Rockin’ for a Cause: Joey’s Song (Hour 2)

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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 man barely six feet tall, but a mountain of muscle, Pete Schwabba.

You know it.

Welcome back, folks.

This is Nightlight, a Tuesday night edition, and we are broadcasting live from beautiful downtown Madison, our state's capital, just above State Street here.

It was really fun.

If you missed hour one, we talked to Dr. Lyrely, not necessarily a great subject matter.

Talking about the flu.

And this year's outbreak which has gotten really bad and some Respiratory issues happening around the country.

It's gotten out

of out of hand kind of you the flu Yeah, I'm not this year.

Not this year.

Okay.

All right Well, I'm

hoping not to get

it Really?

Yeah, I don't want it He's not the best color man in the business for nothing folks.

Do you like what I say that and compare you to?

Bob Euker sidekick and just a bit outs

just a bit outside.

I mean, he's great.

So I

love it.

You like any connection to Wisconsin sports.

That's why I know I could say those things to you.

That's Conrad Krieger, folks.

He is working the board tonight back in Green Bay.

Coming up at 6.35, Rob Thomas is here.

He is a Madison-based film critic and the CityCast Madison newsletter editor.

We'll talk to Rob about what's going on around town in January here in Madison and movies and award shows.

That will be fun.

Then at 7.35 tonight, my pal Jim McHugh, a very funny Chicago-based comedian and Packer fan.

will join the show and he will represent Packer fans in Chicago and I will represent Bear fans here in Wisconsin and he and Conrad can gang up on me.

It'll be a fun discussion about the big game this weekend.

Our question of the night is what is your favorite soap opera or cheesy drama?

I said the following because it was really bad.

It was a Kevin Bacon show a few years ago where they had like a big mansion that serial killers could hang out in and they play ping-pong.

It was just a very strange world.

that seemed, I don't know, really made up in Conrad Lake's days of our lives because of friends, because of another TV show.

Dr. Drake or Maury?

Dr. Drake or Maury.

So let us know what your favorite soap opera or cheesy drama is tonight, folks.

That is tonight's question, 855-752-4842-855-757.

You can also text us on the app.

Or if you're watching the radio on the stream, go ahead and drop us a stream comment.

we have some comments we'll get to in just a bit.

Right now, I'm very excited to welcome my next guest.

He was on the show a few weeks ago and I thought we should have Mike back on when I'm in Madison, because he could come into the studio and we can make a proper case for this really cool event that is literally just around the corner here.

Mike Gamal, the founder of Joey's Song, joins me in the studio.

Hey, buddy.

Pete, how are you, man?

Great to have you here in person.

You are a rocker, man.

You look like...

Because before I... Disheveled.

Well, you got that rock and roll thing going, and I'm kind of disheveled too, but I can't claim to the fact that I'm this great musician.

But you're here and playing the part, and you look like a rock and roller who is putting on a really cool rock event for a very good cause.

Well, part of the reason I can do this is I spent...

25 years working for IBM when I was a grown-up.

Wow.

And I didn't get to do this.

Okay.

Wow.

So now that

I'm retired,

I get to

let it grow, baby.

I don't have to be a

grown-up.

I put my tattoos

and all that other

stuff that I couldn't do back in the day.

So yes, it is a really cool event, Joey's son.

All right.

So tell us.

Tell us about Joey's song.

You started this this event in honor of your son and now it's become a full-blown music festival Tell us how it started and about Joey and and how this wonderful event came to be

Well, you know the evolution of it Pete is is actually kind of mind-boggling to be really on there was no master plan You know I didn't sit down and craft

it all

out.

We started out my son had a really terrible form of epilepsy called Dravet syndrome Epilepsy is like a lot of

illnesses.

It's a spectrum disorder.

There's tons of causes, tons of ways that manifests itself, some severe, some not.

And unfortunately, Joe got on that really far end of that bell curve.

And when we lost him in 2010, just shy of his fifth birthday, we thought we need to, we actually thought about trying to do something before he had passed his prognosis was really bad.

He was going to need care all of his life.

But we felt like maybe there's something we could do.

And I had spent a lot of time here in Madison long time ago back at a club called Headliners, which was down on University Avenue.

And we had a lot of the described as the MTV bands on the way up and the

60s.

So we had you two and the police.

Oh,

my

gosh.

You know, all of them when they're first and second albums are coming out.

And then, you know, Savoy Brown and all these bands on the way down.

Yeah.

But the key to all that is there was this guy kicking around Madison at the exact same time called Butch Vig.

Right.

And so Butch and I, we weren't particularly close.

We hung around with the same group of folks,

right?

And

then Butch went on to win Grammy Awards, MTV Boon Man.

I mean, you win a Grammy Award for producing Paul McCartney.

You've pretty much hit the top or most of the pop.

That's some

street cred right there.

Yeah.

Let me get

you.

So anyway,

when we were trying to hash out exactly what we were going to do, because we still wanted to help, we say help the next family, right?

And that's what we're here

to do.

Somebody is sitting in.

Was in a neurologist's office today with their child getting a really crummy diagnosis and they're scared.

They're scared and they don't know what to do and They need to know that somebody's out there doing what they can't right?

So Joey's song is our attempt to use some of my and then through osmosis butchers musical connections and now it's kind of grown to turn into this this two-night music festival We change it up every year last year was four nights this year It's two nights because we try to make it a little bit different every year

get all these amazing people that come from all over and play music that they don't normally play.

It's like the world's greatest live jukebox as opposed to anything else and it's all in the name of trying to raise money.

It's a beautiful thing.

And I love what you said when you were on the show previously that they don't take money to do it.

They come here

They play music, they get to play music, they don't always play, so you make it fun for them.

Rock camp for musicians.

Yeah, I mean, what a fun thing.

It really is, I mean, as tonight's Tuesday, and they'll start coming into town tomorrow.

Wow.

Almost all of them will be in town as of tomorrow.

They'll rehearse, because even though it's kind of ramshackle, it's also, they're still professional,

right?

They want to do a

good job.

And they come and...

Two beers and a ham sandwich is what I say

their fee is.

I don't know what... It's a good

Wisconsin

pavement,

right?

There's some cheese curds

in

there.

But, you know, just look at some of these people.

I know what, like John Resnick or the Goo Goo Dolls gets for a show.

Yeah.

It's... There's many zeros after that.

He's, you know, he's not taking a penny for it.

I know what Butch gets to produce a record.

He's, you know, and go right down the list.

The go-go's, the bangles.

you know, Kurt Smith from Tears for Fears, Matt Sorm from Guns and Roses.

I mean, all of these people make a lot of money doing what I'm asking them to do for free, and they come in willingly and do it.

I can't really, down to Swithy Pete, get my mind around it sometimes.

I can't even imagine.

Like, it's so funny.

I'd like to sit here and tell you.

I mean, I've pretty much been, in some form of show business, my entire adult life.

And I'd love to say, oh, I'm not starstruck, but...

John Resnick, you mentioned.

When I moved to LA, I was there probably a year, and I was going into a convenience store, and he came out with a big gulp.

I'm like, that's the guy from the Google.

Just getting a big gulp.

He's just a regular dude.

You knew Butch Vig before he was Butch Vig.

I've interviewed him twice.

I never knew.

When I saw him, and we were in the green room together at PBS, I was like, my god, that's Butch Vig.

There are some celebrities that have done, you don't know why they're famous.

And then there are those who are like, this guy has done something.

He's produced all different kinds of music, won awards doing it.

And you kind of sit there and you're like, what do I say to him?

And then Butch starts talking about the Packers.

I'm like, OK, there we go.

And obviously I have no BV for a long time.

So I knew that.

But you meet all these people.

If you don't, I don't even know how to say this without sounding weird.

If you don't treat them like something special, they love it.

You

know, right?

They would rather, most all of these people would rather talk about the Packers or their crocheting class or hot yoga than what the 86, you know, Lollapalooza tour was like.

And I learned that early.

I had, there were a couple other friends that I had that I've been.

that have had modicum of success.

And I know that for a fact, because you're hanging out.

And the quickest way for them to go cold to somebody is going, oh, I love your music.

Can you explain to me what you meant by this lyric?

But if you come up to them and say, I know you're from Glasgow, there's some great, they'll

lock you

out.

Most of them would just rather be you and me.

I

mean,

I think they'll take some of the trappings that come with it, but

that's good, you know, Mike, because I'm nervous even talking.

Oh, well, yeah, I can understand that.

I'm intimidating as hell, Pete.

Michael Wallace, my guest.

He is the founder of this great event, Joey's song.

His son, Joey, lost his life at the age of five due to a rare form of epilepsy.

And he was a music lover, and you founded this really cool thing.

Now it's also called the freezing man festival.

So what can people expect, Mike?

You said there were a few tickets left for Saturday night.

Let's say they put their money down.

It goes to a great cause.

We know that.

But what's the night like for them from an entertainment standpoint?

That's the best question you can ask Pete to help me sell what we do.

Great.

It's a one-off event.

You will see.

So if I can go down the list of performers, right?

And you know, go goes in bangles and all that other stuff.

It's not a go-go show.

It's not a bangle show.

Yeah, they'll do like Jane, Jane Weedlin from the go-go's former Madison resident wrote our lips are sealed.

I'm sure she'll perform

that

song, but she's also going to do a Beatles song or a stone song and she's not going to do it with her band.

She's going to do it with Butch on drums and Nikki Monninger from Silver Sun Pickups on bass.

Here's my, so what you're going to see is these.

one and done performances, things you'll never see again.

Wow.

You

know, these, these kind of FOMO moments.

I'll tell you my, a quick story.

This is my favorite example of it.

The first year we really got this going as it was, we had Dave Perner from Soul Asylum singing.

We had Chris Collingwood from Fountain Zoane on guitar, butch was on drums, Freedy Johnston, and I believe Kay Haley on vocals.

And they did take the skin heads bowling by camper van Beethoven.

Right.

I mean,

You couldn't do one of those, you know, put the words on the fridge in any order and come up with that.

And it was awesome.

People lost their mind and it's gone.

I mean, that's the beauty of this.

It's truly a moment.

So that's what you'll see and you'll see that for a couple hours.

I have had a peek at the set list and there's gonna be some pretty amazing things

happening.

When they play a song like that, and all these people come from different bands, and maybe some of them know the song better than others or whatever, how much rehearsal?

Do you know Mike goes into something like that?

Yeah, I do.

It's amazing because the notes start about a month before the show, right?

Well, Butch and of Alex Drossert, who's from the Appleton area who kind of helps put all this together, we start working on the set list and kind of slotting in people.

And once the people get their name attached to it, the techs start flying.

So the physical rehearsal will start on Thursday.

You know, they won't all be in the same room, but there's already notes a month ago

on what

key we're going to play that in.

We're going to drop it down a step.

Are we going to, can you, I mean, like I said, it's Ram Shackle in the best kind of way, but none of them want to be embarrassed up there.

None of them want to not know what they're doing.

So

It's a lot of effort.

A lot of effort.

That's crazy because I love when musicians get together and do that.

Like I saw the George Harrison tribute concert with Billy

Preston and

George Harrison's kid.

And it looks like they're just jamming and having fun because they're professionals.

And you go, oh, they're that good.

But you're saying, even though they are professionals, man, it gets through your

teeth.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

There's no laying low.

because there are professionals on stage with people they're not normally with, so nobody wants to be embarrassed.

I mean, a lot of these people know of each other, but may not know each other until they, and now

we've kind

of built this larger Joey's song family, but they want to hold their own.

I mean, if you think about some of the expertise that's on that stage, you know, you don't want to, I mean, Kurt Smith, base for tears for fears, right?

You don't want if you're a

fellow base player, you want to make sure you're getting

that

right when he's out there or take Matt Sorm, right?

The drummer for guns and roses and the cult.

He's played with Alice Cooper and all these people and Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top.

If you're a drummer and you know, Kurt's going to be on the kit next.

So there's

great.

There's a lot of that and that's

great and you know even and listen even people who are kind of famous can be starstruck They get on the stage with someone they idolize they don't want to be embarrassed either Mike Kamala is here.

We're talking about Joey song when we come back after this very short break folks I'm gonna tell you they've got some serious Wisconsin star power hosting this baby.

I'll tell you who that

is

after a break It's peach wabba and nightlight on the civic media radio

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in beautiful downtown Madison, and that is where we are broadcasting from tonight.

It's a Tuesday night edition of Nightlight.

I am Pete Schwabba, and this is the Civic Media Radio Network.

My guest in the studio right now is Mike Gamal, the founder of Joey's Song, a great music event that he named after his son, who was the inspiration for the whole thing, and they raise money for epilepsy, and it's just a phenomenal event.

Musicians come in from all over the country.

They don't take any money, and it's turned into quite the Gala event.

Mike, who is the host of this year's event?

Well, this year we have returning for his third year, and the only reason it's his third and not his fourth is because I screwed up the schedule last year.

I

want to be

very clear.

Everybody's favorite newscaster from Manitowoc, Manic Charlie Barron.

Charlie always helps us keep things rolling along.

Yeah, what a great...

I'm sure he does a great job at MCing too, especially like, you know, what do you do for musical acts?

You know, comedy is just a great way to break that up a little bit, I

think.

It is, especially with what we do, right?

Because if you're doing a reel in, one of the things that's really important, you asked earlier what people can expect, one

of

the things that's really important is what we do is serious, how we do it is not.

Right.

So it's not going to be, and there's nothing wrong with fundraising, with making sure people understand the devastation and all that.

And you will, when you leave, understand the implications of epilepsy.

But it's up.

So for our show, when you've got people playing songs for the first time, it's a much different vibe.

And somebody like Charlie can keep that ball kind of rolling.

And he's great at it.

If people don't know Charlie's himself a musician, he's got a couple albums out.

He

had

a gruel did a couple ones called supper club music or sorry, Charlie, if you're listening, I got it wrong.

But they do they do music that fits his comedy.

Right.

So they'll do a song about a salad bar or relish

or that

kind of

stuff.

That's fun.

All right.

That's a great evening.

The World Health Organization, Mike, help me wrap my head around this says epilepsy is the most

common or serious brain disorder worldwide.

It takes more lives than breast cancer every year.

It affects more people than multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, and Parkinson's disease combined.

Yet the funding for epilepsy research is behind all four of those individually.

So it's more prevalent than those four, but each one of those gets more funding.

Why do we know why that is?

I have a theory.

Okay.

You'd like to hear that.

Yes.

We're on the radio.

Let's

do it.

Sure.

Can we get a light bulb over my head?

Epilepsy was stigmatized forever, right?

It wasn't until a hundred years ago that we understood what it was.

It was the devil.

It was demons.

It was you were crazy, right?

So for the longest time, you were stigmatized with

it.

Okay.

The other part of it is with all those other diseases you mentioned, you can physically see the manifestation of it if somebody's got MS or MD or cerebral palsy or, you know, any of those Parkinson's.

You can physically see them unless somebody's having a seizure in front of you, which does not happen all the time.

You don't know it.

So it's very much of a hidden disorder for people.

And it having been a part of that field, the people that have it, there's and you, no matter how you say it, there's a shame or an embarrassment that goes because one of the things when somebody has a seizures, they black out mostly.

They don't know it.

So imagine other than spending too much time at your local.

distillery, having these things where you don't remember what you did for a while in front of people that you can't control.

So all of those factors make it not something people often talk about.

But I will tell you, once you start talking about it, you find out how it manifests itself all over.

I mean, you mentioned, I now obviously talk about a lot, the number of people, my dad, my uncle, my cousin, me, you know, I had seizures and it's so well, one in 26 people will develop epilepsy in their lifetime.

One in ten people will have a seizure in their lifetime.

People with epilepsy are three times more likely premature death than the general population.

So it's something that needs to be talked about.

It's something that we need to figure out.

But the reason why it lags behind all that, at least in my mind, is all that stigma that's come with it.

And it's not.

physically apparent.

That makes sense.

Absolutely.

So all right, given all that information, what we just said and what you just said about epilepsy, if people can't make the show but want to make a donation, can they do that?

Yeah, they sure can.

There's lots of ways that you can help.

joeysong.org and joey song on all the socials is the easiest way to find us.

You can make a donation.

It helps.

Keeping in mind, and you're a great straight man, Pete, you should do this for a living.

I

mean, you led right into it.

Keeping in mind that none of these artists are taking a penny, and we have no paid staff at Joey's Sunk, you can know that your donation isn't paying an executive direct, not that there's anything wrong, I realize charities

need to

have that.

I'm not throwing shade, but you can know that your money will be going where it needs to be going.

And if you really want to get something out of your donation, we also have an auction, a silent auction going on that you don't have to be present to win.

And we've got guitars by Goo Goo Dolls and Brad Paisley and Cheap Trick and Jason Isbel and Def Leppard and

all

of these amazing people have signed guitars for us.

So if you need something for the man caver, the she shed.

We've even got Alanis Morissette donated a signed harmonica.

You can pick up your Alanis.

A little

Arbor Day gift

or

something.

So those are all the ways that you can help us fundraise.

because then we can turn that all around and get it to the smart people in the lab coats that are trying to figure this out.

I love it.

That's so great, Mike.

And will Frank Anderson be there as my final

question?

Frank will be there in his undertaker ensemble.

Have you ever seen the black man?

Oh, yeah.

And nobody pays a lap steal like Frank.

He's

so

awesome.

He is the best man.

And he can play.

He can play.

And it's not just that he plays it well.

He can play any style of music well too.

You can have him doing a

you know, a ballad, and then the next one can be a three-chord rocker, and Frank is right there with

you.

He's such a good dude.

I call him a showbiz and a renaissance man.

I would rather read Frank's Facebook posts than watch most of the TV that's on there.

That's how what an interesting guy he is.

And I guarantee

you there will be three nuggets, and anything Frank tells you that you would go, what?

Exactly.

I don't care for him personally, but I do like his... No, no.

He's got a hygiene issue.

There's all sorts of things.

We agree with that.

Mike Kamal.

Knock him dead

with Joey's songs.

So much fun.

Thanks for coming in, buddy.

You bet, man.

All right, that's Mike Gamal.

Go to Joey's Song, hashtag Joey's Song on all the socials, and find out how you can help.

It's a great cause and a great show.

When we come back after the news, folks, we will be talking with Rob Thomas.

He's coming into the studio.

This is Pete Schwabba in Nightlight.

Great to have you with me on the Civic Media Radio Network.

What a good guy.

Mike Gamal was here talking about Joey's song.

And if you missed any of the show so far, folks, know that you can go to civicmedia.us and hear my discussion with Dr. Kristen Lierly from Hour Number One regarding the flu and the very high flu numbers this year.

And then my interview with Mike Gamal, what an interesting guy, started Joey's song after his son passed away from epilepsy and they raised money for epilepsy research and also put on

Pretty damn good show from what it sounds like we should go to that con

Yeah, I mean it sounds very very very fun.

I Agree and we should do like a broadcast or something there next year Would you come down to Madison for that a

nightlight road trip?

Nightlight road trip, baby.

Come on.

Oh,

yeah Rob Thomas should be along shortly.

We'll talk movies and award shows with Rob and kind of what is happening around Madison in January

We will discuss all of that with Rob when he arrives.

Oh, there he is now.

But right now, let's read some text.

You know, Tom from New Berlin also said the comedy show, Soap, was based on, it was sort of a parody of a soap opera, and Billy Crystal was on it.

And he says, Burt was hilarious too.

That was Richard Mulligan, and he was really funny on that show.

And John Murray also made reference to...

the show soap.

He said, I remember joining soap in the late 70s, edgy and still more relevant than ever.

Here's the thing, soap was outstanding parody.

It was soap opera-ish, but it was very un-soap opera-like.

It was just a great comedy.

And it's a show I always, whenever somebody brings it up, I always mean to watch it.

And then I just kind of forget about it, but it was, as a kid, I loved it.

I didn't even think I was supposed to be watching it.

I think my parents thought the subject matter was a little too mature for me.

Do you have restrictions on you Conrad when you grew up your parents never not let you watch something?

Well, yeah, I couldn't go to you know the the naughty channels when I was young

the adult theater Will you please stop Conrad from wearing a trench coat into the adult theater Right over here, buddy Rob Thomas has arrived folks.

We'll get Rob situated mark from prairie to sack says He wears a mask when he goes into stores not to get the flu that was an

to our discussion with Dr. Kristen Lyrely.

And I don't blame you, Mark.

You do not want this flu.

It's a terrible strain.

Mark also says, well, I'm sorry, it's Tom from Hartford said, isn't COVID still killing 300 people a week?

That doesn't sound like a cheesy drama.

It actually is a drama.

I don't know, Tom.

I'm not, and I'm sorry I missed that when Dr. Lyrely was here, because she would have been the one with the answers, but he also says Medox.

Medoxical?

How do you spell that, Conn?

For hair growth.

What is that word?

Medoxical for hair growth?

Monoxidil.

It's monoxidil.

I

think

Tom made a spell

check on it.

Or he just created a product in his own basement.

He's trying to get it out there via

night.

I'll try it.

It's just fine.

Yeah, give it a shot, Conn.

See how your hair is growing better than the show.

Steven in the 262 says, the followers was great.

Okay, he liked the followers.

Man, I don't know that's a great that's a great segue into my next guest who joins me here in the studio He is another one of our nightlight best chums.

He is here quite often talking about movies and TV and We'll ask Rob Thomas about the followers if he remembers it because he joins me here in the studio Madison Bay's film critic and our friend Rob Thomas.

Hey buddy.

How's it going?

Good.

How are you good?

Can you hear me?

Okay, I raced in here.

That's a con red question.

Okay,

con sounds good to

me.

Okay sounds good to me, too

You raised, what happened?

Parking.

The first time Hamilton here at Madison, so it was a little more.

That's right.

So where did you park?

Like on the other side of the Capitol?

You know, I paid like ten bucks for event parking.

This is

an event.

This is an event.

This isn't like Joey's song, but it's.

That's right.

It's it's a PD's song.

There you go.

Do you remember the show, the followers?

I don't feel like I've never heard of it.

It was Kevin Bacon starred in it and it was about.

Serial killers worshiping another serial killer.

Oh, that's right I thought it was beneath him to be honest to do something like that because I think he's a pretty respected I just thought it was really cheesy, but we have listeners who really liked it.

I know my cousin really liked the show I remember discussing it with her.

I know didn't do it for me though personally

Yeah, there's that run like really really dark serial killer shows and that was one of those yeah,

but this one they had like

Some guy was bankrolling serial killers.

He was putting them up.

They had like a mansion.

They had a ping pong table.

It was just serial killers hanging out together.

It's not so bad.

Talking shop.

Why would you go out and kill if you got your ping pong table at home?

Oh boy, that's a great point, Rob.

Yeah.

And that's why you get paid the big ones.

That's why I'm just having you here, seeking your expertise.

How are you?

I'm great.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Had a good holiday and ready to jump into the new year.

You know, we had a pretty solid winter here in Madison.

So far, so good.

Yeah, so yeah,

it's good.

Bomb me today.

Yeah, weird.

I don't like it.

This is great.

You don't like it?

You a winter guy?

Well, yeah.

I mean, if we're going to do it, let's do it.

You just

came from Antarctica, so.

There you go.

That's true.

You're a little skewed.

Yeah, yeah.

This is fun.

Do you have a New Year's resolution?

Did you come out of the holidays thinking, this is Rob's year for such and such?

Not really.

No, I got, I got a book project I'm working on that I would like to, I'd like to, you know, get, get, get to the, some sort of finish line this year, but.

That's pretty cool.

Yeah.

About movies or.

No, it's a, I mean, I should talk about it.

It's like a, it's like a fiction book.

Yeah.

Oh, like a narrative.

Yeah, exactly.

It's been really fun to work on.

So I'd like to sort of get it to a point.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So how, is that harder to write than movie reviews?

Oh, so much harder.

Yeah.

Unbelievably.

Yeah.

It's the hardest thing I've ever done, but it's, it's really been.

fund the whole way.

Yeah, I did like a revised your novel class here in Madison a couple of summers ago.

I've had people read it.

Give me feedback.

I've really enjoyed it.

I mean, it's probably somewhat comparable to making a movie where you've got a million different decisions, but at least with me, there's no money involved in like, you know, that one.

Yeah, I.

See, I'm the, I'm the same.

Like I think it would be overwhelming writing a book and I've written screenplays, but you have benchmarks.

You kind of have to hit and I like that.

Like a novel seems so overwhelming.

Right.

Like where do you go?

It just seems like such a blank canvas.

Yeah.

So I mean, I mean, just to say I wrote like a, what I'm writing is like a heist, like an oceans 11 type thing.

So, which is fun because they're sort of a very specific structure to that.

Okay.

So like I kind of knew like, okay, now I got to have.

a new character.

Now I got to have a new complication.

So that helped me kind of go through it all the way.

So

that's fantastic.

Well, good luck.

Thanks, man.

That's good.

What do you?

Have you gotten the flu this year?

No, I've been blessed.

Bianca or hosted city cast has been laid out this week from it.

It's a bad one.

It is.

Yeah, I got my shot, but that doesn't mean it doesn't mean you won't get something, but at least it'll help you get the edge off.

Yeah.

We have

We know we're competing with Hamilton tonight.

Not really because it's not on the

radio, but

you

thought you were going to be there tonight at first.

Have you seen that show before?

I have.

My daughter and I, like I don't know with you and kids when they're younger, like they have like a year where they're just obsessed with something and that's what's going on.

Like my younger daughter, there was a frozen year and then there was a Hamilton year, probably 10 years ago when it first came out.

We just listened to the soundtrack all the time.

And then we went to see in Chicago, and it was fantastic.

And so we might go together tomorrow night.

She's now

in college.

She's older.

She's got other priorities.

She's a boyfriend.

And

I told it, respect all that.

But yeah, I remember thinking he was amazing.

back then, and I don't know if you've ever seen

it, but... I saw it in Milwaukee

with

my daughter and my wife.

I think if my daughter wanted to bring her boyfriend, I would sit between them.

Is

that something you would do during the...

I don't know.

Hamlet has not too hot and heavy when we're talking about the Constitutional Convention.

It's not

gonna get anybody's motor

running.

Right,

right, yeah.

Do you have a favorite Broadway show?

We talk about movies a lot, Rob.

You write about movies, but as far as the Broadway stuff goes, do you have a favorite?

That's a good...

question.

I mean, Hamilton might be my favorite.

I'm not that well versed in, okay, brought brought more in movie musicals, probably.

Yeah, like West Side Story, the original, I think it's fantastic.

Yeah, I probably would love the musical version if I ever saw it.

Yeah, that's probably the big one, I think.

I think Les Mis, for me, is probably my... But I know there are some people that think Les Mis is over the top or whatever it is, but I've seen it three or four times.

I

can't get enough.

I'd go see it tomorrow at the Overture

Summit.

I saw it once at Overture, and I also thought it was over the top.

If you're going

to do it, you might as well do it.

It makes

you want to walk around and talk like this

with your

hands.

All right.

Rob Thomas is my guest, folks.

He is a Madison based film critic.

You can also see his work at City Cast at Madison, where he is the newsletter editor.

He does great work there.

So I don't even know where to start.

Let's start with Madison in January, Rob.

You wrote this great thing in City Cast.

So before we get to movies, what are some things to do in Madison this January?

interesting.

Well, January is kind of an interesting time in Madison because we're such a college town.

And so things have kind of quieted down.

Um, I think you mentioned the freezing man festival, which is a big thing going on now in January's here.

You've probably just took Mike's parking spot.

I probably did.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So that's become a big one.

Um, the other big music thing is these, uh,

these local festivals they do.

Like there's a Wisconsin folk festival

and

a punk festival and a bluegrass festival and a metal festival.

And like, you get to go see three or four great local bands

and

genre for like 10 bucks.

It is

great.

I mean, because a lot of the national bands aren't touring right now.

So the theaters are pretty empty.

So it's like a great thing for them to get people out and a great thing for, uh, you know, music fans to like, you know,

get in touch with like your local scene.

And it's

a great scene here.

I mean,

it really is.

Yeah.

So that's something I really enjoy.

But honestly, like, like in January, I mean, if there's snow on the ground, which now there isn't, there might be.

It's getting out to ice skate at any part.

That's what you wrote about.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I didn't realize there were that many great places to ice skate here that are picturesque.

And just really cool.

Yeah.

I mean, the city has, I think, over a dozen parks that have ranks and they're all free and some of them have free skates.

Right.

One of them, I think, is showing a movie.

Like, they just put a big screen up and so you just skate around and watch the movie, which, you know, I'm all for.

That's what I need is a distraction

while I'm trying to keep my balance.

Well, I want other people to be distracted when I hit the ice.

Yeah.

Exactly.

Yeah.

So that's very cool.

That's very cool.

And then I saw also you have

uh great new restaurants in madison and i i forgive me if i've asked you this before did you ever eat at smokies on university

i

didn't i

i'm it is my regret mine because they were there for years drove by them all the time and then like i think they announced they were closing in like two weeks

That place was packed and I could not get into it.

It

seemed like within a year there was something built there.

They tore it down.

It was this cool old rock building.

Yeah, you couldn't you could miss it on University Avenue.

These places

are going away.

And it's

like, I'm going to try to, regardless of what city I'm in, go to these old places that still have the leather booth, you know, stuff like that.

Well, I wrote something for CityCast because there's this place on State Street, Himmel, Chule, which was the first

Nepali restaurant in the entire

country.

And

really?

Yeah.

And so it was a fixture there for, I think, 35 years.

And they closed abruptly.

Like, like they announced New Year's Eve.

They were closing New Year's Day.

Oh, no.

So I wrote something on like, these are like, these are like the long-term restaurants in Madison.

You're Mickey's Dairy Bar.

You're Tornado Room.

You're, you know,

Esquire Club.

Tornado Room was actually not that old, which I didn't realize.

It's only

The tornado rooms only dates back to the nineties, but they, uh, they just re took over an old restaurant and didn't do, but just kind of didn't look, kept the look, right?

Awesome.

And the building is like 150 years old.

So it feels like you're, you've walked back in time at least eight years.

The last time I was there, they don't look like they're in any.

They're not closing.

They're good.

They're good.

All right, Rob Thomas is here.

We're talking Madison and we're going to shift the movies at some point, but it's just good to have them in the studio.

We are coming right back.

Our question of the night, what is your favorite soap opera or cheesy drama?

It's Pete Schwabba and Nightlight on the Civic Media Radio

Network.

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.

Welcome back.

Nick from Marshall says his favorite cheesy drama is House.

That's a good one, Rob.

Do you ever watch that show?

No, he was like the detective doctor or something.

Yeah, real kind of a bad attitude.

I never

watched it.

I didn't know it was cheesy.

I thought it was like this gripping drama, though.

Right.

I guess it's all in the eyes of the beholder.

This is Pete Schwabbit.

And nightlight.

Great to have you with me, folks.

We're broadcasting live from beautiful Madison, Wisconsin tonight.

And our question of the night is what is your favorite cheesy soap opera or drama?

Larry from Deerfield says, favorite soap, my sophomore year.

1971 and 72 in all male dorm in a small residential private college.

I don't know if I like where this is going.

In Minnesota, I experienced an amazing phenomenon.

A couple dozen guys would gather in this Chicago kids room.

He had the best TV to watch all my children AMC and to boo Susan Lucci.

That seems mean, Rob.

Is that why she

lost 14 times?

Cause she didn't have the college boy vote.

He says she played heroine Erica Kane.

I think it was therapy for most of them.

I mean, I kind of, I, without having watched, I kind of had a crush on her cause they will always show her when she didn't win.

I'm like, she's a teen boy.

I'm like, she's beautiful.

How did she not win?

You know, that's, I always said she was the villain on that show.

I don't know why I always thought that cause I never watched it, but okay.

She

might be.

Uh, Daniel from Manasha, Danny wheels says soap opera answered days of our lives.

One of the many nicknames I've given my son over the years is Bo Brady.

the classic main character from the show.

Okay, Daniel.

Thank you, sir.

I'm sure your son appreciates that as well.

Rob Thomas is here, folks.

He reviews movies very well, and he is also the CityCast Madison Newsletter Editor, and he joins us here often to talk movies because we love talking movies with him.

So you said you did not see the Critics' Choice Awards.

Did not, no.

All right, the big winners, and I don't know if this surprises you.

It probably won't, Rob, but one battle after another

and one best picture.

Yeah, that's what I would think, yeah.

And then they also won Best Director for Paul Thomas Anderson and Best, something, oh, Adapted Screenplay.

Yeah, okay.

I didn't even know it wasn't Adapted

Screenplay.

It was an old book by Thomas Pinchin, I think, Vineland.

Okay.

Yeah, I think that's where it's from.

And I have to say, if you're Ryan Coogler, and I liked one battle after another, it's just more my kind of movie than Sinners.

Sure.

But I appreciate what was accomplished in Sinners.

If you're Ryan Coogler, are you like, what do I have to do?

Like he put all these components, his costumes, story, direction, music, he had the vampires.

I mean, I don't know.

Oh, do you like that choice, his one battle?

I know you

like that.

I think that is, I think my favorite movies of the year were one to bat one ball after another and sinners.