00:00:00:00 - 00:00:04:13
Speaker 1
It wasn't meant for him. I was such an idiot. In those days, I had just grabbed all the money out of registers.
00:00:04:17 - 00:00:06:05
Speaker 2
Who knows what I had not.
00:00:06:07 - 00:00:19:11
Speaker 1
You know, but I. You know, because he's my brother and my partner. I didn't, you know, he ran that place and did it the right way at the money. Doesn't seem nowadays that it was that much. But then it seemed like it was. There would be no way in hell I could ever pay it back. And what the hell did we do?
00:00:19:11 - 00:00:31:20
Speaker 1
And it was. It seemed like a mountain of money. You know me. So any time things get good, I got to go back to the bank and get well. I can't stop taking it. I got to casually take another risk. Take another risk? If you ever want to see an idiot, just look at me.
00:00:31:22 - 00:00:32:18
Speaker 2
I kids, I.
00:00:32:18 - 00:00:50:08
Speaker 1
Love getting beat. I think that's so important is to be humble enough and for a better lack of a better word, scared enough to know at any given time in this all goes away sometimes. Maggie's I feel like we're never the sexiest date in town, but we always go to the dance when they tell me I'm lucky. I don't think I am.
00:00:50:08 - 00:00:58:23
Speaker 1
I think I'm fortunate. I think I worked very hard to to stay there and to try to make it successful and feel like I have, to a certain extent, knowing that at any given time I could lose.
00:00:58:23 - 00:01:13:21
Speaker 3
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00:01:13:21 - 00:01:30:01
Speaker 3
We handle your show, get you some money, and get you some eyeballs because we are in an attention economy. And, that's exactly what we do, baby. So noble lore. And then we are also taking on sponsorships now for this show. We've been growing, looking for anyone that sees what we do or where around communication can be.
00:01:30:01 - 00:01:39:01
Speaker 3
Small communities, sobriety and, organized religion is an interest of ours. So if that fits into your, brand, let's have a little chit chat. Noble orb.
00:01:39:03 - 00:01:54:06
Speaker 1
So those first four years was, was was tough as far as just getting through everything, figuring everything out and on top of it, paying bills and stuff. But, you know, we always did it somehow because on paper it didn't work. Those first few years. But we we never missed a payment or nothing like that. But it was tough.
00:01:54:08 - 00:02:10:22
Speaker 1
And then there was a lot of work involved there. But that was the first four years. And after that it kind of every year we grew, subtly, you know, maybe 100 grand a year, a little bit here, a little bit here. But every year kind of added on top of the previous. And then after four years, the bank and everything was paid off.
00:02:10:22 - 00:02:27:07
Speaker 1
And it was like, Holy cow. Like we might be actually able to pay ourselves a little bit, you know? And by then we were making more money. And, so things started to lighten up a little bit. And then I'd say about 7 or 8 years in was when then it was like, okay, man, now we got a little breathing room here, you know, for sure.
00:02:27:09 - 00:02:34:20
Speaker 1
And and then at some point in there and I don't remember exactly how many years into it, but then I bought bombers.
00:02:34:22 - 00:02:36:03
Speaker 3
Yeah. That's right. Yeah.
00:02:36:07 - 00:02:48:01
Speaker 1
Take away. Yeah. From my buddy Jimmy Bommarito. And, well, we actually kept Jimmy. Jimmy stayed involved with us, and, and, we bought that, and then, what year was that?
00:02:48:22 - 00:03:12:13
Speaker 1
I want to say that would have been. It would have been 14 years, right. I maybe about 14. And then we ended up selling it. I was just juggling so much with the two. And by that time, Pat and I knew we wanted to expand the, the Maggie O'Brien's brand. You know, we wanted to get it maybe out in Saint Peter's, Saint Charles, maybe down south.
00:03:12:15 - 00:03:28:09
Speaker 1
We weren't real sure what, but we knew we had the name, and we kind of wanted to see if we couldn't get into an existing location that already was kind of set up. And, see, if we couldn't, take that to the next level with Maggie. So, that was always kind in the back of my mind.
00:03:28:09 - 00:03:47:14
Speaker 1
But then when you're doing that, it's one of the things I kind of it was tough for me to. I felt like I was, I was juggling a couple different concepts, and that was hard where it was easier, you know, when you had multiple locations of Maggie's, it's kind of like it's all still the same thing. The menu's relatively all the same, your directions the same.
00:03:47:14 - 00:04:06:10
Speaker 1
Your message is the same when you're also associate Eatery. I had to kind of keep shifting gears, you know, with employees and with how I was thinking. So I found that a little challenging, I guess. But, in the process of that. So we had that for a while, and then we ended up selling it to my good buddy, God rest his soul, Jimmy Wars.
00:04:06:12 - 00:04:26:03
Speaker 1
And then, he took that and ran with it for sure. Took that to a whole new level and did wonderful with it. And then, and then the process because my, you know, I lost my brother and, you know, in there as well, God rest his soul. It's so crazy to think about all that. But, you know, I just kept hearing in the back of my head, there was part of me when I lost him.
00:04:26:03 - 00:04:46:23
Speaker 1
Just because it was our our whole dream to do it and whatever. I just. There was a part of me early on. It was just, like, ready to just, you know, cash it in and just say I'm, you know, I'm good, you know, like, I don't want to without him. I know, but then after, you know, I kind of got through it for a little bit, I don't know, there was a part of me in the back, had something in the back of my head that just kept saying, you know, go for it.
00:04:46:23 - 00:04:51:09
Speaker 1
I don't know if it was him saying it or I felt like he was saying, I don't know if that makes any sense.
00:04:51:09 - 00:04:52:17
Speaker 3
How many years in were you in?
00:04:52:18 - 00:05:06:03
Speaker 1
So by that time. So Pat passed away November the 9th, 2016. And and I guess by that time maybe we had owned it since when? Like, what was it, I guess March of oh six.
00:05:06:04 - 00:05:06:18
Speaker 2
Okay.
00:05:06:19 - 00:05:23:19
Speaker 1
Something like that. So whatever that math comes out to me. But so once I lost him, that was part of me that was like all of a sudden it was like then I almost went the other direction with it, which was, now I'm going to go full throttle and and just in his name, you know, to, just for him, you know, on his legacy and whatever.
00:05:23:19 - 00:05:38:03
Speaker 1
And then and then that kind of drove me and then I kind of became a psychopath, like, you know, internally, like just trying to constantly. I was always thinking about probably to a point where it probably wasn't good for me, but I probably needed it at the time, you know, helped me kind of get through it and out of that.
00:05:38:03 - 00:06:03:15
Speaker 1
But, I came very focus at that time on really kind of running with it. So knowing what Pat and I wanted to do, which was to keep pushing, is Maggie's brand. That was when I went and was started looking in in actually kind of kind of ironic. At the time before I had sold bombers to Jimmy, he was, doing this because he had sold Truman's way back when he was business broker.
00:06:03:15 - 00:06:20:05
Speaker 1
And so he brokered the deal that I, when I, when I went out and bought O'Leary's out in Sunset Hills. So I bought O'Leary's. He brokered it. And, which was kind of cool. And then but it which was funny because he was still doing that right at the end, but I had already sold him bombers. I had just sold him bombers.
00:06:20:05 - 00:06:37:01
Speaker 1
And the reason, like I said, I did, I knew I wanted to start going to Maggie O'Brien's direction and not that I wouldn't, you know, do something else that had a different concept. But at the time, the way it was for me, I was so involved and was really the doing everything that it, it made sense to keep my, my messages sane.
00:06:37:03 - 00:07:04:21
Speaker 1
So once we did that, I brokered a brokered that deal, and I end up buying O'Leary's out in Sunset Hills. And then obviously we. And that would have been in October of 17. And, and then obviously we changed the name to Maggie's immediately just because and I thought that was kind of a good fit because it was already an Irish type bar that was somewhat similar to a maggie's that had been there for a long time, you know, so it wasn't like I was taking a shell of a place and doing it, or it wasn't like it wasn't a Mexican restaurant.
00:07:04:22 - 00:07:15:04
Speaker 1
Those or anything wrong on the Mexican. Right. But I wasn't trying to change the concept in a location that had been there for a while. Yep. So it kind of made sense to do it that way. Or I thought it did. I don't what I, you know, you find out pretty quickly.
00:07:15:10 - 00:07:16:21
Speaker 2
Makes sense doesn't. Yeah.
00:07:16:22 - 00:07:33:13
Speaker 1
But anyway so I that that's kind of how that ran. And then from there we had the second one. And then I was definitely looking from there to, to kind of even go another one. And that was kind of right around, you know, I waited maybe a year and a half and I started kind of looking around. And then that was kind of right about when Covid hit, and then that really put the brakes on everything.
00:07:33:13 - 00:07:36:12
Speaker 1
And then it was just a free for all. And how do you stay alive? You know, so.
00:07:36:15 - 00:07:37:00
Speaker 2
Yeah.
00:07:37:00 - 00:07:44:11
Speaker 1
But that's kind of a gist of how that whole I know that was me throwing up a lot there, but that's kind of a, you know, the gist of how the whole thing kind of came together.
00:07:44:11 - 00:07:47:06
Speaker 3
I wish every podcast was like this. Like all kinds of shit I can run with.
00:07:47:06 - 00:07:48:08
Speaker 2
No,
00:07:48:10 - 00:07:54:22
Speaker 3
But as you mentioned, the dream that the, you know, where did this dream with you and Pat start and like, how does this how did that even what was the origin of that?
00:07:54:22 - 00:08:13:18
Speaker 1
So I was in sales, Jack, before I got into the restaurant business, and I, I've never been married. I have no children. And so I, I always knew in the back of my head with whatever this is. And I know a lot of people think they want to own a bar restaurant until they really do, you know, and I know that, you know, and, and I, and I support anybody that really wants to do it.
00:08:13:18 - 00:08:31:06
Speaker 1
I just say, really make sure you get your, your, you know, your facts before you do it and understand really what you're getting into because there's a lot to it. But anyway, I, I always knew I kind of wanted to, but I was smart enough to know I didn't know enough about it to take on something like a maggie's, you know?
00:08:31:06 - 00:08:44:07
Speaker 1
So I wasn't even looking at Maggie's. I was thinking just, like, more of, like, a shotgun tavern. Maybe I could live above it, you know, put a cute girl behind the bar. I could flip some greasy cheeseburgers and just keep life simple and, you know, and be fun and have a place my buddies can hang. You know, I'd.
00:08:44:12 - 00:09:01:10
Speaker 1
You know. So that was what I was thinking. So I was kind of socking my money away and I was in sales. I work with Doug, you know, we were down here in South City with John Chica McMahon. I was a, a finance manager director for him, and I, I did very well. The shakers were very good to me.
00:09:01:11 - 00:09:19:22
Speaker 1
Doug was always very good to me. Always. You know, I kind of went where he went. So I did well. And I kind of like I said, I didn't have those other responsibilities with the family, which really made it. You know, that when you don't have to, when you you can take a risk when when you're not thinking, man, if I do this, you know, my kid, you know, there's, there's there's a little leeway there, you know.
00:09:19:22 - 00:09:39:17
Speaker 1
So I was fortunate in that regard. So, I knew I wanted to do it and kept it in the back of my mind, kept kind of socking some money away. And then, a good friend of our family's is Harry Bailey, and Harry was your is was the original owner of Maggie O'Brien's, and he owned Harry's.
00:09:39:17 - 00:09:53:18
Speaker 1
I don't know if you're old enough for that, but that was a big. So right up the street from Maggie's. He open up. Used to be an old muffler shop. Okay. And he turned it around. Matter of fact, one summer, all I did was clean the weeds out of the fence line right there on highway. What used to be 40, that went right through there.
00:09:53:18 - 00:10:10:05
Speaker 1
There was an exit. But, he turned it on muffler shop into a place called Harry's, and it was kind of a fine dining, but also at night, a place where young, you know, all the athletes would go there, all that kind of stuff. I kind of went from Maggie's up to there because at one time that was kind of Maggie's without the fine dining.
00:10:10:07 - 00:10:28:19
Speaker 1
So he killed that, did did really well with it. And, at some point, I don't know if he was, you know, or maybe around, you know, 70 or some, you know, whatever. Around that time that Pat and I got involved. But padded work for Harry forever, you know, he had basically bartended for him right out of college.
00:10:29:01 - 00:10:44:09
Speaker 1
Pat went to almost played soccer and I'm sold and then graduated and then went to was was bartending for Harry. And I think he just made a good enough money. He didn't want to leave. And then he started a catering company out of it, padded, patted, and he was going to start his own. Harry was like, hey man, use my equipment username.
00:10:44:09 - 00:11:06:07
Speaker 1
It's already established and we'll do a, you know, percentage thing here. And you get, you know, whatever. So that worked out great. And so Pat was involved, but Pat had been around that location forever. Like when I say forever since like 1980. So out of nowhere I'm in, Harry's having a cocktail. And Harry just came up to me and said, hey, Eddie, give me a second to holler at you.
00:11:06:07 - 00:11:22:04
Speaker 1
So I we went out, you know, outside or something. And, and he said, hey, I heard you're looking for a tavern. And I was like, yeah, you know. And I thought he was just going to say, hey, I, you know, my buddy Joe's got a place. He's. I didn't know what he was, but where it was going and and he said, well, I'm looking to sell Maggie's.
00:11:22:04 - 00:11:36:14
Speaker 1
Why don't you think about Maggie's? And I start laughing? I was like, because, I mean, you know, Mac, it's it's huge. You know, the place is big. And I was like, here, I could I wouldn't know the first thing to do. I'm thinking about a greasy cheeseburger and a cold beer, I don't know. And he's like, yeah, but your brother Pat does.
00:11:36:16 - 00:11:50:02
Speaker 1
And I was like, all right. Well, I mean, then it kind of made me well, okay, let's see. And that kind of started the thought process. So then maybe a week or so later, I just went down and had lunch with Pat or had a beer with Pat or something. I don't remember how he did it and I just brought it up to him.
00:11:50:02 - 00:11:54:20
Speaker 1
I said, hey man, I just explained to him exactly what I just said to you. And,
00:11:54:22 - 00:11:56:04
Speaker 2
He,
00:11:56:06 - 00:12:11:22
Speaker 1
I could tell he was open to it. He was like me and I and, Harry's thought on it, and I think he was right. I didn't know it at the time, but his deal was. Yeah, Pat knows how this goes and how to run this, something this size. He's already done it forever. But, Pat, you going to be the one I want to be?
00:12:11:22 - 00:12:23:20
Speaker 1
The guy out front shaking hands and get some babies. You know, he's going to. He's like, you need somebody out there that's going to be, you know, the the front of it. And then somebody that handles the back of it. And you guys are perfectly set for that. You know. Not that Pat.
00:12:23:22 - 00:12:24:13
Speaker 2
Yeah it's great.
00:12:24:13 - 00:12:29:13
Speaker 1
To be around him whatever. But he wasn't the guy you know that we both had our own thing that we were good at.
00:12:29:15 - 00:12:32:03
Speaker 3
So what made you good at it? What made you good.
00:12:32:08 - 00:12:45:21
Speaker 1
I don't know, I mean, I guess just literally, you know, everybody thinks this about themselves, but I, you know, having a beer, sitting down and having beers with people and making, you know, joking around and just saying, hey, and whatever I, I, I like I enjoyed it. I, you know, I knew a lot of people in the industry.
00:12:45:21 - 00:12:59:00
Speaker 1
I was out running all the time, you know, and we'd get all of a sudden, you know, we started getting a lot of restaurant and bar owners coming in that weren't a lot. I actually, you know, that that was happen and that was good. You know, for business. It kept us going, you know, going up and up, you know.
00:12:59:00 - 00:13:04:19
Speaker 1
But like I say, it wouldn't been for him. I was such an idiot in those days. I had just grabbed all the money out of register and.
00:13:04:19 - 00:13:06:20
Speaker 2
Just who knows what I had. I was, you.
00:13:06:20 - 00:13:25:17
Speaker 1
Know, but I, you know, because he's my brother. He's my partner. I didn't, you know, he he ran that place and did it the right way. And I learned over the years a lot from that. And, and, I had a little pretty good background with, you know, working with the people and maybe being a, you know, a leader as far as, you know, being a boss or something with my previous background.
00:13:25:22 - 00:13:59:08
Speaker 1
So that helped a little bit. But, Pat definitely was the, the cog on the keeping that thing going as far as us knowing what we were doing for a place that size, because it's hard enough to do with a relatively smaller place. But when it's that big, there's a there's a lot to it. So, so that was, that was kind of that was kind of how that a whole thing, kind of fell together and and then, so once I brought that up to him, then him and I kind of eventually started talking to a bank or two, and I think we were told no, oh, 2 or 3 times, thanks, but
00:13:59:08 - 00:14:17:22
Speaker 1
no thanks. And, and then, we got, who's, you know, a good friend of mine now, Paul Gross. But at the time, I think he was with at the time there with Pulaski, I think. But now he's with Carrollton Bank. But anyway, he he gave us a shot. You know, it's so funny. Now it's all relative.
00:14:17:22 - 00:14:33:08
Speaker 1
But back then, I can remember pulling away from that meeting thinking, you know, I wrote a check to start the process, like a down thing and a downstroke. And I can remember just, like, kind of white knuckle and driving away thinking, what the hell did we just do? And looking at my brother Patty's like, oh, what's white as it goes?
00:14:33:08 - 00:14:33:13
Speaker 1
Like he.
00:14:33:13 - 00:14:34:13
Speaker 2
Didn't know.
00:14:34:15 - 00:14:50:07
Speaker 1
And that money now would know if, you know, it's so it's all relative. But you know, if I, if I had to go get that kind of money now, I wouldn't think twice about it because it was it was so minuscule compared to what things are not just kept getting bigger and bigger, which we had to grow with and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
00:14:50:07 - 00:15:04:03
Speaker 1
So, but that, that I that always kind of stands out to me how the money doesn't seem nowadays that it was that much, but then it seemed like it was there would be no way in hell I could ever pay it back. And what the hell do we do? And it was it seemed like a mountain of money, you know.
00:15:04:03 - 00:15:04:10
Speaker 1
So.
00:15:04:10 - 00:15:09:17
Speaker 3
So where do you go from there? How do you how do you work your way out of, like, that mindstate and being in that.
00:15:09:19 - 00:15:26:00
Speaker 1
I don't know. You know what I don't know? I think this is what you do it. What I did was, as I look back, was I just kept getting up and don't work. Yeah, literally. I don't know how things would fall together because there is a lot of times, man, you're trying to figure out, okay, if we you know, like I said, we made up all of our payments.
00:15:26:00 - 00:15:33:04
Speaker 1
We weren't there was never a deal like that. But there was times you were like, all right, I'm going to. This ain't due for two more weeks. So we'll send this for, you know.
00:15:33:04 - 00:15:33:12
Speaker 3
Yeah.
00:15:33:17 - 00:16:02:05
Speaker 1
And then we were blessed in the regard that it kept growing. You know, we kept staying the course with with the with what we wanted to be, who we wanted to be and kind of rebuilt, even though Maggie's have been around a long time, Harry had, I think, really had to focus a lot on Harry's, and maybe Maggie's lost a little bit of its touch over the years and, and we needed to bring that back and, and just kind of stay the course with, you know, the McVeigh's and how we would a place we'd want to hang out and get a sandwich, get a beer, that kind of a thing.
00:16:02:05 - 00:16:13:21
Speaker 1
Yeah. And then and I was, it was just showing up. And then all of a sudden, like I say, after four years, like, man, we got that paid off. I mean, we got there and then things got a little bit better. And, you know, you know me. So any time things get good, I got to go back to the bank and get well.
00:16:13:21 - 00:16:17:22
Speaker 1
I can't stop taking. And I got to constantly take another risk. Take another.
00:16:17:22 - 00:16:18:21
Speaker 2
Risk. If you.
00:16:18:21 - 00:16:21:09
Speaker 1
Ever want to see an idiot, just look at me.
00:16:21:11 - 00:16:21:23
Speaker 2
Like it's.
00:16:22:03 - 00:16:22:19
Speaker 1
I love getting.
00:16:22:19 - 00:16:24:09
Speaker 2
Beat. Get beat up.
00:16:24:15 - 00:16:29:17
Speaker 3
You love taking risks because do you have absolute confidence that it'll work out? You love taking risk because it's exciting or.
00:16:29:17 - 00:16:31:07
Speaker 2
I don't know, I.
00:16:31:09 - 00:16:51:13
Speaker 1
I feel like there's sometimes if it presents itself and you're in a position to do it. Yeah, I, I go, I go if I, if I think it's, I'm not just anything. If it's something I think I can make a go of, I go for it. I, you know, I try to anyway, there's plenty of times there's things been presented to me that I either couldn't do or didn't think it was the best thing to do.
00:16:51:13 - 00:17:06:08
Speaker 1
But if you're always kind of on the fence, but if you think, man, I can make this work, or if I did this or, you know, and invested some money here on, improving the bar or the kitchen or whatever, you know, we'll get a return on this. And, you know, it's pretty good chunks a lot of times.
00:17:06:08 - 00:17:26:04
Speaker 1
And certainly when we did the renovation, it was huge. But, when it's all said and done, you I guess you just weigh your options and by no means listen, I mean this sincerely. Am I some guru? I don't I don't know, I mean, I could I always, I always think this, I think you could. It's so you're one bad decision away from losing everything.
00:17:26:04 - 00:17:40:20
Speaker 1
I always think that, you know, and, and it's, you know, I have people say to me, you know, why do you tell? Why does a solid pat. Why do you keep telling that girl to move the salt? Pepper? I'm like the little things equal the big things, man. If the little stuff doesn't matter to me anymore because I think, oh, I'm doing so good.
00:17:40:20 - 00:17:59:08
Speaker 1
I think slowly but surely, that's going to sneak up and punch me right in the back of the head. And, you know, I saw an interview once with, and this stuck out to me. And there's going to be no correlation in the in the crossover here. But Dale Earnhardt, I think it was ESPN was senior was getting interviewed and he was fishing.
00:17:59:10 - 00:18:19:10
Speaker 1
And this would have been like maybe 15. I don't know if it might have been after he had passed and they were just replaying the interview, but it might have been like ten years ago or 15 years ago. So it was still relatively you know, it wasn't right at the beginning or something for me. But, the lady asked him something along the lines of, hey, you're you, you, you spun out and I think it was like Robby Gordon or some.
00:18:19:10 - 00:18:33:17
Speaker 1
But anyway, you spun out so-and-so to win that race, and he's race for ten years. He's never won a Cup race. You spun him out and and you know him, you know, his family and blah, blah, blah. And, why what what what's in you that makes you do it? He said, if I told you, you wouldn't believe me.
00:18:33:17 - 00:18:53:00
Speaker 1
And she said, well, give me a shot or so. And he said, every day I wake up and think, I'm going to lose my sponsors, he said. And she's like, there's no what? You're Dale Earnhardt. I mean, you're the Intimidator. No one ever. But he's like, I know you won't believe it, but he's like, every single day I'm I'm scared I'm going to lose those sponsors because I knew how hard it was to get it.
00:18:53:02 - 00:19:14:02
Speaker 1
So because of that, I it keeps giving me that edge to want to. And I think that's so important is to be humble enough and and for a better lack of a better word, scared enough to know at any given time, man, this all goes away. You make one wrong decision. Yeah. The whatever you know nowadays climb and who knows what it could be.
00:19:14:02 - 00:19:28:14
Speaker 1
Whatever it is that all of a sudden, you know, flying high in April and shot down and man, you know. And that's just the way it is. And I, I come to grips with that and I'm okay because like I said, I don't want anyone to think if by any means that I'm some, you know, a restaurant or bar guru because I'm the furthest thing from it.
00:19:28:14 - 00:19:34:04
Speaker 1
I think this business, as you throw stuff against the wall and see what sticks and hope you can pay for it. If it does.
00:19:34:06 - 00:19:36:14
Speaker 2
That's and that's our that's what is with me.
00:19:36:14 - 00:19:50:11
Speaker 3
That's how I so I started my business a year and a six months ago about gave myself about three months runway to to live off of and like every day since. So I, I used to I think I've told this before, but I would wake up in the middle of the night to piss every night, pretty much.
00:19:50:11 - 00:20:04:14
Speaker 3
And, you know, for, you know, I don't know if that's, you know, for me, I was like, that's not normal. That's that's not natural. But then as soon as I started my own business, I was doing that when I was working in sales job started my own business, and I stopped doing that, like, completely and utterly and like, there was what was.
00:20:04:17 - 00:20:05:00
Speaker 1
What do you.
00:20:05:00 - 00:20:15:05
Speaker 3
Think? I, I think it was just, finally I'm like, I am believing in myself. Like, it's up to me now. Like the my security is in my hands. Whereas before I never really felt like that.
00:20:15:07 - 00:20:16:04
Speaker 2
Yeah, that's a good point.
00:20:16:05 - 00:20:22:07
Speaker 3
But but I haven't spent that to your point. I haven't had a single day. I'm like, not fucking terrified just yet. Absolutely terrified.
00:20:22:09 - 00:20:48:09
Speaker 1
And then thinking, you know, then you you can't. It's it's tough to turn that brain off because I like you bring up waking up. I literally sometimes will wake up and have conversations with myself. Don't think about it. Don't think. Because as soon as I start breaking a number down in my head or I got to pay that, don't forget that guy's coming in to put this up on a as soon as that starts, if it's for tomorrow, I might as well get up, have my coffee and start the day because I once I start thinking, I'll sit there and flip flop and I know it now.
00:20:48:09 - 00:20:51:05
Speaker 1
And so I, I almost have conversations trying to keep thoughts.
00:20:51:05 - 00:20:52:09
Speaker 2
Out of my head. Yeah.
00:20:52:09 - 00:21:06:06
Speaker 1
So that I can get so I can, you know, get through the night or whatever. But I get it, believe me. And I, I think, I think I don't know this, but if you had to do it by yourself and do everything on your own and figure it out, I think that's part of it. I think it's part of the process.
00:21:06:08 - 00:21:12:18
Speaker 1
And, it's just it is. It is just up. It's cost. You think, man, I'm doing great all of a sudden. Nope.
00:21:12:18 - 00:21:15:01
Speaker 2
Back here. Go here. Yeah, yeah, I.
00:21:15:01 - 00:21:15:20
Speaker 1
Know, I know.
00:21:16:00 - 00:21:26:05
Speaker 3
I guess it's it's more of like, you know, it feels like you're going, you know, in those down moments, it feels like everything's falling apart, but you're a little bit higher up than you were absolute last time. You know, hopefully.
00:21:26:06 - 00:21:41:17
Speaker 1
They keep trying to find a way. I say this all the time. I don't care if you on a hot dog stand or if you're you own the biggest, you know, corporation, whatever you own. I mean, if you own it, you're, you're feeling it, I don't care. What do you you feel those ups and downs and that scary stuff.
00:21:41:17 - 00:21:58:01
Speaker 1
And because it's all somewhat relative, guys got everything invested in that one little stander. Everything invested in the he built this thing up, you know, I can't tell you how many times I walk through, man. You know, people don't know that they're around. Somebody doesn't know that I own it. But say the place is packed in here. Somebody say, oh, this place is a goldmine.
00:21:58:01 - 00:22:00:10
Speaker 1
I don't want it. Turn around. Say you want to buy it.
00:22:00:12 - 00:22:06:18
Speaker 2
Yeah, that's of goal value. It costs a lot to put this party on, buddy. So yeah.
00:22:06:19 - 00:22:17:04
Speaker 3
Oh, and I look at my Uncle Brian who is, you know, one of your childhood friends and, and, I, you know, with a bunch of kids drawn, I can't even I cannot even imagine doing that with a bunch of kids.
00:22:17:04 - 00:22:39:23
Speaker 1
Well, that's let lends itself back to what I said. You know, I had the luxury of not having that pressure. Because even if you're successful and very successful as he is and his field, he's very successful on this field. I mean, that that pressure has got to just absolutely, you know, be and I'm, I come from a baby of 11, and my dad never had, you know.
00:22:40:01 - 00:22:41:10
Speaker 3
So what was that like?
00:22:41:12 - 00:23:13:09
Speaker 1
Oh, I was nuts, but I was the youngest, Will. I was six girls, five boys and, mom and dad together forever. And, they both have since passed. But my dad was a city policeman for early on for the most of it. And then, anyway, we certainly didn't have. We were in a, you know, little tiny house up in Glasgow Village and, boys were in a basement and there's two triple bunk beds in my sister's room and, my crib and a bathtub and a shower that you stood on and pulled the chain.
00:23:13:11 - 00:23:14:09
Speaker 2
Over, over.
00:23:14:09 - 00:23:30:16
Speaker 1
A hole in the ground. But, didn't know any different, I guess I was a baby, so, it was good. I mean, I don't, and then we never wanted for anything. My family's super tight when we couldn't. You know, we're all very close. But, you know, no one gave us a. You know, you didn't. You didn't.
00:23:30:22 - 00:23:48:03
Speaker 1
You learned how to do it. You know, we I bust tables at Maggie's all the way through high school and parked cars in college, you know? So I worked there all all the way through. Just kind of. And a lot of times if you. I feel like I've gotten this quite a bit. People think, like, your dad used to own it and then gave it to you or something, you know, that kind of thing.
00:23:48:03 - 00:23:53:02
Speaker 1
And it's kind of funny. I kind of chuckle. You know, that, just like, not my dad to have nothing to do with this.
00:23:53:04 - 00:24:04:16
Speaker 3
I, I tell people that I want nine kids. Yeah. And a lot of them look at me crazy. You know, a lot of them have this and that. You, growing up with with ten other siblings. Right? You're the youngest. Yeah. What? When I say that, what do you think? What do you.
00:24:04:16 - 00:24:24:15
Speaker 1
Hear? Well, you know, I'm back to, I guess, to the point where you're at, you know, my dad was would always say this. He's like, if it wasn't for your mother, we couldn't have pulled this off. My mom came from East Saint Louis, Hampton state. She went to Saint Teresa's Academy over there, and I'm. I'm 52. They had me even though they were 47 and 45 or 45 and 43 when they had me.
00:24:24:15 - 00:24:42:10
Speaker 1
So, you know, if they were still alive today, you're talking almost pushing 100. But, so they were from the old, like most of my buddies, grandparents were my parents as well. Once I got ten and 12 years old, I felt like there's a lot of the grandparents that were kind of close to my dad, mom and dad's age, you know?
00:24:42:10 - 00:25:01:11
Speaker 1
So I kind of came from a different I feel like a little bit of a different era. Like maybe the group above me. As far as what, what expectations and things like that. But my dad would say all the time, it wasn't for your mother. My mom never put he would tell us this as we got older, but my mom never put any pressure on him like he wasn't doing enough or you're not provided enough.
00:25:01:11 - 00:25:18:20
Speaker 1
She didn't come from anything either. So she was just. And she had that good disposition. She was that old school mom that saw good in everybody. And didn't, didn't, didn't put that on. You know, I think there are a lot of relationships that happens. One person puts a lot of pressure on the other, not providing enough, or they want more of this or that and that.
00:25:18:22 - 00:25:36:21
Speaker 1
That is a serious strain when you're already. I can remember my dad going, I mean, back in the day, I don't know how many bills they had, I guess an electric bill, a phone bill, the House bill, and maybe one credit card, I don't know, there wasn't that many. I mean, there was bills, but it wasn't like it is today where you got this coming off for this and that, you know, this monthly fee and that.
00:25:36:23 - 00:25:58:17
Speaker 1
And he'd be down there for half a day and trying to doing the bills. That's what he caught doing the bills. And I always wonder, well, as I got older I know what he was doing. He was down there trying to figure out, okay, if I put $20 towards this and $10 towards that, and that'll give me another, you know, but to do that week in and week out and still keep food on the table for all those kids, you know, and that was the choices they made.
00:25:58:17 - 00:26:14:03
Speaker 1
But, you know, there were Irish Catholics that just I think our we had the one neighbor next door, the calories they had nine and then two. Next to us there was, Kaufman's and they had eight. So I mean, that was just, you know, that was our neighborhood. That was just how it was then. I don't know how you know it anyway.
00:26:14:05 - 00:26:28:01
Speaker 1
I mean, people could say, well, they put themselves in that position, but that's just kind of how it was. Yeah. And he never complained at all. Never about anything. But he would always say it was because of my mom that that they were able to do it. And he didn't complain because she didn't, you know, which is a blessing, you know.
00:26:28:01 - 00:26:34:01
Speaker 3
So, man, I, I hear that I'm like, God, it just it feels so hard to find that right now.
00:26:34:02 - 00:26:53:19
Speaker 1
Oh, man, I, I my take is I really do think and and I'm not be in now that I'm 50 in this younger general but it's not even you know it's been around a while but all the dating apps and all that stuff, man I everybody it's always yeah but man, yeah I like him. But maybe this next guy I'll be better.
00:26:53:19 - 00:27:14:21
Speaker 1
This next girl will be better. This. It's just a constant hookup culture of what I it. I think it's hard to then because of that. And it's so accepted. It's so accepted. I see it at the Tabernacle, too. Anyway, it's I think it's hard nowadays. Not that it's not doable, but it's just not the same. The values there, it's just a different thing.
00:27:14:22 - 00:27:31:12
Speaker 1
Good. Very, very good. People that are come from great families and stuff just still I mean guys and girls, that's how they operate. It's just, you know, meet up with this person, meet up with that person. And in the process of doing that, you're going to lose some of that old school ness. I think that's just my my take, you know, whatever.
00:27:31:12 - 00:27:33:03
Speaker 3
But what is what is the old school in this?
00:27:33:03 - 00:27:41:17
Speaker 1
I don't know, like you lose some of that chivalry, some of that doing things the right way, some of that taking our time, you know, and I listen, you're talking to me. I'm not.
00:27:41:17 - 00:27:42:09
Speaker 2
That.
00:27:42:11 - 00:28:04:04
Speaker 1
There's no saint going on here. I'm just giving my $0.02 as I look at it like, I think there's something there that kind of takes away from. It's just. Yeah, but what have you done for me? Like. Like you're. There's so much access. You didn't have that, man. I mean, you you couldn't. I mean, you just think even with, like, porn and stuff, I mean, you can't get when we grew, when I, when I grew up.
00:28:04:04 - 00:28:21:00
Speaker 1
So you're talking about I was born in the 70s, but let's say during the 80s. I mean, if one of your buddies had a Playboy buddy, we're all going around the back of the house and checking out. That was a big deal. You weren't. Maybe somebody had a VHS tape of some weird porn or something, but I mean, you didn't have access at your fingers at.
00:28:21:02 - 00:28:52:05
Speaker 1
So you're talking about guys like us, even growing up in the 80s and early 90. I mean, you move it back another generation of a little bit. I mean, you're talking about you got at the access to your finger, seeing the most beautiful women in the world naked, doing God knows what. But even if it's just seen them naked, any guy, there's no you know, there's a lot of guys for sure before one generation before us, but even kind of ours, you know, as young men, you you'd never see a woman that pretty naked ever in your life.
00:28:52:06 - 00:28:53:11
Speaker 1
Never. You know.
00:28:53:11 - 00:28:57:07
Speaker 2
And so, I mean, it takes kind of away from you gotta think.
00:28:57:07 - 00:29:11:08
Speaker 1
Of I mean, it takes kind of away from the fact that you know, it just. I don't know, I think I think some guys are dating that, you know, it's easy to date that and not have to worry about getting shot down and not have to take her out and not have to think, oh, I really like her.
00:29:11:08 - 00:29:27:02
Speaker 1
And now she goes, me or vice versa. I'm not taking shots at just, you know, guys or girls. But so I think there's something to that. I don't know that I'm right. And remember, this is coming for me by no means my saint, but I just think there's I think there's some truth to that. It's just different. There's too much there's so much access.
00:29:27:02 - 00:29:40:00
Speaker 1
And then if you want to date somebody, just get on any. You know, a lot of those people are on three and four of those sites. And it's just that personal is fun. But what if this person calls me back? I want to it. And so, I don't know, I think it makes it tough to really build a I think.
00:29:40:00 - 00:29:57:22
Speaker 3
That's, so the kind of one of the themes about this, this show is, is building smaller communities and building, not focusing so much on the federal level of things, not so much focusing on these bigger things, but let's get as local as possible. And so I hear, like the neighborhood that you're going up in, you've got almost 30 kids across only three families.
00:29:57:22 - 00:30:03:18
Speaker 3
Yeah. Is there is like sort of these are these, you know, you guys dating the other families or like, what's the what's the dynamic?
00:30:03:18 - 00:30:21:23
Speaker 1
Well, not not rural at not that I'm whether, you know, somebody stole a kiss under a tree or something. I don't know anything about that. But no, no one ended up with somebody or dated somebody. Now, a lot of my brothers and sisters ended up with or dated and ended up marrying people from the neighborhood or who they started seeing in grade school and right in school.
00:30:22:01 - 00:30:41:18
Speaker 1
But not the direct right there. It was almost like you were so close that it was like brothers. I mean, that literally was, you know, even for me, being seven when we moved out of there, I mean, I was still young, but I mean, you that that whole idea of like, you know, it was nothing for a neighbor, mom to tell you what to do.
00:30:41:22 - 00:30:57:18
Speaker 1
I mean, nothing, I mean, there was no ifs, ands or buts about that. I mean, so and you'd be with probably two of their kids and two of the other guys, you know, I mean, so there was, or for a neighborhood dad, but it was for sure the mom could say, hey, get to do this or get out of here or move that, you know, and you just did it.
00:30:57:18 - 00:31:14:08
Speaker 1
There was no. So there was, you know, some of that for sure, you know. And so I think there's there was some closeness there that I, I none that I know of that none of ours that actually, you know, were in relationships and certainly no one that got married or anything. But I'm sure that would definitely happen in some situations.
00:31:14:08 - 00:31:16:07
Speaker 1
There's no way, you know, that's human nature.
00:31:17:18 - 00:31:33:01
Speaker 3
So what I always thought about like what the McVeigh's specifically is if I, when I start bringing a gal around, you know. Yeah I'm taking her to Maggie's or I'm taking it because, because you guys make everyone feel so special. Yeah. Let's, that's, that's like a pretty reoccurring theme amongst all of the McVeigh siblings.
00:31:33:01 - 00:31:55:14
Speaker 1
My dad. My dad. I think that comes from my dad. He, you know, he he was good at, you know, I can remember even I can even remember kind of him saying stuff to me as I got a little bit old, like when I say a little bit older, maybe high school ish or something. But he was great about if, if, if you could tell there was somebody that was new or, you know, it could, it could even have been just, you know, guy with a group of guy, you know, but he was the new guy.
00:31:55:20 - 00:32:12:17
Speaker 1
My dad go right over to him, start talking to him and what he did, he just had that. He just did it. And not being phony, he just but he, you know, made the guy feel comfortable because everybody knows what it's like to to come into a thing and not be the guy that knows anybody. Not that anybody is necessarily even being mean to you, but they're just not.
00:32:12:17 - 00:32:24:22
Speaker 1
They're just, hey, how are you? And then they go right back to there. So I think he, he my dad was definitely that way. And I think a lot of my brothers and sisters have picked up on that because I've, I've heard that a lot over the years from people that have told me that have told me that and, and that.
00:32:24:22 - 00:32:41:13
Speaker 1
And I take that as a very big compliment. Because it should be. But it is, you know, that that, but we don't I don't think I even like anyone's doing it. Like, watch me go make this guy feel comfortable. It's just, you know, we go out of our way. I think, my brothers, for sure, my sisters do.
00:32:41:15 - 00:32:54:00
Speaker 1
And, my dad definitely did that just to make people feel, you know, at home, you know, and and feel like they're part of the group because no one wants to feel, you know, left out or whatever. So whatever that is, I think it happens naturally and maybe that some of the Irish in us or something.
00:32:54:00 - 00:32:54:16
Speaker 3
Yeah. That's right.
00:32:54:16 - 00:32:55:02
Speaker 2
Maybe we don't.
00:32:55:02 - 00:32:58:12
Speaker 1
Have a problem having a conversation.
00:32:58:14 - 00:33:14:00
Speaker 3
Amen. Amen. So so yeah, you're you're like that's, you know, your talent. And then Pat is not, like you said, not like he was great. Like I remember and, you know, always enjoying seeing him at the at the bar too even, which is not the lunch, but you know, you got Patrick on the other end of that.
00:33:14:00 - 00:33:15:13
Speaker 3
What was he like.
00:33:15:15 - 00:33:22:02
Speaker 1
My brother Pat. Yeah. Yeah. You know, he had that to very much. And when I say not the front end, he was by no means an introvert.
00:33:22:03 - 00:33:22:22
Speaker 3
Right? Right.
00:33:23:03 - 00:33:36:12
Speaker 1
Pat was a great athlete. Pat was one of the guys that literally was good at anything. I don't care if it was dark. Like, he just. I'd be like, oh, great. Pat's good at that too. Like, you know, it's just like, who cares? You know, shut up. It, you know, but, he, he was good at stuff, but he was good to people.
00:33:36:12 - 00:33:59:21
Speaker 1
But Pat, Pat taught me something great without knowing he was even teaching it to me. But Pat had more in common with the busboy than he did the owner of wherever we went. Or the guy cleaning your car, as opposed to the guy that owned the dealership. And, I think Pat experience when he was a bartender a lot of those years when he was in there, maybe the guy that owned the dealership, I'm using that as an example, the owner of XYZ company, you know, just acknowledgment.
00:33:59:21 - 00:34:17:03
Speaker 1
Hello. And whatever moved on. Then all of a sudden it starts being known. We own Maggie's. Maggie starts getting successful. All of a sudden these people are starting to pay. Listen, that jumps out like us. To guys like us. We see that from a mile away. All of a sudden now, you know, and I think that he felt that and he, he he.
00:34:17:05 - 00:34:35:00
Speaker 1
If there was one thing about. So my point is that he taught me was you be just as kind to the, you know, you need to be just as kind to the to the busboys. You are to the owner, everybody's, you know, bend down on that wrong. You know, most people have, you know, and, he so I, he, I learned that from him just from watching him as a young man and whatever.
00:34:35:02 - 00:34:55:04
Speaker 1
Pat was 13 years older than I was. And, but but my point to Pat was he he just was not a phony baloney guy. He did not like phony Mike. So if you were a phony, he didn't care who you were. He just didn't care. You know? He didn't. None of that stuff mattered to him. So as soon as you showed any of that phony, you know, tough guy stuff or whatever, he just be like, whatever, you know?
00:34:55:08 - 00:34:58:23
Speaker 1
Oh, how do you get rid of him?
00:34:59:01 - 00:35:01:13
Speaker 2
That's the case. Yeah. No, no, but he I just.
00:35:01:13 - 00:35:15:17
Speaker 1
How he was. So, you know pat him. So he had the he he most certainly had the, the front of the house thing I don't think he didn't have the mentality of I'm going to go out to, you know pops Blue Moon have cocktails and bring in you guys down there and you're, hey, you know, Eddie comes down here and sees us.
00:35:15:17 - 00:35:31:01
Speaker 1
Let's swing down and see him or you end up meeting a couple of ballplayers or a couple. The you know, he's got a family and stuff. You don't want to be running. You know, he had his beers on, but he'd be the first one over to say hello to you. And, I mean, he was a bartender forever. There's no by it understood how to do that better than him at all.
00:35:31:04 - 00:35:42:22
Speaker 1
He just wasn't going to be the guy that was. And he knew what he tell, you know? You know, he wasn't gonna be the guy that was going to be out running. He didn't do that at all. He had his beers and stuff, but he went home and was with his family, and he was. That's how he was, you know.
00:35:42:22 - 00:36:00:17
Speaker 1
So, he certainly though could could go and, and have a conversation with anybody and, and very, very good at it. And, but he liked, he liked the little guy as much as, if not more than the big guy, you know, the guy that was just a and kid. You know, the younger kid we used to have, we used to have that the.
00:36:00:17 - 00:36:16:00
Speaker 1
You were there. I think it's summer. We had those Superbowl party. Oh, yeah. And we would close on super Bowl early on when we owned it. And it would just be just start because it was always such a, day that people did house parties in our downtown location. Nobody lived that. So we noticed that the sales were not there.
00:36:16:00 - 00:36:20:08
Speaker 1
So we started shutting down and just doing friends and family, and we'd have like a jump house in there for.
00:36:20:08 - 00:36:21:15
Speaker 2
The kids and stuff.
00:36:21:17 - 00:36:40:08
Speaker 1
And I want to say, you were still young, man. Showed up to a few of those, but, you know, he get on that microphone and he, you know, he'd be given stuff away to all the, the he did it for. He got a kick out of the kids and and he'd always make like he'd say, hey, what is that thing that everybody plays and whatever, and some might say low to place that he'd act like he had a place.
00:36:40:08 - 00:36:41:02
Speaker 1
Yeah.
00:36:41:04 - 00:36:41:15
Speaker 2
Right.
00:36:41:17 - 00:36:45:16
Speaker 1
And a kid, you know, we're giving that away, here in 20 minutes. And all the kids run up. You give.
00:36:45:16 - 00:36:49:10
Speaker 2
That away, he goes, yeah, that guy over there got so he, you know, he he.
00:36:49:12 - 00:37:08:18
Speaker 1
He enjoyed all that kind of stuff. And, you know, something I think about with Pat is when you lose somebody, what people don't realize when you lose somebody, you know when they shouldn't, when you shouldn't have lost them, when they're taken from you, you don't just immediately affect just me, my brothers and sisters. His wife, who's a saint, goes to heaven.
00:37:08:20 - 00:37:28:18
Speaker 1
Do not pass. Go. She's 100% angel. His his children. Maggie and Michael. But, you know, I see their their grandchildren now, and I think, I mean, there was never a guy, never guy that was more made to be a grandpa than that guy. You know, taking them fish and taking them hot and taking them golfing because God knows Pat did all of it.
00:37:28:18 - 00:37:35:23
Speaker 1
I mean, there was not a field he passed, so he wasn't staring for a frigging, Australian frog or some shit. I never knew what the hell he.
00:37:35:23 - 00:37:36:22
Speaker 2
Was doing, but.
00:37:37:00 - 00:37:54:07
Speaker 1
He was always looking in nature doing stuff, and I, you know, you take that from generations, you know that they don't. They don't have that. It's a it's a sad thing. But he, he was, he truly, truly. And I everyone says this when someone passes and I know there's probably some real truth to it in most cases.
00:37:54:09 - 00:38:19:00
Speaker 1
But he was a great man. And all in almost all aspects that I can think, I so many of my flaws that he did not have. He, he was, he was a gentleman in agreement and and got a kick out of who I was and never made me feel bad for who I was. You know, one time I went in and one time I came in and I don't remember, I think I was with my buddy Timmy Tee, and we were down there, but I would do stupid, you know, I was just an idiot.
00:38:19:02 - 00:38:26:16
Speaker 1
So I come in and I take my shirt off in the bar or something. Now, this is our place, you know, and I might even had my pants down or something, but I had a box or something. Okay, okay, I did.
00:38:26:21 - 00:38:27:15
Speaker 2
But anyway, he.
00:38:27:15 - 00:38:39:22
Speaker 1
And I both walking like that and we're loaded. And, so I guess who I was, there must have been a group down there from some hotel or something. They call down, and actually they should. I mean, you know, I'm it being in it. So they're mad and we're not going to send him right.
00:38:39:22 - 00:38:42:23
Speaker 2
Out or something that I don't know. So the board and I, you.
00:38:42:23 - 00:38:44:09
Speaker 1
Know, Pat our partner, you know.
00:38:44:09 - 00:38:45:12
Speaker 2
So he can.
00:38:45:12 - 00:39:01:14
Speaker 1
But he's still you gotta remember we're partners of business. But my family there's a pecking order I mean they're they're my dad. Is that. Was that a long time. If you're brothers older you you you are no matter what. There is an established pecking order. So he's your boss. Whether you whether he is on paper or not.
00:39:01:14 - 00:39:03:12
Speaker 2
So, Eagle.
00:39:03:12 - 00:39:07:17
Speaker 1
He said, hey, come here. So I came to your office and I knew what was going on.
00:39:07:19 - 00:39:08:17
Speaker 2
So I said, you know.
00:39:08:21 - 00:39:10:10
Speaker 1
Yeah, I'll call down for whatever.
00:39:10:11 - 00:39:12:07
Speaker 2
Okay. He says.
00:39:12:09 - 00:39:14:21
Speaker 1
And I said, yeah. I said, sorry about that. I mean, I.
00:39:14:22 - 00:39:16:22
Speaker 2
Should I should have done that.
00:39:17:00 - 00:39:28:06
Speaker 1
And he said, hey, he look, he goes, look at me. I looked over and he goes, don't ever do it again. And I said, I won't. He goes, don't stop doing it. That's what he said. Now I knew exactly what he meant.
00:39:28:06 - 00:39:28:13
Speaker 3
Yeah.
00:39:28:14 - 00:39:47:18
Speaker 1
Like I got it and he got it. That's the thing with Pat. He understood that is the stuff people talk about that's not people. But if you're being a knucklehead and being funny in a nice way, maybe I should have just done the shirt off and not the peeing style, but that's either that's neither here nor there. But he got it because he had seen it for so many years in that business.
00:39:47:19 - 00:40:03:04
Speaker 1
The things that would make that thing go or get kind of a laugh or people talking about that guy, you know, whatever. So I got what he meant. Don't do that. Exactly. But don't stop being you, man. Keep being don't stop. You know, and I always appreciated that, you know, about him. He he saw through the, you know, the force.
00:40:03:04 - 00:40:05:01
Speaker 1
And once again, maybe the Irish had him. I don't know, I.
00:40:05:01 - 00:40:05:23
Speaker 3
Love that I'm going to steal.
00:40:05:23 - 00:40:07:04
Speaker 2
That one.
00:40:07:06 - 00:40:11:03
Speaker 3
So I mean his I mean yeah, his funeral was fucking this packed.
00:40:11:03 - 00:40:11:10
Speaker 1
Yeah.
00:40:11:15 - 00:40:16:18
Speaker 3
It was packed. What what do you think that I mean, what did it when he passed away? What did that do to your family? What does that do to you?
00:40:16:18 - 00:40:39:02
Speaker 1
Yeah, it it was tough, man. Obviously, it doesn't get any tougher. I don't know how to explain it. I, the funeral itself. I mean, you're talking, you know, mayors and I mean chiefs of police and fire. I mean, and they were, you know, they're they're early labor leaders. I mean, it was, it was insane, you know, and I had to want it.
00:40:39:04 - 00:40:55:19
Speaker 1
It was just insane. You know, all 11 of our ten of us now kind of lined up down the line and, and I tried to start going out. The people that I would see just to say hello, that I knew were just there for me to try to get them to where they didn't. I mean, you're talking people were sitting in line for two and three hours out of the building.
00:40:55:19 - 00:41:11:07
Speaker 1
The guy from who just told me at the time, he said, you know, we've done Senator or, you know, governors and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And he's like, this is the biggest one I've ever seen. I've been doing it for 15 years. I mean, it was just it was definitely a tribute to him, for sure.
00:41:11:09 - 00:41:28:20
Speaker 1
And, and there was just a lot to I, you know, when you got that, not only for him, but when you got that many kids, you know, you got the ten of us. So you got people that maybe didn't even know Pat that well, but they're coming for you. And it just it was it was all inspiring, I'll tell you that.
00:41:28:22 - 00:41:34:17
Speaker 1
It devastated my family. I don't, you know, just completely devastated the family. So that.
00:41:34:19 - 00:41:36:13
Speaker 3
How does the family get through that?
00:41:36:14 - 00:41:52:04
Speaker 1
Once again, I think of this sometimes. I kind of was talking to my brothers about this the other night. The other day, a couple months ago. But I look back, I don't know, I literally just got up. I just got up and would go. And the really the reason for me was because of mayor, you know, his wife and his kids.
00:41:52:04 - 00:42:12:04
Speaker 1
I'm like, well, if they're going my my fat ass is going, I ain't, you know, going to be, you know, you got to show up for them because if they can do it, what are you doing? You know what I've been, you know, so it was devastating. I don't you know, there's not it's just absolutely devastating. And, and I because he was you know, it's the little things to when you finally go back to work.
00:42:12:04 - 00:42:28:03
Speaker 1
You know, I remember seeing them. They're still hanging there, you know, seeing like, I got them glasses one time. The magnet glasses because he, you know, he'd always wear them around his neck, you know, and I bought them somewhere or got them at an auction or something for him to be funny. Well, he actually was like, oh, those are gonna be great.
00:42:28:03 - 00:42:33:01
Speaker 1
I don't have to. And he he hung on. And Pat was also very everything had its place. He did.
00:42:33:01 - 00:42:33:16
Speaker 2
Like.
00:42:33:18 - 00:42:53:21
Speaker 1
He went like me. I had done that for one day. The next day I'd be buying another set because I sat on him. I didn't know where I put them, but he hung them on the same nail every day at, you know, an office. And I saw that was hanging there, his briefcase, all that stuff was tough or early on especially, you know, or knowing where he'd sit for lunch or seeing the day that it happened that, you know, he did the crossword puzzle every day.
00:42:53:21 - 00:43:13:06
Speaker 1
And then seeing that thing was sitting there on, you know, on, you know, that kind of stuff was hard. It was stuff like that. And, and, you know, the other part too, is 99.9% of the people mean, well, you know, and I'm good with saying, hey, man, very smart, you know, but so many people, you know, I was his best, you know, when to come up.
00:43:13:06 - 00:43:28:19
Speaker 1
And so I'm like, well, that's weird because I was his best friend and his brother and I don't know who the hell you, you know, so that stuff can get a little much where people just are over the top with or just bringing it up, like, you know, that out of context, you know, so that, you know, where I just want to put somebody through the wall when they do it.
00:43:28:19 - 00:43:45:11
Speaker 1
It's just it's if that part was very hard, but somebody just saying, hey, man, I just wanted you to know that, you know, that I get and that's very appreciated, you know, but some sometimes you get that one little tiny little percentage of people that just are uncouth and don't get it, that that kind of was tough, too, because, you know, I gotta live it every day.
00:43:45:11 - 00:44:02:04
Speaker 1
I don't want to constantly have to, just for you and for everybody else, be, you know, and then you realize I don't, you know, only by an explanation. You know, it's tough. You know, and at any given time, I can tell you this for a long time, Jack, I wouldn't even I'd start laughing about something and and I can remember thinking, why do you have a right to laugh?
00:44:02:04 - 00:44:25:02
Speaker 1
Don't laugh. And that wasn't me. It definitely changed who I was overall. Like, made me more, I don't know. All in all, I'm not. I'm still got like, I don't know, it just I don't know if it's they grow up or get more serious. I don't know, but it's it was hard in that regard. And, and, you just, I don't know, you just keep getting up and going.
00:44:25:02 - 00:44:40:03
Speaker 1
I had no given time. Do you forget about it? I don't know how to explain that to somebody who's been through it. And I will say this because I've had other things a couple other really bad ones, too, that I just can't believe that I've at this age that I've had, you know, only at 50 that, you know those experiences.
00:44:40:08 - 00:45:01:03
Speaker 1
But don't ever think that that that door, that knock on your door can't be there because I didn't think it would happen to me three times with friends and employees and and and brothers and where you're just and I ain't. I'm talking about absolutely like what I mean to where you can't comprehend it. You can't even, you know, it's it's it's it can happen.
00:45:01:03 - 00:45:20:23
Speaker 1
And I don't say that to be bah humbug. I'm saying it that, you know, thank your lucky stars and I'm not telling you what to do but kiss your children and your family and and be happy and grateful because, it can be gone so, so friggin fast. And I know it, you know? And I know given time, like I say, I, I, I, I feel like I'm happy and then I'm sad at the same time.
00:45:20:23 - 00:45:36:23
Speaker 1
And it there's a melancholy in the back of my head somewhere that just doesn't ever go away. And I know it won't. And that's okay, because that's how it's supposed to be. You know, a part of me thinks that's me being able to honor. But at the same time, you know, if you knew my brother Pat, he'd be like, oh, are you, you big puss?
00:45:37:03 - 00:45:50:08
Speaker 1
Just get get back to being you. Quit being it. You know that. It's a trait. So I get that too. I understand it, but then at the same time, I can tell him to sock it to me. I want to be sad. So get out of here. So we have those conversations sometimes between us.
00:45:50:08 - 00:45:51:04
Speaker 2
So yeah.
00:45:51:05 - 00:45:54:21
Speaker 1
If that all makes sense, I don't know. It's hard to put into words.
00:45:55:00 - 00:46:01:02
Speaker 3
Yeah, it makes total sense. That's I mean I haven't, I haven't been through anything close to that yet, but you know.
00:46:01:02 - 00:46:02:03
Speaker 1
Hopefully you never have.
00:46:02:03 - 00:46:08:05
Speaker 3
To. But yeah, that's like, what's the alternative? I guess it's kind of the thing, right? What the fuck else do you keep.
00:46:08:05 - 00:46:20:06
Speaker 1
Taking it, man? You get up and go. Gotta get up and do it. I don't know what else to do. Yeah. Like I said on his, his wife is the epitome of a an age. I mean I just don't how that woman as strong as they come honey.
00:46:20:08 - 00:46:21:23
Speaker 2
So yeah.
00:46:22:01 - 00:46:39:00
Speaker 3
What's, have you ever heard the, there's. So there's this old, like, Chinese proverb. I know I'm the guy that should be speaking about Chinese proverbs here, but, There's this farmer and his son, has a horse, and the horse runs off and he goes, oh, my God, this is so fucking terrible that the horse ran off.
00:46:39:00 - 00:46:54:03
Speaker 3
And the farmer says, well, maybe. And then it comes back with the, the band of all these other horses. And he goes, oh my God, dad, this is so great. You know, in the desert. Well, maybe. And, now that he has a horse, he can ride it and he falls off the horse, breaks his leg and can't tend to the farm.
00:46:54:03 - 00:47:10:12
Speaker 3
And he is. We're gonna we're not gonna be able to eat. Dad, you know, this is horrible. Maybe, you know, and then then the the Zen master, whoever the hell the Chinese king is, comes, tries to recruiting him for war. You can't go to war because his leg is broken. He goes, oh, thank God, thank God. The people are saying, Thank God.
00:47:10:12 - 00:47:20:02
Speaker 3
You know, maybe. Yeah. You got the Irish green on, you know, they got the Irish bar. Do you, do you believe in luck? Is that how do you look at that?
00:47:20:04 - 00:47:37:08
Speaker 1
I that proverb I get, I get it. Just how does this play out? I, you know, there's a lot of different avenues I can take, you know, as far as luck and a fun way, I say, you know, the luck of the Irish, I do, I do believe in I, I honestly believe that you make your own.
00:47:37:08 - 00:48:11:05
Speaker 1
You know, I think it's funny how a guy that worked his ass off and, you know, is all of a sudden lucky, you know, our girl. It ain't luck. You know, I, I was told quite a few times when they open that soccer stadium, you know, I did a lot of interviews at that time with, you know, different, you know, radio or TV stations because they want to talk to businesses down there and whatever, which I get and they're all very nice, but, you know, and without them knowing, you know, after like the first or second time I heard it, I started stopping and I had quite a few of the interviewers say,
00:48:11:05 - 00:48:28:21
Speaker 1
well, you got lucky. They open this year. And I said, I didn't get lucky. I got fortunate, and I'm very, very thankful to the soccer team. Very and I'm very fortunate or whatever. But, you know, it's icing on the cake. I've been here before. They did that and I would have been here if they didn't. And am I fortunate?
00:48:28:21 - 00:48:47:09
Speaker 1
Yes. Am I thankful? Yes. But I'm not lucky. I stayed when everybody else ran. Either they had to close or without, you know. I mean, you know, when I had everybody I knew saying, get out of there, that's. You better leave all you can. Or then Covid hit or highway 40 was shut down or protests or whatever.
00:48:47:11 - 00:49:06:00
Speaker 1
It was always something that you're trying to. But you you know, I dug my heels in and I stayed, I wasn't I'm from I'm a Saint Louis kid. I wanted to have a business in downtown Saint Louis. I mean, I wanted to keep a business down there. I think it's important, when you go down Market Street, I mean, who we compete in with, you know, Cedar Rapids, I mean, we're Saint Louis, man.
00:49:06:04 - 00:49:25:05
Speaker 1
Well, one of the oldest cities, and we don't even have. I mean, well, cyber, you know, we have cyber. It's like, God knows, you know, the powerhouse they are, they're good friends and great people, and they do a good job. They're up the street. In the hotel there, and I. And then there's me. And they're not like, you know, everything's closed, man.
00:49:25:05 - 00:49:41:08
Speaker 1
And and for right reasons, some for this or that. But, you know, Harry's is gone. Shanann's is gone. Tony's is gone. Kim Wells is gone. I mean, you that's our main drag going down through downtown. Now, you want to have people want to go to when they come in from out of town, they want to go to A and only go to, you know, to a national chain restaurant.
00:49:41:08 - 00:50:03:12
Speaker 1
You know, that they want to go to a place that's opened by, you know, somebody local, right? That's how I feel. I know I do, you know. So I think it's important I think a lot of people, you know, sometimes, sometimes Maggie's. I feel like we're never the sexiest date in town, but we always go to the dance, you know, and, and and there's something to be said for that.
00:50:03:14 - 00:50:21:09
Speaker 1
With, you know, whether it's, you know, you know, I've had I've had some liquor sales. Sales with guys have been in this business, booze, beer salesmen that have been in this for a long time, that's, you know, I've said I wish I had ten mags, you know, because you week in and week out, week in and week out, it's not we're sexy for a year and a half.
00:50:21:09 - 00:50:39:22
Speaker 1
And then we close, you know and I'm proud of that. You know I'm I'm proud of that. So when they tell me I'm lucky, I don't think I am I think I'm fortunate. I think I worked very hard to to stay there and to try to make it successful and feel like I have, to a certain extent, knowing that at any given time I could lose it, but it wouldn't be from a lack of trying.
00:50:39:22 - 00:50:51:18
Speaker 1
So, now if if you scratch a ticket right now, I want $1 million, I'd be calling you a little lucky bastard. And, there'd be no doubt about that. I'd be definitely calling you lucky. Maybe that's lucky.
00:50:51:18 - 00:50:52:08
Speaker 2
I don't know.
00:50:52:14 - 00:51:01:14
Speaker 1
Maybe that's love. I don't know, but, But if somebody works hard for a while, I don't. I don't consider that right. I don't consider that lucky. I think they work for their luck, you know?
00:51:01:14 - 00:51:07:09
Speaker 3
Yeah. So you're on. You're on the main drag going into Saint Louis 20, almost 20 years now. Yeah, you said 12.
00:51:07:09 - 00:51:28:07
Speaker 1
Well, keep in mind that Maggie O'Brien's has been open since 1979. So we're the second family. So Harry Bailey and Johnny Gilmore, they owned it originally. God rest, Johnny Gilmore. So. But, they owned it originally, and then we bought it from them, but so essentially it's been owned by two Saint Louis families. And like, we're around our 20th year, but since 1979.
00:51:28:07 - 00:51:34:23
Speaker 1
So we're about 45. What does that 45, 46 years in, of being, right there at market 20th.
00:51:35:04 - 00:51:48:08
Speaker 3
So you've been around there for so long. What do you see? Like what is your you've been a business owner here for so long. What does Saint Louis need? What do you what do we need? It seems like we're, I don't know, desperate. It seems like we're we're never going to make it back to our former glory.
00:51:48:13 - 00:51:49:06
Speaker 2
Yeah.
00:51:49:08 - 00:52:11:08
Speaker 1
I don't know, man. It's such a hard question, Jack. And I'm certainly not qualified to give all the perfect answers. I'll say this. There's nobody. There's nobody more in the corner of City Hall than me. I am. I have no agenda. I'm not trying to, you know, I just, I, I think a little common sense goes a long way.
00:52:11:10 - 00:52:38:18
Speaker 1
And, I'm rooting for the people in those positions to make good decisions for all involved in in Saint Louis, obviously, I own a restaurant bar in downtown Saint Louis, so I'm going to have a natural skew that way. But I think anything you can do for driving business is, to be there and, make it good for them to be there is helpful for the city.
00:52:38:20 - 00:52:53:06
Speaker 1
You're the first thing you're going to get from everybody is the crime and all that. And I and I get it. And how they I don't want to tell them what to me that would be a focus as far as saying, hey, we're 150 police officers short. We're going to we're going to at least. Right? We're going to fix that.
00:52:53:06 - 00:53:09:18
Speaker 1
We're you know, we're going to make this as, at the best of our ability, focus very hard on on making the city as safe as possible. And as you know, I get people down there that will ask me, hey, can I I'm staying at Union Station. Can I, can I walk there? And I we're we're just.
00:53:09:22 - 00:53:27:14
Speaker 1
I mean, you're talking about crossing the street, but that's the that's truly the concept that they feel about Saint Louis. If they come in from out of town. And you got to change that, because if you think for one second that there aren't people that want to come, but don't because of that reason, and then they're just not in there asking the question because they're not there.
00:53:27:16 - 00:53:33:22
Speaker 1
That's a that's an issue. And and that comes back to the to the businesses being able to be successful down there.
00:53:34:00 - 00:53:34:13
Speaker 2
Yeah.
00:53:34:15 - 00:53:48:19
Speaker 1
Because I still know plenty of people out in the counties that are like, I don't I ain't going to let my wife go down there with the girls or something by myself, by themselves or, you know, that's that's my that's a reality. And I'm not trying to pile on on that because I'm not I, I don't have the answers other than I think you got.
00:53:48:23 - 00:54:08:15
Speaker 1
You definitely need to have a, whether it's giving them a raise or making sure they're at the top of the, the police, God knows they need, deserve it. And and, you know, and then to where you can attract the rest of those other 200 guys, whatever you got to do there, I think that would be a good start.
00:54:08:15 - 00:54:31:00
Speaker 1
And, and then, and then from there, I, I feel like there's such division, you know, so much I, I, I'm, I'm nobody's rooting harder for them to me. And I just, I certainly don't have all the answers. I, I do think that, you know, making sure people understand that, that policing and whatever is your is a very is your priority is very, very important.
00:54:31:02 - 00:54:45:05
Speaker 3
Yeah. I mean I'm, I'm with you on that 100% and, you know, a good buddy of mine and I, we talk about how to build the city up a lot because we're part of a group of ten guys who are just committed to, like, what can we do in the next ten, 20 years to just make the city absolutely thrive?
00:54:45:07 - 00:55:06:01
Speaker 3
But when we talk about a lot is, you know, this is like a marketing, like you're saying it's a marketing problem to some degree. When I had my great grandpa passed away, he had family from Arkansas. This was, I guess, around 2015 to, you know, right after the Ferguson riots, we're down in South County and they're worried, hey, is, you know, how close are we to Ferguson and how, you know, in Ferguson's 45 minutes away from us, right.
00:55:06:04 - 00:55:09:12
Speaker 3
It's, yeah, the perception of it is just so and that.
00:55:09:13 - 00:55:11:21
Speaker 1
And you could walk right down the street in Ferguson. Yeah.
00:55:11:21 - 00:55:12:19
Speaker 3
That's the. I lived there.
00:55:13:00 - 00:55:13:18
Speaker 2
That's so funny.
00:55:13:18 - 00:55:33:20
Speaker 1
And the people act like, you know, there's some tear. Like, I could give you five other places. You're the law, you know, the Fergus Ferguson floor signs off. I mean, that's a that's a staple of Saint Louis. I mean, I, I, you know, like I said, I, I, I certainly I certainly don't have the answer, but I'll tell you this, people forget about and what I'm proud of with being down there.
00:55:33:20 - 00:55:57:12
Speaker 1
I mean, you got, what they did with Soldiers Memorial. What they did with that, right there at Keenan Plaza with that walk in the and the gardens there, you got what they did with the, the arch grounds. You no longer have to take your life in your hands crossing over that friggin highway. I mean, when you work your way from the arch all the way down and then and then you get to obviously, the soccer stadium.
00:55:57:14 - 00:56:16:01
Speaker 1
Come on, man, I mean, the soccer stadium, not just the stadium. What they did and, you know, hey, thank God for, those those are Saint Louis people, you know, that that the Kavanagh's and the Adams. I mean, you know, the with enterprise and worldwide technology, that's that's a big deal. Those are people stay and and you know, believe in back in our city and I believe in it.
00:56:16:01 - 00:56:30:03
Speaker 1
And I do believe it can get better I'm not a person like oh screw that. If that was the case, I would have left when everybody was telling me to leave, you know, so I do believe it can get better. It just I think you truly got to make decisions that aren't comfortable for everybody. You know, it doesn't.
00:56:30:04 - 00:56:48:21
Speaker 1
It's not easy. But you need to get away from. Well, I'm going to do this to make sure I appease and say, I'm sorry. This is what we're doing, and I'm not sorry. I guess, you know, we're going to make these decisions because it's better for everyone. You know, people got to feel comfortable and safe down here. But I believe in Saint Louis and I wanted to do well.
00:56:48:21 - 00:57:07:08
Speaker 1
And I think it will. And like I said, if you start from the arch and work your way down, there's been some serious improvements over the last 5 to 10 years. For sure. Five and then what Mr. O'Laughlin did with Union Station, I mean, come on, man with the wheel and and, redoing that inside, and they get, conventions and stuff.
00:57:07:08 - 00:57:15:14
Speaker 1
I mean, that's a big deal. Those those are people reinvest, you know, reinvest and back. They feel like I do. The only differences they got six more dollars. And I did.
00:57:15:16 - 00:57:21:08
Speaker 2
That. Yeah okay. Okay. Maybe more than six.
00:57:21:10 - 00:57:33:21
Speaker 1
But you gotta figure those guys feel that way or they they're they're they're smart businessmen. All those and women, smart businessmen. They're not going to put that kind of money if they don't believe in, you know, in Saint Louis. So I that's how I feel about it. I think it'd get better, you know.
00:57:34:00 - 00:57:38:12
Speaker 3
Fucking right. Amen. What's what's the what's, the magic number three. What's next for you?
00:57:38:12 - 00:57:48:05
Speaker 1
What's, Yeah, maybe, definitely looking to keep expanding downtown. You know, I own that building so we can do the the second floor.
00:57:48:06 - 00:57:49:08
Speaker 3
Yeah.
00:57:49:10 - 00:58:12:15
Speaker 1
Which we're, you know, looking at trying to do sometime soon. Not sure on a start date or anything like that. A lot of things involved there, but definitely have that in progress and then eventually maybe even, you know, going all the way up, you know, a third floor. So, yeah, it'd be cool. So anyway, right now I'm focused on that, and then, and then we got Meg O'Brien, Sunset Hills, that does, well, pretty well as well.
00:58:12:17 - 00:58:20:09
Speaker 1
And, so I'm just kind of riding those two right now and, you know, just see what comes. Keep fooling while I can, buddy.
00:58:20:11 - 00:58:23:07
Speaker 2
Yeah.
00:58:23:09 - 00:58:31:21
Speaker 1
My dad used to always say that to me. No matter what. When I open Maggie's keep for one of my key, and I bring a pretty girl to Thanksgiving. Keep one of my. You can read, keep full.
00:58:31:21 - 00:58:38:21
Speaker 2
And I'm like, yeah. Yeah. That's the.
00:58:38:23 - 00:58:39:21
Speaker 3
I resonate with that.
00:58:39:21 - 00:58:41:21
Speaker 2
Good lord. So.
00:58:41:22 - 00:58:47:23
Speaker 3
So let's, Okay, so my last question, I always ask is, you know, what's the most important thing that young people should be paying attention to right now?
00:58:49:15 - 00:58:52:04
Speaker 1
Most important thing, like, as far as socially.
00:58:52:04 - 00:59:01:05
Speaker 3
Anything and anything, where should their attention be? Because I think our attention is more, even more important than our time. Sometimes. Yeah. Where should that be?
00:59:01:06 - 00:59:03:10
Speaker 1
You think I'll say that again here. The attention, I think.
00:59:03:12 - 00:59:08:00
Speaker 3
Yeah. I think our where we place our attention is even more important than where we place our time.
00:59:08:00 - 00:59:32:13
Speaker 1
Yeah, I when you say young people, I'm thinking young adults. I, you know, I, this this would be what I would say to my, my nieces and nephews would, you know, I, I think that you, it's so easy nowadays to to to buy into this, you know, just dividing, you know, this type of everything has to be this or you're a terrible person.
00:59:32:13 - 00:59:52:04
Speaker 1
Everything has to be that. I, I think listening to all sides is a good thing. And like I said earlier in this talk, I think a lot of a little common sense goes a long way. So if you're kind, if you're kind person and genuinely want the best for not only your family and friends, but for everybody around you, just say, you know, have a little common sense.
00:59:52:04 - 01:00:10:05
Speaker 1
Listen to both sides, have a little common sense, and then then make your decisions from there. The bummer, I think, is a lot not necessarily just younger people, but the older people are giving bad examples of there is no you know, it's in a lot of cases, the common sense is gone out the window. And, I think that goes a long way.
01:00:10:07 - 01:00:11:21
Speaker 2
So.
01:00:11:22 - 01:00:17:18
Speaker 1
Eddie McVeigh. Right? Oh, man. Thank you very. Jake. I'm proud of you, Jake. Thank you. To me. And on the ones in the twos.
01:00:17:18 - 01:00:19:00
Speaker 3
On the ones in the twos.
01:00:19:00 - 01:00:20:07
Speaker 1
And thank you.
01:00:20:08 - 01:00:22:17
Speaker 2
Go, blues.