An Army of Normal Folks - Sonic Wrappers, Mickey Ears, and My Movie Debut

Episode Date: August 22, 2025

For "Shop Talk", Coach Bill tells the story of his hilariously unconventional experience watching Undefeated for the very first time.  Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/premiumSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey, everybody, it's Bill Courtney. Welcome to Shop Talk. Welcome in, Alex. Welcome in. I think we're both stressed out this morning. I have too much going on in my life right now, and yeah, I'm going crazy. But we always have time for Shop Talk. I mean, that's the thing that maybe takes our mind off all this other crap.

So for everybody, we've got a little white shop talk today. It's a story about my first time and only time. at South by Southwest in Austin. I've told the story to Alex, and he says, you've got to tell it on Shop Talk, because apparently it's kind of funny. So, coming up, Bill's first trip to South by Southwest right after these brief messages from our generous sponsors.

Ah, come on. Why is this taking so long? This thing is ancient. Still using yesterday's tech, upgrade to the ThinkPad X-1 Carbon, ultra-light, ultra-powerful, and built for serious productivity with Intel core ultra-processors, blazing speed, and AI-powered performance. It keeps up with your business, not the other way around. Whoa, this thing moves.

Stop hitting snooze on new tech. Win the tech search at Lenovo.com. Lenovo, Lenovo. Unlock AI experiences with the ThinkPad X1 Carbon, powered by Intel Core Ultra processors so you can work, create, and boost productivity all on one device. Hi, I'm Master Model Builder Noel at Legoland Discovery Center, Toronto, inviting you to build the best summer ever. Jump into a world of fun, creativity, and playful learning at the ultimate indoor Lego playground. Explore Miniland, created from over a million bricks.

Join me in a creative workshop class. Ride Kingdom Quest, enjoy a 4-D movie, discover eye-catching build and play zones, and much more at Legoland Discovery Center. Get your tickets online now at Legoland Discovery Center.com slash Toronto. December 29th, 1975, LaGuardia Airport. The holiday rush, parents hauling luggage, kids gripping their new Christmas toys. Then, at 6.33 p.m., everything changed. There's been a bombing at the TWA terminal. Apparently, the explosion actually impelled metal glass.

The injured were being loaded into ambulances. just a chaotic, chaotic scene. In its wake, a new kind of enemy emerged, and it was here to stay. Terrorism. Law and Order Criminal Justice System is back. In Season 2, we're turning our focus to a threat that hides in plain sight. That's harder to predict and even harder to stop. Listen to the new season of Law and Order Criminal Justice System

on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Everyone thinks they'd never join a cult. But it happens all the time to people just like you. And people just like us. I'm Lola Blanc and I'm Megan Elizabeth. We're the host of Trust Me, a podcast about cults, manipulation, and the psychology of belief. Each week we talk to fellow survivors, former believers, and experts to understand why people get pulled in and how they get out. Trust me, new episodes every Wednesday on exactly right.

and wherever you get your podcasts. American history is full of wise people. What women said something like, you know, 99.99% of war is diarrhea and 1% is gory. Those founding fathers were gossipy A.F. And they love to cut each other down. I'm Bob Crawford, host of American History Hotline, the show where you send us your questions about American history, and I find the end. answers, including the nuggets of wisdom our history has to offer.

Hamilton pauses, and then he says, the greatest man that ever lived was Julius Caesar. And Jefferson writes in his diary, this proves that Hamilton is for a dictator based on corruption. My favorite line was what Neil Armstrong said. It would have been harder to fake it than to do it. Listen to American History Hotline on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your Podcasts. Hey, everybody. Welcome back. Shop Talk number 66. I don't think I have a 66 number that's of any note. Do you? I mean, it's kind of the devil's number. We just have one more six. I'm imagine if we get to six hundred sixty. Two thirds of Satan at this point. Okay,

everybody, South by Southwest, for those who don't know, it's in Austin. It's an. It's an annual event and it's uh it's an arts thing that goes on all week uh and they're kind of downtown really cool area and it's movies it's indie films i think it's music music it's lot of music and i think there's actually like painted art stuff there too street vendors it's just a big old festival um it's called the south by southwest film festival or used to be now I think it's just South by Southwest but there's music and stuff everywhere it's really a good time so here's how I was introduced South by Southwest and parlayed into it is my triumphant movie debut I'd started by business and worked many many many hours for many

years and never was really able to take Lisa and the kids on any kind of summer trip for seven, eight years. Of course, that was the same time I was building my business and building Manassas, and it culminated in those guys coming and filming the movie, Dan and T.J. and Rich, who are now dear friends. I shouldn't say those guys. But anyway, so they filmed the film, left. I'm still working like a dog trying to grow my business. And comes a time where our youngest Max is old enough to actually enjoy the dreaded Disney world. So we made the plans. Headed to Disney for first family trip in many, many, many years, the first big family

trip. And I mean, I rented the condo in the mouse world. And we were going to do all of it. Very exciting for spring break. And so about two weeks before we were to leave on this grand trip that candidly, you know, I mean, I'm excited to take the kids in Lisa somewhere, but it is mouse world, after all. And so the phone rings, and it's rich. And he says, Rich says, Bill, amazing.

Undefeated's got picked up by South by Southwest. And I said, well, I don't know what that means, but good, great for you. And he said, no, you don't understand. It's one of the biggest film festivals there is. It's a chance for people to actually find out about our movie. I mean this is long before anything It was still just a kind of an indie film at this point They just finished it

And South by Southwest had a cancellation And they gave undefeated the spot And I said well good great They said well you got to be there And I said why do I have to be there? They said well after these films at these film festivals There's question answers and there's you know you got to be there for it And it's possible that somebody you know might be interested in it

want to buy it, want to talk to you, you have to be there. And I'm like, okay, well, when is it? Literally, the showing was dead in the middle of our first family vacation. So, like, it was like a Thursday night and we were going from Monday to Tuesday. We were spending eight days in Mouse World and it was dead in the middle. And I said, no can do, man. I hadn't taken my family on a trip in years and ages. We've had this thing planned for over a year. I've already paid for the condo. I paid for the plane tickets. I've got fast passes.

We've got reservations. I can't do it. And they're like, you have to come. And I said, I don't know what to do. And he said, I'll call you back. So, of course, I went and told Lisa, and Lisa's like, you are not screwing up this vacation. I'm like, I agree.

So they call back and say, what if we fly you and all your family from Orlando to Austin for one night, you do your thing and we'll fly you back and we'll pay for you to extend your Orlando trip one extra day so that you don't miss out a day. A vacation within a vacation. And I thought, well, that's kind of cool. So maybe I could sell that to lease some of the kids. So we agreed. So we go to Mouse World and that day, whatever the day is that we're going to South by Southwest, we pack up a little bag because we're only spent the night in Austin. And, you know, I'm hurting roaches.

It's like getting all these kids and leased together on vacation to then ride to the airport to get on a plane. And, you know, it's so I'm, I'm up and Adam early, getting everybody together. And we're actually out of the hotel about 25 minutes early, which is for my crew, an absolute miracle and as we're on up to the airport mollie in the back of the car says dad what time's our flight i'm like 9 a m and i said it's no problem it's 7 30 we're in great shape we're an hour and a half early she goes no dad it's 832 and i said what it was daylight savings time and none of us knew because we were on vacation and her her iPhone had just switched over so of course i'm having a heart attack we pile out we run into the to the to the death

and the lady's like, I'm sorry, sir, there's no way. So I'm freaked and I'm like, okay, I have to get to Austin. How can I get to Austin or somewhere close? And she said, well, there's a flight leaving for San Antonio in 55 minutes. If you can make that, oh, this was on a Sunday. It's on a Sunday, actually. And if you can make that, we'll switch you on it. I said, book it.

So we fly to San Antonio. And, of course, I called them before I left and said, I'm going to be late to Austin, but we were getting there early in the morning. So I was fine. And I'm going to get to San Antonio. So we get to San Antonio. Now I've got to get to Austin. So I'll run around to a bunch of rental car places that are all booked,

and I finally find some choke and puke rental car place. I can't remember his name. And I need to take a car from San Antonio to Austin that I can get six people in and luggage and that I can return in Austin rather than drive back San Antonio because I still have my Austin flights back to Mouseworld for the remainder of the vacation for the kids. So they give me a purple Crown Victoria. That's all they had.

So we got me and Lisa and one kid between us, three across the back. We're driving like crazy, leaving San Antonio. And of course, everybody's hungry. So I pull into Sonic. I'm late. I just tell the woman to bring me seven or eight or nine number twos or whatever. They pile it in and we roll. And our triumphant opening movie Salvo for this, what turned out to be an Academy Award winning film that we didn't know anything was requisite

with us rolling into Austin and a purple crown Victoria with sonic wrappers flying everywhere, piled in that car, and four kids wearing mouse ears. We showed up, checked into the Lakinta Inn. Nice. This is what they put us in. Two rooms. Sure door. Two double beds.

Right. Nice. Really stepped up for us. And we go to the South by Southwest Film Festival. And the first time I ever see the thing is with 700 people in this auditorium with my children on my left and my wife on my right. And it was the most surreal experience to see people laughing out loud, standing up and cheering and crying.

And all I could think of was, wow, Bill, you've got to lose some weight because I'm looking at myself on the screen. And after the movie, Dan and T.J. and Rich go down to the front to an enormous applause. And the first question, do a Q&A. And the first question was, where's Coach Courtney now? And they said, Well, there he is with his family, about when he rose up. The place stands up in applause, and then I walk down and answer some questions.

I'm a fish out of water. I have no idea what's going on. And then my understanding that night, there was an all-night bidding war between Paramount Sony and Weinstein to purchase Undefeated, which that deal was closed. Afterwards, there was an after party, and the kids and Lisa and I were there. I love how you didn't say who won the deal. Oh, Harvey Weinstein. Weinstein, Merrimax or Weinstein films at that time. We didn't, obviously, this was, you know, 15 years ago, so long before the recent problems. But, yeah, afterwards we had an afterparty and agents from WME and executives from big film companies came up to me and they said, you know, your life's never going to be the same now. This thing has Academy Award. chops and um people are going to know who pill is after this and we were like whatever and so uh we went back to memphis and actually went back to orlando finished our great trip then went

back to memphis and expected life stay the same and of course it has never been since then but for those who think of hair and makeup people and half a lute and really beautiful experiences that is what the glamorous movie business is. My reality is four kids of my wife, a bunch of sonic rappers, and a Crown Victoria stand at the Lakinta Inn and interrupting our first spring break vacation in eight years. That's how my Academy Award experience started, and that is my South Bay, Southwest story.

And because of that trauma, I don't think I'll ever go back. There's the story, Alex. Come on, it would be fun to go back one day. I don't know. Whatever. It's whatever. But very few people know the real story behind how it all started and that is the real story. So the first time I ever heard it was actually you told it on Mike Rose podcast. I've never heard you tell it ever before to anyone else. It could be fun for us to self. Mike thought it was hilarious. Yeah. So if you want to hear the mic abridged version, you can go to the micro podcast and look up our episode and he asked a

bunch of questions. He was laughing his ass off about it. So, because it is really kind of funny, but that's the deal. That's the truth. So, uh, you know, make a movie and get you a Crown Vic and La Quinta and maybe things will work out for you. Who knows? All right, everybody. That's shop talk number 66. I hope you enjoyed the South by Southwest story. Before we close, I want to say something to you. On August 28th, Sparky Reardon, who is a dear, dear friend and is was a mentor of mine, remains a mentor of mine, was the Dean of Students at Ole Miss when I was in school there. He also taught a leadership class that I took, and I revered the guy. He retired some years ago, and apparently he's been working on a book, and it's called The Dean,

Memoirs and Missives. I guarantee you you're going to cry, laugh, be inspired, and learn a bunch. We're going to do a live podcast with him on August 28. in Oxford. If you're in the area or if you want to drive down, it will be worth your time. And I hope you'll join us for fun night. He's one of the wisest and most beloved human beings on this earth. And he's met an enormous Mount Ole Miss, the university and candidly academia at large. He's traveled and done a lot for a lot of institutions. For my fellow Ole Miss fans, It's the Thursday before our first home game of the season. So you're out of towners.

You have two good reasons being Oxford now, and it's Thursday. So something good to do. To learn more, you can RSVP at Sparky Reardon. Eventbright.com. Sparkyreardon. Dot eventbright.com. Let's fill it up and have a good time of Sparky on this live recorded podcast for an Army and normal folks.

If you like this episode, please rate and review it. Subscribe to the podcast. please email me anytime at Bill at normalfolks.us. Give us ideas for people doing amazing things in your community or ideas for shop talk. I will respond to the email and we'll take them up. Anything else else else? I guess we'll plug Sparky's other bookstops.

So he's doing like Jackson and New Orleans, Tupelo. What made me think about is here, they just announced his stop here. Kelly English is going to join him and do a talk with him. That's awesome. In Memphis. Yeah. So if you can't make it down to Oxford to join us,

join Kelly and Sparky here in Memphis. Yeah, you could do that, but nobody's going to be doing a lot of podcasts. Those are just talks and books onings. We're going to be recording it and letting you have... I know. I'm just saying if they can't make it to us. No, you can get the second... Come to us. Forget the rest of them.

So much for being generous. All right. Well, that's it. All right, everybody. Shop talk number 66. We'll see you next week. In the heat of battle, your squad relies on. on you. Don't let them down. Unlock Elite Gaming Tech at Lenovo.com. Dominate every match with

next level speed, seamless streaming, and performance that won't quit, and push your gameplay beyond limits with Intel Core Ultra processors. That's the power of Lenovo with Intel inside. Maximize your edge by shopping at Lenovo.com during their back-to-school sale. That's Lenovo.com. December 29th, 1975, LaGuardia Airport. The holiday rush, parents hauling luggage, kids gripping their new Christmas toys. Then, everything changed. There's been a bombing at the TWA terminal. Just a chaotic, chaotic scene.

In its wake, a new kind of enemy emerged, terrorism. Listen to the new season of Law and Order Criminal Justice System on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Everyone thinks they'd never join a cult. But it happens all the time to people just like you. And people just like us. I'm Lola Blanc. And I'm Megan Elizabeth.

We're the host of Trust Me, a podcast about cults, manipulation, and the psychology of belief. Each week we talk to fellow survivors, former believers, and experts to understand why people get pulled in and how they get out. Trust me, new episodes every Wednesday on Exactly Right.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, I'm John Lithgow. We choose to go to the moon. I want to tell you about my new fiction podcast. That's one small step for man. About Buzz Aldrin, one of the two pioneers of space. You're a great pilot, Buzz. That's the story you think you know.

This is the story you don't. Buzz, starring me, John Lithgow. on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Check out Behind the Flow, a podcast documentary series following the launch of San Diego Football Club. San Diego coming to MLS is going to be a game changer because this region has been hungry for a men's professional soccer team. We need to embrace this community. Listen to San Diego FC. on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

This is an IHeart podcast.