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Welcome to the Copper State Marching Podcast,
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sponsored by the Arizona Marching Band Association,
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AZMBA. My name is Martin Hebda, the Director
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of Education and Outreach. Today, I will be having
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a conversation with MVP apparel owner, Gary Juarez.
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Gary has an incredible performance and instructional
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journey. Also, MVP has a lot to offer the marching
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band, winter percussion and guard world. Before
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I bring Gary on, let's recognize our sponsors.
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Bravo Media. Cut Time. DJ Rockwilder. Encore
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Gifts. Instrumental Music Center. Mac Pack. Milano's
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Music. Music Celebrations International. Music
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For All. MVP Apparel. Thank you for supporting
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AZMBA. All right. So welcome, Gary Juarez. Man,
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I appreciate you coming on. I kind of want to
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just dive right in, but I feel like I've known
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you forever. It's been at least 20 years, maybe
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20 plus years. 20 plus. Yeah. Thanks for having
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me. It's great. Great to be here. So yeah, it's
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definitely been over 20 years. That's for sure.
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Yeah. It's been some time. And I mean, I remember,
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I mean, the early days of the WJZ board, because
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we were both on the board and having all that.
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So we'll get into all of that. But, you know,
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there's so much in your background. And I know
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some of it, you know, but I mean, oh, there's
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some stuff that I don't know. And I know that
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our listeners may not know that. So maybe talk
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to us a little bit about your musical background,
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maybe where you grew up. I kind of know where
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you grew up, you know, but where you performed
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maybe all the things prior to coming into Arizona.
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No, absolutely. Yeah, I've been obviously I was
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involved in the activity. I grew up in Southern
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California during the time of marching bands
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starting to get really big, really popular, kind
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of like the cool thing to do. Went to Nogales
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High School in Southern California, not Nogales,
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Arizona. Met some great people there. Was able
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to have some amazing staff that taught me and
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got me really interested in drum corps. And it's
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like, you know, being a freshman in high school.
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having no idea what drum corps was you know and
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then you know people start showing you like oh
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here's cavaliers and here's phantom and it's
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you know this is when drum corps was on pbs back
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in the day you know you have a vhs recorder and
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the band director plays it for you in the band
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room stuff like that but um yeah that got me
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interested in in drum corps um after high school
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kind of just went into somewhat teaching in southern
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california area but obviously going for drum
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corps as well uh started off with pacific rest
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Did that in 94. Played snare drum there. Then
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I went to VK, 95. After that, VK was kind of
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in a weird little situation. So I went back to
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Pacific Crest. OK. 96. And then I went to Blue
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Devils, 97, 98. And then kind of was trying to
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figure out what I was going to do for. for life
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yeah um yeah so summer of 99 made the decision
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i was actually talking to uh rich henshaw and
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you know rich we all know well right yeah so
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rich was very very informative getting me information
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about asu and didn't know what i wanted to do
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so i finally just one day without even telling
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my parents i applied for asu got the acceptance
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letter was going to do the whole school of music
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thing and I was still kind of unsure, went to
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my parents and I finally, I was like, hey, I
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got accepted to ASU, moved out here to Arizona
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and never left. I fell in love with the state,
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fell in love with the city. And I just kind of
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like, okay, I think I can make this home rather
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than go back to Southern California and the city
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called Ta Puente, which didn't have much to offer
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at the time. So I figured I just try to do something
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different. Well, that's great. And you
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marched
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at VK. I know Rich did as well. Did you guys
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march together at VK? No, Rich was a year before
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me. OK. He was 94. He aged out in 94. And then
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I came in in 95. Gotcha. And then was that Tom
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Float time when he was there? That was interesting.
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Float started. And he was director of percussion.
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And then I want to say it was maybe like two
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or three camps in, maybe in March, is when Tom
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was let go and Paul Rennick. took over. Renick
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was there at the time with Float, but Renick
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ended up taking over and Float kind of went on
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and you know was doing other things and yeah
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but it was great. I was at the time I didn't
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really know what was going on. I was 17 in March
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and it was like everybody was from North Texas.
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You know when Float left a lot of people did
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depart you know so we're trying to figure out
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holes and Renick made some calls and you had
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kids coming in from North Texas that were the
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heavy hitters you know it's like hey come march
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with under paul retic i think it'll be a a pretty
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cool gig to do so and he was already at north
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texas at that time i'm guessing yeah absolutely
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yeah i didn't know he did uh he had a stint at
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vk that's pretty that's pretty cool yeah you
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know you know he was also at blue devils i uh
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in 90 91 really yeah there 91 was kind of a weird
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year there was a once again it was float Float
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departed. I want to say Rennick came in then
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after Rennick it was oh My god, I'm losing my
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mind a little bit. They were they went to like
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two or three people throughout that season It
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was kind of a rough little year But you know,
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they did what they could and I mean the press
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line was amazing that year But right. Yeah, it
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was kind of a weird little time for Blue Devils
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in 91 Okay, so in your BD years, what were the
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names of your shows and 97 and 98? 97, we did
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Casablanca, which was an amazing show. I
can
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still watch it to this day, and it's like, wow,
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I can't believe I was in that. And then 98 was,
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oh, good lord, it was Romeo and Juliet with one
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hand, one heart. Oh, is that what it was called?
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Yeah. Oh, man, it starts with the most beautiful
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ballad at the beginning, too. I love that. Yeah,
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that opening statement was unbelievable. Yeah,
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that was a really cool show. Yeah that was a
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fun that was my age out and yeah it was you know
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we didn't get the place we wanted but I had more
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fun in 98 than I did in 97. Cool yeah what a
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cool show. Yeah, it was awesome good times well
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right on and then so I know a lot of places that
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you've been teaching Like I know there's there's
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high school places that you've been teaching.
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I know there's college places You've been teaching
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I know you go out as out of country and do a
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lot of work as well Maybe talk to us about some
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of those experiences Yeah, so when I when I moved
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to Arizona was doing the ASU thing. I didn't
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do the music stuff. I was going for It was kind
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of a little little mixture of child development
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with also with some Sociology stuff. Started
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doing that. Didn't want to do the music thing.
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Went to ASU and then I obviously needed to teach.
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So I called up Rich Henshaw. I was like, hey
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man, I need a place to make some, make some money
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as, you know, teaching. So my first job out here
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was at Desert Vista. Yeah. So that was, that
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was in 2002, I believe. Okay. If I remember correctly.
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That was Eric Holden? that was with Eric Holden
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during his time of absence at that time. He was
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kind of dealing with some medical stuff and then
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he ended up passing away. They brought in Ian
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Templin, if I remember. He gave me for a semester.
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And then during that time, that's when I got
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my first drum corps gig during that summer. So
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I was trying to juggle stuff and it was like,
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okay. was a group out of Ohio, which was your
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capital regiment at the time. So juggling that,
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then I started Hamilton High School as well during
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that year, as well as Millennium. So I was juggling
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quite a bit of groups at the time. Not even close
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to each other either. What's that, I'm sorry?
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Not even close to each other. No, it was definitely
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opposite ends of the city. So after the Deser
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Vista thing, really focused on Hamilton and Millennium.
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And we did that for, oh my God, I was there for,
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I left Hamilton in 2011. And then Millennium
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was there from 03 all the way through 2020 to
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COVID. I'll tell you what, some of those Hamilton
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lines were insanely awesome, man. There were
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some good lines and same thing at Millennium,
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man. I mean, great, great stuff you guys put
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together. Millennium ended up being my baby where
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putting the time and effort and the program just
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grew and grew and grew every single year. And
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it was like, you have the kids that once they
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get... You know have great playing abilities
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then it was kind of set the standard like kids
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were coming in and it's like, okay This is as
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good as I need to be and it just kept building
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and building and bringing in You know new staff
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and trying new things. It was it was really cool.
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Very competitive obviously with your school and
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The schools around that were, you know, pretty
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dominant out here. Yeah But yeah, like from being
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that local high schools, like I said, Hamilton
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Millennium I did horizon for a few years Man,
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I'm trying to remember all the schools. I actually
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have it written down, like what years, what shows,
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things like that, and a whole little biography
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of what I've done. But during that time, like
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I said, I started doing drum corps, did capital
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regiment one year, and then during that summer,
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I got a little nudge from a good friend named
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Sean Vega that was like, hey man, like.
Think
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you can maybe come on board next year at Blue
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Devils type thing and you know I didn't it was
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just kind of like yeah, maybe whatever so in
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2004 went got the call from Scott Johnson started
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teaching Blue Devils oh five we were in Europe
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got a phone call from Marty province over at
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ASU and They were looking for a new percussion
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guy there. So and then I took the gig at at ASU
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so I ran the percussion marching band there from
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2005 through 2009 was my last season Then after
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that I kind of just took a little like time off
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to just kind of maybe just focus on one or two
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schools But yeah, I was traveling to man. Let
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me think went to Europe or do stuff in Korea
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I'm still teaching Kamehameha schools during
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the summer. So that's pretty cool. I get to go
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out for a camp out in Hawaii. That's so cool
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Yeah, every time you go out there, I get a little
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jealous. I'm telling you. I try it. At first,
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I kind of started posting a lot of pictures.
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And as the years went on, I'm like, yeah, I think
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it's making some people a little upset. So I'm
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going to take that. I love the fact that you're
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able to do those things. You know, that's that's
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so cool. We're living through yet. No, I was
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I was definitely blast, man. I can't, you know,
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like if it wasn't for Rich Henshaw, I wouldn't
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be here. I wouldn't be in Arizona. And I couldn't
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even tell you what I would be doing. Everything
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falls into place. And it's just kind of like,
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it was there, rode the wave as long as I could.
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After the whole ASU thing, I stopped kind of
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doing major drum corps stuff and just focusing
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just on indoor, just doing clinics here and there.
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And then, I want to say five years ago, right
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after, I guess I would put us right after COVID.
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I kind of wasn't really doing much. I was trying
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to focus on business things and try to as we
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all know Being in education. The money's not
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always great. I started kind of like okay if
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I'm gonna Start a family half thing. I need to
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start, you know figuring out ways to make more
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money I got a call from Paul cook over at GCU
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and went into Grand Canyon and I'm still there
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and it It's great. It's a great school. It's
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fun. The kids are awesome. And it's a little
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different. You know, we're not doing marching
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band stuff. It's a lot of pet band. Right. So,
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you know, don't have to be outside in the heat
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on a football field. And that's what I am a little
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envious of that. Right. You know, so it's a pet
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band and you've got like marching instruments
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in there. So you guys are putting in. Oh, yeah.
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Yeah. Full drum line. We're actually having auditions
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as we speak. We just having our band camp and
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we have. Yeah, we're going seven stairs, six
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tenors, six bases, and six symbols. That's great.
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Check you guys out. Yeah, the program's like
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145, I believe now. So it's definitely been growing.
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And just, it's a fun gig. You know, the school's
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great. They support the band in every way. And
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if you've never seen a GCU pet band or a basketball
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game, go check it out. The environment's cool.
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You know, it's definitely better than U of A.
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I will say. Look at that. You know where I'm
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from. I got you. I got you. I will say the environment
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is probably better, but obviously, you know,
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we're not as competitive as a U of A basketball
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team. Well, I'll tell you what, the arena is
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beautiful. You know, it's like the perfect size.
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You know, it's really, it's an intimate arena,
00:14:22.679 --> 00:14:24.919
and I'm sure that the band sounds great in there,
00:14:25.000 --> 00:14:27.500
you know, so. Yeah, yeah, it's, yeah, because
00:14:27.500 --> 00:14:29.620
we used to have championships there for a while
00:14:29.620 --> 00:14:32.519
for indoor. Yeah. Yeah, it's just, but the school's
00:14:32.519 --> 00:14:34.809
growing so much that they were like. Yeah, we
00:14:34.809 --> 00:14:36.309
can't really have all these drum lines playing
00:14:36.309 --> 00:14:38.809
in
the middle of the semester, warming up throughout
00:14:38.809 --> 00:14:42.629
the year. Everybody up. And now it's two semesters,
00:14:42.769 --> 00:14:44.629
two days, you know, for champs and everything,
00:14:45.210 --> 00:14:47.129
too. You know, going back to Rich Henshaw, I
00:14:47.129 --> 00:14:50.250
mean, he's he's really influenced a lot of heavy
00:14:50.250 --> 00:14:53.269
hitters, a lot of heavy hitters. He did a little
00:14:53.269 --> 00:14:55.610
bit with us in the early 2000s at Casa Grande.
00:14:55.690 --> 00:14:57.350
He did some writing with us and I bring him in
00:14:57.350 --> 00:14:59.509
to do some clinics. And I always felt like he
00:14:59.509 --> 00:15:02.909
was able to squeeze more juice out of every every
00:15:02.960 --> 00:15:05.440
player than you even thought would be possible.
00:15:05.600 --> 00:15:09.940
Like he just got him to do 100 % 100 % rich was
00:15:09.940 --> 00:15:12.620
always that guy that if you needed to get that
00:15:12.620 --> 00:15:14.820
little bit of something more out of your group.
00:15:15.179 --> 00:15:17.879
bring him in for a couple of days. And then just
00:15:17.879 --> 00:15:19.820
everybody gravitated towards him because he was
00:15:19.820 --> 00:15:24.960
just so cool, very Tom Flo ish. Oh yeah. Yeah,
00:15:24.960 --> 00:15:27.720
it just everybody just loved to be around rich.
00:15:27.799 --> 00:15:29.899
You know that was that was the fun thing about,
00:15:29.899 --> 00:15:31.820
you know, being able to work with him and because
00:15:31.820 --> 00:15:34.960
I even worked with him at at Momentum. Oh, that
00:15:34.960 --> 00:15:38.000
going that indoor drum line and man, he has so
00:15:38.000 --> 00:15:40.960
much talent in those lines where four line man.
00:15:41.240 --> 00:15:45.149
Oh, I still look at that snare break. Oh, that
00:15:45.149 --> 00:15:47.129
was a great snare break. The minute and a half
00:15:47.129 --> 00:15:50.149
snare break that... Yeah, it was great. I don't
00:15:50.149 --> 00:15:52.389
know if it was that long, but it was long and
00:15:52.389 --> 00:15:54.450
it was phenomenal. And yes, you were right. There's
00:15:54.450 --> 00:15:56.649
some great players in there. I want to say, like,
00:15:57.129 --> 00:15:59.629
majority of those guys went on to, you know,
00:15:59.789 --> 00:16:03.870
march Blue Devils or do something great in the
00:16:03.870 --> 00:16:08.070
activity. Yeah. Yeah, Rich definitely, he was
00:16:08.070 --> 00:16:12.490
the mastermind and the god behind Arizona drumming.
00:16:12.679 --> 00:16:15.419
It really was, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
00:16:16.019 --> 00:16:19.879
So you did, so great, great resume of teaching,
00:16:20.039 --> 00:16:22.259
you know, and performance as well. At what point
00:16:22.259 --> 00:16:23.940
did you say, you know what, I want something
00:16:23.940 --> 00:16:26.659
different, I want something more, you created
00:16:26.659 --> 00:16:29.399
MVP Apparel, you know, just kind of talk
to me
00:16:29.399 --> 00:16:30.860
about what kind of was going through your mind
00:16:30.860 --> 00:16:34.360
or the process or that journey. Yes, I want to
00:16:34.360 --> 00:16:36.600
say it was probably, I think it was in 2017.
00:16:37.779 --> 00:16:40.159
You know, you start kind of you getting older
00:16:40.159 --> 00:16:42.059
you start thinking you know having conversations
00:16:42.059 --> 00:16:44.080
with my with my parents and it's like What are
00:16:44.080 --> 00:16:46.700
you gonna do for retirement things like that?
00:16:46.860 --> 00:16:49.879
And the wheels started going kind of like okay
00:16:49.879 --> 00:16:52.179
what you know, I think they're right. I'm getting
00:16:52.179 --> 00:16:54.179
I'm getting older I can't always just be a drum
00:16:54.179 --> 00:16:58.440
guy and relying on booster checks or This is
00:16:58.440 --> 00:17:00.980
what we can pay you, you know type thing. So
00:17:00.980 --> 00:17:05.519
I This is no joke. I actually was bored on YouTube
00:17:05.519 --> 00:17:08.160
one night and You know, you got your little pop
00:17:08.160 --> 00:17:09.779
-up windows on the side. It kind of shows you
00:17:09.779 --> 00:17:12.079
like other videos you can watch. And it said
00:17:12.079 --> 00:17:16.119
how to make a t -shirt. Oh, so I was like, oh,
00:17:16.119 --> 00:17:17.700
OK, that's kind of interesting. So I clicked
00:17:17.700 --> 00:17:20.519
on it and saw a few things. And I just kind of
00:17:20.519 --> 00:17:24.799
went down the tube of looking at how to make
00:17:24.799 --> 00:17:26.420
it, where to order, blah, blah, blah. So I did
00:17:26.420 --> 00:17:28.980
more digging, started buying some small equipment,
00:17:29.059 --> 00:17:31.059
was doing everything out of my garage at the
00:17:31.059 --> 00:17:34.779
time, you know, when I first started. And then
00:17:34.779 --> 00:17:37.519
it just kind of. try to keep building and it
00:17:37.519 --> 00:17:42.059
was, you know, and then I met my my fiance and
00:17:42.059 --> 00:17:44.480
we had a baby and it's like, OK, this is something
00:17:44.480 --> 00:17:47.619
that I really need to to stay focused on and
00:17:47.619 --> 00:17:50.819
try to build stuff for them and my family now.
00:17:51.380 --> 00:17:54.299
So, you know, life kind of got in the way a little
00:17:54.299 --> 00:17:56.259
bit, not that it was bad teaching, but, you know,
00:17:56.259 --> 00:17:58.279
it's it was definitely one of those like, OK,
00:17:58.299 --> 00:18:00.759
I got to really start thinking hard and what
00:18:00.759 --> 00:18:02.799
I can do to help provide for my family and support
00:18:02.799 --> 00:18:05.660
the family and, you know, just try to make myself.
00:18:05.849 --> 00:18:08.390
successful in this activity yeah and they're
00:18:08.390 --> 00:18:10.769
very supportive of you too like i most shows
00:18:10.769 --> 00:18:13.269
when i see you at shows i see them there as well
00:18:13.269 --> 00:18:15.829
yeah the kids love coming out
um i have four
00:18:15.829 --> 00:18:20.849
kids total so my youngest uh rimo for a while
00:18:20.849 --> 00:18:23.569
he was not able to go to the events because he's
00:18:23.569 --> 00:18:25.369
obviously would just want to run around yeah
00:18:25.369 --> 00:18:28.430
but oh my god he just loves to go and he's will
00:18:28.430 --> 00:18:30.630
will be my little vocal kid i've come by a t
00:18:30.630 --> 00:18:34.839
-shirt The family loves coming out. It's you
00:18:34.839 --> 00:18:38.779
know, I try to get them to come and support and
00:18:38.779 --> 00:18:41.180
They're they're all part of the the band community
00:18:41.180 --> 00:18:44.539
as well So I got two of my older kids that are
00:18:44.539 --> 00:18:46.599
they're in band ones that are straight foothills
00:18:46.599 --> 00:18:50.339
now so he's starting his freshman year and you
00:18:50.339 --> 00:18:52.400
know kind of giving him that opportunity of like
00:18:52.400 --> 00:18:55.859
hey just Try this out. It'd be pretty cool. And
00:18:55.859 --> 00:18:59.210
what does he love? trumpet Oh, nice. That's what
00:18:59.210 --> 00:19:01.950
I'm talking about. Yeah. So it's wanting to start
00:19:01.950 --> 00:19:03.890
them out on an instrument, not just throw them
00:19:03.890 --> 00:19:08.410
in drums. Right. Especially when you get in middle
00:19:08.410 --> 00:19:10.829
school and elementary, sometimes you don't have
00:19:10.829 --> 00:19:12.450
those percussion people that can help develop
00:19:12.450 --> 00:19:14.750
their skills. Right. And they just kind of get
00:19:14.750 --> 00:19:16.869
pushed to the back of the room. So I was like,
00:19:16.970 --> 00:19:18.509
no, you're going to learn an instrument. And
00:19:18.509 --> 00:19:21.390
then once you figure out how to read music and
00:19:21.390 --> 00:19:22.890
things like that, then we can make that decision
00:19:22.890 --> 00:19:24.710
later. So you're going to be going to Friday
00:19:24.710 --> 00:19:30.190
Night Games. I am. The school that he does is
00:19:30.190 --> 00:19:33.950
really involved with AZ -MBA. So I'll be at all
00:19:33.950 --> 00:19:35.670
the events. So it kind of makes things. That
00:19:35.670 --> 00:19:38.289
does make it. Yeah. Well, maybe they'll be saying,
00:19:38.309 --> 00:19:39.849
hey, why don't you look at our drum line when
00:19:39.849 --> 00:19:42.250
they're warming up? Any suggestions? I'll just
00:19:42.250 --> 00:19:44.829
be a bandit. You know what? I'll tell you what.
00:19:44.890 --> 00:19:47.750
It's pretty awesome to just be the dad. I do
00:19:47.750 --> 00:19:51.009
a lot of that with dance, with my daughters being
00:19:51.009 --> 00:19:55.109
in dance. And actually, it's I have a daughter
00:19:55.109 --> 00:19:57.390
that's in the band right now and my son was in
00:19:57.390 --> 00:20:00.230
band for a long time and you know him being in
00:20:00.230 --> 00:20:02.829
the drum line I was able to you know I focused
00:20:02.829 --> 00:20:05.069
on the winds
a lot more and I had a staff that
00:20:05.069 --> 00:20:06.549
worked with the drum line but there'd be times
00:20:06.549 --> 00:20:08.509
that I would just the band would be running something
00:20:08.509 --> 00:20:11.569
and I just kind of dad out you know and it's
00:20:11.569 --> 00:20:13.349
it's pretty cool like you get a little teary
00:20:13.349 --> 00:20:15.789
-eyed watching it sometimes yeah it's like there's
00:20:15.789 --> 00:20:18.119
there's times where I'm kind of like And I'm
00:20:18.119 --> 00:20:20.200
not going to say anything. I'm going to be Band
00:20:20.200 --> 00:20:23.819
Ed and just be supportive. And if he wants me
00:20:23.819 --> 00:20:27.940
there, I'll show up, whatever. But for now, I'll
00:20:27.940 --> 00:20:30.400
just be the supportive guy in the back, just
00:20:30.400 --> 00:20:34.299
cheering with my flags and whatever stuff MVP
00:20:34.299 --> 00:20:37.380
sells. That's right. Does Remo play anything?
00:20:37.480 --> 00:20:40.400
You put any sticks in the sand yet? He's been
00:20:40.400 --> 00:20:43.660
drumming for a long time, but. We'll see, you
00:20:43.660 --> 00:20:46.440
know, I'm not going to force him. But you know,
00:20:46.480 --> 00:20:48.740
if I if he sees me drumming on a pad, then he
00:20:48.740 --> 00:20:52.000
wants to, you know, drum along. And it's just
00:20:52.000 --> 00:20:54.480
a lot of really high sticking, maybe really good
00:20:54.480 --> 00:20:57.720
old school Blue Devil stuff, you know. But yeah,
00:20:57.779 --> 00:20:59.599
we'll see. Give him that opportunity at some
00:20:59.599 --> 00:21:01.940
point and see what he wants to do. Just very
00:21:01.940 --> 00:21:07.009
athletic. So OK. So in 2017, you started, you're
00:21:07.009 --> 00:21:10.250
like, OK, shirts and apparel. And I mean, there's
00:21:10.250 --> 00:21:12.829
a whole lot more now, you know, so you've definitely
00:21:12.829 --> 00:21:15.069
branched out. And when did that start? And what
00:21:15.069 --> 00:21:16.930
are some of the other other things that you have?
00:21:17.369 --> 00:21:19.390
So it was kind of an interesting time to start
00:21:19.390 --> 00:21:22.089
a business because it was like I started a boom.
00:21:22.269 --> 00:21:25.250
Everything was going great. And then Covid hit
00:21:25.250 --> 00:21:28.670
took a really big toll on on everything. Obviously,
00:21:29.210 --> 00:21:31.130
you know, just on merchandise and trying to figure
00:21:31.130 --> 00:21:34.309
out what we're going to do where. We were going
00:21:34.309 --> 00:21:36.549
to go just in general. You know, we had no idea
00:21:36.549 --> 00:21:40.450
that's I want to say during that time when it's
00:21:40.450 --> 00:21:44.289
we came back is when W G A Z I reached out to
00:21:44.289 --> 00:21:47.289
them to see how I can maybe be a sponsor, try
00:21:47.289 --> 00:21:50.609
to start selling different merchandise. And then
00:21:50.609 --> 00:21:54.170
my fiance at the time was like, well, she was
00:21:54.170
--> 00:21:58.000
kind of my my fashion. designer of like the girls
00:21:58.000 --> 00:22:00.460
would love to do this or wear this and this and
00:22:00.460 --> 00:22:03.579
that and blah blah blah. So that was a that was
00:22:03.579 --> 00:22:06.019
huge for us, you know as a company in general
00:22:06.019 --> 00:22:09.579
because she had the eye of things and then I
00:22:09.579 --> 00:22:12.140
had a lot of friends in the activity which definitely
00:22:12.140 --> 00:22:13.880
helped them like hey, you should sell stuff like
00:22:13.880 --> 00:22:17.599
this or try something like this. So we're always
00:22:17.599 --> 00:22:22.319
experimenting with things. But since COVID that
00:22:22.319 --> 00:22:25.640
gave us an opportunity to kind of really I guess
00:22:25.640 --> 00:22:27.960
you could say like reset and figure out which
00:22:27.960 --> 00:22:31.900
direction we really want to go. Obviously I was
00:22:31.900 --> 00:22:34.019
trying to shoot for the stars, but you can't
00:22:34.019 --> 00:22:37.039
as a small business owner unless you have that
00:22:37.039 --> 00:22:40.240
like major financial background. You gotta take
00:22:40.240 --> 00:22:42.759
baby steps. See what works, what doesn't work.
00:22:43.019 --> 00:22:45.460
See how you can help different programs. You
00:22:45.460 --> 00:22:47.980
know whether that's a you know organization like
00:22:47.980 --> 00:22:52.339
WJZ or AZMBA. You know it's like you want to
00:22:52.339 --> 00:22:54.200
help as much as you can, but there's always times
00:22:54.200 --> 00:22:56.980
you're like. OK, I got to put time out. What
00:22:56.980 --> 00:23:00.220
do I need to focus on for this year? But that's
00:23:00.220 --> 00:23:03.680
helped us develop, OK, what do we need to start
00:23:03.680 --> 00:23:07.420
leaning towards? Which now we're able to do,
00:23:07.700 --> 00:23:10.559
we can outfit your entire band from regular,
00:23:11.019 --> 00:23:12.920
if you want to do show shirts, you want to do
00:23:12.920 --> 00:23:16.599
band hats, you want to do anything that's printable.
00:23:17.579 --> 00:23:20.019
You know for you know polos you want to have
00:23:20.019 --> 00:23:23.380
staff polos you want to have band jackets we
00:23:23.380 --> 00:23:26.460
can embroider it we can screen print it We are
00:23:26.460 --> 00:23:29.359
now into the whole sublimation process now, too
00:23:30.119 --> 00:23:32.920
So full on sublimation marching band uniforms
00:23:32.920 --> 00:23:36.339
to help cater to your the design of your show
00:23:36.339 --> 00:23:40.259
that we kind of started last semester had a few
00:23:40.259 --> 00:23:42.740
schools that were interested and we did some
00:23:42.740 --> 00:23:46.400
prototypes and it just it worked and you know,
00:23:46.400 --> 00:23:48.420
we've been working really hard to try to make
00:23:48.420 --> 00:23:54.259
this happen. I've had huge support from Brandy
00:23:54.259 --> 00:23:58.119
King over at ASU. She's been on the color guard
00:23:58.119 --> 00:24:02.440
side of things for. many, many years and she's
00:24:02.440 --> 00:24:04.839
been great to kind of help with the whole fabric
00:24:04.839 --> 00:24:07.480
of flags. So now we're able to print flags here
00:24:07.480 --> 00:24:10.839
locally. So everything that we do is now here
00:24:10.839 --> 00:24:13.960
locally, right? And that that's that's huge for
00:24:13.960 --> 00:24:15.859
us because there's not very many companies on
00:24:15.859 --> 00:24:18.940
the West Coast. We do know that there's competitors
00:24:18.940 --> 00:24:22.000
that are as close as like Texas. You got North
00:24:22.000 --> 00:24:25.440
Carolina, you got Pennsylvania, but not really
00:24:25.440 --> 00:24:29.039
here in Phoenix area, and definitely nothing
00:24:29.039 --> 00:24:32.619
in Southern California. So we're excited about
00:24:32.619 --> 00:24:34.819
that. We're branching out as much as we can of
00:24:34.819 --> 00:24:39.019
just trying to get the word out. But if there's
00:24:39.019 --> 00:24:40.980
certain things that your band might want to try,
00:24:41.119 --> 00:24:44.099
like, hey, can you make these? We can try it.
00:24:44.220 --> 00:24:47.369
We're at that point of a of our business that
00:24:47.369 --> 00:24:50.049
we're expanding but we're taking our time expanding.
00:24:50.269 --> 00:24:53.049
We're not trying to, hey, we can do this and
00:24:53.049 --> 00:24:55.789
all this and then we are not satisfying you guys
00:24:55.789 --> 00:24:58.630
as customers and we're falling short of our end.
00:24:58.710 --> 00:25:01.009
We wanna make sure that what we're gonna do is
00:25:01.009 --> 00:25:03.869
gonna be quality products and just make sure
00:25:03.869 --> 00:25:07.170
we're able to make everybody happy here. And
00:25:07.170 --> 00:25:11.329
then we also, sorry, I forgot, we do props. Vinyl
00:25:11.329 --> 00:25:15.200
printed props, mesh fabric props. Pretty much
00:25:15.200 --> 00:25:17.920
anything you need for your marching band perspective,
00:25:18.099 --> 00:25:20.339
for your field, for your show design, we can
00:25:20.339 --> 00:25:23.740
help with that. Well, yeah. So getting ASU and
00:25:23.740 --> 00:25:26.420
Brandy, they have like 80 guard members. So if
00:25:26.420 --> 00:25:28.240
they have two different silks, that's a lot of
00:25:28.240 --> 00:25:31.730
silks. Absolutely. It's a lot of soaks. Yeah.
00:25:31.950 --> 00:25:34.509
And I didn't realize how new the uniform tops
00:25:34.509 --> 00:25:37.950
were. So you did the tops for the Arizona All
00:25:37.950 --> 00:25:39.750
-Star Marching Band. Was that like one of your
00:25:39.750 --> 00:25:43.410
first ones? Actually, our very first product,
00:25:43.829 --> 00:25:45.849
our first ones was actually Coolidge High School.
00:25:46.009 --> 00:25:49.329
Oh, wow. Cool. Yeah. So the director there reached
00:25:49.329 --> 00:25:51.930
out. She's like, hey, I kind of heard the great
00:25:51.930 --> 00:25:55.069
line. Yeah. And so we went back and forth for
00:25:55.069 --> 00:25:58.069
a while. But we were at the point of we were
00:25:58.069 --> 00:26:01.309
trying to work on specifications. Getting, you
00:26:01.309 --> 00:26:04.250
know, how do we sell a small? Well, everybody's
00:26:04.250 --> 00:26:07.029
different. You know, like a small shirt can fit,
00:26:07.369 --> 00:26:09.450
but the length of the shirt might work. So we
00:26:09.450 --> 00:26:12.890
were going through, I mean, we're talking weeks
00:26:12.890 --> 00:26:15.710
and weeks, maybe even months of just. trying
00:26:15.710 --> 00:26:18.730
to figure out specifications. Once we got that,
00:26:18.849 --> 00:26:20.970
I go, look, how about I send you a few sizing,
00:26:21.349 --> 00:26:23.730
see if they work. So we were kind of testing
00:26:23.730 --> 00:26:27.630
with them. And it was great. And the first day
00:26:27.630 --> 00:26:29.410
that we saw their performance, and it was just
00:26:29.410 --> 00:26:35.210
like, wow, OK, this is cool. We did that. That
00:26:35.210 --> 00:26:37.950
was something that her and I put together. And
00:26:37.950 --> 00:26:41.299
here we are. And then. This past winter, obviously,
00:26:41.579 --> 00:26:44.579
flags. And how can I forget? We print floors
00:26:44.579 --> 00:26:47.299
as well. I was waiting for that one, yes. Yeah,
00:26:47.380 --> 00:26:49.680
so for indoor, that was kind of like we started
00:26:49.680 --> 00:26:53.759
printing floors. When we started this, it was
00:26:53.759 --> 00:26:56.000
Brandy and I were kind of talking and trying
00:26:56.000 --> 00:26:59.019
to figure out who we can get, trying to just
00:26:59.019 --> 00:27:01.220
get the word out. And it's a very competitive
00:27:01.220 --> 00:27:06.019
market. We understand that. And we set a goal,
00:27:06.019 --> 00:27:09.150
and I want to say it was like, 15 floors that
00:27:09.150 --> 00:27:12.089
we were going to try to sell for the year. And
00:27:12.089 --> 00:27:16.670
we ended up selling 42. Whoa, that's crazy. So
00:27:16.670 --> 00:27:19.349
it was definitely kept us more busy than we thought.
00:27:20.049 --> 00:27:21.789
Not a lot of clients in California, which was
00:27:21.789 --> 00:27:24.730
great. And that's the one thing, you know, it's
00:27:24.730 --> 00:27:27.829
like we're able to, you know, to manufacture
00:27:27.829 --> 00:27:31.569
here and there's no, there's no shipping. So
00:27:31.569 --> 00:27:35.039
your band is saving. depending on who you buy
00:27:35.039 --> 00:27:37.059
from, there's some places that charge you almost
00:27:37.059 --> 00:27:40.319
$1 ,000 for shipping to get your floor here.
00:27:41.160 --> 00:27:42.880
Well, with it being manufactured here in Phoenix,
00:27:43.039 --> 00:27:45.319
it saves, who doesn't want to save money? Every
00:27:45.319 --> 00:27:47.759
boost program wants to save money. So that's
00:27:47.759 --> 00:27:50.720
where we really helped with the whole Southwest
00:27:50.720 --> 00:27:53.859
and the West Coast
and getting them whatever
00:27:53.859 --> 00:27:56.220
they need with very, very low shipping costs.
00:27:56.539 --> 00:27:58.079
Well, that's great. And so do they just give
00:27:58.079 --> 00:27:59.980
you a picture, this is kind of what we're looking
00:27:59.980 --> 00:28:02.460
for and then you put it on the size or how does
00:28:02.460 --> 00:28:06.470
that work? Yes, so they would send pictures and
00:28:06.470 --> 00:28:08.869
they would say, OK, this is what we want. We
00:28:08.869 --> 00:28:12.349
ended up teaming up with 123RF, which is like
00:28:12.349 --> 00:28:15.630
a website, a shutter stock, which makes things
00:28:15.630 --> 00:28:20.589
easier for us to expand or high resolution photos
00:28:20.589 --> 00:28:26.009
for print. We did have a few groups that would
00:28:26.009 --> 00:28:29.160
send us. Google images that they would just drag
00:28:29.160 --> 00:28:32.140
off the, you know, your desktop. And there's
00:28:32.140 --> 00:28:33.559
there's a lot of people that don't understand
00:28:33.559 --> 00:28:35.839
that. And that's I didn't understand it, you
00:28:35.839 --> 00:28:37.900
know, five years ago. It's like, well, why can't
00:28:37.900 --> 00:28:41.880
we just make this picture on a big piece of vinyl?
00:28:42.140 --> 00:28:44.319
But there's a lot that goes behind it. So when
00:28:44.319 --> 00:28:46.960
you do order and you're you're talking to companies
00:28:46.960 --> 00:28:50.400
and if they say, hey, there's art fees, that's
00:28:50.400 --> 00:28:53.119
majority of everybody, because there has to be
00:28:53.119 --> 00:28:56.859
somebody that can go in to make the actual image
00:28:56.859 --> 00:29:00.559
look as clean as you want it for obviously a
00:29:00.559 --> 00:29:03.420
big gym floor type vinyl, you know, something
00:29:03.420 --> 00:29:04.980
that and then also to like something you see
00:29:04.980 --> 00:29:07.400
on a computer screen. You want to make sure it
00:29:07.400 --> 00:29:09.980
looks as close as you can for, you know, print
00:29:09.980 --> 00:29:13.200
it on the floor. And, you know, sometimes it's,
00:29:13.200 --> 00:29:16.039
you know, you get a digital image and it doesn't
00:29:16.039 --> 00:29:18.480
print as well. And there's a lot of things that
00:29:18.480 --> 00:29:20.420
go behind it. And, you know, that's why we always
00:29:20.420 --> 00:29:24.799
tell people like, pay the extra art fees to have
00:29:24.799 --> 00:29:27.920
somebody professionally do it, because sometimes
00:29:27.920 --> 00:29:31.140
you're not going to be happy with it. Everybody
00:29:31.140 --> 00:29:33.240
knows somebody that can do art, but sometimes
00:29:33.240 --> 00:29:36.920
it's not the correct type of art. So yeah, I
00:29:36.920 --> 00:29:39.140
would say whoever you're working with, just try
00:29:39.140 --> 00:29:41.660
to do some digging on what's the best way to
00:29:41.660 --> 00:29:44.420
get the artwork, how to send it in, what's the
00:29:44.420 --> 00:29:47.160
resolution, the sizing that's going to be best
00:29:47.160 --> 00:29:50.180
for printing. And then for your uniform tops,
00:29:50.339 --> 00:29:52.500
does someone say, I have an idea or I'm kind
00:29:52.500 --> 00:29:54.279
of thinking this and they give you like sketches
00:29:54.279 --> 00:29:56.079
and you kind of create something? How does that
00:29:56.079 --> 00:29:59.380
work? Yeah, without giving too much away, I'll
00:29:59.380 --> 00:30:02.220
use Campo, for example, Campo Verde High School.
00:30:03.240 --> 00:30:06.059
Talked with Matt, we went back and forth and
00:30:06.059 --> 00:30:10.509
he did use chat GBT. It likes chat GPT. I think
00:30:10.509 --> 00:30:13.109
it's phenomenal. I know there's some companies
00:30:13.109 --> 00:30:16.289
out there that will not print anything from chat
00:30:16.289 --> 00:30:20.190
GPT. We like to use it as reference of like,
00:30:20.289 --> 00:30:23.069
hey, this is something like we really enjoy this.
00:30:23.190 --> 00:30:26.410
We want to kind of have this color. So we have
00:30:26.410 --> 00:30:29.190
an in -house art guide that just got all the
00:30:29.190 --> 00:30:32.890
images, started working stuff, and then we printed.
00:30:33.839 --> 00:30:36.640
You know, so the uniforms send them to Matt for
00:30:36.640 --> 00:30:40.539
testing and thank God Matt said they look phenomenal.
00:30:42.240 --> 00:30:45.420
There was no changes really to be made, but you
00:30:45.420 --> 00:30:47.200
know it was kind of like he had a vision. His
00:30:47.200 --> 00:30:50.640
staff had a vision and they try to just get as
00:30:50.640 --> 00:30:54.559
much chat GPT stuff and then our our department
00:30:54.559 --> 00:30:57.180
was able to just kind of. Put things together
00:30:57.180 --> 00:31:01.329
and make the client happy. Well, and that's a
00:31:01.329 --> 00:31:02.990
common thing that you're seeing with marching
00:31:02.990 --> 00:31:05.109
bands these days is, you know, they keep maybe
00:31:05.109 --> 00:31:07.430
the black bibbers and they say each year they
00:31:07.430 --> 00:31:10.710
do a new top that's show specific. Absolutely.
00:31:10.930 --> 00:31:14.049
Yeah, it's I don't want to say it's, you know,
00:31:14.119 --> 00:31:17.119
cheaper than buying regular band uniforms, but
00:31:17.119 --> 00:31:19.440
it just helps with the whole design process of
00:31:19.440 --> 00:31:22.259
your show to get it across more, you know, and
00:31:22.259 --> 00:31:24.640
I have seen schools do both where Friday night
00:31:24.640 --> 00:31:26.440
football games, they'll actually wear their marching
00:31:26.440 --> 00:31:28.799
band uniforms for football games, just to show
00:31:28.799 --> 00:31:30.900
the school to support the colors, things like
00:31:30.900 --> 00:31:33.500
that. And then at competitive aspect, they'll
00:31:33.500 --> 00:31:35.519
change it. Yeah. And then they'll have whatever
00:31:35.519 --> 00:31:37.400
if you're doing a show, a Western show, which
00:31:37.400 --> 00:31:39.640
I think you guys did something like that a few
00:31:39.640 --> 00:31:43.490
years ago. Yeah. And you had some Western stuff
00:31:43.490 --> 00:31:47.789
and it was cool. And you can, if you have a smaller
00:31:47.789 --> 00:31:49.930
band or you have the budget to do it, which a
00:31:49.930 --> 00:31:52.970
lot of schools are starting to budget for this
00:31:52.970 --> 00:31:55.849
on a yearly basis of, hey, marching band tops,
00:31:56.309 --> 00:31:59.890
they're $50. Let's put it in our budget. And
00:31:59.890 --> 00:32:03.190
every year we can be show specific and go out
00:32:03.190 --> 00:32:08.289
and look really cool. But yeah, it's fun. It's
00:32:08.289 --> 00:32:11.099
been a... a headache, you know, getting to this
00:32:11.099 --> 00:32:14.220
point. Yeah. But I think we're at a good point
00:32:14.220 --> 00:32:18.279
now where we can start being excited and happy
00:32:18.279 --> 00:32:20.180
and, you know, looking at it from an outside
00:32:20.180 --> 00:32:22.279
point of view and be like, wow, this is we've
00:32:22.279 --> 00:32:24.920
come a long way. Yeah, we're sure you guys have
00:32:24.920 --> 00:32:26.859
a garage. Yeah. Well, definitely proud of you
00:32:26.859 --> 00:32:29.400
with that. And so like the marching band top
00:32:29.400 --> 00:32:31.960
is kind of a specific cut. Do you kind of go
00:32:31.960 --> 00:32:33.880
into the winter top as well, whether it be for
00:32:33.880 --> 00:32:35.960
guard or for percussion? So that's what we're
00:32:35.960 --> 00:32:39.609
working on next. Talking with Brandy. We're not
00:32:39.609 --> 00:32:42.750
going to be the next, I don't want to say any
00:32:42.750 --> 00:32:45.670
big names of companies, but we all know who the
00:32:45.670 --> 00:32:49.569
big players are in uniform design. That's not
00:32:49.569 --> 00:32:52.369
the full direction we're trying to go. We want
00:32:52.369 --> 00:32:55.849
to be just more specific of just sublimated tops,
00:32:56.349 --> 00:32:59.490
excuse me, and then maybe some sublimated guard
00:32:59.490 --> 00:33:04.119
unitards that have some time. And a lot of color
00:33:04.119 --> 00:33:06.480
guards are using those now. And that was Brandy's
00:33:06.480 --> 00:33:08.539
idea of, hey, maybe we just start with this.
00:33:09.500 --> 00:33:12.019
Because you can go and buy fabric, and then you
00:33:12.019 --> 00:33:15.400
have fabric sitting there. And you start creating
00:33:15.400 --> 00:33:17.539
stuff that's like, everybody wants something
00:33:17.539 --> 00:33:19.400
different. Once you do that, then you're starting
00:33:19.400 --> 00:33:22.549
going to just be uniform specific. where we want
00:33:22.549 --> 00:33:25.269
to just have these are our options. This is what
00:33:25.269 --> 00:33:29.089
we can provide for you guys. And hopefully, we
00:33:29.089 --> 00:33:32.910
can get you as a customer. But we're taking baby
00:33:32.910 --> 00:33:36.849
steps in all these new adventures. But right
00:33:36.849 --> 00:33:39.849
now, it's marching band tops, marching band pants,
00:33:40.569 --> 00:33:43.990
as well as flags, fully sublimated. And then
00:33:43.990 --> 00:33:46.569
now, we can pretty much do any type of baseball
00:33:46.569 --> 00:33:49.230
jersey, football jersey, basketball, anything
00:33:49.230 --> 00:33:52.779
that's fully sublimated. So do you have, I mean,
00:33:52.779 --> 00:33:55.039
you've done a lot of different floors and flags
00:33:55.039 --> 00:33:57.180
and stuff. Do you have a catalog of, Hey, this
00:33:57.180 --> 00:33:59.519
is stuff that we've done. Or once you've kind
00:33:59.519 --> 00:34:02.619
of created a uniform top or a silk, is it easier
00:34:02.619 --> 00:34:05.720
to recreate it? Like if someone said, Ooh, I
00:34:05.720 --> 00:34:07.720
like that flag. I want that flag. Is there a
00:34:07.720 --> 00:34:09.840
place to go? Yeah. Cause everything's going to
00:34:09.840 --> 00:34:12.860
be obviously saved in our system. We're in the
00:34:12.860 --> 00:34:15.659
process of developing a whole new website so
00:34:15.659 --> 00:34:18.320
we can see more products, things, but we want
00:34:18.320 --> 00:34:22.010
to be more of, you know, how can we. How can
00:34:22.010 --> 00:34:25.269
we design for you? Let us customize what you
00:34:25.269 --> 00:34:27.650
need. We know there's a lot of companies out
00:34:27.650 --> 00:34:30.510
there that have just generic photos like you're
00:34:30.510 --> 00:34:33.150
doing a show about storms. Well, let's get some
00:34:33.150 --> 00:34:36.170
lightning. Let's get some clouds. Let's get we
00:34:36.170 --> 00:34:38.030
can do that. You know, even if somebody says
00:34:38.030 --> 00:34:39.730
hey, I have these images and then we just kind
00:34:39.730 --> 00:34:43.409
of redesign for them. But we're not having stuff
00:34:43.409 --> 00:34:45.829
in stock. Everything is going to be. You know,
00:34:45.829 --> 00:34:48.710
like I said, we're still a smaller family owned
00:34:48.710 --> 00:34:52.110
business. Yeah. We're not the multi -million
00:34:52.110 --> 00:34:55.110
dollar company, but we're trying to make everybody
00:34:55.110 --> 00:34:58.809
happy and do everything as it comes in. That's
00:34:58.809 --> 00:35:02.889
kind of where we're at. And I think you are.
00:35:03.349 --> 00:35:06.829
We hear great things across Arizona, and I think
00:35:06.829 --> 00:35:08.510
the groups that you work with are definitely
00:35:08.510 --> 00:35:12.170
pleased. And you're supporting our circuits that
00:35:12.170 --> 00:35:14.170
we have here. You're a big time supporter of
00:35:14.170 --> 00:35:18.070
WJZ, a big time supporter of AZMBA, which is...
00:35:17.710 --> 00:35:19.730
Really awesome, you know, and you get to see
00:35:19.730 --> 00:35:22.530
all the shows and go everywhere, right? It's
00:35:22.530 --> 00:35:24.010
I mean, yeah, it's great. It's every weekend,
00:35:24.010 --> 00:35:26.570
you know, we get to see and
get to see the progress
00:35:26.570 --> 00:35:29.789
too. Like I'm working, but I'm listening. I'm
00:35:29.789 --> 00:35:32.070
a band person, so I'm listening to the groups
00:35:32.070 --> 00:35:34.909
behind me. And you'd be surprised, like, you
00:35:34.909 --> 00:35:37.409
know, is not looking at them, but I can hear
00:35:37.409 --> 00:35:41.050
them. It's like, man, three weeks ago. That didn't
00:35:41.050 --> 00:35:44.230
sound great. And now these kids have made a progression
00:35:44.230 --> 00:35:47.409
over three to four weeks. But being involved
00:35:47.409 --> 00:35:51.590
in the activities, it's kind of cool that I'm
00:35:51.590 --> 00:35:55.230
able to kind of give back. It's helping me build
00:35:55.230 --> 00:35:58.409
my business. But I'm able from a financial standpoint
00:35:58.409 --> 00:36:01.820
every year to say, here's. Nice little chunk
00:36:01.820 --> 00:36:04.820
of money for both organizations, right? Um, so
00:36:04.820 --> 00:36:07.519
it's great, you know, I can't complain and it's
00:36:07.519 --> 00:36:10.440
just We're just trying to we're trying to do
00:36:10.440 --> 00:36:14.840
what we can but without Doing everything all
00:36:14.840 --> 00:36:16.860
at once. We want to make sure everything's quality.
00:36:17.420 --> 00:36:19.719
That's You know that that's important to us and
00:36:19.719 --> 00:36:22.860
making sure we make everybody happy We got some
00:36:22.860 --> 00:36:26.099
new big school customers finally that are coming
00:36:26.099 --> 00:36:28.340
into that. We're you know, we're excited about
00:36:29.039 --> 00:36:31.920
we just brought on Basha High School. Really
00:36:31.920 --> 00:36:34.579
cool. So we're going to be supplying everything
00:36:34.579 --> 00:36:36.980
for them, anything that they need printed. So
00:36:36.980 --> 00:36:40.179
if you need a show shirt, you need flags, anything
00:36:40.179 --> 00:36:43.420
you need, we're here. Even if it's just, hey,
00:36:43.500 --> 00:36:45.940
I just need some show shirts. Yeah. So how do
00:36:45.940 --> 00:36:47.260
they reach out to you? How do they get a hold
00:36:47.260 --> 00:36:51.670
of you? Well, I mean they're Facebook or go to
00:36:51.670 --> 00:36:55.449
our website nvpapparel .us. I think if you go
00:36:55.449 --> 00:36:58.949
to either azmba or wgaz we're on there as well.
00:36:58.949 --> 00:37:02.949
You can just click on our our logo or you can
00:37:02.949 --> 00:37:06.489
email us direct just info at nvpapparel .us.
00:37:07.319 --> 00:37:10.639
Okay. Well, that's awesome, man. I appreciate
00:37:10.639 --> 00:37:12.900
the time. And I think a lot of people maybe didn't
00:37:12.900 --> 00:37:15.360
realize, okay, where did this come from? What
00:37:15.360 --> 00:37:19.340
all are our options with MVP? Who is this Gary
00:37:19.340 --> 00:37:21.340
guy that I always see? So I think this is great
00:37:21.340 --> 00:37:23.320
for people to know. Do you have any shout outs
00:37:23.320 --> 00:37:25.860
that you'd like to give before we close up? Oh,
00:37:25.860 --> 00:37:29.929
good Lord. Didn't plan for shout outs, but. I
00:37:29.929 --> 00:37:32.030
would, I mean, yeah, I guess I would say, you
00:37:32.030 --> 00:37:34.289
know, obviously the organizations, you know,
00:37:34.409 --> 00:37:37.750
AZMBA with Matt, WJZ with team, you know, they've
00:37:37.750 --> 00:37:40.510
been great to work with, with this is what we
00:37:40.510 --> 00:37:42.670
want. We want to help you build, you help us
00:37:42.670 --> 00:37:45.309
build, you help, you know, we, we, we help each
00:37:45.309 --> 00:37:47.570
other quite a bit, which is, which is great to
00:37:47.570 --> 00:37:51.130
help just bring the organizations up and, you
00:37:51.130 --> 00:37:53.389
know, educating people like this past weekend,
00:37:53.409 --> 00:37:57.510
you guys had with the elevate thing. Yep. Unfortunately,
00:37:57.710 --> 00:38:00.210
I couldn't make it. I was at GCU. But I've heard
00:38:00.210 --> 00:38:02.670
nothing but great things about it, like how amazing
00:38:02.670 --> 00:38:05.530
that was. It was incredible. It was incredible.
00:38:06.469 --> 00:38:09.110
And for us, we gave a product away at the event,
00:38:09.269 --> 00:38:11.489
stuff like that. So it's just being able to.
00:38:12.199 --> 00:38:14.659
be connected with those two big organizations
00:38:14.659 --> 00:38:18.659
here has been a blessing for us. But yeah, Brandy
00:38:18.659 --> 00:38:21.340
has been amazing. Rich for bringing me out here.
00:38:21.719 --> 00:38:24.219
Paul Cook for helping me with, you know, getting
00:38:24.219 --> 00:38:26.960
me jobs throughout the Valley. Adam Malek. I
00:38:26.960 --> 00:38:29.940
can go on and on and on. But yeah, it's been
00:38:29.940 --> 00:38:33.659
a blessing and we love being here. We hope we're
00:38:33.659 --> 00:38:35.780
going to be around for a while. And I think you
00:38:35.780 --> 00:38:38.320
will be. I think you will be. Well, I appreciate
00:38:38.320 --> 00:38:40.860
the time. Thank you so much. And I hope you have
00:38:40.860 --> 00:38:42.679
a great season. And I'm going to see you probably
00:38:42.679 --> 00:38:45.059
at several shows this year, right? Definitely
00:38:45.059 --> 00:38:47.360
you will. All right. Thank you. Appreciate it,
00:38:47.559 --> 00:38:48.239
man. Thank you, Martin.