The Ric and Dan Show

On this episode of The Ric and Dan Show, the boys are joined by Larry Barker, CEO of Machias Savings Bank, to talk about what it means to work, what it means to lead, and the only thing about yourself you can really change: your ethic.  Larry Barker was picked straight out of a blueberry field, because of his work ethic. He found his talents in clam flats, meat rooms, and motel halls, and when Ed Hennessey approached him and extended the offer to work at Machias, he had to go home and look up what a 'mortgage' was. A childhood of financial struggle lit the fire under Larry, and he'd been burning ever since— until one day he had to stop and realize the big picture. Suddenly, he was in charge of the bank. Suddenly, he was in charge of his life... now, could he finally slow down?  Don't forget to comment and subscribe, and next time you hear someone say "You can't get there from here!" you tell them to listen to the Ric and Dan show! Got a question for the Sutherland Weston team? Connect with us at https://sutherlandweston.com/

Ric and Dan and Matt Scott from Dave's World have one drink and start swearing and talking about Phish a whole bunch, underscoring the soul-touching story of the parts of you that stay, the parts of you that you pass along, and the parts of you that you can never shake off again as you grow. We don't lie: drinks get passed around this episode, first thing. Matt recalls how he could only ever do commercials if he was drunk, and as the three begin to discuss psychedelic drugs, Ric reasons that this will be the first episode to require some censor tones. He soon steers the conversation towards the jam band Phish and Matt's dedication to their art. The sounds, the ideals, and the culture around it are embedded in a lot of what Matt does. He is sure to show it: for the next half-hour, Matt talks about childhood, adulthood, being a parent, being alive, helping others, facing the future, and recognizing that even if you've seen something many times before, "it's been different 2,000 times since". Don't forget to comment and subscribe, and next time you hear someone say "You can't get there from here!" you tell them to listen to the Ric and Dan show! Got a question for the Sutherland Weston team? Connect with us at https://sutherlandweston.com/

On this episode of The Ric and Dan Show, Ric and Dan (who are named after the show) bring along Rich Armstrong, president of The Snowman Group. Printing has been in his blood for quite a while, and he shares his story of how his life shaped his craft, and how his craft shaped his life. The three sit down and get to work mispronouncing things, and talking about history, mystery, ADD, MMA, and going straight to H-E-double hockey sticks.  Rich sets the record straight: it's "Snowman", not "Snowman", so if you've been saying "Snowman," you gotta start saying it right. In a revolutionary move, Ric and Dan do the first-ever Ric and Dan Show Poll, and next time, they might even set up a way to answer it. In 8th grade, Rich was really into gasoline and perfume, but so much has changed since then! He used to live above his print shop when it was in Bangor, but the floors were wooden, and the sidewalk was always covered in snow... welcome to adulthood. Only Ric abstains from eating meat during Lent, and he's trying not to cuss. Dan is abstaining from eating candy. Rich has given up something even bigger than both of them... to find out, you'll just have to listen to this episode! Don't forget to comment and subscribe, and next time you hear someone say "You can't get there from here!" you tell them to listen to the Ric and Dan show! Got a question for the Sutherland Weston team? Connect with us at https://sutherlandweston.com/

On this episode of The Ric and Dan Show, Dan (and Ric) bring along James and Kenya Hopkins of Acadia Wilderness Lodge to talk about yurts, meeting the parents, and a Hallmark movie called The Valley of Death.  Everything Ric knows about the guests he learnt from Dan, and from that he sees the Hopkins as the closest thing to a rom-com in the real world. Little did he expect that it would come with a side of drama! Kenya discusses the iconic yurts at the Wilderness Lodge, and James sheds some light on how they became so modernized. Each yurt has a name rooted in indigenous culture, a connection to nature, and the story of a tooth-and-nail legal battle behind it. It's a complex web of regulations, negotiations, street signs, city halls, and even the Declaration of Independence! We wouldn't dare to tell you any more about it: you'll just have to listen for yourself! Don't forget to comment and subscribe, and next time you hear someone say "You can't get there from here!" you tell them to listen to the Ric and Dan show! Got a question for the Sutherland Weston team? Connect with us at https://sutherlandweston.com/

On this episode of The Ric and Dan Show, the boys drag along Marc Guastella, Vice President and General Manager of Hollywood Casino Bangor, and discuss the beauty of failure, travel, cooperation, and never ever never wearing a suit and tie unless absolutely necessary. As a casino manager, Marc can never enjoy Ocean's Eleven or other series. However, he is a fan of 1995's Casino, a movie he first saw as a child in Cape Town, South Africa. He moved to Las Vegas in 2005 and jumped everywhere around the U.S. until now. He talks about his perspective of Hollywood Bangor as an entertainment business first and foremost... It's a little like Ted Lasso! Dan touches on Zombie Dogz, the new(ish) eatery on the gamefloor, and Marc touches on being dragged to Maine with a dream and a little bit of luck. The boys bring out the Wayback Machine, gush about roulette, craps, and blackjack, and very subtly plug Marc's other podcast venture. Don't forget to comment and subscribe, and next time you hear someone say "You can't get there from here!" you tell them to listen to the Ric and Dan show! Want to hear more from Marc? Check out Lights, Slots, Action!, a Hollywood Casino podcast by Sutherland Weston! Got a question for the Sutherland Weston team? Connect with us at https://sutherlandweston.com/

On this episode of The Ric and Dan Show, our hosts welcome Sunshine Gannuccelli, owner of Sunshine Fitness and Fit Fuel Club Cafe, to talk about family, fitness, and fourteen years of entrepreneurship.  Ric and Dan suck in their guts as Sunshine enters. She's a fitness instructor, so they need to look their best. They talk about the joys (and myriad struggles) of parenting, what you gain from it, and what it takes from you. Sunshine recounts the time she needed to pull up her "big girl panties", and then poses a riddle: Why is the sun like a ten-cent coin? Later, they talk about fighting octogenarians, the shift in thinking that changed her outlook on life, and Ric talks about the iPod for a long time. Dan concurs. Don't forget to comment and subscribe, and next time you hear someone say "You can't get there from here!" you tell them to listen to the Ric and Dan show! Got a question for the Sutherland Weston team? Connect with us at https://sutherlandweston.com/

On this episode of The Ric and Dan Show, the boys bring along Amber Lambke, CEO and Co-Founder of Maine Grains, to talk about history, healthiness, and the beauty of a past not-yet-lost to us, all wrapped up in a bushel of oats and wheat. Amber is in jail- in a jail- in a former jail: she needed to turn the old structure into a grain mill from the ground up, because nowhere else had the vertical space she needed to get to work. It started with the Kneading Conference, and from there, she began to recreate the infrastructure to actually clean the grains Maine farmers have been growing. It turns out Maine has a history of grain production that we simply lost to time, and she's here to bring it back. All this gives Ric and Dan enough confidence to offer her a permanent spot on the new Ric and Dan and Amber show! But, alas, her real passion is still in farming and food. The three talk about the culinary history of Maine, the staple of buckwheat ployes, and the difference between soft and hard wheats... and as the conversation continues, it becomes clear: we have so much to gain, thanks to the effort of Maine Grains!  Don't forget to comment and subscribe, and next time you hear someone say "You can't get there from here!" you tell them to listen to the Ric and Dan show! Got a question for the Sutherland Weston team? Connect with us at https://sutherlandweston.com/

On this episode of The Ric and Dan Show, Dan has to interview his boss, and Ric has to interview his wife, because Elizabeth Sutherland of Sutherland Weston comes on to talk about the company's origins and history, and how it intertwines with the state of Maine, and how the marketing world has turned around it. Elizabeth is six minutes late for her own interview, but since she signs everyone's checks, that's okay. Ric has carefully spreadsheeted out everything he can and cannot touch on in the episode. Dan does not want to make eye contact with anyone, especially as the three talk about Blue Paper Communications, maternity leave, and Ian. Everything started from a pencil sharpener, a computer from Sam's Club, and a collection of chairs on the sun porch. After some prompting, Elizabeth tells the story of the logo and her first encounter with Cary Weston. She talks about the many moves SW had to go through before it found its home in the "marketing mansion", and how much of Bangor's history it influenced during that time.  Don't forget to comment and subscribe, and next time you hear someone say "You can't get there from here!" you tell them to listen to the Ric and Dan show! Got a question for the Sutherland Weston team? Connect with us at https://sutherlandweston.com/

On this episode of The Ric And Dan Show, Alex Gray of Waterfront Concerts and KANÙ fame comes along to talk about the power of music, surprising event costs, and Ushuaia (in Orono, not Argentina).  We start the episode with the boys drinking a whole gallon of water. Ric wants to know if the old stories of Bob Dylan and Van Halen's contracts are true— and Alex spills all he knows, and all the moments where he had to hide in sound equipment cases. The iconic "We Are Bangor" gives Alex his highly-deserved flowers, and he talks about the late Ozzy Osbourne and all the artists that Waterfront just missed out on. But even so, they talk about the musical miracles that he's pulled off as well. He touches on bare-knuckle fighting City Hall, watching others do the same, and college kids, who "still know how to gather and burn it all down." The guys ask about KANÙ's origins and its pivotal manner as a space for music, during a time when there wasn't even space to breathe. Don't forget to comment and subscribe, and next time you hear someone say "You can't get there from here!" you tell them to listen to the Ric and Dan show!

On this special holiday episode of The Ric And Dan Show, our hosts are joined by a fellow airwave juggernaut, Mike Dow of Star 97.7, to participate in a friendly game of 20 Christmas Questions. Between the lord of the morning radio and the king of night television, who will win in this double-barrel no-holds-barred, high-octane Christmas-off?  Don't forget to comment and subscribe, and next time you hear someone say "You can't get there from here!" you tell them to listen to the Ric and Dan show! This podcast was produced by Sutherland Weston. Learn more here: https://sutherlandweston.com/podcasts/

On this episode of The Ric And Dan Show, the boys bring in Lucas Richman, Grammy award-winning music director and conductor for the Bangor Symphony Orchestra and talk about selflessness, ego, leadership, and a blue corduroy suit. Lucas has been given gifts by many influential people: the three talk about the gifts Gavin MacLeod gave him, one of them being his baton. Lucas talks about the strange nature of conducting, and how it is not a performance: it nurtures a performance. There are two big questions Lucas asks when someone wants to study conducting with him, and Ric and Dan both agree they are doozies. It's not about technique or training at all. But, when did Lucas know he wanted to be a conductor? He talks about how he took over a rehearsal, his debut at 16 years old, and a long story. A long story that won him a Grammy. Don't forget to comment and subscribe, and next time you hear someone say "You can't get there from here!" you tell them to listen to the Ric and Dan show!

On this episode of The Ric and Dan Show, CEO of The Bangor Region YMCA Diane Dickerson sits down with our hosts and lights up the room. She shares how she wound her way from Vegas to Utah, D.C to Denver, before finally finding her way to Bangor to lift the community up. After weeks of machinations, Diane successfully pranks Ric. She then shares her story about growing up in Vegas, when the strip was still young. She talks about following a boy to Utah, her years in Washington D.C., and the many places after. Dan has a love affair with LA, while Diane is not an LA girl; Ric references Northern Exposure (if you know it), and they discuss the appeal of Bangor, the power of community, and the beautiful people. Don't forget to comment and subscribe, and next time you hear someone say "You can't get there from here!" you tell them to listen to the Ric and Dan show!

On this episode of The Ric and Dan Show, our hosts sit down with Matt North of Allenfarm Fence Company talk about all things Allenfarm— the ways in which the profession changed with the world, the ways in which the company stayed the same after all, and why the warehouse is full of so many swords.  Our episode starts out strong with Ric and Dan fighting about the Golden Rule, and soon after Matt reveals the origin of the "farm" in "Allenfarm". The three talk about the "seasons" of work, and how the changing of the whole world since the last 15 years has influenced (or not influenced) the company. Ric loses 5 dollars and Dan and Matt show him how they do it in Old Town. When asked about his life before fencing, Matt might've been in jail. Ric brings up a certain shipyard, a certain airport, and a certain spooky horror writer's fancy spider fence— and this gets Dan to thinking, are fences made to keep people out, or keep people in?  Don't forget to comment and subscribe, and next time you hear someone say, "You can't get there from here!", you tell them to listen to The Ric and Dan Show!

On this episode of The Ric and Dan Show, our hosts sit down with Dr. Heather Evans and Sharon Gottlieb of Tensegrity Health and Aesthetics and talk about the profession, self-worth as a pathway to health, and some surprising insights on the ways society judges masculine identities. During this episode, Dr. Evans shares how she escaped the threat of dental school and how she came up with the name "Tensegrity", and Sharon talks about how often she has to explain it to people who come in; The four discuss the differences— but mostly similarities— between cosmetics and biology; Botox is used for far more things than facelifts; Ric and Dan ask the real questions and insult each other's masculinities in the process; The guys get sued for saying the S-E-X word; Ric admits to the audio-only listeners that he's bald, and Dr. Evans sheds light on the correlation between location and openness to new ideas. Don't forget to comment and subscribe, and next time you hear someone say, "You can't get there from here!", you tell them to listen to The Ric and Dan Show!

On this episode of The Ric and Dan Show, we sit down with Peter Geaghan of Geaghan's Pub & Brewing and reflect on the legacy and evolution of family and business, passing generosity down the generations, managing a brand built over the years, and dread and delight on Saint Patrick's Day. The three of them talk about the mural, the 50-year anniversary, the Baldacci family (Dan talks about his grandfather and clams), brotherhood in brewery, Geaghan's position as a Bangor institution (Dan talks about his father bailing on a funeral), overcoming challenges through familial bonds, growing up in a family of 11 kids, getting rid of breakfast, looking for the right people, the corner of the bar where beer is illegal, craft beer and the Geaghan's brand, becoming "willing fools" for the Cross Insurance Center, getting to "the right side of town" (while Ric acts like Mr. Burns from the Simpsons), and carrying on with the loss of Pat Geaghan.  Don't forget to comment and subscribe, and next time you hear someone say, "You can't get there from here!", you tell them to listen to The Ric and Dan Show!  

On this episode of The Ric and Dan Show, Dr. David Cloutier of the Veazie Vet Clinic walks us through keeping the drive alive, turning every obstacle into an advantage, and asking, "What does the world need right now?" Dr. Cloutier tells tales of black bears on the operating table, deciding his career path and his bizarre start, pursuing the dream, going about business differently than peers, turning obstacles into opportunities, sneaking- no, squeaking into veterinary school, growing the business and adding onto the building, the struggle of remembering names, technicians and veterinarians, navigating the dissolving of a business, the emotional peril of veterinary work, tearing down the organizational pyramid, and veterinary practice as a 'people business'. Don't forget to comment and subscribe, and next time you hear someone say, "You can't get there from here!", you tell them to listen to The Ric and Dan Show!

On this episode of The Ric and Dan Show, our hosts sit down with Brett Soucy of Frank's Bake Shop and talk about the 80th anniversary, preparing for succession, and free pizza ASMR with special guest star David Bender.  Brett leads the conversation towards a business's reputation and responsibility, his history of working at the bakery under his grandfather, what he learned in a London pub, family businesses and chafing interests, the extra pressures upon legacy businesses, the bakeshop's connection to the United Nations, "bringing back the pizza", weathering COVID through shifting models, Frank's physical footprint in Bangor, creating a dialogue between company and customer, and creating a team culture that cares for each other. Don't forget to comment and subscribe, and next time you hear someone say, "You can't get there from here!", you tell them to listen to The Ric and Dan Show!

Please note: This episode was recorded in May 2025. Certain details discussed reflect the information available at that time and may have since changed. On the first episode of The Ric and Dan Show, our hosts sit down with Chris Keegan of Coffee Hound Coffee Co. and talk about community, chance encounters, and most importantly, coffee. Chris shares his story of one fateful Thursday morning, a lucky find on the streets of Bar Harbor, the most disgusting and most delicious coffee he'd seen in the military, bringing people together with beans, marketing Maine without marketing "Maine", losing his shop to COVID and starting all over again, the misuse of language in the coffee industry, the "UMaine Thing", one of the origins of the name "Coffee Hound Coffee", and his quest to turn nothing into something. Don't forget to comment and subscribe, and next time you hear someone say, "You can't get there from here!", you tell them to listen to The Ric and Dan Show!