Veteran’s Day 2021 Special

Joe Atanacio served with the U.S. Air Force, working with a lot of great talent on several different USO tours. After leaving the Air Force, he continued to work with incredible acts like the Blue Man Group and Cirque du Soleil.

About Joe Atanacio

Joe Atanacio is a freelance audio engineer based just outside of Orlando, FL. Joe's journey in audio engineering began at a young age when he ran sound at his 7th-grade talent show and continued as he took on roles in various bands. A retired USAF Audio Engineer, Joe has worked as the former Cirque Du Soleil Lead Audio Tech at the Cirque show KA in Las Vegas and as the former Audio Supervisor at Blue Man Group Orlando. Throughout his military career, Joe freelanced with various companies and clubs, gaining experience in music and corporate work. Outside of work, Joe enjoys spending time with his family, dogs, and cars. He is most proud of his military career, where he learned valuable skills in equipment logistics, crew management, and micing and mixing various types of musical ensembles. Connect with Joe on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-atanacio/ or search 'Joesoundguy' on a search engine to find him.

 

Ray Biba is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps. Ray has had a long and successful career since leaving the Marines, even starting his own rep firm at one point. He now currently works at QSC as the Director of Systems Sales for the U.S. West and Florida territories.

About Ray Biba

Ray Biba is a dedicated professional and music enthusiast with a diverse background. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps, where he honed his drumming skills. After his military service, Ray embarked on a successful career path, including founding his own rep firm. Currently, Ray serves as the Senior Director of US AV Channel at QSC. Ray resides in Gettysburg, PA, with his wife and son. Beyond his professional endeavors, Ray's passion for music shines through in his role as a key member of Schizophonic, a renowned local band. Schizophonic, featuring a guitar-driven sound, captivates audiences with faithful renditions of rock classics from artists like Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, and more. Ray takes pride in his achievements, both in his career and personal life. Connect with Ray on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/ray-biba-49352623 and Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ray.biba.

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Welcome to this special edition of the Sound Connections podcast. Today is Veterans Day in the United States. So first off, we'd like to thank everyone out there who has served. When we realized that this episode was going to come out on Veterans Day, we immediately reached out to several great former members of the Armed Forces we wanted to speak with. And it just so happens that InfoComm was right here in Orlando just a couple of weeks ago, and everyone was going to be coming into town anyway. So we packed up our gear, sat down to speak with two different veterans who now have a career in AV.

We're bringing you both of their interviews in a single episode today. First up, we have Joe Antanacio. Joe served in the U.S. Air Force and got to work with a lot of great talent on various USO trips. Since then, he's worked with some top acts like Blue Man Group and Cirque du Soleil. Enjoy.

Clinton

Hi, Joe.

Joe

Hey, how you doing?

Clinton

Good. Thanks for joining us.

Joe

Thanks for having me. It's great to be here.

Clinton

Yeah, I'm glad you're here. Glad you're here. And we've also got a co-host today, Michael Moore from Shure.

Michael

Hello, hello.

Clinton

So Michael, when we were looking for a special guest for today, Michael, I reached out to you because I thought I thought you were actual, you were a veteran, but it turned out you just worked with the Air Force and not actually worked for the Air Force, I guess.

Michael

Yes. That is actually how Joe and I met, was on actually two back-to-back USO tours over two different Thanksgiving holidays. And so, when you reached out about this special episode, I thought, who is better suited than Joe to come do this? So I thought he was a great guy with a lot of experience in audio and a lot of passion for the industry as well.

Clinton

Yeah. So how long did you guys work together?

Joe

Well, those tours are only like two weeks or so. You know, there's a little lead time on the front end of it. You know, what are you bringing? Where is it? And you have, you know, Notrix or EP4s and which consoles, all that jazz.

Michael

Stage plots.

Joe

Stage plots are optional. Look, I can use PowerPoint. Yeah.

Clinton

Because that was back. That was like 2001, 2022.

Michael

Yeah, that was actually ‘03, yeah, I think, Yeah, it was a minute ago.

Joe

Yeah. But we've maintained a relationship all that time. Yeah. You know, just like somebody once you tour with somebody, you know, those relationships last.

Michael

Yeah, it was, I think there were about 14, 15, days on a trip. These trips were into Europe. And we did basically a show every other day. So you had a travel day and then a show day. So you ended up with a lot of time to hang out and get to know the crew, and then a lot of shows as well. And of course every show was different in every location. It wasn't the same type of venue. So there were a lot of variables, and it was always, always a professional show that Joe and his team pulled off.

Joe

Even with you there.

Michael

Really great experience.

Joe

Even with you there.

Michael

Even with me there, they somehow figured out how to pull it off.

Clinton

So Joe, so, you know, I think we all have different stories of how we got into this business. You know, some of us on purpose, some of us by accident. So what drew you to the sound business or AV?

Joe

Yeah, I've always been into, I've always been interested in the audio universe. I like to tell people the short version is in seventh grade, I was running sound at the talent show, and during one of the rehearsals, I go to sit up in my chair, and my foot slips out from underneath me, and I kick the AV cart. And it's got one of those PV mixers in it, and of course the reverb in it goes splash, right? And what do I do during rehearsal like a good little boy, I run backstage to see what fell. Theater teachers like, no, no, relax, everything's cool. It's actually a spring rehab. Take a look. I've got one of these apart over here. And I was like, “So the springs and metal makes that sound just by bumping into the cart?” He goes, “Yeah, so try not to do that.” And I was like hooked ever since.

Clinton

Oh, that's pretty crazy. Yeah, it was pretty crazy. And you know that's definitely a unique story.

Joe

Yeah, that's what started it. And in high school, I was always doing the audio with the bands. I was always doing the audio with the theater productions. All of it. I don't know why. Yeah, seventh grade, a pivotal year for me in my life and my arc of things is because that was the same year they put the bass guitar in my lap and said, "Here, would you like to try one of these?" And Rush had released Moving Pictures that year. So this manic, dual personality thing of musician-sound guy was born, you know, trying to sort out impedance and two amplifiers and two speakers and half the ohms. How does that work? All of these things that you wrestle with when you're first introduced to them. Yeah, and that's where it started.

Clinton

Nice, nice. So, you know, in high school, you're running some sound, and you're picking up the bass. And so I'm imagining with your career in the military that it wasn't not long after high school that you enlisted?

Joe

Immediately. Immediately. Like, see ya. Gotta go. Bye-bye. And I actually initially enlisted as a bass guitar player in the Army. And I got there, and that's exactly what I did. You know, I played bass guitar in the Army bands, which was a great experience. But I also had to wrestle with, because I was curious and wanted to be part of everything else you do. These SP1s and the CS800 things with these big capacitor, you know, medicine bottle looking things that you'd stick into the back of the amplifiers, the crossovers. You know, trying to sort all of that out and learn, you know, this is back in ‘80 something. Yeah, I'm class ‘86 so this would be ‘87, ‘89. Yeah. And so these were the very earliest get your hands on things and turn knobs on things kind of experiences for me, you know? But I was a musician who knew how to do audio. Yeah, right? Yeah.

Clinton

So you mentioned the Army.

Joe

Yeah.

Clinton

So how did you get from the Army to the Air Force?

Joe

Yeah, there's a story there. Berlin Wall comes down and my options are stay where I was or go to Korea. And I was like, I don't feel like going to Korea. And I'm young and dumb and full of piss and vinegar. So I decided to separate from the Army and take my chances out in the world as a bass player. And I can always freelance as an audio guy because I knew audio. And my father gave me great advice. He says, “Keep one foot in the door. There's a National Guard band up the road,” he tells me. “Why don't you join the National Guard band that do a weekend a month?” And he's right. I explore it. And I come to find out one of the bass teachers I had was in that National Guard band. And dear, great super duper human being and a killer musician. But he was from Philly and I was from Jersey. And he's like, oh yeah, yeah, I call him up. And he's like, this is the best thing ever. It's so casual. And besides, you could use your audio skills. All right, whatever. I could do that too. And that's what happens. I separate from the Army, and I'm in this National Guard Band in the New Jersey Army National Guard Band for a couple of three years. And it's great. It's all of those things that he promised. The rehearsals and gigs were a weekend a month, and then a two-week tour every year. And then guess what happens? Reality sets in. I'm running out of money. I'm running out of patience. You know, I'm broke. And then baby number two's on the way. So like, man, this is.

Clinton

Yeah, that'll do it.

Joe

I'm gonna need to step up my game, you know? So I do what I think reflexively a lot of people would do is try to get your old job back. And since the Berlin Wall had come down, the Army wasn't having anybody with prior service. It's like, we're done with all y'all. We're trying to go from begillions of people to millions of people. And fortunately, God smiles on me or something because the Navy had changed the requirement. There used to be a require—it might be hard to wrap your head around this. Military bands weren't always what they are. They actually didn't always have bass guitar players. The Navy had always had tuba players double on bass, and bass players would have to double on tuba, which was kind of fun to watch. But

Michael

At the same time?

Joe

At the same time I needed a gig, a steady that was happening. So yeah, I ended up joining the Navy, of all things. So cool. I spent a couple of years in Army National Guard Band and buy a PA system and built it for them and showed them how to use it and get things. And then time for me to go, and I go to Navy Band San Francisco. Why was I plucked to Navy Band San Francisco? Because they needed an audio guy out there too. Right. I did the audition. I kicked butt on the audition, and they asked me about myself and where I'd been... Oh, he knows sound too. So having both of the skill sets was really handy. So I go out in the Navy band, and I think I'm a bass player. Played a lot of bass. Had a great time. This is in San Francisco on Treasure Island, which was fantastic because you got the best of both cities without having to live in either one of them.

Clinton

Nice.

Joe

And that was really where the audio thing really started to grow long legs. I worked in a club out there with one of the trumpet players who had been doing audio for the Navy band in San Francisco needed someone to sub on his club gig that he was doing audio for out in town, the Berkeley Square, right down the street on San Pablo Ave, right down the street from Meyer Sound. It was a 500 seat burnout club, but it was a club that everybody had gone through. So what a great place for a guy like me to start cutting my teeth on something outside the happy place of the military thing.

Clinton

Yeah.

Joe

Because the military bands, they're relatively diverse. There's…most people assume marching bands. They assume wind ensembles. And those are good assumptions because that is a key part of what they do. But they also do rock and roll. They also do jazz and big band, especially big band and pop rock because fundamentally it's an outreach function.

Clinton

Right.

Joe

You know, it's some sort of public affairs element.

Clinton

Yeah, so I was just going to say, so when you guys were doing this, what were these bands for? So was it to build morale for the troops? So would you travel around? Or it sounded like on Treasure Island you were kind of stationed there?

Joe

Yeah, I was absolutely stationed right there on Treasure Island for about three years until California kicked the military out of California. That was a big deal. I was like, “Gosh, who's going to watch the store?” Because there were like all these aircraft carriers in Alameda, and then there were none. But yeah, that band's mission at that time was relatively public affairs, where the high schools and the colleges would get the Navy band, or we would play down at Pier 39 and just do public outreach and it's like, hey, everything's cool. We're cool. And now the mission of the Navy and the Army is different than the Air Force. They're similar, but they articulate them a little differently. But my time in the Navy was spent in San Francisco. That was where the Meyer thing took off. Learning a lot of things at clubs in town, actually in Berkeley Square. In that venue, I did Korn when they had a van, and they had a trailer. Third Eye Blind came through there when they were Fungo Mungo, which was a riot. And there was a poster that had the Chili Peppers, Soundgarden, and Green Day on it that went from when they had played that venue a few years prior. Everybody who was anybody, Leslie West played this gig. And yeah, it was ridiculous. The amount of high named artists on the way up and on the way down would come through. And so I kind of got to meet some of these people. Sometimes they'd bring engineers, sometimes they'd bring some staff. Sometimes there were just kids who were angry at their parents. You know, and then you see a band like Korn, and you go like, no, these guys are not just kids angry.

Clinton

Yeah, they're talented.

Joe

Yeah, and they were playing a 500 seat club on the road in a van. You know, eating McDonald's are starving from event to event to event to get by. No doubt was another one who—

Clinton

Oh, yeah.

Joe

You know, who I met coming through that way back then, back in the day. And they were great to work with.

Michael

So were you there started as Navy and then finished with Air Force?

Joe

Not quite. I had to do my time. So here's what happens. Joe goes to Hawaii. Joe's excited about Hawaii. Joe contacts the Meyer vendor in Hawaii, Randy Bowski, who is another super duper genius audio guy. But I'm stationed as a bass player in Navy Band San Francisco, Navy Band. I almost said Hickam. Oh my gosh, Pearl Harbor.

Clinton

Hawaii.

Joe

Yeah, I'm getting older. Who's in the Navy band building, but the Air Force Band? What's up with these blue dudes? You know, what's going on with that? Well, it turns out the Air Force band had just been re-established by the Air Force Base. And if you don't know, the Navy and Air Force bases are literally right next to each other. So, I mean, you walk 50 yards, you jump over a gas pipe, and you're on the Air Force Base. It was literally out the back door. So the Air Force had decided to reestablish a band. They did it on paper, they got the billets, they got the bodies, but they didn't have a building. So in a goodwill gesture, the Navy band said, “Well, we can make room for you here. And while you guys get stood up until your building is finished, you can rehearse in our facilities.” They lived and resided and were all parts of the Air Force, but their nine to five, their rehearsals and everything to do, was in the Navy building. Who do I run into there? This guy named Doug, who was stationed in Sacramento with the Air Force band. He's their sound guy. He's out here. He's one deep. He's the only Air Force sound guy in Hawaii. Poor guy. And all the other Air Force bands are going to send them their junk that they don't need anymore because they've upgraded. And he's going to hodgepodge things together to get that first year stood up. But he needs a hand. He needs somebody to hold up the back of the device while he screws the rack screws in.

Clinton

Right.

Joe

And he talks me through his methodology of putting things together and why he labels his number system this way and his color system that way. And it was great. But after the time goes on, I'm doing sound for the Navy band like I did all the time. And then Doug kind of calls me over, and he asks me for help more and more often because I know the rig because I built it with him. And all of a sudden, not only did I build it with him, I know how and why he decided to make decisions he made. And Doug and I are freelancing for the same Meyer vendor out in town. So we see a lot of each other all the time and always in this audio thing. So one thing leads to another, and, “Hey, man, you know, the Air Force is looking for sound guys.” Like, really? All right. I mean, that's kind of a long way around that. But, you know, that's from to ‘87 to…this is now is ‘99, the end of my Navy career in Hawaii. I did an audition. They had a big festival where an officer comes down and he conducts the band, and I ran sound for the event. That was my audition. The officer signs off on it. Everybody thumbs up. And all I got to do now is separate completely, be homeless, unemployed, disconnected, not part of the military, then walk into the Air Force recruiter's office. That was a little sketchy. Since like seven years earlier, I had joined the Navy because like kid number two was here.

Clinton

Yeah.

Joe

It's like, crap, how am I going to pull this off? I did know a recruiter in Hawaii who was cool enough to bend the rules because as an active duty member of the Navy, they can't solicit me for the Air Force.

Michael

But you can't change if you—

Joe

There's no switch. There's no right sign here. Change clothes. No, you got to separate. You're done. You're out. And then you have to walk back in the next door.

Clinton

Interesting. So I kind of assume when you mentioned all this, I kind of just assumed that they just let you switch branches.

Joe

Not me. I don't know if anything's changed. It's been a minute. Policies do change. But in my case, it was—

Clinton

You were there.

Joe

Without a net. Until, yeah. But I did meet a recruiter who was like, “Look, if I was going to recruit you in your circumstance, these are the forms I'd have you do.” And she was so cool because she walked me through all of the steps, and everything was filled out right. And then eventually I separate, and I leave Hawaii, and I go back and hang out with my folks in Jersey for a couple of months. Waiting for—I burned through all my vacation time or we called it terminal leave, all the leave days you get. And finally the day comes, and I walk into the recruiter's office with a phone book size packet of stuff and he's like, “You're the guy.”

Clinton

They were expecting you.

Joe

Apparently the Pentagon, you know, because there were like 1,500 cats in the Air Force bands. One chief and an assistant in the Pentagon to manage all of the people coming and going. So for the number of people enlisting in a given fiscal year in a given quarter, of course, that guy I'd been in touch with before I started this whole process, just trying to map everything out. And I walk into recruiters, he was amazed that, oh my God, the Pentagon called me to talk about you. What do you do? I don't know, bro, I'm a sound guy for the Air Force bands. Yeah, really, whatever.

Michael

You didn't give them the “you don't know who I am?”

Joe

You don't need to know who I am. Yeah.

Clinton

If I told you I'd have to kill you, right?

Joe

So that felt kind of special. Nice. It was a little silly. Yeah, but you know eventually what happens is in ‘99, I arrive in Georgia. Yeah. At the Band of the Air Force Reserve Robbins Air Force Base, which the base is there, but the band is no more. And that was the place that eventually turned me on to Mikey and their mission. The Air Force's use of the band is very focused as it's part of the public affairs branch in the Air Force. The band falls under that. So when you have a public affairs issue, one of the tools you have, including commercials and putting stickers on race cars, and you can send the band.

Clinton

So you were not part of the Air Force, Michael.

Michael

No.

Clinton

But you ended up working together. So how did you guys, so who did you work for, and why were you working with the Air Force?

Michael

So I was a much in the—well, it almost sounded like even though you were enlisted, you were still doing a lot of freelance.

Joe

I was. I freelanced throughout my entire career outside the gate.

Michael

Yeah, so I was freelancing, doing AV integration, and then Weekend Warrior for a Country Act, Restless Heart. They had, a lot of the big success was ‘80s, did world tours, things like that. Separated, early ‘90s, came back together mid ‘90s. And one of the guys that was the tour manager, David Wilkerson, he was an army brat himself and had a lot of passion and drive. And I'm not exactly sure how he got hooked up. I know they had done a couple USO tours, I think, prior to me getting with them as well. I was in the capacity of monitor engineer and basically stage manager, kind of partial production manager, and just get a call one day, and they're like, "Hey, yeah, over Thanksgiving, we're going to go over to Europe. You want to go with a USO trip?" And I'm like, "Sure, this sounds like fun. Do I have to pay anything?" No, everything's comped. And, you know, just hang out, get your per diem. So it was, you know, still make a little bit of money, you know, so still working, feeding the family.

Clinton

But you'll get to go eat ship spas in Turkey. Yes. Ship's bus, ship spas.

Michael

By the way, that's still the best baklava I've ever seen. Yeah, that was killer food. It was amazing. And so it literally was one of these things like, OK, great. Well, you know, need to fill out some paperwork. It is a government thing. You get issued a government civilian contractor's ID so that you're properly papered wherever you go. And it was a cool trip because we—were those C141s?

Joe

Yeah, it was C141 and at that time. Yeah.

Michael

So I had to know…probably the closest person in my family was a great-grandfather that served years and years back. And so I had not really been around military whatsoever. And so it was a totally different, really almost a life-changing thing to see how big. Like I don't think if you've never served or been around military, you don't really understand how big it is. And especially the first flight over there, we flew out of Atlanta, flew into Ramstein. And to see the world's largest population of U.S. citizens outside of the United States, it's its own city. Like you don't realize how big the military really, really is and what the presence is. And it's not the same as doing a standard commercial gig either. There are definitely a different workflow to some of it. But it was an amazing trip and just the professionalism too. And I think that was one of the unique things that what you all had too, is that you worked very hard at building an absolute professional touring rig. And you're sitting in a cargo plane, and you've got the PA sitting in the back with 40 other people that you're flying over there.

Clinton

And you're flying backwards, right? You're sitting backwards? My dad was in the Air Force.

Michael

Yep.

Clinton

My dad was in the Air Force. And I grew up in England, and we would, from time to time, fly to the US to see his parents and my grandparents, but he's technically my stepdad. But he's been my dad since I was three, so. But I forget what they call it, like jumpers or something. I forget what they used to call these

Michael

Jump seats.

Clinton

Yeah, jump seats. So they would load these planes, the 140s or the 130s with cargo from the UK. And then you know there might be seats that they would let enlisted people in their families. Yeah, and we would fly to Florida. But I think usually we had to go through an Air Force Base in DC. The name is—

Joe

Bowling?

Clinton

No, the other one. Andrews, Andrews. I remember having to go through Andrews. But anyway, so yeah, I know what you're talking about because I've been on these bases in the UK. I've been a couple of bases in the US, Air Force bases. And I've also been the Ramstein, my wife being German.

Joe

Super cool.

Clinton

Yeah, yeah. So I know a little bit about it. An Air Force Brat until I was fifteen, so three to fifteen, I was an Air Force Brat.

Joe

What did your father do in the Air Force?

Clinton

He was a mechanic.

Joe

An aircraft mechanic, I guess?

Clinton

Yep, yep. And he worked on KC135-s. He used to be with SAC.

Michael

Strategic air command.

Clinton

Yep. At the beginning of his career, first three quarters of his career. And then for I forget what reasons, but he actually switched to Mac, which he didn't want to do, but it just made more sense for our family or something where he needed to be stationed. And so he switched to Mac.

Joe

Material Air Command.

Clinton

Yes, which he really didn't enjoy. So yeah, and when he went to that, he worked on the 141s. Yeah.

Joe

Super cool. Cool. Right on.

Clinton

So, okay, so you guys were, you guys threw out, I mean, earlier you threw out a few names, some interesting people that you might have worked with Korn and No Doubt. And then you mentioned Baklava.

Michael

So, yeah. Baklava is important. So yeah, that's the other thing about, you know, the military thing, right? This is all about the military thing. It's about Veterans Day. Yeah. And about, you know, your dad and the kind of service, you know, the kind of experience he brought to you in your world. And that's one of the greatest aspects of the whole deal is I've been all over half the darn planet. And I've met people from kingdoms and dictatorships and people who don't have a sense of humor and then people who don't have hope in their eyes and people who do. And it really kind of levels out a lot of the biases and prejudices you might be born with or you might come up with from your culture, you know, because all of our cultures have our own favorites. And when you kind of travel a little bit and what was it Tom Sawyer said about travel? It just there's so many good people out there from so many good cultures and there's so much wonderful stuff out there to see, and it's all very different and it's all very cool, and there's room for them all, man. When I'm out there with the Air Force band in Japan, which was the end of my career, the last two years were there, you know, watching those cats do their gig, which is just like my gig when I'm freelancing outside the gate, right? Except I'm the client now, and they're the vendor and watching the attention to detail and how hard they work. And it's kind of cool to observe they're different than the guys in the States. Not necessarily better, better at some things, not at all, but just kind of learning from all of these sources. It's such a blessing. It's why if you can do a couple of years in the military, do a couple of years in the military.

Clinton

Oh yeah, I was going to save that question for a little later, but we'll do it now. So you know you've had this great experience, and I think we can all relate to that after listening to you. So if you're a young person, I mean, do you recommend it? I mean for a career?

Joe

It's not for everybody. Yeah. I've had a couple of guys, and maybe we'll talk after. You might know a couple of these guys. I've had a couple of guys who I worked with who just—it wasn't. It was the wrong call for them. Yeah.

Michael

So they're part of the band for four years or more.

Joe

I did know one guy who insisted that they couldn't make him do something. And boy, that was the wrong thing to say.

Clinton

Yeah, I could imagine.

Joe

Yeah, bro. It's like, now you're kind of taking a—

Clinton

So you can't be afraid of structure and discipline, but if you're good with that,

Joe

You do need to buy in. Yeah You do need to buy in and be part of it. Even if you determine for yourself, it's not for you. You got to give them, you know, what you can to the best of your ability. Or they're going to chew you up and spit you out.

Clinton

Yeah.

Joe

And it's going to be. But the thing is, if you can do that, if you can look at it like, look, I'm going to sacrifice a little bit of something. I'm going to get a lot back.

Clinton

Yeah.

Joe

The GI bill and the medical benefits, but the opportunity to travel, the opportunity to meet people from all over the country. In a New York minute, you'll be stuck with a bunch of people from everywhere else.

Clinton

Yes.

Joe

Which is like really good for a young person.

Clinton

Yes, definitely. Definitely.

Joe

And this is one of the things we love about our industry is that we're so diverse, so many people from so many places. And you can fast track that process in the military. And it'll never be time wasted. So that's why I encourage young people to really give it a good look. Maybe to consider it's probably the right term.

Clinton

Depending on, yeah, I get it.

Joe

'Cause it ain't for everybody, bro. It ain't. But if they probably have something to offer if you're willing to do what it takes to get it.

Clinton

Yeah, that's good advice.

Joe

I hope so.

Clinton

Good advice. So let's fast forward a bit. So you've been out of the Air Force now for ten-ish…. What have you been doing? What have you been doing with all that that you've learned back there with what was his name, Doug, Building Riggs?

Michael

Doug.

Clinton

And the Meyer guys back there. Berkeley. So now you've taken all that that you've learned around the world from different people. And what are you doing?

Joe

Freelancing now. I came to most…now I'm freelancing. I'm on staff at the Orange County Convention Center's Chapin Theater. So freelancing with production companies in town like Solo Tech, like LMG and PRG and just getting the call, “Hey, I need a convention guy. What are you doing for the week of the third to the whatevers?” You know, and mixing those corporate gigs. And I'm doing rock and roll stuff too.

Clinton

Awesome.

Joe

Yeah, this company, the minute I got out of the Air Force, like 15 minutes later, I wound up going to Ohio working for a company. And that was great. Loved working for them. But it wound up getting a different opportunity in Vegas. I moved from Ohio to Vegas after that. But I maintain that relationship with those guys. So I'm doing my thing. And low and behold, the guys from Ohio call me up. What are you doing on the such and such days next month? So I can go burn some vacation time from Cirque and I can go work. That's right. I'm kind of dropping Cirque in.

Clinton

Yeah, yeah. Cirque, that's kind of a that's a big drop.

Joe

So let me kind of put a pin in it.

Michael

By the way, yeah now this is where after it was almost ten years, not quite years.

Joe

Something like that.

Michael

Something like that that we had we had texted back and forth, stayed in contact. You know—

Joe

Email.

Michael

Email the old Facebook, you know staying together.

Joe

I think you had an AOL.

Michael

I've still got only because my mother hasn't memorized. I still have my Hotmail account because I can't throw another email address in.

Joe

Boomer!

Michael

Exactly. So we were out there for Infocom, one of the big AV trade shows.

Joe

It was in Vegas, right?

Michael

In Vegas. And I happened to be out there a couple days early because I'd never actually gone to Vegas to hang out just to be a tourist out there. You know, it's always for the trade show. And so I know Joe's out there. I'm like, man, like, let's get together for some, you know, dinner, drinks, something. And he cordially invites me over to see my first ever Cirque Soleil show, "Ka," which was off the chain. Amazing production.

Clinton

Yeah, I've seen that. It's a great show, yeah.

Michael

And he's like, "Hey, just meet me in the lobby and you know we'll get you through." And I'm standing in the lobby texting him. He's like, "I'm standing in the lobby, and I'm looking around. I'm looking around." And he's standing three feet from me.

Joe

Yeah, it says, "You didn't know the ponytail and the goatee."

Michael

So his hair right now—

Joe

I wrote a uniform.

Michael

Yeah, just to let you know.

Clinton

You had an Air Force cut, didn't you? Oh, yeah, yeah. Oh, he had the flat top. Of course.

Michael

Yeah, so I stared at him and went, "Joe?"

Joe

That was funny. Yeah, I got that a lot.

Clinton

Oh yeah, that makes total sense.

Michael

Yeah, it is what it is. So Post Air Force.

Clinton

So yeah, so Post Air Force. So you're doing freelance gigs, Ohio. But really, in between there was Cirque.

Joe

Yeah, what happened was an Air Force buddy of mine who landed in Vegas took an opportunity to work for a Cirque show. And while I'm dumping a truck or loading a truck in Ohio, he says, "Hey man, would you be interested in this gig that's just opened up out here in Vegas?" I said, "I don't know. Tell me about the gig." And blah, blah, blah, blah. Resume goes in, a couple of references, and poof, I'm out there. But part of the reason I got the gig is, well, I knew what to do. I knew what they needed. I didn't recognize it at the time, but 15 minutes after I got there, oh, they need a guy who knows a lot of this Meyer stuff. So that was one leg up I had. I had the Air Force history behind me.

Clinton

Right.

Joe

So I could show up on time, not be a jerk, get the job done, and learn everything else that I didn't really know very well. And there was a lot of that. I mean, I knew comm. I can run comm to both follow spots. No, that's not what we do here. When there's like BTRs, 50 eye stations have clear comm. Now it's an eclipse system. I mean, just the depth and the breadth of it was way beyond anything I expected. But I demonstrated that, OK, he's teachable. He's not a jerk. He knows the Meyer stuff, which is good. He can do this. He can do that. He can fill in any other circumstances. And we can teach him the rest.

Clinton

So you're working, so now you're freelancing here at the Chapin Theater, freelancing. So the timing of all that, you know, with the pandemic, so how have you, have you been doing all right considering?

Joe

The first part of it was, I should say, how did I come to Florida is probably?

Clinton

Yes, well, maybe that. So did the pandemic, yeah, what came first?

Joe

Yeah, we're not doing a really good job of being very linear here.

Clinton

It's okay. We'll just edit it. I'm just kidding. We won't.

Michael

Yeah, we'll just—

Clinton

We’ll just rearrange all the—

Michael

Yeah cut that bit out. What's that noise?

Clinton

This is all staying in by the way.

Joe

So 2011 whatever the hell it is. I separate and I do a year or so in Ohio. I go out to Vegas, I do my time there. And then I hear "Drawn to Life" or "Drawn to Life" is going to be stood up, the new Cirque Show out in Orlando that's replacing Lanuba. I'm like, this has been great, but I've got a ton of family in Florida. Uh-huh. I've got grandchildren in Georgia, not far from Robins Air Force Base. Go figure. So my parents are in their 80s, and I still have both of them, and I thank God every day for that, and they're still with it. So just kind of looking at the arc of life of things, man, it would be cool if I was five hours away from my grandkids and two hours away from my parents' winter house—they’re snowbirds. And I thought it'd be a good move for me personally, in my personal life, you know, to come closer to family and all of that. So I throw my ring in the hat for that. It doesn't work out in the end. And they suggest to me, “You know, these fellas down the road at Universal at the Blue Man Show are going to be looking for a guy,” because low and behold, they hired the guy from there. Which is great. I know Dave. Dave's a great guy. Fantastic engineer, super talented, really smart. But he left a hole in the Blue Man seat. And they said, “Well, if you'd like, we could forward your resume to them.” I'm like, duh. Yeah, Blue Man. And I'd seen a Blue Man show, but I didn't know anything about the company.

Clinton

Yeah.

Joe

So I came out in October 2019, and I started working with Blue Man Group, Universal Orlando, as the head of audio, which was fantastic.

Clinton

That's a great gig.

Joe

Oh, I love that organization. I love that company. They're so dedicated to their craft. Yeah. And they're collaborative. The idea is that we want your input. We know what we think we want to do. But whatever it is we think we want to do, and I'm going to speak for them, that's a little risky, but it's something like includes your input.

Clinton

Yeah.

Joe

Right. You're not here to just punch holes in paper.

Clinton

Yeah.

Joe

You're part of a process. We're part of a company. And we're all going to express ourselves through this thing. And sometimes, you know, people stumble finding their place.

Clinton

Yeah.

Joe

But I'd gotten through the honeymoon period and gotten through all of that. And the music director and me, we were working on some of the soundscape in the space. And maybe we could push these instruments over here and add some reverb over there. And I delayed the PA around. It's like, whoa, that doesn't have the impact. But can I get the impact like this? Just all of that creative stuff.

Clinton

Fun.

Joe

Yeah. Super fun, bro. And then COVID.

Clinton

Yeah.

Joe

And we were pretty wrecked because it was going to be two weeks to slow the spread. And then, you know, maybe six to eight weeks to turn everything back on.

Clinton

Yeah.

Joe

And we'll probably know more in about six weeks and six weeks turned into six more weeks, and all of a sudden it's August.

Clinton

Yeah.

Joe

And in the end, they decide not to reopen the Blue Man Show at Universal. I learned this in, I think it was January of 2021.

Clinton

That's nuts.

Joe

That was ruthless. So we were—

Clinton

It was a shame, that was a great show.

Joe

I made the mistake of dragging my feet because I don't want to say I believe them as if they were telling us an untruth. They didn't know either.

Clinton

Right. There was no way for them to know, I guess.

Joe

They were giving us the best info they had. Looks like six to eight weeks at the most guys. We'll let you know in a week or two what we've learned.

Clinton

Yeah.

Joe

And it was a whole year. So it's water under the bridge.

Clinton

Well, I'm sure I'll get a chance to see that again when I'm in one of those other cities, not Orlando. Well, hey guys, I really appreciate you getting together with us today. Joe, thanks for coming. Thank you for your service.

Joe

Happy to be here. It's my pleasure.

Michael

And thank you. Our special Veterans Day edition of the Sound Connection podcast rolls on. Our next guest, Ray Baiba, is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps and currently works at QSE as the Director of System Sales for the West and Florida Territories. Ray told us about being a drummer in the Marines and about starting his own rep firm and his love for Star Wars and Disney. We had a lot of fun recording this. I hope you enjoy it.

Clinton

Hi, Ray.

Ray

Hey, how you doing?

Clinton

I'm good. How are you?

Ray

I’m great.

Clinton

So yeah, we're recording here at Infocom at a hotel lobby. So, you know, if you hear a little background noise or a little background music, don't fret listeners.

Ray

This is pretty high budget. I appreciate it.

Clinton

Yeah, very high budget. Yeah. Anyway, so my first question to you is, before we get to the veteran part of your career, is how did you even just end up in the sound business? Like, what drew you to the sound business in general? Or is it, I think you're a musician, right? Was it the music first and then the sound or the sound and then the music?

Ray

It was just music first. You know, growing up in the cornfields of Illinois, you know, I could do some like labor, work on farms. I worked in a cement company, you know, so physical labor stuff. And then I was a musician. I started when I was in second grade. So there's only a couple things I really knew in my life, you know, growing up in the cornfields of Illinois, and that's, you know, physical labor or play music. And you do physical labor so long that you know that that's not what you want to do. So I had aspirations like everybody else. I was going to be a rock star. No one goes through school and says, "I'm going to be an AV."

Clinton

No, no, not many people.

Ray

Is that how you did it?

Clinton

No, I definitely didn't do that. I did talk to a guy recently who's in our business and plays guitar and apparently never wanted to be a rock star. But that's a whole 'nother podcast.

Ray

I want to be a rock star, not for the music, you know, for everything else that came with it.

Clinton

Yeah, just the fun travel.

Ray

Oh yeah, the travel, the fun. Yeah. Which is probably why I ended up going into the service because they said I could see the world.

Clinton

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So speaking of that, so you're a musician, you say. What do you play?

Ray

I'm a drummer, or as my wife calls it, a dumber.

Clinton

Yeah, so you started in the second grade. How did your parents feel about that, all that noise?

Ray

I mean, they were pretty supportive. I mean, way more supportive than I would have been, you know, so my dad worked a pretty physical job. He would get up at four o'clock in the morning, and there were times where, you know, my drum set was right under their bedroom and we would be playing till one or two in the morning on a work night, and they never complained. So as far as having parents that were super supportive of a hobby?

Clinton

Yeah, it doesn't get much more supportive than that.

Ray

No, it was crazy to think about now that I'm a father back then, you know, it's just, it's incomprehensible to me. So, you know, very early on, when I started taking drum lessons, my parents gave me a goal that said, "Hey, you're going to be going to this drum competition," which was—you know so I grew up in central Illinois where we're going to go up to north of Chicago and to Arlington Heights for a drum competition. And they said, “Look, if you can get first place, we will buy you any drum set you want.”

Clinton

There is some motivation.

Ray

That was serious motivation. So I did what most kids didn't do, and that was I was determined to get first place. So I had been playing drums for less than a year. I went up there, and I ended up getting first place in what they called the drum set solo competition. And my parents, true to their word, took me to a music store. They let me pick any drum set I wanted, which, you know, my first kit was they, you know, my dad had a Ludwig that I played, but there was a black leather slinger and drum set. And I was a big Happy Days Fonz fan. And I'm like—

Clinton

Oh yeah.

Ray

Nothing cooler than black leather, right? So that's the drum kit they bought me.

Clinton

Nice.

Ray

And I played that all the way through, you know, grade school, high school.

Clinton

Awesome. Awesome. So you get through high school, you're a drummer through high school bands, I assume?

Ray

Yeah, I did band. Yeah, I was pretty active all the way through high school.

Clinton

And then so when did the service? Was it right out of high school?

Ray

So I did. I mean, right out of high school, I ended up going into the Navy.

Clinton

The Navy?

Ray

I did. And I went into, I was going to be a nuclear engineer, so I went through submarine school, and then I came down here to Orlando to go to the nuclear program. And back in the 80's, they kind of promised everybody everything.

Clinton

Yeah.

Ray

And it didn't work out. So it ended up breaching my contract. I got out, and I tooled around for a little bit. And then I ended up going into the Marine Corps. So I was actually in the Navy first, and then I would say about a year and a half later, I ended up going into the Marines.

Clinton

Hey, a little side note, that training camp you went to, I live on it. So years ago, the city of Orlando sold that land, or you know they shut down the Naval Training Center and sold that land to a big developer, and you know, with all these strings attached and yada yada. And they leveled most of it. Like, I mean, like most of it, left most of the big oak trees and parks, and the lake, which is probably full of all kinds of weird stuff from the Navy. And that's where I live. Yeah, my neighborhood’s right there.

Ray

And what's interesting is I went back to MCRD in San Diego, and they've opened up most of that. They've sold it to developers who have taken the existing structures. So where I went to boot camp, the barracks I was in is actually, you know, my son and I went during Comic-Con one year and went there and bought comic books at a comic store that happened to be...

Clinton

So they kept the structure.

Ray

Yeah, they kept the whole look and stuff. It was weird to see grass on the parade deck and stuff where we used to march around. But it was very interesting.

Clinton

So how long were you in the Marine Corps?

Ray

I was in the Marine Corps for four years. I didn't go in to be in the band. You know, I went in, I figured I already knew how to play drums. I wanted to go learn a skill. So I was one of these spur-of-the-moment guys. So I signed up for the Marines. I don't know, it was probably like the first or second of March, and I was deployed on the 13th. I went in an open contract.

Clinton

Oh boy.

Ray

And this was during Desert Storm Part right? So this is you're talking like 90.

Clinton

Yeah.

Ray

And I went in, went through recruit training, went through Marine Combat training, and they were trying to figure out what my MOS was going to be. And in boot camp, I went, and they saw that I was in the band, so I auditioned. And you were forced to go. If they saw that you were in the band by your transcripts, you had to go audition. So I went and I auditioned, and it was like a full day audition of just going through all these different scenarios and getting in front of different people. And I ended up getting orders to go to the School of Music in Little Creek, Virginia. So I didn't want to be in the band, and I ended up being in the band.

Clinton

Being in the band.

Ray

Yeah.

Clinton

Oh my gosh. So do you regret that or was it a good experience?

Ray

No, it was a great experience. You definitely learn a lot, right? So you're still a marine first, and then you're also a musician. So you kind of get, I don't want to call it the best of both worlds. You get both worlds, right? So all your uniforms and stuff have to be performance-ready.

Clinton

Right.

Ray

So during a workday, you might get to go to work in civilian clothes, which isn't normal in the Marine Corps. It's because you have to have everything ready at a moment's notice to go do a change of command or some general might want the band to show up for some sort of ceremony. And so everything always had to be ready. Now, not everybody was that disciplined. And I certainly wasn't early on, but those are the things that you learn while you're in, which is helpful.

Clinton

So I imagine if you're not, you have to get it together. Otherwise, bad things happen.

Ray

No, it definitely made for some bad days.

Clinton

Right, right. Yeah. So did you travel anywhere cool while in the Marines?

Ray

Yeah, I mean, I actually got to go to Okinawa, Japan, for a year, which was a great duty station. I did do a change of command in Guantanamo Bay.

Clinton

That's cool.

Ray

It's cool, except that you learned that you didn't want to be stationed there for a year because it's a pretty small footprint to be on, and you're looking out the fence at some beautiful.

Clinton

How many people can say they've been there? Other than the people that are there for the other? The wrong reasons.

Ray

Yeah, no, it was definitely made you grateful to be back and have some of the amenities that we have. I like going to a chow hall that didn't have fly tape full of flies with tapes actually moving.

Clinton

Oh my gosh.

Ray

In the air over you while you're trying to eat. So it definitely made you humble.

Clinton

So my dad was in the U.S. Air Force and he got to go to Japan, Okinawa specifically. And I would imagine there's an Air Force base there too.

Ray

Kadina.

Clinton

And he has a lot of stories, most of which he doesn't tell me, but he really enjoyed it over there.

Ray

Yeah, it's definitely very interesting. There's some cultural things that a little country boy from the middle of Illinois made you pretty bright-eyed that you couldn't believe that this kind of stuff actually happens in the world. Yeah. And I understand why he doesn't talk about some of it.

Clinton

Yeah. So what do you think you know your experience, you know, in the Navy and the Marines, you know what's the biggest thing you think you got out of it that kind of maybe kind of made you who you are today or biggest thing you learned? You know I don't know.

Ray

Well, I mean, people that know me today think I'm probably, I mean, they would dispute what I'm going to say, but you definitely learn discipline, which is, you know, anybody that comes around me, I kind of push the edge of everything, so they probably don't understand that coming out of my mouth. You get a sense of urgency. You know—it definitely, I think, helps you understand what might be important in this situation. You learn teamwork, and you learn how to work with people that you might not ordinarily work with. You know what? There's a lot of different cultures and backgrounds and stuff that you have to come together and become a pretty high-functioning unit, which is not how I grew up, right? Everybody I grew up around, we looked the same.

Clinton

Right, right.

Ray

So it was interesting to get that worldly perspective and to see that, you know, all different types of people can come together and work together to a common goal.

Clinton

Yeah, that's cool. I think that's a great lesson.

Ray

So that's the biggest thing I took away.

Clinton

So would you encourage young people to take that path to, you know, I mean, when, you know, young people coming out of high school, you can go to college, you can not go to college, you can join the service, which does have a lot of benefits. But, you know, would you encourage young people to take that path?

Ray

Yeah, I think it's different for everybody. I mean, I would encourage a program that might allow for somebody between their junior and senior year to experience some sort of boot camp, to help them understand what the world might be like. It certainly helped me in my path. I don't even know what I would be if I didn't go down that road. So for me, it was definitely worth it, 1000%. I've seen others, though, that tried to go down that path, that it just didn't fit their personality. You know, so I don't think it's for everybody, but I think if you have the chance to dabble in it, I think it better prepares you.

Clinton

Yeah.

Ray

So I'm one of those guys that believe in some sort of civil service between the junior and senior year, which sounds kind of communist, but.

Clinton

Socialist.

Ray

Yeah.

Clinton

So I think up until just a few years ago, my wife's from Germany. And up until a few years ago, you had to do some sort of civil service. You know. And they just, I think, got rid of it somewhat recently. But you know I think, especially when you're young, I think it's just part of learning some life skills, right? Yeah. You know, would you encourage them? Would you not encourage them?

Ray

I think it depends on their personality.

Clinton

It just depends on their yeah.

Ray

Yeah, I mean, it could be pretty harsh. Obviously, there's different levels, too, right? You can go Coast Guard or Air Force. You can go to the extremes, you know, which I would say would be more of the Army Marine Corps route.

Clinton

Yeah.

Ray

So it's definitely not for everybody. And there's a reason that not everybody makes it through.

Clinton

Yep, yep. But I think regardless of the branch, I think, you know, some branches are tougher than others, but, you know, there's definitely a theme of discipline and just rigidity and you got to adjust.

Ray

Well, I mean, I don't expect any of my friends from the Marine Corps to hear what I'm about to say, but having gone through Navy when I was 18 years old and celebrating my 21st birthday in the Marine Corps boot camp, I would say that since the Navy was first, it was more difficult, right? So I'm not saying that the Navy boot camp is more difficult or the Marine Corps is easier. But given that I had the opportunity to do the Navy boot camp first, probably set me up to better enjoy, if I could even say that. Marine Corps.

Clinton

You were better prepared.

Ray

Psychologically, I was prepared. I mean, physically, it was brutal. Yeah. Especially for, you know, I probably went in weighing 140 pounds. Yeah. I've eaten myself two and a half times at least. Not that much, but it feels good saying that. Yeah. I've definitely eaten myself since then.

Clinton

Yeah.

Ray

So it was physically grueling mentally. I think it was easier.

Clinton

Yeah. That's interesting. But yeah, I think certainly it prepared you for it and you were in the mindset and knew what to expect, or at least somewhat.

Ray

Right.

Clinton

So after your service, what did you do? So what do they call it? Separation? When you leave the Marines?

Ray

Yeah, so I separated and you know obviously I went into the Marines hoping to learn a skill set. You know so I do think I learned you know some leadership and teamwork, all that stuff that I—

Clinton

But you didn't have that. You weren't like an engineer or anything, right?

Ray

No. So I was a drummer in the Marines. I mean, I did learn some skills while I was in, you know, to do supply. And you would have to make sure that we had the instruments and drumsticks and all that stuff. So I took a liking or someone at least brought me into that side of you know managing the band activities in the supply chain, if you will. So when I got out, it was one of those opportunities where I just sent out, I ended up getting out into the DC area. So I sent out resumes to all the music stores around. And I had an interview with Venom and Music. They owned Music Emporium at the time, which was a pretty large mail order catalog. Went in for an interview and they hired me. You know I got that job within a couple weeks and started off as order entry and mail order and pretty quickly moved up into the operations and helping out the owners, you know Ted Venom and Coop Venoman. And my career basically started off from there. So I started off at retail and operations. Then a rep who will go unnamed took a liking to me and thought I would be good at being a manufacturer's rep, which I did. That didn't work out, which I started my own rep firm, you know?

Clinton

Yeah. So how do you do that? I mean—so for me, you know I took over a rep firm that was already existing, but I can't imagine starting one from scratch. That seems like a pretty grueling task. Did you have something lined up or?

Ray

No, I mean, nothing was lined up except for opportunity, right? So you know I happened to be in a situation where a large manufacturer left the rep firm that I was working for. So we started a rep firm. It actually wasn't the first line we got. It was, you know, the line we left to try to go get wasn't the first line we got. We ended up getting lines like Samson back then. We ended up getting...

Clinton

So it wasn't just you, by the way.

Ray

No, there was a—I mean, we were all kind of like-minded. There was three of us that started a rep firm and ended up being two of us. And then we ran a pretty successful rep firm for, I don't know, seven, eight years. And then we decided to, well, I decided that another opportunity came along to go work for QSC, so we ended up selling the rep firm.

Clinton

Yeah, I mean, that's pretty, I mean, you know, as far as rep firms go, seven years. So yeah, so you really felt strongly about this opportunity with QSC?

Ray

I did. I mean, the technology and the roadmap and just the technological path they were going down is something that I believed in. It's something that I was out trying to sell. The QSIS platform, just the whole ideal of it was amazing at the time, you know, where you could just take some hard work.

Clinton

And it still is if QSC is listening.

Ray

I'm sorry?

Clinton

And it still is if QSC is listening.

Ray

Well, no, I mean, the software layer and the stuff you could do, it was just, it convinced me that I wanted to be a part of this. You know I was not a part of the PV Media Matrix or the beachhead product that BIAMP was. So this was my opportunity in this industry to be a part of something like that. And I could have done it from your seat, which would have been amazing, but I really wanted to be inside the think tank, right? And I think you have to be at the manufacturer to be at that level. And it was also an opportunity, so you're talking to a guy that didn't go to college. So when you think of the leadership at QSC and you basically get a free on-the-job training MBA.

Clinton

Yeah.

Ray

I couldn't pass that up.

Clinton

Yeah. Yeah. Makes sense.

Ray

To me, it did, and still does today.

Clinton

So when you're not at QSE, what are you doing for fun? Are you still playing the drums? Are you in a band?

Ray

I still play drums. We gig at least, I don't know, a couple times a month, you know, where I live in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, so you always have fresh audiences coming in. I still have a lot of fun. I mean, for those that come out to see us play, you can tell that we are having a blast.

Clinton

What kind of music are you playing?

Ray

We do everything from ‘60s through 2000. I mean, we probably have a catalog of songs that we'll pull out. And we get crazy. We'll do a four-hour gig and then run off to another three-hour gig and not repeat a song and not take a break, which is hard on a drummer's body, but I'm glad I could still do it.

Clinton

Yeah, do it while you can.

Ray

Absolutely.

Clinton

So what's this? I hear you're a Disney and a Star Wars fan, so I was just curious when I heard this, and maybe this is one of those inaccuracies. But which one came first? Star Wars or Disney, or was it?

Ray

Well, I would say, yeah, so I'm not like a Star Wars mega fan. I was definitely impressed by it because I went to the theater when it first came out. I was a young kid.

Clinton

Me too.

Ray

So that did not have the most profound impact on me other than the technology. I mean, if you want to go down the rabbit hole of movies that touched me and probably made me who I am today, it'd be like the Planet of the Apes series.

Clinton

Oh my gosh. I haven’t thought about that in years.

Ray

Yeah, but as you get older and you watch them and you keep watching them, you realize that it's talking about class struggle and racism. It's just so poignant that that's probably what's shaped me today to try to be conscious of those things.

Clinton

Yeah, yeah. Interesting. Interesting. So, um—

Ray

And then obviously Disney, I became a fan later in life. I have a kid.

Clinton

Yeah.

Ray

So my wife and I went, and I'm just amazed at how superior their customer service is. And I guess I'm—

Clinton

Second to none, really. I mean, yeah, they've kind of set the bar.

Ray

And I'm just always amazed at how they could take my money as I'm smiling.

Clinton

A lot of it.

Ray

A ton of it.

Clinton

And every year it becomes more.

Ray

Yeah, I mean, so we joined the Disney Vacation Club and all that kind of stuff as an idea. Hopefully, you know something our kid loves to do. We take all of his friends all the time.

Clinton

And so how old is he now?

Ray

He's senior. In high school.

Clinton

He's a senior. So does he still enjoy coming down here?

Ray

He does. Yeah. Nice. Yeah, I mean, I think it's less about Disney and more about just experiencing all this stuff with friends. Like I say, we always bring a lot of friends down with them. And you know you do get to suspend whatever is happening in your life to go hang out for a while.

Clinton

You have just the one kid, right?

Ray

I do.

Clinton

Yeah. I have just the one—

Ray

So I can only afford one to put through college.

Clinton

Yeah, I kind of feel that way too. And I don't know how people with multiple kids do it. I find it—

Ray

It's called loans.

Clinton

Well, I'm not even talking about the money, just life. It's hard work. But being as an only child, we're trying to bring friends everywhere, you know, vacations, little stays here at this hotel. On the weekends, we do these little staycations, try to bring somebody because just, you know, he's a boy, he's nine, he's tons of energy, and needs to be engaged all the time.

Ray

And it gets to be a lot of fun when they could start running on their own, and then you could go do adult stuff.

Clinton

Yeah. Well, and that's part of it, too, because when he's got a buddy, they can play. We can sit back, watch them play, and have a conversation. So I can totally relate to all that. So, yeah, yeah. And once this pandemic is over, I look forward to a little more travel with some friends. So I'm going to come back to Star Wars real quick, just because I'm only out of curiosity. I had a note here about Mandalorian. Just being that Star Wars Mandalorian fan, not a fan?

Ray

No, absolutely.

Clinton

Yeah. You watched it?

Ray

Yeah, it was very well done. I think Favreau did a good job with it. It was good too, you know, just to see how they tie it all in. I think they do a brilliant job tying in the franchise.

Clinton

I haven't watched, I don't get to watch much TV, so I haven't watched, but maybe seven or eight episodes, but I like it a lot. My kid likes it too. And he hasn't seen all the Star Wars yet, right?

Ray

Well, as your son gets older, you're going to look for those kinds of things to where they're actually going to sit down and spend time with you.

Clinton

Yeah.

Ray

So that's one of the things Mandalorian is one of the things we're even—senior year, where he's off running and doing stuff and girls and all that stuff that we still make time to do that stuff. So I'm looking forward to the next season just so we could have some more time with Michael.

Clinton

Yeah, so when I was growing up, I was never into sports, but my dad was. And from time to time, I'd watch with him you know and just root for whoever he was rooting for. But you know my son, for some reason, all of a sudden has taken this huge liking to football. And we just watched, it was Tampa, no, not Tampa. Jacksonville Jags. Jacksonville Jags playing in London, Miami Dolphins in London. And it came on, I forget Saturday, Sunday morning. He's like, let's watch it. And you know, we watched that whole game together, and he was cheering. And of course, when Miami was winning he was rooting for Miami. And then when the Jags were coming back, he was rooting for the Jags. But it was a good time. It was good quality time. And we had a lot of fun. So I want to thank Ray for joining us today. Thank you. And thank you for your service to our country.

Ray

You're welcome. I don't know that this thing's ever going to get used.

Clinton

Well, we'll see.

Ray

Cause you’re outta control.

Clinton

I do appreciate you sharing your story with us today. And thank you all for listening to this episode of Sound Connections. We hope you enjoyed it and hope you guys can join us next time.

Thank you for listening to our special Veterans Day edition of the Sound Connections podcast. Thank you to Joe and Ray for their service and for taking the time to sit down with us. And thank you to all of the veterans out there that are listening. Our next episode is coming out the week of Thanksgiving. We had a great conversation with Jason Waufle, who's worked in the music industry and sports broadcast and now happens to be a member of Shure’s Pro audio team.

It was a great chat and I can't wait for you to hear it. Make sure you subscribe to the Sound Connections Podcast so you never miss an episode. And don't forget to like and review us on Apple Podcasts. Thank you.