“I was born and raised in Mobile. I moved to Houston for a while and worked in bars and restaurants and went to school. I got bored and learned why everyone leaves Mobile and comes back. As I have gotten older, I realized things have changed and more people never leave. My granny told me to come home and she would pay for school. Granny was my rock. I came back in 2005 and delivered pianos for Broussard’s Piano Gallery and worked at Bojangles Bar. At the bar I met an ex-girlfriend’s brother visiting from Savannah. He was a carpet cleaner. I saw his lifestyle and said, ‘Shit, I can clean carpets,’ The next day we went to Savannah. I learned from him and brought one of his raggedy vans from Savannah to Mobile. We pulled into an apartment complex and I got my first account. The next week, I had another. I started A Plus Carpet Cleaning of Mobile in 2006 and worked many days and nights by myself. I was on call at all times. There was no vacation. In 2010, I was finally able to get some help and had some free time to go to concerts. I have family working with me and they do well. We had a van stolen two weeks ago. It was a gigantic loss, Luckily we had a backup van and had to scramble with backup equipment that I had to fix, but did not miss any work.

I always loved music. Me and my heathen friends went to the original Alabama Music Box regularly. We were the eccentric punk rockers. Then it was unjustly shuttered. I talked with David Matthews about if the Box would ever come back. We both had entrepreneurship spirits and wanted more. In July 2018, he asked me about what I thought about the Merry Widow. I looked into it and couldn’t get the financials and information I sought and let the idea go. Then we dreamed of bringing the Box back. It would be cheap. Just find a building, paint and build a stage. That was a lie but we jumped in head first. We found the building on S. Conception Street and signed the lease November 2018. I quickly found out I didn’t know what the hell I was doing but I do everything with ambition and drive even if I didn’t know what I am doing. The building was a shit hole and we had to do everything from the ground up. We had to go through city planning, engineering, and architects. A bunch of money later, the funds were diminishing and I took on the role of contractor. I didn’t know anything, but I was handy. Friends helped. We cut a tree down and slabbed it and built the bar. The stage came from old planks from the University of Mobile basketball court.

Bill Appling owns the building and in March I sent him a picture of the building and with a scribbled a picture of a face on the outside. He said hell no. By the time we were finished remodeling, Bill had gone through the wringer with us. Bill is Santa Claus to adults. He gave us permission for the face. We finally made it to opening day but got our liquor license three hours before we opened. I was ready to give up. There is such a big learning curve but we have been open for five months.

The Merry Widow down the block was very complimentary to us. One day, Ryan the owner was done and closed it. I had a little scratch left and took it over. We open tomorrow (Friday) with Big Deal Burlesque out of New Orleans. The Merry Widow will have the early show and the Box will have the later shows. Now that I own businesses in Mobile, people look at me a little different. Before this, I was a silly hippy guy. Now I am a professional hippy guy. I don’t want to lose the hippy guy. All of the people downtown who own businesses and bars have been so helpful and good to me. They let me on the team.

There have been highs and lows I have learned you have to swim through the shit to get to the sugar. A little over a year ago I would not have guessed I would be here booking bands for my own bars, both of them on the Mardi Gras parade route. Pain is my favorite band. Salvo is their new name and they are playing the first night of Mardi Gras. Words can’t express all I am feeling right now. I want to give more to Mobile and keep pushing it forward and taking care of people. It cost zero dollars to be nice to be people, no matter who you are. Let’s all start from there. The most important thing in my life is my family. My wife and my 4-year-old son.

On the day before the Widow reopens, I am scared. I have every penny of my life invested in these bars. I don’t know if we will make it, but I have jumped off the cliff waiting to see where I land. I have learned I can do anything and I would rather try and fail than never try. As of today, I have three businesses in this city I love. It takes a village, and I am the village idiot.“