Listen to the Podcast About Da Playground
Podcast Summary
Brandon and Myline Dahle, the owners of Da Playground, share their inspiring journey from Las Vegas to Maui in an engaging interview with Jake Carter from Felix and Fingers. Myline, with a culinary arts degree from Le Cordon Bleu and a background in marketing, and Brandon, a former VP of sales in Fortune 500 companies, decided to follow their dreams of opening a beach bar in Hawaii. Their vision became a reality when they opened Da Playground, a mid-ground live event center that fills a unique niche in Maui’s entertainment scene.
Driven by a desire to be part of a community and give back, Brandon and Myline transitioned from successful careers to a simpler life in Hawaii. Despite facing challenges such as delays due to the pandemic, they persevered and opened Da Playground in 2021, hosting over 300 shows in a year. By providing a platform for talented local artists and bringing joy to their audience during difficult times, Da Playground has become a beacon of hope and entertainment in Maui.
With a mission to empower artists and contribute to the local music scene, Brandon and Myline have created a vibrant space where creativity thrives. Their commitment to quality entertainment and community engagement sets Da Playground apart as a must-visit destination for music enthusiasts and event-goers in Maui.
This interview was provided by Felix and Fingers Dueling Pianos.
Podcast Transcript
Jake (00:25)
Hello, so I’m Jake Carter with Felix and Fingers, and I am here with Brandon and Myline from Da Playground. And you guys are the owners of the Playground. You moved out to Maui from Vegas originally. Brandon, you have a really cool background as VP of sales in two different Fortune 500 companies. And Myline, you have a culinary arts degree from Cordon Bleu, and also doing marketing for about 15 years at…
a very successful Las Vegas breakfast chain, where you grew that up to 20,000 plus people. And you guys moved out here and I know we were just chatting and you told me some pretty cool stories about why you moved out here and that whole thing. So if you want to expand on all of that, let me go ahead.
Myline Dahle (01:11)
Appreciate it, Jake. Aloha, everybody. So, yeah, we moved out here. We’re very goal-oriented. We’re, you know, since I can remember, I’ve always done New Year’s Goals. We really raise the kids with the law of attraction focusing on what they want. New Year’s Goals and vision boards. And, you know, the kids did really good. Daughter, you know, went off to… She was a valedictorian, went off to Stanford.
And, you know, son did everything that he wanted to do four years later, was valedictorian in a public school in Vegas, got into Berkeley. And when he got into Berkeley, we kind of looked at our vision board and there was one thing left on the vision board that we hadn’t achieved yet. And one of those things, that one thing that was left was opening up a beach bar, specifically somewhere in Hawaii. And so we were pretty much, I was just becoming, I was one of the younger.
younger vice presidents of sales and cybersecurity at the time. Myline was really taken off to the races on running two different businesses through her own business and doing all their social media and website. But when our son went off to Berkeley, we, you know, we basically on the way home from, from checking them into the dorm, we gave them a quick call and said, Hey, you know, do you want to come visit us, you know, on your, your breaks in, in Vegas, or do you want to come visit us in Hawaii?
He said, go make it happen. We want to go to Hawaii. So we pretty much got rid of all the materialistic items, the huge house, donated pretty much all of our furniture to different charities, came out here, moved into a little 700 square foot condo. We opened up a bar called, it was Ambrosia at the time. We bought that because we just, it was a small bar that was on the beach. It hit our vision board.
But it wasn’t going to be the one that we were really looking to open. We weren’t sure what was missing in Maui. We definitely wanted to be a part of something bigger than us. It wasn’t about money this time. It was about being a part of a community, giving back to your community. And the big glowing hole that we figured out was there wasn’t a mid-ground live event center. We do have a big live event center that’s called the MAC that.
You know, you have to sell 5,000 tickets, you know, to really be successful in a show. You got to be a really big artist. And we started seeing all these artists that have so much talent, but they’re performing in a restaurant in a little corner. Um, so that’s kind of how we came about opening up the Playground. Um, of course, you know, we did open, we got, we got delayed by a year because of COVID. Um, and then we did open in 2021 during the height of the pack.
pandemic at 30% capacity. We built a plexiglass barrier. We social distanced with the fire marshal. And that year we did over 300 shows. It was actually really special to be able to be one of the places that, one of the only places that were open. We were getting a lot of bigger local artists from the other islands, especially Oahu. We were able to pay them and empower them. We got a chance to crawl before we walked to really nail our process.
Um, and definitely was able to bring some happiness and some joy during a really rough time, um, you know, during COVID. And I’m really proud to say because of being so process oriented and having everything social distanced, um, we didn’t get one case that came out of our establishment, they couldn’t even track any COVID cases. We actually, the health department had called us and said, like, you guys are doing a phenomenal job, like we can’t even track anything back to you guys.
We were meeting with them on something else. They were, right? So it’s been a ride. Yeah, it’s been a ride for sure.
Jake (04:58)
means they were looking. They’re like, we really tried. Oh my gosh. And I know, so…
Yeah. And to just fill people in a little bit more on, you know, what you’re talking about, cause you were saying, you know, you opened from Ambrosia, turned it into vibe super, super small, small bar, like seating for like 10 people. Yeah.
Myline Dahle (05:23)
square feet I think it was.
Yeah.
Jake (05:27)
And then now you’ve opened a playground which I know we’ve talked about before is like and what you kind of just said But didn’t totally get into it is like a full like legit club venue with all of the lights and the stage and the sound And everything like it’s not like it’s not a just a bar like a little it’s a legit thing with a whole stage And you do get really cool acts in there like dueling pianos, but Also some really other cool things I really love going and seeing shows because of what you said it is such a legit
Myline Dahle (05:50)
All right.
Jake (05:57)
space and venue and everything does look really good and sound really good and it’s like not just going to a bar it’s actually going to a show and I know you guys are only open for shows so it’s like a totally different experience and it is really nice and I know that like you said there are a lot of musicians on Maui and so it is really cool that you’re giving back and giving that outlet for people so just had to shout that out yeah
Myline Dahle (06:12)
Thanks.
Thank you for mentioning that, Jake. I want to expand on that. I actually really appreciate you mentioning that because we did really focus on doing a professional sound system, professional lighting. We sound treated the entire venue. So we got the treatment in there. We have a VIP room with the back door entrance. We do get lucky. We get a lot of bigger acts because they’re already playing in Oahu.
and they want to come out to Maui, but they not necessarily want to try to sell a 5,000 venue out, but a 400 person venue to come over here for a quick stopover, or 250 capacity is our capacity on there. But we’re getting a lot bigger artists that we probably normally wouldn’t get just because we are in Maui and they want to extend their trip over from already being out in Oahu.
or they want to be able to come out to Maui for a vacation and get it right off. We’re the last stop, so they come and stay.
Jake (07:19)
Yeah. I mean, in Maui, no koi, you know, it’s the best place to stay
anyway. So, okay. Everyone knows, you know, um, so I’m going to go through some questions here just about general event things and stuff that you guys have experienced. So my first question for you is what current trends are you seeing in the event industry?
Myline Dahle (07:25)
Right? Right.
Do you want to go with that or you want me to? You can go with that. So the trends that we’re seeing, at least in Maui, that’s something that’s really different is a lot of people got to realize that our population is 150,000 population. Oahu is a million population, just to give you an idea of the difference. So a lot of things that are trending in the mainland and that are trending in Oahu, not necessarily trending in Maui. So we got to be really cautious and really get to know our audience out here.
Recently good trends have been Felix and Fingers. That’s been a great show that’s starting to do well that I can see us doing once a month and people really enjoy it. They do like the themed events. We’ve been throwing like these themed, like what is it, nightclub themes, like a Taylor Swift one, or we have a cartoon rave coming. We had a party 101 that was all Disney based.
With Mark Bennett? Yeah, Mark Bennett. That we were very surprised that we had like 300 people, or no, not 300 people. We did, we definitely… Up to almost. We sold out at our capacity, which is basically around 250. Yeah. But yeah, we’re also getting into a lot of tribute bands. So we’ve done like a Fleetwood Mac tribute band, we’ve done a Led Zeppelin tribute band, we’ve done an ACDC tribute band.
So yeah, those are starting to work pretty well. And of course, the normal shows that always do well in Maui are gonna be more of the Hawaiian music, which we love and been listening to well before we moved here, the Ana Hejas and the Ellie Max and Paula Fugas, which just got a mix of R&B and reggae to it. So those that haven’t really went out there and listened to the music, we have friends that come and visit us and they leave and this is all they listen to now, is this type of music.
And it’s pretty awesome, it’s uplifting, it’s positive, and it’s just, it fits into Iron style music that we just, we enjoy and love, and of course that always does extremely well.
Jake (09:50)
Yeah, I know one of the shows that I came and saw that I was just so stoked with was Claire Wright. And that was so cool, like just such a like happy kind of island music and just like watch it. I still listen to her stuff and I’ve shown her music to all kinds of people. Like it was just such a cool show, you know, just that like chill kind of thing. And it was just her with the guitar and Tavonna open for her. That was amazing. So yeah, yeah.
Myline Dahle (09:57)
Oh, right. Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah, Tavana. Yeah, that’s a perfect example. Yeah, Claire and Tavana is a perfect example where Claire is from the mainland, but she’s breaking into the island music with someone like Tavana, and she’s doing a great job of doing it. I’m glad you got to experience that at a show. That’s a perfect example.
Jake (10:27)
Yeah.
Yeah. Well, and I think that she did live in Hawaii for a little bit. So I know that her music’s like kind of influenced by all of that. So, yeah. So that was super cool. What are the most cringe-worthy things that you hate seeing at shows and events?
Myline Dahle (10:37)
influence.
Oh man, when we have a super talented artist and people don’t know about them and they don’t come out, that’s one of my super cringy ones because they’re just so talented and it’s just like, just come out for live music. Yeah, but I mean, that is probably, I have to agree, one of the worst that we have to deal with and we get it a lot. We have some artists that I feel that all the shows should be selling out.
Jake (10:50)
Yes.
Myline Dahle (11:17)
but with 150,000 population, you know, we haven’t figured that part out yet. And we’re spending a lot of time on marketing and figuring out social media. We’re now getting into texting. We capture all the emails, you know, when they, we’re up to over thousands and thousands of emails, but I think we’re up against is that, you know, we can only do so many shows in the population. And that is a hard part because we do get these artists
We might have a half, be half full in there and they should have sold out no problem. And they would have in the mainland or even a bigger populated area. That’s a, that’s a hard one. I hope to put it probably to the top of the list as well.
Jake (11:56)
Yeah.
Yeah. I know that it’s, Maui is kind of one of those weird places where there’s always a lot of things going on, you know? So I know that makes things difficult too, where it’s like, a lot of times there’s multiple shows every night that you could go see. And it just depends on like, what do you want to go to, you know?
Myline Dahle (12:19)
Oh yeah.
Jake (12:26)
And there’s that’s also, I always tell people like people that come visit, they’re like, oh, well, it’s going to be a Tuesday. So I don’t know like what it’s going to be like if we go out and like go to the Tiki bar or something. And I’m like, every day is Saturday. There’s no, like, it doesn’t matter. Like there’s no, there’s no such thing as Tuesday here. People get off the plane and they go to the Tiki bar. That’s doesn’t, you know, like, so, you know, but the people that live here. I, yeah.
Myline Dahle (12:38)
No matter.
And with us, we’re 100% local driven because we’re not advertising to the tourists, nor do tourists really want to come to a concert or a show, a comedy show. They can do that in the mainland. They want to go to snorkel trips. They want to go to luau’s. So also like our, we’re only open when we do shows. And also we’re targeting, you know, pretty much our crowd is 98% locals.
Jake (13:15)
Yeah.
Myline Dahle (13:15)
So, you know, that’s another challenge that if we could break into the, to the tourism, I know that would really, you know, help fill some of the shows that we feel that should have sold out if some of the tourists would even know that they actually have, you know, for example, Collie Budds on Island or whoever it may be that’s performing with us. So.
Jake (13:28)
Yeah.
Yeah. It’s something interesting for us to talk about, I think, in the future. Not right
now, but… Okay, so next question. What are some unique fun ideas that you’ve seen at recent events?
Myline Dahle (13:38)
Yeah.
Oh my gosh, you can take, I’ll do a couple of them. We’ve done some really Felix and Fingers, it’s been a blast. Everyone, we always get just huge reviews of how fun, much fun they’ve had. I know it’s building at each show, is close to selling out every time we do it, which is awesome. We love doing our drag show. We’ve been doing that up for over two years. And it’s the last Sunday of every month, and that’s always been super fun and successful.
Um, you know, we’re, we’re working on doing grad events. We are the, we’re hoping to get approved to give the graduations for the kids in high school. And we had for grad night. We’re like, pretty much, if you think about what these kids have to look forward to, to doing out here in Maui, there’s not a lot of options. And if we can, and we’re 21 and over, and we’re only allowed to be 21 and over, um, because of each, we’re not allowed to have, you know, cause we don’t serve food and we’re not a restaurant. We have.
Jake (14:25)
Wow.
Yeah.
Oh.
Myline Dahle (14:44)
stricter laws and rules out here in Maui that are different than everywhere else. So yeah, we’re 21 and over, but being able to do like a grad night and have these guys experience a true sound and lazy light show and a concert indoors with a DJ. We’re hoping we get approved with that one. That one’s gonna, we’re at the final stages of knowing if we’re gonna get approved or not and I have a feeling we’re gonna be doing a majority of all the grad nights out here for these kids that have been through nothing but COVID.
Jake (14:58)
Yeah.
Myline Dahle (15:14)
And then after COVID, we’re finally getting our feet underneath us. We experienced the fires. So events just like that, Grad Night is a perfect example of why we opened up the playground to be a part of something bigger than us and be a part of the community. And I’m hoping we get approved.
Jake (15:27)
Yeah.
Okay, what about you, Myline? What’s something unique that you’ve seen? Like something just driven out there that you’re like, ooh, that was something cool that they did at a show.
Myline Dahle (15:36)
Unique.
Yeah, I’ve always enjoyed all of the new and upcoming artists, you know, just because it’s new music. I love listening to new music and getting just kind of exposed to things that I don’t normally listen to. One that really stands out is Brown Chicken Brown Cow. Like, they do all bluegrass and all of that stuff. And just…
their instruments and just their artistry, you know, for me, that is just so unique. And it really made me become a fan. So I mean, I love, you know, just that exposure to all different types of music for me, because then it’s, I don’t know, you know, it’s just cool to watch, you know, just all of the different instruments that they have, all of the, just everything about it. It’s just so talented. The amount of talent that goes in.
to playing that instrument. It just, it blows my mind. That’s a good point. So yeah, Brown Chicken Brown Cow is a local bluegrass country band that started out like 15 years ago playing on the streets out in Maui. They would be a good band to interview. Now they sell out all our shows. Anytime they do a show with us, they’ll do a show once or twice a year with us. They’ll sell it out, but every one of those band members are so talented.
they could be their own artist. And it’s a group of four of them and they’re just amazing. And it’s all string instruments, so there’s nothing, I don’t know, they have this thing that’s flat that they play, I don’t know, you just have to watch them because it’s amazing.
Jake (17:26)
Awesome. Okay, so what is some advice that you would give to someone, so if someone came to you and they, like for the grad night, like they wanted to book an event with you, what’s some advice that you would give to someone that is just starting the idea of like, hey, we wanna have an event like this, and they come to you and they’re like, we don’t really know what we’re doing, but we wanna have an event. What is that advice
that you give to these people?
Myline Dahle (17:47)
I’m gonna take this one because I actually handle all the private bookings. So what I really try to do is I try to set them up for absolute success. So what I try to do is figure out how many people are they’re expecting to be at the event. If they’re planning on having a DJ or a band, you know, what’s the age demographic of the that they’re planning on having. And then after I get those questions answered, I really try to steer them towards a night
you know, that would fit if there’s going to be, you know, 200 people there. You know, we’ll set them up where we just really get a deposit that covers our costs for like security, a sound tech and a door person. And then we just do a bar minimum with them. So, you know, I want them to hit the bar minimum so it doesn’t cost them anything at our event besides the deposit. That just kind of it’s a small deposit that covers the operations overhead.
And that’s a successful event to me, where they can focus on the event, have a blast, it’s fully customizable. And I do it based on, if they’re only going to have a hundred people, I’ll steer them on a Thursday, you know, um, to be able to do it. And I’ll give them a much lower bar minimum, cause it’s not as, as popular as a night where they can get really close of, of hitting that bar minimum, you know, with that certain amount of people that they have. So they can focus on the catering, have a blast.
Jake (19:05)
Yeah.
Myline Dahle (19:11)
where, you know, and we cover our costs and we make our money, you know, and it’s a win-win for both of us. So I think understanding what they’re really trying to do and setting them up for success based on what kind of event that they have. And they always have such a great time. We’ve done so, I don’t know how many, you know, class reunions and alumni class reunions which has multiple bands.
Jake (19:18)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Myline Dahle (19:38)
You know, everyone’s different. It’s all customizable on how they want to do the layouts and chairs and where they want to put the food. So it’s really cool to be able to have every event that we do and customize it based on what they’re trying to achieve and set them up for success, you know, where it’s a minimal cost for them and let them focus on, you know, the event itself.
Jake (19:45)
Yeah.
Yeah. Awesome. Um, and I know that, so basically what you’re saying is reach out to you and then pick a day that’s going to work the best for those people, you know, early on in their process so that they can then align everything else up, but probably start with you first so that then they can get all of the other vendors lined up and you guys can work on a date ahead of time because that’ll work the best.
Myline Dahle (20:21)
Yeah. We can help them with local bands. If they don’t have one in mind, we can help them with DJs and introducing them to the right DJ, depending on their genre of music. We can help them with food to be catered in and recommendations. So yeah, it would definitely start with us. We can eliminate probably a lot of their headache and help streamline a lot of the process and help them find people that didn’t say we didn’t even know where to start at, you know.
Jake (20:34)
Yeah.
Yeah. So all of this leads into the next couple of questions and these are going to be some very similar to the same kind of topic, kind of just rapid fire logistical questions about events and, uh, generally private events, I think is kind of what we’re going towards mostly, but feel free to answer however you want. Um, what is the current availability for people booking events or shows and how far in advance do you want people to book?
Myline Dahle (21:12)
Current availability, right now we’re booking a couple months out. I would love to stay that way. So at least I would say two months out. We do have off days, you know, our Sundays and Thursdays here and there. But if you wanted to get a Friday or Saturday, definitely you’re going to be a couple months out for booking. And the sooner that you can book it and lock it down for us, the better. We would like to start.
having our events go three or four months out. Right now they’re currently going out about a month and a half, two months. We do have some shows coming out a little further, but I would love to get to the point where our calendar is six months booked out ahead of time. It’s a goal.
Jake (21:54)
Yeah.
Awesome. Um, what kind of flexibility do you have with guest count in the event that it changes?
Myline Dahle (22:04)
Guess count in the event that it changes, could you? Um, I mean we can, you know, as long as there is a clear path to the exits and there is a clear aisle way to and from and within the venue, we could stretch it as much as…
Jake (22:08)
Yes.
Myline Dahle (22:32)
it is comfortable for that to happen.
Jake (22:35)
Okay. Yeah. I know you guys are pretty flexible because you have, you know, all the tables and chairs that you can put in or out or either way. And everything moves around. So I know that it’s a very flexible space for whatever kind of event people want. And I don’t think that you guys generally have an issue if you have to get more tables.
Myline Dahle (22:52)
No, we got so many tables and chairs and yeah, it’s completely customizable. Um, and yeah, the most important thing is staying within the capacity that we know works well, that has a very safe entrance and exit, um, and we’re very process oriented, so, you know, when you come to our show, you’ll see how, how streamlined and smooth the process is.
Jake (23:06)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, I know that is true. So what is an average event size and cost for your venue plus mandatory gratuity if you know what that is?
Myline Dahle (23:25)
Average event size is probably about 100 to 150 people, which is well under our capacity. So plenty of room within there, plenty of tables, plenty of space. What was the other question, the event size and cost?
Jake (23:40)
And cost. So if someone was like, hey, I want to book it out, what is the cost?
Myline Dahle (23:45)
So a majority, I’m proud to say that our events that we do private events on, there really isn’t a cost because they all pretty much hit the bar minimum. That’s their cost. They have to hit a certain bar minimum. The overhead cost is never going to be really more than like $700. That includes three security, a door person, and a sound tech to run the sound, whether it be a DJ or a band. So it’s a very minimal cost. It’s going to be the cost is going to be more of what they’re paying for catering.
Jake (24:07)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Myline Dahle (24:16)
any extras they’re doing and all the others, you know, what they’re trying to put together. And if they end up doing a Saturday and they don’t mind and there’s a hundred people and we have a $4,000 bar minimum as an example and they hit three of it, they will be responsible to pay that additional $1,000 at the end of the night, you know, but a majority, 95% of our events usually cover their bar minimum.
Jake (24:35)
Thank you.
Yeah.
Myline Dahle (24:41)
And it really is just the deposit that they usually have to pay and all the extra stuff that they bring to our event is like the band and the DJ and the food would be that extra cost that we don’t handle.
Jake (24:51)
Nice. Yeah. So I, it basically to get to reserve the event or the space, it’s generally about $700 plus a bar minimum, which varies depending on the day, but on a Saturday, it could be about $4,000. And then that is just something that you assume that the guests are going to pay for that the people come to it. And so, so kind of pass through situation to your, your attendees.
Myline Dahle (25:15)
Exactly. And we’re pretty good about knowing if you have 200 guests, you’re going to hit 7,000 at the bar. If you have, it’s a reunion and you have a hundred guests, you’ll still hit that 4,000 minimum. It’s a reunion, right? So we can help steer, depending if it’s going to be a retirement party and everyone’s, you know, over 60, you might not hit that bar minimum and steer them to a different day and do an event that works best for them. You know?
Jake (25:20)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah. So what is your cancellation policy for events like that?
Myline Dahle (25:49)
Gosh, we really haven’t had any cancel. We did experience a lot of cancellations from the fires. Oh, that was rough. There’s really no cancellation policy. It’s just you don’t get your deposit. The deposit is the, that pays for security lighting and sound. So it’s usually a $700 deposit. If you cancel on us, you just won’t get your deposit back. But we’re even nice enough that we had someone cancel on us because of the fires.
Jake (26:09)
Mm-hmm.
Myline Dahle (26:19)
but they want to redo the show in May with us. And we still said, yeah, you don’t have to pay another deposit, we’ll still use the same one that you have and we’ll transfer it over to the flu show. So we’re very flexible.
Jake (26:30)
Yeah. So you’re.
Yeah. Awesome. Um, so I know that you mentioned you don’t have food at the venue. Um, do you have a caterer that you like to work with? Do you have preferred vendors and do you for like, is it required that people that event or rent the space use the vendors that you like and work with?
Myline Dahle (26:52)
They can use whoever they want. We definitely have suggestions for them. We have, you know, we do have restaurants right next to us. You know, Point Break Pizza, which is an awesome spot that’s just opening, Tontes, which is also an awesome spot. So, you know, we recommend having those two locations because it’s really easy, we’re right next to them. But if they have something in mind and someone they already wanna use by all means, you know, they can use whoever they want.
Jake (27:19)
Awesome. What is the maximum capacity for your venue? Um, for an event.
Myline Dahle (27:26)
So for most of our shows, they average 100 to 150 people. Our max capacity is about two, we pushed it before to 250, but we try to stay around 220. 250 just seems a little too full. I mean, we still had a perfect exits and out, but we just like to have that little extra space. So our capacity is perfect to where it’s at around 220 is our capacity.
Jake (27:50)
Awesome. Yeah. And then tell me about your VIP room that you guys have in the back. Tell me a little bit about that.
Myline Dahle (27:58)
So we originally opened the VIP room that we were going to use it for a VIP space that you could rent out as customers. But it’s really developed to be the green room for the artist. So it’s right. It’s perfect, especially when we have the big artists like we’ve had artists like, you know, do surprise visits that no one knew that they were there and kind of jump on stage.
Jake (28:10)
which I love.
Yeah.
Myline Dahle (28:23)
Yeah, it has a little secret back door entrance that they can come through. No one knows about it, you know, and it’s an awesome space. It holds about, you know, 15 to 20 people, so the whole band could be in there. It’s got a mirror where they can get dressed and feel good in it. And we didn’t, we don’t really provide it for the public. But we are going to be working on some VIP options and some VIP spaces that we’re going to be offering inside the venue in the future. And we could also be
Jake (28:24)
Yeah.
Myline Dahle (28:51)
offering some simple food with our pizza partners that are just opening up as another option down the road that we’re working on.
Jake (29:01)
That’s cool. I like this. That’d be cool for a building piano show, just saying. Yeah, that would be very, yeah.
Myline Dahle (29:03)
Yeah.
Yeah, we’re working on it, buddy. Hopefully we have it in place before the next show.
Jake (29:15)
So that VIP room, just a little bit more on that. So there’s a couple of couches in there. I know it has like direct bar access and it’s available. Like if someone was to privately rent your space, they would have that extra room that they could use, you know, to prepare change or do whatever they needed to. Well, the event is going on before or after and just have, you know, privacy from the rest of the event. And it is a nice little space. I know that every time we do shows and I get new people that come out and play with me, they’re always just like, oh, this is cool. You know, the last one that I,
I did.
The last one that I did, it was really funny because my partner, my partner player, her boyfriend came with her and was in town and he had never seen a show that she had done. They were a new couple. And so we’re sitting in this room and he’s sitting there looking around and he’s like, is this like, is this what you always have? Is this how this works? And she was like, no, no. This is not how this normally goes. Cause he was just like, oh my God, you guys are like celebrities. This is crazy.
So, yes, very cool space.
Myline Dahle (30:18)
That’s the whole goal. That’s the whole goal, yes.
Jake (30:22)
Yeah, it was just, it was so funny. She was just like, no, normally we are, that is not the case. We’re shoved into like a back closet. And,
awesome. Oh yeah, I mean, I think that’s normal for everyone. It’s nice that you guys have that space. What, are there any noise ordinances or curfews, anything that you guys have to deal with?
Myline Dahle (30:30)
Right. We’ve heard those stories. I know, yeah.
No, we just have to close by 1:45 and everybody out by 2 a.m. But normally we do it 1:15 and then everybody out by 1:30. We have a strict liquor control, so we just really are… We don’t push our limits. We don’t push our limits and we do everything a little earlier than you’re supposed to. We like to make sure we show up with the apple and hand it on their desk, you know, and abide by all the rules. Right.
Jake (31:01)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
What about the parking situation? I know that you guys have a very big parking lot out in front. Tell me more about that.
Myline Dahle (31:26)
Tons of parking. Tons. Well, because… I think that’s one of the really…not the main reason, but one of the reasons why we picked that location because of the parking. And the sound ordinance. So because of being right next to the aquarium, the aquarium is huge, and then we also have the Whale Foundation, and they do a lot of tours during the day. Yeah. So it’s a huge parking lot. There’s no sound ordinance, and we’re pretty much the only business open in the evening and at night.
Jake (31:28)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Myline Dahle (31:54)
So we have this huge parking lot that we only take a quarter of the space. So you’re never gonna have issues parking or finding a spot. And I know locals, if you have a Hawaiian or Hawaii driver’s license, you get to park for free. And it’s free anytime after five o’clock. And yeah, anytime after five.
Jake (31:59)
Mm-hmm.
Yes.
It’s free for everyone after 5 or just locals after 5? Well…
Myline Dahle (32:18)
free for everybody after five. And then during the day if you have a local ID it’s free for you. So for our shows it’s always free because our shows are always after five. Yep.
Jake (32:24)
also free. Yeah.
Yeah. So I know that you guys, it’s an indoor space. I don’t think you have, do you do events outside? Do you have access to anything like
that? It’s just inside, right?
Myline Dahle (32:37)
We haven’t, we could have access, but we haven’t had anything big enough for, uh, yeah, to have it outdoors. We were trying to get like, do like Mahalaya, that’s where we’re located at. And we’re going to do like Mahalaya Mondays and do an event and when we’re open during the day and stuff like that. But it just didn’t with COVID and the fires, we naturally progressed and we were going to be a daytime event and kind of like a Dave and Busters. But, um.
Jake (32:49)
awesome.
Myline Dahle (33:05)
We morphed into a live event center and that’s really what we are. We’re staying in our lane and that’s what we do well.
Jake (33:09)
Yeah.
Yeah, so there’s no issue with weather. You’re never gonna have a rained out event. So that makes that easy. How early can vendors access the venue for setup before an event?
Myline Dahle (33:16)
Nope.
It’s customizable. Some vendors, like I have a big show with the Expendables. They’re a big reggae group. We’re lucky enough to get them because they’re playing on all the islands. But, you know, they need to get in at two o’clock where their show’s not even until seven because they just have all the instruments and load in and have to come with so much more. So everybody’s different. We let people in when they need to be in and give them as plenty of time as possible.
On our private events, we do try to stick with a five-hour max time limit, because our security and everybody that we pay is based on five hours. So we try to make sure it’s all within the five hour. And we usually, for private events, we’ll meet with them ahead of time and go over their layout. So when they do show up, they already have the layout in place. So when they come in, they only usually need about an hour to decorate and get the food and stuff in there.
Jake (34:12)
Yeah.
Myline Dahle (34:20)
It’s really good. I make sure that we all meet ahead of time. And we have everything in place and dotted. So the day of the event, it’s already 80% all set up for them.
Jake (34:25)
Yeah.
Awesome. Um, when people are coming into like do a private event like that, is there, uh, an event coordinator or manager or anything like that on site for those people, or is it just on your security or how’s that work?
Myline Dahle (34:45)
So it depends if we’re here, we will be there meeting them. We want to get to the point where like, we don’t have to be always there, but we do have a lead. So we have, it’s either going to be us, our manager, or our bar lead, depending on who’s available and how we have it scheduled. But there is always somebody that is in charge of meeting that person who’s in charge of the event. And that’s, that has coordination. So yeah, there’s coordinations from, from out the gate, from when you load in.
Jake (34:55)
Mm-hmm.
Myline Dahle (35:15)
to decorating, whether it be us, our bar manager, or the bar lead, depending on the show night, there’s always someone assigned.
Jake (35:23)
Awesome. So I know that based on all the things that we’ve talked about, it sounds like you guys are extremely involved in the planning process, ready to give people recommendations and help them get vendors and all of those things sorted out. Who is generally the main contact during, prior to the event, not during the event. Who’s the main point of contact leading up to the event?
Myline Dahle (35:44)
That’s me.
Jake (35:46)
Okay. So that was the last thing. And then I know that looking at the stuff that we talked about ahead of time, you have a special offer for listening to the podcast of 20% off. Is there a code or a way to do that or anything that we need to know about that?
Myline Dahle (36:00)
Yes, so we could do the code is FF20 or if you like some fingers 20 and that’s 20% off any of our shows.
Jake (36:14)
Great, love that. Well, thank you guys so much for joining. I appreciate all of your time and I know that your venue is amazing and I love playing there and we love playing there. So I look forward to more fun events. Thank you guys so much.
Myline Dahle (36:28)
Awesome. Thank you, Jake. Hey, we really appreciate you, Jake, and we love you playing with us too. And let’s keep this going. Such a fun event with you guys. Yeah.
Jake (36:32)
Yeah.
Yeah, heck yeah. It is always so fun. Thank you.
Myline Dahle (36:39)
All right, aloha from Maui.
This interview was made possible by Felix & Fingers Dueling Pianos
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