Llamas, Laughs, and Local Lore (Hour 3)

Broadcasting live from the Civic Media Studios in Green Bay.

This is Night Light with Peach Wabba.

Your inside source on everything entertainment from Wisconsin to Hollywood.

And now a guy who loves to watch true crime, but only if it's shoplifting, Peach Wabba.

It's true.

I don't like the serious crimes.

I like the forgivable crimes, or the crimes that people commit, maybe when they're just hungry, or want a really cool comb.

Something like that.

Hey, welcome to Night Light.

Great to have you here, folks.

Happy Tuesday, everybody.

Hope wherever you're joining us from, it is a wonderful night for you here in the great state of Wisconsin.

It is so fun to be on the air tonight because...

This is going to be an excellent show.

I've got some great guests tonight, great question, and some really fun stuff to talk about.

And on the other side of the glass for me, both of us fighting illness is Conrad Krieger.

Hello.

What's the matter, man?

What are your symptoms?

You know, everything.

Think he got scurvy again?

What is that one again?

Is

that like- That's the teeth and the gums.

Yeah, that's like- Rickets is like when it affects your bones.

Yeah, you

know, I was, you know, on a pirate ship and I got it.

Yeah, it happens, man.

So seriously, what do you got?

Like a sore throat or something?

Yeah, just everything to deal with the throat.

Probably just hear my voice a little bit.

Same dog.

No, and I, I've not been sick like my daughter had the flu.

I talked about that and I was ultra careful.

But I think being in Chicago last Saturday, up all night in the cold, I think he caught up to me.

We'll get through it.

This is going to be fine.

This is, look, we're not.

Going off to fight a war.

We are doing radio.

I think we'll both be fine and You know It's going around everything's going around.

There's like flu.

There's cold.

There's RSV all kinds of stuff So eventually it's gonna get you but we'll get through this show and we'll have a lot of fun doing it tonight.

We've got This is gonna be fun at 535 There's a cat named Rex Sykes who comes on this show once in a while to tell us about a really cool

organization he founded called or co-founded called Mission One Billion.

It's a networking thing for people in show business trying to get into show business and they have a speaker every so often who shows up in Milwaukee and hangs with people and networks and kind of just tells people what their experiences in the business were like.

And I think the last guest they had was a woman from the SAG after Screen Actors Guild.

And this

this next event they have, which is actually tomorrow night.

They have a guy named Daniel Pico.

So Rex and Daniel will be on the show at 5.35 to give us a little preview of what's gonna take place tomorrow night at their event.

And then we've got Wisconsin native Olivia Witt, very funny comedian.

She lives in New York now.

She ditched us for the comedy mecca that is New York.

That's forgivable, but Olivia will be here at 6.35.

Very excited to talk to her.

And then at 720 Conrad, you know who's coming into the studio?

Green Bay Lama.

An actual Lama in name only.

It's a, yeah.

We've got the Green Bay Lama on the show tonight.

And I've kind of been following this.

I've heard about this guy.

His name is Jason Jerry, but he...

He founded this website and this group, this local group called the Green Bay... Actually, I don't even know.

I don't have the total title in front of me, but it's the Green Bay Llama Society.

And it's going to be a lot of fun.

Jason, I've gone back and forth with him a little bit on Facebook, and I'm really excited that he is willing to come in to the studio.

It's going to be a really good time talking to him about some of the things that are happening here locally in the surrounding areas of our nightlight studios here.

And I'm guessing Conrad that he is a Packer fan.

I can't confirm that.

But my guess is he'll have some thoughts on what transpired this past weekend and what the Packers do moving forward.

Maybe he won't.

I don't know.

Maybe he's just more of a local politics or events guy.

But either way, we will get to know the Green Bay Lama, Jason Jerry.

He will be here in the third hour at 7.20.

And, pardon me, we've got lots of fun stuff to talk about too.

I don't know.

This is interesting.

When you get sick, Conrad, do you always try to trace where it happened or who you got it from?

No, I just say, how can I get better?

Okay, that's a very healthy attitude.

As soon as I noticed it this morning, I got a hot cup of Joe.

Okay.

What does that do for you?

No, it

just helps, you know, kind of a soothe.

Okay.

I need to get some zinc in.

Vitamin C like Cheri said last night

Zinc.

Yeah, absolutely See Cheri's the one you talked to and I as soon as I went homeless and I got zinc I got more vitamin D. I got echinacea

And I got extra C. I am set.

I felt worse last night than I felt tonight.

And I think it's because of my little home remedies and with help from people like Sherry and stuff like that.

But my wife is one of those people.

She will hold a grudge.

She will mention.

She'll go, oh yeah, that's when I had the flu that I got from your dad.

She'll always put a footnote in there of who gave it to her.

It's like she's vindictive when it comes to illnesses.

And I'm like, I don't care where, you know, it just, that's what happens.

Stuff gets passed around.

You can't hold grudges.

My brother still- I find that funny.

Holds a grudge against me when we were younger, I gave him strep throat.

He remembers that?

I didn't show any symptoms or anything, I just gave it to

him.

How'd you do that?

I don't

know.

He's just making it up, it sounds like.

Well,

I think I tested

positive for it.

You did

okay, but I didn't I didn't show one symptom for it and then he got it and then he showed every symptom for it

I Did that once I was wrestling with my son when he was like four and he literally sneezed right in my mouth and I'm like well Clear my calendar the next couple days and drink some water and see what happens It's the Greater Green Bay Society of the llama.

That's Jason's group and they're on Facebook check them out It's a it's a fun follow

That's what I was that's the name of the group.

It's all but they also go by Green Bay Lama unless there are more than one Lama group.

You think there could be in Green Bay?

I doubt it All right, we'll get back to me So lots of stuff to talk about we also have this is kind of a fun question tonight I think I'm gonna wait the counter has got a phone call.

So we'll do it after con takes his calls probably making a long distance call to

some girl he met online.

But we'll do that and we will talk about, let's get to, kind of, I think we can't waste any more time.

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.

Who is your current movie or TV crush?

You could spend a lot of time thinking about that one because there's so many people on TV or in movies that I think we probably want to date Aside from my wife, of course if I wasn't married

Who would be my movie or TV crush?

So who would be yours?

Be part of the show, folks.

Let us know at 855-752-4842.

855-75 Civic.

You can also text us on the stream if you're watching the radio at Facebook, YouTube, or X. Let us know.

Drop us a stream comment and we will read it on the radio.

And if you're there, give us a like or a follow if you're so inclined.

I'm going to go first.

Carrie Coon.

Lover.

Wisconsin actress she was in white lotus this last season and she is Outstanding and she's so talented and I'm attracted.

She's very pretty, but I'm attacked.

I'm attracted to her talent Conrad.

It's not all about looks.

So think about that one before you give your answer

Mine is Odessa Azaya.

I have to Google that

She she's on Marty supreme on that movie, but

she's all

come on I've never seen the show, but she's on I love LA the new HBO Max show, okay?

And I I just think she's she's she's a great actress

What's her last name?

Odessa?

Azion.

You have to help me out there.

Az.

A. A. Apostrophe.

Oh, it comes right up.

Oh yeah, I've seen her.

Oh, she's great.

She played

such a good part in Marty Supreme.

Like I think she I don't think she won for best supporting actress, but I think she should have because

She

was

really great in Marty Supreme.

Tim Chalamet no slouch either bringing home the best actor for the Golden Globes.

We'll talk a little bit about the Golden Globes.

So there you go.

That's your question of the night, folks.

Let us know who your favorite or who your current crush is because they change.

You know, I went through a Julia Ormond month a while back and now I'm on to Carrie Coon.

So that's the fun thing about celebrity crushes.

They're never going to happen.

You have no shot.

I have no shot.

So you can say, you know, the sky's the limit.

Let us know who your, uh, current crush is from TV or movies or any celebrity for that matter.

We've got a phone call.

Yeah.

Richard from Waukesha.

Richard from Waukesha.

I know him.

Hey, Richard.

Hey, how's it going?

Doing pretty well.

How are

you

tonight?

Uh, I'm, uh, I'm, uh, recuperating from what I diagnosed on myself, um, throat problems.

Oh no.

I used to work at a greasy spoon, and I seen everything.

You know, mold, you don't necessarily have to see it, and it can affect your throat.

Bad coffee, numerous bread, you can have invisible mold.

A good thing for it is toast with peanut butter and hot honey.

for

a sore throat.

For a sore throat, you know, like, sand out your throat and you'll find out, you know, it's like taking a scab off and getting new skin.

But you're

saying this

happened.

You got a sore throat from an old greasy spoon and eating bad bread and cough and bad coffee.

Yeah, I figured out afterwards, you know, I'm a coffee lover.

Yeah, same.

You know, and I eat a lot of, eat a lot of sandwiches.

And where I live, I have trouble, like, because of dampness.

Okay.

And the bread, you know, it sneaks up on you all of a sudden.

It doesn't look bad, but it's old.

So I actually started putting it in freezers right away, you know.

Yeah.

I didn't have a question yet.

You know what I mean?

Yeah.

So are

you saying you

have a sore throat right now, Richard?

Well, I got a little bit of issues with my throat because of... Well, man, it's like a chronic thing.

Soda water, sometimes a little too much soda water or

dry

your throat out.

You know, heat, I've got arthritis, so I like to have the heat up.

Okay.

And that's dry then, you know.

Wow.

It's a painkiller.

Here's what we're gonna do.

We don't usually do this, Richard, but Conrad is gonna make a house call.

Give us your address.

He should be there in a few hours and he will give you a head to toe examination.

How does that sound?

I'm fine.

I'm like laying back and, you know, enjoying the programs.

Conrad just breathes a huge sigh.

I got a sweetheart actress.

Yeah, please.

Kidman.

Nicole Kidman.

Nice.

Yeah.

Okay.

I know she's been around a long time, but I just thought she was great for a long time.

Very talented actress.

No question.

Richard, please take care of yourself.

And if we

run

across Nicole Kimman, we'll send her there to make the house call.

Yeah, plenty of fluids.

Okay.

Have a great night.

That's Richard from Walker Show.

I couldn't tell if he was getting like dirty there at the end or what, but either way, it's just fine.

It's good to talk to Richard.

Let us know who your current crush is from TV or movies.

We've got all kinds of stuff to talk about tonight, folks.

News, sports and weather is coming up in just 10 minutes.

We will keep you informed here at Civic Media.

We've got coaches fired tonight, Conrad, and I know that they're trying to work out a deal for Matt LaFleur, but we're going to talk about that, and I wonder if that makes things interesting.

If there's another guy you think the Packers might have their eye on, we'll talk about that.

We'll talk about the new, most famous podcast, too, that just won a Golden Globe.

The first ever in that category, it's Pete Schwabba and Nightlight on the Civic Media radio

network.

my love I really wanna know you I really wanna go with you I really wanna show you love that it won't take long my love

Welcome back.

This is Nightlight.

I am Pete Schwab.

It is great to have you here.

We're doing Tuesday like it's Thursday.

We're going a little crazy tonight on a Tuesday because as we know,

as the great Newman from Seinfeld once said, Tuesday has no feel.

We're trying to give Tuesday a feel here tonight at Nightlight, and it is great that you were part of it.

New sports and weather coming up in just about seven minutes.

Last night, Conrad, I kind of vented about, you know, I watched the game Saturday night in a sports bar, and then I saw some comments.

All people in sports do this, no matter who you're cheering for.

They call the sum, not all.

But I feel like it's egregious.

They go too far when they call players on the other, on the opposing team, bitches.

I just think that's like, come on.

You're sitting in your living room watching this, uh, this game.

You don't need to, or in a bar, just like calling it another play.

It's just so stupid.

So, and it goes too far.

Like, it's one thing to cheer for a team.

Like, you do that, you don't behave like that, do you?

No, uh...

No, not really.

I mean I will like kind of shout be like oh come on

sure of course of course and you shout at the other team, but I mean to Immasculate a professional football player from the comfort of your living room when you're doing nothing is ridiculous to me

Yeah, you know when you're sitting there eating nachos.

Yeah, exactly

But you know when McManus missed all those kicks.

I did say you suck.

Okay.

That's that's

fair so

I write these voice texts to myself to remind myself to talk about stuff in the air.

So what I meant to voice yesterday, in the morning, I just wrote a quick note to myself, fans calling opposing team players bitches.

But this is what my voice text picked up, and I've done this in the past, I've gotten things wrong.

Here's what my phone, what was recorded to my phone.

Fans backing plate notices.

Yeah, exactly.

So that's another thing I want to talk about.

I'm tired of these fans backing plate notices.

I mean,

why do they keep

doing it?

I don't know.

Go paper, go ceramic, whatever.

You don't need to get that in depth.

That's just silliness right there.

Amy Poehler, the number one podcast.

She won a Golden Globes.

The first year they allowed podcasts to win Golden Globes.

Now, I love Amy Poehler.

She's very funny, incredibly talented, but...

the Call Her Daddy podcast, the Dax Shepard podcast, he's a celebrity too.

Some of these podcasts have been on for years.

My buddy Jimmy Pardo has a great podcast.

I feel like Amy Poehler just launched hers last year.

And she wins the cat, like that seems wrong to me.

Like Call Her Daddy, I've never listened to it.

I don't know anything about Alex Cooper, but she is a grinder.

Like she has been on, she's been

Trying to get this podcast going forever.

It eventually did now.

It's huge now.

I think she's got TV deals But Amy polar she just launched it.

Of course, she's gonna get all the a-list guests because she's Amy polar We're live radio pal, but we do get a podcast as well too.

We do have a podcast check it out at civicmedia.us.

That was a great segue So Wisconsin I thought this was interesting

At some point tonight in the show, folks, I'm not going to reveal when.

I'm going to tell you where Wisconsin ranked on a list for raising a family.

We got good marks.

And it's from Wallet Hub.

And at some point, I will roll that out.

You're going to want to hear that because I think we should be very proud of ourselves.

But right now, I want to ask you, LaFleur, it looks like breaking news, not breaking news, but I saw on WBAY earlier, they're trying to work out a deal.

That was the latest update.

But you've got Kevin Stefanski now out of a job, two-time coach of the year.

Mike Tomlin, John Harbaugh, Mike McDaniel.

What do you think you're going to do?

I know they like LaFleur.

It's not like he's a bad coach.

They're going to keep LaFleur.

Yeah.

I mean, are they going to extend him,

though?

Obviously, we need other changes, too.

Yeah.

Special teams.

That needs a huge upgrade there.

Sounds like someone's angling for a kicking tryout.

Well, you know, maybe I could kick better than McManus, but.

Hey, Sherry Stoko was on the show last night.

She could probably kick better than me.

She kicked a field goal.

She was a soccer player, but I saw a post she did on Facebook about a month ago or whatever, and she was a badass.

She kicked a field goal.

It

was great.

It's Mike Tomlin with his letting go.

He told the team, I'm stepping down.

So if any team actually wants them, they have to trade for them.

Is that true?

Yeah.

So wait.

Because that's how I read it, too.

He walked away.

Yeah, he stepped down.

But they're still on the hook for the money, even though he's saying no thanks.

Yes, so

if

any team actually wants him as a coach, they have to trade for him.

Okay, but here's the thing.

If you want Mike Tomlin or John Harbaugh, two guys who've won Super Bowls, and maybe that puts them a notch above LaFleur, but basically, you'd be hiring Matt LaFleur.

They make the playoffs every year.

I know LaFleur hasn't gotten to a Super Bowl yet or 1-1, but...

He hasn't been at it as long as those guys either.

So I would say keep with Fleur because he gets you to the playoffs every year, typically.

I think he needs a new cast around him, too.

Not Jeff Halfley.

Jeff Halfley's amazing, but I'm just hoping that he doesn't take a head coaching job this year, even though he definitely could.

He could definitely be a head coach.

Where did their defense end up ranking at the end of the year?

They were like top five for most of the year, weren't

they?

Yeah.

I mean, at the end of the year, they kind of, you know, I mean,

tribute to Nixon, letting a lot of passes go through and a lot

of 15-year penalties.

You complain about him every night.

Conrad, what was your favorite movie last week?

Yeah, that Nixon sucks.

I gotta say he said today in an interview that he achieved all of his goals this year.

Really said oh so he got his one tackle and his one pass break up and coasted the rest of the year

You got to keep the bar low dude.

Otherwise, you're never gonna achieve your dreams Brett on the text line in the 920 says when you say llama is that as in Dolly or love child of sheep and horse first of all I didn't know There was a lot of child or if that was possible between a sheep and a horse But you're just gonna have to hang in there Brett because we're gonna tell you an hour number three.

We're gonna give you

all the straight dope about the Green Bay Lama.

So our question of the night, folks, is who is your current crush when it comes to movies or TV or any celebrity?

We'll read your text.

Be part of the show.

News, sports and weather coming up next.

And then we are going to talk about a really cool event happening this week in Milwaukee.

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

Welcome

back.

This is Nightlight with Pete Schwabba.

It is great to have you here tonight, folks.

Thanks for joining me.

Stacy Sue on the social media says Jude Law is her current crush when it comes to TV or film.

Jude Law.

There you go, Stacy Sue.

I did not peg you as a Jude law person, so that's interesting.

Conrad, did you give yours?

Yeah, Odessa as I am.

You did, correct, okay.

And then we've got, I love when people get involved in the show.

Conrad, we talked about how we were both not feeling particularly well or fighting something.

And Andrew from the 262 said, hot tea with lemon, honey, and a shot of brandy helps.

They all have benefits from helping to open the lungs, soothe the throat, and sleep.

It's so funny.

I don't know if, like I've been in Wisconsin long enough now where I'm not sure if the brandy is just because it's a Wisconsin thing, or if that really does help, or if just it's because we're in Wisconsin, we need booze.

I'm not sure about that.

So feel free to share, folks.

All right, this is exciting, folks.

My first guests tonight are part of an event that happens tomorrow night called Mission 1 Billion.

Joining me now on Nightlight are Mission 1 Billion founder or co-founder, Rex Sykes, and his featured guest tomorrow night is producer, Daniel Pico.

They both join me tonight.

Guys, welcome.

Someone's muted.

I think Daniel might be muted.

Well, they're both muted.

Do we mute them, Khan?

Are we responsible for this muting?

We'll figure it out, folks.

But these guys are here.

This event takes place tomorrow night.

It's a, as I mentioned, it's an event that has been founded by, or co-founded by Rex Sykes, and it's kind of a networking thing.

So if you're in the business or want to be, you should drop by this cool event.

We'll tell you where it is and talk about what you can expect if you decide to drop by.

Do we have these guys now?

Oh.

Still got to mute it.

Okay.

We'll figure it out.

I'll read some text.

Oh, there's somebody.

There's

Daniel.

Hey,

how you

doing?

Yes, sir.

No, that was like a not a mutiny.

It was more of a muting me.

So I'm glad you guys figured it out on your end.

And it's great to have you on the show.

Welcome to nightlight.

Great.

Thank you for having me.

You're

very

welcome, Pete.

Yeah, always Rex.

Do you guys have a favorite celebrity, a crush, someone that you wish you could date from TV or movies?

Oh, it was you.

Well, naturally.

Just for my personality though.

You look marvelous.

Are you wearing a turban?

I'm wearing a hat because I'm trying to keep my core temperature.

A good... I'm

just kidding.

It behooves you.

I mean, it's great.

You should have flowing robes.

I mean, you look very scholarly with that.

Yeah, I think so.

I'm not opposed to... Actually, I don't know that there are many radio hosts in Wisconsin, certainly, that are wearing turbans.

I'm open to that.

But any kind of headpiece, I think, elevates the show.

What do you guys think, though?

Do you have someone that you wouldn't mind courting?

Oh.

Uh, I, I, uh, my wife wouldn't let me answer a question like that in public.

It's

all,

listen, it's all for fun.

We're shooting for the moon here.

There's no,

this is never going to happen.

I mean, look, I, I'm married.

She's married.

Mary Elizabeth Wanstead years and years ago.

She was my.

my my heart nice okay but uh you know obviously we're all of our all of our lives have gone in different directions so that that dream is

okay and i should say this because she's a friend of mine but kimmy robertson from twin peaks who played lucy and the the receptionist in the sheriff's station you know that i would i would go with you we've been friends since like 1980 we did a play together so

That is a long time to be in the friend zone, and I hope you didn't just make things awkward, Rex.

I would hate to see a friendship dissipate over that kind of information

becoming

public.

All right, those are great choices.

Thank you guys.

Rex, as one of the founders of Mission 1 Billion, tell us before we get into what is happening tomorrow night.

Tell us about the group.

So Mission One Billion actually is a brainchild of someone named Dan Brizgale.

He's my co-founder partner in this.

I partnered with him.

We both had similar visions.

He just came up with the name and created the nonprofit.

And so we partnered.

It was a way of saying that there are content creators like Daniel, like yourself, and others who could benefit from some help, collaboration, cooperation, support.

to get their projects not only produced, but distributed and to profit by them.

So it was a way of saying, how do we support filmmakers, especially in Wisconsin, especially now that the incentives have come back, what can we do to really make a difference?

So we have meetings monthly.

We've got incredible speakers like Daniel, and you're going to hear from him in just a moment when I shut up.

And we've got educational classes, programs, projects.

We do short films or larger projects, and we work together to elevate all of the filmmakers, the content creators, the storytellers, the musicians, the artists, the performers, the actors in the state, and elsewhere.

Actually, it's a global mission.

That's why it's Mission 1 Billion, which Daniel

I'm sorry.

Well, Dan came up with a name and I said, well, one billion is too small.

There's eight billion people on the planet.

Why are we only going for one billion?

But

that is ambitious.

I hope they don't all show up tomorrow night.

Well, if they do, if they do, Schmidties will be.

Do you know that actually there is somewhere and you can search it that you could take every person on the planet stand side by side, chest to back kind of thing?

And they all fit like in the state of Iowa.

Come on.

Really?

Yeah, if you took all the people, the mass of people isn't as large as you would expect it to be.

My guess is that Schmidis is not as big as the state of Iowa, though.

So a modest turnout

would be great tomorrow

night.

But yeah, we would like any filmmaker who sees this, who's in the Wisconsin area, whether they're in the west side, the north side, the central, south side, to feel free to come and join us.

And to make a point of doing it, again, we meet every month.

That's excellent.

Daniel, tell us a little bit about yourself.

I was looking at your IMDB page earlier.

You've got tons of credits.

You're a very busy guy.

And you obviously like to stay busy.

But give us some background.

Yeah well I grew up in Illinois back in I went to Columbia College Chicago back in the day and I graduated in 02 and then I started working in the industry immediately I did a TV pilot right out of college and then

just have been working in the industry ever since.

I've been every job on a set from Caterer, which I have done, all the way up to director-producer.

Some of the highlights, I worked for...

People like Joe Pitca who's a very famous commercial director.

I was his in-house editor.

He did movies like Space Jam and Yeah, let it ride with Richard Dreyfus stuff like that and like 5,000 commercials I mean the guy was so incredibly prolific and I learned a huge amount working with him for a couple of years

Um, and then, uh, yeah, just that was a first assistant director around a lot of movies like cabin fever patient zero, uh, which was cabin fever three, um, technically.

And then, uh, I worked on, um, you know, things like my Marfa girl with Larry Clark.

Um, I did a film called Somnia that came out last year.

Um, and, uh, a lot of other.

great filmmakers really great experiences but you know obviously my my passion has always been writing and directing and two years ago or last year technically or technically 2024 now so I gotta start getting in that mindset.

Two years ago a TV show that I wrote with David Bianchi called Razor which was a sci-fi TV show about hackers and you know

you know, black market crime and a lot of really fun stuff, a lot of cyberpunk themes in it.

And that got nominated for a primetime Emmy.

So that was really exciting to be a part of that.

And then I had a film play at the Con Film Festival at the same time, which was very cool that I got to make here.

And yeah, so, you know, went from, you know, I lived in Los Angeles for 13 years and then I moved to Janesville, which is where I live now.

And I've been living here since 2021.

And yeah, I really, I've loved, I really, Wisconsin has really become my adopted home.

I really enjoyed, you know, I mean, I was originally from the Midwest, but to come

back,

you know, make, you know, really good on my experiences here and meeting incredible crew and cast and making, you know, some really great lifetime.

uh connections has been really exciting uh and it culminated uh back in august when we shot a feature film here called the withering that's coming out in july nice um so yeah we just literally yesterday i delivered the final cut of the film so

congratulations

that's

so exciting you'll have to keep us posted on that he is very prolific i mean it's amazing we're so fortunate to have him talk tomorrow evening

so uh my guest star rex ike's he is one of the co-founders of mission one billion a networking group that is meeting tomorrow night at a place

called Schmidis in Milwaukee.

Sounds like an absolute gas.

And the feature speaker is also here with us tonight.

Producer, writer, director, aware of tons of hats, Daniel Pico.

It's so funny you said that because one of my questions, Daniel, was going to be like,

like the modern day conveniences.

I noticed on your IMDb page, your company, Pico Entertainment, has a Janesville, Wisconsin address, a Chicago area phone number, and is named after Pico Boulevard in LA.

So you're

like all, all encompassing.

So that's cool.

So tell us a little bit about like, what will you say tomorrow?

When you talk to people in Milwaukee and potential filmmakers or people who want to break in or people who have already been established, what is your message?

them

well i i i think i'm gonna i'm gonna look to the audience i'm gonna see kind of what they want to know first

sure

um and hopefully i'll be able to answer their questions and whatever their concerns are and their thoughts are i think the my big message that i try to take everywhere is the democratization of film and filmmaking where i remember once upon a time in the documentary francis rocopolo did for uh

Uh, what was it?

Uh, hearts of darkness.

He talked in the end about that, about how one day, you know, these video cameras that they're inventing, this was around 91 or so.

And, uh, he was saying that these video cameras one day are going to be good enough that, you know, you know, some little kid in the backyard is going to make a movie and it's going to be really beautiful and poetic.

And, you know, we could dispel with this idea of professionalism and it will truly become an art form.

And I've always felt that, you know, that was something I sort of shrugged off at the time, but now we're here.

You know, you can make.

I mean, even, what was it?

The French director who did La Femme Niquita, Luc Besson just released a trailer of a whole movie he shot on his iPhone, I think called Joan and John or something like that.

And, you know, obviously, you know, 28 years later was shot on an iPhone.

I mean, so the technology has now fully gotten to the point where anybody can make a movie.

There are no more gatekeepers.

Now that has twofold consequence, which is, you know, you have now a ton of films on the market.

Right.

And a lot of it's just, you know, it's completely saturated.

So in order to break through what you really need to do is be able to tell an incredible story and trying to put emphasis on

Style and story and making sure that you have a unique voice and the way you use that voice And if you can reach an audience by doing exceptional work you can cut through So film is democratized, but now everybody's got a vote so you need to get out there and you got to make sure that your vote counts

That's great.

Rex, when we come back, I'm going to ask how you guys connected.

We'll do that after a very short break, and we'll talk about a mutual contact I have with Daniel that I'm not sure he knows about, but we'll discuss that

as well.

And then I want to mention something too about Hearts of Darkness.

Yeah, perfect.

All right, we'll do that after this very short break.

Right now, Jim from Appleton in the 920 says Jennifer Lawrence is his

wannabe girlfriend

from TV

and movies,

and that is aiming high.

And I love it, Jim.

Great text.

We are coming back with...

And Daniel Pico, the Mission 1 Billion event is tomorrow night at Schmidis in Milwaukee.

We'll talk more about that.

It's actually Brookfield.

Oh, Brookfield, okay.

So we'll have a few more minutes with these guys when we come back.

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

Welcome back.

I'm Pete Chihuahua.

This is Nightlight.

Great to have you with me, folks, wherever you're joining us from around the state.

We are talking to Mission One Billion co-founder, Rex Sykes.

He is also a producer and host of the Movie Beat podcast on Spotify.

And Daniel Pico, who is a writer, producer, director, and just a filmmaker, Daniel, I think that's what we could say about you because you seem to do it all.

Rex, how did you guys connect?

Well, I'd been familiar with Daniel's work for some time.

We didn't know each other We actually just recently connected when I asked him if he'd be kind enough to speak at our group One of the people that I work with Derek Fister and some other people I have worked with Daniel So I've again been familiar with him for a long time, but but this is really a first for us.

That's great

So, if people show up tomorrow, Rex, just walk us through, in a nutshell, what the event is like.

Some mingling, some drinks, that kind of thing.

Daniel talks, and what happens

in one of these places?

So, we meet at Schmidt East Boring Grill.

It's on Lisbon Avenue in Brookfield, Wisconsin.

And if they go to Facebook and they search it, they can find it or they, you know, find Mission One Billion.

And, you know, they come in and it's pizza night.

So if you get a large pizza, you get a free pitcher of soda or beer.

We have filmmakers of mostly are professional filmmakers, but there are some newbies and they know we get new people and new blood.

So you never know for sure who's who's going to show up or what level, but it's a good mix of people.

There are non-union actors and union actors and union You know I had see people.

I mean, it's it's a good crowd.

Yeah

Rex if you are under nuclear attack for some reason do not feel obligated to finish this this interview It

happens I wanted to mention the darkness a good friend of mine a guy named Larry Carney was one of the cinematographers on parts of darkness and came back from the entire

You know, Misha Gash of how long it took to film the entire movie and then do the documentary and everything.

I was just tons of stories.

I lost touch with Larry.

I don't I don't even know.

I mean, I don't even know if he's alive, to be honest.

So I'd like to reconnect, but he was amazing.

Martin Sheen, I knew in the 70s kind of casually.

He was a very different Martin Sheen.

He was a James Dean cigarette smoking stocking cap, you know, and then I later made his brother, Joe Estevez, who became a friend.

You know, and so, you know, there's just like like arts of darkness and apocalypse now, you know, and and all these guys have a very soft spot in my heart.

That's awesome.

Daniel, was Columbia a good place to study film?

I know so many people that went there and it just seems like a great learning ground.

Oh, yeah.

I mean, I went there.

It was I don't know what it's like now, although one of my main cast members, Amelia Marie,

uh just graduated there so she maybe she could talk to his current state but um when i went there in the late 90s it was it was really exciting i mean in 1997 um i mean that was such a an amazing time for cinema um the independent film movement was coming uh i mean i was there during 1999 which was you know one of the greatest years in cinema

So I went to a ton of movies during that year and I remember the connections that I made over going to those films and seeing all those great projects that lived to this day from that year.

And if you look it up, I mean, it's incredible the amount of movies that were made in that year.

What was really exciting was just getting hands on, finally, and being able to really touch things.

And I made connections there that I lived this day.

I mean, my cinematographer who just did my feature and a bunch of my shorts here, he was my best man at my wedding.

I went to film school with him.

Matt Jones, his name is Josh Silgenberg.

He's a great cinematographer.

Matt Jones, who was one of my producers and he's a writer that I work with often and he helped edit the withering, my feature.

He went to Columbia with me.

Yeah, and Amelia Marie who's who's a good friend.

I mean they're they're all You know part of that Columbia family and I have great relationships with a great relationship in particular with Wenhua who's the

the current head of film there.

And she was an instructor while I was there, actually assistant directed one of her short films on Los Angeles.

So it was great, great experiences, great people.

You know, during that time, I mean, I hope that anybody who has the opportunity to go to any film school really takes advantage of those years and really dives in.

I mean, I remember, I mean, I was thinking about this the other day, when I got my first film book, you know, it was called The Art of Film.

And I remember I took it to the top of the library in downtown Chicago.

I think it's the Harold Washington Library.

And I brought it all the way to the top floor where they had that big open area where they sometimes do meals and catering and events and stuff.

But it was just open and empty.

And I remember sitting down up there with it and just reading about film gauges and sizes for the first time and how special and magical it was.

I mean, that was an amazing time.

I really hope everybody else who decides to go to a film program has that kind of experience and really does that kind of deep dive.

On your IMDB Pro page, I know this doesn't really mean anything.

You work with someone you might not even have crossed paths, but Dwayne Sharp was in a movie I did years ago and he is a connection between the two of us.

Love Dwayne.

Are you friends with

him or

was it just a kind of a cat?

Okay.

Oh, yeah, Dwayne, I mean, we don't talk a lot, but he runs the casting agency now down to Chicago.

That's right here, yeah.

The stuff I shot for Razor here in Wisconsin.

Um, I went through his company.

Um, so he got me people.

And then when I made my feature film, um, my first feet, big feature, which was farewell darkness, which was done in 2007, uh, Dwayne has a small role in that.

And, uh, I had edited films that Dwayne was in and he's just, he was, he's such a great actor and he was so much fun.

Great guy.

Guys, uh, good luck tomorrow.

Thank you for being on the show tonight.

Hope the, uh, hope the event is a smash and, uh, don't be strangers.

Oh, thank you.

Great to see you.

Feel good.

And thank you.

Thank you.

He's very cool.

I'm very glad.

Thank you for being here, Daniel, and for being there tomorrow.

Thank you for having

me.

Daniel is representing in Janesville people, the southern end of the state here.

So great stuff, guys.

Thanks so much.

And knock them dead tomorrow.

Awesome.

Thank you.

All right.

That's Daniel Pico and Rex Sykes.

If you're interested, check out Schmidis in Brookfield tomorrow for this event called Mission One Billion.

And you can learn even more about Daniel.

And Rex, for that matter.

All right.

We are coming back after news, sports and weather.

We will be talking about where Wisconsin ranks to raise a family.

And I'm going to tell you something cool about garlic.

It's peachwabbit.

Nightlight of the Civic Media Radio Network.

Broadcasting live from the Civic Media Studios in Green Bay.

This is Night Light with Pete Chihuahua.

Your inside source on everything entertainment from Wisconsin to Hollywood.

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

Pete Chihuahua.

Welcome back.

All right.

Act two is underway officially.

Hope you all smoked him if you had him.

And it's great to have you with me tonight on Nightlight, regardless of where you're joining us from in our wonderful state.

We just had, and I love this too, when we have a local connection too, we had Daniel Pico on who lives in Janesville.

And I was looking at this guy's IMDB Pro page thinking there's no way this guy could live in Wisconsin with all these credits, but he's making it work, so good for him.

If you missed hour number one, we talked a little bit about the Packers coaching situation and Amy Poehler's podcast and lots of fun stuff.

We have a great question tonight and we talked to...

Rex Sykes and Daniel Pico, as I just mentioned, the event tomorrow night is Mission 1 Billion at Schmidties in Brookfield, just a big networking group that is trying to connect people in Wisconsin who want to be in the entertainment industry.

So check it out if that is something that tickles your fancy.

We've got a great show tonight, folks, coming up at the bottom of the hour.

Here in the six o'clock hour is Olivia Witt, a very funny stand-up comedian originally from Wisconsin who makes her home in New York now.

And we will talk to Olivia about what is going on.

She's got some really cool stuff to say and things that she's been working on.

So we'll have Olivia at 6.35.

And then at 7.20 in hour number three, the Green Bay Lama, Jason Jerry himself will be here.

A mythical.

figure here in Green Bay.

I'm excited to meet Jason.

This will be his first time on the show, and I've just kind of been hearing about him for a couple of years now in Green Bay, and we've recently connected through social media.

He will be here at 720 in the studio.

Gonna be good, maybe Conrad, if we're feeling crazy, we get a picture through the window of the Green Bay Lama, our first

one.

Yeah, that would be really crazy.

That would be outstanding.

That is the voice of Conrad Krieger, who is working the board tonight on the other side of the glass.

He's quarantining himself because he is under the weather.

Are you feeling any better than when we started the show, Conrad?

Not

really.

Are you gradually getting worse?

Probably.

Okay, what do you think you have?

The bird flu?

What are you working?

Well, you said scurvy earlier, so probably that.

Don't rule out rickets.

It's all a possibility.

Records doesn't sound good.

I hope it's none of the above.

So anyway, we're getting through it though.

We got a lot of fun.

I think it's time, Conrad, that we reintroduce our question of the night.

Let's talk about the question.

Okay, question.

Question.

Question.

Pregunta.

Question.

Question.

Okay, I have a question.

Questions.

This question.

Domanda.

Question.

Questions.

Who is your current movie or TV crush?

Got some great answers.

We'll get to the text in just a moment But who is your favorite or current movie or TV crush because these things change.

It's kind of like out of sight out of mind.

I Was saying like mine kind of fluctuate Just don't tell my wife.

She's my ultimate.

I mean usually mine

sinny Sweeney, but

is it really?

But you say Sydney's yeah because you just saw Marty Supreme That's why I put the word current current in the early question,

you know, it was Kate McKinnon too

Yes, you've had a serious thing about Kate McKinnon for, I would say the first year of this show, Conrad, you talked in Cecily.

Well,

it was really about how much he makes me laugh.

Yeah, that goes a long way.

Just like every time she talks, I'm just gonna be like, I know I'm gonna like die laughing here.

It's very funny.

And what is it about Sidney Sweeney that you find appear?

Her acting talents.

You

don't believe me?

You can be honest.

She's a fine actor.

I

mean, I still gotta see the housemaid.

You know, I've heard good dude things about it.

Listen, you might have a little crush on Amanda Zyford after you see that.

She's really great too.

They look like they could be sisters.

The Sweeney sisters, as it were.

Shout out to SNL.

But Amanda Zyford's a really good actor too.

So, and it does look like a good movie.

So there you go.

That's tonight's question of the night.

I said Carrie Coon.

An actress with ties to Wisconsin.

She was most recently in White Lotus.

She was in one of the Fargo seasons and she is just a really talented actor.

She's excellent.

So, and we should try to get Carrie Coon on the show.

We'll make a point to try to get Carrie.

Yes, so we'll reach out.

But do not mention that I have, she's my crush of the week.

We don't want that.

We don't want to scare her away.

I

think I should put that in the headline.

Yeah.

Being guest on

Nightlight.

The

host has a guest.

The host has the hots for you.

Please come on his show.

It won't be the least bit awkward.

Carrie Coon is mine, and Conrad, you're gonna have to say the name, Odessa.

Azion.

Azion.

So, Sidney Sweeney taking a backseat to Odessa.

And Odessa Azion, her mom, is the voice in King of the Hill, Ken?

No, not Kenny.

So, she's a nepo baby.

Let me...

Well, Pam Pamela Adelon Pamela Adelon,

that's her mom.

Okay, and she's the voice of Bobby Hill in King of Hill

Yeah, she's a nepo baby.

See that's what I like about my girl Carrie Coon UW Madison grad worked her butt off worked web none of this nepo baby crap con That's a tough circle to crack anyway Yeah, I mean I'm not saying you can't do it.

I'm just saying it's gonna there's gonna be some leg work involved.

Yeah.

Yeah,

but

Didn't know that Kate Hudson was a nepo baby until like

yesterday when

I think it was yesterday you talked about it Yeah,

I didn't know Oliver Hudson was a brother either.

Yeah, they're both big-time I mean that that they're the epitome of nepo babies, but talented I Oliver is a pretty decent actor and Kate Hudson's great.

So I have no problem with that.

That's great So let us know who your celebrity crush

for lack of a, that's an easier way to say it, or who is your current crush in TV and film.

You can join us and be part of the show at 855-752-4842, 855-755 Civic.

You can also text us on the Civic Media app.

Very easy to use, and if you're watching the radio on Facebook, YouTube, or X, drop us a stream comment, and I will read it on the radio.

Give us a like or a follow there if you're so inclined.

And just a heads up, folks, if you did miss the first hour of the show,

There was a whole lot of fun.

You can check it out in podcast forum at civicmedia.us.

So here we go.

Away we go.

Act two is officially underway.

I saw this con.

I thought this was kind of cool.

This is Wisconsin.

Wallet Hub did this study of the best states for family.

Now, let me say right from the get go, I don't put a lot of stock in this.

I think you can raise a family anywhere.

I lived in two huge cities.

Had my kids in one of them raise them the second part of their childhood here I think you can if you're a good parent I think it doesn't really matter that much where you raise your kids But these lists are kind of fun and I love the Wisconsin Crack the top 50 I

Mean we're

up there There's only 50s days kind of I know yeah, Wisconsin is fourth.

That's outstanding.

Yeah, that's pretty cool

And they have these scores, they have all these different, you know, categories, family fun rank, whatever that is, I don't know, health and safety rank, education and childcare rank, affordability rank, and socioeconomics rank.

Those sound kind of like the same things, but anyway, Wisconsin gets a 20 in the family fun rank.

What do you think constitutes family

fun?

snow tubing in the winter

and

going out on the lake in the summer.

There's enough Chuck E. Cheese's around the state to make people happy, or Jim Brees.

I get it.

Health and safety rank, Wisconsin is 17th.

And if you're following at home so far, that's a 37-cume.

Education and childcare rank, Wisconsin gets a 10.

That's great.

Affordability rank is 12 and socioeconomic rank is seventh for a grand total of 60.58.

Do you know, did you know, what would you have guessed before I sent this to you as to what state is number one?

I probably would have said like, I don't know.

Definitely not those New York or California.

I would say maybe Georgia or somewhere on there, North Carolina, South Carolina.

Okay Well, New York tough guy is number six

Where's the affordability rank on that one?

Well, they they don't affordability their ninth I Don't this must be like ass backwards or something because because Connecticut is number one which probably means I think the higher the score the better Yeah, because because yeah,

yeah, I mean

I think New York should be like one.

Yeah, I would have guessed, honestly, I would have guessed probably, maybe not Wisconsin number one, but Minnesota.

It has a good quality of life, Michigan.

I would have thought probably it was a Midwest state, but Massachusetts is number one.

And that doesn't surprise me.

At the end of the day, they have great schools, healthcare, I think they get high marks.

Minnesota is number two.

Going around the horn here.

for other Midwest states.

Minnesota is number two.

North Dakota, number three.

Their health and safety rank is number seven because no one lives there.

You're safe.

Unless you get a flat tire.

There's no one there to help you change it.

Education and childcare, they get a four.

Affordability rank is a 22.

I don't understand this, but I've been there.

I mean, people in North Dakota are lovely.

I don't think that it's a great state, personally.

I don't think you can compare it to Wisconsin, or Minnesota, or Michigan, or other Midwest states, if it's even considered a Midwest state.

Here's another one I disagree with.

Nebraska is number five.

Now Omaha's a great town.

Lincoln is fun.

But after that- It's a great

audible too.

It's a what?

Great audible.

Nebraska?

No,

Omaha.

Oh my-

God you just shoehorned a Peyton Manning joke into the show What's Roger's that was your Roger's say

green 18

years

at green 19?

It's one of the two

What do you think about him is he done?

Oh, yeah, he yes.

I mean actually, I don't know he probably doesn't want to He wants this is what's gonna happen.