SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of ISM Radio. I'm your host, Gage, and I have the pleasure of being here tonight at Ohica Castle for ISM's first executive networking event going on at the castle. And I have the pleasure of sitting here with none other than John Anthony. Welcome to the show. Thanks for having me, Gage. Yeah, no doubt. Glad you made it tonight. And uh so we're gonna talk about A1VIP events.com. Now you are a full-blown concierge at the highest level.

SPEAKER_01 0:34

It doesn't get any higher than what you can bring to the table for anybody that wants anything in tickets, corporate experience, private jets, you know, uh exotic cars, luxury mansions, elegates, Super Bowl, masters, suites on the field passes, whatever you could think of that requires uh exclusive event. Right. We can pretty much handle it.

SPEAKER_00 1:00

Or a ticket that's sold because you have a tagline that nothing is ever sold out, doesn't exist. That does not exist in LGBTQ. Sold out is not in your vocabulary.

SPEAKER_01 1:10

Never has been.

SPEAKER_00 1:11

Right. And I listen, I get the text messages, you know, VIP to the you know, to the suite tonight at the Yankee game, to the Met game. I, you know, I'm involved in the group. Obviously, I worked on a video for your company.

SPEAKER_01 1:21

Data came out excellent.

SPEAKER_00 1:22

Thank you. We we appreciate it. Yeah, that was a that was a pretty badass commercial, if if I must say so myself. It was fun to make, really was cool. And that's why I know a little bit about your company because uh, you know, uh I put that together so I got to see what you do. But there's so much more. And just talking to you here at the event tonight, um, you know, one of my first questions that I had to you was, you know, give me some of the names that you work with. You're like who are some of the people that if I want to have a golf outing and bring a celebrity to, you've mentioned it that everybody has a price. You can golf with anybody, you know.

SPEAKER_01 1:53

We've done Lawrence Taylor, John Stalks, I had a client golf with Derek Cheater. Um there's always so many events going on that we have access to. Right. And if you have uh something you want, like I have a client who wants to golf with Lawrence Taylor, and we're gonna set that up in the next few months. As long as the timing is right for both parties, so that's usually what has to come together. It just has to be the correct date. The time is always, you know, something that can be arranged, it's never really a problem, but again, it's all about the budget.

SPEAKER_00 2:26

Right. It's and listen, you know, there's a price on everything. So anybody you can get Peyton Manning or any of the guys with Peyton Manning already. Doing Dr.

SPEAKER_01 2:35

J in a couple of weeks, actually next weekend in Nashville.

SPEAKER_00 2:38

Okay. And give me paint a picture of that. They're gonna go to Nashville.

SPEAKER_01 2:42

Well, this is a charity event um called the sneaker ball, which we participate in every year with various celebrities. Uh we've done Derrick Henry, we've done uh a lot of t Alabama, Tennessee people. We've done Kate Manning there, we did uh Ryan Tannehill, AJ Brown. Okay. John Stark's participated in that event with Herb Williams back in the day. But this event is, you know, Dr. J's gonna come speak to the audience, young kids that are uh playing basketball and they come from broken homes and things like that, and he's there to support them and just tell them what it takes to become a professional athlete and to be a role model on and off the court.

SPEAKER_00 3:22

Right. So this is a charity event, yeah, and they're raising money, obviously, for people that need to raise money and absolutely and what's the cause there? What is that one for?

SPEAKER_01 3:30

It's called a sneaker ball event. Okay. Underprivileged kids going to basketball camp. They raise money to send kids to basketball. Nice. And the guy who does his name is Andy Herzer, he's spectacular.

SPEAKER_00 3:40

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:40

Great coach. The guy's got a heart of gold, and he's been doing it for 20 years, and we're always glad to participate in that.

SPEAKER_00 3:46

Now we talk about not only selling tickets, going renting jets and exotic cars and all of that fun stuff. You're probably getting a client calling you now that needs a jet to go somewhere. Um but take it back in notch because if somebody wanted to have a tailgate party and they don't think, you know, let's not you can't downplay a tailgate party. I've been to the Zach Brown concert, everybody tailgates. Uh you know, it's how I met Dean, and they bring and they set up tables and barbecues and all that fun stuff. You have tailgate parties to the nth degree. It's unbelievable. You bring the chef, the alcohol. Tell them what you're bringing.

SPEAKER_01 4:23

There's tailgate parties and there's an A1 tailgate.

SPEAKER_00 4:25

That's right, an A1 VIP tailgate.

SPEAKER_01 4:28

So I was told in Knoxville, Tennessee, which I do a lot of SEC games, that my tailgate is the best they've ever seen. And that's to me, that's a very high compliment.

SPEAKER_00 4:39

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 4:39

And the SEC coming New Yorker going down to the SEC just blowing the doors off a tailgate.

SPEAKER_00 4:44

Right.

SPEAKER_01 4:44

And uh, not easy to do.

SPEAKER_00 4:47

Because they take tailgating a lot more serious than we do, that's for sure. Absolutely. I mean, they're there nights before planning and doing it. It's really a lot of work goes into it.

SPEAKER_01 4:54

Yeah, a lot of work.

SPEAKER_00 4:55

So give them an idea of the services that are involved in a tailgate party.

SPEAKER_01 5:03

All you have to do is show up. It's uh pretty much we do it for one group, 20-30 people. We bring a trailer with two bathrooms in it, it's got three TVs, it's got video games, we have tables, chairs, couches, full-blown top shelf bar, a private chef, one of the best in Tennessee. This guy used to cook for Zach Brown, Taylor Swift. He's been on HBO, he's a celebrity chef in Tennessee. He's the best. And he always finds the time to say yes for me, which I am totally honored that he does. He never misses an event.

SPEAKER_00 5:37

Now you just mentioned Zach Brown and Taylor Swift. And if anybody out there needs tickets, the word doesn't exist in his vocabulary. He doesn't know the word sold out. So if you guys ever need tickets to go to any of those events, and people do all the time. I mean, I get phone calls, and people are like, Do you know where I can get tickets? And I'm like, of course I do. In fact, I just put you together, I put a text together with you and uh one of my really close friends, Mike, he's a professional golfer, and he needed to get involved with something, you know, and he needs some of your services because he's he's doing stuff with private jets. Doing private jets and golfing and you do. Yeah, we did talk. And so you do, if people want to go to the Ryder Cup here in New York, you know, what you got to take it to the next level. This is not just Yankee and Met tickets. This is you got everything.

SPEAKER_01 6:21

The Ryder Cup is a very special event. That's a very global event. There's people from all over the world, there's gonna be a lot of VIP hospitality, and you know, Beth Page is a is a grueling course.

SPEAKER_00 6:33

Yeah, the black is no joke. And there's gonna be a lot of rowdy New Yorkers there, which we need because the Europeans are going to show up. Absolutely. And the crowd for the Europeans is gonna show up, and I really think New York's gonna take it to them because Long Island is a very special place. And Beth Page Black holds dear tough course. Holds dear to many people here on Long Island. They sleep out and wait in that parking lot to play that course.

SPEAKER_01 6:57

Oh, I played that course twice. Every time I played, I feel like I need hit.

SPEAKER_00 7:00

Exactly, because you can't have a cart, you gotta walk, you're gonna pay the caddy because you don't want to carry your clubs. I mean, that is a grueling.

SPEAKER_01 7:06

It's grueling.

SPEAKER_00 7:07

Yeah, and God forbid you're in the rough on that course. You're in a lot of trouble.

SPEAKER_01 7:11

No, that that course is ridiculous. And I I remember last time I played, I really was terrible 16 holes. When I got to 17, it's a par three, and I hit a beautiful shot off the green. I pared the hole. Then the 18 is little peanut-shaped green. Yeah, small green. The 18 is a par five. I hit a bomb and I couldn't find it. It was getting dark.

SPEAKER_00 7:35

Always. That's the case because it's a five-hour round.

SPEAKER_01 7:38

I parred that hole and I got off the 120.

SPEAKER_00 7:41

But I parred the last two holes, so I'm like, I'm coming back next week. You left on a great note. I'm coming back next week. You par anything at the black and you did great. It really is a grueling course. But that's what's so cool. So if anybody needed tickets to the Ryder Cup, you're looking at the man he is the man to get for any event. And like we said, it's not just Yankee and Mets and Knicks and New York stuff. You do stuff all over all over the world. You are all over the United States. Yeah. Um, and I see it in the videos because he sends videos, he posts videos up and uh shows you where he is in the suites. And some of the suites paint a picture for them if they were gonna get a suite at some big event at a game and they wanted, let's say Taylor Swift or something. Super Bowl. Super Bowl, perfect.

SPEAKER_01 8:21

We do suites for the Super Bowl.

SPEAKER_00 8:22

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 8:23

Very expensive, but we gotta have access to them. There was a $50,000 package. Um, well, per seat, yes. That's what I mean.

SPEAKER_00 8:29

It was a fifty like a million dollars. That's right. So the the the per seat was fifty. I remember seeing the price ticket, and it was per ticket.

SPEAKER_01 8:35

But it was a great that was a lower level field suite, that was phenomenal. So a million dollars for a super year depending on who's in it, depending on the size of the stadium and where it is. Right. New Orleans has a lot of suites, they have a couple hundred suites. Okay, so that's a big suite stadium.

SPEAKER_00 8:51

The suites vary at different stadiums, sure. So it makes sense. And so, you know, the supply and demand.

SPEAKER_01 8:57

Always.

SPEAKER_00 8:58

And how do you get to the level you're at that the connections that you have are are endless? 30 years. Thirty years in the business. Give me some of the trials and tribulations, like what some of the things that you were like, wow.

SPEAKER_01 9:15

That's right. It's a gre you know, it was grueling. Like in the beginning from 97 uh to 2008 was a great run. Okay. Because the Yankees made it to the World Series like five years out of seven. Right. So I caught that monster run. And then when uh you know the real estate market crashed in 08, 9-11 was tough too. Yeah. 2001, 9-11 was really tough. I had to let some really good employees go because I wasn't sure what the outcome was gonna be. Right. No idea. And I didn't want to hold anybody up from you know, getting their career on the right track. So I let go some really good people. But you know, things work out. Built back up, built back up, and then in 08, when the real estate market crashed, it was a tough time. So I had to basically pivot.

SPEAKER_00 10:04

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 10:05

So that's when I really started doing celebrity stuff. Okay. Uh meet and greets with uh you know Aerosmith, Kiss, Black Sabbath. Um, I've done Taylor Swift, right? That was much later, like 2010, 2012.

SPEAKER_00 10:19

Yeah, we put it on your website.

SPEAKER_01 10:20

But I got, you know, so I started doing that, and now nobody was doing that at the time. So that kind of put me at a different level. Right. It wasn't about tickets anymore, it was about wow, I can meet my favorite celebrity. You know, my daughter was in the Justin Bieber movie. She met Justin Bieber twice. Um, my all my kids got to meet, they're pretty much their idols. There you go. So uh but you can make that happen for anybody. Yeah, I can. It's a little difficult now because after COVID, the the meet and greet kind of like she makes it known, Taylor Swift makes it known now that she doesn't do meet and greet.

SPEAKER_00 10:50

So she made that known to the public. Yeah, and you know, it it like you said, it's a little harder now, but there are other celebrities out there that are willing to do it.

SPEAKER_01 10:58

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, push comes to shove and the money's right, they'll do it.

SPEAKER_00 11:02

Right. So now this upcoming events that you have, you know, in in the future months here, what are we looking at? What's coming up that people can look forward to and maybe get to an event?

SPEAKER_01 11:13

Well, if you're in Nashville, Tennessee, you can come meet Dr. J. Okay, that's pretty cool. And then the following June, we're doing Larry Bird in Tennessee. And then what else we got coming up? Uh US Open Tennis is one of my favorite events. Uh sure. That's huge.

SPEAKER_00 11:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:27

And we can you can come to Yankee Stadium and watch Juan Soto get his butt ripped because he's coming back to the Bronx and it's not gonna be pretty for him. Really? And we have a suite for that, and we have some great deals. No one can touch me on Yankees.

SPEAKER_00 11:42

Okay, good. So you know, that's what the people need to hear.

SPEAKER_01 11:44

They need to know what's you want Yankee tickets, you call me.

SPEAKER_00 11:47

Right. And if they're gonna call you, how are they getting in touch with you? Are they going to A1vip Events.com?

SPEAKER_01 11:52

You could do that, or you can call my office at 888-957-8499, which is ticks.

SPEAKER_00 11:58

That's it. So that's the best way to get tickets, guys. And like he said, the word sold out doesn't exist in his vocabulary. So if they're available, he's gonna find them, you're gonna get them, you're gonna go. Everything has a price, like we've said. And a1vip events.com for any concierge service that you need, whether it be a villa, exotic cars, tickets to events, you name it, celebrity meet and greets, he specializes in. You heard it all here at ISM's executive networking event at Ohica Castle. I mean, this was a lot of fun tonight to actually get to meet him, a whole bunch of people, sit down, talk about companies, and you know, what better setting here than the castle? So we figured let's do it. If we're gonna do it, let's do it right. And uh, no better place than Ohica. I love this place.

SPEAKER_01 12:44

Yeah, this is coming here for decades.

SPEAKER_00 12:46

Yeah, me too. I've been two two and a half decades uh, you know, uh in the entertainment business.

SPEAKER_01 12:50

You know what's crazy? I know people live in Long Island for 50 years, they don't even know about this place.

SPEAKER_00 12:54

They and that's why we're here doing this stuff because there's so many people that don't even know that this place has a restaurant in it.

SPEAKER_01 13:00

And a hotel. And a hotel.

SPEAKER_00 13:02

I slept here a couple times. Yes, I did. I was here for Valentine's Day. I stayed in a suite that I couldn't find, I could have got lost in. You could have had 60 people in like your tailgate, I could have had the tailgate in the suite. Yeah, without a doubt.

SPEAKER_01 13:13

That's nice.

SPEAKER_00 13:14

And we were in the bridal suite last week filming something. They had just filmed the night agent on Netflix in there, and the lady walks in to do a tour, and she's showing 10, 15 people. This place has tours. You can come here and get a tour of the place and the grounds and the facility. And she, I said to her when they walked out of the room, I said, I gotta just say this to you. You are amazing at what you do. Like she took them in to give them the tour in the room, and she interrupted like our video for a second or two, and we didn't care. We were so we were blown away with how she was presenting the room and what's in there. And it was just a bridal suite. Right. But me and you could go get lost in there right now. I wouldn't be able to find you. We could play tag and I couldn't find you. So this place is huge, it's pretty cool. And like you said, there's so many people here on Long Island that don't even know there's a hotel, there's a restaurant, and so many other things that go on here. So, and play in a few years, it's always been a great venue spot to have your wedding and to have parties here, which is why we're here tonight. So, ISM is taking advantage of that because this is an amazing place, great time of the year. Soon we'll be able to do some stuff outside. It's starting to warm up. It's what 70 degrees right now. The door is the door is open, it's absolutely beautiful here. So I gotta say, if there's any other social media handles anywhere you want them to go, follow you. Can they follow you on Facebook, Instagram?

SPEAKER_01 14:28

TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, A1 VIP Entertainment.

SPEAKER_00 14:31

So that's and the best place to go is probably go to the website so that you can see down below. You scroll down to the footer, and you'll see all his different links there to take you to.

SPEAKER_01 14:39

And you can follow me on all those platforms and see what I'm doing on a regular basis.

SPEAKER_00 14:43

Yes, I'm always somewhere. I see it every week. Every week I get a text message and I see his videos. He's up in a suite somewhere with celebrities doing some great stuff, and it really is awesome how you are engaged because you know you got to say that about a lot of people. They hire people, they do this, they do that. But you are really hands-on as far as the social media engagement.

SPEAKER_01 15:02

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 15:03

That you really your phone is always in your hand doing stuff wherever you are, it's really cool. So check out his social media, guys. Head on over to a1vip events.com. The phone number's there, the links to the social media. Follow John Anthony. There's nobody better. The greatest concierge that we have here in New York, I could tell you that wholeheartedly. He's awesome at what he does, and you're very passionate about it. 30 years in the business.

SPEAKER_01 15:25

Love it.

SPEAKER_00 15:26

You are absolutely amazing.

SPEAKER_01 15:28

It's a dream job for me.

SPEAKER_00 15:29

Well, it's not like working, you know. Right. It doesn't feel like work. And that's where your passion comes in. 30 years of doing this is serious. So kudos to you and congratulations for that. That's great. And uh, guys, we're gonna sign off on that. This was another great episode here at the castle. And uh Gage and John Anthony. I just want to point out one more thing. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 15:46

We just added something to our website, and there's a pickleball craze going on.

SPEAKER_00 15:51

Oh, wait a second. You're a huge pickleball player. I'm supposed to $250 racket. We got the scars to prove it right there. He's got right there. He's got the $250 racket.

SPEAKER_01 16:02

Yes, the sell Kirk. But we're doing what we're doing celebrity charity pickleball events. So if anybody wants to do a pickleball tournament or charity event with celebrities, we bring the celebrities out, you play pickleball, we raise money.

SPEAKER_00 16:17

Celebrity charity pickleball events. I mean, that's a tongue twister all on its own, but you just blew it. So can they see that at one V IP event?

SPEAKER_01 16:28

Do that any city, anywhere. Get out of here. Any city.

SPEAKER_00 16:31

So you can cruise out to California, doing San Diego, it's no big deal. Done.

SPEAKER_01 16:35

Yeah, done. Well, just don't call me for the winter shows up in Minnesota or Chicago or Notre Dame.

SPEAKER_00 16:42

It's a little too cold up there for me. He likes tropical, warm, exotic, and you'll see the cars and stuff in the video. It's really cool stuff that he does. It really is, guys. So go check it out at a1vip events.com. And if you're into any sort of pickleball, I'm telling you, this is the guy. We were just talking about that a little, you know, earlier in the other room. So that was pretty cool. All right, guys. Gage at ISM signing off with John Anthony. We'll see you guys soon. Thanks for tuning in. Thanks for listening to ISM Radio. Join us for our invitation only executive networking event at the legendary Ohica Castle. For more information, visit ideastreammarketing.com.