Episode 138 - Bama Bash @ Flora-Bama

Speaker 0 00:00:01 Don't it? You're a hell some it's called. Speaker 1 00:00:26 Alright guys, welcome to the Raise Rowdy podcasts on Speaker 2 00:00:30 The Road Speaker 1 00:00:31 Live ish from the floor. Baba, come on. Uh, you might be asking why are we at the floor? Bama doing podcasts, number one, because it's probably the best bar that I've been to ever. And number two, because we are going to be doing a takeover down here in September, September 16th and 17th down here at the floor. Bama raise, Roddy will be taking over. So we're gonna be coming to you guys from here then. But figured we'd come down and kinda get a little pre-game of what's going on. So Eli and I have been down here since Saturday. Uh, had a pretty good time. The, the days that we woke up, thankfully not in a tent. We're in a luxurious condo here, <laugh>. Way better that way. <laugh> way better that way. And, uh, we have our first guest. Why don't you introduce yourself to the audience? Let everybody know what you're doing down here at the Florida, Alabama. Speaker 2 00:01:16 Well, I'm, uh, playing music down here. Yeah. This is Big Earl. I've been, um, down, I guess, playing here for be 29 years in January. Jesus. Speaker 1 00:01:27 Dang. That's crazy. Yeah. That's Speaker 2 00:01:29 A long time. We Speaker 1 00:01:29 Got to, we got to catch your show and, uh, man, you engaged the audience like freaking No. Oh, Speaker 2 00:01:35 It was great. Yeah. That's stupid stuff ain't Yeah. Speaker 1 00:01:37 <laugh>. It's awesome. We love the stupid Speaker 2 00:01:39 Stuff. Yes, we do. Speaker 1 00:01:41 It's, it's one of those things too where it's like the music has to be there, but if you can get the audience smiling every time they come see you, then they'll one to see every time they can come. Mm-hmm. Speaker 2 00:01:49 <affirmative>. Oh, we, I, man, listen, you know, when I quit having fun, I'll quit doing it. Yep. Good thing about Floor Bama. They'll let you pretty much do what you want to do. Well, up to a certain amount, Speaker 1 00:01:58 Right? Yeah. <laugh>. Speaker 2 00:02:00 But yeah, Speaker 1 00:02:00 You gotta have some rules. I can <laugh>. Oh Speaker 2 00:02:02 Yeah, yeah, you do. Speaker 1 00:02:03 Unless people would take over. So, uh, what are some of your favorite moments? I know you kind of told us a little bit about a Cole Swindell story that we wouldn't mind hearing. Speaker 2 00:02:14 <laugh>. Oh, Cole Swindell. Yeah. Whatever. I, that, that pissed me off one <laugh>. I don't know who these young guns are. You know, I'm off school. I had my record deal in the nineties. They wasn't even born yet, <laugh>. But I, I was over here playing one night and all these girls taking pictures, this young good looking man and getting autographs said, who's that? And they said, Cole Swindle. And I said, well, I, I've heard of that name. I said, yeah, yeah, he's big. He's big. They'd say, I know Cole came over and said, man, can I have a picture with you, big girl? I said, well, hell yeah. <laugh>. And the next thing I know, I done spent $250 on his ass buying drinks all night. Found out it wasn't him the next morning. Speaker 1 00:02:53 <laugh>, Speaker 2 00:02:54 He was a Connecticut. We, I told he'd come back the next night, but he's smart enough not to do that. <laugh>, he got me good. He looked like him. I pulled him up on Speaker 1 00:03:03 Facebook. Close enough. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:03:05 He had Speaker 3 00:03:05 To go pretend to be Cole Swindell somewhere else. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Speaker 1 00:03:08 Yeah. Speaker 2 00:03:09 He, uh, he frick those little young, uh, college girls too that were drinking. Oh yeah. Oh, he had game. I gotta give it to him. He got me good. Yeah. Speaker 1 00:03:16 <laugh>, it's, uh, this is one of those bars that it just seems like the amount of stories that would come out of here, of course ones that you could share on the podcast, some of them, but I'm sure there's some that you can't as well. Speaker 2 00:03:27 <laugh>. Yeah. Yeah. Most of them you can't, especially when they came out with cell phones back. Oh, yeah. That shut a lot of my show down. Yeah. <laugh>. Speaker 1 00:03:35 Yeah. Someone can have their phone out recording at any time. You can't really say everything you used to be. Speaker 2 00:03:40 We have so much fun here. If you can't have fun here, you're not gonna have fun anywhere. Yes. Get a couple of bush whackers down. 'em, they'll do anything. I mean, let you throw cheese on the grass. Speaker 1 00:03:50 <laugh>. And so you've been here a long time. What are your reoccurring gigs? So if someone comes down here, how is it like, during certain seasons you play certain nights or, Speaker 2 00:03:58 Well, you know, uh, I used to do four nights a week for about 15 years. But after that I started doing Friday and Saturday only. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And now I take off, uh, one weekend a month and I play out of town. Yep. Yeah. And, uh, I, I go out to Louisiana, Mississippi, something like that, and play outta town and, and, uh, sing to do fairly well at that. So I'm going, I'm gonna keep doing it. But for Bama, you know, everybody sees you here. When they come to the Bama, they see you. So when you go outta town to play, you're gonna have a pretty good crowd. So it works out pretty good. Yeah. Speaker 1 00:04:31 This is one of those spots where it's like there's a built in crowd, um, but also like, there's people that are built in seasonally. So like, you have families that'll take vacations the same time every year and, you know, make sure they come back and enjoy the Florida, Alabama. Speaker 2 00:04:44 You're right. I get, I mean, week after week, this been going on for years. Now I get inboxes, big Earl or you playing September the seventh and eighth we're coming down on vacation. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, stuff like that. So you keep seeing these become friends with the same people you've known for 20 something years. So, coming down here, shit, Speaker 3 00:05:01 That's fun. Speaker 2 00:05:02 It is pretty good. Yeah. Yeah. Pretty, pretty well for me. And most of the musicians that worked here. Speaker 1 00:05:06 Yes. And that's what we were talking about. So Eli like, got lucky enough to pick up a gig. Someone, Speaker 3 00:05:11 Uh, somebody, somebody had to cancel yesterday. So they asked if I'd fill in and boom Speaker 2 00:05:16 You in there. Mario Speaker 3 00:05:17 Had to borrow a guitar from little Skinny's playing across the street and like, some gear from the bass player on the main, on the, uh, the stage you were playing the other, yeah. Speaker 1 00:05:25 Man, there's, there's good crowds and everybody's here to have fun. Speaker 2 00:05:30 You meet so many people, uh, do it. It's just crazy. And, and you're able to go out and play out on the road and then come back here to your normal spot. I played a Thursday night up in the north Alabama, uh, way north in Jacksonville. Then I, by myself, and I drove back all day to play here that night. Friday and Saturday. Yep. But that didn't happen. Too awful bit. Uh, and I went up there and played for 17 guys. Speaker 1 00:05:55 <laugh> Speaker 2 00:05:56 Dude told me it was gonna be a party. He said, I want you come up here party, big girl. You'll be helping me out. I get up there and this 17 dude <laugh>, Speaker 1 00:06:05 You're like, I could've lost some from the floor, babe. Yeah. <laugh>. Speaker 2 00:06:08 I said, what the hell is this? We had a great time though. Speaker 1 00:06:11 <laugh>. That's what really matters if you think about it, man. It's, uh, what, what is it do you think about this bar that makes it so special? It's the music, but like, what's more than just that? Speaker 2 00:06:23 Man, it, you know, it's, it's a building, iconic building for sure. But it's a people that come in here. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. I've got so many, I know so many people when they come in here, they let their individuality down. I mean, lower 'em a little bit. Yeah. Lower their standard. Yep. Speaker 1 00:06:38 <laugh>. Speaker 2 00:06:38 And just say, Hey, we're gonna have a good fun lot of fun today. There's nothing uptight about it. And you, man, just all walks of life. Yes. I mean, you hear all the time, but it's true. I mean, I've walked here before. There's a Bentley in a parking lot by, by a pickup truck. Yeah. Really true <laugh>. And so who'd wanna park one in a gravel parking lot? I have no idea that <laugh>, but hey, what it, they're making faces at me over there. Speaker 1 00:07:05 <laugh>. Turn that thing. Speaker 3 00:07:07 You're, Speaker 2 00:07:07 I I, I, I can't hardly hear you with the shirt on. What'd you say? <laugh>. Speaker 1 00:07:12 You know Speaker 2 00:07:14 <laugh>. They're yelling something over here. Speaker 1 00:07:17 <laugh> speaking of that, Eli last night had a girl from Texas that saw him play and was trying to import him to Texas to play a show. She's like, you could stay with me. Oh God bless the floor. Bama is Speaker 2 00:07:29 That mustache. He poured. Mustache. Speaker 1 00:07:31 Got that Burt right. I took her up Speaker 3 00:07:33 On too. I said, send me some dates, Speaker 1 00:07:35 <laugh> Speaker 2 00:07:35 Some dates, baby. Speaker 1 00:07:37 I'll come down. Speaker 2 00:07:37 Hey listen. I went to, uh, Yellowstone on vacation, uh, uh, Montana, Idaho, all around that area. We, we flew up there renting at an RV and went all over the place, had a ball and uh, I could not believe I was wearing a four Bama shirt. Could not believe the amount of people. Oh, I know where the floor Bama is. So it's, it's, it's a badass place. Speaker 1 00:08:00 It's funny too, like this is actually my first time down here. I just moved to the south three years ago and Oh yeah. Where's during Covid? I came down from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Speaker 2 00:08:08 Wow. Ya. They Speaker 1 00:08:09 Me. Ya. Yeah. So I was like, well, uh, all my friends that have been here have been so much that I have to be down. They're like, you have to go to this bar, Nick. It is your kind of bar <laugh>. I've even had people buy me t-shirts from here and bring them to me. <laugh>. Even though I'd never been here, man, Speaker 3 00:08:26 I'd heard about this place for years, Speaker 2 00:08:28 Uhhuh. Speaker 3 00:08:29 And I always thought, oh, I'm sure it'll be awesome. I'm, you know, I'd love to go down and play. I'd love to go down and check it out. But after being here, the stories didn't really do it. Justice Speaker 1 00:08:38 <laugh>. Speaker 3 00:08:38 It's so fun. Between, between the people playing, of people working and the people just coming in to drink. Everybody's just so fun and, you know. Cool. Speaker 2 00:08:48 Now we're down here on the beach. I mean, a lot of, Speaker 3 00:08:50 It's hard to be in a bad mood in a place like that. Speaker 2 00:08:52 I mean, unless you gotta pay rent Speaker 1 00:08:54 Down here. Yeah. <laugh>. I'm sure. I'm Speaker 2 00:08:56 Sure that doesn't, you know what I call a Yankee, somebody's north of Foley. Speaker 1 00:09:01 Uh, <laugh> Speaker 2 00:09:03 All the way up to Montgomery. Look, you're doing us. We got it. Water. Speaker 3 00:09:08 Believe it or not, I'm allergic. Isn't that the weirdest ever? Speaker 2 00:09:11 We gonna Speaker 1 00:09:11 Water? Speaker 2 00:09:13 No, I don't. Only if Speaker 1 00:09:14 I eat at that. Speaker 2 00:09:15 I'm doing good. How you doing Rhonda Hart? Looks like Speaker 1 00:09:17 You've got some weird company you wanna jump on and say hi. Sure does. Speaker 2 00:09:21 Yeah. Rhonda Hart here. She's been working here How many years? Rhonda? She's been working here a long time since Jesus Christ with a baby. There you go. Come on, Speaker 1 00:09:30 Come sit Speaker 2 00:09:31 Down. Oh, well come over and say, Hey here buddy. Come Speaker 1 00:09:32 For a minute. This Speaker 2 00:09:33 Is Grammy, Grammy nominated songwriter right here. Yeah. Speaker 1 00:09:37 Nick Speaker 2 00:09:38 Ron the heart. Yeah. Get all the microphone where we hear you. Speaker 4 00:09:40 Hey big girl. How's it going man? Yeah, Speaker 2 00:09:42 It's enough. I get the hell off. Speaker 4 00:09:43 Now. Listen, I don't have any, I can't hear you. I don't have earphones. Well, Speaker 1 00:09:47 Well Speaker 2 00:09:47 I don't have either. So, big girl. Speaker 4 00:09:48 Um, are you still, um, singing my song I wrote? Speaker 2 00:09:52 No. No. Speaker 4 00:09:53 Uh, 'cause I didn't get any credits on it, girl. Any credit? I don't know what the problem is with you, but plagiarism is real. We people Speaker 2 00:10:01 Couldn't screw <laugh>. I don't only tell anybody I wrote it. Speaker 1 00:10:06 I, Hey, if it made money, you'd want to tell people you're Speaker 4 00:10:13 I didn't. He makes money. I don't make Speaker 2 00:10:14 Money. We make hundreds of dollars a year. Yeah. <laugh>. Speaker 4 00:10:17 I'm looking bigger. Old, late. Get back to your serious interview here. These good looking guys. Speaker 2 00:10:20 One of the best female singer down here. Great songwriters. Semi attractive <laugh>. Speaker 4 00:10:28 Is this your live radio sale for Friday? Speaker 1 00:10:30 No, no, no. Speaker 2 00:10:31 This is a podcast. We can Speaker 1 00:10:32 Add all of this in post. Oh, Speaker 4 00:10:33 Okay. I'll get out. See you. Bye. Oh yeah. Speaker 1 00:10:35 <laugh>, cheers. Speaker 2 00:10:37 Rhonda Hart. She, she wrote, did I shave my legs for this <laugh> Speaker 1 00:10:41 For Speaker 2 00:10:41 Dina Carter wrote it the day. Oh, great writer. That's Speaker 1 00:10:45 Awesome. Yeah. Speaker 2 00:10:47 Lot. She's been playing down here for a long time. This, we have a lot of, lot of big acts, uh, you know, come down here and set in. Tracy Lawrence came down here, sat in with me all night long and I've been playing his party for the last three years up in Nashville, his wife's birthday party. And so I lost a lot of respect for him 'cause he keep hiring me back. Speaker 1 00:11:07 <laugh>. Speaker 2 00:11:08 But, but a lot. Um, but a lot of people come in here and, and play. It's just a fun place to play. Yeah. Speaker 1 00:11:14 Hell yeah. It's, it's coming here. It's like a roadside hockey Tom, but extremely well taken care of and staff that knows exactly how to do it. But then it's also quadruple it in size to the beach. Yes. And put it on the best beach probably I've ever been to. Definitely Speaker 3 00:11:30 The best beach I've been to. Maybe Hawaii. Speaker 2 00:11:33 Oh yeah. Speaker 3 00:11:33 But maybe not Speaker 2 00:11:34 Cheaper in Hawaii. Speaker 1 00:11:35 Yeah. And Speaker 2 00:11:36 Hawaii is far, Speaker 3 00:11:37 You know, this, it took us like seven hours to drive here. Speaker 1 00:11:41 Really? Basically Speaker 3 00:11:41 Drive Hawaii in seven hours. Speaker 1 00:11:43 The, the amount of rooms that there are and places to stay down here, it's reasonable to stay down here. Comparatively Speaker 2 00:11:49 Speaking. I mean, compared to Hawaii. Yeah. Right. Speaker 1 00:11:51 <laugh>. Speaker 2 00:11:51 I flew to Hawaii two years ago and I got hemorrhoid. It wasn't, it wasn't flying <laugh>. I got 'em maim. They'd been women so long. Speaker 1 00:11:59 <laugh>. Speaker 2 00:11:59 You guys gotta remember though, when the Flo BA was built, there wasn't one other building on the Ho Beach. Crazy. Nothing. I mean, it was in 64 5 or someone. It was built. Joe Gilcrest took it over in the seventies, the mid seventies. But there wasn't nothing. There's still musicians playing here that playing here today. Today. One of'em, Jay Hawkins, that they used to get out here after the gig and shoot their guns down the beach. <laugh> nothing down the beach. <laugh>. And, you know, when Fort Bama was first built it, when it's getting ready to open up the next morning, it burned down that night. Speaker 1 00:12:37 It's a crazy Speaker 2 00:12:37 House. And they thought it was from a guy that owned a bar about 10 miles down the road. 'cause there's nothing else. And it, it, it was him, they say. But they built it right back. But there wasn't a condo, wasn't a beach house, wasn't anything. And one of the musicians, Jay Hawkins, that worked here, said that at night they used to stand out in the road, gravel road and wait till they saw headlights come down the road. Then he would jump back in here and get on stage. 'cause the customers coming <laugh>. Speaker 1 00:13:06 Yeah. Speaker 2 00:13:06 It, it was a, he was on stage one day playing and um, and his, his brother went deer hunting and they got a deer. So he took the antlers and put 'em on the stage beside him where he could hang his hat while he's playing. Well, he's up there singing another musician within the crowd messing with him. And so he takes out a 44 and shoots his hat off the wall while he is up here playing. That went on all the time. Speaker 1 00:13:32 <laugh>. Speaker 2 00:13:33 Everybody, everybody brought a gun back in the day. Now, now it's calmed down. You know, we even have a person that checks for weapon for people that forget, you know, that they got a concealed carry permit. Can't bring 'em in a bar, but, but it's, uh, it hadn't turned into Disneyland, but, but it's a lot more family friendly. Speaker 1 00:13:51 Yes. Oh yeah. And that's one of the cool things too, is you'll see people coming in with their whole family grabbing food during the day, listening to music. You kind of are getting these kids trained to love the Flo Bama before they're even coming here, having these delicious frozen drinks that we've been having today. I Speaker 2 00:14:06 Mean, I think they've got close to a couple of million people a year or something. Its Speaker 1 00:14:10 So crazy. Speaker 2 00:14:11 It's, uh, I wish y'all on place. Speaker 1 00:14:13 Yeah, same. Yeah, I wouldn't wanna Speaker 2 00:14:15 Run it. I'd just wanna cast it. Right. Speaker 1 00:14:16 Yeah. <laugh>. Yeah, man, that's one of the things too. So like, we host events in town in Nashville, so if you ever come up, we have to have you play one of our raise rowdy events up there. Oh, that'd be so fun. That'd Speaker 2 00:14:26 Be awesome. I'd love to do that. I'm, I'm up here a couple times a year just, you know, goofing off and Speaker 1 00:14:32 You'll have to let us know when you are. That'd be awesome. Speaker 2 00:14:34 I'd, I'd love to do it. Yeah. I mean, I'm old as hell. We gotta do it before I die. Yeah. <laugh> i'd But do y'all have Bush whackers in Nashville? We do, Speaker 1 00:14:44 Yeah. They call 'em boot whackers at the one bar and then Bush whackers everywhere else. But they're, they're pretty good here. They're pretty premium here. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Y'all know what you're doing down here with <laugh>. Speaker 2 00:14:53 We gotta be careful if you drink three or four of 'em and go out and lay in that hot sun. Oh yeah. I used to work at the hospital. I can't tell you how many people come in the ER from dehydration. Yeah. Oh yeah. Harding for four days not drinking any water. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> what you had to drink? Oh, well something called a Bush waer. A lot of them Speaker 1 00:15:08 <laugh>. I had about seven of them. And strange enough, my legs feel funny and my arms <laugh>. Yeah. Man, Speaker 3 00:15:16 You can get through seven bush whackers without a brain freeze. Speaker 2 00:15:19 Man. I tell you what you, you know, when I first started working down here, I didn't know what the hell a bush whacker was. And man, I'm from Arkansas and uh, I came to work down here and they said, you want a bush wacker? And showed it to me. I said, yeah. He goes, you want some uh, rum on it? And I said, well, yeah, that was the topper. I didn't know it was already mixed in. Speaker 1 00:15:38 Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 3 00:15:39 <laugh>. Speaker 2 00:15:40 So I'm drinking these bush wackers with a double topper. And after my hundred and 14th one, I don't know what it was, <laugh>, but I slept in my truck in a parking lot, Speaker 1 00:15:52 <laugh>. Speaker 2 00:15:53 And I will tell you what, it wasn't a good feeling by the time I got home. My wife was not happy. I will say that was my first wife. Yeah. <laugh>. Speaker 1 00:16:02 Well at least she got a better one now. Speaker 2 00:16:04 We're about five years now. And then I take, I drank 'em, love 'em, but I don't do that many of them. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Yeah. Speaker 1 00:16:10 Yeah. I think two, maybe three is the right number depending if you get them toppers or not. Yeah. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. <laugh> Speaker 2 00:16:16 You got 'em now with it. You can get Reese's pieces in 'em and stuff. Speaker 1 00:16:19 I had the peanut butter one with the re's. They, they're good. Speaker 2 00:16:22 You Right. Bad checks all day. Yeah. Speaker 1 00:16:24 <laugh>. Speaker 2 00:16:24 Well, when are you playing? Are you playing in here this week? Uh, Speaker 3 00:16:27 Not, I don't think this week, I think. No. Uh, not till, we're back in September. Speaker 1 00:16:30 Yep. When we're back down in September. He's gonna plan Speaker 3 00:16:32 First. If Paul calls me and he says, Hey, somebody cancels I'm might driving right back down <laugh> Speaker 2 00:16:35 Paul down there. They do. I mean, I think we had right at 5,000 musicians last year played Speaker 3 00:16:42 Here. Dang. Five that bobbed Speaker 2 00:16:45 On the, you know, between the four Alabama stages and the rest. True restaurants across the street. Speaker 1 00:16:51 Yeah. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Yeah. And that's a neat thing too, is like you really could just be here in the beach and not have to go anywhere. Yeah. It's a resort. There's no reason Speaker 3 00:16:58 To go anywhere else. Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 1 00:17:00 All the food you want, all the drinks you want tons of live music. All kinds of options. And a a Speaker 3 00:17:07 Big, a kind of eclectic mix of music too. You know, I saw guys that were, you know, old school country. I saw a dude who played a lot of red dirt, seen some guys who do more pop stuff. Speaker 1 00:17:18 Yep. Or the rock landing things. It's cool. Has Speaker 3 00:17:20 The more rock. It's cool to, it's cool to see that much different music in one Speaker 2 00:17:24 Bar. You know what I respect the four Bama the most for, is it back in the day when all the karaoke was happening real hot and all the line debts and all that stuff. Uh, BidList is pretty slow here for a while. And people said, y'all knew de karaoke you need to do this. And then they had these one man bands with electric drums. The bass already programmed in this and that. You need to hire them. They sound like a full band. Said, no, we do live music real need. Right. Gotta respect that. We're not gonna do that. And they held their guns. And of course that, that, that phase already cycled out. Yep. You know, so they held their guns and stayed true to what live music was. They said, no, we'll we'll go ahead and hire three musicians. One musician could sound like three with all of these toys, but that's not live. We, yeah. Speaker 3 00:18:13 No. Well, I mean, so many of those line dance bars that, like I knew there, there were tons that ate up a lot of the competition when they were, when they were hopping, but they're all gone. Yep. Nobody could, nobody could sustain a giant, you know, warehouse sized line dance bar after the nineties. Speaker 2 00:18:29 Yeah. And that's, you know, the, the typical bar they say you gotta change a name or remodel it every 7, 8, 9 years. Uh, Alabama doesn't have to. I like the one, it's like an institution. Yes. And there's several of 'em around. Tootsies doesn't have. Yep, yep. You know, you can get several of 'em. Don't have to do that. Fortunate, you know, enough to work at a place that won Speaker 1 00:18:49 Up. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. It has that roadside, honky tonk feel, but just on a grandiose scale, you know, so like, if it was too new, it'd almost lose some of its like shine, you know, <laugh>, Speaker 2 00:19:01 You don't wanna get it too nice. No. Speaker 1 00:19:02 Yeah. Speaker 3 00:19:03 Honestly, any, anytime I go into a bar and it's too nice or too new, it's like a ball cap. Yeah. You know, it's gotta be feel a little worn in for it to feel. Right. Speaker 2 00:19:12 At least you gotta be able to let your hair down a little bit. Speaker 1 00:19:14 Yeah. Yes. Speaker 2 00:19:15 You know, like the old saying, uh, you know, wipe your feet on the way out. Speaker 1 00:19:19 <laugh>. Yeah. <laugh>. You know, Speaker 2 00:19:21 When people come here, of course a lot of people come here to party 'cause they can't party at home. Right. Maybe 'cause of the occupation or something. Mm-hmm. And uh, that's the main reason why we've never done, uh, a reality show here. Yeah. They've been approached by everybody. Oh, I bet. From D Dynasty to hunting boo boo people to, uh, all those people do, to do a reality show here. And we say, no, we got, we respect people's privacy and Yes. And and I will tell you, after almost 29 years, I haven't seen that many fights here. Yeah, Speaker 3 00:19:55 That's Speaker 1 00:19:56 Great. That's break. Break. Speaker 2 00:19:57 You'll see a few with a couple young college guys, but it, it's just not that many amount of people come in here. Yeah. Everybody seemed to just get along with one another. Speaker 1 00:20:07 Well, I think you come to a place like this to escape from all of that craziness, you know, and if you're bringing that down here and making your night be that a, you're putting that on other people too. But b, you're gonna get kicked out of the poor Bama. Mm-hmm. Isn't that what you're gonna do? You know, <laugh>? Yeah. Speaker 2 00:20:24 Well, you know it. And that's a badge of honor. I've been kicked out Speaker 1 00:20:27 <laugh> Speaker 2 00:20:29 Back in the day, Speaker 1 00:20:31 <laugh>. Speaker 2 00:20:31 But I surprised I didn't lose my job. But I, you know, here's a good one. Uh, uh, Joe Gilcrest with one of the original owners, and he's not with us anymore. And that guy did so much for live music, but I was in the main bar one, one day before Hurricane Ivan when it sat on the ground and as a couple of big biker dudes, I mean, huge guys, uh, starting trouble, this is many years ago with a couple of my friends that are about my size, a little smaller. And, uh, and they were just drunk and belligerent. Well, anyway, so the owner come up and he grabbed my two friends and he hauls them outside and said, y'all are outta here. And they said, Joe, we're not the one that that was making the trouble. He said, I know, but you don't expect me to throw those two big guys out there, <laugh>. I said, come back tomorrow. He said, okay, <laugh>. Speaker 5 00:21:22 And then he Speaker 2 00:21:23 Was fine the rest of the night. Speaker 5 00:21:24 <laugh>, Speaker 2 00:21:25 You're Speaker 1 00:21:25 Like, I know, but I know you Speaker 5 00:21:27 <laugh> Speaker 2 00:21:27 Back in the day. Yeah. Speaker 5 00:21:29 <laugh> Speaker 1 00:21:30 Man. It's, uh, I could only imagine the stories that these walls could tell if they could tell stories. Speaker 5 00:21:34 <laugh>. Speaker 2 00:21:36 But 'em, I keep thinking, I'm gonna write a book one day with, from the musicians standpoint with, with a lot of musicians. It's, it's been good to a lot of people I've seen. And, and what's good about like, my stage is somebody wants to sing and they're just really not tore up bad. You know, I, I get up and sing most of the time and, and, uh, and and you have a lot of people do that. They're willing to help other people out. You know, you need a guitar, Hey, use mine. There you go. Other day. Oh man. And, and it's, it's not that there's not too many people play here that, oh, I ain't getting them up 'cause they're too good. I'll lose my gig. Yeah. Don't see. Yeah. And I mean, you shouldn't see that anywhere, I don't think. Speaker 1 00:22:19 I agree. Yeah, Speaker 2 00:22:20 They do some places, a lot of places. Yeah, they do. They do. But, but we try not to do it down here. It's a good Now if you got some drunk idy out there wanting to get up, and then I can't get nobody up because then I'll have to get him up. You don't have that. Yeah. <laugh>. But, but usually it's a, it's, it's just a lot of fun. Course. Uh, you guys stand at the river house or Speaker 1 00:22:42 We are actually staying in a condo Speaker 2 00:22:43 Instead at a condo. Yep. But you go to that river house Yep. Across the road where all the musicians stay Yep. When they're playing. That's where you get educated. Three, four o'clock in the morning. Speaker 5 00:22:53 <laugh>. That's where you Speaker 2 00:22:55 Don't wanna do your podcast. <laugh>. Yeah. Speaker 5 00:22:57 <laugh>. Speaker 1 00:22:58 Yeah. That'd be a whole different kind of podcast. Oh Speaker 2 00:23:00 Yeah. A lot of his songs written at that place. At that table. Yeah. I mean, everybody stayed there from Hank Cochrane to, you know, just everybody ding Dillon over there. Some of the greats just over were writing songs and which I had my name on a few of them. <laugh>. Yeah. <laugh> Speaker 1 00:23:16 The Mailbox would be a little bit fuller, you know. Yeah. Speaker 5 00:23:19 <laugh>. Speaker 2 00:23:20 Right now all I do is write about making out with farm animal stuff, so <laugh>, but it's working pretty good. Hey, Speaker 1 00:23:26 That's what it's Speaker 5 00:23:27 About, <laugh>. Speaker 1 00:23:28 As long as Tracy Lawrence keeps booking you, you know. Yeah. <laugh>, Speaker 5 00:23:32 You know, Speaker 2 00:23:32 Thursday night that gig I did was for Riley. Great. Oh, yeah. Yeah. He left out that part for him, his road crew, <laugh>. But you know, Riley used to come up here and he was, I mean, 16 years old, get on stage and play with me and Yep. Um, red Clay strays are from here. Oh yeah. They're getting, they're starting to get, they got tons of buzz. Yep. Uh, I love their stuff. So a lot of guys that that, uh, that played here seem to be you getting cuts or getting record deal. Any other moments that, like artists that Grace the stager pass through and sang something with the, uh, gosh, there's been a bunch. And of course, you know, of course Kenny, you know. Yep. Uh, Kenny Cheney, he's, he did his big show down here and he'd get up and play some, and of course Jimmy Buffett's done that. Speaker 2 00:24:18 And, uh, you know, John Ridge to here, here, not too bad, far a long ago, but just a bunch of people that, that come in and say, Hey, can we just, can we just play pop up? You know? And they do and they do. Uh, and they love it. It's always fun because it's, I mean, I I'm only going to do, I'll, I'll do one and have so much fun. They do the whole set <laugh>, because I get to do cover songs that they never get. Yep. Yeah. I might throw one of theirs in. Right, right. Yeah. It's the band, you know, but Yep. But it's just a cool place for musicians to, to come and play and hang out. I, I'm very fortunate to be a part of it is, man, this is a fantastic establishment. I'm glad we kind of got to do this once we were here for a few days too, to like kind of get a lay of the land, get to see part of what makes this place so special. Speaker 2 00:25:08 Yeah. There's a lot to it. Yep. There's a lot to it. Well, I need to hear you play again. Yeah. <laugh>. We'll have to get you puff. So if gonna be here Friday, you get up and play with me. I wish we'd be here Friday. I gotta play back in Nashville front, but, yep. Well see. You got, you're making big money then. Oh, <laugh>. No, I probably make about 50 bucks less than I made last time. <laugh> <laugh>. It's usually that works. Yeah. I, but, but you don't have to carry your gear four blocks, so. Well, that's true. That's nice. Well, I, I tell you, against the crowd around here, it seemed like, uh, you gotta do that from time to time, but, um, that's a good problem to have. Oh, yeah. Crowded in Nashville or here any place. Yes. Any if, if there's a crowd, I'm happy. Speaker 2 00:25:47 Yeah. I get, Hey man, I appreciate you guys letting me be on your show. We appreciate you for, uh, we're happy on with us. And I put my pants back on now. Absolutely. Yeah. Pants are allowed after the camera turns off. <laugh> World Camera <laugh>. Well, thank you so much down here. Yeah. We appreciate you stopping out on your day off and everything and come by and doing this for us, man. And we can't wait for you to be playing during the weekend. We're doing the takeover too. Well, good. Well, next time, uh, you're down here, let me know ahead of time and Absolutely. Get together a cocktail or something. That's great. Absolutely. Thank you guys. I appreciate it. Thank you. Louder Speaker 6 00:26:21 Than life. September 21st through the 24th in Louisville with fighters. Ed Sevenfold got smack. Lynn Bizkit, Panera, queen of the Stone Age, Weezer Mega Turnstile, and many more. Get your passes on sale now at louder than life festival com. Speaker 1 00:26:50 And we are back with our next guest, Mr. Steve Powers, who is the media manager here at Flo Alabama. Welcome to the podcast, Steve. Thank Speaker 8 00:26:57 You. It's a pleasure to be on with you guys early as I'm a fan. I've been into your stuff for a long time, but I, I just gotta, I wanna be honest with you, how many guests did you have on before me and why am I so far down the list? <laugh>, what was that about? Did Big Earl set that Speaker 1 00:27:10 Up? Well, you, you're just, you're number two after Big Earl, you know, <laugh> Speaker 8 00:27:15 Not a bad spot today. Yeah, yeah. Not Speaker 1 00:27:16 A bad spot. You'll Speaker 8 00:27:17 Only join the blue Alabama. Oh Speaker 1 00:27:18 My gosh. So amazing. Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 3 00:27:20 It might be my new favorite bar. Yes. Got to play last night out on the, uh, the 10th stage Speaker 8 00:27:25 In the, the tent. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Yeah. Speaker 3 00:27:27 And had a, had a blast, I guess. You know, somebody canceled. I Speaker 1 00:27:30 Figured. It's just, I've Speaker 3 00:27:31 Heard about this place for years. I've, I, so I've wanted to play here and I figure somebody says, Hey, you wanna play here while you're already here? Yeah. You can't really say no to that. Can't Speaker 8 00:27:39 Say no to that <laugh>. That's what I love about the, the Bama though, the different stages. Right. If you, if you're in the tent room, you know, six, 700 standing room only in there, and then the complete opposite up in the main room, quiet, sit down. Oh. You know, and that's, that's, I I think the floor Bama and customers learned how to respect music through Joe Gilchrist and the Frank Brown Songwriters Festival. Yeah. Because they understand that if you're in that room in the main room, you're, you're there with the respect for the artist. Mm-hmm. Right. And so even when they're not singing a song, it's, it's quiet in there. It's a different vibe. It's a different feel. And then down the stairs into the dome where the bras are. Yeah. <laugh>. I mean, it was just, and then a beat stage. Yep. You know, and two stages across the street. That's what I was amazed with when I got here, is just how many bands are booked a year. Oh yeah. It's crazy. It's crazy. Speaker 3 00:28:27 It's awesome the number of stages y'all have running at the same time and st and pull it off. Yeah. I mean, I see bars on Broadway that have three stages going and they can't keep track of them. Yeah. Speaker 8 00:28:36 It's a hell of a hell of a team we have here. You Speaker 3 00:28:38 Got, it's impressive. It really is. Speaker 8 00:28:39 Well, I'm glad you're all here. Speaker 1 00:28:40 Absolutely. Yeah. We, we, you know, ran through, got to meet a lot of folks, and like Eli said, I think that's one of the things that you guys have in spades is a really good people. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you know, you guys have surrounded yourselves by an amazing team, people that understand your guys' business, that are good representations of your brand, and also are at the end of the day, fun and exciting people. Yeah. Speaker 8 00:29:00 It, it's, it's cool when you walk in here as a customer and go, wow, it's, it's, it really is just an old honky tonk bar, you know? But then I, I've been here a couple of years now and it's still eye-opening to me how, what a well-oiled machine this is to, to make all of these things happen. You know, you get close to 500 employees in season at this place and it's, it's amazing what the team does. There's no doubt. Yeah. Speaker 3 00:29:22 Yeah. I tell you, everybody I've talked to that works here has been super nice, super helpful, you know, on it. Yeah. You don't always get that. No. Yeah. But I'm betting here. You probably do. No, Speaker 1 00:29:32 You, Speaker 8 00:29:32 You do. And I, I think that's another, you know, point I, I kind of wanted to make, I I was at iHeartRadio for about 25 years. Yeah. Speaker 8 00:29:41 It was great. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but it was corporate. Yeah, yeah. Right. And, and there's, there's good and bad to both. There really is. But when I got here, I, I was here two months and we actually had a retirement party in the tent. The woman who had worked here 42 years. Wow. She worked here 42 years, and they had a big retirement party. It was free for all the employees. There was food, there was drink. It was a big celebration. And the biggest takeaway I had was in 25 years at iHeart, I never saw a retirement party. It didn't happen. Yeah. Yeah. And so that culture changed that difference to going, you know, you see John and Cam and Pat the owners daily pretty much around here. I was Speaker 1 00:30:20 Talking to one of your bartenders out there, Stephanie, she said she had a baby shower here. Speaker 8 00:30:24 Oh yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. Baby shower, I think, I think we've had a celebration of life. Weddings, proposals, divorces, probably. Right. Uh, we've awarded a gold congressional medal in the main room upstairs. It's amazing to, uh, just an, an incredible individual. One of the original Merrill's marauders, uh, from like 1945. It's a great story. Uh, but they actually awarded him the Congressional Gold medal, and he, he, he wasn't gonna accept it on his own. He said, I'll, I'll accept it on behalf of all the other marauders here, you know, so that was really cool. And then, uh, commander Ben from the Blue Angels came in one day and said, I'm retiring. Here's my flight suit. Speaker 1 00:31:08 That's cool. Wow. Speaker 8 00:31:09 Oh, okay. Uh, so we put it up in the main room, shadow, box it up, and had a really cool ceremony that we ran down his career, all his accomplishments. A blue angel twice now, he's finally gonna retire. His family was there. So, yeah. You name it, it's happened to the floor, Allen, for sure. Yeah. Speaker 1 00:31:25 So Alice is a special, special place, and it's, it, like you said, it's kind of that road-side honky tonk vibe, but on the best beach in the United States, <laugh>, the sand is beautiful. The weather's gorgeous. You know, it doesn't rain too much, and when it does, it's usually quick flying over not too long. Yeah. Speaker 8 00:31:44 <laugh>. Yeah, it's very good. I had a buddy come in this past weekend from Miami, south Miami, and I, I kept saying, we gotta try our beaches here. And he is like, or I'm in South Miami, uh, the beaches. I said, just wait, just wait. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And so we walked out there and he was like, damn, <laugh>. Yeah. This is pretty, Speaker 1 00:32:01 You guys were right. Yeah. This is pretty good. Speaker 8 00:32:03 Really good stuff. Yeah, it's great. It's, it's such a great place and what we're doing now is one of my favorite things to do. Yeah. I just watch people. Yeah. You know, <laugh>, Speaker 1 00:32:11 It's great. And that's, that's one of the great things about it too, is you'll see families come in here during the day and, you know, you'll have live music that they can take a part of and see, you know, catch catch their, uh, breath from the sun out on the beach, you know, mom and dad can grab a, a Laura Bama mixed drink, you know? Absolutely. One of these beautiful things out here. Grab some food. And then you're feeding the people to have memories of the Florida Bama even before they're here, 18 21, 30 plus, you know, when they're making their own vacations down here. It's a, it's a super cool thing to see it. Speaker 8 00:32:44 Everybody's got a story who has been here, whether it's your first time here or the 10th time you were here, or the time you got kicked out, or whatever it is. Right. Everyone's got a floor Alabama story. And that's what I love so much about it. I run Floyd Member Radio for us. Yeah. Right. And we run it right outta here. Yep. And you look for, you know, when you're doing radio show you're looking for content Ew. And look at the content. Hell yeah. We have here, you know, we do a lot of live recordings from the stages and feature those on floor Bammer radio as well. And it's just, it, it's been really, really cool to see that one grow too. That's, yeah. Awesome. Yeah. Speaker 1 00:33:15 It's a, it's a thing too, like, I had a little radio show, not extensively like you did, but, uh, just, you know, a Sunday night editorial show back in Pittsburgh and it's, uh, it's interesting running the radio show and kind of trying to keep people entertained, but the, the live aspect's even different. So, and, uh, trying to make that good content, like we've done live podcasts in the past. Yeah. Trying to make a good content for a live crowd, but also good content for a crowd on the airwaves. Yeah. Is, is a thing. That's definitely always been something I've like focused on when I've been doing that, is like trying to figure out a way to make that work. Right. Speaker 8 00:33:47 Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Right. What else? Y'all got planned while you're here? Bama? Not Speaker 3 00:33:50 A lot. You're, Speaker 8 00:33:51 You're there. You're both drinking, so that's good. Speaker 1 00:33:53 Yes. Yeah, we're doing great. Yeah. <laugh>, Speaker 8 00:33:54 It's pretty cool to be able to drink, do a podcast. Oh, no. Speaker 1 00:33:57 Well, Speaker 3 00:33:58 Nicky gets me and a couple buddies in for one about every other week. Yeah. And we're drinking beer the whole time. Yeah. Yeah. So there's been a couple of 'em where by the end it's like, hi, Mike. Yeah. <laugh>. Speaker 1 00:34:09 I'm like, y'all need Uber's home. Yeah. <laugh>, I know it's only 4:00 PM but Yeah. <laugh>, Speaker 3 00:34:14 Somebody's getting a ride home with one of the other guys. Yeah, exactly, Speaker 1 00:34:18 Man. That's one of the things that I think that I love. It's like Florida ba and Ray Rowdy are both kind of the same thing. Like we're agree, it's good people, um, having a good time and enjoying live music and country music. Yeah. Yeah. Not just country, but all kinds of genres. And that's one of the things we've ventured into in the raise rowdy world, is covering stuff that's not just country, but our heart and our roots are in that country world. Speaker 8 00:34:41 I, I think, I think people naturally gravitate to country music because the songs are written about life and Yes. And if you're down here, it's instantly relatable. There Speaker 3 00:34:50 Are, it's hard not to find, you can't not find a country song to relate to. Right, Speaker 8 00:34:54 Right. And, and that draws people to the format. But at the same time, working iHeart for years, uh, we ran across a lot of artists mm-hmm. <affirmative>, and, and I can tell you that 95% of the ones in the country format are just good people. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, they just want to hang out. You go backstage and have fun with, you know what I mean? It's, they Speaker 3 00:35:13 Seem like regular people. Exactly. Like you, you hang out and it feels like you're hanging out with a buddy and not like a rock star. Speaker 8 00:35:18 Yes. I, I love the fact that let's just, let's say ri Green for example, right. Riley. Incredibly talented. Yeah. Great songwriter. Yep. Um, Riley years ago, before anybody knew who Riley was, was one of the people who played on a, on the beach out there. Mm-hmm. And he'll tell you the story. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you know, there's a hundred people at the most, but he still comes here. Yeah. Still wants to come back to the floor. Ba he still, you know, whether it's to hang or a shore, whatever it is, this place just draws people. Oh, yeah. You know, and, and that's why we want to expose it to as many, you know, country artists as we can. So we appreciate you guys doing this. Of course. This is also, I like the partnership of it, right? Yes. Se supporting Oh yeah. Music supporting songwriting. Yep. That's really good. Speaker 1 00:35:59 And we are gonna have a lot of people that we talk to that are gonna be coming down for our takeover in September, that it's gonna be their first time playing. And we're mixing that with other folks Yep. That have had this as, you know, one of their homes for years. Yeah. So it's, it's gonna be super cool, especially like having them in the same band house. You know, you'll have like, all right, this is how this works. And like, we don't have to do that 'cause we're not over there <laugh>, you know? Right. But we have other friends who are all kind of like a tight-knit family that are like, all right, here's how the band house works. Right. If you wanna sleep, here's the time what you should do. Speaker 8 00:36:28 So the river house is really cool. Um, that's where a lot of the musicians do stay. It's right across the street. Speaker 1 00:36:33 Yeah. Speaker 8 00:36:34 Uh, but the coolest thing that happens is when everybody gets done here, you know, at two in the morning, and we as customers are going, I'm ready to go home and call it at night. Well, the musicians are not, man. It's two in the morning, we just got done playing the set. Gotta do something. Yes. Yeah. And so it turns into some of the coolest moments when you have songwriters and guitars and you're all in the same house, and it becomes the past, the guitar around. Yeah. You know, and it turns every into great songwriting and collaboration. It's amazing. Yeah. Amazing place for sures. Speaker 1 00:37:02 And it's funny, like I have, uh, had friends that have been coming down here for a while, and every time they come back there's another amazingly great and funny story, you know? Yeah. Then it's just all like the other people that they ended up running to that weekend, some of which they know, some of which they knew after the weekend, you know? Exactly. And just kind of getting to get your feet wet and getting to meet more people. And if you're specifically, if you're sharing a house with folks, you're gonna have time to spend with them, you know? Do you want to or not? Yeah. Yeah. So it's, it's an interesting thing. I remember hearing stories about Charlie Argo and the, uh, the styrofoam cups and putting his thumb through the bone of styrofoam cups one night. You know, just silly things like that. <laugh> an a-hole movement, isn't it? Yeah, absolutely. Speaker 8 00:37:46 Sounds like something Billy would do, actually. Billy <inaudible> one of our mods. Speaker 1 00:37:50 But, uh, it's just silly stuff, you know, like, and um, just the stories that you hear from here and then getting to come experience this, it's like, okay, yeah. I get it now. And I'm super thankful to get to be here and get to have a fun weekend where we're doing the takeover of the lineups with you guys. Speaker 8 00:38:09 I'm looking forward to September for sure. Yeah, I am. How many artists are we talking about for this? So Speaker 1 00:38:13 We're probably gonna have, uh, we're gonna have eight slots or 10 slots, um, some of which are guys that you guys have had play in the past. Sure. But a lot of those slots, what we're gonna do is we're gonna have two or three people up on the stage at the same time. Sure. And then we're probably gonna have more people jump up and play. So Speaker 8 00:38:30 That's such a cool, I love that format of the love, the tar pole. It's just nothing better. Speaker 3 00:38:34 Yeah. So far. Speaker 1 00:38:35 Yeah. And then we have, of course our buddies that are gonna do the, the more Yeah. The songs that everybody knows, some of which might be theirs, most of which won't be, you know, <laugh>. Yeah. Right. And then, uh, and then, you know, the early stuff in the day will be more of that singer songwriter vibe. Be Speaker 8 00:38:49 Cool. You're not mentioning many names. I don't know if that's intentional or not. It is. Is it intentionally you're Speaker 1 00:38:54 Not mentioning? Yeah, we are. Well we are in the process of booking that. I know Speaker 8 00:38:58 This. Speaker 1 00:38:58 Um, <laugh>, one of the things, uh, so I'll tell you a couple folks that we have coming down that we're really excited about. There's two girls in town that we have confirmed. One girl's named Shelby Ray. Okay. And Shelby's from South Carolina. She moved up to Nashville under a year ago. And wait until you hear her sing, she has one of the biggest voices Matter too. Absolutely. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. So she is pretty new to Nashville and really, really talented and hasn't played here before. So I'm super excited to have her play. Good. Yeah. Good. And then another girl, Cassidy Daniels Cassidy is in a trio called July Moon. I'm not sure if we're gonna get the whole trio here. Yeah. But, um, we're gonna have her play here and it'll be her first time playing here as well. So two people that we believe in a lot, um, that I know are gonna be playing for the first time down here as well, Speaker 8 00:39:43 To give them that chance and that opportunity. I mean, it, it helped, it helps careers. Yeah. Right. Oh, yeah. What you're doing helps careers. Yep. Playing at the Flo Alabama helps careers. Yep. It, it, there's, there's, you can wear a Flo Alabama shirt anywhere in the world and people are gonna go, oh man, I was there and I remember it. Right. Yep. Speaker 3 00:40:00 Or, I was there and I remember some of it. I Speaker 8 00:40:02 Remember some of it. Yeah. There's always that too. But it's that, that's one of the things I love, you know, when you bring a musician through here, it, I, I guess, I guess I would say it just kind of solidifies their, their choice in life to be a, to be in music. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Yeah. To be a artist. I mean, 'cause that's not always an easy road. There Speaker 3 00:40:22 Are some venues that make you go, yeah, this is what I should be doing. This is right. Yes. And, you know, if you're playing a, a room with, you know, a bad pa and a crowd that doesn't care Yeah. It's hard to feel like, yeah, this is what I'm supposed to be doing time. Yeah. It's true. It's true. But you get somewhere like this and it's just, it's rewarding. It's fun, you know, it's, it's easy. Yeah. You, you just have a good time. Speaker 8 00:40:45 You're playing in front of the right people. They're all, yeah. They're all fans of music. Yeah. And I I I I love that. I love that we still get the caliber of artists that we get. Yes. Um, I've Speaker 3 00:40:56 Been really impressed. Great. Everybody I've heard Hass just been great. Yeah. Yep. Speaker 8 00:40:59 Yeah. And that's the cool thing too, so you can walk by the tent and we did this over the weekend when Omar was here, buddy from Miami, and, and we walked by the tent and there was reggae coming out of the, the tent. Yep. It was like country guy. I said, no, no, no. That's what floor band is about. Right. It can be country, it could be classic rock, it can be reggae. There's, I mean, these artists are so talented and get to do whatever songs they want, what, how, however they want to entertain the crowd. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Or you could go to the big, big girl side of things. Oh yeah. And offend ev you know, somebody every five minutes. Yeah. <laugh>. That's what I would say about Speaker 3 00:41:31 Houston. But in a fun way. In a fun Speaker 1 00:41:33 Way. Yeah. Yeah. They're happily offended. Yeah. <laugh>. They are. Yeah. Speaker 8 00:41:37 You know, and I, I love, I love going to a Big Girl show and bringing people who hadn't been there before and watching them. Oh yeah. That, that to me is just, it is amazing. I, and Speaker 1 00:41:47 I, I think that's one of my favorite things about it too, is like you see big girl and he is having the best time and he knows exactly what he is doing, but he is also having the best time himself while making everyone around him having the bitch of that. Yeah. And there's something to be said for that. If you're doing something you love, you're happy and you're making everyone else around you happy. He Speaker 8 00:42:05 Said, uh, he said the other day, this, this year it'll be 29 years, Jordan. Speaker 1 00:42:10 It's crazy. Speaker 8 00:42:11 Yeah. He's good enough. We actually gave him his own show on Floor Member Radio. That's awesome. Friday at noon. Really? His dive bar cafe. Speaker 3 00:42:17 I'll be tuning in feed Speaker 1 00:42:18 A second. Speaker 8 00:42:19 Yeah, absolutely. We do some great stories and he's got some stories. Speaker 1 00:42:22 Oh yeah. He gave us a couple of the PG 13 ones. Yeah. Alright. Yeah. PG version. Yeah. We got the PG 13 ones. We said, don't go too far, are you <laugh>? Speaker 3 00:42:30 But we also got to talk with him while he was on break the other night. Yeah. We got a few of, Speaker 1 00:42:34 Little bit of the, yeah. Slightly more than PG 13 <laugh>. But it's such a special place. And honestly too, like getting to see some of like the inner workings and you, the production rooms and like how much of a full establishment this is. You guys have almost everything you need in-house. Probably everything you need in-house, you know, money counters, you have the production room, you have, uh, the room that hella all the bottles of alcohol that route through the entire freaking now Speaker 3 00:43:02 That's my favorite room. Speaker 1 00:43:03 Crazy. That's is it. That's so cool. Super cold. Speaker 8 00:43:06 That's called the Berg System. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And it has, um, it's, it's done a couple of things for us really. I, if if, if you guys come in and I'm your bartender, I'm probably gonna pour a little Abby, right? Yep. 'cause you're my buddies with the system. It's not, that's not how it works. Yeah. You hit the button, it gives you the ounce and a quarter. Speaker 1 00:43:24 Right? Yep. That's Speaker 8 00:43:25 Great. And it rings up on the register, so that kind of saving money because over pours at bars, you can talk to bar owners all day and Oh yeah. Yes. That's why we have a camera watch it, right? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And so it keeps that in check for sure. In the main room, we still free pour mm-hmm. <affirmative> because customers who have been here 40 years, they don't want some gon want me some liquor, you know what I mean? Yeah. But I think that part of it, and then the bigger bottles we can buy that go up on the wall mm-hmm. <affirmative>, tinders don't want to handle the, the big bottles that handles, you know, but we undo that in there. Yeah. And so yeah. Just a, just a cool system. Um, and I, I think it's been 11 years now that that's been in place. Wow. Speaker 1 00:44:00 Yeah. So neat. Yeah. And just seeing in the room and you're like, whoa. <laugh>. Speaker 8 00:44:05 You know, originally it had doors and nobody knew it was behind there. Yeah. You're like, no, no, no, no. Put some glass. Speaker 1 00:44:09 Oh, I, I'd put Speaker 3 00:44:10 That, I'd put that thing in the middle of the whole bar with glass Speaker 1 00:44:13 Round, that whole thing. <laugh>. Speaker 8 00:44:14 Yeah. It start a Speaker 3 00:44:15 Drinking game, like watch and go down. Yeah. Speaker 1 00:44:17 It Speaker 8 00:44:17 Catches a lot of people's eye for sure. Alright. Speaker 1 00:44:20 Everybody ordered rum, everybody the <inaudible>. Speaker 8 00:44:23 Yeah. You know, during, during mullet toss, that room is, there's almost somebody in there 24 7. Just roll. I mean, just, you know, mullet toss, just Yeah. So busy. Y'all need to make plans to do that too. It's, I know, Speaker 1 00:44:34 We, we, Davis mentioned that too. We were chatting with him. He's like, man, we gotta get you guys down here to see that. Just, just like come out, see it, see what happens, watch the debauchery and everything. Uh, tell us a little bit about that for people that haven't been here for it. Speaker 8 00:44:49 So the Molet tos started, uh, I wanna say it's 38 or 39 years ago. Um, it was Pat McClellan, one of the original owners. And by the way, pat is such an incredible man and so generous and so creative. Right. He's the one who came up with the polar bear dip, you know, that we do mm-hmm. <affirmative>, uh, you know, with the, with the mullet toss. And we actually execute about 150 events a year here. So the mullet tos started with them sitting around talking about, uh, I think there was a guy, one of the guys went from Texas and he said, what do you do for fun? He is like, we throw cow chips in Texas. He's like, well, we should, we should throw fish here. And, and so that's how it started. Pat tells the story. Great. He's like, the, the first year was was three of us. Speaker 8 00:45:34 The second year there was 300 <laugh>. The third year there's 3000 people. Wow. And that's really, that's really it, right? You're throwing a mullet across the state line as far as you can <laugh> and it's simple. Yeah. But it, it, there's so many things about the floor. Rabbi I love, number one, you stand in line and you pay $15 to throw fish and get your t-shirt and the floor, the floor Rabbi keeps none of that money. Every single event that we do, we write checks afterwards to organizations, local organizations. And it's a big check after Mullet off, right? That's right. And so we always try and, and that's how Pat McClellan and Joe Gilchrist really built this place. And John and Cam continue to do the same thing. You gotta be a part of the community. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> right. You, you have to be and we support so many things. It's, it's unbelievable to me. So, you know, when I had the opportunity to come here, I was like, absolutely. And I always say, I should have done this 10 years ago. Yeah. <laugh> this just, you know, I wouldn't have paid so much for the house as we did. Yeah. <laugh> Speaker 1 00:46:36 10 years <laugh>. Yeah. Sure. Where did you, uh, move from? Speaker 8 00:46:40 So, I'm originally from Montana. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> lived in Idaho a while. Um, was with Clear Channel j o Radio at that point. It was like, need to send you somewhere, find a place. And I was like, I don't know. They, they threw some out and Pensacola came out and I was like, I'd never been there. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So they, you know, when you, when you had a job interview and they want you to work there, they go, Hey, we're gonna put you up on the beach for a week. Just come out and hang out and see. It was like, well, that's a no brainer. Right. <laugh>, that's easy. Moved to mobile. Uh, started in mobile in oh four and then, uh, worked there until two years ago. So originally from the west, but love it out here. I've been here since 1999. Yeah. You know, with the, the kids and the family. So it's, it's a great place to be for sure. Yeah. Anywhere on the Gulf Coast, but right here on the beach is really Hell yeah. It's really, that's to be. Yeah. Speaker 1 00:47:29 This beach is, like I said, it's, I think it's the best beach I've ever been to. I mean, being a, from the north and a, you know, we'd go to those East coast beaches and Jersey Shore and stuff like that. It is not like this, you know, it's great. Don't get me wrong. But the beaches are not like the beaches. Speaker 8 00:47:45 Yeah. 32 miles of 'em here. So we, we got plenty of it. It's pretty Speaker 1 00:47:48 So beautiful. Speaker 8 00:47:49 And then our tourism, Gulf Shores, orange Beach, tourism, Perdido Key, all of them do pen Pensacola. They all do such an incredible job of showcasing what we have here. Mm-hmm. And at the same time, being respectful that you're here and leave only footprints. Right. It's don't, and, and people seem to get it. People seem to get it because they want it to be in the same, you know mm-hmm. <affirmative> condition next time they come back and enjoy the same thing. Speaker 3 00:48:17 I've been really impressed by how clean the beach is here, because almost any beach I've been to, I mean, you're, you're not wa through trash, but it kind of feels like it. Yeah. And some of them in this one. Yeah. It's just spotless clean beach. Yep. Speaker 1 00:48:31 Beautiful. And we, we popped down to Pensacola Beach, uh, like right before we came here too. Just like, grab lunch and, uh, the beach is there. Beautiful too. That was pretty nice. Free parking. And it's just, there's just so many areas around here that are just understand what they have and how to keep people happy. Yeah. Yeah. And I absolutely love that. Speaker 8 00:48:50 Something we look forward to twice a year is the Blue Angels, you know, they're at N A s Pensacola, that's where they're at. And so they give us two shows a year. Um, the second weekend in July is always on Pensacola Beach. So you know where the water tower is? Yeah. Right out there in front. In front. They, they do the entire show there. It's, and then they have, you know, some other civilian aircraft. They show Coast Guard rescues. It's a full air show, which is awesome. And to see the blues flying, you know, over the water. And it's, I've seen 'em in a lot of places, photos, you know. Yeah. But there's something about, Speaker 3 00:49:23 Oh, they're incredible. They're, they really are Speaker 8 00:49:25 Incredible. Then they do the show in November on the base, which is great. 'cause they'll have all the static displays where you can walk through and see the planes and Yeah. But they get it too. They're, they're part of the community. You'll see 'em out all the time. Like, like Commander Ben is flight suits in the main room. Yep. You know, they're just good people. So I love Ben Scola Beach for that reason. And a lot of others too. But that's fine. Yeah. Speaker 1 00:49:43 So if you were giving one phrase to tell people why they need to come to the Flora Bama, what would you say? Speaker 8 00:49:51 Wow. Uh, so you can relate to everybody else who has been here. Yeah. And share stories. Yeah. You know, because that's really the thing. You can come in here, sit at the main bar, not know who you're sitting by. And in 15 minutes you're making plans for the next time you're in town and let's get Right. And so people talk to each other here. Um, we, we don't have really good wireless here for a reason. Yeah. You know, we, we want people to talk to each other. We want that situation. So I would say that because you'll be able to wear a floor Bama shirt, sit on a plane, and somebody, I guarantee you will say, when were you there? You know, Speaker 3 00:50:31 I probably met 15 to 20 people just yesterday. Yeah. Who either are now planning on coming back when we're back here in September, or wanna see if they can, or they're like, Hey, we're gonna be in Nashville sometime. We gotta hang out. I'm like, of course we're gonna hang out. We got Flo Bama in common. Like, Speaker 8 00:50:48 We have to hang out. We have to hang out. So, yeah, that, that's a great question. 'cause there's so many things, right. You could say, oh, you gotta get a bush whacker. Well, that's one thing. But, but the experience that, that I think, you know, is provided when you get to the Flo Bama with all the elements and things that are going on with it, that, that make the experience what it is. And that's, it's really special. It is, Speaker 1 00:51:08 Man. Thank you so much for sitting down with us and appreciate being some time. Absolutely. I'm Speaker 8 00:51:12 A fan of you guys. I was like, Davis gal said, can you join him? I was like, yes, absolutely. I didn't get the invite for golf, but I got the invite for this <laugh>. So it's good. It's good you guys. I really appreciate being here. Thanks for being with the ba. If you need anything, you know, holler at us. Absolutely. Take care Speaker 1 00:51:27 Of it. Thanks. We appreciate you and we'll see you in September. Speaker 6 00:51:29 Louder than life. The biggest rock festival in America is back with the loudest lineup ever. Food fighters. Green Day Avenged Sevenfold got smack. Panera, queen of the Stone Age, the Biz plus Weezer. Mega Death. Turnstile, rancid falling in reverse. Three 11, Pierce the Veil. Run the Jewels. Cory Taylor. Co heated Cambria and so many more. 100 bands over four days in Louisville, Kentucky. September 21st through the 24th. Get your passes on sale now at louder than life festival com. Foo Fighters Green Day tool. A benched, sevenfold, Godsmack and more. The biggest rock festival in America. Louder than life. Speaker 1 00:52:29 Alright. And we're back again with our new guest co-host, Mr. Davis. Nicks Hey Davis has been on our podcast previously. Man, that was a while ago, wasn't it? Yeah, it was like Speaker 8 00:52:40 18 or 19. Speaker 1 00:52:41 Yeah. Crazy. 19 other boy, Chris Yao and Mr. Patrick Cross. What's up? Come welcome. Chilling <laugh> a good time. We, uh, we got to see you play yesterday, um, when y'all came out for a little bit. When that kid was like, really giving you crap for not knowing Conway Twitty. I was Speaker 7 00:52:57 Getting smoke Speaker 8 00:52:57 By like three eight year old. Speaker 1 00:52:59 Wait, wait, what happened? Speaker 8 00:53:01 Oh, dude, I'm, I'm some playing and, uh, it's a country bar. People want to hear country. I've got some country, but I'm like a walking latte most of the time. Yeah. Speaker 1 00:53:10 So you're John Mayer all day. They're, and Speaker 8 00:53:12 They're like, Hey, like, can you play? Uh, can you play some Keith Whitley? I'm like, man, I I don't know any Keith Whitley. I'm sorry. And he like, SCS at me <laugh>. Oh, Speaker 1 00:53:20 How old? How old is this kid? Oh, eight. Yeah. Seven, eight. Yeah. Speaker 9 00:53:24 And then like, already join in and like, I just lose control of Speaker 1 00:53:27 Groove Speaker 9 00:53:28 So fast. He's gonna be a great floor Bama customer when he gets older. Oh yes. Oh yeah. <laugh> then a, one of 'em walked right up. He's like, can I sing one with you? I'm like, well, we have two. You got 10 minutes left, let's roll. So he just popped up there, grabbed the mic, and Tim wrote what song we did. Speaker 1 00:53:40 That's great. Yeah. Set him booth for say Speaker 9 00:53:44 What? That's Speaker 1 00:53:44 What it's about. Yeah, it is, man. And all the other kids came to stage 'cause he saw like, like they saw him interacting with another kid. So like, they all blocked to the stage was super cool. Speaker 9 00:53:54 Yeah, man, it was a good time. Speaker 1 00:53:55 It, that was honestly like, that was one of my favorite moments of this weekend. I thi it, it's Speaker 9 00:53:59 Fun playing the, the early slots because you get, I mean, I love the rah rah, let's drink and holler and swallow and Yeah. But during the day it's like, it's a little bit different environment. Yeah. Speaker 1 00:54:09 It's fun. And they had that one little man that probably just learned to walk that was just waddling up to stage. He had this like, big belly on him, you know, I was like, it looked like he looked like his dad who drank beer all the time. You know, <laugh> Speaker 9 00:54:20 Got another good customer on the way. Speaker 1 00:54:22 Yes, it is. Waddling up the stage Speaker 9 00:54:25 Habit already. Speaker 1 00:54:26 Absolutely. Yeah. <laugh>. But man, uh, I wanted to have you guys on, because you guys, I mean, Davis of course I've known before I even, I came here and you're one of the reasons that we are down here, right. Partnering on the event, you know, September 16th and 17th weekend. But, uh, wanted to talk to some of the people that call this place home, man. So tell us a little bit about how you got to Florida Bama and Oh man. And some of the things that makes it special. Oh Speaker 9 00:54:49 Dude. Let's, let's go way back. I'll keep it short. So in 2013, I was a college kid down here on spring break. Uhhuh <affirmative>. And I was getting hammered off a couple like Mick Ultras, you know? Yeah. Dumb as you do. Was this guy playing? He had a big old jumbo guitar. Had a bunch of signatures on it. So at the end of the night, uh, I go up to him like, Hey, tell me about the guitar. So he chit-chatted for a minute. He is like, hi, I'm Wayne Mills. Uh, and we talked a little bit more. He invited me over to the river house, uh, played some guitar. Met Davis and a couple other guys, and forced Davis to be my best friend after that <laugh>. And you did. It was very uncomfortable. Yeah. <laugh> felt a little bit, felt a little bit. You warmed up to it. Speaker 9 00:55:26 Did. Um, and through that we moved up to Nashville. He moved down here, and then Covid hit, and I mean, I'm sure y'all are in Nashville, y'all understand the whole curfew thing? Oh yeah. It killed nightlife. Yep. In Montgomery. So had no shows. And for Bama was still open as a restaurant at the time. Yeah. So it's like, come on down, man. And so started playing and that's it, man. It's been here ever since. I love it. And he sang so well that we train him on spreadsheets. Yeah. <laugh>. Yeah. If you're so good at thinking you have such a promising career, <laugh>, how would you like to sit behind the scenes in an office? Yeah, <laugh> <laugh>. Speaker 1 00:56:03 But I think that's one of the neat things about this place too, is you see so many people that wear multiple hats. You see people that are like musicians are working the industry and like, or just like Davis, like, we got to see you play down here. And you said it was like your first gig in like a year and a half. You know, it's like, it's super cool to, to watch moments like that. We got to see Eli play for the first time down here, you know, all in one weekend. So it's like Yeah. He Speaker 9 00:56:24 Did a whole show. Yeah. Speaker 1 00:56:25 Yeah. He did a whole ass show too. Yeah. I killed Speaker 9 00:56:27 It too. Speaker 1 00:56:28 But it's, it's one of those places where it just, it feels low key, but also extremely well run. Right. Which I think is sometimes hard to do. You're either the vibe or you're on time. <laugh>. Yeah. And I think this place kind of does a really good job of like, alright, you're supposed to be on time, but also it's the vibe. And if you're not, we're gonna give you shit about it. But in a fun way, <laugh>. Yeah. Right. You can't mess up too much, but if you mess up a little, we'll just give you some crap about it. Yeah. You know? Yeah. And I think it's interesting, like, you know, running my own business and being like a guy that kind of helps with live events and stuff, you see all the details that it takes to make that stuff run successfully. So I know how much chaos there is in your day with this many performers and this much going on and this many people in and outta the building. But it runs like a well-oiled machine down here. Speaker 9 00:57:16 There's, there's so many variables. Yeah. And those are, those can be tough conversations with, with musicians that, you know, probably just don't even think about those variables. Yeah. And that's okay. 'cause they're not supposed to. Right. Yep. Uh, but it's really cool and all in the entertainment department, um, because you have, you know, Kurt Brewer run production, he used to be a musician, uh, and tour the road, you know, Patrick being a musician, uh, Paul's not a musician, but he is a connoisseur of music and like, is a big advocate for artists mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And like, one of the things we wanna do here is like, make sure that every artist, a musician that walks through here, feels like an honorary guest. Yeah. And like, gets the attention from us to make sure that we're doing whatever we can for 'em. Uh, but sometimes we can't fulfill everything because there's so many moving parts mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you know. But, um, yeah. I mean it's, it's, it's a legit honky tonk. It's legit roadhouse. Yes. You know, just the music is is the pivoting key Yes. Of all of it, you know. Yeah. Speaker 1 00:58:22 It's funny too, like, I've gotten to tour a decent chunk now of cool roadside honky tonks and iconic honky tonks in the southeast, and of course in the Midwest that I've been going to for years, but Right. This is one of the biggest that you've seen. You know, I've been to Coyote Joe's. This is bigger than that, you know, just Yeah. It's, especially if you consider the other side of the street too. Yeah. Right. And then also the amount of live music that you can get here at any time is wild. You know, different acts, different genres, different crowds of people. It's so cool to see this experience. Speaker 9 00:58:56 It's, it can be dangerous for the person who likes cold beer. Oh, yeah. Or bush whackers. These Speaker 1 00:59:00 Bushers are, you Speaker 9 00:59:01 Can do a 14 hour day of drinking <laugh>. Oh yeah. I have done it <laugh>. And the next day is not the nicest to you, but No, Speaker 1 00:59:08 Yeah. Speaker 9 00:59:09 I mean, there's, there's something for everybody. Um, you know, we'll, we'll have great country of music upstairs at night, and then we'll put like kind of an alternative band sometimes in, in there. And then we'll put like maybe, you know, like, um, um, a fucky or maybe a, a rock and roll or, or something out there, or maybe heavy country out there. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you know, but like you can walk across property and find something that you're like, yeah, I'm gonna sit down for this. Yep. Enjoy myself. And, uh, Speaker 1 00:59:38 All right. So mean, I'm sure you guys have some stories that you can't tell us, but what are some of the fun moments or someone popping in or, you know, just little moments even like this kids popping up, stuff like that, that have stuck in your head If through your time here that's Speaker 9 00:59:54 Oh, that, you're right. There are definitely some you can't tell. Right. So I'll try to think what could be. Yeah. Oh, this was a cool nights. So, uh, I, I mainly work with bands, but I also work with our engineers here as well. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and, uh, our, our setup in the tent. I mean, you have monitor world, like side stage, and you have front of house out there. And one thing I thought was really cool one night last summer, it's a testament to how good these guys are, is, uh, I think it was spot monkeys we had out there, and the lines they gave us to run the front of house, like stop working. Oh. We had no control from the front, like during the first song, like when we're sound checking, because we only get like 30 minute changeover. Right. So their solution to it was to put one of our engineers in the crowd and give hand signs to side stage engineer who was mixing it from the monitor <laugh> they were doing that. Speaker 9 01:00:50 It was working well. But then the fog machines kicked on <laugh> and blacked it out. And so they had to figure out something quick. I mean, the show started and we got like shoulder to shoulder out in tent. And what they figured out is they got a random bass player that was walking by to stand off to the side of the stage, and they crowd engineer would give him the signs and he would mimic 'em 90 degrees over <laugh>. How, how well did this game of, uh, telephone Helen Keller work or I, I mean, dude, we had Austin and Jordan on it or not hug us. She was flying What worked great. Yeah. Speaker 1 01:01:25 Oh, Austin and Jordan. New Speaker 9 01:01:26 Mix. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Speaker 1 01:01:27 But they passed on Speaker 9 01:01:28 The signs properly and it worked out. Oh. Oh. We got a system, man with chaos happening. Yeah. Right, right. Absolutely. That's, that's great. It's like you're doing like baseball signs. We, we thrive and, and, uh, really are proud of our teamwork efforts here. Absolutely. Absolutely. <laugh>. So that was a fun little thing that is PG inappropriate. Yeah. We can share. Yeah. Speaker 1 01:01:50 I mean, that's what this place is, man. It's like, it's family atmosphere and then sometimes it gets a little silly after dark, you know? Oh, yeah. But in the best way and like, like what we talked about and with some other folks earlier is like, you don't see a lot of fights here. You know, I'm sure there's some here and there, but comparable to how many people are in this establishment, it's very well, everybody wants to have a good time. <laugh>. Yeah. Which I think is a testament to the folks that you guys have here year in and year out, as well as the focus of what you guys have built with your team. You know, if you put friendly, fun, understanding people together, right. Then when someone gets a little outta line, they're gonna handle it in a way where you hopefully can get out of there without someone getting thrown on their head. <laugh> and it, Speaker 9 01:02:30 And it, and it happens. I mean, I, I remember, um, every third Thursday of every month, all the managers of the departments, I don't know how many departments and managers we have now, but I Speaker 1 01:02:42 Think Speaker 9 01:02:42 18 19 18 what department departments or something. And then probably like 40, 50 managers probably. I may have made that up. Yeah. Oh, we have a hundred departments and 4,000 managers. Right. <laugh>. So that's a more accurate one. <laugh>. But that being said, I remember, um, uh, the marketing team, like, uh, does a lot with like, reviews and looks at the reviews and puts together that, that data and the stats. And there was someone that was like, uh, gave like a five star, if I'm correct. Maybe, or maybe they called or left a note. But ultimately it was like, um, man floor man was great. Like, I got so hammered last night and got kicked out of there. But they were so nice to me when they were kicking me out <laugh>. And like, I'm gonna go back. You know? And it was just so funny to hear like, he was, he he was so very aware still Yeah. Being an asshole. Speaker 1 01:03:34 He's like, yep. I was up there. Speaker 9 01:03:35 They were so nice when they kicked me out. It was great. Like Speaker 1 01:03:40 What the, that's so funny. Yeah. Speaker 9 01:03:42 <laugh>. Speaker 1 01:03:42 Yeah. Why don't you talk about like, some of the folks too that you've seen Grace the stages here. Say Speaker 9 01:03:47 That again, I'm sorry. Some of the folks Speaker 1 01:03:48 That you've seen Grace the stages here over the years. Speaker 9 01:03:51 I mean, from John Party to Rally Green, to L King, to Kenny Cheney, to, uh, Jason Aldean, to Adam Hood, to Brent Cobb, to, um, Ella Langley, to Trey Lewis, to Mike in the Moon Pies to, uh, Nico Moon, to, uh, Luke Combs to, uh, how do I keep going? I mean, it's, um, Tanya, Tanya Tucker, um, uh, Jamie Johnson. I mean to, I mean it's name Speaker 1 01:04:24 Be from this area or not <laugh>. Speaker 9 01:04:26 Yeah. It's like, it's just, we, we probably, we we hit the alphabet. Yeah. Speaker 1 01:04:31 <laugh>. Yeah. It's, it's so insane to me to think about all of that, right. To think about a place like this that has this much history and this many people rolling through it. Good, bad, but mostly good, you know? Yeah. Yeah. And that's how it works. It's like, hey, the, the other stuff shakes itself out, but, and Speaker 9 01:04:49 It's not just, you know, uh, famous artists, you know, I mean, we have a lot of, um, quarterbacks or baseball player or whoever, you know, that love to come to the Alabama. Yep. Like, it's literally like, it, it's a place that you can count on for a good time. Yeah. You know, um, it's not like, you know, I don't wanna go over to Bob's place, man. It's just never like Right. You can everyone, there's, it spreads Yeah. It across the globe, right? I mean, you hear people with other brands, but particularly with Flo Bama, it's like, man, I was like hiking in Antarctica and ran into somebody that had Flo Bama hat. You know what I mean? Yeah. And like, you're just like, what? Uh, so yeah. It's, it's i's a strong brand and Speaker 1 01:05:36 Absolutely when you think of Flo Bama, you think of a good time and you think about live Speaker 9 01:05:40 Music, good time's a good music. I think that's our, uh, yeah. Yeah. And thing. Look at that. <laugh> we'll Speaker 1 01:05:47 Slow today. Speaker 9 01:05:47 How long you been working here, Patrick <laugh>? That's on my third day, man, two days. Good answer. Good answer. But Speaker 1 01:05:54 For me, it's like what we try to do in Nashville with Raise Rowdy is like, I always say, I'm like, what makes us different than everyone else? What makes it so when someone comes and plays our event, that they have a better time than they have playing someone else's event. Yeah. And I feel like you guys embody that here, you know? Right. And it's like, you want everyone, like you said, to feel comfortable, to feel like taken care of, to feel like they're a part of this thing. Right. And that's one of the things that I always strive for us to do in town in Nashville. So that's one of the things I'm most excited about, is like the legacy that you guys have had and that everyone talks about when they talk about this place is something that I hope eventually people will say about Raise your Audi events. And so that's why I'm super excited to partner with you guys on doing a weekend takeover here and get the freaking Speaker 9 01:06:43 That's gonna be a great weekend. It Speaker 1 01:06:44 Is. And can't wait to keep doing 'em from there. I'm, I'm sure it's gonna be successful enough. 'cause you guys of course are gonna come down here and hang with us. I'm Speaker 9 01:06:51 Gonna, I'm gonna have to dry out for, uh, a, a week or two after that event. Yeah. Speaker 1 01:06:56 Possibly. I would have to Speaker 9 01:06:56 Dry out after our hang here. This Yes. <laugh> this weekend Speaker 1 01:07:00 We've been having a lot of 3:00 AM days where we're just hanging out on the back porch talking, you know, oh, Speaker 9 01:07:04 I was about to go to bed and you were like, you want a cigar? And I was like, nah. Ah, whatever. Fuck Yeah. I'll take one. Yeah. As well. Okay. Yeah. Is that all the, the harm twisting it Speaker 1 01:07:15 Took? Oh, that's it. I'm honestly, like, I'm not that good at talking people into stuff, but I am that good at talking people into stuff. I'm just like, alright, well that's cool. Speaker 9 01:07:24 Well, and like, he's like, uh, anybody, you know, anybody want a cigar dish? You want a cigar? And like, he just left and went inside and grabbed the whole box. <laugh> who? Speaker 1 01:07:34 Uh, crown Heads. Yeah. So we're sponsored by a company based outta Nashville Crown Head Cigars. So they sponsor our writers around in town. Yep. And man, they're great company. The owner John, um, had previous roots in cigar business in the sales world, and then he worked for c a o for a while and then he started his own thing when C A O left Nashville. Oh, that's awesome. Man. They're great. They're premium cigars. We are super excited to be partnered with them and have been since our writer's round started, which is, uh, you know, coming up on three years, which is great. That's Speaker 9 01:08:03 Awesome. That's, yeah. Speaker 1 01:08:04 Cool. And, uh, our good friends are very good friends and people that have supported us before we really knew what we were doing, but John was like, man, I see it. You guys just gotta keep working on it. I see. See what you're doing. Keep pushing. I, this reminds me of me when I started this thing. So it's cool to have people that believe in you and that are supportive of you as a business person. And I haven't got to see John a ton 'cause he basically works nine to five and I wasn't in Nashville for a while and then it was Covid and he has a daughter. Right. But, uh, we keep in touch a good bit and buddies with some of his reps too, Wes specifically. And man, it's funny because I was buying Crown Head Cigars way before I was partner with them, <laugh>. Oh, that's cool. But that works out. Yeah. Crazy story with that actually is like, I, uh, we made these hats that said, brunt rower don't go nice. You know? 'cause pre covid, we were pretty snobby about where we sat, you know, <laugh>. Right, right. I was like, I mean, I gotta be up front or I'm like not going, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Now I'm like, just happy to be here. I'm just happy that there's some Speaker 9 01:09:02 Music, you know? Right. Speaker 1 01:09:04 But, uh, we made those and John's wife is like that. She's like, yeah, if we're not like right up front, like, I'm good. I don't want to go. So he saw those hats on Dome Head Wear's like page, they shared it and he's like, I need these. Like, where do I get 'em? And he was like, dude, they made 36 of these hats, you know, <laugh>, because that's where we were, you know, we were like just starting. So we made 36 Brent right now. Yeah. He was like, well, you gimme two. I'm like, yeah, like you're Crown Head cigars. Like, but that week before, uh, Derrick hit me up, uh, I had bought three Crown Head cigars. I went and bought six cigars and three of 'em were crown's heads. So like That's great. It just, so like karma kismet, like nature taking over and Right. Things that you're like, wow, you know, <laugh> Yeah. It's meant to be. Yeah. So it's super neat and, uh, we haven't talked about this, but we have a Crown Heads raise, rowdy collab hat that we got coming out. So that's all I'm gonna say about it. I'm not sure exactly what we're gonna get 'em, but Yeah. Speaker 1 01:10:06 Uh, that's pretty cool for us, me being a big cigar guy as well as Matt, like I'm my business partner and, uh, a saying that we frequently say, um, that we kind of got from Crown Heads, we're gonna start a start a hat, 144, this colorway. At least that's the only ones we're ever gonna make. So we're gonna make 144 of this batch. Wow. The next batch, if we do it again, there'll be at least different colors, possibly different designs. Yeah. Because that's what John does with his headwear is he makes 144, sometimes 2 44, and that's all he'll make. Well, Speaker 9 01:10:40 Well save me one. Gotcha. Or yeah, I'll just come over because Yeah. <laugh>, I've, I've only, uh, been a part of two, uh, cigar, cigar hangs this year, and both of 'em have been with you. Heck yeah. And it was when we initially kind of talked about Yep. The s September thing. Yep. And then last night. Yep. And so, yeah. Speaker 1 01:11:00 Oh, I'm happy to share cigars to you specifically. Great Crown Head cigars. Yeah. Speaker 9 01:11:04 Yeah. And then the turtle boxes right there. Oh Speaker 1 01:11:06 Dude, those turtle boxes crush. Yeah. My phone got a little wet and it made me like, leave it dry for a whole day. <laugh>. Right, right. Yesterday. But good thing is it's got a good battery, so it was fine. It like lasted. But yeah. Um, anything else that you guys think, this is one of my favorite things to do. Like, if you were telling people a little pitch speech, one to two, three sentences about why today you should come to the floor, Bama, what would you say? Speaker 9 01:11:32 Hey and y me down about? Oh, me? Speaker 1 01:11:36 Yeah. Speaker 9 01:11:37 Um, you know, uh, uh, I mean, there's so much, how, how do you, how do you, uh, just dwindle it down to a couple words? Um, I guess like, do you en do you enjoy live music? You know, do you, do you enjoy being around, um, people that literally, I mean, I, I I make friends all the time with strangers with know. Um, but yeah. Do you enjoy good live music on the coast where, you know, and the, do you like live music, the beach and like drinking cold beer Bush wackers? Yeah. You know, I, I don't know. Yeah. Speaker 1 01:12:18 Those are my favorite things. It's Speaker 9 01:12:20 <laugh> I think like attacking it from the music end is like, if you like live music, this is the place for you. Yeah. If you might, listening to bands that are up and coming and like, you can just watch them be like, this is gonna be huge real soon, then you're gonna love this place. Yeah. Kind of deal. You know, we got people like Taylor Honeycutt, like Johnny Hayes, Jim McClellan, just these all star musicians. They're just right there, man, every day. Love Speaker 1 01:12:51 That. It's a special place, man. It's cool to like, have, have you like, walk us around and see all the different rooms and all the areas and stuff where you're like, I couldn't, I can't believe that that's, that. You know? Right. They're doing all of the business right outta here. It looks like it's just a bar, but it's so much more than that. Speaker 9 01:13:08 Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 1 01:13:09 It, this is a living, breathing, eating, sleeping, drinking machine, you know, and it's well oiled. Yeah. Super exciting. So Speaker 9 01:13:18 That's your, uh, that's your cell. Yep. Huh? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. But I dig it. It's great. Speaker 1 01:13:24 Really is, uh, flora Bama is probably the best beach bar I've been to, and I've been to a good bet. Um, it is extensive. It is fun. And like you said, it's all sizes, shapes, colors, walks of life. Yeah. All you have to want to do is have a good time. And this place is that. Yeah. Speaker 9 01:13:49 And we still have to, uh, get y'all, uh, we'll, we'll do it. I don't think any, any of these will happen our last two nights here, but, uh, a picking party over at the river house. Oh yeah. The historic river house. Uh, there's a table over there that, you know, Mickey Newberry and Hank Cochran and a bunch of great songwriters that wrote some of our favorite, I guess now classic country songs. Uh, there table's over there. Alright. Speaker 1 01:14:17 There. Speaker 9 01:14:18 Um, so September will definitely, that will definitely be happening because the whole riverhouse will be full of raised rowdy invitees, you know, so I Speaker 1 01:14:29 Can't wait, man. Speaker 9 01:14:30 That's the time Speaker 1 01:14:30 I'm So was that Nelson's signature over there too? Really? Inside one of the cabinets? It might. That's amazing. Or it Speaker 9 01:14:35 Might just be some drunk Speaker 1 01:14:36 Guy that signed sign willingness, but, Speaker 9 01:14:39 But it Speaker 1 01:14:39 Says Willie Nelson on it and you know, either way it's pretty great. <laugh>. Yeah. So it was like, will Nelson, Speaker 9 01:14:46 There's a high probability that that that's real. But there's also Speaker 1 01:14:50 Even an even path Speaker 9 01:14:52 Of probability. Speaker 1 01:14:53 It was just some Speaker 9 01:14:53 Drunk late Speaker 1 01:14:54 Night. Yeah. Some guy named Connor. He was just super baked and he was like, Willie Nelson <laugh> jaw sprayed. What w you Speaker 9 01:15:04 Wonder, dude, you Speaker 1 01:15:05 Know, Willie Nelson saw something. I said, let me see that I went over there. Speaker 9 01:15:08 I mean, I, I don't know, man. I Speaker 1 01:15:10 That one's pretty fresh. <laugh>. You gotta scrub it out a little, you know, <laugh> Yeah. A little red shirt. Put some mange on it. Yeah. Put some lead in that paint, you know, <laugh>. Yeah. Well man, thank you guys so much for jumping on. Thank you guys for having us down here to the Florida Bama. Absolutely. And we are so excited for September, if y'all haven't booked your rooms yet and your flights, it is time to, it's not too far of a drive from Nashville and it's not too far of a flight from anywhere realistically. Yeah. So, I mean Speaker 9 01:15:40 There's a direct flight Southwest, b n a to p N Ss. Yep. Pensacola right over here. And we're less than two months away, so we're Speaker 1 01:15:46 Ready. Yeah. And, uh, we're gonna be driving down doing the Lord's work, drinking bush whackers and having good times. That's right. Thank you guys for being on the pod. I'm Nikki t and this is Ray Rowdy. Speaker 0 01:16:02 It's Speaker 7 01:16:02 Just where you're, Speaker 0 01:16:04 That country's Speaker 7 01:16:05 In your bud, like a tattoo on your heart. Hell yeah. Speaker 0 01:16:11 Inside of you out on Friday. And some people wrong just right. It's.