“The Horse’s Mouth with Tom McManus” is a unique talk show offering opinions and facts that come straight from the source. No gossip, no hearsay, no agendas; just topics straight from the Horse’s Mouth! His guests include top of the line, high profile figures in sports, news, entertainment, business and leaders in the community. He will tackle the hard subjects in society over a beer and laughs. Today our hosts, Tom McManus spoke with Mark “Squiggy” Digiacomo.
Mark Digiacomo
Owner of The Music Experience
Website Address: https://themusicexperience.com/
Short company description:
We are an experiential/immersive music instrument pop-up at major rock festivals that helps turn attendees into players and players into fanatics.
Transcript:
Tom:
All right. Time once again for The Horse’s Mouth here at Tommy Mac’s. Of course, at my bar, where we get return guests, we get brand new guests, and all kinds of guests and friends that join us here and get a chance to tell what they’re up to as of late, brought by our good friends at Foodies Care, helping people right here in Northeast Florida, and of course, the Daily News Network.
Tom:
Great to be a part of that show. Squiggy is back from the music experience and fresh off ShipRock, this seven day cruise rock, and from 8 a.m. in the morning to 4 a.m. in the morning. How about that? Let’s welcome Ed “Squiggy” back. How are you, my man? Good to see you. Good to see you. Are you recovered from ShipRock?
Squiggy:
I’m running on fumes.
Tom:
Man of bad.
Squiggy:
But we’ll get it going. And I’m used to it.
Tom:
Is it what year is that? Is this the first year you guys done it?
Squiggy:
Fourth year.
Tom:
Fourth year, okay.
Squiggy:
And they’ve been doing it for twelve or thirteen years.
Tom:
Okay, that’s pretty wild stuff, man.
Tom:
Yeah. And you were telling me off camera that you guys, the first band starts at 8 a.m. every morning, most mornings, and then you guys are running till 4 a.m.
Squiggy:
Yeah, man. You know, there’s a lot of what’s great about this cruise festival world, man. It’s like there’s just no downtime. Time ceases to exist. And one of the things that I realized on ShipRock, and I think you’ll appreciate this too, just kind of as a marketer, with AI and all this digital world that we’re racing towards, man, on a ship, none of that matters.
Squiggy:
It’s human connection. It’s walking by, hearing a band. It’s back to what, you know, it’s almost back to like Neanderthals of times. It was so great, man.
Tom:
And the fans really get to be with the band and right there. I mean, I’m sure they can’t meet every single fan, but they at least feel like they’re right there.
Squiggy:
All the bands are walking around, eating meals with everybody. For somebody like me who’s big in experiential marketing, it’s full immersion. It’s full immersion into rock.
Tom:
Okay, so what setup did you bring and where did you put it on the ship? Where were you guys set up from a business standpoint?
Squiggy:
So we took over what was called the Havana Club. We had our own stage. We had a hallway with our big picture of our Lord and Savior, Ozzy, right when you walk down. We had guitars lined from all the brands that were on there. Probably about forty or fifty guitars going down the hallway.
Squiggy:
Then it opened up to a stage, and we had these crazy jam sessions with all the artists.
Tom:
That is awesome. And the fans could come in and watch and listen.
Squiggy:
Yeah, we did Q&A, artist interviews, and we had a launch party for Marcos and POD’s signature guitar. It was awesome.
Tom:
Speaking of Ozzy, did you see the Post Malone performance?
Squiggy:
Duff McKagan, Slash, and the drummer from Red Hot Chili Peppers, Chad Smith.
Tom:
Yeah, they did “War Pigs” by Black Sabbath at the Grammys. That was awesome.
Squiggy:
People want to hate Post Malone, but he’s fantastic. In every genre. And I believe him when he’s singing. I’m in.
Tom:
You can tell it was heartfelt. He was giving a tribute.
Squiggy:
Yeah, I bought it. I was all in.
Tom:
I don’t know if I told you this last time, but I met Slash when I was playing with the Jags in Vegas. Got to talk to him for about ten minutes.
Squiggy:
I went up to him at a Rolling Stones concert at the MGM Grand. I tapped him in. His bodyguard stood up like a mountain of a man, but Slash turned around and was so cool. I had my knee brace on from tearing my ACL, and he said, “Oh, that’s a drag.”
Tom:
That’s like fake Slash voice. Epic.
Tom:
So how many bands performed on ShipRock?
Squiggy:
Probably twenty. Their deal was play twice a day for seven days.
Squiggy:
We also do this thing called The Stowaways. It’s separate from the bands. About thirty people from different bands doing cover sets. It’s awesome.
Tom:
So are you coming down to Welcome to Rockville?
Squiggy:
It’s usually in May. ShipRock takes over a venue, but Welcome to Rockville, we’re about six thousand square feet. It’s just noise, man.
Tom:
That’s crazy. I’m glad you made it back safe.
Squiggy:
We need to get you down to Rockville.
Tom:
If you say let’s go, I’m in.
Squiggy:
It’s on record.
Tom:
And make sure you check out Squiggy at The Music Experience. You can find this conversation and so many others at DailyNewsNetwork.com. Until next time, be safe, stay cool, and maybe we’ll see you at Welcome to Rockville right here on The Horse’s Mouth.
Squiggy:
Cheers.
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