Park Beats and Community Treats (Hour 3)

Transcript

Park Beats and Community Treats (Hour 3)

Maino and the Mayor · Mon Jul 7, 2025

Kathryn Lake

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John Minow and Jim Schmidt.

John Maino

Hey, thank you very much.

Welcome back.

Very special thanks to Kristen Ambow's Point Mortgage Corporation.

Her podcast is always on point and she does not mince words.

She will bring it strong every single time.

Same thing with these two guys, Kevin Vaness and Brian Mills, talk of the town, music in the park, McCullough Park on July 8th.

And he brought us some really

cool

John Maino

beats.

These are like

John Maino

awesome

beats.

See, I wonder who's

here.

You got it at the real deal there guys.

I love them.

I didn't even bother saying anything that was going to happen.

You

know, at the CD in my car that you play that.

We danced at the

Mardi Gras.

What's that?

While we danced at

the Mardi Gras.

Yes.

All right.

That's great.

Hey, thank you for these.

These are the real deal.

These beads.

They're heavier than I

thought.

Those are the

ones off the real float that you've been Mardi Gras down in New Orleans.

That's awesome.

But you're

here

for the

summer.

We're here for the summer.

And then you go down to Florida and New Orleans and all that other stuff.

But thank you for being here.

We're at McCulloch Park tomorrow night.

Bring a little bit of New Orleans.

All right.

And that's a nice neighborhood.

Very nice.

Neighborhood Association.

They kind of got it going on there.

I know you do, Brian.

Yep, I'm doing well.

Yeah, we're excited.

We're hosting our second Music in the Park tomorrow, six to eight at McCulloch Park over on Sitka and not McCulloch School.

If you go there, you're

not going to hear any music.

John Maino

You've done some really cool things for that whole area around there, haven't you?

Our neighborhood associations expanded on some of our activities.

We do an Easter egg hunt.

We do a couple of concerts in the park, just some other activities just to get people out and see their neighbors.

And thank

you for doing that.

These neighborhood associations are all volunteer.

You volunteer, you're the president.

I'm the vice president.

Vice

president.

And those Easter egg hunts, we have a, my neighborhood association has a back to school cookout.

those things really do reduce crime and it gets you to know each other and you can count on each other and it just

makes, he gets your tax bill.

Nobody likes it, but it's like, well, this is, I like living

here.

Yeah.

It's, it's great because we see people that we wouldn't necessarily see, you know, just kind of walking around and, and it's nice to bring other people into the neighborhood and kind of see the parks that we've got.

You know, the city's obviously got great parks.

We were just at the city band concert over by you on Wednesday.

Um, but it's just nice to see people recognize the different areas that we have in the city.

McAuliffe park is, it's a

Kind of newer park, but right it's nice.

We've got a playground right over there You can come hear music in the park play beanbags or whatever just you know and just hang out but seeing the different features of each park in the city is pretty awesome.

So

and I think that's kudos to the city for having you know 32 33 parks versus one large Piazza and everybody's just living you know with houses and houses So those neighborhood parks are

yeah, they're value.

It's a great thing in the neighborhood.

So we like it

And what other activities, you said you'd do the Easter Egg Hunt, which is always a good one.

Yep.

So we do the Easter Egg Hunt.

We do some music in the parks.

We're looking at doing some stuff in the fall.

Just, you know, our association, there's...

I'm sure like most neighborhood associations, we've got six or seven people that do a lot of the lifting.

And then, you know, some, sometimes we'd always appreciate help with

it.

We

have like five, six employees here, Todd does all the work.

So we're, we're, same percent.

I

John Maino

will say

this.

So

John Maino

I think these parks are really well maintained throughout the entire area.

I think they're great parks.

But when you bring music into that park, it makes it come alive.

Oh yeah.

It's another bear in a summer night with the neighborhood out and playing under the stars and stuff.

It's great.

And.

You bring a little energy to the music too.

Oh, we have a great time.

They're just up at the Alpine last week and they're used to playing a lot of, you know, a lot of the rock band cover bands.

And so we come in, they got young kids in there and these doing like a hundred.

people second line and he's getting kids or what is this?

This is great.

What is this

stuff?

I got to share something with Kevin.

So Kevin and I have known each other for years.

We taught at Washington together and my daughter is a low brass player at East and needed some help.

Two different times.

I think you helped her out on just some lessons.

Before Soul Ensemble, she brought her duet partner.

Kevin helped him out.

And after that, she said,

that her partner said that Kevin's like the coolest guy in the world.

He was down in the basement, you're showing him some of your instruments and stuff like that.

So to get two high school players to hear and just feel the energy of the music they produce is amazing.

So thanks, Kevin.

To think

you're

cool.

Wow, that is

something.

That's pretty cool.

Is my wife listening

up there?

Yeah, are my kids listening?

Yeah.

John Maino

That's one of those things that you and Brian, you're talking about that.

And Jim, you're a big advocate of this.

You know, sometimes just getting to know your neighbors and just knowing that somebody kind of got you back and if you're out of town or whatever.

You know, that's, I think that is a very big part in helping prevent crime when somebody who might be in an area for bad reasons kind of gets that sense of, hey,

these, these guys are close.

This guy's a friend, that guy's a friend.

Somebody's looking out the window at me walking around.

I think that is really important.

Well, when

you see people in the park, you know, that people are watching, you know, so, and we don't, I don't know of any significant issues in there, but just having that many people in the area talking to each other.

And even if you're not from the neighborhood, just the fact that you're utilizing it helps helps.

prevent other issues.

John Maino

Absolutely.

There's eyes on it.

I mean,

we're playing in August, St.

Mary of the Angels by the old roller skating rink.

And they're doing a community black party for the same reason, just to get the connection instead of the vandalism.

No,

this is

our area.

Exactly.

We did a study one time.

It was over 20 years ago, but the number of people that, you know, your next door neighbor, but

the one after that.

That was amazing.

How many people didn't?

It's like, really?

Just, you know, one, two houses down.

I don't know who lives there.

It's

Kathryn Lake

like,

wow.

But these neighborhood associations, like Brian said, you know, you're out in the park.

It's like, where do you live?

Oh, really?

You live there?

And, you know, where I live in this old neighborhood, it's not your house till you move out, you know?

It's like, oh, are you living?

You know, it's not really your house.

It's the people who live there before.

Yeah, they used to live there, yeah.

But I just think it's cool that there's so many different activities that go on in these neighborhoods, but nothing

brings them all like music, Kevin.

That's really, you know, I don't know what, that's really nice that you're doing this.

Cause

you- Oh, I'm glad Brian brings in a variety.

Like I said, it's nice to see that these, a lot of these venues are trying different styles.

Right.

Cause I always say, when I go listen, I don't really care what the style is.

If it's good, I'll sit and watch it and listen to it.

Right.

And Brian's doing a great job with those, you know, they're all friendly neighbors.

They come out for one night, just get together.

Well, we really appreciate it.

I mean, the funding used to be there.

from the Green Bay neighborhoods, which I think came through the city just, you know, with Ursa money and through COVID.

So that money's been sent.

So, you know, we're always trying to just generate revenue.

It's not like any of the neighborhood associations are sitting on, you know, a ton of cash with it.

So it's great when artists recognize that we're just trying to get people out and help us out on that as well.

So.

Thank you for doing that.

So

what kind of performers are you going to put on?

the best.

Oh,

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we

do.

We do.

We're out in the audience in the second song with the horns.

John Maino

Okay.

You know, we're doing the second line New Orleans thing and we feature a piano player and stuff.

It's all a talented band.

And our big thing goes over quite well.

Jim's got on the CD is that sing, sing, sing with their,

the old Gene Krupa bass player, you know,

and then they're playing on

each

other's instruments.

And yeah, Brian, the McCullough Neighborhood Association, which has, I don't know how many members houses within there, but

Other people could stop and you'd be okay

with that.

Oh, absolutely.

We're not we're not checking IDs at the driveway coming into the park.

So I just think that's nice that they're opening up to other people Kevin's got a bunch of groupies that come I know that we've been around We're

John Maino

at the legacy with that bunch.

Yeah And

John Maino

Kevin what else you so

this is

John Maino

July text here super quick read great to hear snarky Brian a former colleague of mine at Westie Peer Middle School.

Thanks, Terry

You have a couple of things going on in the city.

Yeah, we're playing about three, four, five times a week.

Wow.

So we're in, we're at McCullough tomorrow night, come on out six o'clock.

Uh, Thursday we do a unique thing.

We're down in Fonlech doing the dementia daycare.

Oh, fun.

And those people, it, we were shocked the first time we play it because you come there, you know, and

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so it's all dementia, all dementia where

relatives, family drop them off during the day because they have to work.

It's almost like a daycare.

but not for little kids, but

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actually for the

old.

And we played the concert and it's like someone turned on the light switch.

The computer file opened.

These people are up dancing, wanting to do the polka, leading a parade.

The nurses and the people are like, this can't be the same person.

I couldn't even get the Kim into the room.

So it's just incredible.

It's like, computer goes on in a minute, you're done playing, it goes back off.

It's amazing what music can do with dementia patients and memory care patients.

My dad too, right?

It would sit there.

I didn't know if he was there or not.

You'd turn on an old Willie Nelson song and there he was singing along, you know?

I thought, I don't know if we got time real quick, but real short story.

When we got done playing, I got a message.

Are you the band that just played?

And in this day and age, you're always, okay, what did we say wrong, right?

Kathryn Lake

We played

the beer brawl poker.

Kathryn Lake

What

else can you do?

She said, no, I want to thank you for giving my dad back for a day.

Cause every day I talk to him, I get him ready.

I bring him, drop him off.

I pick him up, talk to him, dinner, not a word.

Today I got in the car, he knew every instrument.

He said he led a parade, his dance in the poke, is that true?

John Maino

It's awesome.

She said, you brought my dad back for a day.

John Maino

I said, you gotta use a good place.

Goosebumps from that, to be honest.

Every

other thing.

Wow.

She said, yeah, he knew everything.

Is that true?

I said, yeah, he did.

The one gentleman, I made a point every time I walked by him to say hi when I brought the equipment in, wouldn't say a word, just staring at the wall.

He comes in while we're playing you guys got any old fifties music.

We do like jealous rock.

He's dancing like dancing on the same guy So you're right Todd.

It's incredible the

power of

music.

Yeah, you

John Maino

know that and not changed it But that and horses are the two things or animals in general are the two things that can get people out of that Place they're at

yeah,

John Maino

and and like you said bring them back for a day or whatever so I love it that different organizations are looking at that and utilizing those tools

So I mean what you're bringing to the table is so important.

Yeah, and we play like it's over in McCulloch tomorrow night Come on out and then we're there and then Saturday We're at wine a lot.

So we play any and everything.

Yeah,

and then You're you play all summer here.

I mean we can give us your website again, but I know you're playing down.

You just go that one Kevin Vanessa talk of

the town right July 17th throughout the Greenway of Potanical Gardens Yeah, the Green Bay

One day concert, they got canceled because of the

rain.

We'll be back for the last Tuesday in July, July 27th playing that

John Maino

in Jackson Square.

You do the Packer games again on the Holton Packer?

Oh yeah,

we'll be at the Packer games.

John Maino

That is a cool thing for people that haven't seen you before when you guys walk by.

You're unique.

But I'll tell you what, you bring a party to, it's the biggest party in the state of those days, but you bring a party to the party.

Well, John

at the Draft ran into Patrick Holmes' mom over at East High.

They were doing that.

She said, who are you guys?

You're a Packer Band.

We got to get this over in Kansas City.

That's what I mean?

She said, this is cool as heck.

How come you guys are not?

And we

John Maino

said, yeah, we are.

Every game, she was shocked.

Yeah, it's outstanding what you guys do.

And it's such casual.

It's not like, you know, your nose is in the air.

You guys just want to go there and play some fun music.

That's all at this age.

There's no more egos in the

band.

We

just play to have fun.

Well, like Brian, you guys are living a good life now, but you've done a lot for this community with your education.

I mean, it's unbelievable.

Both of you

guys.

Yeah, what's that?

No, I said, I appreciate it.

He said both of you guys.

Oh, yeah.

Well, like I said, Brian,

yeah, you have, and you've coached as well.

And you've done so many things outside of school as well with band and music.

Well, the

neat thing now, Mayor, is when you're out in the community now and you see these 40-year-olds and stuff, hey,

Mr. Vanessa, thanks for this or thanks for

that.

Because when they're in middle school, they don't really talk to you at that adult level.

You

talk to me all the time.

But it's kind of cool.

Now you're seeing the results that you didn't think it was that.

much of an impact, but how much it was when you had those students playing at the Weidner center or something like that.

The best thing I've seen is when I see a student working at Quick Trip or Costco, because I know they've got a job, they've got insurance, they've got, they've done what they want to do.

They're contributing to the community and they're just doing a great job with that.

And they're here.

And they're here, yeah.

And it's, it works well.

They

love to retain

John Maino

talent.

And I'm sure both of you guys, and I've got a lot of friends that had taught over there at Washington.

I spoke over there, did lots of things there, but.

Obviously financially, it's a little bit of a disadvantaged area and a school.

And I can't even imagine how many times you guys have helped out some of those kids that nobody ever knows about.

Oh, my food, clothes, instruments or anything.

But the unique thing there was academically, those students would kind of give up.

But when it came to music and the arts, they thought they could be the next Michael Jackson.

They were willing to compete and they really got into that.

And as Brian witnessed with all the stuff we did,

he has

several times helped out with our big concerts all over at the K.I.

and the

White House.

It was called Santos, fantastic.

So we have, like I said, we have our concert tomorrow.

We're going to have, I think, the best popcorn in the city.

You guys do a great job with the city band.

I think ours is slightly better.

All right, I'm there.

And Green Bay Ice Cloud is going to be there selling shaved ice.

So it helps us out with that.

Can you guys stick around?

Fantastic.

John Maino

Sure.

We got it.

We can't walk in

John Maino

here a little something.

We'll be back with more Kevin Van Ness, Brian Miltz, talk to the town music in the park.

Frank Hermans.

You still here, Frank?

Oh, he'll be coming up next as well.

Back after this.

Kathryn Lake

You're listening to Civic Media.

Stay up to date on the latest news and information for your local community and Wisconsin by signing up for our free email newsletter.

Visit civicmedia.us slash email to get

John Maino

started.

Coming up on July 8th, Brian, we're going to switch gears real quick.

You're a big time official.

I'm an official.

I know me

John Maino

to my big time.

Tell me about the state of officiating in Wisconsin.

We're always using people.

We always need people.

It's this year where we're at a spot where I think we've got every game covered in the area for football, but one broken.

Arm or anything like that.

It throws everything off.

So we're always looking if you're interested in getting into a fishing contact the Green Bay Officials Association We'll get you scheduled for fall sports and we'll get you trained and help you out on that.

So,

John Maino

you know, it would not be a bad idea Think about this.

Um, like at the games that we do that we broadcast just has me while I'm announcing as one of the officials.

Oh, yeah, that would work out We know a lot of people may call us from the booth or 40 yards down

John Maino

Kevin Van Ness, give us a little something for the effort.

Oh, yes, indeed.

You were

just saying, let's hear me the press or George stop this week.

I don't

John Maino

want

to get

John Maino

trouble with it.

Okay.

You got to get me one of the gold, the pool packers.

That gives me goosebumps still.

Okay.

Like you need the music.

That is so great.

Brian, before we let you go to just a little plug for these neighborhood associations and we have them in Green Bay.

We have about 26 of them.

They haven't been Appleton, Oshkosh, just it's volunteer time.

I know it's work.

I know seven people out of 20 do all the heavy lifting, but.

So we, we work closely with the Green Bay neighborhoods, which is, it's a neighborhood.

Kathryn Lake

Yeah.

It's

one of the things and they help us out with a lot of stuff like our popcorn popper and stuff like that.

But.

It's, it's as much time as you want to put into it.

Our neighborhood association, I think we meet once a month and then we plan these activities.

So we're pretty streamlined with it.

Different neighborhoods do different things.

We'll share with our group to the other neighborhood association.

So I'm hoping Wilder and old Preble will be there and stuff like that of just different activities.

It's fun.

You're, you're working with people that care about the community.

And with the

mission statement to really strengthen the neighborhood, get to know each other.

I mean, that's, people say, oh, the city's getting too big, which I mean,

Uh, but we can keep that small town feel by associations.

Like

you're running over there.

Wilder, Aster, all of

them.

Yeah.

And it's nice just to like, like I said before, we, we have a little competition with Aster that we would switch bands when they did their concert in the park.

We'd have the same day.

So I'd post a picture from Alpine Valley, tell him that, you know, that's what we had in McAuliffe.

I don't know what you guys are doing at Aster park, but this is our crowd of 70,000 people to hear Kevin Van Asser, whatever they're

John Maino

so.

Okay.

What is the key though, when you go to those places and you might have a bunch of strangers basically coming together, how do you bring them together?

Is there a common element, common denominator?

I mean, music can do it.

Music brings people together.

And Brian, you're popcorn.

It's just a fun night out.

And you know, and I know it's money and sponsorship, but in the long run, it's a lot cheaper to have a band have people a good time in a park and clean up a lot of graffiti all over the shelter and, you know, so it's.

It's well worth it for the minimum amount

of money that takes to put these on.

Right.

And we all have kids and you want to save place for your kids if they can have friends, grow up together, just like we did, right?

Absolutely.

And sometimes you lose that if you don't know each other.

But if you know each other, it's, you know, it's got to play outside till the street lights come on.

Right.

How cool is it, McCullough?

You're playing and as you're looking out at the audience, you got some older folks and a little bit younger and you're looking over there, there's the kids on the playground.

Everyone's just having a great time for two hours out in the park.

How cool is that?

That's

the way it should be.

Yeah, it's great.

Well, thanks for working together, you guys, to bring us.

Thank

you for having us on.

Like I said, tomorrow is six o'clock.

Come on out to Macauliffe Park, not Macauliffe School.

We're on Sitka.

John Maino

Yeah, tell everybody the difference.

One's a school, one's a park.

They're not near each

John Maino

other.

I

John Maino

always think of Christian Macauliffe School.

Yeah, it's great school, but yeah, I think Macauliffe's in Bellevue anyway, so.

Yeah, yeah.

But 3100 Sitka.

Was this named after

John Maino

Dick Macauliffe, the old

second baseman of the Detroit Tigers?

No, no, Christian

Macauliffe.

There's some nice real estate out there.

There's something, yeah, not, not where I'm at, but yeah.

We know, say, in Halloween, we get a lot of trick-or-treaters and they all, they all come from one house.

So we, yeah, it's, it's a nice neighborhood.

It's a

John Maino

great neighborhood.

I just played a

horn.

Kevin,

John Maino

I got to ask you one last quick question.

You brought back the big beats from Norris.

What is that like when you're in a float at Mardi Gras?

Leading it.

The

day starts

John Maino

at 5 30

in the morning at this great big commander's pals, big restaurant bar.

And the big legend Pete Fountain at the time, he's kind of like Michael Jordan was a basketball, he was a clarinet guy.

All these guys that come from all over the country that pay in their half-fast walking club, sitting, get his autograph, and he's got free cocktails, food going.

Eight o'clock you step off, you're starting to go down.

We don't get done until two o'clock in the afternoon.

It's just millions of people as far as you can see.

And instead of lawn chairs, since they're so deep, they actually come the day before and set up their step letters.

So that you could actually see.

Wow.

And we'll go about an hour.

First time I did it.

And I said, it can't be done already.

Oh no, this first stop, everybody off.

You get your adult refreshment back on.

Then you go again and you stop at the Monte Leon hotel.

You have lunch, you get back on, you keep going.

It took us two hours alone just to get through Bourbon Street.

I mean-

John Maino

That must just be such a thrill.

I mean,

John Maino

do you ever just- Oh, the first time I had

done pizza, did you have a good time?

I said, I had a blast.

He said, you just played for a million people.

John Maino

How cool is that?

It's amazing.

Well, you know what?

You just did it again, because we got a million listeners.

Oh, of course we do.

Oh, okay, there you go.

Hey, give me a little, give me a little safe go-arch stand on the way out.

Okay.

John Maino

We can listen to him live and in person, McCullough Park tomorrow.

What time does it start, Brian?

6 PM.

6 PM.

Brian Mills, Kevin Vaness, thank you so much for being here.

Thanks for what you do for our community.

Thank you guys.

Appreciate it.

You bet.

Frank Kerman's joins us next.

John Minow and Jim Schmidt.

John Maino

Hey, thank you very much.

Welcome back, man, with special guests always having Kevin Van Asen, Brian Smilsen, had great guests at Christian Ambrose Point Mortgage Corporation, Kendrick Cornell, Allaway Senior Living, Brittany Merlot, our meteorologist.

And now, ladies and

gentlemen,

John Maino

drum roll please.

Oh, that wasn't a little bit of a drum roll.

Yeah, I liked that a lot.

Nice.

Hey, thanks.

Frank, I'm gonna let you do your own, because I can't do it as well as you

can do it.

Ladies

and gentlemen, star of stage and screen in his own mind, Frank Herbons.

And son Harrison.

Wow, just forget about your sidekick here.

I

John Maino

said

son

John Maino

Harrison

tonight.

I know how it is, dad.

Yeah, I know.

Sorry about that, man.

Harrison, you were here two months ago too, right?

Yeah.

Three, but that's, how are you doing in that, taking this theater thing?

You were a funny kid when I, I don't know, 10 years ago when I first met you.

Are you loving the stage?

You're gonna pursue

this?

Oh, yeah, well it uh the high school musical just got announced It's into the woods and I got the Baker as a

freshman

So now I have like 400 pages of stuff to memorize and I have a month to do it.

John Maino

What's it?

I don't know into the woods.

What is

it?

It's a musical by Steven Sondheim.

It's basically all you know all the classic fairy tales Little Red Riding Hood the wolf, okay, which Jack and the Beanstalk so the

Baker's dad, his wife is pregnant.

It's really weird.

He goes into the witch's garden and he steals a bunch of her vegetables, and he takes the beans, which eventually, if you plant them, will grow into the beanstalk and she freaks out.

So she steals the baker's kid, which turns out to be Rapunzel, and then the baker gets cursed that he can't have any more kids.

The family tree is dead.

and they have to get all these weird items.

I don't know.

I haven't, I've never watched it.

I just read the script.

No, no, this... Can we

talk about my show, please?

No, I will

tell you what.

Is that amazing how this kid just captured the room just with you have just unbelievable energy

John Maino

and... You know how this show sometimes goes back to the beginning?

You know what this is right now?

What's this?

Between Frank and his son.

You know what this is?

What's that?

What did Jim talk about at the very beginning of the show this morning?

I don't know.

John Maino

With his grandkids, he's no longer.

Oh,

yeah,

John Maino

yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Oh, I know.

Yeah.

Is it, he's that cool anymore?

No,

no.

He's kind of lost.

He's not the center of attention.

No,

he's lost.

So

this show has got full circle.

Hey, let's talk about your show that's coming up in

October.

Yeah,

actually, November.

November, sorry.

All right, Harrison, we're going to give it back to your dad.

We'll put a little shine, a little light on him.

Of course, you wrote this because you write everything.

I don't know.

You must be well over 100.

157

shows.

Unbelievable.

Yeah, 26 years and then.

I don't remember some of the shows I wrote.

My wife will come up with a song that we did that in Beach Baby.

I'm like, what?

Show was

that

yeah, but

yeah, so tell us about it

well my

thrill

I found my thrill on Scraze Hill Well, I remember my mom and dad talking about parking when I was Maybe in middle school and they said they'd go to a place called Scraze Hill now Scraze Hill is we were in middle school

No, I was in high school.

This is 1960-1961.

And it was the place to go to get away.

You know, it had the back roads.

It was all farmland, cornfields, and there were places to park.

There wasn't a police presence up there.

I mean, once you went by the swan club in East Apir, there was nothing.

You went up Dickinson Road, you went up, and there was all farms everywhere.

I mean, Mystery Hills.

Yeah, there was no ledge view.

There was no ledge view.

The golf course wasn't even there.

So you'd find these little areas to park, and hence, I'm here.

Okay.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

John Maino

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

John Maino

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

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Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

John Maino

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

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Hence.

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Hence.

Hence.

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Hence.

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Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Hence.

Scraze Hill and I'm a professor of sociology, so I want to delve into an experiment about parking So all of my students well they go parking on Scraze Hill Which is posted no trespassing and my son Harrison who is a prodigy at 14 years old going to st.

Norbert College likes to spy on these people and get to know the ropes Give us some of the music all the music is from the late 60s late 50s,

of

course I found my thrill on scratch

Harrison, what songs are you

singing?

Do you want to dance?

Not the... You're doing the Beach Boy version.

Yeah, the Beach Boys version.

Not the

one from Dirty

Dancing?

No.

Okay.

Not the Ramones version either.

But you'll know every song in the show, Dynamite by Brenda Lee.

I mean, every song rocks.

There's a lot of duets in this show, too, because guess what?

There's a lot of couples.

Gee, I

was gonna say.

Is this...

It's PG.

All of our shows are PG.

There's no swearing.

There are innuendos.

Okay.

It's parking.

Can I give a line?

Yes.

Okay.

So.

Wait a minute,

Todd.

No, we can do

it.

May he give a line?

It's an innuendo.

It's a

match game 73 back in the day.

Because that's my rule.

One of the lines of the show, she plays a cheerleader at St.

Norbert and she's been to Scrazed Hills many times.

And the one girl asks her, well, what do you see when you go to Scrazed Hills?

And she says, usually the rough of the car.

So.

Is that okay?

Is that okay?

That's okay.

That's funny.

That's okay.

They'll all get

it.

That's funny.

But it's all great early 60s music.

You're bringing the same crew.

I mean, you have such talent on stage.

Yeah, everyone's back.

Harrison always comes back for the summer.

This kid has matured.

You ought to hear this boy sing.

He's like his mom.

He's the harmony genius.

And I'm jealous every time.

He knows my songs more than I know my songs, right?

Yep.

I'm glad you give deference to your dad.

Yep.

The second year I had to learn one of your songs to help you memorize.

Thank you.

Thank you, son.

Go sit

in the

car.

Is this your favorite

type

of music, though?

I love the oldies.

I grew up with my mom and dad listening to W. What was the station back then?

I think it was WGE played the old country and then it was W. I can't remember the other one.

WNFL played the oldies.

It was all AM radio back then, man.

in my dad's truck, I know every song, you know?

And it's so cool to relive those memories and sing those songs.

And it goes without saying, this is at the Meyer, which you own the Meyer Theater.

Well, I mean, in terms of,

nobody's there more than you.

We do 80 shows a year there.

And it's a wonderful opportunity to be able to do that.

We're there for four weeks.

We opened up July 17th, all the way through August 10th.

And then opening night July 17th as a fundraiser for New Cap, $10 of every ticket.

goes to New Cap.

They're a wonderful organization.

And yeah, we love to give back to the community also.

When you put these together in your

John Maino

head, and we talked about that one time, it I mean, you don't sit in, you know, sweat over a computer.

These just pop in your head.

And don't you say you're like two or three

years ahead?

I am already, believe it or not, my show in February next year is called The Man in a Wall Rodeo.

It's about a Man in a Wall Rodeo queen.

So I went to The Man in a Wall Rodeo and checked it out because that's the story.

But my next show in August or September is called Don't Squeeze the Charmin.

The show is rated PNG.

That's funny That's

that is

that's kind of funny and mr. Whipple works at sure way So we're bringing back some sure way memories and and you know, I was listening to a Chris Stapleton

John Maino

Yeah,

I love Chris.

He's got a great

John Maino

serious just a phenomenal thing and he was talking about when he first became he said now All right, maybe once a week maybe once that we know when I'm in the mood, but he said early on

the way he learned to write was sitting there very disciplined with some really good songwriters.

And he'd write like three times a day.

He said, now he doesn't want to work that hard, so to speak.

But for yourself, I would imagine it was a little bit same transformation.

It's early on versus where you're at

now.

It would take me weeks to write a show.

I mean, really.

And I try to make everything cohesive.

Now, what I do is I get a big picture.

I have all the plot line.

I have all the characters in my head, the songs.

And then I sit down at a computer.

So I know where I'm going, but then I like writing conversation.

I love conversation.

So when I'm writing conversation, the funny stuff just comes out.

You know where you're going, you know what the plot line is and the music and the characters.

And I try to make each character as like they're standalone.

Like there's eight, there's six leads in this show.

Not just one lead.

Everybody's a lead character.

So I'm going to make sure everybody gets the same lines, blah, blah, blah.

And that there's a couple of storylines going on at the same time.

And then the culmination, of course, at the end.

So Harrison, do you write, too?

You're young.

What are you, 14, 15, 14?

Yeah.

I mean you act you're funny size of size

John Maino

of 23 Yeah,

but do you

do you write you that's what you're interested in I write music.

I don't write.

I'm not good enough to write what he does You better use it you don't get many of

John Maino

those When I used to do stories in TV and sometimes do these funny stories I do for the shows and and some you put you guys Oh, this is funny.

Oh, this is a funny line.

This is

And it's nothing.

Bob.

Okay,

I'm gonna give you every time when we first read the script that way.

I can't wait for them to read this head.

And then Paddle throws something funnier in there.

Or Tom.

Yeah, that's what he did last night.

Tom will throw.

You know, the script is there, but there's room.

And there's room to add.

There's improvisation all the time in my shows.

Kudos to you for allowing that.

There are some people

that... Oh, people get... Yeah, yeah.

Don't touch... This is art.

This is art.

Don't touch my office.

It's done.

It's done.

Oh, my God.

It's chiseled perfectly.

No, I get... I get shot down every time we read this.

Poo!

Another notch.

And sometimes... I was just

gonna say, sometimes they even wait...

Till you're on stage

to do that.

Oh,

sure.

I love

it.

I get ran over the butt.

I think that's so funny.

I get the dualies running over me all the time.

I like it.

You know what?

That's kind of what I am.

Self deprecating humor is me.

And that's kind of what I like.

And it works for my character.

Some people can't do that.

And you got to write that.

But it works for the audience.

John Maino

That's the other thing I was thinking about when I was shocked for the good morning or CBS morning show today.

One of the things they did was on the anniversary of Jaws.

Yes.

Yes, I watched it.

Did you see that?

Oh, it's that amazing.

What's that thing, Pat?

Which is

John Maino

dry fest.

Yes.

I mean, he begged for that role.

Yes.

And the main guy, the sheriff, was really mad.

He didn't want the woman being hired.

He

John Maino

thinks she was hot enough and stuff

like that.

She wasn't big enough star.

Schneider was his name.

And

John Maino

when they were doing the one hug, he whispered, he goes,

God, you got a fat head.

She wanted his face more in the camera

than

John Maino

hers.

But it talked about that where the writer and Spielberg, they were when they would say, hey, if you guys want to try to add lib, that's where a lot of the funniest

lies.

It is.

It really is.

You have the concept in your head.

You know where the story is going and something pops in your head, especially something that's relevant right now, you know, and it really works.

There's a lot to be said for you, though, Frank.

I mean, I've known you forever, but that says a lot about you, because there are some divas out there

that you can't

change a word in writing and music.

And I think that's great.

And I think that's why you've kept your talent around you, too.

I mean,

it doesn't have a choice because she's married to you, but the

other... And one is my kid.

He gets paid so well in the subway.

I'm sure he does.

Child

labor laws.

I can help you with that.

John Maino

Oh, you're gonna let us like give us hints on your next one.

I mean, not that, you know, we're gonna blow this one off

yet,

John Maino

but well, I'm starting to write.

Well, you said that Mr. Whipple wanted a PNG.

Are you Mr. Whipple?

No, Paul even.

Paul, he'll be, he'll

Kathryn Lake

be great.

And he's going to be

like the guy from Woodman's.

Yeah, that character, you know, like that, that character.

And the Charmin.

could be one of the employees at work there that's getting squeezed.

So I'm just saying, but he catches people squeezing his Charmin all the time.

And there's a lot of employees for Procter and Greg Gamble that are involved with this show.

And as you know, Charmin now has those bears.

So you might even see him walk on stage.

John Maino

Hey, one thing about your show, though, you deliver to what you know the audience wants.

Correct.

I bet you've got the audience in mind a lot of times when you're writing these

we have had some season ticket holders I think there's a there's about a hundred yet that have been with us since the beginning yeah and that was 2020 so they've been season ticket holders for 26 years that's when we're at the sports corner and we're our max was a hundred and five hundred year two thousand yeah your two thousand we said 2020 did I say 20 yeah I meant your two thousand right nice

Thank you.

Yeah, he did.

He corrects me.

Thanks for pointing it out here.

Thanks, son.

You're an old guy and a little cold.

Old guy and a little cold.

That's what he calls me.

And then now we have almost 1,400 season ticket holders that expect.

They know what.

Hey!

Yeah, great song.

I found my thrill.

Yeah.

Old Thomas Grace Hill.

Yeah.

Nice work, Todd.

Working the mood right there, baby.

So I tell you what, it is a wonderful show.

Great memories.

Stick her out.

John Maino

Yeah.

You're out for another 10 minutes.

I

John Maino

am.

Yes.

Sweet.

Hang in there.

All

Kathryn Lake

right.

Find the latest news, information, and archives of all your favorite shows on the Civic Media website,

civicmedia.us.

I found

John Maino

my

thrill on

John Maino

Scraze Hill.

Tickets are available at ticketsareonline.com or you can go to letmebefranks.com or meyertheatre.org or call my cell phone, 920371 4070.

Are you

Kathryn Lake

serious?

Sure.

My phone number is everywhere.

I take phone calls all day long because here's why.

I think it's important to have that client contact.

I was a salesman my whole life.

I want to make sure people are taken care of.

If they got an issue with a ticket where they can't come, guess what?

I'm going to refund their ticket and I'm going to make sure they come to another show because there's times

where there's things that come, hey Frank, I had something happen to my family, I can't make it tonight.

And most policies when you go out, there's no refunds.

Well, guess what?

I know the guy, so I can help him out.

You guys doing outdoor things, right?

We don't, but we got a couple this summer.

We don't do a lot of the free shows because we're a ticketed event.

But next Saturday, Harrison and I will be in Gillet for my first Elvis show of the year.

Oh

boy.

Two to four PM, Gillet Park.

I can't remember the name, but it's a wonderful festival for raising money for veterans.

We're raising money for veterans.

Oh,

nice.

I think it's the only park in Jell-O.

So if you go to Jell-O, look for a park.

I started at two o'clock, and they got a couple Nashville acts after me.

And

Harris, what do you do when your dad are there?

Well, I think I'm just doing sound,

right?

I'm

going to make you sing a couple.

All right, good.

Cool.

Yeah.

That's awesome.

Do

you still do

Elvis a lot or no?

You know, I got to tell you what, Elvis does okay for me.

So I probably do 30 gigs a year.

I got a private gig at the Country Club on Sunday for a 50th.

You know, I do a lot of those things.

And then we're actually, we're going to do something huge at Clipstein Park on Wednesday, July 26th.

Amy.

myself, Harrison, little Elvis, little Reba, little oldies, Harrison will be singing.

We do that every year.

Woodside Lutheran Home or Woodside Senior Facility sponsors us and we like to do that.

We were talking about this earlier with Kevin and Brian and everything that private gigs have become really popular haven't they?

Oh my goodness, yes.

I get calls all the time and I gotta turn them down because we do so many shows but when you get a private gig, private bus tours, they will hire you to do a private show for them now.

It's crazy.

tell me

big multiples on two last

week and

we're talking to them and you know they did five shows over

the

fourth but three were private and I can see the guy one pay if you can afford it you know

he and those guys are not cheap they got 10 guys in the bay yeah they and when they do a private gig they're getting paid

but

I just want to talk

on the other side of it though the person sponsoring that because you really want your friends if you bring 100 friends or 200 to really have a good time and sometimes a few people can you know

bring it the wrong way.

So I don't know if you can afford it.

John Maino

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, Kevin just before he left, we were talking about that off the air and he said, I'm not going to say the place where, but we were wrapping up and a guy said, Hey, can you play song?

So he goes, Oh, sorry, we're putting this somewhere.

Here's $1,000 to play that song.

Yep.

Yep.

Hey, what are you going to say?

Can you guys do one more song?

Here's 500 bucks.

Sure.

Yeah.

That happens all the time.

It happens all the time.

And thank goodness for that because, you know,

Public gigs are great because they create your- I agree, awareness.

Awareness, your name, but then that's how you get the private gigs.

We probably do 20, 30 private gigs a year.

And I gotta believe that

you're treated pretty well at a private

gig, right?

Treated very well and you treat them very well.

Right.

You know, like when I do an private Elvis gig, I usually write a song for the person it's for.

So like for a birthday or anniversary.

Oh, see.

Yeah, so you make it personalized, yeah.

Yeah, that's fine.

You have them a chair dance.

You don't know what a chair dances.

I'll show you John after

John Maino

Okay,

I'm sorry

John Maino

Frank says he wants to give me a chair dance

later.

What's a chair dance?

Yeah lap

dance.

No, it's not a lap dance.

It's a chair dance.

You just do the most Elvis you know Pretty cool stuff you're doing here Frank and you know,

you know

Really, you're just part of this community.

You think of, you know, Green Bay.

I mean, some people think of the Packers, but I mean, really, are you going

to...

26 years?

Did you say you're 23?

26 years.

26 years.

I got to tell you, I still dream of getting a job.

I've been doing this 26 years.

Is it going to hold out?

Are people going to come and see us?

Right, I

bet.

And they

still do.

Yeah,

they do.

And they still do.

I love you.

I just signed another three-year

John Maino

contract with the Meyer, so...

I love how you've brought the family in together and you're supporting some people that these are, cause we were texting one of the things we were talking about with, with even with, uh, with Woody here the other day, Mankowski,

who's

John Maino

phenomenal.

But it's reading about his background.

He says, you know, it's a tough way to make a living.

You know, he was out in LA.

It's like maybe a gig here and then someplace closes or whatever.

And you know what you've done for your people.

I mean, I'm going to say you've always, you, you can always take care of yourself, but what you've done for your people, I think is really admirable.

And that's no

BS.

Yeah.

We, we support 13 people like you paid.

to do this gig, and some of them, this is their first full-time job.

It's incredible.

He's done a great job.

And

I think that's great when it's not all about you.

What is the old line?

And

Woody McKelsey, too, his kid, too, is

done.

Jackson.

He's

phenomenal.

And I've been trying.

I've had Woody on my talk show already, Frankly Green Bay.

But I've tried to get Jackson a few times.

He's tough to nail down.

I'll get him one of these

John Maino

days.

There's some talent

John Maino

in Northeast

Wisconsin.

John Maino

There is.

I don't know if

John Maino

it's known for, you know,

talent for musically because they have the Packers overshadowed so much, but the actual homegrown organic talent in this area I think is amazing.

And it starts at a young age, Dudley

Birder

and

all that.

Well, half my folks went through the Dudley Birder program, went to St.

Norbert College, they were on the swinging nights, now the Broadway nights, Kent Paulson.

I mean, and that's where I recruit.

I actually recruit through St.

Norbert and UWGB in their music

programs.

The theater is strong, but the symphony, we've had them on here and that.

Just it's just good stuff to have

here and it's

good and they go very far Not just with the music, but it's good to use that side of your brain too

and everybody supports each other.

Yeah.

Oh, you guys are good.

Thank you

Anyway, thanks for what

you're doing.

Thanks guys.

Thank

John Maino

Herman's and his young protege Harrison My thrill on Scraze Hill can't wait.

Thank you guys so much.

Thank

John Maino

you guys having you guys in here.

Love

you

John Maino

guys.

We're out of time.

Thanks everybody.

See ya

Kathryn Lake

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