Anything BUT Politics
A groundbreaking new podcast, Anything BUT Politics, is redefining how we view political figures by focusing on everything about them—except their political careers.
Anything BUT Politics
Policing to Politics: A Senator's Unexpected Path
Ever wonder what happens when a former police officer becomes a yoga teacher and then a state senator? Senator Tim Lang's unexpected journey proves that life's most rewarding paths often emerge when we simply say "yes" to new opportunities.
Growing up between New Jersey, New Hampshire, and Alaska, Lang's earliest memories include entire summers spent at Bear Brook State Park while his father commuted on weekends. This early connection to the Granite State ultimately led him back after stints as a police officer in Anchorage and various locations throughout New Hampshire. When asked about his toughest career experience, Lang doesn't hesitate: law enforcement shaped him profoundly, exposing him to human suffering that required emotional armor he carries to this day.
What makes Lang's story uniquely compelling are the surprising turns it takes. After selling his computer company, he became a certified yoga instructor, spending a month at an ashram to gain certification. "When I was heavily into yoga and teaching it, no grunting when I got out of bed," he laughs, explaining how yoga benefits both physical flexibility and mental clarity. This practice of creating "that gap between action and reaction" continues to serve him in his current roles.
Today, Lang manages technology for Live Nation venues across the Northeast, where he's had memorable encounters with artists like Dave Matthews (whom he initially mistook for a crew member) and Chris Stapleton. He shares fascinating glimpses behind the scenes, revealing why artists often prefer performing at New Hampshire venues despite smaller capacities.
Perhaps most telling is how Lang stumbled into politics – not through ambition, but through service. From hosting a farmer's market to directing youth programs to moderating town meetings, each step toward public office began with someone simply asking, "Would you help?" When a retiring representative knocked on his door, Lang's characteristic response of "sure" launched his legislative career. This openness to new experiences defines his philosophy: "If you're not enjoying it, why are you doing it?"
The senator's creation of the bipartisan "Beer Caucus" exemplifies his approach to politics – finding the common humanity beneath policy differences. "It's not about angry politics," he explains. "We recognize that I can have a difference of opinion, but I can still be friends with you."
Have you considered how saying "yes" might open unexpected doors in your own life? Listen now to discover how embracing new challenges can lead to extraordinary journeys.
Hi everyone, I'm Tiffany Eddy.
Speaker 2:And I'm Tom Prasol.
Speaker 1:And we are so pleased to welcome you to another episode of Anything but Politics. Where we talk pretty much about.
Speaker 2:Anything but Politics.
Speaker 1:And today we've got a very special guest.
Speaker 2:We're really excited because we are joined by Senator Tim Lang, who I think has probably more titles than the, Boston Red Sox in the 2000s and I think you were in the House for several years and I think you were chairman of Fish and Game. You were on the Ways and Means Committee, vice chair of JELCAR, which is a joint legislative committee on administrative rules, and then, being in the Senate, you are chairman of Ways and Means, you are on the Finance Committee the all-important finance committee, and I think you're on education too.
Speaker 3:No, chair of Jalcar, jalcar. So I'm the chair of Jalcar. Oh the chair, you got a promotion. Chair of Jalcar. I can't believe you got that wrong. I know, seriously, I know I didn't memorize it.
Speaker 2:It's too much, Manny Estin welcome.
Speaker 3:Great being here, guys. I'm sure we're going to have a fun conversation. I hope I'm just so glad I'm talking about anything but politics.
Speaker 1:Yes, that's the beauty of the show. We're not going to talk about any politics and we appreciate I know you're busy and the session is still kind of going on right now, but thanks for taking the time to be with us. Happy to be here.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I believe in New Jersey right.
Speaker 3:Correct, I was New Jersey. I don't remember the exit number. I'm sorry.
Speaker 2:Yeah, was it. Englewood, englewood, englewood New.
Speaker 3:Jersey. I actually lived in Bergenfield, which is the county seat for Bergen County, okay, but I only lived there until I was third grade. I moved out, or something like that, and we moved into Hampshire oh nice, and what part of New Hampshire. We lived in Pembroke, just south of here. I lived right on Route 3 in Pembroke and had a great time there. I went to school here in Concord at St John's School down on South Main.
Speaker 2:So what brought your family to New Hampshire from New Jersey other than the better way of life?
Speaker 3:You know back in the day right. So this day this is the early 70s my family came up and used to camp. We went to Bearbrook State Park up in Allentown During the summer. We would literally Memorial Day. My father would drive the family up. We'd set the campsite up. My father would go home all summer. He would just come up for the weekends.
Speaker 3:I lived at Bearbrook State Park for the entire summer for like three years, just the whole summer. We lived the whole summer at the campground just fished and swam and, you know, ran around in shorts all day long and uh. And then, when my parents had an opportunity, we moved up to New Hampshire.
Speaker 2:So what did your dad do for work that forced him to go back home for the week? Or was it just he was a golfer?
Speaker 3:No, no. My dad was a blue-collar worker who worked automotive mechanics forklift mechanics and he just he would go home from Monday through Friday and then on Friday night he would drive back to New Hampshire and hang out with the family and just do that all summer long. So I had a great childhood living in New Hampshire playing at the Bear Brook State Park for the whole summer.
Speaker 1:That sounds awesome. No, it sounds awesome. You gave me a look like.
Speaker 3:I mean, I really do mean it, I agree, it sounds like a great childhood.
Speaker 1:So you were in New Hampshire, but then you left for a while, right?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so again, my parents were a little bit gypsies. When I was in somewhere between summer and eighth grade I had a brother that was in the Air Force at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, Alaska. So they decided they wanted to go visit. So we drove all the way up into Canada and all the way across Canada and drove up through the Yukon Territories and the Alcan Highway and went to visit my brother. And they fell in love with Alaska, visited my brother and they fell in love with Alaska.
Speaker 1:So the next summer we did it again and we moved there. Oh wow, so you left New.
Speaker 3:Hampshire moved to Alaska. Yeah, spent a few years in Alaska, graduated high school, ultimately with one short stint in North Carolina, but came back to Alaska, graduated high school in Anchorage and then went to work for the Anchorage Police Department.
Speaker 1:And how did you like it up there?
Speaker 3:So Anchorage is a great place. I mean, if you're an outdoorsman, it's wonderful, right. So I like to ski. I'm not an avid hunter, but I hunt, you know, and so we go out fishing. It was a great place to enjoy the outdoors Not a lot of culture, it's either bars or outdoors. That's what you did up in Anchorage. So, but yeah, I loved Alaska. It was a great place to again in my 20s. I was in my early 20s up there, I had a great time, and so how long were you on the police force? Three and a half years. So I was with Anchorage three and a half years. Then I met a girl and I chased her to California.
Speaker 1:Did she know she was being chased?
Speaker 3:No, she knew. She knew we were engaged. She went to college in California and I decided a year after about eight months of being apart, I decided we agreed I'd move down. So I went down there.
Speaker 2:What part of California?
Speaker 3:Arcata. So Humboldt State University. Okay, Just know, Humboldt County is the largest marijuana-producing county in the entire country. Literally, when I went through my freshman orientation at college, they told us do not go into the Redwood Forest because of all the marijuana grows that were in the forest. They were protected, booby trapped. So they literally told us don't go into the Redwood Forest. There's one little park over here. You're welcome to go over there. We protect that, but don't just go wandering through the forest.
Speaker 1:Sounds like Grimm's fairy tales. It was a little freaky.
Speaker 3:It was a little freaky. I was coming off three and a half years on the police department. I was 20 years old, I think at the time 21. And so, yeah, it was an interesting thing. You can't go out in this public space having not seen that before, but there were cases of college students getting injured because they would go out and somebody had a marijuana grow on a public piece of land and they booby trapped it so no one would go take their marijuana.
Speaker 2:that's really fascinating and scary, terrifying. Yeah, I'm so glad we don't have that here in new hampshire yeah, so that we're aware of that we're aware of, yeah no, so so did you get your degree so I did not.
Speaker 3:I ended up. Also I hated college. Yeah right, I I spent after three years of doing homicides and robberies and burglaries and rapes and everything else. To go sit in a classroom was a struggle for me. To sit still that long I mean anybody who's seen me in the Senate knows I don't sit still very long in my chair. To sit there was pretty wrong. So I ended up going to the police academy in California and I wanted to go back into law enforcement. So I went to the academy out there, graduated the academy, got a job, but before I even spent one day on the job I came back here for Christmas break and my dad had a stroke in 87. And I ended up staying here ever since.
Speaker 1:Well, we're glad you're here, and so then you did join the police force here in New Hampshire, right Yep.
Speaker 3:So I worked for the police for eight and a half years, nine years here up in Northfield PD and I worked in Andover PD, worked for a couple other small departments doing patrol work and prosecutor. I was a police prosecutor for like six years, you know, doing a misdemeanor and below cases firearms, instructor at the academy, that kind of thing.
Speaker 1:So I'm curious, having been a police officer in Alaska and then a police officer in New Hampshire, is there a difference in the kind of calls that you got? Or are human beings pretty much the same and it was very similar, or were there crazy bear stories Like how was it different or how was it the same?
Speaker 3:So what was interesting in Anchorage was it was cyclical. Anchorage has a heavy Native American population up there and because of the oil money like that's what drove a lot of what went on up there was the oil money and so, like in the beginning of the month, everybody got their check and we would deal a lot with drunks. Just that was the nature of what went on. By the end of the second week nobody had any more money left and so it was kind of quiet. And then the third week we end up with more of our violent domestic violence stuff going on, and then that cycle would just start over again.
Speaker 2:It's really interesting.
Speaker 3:So yeah, it was. It was an interesting place Versus New Hampshire. When I first came here I got a barking dog call and I wasn't used to taking barking dog calls, you know, because that's in Anchorage. That would be handled by what they called CSOs community service officers, civilian employees, not a law enforcement officer. So the first time I got a barking dog call I was like can't the CSO take care of that? And they were like what's a CSO, you know? And then I had to go take care of this barking dog call. So you do in New Hampshire, take care of some of the nitty-gritty. You know, I say nitty-gritty but the real granular stuff that happens in civilian life.
Speaker 2:Well I'm curious what do you do to take care of a barking dog call? Do you talk to the dog?
Speaker 3:You go see if you can find the barking dog first right. So that's the first step and then, depending on whether you ask the neighbor to bring it in, you know you can cite them, depending on the time of day, that kind of thing, but 90% of the time it was just talking to them saying you know neighbor's trying to put their three-year-old to bed, Could you please bring your dog in at 9 o'clock at night?
Speaker 1:I always found as a dog owner that just going shh worked really well. Or maybe you could just have a therapy session with the dog and be like why are you barking? Is there something, maybe behind all this noise?
Speaker 3:So yeah, so it was a shift moving from. You know, anchorage Police Department had a minimum manning of 22 officers 23 officers on the weekend on a midnight shift, and I moved to Northfield, new Hampshire, where I had six cops on my entire police department. So that was a little bit of an adjustment to manage, but it was good. You get to meet your neighbors much more. So one thing I love about New Hampshire is, again, neighbors. So sometimes it can be really irritating and sometimes they're really giving. They just give you the shirt off their back.
Speaker 2:And so were you living in Northfield.
Speaker 3:So again, I was in my 20s then, so I lived wherever.
Speaker 2:I living in Northfield. So I again I was in my 20s then, so I lived wherever I lived in.
Speaker 3:Northfield. I lived in Hill, new Hampshire, for a little while. I lived in Sandburton, where I live now, for a little while. So I kind of moved around again being a cop. Back then when I first started in 80, beginning of 88, we made $6.95 an hour. Wow, that was my starting, you know, hourly pay to be a police officer. And so you kind of lived wherever you could afford.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but you found San Borton and you settled down. Yeah, stuck with it.
Speaker 3:Again my parents. So this was my parents' deal. So I my parents lived in San Borton. I lived all over the place. I ended up going back to San Borton when my dad died and my mom needed some help. I ended up going back to Samberton when my dad died and my mom needed some help. I ended up moving back to Samberton to the house to help her and then we gave her her own place and I stayed in Samberton and then I met my wife and my wife got married. My wife moved in kids and we stayed in Samberton ever since. We love Samberton. Great small town, right, typical small town. Everybody knows each other. I Great small town, right, typical small town. Everybody knows each other. You know, I will say I don't know everybody as much as I thought. They're like hey, tim, did you see so-and-so got a new dog? I'm like no, I didn't notice that, right, you know. But they're very. All the neighbors know what's going on, so good. New Hampshire town.
Speaker 1:And so you have children Four kids.
Speaker 3:Really, yeah, I, I did it in the right order. We have a girl boy, girl boy situation. My oldest is 33, super successful. My youngest is 22, a complete pain in the butt. You know, I think it's the old youngest thing. He just does whatever he wants and everyone else has to adapt, you know.
Speaker 2:As the youngest child myself, I can attest to that.
Speaker 3:And so, yeah, four kids. They're great kids. The two girls graduated from PSU one with a marketing degree, one with an allied health degree, and then my oldest boy graduated from UNH with a business degree and a marketing degree. The two oldest live in Boston or I say they live in Boston, but they're in Boston and they work for some Fortune 500 companies and they're just loving life. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And the youngest.
Speaker 3:The youngest lives well, so the two youngest still live with me, but I'm okay with that. My oldest daughter. Her rule is you don't have to pay me any rent as long as you take care of the first floor. And my youngest son is take care of the dog, right? So as long as you do those two things, you don't have to pay me rent. You don't have to pay me anything. I'll take care of everything else.
Speaker 1:And they'll take care of the dog for you?
Speaker 3:Yeah, my youngest boy loves his dog, so he was a COVID pup. So the only way I was ever going to get a puppy was if I was not have to be at work because there's so much work. Australian Shepherd to boot.
Speaker 1:Oh energy.
Speaker 3:So COVID came around. I got a nice little Australian Shepherd and was able to take care of him, teach him. We took him to puppy school, teach him some basic commands, and my youngest boy takes care of him. What's his name? Finn, finn, finn with two Ns, yeah, you know. So Finn is a great dog. He's fun, he's energetic, and so every morning at about 5.30, comes charging open and hits my door, throws the door wide open, it bangs and says okay, I want to go out now. Wakes me up to make sure I go out, take him out.
Speaker 1:I'm just curious of all the dogs.
Speaker 3:Why that particular breed? You never want to replace a dog. I've had other dogs, like a black lab. I had a Bernese mountain dog. You don't want to get the same breed because it makes you feel like you're replacing a loved one Totally get it.
Speaker 3:So we got totally something different. It was a neighbor right in Samberton who had a dog and I mentioned I wanted a dog during COVID. She got one more dog left in my litter and we went out looked at it and it was the runt and nobody wanted and he's a great dog. I absolutely love Finn. He's highly energetic, like I am. We'll go out, we'll run up and down the road and we'll play ball in the backyard and just have a great time.
Speaker 2:So I have a question. Obviously, you had four kids, right? You were married at the time. Did you keep the tradition alive of taking everyone to the state park, dropping them off and then going home?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I wish, I wish I would have probably saved my marriage if I had done that? But so my funny story is my youngest daughter, casey. For our honeymoon, my wife and I decided to go to Baybrook State Park for Memorial Day.
Speaker 3:So we go up to Memorial Day to Baybrook State Park to have a great time. And it rains. And not only does it rain, I set the tent up poorly. State Park for Memorial Day. So we go up to Memorial Day to Bamberg State Park to have a great time. And it rains. And not only does it rain, I set the tent up poorly, so we're in six inches of water right the next day. I hang everything up. It dries out. I go down to ByWise in Allentown. I buy a bunch of blow-up mattresses. We put them all in. By morning we're all laying on the ground anyway because the mattresses all leaked and I literally went to the State Park Ranger office and I'm like here's five more days, I'll be back for my gear later. We're going home and we went back to Sandburton. We just left all the gear there. It was soaking wet, but we tried. The camping thing Didn't go so well with the family.
Speaker 1:So not an expert camper, no, definitely not an expert camper.
Speaker 3:Enjoy it, love it. Not necessarily the greatest camper.
Speaker 1:From your house, like when you look out the window.
Speaker 3:As long as I know I can go home and take a warm shower.
Speaker 2:My idea of camping is staying at a Best Western. So I'm right there with you. I'm the same as you, I totally agree.
Speaker 1:So you were in law enforcement and then you decided to, or you retired.
Speaker 3:Yep. Well, I didn't retire, but I stepped out of law enforcement. The job changed. It wasn't what I liked anymore, right. So, like everybody else, you have a career change. Went into computers for a living.
Speaker 1:But was there a brief pose or a brief pause where you did something else?
Speaker 2:Nope, I'm trying to go to the yoga thing.
Speaker 1:No, yoga's after all of that, oh okay, sorry, yoga's after all of that.
Speaker 3:So I went to. I left law enforcement, started working in computers, went to NHTI, got my engineering degree, did old day Novell engineering back when that was a big thing I'm kind of old and so it's still back in those days Went into the computer world and then went to work for Concord Hospital as one of their senior engineers managing the medical system. And then I started my own computer company from there.
Speaker 2:And is that what led you to Live Nation so?
Speaker 3:Live Nation was an interest. That's where I am now is I do technology for Live Nation. There was a brief interlude where I did yoga. I sold my computer. Company couldn't decide what I wanted to be when I grew up and I was, my wife got me into yoga the first time she took. She gave me, bought me a class, a set of class passes and I went to this yoga studio. The instructor was horrible. It was like I'm Tom, like I'm as stiff as a board. I cannot bend Right. I could not bend that. My I was 40 and my ex-wife was like you should not be grunting when you get out of bed at 40 years old.
Speaker 3:Right, so you need to go take a yoga class. So I went and this instructor later I decided, you know, learned it was a bad instructor because, like all, it was a men's class and she's like, okay, everybody, let's do a forward fold. And she takes her forehead and she puts it on her ankles and all of us guys are just looking at it. It's like that's never going to happen.
Speaker 3:And so we were barely at 90 degrees, never mind bending any further. So my first experience with yoga was kind of bad. But then I found another studio and another instructor and they were better. There's a saying in yoga that we learn is that you meet the student on the mat, where they are not what you can do, but what they can do and helping them achieve the best. And so, um, and it was a great studio, and the, the owner of the studio, said to me you know, if you go get training, tim, we'll hire you as an instructor. We can do a men's class We'd love to have, cause I was there three times a week taking yoga classes, and so I did. I ran off to. I had sold my computer company, I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do, and I went off to Kripalu, which is in western Massachusetts, in the Berkshires, and I spent a month living at an ashram out there to get certified as a certified yoga instructor and I came back and started teaching classes.
Speaker 2:I got to tell you, yoga is like fascinating to me because I'm somebody who is the least flexible person on the planet, but I know it's super. It's super good for you. In fact, like my wife always says, as we age, you know our spine compresses and so that's why everybody shrinks and yoga should help stretch that out. So what are the, what are the best benefits of yoga? Because the only time I tried it was when P90X was a thing and I lit some candles and started to do it, and then I woke up like an hour and a half later and I fell asleep After your nap yeah, so tell us a little bit about that.
Speaker 3:So, when it comes to the muscular right, so again, stretching and extending the muscles are phenomenal, right Again, as we age, like you said, tom, everything compresses. Your muscles shrink, your spine compresses. So I always say that when I taught my men's class, I would say the only thing I need to teach you is sun salutations. Do three sun salutations on each side, every morning and every night, and you'll be great flexibility. Right. So it does, it makes it. So I will say, when I was heavily into yoga and I was teaching it, no grunting when I got out of bed, right, your whole body just feels better.
Speaker 3:There's also a mental piece of it, right. So I don't like to get into the spiritual side of it, because that's a whole different argument, but the mental side of it is I always call it the placid lake, right that idea of getting your mind so quiet that you're not thinking about all the things you got to do on your checklist, all of that kind of stuff. Right, just getting that placid lake so you can see the reflection, you know, the mountain in the background, kind of thing, just flattening your mind out. And that, to me, was one of the best things. It taught me how to, whether I'm doing politics or anything else. Is I take that that gap between action and reaction?
Speaker 1:right.
Speaker 3:When someone does something to you, you automatically jump right, and what yoga taught me was to create that little bit of space so that I don't react as harshly or as difficultly. And so for me there's two components your body will feel phenomenal, but there's also a mental aspect of it that will just give you a little pause, give you a little peace of mind, kind of thing.
Speaker 2:No, I think that's really interesting because when I think of yoga I think of the physical aspect and stretching and all of that. But having that mental, you know, working those muscles and getting that placid lake, I feel like would be so helpful for so many people. Because I know in the middle of session when I go to sleep at night I've got about eight bills I'm thinking about and it takes me like an hour to fall asleep.
Speaker 1:But, figuring out how to achieve that placid lake would be maybe we can talk about some sun salutations after this.
Speaker 3:Get you up here, and do a pose it's not gonna happen anymore, but, but again, it is an incredible benefit, right? So you're talking about when you take the nap. It's called shavasana at the very end, right?
Speaker 3:you just kind of lay and your goal is to let your mind go flat, right, don't think about anything, don't do anything. When I take some classes after I became an instructor and after I went to yoga studio, some instructors would get kind of freaked out when I would show up for a class and I'm like, no, no, I just want to hear someone tell me where to put my hand, where to put my foot, what I'm just thinking and following the process. I'm not judging you at all. Right, and that mindset of just moving through the motions and not thinking uh, for lack of a better phrase uh is incredible.
Speaker 3:Shavasana is. You know? I always use the idea of. You can never not think right, the reality is your mind's never completely placid, but the goal is to learn how to. I call it. You step on the train, you start thinking about something, you're going down down the track on this thing. Just wait till the next stop, step off, try to get back and sit in the chair and just be relaxed again. Don't jump on the train again, but you will, and you know. It's learning how to balance that and just learn how to just let it go and let let your mind settle and be quiet.
Speaker 1:So that's to.
Speaker 3:That's one of the best things out of yoga.
Speaker 1:Are you still practicing yoga?
Speaker 3:I do in the morning. So I get up in the morning and I don't teach anymore and I don't own a studio anymore, but I do practice in the morning, probably not as religiously as I should.
Speaker 3:But again, a lot of it is breathing right, just learning how to spine, how to stand, how to walk. You'll see me every now and then when I walk up the stairs at the State House. I remember my posture, like, okay, just set my shoulders back, step, make sure my hips, my shoulders, are over my hips, right, and when you walk, you'll actually make you feel better when you walk that way. But you know, having that mindset of just remembering that kind of thing, so how should we be?
Speaker 3:so your shoulders should always be over your hips when you walk, so don don't lean forward, right? That's what gets you. You've seen the old people. They've got the arched back and the arched neck and everything else. Just be conscious, when you're walking, that your shoulders are back, your shoulders are over your hips and your head is over your shoulders. Right, you're not leaning your neck forward, and that posture position will just change a lot, just as you pay attention to it.
Speaker 2:And make you taller.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I'll take all the height I can get. I'll take all the height you can get.
Speaker 1:Now it's interesting because you were mentioning that you had a computer company and you sold it, and then you had your own yoga studio and you sold it. But definitely an entrepreneurial spirit here.
Speaker 3:Well, I like to say I still haven't figured out what I want to be when I grow up. Right, I'm still trying new things. I worked for the Hampshire Electric Co-op for a little while as their IT supervisor, managing all of their technology throughout the electrical grid, and then from there I went to work for Live Nation. So now I work in the music industry and I manage technology for Live Nation for the entire Northeast. So from Connecticut to Maine to Toronto I have about 12 amphitheaters I manage and about 20 nightclubs I manage in that territory all the technology Nowadays that's turned into audiovisual as well, because a lot of stuff is moving in that direction, into tech.
Speaker 2:So tell me a little bit more about that, because I'm thinking like pyrotechnics now.
Speaker 3:No, no, no, no, no, no. I'm not that cool I think you're pretty cool.
Speaker 3:The joke I have is. So I'll tell you a story. I was at Saratoga Performing Arts Center. It's one of my venues out in Saratoga Springs, new York, and probably one of the best shows I've ever watched. It was not even a music show, it was Steve Martin and Martin Short. Oh yeah, right, and they were doing. They were doing this basically vaudeville routine. It was half music, half comedy act, you know skit stuff, and it was just hilarious. It was great. So he had some warm up act on and I'm standing on stage left watching the show from the side of the stage just watching what's going on. And Steve Martin walked up and I love him.
Speaker 3:I'm a hilarious guy, right, just funny, right. And so he walks up and he goes. Who are you?
Speaker 2:You know just kind of a little head nod who are you Right.
Speaker 3:I'm like I'm Tim, I'm the IT director. I said I make sure they can sell you a beer and scan your ticket and he goes pretty important guy, you know, and he was just so cool. He was just you know. But that's what I really do. I make sure they can scan your ticket and sell you a beer and occasionally I have to get involved in the audiovisual stuff because a lot of that's fiber optic networks now and that kind of stuff. So I'll get involved in that. But my job is just to make sure tech works across all these venues and, like I said, about 12 venues across New England.
Speaker 1:So you've probably met a lot of besides Steve Martin, yeah.
Speaker 3:So we were talking earlier off camera about Dave Matthews Band, right? So I worked for Bank of New Hampshire first. That's where I went up in Guilford. I worked as their IT director. Actually, my first job was with security for them and then I did one year as that. Then I ended up their IT director and I was backstage. It was the first year that Dave Matthews' band was going to come to New Hampshire and so big setup.
Speaker 3:You understand, when these guys come in, I think Dave Matthews brings about 100 people with him. Oh wow. So it's not just him and his guitar, right, there's 100 people that have to manage the office, manage everything. So there's a lot of tech that gets set up in the background. Because these guys have mobile offices. Their business manager shows up. We've got to throw up a network, make sure it works for them and then that kind of thing. So I was backstage on the first day about 11 o'clock in the morning and backstage we set it up like Bear Brook State Park. We've got fire pits and big screen TVs, we've got water for them, we've got a whole nine yards. So I'm backstage about 11 o'clock. It's like 95 degrees already, miserable like this kind of weather, and I'm standing at the TV just drinking a water and this guy walks up and goes like he's like what are you watching? And we used to loop what about Bob? The movie what About Bob, which takes place on Lake Winnipesaukee.
Speaker 3:So we put it on a continuous loop all day long. If anybody just walk up, watch part of the movie and walk away and I'm like, oh, that's what about Bob? And we start talking about it. And I have like a 20 minute conversation talking about motorcycle weekend with this guy. I talk about like Winnipesaukee with this guy and I get all done and he goes, uh, and I just turned, I'm like can I help you? They need me to set up your iPad, you need me, you know? No, no, I'm good. I'm like, okay, and 20 minutes talking to Dave Matthews at the TV. I just thought he was a sound guy or something. I had no idea. I'm not a music guy, which is even hotter. It's like I don't follow music. I didn't know who Dave Matthews was, you know. And so a lot of these guys are just plain people, right, just really nice people like our legislators, yeah, and our lobbyists, so, yeah, so really nice people Like our legislators yeah no.
Speaker 1:And our lobbyists.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so, yeah, so they're really nice. So some good stories meeting artists that are just really nice. Chris Stapleton phenomenal guy, one of the most down-to-earth, sitting on the ground playing with his kids. You know kind of guy. Yeah, just a really down-to-earth guy. So who's the most interesting, most challenging?
Speaker 2:uh, you don't have to answer challenging stories out of school, you know it feels like there's a lot that goes on, like, for example, um, you were mentioning with dave matthews, I think it was that you set up the backstage like bear brooks state park. Now, did they get to make that decision, or is that you guys?
Speaker 3:Oh, no, no. So backstage like Bank of New Hampshire I don't know if people will know this, but it has probably the best backstage across the country. The owners there, rj and Bridget Harding, along with Live Nation, really cater to the artists. We want to make it so it's like a vacation for them when they come to New Hampshire, right? So it's a lot less work than just showing up at a venue doing three hours on the stage and stepping off and jumping on your bus and going again. They want to make it really fun for the artists.
Speaker 3:So, like backstage, we've got a miniature golf course. We have a pool back there. We've got, you know, we put last year's edition, maybe the year before we put an indoor video arcade backstage for these artists just to come and have fun, right, the staff to have fun and not just be okay. They show up, they set up their gear, they sing their music, they get back, they take the gear down, get in the bus and go to the next place. We want it to be fun for them and New Hampshire is one of the best backstages we have across the country. Like I said, I have about 12 amphitheaters and they're easily everyone else is trying to emulate what they do here in New Hampshire.
Speaker 1:When you say backstage, are you like literally backstage or just wow, really yeah literally backstage.
Speaker 3:So right behind again if you're at Bank of New Hampshire, literally right behind is our catering. Bridget does a phenomenal job at catering. Again, everyone comes because, like we do lobster and, uh, they've set a boat up with ice, with with oysters, and you know shrimp and you know lobster and everything else. So, um, the artists love company hampshire. It's why they won last year I think they won uh, for our size venue, the uh venue of the year from the acm, the american country music awards. Um, they're just a phenomenal venue when it comes to how they treat their artists.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was gonna say, going to say I mean that's super smart because it makes the artists want to come back and getting that repeat performance you know, especially from Big Name, I think is it this weekend or in a couple weeks? Counting Crows is coming out.
Speaker 3:They're tonight. Is that tonight?
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's where I should be right now to be honest with you, I decided to come hang out with you guys.
Speaker 3:Oh, you know thanks shucks oh boy.
Speaker 3:But, yeah, as an artist, that's true, like we'll have some artists Chris Stapleton is a great example. He'll say I want three nights right Now. He could go to Mansfield right, it's one of my venues. That's a 20,000-seat venue. New Hampshire's only like 9,800 seats. So he could do one night there and make as much money as he does two nights in New Hampshire.
Speaker 3:But he'll come to New Hampshire and ask for two or three nights because it's almost like a break for his staff. They can come in, they have a nice vacation. He has to sing for a couple hours, sing for his supper, so to speak, every night. But he really loves back in New Hampshire and coming here and having that break for his staff. Mid-tour they set up once on the first night they'll have to take it down till the third night, so there's a little break in between. Um, sometimes rj will will get like pontoon boats and take them out on the lake and they, like luke bryan comes, loves the fish, right. So we literally will hire a guide, a fishing guide, to take them out on the lake, to take them all the good fishing holes on lake winnebosaki.
Speaker 1:Um, they love coming here that's incredible, that I never knew that. I mean, I know it's a beautiful venue and obviously an incredible location, but to do all that for the artists it's brilliant.
Speaker 3:It's how we can get people like Stapleton that would normally go to arenas or larger 20-plus thousand people venue but to get him to come to a 98, he's taking a much smaller paycheck right to show up at a 9,000 seat venue as compared to a 20,000 seat. But they love New Hampshire.
Speaker 2:Well, if any artists come in and really like to golf, just let me know.
Speaker 3:Yeah, let's do it.
Speaker 2:Tom and we can go out.
Speaker 3:So I will tell you, rj once asked me to go golfing with an artist and I said absolutely not. And he's like, why not? And I'm like you ever seen me play golf?
Speaker 2:Oh come on.
Speaker 3:My operative word in playing golf is the word play right, Not golf. This guy was a scratch golfer. There are some artists out there that could hit a ball Really and I have no interest in competing and having them laugh at me.
Speaker 1:But you're flexible.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's fine, but I'm not that good of a good music. That's all I bring. I bring my speaker with me and I have a good time. So but golf to me is more about play than it is golf Like. I enjoy being out on the course and hanging out, whether it's at Santa and the Pearl you know we just finished the golf classic right, and I was out with, you know, mike Moffitt, reed, panassetti, howard and I right, we've been friends since my freshman term in the legislature and we hang out together. So we go play golf not because of golf, just because we want to hang out with the guys and have a beer and just enjoy ourselves.
Speaker 1:That's part of golf too. Tom is club champion, I don't know, For the next few months. I don't know, he will be giving autographs later on.
Speaker 3:I'm pretty sure he sandbagged, though, when I was playing with him. I'm pretty sure he shanked a few just for the like. I can't have you know.
Speaker 2:No, I mean, the senator played incredible golf that day, that's all I'm going to say but you know, I did want to touch on the legislative golf tournament because you just mentioned it and it was just on Monday, and that's a tournament that you've put on or you've worked with, you know, representative Moffitt, representative Maggiore and Senator Pearl to put on. That benefits Liberty House, yep. And so tell us a little bit about how it came to be.
Speaker 3:Sure, it's actually a brainchild of Mike Moffitt. So it started out with the Veterans Caucus and they decided as you know, in DC they have the Republican versus Democrat softball game and they use it to raise money, so it was patterned off of that. We used to do softball, so the first few years we did a softball Republican versus Democrat raised money and we always give to Liberty House, a transition home for homeless veterans to help them become productive members of society and help them with their challenges. And so we started back then just doing softball and then a couple years ago we changed it to golf it back then just doing softball, and then a couple years ago we changed it to golf. It was a struggle to get softballs. I start getting older and everybody else starts getting older, you know and so we decided to switch it over to golf.
Speaker 3:Um done did a great tournament last two years ago and we're gonna do it the first year of every, every term. Um, but excuse me, it was. It was all about just helping. You know, nobody makes any money except the charity, and so Liberty House I think last year we gave them over $20,000 is what we raised for them. This year it will be over that. We'll break it again and it's just helping, right, using our office to help people right. It's not always about legislation, it's about what else can you do in community and lend your name to to make it work. And so it was a great time this year, like I said, representing the Moffitt from Loudoun and representing Maggiore from the Seacoast. Great guys the Republican and Democrat did a great job managing it. I helped them with the sponsorships and, again, just trying to help people.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and what you mentioned about, you mentioned about a Republican and Democrat. It's very bipartisan. Another bipartisan endeavor that you started was the Beer Caucus.
Speaker 3:The Beer Caucus. So that's where we yeah. So the Veterans.
Speaker 2:Caucus. I love the Beer Caucus. It's a theme of like fun.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, it's all about fun right.
Speaker 3:If you're not having fun, then why are you doing it? Yeah Right, not having fun, then why are you doing it? Yeah right, I mean. So you gotta have fun. So, um, yeah, so in in.
Speaker 3:It started again in my second year, my first term. We, we it came about in a way due to the softball tournament yeah, reed panassetti brought beers and one of the interesting and I'm not supposed to talk about politics, but what it came down to is we were all freshman legislators. We didn't understand the system. We didn't understand what was going on. When you're in the House, you're on one committee, so you know that one policy topic and not everything else that's going on. So the beer caucus started because we were sitting talking one day about politics and about what's going on in your committee. What's going on in your committee, what's the important bill here? What's the important bill? This?
Speaker 3:And it turned out to be a nice bipartisan effort, right, we ended up bringing a lot of people together. We'd go and you know we'd go hang out at Tandy's, you know and have a beer and talk about and it was Republican and Democrat talking about we hosted some events when the what do you call it? Anyway, we had a policy about, about whether or not you should have the death penalty, okay, right, and we host the beer caucus, hosted people on both sides of the issue and brought them in and had just everybody get together and talk about it right, and say this is about. We recognize that I can, you can, have a difference of opinion, but I can still be friends with you, right, and you still go sit and have a beer with you.
Speaker 3:It it's not about angry politics and so that's not the beer cost of one. We just got together, start talking about both sides of the discussion, try to find compromise where we could, and. But we also turned it into a fundraising effort, right. Again, we've raised I don't know, we're probably close to over 60 grand over the last nine years for the Liberty House and we also did one year we split with it and we used a domestic violence shelter we gave some money to to help help battered women. So again, it's using our position to help everybody and not just about what happens in the state house.
Speaker 2:But yeah, it is important, I think, to find some commonality with you know the other side, right, when you get under the dome, sure, you're going to have knock-down, drag-out fights over legislation, but if you can sit down and have a beer with someone, it doesn't have to be so harsh, right, and you can just have those debates and not personal attacks. So I do think the beer caucus is helpful.
Speaker 3:80% of what we do is bipartisan right 80% of what happens in the statehouse, but nobody ever talks about that. They only talk about the 20% that's left that we scream at each other over. And so the Beer Caucus has tried to overcome that right. We did an event in our first term at Senator Pearl's house back when he was representative of Pearl. Like 150 people show up, including the governor right, and it was about Republicans and Democrats there. It was a great event. The following month we went out to the Senate of the Guides House and we did another event Like why are we going to the Senate, tim? We're the House and I'm like because it's easy to say the Senate sucks.
Speaker 2:It's hard to say I would never say that it's hard to say Senate of the guy.
Speaker 3:That sucks when you know the guy and you've sat down and had a beer with him at his house, yeah and so. So we wanted to form those relationships to make it so it's easier to move, whether it's republican or democrat house versus senate to move that over. So that's what the beer caucus was about is to make those political connections that allow you to move policy forward. That's great for new hampshire and it's still going on it still goes, we still do it.
Speaker 1:When's our next beer caucus event? The way tomorrow's going it's going to be, Can Tom and I come yeah?
Speaker 3:So yeah, so anyway. The beer caucus is a great thing. Again, it transcends parties and politics. It just is trying to recognize that behind every legislator, there's a person right and you talk about. When we get together, we talk about our kids. There's a person right and you talk about. When we get together, we talk about our kids, we talk about our dogs. We talk about, you know, the septic system that just failed in my house. You know, whatever it is right, whatever the policy, whatever someone's going through is having that conversation.
Speaker 2:You talk about anything but politics.
Speaker 3:Anything but politics, exactly right.
Speaker 1:Now I'm curious. So before, actually maybe after so you've done all these things and you work for Live Nation, but at what point did the light bulb go off? And you know above your head and you're like you know what I want? To help people in New Hampshire. I'm going to run for office. What was the motivation for that?
Speaker 3:So great question, so typical New Hampshire story. So I had my computer company and in my computer company in front I had a parking lot. And the town came to me and said hey, tim, would you mind if we use your parking lot for the farmer's market? And I'm like okay, sure, I'll put some outlets out there so they can turn on lights, run cash registers. What are they gonna do? So I paid electrician command, put up some outlets and they used my parking lot all summer long and every saturday I would show up and open up my buildings. They had bathrooms to use and I would hang out in my office anyway and let them use my office. And then the following year they came to see me again and like hey, tim, like yes, you can use my parking lot again for the farmer's market because oh no, no, the farmer's market director quit.
Speaker 3:We were wondering if you would mind being the farmer's market director. You're here anyway every Saturday opening your building up, would you mind? I'm like okay. And then word got around that I would say, yes, you know. And then next thing I know the youth assistance program, which is a juvenile diversion program, called me and said, hey, would you be on our board of directors? And then the town had a vacancy on our school budget board budget committee that had just been formed and they go hey, would you serve on the budget committee? I'm like sure you know.
Speaker 3:And so that's how it started. I mean, I've been a moderator now for 15 years and it was only because the town showed up at my doorstep and said would you mind being the moderator? So I had no intention of ever running for state office, like it was never anywhere in my cards that I ever thought about it. Only reason it happened is a state representative wanted to retire, literally showed up on my doorstep, knocked on the door and said, hey, tim, would you? And I was like sure never tried this before, okay, and so I just said yes, and I've been there ever since. It was my three terms in the House right. So 2016 was when I ran and won my seat. It was because someone in New Hampshire asked me would you serve?
Speaker 3:And I said yes and the same way I gotID YES. And THE SAME WAY I GOT IN THE SENATE, sent A GUY TO WANT TO GET REDISTRICTED OUT OF HIS OWN DISTRICT AND SHOWED UP AT MY DOORSTEP. Knocked ON A DOOR DIDN'T INTEND TO RUN FOR SENATE. But KNOCKED ON MY DOOR AND SAID WOULD YOU REPLACE ME? I CAN'T RUN FOR the skill set from being in the house and um second term in the Senate and you said yes.
Speaker 2:Do you say yes much to a lobbyist? Yes, I do.
Speaker 3:That's why I have so many bills this year. We appreciate it.
Speaker 3:You know, I will say so. You know, senator Kavanaugh, yeah. So so Kevin came to me. I had worked with Kevin during COVID, I started on the governor's reopening task force and Kevin and I worked through that for some stuff.
Speaker 3:And Kevin came to me this year and said, hey, would you put a bill in for me? And I'm like, okay, I'll be happy to put the bill in for you as a professional courier, because you don't get a seat at the table unless a senator or a house member agrees to put a bill in to let you talk about your topic. And so I said, kevin, I'll be happy to put this bill in, but I know nothing about the topic. It was something about houses over water, right, there was some building issue that was going on and I'm like, I'll put the bill in for you, but you've got to come defend it. I'll give you the professional courtesy, but I do that with lobbyists, right, again. Right, because sometimes, you know, again, we're all citizen legislators, an IT geek, right, I'm not a policy wonk. And so the ability to give you a seat at the table or a citizen like I put quite a few bills in for citizens as well I want this. I'm like all right, I'll put the bill in and see if we can get it through.
Speaker 3:The ability for New Hampshire to see their legislators and do that is just insane to me, the access that we have, whether it's lobbyists or whether it's Easily. Since I've been a senator in three years now three dozen, four dozen people literally knock on my door and said can I talk to you about something? I'm like sure, come on in, let's have a coffee and talk. That access you can't get anywhere else.
Speaker 2:Think about how many more bills you would introduce if you still ran the farmer's market anywhere else? Think about how many more bills you would introduce if you still ran the farmer's market, with everybody coming. It's like that guy says yes, go talk to him, so yeah, so, again, it's I I.
Speaker 3:the answer to your question, though, is I had never had any intention of running the state office. I strictly just said yes when someone asked me to do something. I believed in my parents believed in in service to the community. I believe in service to the community. I believe in service to the community the ability just to step up, and if you can do it, if you can't, that's OK. We recognize that.
Speaker 2:So no, but I think that's a testament to our legislature, and I say this a lot when we when we, you know, do these podcasts, which is we have such a unique legislature, such a crosscut of individuals and the experience you bring, from firefighting to yoga, to computer software, to IT you're bringing that expertise to the table, but also you don't get paid anything and you're a member of the community and so your constituents have access to you and can talk to you about this stuff. So I think that's just that's great.
Speaker 1:I think it's great too. I'm curious, though it makes me think so. You've? You've done police work. You've done yoga. Um it live. Nation state Senator. What's the toughest thing? What's?
Speaker 3:the toughest thing to do yeah. I'm going to go back to being a cop. Yeah, yeah Again, you know the thing that's a yoga. Yeah, yoga's great. You know it's hard, isn't it, but it's not. You know, being a cop is just a horrific job. I mean no offense, but no, no, these guys, what you ask them to do, right, as I said to one of my fellow senators, you're going to ask them to go through the door that you won't go through.
Speaker 3:Right, and then you need to make sure you take care of them, right. So that whole concept and that idea of what these you know, the joke of my ex-wife is like one of the reasons she divorced me is I have no feelings left. Right, because after everything you see as a police officer, you have to shut it off. Right, and you're changed by that career. Right, you see some of the, you see people at their worst, right, unfortunately, and you see the most horrific accidents. Right, there were horrific things.
Speaker 3:So being a law enforcement officer was probably the thing that changed my life the most, you know, is the time spent seeing that kind of stuff, and it's not a daily thing, but it doesn't matter whether it's daily or it's 10 times a year. Right, as I said to someone else, try standing next to a parent who's six months old, just died of SIDS and you are trying to explain that, right, what that officer is like. It's just the emotional toll that it takes on law enforcement is incredible, and so I would say that that's like a joke. My wife will tell you I have no feelings left anymore. So that ability to do that law enforcement, I have my full respect.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's also taxing on the families, right? Because when they leave in the morning or at night, whenever their shift starts, given what they're asked to do, you don't know and I have friends who are law enforcement that when I hear about a shooting in the town, I'm texting right away, right, like, hey, man, you good, and it's scary.
Speaker 3:I agree, and the bad part is that most cops don't think about that.
Speaker 3:They just go out to do their job right and it's their wives that are worrying back home on a regular basis, right that they're undercover in that stress. But most guys just want to go out and do their job right and do it the best they can, so that it is families like friends. You know I have cop friends still on the job that you know. When something happens over in Belldap County I pick up the phone and I'm like, hey, what's going on right, are you okay? And so you think about you know you think about your friends and they're not thinking about it while they're going through it. They're just thinking about their job, yep, what they're doing. So I would say the toughest job was being a cop. It was that time as a police officer. Managing all of that and your emotional toll that it takes can't be measured.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, that makes sense. It's a really tough profession and you know we respect all the officers for everything that they do. So thank you for that. Curious summer's about to come, hopefully for you guys, and it's been a challenging session.
Speaker 3:So big summer plans. I actually have a. I'm doing some conferences I'm going to have fun at, yeah, conferences I'm going to have fun at. I'm going to be out in Boston for a conference, going to an IT conference in Chicago on digital technology, new security stuff, protocols. So I'll go out to that.
Speaker 3:I'm going to two gaming conferences to learn about the trends and trades in gaming so we can keep our statutes up to date and modernize. So what's happening in the industry there? But personally I don't have any real trips Everything's work, no vacation.
Speaker 3:It's either work-related Live Nation, work-related Statehouse and I have enough fun when I do those. Like I said before, if you're not enjoying it, why are you doing it? I do enjoy being a senator. I do enjoy my Live Nation job. They're just fun jobs, right. And so you have your stresses and challenges with everything, but it's still a fun job.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that sounds awesome. I guess if I was going to ask you one more question, what would be one thing about Tim Lang that people who know you would be surprised about?
Speaker 3:I mean, most people don't know that I was a yoga instructor. That's probably the first one like not exactly your typical. You know what you think when you think yoga instructor. I'm not wearing my beads or my you know my prayer beads, but so most people probably would not think about that at all. That you know that. And again, I'm a big believer in the mental aspect we were talking about that right and that you know the fact that most people, like even my wife, says I still can't believe you teach that right but it's huge right. So that's what I would say is probably the weird. You know, the unknown fact about Tim Lang is the fact that I do enjoy yoga. I do think it has a value. I'm not talking about the spiritual aspect of it, but just the physical and mental aspects that help you manage in today's society.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I guess you know. On that note and to kind of wrap things up a little bit, so police officer, yoga instructor, software company owner, it director at live nation. Three term house member, two terms Senate member. What do you want to be when you grow up?
Speaker 3:Still three-term House member two-term. Senate member. What do you want to be when you grow up? Still don't know, man, I still don't know. My kids would like me to figure it out. I'll tell you that much, but still don't know. I just like learning things. As the old saying, you only get old when you stop. I don't want to stop, I'm going to keep going, keep doing. Whatever comes up next, I'm going to keep going, keep doing. You know, whatever comes up next, I mean I'll be a yes and take it on.
Speaker 1:So you seem like you've got a lot of energy. So, and I have one more. I think Sharon Carson will tell you too much.
Speaker 3:Can you?
Speaker 1:ever have too much, though, really. So I'm curious because I know you're friends with Senator Howard Pearl, who was our very first guest on anything but politics, and Senator Pearl had the good fortune of surviving two lightning strikes. Any advice for him on the podcast to maybe try to protect himself a little bit more? Anything you wanted to shout?
Speaker 3:He goes out in the field every day. I'm like Howard. You know you got to get a lightning rod, do something here, man, because I'm not standing next to you. I love Howard. Howard and I get along great. Like this is one of those unexpected friendships, right that we have that follow your life Like Howard, mike Reed and I all freshmen together in the legislature been there nine years and I would consider Howard one of my best friends now that 10 years ago I wouldn't have told you I even knew the guy Right. And so again, just don't stand next to him, is my advice to you.
Speaker 1:I don't have any advice for him.
Speaker 3:Just don't stand next to him is my advice to you. Take a couple steps away, yeah that's great.
Speaker 1:Well, Senator, thank you so much. This was a really fascinating conversation and I loved getting to know you better Like I've seen you around for years and never really sat down and talked to you, and really fascinating. So thank you.
Speaker 2:If you can show me some of those sun salutations.
Speaker 3:Sure, sure, I'll show you.
Speaker 2:Great thing.
Speaker 3:First three each side in the morning, three each side tonight, Takes you all about five or six minutes and it'll make a huge difference in about you have to stick to it for about 30 days. Amen, and you do that and your body will love you Great.
Speaker 1:You do that and your body will love you Great.
Speaker 3:So we should start a 30-day challenge Awesome.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you so much for your time and coming on, anything but Politics.
Speaker 3:Great being here. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1:Appreciate it, and thanks to our audience for tuning in and listening to these fascinating stories.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I would say I'm Tiffany Eddy.
Speaker 2:And I'm Tom Preysol, and thanks for listening to the latest episode of Anything but Politics and we will see you soon, so thank you.