September 27th at the Bricktown Event Center.

Alice Cooper on the Brutal Planet tour.

That was one of those shows where everybody made it through the day, even if not everybody loved being there. Jeff may not have been thrilled, but the night itself turned into a real one.

Backstage was tight. One way in, one way out. Kitchen area. Side access. Everybody packed into the same working space, trying to keep the show moving.

And somewhere in the middle of it, there’s a photo with Alice Cooper, Carrie, and Max.

That’s the kind of proof you keep.

The show itself was strong. Alice brought the full theatrical rock energy, and his daughter Calico was part of the performance too. That made it feel even more like a production than just a concert.

Some people remember this as one of the early Bricktown Event Center shows. Maybe not the first, but definitely one that stuck.

Alice Cooper doesn’t just play songs.

He brings a whole world with him.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #AliceCooper #BrutalPlanetTour #BricktownEventCenter #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen  #oklahomacity

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ZZ Top with Jackyl on the bill — the Antenna era. That mid-90s stretch when ZZ Top was still rolling hard, still evolving the sound, and still drawing real crowds.

But the part that sticks isn’t just the show.

It’s the meet.

A signed Antenna lithograph from the record company. Meet-and-greet passes. Winning the kind of poster you keep for life. “Cry Love” opening the Tulsa date, and then meeting them again in Oklahoma City with Kerry Staton in the mix.

And backstage, Ichiro (“Chero”) is there too — getting the Jackyl flat signed by ZZ Top like it’s a trophy.

That’s how those nights worked.

You went for the concert.
 You left with history in your hands.

Some people remember setlists.

Some people still have the signed poster.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #ZZTop #Jackyl #AntennaTour #Myriad #OKCMusicHistory #ConcertMemories #SignedPoster #RockAndRollStories #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen #oklahoma #oklahomacity

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 It doesn’t matter where Max is in life — hospital bed, lowest low, highest high — the Stones have carried him through it. That’s not a slogan. That’s survival. And by 2024, the story has stretched far beyond Oklahoma: seeing them in Paris, seeing them in the desert alongside names like Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, Neil Young, The Who, and Roger Waters.

Then comes the backstage moment you can’t script.

Pipe and drape. One opening. You step through… and accidentally step on Mick Jagger’s toes. The kind of mistake that becomes a legend the second it happens.

And it wasn’t just the band that felt unreal — it was the backstage world. The most elaborate setup Max had ever seen: snooker tables, games, liquor bar, food everywhere, hors d’oeuvres actually worth eating.

Then the seat assignment.

Keith Richards’ table.

Keith walks out with a buddy wearing the same scarf, and they’re sitting there syncing up “medicine” timing like it’s a ritual. Quiet. Intense. Nobody says more than they have to.

That’s what backstage with the Stones feels like.

Not chaos.

Precision.

And for a Stones fan, those few minutes in that space are unforgettable.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #RollingStones #MickJagger #KeithRichards #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen  #oklahomacity

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It starts with a simple problem.

“There’s a band coming this summer that I have no connections for.”

And everybody immediately knows who we’re talking about.

“Do they roll along stoned?”

Yeah. They do.

That’s how show business works. The biggest moments don’t show up on a calendar first — they show up in random conversations where you realize your ass is on the line again. And somehow, it turns into a blessing.

Then the joke becomes the plan:

“So do you have to get her Rolling Stones tickets?”

Because if she’s not into the Stones, you’re not about to become buddies. That’s the rule.

That’s Max and Jeff in a nutshell — turning pressure into comedy, and comedy into a strategy session.

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 #HeresTheDealPodcast #RollingStones #DoTheyRollAlongStoned #ConcertBusiness #MusicIndustryStories #BackstageLife #TourStories #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen #oklahoma #oklahomacity

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June 11, 2000.

Motörhead. Nashville Pussy. Supersuckers.

A lineup that should’ve been a stampede.

And only 372 people showed up.

That number still hurts. Less than 400 bodies for a bill that loud, legendary, and unapologetic. Tickets were around $20–$22 and it still didn’t move like it should have.

But the people who were there remember it.

Lemmy. Up close. Real as it gets. One of the most vivid memories? Him beating on a pinball machine that wouldn’t work, mad as hell, barking at it like it owed him money. Pure Lemmy.

Nashville Pussy was a burner. Supersuckers were exactly what you wanted them to be. That whole night was rock and roll in its raw form.

And Motörhead did come through again later — including a Zoo bill that tied into the Judas Priest / Testament world. That’s also the night the meet-and-greet stories started stacking up, and the pit was full of musicians watching musicians.

But this June 2000 show?

That was the one that deserved a packed house.

372 is criminal.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #Motorhead #Lemmy #NashvillePussy #Supersuckers #RockAndRollStories #ConcertHistory #OKCMusic #ZooAmphitheatre #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen #oklahoma #oklahomacity

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You had two sides of the room that did not mix. Skinheads on one side. SHARPs on the other. Real tension. Real politics. The kind of night where you’re not just running a show—you’re playing judge, jury, and peacekeeper just to keep it from turning into a riot.

At points it looked like Moses parting the sea.

The floor literally split down the middle like an early wall of death, except it wasn’t a fun mosh-pit moment. It felt like a setup for a fight. Total Chaos is punk, and punk crowds can bring that edge. The Bosstones were a different animal, but they came up in that same northeastern circuit where those scenes overlap.

Security had to stop the show more than once. Keith Graham was working hard, trying to keep the room from boiling over. Everyone could feel it—one wrong push and it turns into a gang fight.

We’d done a lot of shows, but we hadn’t crossed that kind of situation before.

That’s the part people don’t see.

Sometimes the hardest thing about a concert isn’t the load-in.
 It’s keeping the crowd from tearing itself apart.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #MightyMightyBosstones #TotalChaos #PunkShows #SkaPunk #ConcertSecurity #VenueLife #BackstageStories #LiveMusicBusiness #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen #oklahomacity

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Some bands aren’t just bands.

They’re the reason you end up in the music business.

ZZ Top is that band.

Over the years, we did a lot of business with their world. You meet crew guys. You watch the touring machine evolve. You see faces change. But some things stay consistent—there aren’t many people cooler than Billy Gibbons.

And it still hits different seeing him in Ardmore, Oklahoma, sitting at 2 Frogs like it’s just another day.

But the roots go back farther than any of that.

Age 14. Fair Ground Speedway. Tres Hombres era.

On one bill:

ZZ Top
 Lynyrd Skynyrd
 The Marshall Tucker Band
 The Animals (Eric Burdon)

And the ticket?

$4.00.

That’s the kind of lineup that doesn’t exist anymore at that price. Four-dollar admission to a night of southern rock history. The kind of show that rewires your brain and makes you chase live music for the rest of your life.

That’s not nostalgia.

That’s origin story.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #ZZTop #BillyGibbons #LynyrdSkynyrd #MarshallTuckerBand #EricBurdon #TheAnimals #SouthernRock #ConcertHistory #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen #oklahoma #oklahomacity

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Max says it plain. If you stay in the problem, you never find the solution.

That lesson came from the woman sitting to his left, his sister Deana. When they first started spending more time together again, she saw him at his worst. Leg straightened out. Pain loud. Mood even louder. And she didn’t baby him. She held it up and hit him with the truth. “What are you gonna do now, big boy?” Even joked about whacking him with a cane when he was acting up.

But the point wasn’t the joke.

The point was movement.

Today, Max is sitting here talking to the world because he didn’t stay stuck. He wants anyone listening to hear this, no matter how deep you are, no matter how much it hurts, no matter how heavy the pressure feels, there’s always a solution.

Fear might get you through a moment.

Faith is what gets you to the other side.

And it takes patience. This didn’t happen overnight. This has been nearly a year of fighting through it.

That’s the real story.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #MaxBakerJr #DeanaBaker #Mindset #FaithOverFear #KeepMovingForward #RealLifeStories #Resilience #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen #oklahoma #oklahomacity

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July 30, 2000. Brady Village in Tulsa. 2,571 people. Deftones and Glassjaw on the same bill. And the crazy part? You lived in Tulsa at the time.

Glassjaw is one of those bands people don’t “kinda like.” You’re either all the way in or you don’t get it. Daryl Palumbo is that dude, and seeing Glassjaw in that era, in that room, with that crowd size, is the kind of night you talk about for the rest of your life.

The worst feeling is realizing you could’ve gotten in, you could’ve been on that floor, and you just missed the moment.

That’s the pain of a real concert calendar. Some dates are history. Some dates are regrets.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #Deftones #Glassjaw #BradyVillage #TulsaMusic #2000Concerts #DarylPalumbo #LiveMusicHistory #ConcertStories #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen #oklahoma #oklahomacity

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Ticket drops used to feel like the land run.

People camped. Lines formed overnight. Rules said you had to be in line, but they didn’t always say it had to be you standing there every minute. So you’d see people try creative workarounds, helping others out while trying to hold a spot and stay in the game.

Then the real circus started.

When it came time to move the line, it turned into a sprint across Reno like a marathon kickoff. “Go!” and everyone bolts, dodging traffic, racing to get back into position. And when folks ended up too far forward?

“Restart.”

Then they made it even worse. Suddenly it’s an obstacle course, running around pillars like it’s a field day, not a ticket line. OCPD looked bored, and the crowd was getting cooked.

By the third restart, everyone was done. The system finally settled, people landed where they landed, and the night moved on.

That’s the part people forget. Before online queues, buying tickets was physical, chaotic, and sometimes ridiculous.

 #HeresTheDealPodcast #TicketLineStories #ConcertChaos #OldSchoolTicketing #OKCMusicHistory #MaxBakerJr #JeffBrownen  #oklahomacity

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