Yeah, they've been doing this 11 years already. Wow. So it is the 11th annual flannel fest,
and I'm going to say it right now. We'll ask you again, Eric, at the end of the interview,
but save these dates Friday, November 15th at Tanner's in Kimberly, and then Saturday,
November 16th at the Barrymore Theater in Madison. And we've been saying, okay, what's
this all about? If you've never been, if you've never even heard of it, and why all the flannel,
which is something that's so cool. I just love that everybody wears flannel. Here is one of the
founders, as you have probably come to understand, this is a fundraising festival, the mascot,
theories, Eric Tellan, who is live in the studio with us. And yes, you and your band. Hello.
What are the founders of this thing? Did you ever think it would last this long?
Well, Beth Killian, I started it. And we were literally looking for a reason to play
with our bands together on a bill. That was literally it. And then we were like, well, we should
probably attach a charity to it as well. I think that would be a good idea. And so we were kind
of searched around for different charities. And there's so many good ones. But this one, we really
liked to keep Wisconsin warm, cool fun. We found them and just really loved the fact that they
were going to be coming to the event. They had a table that had all the information. So they basically
became a partner of ours. Don't they bring the big corn thing to the first couple of years?
They did the first couple of years. Signify staying warm with corn. They had done a corn maze,
fundraiser around that time. And so they had all these giant five foot tall corn fluffy things.
And so yeah, they had a bunch of extras at first a couple of years. That was really fun.
So yeah, we just kind of started doing that. We started to get to know keep Wisconsin warm,
cool fun, a lot more. And then it just kind of just kept going. And we've kind of escalated a
little bit every year. I was going to ask you about that. I mean, this has been going on for a while.
We've had you on maxing radio almost all of those years to promote flannel fast.
Yes, thank you. And it has, it's growing so much over the years. What do you credit the
success for that? I think a lot of it is, well, for one, the people that come out, the people that
buy tickets and support this event and support the music. And one thing that we wanted to do is to
make sure that we had some great artists, some from across the state, or now we kind of go a
little more national as well. And we just really wanted to make sure the event was a really good time.
And so, and you know, with the charity that was there, they were there with all that information.
And just people that were actually on stage performing kind of came up to the charity that
I think was the very first event. And they're like, listen, you are helping out. You help me out
in the winter time when I didn't have money for this certain month and for heat. So it was just
a really cool like, oh, there's a connection here that we really, we should really try to keep
this going and just keep elevating. So we just kind of have had that opportunity as people have
been supporting it. We've been able to go a little bit bigger the next time. Well, you've even
had a reunion show where you brought back a whole bunch of the bands that had played in the
early shows. You've done some silent auctions. And I think you had a crewage board that somebody
won one time. I'm like, yeah, this is so fun. Custom flannel fast crewage boards. Yes.
Yes. And yes, you do wear flannel. Yeah. Before we go on, I would imagine too, part of the
growth too is from the artists that you're bringing in. It really seems like the artists are really
enthusiastic about playing flannel fast. Yeah, it's been amazing just to have obviously
Beth Killie band in the mascot theory. Somehow they get on the bill every year. We're going to have
to look into that. But it's been fun just to bring in a lot of different bands. And now we are
kind of going more national. So it's good to work with some of these national booking agents and
try to explain to them what we've got going on. And you do two shows. So if someone comes and I know
this year, you're doing it a little different with one band at one show, one band at the other.
It's the same. It's the same bands. We're just having the two headliners swap. How about that?
So we have two headliners this year, two national. And tell us more about those then.
Yeah. So in Madison, we have actually one of my all time favorite bands. I call them modern,
but they're probably like two thousands now. I guess we're older now.
Used to say they're my favorite. But Blitz and Trapper, amazing folk rock band. And I think
they're out of Portland or somewhere over on that west coast. So one of my favorite bands that
we've actually played with before down at Shake the Lake many years ago when we did that. And so
we got to know them a little bit then. And then we have old 97's, which is an amazing band as
well out of that kind of Americana folk rock kind of. We're coming up from Dallas. Are they from
Dallas? I believe there. Yeah. Good job. Thank you. I was thinking. I looked all this up earlier.
Well done. Well done. Yeah. I can't research sometimes. And I see the show on November 15th is
at Tanner's in Kimberly, which is a great place. I've been to in Kimberly up there. You know,
big paper, big paper mill up there, right? All around. Yep. And Tanner's is a great bar up
there downtown. Yeah. And it's a bar. So you're like, oh, how can you get them any people in there?
But they have this whole area that's kind of next to it that's got it's just a big kind of sports
complex and sports kind of things like volleyball or basketball or all that. So I actually went
up there and toured it earlier this year when we were trying to find a space for it. And we're like,
this could be the place. You know, trying to find that perfect size venue for what we're doing.
That's not like the performing arts center in Appleton or something gigantic. We're just kind of
escalating. Maybe we'll get there someday. Yes. But for now, you know, let's just kind of see what
we can do for that very more in Madison. I mean, that's a very more decent size. It's fantastic.
I wish they had that same kind of thing up in Appleton area. But Tanner's is going to be a blast.
I know they put on some pretty big shows in that that back area there. So I wonder can they
leave the sand if it's a volleyball court and then everybody can go barefoot. That'd be a
mate flannel. It sounds horrible. No, only because we play at Middleton Good Neighbor Festival,
usually over the years. And we used to have to play on a volleyball court. So we and we would be on
a stage. But then right in front of it, we'd get off stage and then you're just like trudging
through the sand to go see people are like, this is a good workout there. Yeah. Oh my gosh.
Eric Jellin from the mascara theory. We're talking about flannel fest is happening Friday,
November 15th at Tanner's in Kimberley and in the Saturday, November 16th at the Barrymore
theater here in Madison. Let's talk about the charity itself. The Keep Wisconsin Warm Cool Fun.
It's a great charity. Talk about the work they do and how we can help other than going to
go into flannel fest. Yeah. So they put on a lot of we try to put on a lot of different events.
So I work with them a lot more now since flannel fest started 11 years ago. And that's the first
time I got to know them over the years. I've started to get them to know them even more and work
with them and work for them in a lot of different areas. So we put on some events, random events
every now and they have a big golf outing that they do. That's kind of their bigger thing that
they do in like Geneva in the summer. So yeah, the Keep Wisconsin Warm Cool Fun. Basically they
they help out any of our Wisconsinites that are in need with making sure that they're going to
keep their heat and their power on during the winter or keep it cool in the, you know, the basic
it's all in the name. So cool in the in the summertime when it's super hot. Just making sure that
those basic life-saving necessities that we all sort of take for granted that are friends and
family and neighbors that they're they're taking care of. I remember asking you about, you know,
the veterans how much help they get and senior citizens that you know are living on on a certain
income. But I think what really hit me one time was you mentioned somebody in the music
industry in Wisconsin needed some help and you were able to help. Yeah. And one of the big
things we did too coming out of the pandemic and kind of in the pandemic and then coming out of
it, we put we did an initiative called Crescendo on Wisconsin campaign where it was specifically
raising funds and awareness for entertainers in our state. So we got musicians and and really
anybody anybody that's involved with entertainment. So we wanted to make sure we and we got butch
vague and a bunch of folks, a bunch of local personalities to help out and and just get the word out
and raise money for those folks during that time, which saw a lot more people that suddenly weren't
able to do what they're supposed to do, especially musicians and entertainers for like a year,
basically, where we were told, don't go out and play and we're like, we don't know what's going on.
So let's not hurt people and just stay home. And so it was a very confusing time, obviously,
but that was a very, very cool thing that we were able to do with that very, very specific time
that hopefully we'll never have to deal with again, but it was a really fun thing. And so KWW.org,
KWF.org is the as the charity's website and you can do donations and see other things that they've
got going on there to cross the state. We'll share that too. Yeah. Now tell us how much you guys over
10 years, right? Do you know how much you've raised for the charity? Yes, I sent it to you earlier
and I forgot the number. I believe it's like $137,000. Wow. 137,000. And that that's helped a lot of
people across Wisconsin. Exactly. And that's and that's the cool thing to about this charity. It's
actually under the umbrella of energy services, Inc. And we actually have service centers in like
35 counties. And so it's about half the counties in the state. So this is literally state wide.
It's literally Wisconsin. So that's the one thing we liked about. And why we went up to Appleton
area to start doing it up there as well, which I think we started that maybe after four years or
five years. I know you've tried to have shows also in other places, but sometimes the weather is
so weird in November. But I do love that you are still doing two shows. So anybody from anywhere
can get to these. Yeah, and maybe we'll do more at some point. The nice thing now is that we do it
over two days in a row. So when you're especially when you're looking at national talent, it's much
easier to say, okay, we're going to bring you in and we got two shows that we want you to play.
It's a little bit easier when you're dealing with a lot of non-routed shows for bands that aren't
necessarily coming through here. So it's kind of a nice thing. And doing a third one would be like
a Thursday or something. We're not quite sure about that. But we've thought about doing two weekends,
but how much does the bands have to sort of buy into this? Are they really like behind this?
Or do you just like they're just like it's another gig and they're hired and they don't even know
what they're doing. They're hired for the pigs. And that's a big thing too, is we want to make
sure that all the bands that we're coming in got paid fairly. We're not asking anybody to play
for free. We want, you know, it's a big it's a partnership. It's a team thing. We want everybody
to have a good experience. What we're finding recently is with these national bands, you know,
even from the beginning, we never really said you have to wear flannel. But they just people do.
And it's really fun when we've had these national bands come in and they're wearing some of their
members are wearing flannel and you're like, geez, I never put that on the writers or anything that
you had to or in the contracts that you have to wear flannel, but they just kind of do it.
I have a story. Miles Nielsen and the rusted hearts played. And one of the members in the band
forgot. It was flannel fast. Didn't have flannel. Beth Killy took off her flannel and let him wear it.
I love the shirt. There's a picture out there with him without the shirt. And yes, it might even
be on the website or was a whole point. Oh my gosh. I mean, that's how generous everyone is.
Yes. Did Beth have an extra flannel? I think she just went with what she had on her flannel.
Yeah, I was thinking, you know, that flannel might have been a little smaller, huh?
Oh, this guy's tiny. Yeah, he's kind of tiny. I don't think he buttoned it though.
Like it was just like on and that's cool. This event is though because everybody just comes
together has such a good time. So thanks for throwing such a wonderful festival.
Thanks everybody helping promote it and coming out to the events. And thank you for coming in
flannel fast. Once again, happening is happening Friday, November 15th. Put that on your calendar.
If you're up in the Fox Valley area, Tanner's in Kimberley, Wisconsin. And then Saturday,
November 16th, here in Madison at the Barrymore Theater, people want to get tickets. What's the
easiest way to do that, Eric? Best place is flannelfest.com. flannelfest.com. Thanks for coming in,
man. It's great to see you again. Thanks for all your efforts, Eric. So wonderful.
Let's do. Oh, before we go, let me ask you another question here. We're talking about this
monopoly board earlier. Madison theme monopoly. If you had to pick two businesses or nonprofits or
locations to put on the monopoly board, what would that be? Well, obviously, we need to put flannel
fest on there somewhere. You knew that. That's all I got. That's all like out of the moment.
But I mean, I actually remember playing when I was really young, my aunt and uncle had like a
university of Wisconsin monopoly. So it was all UW-Bates. Wow. Yeah. I just remember seeing the
board game and playing it probably the wrong way because we were super young. Like state
street was on there and it was. Oh, wow. Yeah. Way back in the day. How about that? Wow.
I'm going to have to check E-Bates. Yeah. There you go. It's probably like Wisconsin
monopoly. Maybe they're just redoing it with Madison or UW-Bates. I don't know. I'm looking
forward to it. 844-967-2789. 844-96 party call or text us. Tell us here, a monopoly board,
Madison theme suggestions. We'd love to hear it. Let's do some mascot theory right now.
Blowing spoke singles on Maxing Gradient.
