WEBVTT

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This podcast is brought to you by Amusement Warehouse

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Magazine, the industry's largest trade publication.

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We cover amusement parks, carnivals, fairs, festivals,

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history, safety columns. We really got it all

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when it comes to the amusement business. Only

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remaining print publication in the amusement

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industry on a regular basis. So if you're interested

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in what the amusement industry has to offer,

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subscribe today. You can subscribe by logging

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on to AmusementWarehouse .com, CarnivalWarehouse

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.com, or AmusementParkWarehouse .com. Welcome

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to another edition of Amusement Warehouse podcast

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today from California. Got mr. Harry Mason owner

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of brass ring amusements Empire basically now

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with two shows under its umbrella and Harry's

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got a quite a varied background Came from I used

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to know him a long time ago and he's on the East

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Coast a little while and now he's a Carnival

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giant there in California Harry welcome. Good

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morning. Good morning How are things in California

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sunny? I hope We're getting sunny. It's been

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a little bit a little chilly and wet But I think

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we're gonna be in the 80s by the weekend looking

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forward to it What part of California you in

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your north? Northern California our our office

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is based in Fair Oaks, which is the Sacramento

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region and our maintenance facility is up in

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Oroville Which is about 90 miles north of there

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and we hover we hover in Northern, California

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a little bit of central, California We don't

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go to LA or anything like that down there No,

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you don't want to go where it's warm. It's it's

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just it's a traffic. It's a lot logistically.

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There's shows that serve that area down there.

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No point in going down there and kicking somebody's

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shovel. You're like the unknown California people

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don't talk about a lot or don't from the East

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Coast don't know about it. You know, in my opinion,

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having growing up growing up in the Bay Area,

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this is the real California. Like, I mean, it's

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not what's on TV, but it's it's different. It's

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not people like people who think about Florida

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they think about sunshine in palm trees and beaches

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right and very little of it is beaches it's mostly

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you know like up here it's farmland it's cows

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it's yeah orchards yeah California's pretty amazing

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state when you look at the whole place absolutely

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it's awesome it's awesome honestly so tell us

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uh you know about your background you're a show

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owner now you came from a concession background

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to a certain extent but uh how'd you get in the

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industry what what uh What brought you to this

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wonderful business? so we'll go way back shall

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we say I had a somewhat troubled youth and In

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schools I was kind of a theater kid believe it

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or not nerd and We were doing a production of

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Lil Abner and I think this was 1975 Around 1975

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and we didn't have any money for stage lighting.

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So I had the idea that we'd have a carnival To

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raise the money for stage lighting so it would

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hit my costume. Right? I'm not even kidding and

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We booked butler amusements and they came in

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and did the event for us and then probably maybe

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76 that's about the year I got in the business

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and I Immediately loved the carnival business.

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And so, you know packed a bag ran away from home

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joined a carnival That's pretty cool. You know,

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I kind of got it in a similar way, not in the

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exact same way, but when I was working, my first

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job out of college was doing fundraising for

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the Leukemia Society. And there was like a carnival

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across the street. Well, you know who it was

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because you work for them. And, you know, I remember

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my church used to raise some money just kind

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of like you were talking about. And actually

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in college too, I had said, oh we should have

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a carnival to raise money but I couldn't figure

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out how to like find a carnival you know back

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then it was crazy but you know I wound up Amusance

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of America was across the street actually at

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the at the Coliseum and I ran across the street

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and talked to them and booked a date with them

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but that's funny because that's almost identical

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to I didn't run away right away but I did actually

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go to work with him not long afters. I guess

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it's very, very similar. I didn't realize that

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about you. That's pretty cool. Yeah. And I worked

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started in the ride department and I worked for,

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uh, I worked for Butler Musings for a little

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bit. Um, every Monday morning we'd end up back

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at the winter quarters and he'd call my mom and

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she'd come get me. And that's when Bush Butler

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was in charge. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Oh wow. And,

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uh, and so I decided, and then I went over to

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Foley and Burke for a summer because, uh, they

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didn't know my mom, so they wouldn't call her

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to come get me. And that was kind of at the end

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of Foley and Burke, right? They were kind of...

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It was, it was 77, because I joined Amusements

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of America in 78, and I was there till 1990,

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and I decided to move back to California. Wow.

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How did you think to go to Amusements of America?

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You were a game concessionaire by then? No, I

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was still a ride guy. I didn't get into the games

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until the probably early 80s. So I had a handful

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of years. That's my big flex. I was, I was babes

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tilt foreman for a, for a summer. Oh, you went

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to work for babe. Oh, that's cool. I, you know,

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cause I, I know all the brothers, but I mean,

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when I went to work for them, babe was, you know,

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he had, uh, uh, what is it? Parkinson's, right?

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He had something. So he's kind of, you know,

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he wasn't really active, but everybody had talked

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to that was around them. Said he was a great

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guy to work with and for and and it just really

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ran a tight unit Was it's kind of like the sound

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of a voter brother was you never hear a whole

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lot about I mean doesn't make a lot for himself

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I Really enjoyed my time at Amusements of America

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like I made friends that I'm still friends with

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I had a good time It was um, well, I was in my

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20s. It was an interesting It was an interesting

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experience for sure lots of fun like my god,

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but I had a good time there And then, um... Did

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you play Flemington? Yeah, I've got Flemington

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stories that I can't tell on the podcast. Oh,

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yeah, I played Flemington. I'm all cool, right?

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What's the guy's name, I think? Yeah, that's

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it. On the racetrack, it was a private fair,

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as far as I know. Yeah, it was. Him and his son

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ran it for a while. Yeah, I mean, all those big

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fairs. Back in Middletown, when Middletown was

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a big fair. You know who runs Middletown now?

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What did a couple of brothers, oh my gosh. You're

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talking about the girders on the grounds. Right,

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right. The manager's talking to you. You run,

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you run Middletown? I have the rest, I don't

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know, like eight years, nine years. No kidding,

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no kidding. Is it still big like it used to be?

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It's big, but it's not that big. I mean, because

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when like the Maxwell's were there and they used

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to have that guy, Glenn Donnelly. used to bring

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in like really big name concerts and stuff with

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he ran what was called dirt which is the race

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car thing and you know he brought in Van Halen

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and Boyz II Men and Metallica and uh huge you

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know you can't do that anymore i mean people

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yell us bring in Metallica like okay give me

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like you know five million dollars and i'll see

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what i could do that's crazy runner i could i

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could go down the list through the some of the

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I saw Def Leppard there for the first time. I

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think I saw a foreigner there for the first time

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and Willie Nelson. Like it's a quite a constant

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expense. That's a great fair. The demographics

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have changed a lot. Like if you think back to

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as the boomers were kind of, kind of still young

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and they were coming in and Gen X was pretty

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good. Was it the demographics, even in the industry

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now, like we're, we're marketing to Gen Z now,

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right? Cause that's the younger group. They're

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like a third of the size of the boomers. You

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just thought you're gonna have those big, the

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drive in up there in Middletown loaded full of

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school buses with the kids from camp. That's

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not a thing anymore. We don't have people like

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that like we used to. We actually get, we do

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the Orthodox Jewish camps and they do, they bring

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a big group. You know, they really bring a big

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group. They're a little difficult because they

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do the boys separate, the girls separate. And

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it's, it's a challenge, but we do have a pretty

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big group because you remember Phil used to.

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He used to like work the gate with the camps

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and stuff like that. Absolutely down there putting

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the wristbands on. Absolutely. That was like

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his favorite job of the year. He'd run over to

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the gate and he'd like personally work the gate.

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When the people came in it was crazy. He was

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a fun guy, interesting character. I remember

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one time we were playing, oh my god, Malone.

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And he was out slinging fried dough in the grandstand

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when they were doing Betsy Bingo. Howard Minealy

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ran Malone. Pardon me? Howard Minealy ran Malone.

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Okay. All those guys up there, I remember about

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all like they played Plattsburgh and Malone.

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Every one of them. Boston Spa. Boston Spa, but

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the Northern Northern Northern ones in New York,

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every one of those guys worked in a prison. Did

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you ever notice that? I had no idea. All those

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guys worked in prisons. They were all prison

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like, I guess they weren't guards, but they were

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they're like managers. Every one of them was

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so strange to me because I would always talk

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to Bill LePage in Plattsburgh and Howard Menelian.

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I can't remember the guy from Gov 'nor, Bob Richie.

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I don't know why I remember these names. Crazy.

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I can't remember what I ate for lunch yesterday,

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but I remember these names. But all those guys

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worked in prisons. I guess it's a big industry

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up in northern New York. But that was a lot.

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Right. those guys were incredible but yeah Middletown

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they used to also have those tents you know those

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ethnic tents like they'd have an Italian tent

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and a Greek tent and they would have all those

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different things and that was big and that's

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hard to do but the Maxwell's still uh Bob's son

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Robbie runs the food there still. Still doing

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the walk away Sundays? I'm sorry? They still

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doing the walk away Sundays yeah. Bigger thing

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as it used to be in the foot long hot dogs and

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the right, right? The dough and everything they

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have. Yeah, I mean, it's still still a decent

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fair, but it's not like, you know, it's really

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it did smooth a lot of it out, though, because

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you know how hilly it used to be. Right. Oh,

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really flatten it out. A lot of places. I mean,

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if you're a guy and you just walk up, you say,

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oh, my God, this place is full of hills. But

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if you remember from when you were there back

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in the day, it's it looks like it's flat, even

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though it's not even close to flat. But I remember

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going up one winter with uh, I don't know if

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you remember bob galoski Yeah, he was beige lock

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man. Yeah, and we went up there one winter and

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uh did a bunch of excavating Or he directed a

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bunch of excavating on what that roadway used

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to be called power alley So we could get some

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of those big rides in there to sit flat We just

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opened that back up. We didn't use that for years

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power alley really the entrance over on the gate

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to the left of the gate eight I guess it is or

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gate nine and uh and we just last year we we

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have the entrance right down power alley so that's

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get that's used again and going down the road

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there so it's it's pretty cool i found a youtube

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video that it looked like somebody shot um i

00:11:38.799 --> 00:11:41.620
guess i guess it was video even though from 78

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maybe or 77 from the orange county fair in middletown

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and i recognized a lot of people and i'm like

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holy shit that was that was it was crazy It was

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always a favorite fair when people played it.

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I mean, people just loved it, you know, from

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the industry that played it. Then you had the

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31st lap and everybody hang out. Absolutely.

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You go down there and get breakfast in the morning.

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Like that was, you know, that's in the industry

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here. Like, good luck. There's no, we don't even

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have cook houses out here anymore. You know,

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that's how much the industry has changed. And

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I remember going down there, sitting, having

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breakfast, cutting up jackpots, you know. Yeah.

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It's late at night too. I mean, it was, it was

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really a big hangout, but not so much anymore

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because most of the guys you know try to rain

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in the help and then all i'm getting you know

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drunk till whatever hour and you have all the

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the foreign labor and those guys don't really

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uh act up too much so it's it's not quite as

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many characters as it used to be but that's that's

00:12:39.299 --> 00:12:41.580
correct the uh the after hours shenanigans are

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certainly less dynamic shall we say than they

00:12:44.299 --> 00:12:46.960
were maybe 20 years ago and middle time i mean

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i grew up in new jersey But we had a house up

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in Greenwood Lake, New York. My grandparents

00:12:51.820 --> 00:12:54.899
lived there, which is in Orange County. And like

00:12:54.899 --> 00:12:57.159
my aunt, I used to go there and, you know, we

00:12:57.159 --> 00:12:59.580
want to go to Orange County. And she'd say, don't

00:12:59.580 --> 00:13:01.720
go there. It's a bunch of drugs running around

00:13:01.720 --> 00:13:04.179
the Midway. And it kind of was because they served

00:13:04.179 --> 00:13:06.460
beer everywhere. Right. Right. Right. Right.

00:13:06.559 --> 00:13:09.879
It was a lot of fun. And I remember like some

00:13:09.879 --> 00:13:11.820
of the stuff, the first time the Meadowlands

00:13:11.820 --> 00:13:14.320
Fair ever happened. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I remember

00:13:14.320 --> 00:13:18.620
going there. Yeah. Yeah, but I mean, the first

00:13:18.620 --> 00:13:21.360
year went in there, it was like, it was a combination

00:13:21.360 --> 00:13:23.320
of different shows. Why do I want to see Johnny

00:13:23.320 --> 00:13:28.679
United? Yep. And then and then we sent stuff

00:13:28.679 --> 00:13:32.299
over there. And it was so big, we ran out of

00:13:32.299 --> 00:13:36.580
food. Like, who would have thought? And then

00:13:36.580 --> 00:13:39.399
then it got it was big for a long time. I assume

00:13:39.399 --> 00:13:41.639
it's still big. Honestly, I went and visited.

00:13:42.139 --> 00:13:45.830
Here's a story. I'm not going to tell it. Come

00:13:45.830 --> 00:13:47.570
on, you didn't tell the good ones from before.

00:13:49.169 --> 00:13:54.429
I was disappointed. Back in 17, I think it was,

00:13:54.830 --> 00:13:56.710
my wife at the time and a friend of mine and

00:13:56.710 --> 00:13:58.490
his wife, we went to New York for the 4th of

00:13:58.490 --> 00:14:01.629
July. We wanted to go watch the fireworks. And

00:14:01.629 --> 00:14:04.809
I said, oh, we got to go over to Meadowlands

00:14:04.809 --> 00:14:07.730
Fair, because I was all talking it up. And we

00:14:07.730 --> 00:14:09.289
went over there and it just wasn't the same.

00:14:09.309 --> 00:14:10.970
It was disappointing. They didn't have a lot

00:14:10.970 --> 00:14:13.269
of people. Maybe that was the day we went. But

00:14:13.269 --> 00:14:16.190
it just... It just didn't have the same vibe.

00:14:16.690 --> 00:14:20.210
No, it's not like it was, and not to knock the

00:14:20.210 --> 00:14:23.230
outdoors, but when Marty Guerin had it, he was

00:14:23.230 --> 00:14:24.990
always doing something a little crazy, you know,

00:14:25.129 --> 00:14:28.110
like he had the Jimmy Rivers diving mules. Yeah,

00:14:28.450 --> 00:14:34.580
he had diving mules. He had like the... It wasn't

00:14:34.580 --> 00:14:37.000
a strip show, but like a men's show for women

00:14:37.000 --> 00:14:39.940
late at night or some crazy thing. You had dynasty.

00:14:40.159 --> 00:14:42.220
You had all kinds of stuff. You would always

00:14:42.220 --> 00:14:44.259
do something crazy. You always do something big.

00:14:44.980 --> 00:14:48.259
So that really always kept it fresh, but it kind

00:14:48.259 --> 00:14:51.320
of made it almost like a pay one price now. Yeah,

00:14:51.419 --> 00:14:54.200
that's what I gathered. It was just to have a

00:14:54.200 --> 00:14:56.559
different vibe to it. I mean, it was OK, but

00:14:56.559 --> 00:14:59.639
it just didn't seem as big equipment -wise. It

00:14:59.639 --> 00:15:02.139
should be like the biggest fair on the East Coast.

00:15:02.139 --> 00:15:04.590
I mean, it should be. where it's located and

00:15:04.590 --> 00:15:07.549
everything else. 20 million people in that market.

00:15:08.629 --> 00:15:11.269
Yeah, it's huge. And you can see it from, I mean,

00:15:11.370 --> 00:15:14.210
you could literally, if I had an apartment in

00:15:14.210 --> 00:15:16.090
Manhattan, I can see the Meadowlands Fair from

00:15:16.090 --> 00:15:18.990
across the river. It's pretty cool. And I guess

00:15:18.990 --> 00:15:21.450
you don't know it because it takes a while to

00:15:21.450 --> 00:15:24.149
get the news out to California, but they're not

00:15:24.149 --> 00:15:26.070
gonna have the fair at least the next two years

00:15:26.070 --> 00:15:29.690
and maybe longer because of the soccer games

00:15:29.690 --> 00:15:32.100
are coming again. what happened to the World

00:15:32.100 --> 00:15:36.279
Cup in 1994. I think this is a little more extensive,

00:15:36.480 --> 00:15:38.399
so there's no fair for the next couple of years.

00:15:39.179 --> 00:15:41.279
That's disappointing, and you've been around

00:15:41.279 --> 00:15:43.940
a minute. That's hard on an event. It's hard

00:15:43.940 --> 00:15:47.539
to get him to come back. I think so, too. You

00:15:47.539 --> 00:15:50.480
kind of break your rhythm. I wonder what's going

00:15:50.480 --> 00:15:53.919
to happen down the road if it is going to come

00:15:53.919 --> 00:15:56.259
back. I mean, I hope it does. It was a great

00:15:56.259 --> 00:15:59.909
event, and it was a cool event. And it puts a

00:15:59.909 --> 00:16:01.730
big hole, because it's an independent fair now.

00:16:02.169 --> 00:16:03.730
And when I say independent, it's not really,

00:16:03.730 --> 00:16:06.169
really independent, but Straits, it's a big stop

00:16:06.169 --> 00:16:08.269
for them. And Amusements of America, it's a big

00:16:08.269 --> 00:16:11.470
stop for them. Three weeks in the middle of summer,

00:16:12.370 --> 00:16:14.009
and there's not a whole lot of events out this

00:16:14.009 --> 00:16:15.629
way at that time of year that are as big, you

00:16:15.629 --> 00:16:19.470
know, so. It's the same here. July is tough.

00:16:19.629 --> 00:16:21.929
It is a tough month out here, too. I mean, it's

00:16:21.929 --> 00:16:24.659
a tough month. July 4th is always a weird date

00:16:24.659 --> 00:16:27.279
because you either have a great spot or you got

00:16:27.279 --> 00:16:29.940
nothing. It's like the desert, you know. That's

00:16:29.940 --> 00:16:36.860
correct. It's the same here. Oh my gosh, before

00:16:36.860 --> 00:16:39.320
Metallands, we used to play, where was that?

00:16:39.600 --> 00:16:44.120
Ironbound Square in Newark. Oh yeah, yeah. Right

00:16:44.120 --> 00:16:47.639
there at Penn Station. That was a crazy event

00:16:47.639 --> 00:16:53.460
to play. Like crazy. I forget. Mostly in New

00:16:53.460 --> 00:16:58.100
Jersey. Most of the time. No, we played. No,

00:16:58.100 --> 00:17:00.419
we played from, you know, Miami all the way up

00:17:00.419 --> 00:17:04.480
to upstate. We had a handful of spots in New.

00:17:04.480 --> 00:17:06.680
I could probably name if I thought about it like

00:17:06.680 --> 00:17:09.640
three or four events in New Jersey. And then,

00:17:09.640 --> 00:17:13.859
you know, that was it. Like Patterson. One time.

00:17:14.839 --> 00:17:18.720
And Passaic. And a couple of churches south,

00:17:18.920 --> 00:17:21.910
like in Colonial. Does that sound right? It's

00:17:21.910 --> 00:17:24.430
been 30 some years. There was a church. Yeah.

00:17:25.789 --> 00:17:28.109
And we just play some James way down in Vineland.

00:17:28.190 --> 00:17:31.569
Those are probably gone. And well, the Great

00:17:31.569 --> 00:17:34.170
Flemington Fair, you know, Morris used to play

00:17:34.170 --> 00:17:37.250
total. Oh, you know what? I used to go over there

00:17:37.250 --> 00:17:41.390
with with Bob's food joint and that wasn't it

00:17:41.390 --> 00:17:43.809
wasn't a shopping center, wasn't it? Yeah, it

00:17:43.809 --> 00:17:46.529
was like I was right on for what's the name of

00:17:46.529 --> 00:17:52.599
that road? I can't even think. 208 was not 208

00:17:52.599 --> 00:17:56.000
or is it? That sounds familiar. Honestly, I had

00:17:56.000 --> 00:17:58.019
a stroke about two years ago, so my memory's

00:17:58.019 --> 00:18:02.019
just like a little like... That sounds about

00:18:02.019 --> 00:18:04.660
right. I'm fine, it's just my memory's a little

00:18:04.660 --> 00:18:07.160
cloudy. And maybe that's, you know, maybe that's

00:18:07.160 --> 00:18:10.400
for the best. All our memories are cloudy. I

00:18:10.400 --> 00:18:12.059
know mine are. Let's try to remember some things.

00:18:12.819 --> 00:18:16.299
Yeah. But yeah, I haven't had a lot of good times

00:18:16.299 --> 00:18:18.220
over there. And then I decided I wanted to come

00:18:18.220 --> 00:18:24.079
home. So I came out here. And we did. What was

00:18:24.079 --> 00:18:25.720
the intent when you went out there? Sam Johnson

00:18:25.720 --> 00:18:31.920
found you or were you? No, I mean, when we left

00:18:31.920 --> 00:18:34.519
Amusements of America, I was working for for

00:18:34.519 --> 00:18:37.680
Bob and Patty Goloski. OK, I ran your game and

00:18:37.680 --> 00:18:39.599
food operation and we went to Murphy Brothers.

00:18:40.329 --> 00:18:42.829
and I started framing my own joints out and I

00:18:42.829 --> 00:18:46.390
did about 18 months there. And you left broke.

00:18:47.069 --> 00:18:50.369
Oh, it is it is embarrassing. By the time I got

00:18:50.369 --> 00:18:53.630
to California, I couldn't charge a friggin dollar

00:18:53.630 --> 00:18:56.230
on my Discover card to rent a Blockbuster video.

00:18:56.829 --> 00:18:59.809
That's a comedy. So many people went out with

00:18:59.809 --> 00:19:01.349
Murphy, especially concessionaires, and then

00:19:01.349 --> 00:19:03.150
they were broke at the end. You know what? I'm

00:19:03.150 --> 00:19:04.710
sure a lot of people made a lot of money there,

00:19:04.710 --> 00:19:08.069
too. But I had the biggest day I've ever had

00:19:08.069 --> 00:19:11.940
in the business. in Milwaukee, the first Saturday

00:19:11.940 --> 00:19:13.839
in Milwaukee, the biggest day. And this is like

00:19:13.839 --> 00:19:17.859
1990 money. Like with, I don't know, six games

00:19:17.859 --> 00:19:20.880
and a food, a grab joint. I think I had like

00:19:20.880 --> 00:19:23.759
$100 ,000 a day. I'd never seen money like that.

00:19:23.819 --> 00:19:26.779
Geez. And then we won. You play the route. You

00:19:26.779 --> 00:19:28.339
give a little back the next week, a little back,

00:19:28.380 --> 00:19:29.799
a little. By the time you get to the end of the

00:19:29.799 --> 00:19:35.059
season, you're like WTF. I would I do wrong?

00:19:35.220 --> 00:19:36.980
So then you go back out there the second season

00:19:36.980 --> 00:19:40.420
and I got to about June. I'm like, I get it.

00:19:40.779 --> 00:19:45.180
I'm out. I left. So that's a problem with those

00:19:45.180 --> 00:19:48.359
big routes that where you have just those big

00:19:48.359 --> 00:19:51.380
anchors and everything else is tough. You know,

00:19:51.460 --> 00:19:54.700
it's like it's like babe was more of a steady

00:19:54.700 --> 00:19:56.220
route, right? You get a little bit of money every

00:19:56.220 --> 00:19:58.819
single week. And that's correct. But some of

00:19:58.819 --> 00:20:00.869
those big shows, sometimes they would. you know

00:20:00.869 --> 00:20:02.710
they played the whole route around three or four

00:20:02.710 --> 00:20:05.509
spots and the rest was just you know hanging

00:20:05.509 --> 00:20:09.009
on by your by the your nails absolutely and the

00:20:09.009 --> 00:20:11.150
cost and my god every time you got behind the

00:20:11.150 --> 00:20:14.549
wheel it was 700 miles that's true there's no

00:20:14.549 --> 00:20:16.210
way there's no way you could play a route like

00:20:16.210 --> 00:20:17.410
that today i don't know how you would afford

00:20:17.410 --> 00:20:20.950
you could afford it um especially for me out

00:20:20.950 --> 00:20:22.789
here we'll look around our diesels like you know

00:20:22.789 --> 00:20:26.450
five bucks five and a quarter It's very, very

00:20:26.450 --> 00:20:29.089
expensive to move and we have, I don't know,

00:20:29.210 --> 00:20:32.569
50 rides. That's a lot of loads every week to

00:20:32.569 --> 00:20:39.150
coordinate. So it's anyway, so. California and

00:20:39.150 --> 00:20:41.910
what was the, what was your plan to go to California?

00:20:41.930 --> 00:20:44.019
Do you already have? A contact, did you have

00:20:44.019 --> 00:20:47.660
a proposition or? No, I ended up, I know it's

00:20:47.660 --> 00:20:49.259
kind of weird. I ended up with a job. I was trying

00:20:49.259 --> 00:20:51.539
to put together a proposition and somebody introduced

00:20:51.539 --> 00:20:54.519
me to Sam and I knew Sam. It was a small show

00:20:54.519 --> 00:20:57.539
back then. I think it was 18 rides. Did he have

00:20:57.539 --> 00:21:00.119
the park then too or not yet? He had a couple

00:21:00.119 --> 00:21:02.960
of parks. So this was just kind of like one of

00:21:02.960 --> 00:21:06.160
the, one of the operations he had and a good

00:21:06.160 --> 00:21:08.500
businessman. He's a good guy. He was supposed

00:21:08.500 --> 00:21:10.339
to be on it actually two weeks ago, but he had

00:21:10.339 --> 00:21:12.549
a He had like a doctor's appointment conflict

00:21:12.549 --> 00:21:14.789
at the last minute. So he couldn't, but uh, he's

00:21:14.789 --> 00:21:17.589
a great guy. He's like, oh, he's a great guy.

00:21:17.710 --> 00:21:20.750
Just very honorable man. Always, always kept

00:21:20.750 --> 00:21:23.609
his word. Like just very honorable guy, a good,

00:21:23.650 --> 00:21:26.190
a good mentor for sure. Yeah. He was always very

00:21:26.190 --> 00:21:28.329
nice to me when I was younger or like, uh, I

00:21:28.329 --> 00:21:29.569
was helping out doing something with the O A

00:21:29.569 --> 00:21:31.509
B A and he'd always, you know, seek me out and

00:21:31.509 --> 00:21:34.170
talk to me and, you know, give me a little advice

00:21:34.170 --> 00:21:36.230
and talk about some things. And they, I always

00:21:36.230 --> 00:21:41.349
found him really, really nice guy. We were introduced

00:21:41.349 --> 00:21:43.069
and we were trying to put a deal together and

00:21:43.069 --> 00:21:45.309
we couldn't we couldn't put the deal together

00:21:45.309 --> 00:21:47.150
but I pestered the hell out of him because I

00:21:47.150 --> 00:21:49.450
wanted to come back home and he and he said why

00:21:49.450 --> 00:21:52.230
don't you just come run my office for me and

00:21:52.230 --> 00:21:53.990
I'm like okay but I got a couple of joints I'm

00:21:53.990 --> 00:21:55.349
going to bring and he was okay so I got my foot

00:21:55.349 --> 00:21:59.609
in the door and we hit it off pretty good and

00:21:59.609 --> 00:22:02.349
uh probably by the end of the first year he gave

00:22:02.349 --> 00:22:06.210
me the unit to run and it kind of it kind of

00:22:06.210 --> 00:22:07.910
went like that and he's like man you ever think

00:22:07.910 --> 00:22:16.829
about it on the carnival I'm like no Well, we

00:22:16.829 --> 00:22:18.910
talked about it. I worked for him for about 10

00:22:18.910 --> 00:22:20.630
years before I bought it. So we had a lot of

00:22:20.630 --> 00:22:24.269
conversations about it. And did that appeal to

00:22:24.269 --> 00:22:26.210
you? And was that ever on your radar to own a

00:22:26.210 --> 00:22:29.170
show? Or is that just? Oh, oh, yeah, honestly,

00:22:29.630 --> 00:22:32.450
here's here's a here's a goofy story. When we

00:22:32.450 --> 00:22:34.309
immigrated, I say immigrated because we came

00:22:34.309 --> 00:22:37.329
from the DC area when we immigrated to California

00:22:37.329 --> 00:22:43.190
in I think we moved finally to Stave in 68. So

00:22:43.190 --> 00:22:46.609
our first year we moved out here, we, as a family,

00:22:46.630 --> 00:22:48.029
I was a little kid, I think I was like seven,

00:22:48.410 --> 00:22:50.910
we went to the boardwalk in Santa Cruz. I don't

00:22:50.910 --> 00:22:53.130
know if you've ever been there or not. It's very

00:22:53.130 --> 00:22:55.670
cool. And they've got a carousel there and the

00:22:55.670 --> 00:22:57.390
carousel's got like the little ring machine.

00:22:57.930 --> 00:23:00.950
Oh yeah. Okay, so we're riding the carousel and

00:23:00.950 --> 00:23:08.119
I get the brass one. And I was enchanted. And

00:23:08.119 --> 00:23:10.079
I said, I want to own this. This is what I want

00:23:10.079 --> 00:23:13.180
to do. I want to own the boardwalk. So when I

00:23:13.180 --> 00:23:15.039
was a little kid, I knew I wanted to own the

00:23:15.039 --> 00:23:17.559
boardwalk. I never owned the boardwalk, but I'm

00:23:17.559 --> 00:23:19.440
close. But it's funny because I'm sitting in

00:23:19.440 --> 00:23:26.039
my home office. I never surrendered it for the

00:23:26.039 --> 00:23:29.519
free ride. I kept it. No way. Yeah. I named my

00:23:29.519 --> 00:23:34.740
company after it. Fraspering Amusements. Yeah.

00:23:34.740 --> 00:23:38.329
There you have it, folks. It all comes together.

00:23:39.509 --> 00:23:41.650
That's uh it's weird right but I mean then looking

00:23:41.650 --> 00:23:43.630
later I found it a box I'm like oh yeah I remember

00:23:43.630 --> 00:23:48.150
this. Yeah I'm fascinated with those little summer

00:23:48.150 --> 00:23:51.269
well not summer in California maybe but those

00:23:51.269 --> 00:23:52.829
beat you know New Jersey's get a bunch of them

00:23:52.829 --> 00:23:55.650
or whatever. Oh yeah. Here are the ocean ones

00:23:55.650 --> 00:23:58.609
there's one by me I live in Virginia uh one by

00:23:58.609 --> 00:24:01.589
me and uh or used to be in uh Nags Head, North

00:24:01.589 --> 00:24:04.619
Carolina. those you know I don't know I just

00:24:04.619 --> 00:24:07.539
I guess I have memories of going to like Fantasy

00:24:07.539 --> 00:24:10.359
Island at Long Beach Island when I was a kid

00:24:10.359 --> 00:24:12.680
but that such a cool business you know and you're

00:24:12.680 --> 00:24:15.099
only open a few months right all the money in

00:24:15.099 --> 00:24:17.880
a few months and have a great time for the summer

00:24:17.880 --> 00:24:22.119
and I don't know they always they always uh intrigued

00:24:22.119 --> 00:24:25.500
me a lot you know the vibe the vibe in those

00:24:25.500 --> 00:24:28.180
places before we immigrated to California we

00:24:28.180 --> 00:24:31.190
spent many summers, not the whole summer, but,

00:24:31.250 --> 00:24:34.089
you know, down in Ocean City, Maryland. Oh, yeah.

00:24:34.109 --> 00:24:36.769
OK. I remember I was a little kid. My dad took

00:24:36.769 --> 00:24:38.630
me on that dark ride they have down there. I

00:24:38.630 --> 00:24:40.829
think it's called the Haunted Mansion or Haunted

00:24:40.829 --> 00:24:43.130
House. Something simple. I don't think it's one

00:24:43.130 --> 00:24:46.430
of Trimper's. I think it's somebody else's. And.

00:24:50.309 --> 00:24:55.309
So we're about. Well, my boys were about seven

00:24:55.309 --> 00:24:57.930
and nine. um I took them to Ocean City and took

00:24:57.930 --> 00:24:59.430
them in that dark ride scared the crap out of

00:24:59.430 --> 00:25:03.869
them so legacy it's a great dark ride it's a

00:25:03.869 --> 00:25:06.230
great dark ride and we went to Tony's for pizza

00:25:06.230 --> 00:25:09.150
because you know that's what you do Maryland

00:25:09.150 --> 00:25:13.529
yeah that's really neat there's yeah so many

00:25:13.529 --> 00:25:15.170
cool places like that on the east coast with

00:25:15.170 --> 00:25:18.970
the with the piers and whatnot, but California's

00:25:18.970 --> 00:25:20.769
got a lot of them too. California's got a lot

00:25:20.769 --> 00:25:22.230
of them too. California's got a lot of them too.

00:25:23.490 --> 00:25:27.970
California's got a lot of them too. California's

00:25:27.970 --> 00:25:29.470
got a lot of them too. California's got a lot

00:25:29.470 --> 00:25:30.450
of them too. California's got a lot of them too.

00:25:30.450 --> 00:25:32.309
California's got a lot of them too. California's

00:25:32.309 --> 00:25:37.509
got a lot of them too. California's got a lot

00:25:37.509 --> 00:25:42.910
of them too. California's got a lot of them too.

00:25:42.329 --> 00:25:44.529
Having worked on the East Coast, going to school

00:25:44.529 --> 00:25:47.049
back there, and worked on the West Coast, the

00:25:47.049 --> 00:25:49.029
East Coast has the West Coast beat hands down

00:25:49.029 --> 00:25:53.829
on food. Oh, really? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. There's

00:25:53.829 --> 00:25:56.069
some bougie stuff out here, but just everyday

00:25:56.069 --> 00:25:58.970
food. East Coast is so much better. Just so much

00:25:58.970 --> 00:26:01.869
better. You know, I used to go with Marty Garen

00:26:01.869 --> 00:26:03.329
a couple of times because he's looking to run

00:26:03.329 --> 00:26:07.250
a fair out in California. Marty? No kidding.

00:26:07.660 --> 00:26:10.339
He was kind of like a foodie. I ran the office

00:26:10.339 --> 00:26:11.759
of the Meadowlands a couple years, the ticket

00:26:11.759 --> 00:26:16.380
office, when I got a little older. But yeah,

00:26:16.400 --> 00:26:18.039
we went out there because we were looking at,

00:26:19.059 --> 00:26:22.339
where were we looking at? I think it was a Rose

00:26:22.339 --> 00:26:24.160
Bowl. We were looking at doing something there.

00:26:25.359 --> 00:26:27.079
I think it was a Rose Bowl. We were looking at

00:26:27.079 --> 00:26:32.680
doing a fair there. And then we went to some

00:26:32.680 --> 00:26:35.299
kind of diners, like a deli, like a New York

00:26:35.299 --> 00:26:38.009
deli. but marty would remark that like the food

00:26:38.009 --> 00:26:40.309
is like it's like they're pretending to be new

00:26:40.309 --> 00:26:42.470
york food but not really new york food i'd say

00:26:42.470 --> 00:26:46.549
that's ron that's a truth it's like styrofoam

00:26:46.549 --> 00:26:50.009
like you know it's just get close you know whatever

00:26:50.009 --> 00:26:52.250
there's a couple restaurants in san francisco

00:26:52.250 --> 00:26:53.990
if you know you got four or five hundred to blow

00:26:53.990 --> 00:26:56.829
for dinner for two and not worry about your car

00:26:56.829 --> 00:27:00.049
being on blocks when you come out you know uh

00:27:00.049 --> 00:27:01.609
the east coast has got us hammered when it comes

00:27:01.609 --> 00:27:05.599
to food that's I think it's all the ethnicity

00:27:05.599 --> 00:27:08.200
in that, you know, where people come from, whether

00:27:08.200 --> 00:27:10.519
it's a Jewish deli or an Italian restaurant or

00:27:10.519 --> 00:27:14.519
all those things. Yeah, there's no Jewish delis

00:27:14.519 --> 00:27:17.420
here. I have to wait till I get to New York City

00:27:17.420 --> 00:27:20.000
or South Florida, if you want to Kinesh or a

00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:24.900
decent, you know. Oh, yeah, that's it. That's

00:27:24.900 --> 00:27:27.059
your mouth waters. We don't even have Waffle

00:27:27.059 --> 00:27:28.500
House. And I'm not talking about that's like

00:27:28.500 --> 00:27:31.299
a fine Epicurean meal, but it sounds like we

00:27:31.299 --> 00:27:33.359
don't even have Waffle House. But you do have

00:27:33.359 --> 00:27:39.579
an In -N -Out burger? We do. There's that. It's

00:27:39.579 --> 00:27:41.740
pretty good, but you can't eat that every day.

00:27:42.140 --> 00:27:45.700
Yeah. From East Coast, we love going over there

00:27:45.700 --> 00:27:47.319
and eating the In -N -Out burger once in a while.

00:27:47.720 --> 00:27:49.579
Right, right, right. Yeah. There's one around

00:27:49.579 --> 00:27:51.640
the corner for me, actually. I probably have

00:27:51.640 --> 00:27:53.599
three or four minutes in the house. Although

00:27:53.599 --> 00:27:55.059
in New Jersey, we have White and Hanna, which

00:27:55.059 --> 00:27:56.539
is awesome. I don't know if you've ever been

00:27:56.539 --> 00:27:58.799
there. Probably not. From the Middle Lands. What's

00:27:58.799 --> 00:28:01.359
it called? White Manna, it's a little tiny diner

00:28:01.359 --> 00:28:04.680
with like a U -shaped grill and they do, I guess

00:28:04.680 --> 00:28:06.559
what they call smash burgers now, but they were

00:28:06.559 --> 00:28:09.380
always doing them with onions. Little tiny place,

00:28:09.460 --> 00:28:11.019
you go in this line out the door, you go in,

00:28:11.099 --> 00:28:12.960
you're like, I've left three, I'll have four

00:28:12.960 --> 00:28:16.220
with onions. Oh yeah, kind of like the little

00:28:16.220 --> 00:28:19.420
taverns were around Baltimore. Yeah, this is,

00:28:19.559 --> 00:28:22.160
I mean it's been around for forever. We used

00:28:22.160 --> 00:28:24.759
to run away, we had high school at lunch sometimes,

00:28:24.779 --> 00:28:26.400
we had enough time, we'd run there and get a

00:28:26.400 --> 00:28:29.099
burger and run back. in between the place, but

00:28:29.099 --> 00:28:30.880
it's still fun to go. I bring my kids once in

00:28:30.880 --> 00:28:33.619
a while or somebody hasn't been a while. So there's

00:28:33.619 --> 00:28:36.759
some great place to Jersey. The diners that you

00:28:36.759 --> 00:28:38.680
got, the diners you guys have are amazing. The

00:28:38.680 --> 00:28:41.059
one in Flemington there at the traffic circle.

00:28:41.059 --> 00:28:45.140
Yeah. Flemington. Flemington. We don't have anything

00:28:45.140 --> 00:28:47.759
like that. Marty used to have, you talk about

00:28:47.759 --> 00:28:50.799
Marty Garen, he used to have an approved restaurant

00:28:50.799 --> 00:28:53.859
list like me and Mark and Joey Fowler or whoever's

00:28:53.859 --> 00:28:57.220
working. Cause you know, he'd go to a place like

00:28:57.689 --> 00:29:00.589
loyally, I mean like crazy loyally, but then

00:29:00.589 --> 00:29:02.670
like he'd go like one time I would say it'd be

00:29:02.670 --> 00:29:05.029
a Saturday and he'd go to be going to a show

00:29:05.029 --> 00:29:07.589
or doing something and he tried to get in and

00:29:07.589 --> 00:29:09.490
They'd have room for him or something and he

00:29:09.490 --> 00:29:12.630
would take great offense at this and he would

00:29:12.630 --> 00:29:15.269
blacklist them and he'd be like you can't go

00:29:15.269 --> 00:29:18.150
to Jerry's he has the place he used to go to

00:29:18.150 --> 00:29:21.849
all time Jerry's and Mark would go let's go to

00:29:21.849 --> 00:29:23.750
Jerry's. I said your dad will kill us. He's like

00:29:23.750 --> 00:29:25.569
we won't tell him we'll just go to Jerry's and

00:29:25.559 --> 00:29:28.359
and eat there, but he used to get mad at places

00:29:28.359 --> 00:29:30.019
and he'd approve them and not approve them, don't

00:29:30.019 --> 00:29:32.259
go there, go there, but he knew where to go.

00:29:32.279 --> 00:29:34.900
He was definitely good at food. He knew the best

00:29:34.900 --> 00:29:37.380
places and how to run them. He was a neat guy.

00:29:39.319 --> 00:29:43.700
So when you took over, what was the, we're going

00:29:43.700 --> 00:29:50.339
to talk about you some too, I think. When you

00:29:50.339 --> 00:29:53.519
were taking over Sam, how big was the show? When

00:29:53.519 --> 00:29:59.829
I bought the show, we were 24 rides, but nine

00:29:59.829 --> 00:30:02.069
of them I already owned. I started buying equipment

00:30:02.069 --> 00:30:05.509
almost immediately when I got here. And so I

00:30:05.509 --> 00:30:07.089
think I already own nine of them. So I think

00:30:07.089 --> 00:30:09.369
I bought like 14 rides from him and the name

00:30:09.369 --> 00:30:13.470
as it were. And then, right. And then decided

00:30:13.470 --> 00:30:16.109
to start building from there. And I had some

00:30:16.109 --> 00:30:18.549
delusions of what I wanted to do. Made a ton

00:30:18.549 --> 00:30:22.490
of mistakes. Carnival owning is not for the meek.

00:30:23.150 --> 00:30:28.759
I don't recommend it. One star. The first the

00:30:28.759 --> 00:30:32.259
first years are tough man, it's tough Get your

00:30:32.259 --> 00:30:33.960
hand around even if you even if you're a show

00:30:33.960 --> 00:30:36.920
manager and you have the nuts and bolts and mechanics

00:30:36.920 --> 00:30:40.440
Metaphorically speaking on you know booking and

00:30:40.440 --> 00:30:42.980
it's just different owning. It's just a different

00:30:42.980 --> 00:30:46.180
It's a different kind of base and I hated my

00:30:46.180 --> 00:30:48.140
phone because whenever it rang it was always

00:30:48.140 --> 00:30:50.079
bad news It was never anything good. It was like

00:30:50.079 --> 00:30:53.400
somebody's calling with the problem Nobody ever

00:30:53.400 --> 00:30:56.180
calls you. Hey, how are you? I made it safely.

00:30:56.359 --> 00:31:00.619
It's no problem. I'm here. Right. I need money.

00:31:00.720 --> 00:31:03.500
I need money. It's something. It's it's a lot.

00:31:03.599 --> 00:31:05.200
Eventually, you know, you wrangle the beast and

00:31:05.200 --> 00:31:07.779
you get it under control and it's okay. And it

00:31:07.779 --> 00:31:10.559
took it took a bit of time, probably at least

00:31:10.559 --> 00:31:12.859
a handful of years to figure it out. And I used

00:31:12.859 --> 00:31:15.779
to call Sam and call him names. I mean, ingest

00:31:15.779 --> 00:31:18.259
but I did because, you know, we didn't share

00:31:18.259 --> 00:31:19.920
that with me. He's like, No, that's the fun.

00:31:19.980 --> 00:31:23.420
This is the prestige of owning a carnival. And

00:31:23.420 --> 00:31:26.279
you had a relatively smooth transition in a way

00:31:26.279 --> 00:31:28.480
because you were already kind of running it,

00:31:28.500 --> 00:31:30.920
you know, so it wasn't like it was a whole new

00:31:30.920 --> 00:31:34.160
mystery to you. No, and it was still very difficult.

00:31:34.299 --> 00:31:37.680
There was stuff that I hadn't thought about it.

00:31:37.900 --> 00:31:40.519
Stuff you don't think about. When you're the

00:31:40.519 --> 00:31:43.019
manager of the show at the end of the day, you

00:31:43.019 --> 00:31:44.480
can always call the owner and say, hey, you got

00:31:44.480 --> 00:31:48.880
a problem. Just tap out, whatever. Yeah. And

00:31:48.880 --> 00:31:51.619
there was nobody to call anymore to pass the

00:31:51.619 --> 00:31:54.710
buck. to whatever whatever whatever was going

00:31:54.710 --> 00:31:58.329
on and um sam's biggest i think his biggest reason

00:31:58.329 --> 00:32:00.210
for getting out was a regulatory environment

00:32:00.210 --> 00:32:02.910
you know he'd been there and he's just like none

00:32:02.910 --> 00:32:04.950
of this makes any sense to me um i can't even

00:32:04.950 --> 00:32:07.609
deal with it and for me it was you know i was

00:32:07.609 --> 00:32:09.369
younger at the time i've been i've had the show

00:32:09.369 --> 00:32:13.569
now for i don't know like 25 years i guess has

00:32:13.569 --> 00:32:18.049
it been that long god almighty You're you know,

00:32:18.049 --> 00:32:20.109
it comes on in layers. So it doesn't bother you

00:32:20.109 --> 00:32:22.190
as much for him It seemed like a lot and he was

00:32:22.190 --> 00:32:25.470
just over it just regulatory thing that you talk

00:32:25.470 --> 00:32:28.289
about it So, you know, it's funny because I was

00:32:28.289 --> 00:32:29.910
looking up a little bit of stuff about you and

00:32:29.910 --> 00:32:32.549
I saw you actually ran into a problem too with

00:32:32.549 --> 00:32:36.230
with And it's been that I cannot figure out for

00:32:36.230 --> 00:32:39.990
the life of me What the problem is but it's like

00:32:39.990 --> 00:32:43.309
a national crisis is with gray water. I saw like

00:32:44.279 --> 00:32:46.519
a bunch of years back, you get some kind of fine

00:32:46.519 --> 00:32:49.019
for having some gray water go somewhere. But

00:32:49.019 --> 00:32:51.339
no one, health department, no one can explain

00:32:51.339 --> 00:32:53.740
to me what the problem is. I can wash my dog

00:32:53.740 --> 00:32:56.140
next to my trailer, go on the ground, a bird

00:32:56.140 --> 00:32:58.500
can poop on the trailer, but if I wash my hands

00:32:58.500 --> 00:33:00.980
and it went in a tank, it's toxic waste. It makes

00:33:00.980 --> 00:33:04.740
no sense. It's the craziest thing. I mean, what

00:33:04.740 --> 00:33:08.000
is the point? It's the effing internet. And everybody's

00:33:08.000 --> 00:33:11.420
an expert and all of the feigned outrage. Yeah,

00:33:11.460 --> 00:33:17.559
it's dishwater. It's incredible. We spend a small

00:33:17.559 --> 00:33:20.619
fortune every year in wastewater tanks and wastewater

00:33:20.619 --> 00:33:22.079
removal. And I'm not talking about toilet water.

00:33:22.140 --> 00:33:23.920
I'm talking about shower water. Right, right.

00:33:24.160 --> 00:33:26.799
It is a small. And you can literally shower outside

00:33:26.799 --> 00:33:29.099
and nobody would find you. It's a couple thousand

00:33:29.099 --> 00:33:32.380
dollars a week. We do or event or maybe more.

00:33:32.400 --> 00:33:34.140
It depends on where we are. And we play like,

00:33:34.140 --> 00:33:37.839
you know, 65, 70 events. It's a lot of money

00:33:37.839 --> 00:33:43.880
to. To do what? Right, it's absolutely insane.

00:33:44.539 --> 00:33:48.259
I mean, I told you, we had a house in Greenwood

00:33:48.259 --> 00:33:50.740
Lake, and when I was a kid, my grandma used to

00:33:50.740 --> 00:33:52.799
go, every morning, go swimming, and she'd have

00:33:52.799 --> 00:33:55.319
a bar of soap, you know, like in the rock by

00:33:55.319 --> 00:33:57.799
our little beach, and she would, you know, kind

00:33:57.799 --> 00:34:01.099
of soap up and go swimming, and that was her

00:34:01.099 --> 00:34:05.119
shower, whatever, I guess. But it just, it bothered,

00:34:05.380 --> 00:34:08.219
and when you, you know, obviously when I was,

00:34:08.400 --> 00:34:11.500
in charge of stuff, I didn't ask. But now I'm

00:34:11.500 --> 00:34:12.940
not afraid to ask because I got nothing to lose.

00:34:13.300 --> 00:34:15.300
So I just like, you know, ask one of these health

00:34:15.300 --> 00:34:16.800
inspectors like, well, I don't understand what's

00:34:16.800 --> 00:34:19.179
the problem. They can't explain it to you. They'll

00:34:19.179 --> 00:34:21.579
come up with some nonsense. And half the time

00:34:21.579 --> 00:34:23.260
they're confused between black water and gray

00:34:23.260 --> 00:34:24.940
water. They don't know the difference. That's

00:34:24.940 --> 00:34:27.639
a fact. I mean, they really don't. And they say,

00:34:27.840 --> 00:34:30.760
oh, you don't want, you know, human waste. I

00:34:30.760 --> 00:34:32.760
said, it's not human waste. You're talking about

00:34:32.760 --> 00:34:36.400
a shower or washing your hands or anything else.

00:34:37.210 --> 00:34:40.150
The act of going into a tank makes it toxic.

00:34:40.329 --> 00:34:42.070
It's it's the craziest thing. If it goes through

00:34:42.070 --> 00:34:44.050
some tubes and goes in the tank, it's deadly.

00:34:44.289 --> 00:34:46.829
If you just pour water on yourself outside or

00:34:46.829 --> 00:34:49.570
if it rains or whatever else, it's fine. No problem.

00:34:50.630 --> 00:34:54.329
It's the most. It's ridiculous. And for when

00:34:54.329 --> 00:34:56.409
you travel the East Coast and you go from state

00:34:56.409 --> 00:34:58.309
to state, there's going to be a little variance

00:34:58.309 --> 00:35:01.349
in the rules, correct? Sure. There's 84 counties

00:35:01.349 --> 00:35:03.670
in California. And I swear to God, your health

00:35:03.670 --> 00:35:05.349
inspector will not tell you the same thing. We

00:35:05.349 --> 00:35:08.750
get a health inspection. every single week, because

00:35:08.750 --> 00:35:11.670
we move counties every week. And you can't get

00:35:11.670 --> 00:35:15.010
the same answer for the same thing. I mean, 25

00:35:15.010 --> 00:35:16.829
years ago, it was like scooping or scoop out

00:35:16.829 --> 00:35:18.650
of the ice, which was like the dilemma. Well,

00:35:18.730 --> 00:35:22.449
we prefer to do it, you know, here. It's Jesus.

00:35:23.090 --> 00:35:25.789
It's crazy. My question is, what have they done?

00:35:26.050 --> 00:35:29.610
I mean, what has it done? Are people dying less?

00:35:29.829 --> 00:35:33.110
Are there less? I would I would venture to say

00:35:33.110 --> 00:35:34.630
there's probably no difference, but there's a

00:35:34.630 --> 00:35:38.780
lot of regulation. But There's no difference.

00:35:40.099 --> 00:35:42.900
I don't ever remember anybody getting food poisoning

00:35:42.900 --> 00:35:45.599
from a corn dog in the 49 years I've been doing

00:35:45.599 --> 00:35:49.059
this. Right. But my cousin was like an alarmist

00:35:49.059 --> 00:35:52.500
there. He's a musician. So he worries about all

00:35:52.500 --> 00:35:55.280
these crazy things. He's telling me about hamburgers

00:35:55.280 --> 00:35:57.460
had to be cooked to a certain temperature. You

00:35:57.460 --> 00:35:59.559
could die and blah, blah, blah. So we were at

00:35:59.559 --> 00:36:01.380
this place and I had the waitress. I was like,

00:36:01.440 --> 00:36:02.840
have you had a lot of people dropped in from

00:36:02.840 --> 00:36:05.039
eating hamburgers here that are, you know, she

00:36:05.039 --> 00:36:06.480
laughs. She's like, no, what are you talking

00:36:06.480 --> 00:36:08.179
about? He's like, oh, you're being ridiculous.

00:36:08.280 --> 00:36:09.679
I said, I'm not. If somebody should know, it

00:36:09.679 --> 00:36:11.099
should be the waitress at the hamburger place

00:36:11.099 --> 00:36:14.039
that, you know, they're really asking you how

00:36:14.039 --> 00:36:16.099
you want them cooked. Well, I'd like my medium.

00:36:16.480 --> 00:36:18.420
Well, it's not going to be 160 in the middle

00:36:18.420 --> 00:36:22.800
if you cook it medium. Okay. Right. I mean, because

00:36:22.800 --> 00:36:24.519
you can, you can do that. You got to, you know,

00:36:24.860 --> 00:36:26.780
a good hamburger joint. They'll ask how you want

00:36:26.780 --> 00:36:28.900
it. especially cat burgers. It's my chicken.

00:36:29.820 --> 00:36:33.179
I was talking to like Avery Wheelock and some

00:36:33.179 --> 00:36:36.119
inspection people and you know I don't know how

00:36:36.119 --> 00:36:39.260
you do it exactly but I would be fascinated to

00:36:39.260 --> 00:36:43.699
do an article or a story on the difference in

00:36:43.699 --> 00:36:47.019
inspections carnival ride inspections right with

00:36:47.019 --> 00:36:49.960
by state because some states don't have an inspection

00:36:49.960 --> 00:36:52.460
some states you get inspected every week some

00:36:52.460 --> 00:36:54.619
states you get inspected once a month but is

00:36:54.619 --> 00:36:57.519
there really a difference, a measurable difference

00:36:57.519 --> 00:37:01.139
in safety and accidents that occur. You want

00:37:01.139 --> 00:37:04.460
my opinion? Yes. Yes, sure. There is a difference.

00:37:05.019 --> 00:37:08.000
Okay. Absolutely. We have, honestly, we have

00:37:08.000 --> 00:37:12.500
a lot of regulations. We don't get as many inspections

00:37:12.500 --> 00:37:14.079
here in California, like we don't get inspected

00:37:14.079 --> 00:37:18.219
every week. You get probably four, five a year.

00:37:18.960 --> 00:37:21.500
The first one you schedule for your permit and

00:37:21.500 --> 00:37:23.840
the ones that follow ups after that are what

00:37:23.840 --> 00:37:28.960
they call unannounced. But the requirements we

00:37:28.960 --> 00:37:30.719
put together and the way we have to do our training

00:37:30.719 --> 00:37:32.219
and our maintenance and all like that, I'm telling

00:37:32.219 --> 00:37:34.300
you right now, it's made us better operators.

00:37:34.820 --> 00:37:37.119
Full stop, I don't mind the extra set of eyes.

00:37:37.199 --> 00:37:40.159
I don't mind the regulation as long as you don't

00:37:40.159 --> 00:37:44.639
have a guy coming in like the Gestapo. We don't

00:37:44.639 --> 00:37:47.000
have my company, we don't have an adversarial

00:37:47.000 --> 00:37:49.980
relationship with any of the regulatory agencies,

00:37:50.159 --> 00:37:51.519
especially when it comes to ride safety and stuff.

00:37:52.019 --> 00:37:56.460
We don't. I know it's different other places,

00:37:56.460 --> 00:37:59.639
but it's it's OK here. We have a lot of rules

00:37:59.639 --> 00:38:02.739
and it's kind of I'm kind of OK with it. It makes

00:38:02.739 --> 00:38:05.280
sense. We it didn't used to be OK out here. We

00:38:05.280 --> 00:38:07.260
used to have a lot of problems with them out

00:38:07.260 --> 00:38:10.599
here. But a bitch got on her broom and flew off

00:38:10.599 --> 00:38:12.500
into the sunset. I'm not even kidding. I got

00:38:12.500 --> 00:38:15.639
nothing nice to say. And we got some more reasonable

00:38:15.639 --> 00:38:17.639
people that said, yeah, ASTM standards would

00:38:17.639 --> 00:38:20.659
be the one to follow. So we got because you would

00:38:20.659 --> 00:38:23.840
get different. requirements from different inspectors,

00:38:24.000 --> 00:38:25.539
which I assume that what you're talking about

00:38:25.539 --> 00:38:29.239
when you go jurisdiction to jurisdiction. I don't

00:38:29.239 --> 00:38:31.179
mind that part of the regulatory environment

00:38:31.179 --> 00:38:33.440
here at all. Extra set of eyes, it's worth it.

00:38:33.440 --> 00:38:36.480
I'm just talking numbers. Like, does California

00:38:36.480 --> 00:38:39.840
or another state that doesn't have an inspection

00:38:39.840 --> 00:38:44.960
have more incidents than a place like Florida

00:38:44.960 --> 00:38:47.940
where you get inspected every single week? or

00:38:47.940 --> 00:38:50.900
North Carolina or some other place. No, no, no.

00:38:51.360 --> 00:38:54.380
I think it's the same. We operate in Nevada.

00:38:54.460 --> 00:38:57.059
There's no inspection protocols in Nevada. It

00:38:57.059 --> 00:38:58.679
depends on where you go. If I go into the Reno

00:38:58.679 --> 00:39:00.800
market, they want to make sure I have California

00:39:00.800 --> 00:39:03.619
permits on my rides. Then you're good. Yeah,

00:39:03.739 --> 00:39:05.699
there's no inspections. Like New Jersey is going

00:39:05.699 --> 00:39:08.079
to be like, oh, this looks good. I'll just get

00:39:08.079 --> 00:39:10.980
on the ride. Now they have all these, it's crazy.

00:39:11.139 --> 00:39:12.780
It's mostly paperwork thing. It's not really

00:39:12.780 --> 00:39:15.239
an inspection. Well, New Jersey, didn't all that

00:39:15.239 --> 00:39:19.809
come from that fire? No, it was after that, because

00:39:19.809 --> 00:39:21.949
even in the early days of the metal lands, the

00:39:21.949 --> 00:39:23.510
inspection was not much, but then they made it

00:39:23.510 --> 00:39:27.289
where you had to provide plans. Oh yeah, then

00:39:27.289 --> 00:39:30.789
they get ridiculous. Oh yeah, we have some of

00:39:30.789 --> 00:39:33.030
that here. If you want to do permanent installs

00:39:33.030 --> 00:39:35.550
in California, don't, just don't, save your money.

00:39:35.789 --> 00:39:38.789
It's just forever, forever to get anything permanent

00:39:38.789 --> 00:39:42.809
done out here. Just ridiculous. But I guess what

00:39:42.809 --> 00:39:46.960
I'm saying more is the number of actual accidents,

00:39:47.219 --> 00:39:49.699
incidents where the ride breaks or something

00:39:49.699 --> 00:39:54.119
happens, it's infinitesimal. Most of the accidents

00:39:54.119 --> 00:39:56.480
that happen are some sort of patron error or

00:39:56.480 --> 00:39:59.860
something that goes on fooling around or doing

00:39:59.860 --> 00:40:03.019
something along that. Absolutely. So when you

00:40:03.019 --> 00:40:07.719
get close to zero, as far as failure rate on

00:40:07.719 --> 00:40:11.179
something like that, more inspection doesn't

00:40:11.179 --> 00:40:13.539
get you even closer to zero because there's still

00:40:13.539 --> 00:40:16.019
machines that could break. you know you could

00:40:16.019 --> 00:40:18.139
have a freak thing that happens but you know

00:40:18.139 --> 00:40:20.260
the focus is always seems to be on inspection

00:40:20.260 --> 00:40:23.659
and when it should be maybe the difference you

00:40:23.659 --> 00:40:24.860
could because when you look at them when you

00:40:24.860 --> 00:40:26.619
look at a budget and you say oh I need to save

00:40:26.619 --> 00:40:30.699
money you don't start at the at the thing that's

00:40:30.699 --> 00:40:33.260
cheapest or the lowest level thing or you start

00:40:33.260 --> 00:40:35.940
where you can save the most money right so if

00:40:35.940 --> 00:40:38.380
the biggest problem is is patron error in some

00:40:38.380 --> 00:40:40.800
way then we should be focusing on that instead

00:40:40.800 --> 00:40:43.380
of ending inspection where there's not that many

00:40:43.449 --> 00:40:47.690
accidents you know or really there's that yeah

00:40:47.690 --> 00:40:52.670
no i agree with you but for the inspections work

00:40:52.670 --> 00:40:54.989
for us the regulations work for us we have a

00:40:54.989 --> 00:40:58.250
lot of daily inspections and other stuff like

00:40:58.250 --> 00:41:00.170
grounds so there's a there's an inspection we

00:41:00.170 --> 00:41:02.789
do prior to opening there for trip hazards and

00:41:02.789 --> 00:41:05.510
all like that but more than anything i mean you

00:41:05.510 --> 00:41:07.489
want it safe it's not your interest in an incident

00:41:07.489 --> 00:41:10.050
and also we live in a very litigious society

00:41:10.050 --> 00:41:16.050
and and the inspectors Let me see if I can articulate

00:41:16.050 --> 00:41:18.809
something about sounding like an idiot. Sometimes

00:41:18.809 --> 00:41:23.409
I get confused. Like, it works. And California's

00:41:23.409 --> 00:41:25.429
got the response. The state of California, the

00:41:25.429 --> 00:41:28.789
fictitious corporation, has the responsibility

00:41:28.789 --> 00:41:30.949
to oversee portable amusement rides or permanent

00:41:30.949 --> 00:41:32.369
amusement rides or whatever it is. So they're

00:41:32.369 --> 00:41:33.670
going to come and they're going to do their part

00:41:33.670 --> 00:41:35.389
because, you know, they don't want to get sued.

00:41:35.630 --> 00:41:40.610
They don't want to look bad. So some of it is

00:41:40.610 --> 00:41:42.750
like, it's a little extra, you know what I mean?

00:41:43.529 --> 00:41:46.250
And from the industry side of it, nobody wants

00:41:46.250 --> 00:41:47.949
to have a problem. It's like an airline. Like

00:41:47.949 --> 00:41:49.369
the last thing you want to do is have a problem

00:41:49.369 --> 00:41:51.670
with one of your aircraft. It's bad for business.

00:41:52.210 --> 00:41:56.030
But I don't think some of the people on the regulatory

00:41:56.030 --> 00:41:58.190
side see it that way. It's always like an us

00:41:58.190 --> 00:42:03.670
and them. Yeah, no, it is. And we've got a good

00:42:03.670 --> 00:42:05.409
relationship. So it's not. But I mean, but in

00:42:05.409 --> 00:42:07.869
a lot, I've been around like when I was on Big

00:42:07.869 --> 00:42:09.750
A, that's when I remember when Dan Dudley first

00:42:09.750 --> 00:42:12.050
started doing inspections. Maryland. And they

00:42:12.050 --> 00:42:17.150
made a sandbag shit. Do you remember those days?

00:42:17.869 --> 00:42:21.409
And I remember going up to New Jersey or someplace.

00:42:21.869 --> 00:42:23.809
Bob, I was a sidekick. And we actually Jersey

00:42:23.809 --> 00:42:27.449
load tested to get to a hearing about this crazy

00:42:27.449 --> 00:42:30.369
idea was called non -destructive testing and

00:42:30.369 --> 00:42:32.909
tried to explain to these guys that, yeah, 250

00:42:32.909 --> 00:42:35.210
pounds of sand is not the same as a 250 pound

00:42:35.210 --> 00:42:37.969
person. But back in the early days, people didn't

00:42:37.969 --> 00:42:40.400
understand that. They were just like, no, it's

00:42:40.400 --> 00:42:43.000
250 pounds. No, there's a difference, you know,

00:42:43.000 --> 00:42:45.880
between being a person or a bag of sand or whatever.

00:42:45.900 --> 00:42:49.159
I remember that. What about North Carolina? They

00:42:49.159 --> 00:42:54.380
instituted what's called the 100 % law. So if

00:42:54.380 --> 00:42:58.199
a lap bar on a Himalaya is not good, in some

00:42:58.199 --> 00:43:00.280
places you could just rope off that seat, right?

00:43:00.340 --> 00:43:03.159
North Carolina, you can't do even a merry -go

00:43:03.159 --> 00:43:05.820
-round. One horse is down, can't run the ride,

00:43:05.920 --> 00:43:09.279
you know, and so, but then they take that. Well,

00:43:09.279 --> 00:43:13.519
I had like one of those, it was essentially a

00:43:13.519 --> 00:43:15.380
Raiders, but it was one of those, you know, Terry

00:43:15.380 --> 00:43:17.659
Curl built some rides. And there was a ball crawl

00:43:17.659 --> 00:43:22.239
in the middle. Well, these guys came and they

00:43:22.239 --> 00:43:25.400
said, and we were in Carthage, North Carolina

00:43:25.400 --> 00:43:27.760
or wherever we were. And they said, well, it's

00:43:27.760 --> 00:43:29.639
supposed to be a thousand balls. Well, three

00:43:29.639 --> 00:43:32.159
of them sat there and counted the balls. They

00:43:32.159 --> 00:43:36.780
were 856. I've almost let that fall out of my

00:43:36.780 --> 00:43:40.519
mouth. That is So I had to go get 144 balls.

00:43:40.920 --> 00:43:43.119
I went to every, like, Toys R Us, you know, with

00:43:43.119 --> 00:43:44.880
some stupid game that had 10 balls and I bought

00:43:44.880 --> 00:43:48.679
like 20 of them, threw them in there. But, you

00:43:48.679 --> 00:43:50.599
know, and then I had a Mulligan Searay one time.

00:43:51.099 --> 00:43:53.619
And thank God, Jonathan Brooks saved me because

00:43:53.619 --> 00:43:56.900
I called him. But, you know, their manual is

00:43:56.900 --> 00:43:59.119
like a picture book. Well, in the picture, they

00:43:59.119 --> 00:44:02.659
had the drive on the left side of the ride. Well,

00:44:02.699 --> 00:44:04.219
ours was on the right side of it because Mulligan,

00:44:04.239 --> 00:44:06.019
I think he just, you know, whatever. I don't

00:44:06.019 --> 00:44:08.360
know, whatever, something you did on the other

00:44:08.360 --> 00:44:11.019
side. So they're like, you have to move it. I

00:44:11.019 --> 00:44:13.500
said, are you kidding? Why? Yeah, they want me

00:44:13.500 --> 00:44:15.039
to move it from the right side to the left side,

00:44:15.139 --> 00:44:17.659
the left side, the right side. I said, I'm not

00:44:17.659 --> 00:44:20.059
qualified to do that. And are you going to write

00:44:20.059 --> 00:44:21.760
me in order to tell me I have to do that? So

00:44:21.760 --> 00:44:24.739
if something goes wrong, it's on you. And I wind

00:44:24.739 --> 00:44:26.579
up, and I got to Jonathan, who's the head at

00:44:26.579 --> 00:44:29.900
the time. And he said, no, that's crazy. But

00:44:29.900 --> 00:44:33.409
they busted our balls for it. a long time and

00:44:33.409 --> 00:44:35.389
you know, threaten not to open. And that's the

00:44:35.389 --> 00:44:37.889
kind of thing I say that's, you know, it's like,

00:44:38.210 --> 00:44:41.210
is doing that level of quote unquote inspection

00:44:41.210 --> 00:44:43.449
for safety or is it, what is it? You know, what

00:44:43.449 --> 00:44:45.730
is it? No, that's, no, that's, that's ridiculous.

00:44:45.730 --> 00:44:47.889
And some of these, uh, some of these guys have

00:44:47.889 --> 00:44:51.010
built like little fiefdoms, you know, and they're

00:44:51.010 --> 00:44:53.809
intoxicated. Thanks dog. They're intoxicated

00:44:53.809 --> 00:44:57.190
on their own, uh, their own self into Howard.

00:44:58.090 --> 00:45:01.070
Like you're supposed to bow down. But it has

00:45:01.070 --> 00:45:02.429
nothing to do with safety. It doesn't make it

00:45:02.429 --> 00:45:05.230
any safer or many less safe. It's just ridiculous.

00:45:05.429 --> 00:45:07.710
It's just over regulation. Over the years, I've

00:45:07.710 --> 00:45:10.929
been told some absolutely ridiculous things.

00:45:11.230 --> 00:45:14.389
Just ridiculous. In fact, we have an organization

00:45:14.389 --> 00:45:17.730
called CalPRO, which is the California Portable

00:45:17.730 --> 00:45:21.760
Ride Operators. At one time, the state told us

00:45:21.760 --> 00:45:23.820
we had to put seat belts in our gondola wheels.

00:45:24.579 --> 00:45:26.679
It stemmed from an incident, this is like 20

00:45:26.679 --> 00:45:29.559
years ago. So we banded together and we took

00:45:29.559 --> 00:45:32.239
them to task on that and we prevailed. It was

00:45:32.239 --> 00:45:36.739
ridiculous. So. Yeah, they're gonna keep them

00:45:36.739 --> 00:45:42.420
in there with a seat belt. So you went from just

00:45:42.420 --> 00:45:48.460
having a brass ring or a midway fun to what made

00:45:48.460 --> 00:45:53.840
you decide to get two carls the pandemic i always

00:45:53.840 --> 00:45:56.739
i actually always wanted to kind of branch out

00:45:56.739 --> 00:46:01.440
a little bit and um the pandemic was the opportunity

00:46:01.440 --> 00:46:03.639
my wife at the time she's like we've been talking

00:46:03.639 --> 00:46:05.219
about this for four years why don't you get off

00:46:05.219 --> 00:46:06.760
your ass and do something there's nothing going

00:46:06.760 --> 00:46:13.579
on here and i'm like okay okay so um i did and

00:46:13.579 --> 00:46:17.380
we put it together and we started uh Started

00:46:17.380 --> 00:46:19.599
out pretty strong, and it's kind of leveled out

00:46:19.599 --> 00:46:22.059
now. I decided we didn't want to go as far as

00:46:22.059 --> 00:46:24.659
Wyoming. We went out and played that Central

00:46:24.659 --> 00:46:26.880
Wyoming State Fair, whatever it is there in Casper,

00:46:26.880 --> 00:46:28.780
and it was great. But by the time we got home,

00:46:28.840 --> 00:46:30.579
we didn't make any money because it's too far.

00:46:31.340 --> 00:46:34.059
You learned that from Murphy. Well, you think

00:46:34.059 --> 00:46:37.699
I had to retain that, but I didn't. And, you

00:46:37.699 --> 00:46:39.940
know, I said, well, let's go try that. I'm not

00:46:39.940 --> 00:46:41.840
risk adverse, so we went and tried it, came back.

00:46:41.940 --> 00:46:43.980
I said, yeah, I'm not doing that again. It says,

00:46:43.980 --> 00:46:46.889
oh, it's only, you know, 900 and 10 miles and

00:46:46.889 --> 00:46:48.869
then drive it. And you're like, holy shit, that's

00:46:48.869 --> 00:46:52.170
a long way. And the people out there were super

00:46:52.170 --> 00:46:54.610
nice, great committee to work with. But I called

00:46:54.610 --> 00:46:56.349
him after the fair. I'm like, I just I can't

00:46:56.349 --> 00:46:59.550
make the math math on this. And and we know we

00:46:59.550 --> 00:47:01.650
parted ways amicably. We're fine. And we did

00:47:01.650 --> 00:47:03.710
some stuff in Utah and we still we're still going

00:47:03.710 --> 00:47:09.320
into Oregon and Idaho. It's hard to. the show

00:47:09.320 --> 00:47:11.079
basically is five years old. So, you know, it

00:47:11.079 --> 00:47:12.699
takes time to build a route. That's the hardest

00:47:12.699 --> 00:47:16.360
part, right? Is building the route. And so we

00:47:16.360 --> 00:47:19.380
got, we're probably 60 % on building the route

00:47:19.380 --> 00:47:24.239
out and, and do that and not go screw with somebody

00:47:24.239 --> 00:47:26.119
else. Cause I try really hard not to do that.

00:47:26.280 --> 00:47:28.559
I'll find my own events and find my own stuff.

00:47:29.000 --> 00:47:33.760
And, uh, so just kind of a, you know, it takes

00:47:33.760 --> 00:47:35.199
a little bit of time. I'm kind of having fun

00:47:35.199 --> 00:47:37.059
with it. It's fun to kind of mess with a new

00:47:37.059 --> 00:47:40.219
brand. and it's got a different array of equipment.

00:47:40.880 --> 00:47:43.380
And sometimes for fun, we put the two shows together

00:47:43.380 --> 00:47:48.840
and, ooh, yeah, it looks okay. I feel pretty

00:47:48.840 --> 00:47:51.280
good about that, you know. So you have to put

00:47:51.280 --> 00:47:54.960
both units together. Pardon me? You have to put

00:47:54.960 --> 00:47:58.340
both units together. Oh yeah, oh yeah. Or not

00:47:58.340 --> 00:48:00.440
like the boat's complete shows, like I'll pull

00:48:00.440 --> 00:48:01.860
10 rides out of there and we'll come in and play

00:48:01.860 --> 00:48:04.780
some of these. what we consider bigger dates

00:48:04.780 --> 00:48:07.739
for us. We're a medium -sized show. So I'll pull

00:48:07.739 --> 00:48:09.300
some equipment out of there to come play some

00:48:09.300 --> 00:48:12.039
of the bigger fairs we have. But once or twice,

00:48:12.099 --> 00:48:14.099
we put it all together. And it's a lot of stuff.

00:48:15.139 --> 00:48:17.940
I was talking at one of the shows I work with

00:48:17.940 --> 00:48:21.960
a lot and do some advertising for. And he has

00:48:21.960 --> 00:48:24.239
two pretty big units. And he said the other day,

00:48:24.340 --> 00:48:25.739
and I never really, I mean, I guess I realized

00:48:25.739 --> 00:48:28.019
it at some level, but he's never put both units

00:48:28.019 --> 00:48:30.199
together before. He was thinking about just setting

00:48:30.199 --> 00:48:31.699
up in a field and seeing what it looked like.

00:48:32.440 --> 00:48:34.599
Set the whole thing up because he probably has

00:48:34.599 --> 00:48:37.219
50 60 rides, you know between the two things

00:48:37.219 --> 00:48:41.699
exactly Never never come together like that.

00:48:41.699 --> 00:48:44.900
So it's it's interesting I'm gonna do that for

00:48:44.900 --> 00:48:48.199
an event that I have in my brain Like like it's

00:48:48.199 --> 00:48:49.780
stored in my head like okay I know what that's

00:48:49.780 --> 00:48:51.579
gonna look like and I think I know where I want

00:48:51.579 --> 00:48:53.920
to do it and how I want to do it so eventually

00:48:53.920 --> 00:48:56.840
I'll do that and For nothing else for fun. I

00:48:56.840 --> 00:48:58.260
think I could make money doing it too, but I

00:48:58.260 --> 00:49:00.510
think it'd be fun Although there might be some

00:49:00.510 --> 00:49:01.949
duplicates. Like, I don't know if we put both

00:49:01.949 --> 00:49:03.949
zippers next to each other, put both the big

00:49:03.949 --> 00:49:06.710
wheels next to each other, you know, like inventory.

00:49:06.809 --> 00:49:08.150
Yeah, there'd be some duplicates. All the rides

00:49:08.150 --> 00:49:09.730
that go up and down over here, the ones that

00:49:09.730 --> 00:49:13.369
go with yellow. I think a lot of shows, and you

00:49:13.369 --> 00:49:16.449
know, I was kind of, I've worked with a lot with

00:49:16.449 --> 00:49:18.710
Marty and then later with Brian Schuman, who

00:49:18.710 --> 00:49:21.130
had Fair Productions. You know, a lot of the

00:49:21.130 --> 00:49:24.800
independent private fairs, I've... ran or worked

00:49:24.800 --> 00:49:27.320
with over the years a lot of times. And, you

00:49:27.320 --> 00:49:30.300
know, when they were doing Name initially, I

00:49:30.300 --> 00:49:32.300
kept thinking like, you know, the carnival's

00:49:32.300 --> 00:49:34.639
great and it's great to combine, but they're

00:49:34.639 --> 00:49:37.760
still dependent upon the fairs. I thought all

00:49:37.760 --> 00:49:39.840
those, even if they're a medium -sized show,

00:49:39.920 --> 00:49:42.760
honestly, if you get the right people, you should,

00:49:43.019 --> 00:49:46.019
I think, I'm surprised more shows don't do this,

00:49:46.099 --> 00:49:48.480
except, you know, some of them are risk averse

00:49:48.480 --> 00:49:51.039
to, although they're, it's funny, because certain

00:49:51.039 --> 00:49:53.239
things, they're completely risk crazy. And other

00:49:53.239 --> 00:49:56.400
things are completely risk averse, but having

00:49:56.400 --> 00:49:59.179
someone that can run events and developing your

00:49:59.179 --> 00:50:02.440
own events, starting them from scratch, you know,

00:50:02.639 --> 00:50:04.920
because you've got long term then if you do that,

00:50:04.920 --> 00:50:07.340
you know, if you run your own event and do your

00:50:07.340 --> 00:50:09.639
own event, you're not dependent on the fair and,

00:50:09.639 --> 00:50:12.320
you know, their whims or a bid or whatever else,

00:50:12.360 --> 00:50:14.380
or you help build it up. And then next thing

00:50:14.380 --> 00:50:15.719
you know, there might be another carnival bidding

00:50:15.719 --> 00:50:17.500
on it, cost you more or you might lose it or

00:50:17.500 --> 00:50:19.920
whatever else that, you know, having an event

00:50:19.920 --> 00:50:22.880
arm. I think is almost essential and maybe for

00:50:22.880 --> 00:50:25.280
the future more people think about that. But

00:50:25.280 --> 00:50:28.860
really it's a pretty cost -effective way to solve

00:50:28.860 --> 00:50:31.300
a huge problem if you have the right people around

00:50:31.300 --> 00:50:34.460
you. Look what Davey Helm is doing. Yeah, he's

00:50:34.460 --> 00:50:36.440
doing a lot of that. I want to call him a kid

00:50:36.440 --> 00:50:38.539
because I'm older, but he's not really a kid.

00:50:38.800 --> 00:50:42.440
He's very smart, very sharp person, knows what's

00:50:42.440 --> 00:50:46.019
up. That's the future. I've talked to him quite

00:50:46.019 --> 00:50:48.570
a few times in... you know first thing you think

00:50:48.570 --> 00:50:50.750
he's crazy because he's talking so fast and saying

00:50:50.750 --> 00:50:53.130
all these crazy things but he seems to do what

00:50:53.130 --> 00:50:55.250
he you know he says he's uh he knows what he's

00:50:55.250 --> 00:50:57.750
doing he absolutely knows what he's doing he's

00:50:57.750 --> 00:50:59.309
like i'm gonna do this i'm gonna do that like

00:50:59.309 --> 00:51:01.710
okay for real is he really gonna do that but

00:51:01.710 --> 00:51:04.110
he is you know he's doing all that stuff and

00:51:04.110 --> 00:51:06.769
he talks about you know the you know like having

00:51:06.769 --> 00:51:09.809
a disney park and i think he does well at least

00:51:09.809 --> 00:51:12.599
what i read He does a lot of really neat things

00:51:12.599 --> 00:51:15.199
with the show and what he's doing. Very, very

00:51:15.199 --> 00:51:18.019
innovative. He's got he's got good ideas and

00:51:18.019 --> 00:51:21.199
young minds, fresh ideas, which is where I'm

00:51:21.199 --> 00:51:23.260
at in life. My sons have decided to join the

00:51:23.260 --> 00:51:27.880
business. Nice. They grew up around it, but I

00:51:27.880 --> 00:51:30.599
would I the first 10 years on in the show, like

00:51:30.599 --> 00:51:33.039
I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy. And I'm

00:51:33.039 --> 00:51:34.460
like you guys don't want to do this you don't

00:51:34.460 --> 00:51:36.059
want to do this and now it's like it doesn't

00:51:36.059 --> 00:51:38.260
suck once you got it and so they're out learning

00:51:38.260 --> 00:51:39.840
the business and soon as they're ready to go

00:51:39.840 --> 00:51:43.519
and they have great ideas. Because during their

00:51:43.519 --> 00:51:47.900
20s I'm in my 60s it's a huge difference when

00:51:47.900 --> 00:51:50.139
it comes to perspective so they got good ideas

00:51:50.139 --> 00:51:57.280
and good marketing ideas. There it is and that

00:51:57.280 --> 00:51:58.940
seems to be that might be the winning formula

00:51:58.940 --> 00:52:04.969
and so. Saving a few of the steps you've made

00:52:04.969 --> 00:52:08.469
over the years. It's funny, we were talking about

00:52:08.469 --> 00:52:10.269
that. I said, and this is great for you guys,

00:52:10.349 --> 00:52:12.369
because man, I've done all the hard work. Like

00:52:12.369 --> 00:52:16.210
the hard stuff's done. This is here. It's not

00:52:16.210 --> 00:52:19.010
great. It's not terrible. It's meh. It's OK.

00:52:19.110 --> 00:52:21.409
We're doing OK. You can take it from there to

00:52:21.409 --> 00:52:23.929
the next level. Easy peasy. You got a crew. You

00:52:23.929 --> 00:52:27.409
don't have to. Nope. Yeah, we got plenty of staff

00:52:27.409 --> 00:52:31.019
to make it happen. and some of these private

00:52:31.019 --> 00:52:32.739
events and stuff like that, I think that's the

00:52:32.739 --> 00:52:36.400
future. Having good people, Ronnie, is just so...

00:52:36.400 --> 00:52:39.619
Private events are really big. I'm going to be

00:52:39.619 --> 00:52:43.340
doing one soon with Wade's shows in a few weeks

00:52:43.340 --> 00:52:46.960
running one. But I love doing it. But the problem

00:52:46.960 --> 00:52:50.480
you run into sometimes with running an event

00:52:50.480 --> 00:52:54.699
as a carnival is everything is built around the

00:52:54.699 --> 00:52:57.599
carnival and the route. And it's not always the

00:52:57.599 --> 00:53:01.670
best environment for the event. In other words,

00:53:01.849 --> 00:53:04.389
you try to shoehorn something into a hole you

00:53:04.389 --> 00:53:07.210
have. That may not be the best time of year,

00:53:07.329 --> 00:53:10.010
it may not be the best facility, but if it's

00:53:10.010 --> 00:53:12.809
your route. You are 100 % correct. And you end

00:53:12.809 --> 00:53:15.769
up failing. Yeah. Because I did that a couple

00:53:15.769 --> 00:53:18.010
of years ago for somebody and it was, it was

00:53:18.010 --> 00:53:19.989
like the summer and it was like everything was

00:53:19.989 --> 00:53:22.590
played out already. And on one level I knew it

00:53:22.590 --> 00:53:25.130
was going to be, you know, not great. And it

00:53:25.130 --> 00:53:27.449
wasn't not great. It wasn't horrible. It was

00:53:27.449 --> 00:53:29.400
probably better than playing a mall or something

00:53:29.400 --> 00:53:32.519
like that but you know because that that natural

00:53:32.519 --> 00:53:35.659
friction between the fair guy and the carnival

00:53:35.659 --> 00:53:37.940
guy is good in some ways would you get you know

00:53:37.940 --> 00:53:39.579
the fair guy might push the carnival to bring

00:53:39.579 --> 00:53:41.440
in some more rides than he otherwise might not

00:53:41.440 --> 00:53:43.440
want to bring and you know might spend a little

00:53:43.440 --> 00:53:45.280
more on advertising than other things and you

00:53:45.280 --> 00:53:46.639
know a little bit of that friction is always

00:53:46.639 --> 00:53:48.239
good because it pushes both of you to be better

00:53:48.239 --> 00:53:51.920
no i agree with that 100 absolutely absolutely

00:53:51.920 --> 00:53:54.420
food varieties another thing like you get your

00:53:54.420 --> 00:53:56.780
regular guys So you don't bring in, uh, you know,

00:53:56.860 --> 00:53:59.139
some ethnic food or some other cool thing that

00:53:59.139 --> 00:54:02.219
to make it a little more, you know, palatable

00:54:02.219 --> 00:54:05.079
to everybody. If you're going to produce, produce

00:54:05.079 --> 00:54:06.940
your own events and you're a show owner, you

00:54:06.940 --> 00:54:09.900
cannot be protectionist. Yeah. And that's, and

00:54:09.900 --> 00:54:11.300
that's kind of what they do. They're like, well,

00:54:11.300 --> 00:54:12.739
you know, I don't want to book too many hot dogs

00:54:12.739 --> 00:54:14.500
and need a penny because I got hot dogs. No,

00:54:14.619 --> 00:54:18.079
dude, you're getting paid out of there too. And

00:54:18.079 --> 00:54:19.920
you need to think of it from the customer experience.

00:54:19.920 --> 00:54:21.199
And I don't have to explain this to you because

00:54:21.199 --> 00:54:24.230
you know, we're not selling. marrying around

00:54:24.230 --> 00:54:26.230
ride tickets anymore we're selling the experience

00:54:26.230 --> 00:54:29.570
and it's a big it's a big difference and it just

00:54:29.570 --> 00:54:31.269
in your approach to how you market it and what

00:54:31.269 --> 00:54:33.309
the product the final product's like it's about

00:54:33.309 --> 00:54:35.630
the experience it's not it it's just a different

00:54:35.630 --> 00:54:38.449
i know it's like but there's a difference i know

00:54:38.449 --> 00:54:41.309
you understand that so what are you doing you

00:54:41.309 --> 00:54:44.070
said your sons have some pretty cool marketing

00:54:44.070 --> 00:54:45.590
ideas and doing stuff like that what are you

00:54:45.590 --> 00:54:49.150
are you doing anything interesting uh not so

00:54:49.150 --> 00:54:50.849
much interesting that a different approach especially

00:54:50.849 --> 00:54:53.780
in the way um the way if you're doing any kind

00:54:53.780 --> 00:54:56.000
of stuff on social, the way it looks, the appearance,

00:54:56.239 --> 00:54:59.440
the texture of it. They're working on putting

00:54:59.440 --> 00:55:02.559
some stuff together for TikTok, which I don't

00:55:02.559 --> 00:55:04.260
even have it on my phone and not because I'm

00:55:04.260 --> 00:55:06.059
a boomer, just because I think it'll melt your

00:55:06.059 --> 00:55:10.739
brain. And I'm not big on social media. So they

00:55:10.739 --> 00:55:13.000
are. I have a person on the team that does it

00:55:13.000 --> 00:55:15.750
full time and they communicate with her. on how

00:55:15.750 --> 00:55:17.329
stuff needs to look. But we're talking about

00:55:17.329 --> 00:55:19.409
like producing our own events and they have good

00:55:19.409 --> 00:55:21.369
ideas on what that looked like and how to frame

00:55:21.369 --> 00:55:27.989
it out. I talk about this, I'm kind of with you,

00:55:28.110 --> 00:55:29.809
is it personally? I'm not a big social media

00:55:29.809 --> 00:55:32.309
user, but obviously, if I'm in the advertising

00:55:32.309 --> 00:55:35.710
business, which I am, I have to do a lot of stuff

00:55:35.710 --> 00:55:42.030
along those lines. We really need new words or

00:55:42.030 --> 00:55:44.869
nomenclature for what we do. I talk about digital.

00:55:45.039 --> 00:55:47.980
And depending on who I'm talking to, they go

00:55:47.980 --> 00:55:51.199
right to social. And it's not like I do streaming

00:55:51.199 --> 00:55:56.639
TV, streaming audio, display ads. And I try to

00:55:56.639 --> 00:55:59.920
break it down to explain it to people that it's

00:55:59.920 --> 00:56:05.280
like there's an old school parallel. So like

00:56:05.280 --> 00:56:08.559
newspaper ad is like a display ad. A display

00:56:08.559 --> 00:56:13.849
ad online is a newspaper ad. digital audios like

00:56:13.849 --> 00:56:18.150
radio and digital videos like TV and then you

00:56:18.150 --> 00:56:20.750
can explain why it's better and you know why

00:56:20.750 --> 00:56:23.530
you can target people specifically or as you

00:56:23.530 --> 00:56:25.909
could in the old days or why you can do all the

00:56:25.909 --> 00:56:29.789
things you can do and explain that but you know

00:56:29.789 --> 00:56:32.369
and then you have social but social to me it's

00:56:32.369 --> 00:56:34.309
like the difference between PR and advertising

00:56:34.309 --> 00:56:37.650
right back in the day when you did PR if I got

00:56:37.650 --> 00:56:40.289
a story in the newspaper that was what we called

00:56:40.289 --> 00:56:42.889
earned media right it was something It wasn't

00:56:42.889 --> 00:56:45.010
just an ad. You had to do something, you had

00:56:45.010 --> 00:56:46.449
to think of an angle, and you had to do something,

00:56:46.670 --> 00:56:48.570
you'd convince the reporter to do it. Socially,

00:56:48.710 --> 00:56:50.170
you're not just putting up, and I see this so

00:56:50.170 --> 00:56:52.909
much, where they just put up an ad, like they

00:56:52.909 --> 00:56:55.949
make an ad, and they put it on Facebook. That's

00:56:55.949 --> 00:56:57.969
not gonna earn you anything. You gotta be creative,

00:56:58.070 --> 00:57:00.570
and you gotta have, you can't be so punch in

00:57:00.570 --> 00:57:03.210
the face type thing, you gotta be like, oh. There's

00:57:03.210 --> 00:57:05.429
a kid eating something and he's doing a backflipper.

00:57:05.590 --> 00:57:08.110
There's a dolphin in it or a seal and whatever.

00:57:08.170 --> 00:57:10.929
It's going to get their attention. It takes time

00:57:10.929 --> 00:57:12.570
and it takes thought and it takes creativity

00:57:12.570 --> 00:57:16.070
to do it right. So many people go, oh, I just

00:57:16.070 --> 00:57:19.050
use Facebook. I'm like, OK, that's great, but

00:57:19.050 --> 00:57:21.309
you're really not doing much. Best money I've

00:57:21.309 --> 00:57:24.050
spent is on Google Ads. Absolutely. Well, Google

00:57:24.050 --> 00:57:26.849
AdWords, they're good because it's called a funnel.

00:57:27.789 --> 00:57:30.420
It's called bottom of the funnel. So people are

00:57:30.420 --> 00:57:32.960
already Googling something. They're looking for

00:57:32.960 --> 00:57:36.360
you. And you're just going, OK, here I am. So

00:57:36.360 --> 00:57:39.019
you're kind of fishing in a small pond. And I'm

00:57:39.019 --> 00:57:41.880
like, it's good. You should have it. And it's

00:57:41.880 --> 00:57:44.219
going to be the most effective because it's already

00:57:44.219 --> 00:57:45.840
there. Because they're searching for something

00:57:45.840 --> 00:57:49.940
to do. And then your thing comes up. But they're

00:57:49.940 --> 00:57:51.480
already in the funnel. So it's a little easier

00:57:51.480 --> 00:57:55.559
to get them than it is doing just advertising

00:57:55.559 --> 00:57:59.159
and targeting. say women 25 to 54 with kids,

00:57:59.579 --> 00:58:01.119
because they're already looking for you and you're

00:58:01.119 --> 00:58:02.980
just going, hey, here you are. But you know,

00:58:02.980 --> 00:58:04.719
there's sometimes like, like I was with a client

00:58:04.719 --> 00:58:07.000
the other day, who does a great job with his

00:58:07.000 --> 00:58:10.659
website and SEO and stuff like that. And I showed

00:58:10.659 --> 00:58:14.519
him where I Googled carnival this weekend. And

00:58:14.519 --> 00:58:17.880
his thing came up first. But then he was buying

00:58:17.880 --> 00:58:20.300
stuff with Google AdWords and was coming up above,

00:58:20.880 --> 00:58:22.760
you know, so they were clicking on the first

00:58:22.760 --> 00:58:24.500
one, which was his paid one, which cost them

00:58:24.500 --> 00:58:26.619
money. Whereas he would have been first anyway,

00:58:27.000 --> 00:58:29.860
you know, he came up great. So, you know, it's,

00:58:29.860 --> 00:58:31.579
it's a little bit situational. It depends on

00:58:31.579 --> 00:58:34.400
your SEO and what you're doing and how well you

00:58:34.400 --> 00:58:36.519
- Do you know what mobile conquesting is? I mean,

00:58:36.579 --> 00:58:38.739
that'd be a brand. That's a, that's a company

00:58:38.739 --> 00:58:41.780
I use and we serve the ads right to the devices.

00:58:42.079 --> 00:58:44.860
To their phones. Yep. In a geofenced area. They

00:58:44.860 --> 00:58:48.019
already have the demo. Um, we do a lot of that.

00:58:48.880 --> 00:58:51.420
Yeah, that's pretty cool. That's pretty cool.

00:58:51.719 --> 00:58:53.940
It's kind of who do we again? I'm a boomer, you

00:58:53.940 --> 00:58:56.000
know, like I guess that works I never get served

00:58:56.000 --> 00:58:57.699
in those ads, but I'm the wrong demographic.

00:58:57.760 --> 00:59:01.320
I should Well, let's get you know, we do the

00:59:01.320 --> 00:59:04.699
top 50 list every year and I've been working

00:59:04.699 --> 00:59:09.599
a lot with cell phone data and AI data and You

00:59:09.599 --> 00:59:13.260
know now like I just did analysis for for quirky

00:59:13.260 --> 00:59:16.599
powers for his amusement park. I can tell Everybody

00:59:16.599 --> 00:59:18.929
went to that park last year where they came from,

00:59:19.050 --> 00:59:21.530
like what cities they traveled from, when they

00:59:21.530 --> 00:59:23.989
came, what months they came, what hotels they

00:59:23.989 --> 00:59:26.730
stayed at, all that data, and I started doing

00:59:26.730 --> 00:59:29.190
it with the top 50, see how many people really

00:59:29.190 --> 00:59:33.210
go to these fairs, and the data gets unbelievable,

00:59:33.250 --> 00:59:35.389
and it matches, you know, you know which fairs

00:59:35.389 --> 00:59:37.789
report the right numbers, and some, you know,

00:59:37.989 --> 00:59:41.050
make up numbers, but it's incredible, the information,

00:59:41.289 --> 00:59:44.449
it's absolutely incredible, and so I'm probably

00:59:44.449 --> 00:59:46.150
going to be using that for the top 50 this year,

00:59:46.150 --> 00:59:48.800
because and people will be mad at me, there's

00:59:48.800 --> 00:59:50.619
no question. We're people that lie, you know,

00:59:50.639 --> 00:59:54.619
or not lie, but have padded numbers, let's say,

00:59:54.800 --> 00:59:58.400
will change. But, you know, the amount of information

00:59:58.400 --> 01:00:01.460
you have, and with that information, it makes

01:00:01.460 --> 01:00:03.360
you a better marketer, too, is you get the information,

01:00:03.840 --> 01:00:06.960
who came last year, when they came, what specials

01:00:06.960 --> 01:00:09.320
worked, did my audience change when I did a dollar

01:00:09.320 --> 01:00:11.719
night, then when I did, you know, something else,

01:00:11.840 --> 01:00:13.300
or, you know, what kind of wristbands they buy,

01:00:13.340 --> 01:00:15.679
and it's... It's incredible. And that's the whole

01:00:15.679 --> 01:00:18.599
that's that granular information is very important.

01:00:18.619 --> 01:00:20.719
If you're going to run a BOGO on wristbands on

01:00:20.719 --> 01:00:23.360
Thursday, are we giving it away or are we attracting

01:00:23.360 --> 01:00:25.460
a customer we don't normally get? Because that's

01:00:25.460 --> 01:00:28.840
the idea. And and you need to know or your coupon

01:00:28.840 --> 01:00:30.539
like you were talking about. That's very important

01:00:30.539 --> 01:00:32.920
to get that to gather that information. That's

01:00:32.920 --> 01:00:34.820
how you know if it's working or not. And then

01:00:34.820 --> 01:00:37.019
get the data. Yeah, absolutely. Has to be data

01:00:37.019 --> 01:00:39.099
driven. It's got to ring the cash register. You

01:00:39.099 --> 01:00:41.280
can have the greatest Facebook, you know, whatever.

01:00:41.579 --> 01:00:43.500
But if nobody's going to take it, it's useless.

01:00:43.699 --> 01:00:46.619
You know, I mean, essentially, I'm being very

01:00:46.619 --> 01:00:50.960
cut, but that's the bottom line. You can have

01:00:50.960 --> 01:00:53.019
the most, you know, you study this in advertising,

01:00:53.179 --> 01:00:56.159
like some of the biggest advertising campaigns

01:00:56.159 --> 01:00:59.860
and most memorable didn't necessarily sell product.

01:01:00.440 --> 01:01:03.280
You remember the ad, but did it sell? And then

01:01:03.280 --> 01:01:04.719
you have things like, you know, you grew up in

01:01:04.719 --> 01:01:07.380
New York and New Jersey, crazy Eddie, you know,

01:01:08.039 --> 01:01:12.889
just yelling. Just yelling. But it was a very

01:01:12.889 --> 01:01:15.110
effective ad and it made a big company out of

01:01:15.110 --> 01:01:18.909
it. Would it win any advertising awards? Hell

01:01:18.909 --> 01:01:21.269
no. It was just silly. I'll tell you what, I

01:01:21.269 --> 01:01:23.289
bought my first CD player from him. That's right.

01:01:23.510 --> 01:01:25.050
And it was effective. And that's what it's got

01:01:25.050 --> 01:01:27.130
to be, is effective. You can have the most creative,

01:01:27.710 --> 01:01:29.570
wonderful, esoteric ad, but if it doesn't ring

01:01:29.570 --> 01:01:32.670
the cash register, it's over. Harry, I can't

01:01:32.670 --> 01:01:34.190
believe it's been an hour talking. I barely talked

01:01:34.190 --> 01:01:39.550
about your show. Oh, we're good, right? It was

01:01:39.550 --> 01:01:41.170
great catching up with you, buddy. I gotta get

01:01:41.170 --> 01:01:44.269
out to California and see the show and meet your

01:01:44.269 --> 01:01:45.570
kids and stuff like that. It'd be fun. Yeah,

01:01:46.050 --> 01:01:49.670
come hang out. It'd be neat. And yeah, I mean,

01:01:49.789 --> 01:01:51.150
that's just kind of low key. It's early in the

01:01:51.150 --> 01:01:52.909
morning out here, so I'm not too fired up yet,

01:01:52.949 --> 01:01:55.869
you know? That's awesome. Thank you so much for

01:01:55.869 --> 01:01:58.849
coming on and sharing about Grasping. I hope

01:01:58.849 --> 01:02:00.489
Sam's gonna come on soon, because I'd like to

01:02:00.489 --> 01:02:03.210
get Sam his history down, too. You know, he just

01:02:03.210 --> 01:02:06.639
finished a book. He said that. And he's getting

01:02:06.639 --> 01:02:08.900
it edited. And we were talking about it the other

01:02:08.900 --> 01:02:10.260
day. And I said, man, you better not be talking

01:02:10.260 --> 01:02:15.019
shit about me. So we'll see what happens. No,

01:02:15.059 --> 01:02:17.900
but there's a chapter. He sent me some notes,

01:02:18.119 --> 01:02:20.159
like just on the way out to Dragon South. He

01:02:20.159 --> 01:02:22.420
sent me some notes, what he was talking about.

01:02:22.579 --> 01:02:24.980
He's like. Oh, find me a sucker to buy your carnival.

01:02:25.380 --> 01:02:28.739
Oh, no. He's like, the guy can't. He made some

01:02:28.739 --> 01:02:30.019
reference, like maybe I didn't know how to lay

01:02:30.019 --> 01:02:32.960
a lot out or something, right? And I fired back

01:02:32.960 --> 01:02:34.639
in a text message. I said, well, if you'd had

01:02:34.639 --> 01:02:37.780
a goddamn show to lay out, I had a terrible teacher.

01:02:38.099 --> 01:02:39.940
It wasn't, well, it wasn't big enough to do anything

01:02:39.940 --> 01:02:44.139
with it. You had night rides. Yeah. Like, okay,

01:02:44.139 --> 01:02:46.320
how good can you make it? Look, Jesus Christ.

01:02:46.659 --> 01:02:49.280
Yeah. All right, buddy. Well, I appreciate you

01:02:49.280 --> 01:02:51.920
so much coming on and let's keep in touch. Okay.

01:02:52.000 --> 01:03:03.039
I'll talk to you. Our staff and professionals

01:03:03.039 --> 01:03:06.300
can guide you through your setup, assist with

01:03:06.300 --> 01:03:08.760
customer service, even on the weekends when you

01:03:08.760 --> 01:03:11.539
most need it, and help increase your sales through

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