Episode 31 - James Krusemark CreatiVets

[00:00:00] Speaker A: This was for the home team. [00:00:12] Speaker B: Hey, welcome to Tailgate Beers. We've got Austin and Ryan here as usual today we've got a very special episode that I know I have personally, professionally, and everything else in between. I've been looking forward to sitting down and recording this and can't wait for you guys to see it. So Austin's over here, as usual. Ryan is here. To my left, we've got Brandon Dethridge, who is with Creatives, and we'll get into a little bit of what creatives does and their connection to all of this. But welcome, Brandon. [00:00:43] Speaker C: Thank you. [00:00:43] Speaker D: Thanks for having me. It's about time. [00:00:46] Speaker B: And over to my farther left, we got James Kruzmark, who is a veteran that. That was connected to Creative Vets, which again, we're going to get into the behind the scenes story of James and. And what he did in the military, but also his connection and how he found creative vest. So stick around. This is going to be a special, special episode. [00:01:07] Speaker C: Absolutely. [00:01:08] Speaker B: So, James, welcome. [00:01:10] Speaker A: Thanks for having me. [00:01:11] Speaker B: Absolutely. [00:01:12] Speaker A: We're in Illinois having fun. [00:01:13] Speaker E: Have you been. Have you been to cruisins or this at Peoria? [00:01:18] Speaker A: So I drive truck during the week, and that's just kind of my profession now. So I'm in Peoria at least five times a month, but I'm always just cruising through. So we load not far from here over on 24, but other than that, I just kind of pass through. I've been here, there, and everywhere. [00:01:39] Speaker E: So who do you drive a truck for? [00:01:41] Speaker A: So I. I own my own truck, but I dispatch through Mike Shannon out of Knoxville, Iowa. Okay. [00:01:49] Speaker E: And that's just like a Monday through Friday. [00:01:53] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, traditionally Monday through Friday kind of job. [00:01:56] Speaker C: So. [00:01:57] Speaker E: All right, and what in Iowa, what. What kind of took you to, you know, to the festival in general? Just how far away is that from you? Clinton, Iowa. [00:02:05] Speaker A: Clinton, Iowa was about two hours, two and a half hours from my hometown. So my wife and I's life, it kind of essentially fell apart. And Danielle surprised me with tickets to Tailgate and Tall Boys. Jelly Roll is one of the artists that I spent a lot of time listening to, and he was at Clinton that year. So the original goal was to go see Jelly Roll and go to a music festival. Danielle and I's first date was actually at LaserFest in Iowa. That was something that we enjoyed doing together. So I'm sure in her mind that was something we'd enjoyed doing as well. So that was our first intent was to go and watch Jelly Roll Clinton. [00:03:01] Speaker E: Island on the Music side, I mean, is Jelly Roll somebody that you're, like, listen to a lot or what's your kind of music you're. [00:03:07] Speaker A: You're listening to on a regular basis? [00:03:09] Speaker E: And I don't want to judge you by your hairstyle or anything of what I might think. [00:03:12] Speaker A: But my hairstyle is. Well, it's different in itself, but it's kind of my image that has always been part of me. [00:03:22] Speaker E: But one would assume you're a big. [00:03:23] Speaker A: Rock guy, and you would be wrong. [00:03:26] Speaker E: Really? That's why you don't judge a book by itself. [00:03:29] Speaker A: No, I listen to a wide variety of things, but I do spend a lot of time listening to music that has deeper meaning than just a song. So mean. I can tell you I. I've done my research on you guys and I know that song or that question. So I have. I've narrowed it down to even five songs that I can live with, not albums, but we'll get to that if you ask a question. I do. I listen to a little bit of everything. I mean, from techno pop to country to, you know, even the old school blues stuff, but. But more of songs and music that have deeper meaning than just the beat and the rhythm of the music. So I actually listen more for the lyrics and the understanding of what they mean versus. [00:04:21] Speaker B: So when you listen to a new song, whether like, it is a Jelly roll or, you know, any. Anybody else that you're into, do you watch the lyrics at first to make sure you're kind of picking up what the lyrics are and reading them as you're listening to the song? Or are you just like a. I want to listen to it and try to digest what you think you know, is being sung. [00:04:42] Speaker A: So for me, not necessarily reading the lyrics, but listen to the music and then apply it to a situation in my life that I can understand. So that's where Jelly Roll up Church. I mean, those are. Even Dax. I listen to a lot of Dax and then apply his lyrics to my situation somewhat. [00:05:02] Speaker B: And I think, and I'm sure you agree, that some of those best songs are ones that they certainly have an intention of the songwriter themselves or what they were going through. But they write them in a way that we as fans and listeners can't apply them to, you know, multiple different things happening in our lives. And that, to me, is what music is about, because we talk about it a lot. You know, music for us are chapters of our life, right? [00:05:29] Speaker F: We can. [00:05:29] Speaker B: We can listen to something that we heard 10 years ago, and in a lot of ways, we Connected with it, you know, we can think about what was happening or where you were at or, you know, you know, what you were doing when you were listening to that or that impact on that. And it sounds like that's. That's the same for you. [00:05:45] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, I. For especially like my. My older brother, I used to listen to Eric Clapton and James Taylor, because that was at that moment when I was in high school, those were the concerts and things that he was listening to. So when I was with him, I learned new artists, I learned new songs. So that was kind of, you know, like you said, I can go back in time and look at. Oh, that's where I was when I heard that the first time, you know, or. Oh, I was doing this. [00:06:33] Speaker B: So to kind of. To bring in Brandon, too, and the connection with creativesh. So we've heard, you know, Danielle, you were. You were in a tough part of your life, and we're going to get into that certainly. And your wife Danielle, who's in the room with us as well. You know, I thought it would be a great thing for you guys to go to as a couple or whatnot. So she got tickets to Tailgate and Tall Boys. But meanwhile, behind the scenes, outside of James and his family, we have Brandon here who is a member of Creative. [00:07:08] Speaker E: Vets or works for Creative Vets. [00:07:10] Speaker B: Let's talk a little bit about how that came about or what the connection from Creative Vets to Tailgate and Tall Boys is. [00:07:17] Speaker C: Yeah. So 2013 is when creative Ed started. Richard Casper, my literally, like my best friend in the whole world, he went to Iraq straight out of high school, got blown up several times, four times, I believe, in six months, came back, had pts pretty bad. Looking for ways to get through it and survive, you know, the night. Day by day, you know, struggling. I lived with them. You know, I would get the calls when he got blown up from Iraq from a random, you know, crazy number, and he's like, yeah, I got blown up again. You know, didn't think a big deal then, but when he came home, then it, like, hit. So he had a great art professor over at Heartland College in Bloomington just trying to get a degree. He's like, you know, I just want a business degree. [00:08:03] Speaker D: You know, just something to have, you. [00:08:05] Speaker C: Know, a degree and find a job, you know, and do this life thing we call life the best way we know how. And it's ingrained into us. So struggled through school, couldn't do speeches or anything like that in his classes. Ended up taking an art class just to try and get some credits under his belt. And his teacher told him to. He was painting his gunner's grave who got killed in Iraq, and his teacher said, don't paint the grass green. That's too cliche, too standard. Do something else. Use a different color. And he ended up using red for the grass. And his classmates and his teacher, like, you know, hey, that's anger. That's. That's your gunner's blood. That's this. That's this that you're expressing without even knowing it. And then I think it clicked in his head. He's like, all right, this helped me. And you start doing more and more and more helped him. And he was just hunting for a way to help other veterans then because he realized, like, all right, you know, I can write some songs. I can do this. Ended up going up to Chicago, working at Joe's on Wheat, and, you know, he found, I think it was Mark Irwin as a. As a writer. And he's like, hey, man, I just want to write a song, tell my story in a song. Like, would you write with me? And, you know, and then next thing you know, he's writing songs now. He's like, all right, I gotta go down to Nashville. Fast Forward, you know, 2013, we're officially a charity. He found Creative ETS with Linda Tarson. They co founded it together. Awesome lady, lived up in Chicago. They met at a restaurant. He was just sitting there, and she hooked up him and a couple other guys up with her seasoned Bears ticket. She's like, no, you need to go to this. Like, thank you, you know, and then they became fast friends. And she loved the idea of Creative ets, founded it. We went from being here in Illinois and figuring it out to. He moved to Nashville because that's where all the songwriters are. We bring in veterans to Nashville and sit them down with songwriters. They tell their story for a few hours, you know, and it started out like we were just at the creative it's office or like a writing room or something like that. Now we're the only people who are allowed backstage at the Grand Ole Opry. And that's where we take the veteran to write their song and tell their story. By the end of it, they have their story written into a song that we then eventually get professionally recorded because we're signed by a big machine. I don't know if I'm supposed to drop that or not. If that's a plug, you know, if we need to. Yeah, I don't know if I'm allowed to or not. But we're anyway big machine. Helps us out a lot to release that on Spotify, Apple, all that stuff. And then fast forward, you know, when we started or well, rewind, I guess when we started, Wayne was like, let's do a creative, it's benefit, you know, let's do a ripper, you know, the old Wayne Klein ripper. And I was like, yeah, dude, let's get like Blackjack Billy. Because I think they wrote one of our first songs with Jesse Shirts out of Metamora. He's local guy who got blown up in Iraq pretty bad, lost his leg and so brought in Blackjack Billy. Did a concert, raised like, I mean it raised like five grand, you know, and that back then when we first started, five grand was a lot for us to make, you know, so it was a great time. Blackjack Village put on a hell of a show. Wish Wayne would get him back. Keep that in there. But then, you know, then another did another one a couple years later because, you know, I was like, ah, let's just do another one. You know, Wayne's like, I got this guy Hardy coming in. That's when rednecker first kind of hit the radio. I was like, hey, guys, pretty good now. You know, look at the guy, he's huge. I mean, add it to the list of cruzens bands that have like blown up like Laney Wilson, Morgan Wallen, you know, all. Not saying cruisins did that for them, but it's pretty cool that they played cruisins and you know, played tailgates and all these things. But then, you know, I pitched Wayne, I was like, dude, let's partner up with tailgates. You know, bring in a charity. Like, it looks good, you know, it looks good on tailgates to bring in a veteran charity. We can help veterans at the festival. This is kind of a new idea for us is let's go to where the veterans might be. Instead of making them catch a flight to us when they might hate flying or, you know, hate traveling and they're at this festival and they can walk right up to us and say, hey man, I could use a little help. I just want to tell my story. Give me, you know, give me an hour of your time. We bring the songwriters right to the festival. Sit there. Started out as an RV, you know, 2022. I think that was 2022. [00:12:35] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:12:36] Speaker C: And I mean, it was literally like a little pop up tent and we didn't know what the hell to expect. You know, we didn't know if anybody would walk up to us. It was a great turnout. You know, we had a lot of veterans come up to us. Didn't know about us or anything like that. If we couldn't, you know, squeeze them in, or they're like, I want to focus on seeing the headliners, because why wouldn't they. They paid to be at a festival. But if they. We would find ways to work them into our schedule, whether it be in Nashville, a virtual right. Anything like that. And then 2023, we went to Iowa and Bloomington, and then, you know, I wasn't in Iowa when James was there, but, you know, I'm glad that we were there when James walked by and he came up and told his story. [00:13:16] Speaker A: And it's. [00:13:17] Speaker C: It's probably one of the most powerful things I've ever heard as somebody who's been involved with creative events on a very personal level, you know, because it saved my best friend's life. But then hearing how it actually affected somebody, you know, very close, very nearby, and, like, being a part of helping, you know, because I've raised a lot of money. I don't want to throw numbers out there. I raised a lot of money for creative events because that's. I didn't serve. So I'm like, what the hell can I do to help? You know, help out? I didn't serve. You know, I. I was a. Did go. And I'll flat out say that. And so I'm like, I just want to raise money. I can write a hell of a letter. I can. I can, you know, make people feel bad and give money. That's what I'm good at. [00:13:59] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:13:59] Speaker E: And out of people. [00:14:01] Speaker C: Yeah. Austin, I think you're gonna test. I think you can attest. [00:14:04] Speaker E: Let's go. [00:14:05] Speaker C: Yeah, I'm. [00:14:07] Speaker E: But that's what you got to do. No, no, no. And then. Hey, that fifth time. [00:14:11] Speaker C: Listen. [00:14:12] Speaker E: Yes. [00:14:12] Speaker C: I mean. I mean, I met my wife at a music festival. I don't know how many other girls I ever hit on, but finally one said yes, you know, I mean, I'm. [00:14:22] Speaker E: Sure she didn't say yes right out of the gate. Probably had a passing over a little bit. [00:14:25] Speaker C: No, no, she. [00:14:26] Speaker D: She. [00:14:27] Speaker C: She actually hunted me down, she claims so. Come on. I. I don't believe it. [00:14:32] Speaker E: We're gonna have to get her on here. [00:14:34] Speaker C: Bring her in. [00:14:34] Speaker B: No. [00:14:37] Speaker C: I don't know. You know, this badass, like, sweaty guy at a festival. [00:14:41] Speaker E: There's no way stalk you on MySpace. [00:14:43] Speaker C: Nah, she. She had actually flown in with a mutual friend from Massachusetts. Like, we were on the same campsite. I yelled at her the first night because we had some, some Randy's that were like lingerers and they're like, ah, play some, you know, play edm. We're like, nah, man, we're at a country music festival. Like, we're not playing edm. You know, we had a big sound system. We always did that. And like, we're the people who mow our grass and set up our campsite and all that. Anyway, like, she's like, hey, can you turn on edm? Not knowing that I had already told these people who kept touching our soundboard and stuff, like, get the F off our campsite. Yeah. And she asked, she's like, hey, can, can you turn on some like, techno or something like that? I was like, I'm not turning on techno. Shut the up with it already. And like, it was just a reaction and because it was more of like, directed at those assholes that were lingering and drinking our beer, which I'll share beer all day long, but, you know, I'm not turning up techno. [00:15:37] Speaker A: Yeah, don't touch my music. [00:15:38] Speaker C: Yeah, don't touch our soundboard. Anyway, I apologize to her later after dominating her in Flippy cup and, you know, the rest is history. You know, we're seven years, almost eight years in, got a baby on the way and. Yeah. So absolutely. [00:15:51] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:15:51] Speaker A: Time flies, dude. [00:15:53] Speaker C: Unreal. [00:15:53] Speaker E: And it is a tough thing when you're. Cause I sit in the same position as you is, you know, I'm somebody that, you know, did not serve, you know, always been, you know, big supporter of it, him. And I just had kind of a big heart to heart of his history and his background and. Yeah, and again, thanks to, you know, both of you, people that have served and everybody out there. But it is hard because you're always trying to figure out what can you do? What can I do, you know, and so knowing that Creative vets, I think it's gotten better and better every year trying to always get involved in any way we can at the festival. Absolutely. So then going into last year, you reached out and it is a crazy busy time for us and it's all going. And you tell us a story. And I think I met you, you came to Bloomington after Clinton, and then that's where I met you for the first time hearing that story. What a crazy. Because for us, we know what creative events does and we know it happens all the time, but to truly have it happen at the festival in the moment and again, you could reach. You probably have talked to hundreds and hundreds of veterans, but Again, there's just one that it just. It makes a difference in that moment because you don't know where they're at, you know, in that stage of life. [00:17:08] Speaker C: And it may not help. 90% of the veterans, we don't know, you know, we try to follow up and see. And, you know, it's one of those things you can ask somebody how they're doing, and everybody doesn't want to. You know, it's hard to open up about, yeah, I'm struggling. It's hard. And it's a very vulnerable moment for these veterans to tell that story or even afterwards say, like, man, I'm, you know, I'm still struggling, or whatever. Right. [00:17:34] Speaker B: So from a vet perspective, too, and correct me if you think I'm wrong, I mean, we are. We are taught in the military that being vulnerable, talking about feelings, talking about emotions, talking about things that we have seen and you much more than I, you know, so it becomes, you know, taboo that, you know, you get out of the military and, you know, people want, you know, friends want to hear, you know, how you're feeling or what you're going through and those types of things. And we are. We are trained to kind of bottle that up. [00:18:05] Speaker C: And that's. [00:18:05] Speaker A: Yeah, for sure. And my wife hates the fact that I don't talk and I generally don't talk to people about anything that's going on in my life because it's. It's instilled in me that that is my problem. And, you know, and we deal with that struggle all the time because that is something that is built into us, that you don't put yourself out there as vulnerable. You figure out how to keep it inside, do your job, and continue on. And, you know, Danielle spotted a shirt that he's wearing now that it's like, hey, let's go check that out. And that's where it all began. [00:18:46] Speaker B: So let me recap that a little bit, too, and so we can walk down that path. Obviously, like we've mentioned, Brandon is here with Creative Vets, and they have made a connection with Tailgating Tall Boys. We had a couple festivals going on in both Clinton, Iowa, and Bloomington. James and his family's from Iowa Area Creatives is offering or at festivals, and they're providing a resource to provide an opportunity for veterans who. They just happen to be at the festival to kind of come through, just kind of offering that. That opportunity for veterans that are going to these music festivals to sit down, tell their story, be in a room with some songwriters and be able to Possibly turn that into those. Those things that they've seen or those experiences into a song. [00:19:36] Speaker C: Yeah. I mean, and like you were saying, it is taboo to a lot of veterans to not to just keep it in here to talk about it. I've been laughed at when I brought it up to, like, friends. Like, they're like, no, I'm not talking about that. I'm like, that's fine. It's your story. If you want to ever get it out there, it's yours. It's not ours. We don't own it. We don't want. You know, we want to help you if you need it. [00:19:56] Speaker E: Sometimes, you know, you're going through something, it's like, dude, stop. You know, stop being a little, like, figure it out. I mean, you're kind of sometimes. And then add the military on top of that, man. I mean, let alone you take the fake society of Facebook, it's like, everybody's meant to be perfect. [00:20:10] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:20:11] Speaker E: And we all go through struggles as men, as ex, you know, veterans and all this stuff. Again, I go back to ours. You know, I came into that podcast the other night with him, and I. Man, I'm busy. I got. I got so much going on, and I'm stressed out with a bunch of other. And we sit down, I know he's going through. We got done with that podcast. You know, it's like, it's good to get it out. I don't know anybody. There might only be two people to ever listen to that podcast. Maybe I don't. Maybe 13. [00:20:35] Speaker B: My mom is probably half of one. [00:20:36] Speaker E: But it's. Sometimes it's so. It's good to get out, because you're not the only one that goes through that. And again, I don't know where you're. [00:20:43] Speaker C: Going, but I think it was so in my head, I'm like. In my head, I'm like, you know, we can let the veterans tell that story one time. You know, tell that story one time, and then you have it. You have your song that it's recorded. You can just go, you want to hear my story? Here you go. Go listen to it. You don't got to tell it anymore. It lets them tell it one time, get it out. They can listen to it. You know, we've had spouses thank us because they're like, I didn't know this stuff. You know, they don't. My husband wouldn't tell me this. Now I know. Now I know what he goes through, and now I know why, you know? Thanks, Austin. Great. [00:21:21] Speaker E: Keep going. Sorry. I Got choked. [00:21:23] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:21:23] Speaker C: Now I know why he, you know, my spouse is, is feeling this way or that way or reactive or doesn't want to talk to me at this time, or, you know, crawls to the refrigerator in the middle of the night, you know, now I know, because he got to tell his story or she got to tell her story one time. And now they can play that song. For anybody who doesn't understand them what's up here, you know, what they keep up here because they want to, in my, from what I've heard and a lot of our songs is they want to protect everybody around them. That's, that's a veteran's nature to protect. And they want, they want to protect them and shield them from that trauma. They went and faced that trauma so that their spouses and their kids and stuff like that don't have to, is the way I understand it. Now, again, I'm not a veteran, so I don't, I don't know. But that song lets them somewhat understand it while still probably keeping some of that stuff for themselves, you know. [00:22:16] Speaker E: So with, with that, go into your background of military. How did it start? I mean, and let's lead up to kind of get to Clinton, but I mean, again, share your history of your background of military. [00:22:30] Speaker A: So I graduated high school and I went to college and you know, and this is 03, so I mean, we're fired up for Iraq and, you know, I mean, they just blew our buildings up. Like, that was the mentality of most people in my class. And at that time, that was something that I wanted to do. But my, my father and I don't always see eye to eye. So therefore his goal for me was school, work, you know, go figure out how to provide for a family. Then if that's something you want to do in life, do it later. So that's what I did. I went to work and stuff and my life had kind of turned upside down and I ended up in Missouri. And I lived literally in an 8 by 12 shack in the middle of a rock quarry. And that's where I met my wife and her family down there. And at that point in time in my life, I just kind of stalled out. Was nothing, there was nothing exciting. I mean, I did what I wanted, when I wanted. If I worked, it worked great. If I wanted to fish all day, that's what I did. So I wanted to do something different. So I graduated basic training on my 27th birthday. I was an old dog going in, but it was something that I wanted to do. I wanted to do since I graduated. It was a choice that I made that I had to complete something better than what I was doing. So I entered the military and went to basic training. I come out, I. I was a reservist in Iowa and I was a 12th of November horizontal construction engineer. So big old dirt pushers, I mean, we built his airfields is what our job was. But I probably sat back with a beer and watched and that's all right, that's all right. I mean, but that's what we were trained to do. So that kind of went on in 2014. I volunteered to deploy because our home unit had actually just got word that we were going to split up and be separated into different units. And that was probably going to be my only opportunity with that unit and the guys that I, you know, my comrades that I was used to, for some of us to go. So we volunteered, we went over to Kuwait. And I can tell you right now that my military story is I never got blown up. I never seen anything. My, my army mission ended by the simple edge of a concrete sidewalk and training for army games. We were over there training to go compete with the other companies. And mind you, I'm £250 without kit. I'm pushing 310, 315 full kit, rucksack and everything else. Well, we're outside training and I went down to get down on my knees and I hit the edge of the concrete underneath the sand and sheared all the cartilage from behind my kneecap. My military career was over. Something that I truly was passionate about, that I wanted to complete that mission of going on to Afghanistan and doing what the rest of the company got to do. I didn't get to do that. So I ended up having surgery in country. They were supposed to send me back home for therapy. That was a big fiasco. I actually, the only reason I made it home was they reported me AWOL in Germany because the unit I was attached to transferred me to Germany because they were sick of dealing with me because they were supposed to do certain things. I was supposed to go home, recover and come back and finish my mission. I didn't get to do that. So they just transferred me to another unit, dropped me off at Arif John, left me there for over two months by myself. And they got a phone call wanting to know where I was because I was reported AWOL. So a couple emails later, 48 hours, I was on a flame back to the States. So I don't have a hero story that was Something that, you know, that I deal with now every day as I don't have those stories or, you know, those things that everybody else, you know, a combat vet went through, I don't have that. But what I do have is my knowledge of the military and what I was able to do while I had the chance to do it. So coming back from that, I came back and Danielle and I had got married and we had my daughter, my youngest daughter, Natalia. And we were back in Iowa and working and trucking. And I've never really worked one job in my life. If I had one full time job, I needed two, and if I didn't have two, I was working 100 hours at 1. Through my story, my injuries have diminished my abilities to continue that type of lifestyle. So I drive truck now because I can't build you a house on the weekend and drive truck during the week anymore. Kind of dealing with those situations in life that I was losing my abilities led me into very depressing states. And it took more control of my life. As life went on, my depression and my anxiety and other outside sources coming in down on top of me increased my desire for. I'll get rid of it. The bottom of this bottle. I'll either pass out or I'll forget. And that was my goal. As I mentioned, my father and I, we didn't always see eye to eye, but he passed away July of 2022. And the reality is that I lost one of my best friends. Even though many times I would call and all he had to say was, I was a idiot, but you'll survive this. [00:28:42] Speaker E: And she still had a bond even though you didn't. [00:28:45] Speaker A: We did. And. But it was, it was kind of that he was the hard truth of life. [00:28:53] Speaker E: Tough love. [00:28:54] Speaker A: Yeah. And that's. And that was instilled in me since I was a kid. My children will tell you I'm being some bitch when I have to be, but it's because I love you. It's not because I'm trying to be me. It's not because I'm trying to do harm. It's just that's what I know and that's what my father was. But you know, when my dad passed, being present was kind of my confirmation that it was okay. Me and him were. We had figured it out, you know. So from that moment, I lost complete control of anything. I mean, I had one goal and that was to be drunk all day every day. And that's what I did. I worked two jobs, ran rental houses, flipped houses, worked a full Time job. But I had no intention of doing anything else but drinking and partying. And that created more problems in my life, bringing us more toward that moment of meeting creative at Satil, getting to boys. I had nothing left. There was no. There was no fight. The fight was gone. I couldn't be with my comrades doing what I love to do in the military. I couldn't do the jobs that I used to do. All I knew how to do at that point was drink, get drunk, and piss my family off. And that's what I did. So why keep putting them through that, you know? So when I found out that Danielle bought and set up this thing for Father's Day to go to tugging tall boys, it's like, I'll go. But after that, I'm out. I'm done fighting. I'm done trying to deal with everything in my life. And their life has got to be better without me here doing this to them every day. So that was my goal, was to go to one more country or music festival and listen to those musicians, and then I would free them from me. And that was my intention when we went to that music festival. And Danielle had seen that sign, because the military is so important to me. And seeing the shirts, you know, let's go check it out. It didn't matter who you were, what you were. If you had something that was promoting something military, I'd buy two of them just because. And that was kind of what we had went over to do was to buy a shirt and support whatever organization this is. It doesn't matter. It says vets, you know, and at that point in time is when I met Gentleman Dick Nash that he just walked up. I was. [00:31:55] Speaker F: I wouldn't say that I was completely. [00:31:57] Speaker A: Plastered that day, but I had had a few. And I was just at the point that I was comfortable enough to. To talk, I guess. And Dick Nash walked up and he says, can I have a moment of your time? Got nothing else to lose, man. Whatever. And that's when they kind of introduced the program to me. And Danielle is in the background. I mean, I spend 90% of my day when I'm in the truck, you know, out driving, listening to music. And that's kind of my language. I mean, I could probably tell you a story without my own words. Just in the songs that I play, you want to know how I'm feeling? [00:32:44] Speaker C: Listen. [00:32:46] Speaker A: And that's kind of how I communicate sometimes when I'm in those moments of depression and stuff. And. And she's like, try it. [00:32:56] Speaker B: Just, you know, why not? [00:32:58] Speaker A: Why not, you know, see what they got going on. You know, by that time, all I was going to do was go back to the VIP and grab a couple more drinks and maybe some George's chicken and, you know, go listen some music. So why not? So I got in the camper, and that's where I met Jesse and Brett. Amy was there and my mentor. And Jesse, Taylor and Brett, they. They just kind of sat down and. And you could just feel the comfort. They're either gonna listen and care or they're not, because if they don't care, it doesn't change my outcome at the end of the day. And that two hours that we sat there, it was just. I was able to release a lot of heartache that I'd been carrying for so long. I was able to talk and not feel ashamed of who I was, because at that point, it didn't matter. [00:33:57] Speaker B: So how did you feel about it? I mean, you. And when they initially, you know, you went in the RV and. And they said, hey, you know, we would love to. And that. Correct me, the story of how this goes. You know, we would love to turn your story into a song or. We would love to hear your story and. And kind of depict what we're hearing from. From that story into some. Some lyrics for a future song. I mean, how. How does that, you know, resonate with you? You know, and you're just there to. To watch a festival, you know, had a few drinks and ready to have a good time with. With your wife, listen to some good music, and then all of a sudden, you know, you're in an RV and they're saying, hey, we want to. We want to write a song with you. [00:34:41] Speaker A: So, I mean, and I'm very reluctant. Like I said with my words, I don't. Daniel hates it that I don't talk. But being. I mean, they just kind of introduced themselves and kind of where they were, where they came from, and having Amy there to kind of tell some of her story, you know, it's that camaraderie. It doesn't matter whether you're in the Air Force and I'm in the Army. We walk in and see somebody in uniform. They're part of our family. No matter where they come from or who they are, it's part of the family. Family. And so, you know, to have that veteran there, even though you don't know him from Adam, just knowing that, hey, they served was kind of my release button to, hey, you're all right, Comfort. Answer the questions. And they'll do what they need to do with it. And from there, we just kind of talked about kind of my history and where I came from and my family. And if you could tell your family one thing, what would it be? Look, what we were. What were we when we were us. And that's where we started, was when Danielle and I first became what we are today. We weren't boyfriend and girlfriend. We were us. And together we could do anything. And that's kind of where the beginning of our song, or my song started was. If you could tell them anything, what would it be? When were us, There is nothing we can't do. And from there, instead of telling more of my military story, because like I said, I don't have those blown up stories. I don't have those things. But what I do have is what my injury in the military has done to me, my life since then. To take away those moments of my family being us. And that's where this song originated from, was being able to explain to them kind of, this is why I am the way I am. And this is what I miss. This is why my life is different. Sitting down, just telling their stories, and then me opening up and talking. Helen. And then to hear them take. They're writing notes the whole time, and they take my notes and go, hold on a second. And they start playing. The next thing you know, they've got a line. Next thing they know, you've got a chorus. It's like, how did you take that out of what I just said? [00:37:19] Speaker E: Up to that. Up to that point, how much were you into writing music? Was it any. No, you had. No. You, at this point, you hadn't wrote or even. You weren't like, writing music yourself or playing the guitar? [00:37:32] Speaker A: No, I. I think I wrote a few poems in high school. [00:37:36] Speaker E: You know, I just. I wasn't. I wasn't sure. So for you, this was like, holy shit. I've never even seen how this process works. [00:37:42] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:37:43] Speaker E: And how you did. Okay. I just made sure then. [00:37:46] Speaker A: And for them to just sit there and go, we're gonna put this together. For me, I'm one of those people that if I don't know how to do something, I'm gonna figure it out. So for me to watch them do that strikes a fire that, well, why not? You know, I can figure out how to do that, but I don't know how yet. So watching them do it was it kind of brought back that desire to learn something new, you know? [00:38:17] Speaker E: Have you written any songs or have you tried writing some Drone since then. [00:38:23] Speaker A: So after our first initial song, then Jesse Taylor, we had set up a songwriting session virtually with him. The initial goal of that is to write another song pertaining to your life and, you know, another situation, just to kind of keep building upon that. In the two sessions that is scheduled for that, we ended up actually writing two. [00:38:48] Speaker B: Two songs. [00:38:49] Speaker A: And, you know, in just a matter of. The first song that we wrote was Hammer down, an awesome song that. That kind of depicts I'm a truck driver and, you know, I'm. I'm dealing with my alcoholism and my things of that nature that, you know, it reminds me that, hey, keep it up. You're doing all right, you know, So I listen to that song quite, quite a bit, just as a reminder of where I'm going, not where I was. And then we wrote another song together about the 40, which is another property that we own that my dad owned before he passed, and my family bought that, and that's kind of our safe haven now, which is what it was to him outside of that in the truck. I mean, I play with it quite a bit. I mean, in my downtime is, you know, putting words together, writing it on a notepad, and someday maybe there's something there. I don't, you know, but I still focus more on today and every day of getting better of who I am versus who I was. And that's my goal. [00:40:00] Speaker E: Atlas, who we interviewed, he was a truck driver and he was driving a route for FedEx. Back and forth, back and forth. He wrote every single, you know, some of his, you know, songs. Almost every single one of his. Start while driving truck because he's got all this time. Oh, he's just. He's just thinking, taking some notes down audios on his phone, doing all this different stuff while driving a truck. And I don't know if you ever listen to him, but he's one that. Some of his are pretty gut wrenching as well. But you got all that time to think to yourself. And sometimes, I mean, that can be the best time. It can be some of the worst times, because the only thing you got are your own thoughts in your head and what you're listening to. [00:40:41] Speaker A: Yeah, and those are scary times sometimes. [00:40:43] Speaker F: But my time, my idle time, some days are difficult. Other days I just have fun out there. I mean, it's just me in the road. [00:40:53] Speaker B: So Hammer down, was that the. The song that you wrote in the back of the RV that day? [00:40:58] Speaker F: No, that is When We're Us is the original. [00:41:02] Speaker B: When We're Us. Gotcha. So Yeah, I assume that that's all online too and we can have. [00:41:07] Speaker D: We put that one out online yet. [00:41:08] Speaker F: I don't think that one's not there. [00:41:10] Speaker D: I think you probably have your copy. [00:41:12] Speaker F: I have it in emails and stuff. [00:41:14] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. I don't know if that can be shared or wants to be shared or not, but certainly we can play some clips, you know. [00:41:21] Speaker F: Yeah, no, I mean on it as well. [00:41:23] Speaker B: That wants to be shared. [00:41:24] Speaker F: Definitely fine with. However, I mean that's more you guys. [00:41:27] Speaker D: So we in my book, you know and I think this was a question that was asked like right after you wrote you had asked if you could put your. Print your lyrics on the back of your shirt. And I was like, dude, that's yours. That's your. You know we. We list him as a writer on the song so you know he gets credit and royalties if it ever goes, you know, anywhere. It's his. [00:41:50] Speaker E: So what is the. What is the plan with that song to how does that go to get released? At what point or how does that work? [00:41:58] Speaker D: I'm not exactly positive. That's not my area of creative vets. That's like Brett's area and Richard's area. We can only release so many because we have to find people to record, you know, to actually sing the lyrics and do the tracks and all that. [00:42:12] Speaker E: It'd be hard to. I mean it'd be hard just if you have all these. I mean how do you pick. How do you pick one? It's any, you know, more important than the other. [00:42:18] Speaker F: And you got a thousand and you got to pick 10 for the year. [00:42:21] Speaker D: It'd be exactly right. [00:42:23] Speaker E: It'd be awesome. Even if you. The lyrics like a lyric sheet, it'd be cool just if we could share that even with this, with this post. I think that'd be amazing. [00:42:34] Speaker F: I've got it in email. [00:42:35] Speaker E: Yeah, so that's a follow up on that. [00:42:36] Speaker D: Yeah, that'd be really cool. I always defer so you know, coming from. I helped raise a ton of money for Creative ets. Richard the founder co founder is my best friend to now I work part time for Creative ETS as just kind of managing projects and hounding Austin and Wayne for tailgates, you know is basically all I do. [00:42:57] Speaker E: Full time job. [00:42:58] Speaker D: Bug the hell out of you guys. No, but it's one of those that my view has always been. I think creative s view has probably always been we don't care what you know, use your. Your words and your song however you want to use it. So if you want to Share it on the 13 people and. And Ryan's mom, you know, podcast. Then let's do that, you know. Or. No, I'm kidding. But if you want to. [00:43:23] Speaker B: Not that far off. [00:43:27] Speaker E: We get some, and we get. We've had some. I just looked last night, and we've had some reels get upwards of 60,000 views. I mean, it's. It's cool which ones strike. And for us, man, I mean, it's just as much therapy at times for us. But also, you never know what story. We're not doing this for the views or to. I mean, be something crazy. But it's cool to hear everybody's story, whether it's an artist of. Everybody thinks the battles and what they've been through are all different. They've all come different routes. Some of them have came from a background that's been way harder to get to where they're at. And some have, like, man, one day I just. Some random guy called me, and next thing I know, I'm moving to Nashville. And it was like, bang, bang, boom, I'm off. You know, so everybody's got a different story. And whether or not people have served or, you know, gotten an easy road or not, they all still have battles. This goes back to the same thing, man. Everybody still has their battles and demons to deal with. Where do you sit now? Where are you at now in your life of. Where are you at in your journey, as far as your confidence, your personal life of. I don't know that chapter. [00:44:35] Speaker F: So after Clinton, then I did print my lyrics and met in the next week. We were in Bloomington. Just to be in that same setting, just to kind of continue that fire, to decide, hey, it's okay. You know, you. You can do this. [00:44:57] Speaker B: And so there had to be. Sorry. So there had to be. I mean, that moment, you're. You're again in Clinton, Iowa. Tailgate and tall boys, you know, you. You and your wife Danielle are there to enjoy the show. You get kind of pulled into the back of an rv, and all of a sudden, you know, you're. You're in. [00:45:14] Speaker D: We've all been in the back of. [00:45:15] Speaker C: An RV in a weird place. [00:45:18] Speaker F: I don't know about all that. [00:45:20] Speaker B: Yeah, right. But. But you're sitting there. [00:45:28] Speaker E: Oh, no, we're not cutting that. [00:45:30] Speaker F: You. [00:45:30] Speaker B: You. You feel yourself getting vulnerable, which is. Is a different position for. For you at that time, you know, and you said. And I'll. I'll say it. And we've got, you know, some of your family here in the room with us. And. And some others, I mean, your intentions, going to tailgate and Tall Boys, and I'm going to be, you know, kind of to the point, go enjoy your time with Danielle. But then after that, in your mind, you were planning on. On killing yourself. Am I right in saying it? [00:46:01] Speaker F: My story was to end. [00:46:02] Speaker A: Yeah. And. [00:46:04] Speaker F: And. [00:46:04] Speaker B: And so you're sitting in the back of an rv, and all of a sudden these emotions start to flow and. And that vulnerability and. And you start to see some. Some more daylight, if you will, or if I can, you know, elaborate on your story. That way you start to see that. That daylight. And then now, all of a sudden, you saw enough daylight to be like, hey, you know, somebody along the way said, hey, we're going to be in Bloomington for the next Tailgate and Tall Boys next week. We'd love for you to have us, would love for you to come join us. [00:46:34] Speaker D: This actually was. He surprised us by coming in. He wanted. [00:46:38] Speaker F: They hadn't. They had. No. Yeah. [00:46:40] Speaker D: Yeah, because I wasn't in Iowa, so I knew we had a really awesome. [00:46:43] Speaker A: Right. [00:46:43] Speaker D: Yeah, I knew that. You know, hey, I heard from Brett and team. Yeah, we had an awesome ride. James was awesome. You know, he wanted to put his lyrics on his shirt, you know, blah, blah. And then next, you know, I hear, hey, he's coming down to Bloomington to just come see us. I was like, shit, we can get him some free tickets, like, because you guys are. I will say it's the best, like, I can hit Austin up, middle of the day, hey, dude, I need a couple of wristbands for a veteran. You know, he's coming in, we need to write or whatever. And Austin's like, yeah, dude, go see, you know, X, Y, or Z person and grab a couple. Or he'll even deliver them, which is really cool. And it's. And we appreciate that. Like, appreciate the hell out of that. But next thing you know, James like, nah, I'm buying my tickets. I want to support the festival. I'm like, dude, like, that's. I mean, that just shows the man James is, is. He wanted to support the festival. You know, I think in my head maybe realizing, you know, I'm still here because of this festival, I want to support it, keep, you know, help whatever way I can. Whereas creative. That's guy. I'm like, dude, like, you know, the festival does a lot for us, and we try to do a lot with the festival. And, you know, it's. You're still boots on the ground here in the festival. You're still an Extra person who's buying food and drinks. But he wanted to support it. And I, you know, he showed up, and he walks up to us, and, you know, I introduced, you know, or he introduced himself to me, blah, blah, shake hands. And, you know, I'm wearing sunglasses because it's bright and nice, awesome day. And he starts telling the story of how he wrote, and then kind of what was his intentions were that night. And, I mean, I had to turn around, and I think. I don't even think Brett knew. And Brett was there too, and I think we all just kind of had to, like, turn around real quick because it was, like, instant waterworks for me, you know, And I think Brett got hit pretty hard with that. He had to, you know, even take a walk and just kind of like, holy. We've never had. At least I've never had anybody say that, you know, as part of, you know, knowing creative vets for 11 years now. I've never had anybody say that. That. That was gonna be my last day until I met you guys. And so it was a very powerful moment. You know, I immediately just wanted to hug him. And I'm like, dude, I'm so glad you're still here. You know, I'm like, I'm so glad. And so, yeah, and then, you know, James hung out and chatted, and, I mean, he's still here with us. And, you know, he came and actually spoke at our gala and gave a speech that I think I filmed and sent to you guys. And all you hear. All you hear is me going, you know, like, sobbing in the middle of it, like. And I'm like, ah. Hopefully somebody else has a better clip of that without my, you know, my big baby tears in it, you know? But anyway, sorry, I kind of went off on. [00:49:20] Speaker E: No, but even back to the thing, how are you now? How. Where are you at right now with your journey of what we call life? And again, I know there's other people here, but, I mean, to me, that's the most important thing of, like, where you're at, because it's gone a couple years, and where's your headspace at now? [00:49:41] Speaker F: I mean, I, like, I know my wife and my daughter's here, but they know I am who I am. So, I mean, that part of it is I still deal with a lot of things today, but I have other avenues to deal with them, if that makes sense. I have more hope in life. I mean, my wife and I, on the way over here are drawing up plans for our new addition to the house at the 40. You know, I have goals. You know, the, the easiest way to kill a man is to take his dreams. So when you have goals and dreams in life, you're able to keep going. And that's. I have those again, whereas before I didn't. And so, you know, I can, I can honestly tell you that I would love to hit up one of these surfsides with you guys. But other than the one screw up I've had, I haven't drank since July 19th of 2023. And for you, man, you know, and for me and keeping my family life together, that's probably a good thing for me because I, well, I'm trouble. [00:50:57] Speaker E: But when I kind of, I even had to ask Ryan, I'm like, dude, dude, I don't know if we should take all this stuff out of here. But then I almost feel like, I don't know, I feel like, honestly, that's like your grown ass man to be able. You're around this stuff, you're going to come to the festivals and stuff. I almost been like, I don't need to like hide all this and put it away. But I, I did ask him on the way, I'm like, dude, should we like take all this stuff away? And you know, dude, that's very powerful to be around that and have that strength, you know, to make that life choice too and you know, to have those dreams and I mean, coming from even my standpoint, man, like I'm somebody that gets to go party and have fun, do these festivals. I get to do all this crazy fun. I have stories that would blow people's mind. Dude, I have struggles. Like I have my own struggles. My two kids are sitting right here eating salad loud as fuck. Like those two, you know, those two at the end of the day, like, dude, I've had some dark times from 2019 to now and they push me through everything. I mean, I've looked at him last night and just told him like how much he is my strength for what I do. And it's not just you. Like, it's every. All four of us sitting here are guys that if we open up said and we struggle and most people be like, austin, this or right, you know, I don't know. Brian. Yes, we all do it and it's, it's a fact of life. And I think you just got to find ways. And I do think, you know, even self talk, you know, the voices in your head, the more positive those can be. But for me, man, just as another a guided guy, just knowing that we come from completely different walks of life. Doesn't mean we don't all still have struggles. No, they're just different. And I think that's been something we've just learned from everybody we've talked to. This has been really eye opening. Circling back, I just told Ryan last week, I'm like, I don't think we're ever going to talk to somebody that has actually watched our show that knows the questions that are coming because I asked him. I'm like, should we switch up our questions? What if somebody plans for one of these questions? Going back to the music. You're on your. You're on your plane and I mean, it's kind of a fucked up one now with all the things going on or I kind of feel bad even saying it. But you're on your plane, you're deciding to go to an island. We'll say for the rest of your life, you're gonna get away to your back. You're gonna go to your 40 and just be gone forever as far as hang out with the family. But you're only taking five albums for the rest of your life. I know you said you can even do songs, which I appreciate, however you want to do it. What are the five that you're going to listen to forever, that you just could stand the test of time. [00:53:32] Speaker F: So I'm going to take five songs. I'm going to take Garth Brooks the Dance. I'm going to take the Band Steel Sit a While and I'm going to take Nelly's Ride with Me. And then I'm going to take Jelly Rolls Life, and I'm going to take Dax. Lonely Road. [00:53:55] Speaker E: They're all good. [00:53:57] Speaker F: Lonely Dirt road. Yeah, yeah, yeah. [00:53:59] Speaker E: Billy Rose Life. That's one that isn't like. I mean, that's not his most popular that everybody says too, but that is a good one. I like that. It's a good variety too. [00:54:08] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:54:08] Speaker B: And there's so much. And I could sit here with you and just dig into farther and I want to. And I'm trying to sit on my hands just so we can do the highlights because I think we could spend hours just talking about the similarities and things that we've been through that way. [00:54:24] Speaker A: And. [00:54:24] Speaker B: And I want to hear, you know, your thoughts on it too. But for me it was like, you know, this is, this is what I've trained for. This, this is, you know, why I raised my right hand. It's not, you know, because I want to be a hero. It's. It's because I I want to go over and I want to see, you know, what this is. I want to go and do my part within that. And what I heard from, from your story quickly, you kind of felt the same thing. [00:54:48] Speaker F: And I do. And, well, and they did. And, you know, I wanted to see the actual camels of Kuwait on. [00:54:54] Speaker B: Oh, absolutely. [00:54:55] Speaker F: You know, I didn't want to see it on Facebook. I wanted to take my own pictures. [00:54:59] Speaker B: I mean, I've got camels. [00:55:01] Speaker F: That's really not why I went. But, you know, I was. I was, you know, like you said, you train for those. Those things. And through all of our trainings and stuff that we do in the States, you know, I mean, okay, yeah, I could. I can do my job, but can I do it in that moment? That's what I want to go find out. And, you know, there wasn't a question when the phone call came in. Hey, we need 47 of you guys out of the 150 who's gone. Put my name on list. Be sure. Put my name on list. I'll talk to mama when I get home. We'll figure this out. You know, there wasn't. There was no hesitation when he called. And it is that sense of completing the journey that you've trained for. And like I said, that's probably one of the hardest things for me to deal with in my life now is some of that was taken from me by a simple injury. So, you know, but yeah, I was. I signed me up. Yeah, I can. I can build anything here. I want to see if I can build it over there with rhino, snot and sand. You know, I mean, that was. There was no question. [00:56:22] Speaker E: What point? Let's go to something off topic a little bit. At what point did you decide, I'm going to do a Mohawk? This is the route that my life is going to go. I don't know where. What chapter. When did this start? [00:56:37] Speaker F: As I mentioned before, my father and I didn't always see eye to eye. I mean, he had a goal for me in life and. And I was always so. I have an older brother that, you know, he was always kind of that top notch. You know, if you're going to be anything, Dad's going to be proud of him. Those were the shoes that I had to fill. Not only did I have to live up to my father's expectations, I also had to fill those golden shoes of my older brother. And that was my goal when I was younger, was to be like him. And I did my best to do what I was supposed to do. And, you know, and in high school, I was a flat top, you know, buzz sides, you know, I dyed my hair toward the end of my senior year. We bleached our hair and shaved our heads for our senior year of football that we were going into the playoffs. That was the beginning of my hair. He was very clean cut kind of hair. You know, you kept your beard trimmed. You had certain hairstyles that were acceptable. And. And I remember when I came back and I had bleached my hair for our playoffs, he was pissed. Like, why would you do that? Now I know how to get under your skin. I love you, but, you know, so. [00:58:06] Speaker E: You went the hard way. [00:58:08] Speaker F: Every. Every lesson I've ever learned in my life is hard way. And I hope that I don't have to learn it again. So, you know, so it kind of started after I graduated high school and I came back to work in the same factory that he did all of his life, essentially. I mean, that's where he retired from. And he was there for over 40 years. And so, you know, I stepped into those shoes while I was working there. They always correlated that, oh, it's Danny's boy. You know, I just like Danny. You know, he's gonna do Danny's job when he gets, you know, when Danny retires. So I wanted to be different. So that's where the mohawk came from. Was. This is my image, you know. Yes. That's my dad, but I'm not him. [00:58:57] Speaker E: So I think that we should get Brandon a mohawk. [00:59:01] Speaker D: I got a picture on my phone from an old friend that works with the paradise that she found in the, like, the files. When I used to work there as a valet, I was like 20. She sent it to me and I was like, you better delete that right now. Because I. I laughed inside. When James was talking about bleaching his hair. He had a shaved head. I didn't. I had like, like a middle part. Total douchebaggery with like this color hair with just bleach, blonde highlights, tips. Oh, dude. [00:59:31] Speaker C: Frost. [00:59:32] Speaker E: Big insect guy. Big instinct guy. [00:59:34] Speaker D: Oh, yeah, Yeah. I mean, I don't know how any of my friends got laid back then with me around. I mean, that hairdo boy. [00:59:43] Speaker E: I think just for the festival, though. Just for the festival. Little mini mohawk, maybe. I think it could go well. We could just do the beard in red. [00:59:51] Speaker D: Oh, God, no. [00:59:52] Speaker E: I think so. I think it'd be good. [00:59:54] Speaker D: If you're a veteran who struggles and you're in the area, like, feel free to reach out to me. Message, you guys, however, because you know one thing that it's still a growing program. You know, we write with a few veterans at each festival. We want more. So if you want to get like, you want to come to the festival and tell your story and you don't want, you know, however, however, how can they con. [01:00:16] Speaker E: How can they contact creative? That's what's the best you can go to. [01:00:19] Speaker D: You can go to our Facebook creativetz. It's just the word creative with a S on the end of it. And you find us on there, you can go to creativettes.org that's our website. And you can apply if you want to get into our programs. We have tons of them. We're doing astrophotography now. We go to universities around the nation, enroll veterans for a three week program to teach them how to use art and molding and sculpting and all of that to cope with those, you know, those unseen scars. But we're gonna be at Tailgates and Tall Boys, Clinton and Bloomington this year. We're gonna have a booth set up, got a pretty cool van given to us by a large company called Amazon. I don't know if you ever heard of them, but they soundproofed it for us, wrapped it. We're gonna have that at each festival. So it's gonna make the songwriting experience a little bit better than just being in a, you know, paper thin RV where, you know, if you're a veteran, you want to tell your story. Reach out to, you know, either the Tailgate Beers guys, reach out through creative vets, you know, say, hey, saw Brandon on this podcast. You know, I want to come to the festival. We'll find a way to help you at the festival. If you want to. Just come to the festival. If you want to go to Nashville. If you want to, you know, however you want to do it, go to any of our pages and, and get a hold of us one way or another. [01:01:32] Speaker E: What about donating? So I'm just a random civilian, you know, you called us just, you know, other people. We're civilians, you know, just a random guy. Veterans, you guys are civilians. You know, how can I donate? [01:01:43] Speaker D: You can go to my Venmo. So you can go to creative.org There is a big donate button right on there. We got some cool things coming up. We've got a big golf outing in Nashville coming up that I hope you guys got your team in for. [01:01:58] Speaker E: Did actually. First time ever. I think we've. I haven't signed up. Paid and everything. [01:02:03] Speaker F: Wow. Yeah, wow. [01:02:04] Speaker D: I mean, is it going to be four people or 10? [01:02:07] Speaker E: I think. [01:02:07] Speaker D: All right, good, good. [01:02:09] Speaker E: There was no option to just add. Keep adding people. So I just figured we'd figure that out, wing it, figure out and wash. [01:02:15] Speaker D: No, we, you know, we have a big golf outing in Nashville that is, I believe is live on our website. I don't know if it's filled up yet. It usually fills up really quick where you can golf with, you know, some. Some pretty big names like Austin and, you know, maybe even Jelly Roll. [01:02:27] Speaker E: Yeah, two very big names. [01:02:29] Speaker D: Yeah, very. Probably the biggest names that play it. And we, we have a lot of fun and then we do a big concert down on Broadway afterwards. We're still figuring that aspect out this year of if it's Whiskey Jam or whatever. But yeah, if you want to donate, you want to be, you know, creativet. Org. If you want. If you're a veteran and you need help. Creativet. Org if you want to come to the festival, find, you know, message either creative, that's Facebook page or Instagram or the Tailgate Beers guys. They can put you in touch with me. They'll give out my super secret name on Facebook and we'll get in touch. [01:03:00] Speaker C: Or we can email from Tailgate tall. [01:03:02] Speaker E: Boys perspective infousa-concerts.com you can email there if you have questions about creative ads getting involved in that way, donating at the festival. Not sure, go to a box office, go to merchandise. They'll point you in the direction Tailgate Beers DM us or reach out, you know, to Ryan or I or again, go to go to Tailgate and Tallboys socials message there, get involved. You can donate or if you're a veteran just looking to get connected with somebody, let us know and like I said, infousa-concerts.com and we'll get you connected. [01:03:39] Speaker D: And honestly, my email is a real easy one too. It's brandonreativets.org so you can just kick me an email too. Hopefully no spam or any, you know, any crazy. Austin's probably gonna go take that and sign me up for all sorts of stuff now. Surprise he hasn't already. But yeah, reach out if you need info or anything. Like, I want to help as many veterans as possible. I want to find, you know, every James that we can, you know, I. And even if you know, it doesn't have to be life or death, if you just need to talk, reach out. Like, you know, it doesn't have to be. You're at the end, it can be at. You're at the beginning. Trying to figure it out. It can be wherever you are in your story, whatever chapter you're on, reach out. We're here. [01:04:22] Speaker B: So two quick points for me. One, I want to point out to Austin's new hoodie he's got on today, the Gulf of America sweatshirt. [01:04:30] Speaker C: Love that. [01:04:31] Speaker B: We'll be selling those on. On Tailgate Beers. [01:04:34] Speaker E: Absolutely. [01:04:35] Speaker F: Yep. [01:04:35] Speaker B: And we'll date donate all proceeds to Creative X for those sales. [01:04:39] Speaker E: Shout out Dan Hamilton for getting this for me. [01:04:43] Speaker B: And then from a veteran to a veteran, I want to thank you for your service first and foremost, and your willingness to raise your right hand and do everything that you did in the service, but then also your willingness to come and sit down with us on Tailgate Beers. And Brandon for introducing us to you, but also your wife and your daughter who's in the room with us, that they're here with you and sharing your story because it's very, very important. And I'm starting to choke up here, but I'm gonna stop. Stop that. [01:05:14] Speaker A: And. [01:05:15] Speaker B: And again, just thank you. [01:05:17] Speaker E: Thank you. [01:05:18] Speaker F: And I want to tell you guys, thank you. I mean, not only Creativettes as a whole, but you guys for what you do. And in my whole goal of being here telling my story is that next one out there that hears it, that. That realizes there are resources out there that, you know, I mean, there's not everybody at Clinton, Iowa that's going to have a mohawk. I mean, if I'm around, you'll find me. [01:05:48] Speaker E: Yeah. [01:05:48] Speaker F: And I mean, and that's. And that's my goal is to find the next person that needs an opportunity. So I have to thank you guys for giving me that opportunity to come tell my story and. And just be part of the next big thing with what goes on. [01:06:06] Speaker E: Awesome. Well, man, thanks for being on. Thank you, Brandon, for making this happen, having us, man. [01:06:10] Speaker D: That's awesome. [01:06:11] Speaker E: Appreciate you guys. [01:06:12] Speaker D: Appreciate you guys.