“The ceremony, the tears, the laughter, the family, the friends, the music, the memories…
Every part of it was unforgettable.
We’re incredibly grateful. Forever starts now.”❤️
Happy Birthday to the most amazing person I’ve ever met. So lucky I will spend this day and everyday with her as my wife. Iliana Carrillo ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
When passion fuels the fire, it's about more than just a game... for family, for country, and for the pursuit of greatness. USA! 🇺🇸 Johnny Hockey
The book was returned last night.
Thank you to everyone who shared, reached out, and helped. It worked.
A lot of people asked why I made such a big deal about “just a planner” when I could have gone and bought another one.
The truth is, this isn’t just a planner.
For over 20 years, this has been how I run my life. Every business decision, every buildout, every major milestone, including building the piano bar and Revel, has lived inside these books. There are personal dates in here I still reference. Wins. Losses. Lessons.
Call it OCD, call it discipline…for me it’s been the difference between chaos and progress. It’s how I stay organized, focused, and accountable.
So yes, it mattered.
I spoke to the individual. He made a bad decision. He owned it, returned it, and that’s the end of it.
I appreciate this community more than you know.
Onward.
Thank you to everybody and an all outlets effort to get my personal possession back. It has just been returned to the Bar Revel. I spoke the person that took it by phone. He apologized and we move on. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate everybody who got behind this effort. To anyone else it’s just a day planner, but for me it had wedding information. It had another project I’m working on and so many other things in it that I absolutely just needed. happy to have it back! Great community effort thanks again …🙏🏽❤️
Years ago, while working a large festival in the on the SW, something happened that’s stuck with me ever since.
One of the outer gates was accidentally left unguarded. No scanner. No staff. At first, a few people wandered in. Then word spread. Within minutes, hundreds were entering without tickets.
When promoters found out, the response wasn’t calm or procedural, it was emotional. Instead of securing the gate and stabilizing the situation, the focus shifted to identifying and removing people who “didn’t belong.”
In a rushed decision, paying attendees were encouraged to help act as makeshift security. No training. No authority. No reliable way to tell who had paid and who hadn’t. People were judged on appearance, behavior, and assumptions.
Tension escalated fast.
Arguments broke out. Families were separated. People panicked. Medical teams got involved. Artists noticed the chaos and tried to pause the show to prevent things from getting worse.
Leadership refused to slow down.
The simple fix…close the gate, stop further entry, let calm and compliant people stay, was ignored. The festival unraveled. People were hurt. Others were wrongfully removed. Trust was completely lost.
Here’s the truth:
This didn’t actually happen.
But it could.
And the lesson is bigger than a concert.
When leadership reacts with fear instead of clarity…
when enforcement replaces process…
when people are treated as problems instead of humans…
The result is never control.
It’s chaos.
History shows us that when fear leads, order doesn’t follow.
January 1, 2026 marks 42 years sober.
Sobriety doesn’t look one way. It just requires honesty.
I was 21 when I recognized the destructive path I was on. It didn’t happen the first try. Forty-two years later, I still look back and wonder how I made a decision that likely kept me out of jail or worse.
People ask how I know I was an alcoholic.
For me, it was never about how much I drank, it was about control, consequences, and where my life was headed.
My life and businesses have always existed around alcohol. I don’t drink it. I don’t romanticize it. Sobriety isn’t about distance from temptation, it’s about proximity with boundaries.
One of the greatest gifts sobriety gave me was clarity, no clouded mind, no excuses, no blaming alcohol. Just ownership, responsibility, and choice.
Sobriety didn’t remove the voice, it taught me how to live with it.
Still here.
Still sober.
Still choosing.
I’m still processing what happened last night.
As the owner of Revel, I’ve seen a lot of shows come through these doors, national acts, sold-out crowds, big tours… but there was something uniquely powerful about our Rockin’ Revel Christmas event.
Looking out at a room filled with people in their 50s and 60s, smiling, singing along, arm in arm, transported back to a time when music wasn’t just background… it was identity, I felt something I haven’t felt in a long time.
The bands took me right back.
Back to garage gigs, packed bars, late-night jams… back to the era when the local scene was family.
Seeing Michael Tinker, Richard Rael, Mike Garcia, Mickey Wright, and so many others take the stage again, not for money, not for ego, but for the love of it, moved me more than I expected. These are guys I grew up watching, and admiring. To have them here, on a big stage, sounding better than ever… it meant something.
And it wasn’t just a concert.
It was community.
It was gratitude.
It was memories we didn’t know we still needed.
To everyone who attended, thank you.
To the musicians, thank you.
To those who donated to the Roadrunner Food Bank, thank you.
Last night reminded me why Revel exists.
It’s not just about concerts.
It’s about moments, and memories
And I’ll carry this one with me for a long time.
