This is New Wisco Weekend. I'm Lisa Hale, your host.
Every week we like to close the show with music.
The gentleman grifters are a Wisconsin-based fan that twists bluegrass,
western folk, ragtime, and hard rock into unique and fun music.
Take a listen.
I was out of fishing, out of dark stormy night.
I've mentored out due far from land, and couldn't see the light.
I've made some gong, but far along I spiral towards the floor.
The mist broke clear, and I found my way back to high girl's shore.
The mermaid approached in the haze, and offered me her hand.
She said she'd give me some passage back on to try land.
Looked out the thing, she played a trick upon my weary eyes.
At the time I thought I had a pound of mine in pride.
I've been known to see on many other nights,
other ways I'd never been, but as bad as tonight.
I held onto the rudder as I lay upon the floor.
The day I should have said a foot upon my hacker's shore.
We went back into her dance, so we could rest a bit.
Now we're in for my safety as the scene had fallen spit.
Looked out the thing, she said she'd give me some passage back on to try land.
I've been known to see on many other nights,
other ways I'd never been, but as bad as tonight.
I've been known to see on many other nights,
other ways I'd never been, but as bad as tonight.
The gentleman grifters were guests on civic media's
minnow in the mayor's show recently.
Here's a little bit of their interview.
All right, mine is Mike Goodwin.
So yeah, we've been doing this for a few years.
We started around the pandemic kind of doing things over the internet,
passing back and forth before we could really get together in person
and not infect everybody.
We call this a guitar.
You don't see these two options.
After you ball, slow down a little bit.
Nine. All right, wow.
Here we go.
Over here, we got Amanda Lynn, and then we have a violin, a fiddle.
I have no idea.
Some four-stringed instrument.
Oh, a Vanda fiddle.
Yeah.
And violin for, that's a cool instrument.
Dave, are you in the Thai school?
Quiet course, what'd you do?
Yeah.
No, I played in heavy metal bands,
when I was a kid.
Look at this guy.
And he could be in the morning.
That's serious, right?
He's like, clean cut here, right here.
Look at these guys.
No, he said this dude.
Yeah, he was just like, death punch or something.
Yeah, all of them.
He was the quieter kid, actually.
What?
I tried a lot of different instruments,
and they kept shrinking.
I started with drums, and then it went to piano and guitar.
And I'm finally down to a fiddle.
Maybe I'll get down to a harmonica or something.
That's even smaller at some point.
But I think I'll stick with fiddle.
You can just do what I do, it's just do vocals.
Well, that's a thing, Dave.
When you get to my point, you're not even a musician
anymore, so careful.
But you're a big advocate for people
trying different things in your life.
Oh, absolutely.
It's great for, you know, from a learning standpoint.
Well, these guys are so talented.
They can pick up an instrument in two weeks there.
Well, wait till you hear us.
How about you, choir boy?
So my name is Chris Lalonde.
I Chris.
Yeah, I picked up Mandolin about a decade ago,
about 10 years.
I actually worked with the guitars
for toast and jam.
Oh, no, sure.
Yes, we had him in here, haven't we?
Not yet.
All right.
Yeah, I worked with him back in the day
at a fiberglass shop.
And I didn't even know what a Mandolin was
until I worked at that fiberglass shop.
But I started on bass.
I taught myself bass when I was 12,
and then guitar when I was 14.
How does it translate to the Mandolin?
So this is actually tuned just like a fiddle
or an upside down bass.
And actually one of my buddies was like,
oh, yeah, it's tuned just like an upside down bass
and they just stared at it for like...
A good solid hour flipping all those scales around in my head.
I mean, that's scrambled eggs to me.
Can you imagine that?
Learning it backwards.
Pretty cool.
That's amazing.
Oh, yeah.
And I thought about it like an upside down bass
for about a month.
Then what happened?
Then it turned into a Mandolin.
Okay.
That's the spirit.
Yeah.
All right, you guys.
What kind of music do you play?
Like, what would be your genre?
Bluegrass, primarily.
But we can...
Beautiful.
Doubling a lot of different things.
All right.
Don't you have a big festival in Marquette?
Like by ordockers?
A big bluegrass thing in the summers?
They're too big for that.
Are you?
Oh, okay.
I don't think so.
Don't you disguise that.
What bluegrass?
Bluegrass.
Big as you, PS3.
They got a blues festival.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
That's huge.
Yes.
It's very big.
Yeah.
So let's hear a little something.
All right.
All right.
Think it times.
Tell us about what it is that you're going to play.
The Gentleman Grifters.
All right.
Here's a song that's...
I guess this is bluegrass,
but it's very, uh...
regtime inspired.
Tell the bartender.
Tell the queen.
Tell everybody in between.
Shout it out from the tops of the trees.
Good times I hear again.
I think it's time to shake these blues.
Put down your phone and turn off the news.
Get yourself a pair of dancing shoes.
Let this little song be your excuse.
So tell the bartender.
Tell the queen.
Tell everybody in between.
Shout it out from the tops of the trees.
Good times I hear again.
Thank you for being a part of the best of issue for the first
half of 2025 on Newisco Weekend.
Newisco Weekend is written and directed by Lisa Hale.
Our executive producer is Todd Michaels.
Lead correspondent is Terry Barr with features from Conrad Krieger,
Brittany Merlot, Melissa Kay, Joanne Croulette, and Peach Schwabba.
Our commentator is Amanda Nimmer.
If you have a story you'd like to hear covered,
please feel free to email me anytime.
Lisa.Hale at civicmedia.us.
I'm civic media northeast Wisconsin bureau chief Lisa Hale
for WISS and WGBW News.
Be unstoppable.