Podcast appearances and mentions of brad barker

Join us for part two of the strangest story we've told thus far.The 1990s launch with a particularly charming story about jet packs, The Rocketeer. But then Kinnie Gibson, Brad Barker, Larry Stanley and Bill Suitor return to pick up a story that involves assault, murder, kidnapping and a giant flying beer can.Strap in! And remember, when the helmet vibrates, you only have 14 seconds to find a place to land!============================================================Notes:Rondo Hatten - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rondo_HattonThe RB 2000 - http://www.inventordoug.com/07RocketBelt/Rocket02.htmJaxxon - https://screenrant.com/star-wars-jaxxon-special-ewoks-mignola-cover/Thanks for listening!We'd love it if you would give us a cheeky little review on your podcast platform of choice. They're really helpful.Come visit our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/1511094196139406 or drop us a note to comments@lowdown-plus-up.com and let us know any questions or comments about how YOU would like to plus-something-up! We are a Boardwalk Times production.Boardwalk Times, https://boardwalktimes.net/Boardwalk Times store, https://boardwalktimes.store .

This week we sit down with Lizard Skin founder, Brian Fruit to learn the original story of the brand founded in 1993. From cycling bar tape and accessories now to baseball, hockey and lacrosse, the brand has had an interesting journey making its products in the United States. Lizard Skins Episode Sponsor: Hammerhead Karoo 2 (code: TheGravelRide for free HRM strap) Support the Podcast Join The Ridership  Automated Transcription, please excuse the typos: Lizard Skins [00:00:00] Craig Dalton: Hello, and welcome to the gravel ride podcast, where we go deep on the sport of gravel cycling through in-depth interviews with product designers, event organizers and athletes. Who are pioneering the sport I'm your host, Craig Dalton, a lifelong cyclist who discovered gravel cycling back in 2016 and made all the mistakes you don't need to make. I approach each episode as a beginner down, unlock all the knowledge you need to become a great gravel cyclist. This week on the show. We welcome Brian fruit, the founder of lizard skins. Was there a skin spin part of the cycling industry since 1993. It's been quite an incredible journey for the company. Y'all know how much I love the business side stories behind the brands we know and love. So I was super excited to get into it with Brian and just learn more about the journey. With respect to their bar tape. What I find is interesting is that the material they have is definitely. Sort of on the gummy air side and you'll hear Brian, describe a bit about that product. But also it's worth noting. They offer four different sizes of kind of the diameter. Of the bar tape, which really changes the feel you can go from super thin. I E a lot of bar feel all the way out to kind of pair Ruby style, super cush. Which I think is an interesting option that you don't see across the board. A lot of times when you go into your local bike shop, You see only one diameter tape that's available. So it's an interesting thing to play around with and something I've enjoyed while testing out some of the lizard skin tape. Just before we jump in, I need to thank this week sponsor the hammerhead crew to. I am literally in Spain as you're listening to this, I'm recording this intro just before I'm boarding my flight and definitely thinking about all the adventures I'm going to have on the roads of Jarana. I thought about borrowing a computer from the group that I'm going with, but it was from another brand that I had a little bit of a bad experience with back way back when. I've come to love many things about my hammerhead computer. And I am convinced it's the most advanced GPS cycling computer available today. It's got industry leading mapping navigation and routing capabilities that set it apart from other GPS options. Free global maps with points of interest included like cafes and campsites. Mean that my riding in Gerona. I won't be without information. I'll have everything at my fingertips. As I'm saying all this, I'm literally reminding myself that I should go download the country maps. So I've got everything on hand. In my hammerhead crew to device. Hammerhead gives bi-weekly software updates. So the features are always up to date. And they're always listening. You can provide feedback to the team in hammerhead and potentially it's going to end up in a software update. You're not locked to a particular software package because they're always upgrading it. I really look for the climber feature. That's one of my favorite features these days. It was particularly poignant for me when I was riding in, uh, Bentonville Arkansas, a few weeks back at the big sugar gravel event, all those punchy climbs. I was really on the limit. I'm much more of a sit and grind on the coastal range here in California. So this punchy climbs or something I wasn't used to. So understanding exactly how far I was to the top and how many candles I could burn staying with the groups I was desperate to stay with really came in handy. So very much recommend the hammerhead crew to it's my exclusive computer. For gosh, probably over a year now. I'm not the only one singing its praises. It was named bicycling magazines, editors choice in GPS, cycling computers. For the past two years. Take a look on their websites for a limited time offer our listeners can get a free heart rate monitor with the purchase of a hammerhead crew to just visit hammerhead IO right now, and use the promo code, the gravel ride at checkout to get yours today. Remember it's an exclusive limited time offer for our podcast listeners. So don't forget that promo code, the gravel ride for that free heart rate monitor strap. Would that business behind us, let's jump right into my conversation with Brian. Hey Brian, welcome to the show. [00:04:27] Brian Fruit: Awesome. Super glad to be beyond today. [00:04:30] Craig Dalton: Yeah. I'm excited to dig into Lizard Skins a little bit, but I'd love to start out, as we always do, by a little bit about your history and how you ultimately got into cycling, and let's talk about the origin story of lizard skin. [00:04:44] Brian Fruit: Well, that's a, that's a good one. Yeah, it's been. Three decades ago now dating myself a little bit I was a college student at BYU and I got my first mountain bike. I worked, you know, most of the summer and saved up some money and got a mountain bike and, and thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed it. Not just for the awesome writing that we were able to do in the mountains. Just as a way to get around campus and commute. It was just so much more liberating than fighting the parking spots. So I just fell in love with cycling. I think I'd, you know, from a very small age, I've always loved everything with wheels on it. And then this mountain bike was, that was a revelation. So fast forward a few more years and I'm a senior about to graduate and there's a company. Called Reflex bikes. [00:05:35] Craig Dalton: I remembered them. [00:05:36] Brian Fruit: yeah, they made these cool lugged frames. You know, some of them were aluminum tubes, some of 'em were carbon tubes, and they sold to another company. Look, that makes, you know, pedals and things like that. [00:05:49] Craig Dalton: And did Reflex have some sort of Utah connection or were you just familiar? [00:05:54] Brian Fruit: they were making 'em here in Utah, [00:05:56] Craig Dalton: I, Wow, I didn't know that. I had a girlfriend who had that one of those bikes in the very early nineties. [00:06:02] Brian Fruit: Did it creak? [00:06:03] Craig Dalton: It creeped. And the one thing I remembered too about it was that there was some really challenging cable routing. So when it came time to build it up, it was like a nightmare. Getting something through the bottom bracket, I think was what I struggled with. [00:06:17] Brian Fruit: Yeah. So it was a cool bike and it had a great designer and, and he had sold the business. And, and moved over to Europe actually to, to work on design there. And, and apparently there was a, a trademark issue on the name reflex. And the people that owned it were no longer willing to allow that name to be used. And so, Look just said, I think we're just done with this, but this doesn't make sense for us to be involved with. So they decided to liquidate everything. So rims and cranks and headsets, and you name it, bottom brackets, shifters, handlebar. And, and so they sent out these postcards to all these stores, and my friend worked as a bike patrol at Sundance Ski Resort, brought the. Postcard home. And I'm like, that's kind of interesting. So I drove up there the next day and I bought $300 worth of bike parts. Didn't have any money. I was just a college student and all the way home like, Oh, what am I doing? I don't have 300 bucks is the worst decision ever. And I sold all those parts that night to just random people in the apartment complex and friends that I rode with. It's cuz there was no social media back then. This is, you know, early 90. 92, I believe. And and the next day I went up there again, like, you know, being drawn to the, you know, bike parts, like the bug to the blue light zapper, and bought like $300 of the parts again and all the way home. Like, Oh, what am I doing? This is the worst decision ever. Sold all those parts again. And that was it. You know, over the next six weeks I was buying and selling parts and I sold them to bike stores and I sold them to individuals and I, I sold about $30,000 worth of parts, made a decent amount of money on that, bought my wife a wedding ring and saved up a little money for us to get married. And, and that's kind of how how my life got started. You know, in the bike world, I just kind of fell in love with the whole, the whole scene and, and not the people, but even like the smells when you walk into a bike store, I just like the smell of a bike store. It just, I know that sounds weird, but it just feels right in bike stores. I, even, when I'm on vacation, I like to go try to find a bike store to pop my head in and look around, so, [00:08:49] Craig Dalton: What an, that's an amazing kind of origin story, and I love the name dropping of reflex. It brings back very, very fond memories for me. So did you continue sort of pursuing kind of like a distribution type business model? [00:09:04] Brian Fruit: So, that lasted for about six weeks. You know, they were selling all those parts at this big discount and that just kind of made me think, man, something in the bike industry would be really fun. And we looked at two or three ideas and, and. None of 'em actually worked out. And then a friend introduced me to another friend and that guy's name was Lance Larson. And Lance had this idea of making neoprene and Velcro accessories for bicycles and calling 'em lizard skin. and but Lance wasn't a, a writer and he wasn't really familiar with the space. So he and I connected and, and in the simplest terms, the original, you know, premise was that he would make the products and I would sell 'em. It, it didn't really work out exactly like that. There was a lot more crossing over, back and forth, but Lance and I got to work together for eight and a half years. And, and built the company from nothing. The very first month we did $350 of annual sales. [00:10:09] Craig Dalton: Do you remember what the first product was that you came out with? [00:10:12] Brian Fruit: Yeah, yeah, it was the little neoprine and Velcro chainstay protector and man, they were small back then. It was like a really small length and really small diameter. And now, you know, they make the tubes so much larger. You know, the, the old one wouldn't even fit on a bike today. [00:10:29] Craig Dalton: Yep. Yeah. If you think about those old steel tube change stays that used to wrap, they were tiny, like the, like the size of your pink. [00:10:36] Brian Fruit: Yeah, so small. Exactly. And we made all kinds of fun colors and, and we made these little headset seals that would keep the dirt and grim out of the headset. And then eventually we started making fork boots, which would keep the dirt out of the front fork because the seals back then weren't very good. And then we made a same kind of a boot for the rear shock. And eventually started making rubber injection molded grips. And then we added in some BMX products. We made BMX pad sets and BMX plates and BMX shin guards and elbow guards. And and then, you know, I bought my partner out and, and that, that took several years and there wasn't a lot of extra cash, you know, cuz. Everything just seemed to go to him to, to buy him out. And, and eventually we got that all done. And, and then we were able to really kind of move forward more dramatically because we had, you know, some money to work with. [00:11:34] Craig Dalton: Right, Right, right. Yeah, I, I think back across that period that you're describing, and I do remember those original lizard skin chain guards, but I probably, I remember more. Like the arrival of color, cuz back in the early nineties, certainly on the mountain bike scene, that was the heyday of anize parts and finding any, any way to make your bike a little bit more colorful and have a little flare to it. [00:11:59] Brian Fruit: Oh, people were putting on Coca Cranks and Cook Brothers and, and you know, Paul components and everything was purple and red and yellow and, you know, green and yeah, you could buy a, a Chris King headset and it was all Rastafari and [00:12:16] Craig Dalton: Yeah, a hundred percent. A hundred percent. So, yeah, absolutely. I mean, it was, it was like there was so much innovation going on back then in the world of mountain bikes, and I mean, I think that's what I've enjoyed about the last several years in the gravel bike world is you just see that kind of innovation. No one knows exactly what's right. The bike designers have been given a lot of freedom to design bikes that, you know, range from a road plus bike to a full on bike packing bike, and they're all in this, this quote unquote new genre of gravel cycling. [00:12:49] Brian Fruit: It is fun. I rode a friend of mine's you know, bike packing bike just earlier this week, and. It was super fun, you know, it just had a, a cool geometry to it. And, and he had, he had outfitted mountain bike breaks onto his, you know, drop bar controls, and it had some significant breaks. You know, he's a bike store guy and he figured out how to do it. It was awesome. [00:13:16] Craig Dalton: at what year did you sort of transition your business partner out and start to think really like what new products could you innovate? [00:13:24] Brian Fruit: Yeah, so I bought him out in 2001 you know, early part of 2001. And you know, we, the philosophy then was like, turn over every rock just. If nothing else to see what was under underneath. And you know, we bought different equipment to do our manufacturing with. We, we just really tightened up to try to make everything more frankly more profitable and more efficient. [00:13:50] Craig Dalton: Yeah. I meant to ask earlier, did you, at what point did you bring manufacturing in-house and what does that look like from an equipment perspective? [00:13:59] Brian Fruit: So we were making these little neoprine and Velcro accessories in the United States from day one and, and still do 30 years later. So what it takes is, I mean, we did it differently. You know, in the old days, the equipment we used wasn't very efficient. We've got. Good stuff now. And so it's a dye press with a still rule dye and then that allows you to cut the fabric out in these perfect shapes. And anybody that's working on the dye press the first day, you know, you have to make sure and tell 'em, you know, if, if you're dropping the dye or if the dye is slipping outta your hands, just let it hit the ground. Like don't try to catch it, you know, cuz it's [00:14:45] Craig Dalton: Sharp all over. Yep. [00:14:47] Brian Fruit: we can, we can fix the, we can fix the dye. It's [00:14:50] Craig Dalton: And then after you, after you're dye cutting the neo printer, are you then going into a sewing process? [00:14:57] Brian Fruit: We have really nice commercial sewing machines. We use a zigzag stitch on it and we sew that in-house with different sizes of Velcro on each side. And then kind of do some trimming to make it look. And then we package it up all, you know, done in the us. So, you know, that was a good thing and we were able to make a super high quality product and, and we sold a lot of those. Eventually a lot of the brands started adding some type of a. Chain protector or you know, chain stay guard to the bikes and it, and definitely impacted our sales. But we added these other products, you know, injection molded grips, and eventually we created a great relationship with odi where they made a. a significant line of lock on grips for us under their, under their patent and technology, but sold by us, under our name and, and to our customers. [00:15:53] Craig Dalton: With ODI manufacturing in the US as well. [00:15:56] Brian Fruit: That's correct. Yep. They're out in California actually, so, you know, it's like, double hard in the United States and California , but great product and they, they have great tooling and they could make these grips just so crisp and clean and, and the technology they have just, and still have is, is second to none. So we teamed up with them on, on lock, on grips. And then eventually we really wanted to come up with a lightweight mountain by grip that was just different. And so we checked into another industry and we made some appointments and we started visiting factories, hoping to get this lightweight grip you know, maybe for cross country racing. And, and unfortunately we weren't successful in finding, you know, that. You know, through maybe another industry. But on that trip we figured out that we found a company that could make tape for us. And it was literally my, my general manager, Brad Barker. And he and I were on this trip together, and as we were about to walk out the, the the building, the business, he kind of turned around and asked them. It was like, Hey, could you guys make tape for. And they're like, Oh yeah, we could totally do that. He says, Great. I'll, I'll, I'll be in touch. So, you know, he says, Brian, I really wanna try this. I really wanna, you know, sink my teeth into it. So, you know, he was working with the factory back and forth about nine months and making samples for handlebar tape for road bikes. The first sample was like, what, 12 or 18 inches long? And we're like, Well, this is not gonna work. And then the next sample was, you know, really long, but the product didn't stretch. Well, that's not gonna work. And so we went through rendition, after rendition after rendition, frankly, not knowing how to create the proper tech kit to speed the process along, but just trial and error and. [00:18:01] Craig Dalton: was there something in the road bike market that you felt was missing like some type of performance out of the grip that you guys saw as an opportunity? [00:18:09] Brian Fruit: Yeah, that's a great a great question. We, we did feel like that there could be something different. Most of the tape that was available at that time was the synthetic cork and you know, gets dirty and it kind of slippery and it wasn't really any. as to it or any technical, anything. So when we came out with ours, it was completely different and had a much different texture and feel. It, it actually felt softer even though it was the same thickness and way more grippy and it was cleanable. You could just take a little alcohol and a, and a clean, you know, white rag or something. You could clean it right up and, and it wasn't stained and dirty. So we ended up finding a product that was gonna work and we were really proud of, of the product we had designed. And then the factory told us how much it was gonna cost and it was like one of those, you know, stressful moments and we're like, Ugh, how's this ever gonna work? Cuz Bar Tape at that time sold for 15 to $20 for, you know, the common synthetic co. [00:19:18] Craig Dalton: Yep. [00:19:19] Brian Fruit: Ours was gonna be $35. . And so we're just like, Oh, this is gonna be tough. But everybody that touched our tape loved it. And so we're like, Well, we just gotta get people to touch it, you know? Cuz once they do, they'll love it. And that's the phrase, Touch it, feel it, love it came from [00:19:39] Craig Dalton: Yeah. I, you know, it's so, it is poignant when you put your hands on some lizard skin tape, it feels different. You know, I'm riding it on my, my bike right now and. Everything you've just described is what I've felt about it, like it feels When I'm barehanded I often ride barehanded and I, I feel much more connected to the grip because of the sort of, I dunno, stickiness is the right word, but this kind of sticky quality that I feel when riding it that's quite different than court grip. [00:20:12] Brian Fruit: Yeah, it's, it's grippy, you know, and it's from this patented, you know, technology and material that that our partner supplier created in tandem with us. And and it's just been absolutely wonderful. [00:20:28] Craig Dalton: So it's, so, it's so interesting to me as, Sorry to interrupt Brian. Just as like a business journey, you sort of realize, hey, we've got something unique here, but I can't tell you about it. You've gotta feel it and touch it to believe and see. I can imagine, like in the bike industry, that's a challenge, right? To kind of just translate that into the hands of enough people to develop a passionate following to say, I'm willing to pay this premium price for this performance now that I know about it. [00:20:59] Brian Fruit: So I happened to be on a, a family trip, and again, I love bike stores, right? So we have a distributor in Guatemala that, that was selling our product and they had a bike store. So I went and visited that store while we were on this family trip. And there was a customer that came in and he had a road bike, I think it was a tri bike actually. And the handlebar tape was all falling off and, and I just happened to hand him my handlebar sample that I had and he just fell in love with it. And he told the, the manager owner of the store there, he's like, I want this. And and we told him kind of what the price was, and that's a lot of money in Guatemala. and he's like, No, no, I want that tape. Like, so give me that tape. And, and that's kind of how it's worked. Like we pay a ton more for our tape. It's not that we make a lot of money on it. We actually have a pretty tight margin on it, but the manufacturing cost is just a lot more because of what the product is and the, the materials that are, that are used. But once you feel it, it's like, . Yeah. Yeah. I'm gonna splurge and I'm, I'm, This is what I want. [00:22:12] Craig Dalton: So are you still using the same manufacturing partner [00:22:15] Brian Fruit: We are, Yeah. And they've come up with, you know, new technology and, and you know, improvements to the polymer to make it, you know, even more grippy and even more durable. So it's been nice. You know, we did a complete redesign on the tape a couple years ago, two or three years ago now. And the new tape actually has a pattern on it. And if you looked at that pattern with like a, a jeweler's loop or a magnifying glass, you would see that the pattern is like, It, it's multi depth. So some of the little bumps are really deep, some are less deep, some are really shallow, just to maximize the feel and control on the bike you know, with, with these different dimensions into the pattern. So pretty technical. [00:23:05] Craig Dalton: Yeah. I think as as riders, we benefit from your obsession over this one little part of the bike. Say, how can we make it the best it can be? [00:23:15] Brian Fruit: I mean down that same conversation, and this is not a, This is me telling a bad story about myself. Unfortunately, not a good business story, but our plug that we had was really cool looking and was shiny and, and had the little lizard on it, but it did have a tendency to fall out. You know, if you didn't leave enough tape tucked in. So some people, it worked great and it never fell out, but other people, it fell out. So I wanted to get a new screw in plug and, and unfortunately we allowed ourselves to run out of plugs during that process. And probably lost a million dollars of sales just because we didn't. The actual plug that I wanted and I didn't want to go back to the old plug, cuz in my mind it already moved on to the new plug and the supplier for the new plug was being a Turkey and not making a for us. And, and we had to actually switch, you know, suppliers and, and but honestly now we have an amazing screw and plug which is a super simple thing and like, it shouldn't even be like a big thought, but. It probably cost me a ton of money making that transition, just cuz we didn't, we didn't wanna continue on with the old one and we didn't have our ducks in a row on the new one we thought we did. But but [00:24:32] Craig Dalton: I think anybody who's ever manufactured anything can commiserate with that story, myself included. [00:24:39] Brian Fruit: So, but now we got a great plug and the supplier's good and, and everything's, everything's functioning well. [00:24:46] Craig Dalton: You know, one of the, one of the things when you visit the lizards in skin site as a customer is that the first thing you see is an array of colors. And you're like, Great, if I wanna create some accent color, like you just have so many different unique colors available for the bar tape. But when you select your color and you get into it, you also then realize there's this secondary, probably much more important from a performance perspective, opportunity to choose your thick. Of color. For most riders, you probably buy bar tape and you don't even think about it. I don't know what the average is. Maybe it's a two and a half millimeter, but on your site you've got, I think it's 1.8 millimeter, 2.5, 3.2, and 4.6 millimeter bar tape, which is a pretty wide array. [00:25:35] Brian Fruit: So when we started this journey on making Hbar tape And we really tried to figure out what everybody else was doing and trying to get understanding. So we were out there with a micrometer trying to measure it and, and kind of the normal standard tape out there was about 2.5 millimeters, but nobody ever called that out. There was never any technical data. It was just a box and it. You know, Hbar tape with no detail. So we came out originally with the 2.5, which is still our very best seller and it's kind of the most common that you would see. But we had a request for some thinner tape, and there were some customers that said, Oh man, you know, you need to make it a little thinner. So then we came out with a 1.8 in limited colors. And, and we found that certain people in, in certain, you know, applications really like the thinner product and especially people with a little bit smaller hand because they just couldn't get their hand comfortably around, you know, this big fat bar. Big fat tape. Then we had a lot of people was like, Oh, why don't you make a thicker tape? You know? And I think they were like, Man, if you're gonna make a thinner one, why don't you make a thicker one? So then we came out with a 3.2 and you know, the packaging was bigger. Everything about the, the thing is just bigger. And people loved it. Like, man, it, it quickly became a great seller for us. Not better than the 2.5, but it was better than the one eight in fact. And so we've done real well with the three, two, and it lays down nice. And then we just had certain customers you know, wanting to do gravel rides, you know, cobbles, maybe they just have hands that hurt. You know, they have, could be an injury, just could be the way they are on the bike. But their hands just go numb and get sore. They. They wanted more cued. And so some people would like double wrap their bars. You know, but that, that has some challenges to it. So it came out with this 4.6 and it's a beast. It is a big, old fat role. But super comfortable when you get it on. It is a little harder to lay it down, you know? And. In all honesty, if you're wrapping 2.5, that's pretty easy. 3.2 takes a little more finesse and 4.6, it takes a decent amount of experience to make it lay nice and flat, but. [00:28:07] Craig Dalton: interesting to layer in those op those options for gravel cyclists. Obviously, like on this podcast we've got had lots of discussions around, you know, how do you create suspension? You start with your body, then the tires. Then grip tape's gonna play. Play a role in there. And again, for all the reasons you're just talking about, for some people, they're really taking a lot of abuse in their hands for one reason or another. Maybe they've got an injury and I, I could see having that option available to them, even if it's for a special purpose, a special event, wrapping your bars in a separate way. I remember back in the Perry Ru Bay classic days. When you're talking about people doing double wrap bar tape, everybody was consorting themselves in the prop peloton to find some way to make their bikes more comfortable. For days like Perry rba. [00:28:57] Brian Fruit: Yeah, and there's been a few different products made, you know, like, little gel packs and little foam pieces and stuff to put underneath there, and. And, and they work to some degree, but you know, the gel packs are break or they'll get kind of wiggly and the handlebar tape doesn't work well with it. And by doing this nice 4.6 and the 3.2, like, it just fits. It's just there. It's solid. You don't have to worry about a bump or a weird spot on there. And it, and it's been successful. [00:29:30] Craig Dalton: And as I understand things, you've been also getting feedback from a couple pro tour teams for the bar tape. [00:29:36] Brian Fruit: We were very fortunate to get a pro tour team to use the HA Bar tape many, many years ago. That first team was the con and this was kind of like a Forest Gump moment. But they were using our tape and one of their writers Johnny Hoer. Always being indebted to him. He was leading the polka dot jersey competition, the mountain mountain points in the tour, Frances, and it was a flat part of the beginning of the, of the tour. So ultimately he was doing breakaways and getting these points and on one of those days that he was in a breakaway, you know, getting a, a handful of mountain. A press car bumped him and another rider. And they went off the road and into a Bob wire fence. They hit that fence so hard that it actually pulled the P wood post outta the ground. And as just hardcore professionals, they got back on the bike, all cut up and dazed and, and jerseys and shorts all ripped up from the Bob wire. And, you know, their team gives 'em a push and off they go. You. At the end of the race, you know, Johnny gets off and he had been bandaged by the medical car and you know, they're trying to bandage him as he was riding his bike. So by the time he finished the race, you know, most of the bandages were falling off. It was a mess. And they interviewed him afterward and his attitude was like, this was an accident. I wished it wouldn't happened. This is gonna really mess up my opportunities at the tour, but it could have been worse. Let's move on. The other gentleman, writer that got hit had a very different take. His team was trying to find out who was responsible, who was gonna pay. It was just very bitter and, and interestingly enough, everyone fell in love with Johnny. And they started looking at his bike and once those chain rings he used and what kind of bike it was and what was his saddle and what kind of handlebar tape he used. Oh my goodness. Our handlebar tape started selling like crazy. [00:31:55] Brian: So all the distributors started having a run on the product and they ran out of, you know, lizards, skins, bar tape, and and boom. That was it. That was our four Gump moment. Handlebar tape became the most popular aftermarket tape in the world. And it was because, you know, one guy was was cool, you know, [00:32:17] Craig: And thrown into and thrown into a barb wire fence. I remember those images. [00:32:22] Brian: Oh. But you know, he just handled it right. You know, I think a lot of times in life we all have bad things that happen to us that are out of our control, but it's how we handle those things that kind of impact, you know. How we interact with the rest of the world [00:32:42] Craig: Yeah, as you remind me of that story, I remember very viscerally thinking about, gosh, this is gonna be another Primadonna roadie that has a tantrum. And I remember how you describe like the other team, the other writer. It was just this big to do and you know, who's gonna pay for this and how do we replace how he would've done throughout this tour juxtaposed to how Johnny handled it and how their team handled it. [00:33:10] Brian: Yeah, it was it was, it was pretty crazy. So, taught me, you know, a great lesson, right, of, you know, it's important to manage how we react you know, to, to potentially bad things, you know, happening to. So, you know, how we behave can really, you know, change overall how something goes down. [00:33:34] Craig: Yeah. Such, such an amazing journey and so cool that you've been able to do it using us manufacturing all this time. I love that part of the story. Before I let you go, Brian, I did wanna touch on one other thing because I think it's interesting. I mean, the gravel cyclist should go to your site and check out the different dimensions of bar tape and all those cool colors. You have great product. It definitely delivers that kind of grippiness and unique feel that we were talking about earlier. But I was also bemused to learn that you're also into several different sports, and I think the listeners would kind of dig hearing just a little bit about your journey into those other sports. [00:34:13] Brian: Y. So Hannah Bar tape was, was doing extremely well. And one of the guys from work Brad Barker that helped design the tape. Originally, he loved baseball. He had boys that were playing on baseball teams. Had another friend from college that, that gave me that little postcard for the sale at at Reflex actually. He. He was one of the guys that helped me feed my mountain bike passion. He had three boys that loved baseball and they were all putting this tape on baseball bats, bicycle tape on baseball bats. So it, it, it was like, Huh, is there something there? So we started making two thicknesses of baseball grip. We made a 1.1. Which is kind of the traditional thickness for baseball. And we made a 1.8, which is a little thicker. You know, think of the 3.2 in cycling, that kind of thing. And we put it out there. We won best of show for the first trade show we went to, and, and you know, nothing really happened. But when we sold the stuff into a store, it, it, it did. . So we figured out, it's like, well, we just have to increase the amount of stores. So we eventually got a bunch of stores selling it, and then there was a local probe by the name of John Buck. He connected up with us and wanted to go to a trade show and we said, That'd be great. You can share our booth and you can show your product in our booth and it, and it'll be fun. So we start that and at that show, . He brings his bats and we wrap 'em for him. And the whole time he's like feeling the bat, you know, while talking to customers about his products. And at the end of the show he's like, you know, if you made this thinner, I would use it in the pros and I would get other people to use it in the pros and I think have something. So Brad came back from that show and we talked and he says, this is, this is the convers. and we both looked at each other like 130 years of history with people using like sticky stuff, pine tar on baseball bats. Like, how in the world are we gonna change that tradition? Like, that's never gonna happen. And they were like, Yeah, probably not. And they were like, What? What should we do? And we both agreed it's a pro player, we should probably make it. So we did, we made a, a thinner version, one or a 0.5, really, really. and John started using it. Hunter Penn started using it. Big Poppy started using it like, you know, Miguel Cabret, I mean, just tons of these great players and they were sluggers and and eventually we got invited to go to the Equipment Manager show for Major League Baseball, which then led to us getting a license of Major League Baseball where we became the official bat grip on field license. for Major League Baseball and, and it was amazing and our sales grew, grew, grew, which allowed us to hire more people and get into a bigger, you know, better facility and you know, hire more designers and then continue to make more products and and grow the company. [00:37:33] Craig: Yeah, cuz now you're in baseball, hockey, lacrosse as well as cycling. [00:37:39] Brian: and recently we just added pickle. [00:37:42] Craig: Of course, the rise of pickleball, that is the moment in time we're in [00:37:48] Brian: So it and each of these sports, the product is different. So we're not just repackaging, we're actually redesigning the product each time. So you know how long it needs to be, what's the thickness, what type of a backing do we use? For cycling, we use an EVA backing, but for baseball we use afil. [00:38:09] Craig: Yeah. [00:38:10] Brian: you know, different patterns and the gripping qualities on the patterns are very different. So, we've, we've replicated ourself effectively in all these different sports. [00:38:23] Craig: When you, when you think about the business now, what percentage is cycling versus everything else? [00:38:29] Brian: Wow. I mean, in 2020, you know, there was a surge and cycling was the biggest part of the. 2021, it was still great. 2022. You know, cycling sales have, have slowed a little bit because there's a lot of inventory that's been shipped out there. So baseball is now the biggest part of the, of the business. Cycling is second, and then hockey would be third. [00:38:52] Craig: Gotcha. [00:38:53] Brian: So, [00:38:55] Craig: Yeah, super interesting story. Totally appreciate you sharing the journey with me. I enjoyed the conversation. [00:39:02] Brian: Oh, you bet. It, it's been a lot of fun. You know, I look back I, I wouldn't have wanted to go a different route, you know, I've loved the cycling industry and I actually started lizard scans and then several years later I, I started a bike store and then a couple years later I bought another bike store and, and I still have those bike stores. They're, they're great. I love 'em. And, and it, it just, it feels like walking into the Cheers bar, you know, from, from that sitcom. So when you go in the bike store, that's what it feels like, you know, it's just like, it, it's just, it's another home, right? [00:39:42] Craig: absolutely. Yeah. We all, I I hope that many of the listeners out there have that kind of relationship with their local bike shop, cuz I certainly do in my town. I love going there, I love seeing all the team that works there and, and just saying hi and having that familiar, you know, love of the sport that you can share. [00:40:00] Brian: Yeah, it's just, you know, fun getting to have friends continue to come in and get to see 'em. I mean, it's almost like a little mini fan family reunion, like every day that you go in the store. So [00:40:12] Craig: Yeah, absolutely. Well, have a great weekend, Brian, and we'll talk again soon. [00:40:17] Brian: appreciate it. Take. [00:40:19] Craig Dalton: That's going to do it for this week's edition of the gravel ride podcast. Big, thanks to Brian from lizard skin for joining I hope you enjoyed learning a little bit about his journey and are intrigued by some of the other product categories that they've found themselves in over the years. Definitely go check them out@lizardskins.com. Uh, as I mentioned earlier, that bar tape's been, it's been interesting trying out the different diameters. I'm still in the 2.4 camp, But I am curious about that 1.8 thickness bar tape as well. If you're interested in connecting with me, please join the ridership. That's w w w dot the ridership.com. That's a free global cycling community. It's hosted on slack. So it's basically a slack channel that you can communicate with other gravel, cyclists. From all around the world. If you're able to support the show, please visit buy me a coffee.com/the gravel ride. Or ratings and reviews are hugely appreciated until next time. Here's the finding some dirt under your wheels

This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I'm here with your update for Saturday, February 26th and Sunday, February 27th. The last weekend in February will end with high temperatures above freezing. According to the National Weather Service, it will be sunny with a high near 38 degrees Saturday. Wind gusts of up to 25 mph could cause some patchy blowing snow between noon and 4 p.m. The wind will calm by Saturday night, with a low around 22 degrees. On Sunday there will again be a high of 38 degrees, but with sunny skies and a calm wind. On Sunday night it will be mostly clear, with a low around 20 degrees. The forecast for the coming week has highs above 40 degrees, with some days creeping toward 50 degrees. Milt Dakovich, an Iowa State University graduate and longtime member of Iowa's Board of Regents, died this week, board President Michael Richards announced Friday. Dakovich, who lived in Waterloo, was 67. Although Richards didn't share details of Dakovich's death, he praised his fellow regent as a “wonderful man.” Former Gov. Terry Branstad appointed Dakovich to the board on June 3, 2013, and he was reappointed March 1, 2019, by Gov. Kim Reynolds. His term was set to expire April 30, 2025. He was the longest serving current regent. The trial for a University of Iowa student charged with killing his parents and sister in Cedar Rapids will be bumped, possibly after the year anniversary of the fatal shootings, and may be moved to another county. Lawyers for https://www.thegazette.com/crime-courts/trial-reset-to-april-for-21-year-old-charged-with-killing-parents-sister-in-cedar-rapids/ (Alexander Jackson, 21, )during a status hearing Friday, told 6th Judicial District Chief Judge Lars Anderson that the previously set trial date of April 5 wasn't possible because they just recently received all the discovery from the prosecution and needed to schedule depositions. Jackson waived his right to appear and did not attend the hearing. He has not attended any pretrial hearings since being charged. Tyler Johnston, one of Jackson's lawyers, said they also would be filing for a change of venue and would file a one-year waiver — meaning Jackson waives his right to have a trial within a year of the June 15, 2021, triple homicide. NextEra has officially submitted its application to Linn County for its Duane Arnold Solar project in Palo. The Florida-based company submitted its application to the county on Thursday for the two-phase project respectively called Duane Arnold Solar I and II. The county https://www.linncountyiowa.gov/1644/Applications (published the applications on its website) Friday. The county process for this project will be the same as it was for the Clenera Coggon Solar project. It will have to go through a technical review committee meeting, a planning and zoning meeting and three Board of Supervisors readings. Ultimately, the supervisors have the final say on whether a project passes on the county level. If approved by the county and state, the project would begin operation by the end of 2024. By locating the project at the site of the former Duane Arnold nuclear power plant, Alliant can use the already existing power transmission infrastructure to add the solar power to the grid. Iowa City's Wednesday evening farmers market is canceled “for at least the 2022 season.” Brad Barker, the city's recreation superintendent, said he sent word Thursday afternoon to all vendors informing them of the decision. Vendors were asked to register and commit to the 2022 season by Feb. 15. A total of 15 full-season vendors were needed but only 11 registered. The Saturday farmers markets will continue as planned.  Be sure to subscribe to The Gazette Daily news podcast, or just tell your Amazon Alexa enabled device to “enable The Gazette Daily News skill" so you can get your daily briefing by simply saying “Alexa, what's the news? If you prefer podcasts, you can also find us on iTunes or...

This American radio drama series was based on the popular comic strip "Little Orphan Annie". It began on Chicago's WGN in 1930... moved to NBC radio's Blue Network on April 6, 1931 and aired until April 26, 1942. There was another radio series for children called "Skippy" (1932-32) but Little Orphan Annie is viewed as the oldest US children's radio program. There were originally two casts... one west coast starred Floy Margaret Hughes as Annie and the other in Chicago starring Shirley Bell as Annie. When coast-to-coast networking was established in 1933, the Chicago cast became the permanent one. Ovaltine was the initial sponsor... in 1940 Quaker Puffed Wheat Sparkies became the show's sponsor. SHow was known for its premiums related to the sponsor... secret decoders, shake-up mugs, decoder rings, pins, badges... membership in the Secret Society. Commercials were sometimes 3 mins long as they were hawking the premiums and how to get them. Sandy, the dog, was played by Brad Barker... the benefit of radio... if you could sound like a dog, to the listeners, you were a dog! The theme song was sung by announcer Pierre Andre, as "Uncle Andy." The organist was Leonard Salvo. The opening song was memorized and sung by millions of children... it was as popular as the show itself. In 1990 the show was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame. Very few recordings of the show survive... The Internet Archive has 38 15-minute recordings out of thousands of episodes. This track is living in "Little Orphan Annie" Playlist, which is not very long, but we keep trying to find more... Thanks for listening.

Our guest's name is Brad Barker. Brad is the director of education at career education systems.  Lettiann and Brad Barker talk about: ➜ Where business is based for real estate license. ➜ Type of classes for pre-license course at career education systems ➜ For how long & why is there inventory shortage in real estate market? ➜ How you can get and renew your real estate license? Follow and connect with us here for more cool stuff: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lettiann_realestate/ Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/lettiannandassociates/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/lettiann1 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lettiannmogentalebetts/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- For any questions about Real Estate, please don't hesitate to contact me personally. Best Regards, Lettiann Southerland https://www.lettiann.com/ 816-898-5477 lettiann@lettiann.com PS - I also have a Real Estate Training Success Program you can join where I teach, coach and mentor you on how to become a successful professional real estate agent. Click the link below for more information and sign up today! https://real-estate-success.thinkific.com/courses/real-estate-training-success-program 

Lettiann asks Brad Braker from Career Education Systems: "Why is it so easy for someone to get a real estate license?" Brad Barker has been in the education of real estate agents for over 35 years. Listen as he explains the simplicity of becoming a licensed real estate sales person and eventually a broker. There's a lot of work for real estate agents. It's not an "easy" career. You have to have a lot of discipline and determination to be successful. It's one of the most difficult businesses because of all the work involved. Realtors do so much behind the scenes the buyer and seller has no idea all the elements involved to have a successful home sales process. They also talk about how someone can find a good agent. They discuss continuing education for real state agents and why education is so important not just for the agent, but for home buyers who are unfamiliar with the home buying process. "Real Estate U with Lettiann" - Season 2. Episode 12.Feel free to reach out to Lettiann with questions or comments:Lettiann@Lettiann.com816-898-5477https://Lettiann.com

Lettiann and Brad Barker from Career Education Systems talk about getting a real estate license. How has the real estate business changed over the years? You can take classes in person or online, technology has made things much easier. Who should get it? Should you get it? If so, how do you go about getting a real estate license? They discuss the state requirements and procedures for getting licensed. Brad breaks it down on how to get a salesperson's real estate license in Missouri or Kansas and beyond."Real Estate U with Lettiann" - Season 2. Episode 11.Feel free to reach out to Lettiann with questions or comments:Lettiann@Lettiann.com816-898-5477https://Lettiann.com

I've never met Brad in person, but we've known each other via the internet for quite some time. There wasn't much of a plan going into this episode and it really turned into a recorded hangout session where we chatted about plenty of things from video games to the Thrasher BMX Jihad article to social media. This isn't extremely focused and has some serious issues with syncing the audio to the Skype call which I will hopefully get fixed out better on future episodes if Skype is used. Regardless, there's some interesting discussion and we had a good time. Feel free to drop a comment with feedback and any other suggestions for us, especially if it can help me out with the Skype audio. Thanks for listening and hit us on the socials at @grindworks_bmx on Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat; and @grindworksbmx on Facebook, Mixer, Tik Tok, YouTube, and here on Anchor. Don't forget to like the video and subscribe to the Channel! www.grindworksbmx.com Links: 420 Grinds Edit referenced within: https://vimeo.com/214113805 BMX Jihad (not original article): https://www.rotorburn.com/forums/index.php?threads/bmx-jihad.6111/

When we left off in Part 1 of the story of the Jetpack Murder, Brad Barker and Larry Stanley, once bitter enemies, had decided to work together alongside Brad's buddy, Joe Wright.  The three men had big plans to build a new and improved rocketbelt and become rich & famous off it.  Things didn't quite go as planned... Join us for Part 2 of this story where an absurd obsession with a jetpack named "Pretty Bird" leaves behind a trail of violence, murder, and total chaos! Source: "The Rocketbelt Caper: A True Tale of Invention, Obsession, and Murder" by Paul Brown --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/middleagedandmediocre/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/middleagedandmediocre/support

Mike chats with Brad Barker from The Pursuit of Happiness and JAZZ.FM91.

  If you're travelling to or live in the United States, and you're looking for a long distance motorcycle adventure utilizing mainly back roads and trails, the Trans-America Trail may be just what you're looking for. On the website, it says that dual-sport motorcycle is required for the more challenging sections, and the best time to do the entire trail is probably late June in to early September, to avoid snow in some of the states. The TAT maps and roll charts have been designed to ride only from East to West, no matter where your starting point is. Fuel stops are fairly regular, motel locations are marked on the maps, and if you're camping you might want to do your research ahead of time if using a roll chart, as they're not marked on there. A GPS is not required to do the TAT, as the roll chart is used with your odometer, but the GPS is a great back up. Make sure you plan well in advance, as you'll have to purchase your maps and roll charts on the TAT website, and allow enough time for delivery. While waiting for it all to arrive, you can start packing and making travel arrangements. In this week's episode we talk to British rally racer, Jenny Morgan and Brad Barker, from The Ride of my Life. Jenny rode the TAT a couple of times, first on a Yamaha Tenere 660 and then the CBX500 with the Rally Raid package. When we spoke to Brad, he was riding the TAT and offering a challenge to The Ride of My Life followers, which include some prizes.  Trans-America Trail: www.transamtrail.com Jenny Morgan:  Jenny Morgan is a British rally racer who rode the Trans America Trail (TAT) on a 50 day trip, covering more than 12,000 miles from the west to east coast and back again on the Trans-America Trail. Website: www.jennydakar.com ADV Rider Forum: http://advrider.com/index.php?threads/trans-am-500-the-seven-year-itch.1061450/ Brad Barker: Brad Barker is the producer of The Ride of My Life YouTube videos and website, with the goal of discovering the good stuff, exploring and riding to different places in the world, and to impact lives in a positive way.  Website: www.therideofmylife.net Show Sponsors: Max BMW BestRest Products Green Chile Adventure Gear Motobriiz IMS Products MotoBird Adventures Music by Jason Shaw at www.audionautix.com Music: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music  

Mary McGee - Legendary Motorcycle Racer Mary McGee is truly an inspirational rider, who has paved the way for many women competitors and riders alike. She started out racing cars in the 1950’s and then got in to motorcycle road racing, enduro, motocross and finally vintage racing in the 2000’s. She started racing long before it was acceptable for women, racing against men simply because there weren’t any women’s classes in racing. And when Mary received the FIM Woman Legend in 2012, she finally decided to get her street riding license, and signed up for a basic motorcycle riding class! Mary turns 80 years old this year, and when you hear her voice in this interview, she just doesn’t sound like your average octogenarian. She’s witty, spry and just sounds way younger than her years. It must be motorcycling that keeps her young, and if that’s the case, then we should all be doing it. Bravo Mary! You are one of our greatest mentors! Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mary.mcgee.3745?ref=br_rs Brad Barker - Operation Ecuador Brad is the producer of The Ride of My Life videos and website, with the goal of discovering the good stuff, exploring and riding to different places in the world, and to impact lives in a positive way. In April 2016, the people of Ecuador were struck by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake and are still in desperate need of aid. Brad went down to Ecuador and helped a local motorcycle club distribute some supplies to the victims. Brad Barker is planning Operation Ecuador, and is gathering donations of money and supplies to deliver to Ecuador. In partnership with RawHyde, the Coalition of Hope Foundation and the local Ecuador motorcycle club, the Brosters, he is taking a relief shipment down when the containers are full. They are seeking financial and good donations, as well as asking for help to unload and distribute goods. If you would like to help in any of these ways, check out Brad’s website. Website: www.therideofmylife.net Brought to You By: Max BMW Motorcycles Shop our Online Store featuring parts diagrams for every BMW model. Ordering parts and accessories has never been easier. Choose your bike, look at the diagrams and place your order. We have over 45,000 parts in-stock and our Parts Express team processes and ships orders six days a week via UPS, FedEx and USPS. www.maxbmw.com BestRest Products Home of the CyclePump Tire Inflator, TireIron BeadBrakR, EZAir Tire Gauge, and other adventure motorcycle gear.  When you’re on the road you’ll want a compact and reliable method of tire inflation.  The CyclePump runs off your bike’s electrical system and it’ll fill a flat tire in less than 3 minutes.   It’s made in the USA and it comes with a 5-year warranty.  BestRest also makes tire changing and tire repair kits that are small enough to fit in your saddlebag.  The crew at BestRest are adventure riders themselves, so they know what you’ll need when you’re exploring the world. www.CyclePump.com AerostichThe best way to ride more is to make riding your easiest, fastest way to get from A to B…simple everyday commuting and errands, long-distance adventure riding, or whatever. For 33 years Aerostich has been designing, making and selling equipment that makes riding anywhere, in all-weather – easier, safer, more comfortable and more fun. No other riders’ gear offers the proven protection, precise fit or lifelong value of an Aerostich. Prove it to yourself with the Ride-More Guarantee. If you try any Aerostich one piece R-3 or Roadcrafter Classic suit for one month, and are not riding more than you did before receiving it, send it back and you will receive a full refund, no questions asked. For complete details and to view all of the available equipment for riders, and for a 10% discount on your first Aerostich purchase, or free shipping on the next order for existing customers, visit www.aerostich.com/arr. Giant Loop A rider owned company born from a desire to carry camping gear on enduro bikes into the demanding, rugged high desert country of eastern Oregon.  Giant Loop is the exclusive North American importer for Rally Raid Products Honda CB500 kits, parts and accessories.  Giant Loop offers adventure proof packing systems, modular customizable bags and gear for small enduro bikes to adventure touring machines. Choose the individual components to carry the gear you need on the bike you ride. “The best hard-core saddlebag and tank-bag solution we’ve found…” - Cycle World Magazine, Nov 2015. Proven by adventure riders on every continent but Antarctica.  Get free shipping in the USA with promo code: ARR.  www.giantloopmoto.com Green Chile Adventure GearOffering American made heavy-duty, innovative motorcycle luggage systems for all types of motorcycles. Tested in extreme weather conditions and terrain to withstand any abuse you can throw at it on your adventure rides.  To complement riders’ needs they are also the exclusive USA distributor of Outback Motortek, a Canadian company specializing in adventure and touring motorcycle protective accessories. Outback Motortek offers ultimate and essential protection for your adventure bike. These accessories could be your best investment to save you from replacing your damaged bike with the ever-expensive factory parts. Available at www.GreenChileAdv.com.

Jeramie Velarde joins me again on this episode of the podcast to talk about his upcoming Cre801 music/art show fundraiser event. This time Jeramie brought along Brad Barker from Victims Willing to join us for the conversation. We talk about the artists, and the music that will be at the fundraiser. Jeramie shares what the event is raising money for, a three year old boy in Salt Lake City with Leukemia. Brad Barker shares the story about how Victims Willing started in 1980 and what the punk rock scene was like in Salt Lake City during the 80's. I play a track from Victims Willing and Tough Tittie on this episode as well. You can find all of the episodes of the podcast at www.iamsaltlake.com It is also available on iTunes, Stitcher Radio, and the Mediocre Radio Network. Connect with me on Facebook.com/IamSaltLake or on twitter.com/iamsaltlake Call the voicemail (385)202-5926 with upcoming events, feedback, what you love about Salt Lake City, or just to say hello. Please share with your family and friends! Thanks for the support! 

Guests this hour include - Brad Barker (The H.A.L.O. Corp) and Tim Graham (Newsbusters) Mark Larson starts the hour continuing on about the Padre's win over the Dodgers last night. Brad Barker is back again, this time to talk about emergency responders and how intelligence needs to be more inter-agency. Tomorrow is the BIG *A Day with KCBQ event. And we'll round out the hour with Tim Graham talking about how the National media often ignores major stories that are happening in the country. CLICK and LISTEN to The Mark Larson Show!

The economic crisis hits everyone worldwide, even those involved in organized crime. With the chaos, kidnapping and human trafficking rise, as well as the threat on national security. Additionally, there is a need for humanitarian aid in areas hit by disasters. Jason Hartman interviews HALO Corporation President and Founder, Brad Barker, about how his company assists people in need during crisis events. Brad explains many of the global threats and defines risk assessment. As he states, “There are situations where you can't control the uncontrollable and you just need to be able to cope.” In addition to providing safety, security, and improving force protection, HALO offers training, called Stress Inoculation, for such situations. He discusses clean water, protection, communication and other needs in serious situations. For more details, listen at:  www.HolisticSurvival.com. HALO Corporation was also founded by former Special Operations, National Security, and Intelligence personnel. Brad Barker leads a team of global experts in the fields of crisis management, humanitarian aid, national security, executive protection, technology and curriculum development for Homeland Security and other agencies. Mr. Barker began his service to the United States Government as a member of a Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Relief (HADR) team deployed to Hurricane Katrina. Now the HALO Corporation has three divisions – Operations division, Science and Technology, and Training and Education. Through these divisions, they support the US Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, and the Department of Defense, as well as several corporate and private sector clients. The HALO Corporation has an emphasis on counter terrorism, risk management and threat mitigation. Brad Barker has hosted “Kidnap & Rescue” on the Discovery Channel and was the executive producer and host of “Between the Lines – A History of Cocaine.” He has been a speaker at many summits and a contributing author of National Security Threats in Cyber Space, From Gun Violence to Civic Health – Case Study on Gun Violence in Chicago, and Contemporary Piracy: Consequences and Cure.

Guests this hour include - Claire Berlinski (author) and Brad Barker (The H.A.L.O. Corp.) Claire Berliski joins Mark right out of the shoot to remember the GREATNESS that is Lady Thatcher. Plus there's a little Cyprus news. The tension builds with the Dodgers/Padres home opener in San Diego. There's a NEW H.A.L.O. conference in SD on human trafficking. Brad Barker stops by from the corp. to fill us in on The Mark Larson Show!

Mark highlights Commander Kirk Lippold from yesterday's show with the 12 year anniversary of the attack on the U.S.S. Cole. Brad Barker from H.A.L.O. and Eric Frost from S.D.S.U talk with Mark about a possible cyber attack on the U.S. and how it would bring us to our knees! This convention helps agencies prepare and fight off such an attack!

The counter-terrorism-summit is coming up and Brad Barker from HALO and Bruce Churchill join Mark to talk about it. Our own Afghanistan travel agent Ollie North calls direct from the middle east to talk about *Green on Blue* over-exaggeration, Obama time tables and secrets, and the Taliban! CLICK and LISTEN this Monday to The Mark Larson Show!

More about the HALO summit in San Diego from Brad Barker. Helping prepare American defense. Dr. Jim Davies from The Davies Eye Center to help us all see a little clear in our vision AND what us Al Gore's excuse for why President Obama did so badly in the last Presidential debate? Enjoy the laughter and the answer. It's Friday, on The Mark Larson Show!

More on the counter-terrorism-summit in San Diego this month from Brad Barker and The HALO corporation. And from Advocates of Faith and Freedom, Bob Tyler with a Prop 8 UPDATE. Will the Supreme Court of the land decide to take the case? CLICK and LISTEN to find out...

Mark doesn't want the baseball season to end, and Noah has nothing to say about the Dodger's outcome in the game against the Padres last night. Their season is tanking! Highlights from Brad Barker's last appearance on the show speaking about the counter-terrorism-summit coming to San Diego from The HALO corporation, and what to expect to go *BOOM*! Sandy Rios is angry about how Obama has done a GREAT job shifting the country in many ways over to the left. Shifting through a Wednesday, it's The Mark Larson Show!

Brad Barker highlights the counter-terrorism summit coming to San Diego in October from HALO Corporation. It looks like our President finally had to answer REAL life questions. No softballs from UNIVISION. SNL is election ready and jabs more at Governor Romney. CLICK AND LISTEN on this Friday!

Ruben Barrales CEO of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce joins the show again, this hour to discuss more about the San Diego economy! Brad Barker is the president and founder of the HALO Corporation and has an update on things happening at the counter-terrorism summit coming to San Diego in October! And James Hirsen on Hollywood, becomes Hirsen on *Romney*. And what is the mysterious celebrity power on the side of THE Obama! It's ALMOST Friday, CLICK and LISTEN to Mark Larson, now!

Mark opens the show talking about the Arab Spring. And has it indeed been a blossoming one? Brad Barker, President of HALO Corp. joins the show again to talk about the counter-terrorism summit going on in San Diego this weekend. And we got Dinesh D'Souza back because The White House doesn't like the fact that he's bringing so much truth to light about President Obama. His movie *2016; Obama's America* continues to expand to more and more screens across the nation. CLICK and LISTEN as Mark Larson kicks of this Thursday edition of the show.

September 11th, Remembered...Oliver North gives his count of that fateful morning. It's not the same today as it was yesterday, BUT still important. More audio from Bob Holiday's *9-11 Silent Night* masterpiece that captures the spirit of what should NEVER be forgotten. Brad Barker talks about the upcoming HALO Counter Terrorism Summit coming to San Diego. 9-11-01 WILL NOT BE FORGOTTEN. God Bless those that perished that morning, and their grieving families...

What can you do if a loved one was kidnapped and the government couldn't help? The Halo Corp is a group of ex-Military commando's that specialize in rescuing and recovering of people in very dangerous circumstances. We invited Brad Barker, the CEO of The Halo Corp onto the podcast to discuss how they use Social Engineering. Release Date December 12 2011 Download Standard Podcasts [...]

The Ford Theatre. January 11, 1948. NBC net. "Storm In A Teacup". Sponsored by: Ford. A fine comedy about a small-town journalist who tackles the town's pompous mayor, running for re-election. Arthur Kohl, Howard Lindsay (host), Kenneth Banghart (announcer), Brad Barker, Geoffrey Bryant, Gene Leonard, Amzie Strickland, Frank Behrens, Sanford Bickart, Eva Condon, Karl Swenson, Wendell Holmes, Jackson Beck, Art Carney, Les Tremayne, Adelaide Klein, Carl Eastman, Dan Ocko, Ted Osborne.

The Ford Theatre. January 4, 1948. NBC net. "The Adventures Of A Bad Boy". Sponsored by: Ford. A fine murder mystery, deduced and solved by Ellery Queen. A good radio production; Ellery picks the killer like a rabbit out of a magician's hat...almost literally! Guy Wallace, Kenneth Banghart (announcer), Charlotte Keane, Brad Barker, Jane Houston, Walter Vaughn, Harold Dryanforth, Avril Harris, Frederic Dannay (writer, as "Ellery Queen"), Manfred B. Lee (writer, as "Ellery Queen"), Santos Ortega, Ted de Corsia, Sarah Fussell, Hugh Marlowe, Anne Seymour, John Gibson.

The FORD THEATER, sponsored by the Ford Motor Company, presented hour long dramas first on NBC for one only season. The series moved to CBS for its second and last season. There were 39 NBC and 39 CBS hour- long shows (not verified). The show initially received an unfavorable review from the New York Times for poor script adaptation but was still highly rated for the actors' performance and overall production. The show was supposed to feature only original scripts but had to forgo that plan due to lack of quality material. The first season on NBC used radio actors under the direction of George Zachary. Martin Gabel announced the first show but was soon replaced by Kenneth Banghart. The second season, on CBS, used Hollywood screen actors in the lead roles, supported by radio actors. Fletcher Markle, who previously produced CBS's STUDIO ONE series, was the producer for the second season. Although a short series, it still has some of radio's best dramas. THIS EPISODE: January 4, 1948. NBC network. "The Adventures Of A Bad Boy". Sponsored by: Ford. A fine murder mystery, deduced and solved by Ellery Queen. A good radio production; Ellery picks the killer like a rabbit out of a magician's hat...almost literally! Guy Wallace, Kenneth Banghart (announcer), Charlotte Keane, Brad Barker, Jane Houston, Walter Vaughn, Harold Dryanforth, Avril Harris, Frederic Dannay (writer, as "Ellery Queen"), Manfred B. Lee (writer, as "Ellery Queen"), Santos Ortega, Ted de Corsia, Sarah Fussell, Hugh Marlowe, Anne Seymour, John Gibson. 1 hour.