10 months gone. New shop, no sign. Sparkle managers. Avatar understanding. 86 pepperoni. Honyakers. We’re back.
NEED TO KNOW:
Flat Out Friday: Feb 21
Mama Tried: Feb 22-23
Raffle bike: 2017 Low Rider S by Matt OBC $30 at https://mamatriedshow.com/pages/giveaway-bike
Races Info
https://flatoutfriday.com/pages/register-to-race
Goofball class “bounty”: pitch your build idea, potentially get $1k in****************@***il.com
Partner code on flatoutfriday.com 20% off, bypasses Ticketmaster
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THE REUNION EPISODE:
Recording in Warren’s new shop
the $4,000 shovelhead on Facebook Marketplace
25 pull-ups worth of core strength
no sign, just vibes
notebook aint full, still 100 things to do daily
can’t make enough bacon
86 pepperoni
“Sparkle manager”
“Avatar understanding”
Honyaker
YouTube democratizing the skills
“Grinder, drill, stick welder, you can make some shit”
Follow Matt – https://www.instagram.com/matt_obc/
Or – WATCH the show on our YouTubes
Full Transcript
Jeremy: Had this sickness two months ago maybe with my kid. Me and him keep giving it back to each other. Well, we give it to each other at the same time. It’s tough. It’s the one where you can’t breathe through your nose. So when you wake up in the middle of the night, your tongue is stuck to the roof of your mouth.
Warren: Oh, it’s the worst.
Jeremy: Had to sleep on the couch for two nights in a row. Miss the gym. Let’s counter that one though. Warren, what’s your favorite sickness?
Warren: My favorite sickness?
Jeremy: Yes.
Warren: I think just my day-to-day is my favorite sickness.
Jeremy: Whoa.
Warren: My mental health.
Scott: Bold philosophies. Light hangover.
Warren: Oh, you know, that one will be gone by the end of the day. I have — I feel like entering my 40s, I just have a permanent hangover.
Scott: Whoa.
Warren: A hangover. Yeah, like my focus in my—
Scott: I think you feel like a fucking teenager. Let’s be honest here, Warren. I think you’re crusting into your 40s here. Let’s not underell the—
Warren: I think it’s midlife crisis or I’m cresting.
Scott: That’s the same thing. It’s a nice way to say midlife crisis.
Warren: Yeah. I think midlife crisis is — is it still a thing? I don’t know.
Jeremy: Wait, how old are you?
Warren: 44.
Jeremy: That’s definitely midlife.
Warren: Yeah, for sure.
Scott: Yeah. I would have thought 40 was midlife. Yeah.
Warren: Although 80 is the new 90.
Scott: 90 is the new 80. Yeah.
Warren: Well, when you’re a kid, 26 is midlife, right?
Scott: Right. Exactly. Yeah. I would see photos or videos of dudes like driving around in a fucking yellow Corvette, you know? But they’re 33 with them gloves, no knuckles and being all bummed because they’re already divorced and thinking life’s over.
Warren: Yeah. They haven’t even been able to live yet. But now it’s yeah. I think 40s or 50s is young.
Scott: Yeah. Is still a lot.
Jeremy: And Warren, you work out. You’re in great shape. You — I’m gonna make a bold statement. You’re in as good shape as you were in your 20s. Is that fair?
Warren: I’m in better shape than I was in my 20s.
Jeremy: Better shape. Yeah. But you still feel sick all the time.
Warren: No. When I was saying — when I say I feel like life is a hangover in my 40s like, you know, maybe it’s because I have 27 more pounds of shit in my bag that I’m trying to keep up with and my brain is not — it’s like — but because the kids and the shop and the show and yeah, there’s a lot going on. So maybe it’s that.
Scott: Yeah. I noticed a rapid emotional and intellectual decline since I hit 50.
Warren: Yeah. Just like fuck it or—
Scott: No, just remembering.
Jeremy: Supposed to swear in this. Are we just remembering?
Scott: Just remembering.
Jeremy: Are we — where are we going the first seven minutes.
Warren: Okay. Well, is this where are we going? Do we start then?
Jeremy: This is Warren’s corner.
Warren: Warren’s corner.
Scott: Philosophical. Yeah. World headquarters.
Jeremy: Warren’s quarter. This place is going to be great in the summer.
Warren: Yeah. Well, let me give some context here. Let me give some context. We’ve been out for a while.
Scott: Yeah.
Warren: Flatout Friday Mama Tried team has been out for a while. In fact, correct me if I’m wrong if we go through a timeline. We did one podcast last year and prior to that, we had interviewed my sister and that podcast got corrupted.
Scott: Really?
Warren: And so, it’s been — I’m going to guess 18 months since we’ve come on. Since one of these has been released.
Scott: Did the one that we did at your shop when you were moving out — that was that one released?
Warren: I think so.
Scott: Doesn’t matter.
Warren: Doesn’t matter. No idea.
Scott: Not my — it was a long time ago.
Warren: All right. So, I’m starting this new podcast. I’m clapping it up here for Warren’s new shop. We’re finally here in our new space.
Jeremy: Our new live studio audience. It’s really great to be here in this — done.
Scott: We should reintroduce it after it’s all redone. We just kind of—
Warren: Well, yeah. This is slapped together, but it’s still very nice. The lighting in here is great.
Scott: Very nice.
Warren: Bang up job here, Brian. Thank you so much.
Jeremy: Thank you to our producer.
Warren: Yeah, with the assist from Scrapper Dan.
Scott: Oh, perfect.
Jeremy: Scrap it in. Put him on these closing credits.
Scott: Yeah. Thank you. The award. There you go.
Warren: Well, I’m going to — I — we were just talking. We don’t want our podcast to be the same as us. I’m making a bold statement and I’ve already said bold statement many times already today in this podcast and I said I wouldn’t.
Scott: What if we had — what if we had one of those jars, Jeremy, or like one of those games?
Warren: That’s not a terrible idea.
Scott: And you could just pick a card and like talk about the topic. That’s not a bad idea.
Warren: 10 months.
Scott: 10 months.
Warren: Yeah, that’s that’s too much. That’s pretty long. Okay. There’s been a lot — there’s been a few things going on, but we have a new energy and I’m feeling it because we are committed to making an entertaining weekly podcast. Is that fair? Are we committed to doing this weekly?
Jeremy: Am I wearing a silly hat?
Warren: Yeah. Yeah.
Scott: What’s up with that hat?
Jeremy: Grinch hat. Sorry. Is that appropriate or should I—
Scott: I think you should probably put the hat back on.
Jeremy: Okay. Rough crowd. Okay. I forgot it’s the holiday. And teaching during the holidays is really a special time.
Warren: It’s like special meaning heart.
Jeremy: No, you have another family, you know, you have another family. You have all of your family on Christmas and then you have your school teaching family.
Warren: Sure.
Jeremy: And for many kids, this is the family. This is their Christmas.
Warren: Really?
Jeremy: Right. Yeah. So dressing up like Scrooge and giving out Scrooge hats was very special for them.
Warren: Is this your last week of — or do you have class? Do you have class next week?
Jeremy: I have two weeks off.
Warren: Really? Two full weeks off when?
Jeremy: As of this Friday.
Warren: How much of that two weeks is scheduled?
Jeremy: Let me say though real quick that teachers, by the way, we only get paid for nine days or paychecks. The one day goes into a savings account to pay for times where I’m off for spring break and Christmas.
Warren: Okay.
Jeremy: Just so you know, I don’t want any — I know it’s a guilty pleasure, but I’m still a working stiff like most folks.
Warren: We can all be teachers, too, you know.
Jeremy: But I was going somewhere and where I was going was we are committed to doing an entertaining podcast and us three together. My bold question was, have we dug to the bottom of the mine of Warren, Scott, and Jeremy together? Is there anything left that we can talk about? Is there anything left?
Warren: There’s plenty to talk about. I think most people probably have no idea like besides being the faces of the show and the race like what we do in regular life.
Jeremy: I was gonna say I would like to talk about you — you’re a restaurant — you run a restaurant.
Warren: I do.
Jeremy: And with your kids and I would like to — I am genuinely interested in the menus that you’re putting out especially during the holiday week.
Warren: Okay. All right. Well, I really appreciate that. It’s a guilty pleasure to talk about my job. I’d really like you guys to come check it out.
Scott: I know. I want to come there. I want to come there and have lunch because it’s not only is it cheap, but you can—
Warren: Oh, nice. You can do that and it is super cheap.
Jeremy: So to put things in perspective for those of you that don’t know, I’m a special education teacher and I teach students inside a commercial kitchen inside the teacher training center. So teachers come from around the district. Maybe the math department from all the high schools or all the elementary schools have to come there and learn a new math program and then they come and they see my breakfast and lunch menu.
Warren: How many seats are in this cafeteria?
Jeremy: Well, people usually don’t sit in the cafeteria and eat. They usually go back to the training center and they grab a quick meal. I try to keep all the meals $5.
Warren: Okay.
Jeremy: And I just adjust my portion size.
Warren: That’s — you get — so you get like this much.
Jeremy: Well, it depends on what it is. I’m making a joke. But yes, if you were to get the fish, which is tomorrow, it’s very small. Fish is expensive right now. Cod, like a — it’s a fish sandwich. It’s a baked fish with green beans and French fries for $5.
Warren: Oh.
Jeremy: And sodas are a dollar. I teach a classroom, so I’ve got two — one crew comes in. They take Ubers basically. They take Ubers and they come — of a wide variety of disabilities. So, one’s, you know, one in a wheelchair, one’s non-verbal and uses a board. “Mr. Jeremy, hello. How are you?” You know, and we run a real commercial kitchen. Today was our busiest day of the year. And they felt the heat. They felt the pressure. I thought I trained them really well.
Warren: Why was today the busiest day of the year?
Jeremy: We had a field trip. We had 40 students from another high school come in as a field trip to see it.
Warren: Wow.
Jeremy: To see our kitchen. Yep.
Scott: Nice.
Jeremy: And what was on the menu today? For breakfast, we had French toast, eggs, breakfast potatoes, and bacon.
Warren: Okay, here’s another — I like these questions. What about — so, if you didn’t want to get what’s on special, is there an actual like cafeteria buffet that you can select other things or is just what you have?
Jeremy: That’s okay. So, I do a salad bar Tuesday through Friday.
Warren: Okay.
Jeremy: Because I need Monday to go to the store and buy it, right? I walk to Aldi’s next door and I buy — and I try to keep — I try to keep — everything’s a rhythm because once I teach a student I make them the manager of that.
Warren: Okay. So you are — your salad bar manager.
Jeremy: Yeah.
Warren: How — what’s going — so do people — do your students — do they switch around like once you know they’re — one week they’re on the cold line, the next week they’re doing prep, next week they’re on the—
Jeremy: I try to have them do the same because it takes that long to learn the nuance of how to do it. We talk constantly about sparkle. So my person that serves, “How’s your sparkle level today? What’s your level of service?” And I try to hype them up and, “All right, you are sparkle manager. Let’s get it going. Hey dish manager, I’m so glad you came in today. Let’s knock out these dishes. If you ever get behind, you let me know how I can help,” as opposed — and I build them up to be like, “This is my dish area. What are you doing in my dish area?” Other places to own it — and I’ve heard about switching. I just don’t feel that it’s — they just don’t own it. They just don’t want to do it. There’s a hundred reasons why an adolescent particularly with a disability wouldn’t want to work. You know, “I’m tired. I’m sick.” I hear it all the time. But motivating them and making them managers and supporting them has been, I think, very successful.
Warren: That’s awesome. Yeah, with kids.
Jeremy: And so, real quick, we had a really busy day today. We had — we also had pizzas today. $5 for a half pizza, $7 for a large.
Warren: Wow.
Jeremy: And we sold a substantial amount. I try to make $160 a day. We like, you know, six times that today. It was really impressive.
Warren: Do you — so, you buy — do you guys make your own crust? I mean, your own dough and—
Jeremy: Yep. Yep. I try to do a difference between homemade and Sysco. I use — do very little deep fried of anything, but I do buy Sysco crusts.
Warren: Yeah. Sysco, for those not listening, nationally would be like a wholesaler. Milwaukee Public Schools has a contract with them, so I can order through them and they deliver to the space. But unfortunately, if I need celery, I get 50 pounds of celery, right? So that’s why I go next door and buy my produce fresh from Aldi’s.
Scott: What sort of — you got any sort of the boundary peripheral toppings for your pizzas or is it just like pepperoni?
Jeremy: Okay. Well, I found that — oh, you should do this. If you ask anybody, if anybody came down here and asked their favorite toppings for pizzas, people like to brag that they like the wide parameters. I’ve tried those. They don’t even work. Pepperoni, vegetarian, and supreme. Sausage barely sells.
Scott: Really?
Jeremy: Yeah.
Scott: Sausage, mushroom, onion. I feel like that’s the Milwaukee pizza.
Warren: Pork is a weird thing.
Scott: Oh, that’s right. Although nobody eats pork, but everybody eats bacon.
Jeremy: Right.
Scott: Yeah. Everyone’s like, “I don’t eat pork” until there’s bacon.
Jeremy: I can’t make enough bacon. I can’t make enough bacon. People buy it. 50 cents a strip. So, they buy a ton of it. I appreciate talking about it and I’ve become a good leader. I think I’ve been a great kitchen manager and I really enjoy coming to work. Although, today pizza day, the pizza oven wouldn’t light. I had to take out the thermocouple.
Warren: Thermocouple.
Jeremy: Yeah. Take it out, sand it. You know, in the meantime, I’m still Mr. Jeremy the teacher. The bus is late and pressure’s on. The pressure is still on. I’m still in there. A little 8 foot wide pizza oven.
Warren: Yeah. Probably six foot wide.
Jeremy: Yeah. 5 feet wide. Yeah. And I was cranking with a peel. Cranking them out, you know. “All right. We need more vegetarian.” And I’m trying to create this stress even though, you know, they’re just putting the sauce on like this fast. You know what I mean?
Scott: Yeah.
Jeremy: And you’re trying to give that vibe of like we’re in the weeds. Constantly. Yep. “You have 86 pepperoni” — trying to create this constant stress and always further being hands more and more hands off, right? And to the point where I’m drinking coffee — it’s never happened. But you know, that’s still that. And by the way, I have four assistants and they’re a wonderful team if they’re if they happen to be listening to this. But managing adults is far harder than dealing with the kids. I have four women and I’m not a sexist. I would believe I empower women, but women have a different way or a unique way of communicating that excludes myself. And they have — what’s the movie with the woman, the man that lives in these blue and he lives in his mind in a fake world.
Warren: Avatar.
Jeremy: Yes. These women have an avatar understanding that I’m not privy to. And anyway, so that could make it difficult, but yes, that is what my day-to-day is — is I do run this kitchen and I’ve never been happier as a teacher. Just real quick, you know, I do have a masters in behavior management. We bring this joke up, but I’m telling you just a quick story and then we’re summarizing, we’re going to conclude the point on Jeremy because we’re already half hour into it.
Warren: What — one hour podcast?
Jeremy: So we have a meeting of all of the people like myself. So I happen to be at this commercial kitchen. Some people maybe are at Outpost grocery store and that’s their classroom. Students come to the Outpost. Let’s imagine if you had a team of students that came here to JR’s Cycle Products and you put them to work for three hours a day. They left and then another five, six students came and you put them to work and then you had an MPS representative here to meet and greet them and you just would give them a list of jobs. We have those all over the city at the Outpost. Boston Store was a big one. A lot of hospitals. Veterans Hospital I was at for a number of years.
Warren: Okay.
Jeremy: Well, it comes time to what we call the draft. That means that students from around the city apply to be in our program. Then we sort them out. “Jimmy is in a wheelchair. Billy is blind,” and people — we pick them. “I’ll take them.” Whenever someone would stand up and say, “Hey, I have Susie here from my high school and she’s chronically steals. She swears. She has verbal outbursts and become violent.” Everybody looks to me and it’s become almost just a joke. “Give them to the Proc.”
Warren: And I pride myself — for one, believing in public education that everybody has a right to be in my classroom. And I really pride myself in being able to take this unbelievably disadvantaged situation and making productive food in a kitchen every day. I’ve never had a better semester in my teaching career than just this past one. And my crop coming up is even more difficult. And I’m excited about it.
Warren: Oh, so you get a new batch of students every semester.
Jeremy: Every semester, correct.
Warren: Wow.
Jeremy: I’ll get 16 kids — 8 in the morning, 8 in the afternoon.
Warren: Yeah.
Jeremy: And I’ll — so in the kitchen again and they’ll be in the kitchen. Same thing. And I’ll run the same menu. You asked me earlier what my menu was and I’m done talking about because it’s such a guilty pleasure. Thanks for listening.
Warren: Oh, this is great. I love it.
Jeremy: Is — you know, I don’t sell like if I were to open a can of spaghetti sauce, those kinds of cans. I might not even sell a full can of spaghetti sauce. So then what am I going to do the next day and the next couple days to use spaghetti sauce? I can make chili out of it. I can make pizza sauce out of it. You know, so whenever I have baked chicken, the next day or the next couple days is always chicken pot pie. We pull the bones off the chicken. So that’s what my menu is — is constantly reconstituting leftovers, trying to be efficient.
Warren: Is that one of the big things that you learned — the food service part of it — is like trying to reuse and — and — well, not reuse but take advantage of ingredients.
Jeremy: Yeah. Bringing it back to you. So, I’m trying to make $160 a day with free labor, free rent, free insurance. I’m just trying to sell $160 a day to cover my food costs and my coffee costs and my popcorn costs. Those are my big sellers. Coffee and popcorn. And already making $160 a day is a struggle. So, I learned that you can’t buy processed soups. If you use homemade soups every day — soups is $4 a cup and I sell 10 cups.
Warren: I can turn it into scrap. You’re making soup out of scrap.
Jeremy: Isn’t that what soup is?
Warren: Yeah.
Jeremy: I got a book on the philosophy of soup. And I think soup in a French form, if you take it back, is like kitchen scraps. Whatever is leftovers in the pot at the end of the day.
Warren: Yeah. Yeah.
Scott: All right. Well, I love it. Keep me updated on that. I’d love to share that with you.
Jeremy: All right. You’re supposed to keep us updated on—
Scott: I will keep you updated.
Jeremy: Why don’t we — I think that I wouldn’t mind seeing one post a week of the Proc menu on the Flat Out Friday Instagram.
Warren: I — you know, every time you send it to me in our chats, I’m just like, “Dude, that sounds so good. What — I can’t come in on Thursday.”
Jeremy: But sometimes I knock it. Sometimes I crush it. A couple times I stumble and I’ve learned to be really good. Now, there’s no doubt that I serve an African-American community and I’ve learned to cook to that taste and I think I’m really good at it. That bold statement. I’m making a bold statement if I can make one more. I’ve never felt more objectively sexified. Is that a thing?
Warren: Okay.
Jeremy: Then to the people, the women that I serve, when I make them my Thanksgiving meal, I can just feel the twinkle like, “Okay, okay, Mr. Johnson.” Okay, that was a good cake.
Warren: But I’m married.
Jeremy: Everybody wants to feel wanted.
Warren: All right. Yeah. Oh, yeah, maybe that’s part of it. Maybe that’s why I keep doing what I’m doing.
Scott: What about the year — wasn’t there a year when you put raisins in the stuffing?
Jeremy: I did put raisins. I did put raisins in the stuffing.
Warren: We have the three musketeers here. Off to work they go. The oldest combined demolition crew age.
Jeremy: We have a — way to the three dwarfs. You have to come down.
Warren: Yeah, you have to come through here. Yeah. Unfortunately.
Jeremy: Well, that’s a great segue because I appreciate you guys letting me talk about my job. It means a lot to me. I love teaching and I love organizing and so I was meant to be a teacher — bold statement — I was meant to do Flat Out Friday, right, in that sense. But that’s why Flat Out Friday is so unique. All right, I appreciate that but I wanted this to be about Warren and his new shop. And you know, Warren, I guess — why did it take 18 months or a year to get to—
Warren: 10 months.
Jeremy: 10 months to get—
Warren: Well, you were moving — counting — I’ve only been moving since March.
Jeremy: Really? You started moving in March?
Warren: Yeah.
Jeremy: Holy. Tell me — tell us about this building. You know, why you bought this building? What’s going on here?
Warren: Oh, because I thought I was going to get booted out of the building I was renting and that like put a big shock to my system.
Jeremy: Wait, you thought it was going to be — what’d you say?
Warren: I thought it was going to get booted.
Jeremy: Oh, yeah. Yep.
Warren: Yeah. Like after it got sold, right?
Scott: Yeah.
Warren: It was put up for sale and then had an accepted offer and then they came to me. He’s like, “Hey, by the way, you might potentially have 90 days to get out.” I was like, “Oh.” Real life kind of hit me and I decided to start looking. Ultimately, that building never sold so I could be there still. But I found this one and it was like finding a $4,000 shovelhead on Facebook Marketplace.
Jeremy: So you’re happy with this place?
Warren: Yeah. I only say that because there’s a lot of work that needs to be done. That’s what I’m good at.
Jeremy: Well, there’s a lot of work has been done.
Warren: Yeah. I mean, when the first time I came over here, I was like, “Dude, really?” Because you were like, “Yeah, then we’re going to take this down and we’re going to make like this go like this because we can’t get the forklift in. So, we’re going to lift this. We’re going to lower the floor and we’re going to—” And I was like, “I’m really — cuz that seems like — couldn’t you just build a new building like right next to it to do that thing?” But you crushed it, man. Looks great.
Warren: Yeah, it’s going good. I’m in the transition — well, and my plan is working. I’m just tired. I’m smoked, you know. But, bringing Mama Tried through and having all that excitement in hand, it kind of gets me going again. And we made some milestones and opened up some walls and made some visual progress. That always helps. It’s like building a chopper.
Jeremy: Yeah, you guys have done a lot of work. I mean, and I guess it’s like every project is overwhelmingly huge when you first — right before you start. It’s just like how do you eat an elephant — like one fork at a time, one bite at a time.
Warren: Well, I constantly have to tell myself that cuz I get really anxious and I just want shit to be done now and I want it done now, you know? But certain things had to come before other things, right? Like you had to get the fab shop part of it.
Jeremy: Yeah. I mean, we electrified and lit and cleaned out and insulated. The whole place down, shut down business. Like you need money to be able to pay for what I’m doing because I’m obviously spending more than what I anticipated. So, we — I put together a crew and we demoed where the weld shop is now and got that all — put light in — light and electric and then I think we moved the weld shop ultimately about three days. So, they were down Wednesday and then back up working Monday. So we did a lot of planning there to make sure that that was good. And they’ve obviously been great as a crew because been working around them in circles, but it’s annoying to have to be in a temporary situation. But I try to make sure that it’s as easy for them as possible. I’ll bear the stress and, you know, just give them a place to work. And so far, it’s been good. And everybody’s been great. And poor Jake’s put — bear the brunt of all of the most of the demolition. He’s really good at that kind of stuff. And he’s young and strong and yeah, dude’s cut. He can do 25 pull-ups over there. So like swinging around a hammer isn’t that big a deal.
Jeremy: I know. When we came in, he was up on that lift using a 4-foot crowbar to knock holes in the ceiling by leaning forward. It was like basically doing ab workout backwards.
Warren: Yeah, exactly. And this place used to be — it started out as a food processing facility. So the floor, the ceiling, the walls have like a 4-inch subway tile and then 12 inches of wood that are filled with redwood fibrous material for insulation. And then it goes to another cinder block wall. So, it’s like a big jacket and we’ve had to tear off that. They’re doing that on the ceiling right now, which is just murderous work. It’s just dirty. The stuff just turns into dust and it kind of turns into like snuff, you know, tobacco snuff. So, you just get it in your—
Jeremy: There’s not much of that left to do, but it’s hard work. Him and Frasier are up there right now toiling away.
Warren: Do you think owning the building, you know, changes things philosophically?
Jeremy: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it’s — in the long run, this is going to be really good for me and I think for Mama Tried and Flat Out Friday and the crew. Short term, it’s not very good for me, but I just need to stay positive and keep pushing and I’ll get through it. I’ve already see like spring’s going to be — spring’s going to be pretty awesome, I think, around here.
Scott: As long as I’ve known you, I don’t think this to be the lowest or saddest time or the most stressed time I’ve been around you. And that’s a compliment because I see the stress you’re living in. You have this shop. You have — I don’t think I’ve ever seen more motorcycles coming through here being refurbished.
Warren: Well, that’s a big thanks to Matt. I mean, it’s hard to keep up with that little dude.
Scott: Yeah, he crushes it.
Warren: That’s a whole another thing — is like I’m renovating a building and keeping the bike shop running and keeping the weld shop running and keeping Mama Tried running, Flat Out Friday and my family and then you start stacking all that stuff on top of each other. It gets to be a lot.
Scott: Yeah.
Warren: But we keep doing it. We are our own punishment. We are a glutton for punch. Everybody in this room — gets to the — what is the weakest branch on this tree? That’s the one I’m going to go the farthest out on.
Scott: Right.
Warren: Yeah. That’s — I mean, that’s why we are attracted to each other, I think, you know, and keep pushing because we see that in each other and I don’t know any other way, honestly. And if I find myself bored, I’m like, “What can I tear down? What can I build? What can I buy to flip? What can I — whatever, you know? Where am I going with my family?” Lots of — my brain just goes that way.
Scott: Yeah. Not once through this transition have you ever taken a timeout, you know? That’s ultimately a compliment as well.
Warren: Well, thanks. Someday we’ll do a tour maybe. I don’t know. Because I don’t know — I don’t even know if you want to mention this on a podcast, but you said that you never wanted the kind of place that had a sign on the outside. You never really wanted it to be public.
Jeremy: Yeah. I don’t — I was raised in a retail establishment with my dad. His shop was retail and I couldn’t stand it. Not that I didn’t like the people, but the constant — it’s hard to get work done. Like if I had a door and a sign and people walking in, all my guys would just — we would lose 20% a week easily. And I don’t have a reason to be retail or have a door like that. I don’t even — I really don’t want to put a sign up and I probably won’t outside. I’ll decorate everything inside. So when you walk in, it’s like, you know, it’s something.
Warren: It’s great that you would just drive right past this place and not even realize that there was anything happening.
Jeremy: That’s what — that’s great. Urban camouflage. I’ll go out there and make sure that the yard is mowed and you know the place is painted and everything’s good. I’ll slowly make it nicer, but I don’t think there’s a need to put a big sign up out there.
Warren: No. And you have enough of your hacker friends.
Scott: Our hacker friends.
Warren: What was the word you — stopping by?
Scott: What’s your — what’s the word?
Warren: Hackers.
Jeremy: Can we make this part of the podcast when Scott says a word like this?
Scott: That’s what I’m saying.
Warren: Never a word I’ve never heard before.
Scott: Brian, have you heard this word before on this? I got — I don’t have — what I don’t have you on this one. By context I know what you’re saying — by context.
Warren: Honyacker — like wild hairs.
Scott: Is it—
Warren: Honyackers. Honyackers. Yeah, it’s like your — you’re dudes, you know, like you’re—
Jeremy: Okay. Can we work this in? There’s a Scott — we don’t know when it’s going to happen. Sometime when Scott’s talking there’s an alert and there’s like a bubble — honyacker.
Scott: Yes, it is honyacker, proper definition. How long have you guys live — this is like that’s the most quintessentially Wisconsin word.
Warren: Okay. I don’t know where you’re living.
Scott: I know.
Warren: Yeah. Let’s come back to that.
Jeremy: Well, that’s another great transition here to you, Scott. I’m going to make a bold statement.
Scott: Oh my god.
Warren: Yeah. I think we need to put — get a jar.
Jeremy: Okay. I’m making a statement. And when I say that, I say I want you to tell me I’m wrong. And here is — over the last year, you were going through a bit of a retirement. The details are irrelevant, but I think finally now you’ve shed whatever life you were living and retirement looks good on you. Is that fair?
Scott: Mhm.
Jeremy: Tell me I’m wrong about that if I’m—
Scott: No, it’s great. I mean, I love it. Pace-wise, I don’t really recognize the difference between my regular life before and this. I don’t have as many things. My notebook doesn’t fill up as fast. I don’t — like whereas before — I mean, you guys know how this is — like you know on your day-to-day there’s 20 things that get added to your list, right? If you get to five of them, maybe eight, that was a pretty successful day. And the rest of them, the other 12 just sort of — either they get rolled over for the next day or they, you know, sometimes they just — you have to — like you’ll get a lull and you’ll go back and like, “God, what was — ” like you’ll start looking through your list of like months ago and you’re like, “Oh my god, that one deferred maintenance thing I really need to get to that.” Anyway, I don’t have those kind of lists anymore. Like my lists are long enough to — I can get things done. But we were just talking about it as I was coming here. It’s like — and I wake up in the morning and hit the ground running. There’s 100 things to do every day. I’m busy. I don’t — I really, really, really don’t understand the people who like retire and they’re like, “I got nothing to do.”
Warren: Yeah. I mean, I understand it — like I — you know, I have a home, I have a shop, you know, I have all kinds of projects. So, it’s like, and I’m, you know, if I stopped adding new projects today, the projects that I have could carry me through my dying days.
Scott: I agree.
Warren: But I keep adding stuff because that’s just what we do.
Scott: And yeah, so I’m very happy. Very happy.
Jeremy: I found that making lists in a slightly different way is more rewarding — as opposed to “renovate shop.” Well, that’s not something you can check off.
Scott: No, that’s the first — that’s like the title that you circle and then you bullet point below that and then you drop arrows—
Jeremy: And even “make dinner.” I’ll put “boil water, add pasta.”
Scott: So now it’s super successful. Look at everything I did today.
Jeremy: “Shave” — “shave” on there.
Scott: Yeah.
Warren: Okay. How are we doing on time? 5:30. Okay. Well, can we — have we — we are heading to me — Christmas and Mama Tried is a season. It’s all together. We’ve been doing — I’ve been doing this 10 years. You a little longer. Santa Claus and black metal and mustaches and black shirts are all kind of mixed in with tinsel and — yeah, we are at December 16th right now, right? Just for the folks at home.
Scott: Yeah, it’s December — is it December 16th?
Warren: 17th.
Scott: 17th and we’re — we have some things coming up. We have a show. We’ve got all of the things that we need to do. I’m sure we’ve done this podcast as long — we’ve mentioned this as long as we’ve been doing this podcast of what’s going on and what’s new. I — for one — want things to not be new. I would really like Flat Out Friday to be less wild than the punk band in the lobby and it is quite a bit less. I mean, if you look back at what we — how we used to get down—
Warren: Yes.
Scott: —and all of the wild things and I can’t even believe — much like you, Scott — and I can’t believe looking back why would I do all of those things and run the race and maybe many times some things — some details from the race were sacrificed because I’m running to get a PA cord for the band in the lobby, for example. You know what I mean? So I want to just — I want to do Mama Tried as best as I can. I want the event to go well. I want it to be viewed well. I want it to be produced well and I want to sell tickets. Yeah. And I want the consumer to enjoy themselves not only at Flat Out Friday, the parties leading up to it and of course coming on Saturday to the Mama Tried Show and then talking about your experience at the day prior.
Warren: Yeah.
Scott: And I want to do all of those things well. If adding a punk band in there will fit that philosophy, then I will do it. Anyway, this is a chance now for you guys to maybe get ahead of some things that are coming up. What do we mean — go like dates — some dates? You know, I would — let’s hold on to that until we have a little more details. We do know that our events — I’m confirming — are Tuesday through Sunday. What they are are slightly different, but plan to be here on Tuesday.
Warren: Yeah, it’s the — what is it? The week of the 20th of February.
Scott: Yeah, February 20th is a Friday. So it’s 20th, 21, 22 is our — is the overarching weekend is Flat Out Friday and Mama Tried but starting before that — that week leading up to that Friday—
Warren: Tuesday.
Scott: Starting Tuesday is when the band—
Jeremy: I want to say that an official amendment is on the board — is on the books about a Monday event.
Scott: I’m just saying—
Jeremy: What about—
Scott: Yes.
Warren: And so then therefore Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of the week prior would be easy to fill. So just saying — just saying—
Scott: I’ll take it to committee and there could be a song — a holiday song about that.
Warren: Warren, can you talk to me like I’m six and tell me about the raffle bike?
Jeremy: Sure. Sure. We have a Harley-Davidson Low Rider that we dialed up. It’s beautiful. And some paint by Matt who’s working for me in the shop and various parts. Saddlemen — we’ve got Progressive Suspension. It’s a twin shock, right? It’s like a—
Scott: Oh, Legend Suspension.
Jeremy: It’s a 2017 Dyna Low Rider S.
Warren: Was I supposed to have my shit together?
Jeremy: You were supposed to have your shit together. I do know that you can get your tickets and we need help selling it so that we can at least get to even — mamatriedshow.com. They’re 30 bucks, you get a sticker. They’re actually selling relatively decent for how early we are into it. We usually don’t sell most of them until two weeks before the show.
Warren: It’s really cool. I walked past it coming in here and I was like, “Oh shit.” It has like an aura to it.
Jeremy: Yeah. I think it’s beautiful. Everyone that sees it loves it. And you know, it’s a modern bike, so it’s push button, ready to go, easy to do. And, you know, for 30 bucks, you can’t go wrong. Make a, you know, buy some Christmas presents or whatever and toss them out to the family and it goes a long way for us. We only have a few ways to try to pay for what we do. So adding the raffle bike in there has been great. So it does help and it’s, you know — it goes — it’s much appreciated when people buy the tickets and not only just to bring income in, but shows that people like what we do in the shop and are stoked on the bike or whatever, just want to support a local shop or a local show. So yeah, buy tickets — mamatriedshow.com. 30 bucks. Easy peasy.
Warren: Well, you buy stickers, right?
Jeremy: Yeah. Yeah. So you get something. You get something. You don’t just get a ticket, you get a sticker.
Scott: But one thing I think you glossed over just from me as a fan — as a fan of the motorcycle that I also saw when I came in is I think Matt’s story is untold here. Can you just tell us a little bit about why — my point is I would want to buy this bike because I know Matt built it. I trust Matt’s build and I trust Matt’s style. Tell me about Matt.
Jeremy: Matt — yeah, Matt’s gonna be Matt. We should have Matt on the show. Matt is a Brazilian transplant. He’s been in the states for quite some time, but we met him through my Brazilian connection in Sturgis. I believe that was the first time we met him. And he’s just a great all-around dude. He’s — I mean, I should say kid. He’s still pretty young, but very well-versed with motorcycles and life in general. And fit in with the crew really well. And I had caught wind that his employer was letting him go for whatever reason — another motorcycle shop. And I’m like, “Hey, you know, I could use some help for a couple weeks. Why don’t you just fly out and put you to work?” And he never left. And it’s been awesome. I feel like it’s injected a big dose of testosterone or adrenaline into JR Cycle Products and we built so many bikes and have had so much fun and it’s cool seeing him try to carve his life out, you know. He’s making big strides and checking all the boxes to be legitimate and be that American boy and living his dream. It’s pretty inspiring and I’m stoked to have him around.
Warren: Yeah, he’s superseding an American boy. I think he’s an international force.
Jeremy: Yeah, he’s something special and so talented, wise beyond his years. Just a great—
Warren: Can we put his Instagram here? Follow his Instagram because we’ll get him on the next show or a show coming up — @_obc.
Scott: Yeah, OBC.
Warren: Matt OBC.
Jeremy: Hey Scott, I got a couple things I want to mention about Flat Out Friday as in our waning moments here. Is there something — and I ask you, I’ve asked you this every year. I know I’ve asked you this a hundred times. Tell me with some clarity of the new Scott. What do you look forward to during this week, the week, the 10 days of Mama Tried?
Scott: Was I supposed to prepare for this? Is this like a — was I supposed to have something?
Jeremy: No. Just give us something quick. You don’t have to, you know, you don’t got to get spiritual and I’ll come back to it if you want to say something later.
Scott: I feel like it’s the same answer I say every year. You know, we spend the year looking at these motorcycles and seeing stuff that we see online, seeing bikes at other people’s shows, seeing bikes at bars on the interwebs — people, you know, people send them in this — on the submissions. And, you know, a lot of people I’ll know or like you’ll be like, “Hey, I invited this guy that I met. I was riding on Sunday and I was at this bar out in Slinger and met this dude and he had this really sweet panhead and he’s going to come.” So, meeting these people and seeing these motorcycles, it — it’s so — it’s not trite, it’s just like — it’s just a simple idea, but I actually just love it. Just like seeing these people that built these cool bikes and hanging out with them and clinking a beer can and, you know, the glow that surrounds them when they’re talking about something that they did or that they love. That’s how the room gets built. That’s what the vibe of the show is — is like just really awesome people that come and have great personalities and are stoked, you know? And that’s what — and the stoke is so high and I really genuinely love that. I mean, I’m kind of a hermit. You guys know that in my regular, you know, the rest of the year. And so this is — it’s great to just be that social that whole week with a bunch of people that a lot of people that I know, but a lot of people that I have never met before and I really genuinely enjoy that.
Warren: Well, you’ve already have a brand and so you already kind of know if someone’s submitting a motorcycle to your show, they’re already a kind of an elk or a kind of a person, a value system, if you will, or a — you know, I’m sure there’s a better word for it. Scott, you’re the resident vocabularian, if that’s a word. But yes, I can see that you’ve — because you don’t just pick bikes because of how they look. You are also searching for the stories. And so like finally, you get to see the story unfold verbally with an interaction with them, right?
Scott: It’s great to, you know, text or call or email someone about a bike that you saw. It’s really great when the way that they reply — it is just with like so much stoke and you know and they’re like, “Oh man, that’d be great.” You know, and like, “Just tell me when to be there and I’ll, you know, I’ll be there,” and, “Oh,” and they’ll write back like, “Oh, I didn’t know that this dude was coming. We’re going to drive together.” And, “We’re going to bring our wives or we’re going to bring our kids or, you know, we’re going to bring this whole crew of people and we’re gonna rent a house like in this area. Do you know that place?” Like this, you know, like and that — I just love it. The whole thing just starts to snowball and it’s just — it’s such a great thing, you know?
Warren: Yeah. There’s so many more memories made than just the show.
Scott: Yes. And it’s hard because you get to be such good friends with all these people, right? If we’ve done — we’ve done — this will be our 11th year.
Warren: I think it’s 12.
Scott: 12th year. So, and we do 100 builders per year. So, that’s 1,200 people that we know from the show. So, that’s a lot of friends, right? That’s a lot of extra friends besides all the people that we already know, besides the racers from Flat Out Friday. It’s hard to not invite the same people back over and over and over again because you know what you’re going to get, right? You know the quality of the motorcycle. You know the quality of the human that’s going to come. You know the quality of the people that they’re going to bring with them.
Warren: Yeah.
Scott: And the room doesn’t grow.
Warren: Yeah.
Scott: But the room doesn’t grow and you want to bring in new blood because there’s so many new bikes. There’s just — it’s kind of crazy. I’m sure that everyone has felt it, but anecdotally — but like for us since COVID the amount of builders out there who decided that they wanted to build a motorcycle has really just gone through the roof. And the amount of submissions that we get of like really kickass motorcycles has just — it’s gone through the roof. I mean, there’s no end to it. I used to think like, “Man, if we do, you know, if we did 100 bikes a year, you know, for 10 years, God, we’d kind of be scraping the bottom after 10 years, you know.” It’s not even scratched the surface of how much stuff is out there, how much really, really cool stuff is out there. So, it’s — it’s hard to try to bring in — it’s not hard — it’s, you know, there’s a balance. You got to bring in new blood cuz every year needs to be fresh. But there’s also all these other people that are really awesome that you know are going to bring all this value and all this stoke and all these like super excellent vibes. And so every year it’s a balance to try to—
Jeremy: I just want to hone in on just one little part. Do you guys both think that custom motorcycle building is on the rise, is more popular, it’s more attainable? Give me — tell me something.
Scott: I think that COVID gave people time to sit down and figure it out. I think the proliferation of the internet — of Instagram and stuff like that and the tools and all the how-to videos on YouTube really has brought — like if you have a desire to learn how to do something and make something, the tools are out there to learn how to do it. It is daunting, but there’s enough people and knowledge and stuff out there that — and I think that that has really added, right?
Warren: Yeah. I mean, in my world, I’d say that it’s on the rise and it’s gaining, you know, with the Born Frees. Well, Born Free and People’s Choice and People’s Champ and all of that stuff — you — I mean, if you took three or four of them, there’s almost 100 bikes that are just new to the world right there.
Scott: Yeah. I mean, if you — and just — I would love to talk to all the — you know, it’d be great to have a round table with like the Hog Supplies and Throttle Addiction and TC Bros and Lowbrow and Built Well and like all those parts — all the small guys that make parts — are really specific parts — and like and let them talk about what they feel like the vibe of the builder world is because — or and the people that sell tools, you know, that sell shop tools. I just feel like it’s just — it’s just taken off in the quality of the stuff that’s being made. It’s really cool. It’s so good. Really good. And in the personalities of the people that make it, you know? I feel like I was just watching the thing on Instagram how they — I think it’s Robbie Palms. He went through how we made this little cable holder for his handlebars or oil line or whatever, but just he went through the whole process and showed you how to do it. All the molds, all the — just really cool — all the things that exist now that you can see and do yourself if you wanted to try it or — I don’t know. It’s — it’s a lot to take in, but super cool. And you can get to see the, you know, the people in Indonesia who are doing it in flip-flops on an open roof shop, right? Or like just a covered — open walls and just like with a roof with rudimentary tools and building this like amazing, amazing stuff with like, you know, the not even the — you know, just like just rudimentary equipment and just building this beautiful stuff. Not that everyone over there is like that, you know, has that kind of stuff. Like there’s obviously professional shops and stuff like that, but it — what it brings is like, “Hey, if you’ve got a grinder and a drill and even a stick welder, you can make some shit,” you know? And it’s cool. I really love it and I think it’s given that “can do” attitude.
Warren: So, well, that — you got me stoked. Is that a fair feeling? I’m excited, you guys, because I know this all well enough that this was never meant to be anything other than just a motorcycle show in a warehouse. And now there’s a movement. There’s an energy. You could have been on remote control boat racers, you know, or not — maybe I don’t want to offend them if that’s our target audience, but—
Scott: They probably got a bigger scene than we do.
Warren: I’m sure there are plenty of industries or hobbies or niches that are dying or that are, you know, on the down slide or not as popular anymore. Vinyl — even that’s popular, but you know what I’m saying.
Scott: Yeah.
Warren: I’m — I don’t understand the words.
Scott: Anyway, you got me excited listening to you talk about the rise of this and how popular it is. And that’s so much better than you guys scraping the barrel and on the 12th year picking every submission because you only have a hundred submissions. And it’s quite the opposite.
Warren: Yeah, it’s been really hard. And you know, and also I’d like to say that there’s so many more young people that are coming in and — which is — and just adding this new juice to the scene and this new — their tastes are different and you know, the things that they — their references are different and the things that they think are cool are different, but you know, there’s always like those boundaries of like tradition.
Scott: Yeah.
Warren: Have guardrails of tradition, but they can do it. You know, they’re building stuff in different ways and just — it — and that energy is so necessary for any scene to progress and move forward.
Jeremy: Are there any better scenes in motorcycles to do it in?
Warren: Hell no.
Scott: Hell no.
Warren: That’s what I would always say to anybody gives me — ask me about how Mama Tried started. It was when I helped you guys with one of your shows — to see young people be part of this. I just expected to show up and it was a bunch of old crusty coots.
Scott: They’re in there too.
Warren: Oh, I love the crusty coots. In fact, bold statement. I think I’m in the crusty coot. I’m in the crusty side of things.
Scott: The gray beards.
Warren: Yeah. But to see young people with neck tattoos at, you know, 25 years old with into chopper culture, I’d never seen that before you — I came to your show and flat tracking and all that stuff. Ice racing — and it just — it’s so great that it just goes on and on and on. I mean, going to Elwood’s for the calendar thing and just like — it’s not even like a Flat Out Friday event, but like Flat Out Friday has kind of spawned this whole new sub-scene, you know? Like this subculture that’s like this whole another scene that has its energy of its own and their own people and their own traditions and their own — and they’re, you know — they’re operating. They just got this whole world and you’re just like, “Wow, look at all — like, you know, it’s so awesome.”
Scott: Yeah. And they’re — it’s — I loved it. It was just — I mean, of course, I know those people peripherally, but seeing them all like grooving on each other the way that we do when we get together with our friends and like their whole scene, all the inside track things — and man, it was cool as hell. I loved it.
Warren: I like it. I like even going there and being anonymous for the most part. Like there’s a thing going on that I am a fan of and I don’t have to lead and but I’m a part of the energy.
Scott: Yeah. Exactly. Yeah.
Warren: It’s exciting. Well, we got a couple minutes. So, let me just quick talk about Flat Out Friday if I can. Is that okay with you? Is that okay with you? Because I actually — I really appreciate, Scott. I know — I’ve asked you that question many times. I’ve never got a better answer. You’ve never expressed it better than that. The both of you.
Jeremy: All right. We have Flat Out Friday coming up. And you know, Flat Out Friday is a bit of — there — of course there’s tradition, but I have a different — we have a different dilemma with it in the way it’s packaged. Mama Tried should be tradition. I think Flat Out Friday should kind of evolve a little, maybe a little bit more at a faster rate. So anyway, I got to keep things fresh is what I’m trying to say, right? Nothing has been more fresher or burst — boosted a shot of adrenaline into Flat Out Friday than Chicken Rick’s Step Through Scooter class. Have you seen this? Have you seen this? I capped it at 42 and I don’t know how long the wait list is, but this is bananas.
Warren: Really?
Jeremy: And why I bring this up is because just yesterday — how do I fit 42 scooters into a show? I mean, we already have 60 minibikes that we capped at 60.
Warren: Really? You capped it at 60?
Jeremy: I capped it at 60. So, who knows how long that wait list is of people that want to be involved in this. And so — but I don’t want it to be boring for the consumer or for the ticket buyer to watch, you know, 14 heat races of scooters because, hey, that sounds great. There’s a hundred scooters — as Chicken Rick had said online — “Let’s take over the Fiserv.” Well, that’s great. But after three, four scooter races, you know, you got—
Scott: Put 30 of them on the track at—
Jeremy: Well, I got some plans. I got some ideas and I’ll know more about that as I hash that out with production because by the way I just can’t wave a wand and make things happen. You know this from the kids race — from the kids bicycle race — like if that’s not timed right, kids get left out and like, “Jeremy, why don’t you just change it?” Well, because I got to tell the cameraman and the graphics guy and the director and the — you know, the — it’s the communication.
Scott: You should take — you should split them all into a random team so each of them have to ride each other’s scooters and it’s four laps, get off, jump on the other one.
Jeremy: Now, let me tell you this — now, I’m pushing back on that and that’s great. If we were at a bar and we’re having a few drinks, we could make that laugh. But I’m sober right now and I’m telling you that as soon as they put their helmet on, it’s not a scooter race anymore. I mean, “Hey, it’s just a scooter race. Just have fun.” And then they put that helmet on. And you’re like, “Are you the same person?” Right? “Who’s that in that helmet that’s suddenly now serious, complaining about their starting pick, you know, complaining that the light didn’t light and that so-and-so cut them off in turn one.” I’m already predicting all of that. So if I say, “Join each other’s scooters,” that’s bar talk. I’d stand up at the riders meeting and I say that, I’m going to be pelted with tomatoes and oranges.
Scott: Tomatoes and yeah, rotten oranges.
Warren: But aren’t you the one that keeps saying that you like living in chaos?
Jeremy: I do like living in chaos, but you know, we said earlier I like to stay on the weakest, tallest branch and see how far I can bend my relationship with my family, for example. I don’t know how far I can take the riders. Like you can’t disrespect the riders, right? You know, putting balloons out for the boon guys. I did it and they liked it. Okay, we can do that again. But you know what? If I did that for the pro race. “Hey pros, it’s about having fun” and I put balloons out there. You know, it doesn’t translate. So these scooter people, I’m telling you from experience, I just kind of want — the scooter’s enough. Let’s just let that happen because I know people are coming to win and they’re coming to race.
Scott: Did Jonah hard tail that 110 because of — is he in the race? Is that because of data?
Jeremy: I don’t know. I don’t think he — that’s separate — to do it.
Scott: Yeah, it’s awesome.
Jeremy: Yeah, it is cool. I meant to ask him about that when I saw him outside.
Warren: Yeah. Well, let’s stay on the talk of goofball real quick — or on the funny things. And I want to switch to goofball. The goofball submissions this year are really good. Surprisingly good. But I want to add a little juice to that. A little adrenaline. There’s a better word.
Scott: Juice. Adrenaline.
Warren: I want to inject some energy. And I learned from our lawyers, we can’t use the word scholarship.
Scott: Interesting.
Warren: Because scholarship comes with some legal ramifications. So, if we were to offer some money to help people that had some — what did you call it?
Scott: A bounty.
Warren: Bounty. Okay. We are to offer a bounty for our goofball submissions. Meaning I didn’t even clear this with you financially, by the way, because you’re our financial supervisor.
Scott: Sounds like scholarship.
Warren: We — how about this? We have a couple grand. We’d like to incentivize. We have a couple grand fund. We will incentivize your goofball submission. And if you think you’re like, “Hey, I have an idea, but I just need some cash to make that happen,” email me at in**@***********ay.com.
Scott: A set amount, Proc. What are you doing? You’re not just opening the coffers. How much is it?
Warren: Yeah. Wait, what are we talking about here?
Jeremy: You missed the meaning. I didn’t ask you to attend. I just made this up myself. I’m saying that I will offer — we will offer — it’s our money. So, I guess we’re offering it. I just happen to be the one announcing it. We’re announcing a couple grand scholarship, which we can’t use—
Scott: For one person.
Jeremy: Bounty for a couple of people.
Scott: Two people — thousand bucks each. Do you think that’s fair? You think that’s enough?
Jeremy: I think it’s more fair. I think when people submit it, they need to figure out how much money they get. Like that’s what I’m going for.
Scott: Oh, you’re trying to dangle the carrot to increase their—
Jeremy: I want you to work for a thousand bucks. If you think you need a thousand, then ask for a thousand and tell me why.
Scott: Yeah. Is that fair?
Warren: Yeah. The submissions are good. Let’s make them great. So, we could put this money into other purses and other things, but I want to invest a little bit into the goofball class.
Scott: I think that’s great.
Warren: So, let’s see what you can do. Email me at in**@***********ay.com.
Scott: Is that — no, no.
Jeremy: Info.flatoutfriday.
Warren: Email me at in****************@***il.com.
Scott: Correct. Got that?
Warren: Say — we’ll put it on the screen. Put it on the screen.
Jeremy: Okay. All right. Now, we talked about the scooter class and the goofball class. I want to talk about the other end. When I announced that signups were open at the Daily Bird, I mentioned to Brian on camera we were going to add — infuse a little bit more money into the purses — into the hooligan purse, for example. $1,000 into the hooligan purse. That makes the hooligan purse $4,000 — which is the largest hooligan purse I’ve ever seen or heard. And by the way, Flat Out Friday pays different. I don’t even know if you guys know this. Flat Out Friday pays to make the main event because it is so hard to make the main event. If you make the main into the top hooligan class, you get paid $400 now. So all 12 make — you get paid all the way to $400. So it’s a $4,800 purse. A $4,800 purse. So it’s $400 to make the Flat Out Friday hooligan main event. And why that’s that way is just like, “Okay, you guys made it. Now we have 12 of you out there. Let’s cool it a little bit, right? Let’s not fight each other over hundreds of dollars because these are 500-lb machines in the size of a hockey rink. So, you made it. Let’s celebrate it. Let’s do a great main event.” Fantastic.
Also though, the pro class philosophy — the pro class — adding $1,000, making that a $4,000 pro purse plus the $3,500.
Scott: $3,500.
Jeremy: $3,500 in Charlotte Kane’s Laps.
Warren: How are those selling?
Jeremy: So, the Charlotte Kane’s Laps — there’s 35 laps because the pro race is 35 laps long. Charlotte Kane’s pro number was 35. Little bit of history there. That’s Dave Kilkenny’s family’s number.
Warren: Yes. Dave Kilkenny’s father’s football number, Dave Kilkenny’s sports and racing number, and Charlotte Kane asking Dave Kilkenny if she can borrow that as her pro number. A little bit of meaning behind this 35. It has a little bit of a Milwaukee history.
Jeremy: So the leader — people — I ask people to buy a lap for $100 and the leader of that lap gets that $100, right? Unlike the hooligan class of “calm down, hey, you made the Flat Out Friday pro — let’s ramp it up. Let’s get to the front.” And your award to the front is $100. That’s Jack Kane’s idea. Charlotte’s father who wanted to make this race intense. And there is no doubt. There’s 35 spots for sale at $100.
Warren: There’s 35 spots for sale.
Jeremy: There were 35 spots for sale. I didn’t even announce it. And people want to help Charlotte so bad. I bet you I have 13, 14 laps left.
Warren: Awesome.
Jeremy: So, if you’re interested in sponsoring a lap — giving to the pros — you can email me at in****************@***il.com and I’ll find a lap for you. A lot of people are superstitious on the laps that they want or the numbers that they want. I can’t guarantee you’ll get your number now because we are almost sold out. But what do I get for that $100? You get participation in this race in honor of Charlotte — Milwaukee’s pride and joy. You also get your name on the jumbotron. It’s an easy way to sponsor at a low level of our event and be involved. We take none of that money. All of it goes to the pros. We have 10 years of pros to verify this.
Warren: It goes up on the website, too, right?
Jeremy: It goes on the website. It’ll be on all of our social media posts as we continue to promote this.
Warren: Very cool.
Jeremy: All right, I got one more final thing about Flat Out Friday.
Warren: That’s tickets. I got to sell tickets.
Scott: Oh, tickets. Yeah.
Warren: Oh, yes. That’s right. Tickets in the entertainment industry is ever-changing post-COVID. It used to be you put a flyer on the wall and then people show up and you’re like, “Great,” and that was the end of it — 10 bucks and you get paid 10 bucks and you’re in. Doesn’t really work that way anymore. Now we are in the big times and I’m really proud of being in the big times — not only of being in the big times — what I’m proud of, if I can say this, I’m proud that we maintain a big time relationship — that the Fiserv still wants to work with us and I’m shocked every time they re-up our contract too. They want to re-up our contract. The Fiserv is happy with what we produce. It’s pretty awesome and I’m telling you we keep our tickets as cheap as we can and still playing the big time game. So please buy tickets. You can buy them cheaper in advance than walk up, although we appreciate all the walk-ups. If you go to our website now, there will be a banner on the front of the website. It’s for partners only, and there’s a code there, and you can get 20% off your ticket and circumvent the Ticketmaster fees. Did that make sense?
Scott: Yeah.
Warren: So, there’s a code on the website.
Jeremy: There’s a code on the website. It’ll be up there any day now, hopefully by the time this is released. And you can bypass Ticketmaster and buy directly from the Bucks and that’ll give you a cheaper than walk-up ticket.
Scott: And how does that work actually for the folks at home?
Jeremy: Well, you’re buying through — first off, you’re buying through Fiserv, not through Ticketmaster. And I know this sounds easy. I’m glossing this over. We’re old-timers over here. I don’t know about these young-timers over here, okay? But I remember when the entertainment industry changed from electronics to paper tickets. I mean, was it COVID? Was it pre-COVID? I don’t remember. But physical tickets — we’re like, “Hey, I have free tickets. Do you want some?” It’s not like that anymore. “Hey, Scott, you got tickets?” “What’s your email? I will send them to you.”
Scott: Yeah.
Jeremy: So, it makes things a little bit difficult for my old-timer brain. But how does it work? Well, you log into the Bucks. So, I think you do have to create a ticket account. It’s very simple. Even an old-timer like myself can do it. So actually, this is how it works, Scott. I’m sorry. You click on the link, you put in the code, you pick out your ticket, you create an account, you pay for the tickets, they’re sent to your email.
Scott: Okay. Easy peasy.
Warren: Easy peasy.
Scott: Yeah. Now, that can be difficult. Like if it’s not — the code’s not working.
Warren: No, no, no. The code works. Slow down. Did you put it in the right spot? And all of these things I can help you with if you email me at in****************@***il.com. I can help you with these tickets and these anomalies or these things, these side hacks. Buy through Ticketmaster. If you already have a Ticketmaster account, that’s great. Ticketmaster has drastically changed their pricing. Have you noticed?
Scott: No.
Warren: Have you seen that? All in — a ticket to Flat Out Friday right now is $33.
Scott: Really?
Warren: No hidden fees. No hidden fees. Something happened. We talked about this — Pearl Jam suing. We’ve talked about this for years, right? About the evil of Ticketmaster. Somehow they came to their senses. Ticketmaster’s smart though. The machine is smart. When you click on tickets for Ticketmaster, you want to buy a ticket, it automatically puts two in your cart. Do you understand? So, it’s $66 in your cart and you’re like, “$66? I’m not going to those sellouts. They’re too expensive.” No, no, no. Two tickets in your cart, but it still is $33 at checkout — or it’s $28 with fees through our link. And I don’t know what it will be day of. I never know.
Scott: Do you know what it is day of?
Warren: Who knows? We don’t even know what we get per ticket until after we get settled up — which is — and it’s always ridiculously low. No offense, Fiserv Forum and Ticketmaster, but we’re not walking away with — we’re not Santa Claus in the—
Scott: Friday.
Warren: Well, sure. I know this from running, you know, my little kitchen. You know this from running your business. You know this from running restaurants — that just because you handle lots of money, people assume you have lots of money.
Scott: Sure.
Warren: Right. And so you buy an $8,000 motorcycle and then you sell it for $10,000 — you know, that’s not — you didn’t — you don’t have $10,000. You didn’t make $10,000.
Scott: Sure.
Warren: You made $2,000. Plus, you paid the labor to get it painted and fixed. And now you lost $300.
Scott: Yeah.
Warren: Right. And that’s — you’re chasing that as a business owner all the time.
Scott: Yeah.
Warren: We’re chasing that constantly as promoters. Yes.
Jeremy: Okay. But we love it.
Warren: Yes. That’s the thing. Every year we like — every year we’re like, “Do we want to do this again?” And every year we’re like, “Let’s do it again.”
Jeremy: But why do it again? You know, like, because — and it’s the stoke. It’s going to Elwood’s and seeing other things happen. It’s almost like when people look at you in August, in June, and they’re like, “Hey, you know what? I think about next year,” and because they’re just carrying that torch, you’re like, “I just — we have to keep it going.” Like when Brian — when you sent pictures from Party at the Pen — at from being at Party at the Pen, the East Coast, the Ohio one. And I was like, “Oh, man. Look at all that cool shit.” You know, you get excited.
Scott: I know. Every single show — hopefully Japan in April, we’ll see.
Warren: Okay. All right. Well, settle down there. Settle down, Maru.
Jeremy: Okay. Well, I’m concluding and I’m committing. If I can say this, I’m concluding. Yes. I say that a lot, but I am concluding right now and I want to just highlight a few things. We’re here now in Warren’s shop and we are committed to doing this weekly as best that we can. We will make this entertaining and we have a lot of fun guests that we will have along the way. Is this right?
Scott: Yeah.
Warren: Okay. Well, let’s clap it up for the new down here. Yeah.
Jeremy: We’re going to get a heater down here.
Warren: There’s one.