August 12, 2024 • 41 mins
Dive into the fast-paced world of entertainment trucking with veteran driver Dino Grigoriadis. With over 20 years of experience hauling for some of the biggest names in music, Dino shares insider stories from life on the road with rock legends like Bruce Springsteen, ACDC, and Kenny Chesney. Learn about the unique challenges and rewards of concert freight, from tight schedules and high-stakes deliveries to exclusive after-parties with stars. Discover how entertainment trucking differs from traditional freight, the skills needed to succeed in this niche, and tips for maintaining work-life balance during long tours. Whether you're a trucker considering a switch to entertainment freight or simply curious about the logistics behind your favorite concerts, this episode offers a fascinating glimpse behind the curtain of the music industry's complex supply chain. Join us for an unforgettable ride through the world of concert trucking, filled with celebrity encounters, practical insights, and the unsung heroes who keep the show on the road.
Questions for Dino? Find him in the Enjoying Life OTR Facebook group.
Enjoying Life OTR—because LIVING WELL is worth the effort. We’re sparking curiosity, adventure, & resilience while honoring drivers and embracing a healthier trucking life. Discover creative life hacks & practical strategies to make the most of your time on the road. Join the movement!Explore, enjoy the food, snap the pic, and share tips on saving money along the way.
This podcast is for new and veteran drivers looking to stay mentally, physically, and financially strong while embracing the freedom of the road. We bring you real stories, expert advice, & practical tools to help you thrive, not just survive, in the trucking life.
Connect with Us: Join the Enjoying Life OTR Facebook Group – Share your journey, find trip recommendations, & connect with fellow drivers. Follow our Facebook page – Get the latest podcast episodes, trucking tips, & entertaining content. Visit our website – Explore our journey, see community highlights, and access resources for a healthier, more balanced OTR life.
For questions or to be a guest, email our host, Cindy Tunstall at EnjoyingLifeOTR@gmail.com #HealthierTruckers #EnjoyingLifeOTR #TruckerWellness #OTRLife #WorkLifeBalance
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ever wondered what it's like to haul equipment for
the biggest names in music?
Well, today we're going behindthe scenes of the entertainment
trucking world with DinoGregoriatis.
He's a veteran concert haulerwith over 20 years of experience
From touring with rock legendslike Bruce Springsteen, acdc,
kenny Chesney to hauling comedyshows and Broadway productions.
(00:22):
Dino shares the thrills, thechallenges and the insider
secrets of this unique truckingniche.
He tells about meeting AliceCooper and after parties with
stars like Kelly Clarkson andChris Martin from Coldplay at
the exclusive after partytouring events.
Whether you're curious aboutbreaking into the entertainment
freight or just want to hearsome wild stories from life on
(00:45):
tour with the stars, stay tunedfor a fascinating peek into the
fast-paced world of concerttrucking.
Enjoy in Life OTR conversationsthat inspire curiosity,
adventure and resilience.
We're honoring drivers andsharing their adventures and
becoming healthier truckers.
We're honoring drivers andsharing their adventures and
(01:07):
becoming healthier truckers.
Stay tuned to discover creativelife hacks and practical
strategies for enhancing ourwell-being and making the most
of our time on the road.
So many exciting things arehappening in our community and
we are grateful that you are apart of it.
Welcome to Enjoying Life OTR.
Welcome to the show, dino.
Oh, thank you for having me.
(01:27):
Well, so our audience can getto know you, why don't you tell
us a little bit about what typeof freight you're running, what
type of rig, and you know kindof where you're running, and so
they could have a little ideaabout your background?
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Oh yeah, for sure.
I run Entertainment Freight,basically a concert hauler.
We do some Broadway shows,comedians, stuff like that.
I've been doing this for closeto 20 years now.
We run all over all 48, allCanada, sometimes a little bit
more.
You know, like they'll put uson a ferry going to New Finland
or to Victoria Island, stufflike that.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
So fun.
I can't wait to learn moreabout this.
So do you ever get to meet thestars of the freight that you're
running?
I'm one of the big names.
Do you ever have opportunity?
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Awesome, for sure, for sure, we're actually part of
the crew once you, because youdon't do just one or two shows,
you basically go on tour.
So you become part of the crew,you get your credentials, stuff
like that, and you justbasically work backstage.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Awesome, I love that.
So tell us a little bit aboutsome of the people that you've
been able to meet in your lineof work, any stories that you
want to share with the audience.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Oh yeah, I've worked with Kenny Chesney in the past.
I've worked with ACDC.
That one was kind of a shortone, I didn't really get to meet
those guys.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Probably one of my favorites is working with Alice
Cooper Really nice guy, awesome,very, very mellow, backstage
Good group to work with.
And have you had any experiencewhere that, when you've met the
you know the, I guess the star,I guess you would call it that
where you were, their impressionof you and what you thought of
them prior to meeting them wasdrastically changed after the
meeting.
Any stories like that you wantto share?
I?
Speaker 2 (03:07):
have impressions of anybody, um, but I.
They formed their impressionsthe way they acted around
because for the most part the uhartists are are very good with
the crew.
They know that without the crewthey they've pretty much got a
crappy show.
You know so.
But there are some artists andI'm not going to name which ones
(03:27):
but they act like like totaldivas, Like dude, here's a
Snickers bar Relax.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
What's your?
You've been doing this kind offreight for a long time.
What's the appeal for you?
Tell me about the life and youknow this type of work.
What?
What's the attraction for you?
And like, tell us a little bitabout, like, the pace of the
work that you do compared tolike a you know drive-in driver
who's you know bumping docks allthe time.
Tell us a little bit about thework.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Sure, it's kind of more laid back in a way, but
it's a lot harder at the drives,harder at the drives in certain
assets.
I mean it's because it's morelaid back, because we don't do
as much mileage as as freighthaulers.
We don't sit at the uh,distribution centers, stuff like
that, but we spend a whole lotmore time on the road compared
(04:17):
to a freight hauler, forinstance.
Okay, uh, freight haulersusually go what?
At three, four, six weeks, twomonths.
I'm on the road all year long.
I go home once, maybe twice ayear if I'm lucky, and I go home
for about three or four weeksand then I go back out.
Um, the drives are very timesensitive.
For instance, I could have ashow it's say new york, and then
(04:40):
I'll have to do an overnight tophilly, which is nothing.
But then the next show it'll bean overnight to say South
Carolina or Georgia.
So now you've got to reallyhaul ass through the night to
make the show.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Yeah, have you ever had problems like you've had a
problem with your truck?
You get a flat tire orsomething like that.
What happens in a situationlike that when you've had a
problem with the truck?
I mean, I'm sure you've runinto that some over the years.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
We have.
We've had trucks that havegotten involved in accidents,
breakdowns, you know, majorbreakdowns, stuff like that.
Basically we'll call a roadservice truck out.
You know TA loves whoever.
If they can make it get thetruck going, that's fine.
If not, they get a tow truck.
The trucks that do continue onto the venue.
(05:28):
We don't all travel at once.
For this reason One, it's asecurity issue because if they
see a convoy they know it's ashow.
Two, if the first one thatloads leaves right away, they
can haul us to the next venue,leaves right away, they can haul
us to the next venue.
And if we have enough time hecan drop a trailer at the venue,
(05:49):
backtrack, rescue a trailer sothe show could go on.
I see, and then that gives thedriver who had the breakdown or
the accident enough time toeither get another truck or get
it repaired and get to the venue, or even buy us some time to
find a power only unit to atleast do one or two of the shows
till our truck gets back on.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
So talk to me about, you know, spending so much time
away from your family.
I mean, you're married, Is thatright?
You have a oh yeah, yeah, 26years.
Okay, awesome, I love that.
Okay, so tell me how.
Could you tell us a little bitabout how you're maintaining
your relationship with so muchtime away I mean, because even
for drivers that are gone threeweeks at a time I mean you know,
a shorter amount of time that'sstill a challenge for them and
(06:30):
then staying reconnected.
Do you have any strategies orthings that you guys have worked
out over the years that mighthelp a driver that's kind of
struggling with theirrelationship because of the
amount of time on the road?
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Yeah, buy her a pony, no, seriously, we have a farm.
She stays extremely busy withthe farm and this job allowed me
to do my part, alongside herjob, to help her build what she
wants to do, and that's trainhorses.
And she does other things too,but no, seriously, we do a lot
(07:05):
of video calling.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
That helps a lot.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
I'm fortunate enough that when I go to a venue, say
we do a show for three shows inone city, I'm down for three
days, I can fly her to me.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
And spend some time.
Yeah, I like that.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
We don't get to do it too often, but you know, we do
have the opportunity.
But I think the last full yearI did was in 2018, when I was uh
with upstaging.
At the time, who was the uh?
Who's the big dog in the showhauling industry?
Um, I left the house April 5thhouse April 5th 2018.
(07:43):
I'm sorry, april 1st 2018.
And I didn't pull my drivewayuntil April 5th 2019.
And in that whole 370 days orwhatever it was, I only saw my
wife a total of 19 and a halfhours because she came to Tampa
to one of the shows and I got tospend the day with her.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Wow, wow, I just didn't think about that.
And what about kids?
Do you have children or no?
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Uh, our kids are grown and gone.
She, she has uh three kids fromprevious marriage.
Okay, and basically I'm, youknow they're my stepkids, but I
love them nonetheless.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Right, okay, tell me about the schedule for yourself
personally.
If you have that three days,could you leave your truck and
then you leave the city, or youhave to stay with your rig that
whole time.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
I don't have to stay with the rig, but I can't leave
the city, basically.
So they'll park us up at thevenue, whatever venue we're at,
and then we can do whatever wewant.
We can go sightseeing, we canrent a car, drive around for a
while, not really go too too far, because we have to be within
you know, an hour, I guess anhour or two, to get back to the
(08:53):
venue.
If something happens, and I gotto go move a truck, for
instance, so have you been ableto do much sightseeing on the
road?
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Do you take advantage of that downtime Like, what's
the schedule like?
Is, like you said, occasionallythere'll be a long several days
where you're at a city.
How, what's the pace like?
Do you get to do muchsightseeing?
Speaker 2 (09:11):
depends on the tour I'm on.
If I am on, uh say, a stadiumshow, then chances are yeah,
because those trucks that dostadium shows are usually there
two, three, four days.
Um, when you do a short, like asmall tour, that's only two or
three, four days.
When you do a short, like asmall tour, that's only two or
three.
Trucks that does theaters orsmall arenas or amphitheaters,
(09:32):
not so much, because we'reusually going from city to city
every day, so there's not a lotof time, unless there's
something very close by and wecan catch, you know, get a
couple of hours before we go tosleep, for instance, because we
will unload about seven or eighto'clock, depending on the venue
, uh, depending on the crew andthe union, the local unions.
(09:52):
Yeah, um, I usually.
We usually go to sleep at aboutum two or three o'clock and
then wake up at about 10 to getthe trucks ready for the next
drive.
So if we have that little bitof time between you know, once
we load out, loan in, and beforewe go to sleep, yeah, some of
us may break away for a littlebit, do a museum or, you know,
(10:15):
go somewhere nice to eat andjust relax a little bit, walk
around town, check out thesights.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
And so you're running with the same crew usually.
So you guys have relationship,I guess, with other drivers that
are running that tour with you.
Do you see, like all hopping toUber together and go out to?
Speaker 2 (10:28):
dinner or something.
Yeah, either that, or we mayeven just all pile into one
truck and bobtail PC.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Have you been able to do something fun, like what's
one of the fun things you'vebeen able to do outside the
truck, and I like to talk abouttrucking adventures.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Oh God, we've done hockey games, we've done comedy
shows.
Um, we, actually we did a show.
Uh, about two years ago I was,with a third eye, blind and we
were in Austin at the racetrack,and next door to the racetrack
is a formula one go-kart trackand the band wanted to go, so I
(11:06):
got to actually bump fenderswith the band.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
So fun yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Of course they tell you know the crew and production
manager like you got to letthem win.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
You're an advantage, a professional driver.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Yeah right, oh man, I guess I'll come in second, all
right totally could have takenthat taking him out I had my
chances, but so fun.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
I would love to do that.
That sounds so great.
What else?
What else you've been able todo while you're out there?
You've been driving a long time.
You got a lot of time on yourhands when you're out on the
road, yeah I've done.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
I've done the drive the the tour thing for about 18,
19 years, Like I said, almost20.
But I've had my CDL for 34.
I got it when I was 18, when Ilived in New York and I was
going to be interstate.
But three months before my 18thbirthday was when the law
(12:04):
changed from a chauffeur'slicense to CDL and it pushed the
interstate back to 21.
So I went from three months tothree years, but I was still
able to get it and drive locally.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Third generation guy my father, my grandfather in
Europe, my brother drives inentertainment.
He's, he's right now he'stouring with Def Leppard.
How fun.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Yeah, okay, dino, everybody's going to be
wondering you know what's beenyour favorite show you've run
and one of your best experienceyou've had out there doing the
entertainment haul.
You got a good story to sharewith us.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Probably one of my favorite, most favorite ones,
and this was great because thisartist was on my bucket list and
I got to work with him lastyear.
It was, uh, bruce Frankstein,the boss we had a couple we had
a couple of venues where he gotill and we had to postpone the
dates.
Uh, three of them in a row, andin those three days, um, I was.
(13:01):
You know, I follow them.
There's a page called springnuts.
It's run by a he's a goodfriend, now a Howie, and they've
got hundreds of people in there.
I don't I really don't evenknow the exact how many numbers,
but it's probably the biggestfan club in the world for for
Bruce.
Anyways, I got invited to go ontheir show by my I mean on
their page by my brother fromanother mother, and I just
(13:25):
started following him.
Well, when those three dayscame about where he got ill and
we didn't have the shows, westill went to each venue just in
case he felt better to do theshow.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Well, the last one that got postponed was Albany
and our next one wasPhiladelphia.
So now I'm following the pageon Philadelphia and everybody's
asking are we still a go forPhilly?
Are we doing this?
Has anybody seen anything?
Blah, blah, blah.
And they're all.
At one point there were peoplestarting to make claims that
were not true.
You know like one guy says oh,I seen the trucks are there and
(13:57):
they've already set up.
Blah, blah, blah.
And I'm like, well, that'sfunny, because I'm still on a
New York state thruway and I'mstill on a New York State
thruway and I'm actuallycarrying the stage on my truck.
So I get there.
The show was, I believe it was aFriday.
We had Thursday off.
We were going to go in earlyThursday, but we were able to
(14:20):
park the trucks late Wednesdaynight, which is what I did.
So one guy I can't remember whoit was was like yeah, yeah, the
trucks are there.
I verified them.
I said, really, really, show mea picture of the truck that you
saw.
And he sends me a picture rightaway.
And I knew he was in the areabecause that picture was taken
right at that moment.
I I could tell by the way thethe light was, you know the, the
sunlight, the moonlight,whatever you want to call it.
Yeah, um, and he says thesetrucks here.
(14:41):
And I said, dude, I hate toburst your bubble, but those
trucks are mobile studios forhockey night because it was NHL
season.
And he goes no, no, I have iton good authority that that
these are Bruce's trucks andthat the stage is already set up
.
Well, and then I'm like, okay,now I'm going to get stupid, I'm
going to burst your bubble.
I said, look, I have it ongreat authority that the trucks
(15:04):
are not there yet, because Idrive the stage truck and
nothing gets set up without astage.
So it was basically a mic dropmoment.
After that, when I left, I gotsarcastic when we were loading
out of Philadelphia.
I get on, you know live onFacebook, and I go hey guys,
look, just checking in with youso you guys don't get false
(15:25):
information.
We're leaving Philadelphia nowand we're heading to State
College, pennsylvania, wherePenn State is.
I will let you guys know whenwe get there.
So by the time in thatovernight drive, by the time I
got there in the morning like 4in the morning, I think it was 5
in the morning my Facebook hadblown up and people were where's
(15:50):
Dino?
I don't see.
I see trucks but I don't knowwhich one's Dino, and going on
and on and I'm like, oh my God,what the heck did I just start?
So I started getting this 15minutes of fame where people
were walking up to the fence inthe area to security, and
security's like look, we can'tlet you in, the artist is there.
We're like we don't care aboutthe artist, we want to know
(16:10):
where Dino's at.
I'm like, oh god, other truckdrivers like, hey, dino man, you
want to come to the fence,people are looking for you.
So I get to New York for theshow there in Brooklyn and Howie
lives in New York, you know totheir little get-together before
and I was actually made anhonorary spring nut.
(16:32):
So for for the last month,month and a half of the tour, it
was a lot of fun.
Every city I went to was wasgreat.
You know, like they were allwanting to come hang with me.
And before the show and I'mlike, okay, I'm not gonna get no
sleep.
It's a good thing.
I have a day off after everyshow, basically, so I can just
pull out and sleep somewhere.
But there was one instance withthis group that I was in
(16:54):
Cleveland.
No, I'm sorry, detroit.
I was in Detroit.
I'm having dinner with one ofthe people from the group and
I'm upstairs on the second floorsitting up against the window
of the restaurant.
People came in off the streetand were like are you Dina?
I'm like, yeah, like we saw youfrom down in the street, we
just had to come meet you.
I'm like are you Dino?
I'm like yeah, we saw you fromdown in the street, we just had
to come meet you.
I'm like, oh God, that's so fun.
(17:16):
There was actually a hashtaggoing around.
I don't know how real thehashtag was, but someone
screenshotted it and sent it tome through Facebook and it says
hashtag put Dino on stage withthe boss.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
I love it, that's so fun.
So, Hashtag, put Dino on stagewith the boss.
I love it.
That's so fun.
So when you're out on a tour,does the artist, like you didn't
tell?
You haven't told us what thetour you're running now, but
typically are you not you know?
Are you discreet about whoyou're running and where you're
running and the schedule?
Because of the fan following?
Speaker 2 (17:48):
No, really, I post on my personal Facebook where I'm
at and those who are my friendsknow where I'm at.
I don't make it really knownbecause production actually they
don't line up to a certaindegree.
So basically, if you can see itfrom outside, it's fair game.
I cannot disclose anyinformation.
(18:09):
I cannot disclose any interiorpictures, stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
If I step outside of the venue and I'm hanging with
people and they're like, hey,you know how's the show going,
I'm like, oh, it's going great.
But you know I can, I can talkanything else, but I can't get
too involved while the tour isgoing on.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Yeah, well, it's so fun.
I love hearing about the lifethat you're living out there.
It's so great.
I love that story.
Old, you know, I'm only I'll be52 in.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
December.
But I'm getting to an age whereI'm thinking now like you know
(18:57):
how much time do I got left.
You know I want to be able todo stuff with my wife, while my
body can still handle it.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Yeah, we talk a lot about health and wellness on the
show, so are you experiencinghealth challenges, or how are
you?
How are you taking care ofyourself out there with that
schedule?
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Well, we stay active with the loading and unloading.
We do a lot of walking.
Some guys go out on bike rides.
If we have time, we'll Uber orBob Dale to a gym.
I have a membership with PlanetFitness, yeah, you know, and
not only for the gym part,because sometimes we may get
into such a hectic schedule thatwe may not grab a shower for
(19:34):
two or three days, as bad as wewant one, you know.
So if I have time on a drive,I'll pull into a planet fitness
and do like 10 minutes on atreadmill.
Go grab a shower.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
Yeah, yeah, a lot of drivers do that.
I think it's a great hackactually for OTR drivers.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
Yeah, yeah, a lot of drivers do that.
I think it's a great hackactually for OTR drivers.
Yeah, for $20 or $25 a month,it's so worth it.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Yeah, I think so too.
And what about cooking on thetruck?
You cook on your truck, youhave a fridge and you're just
doing.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
When the crew's working inside the venue, we
actually have catering.
So, meals are supplied.
Nice Outside of that.
Yeah, we have a microwave.
Some of us have barbecue grillsstrapped to the catwalk, Others
have electric frying pans.
You know, in the truck we, youknow, we have a small fridge.
All our trucks have a smallfridge with a little bit of a
(20:24):
freezer.
So we'll put a couple of steaks, you know, some frozen
vegetables, stuff like that, inthere.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Yeah.
So if somebody wanted to getinto entertainment hauling, I
mean I hear it's a really toughmarket to get into for a driver.
So is there any tips or tricksfor somebody that wants to get
into that kind of freighthauling?
Speaker 2 (20:47):
It is.
It's easier for anowner-operator to get in because
there are brokers that dealwith tours.
But if you're a company guy andyou want to get into it, it
depends on the company.
Some of them will hire you withone year experience or a year
and a half.
Those are the smallermom-and-pop operations that
basically pick up the scraps ofthe tour world.
(21:08):
But then you got more reputablecompanies apps of the tour
world, um.
But then you got, you know morereputable companies, um like uh
, there's 46 logistics, there'sSET, there's source seven,
there's truck and roll out ofCanada, um stage door out of
Canada.
You've got stage call out ofArizona, uh, upstaging out of
Illinois.
Uh, taylor transportation outof Tennessee.
(21:30):
Uh, we based out ofPennsylvania, where I'm at now.
But the more reputable, thebigger the company, the more
experience they want.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
And typically how much experience.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Usually, if you have at least three years 300,000
miles, they'll entertain yourapplication.
I mean they will and we arehurting for drivers out there.
I mean, if I had to put apercentage on it, I'd probably
say about 30% of the trucks thatare on tour are owner-operators
, that are broker trucks, okay.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
I would think there's like to me that kind of freight
, like I've done a little bit ofum, you know that type of
freight myself and I I like youlike describe it as it's much
more casual, laid back thescheduling, and obviously it's
tight, a little bit pressure onthe deadlines, for sure being
there on time and makingappointments.
So definitely some pressurethere.
But the actual loading andloading and then the crew that
(22:29):
you work, work with, it's just awhole different vibe.
It feels so much more laid back.
Everybody seems to like reallyenjoy what they're doing.
You know they've chosen thistype of work versus like being
on docks and some people aregrumbling and they're all kind
of can be shitty to each otherand you know just like you could
tell they're just hating lifeout there.
I'm like go do a different job,dude, you know.
But for freighting I find thatit's my most enjoyable type of
(22:53):
work that I've run and for thatreason like people seem to just
be having fun and you knowthere's a camaraderie that I
don't know just makes it verypleasant to me.
But I can see the challenge forthat.
I mean I would enjoy that.
But being on the road like allthe time.
That could be a challenging,you know, for most people, like
(23:13):
if you have family back home,you have to have a special type
of driver that can, you know,run that long.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
And it is.
It's not a knock on theeveryday guys, because without
those guys, you know, thiscountry would stop.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
Right.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
We've used our experience, We've paid our dues
to get where we are.
It used to be.
You know, five years, 500,000miles to get in when I got in,
but it's, it's, it's slayed backas far as you know the mileage
that you put in.
I mean, don't get me wrong,there's weeks that we, we will
pump some miles out right youknow, next week I'm putting in
(23:51):
some serious miles because we'redoing ohio to california in
three days.
Okay, wow, so that's that'squite a push, yeah, but yes,
it's, it's laid back as that'sas far, as far as that sense.
But the actual work that we do,like the loading, and we don't
(24:12):
put our hands on the freight,the local union guys do that.
All we do is break straps andmove load bars, okay, but the
whole process is very fast paced, it's very high paced.
Um, the lead driver, which isthe uh, the senior guy, one
that's been assigned by thecompany to be the go-to guy
between the drivers andproduction, he will back every
(24:35):
truck in.
Basically, he's on a handheldradio.
He will get you in and out ofevery building and it doesn't
matter what you think, what yousee, you can close your eyes,
trust your lead driver.
He'll get you in the dockblindfolded.
That's how intricate loadingand unloading and getting in and
out of the venues are, um.
So, yeah, it is very, very uh,fast-paced, but laid back, uh.
(24:59):
The other thing is it's adifferent beast, um, a lot of
the drivers that come that wantto get into it don't realize
what it takes to be a rock androll driver, if you want to call
it that.
So we't realize what it takesto be a rock and roll driver, if
you want to call it that.
So we have guys that come fromother companies and they're like
okay, when do I go home?
We're like, what's that dude?
You don't see your house tillthe end of the year.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
You know, our season usually starts March, april, you
know.
So we get to go home forJanuary, february.
Some guys you know get to gohome for December.
We take a month or two or eventhree months off, but when we
hit the road, that's it.
You're on the road.
I started May 2nd with thiscompany.
I moved over I'd actuallyretired, tried to get out of it
(25:43):
and I was home for a year andI'm like, yeah, I got to go back
.
Local freight wasn't payinganything and this job affords
you a lifestyle that now you gotthe upkeep on and that is, I've
got five acres, I've got thehouse, I've got the farm for my
wife and you know, just a localjob just wasn't keeping up with
(26:04):
it.
So I came back out after abouta year.
So I flew out May 2nd and theytell me, hey, just don't, just
don't worry about going homeuntil at least end of the year
or beginning of January.
Fall tours, then we gotChristmas shows and they go back
to back to back to back.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
So tell me about your life personally, like how
you're managing work-lifebalance when you're out that
long, like you obviously have arhythm out there for you
yourself personally as a youknow, as an employee, you know.
Then you have your downtime.
What's, how are you managingthat, um, that work-life balance
when you're, you know, gone forso long?
Any tips or strategies thathave you've discovered over the
(26:47):
years that are working reallywell for you that might help a
driver that's kind of strugglingto find some sanity outside of
the work.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
Yeah, when I go home after such a long stretch, I'll
go home, I'll relax for two,three, four days, then I'll
start piddling around the farmtrying to fix some fences, you
know whatever else needs tendingto After about two or three
weeks.
Tending to after about two orthree weeks.
Then I I called my old localjob, which is, uh, I'm out of
(27:20):
Brooksville, florida.
So I work for a company calledlasso record service and I drive
one of their heavy haul trucksor one of their heavy records.
When I'm home, um, but I'll, Iwon't go full time, I'll be like
, hey man, I'm home for thisstretch.
I can fill in one or two days aweek.
If somebody wants to take a dayoff and I'll throw that in
there, just because I don't liketo sit for too long.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
Right.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
You know.
So I'll do that, I'll find ahobby, I'll drive down and go
see my mom.
There's always, when you're onthe road, that long you go home
for two months.
It's never enough, becausethere was always a list that you
got to take care of.
Speaker 1 (27:59):
Well, what about the times when you're out, though?
I mean, how are you?
You know what's your personallife outside of work, you know
when you're on the road for ayear.
So I mean, how are you managingyour downtime?
And you know, know what's itlike?
What are your hobbies?
Like what are you doing to fillyour downtime when you're out
on the road, when you're on along trip?
So, like, what's that?
Speaker 2 (28:17):
rhythm, like, personally, I do a little bit of
photography, but basically withmy, with my phone I'll go get
some weird shots or stuff likethat.
Um, I do have a drone that I dolike to do some aerial
photography with it.
Other guys like to just go tothe gym and work out.
Some guys even carry a totewith all their equipment in the
(28:41):
trail and then just work out allday long.
Other guys don't do anythingand just want to sit in a truck
and watch TV all day or playvideo games or just take a walk
around town, do some, you know,like I said, go to a museum or
something.
That's their hobby.
But you know we don't have thatmuch time.
You know, really to saydedicate to a hobby full time.
(29:04):
It's basically just fillingyour time gaps.
You know there's guys that doplastic models.
There's guys that do remotecontrol.
You know, like cars,helicopters, planes, stuff like
that.
I mean, I looked into one guy'struck from the ground.
I looked through his windshieldand he had a uh, a remote
control airplane that had like afour foot wingspan sitting in
the top bunk.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
And I'm like wow, you actually got time to do that.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
Good for you.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
I know right how does that?
work.
I like to keep myself busybecause I used to be a lead
driver myself.
So when you do the position oflead work you basically don't
have a lot of time to yourselfBecause you're up for the whole
time when you're dealing withall the trucks.
Once the trucks are all set,then you got to go into
(29:52):
production, make sureeverything's good, and the lead
driver probably doesn't get toslow down until about noon when
everybody else can be done by 10or 11.
But then you might have thebigger tours that take all day
to unload.
But it's funny because theycould take, say, six hours to
unload it up but they couldbreak that show down and stuff
(30:13):
it back in the trucks in twohours.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
Wow, that's crazy pace yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
Like for us.
Yesterday we were at a festivalin Wisconsin.
Right now I'm running withShinedown and I think they
unloaded and set the stage up inthree hours.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
That's incredible Really.
How many, how many trucks areusually running a tour with you.
I guess it would just depend onthe show, I mean, but typically
like are you with the samepeople like all the time, or?
Speaker 2 (30:44):
No, no, no, I've.
I mean I do run with some ofthe guys you know different
times, but it's not consistentbecause they may have I may go
from, say, a 10 truck tour to atwo truck tour.
So now you got to split theguys up.
They go on that tour, but thosetours that are later may not
(31:04):
all finish at the same time, soyou may not be able to reconnect
at another tour.
So it may take a year or twobefore you reconnect with some
of the drivers you've alreadyrun with.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
And then how much time between tours, like do you
get to pick a tour that you'regoing to go on, or how does that
work being a company driver?
Speaker 2 (31:20):
We definitely do not pick tours.
It's assigned to us.
They don't even tell us tillthe last minute because in the
past there have been drivers.
I mean they talk about you know, hey, I'm going on this tour
and then you'll have driversthat will call the office Well,
why does he get to go on thistour and not me?
So the companies have nowpretty much said, all right,
well, you'll know when you'reready to hit the road, or when
(31:42):
you finish this tour and you doyour returns returning equipment
to the stage company orlighting company or audio
company then we'll let you knowwhat you're doing next.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
And I've had times where I've gone unloaded one day
and the next day I'm picking upfor the next door, oh wow.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
But then there's been times where I'll have a week
off but they want to stage meclose by, in case I got to go in
early to pick equipment, forinstance.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
And then how do they pay on that, since you have
downtime?
I mean, obviously you're notpaid by the miles, I would guess
.
So how like are you a salaryposition?
Speaker 2 (32:18):
Yeah, it's a daily pay, um, you get a certain
amount, depending on yourexperience.
You get a certain amount perday.
You also get a per diem, uh,for your food stuff, like that.
Um, on nights that the crewgets hotels, uh, the drivers get
what's called a hotel buyout,so you'll get, depending on the
company, $50 for that night or$75 for that night, and it'll
(32:42):
add to your check at the end ofthe week or every two weeks.
Whenever each company pays,everybody's different.
So, for instance, they may payand this is only an example.
They may pay you, and this isonly an example.
They may pay.
You, say, 200 a day.
Now you're getting another 50for per diem, so you're up to
250.
And now you get another 50 forhotel buyers, so now you're up
to $300 a day.
Speaker 1 (33:03):
I see.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
And that's whether you drive a hundred miles or
3000 miles.
You get your.
That's a.
You can bank on that amountjust about every week, give or
take a few bucks because of thehotel, buyouts are set up.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
I see Wow.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
But your base salary, that initial, you know, and
like I said, it's not set instone, but that initial 200 or
250, whatever the company startsyou at, that's a guarantee
every day.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
And then what makes it change?
Like what would be like when itwould vary, like you always get
the hotel buyout option, so youknow that going in, that you're
going to, you know potentiallybe making $300 a day.
Like how, what?
What's the fluctuation?
Speaker 2 (33:47):
Well, some companies will pay you a hotel buyout on
the days that the crew gets thehotel.
Okay, some companies will payless of a buyout, but they'll
pay you straight through, fromthe first show to the last show.
You know, it all depends on howthe company writes up their
contracts for each tour.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
Wow.
So I'm fortunate enough to workfor a really good guy.
The company's called Ego Trips.
Nick Weathers is the owner,really great guy and, like I
said, I'm fortunate to work forhim takes care of us.
Equipment is kept very well,you know, because there's
companies out there that doshows that don't have great
(34:28):
equipment.
Those are the ones that yougotta worry about on tour that
break down because the owner,operators and the smaller
companies those are the onesthey worry, because if your
truck causes a show to either bedelayed like postponed to
another date, or canceled, youjust bought every ticket in the
house.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
Oh, wow, yeah.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
So if you get put on a tour let's say a stadium tour
okay, and this is we kind ofwere playing with the numbers
when I was with Chesney If oneof the trucks, if one of the
shows got canceled at a stadiumand let's just use MetLife
Stadium in New Jersey where theGiants play, okay, if a show
there gets canceled.
You're talking 50,000 to 60,000seats, all right.
(35:15):
For us it was 53,000 or 54,000.
The average ticket price was alittle over $300.
And that's from the nosebleedall the way down you know
average a little over $300.
You're talking $17 million inticket sales for that one show.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
Wow, that's crazy.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
So you better have a hell of an insurance plan yeah
or a backup plan.
You know someone else thatcould get to your your trailer
yeah, yeah or do what you got todo to fix it today.
I mean, there's times that youknow where we pay a higher price
for repairs, but they,basically they will bump your
(35:56):
truck to the front of the line.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
Right, well, and how are you doing your regular
maintenance on your trucks whenyou guys are running that kind
of schedule?
How is that working?
Speaker 2 (36:05):
Day off.
Yeah, I mean, if we get a dayoff, you know, you know we may
not get the oil change right at10,000 miles or 15,000 miles,
whatever the interval thecompany sets at thousand miles,
or fifteen thousand miles,whatever the interval the
company sets at.
But like we'll pull, like if wegot two days to get somewhere,
we'll stop at a ta.
I'll do my 10 hour at a ta orthe loves, and I'll just say all
right, here you go, put me inline, I drop the trailer, I'm
(36:29):
parked next to the building,just tell me when to pull in and
I'll just creep it in.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
Let them do their thing yeah, yeah, I was thinking
about that too.
It's like's like because of thepace that you're running, with
the work, it's like you'rereally not having a lot of
downtime.
I mean because you're going tohave to take care of the truck
in there as well, I mean, whichis true for everybody, but more
so with the pace that you'rerunning.
So it's good.
Anything else you want to sharewith our audience, any fun
(36:54):
stories that you've had,experiences out there that you
want to share with the audiencebefore we wrap up, no, we do
have a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
I mean, I can't really pinpoint.
I got to think about that onefor a minute, but we do have a
lot, a lot of cool things thatwe do.
A lot of the tours will, one ortwo nights before the end of
the tour, they will say hey, man, we're going to this, we rented
(37:20):
this venue, for instance, or arestaurant or whatever.
Everybody's going to be, thewhole crew get there, the artist
will get there, you know, andmost of the times the artist is
there.
I've been to crew parties andthe tour crew parties.
Where you know, when I was withKelly Clarkson, she showed up,
was dancing along with everybody, so fun crew parties.
(37:43):
Uh, where you know, when I waswith kelly clarkson, she showed
up, was dancing along witheverybody, so fun.
Um, I just I just finished atour with uh with a comedian I
can't say who just yet becausehe's still out on tour, but he
was there, you know.
Um, I've been to a party at thehouse of blues in chicago.
When I finished, uh, I wasgetting close to finishing with
uh coldplay.
So chris martin came there atthe time.
He was married to GwynethPaltrow, so you do get to rub
elbows here and there, but youalso have a lot of fun on tour.
(38:06):
You know practical jokes.
You know pranking other.
Speaker 1 (38:09):
You know everybody on tour you got to when you're on
the road that long it becomes afamily.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
You got to do something to to keep it going
and it's a hell of a camaraderie.
I mean, I've tried to leave theindustry a couple of times just
to go home and not driveanymore, and it's other than the
pay.
The camaraderie is the onething I miss the most.
That gets me back.
Speaker 1 (38:31):
Yeah, I love that.
Tell me about some of thebranks you've seen pulled out,
some of the what I'm sorry, thepranks.
Tell me about some of thepranks you've seen pulled down
the road, some of the what I'msorry, the pranks.
Tell me about some of thepranks.
Speaker 2 (38:40):
Oh God, we had one time where there was a venue
that had a pool and one of thosebubbly hot tubs at the end of
the pool.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
And we put dish soap in there.
It like foamed everywhere.
You know we'll sit down at arestaurant.
The driver will, you know,every once in a while we'll go
all eat together.
One guy will get up and, youknow, go to the bathroom.
I'll grab his straw and fill itwith salt and put it back in
his drink.
You know what I mean, and itgoes from one to like another.
(39:15):
We may catch a driver with us,you know, in a stupid pose, and
we'll snap that picturediscreetly.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
and then do something funny like a meme or a poster,
and then make copies and plasterit all over the venue.
Well, it sounds like you'rehaving a lot of fun out there.
Anything else you want?
Speaker 2 (39:34):
to share before we wrap up.
No, I think I'm good, but yeah,if anybody ever has any
questions, man, just contact methrough your page and I'd be
happy to answer whateverquestions.
Speaker 1 (39:46):
Yeah, Dino's in Enjoying Life, OTR, so you can
find him in the group and I'llhave you know his link on there.
Are you on social media?
Do you want to share yourInstagram or anything with the
audience how they can see whatyou're doing out there?
Speaker 2 (39:54):
I am.
I am on Instagram.
I believe my, I guess handleI'll say CB handle on Instagram
is RodiDinoG and on Facebook Ibelieve it's my full name.
So if anybody sees me on yourpage, on the OTR page, just
click the name, send me amessage because I have to talk
to you first because I sent myfriend request on private.
Speaker 1 (40:17):
Okay, that sounds good and I'll have your links in
the show notes too.
Well, thanks so much for comingon the show.
It's fascinating the work thatyou're doing.
I love getting a little insidepeek and what's going on behind
the scenes, and I'm reallygrateful for your time and
really just a pleasure talkingto you, hopefully we'll get to
have you on the show again.
Speaker 2 (40:35):
I'll look forward to it talking to you.
Hopefully we'll get to have youon the show again.
Speaker 1 (40:38):
I'll look forward to it.
Well, that wraps up ourfascinating journey into the
world of entertainment.
Trucking with Dino, we'velearned about the unique
challenges and the rewards ofhauling for concerts and shows,
and the importance ofcamaraderie while on the road,
and how to balance our demandingcareers with our personal life.
Remember, whether you'rehauling stage equipment or
consumer goods, it's crucial tofind ways to stay connected to
(40:59):
our loved ones and to maintainwork-life balance Well, as much
as we can.
Speaking of which tune in nextweek, so we dive into the
important topic of maintaininghealthier intimacy with our
partners, even when we'respending so much time over the
road.
So subscribe to our show,because you're not going to want
to miss that episode.
It's a great show.
You're going to love it.
So if you're enjoying thisepisode and you want to connect
(41:22):
with other drivers like Dina, weinvite you to join our Facebook
group, enjoying Life OTR, aswell as our Healthier Truckers
Facebook group.
Both communities are greatplaces to share experiences, get
advice and connect with fellowdrivers.
Lastly, if you found today'sepisode valuable and I hope you
did please take a moment to like, share and review our podcast.
(41:43):
Your support helps us to reachmore drivers and build a
stronger, healthier truckingcommunity.
So until next time, y'all takecare out there and by all means
enjoy the journey.
Ever wondered what it's like to haul equipment for
the biggest names in music?
Well, today we're going behindthe scenes of the entertainment
trucking world with DinoGregoriatis.
He's a veteran concert haulerwith over 20 years of experience
From touring with rock legendslike Bruce Springsteen, acdc,
kenny Chesney to hauling comedyshows and Broadway productions.
(00:22):
Dino shares the thrills, thechallenges and the insider
secrets of this unique truckingniche.
He tells about meeting AliceCooper and after parties with
stars like Kelly Clarkson andChris Martin from Coldplay at
the exclusive after partytouring events.
Whether you're curious aboutbreaking into the entertainment
freight or just want to hearsome wild stories from life on
(00:45):
tour with the stars, stay tunedfor a fascinating peek into the
fast-paced world of concerttrucking.
Enjoy in Life OTR conversationsthat inspire curiosity,
adventure and resilience.
We're honoring drivers andsharing their adventures and
becoming healthier truckers.
We're honoring drivers andsharing their adventures and
(01:07):
becoming healthier truckers.
Stay tuned to discover creativelife hacks and practical
strategies for enhancing ourwell-being and making the most
of our time on the road.
So many exciting things arehappening in our community and
we are grateful that you are apart of it.
Welcome to Enjoying Life OTR.
Welcome to the show, dino.
Oh, thank you for having me.
(01:27):
Well, so our audience can getto know you, why don't you tell
us a little bit about what typeof freight you're running, what
type of rig, and you know kindof where you're running, and so
they could have a little ideaabout your background?
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Oh yeah, for sure.
I run Entertainment Freight,basically a concert hauler.
We do some Broadway shows,comedians, stuff like that.
I've been doing this for closeto 20 years now.
We run all over all 48, allCanada, sometimes a little bit
more.
You know, like they'll put uson a ferry going to New Finland
or to Victoria Island, stufflike that.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
So fun.
I can't wait to learn moreabout this.
So do you ever get to meet thestars of the freight that you're
running?
I'm one of the big names.
Do you ever have opportunity?
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Awesome, for sure, for sure, we're actually part of
the crew once you, because youdon't do just one or two shows,
you basically go on tour.
So you become part of the crew,you get your credentials, stuff
like that, and you justbasically work backstage.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Awesome, I love that.
So tell us a little bit aboutsome of the people that you've
been able to meet in your lineof work, any stories that you
want to share with the audience.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Oh yeah, I've worked with Kenny Chesney in the past.
I've worked with ACDC.
That one was kind of a shortone, I didn't really get to meet
those guys.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Probably one of my favorites is working with Alice
Cooper Really nice guy, awesome,very, very mellow, backstage
Good group to work with.
And have you had any experiencewhere that, when you've met the
you know the, I guess the star,I guess you would call it that
where you were, their impressionof you and what you thought of
them prior to meeting them wasdrastically changed after the
meeting.
Any stories like that you wantto share?
I?
Speaker 2 (03:07):
have impressions of anybody, um, but I.
They formed their impressionsthe way they acted around
because for the most part the uhartists are are very good with
the crew.
They know that without the crewthey they've pretty much got a
crappy show.
You know so.
But there are some artists andI'm not going to name which ones
(03:27):
but they act like like totaldivas, Like dude, here's a
Snickers bar Relax.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
What's your?
You've been doing this kind offreight for a long time.
What's the appeal for you?
Tell me about the life and youknow this type of work.
What?
What's the attraction for you?
And like, tell us a little bitabout, like, the pace of the
work that you do compared tolike a you know drive-in driver
who's you know bumping docks allthe time.
Tell us a little bit about thework.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Sure, it's kind of more laid back in a way, but
it's a lot harder at the drives,harder at the drives in certain
assets.
I mean it's because it's morelaid back, because we don't do
as much mileage as as freighthaulers.
We don't sit at the uh,distribution centers, stuff like
that, but we spend a whole lotmore time on the road compared
(04:17):
to a freight hauler, forinstance.
Okay, uh, freight haulersusually go what?
At three, four, six weeks, twomonths.
I'm on the road all year long.
I go home once, maybe twice ayear if I'm lucky, and I go home
for about three or four weeksand then I go back out.
Um, the drives are very timesensitive.
For instance, I could have ashow it's say new york, and then
(04:40):
I'll have to do an overnight tophilly, which is nothing.
But then the next show it'll bean overnight to say South
Carolina or Georgia.
So now you've got to reallyhaul ass through the night to
make the show.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Yeah, have you ever had problems like you've had a
problem with your truck?
You get a flat tire orsomething like that.
What happens in a situationlike that when you've had a
problem with the truck?
I mean, I'm sure you've runinto that some over the years.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
We have.
We've had trucks that havegotten involved in accidents,
breakdowns, you know, majorbreakdowns, stuff like that.
Basically we'll call a roadservice truck out.
You know TA loves whoever.
If they can make it get thetruck going, that's fine.
If not, they get a tow truck.
The trucks that do continue onto the venue.
(05:28):
We don't all travel at once.
For this reason One, it's asecurity issue because if they
see a convoy they know it's ashow.
Two, if the first one thatloads leaves right away, they
can haul us to the next venue,leaves right away, they can haul
us to the next venue.
And if we have enough time hecan drop a trailer at the venue,
(05:49):
backtrack, rescue a trailer sothe show could go on.
I see, and then that gives thedriver who had the breakdown or
the accident enough time toeither get another truck or get
it repaired and get to the venue, or even buy us some time to
find a power only unit to atleast do one or two of the shows
till our truck gets back on.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
So talk to me about, you know, spending so much time
away from your family.
I mean, you're married, Is thatright?
You have a oh yeah, yeah, 26years.
Okay, awesome, I love that.
Okay, so tell me how.
Could you tell us a little bitabout how you're maintaining
your relationship with so muchtime away I mean, because even
for drivers that are gone threeweeks at a time I mean you know,
a shorter amount of time that'sstill a challenge for them and
(06:30):
then staying reconnected.
Do you have any strategies orthings that you guys have worked
out over the years that mighthelp a driver that's kind of
struggling with theirrelationship because of the
amount of time on the road?
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Yeah, buy her a pony, no, seriously, we have a farm.
She stays extremely busy withthe farm and this job allowed me
to do my part, alongside herjob, to help her build what she
wants to do, and that's trainhorses.
And she does other things too,but no, seriously, we do a lot
(07:05):
of video calling.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
That helps a lot.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
I'm fortunate enough that when I go to a venue, say
we do a show for three shows inone city, I'm down for three
days, I can fly her to me.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
And spend some time.
Yeah, I like that.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
We don't get to do it too often, but you know, we do
have the opportunity.
But I think the last full yearI did was in 2018, when I was uh
with upstaging.
At the time, who was the uh?
Who's the big dog in the showhauling industry?
Um, I left the house April 5thhouse April 5th 2018.
(07:43):
I'm sorry, april 1st 2018.
And I didn't pull my drivewayuntil April 5th 2019.
And in that whole 370 days orwhatever it was, I only saw my
wife a total of 19 and a halfhours because she came to Tampa
to one of the shows and I got tospend the day with her.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Wow, wow, I just didn't think about that.
And what about kids?
Do you have children or no?
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Uh, our kids are grown and gone.
She, she has uh three kids fromprevious marriage.
Okay, and basically I'm, youknow they're my stepkids, but I
love them nonetheless.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Right, okay, tell me about the schedule for yourself
personally.
If you have that three days,could you leave your truck and
then you leave the city, or youhave to stay with your rig that
whole time.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
I don't have to stay with the rig, but I can't leave
the city, basically.
So they'll park us up at thevenue, whatever venue we're at,
and then we can do whatever wewant.
We can go sightseeing, we canrent a car, drive around for a
while, not really go too too far, because we have to be within
you know, an hour, I guess anhour or two, to get back to the
(08:53):
venue.
If something happens, and I gotto go move a truck, for
instance, so have you been ableto do much sightseeing on the
road?
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Do you take advantage of that downtime Like, what's
the schedule like?
Is, like you said, occasionallythere'll be a long several days
where you're at a city.
How, what's the pace like?
Do you get to do muchsightseeing?
Speaker 2 (09:11):
depends on the tour I'm on.
If I am on, uh say, a stadiumshow, then chances are yeah,
because those trucks that dostadium shows are usually there
two, three, four days.
Um, when you do a short, like asmall tour, that's only two or
three, four days.
When you do a short, like asmall tour, that's only two or
three.
Trucks that does theaters orsmall arenas or amphitheaters,
(09:32):
not so much, because we'reusually going from city to city
every day, so there's not a lotof time, unless there's
something very close by and wecan catch, you know, get a
couple of hours before we go tosleep, for instance, because we
will unload about seven or eighto'clock, depending on the venue
, uh, depending on the crew andthe union, the local unions.
(09:52):
Yeah, um, I usually.
We usually go to sleep at aboutum two or three o'clock and
then wake up at about 10 to getthe trucks ready for the next
drive.
So if we have that little bitof time between you know, once
we load out, loan in, and beforewe go to sleep, yeah, some of
us may break away for a littlebit, do a museum or, you know,
(10:15):
go somewhere nice to eat andjust relax a little bit, walk
around town, check out thesights.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
And so you're running with the same crew usually.
So you guys have relationship,I guess, with other drivers that
are running that tour with you.
Do you see, like all hopping toUber together and go out to?
Speaker 2 (10:28):
dinner or something.
Yeah, either that, or we mayeven just all pile into one
truck and bobtail PC.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Have you been able to do something fun, like what's
one of the fun things you'vebeen able to do outside the
truck, and I like to talk abouttrucking adventures.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Oh God, we've done hockey games, we've done comedy
shows.
Um, we, actually we did a show.
Uh, about two years ago I was,with a third eye, blind and we
were in Austin at the racetrack,and next door to the racetrack
is a formula one go-kart trackand the band wanted to go, so I
(11:06):
got to actually bump fenderswith the band.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
So fun yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Of course they tell you know the crew and production
manager like you got to letthem win.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
You're an advantage, a professional driver.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Yeah right, oh man, I guess I'll come in second, all
right totally could have takenthat taking him out I had my
chances, but so fun.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
I would love to do that.
That sounds so great.
What else?
What else you've been able todo while you're out there?
You've been driving a long time.
You got a lot of time on yourhands when you're out on the
road, yeah I've done.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
I've done the drive the the tour thing for about 18,
19 years, Like I said, almost20.
But I've had my CDL for 34.
I got it when I was 18, when Ilived in New York and I was
going to be interstate.
But three months before my 18thbirthday was when the law
(12:04):
changed from a chauffeur'slicense to CDL and it pushed the
interstate back to 21.
So I went from three months tothree years, but I was still
able to get it and drive locally.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Third generation guy my father, my grandfather in
Europe, my brother drives inentertainment.
He's, he's right now he'stouring with Def Leppard.
How fun.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Yeah, okay, dino, everybody's going to be
wondering you know what's beenyour favorite show you've run
and one of your best experienceyou've had out there doing the
entertainment haul.
You got a good story to sharewith us.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Probably one of my favorite, most favorite ones,
and this was great because thisartist was on my bucket list and
I got to work with him lastyear.
It was, uh, bruce Frankstein,the boss we had a couple we had
a couple of venues where he gotill and we had to postpone the
dates.
Uh, three of them in a row, andin those three days, um, I was.
(13:01):
You know, I follow them.
There's a page called springnuts.
It's run by a he's a goodfriend, now a Howie, and they've
got hundreds of people in there.
I don't I really don't evenknow the exact how many numbers,
but it's probably the biggestfan club in the world for for
Bruce.
Anyways, I got invited to go ontheir show by my I mean on
their page by my brother fromanother mother, and I just
(13:25):
started following him.
Well, when those three dayscame about where he got ill and
we didn't have the shows, westill went to each venue just in
case he felt better to do theshow.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Well, the last one that got postponed was Albany
and our next one wasPhiladelphia.
So now I'm following the pageon Philadelphia and everybody's
asking are we still a go forPhilly?
Are we doing this?
Has anybody seen anything?
Blah, blah, blah.
And they're all.
At one point there were peoplestarting to make claims that
were not true.
You know like one guy says oh,I seen the trucks are there and
(13:57):
they've already set up.
Blah, blah, blah.
And I'm like, well, that'sfunny, because I'm still on a
New York state thruway and I'mstill on a New York State
thruway and I'm actuallycarrying the stage on my truck.
So I get there.
The show was, I believe it was aFriday.
We had Thursday off.
We were going to go in earlyThursday, but we were able to
(14:20):
park the trucks late Wednesdaynight, which is what I did.
So one guy I can't remember whoit was was like yeah, yeah, the
trucks are there.
I verified them.
I said, really, really, show mea picture of the truck that you
saw.
And he sends me a picture rightaway.
And I knew he was in the areabecause that picture was taken
right at that moment.
I I could tell by the way thethe light was, you know the, the
sunlight, the moonlight,whatever you want to call it.
Yeah, um, and he says thesetrucks here.
(14:41):
And I said, dude, I hate toburst your bubble, but those
trucks are mobile studios forhockey night because it was NHL
season.
And he goes no, no, I have iton good authority that that
these are Bruce's trucks andthat the stage is already set up
.
Well, and then I'm like, okay,now I'm going to get stupid, I'm
going to burst your bubble.
I said, look, I have it ongreat authority that the trucks
(15:04):
are not there yet, because Idrive the stage truck and
nothing gets set up without astage.
So it was basically a mic dropmoment.
After that, when I left, I gotsarcastic when we were loading
out of Philadelphia.
I get on, you know live onFacebook, and I go hey guys,
look, just checking in with youso you guys don't get false
(15:25):
information.
We're leaving Philadelphia nowand we're heading to State
College, pennsylvania, wherePenn State is.
I will let you guys know whenwe get there.
So by the time in thatovernight drive, by the time I
got there in the morning like 4in the morning, I think it was 5
in the morning my Facebook hadblown up and people were where's
(15:50):
Dino?
I don't see.
I see trucks but I don't knowwhich one's Dino, and going on
and on and I'm like, oh my God,what the heck did I just start?
So I started getting this 15minutes of fame where people
were walking up to the fence inthe area to security, and
security's like look, we can'tlet you in, the artist is there.
We're like we don't care aboutthe artist, we want to know
(16:10):
where Dino's at.
I'm like, oh god, other truckdrivers like, hey, dino man, you
want to come to the fence,people are looking for you.
So I get to New York for theshow there in Brooklyn and Howie
lives in New York, you know totheir little get-together before
and I was actually made anhonorary spring nut.
(16:32):
So for for the last month,month and a half of the tour, it
was a lot of fun.
Every city I went to was wasgreat.
You know, like they were allwanting to come hang with me.
And before the show and I'mlike, okay, I'm not gonna get no
sleep.
It's a good thing.
I have a day off after everyshow, basically, so I can just
pull out and sleep somewhere.
But there was one instance withthis group that I was in
(16:54):
Cleveland.
No, I'm sorry, detroit.
I was in Detroit.
I'm having dinner with one ofthe people from the group and
I'm upstairs on the second floorsitting up against the window
of the restaurant.
People came in off the streetand were like are you Dina?
I'm like, yeah, like we saw youfrom down in the street, we
just had to come meet you.
I'm like are you Dino?
I'm like yeah, we saw you fromdown in the street, we just had
to come meet you.
I'm like, oh God, that's so fun.
(17:16):
There was actually a hashtaggoing around.
I don't know how real thehashtag was, but someone
screenshotted it and sent it tome through Facebook and it says
hashtag put Dino on stage withthe boss.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
I love it, that's so fun.
So, Hashtag, put Dino on stagewith the boss.
I love it.
That's so fun.
So when you're out on a tour,does the artist, like you didn't
tell?
You haven't told us what thetour you're running now, but
typically are you not you know?
Are you discreet about whoyou're running and where you're
running and the schedule?
Because of the fan following?
Speaker 2 (17:48):
No, really, I post on my personal Facebook where I'm
at and those who are my friendsknow where I'm at.
I don't make it really knownbecause production actually they
don't line up to a certaindegree.
So basically, if you can see itfrom outside, it's fair game.
I cannot disclose anyinformation.
(18:09):
I cannot disclose any interiorpictures, stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
If I step outside of the venue and I'm hanging with
people and they're like, hey,you know how's the show going,
I'm like, oh, it's going great.
But you know I can, I can talkanything else, but I can't get
too involved while the tour isgoing on.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Yeah, well, it's so fun.
I love hearing about the lifethat you're living out there.
It's so great.
I love that story.
Old, you know, I'm only I'll be52 in.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
December.
But I'm getting to an age whereI'm thinking now like you know
(18:57):
how much time do I got left.
You know I want to be able todo stuff with my wife, while my
body can still handle it.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Yeah, we talk a lot about health and wellness on the
show, so are you experiencinghealth challenges, or how are
you?
How are you taking care ofyourself out there with that
schedule?
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Well, we stay active with the loading and unloading.
We do a lot of walking.
Some guys go out on bike rides.
If we have time, we'll Uber orBob Dale to a gym.
I have a membership with PlanetFitness, yeah, you know, and
not only for the gym part,because sometimes we may get
into such a hectic schedule thatwe may not grab a shower for
(19:34):
two or three days, as bad as wewant one, you know.
So if I have time on a drive,I'll pull into a planet fitness
and do like 10 minutes on atreadmill.
Go grab a shower.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
Yeah, yeah, a lot of drivers do that.
I think it's a great hackactually for OTR drivers.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
Yeah, yeah, a lot of drivers do that.
I think it's a great hackactually for OTR drivers.
Yeah, for $20 or $25 a month,it's so worth it.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Yeah, I think so too.
And what about cooking on thetruck?
You cook on your truck, youhave a fridge and you're just
doing.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
When the crew's working inside the venue, we
actually have catering.
So, meals are supplied.
Nice Outside of that.
Yeah, we have a microwave.
Some of us have barbecue grillsstrapped to the catwalk, Others
have electric frying pans.
You know, in the truck we, youknow, we have a small fridge.
All our trucks have a smallfridge with a little bit of a
(20:24):
freezer.
So we'll put a couple of steaks, you know, some frozen
vegetables, stuff like that, inthere.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Yeah.
So if somebody wanted to getinto entertainment hauling, I
mean I hear it's a really toughmarket to get into for a driver.
So is there any tips or tricksfor somebody that wants to get
into that kind of freighthauling?
Speaker 2 (20:47):
It is.
It's easier for anowner-operator to get in because
there are brokers that dealwith tours.
But if you're a company guy andyou want to get into it, it
depends on the company.
Some of them will hire you withone year experience or a year
and a half.
Those are the smallermom-and-pop operations that
basically pick up the scraps ofthe tour world.
(21:08):
But then you got more reputablecompanies apps of the tour
world, um.
But then you got, you know morereputable companies, um like uh
, there's 46 logistics, there'sSET, there's source seven,
there's truck and roll out ofCanada, um stage door out of
Canada.
You've got stage call out ofArizona, uh, upstaging out of
Illinois.
Uh, taylor transportation outof Tennessee.
(21:30):
Uh, we based out ofPennsylvania, where I'm at now.
But the more reputable, thebigger the company, the more
experience they want.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
And typically how much experience.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Usually, if you have at least three years 300,000
miles, they'll entertain yourapplication.
I mean they will and we arehurting for drivers out there.
I mean, if I had to put apercentage on it, I'd probably
say about 30% of the trucks thatare on tour are owner-operators
, that are broker trucks, okay.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
I would think there's like to me that kind of freight
, like I've done a little bit ofum, you know that type of
freight myself and I I like youlike describe it as it's much
more casual, laid back thescheduling, and obviously it's
tight, a little bit pressure onthe deadlines, for sure being
there on time and makingappointments.
So definitely some pressurethere.
But the actual loading andloading and then the crew that
(22:29):
you work, work with, it's just awhole different vibe.
It feels so much more laid back.
Everybody seems to like reallyenjoy what they're doing.
You know they've chosen thistype of work versus like being
on docks and some people aregrumbling and they're all kind
of can be shitty to each otherand you know just like you could
tell they're just hating lifeout there.
I'm like go do a different job,dude, you know.
But for freighting I find thatit's my most enjoyable type of
(22:53):
work that I've run and for thatreason like people seem to just
be having fun and you knowthere's a camaraderie that I
don't know just makes it verypleasant to me.
But I can see the challenge forthat.
I mean I would enjoy that.
But being on the road like allthe time.
That could be a challenging,you know, for most people, like
(23:13):
if you have family back home,you have to have a special type
of driver that can, you know,run that long.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
And it is.
It's not a knock on theeveryday guys, because without
those guys, you know, thiscountry would stop.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
Right.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
We've used our experience, We've paid our dues
to get where we are.
It used to be.
You know, five years, 500,000miles to get in when I got in,
but it's, it's, it's slayed backas far as you know the mileage
that you put in.
I mean, don't get me wrong,there's weeks that we, we will
pump some miles out right youknow, next week I'm putting in
(23:51):
some serious miles because we'redoing ohio to california in
three days.
Okay, wow, so that's that'squite a push, yeah, but yes,
it's, it's laid back as that'sas far, as far as that sense.
But the actual work that we do,like the loading, and we don't
(24:12):
put our hands on the freight,the local union guys do that.
All we do is break straps andmove load bars, okay, but the
whole process is very fast paced, it's very high paced.
Um, the lead driver, which isthe uh, the senior guy, one
that's been assigned by thecompany to be the go-to guy
between the drivers andproduction, he will back every
(24:35):
truck in.
Basically, he's on a handheldradio.
He will get you in and out ofevery building and it doesn't
matter what you think, what yousee, you can close your eyes,
trust your lead driver.
He'll get you in the dockblindfolded.
That's how intricate loadingand unloading and getting in and
out of the venues are, um.
So, yeah, it is very, very uh,fast-paced, but laid back, uh.
(24:59):
The other thing is it's adifferent beast, um, a lot of
the drivers that come that wantto get into it don't realize
what it takes to be a rock androll driver, if you want to call
it that.
So we't realize what it takesto be a rock and roll driver, if
you want to call it that.
So we have guys that come fromother companies and they're like
okay, when do I go home?
We're like, what's that dude?
You don't see your house tillthe end of the year.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
You know, our season usually starts March, april, you
know.
So we get to go home forJanuary, february.
Some guys you know get to gohome for December.
We take a month or two or eventhree months off, but when we
hit the road, that's it.
You're on the road.
I started May 2nd with thiscompany.
I moved over I'd actuallyretired, tried to get out of it
(25:43):
and I was home for a year andI'm like, yeah, I got to go back
.
Local freight wasn't payinganything and this job affords
you a lifestyle that now you gotthe upkeep on and that is, I've
got five acres, I've got thehouse, I've got the farm for my
wife and you know, just a localjob just wasn't keeping up with
(26:04):
it.
So I came back out after abouta year.
So I flew out May 2nd and theytell me, hey, just don't, just
don't worry about going homeuntil at least end of the year
or beginning of January.
Fall tours, then we gotChristmas shows and they go back
to back to back to back.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
So tell me about your life personally, like how
you're managing work-lifebalance when you're out that
long, like you obviously have arhythm out there for you
yourself personally as a youknow, as an employee, you know.
Then you have your downtime.
What's, how are you managingthat, um, that work-life balance
when you're, you know, gone forso long?
Any tips or strategies thathave you've discovered over the
(26:47):
years that are working reallywell for you that might help a
driver that's kind of strugglingto find some sanity outside of
the work.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
Yeah, when I go home after such a long stretch, I'll
go home, I'll relax for two,three, four days, then I'll
start piddling around the farmtrying to fix some fences, you
know whatever else needs tendingto After about two or three
weeks.
Tending to after about two orthree weeks.
Then I I called my old localjob, which is, uh, I'm out of
(27:20):
Brooksville, florida.
So I work for a company calledlasso record service and I drive
one of their heavy haul trucksor one of their heavy records.
When I'm home, um, but I'll, Iwon't go full time, I'll be like
, hey man, I'm home for thisstretch.
I can fill in one or two days aweek.
If somebody wants to take a dayoff and I'll throw that in
there, just because I don't liketo sit for too long.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
Right.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
You know.
So I'll do that, I'll find ahobby, I'll drive down and go
see my mom.
There's always, when you're onthe road, that long you go home
for two months.
It's never enough, becausethere was always a list that you
got to take care of.
Speaker 1 (27:59):
Well, what about the times when you're out, though?
I mean, how are you?
You know what's your personallife outside of work, you know
when you're on the road for ayear.
So I mean, how are you managingyour downtime?
And you know, know what's itlike?
What are your hobbies?
Like what are you doing to fillyour downtime when you're out
on the road, when you're on along trip?
So, like, what's that?
Speaker 2 (28:17):
rhythm, like, personally, I do a little bit of
photography, but basically withmy, with my phone I'll go get
some weird shots or stuff likethat.
Um, I do have a drone that I dolike to do some aerial
photography with it.
Other guys like to just go tothe gym and work out.
Some guys even carry a totewith all their equipment in the
(28:41):
trail and then just work out allday long.
Other guys don't do anythingand just want to sit in a truck
and watch TV all day or playvideo games or just take a walk
around town, do some, you know,like I said, go to a museum or
something.
That's their hobby.
But you know we don't have thatmuch time.
You know, really to saydedicate to a hobby full time.
(29:04):
It's basically just fillingyour time gaps.
You know there's guys that doplastic models.
There's guys that do remotecontrol.
You know, like cars,helicopters, planes, stuff like
that.
I mean, I looked into one guy'struck from the ground.
I looked through his windshieldand he had a uh, a remote
control airplane that had like afour foot wingspan sitting in
the top bunk.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
And I'm like wow, you actually got time to do that.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
Good for you.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
I know right how does that?
work.
I like to keep myself busybecause I used to be a lead
driver myself.
So when you do the position oflead work you basically don't
have a lot of time to yourselfBecause you're up for the whole
time when you're dealing withall the trucks.
Once the trucks are all set,then you got to go into
(29:52):
production, make sureeverything's good, and the lead
driver probably doesn't get toslow down until about noon when
everybody else can be done by 10or 11.
But then you might have thebigger tours that take all day
to unload.
But it's funny because theycould take, say, six hours to
unload it up but they couldbreak that show down and stuff
(30:13):
it back in the trucks in twohours.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
Wow, that's crazy pace yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
Like for us.
Yesterday we were at a festivalin Wisconsin.
Right now I'm running withShinedown and I think they
unloaded and set the stage up inthree hours.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
That's incredible Really.
How many, how many trucks areusually running a tour with you.
I guess it would just depend onthe show, I mean, but typically
like are you with the samepeople like all the time, or?
Speaker 2 (30:44):
No, no, no, I've.
I mean I do run with some ofthe guys you know different
times, but it's not consistentbecause they may have I may go
from, say, a 10 truck tour to atwo truck tour.
So now you got to split theguys up.
They go on that tour, but thosetours that are later may not
(31:04):
all finish at the same time, soyou may not be able to reconnect
at another tour.
So it may take a year or twobefore you reconnect with some
of the drivers you've alreadyrun with.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
And then how much time between tours, like do you
get to pick a tour that you'regoing to go on, or how does that
work being a company driver?
Speaker 2 (31:20):
We definitely do not pick tours.
It's assigned to us.
They don't even tell us tillthe last minute because in the
past there have been drivers.
I mean they talk about you know, hey, I'm going on this tour
and then you'll have driversthat will call the office Well,
why does he get to go on thistour and not me?
So the companies have nowpretty much said, all right,
well, you'll know when you'reready to hit the road, or when
(31:42):
you finish this tour and you doyour returns returning equipment
to the stage company orlighting company or audio
company then we'll let you knowwhat you're doing next.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
And I've had times where I've gone unloaded one day
and the next day I'm picking upfor the next door, oh wow.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
But then there's been times where I'll have a week
off but they want to stage meclose by, in case I got to go in
early to pick equipment, forinstance.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
And then how do they pay on that, since you have
downtime?
I mean, obviously you're notpaid by the miles, I would guess
.
So how like are you a salaryposition?
Speaker 2 (32:18):
Yeah, it's a daily pay, um, you get a certain
amount, depending on yourexperience.
You get a certain amount perday.
You also get a per diem, uh,for your food stuff, like that.
Um, on nights that the crewgets hotels, uh, the drivers get
what's called a hotel buyout,so you'll get, depending on the
company, $50 for that night or$75 for that night, and it'll
(32:42):
add to your check at the end ofthe week or every two weeks.
Whenever each company pays,everybody's different.
So, for instance, they may payand this is only an example.
They may pay you, and this isonly an example.
They may pay.
You, say, 200 a day.
Now you're getting another 50for per diem, so you're up to
250.
And now you get another 50 forhotel buyers, so now you're up
to $300 a day.
Speaker 1 (33:03):
I see.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
And that's whether you drive a hundred miles or
3000 miles.
You get your.
That's a.
You can bank on that amountjust about every week, give or
take a few bucks because of thehotel, buyouts are set up.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
I see Wow.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
But your base salary, that initial, you know, and
like I said, it's not set instone, but that initial 200 or
250, whatever the company startsyou at, that's a guarantee
every day.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
And then what makes it change?
Like what would be like when itwould vary, like you always get
the hotel buyout option, so youknow that going in, that you're
going to, you know potentiallybe making $300 a day.
Like how, what?
What's the fluctuation?
Speaker 2 (33:47):
Well, some companies will pay you a hotel buyout on
the days that the crew gets thehotel.
Okay, some companies will payless of a buyout, but they'll
pay you straight through, fromthe first show to the last show.
You know, it all depends on howthe company writes up their
contracts for each tour.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
Wow.
So I'm fortunate enough to workfor a really good guy.
The company's called Ego Trips.
Nick Weathers is the owner,really great guy and, like I
said, I'm fortunate to work forhim takes care of us.
Equipment is kept very well,you know, because there's
companies out there that doshows that don't have great
(34:28):
equipment.
Those are the ones that yougotta worry about on tour that
break down because the owner,operators and the smaller
companies those are the onesthey worry, because if your
truck causes a show to either bedelayed like postponed to
another date, or canceled, youjust bought every ticket in the
house.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
Oh, wow, yeah.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
So if you get put on a tour let's say a stadium tour
okay, and this is we kind ofwere playing with the numbers
when I was with Chesney If oneof the trucks, if one of the
shows got canceled at a stadiumand let's just use MetLife
Stadium in New Jersey where theGiants play, okay, if a show
there gets canceled.
You're talking 50,000 to 60,000seats, all right.
(35:15):
For us it was 53,000 or 54,000.
The average ticket price was alittle over $300.
And that's from the nosebleedall the way down you know
average a little over $300.
You're talking $17 million inticket sales for that one show.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
Wow, that's crazy.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
So you better have a hell of an insurance plan yeah
or a backup plan.
You know someone else thatcould get to your your trailer
yeah, yeah or do what you got todo to fix it today.
I mean, there's times that youknow where we pay a higher price
for repairs, but they,basically they will bump your
(35:56):
truck to the front of the line.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
Right, well, and how are you doing your regular
maintenance on your trucks whenyou guys are running that kind
of schedule?
How is that working?
Speaker 2 (36:05):
Day off.
Yeah, I mean, if we get a dayoff, you know, you know we may
not get the oil change right at10,000 miles or 15,000 miles,
whatever the interval thecompany sets at thousand miles,
or fifteen thousand miles,whatever the interval the
company sets at.
But like we'll pull, like if wegot two days to get somewhere,
we'll stop at a ta.
I'll do my 10 hour at a ta orthe loves, and I'll just say all
right, here you go, put me inline, I drop the trailer, I'm
(36:29):
parked next to the building,just tell me when to pull in and
I'll just creep it in.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
Let them do their thing yeah, yeah, I was thinking
about that too.
It's like's like because of thepace that you're running, with
the work, it's like you'rereally not having a lot of
downtime.
I mean because you're going tohave to take care of the truck
in there as well, I mean, whichis true for everybody, but more
so with the pace that you'rerunning.
So it's good.
Anything else you want to sharewith our audience, any fun
(36:54):
stories that you've had,experiences out there that you
want to share with the audiencebefore we wrap up, no, we do
have a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
I mean, I can't really pinpoint.
I got to think about that onefor a minute, but we do have a
lot, a lot of cool things thatwe do.
A lot of the tours will, one ortwo nights before the end of
the tour, they will say hey, man, we're going to this, we rented
(37:20):
this venue, for instance, or arestaurant or whatever.
Everybody's going to be, thewhole crew get there, the artist
will get there, you know, andmost of the times the artist is
there.
I've been to crew parties andthe tour crew parties.
Where you know, when I was withKelly Clarkson, she showed up,
was dancing along with everybody, so fun crew parties.
(37:43):
Uh, where you know, when I waswith kelly clarkson, she showed
up, was dancing along witheverybody, so fun.
Um, I just I just finished atour with uh with a comedian I
can't say who just yet becausehe's still out on tour, but he
was there, you know.
Um, I've been to a party at thehouse of blues in chicago.
When I finished, uh, I wasgetting close to finishing with
uh coldplay.
So chris martin came there atthe time.
He was married to GwynethPaltrow, so you do get to rub
elbows here and there, but youalso have a lot of fun on tour.
(38:06):
You know practical jokes.
You know pranking other.
Speaker 1 (38:09):
You know everybody on tour you got to when you're on
the road that long it becomes afamily.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
You got to do something to to keep it going
and it's a hell of a camaraderie.
I mean, I've tried to leave theindustry a couple of times just
to go home and not driveanymore, and it's other than the
pay.
The camaraderie is the onething I miss the most.
That gets me back.
Speaker 1 (38:31):
Yeah, I love that.
Tell me about some of thebranks you've seen pulled out,
some of the what I'm sorry, thepranks.
Tell me about some of thepranks you've seen pulled down
the road, some of the what I'msorry, the pranks.
Tell me about some of thepranks.
Speaker 2 (38:40):
Oh God, we had one time where there was a venue
that had a pool and one of thosebubbly hot tubs at the end of
the pool.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
And we put dish soap in there.
It like foamed everywhere.
You know we'll sit down at arestaurant.
The driver will, you know,every once in a while we'll go
all eat together.
One guy will get up and, youknow, go to the bathroom.
I'll grab his straw and fill itwith salt and put it back in
his drink.
You know what I mean, and itgoes from one to like another.
(39:15):
We may catch a driver with us,you know, in a stupid pose, and
we'll snap that picturediscreetly.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
and then do something funny like a meme or a poster,
and then make copies and plasterit all over the venue.
Well, it sounds like you'rehaving a lot of fun out there.
Anything else you want?
Speaker 2 (39:34):
to share before we wrap up.
No, I think I'm good, but yeah,if anybody ever has any
questions, man, just contact methrough your page and I'd be
happy to answer whateverquestions.
Speaker 1 (39:46):
Yeah, Dino's in Enjoying Life, OTR, so you can
find him in the group and I'llhave you know his link on there.
Are you on social media?
Do you want to share yourInstagram or anything with the
audience how they can see whatyou're doing out there?
Speaker 2 (39:54):
I am.
I am on Instagram.
I believe my, I guess handleI'll say CB handle on Instagram
is RodiDinoG and on Facebook Ibelieve it's my full name.
So if anybody sees me on yourpage, on the OTR page, just
click the name, send me amessage because I have to talk
to you first because I sent myfriend request on private.
Speaker 1 (40:17):
Okay, that sounds good and I'll have your links in
the show notes too.
Well, thanks so much for comingon the show.
It's fascinating the work thatyou're doing.
I love getting a little insidepeek and what's going on behind
the scenes, and I'm reallygrateful for your time and
really just a pleasure talkingto you, hopefully we'll get to
have you on the show again.
Speaker 2 (40:35):
I'll look forward to it talking to you.
Hopefully we'll get to have youon the show again.
Speaker 1 (40:38):
I'll look forward to it.
Well, that wraps up ourfascinating journey into the
world of entertainment.
Trucking with Dino, we'velearned about the unique
challenges and the rewards ofhauling for concerts and shows,
and the importance ofcamaraderie while on the road,
and how to balance our demandingcareers with our personal life.
Remember, whether you'rehauling stage equipment or
consumer goods, it's crucial tofind ways to stay connected to
(40:59):
our loved ones and to maintainwork-life balance Well, as much
as we can.
Speaking of which tune in nextweek, so we dive into the
important topic of maintaininghealthier intimacy with our
partners, even when we'respending so much time over the
road.
So subscribe to our show,because you're not going to want
to miss that episode.
It's a great show.
You're going to love it.
So if you're enjoying thisepisode and you want to connect
(41:22):
with other drivers like Dina, weinvite you to join our Facebook
group, enjoying Life OTR, aswell as our Healthier Truckers
Facebook group.
Both communities are greatplaces to share experiences, get
advice and connect with fellowdrivers.
Lastly, if you found today'sepisode valuable and I hope you
did please take a moment to like, share and review our podcast.
(41:43):
Your support helps us to reachmore drivers and build a
stronger, healthier truckingcommunity.
So until next time, y'all takecare out there and by all means
enjoy the journey.
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