July 30, 2025 • 42 mins
Faced with balancing career and family, DJ Keith makes a life-changing decision to step away from his longtime gig at Bentley Saloon to focus on fatherhood and more profitable ventures.
• Reflecting on a successful final "Mullets and Daisy Dukes" night with strong crowd participation
• Struggling with staff tensions around playing past the scheduled 11 PM end time
• Entertaining an enthusiastic bachelorette party that inspired extending the night
• Delivering an unplanned, emotional farewell speech announcing retirement from bar DJ work
• Facing mixed reactions - support from those present versus misinterpreted rumors after
• Choosing to prioritize time with 10-month-old daughter Paisley over late-night gigs
• Maintaining wedding and event bookings that offer better compensation for less time
• Having a reconciliatory conversation with venue management after the announcement
• Reflecting on the balance between good parenting decisions and professional business practices
I need your help deciding: Was my impromptu retirement announcement good parenting or bad business? Share your thoughts with me and let me know what you would have done in my shoes.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Today on Share the Struggle Podcast, we're going to
do things just a little bitdifferent, because today it is
going to be Poll, the AudienceDay.
That's right.
I got a good old-fashionedshow-and-tell question for you.
The big question is is it goodparenting or bad business?
That and so much more ontoday's episode of Share the
(00:39):
Struggle Podcast profound effecton the way you live your life.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
If you find strength in the struggle, then this
podcast is for you.
Do you have a relationship thatis comfortable with
uncomfortable conversations?
Uncomfortable conversationschallenge you, humble you and
they build you.
When you sprinkle a little timeand distance on it, it all
(01:07):
makes sense.
Most disagreements they stemfrom our own insecurities.
You are right where you need tobe Time leading to bad ones.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
The whole day gone from behind.
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh.
What it do, what it do, hotdiggity.
Damn.
Am I so excited to be back withyou.
Oh, it's true, back again witha new episode for you.
Share the Turgle podcast.
The consecutive streak keeps onrolling.
(01:50):
We keep on setting records overfive beautiful years, glorious
years between you and me.
So cheers.
Here's to another week, here'sto another episode, here's to
some more fun in the sun Alittle too much sun, if you're
asking me.
Well, I mean, I don't want tosay it like that, I don't want
rain or anything, but we couldcut back on some of the heat.
(02:12):
I don't know when the summersin the Northeast just went to
shit.
It's just been too hot to quitout here.
Okay, it's been, it's been hot,it's been steamy, but it is
what it is, y'all, it ain'training, so we'll take that.
Coming off of another successfulweekend, another busy weekend,
gearing up for yet another fairover here.
(02:34):
There's a lot of moving parts,a lot of balancing of the budget
and jumping through hoops andall that craziness.
All of that continues.
But I'm going to change thesubject a little bit this week
and we're going to go with, like, let's call it our Montel
Williams version of the show.
We're going to pull theaudience today.
I'm going to share a recentexperience with you today and
(02:56):
I'm going to need you to tell meis it good parenting or is it
bad business?
Because that seems to be theline that has been drawn in the
imaginary sand as of right now.
That is, the kicking up of thedust in the old.
What do you call that?
Sandbox?
Yeah, took me a while to comewith that, but it's early.
(03:18):
It's real early as I'mrecording this, so both of my
brain cells aren't firingaccordingly.
Just you know, I'm like on oneto one and three quarters brain
cell activity right now.
So bear with me.
But here's the thing, folks.
I want to set the scene for you.
We're going to pave the road,we're going to paint the picture
(03:38):
, we're getting ready for thestory to be told.
Last week your boy over here hadhis last DJ, musical
spectacular hostess, with themostest emceeing event of the
season at his beloved BentleySaloon Bar.
It was the last one on theschedule because our schedule
(04:01):
just gets too busy from here onout so we're not able to be over
there doing things.
Our vendor schedule is over forthe season and this is our last
DJ event of the season Just sohappens to be one of my favorite
events of the year.
This one, folks, is theredneck-type, fiend-type party
which just fits right into mywheelhouse.
(04:22):
It is Mullets and Daisy Dukes,which I don't even need to touch
my uniform Okay, my staffuniform is enough I just show up
ready to work.
So it's perfect for me.
I love it, and when we're doingMullets and Daisy Dukes, I can
hit on all genres of music thatI love.
It all makes sense to me.
(04:43):
So this one is a beautiful onefor me and I got to say it was
fantastically successful.
I was encouraged by the factthat when I rolled in, there was
already people rocking mullets,wearing Daisy Dukes, getting
ready for things Like the setup.
Everything went smooth, thingswere good.
(05:04):
I was able to rifle a snack andget right into playing and I
was surprised by some greatfriends and family that showed
up to support me.
Allie had put out a fewsecretive messages asking for
people to show up and I wasextremely appreciative of that.
That was heartwarming andexciting to see.
I had some friends come out tosee me that I have not seen out
(05:26):
in years, so that was prettyspecial.
That put me on a high noteright out the gate.
Okay, it was nice to be um justcelebrated and and and um
appreciated.
So I loved, I loved all of that.
I um.
I had my, my brother fromanother mother, toby, and his
wife Ashton, roll in super earlyand I was like what the hell
(05:47):
are you guys doing here?
I haven't seen you at thesaloon in years and they said we
came here to support you.
And later on in the night, mybrother Chris and his wife Katie
.
They rolled in to support meand my brother Jay.
These people all came in andsaid hey, man, I'm here for you
Wouldn't miss it.
Jay said he was actually in bedshutting it down for the night
(06:10):
when Ali messaged him and hecame out.
So, again, the love and supportthat, above and beyond anything
, is what makes all thedifference to me, and over the
past few weeks I've realizedjust how much love and support
we actually have.
And it's tremendous.
There's so many stories betweenour trip to New York, what
(06:31):
transpired when I came backChris stepping up and doing
something for my family that wastremendous.
These guys coming out to supportme.
Man, I'm just telling you Icould spend a whole day talking
about appreciation, aboutgratitude, about feeling blessed
, about the people that are inour lives and just how
(06:52):
tremendous all of that is.
But today I need to hitsomething that's fresh out the
kitchen, right off the shelf,off the shelf, and that is did
what I do.
Do you view this as goodparenting or bad business?
So here we are Bentley Saloon.
(07:13):
It is Redneck Friday night.
It is Mullets and Daisy Dukes.
I'm getting the support fromthe fam.
They're in the house, peoplethat are there that are
participating.
They're loving it.
We got quite a few costumes inthe crowd plenty of Daisy Dukes,
plenty of mullets.
It took us a little while toget people on the dance floor
maybe half an hour or so butonce they did, they didn't leave
(07:34):
.
It was a great time.
It was a great turnout.
Everybody was enjoyingthemselves.
People that just happened toroll in off the streets fresh
out the sheets.
They didn't know what washappening.
They were blown away by it.
They were having a good time.
So I'll just say this we'rehaving a blast.
I'm getting multiple requestsand thank yous and hugs and hand
(07:56):
pounds.
Okay, it's a real love festgoing on.
Everybody's having a good time.
It's not packed to the gills inthere, but it's a pretty good
crowd.
And I will say that during theyear this year I've noticed that
on most nights at the saloonit's been slower than usual and
I would deem this a pretty damngood crowd, better than a lot of
(08:16):
the bands that I've seen, moreactivity on the dance floor than
a lot of the bands that I'veseen.
So things are going good.
I keep looking at the clock, youknow, checking in, because I'm
like, hey, man, this is it forme.
This is my last one of theseason.
And then you know the rest ofthe DJ gigs I have at birthday
parties and weddings, thingslike that.
But I don't have to be, youknow, at a bar away from my
(08:39):
little one till one in themorning, that whole deal.
So I'm looking forward toactually punching out and
getting out.
But by the end of the nightwe're having so much fun, the
crowd's turned up, things aregoing good.
It's just a great crowd.
It's not a massive crowd butit's just a playful, interactive
(08:59):
crowd.
They're getting into it.
They're dancing, they'resinging along, they're jumping
up and down.
I feel like I have them hangingon by every song.
We're really got a good vibegoing here.
And just to let you guys know,my schedule is 7 to 11.
I've talked to the saloonbefore about the fact that I
should probably do this 8 tomidnight because it's a better
(09:22):
schedule for a DJ and people aremore receptive to dancing and
doing all those things.
8 to midnight because it's abetter schedule for a DJ and
people are more receptive todancing and doing all those
things eight to midnight andthey've been open to that.
But the rule has been set forme that seven to 11 is your time
.
If you have a dance floor andpeople are having a good time,
you keep it going, you keeprocking and rolling and you're
allowed to play later.
(09:42):
Technically we can be open till1.
So if you want to play till 12,that's okay.
That's been set to me.
That's been told to me Now amonth ago.
If I rewind the clock and I goback a month, I think it was our
disco night.
At about 10 past 11, lisa, who Ilove, who is one of the head
(10:04):
people for the saloon Bentley'sgirlfriend, she's the managing
partner.
She brings this group of ladiesup to me and says these girls
are on their bachelorette partyfrom Texas and I think I
might've actually made mentionto this on a previous episode,
but we partied it up.
We tore it down until aboutquarter of or 20 of midnight and
(10:27):
I always have Allie go andcheck with the staff to see how
things are going and ask them ifthey want me to keep going and
what the scenario is.
In this particular instance, Iwas asked to play late, so I
didn't feel too bad about it,but apparently it set some of
the staff off and that resultedin an employee meeting the next
day about the situation and afriend of mine nearly losing his
(10:50):
job over this whole scenario.
So it caused some controversy.
I had a follow-up call with thesaloon about it.
We didn't do anything wrong,but the staff has a problem with
being there late and whenyou're in the bar industry, I
personally feel like that'ssomething that you sign up for.
So it is what it is and I havemy heart and my intentions in
(11:15):
the place of business andcustomer experience.
I'm a small business owner.
I consider myself a businessowner for a long time.
I also consider myself a greatfriend to Bentley and to Lisa at
the saloon.
So my priorities are customerexperience, making sure they
have a great time and makingsure that as much money goes
(11:38):
into the pockets of ownership aspossible.
That's just how it works.
That's just how I'm wired.
I want everybody to have a goodtime.
To the people that say beingthere late doesn't make them any
more money, what I say to youis people leaving happy leave
happy tips.
People being pushed out thedoor don't leave tips.
It's just how things work.
(11:58):
So that's life for you in theservice industry.
So last month it didn't go sowell with the staff when it
comes to me playing late, Iguess there were some people
that agreed with it, some thatdidn't agree with it.
So here we are the last night,and part of me is like you know
what, maybe just at 11 o'clock Ijust cut it and we're done.
(12:20):
Then the staff can be happy andI can move on and everything's
going to be good.
And that's the way I looked atit.
But as we got to like 1030, wehad a great crowd.
It was super receptive.
As we start getting past 11o'clock, I swear to you
Kimbella's catalog, left hand onthe catalog, eye to the sky,
tooth from the sky.
Here comes another bacheloretteparty from California and New
(12:47):
Jersey.
These girls are from Californiaand New Jersey, first time at
the saloon here for abachelorette party.
I'm not going to kick them outright away, I'm going to get
after it.
We're going to show them a goodtime.
We go right into Californiagirls.
We go into California love.
We go into jagged edge.
Let's get married.
(13:07):
We start hitting all thesethings.
These girls are vibing.
They're having a great time.
They asked me to play a bunch ofdifferent tunes.
We literally played like CarrieUnderwood before he cheats.
We did all these cool things.
I've got them requesting songs.
They're out there singing songs.
It's incredible, man.
(13:28):
We're just having a tremendoustime and before you know it, we
have gone past 11.30 and now theentire bachelorette party is
literally on my stage jumping,jumping up and down, singing,
dancing.
We still have a few people onthe dance floor.
I'm going to say we'resomewhere between 15 and 30
(13:50):
people at all times between thedance floor and my stage.
Right on my stage, it'sprobably 15 girls that are in
this bachelorette party that aredancing up and down on the
stage, and then on the dancefloor there's another 10 or 15
people or whatever.
So, in my perspective, if I wasmaking a business decision here
, I would look at this and saythese people, this is their
(14:13):
first experience, they're havinga great time.
Everybody up there is having agreat time.
The DJ's made reference to thefact that he's supposed to be
done by 11, but he's doing thisin favor of you guys.
I always take the road of hey,please tip your bartenders, tip
your waitresses.
They're allowing me to do thisfor you.
We're making this exception foryou.
(14:33):
I'm playing late for you.
Usually, when you set thoseparameters for people.
They feel obligated to tip,they feel obligated to give back
, to celebrate, to say thank you.
Personally.
If I'm running a bar at thissituation anybody else that's
working, that is, in an areathat doesn't have people you're
cleaning your area, you'reclosing out and you're going
(14:55):
home.
I'm starting to send peoplehome and I'm going to get down
to the bare bone, bare minimumthat I need the outside of the
bar.
I'm going to start shutting itoff and tell people if you want
to go in on the dance floor,you've got another half hour.
You got another 20 minutes.
You got 15 minutes.
Go inside, start shooing peopleout, start closing down those
other sections.
That's just what you do.
(15:16):
That's the way to do it.
So I became to get a little bitannoyed when I looked over and
there was a manager standingoutside in the shadows,
appearing to have a drink,staring at me, giving me a mean
mug, while I have an entirebachelorette party on my stage
and they are karaokeing CountryRoads, take Me Home.
(15:37):
And right in front of meeverybody's having a tremendous
time.
And then I look up and I seethat there is a bunch of staff
leaned against the bar withtheir arms crossed, looking at
me, all pissed off, mean muggingme.
The parameters have been set.
If I want to play till 12, playtill 12.
(15:59):
We're going to be here till 1.
Don't look at me and mean mugme.
If what you want to do is getthe hell out of here, then start
taking steps to get out of hereor come to me and say hey man,
this is the scenario, but I'vebeen told I'm allowed to do this
based off of my judgment.
This is my last night of theyear and I am watching all this
(16:23):
take place.
I would have gone to the barstaff and said who has the
inside section?
Who needs to clean up?
You start doing all thesetables and then, when these guys
are done, I just need twopeople to clean that area.
They know that I take care ofmy stuff and I have people help
me take care of my stuff.
You can send everybody elsehome except for the head
(16:44):
waitress that's in that area,the head server and your two
bartenders behind the bar.
Everybody else can go home.
The one security guard.
You can handle it.
It's bare bones, bare minimum,not an issue.
You don't need to mean mug me.
You don't need to show you knowpatrons a bad time so I wasn't
(17:05):
going to say anything.
But I've been having thisinternal conversation and
discussion with myself all yearlong, from the moment that I
said yes to this schedule.
I kind of regretted saying yesto this schedule because I have
other responsibilities, I haveother opportunities.
If I'm here for X amount to DJon one night, it's costing me
(17:29):
three days somewhere else, forexample as a tattoo convention.
I could have done this weekendthat could have paid me for
three days, but I said no to itbecause of my loyalty and my
love for what I'm doing and mylove for what I've always done
entertaining there that I havestayed true and loyal to being
there and to playing there.
For me, as a kid from Arundelgrowing up, this is my hometown.
(17:52):
This place put me and my cityon the map.
And for me, growing up thereand going there as soon as the
place opened and being aroundfor over 20 years, the stage
inside at the saloon has becomelike the grand old Opry for a
kid from Maine.
You want to do anything youpossibly can to be on that stage
(18:13):
.
I taught myself to DJ because Ican't play instruments, so I
get entertained on that stage.
I have become a damn good MC soI get entertained on that stage
.
I have become a damn good MC soI get entertained at that venue
.
That was the biggest reason forme doing those things and
learning those things.
I truly feel like I'm one ofthe absolute best in the
business when it comes to MCingan event.
(18:35):
If you give me a pinup event,if you give me a motorcycle
rodeo game, if you give me wett-shirts, if you give me any of
these different contests, I knowthat I can knock them out of
the park, I can crush them andI've done all that and I've been
allowed to do all that thereand to grow there and to build
(18:55):
my skillset there and it's beentremendous because I'll do
anything for Bentley and forLisa.
I have such an amazingrelationship with them that
Bentley was actually thechauffeur for my wedding and
it's one of the greatestfeathers in my cap.
I have a hard time walking awayfrom the saloon because I just
absolutely love it.
But, as becoming a new dad, Ifeel a little guilty leaving my
(19:19):
little baby girl at home andgoing out and doing these things
.
And it's one thing to be on theroad at a fair or you know a
festival making money.
It's another thing to be at abiker saloon.
You know DJing all night, whenI have my mom up all night
watching my little girl.
So it's just different.
And this year I kind of cameinto it thinking like this might
(19:43):
be my last year and during theseason a lot of frustration has
built.
I haven't really felt ascomfortable as I always have.
I haven't felt as welcomed orappreciated, and that's not from
ownership, that's from some ofthe patrons.
There's some people there thatjust talk crap about me.
That's what happens when youhave old crusties that you know
(20:05):
they're regulars and seasonalsat a bar and they don't want to
see change and you're trying tobring in a new crowd or you're
trying to do things different.
It is what it is.
But there's some people thathave felt entitled and
privileged and then have had theability to say things about me,
feeling like they'll gounchecked because of my respect
that I have for the saloon.
I just spent some things thathave kind of pushed me around.
(20:27):
I haven't felt as appreciatedor respected and if I'm going to
be sacrificing time for myfamily, then I don't need to be
doing that and then feeling theway that I'm feeling.
If I want to start prioritizingmy business and putting my
business first, then I don'treally need to be doing what I'm
(20:48):
doing.
Right, if you're going to lookat things.
I've made the old adage that youdon't want to step over a
quarter to pick up a dime.
And in the wintertime, when I'mmaking my schedule and I see
these guaranteed nights and Ican put them on my schedule and
I can backfill them and workaround them, that's great.
But as the season gets here andyou say, hey, man, you might
(21:08):
have stepped over a quarter topick up a dime, you might have
left a four-day, five-dayfestival to be at a one-night,
four-hour event.
And I've done all those thingsbecause of loyalty.
But I'm at that point where mybusiness needs to take
precedence and I'm also at thatpoint where I want to prioritize
my daughter and my family, andthat's just kind of where I'm at
(21:30):
.
So on Friday night, apparentlybetween Miller High Life's Bush,
light Apples, a few rounds ofJameson Pickle Juice, I got to a
point where I was vibing and Iwas enjoying myself.
(21:51):
I was feeling nostalgic, I wasfeeling grateful, I was
appreciative of the crowd, theinteraction, I was having a
great time.
I truly lost sight of the timeuntil I saw staff mean mugging
me and then I was told by mywife that a friend of ours that
(22:12):
works there was sent up to say,hey, that's it, pack it up.
And it kind of just, I guess,was the last string, the final
straw, shall we say.
So at that moment I approachedthe microphone and I delivered a
quick speech and apparently mywife caught part of the speech
(22:38):
and I want to go ahead andreplay that for you.
This is the show and tellportion of the show.
This is where I'm going to showyou, tell you, or I'm going to
show you and you can tell me Isthis bad for business?
Is this good parenting?
Whatever you feel, here is yourtake on said scenario.
(23:01):
I'm about to play for you justwhat happened and allow you to
tell me what you think and howyou feel about the scenario.
Let's see here.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
Oops, hang on.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
That's a group of people chanting for me to play
one more song, as I've announceda couple times that I'm over my
time frame, so I guess that's agood video.
I played the wrong video, butlet's hear that.
One more song, one more song,one more song.
I've been told that therewasn't enough people there for
(23:38):
me to remain open.
So kind of interesting to havehit that video first by accident
.
Let's see here oh, this isactually.
This is the bachelorette partysinging along.
One of the girls is fromAlabama, so she's singing Roll
(24:04):
Tide here.
But I'm sorry, I am finding thewrong videos.
Lord have mercy, I better havethe video, or none of this story
makes sense.
Let me go to my wife's messages.
All right, I found the video.
We're going to get ready toplay this.
Before I do, I must say to youthat disclaimer there's a lot of
(24:28):
profanity in this one.
Okay, I'm a few shots ofJameson in on this one.
I got a couple of buckets ofhigh life, a few bush lights.
I'm feeling a vibe andconfessional, not real
professional.
You're about to hear a lot ofF-bombs.
All right, just going to putthat out there to you.
(24:49):
Is what it is.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
I apologize, let's be on the road or at weddings next
year.
My bar play in days end tonight.
So I want to say thank you toall my friends and family that
came out tonight.
I want to say thank you toBentley Saloon.
I was born in this fucking town.
I've been here for fucking 15,20 years I don't know what the
(25:13):
fucking time frame is but I hada baby girl about 10 months ago.
Her name is Paisley Rain andshe's fucking beautiful, and I
promised my little girl that Iwouldn't spend every night in a
fucking honky tonk.
Well, a couple in Nashville.
But I told my baby girl thatI'd give this shit up.
(25:35):
So I'm gonna tell you tonightthis is my last fucking night
playing a bar, y'all.
I love you, motherfuckers.
I quit.
Tonight I'm playing a coupleweddings.
Those assholes pay me $1500 todo a wedding and, uh, college is
(25:55):
expensive.
You know what I'm saying.
So Paisley can use the money,but until then, this is it for
me, motherfuckers.
I love you, bentley Saloon.
I love you.
California, new Jersey,wherever the fuck you're from, I
love you.
They're going to throw me outat midnight, but I was supposed
to be done at 11, and I fuckingquit.
(26:17):
So here we are.
Yes, fucking yes.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
There's something special about giving your final
speech to the Needy Gritty DirtBand.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (26:35):
One more song, one more song, one more song, one
more song.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
So that was just a short bit of the speech.
It wasn't much longer.
But there was another line inthere that I wish was recorded.
That apparently has set off thecontroversy, and that line was
I said, hey, I was supposed toend at 11, but uh, what are they
(27:01):
going to do?
Fire me, I fucking quit.
And apparently that set somepeople off.
Um, and here's the thing.
I said that part as a joke.
Behind me on the clock there'smaybe 10 or 15 minutes left of
the night and um, it's like twoor three songs.
It's not the end of the world.
And, as you can tell, the crowdwas playing along.
(27:23):
They were into it and I wish mywife had this part on video,
because my favorite thing aboutthe entire speech was the crowd.
All those girls literally gotthe entire crowd to start
chanting Paisley, paisley,paisley.
I have a bar full of strangersat this point chanting for my
(27:48):
daughter.
They are incredibly justoverwhelmed that I'm giving this
up for my daughter and I alsosaid I wanted to make this
special.
So before I go, I want to haveone final dance with my wife
right here on the stage.
I kicked up a little Zach topand me and the wife slow danced
(28:11):
right there on the stage and I'mgoing to tell you, complete
strangers videoed us dancing.
A complete stranger I lockedeyes with her was getting
emotional, videoing us dancing,and she approached my wife after
and said this was such aspecial night and moment.
I had to video this for youbecause I wanted you to have
this.
And can I send this to you?
(28:33):
Can I get your number and sendthis to you?
I feel like I'm a part ofsomething tonight.
All these girls.
When the night was over, theyliterally asked us to get in for
a photo.
They made a cheerleader pyramid.
My wife was in the friggingpyramid.
We took a photo with them andthe bride-to-be gave me a hug
and said this was the greatestnight of my life being out
(28:53):
partying.
This is the most fun I've everhad and thank you so much for
that.
So if I look at things and Iroll back into this and say
customer experience first andforemost, profitability, after
that, I couldn't have put out abetter customer experience for
them.
They loved it.
This was a heartfelt, emotionalgoodbye for me.
(29:15):
My original intentions were tonot say anything, to just have a
conversation over thewintertime and say this has been
great, but I'm going to have toride off into the sunset.
But things felt right.
Things felt right, it feltinnocent and it felt okay.
I might've been set off by thereactions and interactions that
(29:37):
I had with the staff thatmight've provoked me into doing
what I did, but, um, none ofthis was malicious, none of this
had bad intent.
But I've gotten some criticismfrom this and I've heard some
people over this that just saidit's unprofessional, that's bad
business.
Uh, you shouldn't have donethat.
(29:59):
So my question to each and everyone of you is was that bad for
business or was that good forparenting?
What's your direction?
What's your answer?
How do you feel?
I'd love to hear from some ofyou.
All in all, I felt a littleguilty about blindsiding the
saloon by saying that I wasleaving, but everything just
(30:22):
felt right and I'm not going topull back and hide back my
emotions, so I let it fly theinteractions that I had with
everybody after I had so manypeople come up to me and say
that was an amazing speech.
Man, that was so heartfelt.
In the moment I'm proud to callyou a friend.
I had some people come up andsay your daughter is so lucky.
(30:44):
It was special.
It was anxiety, but it was alsospecial.
Don't forget, I'm giving up oneof my favorite things to do in
life.
I'm giving that up right nowfor my family and for my
business.
(31:04):
So you got to look at thatright and say that's not easy
for me to do.
It's not like I'm up theresaying F you, out there saying
thank you, but this is what I'vegot to do.
And, um, I thought it wasfitting to be able to say those
things, so to kind of ride offinto the sunset and call it good
.
The next morning a great friendof mine, derek, who works at the
(31:25):
saloon he called me andactually I was walking downhill
to a charity event the nightbefore.
He invited us to this amazingday to benefit a couple local
kids that have some verydifficult medical diagnosis.
(31:46):
And it's this amazing event puton by Ravex.
There's a free track day,there's all kinds of food and
raffles and giveaways and ittakes over this whole little
development.
It's so cool.
So I'm walking down, there's alive band playing.
I can barely hear him and hesays hey, man, I got to ask you
a question, are the rumors true?
And I said what rumors, man?
(32:08):
Because at first I was kind ofsurprised by it and he's like
rumors, like I'm calling you, soI mean like what happened last
night?
But what happened last night?
Because I was asked if I washere late and I left right
before this happened and I said,oh, you mean me hanging him up
last night and he said, well, Iheard you quit, I heard you quit
(32:28):
and I basically heard that yousaid F, you fire me, I quit.
And I said well, that's a quickline out of a full statement
that was taken out of context,because I literally said that I
was doing this for my family.
So there's nothing that was putout.
(32:49):
I didn't even say anythingnegative about the staff while I
was on the microphone.
I didn't do anything like that.
I was very respectful.
Nothing was malicious, I justfelt like it was the right time.
So we had a conversation aboutthat and he told me hey, the
rumors are flying around herethat you quit.
And I heard from a few peoplethroughout the day asking me if
(33:11):
I told people to F off and basicmic drop.
And that's not what happened.
And I'm asking you guys, fromwhat I said, what you heard,
nothing's doctored there.
That's right off the cuff.
That's out my lips.
That's the truth.
That's the story.
That's the whole story.
That's the whole enchilada.
Did I tell anybody to F offduring that?
(33:33):
Did I say anything bad duringthat?
Was I at all negative duringthat?
Say anything bad during that?
Was I at all negative duringthat?
Because I don't feel like I was.
I ended up getting a phone callfrom Lisa and we had a great
conversation.
It started off difficult, butwe've always said on this
podcast that life's about havinguncomfortable, difficult
conversations, and that's whatwe did.
(33:54):
I was able to say some things,but I felt bad and I apologize
for the fact that it definitelyblindsided her that it came out
of nowhere when I said I hadfull intentions of doing this
over the winter and having aconversation with you.
But, to be honest, the momentfelt right.
It just felt like it was a goodopportunity.
(34:15):
I was feeling nostalgic, I wasfeeling myself and felt like it
was a good opportunity to saythank you and to say goodbye.
It almost felt odd to walk awaywithout doing that Now, me being
the promoter that I am and herbeing the promoter that she is.
We could have planned an eventand done a whole farewell,
goodbye type of scenario.
But I don't want that to bethis.
(34:36):
I just wanted to fulfill myobligations, do what I was asked
to do, and then say how did you?
You know what I mean.
I did farewell to you.
You know what I mean.
I just wanted to ride off.
I don't know, maybe it was thenitty gritty dirt band, but
something just felt so right andI was ready to get home to my
baby girl and to give her a hugand a kiss and I just wanted to
(34:59):
share that with the people.
That that was it, that that wasall there was.
So no hard feelings whatsoeverto the saloon.
I love Bentley Saloon.
I love Lisa.
I love Bentley.
They've been tremendous to me.
They've actually helped keep mein business.
They've done so much for me,actually helped keep me in
(35:22):
business.
They've done so much for me andI in turn feel like I've done
so much for them.
I've given so much to them.
It's been a mutual situation, amutual relationship.
The friendship will never goanywhere.
But for now I have toprioritize my family and my
business and I need to go in anew direction and I need to go
into new places.
But I've heard from some peoplethat have said mixed reaction.
(35:46):
I had some people that havesaid, hey, man, I heard you told
everybody to F off and F you.
I quit or F you, what are yougoing to do?
Fire me.
And then I've heard from otherpeople that said, man, that was
amazing, your daughter's lucky,your daughter's fortunate,
you're a great dad.
(36:07):
That was an awesome speech.
Even when I was hanging up thephone with Lisa, she said that I
think you're a great dad andI'm proud of you and I think
that Paisley is very lucky tohave you as her father and
nobody can be mad at anybody forthat, I feel.
(36:29):
And the people that have saidthat I acted negative or that I
was disrespectful, they weren'tthere.
Most of those people heard fromsomebody who heard from
somebody.
So you can hear what you want tohear in a statement, in a
speech, you can do what you wantwith it, but you shouldn't deny
(36:51):
, you shouldn't look away fromor run away from the heartfelt
intention, emotion and reasonfor the message.
I feel like this is the samething that gets us in mainstream
media and social media.
People look for headlines, theytry to grab attention, like if
I was somebody famous, it wouldhave been posted on freaking
(37:12):
Bing or Google that you know.
Keith says F you fire me, f youI quit.
When the whole bulk of thatmessaging of that speech was, I
promised my daughter this iswhat I was going to do.
I don't know.
(37:33):
So, as a as a small businessowner, as somebody that has
spent 20 years making a name andreputation and building a brand
for himself at this location,was that bad business for me to
go out the way that I did?
Or do you think I'm just a gooddad riding out on my morals?
I'd love to hear from you.
(37:54):
I look forward to hearing fromyou.
It's a crazy time over here atthe Loud, proud American White
Horse Ranch Ponderosa A lot ofmoving parts, a lot of risks and
chances and challenges andobstacles and hoopla and all
these things that I'm trying toovercome, situations that I've
(38:16):
backed myself into.
That I'm trying to overcomethat.
I'm backed myself into that I'mtrying to overcome that.
I'm trying to figure out A lotof crazy things are happening
and with that being there and onmy mind, being at the saloon
delivering my last performance,everything lined up, everything
felt right.
I closed out the night.
(38:36):
I delivered my speech.
Everything felt right.
I closed out the night, Idelivered my speech.
For the people that were in theroom, it was received
incredibly well.
For the people that were in theroom that actually care, it was
received incredibly well,knowing I have all these crazy
(39:11):
big things on my plate.
I feel a little bit betterclosing out one chapter that's
been on my plate.
I feel a little bit bettercompleting, fulfilling my
obligations for that part of mycalendar, of my plate.
And that's all I got to do, man.
That's all I can do is what'son my calendar, what I can put
on it, what I can take off of it, hit it, crush it, fulfill it
and then refill it withsomething else.
And that's where I am.
It's a challenging time herefor me right now, but I'm doing
the best I can and that's all Ican do.
(39:35):
So, to each and every one of youthat have been supporting us,
whether it's listening to thepodcast since day one, get your
ones up.
Whether you're a new one here,whether you're about to be a
loyal one here for the podcast,whether you're somebody that
goes out and finds us at eventsand purchases merchandise,
shares our messages and ourmarketing on social media,
(40:00):
shares our messages and ourmarketing on social media.
Whether you're somebody thatcomes out to all of our DJ
events, whether you come out toour MC events, whether you watch
from afar and just say, man, Ihope that you make it.
Whatever it is, all of you makea difference.
All of you have an impact.
It's because of you that wekeep on pulling through.
So until next time, I need tosay to each and every one of you
(40:24):
thank you for supporting ourAmerican dream.
You're going to wash your handsand tell these savages that's
it and that's all, biggie Smalls.
(40:50):
If you're a Loud Proud Americanand you find yourself just
wanting more, find me on YouTubeand Facebook at Loud Proud
American, proud american, forthe face page, as my mama calls
it.
If you're a fan of the grahamcracker, you want to find me on
instagram.
Or all the kids by ticketytalking on the tiktok.
You can find me on both ofthose at loud, underscore, proud
(41:15):
, underscore American.
A big old thank you to the boysfrom the Gut Truckers for the
background beats and the themesong for this year's podcast.
If you are enjoying what you'rehearing, you can track down the
(41:36):
Gut Truckers on Facebook.
Just search Gut Truckers.
(41:57):
Give them motherfuckers a liketoo.
I truly thank you forsupporting my American dream.
Now go wash your fucking hands,you filthy savage.
Today on Share the Struggle Podcast, we're going to
do things just a little bitdifferent, because today it is
going to be Poll, the AudienceDay.
That's right.
I got a good old-fashionedshow-and-tell question for you.
The big question is is it goodparenting or bad business?
That and so much more ontoday's episode of Share the
(00:39):
Struggle Podcast profound effecton the way you live your life.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
If you find strength in the struggle, then this
podcast is for you.
Do you have a relationship thatis comfortable with
uncomfortable conversations?
Uncomfortable conversationschallenge you, humble you and
they build you.
When you sprinkle a little timeand distance on it, it all
(01:07):
makes sense.
Most disagreements they stemfrom our own insecurities.
You are right where you need tobe Time leading to bad ones.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
The whole day gone from behind.
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh.
What it do, what it do, hotdiggity.
Damn.
Am I so excited to be back withyou.
Oh, it's true, back again witha new episode for you.
Share the Turgle podcast.
The consecutive streak keeps onrolling.
(01:50):
We keep on setting records overfive beautiful years, glorious
years between you and me.
So cheers.
Here's to another week, here'sto another episode, here's to
some more fun in the sun Alittle too much sun, if you're
asking me.
Well, I mean, I don't want tosay it like that, I don't want
rain or anything, but we couldcut back on some of the heat.
(02:12):
I don't know when the summersin the Northeast just went to
shit.
It's just been too hot to quitout here.
Okay, it's been, it's been hot,it's been steamy, but it is
what it is, y'all, it ain'training, so we'll take that.
Coming off of another successfulweekend, another busy weekend,
gearing up for yet another fairover here.
(02:34):
There's a lot of moving parts,a lot of balancing of the budget
and jumping through hoops andall that craziness.
All of that continues.
But I'm going to change thesubject a little bit this week
and we're going to go with, like, let's call it our Montel
Williams version of the show.
We're going to pull theaudience today.
I'm going to share a recentexperience with you today and
(02:56):
I'm going to need you to tell meis it good parenting or is it
bad business?
Because that seems to be theline that has been drawn in the
imaginary sand as of right now.
That is, the kicking up of thedust in the old.
What do you call that?
Sandbox?
Yeah, took me a while to comewith that, but it's early.
(03:18):
It's real early as I'mrecording this, so both of my
brain cells aren't firingaccordingly.
Just you know, I'm like on oneto one and three quarters brain
cell activity right now.
So bear with me.
But here's the thing, folks.
I want to set the scene for you.
We're going to pave the road,we're going to paint the picture
(03:38):
, we're getting ready for thestory to be told.
Last week your boy over here hadhis last DJ, musical
spectacular hostess, with themostest emceeing event of the
season at his beloved BentleySaloon Bar.
It was the last one on theschedule because our schedule
(04:01):
just gets too busy from here onout so we're not able to be over
there doing things.
Our vendor schedule is over forthe season and this is our last
DJ event of the season Just sohappens to be one of my favorite
events of the year.
This one, folks, is theredneck-type, fiend-type party
which just fits right into mywheelhouse.
(04:22):
It is Mullets and Daisy Dukes,which I don't even need to touch
my uniform Okay, my staffuniform is enough I just show up
ready to work.
So it's perfect for me.
I love it, and when we're doingMullets and Daisy Dukes, I can
hit on all genres of music thatI love.
It all makes sense to me.
(04:43):
So this one is a beautiful onefor me and I got to say it was
fantastically successful.
I was encouraged by the factthat when I rolled in, there was
already people rocking mullets,wearing Daisy Dukes, getting
ready for things Like the setup.
Everything went smooth, thingswere good.
(05:04):
I was able to rifle a snack andget right into playing and I
was surprised by some greatfriends and family that showed
up to support me.
Allie had put out a fewsecretive messages asking for
people to show up and I wasextremely appreciative of that.
That was heartwarming andexciting to see.
I had some friends come out tosee me that I have not seen out
(05:26):
in years, so that was prettyspecial.
That put me on a high noteright out the gate.
Okay, it was nice to be um justcelebrated and and and um
appreciated.
So I loved, I loved all of that.
I um.
I had my, my brother fromanother mother, toby, and his
wife Ashton, roll in super earlyand I was like what the hell
(05:47):
are you guys doing here?
I haven't seen you at thesaloon in years and they said we
came here to support you.
And later on in the night, mybrother Chris and his wife Katie
.
They rolled in to support meand my brother Jay.
These people all came in andsaid hey, man, I'm here for you
Wouldn't miss it.
Jay said he was actually in bedshutting it down for the night
(06:10):
when Ali messaged him and hecame out.
So, again, the love and supportthat, above and beyond anything
, is what makes all thedifference to me, and over the
past few weeks I've realizedjust how much love and support
we actually have.
And it's tremendous.
There's so many stories betweenour trip to New York, what
(06:31):
transpired when I came backChris stepping up and doing
something for my family that wastremendous.
These guys coming out to supportme.
Man, I'm just telling you Icould spend a whole day talking
about appreciation, aboutgratitude, about feeling blessed
, about the people that are inour lives and just how
(06:52):
tremendous all of that is.
But today I need to hitsomething that's fresh out the
kitchen, right off the shelf,off the shelf, and that is did
what I do.
Do you view this as goodparenting or bad business?
So here we are Bentley Saloon.
(07:13):
It is Redneck Friday night.
It is Mullets and Daisy Dukes.
I'm getting the support fromthe fam.
They're in the house, peoplethat are there that are
participating.
They're loving it.
We got quite a few costumes inthe crowd plenty of Daisy Dukes,
plenty of mullets.
It took us a little while toget people on the dance floor
maybe half an hour or so butonce they did, they didn't leave
(07:34):
.
It was a great time.
It was a great turnout.
Everybody was enjoyingthemselves.
People that just happened toroll in off the streets fresh
out the sheets.
They didn't know what washappening.
They were blown away by it.
They were having a good time.
So I'll just say this we'rehaving a blast.
I'm getting multiple requestsand thank yous and hugs and hand
(07:56):
pounds.
Okay, it's a real love festgoing on.
Everybody's having a good time.
It's not packed to the gills inthere, but it's a pretty good
crowd.
And I will say that during theyear this year I've noticed that
on most nights at the saloonit's been slower than usual and
I would deem this a pretty damngood crowd, better than a lot of
(08:16):
the bands that I've seen, moreactivity on the dance floor than
a lot of the bands that I'veseen.
So things are going good.
I keep looking at the clock, youknow, checking in, because I'm
like, hey, man, this is it forme.
This is my last one of theseason.
And then you know the rest ofthe DJ gigs I have at birthday
parties and weddings, thingslike that.
But I don't have to be, youknow, at a bar away from my
(08:39):
little one till one in themorning, that whole deal.
So I'm looking forward toactually punching out and
getting out.
But by the end of the nightwe're having so much fun, the
crowd's turned up, things aregoing good.
It's just a great crowd.
It's not a massive crowd butit's just a playful, interactive
(08:59):
crowd.
They're getting into it.
They're dancing, they'resinging along, they're jumping
up and down.
I feel like I have them hangingon by every song.
We're really got a good vibegoing here.
And just to let you guys know,my schedule is 7 to 11.
I've talked to the saloonbefore about the fact that I
should probably do this 8 tomidnight because it's a better
(09:22):
schedule for a DJ and people aremore receptive to dancing and
doing all those things.
8 to midnight because it's abetter schedule for a DJ and
people are more receptive todancing and doing all those
things eight to midnight andthey've been open to that.
But the rule has been set forme that seven to 11 is your time
.
If you have a dance floor andpeople are having a good time,
you keep it going, you keeprocking and rolling and you're
allowed to play later.
(09:42):
Technically we can be open till1.
So if you want to play till 12,that's okay.
That's been set to me.
That's been told to me Now amonth ago.
If I rewind the clock and I goback a month, I think it was our
disco night.
At about 10 past 11, lisa, who Ilove, who is one of the head
(10:04):
people for the saloon Bentley'sgirlfriend, she's the managing
partner.
She brings this group of ladiesup to me and says these girls
are on their bachelorette partyfrom Texas and I think I
might've actually made mentionto this on a previous episode,
but we partied it up.
We tore it down until aboutquarter of or 20 of midnight and
(10:27):
I always have Allie go andcheck with the staff to see how
things are going and ask them ifthey want me to keep going and
what the scenario is.
In this particular instance, Iwas asked to play late, so I
didn't feel too bad about it,but apparently it set some of
the staff off and that resultedin an employee meeting the next
day about the situation and afriend of mine nearly losing his
(10:50):
job over this whole scenario.
So it caused some controversy.
I had a follow-up call with thesaloon about it.
We didn't do anything wrong,but the staff has a problem with
being there late and whenyou're in the bar industry, I
personally feel like that'ssomething that you sign up for.
So it is what it is and I havemy heart and my intentions in
(11:15):
the place of business andcustomer experience.
I'm a small business owner.
I consider myself a businessowner for a long time.
I also consider myself a greatfriend to Bentley and to Lisa at
the saloon.
So my priorities are customerexperience, making sure they
have a great time and makingsure that as much money goes
(11:38):
into the pockets of ownership aspossible.
That's just how it works.
That's just how I'm wired.
I want everybody to have a goodtime.
To the people that say beingthere late doesn't make them any
more money, what I say to youis people leaving happy leave
happy tips.
People being pushed out thedoor don't leave tips.
It's just how things work.
(11:58):
So that's life for you in theservice industry.
So last month it didn't go sowell with the staff when it
comes to me playing late, Iguess there were some people
that agreed with it, some thatdidn't agree with it.
So here we are the last night,and part of me is like you know
what, maybe just at 11 o'clock Ijust cut it and we're done.
(12:20):
Then the staff can be happy andI can move on and everything's
going to be good.
And that's the way I looked atit.
But as we got to like 1030, wehad a great crowd.
It was super receptive.
As we start getting past 11o'clock, I swear to you
Kimbella's catalog, left hand onthe catalog, eye to the sky,
tooth from the sky.
Here comes another bacheloretteparty from California and New
(12:47):
Jersey.
These girls are from Californiaand New Jersey, first time at
the saloon here for abachelorette party.
I'm not going to kick them outright away, I'm going to get
after it.
We're going to show them a goodtime.
We go right into Californiagirls.
We go into California love.
We go into jagged edge.
Let's get married.
(13:07):
We start hitting all thesethings.
These girls are vibing.
They're having a great time.
They asked me to play a bunch ofdifferent tunes.
We literally played like CarrieUnderwood before he cheats.
We did all these cool things.
I've got them requesting songs.
They're out there singing songs.
It's incredible, man.
(13:28):
We're just having a tremendoustime and before you know it, we
have gone past 11.30 and now theentire bachelorette party is
literally on my stage jumping,jumping up and down, singing,
dancing.
We still have a few people onthe dance floor.
I'm going to say we'resomewhere between 15 and 30
(13:50):
people at all times between thedance floor and my stage.
Right on my stage, it'sprobably 15 girls that are in
this bachelorette party that aredancing up and down on the
stage, and then on the dancefloor there's another 10 or 15
people or whatever.
So, in my perspective, if I wasmaking a business decision here
, I would look at this and saythese people, this is their
(14:13):
first experience, they're havinga great time.
Everybody up there is having agreat time.
The DJ's made reference to thefact that he's supposed to be
done by 11, but he's doing thisin favor of you guys.
I always take the road of hey,please tip your bartenders, tip
your waitresses.
They're allowing me to do thisfor you.
We're making this exception foryou.
(14:33):
I'm playing late for you.
Usually, when you set thoseparameters for people.
They feel obligated to tip,they feel obligated to give back
, to celebrate, to say thank you.
Personally.
If I'm running a bar at thissituation anybody else that's
working, that is, in an areathat doesn't have people you're
cleaning your area, you'reclosing out and you're going
(14:55):
home.
I'm starting to send peoplehome and I'm going to get down
to the bare bone, bare minimumthat I need the outside of the
bar.
I'm going to start shutting itoff and tell people if you want
to go in on the dance floor,you've got another half hour.
You got another 20 minutes.
You got 15 minutes.
Go inside, start shooing peopleout, start closing down those
other sections.
That's just what you do.
(15:16):
That's the way to do it.
So I became to get a little bitannoyed when I looked over and
there was a manager standingoutside in the shadows,
appearing to have a drink,staring at me, giving me a mean
mug, while I have an entirebachelorette party on my stage
and they are karaokeing CountryRoads, take Me Home.
(15:37):
And right in front of meeverybody's having a tremendous
time.
And then I look up and I seethat there is a bunch of staff
leaned against the bar withtheir arms crossed, looking at
me, all pissed off, mean muggingme.
The parameters have been set.
If I want to play till 12, playtill 12.
(15:59):
We're going to be here till 1.
Don't look at me and mean mugme.
If what you want to do is getthe hell out of here, then start
taking steps to get out of hereor come to me and say hey man,
this is the scenario, but I'vebeen told I'm allowed to do this
based off of my judgment.
This is my last night of theyear and I am watching all this
(16:23):
take place.
I would have gone to the barstaff and said who has the
inside section?
Who needs to clean up?
You start doing all thesetables and then, when these guys
are done, I just need twopeople to clean that area.
They know that I take care ofmy stuff and I have people help
me take care of my stuff.
You can send everybody elsehome except for the head
(16:44):
waitress that's in that area,the head server and your two
bartenders behind the bar.
Everybody else can go home.
The one security guard.
You can handle it.
It's bare bones, bare minimum,not an issue.
You don't need to mean mug me.
You don't need to show you knowpatrons a bad time so I wasn't
(17:05):
going to say anything.
But I've been having thisinternal conversation and
discussion with myself all yearlong, from the moment that I
said yes to this schedule.
I kind of regretted saying yesto this schedule because I have
other responsibilities, I haveother opportunities.
If I'm here for X amount to DJon one night, it's costing me
(17:29):
three days somewhere else, forexample as a tattoo convention.
I could have done this weekendthat could have paid me for
three days, but I said no to itbecause of my loyalty and my
love for what I'm doing and mylove for what I've always done
entertaining there that I havestayed true and loyal to being
there and to playing there.
For me, as a kid from Arundelgrowing up, this is my hometown.
(17:52):
This place put me and my cityon the map.
And for me, growing up thereand going there as soon as the
place opened and being aroundfor over 20 years, the stage
inside at the saloon has becomelike the grand old Opry for a
kid from Maine.
You want to do anything youpossibly can to be on that stage
(18:13):
.
I taught myself to DJ because Ican't play instruments, so I
get entertained on that stage.
I have become a damn good MC soI get entertained on that stage
.
I have become a damn good MC soI get entertained at that venue
.
That was the biggest reason forme doing those things and
learning those things.
I truly feel like I'm one ofthe absolute best in the
business when it comes to MCingan event.
(18:35):
If you give me a pinup event,if you give me a motorcycle
rodeo game, if you give me wett-shirts, if you give me any of
these different contests, I knowthat I can knock them out of
the park, I can crush them andI've done all that and I've been
allowed to do all that thereand to grow there and to build
(18:55):
my skillset there and it's beentremendous because I'll do
anything for Bentley and forLisa.
I have such an amazingrelationship with them that
Bentley was actually thechauffeur for my wedding and
it's one of the greatestfeathers in my cap.
I have a hard time walking awayfrom the saloon because I just
absolutely love it.
But, as becoming a new dad, Ifeel a little guilty leaving my
(19:19):
little baby girl at home andgoing out and doing these things
.
And it's one thing to be on theroad at a fair or you know a
festival making money.
It's another thing to be at abiker saloon.
You know DJing all night, whenI have my mom up all night
watching my little girl.
So it's just different.
And this year I kind of cameinto it thinking like this might
(19:43):
be my last year and during theseason a lot of frustration has
built.
I haven't really felt ascomfortable as I always have.
I haven't felt as welcomed orappreciated, and that's not from
ownership, that's from some ofthe patrons.
There's some people there thatjust talk crap about me.
That's what happens when youhave old crusties that you know
(20:05):
they're regulars and seasonalsat a bar and they don't want to
see change and you're trying tobring in a new crowd or you're
trying to do things different.
It is what it is.
But there's some people thathave felt entitled and
privileged and then have had theability to say things about me,
feeling like they'll gounchecked because of my respect
that I have for the saloon.
I just spent some things thathave kind of pushed me around.
(20:27):
I haven't felt as appreciatedor respected and if I'm going to
be sacrificing time for myfamily, then I don't need to be
doing that and then feeling theway that I'm feeling.
If I want to start prioritizingmy business and putting my
business first, then I don'treally need to be doing what I'm
(20:48):
doing.
Right, if you're going to lookat things.
I've made the old adage that youdon't want to step over a
quarter to pick up a dime.
And in the wintertime, when I'mmaking my schedule and I see
these guaranteed nights and Ican put them on my schedule and
I can backfill them and workaround them, that's great.
But as the season gets here andyou say, hey, man, you might
(21:08):
have stepped over a quarter topick up a dime, you might have
left a four-day, five-dayfestival to be at a one-night,
four-hour event.
And I've done all those thingsbecause of loyalty.
But I'm at that point where mybusiness needs to take
precedence and I'm also at thatpoint where I want to prioritize
my daughter and my family, andthat's just kind of where I'm at
(21:30):
.
So on Friday night, apparentlybetween Miller High Life's Bush,
light Apples, a few rounds ofJameson Pickle Juice, I got to a
point where I was vibing and Iwas enjoying myself.
(21:51):
I was feeling nostalgic, I wasfeeling grateful, I was
appreciative of the crowd, theinteraction, I was having a
great time.
I truly lost sight of the timeuntil I saw staff mean mugging
me and then I was told by mywife that a friend of ours that
(22:12):
works there was sent up to say,hey, that's it, pack it up.
And it kind of just, I guess,was the last string, the final
straw, shall we say.
So at that moment I approachedthe microphone and I delivered a
quick speech and apparently mywife caught part of the speech
(22:38):
and I want to go ahead andreplay that for you.
This is the show and tellportion of the show.
This is where I'm going to showyou, tell you, or I'm going to
show you and you can tell me Isthis bad for business?
Is this good parenting?
Whatever you feel, here is yourtake on said scenario.
(23:01):
I'm about to play for you justwhat happened and allow you to
tell me what you think and howyou feel about the scenario.
Let's see here.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
Oops, hang on.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
That's a group of people chanting for me to play
one more song, as I've announceda couple times that I'm over my
time frame, so I guess that's agood video.
I played the wrong video, butlet's hear that.
One more song, one more song,one more song.
I've been told that therewasn't enough people there for
(23:38):
me to remain open.
So kind of interesting to havehit that video first by accident
.
Let's see here oh, this isactually.
This is the bachelorette partysinging along.
One of the girls is fromAlabama, so she's singing Roll
(24:04):
Tide here.
But I'm sorry, I am finding thewrong videos.
Lord have mercy, I better havethe video, or none of this story
makes sense.
Let me go to my wife's messages.
All right, I found the video.
We're going to get ready toplay this.
Before I do, I must say to youthat disclaimer there's a lot of
(24:28):
profanity in this one.
Okay, I'm a few shots ofJameson in on this one.
I got a couple of buckets ofhigh life, a few bush lights.
I'm feeling a vibe andconfessional, not real
professional.
You're about to hear a lot ofF-bombs.
All right, just going to putthat out there to you.
(24:49):
Is what it is.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
I apologize, let's be on the road or at weddings next
year.
My bar play in days end tonight.
So I want to say thank you toall my friends and family that
came out tonight.
I want to say thank you toBentley Saloon.
I was born in this fucking town.
I've been here for fucking 15,20 years I don't know what the
(25:13):
fucking time frame is but I hada baby girl about 10 months ago.
Her name is Paisley Rain andshe's fucking beautiful, and I
promised my little girl that Iwouldn't spend every night in a
fucking honky tonk.
Well, a couple in Nashville.
But I told my baby girl thatI'd give this shit up.
(25:35):
So I'm gonna tell you tonightthis is my last fucking night
playing a bar, y'all.
I love you, motherfuckers.
I quit.
Tonight I'm playing a coupleweddings.
Those assholes pay me $1500 todo a wedding and, uh, college is
(25:55):
expensive.
You know what I'm saying.
So Paisley can use the money,but until then, this is it for
me, motherfuckers.
I love you, bentley Saloon.
I love you.
California, new Jersey,wherever the fuck you're from, I
love you.
They're going to throw me outat midnight, but I was supposed
to be done at 11, and I fuckingquit.
(26:17):
So here we are.
Yes, fucking yes.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
There's something special about giving your final
speech to the Needy Gritty DirtBand.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (26:35):
One more song, one more song, one more song, one
more song.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
So that was just a short bit of the speech.
It wasn't much longer.
But there was another line inthere that I wish was recorded.
That apparently has set off thecontroversy, and that line was
I said, hey, I was supposed toend at 11, but uh, what are they
(27:01):
going to do?
Fire me, I fucking quit.
And apparently that set somepeople off.
Um, and here's the thing.
I said that part as a joke.
Behind me on the clock there'smaybe 10 or 15 minutes left of
the night and um, it's like twoor three songs.
It's not the end of the world.
And, as you can tell, the crowdwas playing along.
(27:23):
They were into it and I wish mywife had this part on video,
because my favorite thing aboutthe entire speech was the crowd.
All those girls literally gotthe entire crowd to start
chanting Paisley, paisley,paisley.
I have a bar full of strangersat this point chanting for my
(27:48):
daughter.
They are incredibly justoverwhelmed that I'm giving this
up for my daughter and I alsosaid I wanted to make this
special.
So before I go, I want to haveone final dance with my wife
right here on the stage.
I kicked up a little Zach topand me and the wife slow danced
(28:11):
right there on the stage and I'mgoing to tell you, complete
strangers videoed us dancing.
A complete stranger I lockedeyes with her was getting
emotional, videoing us dancing,and she approached my wife after
and said this was such aspecial night and moment.
I had to video this for youbecause I wanted you to have
this.
And can I send this to you?
(28:33):
Can I get your number and sendthis to you?
I feel like I'm a part ofsomething tonight.
All these girls.
When the night was over, theyliterally asked us to get in for
a photo.
They made a cheerleader pyramid.
My wife was in the friggingpyramid.
We took a photo with them andthe bride-to-be gave me a hug
and said this was the greatestnight of my life being out
(28:53):
partying.
This is the most fun I've everhad and thank you so much for
that.
So if I look at things and Iroll back into this and say
customer experience first andforemost, profitability, after
that, I couldn't have put out abetter customer experience for
them.
They loved it.
This was a heartfelt, emotionalgoodbye for me.
(29:15):
My original intentions were tonot say anything, to just have a
conversation over thewintertime and say this has been
great, but I'm going to have toride off into the sunset.
But things felt right.
Things felt right, it feltinnocent and it felt okay.
I might've been set off by thereactions and interactions that
(29:37):
I had with the staff thatmight've provoked me into doing
what I did, but, um, none ofthis was malicious, none of this
had bad intent.
But I've gotten some criticismfrom this and I've heard some
people over this that just saidit's unprofessional, that's bad
business.
Uh, you shouldn't have donethat.
(29:59):
So my question to each and everyone of you is was that bad for
business or was that good forparenting?
What's your direction?
What's your answer?
How do you feel?
I'd love to hear from some ofyou.
All in all, I felt a littleguilty about blindsiding the
saloon by saying that I wasleaving, but everything just
(30:22):
felt right and I'm not going topull back and hide back my
emotions, so I let it fly theinteractions that I had with
everybody after I had so manypeople come up to me and say
that was an amazing speech.
Man, that was so heartfelt.
In the moment I'm proud to callyou a friend.
I had some people come up andsay your daughter is so lucky.
(30:44):
It was special.
It was anxiety, but it was alsospecial.
Don't forget, I'm giving up oneof my favorite things to do in
life.
I'm giving that up right nowfor my family and for my
business.
(31:04):
So you got to look at thatright and say that's not easy
for me to do.
It's not like I'm up theresaying F you, out there saying
thank you, but this is what I'vegot to do.
And, um, I thought it wasfitting to be able to say those
things, so to kind of ride offinto the sunset and call it good
.
The next morning a great friendof mine, derek, who works at the
(31:25):
saloon he called me andactually I was walking downhill
to a charity event the nightbefore.
He invited us to this amazingday to benefit a couple local
kids that have some verydifficult medical diagnosis.
(31:46):
And it's this amazing event puton by Ravex.
There's a free track day,there's all kinds of food and
raffles and giveaways and ittakes over this whole little
development.
It's so cool.
So I'm walking down, there's alive band playing.
I can barely hear him and hesays hey, man, I got to ask you
a question, are the rumors true?
And I said what rumors, man?
(32:08):
Because at first I was kind ofsurprised by it and he's like
rumors, like I'm calling you, soI mean like what happened last
night?
But what happened last night?
Because I was asked if I washere late and I left right
before this happened and I said,oh, you mean me hanging him up
last night and he said, well, Iheard you quit, I heard you quit
(32:28):
and I basically heard that yousaid F, you fire me, I quit.
And I said well, that's a quickline out of a full statement
that was taken out of context,because I literally said that I
was doing this for my family.
So there's nothing that was putout.
(32:49):
I didn't even say anythingnegative about the staff while I
was on the microphone.
I didn't do anything like that.
I was very respectful.
Nothing was malicious, I justfelt like it was the right time.
So we had a conversation aboutthat and he told me hey, the
rumors are flying around herethat you quit.
And I heard from a few peoplethroughout the day asking me if
(33:11):
I told people to F off and basicmic drop.
And that's not what happened.
And I'm asking you guys, fromwhat I said, what you heard,
nothing's doctored there.
That's right off the cuff.
That's out my lips.
That's the truth.
That's the story.
That's the whole story.
That's the whole enchilada.
Did I tell anybody to F offduring that?
(33:33):
Did I say anything bad duringthat?
Was I at all negative duringthat?
Say anything bad during that?
Was I at all negative duringthat?
Because I don't feel like I was.
I ended up getting a phone callfrom Lisa and we had a great
conversation.
It started off difficult, butwe've always said on this
podcast that life's about havinguncomfortable, difficult
conversations, and that's whatwe did.
(33:54):
I was able to say some things,but I felt bad and I apologize
for the fact that it definitelyblindsided her that it came out
of nowhere when I said I hadfull intentions of doing this
over the winter and having aconversation with you.
But, to be honest, the momentfelt right.
It just felt like it was a goodopportunity.
(34:15):
I was feeling nostalgic, I wasfeeling myself and felt like it
was a good opportunity to saythank you and to say goodbye.
It almost felt odd to walk awaywithout doing that Now, me being
the promoter that I am and herbeing the promoter that she is.
We could have planned an eventand done a whole farewell,
goodbye type of scenario.
But I don't want that to bethis.
(34:36):
I just wanted to fulfill myobligations, do what I was asked
to do, and then say how did you?
You know what I mean.
I did farewell to you.
You know what I mean.
I just wanted to ride off.
I don't know, maybe it was thenitty gritty dirt band, but
something just felt so right andI was ready to get home to my
baby girl and to give her a hugand a kiss and I just wanted to
(34:59):
share that with the people.
That that was it, that that wasall there was.
So no hard feelings whatsoeverto the saloon.
I love Bentley Saloon.
I love Lisa.
I love Bentley.
They've been tremendous to me.
They've actually helped keep mein business.
They've done so much for me,actually helped keep me in
(35:22):
business.
They've done so much for me andI in turn feel like I've done
so much for them.
I've given so much to them.
It's been a mutual situation, amutual relationship.
The friendship will never goanywhere.
But for now I have toprioritize my family and my
business and I need to go in anew direction and I need to go
into new places.
But I've heard from some peoplethat have said mixed reaction.
(35:46):
I had some people that havesaid, hey, man, I heard you told
everybody to F off and F you.
I quit or F you, what are yougoing to do?
Fire me.
And then I've heard from otherpeople that said, man, that was
amazing, your daughter's lucky,your daughter's fortunate,
you're a great dad.
(36:07):
That was an awesome speech.
Even when I was hanging up thephone with Lisa, she said that I
think you're a great dad andI'm proud of you and I think
that Paisley is very lucky tohave you as her father and
nobody can be mad at anybody forthat, I feel.
(36:29):
And the people that have saidthat I acted negative or that I
was disrespectful, they weren'tthere.
Most of those people heard fromsomebody who heard from
somebody.
So you can hear what you want tohear in a statement, in a
speech, you can do what you wantwith it, but you shouldn't deny
(36:51):
, you shouldn't look away fromor run away from the heartfelt
intention, emotion and reasonfor the message.
I feel like this is the samething that gets us in mainstream
media and social media.
People look for headlines, theytry to grab attention, like if
I was somebody famous, it wouldhave been posted on freaking
(37:12):
Bing or Google that you know.
Keith says F you fire me, f youI quit.
When the whole bulk of thatmessaging of that speech was, I
promised my daughter this iswhat I was going to do.
I don't know.
(37:33):
So, as a as a small businessowner, as somebody that has
spent 20 years making a name andreputation and building a brand
for himself at this location,was that bad business for me to
go out the way that I did?
Or do you think I'm just a gooddad riding out on my morals?
I'd love to hear from you.
(37:54):
I look forward to hearing fromyou.
It's a crazy time over here atthe Loud, proud American White
Horse Ranch Ponderosa A lot ofmoving parts, a lot of risks and
chances and challenges andobstacles and hoopla and all
these things that I'm trying toovercome, situations that I've
(38:16):
backed myself into.
That I'm trying to overcomethat.
I'm backed myself into that I'mtrying to overcome that.
I'm trying to figure out A lotof crazy things are happening
and with that being there and onmy mind, being at the saloon
delivering my last performance,everything lined up, everything
felt right.
I closed out the night.
(38:36):
I delivered my speech.
Everything felt right.
I closed out the night, Idelivered my speech.
For the people that were in theroom, it was received
incredibly well.
For the people that were in theroom that actually care, it was
received incredibly well,knowing I have all these crazy
(39:11):
big things on my plate.
I feel a little bit betterclosing out one chapter that's
been on my plate.
I feel a little bit bettercompleting, fulfilling my
obligations for that part of mycalendar, of my plate.
And that's all I got to do, man.
That's all I can do is what'son my calendar, what I can put
on it, what I can take off of it, hit it, crush it, fulfill it
and then refill it withsomething else.
And that's where I am.
It's a challenging time herefor me right now, but I'm doing
the best I can and that's all Ican do.
(39:35):
So, to each and every one of youthat have been supporting us,
whether it's listening to thepodcast since day one, get your
ones up.
Whether you're a new one here,whether you're about to be a
loyal one here for the podcast,whether you're somebody that
goes out and finds us at eventsand purchases merchandise,
shares our messages and ourmarketing on social media,
(40:00):
shares our messages and ourmarketing on social media.
Whether you're somebody thatcomes out to all of our DJ
events, whether you come out toour MC events, whether you watch
from afar and just say, man, Ihope that you make it.
Whatever it is, all of you makea difference.
All of you have an impact.
It's because of you that wekeep on pulling through.
So until next time, I need tosay to each and every one of you
(40:24):
thank you for supporting ourAmerican dream.
You're going to wash your handsand tell these savages that's
it and that's all, biggie Smalls.
(40:50):
If you're a Loud Proud Americanand you find yourself just
wanting more, find me on YouTubeand Facebook at Loud Proud
American, proud american, forthe face page, as my mama calls
it.
If you're a fan of the grahamcracker, you want to find me on
instagram.
Or all the kids by ticketytalking on the tiktok.
You can find me on both ofthose at loud, underscore, proud
(41:15):
, underscore American.
A big old thank you to the boysfrom the Gut Truckers for the
background beats and the themesong for this year's podcast.
If you are enjoying what you'rehearing, you can track down the
(41:36):
Gut Truckers on Facebook.
Just search Gut Truckers.
(41:57):
Give them motherfuckers a liketoo.
I truly thank you forsupporting my American dream.
Now go wash your fucking hands,you filthy savage.
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