If you’re not a musician, you might occasionally think how great it would be to be a musician. If you are a musician, you might occasionally think how great it must have been to be in The Beatles.

New Orleanian Bruce Spizer is not a musician. He’s a lawyer and an accountant. But, not only has he occasionally thought how great it must have been to be in The Beatles, he’s written 16 books about them.

Bruce is a world-renowned Beatles expert. He’s been a guest on practically every major American TV news show. He’s made countless TV appearances around the world. He’s a Beatles consultant for Universal Music Group, Capital Records, and Apple Corps – the Beatles’ own label – and he wrote the questions and answers for The Beatles edition of Trivial Pursuit.

In case you’re wondering why any of this would make Bruce Spizer a guest on a business show, his book sales alone have earned over $3m. One of his books is selling on Amazon for over $4,000, and there are more books in the works.

If you live in New Orleans and you like festivals and live music – and if you don’t, you’re probably planning on leaving – you’ll be familiar with the work of Stephen St. Cyr.

If you’re trying to place his name and wondering what band he’s in, or whether he’s maybe a celebrity chef, nope, it’s none of that. Stephen is President of a company called Vivid Ink.

Vivid Ink makes visual artwork for festivals and events – like stage banners, sponsor signage, practically everything that’s not food or music, at events like Jazz Fest, Sugar Bowl, Hogs For The Cause, Tales of the Cocktail and a long list of others.

There are two branches of Stephen’s company – a Baton Rouge office that works with corporate clients, and the more fun New Orleans division - a big building on Poydras Street where a staff of 29 creates all the live event stuff.

It’s kind of nice at this point in their respective careers to talk with Stephen and Bruce about the extraordinary successes they’ve both accomplished. But none of this success was handed to either of them. Their own creativity and hard work has made all of this happen. And it doesn’t look either of them are taking their foot off the gas any time soon. Their future achievments may turn out to be as notable as their histories.

Out to Lunch was recorded live over lunch at Columns in Uptown New Orleans. You can find photos from this show by Jill Lafleur at itsneworleans.com.

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