Dakota West, Talent Agent, Concert Promoter, Radio Veteran

00:00
I can blame him for the fact that I never hooked up with Shania Twain.

00:12
Welcome to another episode of Chewing the Fat. I am your host, Big Robb. Thank you so much for tuning in, downloading the podcast. I certainly do appreciate that. Thanks for the folks who have bought me a coffee at chewingthefatbr.com. That little cup of coffee really helps the show to keep going and I appreciate that. And the new friends that are following along as well over @ChewingTheFatBR on Instagram. Thank you so much for your support.

00:36
Of course, the show wouldn't be anything without my guests. And I'm so glad to reconnect with a longtime friend from back in the old radio days. Please welcome Dakota West. How are you, sir? Hey, man. It's been a while. Oh my goodness. I think the last time I saw you, we were working an event back when I was with Fox. Oh, wow. Down at the Imperial. Was it that long ago? I think so. It's been probably about 10, 15 years ago. Yeah.

01:04
Thank goodness for a Facebook. Yeah, I know right. Or else we wouldn't know where anybody is or what's going on. Exactly. Um, Dakota and I met, uh, back, back in the nineties, uh, late nineties, early two thousands, I guess, uh, at Y one Oh five. Oh yeah. I was, yeah, I was overnight and you and Mackenzie held down, held down the morning shift. So, uh, so we always kind of were, were in passing.

01:33
there at the station, but gosh, some good times, man. I know, it was such a blast. Yeah, I was thankful, you know, to get the job in Augusta at the time, because before then I was down in Brunswick and had moved there where my current wife, you know, where she was living to be closer to her. And I really did not like Brunswick. And it's funny, you brought up, I've listened to a couple of your other podcasts. Joe Mama? Yeah.

02:02
Yeah, I worked with him down there in Bryceley too. Small world. I said it before, I'll say it again, radio, it is such a small little pond of weirdos and it's a great to be part of it. It is. Yeah. So cool. So, Dakota, you, all right, so you say you moved to Augusta and you were down in Brunswick. So where are you from originally? North Alabama. Okay. So I was raised in a little town, little community called Colbert Heights. Okay. And it's a little high peak over in the.

02:31
Northwest corner, about 45 minutes from Tennessee, 45 minutes from Mississippi in that area. But it's part of Tuscumbia. You ever heard of it? Yeah, yeah. I mean, I lived in Birmingham for like four years, so I know I'm familiar with it. Yeah, and then you got muscle shells right there beside it, yeah. Yeah. But I went to school at a little school called Colbert Heights, and God, 11th grade? Was it whenever I got into radio? Wow. Something like that.

03:00
Wow. Yeah. So, uh, I mean, well, how did that in 11th grade? I mean, you're, you're, you're junior. You're getting ready to. Okay. So originally let's, let's go back even further. Okay. All right. So third grade, fourth grade, something like that. Uh, I ended up having a learning disability. Okay. So, um, had problems reading, writing, you know, and things like that. And I had a hearing issues. Oh wow. Yeah. So I ended up having to go through special education classes all through.

03:28
school all the way to graduation. So, and somewhere in there I was told, because I enjoyed music, I was told that I couldn't do anything like this. Oh, wow. And somebody who was speaking in a class and I brought up, you know, the radio seems cool. And they were like, Oh, you can't do that. Oh, wow. So that sort of became a motivation.

03:48
That kind of, it's like, it kind of pissed you off and now you're going to just show them that you can do it. Yeah. And I'm sort of mad that they did that because there's no telling where I could have been. Somewhere else in the rocket scientist. Exactly. But so that happened and I ended up, it was probably ninth, tenth grade somewhere in that neighborhood. I was always in doing radio contest, you know, and they did this thing called the six pack on one of the local radio stations.

04:18
and they would play six songs in a row. The first person that could call in and name the artist and the title of all six songs would win whatever price. So I was doing this all the time. And then there was one week where I actually won every single day. And I used a different name. I was about to say they had to change the rules because of you. Yeah. All my family members had prices. So now went into the radio station and, uh, and that guy,

04:48
I can't remember his name, but he was an afternoon guy. He happened to be coming down the hallway whenever I was picking up stuff and he stopped and he goes, hold on, you're the same guy that won the entire week, aren't you? Yes. And I was like, guilty. And he goes, have you ever thought about getting a radio? And I was like, huh. So that's where the whole bug of getting radio came into. And then whenever the person said that I couldn't do it, it motivated me to do it.

05:15
So I ended up getting a job at a little radio station in Russellville, Alabama. I was running like, I don't know, Rick Dees or something like that. Sunday night, top 40 countdown, doing that. And then they gave me two hours from 10 to midnight to be DJ. Yeah. And, and for the first probably three, four months, it was no talk, you know, I was too nervous. Yeah. Yeah. And, and I finally, eventually they said, Hey, if you want to, you know,

05:43
read the little cards you can. Oh, it was terrible. It was so terrible. And so I did that for a few months and then eventually I got a part-time gig at another radio station there in town. And then that one eventually turned into a full-time radio station gig doing nights on the top 40 station. I guess you...

06:02
You got better at talking then you're doing nights on the top 40. You know, I was ended up, I ended up getting trained by the guy that I don't know if he's still doing this, but at one time he was the voice of the NBA. Oh wow. Yeah. He was from that station and he's like two years younger than me. Wow. And he was, he was like, I think at 10th, 11th grade doing a show. Yeah. He would get out of school and come do an afternoon drive type thing. Oh wow. Yeah. And he had.

06:29
voice like you would not believe. That's all. But I know he's still doing voice work, but I'm not sure if he's doing NBA still or not. So he trained me. So, and here he is two years younger than me and I'm like, what, 17, 18, somewhere in that neighborhood. Yeah. You know, and so, and he trained me. So did that in North Alabama, ended up in Huntsville for a little while. Oh, but I got to go back to my claim to fame, which was working at a country station there in Florence, Alabama.

06:58
Uh-huh. That was owned by Sam Phillips. Oh wow. Yeah. So, and Sam would come in and tell Elvis stories. If you don't know who Sam Phillips is, Sam Phillips is basically the father of rock and roll, if you will. Yeah. So, because he owns Sun Studios, helped find Elvis, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, who else? My goodness. So many, so many others. Yeah. That's crazy. That's awesome though. Yeah. That's kind of like, kind of like.

07:25
down here with James Brown owning the radio station. And I've heard stories of jocks that, you know, they'd be in the middle of the shift and James would walk in and Mr. Brown would be like, yeah, I want to get on, I want to play my record. And it's like, you're not going to say no. You're not going to say, no, I'm not going to play your record, Mr. Brown. So it's like, yeah, that's so cool. No, yeah. And that's the thing about it being in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Have you seen the documentary Muscle Shoals? Yes.

07:53
I watched that years ago when it first came out. And I was like, I know him. I know him. And I had no idea who I was around. Yeah. Cause I'm in my early twenties, late teens. He's a dumb kid. Exactly. I'm sitting at one of the radio stations. I can't even remember what I was doing there. Either afternoons, nights, whatever. But one of the guys that works there, one of the older guys, he came up to me and goes, hey, you want to meet a Swamper? And I was like, all right. What's a Swamper? Exactly.

08:21
You know, and if you don't know what a swamper is, uh, they're a studio musicians from also shows, uh, sweet home, Alabama, Leonard Skinner makes mention of them. Yeah. And, uh, so we ended up at one of the restaurant slash bars there next to the radio station, hanging out with this guy, you know, and just, you know, telling stories and me just listening. And it's amazing because like I said, now I look back and it's like I had no idea what I was around. Yeah. It was insane. You know, that's the cool. That was, I always thought that was the cool thing about

08:51
about radio is like, you know, you're able to be a part of these opportunities that other people would never have a chance to be a part of. And also they will never believe that you are a part of them. Right. You know what I mean? That you're like, yeah, I was just having dinner with one of the swampers and you know, blah, blah, blah. And it was just like, what? How? How would you? You're like, you're just a radio guy. It's like, well, that's, that's kind of some of the doors that radio used to open for you. It's sad to see the state of radio nowadays where

09:20
You know, you talk about doing a two hour shift, you know, they don't have they barely have live jocks. Right. At all. Right. And there's no overnight proving ground anymore. You know, that used to be where everybody cut their teeth. That was a security guard. Yeah. It's like you make sure nobody broke in. You make sure nobody broke in. You also had to take me to readings every every two hours. And you got to play on the radio for a little bit. Right. And that's but that's how so many people came along and cut their teeth.

09:49
on radio and perfected their craft and that opportunity is not really there anymore in that type of sense. I mean, yeah, there's a lot of people out there that will do a podcast or something like that, other audio type of things, but there's just not that radio, the shared trauma that you had working with these people. It was a great experience because like I said, Sam walks in, I'm on nights at a country station at the time.

10:19
He walks in with his bottle of Jack and his glass and he's just sitting there pouring Drinking telling Elvis stories while I'm trying to do a shift, right? Okay, so it's like Sam can you hold that thought one minute? And then go back to hearing the Elvis stories, yeah, it was just it was insane that is so cool Yeah, you know so did that for many years ended up at in Huntsville, Alabama

10:48
The lady that I worked with in Muscle Shows, she was the one that brought me into Huntsville. I did swing shift at ZYP there in Huntsville, which meant basically I worked every shift if somebody called in sick. Yeah, you were the villain for sure. So I worked in TV a little bit up there as well. Let's see, after that, I think I went back to Muscle Shows for a little bit and then I ended up in Myrtle Beach. So I worked at Gator in Myrtle.

11:17
for a little while and had a morning show there and did afternoons as well. So I had a blast in Myrtle. Myrtle was such a fun town. So, but where are you out? Yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah. Cause we had, I think there was five radio stations under the group and it was every format. So you had tickets to every show that you ever wanted to go see. Right. And Myrtle beach got the shows. Yeah. Yeah. So, and so it was constant. You're just going, going, because you didn't want to miss them.

11:46
You know, and then also it's, it's show prep. We can talk about, Hey, I was at the show last night and blah, blah, blah, blah, whatever. Yeah. Yeah. It was, it was something else. It just kept you busy. So I was there and I was there for a few years. Was that your first morning show game? Yes. All right. It was, was morning shows. Was that kind of always the goal when she got into radio? Really?

12:11
No, it just, I just enjoyed doing whatever shift. I liked, um, I was music director as well. Okay. Yeah. And that's what I wanted to do. So I wanted to be a music director program or something like that. So, and the mornings were fun, you know, and I really enjoyed it. And, and it did grow on me a lot, you know, especially coming to Y one to five, you know, cause we had such a blast there. But, um, but myrtle, the big thing about the Myrtle trip was I ended up meeting my wife, Cindy. She was on vacation.

12:41
We met at Crocodile Rocks, so the little piano bar there and there. So she was on vacation with one of her friends. I was just hanging out with one of my buddies there that worked there. And so we ended up talking. I won't go into the full story of that because she will probably get mad at me. So, but either way. So we ended up meeting, but the funny part was I was talking to her friend. So, and she goes, what do you do?

13:09
I said, well, I work over here at this radio station and everything. And she goes, really? She was Cindy. He works for the same group that you work for. She was in sales down in Brunswick. Yeah. So is small world. Yeah. Once again. Wow. So so we met and just kept in contact and ended up doing a long distance relationship and eventually came to the term of if we're going to continue this, you know, somebody's got to move, got to be in the same city. Yeah. And I was like, you know what? I'll I'll get transferred.

13:39
So I transferred down to Brunswick, did afternoons down there for a little while. Uh, like I said, didn't really enjoy it. So, and that was always one of my things about radio was if I ever got to a point where I couldn't pay my bills or I didn't enjoy it, I was, you know, it's time to get out, you know, time to move on. Um, because I came to that conclusion whenever, you know, I don't, I don't know if you ever had this conversation with anyone older in your life, but you know, the, when are you going to get a real job?

14:08
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. What's your backup plan? Yeah. Well, yeah, not really. I'm sorry. Yeah. I ended up. I had that conversation with my dad whenever I was like an 11th, 12th grade, something like that, because he was like, you know, this is not something you can do. Blah, blah, blah. And I was like, you know, you can. And I made the comment to him. And I think it sort of shocked him of dad, I don't want to be like you. I don't want to hate getting up and go into work. And, you know,

14:38
And I assumed that my dad really didn't like his job. I had no idea. Right. But whenever I made that comment, he just looked at me and said, OK. And that was it. He never questioned me ever again. So whenever it came to my career choice. Yeah. And I thought that that was very cool of him. But years down the road, I did end up getting where I brought him. I don't know if you ever been to CRS Country Radio Seminar in Nashville.

15:06
Um, so, but I did get my dad, like one of the front row tables. Oh, it was a Montgomery Gentry was on the new faces show and he got to meet them and hang out in their bus. And that's whenever he was like, Oh, you do have a pretty cool job. Okay. I get it. Yeah. Uh, but yeah, back to Brunswick, uh, whenever I was down there, I didn't really enjoy it. Um, now, uh, the town's a lot different and I think I would really enjoy being down there. Was it just, was that what it was? Yeah. The town itself. Yeah. Just kind of, yeah, I didn't like the vibe.

15:36
You know, just coming from Myrtle beach. Yeah. You know, you're where something where something's always going, always going, and then you kind of move to this drowsy little town. Right. You know, and they had things, but nothing on the level of Myrtle. And I just, I seem to get bored, you know? And so she and I talked about it and she was like, okay, yeah, just, uh, you know, start, you know, putting the feelers out there and see what happens. And then next thing you know, I get a call from Augusta, Georgia and I'm like,

16:04
I think I drive through that whenever I'm going from Myrtle beach to muscle shoves to see family. I think I drive through that town. And then, and then it was like, Oh yeah, it's that exit right after you cross South Carolina into Georgia. Right. At the time, that's all I knew was Washington road. Yeah. That's it. That's where you probably filled up with gas and then got back on the highway. That is it. Yeah, that is it. And so I ended up getting the job up here. It was somewhere around 2000, beginning in 2000, something like that. And, uh,

16:33
you know, working with McKinsey and we had a blast. So did that for about two years here. Then had the dream chance of going to program and start a radio station in South Alabama. Uh, went and did that, uh, that crashed and burn pretty quick. You know, you know how it is.

16:52
Hey, by the way, we're going to change the format today. We don't need you anymore. Right. We know you've upheeled your whole family and moved them, you know, 400 miles away. But we just, we don't change our mind. Yeah, we've changed our mind. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. So ended up in South Atlanta after that. And but whenever we were down in South Georgia or South Alabama, when we were down there, we, Cindy and I both looked at each other and said, you know, we should have never left Augusta.

17:20
because we just, we made such good friends here. Love the town. You know, it's just, it's a good, happy medium. You know. Two hours from everywhere. Yeah, it's just, it's, you know, my thought was it's right in between Myrtle and Brunswick. You know, if you want to find things to do, they're here. If you don't, if you want to stay here, you can. You know, it's your choice. And that's the way I looked at this town. And so we ended up, like I said, we ended up in South Atlanta for a little while. And then I ended up over at,

17:49
working at Beasley. So with T and Chris and all of them, I was at, I think the station was called Big Dog. It was a classic country. So I did mid days for a little while. They were nice enough to get me back here and I really appreciate that. And then that station went out. And then they were nice enough to keep me on board though. And I became a Steve York's assistant.

18:19
Okay. In the news. And so no, I know production production. So until he passed away, and then, and then I started doing production over there. And then after that, it just got to where, you know, it wasn't on air. Yeah, you know, and it was just commercials. And I just the fun part of radio wasn't in it anymore. Exactly. Yeah, it just, it just, I didn't really enjoy, you know, that part of it anymore. And then buddy of mine, Jonathan,

18:49
was getting ready to him and some other partners were getting ready to open up the country club dance hall and saloon. Okay, yeah. And he called me up and said, hey, would you be interested in being a part of this? I was like, yeah, what you want me to do? He goes, well, you know a lot of country people. You want to be our booker? Basically. So I came in working with Chris Cato. He was general manager. And I was handling all the entertainment, all that fun stuff.

19:19
Did that, that was a blast. Yeah. Yeah. Doing all those shows that that put a bug in me. Really bad. I was about to ask, is that kind of what lit the fire into what you're doing now with a West talent group? Yeah. So, uh, yeah, I did, uh, I was at country club for five years, six years, something like that. Then, uh, I got out of it a little bit, went over to coyotes, uh, worked with Charlie Sconyers and was doing that. I had a good time there. And then, uh,

19:48
got out of it totally for about seven years. Yeah. And then West Talent Group came about, one of their buddy of mine that I worked with at all those clubs, Derek Dove, he called me up. It was December 2019. He calls me up and says, hey, I would like to get somebody to represent me, and help with booking and stuff like that. And I was like, oh, okay. He goes, I trust you.

20:16
Would you be interested in it? And I was like, let me have a conversation with my wife. Right, right. Because at that time, I'm working in the internet, cell phone business, and things like that. So totally out of the loop. Totally. Been out of the loop for probably seven years, something like eight years. And so I talked to her, and she just looked at me. She goes, I knew eventually you were going to come to me with something like this. Yeah.

20:43
She said, I knew that you couldn't last. So she gave the blessing of starting West Telegroup. So we started that to represent Derek Dove and the Peacekeepers. And we got that going. I think the company officially started February 21st, 2020. Oh, wow.

21:03
I think that was the official first day of the company. Wow. And this is a booking agency who books bands to do shows. In person. Exactly. In the public. Exactly. One month before the world is about to shut down. Yep. So and things were rolling. We had the good things going. And then it's like, no. Wow. So luckily, I still had my other job. So I was still doing it as well. And.

21:31
So we just made it through, you know, and trying to figure out ways of, you know, getting income for Derek and keeping the music out there and making sure that people still knew what was going on. That was a challenge. Oh my goodness. Just, you know, trying to make sure, you know, the live streams and all of that. I'm sure you know a lot about all that. Oh yeah. That was, it was quite interesting. It really was. So, but with West Talent, we ended up, you know, having that going and what was it like?

22:01
Probably what, two years after that, when they finally really started letting everybody go back to normal somewhere in there. So the ball started rolling and Derek started getting a lot more bookings. Ended up picking up another band called A Few Miles South. By the way, Derek Doven, the Peacekeepers is more of a blues southern rock band. And then you've got A Few Miles South who ended up starting to work with a couple of years into the company. They're more of a roots Americana.

22:29
country, tie back. So, and they, they're out, both of them are out of South Georgia. And then now I've also got a couple other acts, Lloyd Carter, country and very soulful country. Oh wow. Soulful. And then I got a tribute act called Swamp Music. Okay. It's a Skinner tribute. So that I work with. So, but yeah, that's what we ended up doing with West Talent and

22:57
getting all of that going and started doing a, you know, the idea of starting with talent was to be a booking agency and also do a few concerts on the side. Because like I said, at the country club and coyotes and doing all those shows, I really enjoyed doing it. So, um, came up with the idea of a retro concert series at that point. Um, and, uh, we started doing, uh, it's been, this is our third year, doing concerts with it. Um, so, um, but bringing a band called Hairball, I don't know if you've seen that show yet, you gotta come to it.

23:27
Very cool. And do a few other ones. It's like, I know we've got a, our next show is coming up on June 8th, which is a slippery, when wet, which is a Bon Jovi tribute with the, the beastie boys, which is a beastie boys tribute. That's pretty cool. Yeah. So that's all going to be at the Columbia County pack, but also going to get some shows coming up at the Miller as well. That's so cool.

23:54
But yeah, doing that, it's, it's been a blast, but you know, I really enjoy doing the shows because you seeing people happy is a wonderful thing. Yeah. You know, and just seeing them smile and just knowing that you had something to do with that smile is just, it gives me chills every time. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's kind of like back when we would do, especially with, especially with the morning show, we do, uh, you know,

24:23
station contest, you know, not the remote at the car dealer where, you know, the salespeople wanted to eat all your pizza and take all your t-shirts. I'm talking about like where we would do like the big things, you know, we would do the big giveaways or do the show out live on a Friday, you know, out on the side of the road and where people would come and they just wanted to be a part of it. You know what I mean? They were happy to be there. It was something fun starting there.

24:52
It could be their work day or whatever, or maybe they're coming off of a shift and they'd still stop by just for that moment to be a part of, hey, I listen to y'all all the time. Remember when you did blah, blah, blah and that was so funny? I don't know if you remember, but the Sinka De Mayo? Yes.

25:12
I remember this, you know, Mackenzie sends me a picture of a man. He's trying to sink every sink. Every year I get that picture. That's it. It's great. You know, that's wonderful. I remember the we did the mountain oysters contest. Yeah. You recall that one? Yeah.

25:32
Uh, did you taste? Nope. Nope. I did not. I saw the guy prep them. I know that was probably worse. Oh, it was great. And it's so funny. Uh, but the one thing I remember, um, you and Dale, the, and I still got a copy of this somewhere in my attic. I know I did. I'm on beat tiger. Oh yeah. Yeah. So that was the greatest parody ever.

26:02
And what was that? The 2001 Masters? Something like that. Yeah. We did that. And then one year, uh, would the year Martha Burke dressed in drag and was down across from the entryway of the Magnolia lane and stuff like that. Yeah. It was, it was, that's just saying that's some crazy stuff. Still got pictures of Dale stripping. Yeah. With the chocolate sauce.

26:31
I'm going to say this for anyone that might be thinking of doing an exotic dance with chocolate sauce. It sounds neat, but once you spread it to a certain point, it does not look like chocolate sauce anymore. It kind of takes on this kind of dookie look. You were a part of that in some way, right? I was driving the van. Because Dale was kind of part of y'all show.

26:58
Yeah, but it was dangerous. But it seems like he, there was some kind of contest for that. I can't remember. Oh yeah. Yeah. There was, yeah, there was some, some sort of contest that somebody was going to win, you know, cause I, cause that was like back in the days, like Mulligan's or whatever. We were always out there on a remote. And I think it's somebody won because it was like a bachelorette party or something like that. And somehow Dale was the prize.

27:26
I still have those pictures somewhere. They may be on my Facebook page, I'm not sure. But that's what I'm saying. That was just some of the fun, funny stuff we used to do. Oh my goodness. You know. It was such a blast. And then having people, you're talking about access to people, having access to people that would call in and interview. You talk to them on the phone or people would actually stop by. Right. Augusta was never a great place for shows. Right. It's got so much better now. Oh yeah.

27:56
So much better now. It was never a great place for shows back in the early 2000s, but people would come through. They would drive through from Atlanta to Columbia. And sometimes we could be like, Hey, you're going to be by this. You're going to be at Washington road. Just swing by, just swing by, just come in for an interview or something. Probably the biggest interview that I remember of an act that is I've far as I know they're still going. And that was Coldplay. We did an interview with them.

28:23
And then the only time I've ever been starstruck Was for my birthday McKinsey set up an interview with my favorite comedian at the time And I had no idea that it was going on You know and we're just in there going on doing our thing and she was like, oh we got an important call here Oh somebody's going on, you know, and I pick it up and it's Christopher Titus and He had that show on Fox at the time. It was a sitcom funnies could be I cannot remember

28:52
But that was probably the only time I've ever been starstruck, you know, because I wasn't expecting it. Right. It was a combination of surprise and somebody that you really admired at the time. Yeah. And I couldn't really talk. She had to do most of the interview, you know, because I couldn't really think of things to ask. You know, and... Because you're kind of like a little girl like, hey, you know, just twirling your foot in the ground. You know, I've met a lot of people through my career and that it's very cool, you know.

29:22
a lot of country people, you know, George Strait, Toby Keith, you know, all of them. And none of them, you know, it's like, Hey, how you doing? You know, because I've always looked at it as, and it's true. It's just their job. Yeah. It's what they do. It's how they get their paycheck. You know, just the way that they support their family. They just happen to have a cool job, right? You know, and it's just same thing for actors or whatever. It's just, it's a cool thing. So that's, that's why it's never really.

29:52
hit me, you know, of, oh my goodness, you know, I'm talking to someone else also. Well, you know, and it's weird because the flip side of that is like, you had a cool job too. I had a cool job. And when we would go out to, you know, remotes and stuff and people would be like, oh my gosh, it's like you're on a radio. And of course you're like, okay, yeah, I'm on a radio. It's really, it's no big deal. Believe me, it's not for the money. It's not. Ain't the truth, ain't the truth. But yeah, but because you're there, you're

30:22
daily, you know, you're there, you're there, drive to work every morning. You're, you know, you're part of their lives, even though they're not a part of yours. I wish I could, um, you know, remember all of the experiences because there's so many, there's so many, I, one of them in Myrtle beach, they opened up the, um, the NASCAR cafe and go-kart track. I don't know if you ever went to that. Yeah. Um, but we were, I was there during the grand opening of that and they had, at the time they had the, the little, uh, short track.

30:50
They're in Myrtle Beach for bush races. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so all the drivers were in town. So they came there. We had a huge day. And I remember I got to race those guys in go-karts. And I spun out Del Jarrett. And he won the cup that year. And so that's my ha. My bragging right now. Exactly. It's like, yeah, he may have won the cup, but I spun him out in go-karts. And I got a picture of somebody. I don't know how they got this picture, but it's him right in front of me. And I'm right behind him.

31:20
That's too cool. Yeah. And it's just, it's one of those cool experiences because like, yes, the pay, not that great, but these are experiences that you really couldn't pay for. Exactly. Exactly. You know, all the backstage passes going and hanging out. Hello. Oh, speaking of backstage, this one just dawned on me. So, Scrap, if he happens to listen to this, he's down in South Florida.

31:48
But at the time he was my operations manager in Myrtle. All right. So so we Shania Twain is huge at the time. Yeah. Yeah. And she's doing her. I think it's her first big world tour. Yeah, because she just kind of crossed over. She she was going more into the pop side. Some of them from country. Yeah. Yeah. So this is a every man of mine type time and all that stuff. So she's doing a show in Charleston. So we do a contest in the limo.

32:17
You know, all of us going from my Myrtle down to Charleston, limos full. So, uh, a lot of crown, a lot of crown being drank in that limo on the way to the show. Right. All right. So we get there backstage, you know, gonna meet her. They got us all in this little room and it's very cool. It wasn't like a cattle call type meeting group. You know, where they put you in a line. You just go down a line. Yeah. Yeah. It was, she was walking around the room and she came up to me and you know, I, I,

32:46
thought I had a chance. We made eye contact conversations going great. Yeah. You know, and I'm like, at the time I was a good looking guy. You know, come on. I think I had a shot. Right. All right. I think I was better looking than mutt Lang. I can tell you that much. Well, yeah. Yeah. So, so I think I got a shot at least here, you know, and then, uh, scrap comes walking up, throws his arm around me, touches her arm.

33:16
and says, how you doing Mariah? Oh. That conversation was over so fast. Oh. Wow. That was the greatest thing at the time. I was like, what did you just do? You just met. Talk about a cock block. Oh my gosh. I didn't have a chance in hell with that. But I was still, he killed the dream. He killed the dream. But the good part is, the good part is,

33:45
I can blame him for the fact that I never hooked up with Shania Twain. It wasn't my fault. It's not that she turned me down. You know, she never turned me down. Yeah. Yeah. But it was his fault. Absolutely. What's up, Mariah? Oh my gosh. That was so much fun. Those shows, everything about it is just a blast. And I'm very thankful and grateful for those opportunities.

34:15
with what I've got going on now. Cause I got to do the plugs here, uh, you know, with Derrick Dove and the Peacekeepers. They released their second album back in October. And, um, when we dropped that album, um, they, you know, dropped all the songs off of it, had a couple of singles before they did okay on the blues charts. And then there's a song on it. It's called, uh, when did I get old? Okay. And it's the last cut, if I'm not mistaken, it's the last or next last cut on the album.

34:44
We all knew it was good, but didn't know it was that good. Oh, wow. Since that song's been released, it's been in the top five just about every day on iTunes blues charts. That's awesome. Yeah. So it is a very powerful song. So anybody, I would, over the age of 40, you're going to, you know, and he's in his late 30s. So you know, and how he came up with the song, I really don't know. Old soul. I guess, you know, he's got three kids, you know, I guess that's what got him.

35:14
So, but everybody before the album was released, I played it for a few people and they were like, wow. And I was like, yeah, it's good. But I didn't, like I said, nobody thought it was that good. That's awesome. But now it's, it has, it's hanging out in the top five on the blues charts, on iTunes. It's had over 3 million views on YouTube. Wow. Combined views. We just did the numbers the other day on TikTok.

35:43
There's 10,000 plus videos with this song in it and over 3 million views of those. That's so cool. Yeah. So, and it's all, you know, just natural, you know, just, it's just took shape and, and, uh, now we're, you know, doing a little bit more with it and hopefully it'll keep growing. Yeah. Uh, but, um, yeah, check it out. The album is called rough time. Uh, and, uh, the single was, uh, when did I get old? And then, uh, working with a few miles south, they had a lot of traction on a song called winter warm.

36:13
on the bluegrass side back in December. So it was a sort of a holiday song. They got a new album coming out later on this year. They're going to be playing at the Myrtle Beach Country Festival coming up in June. They're going to be playing there. So, you know, go check them out, you know, doing different shows around the nation. Right. And then Lloyd's got a lot of things going on. He just released a song called Beer Pressure.

36:39
peer pressure. It's very funny. Okay. The, the, the twist on it is great. Okay. So I definitely looked that up. You can find that it wherever you're streaming. So make sure you check out all those artists. Yeah. I'll make sure I put those links in the, in the show notes as well. I appreciate that. Yeah. So, so with all this that you got going on, you know, I know it's not the only thing that you're into. What's, what's bringing you joy right now? Oh my goodness.

37:07
I think everybody that comes on the show that has kids says they're kids and it's true. Yeah. You know, it's just whenever you have a good relationship with your kids, it's a wonderful thing. Yeah. You know, I've got one son who lives here in the Augusta area and he's got a son who's five grandson, Turtle, and it's just hanging out with him will wear you out. That's for sure. Yeah. And then my youngest son is in Savannah. So he and his wife, they are expecting.

37:36
Oh, I can officially say that because they just put it on Facebook. It's Facebook official. That's good. So, so, uh, that's a, some excitement for later on this year. That's so cool. And, uh, so, but they, they bring me, bring me a lot of joy when we get to hang out, you know, because I can't remember somebody that you had on the show. I listened to, they talked about that. There's nothing like being able to hang out with your kids when they become adults. Yeah.

38:02
and being able to have that conversation with them and just, you know, I drink Jack, okay, just straight up Jack Daniels. And so, and usually whenever I collect Jack as well. So anytime I can find a rare Jack Daniels blend, I'll jump on it. You got that Frank Sinatra bottle? I got three of them, so yes. But I just picked up, my wife found the single malt, American single malt. Yeah.

38:30
And she picked that up for me whenever she was out of the country about a year ago. And she picked that up and brought it back for me. And yeah, we cracked one of those open whenever everybody was together a couple of weeks ago. And it's just something about that. Yeah, being able to have a drink with your adult children, you know, and not look at them as children as much anymore. Right. You know, I think there's so much with...

38:59
society now that parents want to be friends to their kids when they're kids. Right. You can't really do that now. Kids have friends. They need parents. So you have to kind of be the parent. But when they get older, then you can be their friend. You can transition more to be their friend, especially when they become parents, because then you can laugh at the mistakes they're making that you made with them. Or the times you're like, yeah, I knew that was going to happen.

39:27
You know that type of stuff. But yeah, it's a completely different type of relationship. And it's so cool. And especially when you become like, um, uh, you know, a grandparent, like I became an instant grandparent. Oh yeah. Um, because when Jacob moved and got married, uh, to Holly in England, uh, Holly had a daughter, Vivi, by previous marriage. And so I became instant grandparent. So I became instant papa, you know? Uh, but it's so cool to

39:56
to see them interact with their kids. You know what I mean? Oh, yes, 100%. I totally understand. It's just, it is something else. And you know, and you being a parent, sometimes you want to go, and you just gotta try stopping. Yep, yep. And you can try and tell them it's like, hey, you gonna fall off that cliff if you don't, you need to turn, you need to slow down. And then they don't wanna listen or whatever. And then at some point you're just like, well, that's kinda how I learned the lesson. Right.

40:25
By driving off the cliff. I never, I never really understood, uh, when my parents, you know, talking about me and my siblings, how, you know, they're like, well, you're still my kid. You know, I'm still, and I'm like, we're adults. We can take care of ourselves. Yeah. But I never really understood that until my kids became adults. Yeah. You know, and now, you know, you still, still your kid, you know, he's still going to do what you can for him.

40:53
You know, everybody, you know, like you said, sometimes you still got to let them learn their lessons continuously and then it just continuously happens. But, but yeah, I find joy hanging out with them. Probably the most fun that I have, the biggest joy is getting to cook for them. So I love to cook. I have just started over probably Cindy. I don't know. She started working on a degree a few years ago and the deal was she would come home and do schoolwork and I would cook dinner and then she would clean up. And so, and that deal has continued.

41:23
Because I just, I love to cook, love to find new things. And whenever all the kids get to come in, and the grand kid get to come in and I get to cook for them, whether it's just grilling hot dogs and hamburgers or doing a big smoke and a butt, or doing whatever, it's just great. And especially whenever they enjoy it. Right. And sometimes, sometimes there's a fail.

41:47
You're right. And they will tell me. Right. Like, oh, this is not your best. Yeah, don't do that one again. Not your best. Yeah. So, but I enjoy that. And enjoy listening to my vinyl whenever I get a chance. You know, in my office, just let it play. I got rid of most of my collection. At one time, I had somewhere around 10,000 records somewhere in that neighborhood. Probably one of the dangers of working in radio, too. It was. Yeah. Yes. So and, uh.

42:16
I had probably that many in 45s as well. And I got rid of just about all of them. I think now maybe I got a couple of hundred, maybe. And my youngest son, he's got the bug. So he does a little bit of collecting as well. And he took some of mine. I think he took most of my beetles, I think. So, but yeah, so those are my things, just that. And I'm a workaholic, you know, because I enjoy what I do. Yeah.

42:44
You know, and I guess that old saying of do something that you love. You never work a day in your life, you know, and yeah, that's, that's, that's what it's about. Just trying to find joy in everything that you do. And it's, it's taken me many years to get there because like I said, the, I was working for another company whenever I started West Talent Group. I just recently took the official leap. Yeah. And I'm scared, you know,

43:12
It's, you know, I'm in my 50s and here I am doing, you know, something that I should have done years ago. Yeah. But I, yeah, it's, I love it. Yeah. It's just, it's hard to say, you know, exactly what it is about it. But it just, and like I said, I guess, you know, making people smile. Yeah. You know, it's just, it's a wonderful thing.

43:41
All right, Dakota, this is the second segment of the show where we dive a little bit more deeper into your mental health journey. I definitely believe everybody has a story to tell. Sometimes we fall into these dark places as we are writing the stories of our lives. But if we realize that everybody goes through that, it kind of makes that burden lighter and we don't feel like we're alone in it. So for you, how do you keep the darkness at bay?

44:10
It took me a while to figure it out. Mm-hmm. You know, and see, my dad passed in 08 and had other family members or close to family members that passed away around that same time. And it seemed that everybody was dying in the month of September. Oh, wow. And so September became a month that I really dreaded all the time. And it was probably 2012, somewhere in that neighborhood.

44:38
that came into August and I just couldn't handle it anymore. So, you know, and it's, this is probably the most open I've ever been with anybody about it. It was, it was a very hard time, you know? And I just, I went into a really dark place, you know, for myself. And I tried to keep it hid from just about everybody. And so I, I was like, you know, I would, I would be driving around at night, whatever, you know, getting off work, whatever.

45:08
And I would just, you know, try to figure out how am I going to get myself out of this? Yeah. You know, because it was all, it's just me thinking of things and just, you know, letting it just run around in my head. Yeah. Um, and I've always considered myself religious, spiritual, if nothing else. Um, and I ended up on YouTube just floating around and I found this audio book on YouTube, uh, by a guy named, a guy named David Allen.

45:38
And it's the power of I am. I know that there's a few versions out there. This is the one that I found and it was written a while back. And I just started listening to it over and over and over. And it just gave me the strength to start trying to get control of my own thoughts. And to start really digging deep into my own mind. And since then, I've...

46:07
taking up meditation. I still listen to motivational books, things to try, keep my head clear. Probably the biggest thing that I've been working on probably over the, since at least this year, maybe a little bit in the last year, is trying to be present in what's going on right now. Because I don't recall who said this, but...

46:35
You know, it's just all you really got is this moment, because the past and the future are nothing but your head. It's all in your head, the whole thing. Because it's true that most of the stuff that you worry about is not going to happen. It doesn't happen the way you think it's going to happen, and sometimes it just doesn't happen at all. And there's a quote, and I'm not going to get it right, you know, out of the Bible, basically saying that, you know,

47:04
why worry? It's not going to add any time to your life. You know, and I really took that one to heart. And like I said, that is not the quote. Right. Right. Yeah. I think it's Luke 12, 25 or 25, 12, something like that. So, but that one, you know, it really, that helped me start controlling my mind, my head, and what I was thinking and things that were going on is just being able to know that there's no reason to worry about anything.

47:33
it's going to work out the way it's supposed to work out, you know, and most of the time it's going to work out really good. Right. So you just gotta, you know, play your role and, you know, follow your instincts, you know, and, uh, it's to me, you know, like I said, I do meditate, which is slash prayer for me. Um, uh, and I try to listen to what my mind says, good things that my mind says. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Cause yeah, it's still every once in a while.

48:02
The bad stuff creeps up every once in a while because especially, especially whenever you think something should have happened this way or it should be going this way, you know, and then you got to sit back. And at least I do. I sit back and go, who am I to say how things are supposed to be? Right. You know, I, I can't control everyone. The only person I have somewhat control of is me. Right. You know? And so I've just, I've got to that point where I just, I,

48:33
Like I said, it's hard to explain, but I hope I've done okay on it. Like I said, just try to keep the bad thoughts at bay. Yeah. No, I mean- And really look at them, because those bad ones, they can take you over. Yeah. But I think that that's the fact that you recognize that they're bad thoughts. They always say the first step in any-

49:02
recovery is, is recognizing that you have a problem, right? You know, bad thoughts can be a problem and recognizing that you're like, Hey, this, these thoughts are not serving me how the, because then you try to figure out a process to quit having those bad thoughts. And most of it was just about career. You know, I should be, I should have done this. I shouldn't be here. I should be financially here, you know, and stuff like that. And that's what most of it is. And it's just, and it's,

49:30
Like I said, who am I, you know, to really say, you know, if, if there is a higher being that has a lot to do with everything, then, you know, who am I to question? Right. Wow. And, and that's, that's where I'm really, you know, trying to get myself. Um, because, you know, overall, you know, I've had a really good life. Yeah. I, you know, I've, since I hit 50, it's been a little rough. Yeah. You know, um, so I, you know,

50:00
It's easy to get into depression, especially whenever you go through some kind of a surgery type thing, because you know, I think you and I messaged back and forth. You know, I was supposed to come see you a week ago. Yeah. Yeah. And I ended up having one of my little, my, what do you call it? I don't know. I'm just an issue. And back in,

50:29
It was a what year we in 24. So July 23, I ended up having a 10 inches of my intestines removed. Oh wow. Yeah. So I ended up having a thing called diverticulitis. So, and we could not defeat it. I had it for like a year and a half and it just kept getting worse and worse and worse. And so they ended up removing it. But since then, that's gone. Right. You know, so that worked, but now I have created a bunch of allergies.

50:56
Oh, wow. Food allergies. Oh, wow. So and it's it's now I'm learning to eat again. What I can eat, what I can eat. Right. And sometimes I accidentally eat something that I shouldn't have ate. And and then you have to deal with it. And I and it usually takes 24 hours of me just dealing with cramps and things like that and just hurting. Oh, wow. And and you're just it's it's rough. It really is. And I and I.

51:23
I've told my family this, I don't wish this upon anybody. This is like one of the worst things I've ever been through in my life. So, but besides that, you know, whenever I went through that surgery, I was in the hospital for a few days, but I was home for five months, something like that, just basically laid up. Yeah. I mean, they removed 10 inches of your intestine. I imagine there's a whole lot you can do. Well, they, you know, I was up and moving. It's just, I started having

51:52
side effects, you know, and things like it. And they've been trying to figure out what that is. So I did a lot of time and you, when you spend a lot of time alone, you know, I didn't understand what people were talking about through the COVID thing, people that spent time alone and how the depression got to them until I went through that. And because I was home most of the time alone, you know, because everybody else was working, you know, and, and yeah.

52:22
gets to you. You know, so, and I just, if you, I would just suggest to anybody out there that if you know somebody who has went through something where they have to be at home, isolated, whatever it may be, and they're not around people, check in on them. Yeah. You know, shoot them a text, let them know you care. Give them a call. They may not answer and they may not reply because there were times that I would get calls and I would send people to voicemail, same thing for text messages. I had a few text messages and I would

52:51
you know, tell my wife here, you reply, you know, because I just, I was already in that dark place in my head and I just didn't want to, you know, communicate with anybody. But there was just that thing in the back of my mind now of, ah, thank you. You know, thanks for, thanks for thinking of me. Yeah. You know, so, and, uh, so yeah, just, if you know anybody going through that, definitely keep them in mind, you know, because yeah, being alone can be very, very crazy.

53:19
And I'm a big proponent of what you're talking about there. Anytime I have somebody that just crosses my mind, I may not have talked to them in 20 years, but if I'm friends with them on Facebook or if I still have their phone number or whatever, I'll shoot them a text. Be like, hey, you crossed my mind. Just want you to know what I was thinking about and hope everything's well. Boom, that's it. And send it off into the universe. Because I feel like there's a reason that they crossed your mind, especially if it's somebody you hadn't thought of in that long.

53:49
I am a true believer that there is a reason that you were the one that thought of them and they need to know that you're thinking of them. Right. Yeah. It makes a huge difference. If for some reason you can't communicate with them, at least say a prayer for them. Put them in your thoughts because you don't know what people are going through. There's a lot of people that maybe listen to this and go, wow, I didn't know that you

54:17
went through that years ago and, you know, because death is rough too. Yeah. So because like, you know, it was right before the surgery, my mom passed and then my father-in-law passed and, you know, and then you go into surgery where, hey, there's a chance, there's a chance because we're putting you under, you know, that you may not come back out. Yeah. It starts making you really think, the whole mortality thing, you know,

54:47
The one thing that we all, we're all going to face is death. Yeah. 100%. You know, unless something really crazy happens. You know, we all got to do, you know, face it. And it just, now that's one of the things, like one of the reasons I made the jump with West Talent is like, I'm not getting any younger. And this is a dream of mine. I got to chase it. I may fall flat on my face, you know, but.

55:16
at least I tried, you know, and you know, we'll see what happens with it. Um, I feel like things are going to go well with it, but you never know. And I just, like I said, I just, I'm, no, I'm not getting any younger and I'm not getting any, I'm getting closer to being six foot under every day. And that will change your perspective so fast.

55:43
Cause like I said, now I really try to enjoy, you know, coming here to see you. I enjoyed the drive here. You know, I got a convertible. I took the top down. I rode here and it's just, you know, if you've, if you've got something that you got to do, whatever, just enjoy it, whatever it is. Yeah. You know, whether it's cleaning the dishes, you know, doing laundry, going for a walk, whatever, just try to enjoy it because you may not get that moment again. You never know. And, um,

56:12
Yeah, that's, that's, that's where I am. I just, I try to try to make the best of everything. So, and I try not to be as much of a dick as I used to be. So, because I know I look back upon things that I did in my life and there were many a times that I was an asshole and I apologize to anybody that I was an asshole to. Um, some of those people I actually communicated that with.

56:41
Uh, and I'm sure there are people out there with what we do, you know, you've, sometimes you just see somebody, you talk to them, whatever, you don't realize how they took it. Yep. You know, and, um, you know, and I do apologize to all of those people because you know, my, as you get it, I guess it's one of those things of as you get older, you really start to realize a lot. And yeah, so I guess this is my moment of saying I'm sorry. A hundred percent. I'm sorry if I was an asshole to you ever.

57:10
you know, anybody out there. Um, so, uh, didn't mean to, I'll even try to make it up to you if you let me know.

57:22
All right, Dakota, this is the third segment of the show. It's time now for the Fast Five. The Fast Five. It's time now for the Fast Five. I'm about to say, yeah, I better get the low side. Fast Five. Fast Five is powered by Poddex app created by my friend Travis Brown. If you go to chewingthefatvr.com slash poddex, it'll take you to the link where you can download Poddex in your favorite app store. It's five random questions, no wrong answers.

57:53
Um, yeah, this first thing that comes off top of your head. You ready? All right. Here we go. Question number one.

58:02
What is your most treasured memory? Oh, wow. Most treasured memory. Yeah. Well, just popped in your head. You think treasured memory. Hold dear. Go into the river with mom and dad and all of mom's side of the family. That's just trace. That's where we'd go with Alabama. And it was usually on Sunday afternoons. Um, and, well, I want to say one of my uncles had a boat.

58:31
but we were never allowed to get on it because mom couldn't swim. So, and she would put us, well, we had to wear life jackets on the side of the river. No, she'd let us get in. So in other words, if we fell off the boat, she ain't going to be there to save us. So, and dad, dad would just, uh, you know, sit around. I'm assuming he could swim. He was a Marine.

58:57
So I'm assuming he could swim, but he was just, you know, doing his own thing. And yeah, that was a, that was a wonderful time doing that. And I remember my, uh, all my aunts and uncles being there. It was a, it was a great time. It really wasn't all the cousins, you know, and you just, yeah, that was, that was fun times. It was probably eight, nine years old. That's awesome. Something like that. So that's great. Yeah, that's a great memory. Wow. That's that. I hadn't thought of that in years. It's a great memory though. Wow.

59:27
Wow. This app is the magic of the question. Number two.

59:37
Would you rather get lost in the woods at night, having to find your way out or sleep in a cemetery with your best friend? No, cemetery, best friend. Easy. Really? Yeah. Yeah. So I'm not, I'm not, I'm not worried about it. Yeah. I'm not afraid of anything in there. Yeah. I just, I just, I feel good about it. Okay. Maybe a crack head, something like that, you know, I deal with that, but you know, the woods and night bears and coyotes. I grew up in the country. Yeah.

01:00:03
You know, I, yeah, you can, if you step out on porch at night, you could hear things out there and, and yeah, that, that no, no. So I'll be good. I have a cemetery any day. Awesome. Question number three.

01:00:20
Do you like to plan things out in detail or be spontaneous? A little bit of both. Okay. Yeah. Little bit of both. Um, I, all right. So I started doing this, going to Vegas at one time, my youngest son lived in Vegas. So it was my excuse to go out there all the time. I love that city. Vegas is great. So, uh, first couple of times I went out there and was like, I want to eat here, but couldn't get a reservation or anything like that. Couldn't get in, you know, Oh yeah, come back in five hours.

01:00:48
So I started using what's Open Table? Open Table. Yeah, Open Table to make reservations at every restaurant that I want to go to. I'm saying I'd load up a ton of them using that and another app and I'd have them stacked. So the app would let me do it. That way, whenever I got to Vegas, I could cancel the reservations, the ones I decided I don't want to go to, and I could eat at the one that I want to go to.

01:01:18
Nice. So it's sort of the same, you know, it's sort of both. Right. It's plan, plan spontaneity. There you go. Yeah. So, cause I've got a whole bunch of choices and then we get some spontaneous. Yeah. I like it. Hey, question number four.

01:01:35
If someone made a movie about your life, who would play you? Kevin James. Really? Yeah. Okay. You don't see it. No, I mean, I can see it. Look at the eyes. Look at the, let me get rid of the beard. No, I can see it. Let me shave the beard. I'm just saying, I think, I think he would, you know, for one thing, um, I've been told numerous times that I look a lot like him. Uh, and so, and especially whenever I shave,

01:02:04
you know, and I actually tried to look like him. I can pretty much tell. So I figured he would, you know, do good. And, and I like, he probably do a good job too. Yeah. I like his sense of humor and things like that. I think he would play the role pretty well. I think so. That's a good one. Question number five.

01:02:24
Where's the weirdest place that you've gone to the bathroom?

01:02:29
Mm. Just number one. The will to go. We'll just we'll just say that. I mean, I wish you had a really weird number to maybe. Well, I did have intestinal surgery. So this. Who? I'll 15 is a K. Roger was not a my bingo card. You're not going to find me on one of those. I've seen.

01:02:59
those videos. No, I'm probably not being able to make it to a restaurant in a local restaurant, restroom, and having to, you know, use their parking lot. Do that kind of kneel down like you're checking the tire pressure. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So because it just there was no holding it. Yeah. Yeah.

01:03:29
I, to throw my two cents in, mine was in St. Patrick's day in Savannah. And there was a line to the porta potties. Right. And it was a long line. And if you ever been to St. Patrick's day in Savannah, it's a lot different now than it used to be. Right. I was back in the heat in this days of that. And the porta potty was up kind of up a hill. So it wasn't level.

01:03:55
Right. And so it was already overflowing like from, from the thing. But there was still a line for us to go and pretend that we cared about what was about to happen there, but I could not make it. So I had shorts on, I just grabbed an empty cup from the ground and just kind of in line, just put, put the cup in my, in my pants and just kind of eat in line. And then just kind of put the cup down on the side. Now the, the, the danger is that obviously.

01:04:24
This was a drinking event in Savannah and I just made a light yellow foamy, very hot body temperature beverage. And I just sat on the ground. But yeah. So I got to share a story about Mexico. Why one of five days, uh, Mackenzie and I, uh, we did a two morning show trips to a Cancun. I don't know if you recall those. Yeah. Um, but we, uh, Bob was always a big fan.

01:04:54
Miss him. So I can't remember if it was our first or second trip, but either way we are out doing the bar hopping tour and someone, I can't, I don't, I honestly, I couldn't tell you who it is, but it was a guy. And he was there, I want to say with his fiance, so on this trip. And he came out of the club, decided to need to use the bathroom, couldn't get back in the club because of the line and everything else. So he went around the corner. Next thing you know, excuse me, Senor.

01:05:24
they're tapping on a shoulder, they get them for indecent, you know, indecent, whatever. Yeah. And, uh, so they got cuffs on them. Oh my gosh. And they're like about to take them to jail in Cancun. And, uh, they said, well, how much you have on you? I've always been told that you can barter anything. And we all just luckily a few of us noticed what was going on, but we all had to get out.

01:05:54
what money we had and give it to these police officers. So they would let this guy go. Oh my gosh. Yeah. So, uh, and I can't remember how much we ended up paying, but it was a lot, you know, but he didn't go to jail. You know, Cancun. Yeah. He might still be there to this day. Yeah. Not exactly. Wow. Yeah. And yeah, you just, you know, whenever you're traveling in another country, make sure you know the laws and make sure you know, the, the extent of what you can hold your platters.

01:06:23
Exactly. Yeah, that reminded me of that. All right, because that's that's our Fast Five and that is the show. Thank you so much for being here, my friend. Thank you, sir. I really enjoyed it. Yeah, this has been awesome. If folks want to keep up with you and West Talent Group and all bands you got, what's what's the easiest way they can keep up with everything? I'm pretty active on Facebook. It's Dakota West.

01:06:44
facebook.com slash Dakota West. Let's see, just started a new Instagram account. Okay. Like yesterday. Oh wow, okay. Just call me Grand Papa. Yeah. Okay. Because I originally, I had an Instagram years ago and I had turned it into the West Talent Instagram page. Okay. So yeah, you can follow me on that one. West talent group.com, retro concert series.com. Some great shows being announced. So please keep up with it. You can sign up for emails on that.

01:07:14
number on there that you can text and keep up with shows and get promo codes and all that fun stuff. Very cool. And then once again, the bands are Derrick Dove and the Peacekeepers, A Few Miles South, Lloyd Carter and Swamp Music. Swamp Music. Awesome. I'll make sure I put the links all in the show notes of the podcast. And of course you can find out more about Dakota and all our previous guests on the guest page at chewingthefatbr.com. But man, I wish you nothing but success with everything that you're going on. I love you. And this was so cool to get together.

01:07:44
can do it again soon. Yes sir. Love you my friend. Thank you so much for having me. Absolutely. If you would like to support this podcast, I'd appreciate it if you bought me a coffee at ChewingTheFatBR.com. But until next time, I look forward to the chance we have to sit a spell and chew the fat.