May 12, 2025 • 63 mins
What happens when the thing you've done for twenty years suddenly doesn't align with your soul anymore? In this deeply personal conversation, Thaddeus welcomes back his longtime friend and business partner Hanson to discuss his surprising decision to walk away from nightlife promotion after finding renewed faith.
Hanson, co-owner of Hawaii Events Unlimited and Level H Promotion, shares the remarkable story of their new nightclub event "Aura" at Eve nightclub. Just as everything aligned perfectly—record-breaking attendance, supportive venue staff, and all the markers of success—Hanson felt an undeniable spiritual pull in another direction. Standing in the middle of what should have been a triumphant moment, he realized his heart was elsewhere.
The conversation explores the challenging intersection of identity and occupation that both men faced during the pandemic. "I realized that my core friends still hit me up... The people that I love still loved me because they loved Thaddeus. They didn't love Thaddeus, the promoter," the host reflects. Meanwhile, Hanson reveals how his return to church transformed his understanding of purpose: "When I started going back to church, my purpose changed. God is the ultimate purpose for me now."
Beyond clearing up swirling rumors about their departure from Eve nightclub, this episode offers profound insights about authenticity, friendship that transcends business partnerships, and the courage required to walk away from external validation. As Hanson puts it, "Club life is people trying to be happy momentarily... what I'm trying to do now is give a permanent version of that for people."
Whether you're contemplating a major life change or simply interested in how careers evolve with spiritual growth, this raw discussion about finding new direction while honoring past experiences will leave you reflecting on your own purpose journey. Subscribe now and join the conversation about what happens when God calls you to something new.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
okay, welcome to another edition of the above the
bridge podcast.
I'm your host, thaddeus park,and if you're new to the podcast
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(00:30):
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Aloha, all right.
Well, this week on my show I'mbringing back a returning guest,
one of my closest friends.
He owns Level H PromotionCompany as well as Hawaii Events
(02:45):
Unlimited.
One of the owners for HawaiiEvents Unlimited, hanson.
What's up, brother?
Speaker 1 (02:52):
What's up, brother?
How are you doing?
Speaker 2 (02:53):
I'm doing great and I appreciate you taking time.
I know you're out in Marylandright now.
I know the time difference ispretty crazy, but I appreciate
you taking time to come on myshow and let's clear the air
about a few things.
But before we get into that,how's business been?
Is getting prom season done?
(03:14):
Already I was graduating.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Just finished, yeah, just finished, and graduation is
about to kick into gear.
So, but yeah, business-wise,yeah, it's been busy.
All events a little bit.
It's been on the up, we'redoing some bigger, crazier, you
know things that we didn't thinkwe've been doing.
You know huge events, so, um,as well, as you know, taking
care of maintaining all thesmaller events, so it's
definitely been really good.
(03:38):
We're trying to hire new peoplejust because we're we're
turning gigs away now, so it'sjust really good oh wow, oh wow.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Well that's a good situation that you're turning
gigs away.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
No, true, true, true, true.
It's a good problem to have,you know, and we still got to
figure out how to.
We want to take more, but wedon't want to, you know,
downgrade the quality that we'redoing.
So we only want to take thismuch.
So we're trying to add crew,you know, train up our crew and
learn from them and have themteach each other.
And, you know, try to raiseeverybody up.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
For anybody who doesn't know what exactly is
Hawaii Events Unlimited yeah, so, hawaii Events Unlimited.
We're a local productioncompany based here in Oahu, and
then we do, you know, sound,lighting, special effects.
We have a roster of DJs, mcs,so anything you want for
audiovisual things for yourevent.
They call us everything fromweddings, first birthdays to
(04:34):
galas.
We've done stage things, we'vedone conferences with different
companies, with live streaming.
Actually, we do over 100different products and services
that we offer.
So it's kind of extensive.
But anything you want to do, ifyou have an event coming up,
just hit us up and we can seehow you can utilize this.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
And it's cool because I've seen your company grow as
well as you grow with thecompany and you guys do some
crazy stuff and fortunately I'musing you guys for our wedding,
so I'll definitely be um acustomer as well.
But I think that watching youbuild this company has been, as
(05:19):
a friend, like something supercool for me to to notice and
like you guys, you guys prettymuch got all the innovative
stuff on locket I.
I can't believe some of thestuff you guys do and it's been
a trip man like seeing the stuffprojection mapping and all that
stuff you guys do on these bigbuildings.
(05:40):
I'm like, bro, that's handsomeguys doing that.
That's nuts yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Yeah, yeah, it's up to my, my business partner,
marvin.
He's kind of like the, the, thebrains behind a lot of those
technical things, and he's a,he's a.
He's a person that likes tolike.
This is his thing, this is hispassion.
So he likes to try new things,which is good for Hawaii.
A lot of times we always getthings late or we'll just copy
(06:05):
what the mainland does sixmonths down the line.
But we get a chance to send ourguys out into the mainland to
do these different conferenceslighting conferences, photo
booth conferences, getting thesethings as soon as the mainland
gets it, we get it and we kindof want to.
I always hate to have thingslater on and we're always like
behind the step from themainland.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
But you know he's definitely an innovator, we and
we also get to send our guys tothese things to bring these tech
and these new ideas to um, towahu, just just like the
mainland that's super cool manand I think, like you said, he's
not afraid to to pull thetrigger on some of this stuff,
which is I mean as businessowners, especially if you're
(06:45):
partners, it can get tricky.
It's like one guy wants to buysome new stuff and other guys
are like wait, wait, but youguys have been just pulling
triggers and doing crazy stuff.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Yeah yeah, definitely , we're a good balance.
The company has so many movingparts as well, as we were liking
working for a company becausewe just have events that we have
to manage, but then trying tolook forward to events coming up
and marketing schemes coming upas well as, you know, new tech
that we're trying to look intoand taking care of the details
(07:17):
now.
Like, yeah, we work really welltogether about how to see
things and we talk well witheach other, so that's why it's
been working so far.
Usually business partnerships,it's really hard to work with.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
But, um, I like it because marvin and I get along
and it means a lot, yeah, andI'm fortunate enough to got to
meet him and talk to him andstuff, and yeah he's he's very
cool, very, very quiet, veryhumble, and yeah he's he's
definitely good yin yang betweenboth of you.
You're good, you're good atspeaking to people and he's good
at doing all that stuff.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
We're getting him behind the camera now.
Yeah, I love it.
It's hilarious.
He's not as forte, but he knowswhat he's talking about, which
is a good thing.
About the technical stuff, butgetting him behind the camera, I
think it's good.
People see his face and he'sgetting used to it now, but
getting him on the camera.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
I think it's good people see his face and he's
getting used to it.
Now that's one thing I was gonnatouch on is you guys social
media presence is building andyou guys are, yeah, like you're
putting him in front of thecamera, and I think it's cool,
because the way marketing andadvertisement is, if your social
media presence is kind of low,then it doesn't work as well.
But you guys are puttingyourself out there and it's fun
(08:25):
to watch and it's funny.
You guys do some cool stuff too, and people can see behind the
scenes and see exactly how muchwork goes into some of these
events no, definitely we have.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
We have a pretty good um not pretty good.
We have a really good um socialmedia crew.
The bring ups to kristen andmakayla um, we have some young
people, you know, handling oursocial media and they're
following the trends, they'recoming up with ideas and right
now, like, yeah, social media isprobably one of the top-ranked
things to market for yourcompany and you know, for us to
like figure out the TikToktrends and the Instagram trends
(09:01):
is really difficult, man.
Yeah, I don't even understandwhat they're talking about half
the time, but you know, theyknow what's popular and you know
we're getting older, but ourbrides are still the same age,
you know.
So we have to make sure we'retalking to the right
demographics and they'redefinitely helping with that,
and me and Marvin aren't tryingto get in front of the camera
and look stupid a little bit,you know, just so we can connect
with.
It's been really, really goodand they've been doing a great
(09:22):
job.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Bro, I haven't even thought about that.
You're totally right.
As old or as age you guys getor your company builds, the
clientele, age demographic isgoing to be the same.
That's that demo, except mywedding.
But yeah, the demo is prettymuch like between what?
Speaker 1 (09:46):
late 20s to about mid 30s, though yeah, yeah, 25 to
35, that's the sweet spot oh,that's super cool, yeah, but
there's plenty outliers.
There's plenty.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Get plenty outliers yeah and you guys do so many
events and you guys been pickingup a lot of corporate events.
I always wanted to ask you this, because I always ask hopper
like because he djs from a lotof events what events do you
like doing the most, like whenyou got to do a wedding or a
(10:18):
corporate event, or like asproduction, which one is the
most gratifying for you andwhich one do you like doing the
most?
I know some are gratifying buta lot of work, but which ones
you're like?
Oh yup, I can't wait for thisone.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
It's been changing over the years.
When we first started, I thinkwe were looking forward to proms
the most, just because we couldflex on all our lighting, the
lasers, you know.
It's like we got to bring likeconcert promotion and effects
down to like the wedding andprom level and we were kind of
going off.
The kids loved it, you know,because we could do all these
special effects and the djs hadthe big sound system and it felt
(10:56):
like a event for them.
Now I like these corporateevents that have an unlimited
budget and it kind of just handsus the reins.
So now it's like we're notconstrained, um, to what their
vision is and try to fit it towhat we have, like they're
saying, hey, this is the feel wewant, this is our budget, let
you know, make it happen, youknow.
(11:17):
And we just check off the boxessaying that you know they have
speakers, they have this amountof guests, our sound system
covers that amount of people,but they give us the frames to
like come up with the decorschemes, lighting schemes,
things like that, and it's fun,definitely fun.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Oh, that's cool.
And then, which would be theones you dread the most?
Speaker 1 (11:41):
I don't say dread, I just think sometimes when it
comes to weddings, it's liketheir day.
They have a once-in-a-lifetimechance to make sure we get it
right.
So I don't think it's dreading,it's just a little more
stressful.
Whereas if we start at 7.05,not at 7 o'clock a corporate gig
they can push back five minutes7 o'clock to 7.05.
If the bride has a vision, it's7.05.
(12:03):
It talk to 705.
If the bride has a division,it's 705.
It might ruin her whole day.
You know, and I you know, it'sa little more stressful.
So, um, I like, um, I like thecorporate kings because a lot
more less stress.
But also I still like theweddings.
It's just a lot more.
A lot more stressful, I guessyou could say.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
But I don't mind either yeah, well, I I'm sure
you made a lot of people's dreamweddings come true, and once
you're breaking down, thenthat's when it feels the best
right heck yeah, heck yeah, wheneverything is said and done,
heck yeah I definitely uh feelthat way too, doing concerts and
stuff, especially when we'redoing it together, um yeah well,
(12:43):
let's get into it.
Man, this last two months beensuper crazy for not just you,
but both of us as well as ourcompanies and we've definitely
did some shit.
Um was the beginning of march.
(13:03):
We took on a um another project.
Yeah, it was march.
That was like two months ago,seems crazy yeah, but we did.
We took on another project andwe did another event at eve
nightclub and it was calledallure and aura, aura, aura.
That's right, damn it.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
It's called aura gonna have to edit that part out
yeah and shoot now.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
For one thing, it was a level h artist group network,
golden child promotion, kind ofsimilar to what we've been
doing at district.
We've done it together at shootwith ryan golden child at
different events, but the coreof of level h and artist group
been together for at least overa decade uh, like we've been
(13:56):
doing events at least 10 years,yeah, over 10 years.
Now 15, close, close to 15 yep,yeah, right, when my daughter
was born, we started partneringup doing events, and Level H and
Artist Groove Network arecompanies that were in the
nightclub industry for years, atleast 20 years and fortunately
(14:21):
we found cross paths and we gotto work together and um brah.
So our last event eve, um, howdid that whole thing even start?
Because it's I kind of know andI kind of we kind of did it
together half of the time.
I was in new york right beforeit started yeah, or I was
(14:43):
somewhere where was Isnowboarding too right before it
started.
Yeah, or I was somewhere wherewas I snowboarding too right
before we started yeah yeah, buthow did that even come to
fruition?
Because we weren't really um,yeah, we weren't sure if we're
gonna do another one.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Huh yeah, we we left district and then, um, I mean we
were thinking about, I meanregardless, we we left just
because we were there for nineyears and almost 10, you know,
and we've never stayed at apromotion that long.
Normally, and good or bad, youusually just leave just because
(15:17):
it kind of ran its course, youknow.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
And yeah, by the time you know, we stepped away and
it felt good to step away fromdistrict at that time.
And then, yeah, we had otherthings possibly lined up, but I
know you were looking moretowards retirement at that time
already.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
And I mean, even before we left you were already
talking about you leaving, youknow, and I think you left for
like a week and then you cameback and then I knew you kind of
just, you know, stick stickingaround, um, just to kind of just
be with the boys and hang outand, you know, see each other.
But I think after that breakbreak, it was like a good two or
three month break from districtum, um, eve opened up, you know
(16:00):
, and um, I really like thevenue because yeah it's up, it's
upscale for one.
You know, when you first walk in, you know the place is
automatically different thanmost places in hawaii.
It felt like the mainland,which I really, really loved.
Um, the bones are all there,the staff was great, the
ownership was great, and then itjust all those pieces start to
(16:21):
click.
I was like, hey, man, we shouldjust we should try it out over
here, and I think, um, we werethinking about reaching out and
right when I was we're thinkingabout, they reached out to us
and it was just a perfect timingfor that situation to happen
yeah, and it was cool.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
The I'm have the same opinion.
I really like the venue.
I liked it when it was VintageCave.
I went there with my family afew times and what they did to
it was pretty cool and it feltlike a nightclub.
It also felt somewhere where itwasn't.
We were in the parking lot atAlamuana.
(16:57):
It was underneath but once yougot in there it didn't feel like
Alamuana or didn't feel likewhat it seemed like in the
parking lot.
But the venue was awesome and Ireally like the staff.
Their staff over there wassuper awesome, from the
(17:17):
bartenders to the management tothe even the security, and they
were all supportive of our event.
They were all personable and itseemed like they were all on
the same page with us trying togrow the event.
And brah, I had a few boxes tocheck off and I explained this
(17:42):
to you many times before westarted.
I agreed to do this eventbecause there were a few things
I wanted to do before I calledit a career.
I did say when I reached acertain age I wanted to stop at
least the weekly nightclub stuff, because I didn't want to be
that guy and I'm finding it moredifficult to kind of relate to
(18:07):
these 21 year olds and alwayssay they're learning stuff you
and I are trying to forget.
But a couple of the boxes whereI I definitely wanted I didn't
want district to be our lastevent together, and not because
that's something as district, Ijust wanted to to do something
(18:28):
again from scratch and to um,see if we still got it.
You know, I mean like see if,see if our older promotion
companies still could pull acrowd and to get people and and
to to see if we still got it.
Basically, the second one wasto definitely do another event
(18:51):
with you and make sure that itwas locked in like level eight
and artist group networktogether as well as golden child
.
And then the last event, thelast thing I wanted to check off
was to do another club eventwith hoppa as our dj.
Unfortunately, towards theending of district he had to
(19:12):
leave.
He uh couldn't play at districtanymore and I didn't want my
last event to not be with him.
So, starting Eve those boxeswere going to be checked and the
beginning was exciting.
It started to feel like our oldschool ambitions and excitement
(19:41):
was starting.
Oh, we're going to start a newevent.
How did you feel starting thatthing?
Cause I mean, I was a littlebit afraid, to be honest.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
Yeah, I mean, you know it was nine years since we
started anything brand new fromthe scratch, you know, and I
mean that's your first reasonwhy to go back was it was pretty
much the driving force, I think, to know if we still had it,
because was our marketingtactics, like how we did back in
the day, still applicable to a10-year generational gap?
(20:11):
You know so, um, definitely, Iwas, um definitely nervous, you
know, because, you know, do westill have that pool?
Do we still have?
But it was exciting because itwas brand new again, you know,
and always that new is exciting.
You can come up with an, evenjust coming up with a name, that
builds excitement becauseyou're trying to figure out, oh,
what's the name going to beabout.
Sometimes it's hard, sometimesit's not, sometimes it just
(20:32):
comes and picking the day of theweek, picking what kind of DJ
lineup you want, the feel forthe place, you know what the
different factors you like,coming up with all those
different ideas, is thatexciting.
And then we haven't felt thatin nine years, you know, I think
I think that's why I lovedistrict, but we know how, how
everything worked out.
But coming with something newfrom scratch, that feeling can't
(20:53):
be replaced.
I think that's what it was thatwe were chasing.
So, um, I think I was justdefinitely excited to start
something new and coming withideas and sitting with the boys
on a Zoom call, you know, at thecoffee shops, like just trying
to come up with ideas to youknow how we're going to do this
again, how we're going to makeit different, our different
marketing schemes yeah, it wasjust fun, definitely fun and
exciting.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Yeah, so we dropped the first night.
It was the first week of March,correct?
Speaker 1 (21:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
And yeah, I was definitely nervous, I was
definitely excited, I wasdefinitely scared.
I was thinking like oh man, ifwe don't got it then nobody's
coming.
It's going to be kind ofembarrassing and I know there's
a lot of like people negativelytalking about our companies and
(21:45):
I wanted to to prove everybodywrong not really prove everybody
wrong, but I wanted to prove usright, you know, I mean, and um
, I think the whole nightlifeindustry was kind of looking to
see how it was going to be inand how things were going to
(22:06):
play out and I was to the moonthat it raged bro.
That first night, that thefirst night of aura was one of
one of the funnest nights I hadin in the nightclub in years.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Brad, that was so much fun yeah, I mean the
turnout was more than perfect.
You know, when it firstlaunched, like, I was worried
about how many likes the flyershad, how many shares of the fly,
like, and I was just lookinginto the metrics and all that
and I was definitely worried.
You know like, you know youjust that's how it is.
With every promotion, though.
There's promotions where youcan spend hundreds of hours
(22:46):
trying to put this eventtogether and market it and then
no one show up, and there's alsoevents where you just do
minimal marketing and theneverybody comes out.
You just kind of never know.
So with this one, we kind ofwanted to make sure it went off
well, so we were doing all wecan, but then I was definitely
worried going in, but once thenight, once the night kid and
people started rolling in anddidn't stop all night.
Man, I knew we had it.
Definitely it was arecord-breaking night that night
(23:21):
.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
Yeah, and I noticed for the of students I taught
taekwondo to hitting me up, tocome in and like that's like a
couple gens down and I'mthinking like they're telling go
call uncle thada, go get youinto the club and I'm thinking
like that's my like, those aremy for real.
I like held those kids asbabies and I'm thinking like,
(23:42):
wow, they're coming to our clubnow and it's.
It was a little bit surreal, alittle bit kind of feeling the,
the age.
But yeah, right it was good funman like those and and watching
hoppa play for our crowd againand that energy he brings is
it's just that's one of myfavorite things to do is just
(24:04):
have a drink with you and watchhim dj to our crowd.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
You know what I mean and it was awesome yeah, that
was a major plus for that eventbecause now we could have hoppa
back and it was kind of like youknow he's, he's been part of
our promotion since thebeginning, really like having
him involved.
So you know, once we got himback, djing for us, oh it was
just, everything was unlocked,everything matched.
You know, I think our olderclientele loved the venue
(24:27):
because it felt welcoming, likean upscale venue, and then the
newer crowd, younger crowd likedit because it was a packed
place in a brand new spot they'dnever seen before, instead of
going to the same place over andover and over again in hawaii.
So it was perfect, definitelyperfect blend what I enjoyed was
their staff.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
they immediately any ideas we had or any situations
we wanted changed.
They did it within seconds andI mean that was refreshing.
There were some instances whereit was like pulling teeth to
get anybody to do somethingduring our event, and for this
new one it was like, oh, we wantto change how the people enter
(25:07):
the club.
We want to bring them throughhere, like, good, put up the
stanchions, let's do it now.
And I'm like what, we don'thave to sit down and have a
meeting about this.
It was like they did it likeanything we wanted, it was
immediate.
They did it like anything wewanted, it was immediate.
And it was refreshing to feelthat aloha and to feel that
everybody was on the same pageand being appreciated.
(25:30):
I felt so appreciated there.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
Yeah, definitely the staff made it for me.
You know, like when we sat downwith the meetings and stuff
like that, we got to that Evenwhen we came in as customers
right before even open, everyonewas super gracious, everyone
was super thankful, everyone isnightclub done right.
You know, in Hawaii that's whatit felt like.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
Yeah.
So we kind of raised that thingout for about a month and we
only had a month contract, so wedid a weekly friday night event
at eve for that month and atthe end of the month our
contract was up and we had theoption to continue or to not
(26:15):
continue.
And this is where things got alittle interesting, uh, and a
lot of rumors been swirlingaround, but unfortunately or
fortunately, depending on whatside of the coin you're on uh,
we stopped.
We didn't continue doing auraat eve.
(26:36):
We're actually didn't.
We're not doing any events now.
And I think for me personally,I was disappointed at the at the
time that we weren't gonnacontinue, but I also was
relieved and I was feeling it.
(26:59):
Man, I I didn't know if howlong I could be that excited on
a weekly club event, because Imean, like you said, we had
about three or four months offand I started enjoying my
Fridays and not having to beobligated to be at a club or
anything like that.
But yeah primarily, you made itclear that you didn't want to
(27:25):
continue and, like I saidearlier, there have been a lot
of rumors surrounding thedecisions and why you left and
why you're not promoting anymore, and now I want you to give the
reason why we are done at Eveand promoting.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
Yeah, this is the part you clip and use as a
trailer.
Yeah, exactly.
Man, you know?
I mean, I didn't know there wasall that rumors going on.
I want to know what they'reabout.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
Yeah, I'm going to tell you after this what they're
about.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
But, yeah, I'm gonna tell you after this.
Yeah, um, you know.
So, taking it back, after thatfirst event, we raged it out
right and, um, we were we dolike every event we're outside
the parking lot just shootingthe breeze, you know, we're just
talking how everything went,this and this and this, and I
know everyone was excited and,honestly, at during that time, I
wasn't.
(28:24):
You know, it was cool to seethat, um, it was packed.
You know, yes, this was off thechain.
People are calling to get in,people want.
You know, there's a new spot.
It was happening.
Um, up until that point, youknow, I started going back to
church, you know, and I've beengoing ever since christmas,
really december, and I've beengoing weekly, weekly, and I just
(28:44):
felt like, um, for that timebeing, actually, for that whole
time, I felt like god wastelling me to my life path was
easy to change and, um, he wascalling me to do something else
and you know, I was trying tohear, trying to listen to it,
and I'm like you know, at the,at the most at the night, that
it should have been the mostexciting, right, because we
(29:05):
haven't done something new in 10years, really, and it was brand
new, it was packed, and Ilooked around and I was like,
yeah, this is not for me anymore.
And I remember coming outsideto you and trying to explain to
you that I wasn't into it.
I was like I think I'm going tostop all of this.
I don't, I don't want tocontinue on anymore.
(29:26):
And I was trying to give everyexcuse possible except what was
in my heart and I was like, ah,you know, I just, I just thought
I, that feeling wasn't thereanymore.
I didn't, I'm not into itanymore.
This and this, and I think Ithis and this, and I think I
know you're getting upset alittle bit because we just
started this brand new promotion.
You know, we just spent monthstrying to build it, get it here,
you know, and it raged.
(29:46):
It raged rage.
You know, everyone was happy,everything was all.
I mean, everything was all in arow.
And then, uh, I just felt thepull and I felt god was telling
me, like you know, it's time tomove on.
And, um, everything in my lifewas working out because I've
been listening to whatever godwas telling me, inspiring me to
do.
I've been listening.
My life has been getting betterand better, and I just felt he
(30:08):
was asking me hey, you know what, there's something you can do
with your time better than thisand um, but when I, when I told
you, I was like, uh, yeah,you're getting mad.
When I was trying to give youevery excuse.
You're like, hanson, what isgoing on?
And I was like you know what?
Yeah, god's asking me to,calling me to do something else.
And you're like and I thoughtyou were going to be like crazy,
(30:29):
you know, you know you camefrom a heart of understanding
and it changed me.
You're like you know what, ifGod's telling you to do this,
then you got to do it and atthat point, like, everything
kind of made sense and I'm, um,yeah, I just it was time for me
to step away from the nightlife,which I never thought I would
do, to be honest yeah, I'venever thought you were gonna do
(30:52):
and, to be honest, I washonestly worried, especially
years in the past and especiallybefore you guys started hoy
events unlimited.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
I was thinking you don't ever want to give this up.
Even when we left district, youtried another weekly spot on a
thursday and I felt like youdefinitely personally, for
hansen didn't want to stop, likeyou.
That was who you was and thisis what you're gonna ride down
(31:28):
forever.
And I was thinking like bro,you gotta, you gotta stop doing
this for me.
I was over it.
I, I could do it, I could notdo it.
I I was kind of not liking it.
And my mentors and people Iworked with before who started
artist group network peter andronnie I remember them like
(31:51):
leaving.
I remember peter especially wasthe way he was doing our events
.
I could see in his face hedidn't want to be there.
He didn't like it.
He'd be in the parking lot halfthe time or he'd be asleep in
his car while our events aregoing on.
And I always told myself, if Istarted feeling like that, then
(32:12):
I gotta stop, because I'm notgonna hang on to this anymore.
Um, so I wasn't sure if youwould ever stop, because it
didn't seem like it yeah, andyou were.
You still loved it.
And I think for me, because ofcovid and I don't know if if you
(32:33):
were feeling this too but forme as a promoter prior to covid,
I didn't know my own identity.
I had the same kind of fork inthe road when I stopped doing
martial arts and competing.
I thought that was my identity,like that is this person and
(32:53):
this is who I am.
But I realized, as promoting, Istarted to feel that I was
thinking like I'm this promoter,I'm popular, I this is my life.
Without this, then I'm nothing.
And and covid got me to realizethat that wasn't true.
(33:16):
And because of covid, we had tostop doing nightclubs.
Everything was shut down and Irealized that my core friends
still hit me up.
We still talked all the time.
The people that mattered stillmattered.
The people that I love stilllove me because they love
thaddeus.
They didn't love thaddeus, thepromoter.
(33:37):
And it made me realize, like Iam not a promoter, that's what I
did, that's not who I am.
And the more I felt that andwhen we restarted and started
doing it again, I I was able todetach myself from the fear of
losing my own identity bystopping.
(33:59):
I was wondering if that's thesame reason why you were wanting
to keep continuing.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
Yeah, 100%, you know.
I'm looking back at it now.
I mean there's a definite fear.
It validated me.
You know, the cold, hard truthis sometimes, you know, these
outside things make you feel whoyou thought you were.
You know, and I.
I felt like it was who I was,not what I did, you know, I felt
(34:27):
like the, the respect, theclout, the, the um.
I've been doing it for so longthat I just thought if I stopped
, I would lose part of who I,who I was, you know, I, I
thought that was my purpose, mydriving force, you know, and I
kind of, you know, I didn't seeit at the time, I just I could
stop anytime, but you know, Ithought that was my purpose, my
driving force, you know, and Ikind of, you know, I didn't see
it at the time, I could stopanytime, but you know, that's
what most people say whenthey're, you know, stuck in
(34:47):
something.
And I think, as soon as I meanI was holding on to the district
, I was holding on to all thesepromotions afterwards, and I was
just, you know, validating, youknow, the feeling of who I was,
and I thought I would lose allof that once I stopped, you know
, and I think that's what helpedme.
When I started going back tochurch, my purpose changed.
You know, god is the ultimatepurpose for me now.
(35:09):
So it's like all the other stuff, honestly, everyone's like,
well, it must've been a harddecision.
I was like, you know, once I,once I made the realization,
honestly, it was the easiestdecision in my life, you know,
cause that purpose is clear atthat point and then I didn't
need that validation anymore andbut at the time, yeah, it was
everything, it was everythingpromoting was everything I did.
That's everyone knew me.
For, you know, people would seeme out, they would, you know,
(35:32):
restaurants, anywhere you go,you know like, hey, what's that
level H?
You know you know.
But I realize, um, yes, nolonger needed that anymore.
And that's honestly freeing,100% free.
Yeah, I no longer needed thatanymore.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
And that's honestly freeing, 100% freeing, yeah, and
I realize also by stopping, islike you know who your real
friends are.
Nobody's there your best friendbecause you can hook them up in
the club or get them freedrinks or through the VIP line
or whatever.
Hook them up with whatever it'slike they now.
Now you find out like who keepscalling or who's there for you
(36:08):
or who wants to be around youbecause they enjoy your company,
not just because you're the guyin the club that got the
hookups.
You know I mean.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
And yeah like you said, it's freeing, yeah,
definitely, yeah, puts thingsinto perspective and, yeah, it's
definitely freeing because,yeah, you know, um, we, we
always keep a close circle offriends, you know, really close,
and everyone else is justeveryone else, you know, because
you, you realize, when youcan't do anything for them,
who's who's around, you know,yeah, so, um, that that's
(36:38):
exactly true.
That's exactly true.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
I did at the time.
I was pissed, but not.
I was like pissed off at youbut not like I understood.
And I, having that conversationwith you outside of Eve the
first night, I seen thesincerity in your face and,
being someone who was brought uparound God and I had my own
(37:06):
relationship with God, Iunderstand and I just seen the
sincerity in your face.
I definitely knew that it washard for you to tell me and that
took a lot of guts.
I think the realization ofwhere your life direction was
(37:29):
going to go, to honestly acceptit and understand it and make a
move, must have been super hard.
Like you said, the decision waseasy to make, but everything
after that decision must havebeen hard.
Speaker 1 (37:45):
You know, I mean yeah , yeah, no, definitely, you know
, um have been hard.
You know.
I mean, yeah, yeah, no,definitely, you know, um, yeah,
I would.
I say it's easy, just because Irealize the purpose of why I'm
doing it and things like that.
You know, I think, um, thatwhole, that whole feeling, how
we set up, you know, peoplecalling us, um, only on fridays,
(38:07):
really, like, you know, your,your so-called friends, say, hey
, what you doing?
You know, try to have a smallconversation with you.
Hey, by the way, it's Friday,can you get me in?
Like, we do this every Friday.
Like, you know, the charadesjust keep on going.
You know, and you know, peoplecome up to the guest list line
and ask, you know, like, oh,hanson said, let me in and who
(38:31):
you are, you know, and like, um,it's funny, that's kind of the
realization I got when I wasgoing to sunday service.
It was like, you know, likewhen you're up standing at the
gate of heaven, is god gonna be?
Like, oh, I'm sorry, who areyou again?
Like, oh, you hit me up thatone time.
You know you need something.
Like, I just didn't want to belike that with god, you know,
and I just realized that's whatI was doing.
What irritating me at the clubis what I was doing to him.
You know, I'm like I only callhim when I need him or I don't
talk to him for 10 years, butwhen I need something I'll ask
for something and that's not therelationship I wanted to have.
(38:52):
So when I say it was an easydecision now that I wanted to
connect with him that way, allthe other stuff was easy to
decide at that point, to behonest.
But, man, the ramifications ofjust walking out, you know
people that took off their jobto work for us on a friday, you
(39:14):
know, or, um, our other partnersor whatever that you know,
budget out their, their, theirincome because of how these,
these events are going to go.
And me walking away was easy,but the logistics was definitely
, definitely difficult and also,people are upset.
I know people are upset becauseit's we just rage this thing
out, like why are you stopping?
Like it doesn't, it doesn'tmake sense to most people, you
know yeah, yeah, that's kind ofcool.
Speaker 2 (39:37):
Like what you just said.
How, like getting into heavenis god gonna treat you?
Like how, how we were treatedat the club and I always said
that, like my phone, I'm themost popular guy on friday, but
saturday my phone doesn't ringat all for people to thank me
that we got them in on fridaynight but yeah, that that one of
(39:57):
that first sunday services Iwent to talked about that and
I've just hit me home becausewe're in that situation all the
time, you know.
Speaker 1 (40:04):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (40:07):
Once you made that decision.
How hard was it?
I know for me it must have beenhard.
I mean explaining to me and forone thing I don't sugarcoat
anything, I kind of tell you howI feel.
And I was split.
Half of me was like you fuckingguy, we just started this thing
(40:29):
.
You got me out of like my comfyfriday nights to to do this
again and now you want to stop.
And then half of me was like,oh, hansen's finally done with
this shit, like hansen has apurpose that he believes in and
it's not the nightclubs.
And so half of me was mad.
Half of me was happy that oh,hanson is going to do this.
(40:54):
I thought for sure, the hardestthing probably would be to tell
his hopper, because he can bevery outspoken.
And even Golden Child must havebeen hard, because I don't know
how close their relationshipsare with God to where they would
understand the reason why yourthought process pulled you in
(41:17):
that way.
Speaker 1 (41:20):
Yeah, I think with you it's easier.
I think I knew you had arelationship with God, but at
the same time, we talkeverything out and even if you
yell at me, it's coming from agood place, I think, with
everybody else.
I have no idea if they thoughtit was crazy, using it as an
(41:42):
excuse.
I have no idea what they werethinking.
So that's what made itdifficult.
But I knew I told myself, nomatter what what they were
thinking.
So that's what made itdifficult, you know.
But I knew I told myself, nomatter what, like when we came
out there down the line, I waslike you know, if I need to be
the reason why I, we can alwayshave to just let everybody know.
You know, like, if I I foundgod and I kind of just I'm
stepping away, and if I wasgoing to be mad that they don't
(42:04):
have a job or this or this, justlet me, let's tell it's
handsome, you know, come talk tome.
You know, and thankfullyeveryone understood, yeah, the
ones that we, you know, we, wegot to talk to.
I.
I think, um, yeah, I wasworried about our business, like
our partners and our friends,like you know, going and
shouting and hopping, because Iknow they, they, they took this
(42:27):
gig in this job knowing that wewere going to be there for,
honestly, probably, for we weregoing to be there for honestly,
probably, for we're going to bethere for a long time.
The way it started off likethat, if we, if we kept on
rolling out, it would have beenanother nine or 10 years.
I don't, I don't, I don't seeit as implausible that we could
have, you know, but everythinghappens for a reason and I think
, um, take that kind of deal wenever take, it's always a at
(42:48):
least a 12-month contract, oneyear or.
Speaker 2 (42:50):
We both got to write it out, and the way that it
happened that way, I think itwas, um, you know, perfect
timing and kind of part of god'splan yeah, it was I felt meant
to be and hindsight I'm happy,I'm glad we're not promoting and
, like I said at the beginningof this show, like I was happy
(43:11):
to check off all those boxes,regardless of how long, we still
checked off every single one ofthose boxes that we wanted to
check off, uh, at the beginning,before we started, and that was
gratifying for me.
Speaker 1 (43:25):
Um, how hard was it to tell Hanson and Ryan like you
know, I think I knew Hopkowould be pissed, to be honest,
because we've been waiting for aperfect storm like this in the
(43:46):
nightlife, where we have ownersthat backed us up, we have staff
that back this up, you havestaff that back this up in a
brand new place, 2 am I.
I just thought all the thingswere lined up and I I was
worried that he would be pissed.
Um, I felt bad about, I feltbad for ryan, just because, um,
(44:08):
we set this whole deal up tooand we we you know I've been
through with him throughstraights when we were at
straights, and then a couple ofdeals that we try to set up with
multiple means that failed,that that that didn't go our way
, or they changed their mindlast minute and we finally got
locked in.
You know, we got to go, weraged it out and I'm like, oh
man, I'm going to tell us we'mjust going to stop, I'm going to
pull out.
(44:28):
At first I didn't know if theevent was going to stop.
I was just going to pull out.
That was my initial in my headwhen I said, oh yeah, I'm just
going to.
I feel the inspiration, I'mjust going to do it, and I
thought the event was going tohappen.
I was just going to bow out andeverything was going to be
tidied up.
Nice and neat.
Definitely did it happen thatway, yeah?
Speaker 2 (44:48):
yeah, I think, ryan I .
I don't know if he understoodthe the god aspect of it, but I
think he understood that thatwas your decision and I think
hopper understands the godaspect as much as I do, but I
think the first initial blow wasrough.
They were like kind of confusedand like I mean Hoppo was like
(45:14):
God.
I'm pretty sure God doesn'twant you to fuck over your
friends.
It was uh yeah, it was funknowing every I mean it's.
It's cool now and for me I'mhappy we're done and I'm like at
that age where I told myselfI'm not going to do a weekly
(45:38):
nightclub thing anymore and I,so I'm technically keeping that
promise to myself and for me I'mvery happy that you're done,
because the future didn't looklike you were going to be done
and you know some of the rumorsI had heard for the last month,
(45:59):
since we got, tell me, tell me,tell me.
One was I heard that you and Igot into it and we stopped.
Oh me and you were like what Iheard, that one I heard.
Speaker 1 (46:13):
That's so weird.
Speaker 2 (46:14):
I heard you were too old.
I heard I was too old.
I heard we don't have itanymore.
What else did I hear?
I heard you and Hoppa got intoit.
Oh what, I heard that oneinteresting.
Speaker 1 (46:35):
Oh man, how did things get twisted like that?
Speaker 2 (46:37):
that's so crazy I heard that you retired, but like
nobody knew why, oh, that'scrazy.
Speaker 1 (46:46):
Yeah, that's yeah.
Speaker 2 (46:48):
I heard the club tried to rip us off, which we
had a little conflict but thatgot resolved.
It wasn't because of that.
Speaker 1 (46:58):
Yeah, those guys are stand-up guys.
You know, I think things gottesty at some point, but when it
came down to it, they werewilling to work with us above
and beyond, you know, to takecare of us.
So that definitely was in itand I applied out those guys
over at E because they'restandup people A hundred percent
.
Speaker 2 (47:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (47:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (47:15):
What else?
Speaker 1 (47:16):
did.
I hear that's funny.
Speaker 2 (47:17):
Shoot.
There was one more.
That was like what?
Speaker 1 (47:21):
That's funny?
Speaker 2 (47:22):
Oh, because you because you had a girlfriend and
she didn't want you to promoteanymore that one probably.
Uh, yeah, I think me and hoppercame up with that one, but, um,
it's funny.
Oh yeah, it was a, but untilyesterday somebody asked me, or
(47:45):
a lot of people asked me, and Ikind of defer like, oh, hansen
is doing other stuff now and Ikind of wanted to give you this
platform so you can tell peoplewhy, as well as next time
somebody asks, I'm just going tosend a freaking link to the
show watch this.
Speaker 1 (48:04):
Here's the answer yeah, yeah, yeah yeah yeah, yeah
, I think there the the decisionwas easy at the time, you know,
um, to to walk away.
I think there was a lot ofprayer that I went involved to,
solving the relationships, tohow to leave, you know, and
making sure for one, we didn'twant to just walk away from the
(48:25):
nightclub.
I, I didn't, we didn't want towalk away from the nightclub
with with our reputation istarnished because for the last
20, 20 years we in the nightclubindustry we led a clean
promotion.
We didn't screw anybody over.
We didn't, you know, dickanybody over.
Like, we were honest and it'svery rare to get that in our
business and I get it and I wantto continue that.
Always, at the end, both you andI, you know, and I think there
(48:47):
was a lot of prayer going on tofigure out how we could walk
away blamelessly and withoutscrewing anybody over.
And, um, I was, that was thepart that tore me a lot and I, I
.
I think maybe people were madinitially because they just
didn't understand why, butthat's funny to hear because,
like me, you hop, I mean, we'reboy, boys like, like freaking,
(49:10):
we're homies, homies, you knowthat's funny I think like that,
yeah, and I think that, becauseof us being able to to do what
we did for so long, I've Iwatched this I don't know if you
know anthony smith, the ufcfighter.
Speaker 2 (49:30):
He, he retired, yeah, he retired, and his whole thing
.
At the end chel sun and toldhim I want you to think about
this when you retire, like,don't be sad that it's over, be
happy that it happened.
And the more I I thought aboutit, I'm blessed to have had that
(49:52):
life for that long and weforged a lot of cool moments and
friendships and we done a lotof cool things that 99.9 of
people on earth never got toexperience and we did a lot of
fun stuff with a lot of coolpeople and, uh, for me, that was
(50:16):
the most memorable stuff that Itaken away from being promoting
.
I can't remember each night,but I can remember awesome
moments that I have hadthroughout the last two decades
promoting and, uh, with you guys, it's been awesome and I think
(50:37):
we're gonna be those old guysreminiscing about back in our
day.
But why not?
you know I mean, like that'swhat life is, is creating those
moments so you can remember themand I'm, I'm down to be those
old guys reminiscing I, we, wewere at um oh restaurant, roll
(50:57):
at, at the roll bar with nickisatello, and the three of us
were reminiscing and it was likefuck, I could do that all day.
And I mean that those, those,are cool because it brings back
those fun memories and I don'tcare if I'm the old guy
reminiscing what we used to do,because what we used to do was
pretty fun and cool, you know, Imean yeah, yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1 (51:20):
I mean, yeah, we got to do some highlight moments on
a regular that people havehighlight moments for their
lifetime really.
You know, I mean party withthousands throwing some huge
concerts, the celebrities we gotto meet, you know, traveling
for the parties.
Yeah, it's definitely somememories.
We we got to meet and I thinkwe can definitely look back and
(51:40):
reminisce some of the good timeswe had definitely so the
biggest question I have, and I'msure a lot of people have, are
you completely done?
Speaker 2 (51:51):
Is level H done?
I always get that.
Speaker 1 (51:56):
When it's left.
That's probably the nextquestion I always ask Are you
done, done?
Speaker 2 (51:59):
And.
Speaker 1 (52:00):
I'm like, yeah, I'm done, I am definitely walking
away and staying away.
I'm happy with the memories andthe opportunities that I got
and the people that I met and myfriends that became family
through it.
But yeah, I mean I'm done, done, yeah.
Speaker 2 (52:19):
Well, there you have it For me.
I'm not sure if I'm done done.
I might do a one-off.
I'm definitely done doing aweekly.
I'm not doing a weekly party.
I may do a one-off.
I'm definitely done doing aweekly.
I'm not doing a weekly party.
I may do a one-off or even aretirement party, but I
definitely.
What about concerts?
Would you be down to doconcerts?
(52:40):
Christian concert okay, I don'tknow any christian yeah,
possible.
Speaker 1 (52:49):
Uh, we could probably figure that out, but the thing
is that, um, uh, production wise, my company's still doing
production stuff for concertsanyway, so, um, that's one way I
can that.
I definitely have my companyinvolved in those kind of things
.
Speaker 2 (53:00):
So yeah, well, I think it's, it's awesome and I
think you had an awesome career.
I think I'm very happy whereI'm at and I'm glad we're not,
and for us we went out what lastweek or two weeks ago and it
was like that's part of likehanging out, having a couple
(53:25):
drinks and just talking storyand cruising together.
Having a couple drinks and justtalking story and cruising
together like that, for me, wasthe basis of why I like
promoting hanging out with youguys and and creating something,
and we still can do that on therig.
Speaker 1 (53:38):
no, definitely it was like an automatic excuse to
hang out with a friend, becauseright now, you know life, life
gets lifing sometimes.
You know you have kids, you gotschool, you got you know job,
you got things, and sometimesthose moments pass so like it's
like a weekly reminder hey, youknow what, go hang out with your
friend.
It's something that we wereforced to do because it worked,
but it's all by choice.
We can do it all the timeanyway.
Speaker 2 (53:59):
So we definitely make that on a regular yeah, so what
my question is does level hexist or like?
What about that?
Like, is that, are you going touse the name, or is that just
something etched in in timealready?
Speaker 1 (54:14):
oh, yeah, I didn't even think about that.
Yeah, I don't know.
I mean, uh, I mean, it's amarketing company, didn't have
to be for nightclub, you know.
So I mean, we've done marketingfor products and concerts and
things like that.
So we'll see, uh, we'll seewhat it turns into.
But as of now, yeah, thenightlife portion is done.
Speaker 2 (54:35):
Well, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (54:35):
I just got hit Pretty here first yeah.
Speaker 2 (54:39):
I just got hit up about a couple of days ago to do
a pool party.
Speaker 1 (54:45):
Honestly right, when we stopped is when all the
flooded invites came in.
They asked us to re-go back toplaces.
Then eve asked us to come backagain.
There's other spots that wewere asking for to do.
That said no, that came backand I said yes.
So yeah, it definitely.
There was a floodgates thatopened up once.
We weren't doing eve, so I meanto know that we still have it.
That wasn't why I left.
(55:05):
You know, we, if it was rage,if it was, if we didn't, if,
because we didn't have it, itwould have been easy to walk
away a long time ago.
But you know, the harder partwas it.
The hardest part was that, um,when you look at it from the
outside in, is that, yeah, itwas raging.
We could have just kept thatrunning for a long, long time,
but I definitely made.
I think I made the rightdecision for myself and what god
(55:26):
wanted me to do.
Speaker 2 (55:27):
100 that's awesome and we definitely did put the
other venues on notice once weopened.
They everybody was feeling thatoh shit, they're still doing it
like we were a threat.
We were a threat.
I'm sure people were happy thatwe stopped, but I think both
you and I are the happiest.
Speaker 1 (55:47):
True, 100%, I am.
Speaker 2 (55:50):
So, future-wise, where do you think you're going
to be taking your path with Godand your production company?
Speaker 1 (56:03):
Yeah, right now I mean production-wise we're
hiring people because it'sgetting busy.
So the good thing is that thethe gigs are coming in.
We just need to buildinfrastructure to more and more
events.
We're doing over 300 events ayear, so we're busy, we're
trying to stay busy, so, uh,that that's has a whole whole
life of its own.
Um, on the church side, I'mjust getting more rooted, more
(56:23):
involved.
Um, over at pearl sites.
If anyone's looking for achurch to go to, it helps you
get closer to God, so come ondown.
But it's, yeah, just, whatevermy recent thing, whatever God
inspires me to do, I'm justgoing to keep on saying yes to.
And it's been working out andmy life has been changing leaps
and bounds, and for the better,ever since I've been doing that.
(56:44):
So if I knew God's plan, Iwould tell you.
But as it comes it, it hasdeveloped, it has been smooth.
Speaker 2 (56:55):
So, um, whatever and the inspiration comes, I'm gonna
do definitely oh, that's good,and I think that's a good way to
live life, man.
That way you're doing what isright and where you're gonna be
where you're supposed to be.
Where you're supposed to be.
I could see you being a pastoror a youth group minister or
something like that.
I don't know, I think we'll see, we'll see.
(57:18):
I think your ability in life isto bring people together,
regardless of whatever it is.
So God might use that, use youas the vessel for that.
It's not going to be gettingpeople drunk and hammered in a
nightclub.
It might be get people togetherand celebrate God and His love.
Speaker 1 (57:38):
Yeah, definitely.
Yeah, I mean people don't knowthis, but you know, before all
the nightclub stuff, I washeavily into church.
I was doing youth pastoring andBible studies and worship
leading and you know pioneeringchurches back in the day, you
know.
And so when I went the oppositedirection, I definitely went
the opposite direction and youknow I had a great career out of
it, you know.
But me coming back it justfeels like I'm coming back home
(58:00):
and it feels right and yeah,whatever he calls me to do, I
have a, I have a.
When I say I have like a twobelt full of tools that I've
accumulated in the last 20 yearsand however he wants to use me,
I'm ready to go for him.
Speaker 2 (58:14):
That's awesome, I think.
Yeah, I think I always jokedand now that we're done is not
as serious of a joke, but Ialways said that oh yeah, we're
in the nightlife industryselling sin every friday, but
technically we kind of was.
Speaker 1 (58:35):
But I think the positive things that we've done
in promoting is what we've wecan lay our hat on not selling
sin no, no, definitely, I knowthat, like like club, like life,
or just anything in that genreof things, it's like, um, people
(58:56):
are trying to be happy, youknow, and yeah, whether it be
momentarily, for that moment,while they're out drinking,
hanging out, dancing, having funwith their friends, you know,
and we provided that relief, youknow, sometimes, you know, and
you know we got to make closerfriendships because of this and
that I just realized, like, whatI'm trying to do now is give a
permanent version of that forpeople.
Speaker 2 (59:18):
Yep, and yeah, we may have people may have sinned at
our event, but we didn't like weweren't selling it.
Yeah, I'm sure both of ussinned at our own events too
work in progress.
Work in progress yep, but hey,to be old and wise you got to be
young and crazy.
So we're at that old and wisestage now thank goodness well,
(59:42):
for me, I'm looking forward tospending friday nights hanging
out with you whenever we can,and to me that those are way
more valuable than trying torage out a club now, and yep
like anthony and like anthonysmith was told we should be not
sad that it it's over, but superhappy that it happened and I
(01:00:04):
couldn't be more happier withthe life I had the last 20 years
.
And yeah, it puts intoperspective and it went by fast
and I think that business andjob title is kind of a dying
thing, especially here in Hawaii.
Speaker 1 (01:00:25):
Yeah, Everywhere, everywhere.
There are no promoters anymore.
Speaker 2 (01:00:33):
Yeah, yeah, well, yeah, everywhere, everywhere.
There are no promoters anymore.
Yeah, yeah, well, um, that'spretty much it, man.
I think we hit everything onthe head.
Social media wise.
Where can people find you onyour social media, also your
company's social media?
Speaker 1 (01:00:45):
yep, yep.
So personally I'm at at level hH for my events company, at Y
Events Unlimited, and at ProSitemain campus is the church I go
to.
Speaker 2 (01:00:57):
Right on and for me.
You can find us on Above theBridge podcast, on Instagram,
youtube and our website isatbpodcom, and my personal
Instagram is thaddydaddyhi.
Well, man, once you get backfrom Maryland, we can have some
fun.
We can do some cool stuff.
(01:01:20):
Now that we're, you know what'sfun is hanging out with you
when we're off is.
We can do whatever, so we canjump around and, yeah, like for
me those nights yeah, we're notsuper valid.
Like okay, you gotta go back towork yeah or like oh shit, we're
gone, or yeah and no true that,true that we definitely gotta
(01:01:43):
gotta stick to that and and dothat, and like I'm gonna be
getting married in a few, oh, ina couple months, yeah, a few
months excited for you yeah, andthat's gonna be for me.
I'm looking forward to thewedding most, to be around
friends and family and and thatthat's gonna be super important
(01:02:03):
and it'll be a fun time.
I'm excited for it and, yeah,for me and sasha is gonna be
business as normal, like I feellike we're married already, so
it's just, it's just acelebration of that.
So, um, yeah, we just gottamake sure we make time for for
(01:02:25):
us to hang out and like taylorand all of us, because those
moments are important and thesefriendships are important and
I'm happy to see that you'rehappy and and the direction your
life is going away from thenightclub because, out of
everybody now, I'm thinking ryangod, I don't know when he's
(01:02:45):
gonna be done.
Speaker 1 (01:02:48):
He's next on the worry list.
Speaker 2 (01:02:50):
Yeah, yeah.
Well, I appreciate you, man,love you brother, and I think
that following your heart andGod's path for you was not an
easy choice to do, but I thinkyou've seen it clearly and, yeah
, I think you're making theright decision, or made the
(01:03:10):
right decision.
Speaker 1 (01:03:13):
I appreciate it.
I love you too, brother, andthank you for your support, for
real Good friends are hard tofind, so when you find a boat
onto them guarantee.
Speaker 2 (01:03:21):
Well, shakas for the cameras, we're out.
Shout out to the Artist groovenetwork aloha, thank you.
okay, welcome to another edition of the above the
bridge podcast.
I'm your host, thaddeus park,and if you're new to the podcast
, you can find us anywhere whereyou can get your podcast or on
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platforms.
We're also on YouTube.
If you check us out on YouTube,please like, subscribe, leave a
(00:30):
comment, it matters and you canalso find us on atbpodcom.
First thing I want to do isshout out our sponsors.
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They've been supporting mesince I started this podcast.
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Aloha, all right.
Well, this week on my show I'mbringing back a returning guest,
one of my closest friends.
He owns Level H PromotionCompany as well as Hawaii Events
(02:45):
Unlimited.
One of the owners for HawaiiEvents Unlimited, hanson.
What's up, brother?
Speaker 1 (02:52):
What's up, brother?
How are you doing?
Speaker 2 (02:53):
I'm doing great and I appreciate you taking time.
I know you're out in Marylandright now.
I know the time difference ispretty crazy, but I appreciate
you taking time to come on myshow and let's clear the air
about a few things.
But before we get into that,how's business been?
Is getting prom season done?
(03:14):
Already I was graduating.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Just finished, yeah, just finished, and graduation is
about to kick into gear.
So, but yeah, business-wise,yeah, it's been busy.
All events a little bit.
It's been on the up, we'redoing some bigger, crazier, you
know things that we didn't thinkwe've been doing.
You know huge events, so, um,as well, as you know, taking
care of maintaining all thesmaller events, so it's
definitely been really good.
(03:38):
We're trying to hire new peoplejust because we're we're
turning gigs away now, so it'sjust really good oh wow, oh wow.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Well that's a good situation that you're turning
gigs away.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
No, true, true, true, true.
It's a good problem to have,you know, and we still got to
figure out how to.
We want to take more, but wedon't want to, you know,
downgrade the quality that we'redoing.
So we only want to take thismuch.
So we're trying to add crew,you know, train up our crew and
learn from them and have themteach each other.
And, you know, try to raiseeverybody up.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
For anybody who doesn't know what exactly is
Hawaii Events Unlimited yeah, so, hawaii Events Unlimited.
We're a local productioncompany based here in Oahu, and
then we do, you know, sound,lighting, special effects.
We have a roster of DJs, mcs,so anything you want for
audiovisual things for yourevent.
They call us everything fromweddings, first birthdays to
(04:34):
galas.
We've done stage things, we'vedone conferences with different
companies, with live streaming.
Actually, we do over 100different products and services
that we offer.
So it's kind of extensive.
But anything you want to do, ifyou have an event coming up,
just hit us up and we can seehow you can utilize this.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
And it's cool because I've seen your company grow as
well as you grow with thecompany and you guys do some
crazy stuff and fortunately I'musing you guys for our wedding,
so I'll definitely be um acustomer as well.
But I think that watching youbuild this company has been, as
(05:19):
a friend, like something supercool for me to to notice and
like you guys, you guys prettymuch got all the innovative
stuff on locket I.
I can't believe some of thestuff you guys do and it's been
a trip man like seeing the stuffprojection mapping and all that
stuff you guys do on these bigbuildings.
(05:40):
I'm like, bro, that's handsomeguys doing that.
That's nuts yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Yeah, yeah, it's up to my, my business partner,
marvin.
He's kind of like the, the, thebrains behind a lot of those
technical things, and he's a,he's a.
He's a person that likes tolike.
This is his thing, this is hispassion.
So he likes to try new things,which is good for Hawaii.
A lot of times we always getthings late or we'll just copy
(06:05):
what the mainland does sixmonths down the line.
But we get a chance to send ourguys out into the mainland to
do these different conferenceslighting conferences, photo
booth conferences, getting thesethings as soon as the mainland
gets it, we get it and we kindof want to.
I always hate to have thingslater on and we're always like
behind the step from themainland.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
But you know he's definitely an innovator, we and
we also get to send our guys tothese things to bring these tech
and these new ideas to um, towahu, just just like the
mainland that's super cool manand I think, like you said, he's
not afraid to to pull thetrigger on some of this stuff,
which is I mean as businessowners, especially if you're
(06:45):
partners, it can get tricky.
It's like one guy wants to buysome new stuff and other guys
are like wait, wait, but youguys have been just pulling
triggers and doing crazy stuff.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Yeah yeah, definitely , we're a good balance.
The company has so many movingparts as well, as we were liking
working for a company becausewe just have events that we have
to manage, but then trying tolook forward to events coming up
and marketing schemes coming upas well as, you know, new tech
that we're trying to look intoand taking care of the details
(07:17):
now.
Like, yeah, we work really welltogether about how to see
things and we talk well witheach other, so that's why it's
been working so far.
Usually business partnerships,it's really hard to work with.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
But, um, I like it because marvin and I get along
and it means a lot, yeah, andI'm fortunate enough to got to
meet him and talk to him andstuff, and yeah he's he's very
cool, very, very quiet, veryhumble, and yeah he's he's
definitely good yin yang betweenboth of you.
You're good, you're good atspeaking to people and he's good
at doing all that stuff.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
We're getting him behind the camera now.
Yeah, I love it.
It's hilarious.
He's not as forte, but he knowswhat he's talking about, which
is a good thing.
About the technical stuff, butgetting him behind the camera, I
think it's good.
People see his face and he'sgetting used to it now, but
getting him on the camera.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
I think it's good people see his face and he's
getting used to it.
Now that's one thing I was gonnatouch on is you guys social
media presence is building andyou guys are, yeah, like you're
putting him in front of thecamera, and I think it's cool,
because the way marketing andadvertisement is, if your social
media presence is kind of low,then it doesn't work as well.
But you guys are puttingyourself out there and it's fun
(08:25):
to watch and it's funny.
You guys do some cool stuff too, and people can see behind the
scenes and see exactly how muchwork goes into some of these
events no, definitely we have.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
We have a pretty good um not pretty good.
We have a really good um socialmedia crew.
The bring ups to kristen andmakayla um, we have some young
people, you know, handling oursocial media and they're
following the trends, they'recoming up with ideas and right
now, like, yeah, social media isprobably one of the top-ranked
things to market for yourcompany and you know, for us to
like figure out the TikToktrends and the Instagram trends
(09:01):
is really difficult, man.
Yeah, I don't even understandwhat they're talking about half
the time, but you know, theyknow what's popular and you know
we're getting older, but ourbrides are still the same age,
you know.
So we have to make sure we'retalking to the right
demographics and they'redefinitely helping with that,
and me and Marvin aren't tryingto get in front of the camera
and look stupid a little bit,you know, just so we can connect
with.
It's been really, really goodand they've been doing a great
(09:22):
job.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Bro, I haven't even thought about that.
You're totally right.
As old or as age you guys getor your company builds, the
clientele, age demographic isgoing to be the same.
That's that demo, except mywedding.
But yeah, the demo is prettymuch like between what?
Speaker 1 (09:46):
late 20s to about mid 30s, though yeah, yeah, 25 to
35, that's the sweet spot oh,that's super cool, yeah, but
there's plenty outliers.
There's plenty.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Get plenty outliers yeah and you guys do so many
events and you guys been pickingup a lot of corporate events.
I always wanted to ask you this, because I always ask hopper
like because he djs from a lotof events what events do you
like doing the most, like whenyou got to do a wedding or a
(10:18):
corporate event, or like asproduction, which one is the
most gratifying for you andwhich one do you like doing the
most?
I know some are gratifying buta lot of work, but which ones
you're like?
Oh yup, I can't wait for thisone.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
It's been changing over the years.
When we first started, I thinkwe were looking forward to proms
the most, just because we couldflex on all our lighting, the
lasers, you know.
It's like we got to bring likeconcert promotion and effects
down to like the wedding andprom level and we were kind of
going off.
The kids loved it, you know,because we could do all these
special effects and the djs hadthe big sound system and it felt
(10:56):
like a event for them.
Now I like these corporateevents that have an unlimited
budget and it kind of just handsus the reins.
So now it's like we're notconstrained, um, to what their
vision is and try to fit it towhat we have, like they're
saying, hey, this is the feel wewant, this is our budget, let
you know, make it happen, youknow.
(11:17):
And we just check off the boxessaying that you know they have
speakers, they have this amountof guests, our sound system
covers that amount of people,but they give us the frames to
like come up with the decorschemes, lighting schemes,
things like that, and it's fun,definitely fun.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Oh, that's cool.
And then, which would be theones you dread the most?
Speaker 1 (11:41):
I don't say dread, I just think sometimes when it
comes to weddings, it's liketheir day.
They have a once-in-a-lifetimechance to make sure we get it
right.
So I don't think it's dreading,it's just a little more
stressful.
Whereas if we start at 7.05,not at 7 o'clock a corporate gig
they can push back five minutes7 o'clock to 7.05.
If the bride has a vision, it's7.05.
(12:03):
It talk to 705.
If the bride has a division,it's 705.
It might ruin her whole day.
You know, and I you know, it'sa little more stressful.
So, um, I like, um, I like thecorporate kings because a lot
more less stress.
But also I still like theweddings.
It's just a lot more.
A lot more stressful, I guessyou could say.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
But I don't mind either yeah, well, I I'm sure
you made a lot of people's dreamweddings come true, and once
you're breaking down, thenthat's when it feels the best
right heck yeah, heck yeah, wheneverything is said and done,
heck yeah I definitely uh feelthat way too, doing concerts and
stuff, especially when we'redoing it together, um yeah well,
(12:43):
let's get into it.
Man, this last two months beensuper crazy for not just you,
but both of us as well as ourcompanies and we've definitely
did some shit.
Um was the beginning of march.
(13:03):
We took on a um another project.
Yeah, it was march.
That was like two months ago,seems crazy yeah, but we did.
We took on another project andwe did another event at eve
nightclub and it was calledallure and aura, aura, aura.
That's right, damn it.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
It's called aura gonna have to edit that part out
yeah and shoot now.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
For one thing, it was a level h artist group network,
golden child promotion, kind ofsimilar to what we've been
doing at district.
We've done it together at shootwith ryan golden child at
different events, but the coreof of level h and artist group
been together for at least overa decade uh, like we've been
(13:56):
doing events at least 10 years,yeah, over 10 years.
Now 15, close, close to 15 yep,yeah, right, when my daughter
was born, we started partneringup doing events, and Level H and
Artist Groove Network arecompanies that were in the
nightclub industry for years, atleast 20 years and fortunately
(14:21):
we found cross paths and we gotto work together and um brah.
So our last event eve, um, howdid that whole thing even start?
Because it's I kind of know andI kind of we kind of did it
together half of the time.
I was in new york right beforeit started yeah, or I was
(14:43):
somewhere where was Isnowboarding too right before it
started.
Yeah, or I was somewhere wherewas I snowboarding too right
before we started yeah yeah, buthow did that even come to
fruition?
Because we weren't really um,yeah, we weren't sure if we're
gonna do another one.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Huh yeah, we we left district and then, um, I mean we
were thinking about, I meanregardless, we we left just
because we were there for nineyears and almost 10, you know,
and we've never stayed at apromotion that long.
Normally, and good or bad, youusually just leave just because
(15:17):
it kind of ran its course, youknow.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
And yeah, by the time you know, we stepped away and
it felt good to step away fromdistrict at that time.
And then, yeah, we had otherthings possibly lined up, but I
know you were looking moretowards retirement at that time
already.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
And I mean, even before we left you were already
talking about you leaving, youknow, and I think you left for
like a week and then you cameback and then I knew you kind of
just, you know, stick stickingaround, um, just to kind of just
be with the boys and hang outand, you know, see each other.
But I think after that breakbreak, it was like a good two or
three month break from districtum, um, eve opened up, you know
(16:00):
, and um, I really like thevenue because yeah it's up, it's
upscale for one.
You know, when you first walk in, you know the place is
automatically different thanmost places in hawaii.
It felt like the mainland,which I really, really loved.
Um, the bones are all there,the staff was great, the
ownership was great, and then itjust all those pieces start to
(16:21):
click.
I was like, hey, man, we shouldjust we should try it out over
here, and I think, um, we werethinking about reaching out and
right when I was we're thinkingabout, they reached out to us
and it was just a perfect timingfor that situation to happen
yeah, and it was cool.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
The I'm have the same opinion.
I really like the venue.
I liked it when it was VintageCave.
I went there with my family afew times and what they did to
it was pretty cool and it feltlike a nightclub.
It also felt somewhere where itwasn't.
We were in the parking lot atAlamuana.
(16:57):
It was underneath but once yougot in there it didn't feel like
Alamuana or didn't feel likewhat it seemed like in the
parking lot.
But the venue was awesome and Ireally like the staff.
Their staff over there wassuper awesome, from the
(17:17):
bartenders to the management tothe even the security, and they
were all supportive of our event.
They were all personable and itseemed like they were all on
the same page with us trying togrow the event.
And brah, I had a few boxes tocheck off and I explained this
(17:42):
to you many times before westarted.
I agreed to do this eventbecause there were a few things
I wanted to do before I calledit a career.
I did say when I reached acertain age I wanted to stop at
least the weekly nightclub stuff, because I didn't want to be
that guy and I'm finding it moredifficult to kind of relate to
(18:07):
these 21 year olds and alwayssay they're learning stuff you
and I are trying to forget.
But a couple of the boxes whereI I definitely wanted I didn't
want district to be our lastevent together, and not because
that's something as district, Ijust wanted to to do something
(18:28):
again from scratch and to um,see if we still got it.
You know, I mean like see if,see if our older promotion
companies still could pull acrowd and to get people and and
to to see if we still got it.
Basically, the second one wasto definitely do another event
(18:51):
with you and make sure that itwas locked in like level eight
and artist group networktogether as well as golden child
.
And then the last event, thelast thing I wanted to check off
was to do another club eventwith hoppa as our dj.
Unfortunately, towards theending of district he had to
(19:12):
leave.
He uh couldn't play at districtanymore and I didn't want my
last event to not be with him.
So, starting Eve those boxeswere going to be checked and the
beginning was exciting.
It started to feel like our oldschool ambitions and excitement
(19:41):
was starting.
Oh, we're going to start a newevent.
How did you feel starting thatthing?
Cause I mean, I was a littlebit afraid, to be honest.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
Yeah, I mean, you know it was nine years since we
started anything brand new fromthe scratch, you know, and I
mean that's your first reasonwhy to go back was it was pretty
much the driving force, I think, to know if we still had it,
because was our marketingtactics, like how we did back in
the day, still applicable to a10-year generational gap?
(20:11):
You know so, um, definitely, Iwas, um definitely nervous, you
know, because, you know, do westill have that pool?
Do we still have?
But it was exciting because itwas brand new again, you know,
and always that new is exciting.
You can come up with an, evenjust coming up with a name, that
builds excitement becauseyou're trying to figure out, oh,
what's the name going to beabout.
Sometimes it's hard, sometimesit's not, sometimes it just
(20:32):
comes and picking the day of theweek, picking what kind of DJ
lineup you want, the feel forthe place, you know what the
different factors you like,coming up with all those
different ideas, is thatexciting.
And then we haven't felt thatin nine years, you know, I think
I think that's why I lovedistrict, but we know how, how
everything worked out.
But coming with something newfrom scratch, that feeling can't
(20:53):
be replaced.
I think that's what it was thatwe were chasing.
So, um, I think I was justdefinitely excited to start
something new and coming withideas and sitting with the boys
on a Zoom call, you know, at thecoffee shops, like just trying
to come up with ideas to youknow how we're going to do this
again, how we're going to makeit different, our different
marketing schemes yeah, it wasjust fun, definitely fun and
exciting.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Yeah, so we dropped the first night.
It was the first week of March,correct?
Speaker 1 (21:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
And yeah, I was definitely nervous, I was
definitely excited, I wasdefinitely scared.
I was thinking like oh man, ifwe don't got it then nobody's
coming.
It's going to be kind ofembarrassing and I know there's
a lot of like people negativelytalking about our companies and
(21:45):
I wanted to to prove everybodywrong not really prove everybody
wrong, but I wanted to prove usright, you know, I mean, and um
, I think the whole nightlifeindustry was kind of looking to
see how it was going to be inand how things were going to
(22:06):
play out and I was to the moonthat it raged bro.
That first night, that thefirst night of aura was one of
one of the funnest nights I hadin in the nightclub in years.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Brad, that was so much fun yeah, I mean the
turnout was more than perfect.
You know, when it firstlaunched, like, I was worried
about how many likes the flyershad, how many shares of the fly,
like, and I was just lookinginto the metrics and all that
and I was definitely worried.
You know like, you know youjust that's how it is.
With every promotion, though.
There's promotions where youcan spend hundreds of hours
(22:46):
trying to put this eventtogether and market it and then
no one show up, and there's alsoevents where you just do
minimal marketing and theneverybody comes out.
You just kind of never know.
So with this one, we kind ofwanted to make sure it went off
well, so we were doing all wecan, but then I was definitely
worried going in, but once thenight, once the night kid and
people started rolling in anddidn't stop all night.
Man, I knew we had it.
Definitely it was arecord-breaking night that night
(23:21):
.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
Yeah, and I noticed for the of students I taught
taekwondo to hitting me up, tocome in and like that's like a
couple gens down and I'mthinking like they're telling go
call uncle thada, go get youinto the club and I'm thinking
like that's my like, those aremy for real.
I like held those kids asbabies and I'm thinking like,
(23:42):
wow, they're coming to our clubnow and it's.
It was a little bit surreal, alittle bit kind of feeling the,
the age.
But yeah, right it was good funman like those and and watching
hoppa play for our crowd againand that energy he brings is
it's just that's one of myfavorite things to do is just
(24:04):
have a drink with you and watchhim dj to our crowd.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
You know what I mean and it was awesome yeah, that
was a major plus for that eventbecause now we could have hoppa
back and it was kind of like youknow he's, he's been part of
our promotion since thebeginning, really like having
him involved.
So you know, once we got himback, djing for us, oh it was
just, everything was unlocked,everything matched.
You know, I think our olderclientele loved the venue
(24:27):
because it felt welcoming, likean upscale venue, and then the
newer crowd, younger crowd likedit because it was a packed
place in a brand new spot they'dnever seen before, instead of
going to the same place over andover and over again in hawaii.
So it was perfect, definitelyperfect blend what I enjoyed was
their staff.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
they immediately any ideas we had or any situations
we wanted changed.
They did it within seconds andI mean that was refreshing.
There were some instances whereit was like pulling teeth to
get anybody to do somethingduring our event, and for this
new one it was like, oh, we wantto change how the people enter
(25:07):
the club.
We want to bring them throughhere, like, good, put up the
stanchions, let's do it now.
And I'm like what, we don'thave to sit down and have a
meeting about this.
It was like they did it likeanything we wanted, it was
immediate.
They did it like anything wewanted, it was immediate.
And it was refreshing to feelthat aloha and to feel that
everybody was on the same pageand being appreciated.
(25:30):
I felt so appreciated there.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
Yeah, definitely the staff made it for me.
You know, like when we sat downwith the meetings and stuff
like that, we got to that Evenwhen we came in as customers
right before even open, everyonewas super gracious, everyone
was super thankful, everyone isnightclub done right.
You know, in Hawaii that's whatit felt like.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
Yeah.
So we kind of raised that thingout for about a month and we
only had a month contract, so wedid a weekly friday night event
at eve for that month and atthe end of the month our
contract was up and we had theoption to continue or to not
(26:15):
continue.
And this is where things got alittle interesting, uh, and a
lot of rumors been swirlingaround, but unfortunately or
fortunately, depending on whatside of the coin you're on uh,
we stopped.
We didn't continue doing auraat eve.
(26:36):
We're actually didn't.
We're not doing any events now.
And I think for me personally,I was disappointed at the at the
time that we weren't gonnacontinue, but I also was
relieved and I was feeling it.
(26:59):
Man, I I didn't know if howlong I could be that excited on
a weekly club event, because Imean, like you said, we had
about three or four months offand I started enjoying my
Fridays and not having to beobligated to be at a club or
anything like that.
But yeah primarily, you made itclear that you didn't want to
(27:25):
continue and, like I saidearlier, there have been a lot
of rumors surrounding thedecisions and why you left and
why you're not promoting anymore, and now I want you to give the
reason why we are done at Eveand promoting.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
Yeah, this is the part you clip and use as a
trailer.
Yeah, exactly.
Man, you know?
I mean, I didn't know there wasall that rumors going on.
I want to know what they'reabout.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
Yeah, I'm going to tell you after this what they're
about.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
But, yeah, I'm gonna tell you after this.
Yeah, um, you know.
So, taking it back, after thatfirst event, we raged it out
right and, um, we were we dolike every event we're outside
the parking lot just shootingthe breeze, you know, we're just
talking how everything went,this and this and this, and I
know everyone was excited and,honestly, at during that time, I
wasn't.
(28:24):
You know, it was cool to seethat, um, it was packed.
You know, yes, this was off thechain.
People are calling to get in,people want.
You know, there's a new spot.
It was happening.
Um, up until that point, youknow, I started going back to
church, you know, and I've beengoing ever since christmas,
really december, and I've beengoing weekly, weekly, and I just
(28:44):
felt like, um, for that timebeing, actually, for that whole
time, I felt like god wastelling me to my life path was
easy to change and, um, he wascalling me to do something else
and you know, I was trying tohear, trying to listen to it,
and I'm like you know, at the,at the most at the night, that
it should have been the mostexciting, right, because we
(29:05):
haven't done something new in 10years, really, and it was brand
new, it was packed, and Ilooked around and I was like,
yeah, this is not for me anymore.
And I remember coming outsideto you and trying to explain to
you that I wasn't into it.
I was like I think I'm going tostop all of this.
I don't, I don't want tocontinue on anymore.
(29:26):
And I was trying to give everyexcuse possible except what was
in my heart and I was like, ah,you know, I just, I just thought
I, that feeling wasn't thereanymore.
I didn't, I'm not into itanymore.
This and this, and I think Ithis and this, and I think I
know you're getting upset alittle bit because we just
started this brand new promotion.
You know, we just spent monthstrying to build it, get it here,
you know, and it raged.
(29:46):
It raged rage.
You know, everyone was happy,everything was all.
I mean, everything was all in arow.
And then, uh, I just felt thepull and I felt god was telling
me, like you know, it's time tomove on.
And, um, everything in my lifewas working out because I've
been listening to whatever godwas telling me, inspiring me to
do.
I've been listening.
My life has been getting betterand better, and I just felt he
(30:08):
was asking me hey, you know what, there's something you can do
with your time better than thisand um, but when I, when I told
you, I was like, uh, yeah,you're getting mad.
When I was trying to give youevery excuse.
You're like, hanson, what isgoing on?
And I was like you know what?
Yeah, god's asking me to,calling me to do something else.
And you're like and I thoughtyou were going to be like crazy,
(30:29):
you know, you know you camefrom a heart of understanding
and it changed me.
You're like you know what, ifGod's telling you to do this,
then you got to do it and atthat point, like, everything
kind of made sense and I'm, um,yeah, I just it was time for me
to step away from the nightlife,which I never thought I would
do, to be honest yeah, I'venever thought you were gonna do
(30:52):
and, to be honest, I washonestly worried, especially
years in the past and especiallybefore you guys started hoy
events unlimited.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
I was thinking you don't ever want to give this up.
Even when we left district, youtried another weekly spot on a
thursday and I felt like youdefinitely personally, for
hansen didn't want to stop, likeyou.
That was who you was and thisis what you're gonna ride down
(31:28):
forever.
And I was thinking like bro,you gotta, you gotta stop doing
this for me.
I was over it.
I, I could do it, I could notdo it.
I I was kind of not liking it.
And my mentors and people Iworked with before who started
artist group network peter andronnie I remember them like
(31:51):
leaving.
I remember peter especially wasthe way he was doing our events
.
I could see in his face hedidn't want to be there.
He didn't like it.
He'd be in the parking lot halfthe time or he'd be asleep in
his car while our events aregoing on.
And I always told myself, if Istarted feeling like that, then
(32:12):
I gotta stop, because I'm notgonna hang on to this anymore.
Um, so I wasn't sure if youwould ever stop, because it
didn't seem like it yeah, andyou were.
You still loved it.
And I think for me, because ofcovid and I don't know if if you
(32:33):
were feeling this too but forme as a promoter prior to covid,
I didn't know my own identity.
I had the same kind of fork inthe road when I stopped doing
martial arts and competing.
I thought that was my identity,like that is this person and
(32:53):
this is who I am.
But I realized, as promoting, Istarted to feel that I was
thinking like I'm this promoter,I'm popular, I this is my life.
Without this, then I'm nothing.
And and covid got me to realizethat that wasn't true.
(33:16):
And because of covid, we had tostop doing nightclubs.
Everything was shut down and Irealized that my core friends
still hit me up.
We still talked all the time.
The people that mattered stillmattered.
The people that I love stilllove me because they love
thaddeus.
They didn't love thaddeus, thepromoter.
(33:37):
And it made me realize, like Iam not a promoter, that's what I
did, that's not who I am.
And the more I felt that andwhen we restarted and started
doing it again, I I was able todetach myself from the fear of
losing my own identity bystopping.
(33:59):
I was wondering if that's thesame reason why you were wanting
to keep continuing.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
Yeah, 100%, you know.
I'm looking back at it now.
I mean there's a definite fear.
It validated me.
You know, the cold, hard truthis sometimes, you know, these
outside things make you feel whoyou thought you were.
You know, and I.
I felt like it was who I was,not what I did, you know, I felt
(34:27):
like the, the respect, theclout, the, the um.
I've been doing it for so longthat I just thought if I stopped
, I would lose part of who I,who I was, you know, I, I
thought that was my purpose, mydriving force, you know, and I
kind of, you know, I didn't seeit at the time, I just I could
stop anytime, but you know, Ithought that was my purpose, my
driving force, you know, and Ikind of, you know, I didn't see
it at the time, I could stopanytime, but you know, that's
what most people say whenthey're, you know, stuck in
(34:47):
something.
And I think, as soon as I meanI was holding on to the district
, I was holding on to all thesepromotions afterwards, and I was
just, you know, validating, youknow, the feeling of who I was,
and I thought I would lose allof that once I stopped, you know
, and I think that's what helpedme.
When I started going back tochurch, my purpose changed.
You know, god is the ultimatepurpose for me now.
(35:09):
So it's like all the other stuff, honestly, everyone's like,
well, it must've been a harddecision.
I was like, you know, once I,once I made the realization,
honestly, it was the easiestdecision in my life, you know,
cause that purpose is clear atthat point and then I didn't
need that validation anymore andbut at the time, yeah, it was
everything, it was everythingpromoting was everything I did.
That's everyone knew me.
For, you know, people would seeme out, they would, you know,
(35:32):
restaurants, anywhere you go,you know like, hey, what's that
level H?
You know you know.
But I realize, um, yes, nolonger needed that anymore.
And that's honestly freeing,100% free.
Yeah, I no longer needed thatanymore.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
And that's honestly freeing, 100% freeing, yeah, and
I realize also by stopping, islike you know who your real
friends are.
Nobody's there your best friendbecause you can hook them up in
the club or get them freedrinks or through the VIP line
or whatever.
Hook them up with whatever it'slike they now.
Now you find out like who keepscalling or who's there for you
(36:08):
or who wants to be around youbecause they enjoy your company,
not just because you're the guyin the club that got the
hookups.
You know I mean.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
And yeah like you said, it's freeing, yeah,
definitely, yeah, puts thingsinto perspective and, yeah, it's
definitely freeing because,yeah, you know, um, we, we
always keep a close circle offriends, you know, really close,
and everyone else is justeveryone else, you know, because
you, you realize, when youcan't do anything for them,
who's who's around, you know,yeah, so, um, that that's
(36:38):
exactly true.
That's exactly true.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
I did at the time.
I was pissed, but not.
I was like pissed off at youbut not like I understood.
And I, having that conversationwith you outside of Eve the
first night, I seen thesincerity in your face and,
being someone who was brought uparound God and I had my own
(37:06):
relationship with God, Iunderstand and I just seen the
sincerity in your face.
I definitely knew that it washard for you to tell me and that
took a lot of guts.
I think the realization ofwhere your life direction was
(37:29):
going to go, to honestly acceptit and understand it and make a
move, must have been super hard.
Like you said, the decision waseasy to make, but everything
after that decision must havebeen hard.
Speaker 1 (37:45):
You know, I mean yeah , yeah, no, definitely, you know
, um have been hard.
You know.
I mean, yeah, yeah, no,definitely, you know, um, yeah,
I would.
I say it's easy, just because Irealize the purpose of why I'm
doing it and things like that.
You know, I think, um, thatwhole, that whole feeling, how
we set up, you know, peoplecalling us, um, only on fridays,
(38:07):
really, like, you know, your,your so-called friends, say, hey
, what you doing?
You know, try to have a smallconversation with you.
Hey, by the way, it's Friday,can you get me in?
Like, we do this every Friday.
Like, you know, the charadesjust keep on going.
You know, and you know, peoplecome up to the guest list line
and ask, you know, like, oh,hanson said, let me in and who
(38:31):
you are, you know, and like, um,it's funny, that's kind of the
realization I got when I wasgoing to sunday service.
It was like, you know, likewhen you're up standing at the
gate of heaven, is god gonna be?
Like, oh, I'm sorry, who areyou again?
Like, oh, you hit me up thatone time.
You know you need something.
Like, I just didn't want to belike that with god, you know,
and I just realized that's whatI was doing.
What irritating me at the clubis what I was doing to him.
You know, I'm like I only callhim when I need him or I don't
talk to him for 10 years, butwhen I need something I'll ask
for something and that's not therelationship I wanted to have.
(38:52):
So when I say it was an easydecision now that I wanted to
connect with him that way, allthe other stuff was easy to
decide at that point, to behonest.
But, man, the ramifications ofjust walking out, you know
people that took off their jobto work for us on a friday, you
(39:14):
know, or, um, our other partnersor whatever that you know,
budget out their, their, theirincome because of how these,
these events are going to go.
And me walking away was easy,but the logistics was definitely
, definitely difficult and also,people are upset.
I know people are upset becauseit's we just rage this thing
out, like why are you stopping?
Like it doesn't, it doesn'tmake sense to most people, you
know yeah, yeah, that's kind ofcool.
Speaker 2 (39:37):
Like what you just said.
How, like getting into heavenis god gonna treat you?
Like how, how we were treatedat the club and I always said
that, like my phone, I'm themost popular guy on friday, but
saturday my phone doesn't ringat all for people to thank me
that we got them in on fridaynight but yeah, that that one of
(39:57):
that first sunday services Iwent to talked about that and
I've just hit me home becausewe're in that situation all the
time, you know.
Speaker 1 (40:04):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (40:07):
Once you made that decision.
How hard was it?
I know for me it must have beenhard.
I mean explaining to me and forone thing I don't sugarcoat
anything, I kind of tell you howI feel.
And I was split.
Half of me was like you fuckingguy, we just started this thing
(40:29):
.
You got me out of like my comfyfriday nights to to do this
again and now you want to stop.
And then half of me was like,oh, hansen's finally done with
this shit, like hansen has apurpose that he believes in and
it's not the nightclubs.
And so half of me was mad.
Half of me was happy that oh,hanson is going to do this.
(40:54):
I thought for sure, the hardestthing probably would be to tell
his hopper, because he can bevery outspoken.
And even Golden Child must havebeen hard, because I don't know
how close their relationshipsare with God to where they would
understand the reason why yourthought process pulled you in
(41:17):
that way.
Speaker 1 (41:20):
Yeah, I think with you it's easier.
I think I knew you had arelationship with God, but at
the same time, we talkeverything out and even if you
yell at me, it's coming from agood place, I think, with
everybody else.
I have no idea if they thoughtit was crazy, using it as an
(41:42):
excuse.
I have no idea what they werethinking.
So that's what made itdifficult.
But I knew I told myself, nomatter what what they were
thinking.
So that's what made itdifficult, you know.
But I knew I told myself, nomatter what, like when we came
out there down the line, I waslike you know, if I need to be
the reason why I, we can alwayshave to just let everybody know.
You know, like, if I I foundgod and I kind of just I'm
stepping away, and if I wasgoing to be mad that they don't
(42:04):
have a job or this or this, justlet me, let's tell it's
handsome, you know, come talk tome.
You know, and thankfullyeveryone understood, yeah, the
ones that we, you know, we, wegot to talk to.
I.
I think, um, yeah, I wasworried about our business, like
our partners and our friends,like you know, going and
shouting and hopping, because Iknow they, they, they took this
(42:27):
gig in this job knowing that wewere going to be there for,
honestly, probably, for we weregoing to be there for honestly,
probably, for we're going to bethere for a long time.
The way it started off likethat, if we, if we kept on
rolling out, it would have beenanother nine or 10 years.
I don't, I don't, I don't seeit as implausible that we could
have, you know, but everythinghappens for a reason and I think
, um, take that kind of deal wenever take, it's always a at
(42:48):
least a 12-month contract, oneyear or.
Speaker 2 (42:50):
We both got to write it out, and the way that it
happened that way, I think itwas, um, you know, perfect
timing and kind of part of god'splan yeah, it was I felt meant
to be and hindsight I'm happy,I'm glad we're not promoting and
, like I said at the beginningof this show, like I was happy
(43:11):
to check off all those boxes,regardless of how long, we still
checked off every single one ofthose boxes that we wanted to
check off, uh, at the beginning,before we started, and that was
gratifying for me.
Speaker 1 (43:25):
Um, how hard was it to tell Hanson and Ryan like you
know, I think I knew Hopkowould be pissed, to be honest,
because we've been waiting for aperfect storm like this in the
(43:46):
nightlife, where we have ownersthat backed us up, we have staff
that back this up, you havestaff that back this up in a
brand new place, 2 am I.
I just thought all the thingswere lined up and I I was
worried that he would be pissed.
Um, I felt bad about, I feltbad for ryan, just because, um,
(44:08):
we set this whole deal up tooand we we you know I've been
through with him throughstraights when we were at
straights, and then a couple ofdeals that we try to set up with
multiple means that failed,that that that didn't go our way
, or they changed their mindlast minute and we finally got
locked in.
You know, we got to go, weraged it out and I'm like, oh
man, I'm going to tell us we'mjust going to stop, I'm going to
pull out.
(44:28):
At first I didn't know if theevent was going to stop.
I was just going to pull out.
That was my initial in my headwhen I said, oh yeah, I'm just
going to.
I feel the inspiration, I'mjust going to do it, and I
thought the event was going tohappen.
I was just going to bow out andeverything was going to be
tidied up.
Nice and neat.
Definitely did it happen thatway, yeah?
Speaker 2 (44:48):
yeah, I think, ryan I .
I don't know if he understoodthe the god aspect of it, but I
think he understood that thatwas your decision and I think
hopper understands the godaspect as much as I do, but I
think the first initial blow wasrough.
They were like kind of confusedand like I mean Hoppo was like
(45:14):
God.
I'm pretty sure God doesn'twant you to fuck over your
friends.
It was uh yeah, it was funknowing every I mean it's.
It's cool now and for me I'mhappy we're done and I'm like at
that age where I told myselfI'm not going to do a weekly
(45:38):
nightclub thing anymore and I,so I'm technically keeping that
promise to myself and for me I'mvery happy that you're done,
because the future didn't looklike you were going to be done
and you know some of the rumorsI had heard for the last month,
(45:59):
since we got, tell me, tell me,tell me.
One was I heard that you and Igot into it and we stopped.
Oh me and you were like what Iheard, that one I heard.
Speaker 1 (46:13):
That's so weird.
Speaker 2 (46:14):
I heard you were too old.
I heard I was too old.
I heard we don't have itanymore.
What else did I hear?
I heard you and Hoppa got intoit.
Oh what, I heard that oneinteresting.
Speaker 1 (46:35):
Oh man, how did things get twisted like that?
Speaker 2 (46:37):
that's so crazy I heard that you retired, but like
nobody knew why, oh, that'scrazy.
Speaker 1 (46:46):
Yeah, that's yeah.
Speaker 2 (46:48):
I heard the club tried to rip us off, which we
had a little conflict but thatgot resolved.
It wasn't because of that.
Speaker 1 (46:58):
Yeah, those guys are stand-up guys.
You know, I think things gottesty at some point, but when it
came down to it, they werewilling to work with us above
and beyond, you know, to takecare of us.
So that definitely was in itand I applied out those guys
over at E because they'restandup people A hundred percent
.
Speaker 2 (47:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (47:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (47:15):
What else?
Speaker 1 (47:16):
did.
I hear that's funny.
Speaker 2 (47:17):
Shoot.
There was one more.
That was like what?
Speaker 1 (47:21):
That's funny?
Speaker 2 (47:22):
Oh, because you because you had a girlfriend and
she didn't want you to promoteanymore that one probably.
Uh, yeah, I think me and hoppercame up with that one, but, um,
it's funny.
Oh yeah, it was a, but untilyesterday somebody asked me, or
(47:45):
a lot of people asked me, and Ikind of defer like, oh, hansen
is doing other stuff now and Ikind of wanted to give you this
platform so you can tell peoplewhy, as well as next time
somebody asks, I'm just going tosend a freaking link to the
show watch this.
Speaker 1 (48:04):
Here's the answer yeah, yeah, yeah yeah yeah, yeah
, I think there the the decisionwas easy at the time, you know,
um, to to walk away.
I think there was a lot ofprayer that I went involved to,
solving the relationships, tohow to leave, you know, and
making sure for one, we didn'twant to just walk away from the
(48:25):
nightclub.
I, I didn't, we didn't want towalk away from the nightclub
with with our reputation istarnished because for the last
20, 20 years we in the nightclubindustry we led a clean
promotion.
We didn't screw anybody over.
We didn't, you know, dickanybody over.
Like, we were honest and it'svery rare to get that in our
business and I get it and I wantto continue that.
Always, at the end, both you andI, you know, and I think there
(48:47):
was a lot of prayer going on tofigure out how we could walk
away blamelessly and withoutscrewing anybody over.
And, um, I was, that was thepart that tore me a lot and I, I
.
I think maybe people were madinitially because they just
didn't understand why, butthat's funny to hear because,
like me, you hop, I mean, we'reboy, boys like, like freaking,
(49:10):
we're homies, homies, you knowthat's funny I think like that,
yeah, and I think that, becauseof us being able to to do what
we did for so long, I've Iwatched this I don't know if you
know anthony smith, the ufcfighter.
Speaker 2 (49:30):
He, he retired, yeah, he retired, and his whole thing
.
At the end chel sun and toldhim I want you to think about
this when you retire, like,don't be sad that it's over, be
happy that it happened.
And the more I I thought aboutit, I'm blessed to have had that
(49:52):
life for that long and weforged a lot of cool moments and
friendships and we done a lotof cool things that 99.9 of
people on earth never got toexperience and we did a lot of
fun stuff with a lot of coolpeople and, uh, for me, that was
(50:16):
the most memorable stuff that Itaken away from being promoting
.
I can't remember each night,but I can remember awesome
moments that I have hadthroughout the last two decades
promoting and, uh, with you guys, it's been awesome and I think
(50:37):
we're gonna be those old guysreminiscing about back in our
day.
But why not?
you know I mean, like that'swhat life is, is creating those
moments so you can remember themand I'm, I'm down to be those
old guys reminiscing I, we, wewere at um oh restaurant, roll
(50:57):
at, at the roll bar with nickisatello, and the three of us
were reminiscing and it was likefuck, I could do that all day.
And I mean that those, those,are cool because it brings back
those fun memories and I don'tcare if I'm the old guy
reminiscing what we used to do,because what we used to do was
pretty fun and cool, you know, Imean yeah, yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1 (51:20):
I mean, yeah, we got to do some highlight moments on
a regular that people havehighlight moments for their
lifetime really.
You know, I mean party withthousands throwing some huge
concerts, the celebrities we gotto meet, you know, traveling
for the parties.
Yeah, it's definitely somememories.
We we got to meet and I thinkwe can definitely look back and
(51:40):
reminisce some of the good timeswe had definitely so the
biggest question I have, and I'msure a lot of people have, are
you completely done?
Speaker 2 (51:51):
Is level H done?
I always get that.
Speaker 1 (51:56):
When it's left.
That's probably the nextquestion I always ask Are you
done, done?
Speaker 2 (51:59):
And.
Speaker 1 (52:00):
I'm like, yeah, I'm done, I am definitely walking
away and staying away.
I'm happy with the memories andthe opportunities that I got
and the people that I met and myfriends that became family
through it.
But yeah, I mean I'm done, done, yeah.
Speaker 2 (52:19):
Well, there you have it For me.
I'm not sure if I'm done done.
I might do a one-off.
I'm definitely done doing aweekly.
I'm not doing a weekly party.
I may do a one-off.
I'm definitely done doing aweekly.
I'm not doing a weekly party.
I may do a one-off or even aretirement party, but I
definitely.
What about concerts?
Would you be down to doconcerts?
(52:40):
Christian concert okay, I don'tknow any christian yeah,
possible.
Speaker 1 (52:49):
Uh, we could probably figure that out, but the thing
is that, um, uh, production wise, my company's still doing
production stuff for concertsanyway, so, um, that's one way I
can that.
I definitely have my companyinvolved in those kind of things
.
Speaker 2 (53:00):
So yeah, well, I think it's, it's awesome and I
think you had an awesome career.
I think I'm very happy whereI'm at and I'm glad we're not,
and for us we went out what lastweek or two weeks ago and it
was like that's part of likehanging out, having a couple
(53:25):
drinks and just talking storyand cruising together.
Having a couple drinks and justtalking story and cruising
together like that, for me, wasthe basis of why I like
promoting hanging out with youguys and and creating something,
and we still can do that on therig.
Speaker 1 (53:38):
no, definitely it was like an automatic excuse to
hang out with a friend, becauseright now, you know life, life
gets lifing sometimes.
You know you have kids, you gotschool, you got you know job,
you got things, and sometimesthose moments pass so like it's
like a weekly reminder hey, youknow what, go hang out with your
friend.
It's something that we wereforced to do because it worked,
but it's all by choice.
We can do it all the timeanyway.
Speaker 2 (53:59):
So we definitely make that on a regular yeah, so what
my question is does level hexist or like?
What about that?
Like, is that, are you going touse the name, or is that just
something etched in in timealready?
Speaker 1 (54:14):
oh, yeah, I didn't even think about that.
Yeah, I don't know.
I mean, uh, I mean, it's amarketing company, didn't have
to be for nightclub, you know.
So I mean, we've done marketingfor products and concerts and
things like that.
So we'll see, uh, we'll seewhat it turns into.
But as of now, yeah, thenightlife portion is done.
Speaker 2 (54:35):
Well, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (54:35):
I just got hit Pretty here first yeah.
Speaker 2 (54:39):
I just got hit up about a couple of days ago to do
a pool party.
Speaker 1 (54:45):
Honestly right, when we stopped is when all the
flooded invites came in.
They asked us to re-go back toplaces.
Then eve asked us to come backagain.
There's other spots that wewere asking for to do.
That said no, that came backand I said yes.
So yeah, it definitely.
There was a floodgates thatopened up once.
We weren't doing eve, so I meanto know that we still have it.
That wasn't why I left.
(55:05):
You know, we, if it was rage,if it was, if we didn't, if,
because we didn't have it, itwould have been easy to walk
away a long time ago.
But you know, the harder partwas it.
The hardest part was that, um,when you look at it from the
outside in, is that, yeah, itwas raging.
We could have just kept thatrunning for a long, long time,
but I definitely made.
I think I made the rightdecision for myself and what god
(55:26):
wanted me to do.
Speaker 2 (55:27):
100 that's awesome and we definitely did put the
other venues on notice once weopened.
They everybody was feeling thatoh shit, they're still doing it
like we were a threat.
We were a threat.
I'm sure people were happy thatwe stopped, but I think both
you and I are the happiest.
Speaker 1 (55:47):
True, 100%, I am.
Speaker 2 (55:50):
So, future-wise, where do you think you're going
to be taking your path with Godand your production company?
Speaker 1 (56:03):
Yeah, right now I mean production-wise we're
hiring people because it'sgetting busy.
So the good thing is that thethe gigs are coming in.
We just need to buildinfrastructure to more and more
events.
We're doing over 300 events ayear, so we're busy, we're
trying to stay busy, so, uh,that that's has a whole whole
life of its own.
Um, on the church side, I'mjust getting more rooted, more
(56:23):
involved.
Um, over at pearl sites.
If anyone's looking for achurch to go to, it helps you
get closer to God, so come ondown.
But it's, yeah, just, whatevermy recent thing, whatever God
inspires me to do, I'm justgoing to keep on saying yes to.
And it's been working out andmy life has been changing leaps
and bounds, and for the better,ever since I've been doing that.
(56:44):
So if I knew God's plan, Iwould tell you.
But as it comes it, it hasdeveloped, it has been smooth.
Speaker 2 (56:55):
So, um, whatever and the inspiration comes, I'm gonna
do definitely oh, that's good,and I think that's a good way to
live life, man.
That way you're doing what isright and where you're gonna be
where you're supposed to be.
Where you're supposed to be.
I could see you being a pastoror a youth group minister or
something like that.
I don't know, I think we'll see, we'll see.
(57:18):
I think your ability in life isto bring people together,
regardless of whatever it is.
So God might use that, use youas the vessel for that.
It's not going to be gettingpeople drunk and hammered in a
nightclub.
It might be get people togetherand celebrate God and His love.
Speaker 1 (57:38):
Yeah, definitely.
Yeah, I mean people don't knowthis, but you know, before all
the nightclub stuff, I washeavily into church.
I was doing youth pastoring andBible studies and worship
leading and you know pioneeringchurches back in the day, you
know.
And so when I went the oppositedirection, I definitely went
the opposite direction and youknow I had a great career out of
it, you know.
But me coming back it justfeels like I'm coming back home
(58:00):
and it feels right and yeah,whatever he calls me to do, I
have a, I have a.
When I say I have like a twobelt full of tools that I've
accumulated in the last 20 yearsand however he wants to use me,
I'm ready to go for him.
Speaker 2 (58:14):
That's awesome, I think.
Yeah, I think I always jokedand now that we're done is not
as serious of a joke, but Ialways said that oh yeah, we're
in the nightlife industryselling sin every friday, but
technically we kind of was.
Speaker 1 (58:35):
But I think the positive things that we've done
in promoting is what we've wecan lay our hat on not selling
sin no, no, definitely, I knowthat, like like club, like life,
or just anything in that genreof things, it's like, um, people
(58:56):
are trying to be happy, youknow, and yeah, whether it be
momentarily, for that moment,while they're out drinking,
hanging out, dancing, having funwith their friends, you know,
and we provided that relief, youknow, sometimes, you know, and
you know we got to make closerfriendships because of this and
that I just realized, like, whatI'm trying to do now is give a
permanent version of that forpeople.
Speaker 2 (59:18):
Yep, and yeah, we may have people may have sinned at
our event, but we didn't like weweren't selling it.
Yeah, I'm sure both of ussinned at our own events too
work in progress.
Work in progress yep, but hey,to be old and wise you got to be
young and crazy.
So we're at that old and wisestage now thank goodness well,
(59:42):
for me, I'm looking forward tospending friday nights hanging
out with you whenever we can,and to me that those are way
more valuable than trying torage out a club now, and yep
like anthony and like anthonysmith was told we should be not
sad that it it's over, but superhappy that it happened and I
(01:00:04):
couldn't be more happier withthe life I had the last 20 years
.
And yeah, it puts intoperspective and it went by fast
and I think that business andjob title is kind of a dying
thing, especially here in Hawaii.
Speaker 1 (01:00:25):
Yeah, Everywhere, everywhere.
There are no promoters anymore.
Speaker 2 (01:00:33):
Yeah, yeah, well, yeah, everywhere, everywhere.
There are no promoters anymore.
Yeah, yeah, well, um, that'spretty much it, man.
I think we hit everything onthe head.
Social media wise.
Where can people find you onyour social media, also your
company's social media?
Speaker 1 (01:00:45):
yep, yep.
So personally I'm at at level hH for my events company, at Y
Events Unlimited, and at ProSitemain campus is the church I go
to.
Speaker 2 (01:00:57):
Right on and for me.
You can find us on Above theBridge podcast, on Instagram,
youtube and our website isatbpodcom, and my personal
Instagram is thaddydaddyhi.
Well, man, once you get backfrom Maryland, we can have some
fun.
We can do some cool stuff.
(01:01:20):
Now that we're, you know what'sfun is hanging out with you
when we're off is.
We can do whatever, so we canjump around and, yeah, like for
me those nights yeah, we're notsuper valid.
Like okay, you gotta go back towork yeah or like oh shit, we're
gone, or yeah and no true that,true that we definitely gotta
(01:01:43):
gotta stick to that and and dothat, and like I'm gonna be
getting married in a few, oh, ina couple months, yeah, a few
months excited for you yeah, andthat's gonna be for me.
I'm looking forward to thewedding most, to be around
friends and family and and thatthat's gonna be super important
(01:02:03):
and it'll be a fun time.
I'm excited for it and, yeah,for me and sasha is gonna be
business as normal, like I feellike we're married already, so
it's just, it's just acelebration of that.
So, um, yeah, we just gottamake sure we make time for for
(01:02:25):
us to hang out and like taylorand all of us, because those
moments are important and thesefriendships are important and
I'm happy to see that you'rehappy and and the direction your
life is going away from thenightclub because, out of
everybody now, I'm thinking ryangod, I don't know when he's
(01:02:45):
gonna be done.
Speaker 1 (01:02:48):
He's next on the worry list.
Speaker 2 (01:02:50):
Yeah, yeah.
Well, I appreciate you, man,love you brother, and I think
that following your heart andGod's path for you was not an
easy choice to do, but I thinkyou've seen it clearly and, yeah
, I think you're making theright decision, or made the
(01:03:10):
right decision.
Speaker 1 (01:03:13):
I appreciate it.
I love you too, brother, andthank you for your support, for
real Good friends are hard tofind, so when you find a boat
onto them guarantee.
Speaker 2 (01:03:21):
Well, shakas for the cameras, we're out.
Shout out to the Artist groovenetwork aloha, thank you.
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