 00:43:27,760
pretty good for you.
And so I went seeking that out.

815
00:43:27,760 --> 00:43:30,520
So anyways, I could get to my
house in Canada and I go into

816
00:43:30,520 --> 00:43:35,200
the grocery store up there and I
call the butcher over and he's a

817
00:43:35,200 --> 00:43:39,440
little Indian guy.
And I said I'm looking for grass

818
00:43:39,440 --> 00:43:41,320
fed beef but I can't find it
anywhere here.

819
00:43:41,320 --> 00:43:45,200
And he just kind of sits there
like this and he's kind of

820
00:43:45,200 --> 00:43:47,200
looking around and he doesn't
know what to say.

821
00:43:47,200 --> 00:43:50,920
And I'm like, oh wait, all beef
in Canada is grass fed.

822
00:43:51,320 --> 00:43:52,480
Yes.
Yes, it is.

823
00:43:52,640 --> 00:43:55,920
Yes it is.
Well, in Alberta anyways.

824
00:43:55,920 --> 00:43:58,240
Like Alberta is where all the
cattle are, right?

825
00:43:58,320 --> 00:44:03,960
So it's like in Texas, in Texas,
most decent places are going to

826
00:44:03,960 --> 00:44:08,000
have grass fed beef because it's
pretty, it's pretty accessible.

827
00:44:09,800 --> 00:44:13,840
So yeah, I mean, it's more
expensive and it's a little

828
00:44:13,840 --> 00:44:17,360
harder to eat, right?
But it's not as hard as people

829
00:44:17,360 --> 00:44:18,720
think.
Like, you know, it's probably.

830
00:44:18,880 --> 00:44:20,440
Worth it?
Look at look at what you might

831
00:44:20,440 --> 00:44:22,640
spend on medical conditions
right from having them.

832
00:44:22,720 --> 00:44:25,760
All hell yeah.
Input in your body by taking the

833
00:44:25,760 --> 00:44:27,560
easy way you know.
And again, I'm out.

834
00:44:27,720 --> 00:44:29,000
There doing it because it's
hard.

835
00:44:29,000 --> 00:44:30,920
It is.
You really got to put your mind

836
00:44:30,920 --> 00:44:33,840
to it, You got to focus on it,
you got to be dedicated to it.

837
00:44:34,120 --> 00:44:36,120
But I do think there's a lot of
benefits to it.

838
00:44:36,640 --> 00:44:38,000
Well, back to that Ozempic
thing.

839
00:44:38,000 --> 00:44:40,800
So I've, I don't know if you've
seen it, but I've seen a lot of

840
00:44:40,800 --> 00:44:46,600
reports recently that Ozempic,
most of the weight you're losing

841
00:44:46,600 --> 00:44:49,280
is coming from bone loss and
muscle loss.

842
00:44:50,960 --> 00:44:55,320
So you're basically becoming fat
but light.

843
00:44:55,920 --> 00:44:58,560
So you're losing weight but
retaining fat.

844
00:44:59,080 --> 00:45:03,480
And I'm sure there's doctors out
there that would argue that, but

845
00:45:03,480 --> 00:45:06,760
there, there are some, there are
some really, really smart

846
00:45:06,760 --> 00:45:11,000
doctors who did a lot of testing
to patients that went on

847
00:45:11,000 --> 00:45:13,600
Ozempic.
And the end result was that

848
00:45:13,800 --> 00:45:16,480
there's bone loss and muscle
loss for most patients.

849
00:45:16,480 --> 00:45:20,720
Some patients experience a lot
more fat loss, but a lot of

850
00:45:20,720 --> 00:45:23,560
times you're losing weight but
you're getting less healthy.

851
00:45:23,840 --> 00:45:25,840
It's the magic pill, right?
It's never going to work.

852
00:45:25,840 --> 00:45:28,240
It's like magic beans, right?
You're not going to grow that

853
00:45:28,240 --> 00:45:31,880
bean, you know that magical bean
stalk like stick to the basics,

854
00:45:32,040 --> 00:45:34,440
eat, put the right thing in your
body, exercise, right?

855
00:45:34,480 --> 00:45:36,520
You're going to be OK.
You know, I know it's easier

856
00:45:36,520 --> 00:45:37,720
said than done, but I think it's
very.

857
00:45:37,720 --> 00:45:39,040
No, it's true.
It's.

858
00:45:39,040 --> 00:45:40,600
True.
Well, and again, I, I go back to

859
00:45:40,600 --> 00:45:43,520
the Italian or Mediterranean
thing, you know, Greek food,

860
00:45:43,520 --> 00:45:47,520
Italian food is very simple,
very few ingredients.

861
00:45:47,680 --> 00:45:50,960
Like, I'm French, I don't really
like French food because it's

862
00:45:50,960 --> 00:45:53,520
too rich and it's too
complicated and there's too many

863
00:45:53,520 --> 00:45:55,800
things in it.
And, you know, I like it.

864
00:45:55,800 --> 00:45:58,360
It tastes good, but I know that
it's bad for me as I'm eating

865
00:45:58,360 --> 00:46:00,160
it.
Whereas when you're eating a

866
00:46:00,160 --> 00:46:05,920
nice Italian meal and I'm not
talking, you know, like chicken

867
00:46:05,920 --> 00:46:08,120
Parmesan or something, I'm
talking proper.

868
00:46:08,120 --> 00:46:09,760
Italian home.
Like homecooked, Yeah.

869
00:46:09,880 --> 00:46:11,960
Like something?
Yeah, out of Grandma's kitchen.

870
00:46:12,200 --> 00:46:15,000
Yeah, that shit's good for you.
You know it's good for you.

871
00:46:15,000 --> 00:46:16,880
And a nice glass of wine and
you're good.

872
00:46:16,880 --> 00:46:19,160
You're gonna live.
Last a long time too, right?

873
00:46:19,160 --> 00:46:22,560
They're all very peaceful lives
and live, live to the ripe old

874
00:46:22,560 --> 00:46:25,680
age and all that kind of stuff.
Well, another cool thing that

875
00:46:25,680 --> 00:46:28,600
I've spent time looking at is
this thing called Blue Zones.

876
00:46:28,600 --> 00:46:30,520
And I don't know if you've ever
looked into any of that stuff,

877
00:46:30,520 --> 00:46:34,080
but it's it's basically these
areas where an ungodly number of

878
00:46:34,080 --> 00:46:37,880
people live into their hundreds
and.

879
00:46:38,440 --> 00:46:41,240
I watched something on Netflix.
I want to say it was like the 88

880
00:46:41,280 --> 00:46:43,080
areas where that was, that was
the.

881
00:46:43,120 --> 00:46:45,320
Fact.
They're called Blue Zones, Yeah.

882
00:46:45,320 --> 00:46:48,240
And, and generally they're these
little villages or whatever

883
00:46:48,240 --> 00:46:52,640
where one guy raises goats, one
guy raises something else,

884
00:46:52,640 --> 00:46:55,200
another guy grows, you know,
whatever.

885
00:46:55,640 --> 00:46:59,000
And they just kind of, they
exchange this stuff around the

886
00:46:59,000 --> 00:47:02,360
village and you provide the, the
fresh goat meat and you provide

887
00:47:02,360 --> 00:47:06,200
the whatever.
And, and yeah, I mean, half of

888
00:47:06,200 --> 00:47:09,720
them live to over 100 years old.
You know, it's, it's crazy

889
00:47:09,720 --> 00:47:10,080
because.
Right.

890
00:47:10,400 --> 00:47:11,600
Right.
I mean, that's, that goes back

891
00:47:11,600 --> 00:47:15,480
to that that guy that shows up
and sees a little old fisherman

892
00:47:15,480 --> 00:47:17,280
having, you know, he's on
vacation and he goes and sees

893
00:47:17,280 --> 00:47:20,640
this fisherman and says, hey,
you know, you're out here,

894
00:47:20,640 --> 00:47:22,440
you're fishing every day.
Why don't you get a fleet of

895
00:47:22,440 --> 00:47:24,840
boats and make all this money
and then you can relax.

896
00:47:24,840 --> 00:47:26,160
He's like, I'm doing that right
now.

897
00:47:26,160 --> 00:47:28,800
You know, I go out right now and
relax and that's it.

898
00:47:28,800 --> 00:47:30,320
I have what I need.
So why push it?

899
00:47:30,320 --> 00:47:32,880
You know, like a lot of those
people have the right lifestyle.

900
00:47:33,080 --> 00:47:35,040
No, you're totally right.
Like be careful what you wish

901
00:47:35,040 --> 00:47:36,200
for, right?
Yeah, right.

902
00:47:36,440 --> 00:47:40,640
So how did you get started in?
You said 93.

903
00:47:41,080 --> 00:47:44,200
In 93. 30 years ago.
Yeah, we'll, we'll tell the

904
00:47:44,200 --> 00:47:48,320
story.
So I was a troubled kid, right?

905
00:47:48,320 --> 00:47:51,640
Gotten a lot of gotten a lot of
havoc back there in Philadelphia

906
00:47:51,640 --> 00:47:53,920
back in the day.
And I that's.

907
00:47:53,920 --> 00:47:55,160
Where you that's where you grew
up?

908
00:47:55,200 --> 00:47:57,000
Philly, Yeah.
I grew up in Philly, found

909
00:47:57,000 --> 00:48:01,000
myself living in a halfway house
on our work release right they

910
00:48:01,320 --> 00:48:03,280
and part of that gig is you had
to have a job.

911
00:48:03,280 --> 00:48:08,040
So they sent us out to build a
stage for University of

912
00:48:08,040 --> 00:48:11,760
Pennsylvania Spring Fling.
So first day I show up and I

913
00:48:13,320 --> 00:48:15,960
think it was CSS concert staging
system.

914
00:48:16,000 --> 00:48:19,480
Mike Serena back in the day, he
was building a structure.

915
00:48:19,480 --> 00:48:22,440
So they put me on that crew.
This is my first day.

916
00:48:22,440 --> 00:48:25,680
I'm going from being a
delinquent in Philadelphia to

917
00:48:25,680 --> 00:48:30,160
all of a sudden I'm on this crew
and a chain came down as we

918
00:48:30,160 --> 00:48:32,440
built the structure, chain came
down from the tower, you know, a

919
00:48:32,440 --> 00:48:36,160
little 12 by 12 tower trust.
And I said I'll fix that.

920
00:48:36,160 --> 00:48:38,760
I shimmied up there and put the
chain in a bag and I came down

921
00:48:38,760 --> 00:48:40,760
and Mike Z said, you're a
lighting guy.

922
00:48:40,920 --> 00:48:43,200
He said you're you're an
absolute natural.

923
00:48:43,520 --> 00:48:45,320
When when you get out of
trouble, call me.

924
00:48:45,320 --> 00:48:46,920
I'm going to help you.
You know, I'll help you get you

925
00:48:46,920 --> 00:48:49,480
a job.
So I went up working a lot that,

926
00:48:49,480 --> 00:48:51,480
you know, instead of sitting in
this halfway house with a bunch

927
00:48:51,480 --> 00:48:54,240
of maniacs.
I worked, I think I did like 16

928
00:48:54,240 --> 00:48:58,360
hour day, 22 hour day, 16 hour
day was there, you know, around

929
00:48:58,360 --> 00:49:00,000
the clock and but it was great
to me.

930
00:49:00,480 --> 00:49:03,680
And then I saw George Clinton
and P Funk like took the stage.

931
00:49:03,680 --> 00:49:06,480
I remember looking out into the
audience and thinking, this is

932
00:49:06,480 --> 00:49:08,520
transcending everything right
now.

933
00:49:08,520 --> 00:49:11,360
You know, black, white, like
fat, skinny, old, young.

934
00:49:11,400 --> 00:49:15,000
Everybody was dancing, everybody
was just in this groove.

935
00:49:15,000 --> 00:49:16,960
And I went.
This is awesome.

936
00:49:16,960 --> 00:49:19,240
And I was like.
And I realized this is a

937
00:49:19,240 --> 00:49:20,760
business.
I can get paid to do this.

938
00:49:20,760 --> 00:49:24,120
So you know, I finished out what
I had to do.

939
00:49:24,120 --> 00:49:27,320
I got a job with, I think I
worked for Main Light 1st and

940
00:49:27,320 --> 00:49:30,080
then I bounced over to Light
action, back to Main Light.

941
00:49:30,080 --> 00:49:33,120
And the whole time I wanted to
know who does all the big tours.

942
00:49:33,120 --> 00:49:35,800
And everybody's always said LSD,
light and sound design.

943
00:49:35,800 --> 00:49:39,160
So eventually a buddy of mine,
Tom Thompson, hooked me up with

944
00:49:39,160 --> 00:49:41,840
Barry Claxton.
Next thing you know, I was out

945
00:49:41,840 --> 00:49:43,640
on the road.
And you know, that was the rest

946
00:49:43,640 --> 00:49:45,160
of his history.
Man, it's been wow since.

947
00:49:45,600 --> 00:49:48,600
Then yeah.
How long did you tour with LSDI?

948
00:49:50,200 --> 00:49:53,880
Was with them in the 90s, I want
to say, I want to say from the

949
00:49:53,880 --> 00:49:57,560
early 90s to like, I feel like
my last touring dates were

950
00:49:57,560 --> 00:49:59,720
around 2003, something like
that.

951
00:49:59,720 --> 00:50:02,880
Maybe a little later, but I
worked my way up from lighting,

952
00:50:02,960 --> 00:50:08,080
you know from just trust monkey
dimmer tech loved loved the

953
00:50:08,080 --> 00:50:13,080
cable love throwing cable loved
feeder love climbing.

954
00:50:13,080 --> 00:50:16,120
I mean, you know, just
knucklehead from Philly.

955
00:50:16,120 --> 00:50:18,640
Like I love the physical
activity of it on and just being

956
00:50:18,640 --> 00:50:20,800
it, you know, working like that
and getting paid.

957
00:50:20,800 --> 00:50:22,640
I couldn't believe I was getting
paid to do what I was doing.

958
00:50:23,000 --> 00:50:25,600
And I just kept working my way
up to eventually I was stage

959
00:50:25,600 --> 00:50:29,480
manager for Scorpions and just
did a bunch of tours of them and

960
00:50:29,480 --> 00:50:31,680
kept going.
So I feel like into the two

961
00:50:31,680 --> 00:50:35,520
early 2000s, I started doing
more stage management, you know,

962
00:50:35,520 --> 00:50:39,440
crew chief, that kind of stuff.
And then I want to say.

963
00:50:39,440 --> 00:50:42,760
So you worked for PRG?
No, I started, that's why I

964
00:50:42,760 --> 00:50:45,720
started drifting on that.
So maybe when the sale came and

965
00:50:45,840 --> 00:50:49,240
PRG came in, I feel like that's
when I started.

966
00:50:49,960 --> 00:50:52,600
I'll be straight, that's when
things started changing for me.

967
00:50:52,760 --> 00:50:57,320
I felt like that light, that LSD
way in that community started

968
00:50:57,320 --> 00:51:00,400
getting lost in the bigger
picture of PRG and that wasn't

969
00:51:00,440 --> 00:51:02,320
something I was into.
And maybe that's when I started

970
00:51:02,320 --> 00:51:05,520
stepping up the ladder a little
bit to to start doing my own

971
00:51:05,520 --> 00:51:07,600
thing.
And that's when I remember being

972
00:51:07,600 --> 00:51:12,720
on a bus when it was early
2000s, 2004, maybe something

973
00:51:12,720 --> 00:51:15,720
like that, and looking at some
people, looking at Cooper, who

974
00:51:15,720 --> 00:51:17,720
was a legend.
And I learned a lot from him.

975
00:51:17,720 --> 00:51:20,480
But I also realized I wanted
more for my life.

976
00:51:20,480 --> 00:51:24,160
I didn't want to be out there
touring, you know, when I was in

977
00:51:24,160 --> 00:51:26,160
my 50s and 60s and things like
that.

978
00:51:26,160 --> 00:51:28,320
And I, I decided I needed to do
something else.

979
00:51:28,320 --> 00:51:32,640
So we started H Finn Productions
and one of the first gigs that

980
00:51:32,640 --> 00:51:37,600
we got was with Ford for the
auto shows and I want to say it

981
00:51:37,600 --> 00:51:42,400
was DC, Chicago and maybe New
York, something like that, and

982
00:51:43,160 --> 00:51:46,520
pulled together a bunch of my
roadie buddies and we prepped it

983
00:51:46,520 --> 00:51:48,520
like a rock tour.
So we rolled in there,

984
00:51:48,520 --> 00:51:52,800
streamlined as hell, put it up
really fast, saved, saved money

985
00:51:52,800 --> 00:51:55,760
on labor and that was noticed.
And they said, you know what,

986
00:51:55,760 --> 00:51:57,880
you got to like kind of a niche
thing here, you should try this.

987
00:51:57,880 --> 00:52:02,400
So then we started pitching
Rock'n'roll efficiency with a

988
00:52:02,400 --> 00:52:03,840
suit and tie presentation,
right?

989
00:52:03,840 --> 00:52:05,920
That was our thing for doing
corporates, and we just started

990
00:52:05,920 --> 00:52:07,360
getting a bunch of the early
2000s.

991
00:52:07,360 --> 00:52:10,520
A lot of corporate money was out
there and we started doing a lot

992
00:52:10,520 --> 00:52:12,520
of general sessions and things
like that.

993
00:52:12,520 --> 00:52:16,440
We really blew up till 2008 when
I think the economy took a

994
00:52:16,440 --> 00:52:18,320
little bit of a turn.
It blew up, yeah.

995
00:52:18,360 --> 00:52:20,840
Yeah, and then we shifted gears
back to doing festivals.

996
00:52:20,880 --> 00:52:24,200
I, I got pulled in the first
year of Electric Zoo on

997
00:52:24,200 --> 00:52:27,400
Randall's Island was me and, you
know, just a, a handful, like

998
00:52:27,400 --> 00:52:31,080
five other guys, producers, my
buddy John Goldstein, designer,

999
00:52:31,520 --> 00:52:34,680
Aaron Leventhal, producer and a
couple of couple promoters.

1000
00:52:34,680 --> 00:52:36,920
And we came, they came up with
this concept and I was like,

1001
00:52:36,920 --> 00:52:40,160
fuck yeah, we'll build this.
And, you know, really just laid

1002
00:52:40,160 --> 00:52:42,920
out the whole festival ground,
did all the power, laid out the

1003
00:52:42,920 --> 00:52:45,280
rigging, did all that.
And that kept me busy for the

1004
00:52:45,280 --> 00:52:47,920
next five years.
We did, you know, I mean we did

1005
00:52:47,920 --> 00:52:50,400
other things, but that, that was
big.

1006
00:52:50,400 --> 00:52:52,880
I mean, from the time we started
where I think we sold 30,000

1007
00:52:52,880 --> 00:52:56,480
tickets to 150,000, you know, in
the last year we were involved.

1008
00:52:56,480 --> 00:52:57,560
That's gross.
A lot.

1009
00:52:58,080 --> 00:53:01,920
And yeah, and then Apple, then I
got a call from my buddies, my

1010
00:53:01,920 --> 00:53:03,880
buddies over at Light Switch and
they, they didn't know who I

1011
00:53:03,880 --> 00:53:06,320
was, but they said we're doing a
big job.

1012
00:53:06,320 --> 00:53:08,560
Or am I supposed to say we're
doing a big job from one of the

1013
00:53:08,560 --> 00:53:12,160
tech companies out there and we
need somebody that can speak

1014
00:53:12,160 --> 00:53:13,840
construction.
That's literally, that's

1015
00:53:13,840 --> 00:53:15,760
literally what they said.
They had to deal with the unions

1016
00:53:15,760 --> 00:53:17,600
and things like that.
I was like, I can do that.

1017
00:53:17,640 --> 00:53:20,680
And we rolled out there and we
did that and it was a success.

1018
00:53:21,080 --> 00:53:22,640
And I just kind of found my
niche there.

1019
00:53:22,640 --> 00:53:24,880
So I got back into the
corporates for a lot of years

1020
00:53:24,880 --> 00:53:29,000
and there you go, man.
That's the trajectory that one

1021
00:53:29,000 --> 00:53:31,600
right up to doing what we were
producing.

1022
00:53:31,600 --> 00:53:34,640
I started production managing
and producing a lot of large

1023
00:53:34,640 --> 00:53:37,640
scale shows of my own and I was
always bringing in.

1024
00:53:37,840 --> 00:53:40,200
Back then it was Mike Finn
Productions and then we started

1025
00:53:40,200 --> 00:53:43,960
Big Finn in 2015 to just kind of
get my name out of there and

1026
00:53:44,400 --> 00:53:46,200
just create an entity like I was
saying.

1027
00:53:46,640 --> 00:53:51,600
That was a lot of the Emmys,
production riggers, video

1028
00:53:51,600 --> 00:53:53,600
engineers, some of the real high
level positions.

1029
00:53:53,600 --> 00:53:56,200
That's what we did and and we
were very successful.

1030
00:53:56,480 --> 00:53:59,160
I loved being at the top of that
pyramid because I made sure

1031
00:53:59,160 --> 00:54:01,520
everybody was communicating.
They were all on our team.

1032
00:54:01,520 --> 00:54:03,560
It wasn't a bunch of vendors
that came together.

1033
00:54:03,560 --> 00:54:06,440
It was literally the big fin
team that was producing this

1034
00:54:06,440 --> 00:54:08,960
stuff and it was it was
seamless.

1035
00:54:09,040 --> 00:54:11,560
The communication was good.
You know, we're all moving in

1036
00:54:11,560 --> 00:54:15,440
the same direction.
And it seemed that our X Factor

1037
00:54:15,440 --> 00:54:17,640
wherever we were in the country
was local labor.

1038
00:54:17,640 --> 00:54:18,720
You know, what are you going to
get?

1039
00:54:18,720 --> 00:54:22,680
You never know and best laid
plans, you know, if you have 100

1040
00:54:22,680 --> 00:54:24,760
guys and aren't willing to help
you with that, that, you know,

1041
00:54:24,760 --> 00:54:26,440
makes it very challenging on
site.

1042
00:54:26,440 --> 00:54:31,320
So I want to say 2017, we
decided to start a labor company

1043
00:54:31,320 --> 00:54:35,720
to support our own shows and,
and and that just took off.

1044
00:54:35,760 --> 00:54:38,800
People said, hey, and they're
like these these guys are great

1045
00:54:38,800 --> 00:54:40,440
guys, can we hire them?
We said hell yeah.

1046
00:54:40,480 --> 00:54:43,960
And we just started doing that.
And then that really grew legs

1047
00:54:43,960 --> 00:54:45,480
itself.
You know, at the beginning,

1048
00:54:45,800 --> 00:54:49,760
beginning of this year, we had
1800 people on payroll, lots of

1049
00:54:49,760 --> 00:54:52,520
people throughout the country,
offices all over the place.

1050
00:54:52,920 --> 00:54:56,320
And yeah, we've been boom and we
do all the work over to legions.

1051
00:54:56,800 --> 00:54:58,480
We got a show coming up there
next week.

1052
00:54:59,000 --> 00:55:02,120
That's kind of our home, home
base, our offices in Vegas, but

1053
00:55:02,120 --> 00:55:05,320
we have satellite offices all
over the country, you know, and

1054
00:55:05,640 --> 00:55:07,520
there you go.
That's the business side of it.

1055
00:55:07,520 --> 00:55:12,360
And all that helps fund our
philanthropical, whatever that

1056
00:55:12,360 --> 00:55:14,160
word is.
We we go out there and we try to

1057
00:55:14,160 --> 00:55:16,000
help people.
That's.

1058
00:55:16,480 --> 00:55:18,040
That's that's the fun part to
me.

1059
00:55:18,120 --> 00:55:21,840
Backing up a bit though, when
did you locate to Vegas?

1060
00:55:21,840 --> 00:55:24,200
Was that just sort of at the end
of the touring thing?

1061
00:55:24,400 --> 00:55:26,520
Yeah, 2017 and I'll say the
words.

1062
00:55:27,040 --> 00:55:29,840
I came through town and we did.
It was a big corporate show over

1063
00:55:29,840 --> 00:55:32,920
at T-Mobile.
And I remember thinking, this is

1064
00:55:32,920 --> 00:55:35,760
the worst crew that I've ever
worked with in my entire life.

1065
00:55:35,760 --> 00:55:38,800
I said they're not just.
And I always say I was like, you

1066
00:55:38,800 --> 00:55:41,440
know, I have to put up with
stupid, but I don't have to put

1067
00:55:41,440 --> 00:55:44,560
up with dangerous, OK.
And that was in full effect that

1068
00:55:44,560 --> 00:55:46,720
day that I was like, somebody is
going to get hurt.

1069
00:55:46,720 --> 00:55:48,240
These guys don't know what
they're doing.

1070
00:55:48,400 --> 00:55:51,360
This is a very dangerous
environment for everybody that's

1071
00:55:51,360 --> 00:55:53,040
involved.
And I was like, we can do better

1072
00:55:53,040 --> 00:55:55,000
than this.
So that's why we picked Las

1073
00:55:55,000 --> 00:55:58,240
Vegas to kind of kick.
Off, I think because it needed

1074
00:55:58,240 --> 00:56:00,120
you.
It needed you more than you

1075
00:56:00,120 --> 00:56:01,880
needed it.
Yeah, There was just a lot of

1076
00:56:01,880 --> 00:56:03,280
work there that needed to be
done.

1077
00:56:03,480 --> 00:56:06,840
Yeah, absolutely.
So how hard was COVID for you

1078
00:56:06,840 --> 00:56:09,760
then if you had that many people
on payroll and stuff, I mean.

1079
00:56:10,240 --> 00:56:13,400
Well, we're about 1800 now.
Back then we had less, you know,

1080
00:56:13,400 --> 00:56:15,160
probably a couple 100, whatever
it was.

1081
00:56:15,160 --> 00:56:19,040
You know, we did 17.
Our company, we grew 600 percent

1082
00:56:19,040 --> 00:56:20,480
or something the first two years
were open.

1083
00:56:20,480 --> 00:56:22,320
It was insane.
I always tell people I felt like

1084
00:56:22,320 --> 00:56:25,760
I was strapped to a rocket like
it was non-stop.

1085
00:56:25,760 --> 00:56:26,920
I was in the office.
That's.

1086
00:56:27,400 --> 00:56:32,280
A lot of people. 12:00 AM Yeah,
everyday I was in there.

1087
00:56:32,440 --> 00:56:35,200
Everyday I was, I was non-stop,
full force.

1088
00:56:35,200 --> 00:56:38,120
And back then we were small.
It was me, my old partner and

1089
00:56:38,120 --> 00:56:40,080
his wife.
And really we were just, we were

1090
00:56:40,080 --> 00:56:42,960
managing everything.
There was a lot, we put a lot

1091
00:56:42,960 --> 00:56:44,760
into it.
We did really well.

1092
00:56:44,760 --> 00:56:49,000
You know, things were blowing up
and then then COVID hit and that

1093
00:56:49,000 --> 00:56:50,920
was like hitting a brick wall
attached to a rocket.

1094
00:56:50,920 --> 00:56:53,040
Like I didn't know what to do
with myself.

1095
00:56:53,040 --> 00:56:56,440
I found myself just kind of, you
know, at first I was like, oh,

1096
00:56:56,440 --> 00:56:58,360
it's going to pass.
So I remember taking a little

1097
00:56:58,360 --> 00:57:00,440
break, you know, and then about
two weeks in, I was like, this

1098
00:57:00,440 --> 00:57:02,320
is not going to pass.
So I, I started getting a little

1099
00:57:02,320 --> 00:57:04,080
stir crazy because that's the
way my brain works.

1100
00:57:04,400 --> 00:57:06,640
So I just started going to the
office and sitting in this empty

1101
00:57:06,640 --> 00:57:11,080
building by myself everyday just
OK, I'm just going to work.

1102
00:57:11,080 --> 00:57:12,920
This is what I'm going to do and
I'm going to figure something

1103
00:57:12,920 --> 00:57:15,000
out so well.
Like me too.

1104
00:57:15,000 --> 00:57:17,120
It was like I can fix this.
Yeah, yeah.

1105
00:57:17,120 --> 00:57:18,240
I'm like, something's going to
happen.

1106
00:57:18,240 --> 00:57:22,080
I was like, what can we do?
So we started up PPE experts,

1107
00:57:22,080 --> 00:57:25,520
personal protection experts,
where we started a COVID testing

1108
00:57:25,520 --> 00:57:29,440
company, COVID masks, COVID out.
You know, we did everything that

1109
00:57:29,440 --> 00:57:35,600
we could and we were blessed to
tie in with a show called Bar

1110
00:57:35,600 --> 00:57:38,280
Rescue here in Vegas.
And also we did some stuff with

1111
00:57:38,280 --> 00:57:42,240
what was the other one Dog
Whisperer, simple little shows,

1112
00:57:42,240 --> 00:57:46,120
but it we were doing a couple
100 tests a week on their on

1113
00:57:46,120 --> 00:57:49,080
their staff, on anybody that
appeared on the show, all that

1114
00:57:49,080 --> 00:57:52,320
kind of stuff.
And we were not making money,

1115
00:57:52,320 --> 00:57:54,360
but it also gave me something to
do.

1116
00:57:54,360 --> 00:57:58,480
I felt like I was making steps
to kind of reopen the industry

1117
00:57:58,480 --> 00:58:01,720
and at the same time, we were
able to keep our doors open, pay

1118
00:58:01,720 --> 00:58:03,800
our bills.
I had two people full time on

1119
00:58:03,800 --> 00:58:07,880
payroll that like,
unfortunately, I had two people

1120
00:58:07,880 --> 00:58:10,320
that started in the office.
I'm going to say two weeks

1121
00:58:10,320 --> 00:58:13,040
before COVID hit, right?
They had left their old jobs.

1122
00:58:13,040 --> 00:58:15,440
They're they're jumping on board
and that happened.

1123
00:58:15,440 --> 00:58:17,840
And I was like, I'm not going to
let them go.

1124
00:58:17,840 --> 00:58:20,160
Like I'm not going to let them
just go flounder out there.

1125
00:58:20,880 --> 00:58:22,360
I'm keeping them on no matter
what.

1126
00:58:22,880 --> 00:58:26,600
So we started this and they
helped me with that and we wrote

1127
00:58:26,600 --> 00:58:28,320
it out, man.
We made it to the other side,

1128
00:58:28,320 --> 00:58:29,880
you know?
And then the first show back

1129
00:58:29,880 --> 00:58:33,800
from COVID for us was Day in
Vegas at the festival grounds

1130
00:58:33,800 --> 00:58:34,840
over here.
It was insane.

1131
00:58:34,840 --> 00:58:38,240
I went from needing nobody to
needing 350 people, right?

1132
00:58:38,840 --> 00:58:41,160
It was like.
OK, start making phone calls.

1133
00:58:41,160 --> 00:58:43,560
Nobody's around.
People don't want to mess with

1134
00:58:43,560 --> 00:58:46,120
their unemployment.
They moved on into desk jobs

1135
00:58:46,120 --> 00:58:49,800
like all the things.
So that was a tough one coming

1136
00:58:49,800 --> 00:58:51,120
out of COVID and.
Yeah.

1137
00:58:51,120 --> 00:58:53,640
Oh, Jesus.
Trying to wrangle people get get

1138
00:58:53,680 --> 00:58:56,720
bodies and.
Watch them probably probably

1139
00:58:56,720 --> 00:58:59,200
double hard for you because then
people are calling you looking

1140
00:58:59,200 --> 00:59:00,760
for people, right?
Oh yeah.

1141
00:59:00,760 --> 00:59:02,840
Oh yeah.
You got a labor company too,

1142
00:59:02,840 --> 00:59:04,080
right?
Oh, absolutely.

1143
00:59:04,880 --> 00:59:06,480
And there was other things we
did now that you're making

1144
00:59:06,480 --> 00:59:08,680
remember we started installing
security.

1145
00:59:08,680 --> 00:59:10,560
This guy invented this thing
called Baywatch.

1146
00:59:10,560 --> 00:59:14,400
It was a security camera that
went up on a pole in the in the

1147
00:59:14,520 --> 00:59:17,360
in the bays of auto dealerships
to like it.

1148
00:59:17,400 --> 00:59:20,240
It videoed them working on the
car and it did something to

1149
00:59:20,240 --> 00:59:22,440
lower the insurance.
But we started getting calls for

1150
00:59:22,440 --> 00:59:25,320
that all over the country.
So I'm sending these like super

1151
00:59:25,320 --> 00:59:28,560
high qualified roadies, right
People that it could run, run

1152
00:59:28,560 --> 00:59:31,120
massive shows, run massive
stadium shows and they're out

1153
00:59:31,120 --> 00:59:33,360
there putting in security
counters.

1154
00:59:33,520 --> 00:59:36,000
Cameras in the ceiling.
It was something, man.

1155
00:59:36,000 --> 00:59:38,040
It was something.
So, yeah, we did that.

1156
00:59:38,080 --> 00:59:39,920
We got through that first big
show.

1157
00:59:39,920 --> 00:59:43,360
And then we just, you know, I
realized that a lot of our

1158
00:59:43,360 --> 00:59:45,640
workforce was gone and if we
were going to succeed, that we

1159
00:59:45,640 --> 00:59:48,480
needed to rebuild.
So that's where I, I said, you

1160
00:59:48,480 --> 00:59:51,480
know what, at this point,
instead of looking for the

1161
00:59:51,480 --> 00:59:54,480
people that know how to do this,
why don't we make people that

1162
00:59:54,480 --> 00:59:56,640
know how to do this kind of
create the big fin army.

1163
00:59:56,880 --> 01:00:00,320
So we put a lot of time and
effort into just teaching,

1164
01:00:00,400 --> 01:00:03,320
teaching, teaching the next
generation on how to do this and

1165
01:00:03,320 --> 01:00:06,480
teaching them the old ways with
the new technology, the old

1166
01:00:06,480 --> 01:00:09,560
theories, the old work ethic,
the old things that made us all

1167
01:00:09,560 --> 01:00:11,360
so successful.
But marrying that into

1168
01:00:11,360 --> 01:00:15,120
everything that's available in
today's world to make shows and

1169
01:00:15,120 --> 01:00:17,320
production flow a little bit
smoother and streamline.

1170
01:00:17,600 --> 01:00:21,160
So you do that in directly in
Vegas or is that something

1171
01:00:21,160 --> 01:00:24,120
that's done remote or right?
Now we're moving it, moving it

1172
01:00:24,120 --> 01:00:26,000
around.
We have, we go to Salt Lake a

1173
01:00:26,000 --> 01:00:27,360
lot.
That's one of our other like

1174
01:00:27,360 --> 01:00:31,400
that's was the first satellite
office that we that we created.

1175
01:00:31,400 --> 01:00:33,120
So we we salt.
Lake.

1176
01:00:34,120 --> 01:00:36,680
There was a niche there, right?
So there's a lot of people don't

1177
01:00:36,680 --> 01:00:37,760
know.
There was a lot of work.

1178
01:00:37,760 --> 01:00:39,840
There's a lot of corporate shows
that go in and out of there.

1179
01:00:39,840 --> 01:00:43,400
A lot of businesses are based in
Salt Lake City.

1180
01:00:43,600 --> 01:00:44,800
A lot of big.
Interesting.

1181
01:00:44,880 --> 01:00:47,360
Things like that.
And there was no labor force

1182
01:00:47,360 --> 01:00:48,480
there.
I mean, that's it.

1183
01:00:48,480 --> 01:00:52,080
We were getting calls.
Can you bring in 250 guys from

1184
01:00:52,080 --> 01:00:54,960
Vegas to come do shows for us?
That's the kind of thing that

1185
01:00:54,960 --> 01:00:58,800
was happening and we were doing
it and it came to a .2019 where

1186
01:00:58,800 --> 01:01:01,680
one of our vendors out there
said you guys should just open

1187
01:01:01,680 --> 01:01:05,480
an office here, you know, So we
did that and that is that's just

1188
01:01:05,480 --> 01:01:07,120
ticking along.
We do this stuff over at the

1189
01:01:07,120 --> 01:01:10,000
Salt Palace.
There's a whatever the arena is

1190
01:01:10,000 --> 01:01:11,320
there now.
You know, it used to be called

1191
01:01:11,320 --> 01:01:12,920
the Target Center.
I don't even know what it's now.

1192
01:01:13,000 --> 01:01:14,920
Something bank something or
other, but.

1193
01:01:15,320 --> 01:01:17,800
It was vivid for a minute, but
we're in there.

1194
01:01:18,520 --> 01:01:21,040
It's, you know, it's a place.
It's a place that was not

1195
01:01:21,040 --> 01:01:23,120
saturated.
They really need quality labor.

1196
01:01:23,120 --> 01:01:25,440
So we started bringing it in
there and now, you know, that's

1197
01:01:25,440 --> 01:01:29,000
one of our spots.
But so big plan is to move these

1198
01:01:29,000 --> 01:01:31,240
classes around the country.
You know, right now we're really

1199
01:01:31,240 --> 01:01:35,040
trying to streamline the big Fen
U idea and, and be able to take

1200
01:01:35,040 --> 01:01:37,760
that and move it, you know,
anywhere and really just get

1201
01:01:37,760 --> 01:01:39,960
these get people trained
wherever we are so.

1202
01:01:40,040 --> 01:01:42,280
So the general idea though is,
is what?

1203
01:01:42,280 --> 01:01:45,560
Like is it a two week training,
a month, a six months?

1204
01:01:45,560 --> 01:01:48,160
What is it?
Usually we try to go through in

1205
01:01:48,160 --> 01:01:50,200
two weeks.
I think that's a fair, a fair

1206
01:01:50,200 --> 01:01:50,960
number.
You know what?

1207
01:01:51,440 --> 01:01:54,440
And we'll have a class in
rigging, class in Lighting,

1208
01:01:54,880 --> 01:02:01,120
audio, video, carpentry.
Don't don't be a douche bag.

1209
01:02:01,120 --> 01:02:03,280
One O 1.
And that's literally what the

1210
01:02:03,320 --> 01:02:06,000
ethics and the safety is like.
Seriously, it's it's teaching

1211
01:02:06,000 --> 01:02:08,440
them like, listen, this is how
things operate.

1212
01:02:08,440 --> 01:02:12,000
Like you need to learn how to,
you know, the etiquette of being

1213
01:02:12,000 --> 01:02:14,560
in this business.
A lot of people don't and and

1214
01:02:14,560 --> 01:02:16,160
they need to learn that.
It's very important.

1215
01:02:16,280 --> 01:02:19,280
I think if you have a good work
ethic and you have proper

1216
01:02:19,280 --> 01:02:21,800
etiquette and you're not an
asshole, right?

1217
01:02:22,200 --> 01:02:24,240
You're going to succeed.
It carries you pretty far.

1218
01:02:24,720 --> 01:02:27,240
Yeah, it really does.
You know, I those are the people

1219
01:02:27,240 --> 01:02:29,760
that I want to teach.
So we really look out for for

1220
01:02:29,760 --> 01:02:34,240
that quality in people and.
And do graduates get hired or

1221
01:02:34,240 --> 01:02:35,680
how does that work?
What's that?

1222
01:02:35,880 --> 01:02:38,400
Do graduates just automatically
get a gig or?

1223
01:02:38,880 --> 01:02:41,600
If they do, and once they go
through everything, we are happy

1224
01:02:41,600 --> 01:02:43,720
to put them to work.
Like if you made it through, we

1225
01:02:43,720 --> 01:02:45,120
see who's going to make it
right.

1226
01:02:45,120 --> 01:02:47,880
I mean, that's it honestly.
You see the people that are just

1227
01:02:47,880 --> 01:02:50,240
there because they think it's
going to be cool and you see the

1228
01:02:50,240 --> 01:02:52,680
people that are willing to
really step up.

1229
01:02:53,080 --> 01:02:55,920
I'll never forget we had a class
here in this in this shop here

1230
01:02:56,240 --> 01:02:58,800
and something spilled.
I saw this kid jump up, come

1231
01:02:58,800 --> 01:03:01,160
over and clean it up.
I went, what's your name?

1232
01:03:01,160 --> 01:03:02,760
OK.
I was like, that's, that's the

1233
01:03:02,800 --> 01:03:04,760
kind of kid that I want to train
right there that.

1234
01:03:04,760 --> 01:03:07,720
Yeah, that's not true.
Twice, you know, and that's

1235
01:03:07,720 --> 01:03:10,400
really, it gives me an
opportunity to really see people

1236
01:03:10,400 --> 01:03:13,680
and what they're made of and you
know, and I hate to say the

1237
01:03:13,680 --> 01:03:15,920
words, but it's true whether
they're worth investing the time

1238
01:03:15,920 --> 01:03:17,760
into because.
Yeah, you know this one thing

1239
01:03:17,760 --> 01:03:19,720
Everyone is.
Time to waste at this point.

1240
01:03:19,840 --> 01:03:22,280
You're right, you're right.
Well, and the other thing is,

1241
01:03:23,080 --> 01:03:26,840
you know, when when your top
guys or girls are on a show and

1242
01:03:26,840 --> 01:03:31,240
they got to carry the weight of
these rookies, you know, you

1243
01:03:31,240 --> 01:03:33,280
want them, you need them to be
worth it.

1244
01:03:33,280 --> 01:03:36,520
I mean, it can really become
problematic, you know, if, if,

1245
01:03:36,680 --> 01:03:39,360
if they're leading around a
bunch of dummies, you know, or

1246
01:03:39,360 --> 01:03:41,600
people who don't care. 0
tolerance.

1247
01:03:41,600 --> 01:03:45,280
And that's why I like to be in
the position that I'm in because

1248
01:03:45,280 --> 01:03:47,680
I see that, you know, after all
these years, I can look at

1249
01:03:47,680 --> 01:03:50,760
somebody in one second and say
they're going to be a problem.

1250
01:03:50,760 --> 01:03:53,320
You can tell when someone's
having a bad day and you can

1251
01:03:53,320 --> 01:03:56,480
also tell when it is just in
their nature to that they are in

1252
01:03:56,480 --> 01:03:58,600
the wrong place and they
shouldn't be here.

1253
01:03:58,600 --> 01:04:01,040
So why waste one minute, cut
them loose.

1254
01:04:01,160 --> 01:04:03,800
I tell them, listen, there's a
lot of places you're going to

1255
01:04:03,800 --> 01:04:05,640
succeed in this world.
This is not one of them.

1256
01:04:05,640 --> 01:04:08,360
You know, respectfully, you
know, here I'm cutting you

1257
01:04:08,360 --> 01:04:09,840
loose.
Go do what you do.

1258
01:04:09,960 --> 01:04:12,520
You know, I support whatever
growth you're going to do, but

1259
01:04:12,520 --> 01:04:15,840
this is not the spot for it.
And and I do that, you know,

1260
01:04:15,840 --> 01:04:17,480
people might say nowadays that's
harsh.

1261
01:04:17,480 --> 01:04:20,960
It's not it's actually helpful.
Instead of them wasting their

1262
01:04:20,960 --> 01:04:23,880
time and wasting everybody's
time, I'm trying to point them

1263
01:04:23,880 --> 01:04:26,520
in the right direction.
You know, I, I, they've been

1264
01:04:26,520 --> 01:04:28,720
around for a month.
I've been doing this for 30

1265
01:04:28,720 --> 01:04:30,560
years.
I can see whether you're going

1266
01:04:30,560 --> 01:04:33,560
to make it or not, you know, or
whether you have what it takes,

1267
01:04:33,560 --> 01:04:35,480
you know, and yeah.
And that's not to say you're a

1268
01:04:35,480 --> 01:04:37,680
failure.
It just means you're, you're not

1269
01:04:37,680 --> 01:04:39,280
a good fit for where you're at
right now.

1270
01:04:39,280 --> 01:04:41,120
There is a place that's a proper
fit for you.

1271
01:04:41,480 --> 01:04:44,080
And I think it's it's a positive
thing for them to go find that

1272
01:04:44,120 --> 01:04:46,720
and succeed.
Yeah, I mean, well, and even if

1273
01:04:46,720 --> 01:04:49,800
you have a lighting degree or
something, like it doesn't mean

1274
01:04:49,800 --> 01:04:51,480
you're going to be on a
rock'n'roll tour.

1275
01:04:51,480 --> 01:04:54,760
It doesn't mean like there might
be a place for you, but it might

1276
01:04:54,760 --> 01:04:58,960
be by yourself, you know, in a
theater or something like it

1277
01:04:58,960 --> 01:05:02,400
might not be, you know, like
there's a whole bunch of

1278
01:05:02,400 --> 01:05:05,000
different things.
You can take that knowledge and

1279
01:05:05,000 --> 01:05:07,800
and go do with it, but there
might be a different skill set

1280
01:05:07,800 --> 01:05:09,200
required for some of these
other.

1281
01:05:10,000 --> 01:05:12,880
Yeah, don't be discouraged.
It's you're learning and life is

1282
01:05:12,880 --> 01:05:14,840
about learning.
You learn where or you're going

1283
01:05:14,840 --> 01:05:17,440
to succeed and and go there.
Follow your gut.

1284
01:05:17,640 --> 01:05:20,120
You know, a lot of times people
just want to stick in a place

1285
01:05:20,120 --> 01:05:22,560
that they they should not be in.
And I feel like that doesn't

1286
01:05:22,560 --> 01:05:24,560
just go in our business, it goes
in life.

1287
01:05:25,040 --> 01:05:30,880
But it's, it's something I talk
so much to like sort of the old

1288
01:05:30,880 --> 01:05:34,760
school crowd in our industry.
And like Cosmo, for example, you

1289
01:05:34,760 --> 01:05:39,080
know, Cosmo, one of the things
we talk a lot about is, is just

1290
01:05:39,080 --> 01:05:43,960
how attitude and a willingness
to say yes to a lot, a lot of

1291
01:05:43,960 --> 01:05:48,720
stuff can create a career.
And you know, Cosmo always said

1292
01:05:48,720 --> 01:05:51,120
yes, like, and then figured it
out, right?

1293
01:05:51,800 --> 01:05:52,480
Yeah.
Do you know how to?

1294
01:05:52,960 --> 01:05:54,080
Right.
That's you're like, hell yeah,

1295
01:05:54,080 --> 01:05:55,080
we could do that.
That's it.

1296
01:05:55,080 --> 01:05:57,360
Yeah, yeah.
How do I do this?

1297
01:05:57,360 --> 01:05:58,880
Yeah, yeah.
And then?

1298
01:05:58,880 --> 01:06:01,120
You call people, hey, listen,
this is what I'm getting into

1299
01:06:01,120 --> 01:06:04,360
for the people.
That's who you know over the

1300
01:06:04,360 --> 01:06:06,280
years really supports you too.
You don't need to know

1301
01:06:06,280 --> 01:06:08,560
everything, but you need to know
people that are going to help

1302
01:06:08,560 --> 01:06:11,400
you.
Find the network is powerful for

1303
01:06:11,400 --> 01:06:13,920
sure.
So the network's powerful, but

1304
01:06:14,120 --> 01:06:17,600
you know, it's, I find it really
smart what you're doing with

1305
01:06:17,600 --> 01:06:23,040
this training thing because I
ask people pretty much every

1306
01:06:23,040 --> 01:06:27,240
week on this podcast, you know,
crew or gear, what's a bigger

1307
01:06:27,240 --> 01:06:29,640
problem right now?
And lately it's pretty much been

1308
01:06:29,640 --> 01:06:31,400
all crew because gear has caught
up.

1309
01:06:32,160 --> 01:06:33,640
Gear is, well, gear is gear,
right?

1310
01:06:33,640 --> 01:06:35,320
I mean, that's it.
I mean it, it is.

1311
01:06:35,320 --> 01:06:36,640
It's always going to be what it
is.

1312
01:06:36,680 --> 01:06:39,320
Well, it was very problematic
for a while though, you know,

1313
01:06:39,360 --> 01:06:42,040
you just couldn't get enough.
Like everybody was out of

1314
01:06:42,040 --> 01:06:44,440
everything.
That is a ver I wasn't even I

1315
01:06:44,440 --> 01:06:46,240
was thinking main maintenance
your.

1316
01:06:46,240 --> 01:06:49,680
Your no, no, no shortages.
On after COVID, yeah, it was

1317
01:06:49,680 --> 01:06:50,720
months, months.
Yeah.

1318
01:06:50,840 --> 01:06:52,640
For anything, yeah.
Yeah.

1319
01:06:52,680 --> 01:06:55,120
But initially, like people
probably would have said, I

1320
01:06:55,120 --> 01:06:58,720
don't know both, you know, or,
or a lot of them would lean

1321
01:06:58,720 --> 01:07:01,800
towards gear because you just
like no, no matter what price

1322
01:07:01,800 --> 01:07:03,680
you were willing to pay, you
couldn't get it.

1323
01:07:04,200 --> 01:07:04,760
Wasn't there?
Yeah.

1324
01:07:04,760 --> 01:07:08,880
Yeah, but, but now it's pretty
much exclusively people, you

1325
01:07:08,880 --> 01:07:12,360
know, and, and again, it's a
shortage of people, but it's a

1326
01:07:12,360 --> 01:07:17,000
shortage of good quality people.
And so, yeah, some of the

1327
01:07:17,000 --> 01:07:20,120
largest companies out there,
largest rental companies now

1328
01:07:20,120 --> 01:07:25,840
have not only recruiting systems
built into their company where

1329
01:07:25,840 --> 01:07:30,280
they're going out to trade shows
or to job fairs or whatever, and

1330
01:07:30,280 --> 01:07:32,160
they're really recruiting
talent.

1331
01:07:32,160 --> 01:07:36,960
Companies like PRG and Solo Tech
are doing that a lot, but now

1332
01:07:36,960 --> 01:07:39,880
they've got internal training
programs as well, which they may

1333
01:07:39,880 --> 01:07:42,040
not have had ten years ago or
whatever.

1334
01:07:42,880 --> 01:07:44,400
Yeah, you just went through the
ranks, right?

1335
01:07:44,400 --> 01:07:45,960
That's it.
You started a cable and you

1336
01:07:45,960 --> 01:07:48,240
worked your way through and came
out the other side.

1337
01:07:48,240 --> 01:07:50,440
But now it's legitimately.
They're trying to teach that.

1338
01:07:50,440 --> 01:07:53,320
Yeah, Well, and.
One thing you said is is early

1339
01:07:53,320 --> 01:07:55,680
on in your career, you learned,
hey, I can actually make a

1340
01:07:55,680 --> 01:07:57,920
living doing this well, even
more so now.

1341
01:07:57,920 --> 01:08:01,360
And you know, sooner was talking
about this on my podcast where

1342
01:08:01,360 --> 01:08:07,280
she said, you know, people don't
realize that this is a real job.

1343
01:08:07,280 --> 01:08:09,880
Like this isn't, you're not
gypsies, you know?

1344
01:08:09,920 --> 01:08:15,920
And, and you can make 100 grand
a year and see the world and

1345
01:08:15,920 --> 01:08:19,399
have a really great time with a
really great bunch of people and

1346
01:08:19,399 --> 01:08:23,760
learn a lot of stuff and be on a
rock'n'roll tour.

1347
01:08:24,120 --> 01:08:27,800
And people don't really
understand that it looks like a

1348
01:08:27,800 --> 01:08:31,240
gypsy lifestyle.
One of my favorite things in the

1349
01:08:31,240 --> 01:08:34,359
world is all the kids that have
passed through right, We call

1350
01:08:34,359 --> 01:08:36,560
them the fin turns right from
back in the day.

1351
01:08:36,560 --> 01:08:39,880
It's hilarious, you.
Really leaned into this branding

1352
01:08:39,880 --> 01:08:40,720
thing.
Oh yeah.

1353
01:08:40,720 --> 01:08:42,720
Oh, yeah.
And they move on.

1354
01:08:42,720 --> 01:08:44,640
And, you know, I be real
straight.

1355
01:08:44,640 --> 01:08:46,640
I forget about them, right?
I'm on to the next thing.

1356
01:08:46,840 --> 01:08:50,040
But to get letters, emails,
things like that same thing.

1357
01:08:50,040 --> 01:08:51,920
I just want to tell you, you
changed my life.

1358
01:08:51,920 --> 01:08:54,200
I just bought my first truck.
I just got married.

1359
01:08:54,200 --> 01:08:57,920
We bought the our first house.
And that all came from you doing

1360
01:08:57,920 --> 01:08:59,560
XYZ when I was a kid.
And I'm like.

1361
01:08:59,720 --> 01:09:00,720
That is awesome.
Right.

1362
01:09:01,040 --> 01:09:02,800
I'm glad, you know, I'm glad I
had that impact.

1363
01:09:02,800 --> 01:09:05,319
You know, those are those those
moments where you're like, you

1364
01:09:05,319 --> 01:09:07,840
know, you, you don't realize
you're doing it, but you're

1365
01:09:07,840 --> 01:09:11,359
showing people that this is
something that you can do and

1366
01:09:11,399 --> 01:09:13,920
and you can have a great life
doing it, especially in things

1367
01:09:13,920 --> 01:09:16,399
like Vegas, right?
I think that goes in a town like

1368
01:09:16,399 --> 01:09:21,040
this, like this is a very viable
career here, you know, to teach

1369
01:09:21,040 --> 01:09:22,520
people.
And I think, you know, in the

1370
01:09:22,520 --> 01:09:24,880
old days, it was what we were
looked at as glorified carnies,

1371
01:09:24,880 --> 01:09:26,200
right?
Like that's what it was.

1372
01:09:26,200 --> 01:09:28,520
And not that there's anything
wrong with that, but that's

1373
01:09:28,520 --> 01:09:31,040
that's what it was.
And then especially in my

1374
01:09:31,040 --> 01:09:34,240
neighborhood, go into the
trades, go do drywall, be an

1375
01:09:34,240 --> 01:09:36,800
electrician and go, you know,
learn plumbing, do that kind of

1376
01:09:36,800 --> 01:09:38,760
stuff.
This was some like fantasy

1377
01:09:38,760 --> 01:09:42,080
thing, but it's a real gig.
It's a real, yeah, a very

1378
01:09:42,359 --> 01:09:45,080
successful business that kids
can be brought into, you know,

1379
01:09:45,080 --> 01:09:46,560
especially with the right
guidance, they're going to

1380
01:09:46,560 --> 01:09:48,840
succeed.
But I mean, early on, you know,

1381
01:09:48,840 --> 01:09:51,680
it's like theater, people still
don't make as much as they

1382
01:09:51,680 --> 01:09:54,040
should.
But you know, my ex-wife was in

1383
01:09:54,040 --> 01:09:56,840
the record business for the
entire time I knew her.

1384
01:09:57,240 --> 01:10:01,680
And like from high school right
up until recently when there was

1385
01:10:01,680 --> 01:10:04,560
no more record business, she
was, that's all she ever did,

1386
01:10:04,560 --> 01:10:06,800
right?
And the record business and it

1387
01:10:06,800 --> 01:10:09,920
seemed like our like the touring
side of our business a little

1388
01:10:09,920 --> 01:10:14,320
bit underpaid, you know, record
executives that should have

1389
01:10:14,320 --> 01:10:17,200
gotten, you know, two 5300
thousand.

1390
01:10:17,200 --> 01:10:21,440
We're getting like 75 or 80,000.
Because it's the lifestyle you

1391
01:10:21,440 --> 01:10:24,760
get to hang out with pop.
Stars, you know, And you.

1392
01:10:25,000 --> 01:10:27,440
Get a T-shirt, you get go to
shows, you get a T-shirt, right?

1393
01:10:27,480 --> 01:10:28,920
Yeah.
The touring business is the same

1394
01:10:28,920 --> 01:10:30,440
thing you're going to.
Get laid.

1395
01:10:30,600 --> 01:10:35,080
You know, and and I mean that
hooked a lot of people into the

1396
01:10:35,080 --> 01:10:37,560
lifestyle, but again, that's the
Carney side of it all.

1397
01:10:37,560 --> 01:10:42,760
Now it's a lot more interesting
and, and it's safer, it's

1398
01:10:42,760 --> 01:10:47,480
cleaner, you know it.
It's not as as crazy, you know,

1399
01:10:47,600 --> 01:10:52,000
you can have a wife and be on
tour, you know, and so.

1400
01:10:52,520 --> 01:10:55,880
It's a health and Wellness thing
here at, at Big Fan where

1401
01:10:56,440 --> 01:10:57,960
because I learned a lot about
nutrition, right?

1402
01:10:57,960 --> 01:10:59,040
We're talking about diet
earlier.

1403
01:10:59,040 --> 01:11:00,360
So I was like, I want to help
people with that.

1404
01:11:00,680 --> 01:11:03,880
They and, and these, the, the
dietitians that I work with came

1405
01:11:03,880 --> 01:11:06,040
in, they talked to me and they
said, we actually have Rd. guys

1406
01:11:06,160 --> 01:11:07,760
where we're teaching them how to
eat on the road.

1407
01:11:07,760 --> 01:11:10,400
I was like, this is brilliant.
So now we're doing the classes

1408
01:11:10,400 --> 01:11:11,720
here.
But like I said, back in the

1409
01:11:11,720 --> 01:11:13,560
day, we didn't eat.
You had pizza at the end of the

1410
01:11:13,560 --> 01:11:15,560
night, it was cold.
You didn't take care of

1411
01:11:15,560 --> 01:11:18,160
yourself.
Nowadays, people are taking care

1412
01:11:18,160 --> 01:11:20,120
of themselves.
They're exercising on the road.

1413
01:11:20,120 --> 01:11:23,280
They're they're doing those kind
of things, you know, and so.

1414
01:11:23,320 --> 01:11:27,040
Is it the after show meal on the
bus now like cauliflower?

1415
01:11:27,040 --> 01:11:30,640
Yeah, write something like that.
Roasted eggplant or something,

1416
01:11:30,640 --> 01:11:32,280
you know, I'm sure.
There's still a pizza chicken

1417
01:11:32,280 --> 01:11:35,840
around somewhere, but yeah, now
there's choices though you make

1418
01:11:35,840 --> 01:11:38,240
your choices on which are how
you gonna take care of yourself

1419
01:11:38,240 --> 01:11:39,760
out.
There, well, even pizza, you

1420
01:11:39,760 --> 01:11:44,120
know, like I've become an addict
to making pizza, like I love

1421
01:11:44,360 --> 01:11:48,720
Nepalitan pizza and you know,
I've really gotten into that

1422
01:11:48,720 --> 01:11:51,920
whole thing and, and perfecting
the dough and all this stuff and

1423
01:11:51,920 --> 01:11:53,200
and.
Basic ingredients like you.

1424
01:11:53,680 --> 01:11:57,960
Said your basic ingredients, the
best tomatoes, the best cheese,

1425
01:11:57,960 --> 01:12:00,320
the best everything, right?
So you're not just going and

1426
01:12:00,320 --> 01:12:03,200
buying, you know, breakfast
sausage and chopping it up and

1427
01:12:03,200 --> 01:12:07,440
putting it on with, you know,
fat bacon and stuff like trying

1428
01:12:07,440 --> 01:12:11,080
to make a pizza as healthy as
you can make a pizza.

1429
01:12:11,240 --> 01:12:12,880
I mean, at the end of the day,
it's still a whole bunch of

1430
01:12:12,880 --> 01:12:15,200
bread.
But what is delicious?

1431
01:12:15,480 --> 01:12:18,120
Yeah, I just made pizza a couple
days ago, so I was just thinking

1432
01:12:18,120 --> 01:12:19,840
about it again.
I want more pizza.

1433
01:12:19,840 --> 01:12:21,240
I.
Have to get lunch after this.

1434
01:12:21,560 --> 01:12:25,840
Yeah, but yeah, I'm pretty good
industry and again, and I think

1435
01:12:25,840 --> 01:12:27,280
the pay is hopefully catching
up.

1436
01:12:27,320 --> 01:12:31,040
I know on our part, it's funny,
I just did a big, we did a big

1437
01:12:31,040 --> 01:12:33,080
office clean out.
I found my business plan.

1438
01:12:33,080 --> 01:12:36,320
It was written on a, it was
written on a place mat from the

1439
01:12:36,320 --> 01:12:38,040
Crown and Anchor pub in Las
Vegas.

1440
01:12:38,480 --> 01:12:41,000
And literally I remember asking,
how much are people getting

1441
01:12:41,000 --> 01:12:42,040
paid?
I said, we're going to pay them

1442
01:12:42,040 --> 01:12:43,240
more.
And I, you know, added some

1443
01:12:43,240 --> 01:12:46,320
money to it.
That was the, that was the start

1444
01:12:46,320 --> 01:12:48,000
of like, OK, this is how we're
going to do things.

1445
01:12:48,000 --> 01:12:51,080
We want to elevate people here.
So, and even to this day, you

1446
01:12:51,120 --> 01:12:55,440
know, I did a big cost of living
raise across the board back last

1447
01:12:55,440 --> 01:12:58,160
July.
I think I was like, dude, gas

1448
01:12:58,680 --> 01:13:00,320
eggs, everything is through the
roof.

1449
01:13:00,320 --> 01:13:03,480
And I actually sent a like a
note out to all of our clients

1450
01:13:03,480 --> 01:13:04,960
too.
And I said, listen, we're doing

1451
01:13:04,960 --> 01:13:07,080
this here.
Whether you're on board or not,

1452
01:13:07,080 --> 01:13:10,640
we are giving everybody a raise
across the board.

1453
01:13:10,640 --> 01:13:13,680
Everybody that works for us.
Hopefully you're on board and

1454
01:13:13,680 --> 01:13:15,800
you pass that on your clients.
And I said it's not a money

1455
01:13:15,800 --> 01:13:17,400
grab.
This is something you just try

1456
01:13:17,400 --> 01:13:20,200
to elevate people in this
business and, and get those old

1457
01:13:20,200 --> 01:13:21,840
days like you said, hey, it's
rock'n'roll.

1458
01:13:21,840 --> 01:13:24,520
It's going to be fun.
Low pay, free T-shirt.

1459
01:13:24,720 --> 01:13:27,960
We want to get people making a,
a living wage, you know, where

1460
01:13:28,160 --> 01:13:30,000
they can take pride in what
they're doing right now.

1461
01:13:30,480 --> 01:13:32,120
So we're a very big proponent of
that.

1462
01:13:32,400 --> 01:13:35,040
And I'm going to keep pushing
that as hard as long as I can to

1463
01:13:35,040 --> 01:13:36,960
make sure that people are
getting what they're worth.

1464
01:13:37,120 --> 01:13:39,680
Yeah, most of the labor you're
providing is, is labor.

1465
01:13:39,680 --> 01:13:44,280
It's like stagehands and.
All the way we just did a show

1466
01:13:44,280 --> 01:13:47,560
here.
We had 20 a ones and 20V ones

1467
01:13:47,680 --> 01:13:50,440
OK, so they were running all
these rooms here at the Venetian

1468
01:13:50,440 --> 01:13:53,800
for a big corporate show and
then add to that we had 40 basic

1469
01:13:53,800 --> 01:13:57,480
stagehands to help load in build
that kind of stuff.

1470
01:13:57,480 --> 01:14:00,680
So we have a really wide mix.
I mean, we got a show coming up

1471
01:14:00,680 --> 01:14:03,520
here, it's some award show or
something to win.

1472
01:14:03,520 --> 01:14:06,400
But I know we got two production
managers because it's all over

1473
01:14:06,400 --> 01:14:08,920
the place.
Two production managers, stage

1474
01:14:08,920 --> 01:14:12,800
managers, show callers, all
that, as well as a fleet of

1475
01:14:12,800 --> 01:14:16,360
people to to help move gear
around, build the rooms, that

1476
01:14:16,360 --> 01:14:17,200
kind of stuff.
So.

1477
01:14:17,240 --> 01:14:18,920
Interesting.
Yeah, we go all the way.

1478
01:14:18,920 --> 01:14:20,560
I mean, I find things.
I never thought I'd be putting

1479
01:14:20,560 --> 01:14:23,080
makeup people out there in the
world, but I do, right?

1480
01:14:23,080 --> 01:14:26,200
It's just part of the world now.
It's that can do attitude.

1481
01:14:26,360 --> 01:14:28,280
Hey, you got this.
Hell yeah, right.

1482
01:14:28,280 --> 01:14:30,000
We'll find it, whatever it is.
I know people.

1483
01:14:30,000 --> 01:14:32,040
We know people that do makeup
like you.

1484
01:14:32,120 --> 01:14:34,880
You find the right ones, you vet
them out, find the right people,

1485
01:14:34,880 --> 01:14:38,120
and you put them in place.
And in our industry, I think it

1486
01:14:38,120 --> 01:14:42,760
is like, I have this company
Gear Source.

1487
01:14:42,760 --> 01:14:46,800
We sell primarily used sound,
lighting, staging, video gear.

1488
01:14:46,920 --> 01:14:50,720
And it's sort of like the eBay
of that world, right?

1489
01:14:51,200 --> 01:14:54,160
And you know, lately one of the
things that's been happening is

1490
01:14:54,160 --> 01:14:57,320
a lot of companies go ham
ourselves making a vig off of us

1491
01:14:57,320 --> 01:15:00,720
when we sell on Gearsource.
So I'm gonna go sell on Facebook

1492
01:15:00,720 --> 01:15:04,960
Marketplace and not pay that vig
and then I get 100% of the

1493
01:15:04,960 --> 01:15:09,000
proceeds, which it's all good if
it's if it's a really simple

1494
01:15:09,000 --> 01:15:11,840
sale and you're selling it to
your neighbor and he's gonna.

1495
01:15:12,160 --> 01:15:14,080
Good luck with that.
Now I'm gonna listen to what you

1496
01:15:14,120 --> 01:15:15,760
have to.
Say no, but he's gonna come pick

1497
01:15:15,760 --> 01:15:19,000
it up from your shop and he's
gonna pay you cash dollars when

1498
01:15:19,000 --> 01:15:21,720
he picks it up.
And plus sales tax, because

1499
01:15:21,720 --> 01:15:23,320
you're going to get dinged for
that eventually.

1500
01:15:24,400 --> 01:15:26,880
And most companies don't even
know that they need to collect

1501
01:15:26,880 --> 01:15:28,720
sales tax on used equipment
sales.

1502
01:15:28,720 --> 01:15:31,520
But this is a relatively new
thing and they are monitoring

1503
01:15:31,520 --> 01:15:35,240
it.
But you know, it's all good

1504
01:15:35,240 --> 01:15:38,000
until something goes wrong.
And it's the same in your

1505
01:15:38,000 --> 01:15:39,880
business.
Like you could go to any old

1506
01:15:39,880 --> 01:15:43,840
company and get some crew, but
when there's a problem, they

1507
01:15:43,840 --> 01:15:45,800
know that Mike is going to take
care.

1508
01:15:45,800 --> 01:15:48,400
Of him, right?
Tell people I say, yeah, you can

1509
01:15:48,400 --> 01:15:51,320
call me direct, whatever it is.
I want feedback.

1510
01:15:51,320 --> 01:15:53,120
I want anything.
You know, I'm there in the

1511
01:15:53,120 --> 01:15:56,480
morning when I can be making
sure everything is good.

1512
01:15:56,480 --> 01:15:58,240
Especially like with these
logger shows.

1513
01:15:58,640 --> 01:16:02,200
But not necessarily physically
you, but it, it's the, the

1514
01:16:02,200 --> 01:16:05,880
mentality that you've built into
the company and the trust and,

1515
01:16:05,880 --> 01:16:07,960
and all of those things that
you've built into the company.

1516
01:16:07,960 --> 01:16:09,080
So.
We're going to handle it no

1517
01:16:09,160 --> 01:16:10,640
matter.
What so, But I mean, at the end

1518
01:16:10,640 --> 01:16:14,440
of the day, like our our touring
clients, you know, like when

1519
01:16:14,440 --> 01:16:18,200
Premier Global needs 100
fixtures for, for Metallica or

1520
01:16:18,200 --> 01:16:22,560
something and it has to be at
rehearsals by, you know, the

1521
01:16:22,560 --> 01:16:26,120
15th of next month or whatever,
they call us, they don't go to

1522
01:16:26,120 --> 01:16:29,240
Facebook Marketplace, they call
us and they know that it's going

1523
01:16:29,240 --> 01:16:31,920
to show up on time, right?
And they know it's just going to

1524
01:16:31,920 --> 01:16:33,080
be handled.
Period.

1525
01:16:33,320 --> 01:16:36,440
Also, and we'll bring this up
too, in today's day and age and

1526
01:16:36,440 --> 01:16:40,160
business environment, there are
so many legalities involved in

1527
01:16:40,200 --> 01:16:42,880
all these and I can only speak
on my end on labor.

1528
01:16:43,000 --> 01:16:44,320
No, it's the same for us.
You got a bunch of guys.

1529
01:16:44,320 --> 01:16:45,760
We're going to start a labor
company.

1530
01:16:46,720 --> 01:16:49,880
Go for it, OK, Because there's
there's all the the payroll

1531
01:16:49,880 --> 01:16:53,800
fees, the taxes, the workers
comp, the liability insurance,

1532
01:16:54,240 --> 01:16:58,280
just on and on and on and on
That's the business part, right?

1533
01:16:58,280 --> 01:17:00,040
I mean, that's.
The same, it's the same with

1534
01:17:00,040 --> 01:17:02,360
what I'm talking about, Mike.
It's, it's exactly the same

1535
01:17:02,360 --> 01:17:05,280
thing, 'cause I mean, there's,
there's OK, so you can do it for

1536
01:17:05,280 --> 01:17:07,560
free on Facebook.
But The thing is when you get

1537
01:17:07,560 --> 01:17:11,880
into logistics and you get into
like, we have this very complex

1538
01:17:11,880 --> 01:17:15,560
software system that determines
when tax needs to be collected

1539
01:17:15,840 --> 01:17:17,560
and then where it needs to be
paid to.

1540
01:17:17,560 --> 01:17:19,960
And we handle all that on behalf
of the sellers.

1541
01:17:19,960 --> 01:17:21,480
So nobody has to worry about it,
right?

1542
01:17:22,080 --> 01:17:25,360
And so, you know that I'm not
complaining.

1543
01:17:25,360 --> 01:17:27,240
It's going to happen.
If there's something that

1544
01:17:27,240 --> 01:17:30,040
appears to be cheaper, people
are going to, you know, it's

1545
01:17:30,040 --> 01:17:32,560
like this shining thing that
people are going to pursue.

1546
01:17:32,600 --> 01:17:35,840
It's first until they get
screwed, you know, because

1547
01:17:35,840 --> 01:17:37,720
what's going to happen is
somebody's going to get greedy

1548
01:17:37,720 --> 01:17:42,240
and go, OK, so this buyer's in
Finland and I can sell it to

1549
01:17:42,240 --> 01:17:44,400
Finland.
I can ship it myself.

1550
01:17:44,400 --> 01:17:47,840
It's not that hard to ship from
North Dakota to Finland.

1551
01:17:48,080 --> 01:17:52,360
And it's $100,000 sound system.
He's going to pay me in advance.

1552
01:17:52,880 --> 01:17:56,120
What could possibly go wrong
Well, that advance payment is

1553
01:17:56,120 --> 01:17:59,960
fraudulent.
You lost the money and you know

1554
01:18:00,600 --> 01:18:03,640
he got the gear because he used
his own freight forwarder and

1555
01:18:03,640 --> 01:18:06,960
once they grabbed it, possession
is 9/10 and you're kind of

1556
01:18:06,960 --> 01:18:10,120
screwed now.
And in 20 plus years doing this,

1557
01:18:10,120 --> 01:18:15,400
I've never lost anybody any
money on Friday. 00 dollars, you

1558
01:18:15,400 --> 01:18:18,880
know, and I'm not even, you
know, knocking on wood because

1559
01:18:18,960 --> 01:18:22,480
we use processes, because we
know it exists.

1560
01:18:22,480 --> 01:18:24,080
Right, you do you're a
professional and there's.

1561
01:18:24,080 --> 01:18:26,280
What we do, Like what you do?
Yeah.

1562
01:18:26,720 --> 01:18:27,840
Who do you want building your
car?

1563
01:18:27,840 --> 01:18:30,720
A guy that just hey yeah, I know
how to fix an engine, right?

1564
01:18:30,720 --> 01:18:33,040
Or do you want the guys that
this is what we do all?

1565
01:18:33,040 --> 01:18:35,680
Hell yeah.
No, it's, it's exactly right.

1566
01:18:35,680 --> 01:18:38,080
And you know, I learn a lot of
these disciplines being around

1567
01:18:38,080 --> 01:18:41,040
the racing thing too, because,
yeah, anybody can drive a race

1568
01:18:41,040 --> 01:18:42,560
car.
But at the end of the day,

1569
01:18:42,560 --> 01:18:44,520
there's so much more to it than
that.

1570
01:18:44,520 --> 01:18:47,200
You know, there's, there's just
a lot that goes into it.

1571
01:18:47,480 --> 01:18:49,280
And that's why we're having this
conversation, right?

1572
01:18:49,280 --> 01:18:52,520
That's why we are where we are,
because we've been doing this a

1573
01:18:52,520 --> 01:18:54,800
long time.
We've learned a lot on our way

1574
01:18:54,800 --> 01:18:56,600
up here.
And we're going to continue to

1575
01:18:56,600 --> 01:18:58,880
shape the industry, you know,
because I want people to do

1576
01:18:58,880 --> 01:19:01,960
things the right way.
Yeah, no, I mean, and it's why

1577
01:19:02,160 --> 01:19:05,320
some of the old school lighting
designers or sound engineers or

1578
01:19:05,320 --> 01:19:09,520
production managers are still so
gainfully employed is because,

1579
01:19:09,520 --> 01:19:13,080
you know, they, they know that
if I give it to you, you're

1580
01:19:13,080 --> 01:19:15,840
going to handle it.
You know, and it's just things

1581
01:19:15,840 --> 01:19:18,000
are going to go well and I don't
have to worry about it.

1582
01:19:18,120 --> 01:19:20,880
That's the reputation that.
Yeah, 100%.

1583
01:19:20,880 --> 01:19:24,320
So I, I was reading about this
this Paul McCartney story.

1584
01:19:24,320 --> 01:19:26,800
So tell me this Paul McCartney
story 'cause it's a pretty good

1585
01:19:26,800 --> 01:19:27,800
one.
Which one?

1586
01:19:28,280 --> 01:19:32,360
Well, the one that you slept out
for tickets.

1587
01:19:32,520 --> 01:19:33,880
Oh, my God.
OK, All right.

1588
01:19:33,920 --> 01:19:37,680
So, yeah, I was, I was probably,
I want to say 17 big Beatles had

1589
01:19:37,680 --> 01:19:41,520
growing up, right?
Yeah, I've had a an existential

1590
01:19:41,520 --> 01:19:44,480
experience or whatever you want
to call it one day on some, on

1591
01:19:44,480 --> 01:19:47,720
some substances when I was a kid
that really led me to becoming a

1592
01:19:47,720 --> 01:19:50,000
Beatles fan, right?
Where I saw Beatles faces all

1593
01:19:50,000 --> 01:19:51,600
over the place, in the street
and everywhere.

1594
01:19:51,760 --> 01:19:55,880
So yeah, that's, that's the
childhood I had.

1595
01:19:55,880 --> 01:19:58,440
So it became a big Beatles fan.
So then I'm out there.

1596
01:19:58,720 --> 01:20:01,640
So McCartney went on tour for
the first time in years.

1597
01:20:01,640 --> 01:20:05,400
I want to say this is probably
89, maybe something like that.

1598
01:20:06,160 --> 01:20:09,080
Whatever that tour was, yeah,
Hours in the dirt might have

1599
01:20:09,080 --> 01:20:12,080
been the thing was backing up,
but whatever.

1600
01:20:12,680 --> 01:20:14,640
So at the time, I'm working at
some pizza shop.

1601
01:20:14,640 --> 01:20:18,400
I got long hair and it got the
place got sold and the guy came

1602
01:20:18,400 --> 01:20:20,760
in and said, listen, you got to
cut your hair or you don't have

1603
01:20:20,760 --> 01:20:22,000
a job.
And I was like, I'm not cutting

1604
01:20:22,000 --> 01:20:23,320
my hair.
So I went home and I was like,

1605
01:20:23,320 --> 01:20:25,840
all right, I'm just sitting in
my my lawn chair in my room

1606
01:20:25,840 --> 01:20:30,120
because the furniture I had back
then, I'll be or something.

1607
01:20:30,560 --> 01:20:32,640
And I hear on the radio
McCartney tickets are going on

1608
01:20:32,640 --> 01:20:33,600
sale.
And I want, you know what?

1609
01:20:33,600 --> 01:20:36,600
I'm going to go do that.
So we went down to JFK Stadium.

1610
01:20:36,960 --> 01:20:39,920
I was number 12.
This is 2 weeks out, OK, Two

1611
01:20:39,920 --> 01:20:41,320
weeks out from tickets going on
sale.

1612
01:20:41,600 --> 01:20:43,440
I'm #12 in line.
All right.

1613
01:20:43,440 --> 01:20:46,240
So I'm sitting out.
There in weeks, two weeks you

1614
01:20:46,320 --> 01:20:49,160
camped for two weeks.
I was out there for two weeks.

1615
01:20:49,160 --> 01:20:50,160
I got my lawn.
Chair.

1616
01:20:50,840 --> 01:20:54,200
I got I had a sleeping bag that
I wrapped up in trash bags and

1617
01:20:54,200 --> 01:20:55,600
duct tape.
I don't even know what gap tape

1618
01:20:55,600 --> 01:20:57,440
was back then.
I had an umbrella.

1619
01:20:57,440 --> 01:21:00,640
I had my radio so I could listen
to the radio and here we are.

1620
01:21:00,640 --> 01:21:04,360
And it turned out the 1st 11
people in line were all homeless

1621
01:21:04,360 --> 01:21:06,080
that, like scalpers in Philly,
went.

1622
01:21:06,080 --> 01:21:07,800
Up and said, hey, somebody paid
them to be in line.

1623
01:21:07,960 --> 01:21:10,000
You're sleeping out here.
Guess what, You're going to

1624
01:21:10,000 --> 01:21:12,160
sleep over here.
And I'm going to give you a case

1625
01:21:12,160 --> 01:21:15,520
of Natty Light and, you know,
Bologna sandwiches for the whole

1626
01:21:15,520 --> 01:21:16,600
time.
Yeah, Hell yeah.

1627
01:21:16,600 --> 01:21:20,080
So it's me and all these guys.
And before this thing went over,

1628
01:21:20,080 --> 01:21:22,080
there was about 3000 people in
line, right?

1629
01:21:22,080 --> 01:21:23,320
All the way up it was.
Bad.

1630
01:21:23,680 --> 01:21:29,120
Turned into a big party so I I
remember tickets are going on

1631
01:21:29,120 --> 01:21:31,480
sale and I'm walking up there
and they knew the 1st so many

1632
01:21:31,480 --> 01:21:34,280
people were scalpers so they're
giving them not the best tickets

1633
01:21:34,280 --> 01:21:37,240
so I get up to the trailer I
remember I had all my revolver

1634
01:21:37,240 --> 01:21:40,320
tie dye and love me dudes
playing on my radio and I looked

1635
01:21:40,320 --> 01:21:43,280
at him I said listen I'm not a
smell smelled like and.

1636
01:21:43,640 --> 01:21:45,840
You got out though, right?
They gave me like, what's that?

1637
01:21:46,120 --> 01:21:47,880
You probably smelled like shit
though.

1638
01:21:47,960 --> 01:21:49,320
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, but guess yeah.

1639
01:21:49,400 --> 01:21:50,360
Look who my neighbors were,
though.

1640
01:21:50,360 --> 01:21:51,280
So what's the?
Difference.

1641
01:21:51,280 --> 01:21:52,440
That's true.
Yeah, right.

1642
01:21:52,480 --> 01:21:54,760
I mean.
But it's just hard to it's hard

1643
01:21:54,760 --> 01:21:57,480
to separate yourself from the
homeless guys when you look like

1644
01:21:57,480 --> 01:21:59,320
one and smell like one, right?
Hanging out there.

1645
01:21:59,320 --> 01:22:01,440
But it was a part.
It was, I mean, we, yeah, as the

1646
01:22:01,480 --> 01:22:04,720
line grew, as you can imagine
it, party, right?

1647
01:22:04,800 --> 01:22:06,880
Yeah, yeah.
You know, all the way, all the

1648
01:22:06,880 --> 01:22:09,840
way through.
So, so I get up there, they give

1649
01:22:09,840 --> 01:22:11,520
me tickets, front row, center
seats.

1650
01:22:11,520 --> 01:22:14,040
I fucking lose my mind.
I start running, you know, I'm

1651
01:22:14,040 --> 01:22:15,720
all excited.
And then it was like that

1652
01:22:15,720 --> 01:22:17,840
Charlie and Chocolate Factory,
all these people around me, hey,

1653
01:22:17,920 --> 01:22:19,840
sell me your tickets, sell me
your tickets, blah, blah, blah.

1654
01:22:19,840 --> 01:22:22,960
I was like, no, no, no, no, no.
So then me and my buddies went

1655
01:22:22,960 --> 01:22:29,600
to the show and I knew that he
ended with and in the end, the

1656
01:22:29,600 --> 01:22:30,760
gold stones.
And in the end, the love you

1657
01:22:30,760 --> 01:22:31,680
take is equal to the love you
make.

1658
01:22:31,680 --> 01:22:36,120
And there was, you know, this,
the drum thing and then guitars

1659
01:22:36,120 --> 01:22:38,960
going back and forth.
And I knew that was coming.

1660
01:22:38,960 --> 01:22:41,280
So when that came, I was like, I
looked at my two buddies and I'm

1661
01:22:41,280 --> 01:22:43,120
like, dude, let's all jump on
stage.

1662
01:22:43,120 --> 01:22:44,680
I was like, one of us will
fucking make it up there.

1663
01:22:44,680 --> 01:22:46,680
We're going to do this.
So I looked for the weakest

1664
01:22:46,680 --> 01:22:48,200
security guard.
I remember 17.

1665
01:22:48,200 --> 01:22:50,360
Right.
Why does this thought enter your

1666
01:22:50,360 --> 01:22:51,560
mind like?
What?

1667
01:22:52,080 --> 01:22:55,960
I'm a 17 year old kid, but I I.
Was a 17 year old maniac and I

1668
01:22:55,960 --> 01:22:57,520
never looked at the stage and
went I.

1669
01:22:57,520 --> 01:22:59,200
Got to be up there.
I'm doing it.

1670
01:22:59,200 --> 01:23:01,320
I'm like, I got to be home.
I was like, this is my chance to

1671
01:23:01,320 --> 01:23:02,480
get to.
A hilarious.

1672
01:23:02,720 --> 01:23:05,280
Like, I just want to high five
on some shit.

1673
01:23:05,600 --> 01:23:11,240
So it's it's going, I jump on
stage, I start running right as

1674
01:23:11,240 --> 01:23:13,360
I got the POG and swatted out of
the air.

1675
01:23:13,360 --> 01:23:15,640
OK, All right.
Of course, I'm not thinking of

1676
01:23:16,160 --> 01:23:18,720
like nowadays I'm way older.
I have like, you know, in

1677
01:23:18,720 --> 01:23:22,080
retrospective thoughts here.
I think, OK, John, what happened

1678
01:23:22,080 --> 01:23:24,040
to John Lennon?
Like, you know, security is an

1679
01:23:24,040 --> 01:23:26,080
important thing in that world,
especially after what happened

1680
01:23:26,080 --> 01:23:28,440
to my buddy Dimebag.
Like all this is very real in my

1681
01:23:28,440 --> 01:23:31,840
brain now, but as a 17 year old
kid, I'm just excited, you know,

1682
01:23:31,840 --> 01:23:35,200
I'm pumped up with with music.
So I get swatted out of the air,

1683
01:23:35,560 --> 01:23:38,840
get thrown off the stage, land
on some camera track I'm holding

1684
01:23:38,840 --> 01:23:41,880
on to like the railings until I
see the last note of the show.

1685
01:23:42,040 --> 01:23:44,760
I let go, we all go, falling
back with the security guards,

1686
01:23:45,160 --> 01:23:47,560
roll outside, meet my buddies,
we leave.

1687
01:23:47,560 --> 01:23:48,720
It's the greatest day of my
life.

1688
01:23:48,880 --> 01:23:52,720
And then years later, I get
called that McCartney's doing a

1689
01:23:52,720 --> 01:23:54,560
show at Carnegie Hall.
And you know what?

1690
01:23:54,560 --> 01:23:57,720
I like to come be a part of it.
So, you know, I went in and I

1691
01:23:57,720 --> 01:24:01,080
got to be a part of that show.
I I could have my life was

1692
01:24:01,080 --> 01:24:03,320
complete at that point.
I mean, I hate to say this now

1693
01:24:03,320 --> 01:24:05,680
as being a businessman, but I
don't even care if I get paid.

1694
01:24:05,680 --> 01:24:07,080
I was like, I just did this
McCarty show.

1695
01:24:07,080 --> 01:24:10,640
This is awesome.
I like I peaked, but then time

1696
01:24:10,680 --> 01:24:14,240
time and time again after that,
I kept getting calls to go work

1697
01:24:14,240 --> 01:24:17,360
with them on.
They did Coachella, they did a

1698
01:24:17,360 --> 01:24:20,920
one off show at the the Highline
Ballroom in a little club, which

1699
01:24:21,120 --> 01:24:24,400
when people say what was the,
you know, best show that you've

1700
01:24:24,400 --> 01:24:27,360
ever done, that was it.
Standing with some like crusty

1701
01:24:27,360 --> 01:24:31,560
old road guys with Paul and a
little club doing singing Hey

1702
01:24:31,560 --> 01:24:34,440
Jude and the whole audience is
singing like I'm getting

1703
01:24:34,440 --> 01:24:35,400
goosebumps now.
That's awesome.

1704
01:24:36,040 --> 01:24:38,360
I looked at my buddy Dave Walker
and I was like Dave.

1705
01:24:38,360 --> 01:24:40,680
I was like, This is why we do
this right here, you know?

1706
01:24:41,440 --> 01:24:44,520
Are you still a big Beatles guy?
Of course I love it.

1707
01:24:44,720 --> 01:24:46,960
I'm not jumping.
I'm not jumping anywhere.

1708
01:24:47,960 --> 01:24:50,120
Yeah.
I'm not even going to shows

1709
01:24:50,120 --> 01:24:51,680
unless I get to see some of my
friends there.

1710
01:24:51,680 --> 01:24:55,280
But yeah, I am a big deal.
I mean, they definitely changed

1711
01:24:55,280 --> 01:24:56,880
things.
It was inspiration for me.

1712
01:24:56,880 --> 01:25:00,480
I mean, let's go back to that.
Growing up, I looked at The

1713
01:25:00,480 --> 01:25:03,400
Beatles, I looked at Elvis, I
looked at people and said these

1714
01:25:03,400 --> 01:25:07,040
guys made it from absolutely
nothing to taking over the

1715
01:25:07,040 --> 01:25:08,640
world.
And that was the inspiration

1716
01:25:08,640 --> 01:25:10,600
that fueled me that, you know,
why did.

1717
01:25:10,600 --> 01:25:12,120
Who cares if you're just a kid
from Philly?

1718
01:25:12,120 --> 01:25:14,360
Like, you could do anything.
You could do anything you put

1719
01:25:14,360 --> 01:25:16,520
your mind to if you're willing.
Absolutely and.

1720
01:25:16,680 --> 01:25:18,960
Take the beating to get there.
And that's what we do.

1721
01:25:18,960 --> 01:25:21,040
And, and that's what we did.
And that, you know, I think

1722
01:25:21,040 --> 01:25:23,400
that's why I've always had such
a connection to them.

1723
01:25:23,400 --> 01:25:24,880
You know, they really changed
the world.

1724
01:25:25,080 --> 01:25:28,200
They went from being these kids
to change in the world, and

1725
01:25:28,200 --> 01:25:31,800
that's something that I truly
feel like I'm here to do and I'm

1726
01:25:31,800 --> 01:25:33,680
gonna continue to do that.
It's part of my destiny.

1727
01:25:33,800 --> 01:25:37,800
No, I, I completely I, I
completely agree with you.

1728
01:25:37,800 --> 01:25:42,200
Did did you ever read the book,
the Mel Evans book?

1729
01:25:44,720 --> 01:25:48,520
What's it called?
I don't know if I know who made.

1730
01:25:48,520 --> 01:25:53,320
It like my life with the living
living The Beatles legend or

1731
01:25:53,320 --> 01:25:56,120
something like that.
Val Evans was like their

1732
01:25:56,120 --> 01:25:57,800
original roadie.
Guy, right?

1733
01:25:58,120 --> 01:26:00,480
Yeah, Yeah.
It's a cool book.

1734
01:26:00,480 --> 01:26:03,360
I mean, he tells some really
great stories.

1735
01:26:03,840 --> 01:26:07,480
So it's basically he wrote it,
it was his Diaries and stuff.

1736
01:26:07,720 --> 01:26:10,320
And it's his son who finally put
it out.

1737
01:26:10,320 --> 01:26:12,400
Just like, I don't know, a year
ago or less.

1738
01:26:12,880 --> 01:26:15,440
And I was never a huge Beatles
guy.

1739
01:26:15,440 --> 01:26:18,200
I was a Led Zeppelin guy.
I grew up a musician and don't.

1740
01:26:18,400 --> 01:26:21,440
Don't get me wrong, I love Led
Zeppelin too, OK, And soccer and

1741
01:26:21,440 --> 01:26:23,560
the Stones.
But like I said, I had that

1742
01:26:23,560 --> 01:26:26,000
experience when I was a kid that
just tied.

1743
01:26:26,000 --> 01:26:29,880
Me yeah yeah that's a great
story though I, I mean again,

1744
01:26:29,880 --> 01:26:33,200
you know when we talk about the
young kids today or whatever

1745
01:26:33,200 --> 01:26:37,200
right like the fact that people
won't experience standing in

1746
01:26:37,200 --> 01:26:40,840
line like that for tickets and
you know 'cause everything's

1747
01:26:40,840 --> 01:26:43,920
online now and and.
You used to speak out, that's

1748
01:26:43,920 --> 01:26:45,040
what you did.
You wanted good seats.

1749
01:26:45,240 --> 01:26:47,240
You slept out, that was.
Important I did.

1750
01:26:47,600 --> 01:26:49,720
It many, many times as a kid,
you know, but that's how you got

1751
01:26:50,000 --> 01:26:53,000
the seats you wanted to get.
Yeah, in Canada they had this

1752
01:26:53,000 --> 01:26:57,720
thing called bass ticket outlets
with and they were all in Sears

1753
01:26:57,720 --> 01:27:00,880
stores.
And so people would line up

1754
01:27:00,880 --> 01:27:03,160
through the Sears store or
outside the Sears store or

1755
01:27:03,160 --> 01:27:06,240
whatever, whenever tickets were
going on sale for big concerts.

1756
01:27:06,880 --> 01:27:08,280
I remember.
Those days, I don't know if it

1757
01:27:08,280 --> 01:27:10,680
was Sears, but I remember
department stores or behind the

1758
01:27:10,680 --> 01:27:12,640
optical department or something
like yeah.

1759
01:27:13,360 --> 01:27:15,920
A little ticket office.
Yeah, get in there, man.

1760
01:27:15,920 --> 01:27:18,000
Yeah.
Yeah, and you know, I mean,

1761
01:27:18,000 --> 01:27:22,560
again, nobody, young kids these
days don't experience those

1762
01:27:22,560 --> 01:27:24,600
things.
They just go online and buy

1763
01:27:24,600 --> 01:27:27,040
tickets and.
Right, we're in queue, we're

1764
01:27:27,040 --> 01:27:29,200
going to sit here and we got our
space and then they get.

1765
01:27:29,240 --> 01:27:31,840
Some, yeah, And you're first in
line and you get tickets in the

1766
01:27:31,840 --> 01:27:36,160
nosebleeds and then they and
then they learn how the real

1767
01:27:36,200 --> 01:27:38,800
world really works, you know?
That's right.

1768
01:27:39,160 --> 01:27:41,240
No, it's funny.
I mean it's crazy what's going

1769
01:27:41,240 --> 01:27:44,680
on like I, I don't know what you
think about it, but I, I keep

1770
01:27:44,680 --> 01:27:49,040
saying like I keep thinking, you
know, the other shoes going to

1771
01:27:49,040 --> 01:27:52,840
drop or however you say it, but
like it just seems wacky.

1772
01:27:52,880 --> 01:27:57,800
What's happening with pricing
and and just demand for live

1773
01:27:57,800 --> 01:27:59,720
events right now, concert
tickets.

1774
01:27:59,800 --> 01:28:01,960
It's just it's.
Insane.

1775
01:28:02,400 --> 01:28:05,280
I went to a hockey game, the.
Gold level, the this, the that,

1776
01:28:05,280 --> 01:28:06,360
everything.
Went since.

1777
01:28:06,360 --> 01:28:09,120
You know, and the, and the money
for those tickets is crazy, but

1778
01:28:09,120 --> 01:28:11,480
people keep paying it.
So they're going to keep doing

1779
01:28:11,480 --> 01:28:13,120
it, right.
That's the way business works.

1780
01:28:13,240 --> 01:28:15,600
They're not going to stop.
If people are willing to pay

1781
01:28:15,600 --> 01:28:17,080
prices, they're going to keep it
going.

1782
01:28:17,200 --> 01:28:20,320
Well, you've seen the the thing
that's happening with with Live

1783
01:28:20,320 --> 01:28:22,320
Nation, right?
Oh yeah, you're Live Nation,

1784
01:28:22,320 --> 01:28:23,880
right?
Right, yeah, Live Nation and

1785
01:28:23,880 --> 01:28:28,040
Ticketmaster and the Fed going
after them to try and break it

1786
01:28:28,040 --> 01:28:30,040
up.
And, you know, I read a, a,

1787
01:28:30,280 --> 01:28:33,400
there's an e-mail going around.
I, I forget who wrote it, but

1788
01:28:33,400 --> 01:28:37,320
it's somebody in our industry, a
promoter.

1789
01:28:37,400 --> 01:28:41,280
And you know, the, the bottom
line is even if the government

1790
01:28:41,280 --> 01:28:45,960
does what they want to do and
get it broken up, the price

1791
01:28:45,960 --> 01:28:48,320
ain't going to go down.
You know, that'll just get eaten

1792
01:28:48,320 --> 01:28:52,360
up by either Live Nation still
or by Ticketmaster still or

1793
01:28:52,360 --> 01:28:55,760
whatever.
Like the artists want the prices

1794
01:28:55,760 --> 01:28:56,280
higher.
It's.

1795
01:28:56,520 --> 01:28:58,680
Hard to go backwards you.
Know now, Oh yeah.

1796
01:28:58,960 --> 01:29:01,240
Well, artists aren't suddenly
going to go, you know, we don't

1797
01:29:01,240 --> 01:29:02,960
want that much for tickets
anymore.

1798
01:29:02,960 --> 01:29:07,120
Like that ain't going to happen.
The fee is still a small part of

1799
01:29:07,120 --> 01:29:10,800
the the ticket, you know, like
if you look at a $400.00 concert

1800
01:29:10,800 --> 01:29:13,560
ticket, it's not 300 in fees and
100 to the artists.

1801
01:29:13,560 --> 01:29:16,800
So, you know, yeah.
They're going to keep it going.

1802
01:29:17,080 --> 01:29:21,600
But I mean, it's, it's great for
the industry and, you know, I

1803
01:29:21,600 --> 01:29:24,400
hope it keeps happening the way
it is 'cause it's just created

1804
01:29:24,400 --> 01:29:27,240
such demand for our industry and
for the people in our industry

1805
01:29:27,240 --> 01:29:30,360
and stuff, which is amazing.
And you know, the money just

1806
01:29:30,360 --> 01:29:32,360
keeps going up and up, which is
really nice.

1807
01:29:32,360 --> 01:29:34,840
But just got to share.
The wealth that's the big as a.

1808
01:29:34,840 --> 01:29:37,200
Consumer as a consumer is
brutal.

1809
01:29:37,200 --> 01:29:39,640
Like, I went to a hockey game a
couple days ago, I'm here in

1810
01:29:39,640 --> 01:29:44,480
South Florida and the Panthers
are in the in the conference

1811
01:29:44,480 --> 01:29:49,720
final against the Rangers.
And I hadn't I I've been to

1812
01:29:49,760 --> 01:29:52,080
games this season, but not in
the playoffs.

1813
01:29:52,360 --> 01:29:57,520
So a beer was 1950.
Oh my God, Parking was we're

1814
01:29:57,520 --> 01:30:00,040
going to case a beer for 20.
You know you can get a case for

1815
01:30:00,080 --> 01:30:04,840
less than that.
General parking was $65 and, and

1816
01:30:04,840 --> 01:30:08,040
I mean, two years ago parking
was free in this arena, but now

1817
01:30:08,040 --> 01:30:10,680
it's $65.
I mean, it was just, it was

1818
01:30:10,680 --> 01:30:12,480
nuts.
Everything you looked at was

1819
01:30:12,480 --> 01:30:16,160
just like, holy shit, regular
people are doing this, You know,

1820
01:30:16,160 --> 01:30:17,440
like, where are they getting the
money?

1821
01:30:17,920 --> 01:30:19,320
Yeah.
So you're working hard.

1822
01:30:19,320 --> 01:30:22,160
You got to prioritize.
That's and that's the hard part.

1823
01:30:22,160 --> 01:30:24,600
That's why people need to make a
good living right now because

1824
01:30:24,920 --> 01:30:27,320
everything is getting more
expensive, you know, and we need

1825
01:30:27,320 --> 01:30:29,560
to keep up.
Everything needs to keep up.

1826
01:30:29,560 --> 01:30:32,320
It can't just be the cost going
up without salaries going up

1827
01:30:32,320 --> 01:30:34,080
too.
No exactly take.

1828
01:30:34,240 --> 01:30:36,560
Care of people so they can live
these lives.

1829
01:30:36,560 --> 01:30:40,240
Inflation.
So tell me about Santa's

1830
01:30:40,240 --> 01:30:43,040
roadies.
All right, so that's a big one

1831
01:30:43,040 --> 01:30:44,200
that's near and dear to my
heart.

1832
01:30:44,200 --> 01:30:45,880
It's my favorite day of the
year.

1833
01:30:46,800 --> 01:30:50,480
It started back, I want to say
2006 business.

1834
01:30:50,480 --> 01:30:52,720
Mike Finn Productions was doing
well.

1835
01:30:53,080 --> 01:30:54,800
We, you know, not we were doing
good.

1836
01:30:54,920 --> 01:30:56,560
For the first time in my life, I
had a business.

1837
01:30:56,560 --> 01:30:58,560
I wasn't just working for
somebody.

1838
01:30:58,920 --> 01:31:02,000
And I made enough money to buy
my first Cadillac, which back

1839
01:31:02,000 --> 01:31:05,400
then was $10,000.
And to me that was an

1840
01:31:05,400 --> 01:31:08,160
interesting amount of money.
But I was able to get a 1960

1841
01:31:08,160 --> 01:31:11,280
Cadillac and I felt like, OK,
you know, I'm really hitting it

1842
01:31:11,280 --> 01:31:14,840
right now like things are good,
life is good, business is good.

1843
01:31:14,840 --> 01:31:19,520
All these things are happening.
So I I loaded up, I bought a

1844
01:31:19,520 --> 01:31:24,080
Santa suit, I loaded up my
Cadillac with toys, I grabbed my

1845
01:31:24,080 --> 01:31:25,680
daughter and I just started
driving around.

1846
01:31:25,720 --> 01:31:27,120
OK, she was like, she's probably
2.

1847
01:31:27,280 --> 01:31:29,960
She's over sitting over here in
her her little seat and we're

1848
01:31:29,960 --> 01:31:33,400
going places and I'm going in.
I'm delivering toys to people.

1849
01:31:33,400 --> 01:31:36,960
Like I say, hit the Salvation
Army, I hit the Children's

1850
01:31:36,960 --> 01:31:39,840
Hospital just randomly doing
this and so.

1851
01:31:39,880 --> 01:31:42,280
You just went to a department
store and bought a bunch of toys

1852
01:31:42,280 --> 01:31:42,840
or?
What did you do?

1853
01:31:42,840 --> 01:31:44,440
Those are us.
OK, That's where it was.

1854
01:31:44,440 --> 01:31:45,440
Wow.
OK.

1855
01:31:45,440 --> 01:31:48,240
Because it was across the street
from my daughter's daycare.

1856
01:31:48,400 --> 01:31:51,000
So I picked her up, and then I
drove over there, just loaded it

1857
01:31:51,000 --> 01:31:52,200
up and said, all right, we're
going to do this.

1858
01:31:52,200 --> 01:31:54,560
So just started driving around
dressed as Santa, and I got

1859
01:31:54,560 --> 01:31:57,000
pictures from back in the day.
She's a little tiny kid.

1860
01:31:57,560 --> 01:31:59,480
So then we started doing that.
It became a little more

1861
01:31:59,480 --> 01:32:02,680
established year after year.
I started working with Salvation

1862
01:32:02,680 --> 01:32:04,640
Army.
They they gave me a place to set

1863
01:32:04,640 --> 01:32:05,920
up.
They brought the kids in.

1864
01:32:05,920 --> 01:32:08,480
I was able to get a list of what
the kids wanted.

1865
01:32:08,720 --> 01:32:10,680
Really, like really building on
this thing.

1866
01:32:10,680 --> 01:32:13,440
But again, this is all
personally funded and just

1867
01:32:13,440 --> 01:32:17,080
something that we like to do.
And I got to a point where as my

1868
01:32:17,080 --> 01:32:19,520
daughter got a little bit older,
she was always my little elf.

1869
01:32:19,520 --> 01:32:21,440
And I had her like, handing out
candy canes and stuff.

1870
01:32:21,960 --> 01:32:24,520
And she handed it to this one
kid who he may have had like,

1871
01:32:24,520 --> 01:32:26,120
Down syndrome or something like
that.

1872
01:32:26,120 --> 01:32:29,360
But when she handed him the
candy cane, he got really

1873
01:32:29,360 --> 01:32:31,680
excited.
He started pumping his fists and

1874
01:32:31,680 --> 01:32:33,760
got really happy.
And I looked at my daughter,

1875
01:32:34,000 --> 01:32:36,480
Dakota, and her eyes lit up.
And I could see that she just

1876
01:32:36,480 --> 01:32:39,720
got this message of like, holy
shit, this is about giving.

1877
01:32:39,720 --> 01:32:41,840
OK, Giving is way cooler than
getting.

1878
01:32:42,040 --> 01:32:44,560
And I was like, that was a
moment for me to see that she

1879
01:32:44,560 --> 01:32:47,640
realized that and she became a
big part of what we were doing.

1880
01:32:47,640 --> 01:32:51,240
So we continued on in Philly.
I went up, moving up to northern

1881
01:32:51,240 --> 01:32:53,080
Idaho.
That's where I met, met her mom

1882
01:32:53,360 --> 01:32:55,560
up in Spokane.
We moved to Coeur d'Alene.

1883
01:32:55,560 --> 01:32:58,720
So I hooked up with a women's
shelter up there.

1884
01:32:58,720 --> 01:33:02,080
And then every year they were
giving me a list of, OK, here's,

1885
01:33:02,080 --> 01:33:04,080
you know, here's what the kids,
here's the kids that are here.

1886
01:33:04,080 --> 01:33:06,560
This is what the wish list is.
So I was able to wrap them up,

1887
01:33:06,960 --> 01:33:09,960
get them the wish gift, wrap it
up, put their name on it, go

1888
01:33:09,960 --> 01:33:12,520
with Santa Claus.
And, and there were times when

1889
01:33:12,520 --> 01:33:15,200
some of these little kids like
really, you could tell they

1890
01:33:15,200 --> 01:33:17,360
thought I was Santa Claus, like
when they opened it up and.

1891
01:33:17,360 --> 01:33:19,640
Saw not only the.
Doll that they wanted, but the

1892
01:33:19,640 --> 01:33:22,400
dress that went with it for
themselves and they they'd be

1893
01:33:22,400 --> 01:33:24,960
hanging out kind of like right
next to me like, you know,

1894
01:33:24,960 --> 01:33:26,880
looking up like, Oh my God, I'm
standing that to Santa Claus.

1895
01:33:27,280 --> 01:33:28,480
Those are the moments.
OK.

1896
01:33:28,480 --> 01:33:32,200
But this this was still just you
and and your company doing it.

1897
01:33:32,200 --> 01:33:33,360
Yeah, 100%.
Just me.

1898
01:33:33,520 --> 01:33:35,880
Yeah.
And I was loving it.

1899
01:33:35,880 --> 01:33:39,400
OK, me and my me and my kid.
So, you know, it was it was

1900
01:33:39,440 --> 01:33:41,520
something that I looked forward
to every year.

1901
01:33:41,520 --> 01:33:45,320
Was getting dressed like Santa,
driving into Cadillac and bring

1902
01:33:45,320 --> 01:33:47,000
and joy like that was just our
thing.

1903
01:33:47,000 --> 01:33:49,280
We did it.
So it stayed like that for a

1904
01:33:49,280 --> 01:33:50,480
long time.
Wherever I moved.

1905
01:33:50,480 --> 01:33:53,840
I mean, we did a lot of families
we went for, we did the women

1906
01:33:53,840 --> 01:33:56,920
shelters, we did teen shelters.
They needed stuff like the odor

1907
01:33:56,920 --> 01:33:59,920
in socks and this and that.
We really like just laid it all

1908
01:33:59,920 --> 01:34:01,760
out and took care of as many
people as we could.

1909
01:34:02,400 --> 01:34:04,640
And then wherever I went, I
continued that on through the

1910
01:34:04,640 --> 01:34:06,680
hardest times, The hardest
times.

1911
01:34:06,920 --> 01:34:09,400
Went through a crazy divorce
back in 2013.

1912
01:34:09,400 --> 01:34:10,680
People like you still going to
do it, man.

1913
01:34:10,680 --> 01:34:11,920
You know, I know it's tough
right now.

1914
01:34:11,920 --> 01:34:13,400
I said there's no way I'm not
going to do it.

1915
01:34:13,400 --> 01:34:15,760
Like this is the year that we
got to do with the most like

1916
01:34:16,000 --> 01:34:18,880
keep it going.
Kept doing it for year after

1917
01:34:18,880 --> 01:34:21,360
year.
And then we got into OK, and it

1918
01:34:21,360 --> 01:34:24,880
was always a, so then I got a
lot of good positive feedback

1919
01:34:24,880 --> 01:34:26,720
from people in our industry,
Hey, do you want to help?

1920
01:34:26,720 --> 01:34:28,400
How can we join in this kind of
thing?

1921
01:34:28,640 --> 01:34:31,160
So that production was
definitely a big part of that.

1922
01:34:31,160 --> 01:34:33,760
Like a lot of the people that I
knew would they want to help.

1923
01:34:33,760 --> 01:34:35,960
They want to volunteer, help
wrap presents, whatever they

1924
01:34:35,960 --> 01:34:39,720
could do.
COVID hit and it was a big turn

1925
01:34:39,720 --> 01:34:40,960
around.
And I said, all these people

1926
01:34:40,960 --> 01:34:43,720
that have been willing to like
jump in and throw some elbow

1927
01:34:43,720 --> 01:34:44,600
grease in there when they need
it.

1928
01:34:44,600 --> 01:34:46,960
Now they need help.
I said, let's take this thing

1929
01:34:46,960 --> 01:34:49,400
and we're flipping it instead of
doing just the holidays.

1930
01:34:49,400 --> 01:34:51,240
And we started filling up bags
of food.

1931
01:34:51,240 --> 01:34:54,360
OK, we do 200 bags of food.
I'd have my daughters write

1932
01:34:54,360 --> 01:34:58,800
little messages on them and I
said you could come anonymously,

1933
01:34:59,120 --> 01:35:00,760
come drive through, we'll take
care of you.

1934
01:35:00,760 --> 01:35:03,440
And we start doing everything
that we could to help the people

1935
01:35:03,440 --> 01:35:06,560
in our industry while we're.
Going through amazing.

1936
01:35:06,640 --> 01:35:10,000
So then it went from that to OK,
instead of Christmas, now it's

1937
01:35:10,000 --> 01:35:11,280
Thanksgiving.
These people don't have

1938
01:35:11,280 --> 01:35:14,440
anything.
We came up with 200 turkeys, all

1939
01:35:14,440 --> 01:35:17,080
the, all the trimmings,
everything made-up bags of that.

1940
01:35:17,080 --> 01:35:20,600
We just really started giving
back to people in the community

1941
01:35:20,760 --> 01:35:23,400
and, and it held like we, we
made a difference.

1942
01:35:23,400 --> 01:35:26,240
There's people that I didn't
even know and I'm not going to

1943
01:35:26,240 --> 01:35:29,480
mention names, but I met them.
You know, we're on shows and

1944
01:35:29,480 --> 01:35:31,960
they said, you know, it's Cosmo
actually introduced me.

1945
01:35:31,960 --> 01:35:34,440
Hey, this is XYZ.
And I shook their hand and they

1946
01:35:34,440 --> 01:35:38,480
said, you don't even know this,
but I was at a low point in my

1947
01:35:38,480 --> 01:35:42,800
life and you gave us this dinner
that like I didn't, I'm getting

1948
01:35:42,800 --> 01:35:45,120
chills right now talking about I
didn't even know that we did it,

1949
01:35:45,120 --> 01:35:47,760
but to know that we were
touching all these different

1950
01:35:47,760 --> 01:35:50,520
lives.
So then it became more of an an

1951
01:35:50,520 --> 01:35:54,160
entity kind of like going from
Mike Finn to big Finn Sanders

1952
01:35:54,160 --> 01:35:57,960
Roadies really took on it's own
it's own thing that that year

1953
01:35:57,960 --> 01:36:00,120
and grew bigger than it ever was
before.

1954
01:36:00,120 --> 01:36:03,200
So then I talked to some of my
business advisors said, you know

1955
01:36:03,200 --> 01:36:04,600
what man, you're going to keep
doing this thing.

1956
01:36:04,600 --> 01:36:07,880
You should get a make it a 5O1C,
make it official, OK, and really

1957
01:36:07,880 --> 01:36:11,360
start helping some people.
So we shifted gears with that

1958
01:36:12,280 --> 01:36:15,880
and we, we became A5O1C and we
started really helping people.

1959
01:36:15,880 --> 01:36:19,280
I'm going to, I have to tell you
this, there's a guy downstairs

1960
01:36:19,280 --> 01:36:21,240
right now.
OK, I saw a little text come

1961
01:36:21,240 --> 01:36:23,120
through.
I partnered up with him last

1962
01:36:23,120 --> 01:36:24,600
year.
I'm going to backtrack.

1963
01:36:24,600 --> 01:36:26,040
But it all ties together.
It's all good.

1964
01:36:26,160 --> 01:36:30,560
The last Christmas, so it was a
23rd and we had about 75

1965
01:36:30,560 --> 01:36:33,840
families will say, okay, we had
tons of toys, We had everything.

1966
01:36:34,000 --> 01:36:35,920
We're out here wrapping them.
We're doing everything.

1967
01:36:35,920 --> 01:36:37,240
We're getting ready in the shop
for that.

1968
01:36:37,400 --> 01:36:39,280
And it was a lot.
There was a lot to go distribute

1969
01:36:39,280 --> 01:36:41,600
because we're driving around
dropping all this off.

1970
01:36:41,600 --> 01:36:43,880
I had a pickup truck and my
Cadillac filled.

1971
01:36:44,160 --> 01:36:49,000
So on the night of the 23rd, I
get a text from this guy that he

1972
01:36:49,000 --> 01:36:51,360
had sent an e-mail and somehow
it wants to spam, but he ran a

1973
01:36:51,360 --> 01:36:54,360
mission here and he said he had
fifty families that had nothing.

1974
01:36:54,560 --> 01:36:57,360
OK, this is the night.
This is 10:00 PM on December

1975
01:36:57,360 --> 01:36:58,960
23rd.
And everybody in the

1976
01:36:58,960 --> 01:37:00,600
organization was like, man,
that's a lot.

1977
01:37:00,600 --> 01:37:02,000
It's too much.
We've got so much to do.

1978
01:37:02,000 --> 01:37:04,080
I said, fuck that, we're doing
this.

1979
01:37:04,200 --> 01:37:07,480
So we woke up the next morning,
we rallied, we got everything.

1980
01:37:07,480 --> 01:37:09,760
We got a bikes, we got all the
stuff for the kids.

1981
01:37:09,760 --> 01:37:11,400
We we did.
We fulfilled that.

1982
01:37:11,400 --> 01:37:14,080
Those fifty families.
We drove over there and his

1983
01:37:14,080 --> 01:37:15,760
name's Reggie.
He's got something called a

1984
01:37:15,760 --> 01:37:17,080
seeds of hope.
I think it is.

1985
01:37:17,600 --> 01:37:19,560
We partnered up since then, OK?
We took care of all these

1986
01:37:19,560 --> 01:37:20,560
people.
He couldn't believe it.

1987
01:37:20,560 --> 01:37:22,680
He was like, this is a gift from
above.

1988
01:37:22,880 --> 01:37:24,160
I can't believe this is
happening.

1989
01:37:24,160 --> 01:37:26,480
You're helping so many people.
So Reggie and I hooked up.

1990
01:37:26,680 --> 01:37:27,960
He's actually downstairs right
now.

1991
01:37:27,960 --> 01:37:31,560
I'm meeting with him after this.
Since then, we do a, we do an

1992
01:37:31,560 --> 01:37:34,200
outreach every week.
He feeds 500 people a week out

1993
01:37:34,200 --> 01:37:36,800
of his house.
OK, So we're a big part of that,

1994
01:37:36,800 --> 01:37:38,560
but we're also this is
important.

1995
01:37:38,560 --> 01:37:42,040
We're looking at there's a it's
a it's a old church that is for

1996
01:37:42,040 --> 01:37:45,040
sale that we're trying to buy
here in Vegas that we can turn

1997
01:37:45,040 --> 01:37:48,600
into an outreach place where
where people could come in

1998
01:37:48,600 --> 01:37:51,880
there, they could get a shower,
a change of clothes, some job

1999
01:37:51,880 --> 01:37:55,000
training, OK.
We do a lot here where we try to

2000
01:37:55,000 --> 01:37:58,040
hire people that are coming out
of jail, things like that.

2001
01:37:58,040 --> 01:38:01,040
Like we, we want to give people
an opportunity because that's

2002
01:38:01,040 --> 01:38:02,960
what this world is about.
And listen, I got an

2003
01:38:02,960 --> 01:38:04,520
opportunity.
We go back to the beginning.

2004
01:38:05,400 --> 01:38:07,800
Where did I come from?
You know I want and.

2005
01:38:07,800 --> 01:38:09,560
You can see.
People that are a mess and you

2006
01:38:09,560 --> 01:38:12,680
can see people that, hey, I just
need some direction.

2007
01:38:12,960 --> 01:38:16,600
We try to help all those people.
So that's what part of this, the

2008
01:38:16,600 --> 01:38:18,760
church thing that we're doing
now is and, and yeah, we're,

2009
01:38:18,840 --> 01:38:20,920
we're trying.
To Santa's roadies now then is a

2010
01:38:20,920 --> 01:38:27,560
is a 5O1C and and so are you
raising as well or or are you

2011
01:38:27,640 --> 01:38:29,200
just?
So we do, we get, usually we get

2012
01:38:29,200 --> 01:38:32,000
a lot of donations around
Christmas, OK, That's when they

2013
01:38:32,000 --> 01:38:36,320
all come in, right?
It's www.santasroadies.org.

2014
01:38:36,480 --> 01:38:41,120
OK, that's our that's our place.
And you, you can go there, you

2015
01:38:41,120 --> 01:38:42,560
can make donations, things like
that.

2016
01:38:42,560 --> 01:38:45,280
But now that we're going after
this church, we're really like

2017
01:38:45,840 --> 01:38:48,960
stepping on the gas here because
this is a way that we could help

2018
01:38:49,440 --> 01:38:51,800
thousands of people instead of
hundreds of people.

2019
01:38:51,800 --> 01:38:54,680
And this is just a passion
project for me, man, like.

2020
01:38:54,680 --> 01:38:56,920
Good for you.
I feel like the most blessed man

2021
01:38:56,920 --> 01:38:59,400
in the universe to be sitting
here having this conversation.

2022
01:38:59,560 --> 01:39:02,840
OK, number one, to know where I
came from to look at my life

2023
01:39:02,840 --> 01:39:04,600
now, you know what, it's not
easy.

2024
01:39:04,600 --> 01:39:06,120
I'm never going to say things
are easy.

2025
01:39:06,120 --> 01:39:08,760
I always say, you know, you can
get anything you want as long as

2026
01:39:08,760 --> 01:39:10,440
you're willing to take the beat
and to get there right.

2027
01:39:10,440 --> 01:39:12,400
That's.
That's you're right, you're

2028
01:39:12,400 --> 01:39:14,600
right.
But I want to help.

2029
01:39:14,640 --> 01:39:17,000
I have a destiny here man, on
this planet I want.

2030
01:39:17,000 --> 01:39:18,760
To help the world.
I mean, it sounds amazing.

2031
01:39:18,840 --> 01:39:21,600
Easy and cliche.
I want to make the world better

2032
01:39:21,600 --> 01:39:23,840
than it is right now.
I want people to go, you know

2033
01:39:23,840 --> 01:39:25,400
what?
That one guy, man, he really

2034
01:39:25,400 --> 01:39:28,800
made an impact on my life.
He, he inspired me to go change

2035
01:39:28,800 --> 01:39:31,240
my life.
And that ripples out into the

2036
01:39:31,240 --> 01:39:33,960
world and into the universe.
And you know, hippie dippie as

2037
01:39:33,960 --> 01:39:35,280
that is, that's what it's all
about.

2038
01:39:35,280 --> 01:39:38,360
Man is creating this positive
energy and sending this energy

2039
01:39:38,360 --> 01:39:40,880
out in the universe, and that's
the way I wanna spend my later.

2040
01:39:40,880 --> 01:39:43,000
Years.
Well, it sounds to me like

2041
01:39:43,000 --> 01:39:46,560
you've already done that.
You know what I mean?

2042
01:39:47,000 --> 01:39:48,200
Go bigger.
Go home though, right?

2043
01:39:48,880 --> 01:39:50,160
Yeah, you've already.
Done that.

2044
01:39:50,440 --> 01:39:53,160
We just have a toe in the water.
I wanna get this ocean.

2045
01:39:53,160 --> 01:39:55,520
I wanna create.
I know what I call it, Charity

2046
01:39:55,520 --> 01:39:58,000
Tsunami.
That's what I call it, a charity

2047
01:39:58,000 --> 01:39:59,400
Tsunami I.
Want to be.

2048
01:39:59,800 --> 01:40:03,440
To go washing out over
everything and everybody and

2049
01:40:03,600 --> 01:40:07,240
just put positive, positive
change and, you know, positive

2050
01:40:07,240 --> 01:40:08,720
motion into everything that's
happened in this.

2051
01:40:08,720 --> 01:40:10,640
World, you know what though,
there's a lot of feel good in

2052
01:40:10,640 --> 01:40:14,440
that like I, I remember when I
first moved from Canada to where

2053
01:40:14,440 --> 01:40:20,280
my now ex-wife lived in Chicago
you know I, I was like you know

2054
01:40:20,280 --> 01:40:22,880
what I don't make $1,000,000.
I feel blessed.

2055
01:40:22,880 --> 01:40:27,960
I was 25 or 26 years old and and
I felt like I was doing OK.

2056
01:40:27,960 --> 01:40:31,240
And I said to her, we were
listening to the Radio One

2057
01:40:31,240 --> 01:40:35,800
morning, Jonathan Brandmeyer in
Chicago, who was a big morning

2058
01:40:35,800 --> 01:40:39,040
DJ guy.
And he said, hey, there's this

2059
01:40:39,040 --> 01:40:42,040
opportunity where you can adopt
A family for Christmas.

2060
01:40:42,840 --> 01:40:44,840
And I was like, I want to do
that.

2061
01:40:44,840 --> 01:40:47,720
I want to do that.
And so we got a list from this

2062
01:40:47,720 --> 01:40:51,560
family of the things, you know,
sort of their Santa list, right?

2063
01:40:51,560 --> 01:40:55,160
The whole family.
And we fulfilled their list and

2064
01:40:55,160 --> 01:40:58,120
we took it over to their house
one night and they fed us.

2065
01:40:58,320 --> 01:41:00,960
I don't remember, I think it was
cake and coffee or something.

2066
01:41:01,440 --> 01:41:05,520
And these kids crying as they
got every gift that they asked

2067
01:41:05,520 --> 01:41:07,680
for and stuff.
I got goosebumps again right

2068
01:41:07,680 --> 01:41:08,440
now.
And that was I.

2069
01:41:08,920 --> 01:41:10,720
Do too.
That was. 30 years ago, Mike.

2070
01:41:11,360 --> 01:41:14,120
That was 30 years ago, man.
But it.

2071
01:41:14,120 --> 01:41:17,640
Felt so good and and I just
thought I want to do this again

2072
01:41:17,640 --> 01:41:20,240
next year and the year after and
they killed the program.

2073
01:41:20,960 --> 01:41:25,160
And so, you know, I can't say
that I've been as good as you in

2074
01:41:25,160 --> 01:41:27,800
going out and finding
opportunities, but you've just

2075
01:41:27,800 --> 01:41:29,600
inspired me to start thinking
about.

2076
01:41:29,600 --> 01:41:31,240
It oh, man, it's there.
OK.

2077
01:41:31,240 --> 01:41:34,960
And that's really what it's all
about is yeah, listen, I'm doing

2078
01:41:34,960 --> 01:41:36,160
the right.
I'm doing my job.

2079
01:41:36,160 --> 01:41:38,200
Then if I just inspired you, I
am.

2080
01:41:38,200 --> 01:41:40,080
Doing Oh, you definitely
inspired me.

2081
01:41:40,400 --> 01:41:42,040
Man, you know, it's just
inspired you.

2082
01:41:42,040 --> 01:41:46,080
Know I have a platform that I
multiple platforms actually, but

2083
01:41:46,640 --> 01:41:50,200
I, I've always looked for
opportunities to help people.

2084
01:41:50,200 --> 01:41:52,720
And during Covic I did a lot of
stuff that I'm not going to talk

2085
01:41:52,720 --> 01:41:55,120
about, but I did a lot of stuff
during Kovid that was very

2086
01:41:55,120 --> 01:42:00,080
helpful to a lot of people.
And you know, it's not, you

2087
01:42:00,080 --> 01:42:01,680
don't do it just because it
feels good.

2088
01:42:01,680 --> 01:42:03,480
You do it because it's the right
thing to do.

2089
01:42:03,520 --> 01:42:06,920
It is the right thing to do
right, 100% and there's a lot of

2090
01:42:06,920 --> 01:42:09,600
people who don't think that way.
I'm telling you, man, it's

2091
01:42:09,600 --> 01:42:12,720
straighten that energy and just
and keeping it going, you know,

2092
01:42:12,720 --> 01:42:15,480
it all comes back around and
then it goes back out stronger

2093
01:42:15,640 --> 01:42:17,920
and it comes back around and it
goes out even stronger than

2094
01:42:17,920 --> 01:42:19,960
that.
It just keeps going, you know,

2095
01:42:20,080 --> 01:42:22,360
And that's, that's what it's all
about, man.

2096
01:42:22,360 --> 01:42:25,120
Everything that we do, look at
the shows that we all got into.

2097
01:42:25,120 --> 01:42:26,640
We all got into the Rock'n'roll.
And why?

2098
01:42:26,760 --> 01:42:29,160
Because that big energy feed
that's going back and forth.

2099
01:42:29,160 --> 01:42:31,760
Between stage.
And the crowd, you know, that's,

2100
01:42:31,760 --> 01:42:34,680
that's what life is about.
You know, take that same

2101
01:42:34,680 --> 01:42:38,680
sentiment outside of the concert
venue and just make a positive

2102
01:42:38,680 --> 01:42:41,320
change and push that out into
the world, you know, with full

2103
01:42:41,320 --> 01:42:42,720
force.
That's what it's.

2104
01:42:42,720 --> 01:42:45,040
About I think that's where we
should end.

2105
01:42:45,040 --> 01:42:48,520
All right, a perfect ending and
plus you got this dude waiting

2106
01:42:48,520 --> 01:42:51,600
for you downstairs.
So Mike, I appreciate you taking

2107
01:42:51,600 --> 01:42:53,040
some time.
It's been cool getting to know

2108
01:42:53,040 --> 01:42:54,560
you a little bit.
Really been a pleasure.

2109
01:42:54,680 --> 01:42:57,520
I appreciate you having me on
and I'm glad we got to catch up

2110
01:42:57,520 --> 01:43:01,560
and do this and let's keep in
touch outside of this 100%.

2111
01:43:01,840 --> 01:43:04,160
Now let's keep in touch.
No, I was gonna say when I get

2112
01:43:04,160 --> 01:43:06,720
to Vegas, I'm gonna, I'm gonna
look you up and come in and see

2113
01:43:06,720 --> 01:43:07,800
your place and stuff.
Please do.

2114
01:43:07,800 --> 01:43:10,240
Please will do.
Yeah, well, I'll show you what

2115
01:43:10,240 --> 01:43:10,920
we're doing out.
Here.

2116
01:43:10,920 --> 01:43:11,960
Absolutely.
I'd love to.

2117
01:43:11,960 --> 01:43:13,480
All right.
We're so thanks so much, buddy.

2118
01:43:13,480 --> 01:43:15,680
Appreciate your time.
No, I appreciate it.

2119
01:43:15,720 --> 01:43:20,600
Thanks.
All right, buddy,

2120
01:43:31,280 --> 01:43:31,440
Yeah.