Latest / The Scene Projects / Dustin Ryen: From Coconut Shucking to Building Community on Tour

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Dustin Ryen: From Coconut Shucking to Building Community on Tour · The Scene Projects

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  This program is part of the Scene Projects podcast network.
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  Scene Project features interviews with independent musicians, comedians, and artists
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  from across the Midwest.
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  Become part of our community and support local art wherever you are.
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  Welcome into another exciting episode of the scene.
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  I am your host, Bubba Starts, and with me today is the coconut guy, Dustin Ryan.
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  Welcome to the show, Dustin.
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  Thanks for having me, Bubba.
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  Appreciate it.
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  Yeah.
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  Absolutely.
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  My pleasure, man.
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  I'm I'm intrigued already.
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  I don't know much about you, but we're gonna get into it.
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  Love to give you the floor off the top of the show here and just give us a little bit of your
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  backstory.
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  Sure.
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  So I, own a little restaurant, but about nine years ago, I started shucking coconuts for one
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  of many pop up restaurants that we were also simultaneously running along with our
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  restaurant and kinda just took off.
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  And now I'm a professional full time coconut shucker.
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  That's how I make a living, and it is it's been a wild ride.
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  I would say so.
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  The path less traveled for sure.
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  Definitely.
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  So where was the restaurant located?
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  So, it it it'll be open for a little bit longer now, but at Davis, California.
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  And so we have a it's a little Hawaiian, poke restaurant that we we we've had open for about
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  nine going on ten years.
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  Just about to close it up, but we've had had that there in Davis for quite some time.
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  Right.
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  So, obviously, the the restaurant kinda lended itself to a tropical theme and having that.
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  And, when did you first shuck a coconut?
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  So that would have been about nine years ago.
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  One of the farmers markets that we had a pop up restaurant in, The market manager suggested
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  that we try coconuts, and I've been trying at the time.
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  We're broken up now, but at the time, my my wife, was not super keen on me having a,
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  machete in the house despite, you know, multiple efforts to bring one in.
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  I didn't really have a good excuse as to why I needed one.
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  And so we she suggested the market manager suggested us doing the coconuts, and I I
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  literally, like, went home and watched, I think, like, a half of a YouTube where somebody
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  with a knife was opening up a coconut.
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  And I was like, I could do that better with a bigger knife.
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  And so it's actually kinda funny.
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  We we had the classic, like, wife, husband argument of, like, you're gonna chop your
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  fingers off.
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  No.
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  I'm not.
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  It'll be fine.
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  Like I don't care.
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  Yeah.
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  Yeah.
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  Like, you're not certified for this.
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  Like, oh, I got this, babe.
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  I saw half of YouTube.
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  I I this is this is gonna go swimmingly.
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  Well, the funny part is that I don't cut myself with the machete, but the plastic wrapping that
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  comes with the machete totally got my hand and had a big fat cut.
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  So to this day, nine years later, this woman does not I mean, like, we're amiable.
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  We have doing them together.
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  We're broke up, but, like, my ex wife was like, does not
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  You can even get the plastic off of it without hurting yourself.
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  Hell, dude.
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  My ex wife does not believe to this day that I did not hurt myself with that machete.
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  They're, like, things that's utterly utterly utterly possible that I, you know,
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  hurt myself with the someone someone who is happily married, oh, my wife doesn't let me
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  live down my worst moments Yeah.
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  I know.
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  All the time.
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  So I understand.
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  I'm glad you you can at least be amicable and, always have a good laugh out of it.
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  But yeah.
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  Oh, Oh, that's great.
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  That's great.
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  So, yeah, I just kind of started doing it.
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  Right?
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  I can do it better than typical man thing.
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  Right?
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  Like, look at this idiot.
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  If that guy can do it, I can
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  do it.
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  I'm thinking of it with a little knife.
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  Why not make it a larger knife with less experience and then start vending?
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  So, it was pretty wild.
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  I mean, it was, like, from day one, I knew I had a hit.
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  I've had kind of a weird, like, work life background from putting on concerts to, like,
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  having a a pretty long, like, marketing Internet marketing tech background.
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  And so but one of my many jobs was I did trade shows all over The US for woodworking.
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  So kinda like the ShamWow guy, but with, like, a way boring or product because I had,
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  sandpaper.
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  And so, like, I kinda knew, like, a hit when I'd see it in front of people.
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  Right?
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  So, like, even though I'm in a, like, you know, I'm, like, working off of a folding table with
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  an ice chest and, like, I'm in the middle of also tropical Davis, California.
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  Right?
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  Like and and by tropical, I mean, not at all.
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  Right?
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  Like, it's Yeah.
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  Davis is in the in the valley.
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  Right?
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  Like, valley,
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  suburbs, like, ocean even close.
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  Not even not even close to the river, really.
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  And so said Davis first.
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  I was like, this doesn't make any sense.
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  And you said Hawaiian restaurant.
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  I was like, okay.
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  It
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  it Yeah.
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  Just a little better.
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  Yeah.
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  A little bit more sense, but still, it didn't really make a whole lot of sense.
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  But, you know, people would Surprisingly. Come
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  Come Yeah.
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  Right?
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  And people would come back and, like like, kids would beg their parents to come back.
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  Like, I remember one of the early markets, I forgot the, the umbrellas, and, like, I felt
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  like I was, like, stepping on, like, three legged puppies or something.
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  Like, people were these kids were, like, so disappointed that we didn't have the umbrella
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  and, like, we didn't you know, like, like, they just really got into the whole thing.
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  And so about a year less than a year into it, I asked one of my friends who owns a bar because
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  people people have been joking, like, oh, where's the rum?
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  And, you know, like, it's a joke, but, like, it's not a joke when you've heard it, like, 90
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  times.
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  Right?
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  Like, No.
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  No.
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  Guys, seriously, this would be a lot better with some rum in it.
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  A 100%.
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  And so asked for a chance to do it.
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  My friend was really kind and let me just, like, post up, and I sort of, like, started
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  bartending with it.
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  I mean, you know, don't tell anybody, but I had zero experience bartending back then.
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  So I was just, like, totally faking it.
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  But I I kinda developed a way to bartend and actually ended up being really good at it.
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  Like, it was kinda crazy.
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  I was always good at making sauces and stuff for the restaurant.
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  I hadn't really bartended a whole lot.
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  But for some reason, making up recipes and stuff was, like, pretty easy for me.
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  And so about, you know, a year in to doing this, I'm getting booked three different times
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  a weekend by Malibu rum and other spirits companies to do guest bartending.
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  So I'm, like, looking at my face on flyers and, like, people are following me on Instagram, and
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  I'm like, what the heck happened?
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  Like, I don't understand how I ended up in this, like, real fake job.
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  You know?
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  And, like, that's that was kind of the the nucleus for it.
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  You know, fast forward now, and it's a lot more sophisticated operation.
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  It's still a lot of the same things, but I go on tour for four to six months out of the year,
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  like, the different, like, large scale events, fairs, festivals all over the country, and it's
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  it's wild.
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  It's totally totally different.
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  Incredible.
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  Yeah.
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  Well, we're starting to tour with the podcast.
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  And and because we're around music, we're doing songwriter showcases.
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  We actually got a two week tour coming up in March.
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  My brain is, yeah, my brain is humming.
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  I'm like, dude, we gotta get this guy on the tour bus.
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  Yeah.
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  Gotta What do do?
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  How do we do we make this work?
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  We don't even run our own bar.
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  We don't have a liquor license in any of these places.
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  I'm friends with some people.
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  Shout out to El Bandido, Yankee Tequila.
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  I figured out how we're work how are we working this in.
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  Let's do it.
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  Let's
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  do Yeah, man.
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  Just incredible.
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  I love how you're still very, you know I mean, how do you not be when when you kinda fall ass
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  backwards into something like this to not be so appreciative.
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  Right?
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  To be very humble about where you're at.
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  Like, look.
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  I didn't I didn't really do it.
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  I learned how to not chop my finger off with the damn machete.
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  Right?
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  Like, it was nothing too incredible.
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  And not to take anything away from what you're doing.
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  I'm sure you become quite a showman with it knowing that, you know, that's what people are
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  coming for.
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  Right?
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  Like, they're coming for the whole experience.
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  A 100%.
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  But it just yeah.
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  I mean, the the real fake job.
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  Right?
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  I mean, I kind of feel like that's what I have now.
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  Right?
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  I'm a podcaster and and out here, and I was a songwriter and a musician, and, like, it was,
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  like, a lot of hard work to perform for four hours.
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  And
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  a few months ago, I got the opportunity to work for the Josie music award.
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  Shout out to the Josies.
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  But it was at the Grand Ole Opry house.
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  And I got to interview a 150 artists in front of the Grand Ole.
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  I've never even been to Nashville.
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  Right?
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  Yeah.
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  I'm working the red carpet, and I'm just a camp my little tiny camera up set up and me in front
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  of my a banner exactly like that one.
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  Right?
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  Just hanging up and just having conversations.
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  Hey.
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  I'm Bubba.
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  Who are you?
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  What do you do?
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  Well, like, what are what are you nominated for?
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  Awesome.
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  That's so great.
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  Cool.
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  Next.
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  And I do for four hours.
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  And That's wild.
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  We just had a, neural a neural coach on with us right before you jumped in, and we were talking
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  about the flow state and how, people, you know, that are used to doing that you know, I played
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  sports before and never to, like, a high level, but have always played music.
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  Since I was 13, I've been playing music.
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  So, like, understanding, oh, that flow state is what I chased.
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  It wasn't necessarily, like, you know, fame or any of that.
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  It was like that feeling of doing all the things at once and coming out on the other side
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  of it.
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  And regardless of what the outcome was, like, I was addicted to that flow.
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  And then finding that podcasting is that flow for me now.
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  It's something that I can do four or five hours straight, and I can continue it for the rest of
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  my life.
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  Right?
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  I'm just talking.
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  I say it all the time on the show, man.
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  I was like, if you would have told anyone in my family or growing up that Bubba Starts was
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  gonna find a way to make a living running his mouth, they would have believed you.
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  Right?
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  They would have been like, oh, yeah.
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  That makes perfect sense.
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  Right?
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  So it's really I feel like you do where I'm like, man, how did I end up here and how do I
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  just, like, keep myself here for as long as possible and just keep doing it?
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  100%.
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  Yeah.
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  It's it's long hours, and it is hard.
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  And I and I I didn't really realize that was the, like, term for it, but I think the flow
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  state is what I'm, like, addicted to, what makes it a 100%.
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  Yeah.
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  It's really not the money.
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  Keep doing it and see yeah.
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  Exactly.
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  Exactly.
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  That's me.
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  I'm the most successful coconut chucker in the world.
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  I can go ahead and say that, I'm pretty sure, safely without a whole lot of research because
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  I don't know anyone else that does what I do that isn't like a stand next to, you know, I
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  don't know, like, a little pop up stand somewhere.
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  Right?
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  Like, I I I made it a pretty big deal for what little deal it is, and, like, the money is not
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  that good.
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  Right?
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  But No.
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  No.
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  You're like, what it is good is to wine cooking and make more money.
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  But
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  Oh, dear.
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  Alright.
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  There's so many things I could do that would make more money.
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  Like, I I do pretty good for what it is, and it's fun.
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  And and it has some it has some potential with products and, you know, I gotta monetize a
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  following on Instagram, blah blah blah.
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  But, like, it's it's it's really the job itself in that flow state is what I enjoy.
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  I mean, there's like, I have ADD and, like, you know, like, monotonous tasks are not not your
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  friend when you have ADD.
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  But, like, I can do this monotonous, like, shuck in a coconut, like, all day and, like,
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  totally in love with it.
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  Totally enjoy it.
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  Because one mistake in that and you're missing a digit.
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  Right?
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  Right.
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  Like, So it takes all of that focus.
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  And Yeah.
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  Yeah.
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  Exactly.
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  It's really cool that I have that conversation with Brandon Day right before you because it
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  perfectly exemplifies what each of us are in.
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  Right?
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  And I don't make any money podcasting.
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  I think that our time is coming as we've grown this network, but I pretty much for when you
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  know, I was making $50 a year at at the welding job I was at, which for South Dakota with our
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  cost of
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  living is really
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  good money.
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  Yeah, man.
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  I don't fucking really get Right?
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  And, I I've essentially left, you know, 6 figures on the table by saying, no.
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  I'm gonna quit my job and just, like, chase whatever this thing is.
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  Like, I'm being called and pulled in this direction.
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  I'm just going to go follow that.
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  And I have to imagine that, you know, for you, you're like, you're one ambassador deal away,
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  right, from from making and actually making some serious money.
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  It's learning how to leverage that.
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  You really need a really good manager.
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  We're gonna talk off camera a little bit, see if we can make some things happen for you,
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  Dustin, Dustin, because I'm a go back.
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  Well, because there's no competition.
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  Right?
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  It's not like there's Yeah.
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  It's not like artist or or, you know, like, musicianship where there's millions of us now.
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  Right?
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  Independent.
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  It's probably part of the reason that I was like, yeah.
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  I don't have the stomach to be another independent musician out here.
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  But you know what?
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  There's not a lot of.
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  There's not a lot of people that would like to talk to those independent musicians and people
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  and to support them.
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  You're
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  super smart.
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  Well, because it becomes such like a selfish pursuit because the Internet tells you that,
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  like, you gotta post on this freaking 10 times a day about you and only you, and and you can't
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  be about anyone else.
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  And I just don't believe in, like especially in the art world, like, competition over
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  collaboration.
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  To me, it's always collaboration over competition even though I've won, you know, an
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  award for creating content, which seems totally kinda wild too.
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  But our our product speaks for itself.
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  It's not because of the quality necessarily, although the conversations are good.
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  I put out 1,500 uploads on YouTube last year.
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  That's amazing.
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  Like, it's just pure Pure horror.
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  Out there.
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  Right?
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  And granted most of it's short form content.
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  Right?
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  But I still had over 400 episodes.
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  Right?
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  And I have I already have I already have, like, a 100 scheduled for next year for, you know,
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  twenty twenty six already in the can and out there.
• 14:09
  Right?
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  So it's, it's but it's an addiction to this.
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  It's an addiction to, like, this moment of hanging out with Dustin, talking about his
• 14:18
  crazy lifestyle that he gets to live because he decided he was gonna get a machete one day and
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  start shucking coconuts.
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  Right?
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  Like, that's and it's and it's that flow state and being just, an absolute junkie for it.
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  Oh, yeah.
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  Big time.
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  It's fun.
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  I mean, I love the you get to meet new people.
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  I assume that's part of the appeal of your your job too.
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  This business job that you, you know a job you've built for yourself with this business
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  that you have.
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  Like like, I get to go.
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  Like, I've I've always been kind of like a gypsy heart if that makes sense.
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  And so for me, like, leaving leaving where I live and even though I miss my kids, like,
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  being gone for four to six months, like, meeting new people is like, it's it's
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  addicting.
• 14:58
  Right?
• 14:58
  I get to go have friends, and it's it's gotten cool now that I've done the, like, more
• 15:03
  hardcore touring part instead of just, like, in state, like, going out of state and doing a bit
• 15:09
  in a bigger way the last three years.
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  Like, I have one anchor stop because I'm still building my route.
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  It's, a lot like musicians.
• 15:17
  Right?
• 15:17
  Like, you try and build your tour route.
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  And, unfortunately, for me, there's not, like, tour management companies.
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  I mean, I am talking to one right now, but, like, I don't know that I I I hope I fit.
• 15:28
  Right?
• 15:29
  Like, I don't know if I fit or not with that, with their model just because they're so used
• 15:32
  to using doing musicians.
• 15:34
  Right?
• 15:34
  And so they have, like, a set way that they could do it, and they work with a lot of the
• 15:38
  same maybe places that I would work.
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  But because I'm retail tainment, it's, a little different.
• 15:43
  But, like, one of the anchor stops in Boise, Idaho, like, it's so cool.
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  I've made these friends and, like, they have they throw me, like, a welcome home party.
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  Right?
• 15:52
  And, like, you you know, if you've been on the road, like, it's hard because there's there's
• 15:57
  only so many bars and there's only so much, you know, like, stuff, but it gets lonely.
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  Like, the the the part that isn't glamorous that people don't talk about when you're on
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  tour is that you can end up watching Netflix in your hotel room every single night without any
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  friends or, like, at the bar every single night if that's, like, your thing, which is not
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  really my thing.
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  But you know what I mean?
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  Like like, that's where you end up if you don't make an effort.
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  So one of the things I started doing about my second year, of doing this was I sort of forced
• 16:28
  myself to go out and try to make some friends when I first come to a new town because I'll be
• 16:32
  there for couple weeks or whatever.
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  Usually, at least ten days to, like, fourteen days, maybe longer.
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  And so kinda forcing myself to go.
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  And it's crazy because, like, I'll talk to sometimes a thousand people in a day.
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  Right?
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  Like, I if I do a fifteen, sixteen hour shift, which isn't, like, unheard of for me, like,
• 16:49
  shucking coconuts, like, I will talk to that many customers.
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  Like, I for sure.
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  Like, 500, a thousand people, like, no problem in a day.
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  And that that's easy.
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  But me sitting in a bar, having to go talk to a stranger is, like, terrifying.
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  Right?
• 17:05
  Yeah.
• 17:05
  It's it's funny how it gets scarier when you take the machete out of your hand to talk to
• 17:09
  people.
• 17:10
  Yeah.
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  Yeah.
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  So if I don't have my props, if they're not coming up to my, like, VW Surf Bus, you know,
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  like, concessions trailer, if I'm not in my little element, like, now I've gotta go be real
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  bold, and I gotta go be real real brave and go talk to some stranger.
• 17:25
  Or else I'm not gonna have any friends when I'm there.
• 17:27
  Right?
• 17:28
  And so, like, it's not about, like, you know, like, meeting new people romantically.
• 17:31
  It's like it's about, like like, just making some friends so that a stay is, like, normal.
• 17:36
  And so, like, it's those little moments, like, the barbecues and stuff that are, like, really,
• 17:40
  really cool because you've, like, kinda bridged the gap of, hey.
• 17:44
  Like, I'm really, like, a part of this community that I'm visiting.
• 17:47
  I'm not just, a like a like a stranger in the night.
• 17:49
  You know what I mean?
• 17:50
  Like Yeah.
• 17:50
  Actually have friends.
• 17:51
  And and that part, I think,
• 17:52
  is really, really cool.
• 17:53
  What you need to do is you you need to make a podcast out on the road and make it that.
• 17:58
  Right?
• 17:58
  Because, well, because it kinda gives you that excuse to talk to people.
• 18:02
  Right?
• 18:02
  And you're able to, like, it becomes a part of your prop.
• 18:04
  And I know this because, man, we've gotten free food on the road.
• 18:07
  We've gotten all kinds of things.
• 18:08
  Because I'm like, hey.
• 18:09
  I'm Bubba Starritz, content creator of the year.
• 18:11
  We're featuring local restaurants on our tour and, boom.
• 18:15
  Right?
• 18:16
  And now it I'm sure you got discounted meal and you made friends with the, you know, with the
• 18:21
  establishment, and it's a great introduction.
• 18:24
  It allows you to give.
• 18:25
  Right?
• 18:26
  Instead of coming in and asking for something, you're giving.
• 18:28
  Hey.
• 18:28
  I wanna feature you on my platform.
• 18:30
  And I imagine that you probably have a decent amount of followers from being out on the road
• 18:34
  and building that up and
• 18:35
  A little bit.
• 18:35
  Doing those things that yeah.
• 18:37
  Yeah.
• 18:38
  You're helping others, and you could do that everywhere you go.
• 18:41
  So, yeah, we're gonna start you a podcast, and we're taking you on tour with us.
• 18:44
  Oh, let's do it.
• 18:46
  Where so my friends always go up to, Treefort Fest in Boise.
• 18:50
  My friend's the free creatures.
• 18:51
  Oh, I've never been to that.
• 18:52
  I haven't heard that.
• 18:53
  I mean, it's funny.
• 18:54
  It's like one of the hard things about building a tour is there's all these amazing, all these
• 18:59
  amazing events.
• 19:00
  But by the time they show up on an event calendar somewhere, like, it's already too late
• 19:06
  to get in as a vendor sometimes.
• 19:08
  Right?
• 19:08
  Or, like, they get in there, so you almost have to hear about it from people that know that,
• 19:13
  hey.
• 19:13
  This is a good event, and then you gotta, like, look it up earlier in the year and stuff.
• 19:17
  So I'll have to look that up.
• 19:17
  You said Treefort?
• 19:19
  Treefort, f o r t.
• 19:21
  Yeah.
• 19:21
  Treefort Fest.
• 19:22
  I do believe it was what it was called.
• 19:24
  And yeah, it takes place at, like, a three story bar right there, if I remember right.
• 19:30
  Yeah.
• 19:30
  Pretty cool Yeah, man.
• 19:32
  Well, Boise, I think, has got some things popping right now.
• 19:35
  So, yeah, I It's
• 19:36
  very busy.
• 19:36
  It's crazy, dude.
• 19:37
  It's like Californians, like, settled there in droves to the point where there might be a
• 19:43
  little bit of resentment.
• 19:44
  I mean, I they don't resent me
• 19:46
  I lived in Bend, Oregon.
• 19:47
  I'm just visiting.
• 19:48
  I I know about that.
• 19:50
  Right?
• 19:50
  I lived in Bend, like, o six through Oh my.
• 19:54
  And, yeah, right at the housing crash.
• 19:56
  Right?
• 19:57
  I think I moved in o nine.
• 19:58
  I I moved away.
• 19:59
  But seeing, like, entire empty neighborhoods because people were taking out third and fourth
• 20:04
  mortgages to buy a house in Bend and just this beautiful area.
• 20:09
  And I was friends with all locals.
• 20:10
  I hung out kinda like downtown.
• 20:11
  We used to have the Bend Distillery was right down in in the circle, and I was just a little
• 20:16
  park rat, man.
• 20:17
  That was a long, long time ago.
• 20:19
  Decades ago, Dustin.
• 20:21
  A different life, man.
• 20:23
  I feel that.
• 20:24
  I feel that.
• 20:25
  So what what what are who have been some of your, like, most favorite guests?
• 20:31
  Like, I'm sure there's so many, but, like, a couple standout fun guests that you would have
• 20:35
  never million.
• 20:36
  I I got to interview like, my first few months of podcasting, I got to interview Bill Payne,
• 20:42
  who's the founding member of Little Feet.
• 20:44
  Oh, that's cool.
• 20:45
  So and, I mean, he's played with everybody.
• 20:47
  He's recorded with Jackson Brown and Bob Seger and did did a record with Barbara Streisand
• 20:52
  that he didn't remember doing.
• 20:53
  Right?
• 20:54
  He was just a session guy.
• 20:55
  And so that was really cool off the bat.
• 20:59
  Got to interview the drummer from Judas Priest.
• 21:02
  That was fairly early on as well.
• 21:04
  That was pretty cool.
• 21:05
  But I interview a lot of my friends and other independent artists.
• 21:08
  You know?
• 21:08
  And and for me, like, the biggest fanboy moment that I've had with a guest was someone that was
• 21:16
  actually on another podcast that I followed, like, seven, eight years ago.
• 21:20
  Her name is Cheryl b Inglehart, and she was on Rick Barker's podcast.
• 21:23
  Rick Barker's famous because he was Taylor Swift's kinda manager right before she blew up,
• 21:28
  kinda took her to the point where she was getting massive, massive exposure and was like,
• 21:33
  I can't do this for you anymore.
• 21:35
  I'm built to kinda take people from unknown to known and not from known to superstar.
• 21:41
  Right?
• 21:41
  So I started following him when I got, you know, twenty eighteen ish, and Cheryl was on
• 21:47
  his show.
• 21:48
  And a few months ago, I'm cruising my calendar like, oh, what's on for next week or whatever?
• 21:53
  And it's like, Cheryl Inglehart.
• 21:55
  And I was like, no.
• 21:57
  No.
• 21:58
  Because I didn't reach out to her.
• 21:59
  Right?
• 22:00
  It wasn't like I reached out to you, you know, on LinkedIn and and found her.
• 22:05
  She had found me.
• 22:06
  And I'm like, nah.
• 22:07
  I'm Chad GPT.
• 22:09
  And, like, is there another Sheryl Inglehart that's a musician?
• 22:11
  And you know, and, when she showed up, I was like, oh my god.
• 22:17
  It's you.
• 22:17
  Right?
• 22:18
  Like, how did you how did you find me?
• 22:21
  Right?
• 22:21
  Like, how do you like, I'm a little tiny podcast.
• 22:23
  I live in rural South Dakota.
• 22:25
  Like, how did you find what we're doing?
• 22:28
  She's like, oh, no.
• 22:29
  No.
• 22:29
  I think my publicist or somebody, like, said this would be a good one for me to come on.
• 22:33
  I got a Grammy nomination.
• 22:34
  I'm trying to go out and, like, you know, pump that up a little bit, and I'm just like, this
• 22:37
  is wild.
• 22:38
  This is wild.
• 22:39
  But it shows the work that we had done and being out there, like, yeah, when you chat GPT
• 22:44
  Bubba starts or the scene projects, I have a pretty substantial online footprint that, you
• 22:51
  know, shows up that you're like, oh, yeah.
• 22:53
  I wanna be a part of that.
• 22:54
  Right?
• 22:54
  Supports independent musicians and building communities and and the, you know, the uploads
• 22:59
  and the views that were getting the attention, it matters now.
• 23:02
  And that was the first kind of indicator to me that, like, oh, this thing's gonna about it's
• 23:06
  about to blow up.
• 23:07
  Right?
• 23:07
  It's about to really start taking off in that realm.
• 23:11
  And now I'm a part of a bunch of different, you know, not just on LinkedIn and, you know,
• 23:16
  Facebook.
• 23:16
  I network on a lot as well.
• 23:18
  But now I'm on a bunch of different PR websites like Quoted and Source of Sources and and
• 23:24
  different places where, like, real media people, I guess, I would call them, you know,
• 23:29
  The New York Times writers and and all these kind of people are hanging out at that.
• 23:34
  I'm realizing that I'm a really interesting get as a guest as well because of this experience
• 23:40
  and because of what we've built.
• 23:41
  And this tour is gonna be bananas, man.
• 23:43
  I mean, ten ten US major markets.
• 23:46
  We're hitting Austin for South by, you know, because I have that planning.
• 23:50
  I have that forethought of going, where do I wanna be?
• 23:53
  And if I get to be my own boss and create my own reality, then let's make this as badass as
• 23:58
  it can be.
• 23:59
  And let's put cameras on everything.
• 24:00
  Let's capture it all, the entire experience, and then we'll figure out kinda what it is on
• 24:05
  the back.
• 24:05
  Right?
• 24:06
  So we're gonna go out.
• 24:07
  We got three artists that are traveling with us.
• 24:10
  We're gonna hit Detroit, Dallas, Austin, Houston, New Orleans, Atlanta, Nashville, Like,
• 24:17
  hitting all of these cool music cities in the South.
• 24:20
  It's spring break kinda timing.
• 24:22
  Right?
• 24:23
  Like and and that's where I built the tour.
• 24:25
  Was like, man, I wanna get down south during spring break.
• 24:27
  South by is the first, you know, March.
• 24:30
  Let's just go out there.
• 24:31
  Let's do it.
• 24:31
  And last year, I'd done it in my suburban.
• 24:34
  I traveled over 50,000 miles just getting in the vehicle, sleeping in rest areas, and
• 24:39
  staying on the road.
• 24:40
  So in my mind, I'm like, well, I've already proven that I can do it.
• 24:44
  Can we do it at that next level?
• 24:46
  Tour bus it up.
• 24:47
  Raise the money.
• 24:48
  Can we get the sponsorships?
• 24:50
  Can we get a tour bus?
• 24:51
  You know, yesterday was a pretty cool day.
• 24:52
  We had a you know, we're not getting it for free like I was hoping, but, you know,
• 24:56
  sponsorships cover it, then it's free anyway.
• 24:59
  But, you know, oh, well, here's your quote.
• 25:00
  Right?
• 25:00
  Here's a 12 passenger, you know, 12 sleeper tour bus.
• 25:05
  You know, so and so traveled in it last year.
• 25:07
  Yeah.
• 25:07
  She shot a documentary in this one and stuff too, so the bus kinda has a little history, and
• 25:13
  it just it's wild.
• 25:15
  Right?
• 25:15
  Very much like you where I'm like, how is this happening?
• 25:19
  But I wake up every day and I work towards that end.
• 25:22
  And I'm like, I'm not like, failure is not an I.
• 25:25
  I don't even, like, I don't even think about, like, well, what if it doesn't happen?
• 25:28
  No.
• 25:29
  What do you mean what if it does it's happening.
• 25:31
  Like Right.
• 25:32
  It's fucking happening.
• 25:33
  One way or another, the shit's going down, and that's just I get to be here for the ride.
• 25:38
  So looking forward to just going out and and capturing all this content.
• 25:43
  And then, you know, if it becomes documentaries or feature length films, regardless, it's a ton
• 25:48
  of great podcast content.
• 25:49
  Right?
• 25:50
  At the
• 25:50
  very least, we're on Roku and Apple, and we have a couple different networks that we put
• 25:54
  our stuff out on there.
• 25:55
  So, like, all of the distribution points, everything's greased up.
• 25:59
  Right?
• 25:59
  It's just a matter of, like, the last the last shoe to drop is the money.
• 26:03
  We're waiting for somebody to come be like, yeah.
• 26:06
  We want a piece of that.
• 26:07
  Here's a fat check for, you know, a 100 k and cool.
• 26:11
  Alright.
• 26:12
  Well, we're going on the road.
• 26:13
  You know?
• 26:13
  And still at the end of that, I'll get a $100,000 check, and I'll still have no money
• 26:17
  because I've already spent
• 26:18
  Yeah.
• 26:19
  Oh, dude.
• 26:20
  I I feel you on that one.
• 26:22
  It it's expensive.
• 26:23
  It's they've got it down now that, like, I'm probably obnoxious to travel with because,
• 26:30
  like, I I have it all timed.
• 26:32
  Right?
• 26:33
  It's all optimized to, like, save gas money.
• 26:36
  I've gotta, like, stop at at the, you know, same time, eat, get gas, you know, middle of
• 26:42
  the whatever eight eight hour drive with the trailer, like, the number of times I've, you
• 26:48
  know, popped tires and keep, like, a spare or whatever.
• 26:51
  Like, it's it's wild once you once you get used to that road life.
• 26:55
  Yeah.
• 26:55
  I mean,
• 26:55
  I cheap and oh, I've had way too many gas station nails.
• 27:00
  I'll tell you what.
• 27:00
  Too early, you would have made a killing falling around the dead in the eighties.
• 27:04
  Right.
• 27:05
  Oh, I know.
• 27:05
  Yeah.
• 27:06
  I should've.
• 27:08
  Look.
• 27:09
  Day daylight dollar short, story of my life right there.
• 27:11
  Yeah.
• 27:12
  Well, you know what?
• 27:13
  We're we're gonna find a way to drag you out on our tour and to make all that happen.
• 27:17
  But until that does, where can people find you and, book you for their events and and just
• 27:24
  bring you to their communities?
• 27:25
  So I have two different ways.
• 27:27
  The primary kinda lead source following I have, I do have a website, but the the main way
• 27:33
  people get in touch with me is usually my Instagram.
• 27:36
  So real coconut guy.
• 27:38
  So r e a l coconut guy.
• 27:41
  I've got a little following there on Instagram.
• 27:44
  And then it's a great way to kinda have the the most, up to date content.
• 27:49
  I'll post about this on there, of course, to my followers.
• 27:52
  And then, coconutguyevents.com also works to to get ahold of me and to fill out a, like, a a
• 27:59
  booking request for that.
• 28:01
  Awesome stuff, man.
• 28:03
  Well, this was a great conversation.
• 28:05
  I appreciate you taking some time for me.
• 28:07
  And, I really hope that we can make a, a conjoined tour happen if not this year in the
• 28:13
  near future because, I'm very intro I love this.
• 28:17
  I love working with not just, musicians, but, to me, all creators.
• 28:22
  We're all kind of in the same boat now.
• 28:24
  We've all become
• 28:24
  100%.
• 28:25
  Influencers or whatever the hell that society wants to call us, but we all kinda have that
• 28:30
  same goal.
• 28:30
  Like, can we just keep doing what we're doing and not have to get real jobs?
• 28:34
  Yeah.
• 28:34
  Yeah.
• 28:35
  100%.
• 28:36
  I don't think it could last in a in a in a in a Oh,
• 28:39
  Oh, I definitely couldn't go back to the factory at this point, man.
• 28:43
  Like, I've seen too much.
• 28:44
  I've seen too much
• 28:45
  of the good life.
• 28:46
  I I can't go back.
• 28:48
  Well, Dustin, the coconut guy, thanks for being on the show today, and thanks for being part of
• 28:53
  the scene.
• 28:55
  My pleasure, man.
• 28:56
  Really appreciate you.