#327 - Brian Boyt & Sonny Dyon - Behind the Scenes of Live Events

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I think what excites me the most
is our ability to do shows

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across the board at different
scales.

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Like it's just a whole nother
level that we have right now.

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And we've really got a good
process going with live events

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with all of our Opcos and really
integrating pyrotechnical and

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yeah, just trying to maximize,
you know, we call it the 360

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approach that we have.
And like you said earlier, the

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service stuff, it's kind of what
we hang our hat on.

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I think we're pretty good at it.
I'm the VPS sales, so my whole

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job is growing business, right.
That's literally what I do, you

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know, producing good shows,
growing business and best way to

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grow business is produce good
shows.

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And I think the the most
exciting thing for me is the one

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thing I love about working at
delicate and if so facto live

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events is we just have great
people like I this is the first

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place I've ever worked that I
just like everybody I work with.

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They're good at their job, they
give a shit and it like it.

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They have a sense and I like
that we everyone really has the

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same focus and there were driven
to make great shows happen.

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And then the other part of that
too, which is obviously kitten

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kindle is clients, man, I we
meet new clients every day and

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they're always some exciting new
challenge and I love when we

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work with a new client that
doesn't know us, you know, comes

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in, they're trepidatious at
first, like I hope you guys

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don't fuck this up and and we
kill it and they're like, man, I

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don't I don't want to go
anywhere without you.

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Like I love you guys.
I.

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Hello, you're on Gears of gear.
You're not on it, but you're

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listening to it or watching it
wherever you may be.

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And I of course am your not so
illustrious host Marcel, and

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thanks for joining me today.
One of the things I forgot to

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mention yesterday on my intro
was that we have launched a new

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website.
And if you haven't seen it yet,

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why not gearsofgear.com?
We are using some pretty new

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technology for this site.
It is built really for a

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podcasting journey, a podcast
company, podcast guests, podcast

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sponsors.
It is built for this exact

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purpose.
And so, you know, one of the

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things that it has that I think
is really great is a new intake

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form or a like a guest sign up
process where you can select

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your dates and upload some
information, answer a few

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questions, give us a picture.
It just collects all of those

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details.
So one of the really cool things

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it does after that is once your
podcast actually launches after

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you've recorded with me for, you
know, hopefully not too painful

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hour or so, then it actually
connects your bio information

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and all of your details and your
picture back to the episode.

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So you can always see the
episode and then you can see who

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was on the episode, which is
amazing.

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We've always wanted to do that.
It was never easy.

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Now it is.
And so that's one of the things

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that's included.
Another thing that's really

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great is there's links to all of
our show sponsors whom of course

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I'm very grateful for because I
don't really make any money from

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doing this podcast, but it does
cover our expenses and it

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certainly pays for, you know,
our illustrious, wonderful,

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beautiful producer, Sarah.
And so thank you to our

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sponsors, of course, and I'm
very happy to have this new site

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up.
We're going to keep updating it

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and again, check it out, even
drop a review.

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We do have it collects our
reviews, whether it's from the

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platforms or from the website.
So you can drop a review in

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there.
It's always helpful and we

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appreciate it.
And that's about it.

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That's all I wanted to tell you
about.

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I forgot to tell you yesterday,
and I meant I meant to.

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So today we actually have two
guests on the episode.

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We don't do this very often, but
we're doing it today.

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And part of the reason is
because Delicate Productions,

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who has just become a new
sponsor for us over the past few

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weeks is has provided us two of
their leaders at Delicate.

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So I'm going to read you their
bio here, which is a little

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confusing because it's two
people, but we'll get to it no

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problem.
So of course, as I mentioned,

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Delicate Productions is one of
our newest sponsors.

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Brian Boyd is the Chief
Operating Officer of Delicate,

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overseeing strategy, operations
and business development.

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With 25 plus years in live
events and audio visual

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production, he brings expertise
from both leadership and touring

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roles.
Having worked with artists like

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Maroon 5, Jimmy Eat World and
yeah, yeah, yeah.

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And that's it.
It ended right there.

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So I guess it's having worked
with artists like Maroon 5,

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Jimmy Eat World and yeah, yeah,
yeah.

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Secondly, we have Sunny Dion.
Dion, Sunny Dion.

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Sorry Sunny, I messed this one
up too.

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VP of Sales where he helps
deliver world class audio,

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lighting and video solutions for
concerts, tours, corporate

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events and experiential
activations.

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AUS Air Force veteran and
award-winning broadcast

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journalist Sunny has built a
diverse career spanning live

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event production, film and
strategic business development.

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He has held leadership roles
with major AV companies and

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served on the Board of Directors
for the Central Florida Film

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Festival.
Welcome gentlemen.

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Gentlemen, welcome to Geese of
Gear.

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I had to look around.
I'm like, are you talking to me?

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Sounded like a radio promo,
yeah.

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That was great.
But yeah, well, you're a

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gentleman too, Sunny.
I don't even know you yet.

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I already pronounced your name
wrong in the in the intro.

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How do you pronounce your last
name?

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Dion D.
It's funny because everyone

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asks.
One of the three versions.

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It's it's it's so common that my
kids grew up and we almost think

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our last name is Dion DYON
because we, because the way it's

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spelled, people say Dion,
whatever else.

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So anytime someone says what's
your last name, I say Dion DYON.

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Like, like that's my last name.
Yeah.

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Well, I mean, if if you said
Dion to me, obviously I'd spell

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Dion probably.
But yeah, so I I pronounced it

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probably 3 different ways and
hopefully Sarah will edit. 2.

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Of them out and I won't look
like such a Dick, but thank you

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guys for joining in and
especially thank you for

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becoming one of our most recent
sponsors.

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We appreciate it very much and I
love the brand.

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I love smoother, You know, I
love that you guys have the

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domain delicate.com.
Like I remember when live events

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was acquiring your company and
there were discussions about

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well, does the name change to
live events or and I'm like, you

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can't give away that web domain
and give away that name.

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It's such an amazing name.
I love it and.

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We get, we get emails like
probably once a month where

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someone's like, I'm interested
in inquiring your domain name.

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And I'm like, yeah, don't
because you're not getting it.

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Yeah.
Well, yeah.

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There were times like during
COVID the, the name might have

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sold for more than the company.
You know, like I mean it, it's,

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it's such a crazy good name.
Like I could see, you know,

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Charmin or someone like that
owning it, like some big PNG or

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something, owning it and, and
paying a couple $1,000,000 to

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acquire it, you know, because it
is that it's that good of a

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name.
You know, it's quite, it's not

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quite penis.com, which I heard
sold for like $10 million or

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something, but you know, it's up
there.

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I miss that.
I miss that in the bubble.

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Yeah, that's true.
That's true.

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It's amazing what people will
pay for domain names.

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Like I, I've had to buy a couple
because it just matched a brand

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that I had already started and
stuff.

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And I think I paid $6000 once
for one, but I don't know that

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I'd pay much more than that.
Even that one hurt.

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I was like, it's just a domain
name.

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Like call it something else, put
A-IN it something.

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And yeah, so anyways, but again,
thank you guys so much.

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And you know, one thing we were
discussing a little bit before

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we went on air is most of our
listeners, I believe, who are

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interested in delicate will have
already heard the the smoother

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podcast we did a couple months
ago.

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I don't recall the number, but
you can go search for for

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smoother on Giza of gear and
you'll find it.

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And it was a great podcast.
Obviously Smoother's quite a

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personality and had some good
fishing stories too.

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And, but, so I don't know that
I, I think it's necessary for us

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to go all the way back to the
beginning of time on Delicate.

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We all know that basically
Delicate was formed around

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Supertramp and he was holding
Supertramp's gear and was

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renting it out in a partnership
with Supertramp and, and then

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bought sort of the other half of
the gear.

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And now he had a sound system,
he had a company name and well,

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I guess we better go out and
grow a real business here.

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And so it was a really, really
cool founding of a business, of

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course.
And Smither's done such great

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stuff over the years besides
Supertramp as well.

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He's a legend.
Iconic.

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Yeah, I love that guy.
How much is he still involved?

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So he's he's involved a lot.
He actually sits right across

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from me.
So we're in this like Brian's in

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the GM offices.
He's the boss, but Smoother and

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I are in the sales office.
Yeah, he's, he's 2 doors down,

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but Smoother and I are in the
sales office like 10 feet away

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from Brian.
And we, our desks face each

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other and I typically only come
into the shop.

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I live in Hollywood.
Our office is in Thousand Oaks.

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Not that it's that far, but it's
like an hour.

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And because, you know, the
majority of my work is, you

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know, on site or, you know, with
clients or whatever else.

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I'm the VP of sales, so I only
go to the shop once a week or if

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we're prepping a major show.
But when I get into the office,

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smoother sits, you know, 20 feet
away from me face to we face

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each other.
And I can't tell you it's the

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funniest thing in the world.
But I'll be on like a Zoom call

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like this or something, and I'll
hear him get up because he can't

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tell that my headphones are in
because he's just walking over.

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And they'd be like, all right,
so it's 1984.

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It's me, Maggie Thatcher, Marty
Feldman, Mick Jagger.

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We're at Barney's Beanery.
And I'm literally, I'm like, Oh

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my God, this is the most
incredible story of my life.

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And it's true.
Like, it's 1000 stories like

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that.
They're all true.

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And it's incredible.
Yeah.

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I got another smoother story.
Yeah.

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Can I, can I call you guys right
back?

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That's hilarious.
Yeah, well, you know, because

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he's so old, so he'll forget.
You got to listen right now.

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Otherwise he'll forget the
although, you know, it's

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incredible.
Like, he's one of those guys who

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the stories that he told me on
the podcast were like, well,

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yeah, back in 74, you know,
like, I'm younger than him and

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probably haven't had as much
damage as him perhaps.

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I can't remember what I did in
1974, you know.

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He remembers every name.
Incredible memory and just his

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chronological order is just one
after another.

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It's it's really impressive.
I'll float out a name.

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Sometimes we'll be looking at a
client and somebody will come

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across and I'm like, why do I
know that name?

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And I'll be like smoother this
person and he'll be like, Oh

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yeah, used to work with Bounce.
Then before that was with Merv

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Griffin.
And then we did a thing.

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We did a thing at the White
House and blah, blah, blah.

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And I'm like, how do you it was
1982.

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You're like unbelievably
uncanny, uncanny memory.

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It's almost like Rain Man ish,
you know, It's like that stuff.

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And.
I'm so terrible.

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Like I'm the guy who shakes your
hand, walks away and goes, God

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damn it, what was his name?
You know, and you just told me.

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That 12 seconds.
Ago, right.

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I'm terrible with that.
Terrible.

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So you know, people will tell me
things that happened in so I'm

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61, so things that happened when
I was like 21 or 20 years old or

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18 years old playing in bands or
whatever.

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00:12:21,760 --> 00:12:25,680
And they'll be like, remember
that time And I'm like, no, tell

223
00:12:25,680 --> 00:12:28,480
me more.
And then they'll be like, well,

224
00:12:28,480 --> 00:12:30,120
I just scanned all my pictures.
Hang on.

225
00:12:30,120 --> 00:12:32,480
I got a picture of it and
they'll show me a picture of me

226
00:12:32,480 --> 00:12:34,840
when I was 18.
And I'm like, what is that?

227
00:12:34,840 --> 00:12:37,280
Like, what are you doing?
I have no pictures of me when I

228
00:12:37,280 --> 00:12:40,440
was 18.
So yeah, it's amazing.

229
00:12:40,440 --> 00:12:44,480
I love memories like that.
It's me too precious because,

230
00:12:44,480 --> 00:12:46,840
and it's also good for a podcast
because otherwise you come on

231
00:12:46,840 --> 00:12:51,400
and you go, we wanna talk about
like they don't know anything.

232
00:12:51,400 --> 00:12:53,720
They don't remember anything.
So.

233
00:12:53,840 --> 00:12:57,000
Yeah, no, he's incredible.
And he's like, he's somebody

234
00:12:57,000 --> 00:13:00,720
I've been with delicate for
almost for like around 9 years.

235
00:13:01,080 --> 00:13:04,920
And in the nine years, I've
never once swear to God, never

236
00:13:04,920 --> 00:13:06,840
heard a single person say a bad
thing about smoother.

237
00:13:06,840 --> 00:13:08,240
Never.
Everything.

238
00:13:08,240 --> 00:13:10,520
All I ever get is smoother still
involved.

239
00:13:10,520 --> 00:13:13,560
How smoother doing man, I've
known smoother for 30 years.

240
00:13:13,920 --> 00:13:16,280
Everybody loves him.
He's an icon.

241
00:13:16,480 --> 00:13:19,720
I'm I'm you know, I, I know
Brian, I'm sure feels the same

242
00:13:19,720 --> 00:13:23,600
way.
We're lucky to be involved, you

243
00:13:23,600 --> 00:13:26,240
know, in, in a company.
We joke around about stuff all

244
00:13:26,240 --> 00:13:27,880
the time.
And he'll ask me stuff, you

245
00:13:27,880 --> 00:13:32,360
know, in my capacity as as VP of
sales or whatever, Like what do

246
00:13:32,360 --> 00:13:34,080
you think, boss?
And I'm like, boss.

247
00:13:35,440 --> 00:13:37,400
Like we literally sit in a
building, you know, basically

248
00:13:37,400 --> 00:13:39,160
that you built.
You know, I'm like, I'm like,

249
00:13:39,160 --> 00:13:41,400
I'm not, you know, but he's
just, he's the best.

250
00:13:41,400 --> 00:13:43,680
I mean, he's just incredible.
And all those stories and all

251
00:13:43,680 --> 00:13:46,040
those experiences, like you
mentioned earlier, the delicate

252
00:13:46,040 --> 00:13:52,040
brand is so strong because of 45
years of smoother and the and

253
00:13:52,040 --> 00:13:56,000
Gus and and spy and all those
old boys kicking ass for years.

254
00:13:56,000 --> 00:13:58,560
And then Jason coming in and
obviously Brian, you know, has

255
00:13:58,760 --> 00:14:02,600
is retaken what they've done and
continued, you know, the legacy

256
00:14:02,600 --> 00:14:05,520
of of just doing great shows,
great tours like the.

257
00:14:05,520 --> 00:14:07,200
Grown up in the room, right?
Yeah.

258
00:14:07,520 --> 00:14:09,880
Totally I.
I.

259
00:14:10,160 --> 00:14:11,600
Mean I wouldn't.
Go that far, Caller.

260
00:14:11,600 --> 00:14:13,400
He's got a caller on.
He must be in Poet.

261
00:14:14,200 --> 00:14:16,360
You know, he's in, he's in the
office upstairs.

262
00:14:16,840 --> 00:14:19,240
You know Brian is, But no, I
mean.

263
00:14:19,280 --> 00:14:23,040
I call myself the the leader of
the complaint department so.

264
00:14:23,920 --> 00:14:27,080
That's the CEO role you.
Know unfortunately true yeah

265
00:14:27,080 --> 00:14:29,600
yeah that's.
What I do, I get to clean shit

266
00:14:29,600 --> 00:14:31,320
up after everybody else makes
it.

267
00:14:33,000 --> 00:14:36,160
No, you know, the, the thing
about smoother and, and people

268
00:14:36,160 --> 00:14:39,440
like smoother and it's, it's
something I love about doing a

269
00:14:39,440 --> 00:14:41,320
podcast.
And it's also something that

270
00:14:41,440 --> 00:14:45,400
bugs me about doing a podcast
because a lot of people are

271
00:14:45,400 --> 00:14:49,200
aging out and, and getting older
and some of our friends are

272
00:14:49,200 --> 00:14:53,160
dying and stuff like that.
And it's, it's, it's sad, but

273
00:14:53,160 --> 00:14:57,560
it's also incredible that we
have access to these people from

274
00:14:57,560 --> 00:15:00,520
a standpoint of, you know,
passing on that knowledge,

275
00:15:00,520 --> 00:15:03,280
telling those stories that he
tells you in the office.

276
00:15:03,520 --> 00:15:05,680
And for me, he tells it on the
podcast.

277
00:15:05,680 --> 00:15:08,720
And I was just sitting in awe
the entire time on my podcast

278
00:15:08,720 --> 00:15:12,120
because, you know, I've, I've
been around smoother 1000 times,

279
00:15:12,120 --> 00:15:14,800
but I've never sat and listened
to his stories for two hours.

280
00:15:15,120 --> 00:15:16,880
And this time I did.
And it was just amazing.

281
00:15:16,880 --> 00:15:19,680
And you probably would go listen
to it and go, Yep, I know that

282
00:15:19,680 --> 00:15:20,800
one.
Yep, I know that one.

283
00:15:20,800 --> 00:15:24,000
Yeah.
Yeah, no, I, I listened to it

284
00:15:24,000 --> 00:15:25,840
and actually I think there was
like 2 stories in there that I

285
00:15:25,840 --> 00:15:27,320
had never heard before.
Wow.

286
00:15:27,400 --> 00:15:32,040
And is that what you're saying?
No, I don't think, I feel like,

287
00:15:32,320 --> 00:15:37,480
I feel like he shares about like
1A thousandth percentage of all

288
00:15:37,480 --> 00:15:39,320
the stories.
And I think if he actually, if

289
00:15:39,320 --> 00:15:42,680
he sat down, we used to do a
thing on Tuesdays, everyone goes

290
00:15:42,680 --> 00:15:44,840
in the office because we have
meetings all days.

291
00:15:44,840 --> 00:15:46,560
We have a production meeting,
sales meeting.

292
00:15:46,760 --> 00:15:49,160
It's where everybody, we kind
of, you know, get our minds

293
00:15:49,160 --> 00:15:53,080
together, you know, to discuss
high level things, you know, of

294
00:15:53,080 --> 00:15:55,720
what we have going on.
And we used to do this thing

295
00:15:55,720 --> 00:15:58,400
where every Tuesday night after
work, everyone was invited go

296
00:15:58,400 --> 00:16:01,040
have a beer if we wanted to.
So this is, you know, we would

297
00:16:01,040 --> 00:16:03,800
all go out to this little bar
and have a beer afterwards and

298
00:16:03,800 --> 00:16:04,880
just shoot the shit a little
bit.

299
00:16:05,240 --> 00:16:08,720
And every like after a while
you'd have it's, it felt almost

300
00:16:08,720 --> 00:16:11,320
like compulsory where you had
like all the department heads

301
00:16:11,320 --> 00:16:13,520
came almost reluctantly because
they felt like they had to.

302
00:16:13,520 --> 00:16:15,880
And so like they'd have their
one beer in the big all right,

303
00:16:15,880 --> 00:16:17,160
well, bye.
And they'd leave.

304
00:16:17,160 --> 00:16:19,720
And it always ended up, you
know, being like me smoother.

305
00:16:19,960 --> 00:16:23,320
And this guy Richard Galvez, who
worked with us a lot and still

306
00:16:23,320 --> 00:16:25,200
does.
There'd be like three of us in

307
00:16:25,200 --> 00:16:27,920
Basilski, Brian Basilski, who's
been with us 1000 years.

308
00:16:27,920 --> 00:16:30,160
And it's like, you know, one of
those guys has forgotten more

309
00:16:30,160 --> 00:16:32,240
about this industry than most
people will ever now.

310
00:16:33,320 --> 00:16:35,120
And the four of us would sit
there and just talk.

311
00:16:35,120 --> 00:16:37,680
And that would be the time when
Smoother, you know, could

312
00:16:37,760 --> 00:16:39,480
smoother.
He could just be who he is.

313
00:16:39,480 --> 00:16:41,200
And he shared these incredible
stories.

314
00:16:41,200 --> 00:16:43,600
And I, you know, my wife be
texting me, Hey, are you coming

315
00:16:43,600 --> 00:16:45,160
home for dinner?
And I'm like, I just, I like

316
00:16:45,160 --> 00:16:47,440
smoother in telling me this
story right now.

317
00:16:47,440 --> 00:16:50,320
And he's playing soccer with
Mick Jagger and the Brazilian

318
00:16:50,320 --> 00:16:53,840
national team.
I can't leave.

319
00:16:54,760 --> 00:16:56,360
Matter of fact, I just ordered
another drink.

320
00:16:56,360 --> 00:16:58,600
I'm never leaving.
You know, they're incredible.

321
00:16:59,200 --> 00:17:01,680
It's wild.
And you know, the, the thing

322
00:17:01,720 --> 00:17:05,520
that I was going to say is I
think so many of us forget in

323
00:17:05,520 --> 00:17:08,720
our industry, like especially
when you get big private equity

324
00:17:08,720 --> 00:17:10,760
involved and stuff.
And I'm not knocking private

325
00:17:10,760 --> 00:17:13,200
equity, it's so necessary in our
industry right now.

326
00:17:13,200 --> 00:17:16,920
But when you get private equity
involved and, and it becomes

327
00:17:16,920 --> 00:17:20,400
more corporate and all of that,
sometimes it's easy for people

328
00:17:20,400 --> 00:17:23,800
to be sort of either forgotten
or kicked to the wayside or, or

329
00:17:23,800 --> 00:17:27,960
you forget that, that the brand
and the company was built on 45

330
00:17:27,960 --> 00:17:31,640
years of smoother, not not
necessarily the great brand that

331
00:17:31,640 --> 00:17:35,920
it is or the great gear or the
whatever it's it was built

332
00:17:35,920 --> 00:17:39,080
because of smoother and around
smoother and buy smoother and

333
00:17:39,080 --> 00:17:43,000
all of that stuff.
And, you know, one of the things

334
00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:45,840
that makes me really happy is
that he is still there because I

335
00:17:45,840 --> 00:17:49,320
know when, when the company
originally sold, there was a lot

336
00:17:49,320 --> 00:17:53,960
of talk about him stepping down
and, you know, relaxing and you

337
00:17:53,960 --> 00:17:56,680
know, blah, blah, blah.
But Brian?

338
00:17:56,680 --> 00:17:57,720
You need to.
Jump in.

339
00:17:58,680 --> 00:17:59,520
He couldn't do it.
Yeah.

340
00:17:59,800 --> 00:18:02,240
He tried, he tried to retire.
Yeah.

341
00:18:02,720 --> 00:18:05,720
He literally, he he he was in
Oregon.

342
00:18:05,720 --> 00:18:09,640
He tried to retire, you know,
was going to sail off into the

343
00:18:09,640 --> 00:18:11,680
sunset with this fishing pole.
Yeah.

344
00:18:11,960 --> 00:18:16,400
And that lasted about what,
maybe six months or so, if that.

345
00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:19,160
Yeah.
And he, he just likes being in

346
00:18:19,160 --> 00:18:20,840
here.
He likes, he's in the office

347
00:18:20,840 --> 00:18:24,160
almost every single day.
He likes to do handle his stuff

348
00:18:24,160 --> 00:18:27,440
that he handles and.
And chat and just be around it,

349
00:18:27,440 --> 00:18:28,120
God.
Bless them.

350
00:18:28,120 --> 00:18:30,400
I mean, yeah.
The thing is, even if you love

351
00:18:30,400 --> 00:18:33,920
fishing, when you're able to do
it every single day because you

352
00:18:33,920 --> 00:18:36,200
have nothing else to do, it's
not as fun.

353
00:18:36,840 --> 00:18:39,280
It all changes like the things
that you do for leisure

354
00:18:39,280 --> 00:18:41,920
activities when they become your
daily activity.

355
00:18:42,360 --> 00:18:45,040
And certainly, I mean, if you
really love fishing, you'd love

356
00:18:45,040 --> 00:18:47,280
to do it every day or golf or
whatever it is.

357
00:18:47,680 --> 00:18:50,920
But I don't know.
For me, there's got to be, you

358
00:18:50,920 --> 00:18:54,880
know, it's like I travel, I, I
live in Florida, but I have, I

359
00:18:54,920 --> 00:18:57,000
spend the summers at my house up
in Canada.

360
00:18:57,000 --> 00:18:59,880
I'm from Calgary and so I have a
house in Banff.

361
00:19:00,720 --> 00:19:04,520
And I remember my ex-wife used
to always complain, you know,

362
00:19:04,640 --> 00:19:07,080
it's like, because it's always
two flights.

363
00:19:07,080 --> 00:19:09,640
So it's seven and a half, 8
hours to get there.

364
00:19:09,640 --> 00:19:12,080
It's such a pain in the ass
because she's from Chicago and

365
00:19:12,080 --> 00:19:14,480
doesn't have, you know, the
roots that I have here in

366
00:19:14,640 --> 00:19:18,560
Alberta.
And I said that's what makes it

367
00:19:18,560 --> 00:19:20,400
special.
You know, the fact that it's

368
00:19:20,400 --> 00:19:24,280
takes 8 1/2 hours, If it was a
30 minute drive and we could be

369
00:19:24,280 --> 00:19:26,760
there on Thursday or whatever,
yeah, it'd be great, but you'd

370
00:19:26,760 --> 00:19:31,040
get bored of it after a while.
Like this to me is so special

371
00:19:31,040 --> 00:19:32,960
still.
And I've had it 22 years or

372
00:19:32,960 --> 00:19:36,320
whatever and it's still so
special to come up here every

373
00:19:36,320 --> 00:19:37,600
year.
So it's the same kind of thing,

374
00:19:37,600 --> 00:19:39,640
you know, it's but.
I don't know, I think.

375
00:19:39,760 --> 00:19:42,320
I think I think you make a great
point about the flip side of

376
00:19:42,320 --> 00:19:44,960
that too, is I think one of the
things that makes it this

377
00:19:44,960 --> 00:19:49,480
industry we're in and that you
talk about on your podcast is

378
00:19:49,840 --> 00:19:53,040
what makes it so interesting is
every show is, is something new.

379
00:19:53,400 --> 00:19:55,880
Like one of the reasons I've
been doing this for 25 years

380
00:19:55,880 --> 00:19:58,320
and, and I've been in all
different companies and

381
00:19:58,320 --> 00:20:00,120
different roles and, you know,
and.

382
00:20:00,840 --> 00:20:03,160
Hundreds of shows, probably
thousands of shows over the

383
00:20:03,160 --> 00:20:05,200
years.
And the reason I'm still here

384
00:20:05,200 --> 00:20:09,240
because I am someone who's like,
I get bored super easy.

385
00:20:09,240 --> 00:20:12,120
I am, I'm not like if I, I
don't, I'm not a desk guy.

386
00:20:12,360 --> 00:20:15,680
I get, I go crazy, like one of
the things that I, that I keep

387
00:20:15,680 --> 00:20:19,400
coming back and why I love this
industry so much, you know,

388
00:20:19,400 --> 00:20:21,280
because I, I still fancy myself
an artist.

389
00:20:21,280 --> 00:20:23,360
I you know, I want to be a film
maker, you know, and I've, I've

390
00:20:23,360 --> 00:20:25,080
been working on this forever,
But one of the reasons I love

391
00:20:25,080 --> 00:20:28,280
this job and I I still love
coming to work every day is

392
00:20:28,280 --> 00:20:30,360
because every show is, is
something new.

393
00:20:30,360 --> 00:20:32,280
It's a different challenge.
It's interesting, it's a new

394
00:20:32,280 --> 00:20:36,240
client, it's a new brand, it's a
new show, it's a new album, it's

395
00:20:36,240 --> 00:20:38,880
new something and it's man, it's
fucking great.

396
00:20:39,040 --> 00:20:41,600
It's so cool to be able to say,
you know, you talk to your

397
00:20:41,600 --> 00:20:43,200
buddy, what do you do?
I'm an accountant.

398
00:20:43,200 --> 00:20:44,160
You were going to accounting for
him.

399
00:20:45,040 --> 00:20:45,800
Cool.
You know what I mean?

400
00:20:45,800 --> 00:20:46,800
Like, that's great.
What do you do?

401
00:20:47,160 --> 00:20:49,320
I just did a show for Spotify
with their new lossless thing.

402
00:20:49,320 --> 00:20:50,720
What?
They're offering a new thing.

403
00:20:51,200 --> 00:20:53,600
Oh, man, that's cool.
Yeah, Phineas was there and you

404
00:20:53,600 --> 00:20:56,000
know, or I we just did, you
know, Brian does music cares

405
00:20:56,000 --> 00:21:00,240
every year and it's just massive
thing with all these incredible

406
00:21:00,240 --> 00:21:02,080
iconic artists.
And it's just something we do

407
00:21:02,080 --> 00:21:05,400
every single day.
And it never gets old to me.

408
00:21:05,400 --> 00:21:08,000
It never does.
Well, and the other thing is how

409
00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:12,200
creative and, and just like our
industry is made-up of, I don't

410
00:21:12,200 --> 00:21:14,360
know if you remember the show
MacGyver, but it's a bunch of

411
00:21:14,360 --> 00:21:18,000
Macgyvers who are able to figure
shit out, you know, and it's

412
00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:20,880
like when, when COVID happened,
I said, just give it to our

413
00:21:20,880 --> 00:21:22,040
industry.
We'll fix it.

414
00:21:22,280 --> 00:21:25,120
I mean, we'll find ways that
people can still get together

415
00:21:25,120 --> 00:21:27,320
for concerts.
We'll find ways that people can

416
00:21:27,320 --> 00:21:29,960
still, you know, go for
Thanksgiving dinner or whatever,

417
00:21:29,960 --> 00:21:32,560
Like just give it to us and
we'll find some solutions

418
00:21:32,560 --> 00:21:35,840
because our industry does that.
We're we're fixers, you know?

419
00:21:36,520 --> 00:21:39,800
We did drive in concerts.
We did like drive in theater

420
00:21:39,800 --> 00:21:42,000
concerts.
You know, you talked about

421
00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:45,680
stories in here.
We did a drive in concert with

422
00:21:46,040 --> 00:21:51,560
with Cypress Hill and be real.
I was, you know, we were all

423
00:21:51,560 --> 00:21:54,560
hands on deck, you know, like
we're because we were a skeleton

424
00:21:54,560 --> 00:21:55,800
crew.
We had pared down because of

425
00:21:55,800 --> 00:21:57,400
COVID.
And so we're doing this driving

426
00:21:57,400 --> 00:22:00,160
concert.
No PA, just, you know, stage

427
00:22:00,160 --> 00:22:01,760
wedges for the band, you know
what I mean?

428
00:22:01,760 --> 00:22:03,640
But no actual PA because
everybody's getting it through

429
00:22:03,640 --> 00:22:06,080
an FM modulator into their cars
and they're supposed to stay in

430
00:22:06,080 --> 00:22:08,680
their cars, which by the way,
nobody did.

431
00:22:09,000 --> 00:22:10,480
Everybody just kept getting out
of their car.

432
00:22:10,480 --> 00:22:13,280
We're like, we are making
announcements, please go back in

433
00:22:13,280 --> 00:22:15,120
your car.
And they're like, yeah, no, you

434
00:22:15,120 --> 00:22:18,040
know, so we're like, whatever.
Remind me of like which Cheech

435
00:22:18,080 --> 00:22:20,840
and Chong movie was it where,
you know, the police pulled them

436
00:22:20,840 --> 00:22:23,440
over and they you couldn't even
see the guys in the car.

437
00:22:24,280 --> 00:22:26,600
Well, that's it, was it.
Had to be like.

438
00:22:26,960 --> 00:22:29,840
I was cutting the video together
like because again, all hands on

439
00:22:29,840 --> 00:22:31,080
deck and you do what you're good
at.

440
00:22:31,080 --> 00:22:34,120
So Jason at the time and Brian
were like, hey, why don't you,

441
00:22:34,120 --> 00:22:35,720
you're a video guy.
Why don't you cut video

442
00:22:35,720 --> 00:22:36,800
together?
I was like, great, I can cut

443
00:22:36,800 --> 00:22:38,760
cameras, no big deal.
So I jump in, I'm cutting

444
00:22:38,760 --> 00:22:40,800
cameras and I'm having fun
because I know Cypress Hill's

445
00:22:40,800 --> 00:22:42,880
music so I can cut together to
it.

446
00:22:42,880 --> 00:22:45,240
And I'm like mixing the camera
shots and just kind of having a

447
00:22:45,240 --> 00:22:46,800
good deal with it.
And be real.

448
00:22:46,800 --> 00:22:49,040
Comes, you know, backstage and
he's leaning next to me and he's

449
00:22:49,040 --> 00:22:50,880
smoking a joint that's the size
of a drumstick.

450
00:22:51,160 --> 00:22:53,320
And, you know, I mean, this is
only because my camera doesn't

451
00:22:53,320 --> 00:22:57,640
show it, but it's it's gigantic.
And he like, he's like, yo, man,

452
00:22:57,640 --> 00:22:59,240
what are you doing?
I'm like, I'm I'm doing the

453
00:22:59,240 --> 00:22:59,840
video.
Is it OK?

454
00:22:59,840 --> 00:23:02,280
He's like, oh, it's great, man.
He goes hit this and I'm like,

455
00:23:03,040 --> 00:23:06,520
no, like I'm in the middle of
working.

456
00:23:06,520 --> 00:23:09,360
And I'm like, and also, I don't
know if you've heard of this

457
00:23:09,360 --> 00:23:12,720
ongoing pandemic.
I don't know if I want to share

458
00:23:12,720 --> 00:23:16,240
a joint with you right now, but
it was just crazy shit that this

459
00:23:16,240 --> 00:23:19,600
is happening because we're doing
this live driving concert with

460
00:23:19,600 --> 00:23:22,720
hundreds of cars, this drive in
movie theater.

461
00:23:22,720 --> 00:23:25,600
Because just like you said, we
had to MacGyver away to get

462
00:23:25,600 --> 00:23:28,320
revenue and and to continue live
shows.

463
00:23:28,760 --> 00:23:32,040
Unfortunately, most of those
lost money because.

464
00:23:32,200 --> 00:23:34,400
Oh yeah, you know, let's.
Face it, getting cars that have

465
00:23:34,400 --> 00:23:36,600
to be 20 feet apart or
something, I don't know.

466
00:23:36,840 --> 00:23:40,040
The rules in California are
probably like 2 on each block or

467
00:23:40,040 --> 00:23:42,880
something, you know?
So by the time it's all said and

468
00:23:42,880 --> 00:23:46,480
done, you get like 100 paid
tickets or 200 paid tickets.

469
00:23:46,480 --> 00:23:49,880
It ain't gonna pay for Cypress
Hill, you know, with or without

470
00:23:49,880 --> 00:23:52,680
a sound system.
So yeah, right, most of them.

471
00:23:53,080 --> 00:23:56,480
I loved seeing the innovation.
I loved seeing people trying

472
00:23:56,480 --> 00:24:00,200
different things and they let's
face it, everyone was just so

473
00:24:00,200 --> 00:24:03,080
happy to put on your show blacks
and go out and do something.

474
00:24:03,080 --> 00:24:06,400
You know, it was just fun to do
something, get the hell out of

475
00:24:06,400 --> 00:24:10,480
the Netflix on a couch in in
your house, you know, with your

476
00:24:10,480 --> 00:24:14,360
your wife and kids and stuff who
are like Sunny, could you please

477
00:24:14,360 --> 00:24:16,000
leave?
You know, you've been here way

478
00:24:16,000 --> 00:24:17,680
too long right now.
Could you leave?

479
00:24:18,120 --> 00:24:22,120
You know, like so many wives got
to know their husbands and vice

480
00:24:22,120 --> 00:24:26,920
versa during COVID, because, you
know, people like all these LDS

481
00:24:26,920 --> 00:24:30,240
and and sound engineers and
whatever are on tour like

482
00:24:30,320 --> 00:24:32,320
constantly.
And now all of a sudden you

483
00:24:32,320 --> 00:24:34,920
haven't left the house in eight
months and they're going, please

484
00:24:34,920 --> 00:24:38,840
go somewhere, do something.
So, yeah, it's funny for sure.

485
00:24:39,640 --> 00:24:41,320
It's funny.
Look at productions.

486
00:24:41,680 --> 00:24:45,040
Since 1980, Delicate Productions
has mastered the art of

487
00:24:45,040 --> 00:24:49,040
lighting, audio and video in
high energy live settings.

488
00:24:49,200 --> 00:24:52,680
From iconic music festivals to
global tours, corporate

489
00:24:52,680 --> 00:24:56,040
launches, award shows, sporting
events and beyond.

490
00:24:56,320 --> 00:25:02,160
For Delicate, the only way to
get it right is to get it just

491
00:25:02,160 --> 00:25:05,760
right.
With precision, creativity and

492
00:25:05,760 --> 00:25:08,920
full service production
capabilities, they turn bold

493
00:25:08,920 --> 00:25:12,920
visions into moments that linger
in pop culture's subconscious.

494
00:25:13,480 --> 00:25:17,000
Need a single touring partner to
handle audio, lighting, video,

495
00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:20,640
rigging and production design?
Delicate delivers it all.

496
00:25:20,640 --> 00:25:25,520
Florida State Located in the
greater Los Angeles area and

497
00:25:25,520 --> 00:25:30,240
part of the Live Events
Productions network, Delicate

498
00:25:30,640 --> 00:25:35,360
has access to a deep nationwide
inventory of gear and is powered

499
00:25:35,360 --> 00:25:38,680
by a highly skilled team,
amplifying your tour's full

500
00:25:38,680 --> 00:25:41,160
potential.
Whether you need rigging,

501
00:25:41,280 --> 00:25:45,320
production design, or end to end
show management, they deliver it

502
00:25:45,320 --> 00:25:47,720
all seamlessly.
And it doesn't end there.

503
00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:52,360
Delicate delivers a full 360°
production experience by teaming

504
00:25:52,360 --> 00:25:55,880
up with sister company
Pyrotechnico, experts in

505
00:25:55,880 --> 00:25:59,400
fireworks, special effects and
drone light shows.

506
00:25:59,760 --> 00:26:04,080
Together they create truly
immersive multi sensory

507
00:26:04,520 --> 00:26:06,720
experiences that elevate every
show.

508
00:26:07,280 --> 00:26:12,040
Visit delicate.com to see how
unforgettable events get made.

509
00:26:12,520 --> 00:26:16,560
That's delicate.com where
technical brilliance meets

510
00:26:16,600 --> 00:26:19,520
creative impact.
So delicate.

511
00:26:20,320 --> 00:26:22,960
One of the things I'm I'm
curious about and you guys can

512
00:26:22,960 --> 00:26:29,560
be as honest as as your able to
be or or not, but going from

513
00:26:29,560 --> 00:26:33,680
being a bunch of Yahoo Cowboys,
you know, flying by the seat of

514
00:26:33,680 --> 00:26:37,880
your pants behind smoother to
being part of a fairly

515
00:26:37,880 --> 00:26:40,200
structured private equity held
company.

516
00:26:40,520 --> 00:26:44,360
And you know, I know Steven
Vitale really well and Rocco and

517
00:26:44,360 --> 00:26:50,480
the whole team and and even
Stevens partner, but it is

518
00:26:50,480 --> 00:26:53,560
structured because it has to be,
you know, you now have some

519
00:26:53,560 --> 00:26:57,120
finances invested into the
company and some people you're

520
00:26:57,120 --> 00:27:00,400
responsible for the money and
for making sure that it's spent

521
00:27:00,400 --> 00:27:04,240
well and stuff like that.
But how different is it really

522
00:27:04,240 --> 00:27:07,160
from a standpoint of the like
the customer viewpoint, the

523
00:27:07,160 --> 00:27:12,120
staff is it is it really, really
different or just a little bit

524
00:27:12,120 --> 00:27:15,720
different?
And like any any thoughts on

525
00:27:15,720 --> 00:27:19,240
that?
Yeah, I think I'll jump in here

526
00:27:19,240 --> 00:27:22,080
real quick, Sonny.
I think it's good.

527
00:27:22,960 --> 00:27:25,760
I, I think it's been an
adjustment, you know, but it's,

528
00:27:25,840 --> 00:27:27,840
it's all for the, the greater
good of it.

529
00:27:27,840 --> 00:27:32,400
I think the, the real benefit is
probably our access to

530
00:27:32,400 --> 00:27:36,200
inventory, our clients.
It's good we're able to service

531
00:27:36,360 --> 00:27:40,400
more shows where we'll take on
more than we normally would

532
00:27:40,400 --> 00:27:45,880
because we do have access larger
scale stuff, you know, our our

533
00:27:45,880 --> 00:27:49,240
ability to quote things that we
normally would would kind of shy

534
00:27:49,240 --> 00:27:52,520
away from, you know, we're going
to take a shot at see if we can

535
00:27:52,520 --> 00:27:54,600
do it.
So I, I think it's a good thing.

536
00:27:56,320 --> 00:27:59,880
Yeah, just the overall support.
Yeah, it's a little bit of a

537
00:27:59,880 --> 00:28:00,600
learning.
Curve.

538
00:28:00,960 --> 00:28:01,720
It's an.
Adjustment.

539
00:28:01,760 --> 00:28:06,920
Obviously, yeah.
And and, you know, but it's sort

540
00:28:06,920 --> 00:28:09,400
of a double edged sword.
Like you now have a lot of

541
00:28:09,400 --> 00:28:14,280
support and systems and
processes in place, which you

542
00:28:14,280 --> 00:28:16,840
know, can help you to be able to
do things.

543
00:28:16,840 --> 00:28:19,800
You don't have to fly by the
seat of your pants quite so

544
00:28:19,800 --> 00:28:22,920
much.
But at the same time you have

545
00:28:22,920 --> 00:28:27,200
systems and processes you have
to follow and, and expectations

546
00:28:27,200 --> 00:28:29,600
and accountability and all of
those things, right.

547
00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:33,600
And so I think at the end of the
day, like you said, it is a good

548
00:28:33,600 --> 00:28:36,680
thing because I think especially
the direction the business is

549
00:28:36,680 --> 00:28:40,880
going and has gone, the
industry, I should say, you

550
00:28:40,880 --> 00:28:45,440
know, it's it's so important
that everything has ROI and that

551
00:28:45,440 --> 00:28:48,920
everything that utilization's
really high and stuff like that.

552
00:28:48,920 --> 00:28:52,840
Cause a moving light that used
to cost 5 grand is 17 or 18

553
00:28:52,840 --> 00:28:55,800
grand or 15 grand now.
It's crazy, you know?

554
00:28:55,800 --> 00:29:00,200
And yeah, I mean, audio consoles
used to be 20-30 grand, Now

555
00:29:00,200 --> 00:29:04,560
they're 150 or whatever, Yeah.
I think it's, I think it's

556
00:29:04,560 --> 00:29:06,360
twofold too.
Like you, you kind of mentioned

557
00:29:06,360 --> 00:29:09,400
this in in, you know, just that
kind of what Brian said, there

558
00:29:09,400 --> 00:29:14,520
are some things about it that
are a no brainer benefit to us

559
00:29:14,760 --> 00:29:18,240
expanding our reach nationally.
Now, you know, we can launch

560
00:29:18,240 --> 00:29:20,360
shows because we're part, you
know, our sister companies are

561
00:29:20,360 --> 00:29:24,640
Gemini in Dallas, Zenith in
Orlando, active in Atlanta and

562
00:29:24,640 --> 00:29:28,680
obviously pyrotechnico writ
large, you know, because we have

563
00:29:28,680 --> 00:29:30,640
this.
So now we have this whole 360

564
00:29:30,640 --> 00:29:33,200
services we can offer that we
weren't able to offer before.

565
00:29:33,480 --> 00:29:35,680
You know, now I have clients
call me, they're like, hey, do

566
00:29:35,680 --> 00:29:37,520
you have anybody you could reach
out to in Dallas?

567
00:29:37,520 --> 00:29:38,880
I'm like, I can do your show in
Dallas.

568
00:29:38,880 --> 00:29:41,200
Like what you mean I'm like,
yeah, I can sell your show in

569
00:29:41,200 --> 00:29:43,560
Dallas and my sister company
will operate and I'll come out

570
00:29:43,560 --> 00:29:45,880
there and it's just like you're,
you know, I'm your quotes going

571
00:29:45,880 --> 00:29:47,920
to come from delicate, even
though technically it's coming

572
00:29:47,920 --> 00:29:51,120
from Gemini in Dallas.
And for a client thing, that's

573
00:29:51,120 --> 00:29:54,240
great because if they, you know,
they buy the laundry, you know,

574
00:29:54,240 --> 00:29:58,000
they buy delicate and they want
the way we do a show, they still

575
00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:00,280
get a delicate show in a
different city.

576
00:30:00,280 --> 00:30:02,080
So that's an awesome thing for
us.

577
00:30:02,880 --> 00:30:05,240
The flip side of it, this isn't
necessarily a bad thing, but

578
00:30:05,240 --> 00:30:07,760
this is adjustment.
Thing is, we used to be able to

579
00:30:07,760 --> 00:30:10,560
be like if we got a wild hair up
our ass and wanted to buy a

580
00:30:10,560 --> 00:30:13,200
piece of gear, we would just
Jason would just buy it.

581
00:30:13,200 --> 00:30:15,120
So we would just buy it.
What Brian could just buy it.

582
00:30:15,120 --> 00:30:17,280
We could look at the finances
and be like, I want this piece

583
00:30:17,280 --> 00:30:19,880
of gear and now there's a
process and a structure for that

584
00:30:19,880 --> 00:30:22,680
because it affects a, a much
bigger thing.

585
00:30:22,680 --> 00:30:25,440
You know, there's, there's
investors, there's CapEx

586
00:30:25,440 --> 00:30:27,520
expenditures there.
It's a lot more structured to

587
00:30:27,520 --> 00:30:29,520
the way, you know, oh, there's a
tour coming.

588
00:30:29,520 --> 00:30:31,160
They want us to buy all these
pictures, like you said, the

589
00:30:31,160 --> 00:30:33,560
latest and greatest.
We would just be like, let's buy

590
00:30:33,560 --> 00:30:36,520
it, let's buy 10,000 magic
rings, let's buy all these

591
00:30:36,520 --> 00:30:38,640
things.
And now we're like, are we going

592
00:30:38,640 --> 00:30:40,280
to use that anymore?
You know, like, does that make

593
00:30:40,280 --> 00:30:42,680
sense?
Because I've seen the I've seen

594
00:30:42,680 --> 00:30:47,320
the downside of, of not being
that way, not having a structure

595
00:30:47,320 --> 00:30:51,600
was the early days of PRG when,
you know, they were just shoving

596
00:30:51,600 --> 00:30:55,320
these inventories together from
companies on the East Coast with

597
00:30:55,320 --> 00:30:58,200
companies on the West Coast.
And none of the cabling matched,

598
00:30:58,200 --> 00:31:00,920
none of the connectors matched,
none of the cases matched, none

599
00:31:00,920 --> 00:31:02,720
of the infrastructure matched at
all.

600
00:31:03,080 --> 00:31:06,320
And so I remember having that
conversation early on with, with

601
00:31:06,320 --> 00:31:09,600
Steven is, you know, be really
careful about infrastructure and

602
00:31:09,600 --> 00:31:12,200
also types of gear.
Like you don't want a bunch of

603
00:31:12,200 --> 00:31:14,560
shops that have 12 of each
moving light.

604
00:31:15,040 --> 00:31:20,040
You want some sort of, you know,
collaboration between brands.

605
00:31:20,040 --> 00:31:22,920
Like if you're, if you're AD and
B house, be AD and B House

606
00:31:22,920 --> 00:31:26,480
across the board, if you're, you
know, L acoustics or if you're

607
00:31:26,480 --> 00:31:28,760
Martin lighting or if you're
this lighting or that lighting.

608
00:31:29,160 --> 00:31:32,160
And there's so much advantage to
doing it that way.

609
00:31:32,160 --> 00:31:34,720
So I do think that that becomes
a part of the process.

610
00:31:35,160 --> 00:31:38,760
But then a lot of it's just
being bean counting, you know,

611
00:31:38,800 --> 00:31:40,760
they're just counting beans
doing what they're supposed to

612
00:31:40,760 --> 00:31:44,040
do.
And, and that obviously comes

613
00:31:44,040 --> 00:31:45,680
when you have bankers as
partners.

614
00:31:46,840 --> 00:31:49,480
It just happens that way.
There's there's pluses and

615
00:31:49,480 --> 00:31:51,440
minuses to having bankers as
partners.

616
00:31:51,440 --> 00:31:54,080
Yes, you can write a really big
check if it makes sense to write

617
00:31:54,080 --> 00:31:57,200
it, but you know, you're going
to be held accountable for the

618
00:31:57,200 --> 00:32:01,680
results, you know, and that's
where it gets sometimes

619
00:32:01,680 --> 00:32:05,480
troublesome.
Brian, I know your background is

620
00:32:05,480 --> 00:32:10,320
like both operational leadership
and and also like hands on, I

621
00:32:10,320 --> 00:32:15,360
think engineering.
Yep, with lots of artists too.

622
00:32:15,400 --> 00:32:18,520
Like, I didn't actually even
know that you had like a a

623
00:32:18,840 --> 00:32:20,560
touring background as an
engineer.

624
00:32:22,160 --> 00:32:25,240
Yeah, yeah.
I toured pretty heavily from

625
00:32:25,240 --> 00:32:30,640
about I think 2000 or 99, two
thousand around that time to

626
00:32:30,640 --> 00:32:36,720
about 2009, yeah.
Worked with several artists, you

627
00:32:36,720 --> 00:32:39,240
know, like lots of people on
this podcast and but yeah,

628
00:32:39,600 --> 00:32:41,480
really kind of cut my teeth with
that.

629
00:32:41,480 --> 00:32:46,160
Prior to that was I worked for a
couple different companies as

630
00:32:46,160 --> 00:32:49,240
shop tech and company called
Industrial Sound.

631
00:32:49,240 --> 00:32:50,560
I don't know if you remember
those guys.

632
00:32:50,560 --> 00:32:53,880
I do, yeah.
But they were they were a mom

633
00:32:53,880 --> 00:32:57,800
and pop operation and that was
kind of my first step into the

634
00:32:57,800 --> 00:33:00,920
touring stuff.
I was I was excited to work with

635
00:33:00,920 --> 00:33:04,400
them.
I had, I would see truck driver

636
00:33:04,400 --> 00:33:07,840
slash shop guy slash engineer
slash whatever you need me to

637
00:33:07,840 --> 00:33:12,120
do, dude, and kind of work from
the bottom up on that end.

638
00:33:12,120 --> 00:33:15,680
And yeah, kind of jumped in the
touring stuff and did that for

639
00:33:15,680 --> 00:33:19,000
about 10 years and then kind of
jumped into the business side

640
00:33:19,040 --> 00:33:21,400
after that, so.
It's it's funny because you

641
00:33:21,400 --> 00:33:24,840
know, when I look at you, even
just on this podcast, you again,

642
00:33:24,840 --> 00:33:27,640
you look like the grown up in
the room and I.

643
00:33:27,640 --> 00:33:30,000
Didn't I?
Assumed you came in through

644
00:33:30,080 --> 00:33:34,000
either some sort of a, a banking
relationship or this kind of

645
00:33:34,000 --> 00:33:38,080
relationship or whatever and you
just look like a business guy.

646
00:33:38,080 --> 00:33:40,800
You don't, you know, Sunny looks
like a touring guy.

647
00:33:40,800 --> 00:33:43,760
You look like a business guy.
And which is funny because it's

648
00:33:43,800 --> 00:33:45,760
the opposite.
Oh, really?

649
00:33:46,200 --> 00:33:47,640
Probably I've.
Never been a background.

650
00:33:48,040 --> 00:33:51,040
I've never been a touring guy.
I've never been an engineer.

651
00:33:51,040 --> 00:33:52,680
Ever.
My entire background in this

652
00:33:52,680 --> 00:33:55,240
industry is in sales and
management period.

653
00:33:56,080 --> 00:33:59,520
Like if I'm behind a console, if
I'm behind a console at an

654
00:33:59,520 --> 00:34:03,200
event, fucking shits on fire.
Big trouble.

655
00:34:03,480 --> 00:34:06,640
Like if you see me behind the
console, I was always in sales.

656
00:34:06,640 --> 00:34:09,080
I, I was in the military as a
broadcast journalist.

657
00:34:09,080 --> 00:34:13,960
I got out and was, I thought I
had a job and it fizzled out and

658
00:34:13,960 --> 00:34:16,920
then was like, oh, I should
probably find a job.

659
00:34:17,199 --> 00:34:20,560
And it's hard to break into
civilian broadcasting when your

660
00:34:20,560 --> 00:34:22,639
only background is military
broadcasting.

661
00:34:23,000 --> 00:34:26,000
And I freelanced as a camera
engineer because I was, you

662
00:34:26,000 --> 00:34:27,440
know, I could shoot camera and
stuff.

663
00:34:27,760 --> 00:34:30,840
I freelance doing IMAG for a
PSAV gig.

664
00:34:31,199 --> 00:34:35,159
And then like I, I was a tech
for like 2 weeks and they're

665
00:34:35,159 --> 00:34:37,199
like, hey, do you want to be a
director?

666
00:34:37,480 --> 00:34:40,600
You're really good at sales.
And I was like, sure, what does

667
00:34:40,600 --> 00:34:42,280
that mean?
And then they gave me my own

668
00:34:42,280 --> 00:34:44,520
hotel.
I got to ask though, what?

669
00:34:44,679 --> 00:34:47,440
What is broadcast in the
military like what is that role

670
00:34:47,440 --> 00:34:49,000
entail?
Because I think of, you know,

671
00:34:49,000 --> 00:34:50,719
good morning.
What I did?

672
00:34:51,480 --> 00:34:53,040
That's what he was.
Yeah, yeah.

673
00:34:53,040 --> 00:34:57,520
So for three years, I was
stationed in Panama from 95 to

674
00:34:57,520 --> 00:35:00,320
98.
And I hosted a radio show,

675
00:35:00,520 --> 00:35:03,440
morning radio show.
And then I did a lunchtime radio

676
00:35:03,440 --> 00:35:04,800
show.
And then I was an anchor on the

677
00:35:04,800 --> 00:35:06,800
news.
And this is, it seems kind of

678
00:35:06,800 --> 00:35:09,520
silly, but like in Panama there
are over 1,000,000 people.

679
00:35:09,720 --> 00:35:11,440
We are the only English speaking
station.

680
00:35:11,440 --> 00:35:15,080
So everybody watched us.
So I was like a minor celebrity

681
00:35:15,080 --> 00:35:16,320
there.
There, you know where people go.

682
00:35:16,320 --> 00:35:19,520
So did the catalucho.
Like they knew me because I was

683
00:35:19,520 --> 00:35:21,400
on TV and I was on the radio all
the time.

684
00:35:21,640 --> 00:35:25,680
But yeah, so I hosted ATV show
called Panama Now and then I was

685
00:35:25,680 --> 00:35:28,320
an anchor on the news and I was
a reporter on the news and I did

686
00:35:28,320 --> 00:35:30,440
radio news.
I learned every aspect.

687
00:35:30,440 --> 00:35:33,400
I worked in every aspect of
friggin awesome cut commercials.

688
00:35:33,760 --> 00:35:35,840
Why would you work for the
military doing that though?

689
00:35:35,840 --> 00:35:38,320
Because you're are you speaking
to the military or are you

690
00:35:38,320 --> 00:35:39,960
speaking to just anyone who's
listening?

691
00:35:40,240 --> 00:35:42,960
You're so it started out with
being an on base station, but

692
00:35:42,960 --> 00:35:47,800
because of part of the treaty,
the set, this is way too much.

693
00:35:47,800 --> 00:35:53,120
But the 77 Carter Torrios Treaty
of of Panama, what they did is

694
00:35:53,120 --> 00:35:57,000
the AFRTS stations, armed
forces, radio and television

695
00:35:57,000 --> 00:36:00,120
stations would have to provide a
community benefited as well.

696
00:36:00,360 --> 00:36:03,040
So and also a lot of people live
off base.

697
00:36:03,240 --> 00:36:06,400
So you have an on base station,
which is like commanders access

698
00:36:06,400 --> 00:36:08,400
channel that anybody lives on
base could access.

699
00:36:08,600 --> 00:36:12,240
But then there was also off base
where people off base, like

700
00:36:12,240 --> 00:36:16,120
Panamanians had us on channel 15
on cable so they could watch

701
00:36:16,120 --> 00:36:19,640
Seinfeld, you know, because we
could, we had all of those huge

702
00:36:19,640 --> 00:36:22,720
TV shows would license their
products was like a year behind

703
00:36:22,720 --> 00:36:25,360
or six months behind or whatever
it was, but for free.

704
00:36:25,440 --> 00:36:28,000
They just gave the programs to
the military for nothing.

705
00:36:28,280 --> 00:36:31,160
And so we could air those shows.
And so, man, if you want to

706
00:36:31,160 --> 00:36:33,680
watch Seinfeld or if you wanted
to watch it in English, you had

707
00:36:33,680 --> 00:36:37,280
to watch it on AFRTS or AFN.
Now it's called Armed Forces

708
00:36:37,280 --> 00:36:39,920
Network.
But so our news station was

709
00:36:39,920 --> 00:36:42,720
heavily watched, you know, and
most of the stuff we covered,

710
00:36:43,040 --> 00:36:46,800
you know, was primarily military
based.

711
00:36:46,800 --> 00:36:49,040
So I mean, nothing like we're
not like, oh, and we're going to

712
00:36:49,040 --> 00:36:51,440
bomb this place coming up in
five days, you know, like we

713
00:36:51,440 --> 00:36:52,880
couldn't talk about anything
like that.

714
00:36:52,880 --> 00:36:55,560
So it was literally like, I
remember we were on a cast one

715
00:36:55,560 --> 00:36:58,680
time and it was literally the
day before the OJ Simpson trial

716
00:36:58,680 --> 00:37:01,800
verdict was announced.
And so it was like we were

717
00:37:01,800 --> 00:37:03,960
talking about that.
It was such a huge national

718
00:37:03,960 --> 00:37:05,760
story.
And I wanted to be more like

719
00:37:05,760 --> 00:37:11,520
real national news and not like,
oh, there's a fair today on base

720
00:37:11,520 --> 00:37:14,400
and, you know, blah, blah, blah,
take your kiddies out and ride a

721
00:37:14,400 --> 00:37:15,720
roller coaster.
Like, who gives a shit?

722
00:37:15,840 --> 00:37:17,400
You know?
So like, but that's what we were

723
00:37:17,400 --> 00:37:20,600
supposed to do.
And this day, I got literally

724
00:37:20,600 --> 00:37:22,360
preempted right before we went
on news.

725
00:37:22,360 --> 00:37:25,680
The public affairs was a Colonel
comes running in.

726
00:37:25,800 --> 00:37:29,000
He grabs the news director.
He hands on this paper, they

727
00:37:29,000 --> 00:37:30,720
stop us because sometimes we
would record it.

728
00:37:30,720 --> 00:37:34,200
We would pre record the news
because you know, these are guys

729
00:37:34,200 --> 00:37:37,200
that yeah, we're professional,
but not all of us are great at

730
00:37:37,200 --> 00:37:39,720
our job.
So like, you know, sometimes

731
00:37:39,720 --> 00:37:41,160
we'd fuck up while we're in the
news.

732
00:37:41,160 --> 00:37:42,400
They'd have to edit it and fix
it.

733
00:37:42,520 --> 00:37:43,800
So we didn't want to do that
live.

734
00:37:43,800 --> 00:37:46,520
So it's super embarrassing.
So we would try to record the

735
00:37:46,520 --> 00:37:50,960
news and then air it a live tape
6, you know, like at 6:00 PM.

736
00:37:51,080 --> 00:37:53,120
So we tried to record it like
435 o'clock.

737
00:37:53,120 --> 00:37:55,960
We did this 30 minute newscast.
And so this, my news director

738
00:37:55,960 --> 00:37:58,680
runs in.
He stops us recording, hands me

739
00:37:58,680 --> 00:37:59,840
this.
He's like, we have to lead with

740
00:37:59,840 --> 00:38:02,000
this press brief.
I'm thinking the president's

741
00:38:02,000 --> 00:38:03,520
shot.
I'm thinking, you know, this is

742
00:38:03,520 --> 00:38:08,760
breaking news.
A kiddie train derailed at a

743
00:38:08,880 --> 00:38:11,560
fair and some kids fell out.
Nobody's hurt or anything.

744
00:38:11,560 --> 00:38:14,000
And I go, Oh my God, you're
we're not really leading with

745
00:38:14,000 --> 00:38:16,520
this, right?
And he's like, yeah, well, this

746
00:38:16,520 --> 00:38:19,800
particular day, I read the thing
and and, you know, they pump,

747
00:38:19,800 --> 00:38:23,120
pump it into the teleprompter
and I'm like, the Usarso

748
00:38:23,120 --> 00:38:26,920
commander was this guy named Joe
Curtain, Colonel Joe Curtain.

749
00:38:26,920 --> 00:38:30,040
And I was like, this thing
happened at the Usersa fair.

750
00:38:30,040 --> 00:38:32,800
And now with more, we go to a
sound bite from Colonel Joe

751
00:38:32,800 --> 00:38:34,560
Curtain.
And then I paused because

752
00:38:34,560 --> 00:38:36,520
they're supposed to cut it and
then edit it together.

753
00:38:36,520 --> 00:38:41,680
And I go and it's so important.
Oh no, they didn't cut that off.

754
00:38:41,960 --> 00:38:44,640
So I'm at home watching it with
my wife.

755
00:38:44,640 --> 00:38:48,320
And I'm like, Oh my God.
And my phone goes, my

756
00:38:48,320 --> 00:38:50,680
commander's like, I want to see
you on the carpet first thing

757
00:38:50,680 --> 00:38:52,160
tomorrow morning.
And I'm like, I'm fucked.

758
00:38:53,120 --> 00:38:54,600
Yeah.
I went from there to Nellis Air

759
00:38:54,600 --> 00:38:56,640
Force Base in Vegas and hosted
ATV show.

760
00:38:57,840 --> 00:39:00,000
No, they didn't.
No, I got yelled at.

761
00:39:00,000 --> 00:39:02,200
I think I got moved to radio
news for like a week.

762
00:39:02,400 --> 00:39:05,720
I got Jimmy Kimmel.
I got slapped on the hand and

763
00:39:05,720 --> 00:39:07,840
removed from the air for, you
know, a couple of days.

764
00:39:07,840 --> 00:39:10,280
And then I came back and had to
apologize.

765
00:39:10,280 --> 00:39:12,680
And then, yeah.
But yes, I did that.

766
00:39:12,680 --> 00:39:15,680
And then I stumbled into this
industry and then I've been

767
00:39:15,680 --> 00:39:17,680
doing it for, like I said, 25
years.

768
00:39:18,160 --> 00:39:21,640
So did you go to school for
broadcast or did you just walk

769
00:39:21,640 --> 00:39:24,960
into a recruiting office and
goes, that looks hard, that

770
00:39:24,960 --> 00:39:27,000
looks really easy, I want to do
that, you know?

771
00:39:27,120 --> 00:39:31,560
I, I, I stumbled into it.
I, I actually joined because I

772
00:39:31,560 --> 00:39:33,440
watched A few Good Men and
thought it was great.

773
00:39:33,720 --> 00:39:35,920
And everybody's always said, oh,
you're, you're such a good

774
00:39:35,920 --> 00:39:37,200
arguer.
You should be a lawyer.

775
00:39:37,520 --> 00:39:39,720
I didn't realize that this is a
thing too.

776
00:39:39,880 --> 00:39:42,440
Apparently you have to go to law
school to be a lawyer.

777
00:39:42,600 --> 00:39:44,800
I mean, it doesn't mean Kim
Kardashian doesn't, but some

778
00:39:44,800 --> 00:39:49,840
people do.
And so I I went into a Navy

779
00:39:49,840 --> 00:39:53,360
recruiting office and was like,
hey, I saw this movie.

780
00:39:53,440 --> 00:39:55,080
I like to join up.
I want to be a lawyer, you know?

781
00:39:55,400 --> 00:39:56,880
And they're like, did you go to
law school?

782
00:39:56,880 --> 00:39:58,760
I'm like, Nah, they're like, did
you go to college?

783
00:40:00,360 --> 00:40:02,320
Like, I got married when I was
20 after dating for three

784
00:40:02,320 --> 00:40:03,640
months.
And I work at Musicland.

785
00:40:03,840 --> 00:40:06,000
You know, I'm like, can I get a
job as.

786
00:40:06,040 --> 00:40:08,760
And they're like, yeah, they're
like, but you work in Musicland

787
00:40:08,760 --> 00:40:10,040
and you like entertainment
stuff.

788
00:40:10,040 --> 00:40:11,400
Ever thought about being a
journalist?

789
00:40:11,400 --> 00:40:13,480
And I'm like, why?
I'm a writer that sounds great.

790
00:40:13,840 --> 00:40:16,760
And ended up not during the Navy
for too long of a story.

791
00:40:16,760 --> 00:40:19,440
So I joined the Air Force.
And then originally they made me

792
00:40:19,440 --> 00:40:23,120
a crypto linguist because I had
high test scores, which meant

793
00:40:23,120 --> 00:40:26,680
basically a translator.
And then some stuff happened and

794
00:40:26,680 --> 00:40:28,400
they had to reclassify me to
something else.

795
00:40:28,400 --> 00:40:32,840
And by chance, this broadcaster
guy, there was no spots open for

796
00:40:32,840 --> 00:40:35,840
the broadcasting job because the
school was closing and not going

797
00:40:35,840 --> 00:40:38,760
to reopen for a year.
And so where I was cycling in my

798
00:40:38,760 --> 00:40:40,920
training, I wouldn't have been
by the time I got out of basic

799
00:40:40,920 --> 00:40:43,120
training, I wouldn't have been
able to make the school.

800
00:40:43,120 --> 00:40:46,720
But by chance, some dude who was
two classes behind me and he

801
00:40:46,720 --> 00:40:48,960
fell on the confidence course.
You know, that's the only thing

802
00:40:48,960 --> 00:40:51,000
they ever talk about, about
basic training is the confidence

803
00:40:51,000 --> 00:40:52,880
course.
And this dude fell and broke his

804
00:40:52,880 --> 00:40:55,360
arm, so he was getting out.
So they're like, there's a spot

805
00:40:55,360 --> 00:40:56,840
open.
And I took it.

806
00:40:56,840 --> 00:40:59,440
And then I did that for six
years.

807
00:40:59,440 --> 00:41:01,640
Yeah, it was, it was great.
But that's kind of how I

808
00:41:01,840 --> 00:41:05,640
stumbled into this industry, you
know, by, by learning

809
00:41:05,720 --> 00:41:07,920
broadcaster.
So I knew a little bit about all

810
00:41:07,920 --> 00:41:11,200
the things that we do with the
exception of like projection and

811
00:41:11,200 --> 00:41:13,440
LED and everything.
But I knew I could mix sound a

812
00:41:13,440 --> 00:41:15,280
little bit.
I'd shoot camera, you know, I

813
00:41:15,280 --> 00:41:17,280
could do some switching,
directing, you know, that kind

814
00:41:17,280 --> 00:41:20,320
of stuff.
But I never was an actual, I

815
00:41:20,320 --> 00:41:24,320
mean, I for PSAVI mixed small
rooms because, you know, hotel

816
00:41:24,320 --> 00:41:27,120
AV, you do everything.
But I was never really good at

817
00:41:27,120 --> 00:41:29,040
it, you know what I mean?
Like I I was good at

818
00:41:29,040 --> 00:41:30,480
bullshitting.
I was going to talk looking to

819
00:41:30,480 --> 00:41:34,320
clients and selling stuff and I
knew that was not my skill set.

820
00:41:34,320 --> 00:41:36,960
I, you don't, you know, like
again, if I'm, if I'm behind the

821
00:41:36,960 --> 00:41:40,760
console or something's on fire,
we're in big trouble, you know,

822
00:41:40,760 --> 00:41:41,840
like, you know, it's.
The same.

823
00:41:41,840 --> 00:41:44,280
I mean, people come on and
they'll talk to me about, you

824
00:41:44,280 --> 00:41:46,640
know, different types of
shackles and stuff and I'm like,

825
00:41:47,000 --> 00:41:48,360
I have no idea what you're
talking about.

826
00:41:48,480 --> 00:41:49,800
And I'm like, well, you know
when?

827
00:41:49,960 --> 00:41:52,320
Whenever you.
Fly a rig and I'm like, I've

828
00:41:52,320 --> 00:41:55,360
never flown a freaking rig.
You know, I stood under them

829
00:41:55,360 --> 00:41:58,040
occasionally, but yeah, I've
never flown a rig.

830
00:41:58,080 --> 00:42:02,520
And it's funny because I run out
of knowledge before.

831
00:42:02,520 --> 00:42:05,440
I run out of, I think, ideas to
ask questions and stuff.

832
00:42:05,840 --> 00:42:08,520
And but yeah, that's really
cool.

833
00:42:08,520 --> 00:42:10,800
I would have never guessed that
that would be somebody's

834
00:42:10,800 --> 00:42:13,520
background coming into this
industry coming insane.

835
00:42:13,840 --> 00:42:17,120
Good morning Vietnam, this
episode is brought to you by

836
00:42:17,160 --> 00:42:19,320
Acme.
Geezers of Gear is thrilled to

837
00:42:19,320 --> 00:42:21,880
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838
00:42:22,200 --> 00:42:25,080
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839
00:42:25,080 --> 00:42:27,840
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840
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841
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842
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pushing boundaries in
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843
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844
00:42:43,440 --> 00:42:48,840
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845
00:42:49,160 --> 00:42:54,280
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846
00:42:54,280 --> 00:42:57,600
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847
00:42:58,000 --> 00:43:02,520
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848
00:43:02,520 --> 00:43:06,680
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849
00:43:06,680 --> 00:43:10,480
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850
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851
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852
00:43:16,680 --> 00:43:20,360
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853
00:43:20,360 --> 00:43:24,160
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854
00:43:24,320 --> 00:43:25,520
We're proud to have you on
board.

855
00:43:25,760 --> 00:43:29,520
So let's talk about Delegate
Delicate again, because I want

856
00:43:29,520 --> 00:43:33,760
to get into sort of, you know,
again, I love the brand, I love

857
00:43:33,760 --> 00:43:35,440
the company, I love the people
in it.

858
00:43:36,280 --> 00:43:42,280
I think there's a great
opportunity for sort of small to

859
00:43:42,280 --> 00:43:46,600
mid sized touring company right
now coming in and, and really

860
00:43:46,600 --> 00:43:51,520
just growing into a spot where
you're taking a lot of those.

861
00:43:53,120 --> 00:43:55,240
Like, I just see a lot of the
bigger companies are fighting

862
00:43:55,240 --> 00:43:58,880
over the same big tours and some
of the smaller ones are finding

863
00:43:58,880 --> 00:44:02,440
a harder time to, to get a lot
of attention or to get, you

864
00:44:02,440 --> 00:44:07,680
know, real personal, you know,
just the right group around them

865
00:44:07,680 --> 00:44:09,440
and stuff.
And I've heard this a lot.

866
00:44:09,440 --> 00:44:12,240
I had a conversation, I won't
mention which company, but had a

867
00:44:12,240 --> 00:44:15,160
conversation with a touring exec
at one of the major companies

868
00:44:15,160 --> 00:44:17,120
yesterday.
And, and it was really funny

869
00:44:17,120 --> 00:44:20,640
because it was kind of like,
well, you know, yeah, we're not

870
00:44:20,640 --> 00:44:23,120
doing those kind of shows right
now because it just doesn't make

871
00:44:23,120 --> 00:44:25,240
sense for us.
You know, we're, we're really

872
00:44:25,240 --> 00:44:27,840
focused on, on some of the
bigger stadium stuff or

873
00:44:27,840 --> 00:44:29,480
whatever.
And great.

874
00:44:29,480 --> 00:44:32,360
Like if that's your business
model and that's where you want

875
00:44:32,360 --> 00:44:36,200
to be and that's what fits, you
know, the, the, however your

876
00:44:36,200 --> 00:44:38,880
business is structured and your
CapEx model and all of that

877
00:44:38,880 --> 00:44:41,120
stuff, great.
You know, knowing who you are,

878
00:44:42,080 --> 00:44:44,640
you know, knowing your identity
is probably one of the most

879
00:44:44,640 --> 00:44:47,000
important things in business.
Not trying to be everything to

880
00:44:47,000 --> 00:44:49,680
everyone.
And I've always said like, you

881
00:44:49,680 --> 00:44:53,000
know, remember the IBM ThinkPad?
I don't even know if they still

882
00:44:53,000 --> 00:44:55,000
make it.
But the only reason that even

883
00:44:55,000 --> 00:44:59,600
worked as a product and and
didn't get screwed up completely

884
00:44:59,600 --> 00:45:03,360
by IBM is 'cause they, they made
it a completely separate

885
00:45:03,360 --> 00:45:05,560
company.
So when they were building these

886
00:45:05,560 --> 00:45:08,440
big mainframe mainframe
computers, this is a dumb story

887
00:45:08,440 --> 00:45:10,520
that doesn't match our industry
at all, but I'm going to tell it

888
00:45:10,520 --> 00:45:12,440
anyway.
They were building these massive

889
00:45:12,440 --> 00:45:17,000
mainframe computers and they
were, they were that size,

890
00:45:17,000 --> 00:45:19,680
right, dealing with massive
enterprise customers.

891
00:45:19,680 --> 00:45:23,000
And, you know, their average
customer was in the, in the, you

892
00:45:23,000 --> 00:45:28,280
know, top 500 or whatever.
And so when they were coming out

893
00:45:28,280 --> 00:45:31,440
with this laptop, someone got
really smart and said we need to

894
00:45:31,440 --> 00:45:34,960
right size a business for going
after the personal computer

895
00:45:34,960 --> 00:45:38,160
laptop market because otherwise,
you know, we're just going to

896
00:45:38,160 --> 00:45:40,240
try and sell them to enterprises
and stuff and we're going to

897
00:45:40,240 --> 00:45:42,920
fail.
And so they completely started a

898
00:45:42,920 --> 00:45:45,600
different company outside their
main buildings.

899
00:45:45,600 --> 00:45:48,880
I think it was based in Florida
or something, smaller group of

900
00:45:48,880 --> 00:45:52,560
people, very entrepreneurial,
completely separate from IB, Ms.

901
00:45:52,560 --> 00:45:55,960
books and everything else.
And it worked like really,

902
00:45:55,960 --> 00:46:00,080
really well because you right
sized the business to to fit the

903
00:46:00,080 --> 00:46:02,440
customers.
And so that's why sometimes I

904
00:46:02,440 --> 00:46:05,320
think some of the largest
companies going after, you know,

905
00:46:05,320 --> 00:46:08,680
a small theater tour, they're
not going to feel the love

906
00:46:08,680 --> 00:46:11,520
perhaps in that theater tour.
And I'm not saying in every

907
00:46:11,520 --> 00:46:15,160
case, but that's what I feel
like in some cases probably.

908
00:46:15,640 --> 00:46:16,720
No, I think you're totally
right.

909
00:46:16,720 --> 00:46:21,280
And I think that's kind of where
our niche is, what we do really

910
00:46:21,280 --> 00:46:23,040
well, probably better than
anything else.

911
00:46:23,040 --> 00:46:26,080
I mean, everyone's got gear,
everyone's got crew, you know,

912
00:46:26,080 --> 00:46:28,480
everyone's got gear and guys,
everybody does that, right?

913
00:46:28,480 --> 00:46:30,040
We all know what the best gear
is.

914
00:46:30,040 --> 00:46:33,520
We all know who was a great A1,
who's a great front of house guy

915
00:46:33,520 --> 00:46:36,080
who's mixes monitors.
Well, everyone knows that those

916
00:46:36,080 --> 00:46:38,080
are not big secrets.
You know, everyone has that.

917
00:46:38,320 --> 00:46:42,920
What differentiates us delicate
and I would say, you know, writ

918
00:46:42,920 --> 00:46:48,200
large, the whole live events
family is that we're, it's

919
00:46:48,200 --> 00:46:51,880
completely service based.
So our thing is like we pride

920
00:46:51,880 --> 00:46:55,040
ourselves on if my client calls
me and they're on a small tour,

921
00:46:55,040 --> 00:46:58,800
theater tour, I mean, whatever,
within 1/2 an hour, I'm going to

922
00:46:58,800 --> 00:46:59,840
answer them, you know what I
mean?

923
00:46:59,840 --> 00:47:02,280
Like I'm going to message them
back, even if it's just to say,

924
00:47:02,720 --> 00:47:04,120
you know, hey, I got your
message.

925
00:47:04,120 --> 00:47:06,200
I'm working on it.
Like a lot of times I'll send

926
00:47:06,200 --> 00:47:09,520
clients a thing where I'll
literally just say on it, That's

927
00:47:09,520 --> 00:47:10,960
all I'll say.
And I know Brian does the same

928
00:47:10,960 --> 00:47:13,320
thing.
I think where we right size

929
00:47:13,320 --> 00:47:14,960
ourselves into the industry
right now.

930
00:47:14,960 --> 00:47:18,160
And you've got behemoths, you
have these, you know, monolith

931
00:47:18,160 --> 00:47:21,560
companies that are just, they
own the whole lion's share of

932
00:47:21,560 --> 00:47:23,000
the industry.
It's really tough to compete

933
00:47:23,000 --> 00:47:24,920
with that.
The only thing we're what would

934
00:47:24,920 --> 00:47:26,280
separate.
I mean, everybody wants to do

935
00:47:26,280 --> 00:47:27,720
Taylor Swift, you know what I
mean?

936
00:47:27,720 --> 00:47:31,160
Like she's unbelievable.
That's a billion dollar tour.

937
00:47:31,160 --> 00:47:34,440
I mean, it's a it changes the
whole game, But one that'd be

938
00:47:34,440 --> 00:47:36,120
really tough for us to handle
that, you know what I mean?

939
00:47:36,120 --> 00:47:38,200
Like it's not the right, it's
not a good thing for our

940
00:47:38,200 --> 00:47:41,000
business model, but these
smaller theater tours,

941
00:47:41,240 --> 00:47:44,360
basketball arena, even like some
we've done a ton of stuff at

942
00:47:44,360 --> 00:47:48,120
Sofi, you know, so we can do
arena tours, you know, like, you

943
00:47:48,120 --> 00:47:50,720
know, if if it was the right
size, you know of that.

944
00:47:52,280 --> 00:47:55,240
But what we will do, what we can
do that maybe the behemoths

945
00:47:55,240 --> 00:47:59,000
don't offer just because of
scale, you know, just because of

946
00:47:59,000 --> 00:48:03,640
the, you know, pure size of the
their book is we still give a

947
00:48:03,640 --> 00:48:05,720
shit.
We still answer the phone, we

948
00:48:05,720 --> 00:48:07,680
still answer text message.
You can reach us.

949
00:48:07,680 --> 00:48:10,440
Basically, I hate to say this
and my wife hates it, but you

950
00:48:10,440 --> 00:48:12,840
can call me 24 hours a day and
I'm probably going to freaking

951
00:48:12,840 --> 00:48:16,360
answer, you know, because this
live events doesn't shut down,

952
00:48:16,560 --> 00:48:18,040
you know, I mean, like there is
no, we don't.

953
00:48:18,040 --> 00:48:20,560
We didn't jump into this
industry to work 9 to 5 like

954
00:48:20,560 --> 00:48:24,040
that doesn't exist, you know, so
for us it it has to be something

955
00:48:24,040 --> 00:48:27,200
where when you know your client
is on the road.

956
00:48:27,360 --> 00:48:29,920
We've had it happen like we did
the killers for years.

957
00:48:29,920 --> 00:48:32,680
And I I'm Brian, you know,
fielded a lot of those calls and

958
00:48:32,680 --> 00:48:36,320
smither did where they picked up
a one off and they need AB

959
00:48:36,400 --> 00:48:40,520
system and you know, we're like,
OK, how are we going to do this?

960
00:48:40,520 --> 00:48:43,160
How are we going to ship this to
Brazil in two days or who can we

961
00:48:43,160 --> 00:48:45,360
partner with?
And even if we lose our ass, but

962
00:48:45,360 --> 00:48:47,480
we got to take care of our band.
We got to take care of our

963
00:48:47,480 --> 00:48:50,120
client and I think that level of
service is something we do

964
00:48:50,120 --> 00:48:52,240
really, really well.
And I think it comes down to the

965
00:48:52,240 --> 00:48:54,560
fact that every one of us still
cares.

966
00:48:54,840 --> 00:48:56,920
We still really want to do good
shows.

967
00:48:56,920 --> 00:48:59,480
It matters to us that our name
is on a show like that.

968
00:48:59,480 --> 00:49:01,720
It's when the client is done,
they're like, God, you guys

969
00:49:01,720 --> 00:49:03,880
kicked ass.
Like every time I get a note, a

970
00:49:03,880 --> 00:49:06,880
text, a letter, whatever that
client says, the show is great.

971
00:49:07,240 --> 00:49:09,520
I, I'm still happy about it.
I'm still excited.

972
00:49:09,520 --> 00:49:11,720
I don't just go, who cares?
You know, I mean, I'm like, we

973
00:49:11,720 --> 00:49:13,600
did it again, boys.
We whipped them again.

974
00:49:14,120 --> 00:49:17,480
I'm like, I'm excited.
I'm very close with, with all of

975
00:49:17,480 --> 00:49:20,840
the big companies out there too.
And I would say that for the

976
00:49:20,840 --> 00:49:25,720
most part, they all care it It's
just that you can't care for

977
00:49:25,720 --> 00:49:30,400
Taylor Swift and you know, a
2000 seat theater tour at the

978
00:49:30,400 --> 00:49:33,680
same time.
So that's either a, a completely

979
00:49:33,680 --> 00:49:37,120
separate business within a
business or, or you just go,

980
00:49:37,120 --> 00:49:41,920
hey, this is a better focus for
us at this end or at this end of

981
00:49:41,920 --> 00:49:45,560
the of the industry.
And but it's got to be tempting

982
00:49:45,560 --> 00:49:48,360
for you guys like 1-1 more thing
I'd like to mention and then

983
00:49:48,360 --> 00:49:52,240
Brian, I'll shut up and you can
talk is that it's got to be it's

984
00:49:52,240 --> 00:49:55,040
got to be tempting when
pyrotechnico is as strong as

985
00:49:55,040 --> 00:49:59,000
they are right now in touring,
like almost every major show

986
00:49:59,000 --> 00:50:03,760
major tour major event major,
this major that seems to be them

987
00:50:03,800 --> 00:50:06,760
doing the pyro and special
effects.

988
00:50:07,120 --> 00:50:12,120
And I'm sure that Mister Vitali
is constantly saying, hey,

989
00:50:12,120 --> 00:50:15,400
Brian, you know, is there a way
we can get the sound on, you

990
00:50:15,400 --> 00:50:18,680
know, this mega stadium show
that we're doing right now or

991
00:50:18,680 --> 00:50:21,200
whatever?
And but you got to be

992
00:50:21,200 --> 00:50:23,440
disciplined, right?
Just like the big guys have to

993
00:50:23,440 --> 00:50:26,000
be disciplined as a smaller 1,
you have to be disciplined as

994
00:50:26,000 --> 00:50:29,040
well and and know where know
where you're at.

995
00:50:30,840 --> 00:50:32,920
Yeah, definitely.
Now those opportunities come

996
00:50:32,920 --> 00:50:35,320
through and we try and find
where the synergies are.

997
00:50:36,040 --> 00:50:38,720
Definitely like to take a look
and take a shot of some of that

998
00:50:38,720 --> 00:50:39,680
stuff there.
Yeah.

999
00:50:40,320 --> 00:50:42,640
But like you said beforehand,
some of that smaller things,

1000
00:50:42,640 --> 00:50:44,280
those are really kind of in our
wheelhouse.

1001
00:50:44,280 --> 00:50:48,600
I think we service them really
well, you know, big fish, small

1002
00:50:48,600 --> 00:50:50,720
pond kind of stuff.
You know, I think we've kind of

1003
00:50:50,720 --> 00:50:54,200
set the standard here at least
on on our leadership side, even

1004
00:50:54,200 --> 00:50:58,160
across the board and live events
of look, we've got to take care

1005
00:50:58,160 --> 00:50:59,880
of our clients.
Our clients are everything.

1006
00:51:00,680 --> 00:51:02,560
Try not to put one above the
other.

1007
00:51:03,000 --> 00:51:05,640
Everybody deserves the same
amount of attention.

1008
00:51:06,640 --> 00:51:09,760
Yeah, I mean, I I understand
exactly what you're talking

1009
00:51:09,760 --> 00:51:12,120
about, Marcel.
Some of the big box companies

1010
00:51:12,120 --> 00:51:15,000
and and yeah, how do you compete
with some of these massive

1011
00:51:15,000 --> 00:51:18,040
stadium tours and these other
people that have, like you said,

1012
00:51:18,200 --> 00:51:21,520
some of these one offs that pop
up and we need AB and C systems

1013
00:51:21,520 --> 00:51:23,080
to go to different countries and
stuff.

1014
00:51:23,080 --> 00:51:26,280
And how do you prioritize that?
That's something that Delicate

1015
00:51:26,280 --> 00:51:29,480
does really well.
But even just from an account

1016
00:51:29,480 --> 00:51:33,240
exec standpoint, like if if
Sonny's the VP of Sales, you

1017
00:51:33,240 --> 00:51:37,240
know, how is Sunny going to be
out at the Taylor Swift opening

1018
00:51:37,360 --> 00:51:40,960
that just happens to be the same
night as as the, you know,

1019
00:51:40,960 --> 00:51:43,080
whatever.
I can't think of a an artist

1020
00:51:43,080 --> 00:51:47,000
that's in the sort of five to
10,000 seat venue type of.

1021
00:51:47,080 --> 00:51:48,920
It's a great question.
But you know what I mean.

1022
00:51:49,040 --> 00:51:52,440
Like so you you can't is the
answer.

1023
00:51:52,720 --> 00:51:55,840
And you can't also, I know
companies, companies have tried

1024
00:51:55,840 --> 00:51:59,560
to have two or 300 sales
executives or whatever, but it

1025
00:51:59,560 --> 00:52:02,480
doesn't work out that well.
And you know, because again,

1026
00:52:02,480 --> 00:52:05,000
we're a personality and
relationship industry, right?

1027
00:52:05,000 --> 00:52:09,160
So I just think that it's, it's
a good thing that you've got

1028
00:52:09,160 --> 00:52:13,280
like, you know, this company
over here that's focused on sort

1029
00:52:13,280 --> 00:52:15,840
of from here up.
And then this company here is

1030
00:52:15,840 --> 00:52:18,400
focused on this middle section
and this company here might be

1031
00:52:18,400 --> 00:52:20,760
focused on the middle down kind
of thing.

1032
00:52:21,360 --> 00:52:23,560
It makes the most sense, like it
really does.

1033
00:52:23,560 --> 00:52:26,000
And I think you guys have a
really great sweet spot

1034
00:52:26,000 --> 00:52:30,000
opportunity in there between the
legacy of your business, you

1035
00:52:30,000 --> 00:52:34,360
know, the smoother side of your
business, but also how hard you

1036
00:52:34,360 --> 00:52:38,320
and, and Sunny and others in the
organization work and, and you

1037
00:52:38,320 --> 00:52:41,200
know, the, the support and
branding and effort and

1038
00:52:41,200 --> 00:52:44,280
everything else of live events
as well, which I think they've

1039
00:52:44,280 --> 00:52:46,640
been doing a better and better
job all the time here with their

1040
00:52:46,640 --> 00:52:49,880
marketing and stuff as well,
especially Pyro, like Pyro's

1041
00:52:49,880 --> 00:52:51,800
been crazy.
They've done such such a great

1042
00:52:51,800 --> 00:52:55,400
job on the Biro side getting
those shows out, like I mean,

1043
00:52:55,400 --> 00:52:59,880
getting them out to the public
as far as whether it's emails or

1044
00:52:59,880 --> 00:53:02,040
social media or whatever.
They've done a really good job

1045
00:53:02,040 --> 00:53:05,280
of just saying, hey, look at
this cool thing we did and the

1046
00:53:05,280 --> 00:53:07,000
branding is really good and
stuff, so.

1047
00:53:07,760 --> 00:53:10,400
The marketing team has been
like, I, I mean, I used to

1048
00:53:10,400 --> 00:53:13,440
handle it before and it was a
nightmare.

1049
00:53:13,440 --> 00:53:15,320
I hated it and I wasn't good at
it.

1050
00:53:15,600 --> 00:53:17,600
And I, you know, I, there were
certain things like I could, I

1051
00:53:17,640 --> 00:53:20,280
was great at publicizing my
shows, but then I wouldn't know

1052
00:53:20,280 --> 00:53:23,280
how to, what I should talk about
for Brian's shows or, you know,

1053
00:53:23,280 --> 00:53:25,880
for Baz's shows or smoother
shows or somebody else's.

1054
00:53:26,120 --> 00:53:27,600
I would struggle because it
wasn't my show.

1055
00:53:27,600 --> 00:53:28,800
I don't really know all the
details.

1056
00:53:28,800 --> 00:53:31,680
I can look at our quoting
software and kind of get the

1057
00:53:31,680 --> 00:53:33,360
details, but I don't really know
the show.

1058
00:53:33,360 --> 00:53:36,920
Now we have, you know, the
marketing department for live

1059
00:53:36,920 --> 00:53:39,560
events and we meet with them
every at least once a month.

1060
00:53:39,800 --> 00:53:41,760
We do a marketing call and talk
through everything.

1061
00:53:41,760 --> 00:53:44,640
Every time they're going to do a
blast or an Instagram post,

1062
00:53:44,640 --> 00:53:47,080
whatever else, they send it to
Brian and I and we both look at

1063
00:53:47,080 --> 00:53:48,040
it.
We're like, Hey, can we change

1064
00:53:48,040 --> 00:53:50,320
this to this?
Or we didn't do video for that.

1065
00:53:50,320 --> 00:53:52,960
We only did lighting for it.
And you know, or I'll make sure

1066
00:53:52,960 --> 00:53:55,200
we tag this company because
that's who hired us, you know,

1067
00:53:55,200 --> 00:53:56,600
but by and large, they're just
awesome.

1068
00:53:56,600 --> 00:53:57,760
They're really good at what they
do.

1069
00:53:57,760 --> 00:54:01,840
They they pick great pictures.
They're smart, you know, but it,

1070
00:54:01,840 --> 00:54:05,080
it's expanding our reach and
nowadays where, you know, it

1071
00:54:05,080 --> 00:54:07,720
used to be smoother, could go to
Barney Barney's beanery, you

1072
00:54:07,720 --> 00:54:10,320
know, bump into Vince Neil and
we have the motley crew tour.

1073
00:54:10,920 --> 00:54:14,040
And nowadays it's like the 23
year old marketing major that's

1074
00:54:14,040 --> 00:54:16,640
hiring us now.
It doesn't know us if we're not

1075
00:54:16,640 --> 00:54:18,680
on TikTok or Instagram, they
have no idea who.

1076
00:54:18,680 --> 00:54:20,040
We are.
It's wild, isn't it?

1077
00:54:20,520 --> 00:54:21,840
That's so true.
So.

1078
00:54:21,840 --> 00:54:24,240
True, but you, you meant, you
said this earlier and I, I think

1079
00:54:24,240 --> 00:54:26,480
you hit the nail on the head.
There's a great quote from Sun

1080
00:54:26,480 --> 00:54:29,840
Tzu that's know yourself and
know your enemy and you need not

1081
00:54:29,840 --> 00:54:32,320
fear 100 battles.
It's the same thing like know

1082
00:54:32,320 --> 00:54:34,640
yourself, know your market, and
you do not fear 100

1083
00:54:34,640 --> 00:54:37,120
interactions, right?
If you actually know who you are

1084
00:54:37,320 --> 00:54:40,480
and what you're selling, you're
going to be completely better at

1085
00:54:40,480 --> 00:54:43,280
selling it than being like, no,
we're going to go after Taylor

1086
00:54:43,280 --> 00:54:44,360
Swift.
Why?

1087
00:54:44,840 --> 00:54:46,920
Yeah, it's a heck of a lot.
Taylor Swift.

1088
00:54:47,320 --> 00:54:51,240
It's a lot less frustrating, a
lot less disruptive to your

1089
00:54:51,240 --> 00:54:54,120
business, you know, because if
you did take on Taylor Swift,

1090
00:54:54,880 --> 00:55:00,000
just imagine what a what a hell
life would be in general, you

1091
00:55:00,000 --> 00:55:01,640
know, it just doesn't make any
sense.

1092
00:55:01,640 --> 00:55:03,960
It doesn't make any sense.
We would decimate our other

1093
00:55:03,960 --> 00:55:05,600
clients if we.
Of course.

1094
00:55:05,760 --> 00:55:06,880
Yeah.
And you'd lose those

1095
00:55:06,880 --> 00:55:09,440
relationships.
And I've made these mistakes 100

1096
00:55:09,440 --> 00:55:12,560
times in my career where, you
know, I was always reaching

1097
00:55:12,560 --> 00:55:15,080
beyond what I knew my boundaries
were.

1098
00:55:15,360 --> 00:55:18,760
And you know, when you do that,
it usually punches you right

1099
00:55:18,760 --> 00:55:22,360
back in the face real quickly
and reminds you to get back in

1100
00:55:22,360 --> 00:55:25,000
your seat, son, go sit down.
Yeah.

1101
00:55:25,000 --> 00:55:26,840
Let the let the grown-ups.
Yeah.

1102
00:55:27,320 --> 00:55:31,920
So you guys both have had, like,
such diverse and, and unusual

1103
00:55:31,920 --> 00:55:34,240
careers.
Not necessarily that unusual.

1104
00:55:34,240 --> 00:55:38,080
But if you weren't in live
events, what do you think you'd

1105
00:55:38,080 --> 00:55:40,920
be doing right now?
And Sonny, I know you'd probably

1106
00:55:40,920 --> 00:55:44,360
be some host of a weird TikTok
show or something.

1107
00:55:45,040 --> 00:55:47,240
I'd be making movies.
I mean, I like, I really, I

1108
00:55:47,240 --> 00:55:49,720
still, I write, I direct stuff
on the side.

1109
00:55:49,720 --> 00:55:53,640
Just, you know, it's, it's it's
more than a hobby because it's a

1110
00:55:53,640 --> 00:55:54,960
passion, but I don't make any
money out of it.

1111
00:55:55,760 --> 00:55:58,440
Yeah, it's apparently getting in
the movie industry is really

1112
00:55:58,440 --> 00:56:02,040
hard.
But yeah, I mean, that's like I

1113
00:56:02,080 --> 00:56:03,960
tell stories.
I mean, that's what I like to

1114
00:56:03,960 --> 00:56:05,080
do.
So I love to write.

1115
00:56:05,200 --> 00:56:07,000
You know, I love to just tell
stories.

1116
00:56:08,720 --> 00:56:10,280
Yeah.
Maybe I'd be hosting a podcast.

1117
00:56:10,320 --> 00:56:11,560
I don't know.
But that's what I would be doing

1118
00:56:11,560 --> 00:56:12,880
if I didn't.
That's what I was going to say.

1119
00:56:12,880 --> 00:56:16,680
Like one of the cool things
about social media, the

1120
00:56:16,680 --> 00:56:22,320
Internet, YouTube, just online
video in general and stuff is

1121
00:56:22,920 --> 00:56:26,520
you don't have to do all of that
other stuff.

1122
00:56:26,520 --> 00:56:29,520
You don't have to make big
production movies.

1123
00:56:29,520 --> 00:56:33,440
You can make little mini movies
that people download 8 billion

1124
00:56:33,440 --> 00:56:35,560
times and you become Mr. Beast,
you know.

1125
00:56:36,200 --> 00:56:38,560
Yeah.
So not that that's easy to do

1126
00:56:38,560 --> 00:56:40,960
either.
But, you know, there's all kinds

1127
00:56:40,960 --> 00:56:43,440
of opportunities.
And it's like, I've never been

1128
00:56:43,440 --> 00:56:46,440
somebody who wanted to be a
radio host or wanted to be, you

1129
00:56:46,440 --> 00:56:49,640
know, a broadcaster of any kind
or anything.

1130
00:56:49,640 --> 00:56:52,440
I just saw a lot of cool people
with really cool stories.

1131
00:56:52,440 --> 00:56:54,840
Nobody was talking to them.
I got a big mouth.

1132
00:56:54,840 --> 00:56:57,040
I like to talk.
So I said, no, I'm just going to

1133
00:56:57,040 --> 00:57:01,320
throw together this podcast and
and you know, it's worked out

1134
00:57:01,320 --> 00:57:03,560
really well.
So what about you?

1135
00:57:03,560 --> 00:57:06,680
Brian But you picked a niche
thing that's like that you know

1136
00:57:06,680 --> 00:57:09,480
about like that's really smart.
Like the best podcasts, like the

1137
00:57:09,480 --> 00:57:12,520
things that I listen to or
anybody actually that finds an

1138
00:57:12,520 --> 00:57:15,960
audience, they find an audience
because they pick one thing, you

1139
00:57:15,960 --> 00:57:18,400
know, like they're not doing
this generalist podcast that

1140
00:57:18,400 --> 00:57:20,200
you're like, what are the, what
is, what are we doing here?

1141
00:57:20,480 --> 00:57:23,840
I, the ones I listen to are like
I watch the the rewatchables is

1142
00:57:23,840 --> 00:57:26,360
a ringer podcast with Bill
Simmons and they talk about

1143
00:57:26,360 --> 00:57:29,960
movies and you know, it's
talking about airplane or it's

1144
00:57:29,960 --> 00:57:32,160
Bill Hader on there.
And I'm like, oh man, this is my

1145
00:57:32,160 --> 00:57:33,960
thing.
You know, those are the ones I

1146
00:57:33,960 --> 00:57:36,040
like to listen to.
Whereas, you know, if you do a

1147
00:57:36,040 --> 00:57:39,560
podcast about the news, about
daily events and you know, I get

1148
00:57:39,560 --> 00:57:41,960
enough of that.
Yeah, it's, it's so funny

1149
00:57:41,960 --> 00:57:44,640
because I have a really good
friend up here in Canada who

1150
00:57:44,640 --> 00:57:47,040
just started a podcast a few
months ago.

1151
00:57:47,040 --> 00:57:50,040
He's on like episode 13 or 14 or
something now.

1152
00:57:50,320 --> 00:57:53,720
Great guy, good friend of mine,
musician for many, many years.

1153
00:57:53,720 --> 00:57:57,760
I, I used to own a music store
when I was like 19 or 20 years

1154
00:57:57,760 --> 00:58:00,000
old or something.
And he used to buy stuff from me

1155
00:58:00,000 --> 00:58:04,920
at my music store.
And, and so he started his

1156
00:58:04,920 --> 00:58:08,800
podcast and at first it was
about his life and, and music

1157
00:58:08,800 --> 00:58:10,880
and local bands and stuff like
that.

1158
00:58:11,120 --> 00:58:13,040
And I thought, OK, this might
have some legs.

1159
00:58:13,240 --> 00:58:16,040
And then he got into politics.
Like I'm going to talk about

1160
00:58:16,040 --> 00:58:19,160
politics and how screwed up the
world is right now.

1161
00:58:19,160 --> 00:58:23,880
And, and I mean, and he's
enthused because he's getting a

1162
00:58:23,880 --> 00:58:28,120
couple 100 views or whatever
already, which is decent for

1163
00:58:28,120 --> 00:58:31,280
somebody who's on episode 13 or
something, but it just doesn't

1164
00:58:31,280 --> 00:58:33,640
make a lot of sense.
Like, and I told him, I called

1165
00:58:33,640 --> 00:58:37,200
him right away and I said, dude,
you know, like you're, you're so

1166
00:58:37,200 --> 00:58:40,600
good at talking about the things
that you're passionate about,

1167
00:58:41,360 --> 00:58:45,440
You know, let the politics
people talk about politics.

1168
00:58:45,440 --> 00:58:46,840
You're never going to get a big
following.

1169
00:58:46,840 --> 00:58:49,520
And if you do, you're going to
have to be so controversial that

1170
00:58:49,520 --> 00:58:51,400
you're going to lose most of
your friends and stuff.

1171
00:58:51,400 --> 00:58:56,000
So is it really worth it like.
Especially where we are now, the

1172
00:58:56,000 --> 00:58:58,760
divided, divisive nature.
Of politics, it's brutal, it's

1173
00:58:58,760 --> 00:59:00,000
brutal.
I just avoid it.

1174
00:59:00,000 --> 00:59:02,280
I avoid it like the plague.
Like yesterday.

1175
00:59:02,280 --> 00:59:05,640
I think the podcast won't be out
till next week, but the podcast

1176
00:59:05,640 --> 00:59:10,240
I recorded yesterday at the
beginning, I talked, I said, OK,

1177
00:59:10,240 --> 00:59:13,360
so I want to talk about
something that's really fresh

1178
00:59:13,360 --> 00:59:17,000
and and very relevant right now,
this Charlie Kirk thing.

1179
00:59:17,400 --> 00:59:19,920
And I know that there's people
cringing when they're going to

1180
00:59:19,920 --> 00:59:22,640
be listening to it next week.
They're going to be like, Oh my

1181
00:59:22,640 --> 00:59:25,720
God, he's not going there.
And I said, but I don't want to

1182
00:59:25,720 --> 00:59:28,080
talk about what you think I want
to talk about because that's

1183
00:59:28,280 --> 00:59:31,440
I'll leave to the political
pundits out there, but I want to

1184
00:59:31,440 --> 00:59:33,640
talk about how does that change
our industry?

1185
00:59:33,640 --> 00:59:37,000
Are we going to see Taylor
Swift, you know, walking around

1186
00:59:37,000 --> 00:59:40,160
the stage under a under an
acrylic Dome, you know, a

1187
00:59:40,160 --> 00:59:43,440
bulletproof Dome from now on?
Like, are we going to start

1188
00:59:43,440 --> 00:59:46,480
seeing, you know, big sheets of
plexiglass at the front of

1189
00:59:46,480 --> 00:59:50,880
stages, you know, and, and like,
what's it going to look like at

1190
00:59:50,880 --> 00:59:52,600
some point?
Because you've got artists who

1191
00:59:52,600 --> 00:59:54,760
are picking a side on politics
and stuff.

1192
00:59:54,960 --> 01:00:00,000
Some of them are very outspoken
and you know, so does some crazy

1193
01:00:00,000 --> 01:00:03,720
wing nut out there go and start
shooting artists at at shows

1194
01:00:03,720 --> 01:00:05,720
because they don't like their
opinion.

1195
01:00:06,520 --> 01:00:10,080
It's scary.
It seems to be headed that

1196
01:00:10,080 --> 01:00:12,160
direction.
You know, they're getting bolder

1197
01:00:12,160 --> 01:00:15,640
and bolder, these crazy fuckers
with guns and knives and, you

1198
01:00:15,640 --> 01:00:18,280
know, cars and whatever they're
using to kill people.

1199
01:00:18,560 --> 01:00:22,320
So I just wonder, like, I don't
know why that thought popped in

1200
01:00:22,320 --> 01:00:23,920
my head.
I think it was because, you

1201
01:00:23,920 --> 01:00:28,280
know, first of all, I saw the
thing and then I saw Trump doing

1202
01:00:28,280 --> 01:00:30,560
a speech somewhere.
I think it might have even been

1203
01:00:30,560 --> 01:00:35,720
at the funeral.
And he was behind Plexi and I'm

1204
01:00:35,720 --> 01:00:38,640
like, oh, this is different.
Especially a guy that's so bold

1205
01:00:38,640 --> 01:00:41,600
and willing to walk out in front
of anyone and anywhere.

1206
01:00:41,600 --> 01:00:46,040
Like he's, he's been very, very
almost nonchalant about it, you

1207
01:00:46,040 --> 01:00:48,200
know, even though half the world
wants to kill him.

1208
01:00:48,720 --> 01:00:52,680
And, and now he's talking
behind, you know, bulletproof

1209
01:00:52,680 --> 01:00:55,960
glass.
And so that was the direction I

1210
01:00:55,960 --> 01:00:58,080
went with it.
I didn't go the, the direction

1211
01:00:58,080 --> 01:01:00,680
of talking about the politics
because that's not my job.

1212
01:01:00,720 --> 01:01:05,000
I, that's not what I want to do.
So yeah, but what about you,

1213
01:01:05,000 --> 01:01:06,280
Brian?
Where would you be if you

1214
01:01:06,280 --> 01:01:09,760
weren't doing this?
That's a great question.

1215
01:01:10,080 --> 01:01:13,720
This is kind of all I know.
So I think I'd probably be a

1216
01:01:13,720 --> 01:01:15,520
starving musician.
Really.

1217
01:01:15,520 --> 01:01:17,920
Honestly, Do you play some?
Are you a musician?

1218
01:01:18,400 --> 01:01:21,920
I, I, I used to, yeah, I used to
play the bass for about 9 years

1219
01:01:22,040 --> 01:01:24,480
and that's kind of how I got my
start in the whole business.

1220
01:01:25,160 --> 01:01:26,720
Yeah, yeah.
Fun fact of the day.

1221
01:01:27,120 --> 01:01:29,880
That's I'm actually.
I'm actually a recovered bass

1222
01:01:29,880 --> 01:01:32,200
player too.
I, I, I was a singer.

1223
01:01:32,200 --> 01:01:36,240
I started as a singer and our
manager was a Catholic priest

1224
01:01:36,520 --> 01:01:39,040
and he shows up at rehearsal one
day and we were a rock band.

1225
01:01:39,440 --> 01:01:42,200
And he shows up at rehearsal one
day and he goes, Hey, he fires

1226
01:01:42,200 --> 01:01:44,560
our bass player and he goes,
Marcel learned to play it.

1227
01:01:44,560 --> 01:01:47,920
We our next gigs in four weeks.
And, you know, so I had to learn

1228
01:01:47,920 --> 01:01:53,120
to play an instrument while
singing and learn 40 songs like

1229
01:01:53,120 --> 01:01:56,320
in a month or something, right.
And it wasn't super hard songs.

1230
01:01:56,320 --> 01:01:59,160
It was, you know, dunk, dunk,
dunk, dunk, dunk.

1231
01:01:59,320 --> 01:02:03,040
It wasn't that hard, right?
But But yeah, so I was a bass

1232
01:02:03,040 --> 01:02:04,760
player, too.
I still have a bunch of basses I

1233
01:02:04,760 --> 01:02:08,680
don't play, but yeah.
Yeah, that was that was kind of

1234
01:02:08,680 --> 01:02:12,920
my intro into the biz too,
because like a lot of people, I

1235
01:02:12,920 --> 01:02:15,680
was the dude that was setting up
the sound gear.

1236
01:02:15,680 --> 01:02:18,600
You know what, a little band and
I was hauling everything around

1237
01:02:18,600 --> 01:02:20,880
and I just kind of took a liking
to it.

1238
01:02:20,920 --> 01:02:23,640
So that kind of parlayed into a
couple of different steps.

1239
01:02:23,680 --> 01:02:27,120
I have a local guy we worked
with that did some college stuff

1240
01:02:27,120 --> 01:02:28,840
as well.
And you know, I thought I had

1241
01:02:28,840 --> 01:02:30,760
the greatest job ever in high
school.

1242
01:02:30,760 --> 01:02:33,480
You know, most people were
delivering pizzas and stuff and

1243
01:02:33,480 --> 01:02:36,680
I was able to go out and hump
some speakers around stuff so.

1244
01:02:36,680 --> 01:02:39,720
Yeah, yeah.
But yeah, I don't know.

1245
01:02:40,000 --> 01:02:42,360
This is like I said, all this is
all I know.

1246
01:02:42,360 --> 01:02:45,440
So.
Yeah, so our industry is full of

1247
01:02:45,800 --> 01:02:49,400
like, dude, you ain't going to
believe what just happened sort

1248
01:02:49,400 --> 01:02:52,480
of stories.
Do you have a do you have a

1249
01:02:52,480 --> 01:02:56,120
favorite story, either one of
you like a a war story from the

1250
01:02:56,120 --> 01:03:00,280
road or an event or.
I I got 1.

1251
01:03:00,560 --> 01:03:05,240
Cool.
We, we were doing a, a festival

1252
01:03:07,440 --> 01:03:10,480
and it was, it was a larger one
out here in Southern California

1253
01:03:11,240 --> 01:03:16,080
and we had a, a.
So it was one of those festivals

1254
01:03:16,080 --> 01:03:18,720
that was supposed to be DJ
oriented and little by little

1255
01:03:18,720 --> 01:03:21,920
look just kind of turned into
adding some pretty large bands

1256
01:03:21,920 --> 01:03:23,840
in it.
And we were, we were at a

1257
01:03:23,840 --> 01:03:29,120
changeover into a headliner and
we had a, a front of house

1258
01:03:29,120 --> 01:03:31,720
console die that he was working
on.

1259
01:03:31,720 --> 01:03:35,480
At that time.
It was about 50,000 people and

1260
01:03:35,480 --> 01:03:38,560
everybody's trying to bring the
bring the console back to life.

1261
01:03:38,560 --> 01:03:41,120
We're trying to everything and
the mother, it just, it wasn't

1262
01:03:41,120 --> 01:03:43,480
coming back.
This thing was dead and everyone

1263
01:03:43,480 --> 01:03:46,640
was kind of looking nice.
So like, what do we do now?

1264
01:03:47,320 --> 01:03:52,440
And we ended up ended up decided
the only way this is going to

1265
01:03:52,440 --> 01:03:55,440
work is we're going to have to
mix front house from the monitor

1266
01:03:55,440 --> 01:03:58,520
desk.
And so we ran and we ended up

1267
01:03:58,520 --> 01:04:03,120
taking just a left right feed
off of the side fill send and

1268
01:04:03,120 --> 01:04:07,360
put it in and started and it was
a full success.

1269
01:04:07,360 --> 01:04:10,120
So.
Oh my God, that's pretty wild.

1270
01:04:10,120 --> 01:04:13,200
That was probably, it was, yeah.
You know, we, we, you always

1271
01:04:13,200 --> 01:04:15,280
think about all these other
scenarios you have to back a

1272
01:04:15,280 --> 01:04:17,080
plan.
And it's not actually, but for

1273
01:04:17,080 --> 01:04:20,920
whatever reason, it just, there
was no other way to do this.

1274
01:04:21,000 --> 01:04:22,920
This is either that or the
band's not going on.

1275
01:04:23,000 --> 01:04:23,680
So.
Wow.

1276
01:04:23,680 --> 01:04:26,360
Yeah, that's a big one.
Yeah.

1277
01:04:26,360 --> 01:04:27,840
What about you, Sonny?
Anything.

1278
01:04:29,040 --> 01:04:31,680
Mine is similarly disaster
oriented.

1279
01:04:32,200 --> 01:04:34,600
I love disasters when they're.
Not I was.

1280
01:04:34,960 --> 01:04:37,280
Yeah, for sure.
It's like watching somebody

1281
01:04:37,280 --> 01:04:38,960
trip.
It's funny because it's not you.

1282
01:04:39,440 --> 01:04:41,280
Yeah, exactly.
Exactly.

1283
01:04:42,480 --> 01:04:45,160
I was doing a gig.
This is like I own my own

1284
01:04:45,160 --> 01:04:48,200
company for several years, like
a much smaller version of

1285
01:04:48,200 --> 01:04:50,840
delicate, but like a it was and
also more like niche, like

1286
01:04:50,840 --> 01:04:53,640
corporate conferences and
conventions and stuff.

1287
01:04:53,920 --> 01:04:56,560
And I was doing a publishers
conference at the New York

1288
01:04:56,560 --> 01:04:58,880
Marriott Marquis.
And I don't know if you, yeah,

1289
01:04:58,880 --> 01:05:01,360
I'm sure you guys have worked
there or been there, but the

1290
01:05:01,400 --> 01:05:06,160
hotel docks, the hotel dock
shuts down like 5 hours a day

1291
01:05:06,160 --> 01:05:07,560
because it backs up for
Broadway.

1292
01:05:07,840 --> 01:05:10,520
So you can't at some point of
the day, the dock completely

1293
01:05:10,520 --> 01:05:12,720
shuts down during the matinees
because they don't want to hear

1294
01:05:12,720 --> 01:05:14,480
trucks because of the Broadway
theaters behind it.

1295
01:05:14,880 --> 01:05:18,160
So this this corporate event,
the client that I was working

1296
01:05:18,160 --> 01:05:21,760
with at the time completely
spaced that he didn't book the

1297
01:05:21,760 --> 01:05:25,840
actual space for loading day.
So we are loading in same day

1298
01:05:25,840 --> 01:05:27,760
show, which we didn't know until
we got there.

1299
01:05:28,040 --> 01:05:29,920
So we're literally trying to get
in the ballroom and it's not

1300
01:05:29,920 --> 01:05:31,160
available.
And so I'm calling my client.

1301
01:05:31,160 --> 01:05:32,720
I'm like, hey man, we're my
whole team's here.

1302
01:05:32,720 --> 01:05:35,200
My truck is dumped and they
can't, they said there's

1303
01:05:35,200 --> 01:05:36,640
something going on in the
ballroom, but we don't get the

1304
01:05:36,640 --> 01:05:39,080
ball until tomorrow.
And he's like, Oh yeah, we

1305
01:05:39,080 --> 01:05:41,320
talked about that.
I'm like, Nope, no, we didn't.

1306
01:05:41,840 --> 01:05:43,920
I'm like, I'm like, all my
quotes have set us loading in

1307
01:05:43,920 --> 01:05:46,040
today and I'm here and you have
my hotel rooms.

1308
01:05:46,040 --> 01:05:47,960
Like why would I come in two
days before the show?

1309
01:05:48,280 --> 01:05:49,280
Like, why would I?
You know what I mean?

1310
01:05:49,640 --> 01:05:52,120
And he was like, no, you got to
load in the same day.

1311
01:05:52,120 --> 01:05:53,120
So we're like, all right, I'm
Michael.

1312
01:05:53,120 --> 01:05:57,040
Here's my concern with that.
If something goes wrong, we're

1313
01:05:57,040 --> 01:05:59,440
fucked.
Like we're we, there's this

1314
01:05:59,440 --> 01:06:02,080
window that that we can't get
anything delivered to the dock.

1315
01:06:02,480 --> 01:06:04,920
And it was almost like I spoke
the evil into the world.

1316
01:06:05,240 --> 01:06:09,040
And about 45 minutes before the
show started, our console

1317
01:06:09,040 --> 01:06:11,360
crashed, completely crashed,
would not recover.

1318
01:06:11,640 --> 01:06:14,480
And I'm like, oh, shit.
And so we called.

1319
01:06:14,480 --> 01:06:16,600
I think it was VER.
Don't call Brian, he ain't got a

1320
01:06:16,600 --> 01:06:19,120
spare.
Yeah, exactly so.

1321
01:06:19,280 --> 01:06:22,320
Not that day.
They come in and, and I, I go to

1322
01:06:22,320 --> 01:06:24,640
the hotel and I'm like, hey,
listen, we're, we're in a pickle

1323
01:06:24,640 --> 01:06:25,920
here.
This is the situation.

1324
01:06:25,920 --> 01:06:28,480
And they're like, sorry.
And I'm like, well, no, the show

1325
01:06:28,480 --> 01:06:30,240
has to go on.
We we don't have a backup.

1326
01:06:30,240 --> 01:06:31,400
There's nothing else we can do
here.

1327
01:06:31,480 --> 01:06:34,040
And they're like, sorry.
So it was AVER.

1328
01:06:34,040 --> 01:06:37,320
And I told VR I'm like, listen,
come up in a Sprinter van, come

1329
01:06:37,320 --> 01:06:39,520
to valet and we're going to dump
the truck.

1330
01:06:39,520 --> 01:06:40,520
They're like, we're not allowed
to do that.

1331
01:06:40,520 --> 01:06:44,200
I'm like, listen, we're, the
show is going to crash if you

1332
01:06:44,200 --> 01:06:45,720
don't do this.
I know you're not supposed to do

1333
01:06:45,720 --> 01:06:47,160
it, but I'll take the brunt of
it.

1334
01:06:47,360 --> 01:06:50,400
So we, I come out there with
like 2 local 1, you know, New

1335
01:06:50,400 --> 01:06:52,480
York State Jam guys.
And we get out there and I'm

1336
01:06:52,480 --> 01:06:54,920
like, grab the console and go
and I'm going to run

1337
01:06:54,920 --> 01:06:57,440
interference for security.
And security is like, you can't

1338
01:06:57,440 --> 01:07:00,080
do that.
And I'm like literally standing

1339
01:07:00,080 --> 01:07:02,000
in front of them.
So these guys can push this

1340
01:07:02,000 --> 01:07:05,280
console through the lobby hotel.
We get in, we barely get in on

1341
01:07:05,280 --> 01:07:06,560
time.
We can't sound check.

1342
01:07:06,840 --> 01:07:10,080
So we go hot live.
And it was situationally had

1343
01:07:10,080 --> 01:07:14,840
dueling podiums and they had
podiums, but they also wanted

1344
01:07:14,840 --> 01:07:17,880
lobs because at some point they
were going to walk out and talk,

1345
01:07:18,160 --> 01:07:20,800
you know, away from the podium.
Well, you know, we're all

1346
01:07:20,920 --> 01:07:24,200
everyone's flustered because,
you know, the show probably

1347
01:07:24,200 --> 01:07:26,360
wasn't going to happen about 10
minutes before doors.

1348
01:07:26,640 --> 01:07:29,120
And we get it in, we do a quick,
you know, try to do as much as

1349
01:07:29,120 --> 01:07:31,720
we can to get it going.
But the room's not EQ D

1350
01:07:31,720 --> 01:07:34,120
Everything is like a mess
because we're literally starting

1351
01:07:34,120 --> 01:07:35,640
from scratch.
We get it up.

1352
01:07:35,640 --> 01:07:37,520
We do like a quick sound check
and play some music for it.

1353
01:07:37,520 --> 01:07:41,920
We test the mics, whatever.
And the, my front house guy just

1354
01:07:41,920 --> 01:07:44,040
gets lost.
And so he starts getting

1355
01:07:44,040 --> 01:07:47,160
feedback because he's got a lot
of channel open with the podium

1356
01:07:47,160 --> 01:07:49,080
mic and they're feeding back and
he can't figure it out.

1357
01:07:49,360 --> 01:07:51,080
So we're sitting there watching
and then these guys start

1358
01:07:51,080 --> 01:07:53,920
moving.
So now he's like, you know, and

1359
01:07:53,920 --> 01:07:55,960
you can see he's lost.
And my client leans over and

1360
01:07:55,960 --> 01:07:58,160
goes, do you know how fired you
are right now?

1361
01:07:58,440 --> 01:08:01,640
You are so fired.
And I'm like, I, I got it.

1362
01:08:01,680 --> 01:08:03,760
You know, I'm like, I'm like, so
we're trying to figure it out

1363
01:08:04,080 --> 01:08:07,920
and it was just a mess.
It took us like 3 minutes.

1364
01:08:07,920 --> 01:08:09,760
It was the longest 3 minutes of
my life.

1365
01:08:10,040 --> 01:08:12,560
I'm, you know, the sales guy in
the corner.

1366
01:08:12,560 --> 01:08:17,160
Just like, Oh my God, that's
just just the most brutal.

1367
01:08:17,560 --> 01:08:21,439
You know, like 5 seconds of
feedback or whatever is a

1368
01:08:21,439 --> 01:08:23,720
lifetime.
It was 3 minutes.

1369
01:08:24,120 --> 01:08:28,160
I'm just, I mean, it was the
most embarrassing.

1370
01:08:28,479 --> 01:08:30,279
It was terrible.
Remember who who the show was

1371
01:08:30,279 --> 01:08:31,960
for?
Was it for anybody big or

1372
01:08:32,120 --> 01:08:33,399
someone?
No, it was a corporate.

1373
01:08:33,399 --> 01:08:37,399
It was like a a it was like a
publishing awards conference for

1374
01:08:37,399 --> 01:08:41,439
like mostly like trade wet rags,
you know, It was like something

1375
01:08:41,439 --> 01:08:43,439
like that.
So you never worked with them

1376
01:08:43,439 --> 01:08:48,120
again?
We did and they didn't pay us

1377
01:08:49,279 --> 01:08:51,399
and they came back and said Oh
well this is a credit because

1378
01:08:51,399 --> 01:08:54,920
that show went so poorly.
And I was like, Nope, we never

1379
01:08:54,920 --> 01:08:56,880
agreed to that.
Yeah, it was.

1380
01:08:56,880 --> 01:08:57,960
It was.
Business fun.

1381
01:08:58,279 --> 01:09:01,520
It isn't business fun.
It is so awesome sometimes like.

1382
01:09:01,520 --> 01:09:03,479
It was embarrassing.
Yeah.

1383
01:09:04,520 --> 01:09:06,160
The rest of the show actually
went well too though.

1384
01:09:06,160 --> 01:09:07,920
Like after that we did four
days.

1385
01:09:08,200 --> 01:09:09,560
So that was just the opening
night.

1386
01:09:09,560 --> 01:09:12,279
Then we had general session
everyday and breakouts everyday

1387
01:09:12,279 --> 01:09:14,520
and like 20 breakouts.
It was a, you know, big

1388
01:09:14,520 --> 01:09:17,359
corporate show and everything
else went literally Florida

1389
01:09:17,359 --> 01:09:18,800
State.
But no one cares about how the

1390
01:09:18,800 --> 01:09:22,840
rest of show goes. 3 minutes
was, you know, Armageddon, you

1391
01:09:22,840 --> 01:09:25,399
know, as far as it was like the
like the rapture that we didn't

1392
01:09:25,399 --> 01:09:28,560
get raptured yesterday, or at
least I'm still here.

1393
01:09:28,600 --> 01:09:30,200
I don't know who else got
raptured.

1394
01:09:31,600 --> 01:09:36,840
Can I heard about that?
Can either one of you name like

1395
01:09:37,439 --> 01:09:40,439
from the time that you've been
at delicate and iconic?

1396
01:09:40,439 --> 01:09:42,960
What's the most iconic
production that you were a part

1397
01:09:42,960 --> 01:09:46,200
of?
I'll let I'll let Sonny take

1398
01:09:46,200 --> 01:09:49,960
this because I know you got one.
Yeah, we did this K pop show at

1399
01:09:49,960 --> 01:09:51,680
Capitol Records.
Biggest show in the history of

1400
01:09:51,680 --> 01:09:53,720
Capitol Records, biggest show in
the history of delicate.

1401
01:09:54,080 --> 01:09:56,040
Like one off.
You know, we had huge, massive

1402
01:09:56,040 --> 01:09:58,480
tours, but the biggest one off
we ever did and it was put

1403
01:09:58,480 --> 01:10:02,880
together in like 3 weeks.
And the sales guy for it was so

1404
01:10:02,880 --> 01:10:05,120
out of his depth.
And I know this personally

1405
01:10:05,120 --> 01:10:09,160
because it was me.
We were, I, you know, it started

1406
01:10:09,160 --> 01:10:13,080
out as a small, like little, you
know, trailer stage show,

1407
01:10:13,080 --> 01:10:15,360
intimate pulls up.
Yeah, it's just Vine Street.

1408
01:10:15,640 --> 01:10:17,560
Well, they were, they were going
to shut down Vine Street and

1409
01:10:17,560 --> 01:10:21,120
they were going to put like a
Sam 575 on Vine Street, you

1410
01:10:21,120 --> 01:10:23,040
know.
So it was like a, you know, rats

1411
01:10:23,040 --> 01:10:26,760
and stacks, a couple of LED
walls on the eyebrows, whatever.

1412
01:10:26,920 --> 01:10:30,240
It's like a very simple show.
We've done 10,000 times and even

1413
01:10:30,280 --> 01:10:33,000
I, who hadn't done shows like
that at the time, could have

1414
01:10:33,000 --> 01:10:36,280
pulled that off no problem.
It ends up being this custom

1415
01:10:36,280 --> 01:10:40,760
stage with servo motors for all
of the LED walls.

1416
01:10:40,760 --> 01:10:43,960
So they go in and out and then
the stage had lifts like lifts

1417
01:10:43,960 --> 01:10:45,400
in it.
I'd never done any of that

1418
01:10:45,400 --> 01:10:47,240
before.
Like I, I literally was like,

1419
01:10:47,840 --> 01:10:49,600
OK, but they were like, hey, can
we do that of mine?

1420
01:10:50,160 --> 01:10:53,560
Sure, totally.
I'm like going back to my mom,

1421
01:10:53,560 --> 01:10:57,160
figure it out, go back to Brian
and and Jason, our old GM and

1422
01:10:57,160 --> 01:10:59,560
I'm like, hey, how do we do
this?

1423
01:10:59,600 --> 01:11:03,760
I'm like, and we it was just,
there's a massive, massive show

1424
01:11:04,080 --> 01:11:08,280
and they had pancakes Theatre,
you know, Speaking of like

1425
01:11:08,280 --> 01:11:12,440
theaters is right next to, you
know, Capitol Records, you know,

1426
01:11:12,480 --> 01:11:16,240
on Hollywood Blvd. famously.
And they had somebody from the

1427
01:11:16,240 --> 01:11:18,880
pancakes Theatre come over and
said, hey, we're worried about

1428
01:11:18,880 --> 01:11:23,040
this concert because we've got a
Blue Man Group show happening

1429
01:11:23,600 --> 01:11:25,560
like right after it.
And we're like, yeah, but our

1430
01:11:25,680 --> 01:11:30,960
our thing ends at, you know, 728
and your doors are 8:00.

1431
01:11:31,200 --> 01:11:34,240
So we're 32 minutes.
Our show's completely over

1432
01:11:34,240 --> 01:11:36,400
before your thing.
They're like, but we do pre show

1433
01:11:36,400 --> 01:11:38,960
music.
I'm like me what jazz muzak

1434
01:11:38,960 --> 01:11:40,520
you're playing in the lobby, You
know what I mean?

1435
01:11:40,520 --> 01:11:43,600
But this is the 10,000 people
coming to the show on Vine

1436
01:11:43,600 --> 01:11:45,120
Street.
You know, it's good for the

1437
01:11:45,120 --> 01:11:47,120
neighborhood and it's cool.
It's Capitol Records, most

1438
01:11:47,120 --> 01:11:48,760
historic building in the in the
city.

1439
01:11:48,760 --> 01:11:50,080
You know what I mean?
It's amazing.

1440
01:11:50,480 --> 01:11:53,160
And they were just would not
back off of this.

1441
01:11:53,160 --> 01:11:55,240
So they try to hold us to ADB
rule.

1442
01:11:55,240 --> 01:12:00,440
They're like, you can only go to
100 DB and I'm like, that's not

1443
01:12:00,440 --> 01:12:02,440
loud enough.
You know, I'm like, it's just

1444
01:12:02,440 --> 01:12:04,600
simply not loud enough.
And they're like, well, we

1445
01:12:04,600 --> 01:12:06,920
really wanted you to go 90 DB.
I'm like, that's like a lawn

1446
01:12:06,920 --> 01:12:09,040
mower, you know, I'm like,
that's just, you know, it's not

1447
01:12:09,040 --> 01:12:12,520
loud enough for when we have
10,000 bags of meat sitting here

1448
01:12:12,720 --> 01:12:15,480
and the music's going off of.
And, and they like it got to the

1449
01:12:15,480 --> 01:12:18,280
point where I had sent so many
text messages saying, guys, I, I

1450
01:12:18,280 --> 01:12:21,040
really got to tell you that this
is a bad idea that they were

1451
01:12:21,040 --> 01:12:24,920
like, stop talking about it,
stop saying, you know, whatever.

1452
01:12:24,960 --> 01:12:27,000
And then of course, the soon as
his concert started and there's

1453
01:12:27,000 --> 01:12:29,720
all the people there, the CEO of
the record label was like, this

1454
01:12:29,720 --> 01:12:31,920
isn't loud enough and you got to
change it.

1455
01:12:31,920 --> 01:12:34,680
We're like, we were told we're,
we had AVU meter there.

1456
01:12:34,840 --> 01:12:37,320
They're like our DV meter.
They're like, you can, it was

1457
01:12:37,320 --> 01:12:39,200
red lined.
And I'm like, all right, well,

1458
01:12:39,200 --> 01:12:41,160
we're told this.
And he's like, I don't give a

1459
01:12:41,160 --> 01:12:43,080
shit, make it louder.
So then we made it louder and

1460
01:12:43,080 --> 01:12:44,920
the showing great.
It's his problem now.

1461
01:12:45,320 --> 01:12:48,000
It was 8.
It was an 8 day build in a

1462
01:12:48,000 --> 01:12:51,360
parking lot.
The mural lot at the Capitol

1463
01:12:51,360 --> 01:12:54,320
Records, the famous mural lot,
the IT was behind them in the

1464
01:12:54,640 --> 01:12:57,080
personal Capitol records, like
the people who work at Capitol

1465
01:12:57,080 --> 01:12:58,560
Records.
It was in that parking lot.

1466
01:12:58,720 --> 01:13:00,600
So it wasn't even in that mural
lot because the mural lot's

1467
01:13:00,600 --> 01:13:01,760
huge.
It would have been easy in that

1468
01:13:01,760 --> 01:13:04,440
lot.
We had 15 semi trucks blocking

1469
01:13:04,440 --> 01:13:06,840
like Vine Street.
And people are pissed off.

1470
01:13:06,840 --> 01:13:08,960
The cops are coming.
They're like what are you doing?

1471
01:13:08,960 --> 01:13:10,400
And I didn't know how to do any
of that.

1472
01:13:10,400 --> 01:13:12,800
Like I didn't know how to
Marshall trucks.

1473
01:13:12,800 --> 01:13:14,240
Like that's just not something I
did.

1474
01:13:14,240 --> 01:13:15,360
But.
I thought you were going to say

1475
01:13:15,360 --> 01:13:17,160
pay off cops.
I didn't know how to pay off.

1476
01:13:17,200 --> 01:13:18,200
Cops.
Yeah.

1477
01:13:18,320 --> 01:13:21,640
And, and our our cash thing at
the our petty cash thing was a

1478
01:13:21,640 --> 01:13:24,800
whole process at the time, you
know, so, but yeah, so it was

1479
01:13:24,800 --> 01:13:27,160
just, it was a huge, giant
learning experience.

1480
01:13:27,160 --> 01:13:28,480
But in the end, the show went
perfectly.

1481
01:13:28,720 --> 01:13:31,400
And it's still historically just
50 million people have watched

1482
01:13:31,400 --> 01:13:34,040
the video that we did.
And, you know, it's it's just

1483
01:13:34,040 --> 01:13:35,600
amazing.
It looks great.

1484
01:13:35,600 --> 01:13:38,920
It's such a cool show.
And I learned so much because I

1485
01:13:38,920 --> 01:13:43,040
failed completely at every step
of the way as I was learning.

1486
01:13:43,040 --> 01:13:44,640
I didn't know how to figure it
out.

1487
01:13:44,880 --> 01:13:47,000
Yeah, we had to figure it out.
And it was just.

1488
01:13:47,200 --> 01:13:50,120
It's still something this damn,
it's probably one of the my most

1489
01:13:50,120 --> 01:13:53,520
proudest moments of the world is
that I didn't, I shouldn't have

1490
01:13:53,520 --> 01:13:56,560
sold it, you know, because I
really didn't know.

1491
01:13:56,560 --> 01:13:59,280
It could have been a disaster,
you know, but it wasn't.

1492
01:13:59,280 --> 01:14:01,520
And we, you know, and we, we
made it happen and the show

1493
01:14:01,520 --> 01:14:03,240
ain't great.
And the client overall was

1494
01:14:03,240 --> 01:14:05,320
thrilled.
You know, afterwards the show

1495
01:14:05,320 --> 01:14:07,360
was flawless.
When was this actual?

1496
01:14:07,360 --> 01:14:12,720
Production 2019 or 2018, I think
maybe it was Brian was right

1497
01:14:12,720 --> 01:14:17,400
when you started right at
Delicate just in 2019.

1498
01:14:17,800 --> 01:14:20,280
Yeah, it was, but it was
massive, massive show.

1499
01:14:20,280 --> 01:14:24,320
Like, you know, and, you know,
in the end I learned so much

1500
01:14:24,320 --> 01:14:27,240
about we, we had a, we had a
video wall on top of the roof

1501
01:14:27,240 --> 01:14:31,160
there and it had been engineered
by the city and approved and it

1502
01:14:31,160 --> 01:14:33,520
been engineered by the building
engineer and approved.

1503
01:14:33,720 --> 01:14:35,880
And the guys that we had
building LED wall walked up and

1504
01:14:35,880 --> 01:14:37,480
called me up there like not
building this.

1505
01:14:37,840 --> 01:14:39,840
And I'm like, why?
And they're like, 'cause the

1506
01:14:39,840 --> 01:14:41,920
wind is going to knock this LED
wall and you're going to kill

1507
01:14:41,920 --> 01:14:44,360
people.
And I was like, well, it was

1508
01:14:44,360 --> 01:14:45,600
stamped.
The engineering said it was

1509
01:14:45,600 --> 01:14:47,160
safe.
They're like, they're dumb.

1510
01:14:47,680 --> 01:14:50,280
They should never stamp this.
This is not the motors and all

1511
01:14:50,280 --> 01:14:51,520
the stuff.
And so immediately I was like,

1512
01:14:51,520 --> 01:14:53,040
all right, well, if it's going
to hurt people, we're not doing

1513
01:14:53,040 --> 01:14:55,400
it, you know, And we had to go
to the clients and explain to

1514
01:14:55,400 --> 01:14:58,560
them, like, I know I sold you
this and I know it was stamped

1515
01:14:58,560 --> 01:14:59,720
engineering.
And we went through all the

1516
01:14:59,720 --> 01:15:02,640
right processes, but the
engineers are actually building

1517
01:15:02,640 --> 01:15:05,720
this wall are right.
It's the there's not enough

1518
01:15:05,720 --> 01:15:07,400
ballast because the roof is
soft.

1519
01:15:07,400 --> 01:15:09,600
So we couldn't get enough act
like G blocks or something on

1520
01:15:09,600 --> 01:15:12,240
there to hold it.
And I'm like, it's not safe.

1521
01:15:12,400 --> 01:15:13,600
And they're like, but we need
that wall.

1522
01:15:13,600 --> 01:15:15,920
I'm like, you don't need the
wall enough to kill, you know, a

1523
01:15:15,920 --> 01:15:20,080
5 foot 2K pop fan.
You you don't like, trust me,

1524
01:15:20,080 --> 01:15:21,400
like this is this is like a
career.

1525
01:15:21,400 --> 01:15:23,720
This could get ugly really,
really quick, yeah.

1526
01:15:23,720 --> 01:15:25,320
And they were, Capitol Records
is great about it.

1527
01:15:25,320 --> 01:15:26,920
They were literally like, well,
if it's not safe, we're not

1528
01:15:26,920 --> 01:15:28,120
doing it.
So we had to cancel it.

1529
01:15:28,120 --> 01:15:30,600
But this is like 5 hours before
the show, you know?

1530
01:15:30,600 --> 01:15:33,040
So there was just all these
little unique challenges of

1531
01:15:33,040 --> 01:15:34,440
something we'd never done
before.

1532
01:15:34,760 --> 01:15:37,000
And yeah, it was great with
Trial by Fire.

1533
01:15:37,040 --> 01:15:39,280
And I mean, after that I was
like any show they threw at me,

1534
01:15:39,360 --> 01:15:40,880
like, can you do this?
Yeah, why not?

1535
01:15:42,040 --> 01:15:44,080
Sure, we'll figure it out.
That's funny.

1536
01:15:44,240 --> 01:15:45,800
Yeah.
Well, that's our industry,

1537
01:15:45,800 --> 01:15:48,440
though, you know, it's, it's,
you know, say yes and figure it

1538
01:15:48,440 --> 01:15:51,080
out.
And that's how people have

1539
01:15:51,080 --> 01:15:52,920
created careers.
That's how companies have

1540
01:15:52,920 --> 01:15:55,160
created themselves, you know?
Oh, yeah, we can do.

1541
01:15:55,240 --> 01:15:56,920
Oh, yeah.
Have you ever done it before?

1542
01:15:56,920 --> 01:15:59,440
Oh, many times.
Never, you know.

1543
01:16:00,120 --> 01:16:02,840
So fake it till you make it.
Yeah.

1544
01:16:02,840 --> 01:16:06,640
Fake it till you make it.
Last question, what what excites

1545
01:16:06,640 --> 01:16:09,120
you guys the most about the
future?

1546
01:16:09,120 --> 01:16:12,720
Future of delicate?
Future of your role in delicate?

1547
01:16:12,720 --> 01:16:14,600
Where you guys are taking this
thing?

1548
01:16:15,160 --> 01:16:20,120
What excites you?
I think what excites me the most

1549
01:16:20,120 --> 01:16:24,440
is our ability to do shows
across the board at different

1550
01:16:24,440 --> 01:16:27,720
scales, Like it's just a whole
nother level that we have right

1551
01:16:27,720 --> 01:16:28,880
now.
Yeah.

1552
01:16:29,160 --> 01:16:31,600
We've really been working hard
to kind of tweak our process of

1553
01:16:31,600 --> 01:16:33,360
how that works.
You know, everything sounds

1554
01:16:33,360 --> 01:16:36,120
great from the outside and then
you get into the devils in the

1555
01:16:36,120 --> 01:16:39,440
details and the nuts and bolts
and we've really been kind of

1556
01:16:39,440 --> 01:16:42,000
working hard to try and get all
everybody on the same page.

1557
01:16:42,000 --> 01:16:45,800
And how does that work and how
do we gear wise quoting all of

1558
01:16:45,800 --> 01:16:48,240
that stuff?
I think we're, we're really at a

1559
01:16:48,240 --> 01:16:50,800
point where we can kind of
attack all of our clients

1560
01:16:50,840 --> 01:16:54,200
anywhere, feel pretty good about
it, not just, you know, Hail

1561
01:16:54,200 --> 01:16:57,160
Mary, hey, we got the show
popping in and we've really got

1562
01:16:57,160 --> 01:17:00,440
a good process going with live
events with all of our Opcos and

1563
01:17:01,160 --> 01:17:04,520
really integrating pyrotechnico
And yeah, just trying to

1564
01:17:04,520 --> 01:17:07,600
maximize, you know, we call it
the 360 approach that we have.

1565
01:17:07,920 --> 01:17:10,960
Like you said earlier, the
service stuff, it's kind of what

1566
01:17:10,960 --> 01:17:12,560
we hang our hat on.
I think we're pretty good.

1567
01:17:12,560 --> 01:17:15,600
At it it's a superpower.
You know, it's definitely it's a

1568
01:17:15,600 --> 01:17:18,080
superpower.
It's you know, I know some of

1569
01:17:18,080 --> 01:17:22,520
the bigs are are starting to add
audio like for example, 4 wall

1570
01:17:23,320 --> 01:17:26,040
says that, you know, they're now
adding audio and I think it's

1571
01:17:26,040 --> 01:17:29,800
because they were struggling on
some of the massive 360 stuff

1572
01:17:29,800 --> 01:17:32,840
they were going after and the
audio quotes they were getting

1573
01:17:32,840 --> 01:17:35,680
probably weren't quite as good
as it needed to be to make it

1574
01:17:35,680 --> 01:17:39,480
happen and it was kind of nuking
them out of the deal.

1575
01:17:39,880 --> 01:17:43,200
And so I know they're starting
to acquire some audio now so

1576
01:17:43,200 --> 01:17:45,200
that they can kind of manage it
on their own.

1577
01:17:45,560 --> 01:17:48,040
I think it's probably going to
be harder than what they think

1578
01:17:48,040 --> 01:17:50,680
it is.
But you don't just take a

1579
01:17:50,680 --> 01:17:53,480
behemoth lighting company and
say, OK, we're going to buy a

1580
01:17:53,480 --> 01:17:56,920
couple sound systems and have a
sound team sound department.

1581
01:17:57,280 --> 01:18:01,160
Like you got to find all those
A1 folks out there and and

1582
01:18:01,840 --> 01:18:04,800
they're all busy, you know, so
it's not.

1583
01:18:04,800 --> 01:18:07,120
That easy but good people are
always busy, right they.

1584
01:18:07,200 --> 01:18:10,400
Are yeah, they are, yeah.
I mean, that's, that's really

1585
01:18:10,400 --> 01:18:12,200
exciting.
I I think it's a fantastic

1586
01:18:12,200 --> 01:18:13,720
company.
I love Steven.

1587
01:18:13,720 --> 01:18:16,960
I love live events.
I think, you know, other than

1588
01:18:16,960 --> 01:18:19,760
delicate, Live Event Productions
is probably one of the cooler

1589
01:18:19,760 --> 01:18:22,040
names in the industry.
You know, it just makes so much

1590
01:18:22,040 --> 01:18:24,160
sense.
Like, what do you do, You know,

1591
01:18:24,280 --> 01:18:26,520
look at our name.
What do you think we do right?

1592
01:18:27,160 --> 01:18:29,400
Sometimes the obvious is the
best, you know?

1593
01:18:29,400 --> 01:18:32,960
And I loved, I was surprised
that the name was available when

1594
01:18:32,960 --> 01:18:34,720
they came up with it.
I was like, Are you sure you can

1595
01:18:34,720 --> 01:18:36,560
call it that?
Unbelievable.

1596
01:18:36,880 --> 01:18:38,440
Yeah.
It just kind of worked out well,

1597
01:18:38,440 --> 01:18:40,280
the same thing.
I was surprised you guys have

1598
01:18:40,280 --> 01:18:43,840
the domain for delicate.com.
I was like, no, it's got to be

1599
01:18:43,840 --> 01:18:46,360
like, it's been around so long
or something.

1600
01:18:46,800 --> 01:18:48,000
Yeah, I think it's because we
were around.

1601
01:18:48,000 --> 01:18:49,560
You started the Internet smart
enough.

1602
01:18:49,720 --> 01:18:51,160
You.
Designed the Internet, yeah.

1603
01:18:51,640 --> 01:18:53,240
Smoother.
Smoother it was called.

1604
01:18:53,240 --> 01:18:54,960
Smoother net when it first
started.

1605
01:18:55,880 --> 01:18:57,840
Smoother.
It's me, Maggie Thatcher, Al

1606
01:18:57,840 --> 01:18:59,600
Gore.
We are Barney's Beanery.

1607
01:18:59,640 --> 01:19:01,760
We invented the Internet.
Yeah, we did.

1608
01:19:02,040 --> 01:19:04,760
That's fucking hilarious.
That is so funny.

1609
01:19:05,360 --> 01:19:08,160
I think they just like also just
to just kind of talk about what

1610
01:19:08,160 --> 01:19:11,080
Brian said too.
What's exciting for me, I'm the

1611
01:19:11,080 --> 01:19:13,400
VP of sales, so my whole job is
growing business, right?

1612
01:19:13,400 --> 01:19:16,320
That's literally what I do, you
know, producing good shows,

1613
01:19:16,320 --> 01:19:19,680
growing business and best way to
grow business is produce good

1614
01:19:19,680 --> 01:19:21,720
shows.
And I think the the most

1615
01:19:21,720 --> 01:19:24,840
exciting thing for me is the one
thing I love about working at

1616
01:19:24,840 --> 01:19:29,040
Delicate and if so facto the
live events is we just have

1617
01:19:29,040 --> 01:19:31,440
great people.
Like I this is the first place

1618
01:19:31,440 --> 01:19:33,480
I've ever worked that I just
like everybody I work with.

1619
01:19:33,480 --> 01:19:36,360
They're good at their job.
They give a shit and it like it.

1620
01:19:36,360 --> 01:19:40,880
They have a sense of pride and
that like, I'm 52, you get old,

1621
01:19:40,880 --> 01:19:43,480
you get tired of the shit.
You get some people that are not

1622
01:19:43,480 --> 01:19:45,000
content and don't like what
they're doing.

1623
01:19:45,000 --> 01:19:47,400
It's like, do something else,
learn to color, learn to code,

1624
01:19:47,680 --> 01:19:49,440
you know, like do something
else, you know, like don't do

1625
01:19:49,440 --> 01:19:51,240
this.
And I like that we everyone

1626
01:19:51,240 --> 01:19:55,000
really has the same focus and
there were driven to make great

1627
01:19:55,000 --> 01:19:57,160
shows happen.
And then the other part of that

1628
01:19:57,160 --> 01:20:00,280
too, which is obviously kit and
Kindle is clients.

1629
01:20:00,280 --> 01:20:03,040
Man, I, we meet new clients
every day and they're always

1630
01:20:03,040 --> 01:20:06,720
some exciting new challenge.
And I love when we work with a

1631
01:20:06,720 --> 01:20:10,000
new client that doesn't know us.
You know, comes in, they're

1632
01:20:10,000 --> 01:20:12,520
trepidatious at first, like I
hope you guys don't fuck this up

1633
01:20:12,840 --> 01:20:14,840
and, and we kill it.
And they're like, man, I don't,

1634
01:20:14,840 --> 01:20:16,480
I don't want to go anywhere
without you.

1635
01:20:16,480 --> 01:20:19,120
Like I love you guys.
I, that's such an incredible

1636
01:20:19,120 --> 01:20:20,800
feeling.
And the fact that I get to do

1637
01:20:20,800 --> 01:20:23,600
this over and over and over
again for, you know, 1/4 of a

1638
01:20:23,600 --> 01:20:26,680
century so far, it's amazing.
And you know, and if my heart,

1639
01:20:26,720 --> 01:20:29,320
you know, continues to be
strong, maybe two to three more

1640
01:20:29,320 --> 01:20:34,440
years, you know, it's great.
I feel very lucky about it.

1641
01:20:34,440 --> 01:20:36,200
I mean, I'm always excited about
it.

1642
01:20:36,680 --> 01:20:39,520
Well, you talked about people
and attitude and, and great

1643
01:20:39,520 --> 01:20:41,000
people and all of that kind of
thing.

1644
01:20:41,280 --> 01:20:43,320
And you know, this is going to
sound like a promotion.

1645
01:20:43,320 --> 01:20:45,480
It's not, it's personal
experience.

1646
01:20:46,120 --> 01:20:48,720
A lot of companies are bottom
up.

1647
01:20:48,720 --> 01:20:50,720
So they've got really good
people at the bottom and they're

1648
01:20:50,720 --> 01:20:52,320
like, but don't talk to the
management.

1649
01:20:52,320 --> 01:20:55,440
They're a bunch of assholes.
You know, I will say at live

1650
01:20:55,440 --> 01:20:58,920
events, you know, it's a top
down approach.

1651
01:20:58,920 --> 01:21:03,440
Like really, the people at the
top, you know, goofy, wonderful,

1652
01:21:03,520 --> 01:21:09,400
kind Mark, you know, Steven, you
can argue with them all you

1653
01:21:09,400 --> 01:21:12,040
want, but the guy's a great guy
with a big heart and he cares

1654
01:21:12,040 --> 01:21:14,640
about your family.
And, you know, if you tell him

1655
01:21:14,640 --> 01:21:17,640
that your your kid is sick or
whatever, he'll ask you every

1656
01:21:17,640 --> 01:21:20,200
time he talks to you.
You know, how's how's your kid

1657
01:21:20,200 --> 01:21:21,920
doing today?
You know, is he feeling any

1658
01:21:21,920 --> 01:21:24,320
better?
You know, I've had so many long

1659
01:21:24,320 --> 01:21:30,000
like just really life human
conversations with Steven and

1660
01:21:30,000 --> 01:21:33,240
with Mark and with other people
on the team, and I just feel

1661
01:21:33,240 --> 01:21:36,640
like they're such a people first
kind of organization, like they

1662
01:21:36,640 --> 01:21:39,240
really care about the people and
they screw up just like

1663
01:21:39,240 --> 01:21:42,480
everybody does.
It's it's so easy to screw up on

1664
01:21:42,480 --> 01:21:47,240
the moving parts, the people in
a business and but, but I love

1665
01:21:47,240 --> 01:21:50,880
that approach.
I I think that the company does

1666
01:21:51,400 --> 01:21:55,440
lead by example when it comes to
how to treat people and how to

1667
01:21:55,440 --> 01:21:59,080
behave and that kind of thing.
Well, I mean, I think I think

1668
01:21:59,080 --> 01:22:00,600
you're totally right.
And I think part of the deal is

1669
01:22:00,600 --> 01:22:03,720
like Delicate was a family
business, Gemini was a family

1670
01:22:03,720 --> 01:22:06,440
business, Zenith to some extent,
Pyrotechnical, obviously a

1671
01:22:06,520 --> 01:22:07,840
family business.
Stephen Rocco.

1672
01:22:07,920 --> 01:22:12,240
So, so I think what happened is
they, yes, we're a larger

1673
01:22:12,240 --> 01:22:15,120
corporation, you're a larger
corporate business now, you

1674
01:22:15,120 --> 01:22:18,160
know, with, with multiple
tentacles, but we're still kind

1675
01:22:18,160 --> 01:22:19,960
of run in some ways like a
family business.

1676
01:22:19,960 --> 01:22:23,040
Like we still all, you know, we,
we call ourselves our sister

1677
01:22:23,040 --> 01:22:25,840
companies, our, our brother
companies, whatever else.

1678
01:22:25,840 --> 01:22:28,920
And I know that's, you know,
common nomenclature, but like in

1679
01:22:28,920 --> 01:22:31,480
reality, like we kind of feel
like that, like we sometimes to

1680
01:22:31,480 --> 01:22:33,960
the extent where we're mad at
each other, you know, whatever

1681
01:22:33,960 --> 01:22:35,720
else, because we want to help,
we want to do something.

1682
01:22:35,960 --> 01:22:38,480
But like, it is like we, we are,
you know, family.

1683
01:22:38,480 --> 01:22:40,800
Like daddy gets mad.
I mean, every time Steven comes

1684
01:22:40,800 --> 01:22:44,120
to town and he's got a, you
know, 10 of me, you know, more

1685
01:22:44,120 --> 01:22:45,920
of that than that with Pyro and
everybody else.

1686
01:22:45,920 --> 01:22:48,520
He's got 10 guys that do what I
do, so every time he comes to

1687
01:22:48,520 --> 01:22:50,960
town, he calls me and we go have
lunch every time they're, you

1688
01:22:50,960 --> 01:22:54,760
know, like he's, you know, and,
you know, in our vertical

1689
01:22:54,760 --> 01:22:57,080
itself, Brian and I talk five
times a day, You know what I

1690
01:22:57,080 --> 01:22:58,840
mean?
Like we like we, you know, we

1691
01:22:58,840 --> 01:23:02,480
all really care about each other
and care about what we do.

1692
01:23:02,480 --> 01:23:03,880
But I think that's what the
funny.

1693
01:23:03,920 --> 01:23:06,920
Thing is, you know, again, when
there's bankers involved it,

1694
01:23:06,920 --> 01:23:08,760
it's different, it's a different
dynamic.

1695
01:23:08,760 --> 01:23:12,600
But even the bank in your case,
So, you know, Andy Stevens

1696
01:23:12,600 --> 01:23:15,960
partner, like, I've had many
conversations both in person and

1697
01:23:16,160 --> 01:23:18,000
on Zoom calls and stuff with
Andy.

1698
01:23:18,200 --> 01:23:20,480
The guy's a great guy.
I mean, you could just talk to

1699
01:23:20,480 --> 01:23:22,760
him like a regular guy.
And he's a regular guy.

1700
01:23:22,760 --> 01:23:26,560
And, and he makes decisions too.
Like, it's not like it goes to a

1701
01:23:26,560 --> 01:23:29,400
committee of 12 people and they
have to decide whether or not to

1702
01:23:29,400 --> 01:23:32,960
spend the money or to acquire
the business or to whatever.

1703
01:23:33,560 --> 01:23:35,840
He just kind of goes, yeah,
sounds like a really good

1704
01:23:35,840 --> 01:23:38,760
opportunity.
Let's go after it and that's

1705
01:23:38,760 --> 01:23:40,560
done.
You know, the boss just said

1706
01:23:40,560 --> 01:23:44,200
yes, let's go right.
So that dynamic, A dynamic I

1707
01:23:44,200 --> 01:23:47,960
think is really great as well.
It's not like, you know, some of

1708
01:23:47,960 --> 01:23:53,600
these other larger businesses
that have rather aggressive or

1709
01:23:53,600 --> 01:23:55,480
what do you want to call it?
I don't know what to call it,

1710
01:23:55,480 --> 01:24:00,360
but companies that you know
would would watch them burn, you

1711
01:24:00,360 --> 01:24:02,160
know, if they had to like that
are.

1712
01:24:02,160 --> 01:24:04,760
Behind PNL, it's all the yeah.
Yeah, yeah.

1713
01:24:04,760 --> 01:24:07,640
Like you miss your numbers.
You're dead to me.

1714
01:24:07,640 --> 01:24:09,760
You're dead to me, Brian, you
know.

1715
01:24:10,520 --> 01:24:13,200
I think a lot of this stuff is
like culture based too.

1716
01:24:13,200 --> 01:24:14,280
Which is?
It is culture based.

1717
01:24:14,280 --> 01:24:14,960
That's the.
Right word.

1718
01:24:14,960 --> 01:24:17,720
We, we really kind of push here
too as well.

1719
01:24:17,720 --> 01:24:21,520
And everybody's in line in live
events across the board just,

1720
01:24:21,520 --> 01:24:25,760
yeah, if you got bad culture,
bad things happen, you know?

1721
01:24:25,800 --> 01:24:29,000
And we really push good culture
and get the right people in here

1722
01:24:29,000 --> 01:24:31,280
and the right attitudes and
everything that's good, you

1723
01:24:31,280 --> 01:24:33,640
know, it really.
Shows that's where we need to

1724
01:24:33,640 --> 01:24:35,440
end.
That's a perfect ending.

1725
01:24:35,440 --> 01:24:37,640
The culture.
It's it's all about the culture

1726
01:24:37,680 --> 01:24:40,480
and I think you guys have it.
So that's a good thing.

1727
01:24:40,720 --> 01:24:42,720
I appreciate you guys.
Thank you so much, and thanks

1728
01:24:42,720 --> 01:24:44,400
for being a sponsor of the
podcast too.

1729
01:24:45,560 --> 01:24:47,600
Thanks for having us have an.
Amazing day.