Trial lawyer Gary Anton had a tough – but rewarding and very accomplished – career in the legal profession. It taxed his personal life, but he had some good times along the way.
At the height of his career a serious but unexpected near-death medical emergency changed Gary’s outlook on life and how he did his job. Not to mention it compelled some serious action with end of life planning.
Gary shares how he adapted professionally and financially to his new reality.
Listen in to find out…
The retirement planning you need that you don’t know about
How health can impact your career and life – and how to make needed changes
Financial planning you need for potential tough times
Ways to take care of your surviving loved ones
And more
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GARY ANTON INTERVIEW 3/15/2018
John: Hey, folks, this is John Curry. I have the pleasure today of sitting across the table with my friend Gary Anton. Thank you for being here today.
Gary: You say it’s a pleasure. If you say it is, that’s correct.
John: Well, some people you encountered along the way because of your past life, they may not want to be around you even today.
Gary: Well, most of them, my wife included.
John: Inside joke, folks. Gary, for most of his career, was an attorney, a litigator, but more on that later. Today, we’re continuing a theme about planning for life’s unplanned events as much as you can, but also the concept of health and wealth. You can have a lot of money, Gary, and just be loaded to the gills with money, but if your health is bad, the money is not as important. And also, you said earlier that, if you have health problems, you could end up spending all of your money and have no wealth. So, we’ll touch on that also, but let’s start off about how we first met. In 1978, tell the folks where you were at that time, what you were doing.
Gary: You know, I don’t remember if I had just graduated undergraduate or was just starting law school, but it was ’78 and that’s when I graduated from undergraduate and started law school, so it was somewhere right around that time. And I think you gave me a cold contact, and I figured, Wait a second. I’m graduating from law school… I mean, I’m graduating from undergrad, going into law school. Maybe I need some insurance.
John: Right, back then, it was you replied to a mailing I did regarding mortgage protection, so you bought some life insurance to take care of the mortgage on your home.
Gary: That’s right.
John: That was our first step working together. It was a long time ago.
Gary: That was.
John: Long time ago.
Gary: That mortgage is long since paid off.
John: Yes, isn’t that a great thing?
Gary: Yes.
John: That is a good thing. So, tell us a little bit about what type of career did you have in law?
Gary: I had a good career. I actually enjoyed what I was doing. It was all civil law. Graduated law school and entered the Bar in 1981. When I got admitted to the Bar, I was 6-2, blond hair, blue eyes. Thirty-six, -eight years later I’m six-foot under, bald, and blind. So, I think I had a successful career, but I had a very good career, a very rewarding career in law, very trying so to speak and very pressure-packed, but very challenging, and I was always up to the challenge. I liked it.
John: Was the majority of your work trial work?
Gary: Yes, that’s why I say I was 6-2, blond…
John: Got beat up a lot.
Gary: … oh yeah, when I started trying cases. Now look at me. Yeah, most of my work was trial work and very, very demanding, extremely demanding timewise away from home, away from vacations, having to cancel vacations, having to cancel bowl games. And those are the types of things, when you don’t control your calendar, somebody else dictates, particularly judges, when you need to be somewhere and what time. So that was a big issue, not being in control of my calendar and it was stressful, but it was very enjoyable.
John: Very rewarding, I would think, too.
Gary: Yes, oh, very personally rewarding. I don’t want to blow my own horn, but I did real well. I was an expert in what I did. I’m still certified in certain areas of the law as an expert by the Florida Bar, and I rose to the top at what I was doing. I was representing major companies. I’ve had cases decided by the United States Supreme Court. I’ve appeared in courts all over the country. I’ve taught law for ten years. I’ve lectured all over the country. I focused on a topic throughout my career, and I enjoyed what I was doing so I excelled at it.
John: That’s great.
Gary: And then health.
John: Let’s break down what you just said though before we move on to that next about health. You made a comment about control of your time, and what went through my mind is time freedom and money freedom. We see so many clients who… they hate their jobs, so they can’t wait till they get able to retire, and then all of a sudden, they’ve got all this time, but they haven’t planned for the time. “Well, what do I do?” They have no hobbies, no interests, so what you’re talking about is controlling your time to the extent that you can, but you also made a comment about pressure. Pretty much everything we do nowadays as far as work puts some type of pressure on us. In our world it’s regulators. And we have to be very careful what we say and do because people, state, federal… they’re taking a look at everything we do. So, you don’t dare do anything improper… unless you’re stupid.
So, let’s go back to what you said about time, especially judges. Without revealing a name of anyone, share with our audience what you shared with me about the vacation you had to cancel. Because I remember early on in our relationship, you were mad as hell because you had to cancel a trip.
Gary: Yeah, we will leave the name of the judge anonymous. We had planned a Christmas vacation with family in South Carolina, and we were going to conclude that vacation with a bowl game, the Gator Bowl on January 1st and then, oh, a couple of weeks maybe in December… I knew we had planned this long before except for the bowl game, of course. We found out about the bowl game and were able to set it up. But after that, the judge decided he was going to set a trial because w couldn’t settle a case, and he set the trial date the day after January 1st. January 2nd I was to report to trial. Well, what did that do? That messed up my vacation because I’m trying to have fun with my family, relax, and in the meantime, my whole stomach is in knots getting ready for this trial and wondering what was going to happen. And sure enough, we had to cut the vacation, the Christmas vacation short, drove right past the Gator Bowl, waived my tickets out the window on the way past, and I still have those tickets. Never made it.
John: As a memento.
Gary: Yes. That is frame worthy.
John: You should frame those and put them on the wall.
Gary: I have my Woodstock tickets framed, because that was a very favorable memory. That memory of going by the Gator Bowl when the ’Noles are playing… It was a major game at the time. It was back in the ’80s and the ’Noles were doing okay. Yeah. No, I still have those tickets.
John: All right, and you just said Woodstock. Did you go to Woodstock?
Gary: Yes.
John: I never knew this about you. So tell us that story. I want to hear this.
Gary: Well, I had graduated from high school in late May of 1969 and the day after graduation a bunch of us jumped in a Volkswagen van. I had a guitar that served as a suitcase. I had a duffel bag that had some clothes and we just took off to New York. And then I decided I wanted to go visit some friends up in Boston. I had $20 in my pocket and it was a $10 trip, a $10 ticket to fly from New York to Boston. Well, I got to Boston with $10 in my pocket, and I couldn’t find my friend, so I hung around there for a while. And it was 1969. It was in the middle of the heyday of long hairs and the hippies and there was music everywhere and Boston was great. It had 30-something colleges and universities. I was having the time of my life. And I got wind of this concert that was going to happen in New York, and I sent away and bought my tickets ahead of time, $5 each day, so $15 for three days’ worth of music. And they ended up having to change the location at the last moment because the City of Woodstock said no, and then they did it in Bethel.
John: On the farm.
Gary: Yeah, on Max Yasgur’s farm. Though I remember about 8:00 in the morning, I stuck my thumb out on the interstate hiking to New York. Go across Massachusetts into upstate New York and didn’t bring anything with me. I had my clothes on my back, I had my tickets, I had a wine flask. I figured I’d run out of wine; I could put water in it anyway, and that’s about all I went with. I didn’t have a change of clothes. I didn’t have any knapsacks or no blankets, no sleeping bags, and as we got closer, the traffic just started backing up. Now, I was early. I got there on Friday morning basically, Friday afternoon, but the traffic was so backed up. The traffic was stopped and I was hitchhiking so I just got out of the car and would walk. When traffic would start moving again, everybody would jump on the back of the car they were next to until the traffic stopped again, Then you’d drop off and walk a little bit more. And I got there just as they were taking down the fences, and I walked over that hill. I never saw so many people… that many people in my life. Still haven’t seen that many people in my life.
John: I was going to say you probably haven’t since.
Gary: I mean, that was just an awe-inspiring sight and for three days. It actually went into Monday morning and it was just a great time. Lots of good people. The conditions were terrible, the food; the toilets were overflowing; and it rained; it was muddy, and everybody was just enjoying themselves. The music turned out to be a soundtrack because there was so much going on around. I didn’t sit down much and just sit there and listen to the music. I did, but a lot of the time I got up and wandered around and made friends. I didn’t go with anybody so I was just exploring. I ended up behind the stage at one point somehow. I don’t know how I got there, and there were a bunch of musicians that had been playing and were jamming behind the stage. I had no idea who they were. About 3:00 in the morning and there were people just sitting there jamming. I spent an evening working in what they call the trip tent where people were having bad LSD trips. And all I had to do was sit there and talk to people and it worked out great because it was raining and I was in a dry spot.
John: And you were dry.
Gary: I was dry. So I made the most of it. The music was phenomenal. The people were just absolutely great. It’s the most influential time of my life, the most influential three days… four or five days actually, because I got there early and stayed late. Really had a big impact on me.
John: That’s an awesome story.
Gary: And I have the poster hanging up in the club, as well as my tickets from Woodstock, because I went with hardly anything, but the only thing I came back with was a shirt on my back and the tickets, which were in my pocket. I had a military-style shirt on, long sleeves, button-down pocket, so I was able to keep the tickets. I lost everything else that I had come with. I went back with the tickets and still have them.
John: That’s awesome. You mentioned club. Tell them what club you’re referring to and we’ll circle back and tell them more about your club later.
Gary: Oh, yeah, the Bradfordville Blues Club. That’s what I’ve done to redeem myself for everything I did these 36 years as a lawyer, and I’m redeeming my karma. And Kim and I have run the club for about 16 years. It’s a blues club internationally recognized. Got an international award again this year, named one of the top music vendors in the world for six years in a row.
John: Very nice.
Gary: Doesn’t make any money. It’s an unintentional nonprofit, but I’m having the time of my life.
John: So, rebuilding that karma, as you put it.
Gary: Rebuilding that karma and reenergizing and taking advantage of my retirement.
John: That’s a good segue into why you retired. Talk a little bit about why you got out of the litigation world. You’re still a licensed attorney. You still do some legal work, I think.
Gary: Yes.
John: But tell us what happened. What caused you to take an early retirement?
Gary: I was in good health other than small minor things, blood pressure, stuff like that, but otherwise I was in pretty good health and Kim and I had gone to the first Bowden Bowl in Clemson. We came back that Sunday. We usually take all the back roads because we like to see the back country, but this time, it was late and we decided to take the interstate. And within 15 minutes of the time that we made it to the house, all of a sudden, I was just in excruciating pain. I have never felt pain that bad in my life. And Kim immediately took me to the hospital, and it turned out I had what was called acute pancreatitis. Gallstones traveled out of my gallbladder into the common bile duct and lodged in the bile duct and shut down many of my internal organs. And that put me in the hospital for a month, intensive care for a couple of weeks and two weeks of induced coma.
And that took a lot out of me, physically, emotionally, mentally. I mean it was a heck of a rehabilitation period because I was in the hospital for so long, and it made me realize that life is fleeting. I mean, I was coming back from a football game. I was just having a great time, and the next thing I know, I’m in the emergency room. They didn’t think I was going to make it. They summoned my family, and that’s how quickly things can turn, and it did turn for me.
Fortunately, I was able to recover from it and able to resume my life, but I wasn’t quite able to resume the rigors of the practice that I had before. But that also caused me to change my focus, my life focus, doing more of the things that I wanted to do, spending more time with my family, spending less time practicing law, not worrying about billing 15 hours a day, weaning myself from the litigation practice that had taken up so much of my time and doing more of the things that I wanted to do.
John: How old were you about this time?
Gary: Forty-eight.
John: Forty-eight. Young man.
Gary: Yeah. At the pinnacle of my career at the time.
John: So many times in my career, 43 years now of doing this, I hear stories very similar. For me, it was my heart surgery July 10, 2008, open heart surgery, three blocked arteries. For others it’s being diagnosed with diabetes or something like that or heart trouble. And I hear people say, “You know what? I’ve got to slow down. I’ve got to get some redirection in my life.” It’s not just about going to work and making money and, you know, have the big status symbol and all that stuff. And sadly, some people never get that. But what was your transition? Once you recovered, did you just cold turkey say, “I’m done with this?”
Gary: No, I weaned myself into mediating cases. I quit handling major litigation. I was handling class actions, which had me very, very busy traveling all over the country, very, very stressful, time-consuming. I couldn’t practice for a few months during the rehabilitation period, so my rehab period actually made a lot of the decisions for me. And so, when I was finally able to get back to the point where I could practice, I had decided I was not going to continue on on the same path. And I found something much more amenable to my style and that was becoming a mediator, where I was mediating cases and not being in the middle of the ring duking it out with an opponent but actually as the referee in the ring, trying to help people settle things. And that was much more suitable to my desires at the time to get away from the extreme rigors of practicing law and litigating and trying to spend a little bit more time doing what I wanted to do. And in fact, Kim and I… that was 1999 and Kim and took over the Bradfordville Blues Club in January 2002. So it kind of led into my next life venture.
John: I remember us having an appointment one time to talk about your business stuff, and I had suggested we have an early meeting, like breakfast or maybe 8:30 or 9:00. Back in those days, I was seeing five, six people every day, started at 7 or 7:30 breakfast, and I remember you saying to me, “John, I can do lunch, but I’m not going to do breakfast. I’m not going to do 9, probably nothing until after 10.” And you’re nodding your head. Do you remember that?
Gary: Oh, absolutely.
John: Tell everybody who’s listening some of what your attitude and philosophy was back then, because I loved it, because you took a stand and you did the things you wanted to do. So share that.
Gary: I did. I mean, once I got control of my calendar where it wasn’t being dictated by deadlines and rules and courts…
John: And judges.
Gary: … I decided I would go to work when I woke up, and it was rare that I got up before 10:00. I’d show up in the office around noon. If I had a mediation, they started at 10:00. I already decided that I was going to relax a lot more and not be in the rat race of having to wake up every morning and get to the office and shave and shower and wear a coat and tie. I came in the office in very, very casual clothes. Still do when I do go out except when I mediate. I will put on a tie and a coat, but nowadays, I’ve got a pair of clean jeans and a pair of dirty jeans. I wash the dirty ones and wear the clean ones and then wash the other pair.
John: You’re like a cowboy. Two pair of jeans, one you wear and one you’ve got for backup.
Gary: Yeah.
John: You know, I’m just thinking about that. I don’t think I’ve seen you wearing a tie in probably 20 years.
Gary: Yeah.
John: I bet it’s been 20 years.
Gary: It has. I won’t wear a tie. When I had a court appearance, I would wear a tie. When I mediate, I would dress appropriately, but other than that, I’ve given away most of my suits and ties. In fact, I had so many ties, I gave a lot of them to this one woman who comes out to the club, Peggy Adair. And she made a comforter out of them.
John: Wow.
Gary: And I use that to cover my sound board at the club. So I’ve got a neat blanket that’s made out of my old ties that I see every day at the club.
John: Next time I’m in the club I want to see that. I want to see that because I bet that’s cool. So, talk a little bit about the transition. So you became… you did more work as a mediator, the referee. I can see that. So instead of having to duke it out, you’re trying to get people to resolve their problems instead of fighting. So how was your health at that point and how did it progress?
Gary: The health was okay. I mean, I never really returned to the pre-pancreatitis state. I mean, physically I was… they had to remove some of my organs and I had rehab that I had to do, and I just was tired. So that was part of me slowing down and not exerting myself as much. So I kind of slowed down what I was doing and slowly but surely moved out into advising clients instead of litigating. I made a conscious decision I was not accepting any more cases that required me to go to court. I referred those out. I had clients that I had built up over my 30-something years of practice that I continued to maintain and did a little bit of advice and consulting work. I did mediations and then March 9, 2016, I had a liver transplant and that really changed everything, because I knew at that point… I didn’t know when the transplant was going to occur but I knew it was going to occur sometime soon, because I was way up on the list. So I had to make the decision to close my office because I knew I was not going to be able to afford running the office. I was not going to be able to practice, and there was going to be quite a downtime with the liver transplant. So at that point I decided, There goes my law practice. I will focus on mediations once I get back on my feet. And that’s what I did. So, essentially, my health in 1999 dictated my career path, and then the liver transplant further dictated a change in my career path. And that’s when it was almost entirely mediations, nothing but mediations and my club.
John: When you came in the door and Jay asked you a question about how’s your day going or something, you made a comment about it’s a good day. You woke up this morning and you’re looking down at the grass, not up at the roots.
Gary: Yeah, my New Year’s resolution is to wake up every day, and so far, from 2017, 2018, I’ve kept that resolution.
John: That’s a good thing.
Gary: Yes, it’s a good thing. It’s good to be seen. I’m not being viewed. Life is good.
John: Something I’ve always admired about you, Gary, since I met you is you’ve always got this upbeat mindset. Some people hearing this and some people thinking about this would say, “Wow, how do you deal with something like that?” And the truth is you just deal with it. But over the years, you’ve never had this woe-is-me attitude. You’ve always just said, “Hey, this is life. I’m going to deal with it,” and you’ve adjusted. Talk about that.
Gary: Stuff happens in life, and there’s things that you can’t control. And I’ve just realized the things that I can control. Those things I can’t control sometimes throw curve balls my way, and I just have to overcome them and just have to adapt, though I’ve always kind of had a flexible attitude. It doesn’t do any good to wallow. I know I have my physical limitations now based upon my health conditions. I have some cognitive limitations based upon my health conditions. I realize what they are and I just have to adapt to them, and I’ve always had a pretty good attitude. It’s just that… one thing I’ve always learned is there are certain things in life that are going to occur that you have no idea what they’re going to… what’s going to happen, when it’s going to happen, how it’s going to change your life. And when it does, then it’s a matter of adjusting and living with that condition and accepting it. I wish I didn’t have to have the liver transplant. I wish I didn’t have that pancreatitis, but it’s all had silver linings. I have a much better quality of life now, and I don’t have the income I did, but Kim and I have done a good job of tightening our belts and living within our means and enjoying the time that we have. And I thoroughly enjoyed spending the day yesterday with my granddaughter.
John: Great.
Gary: You know, here I was in the middle of the afternoon spending time with my granddaughter and my daughter. That’s what life is all about. It’s the good things, the small things in life.
John: Well, you know, over the years, what you and Kim have done is you’ve been good stewards of what you have. Even when you had the higher income, you never were, that I know of, frivolous with your money. You were always serious and took good care of that.
Gary: So, yes, Kim and I did some traveling. Yeah, we enjoyed ourselves. I have not been cheated. If I die at the end of this interview, I can say that I’ve not been cheated in life. I’ve enjoyed life, and it’s a little bit different than it was. I don’t have the security that I wish I would have had, because I’ve had to use most of my retirement, but that’s part of what happens. We planned for it, the unexpected occurred, and it was there.
John: Very good. And you made some tough decisions along the way, you and Kim, from the standpoint of you set money aside to save in the 401k. I helped to a point, but let’s be honest about it. You had to take action and follow through. You can have the best plan in the world, but if you don’t take action, what good is it? So the two of you took action.
Gary: Automatic withdrawal from my paychecks, my salaries. I mean, it was money I never saw.
John: Yeah.
Gary: That was the way to do it. I just figured out how much did I need to live on and everything after that went into the 401k.
John: Right. Right. What advice would you offer people who might be listening to this and they’re on the edge about something, either their health or they’ve not done a good job of saving money or planning for retirement? What advice would you offer anyone who’s listening?
Gary: Yeah. Why spend money on insurance? And then, boom! I remember one day you called me and said, “You’ve been denied for life insurance. You better go talk to your doctor.” And I found out that I had a virus that made me uninsurable, and so, from that point forward, I had to live with what I had. And, you know, that happened totally unexpected. That was something that I had no inkling of, and I was fortunate while I was young to plan ahead and purchase life insurance that I still have for the most part. You know, I suggest to anybody who is waffling on health or life insurance, that’s something you need to take care of when you’re in good health, because you don’t know when that health is going to disappear, that good health is going to disappear and you become uninsurable.
John: I remember sitting there and the doctor tells me, “We don’t need a stent today because we’ll be doing triple bypass.” It changes your health real quick. And I’m just thinking I’m out of breath because I had gotten overweight and not been exercising. The only thing I know, I’m in there and they’re doing a little triple bypass open heart surgery. So the health status can change just like that.
Gary: Just like that.
John: It changes. It changes that quickly.
Gary: And without any warning. You know, sometimes you do have warnings but many times you don’t have that warning, so you can’t rely on, “I’m going to wake up the next morning,” or, “I’m going to be insurable and I’ll pick up that extra hundred thousand dollars in life insurance,” or “Maybe I’ll get a better health insurance policy.” The thing to do is, while you’re young, while you’re healthy, to take care of those things. I used to moan and groan and complain about how much I was paying in insurance premiums, and I still do, but had I not, I mean, I now, at least, if I pass, my wife and my daughter and my granddaughter are in good shape.
John: Right.
Gary: If my wife passes, I’m in good shape though, you know, we’ve planned for the, you know, the future and nobody gets out of this alive. I don’t know who’s going to go first, but at least, we’re able, when we were able to plan ahead, to buy the insurance that we needed, including the health insurance.
John: In our world, we talk about protect your days first. So many people say, “Well, I’ll get around to the insurance side later.” So we believe in the philosophy, protect your days first, and that’s what you did way back when you were a young guy and I was young. We’re not so young anymore, but that’s what you did.
Gary: Just because we’re bald and blind and gray and….
John: Well, you’ve got more hair than I do. Yours is longer, too. But definitely bald on top here though. But that’s what you guys did. You and Kim did the right thing early on, and you planned for your future. And now, you still have a good lifestyle.
Gary: Yeah, and when we planned for it, when we bought it, I didn’t think, you know, I didn’t think anything of it. I’m not going to need life insurance any time soon. I’m not going to need that health insurance. You know, it was… I got good advice and I took the advice I was given, you know, to the extent that I could. So, I mean it’s… and you give good advice. You’ve given me… we’ve been working together 40 years now.
John: That’s right.
Gary: Forty years.
John: And I’ve been doing it… You know, I just had a thought. It wasn’t just about you could die. You benefitted by the living benefits of your insurance, too.
Gary: Yes, I did.
John: You’ve been able to use money and do things, then put it back, so it’s been a good journey. Talk a little bit about what the future holds. Tell us a little bit about what you do with the Bradfordville Blues Club. When you bought that thing, I thought, You’re doing what? So tell us how that happened. Take the last few minutes and share that and tell your story, because I think that’s your future.
Gary: I had been a music fan. In fact, I played guitar. Well, wait a second. I thought I could play guitar.
John: Yeah, same here. I thought I could.
Gary: Yeah, I even went to the Berklee College of Music in Boston, one of the most prestigious music schools in the country and still thought I could play guitar. But then when I went to law school, it kind of pulled me away from my passion and I started living it vicariously by going out to what was called Dave’s C.C. Club at the time. And Kim and I were there just about any time the club was open. We helped Dave out. I loved the music. I loved the blues. Now, the club itself is just a phenomenal location and very unique character and history behind it, and we found ourselves in a situation where Dave had to close it because they had to move. And I just so happened to come into a little bit of money at the time. I can’t remember what it was. I sold an asset or something, and Dave said, “I’m closing.” I said, “Okay, I’ll buy your assets.” And Kim and I talked about it and said okay. We had no idea what we were getting into. Never at all.
John: You were a lawyer. You weren’t a manager of a club.
Gary: I was a lawyer and I was still practicing law and I was wondering, you know, okay, it might be fun for a year or two. You know, we’ll try it out and see what happens. And 16 years later, I haven’t worked a day yet. It’s allowed me in my retirement to actually have fun. It’s something I do. I have less time now in my retirement than I did when I was practicing. I thought practicing was too time-consuming. The club is very time-consuming, but it’s so enjoyable I love what I do, and it allows me to not have to worry about… You know, I’m set with my Social Security and other income sources. The club doesn’t make any money. It’s an unintentional nonprofit. But again, it’s a quality of life issue. I’m enjoying the heck out of being able… every weekend I’ve got to listen to that stuff, some of the best music in the world. And the customers that come by there are such great people and it’s the community that helps keep us alive. So it’s just a lot of fun to do that. And as long as my health holds out and if people keep coming through the doors, you know, we’ll continue to have fun out there.
John: See, you’re doing something you enjoy doing, you’re benefitting from it because you get to hear the music, and you’re opening those doors to other people to come share your passion.
Gary: Yes, yes, and we developed a very, very good reputation. I don’t have to look for bands. I get five to ten requests a week for bands that want to play there, so we have our pick of the litter. And given the location where we are right on I-10, if you’re going into South Florida, Tampa, Miami, Jacksonville, you got to go through I-10. So the bands stop off on their way here or if they’re going up the East Coast. Or if they’re coming from Chicago going in this neck of the woods, they want to stop and play. So we get our pick of the litter, and that’s what’s made it so nice.
John: For people who don’t know where the club is, tell them where your physical location is and then tell them some of the bands that have played and what’s on the drawing board for the future.
Gary: Well, it’s the Bradfordville Blues Club. It’s off of Bradfordville Road. It’s off a dirt road called Moses Lane and then you crawl up a goat trail called… actually, you go down the dirt road, Sam’s Lane. The goat trail is Moses Lane, and you have to look for it. It’s off the beaten path. You just don’t drive by it and say, “Oh, let’s stop.” You’ve got to know where it is, and….
John: You’ve got to be intentional about finding it. The time I went I thought I was in the wrong place.
Gary: Oh, we get calls all the time. “I’m on some dirt road. I can’t be in the right place.” In fact, one of the musicians from San Francisco came and we had a bonfire out there, and when she showed up, a black musician, she saw a bunch of white guys hanging around the bonfire and she would not get out of the van. She thought she came up on a Klan rally she was so far back in the woods. But that’s the best asset and sometimes it’s the worst asset, because it’s so far out. Some people say it’s too far out, but I think people now have gotten used to it, but the first number of years, I mean, people say, “Oh, that’s too far to go.” But Tallahassee’s built up around us.
John: So they keep coming, too.
Gary: Oh, they keep coming. We have the same… we have a large group of people. We see a lot of the same people, lot of new people. It’s Friday and Saturday only so I don’t have to keep those hours all week long. Every now and then we might do something on a Sunday. We have a bluegrass event on Sundays and we have other events on a Thursday or…. It’s just a weekend-type of thing unless a special event is going to go on. And beer and wine is all it is. We have a lady who fries some of the best catfish this side of the Pacific, Ms. Ernestine. I mean, her catfish is world-renowned. People write about it. We have a lot of travel writers come out, a lot of travel writers. We probably have three dozen articles about the place and almost all of them talk about Ms. Ernestine’s catfish.
John: Nice. I haven’t had the catfish. I’ll have to check that out.
Gary: Well, the mullet’s not bad either. Mullet around here just ain’t a bad haircut. It’s a good-eating fish.
John: Very good fish. That’s right. Tell people how to go about getting tickets. If somebody wants to check it out and buy tickets, how do they do it?
Gary: Well, the Bradfordville Blues Club, we’re back in the woods down that goat trail, but we actually have electricity, running water, indoor plumbing, and a Website, bradfordvilleblues.com, and that has a calendar of events and you can link to the bands to see who’s showing up to see what they sound like. You can buy your tickets there and get reservations and discounts by buying online. And then it’s a matter of finding the place. A lot of people will come out there during the day, you know, because they don’t know where it is, so they come out during the day to find their way.
And we also got an award from the State of Mississippi Blues Commission. It’s called the Mississippi Blues Trail marker. It’s the only Blues Trail marker in the State of Florida. There’s about a dozen of them or so outside the State of Mississippi, but the award, the plaque, a big marker, was awarded because of the historical significance of the club to the blues and what was called the “chitlin’ circuit.” The musicians back in the ’30s, ’40s, ’50s, and ’60s, particularly the black musicians, weren’t very welcome in many places. And there were a circuit of clubs that they traveled, the black jazz musicians, blues musicians, the soul and R&B musicians, and they would stop by there. And we ended up getting a plaque from the State of Mississippi because of the historical significance because that place was there for people to stop by and play when they’re going from Mississippi to somewhere else. So, it’s a…. And I did not realize how significant that Blues Trail Marker was.
People drive up all the time. People plan vacations around the Blues Trail markers to visit them all. So we get people from all over the world. We’ve had people fly in from Italy just to come to the club. From Germany, we’ve had bands from Japan and all over the world, Israel. It’s a really neat club. It’s very, very unique. It’s out in the woods. It’s very rustic, but it is bona fide juke joint. Now, we’ve done nothing to change it. It looks like it did when it was first built. The paint’s still the same color. We dust it once a year whether it needs it or not. We change the lightbulbs every now and then.
John: That’s funny. You have fun. You’re having fun. Let’s circle back to this thing about karma you made a comment earlier about. A way of redeeming yourself for all the stuff you did as an attorney. I think you’re doing it; don’t you? You’re helping a lot of people have fun and you’re having fun.
Gary: Yes. That’s, you know, probably the most rewarding thing about the club are the comments that people give us, you know, how unique it is and thanks for doing that. And we get a lot of recognition from the arts community, the international arts community because of the cultural aspect of the club. And it’s just so rewarding to know that people enjoy going out there. Now, it’s not for everybody, but by and large, we’ve got a very dedicated group of followers, supporters, bands, agents. It’s just a lot of fun. I mean, we have a lot of special events. I’ll be conducting a wedding out there in a couple of weeks. I’ve conducted probably six, seven, eight weddings. Almost all of them, people who had met out there. One of the people actually got engaged. The man got down on his knees on the stage during the set break and proposed. So, it’s… yes, it’s very rewarding, personally rewarding.
John: I’m just looking at your face as you describe this, and every time you talk about the club, it’s always the same. Your eyes are bright, big ol’ smile, relaxed. You’re just like… as my grandfather would say, you’re in hog heaven.
Gary: I am. I’m having the time of my life. Sixteen years and I haven’t worked a day. I put in some blood, sweat, and tears. You know, there’s a lot of effort going into it, but it’s just so much fun. It’s the most enjoyable thing I’ve ever done in my life next to being married and being a grandparent and a parent. No, no, no, I wouldn’t say that. If I had my druthers, I would have started as a grandparent and skipped the parenting part. A lot more fun being a grandparent.
John: A friend of mine likes to say that having grandchildren is the reward for not killing your children.
Gary: Exactly, exactly. And now my daughter is, you know… revenge has set upon her. She’s dealing with the same stuff we had to deal with.
John: Well, let’s wrap up here, Gary, and let’s end by circling back and talking about how over the years what you’ve done is by training as an attorney. There were certain things you had to prepare for. You understood the importance of preparing for trial. You had to do your homework. Then you had to take action. And that applies in all areas of our lives. How would you respond to someone who says, “Yeah, I get that. That’s easy for you because you had the training as an attorney.” But how do you respond to someone who says that? And what advice would you have as far as how to get started and how to stay on track when all these things come at you and they can knock you off track?
Gary: One word… preparation. I mean, when I was an engineering inspector back in the ’70s for the State of Florida and Broward County, I didn’t have any real background in it, but I was hired in that capacity. I took some classes, but I prepared. I mean, I read a lot. I did whatever I could to educate myself. When I became a lawyer, I was up against some of the best lawyers in the state, in the city, and they were far more experienced than I was. I prepared and my preparation got me over the lack of experience. Preparing for the club, I have to prepare every week for the shows. It’s just a matter of focusing on something, knowing you’ve got to do something. You’ve got to recognize what you need to do, and then that is preparing. The preparation is the key to anything you do. When you’re cooking, you’ve got to have prep first, you know. When you’re getting ready to go out somewhere, you’ve got to prepare. Where are we going? What time do we need to be there? Preparation is the key to my life. That’s gotten me over a lot of hurdles.
And having somebody like yourself, and I’ve had many, many mentors in law who helped me prepare and helped me get to where I am. And would I have recognized a lot of the things that I needed to know without the mentoring, without the advice? No. And a lot of that’s listening to what people have to say and getting the right type of advice… and listening to it. Don’t just let it go in one ear and out the other but listen to it. I mean, we had a meeting a few weeks ago and I’ve gone back and I’ve reread through all the notes and the emails, and, you know, it’s a matter of following up, not just preparing but following up. But preparing is the key and then following up.
John: And that’s the thing I look at is the… I have always said I’ll outwork other people when I started early in my career. Work hard, work hard, work hard.
Gary: That’s right.
John: And always take care of your clients. Nothing, nothing is allowed to disrupt your client relationship. You always take care of your flock. Always.
Gary: Correct. Um-hum.
John: Gary Anton, thank you so much for taking the time today.
Gary: It’s been a pleasure for 40 years.
John: Thank you, my friend.
Gary: May we do another 40 years?
John: I hope we do. I hope we do.
Folks, I hope you enjoyed this presentation. Please, go out and check out the music at Bradfordville Blues Club. I know you’ll enjoy it. I will tell you though, take some earplugs, and if you forget yours, Gary has some available. But it’s a lot of fun.
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