11.6: Live from the Kentucky International Convention Center - Hour 3

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, welcome back News Radio eight forty wha as

(00:02):
we're broadcasting live today with the Tony and Dwight Show
at the Kentucky International Convention Center, Dottown, Louisville, Kentucky with
a group called Canopy. Canopy was started organically a couple
of years ago by a couple of organizations businesses that said, hey,
we want to we want to get some some businesses
and some local and regional businesses that do obviously they're professional,

(00:25):
but they help out with the community.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
They give back to the community, and.

Speaker 1 (00:29):
Let's form a group there and help them market and
let's help them do what they do when they get
back to the community. And one of those groups is
the lp X group. That is you are a member
of Canopy. I'm talking to Hunter Strickler.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
Yes, Strickler.

Speaker 3 (00:45):
But also like the title, spots are right or not?

Speaker 4 (00:49):
That's right? Second year running?

Speaker 2 (00:51):
Why is that? You tell me why you're part of Canopy.

Speaker 4 (00:54):
Well, we joined Canopy it really you know, it backed
up our own core values. So we've been in business
US for seventy six years and we try to tell
our story. We employ a lot of people and we
build a lot of things. But it's really talking about
your why and why do you do things, and being
such a big part of the community, we wanted to,
you know, communicate why what we do matters and being

(01:15):
a part of Canopy, treating people the right way, empowering
your community, empowering the people. It's all part of that vision.

Speaker 3 (01:23):
We'll talk about how you all do that if you
don't mind.

Speaker 2 (01:27):
Sure.

Speaker 4 (01:27):
So at our organization, we are a heavy infrastructure company,
so we're building roads, we're building communities where people going shop,
where they go to school. We bring clean water to
your home, We clean the sewage when it leaves, so
we were a vital part of your We're a vital
part exactly. We touch. We touch so many aspects of

(01:51):
people's government.

Speaker 5 (01:55):
They're one of our largest.

Speaker 3 (01:56):
Customers wide Rocks.

Speaker 1 (02:02):
That's right, wow, And so yes, giving back to the
community is part is it's part of what you.

Speaker 4 (02:09):
Do, Sure since it's part of our business. And then
also the people that are our team members. We're six
hundred and fifty teen members strong, so we we affect
a lot of lives in our community and we try
to empower them and and help tell the story of
you know, what we do every day matters, and we're
in a unique industry where we can see change on
a daily basis.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
So where are you from.

Speaker 4 (02:30):
I'm from here, born and raised Littlevillion's.

Speaker 2 (02:33):
All right, you seem very young to be president of this.

Speaker 4 (02:36):
It is a family organization. So I've been involved since
high school, so about twenty plus years at this point.

Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (02:43):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:43):
Was there ever thought that you're not going to go
into the old man's business?

Speaker 4 (02:46):
Definitely? I never thought I was going to What did
you want to do? That's that was probably the problem.
That's probably what threw me back into the family business.
Graduated college during the recession and had an opportunity to
go to work when a lot of my friends didn't.
And yeah, you find a purpose and yeah keep going. Yeah, yeah,
and you got the book. That's right, you got your book.
It got fun.

Speaker 2 (03:06):
Uh what would your dad say about you?

Speaker 5 (03:09):
Hm?

Speaker 4 (03:10):
That's a good question. Stuck with it.

Speaker 2 (03:16):
We throw people off with that question.

Speaker 4 (03:19):
You don't be proud.

Speaker 2 (03:21):
You just turned a different shade talking about that, talking
about that. But we're we're glad to be with Canopy.

Speaker 1 (03:27):
And it looks a lot of the best ideas are
just organic ideas where the couple of dudes standing around
and going, you know, we should probably former group like that,
and some of them don't work out, and and this
one certainly has. So your your did you win an
award or did you hand out awards or.

Speaker 4 (03:42):
Anything to have won any awards trying to be part
of the movement.

Speaker 2 (03:48):
We would if we were a part of it.

Speaker 1 (03:50):
We're like, you know, the title spots that went an award, right.

Speaker 2 (03:54):
Best Looking Presidents and something like that.

Speaker 4 (03:59):
I was on the awards many last year, so that
was that was a cool perspective to be able to
participate in that.

Speaker 1 (04:03):
Okay, yeah, okay, So and you said one of your
biggest clients is the government. We tell they build roads,
right right, So Dwight's gonna ask this question.

Speaker 3 (04:13):
Yeah, I'm in the market for a good road.

Speaker 5 (04:16):
You are.

Speaker 4 (04:18):
Well, what I'm proud to say is the company has
evolved over the years, long enough and and grown enough
that we no longer do driveways. Okay, we get asked
that question a lot, so now that it's on the radio.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
Well, his wife's a lawmaker minds St. Matthew City Council.
But it's funny how they the conversations go. Somebody is
complaining about something, and they will say that's not our road,
that's a private road, right right, that that's not Saint
Matthew's for that city, or that's not ours, that's the
neighborhoods road, right you know that that that that they
have to deal with that situation. I'm sure you get
a lot. You're at a cocktail party and then they

(04:51):
find out what you do and and they and inevitably
somebody goes.

Speaker 2 (04:55):
Why does it take so long to build a road?

Speaker 1 (04:57):
What what are y'all doing out there leaning on a
shovel And next thing you know, it's twenty years later.

Speaker 2 (05:02):
I'm sure that question.

Speaker 4 (05:03):
Yeah, why are there's so many potholes? Take so long?
I'm late everywhere I go because of you. It's very thankless.
But we leave a lasting result. So when we're when
we're finished, we leave it better than we found it.

Speaker 6 (05:16):
Yes, a nonpartisan that's right from everybody exactly.

Speaker 1 (05:23):
You always get the guy that goes, look the Romans
built road they're still working on two thousand years later,
how come you.

Speaker 2 (05:29):
Got to do that?

Speaker 1 (05:30):
Now?

Speaker 2 (05:30):
It is you guys do a great job.

Speaker 1 (05:32):
We understand that everything that you do, so we're proud
that you guys are a Louisville outfit and thanks for
being with us today.

Speaker 4 (05:37):
Yeah, I appreciate it here. Thank you so much.

Speaker 6 (05:40):
Thank you, and thanks for giving back by the way. Yeah,
that's a big deal for this show.

Speaker 3 (05:45):
It really is.

Speaker 4 (05:45):
Yeah, we're proud to We're proud to be a part
of this community and do what we can do.

Speaker 5 (05:48):
So see it.

Speaker 2 (05:49):
Thank you, Thank you, Hunter, thank you Hunter. All Right,
we are here. We're we're gonna move Jody myman to tomorrow.
I think he's gonna actually have to call in.

Speaker 1 (05:59):
Also, he's got some stories about what's been going on
down there, and.

Speaker 6 (06:04):
I'm working on getting somebody on and this story is
going to be quite incredible.

Speaker 1 (06:09):
This is a story that involves one of the businesses
down yeah, where the plane hit right, just to update
you twelves the number now, they still have several families
looking for people that that is still open at the
at the training academy where they're supporting it.

Speaker 2 (06:28):
There's a vigil.

Speaker 1 (06:29):
Tonight if you want to search that out at WHAS
dot com. We'll have that information for you, what time
the vigil is and all that. Here's where we can
come together as a community to support the individuals who
are most affected by this.

Speaker 3 (06:43):
Yeah, it is. And again I just want to caution people.

Speaker 6 (06:46):
If you get contact about organizations saying hey, we're so
listing for donations for the families, make sure it's a
legitimate organization because over the next couple of weeks, I
promise you, scumbags.

Speaker 3 (07:00):
We'll be coming out of the woodwork trying to rip people.

Speaker 4 (07:02):
Off on the loss of life.

Speaker 1 (07:05):
Discussing I would say that nine percent of legitimate websites
have a have one that's trying to skate off it.

Speaker 6 (07:16):
Yeah, just do your homework, make sure make sure it's
it's it's really something going from a family, not some
piece of craps come back.

Speaker 2 (07:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (07:22):
And we're going to hear stories moving forward also of
first responders how.

Speaker 2 (07:28):
They responded to this event.

Speaker 1 (07:31):
And in some stories I heard Nick Coffee telling a
story of two individuals that were trapped by the fire
on all sides and behind a fence and they got
the attention of some first responders and I'm not sure
which outfit it was.

Speaker 2 (07:45):
I think he insinuated it with LMPD.

Speaker 1 (07:47):
They got their attention, they got a boat, a cutter,
and they cut the lock and he got these two
guys out with fire all around them during this event.

Speaker 6 (07:58):
That's what's going to be fascinating over the next several weeks.
I would imagine how how this how we unpack the
events of Tuesday evening and the different stories like that.

Speaker 1 (08:11):
Yeah, you know, it's one of those events that will
go do you remember when that happened?

Speaker 6 (08:15):
And I just hope that this death toll doesn't climb
more and more. But I mean it's concerning that that
it is climbing every sing for one.

Speaker 1 (08:23):
To understand it's some some of them were not. It
wasn't a hard search because some people were just.

Speaker 2 (08:30):
Standing in a parking lot.

Speaker 6 (08:32):
Yeah, I know, God, love God, bless her heart and
just going just imagine I want to carb rated for
a seventy six months, stag and going on a great lane.

Speaker 3 (08:40):
You have to work, honey, and then that's the last
you hear from him.

Speaker 5 (08:43):
It's just a horrible situation.

Speaker 1 (08:46):
We're going to pull up when we find him. This
is the guy that used to run that outfit that
had the little scooter.

Speaker 3 (08:52):
Yeah, what was the name of that?

Speaker 1 (08:54):
If you were Uber put him out of business? City
excuse any scoot that guy on a city scooter And
now he's got a place called Monarch.

Speaker 3 (09:04):
Here's the thing about being an employee for City Scoot Scoot.

Speaker 5 (09:06):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (09:07):
Yeah, it's an okay gig most of the time in
the summer and late spring. But if it's a February
seventh and somebody calls you to say how they get
from downtown Louisville in a prospect or wherever it.

Speaker 3 (09:21):
Might be, You're gonna be riding that little damn scooter.

Speaker 2 (09:25):
What the idea was? Yeah, and again he had to
close it down because of uber. Uh, but he would.
They would. He would ride his scooter to where you were.

Speaker 1 (09:32):
If you were drinking, he would put the scooter in
your trunk and then drive your car home and then
ride his scooter back to the office.

Speaker 6 (09:39):
Last time, I was at a bar and ask a
woman if I could put my scooter in a truck.

Speaker 3 (09:43):
She slapped me, so I stopped doing that.

Speaker 2 (09:46):
Thank you, thank you, You're welcome. Thank you.

Speaker 6 (09:49):
I mentioned the canopy. What they do, Yeah, well, I
won't tell you. It's probably over your head.

Speaker 5 (09:57):
Oh boy, thank you.

Speaker 2 (09:58):
Rodney from h that's for.

Speaker 1 (10:01):
Element Airco dot com. Uh go there now, the van
was parked right across.

Speaker 2 (10:06):
It's still there. It's still there element Air.

Speaker 1 (10:08):
It's got a van across the street from where we
are right now, we're at the International of Vention Center
across Bear Knows.

Speaker 2 (10:13):
I guess you're just gonna walk right over there.

Speaker 6 (10:15):
That's exactly that's what you're gonna.

Speaker 3 (10:19):
Do that.

Speaker 2 (10:19):
I'm probably gonna do that. What am I gonna do?

Speaker 1 (10:22):
Go home and have carpenters, plumbers and eleans. I'm gonna
go to Bear Knows for lunch. They still do the buffet.

Speaker 3 (10:28):
No, you know what, We'll go Westport Road.

Speaker 1 (10:33):
They still do the This is across the across the street,
all right, So we're broadcasting. Like with Canopy. It's a
good business summit that they got going on here. So
plenty of businesses have joined this.

Speaker 5 (10:44):
If you're a.

Speaker 1 (10:44):
Company that gives back to the community and want to
join this and sort of get in on the marketing
with these guys, then you want to get a hold
of Canopy. All right, we're gonna take a short break.
We're gonna break early and uh and come back and
have somebody for you.

Speaker 6 (10:57):
Craigs Best Cars dot Com. I love my Craig and
landra chief Wrangler. They put a dream in my driveway.
They're gonna put a dream in your driveway. They did
it for me, They did it for my mom, they
did it for my wife. They do it for all
my friends and families. They'll do it for you. Just
go to Craigsbestcars dot com. I don't care if you
go see Larry Craig, the legend, Joey Craig, my buddy

(11:19):
Jimmy Smith over in southern Indiana. Just go to Craig's
Best Cars dot com and make that dream of reality.
Fifty years fifty years they've been in business. You don't
stay in business a long unless you do one thing,
and that's treat your customer's right. You're gonna love Craig
and Landers. Go to Craig's Best Cars dot com. Stick around.

(11:39):
More from the con Canopy Convention News Radio eight forty
w h A s oh look, gentlemen, leather saxon right there.

Speaker 2 (11:52):
I thought we decided we were not paying any heavy metal.
And I don't even know if.

Speaker 1 (11:57):
The news Radio eight for WHA s Tony Dwightchill brought
to by the Kentucky Office Fatway Safety, Broadcasting live from
the Kentucky International Convention Center in downtown louisvill We've talked
to a lot of folks. Today, we run into an
old body.

Speaker 3 (12:10):
Our next guy.

Speaker 6 (12:11):
Sure, he's brilliant. Mark Roberts made Mark Roberts city scoot man. Wow,
what an idea, what a concept that was?

Speaker 5 (12:19):
You know what, never do moment city Scoot.

Speaker 3 (12:21):
I gotta tell you. I'll just sit on the air
a little while ago.

Speaker 2 (12:23):
You know, we talked about you already.

Speaker 5 (12:25):
Yeah, I love that.

Speaker 6 (12:26):
If you get a call, like, you know, Friday evening
at seven o'clock on July seventeenth, that's one thing.

Speaker 3 (12:31):
But if you got a call in February.

Speaker 6 (12:33):
The second and they're saying, hey, I'm a downtown here
and I had to go to Prospect.

Speaker 3 (12:38):
Whoa you're in for a long coat scooter ride? You
know what? How the years you do that?

Speaker 5 (12:42):
Man?

Speaker 7 (12:42):
I did city Scoot from two thousand and four to
twenty eighteen.

Speaker 5 (12:47):
We did a lot of good man.

Speaker 2 (12:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (12:48):
So he looked on his phone and he goes, we
interviewed him, Oh yeah, years ago, And he goes, I
can tell you in the last text I sent you
was twenty eighteen.

Speaker 5 (12:58):
Wow to see you guys. Yes, you look as good
as ever.

Speaker 1 (13:02):
Okay, so let's let's lead this into so Uber comes
in and says, sorry, Mary, right out of business.

Speaker 5 (13:09):
You're out of business.

Speaker 2 (13:10):
So what did you? Where were you in your head
and what did you want to do?

Speaker 5 (13:15):
Well, that's a great question, man.

Speaker 7 (13:16):
I was scared and I was lost, and I didn't
know what I was going to do next. And music
found its way back into my life at the time.
It was really critical for me. I had a couple
of friends that were living with me at the time,
incredible musicians.

Speaker 5 (13:26):
One of them, you guys know, Dusty Bow.

Speaker 6 (13:28):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, man.

Speaker 7 (13:33):
They gave me an opportunity to do some stuff with
music that I'd long wanted to do, you know, in
a different life of mine.

Speaker 5 (13:38):
Before city school, I worked at a studio and that.

Speaker 7 (13:40):
Was kind of first passion and I found my way
back to it and I was very, very lucky that
I was able to do so I started doing shows
at my house. I started a living room series. Wow,
once a month, man, we'd have, you know, fifty strangers
show up at the house. We'd have a concert there
and it was familial, it was pot luck, it was donation.

Speaker 2 (13:56):
Basically was beautiful at your house.

Speaker 5 (13:57):
Yeah, incredible.

Speaker 7 (13:58):
I fell in love with it as a concept you
know when a bunch of strangers come to your house
and you share an not of music. By the time
they leave, they're not strangers.

Speaker 2 (14:05):
Right, Yeah, I don't know what I mean. Yeah, So
that kind of magic does that's it.

Speaker 7 (14:09):
Well, it brings us together unlike anything I've ever seen. Absolutely,
that's it, man. And uh, you know, I'm just such
a fan of the communities that I saw come from
that as an experience, and so started the Monarch Music
and Arts Community. Instead of once a month, we get
to do that stuff every day.

Speaker 2 (14:25):
Uh, Monarch in Dwight.

Speaker 1 (14:27):
I'm giving you this is the place that he's talking
if you do. You know what this used to be
before it was Monarch.

Speaker 3 (14:36):
I know exactly I had where was it? I had
my birthday party. But this used to be a Baronos
And before.

Speaker 8 (14:41):
That it was a what he's called bou Weevils, which
was a it was a that was Cajun joint and
the guy that owned it was a Korean Cajun.

Speaker 6 (14:53):
They beat right, and so so we would go that's
where I had my party.

Speaker 3 (14:58):
We'd write them out of.

Speaker 2 (14:59):
Through his own birthday party.

Speaker 1 (15:00):
And it was a caging place and you had that
giant alligator get Dwike gets to that point of drunk.

Speaker 2 (15:06):
Where he jumps up grabs the alligator from the roof.

Speaker 1 (15:10):
And it was not long ago where the Australian guy
was the crocodile and he started to wrestle the crocodile on.

Speaker 6 (15:17):
The floor and that turned into that we won't talk about,
but I want to talk about real quick before we
get back to that. So the owner of this Cajun
joint bo Weevils was a uh Korean Cajun named Pete Okay.
And Pete would come like we would go there for
lunch and dinner. He was at lunch, we're working. He'd
bring a couple of beers and sit on the table

(15:37):
and I say, Pete, we're working.

Speaker 3 (15:39):
We didn't order that.

Speaker 9 (15:40):
He goes, oh, wrong order, must take care of wrong
order and he would kill both beers just to kill
a drink.

Speaker 1 (15:50):
And Pete all right, no, wait, wait, wait till you
hear what this place is about. So you've made this
space pretty friendly. Now tell me.

Speaker 5 (16:04):
If you'd have pitched this to me, it's unbelievable.

Speaker 1 (16:07):
I would have said to you, Mark, you can't know
it's that's not gonna work. I probably would have I've
been marketing for thirty five years. I would have said,
I'm not sure. Tell everybody what this space is.

Speaker 7 (16:17):
Full man, it's it's it's really it's special. I've never
seen anything like this anywhere, so you're not wrong. It
doesn't make sense, but it doesn't have to.

Speaker 2 (16:25):
It's beautiful.

Speaker 7 (16:26):
We've done it for three and a half years now.
The Monarch is a special place for music, art community.

Speaker 5 (16:30):
That's what we do.

Speaker 7 (16:31):
We don't sell anything there. It's actually a byo space.
It feels like home. It functions like home for artists
in our city and artists coming tune through our backup.

Speaker 2 (16:40):
So it is a it's a bar setting.

Speaker 7 (16:42):
It looks like well the listening room. So there's a
listening room, but there's also rehearsal spaces.

Speaker 2 (16:47):
But you don't sell alcohol.

Speaker 1 (16:50):
I can bring my I can bring my lame six
pack of Michelobultra.

Speaker 5 (16:54):
You can.

Speaker 7 (16:55):
You can bring your own drinks, and you can see
one of your favorite performers in a place feels like
you're best friend's living room. It's up close, it's personal.
It's a listening room, so it's pin drop quiet, listen.
We don't have a sign out front. Most people don't
know we're there, right, We're not recruiting people off the streets.

Speaker 5 (17:11):
Business model.

Speaker 2 (17:14):
This is where we would have jumped in and said, Mark, listen. Okay,
so what is your business model?

Speaker 1 (17:20):
So now now you told me it is a member sustained.

Speaker 2 (17:24):
It's a member sustained. So you have a key. I
have a key.

Speaker 1 (17:27):
So anytime that you have out acts there, I can
just go there or Okay.

Speaker 5 (17:32):
So here's the thing.

Speaker 7 (17:33):
I want the Monarch to exist with the help of
people that want to see a place like this exists
in our city. Those people are members. Members have access
every day from eight am to one am.

Speaker 5 (17:41):
This place is ours. We share it. Man.

Speaker 7 (17:43):
It's a communal it's a coworking space, it's a creative hub,
it's a resource center.

Speaker 5 (17:48):
It's home.

Speaker 3 (17:49):
Okay.

Speaker 7 (17:49):
So upstairs there's a full back line of gear for musicians.
You just come plug and play. There's recording studio, there's
everything you need to be an artist. We we empower
artists because artists empower the rest of us. That's it.

Speaker 5 (18:02):
This place. We inspire, we empower, we connect.

Speaker 7 (18:05):
We give you all the tools that you need so
that you can create, and we let you get to
it now. We also have the only listening room in
the region, the best little listening room this side of
the Mississippi, and you can see Grammy Award winning musicians
that play often for fifty thousand people will come in
and play a show for fifty people. Wow, you're up close,
you're personal, you hear all the stories behind the music.

(18:28):
You hear it's it is one of the most special
musical experiences you ever have. I promise you've never seen
anything like it. I can't wait for you to see
you for a show.

Speaker 2 (18:36):
Artists dig this. They artists dig that.

Speaker 5 (18:38):
It's their favorite.

Speaker 7 (18:39):
It's their favorite, but it's why they got started, you know.
And it feels like home. So it's uh, it's it's
just it's really special. It's hard to explain. It doesn't
make sense to people.

Speaker 2 (18:50):
Yeah, and our brains are all tuned to that's how
does this make sense? And how do you make money?

Speaker 5 (18:56):
And our models community not commerce?

Speaker 10 (19:00):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (19:00):
Wow? Uh? And it's sustained by the members, that's it.
How does and and do you keep it to a.

Speaker 1 (19:05):
Certain number because a lot of places, look, we have
one hundred and fifty members and we stop at that.

Speaker 2 (19:09):
Are you doing that?

Speaker 5 (19:10):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (19:10):
So you know, right now, we've got about two hundred
and eighty monthly members.

Speaker 5 (19:13):
Four hundred is the goal.

Speaker 7 (19:15):
So you know our we're not sustainable, yet we're on
the path to it.

Speaker 5 (19:18):
We're close. I'm working eighty hours a week.

Speaker 6 (19:20):
That was my next question, because you can't go down
to LG and E say I'd like to pay this month's.

Speaker 3 (19:25):
Bill with the yeah, stead of commerce.

Speaker 7 (19:28):
So you know, so I should have I should have
led with this. We're five oh one C three nonprofit organization. Okay, right,
I should I should have led with that.

Speaker 2 (19:36):
Right.

Speaker 7 (19:37):
So, in addition to this kind of co working space
and this creative hub, here's what we do. We provide writing, rehearsal,
performance space to artists in our city every day. We
give them communal tools of the trade, access to professional services.

Speaker 5 (19:49):
We host workshops, educational programs, you name it. And we bring.

Speaker 7 (19:54):
National touring artists from all over the country in typically twice,
two or three times a week. We pair them with
local artists because we want to build and cultivate those
creative connections beyond our city. And man, it's a little
bit of everything. You let yourself in. You can have
a me so as I'm here chatting with you guys.

Speaker 1 (20:10):
Now.

Speaker 7 (20:10):
There are people there hanging out in the listening room
using it like it's a coffee right now, and they're working.
There's people upstairs rehearsing, and there are lessons going on
with kids. There's people hanging out in the backyard in
a hammock. They're playing ping pong.

Speaker 1 (20:22):
Isn't this what Mark Maxwell wanted to do or wants
to do. I think we had somebody else. We had
Mark Maxwell and for Mom's music, and he said he
was very worried. He said a stat that he said
the average age of a person in a band is
fifty eight years old.

Speaker 7 (20:36):
He came to our space recently blew him away. Remington performed.
Remington Maxwell performed at the Monarch. By the way, if
you haven't heard her yet, you need to.

Speaker 5 (20:45):
It's incredible. And he was blown away.

Speaker 1 (20:47):
Yeah, yeah, that's I think that's probably his inspiration. He's
just you're describing the utopia of what he's trying to do.
I just that reminds me, and I said it to him,
that reminds me of Granted Village sixty two, where it's just.

Speaker 7 (21:00):
I've heard it so many times, folks, literally, I've heard
that exact same thing.

Speaker 5 (21:03):
Yeah. Man, we have created a space.

Speaker 7 (21:05):
It is a This is a crucial resource for artists
in our city and an important new destination for artists
from around the country. Folks are coming to Louisville and
doing shows that our space that have never been to
Louisville before. There's one tonight, Corey Brannon is coming up
from Memphis, Tennessee.

Speaker 5 (21:21):
He's going to be performing the Sydney Sled.

Speaker 7 (21:23):
Sydney Sled is one of the most incredibly talented artists
in our city. Amazing songwriter, guitar player, powerhouse vocalist. If
you're free, comes see the show tonight, You'll be blown away.

Speaker 2 (21:33):
I'm not sure I'm cool enough. I'm not sure cool enough.
This seems like the coolest room in the city. I
love that you have signage, and I just love the
whole thing.

Speaker 6 (21:44):
Bad example because they're all spread out everywhere. That's been
some health issues. But is there like reunions with like
Love Sauce and so Bows and some of these great bands.

Speaker 3 (21:54):
That have from the old days, From the old days,
I mean that might be.

Speaker 7 (21:57):
Another man, you know, I tell you a fun story, uh,
speaking to some great bands from Louisville from back in
the day a couple of weeks ago. Earlier this month,
we hosted a record release show for Ellie Ruth, again
one of the most incredibly talented artists in our city.
UH record release show, We do a lot of that
for local artists. At the end of her set, which
was a magical night, packed house, all the things in

(22:18):
the re set, they played a cover of an NRBQ song.
So and I knew the song, but I couldn't place it,
and she mentioned, no, this is an NRVQ song, and
she told the story and she's a younger artist in town.

Speaker 10 (22:32):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (22:32):
Fast forward two weeks later and this was just now.
Two weeks ago had an artist named Robbie Folks who's
a legend in the alt country, in the Ericana world.

Speaker 5 (22:40):
He's been doing it for thirty five years.

Speaker 7 (22:41):
He performed at Monarch a couple of weeks ago, and
his bass player they were on stage and they were
chatting and he's the bass player for NRBQ.

Speaker 5 (22:49):
I was and I was like, wait a minute, you
believe this? And I showed him.

Speaker 7 (22:52):
I showed him a video and let him see a
young band in Louisville covering the song it made his.

Speaker 1 (23:00):
We're outside, but but I want to say, Maddie, our
sales executive, has played at Marnark.

Speaker 3 (23:05):
She said to her dad.

Speaker 6 (23:06):
I think it placed like the Two Sticks, though it's
not really an answer.

Speaker 2 (23:10):
No, Madie, you played here, didn't you?

Speaker 3 (23:12):
A man?

Speaker 5 (23:13):
Have you played at Monarch?

Speaker 3 (23:14):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (23:16):
Oh, very cool, she said, jam sessh. She couldn't say session.

Speaker 3 (23:21):
You know what they give the.

Speaker 6 (23:23):
You know what music class will get less talented kids
like the two sticks.

Speaker 2 (23:27):
Well they can't hurt themselves.

Speaker 3 (23:28):
Two sticks that night, Mark.

Speaker 2 (23:29):
Thank you for How does somebody get a hold of you?

Speaker 8 (23:32):
Uh?

Speaker 5 (23:33):
You can find this at the Monarch Music Dot of work.

Speaker 1 (23:35):
That's it, all right, all right, back after this, we're
gonna take a short break. We'll come back and we'll
wrap this whole thing up from the International Convention Center.
News Radio eight forty WHAS. News Radio eight forty WHAS
broadcasting live from the Kentucky International Center here downtown Louisville,
Kentucky with Canopy.

Speaker 3 (23:54):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (23:54):
This is an organization that gathers other organizations that do
good for the neighborhood.

Speaker 2 (23:59):
That's a simple as I can describe it.

Speaker 1 (24:02):
And we're bringing in a friend of ours that has
had a busy week this week.

Speaker 2 (24:07):
Put your headsets on. I'm already talking about you all.

Speaker 6 (24:10):
So we were swapping picterest recipes data back CEO Kentucky Venues,
busy guy man. First of all, big win for everybody,
including the entire state with Danny Wimber in a ten
year contract.

Speaker 10 (24:25):
Right, Yeah, that's great for Louis. It's grateful comonwealth Kentucky deal. Yeah,
they're great guys to work with it. It is over
four hundred and fifty thousand people. The are two weekends.

Speaker 6 (24:33):
I gotta think that's bigger than Derby now because the
economic impack, it might be the biggest thing that we
have here.

Speaker 2 (24:38):
I don't that's quite a statement.

Speaker 6 (24:40):
That's quite a statement, but but yeah, but think about
that though, man Bourbon to beyond aloud of life. The
people to come through here, the hundreds of thousands and
two weekends, and by the way, they're not here and
they're not taking off on their private lyri jet at
seven o eight. Yeah, they're going to gas stations and
they're staying it for four five, six seven days.

Speaker 10 (25:00):
Right, that's right. And they touched all parts of our community.
Last year we had over one hundred and ten countries
represented on our two properties to know of them, and
probably thirty plus or in here just for the festivals
and sales dwps. So it does have a huge impact
on the economy of the Commonwealth.

Speaker 1 (25:16):
We've been obviously, I've been doing this thirty five years.
I've done shows at the fairgrounds for thirty five years.
Would it be fair to say that the fairgrounds sometimes
have tried to figure out what they were right, Like,
what are we doing at the fairgrounds?

Speaker 10 (25:29):
Right?

Speaker 1 (25:29):
We had U of L basketball for a long time,
we had U of L football, but then Kentucky Kingdom
came in, so we sort of adjusted what you did then.
But now I think this is sort of giving you
a sort of a bigger picture of what the fairgrounds
can sort of do.

Speaker 2 (25:45):
Does that make sense?

Speaker 10 (25:46):
It is And when I agreed to come in this role,
and I'm very pleased, I feel like public service really,
I recognize you've got to take care of your facilities,
you got to take care of your people, or you
can't take care of the clients. And there was lots
of needs to have a plan for the ducky position
c as well as the kick that we are here
in now, wonderful group here today. You have to promote them.

(26:06):
A lot of worse being done. Good of facilities for
the need that's as far, but also to expand in
addition to that having a professional staff team. I'm very
proud of our team. When you have about three hundred
shows a year between your two properties, seven point two
million people coming through both doors for these for two facilities, crazy,
that's a huge impact on the economy. So you want
to do it right. So we'll agree that we'll do it.

(26:28):
We'll bring some private ceentric concepts back in play. Have
a plan. How can we serve our clients. I have
a client advisor committee that gives us a guy. In fact,
they'll be meeting next week, talk about our facilities, talk
about the service, food service, How we can better support
our community so they can grow. We want the existing
clients to stay there but also grow. We look at
the calendar how in fact most people don't realize between

(26:50):
the two weekends and Dannyl Wober presents, we had two
other events at KC in between sandwichos. But that helps
pay the light bill and keep that bit keeps on
business here in Louisville. So most people don't realize this.
So I'm real proud of our staff Tea Matt Johnson's
john just as our chief of staff. He brings a
law of experience to us. Got a really good team.

(27:10):
So we want to do our part, our parts to
help grow the economy of Kentucky.

Speaker 1 (27:13):
Can you be honest about your relationship with Kentucky Kingdom?
Like is that a good relationship and how is that?
Because that's not always been the case, right and it
closed for five.

Speaker 2 (27:23):
Or six years, so Tony, you know the history.

Speaker 10 (27:25):
The current owners are great to work with, the Hershan family,
family of faith. They want to make sure it's very
family friendly. We have the very same goes from security
operations to trying to be an entertainment venue. So I
can't say anything with good things about the Hirshian family
and what they're doing Kentucky Kingdom. They're making a major
investment investment. I view them as great partners. In fact,

(27:47):
we're getting together next week and talking.

Speaker 2 (27:48):
Do you think and.

Speaker 1 (27:49):
I'm sure there was plans before do you think? I
was just reading that and thinking are they building that
roller coaster? Because during that last concert series, one hundred
thousand people went through their doors.

Speaker 2 (28:01):
Do you think those two.

Speaker 1 (28:02):
Are related to where like, you know what, I think
this is going to turn the corner for Kentucky Kingdom
and they're investing more.

Speaker 10 (28:07):
Well, I think they had a log range plan. This
is probably be on the drawing board to do this
change with their equipment out there. You invest so much
every year. Every piece of equipment comes down, get sweet
tweeked checked out for safety, put back up, and look
into ways to be competitive, so they're always looking for
new There may have been a connection of that, but
that would probably happen anyway.

Speaker 1 (28:25):
Yeah, hotels, I know that you have plans of a
little circuit to connect the hotels to the fair grounds
right the underground tunnel.

Speaker 10 (28:35):
Yeah, we've been proposing that looking at that. You know,
we have clients use in both of these properties and
that's critical. We've got to have the hotels, you've got
to have the you've got to have the restaurants. You
got to have the meeting space for athletics, for conferences,
for entertainment. So we're looking at how we can get
that together. Unfortunately, when I first got in this row,
I said, we've got to address transportation. A few people

(28:57):
say well, add a few more shuttles down on four Street.
Well that's good, but that does to connect the airport.

Speaker 2 (29:02):
How can we never build a hotel on property.

Speaker 10 (29:04):
Well, that's been looked at. It hasn't a pass. It's
still on the drawing board. Once we get an overall
plan in place, we'll evaluate that whether that's important to
do that too. A lot of clients a lot to
have a headquarters hotel. They're connected to the south every honor.

Speaker 6 (29:17):
He is David Back. He's the CEO of Kentucky Venues.
If you ask me if there are all these hotels downtown,
he's the reason that they stay full of David Back.

Speaker 2 (29:27):
See it before you go.

Speaker 1 (29:28):
Obviously, Tuesday night was pretty rough, and it's right next
to your place.

Speaker 10 (29:32):
Your thoughts, Well, I was driving back from the South
Dakota Monday evening and got back to kuc about midnight tuesanight,
and Tony, I want to compliment you. Listening to you
on the radio getting those updates. I was on the
phone with the chief of staff, talk with our security people,
our management people. We had clients moving in and then
getting ready, so we just encouraged everybody to shelter in place.

(29:53):
Follow the rules. Do our part. We on the phone.
This one of the airport. We're partners. Anything we can
do is as porter of neighbors. We're gonna try to
do that. Won't say this. We're very blessed this community
to hell the first responders and Rson where we could
we don't we take that for granted. We see them
day after theay do the impossible. It's probably blessed to
have them here in Louisville, Kentucky.

Speaker 2 (30:15):
Can you see you man, what a great day.

Speaker 3 (30:18):
Gun Co see us.

Speaker 6 (30:21):
Next Thursday we broadcast live k Y gun Ca is
back Open Baby on behalf of Tony Bennetti, John Aubn
It's Dwight Whitt and saying

Speaker 3 (30:32):
Sayonara and I love you Mom.