Hello and welcome to the drum history podcast. I'm your host Bart Van Der Zee and today I'm honored to have back on the show Ron Donette. Ron, welcome to the podcast. Hey, thanks for having me again Yeah, so you are kind of infamous in the drum world. I mean you are Donette classic drums George way drums and what we're here to talk about today Milestone percussion Congrats on acquiring that the great Canadian brand. Thank you Yeah, so I've done an episode on tempus which sort of goes, you know, that's Milestone basically I guess turned into tempus in a way, which I'm sure there'll be a lot to talk about there, but This is a pretty new acquisition and I know I just you're the kind of guy where when you post something or say something online Like this it's it's always something cool and special. You've got a certain way about yourself of presenting things It's it's exciting. Oh, yeah, I I guess that's my personality coming out. I Know there's some people who might not always go along with that, but Hey, I leave with my heart. I know where it's coming from. So Yeah, yeah, I don't think anyone out there couldn't can deny that Everything you put out really that I've seen is quality. I mean you are a very attention to detail kind of guy and I think that There's no denying that between the George way drums, which are just gorgeous And your own the denet drums and now Milestone the secret to that is making sure that even your mistakes are perfect That's deep That's cool. Yeah, I'm sure we will learn a lot from you as we go about your you're just your branding and all that is I think very In the photography and the graphic design I know is really a passion of yours and and there's a lot there to cover But what is the history of Milestone percussion? Well, I am going to give you a history of Milestone percussion as as I know it right now sure because You know with this acquisition and I have to say I've been learning a lot and For my standpoint when when the Milestone Story starts is When I was a young drummer in the early 80s like anybody any child care or musician in the in the 70s or 80s we were catalog kids and We didn't have the internet so anything that we learned or knew or or Discovered was not through a computer screen It was by going to a local drum shop or reading modern drummer or a magazine or looking at a catalog That's or by word of mouth and as someone who's The kid in the Midwest. Let me tell you there was limited access to that stuff and so My earliest and fondest memory was another drummer Who was My age a Good drummer. In fact, I was a little bit envious of him because I thought he was maybe a little bit better than me He had a set of milestones and I just remember Walking in and seeing him playing them. I'm like going Those look really cool and they sound really cool and And so yeah, I got behind him and of course, you know It was it was the days of power toms and bass drums and pinstripe heads, but you know If you ever want to hear a drum set that sounds great It's it's a set of milestones with pinstripes That's good to know I mean was it So milestone is not as much of like it's like a household name is like Ludwig or Gretch It kind of has its own special category, which there's a lot of Great brands that are are like that that are like in the drummer world. They're like really hold a special place in people's hearts What was the like? I mean kind of on the history of milestone What was really the heyday of what were the the dates that we're talking about here with with milestone being in existence? You know in its original form. I'm gonna call it the clapping era that seems to be everybody wants to somebody laid that laid that label on me today and You know talking about Learning as we go. I've started to learn more and more about Who Michael Clapham was I never actually met him. I only know him through name but Some of that information has been coming out through, you know, his family and his estate and So I I would say that I think it was 11 or 12 years that Michael was actually making those and and You know Gone through the the prototyping stage and R&D and finding all of these formulas these things that I'm starting to learn Sure. And so to answer your question. It has to be any time, you know, as long as he was at the helm of that company I have not I've yet to see a kit that he made that was not Was anything less than Perfect. Hmm. Now. Do you know so Michael Clapham? Like you said Founder of the company was was he a Was he like I always like to ask that question though of like did he come from like a Like a manufacturing background that you know or I mean, how do you get into making these kind? I'm just because they're they're they're all fiberglass, right? They are yeah, and and my my knowledge of that part of the history Um Isn't as good as it needs to be and like I said, that's part of the this whole process is is learning about that But I do know that Michael sort of got his start. He was working at I believe it was Drum Village here in Vancouver, which was a local retail store now that would have been in the 70s. Okay, um, and he eventually Partnered up and took over that Retail operation and Ray Ott was involved there at some point and Which he I name always pops up doesn't it? Yeah At some point Michael and there was somebody else and their name Escapes me, but it was Michael was the driving force Behind it as I understand it and they began this development on making Fiberglass drums now, they certainly weren't the first to do it, but I do think that the process that they came up with at the time was was was pretty unique and so I Knowing what I know about research and development in the musical instrument field and sort of drawing a line back to them I Can kind of see where they were You know that development of different formulas and figuring out okay Well, what thickness do we need for a drum shell or a tom shell or a snare drum? Sure? So eventually Michael again, my understanding is that he Sold his interest in That drum shop and I believe That was right at the time that Ray started drums all I may have I May not be a hundred percent correct on that. It's you know, I think that's that's academic But that's my understanding well, and I need to So people can listen back also the tempest episode with Paul Mason. I think he covered a fair amount of the history of You know or at least gave an overview of it, which is worth checking out to kind of Yeah, I like doing episodes like this like there's there's ones on fives where all the iterations of fives I think have been covered in all of their different, you know forms in other episodes So this is kind of neat to do this with with these drums and actually Ray Ayotte. I actually sent him a Facebook message recently and I haven't heard back, but he's one he's a person. I have to get on the show I've never met him or talked to him and I don't think he's accepted the you know invite, but That's a company as well that I think needs to be covered because like you said there's a ton of history there Make sure you roll it out as a as a two-hour special Really a lot a lot there Yeah, his name comes up a lot like you said So you have been working on acquiring this this brand which which you know, it's worth mentioning too with George way and and kind of acquiring Just the trademark of these of these older brands. This is now number two for you with George way and you're doing this That's sort of a it's I mean, it's a thing that you you do, you know kind of save Brands from being it going into obscurity, you know, that's that's something that Ron Danette does now well, I certainly didn't Know that that was gonna be Part of what I ended up, you know, and I'm not I Get where you're coming from on that it was completely unintentional sure I came by it honestly because you know It's a good thing It is and and growing up and learning about drums and and then, you know, basically stumbling into this industry the things that you learn going through You know, I'm gonna be 60 in June and I started playing when I was 15 so And I'm lucky to say that I haven't lost my fascination With drums at all in fact, I there's a little bit of you know, a melancholy going on there just thinking about I'm lucky to be able to remember that feeling of opening the catalogs and looking and You know fawning over, you know pearl and Ludwood catalogs and Yeah, and and doing this actually kind of makes me feel a little bit like a kid again. It's keeping me young I hope that's yeah. Wow. What a great way to put it because I Don't know. I mean, we're lucky where we're sometimes people talk, you know non-drummers just like friends and family friends will talk about something about like I Don't know with like their kids maybe about how they don't have like, you know They don't know what they're gonna do in school not they have to go to school for drumming or they don't have this Not everyone has this passion that we all Share for drumming for anything in life. They they sometimes people don't have an obsession like we all have and I think we're kind of Lucky to to find something that's so Like we will talk about drums for the next hour and then I'll probably be googling something about the drums Right after we get done and then annoy my wife talking about it at dinner It's like we just can't get enough of it. I think about my son and I've Never pushed him in any direction towards anything. I just really took a hands-off approach and And by the same token You know, nobody pushed me and I I'm I feel so Fortunate to you know given my my history growing up to have Landed here and you know, nobody gave me any direction to you know, hey kid Play to your strengths and you'll be okay. You know, nobody ever gave me that so yeah, I'm I'm really lucky that that fate is you know Given me something to do that you know has afforded me a Comfortable lifestyle. Yeah, nobody gets rich making drums. I'm sorry just you know if you Know it going in. Yeah but it's been Deeply satisfying and I think I've said this before it's You know the real wealth comes in friends and the people that you meet and Everything and all of all of those takeaways and I You know, I don't want that to sound right. That's that really is What marks A career. Yeah, so yeah, absolutely. Absolutely So Ron, I think it'd be cool to talk about now Just the the process of acquiring milestone because I think um Nothing like that is ever easy like there's a lot of paperwork. I'm sure and there's equipment and and just Everything about it. When did it start the whole process? How did that work for you? Uh, well that's going to be a long story and I'm going to Give I'm going to give you as much detail as needed. Sure. I um This part of it This part of the acquisition started uh basically when Paul mason decided to Shut it down now Paul is a A dear friend. Um, I We've traveled the world together um And I love him dearly but on a business side, uh there was always things with paul And his business model that I never Completely understood and if there's one thing that I've learned in this industry I I mentor a few builders that I think um I see a little bit of myself in it and I'm generally Try to be a helpful person and try to encourage that. I always think that there's certainly room enough for for You know new people to start and come and have new ideas and new visions and and I I think that's great. The industry needs that we need people to keep doing that So paul decided to pack it in. Um, which to me wasn't really surprising. I You know, there was a lot of Shall we say turmoil around Tempest and um, they came down to issues of You know customer service and quality control and um And I remember those well because I mean there was even a point in time when people were calling me Because they knew that I yeah, I can't get a hold of paul like like You're his friend and I'm like, whoa, whoa Draw that line here. Okay. Yeah. Anyway, um a group of Investors and partners came together and we had an idea that we were, you know, hey, why don't we uh, Why don't we make an offer? Why don't we try and buy milestone from paul and This seemed like a good idea. I thought yeah, you know what? I don't think that brand has been done it and I more importantly From business sense. I I really had to evaluate Was the milestone brand in any way negatively impacted by its Uh implied association was tempest and um I thought that there was That there was enough there that could be salvaged and so Uh, I made an offer to paul I think this would have been about four or five years ago and um I don't know. I I I thought I was being very practical about it and I I said paul I'd like to Buy it from you and I'm gonna offer you this much money and I'm not gonna say how much it was and of course But I I don't know if there was What's to mean something about the way I said it? I really still to this day don't completely understand it, but um, I'll kind of took offense and um And I didn't speak to me for a couple of years I was like And I did I realized what did I do when I was just trying to buy And I guess it was because I I in that offer. I explained to him. I said, you know what? I'm offering you this much money because I I'm only we are only really interested in The milestone brand the tempest thing is yours and um, you know that You know goes with you kind of thing and you know The discussion amongst the partners that I had at the time was that um, You know, we can't have any involvement because there's just There was so much negativity um Over like I said over the product the customer service lack of communication and and yeah, it wasn't it wasn't pretty so um Just over a year ago, I'd say maybe a year and a half ago. I got in touch with one of those Um partners again, and we were we stay in touch and we were chatting and But you know, we should just let's just do it again. Let's let's just throw another off-road. And so we did um, and it was somewhat less than last time and um A couple weeks after Paul came back and said He made a counter offer and part of the counter offer was that um In addition to more money than the initial offer He would receive five percent of profits until he died I was like Yeah, no, that's not gonna happen. You know, and I realized he And and it was part of the friendship coming in where I was going. I don't want to hurt my friend's feelings, but It's just you can't be involved. You know, there's no that that can't happen. And so um I left it at that and I went well, you know And he decided well, it's just going to lay dormant then for you know, and I thought wow, it's just Okay, it's not my decision. It's out of my control and done everything I can and then It was shortly after that. Um somebody sent me A post that something had Paul had posted on his social media Which really took me back and it wasn't even a day or two later that I listened to your podcast Or it came to my attention and I was listening and uh, surprise surprise Paul mason had never owned or purchased The milestone trademark As a matter of fact And I have this here just because I thought, you know, this is This is relevant. Um Someone asked paul a question about milestone and he said This is part of his quote. He said I knew almost from the outset that I wouldn't be purchasing the milestone brand name as michael clapple wanted an unjustifiable sum of money for it at a time when Rather than at holding any good will value It was rather more of a detriment than an asset because of the reputational damage which michael's management had inflicted on the company Suffice it to say I was More than just a little disappointed Um not to have been given this information and um So I did my uh I did my due diligence I spoke to the people that I needed to and It became apparent to me that I could move forward and Appropriate acquire the milestone trademarks um in us and canada and so I began that process who who owned was that the clappam fan estate who who still Maintained the original trademark or who did you? to the best of my knowledge uh Michael clappam never sold the trademark while he was alive And so as it is with trademarks and the laws are similar and different in united states and canada but after um There's a certain criteria where a trademark Is basically abandoned Um and and becomes available And as it was with george way the same thing Uh, I did some research You know and discovered that The us trademark for milestone was abandoned actually a couple years before paul mason even started tempus and I also found out that Uh, I think it was it was later on than that but possibly 93 that uh The milestone percussion trademark in canada was expunged From the canadian trademark register and so a sufficient amount of time had passed that that was Legit legitimately available for anyone To register and start a business wow man that is a uh Lot of ups and downs there and I want to say as you said you are very good buddies with them there's there's There's like business stuff and then there's friendship and I thoroughly enjoyed my conversation with paul And I think he did a really good job on the episode and um, I think you're being very factual But I just want to say that as a person and everything and and here we're just delivering the It's an episode about milestone, but I just want to say because i'm sure paul is listening Uh, he's a really nice guy and I I have He's a beautiful man. I love him dearly. He's a very affable guy And like myself, he made a lot of friends in this industry You know in in his time in it, but you know, I You know, yeah good. Yeah, this is a good thing, but When it comes to this, um, you know, I I just had to Quite frankly, I still don't know what to think But I just decided to move past that and do what I had always wanted to do Uh, which is not see milestone just drift into oblivion And I also Wanted to see it As I did with with george way I saw the potential for this great beloved Uh, canadian heritage brands come back And it has all kinds of potential So, um, I'm I'm delighted. Yeah Last thing on paul, I I know that on on some level someone's going to look at and go I was a shrewd move denet and I'm like From a business standpoint if I'm wearing that hat, it's like, what am I supposed to do? Um, I Did my fair share of trying to explain You know, I I have a saying you take care of business or business takes care of you Yeah, that's good.  I had a meeting with paul the day that the trademark cleared because um being the friend that he was I As you can imagine It was something that I felt that I needed to tell him in person and I did and um, I didn't Know how he was going to react, but actually he was uh, he was very calm And uh, you know, at the time he said, you know, I've always thought that if anybody could do anything with milestone It would be you And that was that, um, I think subsequently I get the feeling that he he he felt that the milestone thing was actually part of his legacy and that's where our Our opinions on milestone diverged because um, yeah, as I said, you know, when I read that thing it's like, you know, you know You rejected it out of hand for a number of reasons and you started your thing and That's yours this um, I and I have to say The use of the trademark in that interim period between michael clappum and ron danette was um Was cynical at best I don't think I saw anything That made me think it was a loved brand the way that I love it And so, um, yeah And so, yeah, um Yeah, I mean You though I feel like and and I think that a lot of people would think this like as you said you're not getting You know becoming a millionaire doing the drum stuff. I think you I get a very genuine sense with this and george way that like You're really trying to keep these brands alive and keep them from just disappearing And do it for all the right reasons and um, and maybe it again, it's it's part of your personality of like You're just you're gonna do it no matter. I mean things some feelings might get hurt along the way But I think the end result will be Uh, worth it, you know, you don't want anyone's feelings to ever be hurt or upset or hurt a friendship But uh, like you said sometimes you just have to do things that are I really had I really had to weigh it against, you know I Sleep well at night I'm a I'm a straight up Frank honest business person and I've always been good in my business dealings and I pride myself in that In doing that. And so, um, I guess, you know, if I have to look at it this way my My desire to Share and and rebuild this brand Was greater than than, you know, any other consideration. Yeah And I would do it again I think that's uh You like we've said a few times that you have a you are an individual a unique individual in the drum world Uh, because I think you've got this like I don't know. I feel like and I'm not getting all like Psychological here, but you don't mind what I gather is you don't mind standing alone If you what you believe in Is the right thing I think you'll move forward It's kind of the impression I get of you and I've always kind of admired is you you you feel A certain way you'll do it and it doesn't matter really what happens. So I think that's that's a great Characteristic. Yeah, I know it's a blessing in a curse.  I've got two reasonably successful drum brands right now Why am I doing this?  Do you know what you're taking on and it's like the elation that absolute joy of Holding that That tangible manifestation of of Who you are Yeah, and you know in your hand and and then sharing it with somebody with drummers and You know and that's a great segue because I want to say one thing that always bothered me and and I I didn't it wasn't I didn't just hear it from paul, but I've actually heard it from a couple other Something similar from other manufacturers who work in composites is that It's always kind of a hard sell, you know because drummers want wood drums And they're not really interested in anything new and they you know and they and I'm like, huh? Yeah, are you kidding me? I've My stock and trade is making stuff that hasn't been Done before and I Completely disagree with any statements to that nature. I think I think most drummers They're not going to turn their nose up at something that sounds good. I certainly didn't the first time that I saw it I went these sound fantastic. They look great. I don't care what they're made of. Yeah, I really don't. What are they made out of? You know recycled aluminum cans Fantastic. Look at yeah. No, I don't think I think and but also like on that note It's not like it's some brand new Kind of just out of nowhere material It's been Around, you know what?  Yeah, exactly. Yeah Yeah, exactly with the spun fiberglass and which blamier will be a future episode.  Yeah, I mean, I just I don't believe that and um No, but I think I think drummers we like our heritage We like our we love our history as we should because it's the most You know historical instrument out there, but we also like modern new stuff and we like seeing the the uh the inventions and the The repurposing of old stuff, but I think that is also a good transition to What are you going to be so you got it? You you you are milestone now What can we all look forward to now? Well, you know, that was one I'm glad you said that because there was one thing that I wanted to say um I was thinking about talking about the brand in the context of what we just discussed and I think the brand And I'm thinking of the brands themselves They actually do have a personality in our and are an entity Uh onto themselves in a way that I'm I'm not 100 able to articulate right now. Uh, I did want to mention that that it's They really are bigger than Whoever owns them at the time, you know, we're just I'm just a caretaker of everything even even the denet brand. Although I really don't want that That brand to go forward without me, you know, yeah, I'm thinking about that, but um Well, wait expand on that a little more. Are you talking about how Just like let's say with I mean with I know I feel like I know what you mean. We're like, you know, these brands have like Just beyond the people beyond the players. There's a feel to it. There's like a history to it. There's like like, uh, there's just like a I don't know. There's like a style to it It's an it's an entity, isn't it? It's like it's that's what I said personality it has You know, it has a birth date and and in some cases an expiration date or some cases not there's, you know You know, you look at like companies and all of that that graph of like I called it, you know that pageant of history Where they had fallen super hard times went through world wars you know and Here they are and whatever iteration that they happen to be in Yeah, and that's how I'm I'm taking that vision of that forward and um, I think it I think it it informs how I treat the company and the brands because I don't just see it as a drum or a product or a commodity It's it's so much more than that. Yeah, I don't want to say it's a lifestyle because that sounds like a buzzword kind of thing But like it is like a like when someone pays, you know a fair good amount of money for a drum set I mean, you're really buying into like the culture of that, you know, what that brand. Oh, yes It just it becomes a part of you I would totally agree with that and um, but so that being said are you Like manufacturing all this stuff. What what what's your plans with creating new milestone drums? Um I mean tooling up and getting fiberglass and all that. I mean, that's that's a whole thing But if anyone can do it, it's you with it. It was a process and um, it went much So few turns of events that I'm not going to talk about But I just kind of shaped my head. It's like I'm like going It really does go back to that old adage like hey, you take care of business or business is going to take care of you and that's really You know what to boil down to but um, I'm so excited about it. Um, and I'll tell you about a couple of things I mean, I was just answering some questions online the other day the first um step other than securing the intellectual property was It creating a lug now um Because it's a fresh start I had to create fresh tooling for the lug and I have to say that one of the things that Always bothered me about the original Was that on the face of this lug it had a little step that went around it and I always thought it really Destroyed the the beauty of that smooth soft those radius edges and so when I recast it everything is basically the same but I got rid of that and um and you know The the end result is like To an uneducated I'd be like no, that's a that's a milestone lug But no, this is completely different. Yeah, and then of course there was a process of of getting the shells made and um That happened. I thought that was going to be the biggest the biggest hurdle But it happened relatively quickly And as you can see here, I've got a completed shell and this is um one of the first One of the first really prototype shells and um Wow It's beautiful For people listening ron's holding up a a beautiful silver sparkle. It looks like uh Milestone shell and and uh, this is just a good time to tell people You can watch these on youtube and see these if you're listening And if you're on youtube, then you're obviously watching it already, but um, so are you making those shells? Or you're you've partnered with a fiberglass kind of uh company Yep, someone someone who has uh expertise and experience in in this, you know, working with resins and fiberglass and um You know, the the fact is just to get things rolling Uh, you know, we came up with this formula, but I know that there are um Many many other Formulas available and and I know that from from, you know, learning the history of Michael Clapham that he had Uh a number of different formulas that he applied to snare drums toms and bass drums And so just to get things rolling the introduction You know, we're just gonna roll out snare drums Yeah, and uh, you know with the blessing of the Clapham estate. Um, I've been talking to uh one of Michael's sons and um, you're starting with snare drums Uh, just just to kind of get things rolling and um found the formula that we think works And we're gonna call it it's it's gonna be the founders model and uh, I'm just In the process of developing what that model is actually going to be but I I really want to pay Uh homage to Michael Clapham the founder He did a great thing. He created a great Canadian brand and he deserves to have the credit For that and I figured what better way than to include his name on, you know, the initial snare drum offerings Yeah, so what I have in front of me here now is um An example of that now this is an old milestone badge We don't I don't have all of the components yet, but uh The badge for the first 100 snare drums, which is going to be the founders model Is going to be a minted badge. It's going to be about 45 millimeters thick Chrome plated and we'll have the milestone that very beautiful simplistic You know famous milestone logo. Um, yeah, maybe that's the other thing from from a graphic design point. That's Yeah, and you've got an awesome milestone shirt on which I was going to say. I mean it's it's like I mean it yeah stuff can be very simple. Simple's good, you know And also extreme the the other end of it can be very cool too with a lot of you know design, but Simple is very good. Yeah. Yeah something and and and you know So to michael's credit, you know going back and looking at some of the you know, uh the original ads and and um, you know the branding It was always very clean and concise and and back at a time when we did now computers I mean he was doing, you know, I don't Can't even imagine how difficult it was challenging to get Um, you know Everything that you needed together just using a phone book and word of mouth. Oh, yeah now. Did you get um I mean this is again kind of the technical stuff, but so you acquired the trademark of milestone. Um, it sounds like like Tooling and machine stuff like like old shells. Did anything come with that or are you starting? You're just starting fresh starting from scratch You think and and you know what I had to do that with george way because it's and and you have a starting point and then The thing that I learned in trying to Stay true to the heritage and the look and feel is that You know, for example the george way the beer tap trough I originally had those made exactly how he made them and once I got the made I realized This is not going to work And I have to change this And so I changed that part which was machine parts that screwed together into a single die cast piece And vastly improved the functionality of it And you go well, this isn't the same and I'm going if george Had lived to be a hundred years old and was still making drums Who is to say that this isn't What he would have done it and You know, um, yeah in the same way that george's spirit informs and guides me on my decisions That I make in the shop when it comes to His products and his designs. Uh, I I think also, um Michael Clapham's Spirit is going to inform And and guide me in in in the manufacture of milestone drums and um, you know, frankly I think michael would be much happier knowing that the brand that he created was, um Alive and making drummers happy and still making music as opposed to being um, well what it might have been it's All about I mean really the there's a lot of drum brands who who were around for about 10 years or so and And we like to dig deep into them here on the podcast But like really for a 14 year old drummer starting somewhere and you know the midwest There wouldn't have heard of it But now through social media and through you doing stuff like this They get to know about these these older brands. Um, and and it made me think too about your Previous episode on the podcast you did about george way and we talked about that, you know acquisition a while back Um, I remember you saying that where if things continued on I don't think these these inventors really george way and michael clapham would want like you said the development of a brand to just stop And then not not move forward with technology Just because they stopped working on it and passed away or stopped working with the company Um, that doesn't mean it should have ended. So I think you're right to just push forward with technology and make them modern Well, I I always look at um, and you know, I I can't help but think about it You know in the context of milestone when I think about you know My my dear friend don lambardi um, and what uh him and uh, you know what he did You know with camco and there's there's some distinct similarities there, you know when he's when he Started he did the same thing that that mason did he he bought the tooling But he didn't start camco and he certainly didn't throw camco under the bus for you know any reason and he Started his own brand and Thank god for that. We wouldn't have dw drums and all of the great innovations that they've managed to You know acquire or put together and slingerland. I was thinking about the the acquisition of slingerland early on about how you're doing this and it's You you too are guys where I think uh It's like I don't know. It's like people can trust that it's going to be done right as opposed to I don't know. I don't know a company that would do it wrong. I don't want to say anything like that, but um I do I think The world has confidence that you guys Can uh can do it, you know Well, we all I mean, I don't have to name any names.  Not that I would sure, you know, and and it breaks my heart when you know that in particular I look at that beaver tail lug. I'm going that's the most beautiful beautiful art deco lug ever made and It's become homogenized and generic pasteurized And that really breaks my heart. So yeah, that's the big company Uh, they're through doing so many of these episodes that There's the the small small ish company Going in being acquired by a big huge company and then that company after a couple years says this isn't working out The way we thought it was let's get rid of it and then it just kind of trickle things just fall apart from there That's a pretty common tail Um In the drum world, you know, it's it's sad Yeah, yeah, and then You know, I've seen some attempts to to bring certain brands back and they get it Oh, yeah 90% why did you why did you would have cost you nothing to do this right? Why didn't you just you know, especially hard for me to watch because The blueprint is right there You don't have to invent anything It's a bass drum spur. You already know what it looks like on the original. Why why why? I don't anyone. Yeah frustrating and again, that's where I just I've become much much better at um And being able to let that stuff go and just understanding that you know what I can't fix it all Yeah, because the stuff I can't fix I'm gonna fix it how it needs to be. So yeah, and you know, this is um it's it's related to this in general and everything that you do but um I've I've always kind of wondered this are are you yourself like every either be at george way or denet or now Milestone obviously with milestone you're getting help to build the shells because it's a Different material, but do you work with a fair amount of other people in general on like assembly and or when you buy a denet I mean are you cranking out every drum yourself or What's that like? I mean because you're you're one man, you know denet pays all of the bills for milestone in george way and There is only one guy here Building denet drums and that's me. Yeah. Wow So, um, you know and it is It's it's become a real challenge. It used to be It was it's it's always been a challenge, but it used to be it was a different set of challenges when I was first starting out um now it's become a matter of um How thin can you slice a run? I'm pretty transparent right now. So yeah, or you wish you could clone yourself There's times like that with everyone when you're doing something where you're the one man band kind of like with the podcaster I'm like God, I wish I could just Because it's hard to trust people to to take your baby And care about it as much as you do as I'm sure you know or have the skill to do it And I've had you know, does anybody out there want to come and work for me? Yeah, I know I've had so many People come in the shop and they've been great, but the problem is This is this is a single-car garage. That is the extent the real factory is here and I've had two things happen first of all The shop is so small to quote bugs bunny. Um I have to go outside to change my mind So there's no place there's no place to put anybody in here and when I've had people help they're out on the driveway and um And that's great in the summertime and I've had times when I've had okay. This is great Thanks for coming to help, you know, that was 10 hours And then I go to look and it's like Oh my god Everything that this guy just put together was put together with the wrong size washer and so Generally speaking, um, I spend more time helping the people that are here helping me than they spend helping me So I've just resigned myself to the fact that I've just come to terms with The limitations of what I do and how I do it and and I'm okay with that and the people who sell my product um They're on board and they understand that that I'm not trying to be The next mass production and I'm not at at a period of my life and will never be Where I'm going to go out and get a big facility and start having a monthly nut to crack and I'm not Yeah, yeah I've tried to get an intern for this stuff because this is very good for like media people in school Or like even business It's like let's work on growing youtube to make more money or something And one kid dropped out of college another kid stopped answering someone else was just like really really they just didn't show up And it's just like man, it's hard. No one cares about your thing as much as you do and uh Well, hey, I and and it's my turn to um to give you kudos because um, I listen to your I listen to what you're doing. I'm like, I'm paying attention But I do and I think what you're doing is um I don't Think that oral history Is appreciated. I know that um, I've done something similar like this with with pas And um, I think moving forward after I'm gone That this is This is really important work that you're doing. So I hope thank you continue to do it and I hope it continues to you know develop and and And go through refinements because um, it it matters and that's why I'm here doing it. Thank you I'm I'm talking about me is the most boring thing in the world I think people like to hear what you have to say because again you you have kind of a uh a personality where I think people trust You're gonna speak your mind. Um, and I you know, I I appreciate you saying that very much I mean, this is almost 150 episodes in and um, and on that note I will say that uh people listening to this should go back Uh There's kind of a george way series that you did one on the the history of george way Uh rob cook. I believe has about two episodes that kind of fill in and supplement Um some more information to really I think it's three episodes total that like really cover the history of george way And the best way I can tell people to find them is Drumhistorypodcast.com on the episodes thing. There's a little search button and if you type in george It'll like search the context of the you know, the description and then you'll find those three episodes Yeah, um pretty easily there, but I I appreciate that Ron. That means a lot coming from you And you've and you've had Jim catalog the catalana one, right? Yes. Yep. He's he's a national treasure Yeah, and he he's the nicest guy in the world too and he sends me messages Frequently that I'll just say like hey, I loved this episode by the way, uh, which We're we're all uh at a point I mean the podcast has been growing and it's been successful, which is awesome But you're we're humans and you're not impervious to someone saying hey good job. Keep it up kid That's always nice no matter how long you've been doing it And I'm sure you feel the same way of someone saying hey ron these look great. You're doing a good thing keep going Um, yeah, people like you know what and I'm sure you appreciate this as much as I love the compliments um They're they they only do one they only serve my ego which is pretty tiny and insignificant But it's it's the it's the you know, I really like what you're doing, but And I'm that makes my ears go okay, but what yeah, tell me because because I can't use Um, I can't use the positive feedback other than other than to go. Okay. I'm doing the right thing here Sure, but it's the I'd like to see this or have you ever thought of this and and 90 of the time I'm like, yeah, I've been down that road. I've seen it, but gosh, there's it's nice when someone actually Gives you something that you go. You know what? Um Damn, you're right. Yeah honest feedback of Yeah, constructive constructive. Yeah criticism is awesome. It's it's so underrated and people You know, especially now on the internet they just take You know, I guess in the context of this conversation. I've I've really tried to give a lot of constructive useful See, I'm trying to help you. Yeah, just want to help you like Yeah, no, but I I also think that in in this world, which again, we're all What kind of connects all of us with drum builder drum brand podcast now youtube is we all use social media to expand and and and be the face of our brand And uh, I've learned a lot doing that and I got to tell you you can look at brands Who do things What you can sit what I would consider, you know, what I like and what I consider right and I see other people doing something And you're always got to be doing your homework of like, oh, jeez. I wouldn't have done that or oh, I like how ron does the simplified Just very beautiful pictures the attention to detail I think in everything you're just we're all doing our homework all the time scanning seeing things And then and then applying it to ourselves, but it's never copying really It's just no, of course not. No, it's I mean You know, what's that saying originality is the art of concealing your sources I I buy into that in on a certain level, but at the same time, um You know, I've certainly been inspired by things that have come before and have thought, you know, like The advent of this new, you know, wood metal hoop is a great example It's like, well, you know, those hoops were done before in various iterations Ray Ott came along and he did his wood hoop version, which was Fantastic, but also had some problems and I went You know, I I actually did a different version of that First and then finally made my way back to the to that sort of quote high-to-hoop version that he had done and sometimes It just depends, I guess, you know, like literal, uh Literal interpretations are are not a big fan of that stuff. But yeah, if you grow in your own funk And I or I've had something to do with it. That's great Yeah, which that's cool. And I mean, yeah, it's easy to feel For the people if you're in your shoes or you see someone coming along who's kind of competition It's easy to feel a little like oh geez, but it's better to We're all in the community. It's better to work together But if someone's blatantly copying or doing something wrong, then that's the drum community usually jumps all over that and Yeah, we'll kind of speak out But so on that note Ron the end the kind of you know Where we're at now is when can people like expect to be seeing these and are you going to be like, you know, Chicago drum show I imagine you'll probably have something there Yeah, I'm like I said the the only piece that I'm waiting for now is the the badges and I imagine that those are going to be arriving you know within the next few weeks and I'll be bringing at least a gold sparkle and a solar sparkle with me They will be pre-production prototypes of this model and this iteration like we've you know Made some some priors, but but these are going to be the ones that really sort of People are going to be able to to judge it on and then um, you know as as we sit here the the first run of 100 Um After the after the pre-production ones that's being made right now And uh, and I don't mind sharing it. It's probably a best time this founders model. We're doing, um You know five and a half six and a half and eight inch depths and we're doing three finishes silver sparkle gold sparkle and copper sparkle And those that will be a limited edition run and we'll be doing uh, or I'll be doing both eight and ten long versions because Hmm I like eight lugs and some people like 10 and I figured you know, why not? We'll just mix it up a little bit and Yeah, create and create some diversity and some collectability So anytime I'll I'll be taking my usual You know mid-summer break and going back to the farm. So I'll be putting out as much product as I can before I leave And then you know, I get back in september. That's when the big push will be on and that's when you're going to start to see Some really really cool stuff not the least of which and I'm happy to say this, you know, there's some There's a new fiberglass hoop design that's in development. Oh, wow And that I've always wanted to happen and there is um Uh a hybrid Viber fibed model In development and I may actually even have that at the chicago show I just think that there was um a lot of great ideas and a lot of potential You know left you know I would have loved to have seen what michael would have done. Oh, by the way, I want to mention this just out of time The problem that michael faced when he He got a big big squeeze that really impacted and that's why he ended up Closing the business. It wasn't that miles don't work make it. We're making great drums or anything like that not to the contrary the problem was is that they were expensive to make at the time that he was making them and He got hit when the canadian government decided that they were going to basically remove tariffs and duties on imported drum kits and so Anybody knows right around that time. There was a huge influx in the in the early 80s of You know the max went in the pearl and the baxter and all of the You know and that hit that hit a lot of companies. Um, and That's sure that was the uh That was the meteorite that hit planet uh milestone and made it and brought and Brought it into the dinosaurs. Yeah Well, that's that's so many brands though. I mean that's like I mean no one really saw that coming until boom all the like japanese brands just it Wow And in the time, you know in the 30 40 years since since he stopped making drums Things have changed and and industry has adapted and we all know how it works now You know, I mean we we all get our metal parts 99 of them are made over in taiwan and there's a reason for that Is um And it's not because they work for 50 cents an hour. It's because they're good at doing it Yeah, I remember you saying that in your episode about there's a uh the previous george way episode about there's a Misconception about taiwan or be ipping this dirt sheet place to do stuff I mean you said their state-of-the-art factories and passionate workers and it's just a more affordable way to Get things though from from as opposed to manufacturing not even affordable. It's amazing quality.  It's like, okay, so that means I got to sell one lug for $80 And I'm gonna put 10 of these on a drum. It's like it's just insane. It's not doable. I mean, it's not possible It's not viable. It's not viable. Yeah Yeah, cool. Well run. Why don't you tell people The best way to keep up with you. I imagine social media or through a website Where do you want to direct people to keep up with milestone or you know, george way or denet in general? I've I've you know, just Right now, I guess the best way is on instagram It's under denet classic drums and that's where I post, you know, all the george way and milestone stuff and Just sort of ported all through that my personal Facebook page ron denet And of course, which has its limitations, but I've also created a milestone percussion Facebook page and both the domains milestone Milestone percussion.ca.com. Those are registered and I'm working on the website God, I got so much to do The website alone can be so time consuming. It's unbelievable. Yeah, I'm trying to get someone to do it It's like, oh my god, is there is or any good web developers out there really want to do it Please send me an email because a friend made mine for free I recorded I worked on his album at work And he liked what I was doing and just designed the whole website for me and I'm not touching it ever again It's so time consuming and it was free. So it's unbelievable. I paid a guy a thousand dollars to redo the denet one Yeah, it was six months ago and it's like Yeah, I have the prod It's like, you know, it's It's it's just that's why my website is so dated, but you know, I'm fortunate that the you know, the dealers that I work with Um, that's their job to stay on top of that a little bit. Um, and Yeah Now in facebook is a great resource for this, you know, social media has its ups and downs but for finding information about a company And I'll put the link to all that in the description. Um, but So Ron, uh, we talked about doing a little patreon bonus episode, which we'll do after we finish this But I'd like to talk to you After we wrap up this one about maybe tips that you have Four people who are builders who are starting a drum brand who are working with maybe shops I just think someone like you has a lot of experience and can maybe Give you know five or ten minutes of just like your like this is some mistakes that I've made. This is some things that I've learned Uh for drum builders If anybody's listening all you drum builders and anybody who Might want to do that. I'm going to give away all my secrets You got to pay two bucks a month to sign up on the patreon thing. I'm going to I'm going to say everything I have the book right here That's great all the dirty secrets. It'd be great All right, so Yeah, if anyone wants to hear all of Ron's dirty secrets, uh, go to drumhistorypodcast.com There's a patreon button there. You can join up. Um, so Yeah, Ron, again, thank you so much for doing this and taking the time to uh, to join me on really short notice When we kind of set this up a couple days ago. Um, so Thank you for being here Ron. Thanks for everyone for listening And I can't wait to see what you do with milestone and uh where you take it in the future Yep, you're gonna love it


Hello everyone, it's your girl Kenzie here from Layton Sports Cards and I'm ripping 21-22 Panini Prison Basketball Hobby, six box break number four. Pick your team. We've got Adam D with the Jazz, thanks for closing us out, Adam. M-O-D with the Spurs, Chayuan C, Cavs, Tsinghua H, Sons, Eddie L, Wizards, Eden R, Nix, Edgar B, Hawks, Eric W, Celtics, Hoation W, Clippers, Harper B with the Bucks Mavs and Grizzlies. Jeffrey H with the Raptors, Warriors and Thunder, JoVP Blazers, JoVP also with the Sixers, Coompaul P, Pacers, Kahun K, Pelicans and Rockets, Matt L, Heats, Michael C, Kings, Min-Soo K, Nets, Paul E, Hornets, Ryan B, T-Wolves, Sirenlack, J, Bolz, Tang S, Lakers, Ting Z, Y, Magic, Kip H, Pistons and Yong S, Nuggets. Alrighty, best of luck everybody. Here we go. Anything so forest, yeah? I like both. I just like prism in general. Yeah, prism football and basketball, for sure. Alright, again, seven left in the next break everybody. Only pick your teams left for the daytime and a few tonight with forest. All of his random teams are filled up. Really rookie. So let's get this next one filled up. Hyper Biombo Prismatic Kauai Leonard. I really like the 75 year cracked ice ones for us. It's probably my favorite color in this year's set, but obviously number 275, Rivas rookie, Jerry Payton, Zyra Williams rookie. We've got Blue on the Quintengrimes for the Knicks, Blue is to 199, we've got OKC, Sensational Signature Rookie Auto Trayman, quite a bit of Trayman, there you go, Thunder, Aura, Chris Duarte rookie, Tim Duncan, Silver, Jaden Springer for the Sixers, Silver Mindset, CP3, wow to 25, Sensational Signatures Mojo, JJ Redick, boom, Mavs with another big hit, Harper B again, there you go, back to back, Brakes with some nice Mavs autos, first you had the Luca, now you got the little JJ, nice little magnet for ya, that's sick, loved watching him play when he was in Orlando, he used to go to games all the time with my dad, he actually waved to me once when I was little, Josh Christopher rookie, like Herbert Jones rookie, thank you, Red Wave, Nasred, Hyper Yanis with the trophies there, it's a cool photo, Kyrie Prismatic, my dad was trying to point out who JJ Redick was, and I was pointing, I was like oh that guy, and he saw me point out, I mean he waved to me, I was like oh my gosh, Toscano Anderson rookie, as a little kid, that's crazy, Edwards rookie, Beverly, we've got a purple color match here, Magic Johnson for the Lakers, that's sick, to 99, oh the dust is getting to me now, oozy, uh oh, yeah I love the flashback autos in this year, it's just awesome, I love it, Miles McBride rookie, we've got Pulsar, Keon Johnson, Keldon Johnson sorry, purple ice, Steph Curita 149, Warriors, it just messes me up for us that the numbering on these are different, the only one that's the same I think is the orange wave is still the 60, but all the other colors are different than football, it's a little confusing, Shreya Mann rookie, it'll take me a little bit to memorize, and Boston Junior rookie, Kispert rookie, Aaron Gordon Silver, we've got A.K. Cunningham, Hyper, Detroit, there you go, Pistons, Yip H, nice hypercade, we'll mag this one for ya, heck yeah, again we are a little bit behind, we had to wait to get this one filled, so let's fill up the Simon Vich, the next one so we can get it filled up and get going, Quentin Grimes rookie, Bones Highland rookie, Red Jordan, Nora Bucks, mindset of Giannis, again there were seven to go, last time I looked, on the next break, Jalen Johnson rookie, Trey Murphy the third rookie, Silver Steve Nash, there's a cool one on the Mavs there, Silver Prismatic Bradley Beal, Aaron Wiggins rookie, we've got Red Wave, Dario Sarkich, Hyper, Terris Davis the second, Prismatic Wiseman, Elizabeth Garza rookie, Silver, Danny Avdia, we've got Mojo of Siakam, for the Raptors the 25, nice Mojo there, 75 year insert, Jimmy Butler, Keita rookie, Evan Mobley rookie base, there you go, Cavs, Red Emanuel quickly Red Wave, Blue, Mike Conley for the Jazz to 199, alright and that'll do it for the first box there, looking for Cade, Mobley, Jalen Green, Suggs, Wagner, Trey Manns up there, Checklist still isn't out yet so I can't tell you what Vett hits right here I mean we pulled a Luca, we pulled a Curry Otto, yeah hard to say with some of the bigger Vett autos as the Checklist is still not out, O'Neal Silver, Terris Davis on the Hyper Kings, Dowsumu, Dowsumu that's another bigger rookie, Preston rookie, Sothemire, got Blue, Montrez, Harrow, Wizards to 199, we've got an Alfred and Shangoon rookie Otto Rockets, Steph Curry, Steph Curry stuff is definitely worth quite a bit, Shangoon base, especially the one we pulled earlier, Jalen Johnson rookie, that was the 25, that's a big one, probably the biggest car we pulled up for them so far, a Luca is up there too, Alexander Walker, Fearless Silver LeBron, Zach Levine Prismatic, Trey Murphy the third, I can't tell sometimes there'll be people who come in here and would say something like that, my bad, Red Wave, Drummond Sixers, Joe Weisskamp on the rookie Hyper for the Spurs, say it just to start an argument, Santi Aldama, yeah I tried to look for it for us but it wanted me to sign in and everything so it's like, O'Neal Silver, we've got Red Cameron Thomas rookie, Met's 75th anniversary, Westbrook, Keon Johnson rookie, and a Jaden Springer rookie, Red Wave, Larry Nance Jr, Blazers, Purple Alec Burks for the Knicks, Luca Fearless, Charles Bassie rookie, I'll try, we pulled a nice one last break, I think it was a Hyper, we've got Silver rookie Robinson Earl Thunder, Jordan Nowara on the Hyper, Prismatic, Damian Lillard, Scotty Lewis rookie, well whatever LeBron wants he's going to get so, we've got Silver and Nobby, Red, Kemba Walker for the Knicks, maybe Fearless, Jalen Green rookie for the Rockets, Huston, Covington, Dirk, Pulsaar, Kelly Olnick, Orange Wave to 60, Dennis Schroeder, Celtics, David Johnson rookie, Rudy Gaubert, Purple Ice to 149, Bobby Portas Bucks, Aaron Wiggins rookie, Kukoche, and Luca Garza rookie, check how many we've got left in the next break here, Divincenzo Silver, Firework Silver, Kawaii Leonard, we've got a Mantras Herald on the signature here for the Wizards, Mantras Herald, again it does show Wizards here and on the back so that's where this card will go, Wizards, Kida rookie, Duane Wayne, we did pull a D-Wade auto out of the first break too, that was pretty cool, we've got Red Wave, Scotty Barnes color match for Toronto, boom, beautiful hit there, Raptors Jeffrey H, there you go, switching the teams up every break and he's hitting it with each one of them, nice Scotty, Magnat, Biombo on the Hyper, Evan Mowbly rookie base, Cavs, Trayman rookie and Brandon Boston junior rookie, let's see where we are, Hawks Bulls, Heats, Sixers, Wizards, 5 to go in the next break, let's get it filled up, there's the link for ya, 5 to go, Book Knight rookie, Usman Garuba rookie, we've got a Lonzo ball for Pulsar for the Bulls, Silver Prismatic Westbrook, again 5 to go on the next break, everyone breaks right after this, once we're full, Moses Moody rookie, still some great teams left, lots of them on sale, Dirk Silver, Terrence Davis, the second Kings Hyper Prismatic Lonzo ball, I'd say it's Hod rookie, leaving on Mitchell rookie, we've got Purple rookie, Darren Sharp for the Nets, 2.99, nice one there, Isaiah Jackson rookie, Pacers, Zion Silver, it's a Dic Bay Mojota 25 Pistons, got another redemption here, see who it is, good luck everybody, we've got James Book Knight rookie signatures card number 11, Hornets, second Book Knight redemption we pulled today, Grats, Hornets on that one, Red Wave, Luka Donchich, nice, Hyper, Danny Green, Prismatic Kawhi Leonard, Darren Sharp rookie, Joshua Primo, Isaac Acoro Silver, Gold, Kyle Lowry for the Heat, boom, nice Gold, 5 of 10 on that one, so Vett Gold, Grats on that one, Heat, mindset LeBron, again everyone 5 to go on the next break, most of them are on sale, let's go, Jalen Suggs rookie, Kai Jones, JT Thor rookie, mindset Hyper, Yanis onto the Kumpo, we've got an Elvin Hayes Washington Bullets, we'll go to the Wizards, Wizards on that one, you can tag that one please, Wizards, Silver, Marcus Smart, Fearless Silver, rookie Lamella Ball, Yanimello's and Ant-Man Fearless Inserts have the rookies on them for some reason, which is kind of funny, Rivas Rookie, Miles McBride rookie, we've got a Zaragovsky rookie, Red Waves, Haydom, Hyper, Finney Smith, sorry, Williams rookie, we've got Silver, Badham, Blue, Jalen Brunson, that's a sick color match there for the Mubs, nice one there, 199, Damian Lillard 75 years, Wise Camp rookie, got a Franz Wagner rookie base, Red Wave, Eric Gordon for the Rockets, Red Rookie of Villy to 299, Bucks, Kyrie Prismatic, Villy rookie, Cade Cunningham rookie base here, Pistons, Silver rookie, David Johnson, Raptors, Josh Christopher, Hyper for the Rockets, rookie pack here, see where they are, Bowls Heat, Sixer's Wizards, still 5 to go everybody, 5 to go, let's get that filled up, 5 to go, some nice ones, again, Hawks on Sale 179, Bowls 349, Heat 89 bucks, Sixers 149 and Wizards 129, quite a bit for under 150, get it filled up, breaks right after this one, Rivas on the Silver Rookie Lakers, here we go, Red Rookie on the 75, Anniversary Cracked Ice Card, Simon Ovech, Bowls to 75, 2475, 75 years, Jalen Green, there you go Rockets, Springer rookie, Magic Johnson, got quite a bit of customers from their Fuego, Red Wave, Aaron Wiggins, Blue, Mason Plumlee on the Cracked Ice to 125, Pornitz, LeBron, Fireworks, Charles Bassie, Scotty Lewis not sure if there's any in chat currently, Silver Luka Donchich, we've got Hyper, Port Zankis for the maps, Fireworks Kawhi, Aaron Wiggins Rookie and Tony Kukos, the back of this one is like, obviously you can see right there, the Bowls base up here, I believe it's just the base, yeah, look backwards, Crohn's, Nate Towns, Fireworks, Hyper, Ben Simmons, we've got Rookie Otto of Joshua Primo, Spurs, Spurs Rookie Otto there, Wallace, Jalen Johnson, Van Blietz, Silver, Robin Lopez, Silver, Fireworks AB, Trey Murphy III, Mulberry, his shoes, 15 bucks, got Red, Dante DiVincenzo, Bowls, a Hyper Rookie of Zagrowski, Zagrowski, Nets, Prismatic Trey Young, Santiago Dama Rookie, Keon Johnson Rookie, Austin Rivas Rookie, got Silver KD, Nets, Blue, Siddiq Bay Pistons, Trey Young Fearless, got Pulsar, OG Nobby, Raptors, Red, Montemores, Nuggets, Julius Randall, Prismatic, David Johnson Rookie, Iodom Sumo Rookie, Silver Rudy Gaubert, Hyper of Josh Richardson from the Celtics, Jason Preston Rookie and Alfred Shingoon Rookie, we packed it off and we'll check on the next break here, got Orange Wave to 60, Brooke Lopez for the bucks, we've got a Luca Garza Rookie, well that's the back of that one, on the guards, I'm going to go ahead and put this in a sleeve before it completely rips off and I will send a box here with the pistons, same with this one, this one's a base chamber one there, I don't know what's wrong with this box, it's what the 3rd or 4th, one of that, Cater Rookie, Wayne Wade, really haven't seen many damage cards or anything so far, Brandon Clark Rookie, Silver Fearless, Trey Young, we have a TJ Warren Sensational Signature Auto for the Pacers, TJ Warren, we've got Evan Mobley Rookie, Shreemann Rookie and Brandon Boston Jr. Rookie, last pack, Hawks 4, Red Cameron Thomas, Wave, Paper, Aaron Gordon, Ben Simmons, Prismatic, Corey Kisbert Rookie, Quentin Grimes Rookie, see the box bowls, Sixers Wizards, let's get it filled up, 14's left, got Isaiah Livers Rookie, Banton Rookie, Christian Woods Silver, wide screen Jamie and Lillard, we've got Magic, how would a Penny Hardaway Auto, here you go Magic, that's sick, Sub-Zero, nice Penny Hardaway Auto, haven't seen any Magic ink yet today, so first, let's see if we can get some Rookie ink, Robinson Earl Rookie, Jalen Green Rookie here for the Rockets, Red Wave, Tony Cuckoach, Rashawn Holmes Hyper, Mindset LeBron, again everyone, 4 to go in the next break, only a few more breaks left for the daytime, appreciate all the support so far getting everything filled up, Josh Giddy, Silver Rookie Thunder, Purple, Terence Davis II for the Kings to 125, or 149 sorry, Jonathan Kominga Rookie, Silver Millie Beasley, Brann and Clark on the Hyper, Fearless Jough, Jared Butler Rookie, got Blue, Cracked Ice Second Year to 125, Lamello Ball for the Hornets, nice Mellow, that is 53 of 125, very nice, Prismatic Kawhi Leonard, first color of Mellow I think we've seen today, we saw I think one Prismatic Silver of him, Guzman Garuba Rookie, Moses Moody Rookie, got Boban Silver, Fireworks Silver, Joellen Bede, Mindset Yanis, Austin Rivas Rookie, Greg Brown III, we've got Red Wave, Rajan Rondo, Hyper Ray Allen for the Box, Prismatic Kairi, Sharif Cooper Rookie, Cameron Thomas Rookie, we've got Red Carmelone Jazz, 75 years of Zach Levine, we've got Scotty Barnes Rookie here, Raptors, we've got Red Wave, Torian Prince, Purple Bogdanovich Jazz, David Johnson Rookie, Iowdon Sumu, we've got Pulsar Marcus Moore Sr., Red, Thumbs Brand, Wizards, Prismatic Lamella Ball, Preston Rookie, Shingo Rookie, Mobamba Silver, Hyper Rookie of Jonathan Cumminga, nice one there, Warriors, Hyper, that's pretty high on the center, Last Pack, Box 5, Jalen Johnson Rookie, Tray Murphy III Rookie, got Hyper Firework of Jason Tatum, Rockets to 25 and Avery Bradley on the Sensational Signatures Mojo, Avery Bradley, Rockets, Washington, Jr. Alright, last box here, let's see where we are, Wizards, Hawks, Bulls and Sixers everybody, let's get this one filled up, there's the link for you, 4 to go, 4 to go on the next one, breaks right after this last box here, let's tweet it out, got Silver, Pete Marevich, Prismatic Silver, Jason Tatum, we have here, Nix, Mark Jackson, Nix, throwback auto there, inscription, Avery Rita Sandler, God bless, Avery Sharpe Rookie, got Red Wave Rookie, Kessler Edwards for the Nets, Hyper, Kemba Walker, Joshua Primo Rookie, James Book Knight Rookie, Usman Garuba Rookie, Valen Kunis, we've got Red, David Robinson Spurs, Prismatic Giannis, Moses Moody Rookie, we've got Jay Crowder on the Pulsar, Sons, 75th Anniversary Red Cracked Ice of Jonas Valen Kunis, Pelicans, Greg Brown III Rookie, Cherie Cooper Rookie, we've got Rookie Hyper Isaiah Todd, Wizards, Cameron Thomas Rookie, Mindset Hyper LeBron, we've got Lakers, we've got Wizards, Sensational Signatures, Silver, Rookie Auto, Corey Kisper, no Wizards, nice hit there, Josh Giddy Rookie, Silver Bill Russell, Silver White Screen KD, Mindset LeBron, Jalen Suggs Rookie, Magic, Kai Jones Rookie, Red Wave, Darryl Sarich, Paul Pierce Hyper, JT Thor Rookie, Joe Weisskamp, Silver Bretons, Red, Rashawn Holmes, 75 years, Tracy McGrady, we've got a nice one here, Cade Cunningham Rookie Base, Pistons, Franz Wagner Rookie, Red Wave, Josh Richardson, Blue Ice Rookie to 225, Jalen Johnson for the Hawks, Lamello Prismatic, again everyone, 14's left in the next break, that'll break once it fills right after this one, almost there, Isaiah Todd Rookie, KG, Richardson, Silver, Killian Hay Typer, and last pack, Donovan Mitchell, or Davion Mitchell Rookie, Isaiah Jackson Rookie, Orange Wave, Mantra's Herald Wizards, so, alright that will do it for the break, give me one second, and we will do a recap here, let's see, Bulls Sixers Wizards, three to go, Bulls Sixers and Wizards, there's the link, check it out, alright recap, Silver, Otto, Rookie, Corey Kisper, Wizards, got Mark Jackson, Nix, Sensational Signatures Mojo to 25, Avery Bradley, Rockets, Penny Hardaway for the Magic, TJ Warren Pacers, Joshua Primo Rookie Otto Spurs, Elvin Hayes, Bullets which will go to the Wizards, Hornets Redemption, James Booknights, Mantra's Herald Wizards, Elfin Shinkun Rookie Otto, Rockets, and Shray Mann Rookie for the Thunder, our Magged Cards, we had the Gold Kyle Lowry to 10 for the Heat, Red Wave, Scotty Barnes, Raptors, and Sensational Signatures Mojo to 25, JJ Redick for the Mavs, that will do it for number four everyone, we got number five coming up shortly.


Hi, I'm XUX. In this video I have some news that came out and revealed there's a secret plan to harm LMC. I'm going to go through the details on that and go over some stuff I've said on that in the past. I go over some news on the F-150 Lightning, the main competitor of the Lordstown Endurance. Some details I think you might not know. I'm also going to give some stats on some other EV manufacturers. And I give, other than Reddit, my public price estimates and forecast for ride stock. Hope you liked the video. Let's get going. Hi, everybody. This is MXUX. I'm doing a quick video here on ride stock Lordstown motors. We close today up 5%, 6%, 552%. Here's a quick look at the chart. We were up late in the day. A lot of the EV stocks got raised by the general market was up. And EV stocks in general were up. So there's the chart looking pretty good. I'm going to go through some news on Lordstown that's relevant to my last video in Lordstown in general. Now this is a article that appeared in Seeking Alpha. You can look at the title up here. You can pause and seek that out on Alpha. Not one of my favorite places. Lordstown under attack. Now this guy who is able on Lordstown as stockholder, he wrote a nice rebuttal to everything. And I'm going to show at the end of this video all of my, well, not all of my, but a lot of my Lordstown videos that you guys can look at to see where I go in detail about this whole thing, about this attack on Lordstown. But anyway, a C-suite leaker told this guy that the same entity is attacking Lordstown, the National Automobile Dealers Association. And that's the direct to consumer model. One of the things Steve Burns did before he left was get a dispensation to do direct to consumer sales in Ohio. So and obviously they're going to do direct to consumer sales in the fleet market. But anyway, these guys, you have faces for minimal deal car dealers and double standards. And he goes over everything here. And again, you can look this article up yourself. I agree 100%. There's more than the auto dealers against them. Ford Motor. Now this is Ford Motor. Now Ford Motor company, they have the number one selling truck in the country and the trucks are the number one selling thing in the country and Lordstown is their main competitor as of today in EVs. There isn't anybody else. Ford in my opinion, and again, you can look at my past videos. And there's there's a couple books you can, there's a couple of references you can do on this. Go down the rabbit hole, read Noam Chomsky Manufacturing Consent about the collaboration formal and informal in the press and media to manufacture an opinion on an on a topic. And I believe this is what's being done against Lordstown. And if you don't believe that's true, you can look up the CIA Project Mockingbird, which you will be shocked to see that the CIA had agents in every newsroom in the country in the 60s and who knows for how long, molding every news item. Anyway, Project Mockingbird Manufacturing Consent. Anyway, just want to give you an idea of what Lordstown is up against. In 2019, Ford spent 2.28 billion on advertising. Okay? The American Dealers Association I have over here in the note spent 10 million. So that's 2.4 billion total in advertising was spent on, let's say, Ford products. Everybody that gets advertising dollars from Ford or the American Dealers Association CNBC in some business insider. You know, you name it. Anybody that's on a platform that they're advertising supports, the web platform or traditional media or radio. I'm sure they've gotten a word about Lordstown. And I have done, there's a video of mine called Anatomy of a Short. And I've also done one on the Hindenburg Report. You can go over them. You can see what I'm talking about. This is very coordinated. Okay? This is a coordinated attack. And obviously, because they fear Lordstown, because of the efficiency of their vehicles, that is the deal. They know they're in trouble. And let's just go here. Ford doubles lightning production on strong demand. Okay? So Ford is strong early demand. They're going to go up $150 million on, or $850 million. That's not working that highlighter on what they're doing. The number two automaker is targeting annual production of more than $80,000. Sorry about that. $80,000 and $24,000, up from $40,000. Okay? So they're talking about numbers very similar to what Lordstown is talking about. Okay? These are not far off. Okay? These are like what Lordstown was talking about with its numbers. Okay? They were pleasantly surprised. Now, question whether the visual buyers will give up for gas power. So again, their new target is $80,000 in 2024. Their past target was $40,000. They're talking about numbers very much like what Lordstown is talking about. $15,000 models next year. That's, you know, this is Lordstown numbers. A spring launch and $55,000 in 2023. Okay? Now, they're going to launch the second generation lightning in late 2025. All right? They already know the first generation lightning isn't any good. It's too heavy. Let me tell you something. I want to make a prediction about the first generation lightning. It's too heavy. They got it on small, I saw this one mechanic review in a truck and he goes, boy, those are narrow tires. They have put narrow tires on that truck for rolling resistance and inertia to get the range out of it. It's going to wear tires like crazy. People are going to put bigger tires on it.  That's my opinion. It's 9,000 pounds. It's twice the weight of the endurance. They haven't made an electric vehicle. All they've done is put a battery in an ice vehicle. It's a heavy duty vehicle that was never built with any concern about mileage. More optimistic to van. We are excited. We have 120,000 customer reservations. Now, these, I believe, are the top-notch $100,000 F-100s. So, they're racing, blah, blah, blah. They're boosting electrification. The point is Ford's EV straight-up on leveraging the strongest van, the F-150 and the Triumph van. You've got Kanu mentioned here, too. Now, here's a nice quote. The increased lightning production target has some suppliers read here, chip suppliers, worried about the extra investment that it will entail, and unsure of the man for electric pickup truck will meet Ford's expectation. It really puts chip suppliers in a dicey situation if the volume doesn't come through. It said one supplier executive who has not to be identified. If you've watched my last video about the chips, the redesigned F-150 doing late 2025, so they are already going to redesign the whole lightning F-150. The whole thing is going to be redesigned. The T1 truck architecture, the new T1, which is a secret. We're going to see here in this. So, anyway, the point is Ford is now talking about numbers very much as what, like, almost exactly like what Lordstown was saying, and their suppliers are kind of balking at things. But anyway, that's where they are. And if their demand is up, I believe that the endurance is a better vehicle, more efficient lighter, it's going to be up as well. But anyway, I think the main takeaway from this article is they're doing a complete redesign for 2025. Now, Ford introduced two new battery electric vehicles by 2025. So, one is for cars where the second is for pickup trucks. This is kind of a scoop by Reuter, Reuters, B-platform cars, crossovers, and trucks. It would not be surprising to do that growing number of models and volume of the cell. The car crossover EV platform is going to be based on the Mustang Mach-E. The truck SUV, and the truck, by the way, the truck has independent risk of it. It's really an SUV. It's not a truck. In the case of the larger electric vehicles, the new T1 truck architecture is expected in late 2025. So they're doing a complete redesign of the whole thing by late 2020-25. And that previous article, I glossed over it, but they're talking about, you know, having trouble meeting, they have a small production capacity. They don't even know if they can meet the demand they have. Anyway, Ford is, it's not what you think it is. It might be using the redesigned Ford F-150 Lightning, which will enter the market in early in 2022 using the heavily redesigned F-150 platform. See, they're redesigning everything. They've rushed this to market. The endurance has been under development for more than 10 years. Ford could also use for the navigator and Ford might include the navigator.  This is not a pickup truck. This is an SUV with a pickup bed on it for the Lincoln Navigator and Ford Expedition Vehicles. Now, this is the kicker. Okay, so anyway, Ford's already bailing on the F-150 platform. They're going with the SUV platform. It's not a truck. It's an SUV with a pickup bed on it, which is what Rivian is. There's also an option to use a platform from Rivian. Okay, they're going to use the Rivian platform to put the F-150 on, which is even a more complicated, less efficient, heavier SUV with a pickup bed on it. These guys are in, you know, I think they're scrambling big time. They don't have the capacity. Their supplies, their chip suppliers are balking at them. You can see from that last article, they've got the hate machine out and the FUD machine out against Lordstown. They're in a race. They know it. Anyway, I'm going to pause right here and go on to the next section. Hold on one second. Hi, this is MXUX. I'm back with this next segment here. I'm looking at the GO EV chart here. This is Canoe 779. It's 20 cents after hours. There's the chart for today. Now, how this stock can be charting higher than Lordstown Motors. I have really have no idea. You know, no vehicle, no plant, no nothing.  So, let's just go over this next tab. Now, we're talking last video about the Lordstown potential for having other people come in and look for low-cost roads to mass production. There it is, Lordstown, okay? And startups become the next Tesla, but all vehicles such as UK man-company, Arrival, and Fisker, different roads that cover the profitable mass production that almost broke Tesla. Billions, Rivian plays the phase 10 billion, but people lacking Rivian's money. Here's the thing. Tesla struggled to make up Model 3. Okay, these new automakers, including Canoe, and Arrival. They're all struggling with the idea of approaching, over the years, then 2 billion on a big factor, a factory big enough to build 2,000 or more vehicles, 2,000, 40,000 vehicles, or more annually. So, Arrival is one, the low-cost micro factories. How they're going to get any scale out of that. I don't know, cost reductions. Micro factory 1.0, they're talking about. I don't see how this makes any sense, the transportation costs. Anyway, robots are programmed to do double or triple duty.  They're going to have a bunch of guys in there putting wingnuts on studs and putting together plastic panels. I mean, really. Canoe, similar strategy. We'll build a mega micro factory. Okay, as a hub for future, smaller future factories. Okay, small electric van in the United States. Reassembled, pre-finished videos from China. Look, all these makers, canoe, Arrival, Fisker, all of them.  They ought to just go to Lordstown and they can solve all their manufacturing problems. Everything is there. I don't know what they're thinking. I really don't understand this, but evidently, there are a lot of people that are smarter than me at these companies. How they're going to build a vehicle in a warehouse with 10 robots and make money on it. What are they going to make? Three vehicles a day.  Okay, that's just my two cents on that. This is where Lordstown Plant comes into play. I hope they're talking to these people. I hope they know what they're doing. This is regarding the new vehicle to grid, endurance fleet, stuff I went over in the last video just to mention. Lordstown Endeavour can be, has the battery and the electronics to do vehicle to grid, which is what is going to provide the power when needed to the grid to power these new vehicles. They are capable of it. Lordstown is not. Ford is, they say. But anyway, this is just to let you know. The EV rollout will require huge investments in strained US power grids. So you got, you know, the Texas thing, right? Okay, and then you got, here's what they're saying. Utilities, billions of dollars creating additional capacity. Okay, at the same time, they have to replace old power sources with renewable energy. And we're talking about rolling blackouts in California. This is on the grid we have now, Texas and California. When we have electric vehicles, I mean, in any, any numbers at all, it's going to put a tremendous stress on this. And this is, this is why the vehicle to grid of all these fleets is so important. Here's a model utility with two, here's with two to three million customers, we need to spend between $17,000 and $5,000 in grid upgrades per EV. Okay, according to Boston consulting groups. So this is a looming problem in the country that's going to have to be faced. And I think that this vehicle to grid is very important. But anyway, caught utilities off guard. I'm just looking for a quote here. See, EVs right now are less than 2% of all vehicles registered, more so in California. But Sandy Monroe says everything's going to be done by 2028. So General Motors and Ford, blah, blah, blah. So down are this is downers building heavy duty haulers and they say the need for massive investments in grid infrastructure and targeting stations cannot be underestimated. So the point is now we've got a conflicting view here that says that they're jumping the gun. But the point is, we do not have the grid now to handle everything that's going on, let alone when we put these EVs on the grid. And NewVee and Envo that are doing the vehicle to grid integration and companies like Lordstown that are going to be able to do fleets that are going to have these vehicle to grid capabilities are very important. Companies like Apptera that are building self charging vehicles are very important. And also the efficiency of a truck like the endurance that's even more efficient than the cyber than the Tesla vehicles. So Ford and Rivian and GM are all overlooking this efficiency aspect of electric vehicles. This is another reason we have to have lightweight efficient electric vehicles, these power grid problems. We have to have smaller batteries that go farther. That requires more efficient vehicles that requires more efficient power systems like the hub motors that don't drive a lot of mechanics to get the wheels turning. All they do is turn the wheels and they're programmable. They learn the driving habits of the driver and save even more energy and they're getting more power out of a smaller pack than they ever should. That smaller pack puts a less demand on the grid. The vehicle to grid aspect allows the grid to breathe. These companies that are putting these 9,000, 8,000, 9,000, 10,000 pound pickup trucks out, Rivian, Hummer, the Ford Lightning, massive batteries that take 10 hours, 12 hours to charge on a level 2 charger. This is going to blow the grid up. Anyway, that's my two cents on that. I think everybody's on the wrong track. Tesla is a leader in this field. We'll see how the Cybertruck does right now. I've got a video on the Cybertruck beating the endurance beating at the Cybertruck in a lot of different areas. So anyway, I'm just going to go to my webpage here and I just want to show you guys that are Lordstown fans. This is my paltry subscriber amount. If you're in the Lordstown, Laura Aptera, or a couple of these other companies that I follow, let me just show you these Lordstown videos here. You can go to my channel and I have many, many videos here on Lordstown. There's more than even what's listed here. You can find out anything you need to know about the technology, the company, the funding, the economics. I've got the conference calls covered. So guys, please subscribe. If you're in the Lordstown and you want more news, check out my channel. Please subscribe. I'm trying to get it together. I'm upgrading. I'm in the middle of an upgrade of the technology here and I'm trying to get this video out to you in spite of that. So anyway, I hope you liked the video. I'm going to try to put a close on this. Thanks for watching. Just some news tidbits and some affirmations. Let's do it that way, drunken hobo talk. Anyway, I'm going to put this out there and I put this on Reddit and it's in my other videos. I have done the math. I'm going to have to, you can look through the videos here. It's one of the last three videos where I go over my math on a price target. And again, I'm not a financial advisor. This is not financial advice. The thing is, I crunched the numbers back in the envelope. I think the price right now for Lordstown, a fair price would be $35 to $36 a share. And with any success of the launch of the production vehicle and the validation and even going into limited production, I think that can 3x or 4x very easily. So I'm going to put that out there. I think we're building some momentum now. Let's see what happens. Good luck in the market. Remember, this is a pre-revenue, SPAC risk on. This is a high risk investment. It could result in catastrophic loss. Okay. All right, guys. Thanks for watching. Please subscribe. I need to get you subscribers in here so that I can get my subscriber count out and get listed higher in these YouTube results and all the rest of it. So thanks a lot. Trying to get the word out here. Good luck in the market. Thanks for watching. Okay. That was the video, guys. I hope you liked it. I hope you saw that stuff on my channel at the end. Guys, if you're in the Lord's Town, I need you to subscribe. I'm trying to keep these videos up. I'm in the process. I rush to get this video out. I'm in the process of upgrading my production capabilities here. So do press the like button. Give me a like. But really, I need you to subscribe too. Okay. Please subscribe. If you're in the Lord's Town, you're in the Lord's Town news and my price estimates and the rest of it. And by the way, I'm not a financial advisor. This is non-financial advice. This is a high risk investment. Do your own DD. This is a pre-revenue SPAC. Could result in catastrophic loss. Ride, stop, consult your professional financial advisor. All right. This is MXUX. Thanks a lot. Subscribe to my guys, please. Thanks for watching. Hi, this is MXUX. We are lacking in EV humor. This is a video I did during Cybertruck Rivian. How do they differ? And the premise of this video is we're assigning a personality to each EV. And we're doing that by saying, what movie star or movie character does each EV resemble most? And this is EV humor.  And I hope you, this is original humor. All you comics out there, you can copy this if you like. I don't care. Let's hear what the joke is. Wait for the punchline. Rivian RT1. And here's what I come up with for the Rivian. There's a little too much hair spray on that mullet, right? I don't know. You got a mullet or you don't? Well, what's with all the hair spray? The Rivian has a slight unidentifiable accent. You can't put your finger on it, but, you know, it's just slightly from somewhere else, right? It's not really American, okay? And the last thing I come up for the Rivian is it's showing too much mandu. Look at that grill. And the whole thing, it's hamming it up.  You know, it's got the roll-out stove in it. You know, I don't know. It's a pickup truck. Anyway, a little too much hair spray on the mullet. Unidentifiable slight accent. A little too much mandu. Trying a little too hard. What personality best matches the Rivian RT1? Got to be. Conn. For you kids out there, it's Ratha Conn. Maybe it's a Star Trek movie from 1992? The Rivian RT1 is definitely, definitely con.


Trixie Mattel rose to fame competing on Rue Paul's Drag Race and would eventually win Season 3 of Rue Paul's Drag Race All Stars in 2018. Trixie is the stage name of Brian Michael Furkis, whose drag can be easily recognized by her extremely contoured makeup and Barbie-like style. However, Trixie didn't always do her makeup that way. At the start of her drag career, she painted her face with a more traditional look book off-board and was almost going to quit drag altogether. Luckily, Trixie Mattel realized she had the power to turn her stage persona into whatever she dreamed and began to experiment with different looks that turned her into more of a doll than a human. No wonder!


Day 2 of the Casa U soccer classic gave us a chance to see both the defending champions InterMiami on the 19th and the Jamaica select team in action. The first game of the double header saw InterMiami clash with plantation FC who needed a win to at least give themselves a chance to play in the third place game on Sunday after losing to Tobago on day one. From the kickoff InterMiami took the lead through reggae boys and the 20 player Kobe Thomas. From this point on it was a Christian Ortiz show. He scored two goals in the first half and then another after the break to register the first hat trick of the tournament, InterMiami coming out as four nil winners. Obviously it was a really good start, it's always great to score in the first minute of any game that kind of set the momentum but I thought we had a really productive first half obviously made a lot of changes in the second half and pleased to start off the tournament in this fashion. The fans were eagerly anticipating game two of this double header which featured the rush select academy and the Jamaica all schools team. The game started fast with the rush pressing from the off however their tactics worked against them. The Jamaicans taking the lead through some pressing of their own and the skills of Marksman Kahim Dixon one nil. Even with the lead the Jamaicans were not allowed to settle at any point and that paid off for their opponents after 16 minutes one one. While the Jamaicans were struggling to figure out the speed of the artificial turf rush continued to press and were duly awarded with a second goal to one after 33 minutes that's not good that's gonna be a goal that became 3-1 just four minutes later and the partisan Jamaican crowd shocked half-time Jamaica all schools won rush select three during the break the Jamaican team's coaching staff made two changes that paid off as early as the 41st minute with Kahim Dixon scoring again the Jamaicans made more changes and took charge of the second half late in the game they thought they had fought back to earn a point but the flag was up for our side 3-2 the final score the surface of a lot to do with it you know first with some of us playing on it and the pace of the game also you know we have to get used to this type of surface and the quickness and the speed of which the players play on it to the opponent play on it and they pressed us a lot we didn't comfortable playing from out at the back of the pitch and I think we should adjust it in going long and going into each other we did that in the second half and that's it be a fruit we got some counter attack on them and I think we should have team got a point or to this game