Cycle (Hour 1)

Broadcasting live from the Civic Media Studios in Green Bay.

This is Night Light with Peach Wabba.

Your inside source on everything entertainment from Wisconsin to Hollywood.

And now a guy who likes to dine and dash, Peach Wabba.

Welcome to Night Light.

Last minute set decorating here going on at Nightlight.

Great to have you with me.

Welcome to Nightlight on this beautiful Tuesday night.

We finally got some sunshine here in, at least in Northeast Wisconsin.

And a great day, a beautiful day, a day that's good to be alive because we're here and it beats the alternative.

And always remind yourself folks that every day that you breathe air is a beautiful day and it makes even more, oh thanks, and look at that.

Conrad, practicing a random act of kindness, I was fully prepared to go get my coffee at the break, but Conrad brought me my coffee anyway.

So that was a nice thing.

I would have gotten it during the break, dude.

It would have been cold then.

No.

It's donut shop coffee.

and a Keurig.

I

don't think that matters.

It will get a little cold.

It's going to be delicious.

I got a long drive tonight.

I'm heading down to Madison after the show.

That should be fun.

But I was just saying what a great day today was.

Did you have a good day, Conrad?

You know, I did.

I just did stuff around the house preparing for some friends coming over tomorrow.

You got big stuff in the works this week.

I do.

Yeah, I have.

Actually, I got in my car right now, I got three air mattresses and a cot.

Wow

cuz I was too lazy to take it upstairs when I got

away So so wait, but aren't you going to O'Connell?

Are you going there first and then you're coming back here?

I'm staying here.

Okay,

and then I'll friends over at my apartment.

I got you.

Okay,

so just moving some stuff around, you

know and making some

hair mattresses and

yeah

Are you gonna give up your bed to one of your friends?

Oh,

no

Are you at that awkward stage like where you you wouldn't allow a friend of yours to sleep in your bed with you?

Yeah, I mean my bed is my bed, you

know, how big is your both sides?

It's a queen.

It's a queen.

So you could fit another dude Yeah,

but there's a reason I got three air mattresses, you know, but air mattresses suck.

I mean, let's be honest

Well, it's

better than I got sheets for them.

I got a

I got one comforter, the other two can fight over the other blankets, but...

You sound like a gracious host.

Well, you

know,

that sounds fun.

Yeah, I don't care anyway.

They'll sleep in an air mattress.

But I mean, you also, you know your friends well enough that if you did scoot over, nothing's gonna

happen.

See, the thing is, is with me, when I sleep,

is that... Maybe I'm

wrong.

I move around a lot.

Oh, okay.

I'll probably smack him in the face with my foot or my hand or...

You should do that anyway to give him the message.

Hey, I don't think you want to sleep in this bed with me, even if you were going to offer it.

Well, that sounds like fun.

You got some well earned time off coming up, which is nice.

I don't think I've had a vacation day since the holidays.

And I don't like doing this show, and the weekends are enough.

And sometimes the weekends are too short for me.

And sometimes they're too long.

I just like to be busy.

The

show is your vacation

the show is my vacation in a lot of ways.

That's a great.

That's very well put and I But having said that I feel like Like with you taking this time off.

I'm like, you know, I should probably take just do because I think it keeps you fresh Yeah,

definitely.

Yeah, so

I mean I had this plan for almost a year now.

Wow All right, so that's cool.

I also get 23 weeks of vacation a year.

So I should probably get cracking on that

Just take 23 weeks off in a row.

In

a row?

You think I could do that?

Yeah, you're fine.

Nightlight with Conrad Krieger at the end of that.

Nightlight with the Con, man.

We have a really fun show for you guys tonight.

It's great to have you with me here at Nightlight.

Tonight, on the program, we've got...

We are all about, well not all about, we're gonna do some Milwaukee Film Festival talk.

That's gonna be a lot of fun.

Lauren Diane Kezman is here.

Did I say Lauren?

That's not right.

She's Laura.

Let me get my sheet up here.

I'm all discombobulated.

Laura Diane Kezman is here.

She made a film called Cycle, a very gripping documentary.

And I've talked to a lot of documentarians on my PBS show, love talking with them.

They're basically journalists and

Some of the stuff they uncover and the films they put out there are stuff you can't write.

And coming from the narrative side of writing, as I do, or filmmaking, I'm really excited to have this really kind of hotshot documentarian on the show tonight.

Her film is going to play at the Milwaukee Film Festival, I think on May 5th, if I'm not mistaken, at the Oriental.

Laura will be here at 6.35, and we will discuss her film cycle.

And this involves a police shooting and a victim right before Juneteenth.

And it's heavy stuff.

So Laura will give us the lowdown and tell us why we should go see her documentary other than the fact that I've heard nothing but amazing things.

And then our friend Rich Luccasio is here.

And Rich is going to give us a full rundown of what happened at WrestleMania over the weekend.

Was Rich there?

I don't think he was there.

Where was it?

It was in Las

Vegas.

OK.

He might have been, though.

It I thought it was funny.

I saw this video on Instagram yesterday and it was They had Stone Cold Steve Austin come in and share the the attendance and then that was sold out.

Okay, and then they have the I saw a video of this girl who was up in the nose bleeds And she took video of just like all the empty seats.

They're like, they're always lying to you Really?

Yeah, okay.

Everything is a scam.

Just empty your pockets

It still looked packed,

so regardless.

I think I have a new wrestling name I'd like Rich to.

Oh, you came up with one?

It has nothing to do with my last name.

It's not Wabba or Chwaba or anything like that.

Chihuahua.

Chihuahua, whatever.

The Eliminator.

I don't know if I could take that serious

listen all I have is the ability to strike fear in my opponent with my name because when they see me physically they're gonna go okay not quite six feet so

you'll go all out of the entrance in the name and then they'll come out and they'll be like oh

all right if they're not intimidated after that I don't have a chance anyway so my best bet is they just go no I'm not I'm not doing this not with this dude not with the eliminator but I'll have another one for

for Rich, too, because he doesn't have to agree to do it.

But he's kind with

his announcing.

And the Schwabinator was our best one so far.

So we'll think of a new one.

So Laura Diane Kezman is here and Rich LoCasio.

And that is a fun show, folks.

We got independent film, a great documentary, some wrestling talk.

We've got, what else do we have, Conor?

We got a whole bunch of stuff.

The Ice Bucket Challenge is back.

We got to talk about that.

It's

it's national jelly bean day.

How do you feel about jelly beans?

That's the day it is today.

Yes.

How do you feel about a very excruciatingly indifferent?

I

Do not

I I don't know there's there's one jelly bean.

I like and it's the starburst jelly beans

Those aren't even really jelly, right?

Yeah, so I don't like regular jelly beans anymore.

I used to when I was a kid, but now they're

They get stuck in your teeth, and they're too sweet for me.

Here's my stance on jelly beans.

If there's nothing else to eat, I'll take a handful.

There you go.

But it's not my go-to by any stretch of the imagination.

It's not even in my top 100 candies.

You know what goes with that, too?

What?

So Easter's jelly beans.

And it's like, I'll take a scoop, I guess.

Sure.

What about Halloween?

You see candy corn?

I guess I don't have any other

candy.

That's on the same

way.

I don't have any other candy.

I guess I'll have some candy

corn.

Pure sugar.

It's a sugar fix.

That's what it is.

I never understood the candy corn thing.

Yeah.

Like I said, if that's all there is, I'll go for it.

All right.

We have to pivot here because I got to set up our question tonight because you are taking time off of the draft.

You're going to be there at Lambeau.

It's going to probably be a blast.

It'll be packed.

I'm sure it's going to be sold out.

Are you guaranteed seats?

No.

No, not at

all.

You have to pay a lot of money for seats.

So you just kind of stand and kind of moving her around.

I

mean, the main thing is the attractions around it.

It's going to be fun.

There's a lot of stuff that you could do.

But yeah, I think my friends are going to try to just see that first day.

Maybe I think we'll be able to see it if we're even behind a crowd because the stage is huge.

Are you committed to going every day?

Like, what if you go on day one?

It's like, well, this is OK.

But honestly, we could watch it and have some beers at home.

You know what I mean?

I think the first day we're going to try to see watch the first first round and then the next days just have just enjoy your time out there.

OK.

That's fun.

Yeah.

And do you have or let's do this.

So our question is Packer related tonight.

I'm throwing a bone to all the Packer fans.

I love the draft.

I love the NFL offseason as a long suffering Bears fan.

I have to embrace the offseason which the Bears win every year.

They do great acquisitions and they do this.

It'd be nice if they could win during the season, but I love the draft.

So what I wanna know is coming up and it's in our question of the night.

Let's talk about the question.

Okay, question.

Question.

Question.

Pregunta.

Question.

Question.

Okay, I have a question.

Questions.

This question.

Domanda.

Question.

Question.

Questions.

Who should the Packers draft?

What position or what player are you hoping the Packers draft?

Let's put this out there.

Let's play general manager throughout the course of the show folks and Let's put the person even though.

I'm not the Packers are not my main team.

I'm gonna go first Conrad.

What do you think about that?

All right.

Go ahead a receiver.

Oh, yeah here and here's why The first 10 names you hear are not receivers

So, all the money players, the skill position players who are the best, and Lyman are going to go in the top 10, maybe top 15.

By the time the Packers draft, they could have access to one of the top two or three receivers in the whole draft.

I feel like this is prime for them to get a receiver.

What do you

think?

Yeah, no, I completely agree.

I want a wide receiver.

I want Amika Egbuca from Ohio State.

Oh yeah, he's good.

Yeah.

But I saw this funny tweet the other day from someone who's going to the draft a popular Green Bay Packer Twitter account and he goes, you know, it'd be hilarious The Packers have the draft in Green Bay and they trade off the first round

Wow, so they don't even get a pick on day one that would that would just be

so Green Bay

How can

they

aren't they

drafting like 20 what 20th 20 second I believe I

I think we're gonna get a receiver.

I hope I hope to one of my buddies wants a cornerback, but

Never go wrong with a cornerback.

Exactly receiver.

I mean they have not given I look he's got good young receivers.

They're all good, but You need that stud.

I think you need that number one receiver and this is the year I think that drafting at 22 you could probably find that

and So Kurt Benkert, he's he used to be a quarterback for the Green Bay Packers actually now.

We just does a bunch of stats for this this place called sleeper and

He went through every team and he's like, they all have that guy.

They all have that wide receiver.

They have that guy.

And he goes to the Packers like, we don't know who the guy is.

Yeah, that's crazy.

All right, so that's our question tonight, folks.

Way in, please.

Be part of the show.

What player or position are you hoping the Packers draft on Thursday?

Conrad will be there in person.

Maybe he could give us an update as the night goes on.

But 855-752-4842, let us know.

You could text us on the app.

or on the stream at Facebook, YouTube, or, uh, Twix, Twitter, X, whatever you want to call it.

Uh, let us know.

Be part of the show.

This is Nightlight with Pete Schwabber.

Coming back to read your texts and talk about a challenge that is back... much to my dismay.

Coming right back.

Welcome back tonight, ladies and gentlemen.

I am Pete Schwab, your host for this evening's broadcast.

Great to have you with me.

Hey, we got some big changes coming up here in a good way at Civic Media.

We have sort of a shuffle schedule.

as we welcome back a nationally syndicated talk show host here locally.

From 5 a.m.

to 6 a.m., the Midwest Farm Report will air with Pam Yonkey.

She does such a great job.

The morning's with Pat Crichtlow from 6 a.m.

to 9 a.m., but if you're in Green Bay, Oshka, if you're in Northeast Wisconsin or Madison, those morning shows stay the same.

I know in the mayor we'll still be on from 6 to 9 here in Green Bay in Northeast Wisconsin.

And John and Gordy will still be on WMDX in Madison.

But in the other outlying areas or on the network, you can catch Mornings with Pat Critello, powered by Up North News.

Great show.

Pat does a phenomenal job.

From 9 to 11, it will be Matt Nair on air with Jane and Greg.

11 to 2, Tom Hartman is back in the fold during the days here on Civic Media.

11 to 2, you got Tom Hartman.

2 to 4 is the Todd Alba show and 4 to 6, the Maggie Dawn show.

Nightlight stays.

the same from six to eight PM.

So check out that new lineup.

Go to the Civic Media website, civicmedia.us.

And if you have any questions and there you go.

So we have,

do you ever do the ice bucket challenge?

I did when I was like, when was that?

I was like 13, I think.

And

you

just pour

ice over your body, right?

Yeah.

It's not like you okay.

Yeah, no, what I did is I dumped it and then back then I had a pool so I just jumped in the pool after Okay, so it didn't really it wasn't bad and then you nominate people

You nominate people, but it doesn't raise money.

It's just sort of showing solidarity, right?

Yeah, yeah,

and now it's for mental health I believe is what it was.

I can't completely remember but I did see someone do it and I was like this is like 10 years ago that

Why is it coming back now?

Yeah, I don't know.

It seems like they should want you to donate five bucks or something rather than, you know.

I used to think it was schlocky to do those, you know, when people wanted, some people go crazy with those, like the GoFundMe's.

There was a girl in Marinette who wanted money for, to get her own apartment.

I'm like, what?

She's like 19, she doesn't know anything, she doesn't know better, but come on, like that's ridiculous.

If someone has a medical issue, yeah, okay, I can see doing that or a film that you believe in or something, but oh my gosh, but the ice bucket challenge, I'm not against it, but I feel like why not do like a GoFundMe or something and raise some money or

something.

You know what?

Just for saying that, I nominate you.

For the ice bucket challenge.

I'll go get some stream.

Yeah, you know if I didn't have a car ride tonight I would probably do it.

Okay, I'd probably say I would do it I

don't think it's hotter Amanda would like water excess water all over the studio.

No, I don't

think

so.

I think it's just dedication.

I think I should do it The phone lines are open folks text line is open eight five five seven five two four eight four two eight five five Seven five civic be part of the show.

Let us know what you're thinking Yeah, like I said

to you during the break the last of us i'm not going to do a spoiler because they're only on season two or uh i'm sorry episode two just aired the other night but they killed someone off and i'll just say that and i couldn't believe it and i don't know the video game i don't know if this was predestined in some way but it was a shocker but again maybe not if they did that in the video game

to the people who played the video game, maybe it's not a shock.

To me, I was blown away.

And I'm sure you can find out who it is.

It's all over the internet.

But if you're a fan of the show, stay away from the internet if you don't want to be, if you don't want anything spoiled.

Kind of a crazy thing.

It's like killing off the fawns.

Can't do that.

He's too cool to be killed off.

Exactly.

Oh, Stephanie Miller.

Okay, Sage Wilde just texted us and said that Stephanie Miller stays on WMDX from 8 to 11.

So I got that wrong, my bad.

Stephanie will be 8 to 11 and then Tom from 11 to 2.

John and Gordy will be on before that.

So there you go.

Thank you, Sage.

Appreciate that.

Lori from Hayward, that's the 715, says, you are all about the popcorn pick.

What about popcorn pick?

What about Jelly Belly?

Popcorn flavored jelly beans

Wow that just have you ever tried the bamboozled things or the bean boozled?

I think they're called and it's either Really bad flavor or a good one.

I've tried bad jelly bean flavors and they're awful

so It would be like this one is pepper or it's black licorice

okay,

and it says on the box and you have to eat it and You either get one or the other and I remember doing this when I was young with my cousin and

It was I got the popcorn one Taste it horrible.

Why would you do that?

Why would anybody even make something that tastes bad?

So they have a little like a thing you flick on it and then it you know decides whichever one you land on hmm It's just a game that you played it.

Yeah, I guess my cousin I wanted to try it, but it was terrible

Sounds awful Tyler from Columbia County.

That's the 9 2 0 he says air mattress sounds better than a hammock in my buddy's backyard Boy, somebody sent Tyler out on a hammock

That's a good friend.

Sometimes they're comfy.

You never know I suppose our question tonight is what player do you want the Packers or position?

Do you want them to draft?

Eric Rathsak from ask your mother our pal Eric says defensive end Are they in are they desperate for a defensive end came in?

You know Lucas Van Ness isn't doing that.

Well, so maybe oh, I forgot they had

him.

Yeah layman Rob says wide receiver.

All right, he's

He's with us.

And then Dave on the stream says D line.

Yeah, I can see D line.

You can never have too many D line.

There's some good prospects.

Yeah, for sure.

This is a good draft for that, as I understand it.

Tyler from the 608 also says a kick ass field goal kicker because it's football.

They win games.

Well, we just we signed McManus to a three year contract.

So

he's our bad ass kicker.

You've had some issues, right?

With kickers.

So that's, I mean, if you can get one.

in a good, I don't know.

That's our question.

And then I feel free to chime in.

Hey, did I miss something?

Civic Media's big meeting was today.

And I was going through O'Connell.

I was totally at the mercy of my time today.

And I missed about 10 minutes of the meeting.

So was there something announced that I need to broadcast here because I feel like I missed?

I think you got the main pictures, the new lineup that's going all over Civic Media.

But I didn't know about Stephanie Miller.

That's big.

That's huge.

She's great.

I opened for her at Zany's in Chicago years ago.

Wow.

I was a comedian.

Yeah.

That's awesome.

She wasn't a nationally syndicated radio person yet.

But all right, when we come back, Laura Ryan Kesman is here talking about her documentary in the Wisconsin Film Fest and the Milwaukee Film Festival cycle.

Richelle Cassio is here too.

Talking wrestling later.

You're here on a great night, folks.

Don't go anywhere.

It's Beachwaba and Nightlight on the Civic Media Radio

Network.

This is Nightlight with Pete Schwabba.

I am Pete Schwabba, our question of the night.

Who are you hoping the Packers draft?

Or what position do you hope they draft with their first round pick?

Conrad will be there in attendance watching his beloved Packers plan for the future on Thursday.

Rich Lucassio will be here at 7.20 tonight giving us a breakdown of WrestleMania and it's always great when Rich comes by because admittedly I know nothing about professional wrestling.

I know a lot of people think it's fake.

Right?

But it is professional because they get paid.

So people have an issue with saying, well, it's not professional, it's fake.

But those are two different things.

So Rich is going to give me, or we'll run a couple of wrestling nicknames.

I was the punching bag, then I was the Schwabinator.

Each Schwab after that?

Yeah, that one didn't work for me.

But maybe Rich will sell me on it.

We'll see.

I'd like the Eliminator.

even though it could not be less appropriate.

What about the snail?

The snail?

Like your pickleball name.

Get out of here with that.

Okay, all right, we're gonna pivot here and talk about something.

I am very excited to have this next guest on the show.

She's a film at the Milwaukee Film Festival called Cycle, and she's a director, she's a journalist, she does all kinds of things, and it's a pleasure to have her on the show and welcome her for the first time, Laura Diane Kazemann.

Hey, Laura.

Hi Pete, thank you so much for having

me.

It is my pleasure am I saying your middle name correctly or your first is it's Diane, right?

Yeah, yeah, you got it Laura Diane

Laura Diane, okay.

Well, it's great to have you here.

How are you tonight?

I'm doing pretty well.

How are you doing?

I'm doing well you sound you know, I picture like reading about your documentary today.

I was like you're probably like this deep

Kind of a tortured soul telling these great stories and here you sound so perky It's actually a nice surprise.

I got to be honest.

I mean I like doing press for the film is relatively new and so the tortured soul Act was you know, like the three years of editing it so

I'm coming out of

that shell and you know becoming more like front facing with the project now so so yeah, thank you for ushering me through that

That whole process

my pleasure listen, and I that's that's that post-production on a documentary has got to be so taxing we'll talk about that but First Laura tell us about your film.

Tell us about cycle

Yeah, so cycle is a almost six-year documentary feature film that started in 2019

It is a film about the cycle of police brutality in the United States, but told specifically through a case that did not make a lot of headlines and did not get a lot of media attention and did not become a viral hashtag.

And that is the story of Tyrese West, who was shot and killed by a police officer on Tuesday.

in 2019 in my hometown of Racine, Wisconsin, obviously.

And so for about two and a half years, we investigated the case.

And in doing that, we sort of peel away the layers of how these incidents happen systematically.

The players involved and sort of expanding the view

of what happens and how the cycle of police brutality is perpetuated on the back end.

And so it started out as us really wanting to get to the bottom of a really tragic story that was very easily sort of swept under the rug by authorities.

And in doing that, we see that that is sort of baked into the system of when these things happen, especially in smaller towns like Racine.

specific incidents involved a Mount Pleasant Police Department officer in the village of Mount Pleasant is significantly smaller than Racine even.

And so when these cases happen in small towns, Tyrese really represents all the names that we don't know.

And the intention was really to uplift the stories that happen in between these larger viral cases.

that catch a lot of people's attention.

And, you know, like when you're not like paying attention, it, uh, I mean, these things happen all the time.

And so it's not just the exceptional cases like a George Floyd or, um, Breonna Taylor or something, you know, that really captivates a whole, um, population, you know, the Tyrese West, uh, happen every day.

Boy, that, that is something I.

I was reading the description.

Does your title have a dual meaning?

It's the cycle of violence, but also the fact that this kid, and this is what I just found tragic, this one line describing your movie

says,

he was killed after being stopped for not having a bicycle light, just blocks away from home or from this community celebration.

That is just, it's heartbreaking to read that without knowing the details of your documentary.

But does your title pertain to that at all too?

Or is it just the cycle?

I thought it was very clever of that if you were incorporating that somehow.

Yeah, no, no, you nailed it.

And the title really, the credit goes to my co-director, William Howell, for that one.

But yeah, it works on all the levels, of course.

But the particular call-out being that, yes, this 18-year-old boy was stopped while riding his bicycle alone late.

the night of June 15th, 2019, in the very early morning hours before the Racine Juneteenth celebration.

And he would stop initially, allegedly, for not having a light on his bicycle.

And within 90 seconds, he was shot twice in the forehead.

Oh, my goodness.

OK.

How did you, I assume you read about the story in the news, Laura, but what made you?

about this, what was it about this incident that made you say, you know, and you know the drill, you know how long these projects take and how much of your life it takes out of you, what made you want to dedicate years of your life to tell this story?

That's a great question.

So the story kind of came to me in a lot of different ways.

I mean, the first piece being that I'm from Racine and

sort of coincidentally, I was with a friend that night, driving back, we were, you know, getting drinks and, you know, hanging out and we were in an Uber back to her house and passed a crime scene that had the, you know, that was blocked off for, for blocks.

And it was very weird because there wasn't much commotion, but

it

wasn't until months later that I actually heard about what had happened that night.

And just very strange that we had

passed by the scene ourselves, and then fast forward a few months later, and that same friend who is, you know, queued in to certain people in her Facebook network, and she introduced me to the man who became my co-director, William Howell, who's also a Racine native, and he had been documenting the aftermath of what happened with Tyrese from the initial marches that happened within the community.

to the funeral.

Will is very ingrained and a very important figure in the racing community.

And a lot of times, he'll be just at these milestone events for people filming.

And so he filmed the funeral that day.

And so without knowing what he was going to turn into, we sort of had these foundational blocks.

to build from for

a

documentary like this.

And we were originally introduced because he just wanted advice of how to get a film like this off the ground.

And what turned into a three-hour conversation in a coffee shop, we emerged as co-directors committed to doing this project together.

And within three weeks, we were doing our first filmed interviews.

No kidding.

My guest is Laura Diane Kezman.

She is one of the directors of the film Cycle, which plays at the Milwaukee Film Festival on May, is it May 5th?

Laura at the Oriental, May 4th, I'm sorry.

Yeah, yeah, May 4th.

Yes, Sunday, May 4th at 1.45 PM at the Milwaukee Film Festival is gonna be our world premiere.

How immersed do you get as a filmmaker when you have such, you know, sensitive subject matter?

It's such a gripping story.

For you as the filmmaker and the teller of this story, what kind of an emotional toll does that take on you?

Ooh, that's a good question and a tough one to answer as I'm still sort of coming out of the sort of the weight

of

all of that.

I mean, like I said, this is almost a six year project.

Three and a half of those years was spent

in near isolation, editing it.

And in order to tell this story authentically and to bring it to life in the way that I really felt it needed to be, it was a lot of just, like you said, immersing yourself in the material and sitting with it and listening to it and sort of seeing and investigating how all these pieces come together.

And it really is.

I mean, doing a film especially like this is sort of putting together like a hundred thousand piece jigsaw puzzle.

Isn't that something?

Yeah.

How tough was it?

Like, did Tyrese's family open up?

Did you get police interviews?

Yeah.

So, throughout the process, we've been very close with Tyrese's family, his mother Monique, and...

his siblings and his grandmother and I mean the community as a whole you know is just so tight knit and we wouldn't have and couldn't have done this story without them.

On the flip side of it we of course put out those interview requests for all the officers who were involved.

in the case and on the scene that night to which of course we you know got lots of either no responses or declined declined altogether but I will say one thing that really makes this film very unique for the viewer is the fact that we have we got got access to the officers the officer who killed Tyrese we got access to his film's deposition that was taken

when the civil suit was filed by Tyrese's family after the district attorney of Racine decided to not file charges.

So about two years after the incident, we have this three hour, you know, video recorded deposition of the officer, which from a filmmaking perspective is sort of best case scenario in terms of being able to

I mean, we're really allowing him to tell the story from his perspective.

And I mean, this is, he's under oath and his account, you know, is, you know, is the same account that is in the district attorney's report.

And so, you know, you are able to watch and.

see him recount the events of that night directly.

And that is something that is not typically seen.

And it really gives the viewer sort of like a backdoor access to these depositions that are typically shielded from public view.

Boy, that's a great answer.

It also says on your website that you, the filmmakers, you partnered with the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism to carry out an independent investigation.

How tough is a filmmaker, is it for you to get an organization like that on board?

Do they worry about repercussions or some type of investigating that steps on toes?

Or are they like, yeah, let's do this.

I mean, honestly, the convincing process was not that extraneous.

They saw the merit, like the journalistic merit of this story.

and really came on in the early stages as sort of a guide, you know, for us diving into a very complex and sort of high risk investigation like this.

And so they were really instrumental throughout that first year providing us like research guidance and

just like a weekly sounding board to talk through our findings, you know, what's worth pursuing, what's worth, like, or what isn't.

And

then also navigating the legal challenges that come with investigating law enforcement.

Wow, great answer.

And was it hard to get like, I know that you've had some expert witnesses that you interviewed for your film.

Is it hard to get expert witnesses or are they kind of like,

I just don't know what that's like, signing releases.

Actually,

we're gonna do a quick break.

When we come back, let's pick up there, Laura, and then I have a few more questions for you as well.

It's great having you on the show, and I'm very excited for your screening at the Wisconsin Film Festival, so that's May 4th at 1.45 p.m.

at the Oriental Theater.

My guest is director Laura Diane Kesman, and her film is called Cycle.

We'll have more with Laura when we come back after this really short break.

Don't go anywhere, folks.

It's nightlight on a Tuesday.

How can you do better than that?

This is Pete Schwab.

I'm the Civic Media Radio

Network.

Honey, you are my shining star.

Don't you go away.

Oh,

baby.

Welcome back to Nightlight.

I'm your host for this evening's festivities, Pete Schwabba.

Our question tonight is who are you hoping the Packers draft player or position on Thursday with their first round pick.

Steve from the 920 says, hope the Packers draft very fast.

always catches the football, never gets hurt wide receiver.

Well, good luck with that, Steve.

To order.

It's a tough game, but yeah, that would be nice.

Thank you for the tech, Steve, as always, my friend.

Richard Ocasio drops by at 7.20.

We're going to talk about WrestleMania and he is going to educate me on wrestling as he often does.

Right now, my guest is Laura Diane Kezman.

She made a film called Cycle and it is playing at the Milwaukee Film Festival May 4th, 1.45 p.m.

That's a Sunday at the Oriental Theater, a gripping documentary about the death of a teenager who did not have a light on his bike and was killed by police.

So...

Laura, before the break, I asked you about getting expert witnesses, but I also want to know how much of the process is that lining up subjects to talk to?

Like you've got your basic pre-production, getting everything in order, your permits, whatever equipment.

How much of that is part of the process, just lining up people to talk to on camera?

Yeah, that's a great question.

And it takes a lot of research.

It takes a lot of...

Um, you know, really, really thinking about what the story calls for and what it needs and then doing the research to see who, you know, is best going to speak on those topics.

And so, um, you know, one, one of our experts that we have featured in the film, his name is Seth Stoughton and he is a.

a law professor from the University of South Carolina and is also a former officer.

And so he was able to provide some really fascinating and interesting insights into the perspective of having been an officer and then now being an expert in the, you know, in acclaimed author of books about police brutality.

And he also was the expert witness to Stan during the Derek Chauvin trial after George Floyd's death.

So yeah, I mean, him among really highly intellectual, very interesting cast of characters that really give the context necessary to understand the complex nature of the story.

That's a great answer.

What has been the response so far?

Have you seen this with an audience yet?

No, so the Milwaukee Film Festival is going to be the first time that we are experiencing other people seeing it for the first time.

There's been a relatively small handful of people who have seen the film.

The biggest takeaway that I've observed so far is the need to process after the fact.

It's hard for me being the one that made it to put words in other people's mouths in terms of what their takeaway was, but the response has been very positive and in terms of the impact it has the potential of having in a

room of almost 1,000 people as we sell out the Oriental is going to be a memorable day.

And I know a lot of the Racine community is going to be there for that day.

And that's what's going to make it even more special is that it's going to be the collective processing and a really shared experience for everyone involved, especially for people in Racine who

Essentially the way that my co-director will put it is that they're going to be like watching their live play back to them on this huge screen in a way that You know, no one could have ever thought would happen.

So for that alone I'm very excited for May 4th.

That's incredible and what you just said is pretty spectacular.

I mean

I'm always trying to convince people to go to film festivals because the experience you have there is like no other.

And what you just said, if you can sell out the Oriental or come close or pack them in, a thousand people watching a documentary like this, that just doesn't happen.

Documentaries, unless they break through somehow, are not in megaplexes or anything like that.

So this will be a very special experience for anyone in attendance.

as well

as for you,

the filmmaker, I'm assuming.

So that's fantastic.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, you nailed it.

And I think that that is part of the plug for people to buy tickets and come to this particular screening because it's not going to be just watching a film.

It's going to be this really beautiful shared experience with an entire community of people, some who are directly affected by the story and some who

are not.

But the way that the film is constructed is really to reach a whole spectrum of people.

You mentioned you edited for three years.

What's been your favorite part of the filmmaking process?

This is your first feature film, I believe, correct?

Yeah, technically I co-directed a feature that premiered at the festival in 2018, but this is my first solo project under my

production company, Lion Art Media.

I

want to

ask

you about

that too.

That's exciting what you're doing there.

But what's your favorite part of the filmmaking process?

I mean, documentaries are so much about editing, but I know some people like to be out on the field too and talking to people and researching.

There's so much that goes into a documentary.

What's been your favorite part?

Yeah, no, that's a great question.

For me, it really is the editing where

It's a very personal and intimate experience because again, it's like you're embodying, especially with a film like this, the weight and the truth of other people's lived experiences.

And the responsibility that comes with that is very heavy.

And so the care that must be taken when you're even figuring out how a film like this comes together,

And like I said, it's a big puzzle.

And so just from the perspective of really loving that process and communing with the footage in a way where it really tells you how it's supposed to come together, that's a really, it's almost like a sacred experience.

It's

magical.

It's truly magical.

Can we keep you for a few minutes more, Laura, after the news?

Laura Dyne-Kesman is here.

She's going to give us a few more minutes after the news.

Don't go anywhere, folks.

Rich LaCasio coming up at 7.20 also.

This is Pete Schwabba and Nightlight on the Civic Media Radio Network.

Broadcasting live from the Civic Media Studios in Green Bay.

This is Night Light with Pete Chwaba.

Your inside source on everything entertainment from Wisconsin to Hollywood.

And now, a guy who likes to talk trash, but only when he's at the dump.

Pete Chwaba.

Welcome back.

Ladies and gentlemen, to hour number two of this Tuesday night edition of Nightlight, broadcasting statewide from beautiful downtown Green Bay.

Great to have you with me on this spectacular evening in Wisconsin.

The sun is shining.

The gelato store next to the studio is open once again for business.

It's been a long few months with no gelato.

I've lost nine pounds and I'm expecting to put it all back on within a week.

We are in the process of a lovely interview with Laura Dine-Kesman.

We'll get back to that in just a second.

Our question of the night is who are you hoping, either player or position, the Packers draft with their first round pick on Thursday.

Conrad will be there in person, witnessing everything firsthand.

That is our question of the night.

Let us know.

what direction you want the Packers to go.

Rich LoCasio is here at 720, giving us an interview, or giving us a rundown of what happened at WrestleMania last weekend.

You said you watched part of it.

I didn't know you were that big of a fan.

Well, it's because of John Cena.

I watched him when I was younger, and his last time is now.

Okay.

So, I think after some event this year, he's retiring.

He's gonna retire from wrestling and transition into the mediocre acting world.

Well, he's already in the media.

He's

already a mean, you know.

He's a mediocre actor.

He already is.

But he's likable.

People like the guy a lot.

But now he can do a full time after it.

Yeah.

There you go.

Hit us up with some text.

You're welcome to weigh in on anything we're talking about, folks.

Let's get back to our guest, Laura Diane Kezman.

Her film, Cycle, is premiering at the Milwaukee Film Festival May 4th at 1.45 p.m.

at the Oriental Theater.

You could check it out with other film fanatics, which is always fun about film festivals.

But Laura is here with us on the phone.

Laura, so...

This is exciting.

What are you feeling right now?

Like, what are you hoping to see from a crowd?

I mean, I'm honestly hoping that people just show up.

And I really do believe the film will be for itself.

I mean, of course, there is a lot of mixed emotions when you reach the threshold of releasing something like this into the world that you've held so close for so many years.

So there's a lot of anticipation, some anxiety, but that's slowly converting into excitement because at the end of the day, I really feel very proud and stand behind what we made and now it's time.

It's time for it to be shared with others.

Will you be nervous or do you feel confident enough that it's gonna evoke kind of the reaction, at least close to the reaction you're hoping

for?

I mean, it's going to be very nerve-wracking for me while the screening is going on, mostly, you know, wincing and hoping that there's no technical glitches or anything.

But I honestly don't know what to expect and how to anticipate what the response is going to be.

But again, based on the smaller sample size of people who have seen it at this point, yeah.

I'm excited.

I'm excited to know what that impact is going to be.

That's

awesome.

Tell us about Lionheart Media.

What is your mission there?

This is a company that you founded.

What kind of work are you doing there?

Does this film fall under that umbrella or do you do separate things there?

What kind of things does Lionheart tackle?

Yeah, yeah.

So I started Lionheart Media in...

2019.

Um, I, you know, if we do both independent documentary films and a lot of client work that is very documentary rooted.

Um, so we have clients where we do, you know, video work for organizations ranging from, you know, Planned Parenthood to media organizations like the Today Show.

Um, and then local organizations like Girls for Teen Girls in Milwaukee.

So it really began it, but ultimately what people

want from that is authentic documentary storytelling that can help achieve their goals, whatever that is, whether that's like a fundraising goal or just a mission video about who an organization is and what they do.

And of course, like one side feeds the other.

And so I started Cycle not intentionally, but I started Cycle about three months after I founded the company.

And so those two things have sort of gone hand in hand and occurred simultaneously the last almost six years.

Oh, that's great.

Yeah, so one feels the other, but yeah, so we have contracted client work and then independent documentary.

I

think I said lion heart and I meant to say lion art, but I guess I apparently I had Jean-Claude van Damme in the back of my subconscious somewhere

There you

go Hey before we let you leave we talk about movies and TV a lot on a nightly basis here.

Are you watching anything Laura?

Are you binge-watching?

that you can recommend, or have you seen a movie recently

that

you really liked?

Oh, that's a great question.

Lately, I have not had much time to really get into a new show, but honestly, I have made time for the White Lotus, which is on HBO Max right now.

I don't know if there's any White Lotus fans out there, but it's a brilliantly written...

and produce show.

It's visually stunning.

The attention to detail is incredible.

The acting, everything.

So if you want to get sucked in and, you know, I don't know, detached from your own drama and really invest in other people's drama, White Lotus is like the perfect show for that.

I

totally agree.

I've gotten through two seasons, but I'm waiting to start the season like season three.

So I know I can finish it like over a whole weekend because I've heard such great things.

I love Mike White and it's just such, you're right.

It's such a well done show and it's so, it's weird because it's addicting, but it's not like I have to watch three episodes in one night.

Usually I can watch one and if there's a cliffhanger, I can watch the first 10 minutes and then turn it off and then go back to it, but just such a well done show.

That's a great choice.

Yes, it's hard to pass.

You can't pass if we watch the white loaded, so you invest an hour and it packs enough of a punch that you need like a breather afterwards.

Exactly.

Hey, outstanding stuff.

Thank you so much.

It was great getting to know you.

Good luck May 4th, 145, the Oriental Theater.

Check out Cycle Folks if you're headed to the Milwaukee Film Festival.

And if you're not, you should be.

Check out Laura's film.

Laura, thank you so much and break a leg.

Thank you so much, Pete.

I really appreciate it.

Thank you for having me on.

You got it.

Anytime.

That is Laura Diane Kesman.

So that's exciting.

That's, I mean, to watch a film with that many people that just does not happen that often.

So I wish her luck.

And we've got a text from Bridget from the 818.

She says, she hopes the Packers get a really great kicker.

What is the deal?

See, all right, we do, I think we do have a good kicker right now.

McManus.

We signed him.

Did he miss one last year?

Or did he miss a couple?

He missed

one or two, but that's better than Andrews who missed eight over the season.

Big time kicks.

I know you got a

draft kickers, but honestly, I just don't get that excited.

I think I could kick.

Well, I know you can, but can you get it through the uprights, buddy?

No, that part I can't do.

Try to get a tryout.

You've

got all your eligibility, right?

For pro football?

For, you know, the punt pass kick thing, I could only pass.

There you go.

Micah Clemens sent us a text last night, and I thought this was great.

He, our guest was talking about naked, Tim Sowers was talking about naked magicians.

and how they're actually naked on stage, but they're strategically, they don't show anything.

So it's kind of a fun show.

And Mike said, naked magician sounds like a fun show.

Although I doubt I would participate in a volunteer from the audience.

So Mike is not willing to get on stage, but I appreciate Mike.

If I had gotten that last night in time, I would have read it on the air.

Thank you, Mike.

Great to know Mike's listening.

We got to play...

This has nothing to do with anything This is not related to a release of the show or the film or an actor's birthday But this just is a clip that makes me smile and mostly like David Spade is funny in it But Wisconsin's own Chris Farley the look he gives David Spade and I know this is radio and it's an audio file But I think this will bring back a sense memory to the film Tommy boy when they're driving down the highway trying to save What was the name of the sit like?

Something auto parts, right?

Yeah, it was an

it was not.

Oh, I can't believe dad's name something But it's irrelevant because they're trying to save the company and Tommy is out there trying to do his best and truly Chris Farley in the movie Tommy boy is least at least as far as his films Went this to me is the crown jewel Tommy boy such a great film here is a clip from Tommy boy

Yeah,

here we go

My socks!

Talk about

lame.

Haha, totally.

We can change it if you want.

I don't care, it's up to you.

I can live with it if you can.

Suit

yourself!

I think my favorite part is when Chris Farley says, I can live with it if you can.

He's just so, oh, it's just brilliant.

I see Rich Lucassio waiting in the wings.

You see him on the stream, Conrad?

Oh yeah?

I think he could probably hear us.

The shades are killer.

I think he is fast establishing himself as one of the coolest people at Civic Media.

I think he needs his own wrestling nickname.

Oh, that's good.

We'll do that too.

When we bring Rich on, we'll do that.

And I got to throw another nickname at him.

Dave on the stream says, Callahan.

Yes, that's it.

Callahan auto parts.

And great movie.

What else do we have?

We got other clips we got to get through.

We clip all these things and then we don't play them because I talk too much.

Well, we don't have enough time now.

What?

That's insane.

All

right,

so if you have a good wrestling name for me, folks, chime in with that.

The text lines are open.

Rich LeCasio is about to join the show.

He's going to give us a rundown of WrestleMania.

I'm going to ask him why he's so cool.

And this just happened.

He's a lean, mean fight machine too, folks.

Remember last time I asked him how he did it because I was inspired.

So maybe we'll go there too.

But first, WrestleMania with our pal Rich, that is coming up next.

And wrestling nicknames, chime in.

If you got one for Conrad, let us know.

If you got one for me, aside from the Eliminator, or Schwabinator, or the Punching Bag, let me know.

And maybe we can get Rich to announce it.

And we should ask Rich his own wrestling nickname, too.

We'll do all that after this very short break, so please don't leave.

This is Pete Schwabba in Nightlight on the Civic Media Radio

Network.

If this woman outside the window does not clean up after a dog, I can technically make a citizen's arrest.

Right?

That would make for some great radio.

I would go out there.

Follow me out there with the microphone.

I'll look at her being a good citizen, never mind.

All right, hey, this is Nightlight with Peach Waba.

Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen.

We're having fun here tonight.

We are now asking for new wrestling nicknames, and we've got...

We got some good ones on the stream.

And that is all in honor of our next guest, who is one of Civic Media's own.

He is a wrestling announcer, and he is also an on-air personality now.

He is a lean, mean fighting machine, and he's rocking the shades.

If you're watching on the stream, ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Rich LoCasio.

Hey, buddy.

Pete Schwabba,

acknowledge me.

Now, what is that?

You got to film you.

I had to try it once.

I like

that.

It's totally

passes.

You got the voice, man.

You can pull off a

lot of stuff.

Uh, how

are you buddy?

I'm doing good.

I'm still in recovery mode from WrestleMania 41, as you could probably imagine, but it's been an eventful few days and a lot to talk about.

So when you say recovery mode, what does that mean?

Were you at a fever pitch with just excited for the event or did something not go your way?

And it was like losing a missed field goal or something?

Explain that a little bit.

Pete, it's a lot of wrestling.

So

you

start with Friday Night Smackdown, which is three hours of that.

Then you have WrestleMania Saturday, so there was about four hours of that.

Let's just say four hours for that.

WrestleMania Sunday, another four hours for that.

And Monday Night Raw, three hours for that.

That's in four straight days.

That's a lot of wrestling for somebody that I consume wrestling on a weekly basis, at least twice a week.

That's an overload.

That's an overload.

And now they're starting to get to the point where a lot of these premium live events, like SummerSlam, are going to be two nights instead of just one night of action.

No kidding.

It's funny, though, that you say that.

You're like, Pete, you got to understand.

Four hours of wrestling on Saturday, three hours on Sunday.

You're watching, Rich.

And you're still exhausted.

That's awesome.

It's an emotional roller coaster.

All right, so Conrad and I were talking about this a little bit.

He's a big wrestling fan too, or he likes John Cena, I should say, but that counts, certainly.