#321 - Corey Easterbrook - The Power of Interconnected Business Relationships

1
00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:07,600
I would feel so much better if I
saw more of a an actual

2
00:00:07,680 --> 00:00:10,920
ecosystem happening like it used
to be.

3
00:00:10,920 --> 00:00:12,920
The London Olympics need more
sharpies.

4
00:00:12,920 --> 00:00:16,720
OK, Mr. Woodruff, we already
have 500 Sharpies.

5
00:00:16,720 --> 00:00:19,920
That's all we own.
Well, I need another couple 100

6
00:00:19,920 --> 00:00:23,080
Sharpies.
So they had to go to a

7
00:00:23,080 --> 00:00:26,360
competitor and cross rent those
other fixtures.

8
00:00:26,360 --> 00:00:29,040
When you have more of an
ecosystem where where you can

9
00:00:29,040 --> 00:00:32,840
set up the next guy down to have
some cross rental and then he

10
00:00:32,840 --> 00:00:35,960
can set the next guy down.
When it becomes an ecosystem,

11
00:00:35,960 --> 00:00:39,280
then the whole, the whole
business does better because

12
00:00:39,280 --> 00:00:44,640
everyone is getting a piece of
those big dollars starting to

13
00:00:44,640 --> 00:00:47,600
kick through and it can help you
make that bigger purchase

14
00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:50,840
because you're like, well, my
buddy over here, he, he said if

15
00:00:50,840 --> 00:00:54,200
you buy these fixtures, he'll,
he'll hold off on buying some

16
00:00:54,200 --> 00:00:57,200
more cross rent from you.
If you have the, and then you

17
00:00:57,200 --> 00:01:01,480
work together, you know, with,
with competitors.

18
00:01:01,480 --> 00:01:06,040
I think stuff like that, it's
really important because the IT,

19
00:01:06,240 --> 00:01:07,920
it's the keeping up with the
Joneses.

20
00:01:07,920 --> 00:01:10,480
Oh, well, they just bought that.
I mean, it's dangerous.

21
00:01:41,280 --> 00:01:45,520
Hello and welcome to Geez of
Gear, another amazing episode

22
00:01:45,520 --> 00:01:49,160
today.
Today's guest is Corey

23
00:01:49,240 --> 00:01:51,920
Easterbrook.
Corey is a lighting designer and

24
00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:55,960
co-owner of Hothouse Music and
Production, a Fort Myers based

25
00:01:55,960 --> 00:02:00,040
company specializing in live
audio, video and lighting.

26
00:02:00,440 --> 00:02:04,280
With over 25 years in the
industry, Corey brings a concert

27
00:02:04,280 --> 00:02:08,520
level approach to corporate
events, conferences and private

28
00:02:08,520 --> 00:02:10,639
productions across North
America.

29
00:02:10,960 --> 00:02:15,440
Known for his creative lighting
designs and high production

30
00:02:15,440 --> 00:02:19,600
standards, Corey helps clients
deliver unforgettable event

31
00:02:19,600 --> 00:02:26,320
experiences.
So join me and welcome Mr. Corey

32
00:02:26,320 --> 00:02:29,800
Easterbrook.
Welcome Corey.

33
00:02:29,800 --> 00:02:31,680
How are you?
I'm awesome.

34
00:02:31,680 --> 00:02:34,000
How are you buddy?
I'm doing really well.

35
00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:36,280
What is that thing that I see in
your picture?

36
00:02:36,280 --> 00:02:39,360
It looks like a cello.
Oh yeah.

37
00:02:39,360 --> 00:02:43,800
So that was a gift from my my
parents.

38
00:02:43,800 --> 00:02:47,320
It is a kind of like a, a music
container.

39
00:02:47,960 --> 00:02:49,720
It'll hold interesting.
Yeah.

40
00:02:50,000 --> 00:02:52,080
Music notes and sheets and stuff
like that.

41
00:02:52,680 --> 00:02:57,040
That's like my, that's my, me
and my wife's music band Wall,

42
00:02:57,040 --> 00:02:58,560
memory wall, all that stuff
that's.

43
00:02:58,560 --> 00:03:01,000
Cool, that's cool.
I like it.

44
00:03:01,280 --> 00:03:05,280
I like band memory walls.
I have one, but it's downstairs.

45
00:03:05,280 --> 00:03:08,640
It's not where I'm recording
right now, so I'm recording in a

46
00:03:08,640 --> 00:03:11,240
little corner of a bedroom
because it was the only place I

47
00:03:11,240 --> 00:03:14,200
could fit a desk or wanted to
keep one anyways.

48
00:03:14,600 --> 00:03:16,560
Well, yeah, because you got to
keep that whole setup mobile

49
00:03:16,560 --> 00:03:18,840
with you, seeing as you're up
north right now, yeah.

50
00:03:18,920 --> 00:03:22,240
Yeah, and I've got it dialed
like I used to have to because,

51
00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:26,640
you know, I'm I'm a little bit
anal about sound quality and,

52
00:03:26,640 --> 00:03:29,400
and just quality in general.
So I don't want to just kick

53
00:03:29,400 --> 00:03:30,920
out.
It's easy to kick out a shitty

54
00:03:30,920 --> 00:03:34,400
podcast and not yeah, kind of
quality standards.

55
00:03:34,840 --> 00:03:37,520
But for me, I like to have
pretty good audio and I like to

56
00:03:37,520 --> 00:03:40,480
kind of do it properly.
So I used to carry around a road

57
00:03:40,480 --> 00:03:44,480
case with like a mixer in it
that was a a podcasting mixer

58
00:03:44,880 --> 00:03:47,560
and recording devices and all
this stuff.

59
00:03:47,560 --> 00:03:51,560
And I had like basically a road
case and a big duffel bag that I

60
00:03:51,560 --> 00:03:55,160
had to carry to do a podcast.
Now I basically have this

61
00:03:55,160 --> 00:03:58,960
microphone and this boom arm and
that's it, you know, and my

62
00:03:58,960 --> 00:04:03,280
laptop and so and I could get
rid of the boom arm, but I don't

63
00:04:03,280 --> 00:04:06,640
like a little stand in front of
me like because plus if you

64
00:04:06,640 --> 00:04:09,360
touch the desk, you hear it
through the mic and all kinds.

65
00:04:09,480 --> 00:04:11,720
And you just look so much more
professional.

66
00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:13,920
I do look pretty.
I look pretty fucking

67
00:04:13,920 --> 00:04:17,040
professional right now.
I, I, I, I think you should

68
00:04:17,040 --> 00:04:20,000
probably get that that
microphone platinumed out

69
00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:21,320
though.
I think you think so.

70
00:04:21,320 --> 00:04:23,200
I think you need some.
I think you need some platinum

71
00:04:23,200 --> 00:04:25,600
in your life.
We need to bling my microphone a

72
00:04:25,600 --> 00:04:27,280
bit.
I didn't say bling, just

73
00:04:27,280 --> 00:04:28,560
platinum.
We don't need to go full

74
00:04:28,560 --> 00:04:29,920
rhinestone.
We're not.

75
00:04:31,640 --> 00:04:37,000
Come on, man, come on.
No, I, you know, I, I wish I

76
00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:41,200
could just do like, you know,
Airpods and, and no microphone

77
00:04:41,200 --> 00:04:44,160
in front of me, but it I've just
never gotten the sound right,

78
00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:47,320
you know.
Two days podcast is brought to

79
00:04:47,320 --> 00:04:50,880
you by Elation.
Elation Lighting is a privately

80
00:04:50,880 --> 00:04:55,720
held corporation established in
1992 and headquartered in Los

81
00:04:55,720 --> 00:04:58,240
Angeles.
All products are developed and

82
00:04:58,240 --> 00:05:01,560
engineered in the United States
with sales and support office

83
00:05:01,560 --> 00:05:07,160
locations in the USA, Mexico and
Europe and distribution via a

84
00:05:07,160 --> 00:05:11,440
worldwide dealer network.
Please join me in watching this

85
00:05:11,440 --> 00:05:13,400
video.
Elation Lighting presents the

86
00:05:13,400 --> 00:05:16,720
Rebel Profile, a powerful high
output LED moving head with

87
00:05:16,720 --> 00:05:20,440
dynamic color mixing with high
CRI and rugged IP65 protection.

88
00:05:21,480 --> 00:05:24,200
Unleash the untamed power of the
Rebel Profile with explosive

89
00:05:24,200 --> 00:05:27,480
output, uncompromising precision
and audacious projection that

90
00:05:27,480 --> 00:05:30,400
shatters conventions all in a
packed 500 Watt package.

91
00:05:32,120 --> 00:05:36,160
The Rebel Profile delivers scene
wide color mixing variable, CTO

92
00:05:36,160 --> 00:05:39,880
and A7 position color wheel with
high CRI filters and UV options.

93
00:05:40,800 --> 00:05:43,360
Elation's Rebel Profile
harnesses powerful visuals with

94
00:05:43,360 --> 00:05:49,000
rotating and fixed gobos, dual
rotating prisms and high speed

95
00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:53,000
iris.
With an IP65 outdoor rating, it

96
00:05:53,000 --> 00:05:55,760
enables designers to create
captivating experiences in the

97
00:05:55,760 --> 00:05:58,720
harshest outdoor conditions.
Featuring a customizable logo

98
00:05:58,720 --> 00:06:02,720
plate, the Rebel series lets you
brand every moment bold,

99
00:06:02,840 --> 00:06:06,840
distinct and unmistakably yours.
Break free from the status quo.

100
00:06:09,880 --> 00:06:14,240
How are you doing?
Doing good, like getting a

101
00:06:14,240 --> 00:06:19,040
little little rest after I've
been, you know, a lot of 1 offs

102
00:06:19,040 --> 00:06:23,000
happening, a lot of you know,
festivals and shows in the

103
00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:26,760
middle of nowhere.
For clients or for for your the

104
00:06:26,760 --> 00:06:29,160
band.
For, for, for Neon Trees.

105
00:06:29,160 --> 00:06:33,360
We've been out quite a bit.
And then obviously, like the

106
00:06:33,360 --> 00:06:37,920
corporate stuff too, you know,
it keeps me kind of all over the

107
00:06:37,920 --> 00:06:39,200
place.
Yeah.

108
00:06:40,440 --> 00:06:45,120
So this last batch, though, was,
you know, the three flights in

109
00:06:45,120 --> 00:06:50,920
plus a 2 hour Transit van, get
the show done in bed by 11,

110
00:06:50,920 --> 00:06:54,600
lobby call at 3:00 AM to go to
the next, you know, show in

111
00:06:54,600 --> 00:06:57,920
California.
And, you know, 2 hours in the

112
00:06:57,920 --> 00:07:01,160
van and flights.
And, you know, it's crazy flying

113
00:07:01,160 --> 00:07:07,160
with, you know, 48 pieces of
luggage showing up at the, the,

114
00:07:07,400 --> 00:07:10,240
the tiny Municipal Airport and
they're like, what is this?

115
00:07:10,240 --> 00:07:11,520
That's.
Hilarious.

116
00:07:11,960 --> 00:07:15,760
So Neon Trees is sort of in
between small and big, right?

117
00:07:15,760 --> 00:07:19,640
Like they're, they're, you know,
it's not a big tour yet, but

118
00:07:19,640 --> 00:07:23,360
it's also not like, you know,
four guys in a van kind of

119
00:07:23,360 --> 00:07:25,640
thing.
Yeah, it's it's very interesting

120
00:07:25,640 --> 00:07:31,440
with trees because for whatever
reason, people have heard the

121
00:07:31,440 --> 00:07:32,760
name.
Yeah.

122
00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:37,480
But then they can't sometimes
track it.

123
00:07:37,960 --> 00:07:39,600
Yeah.
And I've even had people be

124
00:07:39,600 --> 00:07:42,560
like, oh, you know, the, like
the typical Uber ride.

125
00:07:42,600 --> 00:07:44,600
What do you do?
I'm just trying to mind my own

126
00:07:44,600 --> 00:07:46,720
business.
And then, yeah, they push and

127
00:07:46,720 --> 00:07:48,000
they push.
And then you tell them and

128
00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:48,840
they're like, I've never heard
it.

129
00:07:48,840 --> 00:07:52,040
And then you're like, yes, you
have sometimes.

130
00:07:52,040 --> 00:07:55,040
It's much easier if you could
just say Beyoncé or, or, you

131
00:07:55,040 --> 00:07:58,280
know, Justin Timberlake or.
Something totally but I mean, as

132
00:07:58,280 --> 00:08:02,040
soon as I say it started with a
whisper, they're like, you know,

133
00:08:02,040 --> 00:08:06,000
because that their their hits
like animal and and and

134
00:08:06,160 --> 00:08:10,080
everybody talks got a ton of
airplay and then also just like

135
00:08:10,760 --> 00:08:14,280
commercials.
And I mean I've been I've been

136
00:08:14,280 --> 00:08:18,000
in you know, an elevator and
heard to the bands that I work

137
00:08:18,000 --> 00:08:21,480
with pop on in in succession
while I'm coming, you know,

138
00:08:21,480 --> 00:08:23,880
coming down.
So like, you know, they've,

139
00:08:23,880 --> 00:08:27,320
they've, they've been out there
and you know, the, the, the

140
00:08:27,320 --> 00:08:31,560
tours are a little bit on the
smaller side, but the festivals

141
00:08:31,560 --> 00:08:34,320
are always crazy because you
know, we'll do, we'll do the

142
00:08:34,320 --> 00:08:37,799
college festivals and then, you
know, the, the, the standard,

143
00:08:37,799 --> 00:08:43,280
you know, state festivals and
it's crazy to college festivals.

144
00:08:43,280 --> 00:08:47,720
Like these kids basically grew
up, you know, listen to that

145
00:08:47,720 --> 00:08:49,760
stuff.
You know, I call them kids now.

146
00:08:49,760 --> 00:08:52,400
I, I feel I'm like, wait a
minute, I was a kid and I'm then

147
00:08:52,400 --> 00:08:54,640
I go to these college shows.
I'm like, Oh my gosh, these,

148
00:08:54,640 --> 00:08:56,360
these are.
Wait till you get to my age

149
00:08:56,360 --> 00:09:00,040
because I'm calling you a kid.
Well, hey, I'll take that as a

150
00:09:00,040 --> 00:09:02,360
compliment for now.
Exactly.

151
00:09:02,800 --> 00:09:04,960
Trust me, it gets white over
here, man.

152
00:09:06,080 --> 00:09:08,440
It gets worse.
You become me and then go, what

153
00:09:08,440 --> 00:09:12,560
the hell just happened?
Like a minute ago I was a young,

154
00:09:12,560 --> 00:09:14,840
foolish kid.
Now I'm an old, foolish adult.

155
00:09:15,440 --> 00:09:17,200
Yeah, there you go.
We call.

156
00:09:17,240 --> 00:09:19,560
We call ourselves Kid Alts,
buddy Kid Alts.

157
00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:24,720
That's funny, I, I admit that I
had never heard of Neon Trees

158
00:09:24,720 --> 00:09:29,240
until talking with you about it.
And then I went and looked it up

159
00:09:29,240 --> 00:09:31,800
on YouTube and stuff and I went,
oh, I've heard this song before.

160
00:09:31,800 --> 00:09:35,960
So, you know, sometimes,
sometimes, like, the way we're

161
00:09:35,960 --> 00:09:39,640
fed music now isn't the same as
when I was a kid when you went

162
00:09:39,640 --> 00:09:42,840
out and bought an album because
you really wanted that album.

163
00:09:43,080 --> 00:09:46,200
And, you know, I'd spend a
Saturday afternoon in a record

164
00:09:46,200 --> 00:09:49,160
store, like thumbing through
albums and looking at the album

165
00:09:49,160 --> 00:09:51,080
covers and going, oh, that's
cool.

166
00:09:51,080 --> 00:09:53,600
But like, at that time, they
didn't even have listening

167
00:09:53,600 --> 00:09:56,080
stations where you could hear
some of the songs, right?

168
00:09:56,360 --> 00:09:59,400
So you either heard one hit song
on the radio or you heard none

169
00:09:59,400 --> 00:10:01,840
of it and bought the album just
on a whim.

170
00:10:02,360 --> 00:10:04,680
And but you knew what you were
buying.

171
00:10:04,680 --> 00:10:08,840
And nowadays it's like you hear
something either on satellite

172
00:10:08,840 --> 00:10:13,320
radio, on radio, on a mix, on
your iTunes or whatever it is,

173
00:10:13,320 --> 00:10:17,160
or Apple Music, I guess, or, or
Spotify or whatever.

174
00:10:17,640 --> 00:10:19,760
And you go, whoa, I like that
song.

175
00:10:19,760 --> 00:10:23,040
And you might look at the screen
and go, yeah, I like this artist

176
00:10:23,040 --> 00:10:26,600
or whatever.
But yeah, it's just different.

177
00:10:26,600 --> 00:10:28,240
So you don't always know the
artist.

178
00:10:28,240 --> 00:10:28,880
You hear a?
It is.

179
00:10:29,120 --> 00:10:31,000
I like it.
I mean, it has changed.

180
00:10:31,000 --> 00:10:34,600
So I mean, and obviously music,
whether we're talking the

181
00:10:34,600 --> 00:10:37,200
production side, we're talking
the business side where, you

182
00:10:37,200 --> 00:10:40,000
know, all that stuff like the
progression of change and, and

183
00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:44,000
where it has gone.
It's it's it's really wild

184
00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:48,640
because you know, for for me,
you know, I wasn't obviously

185
00:10:48,640 --> 00:10:53,160
grabbing LP's off the shelf, you
know, and dropping the needle.

186
00:10:53,520 --> 00:10:56,160
We had that at home.
But for me it was, you know,

187
00:10:56,160 --> 00:10:58,680
going into the store and
listening to and listening to

188
00:10:58,680 --> 00:11:01,160
the disc.
But you know, you were.

189
00:11:01,760 --> 00:11:06,160
It wasn't so single driven.
Like the album had to support

190
00:11:07,480 --> 00:11:10,240
the single.
Yeah, like if the single was

191
00:11:10,240 --> 00:11:14,120
good, like maybe you might sell
a cassette or something like

192
00:11:14,120 --> 00:11:16,240
that.
That just was a single cassette.

193
00:11:16,240 --> 00:11:19,920
But it wasn't so single driven.
So like, that whole album had to

194
00:11:19,920 --> 00:11:22,720
be rock solid.
No, you're 100% right.

195
00:11:22,760 --> 00:11:27,160
And I go back so far that like
if the album wasn't good, they

196
00:11:27,160 --> 00:11:29,400
just bought the 45.
They bought the little.

197
00:11:29,400 --> 00:11:31,920
Like, I don't even know if
you've ever seen a 45, but the

198
00:11:32,040 --> 00:11:34,640
small, the small record right
you.

199
00:11:34,640 --> 00:11:37,640
Gotta remember, Marcel, I come
from the punk rock DIY scene.

200
00:11:37,640 --> 00:11:39,920
We, you know, we still print
vinyl.

201
00:11:39,920 --> 00:11:42,360
You know, I've got a whole stack
of vinyl right up there.

202
00:11:42,360 --> 00:11:43,600
So I'm with you.
That's true.

203
00:11:44,080 --> 00:11:48,080
No, but, but like, literally, if
the album sucked, you just spent

204
00:11:48,080 --> 00:11:52,920
$0.99 and bought the the 45
instead of the $10 album or

205
00:11:52,920 --> 00:11:55,480
whatever, right?
And I did that quite often

206
00:11:55,480 --> 00:11:58,840
because I just wanted that one
song and I hated the band or

207
00:11:58,840 --> 00:12:03,040
something.
And so, yeah, I mean it, it's so

208
00:12:03,040 --> 00:12:05,960
different now.
Today's episode is brought to

209
00:12:05,960 --> 00:12:08,680
you by Main Light, a trusted
name in dry, higher lighting and

210
00:12:08,680 --> 00:12:10,880
stage equipment rentals.
Whether you're lighting a

211
00:12:10,880 --> 00:12:15,040
theater show, producing a major
concert or building out a

212
00:12:15,080 --> 00:12:18,120
broadcast set, Main Light
delivers the gear you need to

213
00:12:18,120 --> 00:12:21,640
make your vision a reality.
They offer a massive inventory

214
00:12:21,640 --> 00:12:24,600
of the latest moving lights,
control consoles, Truss LED

215
00:12:24,640 --> 00:12:29,320
fixtures, and durable IP65 rated
gear that's perfect for both

216
00:12:29,400 --> 00:12:33,960
indoor and outdoor environments.
From small scale productions to

217
00:12:33,960 --> 00:12:36,920
massive stadium tours, Main
Light is known across the

218
00:12:36,920 --> 00:12:40,680
industry as the partner you
trust with the gear you want.

219
00:12:41,280 --> 00:12:44,040
But that's not all.
Main Light also offer new

220
00:12:44,040 --> 00:12:47,080
equipment, sales from your
favorite brands, and used gear

221
00:12:47,080 --> 00:12:49,400
pulled direct from their rental
fleet.

222
00:12:49,920 --> 00:12:53,600
Every used item is rigorously
maintained and backed by a 60

223
00:12:53,600 --> 00:12:57,000
day depot warranty, giving you
confidence and value in every

224
00:12:57,000 --> 00:12:59,800
purchase.
With three strategically located

225
00:12:59,800 --> 00:13:04,560
facilities in Teterboro, NJ,
Wilmington, DE, and Las Vegas,

226
00:13:04,560 --> 00:13:08,320
NV, you get nationwide access
and the responsiveness of a

227
00:13:08,320 --> 00:13:12,160
local provider.
Explore their rental inventory,

228
00:13:12,280 --> 00:13:17,560
request a custom quote or browse
their sales offerings online

229
00:13:17,560 --> 00:13:22,120
today at mainlight.com.
And, and I remember hearing Bon

230
00:13:22,120 --> 00:13:26,360
Jovi on, on Howard Stern when I
used to listen to Howard Stern

231
00:13:26,840 --> 00:13:29,760
and he's, he asked Bon Jovi, you
know, what do you think about

232
00:13:29,760 --> 00:13:32,520
the music Business Today versus
when you were younger?

233
00:13:32,520 --> 00:13:35,840
And he said, you know what?
I feel like our children are

234
00:13:35,840 --> 00:13:39,200
missing out on that experience
of going to the record store,

235
00:13:39,200 --> 00:13:42,920
going to Tower Records and
spending an entire morning or

236
00:13:42,920 --> 00:13:45,880
afternoon there.
Like just looking at album

237
00:13:45,880 --> 00:13:50,840
covers and, and just discovering
all of these bands that they had

238
00:13:50,840 --> 00:13:53,320
never heard of and buying
something based on what the

239
00:13:53,320 --> 00:13:56,880
album cover looked like or the
names of the songs or whatever.

240
00:13:56,880 --> 00:13:59,920
And you could even go look at
the lyrics sometimes inside the

241
00:13:59,920 --> 00:14:04,440
album cover or whatever.
And he said, you know, the, the

242
00:14:04,440 --> 00:14:09,680
sort of kinetic connection to
that holding that album and

243
00:14:09,680 --> 00:14:12,240
looking at all the songs and
looking at the pictures and

244
00:14:12,240 --> 00:14:14,120
everything.
It's gone.

245
00:14:14,520 --> 00:14:18,880
And now it's such a like just
here and gone kind of feeling

246
00:14:18,880 --> 00:14:21,760
with music, like they come
through, they go through your,

247
00:14:21,920 --> 00:14:24,760
your playlist or your whatever
you're listening to.

248
00:14:25,200 --> 00:14:28,520
And it's not the same.
There's not the depth.

249
00:14:28,560 --> 00:14:32,440
It's all surface level now.
Yeah, but then you know on the

250
00:14:32,440 --> 00:14:35,760
other side of it.
So me, I, I'm starting to get a

251
00:14:35,760 --> 00:14:38,760
little bit more kind of set in
my way is not like trying to

252
00:14:38,760 --> 00:14:43,040
find as much more like new music
and stuff like that.

253
00:14:43,040 --> 00:14:46,480
Like stuff will come.
But my wife is still constantly

254
00:14:46,480 --> 00:14:50,440
on the on the hunt.
And I mean, there's also an

255
00:14:50,440 --> 00:14:55,400
accessibility now to where you
can, you know, you can find

256
00:14:55,400 --> 00:14:58,840
bands that like back in the day,
you know, that band would not

257
00:14:58,840 --> 00:15:02,560
even have a chance of being
available to you.

258
00:15:02,600 --> 00:15:06,320
I mean, back when I used to, you
know, tour when I was still

259
00:15:06,320 --> 00:15:11,600
playing, it's like finding
local, you know, you're in

260
00:15:11,600 --> 00:15:15,720
Charleston, you know, and all of
a sudden this opening band is

261
00:15:15,720 --> 00:15:19,240
just blowing your mind.
And yeah, you get to talk with

262
00:15:19,240 --> 00:15:21,680
them and you get the record.
And then, you know, of course

263
00:15:21,760 --> 00:15:26,680
you lose that 3 storage units
ago, 20 years ago, but now it's

264
00:15:26,840 --> 00:15:29,280
it, you can still find them
again because it's all been

265
00:15:29,280 --> 00:15:31,600
uploaded now.
And finding all those old bands

266
00:15:31,600 --> 00:15:32,880
and listening to it again.
It's great.

267
00:15:32,880 --> 00:15:36,040
The whole discovery process is
is so good now.

268
00:15:36,040 --> 00:15:38,560
So that's sort of the other edge
of the sword, right?

269
00:15:38,560 --> 00:15:40,560
Like, so I'll give you an
example.

270
00:15:40,560 --> 00:15:44,960
I like, I'll put in, I'll just
find a song or something on

271
00:15:44,960 --> 00:15:47,880
Apple Music.
And then, you know, you create

272
00:15:48,440 --> 00:15:50,400
a, a station based on that song
or whatever.

273
00:15:50,640 --> 00:15:53,120
And I discovered this band
called Gun Shine, who you

274
00:15:53,120 --> 00:15:56,080
probably have heard of 'cause
they're from, I think your coast

275
00:15:56,080 --> 00:15:57,840
of Florida.
I think they're from Tallahassee

276
00:15:57,840 --> 00:16:00,960
or something.
They're, they're a pretty,

277
00:16:01,760 --> 00:16:06,440
they're almost like an 80s glam
rock band, but in today's age,

278
00:16:06,440 --> 00:16:08,240
right?
And there's a lot of those bands

279
00:16:08,240 --> 00:16:10,400
out there that I really like
right now because that's the

280
00:16:10,400 --> 00:16:12,200
music scene that I come from
that.

281
00:16:12,240 --> 00:16:14,320
Well, and it's all running in
circles, man, right?

282
00:16:14,320 --> 00:16:16,080
It all comes back around, you
know?

283
00:16:16,520 --> 00:16:18,800
Check out Gun Shine.
They're a really interesting

284
00:16:18,800 --> 00:16:21,760
band.
And so then I'll just say, you

285
00:16:21,760 --> 00:16:23,960
know, create a station around
these guys.

286
00:16:23,960 --> 00:16:27,000
And now I discover just all
kinds of new rock, which I

287
00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:30,840
happen to like a lot of that
music because it's like we got

288
00:16:30,840 --> 00:16:35,000
back to sort of guitar, bass,
drums and screaming vocals.

289
00:16:35,280 --> 00:16:38,120
And that's my, that's my jam,
right?

290
00:16:38,280 --> 00:16:42,200
So, so, so I do kind of like
that.

291
00:16:42,240 --> 00:16:44,840
But you know, like I said,
because you can listen to

292
00:16:44,840 --> 00:16:47,840
everything, you don't really
latch on to anything.

293
00:16:48,160 --> 00:16:50,800
You just kind of it passes
through for moments, right?

294
00:16:50,960 --> 00:16:55,000
As opposed to knowing and
especially like you know, when

295
00:16:55,280 --> 00:17:00,200
like I went from cassettes to
CDs and, and, and now to, you

296
00:17:00,200 --> 00:17:03,560
know, to, to MP threes and
owning it to now just streaming.

297
00:17:03,720 --> 00:17:07,359
Yeah, you know when you couldn't
when, when the Fast forward

298
00:17:07,359 --> 00:17:10,520
button or you know it when it
wasn't so accessible.

299
00:17:10,800 --> 00:17:16,359
It also slowed you down to pay
more notice and listen through.

300
00:17:16,520 --> 00:17:20,520
Right.
Right, exactly like Dark Side

301
00:17:20,560 --> 00:17:22,640
the.
Moon I've heard 1000 times or

302
00:17:22,640 --> 00:17:27,720
more right the the the whole
album, whereas like Gun Shine, I

303
00:17:27,920 --> 00:17:30,640
couldn't tell you what the other
songs on the album aren't

304
00:17:30,640 --> 00:17:34,480
necessarily right, but I could
recognize it if it came up.

305
00:17:34,480 --> 00:17:36,440
I'd go, yeah, that's that singer
from Gun Shine.

306
00:17:36,440 --> 00:17:40,640
But so, yeah, I mean very, very
different.

307
00:17:40,640 --> 00:17:42,320
So I didn't know you were you
played.

308
00:17:42,680 --> 00:17:44,960
You said you used to play.
Yeah.

309
00:17:44,960 --> 00:17:49,960
So the whole me coming into this
industry all started.

310
00:17:51,440 --> 00:17:54,160
I'm trying to think how far back
I should go with this, but

311
00:17:54,720 --> 00:17:59,400
basically I was.
Was 7, was 7.

312
00:18:01,520 --> 00:18:07,560
A long time ago, I was raised in
a very conservative Christian

313
00:18:07,560 --> 00:18:09,680
household.
Like we brought, we brought the

314
00:18:09,680 --> 00:18:14,440
TV up like from the basement
once a week, you know?

315
00:18:14,560 --> 00:18:16,720
Your dad didn't have an earring
in his lip, you're saying?

316
00:18:16,840 --> 00:18:19,400
No, no, no, no, it wasn't a
thing.

317
00:18:19,760 --> 00:18:23,440
But they came from the whole
Southern California, you know,

318
00:18:23,440 --> 00:18:27,800
hippie and rock scene.
You know, my dad has seen some

319
00:18:27,800 --> 00:18:31,920
of the like the best shows out
there, you know, from all times

320
00:18:31,920 --> 00:18:36,640
of bands and, and the bands he
got me into, you know, molded

321
00:18:36,640 --> 00:18:40,080
me, you know, with his record
player and all that style stuff

322
00:18:40,080 --> 00:18:42,880
too.
But like in in our household at

323
00:18:42,880 --> 00:18:47,920
that time, they've now relaxed
quite a bit after having three

324
00:18:47,920 --> 00:18:51,080
children.
But at that time it was it, you

325
00:18:51,080 --> 00:18:54,200
know, it was very kind of
restricted on that end.

326
00:18:54,240 --> 00:18:57,400
And, you know, the only thing I
was really able to listen to was

327
00:18:57,400 --> 00:19:02,440
like, you know, the, the, the
Christian music scene artists

328
00:19:02,440 --> 00:19:08,280
and stuff like that.
So I went to the Christian

329
00:19:08,280 --> 00:19:14,240
bookstore and was listening to
music and I found ACD with a

330
00:19:14,240 --> 00:19:16,840
cartoon face on it with spiky
hair.

331
00:19:17,200 --> 00:19:21,720
And I was like, what is this?
And I put it on and it blew my

332
00:19:21,720 --> 00:19:24,320
eardrums out.
It was just straight 121234.

333
00:19:24,600 --> 00:19:27,120
And then and it just went and
I'm like, you know, I've never,

334
00:19:27,280 --> 00:19:29,440
I've never heard anything close
to that.

335
00:19:30,080 --> 00:19:32,160
And I was like, that's
different.

336
00:19:32,160 --> 00:19:34,080
And I kept on going back and
going back.

337
00:19:34,080 --> 00:19:36,840
And the third time I went back,
I bought all the records they

338
00:19:36,840 --> 00:19:38,640
have.
And that band was MXPX.

339
00:19:38,640 --> 00:19:41,880
And that got me into punk rock.
Interesting.

340
00:19:42,120 --> 00:19:44,520
And that was in a Christian.
They're not.

341
00:19:44,760 --> 00:19:48,160
They're not Christian, are they?
They so they started on Tooth

342
00:19:48,160 --> 00:19:52,160
and Nail and like in their first
record, there were some

343
00:19:52,160 --> 00:19:56,320
references, but you know, they
were at that time, it was they

344
00:19:56,320 --> 00:20:00,160
were Christians in a band.
They, the music was about the

345
00:20:00,160 --> 00:20:02,400
music they were in the punk,
the, the Southern California

346
00:20:02,400 --> 00:20:06,040
punk rock scene, you know,
playing with, you know, all the,

347
00:20:06,200 --> 00:20:09,040
all the bands at that time.
But they got signed to Tooth and

348
00:20:09,040 --> 00:20:12,200
Nail because they, you know,
they came from, you know, those

349
00:20:12,200 --> 00:20:15,040
church shows like back in even
back in my day, you know.

350
00:20:15,520 --> 00:20:17,800
There wasn't a whole bunch of
places to play where it could be

351
00:20:17,800 --> 00:20:19,560
all ages.
So you would use, you'd use a

352
00:20:19,560 --> 00:20:22,000
church, you'd use a civic cent,
and you'd use whatever you

353
00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:23,120
could.
Yeah.

354
00:20:24,240 --> 00:20:27,360
And so that's how I discovered
punk rock.

355
00:20:27,440 --> 00:20:30,320
And then and.
Where were you at that time?

356
00:20:30,320 --> 00:20:32,360
Was that in California or was
that in Florida?

357
00:20:32,760 --> 00:20:36,400
No, I was.
I was, I was here in Florida and

358
00:20:37,040 --> 00:20:42,840
I was about 13, I want to say I
was 13 years old when I found

359
00:20:42,840 --> 00:20:46,400
it.
And then the church that I went

360
00:20:46,400 --> 00:20:50,280
to had another sister church and
their band, one of their bands

361
00:20:50,280 --> 00:20:55,800
for the church band was, was
younger youth group kids and

362
00:20:55,800 --> 00:20:59,400
they came and played an event
with us or something like that.

363
00:20:59,400 --> 00:21:03,560
And I look at the drummer and
he's got a Mohawk and the guitar

364
00:21:03,560 --> 00:21:08,760
player, you know, is, is all
thrift store clothes with a stud

365
00:21:08,760 --> 00:21:10,480
belt.
And I and I meet these guys and

366
00:21:10,480 --> 00:21:13,440
we start to talk about music and
we were into the same music.

367
00:21:13,440 --> 00:21:17,560
The, the culture is what lured
you in more than maybe even more

368
00:21:17,560 --> 00:21:19,880
than the music, right?
Like it was the culture and the

369
00:21:19,880 --> 00:21:23,680
look because you you mentioned
the guy's spiky hair in the in

370
00:21:23,680 --> 00:21:26,760
the one thing that you found in
the Christian bookstore and then

371
00:21:26,760 --> 00:21:29,120
the Mohawk on the drummer in
this other band.

372
00:21:29,520 --> 00:21:32,280
So it seems more like the look
and the culture that really was

373
00:21:32,280 --> 00:21:34,640
pulling you in.
Like I feel like that guy looks.

374
00:21:35,040 --> 00:21:38,920
It's, it's, it's a, it's a bit
of both because in, in punk rock

375
00:21:38,920 --> 00:21:42,160
culture or, you know, whichever
subgenre you want to go with,

376
00:21:43,680 --> 00:21:47,000
it's that identifier of like you
can see a look and be like that

377
00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:50,520
person thinks like me.
But it, it in, in all the

378
00:21:50,520 --> 00:21:52,680
subcultures, it's all based
around the music.

379
00:21:52,680 --> 00:21:56,320
Like what is it talking about
and how do you feel and like how

380
00:21:56,320 --> 00:21:58,360
it expresses you?
And then, you know, the clothing

381
00:21:58,360 --> 00:22:01,280
and all that stuff is just an
identifier to be like, I think

382
00:22:01,280 --> 00:22:03,880
we think the same.
We can talk to each other, you

383
00:22:03,880 --> 00:22:04,800
know, makes sense.
Yeah.

384
00:22:06,040 --> 00:22:10,560
But getting into that and, you
know, Long story short, that

385
00:22:10,560 --> 00:22:14,960
drummer and that guitar player
that was, that was Jeremy and

386
00:22:14,960 --> 00:22:18,960
Zach, they were brothers.
And at the time I played drums

387
00:22:18,960 --> 00:22:22,200
and I played guitar.
Well, their band, they needed a

388
00:22:22,200 --> 00:22:24,000
bass player.
They didn't need drums or

389
00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:27,280
guitar.
And so I was like, all right,

390
00:22:27,280 --> 00:22:30,920
I'll learn bass.
And Jeremy, he was going to

391
00:22:30,920 --> 00:22:34,760
school for a professional
upright jazz bass at the time,

392
00:22:34,760 --> 00:22:37,680
and he taught me bass.
And then that's how I started

393
00:22:37,680 --> 00:22:40,440
back in, I think our first, my
first show with them was back in

394
00:22:40,440 --> 00:22:43,000
99.
And that's how I, you know,

395
00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:44,720
started playing in, in the music
scene.

396
00:22:44,720 --> 00:22:48,320
And then I got into, you know,
hardcore and metal and, you

397
00:22:48,320 --> 00:22:49,880
know.
Where were you playing at the

398
00:22:49,880 --> 00:22:51,680
time though?
Like when you started playing

399
00:22:51,680 --> 00:22:53,200
with them?
Were you playing in churches or

400
00:22:53,200 --> 00:22:57,000
were you playing in?
So in Southwest Florida at the

401
00:22:57,000 --> 00:23:01,920
time when we started getting our
start Florida at that time in,

402
00:23:01,920 --> 00:23:06,560
in, you know, the early 2000s,
it was a hotbed for, for

403
00:23:06,560 --> 00:23:08,680
hardcore music.
You had a lot of bands coming

404
00:23:08,680 --> 00:23:12,360
out of out of Florida that were
blowing up really, really big.

405
00:23:14,040 --> 00:23:18,720
And so because of that, you had
a lot of national bands that

406
00:23:18,720 --> 00:23:22,480
were coming down.
So we were throwing DIY shows

407
00:23:22,480 --> 00:23:33,320
down at the the Naples Skate
Park and like Civic Center type

408
00:23:33,320 --> 00:23:38,040
area all the time.
And I mean, we had everybody

409
00:23:38,040 --> 00:23:41,040
playing their yeah, I mean
yellow card played their New

410
00:23:41,040 --> 00:23:43,640
Found Glory, played their
Dashboard Confessional.

411
00:23:43,960 --> 00:23:48,320
All these bands that are huge
now would come and we've set up

412
00:23:48,320 --> 00:23:53,600
on the floor with a with two
speakers on sticks and and RIP

413
00:23:53,600 --> 00:23:56,960
out shows as much as we could.
And then there was house shows

414
00:23:56,960 --> 00:24:02,960
and all that type of stuff.
So it was it was a great time to

415
00:24:02,960 --> 00:24:05,160
be in that scene.
It was so exciting because all

416
00:24:05,160 --> 00:24:09,760
these bands and like, especially
coming out of where I wasn't

417
00:24:09,760 --> 00:24:13,040
realizing that, oh, no, like you
can go see these bands.

418
00:24:13,080 --> 00:24:15,560
You know, it's not like you have
to go pay for a ticket to go

419
00:24:15,560 --> 00:24:18,560
watch them at the Barbie or be
Man Performing Arts Hall.

420
00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:23,480
Like no, like you can go be part
of the scene and and talk with

421
00:24:23,480 --> 00:24:26,200
these guys and exchange numbers.
And then when you book a tour,

422
00:24:26,600 --> 00:24:29,800
like they're like, OK, well,
hey, this is my friend up here

423
00:24:29,800 --> 00:24:32,040
at this venue, you in North
Carolina.

424
00:24:32,480 --> 00:24:34,400
I'll set you up.
We'll play with you.

425
00:24:34,400 --> 00:24:37,400
You play with, you know, us.
And like that whole DIY scene is

426
00:24:37,400 --> 00:24:40,440
kind of how I came up.
And I really, really loved it.

427
00:24:40,440 --> 00:24:45,360
But you know, you, you get to
that point in your life where

428
00:24:45,360 --> 00:24:48,840
you're like, well, I kind of got
to grow up now, right?

429
00:24:48,920 --> 00:24:51,160
You know, like this isn't, this
isn't happening.

430
00:24:51,680 --> 00:24:56,080
Jeremy went off to, you know,
play in a couple of bands and,

431
00:24:56,080 --> 00:24:59,280
you know, did the got signed,
got dropped, all, you know, that

432
00:24:59,280 --> 00:25:04,920
whole story.
And I went into corporate

433
00:25:04,920 --> 00:25:08,360
management wearing a suit and
tie every day.

434
00:25:08,960 --> 00:25:10,720
Yeah.
Corporate management, like

435
00:25:10,720 --> 00:25:14,080
outside the industry, outside if
you got away from music.

436
00:25:14,120 --> 00:25:18,840
Oh, OK.
Yeah, like when at the at the

437
00:25:18,840 --> 00:25:24,240
breaking point, I was a like a
national training manager for a

438
00:25:24,240 --> 00:25:28,120
company that's now defunct
called HH Gregg doing sales

439
00:25:28,120 --> 00:25:34,000
change, sales training for them.
They they had offered me and you

440
00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:39,200
know, a huge a store on the East
Coast, like the rocket was

441
00:25:39,200 --> 00:25:41,680
really lit, but every I just I
hated it.

442
00:25:41,680 --> 00:25:45,360
I was like, this is a great.
So I was at the mall with my

443
00:25:45,360 --> 00:25:47,360
wife and I was like, I don't
want to do this.

444
00:25:47,360 --> 00:25:49,880
Like like it's not on my own
terms.

445
00:25:49,880 --> 00:25:52,640
I can't even see you in that.
You know what I mean?

446
00:25:52,640 --> 00:25:54,120
Everybody I talk.
Oh yeah.

447
00:25:54,120 --> 00:25:58,080
I don't see that being you just
as much as I know about you it.

448
00:25:58,080 --> 00:26:00,400
Just doesn't fit.
It was still good though.

449
00:26:00,400 --> 00:26:04,200
I mean, I learned so much that
benefited me now in my

450
00:26:04,200 --> 00:26:05,480
positions.
I mean, when you're running

451
00:26:05,480 --> 00:26:10,400
crew, you know, running, running
a store of 48 people, you know,

452
00:26:10,400 --> 00:26:15,080
all truck deliveries, you know,
customer service, training, you

453
00:26:15,080 --> 00:26:19,080
know, everything that goes with
it, it it becomes, yeah, a lot

454
00:26:19,080 --> 00:26:21,600
of.
Moving parts, yeah, I could see

455
00:26:21,600 --> 00:26:23,880
that, yeah.
You know, knowing like I've

456
00:26:23,880 --> 00:26:28,320
bought lots of things from HH
Gregg and, you know, I think

457
00:26:28,320 --> 00:26:31,480
they paid Commission, right?
Because like you could tell

458
00:26:31,480 --> 00:26:33,440
based on the people that they
were hiring.

459
00:26:33,880 --> 00:26:39,160
And I could see how that could
be a great learning experience

460
00:26:39,160 --> 00:26:43,280
to get in there and be able to
sort of mold these people into

461
00:26:43,280 --> 00:26:47,000
something and have some of them
sort of rise up through the

462
00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:50,840
system and become someone like
that would be very rewarding.

463
00:26:51,200 --> 00:26:54,120
Although you're probably dealing
with a lot of people who don't

464
00:26:54,120 --> 00:26:56,320
rise up on a daily basis.
Too.

465
00:26:56,320 --> 00:26:58,520
It's true.
Yeah, it's true.

466
00:26:59,040 --> 00:27:01,520
But basically I went to my wife.
I'm like, I don't really want to

467
00:27:01,520 --> 00:27:04,440
do this anymore.
And from playing in bands,

468
00:27:05,560 --> 00:27:09,320
Jeremy and I had amassed, you
know, a trailer, all this

469
00:27:09,320 --> 00:27:12,040
equipment.
And I, I went to him.

470
00:27:12,040 --> 00:27:16,920
I was like, hey, you know,
let's, let's, let's start a, a

471
00:27:16,920 --> 00:27:18,560
production company or something
like that.

472
00:27:18,840 --> 00:27:25,600
You know, so we, we had 4JBL PRX
powered twelves, A personas

473
00:27:25,600 --> 00:27:30,080
mixer, nice boat anchor.
I think there was 8 par 56's on

474
00:27:30,080 --> 00:27:35,400
wood bases and a trailer and and
some back line gear and so we

475
00:27:35,520 --> 00:27:40,400
scraped up 3 grand apiece and
started hothouse and.

476
00:27:40,400 --> 00:27:42,760
Really.
I didn't realize your partner in

477
00:27:42,760 --> 00:27:46,120
Hothouse was a guy in a band
with you back in the day.

478
00:27:46,120 --> 00:27:50,480
Yeah, I mean, he's been my best
friend since the age of 16.

479
00:27:50,960 --> 00:27:53,440
That's I mean, yeah, we've been
tight for a long time.

480
00:27:54,040 --> 00:27:58,200
So, you know, we started
Hothouse and Jeremy is, is an

481
00:27:59,000 --> 00:28:01,800
awesome front of house audio
engineer.

482
00:28:02,280 --> 00:28:05,920
And I mean, I, I did audio
engineering too, but we didn't

483
00:28:05,920 --> 00:28:09,040
need two of us.
And so that's where I started.

484
00:28:09,040 --> 00:28:11,480
You know, I'd always really
loved lighting.

485
00:28:11,520 --> 00:28:13,080
I'd always been very interested
in it.

486
00:28:13,080 --> 00:28:16,920
I remember reading early like
American DJ catalog books and

487
00:28:16,920 --> 00:28:21,440
like porn over them.
My mom actually sent me a few

488
00:28:21,440 --> 00:28:24,640
months ago.
She's one of the first plots

489
00:28:24,640 --> 00:28:27,480
that I ever drew.
And it was just me messing

490
00:28:27,480 --> 00:28:30,240
around as a young teenager
drawing stuff.

491
00:28:30,240 --> 00:28:32,800
And I'm like, Oh my gosh, when I
saw it, I was like, I think this

492
00:28:32,800 --> 00:28:35,080
might be the end.
This is like the beginnings of

493
00:28:35,080 --> 00:28:39,200
all of it.
So you guys did Jack shit

494
00:28:39,200 --> 00:28:41,880
basically about running a
production company or anything

495
00:28:41,880 --> 00:28:43,240
like that.
You just said, hey, we got a

496
00:28:43,240 --> 00:28:46,120
little bit of gear that we've
acquired and let's just put it

497
00:28:46,120 --> 00:28:47,720
together and see if we can make
it work.

498
00:28:48,440 --> 00:28:53,320
Yeah, well, we did know a little
bit because after I, I, I'd gone

499
00:28:53,320 --> 00:28:57,040
up to after 911, you know, the
job market was weird.

500
00:28:57,040 --> 00:29:01,160
And we'd had a, a no name storm
that had flooded Fort Myers

501
00:29:01,160 --> 00:29:02,760
Beach, which is, which is where
I grew up.

502
00:29:02,760 --> 00:29:06,600
And my car had been basically
completely underwater from sea

503
00:29:06,600 --> 00:29:08,400
water.
So it was, it was dead.

504
00:29:08,760 --> 00:29:11,520
And I was like, I had friends
that lived up in Gainesville.

505
00:29:11,520 --> 00:29:16,120
So I'd gone up there to just,
you know, get out of town and go

506
00:29:16,120 --> 00:29:20,560
be somewhere else.
And that was cool and fun.

507
00:29:20,560 --> 00:29:22,960
But I ended up coming back
because, you know, I miss my

508
00:29:22,960 --> 00:29:24,960
friends and, you know, all that
type of stuff.

509
00:29:24,960 --> 00:29:29,720
Yeah, but when I came back, a
buddy of mine who owns a

510
00:29:29,800 --> 00:29:33,480
production company locally, you
know, I was looking for work.

511
00:29:33,480 --> 00:29:35,000
He's like, well, you can come
work for me.

512
00:29:35,000 --> 00:29:40,280
And he was doing corporate work,
but it was like we did uplights

513
00:29:40,280 --> 00:29:42,360
and stuff like that, but it
wasn't technology side.

514
00:29:42,360 --> 00:29:44,960
It was like Decor and Tchotchke
side.

515
00:29:45,960 --> 00:29:49,640
So so, but you know, a lot of
big events with him.

516
00:29:49,640 --> 00:29:53,480
So I, I, I already had that
background like building trust

517
00:29:53,480 --> 00:29:58,000
arches and that type of stuff,
you know, figuring out how to

518
00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:03,120
not blow circuit Breakers in a
ballroom with par 60 fours with

519
00:30:03,120 --> 00:30:05,960
gels on them.
Yeah, that type of stuff.

520
00:30:06,240 --> 00:30:08,560
Yeah.
But then the band stuff and

521
00:30:08,560 --> 00:30:10,840
knowing that background, then
we're just like, we can figure

522
00:30:10,840 --> 00:30:14,000
this out because I, I have an
artist my, my artistic side.

523
00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:17,560
Like I always knew about it.
But then once it started to

524
00:30:17,560 --> 00:30:22,000
being like designing, you know,
small corporate events and then

525
00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:24,880
doing audio and then getting
into video and then getting into

526
00:30:24,880 --> 00:30:28,320
lighting, then it was like,
well, the lighting side I always

527
00:30:28,320 --> 00:30:31,880
loved.
And so I ran with it and.

528
00:30:32,800 --> 00:30:37,080
But in, in the Fort Myers area,
is there, is there business to

529
00:30:37,080 --> 00:30:40,560
support that like it?
You know, I've never known Fort

530
00:30:40,560 --> 00:30:44,200
Myers to be a convention or
conference sort of center.

531
00:30:44,200 --> 00:30:48,280
I could see Naples perhaps.
It is it is Nate, it's Naples.

532
00:30:48,280 --> 00:30:50,440
Marco Island is the heavier side
of it.

533
00:30:51,520 --> 00:30:54,440
And honestly, when I started it,
like, you know, you're always

534
00:30:54,440 --> 00:30:58,360
coming from like a rock'n'roll
thought process of like, oh,

535
00:30:58,360 --> 00:31:02,520
we'll do you know these pop up
shows and like, you know, these

536
00:31:02,520 --> 00:31:05,400
small little food festivals and
stuff like that.

537
00:31:07,200 --> 00:31:11,480
But then the business side I
started seeing like my friends

538
00:31:11,480 --> 00:31:13,880
that own these other, well,
they're now my friends that own

539
00:31:13,880 --> 00:31:15,520
these other production companies
in town.

540
00:31:15,520 --> 00:31:19,000
I just, I saw what they're, you
know, like what these things

541
00:31:19,000 --> 00:31:21,840
were paying.
I was like, this makes zero

542
00:31:21,840 --> 00:31:24,440
sense.
You know, I don't want to be

543
00:31:24,440 --> 00:31:30,520
out, you know, dying in 100°
heat every day, you know, for

544
00:31:30,520 --> 00:31:34,000
this type of money.
So I started to really pay

545
00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:35,680
attention more on the corporate
side.

546
00:31:35,680 --> 00:31:40,360
And then, you know, once you
realize that where your shop is

547
00:31:41,080 --> 00:31:46,400
doesn't really matter in the
corporate game, that was kind of

548
00:31:46,400 --> 00:31:49,640
a breakthrough for us.
And we started to get these

549
00:31:49,640 --> 00:31:53,040
clients that have been using
like in house AV services, But

550
00:31:53,080 --> 00:31:56,760
you know, they had outgrown, you
know, what, what those, what

551
00:31:56,760 --> 00:31:58,720
those services could really do
for them.

552
00:31:58,720 --> 00:32:04,200
And they wanted a another level
of, of, of care and attention

553
00:32:04,360 --> 00:32:08,320
and professionalism.
And we started to, you know,

554
00:32:08,320 --> 00:32:13,800
bring those companies under our
wings and help them build into

555
00:32:13,800 --> 00:32:16,080
better shows.
And, you know, now we have a, a

556
00:32:16,080 --> 00:32:22,960
nice handful of amazing client
partners that when we, when we

557
00:32:22,960 --> 00:32:26,720
talk about these shows, it's,
it's not just a conversation of

558
00:32:26,720 --> 00:32:28,400
we want this, this and this.
Go do it.

559
00:32:28,400 --> 00:32:30,840
It's OK.
How do we build together?

560
00:32:31,200 --> 00:32:35,560
How, how do we make this better?
And part of that, and I think

561
00:32:35,560 --> 00:32:38,680
this is one thing that's unique
to us, is I'm constantly trying

562
00:32:38,680 --> 00:32:44,240
to educate my my client partners
on how technology can improve

563
00:32:44,240 --> 00:32:48,000
their show from a content
perspective, because there's a

564
00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:50,560
lot of trainings and learnings
and breakout rooms and stuff

565
00:32:50,560 --> 00:32:53,160
like that.
But then also help them grow on

566
00:32:53,160 --> 00:32:56,760
the financial side and showing
them opportunities of how they

567
00:32:56,760 --> 00:33:01,560
can take care of their sponsors
using technology.

568
00:33:01,560 --> 00:33:06,280
And wow, they're sponsors to
open up the wallets so that they

569
00:33:06,280 --> 00:33:10,280
can get, yeah, monitors,
monetize it for better resources

570
00:33:10,280 --> 00:33:12,160
to make it a better show, to
grow bigger.

571
00:33:12,160 --> 00:33:16,480
So that's one thing that we try
to do differently than anybody

572
00:33:16,480 --> 00:33:17,800
else.
And then on the other side of

573
00:33:17,800 --> 00:33:21,360
that too, is the gear is gear is
great.

574
00:33:22,160 --> 00:33:23,960
We love gear.
I mean, I loved a nerd out on

575
00:33:23,960 --> 00:33:25,480
it.
I mean, you want to talk about a

576
00:33:25,480 --> 00:33:28,200
guy that loves freaking Rd.
cases, I'm your guy.

577
00:33:28,200 --> 00:33:30,800
Like I would have Rd. case
furniture if I wasn't married.

578
00:33:30,800 --> 00:33:32,120
But my wife won't let that
happen.

579
00:33:32,720 --> 00:33:35,680
Like, I'm totally I, I love it.
No, it is good because it's not

580
00:33:35,680 --> 00:33:37,600
comfortable.
But you need some grounding.

581
00:33:38,520 --> 00:33:40,760
Thanks again for joining me on
Geese of Gear.

582
00:33:40,760 --> 00:33:44,520
Today's podcast is brought to
you by our newest sponsor,

583
00:33:44,520 --> 00:33:47,560
Gearshare.
Launching on September 2nd,

584
00:33:48,120 --> 00:33:53,680
2025, Gearshare is the first AI
powered rental marketplace for

585
00:33:53,680 --> 00:33:56,920
the live events industry.
It's built to eliminate friction

586
00:33:56,960 --> 00:34:00,680
and locate even the toughest to
find gear globally.

587
00:34:01,120 --> 00:34:03,160
Forget old school sub rental
headaches.

588
00:34:03,360 --> 00:34:07,560
Gearshare is built around gear
spotting, an AI search tool that

589
00:34:07,640 --> 00:34:10,800
actually finds the gear you
need, plus gear sync, keeping

590
00:34:10,800 --> 00:34:13,679
your listings synced
automatically and with almost

591
00:34:13,679 --> 00:34:16,760
zero effort.
Even better, there are 0

592
00:34:16,760 --> 00:34:20,159
transaction fees.
You rent, you deal direct, and

593
00:34:20,159 --> 00:34:24,320
you hold onto 100% of that
revenue if you're a rental or

594
00:34:24,320 --> 00:34:27,199
production company.
Tired of losing gigs, load

595
00:34:27,199 --> 00:34:30,719
utilization or dealing with
manual methods?

596
00:34:30,719 --> 00:34:33,920
It's time to jump in.
Getting in before the end of

597
00:34:33,920 --> 00:34:37,080
August gives you access to
Founders Club discounts and

598
00:34:37,080 --> 00:34:41,080
other benefits, so visit
gearshare dot live to join the

599
00:34:41,080 --> 00:34:44,639
wait list and take better
control of your sub rentals and

600
00:34:44,639 --> 00:34:53,080
drive up revenues today.
So with all the gear that's out

601
00:34:53,080 --> 00:34:55,320
there, there's all the
innovation and we love it.

602
00:34:55,840 --> 00:34:58,800
It's great, right?
You know, all the new things

603
00:34:58,800 --> 00:35:00,360
that you can do.
But it really comes down to the

604
00:35:00,360 --> 00:35:03,080
people, you know, the people
that you have implementing the

605
00:35:03,080 --> 00:35:05,480
gear, the vision behind that
that they're bringing.

606
00:35:06,040 --> 00:35:09,720
And with me being fortunate
enough to be out and do the, the

607
00:35:09,720 --> 00:35:14,520
touring stuff and meet those
cats, which you know, they're,

608
00:35:14,840 --> 00:35:19,200
they're ready to, you know, go
through a wall, you bring them

609
00:35:19,200 --> 00:35:21,720
onto a corporate show and
they're like, wait, we're in air

610
00:35:21,720 --> 00:35:24,720
conditioning and I'm sleeping in
my own bed.

611
00:35:24,840 --> 00:35:27,320
This is, this is great.
Let's, let's do a show.

612
00:35:27,320 --> 00:35:30,120
And nothing is impossible at
that point.

613
00:35:30,120 --> 00:35:34,080
Cuz they're like, oh, we've seen
worse bringing them in.

614
00:35:34,080 --> 00:35:37,520
And then they get to know my
clients and they form bonds.

615
00:35:37,520 --> 00:35:41,800
And then no one that has to look
for me being, you know, the

616
00:35:41,800 --> 00:35:46,240
owner because they know all my
guys can make anything happen

617
00:35:46,240 --> 00:35:49,720
for them and are empowered to
make anything happen for them.

618
00:35:51,040 --> 00:35:54,080
It's a really it's a, it's a
great, it's a great business

619
00:35:54,080 --> 00:35:56,840
model for me.
You know, so going backwards

620
00:35:56,840 --> 00:36:00,000
though, like when you first
started Hothouse, like did you,

621
00:36:00,720 --> 00:36:04,080
did you think about going to
Orlando and working for a

622
00:36:04,080 --> 00:36:07,960
production company as opposed to
starting one in in Fort Myers or

623
00:36:07,960 --> 00:36:10,600
working for one of the other
local companies or something?

624
00:36:10,600 --> 00:36:13,520
Or was it just a very organic
decision?

625
00:36:13,520 --> 00:36:15,960
We got this stuff sitting here.
Let's just put it to work,

626
00:36:15,960 --> 00:36:22,360
figure it out.
I think that's an interesting

627
00:36:22,360 --> 00:36:24,080
question.
Nobody's really ever asked me

628
00:36:24,080 --> 00:36:25,320
that, so I haven't thought about
it.

629
00:36:25,600 --> 00:36:32,000
Yeah, I think for me, after
running the big box retail and

630
00:36:32,000 --> 00:36:38,040
doing all that stuff, I think, I
think I had the confidence to

631
00:36:38,040 --> 00:36:41,760
just say, well, I can run a
business, so let's run a

632
00:36:41,760 --> 00:36:44,120
business.
But I don't know if have you

633
00:36:44,120 --> 00:36:47,320
seen the, there's a, there's a
few pictures going around on the

634
00:36:47,320 --> 00:36:49,360
on the Internet.
I don't know what show is that,

635
00:36:49,360 --> 00:36:54,040
but on the back of their, you
know, the SL yeah, 3320 or

636
00:36:54,040 --> 00:36:58,640
whatever it was or maybe a Sam
450, they had a sign that says

637
00:36:59,320 --> 00:37:03,960
we just did this because we
thought it would be easy on the

638
00:37:03,960 --> 00:37:06,600
back of the stage.
And I feel like, you know,

639
00:37:06,600 --> 00:37:08,040
getting.
Into this it's like.

640
00:37:08,200 --> 00:37:11,240
I think that was us, you know,
we were just, yeah, we can do

641
00:37:11,240 --> 00:37:12,920
this.
And then, you know, you get into

642
00:37:12,920 --> 00:37:18,360
it and it's like every new thing
that pops up and it's like, OK.

643
00:37:18,360 --> 00:37:19,480
You don't know what you don't
know.

644
00:37:19,480 --> 00:37:20,920
You don't know what you don't
know.

645
00:37:21,320 --> 00:37:24,800
But so having gone through that,
let me ask you something.

646
00:37:24,800 --> 00:37:29,400
So if you were advising a bunch
of 18/19/20 year olds right now

647
00:37:29,960 --> 00:37:34,960
who are thinking, should I start
my own rental company, would you

648
00:37:35,480 --> 00:37:39,680
guide them to maybe get a couple
years experience 1st and then do

649
00:37:39,680 --> 00:37:42,000
it?
Or would you just say, yeah,

650
00:37:42,000 --> 00:37:51,120
jump in head first, do it?
I think that we were lucky due

651
00:37:51,120 --> 00:37:56,240
to the time when it happened.
We were in that interim between,

652
00:37:56,240 --> 00:38:00,560
you know, things were going from
analog to digital like we.

653
00:38:00,560 --> 00:38:02,120
Were moving, lights were still
early.

654
00:38:02,920 --> 00:38:03,760
Correct.
Yeah.

655
00:38:03,840 --> 00:38:06,880
So I, I think we were lucky that
we jumped in when we did.

656
00:38:09,640 --> 00:38:15,760
I think currently with the
business, like I mean you gotta,

657
00:38:15,960 --> 00:38:17,640
you've got guys that are out
there doing it.

658
00:38:17,640 --> 00:38:21,280
I mean even locally like you
know, I've got a local company

659
00:38:21,280 --> 00:38:25,080
that that we will, you know,
we're we're kind with each

660
00:38:25,080 --> 00:38:26,600
other.
If they're too booked, they'll

661
00:38:26,600 --> 00:38:28,840
send them my way and and vice
versa.

662
00:38:29,400 --> 00:38:33,440
Yeah.
But I get a little worried when

663
00:38:33,440 --> 00:38:39,680
when, when the private equity is
just gobbling everything up.

664
00:38:41,400 --> 00:38:45,000
Everything is getting so
expensive.

665
00:38:45,400 --> 00:38:49,120
You know, I mean, we're talking
baseline gear is getting so

666
00:38:49,120 --> 00:38:53,280
expensive.
And sometimes, I mean, I'll say

667
00:38:53,280 --> 00:38:56,480
on the audio side, like console
side, I don't know why it's so

668
00:38:56,480 --> 00:39:02,680
expensive because I'm constantly
watching my my A1 looking at the

669
00:39:02,680 --> 00:39:05,320
crack of his butt because his
head is buried inside the

670
00:39:05,320 --> 00:39:09,440
freaking you, you know, the
brain fixing.

671
00:39:09,640 --> 00:39:13,400
And it's like you're spending
all this money.

672
00:39:14,120 --> 00:39:17,240
It's all being specked on all
these tours and it's it's

673
00:39:17,240 --> 00:39:19,480
getting to a point where, you
know, and everybody wants to

674
00:39:19,480 --> 00:39:21,880
360.
It's not like back in the day

675
00:39:21,880 --> 00:39:25,880
where you could be Dave Rat and
say I'm building boxes, I'm

676
00:39:25,880 --> 00:39:29,120
jumping in the van.
Yeah, I'm just going to do

677
00:39:29,120 --> 00:39:32,120
audio, you know, because now
it's like, well, I don't want to

678
00:39:32,120 --> 00:39:35,800
just hire an audio company and a
lighting company and a special

679
00:39:35,800 --> 00:39:37,480
effects company and a video
company.

680
00:39:37,480 --> 00:39:42,760
They they want it all 360, but
these totals, you know the.

681
00:39:42,760 --> 00:39:45,960
CapEx requirements are just
ridiculous at this point.

682
00:39:46,000 --> 00:39:49,280
I, I completely agree with you,
but you know, before we get into

683
00:39:49,280 --> 00:39:51,520
that, because I do want to
actually nail into that one

684
00:39:51,520 --> 00:39:54,480
because it's a big topic, the
whole private equity and, and

685
00:39:54,480 --> 00:39:56,360
CapEx requirements and all that
stuff.

686
00:39:56,360 --> 00:40:01,520
But what I was getting at is
like I would always advise

687
00:40:01,520 --> 00:40:06,480
people to take not only free
learning but paid learning.

688
00:40:07,360 --> 00:40:12,360
To take it seriously, like I, I
worked for companies before you

689
00:40:12,360 --> 00:40:17,360
were born, probably who I, I
felt like I was smarter than

690
00:40:17,360 --> 00:40:19,760
them.
Sometimes I felt like I, I

691
00:40:19,760 --> 00:40:23,680
didn't, I was like, I wouldn't
say demeaning myself or anything

692
00:40:23,680 --> 00:40:27,360
like that, but I would just, I,
I felt like I was rolling my

693
00:40:27,360 --> 00:40:29,720
eyes quite often because I
didn't agree with how they were

694
00:40:29,720 --> 00:40:33,720
doing things, but I was being
paid to learn the business.

695
00:40:33,920 --> 00:40:36,960
I was being paid to learn my job
and to learn how to be

696
00:40:37,040 --> 00:40:39,600
successful.
I was being paid to learn

697
00:40:39,720 --> 00:40:42,280
mistakes that weren't costing me
any money.

698
00:40:42,280 --> 00:40:48,160
They were costing my boss money.
And to me that is invaluable

699
00:40:48,160 --> 00:40:50,280
like that.
I'm not saying go waste your

700
00:40:50,280 --> 00:40:53,560
time working for a company for
25 years or something.

701
00:40:53,840 --> 00:40:59,720
I'm saying go invest your time
for a year or two years or three

702
00:40:59,720 --> 00:41:03,120
years, whatever it takes to
learn as much as you possibly

703
00:41:03,120 --> 00:41:06,360
can about whatever it is you
want to do with your life in and

704
00:41:06,360 --> 00:41:10,080
lose your parents money or your,
you know, the money that you got

705
00:41:10,080 --> 00:41:13,960
for your bar mitzvah or
whatever, whatever money is

706
00:41:13,960 --> 00:41:17,320
laying around.
Don't go blow that on your first

707
00:41:17,320 --> 00:41:21,240
endeavour if you have an
opportunity to be paid to learn

708
00:41:21,240 --> 00:41:23,800
to be successful.
Oh, and and.

709
00:41:25,400 --> 00:41:26,960
And you know, in the different
forms.

710
00:41:27,120 --> 00:41:30,000
I mean, I think both of us have
said this multiple times.

711
00:41:30,000 --> 00:41:37,680
Yeah, if you have access to to a
shop where you can cause it's

712
00:41:37,680 --> 00:41:40,920
important to learn it from the
bottom up.

713
00:41:41,600 --> 00:41:43,840
I agree.
Like especially when you Fast

714
00:41:43,840 --> 00:41:48,200
forward when I'm dealing with
crews, whether it be my crew or

715
00:41:48,200 --> 00:41:54,360
if I'm on tour, I am never going
to tell anybody to do anything

716
00:41:54,360 --> 00:41:58,800
that I haven't already done.
I've done it all now.

717
00:41:59,080 --> 00:42:01,800
Mine was different.
I was doing it all because it

718
00:42:01,800 --> 00:42:03,880
was owner operator.
I mean, it was Jeremy and I and

719
00:42:03,880 --> 00:42:07,320
that's that's just it like, you
know, we we bring a few people

720
00:42:07,320 --> 00:42:10,520
that maybe help, but it was it
was all on us when you're trying

721
00:42:10,520 --> 00:42:14,160
to make money in the beginning.
I.

722
00:42:14,160 --> 00:42:16,480
Completely agree with that.
Like learn to work a broom

723
00:42:16,480 --> 00:42:20,080
before you learn to work an MA3
console, you know what I mean?

724
00:42:20,760 --> 00:42:24,920
Yeah, because also.
Like I've seen a few people

725
00:42:24,920 --> 00:42:28,480
where.
Man, they can the.

726
00:42:28,600 --> 00:42:32,600
The programming side is just,
I'm like, whoa, like you're

727
00:42:32,600 --> 00:42:35,240
fast, you're good.
Like, holy cow.

728
00:42:36,200 --> 00:42:38,240
Me.
I mean, I'm, I'll say it, I'm an

729
00:42:38,240 --> 00:42:40,400
older dog.
Like the only reason why I know

730
00:42:40,400 --> 00:42:44,160
how to program is because I love
lighting and I love Oping and I

731
00:42:44,160 --> 00:42:47,240
love designing.
If if, if I didn't, I wouldn't.

732
00:42:47,680 --> 00:42:48,960
I don't want to learn
programming.

733
00:42:48,960 --> 00:42:52,960
I don't want to, you know, stick
with the latest updates and OK,

734
00:42:52,960 --> 00:42:55,840
now we've introduced that, like,
you know, that's I've already

735
00:42:55,840 --> 00:42:59,160
got enough time going on.
It is, it is especially when you

736
00:42:59,200 --> 00:43:03,400
own another company, you know,
and, and basically like what I

737
00:43:03,400 --> 00:43:06,320
do right now on the lighting
side, it's that's to fill my

738
00:43:06,320 --> 00:43:07,920
soul.
Like, I mean, yes, there's a

739
00:43:07,920 --> 00:43:12,520
monetary value to it too, that
comes to my household, but I do

740
00:43:12,520 --> 00:43:14,840
it because I love saying house
lights go.

741
00:43:15,400 --> 00:43:18,960
Like that's why I do it.
You know, I like to create.

742
00:43:18,960 --> 00:43:21,440
I'd, you know, I'd love to sit
in the middle of the crowd and

743
00:43:21,440 --> 00:43:25,480
just feel the the buzz and
energy, you know, surrounding

744
00:43:25,480 --> 00:43:26,640
that.
You're able to do that.

745
00:43:26,720 --> 00:43:28,280
It's it's.
Cool that you're able to run

746
00:43:28,280 --> 00:43:32,600
your your business and also
leave and go out for a couple

747
00:43:32,600 --> 00:43:35,760
weeks here and there and do
shows Yeah I mean I'm, I'm

748
00:43:35,800 --> 00:43:38,080
incredibly.
Blessed in in that aspect and

749
00:43:38,080 --> 00:43:41,520
big kudos to my wife for putting
up with it with our 4 1/2 year

750
00:43:41,520 --> 00:43:43,360
old son.
It's not always easy.

751
00:43:43,360 --> 00:43:46,080
It can be challenging.
I can't believe your son's

752
00:43:46,080 --> 00:43:48,720
already. 4 1/2, I remember when
he was born.

753
00:43:49,040 --> 00:43:51,800
I remember seeing it on Facebook
or whatever when he was born.

754
00:43:52,400 --> 00:43:56,760
Yeah, 4 1/2.
Mine's 21, so trust me, it moves

755
00:43:56,800 --> 00:44:00,320
quickly because I remember when
my kid was 4 1/2 quite clearly.

756
00:44:00,320 --> 00:44:04,920
But yeah, he's 21 now, so it
yeah, time rips, man.

757
00:44:05,160 --> 00:44:05,960
Yeah, it.
Rips.

758
00:44:06,160 --> 00:44:09,360
And it's hard for you to
remember them younger than they

759
00:44:09,400 --> 00:44:10,920
are when you're looking at them
too.

760
00:44:11,000 --> 00:44:13,880
Like you go to photos and you're
like, Oh my gosh, yeah.

761
00:44:14,280 --> 00:44:16,160
So how?
Do you balance that though, like

762
00:44:16,160 --> 00:44:20,680
as far as the lighting design,
touring or show side of things

763
00:44:20,680 --> 00:44:25,440
versus the, the business?
So like when Neon Trees or

764
00:44:25,440 --> 00:44:28,360
another client calls you and
says, hey, we've got four shows

765
00:44:28,360 --> 00:44:34,280
in, you know, in the Midwest in
a month that we need you on,

766
00:44:34,400 --> 00:44:37,240
here's the dates.
And then you have to somehow

767
00:44:37,240 --> 00:44:39,440
balance that with whatever's on
your books.

768
00:44:39,440 --> 00:44:44,440
I'm guessing for local work.
Is that challenging?

769
00:44:47,000 --> 00:44:48,680
It when it comes to high house,
it isn't.

770
00:44:48,680 --> 00:44:54,040
As challenging because our
schedules are pretty much three

771
00:44:54,040 --> 00:44:57,320
years in advance these really
well these.

772
00:44:57,320 --> 00:45:00,160
These these.
Entities, I mean, so one of the

773
00:45:00,160 --> 00:45:05,640
ones that we do is Common Ground
Alliance, that's the call 811

774
00:45:05,640 --> 00:45:09,560
before you dig infrastructure,
all that type of stuff.

775
00:45:09,560 --> 00:45:13,680
It's nationally accredited.
That's one of our big clients.

776
00:45:13,680 --> 00:45:19,080
And I mean, I know when and
where that show is 3 years in

777
00:45:19,080 --> 00:45:22,440
advance usually.
Because once you reach that

778
00:45:22,440 --> 00:45:30,760
size, I would say once you reach
a size of 300 attendees or more,

779
00:45:31,280 --> 00:45:36,360
the pool of where you can go
starts to shrink rapidly.

780
00:45:36,880 --> 00:45:39,560
And a lot of these places, I
mean.

781
00:45:41,560 --> 00:45:44,600
A big favorite.
If you have the money is the

782
00:45:44,600 --> 00:45:47,760
Marco Island JW Marriott
beautiful property.

783
00:45:47,760 --> 00:45:50,800
It's like being, I mean, I've
done shows at Turtle Bay.

784
00:45:51,200 --> 00:45:55,280
It's gorgeous.
But as normal you would say, oh,

785
00:45:55,280 --> 00:45:58,800
I'm bringing in my convention or
what more my association.

786
00:45:58,800 --> 00:46:02,720
What are you going to do for me?
That place is booked out so hard

787
00:46:02,720 --> 00:46:06,560
between that they're just like
nothing like you're going to pay

788
00:46:06,560 --> 00:46:10,840
$900 tonight and you're going to
pay to use the ballroom and

789
00:46:10,840 --> 00:46:15,280
you're going to pay, pay, pay,
pay because so many different

790
00:46:15,280 --> 00:46:19,040
associations and all these
places are after COVID, they

791
00:46:19,040 --> 00:46:23,360
just it exploded, which pisses
me off because as a Florida.

792
00:46:23,360 --> 00:46:27,440
Resident I used to be able to
book a weekend there or at in

793
00:46:27,440 --> 00:46:33,440
the keys at the Chica Lodge or
something and get like a, get a,

794
00:46:33,440 --> 00:46:36,760
a resident Florida resident
discount and get oceanfront for

795
00:46:36,760 --> 00:46:40,560
like 250 bucks.
And that's just unheard of now.

796
00:46:40,560 --> 00:46:44,520
Like that's seven, 800 bucks all
day long at a deal, you know,

797
00:46:44,520 --> 00:46:47,080
and I'm like, what what
happened?

798
00:46:47,080 --> 00:46:48,680
Like I can't go anywhere
anymore.

799
00:46:48,880 --> 00:46:53,280
It's gotten so expensive.
That for my, for my last

800
00:46:53,280 --> 00:46:58,240
birthday, I was looking because
I was like, well, go to the

801
00:46:58,240 --> 00:47:01,480
keys, I'll get some of the boys
down and we'll go hang out and

802
00:47:01,480 --> 00:47:03,920
I'm looking at these places.
And of course, if you don't know

803
00:47:03,920 --> 00:47:06,080
the keys, like there's not a
whole lot of beaches in the

804
00:47:06,080 --> 00:47:08,320
keys.
Like it's coral rock.

805
00:47:08,320 --> 00:47:11,560
That's what the keys is.
So looking at these places and

806
00:47:11,560 --> 00:47:14,840
look at the prices.
And then I said then you know,

807
00:47:14,840 --> 00:47:19,080
you go to VRBO or Airbnb,
whatever it says, look at that.

808
00:47:19,080 --> 00:47:24,120
And then a 44 foot catamaran
popped up and I was like, oh

809
00:47:24,120 --> 00:47:25,880
wait a minute, how many cabs has
this got?

810
00:47:25,880 --> 00:47:29,520
4 Sweet.
So we ended up staying on a cab

811
00:47:29,680 --> 00:47:33,400
around as opposed to staying at
A at A at a hotel because it's

812
00:47:33,400 --> 00:47:35,960
gotten so expensive to wear.
Ridiculous.

813
00:47:35,960 --> 00:47:39,320
Staying on a. $1,000,000.
Yacht is cheaper than staying at

814
00:47:39,320 --> 00:47:41,280
a hotel, which is?
That's ridiculous.

815
00:47:41,360 --> 00:47:43,920
Bonkers.
Yeah, completely bonkers.

816
00:47:44,160 --> 00:47:47,240
Well, I'm seeing more and more
boats in Florida being put on

817
00:47:47,320 --> 00:47:50,920
Airbnb and stuff, you know, like
as options.

818
00:47:50,920 --> 00:47:54,240
Hey, instead of renting a hotel
or a house, rent this thing.

819
00:47:54,760 --> 00:47:56,320
So if you're at, if you're at
the right.

820
00:47:56,320 --> 00:47:58,800
Type of Marina like a lot of
these are resort style or

821
00:47:58,800 --> 00:48:01,360
marinas now that also have a
hotel so you have access to the

822
00:48:01,360 --> 00:48:03,760
pool you have access to
everything else and it's super

823
00:48:03,760 --> 00:48:08,000
cool but it's all symptoms of
like these rooms are all eaten

824
00:48:08,000 --> 00:48:14,280
up and everybody's trying to
book out you know to the point

825
00:48:14,280 --> 00:48:18,880
where I'm doing conference calls
with inside labor unions you

826
00:48:18,880 --> 00:48:21,440
know four years in advance of a
show and they're like well we

827
00:48:21,440 --> 00:48:24,080
need to get this Nile nailed
down I'm like when do you think

828
00:48:24,080 --> 00:48:26,840
this is happening yeah and
they're like well it's next year

829
00:48:26,840 --> 00:48:30,840
right I'm like no man you're
booked out four years like so

830
00:48:30,840 --> 00:48:34,240
that makes it easier though for.
You to be able to to stick your

831
00:48:34,240 --> 00:48:37,160
shows in with with your bands
and stuff when you need to.

832
00:48:37,480 --> 00:48:40,600
It does really on.
On that side and Jeremy's really

833
00:48:40,600 --> 00:48:44,520
great and my team is great.
You know, I, I've got a crew of

834
00:48:44,520 --> 00:48:48,840
people and since we work pretty
much everywhere, I'm pulling

835
00:48:48,840 --> 00:48:51,920
from my, my, my, my touring
buddies.

836
00:48:52,160 --> 00:48:54,280
Yeah.
Because if you're flying in

837
00:48:54,280 --> 00:48:56,560
anyway.
So, yeah, doesn't matter where

838
00:48:56,560 --> 00:48:58,760
they come from.
So I'm, I'm able to use the best

839
00:48:58,760 --> 00:49:00,120
in the business.
Yeah.

840
00:49:00,120 --> 00:49:03,400
People that I trust where if I'm
not there, I'm not worried

841
00:49:03,400 --> 00:49:06,320
because I know they're getting a
level of care that there's no

842
00:49:06,320 --> 00:49:09,320
way that my client would have
access to any other way.

843
00:49:09,360 --> 00:49:13,400
Your your.
Company too like is, is of a

844
00:49:13,400 --> 00:49:16,560
size where it's not like massive
stress.

845
00:49:16,560 --> 00:49:21,120
It's not massive, you know, it's
not like you have 200 employees

846
00:49:21,120 --> 00:49:23,640
that are constantly going, hey,
Corey, I need to hey, Corey.

847
00:49:23,680 --> 00:49:26,680
Hey, you know, it's pretty calm
and casual.

848
00:49:26,680 --> 00:49:29,520
I would expect we have tailored
it.

849
00:49:29,520 --> 00:49:34,320
In a way, for it to be the
animal that we want, yeah, it

850
00:49:34,320 --> 00:49:36,240
makes a lot of sense if things
start to.

851
00:49:36,240 --> 00:49:37,640
Take off in a.
Different direction.

852
00:49:37,640 --> 00:49:42,040
I mean, you know, it's craziness
is a phone call away, right?

853
00:49:42,040 --> 00:49:44,840
You know, one phone call can
change your life, but we've

854
00:49:44,840 --> 00:49:49,320
tried to tailor it so that it
can be this business facilitates

855
00:49:49,320 --> 00:49:53,600
our lives and our family.
And not in reverse, Yeah, but

856
00:49:53,600 --> 00:49:55,080
when it comes.
To the lighting.

857
00:49:55,080 --> 00:49:59,640
Side that's where it, you know,
hothouse is, is easy to work

858
00:49:59,640 --> 00:50:03,880
with there, but my wife, that's
where I have to pay attention.

859
00:50:03,880 --> 00:50:08,360
That's where the balance my wife
and my son figuring out like,

860
00:50:08,800 --> 00:50:12,120
you know, because I'm not the
only, you know, person, you

861
00:50:12,120 --> 00:50:16,160
know, with a a high pressure,
high stress job.

862
00:50:16,400 --> 00:50:19,280
You know, my my wife is in the
same boat.

863
00:50:19,280 --> 00:50:23,200
I mean, she's handling, she's a
buyer for Chico's fashion

864
00:50:23,200 --> 00:50:27,000
company and she's handling, you
know, millions upon millions

865
00:50:27,000 --> 00:50:30,600
upon millions of purchasing, you
know, dealing with, you know,

866
00:50:30,600 --> 00:50:32,880
especially like, you know, when
you're talking about all the the

867
00:50:32,880 --> 00:50:35,840
trade stuff that's going on, you
know, where you're changing, you

868
00:50:35,840 --> 00:50:39,800
know, all the time.
So she's stressed out too.

869
00:50:39,800 --> 00:50:43,600
And so that finding that balance
is actually where I spend the

870
00:50:43,600 --> 00:50:46,680
most amount of my energy is
trying to make make sure that

871
00:50:46,680 --> 00:50:48,480
we're we're having clear
communication.

872
00:50:49,120 --> 00:50:51,680
But she's so amazing.
I remember because she doesn't

873
00:50:51,680 --> 00:50:55,200
get to go out and see the shows,
you know, like she's here and

874
00:50:55,840 --> 00:50:58,520
scheduled.
Yeah, being a mom and I'm

875
00:50:58,520 --> 00:51:03,240
flying.
But Eric Price came through on

876
00:51:03,240 --> 00:51:07,040
the Mast Don tour and actually
came to Fort Myers, which was

877
00:51:07,080 --> 00:51:09,080
great because we're like, oh
man, we only need to get a

878
00:51:09,080 --> 00:51:10,920
babysitter.
We don't have to drop them at

879
00:51:10,920 --> 00:51:13,600
grandma and grandpa's and get a
hotel and blah, blah, blah to go

880
00:51:13,600 --> 00:51:16,960
see a show.
And we're, we're, we're up in

881
00:51:16,960 --> 00:51:21,200
front of house with Eric.
And you know, it's just, and

882
00:51:21,200 --> 00:51:24,600
Eric is such a fabulous LD.
Like it's just beautiful.

883
00:51:25,240 --> 00:51:27,280
I'm just popping along.
She just looks at me and she's

884
00:51:27,280 --> 00:51:30,920
like, I could never tell you not
to do this.

885
00:51:31,520 --> 00:51:34,040
Yeah, she's up there and she.
Feels the bug and.

886
00:51:34,200 --> 00:51:37,000
She's like, this is, yeah.
Yeah, you.

887
00:51:37,000 --> 00:51:39,440
Know she's like that's cool
though that I mean you married.

888
00:51:39,440 --> 00:51:43,440
Well, you know, it's like, is it
Mr. Wonderful who always says

889
00:51:43,440 --> 00:51:46,280
that, you know, the most
important decision you're ever

890
00:51:46,280 --> 00:51:48,720
going to make in life is who you
choose as your partner?

891
00:51:49,160 --> 00:51:52,920
And, and it's true.
I mean, I know so many people

892
00:51:52,920 --> 00:51:55,600
whose wives nag at them.
And you know, it's like, she

893
00:51:55,600 --> 00:51:58,600
just doesn't get what I do.
And you know, you picked wrong

894
00:51:58,600 --> 00:52:01,000
there, Mr. Like, she's not a bad
person.

895
00:52:01,000 --> 00:52:02,720
She's just not a good match for
you.

896
00:52:03,160 --> 00:52:06,920
And that's never going to solve
itself because she's not just

897
00:52:06,920 --> 00:52:09,520
going to suddenly come to your
side and you're not going to

898
00:52:09,520 --> 00:52:11,600
quit your career.
So guess what?

899
00:52:11,600 --> 00:52:12,920
You're going to have trouble
forever.

900
00:52:13,400 --> 00:52:19,200
And also I try to be very clear.
On it too with myself is she did

901
00:52:19,200 --> 00:52:25,720
say on, on, on on the Unity tour
where I was out with AWOL Nation

902
00:52:26,280 --> 00:52:30,400
and we were out with 311.
That was the longest tour that

903
00:52:30,400 --> 00:52:32,840
I've ever been on.
I think it clocked in close to

904
00:52:32,840 --> 00:52:37,200
seven weeks.
And, you know, she came to me.

905
00:52:38,240 --> 00:52:41,440
She came to me and she's like,
she's like, you need to not

906
00:52:41,440 --> 00:52:43,400
forget I didn't sign up for
this.

907
00:52:43,680 --> 00:52:46,400
Yeah, which is true.
She she signed up for Hothouse

908
00:52:47,280 --> 00:52:49,800
and then all of a sudden not
Shithouse.

909
00:52:51,880 --> 00:52:53,720
Yeah, yeah.
She signed up for Hothouse and

910
00:52:53,720 --> 00:52:57,440
you delivered Shithouse.
Yeah, this is the She signed up

911
00:52:57,440 --> 00:53:00,720
for this shithouse.
So like, yeah, yeah, there's

912
00:53:00,720 --> 00:53:03,120
bound to be some.
Surprises there, yeah, but

913
00:53:03,120 --> 00:53:06,800
keeping that.
You know, in my mind and at the

914
00:53:06,800 --> 00:53:10,480
front of you know, like this is
all great and you know, I love

915
00:53:10,480 --> 00:53:15,240
what I do and it's so rewarding
and I get to meet such amazing

916
00:53:15,240 --> 00:53:20,280
people and see amazing places.
But I always need to keep her on

917
00:53:20,280 --> 00:53:23,520
the front of my mind and tell
her, hey, I'll quit it tomorrow

918
00:53:24,160 --> 00:53:26,680
if you need me to quit it cuz
that's the other side of earth,

919
00:53:26,680 --> 00:53:28,440
right?
Good for you man.

920
00:53:28,520 --> 00:53:31,000
You know what?
But you've said so many things,

921
00:53:31,000 --> 00:53:34,400
like, I hate to pretend like
we're relationship counselors,

922
00:53:34,400 --> 00:53:38,440
but you've said so many things
about communication and about

923
00:53:38,840 --> 00:53:42,400
being honest with each other and
about like having those open

924
00:53:42,400 --> 00:53:44,640
talks and, and how do you feel
about this?

925
00:53:44,640 --> 00:53:46,320
Well, I don't know, how do you
feel about this?

926
00:53:46,320 --> 00:53:48,120
And you know, that's where it's
all at.

927
00:53:48,120 --> 00:53:50,400
Like as long as everybody's on
the same page and you're

928
00:53:50,400 --> 00:53:53,960
communicating, you know, there's
going to be little flare ups

929
00:53:53,960 --> 00:53:57,200
every now and then of oops, I'm
gone for three weeks, oops, you

930
00:53:57,200 --> 00:54:01,400
know, this happened or whatever.
But those are those are you can

931
00:54:01,400 --> 00:54:04,440
deal with those when you know,
everybody's on the same page.

932
00:54:04,920 --> 00:54:12,600
So I think we can deal with a.
Lot of the issues of everything

933
00:54:12,800 --> 00:54:16,960
you can pick and choose whatever
you want with communication when

934
00:54:16,960 --> 00:54:21,560
people sit down and talk to each
other as people with with with

935
00:54:21,600 --> 00:54:26,080
with respect and operating grace
and and you know.

936
00:54:28,200 --> 00:54:31,360
Things things aren't.
As things can be simplified real

937
00:54:31,360 --> 00:54:34,360
quick, you know, when you have
a, when you have a little powwow

938
00:54:34,360 --> 00:54:38,280
on the deck and somebody's
talking about my PA, my sight

939
00:54:38,280 --> 00:54:41,840
lines, and everyone's just like,
all right, guys, hey, what

940
00:54:41,840 --> 00:54:44,440
should we do?
Yeah, You know, I'll give a

941
00:54:44,440 --> 00:54:45,760
little solution.
Not the problem.

942
00:54:45,760 --> 00:54:47,200
Yeah.
Yeah, you can.

943
00:54:47,200 --> 00:54:50,040
Fix stuff so quick.
When you show up on deck and

944
00:54:50,040 --> 00:54:53,240
you're screaming at hands and
you're wondering why you're

945
00:54:53,240 --> 00:54:56,120
having a bad day and why your
blood pressure's.

946
00:54:56,120 --> 00:54:58,880
High and why you chose that?
Yeah, like.

947
00:54:58,880 --> 00:55:02,280
I come in and, like, I want
hands to be laughing and joking

948
00:55:02,280 --> 00:55:05,000
with the crew, too.
They're not like some, you know,

949
00:55:05,000 --> 00:55:07,280
sled dogs, like come in, hang
out.

950
00:55:07,280 --> 00:55:10,760
Hey, yeah, could you do this?
And you, man, you, you just

951
00:55:10,760 --> 00:55:14,800
treat people with, you know,
respect and be kind.

952
00:55:15,360 --> 00:55:19,600
And I mean, especially in our
industry, like, people will go

953
00:55:19,600 --> 00:55:24,240
through walls for you.
But if you come in and you know

954
00:55:24,240 --> 00:55:28,960
you're talking down to him and
like, hey, you come on, man, you

955
00:55:28,960 --> 00:55:32,080
know, And when I see it on on my
deck.

956
00:55:33,840 --> 00:55:36,880
I and.
Here's one thing where I can get

957
00:55:36,880 --> 00:55:40,760
in trouble.
Because as opposed to like, big

958
00:55:40,760 --> 00:55:44,560
hat, no cattle, big hat.
Owns cattle.

959
00:55:44,560 --> 00:55:47,880
Like you, I don't care who I'm
talking to you like yeah, I own

960
00:55:47,880 --> 00:55:50,440
all this stuff too.
I'm here because I love to do

961
00:55:50,440 --> 00:55:54,200
this, but like you're talking on
the same level with me.

962
00:55:54,200 --> 00:55:57,480
Whether you know it or not.
I will call it out immediately.

963
00:55:57,880 --> 00:55:59,200
Immediately.
It's like, no.

964
00:55:59,240 --> 00:56:02,080
And I don't care who you are
because it's just you you're

965
00:56:02,080 --> 00:56:06,640
giving, you're giving your camp
a bad name or your company a bad

966
00:56:06,640 --> 00:56:10,280
name because everybody talks
about, oh, is this person coming

967
00:56:10,280 --> 00:56:11,680
through?
Yeah, when they came through to

968
00:56:11,680 --> 00:56:14,800
me.
Those guys are assholes like.

969
00:56:14,840 --> 00:56:18,240
And then not only that, that can
go all the way up to your band,

970
00:56:18,240 --> 00:56:19,920
because if you guys are
assholes, then your band is

971
00:56:19,920 --> 00:56:21,320
assholes.
Yeah, right.

972
00:56:21,720 --> 00:56:24,480
Well, yeah, you're a
representative, exactly.

973
00:56:25,720 --> 00:56:28,360
But you're having a great day.
I agree with you completely.

974
00:56:28,360 --> 00:56:31,640
I love the whole, I love the
whole concept of, you know, just

975
00:56:31,640 --> 00:56:37,840
good communication and and yeah,
I mean, it took me a lot of time

976
00:56:37,840 --> 00:56:42,760
in my own career and my own life
to not be a hot head and to not

977
00:56:42,760 --> 00:56:47,000
just immediately react to things
and immediately jump in guns a

978
00:56:47,000 --> 00:56:50,320
blazing and all that stuff.
Because we're passionate people.

979
00:56:50,320 --> 00:56:54,320
And I'm in business, I'm an
incredibly passionate person,

980
00:56:54,680 --> 00:56:58,520
but I've learned to turn the
passion into a superpower as

981
00:56:58,520 --> 00:57:02,400
opposed to into something that
just flares things up and makes

982
00:57:02,400 --> 00:57:04,200
them bigger problems than they
are.

983
00:57:04,200 --> 00:57:08,960
And generally that's just about
timing, you know, like when you

984
00:57:08,960 --> 00:57:11,800
yell and it it's the same way I
raised my son.

985
00:57:12,040 --> 00:57:15,160
You know, if you yell all the
time, it's just fucking noise.

986
00:57:15,160 --> 00:57:18,080
At the end of the day, it it
doesn't matter anymore.

987
00:57:18,360 --> 00:57:22,200
But if you only yell once in a
while, they know you're serious,

988
00:57:22,840 --> 00:57:24,040
you know, take notice.
Oh.

989
00:57:24,080 --> 00:57:25,400
Yeah, they know you.
Oh.

990
00:57:25,480 --> 00:57:29,840
Now he's mad, you know, versus
being mad all the time.

991
00:57:29,840 --> 00:57:31,960
You're just an asshole.
You know, like if you're just

992
00:57:31,960 --> 00:57:33,520
yelling all the time, you're an
asshole.

993
00:57:34,600 --> 00:57:36,280
Yeah.
It took me a lot of years to

994
00:57:36,280 --> 00:57:38,960
learn that though.
And it was, it wasn't because I

995
00:57:38,960 --> 00:57:40,440
was an asshole, even though I
am.

996
00:57:40,920 --> 00:57:46,000
It was because I'm extremely
passionate and, and I was

997
00:57:46,000 --> 00:57:49,800
wearing that passion on my
sleeve as opposed to to sort of

998
00:57:50,120 --> 00:57:53,840
curtailing the passion and using
it as a superpower.

999
00:57:54,160 --> 00:57:57,560
And that's what I try to do now.
And, and it serves me very, very

1000
00:57:57,560 --> 00:58:00,240
well.
So and I, I treat people the

1001
00:58:00,240 --> 00:58:02,640
same when they're coming at me.
Like if if people come at me

1002
00:58:02,640 --> 00:58:08,280
yelling, I'm either like, okay,
you know, if this is is you and

1003
00:58:08,280 --> 00:58:10,640
this is how we're going to deal
with this, I'm going to take a

1004
00:58:10,640 --> 00:58:12,920
little bit of a time out and
we'll talk about it later when

1005
00:58:12,920 --> 00:58:16,840
you're when you're a little more
capable of having a human

1006
00:58:16,840 --> 00:58:19,720
conversation.
No, no, no, I'm sorry, I'm

1007
00:58:19,720 --> 00:58:21,160
sorry.
I'm just a little pissed off

1008
00:58:21,160 --> 00:58:23,040
right now.
OK, that's cool.

1009
00:58:23,040 --> 00:58:25,920
I understand that and I accept
that and and, you know, let's

1010
00:58:25,920 --> 00:58:29,440
talk about that.
But, you know, so, yeah, there's

1011
00:58:29,440 --> 00:58:32,600
just ways without being
condescending and, and stuff

1012
00:58:32,600 --> 00:58:34,880
like that.
There's ways to to just be

1013
00:58:34,920 --> 00:58:37,040
better.
But I love the whole thing with

1014
00:58:37,080 --> 00:58:39,720
with, you know, your
communication with your wife and

1015
00:58:39,720 --> 00:58:43,120
how you guys have sort of set
some boundaries and every once

1016
00:58:43,120 --> 00:58:45,400
in a while you got to break that
boundary and then come right

1017
00:58:45,400 --> 00:58:47,800
back in again, as long as
there's some communication

1018
00:58:47,800 --> 00:58:48,920
involved and stuff.
So that's.

1019
00:58:48,960 --> 00:58:50,360
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean.

1020
00:58:51,200 --> 00:58:53,480
I, you know, I'll never be able
to win the lottery because I

1021
00:58:53,480 --> 00:58:55,800
already hit once with her.
So that's just the way it is.

1022
00:58:56,200 --> 00:58:58,640
Let me ask you a crazy.
Question that you might not even

1023
00:58:58,640 --> 00:59:00,360
want to answer.
Go for it.

1024
00:59:00,360 --> 00:59:04,240
So if if you had a genie pop up
right now and he said I'm going

1025
00:59:04,240 --> 00:59:08,280
to give you a choice, you can
either have a business that

1026
00:59:08,280 --> 00:59:12,160
becomes, you know, a $10 million
business that's wildly

1027
00:59:12,160 --> 00:59:15,440
successful, but you got to
completely give up lighting

1028
00:59:15,440 --> 00:59:18,920
design.
Or, you know, you can go bump

1029
00:59:19,960 --> 00:59:23,760
Koenig and become the LD for
Metallica, or you can become the

1030
00:59:23,760 --> 00:59:28,400
LD for Beyoncé or choose
whatever artist in the world and

1031
00:59:28,400 --> 00:59:31,040
you become their full time LD
for the next 10 years.

1032
00:59:31,560 --> 00:59:34,320
Which would you choose?
Well, so here's the deal.

1033
00:59:34,640 --> 00:59:38,360
That that choice is actually
career family.

1034
00:59:38,360 --> 00:59:40,360
So I'd have to I'd have to
choose hot house.

1035
00:59:40,400 --> 00:59:44,360
Wow, that's such a.
Great, good for you.

1036
00:59:44,600 --> 00:59:46,920
What a great answer.
As much as you love lighting

1037
00:59:46,920 --> 00:59:49,800
design, he's he's adorable man
I.

1038
00:59:50,240 --> 00:59:53,000
Love being with that dude yeah,
I I get it because I.

1039
00:59:53,000 --> 00:59:55,200
Would make that same choice for
that same reason.

1040
00:59:55,200 --> 00:59:57,800
By the way, there's no way I
would have left my kid when he

1041
00:59:57,800 --> 01:00:01,000
was 4 1/2 years old.
You could have held 14 guns to

1042
01:00:01,000 --> 01:00:02,880
my head.
And I would have said shoot me

1043
01:00:02,880 --> 01:00:06,080
because I ain't leaving.
Well, and and my wife, I mean

1044
01:00:06,080 --> 01:00:08,240
that.
Jordan's my wife, but she's

1045
01:00:08,280 --> 01:00:11,320
she's my best friend.
I mean, yeah, when like, when

1046
01:00:11,800 --> 01:00:13,480
people be like, oh, what are you
doing this weekend?

1047
01:00:13,480 --> 01:00:15,440
And it's like, oh, we're we're
going to a show.

1048
01:00:15,440 --> 01:00:18,280
And they're like, you, you still
go to concerts?

1049
01:00:18,280 --> 01:00:20,800
I'm like, yeah, me and my wife
go to concerts.

1050
01:00:20,800 --> 01:00:22,320
That's our happy place.
Yeah.

1051
01:00:22,320 --> 01:00:25,920
You know, like go to the
festival, have fun.

1052
01:00:25,920 --> 01:00:28,320
You know, like I have to turn
that side of my brain off where

1053
01:00:28,320 --> 01:00:30,840
I'm analyzing everything going
like, listen, you know, I got to

1054
01:00:31,760 --> 01:00:33,640
kill that because I don't want
to kill it for her.

1055
01:00:34,120 --> 01:00:35,880
She's like you judging
everything right now.

1056
01:00:35,880 --> 01:00:38,720
I'm like, I'm trying not to.
I'm trying not to not not

1057
01:00:38,720 --> 01:00:41,800
outwardly.
In my own head, perhaps, but not

1058
01:00:41,800 --> 01:00:44,280
outwardly.
I won't say anything, but I mean

1059
01:00:44,280 --> 01:00:44,840
we.
We.

1060
01:00:45,160 --> 01:00:49,200
We have such a, you know, we
have such a great life.

1061
01:00:49,200 --> 01:00:52,440
And then, you know, with with
the COVID surprise of Griffin

1062
01:00:52,440 --> 01:00:56,520
coming into the mix, like
especially for such a dark time

1063
01:00:56,520 --> 01:00:57,960
for all of us.
I mean, that's when you and I

1064
01:00:57,960 --> 01:01:02,400
met was at, you know, such a
crazy time for for all of us and

1065
01:01:02,400 --> 01:01:05,560
you know, to have no income
coming in and all of a sudden

1066
01:01:05,560 --> 01:01:08,400
it's like another mouth to feed
and freaking out over that.

1067
01:01:08,400 --> 01:01:11,080
And then now you've got this
little person.

1068
01:01:11,280 --> 01:01:13,080
It all works.
So it all finds a way to.

1069
01:01:13,080 --> 01:01:16,200
Work when you have that little
person who you look at and you

1070
01:01:16,200 --> 01:01:18,000
go, Oh my God, I'm responsible
for this.

1071
01:01:18,360 --> 01:01:21,920
Like I'll never forget leaving
the hospital.

1072
01:01:22,680 --> 01:01:25,640
And I'm like, what do you mean
you're letting us go?

1073
01:01:26,520 --> 01:01:29,200
Well, you're done.
Like what the what the hell do

1074
01:01:29,200 --> 01:01:32,200
you want from us?
And I'm like, well, don't I have

1075
01:01:32,200 --> 01:01:35,120
like an instruction manual or
something like, what do we do,

1076
01:01:35,360 --> 01:01:37,320
you know?
I don't know what to do, you

1077
01:01:37,320 --> 01:01:39,360
know, And I was 40 years old.
How slow?

1078
01:01:39,360 --> 01:01:41,360
Did you drive home?
Well, no.

1079
01:01:41,360 --> 01:01:43,640
Here's the thing.
I had to have people from the

1080
01:01:43,640 --> 01:01:47,520
hospital, I had to have people
from the hospital come outside

1081
01:01:47,520 --> 01:01:50,880
to the parking lot to show me
how to put the freaking the the

1082
01:01:50,880 --> 01:01:55,920
seat into the into the BMWI was
like, I don't know how to do

1083
01:01:55,920 --> 01:01:57,880
this.
Like where's this before

1084
01:01:57,880 --> 01:01:59,120
YouTube?
Right.

1085
01:01:59,120 --> 01:02:03,920
So, well, I mean, it was. 21
years ago, so I don't remember

1086
01:02:03,920 --> 01:02:06,560
if that was before YouTube, but
probably pretty early in

1087
01:02:06,560 --> 01:02:08,280
YouTube.
You couldn't just YouTube

1088
01:02:08,280 --> 01:02:10,600
everything, you know, figure out
how to do it.

1089
01:02:11,120 --> 01:02:14,560
But yeah, I mean, it was just
like, I couldn't believe they

1090
01:02:14,560 --> 01:02:18,360
were letting us leave without an
operating manual or how do we

1091
01:02:18,360 --> 01:02:22,120
keep this human alive?
You know, like, does he eat

1092
01:02:22,120 --> 01:02:23,880
popcorn?
Does he like steak?

1093
01:02:23,880 --> 01:02:26,680
What do you do?
You know, when does he when can

1094
01:02:26,680 --> 01:02:29,000
he have his first beer?
I don't know any of these

1095
01:02:29,000 --> 01:02:31,760
things, right?
Let alone like, I put the seat

1096
01:02:31,760 --> 01:02:34,200
in backwards.
I had the car seat in backwards

1097
01:02:34,200 --> 01:02:37,120
because, you know, it's supposed
to be rear facing instead of

1098
01:02:37,120 --> 01:02:40,720
forward facing or whatever.
I did it backwards and I got in

1099
01:02:40,720 --> 01:02:43,320
trouble for that.
And you know, it was just like,

1100
01:02:43,320 --> 01:02:49,000
wow, a kid is actually not not
only financially counting on me

1101
01:02:49,000 --> 01:02:52,200
now, but literally to stay
alive.

1102
01:02:52,200 --> 01:02:55,000
We have to feed them.
We got to wash them every now

1103
01:02:55,000 --> 01:02:57,040
and then.
You got to change a diaper here

1104
01:02:57,040 --> 01:02:58,880
and there.
You know, it's like, what the

1105
01:02:58,880 --> 01:03:01,920
hell?
But it and I don't know about

1106
01:03:01,920 --> 01:03:05,160
for you.
Like when?

1107
01:03:05,280 --> 01:03:07,920
When we were in the.
In the birthing section of the

1108
01:03:07,920 --> 01:03:11,640
hospital, like, we were just
surrounded by ninjas like these

1109
01:03:11,640 --> 01:03:16,480
nurses and everybody there.
Like, they were incredible.

1110
01:03:16,480 --> 01:03:19,480
And then as soon as he was born
and everything was cool, they

1111
01:03:19,480 --> 01:03:23,240
moved us to the other wing and
like, they're like, fucking

1112
01:03:23,240 --> 01:03:25,480
figure it out.
Yeah, exactly.

1113
01:03:25,760 --> 01:03:30,040
Well, we had a.
Problem and you know, no

1114
01:03:30,040 --> 01:03:33,480
politics, no nothing.
We had a problem because my

1115
01:03:33,480 --> 01:03:40,720
ex-wife now didn't want to
breastfeed and I wasn't

1116
01:03:40,720 --> 01:03:42,720
breastfed and look at I turned
out perfect.

1117
01:03:43,240 --> 01:03:50,920
So I'm just joking by the way.
But you know, the nurses and and

1118
01:03:50,920 --> 01:03:55,360
stuff like were treating us like
we were freaking some kind of

1119
01:03:55,360 --> 01:04:01,000
space aliens, like you're not
breastfeeding, you know, like we

1120
01:04:01,000 --> 01:04:04,240
were terrible people.
Like we were depriving our son

1121
01:04:04,240 --> 01:04:07,320
of health and all this stuff.
They were treating us like shit.

1122
01:04:07,600 --> 01:04:13,360
And so finally our pediatrician
came in for his first visit in

1123
01:04:13,360 --> 01:04:16,040
the hospital to, to meet the
baby and everything.

1124
01:04:16,680 --> 01:04:18,160
And he said, do you guys have
any questions?

1125
01:04:18,160 --> 01:04:19,800
And I said, how much time you
got?

1126
01:04:20,320 --> 01:04:25,760
Because I got questions.
But my first question was, can

1127
01:04:25,760 --> 01:04:27,680
you give me the real scoop on
breastfeeding?

1128
01:04:27,680 --> 01:04:30,440
Because everybody's freaking us
out a little bit right now like

1129
01:04:30,440 --> 01:04:34,280
they're guilting us and making
us look like a bunch of assholes

1130
01:04:34,280 --> 01:04:36,360
because we're not planning on
breastfeeding.

1131
01:04:36,960 --> 01:04:41,840
And he said, listen, Marcel, I
have two kids that are two years

1132
01:04:41,840 --> 01:04:49,440
apart, two sons and 1 was
breastfed and one was fed

1133
01:04:49,680 --> 01:04:54,160
formula.
And he said the one fed formula

1134
01:04:54,640 --> 01:04:59,280
is smarter, easier to to deal
with, he's more reasonable.

1135
01:04:59,520 --> 01:05:03,080
He's like, you would think if
anything, if one of them had an

1136
01:05:03,080 --> 01:05:07,920
advantage, it was the one that
was fed formula, he said.

1137
01:05:07,920 --> 01:05:12,560
Here's the thing, the first four
months, there's a lot of stuff

1138
01:05:12,560 --> 01:05:15,960
in breast milk that keeps babies
alive.

1139
01:05:15,960 --> 01:05:18,480
Basically.
There's stuff that that their

1140
01:05:18,480 --> 01:05:22,160
immune system, it builds their
immune system very, very quickly

1141
01:05:22,360 --> 01:05:24,560
right out of the birth canal,
basically.

1142
01:05:24,760 --> 01:05:28,720
Yeah, immune system and the.
Latching like that, Yeah, yeah,

1143
01:05:28,720 --> 01:05:30,960
connection.
Well, the latching we all learn

1144
01:05:30,960 --> 01:05:33,200
when.
We're like 16 and get our first

1145
01:05:33,200 --> 01:05:37,120
real boob in our mouth, you
know, But but the other part,

1146
01:05:37,160 --> 01:05:39,160
yeah.
So I figured it out eventually.

1147
01:05:39,160 --> 01:05:42,760
You know, the latching I I got
into but but no.

1148
01:05:42,840 --> 01:05:46,720
And, and he said literally just
don't go on airplanes or in

1149
01:05:46,720 --> 01:05:49,240
crowds with the baby in the
first four months and you're

1150
01:05:49,240 --> 01:05:51,600
fine.
He said, in fact, there are

1151
01:05:51,600 --> 01:05:55,240
things in formula that are not
in breast milk that are equally

1152
01:05:55,240 --> 01:05:58,600
important or even sometimes more
important in the development of

1153
01:05:58,600 --> 01:06:01,640
that child.
And you're not sacrificing

1154
01:06:01,640 --> 01:06:04,280
anything.
So if they if they, you tell

1155
01:06:04,320 --> 01:06:08,160
them to go fuck themselves.
The doctor actually said that to

1156
01:06:08,160 --> 01:06:11,080
me and I was like, good, thank
you, because that's kind of what

1157
01:06:11,080 --> 01:06:13,120
I did.
Yeah, for, for me.

1158
01:06:13,480 --> 01:06:17,840
And this goes, man, for me, and
this is just a life thing.

1159
01:06:19,160 --> 01:06:20,680
Balance.
Yeah.

1160
01:06:20,680 --> 01:06:24,040
If you have too much of
anything, yeah, it's not a good

1161
01:06:24,040 --> 01:06:26,160
thing.
Yeah, you know, it's so true.

1162
01:06:26,280 --> 01:06:27,440
Yeah.
It just just.

1163
01:06:27,440 --> 01:06:31,160
Balance.
Like, you know, in in lighting

1164
01:06:31,160 --> 01:06:34,720
design balance, you know, like,
yeah, you don't want to turn

1165
01:06:34,720 --> 01:06:36,440
everything on all.
At once, just because you have

1166
01:06:36,440 --> 01:06:37,400
it.
Yeah.

1167
01:06:37,480 --> 01:06:39,840
I mean, gosh.
You know, when people ask me to

1168
01:06:39,840 --> 01:06:42,880
like, well, so do you have any
tips for like, you know, getting

1169
01:06:42,880 --> 01:06:44,960
into the lighting industry?
I'm like learning to sit on your

1170
01:06:44,960 --> 01:06:46,800
hands.
Yeah, yeah.

1171
01:06:46,960 --> 01:06:48,360
When you.
Got all the toys you want to use

1172
01:06:48,360 --> 01:06:49,880
all?
The toys I still struggle with

1173
01:06:49,880 --> 01:06:53,240
it all the time, like don't use
all the toys I always love.

1174
01:06:53,240 --> 01:06:57,040
Designers who who start with
darkness, you know what I mean?

1175
01:06:57,040 --> 01:07:00,000
Like it just, you don't start
with everything on, you start

1176
01:07:00,000 --> 01:07:03,200
with everything off, you know,
because everything's building

1177
01:07:03,200 --> 01:07:06,080
and, and darkness is still
important.

1178
01:07:06,120 --> 01:07:09,040
You know, shadows are important
and all that kind of stuff.

1179
01:07:09,040 --> 01:07:11,680
I love that.
And then it's it goes through

1180
01:07:11,680 --> 01:07:13,080
to.
Everything else, you know, with,

1181
01:07:13,080 --> 01:07:15,600
with with my son, it's like,
well, what about screen time?

1182
01:07:15,600 --> 01:07:18,400
It's like balance.
Yeah, yes, he needs luck with

1183
01:07:18,480 --> 01:07:19,960
that.
Yes, He good luck with that.

1184
01:07:20,040 --> 01:07:22,480
I, I you're.
So going to live, lose control

1185
01:07:22,480 --> 01:07:24,120
on that.
You know, I had that

1186
01:07:24,120 --> 01:07:26,160
conversation with someone this
morning, he said.

1187
01:07:26,160 --> 01:07:30,200
You know, I'm going to teach my
kid to not I'm not going to

1188
01:07:30,200 --> 01:07:33,240
allow my kids screen time.
And I said good fucking luck.

1189
01:07:33,280 --> 01:07:36,240
Like you have no control over
that whatsoever.

1190
01:07:36,560 --> 01:07:39,160
You can block them.
You can put apps on their phone.

1191
01:07:39,440 --> 01:07:41,360
They figure it out way better
than you do.

1192
01:07:41,560 --> 01:07:43,720
You know they'll and then either
that or they're just.

1193
01:07:43,800 --> 01:07:48,200
Grabbed on your leg, going hey,
hey, hey, you're like, throw

1194
01:07:48,320 --> 01:07:49,280
that out.
The other problem.

1195
01:07:49,640 --> 01:07:52,200
I need a minute.
Yeah, have you ever done a cross

1196
01:07:52,200 --> 01:07:54,440
country?
Flight without an iPad?

1197
01:07:54,440 --> 01:07:56,640
Don't even bother because I've
been there.

1198
01:07:56,640 --> 01:07:59,520
Like I had a kid when there was
no iPads.

1199
01:07:59,520 --> 01:08:01,560
You know, there wasn't iPhones
back then.

1200
01:08:02,000 --> 01:08:05,200
And so, you know, you had to
bring a DVD player, a bunch of

1201
01:08:05,200 --> 01:08:07,760
DVD's, some books, some
coloring.

1202
01:08:08,000 --> 01:08:10,920
You had to have a freaking
duffel bag full of stuff just to

1203
01:08:10,920 --> 01:08:13,240
keep them busy.
When the iPad came out, I went

1204
01:08:14,040 --> 01:08:16,800
toss all that stuff.
I just need this one device and

1205
01:08:16,800 --> 01:08:19,080
he's happy as hell.
For a 5 hour flight.

1206
01:08:19,600 --> 01:08:21,640
That's pretty amazing, yeah.
Yeah.

1207
01:08:21,880 --> 01:08:25,760
So back, back to the business.
So we, we kind of touched on the

1208
01:08:25,760 --> 01:08:28,880
whole private equity thing and
I'm not slamming private equity

1209
01:08:28,880 --> 01:08:31,479
because I think there's
obviously a need for it in our

1210
01:08:31,479 --> 01:08:35,479
industry.
The the problem is which is also

1211
01:08:35,479 --> 01:08:38,680
the opportunity.
These shows just keep getting

1212
01:08:38,680 --> 01:08:42,920
bigger and you know, the stadium
shows now the requirements for

1213
01:08:42,920 --> 01:08:46,760
some of these stadium shows, but
even arena shows, it's like I

1214
01:08:46,760 --> 01:08:49,920
remember a day first of all,
when there was no moving lights,

1215
01:08:50,479 --> 01:08:54,279
but I remember when moving
lights happened and it was like,

1216
01:08:54,520 --> 01:08:58,760
you know, 24 movers on a rig was
that was a big deal, right?

1217
01:08:59,920 --> 01:09:04,760
Like now, you know, the average
arena tour probably has 5600

1218
01:09:04,760 --> 01:09:09,080
moving lights and, and you know,
stadiums over 1000.

1219
01:09:09,600 --> 01:09:13,120
I mean, it's crazy.
It's it's absolutely.

1220
01:09:13,120 --> 01:09:18,560
Insane and.
It's making it so I.

1221
01:09:18,560 --> 01:09:23,359
Mean it.
It affects how much certain

1222
01:09:23,359 --> 01:09:26,600
positions can make because it's
constantly like the more more

1223
01:09:26,600 --> 01:09:29,240
more.
And then you have the other

1224
01:09:29,240 --> 01:09:34,120
nefarious ones in the room that
will not say who they are that

1225
01:09:34,120 --> 01:09:36,960
are just soaking every dollar
out of every tour.

1226
01:09:37,760 --> 01:09:41,359
And they're making it.
So, I mean, these the artists

1227
01:09:41,359 --> 01:09:45,240
are now touring to stay
relevant, but only the biggest

1228
01:09:45,240 --> 01:09:47,840
tours are actually making any
money.

1229
01:09:48,240 --> 01:09:49,840
Yeah, there's a bigger gap
between.

1230
01:09:49,840 --> 01:09:52,479
The haves and have nots now.
And it's funny because I was

1231
01:09:52,560 --> 01:09:55,040
recently talking to somebody
from Live Nation, somebody

1232
01:09:55,040 --> 01:09:59,240
pretty high up in Live Nation
who I said, what, what do you

1233
01:09:59,240 --> 01:10:01,560
think 2026 is going to look
like?

1234
01:10:01,560 --> 01:10:04,960
Or maybe the end of 25 going
into 26, What do you think it's

1235
01:10:04,960 --> 01:10:07,120
going to look like?
And he said, well, we're showing

1236
01:10:07,120 --> 01:10:10,480
really strong blah, blah, blah.
Like he gave me the company

1237
01:10:10,480 --> 01:10:14,200
line, strong numbers and blah
blah blah and good growth.

1238
01:10:14,200 --> 01:10:16,760
And I said but where?
And he said stadiums.

1239
01:10:17,200 --> 01:10:19,760
And I said, So what about
arenas?

1240
01:10:19,760 --> 01:10:23,120
And he goes, arenas are going to
do OK, but they're softer than

1241
01:10:23,120 --> 01:10:27,880
stadiums and smaller theater
shows, and even some of the

1242
01:10:27,880 --> 01:10:29,960
sheds and stuff aren't going to
do as well.

1243
01:10:30,120 --> 01:10:34,360
And, and I was like, really?
And he said, you know, there's

1244
01:10:34,360 --> 01:10:38,520
just such a hunger for these big
stadium shows right now and for

1245
01:10:38,520 --> 01:10:41,560
Live Nation, they're so
lucrative because they own the

1246
01:10:41,560 --> 01:10:45,760
stadiums most of the time.
So it's interesting the

1247
01:10:45,760 --> 01:10:49,440
direction this business is going
because you know, the really big

1248
01:10:51,240 --> 01:10:54,200
seem to, it's funny because it's
almost the opposite of the

1249
01:10:54,200 --> 01:10:58,440
industry, our industry, our, our
companies, I see that the

1250
01:10:58,440 --> 01:11:02,760
biggest and the smallest right
now are struggling and it's

1251
01:11:02,760 --> 01:11:05,640
usually due to a lack of capital
in some way.

1252
01:11:05,640 --> 01:11:08,640
Like, you know, you've got the
PRGS and solo techs and stuff

1253
01:11:08,640 --> 01:11:11,760
who are always fighting to get
additional capital in and our

1254
01:11:11,760 --> 01:11:14,920
loans are getting sold from this
private equity to this private

1255
01:11:14,920 --> 01:11:17,600
equity or whatever.
And then the smallest ones may

1256
01:11:17,600 --> 01:11:21,160
not have access to the capital
they need to be able to grow to

1257
01:11:21,160 --> 01:11:24,120
the next level.
And, and they don't have access

1258
01:11:24,120 --> 01:11:27,080
to those shows at the next level
unless they're able to buy a lot

1259
01:11:27,080 --> 01:11:31,200
more gear to get to those shows.
So there's sort of a crunch on

1260
01:11:31,200 --> 01:11:34,480
both ends.
But yeah, it's, I don't know.

1261
01:11:34,760 --> 01:11:37,760
It's, it seems dangerous.
It seems like we're headed for a

1262
01:11:37,760 --> 01:11:42,760
crash somehow.
You know, I, I just I.

1263
01:11:42,760 --> 01:11:48,920
Would feel.
So much better if I saw more of

1264
01:11:49,000 --> 01:11:52,320
a.
An actual.

1265
01:11:52,400 --> 01:11:58,560
Ecosystem happening like it used
to be, where it's like, you

1266
01:11:58,560 --> 01:12:03,000
know, oh, was it the London
Olympics?

1267
01:12:03,440 --> 01:12:07,320
Need more sharpies.
OK, Mr. Woodruff, we already

1268
01:12:07,320 --> 01:12:11,560
have 500 and something Sharpies
out there.

1269
01:12:11,560 --> 01:12:14,720
That's all we own.
Well I need another.

1270
01:12:14,920 --> 01:12:17,480
I can't remember what the figure
was but was another couple 100

1271
01:12:17,480 --> 01:12:27,440
sharpies so they had to go to.
A competitor.

1272
01:12:28,280 --> 01:12:29,960
And cross rent those other
fixtures.

1273
01:12:30,160 --> 01:12:33,240
Yeah, when?
You have more of an ecosystem.

1274
01:12:33,240 --> 01:12:37,360
Where, where you can set up the
next guy down to have some cross

1275
01:12:37,360 --> 01:12:40,480
rental and then he can set the
next guy down to have some more

1276
01:12:40,480 --> 01:12:42,640
cross.
When it becomes an ecosystem,

1277
01:12:42,640 --> 01:12:46,600
then the whole, the whole
business does better because

1278
01:12:46,640 --> 01:12:51,680
everyone is getting a piece of
those big dollars that's, you

1279
01:12:51,680 --> 01:12:55,680
know, starting to kick through
and it can help you make that

1280
01:12:55,680 --> 01:12:59,960
bigger purchase because you're
like, well, my buddy over here,

1281
01:13:00,040 --> 01:13:05,120
he, he, he said if you buy these
fixtures, he'll, he'll hold off

1282
01:13:05,120 --> 01:13:07,520
on buying some more cross rent
from you.

1283
01:13:07,520 --> 01:13:11,760
If you have the, and then you
work together, you know, with,

1284
01:13:11,840 --> 01:13:15,440
with other competitors and other
other shops.

1285
01:13:15,440 --> 01:13:17,000
It's so funny.
You've just created.

1286
01:13:17,000 --> 01:13:21,400
An ad for the new business that
I'm building which is called

1287
01:13:21,400 --> 01:13:29,160
Gearshare, which is basically a
completely AI driven matching

1288
01:13:30,280 --> 01:13:32,080
site.
It it's a marketplace.

1289
01:13:32,080 --> 01:13:36,080
But basically on one side, you
have a huge amount of inventory

1290
01:13:36,080 --> 01:13:38,160
from hundreds of companies or
thousands.

1291
01:13:38,280 --> 01:13:41,880
You have an AI search engine
that is basically finding

1292
01:13:41,880 --> 01:13:44,520
everything you need from
everywhere on earth, whether

1293
01:13:44,520 --> 01:13:47,240
they're the smallest companies
or the largest companies.

1294
01:13:47,680 --> 01:13:52,360
And So what that allows is
little companies like Hothouse

1295
01:13:52,720 --> 01:13:59,120
to be able to put their downtime
on inventory up for

1296
01:13:59,120 --> 01:14:02,360
availability.
So it's it's Airbnb for our

1297
01:14:02,360 --> 01:14:07,320
industry basically.
And because I feel like one of

1298
01:14:07,320 --> 01:14:10,000
the, and now it sounds like I'm
selling, but I'm not.

1299
01:14:10,000 --> 01:14:13,760
This is just my true feelings.
I feel like that one of the

1300
01:14:14,640 --> 01:14:19,240
challenges that our industry has
to overcome is this, every time

1301
01:14:19,240 --> 01:14:23,040
somebody says I need another
couple 100 Sharpies, you got to

1302
01:14:23,040 --> 01:14:28,520
go out and spend, you know, 200
* 5000 bucks or whatever, that's

1303
01:14:28,520 --> 01:14:33,800
$1,000,000 to go and buy another
couple 100 Sharpies.

1304
01:14:34,280 --> 01:14:39,200
And while the manufacturers love
that model, it's, it's not

1305
01:14:39,200 --> 01:14:42,880
sustainable on the rental
company side because you know,

1306
01:14:43,080 --> 01:14:47,280
there's so much debt being built
up to a point where it's just

1307
01:14:47,280 --> 01:14:51,320
incredibly unhealthy and, and
it, it creates just such an ugly

1308
01:14:51,320 --> 01:14:56,480
environment to do business in.
So I feel like if utilization is

1309
01:14:56,480 --> 01:14:59,120
currently at 50%, it needs to be
at 80%.

1310
01:14:59,120 --> 01:15:01,360
If it's currently at 70, it
needs to be at 90.

1311
01:15:01,360 --> 01:15:04,720
Whatever it is, it needs
utilization needs to be bumped

1312
01:15:04,720 --> 01:15:08,680
up so that you don't just have,
you know, all of this dry

1313
01:15:08,680 --> 01:15:12,800
inventory sitting there doing
nothing in between shows.

1314
01:15:13,000 --> 01:15:14,880
It should be being used on
another show.

1315
01:15:14,880 --> 01:15:17,960
That's good for the
sustainability of the planet.

1316
01:15:17,960 --> 01:15:20,200
It's good for the sustainability
of the industry.

1317
01:15:20,640 --> 01:15:26,680
And so anyways, it's something I
literally built 20 years ago and

1318
01:15:26,680 --> 01:15:29,560
then realized the technology
just wasn't ready for the big

1319
01:15:29,560 --> 01:15:31,920
show yet.
So I, I killed it before I

1320
01:15:31,920 --> 01:15:35,960
started it basically.
And for the last 20 years I've

1321
01:15:35,960 --> 01:15:39,320
sat around thinking somebody's
going to build this and nobody

1322
01:15:39,320 --> 01:15:41,400
ever really did.
So I just finally said, you know

1323
01:15:41,400 --> 01:15:44,840
what, I guess I got to do it.
So it launches in a couple of

1324
01:15:44,840 --> 01:15:49,160
months and I think stuff like
that isn't, it's really

1325
01:15:49,160 --> 01:15:52,680
important.
Because the, it, it's the

1326
01:15:52,680 --> 01:15:55,240
keeping up with the Joneses.
Oh, well, they just bought that.

1327
01:15:56,040 --> 01:15:59,600
I mean, it's dangerous.
Like the, the, the debt side.

1328
01:15:59,600 --> 01:16:02,320
I mean, I've, I've, I've, I've
done it, I've gone into debt,

1329
01:16:02,320 --> 01:16:08,160
I've made those moves, but I try
to be very, very cautious

1330
01:16:08,160 --> 01:16:14,800
because I mean, I've, I've, I've
seen, you know, election cycle

1331
01:16:14,800 --> 01:16:17,920
downturns and businesses, you
know, because, oh, it's a pause

1332
01:16:17,920 --> 01:16:22,440
off because even though nothing
really changes sometimes for

1333
01:16:22,440 --> 01:16:25,880
that client, they still want to
pump the brakes and you see

1334
01:16:25,880 --> 01:16:30,280
those ups and downs and then
COVID or, you know, all this

1335
01:16:30,280 --> 01:16:32,160
other type of stuff.
I want to make sure that I'm

1336
01:16:32,160 --> 01:16:35,960
nimble enough to to be able to
make it through the next once in

1337
01:16:35,960 --> 01:16:40,120
a lifetime crisis, seeing as
that's just my thing now, I

1338
01:16:40,120 --> 01:16:41,480
guess that's just a millennial
thing.

1339
01:16:41,480 --> 01:16:44,480
No, no, but it's smart.
It it's smart.

1340
01:16:44,880 --> 01:16:51,120
To like the thing that's going
to break you is debt and our

1341
01:16:51,120 --> 01:16:55,080
industry, I believe is carrying
a significant amount of debt

1342
01:16:55,080 --> 01:16:57,800
right now.
And it's because everyone's

1343
01:16:57,800 --> 01:16:59,240
trying to keep up with the
Joneses.

1344
01:16:59,240 --> 01:17:03,200
So if you've got the version 2,
I need the version 7, you know,

1345
01:17:03,640 --> 01:17:06,880
and I mean, if you just look at
sound systems, you know, like

1346
01:17:06,880 --> 01:17:12,040
the, it's incredible how much
people are willing to invest in

1347
01:17:12,040 --> 01:17:14,800
the latest L acoustic rigor, the
latest DNB rig.

1348
01:17:15,000 --> 01:17:18,360
That doesn't change a thing
about your revenue.

1349
01:17:18,560 --> 01:17:21,480
It doesn't change a thing about
how many tickets are sold in

1350
01:17:21,480 --> 01:17:23,800
that event.
Nothing, nothing.

1351
01:17:24,040 --> 01:17:28,160
You know, it's like, and anybody
who is in the moving light game,

1352
01:17:28,520 --> 01:17:33,640
you know, we're making these
incremental advancements and

1353
01:17:33,640 --> 01:17:36,760
everyone has to jump and buy all
of these new products.

1354
01:17:37,240 --> 01:17:40,000
And I get it.
I mean, it's, it's, it's sort of

1355
01:17:40,000 --> 01:17:43,720
a, a flywheel or a hamster wheel
that has to keep running, right.

1356
01:17:44,160 --> 01:17:51,400
But yeah, like I, I would love
to see a few less brands out

1357
01:17:51,400 --> 01:17:55,400
there and just a lot more focus
on the really great brands

1358
01:17:55,400 --> 01:17:56,800
'cause there are some great
brands.

1359
01:17:56,800 --> 01:17:59,880
You know, there are some really,
really great brands in the

1360
01:17:59,880 --> 01:18:02,280
moving light game, in the audio
game, etcetera.

1361
01:18:02,880 --> 01:18:06,640
And now we're seeing all these
like I cringe every time on

1362
01:18:07,320 --> 01:18:10,480
these, these whatever the light
networks are all called on

1363
01:18:10,480 --> 01:18:13,880
Facebook now, but I cringe when
I read these posts, you know,

1364
01:18:13,880 --> 01:18:18,640
has anyone been using sheds for
your shows or all of these other

1365
01:18:18,640 --> 01:18:20,840
like off brand Chinese brands
and stuff?

1366
01:18:22,720 --> 01:18:25,080
You know, really is that what
we've become?

1367
01:18:25,760 --> 01:18:28,600
Like, come on.
I mean, I get it.

1368
01:18:28,600 --> 01:18:30,680
Everybody's got to start
somewhere and I don't.

1369
01:18:30,680 --> 01:18:34,400
Try to dog people, but at the
end of the day, it's it's, it's

1370
01:18:35,280 --> 01:18:40,680
where it's hard for me is you
got all these people that I know

1371
01:18:40,680 --> 01:18:45,200
personally that are trying to
come up with new fixtures or how

1372
01:18:45,200 --> 01:18:49,520
to innovate and all this other
type of stuff and, you know,

1373
01:18:49,520 --> 01:18:54,680
within six months.
You know the knock.

1374
01:18:54,680 --> 01:18:59,880
Off is out there and you know
brat it just I mean as a

1375
01:18:59,880 --> 01:19:04,880
business owner, I I feel so hard
for for for the industry when

1376
01:19:04,880 --> 01:19:08,400
that stuff is happening and
whenever I see stuff that is a

1377
01:19:08,400 --> 01:19:13,040
little too much, I mean I send
it over and be like, hey, I

1378
01:19:13,040 --> 01:19:15,800
think you might be able to get
seasoned assist on this.

1379
01:19:15,800 --> 01:19:19,080
You know, well, it's funny,
right Before, right before I

1380
01:19:19,080 --> 01:19:22,120
got.
On this a good friend of mine

1381
01:19:22,120 --> 01:19:26,080
who owns a pretty large sound
company sent me this thing and

1382
01:19:26,080 --> 01:19:30,720
said have you seen this?
And So what they were doing is

1383
01:19:30,720 --> 01:19:35,400
they were looking online because
they have AL acoustic Cara rig

1384
01:19:35,520 --> 01:19:39,120
for sale with me and they were
looking online to see if there

1385
01:19:39,120 --> 01:19:42,880
were other ones for sale.
And they found this Chinese

1386
01:19:43,680 --> 01:19:50,360
direct knock off, called Cara 2
and sent it to me and I was

1387
01:19:50,360 --> 01:19:51,480
like.
I was shocked.

1388
01:19:51,920 --> 01:19:53,800
I was just like, that's
disgusting.

1389
01:19:54,160 --> 01:19:57,040
Well, you you saw the video of
the L.

1390
01:19:57,040 --> 01:20:00,800
Acoustics rigs getting destroyed
by ESI.

1391
01:20:00,920 --> 01:20:05,200
Yeah, I mean, like true.
The fact that they won and they

1392
01:20:05,200 --> 01:20:08,800
were able to grab that system
and take a dozer to it, like

1393
01:20:08,880 --> 01:20:12,960
good for you.
I mean, that's but it's so hard

1394
01:20:12,960 --> 01:20:15,520
like that.
If they weren't as big as L

1395
01:20:15,520 --> 01:20:18,400
Acoustic is, you know, there's
no way they would have been able

1396
01:20:18,400 --> 01:20:21,680
to do that.
How about the smaller companies

1397
01:20:21,680 --> 01:20:23,160
who are getting ripped off like
that?

1398
01:20:23,160 --> 01:20:27,280
Like, you know, you can't afford
to go to China and fight these

1399
01:20:27,280 --> 01:20:32,000
people on their on their soil
and take them to court and do

1400
01:20:32,000 --> 01:20:34,640
all these things to try and
protect your trademark or your

1401
01:20:34,640 --> 01:20:37,840
patent or whatever it it's just
too hard.

1402
01:20:37,840 --> 01:20:40,160
And they pop up so quickly.
And I mean, look at the MA

1403
01:20:40,160 --> 01:20:44,720
consoles, the MA 2 that sat on a
booth at LDI last year.

1404
01:20:44,720 --> 01:20:48,760
Like shocking, shocking just
completely.

1405
01:20:48,960 --> 01:20:52,000
And I know people, and I won't
say who they are, but I know

1406
01:20:52,000 --> 01:20:55,480
people who buy them and use
them, you know, Yeah.

1407
01:20:55,480 --> 01:21:00,880
And and honestly like.
And I will my I understand this

1408
01:21:00,880 --> 01:21:05,200
and my perspective is different.
Fort Myers is, it's not a small

1409
01:21:05,200 --> 01:21:11,080
town, but I didn't grow up with
any type of real technology

1410
01:21:11,080 --> 01:21:14,440
around.
So when it came to getting in

1411
01:21:14,440 --> 01:21:18,280
the lighting, what was holding
me back was I needed a console.

1412
01:21:19,200 --> 01:21:23,560
And you know, there all there is
is like more theaters around.

1413
01:21:23,560 --> 01:21:26,600
There's not any real venue that
would have a console.

1414
01:21:27,560 --> 01:21:33,400
So that's how I got in with
Kansas was because I didn't want

1415
01:21:33,400 --> 01:21:36,600
to buy a knock off because I
knew that that would mess me up,

1416
01:21:37,600 --> 01:21:42,040
but I also needed something that
I could afford and that

1417
01:21:42,040 --> 01:21:47,400
hopefully I could learn, you
know, but also this is where

1418
01:21:47,400 --> 01:21:53,600
when these consoles are so
expensive, it it it, it, it

1419
01:21:53,600 --> 01:21:57,880
turns into a, you know, in the
gatekeeping a little bit unless

1420
01:21:57,880 --> 01:22:00,640
you're in a bigger city because
like, how are you going to learn

1421
01:22:00,800 --> 01:22:03,440
the muscle memory on this stuff?
But the problem.

1422
01:22:03,440 --> 01:22:05,040
Is.
And and I think so few.

1423
01:22:05,040 --> 01:22:10,680
People recognize, and I'm not,
I'm not trying to excuse MA for

1424
01:22:10,680 --> 01:22:12,240
being super expensive or
anything.

1425
01:22:12,240 --> 01:22:16,680
Oh no, no, no.
But but The thing is to support

1426
01:22:16,680 --> 01:22:20,520
the software and to continue
advancing and and innovating the

1427
01:22:20,520 --> 01:22:24,040
software is very, very, very
expensive.

1428
01:22:24,120 --> 01:22:28,120
And you either have to charge
for every update you do that

1429
01:22:28,120 --> 01:22:33,160
everyone would just scowl at, or
you have to have a really high

1430
01:22:33,160 --> 01:22:35,240
starting price, you know,
because you're going to be

1431
01:22:35,240 --> 01:22:39,240
supporting the software forever.
So could they sell that console

1432
01:22:39,240 --> 01:22:41,880
for 1520 grand?
Sure, of course they could.

1433
01:22:41,880 --> 01:22:44,360
If you look at the hardware
that's there, put it all

1434
01:22:44,360 --> 01:22:48,960
together, I'm sure it's probably
567 grand in components, maybe

1435
01:22:48,960 --> 01:22:52,400
10, I don't know.
But even if it's 15 grand in

1436
01:22:52,400 --> 01:22:56,320
components, could you sell it at
30 for a brand new MA3 console?

1437
01:22:56,320 --> 01:22:58,480
Of course you could.
But then you're going to have to

1438
01:22:58,480 --> 01:23:01,240
charge for software updates
because, you know, they have how

1439
01:23:01,240 --> 01:23:05,760
many programmers that are, oh,
100% constantly improving that?

1440
01:23:05,960 --> 01:23:08,840
How many people that you?
And I know if we told.

1441
01:23:08,840 --> 01:23:15,240
Them look you can keep 2 but
there's a subscriber fee.

1442
01:23:15,800 --> 01:23:17,960
Yeah.
I know 5 off the top of my head

1443
01:23:17,960 --> 01:23:19,200
that would be.
Like, thank you.

1444
01:23:19,320 --> 01:23:21,520
Jesus, I don't want to learn
another thing.

1445
01:23:21,680 --> 01:23:25,480
Just let me keep my 2, you know?
Yeah, I've talked to multiples

1446
01:23:25,480 --> 01:23:26,160
about it.
They're like of.

1447
01:23:26,640 --> 01:23:28,520
Course.
The market, the market is there,

1448
01:23:28,520 --> 01:23:29,840
I mean.
Don't get me wrong.

1449
01:23:29,840 --> 01:23:33,280
I remember when, you know, there
was a small portion of time

1450
01:23:33,280 --> 01:23:36,400
where Hothouse also had a
recording studio because Jeremy

1451
01:23:36,400 --> 01:23:39,160
loved recording and then I broke
down the numbers.

1452
01:23:39,160 --> 01:23:42,720
I'm like, I don't know how
anybody is staying in business

1453
01:23:42,840 --> 01:23:47,240
because the signal chain you
want to buy is like, like, you

1454
01:23:47,240 --> 01:23:49,240
know how much we charge an hour,
right.

1455
01:23:49,240 --> 01:23:53,760
So do the math of how many years
that recording studio business.

1456
01:23:53,760 --> 01:23:56,880
I mean, Can you imagine?
Being in a business that that

1457
01:23:56,880 --> 01:24:01,000
changed that much because like
again, I'm old, so I grew up

1458
01:24:01,000 --> 01:24:06,600
with people using, you know,
tape, you know, 2 inch tape that

1459
01:24:06,600 --> 01:24:10,440
cost a fortune and was a very
expensive process.

1460
01:24:10,440 --> 01:24:14,760
And you had to be in a studio
nowadays, like I mean, this Mac

1461
01:24:14,760 --> 01:24:18,080
computer that I'm talking into
right now comes with garage

1462
01:24:18,080 --> 01:24:22,680
Band, which is a pretty kick ass
recording studio in a computer

1463
01:24:22,680 --> 01:24:25,880
for free.
And you know, I'm like, that's

1464
01:24:25,880 --> 01:24:28,200
pretty wild.
But you know, when when you get

1465
01:24:28,200 --> 01:24:30,720
into all of the digital
recording now, it's so

1466
01:24:30,720 --> 01:24:35,480
inexpensive and so accessible
that literally anybody could

1467
01:24:35,480 --> 01:24:39,160
build a home studio and record a
hit album in their home studio.

1468
01:24:39,960 --> 01:24:42,040
Yeah, but I mean, I remembered
when.

1469
01:24:42,880 --> 01:24:45,880
When?
Pro Tools went from you own it

1470
01:24:47,080 --> 01:24:52,760
to like they're talking about
subscriber and my business

1471
01:24:52,760 --> 01:24:56,240
partner was like just like all
the other.

1472
01:24:56,240 --> 01:24:58,040
Everybody was like, this is
crap.

1473
01:24:58,040 --> 01:25:01,360
I bought this, you know, I get
it.

1474
01:25:01,360 --> 01:25:06,480
But I mean, that is where we're
kind of companies have to, I

1475
01:25:06,480 --> 01:25:09,880
mean there's no.
Way to support software without

1476
01:25:09,880 --> 01:25:12,120
being paid to support the
software period.

1477
01:25:12,120 --> 01:25:16,400
It's a very expensive world to
be in where you have to like and

1478
01:25:16,400 --> 01:25:18,800
unless you keep adding features,
people aren't going to keep

1479
01:25:18,800 --> 01:25:21,480
buying your products.
So right, you know, when you

1480
01:25:21,480 --> 01:25:24,840
have to, when you have to
support software for long

1481
01:25:24,840 --> 01:25:27,520
periods of time, you have to
build profit margins and to be

1482
01:25:27,520 --> 01:25:29,600
able to do that.
So you know, when people

1483
01:25:29,600 --> 01:25:35,560
complain that A and you know,
Chinese M AM A2 knock offs, they

1484
01:25:35,560 --> 01:25:39,520
should be out there because that
should be a $10,000 console, not

1485
01:25:39,520 --> 01:25:44,280
50 or whatever.
And but those guys don't have

1486
01:25:44,280 --> 01:25:46,400
the burden of writing the
software.

1487
01:25:46,400 --> 01:25:49,920
They're just stealing the
software, you know, so I mean,

1488
01:25:49,960 --> 01:25:53,640
that's not reasonable either.
There has to be incentive to

1489
01:25:53,640 --> 01:25:56,560
innovate.
And it's one of the things that

1490
01:25:56,560 --> 01:25:59,440
I learned working for all the
manufacturers that I did.

1491
01:25:59,960 --> 01:26:05,000
You know, back then people
weren't so brutally, you know,

1492
01:26:05,880 --> 01:26:09,440
capable or willing to knock
things off as much as they do

1493
01:26:09,440 --> 01:26:12,520
today.
Back then it wasn't an issue.

1494
01:26:12,520 --> 01:26:17,000
Now it's just like, you know, if
you come out with the X light,

1495
01:26:17,000 --> 01:26:20,240
the greatest light that was ever
built, like you said, within a

1496
01:26:20,240 --> 01:26:24,040
couple of months, there's going
to be knockoffs, like identical

1497
01:26:24,040 --> 01:26:25,600
knockoffs too.
That's the thing.

1498
01:26:25,600 --> 01:26:27,520
They're, they're almost
identical.

1499
01:26:27,520 --> 01:26:30,640
And it used to be where they
could copy hardware, they could

1500
01:26:30,640 --> 01:26:33,640
reverse engineer hardware and
copy it really easily, but the

1501
01:26:33,640 --> 01:26:35,960
software was bad.
So Moving Lights would go like

1502
01:26:35,960 --> 01:26:39,760
this or, or moving lights had
goofy software in them and they

1503
01:26:39,760 --> 01:26:45,360
just never operated the but now,
you know, the, the, you know,

1504
01:26:45,360 --> 01:26:50,800
the software is just as good.
And so, yeah, that's a scary

1505
01:26:50,800 --> 01:26:52,120
business.
It really is.

1506
01:26:52,120 --> 01:26:55,600
And I don't know, like how long
is Roby going to be able to sell

1507
01:26:55,920 --> 01:26:59,480
$15,000 Moving Lights?
I don't know.

1508
01:26:59,600 --> 01:27:02,920
I don't know the answer to that.
Yeah, I mean, and that's that's

1509
01:27:02,920 --> 01:27:11,600
where it's.
Your stuff has to work and it

1510
01:27:11,600 --> 01:27:15,640
has to once again to the
ecosystem.

1511
01:27:15,640 --> 01:27:23,040
I can, as the owner, throw my
Amex card and say I want two

1512
01:27:23,040 --> 01:27:27,360
dozen of this, Yeah.
And that's great.

1513
01:27:27,520 --> 01:27:29,400
And I'm.
Decided to make that financial

1514
01:27:29,400 --> 01:27:32,960
decision, but down the road if
I'm constantly being like, wait,

1515
01:27:33,160 --> 01:27:34,600
what do you mean?
I don't?

1516
01:27:34,600 --> 01:27:37,760
I bought two dozen.
Well, yes, you bought two dozen,

1517
01:27:37,760 --> 01:27:39,880
but we only have 18 working
right now.

1518
01:27:40,240 --> 01:27:43,000
Yeah, when that keeps on being a
thing.

1519
01:27:43,000 --> 01:27:45,080
Like and that's.
Where as long as the

1520
01:27:45,080 --> 01:27:49,600
manufacturers really keep the
focus on on the quality control

1521
01:27:50,440 --> 01:27:54,920
so that I'm not down lights and
I'm not constantly, you know,

1522
01:27:54,960 --> 01:27:58,280
having to send a light off
because I can't fix it on my

1523
01:27:58,280 --> 01:28:00,680
bench.
Or that's what's really

1524
01:28:00,680 --> 01:28:03,000
important to me as somebody
who's buying those lights.

1525
01:28:03,000 --> 01:28:06,360
And that's why I would continue
to buy those lights if they're

1526
01:28:06,360 --> 01:28:10,080
the, if they're doing that for
the argument I would make to

1527
01:28:10,080 --> 01:28:13,720
that.
Or for that, is that better than

1528
01:28:13,720 --> 01:28:16,520
ever before?
Every manufacturer?

1529
01:28:16,520 --> 01:28:17,880
Chauvet.
Elation.

1530
01:28:18,440 --> 01:28:24,200
Roby Ayrton, you know, all the
good manufacturers have nailed

1531
01:28:24,200 --> 01:28:27,200
it.
You know, like, I mean, you just

1532
01:28:27,200 --> 01:28:29,640
don't see fixtures fail like
they used to.

1533
01:28:29,880 --> 01:28:32,200
And I'm sure you do.
You probably find some.

1534
01:28:32,200 --> 01:28:36,240
But you know, all I hear is that
everything's reliable.

1535
01:28:36,240 --> 01:28:41,280
American DJ, or a DJ as they're
called now, are are good and

1536
01:28:41,280 --> 01:28:42,880
they're reliable.
Everything's good.

1537
01:28:42,880 --> 01:28:46,160
Now like the.
The good level has gone up to a

1538
01:28:46,160 --> 01:28:51,200
point where even the bad is like
a A5 or a six out of 10 versus

1539
01:28:51,200 --> 01:28:54,600
A2 out of 10 like it used to be,
where it just failed constantly.

1540
01:28:56,520 --> 01:28:59,360
But you know, when you get into
some of these $200 moving lights

1541
01:28:59,360 --> 01:29:02,480
and stuff, it's just crap Like
that stuff is going to fail.

1542
01:29:03,320 --> 01:29:07,720
You know, the fact that people
are going on these light network

1543
01:29:07,720 --> 01:29:11,560
things and saying, so give me
the real skinny on, you know, if

1544
01:29:11,560 --> 01:29:16,760
I go and buy these $200 moving
lights to do like big concerts

1545
01:29:16,760 --> 01:29:19,960
and stuff, like first of all,
you know, you're not even going

1546
01:29:19,960 --> 01:29:22,600
to be invited to the party with
that inventory.

1547
01:29:22,720 --> 01:29:24,960
I'm sorry.
So yes, you can do the local

1548
01:29:24,960 --> 01:29:28,920
high school dance or you can do
the local, you know, dentist

1549
01:29:28,920 --> 01:29:31,440
convention for your local region
or whatever.

1550
01:29:31,440 --> 01:29:34,720
You might get away with that as
long as you know they don't fail

1551
01:29:34,720 --> 01:29:38,080
on the keynote speaker and start
wiggling around or something,

1552
01:29:38,680 --> 01:29:43,680
but it's just not how I'd want
to build a moving light brand or

1553
01:29:43,720 --> 01:29:45,600
a a company.
I wouldn't want to build a

1554
01:29:45,600 --> 01:29:49,640
company around bad inventory or
bad people, you know.

1555
01:29:49,640 --> 01:29:53,000
So like, I don't know, like if
that's what you want to hang

1556
01:29:53,000 --> 01:29:56,040
your coat on, great, but I don't
see a future in it.

1557
01:29:56,200 --> 01:29:59,080
Sorry.
You know, it's like having a

1558
01:29:59,080 --> 01:30:03,200
rental car company with all
shitty rental cars like that are

1559
01:30:03,200 --> 01:30:07,320
unsafe and that are going to
break down whatever, you know

1560
01:30:07,320 --> 01:30:08,400
what I mean?
Like.

1561
01:30:08,880 --> 01:30:11,040
You.
Know, is that what you want to

1562
01:30:11,040 --> 01:30:12,960
be like?
Is that how you want your brand

1563
01:30:12,960 --> 01:30:14,680
to be represented?
I don't think so.

1564
01:30:15,360 --> 01:30:19,160
But you know, again, like
bringing this all back around in

1565
01:30:19,160 --> 01:30:23,240
a full circle, you know, the
challenge is when you get a, if

1566
01:30:23,240 --> 01:30:25,880
you get a bid across your desk
that says, hey, do you want to

1567
01:30:25,880 --> 01:30:30,640
bid on this?
And it's got $510,000 movers on

1568
01:30:30,640 --> 01:30:32,800
it.
Your only option is going to be

1569
01:30:32,800 --> 01:30:35,320
to cross rent because you're not
big enough to be able to buy

1570
01:30:35,320 --> 01:30:38,240
those 500 movers.
So should you just immediately

1571
01:30:38,240 --> 01:30:41,680
be shut out of that opportunity?
Maybe.

1572
01:30:41,680 --> 01:30:46,000
I don't know what that argument
is, but to me like it's just

1573
01:30:46,040 --> 01:30:50,920
it's created such a vacuum at
the top end of this business

1574
01:30:51,120 --> 01:30:55,160
where you've had to insert all
of these companies, these

1575
01:30:55,160 --> 01:30:58,640
private equity companies and
they don't focus on taking

1576
01:30:58,640 --> 01:31:02,440
better care of the customer.
They don't focus on necessarily

1577
01:31:02,440 --> 01:31:04,080
quality.
I'm not saying they're all bad

1578
01:31:04,080 --> 01:31:08,000
quality, but their focus is on
this quarter better be more

1579
01:31:08,000 --> 01:31:10,480
profitable than last quarter or
we're going to have a problem.

1580
01:31:11,040 --> 01:31:15,600
And you know, I don't know, is
that what our business is now?

1581
01:31:15,600 --> 01:31:18,680
I guess so I call it send
another semi.

1582
01:31:19,160 --> 01:31:21,080
It's just like, oh, we'll just
send another semi.

1583
01:31:21,080 --> 01:31:22,760
It's like, no man, I can't
afford that.

1584
01:31:23,080 --> 01:31:26,080
Like, you know, when I'm doing a
lot of times when I'm doing my

1585
01:31:26,080 --> 01:31:31,480
designs, like I would love to be
working with a, with a SAS

1586
01:31:31,520 --> 01:31:33,640
client where it's just like, oh,
we'll just add another semi.

1587
01:31:34,080 --> 01:31:36,800
Yeah, but I'm not.
So what I.

1588
01:31:36,800 --> 01:31:40,480
Have to do is I have to take.
The napkin and look at the the

1589
01:31:40,480 --> 01:31:45,600
pack to figure out the ground
support cart that I'm going to

1590
01:31:45,600 --> 01:31:48,080
have to pack with.
And then I got to take that and

1591
01:31:48,080 --> 01:31:54,760
then I need to get inspired
around those logistics so that I

1592
01:31:54,760 --> 01:31:56,920
can stay on.
Budget because.

1593
01:31:57,480 --> 01:32:00,640
These guys aren't making money
any you know, the money is down.

1594
01:32:00,720 --> 01:32:04,000
You know, the lighting could
even be a luxury on some of

1595
01:32:04,000 --> 01:32:06,240
these tours, you know, to bring
a ground package.

1596
01:32:06,240 --> 01:32:08,960
There's only so much space.
You know, you've still got back

1597
01:32:08,960 --> 01:32:11,480
line in front of house and all
that other type of stuff.

1598
01:32:12,560 --> 01:32:17,400
And so like finding, you know,
fixtures that are quality at a,

1599
01:32:17,680 --> 01:32:20,800
a, a good price because that
extends down to me in a rental

1600
01:32:20,800 --> 01:32:26,880
rate, you know, finding and I
try to use smaller companies,

1601
01:32:26,960 --> 01:32:34,320
you know, like I've used PRG,
but I don't need a 48 way Saco

1602
01:32:34,320 --> 01:32:37,520
distro for my ground package.
And they're like, well, but

1603
01:32:37,520 --> 01:32:39,160
that's what we got.
And that's like, dude, give me a

1604
01:32:39,160 --> 01:32:40,960
lunch box.
Like, I don't have all this

1605
01:32:40,960 --> 01:32:44,640
room, you know, but they're not
set up for that, which is why I

1606
01:32:44,640 --> 01:32:48,720
love, you know, like like what
my company does or, you know,

1607
01:32:48,720 --> 01:32:52,440
Jason Ryburski with JRLX or
Victor with Squeak.

1608
01:32:52,440 --> 01:32:59,800
Like they figured out how to to
grow, but take care of of of

1609
01:32:59,800 --> 01:33:03,440
these.
These are these LDS and bands

1610
01:33:03,440 --> 01:33:07,440
that need the certain niche, but
they need the transport option

1611
01:33:07,440 --> 01:33:12,240
like custom cards and all this
type of stuff because they need

1612
01:33:12,240 --> 01:33:14,600
it to deploy and they don't have
7 techs.

1613
01:33:15,320 --> 01:33:19,080
Sometimes we're lucky if we even
get a tech and not everything is

1614
01:33:19,080 --> 01:33:20,120
up.
Not everything's up.

1615
01:33:20,120 --> 01:33:23,680
Beyoncé.
Exactly, and I love to see

1616
01:33:23,680 --> 01:33:26,120
those.
Guys do good because they're,

1617
01:33:26,760 --> 01:33:30,640
they're being very, you know,
boutique esque, but really

1618
01:33:30,640 --> 01:33:33,600
focusing on those small things
that make a big difference on

1619
01:33:33,600 --> 01:33:36,760
the road, you know?
Yeah, Well, that's also your.

1620
01:33:36,760 --> 01:33:39,120
That's also your.
Crowd, you know, like you're,

1621
01:33:39,120 --> 01:33:42,560
you're supporting your friends
and your network and and that's

1622
01:33:42,560 --> 01:33:44,240
a good thing.
Like there's nothing wrong with

1623
01:33:44,240 --> 01:33:46,920
that at all.
And that's nothing against PRG

1624
01:33:46,920 --> 01:33:50,520
or anybody else.
Like I think in our industry at

1625
01:33:50,520 --> 01:33:53,840
every level, you know, I think
there's opportunities and I

1626
01:33:53,840 --> 01:33:56,560
think there's necessities to
deal with somebody at that level

1627
01:33:56,840 --> 01:34:00,760
is at that level.
And I ain't dogging anybody.

1628
01:34:00,760 --> 01:34:03,560
I don't care how big you are or
small you are or whatever.

1629
01:34:04,880 --> 01:34:07,600
And I have to bring up Jake
Tickle too.

1630
01:34:07,600 --> 01:34:09,840
Because otherwise he'll be
blowing me up on my phone.

1631
01:34:09,840 --> 01:34:12,560
Be like me, man.
Because I love the guys over a

1632
01:34:12,560 --> 01:34:14,920
bandit too.
But I love to see those

1633
01:34:14,920 --> 01:34:19,760
innovations we're doing this to
like I like to be able to get

1634
01:34:19,800 --> 01:34:23,040
inspired off of.
Well, here's solutions to get

1635
01:34:23,040 --> 01:34:26,800
your stuff out there and to make
it so sets quick and you can

1636
01:34:26,800 --> 01:34:30,520
have a an easier day.
Because I mean, most of the

1637
01:34:30,520 --> 01:34:34,080
tours when I'm doing it like, Oh
no, we can't afford a tack.

1638
01:34:34,400 --> 01:34:37,360
Which is always funny because I
go from being boss man.

1639
01:34:37,400 --> 01:34:39,640
Like this is the hand that signs
the check.

1640
01:34:39,960 --> 01:34:42,000
I shouldn't be pushing a case
with this hand.

1641
01:34:42,200 --> 01:34:46,760
Yeah, to I'm in, you know, short
shorts, you know, running back

1642
01:34:46,760 --> 01:34:50,480
and forth to front of house, you
know, at a shed and it's 110°

1643
01:34:50,480 --> 01:34:53,880
out, you know, with, with No, I
have to say short shorts.

1644
01:34:54,040 --> 01:34:57,600
Corey Baby.
Why'd you have to go there?

1645
01:34:58,200 --> 01:35:00,040
No.
Think about it for a second,

1646
01:35:00,040 --> 01:35:02,080
it's tasty.
I had AI.

1647
01:35:02,080 --> 01:35:04,720
Had a conversation last.
Week and I won't mention the

1648
01:35:04,720 --> 01:35:08,680
name or the company name, but an
account executive for a large

1649
01:35:08,680 --> 01:35:13,160
company and he said to me,
Marcel, you know, I don't want

1650
01:35:13,160 --> 01:35:18,240
you to share this, but I got to
be honest, I don't feel like our

1651
01:35:18,240 --> 01:35:20,880
company is focused on the client
anymore.

1652
01:35:21,400 --> 01:35:22,440
And I said, what are you talking
about?

1653
01:35:22,440 --> 01:35:26,280
And he said, well, I have like
20-30, forty year relationships

1654
01:35:26,280 --> 01:35:31,800
with some of these clients and
my company has taken them for

1655
01:35:31,800 --> 01:35:34,120
granted.
And really they've just become

1656
01:35:34,120 --> 01:35:38,080
numbers and they feel it.
And so I'm talking to clients

1657
01:35:38,080 --> 01:35:41,600
all the time now who are saying
you don't give a shit about me

1658
01:35:41,600 --> 01:35:43,720
anymore.
And I'm like, no, no, no, no, of

1659
01:35:43,720 --> 01:35:45,640
course I give a shit about you.
Of course I do.

1660
01:35:45,640 --> 01:35:48,320
Like we've had 20 years of
experience together and, you

1661
01:35:48,320 --> 01:35:49,680
know, don't worry, I'll get this
done.

1662
01:35:49,680 --> 01:35:53,680
And, you know, so I feel like
this is happening at a lot more

1663
01:35:53,680 --> 01:35:56,160
companies now where you're
seeing account executives who

1664
01:35:56,160 --> 01:36:01,480
are having to sort of deflect
for their company and, and make

1665
01:36:01,480 --> 01:36:04,680
excuses and cover up and all of
those things.

1666
01:36:05,120 --> 01:36:09,760
And again, it's that sort of
banker DNA that's that's

1667
01:36:09,760 --> 01:36:14,760
infiltrated our industry and you
know, unfortunately that's the

1668
01:36:14,760 --> 01:36:18,040
reality now.
So I don't know, like I don't

1669
01:36:18,040 --> 01:36:20,280
know well, and and here's the
thing it.

1670
01:36:21,920 --> 01:36:25,360
Let's not get it twisted, it's
culture and when you have a

1671
01:36:25,360 --> 01:36:29,800
private equity like very any
given day.

1672
01:36:29,800 --> 01:36:31,320
When you have private equity.
Come in.

1673
01:36:31,320 --> 01:36:33,960
They're worse than what it used
to be, being bought out by a

1674
01:36:33,960 --> 01:36:35,560
corporate publicly traded
company.

1675
01:36:35,560 --> 01:36:39,080
It's far worse because every day
they're looking at your balance

1676
01:36:39,080 --> 01:36:43,080
sheet and they're saying should
I sell?

1677
01:36:43,720 --> 01:36:47,000
The building.
Set your blood, sweat and tears,

1678
01:36:47,000 --> 01:36:51,880
your warehouse that you bought
to my other holding company that

1679
01:36:51,880 --> 01:36:58,360
is now going to rent it back to
you at a bigger margin rate and

1680
01:36:58,600 --> 01:37:02,040
just start to like, oh, we'll
just tear a piece off here.

1681
01:37:02,040 --> 01:37:04,640
Tear a piece off here.
And then all of a sudden the

1682
01:37:04,640 --> 01:37:09,080
company is looted, but they're
sitting there going, well, what

1683
01:37:09,080 --> 01:37:11,400
happened to your business?
It's not as good as it used to

1684
01:37:11,400 --> 01:37:13,400
be.
It's like you got in the way,

1685
01:37:13,600 --> 01:37:15,720
you got greedy.
There's nothing left.

1686
01:37:16,240 --> 01:37:23,480
And the culture is not about the
client, the customer anymore or

1687
01:37:24,520 --> 01:37:29,640
in my theology, like you can
also fix a lot of those issues

1688
01:37:29,640 --> 01:37:33,280
by if you think about your
employees and you take

1689
01:37:33,280 --> 01:37:35,960
incredible care of your
employees than your employees

1690
01:37:35,960 --> 01:37:40,680
will take incredible care of
your customers, Yeah, and then

1691
01:37:40,680 --> 01:37:42,600
your customers.
Will take incredible care of you

1692
01:37:43,320 --> 01:37:45,120
as the service owner, right?
Yeah.

1693
01:37:45,360 --> 01:37:47,680
And and here's the thing.
When when you when you take the

1694
01:37:47,680 --> 01:37:50,280
soul out of it.
And it all just becomes about

1695
01:37:50,280 --> 01:37:53,480
dollars and cents.
Then it is just dollars and

1696
01:37:53,480 --> 01:37:56,880
cents.
Well, in fairness, I would say

1697
01:37:56,880 --> 01:37:58,680
that.
There are a lot of private

1698
01:37:58,680 --> 01:38:02,320
equity held companies in our
industry right now and I won't

1699
01:38:02,320 --> 01:38:06,240
mention names, but there are
some really great ones who

1700
01:38:06,240 --> 01:38:09,440
really do care about their
customers and really do have a

1701
01:38:09,440 --> 01:38:13,720
great culture.
And you know, I will say live

1702
01:38:13,720 --> 01:38:16,720
event Productions, a company
that I did a lot of consulting

1703
01:38:16,720 --> 01:38:20,560
and, and supporting work with as
they were rolling up this group

1704
01:38:20,560 --> 01:38:24,000
of companies that included
Zenith in Orlando and Gemini and

1705
01:38:24,240 --> 01:38:29,720
delicate and others.
They, you know, right from the

1706
01:38:29,720 --> 01:38:31,640
top, they have very good
culture.

1707
01:38:31,640 --> 01:38:34,240
They have very good people who
really give a damn about the

1708
01:38:34,240 --> 01:38:36,520
company.
And, you know, I was talking to

1709
01:38:36,520 --> 01:38:41,240
someone in the company a week or
two ago and, and I said, you

1710
01:38:41,240 --> 01:38:44,200
know, at some point you guys are
probably going to sell to

1711
01:38:44,200 --> 01:38:47,120
another private equity group or
something like right.

1712
01:38:47,120 --> 01:38:49,520
And Nope.
And I said really Nope.

1713
01:38:49,520 --> 01:38:51,080
Why would we want to leave this
business?

1714
01:38:51,080 --> 01:38:55,240
We love this business.
And so it's yes, it happens to

1715
01:38:55,240 --> 01:38:59,280
have private equity money in it,
but it's run with a passion and

1716
01:38:59,280 --> 01:39:03,320
a, and a feeling for, you know,
really taking care of their

1717
01:39:03,320 --> 01:39:06,040
customers.
And so they're still out there.

1718
01:39:06,040 --> 01:39:09,160
There's a lot of those out there
like that that have private

1719
01:39:09,160 --> 01:39:13,720
equity money, but really they
are still built on doing the

1720
01:39:13,720 --> 01:39:16,400
best work and taking very good
care of their customers.

1721
01:39:16,640 --> 01:39:19,720
And I know a lot of people will
say that in their tagline, you

1722
01:39:19,720 --> 01:39:25,440
know, X light, we care, you
know, or things like that.

1723
01:39:25,480 --> 01:39:29,440
And most of it's bullshit.
You know, a friend of mine used

1724
01:39:29,440 --> 01:39:32,840
to always say that whenever
somebody has professional in

1725
01:39:32,840 --> 01:39:35,840
their name, they usually aren't.
Whenever somebody has

1726
01:39:35,840 --> 01:39:39,200
international in their name,
they usually aren't, you know,

1727
01:39:39,360 --> 01:39:42,160
things like that, right?
But I think there really are a

1728
01:39:42,160 --> 01:39:45,320
lot of companies with private
equity money in them who really

1729
01:39:45,320 --> 01:39:48,800
do care.
And for the companies that look

1730
01:39:48,800 --> 01:39:52,080
like they don't care, I know a
lot of people in those companies

1731
01:39:52,080 --> 01:39:54,720
who still really do care.
And they're fighting that

1732
01:39:54,720 --> 01:39:56,600
culture.
They're saying that I see the

1733
01:39:56,600 --> 01:39:58,600
boogeyman coming in, but I'm
fighting them.

1734
01:39:58,600 --> 01:40:00,680
I'm going to keep him from
taking over our business.

1735
01:40:01,280 --> 01:40:04,800
And they might lose that battle,
but at least they're they're

1736
01:40:04,800 --> 01:40:06,680
fighting for their clients and
stuff, right?

1737
01:40:07,440 --> 01:40:10,000
And it's also hard too, because
I mean, I mean.

1738
01:40:10,120 --> 01:40:12,920
I'm a business owner.
I get it like I get the

1739
01:40:12,920 --> 01:40:14,520
day-to-day.
I get the grind.

1740
01:40:14,520 --> 01:40:19,600
I get, you know, it's always on,
you know, having to the

1741
01:40:19,600 --> 01:40:22,160
stability of.
Of of money and and.

1742
01:40:22,160 --> 01:40:25,000
All this other type of stuff.
And I, I totally understand why

1743
01:40:25,000 --> 01:40:27,800
people sell because like, you
know, I can't say that if

1744
01:40:27,800 --> 01:40:31,320
somebody just didn't come to me
with a, with a bag full of money

1745
01:40:31,320 --> 01:40:34,560
and you and I have talked about
this, that I wouldn't be tempted

1746
01:40:34,560 --> 01:40:37,600
because I know where I could
invest my money somewhere

1747
01:40:37,600 --> 01:40:41,800
different in hindsight and not.
Have all this.

1748
01:40:41,800 --> 01:40:45,480
Stress like, you know, there's
other things I could do, but I

1749
01:40:45,480 --> 01:40:47,520
wouldn't I wouldn't be
passionate about it.

1750
01:40:48,760 --> 01:40:52,200
But you know, what's your price?
You know, like you know what,

1751
01:40:52,200 --> 01:40:55,080
Corey, I heard somebody say
yesterday and I think.

1752
01:40:55,080 --> 01:40:58,240
It was on a podcast I was
listening to or something, and

1753
01:40:58,320 --> 01:41:01,560
he was an older guy.
And the other person asked him,

1754
01:41:02,680 --> 01:41:04,920
you know, do you think you're
going to retire soon?

1755
01:41:05,680 --> 01:41:06,840
And he said, why would I do
that?

1756
01:41:07,080 --> 01:41:09,440
And he said, well, you know,
everyone wants to sort of cash

1757
01:41:09,440 --> 01:41:14,000
out at some point and retire
and, you know, go on with your

1758
01:41:14,000 --> 01:41:15,560
life.
And he said, you know what,

1759
01:41:15,560 --> 01:41:18,640
here's the thing, 20 years from
now, you're going to be sitting

1760
01:41:18,640 --> 01:41:22,280
on a beach somewhere, sip in a
cocktail or something, and

1761
01:41:22,280 --> 01:41:25,360
you're going to be remembering
20 years ago going, God, that

1762
01:41:25,360 --> 01:41:27,400
was fun.
God, that was amazing.

1763
01:41:27,400 --> 01:41:30,360
What I used to do.
I used to get to stand front of

1764
01:41:30,360 --> 01:41:34,360
house and, and, you know, house
lights out or whatever.

1765
01:41:34,600 --> 01:41:38,680
I used to have a little company
that we had it under control.

1766
01:41:38,680 --> 01:41:42,240
We didn't have huge problems.
We had lots of little problems.

1767
01:41:42,920 --> 01:41:47,400
It was so great.
It was so cool to pull up our,

1768
01:41:47,640 --> 01:41:52,160
our sleeves and, and, and, you
know, rally together and make a

1769
01:41:52,160 --> 01:41:55,160
show happen and stuff.
And why would I give that up?

1770
01:41:55,320 --> 01:41:58,280
And it really makes sense.
You know, it really does make

1771
01:41:58,280 --> 01:42:02,040
sense.
Well, especially so my dad's.

1772
01:42:03,560 --> 01:42:05,600
My dad was in construction
Superintendent.

1773
01:42:05,600 --> 01:42:10,280
Work.
And when I became a teenager, he

1774
01:42:10,280 --> 01:42:15,640
like one of the bits of advice
that he gave me was never go

1775
01:42:16,040 --> 01:42:18,680
into construction.
He said period.

1776
01:42:19,320 --> 01:42:21,320
I'm like, well, why would you
say that, Dad?

1777
01:42:21,320 --> 01:42:24,640
Like you've provided for us,
like, you know, like you worked

1778
01:42:24,640 --> 01:42:27,560
hard and like, yeah, you worked
a lot of hours sometimes and all

1779
01:42:27,560 --> 01:42:30,080
that type of stuff.
It beat up your body a little

1780
01:42:30,080 --> 01:42:33,520
bit, but you were OK.
And he's like, well, there's

1781
01:42:33,520 --> 01:42:37,280
just this top to it.
Like this is this is the

1782
01:42:37,280 --> 01:42:39,200
ceiling.
That's where you can go unless

1783
01:42:39,200 --> 01:42:42,960
you start your own thing.
But then there's all these

1784
01:42:42,960 --> 01:42:44,800
other, you know, things that
factor in.

1785
01:42:46,080 --> 01:42:48,280
He's like.
But the problem is, is if

1786
01:42:48,280 --> 01:42:53,560
you're, if you're anything like
me, and I think you are, at the

1787
01:42:53,560 --> 01:42:57,160
end of the day, it's going to be
very gratifying to you to turn

1788
01:42:57,160 --> 01:42:59,880
around before you leave the site
and be like, I did that.

1789
01:43:00,080 --> 01:43:02,480
Yeah, 100%.
I built that building.

1790
01:43:02,520 --> 01:43:04,120
I did.
That well and by the.

1791
01:43:04,120 --> 01:43:06,400
Way Fast forward your dad was
wrong because.

1792
01:43:06,400 --> 01:43:09,800
It being in construction is one
of the most lucrative areas you

1793
01:43:09,800 --> 01:43:12,600
could be right now.
I mean, it's crazy crazy.

1794
01:43:13,120 --> 01:43:16,400
Try iron a plumber.
Yeah, well, that's the thing in

1795
01:43:16,400 --> 01:43:17,920
the trade.
The trades are awesome.

1796
01:43:17,960 --> 01:43:22,360
But he he was right about one
thing.

1797
01:43:22,680 --> 01:43:29,280
But it's even it's it's like
that on on steroids in this

1798
01:43:29,280 --> 01:43:32,040
industry.
I mean I get to do that every

1799
01:43:32,040 --> 01:43:35,920
day and in a shorter.
Time span.

1800
01:43:35,920 --> 01:43:38,760
I mean, I'm not talking about 5.
Years to build a building like

1801
01:43:39,280 --> 01:43:44,560
no, no, no, this is going to be
up in five hours and then it's

1802
01:43:44,560 --> 01:43:47,960
going to be gone.
And I designed that like that

1803
01:43:47,960 --> 01:43:51,680
all came out of my head and then
just miraculously went and, and

1804
01:43:51,680 --> 01:43:53,840
thousands of people or hundreds
or whatever.

1805
01:43:53,840 --> 01:43:57,840
It is screamed and went, Oh my
God, this is incredible.

1806
01:43:57,840 --> 01:43:59,200
And you got to be a part of
that.

1807
01:43:59,600 --> 01:44:02,000
Yeah.
And that's why this industry is

1808
01:44:02,000 --> 01:44:04,240
is hard.
To get out of, because if you've

1809
01:44:04,240 --> 01:44:06,760
really got the bug, if you're
really that crazy and you're

1810
01:44:06,760 --> 01:44:09,440
really that passionate, like
what else are you going to do?

1811
01:44:09,440 --> 01:44:12,040
That's going to come close.
Not very many things.

1812
01:44:12,200 --> 01:44:13,560
You could be a porn star, I
mean.

1813
01:44:13,560 --> 01:44:16,080
That might be as close.
You know, you could look at what

1814
01:44:16,080 --> 01:44:17,760
you've accomplished very
quickly.

1815
01:44:17,960 --> 01:44:23,000
In my case, much more quickly I
think on.

1816
01:44:23,000 --> 01:44:27,360
That note Corey, we're done.
We've covered it all at this.

1817
01:44:27,360 --> 01:44:28,480
Point Religion.
Out.

1818
01:44:28,480 --> 01:44:32,680
Deal us out.
No, I, I I do have to jump.

1819
01:44:32,680 --> 01:44:34,400
But I I appreciate you doing
this.

1820
01:44:34,400 --> 01:44:37,240
This was a long time coming and
we got to do it again because

1821
01:44:37,480 --> 01:44:40,520
yeah, man, very enjoyable
conversation, talking about all

1822
01:44:40,520 --> 01:44:43,120
kinds of catch up with you
buddy, raising babies.

1823
01:44:43,120 --> 01:44:45,160
We talked.
About marriage, we talked about

1824
01:44:45,160 --> 01:44:46,480
religion, we.
Covered it all.

1825
01:44:46,480 --> 01:44:49,800
I think you know, private
equity, private equity, come on,

1826
01:44:49,880 --> 01:44:52,280
we could have spent.
A little more time in porn, but

1827
01:44:52,280 --> 01:44:53,600
you.
Know we'll get to that next

1828
01:44:53,600 --> 01:44:55,080
time.
We'll do that the next episode.

1829
01:44:55,080 --> 01:44:56,840
Stay tuned for Part 2.
Right?

1830
01:44:56,920 --> 01:44:59,400
Yeah.
Thanks pal, I appreciate it man.

1831
01:44:59,960 --> 01:45:01,600
Appreciate you bud, have a great
week.

1832
01:45:02,080 --> 01:45:02,720
Hey, you too.