On today’s episode of Scales and Ales Recorded from the SnugStudio at the Marshall Brewing Taproom, I’m joined by Eric Marshall and we are sitting down with Kevin & Amy Smith the owners of SoulCity Gastropub on Historic Route 66, what is going on? CHEERS!!

1. Company: www.tulsasoul.com
   1. The vision and story behind Soul City: www.tulsasoul.com/the-vision
   2. Upcoming performances at Soul City: www.tulsasoul.com/the-music

OUTLINE

1. Tell us the story behind “Soul City” and how you came up with the name “Soul City?”
2. Why on the historic landmark Route 66, and what does that mean to you?
3. When I hear Soul City, I think live music. You guys have brought in some awesome acts. Who are some of the people that you’ve brought in that you’ve really enjoyed?
4. What is that process like? If I’m a musician or band, how do I go about booking a gig with you, as an owner, what are some of the things you look for?
5. So, after reading on your website, am I correct that you two met because you two were both in music? How did it all start with you two?
   1. What were you two doing before the inception of Studio Soul in 2011 and then Soul City?
6. Now, we know that you sell beer and liquor at the Gastropub. For our listeners who want to sell alcohol in their restaurants or venues, what advice would you give business owners who want to move into selling alcohol? Adam, you might be able to give some insight into this question, but what are the hurdles that one has to get over to get a license to sell alcohol?
7. What are the best relationships with the musicians that are traveling through? What creates the magic on some nights and a good business relationship between the musician and Soul City?
8. Kevin, what’s it like managing and owning Soul City with your wife? What hard decisions have you had to make that looking back now you were definitely grateful you made the right choice?
   1. What advice would you give married couples (or those who want to be married) that want to or already have started their own business together?
9. What major obstacles have you overcome while starting your businesses?
   1. 1. What were the most important lessons?
10. Amy, we know that you are an artist selling your art through Soul City. Are you selling other artist’s work as well? And, if so, how can artists contact you to possibly get their work held on consignment at Soul City?
11. Amy, how do you juggle being an artist and owning and managing Soul City?
12. What are your favorite menu items, drinks, etc. that you guys sell and what are some new ones that we may be seeing in the future?
13. What artists are you most excited about seeing in the next few months at Soul City?
14. What’s going on with Soul City at the moment?
15. We know that you closed down Soul City to renovate. What are we going to see that’s different in the newly renovated Soul City Gastropub and Music House and when are you guys going to re-open for our listeners to know?
16. Do you plan to expand or open multiple locations in the future?
17. Tell us more!
18. What are some exciting things that are coming up for Soul City?

 

TRANSCRIPT

Marshall Morris: On this episode of Scales and Ales we talk with Kevin and Amy Smith of Soul City Gastropub Here. We. Go. Welcome back to Scales and Ales where we talk music, business, and beer. We are recording today from Snug studio at the Marshall Brewing Taproom and I am joined to my left of with Eric Marshall, the brew master himself and we’re sitting down with Kevin and Amy Smith, the owners of Soul City Gastropub on the historic route 66 and their new business partners, Ken and Tom Clifford. Welcome guys. I want to ask you, how is it that you guys got started doing Soul City? I mean how did you originally set out? I mean I understand that you were doing Soul Studio. Tell us that story and what you were getting into and what was going on at the time that you guys wanted to start the business.

Amy Smith: We started out as a working artist studio with live music events. And pretty soon we realized we were bringing in, you know, catering in the bar and catering in the food. And pretty soon we realized we need to feed these people. We need to just do it. You know, and when we first met, we promised each other we’d never go into the restaurant business because we both have backgrounds in it. And we were like, nope, not doing that. We’re just going to stick to our art. And it just grew into this awesome thing. So the answer is the first thing we were was a working art studio. And then we looked at the music piece of the pie and it was really becoming the largest piece of the pie because people just responded to it. Tulsa was thirsty for a place that they can bring their whole family. Kids that are taking music lessons can’t go into a bar bar, you know, and see real music. So, we just saw that grow so fast

Kevin Smith: Well, and nothing was planned. We didn’t set out with a, you know, we’re going to do this and then we’re going to step into this. Everything just evolved. And we just kind of followed that flow and you know, hit a lot of bumps in the road, had a lot of, you know, learning the hard way. We still learn the hard way, you know, on different things. And, but that’s part of the journey, you know?

Marshall Morris: And then we also have Ken Clifford and Tom Clifford who have seen this magic that happens at Soul City and now they want to help make it bigger and better than ever. So Ken, what was the magic that you guys saw with Soul City that maybe triggered you to say, yes, we want to be a part of that. We want to do even more, help them do even more than they’ve done in the past.

Ken Clifford: Well, both Tom and I grew up as music lovers. So, you know, we joined the Columbia Record Club for a penny, you know, against our parents will. And so summer nights, sitting out in the patio, listening to great bands became, you know, our favorite pastime, you know, here in town and the opportunity came up and yeah, we said, well, we want all in. And our goal ultimately is to make more music more often to create it for the next generation. So that, you know, it’s, Tom and I retired three years ago and you know, we’ve kind of caught up with all the homework and now it’s time to, you know, build a bit of a legacy for future generations, you know, around the music. So.

Marshall Morris: What does it mean to be a part of Route 66? I mean, it’s historic. It’s a historic, you know, a historic landmark, you know, being right there.

Ken Clifford: Well, it’s, that’s where you get your kicks.

Marshall Morris: Sure, like being down here, you know, the taproom’s on sixth street, um, you guys are over on 11th. It’s awesome to have so many things being developing in both the Kendall, Whittier, the Pearl district area. What have you guys seen change over the past maybe five years, 10 years, you know, in doing the business, running the business?

Amy Smith: It’s been a giant change. I’m honored to get to serve on the Route 66 Commission in Tulsa. So I’ve seen what’s coming and Kevin and I are so excited about that and have been from the beginning, but when we first got there…

Kevin Smith: We have some stories.

Amy Smith: Oh we. Yes. I know this is uncensored here. But we can’t really go there. It’s been a journey and some of it hasn’t been, you know, the best of a journey, but, but we’ve grown so much and it’s already just morphing and changing and more entrepreneurs are coming.

Marshall Morris: Right.

Kevin Smith: And the stigma, the stigma of 11th street and Route 66, in that stretch, is changing. Yeah. You know, when I was a kid, I actually worked in the auto body shop that was where the hotel is.

Marshall Morris: Okay.

Kevin Smith: And yeah, the Campbell Hotel and clean floors, you know, as know, playing in bands had long hair and everybody made fun of me and I was cleaning floors and doing all this stuff. But it was a terrible area at the time, you know? And that was in 88, 89

Marshall Morris: Right.

Kevin Smith: And so now to look at it 30 years later it’s like, oh my gosh, it’s completely different, you know? But just in the last three or four years has immensely changed.

Eric Marshall: I was about to say, you say 30 years, let’s look at the last five years. I remember standing, you know, brewing late one night and hearing in music. And I was like, where in the hell is that coming from? And then Wes our sales guy was like, oh that’s Soul City. And I was like, what’s Soul City? And then we had to go check it out and was like, oh sh*t this place is awesome!

Amy Smith: Oh, you guys have been great for us.

Marshall Morris: And in the past, you know, past episodes we’ve talked about this, but it’s not been easy to just navigate and brew beer. And I know that you’re on the brewing side, Eric, but like even the area like in putting in the taproom and putting in breweries here in the sixth street district and building restaurants in a place that was just like previously you before you guys, you know, there wasn’t a Cabin Boys, there wasn’t an American Solera that was going in. There weren’t all these places. When you guys had put the production facility where you guys are at now, was it kind of like, oh dear.

Eric Marshall: So honestly our whole thing was, um, you know, before now they’ve kind of changed the zoning codes. But for us we had to have industrial medium zoning and there’s not a ton of industrial meetings, zone property in areas where you really want to be. And this area is sort of the proximity to downtown was really attractive to us. And we actually tried to buy like three or four different buildings and just people that didn’t really want to get rid of them. And so we ended up having issues. And so we, we saw the place where we are now and, and, and saw a sign out that said two for rent. And we were like, okay, well I guess maybe we’ll just fall back to renting a place instead of buy on it and just called. And the guy was in the right position to sell at that time. And so we were like, no, we see a lot of potential with this area. Now what will happen with it? You know, who knows? And, and what has happened is pretty amazing. And I mean, you mentioned Kendall, Whittier, and Pearl district. I mean you’ve got two very active districts. I’m on the board for Kendall Whittier and Ed Sharoh, who’s the executive director, who’s now, they basically created a position at the city for him to develop these destination districts. But he basically took Whittier Square that was, I think like 30% occupied with business. And when he left, they were almost 100% occupied.

Marshall Morris: It’s incredible.

Eric Marshall: And that really starts to spin of everything brings, brings people to the area. So then they start to see the potential for the area and start to invest that way. And so, you know, Ken Busby is a guy that is on the board with us. And can you, you mentioned the, uh, the route 66 board. Ken is a very, you know, he’s widely known as the culture czar, but he worked for the arts and humanities for a long time. But Ken gets super passionate about stuff and get stuff done. And so with him being involved in that Route 66 and so much business already, you know, happening and groundwork already being laid there on 11th I’m so excited for you guys just being right at the gate of all the cool sh*t that’s happening on that, you know? And obviously we’re just right off of it. So I mean, it’s creating this whole area where people want to come and, yeah, for a long time people didn’t want to come here.

Marshall Morris: Right. They avoided it. Let’s call it what it is. People were avoiding, you know, a couple square blocks here because they didn’t know it was medium industrial.

Eric Marshall: Yeah. No. And you still see people walking around and you’re like, hmm, do I really want to be around here? But it’s cleaning up. There’s a lot of great things happen. And again, you know, businesses that they’ve created and starting to get people attracted back to the area and attract investment I think is super exciting. And so next to hopefully the residential piece we’ll follow and we’ll start to have some clean up here and get more young people living in the area that they can walk and patronize our places.

Marshall Morris: And so can I want to ask you, like, you said that you remember sitting out on the patio and enjoying and participating in the, in the nightlife or you know, even day life of, you know, going for their Sunday brunch or, you know, listen to blues what are some of the acts that you remember the really were like, man, this is just, this is everything that I want. You know, what are some of the acts, some of the musicians that you’ve heard out at Seoul city that you can remember that you had a great time just listening to?

Ken Clifford: So two come to mind right away, The Green Corn Rebellion. That’s such a traffic. I mean, yeah, I mean, you better hold on that night and when they’re playing because you don’t want to leave your seat because somebody is going to take it from you. And then I’m a huge fan of Jennifer Marriott Band. Jenny and Pete are just awesome musicians and everyone in that group. So those are two highlights for me that we would go pretty much my wife and I, Jeanine would come every time that there were playing. So.

Marshall Morris: And Kevin and Amy, you guys have booked all these bands. You’ve got to meet all of these different people, uh, you know, that have come through both, you know, local musicians, musicians that are on tour. You know, that, that’s been incredible. What about for you guys? What does that experience been being one of the stops, you know, as people are passing through Oklahoma on their tour or choosing Tulsa as a destination for their tour. What has that been like as people have been traveling?

Amy Smith: I think it’s a huge honor. I mean, for both of us work, we’re always humbled, you know, in the midst of it, we’re so busy getting everything ready and making sure, you know, that the party we’re about to throw for, who knows who’s coming is going to going to be good. And so we get caught up in that sometimes. And then when it happens and the magic happens, we’re just in awe of the fact that they want to come and play at Soul City.

Kevin Smith: Well, and were Amy and I are of course. I mean, you know, you’ve been there. We’re very hands on. I mean she’s running her part. I’m running my part. We’re running each other’s part, but you know, we’re committed to the best sound. Um, I ran sound in a church for years and years and years, which is if anybody wants to cut their teeth on running sound due to the church, cause they’re the most picky people. And they shouldn’t be. But anyway, it uh…

Marshall Morris: We’d really like for you to volunteer all of your time and we’re going to tell you everything that you’ve done wrong.

Kevin Smith: Grandma’s mic’s not loud enough and she’s playing the piano out of tune. How do you auto tune that stuff?

Marshall Morris: Right.

Kevin Smith: But, um, I mean that was one thing when we set out to, when we were on third street and you know where we were, we’re Bohemian Pizza is now, we had that little courtyard in. Everybody brought their own, you know, stuff. And, and most of the people you had Dustin Wink, you know, Paul, all those, that good stuff, but then you’d run into people that didn’t have so much good stuff and understand because it’s, you know, they’re working for their dollar. So when we moved to where we are now, we were committed to, we’re going to have the best equipment that we can have. And sometimes that doesn’t always mean the most expensive equipment, it just needs to be run right. And so, I mean, you’ve been there when Mark’s there, you know, Mark’s particular and were particular him. We’re not going to stop until it sounds right and that everybody on that patio or in that yard or in that room is having the same experience and it flows out of there. And it sounds good. And I know I’m getting a little bit off of what you asked, but it goes into, people want to play there and people want to come there and see it because it sounds good and it feels good and it goes right along with the food and the drinks. And we’re committed to, you know, we’re not super high end, you know, crafty people, but we want to be relatable. You know, we want people to have good drinks for good prices, good beer for good prices, and have a great experience.

Marshall Morris: I imagine it’s, it’s much like a, like a wedding DJ. There’s not a whole lot of upside, but there’s a whole lot of downside to having good sound in that if you do a great job, nobody notices. But if you do a terrible job, everybody’s going to know immediately. Right? Uh, and so, so the sound plays a huge role and that’s why, you know, musicians want to make that a stop is if I’m going to stop and play somewhere, you know, I want to do it in a place that I can put on a good performance and people are going to get the best of my performance. I think that’s consistent among many musicians.

Kevin Smith: Well, you hit it on the head because we don’t have inside or outside, we don’t have the biggest stage. We don’t have the craziest lights, you know? But you forget about that because the experience is so good, right?

Eric Marshall: You have a very authentic atmosphere, which I think that’s what people like. I mean it’s like, hey, we’re, we’re sitting in a backyard, listen to some great music having good food, drinking beers with good people. And I think that that sort of authenticity is what people love and you can bring your kids, your kids can come listen. I mean that’s, that’s huge for me. I mean, we fought for a long time to be able to be family friendly here because it’s important. I mean, you know, you want, you don’t want to, you don’t want to turn kids away and make it the forbidden fruit, you know, going to places like these and then that causes problems.

Marshall Morris: Eric, why is that such a important part of developing Tulsa in the downtown culture? Because I’ve heard, you mentioned that a couple times is getting families downtown, creating more places that families can go or creating a place that, you know, dad can enjoy a beer and the kids can play a board game. Like, why is that so important?

Eric Marshall: I think it’s just important because I mean, if they have families with kids want to go out to and have a good time and there’s a lot of places you can’t go, but it’s just, I mean, let’s be real, like how many families are there in this town and how many, I mean, you want everybody, you want something for everybody. You want everybody having the opportunity to support, you know, here again being a tap room, like we’re not getting people wasted. Like that’s not right. It’s not our job, nor are you guys. I mean you have, you have the beverage there that people can sit and enjoy and listen to music. And to, you know, I have a background living in Germany and you know, it’s just very much part of the culture. Like that’s what you do. And the more you, the more you make it, you know, forbidden and restricted, the more kids want to, you know…

Marshall Morris: Do it and indulge.

Eric Marshall: Do it and indulge and you cause you problems. You know, it’s all about the culture and learning. And, I think it’s important. I think that, you know, we’ve just been in a very difficult, you know, time here where everything, it’s so bad, you know, it’s so bad. It’s so bad. It’s not so bad. It’s just we need to teach moderation. We need to teach respect and we need to, you know, teach that it’s part of the culture and enjoyment

Marshall Morris: And more kids need to be spanked.

Kevin Smith: Hey, you know, I just said, I think that’s probably what, no, I think it’s, it’s too, I mean, we’re in the buckle of the Bible belt and that has loosened in the last few years. Absolutely know I’ve got friends. I mean, Amy and I both have ministry backgrounds, um, to where it was forbidden. I mean, it was one of those things where it was like, it was evil. And I had a pastor used to tell me that wine was grape juice back in the bible. And I was like, you’re an idiot. It was not. But anyway, you know, but now it’s kind of, it’s more of a, you know, as people realize that, hey, I can do this and I’m not an idiot and I’m not going out and getting trashed and you know, all these different things. And there’s a responsibility factor behind everything, which is something that we hold, you know, very accountable at our place.

Amy Smith: We’re serious about our staff taking care of people and being careful when they serve. And what it boils down to is we want to celebrate, we want to celebrate life, celebrate each other on, or the musicians who come through. They’re not just stuck in a corner, you know, playing quietly. They’re focused on and honored for their craft that they’ve honed. And then our patrons, we want to celebrate them and honor them and celebrate with beverage, with food, with art and music. And that’s what it’s about. That’s why people come back and once you come, you come back.

Eric Marshall: Yeah, and the earlier you can get kids expose that to appreciate that side of the, that side of the culture and really, you know, understand the arts. And you know, it’s, it’s so important. I think as the, as you know, we continue to develop…

Marshall Morris: We may be fixing the millennial generation here on the podcast.

Amy Smith: It’s happening. Right here. What time is it?

Eric Marshall: I got to tell a quick little side story. You talked about being a pastor and that, uh, you know, grape juice and all of that. So when we were going through the process of, uh, so when, when sort of law reform started, it started as a snowball effect, but it was the first piece of that was us getting the ability to, to offer samples. This was before we could have taprooms or anything like that. And it was a three year process to be able to give away 12 ounces of beer per person per day. And um, no shit on the floor of the house when they were debating this issue. Um, there was a representative from western Oklahoma that got up, went on a diatribe about how, you know, teen pregnancy would increase and underage drunk driving and all of that if we were able to, to offer samples. A little out there. But, uh, then he got on to, uh, to, uh, there was a gentleman from, uh, from the Muskogee area who came, sort of add our defense during the question and answer period. And, and, uh, he basically said, you know, let me ask you this question because if, if you’re asking an actual question in the question answer period, you’re doing it wrong, you ask a question to make a point. Right? And so he says, uh, he says, let me ask as a question. We might have to get the, the good pastors, they always have a pastor of the day. You know, we might have to get them to help us out. But, uh, you know, what was, what was one of the first miracles, Jesus performed? Didn’t he turn water into wine. And so, and so that went on. And then the guy got up to, you know, respond and he said, there is empirical evidence of Berkley data saying that the wine that they were drinking had, didn’t have any alcohol. And I did not have enough time for the alcohol to climb up to the percentage. And I was basically just sitting up there, God, please let me be able to comment. I can ferment some sh*t overnight that make you go blind if we really don’t try to use that stuff. So it is this, you know, that that sort of mentality. It’s like if, if it would be f*cking called grape juice, if it was, please let me them do some that made me think of it. So that’s the mentality of a lot of people have and the, and that’s okay. I mean I’m not, I’m not…

Amy Smith: But it’s changing. I’m seeing it change. Are you seeing it change?

Kevin Smith: It is changing. I mean, we both go to church on Sunday that is probably predominantly a gay church. You know, I lead worship there, play guitar. Um, two of our kids that work for us, Sam and Kristen go there, Sam runs sound. Bonnie and Tamera are the pastors and they come in and they drink, they have a good time, you know, and it’s, there is a definite change happening in that, in that area.

Eric Marshall: Yeah, absolutely. I mean we, we host that. We have a, I think it’s the third Thursday. Every month there’s a theology on tap group that sit here and have beers and talk about, talk about religion and questions and things of that nature. And so, you know, there’s a big change in, in all of that and a big change just in how people think here in Oklahoma. I mean hell in, in, in one year we have alcohol reform and legalization of medical marijuana. So, you know, if you would of told somebody that 10 years ago in Oklahoma…

Marshall Morris: No way!

Eric Marshall: You know, but that’s obviously different than that but, but at the same time it’s just a little bit more, um, you know, shift away from sort of the old adage of ‘everything is evil, we need to stay in a bubble’ type of thing.

Marshall Morris: So if I’m a musician and I’m looking to book a tour and in connect with you guys, what, what do you guys look like? Because you are limited by the number of nights that you guys can provide entertainment and you don’t have unlimited. And I’m sure that you’ve had to tell some people, hey, sorry, you know, we don’t have a spot for you. Or you’ve had to say no to some people in order to create opportunities for something that’s a little bit better. And so it’s not necessarily knocking anything on anybody that’s reached out to Ya. But, but what do you guys look for? How do you go about that process? Who handles that is part of the duo here, the the master duo?

Kevin Smith: We worked together on it, but predominantly I think the buck stops with me. Of course, Amy spent years looking bands at riverwalk before creek nation bought it. And that’s kind of how we really got in with a lot of the local guys. And she really championed on, we believe in people getting paid, you know, the days of, you know, I’m going to pay you 50 bucks and expect you to pay, you know, five hours worth of music is ridiculous. You know, we go to bat for these guys, we want them to get paid. That’s why we charge a cover charge on Friday and Saturday night. We’re not ever backing down from that because we believe that if a couple can go to a movie that’s half-ass and spend 50 or 60 bucks, they can pay a musician for their time and you know, and they’re going to get a lot more entertainment now that musician. But as far as the booking, I mean, we’re right now, we’ve been closed for two months and we’re already booked through June in completely solid and solidified yesterday The Full Flavor Kings as the last ones on that, which will be a crazy night. But I mean, I’ve got enough people that I could go all the way through October right now. So we, I’m trying to do it in segments and we’re gonna do something cool. This year we’re doing concert tee shirts. They looked like old concert shirts, but instead of dates on the back, it’ll have the bands.

Marshall Morris: That’s cool.

Kevin Smith: So people can buy shirts that have, you know, two or three different people that they like on it and be kind of cool. But it, dude, we are, I mean, we’re inundated every day with emails and Facebook messages. And

Amy Smith: How many do you get a day?

Kevin Smith: Oh my god. 30 to 35.

Marshall Morris: Really? That’s a, that’s incredible because…

Amy Smith: And not just from Tulsa.

Marshall Morris: Yeah, right. Right!

Kevin Smith: We’re on the website and on the move, which I’m sure a lot of the guys are in Tulsa and so we get these people that are coming through Lauren Anderson Band. I just booked her for a July and she’s been replace a couple of times. And we try to space them out. People that we know that’s been there, that has started to get a good following. We don’t do them every year. You know, we’ll tell Lauren, you know, hey, let’s skip this summer, you know, bring it back around next summer because it will create a, you know, people want to come see you. It’s not like, oh, I can go see her next time kind of thing. So we tried to do that.

Marshall Morris: Wait, wait, what are you get 30 day. Okay. That’s an incredible, and…

Kevin Smith: How do you sift through it?

Marshall Morris: Yeah! How do you sift through it? What do you look for you, because I think we have a lot of musicians on. We recorded with Mark Gibson who’s built a following down in Austin, here in Tulsa, up in Cincinnati. And he’s been touring, you know, across the US, you know, putting on awesome shows. But what do you look for when somebody is reaching out to you just even to like get in the game as to somebody that is worth evaluating?

Kevin Smith: Well, this is going to sound ridiculous that we’re both children of the 80s and we used to, Amy used to work, work in a record store Buttons—used to be Peaches. And I used to stay at my grandparents every weekend and she gave me $20 to clean stuff. And then I would walk all the way up to the mall and go to Hastings Records and buy stuff. And the very first thing that caught my eye was names. And from names, I would look at sleeves. And that’s always been kind of how I looked at bands and I’m, I’m just one of those people, like if you have a catchy name, I’m going to check you out. And that’s going to be the next step into looking at their YouTube. We’re looking at what they’re sending me, but if it’s like Billy Bob and the Billy Bob’s…

Amy Smith: I don’t know. That sounds interesting.

Kevin Smith: That’s a Texas band.

Amy Smith: We do listen to everybody who sends us stuff.

Marshall Morris: Yeah.

Amy Smith: So as far as what we look for, we definitely have cultivated a patronage that expects quality. Okay. Yeah. And so there’s a standard, you know, it can’t be just a cover band that’s in their garage, you know, playing tunes and that kind of thing. We, we want, we love original music. We believe in our original music. Sprinkled covers are fine, but we’re not about a big cover band. You know, it’s not, it’s not a casino kind of situation. Yeah. So we’re about original songs.

Kevin Smith: And we know that, you know, people like Charlie Red do stuff like that, but they also kind of bring a party.

Marshall Morris: Right.

Kevin Smith: There’s gotta be a marriage there. We don’t want just some guy out there playing poison tunes all night. You know, I will tell this one story, and I’m not going to mention any names, but we learned our lesson the hard way about three years ago because we had a band that came to us and said, hey, we really want to play your place and you’re doing this big spread. And I forget what magazine was at the time. Yeah. What,

Amy Smith: I don’t know if you should go here.

Kevin Smith: No, I gotta tell this. I gotta tell this. Nothing’s off limits on podcasts, right?

Marshall Morris: Nothing’s off limit.

Kevin Smith: Okay. I’m not mentioning names,

Marshall Morris: No names, no names.

Kevin Smith: So we took a chance and they were like their name suggested that they were from somewhere in Europe.

Marshall Morris: Okay.

Kevin Smith: Okay. Well I’m trying because there name…

Marshall Morris: Yeah. That’s fair, that’s fair.

Kevin Smith: Okay. So, uh, I expected all these like Rolling Stones songs and you know, Dah, Dah, Dah and all this stuff. And so that they get out there and it was literally one Guns and Roses song after another, you know, and it was, it was not a good night and there was nobody there except our families. And we had four or five people, you know, came in and those four or five people went back and wanted their money back and left. And so one of the guy that was around the door at the time, kind of smart-alec guy, friend of ours, and uh, at the end of the night when they came to get their pay, I mean, it was like minuscule, right? Because everybody else out there was her families. I got in free. And so Rodney and told him, he said, well, they all wanted their money back. And the guy goes a really, that’s weird. And Rodney goes, is it?

Amy Smith: But I will say his costuming was amazing and

Kevin Smith: It was British flags head to toe.

Amy Smith: And they had amazing gear.

Kevin Smith: Yeah.

Amy Smith: Yes. So, I don’t want to, you know, put anyone down here.

Eric Marshall: You gotta look the part, right?

Kevin Smith: It was a learning experience for us because we, at that point we realize it’s got to be quality all the time and there is that side of business to this that requires that. That we can’t just let, I’ve got enough friends who play music that would be like man can I come. And you know, it’s like, no, you can’t, you know, I’m sorry. No, you can’t.

Amy Smith: And for bands, don’t be discouraged if you’re hearing, oh, we’ll never be able to play there. We, we want to encourage even new bands.

Marshall Morris: Yeah.

Amy Smith: And as far as genre’s, it’s all across the board. We love all different types of music and support that. So don’t be afraid to contact us and we’ll give it a listen.

Kevin Smith: We just ran half of everybody off.

Marshall Morris: Well, I want to ask a, I want to ask Ken here, what goes into a really good concert? You know, you’ve seen a lot of live music and a lot of a concerts at Soul City. So I want to ask you like, what do you enjoy the most about a concert in the scene? A band, maybe, maybe you haven’t ever heard this band perform before in their playing original music songs that you’ve never heard before, but what goes into a band performing that makes it so good and what part of the soul city environment it enhances that?

Ken Clifford: Well, I should start out by saying I’m a music snob and I know what good music is.

Kevin Smith: He is and he doesn’t like Elvis.

Ken Clifford: No, Elvis is fine. Costello has done a really great career. Yeah. To answer your question is I love music and it’s been a passion for my whole life and just being exposed to musicians that are really good at their craft, writing songs, playing instruments, and getting together as a band, that moves me. I mean, there’s times where, you know, I’ve, you know, I’ve teared up in an audience just because they’ve done something that moves my soul, if you will. So,

Marshall Morris: So why is so being a music snob as you’ve aptly, self-titled yourself, you know, this is great…

Ken Clifford: Proud of.

Marshall Morris: This is good. But you’re proud of it, you’re proud of it. You know, how important it is having, you know, well, mixed music, you know, it can, that just ruin a show? I mean we’re talking about that, you know, have you been, have you been in some environments where it’s like, oh no, this is not good?

Ken Clifford: I love the Cains Ballroom. I probably, you know, my adult life, I’ve probably been there once or twice a month.

Marshall Morris: Yeah.

Ken Clifford: And the board there, it can make or break a show to me. You know, I’ve walked out of some shows that I’ve loved the bands recorded stuff, but it sounded so bad I just left because it was ridiculous. So yeah, no, the sound is ultimately the top,

Marshall Morris: The top?

Ken Clifford: Yeah.

Marshall Morris: And so, as you know, coming in and beginning to work with Soul City, what are the other types of music that you’re excited to see come through Soul City and that you’d like to see more of? Or, what do we have to look forward to in the coming months?

Ken Clifford: Well, I think all of us like to see a bigger variety of well-crafted music. So, I mean, that’s one of the goals that we have. Um, there’s a little place in Oklahoma City called The Blue Door and I don’t know if you’ve ever been there, but it’s just a really cool, funky place. Also. It’s been there 30 plus years and last spring we took the girls and Patty Griffin played there and it seats 90. And so we would really like to kind of bring some of those artists that want to play in a smaller venue that has good sound work, you know, the audience listens and pays a hundred percent attention. We’d really like to see that. And then the other thing that is the goal is I’ve spent a lot of time in Austin when it was cool, it’s kinda changed. It seems like a lot of Nashville has moved there now, in my opinion. And Tulsa is the up and coming is we’d really like to have music earlier. So you know, what happens with the people that, hey there, it’s after work five o’clock. What do we want to do? Hey, let’s go down to Soul City and you know, there’ll be a nice guitar player, you know, something creative that you can sit back, it’s not in your face, but be able to also, you know, learn and appreciate, you know, some of the up and coming artists of the world.

Marshall Morris: And, Eric, you’ve talked about this a little bit and I imagine it’s same as it relates to Tulsa music, but in the craft brewing in Tulsa and craft brewing across the country, you don’t see a craft brewers stepping over each other, you know, in competitive in that they want to, to beat the others, but rather maybe take part of the market share from the big guys, the, you know, the big, the huge national breweries. Right?

Eric Marshall: I think a lot of that, again, it just quarter, it sort of goes into, you know, what we do, we consider an art and a craft as well. And so, um, you know, most of us have gotten in the business because we love beer, we love the art, we love the craft. And I think there are so many parallels in all of that. That’s what makes it so great. On a side note to see Patty Griffin at Soul City, that’d be really cool. That’d be cool.

Ken Clifford: Her new album is killer by the way. It was released last week. So.

Marshall Morris: We’ll explain to me this. You guys have music. You guys got some great drinks. The food. Tell me about the food.

Eric Marshall: Yum!

Marshall Morris: Who’s the mastermind behind the food?

Amy Smith: Well, I got to spend some time in Jamaica, lived there way back in the day. And so I learned how to make jerk chicken from that culture. And so we try to provide a fresh variety of food, a healthy variety of food that’s different. That’s out of the ordinary. Yes, we’re doing street Tacos, but they’re authentic, jerk chicken, street tacos.

Eric Marshall: And they’re really good.

Marshall Morris: They’re so good. Oh my gosh.

Amy Smith: Thank you, thank you.

Marshall Morris: That was one of my very early memories when I just gone to Soul City for like the first time I got, I went in there and I had some jerk chicken, you know, tacos. I texted, Eric Chupp, I texted Chupp was like, there’s this place, they have blues during the week, and they have jerk chicken tacos. We have to be here every week.

Eric Marshall: I don’t know if it’s a regular thing on the menu, but the shrimp and grits. Mmmm.

Amy Smith: Yeah, we’re talking about bringing that back as as special. That was fun.

Marshall Morris: And so you learned that and how important has introducing food into the concept. I imagine that a posed some interesting challenges as well because you’re not just running a bar, but you’re also running a restaurant as well. And I know that goes into so much decision making when you’re thinking about starting up a, you know, starting up a venue or anywhere, you know, for families to come. Now you have something for the kids and for, for the adults, you know, to sit there and spend more time than they would if they were just trying to go get a drink, you know?

Amy Smith: Right.

Marshall Morris: So how has that factored into how you guys have operated?

Amy Smith: It’s been a huge challenge, especially for me being kind of over that side of it. My son Jake is wonderful. And then we also have, Kristin, who’s a magician in there. I don’t know if you’ve seen our kitchen, but it’s smaller than this room. It’s tiny. It’s like a food truck without wheels. And we’ve just been able to create a little magic in there. I think, you know, we wanted it to be somewhere you would stop on route 66 have a great experience and be surprised at how good the food was. You know, just a tasty surprise basically. We’re not striving to be a five star, five course, you know, restaurant. We just want it to be really well crafted, finest ingredients that we can source a lot of local. And easy and fun to, to eat and enjoy your, your people that you’re with.

Marshall Morris: Oh yeah. I want to, I want to go around the table here because I think this is going to be an interesting question for the table. Okay?

Eric Marshall: Are you looking at me like I might be the first guilty victim?

Marshall Morris: Yeah, you’re the first guilty victim. I’m coming to you first, Eric. What is it like working with family? Because you see a lot of business owners right and they…

Kevin Smith: Don’t do it.

Marshall Morris: Because you, you see a lot of business owners and they’re trying to figure out who’s going to be my business partner on this. And for some people they’re like very, they’re like absolutely not. Not working with family, not going to happen. Okay. I don’t want to partner with them on this. And some are like, that’s like my best friend, you know, I definitely want to do it. It makes sense. And so I, I’d like to get everybody’s take on this. Eric, we’ll start with you is because you guys have grown something awesome.

Eric Marshall: It’s awesome. And it’s awful at the same time. So, I mean, you know, sharing in the successes and the victories and all that. I mean, it’s, you know, never better to do that with one’s you love. But man, there’s been some pretty big, pretty big fights, and pretty big, you know, it’s like you, you look back to that old, uh, what was the west coast choppers or whatever where they’re just yelling at each other all the time. I mean, we joked early on, they’re like, ah, somebody could sit here and film us and between my dad, brother and just, you know, all of that stuff. I mean, it’s just, I mean that’s a very good snapshot of, you have to learn very quickly how to take, you know, how to take the personal family side out of it. And it’s so hard to do.

Marshall Morris: Sure, sure. Kevin and Amy? What’s your guys take on this?

Kevin Smith: Well, Amy and I started together literally weeks after we met. So we started dating and realized I did graphic design. She did interior design in different things and visual arts. And we molded those together and started at eight one eight over on third street and really haven’t looked back. But it is a, I mean, like what you’re saying Eric, I mean it’s, it’s amazing in one hand, but it’s also the hardest thing I’ve ever done. On the other hand, because you’re not just responsible for yourself, I’m responsible for my wife and whenever things aren’t going right, you know, I think about how she’s feeling, you know, I’m thinking about these last three months of being closed and, and going through the transition has been hardest thing we’ve ever done. You know, and we were contemplating how are we going to sell Soul City? What are we going to do? I mean, everything was on the table and it wasn’t just me making those decisions. We were making those decisions. And so when, you know, Ken and Tom Stepped in, you know, it was just an amazing, amazing thing. But it’s a, we had somebody tell us early on, one of our food reps that we had, you know, he said, just let you guys know the divorce rate for married couples in this business is very high. And we just kind of looked at him like, you’re crazy.

Marshall Morris: No way.

Kevin Smith: And then about 10,000 fights later, no, we fight fair. We hardly ever, I’ll let you take that. We don’t really…

Amy Smith: We’ve had some doozies, but they’ve been few and far between. And I think the secret to it is owning your strengths and your weaknesses. And we’re fortunate in that our strengths and weaknesses compliment each other. So we kind of know what our gig is and we stick to that and we have time apart, even though we’re in the same building, we’re doing our thing separately and then we come together and make decisions. So that’s kind of the key to surviving it. But I can’t imagine not doing what we do together. You know?

Kevin Smith: I had a sign company with my dad for about five years and that was, yeah, and I love my dad and he would say the exact same thing. But this is one of the worst things I’ve ever done in my life because we were so opposite. You know, my dad is an old Vietnam vet and had was set in his ways and you know, as a young 20 something, I thought I knew everything, you know, and I was the guy doing all the, you know, the creative side of it and it just didn’t work, you know. And so that was in the back of my mind whenever Amy and I met and we started talking about this, I was like, oh man, this other thing just didn’t, you know, but it just, everything that, like she said, we literally fit together like this and everything that we do. And, yeah, and there’s tough times and there’s times that we disagree and there’s times, I mean, where the ramp is that we just poured in there, David Marrow and I came up with this great idea that we were going to take the metal ramp out cause it made noise and we were going to build like this little would dock ramp, you know, if, you know, cause we kind of have this island thing going over there and so we spend all day building this. We were real proud of it, you know, cause we build crap there every day. I mean they’re there, they’re building stuff right now. And if I’m not building stuff, I’m not happy. So we built this little ramp and everything and Amy’s working in there and I know she’s saw us building it. So she comes up and she goes, what in the hell is that? And we’re like, well this, we made it look better. And she goes, nobody in a wheelchair. That’s not ADA. I mean she starts going off and all this stuff. She says, whip that crap out. And we were just like, are you serious?

Amy Smith: I’m sorry I hurt your feelings.

Kevin Smith: I mean, but she was right. That’s my point. We weren’t saying, we were just thinking, Hey, it needs to look better, you know, this thing’s making noise. And she is thinking ADA, customers, people’s, you know, people have to be able to get there hove-rounds or whatever over it. And uh, so that’s how we work. We work together. Sometimes I do things without asking her and I regret it.

Eric Marshall: Okay. You got to take the emotion out of it. Like you said, and working, working with the dad’s very different. It’s like as a parent you like you, I mean I have young kids, but it’s like you sit there and you tell them like the basic things that as parents like a natural thing. And so, you know, there’s been so many times my dad’s like, well you got to think of this. And it’s like, Dad, I’m not stupid. I know that. And then that just blows up to a huge fight. But then as a parent you catch yourself going like, oh my god, I’m doing that. That’s just like a natural parent thing. So hard to like separate that side of it.

Marshall Morris: Separate the personal relationship that you have. Ken, what about you working with Tom. What’s it like, you know, being in business, you know, with family?

Ken Clifford: Well, our relationship is like a parent’s dream come true, right? So you got two brothers, first generation Americans, grew up in bunk beds. The only disadvantage I had was like he’s older and I got all the hand me downs. Oh, the knees were already shot and had the ironed-in patches as they did in the 60s. But, uh, you know, fast forward, uh, you know, we wound up starting business 34 years ago, with a core business. And since then, I’ve actually, I think this is our sixth venture, maybe seventh. And for us it’s always been, you know, he, his strong suit is the details and mine is the BS and it’s kind of worked. Right? So coming up with ideas and then sitting down once in a while and uh, you know, drinking a 12-pack has really created some pretty creative ideas for us that the ones that stuck the following morning, you know, we went through,

Marshall Morris: Let’s talk about that again!

Ken Clifford: Always get the 12-pack of Marshall’s though. That’s my recommendation, but at the end of the day, the way that we’ve always worked as one of us was always more passionate about something and so that passion would win. And I think that that’s a great way for partners to work is if somebody is really passionate about one given thing and at some point you let your guard down, that’s the way you go, right or wrong and you can always back up and stuff. So it’s been great. And you know, I don’t know if we can survive another 30 years, but that’s the goal.

Marshall Morris: So talk to us about some of the changes that are going on at whole city. A, you guys have been doing some awesome renovations, not a dock ramp, but a lot of other really cool stuff. So talk to us about the things that are going on that we can expect to see when you guys do the re-grand opening.

Amy Smith: Well, we’re basically just cleaning it from head to toe. You know, we’re redoing the floors where I’m adding some taps, which might be of interest.

Marshall Morris: Yeah.

Kevin Smith: More than two and a kegerator

Amy Smith: We’re making some changes inside and out. And then we’ve also gone through, come through our memorabilia and gotten a little bit more to further highlight some of the gyms, you know, that musically that have come out of the Tulsa area. So there’ll be some new treasures to see as far as decor goes. So it’ll still feel like home. It’ll still feel like Soul City, but it’s just going to be new and improved.

Marshall Morris: I’ll always remember it. You guys have all kinds of signatures all over Soul City.

Amy Smith: Those are there.

Marshall Morris: Signatures from all kinds of different people that have been through, have played, Soul City. And I think that’s, you know, such a true testament to not only Soul City and, but just to Tulsa is, you know, Tulsa is up and coming. Why? Oh, why are you guys so passionate about Tulsa in not, you know, because when you guys started it in, when you know, Marshall Brewing Company was starting the brewery here, I think there are probably a lot of other markets that would have been better suited for starting that. But why are you guys so passionate about Tulsa?

Amy Smith: Well, Tulsa as far as a musical heritage, is rich and you know, Leon is celebrated a lot. We love JJ Kale as well. The mural that you guys sponsored is on the side of the building. You know, so we absolutely want to tell the story of Tulsa music. There are so many people that have moved away that are now back. There’s new artists coming up that are amazing. April 19th, we’re going to reopen. We have Carter Samson on Friday night and then John Fullbright on Saturday night there. There’s music in every town, but there’s something about Tulsa, Oklahoma and being able to celebrate the richness of Tulsa music on route 66 like smack dab in the middle of America. I mean, that makes me tear up thinking about it.

Marshall Morris: I think, about Rick Hall and Muscle Shull’s Studios down in it, you know?

Amy Smith: Yeah.

Marshall Morris: Down there, there’s the documentary, they talk, they talk about it. I think they have Bono, he says there’s something in the mud. mud there, you know, to, to record their, yeah, yeah. There’s something about, you know, music on route 66 or…

Amy Smith: There’s something in the water maybe?

Marshall Morris: There’s something in the water. There’s something in the Arkansas River.

Amy Smith: In the beer.

Eric Marshall: In the pavement.

Marshall Morris: But they’re really, there really is something about the history that, that makes it so real, so authentic. And I think that’s why you’ve seen so many businesses adopt, adopt is probably not the right word, but it is, but grow in this area that has such an authentic vibe, you know, whether it be the craft beer or the music or the, the food that’s going on here is they all share in that.

Kevin Smith: Well, I think too, a lot of it is, it goes back to the community thing. And I think you touched on it earlier about, like in the craft brewery, nobody’s stepping on anybody’s toes. I mean, Amy and I are all about celebrating everybody. We’re not in competition with the Mercury Lounge or Fassler hall or. There is a enough in this town for everybody. And we want, I mean, we send people, you know, we close at midnight and we’re like, you know, people were like, where are we going now? Go to Fassler or so and so’s playing over at Mercury or go to The Colony, or, you know, what did we send people everywhere? And that’s, I think that’s kind of unheard of in a lot of other markets. So it kind of goes back to your, why do we do it here? Because it is a family. I mean, we are all, we all don’t always get along, but at the end of the day, we’re all family. We’re all community. And I think you feel that, you know, I mean, you guys came from Chicago last right before you moved here. Yeah. And it’s different, completely different.

Ken Clifford: The thing, the vibe that I get is musicians particularly liked to play at Soul City. I mean, they’re smiling. They’re jamming there. I mean, there’s, it’s, it’s completely different than a lot of places. And the other trend that I’ve seen is a lot of musicians are now saying Tulsa. I mean, we’re on the map, you know, we’re not Nashville, we’re not Austin. We’re, we’re Tulsa. And it’s kind of that middle where, you know, the stuff isn’t real twangy or overproduced. I mean, it’s really good soul music. So.

Eric Marshall: \I’ve met several people in the last couple of years that have moved to Tulsa from places like Austin or Nashville that, you know, have had opportunities, but just see the vibe and understand that Tulsa has got a great history and that, you know, why do you want to be one amongst the, bigillion people there where you can come to Tulsa and, and have great places to play. You’ve got great, uh, collaborations to are great musicians to collaborate with and, you know, it’s got a great vibe, you know, from, from that perspective too.

Ken Clifford: I think it will continue to grow with the studios that we have here now. I mean, you can walk in to Tulsa and great musicians to back and plus, you know, I mean these phenomenal facilities to record something that is going to stand the test of time.

Eric Marshall: Yeah. One of my best friends from growing up is a, he’s a Tulsa kid, but he’s in Nashville now, is uh, one of the vice presidents of A&R at Warner Chapel. And I mean, he’s back here in Tulsa all the time and made that comment to me recently that it was just like, there’s so much going on here right now that people in Nashville are excited about, which is great to hear. I mean, we’ve got, and then, you know, things like the Guthrie Archives and the Dylan Archive, that only helps. I mean that brings people in and people understand that, uh, you know, the history, they did start to learn the history that we have in music here. And so that, that I think, you know, we’re on the cusp of something big, I hope.

Amy Smith: And there’s more to come. We’ve, we’ve heard some things lately that there’s some, some big players that are moving to Tulsa starting studios and it’s going to blow everyone’s mind set, get ready.

Marshall Morris: It’s exciting to look for in, that’s what a Eliot Nelson was saying is, you know, it’s cool to have Tulsa move, when he was talking about dust bowl, maybe going to St. Louis or go into these different places of Fassler Hall when these different cities want to put something that is Tulsa in their different markets. That’s, that’s, that’s really cool. And now we’re going to be exporting music like we, we were in the heyday of Tulsa music and the, and that’s a, that’s a pretty exciting thing. And it’s the places like Marshall Brewing places like Soul City that are doing that. So it’s a, it’s a really exciting thing. I want to go around the horn here with a, you know, some hot takes, maybe closing thoughts, but Eric, like why are maybe the, just non-corporate non-huge business, uh, entities like you’re in the space of beer in the taproom. Why is it so important that you are able to develop and form relationships with places like Soul City better serving it, they’re distributed, they’re serving it up, getting it out there, for the development of Tulsa?

Eric Marshall: I think it goes back to the authenticity of the experience. And I think, I think that that kind of goes back. You look at at Tulsa is sort of the oil capital of the world and all the big oil decides to leave. And what saved this town was small business and that spirit. And, and I think that Tulsa has been great. You’ve got a lot of people who have, have really fostered that entrepreneurial spirit and try to help people. And I think that we have such a big diversity of everything that, you know, it’s great that people are really starting to identify these areas that they see some, they see some sort of gym they see. And again, I mean, that’s like the last few years what’s happened on 11th Street and, and, uh, I mean you guys came in at, at the time and now it’s all starting to follow in. And then there’s this big push to, to really focus on the tourism asset aspect of route 66. And I mean, yeah, you guys probably saw that as part of it, but you probably just saw the space and it was like, oh man, this is, this is great. Like, I’ve got a good vibe for this. And so I think that just the authenticity of it. And I think you’ve got, you know, Oklahomans and Tulsans in general are very passionate about their city, uh, about what they’ve got going on. I mean it’s all the Oklahoma’s always been, you know, at the national level, maybe a fly over state, but most of the people that I meet at the national level that have been through Tulsa and business or looking like shit, man, that place is really cool. I really love it. And so, you know, it takes stuff like, you know, taken a chance and doing something and finding something you’re passionate about and putting, you’re putting your heart and soul into it and, and really focusing on the community aspect of it. And people want to support that. And when you give people cool things to support, it just makes the whole community better. So.

Ken Clifford: Ken what are you, you know, in closing here, what are you most excited for about the re grand opening? It’s coming up here. Um, I, you guys are getting it. Have a heck of a weekend is going to be exciting. It hype this up man. You know, this is your floor. This is your platform to hype up such an awesome weekend.

Ken Clifford: Are you kidding? I’m scared sh*tless. I’m like, we got so much to do. I know you’re going to get this done. And Kevin and Amy are like, ah, we’ve done this. Well, uh, when we open it’s going to be a fresh look. So people are gonna walk in and all of a sudden they’re, the bar’s going to be more efficient. Uh, the, the, the chairs and everything. Everybody a bit more comfortable in maneuverable, if you will too. I’m really excited because I want to see, you know, not only the acts that are booked, but we really want to start then working harder to bring other fresh new music into the city and get that exposure so that those bands want to come back. Because right now they’re driving from Dallas to Kansas City and, you know, we got to get him to stop here.

Eric Marshall: Is there any chance of getting Gary Busey to come back playing drums? Like the video I saw?

Amy Smith: He loves Soul City. Anytime he’s in town he comes. So we’ll see. We’ll see. But we may need extra security.

Marshall Morris: Kevin and Amy, if you, if you want, um, everybody that’s listening to do one thing, uh, obviously come out in support soul city, the grand opening when it, when is that day and what else do you want them to do?

Kevin Smith: Well, obviously that’s April 19th, 20th and 21st. I want to throw that in there too, because we have Dustin Pittsly. He’s going to do an all star blues jam for Brunch. And if you haven’t been out to Brunch, you know, yeah, it is Easter Sunday, so it’s resurrection weekend. So, some things coming back to live.

Ken Clifford: And Good Friday is the opener.

Kevin Smith: And Good Friday is the opener. That’s right. Yeah. So, uh, and Dustin does, I mean if you haven’t seen him, I know probably everybody has seen him. He used to be on our Tuesday nights. We moved into Sunday and it has just blown up and it’s an amazing, you never know who’s going to show up and play with him. But just keep, you know, put that, don’t just pencil it in, put a pen to it. It’s going to be a crazy weekend. Carter Sampson, John Fullbright. I mean, you don’t have to say anything else other than that. And I mean the one thing that we want people to do is just come out and support, you know, we’ve had this crazy outpouring of people, you know, to us while we were closed. Phone ringing off the hook and so you guys just come out, it’s going to be amazing and just like Ken said, it’s going to have, it’s going to be the exact same vibe, just heightened. It’s going to be crazy. We have some crazy plans for the outside and it’s going to be fun.

Amy Smith: We’re just excited and we’re so thankful and grateful for all the support we’ve had through this whole transition. We’re super excited about the Brother’s Clifford coming in. It’s going to be just an amazing ride and we’re ready.

Marshall Morris: Thank you guys so much for coming on. We got Ken Clifford, Tom Clifford, Kevin and Amy Smith of Soul City and as well to my left, we have Eric Marshall of Marshall Brewing Taproom. Thank you guys so much for coming in. And we’re excited to join you guys April 19th.

Amy Smith: Thanks for having us.

Ken Clifford: Thank you.

Marshall Morris: Boom.