Documenting Resilience: A Road at Night (Hour 1)

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Broadcasting live from the Civic Media Studios in Green Bay, this is Night Light with Pete Schwabach.

Your inside source on everything entertainment from Wisconsin to Hollywood.

And now, a guy who always reads between the lines until he sees a car coming, Pete Schwabba.

Welcome to Night Light, ladies and gentlemen.

Hey, we're doing this.

It's Wednesday night and beautiful downtown Green Bay, speaking out to the entire state, which is always fun, especially as we lead up to Halloween.

Happy Wednesday, everybody.

Hope you had a great day.

Wherever you're joining us from, welcome, welcome.

Please be part of the show.

Great guest tonight a fun question and Conrad Krieger working the board.

How you doing buddy?

I'm doing good.

How about yourself?

Doing very well.

Thank you I got parking on the street tonight because I was cutting it a little well I got here about 20 to 6 but it was a little closer than I like to cut it but and I was two minutes short

of six o'clock, because they can ticket you after six o'clock here in downtown, or before six o'clock,

I'm sorry.

Yeah, yeah.

So I had enough money, enough loose change in my car to take me to 557, so if I go out there and I have a ticket, I'm gonna raise civic hell.

Isn't that the best though when you find some loose change here?

This will come handy.

Yeah, and you know, what's funny is like, nobody out there, all the spots,

Like all the meters have the red light blinking.

Well, now you just gave them a tip.

All right.

I guess I just alerted everyone's

taking advantage of... It's past six.

I'm just

kidding.

I know, but you could... Listen, if you're trying to meet a quota and you're a cop, there's four right there.

Nobody

paid.

So, I don't know.

I'm just trying to be a good citizen.

So, there you go.

We've got a great show tonight, folks.

Two great guests.

As usual, I can't remember the last time we had a bad guest.

Have we ever had a bad guest count, right?

No, definitely not.

You know, there are some that are more entertaining than other.

If they're interesting, funny, or just nice people, it's fun.

Everyone has their own story.

Everyone has their own story.

Well said.

John Roach will be here at 6.35 tonight speaking of great guests.

He made a documentary called A Road at Night.

It's really, really good.

It's about Howard Moore and his family.

Howard was a...

UW Madison basketball player.

He played his high school ball in Chicago, came up to Madison, fell in love with Madison, met a girl from Madison.

They had a family and there was a tragedy, a car wreck involving a drunk driver and which altered the more families all of their lives.

And we'll talk about that with John at 635.

His documentary is so good.

It will make you fall in love with Madison.

and UW basketball, and the Moore family.

It's just a heartwarming, beautiful story.

And it's gonna be playing at the Driftless Film Festival probably, I think it's November 6th, but we'll talk to John about that.

And then at 7.20, sticking with the spirit of Halloween, our pal from Dork County, Trolley, Carl Syrecki will be here.

Carl was here last year.

told us some great stories about the trolley and the tour they take with the ghost stories and You know what kind of surprised me about that is he did not really hold back.

He said there's some creepy stuff that happens even during the tour occasionally So my wife and I were thinking about going there this weekend and I wonder if I've never been I don't think I've been all the way up to the point by Ellis and Bay where you can look out to Washington Island.

Oh

I was there for a brief moment.

Yeah, recently, right?

Yeah, but it was cool to see the edge of the thumb.

Yeah, and I might have been there, I just can't remember, but I know I've been countless times to Sister Bay, but I don't know that I've been up to Ellison Bay maybe once or twice, but I don't know that I ever saw the actual tip of the thumb, so we might do that, we'll see.

But Carl will be here at 7.20 telling some spooky trolley stories.

He's a history teacher by day.

Yeah, that's

pretty

cool.

Then he runs into a phone booth and puts on the trolley, the trolley director outfit.

You know, I thought of being a history teacher in high school.

Is that right?

Yeah.

Why didn't you?

But then I went for finance.

So you were going to be a history teacher.

You went for finance and now you're producing

radio.

Okay.

You know, I went for finance for like, you know, two semesters and I was like, this sucks.

Listen, that's where the money is if you can deal with it, but I was

the same

way.

I

remember going through that phase where I was like, oh, I should be responsible and go into business.

And I'm like, I don't know the first thing about business.

I'm not even really interested in it.

Why would I do that?

You know,

I got a rude awakening when I took accounting in high school and I did, I got A's in both of the accounting classes I did.

Wow.

And even like the, you know, the last level of it in high school too.

So I went into college thinking, this will be a breeze.

And I took one accounting class, fell way behind.

I was like, this isn't, this is not for me.

This is not for me.

Is it too late to drop a class?

I was like that in high school, I took an accounting class and it was like debit credit, that should be it.

You got more than you spend, you spend more than you got.

What else is there?

But oh my God, there's a ton of stuff.

And after about three days, I just completely spaced out.

I probably got like a D plus in the class because the teacher thought it was funny.

But it's terrible.

Yeah, I'm not good at that stuff.

So anyway, John Roach, Carl Sarecki, two great guests, and we have a question we should probably get to because I think it's a fun Halloween question.

So let's get to the nightlight 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.

Oh, we got a good one, folks.

A good one in the spirit of Halloween.

Tonight's question is, what is the perfect Halloween double feature?

You're in for the night.

It's raining, maybe windy, stormy.

Kids are done trick-or-treating, grandkids, whatever.

What's the Halloween double feature?

It's on a Friday this year.

So it's a great night to kick back, make some popcorn and watch two scary movies.

What is your Halloween double feature?

855-752-4842, 855-75 Civic.

You can drop us a comment on the app.

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On Facebook X or YouTube it drop us a stream comment and if you're watching on Facebook or X give us a like and or a follow if you're so inclined I gotta be honest I'm still thinking about this So I'm why don't you go?

I really can't I'm not a big scary movie guy, but I'm kind of having trouble figuring out what my second movie should be

You know, I'm not a huge horror fan either, but I like when they combine it with comedy

Okay,

yeah, so that's why I picked a haunted house.

That's with Marlon Waynes And a haunted

house too.

Oh my god.

I've never even heard of those.

It's so funny and They basically parody in the first one.

It's paranormal activity.

They parody Yeah, and in the second one.

It's like a mixture.

They do you know the doll Annabelle?

Yeah,

they do a parody of that.

Those are movies, right?

Yeah

They do the parody of the site in the second one.

So

it's gotta be.

I mean, if the Wayne's brothers are involved, I would think it's hilarious.

Sometimes I find those guys

funny and sometimes I just I'm like, next.

Yeah, it's they have some great actors in it, too.

In the second one, Gabriel Glacius shows up.

I know you love Gabriel

Glacius.

Oh, the

comedian.

Yeah, I was thinking Julio's kid Enrique.

OK, gotcha.

Yeah, no, I listen I got nothing against Gabriel Glacias.

I just couldn't follow It

was a

it was a defining moment in my comedy career All right, those are two and those easy same franchise and I just I just Figured out what my second movie will be.

Here's what I'm gonna do I'm gonna start off with rear window, which is not a horror film, but it's scary.

There's a murder

It all takes place in New York City where Jimmy Stewart can look out and see the other apartments and he sees what he thinks is a terrible crime.

Great movie, one of my all-time faves.

And then I would segue into The Shining, which is a bona fide horror film.

Yeah.

So those are my two.

That's my double feature.

Conrad's got his double feature.

What is your Halloween double feature that is tonight's question of the night?

Let us know be part of the show folks always more fun when you guys participate I will say I finished the movie.

I think I mentioned this the other day a house of dynamite It's Catherine Bigelow directed.

She's very good director great action director And it was good It was like a non-linear telling of a nuclear warhead headed to America and they pick it up and they're trying to figure out if they should retaliate They don't really know where it's from so that there and lies kind of the conflict

for the president played by Idris Alba.

And I liked that.

He was portrayed as very human.

Like what do I do?

They don't know who launched it.

And there were people telling him just nuke all your enemies.

So there's like a moral dilemma.

And he wasn't that typical macho movie president.

He was like really conflicted like what would I do?

And what would you do?

You got your enemies saying they didn't send it, they deny it.

I think the first city that went was Cleveland.

Another one was headed right for Chicago.

Like cities would be obliterated.

What do you do in response?

So it was interesting and it ended very ambiguously.

Like they don't really give you a finite ending of what happened.

But I think it's supposed to just ask a question, but I did like it.

It moved, got pretty good reviews.

I didn't love it, but I was entertained.

So there you go.

If you're watching something, share that with us as well, folks.

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So definitely check out Civic Media today.

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So where are you going, Conrad?

You're gone tomorrow.

You're leaving

on the eve

of Halloween.

What gives?

Yeah, I got a pretty early flight.

You got

a fight before you hit the road?

Who are you fighting?

9.30.

That's my flight time.

So actually, it's pretty nice.

Is that too bad?

And it's only like...

I get an hour to Chicago from Appleton, and then Chicago to Tennessee.

So it's not, you

know, it's not total travel time is five hours with the- The layover?

The layover, thank you.

Yeah, so I'm going to Tennessee to see one of my best friends get married.

Well done.

Are you in the party?

I

am.

Are you in the party?

Okay.

Yep.

Best man?

Not best man, his brother is, but I'm

up

there.

There is no shame in losing best man status to a relative, right?

Yeah.

Have you been to Tennessee?

Yeah, actually where we're going is Gatlinburg.

Okay,

and I went there when I was 10 Somewhere around that age.

I went to Gatlinburg I stayed at this kind of a cool resort when I was younger and it's just it's such a cool area because there's mountains, you know everywhere It's very beautiful and one of the main things is there was a huge attraction there I think I don't know if it's still there or not, but you go all the way up this like Gondola kind of thing and it goes all the way up.

It's at the top of a mountain

Okay, it's really cool.

Yeah, so

Gallenberg that is cool.

I I think I I think at some point on the show I talked about when I flew there because I was in a movie I had a small part in a movie so I flew to Tennessee the taxi driver picked me up and he took my hotel was like a 45 minute drive and He was telling me the story about a city.

I can't remember the name of the city, but it had nuclear issues

That's always nice to hear.

Yeah, and he said he goes

he goes well, I'm not gonna bore you with the whole story

There's this long pause and he goes, but basically, he went into this long story.

But every time he mentioned a Tennessee city, he mentioned Gatlin.

Is it Gatlinburg?

Yeah.

I go, is that the home of the Gatlin brothers?

He goes, he just looks and he goes, no.

And then there was like

another city that was like, or Oak Ridge it was.

That's the nuclear city.

Oh, okay.

And I said, is that where the Oak Ridge boys are from?

He goes, no.

I was just trying to connect.

Like, I thought this is where these bands got their name and he totally, I don't know.

He didn't like me, Conrad.

I'm just trying to

connect.

Did he tip him at least?

Probably.

All right, we're coming right back to read your texts.

Our question of the night.

What's your Halloween double feature?

It's Peach Wabba and Nightlight on the Civic Media radio

network.

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.

I'm Pete Schwabba, this is Nightlight.

So fun on a Wednesday, major holiday right around the corner, folks.

There is a, there's a nip in the air and some, some creepy, some creepy winds blowing.

Halloween is right around the corner.

Our question of the night is what is your Halloween double feature?

I said rear window, which isn't a horror film, but it's, you know, it's scary.

It's a, involves a murder.

And then I went with the shining.

Which just is beyond creepy to me and not even the like The parts of the shining that scare me the most Are not even like the over-the-top or overt scary scenes like where he's got the axe or it's just the stuff like where he's in the men's room talking about to the attendant and you can hear the Party that doesn't even exist in the background So many creepy things like that and Nicholson's just creepy even when he takes the gig and he's talking to the hotel manager

He's he's just a creepy guy Conrad said I've already forgotten

a hundred house

wins brothers franchise

a haunted house, and then a haunted house, too.

Okay

So what's yours?

What did you say rich tell Rico posted?

I

saw it on Facebook lover just post he said he he said he ordered no show socks and it never came

I love his key and peel skit is so funny.

The substitute teacher.

It's, it's, you know, it's in the Smithsonian, correct?

Yeah.

And it's just like, it's brilliant.

I'm pretty sure everyone my age and older too.

It's like part of my childhood was always saying names wrong because of that

skit.

And when he came on the show last time he was on the show, he said, he said, let's do a bit.

And I was like, oh man, I'm gonna improv with this second city alumni

who's this

great sketch writer.

And yeah, he's so funny and such a great guy.

So that's good stuff.

Let's read some of our social media responses.

JB Thompson, the guy behind the guy.

Conrad.

Behind the guy.

Yeah.

Ed Geene, the musical and the godfather of Green Bay.

Oh boy.

Although Tim

Tim's Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein is amazing.

And also Daniel Wheeler's last witch in Wisconsin and scary movie three.

So many options.

My JB is a sale.

That's that's another comedy, you know, with scary movies.

He worked a lot of movies into that.

That he has ties to most of them.

The Godfather of Green Bay, he doesn't.

But that's not, I mean, it wasn't supposed to be scary.

I meant it as a comedy.

Thank you, JB.

Rich Lucasio, W.R.J.N.'

's own Rich Lucasio says, Ernest scared stupid.

An army of darkness.

Why do I think Rich might be serious about that Ernest movie?

You know, I've never seen the Ernest movies.

So they're not

scary.

They're just they're scary because It's the hey, Vern guy.

Hey, Vern You made a whole bunch of bad movies, but they're probably funny if you're in the right mood, I guess Children's book illustrator Rob Momarts says Halloween and Halloween to the originals.

Okay, there you go another franchise guy for you Conrad

My pal Tim Baker says, Evan Costello meet Frankenstein and the original Frankenstein.

Evan Costello meet Frankenstein is one of those, it was like a scary funny movie before they really became a thing.

But a good film.

Richard Vargas on social media says, young Frankenstein and John Carpenter is the thing.

I always forget about the thing.

That's a really scary movie.

You know what's a terrifying movie?

The human centipede.

Have you ever seen that or heard about it?

What is it do not?

Why is it just gory is?

It's

gotta be imagine a centipede.

Yeah, no imagine That's all that you had me a centipede.

I'm scared to death of centipedes

now imagine bodies forming in the shape of a centipede

So it's like the substance with me more almost.

I you know, just it's it's a really really really creepy movie I had nightmares from that movie.

I don't want to see it

Director, writer, producer, John Roach will be here at 635, folks.

We're gonna tell you where you can see his outstanding documentary, A Road at Night, and 720.

Carl Sarecki from Door County Ghost Trolley Tours joins us.

Carl is a lot of fun and will tell us some great ghost stories about Door County.

I love it.

Every time I go to Door County, I just wanna move there.

And it's weird, because I think that means I'm getting older.

Like, I always liked it, but I would never go, oh, I got to move to Dork County.

But it's gorgeous.

Oh,

yeah.

414, Edward says the fog and the original Halloween.

Adrienne Barbeau, busty as ever.

Radio host and Antonio Bay.

Edward.

A lot of people have been dropping comments.

Was that Edward the other night that talked about the lesbian action in one of those

movies?

I mean, what is happening here?

I don't know.

Listen folks, we'll do we'll do we'll talk about sex more on the show.

Maybe that's what maybe the audience the couch potatoes are under sexed or is it over sex?

I don't know.

We'll try to cover sex more Eliza from Green Bay.

She's in the oh, it's a 513.

I

think that's

Cincinnati.

That's Eliza Cussanheart.

Oh, that's Eliza

could be an Australian area could she says practical magic and sleepy hollow.

I've never seen practical magic Sleepy hollow is pretty creepy though

And she says, this is Eliza, and I'm right.

What does that mean?

That she's right about the films.

That's the only options.

I'm not going to fight you, Eliza.

Probably lose anyway.

Awesome stuff.

Thank you, Eliza, for the text.

Chris from the 608 says, Ober Gettlenberg.

That's a Tennessee text for Conrad, I think.

Ober Gettlenberg.

Yeah.

You

make anything of that?

I don't know.

I'm going there, I guess.

You

might have to Google it.

Maybe Chris is trying to direct you to a fun attraction.

Uh, 608 Tyler says, uh, Halloween double feature, the witch with Anna Taylor joy and the wicker man with the original sneaky scary.

Oh,

okay.

Oh, okay.

I just looked it up.

That's the resort I went to when I was younger.

Oh, that's kind of creepy.

Yeah.

How did he know that?

Maybe it's

famous.

Or maybe, yeah, maybe.

Uh, four one four a Jack.

It says, I'm a bit of a sci-fi buff, so my favorite horror movie, my horror movie choices would be The First Alien and Pitch Black with Vin Diesel.

First Alien, forgot about the first Alien.

Great movie.

Eliza, again, says, actually, the Babadook Australian.

Australian, so I got it.

I have not seen that.

Let's Google that one too, Conn.

All right, we'll get to more of your texts later.

John Roach is going to be here after the news.

His documentary, A Road at Night, is so great.

We're going to tell you where you can see it.

It's Pete Schwabba in Nightlight.

So glad you're with me on the Civic Media Radio Network.

Hey, this is Jamie McChain, and you're listening to Nightlight

with Pete Schwabba.

Welcome back.

Another great show.

Jamie McShane from TASK.

If you haven't seen TASK yet, folks, check it out.

Very good show on HBO.

He plays the main bad guy, and he's excellent.

Great cast, great writing by the same creator of Mare from Easttown.

Another great show.

All right, so our question of the night, folks, is what is your Halloween double feature?

Give me a couple scary movies you'd like to watch back to back on a rainy, cold, windy Halloween night.

It's just a couple days away.

Right now we are going to turn our attention though to a great documentary and a really good guy who is behind that documentary.

He's a very accomplished man of production and writing and all kinds of great showbiz achievements.

He's had the pleasure of doing throughout his career.

God, I am.

This is really awkward, Conrad.

I can't talk tonight.

What does the matter with me?

It's okay.

You got it.

I believe in you.

So drunk.

It's my pleasure to welcome Mr. John Roach back to Nightlight.

Hey, buddy.

Hey, Pete.

How

are you?

I'm not

drunk.

I'm buzzed at the mall.

Trust me, John.

This is I take this

seriously.

Hey, and whatever gets you where you need to go.

By the way, mine are non-traditional free solo and blue velvet because that cliff haunts my dreams that that film

Scared the living hell out of me free solo and then Dennis Hopper haunts my dreams and then a more traditional horror film mid-summer The Norwegian film

I still have not seen that.

I hear it's outstanding.

Oh my god.

Oh my god.

Yeah, I guess it's um It's unset every frame is unsettling

Really?

Yeah,

that's

on my list.

I gotta check that out.

They played that I think that was at the Wisconsin Film Festival is one of their features about

I don't know, five or six years ago, and it looked

really good.

Well, given the amount of Norwegians in Wisconsin, that was a smart play.

Exactly.

And you have a connection to Blue Velvet because you co-wrote the straight story with Mary Sweeney at David Lynch Film,

an

outstanding David Lynch film.

So great.

So, and I think I told you this last time you were here, John, I saw a blue velvet.

I was probably 17 or 18.

And I was like, am I the whole time?

I'm like, I'm not sure I'm supposed to be watching this.

It was

like, is it

kid from a small town or, you know, a small neighborhood?

I was like, I couldn't even believe what I was watching.

Great movie

though.

Well, just Dennis Hopper makes your skin crawl in that

film.

Yeah.

And there's great humor.

Like I remember Laura Dern.

had some great lines too.

And she's like, I'll beat the horn three times.

I'll go one, two, three.

Yeah.

Just

that great David Lynch humor.

So how you doing?

I'm doing very well.

It's great to have you here, John.

And any chance I get to talk about your documentary A Road at Night is an absolute thrill because

it's such

a

good film.

Thank you so

much, Pete.

You're very welcome.

And I was surprised and happy it's still doing the festival circuit.

When I saw it was going to be a drift list, I got kind

of

excited.

I thought, oh, great.

I can have John back on the show.

So that's a great

venue.

Oh, wonderful.

Yeah, we got some good news on them and have to be a little veiled about it, but we are going to be doing a theatrical run in Madison a famous Wisconsin cinema chain I have to be I don't know what I'm supposed to say so I don't want to as they say screw the pooch and so But we are going to be opening in Madison for a week or two maybe longer

And then they're also looking at Milwaukee in Chicago because obviously there's a big badger contingent in Milwaukee and because in Chicago because Howard Moore is from Chicago Mike Finley is from Chicago Tracy Webster is from Chicago a lot of the key players in the film are from there Yeah, and And Howard was a coach in Chicago at UIC for a while.

Yeah, and so

We will have some sort of formal announcement.

I suspect coming in the next couple of weeks, which is great because we had a private screening at Union South about a year ago.

And then we were lucky enough to be in the Wisconsin Film Festival.

And if I may brag on my cohorts, we won the audience favorite award for the.

for the festival, so we'll probably fly one of those little floor delis on our posters.

And you know, there's a lot of good local stuff there, so to come away with that was pretty good.

And then, yeah, the folks at Driflus reached out to us, which I was thrilled because, you know, we worked on the project for three years, but the wheels of distribution roll slowly.

So we did reach out to the big streamers and CAA and the Hollywood game.

And we were told there's about a three-year backlog now in documentaries for the streamers.

And we were a humble piece.

We weren't episodic.

It wasn't sudden.

Although it was about a crime, it wasn't a lurid who'd done it.

Female and Danger type series, which they love.

And so, but I think after the theatrical run, which we've been made to do that first before we were going to go to 2B or YouTube, supported advertising, whatever, and throw it out there wide with few impediments to see it.

Because at the root of it all is we want to help the more family, but also we want what happened to them to happen to fewer people.

And there is a component of the greater good in the piece, which is true of a lot of documentaries.

Oh, yeah, totally.

So, John, let's talk about that.

For those who may have missed your previous appearances here, tell us a little bit about, you know, we talked about Howard Moore, but what is the movie about?

Just give us a background.

Sure.

So Howard Moore is one of the most beloved Wisconsin, University of Wisconsin athletes ever.

He was not a big star, but he was a remarkable leader.

He had an electric personality, as did his wife, Jennifer.

Howard did a stint as an assistant at Wisconsin under Bo Ryan, got a head job at UIC, had lost that job, came back to work for Greg Gard and was recruiting for him.

Howard recruited Frank Kaminski and Mike Finley for Wisconsin.

He recruited Finley when he was a player and really leaned on the Chicago Ties.

And then as an assistant coach, he was on Frank Kaminsky very early.

And for folks who don't know sports, which this is much more than a sports doc, Frank, Frank Kaminsky was the NCAA basketball play of the year in 2016, 2015, maybe.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And so it was during Wisconsin's two final four runs.

And Howard and his wife, while Howard was an assistant and their two children were taking Memorial Day weekend of 2019 to go visit Jennifer Moore's mother in Detroit.

Jennifer's from Detroit, but came to Wisconsin and got in the engineering school.

A young woman of color in the engineering school at Wisconsin in the 90s was a rare bird indeed.

They were past Chicago and just outside Ann Arbor.

They were hit head-on by a drunk driver, a young woman named Samantha Winchester, going the wrong way on what was effectively an interstate.

And it was a turn, so there was very little room to react.

Jennifer was driving.

And sadly, both Jennifer and their daughter, Jayden, lost their lives in as a horrific way as you can imagine because the

vehicle was engulfed in flames.

Again, there's some beauty and a lot of humor, by the way, and a lot of hope in the piece.

But the actual accident is just, again, the stuff of nightmares.

And then Howard had a setback in recovery that was devastating.

But it's also about...

teammates, the way his teammates came from all over the country to that hospital room and rallied behind Howard and assistant coaches and, you know, the entire UW Athletic staff, they were all there to offer consolation and help to the more family.

And this is about Howard's journey back.

And it's, you know, I said very early on, Pete, when I was

It's a weird thing to tell people what your movie's about, right?

Because really, at the heart of it, I'd rather have the people watching the movie determine what it's about for themselves.

I hate, just as someone who's dabble in screenwriting, I hate dialogue that illuminates plot.

Right,

right.

I don't like dialogue.

This is oh, so we're doing this and we're gonna do that right?

It's like shortcutting right and in likewise I don't want to say too much about the film because I think every film should be an Exercise in discovery and the audience each member of the audience going on their own journey through the story, right?

Yeah, there's some cryptic things in it early on and all so I don't want to say too much but

In the early goings, I said, well, even though this has to do with basketball players at the University of Wisconsin, it's really not a sports documentary.

Right.

And at first I said it's a documentary about dunk driving and then I realized it's not even that.

It's about how random life can be and sometimes random and awful.

Right.

And that

All of us who are healthy and whose children are healthy and stuff like that, it just makes you grateful that something like what happened to the Moors has not been visited upon you.

So a lot of people said they called their relatives after the film and in a perverse way almost it made them grateful and also obviously

just felt great compassion for the Morris.

You're right, John.

My guest is John Roach.

He is the director of the film A Road at Night, a great documentary about Howard and Jennifer Moore and their family.

And you're absolutely right, John.

The tragedy in it brings out this beauty.

Like you said, teammates rallied around him and flew to his hospital

room.

And there's humor.

You know, teammates never miss a chance to give each other crap.

Right.

And, you know, there is humor in the ramp up as well.

You know, some big belly laughs.

So, you know, I always say a good film will make you laugh, cry and think.

Yeah.

You're absolutely right the first part of the film too is this great like you just watch this and you're like this guy who I think you say at one point in the movie only scored a hundred points in his whole career It was not a big star in the team But people he like he had an electric personality people were drawn to him and he went to bat for Frank Kaminsky And I think it was Greg guard that said if you push for Kaminsky coach Ryan's gonna fire you he

did it anyway He was

beloved and his teammates 20 years later after

they were teammates flew to be with him after the accident.

That says a lot about a person.

So you have all of these uplifting inspirational things that happen after this tragedy.

That to me is the beauty of the film.

You know, I can tell you a couple of things that aren't in the film, but show what happened.

So one of Howard's teammates was an athlete named Moselle Peterson.

Howard is bedridden.

He is in a striker bed.

If anyone knows what a striker bed is, you see him in hospitals to help turn patients over and everything.

Moselle Peterson works for Striker Bed and had one delivered to the Moore's house.

While we were shooting interviews with Howard's mother, father, and his brother, a big semi truck pulls into their driveway and unloads a huge container carton.

slides it down with all this mechanical stuff and they open it up and it's a hyperbaric chamber that Michael Finley had delivered to the house because with the injuries that Howard had after the accident.

hyperbaric chambers force oxygen into your cells and help revitalize them.

And Howard was having to get in a van and go down onto campus at the University of Wisconsin, which is a production with his condition.

And Mike Finley, God bless him, just said, well, enough of that and had it delivered to the house.

I mean, that's just gobsmacking.

It's like...

That's

that's amazing John.

Let's pick up right there We had to do a really short break and then we'll come back and talk more about a road at night the director John Roach is here and we'll tell you where you can see it next It's peach wabba and nightlight on the civic media radio network

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This is Nightlight IMP Chihuahua.

Great to have you with me.

It's a beautiful Wednesday night here in downtown Green Bay and all over the state of Wisconsin, which is where we are broadcasting.

So wherever you're joining us from, it's great to have you.

I'm talking with John Roach, an incredibly, a guy who's had just a really interesting career and his latest project is A Road at Night.

I saw it, I had the opportunity to interview John on PBS Wisconsin on Director's Cut and first learned of this film there and I've gotten to know John since and I just love this movie.

And I recommend if you're in the Driftless area, November, is it November 6th, John?

It's

November a Saturday night, November 8th.

November 8th, okay.

Check out this film.

And you know, it's at the mineral point.

You know, Driflus area is just, I'm a sucker for that part.

I build a hand of farm in Barnabeld in high school to get in shape for football for three summers.

And that's at the gateway to the Driflus area.

Wouldn't it have been

easier just not to play

football?

yeah this you know I mean I played before they even had weights so you had to do something yeah yeah but um they contacted us thankfully and I am it's in the mineral point opera house we we did uh we were at the

We were at two other film festivals after the Madison Film Festival, the Boyd Film Festival and the Dubuque Film Festival.

And they were really kind of test screenings.

But you know, these small towns and their film festivals, it's the most endearing thing.

Dubuque is a remarkably cool town.

And they had, they screened our film in the opera house there.

And it's like, man, if this place could talk.

Yeah.

And likewise with Mineral Point, there was that era where everyone had an opera house.

And it's timely because there'll be a little buzz from the Driftless Film Festival.

And then my partners on the film, George Hamilton, Valentine, and Heather Garrison, we've all been slogging along, trying to figure out this distribution thing.

And George is a wonderful philanthropist for the University of Wisconsin.

He helped build the new music school.

And he served on the Comm Arts Board with Sean Hannish.

And Sean had just a bit outside, which was a great local doc and had a great run in Milwaukee.

It was about the 82 Brewers, timely for this year for the Brewers run.

Definitely.

And so he came up with a really good little, you know, more than little regional run.

And what's interesting is that these major theater chains, especially with the advent of streaming, COVID took their legs up from beneath them, but they're more open now to running

what Roger Ebert used to call wood burning cinema, local, local films.

And so Sean's been helping and his partner Kelly called, they've been helping us out.

They distributed the Packer movie about the Jip, the Packer fans.

Yeah, no Packers, no

life.

Oh, sure.

Right.

And you and I was with that director on your show.

Oh, Craig

Benzene, that's right.

The film festival.

Yeah, he was a great, great guy.

So Sean is helping us get that together.

And so it's going to be in February or March.

I don't know what the date is.

I really hope people get to see this, Sean.

It's such a great film.

And my last question for you about this, and I hope, can we keep you for a few minutes through the news?

Of course.

Pete,

I feel like I'm having malort with you at the corner bar.

Well, I was joking about being drunk before but that

would be I know

that would be fun to have a beer with you, John So let me ask you this how did you I'm sure you heard about the accident You knew who Howard Moore was but what was it or how did you find this project in terms of like a documentary can take?

minimum maybe two years of your life, but probably more what made you decide to Throw yourself into this particular project.

Well, it's friendship

Tim Valentine who represented Bo Ryan Paul Christ he represents Greg guard as an attorney and he's a dear friend our kids played basketball together You know our wives are friends.

We're just buddies.

We were separated at birth.

So Tim and George are good friends and One of the most awful things about what happened to the Moore family is it happened to them right before COVID so

He had this terrible accident and incredibly challenging health issues, and the whole world was dark for two years, and COVID sucked all the oxygen out of the air, almost literally.

And when people came back, George Hamill, who's an avid Wisconsin fan, said to Tim, when people started getting together, he said, how is Howard?

And Tim,

God bless him.

He has been doing pro bono or legal work for the Moors for five years to help them with the incredible amount of stuff that happens when you have someone as egregiously injured as Howard and there's estates for Jennifer and it was just it was just overwhelming and So Tim told George that Howard was in a very challenging

very challenging condition.

And George said immediately, well, we have to do something.

And then we have to communicate this to the university community and Wisconsin community at large.

And so then Tim said, let's call Roche.

So Tim and George came to me and I said, well, first of all, this is in a four minute fundraising video.

I think this is a doc.

Um, um, and I, you know, um, Pete, you know, I did a show in Chicago called the sports writers on TV, which was four guys smoking cigars around a table and it was a little bit of a, um, you know, pioneered sports talk, which is kind of not that great of a claim to fame, but.

One thing I learned with that show is that sports is at its best when it transcends sports.

Magic Johnson and AIDS.

And so this story, even though sports is kind of the launching pad, is much bigger.

And so I knew that there were a lot of elements there.

And then we're motivated to help Howard.

Very simply, the more's needed help.

Very well said John and the project is outstanding.

It's a great film We're gonna have we're gonna keep John and I'm gonna ask John when we come back about that trend-setting Show he just mentioned the sports writers on TV.

We'll do that when we come back and We'll remind you where you can see a road at night.

That's all an act to after intermission here as we cut to the news This is peach wabba and nightlight on the civic media radio

network

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