MBJ Enterprises LLC

Millions of miles travelled, hundreds of thousands of records & concert tickets sold. This is the autobiographical life story of Max Baker Jr. In this episode we start from the very beginning. Listen to the journey of Max as a teenager racing motorcross to throwing parties, to working as a runner for Motley Crue the first time they came through Oklahoma & stealing someones dog. "We Di...

April 20, 2002. 4/20 at Curly’s in downtown Tulsa. And the lineup was pure Oklahoma underground rock. Element.  Nothing Permanent.  Shamrock.  Iocane. Tickets were only $8. The guys look back at one of Tulsa’s memorable underground music venues and the bands that helped make those shows special. Nothing Permanent featured former members of Underside, while Shamrock guitarist Matt Wright eventually...

Some friendships are built on music, and some people help shape an entire career. Big Dad Ritch of Texas Hippie Coalition sits down with Max Baker Jr. and Jeff Brownen to talk about Cain’s Ballroom, the music business, and what Max has meant to his journey. Ritch says he has been listening to Here’s The Deal Podcast since the beginning and calls it some of the best storytelling around. And if anyb...

Opeth & DevilDriver vs. Cradle Of Filth & DevilDriver March 17, 2006. Opeth, DevilDriver, and Dark Tranquillity at Cain’s Ballroom. Now that is one evil lineup. The guys start joking about what the crowd probably looked like. Black concert shirts. Camo cargo shorts. Chain wallets. And maybe a little black hair and white face paint. Then comes the question. How many songs did Opeth actually...

April 28th at The Other Side brought another killer metal lineup. Chimaira.  Diecast.  36 Crazyfists.  Nothing Permanent.  Disjointed from Muskogee. But the thing that gets everybody talking is the age restriction on the flyer. Must be 14 to enter. Must be 21 to drink. Why 14? Why not 16 or 18? The guys start questioning where that particular number came from, and the conversation turns to whether...

Some venues are more than just places to play music. Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa is one of them. The conversation turns to Cross Canadian Ragweed, Texas Hippie Coalition, and the first time stepping inside the legendary Cain’s Ballroom. At first, it was just another show on the schedule. But then came the walk around the building. The pictures on the walls. The history. Bob Wills and His Texas Playbo...

Davit Souders, Curley's, IKON 2.0, & The Hive Oklahoma's underground music scene had some legendary venues, and this one went through several changes. May 11, 2006. The Hive. But before it was The Hive, it was Curley's. Then Davit Souders took over and turned it into IKON 2.0. That did not last long. Maybe six to nine months. Then it became The Hive. The guys remember how Davit...

Ever wonder where the money goes when you buy a VIP concert experience? The guys break down the business behind meet and greets, VIP packages, and all that exclusive concert merchandise. According to Max, VIP experiences are often handled by a completely separate company. Not the venue. Not the band's booking agent. And not necessarily the same people handling regular concert merchandise. But...

Some songs are so good they just keep winning. And apparently, Guns N’ Roses had one of those songs. The guys remember when “Sweet Child O’ Mine” was so popular that it kept winning a radio countdown or competition week after week. Eventually, someone decided it had won enough times and needed to be retired. But not everybody was happy about that. Who retires a song like “Sweet Child O’ Mine”? The...

Some concert lineups look completely different when you look back years later. The guys revisit a bill featuring Trapt, Shinedown, Halestorm, and MercyFall. Back then, Shinedown and Halestorm were still working their way up. Now Shinedown is playing arenas, and Halestorm has become a major name in rock. Things have definitely changed. Then the conversation jumps to May 10, 2006. Ministry, Revoltin...

August 3, 2003. Trainwreck played VZD’s. And for anyone who does not know, Trainwreck was basically Kyle Gass’ project outside of Tenacious D. That alone makes this one a cool little Oklahoma concert story. The guys talk about how Kyle probably would not have known where VZD’s even was if he had not already been connected through the Tenacious D world. Max was the promoter rep for the show and wen...

The Trustkill Takeover Tour came through with a packed bill. Bullet For My Valentine. Walls of Jericho. Roses Are Red. And Forté added to the show. Tickets were $10 in advance and $12 day of show. The room was packed. But the best story happened when Bullet For My Valentine got hungry. Max had given them a per diem instead of fulfilling a full rider, so they needed a ride to go eat. The radio stat...

Most concertgoers do not realize how merch really works. A band does not just show up, carry in boxes, set up a table, and keep every dollar. There is a whole business side behind it. Merch sales still involve state and local sales tax. It is not just cash changing hands. Somebody is responsible for paying that tax, whether it is the artist or the venue. Then there is the financial split. That is...

Lollapalooza 1992 at Starplex. Ministry hits the stage, and Max tells Jeff they are going down front. Right into the pit. By the time they get close to Al Jourgensen, everything is already coming apart. People are ripping rows of seat cushions and chairs loose from the cement and passing them over the crowd. The pit is chaos. Bodies moving everywhere. Bones flying from the stage. Ministry doing wh...

Touring is expensive before the band ever plays a note. The conversation starts with the difference between a bandwagon and a tour bus. A bandwagon is basically an RV setup for bands, usually with a trailer. Even that can run $3,000 to $5,000 a week. And that may not include a driver. Then you move up to a real tour bus, and the cost jumps fast. Around $750 a day. Plus driver. Plus mileage limits....

Jay says he was the first radio DJ in North America to play Bullet For My Valentine on the radio. And he has a cease and desist story to prove it. A record rep came in with an early release and told him it was not going to radio for another month or two. The band was young. The name was Bullet For My Valentine. Jay listened to it in the studio, had it in audition, and it was not going out over the...

Country music keeps moving in waves. Max talks about seeing the classic country market change over time. Artists like Charlie Pride, Charlie Daniels, Loretta Lynn, George Jones, and others carried that earlier generation. Those names are legends now. But as time moves on, a new group steps into that role. Then you get the Tracy Byrds. The Mark Chesnutts. The Tracy Lawrences. The Clay Walkers. That...

This one starts with a simple question. If Max Baker passes away, should there be a backstage pass for his funeral? And of course, the first guess is the Rolling Stones tongue. But then the conversation turns into something even more Max. There is a company that can take your ashes after cremation and press them into a vinyl record. That gets everybody thinking. What would your final record be? Ma...

August 1, 2003. Weird Al Yankovic at River Parks. A floating stage already makes that show memorable. But the merch booth story might be even better. Max and Sean McGillicuddy were working merch that night under a tent. Then the weather started turning. The clouds went black. The storm rolled in. The girl working merch for Weird Al saw what was coming and took off. Max and Sean stayed behind and t...

The Reverend Horton Heat Shows Reverend Horton Heat is one of those bands that built the whole world around the music. The merch. The logo. The records. The posters. The live show. They had something for everybody, from $5 items to $100 items, and that iconic oval logo was everywhere. Max talks about seeing Reverend Horton Heat all over the place. The Diamond.  Cain’s.  Boar’s Head.  ZZ Dee’s.  Te...

Back-to-back All American Rejects shows. Tulsa and Oklahoma City. Brady Theater and Bricktown Event Center. The lineup was All American Rejects, Wakefield, and Limbeck. Jay was at the May 30th show at the Brady Theater in Tulsa, and that one was special. They filmed it for a live DVD release. The guys try to remember the exact tour name. Back From Hell. To Hell and Back. Something in that lane. Bu...

This one starts with parking lot hustle and turns into Oklahoma racing history. Max talks about selling tickets in the parking lot, then going inside to play the games. That leads into old-school Oklahoma City spots like MacArthur Park and Malibu Grand Prix. MacArthur Park was cool. But Malibu Grand Prix was different. Those carts were fast. They looked like open-wheel Indy cars. Then the conversa...

Ozzy Osbourne and Rob Zombie on the same bill should sell out no matter what night it is. That is a monster lineup. But the conversation turns to how things worked around that era. The guys talk about how newer bands often had to buy onto the bill if they wanted to play with Ozzy. According to the story, Sharon was involved in everything Ozzy was doing at that point. A band trying to get on a bill...

Dio at InCahoots is one of those concert memories that sounds almost unreal. Ronnie James Dio in a cowboy bar. Country portraits on the wall. Reba McEntire. Garth Brooks. Toby Keith. And then Dio comes in carrying the heavy metal flag like only he could. Max talks about being a Ronnie James Dio fan and seeing him in all kinds of rooms, including cowboy bars. That was Dio. He carried the flag anywh...

This one starts with a mysterious shirt and somehow turns into an elote mission. Somebody tells Max that a guy outside was giving away shirts. Then they hand him one in his size. 4X. Already suspicious. The shirt had a corn joke on it, and Max starts questioning where it came from. Right size. Right person. Right kind of prank. He even wonders if it came from the same person behind the anti-Max Ba...