Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:00 Good morning for Macquarie wood, Buffalo, and the rest of the world. You're tuned into the Mac city morning show. I am your host, Elliot the air, and we're going to start the show off the same way we start every episode off with a moment of gratitude. I know you could be doing a million other things with your time. So the fact that you're spending with us truly does mean the world to us on that note. Tanner hit him with the intro
Speaker 0 00:00:29 Okay. And we're back. Okay. As you can see, we are not on the set of the maxi morning show. We are on location at rib Fest. So thank you to all the vendors, all of the people, selling ribs, all the musicians and Dennis for allowing us to be here today. Now, as you know, I do not introduce my guests because they can do a better job at that than myself. So on that note, sir, can you please tell everybody at home who you are and what?
Speaker 2 00:00:50 Hi, I'm max knows where the stage manager you're here to speak. And at the rib Fest, I'm a 20 year veteran of Fort McMurray and the music scene here at Fort McMurry. And, uh, I've been the, on the other end, uh, of a lot of these shows where the stage manager's done, what they did and learning from that open that hopefully I can make things a lot easier for people this year. There we go.
Speaker 0 00:01:10 All right. So let me, uh, let me hear about this stage manager. How did you get it?
Speaker 2 00:01:15 I actually, Dennis leaf and asked me to do it. He's a good friend of mine and he just knows my experience level in town and with the music and dealing with people, I'm a people person. So he asked me to do it from this year and I accept it because I love this man. This is what I'm all
Speaker 0 00:01:29 About. Okay. So how did you get involved in that career? Just in
Speaker 2 00:01:32 General. It's not really, my it's like a secondary career for me. I mean, right now I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm still like an auditor type person at work. I just check on people's files and whatnot. But as a person, myself, I'm a people person. I love talking to people, very outgoing and I like helping people as much as I can. So for me, this is a natural fit for my personality. Plus I'm really into music. I mean, I've been playing air guitar since I was three years old. Right.
Speaker 0 00:01:57 Okay. All right. Very cool. That's the best instrument to play, man. So where are you from before?
Speaker 2 00:02:05 No, I'm from gamble. Newfoundland. Originally I moved here, like I said, it'll be 20 years ago in about three weeks. It will be my 20th anniversary here in port Macquarie and been loving it ever since. I love the community here. And the, the musical community is absolutely amazing here. I can't say enough. Good things about it. Really. So
Speaker 0 00:02:19 What brought you out to form career initially? 20 years ago
Speaker 2 00:02:22 Work, basically the same reason everyone came up here. I was, I finished school and everything and finished university and I just wasn't getting the satisfaction and the movement that I wanted from what I was doing. So I came to Macquarie and like, everyone that comes here then worked hard, got where I wanted it to be. So I stayed here and that was my family's home.
Speaker 0 00:02:43 You got a big family
Speaker 2 00:02:43 Up here. I've got two kids and a wife, kids are 14 and 12, 14, 12 boys, two girls, two boys, two big boys. My son, my 14 year old son is taller than I am. Yeah,
Speaker 0 00:02:56 That's awesome. During COVID what, uh, what were you doing with them to keep them out
Speaker 2 00:03:00 Of trouble? The video games, video games, and just family chats and stuff like that. I'm not going to lie, man. We all went through a rough time. So something that I like to keep open the boat is therapy's really important, man. When you're going through rough, rough times, we're all seeing therapists from time to time just to deal with their demons. And that's good. It's good, man. It helps her a lot.
Speaker 0 00:03:21 We it's really healthy, really healthy. We had, um, Jason King from some other solutions on the show a few months back. And he was talking all about like the support systems that they have. Um, unfortunately not everybody can afford to pay for, for therapy or to talk to somebody. So there are solutions out there, but yeah, man, like even myself after I like to think of myself as a positive outgoing guy and throughout the COVID pandemic there's times where I was like, wow, this is
Speaker 2 00:03:49 It is it's tough though. I went through dark times with self. Like I tried to be positive too, but I found myself getting Derrick, like you said, but darker than I thought. I mean, he brought it to my attention that I didn't notice. That's the thing, a mental health. Sometimes if you're sitting there in that funk, you don't notice it coming, right. Someone needs to tell you about it and bring you out. That's right. So then that's when I started like myself seeing the therapist and I was really surprised at how easy it was to see someone here in port Macquarie. It's really impressive. The things we have here is
Speaker 0 00:04:18 Yeah. The community has definitely grown over the years for that and other type of services back in the day, it was a little bit more challenging, but yeah, the resources in this community,
Speaker 2 00:04:27 They're definitely, it's crazy. It's how great it is here.
Speaker 0 00:04:30 So now in regards to the job that you do and what are the tasks that you're responsible for in your role? I know
Speaker 2 00:04:37 And about what you did. Well, I spent the last week or so just arranging the stage plots for the bands, making sure that they have all the connections that they need and the power supplies that they need. And just making sure you're feel comfortable coming into the stage, knowing that they're not going to be hitting a wall that they're not ready for something right now that now that it started basically running around, helping with everything, I can, everything. Every, every person I see needs some help. I'll just help him. But for the most thing, my thing right now is keeping the schedule going stage and introducing the ax.
Speaker 0 00:05:05 Now there's a number of acts here over the weekend. How many people
Speaker 2 00:05:09 Are coming here, roughly 17 acts all together.
Speaker 0 00:05:11 Okay. So there's 17 acts. You're up there weeks prior to setting stuff up, making sure they have their best. Right. Are you contacting the bands like management staff or them directly? Indirectly. Okay. And so like they're telling you what they need and how they need it or
Speaker 2 00:05:24 Yeah. Everything is ripped directly from the band. It's funny. I know most of the people, anyways, I call calling my friends cause like Mick Murray always supports its own artists. So most of the artists playing here this weekend are artists. So I just basically I know their numbers already. So I just call them up and talk to them.
Speaker 0 00:05:41 So now with all of their equipment, I'm assuming they're bringing in their own drums, their own guitars, their own baby,
Speaker 2 00:05:46 Uh, they're bringing their own instruments, but the backline here is absolutely amazing. I mean, there's a choice of whatever you want. And literally there's, I'd say maybe 13 or 14 guitar ramps up there. There's three or four bass amps. There's four pairs of drums and there's a piano and everything. Now, most keyboard players are going to bring their own keyboard has got their own assumptions and whatnot. But yeah, it's there. If you need it though, it's actually a pretty, pretty impressive back line.
Speaker 0 00:06:11 So how did you stumble into this? Like obviously, like you said, you have a site job, you do something else. This is like, this is pretty impressive. The talent and the skill set that you've been able to accumulate. Where, how like did you just like go to a concert one day and say, I want to do this.
Speaker 2 00:06:25 I've always wanted to be involved in the music industry. I mean, you can probably tell that from all the gigs that I do in town here, but I like being a, I'm a planner by nature. I've been planning for work for the last 15 years. So I just really enjoy doing that. I like getting things working. I've been to a lot of shows where things weren't working out too well and everything was messed up. And I wanted to make sure that that didn't happen here. So as I said, Dennis is my friend. He knows that I'm good at what I do. He knows that I'm doing good in the music and everything like that. So then he got me, he gave me a chance this time and I'm hoping he's going to keep me back at it. Cause man, I really enjoyed it
Speaker 0 00:06:59 So far. You're crushing, man. I've been here all day. The music's been going off like clockwork. Like I know we were a little bit behind because of the weather this morning, but
Speaker 2 00:07:07 The bid stage arrived a little bit late too. So yeah.
Speaker 0 00:07:09 So everything's been going great though. Thank you. All right. Now there's a segment on this show called the max CD minute. Tanner usually asks the questions, but Tanner's not here right now to answer, ask those questions. So I'm going to do my best to do Tanner's max 60 minute question. Sounds good. So first question for you. Tanner style is we got some red trucks behind us out of all those rip trucks. Which one would you like to eat at the most?
Speaker 2 00:07:31 You have a favorite, my own barbecue. Your own barbecue. I like it. I like the what's that last one. Barbecue. Bull's-eye barbecue is really good.
Speaker 0 00:07:39 Okay. Question number two. Now you've been in port Macquarie for a number of years now. What keeps you here? Why do you like
Speaker 2 00:07:46 I have so many friends and family live here. It's my own mail. I got gigs every weekend.
Speaker 0 00:07:53 Okay. Friends and family and music. Nothing wrong with that. Okay. Question number three. Something about Fort McMurray that somebody from outside of town would know about why Fort McMurray is awesome.
Speaker 2 00:08:04 It's an immersive immersion of so many cultures. It's really cool. You can go to a Mediterranean grocery store. You can go to an African restaurant. It's amazing. It's got everything. It's a melting pot. It's like a miniature Toronto, except the people here are way nicer.
Speaker 0 00:08:20 All right. Now, in regards to yourself, you're a fan of music audience. Who's your favorite band?
Speaker 2 00:08:29 That's a hard question to answer. I don't know. It changes every day. Some of my biggest favorite bands I'd say like smashing pumpkins, Jimi Hendrix, obviously Stevie Ray Vaughan led Zeppelin, stuff like that. I get to listen to everything, man. Okay.
Speaker 0 00:08:42 And last but not least concerts. What's the best concert you've ever been to.
Speaker 2 00:08:46 Roger. Roger Waters, the wall. You didn't even
Speaker 0 00:08:49 Miss a beat
Speaker 2 00:08:50 On that one. It blew my mind completely listen.
Speaker 0 00:08:53 Usually people think about questions. I
Speaker 2 00:08:55 Don't have to ever think about it. That just what was so good about that? Well, it was the last, it was the last roll of the tour. But if I'm a huge fan of the wall of the movie, right, the film I'll call it. And uh, it was pretty much acted out perfectly on stage in the Rexall place in Edmonton and a plane flew down through the stadium and crashed into the brick wall and knocked everything. It was amazing.
Speaker 0 00:09:20 All right, well man, that's the end of the show, right? So everybody gets a shameless plug at the end. So shameless plug shameless, shout out the mix on the camera's on
Speaker 2 00:09:30 You're up. Love your families. There
Speaker 0 00:09:33 We go. That's the best plug I think we've ever had. Thank you so much for coming on the show. Hopefully you come back again and again, you can come check out the set. It's going to be a good time. So thanks for making the time. I really appreciate it. My man. All right. So for me, Mary, with Buffalo is the rest of the world. Thank you for tuning in max. Thank you for showing up. Really appreciate it. Hopefully you're having a great day and we'll see you tomorrow. Peace
Speaker 3 00:09:55 Y Dalio Wade, and another morning show later by us.
Speaker 1 00:10:04 You
Speaker 2 00:10:13 Talk about quenching your ugly thirsty.
