S1,E29: Iggy Rosenberg & Randi Strong

Spring has sprung in Small Lake City, and with it, an episode brimming with the tales of transformation and tenacity from our guests Iggy and Randi. Iggy's odyssey from Argentina to America's stages as a sound and lighting maestro intertwines with Randi's graceful leap from "So You Think You Can Dance" to dazzling the ice with Olympic-level choreography. Their stories are more than just journeys; they are testaments to the power of saying "yes" to life's unexpected avenues and the beauty of Utah's ever-evolving cultural landscape.

Pull up a chair and get ready to be whisked away through the highs and lows of life on tour, from Iggy's rock 'n' roll escapades to the quieter revelations of Randi's Utah upbringing. We navigate the complexities of balancing personal beliefs with public personas, and how the backdrop of the pandemic cast a new light on the allure of Salt Lake City's quality of life. This episode isn't just about recounting memories; it's a celebration of the resilience and adaptability that propel us forward.

As we wrap up, join us at the intersection of creativity and pragmatism, where the worlds of sound design and ice choreography collide with the culinary arts and the aesthetics of space. From the delicate dance of restaurant design to the grandeur of Utah's architecture, Iggy and Randy share their insights on crafting experiences that resonate. So, whether you're a local or a listener from afar, tune in for an episode that weaves personal evolution with professional innovation, all set against the stunning backdrop of Utah's growth and potential.

Please be sure to like, review, follow, subscribe and share the podcast with your friends and family! See you next time 

https://smalllakecity.buzzsprout.com

Transcript

Erik Nilsson: 0:11

What is up everybody and welcome back to the Small Lake City Podcast. I'm your host, eric Nilsson, and the weather's so nice that it's finally turning into spring that I thought I would record the intro outside today. So hopefully everybody's been able to get outside and enjoy some of this nice weather, been able to golf, get outside and do some runs and really excited for spring and summer to settle in. As far as the guests for this week, excited to announce Iggy and Randy. So Iggy and Randy are the first people since Corinne Benoit in some of the early episodes to reach out to me and say that they think they would be a good candidate for a guest, and this time I completely agreed.

Erik Nilsson: 0:45

So Iggy his story is fascinating, from being born in and growing up in Argentina to wanting to move to the US to go to school and then do sound and lighting design and led to go on some of the biggest tours and create show designs for some of the biggest artists that we know of today. And then on the other side, randy, a professional dancer. She was in, so I Think you Can Dance and made it to the top five spot in there, and then now she has been choreographing not only for dancers but for also ice skaters as well, and has a unique perspective as we start to think about 2034 and the Olympics coming to Salt Lake. So super down-to-earth people, so fun. It was really good to get to know them a little bit better.

Erik Nilsson: 1:23

So excited to show you guys this interview and hear more from Iggy and Randy, enjoy. I mean, I'm excited because, like I was explaining to you guys a second ago, like there's only been two people who have like quote, slid into the dms, yeah, and made it onto an episode. Uh. The first was karim and wahoo, like literally saw the first tiktok I ever posted and messaged me before it ever got a like I was like hey, can I be on the podcast? I was like we're doing it.

Erik Nilsson: 1:51

And then the second one is you guys yeah and so I mean just, I always like to start with kind of like how we got here, because so again, like I usually get, I mean at least one DM a day between all, like the social platforms being like hey, I have a cool story, can I be on? I'm like tell me what you're supposed to be Like. Why is it interesting? What do you want to start? I'm like I started this software company that does this and this and it's so great. I'm like, well, it's like not that big. So like they're not an recognizable person and it's. This isn't a software podcast.

Erik Nilsson: 2:23

No, one's going to be like no, tell me about this new stuff. So so I was super intrigued. I mean, yeah, absolutely, let's do it. So I'm so excited to have you both today I mean Rani and Iggy. I'm so excited to hear more of the story about how you guys ended up here, been growing up here, growing up in good old Argentina, and how that I mean everything worked. But I'm super excited to have you guys here and glad that we could make it work. Yeah, this, this is great.

Randi Strong: 2:51

This is fun. Thanks for having us. Yeah, yeah, we love, we love talking to people from Salt Lake who, who love Utah and and want to see it grow, and and we're two of those people, for sure, yeah, definitely Cause I I mean there's there's so many of those people and it's like, almost like these two different houses where there's, the people are like Changes are happening.

Erik Nilsson: 3:11

Nothing's going to stay the same. Let's try to make the changes the most impactful and best that we can. And then there's the opposite side of the house. It's like get out of my state and I don't want any of you here. I don't want to wait in line to go up the can anymore. I don't want anymore apartment buildings. I hate the drug.

Iggy Rosenberg: 3:27

Yeah.

Erik Nilsson: 3:39

And so it gets to the point where it's always nice to see people have like an optimistic view of the future and everything going on and everything that you are all contributing to. But before we kind of get into what I mean kind of got us here today, I want to start with like kind of the story and how it all started. So I know I mean Iggy, you were born and raised in Argentina and Buenos Aires. Yeah, tell me about what I mean early life was like for you Fun.

Iggy Rosenberg: 3:59

Yeah, you know, Argentina is interesting. I come from a family of business people and I was the non-business guy. I ended up starting doing light and design when I was 14. But luckily my dad insisted on us getting a really good education, which is why I speak English fluently and I do spell in British English, which drives my computer crazy and every now and then the accent sort of comes out. But yeah, no, I studied acoustics, actually of all things, in Argentina, because it was the closest thing I could find to like entertainment, design. What made you?

Erik Nilsson: 4:31

want to do that, or is it just kind of?

Iggy Rosenberg: 4:34

So my school I went to an english school obviously, uh, my school did a a big musical show every year, like big musical play, like phantom of the opera, that kind of stuff, and and I started connecting with the vendor that brought all the lights and the sound, the stuff to the school. My school had a big theater but it was an empty theater so I I sort of latched on to them, was I think they were very like why is this 14 year old like in a skin? Where is his parents? Yeah, it's like like because I was doing shows with them outside of the school, so like they were like in a theater and they're like why is he still here? And yeah, and I just started doing lighting, I wanted to do special effects for movies.

Iggy Rosenberg: 5:07

Uh, our movie industry is not that big. We have really beautiful movies, very, we have great stories. We don't have the budgets to blow up cars and cgi and stuff. So I ended up sort of pivoting, kind of by default, to live. I did pyro for a second in my school until I blew up a wall and I think that realized that maybe giving the 16 year old like the chance of like making his own, you know, concussion bombs was not a great idea. Uh, so that was the end of the kids doing pyro in high school, and yeah. And then I ended up doing a bunch of live shows and and the closest thing I could find was acoustics. It was, it was well, there was a, there was a live sound mixing, but they insisted we had to be able to read music and I didn't know how to read music, so but I was really good at physics so I know like.

Erik Nilsson: 5:52

So I mean, I imagine your dad's like you're not doing this, you're going to go, you're family business, you're going to be the business guy and make that all happen. I mean, was there a point where you're either like I'm doing this or he's like I get?

Iggy Rosenberg: 6:03

it, go do it. That was interesting. He, as long as you could prove stuff. He was very pragmatic and I think with the years Randy will agree I've become more and more pragmatic. We can get to that later with her. Yeah, the Iggy bashing section no, it's kidding. But as long as you could prove, you're like hey, my grades are this, this is what I'm going to do, this is the research of the college I want to go. These are the degrees. He was happy to send you wherever you wanted to go.

Iggy Rosenberg: 6:30

My grades were terrible in school so he forced me to do a degree in Argentina first and I did really well in the school. Once I applied I didn't want to learn geography right, but once I applied what I wanted to learn to school, I did great. And then I came to the US and did a show production degree here. But yeah, my dad was very much like why wouldn't you want to be an engineer or an attorney or whatever and then do this little lighting thing for fun when you retire, right? And that's how he grew up. He was a boomer. He was that era of like you know, he was first generation Argentinian from German. You know, escaped Germans from the Nazis, so that idea of survival and work hard and learn languages and go to college, and that was very ingrained in him.

Iggy Rosenberg: 7:12

And the funny story is when I one of my last projects in the us beforei graduated, uh, he came to visit me. He came to my graduation and I was I used to in that school we did sound and lighting, we all did a bit of everything and I was mixing sound in the old analog soundboard you know massive, massive digital analog uh midas console. And he said that and he's like well, who works here with you? I'm like no, this is just me. And he's like, well, there's no way you know what the buttons do. I'm like yeah, I'm like no.

Iggy Rosenberg: 7:38

But my analogy for him was like you know, like all your investments, you know, like we have a big farm in argentina. You know where, what, what you have planted, when, when it has to be harvested, what you've named, all 250 horses, all these. I know what all the buttons do. It was the first time I died and wasn't just I go in and plug a cable and then go drink in the back lounge of the bus, like there's actually stuff to do. That is complicated and you need to learn. And that was, I think, the day that my dad realized that I wasn't just, you know, a hippie or something, I don't know. Yeah, that was interesting.

Erik Nilsson: 8:09

So by the time that you were I mean traveling and quote being like a rodeo, unquote were you still in argentina doing that, or you already come here yeah, well, sort of argentina just doesn't have a touring world like we do here, you know.

Iggy Rosenberg: 8:20

So I would do a lot of shows, but but argentina did a lot of nightclubs. Um, I kind of got into that world. So when I moved to the us, I remember the first time I went to bed at like 11 o'clock at night and it was weird because I was so early. Yeah, like I mean you could see the veins in my face cause I hadn't seen the sun in like years, cause our clubs, you know, I used to close clubs at like nine in the morning, you know, and then sleep till five o'clock in the afternoon. Yeah, exactly, yeah, yeah. So so, yeah, it was, it was a lot, you know, super. I was still in college, I couldn't just disappear and go on tour, um, so the. And then when I go to the U?

Erik Nilsson: 8:56

S and started working here, where did you go to school for your sound and production?

Iggy Rosenberg: 9:00

Uh, show production went to a place called Full Sail in Florida and Full Sail is a little interesting place it's it's like super expensive stuff. It's other people get mocked from going going to Full Sail, and I understand why. It's it also you. You get out of it as much as you put into it. So if you show up and you go, come up with a degree, I think you're gonna get a roadie job or whatever kind of job. Really you're not gonna get it. It's. It's all about have you really put in the time to learn the stuff and are you humble enough to go? I actually still don't know anything. Then it works well. So a lot of people kind of like they're very shocked that I go to a full cell because I don't have that attitude and I'm like I just I don't know, I just work for stuff.

Erik Nilsson: 9:35

Yeah, at work. Yeah, did the things I needed to and here we are. Yeah so you graduated, started traveling. What kind of shows were some of your first shows that you started travel with? Or?

Iggy Rosenberg: 9:44

so I think I did some local stuff. So I I got hired by a company out of um chicago called upstaging. They're a really, really big vendor but probably one of the best vendors in the country in the world of of. They provide lighting and stuff for for concerts um, so I, I would do. I couldn't travel out of the country and most even the us tours ping canada, so I couldn't. I couldn't cross the border because you guys see and come back, yeah, and I couldn't do it. So yeah, I did. I did, like you know, the boston pops and like whoever happened, to come to Chicago for us for a second, and the first sort of tour that I did is going to be so weird was a festival run with Kid Rock.

Randi Strong: 10:22

Yes.

Iggy Rosenberg: 10:23

And I did and I just took it literally a day before I left the tour. I take it on my four wisdom teeth out to my face. I look like a chipmunk. I couldn't laugh because it would hurt. So I would be in the, I would go load in, try not to speak because festivals are pretty dirty.

Erik Nilsson: 10:38

So try not to get like Don't breathe in more air than you need to.

Iggy Rosenberg: 10:40

Yeah, and then go to the bus and get like my frozen bottles of water and just put in my face and people walk in the bus and I would just be sitting there with two like frozen bottles of water trying to get my.

Erik Nilsson: 10:49

Like the new guys.

Iggy Rosenberg: 10:50

Yeah, weird, yeah, the new weird, yeah, the new guy. Yeah, so that was the first thing I did and then I, yeah, I toured um, my first big like us tour was actually hannah montana. Yeah, I did the best of both worlds tour and I haven't stopped since then, you know until what?

Erik Nilsson: 11:04

2017, when I went, I don't want to be on the road anymore yeah, I mean I don't blame you, like because I've had friends that have, I mean, been on tour, who have toured with people. And like because I mean I'm sure there's this part of you that was like that 14 year old self. That's like I'm going to go tour the world with these rock bands and do all these great things. I mean it's also like the same parallels you find in like business travel. In general, people in college are like, oh, I'm going to go travel for work, we're going san francisco, we're gonna be in chicago, be in oklahoma, yeah, kansas, yeah, it's like. Oh, it's like like it.

Erik Nilsson: 11:39

So I feel like in similar ways, like my friends, I wanted to travel for work. Like, hey, I'm in a boardroom and like, oh, yeah, outside of chicago, illinois, and I hate this. I mean I'm sure it's the same way, like, oh, I didn't realize. Like this is a grind, I do not sleep, I don't really have time off. They're like some of these people are assholes and I don't.

Iggy Rosenberg: 11:53

Oh, yeah, yeah, you do, you do, yeah, well, but it's, it's also, it's it's. It's very much a lifestyle. Like if you don't, if you don't want, like if that's not the thing that really resonates, it will chew you up and spit. I take Sundays off. I'm like, no, the band, where's the show? Get out of the bus. And we've had people that have come as like you know, family or whatever, to try out and they're like, oh, again, we're doing this again. But we just did the same show yesterday. I'm like, yeah, it's a tour, get a schedule.

Erik Nilsson: 12:26

It's going to be a while.

Iggy Rosenberg: 12:28

And we get that a lot, yeah, and bus with you know 10 to 11 other people and you know, and I would come home. And when we met, like she thought I was joking, like that I had like a little luggage thing that they have in hotels in my room and she walked in like you actually have I'm like my luggage is always open, like I always because I would just swap out clothes and just go on tour like a dresser, like the.

Randi Strong: 12:49

You know, the little luggage rack with the suitcase open was basically part of my furniture.

Iggy Rosenberg: 12:54

Yeah, yeah.

Randi Strong: 12:57

I like the decor.

Erik Nilsson: 12:58

I've got my bed, I've got my luggage rack, yeah, so it's your own little holiday in?

Iggy Rosenberg: 13:02

Yeah, but it's, it's a lifestyle and yeah, and you. There are days where you're like I've slept three hours or stays with like everything goes wrong in a show and like building it is really hard and yeah and tearing it down, loading it up again, over again, over and over and over, over and over again, not sleeping.

Iggy Rosenberg: 13:16

Or you know, there's a thing that they call submarine rides, which is when the you have to get like across the country in a tour bus and you just drive for 12 hours and you're in a bus right, and the tour buses are really nice usually but other than the bunk area in the middle, there's a front lounge of the back lounge and you're stuck there with 10 of the people or whatever, and you do get like cabin fever, I guess it's. It's insane, yeah.

Erik Nilsson: 13:40

The first couple of days, everyone's talking getting to know each other. After a week, like hey, I'm just gonna put my AirPods back. Yeah, yeah, we're good. Exactly so. Did good old Salt Lake City, utah, come under the mat?

Iggy Rosenberg: 13:53

So I stopped touring. At one point, I think my family genetics caught up and I went okay, I've done it. I had my fun, I wanted to design and I was a crew chief, I was a tech and I was a good tech. It's not what I wanted to do, and I could see that unless I took sort of a drastic decision to basically everyone that called me go. I'm not doing this anymore. I'm just designing from now on, the because I could take any tour in the world that I wanted.

Iggy Rosenberg: 14:19

I just I didn't want to do that anymore, and and and it was so I saved enough money to to go. I don't, I can't, I have, I cannot work for six months and just continue living my life which is weird because I was not used to living more than four weeks at a time in my house, like budgeting food was a new thing for me um, and and I just did that for a while and I stopped touring. I became a designer, got hired by by light switches, who I work for now as a designer, and and then, when I met randy, how did you guys meet?

Erik Nilsson: 14:47

what's the story behind that?

Iggy Rosenberg: 14:48

oh well, which version of the story now?

Randi Strong: 14:51

no a classy version or the real?

Erik Nilsson: 14:54

no, I'm kidding, I also love that that is a thing because, like there's been people I've dated where it's like all right, so we got the real story and what we're telling grandma yeah, yeah, yeah, we're 100%.

Iggy Rosenberg: 15:04

Have that.

Randi Strong: 15:04

Yeah, we definitely have that, I'll get we. We met on a job in chicago. I was assisting the choreographer for a big corporate show and iggy is friends with the producers and he just like came on site to say hi. I will tell you when I tell everyone this. He walked into the arena with sunglasses on, okay, and I remember standing on stage with the choreographer and I was like who is this smug guy walking in, the, walking in the room with his sunglasses on and um, yeah, and that's it.

Iggy Rosenberg: 15:33

Yeah, that's, and that's all we need to know. No, no, yeah, we met there and then, and then we went out and so well, I was still living in la at the time.

Randi Strong: 15:42

So I'm in chicago for a job. He happened to be in town.

Iggy Rosenberg: 15:45

Comes on site um she was yeah, you were never dating another. Oh, I no I'll date long distance?

Randi Strong: 15:54

yeah, and I was, and I had a wants to date no one wants to date long distance, like I'm looking for a relationship long distance only.

Erik Nilsson: 15:59

Yeah, yeah, and I and I had a film and I didn't want to.

Iggy Rosenberg: 16:02

I didn't want to date a dancer because I already dated a dancer and it was did not end well I'm gonna say that much.

Erik Nilsson: 16:07

You probably have a couple like tropes that you're very similar.

Iggy Rosenberg: 16:10

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So so that was yeah. And then she ended up marrying a foreigner from Chicago and I married a dancer from LA. So that was great. And then, yeah, and then we got engaged and we had never lived together and we're like we should probably do this, probably live together.

Erik Nilsson: 16:56

Yeah, we should probably live together. Let's just do this. We'll figure everything out after we get married.

Iggy Rosenberg: 17:01

Very good, but yeah, but she would have moved to Chicago because it was freezing and I didn't want to move to LA because it was LA and she's originally from Utah. So we're coming here a lot to visit family and I have been here a million times doing shows at the Delta Center. But you know the Delta Center, you park underground underneath a little drive-in, so you get out of your tour bus, walk right into the venue, do the show, you go to bed and the next morning you wake up you're in phoenix or vegas or whatever. So you don't from the delta, that you don't really see the city. Yeah, so I didn't know anything. But so when we got here for some I think I was like, oh yeah, you guys have mountains here yeah yeah, I had never, like I, I didn't know that there was.

Iggy Rosenberg: 17:44

Like you know, I knew very little about Salt Lake and I was like, oh, this is really pretty, and I live on Lake Michigan. You know, my condo was in the lake and it was great. So I was like, oh, I think the idea of having kind of more nature was appealing to me because, like Chicago is great Lake.

Erik Nilsson: 18:01

Michigan. Hard to get out of chicago too to go do stuff yeah the city's amazing, chicago's incredible yeah, so winter and, yeah, not really the summer yeah, but no fall season.

Iggy Rosenberg: 18:11

The fall is great, the fall is great. Yeah, yes, yeah, so we. That's how we ended up here.

Erik Nilsson: 18:14

Yeah, I was I'm from orham, yeah, so let's go back to that. So I was gonna say yeah, uh, also, if you don't mind, no, that doesn't matter yeah, anyways yeah, pull that mic just a little bit closer so we get a little bit more Based To me. There we go, we'll appear. Yeah, so let's go back in time to your beginnings. So born and raised, orem Utah.

Randi Strong: 18:35

Born and raised Orem Utah Whoop whoop, utah County.

Erik Nilsson: 18:39

Oh man, love that for you. I don't, but I do, but I don't. It's one of those things that gives you a good backstory and probably motivates you to do more yeah, yeah, yeah, you know what?

Randi Strong: 18:48

Honestly? No, it really was.

Iggy Rosenberg: 18:50

I have to try to brag a lot about it.

Randi Strong: 18:52

No, because Utah County obviously for anybody that lives here knows that Utah County and Salt Lake County are two different worlds, right, and so when I was, you know, I was like I have to get out, I have to leave, I'm done with utah. I don't want to look like so many people go through like that's especially down there. Yes, I feel like a lot of people go through the same roller coaster of what am I doing.

Erik Nilsson: 19:15

I hate utah I gotta leave.

Randi Strong: 19:16

And then we're like, wait a second, utah's awesome. And so when we decided to move back here, kind of jumping forward, I was like hey, listen, I've actually never lived in salt lake city, but it's a Salt Lake City, but it's a city.

Iggy Rosenberg: 19:26

It's cool Nature. It's a city. It doesn't use slow. I know Salt Lake City. It's a city.

Erik Nilsson: 19:31

The new tagline. The new tagline.

Randi Strong: 19:33

Yeah, that's the new tagline, but I was like listen, it's close to an international airport, it's brand new. We fly Delta.

Iggy Rosenberg: 19:49

We're good we also. We have a set of like needs, and one of them is we need a big. We fly 140 000 miles a year. We need a big international airport. We can't go to like no town. Yeah, yeah so. So that was a big thing also no, I totally get that.

Erik Nilsson: 19:57

And so I mean growing up in utah, because I know like dance became very important to you I mean, yeah, were you dancing? I mean in your youth, in high school and all that time?

Randi Strong: 20:04

oh yeah, the whole time I had no life other than dance, which obviously I loved. But my mom was a gymnast so she put me in gymnastics when I was three, something like that, and I think they knew pretty quickly that they were like I don't think she's going to make it in gymnastics. Pivot, pivot, yeah, pivot immediately. So then I started dancing. You know know, probably four or five. I started really young and grew up doing that. I'm the oldest of six. So it was a lot of chaos at the house and dance was my, you know, dance was my escape, dance was the escape.

Randi Strong: 20:37

But um, for you for your parents everyone, for everyone, everybody, one less in the house that one's dancing. There's only five, oh you have to dance every day. Yeah, I think you need to leave, but it was about 11 or 12, so fifth grade, somewhere around there, where my parents were like, okay, you've obviously got talent. Are we in or are we out? Because we've got to decide right now. Are you going to go or do you not want to do this? What do you want to do?

Erik Nilsson: 21:05

Mom's holding a BYU uniform. Make a pic, sign here.

Randi Strong: 21:10

I know, but I think my, I don't know, I don't really know exactly what they wanted, but at that moment I was like, oh, no dance for sure. And at that time it was okay, realizing I'm going to give up a social life, I'm going to give up family vacation, I'm going to give up a lot of things that other kids might get to do. And also, I just knew, really young, that I was meant to do this. I was meant to do something I don't know. I don't want to say more because I think that that sounds I lost an earring. We're on a podcast, but if it's being recorded, we yeah, I just, I just knew like I like, I was like, okay, I think this is it, like I think this could be my thing, and and it turned out it was to be, it was my thing I mean it's always nice when the thing you want to do you find out sooner than later, because I have, like so many friends.

Erik Nilsson: 22:00

Right now we're going through the same like crisis. It's not like a midlife crisis, but it's more of like a quarter life crisis well, it's different themes.

Erik Nilsson: 22:07

Yeah, I would say more of like people, like I don't know what makes me happy, what I like to do or what I want to do for the rest of my life. Yeah, I've been told everything. I've been every step of the way and it's either not worked out the way everybody planned it or I'm not happy and something needs to change and it's like yeah, so I'm like so envious.

Randi Strong: 22:22

So you're like fifth grade, like send it Well and also I will say it did not come without a lot of sacrifice, a lot of work, obviously, and also I can't even say that what I thought was going to be is, like, my life is completely different than what I thought.

Iggy Rosenberg: 22:44

Visualized.

Randi Strong: 22:44

Yeah, that what I thought like I'm going to move to New York, I'm going to be a dancer what? Honestly, someone please tell me what I thought Visualized. Yeah, that what I thought like I'm going to move to New York, I'm going to be a dancer what? Honestly. Someone please tell me what that means.

Erik Nilsson: 22:52

Like I don't even think I knew Honestly those phrases alone, you could end up as a stripper?

Randi Strong: 22:56

Yeah, like what does that even mean, you know? And so I did. I moved. Yeah, like anything. Yeah, I didn't really know what that meant. I just had really good teachers and really good mentors and supportive family that were like I don't know, here you go, go find out, you know. So when I was 17, I moved to New York and found out real quick that wasn't the place, that wasn't the, that was not the place.

Erik Nilsson: 23:19

What were you doing first in?

Randi Strong: 23:20

school. No, no, no, no. I was just auditioning. I was broke, living on my mentor's couch At six months. She was like are you going to move? Like, are you? I need to sit down? Yeah, anywhere anytime soon.

Randi Strong: 23:36

But actually, while I was there, I will say one of my dream jobs. I wanted to dance for Radio City Christmas Spectacular. I wanted to dance at Radio City and it took me three years to book that job. Mind you, I know you can't see me, I'm 5'3", so don't even think for a second that I was a racket. I was one of the ensemble dancers and it took me three years to book this job.

Randi Strong: 23:56

And after I remember I remember getting the call. I remember exactly where I was when they called and said you booked the job and I was like, holy shit. I called everyone. I was like, oh my God, that was kind of the first, the first big job that I was like, okay, this is, this is working. But it's like one of those you know those pictures that it's like like where you are and the goal and then squiggly lines in between. It's just like you know, I, it's like that that this industry like being a professional dancer for so long, this industry is very much like you go to a job interview every single day and you get rejected day after day after day after day after day, and then you might get a yes, and then you do the same thing over and over and over and over again for years. Yeah Right, so you learn perseverance real quick.

Erik Nilsson: 24:42

Yeah.

Randi Strong: 24:43

Like okay, how bad do you want to do this?

Erik Nilsson: 24:45

So you're in New York, you get the job that you've always wanted to. It's starting to look, I mean look like things are shaping out.

Randi Strong: 24:51

Yeah.

Erik Nilsson: 24:51

And then, at what point were you like all right, I'm out of New York, on to my next spot?

Randi Strong: 24:54

Well.

Iggy Rosenberg: 24:55

The couch yeah.

Randi Strong: 25:07

The couch is lived in Utah at the time of getting this job, I actually ended up moving back to Utah and I got married.

Erik Nilsson: 25:11

That'll do it, that'll do it, that'll do it. You come back into Utah County in your 20s and there's like five targets on oh yeah, yeah, it's like and and listen, anybody that knows Utah had lived in Utah.

Randi Strong: 25:23

You know, like you, you get to a certain age and you get engaged and you marry the return missionary and, and that's just what you do and you think, okay, this is what my parents want me to do, this is what everyone wants me to do, this is the right thing to do. This is happiness. That you know. But when you're 20, I look back and I'm like I, how do you know? How do you know that that's what makes it happy.

Randi Strong: 25:42

I don't know how to be a wife. I don't know how to do this and that you know for what it's worth like. I learned a lot of lessons there we go. That's maybe what I'll say about that. But all in that same time is I auditioned for so you Think you Can Dance? Yes, about this same time. And I don't know what it is about the power of three. But it took me three years to get on that show as well. First year I went on, got cut. The first producer round didn't even make it past the very, very first round. Second round I made it all the way to Vegas, like to the very end, got cut in Vegas. And then the third year made it on the show, made it to the top five girls and went on tour and did the whole thing. So that was kind of the you know, the next big thing in my dance career that that really took a another launch and you know, I mean going through that experience, I mean what was some of your favorite parts.

Erik Nilsson: 26:35

I mean either that happened behind the scenes or moments you're like this is happening, this is real, and or just like enjoying the moment as it happened.

Randi Strong: 26:42

Okay, I will never forget, cause it's so, it's so encapsulated, like you go into the studio, you have rehearsal, you go straight to the dance studio, you have rehearsal, you go straight to interviews, you go straight to the hotel and you're just shuttled around so you're not really seeing any of the outside world really. And to me it was just like okay, I'm just going to rehearsal, I'm basically doing a dance competition, and I was very used to that and I will never. Even when the, when the live shows are recorded, you're only in an audience of what 100 or 200, however big the audience is, and it's cool, they're, you know screaming your name and you know it's like oh this is so cool.

Randi Strong: 27:13

like 100 people like go, randy, you know, and. And then I will never forget walking outside of of the studio because it's connected to the Grove right there in LA, and you walk out and it was like people in public knew who we were and people were like asking for pictures and I'm like that was the first time. I was like, oh my god, this is, this is like a big deal, like this is really cool. People know me, yeah, me. But that whole experience, I mean, like I said, I feel like it really kicked off a trajectory that, again, I didn't ever see or know was possible. Yeah, great experiences Obviously not great experiences. A lot of lessons, I'll say that A lot of stress, a lot of getting to know yourself real quick. Oh yeah, sure.

Erik Nilsson: 28:04

Very different worlds from being married and Mormon to being on a reality TV show and becoming a face. Yeah, yeah, oh yeah. Sure, Very different worlds from being married and Mormon to being on reality TV and becoming a face.

Randi Strong: 28:10

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And also I will say, because this is back in 2009, season five, so you know, forever ago looking at the talent now who's making it on the show, I'm like, how did I ever make that show? Like, honestly, how did I ever make that show? The odds of making that show are so slim. I mean, it's like winning the lottery you could go back.

Randi Strong: 28:32

I don't know, maybe my 20-year-old self could. Right now I'm like I don't know, but yeah, I loved doing it. I love that. That's a part of my history.

Erik Nilsson: 28:45

I love that that's a story that I get to tell. What you were saying about walking out of the studio. People know me. This hasn't happened before. Oh my gosh, what's his name? The guy on Friends that just passed away from drowning?

Erik Nilsson: 28:56

Yeah, oh my god oh, matthew perry, oh matthew perry, oh I'm friend, so I finished his audiobook and there's a moment where they everything's recorded for the. So they do the pilot. Everyone's like this is great, let's record the first season, first episode, first season's about to launch. They had just done like a press tour in vegas and the producer's like, hey guys, you guys all need to go out tonight and do whatever the hell you want, go be, be in public as much as you can, because after this, that will never be able to happen again.

Erik Nilsson: 29:24

And all of them were like he talked about, like they're like what do you mean? Like this is never. And then he's like to that point, I was never able to go out and not be recognized as Matthew Perry.

Randi Strong: 29:33

I mean, the same thing happens to me every time I step. I'm kidding, I'm kidding, I'm kidding. No, no, no, no, no, it was just. Yeah, it was. It was um kind of an experience of a lifetime type thing.

Erik Nilsson: 29:48

Yeah, I mean I'm sure. Yeah, I mean having that. I mean again having like that next step of that career that you wanted to have. Have that happen, yeah, be successful, go so far and then be able to go on tour and keep doing things that you love. Yeah, I mean it's. But it is so funny that you guys both had these like similar experiences, like yeah, you're on tour and then she goes on tour and you meet on tour doing different things. So I mean, would you feel like your experiences being on tour and traveling were similar to iggy's and just kind of like I mean it was fun and it was good, but definitely had a life where you're like I need to, I want to move on to something else yeah, I mean when I went on tour so after, so you think that was only two and a half month tour.

Randi Strong: 30:21

And then I I did another tour in in tokyo and then I toured us with derek and julianne huff here, but all my tours were honestly a month, two months, really sporadic, even when I went on with another show around the country. I was on on and off tour for about 10 years.

Iggy Rosenberg: 30:38

That sounds nice, yeah, yeah, he's like this was an option, yeah, but um I did a two-year tour one no, no, no, no.

Randi Strong: 30:47

Um, it's exactly what iggy said. It's a lifestyle, it's a choice. It's definitely a choice and and also people think that it's this glamorous life which I love. I love our life, I wouldn't give our life up for anything, and also it comes with I am tired. I'm tired all the time. I really am like you have to prioritize your sleep. I'm in a different city almost every night. I'm in an airplane, I live in an airport, I I'm in ubers, I get uber. You know what I mean. It's that lifestyle and and I can't imagine it any other way Like this is.

Erik Nilsson: 31:21

This is by design and what's like and it always comes down to like you have to put in the work to get to where you want to be. Oh, a hundred percent. Yeah, yeah, and so it's like that's the work that each of you respectively had to do, cause it's not like you. He could just step and be like.

Randi Strong: 31:45

I just want to design shows without, of course, yeah, yeah, and it's not like you could choreograph everything you do without like and here's my resume yeah, and I and I will say from, because we do both come from tour, and what we do now, the traveling that we do now, even though we're not on tour, it's, yes, it's on the road and also it's in a completely different capacity, a different role, a different um, a different level of work that we're doing now While it's still on the road. It's a lot different than like being on tour.

Iggy Rosenberg: 32:06

Yeah, being on a bus in a hotel every day, and it's a different monitor, for sure.

Erik Nilsson: 32:11

Sounds like a little more bearable than the previous version.

Iggy Rosenberg: 32:13

But the thing about touring is you get to do some experiences, which I mean you cannot do that any other way. You cannot see the inside of arenas or like. I've been to rooftops of stadiums and like I've been inside. There's a massive indoor stadium in Russia and I've been to the girders of it to like just to some, because the trucks were late, so like let's go to the roof and we're like, yeah sure, let's follow this Russian guy up the roof of this building this is big, yeah, it goes down, yeah sure yeah, but I mean you don't.

Iggy Rosenberg: 32:45

You get to do like the liberties and the stuff that comes with the job. It's incredible, it's just yeah, there's a balance to it and with that balance it's like yeah, but you're also like you're gone for so long. You're doing like. There is that incredible balance. If you get to see the world, you're also tired all the time.

Randi Strong: 33:02

I mean, isn't there a balance? There's balance if I was an accountant with five kids. I think it's just a different kind of balance.

Erik Nilsson: 33:10

Yeah, you make those decisions of what you want and you make it work Because you fill in the big parts with what you want to do and then everything else kind of fills in, whereas if you're an accountant, there'd be different trials, there'd be different hard like there's always going to be hard things, there's always going to be things that are fun, things are validating, no matter what your life is, but it's up to you to prioritize them. Make sure you understand what's going on being in the driver's seat of your life instead of being in the passenger seat and waking up one day.

Erik Nilsson: 33:37

I'm with you. I am not a. I'm a.

Iggy Rosenberg: 33:40

I'm not a passive liver yeah, joyer of life, yeah, yeah.

Erik Nilsson: 33:44

I like making my decisions.

Iggy Rosenberg: 33:45

Yeah, yeah, yeah some people in the backseat, so it's even worse, you know? Yeah, don't do that yeah don't be in the backseat um.

Erik Nilsson: 33:53

So you guys meet in Chicago, you guys start dating, realize that both of you are like I don't know if I want to do this. The same start moving to Salt Lake. I mean, how big of a shock was that for both of you, both adjusting to being together.

Iggy Rosenberg: 34:04

Actually, it wasn't because we moved here in September of 2019. She was in Canada doing an eye show Rock the Rink, rock the Rink. I came here. We designed New Skin's big annual thing, but that was when we were moving in. So, like my, the house was still in boxes and I would be here programming in the delta center every day. Go home, unpack for a few. I was sleeping the floor for the first four days because there was no mattress. We had to buy a new mattress, uh, and then running back to like to keep. I had to run out of rehearsals to go pick up the mattress. The mattress was like I'm going to say your door.

Iggy Rosenberg: 34:41

I'm like I'm going and I'm running down First Avenue, and then she got back home and then I think like two weeks later I went to Saudi Arabia for a month to do a show and then when we moved back in, it was COVID. So our beginning in Utah was crazy, which is also kind of good because a lot of our friends we went to New York when COVID really kicked off and a friend of mine owns a theater in Broadway and she sent me a message going like we just got shut down, like the theater's Broadway is shut down. So we were like, okay, this is serious, we gotta leave. So we moved, we came back here and we just like we hiked, we, we, we saw utah in a way that we don't get to see now, while all of our friends in new york are like I'm stuck in my shoebox and I'm like I'm on top of a mountain. I gotta you know. So so it was.

Randi Strong: 35:28

It was really kind of a blessing in disguise of how much we got to see the state yeah, paddle boarding and hiking underneath the delta center yeah, yeah yeah, yeah yeah, but moving it was interesting, because moving to Salt Lake, you know it wasn't, it was more of a just hey, do you want? Should we move to Salt Lake? Okay, sure, All right.

Iggy Rosenberg: 35:47

Yeah, it was pretty easy.

Randi Strong: 35:49

Yeah, it was so easy and we got to see this side like again, I've never lived in Salt Lake City. So then when we moved here I was like, oh my God, this place is awesome, like I can't believe that I I ever had this bad. You villain, I this idea a nice. It was all a little bit because I think I was traumatized, a little bit Like oh, what's happening? And we just found, we found the people here really nice. We found the, the nature of everything you know, really inspiring and and a breath of fresh air and like a literal breath of fresh air and um, you were in LA.

Iggy Rosenberg: 36:25

That's different. At least I had some nature and she go.

Randi Strong: 36:28

Yeah, so. So we immediately loved it and we're like, oh my gosh. And to this day when, when people cause obviously we travel all over the world people ask us where we live and we say Salt Lake City, utah, and normally the first response is on purpose and we're like, yes, have you been? And they're like no, and I'm like please come. I still think it's like the best kept secret in the nation.

Iggy Rosenberg: 36:50

It's just what we have for entertainment. Like nobody isn't entertainment, doesn't really live here. It's like New York, chicago, la, atlanta, so like we are the only one of the few people some well, obviously there's others, but it's not a normal answer in like the world of entertainment, totally yeah totally.

Erik Nilsson: 37:09

And it's so funny too, because, like you tell people they're like and they again everybody has this like idea? Of what it's like.

Iggy Rosenberg: 37:16

Same four jokes in a row, I get it.

Erik Nilsson: 37:19

But and it is funny because, like the amount of people that I've met who so like, for context, when I was in college at the U, I was one of the first like Lyft drivers ever in Salt Lake, oh wow. And so that was the first time I ever like just got unfettered access to just talk to people about whatever. And so there are so many times I'd be like, oh, like, what? Like are you from here? He's like yeah, I'm just headed to the airport. I'm like, oh, like, where are you from? He's like oh, I was from indiana, came here for a bachelor party and ended up never leaving.

Erik Nilsson: 37:44

Yeah, and that's like all of a sudden just and then like, so that happened. And then, around that same time, I mean this is after my mission. So I was naturally just like more social and just like programmed to talk to. Yeah, I would talk to probably where my problems of talking to anybody about anything has started. But, and then I mean when I would go skiing because I was a big skier in college, because I mean going to you, you're right there 30 minutes, you're on a lift, go ski till four, come back work, do homework, whatever you're done right. And so I'd always just talk to people. I'll be like, oh, where are you from? And I was like wait, I haven't had someone on a chair to live with me in over two weeks.

Erik Nilsson: 38:14

That said they're from utah and I was like, oh, like, because, like as a kid, you just assume that they're here next to me, so they're obviously from here. And then I mean, but also, I mean sure you can attest to this, randy, it's like you have so many people that are from here. They don't like being here, whether it's just trying to be like counterculture or whatever, or truly not and then they leave and everybody leaves and so many people leave without the intention of coming back. Then. Yeah, then it's also especially like I mean, covid was a big um influencer of this as well where people are like oh, if I'm in new york or la or whatever I'm, yeah, three thousand dollars for rent, like I'm going home yeah and then

Erik Nilsson: 38:48

all these people that we have, so many friends that did same thing moved here and they're like oh, oh, wait, it's actually wait a minute and I can do my job from here now too yeah, yeah, yeah, how much I know, I know, yeah, it was.

Randi Strong: 39:00

It was kind of a fluke thing. Obviously covet was fluke, but that we moved here in the fall of 2019 and then when everything hit, it was like, okay, like he said, I'm, I'm, this could be a nice reset for us to take a? Take a second. I mean, we dated long distance. Even after we got married we were long distance, you know, it was just.

Iggy Rosenberg: 39:19

We spent a lot of time apart so we used to, we used and this is real we used to have dates in airports because we were like, oh, I'm in Atlanta. I'm in Atlanta airport too. Oh, what terminal are you in? Let's go to the one. We meet at the Delta and have lunch, and then go on our own separate flight.

Randi Strong: 39:31

Yeah, so cute, yeah, cute.

Erik Nilsson: 39:45

So weird, so weird. Yeah, off to work. Travel safe, yeah, travel, yeah, you can tell each other. Sometimes depends on the day. Yeah, no, it's so, I mean so. So now, obviously, you went through covid, where everything got shut down for your respective worlds. Things have started coming back to life, but I mean, from then and now, what does life look like for you guys? I mean, were you traveling? What kind of shows are you doing?

Iggy Rosenberg: 40:01

yeah, yeah, covid was weird. Obviously we also. We both mostly work in live entertainment and we both mostly work in really big shows, so that was kind of one of the you know, oh, you want to put 60 000 people together in a stadium, but you forget it. Like kovit, that was like you know. So we did a bunch of like hybrid shows and virtual stuff. But, yeah, covid, I mean everything's shut down. We ended up, actually of all things, cause we cannot stop. For some reason, we opened a Brazilian jujitsu gym during COVID up in park city, which still exists.

Erik Nilsson: 40:33

Was that something you've always been in, or I've been in jujitsu for quite a while.

Iggy Rosenberg: 40:37

And then during COVID, we're like, what are we looking about? Like, do we buy a business? What do we do? And we ended up, we ended up buying it. Yeah, opening a jiu-jitsu gym. So that was interesting. It was the first time actually opening a store, breaking Martin thing. And then, and then COVID, after COVID, entertainment came back with like a fury. It was not I mean overnight, it was just insane. So we sold the business. We just we couldn't be there, yeah, and and now, and we haven't stopped since then yeah it was.

Randi Strong: 41:10

It was insane, like so I, I started my production company in 2014, okay, kind of out of necessity and and that kind of thing. And and I will tell you real quick, when we first met, he asked me what I do and I said I'm a producer, I work in live entertainment and I'm a producer. And he goes uh-huh, sure you are? And I'm like no, I'm okay, sure whatever.

Iggy Rosenberg: 41:31

Like every dancer that I meet, like historically, it's like I'm also a photographer and a bartender and a director and a producer, and so you're like like well, but what do you, you know? But I think the same thing for you, because I was like I'm a lighting designer and everything she met okay, sure you are sure you are, until we found out that each other was actually like legit.

Iggy Rosenberg: 41:48

Yeah, she came to see me in chicago and like we're, like we're gonna go do one of my you know quote, unquote shows and it was like death leopard and yeah, really, you know that I was like, oh yeah, she'd do this.

Erik Nilsson: 41:57

I'm like you know, this is like I got your tickets to wrigley.

Randi Strong: 42:00

Yeah, yeah, no I'm not joking, I'll tell you really quick. We walked in on on field level like obviously in the v, like the back, you know stage entrance, and you walk in. It's golden hour at wrigley field and journey is playing. Don't smell, believe it. And I walked and I was like, what is this movie that I'm in right now? This is so cool, um. And so I was like, oh okay yeah, I guess you're legit like number four I know, I know he really did um.

Iggy Rosenberg: 42:27

It's a different life. But yeah.

Randi Strong: 42:29

So kind of going back to covid, we all of a sudden, like you said, everything completely shut down and then all of a sudden it was not shut down, it came back with a fury and it was like we were everyone in the world, I think, was just scrambling, trying to figure out like, how do we do this? What's working, what's not working, how do we stay within the regulations of COVID and health and people and traveling and testing, and and it was just madness, it was madness, it was that 22.

Iggy Rosenberg: 42:58

And the 21 was crazy, it was insane, but now I feel Stop being crazy.

Randi Strong: 43:02

I feel it's not. You know, listen, I'm very grateful that we're both very booked with a lot of work and also I think it's much more manageable now. It doesn't feel like a tornado crazy, it feels. No, it's not.

Iggy Rosenberg: 43:18

He's like ah, I got started, no, no no, because it's not.

Randi Strong: 43:21

He's like oh, I got started, no, no. No because it's just, it's a little bit more manageable staying on top of schedules and staying organized and keeping our, our joint calendar, up to date I can imagine oh yeah, if it doesn't go on the calendar, we don't do it.

Iggy Rosenberg: 43:32

If it doesn't happen.

Randi Strong: 43:33

If it's not on the calendar, it's not happening yeah like phone call if it's not on the camera it's not, yeah, it's crazy, yeah so I that I mean you both have your dance choreography, but then also your skating choreography, I mean anything big coming up with.

Erik Nilsson: 43:48

like is it just going back from yes yeah.

Randi Strong: 43:51

We just came back from Montreal, which is world's skating championship, which is like the kind of the last end of the season, but I started working with I'm not a skater for anybody, I'm not an ice skater Uh I. I did a show in Tokyo with ice skaters with Charlie, Charlie um White and Meryl Davis and Christy Yamaguchi and Daisuke and Cheryl Burke from Dance with the Stars. So I ended up meeting these skaters, kind of working with them, and that turned into this web of work that I never knew was even possible and this is, you know, seven years ago, something like that. And so now I do dance and movement choreography for ice skaters for, like, Olympic level ice skaters. And most recently, just two weeks ago, we launched I have now an online on demand dance and movement instruction curated for ice skaters.

Erik Nilsson: 44:41

There you go.

Randi Strong: 44:42

So the app is out, the website is out and again, that's kind of what I'm talking about this life that you think you're going to live, I never could have even imagined. Who knew that I was going to work with ice skaters? I'm not even an ice skater and also I feel like these skill sets that I have learned throughout my entire life have led to being able to own businesses and work the way that we do and be on site and you know know how to act, know what to say, know what to do, know how to feel, know how to communicate. You know, you just learn the skill set via dance, via travel, via business, business, via relationship and friendships. And here we are now. You know I, I work with every discipline in skating synchro, single pair, ice dance and it's, it's taken over my life and in the best way I know.

Erik Nilsson: 45:35

And so I mean to your point of like the line that goes up down around, yeah, circles back around yeah, and I mean it mean it's so funny Cause, like if you go back to your fifth grade self when they're like I'm in dancing and if you could just show up then be like, hey, by the way, you're choreographing, I just gained it. You're like, wait, what that perspective on like my own, like professional life, and it's kind of trickled into other things as I like explore my creative side and like all these other things, it's. I think it's a lot of just like this narrowing pendulum swing. Like I went to school and I was like I'm gonna be an architect. Nope, not my, not enough jobs, all my kind of creativity, let's go be a civil engineer. They, they need something to help them follow.

Erik Nilsson: 46:15

I mean not fall down. Like I don't want to be in a back room with a bunch of other engineers, screw this, yeah. And then like, well, I liked chemistry pre pharmacy, I don't know. And like you can tell business, finance it, and like. And now it's like, okay, I'm really close now and like, but again I'm like I'm not so focused on this end journey that I'm not gonna have any variance towards it, exactly because even the things I'm doing now didn't exist when I was trying to make the decisions on what I like quote want to be when I grow up, yeah. And so I think there's like that huge part of it, especially for you. Like you could have had people like hey, like if you're thought about ice skating, you're like never done this. I don't like this dance purist, get out of my face yeah exactly.

Erik Nilsson: 46:46

And like granted, everything probably would have worked out. But it's so interesting how, if you're flexible and like open minded, these paths can open their ways for you in ways you never thought would happen.

Randi Strong: 46:57

And I actually say this quite a, quite a I don't know quite often is I'll say yes to almost anything once I really will Like food experience, job, meeting someone. Almost always I'll say yes once and then I'll see how I feel about it. And it was one of those things where I started working with skaters and I'm like I'll go on one date with you. Iggy.

Erik Nilsson: 47:20

I said, yes, you're like, oh, you're coming to Wrigley Field.

Randi Strong: 47:22

And then I was like, okay, no, but so that was kind of the same thing working with skaters. I just I was like, yeah, sure, absolutely. And then I went home and I was like what the fuck, oh God. Oh my gosh. What am I? What am I going?

Erik Nilsson: 47:32

to do.

Randi Strong: 47:36

What am? I still don't skate, you know, but it was just one of those things where you say yes to, and then here we are, seven years later, to the most incredible experiences and quote unquote. Work Like this is my work and I'm obsessed with it. I love it.

Erik Nilsson: 47:52

It's a good thing. I mean, Nikki, what about for you? I mean, what kind of stuff are you working on or been working on recently?

Iggy Rosenberg: 47:57

No, but I think a lot of that ties in, because obviously my IT department.

Erik Nilsson: 48:02

Yeah, I'm the IT department. Honey, can't find the right show again.

Iggy Rosenberg: 48:05

No, but a lot of that. So obviously, when we did this online studio like all that footage is filmed, right, so it's basically Netflix for dance and movement coaching so we started filming and I was like, well, I've always sort of you know within what we do, we're in the periphery of video a lot, so we design a lot of content and we design LED screens and sets and stuff like that, but I've never edited. I always sort of started, but then I never had anything to apply it to. So when we started doing this, we're like, oh, we need to edit all of this content. We also need to edit trailers and stuff.

Iggy Rosenberg: 48:35

So I started working on learning editing and now, weirdly enough, we are doing El Levo's 20th anniversary tour, which starts soon. So within a Levo here to create a ton of contents the first year. They have a huge LED screen for a long time. So so I'm now home, I've been able to apply all that stuff to edit all these, all this content, and and now for the next volume of studio strong we're we have a whole new workflow because now I'm much more familiar with what we need to film and how we need to film it. So now we're going to take everything in-house and edit it, and I would have never. I mean, I've started and stopped this editing thing year and year and year after year and now I finally have something to adapt it and now I'm using it heavily, like I'm on DaVinci every day doing content, so that stuff is all. I think being adaptable is such a huge thing and I think entertainment, especially live entertainment, you have to like. There's just no, you know, every day is different yeah.

Erik Nilsson: 49:31

Especially being flexible to the point where, I mean, you started your career, this curious 14 year old being like what does this button do. Yeah, what does this do this, what does this not do? Can I turn it cool and then like but then it gets to the point like, okay, I want to go study this, I want to go do that, I want to go do this. Where I mean on-demand entertainment, I mean youtube the way we know.

Erik Nilsson: 49:47

It didn't, wasn't even anything of course, yeah, yeah and so now to your point of like oh, she wants to launch this online studio. I'm gonna learn this. I've never had a reason to learn how to edit anything because, no, like, no one's ever been like. I'm gonna learn how to edit video for the sake of editing video it's hot, yeah something, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Randi Strong: 50:04

What tip post on instagram?

Erik Nilsson: 50:05

no one's gonna put that kind of time into yeah and so like mine in the same vein, like it's so fun now, because I remember when I first started, like again, I had to understand audio engineering. What hardware do I need? How do I edit this? How do? I make this sound good, like I mean again, it's like this continuing learning and then like, but that's trickled into, okay, now I need to edit video for youtube. Yeah, now I need to understand and build a website.

Erik Nilsson: 50:25

Now I have to find out how to seo optimize this website yes I still have to be having outreach and scheduling guests and recording episodes and make sure, like, and so it's like all of these things you never thought you would like. I was talking to a friend I hadn't seen in like 10 years. He's like so what are you up to? I was like, oh, you know my day job doing like data analytics, working in tech, and then I have this pocket to like podcast. Yeah, did you like I always done them Like? No, he's like. Well, did you ever like want to do a podcast? Like, not really.

Erik Nilsson: 50:50

Like it just kind of came and it's fun, so we keep doing it. And then I meet really cool people Like, and so just like, it just matches so many of my personal values that, like, as long as you're being true to yourself, what makes you happy keeps you I mean mentally, emotionally, I mean spiritually, physically charged. Yeah.

Randi Strong: 51:06

Hell yeah, let's do this thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.

Erik Nilsson: 51:08

But it's when, like I mean, I even feel that I mean, if there's people from work who really hear this, we'll probably have to decide anyway. But, like with work, I'm like let's go work on the podcast, like that's it. You get nice stuff. I'm sure it's the same way we're like, even if it wasn't what each of you had individually thought, where you would be or what that would look like, it's exactly what you want now, no matter what that person 10, 15, 20, 30, 40 years ago yeah, what's that?

Iggy Rosenberg: 51:34

yeah, but I think we both, we both like to learn, yeah, like so. So one of the I think one of the bigger things is being able to continuously be okay with the idea that you don't know a thing and either go okay. I'm obviously not going to suddenly get into like For a brief second. When I stopped touring and I was desperate to do a thing, I started to try to learn coding, and I think it took me like three days to go. I do not speak this language.

Iggy Rosenberg: 51:58

I don't think that way, because my mind is all like, how do we combine the artistic side with the technology side, and and I cannot just think purely inside of technology it didn't work, though, and I have all of my programmers. They do shows for me. Like they are, that's what they are, they code, and. But but the idea of always going like I, I don't know the thing, I don't want to learn the thing, this is something I'm going to pass on, or I don't know the thing, I want to know the thing, and dedicating what is you may now will say, probably inordinate amount of time to learning the thing, yeah, but if you don't, I think if you don't do that continuously, you just atrophy yeah, well, it's like there's two traits, when paired together, are one of the most successful motivating things.

Erik Nilsson: 52:42

It's curiosity and determination. Yeah, and so if you're curious like, oh, what is this thing? Determine, like I'm gonna figure this out. Like, yeah, you can overcome anything, and, especially in today's world, like I always have a shout out. My mom love her, but she'll always be like, how do I do this? Like she texted me the other day. She's like how do I listen to your podcast? I know you put it on my screen here. I can't find. I'm like, hey, mom, just like general rule anything you're questioning, just put a how-to before that and put that into google.

Randi Strong: 53:04

Yeah and it'll figure something I promise, she's like wait, really, I'm like yes so you know, you know when you get the call in your mom's life. Okay, I'm trying to attach and you're like stop there, yeah, no we've, we've put team dior into everyone's computers.

Iggy Rosenberg: 53:20

It's like, because I'm like I Team Dior and I just I'll either show you or I'll just do it for you. Yeah, just give me access, let's do this. Yeah, I just can't.

Randi Strong: 53:26

I also feel I'm like, oh my God, what's the thing going to be when I'm my parents' age that my kids are like, oh mom, yeah, what do than your coffee or something you know?

Iggy Rosenberg: 53:39

Oh, you screwed up the hologram again.

Erik Nilsson: 53:41

I used to do this on an application on my phone.

Iggy Rosenberg: 53:45

You have to use your fingers.

Erik Nilsson: 53:46

You hold it, you hold the phone. The robot just knows when I need coffee. Yeah, I know, it's great, perfect temperature, a chip in my head. Yeah, A chip in my head, yeah, of course no, but that's been.

Iggy Rosenberg: 53:59

it's been a, it's been a kind of a bananas year, because it's been you launched your studio, the ice skating thing, which I am now sort of a part of.

Randi Strong: 54:07

Yeah, yeah.

Iggy Rosenberg: 54:09

She took me to the nationals and I'm a live grenade, right, because I'm like I don't. I'm not easily impressed by people because I've done pictures. Yeah, we've done, I've seen the people, so so I just go and I'm very outwardly critical of things and it works, yeah, but here's the thing and maybe this is more on a foundational level is why we work.

Randi Strong: 54:31

Sure, iggy's not a skater, correct?

Erik Nilsson: 54:33

Neither are you. She can skate.

Randi Strong: 54:39

If I step on the ice I will crack my head open. But here's what we started doing and a lot of skaters have started coming to us more as, like a couple to help them is be more of a producer of your program for your year and like what is the music, what's the feeling, what's the costume, what's the choreography, what's the vibe, what are you saying? It's more of a produced program instead of a ballad with a dress and rhinestones and skate, skate, skate, right, because I just don't think that that's serving anybody anymore. And so that's why I kind of brought Iggy in, because he's so creative in the way that he can define things and explain the human element of what we're watching. But it's the same right of what we're watching, but it's the same right Whether it's skating or for Carol on a world tour, or El Divo or you know, over in the Middle East, like whatever.

Randi Strong: 55:28

It all comes down to this human element of what am I feeling when I'm here? Right, and how do we combine, like what Yiggy said, the artistry and the technology and, yes, of course, a budget, and create this feeling that people will not forget? Right, and so that can be applied and that's being creative with a budget. With ice skaters, with a show, with the Olympics coming to Salt Lake, it's building a restaurant, making a podcast. It's all creative, like we're all like rick rubin says we're all creative.

Erik Nilsson: 56:04

Don't get me started on rick yeah, all day.

Randi Strong: 56:06

So I listen.

Erik Nilsson: 56:07

So I'm sure you've read or listened the creative act. So that's now like my daily meditation. I just throw on 10 minutes and yeah, yeah, yeah yeah it's a good one yeah yeah, but it, but it.

Randi Strong: 56:18

um, I think that's what makes because and people do ask us all the time like, oh, how can you work with your husband? Like I could never work with my husband. We have a four-hour rule. After four hours it's like I got to take a walk, like we can't be around each other more than four hours. But I feel like that about most people I just need alone time. But it is that.

Erik Nilsson: 56:39

how do we combine our strengths and produce experiences and make clients whether that's a skater or a CEO or a president, I don't know happy, you know fulfilled and it's nice that you because I mean it's nice when I've been in relationships in the past where it's like, hey, we have some sort of common understanding. I mean especially like I mean work's the easiest one, because that's the thing that takes most of our I mean time away from each other and so be able to come back, be like, oh my gosh, I'll never believe what happened at work today.

Randi Strong: 57:07

it's like, oh, I totally understand because the same thing happened to me last week.

Erik Nilsson: 57:10

Yeah, and so I imagine, with you both like being on that same sort of creativity side, on the same side of entertainment, the same side of uh, really trying to put together something in like harmonious way, like you were talking about, randy, I'm sure it's nice to have someone to your point, probably how I mean Iggy, you got brought in. It's like, hey, I have a question about something, I want your point of view, and then he's sitting next to you and you guys are both working on it together.

Randi Strong: 57:31

Oh, I'm definitely the emotional one and Iggy is highly pragmatic.

Erik Nilsson: 57:36

He gets it from his dad.

Randi Strong: 57:37

yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, and so that definitely comes into. I think, like if I get my feelings hurt or something, I'm like, can you believe that?

Erik Nilsson: 57:44

he's like, yes, I can't I know.

Randi Strong: 57:46

And then, he's like, yeah, write this and say this and be done with it.

Iggy Rosenberg: 57:50

I'm like, oh, okay, yeah, but it's not funny right because I'm also like in our, in our work roles. It's, it's, it's reversed, like you're, you're, you're technically a producer and I'm technically a designer. So everybody would expect me to be and I am very right brain. But but I'm also. All of my emotional output is through my shows. It's through, like creative and lighting and stuff like that.

Iggy Rosenberg: 58:12

So, so, but on the day-to-day business thing, and I will say, because I make this, I make this separation very often is I'm a designer, I'm not an artist, I have an artistic side, but I as a designer, I have to have a foot in the practical iteration of like, do we? We need to build the show every day, we need to fit it in x amount of planes, we need to fit in x amount of budget. So I can't just go like, oh, it's all gonna be great and we'll make it out of clouds and, and I don't have even even a, I cannot turn that part of my brain off. So what's funny when the media is kind of the up, like personality-wise, I am very much the drier, pragmatic guy, but my output is always super emotional, which is for her, it's the complete opposite.

Iggy Rosenberg: 58:57

Her emails are the. You know this work, this is the schedules and the budgets, and we should do this and I schedule the time and we have the dancers, you know, but in person she's much more emotional.

Randi Strong: 59:07

But even on site, though, when shit needs to get done, I'm very much my.

Iggy Rosenberg: 59:12

Red lip.

Randi Strong: 59:13

Randy, red lip Randy, that's what my people call me. Red lip Randy. When the red lip is on, that means like it means business, means business like we're running a company. You know, we this is business.

Erik Nilsson: 59:23

and and then, yes, but in person I'm yeah, she's nicer I mean it's good to have that like balance between you, yeah, and being like, yeah, you know, I know when the I know when things need to get done, but I also know when it's when I'm yeah, it's like the the.

Randi Strong: 59:37

Don't mistake my kindness for um for weakness weakness, oh, yeah, yeah.

Erik Nilsson: 59:43

I'm a big believer in everybody needs to know when to be an asshole, yeah. So, for example, I was on this golf trip with some friends this weekend. We planned for like four months and so we were getting lunch and there's eight of us, it's like $150. We're like, all right, okay, scramble 4v4 on these teams. Whoever wins has to pay for lunch. And the person put on the cards like he was the wild card invite, like yeah, he was him, we love him, he's great, just like, not, not the like if, if for people who knew all of us, if we were to lay out the names back which one feels the less like it belongs, yeah yeah but, and so he put his card down because it was one of those like hey, it's uh, we need to get out of here quick.

Erik Nilsson: 1:00:18

Like okay're, like okay, then it needs to be on one check, so anyway, so that check happens, and then we ended up winning and we're like Colson, you need to get the money. Like this is a principal thing. He's like no, I don't mind, thanks for having me. No, no, no, no, I know you're fine.

Iggy Rosenberg: 1:00:44

I know you don't want to wrestle any.

Erik Nilsson: 1:00:46

You know you don't want here's a good way, like, but at the same time, like if someone's in my face like saying something, enough, like I'm a pretty nice person, but I'm also like there's a threshold if you cross me, like you will probably not cross it again because I don't let people across the surface, yeah, but think a little bit about how I say things, and I know I come off a bit acerbic about it, but I've done this for a very long time and I have a track record that I would say is pretty good right In what I do.

Iggy Rosenberg: 1:01:09

So I don't say things without going, like I've put in my considerable experience, behind these words, so sure, I'm very to the point, so sure I'm very to the point. I am half German after all, right, but and they'll have to be Italian, and the rest of it is Argentinian. So imagine that. But it's if I tell you like Lots of strong what a point. Yeah, I know, but we go like no, no, that lighting doesn't look good. I'm happy to defend it and tell you why. But am I going to go like? This is all terrible, you guys suck, that's just being mean, right. But I'm just very direct to like hey, I'm, if you ask me for an opinion, I'm going to give it to you in a way that is actually conducive to exactly it works and like it's.

Erik Nilsson: 1:01:59

So one of my things, I believe and this is probably more professional, but kind of applies everywhere is like, don't be a bobblehead. Like if someone comes to you for an opinion, like, let's say I mean, let's say I'm nikki, they're like hey, you know, I really don't like how warm these colors are. I don't know, I don't like the time you're like well, I disagree, because color theory says this and like the timing of this and the emotions of this song feels this, and so this is kind of how I'm feeling. So I disagree with you and they're like oh, now that you put it that way, I agree Because it's easy to be the father and be like whatever you want you can like brainless just of course, but they hire you to be an expert.

Erik Nilsson: 1:02:28

They hire you to be professional, not to be like I mean a rubber big shows.

Iggy Rosenberg: 1:02:43

Obviously, the main goal for us is to support whatever's happening on stage, and that starts with whoever's name is in the end on the poster. Where's Carol G? Or whoever it's their show, it's their name. They're the ones that are literally putting themselves in front of 60,000 people every night. So we have to be very conscious I want to be very conscious of, of course, whatever you say goes Sometimes when I go. That's a weird decision. When you get to my level of shows, you don't hire me without knowing that it's going to come with expertise, that it's not going to come like, like, with my own sort of quote unquote style. I'm not going to hijack your show, but it's like if you just wanted me to press the buttons, but then just, yeah, I'll leave you, my programmer, and you tell me what to do. Right, but I'm, I'm it remains the same though.

Randi Strong: 1:03:28

Yeah, exactly I'm still taking my cut.

Iggy Rosenberg: 1:03:30

But I think most artists understand that there is a relationship to this, where it's what I understand about what the show looks like is different from because I'm in the audience looking out than your experience you know from the stage out or then watching it on Instagram, because we get that a lot. It's like I saw a video but that video isn't the show. That video is part of the show.

Randi Strong: 1:03:51

Yes, but I also think that that comes down to building trust with your client, because, especially when it's a new client, you know you obviously have to work harder to be like listen, you hired me for a reason. Please let me do my job and I will do. Yes, I'll do what you want and also, like what Iggy said, it's going to come with expertise of here's why I think that you shouldn't do this. In the end, I'm going to do whatever you want and also I'm just letting you know that that's my opinion. But, like doTERRA, I've done doTERRA's shows their entertainment for what? Six years, seven years, and I feel like I have the most amazing trusting relationship with them, where it's kind of to the point now where they're like hey, this is the theme, what do you think? And I, and then we go build an entertainment pitch and I think this, okay, looks great, oh, okay, amazing wow notes, no, no, nothing no notes.

Randi Strong: 1:04:45

Okay, amazing, thank you so much. And it allows us to to really do our jobs. Because when you get with new clients and it's like well, well, well, and they're like, okay, I, I'm really trying to do my job.

Iggy Rosenberg: 1:04:58

This is why you yeah, no, and it ends up honestly, you kind of have to be like listen, this is a waste of money to hire me, because you're not using me to my fullest capability.

Randi Strong: 1:05:18

This is what I'm capable of. Please let me show you what I'm capable of. This is why you hired me, and 99% of the time it turns out to be like, oh my God. Thank you so much for being honest with me. You know now I trust you type of relationship and in the end I think you can agree in any profession or industry that that relationship is the most important at the end of the day, that your relationship, your connection with clients or friends or colleagues, colleagues or whatever yeah, so outside of dance choreography production, jiu-jitsu, uh, what do you guys like to do to spend your time or what keeps you here?

Randi Strong: 1:06:02

that's 24 hours a day I can literally just describe no we well?

Erik Nilsson: 1:06:05

no, I love that you're also in your like jiu-jitsu uniform right now. I respect them.

Iggy Rosenberg: 1:06:09

Oh, that's, yeah, that's I. I well, we, we love japan. We're a big, big japan. If I was, I lived there for a bit. We were just there in november. So, like we're we, yeah, we have a lot of, uh, japanese friends in our house and stuff and yeah, yeah so it's very dear to us when we're home.

Randi Strong: 1:06:24

Um yeah, we, we restore at home. That's what we do on our free time caves, and we do no, we spend all the time I do.

Iggy Rosenberg: 1:06:32

Well, we can, we go outdoors quite a bit. We have a we have, we have a can-am and stuff like that. So we go out to seven years and stuff we can't go actually we're getting out.

Randi Strong: 1:06:39

We're getting out this weekend well, you are. I'm gonna be in vegas yeah, he goes, he gets to attend part of it, but we are, we are going to mesquite, taking a side by side, gonna go be outside and just that's it. Be outside, a lot of yoga and a lot of just spending time at home kind of doing nothing. It's nice.

Iggy Rosenberg: 1:06:59

Well, it starts like that. It never ends doing nothing. We always end up doing nothing.

Randi Strong: 1:07:04

I mean like working, oh yeah, but at home.

Erik Nilsson: 1:07:09

Just the scenery changes.

Randi Strong: 1:07:09

I also think we love hosting little dinner parties at home. That scenery changes. We just didn't know I also. I also think um. You know, we, we love hosting little dinner parties at home. That's like my favorite. Yeah, it's it's.

Iggy Rosenberg: 1:07:17

We have a great kitchen. We use it twice a year. It's great.

Randi Strong: 1:07:20

Yeah, dust it off, you know we have this, this one dinner that we cook, and it has really great wine and specialty cocktails that you know yeah it's amazing. We love just having good conversation and you know and that's my.

Erik Nilsson: 1:07:34

So I was trying to explain this to my therapist when we were first starting together. I was like you know, like you only have like people around a table and like usually, a bottle of wine. It's just like good conversation and french like oh, tabling. I was like, excuse me, she's like tabling oh oh, what's the thing? Yeah, she's like yeah just like sitting around talking good conversation. Don't want it to end like yeah, going for like oh noted god, you're like same thing.

Randi Strong: 1:07:55

Yes, I love that. Tabling is my favorite, but you know what I?

Iggy Rosenberg: 1:07:58

think is well, I mean, I don't know how you were raised, but in argentina that's, that's super normal. Like we we start our dinner, start at like eight, nine o'clock at night, right, and then they go to like our restaurants don't open till 8 pm and then you just sit there for, like our dinners take three hours. We sit there with wine and we talk, and like it's a very Italian, we have a big Italian part of Argentina, so like a lot of our food culture comes from that. So the transactional eating in the US is really still, to this day, very shocking to me.

Randi Strong: 1:08:27

That's what I was going to say. When we went to Argentina, I was, like the first time I went there in 2018, met his family yeah, we sat down at dinner at 9pm. It lasted three hours and you're but you know, it was amazing Because I was like a little lost in translation because I don't speak Spanish, but we're just sitting there drinking wine and talking and laughing and having a good time and it lasted, you know, forever. And then when we got back to the us, I guess I just never realized. It's like you go in, you eat, you pay the check and and the surfers are just they're just trying to get you in and out and you're like this is awful and so to the point where I will now, I will not order all the food at once.

Randi Strong: 1:09:02

I refuse to order the entire dinner actually. Yeah, no and even even yeah I want to time.

Iggy Rosenberg: 1:09:07

I want to time my own, my own my own meal meal and we do.

Randi Strong: 1:09:11

We just sit there and we drink wine and talk and laugh and it's more of an experience rather than in and out and pay the check and get go, go, go.

Erik Nilsson: 1:09:21

How fast can you do that? And I'm like, oh god, like slow down, slow down well, that was one thing I was talking to with Mateo Sonia, I started Mateo and he's like it was such a culture shock, which we love. The restaurant yes, we love. We just went, we just went, yeah, and I need to go to his Thursday like wine pairing dinners. Oh, but to?

Iggy Rosenberg: 1:09:41

be honest, I don't know about that, but now we are. Yeah.

Erik Nilsson: 1:09:43

Yeah, no, every Tuesday they have a, I think, like five course meal and then like a 75 for like wine and tomorrow I know what are we doing.

Erik Nilsson: 1:09:53

I know a guy, but he was the one who's like because he came to the? U to. I mean, he was a professional swimmer, barely missed out on the olympics, moved here to go, like, get a scholarship, to get education. He's like. It was weird, like people just ate in their bed and like and he's like I don't understand. He's like because for me it's like if we bring family together, we talk, we converse, we do all these things, he's like you understand. He's like because for me it's like if we bring family together, we talk, we converse, we do all these things, and he's like and like. To be honest, like, and that is a big part of, I mean, american culture, but also utah culture. Like food in utah until recently has been a very like. Oh yeah, I guess keeping on the same.

Iggy Rosenberg: 1:10:23

We can have an entire podcast about how we feel about food.

Erik Nilsson: 1:10:26

Oh, that's the next podcast, um, but then it's like but it's like this whole. Oh, I need to get food, I need to do this, we need to go and do that. It's like, no, no, like, hey chill, like just chill like.

Iggy Rosenberg: 1:10:35

Yeah, we like like love that is starting to change. We love that starting to get, because obviously for us is not that's harder for most, but but we travel. We literally travel around the world for a living, like we. If we're not, we're not traveling, we're not working. So we get to experience a lot of different culture around the world. So it's really bizarre to come back to here, and Utah is especially strange because it's a country, it's a city that has so much, you know, there's so many people that have come here through missions or whatever, and you go like how is this not more substantial? Like how is this not more substantial? Like how is this not more interesting? And it's starting to get to that point where the service quality is going up and the food quality is going up and Mateo is, I think, one of the greatest examples of one of the yeah the service was amazing, the food is incredible and and I didn't feel- like I was in an Instagram photo shoot.

Randi Strong: 1:11:27

Yeah, instagram photo shoot.

Iggy Rosenberg: 1:11:28

Yeah, which we all get a lot. There were no sparklers.

Randi Strong: 1:11:30

There were no sparklers. It was good food and good service.

Iggy Rosenberg: 1:11:34

And it's that simple, it's simple.

Erik Nilsson: 1:11:37

I don't need my meal to come in with a sparkler. I don't need the gimmicks.

Randi Strong: 1:11:42

Yeah, I don't need gimmicks. I don't want fluorescent lighting shooting me in the eye. It's not that difficult.

Iggy Rosenberg: 1:11:50

Going to things with me is hard because half of my world is light and determine. So shows and movies are really tough. But then the other half of what Light Switch does is architectural design.

Erik Nilsson: 1:11:58

So going to restaurants is also hard because I start criticizing the rest of our life don't like what they did, yeah we're hyper critical but it's even the first thing we kind of started talking about is like it's good to be opinionated, it's good to have opinion.

Randi Strong: 1:12:11

Yeah.

Erik Nilsson: 1:12:12

But then it's also hard, because once you do have strong opinions, it's not like you can be like okay, I liked going, mateo, but it's time to go to Olive Garden. I can't do this anymore Like that doesn't happen, and to that point it is getting better here.

Erik Nilsson: 1:12:32

I feel like there I mean, during the pandemic there's a lot of restaurants went out of business, that should have gone out of business and now they're starting to get replaced with better things. But I think the biggest thing is just like the I mean just population and dynamics. Everything has changed. Where I mean only like four or five years ago, is the first time with the LDS population being less than 50 percent. Yeah, like ever. Yeah, we have a lot of people with a lot of money moving here who want to be able to go out to a nice restaurant and be able to go to and have these experiences that are so common in la and chicago and, yeah, and new york that you don't have to go, try to fight to find. And then now it's like, oh, like, okay, it's starting, it's getting there.

Randi Strong: 1:12:59

See things it is, it is getting there. I I still feel like we'll go to like for some context. We just went to philadelphia, went to this incredible, incredible bar restaurant and I feel like I say this all the time we go into places and I'm like why isn't this in Utah? Why isn't this type of place in Utah? Where can we get this in Salt Lake? Because I do feel like there is a large and growing population that wants these experiences. It's just not. It's kind of missing the mark.

Iggy Rosenberg: 1:13:29

So we've talked about. Like you know, neither one of us wants to open a restaurant. My mom was a chef, you know retired but so I've done, I've done, we've owned some restaurants with my mom. It's, it's a, it's an awful grind. I don't, I don't know the numbers for that, I don't want to know of the things is like when people go to restaurants. I'm like, yeah, no matter what, it's still an experience. But we both are like, well, we should, we should design a restaurant, we should design experience, and we have like for a never-ending list of of what it should look like well, we've got japanese restaurant, we got, we got, we got the bar we got.

Iggy Rosenberg: 1:14:03

We go to these places and we're like this is not, you know, one of the things that I I talk about this a lot with you and stuff. Design isn't, because obviously I do enormous shows which have a lot of budget and we get the manufacturers call me and go like have a new light, try this out, have a new product. That is the top of the food chain in that respect. But that doesn't mean that that's the only things we do, and a lot of design is just pick the right things for the right environment. So a good restaurant doesn't have to be incredibly expensive to build. It's just like within these three parameters and let's just have a thing we call pragmatic design.

Iggy Rosenberg: 1:14:38

So our logo is three circles and one circle is logistics, one circle is financial, one circle is creative, and it's those three circles. The more they overlap, the better the experience is. But if you just push too much, you know and those circles can change depending. Well, for us it's so secret, as we're doing entertainment, but in a restaurant it could be, you know, food service, ambience, right and and and. Within those there's more circles.

Iggy Rosenberg: 1:15:03

But I don't need the biggest warehouse with the most expensive chandeliers, with the most expensive linen. It's's just what speaks to the truth of this experience and that's what a lot of the restaurants we've had and we've had owners and managers ask us their opinions and it's yeah, you've ticked sort of all the boxes into what they should be, but the experience is not there, because the circles don't overlap. The person designing this didn't talk to the person in the kitchen, and then talk to the chef, and then talk to the DJ, and then talk to the servers. So you are all operating in a vacuum and the only centralized thing is the customer. Yeah, and they're having an awful time. I like this Because it's dissonant.

Erik Nilsson: 1:15:45

Yeah, yeah.

Randi Strong: 1:15:51

And recognize it, but they feel it, yeah, yeah, or if, or if it's the music is too loud, or if it's too quiet, or it's too bright, or you didn't know what wine, I don't know. It's just, there's little things, that that doesn't cost anything. Yeah, knowing the volume of your restaurant, that doesn't cost any money. You know, maybe consulting about it.

Erik Nilsson: 1:16:05

But if you guys are, if you guys are struggling with vibes and ambience, I know I know two people who have got some ideas.

Randi Strong: 1:16:11

Yeah, and it's something that we're but that kind of comes down to. We have a passion for it because we want to see the city grow in a way that pushes the envelope, because, like you said, there are a lot of international people moving to Utah and we're about to host the Olympics. There's going to be. People want these experiences and, unfortunately, the, the restaurant with the bad food and the bad service that has the great Instagram wall, is not going to cut it. It's, it won't it won't stand.

Erik Nilsson: 1:16:43

Don't take one picture in front of an Instagram wall, and even then that's probably too much.

Iggy Rosenberg: 1:16:47

And even the people that you know, like for us, like we don't, we're not going to do that. That's not what we go to. That's not. I want to eat, you know. I want to have a good time, yeah.

Randi Strong: 1:16:55

Good ambiance.

Iggy Rosenberg: 1:16:56

That's it, you know, there's there's a lot of untapped potential, I think, in in Utah and it's starting to pop off, it's starting to come up the last release last week was Stuart Valling, who runs gastronomic SLC, and he's like there there's so many good things happening and changing.

Erik Nilsson: 1:17:13

It's just it just takes a little bit of time. So I'm like I can be, I've been paid, I can be paid, like that's fine.

Randi Strong: 1:17:18

Yeah, I think it's kind of it takes something it takes um open mindedness changed.

Erik Nilsson: 1:17:34

it's like it's happening, let's embrace it, let's, let's make it work win-win. You know, it's not like you can just wish things to change and they're just not going to change?

Iggy Rosenberg: 1:17:38

no, no, of course, of course, no no we're starting to see, like you know, better cocktail bars and better wine showing up and, like I love, it.

Erik Nilsson: 1:17:44

Even like in the topic of like bars and cocktail bars. I remember when I was in college, I mean it would be like, okay, so we're going to even twist was like the end of my time, and then there was like a bourbon house which was fun, like there was just like three or four bars, yeah, that you would like go to. And then now I'm like, oh, it used to be kind of almost like there's a second south part of things, there's a main street part of things, there's part of state street, there's a couple kind of other little floaters, but now it's like there's so many and they're so unique, I mean like sayonara, like and having that like the japanese street bar feel yeah yeah, and then you have, I mean like the more.

Erik Nilsson: 1:18:15

Uh, why can't I think of a single goddamn? Oh, you're like going to like the post office, like yeah yeah, yeah she's like. So you know. But then, like, I mean, one of my favorite bars is seabird gateway, where I mean, if you can find some of their cocktail, um uh breastfeders.

Erik Nilsson: 1:18:29

Oh yeah, I was gonna say, cocktail makers was like that's yeah, if we want to get extra tidily um yeah like, but really great there, and so it's fun to see how much more like nuance and niche there I mean even like arc, I mean uh, quarters and having like an arcade, but like it's no longer just where's the cool place everybody's going to. Let's go there, like there's actually yeah and like because I was talking about it recently with someone else where I mean I love, like what I I don't know why I started calling it like an adult night out where it's like yeah, we go out, we have a reservation. You start at five 30 cocktail. We're growing up. Let's say you don't have a reservation, then you go put down your name. Let, yeah, have a bottle of wine or two and be there for two or three hours. Oh, where's dessert?

Iggy Rosenberg: 1:19:09

oh, it's over here yeah, should we get another? We do that often yeah, it's so fun.

Erik Nilsson: 1:19:13

Favorite things, yeah, and so I like that it's easier and easier to put those nights together and have more fun and even just like see people out to the level it's been I there's a lot of optimism there.

Erik Nilsson: 1:19:24

It's fun to see how much things have grown. I'm excited about it all. Yeah, you might be excited that other people are as excited because, again, like it's like we have this conversation where, like, you'll talk to someone like oh, I can't believe this restaurant went out of business. Like, okay, when was the last time you went there? Like five years ago? I'm like well, that's when we're out of business, and so it's these places where we can go back to, we want to go back to. We know what we're getting we have.

Iggy Rosenberg: 1:19:44

We have stalwarts. Let's go to exactly we have.

Randi Strong: 1:19:47

We have like the, the staples that we go to and we're loyal customers for good food service and ambiance, like it really is those, those three. But here's the thing too I and I say this to to people all the time about salt lake. It's like I could go on and on about the reasons why I love living here. You know safe, clean, affordable. You know airport, I mean it really and my family does live here. So that's a bias. That is a bit of a bias, and my sister.

Iggy Rosenberg: 1:20:16

I know so my sister just moved a block away.

Randi Strong: 1:20:21

That was actually really exciting for me.

Iggy Rosenberg: 1:20:23

I love that.

Erik Nilsson: 1:20:26

Yeah, it's great, did you guys say you live in Yavonese?

Randi Strong: 1:20:28

We live in Charlie Square. We tried living in Holiday and nothing against.

Iggy Rosenberg: 1:20:29

Yeah, it's great, you guys said you live in yamadees, we live in charlie square.

Randi Strong: 1:20:31

Okay, cool, yeah, yeah, we, we tried living in holiday and nothing against holiday, because it's beautiful if that's your style. I was suffocating yeah, we're not.

Iggy Rosenberg: 1:20:39

We're not. We're not burbs people, we're not burbs?

Randi Strong: 1:20:42

no, we needed to, you know, we needed to move back to the city, and so we've been in charlie square for a couple years and I don't plan on leaving anytime.

Erik Nilsson: 1:20:49

We're pretty comfortable we are yeah, I just moved, let's see. So I used to live in like yale crest area, which was great, like there's a place, but then I just moved like marmalade district oh yeah, for like five years, like I've lived in cities enough where I like I'm always. I just miss the energy of it and I'm just yeah that's what it is.

Randi Strong: 1:21:06

It's buzz, it's an energy and and also the walkability of, especially when the weather is nice. Yeah, I'll walk anywhere.

Iggy Rosenberg: 1:21:13

It's I love it.

Iggy Rosenberg: 1:21:14

Yeah, I love having that accessibility I think generally, you know I was thinking earlier. It's like utah's. You always say this about argentina. Argentina is a beautiful country which has so much potential in terms of like resources and economy. There's so much that can be done and we just keep like running it to the ground for some reason.

Iggy Rosenberg: 1:21:34

But Utah is in many ways, I think for many years, people saw this as like the place you came to die because the Mormons and the thing and the alcohol rules and the food wasn't you know. But I think this is a city where they're actually being, they're very, very smart about being very proactive, about making the city better. Yeah, so I will never. I don't think we'll ever see this city and the state just gonna go like go down the wayside, because I think the government is very aware of like listen, the Olympics are coming.

Iggy Rosenberg: 1:22:02

You need to have better transport, you need to have, you know, you need to have better food, you need to have better hotels, you need to have all the stuff. The airport has to be the right size. So I think they're being very smart about about it's not that doesn't live in a vacuum and they didn't have very good and there's obviously precedent, because the olympic park is still active and still exists and it's not they're not using as a sniper rest like they did, you know. So like it's, it's it, they're being very smart about it and and that's I think it's. There's a lot to be hopeful about the future of utah because it's they're actually doing things and they're not just and they will need lots of production and choreography to get these olympics together exactly all of them.

Erik Nilsson: 1:22:38

We could work for this, it's like your own, like little version of work from home.

Iggy Rosenberg: 1:22:41

Yeah, well, you only done. I mean well, you do quite a bit of things here, mlms. I've only done, I think, five shows, and you, I've been here Because we do big stuff and this is not it's starting to, but we've done a couple of things. We did a thing for Cadillac up in Park City. We just did a drone show up in Park City as well. I've done a couple of shows down here, but I think it's so funny to work from, because it's so rare. Also, because I travel so much for work that it's so rare to be like travel so much for work that it's so rare to be like oh, I live three blocks away from the thing. Yeah, sure, like this, this is cool, this is, it's bizarre. Just, I drive to my car to the venue instead of like an airplane and uber yeah, it's amazing, yeah, we're excited.

Randi Strong: 1:23:19

We're excited for, yeah, not only the future of the city but, like what you said, the olympics. I mean maybe twice right, like I think we're up for maybe new winter olympics. And it's kind of funny that the two worlds Residency yeah.

Iggy Rosenberg: 1:23:33

Olympics the residency in Vegas. Got it for 30 years In Utah, yeah.

Randi Strong: 1:23:37

Know that the two worlds are colliding Like, yes, dance, movement, ice skaters, choreography, production, lighting design you know all of it's coming together. So, yeah, hopefully that's something that we can be a part of and kind of share what what we do. Yeah, with salt lake it's our scale so yeah yeah.

Erik Nilsson: 1:23:57

Well, guys, two questions before we kind of wrap up. First is if you guys could have someone on the small lake city podcast and hear about their story, who would you want to hear from from utah? Or just, yeah, someone who's I mean post malone available? I mean he's available. Is Post Malone available? I mean he's available. Let's see if we can. He's on my pie in the sky list. One day. It'll happen. We should talk, yeah.

Iggy Rosenberg: 1:24:17

Yeah, I would love to. Yeah, we should talk, we'll make something real.

Randi Strong: 1:24:21

Hmm, like whose story would I want to hear? Or like get that Anybody?

Erik Nilsson: 1:24:27

here, or like anybody who has a story, or anybody who you, I mean, think is interesting, anybody who got here via an interesting story, cool people doing cool stuff, cool business owners, cool restaurants yeah there's, there's a, there's a I can't remember his name.

Iggy Rosenberg: 1:24:41

Now there's a graphic artist. He spends most of his time in palm springs, um, and I was supposed to see him when I was there and I didn't get to see him, but he does does half his time. He does stuff here in Utah, so he's I will call him from Utah, I think. He's like 80, 20. Yeah, we'll take it, but I think that there is sort of like a really weird little hidden art scene in Utah which is really good Don't get me started, I think, getting someone from there to explain, like what their vision of how you tie art into the city, because I think that's going to be that's going to be important when the as a beautifying the city that we're going to need more we need more whale tails yeah, need more apricots.

Erik Nilsson: 1:25:20

What other weird things do we have right now?

Randi Strong: 1:25:21

have you guys seen the apricot and marmalade?

Erik Nilsson: 1:25:23

no, yeah, no I didn't know until. I mean, I moved there and I was running around.

Randi Strong: 1:25:27

Yeah, I think, I think what I'd love to see is, yeah, is more interesting architecture yeah, I think that's kind of been the thing that's, and nationwide.

Iggy Rosenberg: 1:25:35

From what we've been reading and seeing, is the the lack of architecture in the new buildings going up it's infuriating yeah, it's sad, like sometimes I'm like, oh, no, another we both love chicago so much and that's like the beautiful architecture, like oh cool, another stucco box or another yeah, that's gonna be, that's gonna.

Randi Strong: 1:25:56

Yeah, I'm not.

Iggy Rosenberg: 1:25:57

like you know, I do a lot of shows in the middle east. Like you know, we do a lot of massive events over there. So like it's we what I'm saying, like let's do burj khalifa and so like that's just a different but, but I think there's stuff that could complement the city much better. It's good, it's good, a good, yeah. So, like architect, to explain why they're not doing the thing.

Randi Strong: 1:26:16

Yeah, can we get that person on?

Erik Nilsson: 1:26:18

Grill him. Yeah, Actually I think I know two or three guys that actually make sense yeah.

Randi Strong: 1:26:26

And you know they, they got to have the power to make decisions like what we talked about. It's like hire this person and trust them, not put up another yeah, you know, oh, another like render. We have you, we call them renders. We're like oh, another render went up. Can't tell they look just like there's no soul, there's no soul.

Erik Nilsson: 1:26:40

I know my mom. So my mom was in, yeah, kill crest area and she always talks about like I think it's sugar months, the one building in like sugar house, and she's like, hey, I'll just look like, we don't need any more sugar, mom, we don't need any. Yeah, I was like, I agree, mom, you, you get your picket and you just go, I would join I told you that I would join too, I told you I was like I, that's something I would pick it for and I don't think I'd

Iggy Rosenberg: 1:27:03

pick it for just many there's a building called the randy, by the way.

Randi Strong: 1:27:07

Yeah, there is, it is yeah it's one of the, I mean, it's not you're like I'll take it cool, but it really is like r-a-n-d-i too, like, oh my god, I have a building.

Erik Nilsson: 1:27:15

I have a building.

Randi Strong: 1:27:16

I'm like show your friends like have you guys seen my business I was like emmy is in my building you own it? Well, no, but my name's on it according to childhood logic, it is actually yes, yeah, exactly, oh, no, I love that, yeah then uh.

Erik Nilsson: 1:27:29

Lastly, if people want to find out more about, I mean around your choreography on demand coaching, yeah, again, the work you're doing. What's the best place to find you guys?

Randi Strong: 1:27:37

uh, so my production company is strong productions and because my name is randy strong, so strong productions, and my online studio is studio strong ice, so it's really easy to find me on on social media. Just randy strong, you can find everything about me there you go.

Iggy Rosenberg: 1:27:52

Yeah, easy enough yeah, it's easy to mine yeah, no, it is yeah uh, so yeah, my, my firm is called light switch, so I'm one part of a big design firm. Um, so light switchnet? Uh, for some reason I don't have one with the dot com. Like you'll go somewhere else, yeah, budget yeah no, I think somebody. Somebody bought it before us. We went around for 30 years apparently. Even that wasn't enough to like buy the right domain name. So light switch dot net and then iggy lights at instagram cool yeah, that's it potluck city trolley square, I don't know.