#251 - Ola Melzig

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So I just finished recording
with Ola Melzig and what a

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blast.
I mean, I love that guy.

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Super interesting guy.
You're in for a great podcast

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today.
I know it's a little long, it's

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over two hours.
I apologize.

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We could have gone over 3 hours
to be perfectly honest.

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But at the end he made me really
hungry talking about BBQ.

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So I have to go have lunch now.
But we talked, of course, we

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talked a lot about Eurovision
Song Contest, which he just

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finished again, and but we also
talked about hockey.

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We talked about some other
stuff.

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We talked about a new thing that
he's about to launch, which is

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going to be even bigger than
anything he's ever done, which I

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can't wait to share that info.
But that'll be a few weeks from

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now.
But anyways, I really hope you

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enjoy this half as much as I
enjoy doing it again.

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Ola is a great guy.
This is episode #251 on Geezers

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of Gear and Please have fun.
Enjoy it.

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Thank you so much for joining me
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Yeah, episode 251.
I'm excited today.

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I'm happy for today's guest.
Love the guy, think he's a

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pretty awesome dude, and we'll
talk about that more in a few

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minutes.
And I'm also pretty happy this

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week, even though I'm still
sick.

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I've been sick for frigging well
it started on my birthday, June

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8th and today is I don't even
know what the date is today, the

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20 something 26th, 7th, probably
27th.

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Anyways, I'm still sick and I
don't usually get sick.

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So this is a weird one.
And it just keeps lingering as

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you can tell from my super sexy
voice.

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It's it's just hanging around
and and so if anybody has any

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pointers, reach out.
Tell me your wives tale methods

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of getting rid of this final bit
of whatever it is I have.

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I'm also pretty excited this
week because the Panthers won

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the Stanley Cup.
Florida Panthers has been my

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adopted team since they came to
South Florida in 1993.

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I moved from Calgary to South
Florida in, well, via Chicago,

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but in 1991 and really was
jonesing for a hockey team

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because following the Flames
when you're on Eastern Time in

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Florida is a little tough and
you don't get very many games.

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And so, yeah, that was
frustrating.

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So when the Panthers came, I
just went, OK, let's grab these

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guys.
And my boss at the time, Gerard

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Cohen, who owned Trackman,
bought season tickets the very

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first year.
And of course, being from France

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and knowing nothing about
hockey, they kind of invited me

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to go along to all the games
because they needed somebody to

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explain what the hell was going
on.

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And so I had to tell them what,
you know, cross checking was and

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tripping and hooking and all of
those different things and

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offsides.
And every time a whistle went,

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they'd go what is happening?
And, and I'd explain it to them.

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But ever since that time, I, I
really got into the Panthers and

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in was it 96?
I think they had their first run

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where they went all the way to
the cup and didn't get it.

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They got blown out in four games
by the Avs, but this was their

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third run to the Cup.
So the first one I think was in

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96 perhaps.
The second one was last year.

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And again they they got beat
pretty bad in five games by Las

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Vegas.
And now this year they came back

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to the Cup and they actually won
it.

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They beat Edmonton.
It got way more excited than it

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needed to be.
They won the first three and

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should have probably swept it
and then just kind of went

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asleep for three games and let
the series become tied up and go

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to seven games.
And I will tell you, I don't

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care if you're a hockey fan or
not.

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I say it to my girlfriend all
the time, who's British and had

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never seen a hockey game prior
to Marcel.

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I think it's the most exciting
sport on television, first of

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all, but I think it's also the
most exciting live sport.

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And of course I'm biased because
I'm Canadian, but and game

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seven, especially in a final,
but playoff game seven in the

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NHL, there is nothing like it.
There's no sport that you're

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going to watch that's like a
game seven final.

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And this one didn't disappoint.
It was a friggin fabulous game.

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I know a lot of Oilers fans
think otherwise, especially Rod

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or Red Rod Gibson red.
And I made a bet and if you go

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to Rod's Facebook page, actually
you might not get there in time,

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he might have already changed it
back, but he had to change his

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profile picture to a Panthers
logo.

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He's a die hard Oilers fan.
And so we made a bet.

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He had to change his profile
picture for a week.

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And again, by the time you hear
this, he will have quickly

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changed it back to something
else.

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Probably not even the Oilers cuz
he's miserable about them right

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now.
But anyway, it's pretty

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exciting.
It was a fun run.

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I got to go to a couple playoff
games.

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I'm in Canada right now.
Otherwise I would have been at

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game seven with my buddy Randy.
And just an exciting time.

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Anytime your team wins a
championship.

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And again, I'm biased, but I
think the Stanley Cup

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championship is probably the
hardest trophy in sports to win.

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So congratulations to the
Florida Panthers and all of

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their fans.
And what else?

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Of course, AI my favorite topic.
So one of the interesting ones.

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I've talked to you before about
Suno and audio, which are two of

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the big music creation apps, AI
apps.

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And you know, there's been a lot
of controversy around them

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because a, they're very good.
You know, they actually create

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really cool music that it's hard
to tell was done by AI.

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The voices are good, the
instruments are good, the guitar

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solos are good.
It's good.

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I mean, I've created some songs
on there that are just like,

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wow, like I could hear these on
the radio.

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And but they've been sued for
copyright infringement by some

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of the large record labels.
And record companies, of course,

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are saying that AI are copying
artist works.

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And the AI companies, of course,
are saying, no, we're not.

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These are completely original
creations.

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Our AIS are programmed to create
new compositions, new and

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original compositions, and any
resemblance to any other song or

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any other artist out there is
completely coincidental.

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I tend to believe that because
that would be way too easy.

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That would be way too low of a
bar for the legal process to

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shut down.
You know, everybody's watching

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for it.
So the last thing you want to do

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is play right into their hands
and copy a song or copy an

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artist or copy a voice.
Like people were saying that.

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Who was it?
I can't remember which actress

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it was, but what's her name?
I'm looking at her right now

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from anyways that that AI copied
her voice after she turned them

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down to do an ad.
And I don't know how that's

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ended up in court.
But anyways, who knows where

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this one will go.
I think it's just record

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companies trying to save what
little they have left.

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And you know, same thing when
they battled Napster and

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everything else.
You know, it's common.

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You can try and slow it down.
You can take them into court,

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you can do all of these things.
But at the end of the day, if

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they're not copying, they're not
copying.

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And it's going to be pretty hard
to prove they're copying when

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all of the software says
otherwise.

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So there is a company called
Materials Nexus, which is AUK

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based company and they have
developed an innovative magnet

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called Magnex and they've
developed that using AI,

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removing all rare earth elements
or materials from that magnet,

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which is quite rare.
It's quite, you know, because

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they're made with rare earth
materials magnets.

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So AI was able to analyze over
100 million compositions, which,

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you know, of course, accelerated
research and development process

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and could have traditionally
taken decades.

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And they got it done in a couple
of months.

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And so that's pretty incredible.
This is the stuff that is

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exciting about AI.
You know, think of once they

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dial in on Cancer Research,
think of how quickly a cure for

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cancer is going to happen
because what's taken

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researchers, researchers 20
years to test and, you know,

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develop and create and test
again and throw away and test

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again.
And you know, they can do in

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minutes or days or weeks.
And so I think we're going to

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see some significant
breakthroughs not just in

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technology, but also in health
and Health Sciences and, and

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biology and all of those things.
Oh, this is a big one.

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Top level Open AI executive, I
think AVP of or no, maybe the

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chief technology officer at Open
AI, I think.

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But a top executive said in a in
a recent interview that some

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creative jobs maybe will go
away, but maybe they shouldn't

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have been there in the 1st
place.

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So that wasn't good, you know,
kind of saying the quiet part

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out loud when you say that.
And so that's obviously created

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quite a stir and it it plays
into the hands of of those in

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our industry and others who are
really freaked out about this

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technology coming on board.
And last but not least, you are

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going to.
So my recording platform where

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I'm recording this podcast on
allows for something that they

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call AI voice, which means that
I can basically type in whatever

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I want.
I can insert a paragraph, I can

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insert, you know, a book
chapter, whatever I want.

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And it will read that in my
voice with some, you know,

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attitude and some passion and
some emotion.

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And it sounds pretty damn real.
And so it's crazy, but I wanted

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to share this with you because I
actually want you to hear how

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far AI has come.
And so I've got a cold right

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now.
You can hear my voice is raspier

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and crappier than normal.
And it has actually copied my

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voice with the cold.
And so I didn't have to read

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into it or do anything.
It just went back through my

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most recent podcasts, duplicated
my voice, and then read whatever

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I typed in.
So what I did was I just took

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today's bio for today's guest
who is Ola, Ola Melzig.

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00:14:10,400 --> 00:14:14,480
And I just took the bio and I
copied and pasted it into this

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AI voice app within my recording
platform.

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And what you're about to hear
was created by AI, not by me.

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And so again, AI just read the
words that I gave it and you're

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00:14:30,000 --> 00:14:31,320
gonna hear.
It's kind of freaky.

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00:14:31,360 --> 00:14:35,800
It's freaky how good it is and
coming very, very soon, you'd be

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00:14:35,800 --> 00:14:37,760
able to do it with your face
too.

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00:14:37,880 --> 00:14:41,000
So basically, I can give it
words and it's gonna use my

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00:14:41,000 --> 00:14:44,440
mouth, my face, and read those
words to you and my voice.

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00:14:45,280 --> 00:14:46,840
Insane.
I mean, I'll just be able to

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00:14:46,840 --> 00:14:50,880
sleep all day and mail in my
podcast.

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00:14:51,000 --> 00:14:53,720
Not gonna happen.
So one thing I did wanna say

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00:14:53,720 --> 00:14:59,240
about this is that this is not a
sign of things to come.

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00:14:59,240 --> 00:15:01,720
So if you're a sponsor of our
podcast, we're not gonna

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00:15:01,720 --> 00:15:04,800
suddenly start doing sponsor
readings via AI.

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It's not to become lazy.
It's none of those things.

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00:15:08,160 --> 00:15:11,400
I'm only doing this right now
because I wanted you to see how

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00:15:11,400 --> 00:15:14,560
far it's come.
And so before I go on to this

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00:15:16,160 --> 00:15:20,880
Ola bio, I would like to ask
once again for you to like and

242
00:15:20,880 --> 00:15:24,200
subscribe our podcast.
It really does help like and

243
00:15:24,200 --> 00:15:28,000
subscribe and comment on
YouTube, like on YouTube,

244
00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:31,480
subscribe on YouTube as well.
It really does help us grow the

245
00:15:31,480 --> 00:15:32,920
audience.
And Speaking of growing the

246
00:15:32,920 --> 00:15:37,000
audience, if you would like to
be on the podcast, please send

247
00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:40,200
an e-mail to
producer@geezersofgear.com.

248
00:15:40,440 --> 00:15:42,960
That will go to Sarah.
Sarah will put you in the loop

249
00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:46,240
and get you scheduled.
And obviously, it's a very busy

250
00:15:46,240 --> 00:15:50,160
summer, so we've got a couple of
openings still for July that

251
00:15:50,160 --> 00:15:52,720
we're trying to fill.
And so if you're ready to record

252
00:15:52,720 --> 00:15:57,200
in July, please just reach out
to producer@geezersofgear.com

253
00:15:57,720 --> 00:16:00,840
and Sarah will get you going.
So again, what you're about to

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00:16:00,840 --> 00:16:08,200
hear is a bio read by AI for
today's podcast, which is Ola

255
00:16:08,200 --> 00:16:10,880
Melzig.
So enjoy.

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00:16:11,160 --> 00:16:15,000
Ola Melzig began as a stagehand
working on local shows in

257
00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:18,280
Stockholm 1989.
Over the last 20 years he has

258
00:16:18,280 --> 00:16:21,880
gone on to produce high profile
shows beginning with the massive

259
00:16:21,880 --> 00:16:25,600
Eurovision Song Contest, but
also the Commonwealth Games, the

260
00:16:25,600 --> 00:16:31,120
Nobel Prize Awards, and recently
serving as Executive Producer of

261
00:16:31,200 --> 00:16:35,280
the American Song Contest as
well.

262
00:16:35,600 --> 00:16:39,240
In February 2017, Ola was
awarded Production Manager of

263
00:16:39,240 --> 00:16:42,800
the Year at the annual TPI
Awards in London.

264
00:16:43,040 --> 00:16:45,960
Ola is married to Joan Lyman
since 2006.

265
00:16:45,960 --> 00:16:49,880
They have six grown up children
and the family split their time

266
00:16:49,880 --> 00:16:53,200
between Stockholm, Sweden and
Austin, TX.

267
00:16:53,520 --> 00:16:57,240
So please join me in welcoming
Ola Melzig back to Geezers of

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00:16:57,240 --> 00:17:02,720
Gear episode #251 Hola.
Cuckoo.

269
00:17:03,520 --> 00:17:07,400
You know, I always want to say
como estas after that, but I'm

270
00:17:07,400 --> 00:17:09,240
sure it's not the first time
you've ever heard it.

271
00:17:09,760 --> 00:17:13,480
Bien bien.
I speak Spanish bien.

272
00:17:13,480 --> 00:17:15,319
I've been.
To Mexico.

273
00:17:15,760 --> 00:17:19,040
I live in South Florida so you
you almost speak Spanish even if

274
00:17:19,040 --> 00:17:21,599
you don't speak Spanish because
it just punches you in the face

275
00:17:21,599 --> 00:17:23,760
a few times a day over a few
100.

276
00:17:23,760 --> 00:17:27,400
Times in Texas, Yeah, same in.
Texas yeah so Speaking of

277
00:17:27,400 --> 00:17:32,720
getting punched in the face we
just had a technology little go

278
00:17:32,720 --> 00:17:37,960
round here me and Ola trying to
get Chrome to agree to allow him

279
00:17:37,960 --> 00:17:42,640
to record this podcast and so
here we are recording on your

280
00:17:42,640 --> 00:17:48,040
cell phone after all of.
That yeah so so let's let's not

281
00:17:48,880 --> 00:17:51,800
well into technology because
clearly we don't know anything

282
00:17:51,800 --> 00:17:56,600
about that that we should talk
about BBQ or something that that

283
00:17:56,600 --> 00:17:58,120
we.
We'll get there, we'll get

284
00:17:58,120 --> 00:17:59,640
there.
I want to get to barbecue, but

285
00:18:00,080 --> 00:18:02,520
but certainly we're going to
talk about technology a whole

286
00:18:02,520 --> 00:18:04,520
bunch.
So you were actually just

287
00:18:04,520 --> 00:18:09,440
telling me a story about your
wife doing a project for a

288
00:18:09,440 --> 00:18:11,880
horror movie.
Tell me about that on on the Air

289
00:18:11,880 --> 00:18:13,240
now, because that's pretty
interesting.

290
00:18:13,800 --> 00:18:18,720
Yeah, she was, she was working,
doing promotion for a horror

291
00:18:18,720 --> 00:18:23,040
movie about the clowns and the
clown Motel somewhere in Nevada.

292
00:18:23,600 --> 00:18:27,720
And before the big premiere,
obviously the the movie need to

293
00:18:28,080 --> 00:18:32,880
be subtitled.
And and she was just like, how,

294
00:18:32,880 --> 00:18:36,040
how am I going to do this?
And then she founded AI Rowboat

295
00:18:36,560 --> 00:18:40,320
that did it for don't tell the
client because, because maybe we

296
00:18:40,320 --> 00:18:44,000
charge a couple more hours than
than than it actually took to do

297
00:18:44,360 --> 00:18:46,160
it.
But it, it, it was, it was

298
00:18:46,160 --> 00:18:50,840
almost, it was scary.
It, it, it, it's actually, it's

299
00:18:50,840 --> 00:18:54,640
a little bit frightening because
it can do so much and it has

300
00:18:54,640 --> 00:18:59,480
happened so fast.
Well, that's the crazy part.

301
00:18:59,480 --> 00:19:03,760
Like, if you think back one
year, I don't think one year ago

302
00:19:03,760 --> 00:19:07,600
we had yet really heard about
ChatGPT in the public, You know

303
00:19:07,600 --> 00:19:10,040
what I mean?
Like it wasn't out in the wild

304
00:19:10,040 --> 00:19:13,600
or out of the wild yet.
It wasn't mainstream yet.

305
00:19:14,200 --> 00:19:17,480
And in one year, what has
happened, it's just gone

306
00:19:17,480 --> 00:19:22,240
completely nuts.
And I just, I just shared your

307
00:19:22,240 --> 00:19:24,320
bio.
I just shared your bio with you

308
00:19:24,360 --> 00:19:28,200
and everyone listening just
heard your bio read by AI.

309
00:19:28,200 --> 00:19:31,000
And it's funny because like I
said, for the past few weeks,

310
00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:32,640
I've had this cold that I can't
shake.

311
00:19:32,840 --> 00:19:36,880
And it's using my voice with the
cold, not my, not my normal

312
00:19:36,880 --> 00:19:39,640
voice.
So I have no idea how it's doing

313
00:19:39,640 --> 00:19:42,560
this stuff, but it's it's crazy.
It's really crazy.

314
00:19:42,560 --> 00:19:46,000
Yeah.
It's it's Terminator is

315
00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:50,320
happening right now.
Well, you know, you are a very

316
00:19:50,320 --> 00:19:55,200
interesting use case when it
comes to AI because not only,

317
00:19:55,800 --> 00:19:59,480
not only like your own work,
like I, you know, and I want to

318
00:19:59,480 --> 00:20:03,480
talk about this a little bit
because I read that you do you

319
00:20:03,480 --> 00:20:07,720
start every project on a
spreadsheet and it's really

320
00:20:07,720 --> 00:20:10,840
interesting because I can only
imagine how many lines are on

321
00:20:10,840 --> 00:20:13,400
that sheet, you know,
considering the amount of gear

322
00:20:13,400 --> 00:20:16,480
you're using on especially
Eurovision, but.

323
00:20:18,480 --> 00:20:25,080
AI can create so many shortcuts
and so many just helpful things

324
00:20:25,080 --> 00:20:27,600
when it comes to tedious tasks
like that.

325
00:20:28,960 --> 00:20:32,320
And and that's, that's some of
the stuff that's exciting to me.

326
00:20:32,320 --> 00:20:36,400
The stuff that's not exciting is
where it, you know, where guys

327
00:20:36,400 --> 00:20:39,320
who are running it at
programming MA consoles will

328
00:20:39,320 --> 00:20:43,360
become, you know, useless.
Like we don't need them anymore.

329
00:20:44,080 --> 00:20:47,240
I don't know that that's coming
anytime soon, you know, because

330
00:20:47,240 --> 00:20:50,680
I think the industry is going to
really block that in a sense,

331
00:20:51,120 --> 00:20:53,520
but.
Let's do that.

332
00:20:53,560 --> 00:20:56,600
Let's, let's block that because
you, you know, in the end of the

333
00:20:56,600 --> 00:20:59,640
day, unless you're performing
something for robots, you need a

334
00:20:59,640 --> 00:21:04,680
human touch to it.
And, and there are there are

335
00:21:04,680 --> 00:21:10,560
things that so far only humans
can do, and I'd like to cling on

336
00:21:10,560 --> 00:21:12,800
to that as long as possible.
Yeah.

337
00:21:12,800 --> 00:21:16,920
But when you think of the
tedious things like where every

338
00:21:16,960 --> 00:21:20,480
guy programming a show or girl
programming a show on an MA

339
00:21:20,480 --> 00:21:24,440
console or whatever has to sort
of create that foundational

340
00:21:24,440 --> 00:21:27,480
stuff and put in all the same
stuff that they always have to

341
00:21:27,480 --> 00:21:30,360
put in, but for this particular
configuration.

342
00:21:30,800 --> 00:21:34,400
And they may be sitting there
for a day, two days, 3 days,

343
00:21:34,400 --> 00:21:38,280
just putting in lines of code
basically that can be replaced.

344
00:21:38,680 --> 00:21:41,640
You know, that's the stuff that
takes your programming time down

345
00:21:41,640 --> 00:21:43,840
from 2 weeks to maybe one week
or whatever.

346
00:21:44,840 --> 00:21:48,160
And if you think of the use of
effects engines as a great

347
00:21:48,160 --> 00:21:51,120
example.
So this is just taking that

348
00:21:51,120 --> 00:21:53,520
maybe a step further where true.
That true that.

349
00:21:54,360 --> 00:21:58,000
Yeah, the basic stuff, you know,
the basic stuff that that you

350
00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:03,680
don't, that doesn't have like
passion and and human just, you

351
00:22:03,680 --> 00:22:06,200
know, feel and stuff like where
you can look at it and go, I

352
00:22:06,200 --> 00:22:11,400
love what you did there, you
know, like the the lines of code

353
00:22:11,400 --> 00:22:13,560
stuff.
I I think are are going to be a

354
00:22:13,560 --> 00:22:16,400
welcome change.
Yeah, no, I, I think you're

355
00:22:16,400 --> 00:22:18,560
right.
And I think that's going to

356
00:22:18,560 --> 00:22:21,400
happen.
And and you know, it's, it's,

357
00:22:21,640 --> 00:22:23,680
it's right around the corner.
So let's see.

358
00:22:24,040 --> 00:22:26,960
Well, it's right there.
Oh, like it's right there.

359
00:22:26,960 --> 00:22:30,600
It's right there.
I think that I think we're the

360
00:22:30,600 --> 00:22:33,120
ones who are slowing it down in
our industry.

361
00:22:33,120 --> 00:22:36,720
And again, it's, it's some of it
is conspiracy theory, some of it

362
00:22:36,720 --> 00:22:41,320
is panic, some of it is very
well founded and, and, and good

363
00:22:41,400 --> 00:22:45,800
to slow it down, you know, And
one example I keep using is at

364
00:22:45,800 --> 00:22:50,400
LDI this past year, there was
one company that basically had a

365
00:22:50,400 --> 00:22:53,600
sign up that said, you don't
need a programmer anymore, or

366
00:22:53,600 --> 00:22:56,280
you don't need a light up
lighting operator anymore or

367
00:22:56,280 --> 00:22:58,960
something like that.
And people were going in the

368
00:22:58,960 --> 00:23:03,360
booth and just berating this
guy, like, what are you doing?

369
00:23:03,600 --> 00:23:07,120
And it was some kind of a club,
a club lighting controller or

370
00:23:07,120 --> 00:23:11,160
whatever that that could program
itself based on, you know, some

371
00:23:11,160 --> 00:23:13,880
input that you were giving it.
Like this is the mood, this is

372
00:23:13,880 --> 00:23:17,040
the theme, this is the type of
music, the genre, whatever.

373
00:23:17,720 --> 00:23:19,760
And it just goes and programs
itself.

374
00:23:20,400 --> 00:23:26,000
And so the guy was the guy
probably presented it wrong if

375
00:23:26,000 --> 00:23:27,960
nothing.
Else maybe he was at the wrong

376
00:23:28,280 --> 00:23:30,200
trade show.
Perhaps.

377
00:23:30,200 --> 00:23:32,720
Yeah, perhaps.
When you're marketing to a bunch

378
00:23:32,720 --> 00:23:36,600
of lighting operators and
programmers and designers, the

379
00:23:36,600 --> 00:23:38,440
last thing you want to do is say
you are.

380
00:23:38,800 --> 00:23:42,840
Yeah, you're unnecessary.
Mr. Yeah, yeah, it's totally

381
00:23:42,840 --> 00:23:45,800
true.
But I, you know, again, I'm, I'm

382
00:23:45,800 --> 00:23:48,840
somewhere between excited and
scared to death about all of it,

383
00:23:48,840 --> 00:23:50,640
you know, and.
And me, me too.

384
00:23:50,640 --> 00:23:53,560
And that's usually not me
because I'm usually the first

385
00:23:53,560 --> 00:23:57,720
one to embrace new technologies.
But this, what scares me is

386
00:23:57,720 --> 00:24:01,040
that, as you said, it was like
12 months ago, we had barely

387
00:24:01,040 --> 00:24:04,800
heard about it and now it's
everyone is talking about it and

388
00:24:04,800 --> 00:24:08,000
everyone is doing it and it's
implemented everywhere.

389
00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:14,560
I mean, it's just like it's,
it's at the really fast pace and

390
00:24:14,560 --> 00:24:16,760
it's hard.
It's so hard to keep track of.

391
00:24:17,240 --> 00:24:19,680
And it's going to get faster
because there's a, there's sort

392
00:24:19,680 --> 00:24:22,640
of an exponential growth
component that's going to start

393
00:24:22,640 --> 00:24:26,560
coming into play, already has,
but we're going to really start

394
00:24:26,560 --> 00:24:28,600
seeing the impact of some of
these things.

395
00:24:28,960 --> 00:24:33,120
And you know, there's already
stuff like, you know, where

396
00:24:33,120 --> 00:24:40,000
they're doing the simulations
where actual fighter jet pilots

397
00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:44,160
are doing dog fights against AI
fighter jet pilots and the AI

398
00:24:44,160 --> 00:24:47,080
pilots are winning everyone,
like they're winning every

399
00:24:47,080 --> 00:24:49,320
single one.
So now you start looking at the

400
00:24:49,320 --> 00:24:54,280
ethical boundaries and stuff
where what if Russia or China or

401
00:24:54,280 --> 00:25:00,400
Iran starts creating AI fighter
jets and, you know, kind of like

402
00:25:00,560 --> 00:25:04,160
really smart kamikaze jets, you
know, that are just going in and

403
00:25:04,520 --> 00:25:07,800
just, you know, obliterating
everything.

404
00:25:07,800 --> 00:25:10,200
And they don't care about human
life because there isn't any,

405
00:25:10,720 --> 00:25:12,560
you know, not in their planes
anyways.

406
00:25:12,640 --> 00:25:15,400
They're just.
Yeah, so there, there's some

407
00:25:15,400 --> 00:25:18,560
scary components to all of it.
But like, have you have you

408
00:25:18,560 --> 00:25:23,680
started even just using ChatGPT
for for tedious tasks yet?

409
00:25:23,680 --> 00:25:26,160
No, no, no.
That's interesting.

410
00:25:27,800 --> 00:25:32,840
And the main reason is actually
I've been so, so damn busy the

411
00:25:32,840 --> 00:25:40,960
past ten months.
So, and, and because obviously

412
00:25:40,960 --> 00:25:46,280
Eurovision was a handful and,
and, and then I, I just came out

413
00:25:46,280 --> 00:25:49,840
of, I, I had a plan to do it
while I was in a sick leave.

414
00:25:50,280 --> 00:25:53,280
I replaced my left knee a couple
of weeks ago.

415
00:25:54,520 --> 00:25:57,360
But then the phone rang and I
got busy again.

416
00:25:57,360 --> 00:26:01,120
So yeah.
Yeah, well, hey, that's a really

417
00:26:01,120 --> 00:26:03,560
good problem in a sense, right?
But.

418
00:26:03,800 --> 00:26:06,600
It is.
It is, but it's but I need to.

419
00:26:06,760 --> 00:26:10,800
And I asked Joan to look into it
like, hey, learn this and teach

420
00:26:10,800 --> 00:26:12,920
me.
Well, I'll tell you in the

421
00:26:12,920 --> 00:26:17,800
quickest lesson I can possibly
give you is first of all, start

422
00:26:17,960 --> 00:26:21,080
like basically download the app
onto your phone and you can now

423
00:26:21,080 --> 00:26:24,840
just talk to the app and you can
say, hey, build me something

424
00:26:24,840 --> 00:26:27,760
that does this, that looks like
this, that might have some

425
00:26:27,920 --> 00:26:31,160
background in this and do it in
the style of this.

426
00:26:31,160 --> 00:26:34,120
And you just talk to it like
it's a human and you're giving a

427
00:26:34,120 --> 00:26:37,640
human instructions.
And you'd be surprised what

428
00:26:37,640 --> 00:26:40,400
comes out of it.
So it's all about the.

429
00:26:40,520 --> 00:26:46,600
Prompting Do you know what a
good friend of mine did what he

430
00:26:46,600 --> 00:26:49,960
asked?
He asked that he asked for a

431
00:26:49,960 --> 00:26:54,440
heavy metal song about ula Melzi
doing Eurovision.

432
00:26:54,960 --> 00:26:57,600
Yeah.
With with some in English, but

433
00:26:57,600 --> 00:27:00,560
with some typical Estonian catch
phrases.

434
00:27:00,960 --> 00:27:03,680
Yeah.
And it was so weird, but it was

435
00:27:03,720 --> 00:27:05,640
awesome.
Yeah, so weird.

436
00:27:05,640 --> 00:27:07,360
It was like I made a methyl
song.

437
00:27:07,400 --> 00:27:10,560
It was like, you can't even play
a tune on the guitar.

438
00:27:10,560 --> 00:27:12,960
What you're talking about?
I did this with AI.

439
00:27:12,960 --> 00:27:15,440
It was like this other player
was like, holy shit.

440
00:27:15,680 --> 00:27:18,680
Well, and I don't know if he
told you how easy it was, but

441
00:27:18,680 --> 00:27:20,240
I've been doing a bunch of that
stuff.

442
00:27:20,240 --> 00:27:23,840
There's these two particular
apps that I've downloaded and

443
00:27:23,840 --> 00:27:27,600
been using a bunch.
One is called Suno and the other

444
00:27:27,600 --> 00:27:29,920
ones called Audio.
They're the two most popular

445
00:27:30,520 --> 00:27:34,480
music creation apps.
And you can say anything like

446
00:27:34,480 --> 00:27:39,400
you could say, create a disco
song about Martin Lighting that,

447
00:27:39,600 --> 00:27:43,440
you know, talks about their
entire history from, you know,

448
00:27:43,440 --> 00:27:49,280
the 80s until today.
And within 5 minutes you'll have

449
00:27:49,280 --> 00:27:51,880
this incredible song.
And you could say, now change it

450
00:27:51,880 --> 00:27:55,600
from disco to country and boom,
you got a country song that does

451
00:27:55,600 --> 00:27:57,520
it, you know?
I mean, it's we're only going to

452
00:27:57,520 --> 00:27:59,400
become Max Martin in the end of
the day.

453
00:28:00,120 --> 00:28:02,040
Millions of dollars.
Millions.

454
00:28:02,800 --> 00:28:05,400
Hundreds.
We'll make hundreds of dollars,

455
00:28:05,400 --> 00:28:07,800
10s of.
Hundreds of dollars, yeah, plant

456
00:28:07,960 --> 00:28:09,680
stubs in Austin and it's going
to be.

457
00:28:09,840 --> 00:28:13,120
Great.
We'll be 100 heirs, yes.

458
00:28:13,920 --> 00:28:17,440
I don't know, like that's that's
really where I get into a lot of

459
00:28:17,440 --> 00:28:20,600
that.
Two things where I get concerned

460
00:28:20,720 --> 00:28:25,320
heavily about AI.
One is wars, you know, weaponry

461
00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:29,080
because, you know, again, you
take away all the ethics and all

462
00:28:29,080 --> 00:28:34,200
the human components of war and
it becomes very, very scary at

463
00:28:34,200 --> 00:28:37,080
that point where you can just
have massive global devastation.

464
00:28:37,520 --> 00:28:41,560
And the other one is, is, is
creative, especially the arts,

465
00:28:41,560 --> 00:28:45,800
you know, whether it's music or
painting or lighting design or

466
00:28:45,800 --> 00:28:49,520
any of those things.
I don't want to see those

467
00:28:49,520 --> 00:28:53,520
replaced by AI necessarily.
I want to see them supported by

468
00:28:53,560 --> 00:28:59,280
AI but not replaced by AI and.
I, I there's AI plug in for

469
00:28:59,280 --> 00:29:02,000
Adobe that I down.
I did download that on

470
00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:07,600
Eurovision and and just write in
what you wanted to to do and

471
00:29:08,440 --> 00:29:11,760
it's it's.
That's pretty remarkable.

472
00:29:11,840 --> 00:29:16,560
Yeah, I, I kind of was like, I,
I, I asked you to draw a picture

473
00:29:16,560 --> 00:29:19,280
of acid cats on mushrooms or
something like that.

474
00:29:19,560 --> 00:29:21,840
And that's what you got.
That's where you got.

475
00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:25,760
Like exactly why don't like Wow,
this is this is weird but.

476
00:29:25,760 --> 00:29:29,920
It makes weird mistakes, you
know, like for example, I, I've

477
00:29:29,920 --> 00:29:33,400
got a geezers of Gear logo that
I use or image that I use quite

478
00:29:33,400 --> 00:29:37,200
often in newsletters and, and
social media and stuff and

479
00:29:37,200 --> 00:29:39,800
nobody notices.
But the singer in the band has

480
00:29:39,800 --> 00:29:44,320
three arms, you know, or, or
you'll tell it, you know,

481
00:29:45,240 --> 00:29:49,840
geezers of Gear and it and it'll
do geezers of beer or geezers of

482
00:29:50,880 --> 00:29:54,680
Gearlets or, you know, like
it'll just make up words and add

483
00:29:54,680 --> 00:29:57,560
words into it and stuff when
you're clearly saying it.

484
00:29:57,880 --> 00:30:01,160
But you know, it just messes up.
And I I.

485
00:30:01,160 --> 00:30:04,880
Have I have a Actually I I'm
wearing a perfect example of

486
00:30:04,880 --> 00:30:06,600
that.
But this is made on purpose.

487
00:30:06,600 --> 00:30:08,480
You see what band I have on my
T-shirt?

488
00:30:08,480 --> 00:30:09,160
Yeah.
Kiss.

489
00:30:09,160 --> 00:30:16,680
Yeah, that's hilarious.
That is funny.

490
00:30:16,680 --> 00:30:19,360
I love that shirt.
I love.

491
00:30:19,360 --> 00:30:22,400
That shirt I won with Bob Marley
and says Jimi Hendrix.

492
00:30:22,920 --> 00:30:24,880
That's amazing.
I love that.

493
00:30:25,040 --> 00:30:26,760
And how many people say
something to you?

494
00:30:27,400 --> 00:30:32,080
A lot of people really, but I
think that I found, I found, I

495
00:30:32,080 --> 00:30:38,640
found a website
calledtshirthell.com and I got a

496
00:30:38,640 --> 00:30:40,880
bunch.
One of them was these, but the

497
00:30:40,880 --> 00:30:45,480
one that I got most comments
about is that it says it says

498
00:30:45,480 --> 00:30:48,320
God Bless America, except New
Jersey.

499
00:30:48,440 --> 00:30:53,240
Fuck New Jersey.
I love that and tend to agree

500
00:30:53,240 --> 00:30:56,440
with it sometimes.
Yeah, I mean, every anyone that

501
00:30:56,560 --> 00:30:59,160
has ever been at Newark will
agree to that.

502
00:30:59,640 --> 00:31:03,200
Newark is a nightmare that is my
least favorite probably on

503
00:31:03,240 --> 00:31:05,400
earth.
It's my least favorite airport.

504
00:31:05,400 --> 00:31:07,880
It's yeah, it's up there with
Sean Segal.

505
00:31:08,360 --> 00:31:12,200
OK, so doll dolls in in
Washington is north.

506
00:31:12,280 --> 00:31:15,120
Paradise Dulles is pretty nasty.
Yeah, that's pretty.

507
00:31:15,200 --> 00:31:16,960
Pretty nasty.
And then, of course, Charles,

508
00:31:16,960 --> 00:31:19,360
the Gold on this other palm
apply.

509
00:31:19,360 --> 00:31:21,880
Yeah.
Have you ever flown into Moscow?

510
00:31:23,160 --> 00:31:28,360
Yes to both airports, both the
brown one and the one that chaos

511
00:31:28,360 --> 00:31:32,920
in 5 shades of brown and some
some bronze and then or brass

512
00:31:33,040 --> 00:31:36,560
and then the new one which is
actually quite nice, but.

513
00:31:36,640 --> 00:31:38,560
I haven't been to the new one.
I was at the old one.

514
00:31:39,320 --> 00:31:44,360
All I remember at the old one
was immigration started like it

515
00:31:44,360 --> 00:31:46,840
was all concrete, like you were
in a barn or something.

516
00:31:47,080 --> 00:31:50,880
But it started really wide and
it went down like this to a very

517
00:31:50,880 --> 00:31:53,520
narrow point where there was
like 2 immigration officers at

518
00:31:53,520 --> 00:31:55,680
the front.
So there was this crowd of like

519
00:31:55,680 --> 00:32:00,120
3000 people that was going into
one entrance point and, and it

520
00:32:00,120 --> 00:32:03,280
was, you know, the worst.
This is, this is so funny

521
00:32:03,360 --> 00:32:06,400
because yeah, I remember that.
And, you know, if you want to

522
00:32:06,400 --> 00:32:11,840
relive that, try to enter
America through JFK, Yeah.

523
00:32:13,040 --> 00:32:16,880
I've done that, it's now.
It's a it's a perfect replica.

524
00:32:17,120 --> 00:32:21,280
It's a little fancy, but it I'm
just like that information.

525
00:32:21,400 --> 00:32:25,480
I mean, read a manual of the
crowd control people call Disney

526
00:32:25,480 --> 00:32:28,040
do something.
Just don't do that.

527
00:32:28,400 --> 00:32:31,320
Montreal used to be really bad
too, but they've improved.

528
00:32:31,360 --> 00:32:35,640
But Montreal, you used to have
to go like upstairs, through a

529
00:32:35,640 --> 00:32:38,720
hallway, down some stairs,
around a thing, back up some

530
00:32:38,720 --> 00:32:41,760
stairs, and it was just lined up
for miles.

531
00:32:42,320 --> 00:32:45,320
And it's the.
Same in it's same in Dallas.

532
00:32:45,840 --> 00:32:50,080
That is what's worth where you
go in a in a mile and a half

533
00:32:50,080 --> 00:32:54,880
radius circle covering 3 floors
before you hit the migration.

534
00:32:55,040 --> 00:32:57,520
It's just.
I can't say I've done that one,

535
00:32:57,600 --> 00:33:00,600
not recently anyways.
This This is why I tried to fly

536
00:33:00,600 --> 00:33:05,280
directly to Austin these days.
Yeah, Austin manages it well.

537
00:33:06,320 --> 00:33:10,000
No, but at least there's not so
many idiots, yeah.

538
00:33:10,920 --> 00:33:13,040
They're friendly.
They're friendly as they're.

539
00:33:13,040 --> 00:33:15,240
Pissing you off?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

540
00:33:15,240 --> 00:33:17,720
We got that southern, southern
charm.

541
00:33:18,040 --> 00:33:21,640
I was just there a few weeks ago
for a for a shitty reason for

542
00:33:21,680 --> 00:33:23,280
for Craig's funeral.
Wow.

543
00:33:24,160 --> 00:33:26,600
And.
I couldn't make it because of my

544
00:33:26,600 --> 00:33:31,880
knee surgery.
Yeah, well, it's crazy because I

545
00:33:31,880 --> 00:33:34,400
flew in on my way up.
I'm up in Canada right now.

546
00:33:34,400 --> 00:33:36,200
I have a house up in Canada
similar to you.

547
00:33:36,200 --> 00:33:39,720
I split my time, but between
Florida and and Western Canada.

548
00:33:39,720 --> 00:33:43,800
Nice, nice.
And so I had, I changed all my

549
00:33:43,800 --> 00:33:47,720
flights and stuff after Craig
passed away so that I could go

550
00:33:47,720 --> 00:33:50,080
through Austin because it was
the exact same day I was going

551
00:33:50,080 --> 00:33:53,960
to Canada.
And you know, of course the

552
00:33:53,960 --> 00:33:57,080
airlines screwed up and delayed
and delayed and delayed and

553
00:33:57,080 --> 00:34:01,240
delayed to a point where I
missed the actual church

554
00:34:01,560 --> 00:34:04,920
funeral.
But I got to the party later,

555
00:34:04,920 --> 00:34:06,520
the celebration of life or
whatever.

556
00:34:07,040 --> 00:34:11,080
You know, this is the part where
that Craig would would

557
00:34:11,080 --> 00:34:14,600
prioritize, right?
Of course, I think, I think

558
00:34:14,600 --> 00:34:18,480
he's, he's OK with that.
Yeah, well, it was incredible

559
00:34:18,480 --> 00:34:19,800
too.
I mean, it was just like

560
00:34:20,280 --> 00:34:23,360
incredible for all the wrong
reasons, but and it was so sad

561
00:34:23,360 --> 00:34:26,280
because they had this huge
screen playing all these

562
00:34:26,440 --> 00:34:30,199
unbelievable images of Craig
and, you know, just one of those

563
00:34:30,199 --> 00:34:33,080
guys that always had the biggest
smile and always.

564
00:34:33,080 --> 00:34:34,520
Was having a good time.
And.

565
00:34:34,560 --> 00:34:36,480
Super happy.
Yeah.

566
00:34:36,719 --> 00:34:39,120
So amazing.
Guy, amazing guy.

567
00:34:39,600 --> 00:34:42,040
Yeah, it's but anyways.
It.

568
00:34:42,760 --> 00:34:45,480
It got me to Austin, you know,
which I haven't been to for a

569
00:34:45,480 --> 00:34:48,120
couple of years.
So yeah, I like Austin.

570
00:34:48,159 --> 00:34:51,719
It's a cool city.
I love Austin I we've been there

571
00:34:52,560 --> 00:34:58,360
since we've been there since
2000 and yeah, Christmas 2006,

572
00:34:58,560 --> 00:34:59,360
so.
Oh wow.

573
00:34:59,680 --> 00:35:04,760
Yeah, 18 years now in the making
and I really, I really miss it

574
00:35:04,760 --> 00:35:09,360
now because I, we haven't been
there since we came back after

575
00:35:09,360 --> 00:35:13,440
Christmas and New Year's
holidays, mid January.

576
00:35:13,520 --> 00:35:17,040
And then, you know, then we've
been busy with Eurovision stuff.

577
00:35:17,040 --> 00:35:19,640
So we, we haven't been back.
And then directly after

578
00:35:19,640 --> 00:35:21,200
Eurovision, I did my knee
surgery.

579
00:35:21,600 --> 00:35:26,240
So my first day I'm allowed to
fly is August 7th, which also

580
00:35:26,240 --> 00:35:28,440
happens to be the day we're on a
plane back to Austin.

581
00:35:29,600 --> 00:35:32,720
Good for you.
So do you do, do you do like

582
00:35:32,720 --> 00:35:35,440
half a year there, half a year
in in Stockholm or?

583
00:35:36,200 --> 00:35:39,000
It now it's, it varies from year
to year.

584
00:35:39,200 --> 00:35:41,840
Obviously, when I was working
with American Song Contest, I

585
00:35:41,840 --> 00:35:45,000
would do 70% of my time in
Austin.

586
00:35:45,720 --> 00:35:49,320
I have family here in Sweden.
So so I have kids, they're

587
00:35:49,320 --> 00:35:51,720
adults.
So you know, they're, they all

588
00:35:51,720 --> 00:35:54,640
have jobs and stuff.
But but still, you know your

589
00:35:54,640 --> 00:35:56,880
parents.
That's a lifetime sentence that

590
00:35:56,880 --> 00:36:00,080
you need to respect.
Lifetime.

591
00:36:00,200 --> 00:36:04,200
Yeah, it's like.
A Kinder Egg that refused to

592
00:36:04,200 --> 00:36:07,320
give or stop giving.
It's true.

593
00:36:07,840 --> 00:36:08,480
Yeah, very.
Tough.

594
00:36:10,320 --> 00:36:11,720
Yeah.
You can't just ditch them.

595
00:36:11,720 --> 00:36:13,560
You can't just ditch them year
round.

596
00:36:13,560 --> 00:36:16,080
You got to show up every once in
a while and be a parent.

597
00:36:16,680 --> 00:36:18,880
Yeah, yeah.
For birthdays and holidays and

598
00:36:18,880 --> 00:36:20,560
all that stuff.
So yeah.

599
00:36:20,720 --> 00:36:24,760
Well, it's the same with my My
son lives in Florida.

600
00:36:25,120 --> 00:36:28,960
He's 20 and it's just the past
couple of years that I've

601
00:36:28,960 --> 00:36:32,360
started coming here for 1/2 a
year and it's because I'm

602
00:36:32,360 --> 00:36:34,360
divorced now.
So it's me and my girlfriend

603
00:36:34,360 --> 00:36:37,120
come here and my son pops in
when he wants to and stuff.

604
00:36:37,120 --> 00:36:41,160
But but he's like, Dad, you're
going for four months or five

605
00:36:41,160 --> 00:36:43,920
months and I'm like, hey, you're
welcome anytime, buddy.

606
00:36:44,480 --> 00:36:48,280
And so, yeah, it's tough though,
you know, 'cause I'm used to

607
00:36:48,280 --> 00:36:51,840
seeing him every day and, and
now it's on FaceTime.

608
00:36:51,840 --> 00:36:56,720
But it it's also it's and I
noticed that really early in my

609
00:36:56,960 --> 00:37:00,880
in my American life that it's
Americans have such a beautiful

610
00:37:00,880 --> 00:37:07,160
take on it because you know, you
are you're forced away from home

611
00:37:07,160 --> 00:37:11,400
because of university studies,
sports, whatever true at an

612
00:37:11,400 --> 00:37:13,240
early stage.
And it's not only, I mean,

613
00:37:13,240 --> 00:37:17,840
you're not only leaving your
city or leaving your state, you

614
00:37:17,840 --> 00:37:25,360
know, thousands of miles and
it's, it's just not something

615
00:37:25,360 --> 00:37:30,200
that you lay sleepless over.
It's just, it's so normal.

616
00:37:31,680 --> 00:37:34,640
And, and that is not the case
in, in Sweden.

617
00:37:35,040 --> 00:37:36,640
Sure.
I mean, we traveled the world

618
00:37:36,640 --> 00:37:39,960
before culture and, and IKEA
and, and Volvo and blah, blah,

619
00:37:39,960 --> 00:37:43,000
blah.
But you know, when you relocate

620
00:37:43,000 --> 00:37:46,240
in Sweden, it's, it's really
hard to move more than the six

621
00:37:46,240 --> 00:37:49,680
hour drive away from, from from
where you started.

622
00:37:50,760 --> 00:37:54,280
So it's it's.
It's a, it's a cultural thing.

623
00:37:55,080 --> 00:37:58,520
Yeah, yeah, I think so.
It's.

624
00:37:59,560 --> 00:38:02,880
You know, and I, The thing is I
actually recommend it, you know,

625
00:38:02,880 --> 00:38:05,840
because like for example, you
know, my son's a racing driver

626
00:38:05,840 --> 00:38:10,720
and last year he was gone for
five months, I think to the UK.

627
00:38:10,720 --> 00:38:14,440
He was racing in the UK and I
flew over a couple of times for

628
00:38:14,440 --> 00:38:17,120
races, but other than that, I
didn't see him.

629
00:38:17,120 --> 00:38:20,960
I saw him on FaceTime every day
and, and talked for 10 minutes

630
00:38:20,960 --> 00:38:24,960
or whatever and, and he, he had
a great life over there and

631
00:38:24,960 --> 00:38:28,280
learned so much being on his own
without either of his parents,

632
00:38:28,280 --> 00:38:32,240
you know, learned how to.
It's a great experience and

633
00:38:32,240 --> 00:38:34,000
everyone should get it.
Yeah, everyone.

634
00:38:34,240 --> 00:38:37,480
I completely agree.
And now with FaceTime and and

635
00:38:37,480 --> 00:38:38,880
everything, it's so much that
you sure?

636
00:38:38,880 --> 00:38:41,320
You're not really away from each
other, you know?

637
00:38:41,680 --> 00:38:44,360
I mean it, it's like he's in
Chicago right now because he

638
00:38:44,360 --> 00:38:47,840
went to Chicago to see a concert
that he wanted to see some hip

639
00:38:47,840 --> 00:38:49,560
hop artist or something.
I don't know who it is.

640
00:38:50,160 --> 00:38:55,840
What's wrong with him?
But he so he's got racing

641
00:38:55,840 --> 00:39:00,200
friends from Chicago who he
knows from racing on, simulator

642
00:39:00,200 --> 00:39:03,760
on on because he uses a
simulator system through a thing

643
00:39:03,800 --> 00:39:07,240
called with I racing is an
online racing platform.

644
00:39:07,920 --> 00:39:10,480
So he's got racing friends that
he's known for two or three

645
00:39:10,480 --> 00:39:13,520
years that he races with all the
time, but he's never met them.

646
00:39:14,000 --> 00:39:16,480
And so he went to this concert
last night with them and I was

647
00:39:16,480 --> 00:39:18,320
like, how was that?
And he goes, oh, it was so cool

648
00:39:18,320 --> 00:39:19,800
to meet them.
It was like, I've known them for

649
00:39:19,800 --> 00:39:23,320
years, you know, But that's,
that's so different from when we

650
00:39:23,320 --> 00:39:26,280
were kids, you know, because
when, when we were young, you

651
00:39:26,280 --> 00:39:28,520
were either friends with
somebody or you weren't, but you

652
00:39:28,520 --> 00:39:30,720
didn't have online friends
'cause there was no online,

653
00:39:30,720 --> 00:39:32,080
right?
Exactly.

654
00:39:32,080 --> 00:39:34,440
So, but it's, it's cool, you
know.

655
00:39:34,440 --> 00:39:35,880
It is cool.
It is cool, yeah.

656
00:39:37,240 --> 00:39:40,640
And my my ex-wife was a long
distance relationship.

657
00:39:41,320 --> 00:39:43,360
She was in Chicago and I was in
Canada.

658
00:39:44,000 --> 00:39:47,920
And this was when, you know,
phones cost a dollar a minute

659
00:39:47,920 --> 00:39:52,000
and forget about cell phones.
They didn't even exist, you

660
00:39:52,040 --> 00:39:57,040
know, and, and you know, I, I
say to kids all the time, like,

661
00:39:57,160 --> 00:39:59,760
you don't know how lucky you've
got it where you can have a

662
00:39:59,760 --> 00:40:02,440
girlfriend who lives far away
and you can still see her every

663
00:40:02,440 --> 00:40:04,840
day and stuff.
You know, I couldn't do that.

664
00:40:05,360 --> 00:40:09,440
Like my my son, his first
serious girlfriend, they slept

665
00:40:09,440 --> 00:40:12,400
together every night.
Because they both had their

666
00:40:12,400 --> 00:40:16,800
phones on all night, like, just
on FaceTime or whatever, right?

667
00:40:17,800 --> 00:40:21,320
I mean, it's adorable, but
ridiculous at the same time, you

668
00:40:21,320 --> 00:40:22,200
know?
But this is true.

669
00:40:22,800 --> 00:40:25,280
Yeah.
And also lacking some privacy.

670
00:40:25,280 --> 00:40:28,680
I'm like, 'cause I'd walk by his
bedroom and I'm like, what the

671
00:40:28,680 --> 00:40:31,000
hell is he snoring?
And then I'd realize it's her

672
00:40:31,000 --> 00:40:34,920
snoring through the phone.
You know, it's not even him

673
00:40:34,920 --> 00:40:35,600
snoring.
Oh.

674
00:40:36,240 --> 00:40:38,920
That's funny.
Or it's the cat snoring on the

675
00:40:38,920 --> 00:40:40,400
other end or something, you
know?

676
00:40:41,040 --> 00:40:43,960
But yeah.
Yeah, well, if you asked her, it

677
00:40:43,960 --> 00:40:46,680
was definitely Cat.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

678
00:40:47,160 --> 00:40:50,000
So obviously I want to talk a
whole bunch about what you just

679
00:40:50,000 --> 00:40:52,840
went through.
You know, first of all, it's got

680
00:40:52,840 --> 00:40:56,880
to be cool that when you do this
show in in Malmo, Sweden, right?

681
00:40:56,880 --> 00:41:00,040
Because that's like your your
stomping grounds, your home

682
00:41:00,040 --> 00:41:02,160
territory.
Yeah, I was born and born and

683
00:41:02,160 --> 00:41:06,200
raised in in Malmo.
So coming back, doing the the

684
00:41:06,240 --> 00:41:11,120
biggest music entertainment show
in the world, yeah, back home

685
00:41:11,120 --> 00:41:15,520
is, is of course, it's amazing.
And and not only that, it's the

686
00:41:15,520 --> 00:41:18,760
second time I do it because we
were there in 2013 as well,

687
00:41:18,760 --> 00:41:23,160
right in the same arena.
And I mean, that's of course

688
00:41:23,160 --> 00:41:27,120
you.
Know special Oh no kidding like

689
00:41:27,120 --> 00:41:30,440
I can't even imagine what that's
like other than the guest list

690
00:41:30,440 --> 00:41:33,720
stuff like where are you?
Can you give me a couple tickets

691
00:41:34,360 --> 00:41:36,600
like your list?
You know that's that's.

692
00:41:37,280 --> 00:41:41,360
Yeah, and that's, but we we
didn't have a class reunion the

693
00:41:41,360 --> 00:41:46,440
first first one since 1984
because no one actually ever put

694
00:41:46,440 --> 00:41:50,920
any effort into oh, we should
have a class reunion or 82 or

695
00:41:50,920 --> 00:41:54,920
when I was like a long time ago,
we graduated 9th grade.

696
00:41:55,400 --> 00:41:59,240
So and it was it all came up
when I realized I'm going to

697
00:41:59,240 --> 00:42:06,200
spend the whole spring in Malmo.
So, so me and the two MY2

698
00:42:06,200 --> 00:42:08,760
classmates that I've kept
contact with throughout the

699
00:42:08,760 --> 00:42:12,240
years, we set up a Facebook
group and you got a bunch of

700
00:42:12,240 --> 00:42:15,920
people to show up to this class
reunion.

701
00:42:17,360 --> 00:42:21,000
And of course, every single one
of them was like, hey, so how

702
00:42:21,360 --> 00:42:24,320
about well.
You were by far the coolest guy

703
00:42:24,320 --> 00:42:27,160
in that class reunion.
Obviously when you're the guy

704
00:42:27,160 --> 00:42:29,720
who's about to be doing
Eurovision in.

705
00:42:30,080 --> 00:42:32,280
This town, I mean, you're way,
way.

706
00:42:33,200 --> 00:42:35,480
This is why I waited plus 40
years to do it.

707
00:42:35,640 --> 00:42:38,920
So Oh my God.
Something I I always saw myself

708
00:42:38,960 --> 00:42:40,360
as.
You know, when Pete Peter

709
00:42:40,360 --> 00:42:43,920
Griffin goes to his class
reunion dressed as an astronaut,

710
00:42:44,000 --> 00:42:46,160
cowboy, millionaire, that's what
I wanted.

711
00:42:46,160 --> 00:42:48,840
To be that's hilarious that's so
funny.

712
00:42:49,120 --> 00:42:50,080
Peter Griffin.
Yeah.

713
00:42:50,800 --> 00:42:54,280
So yeah, I mean that had to be
really cool where like all all

714
00:42:54,280 --> 00:42:57,120
the girls that used to diss you
when you were young and go

715
00:42:57,120 --> 00:43:00,040
you're ugly get away from me I
don't want nothing to do with

716
00:43:00,040 --> 00:43:01,600
you yeah.
And now they're.

717
00:43:01,600 --> 00:43:03,800
Fat and gross.
They're fat.

718
00:43:03,800 --> 00:43:06,240
And gross and you're doing
Eurovision.

719
00:43:06,760 --> 00:43:08,680
Yeah, I hang out with
celebrities and stuff.

720
00:43:09,800 --> 00:43:14,640
Yeah, yeah, I know.
I I use 3000 moving lights.

721
00:43:15,200 --> 00:43:20,920
Yes, how about that?
I had 708 active universes.

722
00:43:20,920 --> 00:43:22,400
What do you got?
Yes, yeah.

723
00:43:22,400 --> 00:43:24,400
What do you got?
Oh, you work in a school

724
00:43:24,400 --> 00:43:28,920
kitchen, correct?
That's so funny.

725
00:43:29,080 --> 00:43:31,560
That is so funny.
That's really cool though.

726
00:43:31,560 --> 00:43:35,160
I mean, what a, what a cool,
what a cool thing to be able to

727
00:43:35,160 --> 00:43:38,080
do to go back.
Yeah, it was.

728
00:43:38,080 --> 00:43:42,200
But, you know, at the same time,
it was frustrating because we

729
00:43:42,200 --> 00:43:46,000
obviously we stayed at.
There were so many people, you

730
00:43:46,000 --> 00:43:50,840
know, from the normal world.
Yeah, that's like, how is she

731
00:43:50,840 --> 00:43:53,880
going to stay with your parents
for the whole duration?

732
00:43:53,880 --> 00:43:56,120
I was like, what's wrong with
you?

733
00:43:56,120 --> 00:43:59,000
Why would I do that?
Yeah.

734
00:43:59,640 --> 00:44:03,960
So obviously we stayed at the
hotel, which was lovely because

735
00:44:03,960 --> 00:44:06,360
it was part of the security
parameter.

736
00:44:06,840 --> 00:44:11,480
So I would take the elevator
from my room down to my office

737
00:44:11,480 --> 00:44:14,960
without passing any security
port whatsoever.

738
00:44:15,000 --> 00:44:17,640
And then I went through catering
and into the arena.

739
00:44:17,640 --> 00:44:20,200
No security because I was
already in the zone.

740
00:44:20,760 --> 00:44:24,080
That's awesome.
But the frustrating thing was we

741
00:44:24,080 --> 00:44:30,080
were in Melmo, I think it was
exactly 7 week was downside

742
00:44:30,080 --> 00:44:34,760
production.
And I managed to see my parents

743
00:44:35,000 --> 00:44:39,040
three times in that wow.
And then and they're they live 3

744
00:44:39,040 --> 00:44:41,160
miles from the arena.
Really.

745
00:44:41,560 --> 00:44:43,600
Yeah.
Was that because you were busy

746
00:44:43,600 --> 00:44:44,360
or?
Yeah.

747
00:44:44,960 --> 00:44:48,240
Yeah.
And yeah, I mean, your focus is

748
00:44:48,480 --> 00:44:52,120
when you go into a show like
this, you know, or any show

749
00:44:52,120 --> 00:44:56,160
really of any size, it's like
it, it just consumes you.

750
00:44:56,440 --> 00:44:58,720
It, it of course really, really
consumes you.

751
00:44:58,720 --> 00:45:01,560
And when you're, you know, in
the end of the the day, when

752
00:45:01,560 --> 00:45:05,120
you're, I mean, I never left the
office before 8:00 PM and my mom

753
00:45:05,120 --> 00:45:07,240
goes to bed at 8:30.
So what?

754
00:45:07,400 --> 00:45:09,880
What would be the point to to go
and see them?

755
00:45:10,320 --> 00:45:13,480
Yeah, go kiss her goodnight and
and go back to your hotel.

756
00:45:14,200 --> 00:45:17,920
Yeah, so I get that.
Well, and they think, well, how

757
00:45:17,920 --> 00:45:20,480
could you be in town and not
spend time with me?

758
00:45:20,480 --> 00:45:23,400
But hey, sorry, like you want to
see my schedule?

759
00:45:24,040 --> 00:45:25,640
Yeah.
They, they understand it.

760
00:45:26,200 --> 00:45:27,440
Yeah.
They're, they're they were

761
00:45:27,440 --> 00:45:30,520
really cool about it because the
same thing happened in 2013, to

762
00:45:30,520 --> 00:45:33,960
be, to be very honest.
And I So they trained them.

763
00:45:34,400 --> 00:45:36,360
Yeah, I trained them well.
Yeah, yeah.

764
00:45:36,680 --> 00:45:39,440
No, I completely get that.
It used to happen to me all the

765
00:45:39,440 --> 00:45:42,320
time and it still does because I
don't know if you know where

766
00:45:42,320 --> 00:45:46,600
Calgary is, but I was I was, I
was born in a tiny little town,

767
00:45:46,600 --> 00:45:50,880
raised in Calgary, and my house
is in a town called Canmore,

768
00:45:50,880 --> 00:45:53,880
which is about an hour and a
half drive from Calgary in the

769
00:45:53,880 --> 00:45:55,440
Rocky Mountains.
So I mean, I have this

770
00:45:55,840 --> 00:45:59,600
unbelievable location with these
unreal views and stuff.

771
00:46:00,200 --> 00:46:04,160
And my family and friends used
to always say, why don't you

772
00:46:04,200 --> 00:46:06,520
ever come into Calgary and spend
time with us?

773
00:46:06,520 --> 00:46:09,840
And I'm like, because it sucks.
Like I'm in the mountains in

774
00:46:09,840 --> 00:46:13,880
this beautiful place with bears
and elk in our backyard and

775
00:46:13,880 --> 00:46:16,120
stuff like come out here.
We got lots of bedrooms.

776
00:46:16,520 --> 00:46:20,400
So over the years, people have
finally figured it out that, you

777
00:46:20,400 --> 00:46:22,840
know, it's probably better that
we just booked some time and

778
00:46:22,840 --> 00:46:24,720
come out to the mountains.
Yeah, exactly.

779
00:46:25,280 --> 00:46:27,360
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So.

780
00:46:27,440 --> 00:46:30,240
I got to ask you, why does
cameras suck at eyes suck as

781
00:46:30,280 --> 00:46:37,320
much as they do?
And and I also here's another

782
00:46:37,320 --> 00:46:41,600
interesting question.
Did did you realize that, that

783
00:46:41,600 --> 00:46:45,160
the Stanley Cup winners, the
Florida Panthers, did you see

784
00:46:45,480 --> 00:46:48,040
how did you see how many
Canadians that are in that team?

785
00:46:48,280 --> 00:46:53,000
There's not that many.
There's like 12 or 14 Canadians.

786
00:46:53,080 --> 00:46:54,880
I don't think so.
I don't think so.

787
00:46:54,960 --> 00:46:56,520
I looked at, I looked at, oh
really?

788
00:46:56,600 --> 00:46:59,600
Because I, I was interested in
too, because I know there was

789
00:46:59,600 --> 00:47:02,360
two or three.
It turns out to be 4 Swedes.

790
00:47:03,240 --> 00:47:07,120
And then there was like, oh,
actually, Americans are almost a

791
00:47:07,120 --> 00:47:10,080
minority in this in this team,
Yeah.

792
00:47:10,680 --> 00:47:14,600
I'm a, I'm a huge Panthers fan
and I'm in Oilers territory

793
00:47:14,600 --> 00:47:16,560
right now.
So the past few weeks have been

794
00:47:16,560 --> 00:47:19,920
pretty sketchy because I've been
walking around with a Panthers

795
00:47:20,520 --> 00:47:23,960
hoodie on every day and people
are like, what are you doing?

796
00:47:24,120 --> 00:47:28,000
You know?
And but yeah, our our captain is

797
00:47:28,000 --> 00:47:32,440
a is a Finn and was the first
Finnish captain to win the

798
00:47:32,440 --> 00:47:34,760
Stanley Cup.
Well you know there is a

799
00:47:34,760 --> 00:47:37,720
perfectly good explanation this
and you might know not know

800
00:47:37,760 --> 00:47:39,280
this, but fins.
Really.

801
00:47:39,280 --> 00:47:41,360
If you think Canadian, suck it,
I suck it.

802
00:47:41,840 --> 00:47:43,320
Try the fins.
I mean Oh my God.

803
00:47:43,480 --> 00:47:47,280
Spoken by through Swede.
Useless, useless.

804
00:47:47,320 --> 00:47:50,320
It was like you can.
No, no, no.

805
00:47:50,640 --> 00:47:53,360
I, I see we're going to have
some battles going forward.

806
00:47:53,360 --> 00:47:54,960
Harold yes, because this is
true.

807
00:47:54,960 --> 00:47:59,480
I, I'm very Canadian when it
comes to hockey and, and you

808
00:47:59,480 --> 00:48:06,440
know, prior to like probably the
2000s, it was about 8085%

809
00:48:06,440 --> 00:48:11,400
Canadians playing in the NHL.
And really it started in, in the

810
00:48:11,400 --> 00:48:16,920
80s when I think it was 88 or
something, when it was Makarov

811
00:48:16,960 --> 00:48:20,400
was the first Russian that was
signed in the NHL and he played

812
00:48:20,400 --> 00:48:24,800
for Calgary, my team.
And that's when, you know, it

813
00:48:24,800 --> 00:48:26,840
just started to be a revolving.
Door.

814
00:48:26,840 --> 00:48:29,080
The Red Wings.
Remember the Red Wings?

815
00:48:29,080 --> 00:48:34,120
The whole Russian yeah, line up,
yes, Yeah, it was, it was.

816
00:48:35,320 --> 00:48:38,640
But you know, it wouldn't have
happened without the Swede.

817
00:48:40,040 --> 00:48:44,320
Which one?
Boreus alming, Boreus Salming.

818
00:48:44,400 --> 00:48:46,120
Very good play.
It was the first European.

819
00:48:46,440 --> 00:48:49,440
We had a really good Swede on on
Calgary too.

820
00:48:49,440 --> 00:48:51,160
Kent Nilson.
Oh yeah.

821
00:48:51,240 --> 00:48:52,320
Oh yeah.
Yeah, yeah.

822
00:48:52,320 --> 00:48:55,280
And then, Oh no, Kippersof I
think is a Finn, right?

823
00:48:55,360 --> 00:48:58,280
Mika Kippersof.
Wasn't Matt's Matt's Nasman in

824
00:48:58,280 --> 00:48:59,560
Calgary?
No.

825
00:48:59,560 --> 00:49:02,720
Matt Snazlund was in Toronto or
Vancouver.

826
00:49:02,720 --> 00:49:03,840
I think Vancouver.
No.

827
00:49:03,840 --> 00:49:06,120
Oh, it was in Vancouver.
Maybe it was I.

828
00:49:06,120 --> 00:49:07,920
Think so, Yeah.
I think it was Vancouver.

829
00:49:09,560 --> 00:49:10,720
It's funny.
I always think you.

830
00:49:11,040 --> 00:49:14,880
I think of you as an Austinite
for some reason, not not as a as

831
00:49:14,880 --> 00:49:16,880
a Swede.
And I never expected to have a

832
00:49:16,880 --> 00:49:19,800
hockey conversation with you.
Guys right, right, yeah, we

833
00:49:19,800 --> 00:49:23,360
actually me and Jean Lavier, we,
we go to hockey in Austin every

834
00:49:23,440 --> 00:49:27,720
every ever since we got since we
have the AHL team in Austin now

835
00:49:27,800 --> 00:49:33,800
so we have the Texas Stars and
I, I love that I love the AHL

836
00:49:33,800 --> 00:49:37,240
because it's a little bit more
passion and, you know fighting.

837
00:49:37,240 --> 00:49:39,480
So hard to get up to the big
leagues, you know?

838
00:49:39,480 --> 00:49:42,200
Yeah.
Yeah, because NHL is so much

839
00:49:42,200 --> 00:49:45,280
disciplined it it's just like
but but well.

840
00:49:45,280 --> 00:49:47,160
'Cause they're getting paid too
much money now, you know,

841
00:49:47,160 --> 00:49:49,640
they're getting paid 7, eight,
$10 million a year.

842
00:49:49,640 --> 00:49:51,400
They don't want to get hurt, you
know?

843
00:49:51,720 --> 00:49:52,840
Exactly.
Yeah.

844
00:49:53,000 --> 00:49:54,360
They want to live their nice
life.

845
00:49:55,200 --> 00:49:58,360
You know, it's funny because
since winning the Stanley Cup,

846
00:49:58,360 --> 00:50:04,440
so yesterday, one of the players
has a house on Las Olas Blvd. in

847
00:50:04,440 --> 00:50:07,440
Fort Lauderdale, like right on
the water on the intercoastal.

848
00:50:07,720 --> 00:50:10,320
And so there's all these videos.
They basically a bunch of the

849
00:50:10,320 --> 00:50:14,280
players piled into a golf cart
with the Stanley Cup in the back

850
00:50:14,280 --> 00:50:18,200
between Barkov's legs.
And they drove over to a bar

851
00:50:18,200 --> 00:50:21,160
called the Elbow Room, which I
don't know if you've ever been

852
00:50:21,160 --> 00:50:25,280
there in Fort Lauderdale, but
it's a, it's a historic drunken

853
00:50:25,280 --> 00:50:27,960
party place in Fort Lauderdale,
right on the beach.

854
00:50:28,480 --> 00:50:31,120
It's been there for a 50-60
years.

855
00:50:31,120 --> 00:50:35,000
It was a big part of the spring
break sort of culture in in Fort

856
00:50:35,000 --> 00:50:37,680
Lauderdale.
But anyways, so they, they went

857
00:50:37,680 --> 00:50:40,880
up and they had a blocked off
area in the top floor and it's

858
00:50:40,920 --> 00:50:43,720
all open to the street.
And so they were filling the

859
00:50:43,720 --> 00:50:48,080
Stanley Cup with beer and then
pouring it over the railing to

860
00:50:48,080 --> 00:50:51,160
fans that were down below.
They were serving beer to fans

861
00:50:51,160 --> 00:50:53,720
down below, pouring it out of
the Stanley Cup.

862
00:50:53,720 --> 00:50:58,600
So then a bunch of the players
grab the cup and they went and

863
00:50:58,600 --> 00:51:01,640
waited for the light so they
could cross the street carrying

864
00:51:01,640 --> 00:51:04,800
the cup and they dove into the
ocean with the cup, you know,

865
00:51:04,800 --> 00:51:08,080
just splashing straight into the
ocean with the Stanley Cup it

866
00:51:08,080 --> 00:51:09,080
was.
Hilarious.

867
00:51:09,080 --> 00:51:12,080
It was hilarious.
Just a bunch of knuckleheads

868
00:51:12,080 --> 00:51:16,960
with the Stanley Cup, like that
guy who has to guard the Cup is

869
00:51:16,960 --> 00:51:20,400
probably just constantly going,
oh, God, what are you doing?

870
00:51:21,240 --> 00:51:22,640
Why?
Why?

871
00:51:22,680 --> 00:51:24,000
Why?
Please don't.

872
00:51:24,320 --> 00:51:26,320
Please don't take it in salt
water.

873
00:51:26,320 --> 00:51:28,320
This thing's like, 100 years
old.

874
00:51:28,320 --> 00:51:30,080
Don't do it.
So.

875
00:51:30,080 --> 00:51:33,080
Oh, that's funny.
Yeah, it's hilarious.

876
00:51:33,800 --> 00:51:36,480
It's been fun watching them, you
know, with the stuff that

877
00:51:36,480 --> 00:51:38,640
they're doing.
But I would guess that Barkov is

878
00:51:38,640 --> 00:51:39,960
going to take it over to
Finland.

879
00:51:41,200 --> 00:51:43,040
Oh yeah, yeah.
For a couple of days.

880
00:51:44,560 --> 00:51:47,960
I think that all the players
gets like a week with a trophy.

881
00:51:48,040 --> 00:51:51,320
Yeah, well, I think they all get
a couple of days or something,

882
00:51:51,640 --> 00:51:54,800
but yeah, everyone gets to do
what they want with it within

883
00:51:54,800 --> 00:51:57,000
reason.
But like people will take it out

884
00:51:57,000 --> 00:52:00,760
fishing or they'll take it to,
you know, a hunting trip or

885
00:52:00,760 --> 00:52:02,640
something.
Like just they do crazy things

886
00:52:02,640 --> 00:52:03,960
with the cup.
It's so funny.

887
00:52:04,520 --> 00:52:06,920
It's funny what they think is
real important.

888
00:52:06,920 --> 00:52:11,640
But but yeah, Sweden is is
always constantly a pain in

889
00:52:11,640 --> 00:52:15,680
Canada's ass and fortunately we
beat you most years.

890
00:52:15,680 --> 00:52:18,080
But.
Yes, Yeah, you've been lucky in

891
00:52:18,080 --> 00:52:21,240
the past couple of years or it's
more like we.

892
00:52:21,840 --> 00:52:24,480
Lucky in the past couple of
years like what, the past sixty

893
00:52:24,480 --> 00:52:25,440
years?
Is that what you mean?

894
00:52:25,480 --> 00:52:28,320
It's.
Like.

895
00:52:30,240 --> 00:52:33,320
You can count on one hand the
times that you've beat us.

896
00:52:33,840 --> 00:52:38,720
In a tournament, Well, I as, as
far as I know, you still haven't

897
00:52:38,720 --> 00:52:41,480
done the double, winning the
Olympics and the World Cup in

898
00:52:41,480 --> 00:52:43,760
the same year.
So I'm sorry because there's

899
00:52:43,760 --> 00:52:45,160
only one team that ever did
that.

900
00:52:46,040 --> 00:52:47,560
Well I'm going to have to Google
this.

901
00:52:47,760 --> 00:52:49,720
I'll have to use ChatGPT and go
get some.

902
00:52:49,720 --> 00:52:52,800
Answers to that 2006.
I'll come back to you on that

903
00:52:52,800 --> 00:52:55,520
one, yeah.
I can tell you right now it's

904
00:52:55,520 --> 00:52:58,840
Sweden in the 2006 Olympics.
Really.

905
00:52:59,560 --> 00:53:02,120
And then we won the World Cup
the same year and I think that

906
00:53:02,120 --> 00:53:04,120
was the.
Year that was that, the year

907
00:53:04,120 --> 00:53:06,720
that like we couldn't bring NHL
players.

908
00:53:07,320 --> 00:53:09,640
Yeah, you were not allowed.
Well, there you go.

909
00:53:10,320 --> 00:53:11,200
Yeah, there you go.
You.

910
00:53:11,440 --> 00:53:13,120
Didn't get a visa office to to
come.

911
00:53:13,120 --> 00:53:17,040
In no, no, it wasn't a visa the
NHL, because it was right after,

912
00:53:17,040 --> 00:53:20,960
as I recall, it was right after
a strike, a player strike.

913
00:53:21,400 --> 00:53:24,520
And so they wouldn't let them
come over to play in the

914
00:53:24,520 --> 00:53:27,920
Olympics.
So we had no, we had no NHL

915
00:53:27,920 --> 00:53:31,080
players, which is ridiculous.
But that that would have applied

916
00:53:31,080 --> 00:53:34,680
to the Swedish team as well.
Where is your excuse now?

917
00:53:34,760 --> 00:53:39,040
Well when you've got 4 Swedes
and 400,000 freaking Canadians

918
00:53:39,040 --> 00:53:42,160
playing in the league, I mean
you know, it's just a numbers

919
00:53:42,160 --> 00:53:44,840
game at that point.
Yeah, but you know, it doesn't

920
00:53:45,000 --> 00:53:47,280
matter how many you are if you
all suck you.

921
00:53:48,680 --> 00:53:51,280
Know Oh my goodness, Oh my
goodness.

922
00:53:51,560 --> 00:53:54,240
Yeah, I mean.
There have been some good

923
00:53:54,240 --> 00:53:56,160
Swedish players.
I'll leave it at that.

924
00:53:56,280 --> 00:53:59,640
Yeah, One.
There's been a few, there's been

925
00:53:59,640 --> 00:54:01,400
a bunch.
There's been a whole lot of

926
00:54:01,400 --> 00:54:07,880
them, yeah.
So, you know, going back to to

927
00:54:07,880 --> 00:54:10,760
Eurovision, which is a big
reason why we're here talking

928
00:54:13,560 --> 00:54:16,760
this one.
This year, 2024, Eurovision

929
00:54:17,000 --> 00:54:23,760
broke so many world records, you
know, and also one of the things

930
00:54:23,760 --> 00:54:26,520
I read and I think you might
have even sent us this note was

931
00:54:26,520 --> 00:54:30,200
it, it was the first major show
running all content through a

932
00:54:30,200 --> 00:54:33,800
new version of Simpty, I guess,
which is called St. 2110.

933
00:54:34,480 --> 00:54:37,840
And so I want to learn a little
bit about that 'cause I remember

934
00:54:37,840 --> 00:54:41,360
using Simpty for a lot of
things, but I didn't realize it

935
00:54:41,360 --> 00:54:43,120
was still being updated and
stuff.

936
00:54:43,120 --> 00:54:45,520
So maybe you can, you can talk a
bit about that.

937
00:54:45,520 --> 00:54:50,480
But also, you know, audio like
tons and tons of L acoustics and

938
00:54:50,480 --> 00:54:54,560
and the lighting list is just
insane, you know?

939
00:54:54,600 --> 00:54:59,200
It this isn't it?
Yeah, it it is and and. 708

940
00:54:59,200 --> 00:55:01,440
active universes like that's
just.

941
00:55:02,280 --> 00:55:05,760
What?
Plus plus another 700 pixel map

942
00:55:05,800 --> 00:55:07,440
for you to disguise media
service?

943
00:55:08,120 --> 00:55:10,000
Unbelievable.
Who's counting?

944
00:55:10,520 --> 00:55:14,200
Yeah, it's just ridiculous.
Like how did this show get this

945
00:55:14,200 --> 00:55:18,560
big?
Well, the the thing was, well,

946
00:55:18,600 --> 00:55:23,600
it's you want the long version
or the?

947
00:55:23,880 --> 00:55:25,560
Sure.
No, we got time.

948
00:55:26,160 --> 00:55:30,440
So Eurovision was the studio
production up to 2000.

949
00:55:31,120 --> 00:55:36,480
When Sweden won it In 1999, the
executive producer decided like,

950
00:55:36,480 --> 00:55:39,560
let's bring this into a big
arena, let's turn it into more

951
00:55:39,560 --> 00:55:42,120
like a live show than ATV studio
production.

952
00:55:42,320 --> 00:55:47,000
So we went into the Globe Arena
in Stockholm and produce it in a

953
00:55:47,000 --> 00:55:50,200
completely different way and
tons more cameras and 12,000

954
00:55:50,200 --> 00:55:55,120
people in the audience and, and
you know, 650 moving lights,

955
00:55:55,120 --> 00:55:58,840
which was an enormous, that is
moving light back in, back in

956
00:55:58,840 --> 00:56:01,200
2000.
It was like, what are you doing?

957
00:56:01,400 --> 00:56:03,200
That's crazy.
Well, and they weren't as

958
00:56:03,240 --> 00:56:06,280
reliable as they are today
either, so that had to be a bit

959
00:56:06,400 --> 00:56:10,320
of a pain in the ass, yeah.
And it was actually the first

960
00:56:10,720 --> 00:56:14,120
real show that the bear Light
Veritosa did.

961
00:56:14,920 --> 00:56:17,880
Really.
It had done the medal stage at

962
00:56:17,880 --> 00:56:23,360
the Olympics in 2000, that
spring and and you know, the

963
00:56:23,360 --> 00:56:26,200
medal stage at the Olympics.
What is that 24 moving lights

964
00:56:29,360 --> 00:56:33,080
now?
Now it was like every single of

965
00:56:33,080 --> 00:56:36,760
those 1999 DMX channels were at
use.

966
00:56:39,280 --> 00:56:44,000
Sarah Clawson was there.
It was, it was, it was lovely.

967
00:56:44,320 --> 00:56:49,960
And that's where it began.
Because we had LED, we had LED

968
00:56:50,080 --> 00:56:55,840
walls on wireless radio,
controlled risers so we could

969
00:56:55,840 --> 00:56:59,600
move around LED screens.
And again, this is 2000.

970
00:57:00,080 --> 00:57:05,000
It was like it was crazy.
We had a big Schoenberg system,

971
00:57:05,000 --> 00:57:09,400
so we had moving trusses and you
know, it was it was over the

972
00:57:09,400 --> 00:57:15,320
top.
And and then from there on it,

973
00:57:16,880 --> 00:57:25,200
it kind of became a double
challenge and it became a tech

974
00:57:25,200 --> 00:57:31,000
competition as much as a song
competition in because obviously

975
00:57:31,000 --> 00:57:34,040
you want to outdo the previous
broadcast.

976
00:57:36,520 --> 00:57:45,840
So it's, and we early on we
discovered that since since this

977
00:57:45,840 --> 00:57:50,920
is, this is a show that is what
differs your vision from many

978
00:57:50,920 --> 00:57:53,280
other shows is that we're
allowed to talk about it.

979
00:57:54,120 --> 00:57:57,400
It's not like when you work
with, you know, Beyoncé that,

980
00:57:57,400 --> 00:58:00,120
that you know, God forbid if you
take a picture of your catering

981
00:58:00,120 --> 00:58:05,640
meeting catering, you're fired.
Your vision is completely

982
00:58:05,640 --> 00:58:08,240
opposite.
We released the set design like

983
00:58:08,680 --> 00:58:11,680
five months before your show or
six months before your show.

984
00:58:12,040 --> 00:58:16,040
We leak stuff on purpose to the
to the media, because we want to

985
00:58:16,040 --> 00:58:18,440
keep the momentum leading up to
this, to the.

986
00:58:19,360 --> 00:58:22,240
I think that's brilliant.
I think that's a brilliant move.

987
00:58:22,720 --> 00:58:24,320
I think it's a brilliant because
it just.

988
00:58:24,560 --> 00:58:26,640
It.
Raises everything up.

989
00:58:26,680 --> 00:58:29,400
The anticipation and excitement
around the show.

990
00:58:29,440 --> 00:58:32,720
It does, it does, but, but it's
also very interesting with it is

991
00:58:32,720 --> 00:58:37,160
that it's, it gives you a
perfect marketing platform for

992
00:58:37,160 --> 00:58:43,640
manufacturers because they are
free to speak about they, they,

993
00:58:43,640 --> 00:58:46,760
we, we work with something, we
call them official technical

994
00:58:46,760 --> 00:58:52,160
partners.
So and we, we don't receive

995
00:58:52,160 --> 00:58:56,840
anything for free.
We pay a reasonable rental

996
00:58:56,840 --> 00:58:59,880
price, but we have good
discounts, but we never get

997
00:58:59,880 --> 00:59:02,960
anything for free.
And there's a reason for that.

998
00:59:02,960 --> 00:59:05,400
If you get something for free,
you're going to lack on one of

999
00:59:05,400 --> 00:59:09,400
the most important things, the
most important thing, which is

1000
00:59:09,440 --> 00:59:12,120
100% support when she goes
wrong.

1001
00:59:12,680 --> 00:59:16,800
And also some authenticity, like
did you pick this because it was

1002
00:59:16,800 --> 00:59:19,480
free or did you pick this
because it was the right product

1003
00:59:19,480 --> 00:59:21,840
to use for that perfect
situation or whatever?

1004
00:59:22,120 --> 00:59:23,880
Yeah.
And and it's so funny because

1005
00:59:23,880 --> 00:59:27,520
there is one global rental
company that always accuse

1006
00:59:27,720 --> 00:59:31,080
manufacturers for giving stuff
away to your vision for free

1007
00:59:31,480 --> 00:59:33,720
besides those years when they do
the supply.

1008
00:59:35,040 --> 00:59:36,720
That's.
Funny and they enjoy the same

1009
00:59:36,720 --> 00:59:41,120
benefits.
So so because it is beneficial

1010
00:59:41,120 --> 00:59:46,000
for the the rental companies as
well, because they get a

1011
00:59:46,000 --> 00:59:49,480
handling fee, they first of all,
they get a great investment

1012
00:59:49,520 --> 00:59:52,960
opportunity.
Yeah, yeah, all the support they

1013
00:59:52,960 --> 00:59:58,400
want.
And if they're they choose not

1014
00:59:58,400 --> 01:00:04,400
to invest, well, they still get
money to handle the equipment

1015
01:00:05,400 --> 01:00:08,480
that they didn't spend a cent on
investment.

1016
01:00:08,480 --> 01:00:10,400
So it's literally money for
nothing.

1017
01:00:10,480 --> 01:00:17,320
And their existing rental house
can go out and do their existing

1018
01:00:17,320 --> 01:00:22,760
inventory can do other shows.
Well, and I mean, let's face it,

1019
01:00:22,920 --> 01:00:28,440
you know, for like Martin, for
example, to put the Mac one out

1020
01:00:28,440 --> 01:00:34,360
on a show this big for Ayrton to
put the salami light as you call

1021
01:00:34,360 --> 01:00:36,600
it, or the kailami or however
it's.

1022
01:00:36,600 --> 01:00:42,360
Pronounced yeah, calamari.
You know, for them to put that

1023
01:00:42,360 --> 01:00:45,920
out on a show this size and not
only just to showcase it as a

1024
01:00:45,920 --> 01:00:49,680
new product, but for it to be
reliable, like these things are

1025
01:00:49,680 --> 01:00:53,760
right out of the gate coming out
and being behaving well and

1026
01:00:53,760 --> 01:00:55,280
stuff that's.
Huge.

1027
01:00:55,680 --> 01:00:58,360
It is huge.
And I mean, trust me, we use the

1028
01:00:58,360 --> 01:01:01,600
living daylights out of
victories from houses operating

1029
01:01:01,640 --> 01:01:07,000
20 hours a day for for wild.
So because we have a day shift

1030
01:01:07,000 --> 01:01:10,400
and night shift of programmers.
So you know, the venue never

1031
01:01:10,400 --> 01:01:13,400
sleeps.
It's because they it's, you

1032
01:01:13,400 --> 01:01:16,360
know, first of all, it's like,
as we said, you have 700

1033
01:01:16,360 --> 01:01:20,440
something universes of
parameters to control and be

1034
01:01:20,440 --> 01:01:26,240
creative with.
So, and everything starts with a

1035
01:01:26,240 --> 01:01:31,920
four week of previous to have,
you know, the basics of the

1036
01:01:31,920 --> 01:01:34,480
show.
You have to have around 80% of

1037
01:01:34,480 --> 01:01:37,880
the show in your system before
you go into rehearsals to be

1038
01:01:37,880 --> 01:01:40,320
able to accommodate all the
changes, all the requests of

1039
01:01:40,320 --> 01:01:44,080
changes that comes with the
delegations and openings and

1040
01:01:44,080 --> 01:01:50,760
intro likes and whatnot.
But it's, it's, it's a massive,

1041
01:01:50,920 --> 01:01:56,880
massive, massive setup.
And the ST2110 actually original

1042
01:01:56,880 --> 01:02:01,040
from one, one of our, our
technical partners, which was

1043
01:02:01,040 --> 01:02:08,440
megapixel because we were in a
meeting together with CT trading

1044
01:02:08,440 --> 01:02:12,760
technologies in Sweden and, and
megapixel talking about, you

1045
01:02:12,760 --> 01:02:16,560
know, possibilities.
And, and it was, you know, it

1046
01:02:16,560 --> 01:02:20,720
was a perfect investment
opportunity for CT because they

1047
01:02:20,720 --> 01:02:23,760
needed that.
That's, that's the processors

1048
01:02:23,760 --> 01:02:26,160
that they they're using on all
their screens.

1049
01:02:26,800 --> 01:02:33,400
They already have a big, big
inventory of the of the of the

1050
01:02:33,600 --> 01:02:36,480
megapixel processors, but they
were interested also in

1051
01:02:36,480 --> 01:02:40,800
upgrading to the to the 8K and
VR processors.

1052
01:02:42,360 --> 01:02:48,760
And they were, they were offered
a very genuine good discount on

1053
01:02:48,760 --> 01:02:52,800
that, which would boil over to
me at the next stage.

1054
01:02:53,800 --> 01:02:58,360
And it was in one of those, one
of those meetings they said,

1055
01:02:58,360 --> 01:03:02,280
hey, have you considered doing
this in 2110?

1056
01:03:03,160 --> 01:03:09,000
And Nicholas from CT is like,
well, yeah, if, if that's a

1057
01:03:09,000 --> 01:03:13,160
possibility, that would be, that
would be awesome.

1058
01:03:13,960 --> 01:03:16,440
And, and I was like, yeah, this
is cool.

1059
01:03:16,440 --> 01:03:19,680
And just frantically Googling,
what the hell is SD 2110?

1060
01:03:19,680 --> 01:03:23,840
I was like, I have no idea.
And I realized that it is the

1061
01:03:23,840 --> 01:03:27,840
new standard for content
distribution, any sort of

1062
01:03:27,840 --> 01:03:29,960
content distribution within
television.

1063
01:03:31,040 --> 01:03:35,240
So it is the new standard
that's, it's going to be the

1064
01:03:35,240 --> 01:03:39,040
world, the new worldwide
standard of how you, how you

1065
01:03:39,040 --> 01:03:43,840
feed broadcast content or any
sort of content.

1066
01:03:44,360 --> 01:03:49,000
And, and it's all fiber based.
There is not a single piece of

1067
01:03:49,000 --> 01:03:52,880
copper in the setup.
And we were distributing content

1068
01:03:52,880 --> 01:03:56,040
up to speeds of 2.2 terabytes
per second.

1069
01:03:56,160 --> 01:04:00,120
Jesus.
And, and, and, and I was just

1070
01:04:00,120 --> 01:04:05,320
like, well, that's cool.
And then there's like, well, how

1071
01:04:05,320 --> 01:04:07,680
much is that really?
And then you start thinking

1072
01:04:07,680 --> 01:04:11,960
about what is your download
speed on on your high speed

1073
01:04:11,960 --> 01:04:14,760
Internet at home that you pay
plenty of dollars for.

1074
01:04:15,240 --> 01:04:19,400
And that's when you start
realizing how how much data that

1075
01:04:19,400 --> 01:04:23,640
really is massive.
It's massive.

1076
01:04:23,760 --> 01:04:27,480
And it went without a glitch.
So that is.

1077
01:04:27,680 --> 01:04:29,040
Amazing.
That's so impressive.

1078
01:04:29,600 --> 01:04:33,880
And, and mega piece of what it's
all about, you know, that will

1079
01:04:33,920 --> 01:04:39,520
add the value to our partnership
that we need we because you

1080
01:04:39,520 --> 01:04:42,720
know, the Eurovision, yeah,
yeah, we can do that all day

1081
01:04:42,720 --> 01:04:44,440
long.
And you know, a lot of suppliers

1082
01:04:44,440 --> 01:04:47,040
are using our our processors.
There's nothing new with that.

1083
01:04:47,360 --> 01:04:52,200
But if you guys are willing to
to swim out to very dark and

1084
01:04:52,200 --> 01:04:57,560
murky waters and go for STST
2110, we can make that happen

1085
01:04:57,560 --> 01:05:03,600
for you.
So we, we decided that OK, let's

1086
01:05:03,600 --> 01:05:05,640
try this.
So obviously the next call was

1087
01:05:05,640 --> 01:05:08,880
with these guys because we need
the cards in the servers to

1088
01:05:08,920 --> 01:05:14,360
support this and, and I think
they're like $15,000 a pop and

1089
01:05:14,360 --> 01:05:20,120
we have had 10 servers.
So I was like, well, that's not

1090
01:05:20,360 --> 01:05:24,520
going to work.
But again, we have a long

1091
01:05:24,520 --> 01:05:26,960
lasting relationship with these
guys from Eurovision.

1092
01:05:26,960 --> 01:05:30,560
They've been an official
technical partner in the past.

1093
01:05:30,560 --> 01:05:34,280
And I was like, hey, wouldn't
this be an enormous marketing

1094
01:05:34,280 --> 01:05:36,480
value for you guys if we did
this?

1095
01:05:36,480 --> 01:05:38,440
And it's like, but we're going
to need your help.

1096
01:05:38,440 --> 01:05:42,280
And no, I'm not going to, we're
not going to pay, pay $15,000

1097
01:05:42,280 --> 01:05:45,040
for a card.
And I can assure you that credit

1098
01:05:45,040 --> 01:05:47,640
technology would also not pay
that money.

1099
01:05:47,640 --> 01:05:52,840
You need, we need to find and we
rent the cards or, or you know,

1100
01:05:52,880 --> 01:06:00,120
how can we do this?
And, and they were very excited

1101
01:06:00,120 --> 01:06:02,680
about it as well.
So that's how it came to play.

1102
01:06:02,680 --> 01:06:07,480
That's crazy.
And you know, in my mind, your

1103
01:06:07,480 --> 01:06:11,320
vision is, it is, it is to show
that should be the first ones

1104
01:06:11,320 --> 01:06:14,680
doing it.
And the timing was perfect.

1105
01:06:14,680 --> 01:06:20,640
I I as I understood, they looked
into doing it at the Sphere in

1106
01:06:20,640 --> 01:06:25,080
Vegas, but it was just too early
in the development.

1107
01:06:25,640 --> 01:06:26,960
It.
Was just too early, Yeah.

1108
01:06:27,280 --> 01:06:30,720
It was just too early on in the
development.

1109
01:06:32,520 --> 01:06:36,120
That new protocol was not there
yet.

1110
01:06:37,480 --> 01:06:39,800
That is so wild.
What a what a cool fit that

1111
01:06:39,800 --> 01:06:42,440
would be.
Yeah, and you know, I'm sure

1112
01:06:42,440 --> 01:06:47,440
they're going to upgrade at some
point, but but but it, it was,

1113
01:06:48,800 --> 01:06:50,640
that's exactly what Eurasian
should be.

1114
01:06:50,680 --> 01:06:53,080
It should be the frontier of new
technology.

1115
01:06:53,080 --> 01:06:56,520
And that, that's always what
drives me doing this show

1116
01:06:56,520 --> 01:07:01,560
because it's EUR Asian has one
thing that most other shows

1117
01:07:01,560 --> 01:07:04,560
doesn't have.
And that's a a good portion of

1118
01:07:04,560 --> 01:07:10,280
rehearsal we rehearsed for.
We are in almost three weeks of

1119
01:07:10,480 --> 01:07:13,160
full production rehearsals
before we go into the first

1120
01:07:13,160 --> 01:07:18,120
broadcast.
So, and, and that's the time you

1121
01:07:18,120 --> 01:07:22,720
need to be able to, when you
introduce new technologies or

1122
01:07:22,720 --> 01:07:27,000
using existing technologies in a
brand new way.

1123
01:07:27,560 --> 01:07:31,400
You need at lead time, you need,
you need that time to figure

1124
01:07:31,400 --> 01:07:33,480
shit out.
You need to have time at your

1125
01:07:33,480 --> 01:07:37,200
hands to allow things to get
wrong because they they if they

1126
01:07:37,200 --> 01:07:38,400
can, they most probably
wouldn't.

1127
01:07:38,400 --> 01:07:41,840
Of course, of course.
And and that's how we ended up.

1128
01:07:41,880 --> 01:07:46,160
I mean, we built the first LED
floor ever in 2003.

1129
01:07:47,640 --> 01:07:49,880
Did we patent it?
No, we didn't.

1130
01:07:49,920 --> 01:07:52,280
And that was, am I still upset
about that?

1131
01:07:52,400 --> 01:07:56,000
Yes, I am.
Well, I'm not, because when you

1132
01:07:56,000 --> 01:07:59,000
patent things you tend to slow
them down, not speed up the

1133
01:07:59,200 --> 01:08:01,920
technology or the utilization of
it or anything.

1134
01:08:02,080 --> 01:08:06,480
Millions of dollars mill.
Hundreds.

1135
01:08:06,560 --> 01:08:09,440
Hundreds of dollars.
Yeah, I wouldn't be on this call

1136
01:08:09,440 --> 01:08:12,160
if I had it.
I would be in Bahamas drinking

1137
01:08:12,440 --> 01:08:15,480
Bahama Mama.
Hey, sounds fun.

1138
01:08:15,880 --> 01:08:18,560
So I have, I have a whole bunch
of questions based on some of

1139
01:08:18,560 --> 01:08:22,600
the stuff you just said.
So first of all, most of the

1140
01:08:22,600 --> 01:08:25,880
time when I'm talking to
production people or designers

1141
01:08:25,880 --> 01:08:31,080
or anyone involved in, in
creating shows, it's about the

1142
01:08:31,080 --> 01:08:34,720
performer.
We're just there to augment the,

1143
01:08:34,960 --> 01:08:39,319
the star, you know, Beyoncé or,
or Mick Jagger or whoever it is.

1144
01:08:40,319 --> 01:08:45,479
Is this the unique example where
that's not the case?

1145
01:08:45,479 --> 01:08:50,279
Where actually the gear and the
technology is the performer and

1146
01:08:50,560 --> 01:08:54,000
and the actual performers and
the person winning the contest

1147
01:08:54,399 --> 01:09:01,000
are secondary?
No, actually it's, it's, it is

1148
01:09:01,000 --> 01:09:04,840
because of the performer that we
have this big toolbox.

1149
01:09:05,200 --> 01:09:13,800
Because mind you, we need to
produce 363841 songs on equal

1150
01:09:13,800 --> 01:09:17,439
terms and we all have to make
them unique and stand out by

1151
01:09:17,439 --> 01:09:21,160
themselves.
And that's the reason for the

1152
01:09:21,160 --> 01:09:24,399
big creative toolbox that I
always provide to my creative

1153
01:09:24,399 --> 01:09:29,120
team, for them to have a flying
chance in hell to actually

1154
01:09:29,640 --> 01:09:33,279
produce that many unique
performances, because that's our

1155
01:09:33,279 --> 01:09:34,279
job.
But.

1156
01:09:34,560 --> 01:09:38,920
Eurovision is one where people
don't, at least most of the

1157
01:09:38,920 --> 01:09:42,640
people I talk to, which again
are very leaning towards our

1158
01:09:42,640 --> 01:09:45,279
industry.
But people talk about the

1159
01:09:45,279 --> 01:09:48,960
performance of the gear not, not
not near as much.

1160
01:09:49,000 --> 01:09:52,960
The all that one singer from,
you know, Spain was unbelievable

1161
01:09:52,960 --> 01:09:55,440
or whatever.
Like I never remember which

1162
01:09:55,440 --> 01:09:58,000
country won.
Not that it matters to me, but

1163
01:09:58,000 --> 01:10:00,480
may Nader.
I remember what gear was on it,

1164
01:10:00,720 --> 01:10:03,440
you know?
And that that is the that is the

1165
01:10:03,440 --> 01:10:09,360
problem or the challenge for EUR
Asian is that it over the 68

1166
01:10:09,360 --> 01:10:12,040
years in existence it has
produced.

1167
01:10:12,040 --> 01:10:15,840
That long A?
Very very little amount of

1168
01:10:15,840 --> 01:10:19,880
superstars.
Artist that came out of

1169
01:10:19,880 --> 01:10:25,440
Eurovision is Cliff Richard ABBA
of course.

1170
01:10:27,360 --> 01:10:32,200
ABBA came out of Eurovision I.
Didn't I won Eurovision 1974 so.

1171
01:10:32,600 --> 01:10:33,760
I didn't.
I had no idea.

1172
01:10:34,320 --> 01:10:36,400
That's how.
They came to fame and I mean it

1173
01:10:36,400 --> 01:10:38,720
went pretty well for them.
No kidding.

1174
01:10:38,720 --> 01:10:41,480
Yeah.
Céline Dion won Eurovision.

1175
01:10:41,480 --> 01:10:44,600
Well, and since your hockey is
so lame, they put Sweden on the

1176
01:10:44,600 --> 01:10:46,600
map too.
Exactly.

1177
01:10:47,120 --> 01:10:48,560
That's what we're really good
at.

1178
01:10:48,600 --> 01:10:51,240
Yeah, I'm really good at that.
Not so good at hockey, but.

1179
01:10:51,320 --> 01:10:53,240
No.
And and it's so funny because

1180
01:10:53,280 --> 01:10:59,840
that's that is the that is the
starting of the Swedish music

1181
01:10:59,840 --> 01:11:05,000
wonder and and the enormous
amount of music export we have.

1182
01:11:05,240 --> 01:11:14,160
Yeah, in in both performing but
also producing like a guy like

1183
01:11:14,160 --> 01:11:18,080
Max Martin, that is.
Think he's the second second

1184
01:11:18,080 --> 01:11:21,120
most successful songwriter in
the world after Sir Paul

1185
01:11:21,120 --> 01:11:22,920
McCartney.
Really.

1186
01:11:23,480 --> 01:11:25,360
Yeah.
I would have thought it would be

1187
01:11:25,480 --> 01:11:29,560
like Bernie Taupin or something.
Google Max Martin has more.

1188
01:11:30,200 --> 01:11:33,360
He has more billboard number
ones than than most people.

1189
01:11:33,640 --> 01:11:37,120
That's impassive and.
And and what is also amazing is

1190
01:11:37,120 --> 01:11:42,000
that it's it's.
It's an array from from Britney

1191
01:11:42,000 --> 01:11:46,120
Spears to Kiss to Bon Jovi to
Katy Perry to Pink.

1192
01:11:46,120 --> 01:11:47,520
It's it.
Wild.

1193
01:11:47,520 --> 01:11:51,000
New Kids on the Block It, it's,
it's all over the place.

1194
01:11:51,240 --> 01:11:53,920
It's all over the place.
But that back to this whole

1195
01:11:53,920 --> 01:11:59,400
concept of, of the artist or, or
the, the gear, you know, again,

1196
01:11:59,400 --> 01:12:03,160
like even people I know who are
way outside the industry, like

1197
01:12:03,160 --> 01:12:08,120
there's a guy I know in, in
England who's in racing and he

1198
01:12:08,120 --> 01:12:12,240
loves the pop artists and stuff.
And every year he's texting me

1199
01:12:12,240 --> 01:12:14,560
during Eurovision saying, oh,
what was that light?

1200
01:12:14,560 --> 01:12:17,720
Oh, what was that light?
What's that laser thing?

1201
01:12:17,720 --> 01:12:22,200
You know, because he knows that
I'm in this business, but he's

1202
01:12:22,200 --> 01:12:26,280
always more excited about, about
the show than than the, the

1203
01:12:26,280 --> 01:12:28,440
singer.
And like you said, that's it's a

1204
01:12:28,440 --> 01:12:33,520
bit problematic because you
know, at America's Got Talent,

1205
01:12:33,520 --> 01:12:38,440
Oregon, American Idol or The
Voice or whatever, it's nothing

1206
01:12:38,440 --> 01:12:40,480
about the gear.
Like yes, they're nice looking

1207
01:12:40,480 --> 01:12:43,000
shows, but it's not about the
gear at all.

1208
01:12:43,240 --> 01:12:47,920
The gear isn't marketed.
Yeah, but those those shows can

1209
01:12:47,920 --> 01:12:50,960
depend on hit songs.
Right.

1210
01:12:51,560 --> 01:12:53,520
Eurovision is all about the
original.

1211
01:12:53,520 --> 01:12:54,640
Music.
Yeah, it's 100%.

1212
01:12:54,680 --> 01:12:59,880
Original for For more than 100
million of the viewers when they

1213
01:12:59,880 --> 01:13:03,920
watch Eurovision, that's the
first time they hear that song

1214
01:13:04,360 --> 01:13:07,240
ever and in many cases also the
last time.

1215
01:13:09,160 --> 01:13:12,840
So and that's I mean we have the
same we have the same challenge

1216
01:13:12,840 --> 01:13:17,240
with with America's own contest
that is all original songs.

1217
01:13:17,680 --> 01:13:24,160
So, so even if we put big names
like Michael Bolton and and and

1218
01:13:24,160 --> 01:13:27,600
Jewel and stuff on stage to
represent their state, their

1219
01:13:27,600 --> 01:13:32,400
state, they were doing it by
releasing a whole new song that

1220
01:13:32,400 --> 01:13:35,520
no one had ever heard.
And that's always a challenge.

1221
01:13:35,520 --> 01:13:38,280
It it's it's that's the tricky
part.

1222
01:13:38,360 --> 01:13:44,320
While idol or X Factor you're
well, it's it's covers already

1223
01:13:44,520 --> 01:13:49,200
that world famous songs.
So you don't need, you don't

1224
01:13:49,200 --> 01:13:51,760
need to Polish that.
Term, although that's changing a

1225
01:13:51,760 --> 01:13:53,560
bit.
Like on America's Got Talent in

1226
01:13:53,560 --> 01:13:57,520
particular, there was a country
guy that used to be an Elvis

1227
01:13:57,520 --> 01:14:00,480
impersonator.
He was either last year or the

1228
01:14:00,480 --> 01:14:05,880
year before, but one of the
judges said, I guarantee you

1229
01:14:05,880 --> 01:14:08,920
that song is going to be #1 on
iTunes tomorrow.

1230
01:14:09,000 --> 01:14:11,880
And it was.
And the guy went on to mass.

1231
01:14:11,880 --> 01:14:14,840
He didn't even win America's Got
Talent, I think he finished

1232
01:14:14,840 --> 01:14:18,280
second or third and stories like
that.

1233
01:14:18,280 --> 01:14:22,440
And he's gone on to become a
massive * sold tons of albums

1234
01:14:22,440 --> 01:14:25,680
and that kind of thing.
But you would think just from

1235
01:14:25,680 --> 01:14:29,320
the social media exposure that
these people are getting and

1236
01:14:29,320 --> 01:14:32,320
and, you know, but.
It's it, it's also changing

1237
01:14:32,320 --> 01:14:40,400
because 20, let's say 2019, when
Holland won, that song actually

1238
01:14:40,400 --> 01:14:44,400
became a hit worldwide.
And it was in movies and it was

1239
01:14:44,400 --> 01:14:47,760
in commercials even.
It's like I, I was, I almost

1240
01:14:48,520 --> 01:14:52,320
drove off the road when I've
heard it on a radio channel in,

1241
01:14:52,360 --> 01:14:55,120
in, in Austin the first time
because I was sure.

1242
01:14:55,120 --> 01:14:58,880
It's like I never had to listen
to that song again because I, I,

1243
01:14:59,640 --> 01:15:04,600
I, I, I can say it now.
I never liked that song and I

1244
01:15:04,600 --> 01:15:06,200
didn't see what people saw in
it.

1245
01:15:07,480 --> 01:15:14,400
But then, then, then in Holland,
Mona Skin wins.

1246
01:15:14,520 --> 01:15:17,800
And I mean, Mona Skin is doing
that by journey now.

1247
01:15:17,800 --> 01:15:20,720
They really do.
So there is.

1248
01:15:21,840 --> 01:15:25,320
There's, I think, credibility.
Mona Skin.

1249
01:15:25,320 --> 01:15:28,200
Is that the one with the girl
bass player who's always half

1250
01:15:28,240 --> 01:15:31,600
naked?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, she's quite

1251
01:15:31,600 --> 01:15:32,320
talented.
I.

1252
01:15:32,760 --> 01:15:35,360
Don't mean they still love
Madison Square Yard.

1253
01:15:35,720 --> 01:15:37,720
Have you have?
Have you ever heard about the

1254
01:15:37,720 --> 01:15:40,080
Eurovision winner selling out
Madison Square Yard?

1255
01:15:40,400 --> 01:15:42,640
No, and I didn't know that they
were that big either.

1256
01:15:43,200 --> 01:15:44,240
Yeah, they are.
How is it?

1257
01:15:44,240 --> 01:15:47,400
Pronounced Mona skin when it's
spelled Mana skin.

1258
01:15:47,920 --> 01:15:52,240
So so because it's actually
Danish for moonlight.

1259
01:15:53,520 --> 01:15:56,480
I did not know that.
And because the bass player

1260
01:15:56,520 --> 01:15:58,800
she's she's Danish.
OK.

1261
01:15:59,760 --> 01:16:07,200
So, so I think that in Danish
it's actually an A with a dot on

1262
01:16:07,200 --> 01:16:10,240
top.
So it it creates determinate

1263
01:16:10,400 --> 01:16:15,600
into an O Yeah, Scandinavians
where Scandinavians are wacky.

1264
01:16:17,080 --> 01:16:20,360
We have three more letters than
the rest of you because we made

1265
01:16:20,480 --> 01:16:24,440
of course, which also means we
have three more plans to go to

1266
01:16:24,440 --> 01:16:27,640
in backup.
Oh my God, that's hilarious.

1267
01:16:28,120 --> 01:16:35,520
So the next question I had is
how are decisions made on gear?

1268
01:16:35,520 --> 01:16:39,760
Like is that you initially or do
you have a whole design team

1269
01:16:39,760 --> 01:16:41,760
that you're working with right
out of the gate?

1270
01:16:41,960 --> 01:16:46,360
And then you come up with that
list or, or is it you sort of on

1271
01:16:46,360 --> 01:16:49,800
your own cutting deals with the
manufacturers and the suppliers

1272
01:16:50,000 --> 01:16:53,320
and then saying, OK, design
team, here's the here's the tool

1273
01:16:53,320 --> 01:16:58,200
kit you've got to use this year.
Yeah, now I so it always starts

1274
01:16:58,200 --> 01:17:01,320
with a set design.
OK, that's the first thing that

1275
01:17:01,320 --> 01:17:05,200
is chosen.
And who does that?

1276
01:17:06,160 --> 01:17:10,400
The executive team there's we
send out the North P and and

1277
01:17:10,400 --> 01:17:14,760
ask, you know, established set
designers, both national and

1278
01:17:14,760 --> 01:17:18,480
international pitch sending the
pitch based on a bunch of, you

1279
01:17:18,760 --> 01:17:25,440
know, keywords and some
practical information that needs

1280
01:17:25,440 --> 01:17:28,640
to be at least this wide and
this deep and as access rampant

1281
01:17:29,800 --> 01:17:34,240
and such.
And do you know the venue at

1282
01:17:34,240 --> 01:17:36,080
that point?
So you could say it needs to fit

1283
01:17:36,080 --> 01:17:40,840
into this space.
Not necessarily often we do.

1284
01:17:40,920 --> 01:17:49,600
This year we did but but well
actually most often we do, but

1285
01:17:49,680 --> 01:17:54,440
we actually don't give that
though.

1286
01:17:54,600 --> 01:17:58,160
We don't want to give any
restrictions really in in the

1287
01:17:58,160 --> 01:18:02,840
first because we can always
scale it to so it fits once.

1288
01:18:02,840 --> 01:18:06,440
Once we place the stage, we can
scale it so it all fits together

1289
01:18:06,440 --> 01:18:08,560
with with the infrastructure.
Get off topic.

1290
01:18:08,680 --> 01:18:11,440
Have you, have you ever done a
stadium like a football stadium?

1291
01:18:13,240 --> 01:18:20,440
We've done indoor stadium in
2011 in Dusseldorf.

1292
01:18:22,120 --> 01:18:25,120
It was on the table for Sweden
this year because we have a huge

1293
01:18:25,120 --> 01:18:29,880
arena here in here in Stockholm.
The problem is that, you know,

1294
01:18:30,160 --> 01:18:34,520
you have so many more cubic
meters of air that you need to

1295
01:18:34,520 --> 01:18:41,640
fill with lights and sound.
And it just turns into the poor,

1296
01:18:42,160 --> 01:18:46,160
poor business deal because you
can sell out as many grand

1297
01:18:46,160 --> 01:18:49,400
finals as you want, but you
won't sell out the semifinals.

1298
01:18:49,960 --> 01:18:54,120
So actually I saw arena format
is perfect for Eurovision

1299
01:18:54,120 --> 01:18:59,600
because it's, it's big enough to
allow plus 10,000 people in the

1300
01:18:59,600 --> 01:19:04,960
audience and it's small enough
to be an environment that you

1301
01:19:04,960 --> 01:19:07,080
can control when it comes to
ventilation.

1302
01:19:07,160 --> 01:19:13,320
So, so you know, you make it,
you choose the camera lenses to

1303
01:19:13,320 --> 01:19:17,440
make it big on TV, which is the
real audience.

1304
01:19:17,440 --> 01:19:22,960
I mean everything we do in the
arena, every decision we make in

1305
01:19:22,960 --> 01:19:25,920
pre production is based on the
television audience.

1306
01:19:25,920 --> 01:19:27,560
How big is that television
audience?

1307
01:19:28,360 --> 01:19:31,000
This year was around 160
million.

1308
01:19:31,520 --> 01:19:36,000
Wow.
Oscar 730, Super Bowl has 72.

1309
01:19:36,880 --> 01:19:38,200
That is wild.
That's.

1310
01:19:38,400 --> 01:19:40,640
Huge.
So it it makes it by far the

1311
01:19:40,640 --> 01:19:44,600
largest entertainment, music
entertainment show in the world.

1312
01:19:44,600 --> 01:19:47,880
That is wild.
There's there's nothing, nothing

1313
01:19:48,000 --> 01:19:52,560
going to it and, and growing
and, and then of course you have

1314
01:19:52,720 --> 01:19:57,520
the whole online streaming,
which is really, really, really

1315
01:19:57,520 --> 01:20:01,680
hard to keep the tab on.
So yeah.

1316
01:20:01,720 --> 01:20:04,400
Well, 'cause once it goes out
there, it just spins into

1317
01:20:04,680 --> 01:20:07,600
thousands of different places,
some of which you know, some you

1318
01:20:07,600 --> 01:20:09,360
don't.
Yeah, exactly.

1319
01:20:09,400 --> 01:20:12,240
I mean, that's crazy.
Imagine if 10% of India Watch

1320
01:20:12,480 --> 01:20:15,560
well.
Double your numbers.

1321
01:20:16,080 --> 01:20:18,200
Yeah, exactly.
Back, back to the decisions on

1322
01:20:18,200 --> 01:20:19,600
gear.
So you said it starts with a

1323
01:20:19,600 --> 01:20:22,080
set.
And so once you've chosen a set

1324
01:20:22,080 --> 01:20:24,440
design.
We're we're going to lighting

1325
01:20:24,440 --> 01:20:31,360
design and it's the lighting
designer who who decides he he

1326
01:20:31,360 --> 01:20:35,840
makes a first list of this is
what I want to use.

1327
01:20:37,400 --> 01:20:41,520
But is that list brand agnostic
or brand specific?

1328
01:20:42,200 --> 01:20:45,440
Brand specific.
So he's saying I want Mac ones

1329
01:20:45,440 --> 01:20:47,160
and you got to go make a deal
with Martin.

1330
01:20:47,160 --> 01:20:53,640
Is that how that works?
If he says that yes, or I mean,

1331
01:20:53,640 --> 01:20:57,480
there's there's several ways
because we there's always

1332
01:20:57,480 --> 01:21:01,200
compromises, as in any other
show, there is there is reality

1333
01:21:01,200 --> 01:21:05,280
and there's budget and that we
need to meet and and it's all

1334
01:21:05,280 --> 01:21:08,880
finding make the right
compromises.

1335
01:21:09,920 --> 01:21:13,040
This year was easy because
Frederick strongly the the

1336
01:21:13,040 --> 01:21:18,240
lighting designer is actually
all over the place when it comes

1337
01:21:18,240 --> 01:21:23,360
to he likes Roby, he likes Clay
Paki, he likes Airton.

1338
01:21:24,160 --> 01:21:30,600
He's he's not, he's not
religious by to a brand in a

1339
01:21:30,760 --> 01:21:33,400
sense.
Which is cool because you

1340
01:21:33,400 --> 01:21:36,840
represented almost every major
manufacturer on this year's

1341
01:21:37,360 --> 01:21:40,000
show.
GLP Chauvet.

1342
01:21:40,760 --> 01:21:47,640
Airton Astera, Klaypaki.
But what we try to do is like to

1343
01:21:47,640 --> 01:21:52,400
do the basic rig, the workhorses
of the rig coming from the same

1344
01:21:52,400 --> 01:21:55,960
manufacturer.
So all the, all, all their spot

1345
01:21:55,960 --> 01:21:57,760
instruments and watch
instruments and, and, and

1346
01:21:58,640 --> 01:22:02,800
profiles and whatnot comes from
the same manufacturer because it

1347
01:22:02,800 --> 01:22:06,000
speeds up programming time
enormously.

1348
01:22:07,440 --> 01:22:09,760
And also, you know, color
matching and all that.

1349
01:22:10,960 --> 01:22:15,960
And when you then all of a
sudden that lease becomes quite

1350
01:22:16,240 --> 01:22:23,560
little because one, one of the
one of the big challenges we

1351
01:22:23,560 --> 01:22:32,960
have right now is going from
discharge to LED or laser and

1352
01:22:33,600 --> 01:22:36,960
going away from traditional
follow spots into remote follow

1353
01:22:36,960 --> 01:22:42,720
spots system where the source is
where, where the source is a

1354
01:22:42,720 --> 01:22:48,960
moving head.
And there are not that many

1355
01:22:49,320 --> 01:22:54,720
moving heads out there powerful
or we could see CRI enough to

1356
01:22:54,720 --> 01:22:59,160
actually work well as a key
light on the broadcast.

1357
01:23:00,880 --> 01:23:02,280
So there is a gap.
Interesting.

1358
01:23:02,800 --> 01:23:07,800
There is a gap that was created,
obviously not on purpose.

1359
01:23:07,800 --> 01:23:11,800
It's just like technology hasn't
really gotten into because now

1360
01:23:12,200 --> 01:23:20,640
we use Follow Me this year for
key lighting and we had sixty

1361
01:23:20,920 --> 01:23:28,880
key light fixtures, 64 key light
fixtures on automation trusses

1362
01:23:28,920 --> 01:23:33,040
because everything moved, so key
light had to move as well.

1363
01:23:33,160 --> 01:23:37,120
Oh boy.
And also for the first time in

1364
01:23:37,120 --> 01:23:39,800
the history of mankind,
Eurovision was in a 360

1365
01:23:39,800 --> 01:23:43,680
environment.
So we were shooting this show in

1366
01:23:43,680 --> 01:23:52,200
all directions, which of course
also adds to the headache

1367
01:23:53,040 --> 01:23:57,520
because you know, you can't do
television without, without

1368
01:23:57,520 --> 01:23:59,880
standing key lighting.
It it, it just counts.

1369
01:24:01,000 --> 01:24:09,640
Well, I'm sure you can and and
but but it's it's it that's the

1370
01:24:09,640 --> 01:24:13,520
by far the most important.
Well, yeah, I, I remember every

1371
01:24:13,520 --> 01:24:17,520
time, you know, every time I was
involved with a show and they

1372
01:24:17,520 --> 01:24:20,840
were gonna shoot a, an HBO
special or a television special

1373
01:24:20,840 --> 01:24:23,240
or a movie or something.
You'd have either Bobby

1374
01:24:23,240 --> 01:24:27,640
Dickinson or, you know, some one
of the Bob Barnhart, one of the

1375
01:24:27,640 --> 01:24:30,600
big television designers would
come in with a huge verilite

1376
01:24:30,600 --> 01:24:34,520
audience package, you know, of,
of just a bunch of verilite

1377
01:24:34,520 --> 01:24:38,680
stuff regardless of what was on
stage, you know, just to do the

1378
01:24:38,680 --> 01:24:42,640
TV shoot.
So and you're doing sort of a

1379
01:24:42,640 --> 01:24:47,120
multi purpose live thing plus
ATV shoot all within the same

1380
01:24:47,120 --> 01:24:49,920
package with with the same
design team etcetera.

1381
01:24:49,920 --> 01:24:51,680
So it's a little more
complicated on that.

1382
01:24:51,760 --> 01:24:55,320
Yeah, yeah.
But you know another question

1383
01:24:55,360 --> 01:24:57,520
we.
We we came to the conclusion

1384
01:24:57,520 --> 01:25:03,720
that Ayrton was Fred under the
circumstances of what we're

1385
01:25:03,720 --> 01:25:06,600
doing and and Frederick had a
very outspoken.

1386
01:25:06,600 --> 01:25:10,360
I was like, I don't want to see
a single discharge bulb in in

1387
01:25:10,360 --> 01:25:16,800
this ring because I want to do a
statement, a statement of the

1388
01:25:16,800 --> 01:25:20,160
future is here.
And also being sustainable

1389
01:25:20,960 --> 01:25:25,520
because obviously they, they LED
or laser dream and lights

1390
01:25:25,520 --> 01:25:30,440
consume much less power because
when you turn them off, they

1391
01:25:30,560 --> 01:25:33,360
they're off when you're not
using them, they they consume.

1392
01:25:33,800 --> 01:25:35,600
Of.
Course almost nothing.

1393
01:25:35,640 --> 01:25:38,240
That's one of the biggest
changes with LED that a lot of

1394
01:25:38,240 --> 01:25:42,040
people don't even think of.
You know, like at a tour, if you

1395
01:25:42,040 --> 01:25:44,760
go in at 11:00 in the morning,
the lights are on.

1396
01:25:44,760 --> 01:25:48,880
From then until 11:00 at night,
they never turn off.

1397
01:25:49,200 --> 01:25:52,240
Versus with LED, they're just on
whenever you need them on.

1398
01:25:52,240 --> 01:25:53,000
Right?
Exactly.

1399
01:25:53,200 --> 01:25:57,440
So, and and I mean it does
miracles to the pile of dollars

1400
01:25:57,480 --> 01:25:59,680
that you spend them on these.
Can't even imagine the

1401
01:25:59,680 --> 01:26:02,240
difference.
Yeah, Yeah.

1402
01:26:02,240 --> 01:26:07,000
So you used a bunch of Rivalis
on this one too?

1403
01:26:07,000 --> 01:26:08,600
Yeah.
Which I think.

1404
01:26:08,600 --> 01:26:10,440
Is a great fixture.
It's a beautiful.

1405
01:26:10,440 --> 01:26:15,200
Fixture love it and they're
extremely reliable.

1406
01:26:17,000 --> 01:26:20,240
And then of course, we had the
world premiere of the Ariton

1407
01:26:20,760 --> 01:26:26,920
Kailami, also known as the
Salami or the calamari when

1408
01:26:26,920 --> 01:26:31,720
Ariton when when Michael Altos
showed up.

1409
01:26:32,240 --> 01:26:34,520
Yeah, venue for the last show
week.

1410
01:26:34,920 --> 01:26:38,800
Yeah, they actually found a
T-shirt that said I heart

1411
01:26:38,800 --> 01:26:40,640
calamari as.
A gift for me.

1412
01:26:41,280 --> 01:26:43,800
That's hilarious.
That is so good.

1413
01:26:44,360 --> 01:26:47,640
Thanks for renaming our lights.
That is so good.

1414
01:26:47,920 --> 01:26:54,280
Well, I mean marketing one O 1
says don't create any product

1415
01:26:54,280 --> 01:26:58,360
that people struggle to
pronounce and Ayrton's destroyed

1416
01:26:58,360 --> 01:27:01,960
that 100 times in in their
product lineup, you know, and

1417
01:27:02,480 --> 01:27:06,040
hey, God bless him.
You know, I I know that I know

1418
01:27:06,040 --> 01:27:11,600
that Yvonne is a is a huge car
junkie and racing junkie and

1419
01:27:11,600 --> 01:27:12,200
stuff.
So it's.

1420
01:27:12,520 --> 01:27:14,920
A race track in South Africa.
It is, yeah.

1421
01:27:16,080 --> 01:27:16,760
Yeah, it is.
Yeah.

1422
01:27:18,120 --> 01:27:21,920
So I mean that that was because
what you, I, I do believe we had

1423
01:27:21,920 --> 01:27:23,960
the entire world stock on
Eurovision.

1424
01:27:23,960 --> 01:27:30,280
Wow.
Yeah, we had 138.

1425
01:27:30,600 --> 01:27:33,560
Yeah.
Of them and I think that was the

1426
01:27:33,560 --> 01:27:35,880
world stock.
Well, one of the huge advantages

1427
01:27:35,880 --> 01:27:41,680
you guys have, you being
Europeans, is that you can use

1428
01:27:41,680 --> 01:27:46,280
laser sourced fixtures like over
here in the US It's such a pain

1429
01:27:46,280 --> 01:27:51,000
in the ass with all the the
variances and rules and stuff,

1430
01:27:51,000 --> 01:27:53,640
you know?
And especially considering that

1431
01:27:53,640 --> 01:27:57,960
that go into any movie theater.
And there's a laser video.

1432
01:27:57,960 --> 01:27:59,680
It's laser.
Of course.

1433
01:27:59,680 --> 01:28:01,320
And you can turn around and look
straight at it.

1434
01:28:01,800 --> 01:28:04,720
You know what's the difference?
But yeah, no, it's well.

1435
01:28:04,760 --> 01:28:08,600
Or or the other thing is, like,
there's shows with hundreds of

1436
01:28:08,600 --> 01:28:11,960
Sharpies on it, and a Sharpie is
gonna do more damage to your

1437
01:28:11,960 --> 01:28:15,480
eyes than a Kayalami is.
You know what I mean?

1438
01:28:15,480 --> 01:28:17,600
Oh, yeah.
Oh, absolutely.

1439
01:28:17,760 --> 01:28:20,400
But it's just stupid.
It's typical of a government

1440
01:28:20,400 --> 01:28:22,360
rule.
Well, and by the way, those

1441
01:28:22,360 --> 01:28:25,200
variances, I don't know if you
know this, but do you know who

1442
01:28:25,200 --> 01:28:27,960
controls them?
The Food and Drug

1443
01:28:27,960 --> 01:28:29,160
Administration.
I know.

1444
01:28:30,120 --> 01:28:33,240
Yeah, it's.
The FDA, right, The FDA controls

1445
01:28:33,240 --> 01:28:36,600
laser concert lighting fixtures.
Like why?

1446
01:28:36,880 --> 01:28:39,000
This makes no sense at all.
Yeah.

1447
01:28:39,640 --> 01:28:43,840
We were bringing it, we were
bringing an ice bar to, to the

1448
01:28:43,920 --> 01:28:46,400
trade show at the McCormick
Place in Chicago.

1449
01:28:46,400 --> 01:28:51,280
This is 1015 years ago.
And, and this was for the the

1450
01:28:51,280 --> 01:28:53,840
Big Tool show.
I can't remember what it's

1451
01:28:53,840 --> 01:28:56,240
called.
And it was for a Swedish company

1452
01:28:56,520 --> 01:29:02,360
and as a part of it was glasses
made out of ice from the river

1453
01:29:02,440 --> 01:29:06,760
up north in Sweden.
And they will serve alcohol to

1454
01:29:06,920 --> 01:29:08,960
guests at the trade show in
Chicago.

1455
01:29:08,960 --> 01:29:13,240
No way you can imagine.
You can imagine the paperwork

1456
01:29:13,480 --> 01:29:16,680
that we had filed for FDA.
Chicago was the worst, too.

1457
01:29:17,440 --> 01:29:20,800
You know what the one thing they
said no to was?

1458
01:29:20,800 --> 01:29:22,560
Alcohol.
Yeah, of course.

1459
01:29:23,200 --> 01:29:25,200
No, because they want you to buy
it from them because they're

1460
01:29:25,200 --> 01:29:27,920
going to charge you $20.00 for
the same thing that you're going

1461
01:29:27,920 --> 01:29:31,280
to pay $1.00 for.
But by serving, serving healthy

1462
01:29:31,320 --> 01:29:36,920
Americans with with with juice
in glasses made of ice from a

1463
01:29:36,920 --> 01:29:40,440
river up in northern Sweden that
actually went through.

1464
01:29:40,880 --> 01:29:45,360
Similarly, when I was with
Martin one time, Peter Johansson

1465
01:29:45,360 --> 01:29:50,640
sent over a container of Martin
beer, a full container of beer.

1466
01:29:51,040 --> 01:29:57,040
And we, we started to bring it
out and somebody from the trade

1467
01:29:57,040 --> 01:29:59,440
show, I, it was probably Las
Vegas or something, I can't

1468
01:29:59,440 --> 01:30:01,360
remember.
But they came over to us and

1469
01:30:01,360 --> 01:30:05,680
said that goes straight back
into that shipping container.

1470
01:30:05,960 --> 01:30:06,960
And we're like, what do you
mean?

1471
01:30:06,960 --> 01:30:08,640
This is for our customers.
It's free.

1472
01:30:08,640 --> 01:30:10,880
We're not selling it.
They said, I don't care, You can

1473
01:30:10,880 --> 01:30:12,680
buy beer from us if you want to
give it away.

1474
01:30:13,200 --> 01:30:16,560
And so we tried sneaking it in
and they'd see the labels and

1475
01:30:16,560 --> 01:30:20,080
they'd come back and say, we're
going to find you $100,000 and

1476
01:30:20,080 --> 01:30:22,320
all this stuff.
So we just had to give up and

1477
01:30:22,320 --> 01:30:24,840
buy beer from them.
It was crazy.

1478
01:30:25,560 --> 01:30:29,040
Back, back to.
So one of my big questions.

1479
01:30:29,720 --> 01:30:34,160
Why are you so willing and not
even willing, but like,

1480
01:30:34,360 --> 01:30:39,320
passionate about trying new
technology on such a massive

1481
01:30:39,320 --> 01:30:41,320
show?
Because I will tell you, I've

1482
01:30:41,320 --> 01:30:45,160
worked with a lot of major
producers and designers and

1483
01:30:45,160 --> 01:30:48,680
stuff who are usually taking it
pretty safe, like the Grammys.

1484
01:30:48,680 --> 01:30:51,440
I want proven technology, the
Super Bowl.

1485
01:30:51,440 --> 01:30:54,080
I want proven technology.
You know they don't want to be

1486
01:30:54,080 --> 01:30:55,920
dealing with failures and stuff,
right?

1487
01:30:57,160 --> 01:30:59,560
And why is it that you're so?
Passionate about trying new

1488
01:30:59,560 --> 01:31:02,240
stuff?
That's the beauty with Europe is

1489
01:31:02,240 --> 01:31:05,240
like you won't have the 200
lawyers chasing your ass if you

1490
01:31:05,240 --> 01:31:06,280
fuck up.
That's true.

1491
01:31:06,320 --> 01:31:08,520
Yeah, that's true too.
Which actually gives you a

1492
01:31:08,520 --> 01:31:11,960
creative freedom to an extent
that you don't have in America

1493
01:31:12,160 --> 01:31:16,680
because you you always.
That is a real danger waiting to

1494
01:31:16,720 --> 01:31:22,080
happen.
But but I also think that I

1495
01:31:22,080 --> 01:31:26,720
think that the European
mentality is, I don't know, we,

1496
01:31:27,120 --> 01:31:31,800
it's, there's something in our
DNA that makes it easier for us

1497
01:31:31,800 --> 01:31:38,520
to embrace new technology and
not and go out of our comfort

1498
01:31:38,520 --> 01:31:41,760
zone.
It's.

1499
01:31:41,800 --> 01:31:44,960
Interesting, because I mean, you
know, Kailami, for example, like

1500
01:31:45,560 --> 01:31:49,360
you could have used the mini
stelos, for example, you know,

1501
01:31:49,360 --> 01:31:51,440
and I don't know if it's better
or worse or anything.

1502
01:31:51,440 --> 01:31:53,160
I don't know anything about
either one of those.

1503
01:31:53,160 --> 01:31:57,600
But but you know, it's been out
for a year or a year and a half.

1504
01:31:57,600 --> 01:31:59,440
It's safe.
You know, it's going to be good.

1505
01:31:59,920 --> 01:32:03,360
And I mean, obviously I know
when Airton kicks something out

1506
01:32:03,360 --> 01:32:06,320
the door, it's pretty flawless
and, and.

1507
01:32:06,640 --> 01:32:11,640
You know, we we actually specify
those based on some sketches

1508
01:32:11,880 --> 01:32:12,800
from Airton.
Wow.

1509
01:32:13,680 --> 01:32:17,640
And the tech spec.
The the first time Frederick saw

1510
01:32:19,000 --> 01:32:23,640
the picture was in on the first
day of pre programming in his

1511
01:32:23,640 --> 01:32:27,040
studio. so-called.
I saw it a week earlier at pro

1512
01:32:27,040 --> 01:32:34,160
light and sound and and and it's
one of those.

1513
01:32:34,400 --> 01:32:39,920
But I mean, we've done this for
so many years now on on, I mean,

1514
01:32:39,920 --> 01:32:44,760
2002, we built the whole
Eurovision on the new funky

1515
01:32:44,760 --> 01:32:51,800
thing coming out of Austin, TX
called Catalyst Beta version

1516
01:32:52,040 --> 01:32:53,720
one.
Brave.

1517
01:32:54,560 --> 01:32:58,520
There was two.
There was three clips in in the

1518
01:32:58,520 --> 01:33:02,400
library.
There was an American flag

1519
01:33:02,560 --> 01:33:04,760
waving in slow motion in the
wind.

1520
01:33:05,400 --> 01:33:08,320
I remember that one.
There was a top shot of the

1521
01:33:08,320 --> 01:33:11,360
match that was ignited so it was
like a fireball.

1522
01:33:12,320 --> 01:33:18,280
There was a slow MO still image
panning appear in Brighton.

1523
01:33:19,120 --> 01:33:25,120
Wow.
That was it and we realized very

1524
01:33:25,120 --> 01:33:29,680
late that fact we spend all our
money on the servers this this

1525
01:33:29,680 --> 01:33:35,720
catalyst and mirror heads and
reactors free video video clips

1526
01:33:35,720 --> 01:33:38,840
that we can play and none of
them will do it for this show.

1527
01:33:39,400 --> 01:33:44,360
So we ended up having the the we
were in Estonia at the time.

1528
01:33:44,360 --> 01:33:48,880
So the two it was a married
couple, husband and wife making

1529
01:33:48,880 --> 01:33:53,800
all the content for a stone in
television sports that made all

1530
01:33:53,800 --> 01:33:59,760
video content for Eurovision
some contest 2002 and they would

1531
01:33:59,880 --> 01:34:04,400
after they were done at a stone
in television, they went home,

1532
01:34:04,440 --> 01:34:07,520
they had dinner and then they
remained at the kitchen table

1533
01:34:07,520 --> 01:34:10,760
producing video content halfway
through the night.

1534
01:34:10,880 --> 01:34:14,200
And every morning on their way
to stone television, they would

1535
01:34:14,200 --> 01:34:17,840
drop off hard drives with new
content that was for the

1536
01:34:18,240 --> 01:34:21,320
specifics.
That's wild.

1537
01:34:21,920 --> 01:34:24,920
And, and it was also this was,
you know, in the early days

1538
01:34:24,920 --> 01:34:29,800
since the the catalyst was DMX
control, it by default became a

1539
01:34:29,800 --> 01:34:33,760
lighting tool.
So which also meant that the

1540
01:34:33,760 --> 01:34:37,640
responsibility for the video
content, it was a lighting

1541
01:34:37,640 --> 01:34:41,480
design to figure out there was
no content company back then.

1542
01:34:41,600 --> 01:34:45,480
You could know that was like,
that was just like there were

1543
01:34:45,800 --> 01:34:52,760
people in basements doing stuff.
But, but I mean, and, and I

1544
01:34:53,040 --> 01:34:56,920
sometimes I pinch myself into
arms like, wow, we, we were

1545
01:34:56,920 --> 01:35:00,840
actually there in the very
beginning of so many things like

1546
01:35:00,840 --> 01:35:04,440
this, this revolution.
But, and I mean that's the

1547
01:35:04,440 --> 01:35:08,440
implemented video, I think is
that's the one thing that has

1548
01:35:08,800 --> 01:35:14,440
had the the biggest impact on
everything that we're doing

1549
01:35:14,440 --> 01:35:16,800
today, because it's just like
all of a sudden you needed

1550
01:35:16,800 --> 01:35:20,960
hundreds of DMX channels just to
operate one one server.

1551
01:35:20,960 --> 01:35:24,520
So you know, the lighting desks
need to perk up and you had the

1552
01:35:24,840 --> 01:35:26,920
the whole lighting industry
going to barkos.

1553
01:35:26,920 --> 01:35:30,120
Like why are you just making
boring panels that are like 4 by

1554
01:35:30,120 --> 01:35:32,320
4?
We want creative stuff, we want

1555
01:35:32,360 --> 01:35:35,560
different shapes, we want
brighter, we want lighter, more

1556
01:35:35,560 --> 01:35:37,800
expensive.
Why is the projector it's only

1557
01:35:37,800 --> 01:35:40,720
3030 thousand?
Absolutely.

1558
01:35:40,840 --> 01:35:43,400
We can't work with that.
And it's like need to bump it up

1559
01:35:43,400 --> 01:35:47,160
to 60 at least.
And it's like, and, you know,

1560
01:35:47,360 --> 01:35:50,600
since I was one of them saying
all this, I also know they were

1561
01:35:50,600 --> 01:35:53,800
absolutely terrified.
I was like, what is this?

1562
01:35:54,120 --> 01:35:56,280
Who are these crazy guys?
Yeah.

1563
01:35:56,280 --> 01:35:59,800
Like can we please go back to do
corporate events for doctors?

1564
01:36:00,400 --> 01:36:03,000
Yeah, that's hilarious.
Yeah.

1565
01:36:03,480 --> 01:36:08,080
So were there any unique
challenges this year?

1566
01:36:08,080 --> 01:36:11,200
Like I know you said everything
performed well and all the gear

1567
01:36:11,200 --> 01:36:14,200
worked great and all of that
stuff, but were there any like

1568
01:36:14,200 --> 01:36:17,720
really unique challenges that
were like, oh shit moments?

1569
01:36:17,720 --> 01:36:26,000
Yeah, yeah, many actually.
One, the first one was when we

1570
01:36:26,000 --> 01:36:32,440
start to realize everything that
happens when you move the stage

1571
01:36:32,440 --> 01:36:37,640
out from the back wall and go
into more in center into the

1572
01:36:37,640 --> 01:36:40,600
arena.
Because, you know, where do you

1573
01:36:40,600 --> 01:36:43,720
find the weakest beams?
In beams in any arena?

1574
01:36:44,240 --> 01:36:46,040
It's in the center.
Yeah, in the center, of course.

1575
01:36:46,240 --> 01:36:49,720
Yeah, that that, you know, the
heavy duty beams are in the back

1576
01:36:49,720 --> 01:36:51,400
where you usually put your
stage.

1577
01:36:53,000 --> 01:36:58,960
And all of a sudden we had five
LED cubes weighing around 3 tons

1578
01:36:58,960 --> 01:37:02,520
each suspended off the two
weakest points.

1579
01:37:02,880 --> 01:37:05,720
There were two weakest beams in
the in the arena.

1580
01:37:06,280 --> 01:37:11,160
So a lot of super trusts to
distribute, distribute the

1581
01:37:11,160 --> 01:37:16,840
weight away from there.
Then we and I mean, we had a rig

1582
01:37:16,880 --> 01:37:24,440
of 210 tons.
We had a hundred and let's see

1583
01:37:24,440 --> 01:37:34,000
here 100 and we had 199 C one
breaking points.

1584
01:37:34,000 --> 01:37:39,040
Jesus.
So it's it's a new world record

1585
01:37:39,040 --> 01:37:42,760
with what amount of cyber hoists
used in a in a show.

1586
01:37:42,840 --> 01:37:46,360
So China and your new year show
with 150.

1587
01:37:47,000 --> 01:37:55,920
I say, but, but you know the,
the dynamic loads of that adding

1588
01:37:55,920 --> 01:38:02,240
stress to to that ceiling, which
I mean we were already 50 tons

1589
01:38:02,240 --> 01:38:05,360
heavier than anything that had
ever gone into that arena.

1590
01:38:05,920 --> 01:38:10,200
And then we then we had almost
200 points where it has factor

1591
01:38:10,200 --> 01:38:14,120
1.8 because of the dynamics.
So you probably had a pretty big

1592
01:38:14,120 --> 01:38:17,440
engineering crew in there
looking at just safety and

1593
01:38:17,680 --> 01:38:18,360
anything else.
Yeah.

1594
01:38:18,640 --> 01:38:22,960
We were, we were in, we it's a
Finnish company who built the

1595
01:38:22,960 --> 01:38:26,080
venue.
So, so we kept, we kept our

1596
01:38:26,080 --> 01:38:30,480
engineers very, very busy for
many weeks before we finally got

1597
01:38:30,520 --> 01:38:34,920
a sign off.
But while we're doing that and

1598
01:38:34,920 --> 01:38:39,080
we started to look at the 3D
model, we discovered that, well,

1599
01:38:39,080 --> 01:38:44,520
hang on all all those tech areas
that you have traditionally

1600
01:38:44,520 --> 01:38:47,440
stage right and left, you have
automation, you have camera

1601
01:38:47,440 --> 01:38:51,040
control, you have monitor, you
have pyro, all that stuff.

1602
01:38:52,120 --> 01:38:56,360
All of a sudden those all those
positions were center background

1603
01:38:56,360 --> 01:38:59,960
in all your diagonal shots
because you moved the states so

1604
01:38:59,960 --> 01:39:06,000
far out.
So then comes the fun exercise

1605
01:39:06,000 --> 01:39:08,000
to find the new home for all
these people.

1606
01:39:09,080 --> 01:39:13,360
It's a lot of people that needs
to move to somewhere where they

1607
01:39:13,360 --> 01:39:19,200
still have a clear sight of what
they're operating with in terms

1608
01:39:19,200 --> 01:39:25,160
of two day cameras and drop cams
and you know, yeah, all that

1609
01:39:25,160 --> 01:39:31,040
stuff.
So that I was a major, major

1610
01:39:31,040 --> 01:39:33,400
undertaking.
And then once we came into the

1611
01:39:33,400 --> 01:39:38,840
arena and start to look at this
in camera, you realize that all

1612
01:39:38,840 --> 01:39:43,760
of a sudden you have a lot of
ugly bits and pieces of arena in

1613
01:39:43,760 --> 01:39:48,360
a lot of shots because, you
know, the, the frontal shots

1614
01:39:48,360 --> 01:39:53,720
were the diagonal shots were
more than the frontal shots this

1615
01:39:53,720 --> 01:39:56,480
year.
So, so it was produced in a

1616
01:39:56,480 --> 01:40:00,680
completely different way than
that we that you historically

1617
01:40:00,720 --> 01:40:04,480
produce ATV show.
So, you know, and less

1618
01:40:04,480 --> 01:40:07,080
blackouts.
It depends.

1619
01:40:07,080 --> 01:40:11,120
Like there was rolls of black
mold on arriving to the to the

1620
01:40:11,120 --> 01:40:14,320
venue on a daily basis at one
point because he was, he was

1621
01:40:14,320 --> 01:40:19,680
just like, because we saw things
in camera that we've never seen

1622
01:40:19,680 --> 01:40:22,640
before and and it wasn't pretty.
So.

1623
01:40:22,960 --> 01:40:25,760
So that was that was a big
challenge, yeah.

1624
01:40:26,800 --> 01:40:35,720
We thought that it would be very
hard for our artists to master

1625
01:40:35,720 --> 01:40:38,760
this environment.
Be in the round you mean?

1626
01:40:39,120 --> 01:40:41,880
Yeah, because if you think about
it, even on a professional

1627
01:40:41,880 --> 01:40:46,320
level, it takes a special X
Factor to perform in the round.

1628
01:40:46,320 --> 01:40:48,840
There's there's a lot of
professional artists that.

1629
01:40:49,760 --> 01:40:51,240
Just a struggle.
Don't do it well.

1630
01:40:52,880 --> 01:40:57,480
So we reached out to all the
delegations fairly early on in

1631
01:40:57,480 --> 01:41:02,480
already in December, presenting
the stage for them and asking

1632
01:41:02,480 --> 01:41:08,240
them is like, keep this in mind
when you when you start

1633
01:41:08,240 --> 01:41:12,080
producing your number and in
some cases actually when you

1634
01:41:12,080 --> 01:41:16,520
choose your artist, because some
some countries just they just

1635
01:41:16,520 --> 01:41:19,200
decide, OK, this is the artist
that's going to represent us

1636
01:41:19,200 --> 01:41:21,360
this year.
And here's the song off you get

1637
01:41:22,200 --> 01:41:25,600
while Sweden does it in the most
elaborate way.

1638
01:41:25,600 --> 01:41:28,600
You did.
It's a six week tour around

1639
01:41:28,600 --> 01:41:31,000
Sweden to choose who's going to
represent.

1640
01:41:31,360 --> 01:41:32,760
Really.
Yeah.

1641
01:41:33,400 --> 01:41:37,000
And and it's actually the most
watched show on Swedish

1642
01:41:37,000 --> 01:41:43,120
television every year, even more
than the Donald Duck Christmas

1643
01:41:43,120 --> 01:41:48,160
special on Christmas Eve.
More than the ABBA Easter show

1644
01:41:48,160 --> 01:41:49,480
or something?
Yes, yes.

1645
01:41:49,480 --> 01:41:53,000
Yeah, more than all of it.
More than the hockey Olympics

1646
01:41:53,240 --> 01:41:54,880
when Canada is beating you
again.

1647
01:41:55,680 --> 01:41:59,480
No, we stopped watching hockey.
We we're waiting for the new

1648
01:41:59,480 --> 01:42:02,800
generation to to show.
I understand, I understand.

1649
01:42:04,480 --> 01:42:06,720
No, I mean, it's wild how big
this thing has become.

1650
01:42:06,720 --> 01:42:11,280
It's just, it's incredible.
And it never seems to stop.

1651
01:42:11,720 --> 01:42:13,960
Like it just seems to keep
getting bigger.

1652
01:42:14,480 --> 01:42:18,280
And the and The thing is also,
you know, I and I take full

1653
01:42:18,280 --> 01:42:26,040
blame when I'm involved.
I I always like, I always want

1654
01:42:26,040 --> 01:42:30,600
us to achieve those moments.
Well, I want my crazies to

1655
01:42:30,600 --> 01:42:32,640
achieve those moments when the
organs go.

1656
01:42:32,960 --> 01:42:39,720
How the fuck did they do that?
Because when you reach to that

1657
01:42:39,720 --> 01:42:44,760
point, you succeeded because
it's pushing borders pushing.

1658
01:42:44,760 --> 01:42:52,240
And this year we were pushing
more than ever, more than ever

1659
01:42:52,480 --> 01:42:55,840
on every level.
And it was so funny when when

1660
01:42:56,000 --> 01:43:04,280
when the set aside from Florian
was was was decided or chosen.

1661
01:43:05,280 --> 01:43:07,920
He says like finally.
And it's like, what do you mean?

1662
01:43:07,960 --> 01:43:14,120
Well, I had this idea for years,
but I had to save it for Sweden

1663
01:43:14,160 --> 01:43:17,240
because Sweden would be there in
the country and that would be

1664
01:43:17,240 --> 01:43:21,000
brave enough to do it because we
have a long, there is a long

1665
01:43:21,000 --> 01:43:24,080
Eurovision production history in
this.

1666
01:43:24,080 --> 01:43:25,600
There is a bunch of us that's
done.

1667
01:43:25,920 --> 01:43:28,600
I mean, I've done 16
Eurovisions, four of them in

1668
01:43:28,600 --> 01:43:30,760
Sweden and 12 of them somewhere
else.

1669
01:43:32,520 --> 01:43:39,160
And there is a, there is a very
solid knowledge of how to

1670
01:43:39,160 --> 01:43:43,440
produce TV, how to make good TV,
What is good TV, What is the

1671
01:43:43,520 --> 01:43:46,080
definition of that?
Produce big shows because of our

1672
01:43:46,080 --> 01:43:51,160
massive and music export and all
our big artists, but also the

1673
01:43:51,160 --> 01:43:55,720
fact that, you know, we this is
the third time the Swedish

1674
01:43:55,720 --> 01:43:58,480
television produced Eurovision
since 2013.

1675
01:43:59,800 --> 01:44:02,840
Most countries have not in
Eurovision has not won three

1676
01:44:02,840 --> 01:44:09,800
times Even so.
So there is we're very relaxed

1677
01:44:09,800 --> 01:44:13,920
in front of the challenge and
it's more like how can we out to

1678
01:44:14,280 --> 01:44:18,680
what we did last time?
That's what drives everyone in

1679
01:44:18,680 --> 01:44:20,680
the creative team.
And it's just for me, it's just

1680
01:44:20,680 --> 01:44:24,360
to try to to to keep the pace
with them.

1681
01:44:25,400 --> 01:44:29,800
Because the the combo of Florin
Vader, Frederick Stormby and our

1682
01:44:29,800 --> 01:44:33,240
multi camera director, the
senior multi camera director

1683
01:44:33,240 --> 01:44:38,360
Robin Hood founder was it it was
turbo speed but but you.

1684
01:44:38,360 --> 01:44:40,920
Change up.
You change up the key people.

1685
01:44:42,440 --> 01:44:46,560
Is it every year or like do you
have a different lighting?

1686
01:44:46,600 --> 01:44:49,120
I think you have a different
lighting designer every year

1687
01:44:49,120 --> 01:44:51,840
and.
Yeah, there's, you know what I

1688
01:44:51,840 --> 01:44:54,040
mean, They're all returning at
some point.

1689
01:44:55,080 --> 01:44:57,720
Well, I mean, I've done
Eurovision with, let's see here

1690
01:44:57,720 --> 01:45:07,280
123457 or 8:00 or 910 different
lighting designers.

1691
01:45:07,480 --> 01:45:11,400
Right.
Well, it takes a pretty special

1692
01:45:11,400 --> 01:45:14,880
person to bring into that
environment too, because I mean,

1693
01:45:14,880 --> 01:45:17,840
not everybody can design A show
with a couple thousand moving

1694
01:45:17,840 --> 01:45:23,120
lights, you know, in and that
much just stuff going on like

1695
01:45:23,120 --> 01:45:25,160
just.
And also, you know, how you

1696
01:45:25,160 --> 01:45:27,720
build a structure around it, how
you build?

1697
01:45:28,080 --> 01:45:30,400
Yeah.
How do you it's all down to how

1698
01:45:30,400 --> 01:45:34,120
you build your show files and
what you name stuff it it it's

1699
01:45:34,240 --> 01:45:37,880
like it's because it's it's
growing.

1700
01:45:38,280 --> 01:45:41,200
And this year another world
record we did this year was

1701
01:45:41,280 --> 01:45:46,680
obviously the show file.
It's 1.2 gigabytes Mama free

1702
01:45:46,680 --> 01:45:52,520
show file.
Our whole system, our MA network

1703
01:45:52,520 --> 01:45:55,160
was the biggest one ever.
It's actually twice as big as

1704
01:45:55,160 --> 01:45:59,240
the second biggest one, which I
should know which one that is,

1705
01:45:59,240 --> 01:46:03,960
but I don't.
And you know, protocol,

1706
01:46:03,960 --> 01:46:10,160
protocol, protocol for the
operators is like don't do this

1707
01:46:11,640 --> 01:46:13,760
because they were all in the
same lighting, was all in the

1708
01:46:13,760 --> 01:46:17,080
same session, right?
So, so you have to be.

1709
01:46:17,080 --> 01:46:20,880
If you do, if you hit one wrong
button, the whole system goes

1710
01:46:20,880 --> 01:46:25,120
down.
It's like there is there's an

1711
01:46:25,120 --> 01:46:28,320
incident.
Oh yeah, an incident.

1712
01:46:28,480 --> 01:46:30,560
Excuse me.
We need to have a conversation.

1713
01:46:31,200 --> 01:46:33,680
Yeah, yeah.
MA didn't like when we said the

1714
01:46:33,680 --> 01:46:36,080
system crashed.
It was like, no, it this is

1715
01:46:36,080 --> 01:46:38,920
actually not a system crash.
This is just an incident.

1716
01:46:39,120 --> 01:46:42,160
That's like, OK.
OK, well you can call it

1717
01:46:42,160 --> 01:46:43,680
whatever you want, but fix it
please.

1718
01:46:44,320 --> 01:46:50,040
Shit doesn't work and you know
we had 24/7 on site support from

1719
01:46:50,040 --> 01:46:51,560
MA.
Of course.

1720
01:46:51,560 --> 01:46:55,080
I mean, when you're the biggest
system that's ever been used, I

1721
01:46:55,080 --> 01:46:57,080
mean, obviously they want to
have people there.

1722
01:46:57,440 --> 01:47:01,000
And we, we all learned a lot,
but both them and us, because we

1723
01:47:01,000 --> 01:47:04,440
were in our unchartered waters
and it was like it was so much

1724
01:47:04,440 --> 01:47:08,080
bigger than anything that had
been done before.

1725
01:47:08,080 --> 01:47:10,600
I assume it was all MA 3, right?
Yeah.

1726
01:47:10,960 --> 01:47:15,520
Yeah.
How does the creative process

1727
01:47:15,520 --> 01:47:19,640
work with regard to the
collaboration between your team

1728
01:47:19,640 --> 01:47:22,960
and the delegate team or
delegation team?

1729
01:47:23,960 --> 01:47:27,840
So like in a festival for
example, you have a whole bunch

1730
01:47:27,840 --> 01:47:30,680
of artists and then you have the
main designer for the entire

1731
01:47:30,680 --> 01:47:34,520
festival.
And then if the bigger artists,

1732
01:47:34,520 --> 01:47:37,800
their designer will get to
collaborate with the the main

1733
01:47:37,800 --> 01:47:40,880
designer and they get to change
some things, add a few fixtures,

1734
01:47:40,880 --> 01:47:42,840
whatever it is.
But how does it work with you

1735
01:47:42,840 --> 01:47:48,840
guys?
All, all countries that

1736
01:47:48,840 --> 01:47:53,760
participate are Co producers to
the show simply because they're

1737
01:47:53,760 --> 01:47:58,480
participating members of the EU
European Broadcasting Unit.

1738
01:47:58,840 --> 01:48:05,520
So we have to respect their 3
minutes that they own.

1739
01:48:07,080 --> 01:48:10,000
We really have to respect and
listen to them about that.

1740
01:48:10,000 --> 01:48:12,920
And what we do is like we send
out a lot of templates for them

1741
01:48:12,920 --> 01:48:15,880
to fill in.
We want to look and feel

1742
01:48:15,880 --> 01:48:18,040
document where they write down
the song.

1743
01:48:18,040 --> 01:48:22,440
It was like what is the intro?
What is the first verse?

1744
01:48:22,440 --> 01:48:27,240
What is the first chorus?
And you know, support that with

1745
01:48:27,280 --> 01:48:30,760
images, what they see in terms
of mood and lighting and and

1746
01:48:31,680 --> 01:48:34,440
what not.
We allow them to bring their own

1747
01:48:34,680 --> 01:48:38,120
video content.
We allow them to bring their own

1748
01:48:38,120 --> 01:48:42,680
overlays.
But not the lighting director or

1749
01:48:42,680 --> 01:48:44,600
front house engineer or
anything, right?

1750
01:48:45,040 --> 01:48:46,960
Yeah, we.
It's our show.

1751
01:48:47,120 --> 01:48:52,760
So we, we do allow them to do
live edit scripts and send to

1752
01:48:52,760 --> 01:48:57,880
the director as suggestions.
And we all, we, we only use this

1753
01:48:57,880 --> 01:49:01,600
as really, really valuable
feedback because in many senses

1754
01:49:01,600 --> 01:49:08,840
they do our job for us.
And, you know, our content

1755
01:49:08,840 --> 01:49:14,840
department maybe has 48 hours to
spend on on, on three minutes of

1756
01:49:14,840 --> 01:49:20,200
music if we are to produce the
content, which is a service that

1757
01:49:20,200 --> 01:49:23,880
we offer for free, but it's,
it's limited to 48 hours.

1758
01:49:25,560 --> 01:49:28,840
If they produce it themselves,
you know, they can spend months

1759
01:49:29,800 --> 01:49:32,600
on it.
So, you know, obviously that

1760
01:49:32,600 --> 01:49:35,360
would be better.
Then again, there is not all

1761
01:49:35,360 --> 01:49:38,640
countries that are interested or
can afford to do that.

1762
01:49:39,040 --> 01:49:42,440
So, so we offer that service.
It's it's on the House.

1763
01:49:43,600 --> 01:49:46,640
But do you ever have the do you
ever have a situation where you

1764
01:49:46,640 --> 01:49:54,080
know, either an artist or a, you
know, a delegate or, you know, a

1765
01:49:54,080 --> 01:49:57,640
freaking president of a country
comes to you and says you fucked

1766
01:49:57,640 --> 01:50:01,320
up our show and you know it's
your fault that we didn't win

1767
01:50:01,320 --> 01:50:02,960
this year?
Like, do you ever have those

1768
01:50:02,960 --> 01:50:04,720
conversations?
It has.

1769
01:50:05,000 --> 01:50:11,320
It has never happened.
In the end, it happens during

1770
01:50:11,320 --> 01:50:13,520
the journey.
Yeah, sometimes.

1771
01:50:13,760 --> 01:50:16,200
Yeah.
There are some nationalities to

1772
01:50:16,200 --> 01:50:20,560
choose to express their feelings
a bit more violent than others.

1773
01:50:21,080 --> 01:50:24,720
Yeah.
Not, not everyone are as subtle

1774
01:50:24,720 --> 01:50:27,440
as Scandinavians.
Yeah, of course.

1775
01:50:27,440 --> 01:50:29,840
And it's funny to.
It's funny when you realize that

1776
01:50:29,840 --> 01:50:33,640
we used to be Vikings when we.
We're still biking.

1777
01:50:33,760 --> 01:50:35,320
You still are.
I was going to say we, we.

1778
01:50:35,720 --> 01:50:37,760
We, we, we don't express
ourselves that way.

1779
01:50:37,760 --> 01:50:40,200
You just ride.
Volvos instead of sailboats now.

1780
01:50:40,680 --> 01:50:43,760
Hey, I drive a Dodge Ram
America.

1781
01:50:44,400 --> 01:50:48,080
Yeah, that that apparently that
increased my freedom.

1782
01:50:48,960 --> 01:50:50,680
Yeah, of course it.
Does I saw that on a commercial?

1783
01:50:50,880 --> 01:50:52,560
Yeah, yeah, you're much freer
now.

1784
01:50:52,800 --> 01:50:55,120
And smoke Marlboro, you'll be
even more free.

1785
01:50:55,520 --> 01:50:58,080
Yeah, so much free, but we have
a contest.

1786
01:50:58,120 --> 01:51:02,440
We have a contest producer and
him and his team is in constant

1787
01:51:02,440 --> 01:51:08,120
contact with the delegations
from early January when songs

1788
01:51:08,120 --> 01:51:10,760
are starting to be selected and
there's something to talk about.

1789
01:51:10,760 --> 01:51:13,360
And they talk about the
performance and they talk about,

1790
01:51:13,360 --> 01:51:18,560
you know, how how to stage it,
props, additional lighting,

1791
01:51:18,640 --> 01:51:21,760
lasers, pyro, all that stuff.
Well, I mean.

1792
01:51:21,760 --> 01:51:23,920
In one sense, how can these
people complain?

1793
01:51:23,920 --> 01:51:26,760
Because they've never stood
under a rig like this before in

1794
01:51:26,760 --> 01:51:29,720
their lives.
So like, how could they possibly

1795
01:51:29,720 --> 01:51:31,320
complain?
It's not good enough.

1796
01:51:31,920 --> 01:51:35,960
And it's it's so funny because
in 2016, we had Justin

1797
01:51:35,960 --> 01:51:39,120
Timberlake as a guest star.
Oh wow.

1798
01:51:39,760 --> 01:51:42,400
And when he walked in, was he
sober?

1799
01:51:43,800 --> 01:51:45,680
Oh yeah.
'Cause you know, apparently he's

1800
01:51:45,680 --> 01:51:47,520
got a drinking problem now or
something.

1801
01:51:47,520 --> 01:51:50,480
So.
I didn't know that he got busted

1802
01:51:50,480 --> 01:51:53,040
for.
A busted for a DUI like last

1803
01:51:53,040 --> 01:51:55,520
week or something?
Oh shit, that's bad jokes.

1804
01:51:56,200 --> 01:52:00,440
Yeah, I didn't know that, but
but now I know we spend $3000 in

1805
01:52:00,480 --> 01:52:05,200
flying in diet.
What's sugar free?

1806
01:52:05,200 --> 01:52:11,040
No caffeine free Diet Coke to
his pressing room because that's

1807
01:52:11,040 --> 01:52:12,840
a product that doesn't exist in
Sweden.

1808
01:52:13,400 --> 01:52:17,120
When we it was like, what's the
point of not having cuffing?

1809
01:52:17,120 --> 01:52:18,880
What's wrong with you?
Everything.

1810
01:52:19,200 --> 01:52:22,000
Everything that is supposed to
have cuffing in it has cuffing

1811
01:52:22,000 --> 01:52:23,440
in it.
Well, I remember when I used to

1812
01:52:23,440 --> 01:52:26,760
go to Europe and try to get Diet
Coke and they'd say what, you

1813
01:52:26,920 --> 01:52:28,720
know, we're doing that we have
Coke.

1814
01:52:29,480 --> 01:52:31,120
And then they started with Coca
Light.

1815
01:52:31,680 --> 01:52:34,120
Coca Light.
The funny thing is that the

1816
01:52:34,120 --> 01:52:37,520
table is turned out because try
to go into any restaurant and

1817
01:52:37,520 --> 01:52:41,920
get a Coke 0.
In America you get Diet Coke but

1818
01:52:42,000 --> 01:52:43,920
not Coke Zero.
I see what you're saying.

1819
01:52:44,040 --> 01:52:47,000
Come on.
Yeah, yeah, Coke 0 tastes so

1820
01:52:47,000 --> 01:52:49,840
much better than Diet Coke.
So much better, yeah.

1821
01:52:49,840 --> 01:52:52,880
So I mean, they're both killing
you, but it tastes better, at

1822
01:52:52,880 --> 01:52:54,560
least while it's.
Getting you at least you're

1823
01:52:54,560 --> 01:52:56,000
enjoying.
It Yeah, at least you're

1824
01:52:56,000 --> 01:52:58,360
enjoying death.
It's like a good cigar.

1825
01:52:58,600 --> 01:53:00,760
Yeah, exactly.
Exactly.

1826
01:53:01,240 --> 01:53:05,440
But, but we're, we're very, very
active with, with the do's and

1827
01:53:05,440 --> 01:53:09,240
don'ts of the delegations and,
and try to support them and

1828
01:53:09,240 --> 01:53:13,960
encourage them to do, you know,
do stuff outside of the box.

1829
01:53:15,600 --> 01:53:19,560
And, and then of course, it
comes with a bunch of rules and

1830
01:53:19,560 --> 01:53:21,920
guidelines of what you can and
what you can't do.

1831
01:53:23,760 --> 01:53:27,880
They're free to to build and
bring their own own props.

1832
01:53:28,840 --> 01:53:33,400
Anything with a cable attached
to it comes from us because we

1833
01:53:33,400 --> 01:53:36,960
don't, we don't allow any alien
technology into our system.

1834
01:53:37,480 --> 01:53:42,480
So if there was extra lights or,
or whatever, it comes from our

1835
01:53:42,480 --> 01:53:47,080
suppliers, not them.
So.

1836
01:53:47,080 --> 01:53:48,920
'Cause otherwise the suppliers
go on.

1837
01:53:49,040 --> 01:53:51,160
They brought in these light
fixtures and that messed

1838
01:53:51,160 --> 01:53:52,680
everything up.
It wasn't our fault.

1839
01:53:52,680 --> 01:53:54,840
Everybody's pointing fingers
this way, right?

1840
01:53:55,040 --> 01:53:58,680
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So, so and also we need to

1841
01:53:58,680 --> 01:54:00,200
ensure that stuff is good
enough.

1842
01:54:00,200 --> 01:54:03,640
Of course.
Yeah, I, I did one year relation

1843
01:54:03,640 --> 01:54:06,640
in in Germany where I was the
concert producers.

1844
01:54:06,640 --> 01:54:11,960
I was not part of production.
And I think it was Russia that

1845
01:54:11,960 --> 01:54:15,960
showed up with some homemade LED
screens that someone has sorted

1846
01:54:15,960 --> 01:54:18,720
together in a kitchen in Kiev,
Ukraine.

1847
01:54:19,560 --> 01:54:25,120
And, and it was just the biggest
piece of shit one have ever seen

1848
01:54:25,280 --> 01:54:28,840
on the television screen.
And, and I was just like, what

1849
01:54:28,840 --> 01:54:31,200
is this?
Oh, it's like they want to know

1850
01:54:31,280 --> 01:54:33,400
the difference.
Like why aren't we supplying

1851
01:54:33,400 --> 01:54:34,720
that?
Oh, but they said they had

1852
01:54:34,720 --> 01:54:38,160
really good stuff.
Yuck.

1853
01:54:39,120 --> 01:54:40,000
No thank you.
Yeah.

1854
01:54:40,760 --> 01:54:43,000
No, thank you.
Yeah, well, I mean, you got to

1855
01:54:43,000 --> 01:54:46,840
control from top to bottom.
I mean, it just doesn't make any

1856
01:54:46,840 --> 01:54:48,040
sense to let someone.
Die.

1857
01:54:48,840 --> 01:54:51,880
It's OK to look like an idiot if
it's by your own duty.

1858
01:54:52,200 --> 01:54:53,440
Yeah, right.
Someone else.

1859
01:54:53,800 --> 01:54:55,240
Someone else does it because.
It's like.

1860
01:54:55,360 --> 01:54:57,160
They need to die.
They die.

1861
01:54:58,440 --> 01:55:01,440
One of the last things I really
wanted to ask you about the, the

1862
01:55:01,600 --> 01:55:04,200
something that I really enjoyed
this year, I didn't know it

1863
01:55:04,200 --> 01:55:08,440
existed prior, but I know you,
you brag that you're one of the,

1864
01:55:08,880 --> 01:55:12,160
the, you were a Blogger before
blogging was a thing.

1865
01:55:12,520 --> 01:55:17,560
And so this year I just caught
on to your Eurovision diary, I

1866
01:55:17,560 --> 01:55:22,320
think on Instagram probably.
And I really enjoyed it.

1867
01:55:22,320 --> 01:55:25,040
Like I loved you were posting
video updates.

1868
01:55:25,040 --> 01:55:29,400
I don't know if it was daily or
weekly or whatever, but I really

1869
01:55:29,400 --> 01:55:31,960
enjoyed that.
So how did that all come about?

1870
01:55:32,760 --> 01:55:37,760
Well, it, it started in 2002
when I decided, because that was

1871
01:55:38,000 --> 01:55:41,120
my first Eurovision was in
Sweden, here in Stockholm, 2000.

1872
01:55:41,480 --> 01:55:45,040
And in 2002 I took a whole pile
of people and we went to

1873
01:55:45,040 --> 01:55:49,320
Estonia, to Tallinn to produce
Eurovision that year.

1874
01:55:49,680 --> 01:55:54,720
And, you know, Estonia was a
brand new country.

1875
01:55:54,920 --> 01:55:57,520
It was like a couple of years
earlier.

1876
01:55:57,520 --> 01:56:01,600
That was USSR, that one really.
I didn't know that Tallinn was

1877
01:56:01,600 --> 01:56:04,200
actually the closest capital to
Stockholm.

1878
01:56:05,520 --> 01:56:08,800
It it it's, you know, it's right
on the other side of the pond

1879
01:56:08,800 --> 01:56:10,640
from Stockholm.
So it's very close, right.

1880
01:56:10,640 --> 01:56:14,720
But knew very little about it
because it'd been an Iron

1881
01:56:14,720 --> 01:56:19,160
Curtain for so long.
And, you know, I had a big crew

1882
01:56:19,320 --> 01:56:22,520
and, and I started to do the
Diaries.

1883
01:56:22,960 --> 01:56:27,280
And the reason why I did it was
that friends, family, loved ones

1884
01:56:27,280 --> 01:56:33,600
of my crew could, you know, stay
in touch virtually with their

1885
01:56:33,600 --> 01:56:39,240
loved ones that was away on this
big adventure in Estonia.

1886
01:56:40,320 --> 01:56:45,840
And it was written in Swedish.
And it was, you know, every day

1887
01:56:45,840 --> 01:56:50,800
I took a couple of pictures and
and uploaded them on a web page

1888
01:56:50,800 --> 01:56:53,680
hosted.
It was on the I used to work for

1889
01:56:53,680 --> 01:56:57,000
Spectra then technologies back
then, which was lighting rental

1890
01:56:57,000 --> 01:56:58,520
company.
So it was posted on their web

1891
01:56:58,520 --> 01:57:02,120
page and high end was a partner
that year.

1892
01:57:02,120 --> 01:57:06,400
We had the catalyst and we had
the Xbox.

1893
01:57:06,760 --> 01:57:09,520
I'm afraid we had yes, yeah,
there was definitely.

1894
01:57:09,600 --> 01:57:11,280
Yeah, there was definitely.
Yeah, yeah.

1895
01:57:12,040 --> 01:57:15,200
Aren't you all.
And every time, every time I

1896
01:57:15,320 --> 01:57:17,000
bring.
The biggest light ever, but no

1897
01:57:17,240 --> 01:57:21,040
output.
And every time I mentioned it

1898
01:57:21,200 --> 01:57:25,320
this in Austin, Richard gives
like that was not my fucking

1899
01:57:25,320 --> 01:57:28,920
feature.
It's funny because I had that

1900
01:57:28,920 --> 01:57:32,280
conversation with Richard, like
last week where we were talking.

1901
01:57:32,520 --> 01:57:36,800
I was trying to get Richard to
admit that some of the things

1902
01:57:36,800 --> 01:57:41,320
that he developed were shit and
it's so hard to get him to do.

1903
01:57:41,680 --> 01:57:43,680
You know it's.
Really, really hard to get.

1904
01:57:43,680 --> 01:57:48,280
Him to do but you know he he has
papers on that when the Xbox was

1905
01:57:48,280 --> 01:57:53,000
was he was temporarily fired or
or on leave from high end when

1906
01:57:53,000 --> 01:57:58,680
during the Xbox area.
So so so yeah but but it was

1907
01:57:58,720 --> 01:58:07,040
after so in the end of that
production Bill Morris reached

1908
01:58:07,040 --> 01:58:11,600
out to me the former vice
president of high end.

1909
01:58:13,320 --> 01:58:18,880
It's like, hey, we absolutely
loved the blog you did, or the

1910
01:58:18,880 --> 01:58:22,080
diary, because actually blog was
not invented.

1911
01:58:22,400 --> 01:58:25,040
Yeah, it wasn't.
Really. the IT wasn't a word.

1912
01:58:25,440 --> 01:58:28,480
It's like, And I was like, what?
Yeah.

1913
01:58:28,480 --> 01:58:31,400
But do you think you can do if
you ever do it again?

1914
01:58:31,400 --> 01:58:35,440
Can you do it in English?
And I was like, you were reading

1915
01:58:35,440 --> 01:58:37,920
that.
It's like everyone at the office

1916
01:58:38,480 --> 01:58:41,480
first thing in the morning, they
would go to Spectrum web page

1917
01:58:41,480 --> 01:58:44,320
to, to look.
And they were, I mean, better we

1918
01:58:44,320 --> 01:58:46,920
were just because this was
before Google translator.

1919
01:58:46,920 --> 01:58:50,680
So you were just looking at the
pictures and, and just see how

1920
01:58:50,720 --> 01:58:53,720
it all progressed into what
became a very beautiful show.

1921
01:58:56,280 --> 01:59:04,400
So from 2003 and onwards, it was
done in English and it was and

1922
01:59:04,400 --> 01:59:07,880
it always kept the same heart
and soul.

1923
01:59:07,880 --> 01:59:13,600
It was all about the crew.
Who are the people that is that

1924
01:59:13,600 --> 01:59:16,880
is doing the show, who are the
key people, but also who's the

1925
01:59:16,880 --> 01:59:20,440
catering lady and whatnot.
Because you know, you have to

1926
01:59:20,440 --> 01:59:22,880
feel confident for like six or
seven weeks.

1927
01:59:22,880 --> 01:59:29,600
So you can go into depth of, but
also over time it got more and

1928
01:59:29,600 --> 01:59:34,040
more diving deeper and deeper
into technical specifics because

1929
01:59:34,600 --> 01:59:38,240
apparently Internet is full of
techniques that just loves to

1930
01:59:38,240 --> 01:59:45,600
know how many screws a Gobo is
fixed within a Mac 2000 and

1931
01:59:45,600 --> 01:59:50,680
other interesting.
But it also became a really

1932
01:59:50,680 --> 01:59:56,800
great promotional tool for our
technical partners that was 100%

1933
01:59:56,800 --> 02:00:00,560
for free.
They had logos up there.

1934
02:00:00,560 --> 02:00:04,880
We went into depth of the
technical innovations we were

1935
02:00:04,880 --> 02:00:11,920
doing on that specific year.
So and then the last one I did

1936
02:00:11,920 --> 02:00:16,560
was in Tel Aviv 2019.
And I knew that would be my last

1937
02:00:16,560 --> 02:00:18,600
year vision because, hey, I was
going to Hollywood.

1938
02:00:18,600 --> 02:00:20,840
I'm going to be executive
producer of American Song

1939
02:00:20,840 --> 02:00:22,120
Contest.
Yeah, yeah, It's funny because

1940
02:00:22,120 --> 02:00:23,920
I.
Had you on I Had You on the

1941
02:00:23,920 --> 02:00:27,160
podcast in 2019.
Little did we know what we were

1942
02:00:27,480 --> 02:00:29,560
about to bump into.
Right.

1943
02:00:30,080 --> 02:00:34,520
I know, right.
And then, then, yeah, well,

1944
02:00:34,640 --> 02:00:36,880
that's that's temporarily on
hold.

1945
02:00:37,520 --> 02:00:42,640
We think we are super proud of
the product that we we gave NBC

1946
02:00:43,200 --> 02:00:45,560
were maybe not so impressed with
the way they handle that

1947
02:00:45,560 --> 02:00:51,240
product.
But I think, I think that that

1948
02:00:52,040 --> 02:00:57,600
it was it was a really, really,
really well produced TV show and

1949
02:00:57,600 --> 02:01:01,160
it was produced in a way that
has never been done on American

1950
02:01:01,360 --> 02:01:05,400
TV.
And it was live and, and that

1951
02:01:05,400 --> 02:01:07,400
was a really fun discussion with
NBC.

1952
02:01:07,400 --> 02:01:09,000
It was like when we have live
voting.

1953
02:01:09,000 --> 02:01:11,840
So how can the show not be live?
Oh.

1954
02:01:13,560 --> 02:01:20,480
Yeah, I could see that.
But but it was, it was, yeah, I

1955
02:01:20,480 --> 02:01:23,640
loved everything about that,
that that product.

1956
02:01:23,680 --> 02:01:26,720
We're very proud of it and it's
going to come back.

1957
02:01:28,080 --> 02:01:29,480
Well, timing was.
Miserable.

1958
02:01:29,480 --> 02:01:31,400
I mean, the timing couldn't have
been worse, you know?

1959
02:01:31,760 --> 02:01:35,320
Could be worse.
And, and what really what really

1960
02:01:35,320 --> 02:01:40,080
killed us was that at very late
stage, we had to postpone the

1961
02:01:40,080 --> 02:01:42,960
premier four weeks.
So we ended up on the same

1962
02:01:42,960 --> 02:01:48,040
opening weekend as Idol.
And ABC was kind enough to move

1963
02:01:48,040 --> 02:01:51,240
Idol from Sundays to Mondays to
go in direct competition with

1964
02:01:51,240 --> 02:01:54,080
us.
You can never, you can never win

1965
02:01:54,080 --> 02:01:56,280
that.
And that was 100% COVID because

1966
02:01:56,280 --> 02:02:01,600
we, and it was interesting
because we knew we had New York

1967
02:02:01,800 --> 02:02:05,560
as, as a test lab.
Whatever happened in New York,

1968
02:02:05,560 --> 02:02:08,360
we knew would hit the lake four
weeks later.

1969
02:02:09,360 --> 02:02:14,240
So, so it was kind of looking
into the future and and it was

1970
02:02:14,720 --> 02:02:19,680
an executive decision made to
give us a chance to have some

1971
02:02:19,680 --> 02:02:25,360
audience in in the studio, which
is, you know, super important to

1972
02:02:25,360 --> 02:02:27,560
the former, of course, live
audience.

1973
02:02:29,480 --> 02:02:33,080
So it was the right decision,
but it was also the wrong

1974
02:02:33,080 --> 02:02:36,160
decision.
But, you know, that's learned.

1975
02:02:36,600 --> 02:02:39,360
Yeah.
And and I I learned the hard way

1976
02:02:39,400 --> 02:02:43,200
that that pandemics is not the
the best of times to launch

1977
02:02:43,200 --> 02:02:45,520
anything new.
It's like stick to what you

1978
02:02:45,600 --> 02:02:46,760
know.
It's not easy.

1979
02:02:47,360 --> 02:02:50,480
It's definitely not unless you
were launching like, you know,

1980
02:02:50,480 --> 02:02:53,800
some online gaming system or
something, you know, or a

1981
02:02:53,800 --> 02:02:57,200
delivery service, you know, or
whatever.

1982
02:02:57,200 --> 02:02:59,720
But yeah.
Or just cashing in on my path

1983
02:02:59,720 --> 02:03:02,040
and on my OD floor that I never
happened but.

1984
02:03:02,040 --> 02:03:05,280
Right, exactly which would have
made you an instant 100 AIR.

1985
02:03:05,840 --> 02:03:10,480
I'm not here, but when I did it
in 2019, I was like, this is and

1986
02:03:10,480 --> 02:03:13,560
I said I think on the starting
page, welcome to the last

1987
02:03:13,560 --> 02:03:19,040
edition of Eurasian Diary ever.
Because it it just took too much

1988
02:03:19,040 --> 02:03:23,560
time out of the way.
And especially that year,

1989
02:03:23,560 --> 02:03:29,600
because up to that point, from
2007 to 2019, Joan was taking

1990
02:03:29,600 --> 02:03:32,680
all the pictures and resizing
them and publishing them.

1991
02:03:32,680 --> 02:03:35,080
And then I would write today's
story around the pictures.

1992
02:03:35,080 --> 02:03:37,880
But now I had to take the
pictures as well because John

1993
02:03:37,880 --> 02:03:41,800
wasn't there.
So it was, it was just like to

1994
02:03:41,840 --> 02:03:47,080
be of a burden.
So when I came back and, and the

1995
02:03:47,080 --> 02:03:51,040
SVT, the marketing department
really wanted me to do a diary.

1996
02:03:51,080 --> 02:03:57,360
And I was like, it's, it's so
2002 to do a diary or a blog.

1997
02:03:57,840 --> 02:04:01,800
So, but let me I'll do something
in the Instagram.

1998
02:04:01,800 --> 02:04:05,360
So that's how it started and and
oh boy, that took off.

1999
02:04:05,680 --> 02:04:08,200
Fantastic.
No, that's fantastic.

2000
02:04:08,200 --> 02:04:12,040
It's so and it's so easy to do.
Like the platforms make it so

2001
02:04:12,040 --> 02:04:16,200
easy now between YouTube or
Instagram or Facebook or any of

2002
02:04:16,200 --> 02:04:18,120
them, they make it so.
Easy.

2003
02:04:18,120 --> 02:04:22,200
I absolutely love that because,
you know, a picture says more

2004
02:04:22,200 --> 02:04:25,960
than 1000 words in a way, and a
video clip says even more.

2005
02:04:26,000 --> 02:04:30,800
Yeah, you know, there was
minimal effort to, to just, oh,

2006
02:04:30,800 --> 02:04:33,160
this is fun.
Oh, I bet people are interested

2007
02:04:33,160 --> 02:04:36,120
in that.
You shoot it, you do some stupid

2008
02:04:36,400 --> 02:04:41,360
narration to it, and then, then
you #Eurovision or, or the

2009
02:04:41,360 --> 02:04:43,440
manufacturer, whatever.
Post Well, it's done.

2010
02:04:43,480 --> 02:04:46,280
I'll I'll tell you one of the
cool things about this platform

2011
02:04:46,280 --> 02:04:48,440
that we're recording on right
now Riverside.

2012
02:04:48,440 --> 02:04:51,440
So you can do live stream, you
can do all of those same things,

2013
02:04:51,840 --> 02:04:56,400
but this one does the
transcript.

2014
02:04:56,400 --> 02:04:59,840
As soon as we're done recording,
it'll give us a transcript and

2015
02:04:59,840 --> 02:05:02,760
it'll give us all the timelines
of main events that happened

2016
02:05:02,760 --> 02:05:05,440
during our talk.
Like it does all of that stuff

2017
02:05:05,440 --> 02:05:08,760
automatically.
So immediately you have a full

2018
02:05:08,760 --> 02:05:11,280
transcript of our discussion
and.

2019
02:05:11,320 --> 02:05:15,080
If you managed to log in.
Wow, Yeah, you made that a

2020
02:05:15,080 --> 02:05:16,320
little difficult today.
Yeah, well.

2021
02:05:17,440 --> 02:05:20,320
You know, Swedes, Viking.
Site Swedes.

2022
02:05:20,600 --> 02:05:23,440
Yeah, Swedes.
Yeah, it's amazing the amount of

2023
02:05:23,440 --> 02:05:25,720
technology you use for this
show.

2024
02:05:25,840 --> 02:05:30,440
But try and come on a podcast,
you know, click this button,

2025
02:05:31,360 --> 02:05:34,880
select A microphone and video.
And he kept shutting himself

2026
02:05:34,880 --> 02:05:36,640
off.
And I'm like, what the heck is

2027
02:05:36,640 --> 02:05:40,200
going on here?
Yeah, it was like even after 20

2028
02:05:40,200 --> 02:05:43,040
minutes of support call, it was
like there was no success.

2029
02:05:43,040 --> 02:05:45,680
So I download that.
No success.

2030
02:05:45,680 --> 02:05:49,480
Any, any of you, future victims
for this kind of interviews,

2031
02:05:49,480 --> 02:05:52,680
download that.
That's the real deal.

2032
02:05:53,000 --> 02:05:55,880
I will tell you, you're the
first person who hasn't been

2033
02:05:55,880 --> 02:06:00,400
able to make it work on Chrome,
so you have some.

2034
02:06:00,440 --> 02:06:02,280
Special.
Settings in your computer.

2035
02:06:02,280 --> 02:06:07,280
Swedish special forces and
security police and all that has

2036
02:06:07,400 --> 02:06:10,000
been.
You're blocking, you're blocking

2037
02:06:10,000 --> 02:06:12,640
Canada, which is probably a good
thing right now, you know,

2038
02:06:12,640 --> 02:06:14,040
because I'm sitting in.
Canada.

2039
02:06:14,080 --> 02:06:16,640
So you're you're blocking
something on all the Swedish

2040
02:06:16,680 --> 02:06:17,720
computers because.
Yeah.

2041
02:06:17,720 --> 02:06:20,440
Block Canadian.
History with ice hockey yeah, I

2042
02:06:20,440 --> 02:06:21,560
get it I.
Understand.

2043
02:06:21,560 --> 02:06:23,960
Well, you're trying to steal our
secrets, and it's just not that

2044
02:06:23,960 --> 02:06:27,760
easy because you require skating
talent and shooting skills and

2045
02:06:27,760 --> 02:06:29,400
stuff like that, you know?
Yeah.

2046
02:06:29,400 --> 02:06:32,080
So it's a little bit tougher.
It's a little bit tougher.

2047
02:06:32,600 --> 02:06:35,160
Yeah.
Well, my friend, I've taken

2048
02:06:35,160 --> 02:06:37,680
enough of your time today and I
appreciate it so much.

2049
02:06:37,680 --> 02:06:43,080
It's been fun catching up again.
Likewise, it's been lovely, but

2050
02:06:43,080 --> 02:06:46,560
there is one there is one thing
that you promised you would ask

2051
02:06:46,560 --> 02:06:52,440
me and it was something, I can't
remember the exact wording, but

2052
02:06:52,440 --> 02:06:55,360
a fun memory or some crazy thing
that happened.

2053
02:06:56,440 --> 02:07:01,520
And I and I, I really, I have
something that I think is

2054
02:07:01,760 --> 02:07:07,480
extremely hilarious and it's
it's also a homage to the past

2055
02:07:07,480 --> 02:07:11,160
because I'm sure you know, do
you know the details of the

2056
02:07:11,160 --> 02:07:14,480
Brown M&M story I do with Van
Halen?

2057
02:07:14,840 --> 02:07:17,280
Yeah.
And it was put in there to make

2058
02:07:17,280 --> 02:07:19,440
sure that the promoter read
their was.

2059
02:07:19,440 --> 02:07:26,480
Reading the agreement, yeah.
Yeah, so I every year we write

2060
02:07:27,240 --> 02:07:31,320
guidelines, show guidelines for
and send out to all the

2061
02:07:31,320 --> 02:07:34,840
delegations.
And you know, it's, it's, you

2062
02:07:34,840 --> 02:07:38,720
know, basic info like the
duration of the song, the age of

2063
02:07:38,720 --> 02:07:43,000
the artist, the amount of
performers on stage, deadline

2064
02:07:43,000 --> 02:07:47,600
for music delivery, content,
content delivery, content of the

2065
02:07:47,600 --> 02:07:50,240
song, no political messages, all
that yada, yada.

2066
02:07:52,320 --> 02:07:55,560
Also technical, you know,
deadlines for delivery, some of

2067
02:07:55,560 --> 02:08:02,080
stems and LED hunt and whatnot.
And the very last paragraph

2068
02:08:03,080 --> 02:08:09,120
mentions what is not allowed on
stage and on this year's show

2069
02:08:09,120 --> 02:08:14,760
guidelines that was sent.
It's I trade them, I send them

2070
02:08:14,760 --> 02:08:17,920
to EBU, the European
Broadcasting Union, and they

2071
02:08:17,920 --> 02:08:20,560
post them on their intranet
where all the delegations

2072
02:08:20,560 --> 02:08:25,120
download them.
The very last, very last segment

2073
02:08:25,760 --> 02:08:31,680
it says not possible for any
delegations to use augmented

2074
02:08:31,680 --> 02:08:39,680
reality, green screen water or
any other liquids, sand, dust or

2075
02:08:39,680 --> 02:08:48,440
any form of powder, drones, live
animals, confetti or clowns.

2076
02:08:52,760 --> 02:08:59,560
I love that clowns.
And, and, and it actually was

2077
02:08:59,560 --> 02:09:02,240
only picked up by 1 delegation
really.

2078
02:09:02,240 --> 02:09:05,320
We, we, we were having a
creative meeting with the UK who

2079
02:09:05,320 --> 02:09:07,400
want to do something completely
out-of-the-box.

2080
02:09:07,400 --> 02:09:09,480
Oh, so you allow the UK into
Europe?

2081
02:09:11,120 --> 02:09:16,200
Yeah, well, the the Eurovision
Song Contest have contestants

2082
02:09:16,200 --> 02:09:23,000
from United Kingdom, Israel or
Romania, Australia.

2083
02:09:23,120 --> 02:09:28,800
There's it's a wide definition.
Were there any, were there any

2084
02:09:28,800 --> 02:09:33,040
political like blockages this
year like Russia obviously or

2085
02:09:33,040 --> 02:09:34,880
or?
Yeah, Russia.

2086
02:09:35,120 --> 02:09:36,880
Russia has been kicked out of
the EU.

2087
02:09:38,280 --> 02:09:46,360
That was that was some fuss
about Israel performing or being

2088
02:09:46,360 --> 02:09:53,080
in the contest.
We we never inside the

2089
02:09:53,080 --> 02:09:56,200
production bubble.
We never saw it besides the

2090
02:09:56,200 --> 02:09:58,680
during the live performance that
where there was some quite

2091
02:09:58,680 --> 02:10:03,200
substantial booing, which is
also like, come on, it's a 20

2092
02:10:03,200 --> 02:10:05,640
year old beautiful girl
performing a beautiful song.

2093
02:10:06,520 --> 02:10:10,200
She was like, this is not what
this show.

2094
02:10:10,200 --> 02:10:12,160
I mean it's.
Different if she's wearing AT

2095
02:10:12,160 --> 02:10:15,760
shirt that says fuck Palestine
or something, you know?

2096
02:10:15,760 --> 02:10:18,880
But but she's not like she's not
there to make a political

2097
02:10:18,880 --> 02:10:20,520
statement.
She's there to sing a song.

2098
02:10:20,960 --> 02:10:23,720
Exactly, And it was a great
performance.

2099
02:10:24,160 --> 02:10:27,480
I loved it, absolutely loved it.
And she was so talented, so

2100
02:10:27,480 --> 02:10:30,240
beautiful.
And it's just like, but, you

2101
02:10:30,280 --> 02:10:33,280
know, that's that's the world
we're living in today is called

2102
02:10:33,400 --> 02:10:36,000
haters.
And but it's also become like a

2103
02:10:36,000 --> 02:10:42,720
fashion almost to to to take
sides, you know?

2104
02:10:42,720 --> 02:10:47,040
Yeah, because of social media.
The the no clowns thing is

2105
02:10:47,040 --> 02:10:49,320
hilarious though.
Like were you doing it as a joke

2106
02:10:49,320 --> 02:10:51,800
or were you doing it for the
same reason Van Halen did to I

2107
02:10:51,960 --> 02:10:54,720
did it for?
Exactly the same reason as Halen

2108
02:10:54,720 --> 02:10:57,080
did it.
And the only ones who so we had

2109
02:10:57,080 --> 02:11:01,160
this long traded meeting with
the UK about because they, it

2110
02:11:01,160 --> 02:11:04,760
was a very complicated thing
they wanted to do and completely

2111
02:11:04,760 --> 02:11:07,600
out-of-the-box and something
that has never been done on your

2112
02:11:07,600 --> 02:11:11,720
issue stage before.
And, and, and we're like, okay,

2113
02:11:11,720 --> 02:11:16,800
well, yeah, but you have to
here's the, here's the size and

2114
02:11:16,800 --> 02:11:19,000
the weight of each part of the
prop.

2115
02:11:19,000 --> 02:11:21,560
And, you know, keep this in mind
and blah blah, blah.

2116
02:11:21,560 --> 02:11:26,000
And, and we actually made an
exception the, the video panels

2117
02:11:26,480 --> 02:11:28,760
that was used in their prop,
they delivered by themselves

2118
02:11:28,760 --> 02:11:33,920
because they had to be built
into the prop, but they gave us

2119
02:11:33,920 --> 02:11:37,760
the full and it was, I actually
think it was delivered by CT in

2120
02:11:37,760 --> 02:11:40,360
the UK.
So, so we're OK with that.

2121
02:11:42,040 --> 02:11:45,480
But in the end of this very long
meeting, it's like one of the

2122
02:11:45,480 --> 02:11:49,520
creative says that darling, oh,
I need to ask you something.

2123
02:11:49,520 --> 02:11:55,120
It's like, I don't plan to bring
any, but why aren't the clowns

2124
02:11:55,120 --> 02:11:58,440
allowed on your stage?
Can't I have my clowns?

2125
02:11:59,040 --> 02:12:02,000
And I said.
Darling, you just want to bottle

2126
02:12:02,000 --> 02:12:06,240
of champagne because you're the
first one that actually noticed

2127
02:12:06,240 --> 02:12:09,840
that that is, which means which
means that you read the entire

2128
02:12:09,840 --> 02:12:13,160
document.
It's like a free page or kind of

2129
02:12:13,160 --> 02:12:15,800
boring stuff.
Rules and protocols.

2130
02:12:15,800 --> 02:12:18,360
Yeah, La La, La La.
Autograph at the.

2131
02:12:18,400 --> 02:12:19,880
Bottom exactly.
Right.

2132
02:12:19,920 --> 02:12:22,040
Yeah.
So that's awesome.

2133
02:12:22,240 --> 02:12:25,200
Then it turns out that, yeah,
sad enough, she was actually the

2134
02:12:25,240 --> 02:12:27,320
only one coming making that
comment.

2135
02:12:27,320 --> 02:12:32,800
So on the on the first day of of
on the 1st rehearsal for UK,

2136
02:12:33,160 --> 02:12:36,440
that was a nice bottle of
champagne served in front of the

2137
02:12:36,440 --> 02:12:40,280
stage to to that producer.
It's like you won.

2138
02:12:40,440 --> 02:12:43,560
You're awesome.
So I know I said I was done, but

2139
02:12:43,560 --> 02:12:47,240
when do you start next year,
next year on vision?

2140
02:12:48,440 --> 02:12:51,040
Well.
Who says I'm doing next year?

2141
02:12:51,440 --> 02:12:53,600
I don't know, but let's assume
you're doing next year.

2142
02:12:53,800 --> 02:12:55,320
When?
When would you start?

2143
02:12:55,960 --> 02:13:00,200
Two weeks ago.
But since I'm not appointed yet,

2144
02:13:01,600 --> 02:13:03,320
I'm.
I'm doing something else.

2145
02:13:03,720 --> 02:13:08,880
Yeah, I just got involved with
something extremely exciting.

2146
02:13:09,000 --> 02:13:14,480
It's going to be yeah, it's
going to be yeah, wow.

2147
02:13:14,520 --> 02:13:18,400
It's it's going to make
Eurovision look like a small

2148
02:13:18,400 --> 02:13:24,600
club gig, yeah.
I assume you can't say much

2149
02:13:24,600 --> 02:13:29,520
more.
No, I, I, I'm no, in a couple of

2150
02:13:29,520 --> 02:13:33,880
weeks I, I can tell you more and
you will go holy shit.

2151
02:13:33,960 --> 02:13:36,640
Wow, I can't wait to hear that
than the biggest ever.

2152
02:13:37,600 --> 02:13:42,080
So there's reasons to now when I
have the app, I'm, you know,

2153
02:13:42,160 --> 02:13:44,840
it's easy for us to connect.
Yeah, we're going to have to

2154
02:13:44,840 --> 02:13:47,880
talk about it again.
Yeah, now I'm, I'm super busy

2155
02:13:48,000 --> 02:13:51,440
with that, with a great team of
of people.

2156
02:13:52,240 --> 02:13:55,760
There was something that just
dropped in our lap a week ago.

2157
02:13:56,240 --> 02:13:58,880
Yeah, wow.
A week and a half ago super cool

2158
02:13:58,920 --> 02:14:02,160
so and it's going to happen
later this year so it's it's.

2159
02:14:02,240 --> 02:14:04,520
Nice.
Well, I look forward to hearing

2160
02:14:04,520 --> 02:14:06,560
about it, but quit talking about
it now because now you're

2161
02:14:06,560 --> 02:14:07,960
pissing me off because you won't
tell me.

2162
02:14:10,080 --> 02:14:14,000
But I can give you my recipe of
a of a good rub for for brisket.

2163
02:14:14,000 --> 02:14:16,320
You go on.
Tell me, yeah, like, I guess

2164
02:14:16,320 --> 02:14:19,200
you've learned a lot about BBQ
since you got to Austin, right?

2165
02:14:20,320 --> 02:14:24,280
I did.
I did and and so.

2166
02:14:24,280 --> 02:14:26,800
Do you have your own smoker and
all that stuff?

2167
02:14:27,640 --> 02:14:32,920
Yeah, I'm a pellet smoker guy.
I don't have time to get up at

2168
02:14:32,920 --> 02:14:36,320
3:00 AM and set fire to some
wood and then sit there and

2169
02:14:36,320 --> 02:14:39,120
watch it among spiders and
snakes and crap all day.

2170
02:14:39,200 --> 02:14:43,840
It's like, so I use, I use Green
Mountain Grill pellet smoker, I

2171
02:14:43,840 --> 02:14:48,440
guess $5 every time I say that.
And it's awesome and it's all

2172
02:14:48,520 --> 02:14:53,040
and I control it from my phone
and it's not even at our place.

2173
02:14:53,040 --> 02:14:56,440
It's it's at my mother is in
law's place down in Lakeway, so.

2174
02:14:57,120 --> 02:15:00,400
Wow, so.
Yeah, it's officially a a

2175
02:15:00,400 --> 02:15:04,520
Christmas gift to her.
She has never used it.

2176
02:15:04,520 --> 02:15:06,600
She doesn't know how.
She doesn't even know how to

2177
02:15:06,600 --> 02:15:09,000
start it.
That was, you know, but it was a

2178
02:15:09,000 --> 02:15:12,760
good excuse to get one.
See, I, for me, barbecuing is,

2179
02:15:12,760 --> 02:15:16,040
I've got a nice, you know,
stainless steel or whatever,

2180
02:15:16,040 --> 02:15:18,880
aluminum, I don't know what it
is, but it's a gas BBQ that I

2181
02:15:18,880 --> 02:15:22,600
throw a steak on there.
I cook it and you know, I, I,

2182
02:15:22,880 --> 02:15:24,800
I'm, I'm sure you know Brian
Dowd.

2183
02:15:25,600 --> 02:15:28,440
Oh yeah, of course.
You know, so he just did the the

2184
02:15:28,440 --> 02:15:30,320
four wall thing again in New
Jersey.

2185
02:15:30,320 --> 02:15:33,240
Yeah, I think last.
Week, yeah, I mean, that guy, he

2186
02:15:33,240 --> 02:15:38,000
cooks so much food.
It's just an enormous amount of

2187
02:15:38,000 --> 02:15:41,480
food that he cooks over a couple
of days for that thing, so.

2188
02:15:41,480 --> 02:15:45,360
We we always do a a crew
barbecue in Eurasia and that was

2189
02:15:45,360 --> 02:15:47,840
a tradition that started already
in 2000.

2190
02:15:47,840 --> 02:15:50,720
Two Oh wow and the.
Problem is always there's always

2191
02:15:50,720 --> 02:15:54,040
two major problems.
One, to find the time to do it,

2192
02:15:55,160 --> 02:15:57,440
and two.
Aren't all Europeans vegans?

2193
02:15:57,440 --> 02:16:00,520
No.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

2194
02:16:00,520 --> 02:16:01,440
I'm just.
Joking.

2195
02:16:01,480 --> 02:16:01,840
No.
No.

2196
02:16:02,880 --> 02:16:05,640
They're all in Austin.
That's funny.

2197
02:16:06,280 --> 02:16:09,400
Los Angeles.
The the the second, second big

2198
02:16:09,480 --> 02:16:12,800
challenge is to get the fire
Marshall to sign up for the open

2199
02:16:12,840 --> 02:16:15,960
flames somewhere, anywhere in
within the security compound.

2200
02:16:15,960 --> 02:16:19,800
So this year we have like a
winter garden outside.

2201
02:16:19,840 --> 02:16:24,560
We, we were using the, the whole
conference floor at the hotel as

2202
02:16:24,560 --> 02:16:27,920
our production office area and
they had like two lovely outdoor

2203
02:16:27,920 --> 02:16:34,280
Winter Gardens and we got a
sponsorship from, from Traeger.

2204
02:16:34,959 --> 02:16:40,160
So we got their biggest smoker.
And then so, you know, day one

2205
02:16:40,160 --> 02:16:43,520
we were all the Traeger in
winter Garden and the Hostess of

2206
02:16:43,520 --> 02:16:45,799
the conference was like, what
are you doing?

2207
02:16:46,160 --> 02:16:48,760
Like, we're not sure yet, but
I'm going to figure this out.

2208
02:16:49,320 --> 02:16:53,480
And that is awesome.
We had the venue, the the arena

2209
02:16:53,480 --> 02:16:57,760
restaurant in arcade ring and
and they were it was such a

2210
02:16:57,760 --> 02:17:02,040
train crash in 2013 that asked
me for meeting already in

2211
02:17:02,040 --> 02:17:04,160
January.
It's like, how can we make this

2212
02:17:04,160 --> 02:17:06,920
successful?
So I said it's so simple, you

2213
02:17:06,920 --> 02:17:12,760
know, Taco Friday, everyone
loves tacos, dude, can we do can

2214
02:17:12,760 --> 02:17:16,559
we do some other on buffet on on
Saturdays?

2215
02:17:16,559 --> 02:17:18,240
And they said what about BBQ
buffet?

2216
02:17:18,280 --> 02:17:21,559
It was like, yeah, let's do that
now we have a hamburger buffet

2217
02:17:21,559 --> 02:17:26,280
on Sundays and mixing up with a
lot of Asian food, you know,

2218
02:17:26,920 --> 02:17:31,680
Italian food, because that's
really what it's all about.

2219
02:17:31,680 --> 02:17:35,440
Good catering comes with great
variation, especially in on A7

2220
02:17:35,440 --> 02:17:38,920
week hall.
This is like you need to make

2221
02:17:38,920 --> 02:17:43,480
things up.
And then then when we're on

2222
02:17:43,480 --> 02:17:50,400
site, I was like, I think it was
Wednesday and I wasn't catering

2223
02:17:50,400 --> 02:17:54,280
and I was like, and the chefs
were up there and said, hey, so

2224
02:17:54,520 --> 02:17:58,200
tell me a bit more about this
BBQ buffet you're planning to do

2225
02:17:58,200 --> 02:18:01,879
on on Saturday.
What is it going to be?

2226
02:18:01,879 --> 02:18:04,879
I was like, well, you know, if
we're doing flank and we're

2227
02:18:04,879 --> 02:18:09,320
doing some sausages and stuff,
and then we'll think about one

2228
02:18:09,320 --> 02:18:17,440
more thing and it's like, well,
why don't you order like 8090

2229
02:18:17,440 --> 02:18:19,879
lbs of pork and we'll take care
of that.

2230
02:18:19,879 --> 02:18:22,920
I was like, what do you mean?
Oh, come with me.

2231
02:18:22,959 --> 02:18:25,559
So I took them down in the
winter yard and I said I was

2232
02:18:25,559 --> 02:18:30,480
like the Rolls Royce and Bella
Grill Center was like, what is

2233
02:18:30,480 --> 02:18:31,959
this?
It's like, that's our production

2234
02:18:31,959 --> 02:18:34,879
smoker.
Can we can we do one of the

2235
02:18:34,879 --> 02:18:37,959
dishes every Saturday?
It was like, hell yeah.

2236
02:18:38,320 --> 02:18:43,600
And since we ordered the the
meal, the meat from them, that

2237
02:18:43,600 --> 02:18:50,200
was all the paper trails and
then everything was prepped in

2238
02:18:50,200 --> 02:18:52,400
their kitchen.
So we just send them a list of.

2239
02:18:52,400 --> 02:18:53,920
This is what we need for this
rub.

2240
02:18:54,040 --> 02:18:57,240
Or.
This, it was amazing.

2241
02:18:57,240 --> 02:19:02,440
So every Saturday or every,
every Friday or, or actually

2242
02:19:02,440 --> 02:19:05,360
when Wednesday or Thursday, we
were prepping the meat, doing

2243
02:19:05,360 --> 02:19:10,120
the the rub, letting you sit in
their walk in refrigerator for

2244
02:19:10,280 --> 02:19:13,959
24 to 48 hours, putting it on a
smoker on Friday so it'll be

2245
02:19:14,000 --> 02:19:18,400
ready by 6:00 PM on Saturdays.
You're making me hungry, man,

2246
02:19:19,600 --> 02:19:23,400
You're making me hungry.
It was the best stunt ever.

2247
02:19:23,400 --> 02:19:27,280
It was like finally we could do
crew BBQ, we could do it every

2248
02:19:27,280 --> 02:19:31,000
Saturday and it was actually
part of the catering and they

2249
02:19:31,040 --> 02:19:33,879
were served up in the country.
So, so they just did all the

2250
02:19:33,879 --> 02:19:36,360
sides and they, you know, they
would do the slaw and and and

2251
02:19:36,879 --> 02:19:39,040
corn and whatnot and it was
awesome.

2252
02:19:42,559 --> 02:19:45,559
Oh, we lost your sound here.
Oh, all right, Ola.

2253
02:19:45,760 --> 02:19:48,200
Thank you.
Be well, my friend.

2254
02:19:48,440 --> 02:19:52,160
All right, the.