Matt Marshall: 0:00

Well, thanks gen X-ers for joining us on one last show before the end of the year, this is a special show with two fantastic folks in my life. The goal was to make it exciting episodes. That shows, having a prepared mindset doesn't necessarily mean we have to be all that serious, but we can actually make it a bit fun. In all honesty, we experienced quite a few technical difficulties, but we wanted to share the results and how we can still respond well when challenges arise. So we hope you enjoy. well, good evening, ladies and gents, gen X-ers one and all we have a really fun show planned for you tonight. This will be our first new year's Eve party preparedness. New York style show. I'm your host for the evening. Matt Marshall overall preparedness enthusiast. And Ed is recovering from a recent mission to one of the coasts. So he can't join us today. One of the things, Ed and I often talk about is ways in which working on preparedness can actually be fun. Well, tonight, we're going to give a great example. Of exactly this point to do this. We've brought in a couple of my favorite people in the world. let me introduce you to our first guests. My better half is Kristin Marshall, Kristin. Welcome to the show. Thanks Matt. Thanks for having me now, Kristin, I'd like, like to give you the honor of introducing our, actual guest of the show. Can you take a little bit of time just to introduce him, tell us a little bit of history of him.

Kristin Marshall: 1:56

Yeah, sure. So this is going to be the infamous Travis Lopes. And I met Travis back in. We think it was 1997. It was a long time ago. And I met him through church. I was actually his Sunday school teacher. And he was the sharpest funniest kid. I have met in a long time. Then he became our babysitter. After that, we kind of just took him under our wing. You taught him how to drive. He was on family vacations with us. He became our nephew little known fact but I was actually the doula that delivered Megan for Kristin as well.

Matt Marshall: 2:47

And that in itself explains what type of person Travis really is. He will deliver a baby for you having no idea how to do it. Talking about paired. well, what can I say? I'm really excited actually about this show. So Kristin and I, recently went on an anniversary trip to Nashville where Travis currently resides and. That was 30 years. Thank you, Travis. So we had the pleasure of staying at Travis's Airbnb. It's a very quick jaunt to downtown with, Broadway and the famous Nashville scene, Centennial park that life-sized replica of the Parthenon in Greece. Really just about any other place you could get to Sorry, folks. His place is not on the market yet on Airbnb, but while we were there, Travis was getting ready for, do you even call them concerts? Travis, what do you call them shows, but you had some names, some elect. Oh, raves. I mean, rave show concert, same same. Okay. So he was, he was getting ready for this concert and he showed us this little party preparedness pack that he has. It's a cool little backpack with a few really special features. Does that make it great for parties, concerts, sporting events, all sorts of cool stuff. And I didn't really comprehend what made it so special until I tried to look it up and look at it compared to all the other ones that you can get on, say Amazon and what our audience probably recognizes as like everyday carry type of bags. So in the spirit of preparedness for new years, we wanted to share that with the audience today. So track. The first question I have for you is what gave you the idea for this cool little kit? Did you, did you like see it at another, at another show or another festival or something or, or was it a Travis' original time?

Travis Lopes: 4:55

That's a great question. And then by the way, thank you for the, for the intro, for the kind words. Definitely much love back. Congrats again, on the 30th. It's such a pleasure having you guys down to Nashville. The idea from the back honestly started as just a favor to a friend. One of my good buddies in Brooklyn New York. His name's Andrew Zim. He told me that he was basically leaving his job as a tech sales guy to found a EDM focused company. So EDM is electronic dance music. The community basically that goes to electronic music shows him and his partner. His co-founder really were, were involved in the community and sort of through trial and error had been annoyed about the fact that they weren't. Really great packs to go to EDM shows with. And so through sort of this ideation and getting in touch with manufacturers, they created a company called lunchbox packs. And he basically was promoting it a little bit within our friend group. And I think I'd just gotten like a commission check. I said, Zim, I want to help support you and your company, like I'll buy one of your packs, man, send me the link or whatever. You know, mates rates like friends and family discounts. So he hit me up with the little code and I bought one of the bags. It was me, it was basically to support a friend in his business originally. And then, you know, obviously you get the product And then I just fell in love with, with the backpack and the compliments I get it shows and just the conversation starter. It's something, it's one of those things where you can show up by yourself at a thing and people just start chatting and, oh man, you know, cool backpack, cool lights, et cetera. So I just, it became a part of my sort of festival and concert persona.

Matt Marshall: 6:30

When we were talking with Travis earlier in the discussion, we also shared a few more details on the origins of the lunchbox pack itself. you know, this doesn't have to be a full podcast, just shamelessly promoting lunchbox. But my buddy Andrew Zim is actually one of the co-founders and this pack was specifically created by him from his. Super big experience of going to shows and thinking what would festival pack look like?

Travis Lopes: 6:57

And that's why a lot of those features you see that comes from being in the trenches at festivals, thinking about certain things, how, how easy is it to fill the water? Do you want something that locks so that, you know, people can't try to open your zipper if it's behind you? I, all these things are all from situations he's been in him and his co-founder. So it's for the community by the community. You know, which is probably why you saw it, had some little touches that some of these other knock-off or whatever, except no imitations, hashtag lunchbox, only

Kristin Marshall: 7:27

people recognize you by the pack.

Travis Lopes: 7:30

I think it's really easy when you're meeting friends to say, I'm the guy with the light up backpack. That's a very iconic sort of person in the crowd at the shows, but I think what's more important is, you know, I'll just give you an example. The other day, I went to a show at a mercy lounge and I got there and out, you know, I was supposed to meet friends, but you know, you show up and maybe you're ahead of time and there's not people around, well, this, this pack, everybody just comes up and starts talking to you. People that have the little hula hoops or the whips. So I called lights, like very cool. It's like in the EDM community lights is a big part. Like the Glovers with the gloves and things. Anybody with any line of accessories sees you and goes, oh man, yeah, lights are like, hell yeah lights And it's just, you, you sort of instantly get, become friends like, Hey, I'm Travis. And it's just a conversation starter in the festival and show EDM community. So for somebody who is a little bit more gregarious and outgoing already, I don't necessarily have the most trouble making random friends, but it's just a, it's a social grease in those scenarios that eases those, like starting a conversation with random people.

Matt Marshall: 8:31

Travis, I think you're, you've got a slow connection, am i right?.

Travis Lopes: 8:36

I think so it's coming across internet. Connection's unstable my computer is always telling me that I don't understand why, because I feel like I'm a very stable person, but yes. You know, it's like, all right, we get it, computer chill out. You know, we all have some issues, but I think in general, I'm okay. I don't know that I am that person right. It's at my computer and I have agreed to disagree on that.

Matt Marshall: 8:58

Okay. I'm on pins and needles here, man. Can you show us what this bag looks like?

Kristin Marshall: 9:17

Yeah,

Travis Lopes: 9:18

totally. So I actually brought my bag as an example here for the, for the podcast. So this is my lunchbox backpack, so he could see her as a little stress. It's got the removable skin here. I picked this sort of geometric pattern that you can't really tell based on the lights, but it kinda, it changes different sort of hues depending on that. And then if I, we might, if you'd like, I can turn the lights off and show that these lights kind of glow there's a water bottle slash fan. Situation here. Obviously the Camelback sitch, which is really helpful when you're doing that little puck for your sunglasses phone keys, et cetera, right there. And then your, your easy fill pocket here for the Camelback pouch, but that's the outside and this is. Kind of V1 of my lunchbox without looking at what's inside.

Matt Marshall: 10:10

Yeah. I noticed you have the colored wires all tangled up together. You bought those separately, right?

Travis Lopes: 10:16

And this, yeah. I had to do a YouTube video on how to do I don't think this is called a French braid or is what it's like, where you go to over one through two over one under I'm sure it's something moms and daughters all know how to do, but I had to do a YouTube video and learn how to do that. But yeah, I just got them on. You can sort of, you can do whatever you want with them, but I decided to do the braid.

Matt Marshall: 10:36

Yeah, just very, just very quickly. Why don't you turn off your light for just a second and let's see those lights, shine and show you.

Travis Lopes: 10:42

Okay, perfect. Let me okay. You're at a show and you know, you want, you want to have that sort of report. This is sort of what it looks like. I show up at the shows and I'm just bopping around and all of a sudden, like it's a conversation starter when this is your vibe at a concert,

Matt Marshall: 11:00

but from what I remember, you have like different settings.

Travis Lopes: 11:02

Yeah. It's the speed. So, so I got the basic version where you can kind of have them just going or you can sort of low speed Or you can, you know, really, you know, really get the vibe going depending on what you want to do. So that's the idea.

Kristin Marshall: 11:17

So let's talk about what's on the outside of the backpack.

Travis Lopes: 11:22

First of all, I'm I'm known if I had, if I was on social media, my handle would be rave-dad, if that was available or Travvydaddy, but basically everyone in the rape fan knows me as the rave dab because whatever people do. They know they can come to me and I've typically got it. So, you know, obviously hydration super important in these situations ever in Sweatin, you know, it's a, it's a whole vibe, so, very easy to, you know, get the little Camelback going. So that's a really key piece as far as the hydration goes. When you're in the crowd and things are really hot. It's essential to stay cool. So I got my rave fan, which actually looks better if I hold it this way, she will design and you know, another great conversation starter is you just pull the fan out, you start banning anyone around you instantly goes YES, thank you! And I usually just fan them and I say something like I'm a big fan and they laugh. And all of a sudden we're in a conversation and we're best friends. It's also great when the beat drops, it does a little, you know, kind of like little noise, which is nice.

Matt Marshall: 12:24

You know, I'm coming from a security perspective, and one of the things I thought was like super cool was in order to open the bag, you have to actually take it off. And that is like, oh my gosh, that's brilliant. So there were a couple of other bags that I saw when I was doing research that did exactly that, but it's not quite the same and it doesn't have the cool, like you can unzip the skin and put another colored skin on. So it's pretty cool.

Travis Lopes: 12:48

One of the cool things that is unique to the lunch. Is that lunchbox, zippers come with this little thing. So it straps in and it makes it really hard if someone's trying to pick by you or do whatever. It's very challenging. They'd have to come in, do this thing, and you'd probably feel somebody jostling your backpack so you could turn and see what was going on. But if you unstrapped the backpack, you and you turn it around, you can open up the little container. That it has this little top container. The bottom one is where the the water patch goes. This bottom pouch here. That's the Camelback. Yeah, the bladder. Thank you. And then this top part is where your supplies go right now. Obviously you've got a little pocket here. You've got some different things on the exterior for easy access for your keys, your, your sunglasses, whatever. So that's sorta my exterior

Kristin Marshall: 13:49

Okay. And now that we've talked about what's on the outside of the bag. Let's get on the inside of that backpack

Travis Lopes: 13:57

in the inside. I have a couple of things. So first of all, gum really important. I choose extra and I usually, I get the ones that are like the little pods of gum. They melt less. And so the, the, the sticks really melts depending on if you're in your pocket or different days in a hot club. So these ones are great. They stick around and they're fantastic. Always great for shows when you're a, when you're into that, I have a party mask from just splendid designs when you're trying to be safe, but also vibe out. This is a great again, conversation starter kind of fun party mask, a lot of cool designs.

Matt Marshall: 14:33

With the party masks thing have you ever gotten? The ones that are digital and have the like smiley face, because that might go with this.

Travis Lopes: 14:43

A hundred percent. One of my next moves, actually one of my boys is into the, like the fiber sweatshirts where it's like a sweatshirt with a hood that just is all light up with the fiber kind of. And so that's my next step up is the backpack. Plus the fiber hoodie, like with what we call a rave hoodie, cause it ties around your waist, but then you can put it on whenever you. So that's my, definitely my next step. Hadn't considered that for the mask, but I've seen like the will, I am masks that are all, you know, crazy and futuristic, but for now this is, this is kind of the move Omicron will get right through it. But you know, it's still a great party mask vibe

Matt Marshall: 15:18

I think you prounounce it Omicron like a transformer or something,

Travis Lopes: 15:28

or like, like captain, captain planet, you know, like the power of love creates Omicron. These are super key. So these, I don't have the right case cause I lost my case, but these are fantastic little tools And you're going to laugh, but they're actually, the brand is called Eargasm, which I think is a hilarious name for a brand. And the reason it's called that is because, you know, when you're at a show and you're close to these speakers and you're, you're doing your thing a lot of times when you leave the show, have you ever had that ringing in your ears when you leave the show? And it's just like hard to go to sleep and it's, you know, you know, it's not great for your eardrums. these are ear buds. But instead of being plugs, you can see that inside. There's this little metal digital thing in there. And what that is, is an actual filter. So what it does is it doesn't plug your ears. It just filters out the bad decibels. So you can still hear a lot of the sound and you can still have conversations with people around. But you're just going to not have the, the filtering at the end of the day and I'll show you they're super unobtrusive so you put them in and you can't even really tell I'm wearing anything. Right. Yeah. But you're just partying and I can still hear you and everyone's doing the vibe, but it just cuts out all the bad Decibels and the range that like damaged your eardrums and so when you walk out, you just feel a lot better after the show. So that's, if you take nothing else from this call and you go to a lot of concerts, get Eargasm filtering headphones.

Matt Marshall: 16:55

They're so great. Like an orgasm for your ears, right. If you're really thinking. Thank you for sharing that really nice little tidbit of extra information. Probably unnecessarily that's. Okay.

Travis Lopes: 17:11

I've been called things like unnecessary and a lot, you know, but I guess we'll agree to disagree.. you know, there's these little mini fans, which are kind of fun. This is one that I got at the This little shop in Nashville, but you know, a little, little mini fan that has also helped us have these kinds of like fold up and do a little baby, which is nice if you don't have space for the big fan, but fans in general, if you put, if you bust a fan out at a show, you instantly make friends. It is what it is like. Everyone's a huge fan of you and everything that you're about. So I think I just have multiple fans, another big thing, and you'll see people. These are these little bead things. This one actually says pizza fam. Somebody saw me and goes, yeah, this guy with pizza and they were right. I do. So they gave me this pizza fam thing. And if you see in shows, another cool thing is you'll see women, mostly women, but sometimes men would just like a hundred of these things on their wrist. And whenever they see someone they like which typically to do with the light of backpack and the fan is someone they like they'll link hands like this with you, and then use their other hand to just pull this off. And over on to your other hand, it's like a Rite of passage at a show that somebody with a hundred of these sees you and goes, yeah, you're awesome. And like grabs your hand and then just pulls one of them over onto you. I've kept this one because pizza fam was the one I've gotten that most most stood out to me as representative of who I am. So I've kept that. I always put that on for shows. Kleenex is you never know, blowing your nose you know, hurt your finger on a fan. I've had it all happened. So always good to do, I tried to do wet wipes as well These are specially useful at festivals where you go into some port-a-potties and there's a plus minus on toilet paper being in there, mostly the under, not the over. So bringing some wet wipes and some Kleenex really going to help you out in those situations specifically for festivals, most concert venues have toilet paper, but man, you get in the festival land and it's a dice roll.

Matt Marshall: 19:20

You never know.

Travis Lopes: 19:21

And then one other thing is we also have Vicks vapor rub here, which. It's going to sound weird, but in certain scenarios, if you rub it on your face and then fan yourself really great facial sensations this year is something I recently picked up at a at a Christmas light thing. It's their 3d glasses. But what they do is every point of light is a big Santa's face. So specifically, if you can get some 3d glasses to just do some weird, put their eyes back, nothing is better again than just being at a festival. And like it's a million Santas just partying with you. Very, very cool

Kristin Marshall: 20:02

Hey Travis, you better be

Travis Lopes: 20:05

definitely on the naughty list. That's what I've got. So yeah, basically anything light related, anything party related, anything fan related, anything, you know, definitely the eargasms and anything, you know, basically party that's. That's my that's my kit and a shoutout to lunchbox fam it's at lunchbox packs. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention get yourself on the mailing list. When these things come out, you're going to want one of these or one of the sling ones that the sort of Fanny pack or chest ones that for your next.@lunchboxpacks or lunchboxpacks.com, they actually have some new skins that I've been looking to get that sell out instantly. But they're like digital, like dancing alien skin with a skin actually is like a digital lights and is like an alien doing the shuffle. So that's my next move is going to have lights and the whole skin is going to be a little elegant. Digital dancing alien or like astronauts. So that's now that's my next step.

Matt Marshall: 21:02

This might date me a little bit, but does it have any of the like dancing babies too, or maybe sharks? We'll see if there's a lot of options.

Kristin Marshall: 21:27

So what's the most interesting thing. That's happened at the clubs with your backpack and that you were so thankful that you had it or had something in it?

Travis Lopes: 21:37

I think, I dunno if it's interesting, but I I've lost track of how many drinks people have bought me just from like, like I literally walk into a club, I don't know anybody. And all of a sudden I'm friends with people and they're bringing me drinks and it's all, I would say the biggest. Are the fan and the backpack itself. If there were two things, well, three, we talked about the Eargasms backpack or, you know, something light up kind of fan. You're going to make friends very easily. Your ears will be protected, and you're going to have a great time if you show up at a PBM show. So the fan is from a company called fansay F a N S a Y fans. They're on Amazon. They have a site but those are real. Yeah, mine is outdated. There's some really cool iridescent ones I'm looking to upgrade soon, but yeah, it's it's I think between the fan and the lights and the Eargasms, you can really just show up by yourself at any event and make friends, people buy you drinks. You know, dance with people, chat with people. I've just had so many great experiences between the lunch box and the fan. You know, it's, that's one of the things I love about the EDM community specifically, especially in a city like Nashville, where it's, it's really up and coming still when I was in new. You'd go to some shows that, you know, Brooklyn Mirage and it's become like the scene, you know? So even people that, you know, don't really like it, young people, you know, there's people just elbowing their way through crowds and really kind of be an, a holes. But in Nashville, really everyone that shows up to EDM shows is there because they love the music. And really, if you look at a lot of EDM artists, there's not a lot of like, Angry music. Most EDM artists are like, you know, good vibrations, love positivity. That's like the bio for every EDM artist is like sending good vibes into the world, through my music. And so because of that, it's a really loving community. Like, you know, Yeah. Offered stuff. You, you have great conversations. Everybody's just there to kind of stay in their lane and have fun dance. Enjoy the music, enjoy the lights. And it's, you know, you're never, you're not going to get elbowed your feet. Aren't going to get stepped on you going to get drinks spilled on you. Like some of these shows where it's just a, you know, a mad rush of people. So I think that's what I appreciate about the community And so if you show up there with the, with the kind of servant heart of, Hey, I'm a fan, you I'm gonna get you some water on my I'm a hell. We're all take. We all take care of you. I think it usually ends up in a really good, good scenario.

Matt Marshall: 24:09

So for my last question, I wanted to ask each person, if you can think of just a couple of items that could be added to the kit. Now for myself, my mind immediately goes to water, shelter, fire security, because of those are the big things in my mind and preparedness. But in reality, those might not, not be appropriate for this type of scenario. And it's likely those items wouldn't even make it through security checks. So. I'd probably stick to some of the more important medical items like Leukotape or mole skin that you could stick on when your when your skin's feeling a bit raw after some dancing, then maybe some closing layers like an undershirt or a hoodie as Travis is referred to a couple of times in the, in the discussions. And then from a security perspective, it's harder because you often think, you know, you're not going to get through those security lines with any type of security device, but there are some interesting tools that I've talked about in our podcast in the past, some pepper gel from Sabre, and then maybe even one of those tactical whip or Kubotons that you can attach to your key chain. Oftentimes they let those go by without without an issue. Now maybe not necessarily in the venue itself is where the danger might lie, but outside when you're standing in line or you're walking to, and from the venue for parking, Kristin what are your, what are your thoughts?

Kristin Marshall: 25:36

So I'm thinking more like inside the events itself, what are some handy things to have? I know you can never go wrong with band-aids. Band-aids are a key, not only for somebody who might've just gotten a minor cut, but also There's a lot of dancing going on, and I know as a female wearing the wrong heels you can get blisters dancing and nothing can ruin your night faster than having irritating blisters. So having a friend that has band-aids would be just top of my list Yeah. And then I know that in my past, there've been times where not necessarily me, but maybe people I've been with had wardrobe malfunctions. So it might be nice to have safety pins or even one of those small little mending kits In the backpack. That would be good. And then as far as medical goes, I know that those rave situations you're often having people. May have partaken in substances where they have now started to become overdosed. And so in that case, I think it would be really important if you were carrying a Naloxone kit, most people. In all 50 states can go to their health departments and ask for training on that. Once you become a certified training and it's not that hard, it's a class that can last anywhere from 30 minutes to 60 minutes, you get certified as a carrier for Naloxone, you can go to your physician and you can say, Hey, either myself or people that I am around frequently have a problem with substance abuse. And I am concerned that I should have Naloxone on me. Here's the thing is the doctor were always prescribed that the issue is sometimes the insurance company. What happens is if you get denied the first time, you can put it through again, saying that you are around people who are substance abuse exposed and almost all insurance companies, they will permit it that second time. If they don't talk to your health department, they'll help you. But I will tell you we're lucky the health department where we're at, they give the kit once you are certified. So you walk out of that class with the free kit that you've been carrying with you

Matt Marshall: 28:29

Now for our parting shots due to some technical difficulties, we did lose a bit. So Kristin and I were going to share our thoughts today. Kristin I'll go ahead and let you go.

Kristin Marshall: 28:42

Yeah. So from my parting shot, I would say this has been a great podcast to participate in because it made me realize that there is this generation that is looking out for one another. They are not just globally minded, but they are community minded. And that really warms my heart to see that they are looking out for their brother. I think that is really great to hear.

Matt Marshall: 29:11

Yeah, absolutely. That was a that's part of mine too. For my parting shot. Number one I found I was so impressed with how much thought went into the design of this, of this bag. When you really get into it, you look at the details of the bag. And I'm, I'm not trying to be a salesperson for this company necessarily, but it's actually really impressive. And, the fact that they came from as Travis likes to say, In the trenches, they've gone through multiple shows the EDM community, they've gone through festivals and concerts and all different activities. And, and there are some absolutely excellent features, like from a security perspective, so that, that will really help. So even if you're, if you're using that type of bag for everyday carry it, winds up working perfectly for you. So consider this for your own bag. Really do your own research when you're thinking of things like bug out bags and get home safe and everyday carry and, and even the party pack. Right. So they each have different purposes. Some can be multifaceted, but each one has a different purpose and they can be used effectively. And then that second lesson as Kristin mentioned earlier, growing up, I had always thought that raves and EDM were associated with craziness and sometimes violent type of activities and hearing Travis's interpretation. It either. It evolved over time or dare, I suggest it, maybe Hollywood didn't tell us as much the truth in all those movies portraying what raves look like. Maybe there was a little bit of falsity there. Maybe there is some, some good stuff going on there. Maybe not, but we don't know. I don't know because I'm more of a gen X or never been to one. But I really love how Travis puts it, where, how he describes them and how they've become quite the community with good vibes, having fun dance and just experiencing life. So that's a, it's a, it seems like a, an excellent community. I'm not sure that it's necessarily a community for me. But the idea behind the, the packs themselves are fantastic because it will help you be prepared in those types of events, concerts, festivals, even EDM events and raves. Well, we definitely want to thank Kristin and Travis for joining us on this final show of the year. It has been such a great pleasure having them both on the show and and just to have some fun. So, Kristin, thank you very much for jumping in

Kristin Marshall: 31:51

my pleasure, Matt.

Matt Marshall: 31:54

Well, it's the last show of the year. So I wanted to share a few extra thoughts. First Ed wanted me to express his, thanks to our listeners and viewers. We do this for a reason and that's to help individuals and communities become better prepared. For me personally, it's been a great few months of shows. And for 2022, we've got a bunch of exciting plans. We'll continue to provide value with the unboxed prepping videos. We're continuing with the highly successful Storytime episodes, where we share our thoughts on a story from the minds of preparedness. And it sounds like we're even planning some travel sharing events. As well throughout the year, I think Ed's even thinking of going to Egypt and sharing what his travel plans look like and what he experiences when he's there. We can't wait to get into it with you, but for now, remember, always to respond well and recover faster till next time. This is Matt Marshall signing off.