Late Night Munchies and Murder Mysteries (Hour 1)

Transcript

Late Night Munchies and Murder Mysteries (Hour 1)

Nite Lite with Pete Schwaba and Greg Bach · Fri Oct 24, 2025

Kathryn Lake

You're listening to Civic Media.

You can tune into any of our live shows on any radio station across the state with the Civic Media app.

Find us in your phone's app store and listen anytime,

anywhere.

And now, a guy who never leaves the house without wearing a cup, Pete Schwabba.

Pete Schwaba

Welcome to Night Light, ladies and gentlemen.

Happy Friday, everybody.

Happy Friday, Conrad.

How are you?

I'm good.

You have been a champ.

You have been trying to get to troubleshoot a little bit here in our fine studio, the Night Light Studios, which is always, it's always fun watching you work, but you've got our camera up and working.

I think you've done a swell job.

I'd like to think so.

It's working right now.

I can see your face.

Pete Schwaba

It's amazing what a guy can do with a slide rule and a Swiss Army knife.

Very well done.

Welcome everybody to the show tonight.

It's going to be a fun show.

We've got an in-studio guest.

We've got some music talk.

It is a bar band Friday night.

That's always fun.

Our usual partner in crime, Terri Bar, will not be here tonight.

Did Terri give us an excuse?

Not that she needs to.

She doesn't

need a

Pete Schwaba

note or anything.

I think maybe she just needed to take a day off, you know?

Really?

Or she's going to see some cool music.

Pete Schwaba

You know, she spends 20 minutes a week with us.

She needs a week off.

Yeah, I think it's too much time with you, Pete.

Poor

Pete Schwaba

Conrad.

We will miss Terri, but as usual, or as often is the case, her...

Her partner in crime on Max Inc Radio, the award-winning Max Inc Radio.

Rocker will join us for Bar Band Friday night at 7.30.

That will be fun, always great to catch up with Rocker.

And at 6.35, here in the studio, we are gonna have a guest named Chris Mays.

He's great.

Chris lives up by me.

I don't know if you knew that.

He's like, he's up in the Greater Marinette area.

He's in the Burbs.

He's in Pestigo.

But Chris will be here.

He is the...

He's he runs a dinner detective series very fine.

You ever do one of those?

No, I've played like um The game with family of trying to find who the murderer is, you know of one of those games for Christmas or something like that, but I haven't done

Pete Schwaba

I think that would be really hard to organize something like that

this alright this family really likes to play games

Pete Schwaba

No, I get that I love you talking about your family.

Yeah.

Yeah ours, too I mean I love board games It's more about hanging out and yelling at each other and laughing and all that kind of stuff, but I Feel like these these dinner detective series that they do in these hotels seem pretty elaborate It seems like it would be a tough thing to organize, but oh,

yeah, I totally agree

Pete Schwaba

But

it looks so much but so much fun.

Pete Schwaba

I agree and I I've always meant to do one I just never I kind of forget about it, and I'm like, oh, yeah, that sounds like a blast

So maybe Chris can twist our arm or not that he needs to.

Road trip.

Yeah, road trip over to the Hyatt.

That's where they do them right down the street here.

I think so.

Yeah, that's road trip.

Yeah, and our friend Kayla, what's Kayla's?

Kayla Miller, who was our Washington Street model one night for Nightlight Window 1, she takes, she does some acting too.

Cool.

Pete Schwaba

She does that too.

So we'll get to the bottom of it with Chris at 6.35.

He will be here in person and that will be fun.

Folks, wherever you're joining us from in the beautiful state of Wisconsin or parts beyond, welcome.

It's great to have you.

And the week is over.

You made it.

We're not quite there yet.

We have to entertain you for a couple hours, and then we'll be off the hook as well.

But I hope you had a great week.

And if you didn't, all the more reason you're here.

We got some fun conversations tonight.

Two good guests.

The World Series starts tonight.

That's kind of exciting.

I mean, I know the Brewers.

Yeah, that's all right.

Basketball's on, so we'll watch that.

Pete Schwaba

God, I gotta be honest, dude.

I mean, I like sports, but early, regular season NBA, no thanks.

You get to see what you're looking at for the teams, you know?

Early preview, and I mean, the first game of the year went into double overtime and looked like it was the Western Conference Finals, how they played.

Could be a preview.

Pete Schwaba

Who was it?

It was the Thunder.

Pete Schwaba

Okay.

And the Rockets.

Pete Schwaba

I got one word for you snooze No, I'm kidding.

I look at this my opinion on that changed kind of in the last 10 years I used to I could watch an NBA game NBA game any day of the week and I'd put it on just to have it on while I'm working or whatever But all of a sudden I'm all about unless it's the NFL 16 17 games.

That's all it is, baby one a week.

I'm there.

I cannot Follow baseball or basketball all season

Wake me up when the playoffs start.

I just can't do it.

Yeah.

Basketball is my favorite sport, so.

Pete Schwaba

So having said that, would you rather, I asked you this a couple of weeks ago and you said the Brewers were your favorite, they were your favorite team to win a championship because

the

Pete Schwaba

Bucks had done that and the Packers have done it a couple of times, but like what overall would it be the Bucks?

Oh, I don't, I don't even like

the Bucks.

Pete Schwaba

You still like yours or is it?

Who is it?

It's

Pete Schwaba

actually like the

Rockets now.

Pete Schwaba

Now you like the Rockets.

That's a convenient fandom you have there.

Yeah.

Is Kevin Durant on the Rockets now?

Yes, yes he is.

That's okay.

That's not like being a Fairweather fan though because you're, I understand totally cheering for a person.

Well, you

know,

Pete Schwaba

I mean

last year the sons were not good at all

Pete Schwaba

and I

still was a fan,

Pete Schwaba

so.

But I get following a player.

That makes it... There's a little drama to it.

It's the

only sport I do it in.

Pete Schwaba

Really?

But it's my favorite sport.

Pete Schwaba

There's only five of those dudes out there.

And he gives you time.

So you're cheering for 20% of the team, really.

So let's do this con because I think we have kind of a fun question time Let's get to the night light question of the night.

Let's talk about the question.

Okay question question question question

Pete Schwaba

question

question question this question All

Pete Schwaba

right, it's national food day So we have a food related question.

What is the best after-bar food?

What is the best after-bar food in honor of National Food Day?

855-7524-842-855-75.

Civic, you can also text us on the app.

Or if you're watching the radio on the stream, like people often do, you can drop us a stream comment.

Either way, I kind of, it's interesting because my mind goes typically to like three different things.

So I'm looking for some outside the box answers here.

Like Amanda Nimmer earlier said, Taco Bell.

I feel like we need a lot of Taco Bell

answers.

I've had a bunch of Taco Bell after

Pete Schwaba

the

bar.

Pete Schwaba

But I think my favorite, if I had the option, where I live in Marinette, Wisconsin, you don't have, you know, you don't have a lot of options.

It's basically fast food.

And they close around the time the bars do.

So you got to cut out early before last call if you want grub.

But I've been in cities where you have better options like in LA There were sometimes food trucks taco trucks were still open all night.

Oh my god Street tacos or something like that sign me up.

There's a place in Milwaukee right down the street from the comedy cafe on Brady Street called the Taldos I think it's still there.

They used to serve Italian food till five o'clock in the morning It's like an old mob hang out so

I guess I would say probably just by default tacos, whether it's Taco Bell, a food truck somewhere, there's something about tacos.

They're just fun to pound after a night of boozing, you know?

I've had my fair share of tacos after the bar.

I have a funny story, actually.

I was with one of my friends and we went to one of the bars down here in Green Bay.

They had a food truck across the street and it was a taco truck.

And me, I'm just like, I'll just have some regular like...

I think I got some pork, you know, tacos and just some onions on it and a little bit of salsa.

My friend asked for hot, like it hot, you know?

And he goes, are you sure?

It's like, it's pretty hot.

Pete Schwaba

Yeah.

He goes, yeah, no, I love hot.

We get back to my house.

Pete Schwaba

I look over at

him.

He's crying.

His eyes are so watery.

Is that

Pete Schwaba

like ghost peppers

in it or something?

And he was pretty drunk too, so he was like, watery.

I regret this.

And then after he ate that, he's like, I'm going to bed.

Pete Schwaba

Eating food after the bars is great, but the best is almost watching people who are sloppy drunk.

Cause it's so, like they'd be so embarrassed if they knew, but there's so many great stories of people chowing after bar time.

I remember my brother and his friends, I was staying with them in Madison and he had a bunch of friends visiting.

He's a little younger than me.

I was there doing stand up.

So I was hanging out with these guys and one of their friends put a pizza in at like two AM when they got home and they all passed out.

And the oven was on all night and the piece, the pizza was like basically a piece of charcoal.

at like eight in the morning.

The place was sweltering because the oven was on.

And I can't remember who the guy's name was.

It was like, Pinnaker.

And he's like, one of the guys gets up and goes, hey, Pinnaker, your pizza's done.

It was in there for like seven hours.

Like that's the danger too when you eat after, you know, you got the calories for one.

Oh, yes.

Well, you already had your calories in

Pete Schwaba

what you were drinking.

Alcohol.

Yeah, exactly.

And

now you're adding on to it with dough.

Sauce

Pete Schwaba

the worst stuff you could oh pizza.

There you go.

Pizza's another good

one.

That's mine is

Pete Schwaba

I can house

a pizza It doesn't matter what form it is like if I get something, you know from Domino's or something or just a frozen pizza, right?

I will dominate that pizza.

Pete Schwaba

There are people like my friend Rob I will not use last names we went to visit our other friend in Steven's point where he went to school and we were hanging out at the bars and Rob had money like he's a dentist now

His dad was a doctor.

He was never missing a meal or didn't have clothes on his back.

He got more excitement out of waiting for the people at Rocky Rococo to throw away the barely expired pizza and he would just take it out of the dumpster and eat it.

It was like a pride thing.

Was he drunk?

Oh, yeah.

Well, I mean, not falling over drunk.

He just, it's like the guy that would rather look for golf balls than spend money on them.

You know, it's just kind of like, bargain.

Yeah.

So.

So yeah, my answer is definitely pizza.

And yours is tacos.

I guess any form of tacos for you too.

Pete Schwaba

I like street tacos, I like taco, but I could eat them all after I'm having a drink in a while like that.

And it's been years since I've like, you know, left the bar and went right to get something to eat like

that,

Pete Schwaba

but like.

There's something about the food that just tastes so good, then.

And you don't have

Pete Schwaba

a pizza plate.

It's hard to find pizza at that hour.

It used to be Rocky Rococos was open after bar time throughout Wisconsin.

There's still a few left.

There's one in Stevens Point, actually, because my daughter goes there, and we've seen it.

But it's hard to find a variety of food at that hour.

I'll say a close second for me is just a nice burger, too.

One time, I ordered, I Ubered back to my house after.

After the bar and I ordered the the famous seven pack.

I think it is of George Webb's burgers.

Pete Schwaba

Oh, really?

And when I ordered it, I fell asleep right after.

Pete Schwaba

You didn't even eat him.

My roommate comes upstairs with the bag and he's like, it's like 11.

He's like, yeah, did you order some food last night?

Pete Schwaba

I did.

I know two people who have ordered food and paid and driven off.

because they're so drunk they don't I mean they shouldn't be driving to begin with but they pay and then they just leave my buddy Dan who drives by this window every once in a while he didn't have a car so he only opened with the drive-through so he stood between two cars in line and he just went up and he ordered and he's like

waiting by the window that's awesome

Pete Schwaba

that's great I mean there are so many great after bar stories like that but I would say and

You know, one of my favorites when I lived in Chicago was White Castles.

I mean, talk about great after-bar food, these sliders with onions and cheese, and like, it's probably not even really meat.

I've never actually been to one.

Oh, it's

Pete Schwaba

so worth it.

We had one time, we were going to one of our friends was vomiting out the back window, and my friend who was driving didn't even pull over.

He's like, hold on to him.

I'm like, why don't you pull over?

Hold on to him.

He goes, hold on to him.

We're not, because we were going to White Castles.

All

down

Pete Schwaba

Addison in Chicago, he's vomiting.

All right.

Our question, folks, and it's a good one.

What is the best after-bar food?

Let us know.

It's Peach Wabba Nightlight.

We're coming back with your text, and I'm going to tell you a movie you should see coming up

next.

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 started.

Pete Schwaba

Yeah, I'm gonna do my best to read this.

It is National Food Day.

What is the best after-bar food, folks?

That is the nightlight question of the night.

Let us know.

I say tacos, Conrad said pizza, and we were talking about white castles too.

White castles is just outstanding after-bar food.

And you wanna know funny, what I was telling you right before the break, that friend of mine who vomited hanging out the window, driving through the city, still ate white castles.

he rallied as you should he was just making room um so all right you said pizza i need can you keep a bigger font i can i forgot my glasses tonight this is embarrassing i kind of like i like the way i look without glasses though what what are your glasses you think i could would those work for me definitely

not um my eyes are terrible

Pete Schwaba

So, folks, I want to tell you about a really cool event happening in Madison right now.

It's the Wisconsin Book Festival, and it is happening now.

It started yesterday.

It goes through the 26th, bringing together authors and readers of all ages, interests, genres, you name it.

Don't miss out on the New York Times bestsellers Jane Hamilton or Mary Roach, and there will be dozens of others there, as well as they gather for readings and conversations and all kinds of fun book talk.

Great stuff happening, and you can find out more information at civicmedia.us.

It's all there right there on the website.

You know what else is on the website, Conrad?

What's that?

All of the cataloged nightlight shows and daily shows.

So if you miss a show, check out the podcast at civicmedia.us.

And all right, now I'm gonna tell you guys about a movie.

I saw this film in 2017 at the Wisconsin Film Festival, and...

I just, I read about it in the guide.

I had nothing to do.

I was done with my duties there for the day of doing Q&As and introducing films and stuff.

And I went to see it and it was one of the most badass movies I've ever seen.

And it's called Revenge.

And it's about a woman who goes away with her husband for like a romantic getaway.

And these two guys show up, her husband's friends who are very unsavory characters and they sort of, well, they assault her while he's out.

and they're going after her.

She runs and the husband comes back and as it turns out, he's on their side and they're chasing her.

She falls off a cliff.

This is almost gonna sound unbelievable.

She falls off a cliff like 20, 30 feet maybe and a rock goes right through her midsection.

And they just leave her for dead, assuming she's dead.

Well,

She's not.

And the movie is called Revenge.

And if you want to see absolute bad assery at its best, check it out.

I think it's available on a streaming platform.

I'm probably going to watch it again this weekend because it was that cool.

Revenge.

Check it out.

All right.

As you know, or maybe you don't know, what is it?

Baloney Day?

It's National Baloney Day, right?

Yeah, I was I was else.

I didn't know what it was and just send me a lot of baloney stuff.

I was like, maybe just your reminiscent.

Pete Schwaba

That is not my after-bar food.

But we did put together a little, do we have time to play our bologna montage?

All right, so bologna, I don't know how you guys feel about bologna.

As you know, you can always text in or call on whatever we're talking about.

Let us know your thoughts.

You got the question of the night, favorite after-bar food.

And now, if you want to weigh in on bologna, that's fine.

I ate it as a kid.

I don't care for it now.

I think it's a funny word.

I think it's a funny meat, if it is meat.

And we put together a little montage of Baloney.

My Baloney has a first name.

It's O-S-C-A-R.

My Baloney has a second name.

It's N-A-Y-E-R.

Oh, I love to read it every day.

If you ask me why I'll say.

Because Oscar Mayer has a way with biology and A. How's that?

My baloney has a first name, it's a joe m-e-r.

My baloney has a second name, it's a joe m-e-r.

Hey, you got Pac-Man?

No.

Uh, you got spacemakers?

Nope.

You got asteroids?

No, but my dad does.

Can't even sit on a toilet some days.

So, so what do you do here, Theo?

Well, I got a stack of newtie books this high.

Oh, she's beautiful.

Would you want to sell any of them to me?

No, I cherish these things.

I use them a lot.

How do you use a magazine?

I was getting to that.

See, the guy taught me something really neat last year.

Did you ever bop your bowl on me?

Pete Schwaba

Where's the Gaffigan one?

I don't think you sent me that one

Pete Schwaba

Yeah, I did All right, well there's our with our bologna montage Yeah, Gaffigan's oh, there's Norm McDonald Where's the Gaffigan Gaffigan says this whole thing about bologna.

I can't believe that may that made the montage ladies and gentlemen, we'll find it.

It's very funny bit, but Let us know where you stand on bologna.

Are you a bologna fan?

No

Pete Schwaba

Were you ever I

don't I don't recall being like Mom, please get some bologna.

Pete Schwaba

I'm begging you mom layman Rob on social media says pizza and cheese curds together

Yeah,

Pete Schwaba

I

mean why not toss it on there

Pete Schwaba

absolutely Janet from social media says well it was the burritos at Taco Grande is that a green Bay place Taco Grande

She says some of your audience might remember it and the belcher We frequented from 79 to 81 best Best burritos in in town and it was a state street.

Oh, it was out in Madison.

Okay, they moved to Francis Street until the club I'm sorry Janet.

It sounds like a delightful place All right.

Keep those answers coming folks.

We will get to some more of your texts when we come back after the news

We're going to talk dinner detectives.

It's going to be great.

Chris Mays is here.

He's in studio and you got to hear this and you got to try it because it sounds like a lot of fun.

That's coming up next on Nightlight with Peach Waba on the Civic Media Radio

Network.

Pete Schwaba

Our question tonight is what is the best after-bar food?

Our pal Nick Wallander from Comedy City, right?

Depear?

Comedy City Depear.

Yeah.

Nick's great.

We got to get Nick back in here with those guys.

They're always fun to have.

Yeah, do those little improv games.

Absolutely, let's do it.

But Nick says, a grilled cheese sandwich clumsily made in your kitchen while you're trying not to wait for anybody up.

That's a great, only Dave on the stream says, Euro and fries, absolutely.

I've been so, there have been times I've craved a Euro so much, I've gone to Arby's.

I think they're the right sauce, but sometimes you just gotta have that salty meat after the bars.

Keep those texts coming folks, we'll catch up in just a bit.

All right, I am excited to have my next guest in studio.

I don't often have a lot of in-studio guests from north of Green Bay, because that's where I live.

But I do tonight.

This next gentleman joins me in the studio here for the first time, but not this first time on the show.

He is the creator of clearly confused productions, I'm sorry, and he runs great productions as the dinner detective shows.

I'm in trouble talking here.

Mr. Chris Mays, hey buddy.

Hey, nice to see you, Pete.

Nice to see you too.

I'm glad we finally made this work.

You're a busy guy.

You're all over the place.

Yeah.

Yeah,

so

Pete Schwaba

it's good to have you here.

For sure.

Do you have a favorite after bar food?

Well, I heard somebody

mention pizza, so you can't go wrong with that.

Can't go wrong with pizza.

You know, one thing, when I think of late nights and I think of bars, I think of chicken wings.

Oh, there you go.

That's a good one.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah, some garlic parm wings and that sort of thing.

Yeah, that to me is deliciously...

late night.

Pete Schwaba

Do you have a favorite food in general?

I'm asking a guy who lives in Pestigo.

We are not exactly...

the culinary capital of the world is not in Marinette Pesticle.

But

do you have a favorite restaurant there or a favorite, don't

Pete Schwaba

tell me you own a restaurant there.

No, no, I don't.

I mean, late night, yeah, you're pretty much looking quick trip, right?

Or maybe Culver's.

Oh, quick trip's not bad.

No, absolutely.

Get yourself a chicken sandwich.

Yeah, I do a lot of traveling with my work with the dinner detective.

So I mean, you know, I go into all these towns and cities and stuff.

And late night, yeah, I mean, in some of these places like quick trip, nobody beats quick trip.

Pete Schwaba

Listen, you know what would be better?

and I'm nitpicking because I do like quicktrip, but they always go in there and they have cheese curds, and I don't want cheese curds at 11 o'clock at night.

I want the potato, those little potato cheesy things they make.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And

Pete Schwaba

they're in the same box as the

cheese

Pete Schwaba

curds, and I

go in, I'm

Pete Schwaba

like, oh, they have them, and I get up there and it's cheese curds,

which are

Pete Schwaba

fine, but

I,

Pete Schwaba

you

know.

Yeah.

Probably because the cheese curds last longer, you know.

I'm sure.

Which, I don't know if that's good or bad.

probably bad.

Yeah, exactly.

But you know, I don't know if

Pete Schwaba

they take requests either.

Like if I put my order in, would they make

me?

I don't know.

But there's always seems to be somebody in the kitchen, you know, even late at night, I've gone in there and they're in there and they're doing their concocting things.

So

Pete Schwaba

it's fine cuisine.

It's the best gas station cuisine, certainly.

It is absolutely beats Wawa beats all these places.

So what are your thoughts on baloney, Chris?

I used to eat a lot of baloney when I was a kid.

Yeah.

And yeah, I heard you talking about that too.

I have not had a baloney sandwich.

though, and I cannot tell you how long it has been, but you know, hey, it has it has a first name, right?

Well, I see in that whole deal.

I mean, it's got a it's got status.

You know, everybody should have some baloney at some point.

Pete Schwaba

It's like the meat of yesteryear or

days gone

Pete Schwaba

by

because I you're

Pete Schwaba

right.

I used to eat it too.

I

Pete Schwaba

don't think I could if I had a gun in my head, I'd have to do some serious thinking about eating a baloney sandwich.

They're both going to kill you.

Yeah,

Pete Schwaba

eventually.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Pete Schwaba

Anyway, well, it's good to have you here.

Give us a little background before we get into dinner detective, which I'm very

excited

Pete Schwaba

to talk about and clearly confused your company.

Tell us a little background about yourself.

Well, I'm originally not from Wisconsin.

I'm from Las Vegas, Nevada.

I've heard of it, yeah, born and raised.

And, you know, I kind of lived just the average life of a kid there and played sports.

You know, there is a city there and people do grow up there, right?

So, but, and of course, this was entertainment.

I got to see a lot of shows.

You know, I was exposed to that sort of thing, but I never really got into this line of work till I left.

I went to college in a place called Cedar City, Utah.

So I went from three quarters of a million people to about 13,000 overnight.

And I went there to play division one baseball and

I was gonna be a

baseball coach and I was gonna teach history and I said I had my whole plan, you know laid out and then I took an acting class as a as a elective and That led to hey, you should audition for the student directed one acts for the directing class and then I did that and the guy who taught that class was the founder of Utah Shakespeare Festival

So Utah Shakespeare Festival is one of the top five Shakespeare festivals in the world.

Really?

Just right there in Cedar City.

Wow.

So I met him and I started working through the.

the main stage program at the campus and kind of gradually bled on over and kind of left the education track and went into the theater world.

And eventually, yeah, I mean, by the time I was 19, I was working professionally.

I was doing Shakespeare, you know, standing on stage holding spears and carrying notes, getting paid for it.

I didn't have to work at the quick trip or we had Maverick in Cedar City.

And yeah, so it just kind of went from there, Pete, you know, so this is going to be year 34.

I'm working in the business.

And over time, as you know too, being in this line, you diversify.

So everybody kind of starts off as a performer or something like that.

And then I started directing.

I actually started producing before I even left college.

So that's

where I

got my feet wet there.

I was designing.

So I've done pretty much anything you could think of in this business and got really heavy into probably, I would say, about...

24, 25 years ago when it came to producing and administration and operating and did that for different theater companies.

And I worked for a group called Merlin Entertainment.

Merlin Entertainment controls Lego brand, the Mall of America Aquarium, the London Eye, you know, had stuff all over the world.

So I got to actually work in entertainment on a global scale too.

So it's been quite the journey that brought me to where I am now, sitting with you here in

Pete Schwaba

B.A.

Northeast Wisconsin,

baby.

Pete Schwaba

So let me ask you this, because I think everybody knows Vegas and there's big shows and there's residencies and all this stuff.

What's the culture like growing up there for a kid who wants to do theater in high school?

Is there tons of that there?

You think there would be, because of what's on the strip and all the casinos and that, but what's that like there?

You know, when I was in high school, all the high schools had theater programs.

In fact, I went and watched the plays and everything.

I actually got my feet wet, my senior year of high school a little bit.

That's where I kind of, I would say caught the bug and got interested, which led to the acting class.

But like all programs, you're seeing this throughout schools, throughout America.

They're taking them, the theater programs away.

Terrible.

And, you know, Vegas though, I would say overall still probably, I couldn't tell you for specific, but I would say.

I would hope and think at least half the high school still have full-time programs There's a performing arts school there the Las Vegas Academy, which is pretty prominent And it's turned out a couple of guys from the band the Killers went there.

I

think a

con who's a Singer there's been people that have come out of that a lot on professionally and of course went into professional work on other levels Broadway or yeah dancing in some companies and stuff like that So it's there is an arts culture there in Las Vegas, and I think it is fueled by all that

Even myself, I went back and performed in my hometown.

I did a couple different shows, but not when I originally lived there.

I went back, spent about 10 years, and did a couple different shows myself over that time.

So I actually got to perform on the strips.

Pete Schwaba

Chris Mays is my guest.

He is the producer of Dinner Detective.

We're gonna talk about that in a bit, and his company is clearly confused.

Love the name.

We're talking about, he's giving us some background about growing up in Vegas.

He is now a proud resident of Peshtigo, Wisconsin.

Just six short,

miles from Marinette, maybe five, depending on what part of town you live in.

Right.

You mentioned the performing arts high schools.

You have a performing arts school in Pashtago.

And I will say, one of my hesitations about moving back here to northeast Wisconsin, or more specifically, Marinette, because there's a lot of culture around here, but I thought, you know, sports is heavy, which is great.

I like sports.

You really do learn the same lessons when you're part of a band or theater or, you know, these are great programs that should not be cut under any circumstances, but that's a different discussion.

But I'm amazed that you started this school in Peshtigo.

My daughter.

I didn't know you at the time anyway, but my daughter took the answer from your wife.

And now you said, the school's booming.

You have a performing art school.

If you give these programs to kids, they will show up.

Absolutely.

A

Pete Schwaba

lot of places just don't have them.

It's not that they don't want them or wouldn't participate.

So I applaud you for that.

That's really spectacular

what you're doing.

And I really give a lot of credit to my wife, Meg.

arts administrator and dancer, and she started it 10 years ago.

on her own, that was before she met me too.

And launched it and started off with a handful of students and now has grown it into, I think this year it's 120 plus dance, just on the dance side.

I have about 20 kids that I do theater with.

I have a couple theater classes.

But yeah, it's amazing.

I think if you give, it's exactly that.

Give them the tools, give them the opportunity, open the doors for them.

They will go through the door.

And in areas like that too, they don't get exposed to a lot of...

Art, certainly not performing arts.

And so that's one of the interesting challenges I've found because I've done a lot of teaching over time too.

I did end up doing education even though I went into the theater and stuff.

But it's really interesting in that area because I even I was kind of amazed by, wow, they don't really have a lot of access to even coming down, let's say, Appleton over to the Performing Arts Center and seeing a touring show or stuff like that.

So we try to give them that by both teaching the process of the.

of the work and then also giving them product.

Pete Schwaba

That's part of the issue too though is you guys are there.

there's someone there to teach it, you

know,

Pete Schwaba

and that's a big part of it too.

What got you, you're from Vegas, you assume didn't have any connection to Peshcoe when you moved there, except for maybe Meg.

Is that how you got there?

And is she a resident or a native?

Well, she was born in Sturgeon Bay.

Then her family moved to Peshcoe when she was young and she grew up there and she took dance in the area and was a resident of the area.

And then she went off to Chicago and applied her trade there for many years, then came back home and started the studio.

And we met because we were both teaching at a performing arts school in Fargo.

Well, it was in Fargo Moorhead.

So it's basically North Dakota and Minnesota.

I did stand up there in the night.

It's an area, you know, and it's amazing how much art's going on there, you know, and again, where is the art happening?

And that's where we met.

She was teaching dance and I came in to teach some acting and some stage combat.

Yeah.

And that's how we met, you know, we became friends and then our friendship cultivated over time into a relationship.

Pete Schwaba

And that's what brought me up here.

So what's Pashto go like for you?

Did you move, you know,

You know, Vegas is a pretty big city, obviously, and there's a lot going on there, but how is Pesha go for you on a daily basis?

Because I admit, living in Marinette, I am bored to tears.

But I love it.

It's a very easy place to live.

It's not expensive.

The people are nice and it's beautiful.

I do crawl out of my skin sometimes, but I can go to the city or I can go do stuff.

But where are you at with that?

Yeah, I think that's kind of why I live.

It's the same concept.

I mean, I've lived in cities as large.

I've spent time working out of New York, Vegas, Seattle.

Um, in graduate school, my first year I was in a village.

I lived in a town of 89 people that

I

then, you know, drove into where I went to the university.

Um, so I've had this range of kind of places I've lived.

So it's not as shocking to me to be in a place like Peshtigo as some people thought when I moved there, because I had actually gone back to Vegas for an additional time to perform prior to moving out to Peshtigo.

And as soon as I got to Peshtigo, everybody was like,

Are you, how's how you

doing?

You know, it's like, it's almost

like you're a, like a shock victim of some

kind.

It's

like, are you okay?

You know, how are you, how are you handling it?

And I'm like, it's great to me.

You know, I have no, sometimes, yes, it's not even so much the boredom.

It's the ability to just, you know, be able to run in and.

do something in a city, you know, kind of thing.

But I mean, Green Bay's accessible, and we take, we went to Europe this summer for a couple weeks, and we, you know, we always find ways to go cosmopolitan, so we find that balance.

Pete Schwaba

That's great.

My guess is Chris Mays will have more with Chris after a very short break.

Our question of the night is, what is your favorite after-bar food, folks?

And you can weigh in.

What do you think about Bologna?

Not for after-bar food, definitely not.

Pete Schwaba

That's a recipe for disasters.

All right, we're coming back.

This is nightlight with peach waba on the civic media radio network

Kathryn Lake

You're listening to civic media

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

civicmedia.us.

Pete Schwaba

Broadcasting statewide.

Great to have you with me tonight as we do the show from beautiful downtown Green Bay on a gorgeous fall night here in Wisconsin.

Dave on the stream also says Amigos Super Burrito.

We call it the dead baby.

No, that's horrible.

Well, you know, I expect nothing

Pete Schwaba

less

out

Pete Schwaba

of Dave.

I think I'm learning Dave's sense of humor

over these

Pete Schwaba

over these months.

Love it, Dave.

Pete Schwaba

Love it.

Yeah.

Ryan in Madison in the 608 says after bar.

Breakfast pancakes or breakfast burrito.

Yeah,

that's the first time

Pete Schwaba

we've heard pancakes Yeah, Steve from Florida.

That's Conrad's dad says the best way to eat ring baloney.

Oh It like like makes me think of like a ring worm or something Steve says the best way to eat ring baloney is on a stick roasting over a hot fire put it on toasted buttered brought bun and you'll create sandwich brilliance

Boy, I'm in lockstep with your dad on a lot of stuff, but it stops us below.

I don't agree, dad.

Pete Schwaba

And then the 608 John says, it's crazy when you clean off the coffee table in the morning and realize you ate 16 sliders again.

I've been there.

It is terrible.

My guest right now, folks, is Chris Mays.

He drove down here for Pesh to go just to be in the studio.

I love it.

He lives very close to where I live in Marinette.

You were talking about mob hotels in Vegas during the break.

When my wife and I moved to LA in the mid 90s, we got to stay at the, I've read all these mob books.

So I was kind of fascinated by the Stardust Hotel.

I love the

name

Pete Schwaba

and I love the history behind the Chicago mob.

And we got to stay there.

And I think they tore it down like a year later or something.

So a little bit of

history.

Yeah.

Well, it used to be that each one of those.

Casinos were all individually owned.

Yeah, right.

So because they were individually owned, they were operated individually.

Yeah.

And so usually there was some kind of, you know, I don't want to, I mean, it doesn't really exist, right?

We don't

talk about it, but, you know, they were affiliate, you know, they did.

They did things through there and had really built it up, built it up, goes back to Bugsy Siegel and that whole kind of aura of him being there and helping launch it.

But I mean, he goes way back.

Pete Schwaba

And Chris, what was it like in the movie Bugsy?

with Warren Beatty.

He tries to sell the New York mob on building this oasis in the desert, but there was something there.

Was it a trading poster?

It was

a couple gas stations or something?

Well, originally it was a way station between Salt Lake and Los Angeles.

And so then in the LDS church, when their people were

coming

through, they actually kind of established that.

So one of the buildings, it's still one of the few real historical buildings that stands, there's an old Mormon mission.

Hmm, which is basically this adobe building.

This is kind of standing in this desert area that

is

still there.

Oh, yeah, and Yeah, so it was kind of a way station then it became this yeah light entertainment You know in fact Judy Garland performed their way back in the day as a member of the gum sisters.

Hmm because she was one of them Yeah, so I mean it's it's like I said it and then bugsy of course launched the flamingo.

That's what he was right.

It was the flamingo.

Yeah, yeah

I've been thinking about them a lot lately because of this whole other gambling thing that's been going on.

with the news and stuff.

With the mob, with the, oh my God.

It's.

Airful peed, you don't want to get into

Pete Schwaba

that.

You know,

Pete Schwaba

I'm out of the mob.

They let me, they let me

walk away.

What do you

Pete Schwaba

love, what do you love, Chicago?

I do love that whenever I would go, we just had Jimmy Pardo on the other night and he and I went and worked at Casino probably 20 years ago or whatever about just outside of Vegas.

I was reminded, like we went in there at midnight and we just, after the show, we just did stand up and then we went and gambled.

And like,

Eight hours went by like that.

They pumped that pure oxygen in there, and there's no windows, and there's no clocks.

And we were having a blast.

but we left and it was sunny and it's like how the hell long were we in there

like they had a

Pete Schwaba

good scam going you know

the hell

Pete Schwaba

of a feeling

when you walk out after you know i've done that been up all night every time you go eat late night breakfast the person who brought the breakfast absolutely then you walk out yeah i'm blinding sunlight and if it's summertime it's already a hundred degrees yeah oh man you know that's insane yeah it's so much fun though

Pete Schwaba

um

Alright, so I want to get into the dinner detective.

Can we keep you through the news?

Oh, yeah.

So let's let's do that We'll do that after the news because I don't want to rush through it But tell us about this play you're doing and tishmills.

I don't know tishmills You I heard it the other day and then you just told me about tishmills and Sweeney Todd happening.

I need Todd

Pete Schwaba

Yeah,

not a very big city.

No, I I heard about it from a friend who's associated with dinner detective Okay, and she told me a little bit about it and I started following them on social media and things and I went Wow, it's amazing.

What is this tishmills?

Yeah

It's not even a town.

It's like this.

Unestablished village of people basically and but it's called the forced in arts collective And what's amazing the the gentleman Michael sheiks out there?

He has created something that's that I I appreciate because it's not just theater You know a lot times theaters will associate themselves around a certain genre style like musical and things like that Yes, we do that when you taught as a musical But he's willing to do all types of theater all styles of theater genres and so it's pretty impressive in the middle of

Almost, I hate saying nowhere, but yeah, people should come check out.

People might get offended, but

Pete Schwaba

I mean, look, if there's nothing there,

there's nothing there, but it's cool that they have a theater there.

It's an oasis.

We just mentioned oasis earlier.

Yeah, that's exactly what is this little oasis of art.

Pete Schwaba

What's your favorite kind of theater to do, typically, Chris, or over the course of your theater career?

Like, did you have a genre you liked?

You liked the musicals or the comedy

and the dramas?

Yeah, see, that's always a common question.

I enjoyed...

I find the enjoyment all of them because they all bring challenges.

And that's what I like.

You know, when I think when you're younger, you have this kind of lineup of things you'd like to do.

I was very fortunate where I feel like I got to do a lot of those, including Sweeney Todd at one point.

Now I'm doing it again for the second time many, many years later.

So I'm revisiting the role.

But I, you know, I love absurdism.

You know like a Samuel Beckett or an Ian Esco, which people are listening like You know like I find that to be interesting, you know and a great challenge I love the language of Shakespeare, but I always love a good comedy too, you know anything that makes people laugh a farce

Yeah,

instead of farce not too long ago.

We were talking about that and just you know It's nothing better than when you're up there entertaining people and they're just having a great time Yeah, that's what it really comes down.

Pete Schwaba

You cannot beat a live audience.

That's why this is the perfect time to spring this on you count, right?

I think I'd like to start having a live audience in here.

Can you get on that and see what you can come up

with?

Maybe before the show, we'll just corral people in here

Pete Schwaba

for the street.

Bring them in.

Offer them free drinks.

Exactly.

We'll figure it out.

Act 2 is coming up next.

Intermission is upon us, folks.

Chris Mays is going to stick around for a few more minutes.

When we come back, we're going to talk to the dinner detective.

You got it.

This is so great.

And we're going to read some texts and all kinds of fun.

And it's a barman Friday night.

Rocker is here tonight filling in for Terry.

Oh man, lots to come.

Don't go anywhere.

It's Nightlight with Pete Chihuahua on the Civic Media

Kathryn Lake

Radio Network.

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