The Kinky Side of Madison with Rob Thomas (Hour 1)

You're listening to Civic Media.

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

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

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.

a guy who always looks ahead, even when parallel parking.

Pete Schwabba.

It's a problem.

Welcome to Nightlight, folks.

How are we doing Wednesday?

Thank you for joining me wherever you're joining us from across our great state of Wisconsin where spring is in the air.

I can at least say that.

Zomers, can I?

Whether it's true or not, it's still kind of warm today for February.

Yeah, you know.

Spring is in the air for now.

We'll get second winter, maybe third winter.

We'll see what happens.

I'm not excited about it, but hey, I just had something happen to me right before the show.

With this make you suspicious, I was on hold.

And the song faded out, and right as it faded out, the customer service rep came on.

That's the third time in a row that's happened to me over the last like week.

And it makes me think

something is going on.

You know, maybe when they click a button to take a call, it fades the music down, or you mean like the music in a lot of times you're on hold, it just fades in and out seemingly randomly.

You just mean it happened to coincide with a fadeout.

Three times in a row that's making me suspicious.

That's why you know, it could be the Illuminati it could be something going on in the stars I don't know.

It's really strange because usually typically anyway three times in a row That's weird and people pick up right in the middle of a good song or or elevated music whatever it is But this is the third time in a row.

It was like a perfect fade.

It was like a radio show or something.

It was insanity but

it is what it is hey happy okay folks this is our last live show before valentine's day so let's celebrate the holiday of love uh zomers what are your plans for for valentine's day if you have any

i currently have no plans for valentine's day um what am i probably gonna end up doing

Most likely stay home and watch a couple of movies don't know if they'll be romance or otherwise But I've had some long days this week and it'll be nice to just take a load off and relax and I have no responsibilities to attend to on relation or in terms of relationships So I am a free man on Saturday

Whatever you do do not watch the film Valentine's Day Pretty bad

made especially

for the holiday

Well, you know what?

There you go.

It got like a 4% in Rotten Span.

It's Gary Marshall.

It's a Hollywood titan who made this movie.

Good cast, but it was one of those movies like they tried to throw it together and they thought thematically, well, it's Valentine's Day.

Let's make a movie called Valentine's Day and it is a clunker.

So I would recommend to people, all the lovers out there, go with like a Groundhog Day, a Win-Harry-Met Sally, something about Mary, if you will.

something along those lines that have some laughs and don't take themselves too seriously.

But I really don't.

I'll be in Dirk County for Valentine's Day, which is a great place to be for Valentine's Day.

My wife will be with me.

Maybe we'll hang out a little bit.

I don't know.

Maybe our paths will cross.

We'll have to see.

But I'll be watching some movies.

But this is our last show.

before Valentine's Day live show.

So get your thoughts in on Valentine's Day, folks, if you want.

Phone lines are always open, 855-752-4842-855-75 Civic.

You can text us throughout the show using the app as well, if you wanna chime in on any of the things.

I'm talking about tonight with tonight's producer, Mr. Aaron Zommers.

And if you're watching the radio, you can also drop us a stream comment.

If you're watching on YouTube, Facebook, or...

I learned this today about Greg Bach.

For a long time, I did not call XX because it's stupid.

It makes no sense.

Twitter made sense.

It was kind of a nice name.

You could tweet somebody.

Then they changed it to X because everything made by very non-manly men has to have a macho angle to it.

So they called it X. So now you say I'm going to X someone, I guess.

I don't know.

You can watch our show on Twitter or X if you so choose and drop us a comment there.

Be part of the show, folks.

It's always more fun when you guys participate.

Did you have a good day, Mr. Zomers?

I did.

A busy day, but a good one.

And you know, right before getting on the show here with you, do some prep before the show, I went and took a walk for about half an hour, grabbed some dinner, energized me back up because I was falling asleep at the wheel metaphorically.

Well, I appreciate the the rejuvenation.

Are you where did you eat?

What what establishment did you did you visit?

I went down to Muya.

It's

just a burger place.

Oh, it's pretty solid.

Oh my

god,

that might be

Have you had Shake Shack?

I have I like Shake Shack.

Yeah, they're both good I feel like Culver's does beat them out, but it's also just different

You know everyone talks about what's the best fast food?

What's the best burger and you know as long once you hit a certain threshold Most of them are pretty good and they're just different

It's tough you've got great burger places there in Madison.

I love daddy dumplings I but Muya is I was fixated on Muya for like two years in a row whenever I would wrap up at PBS I would go right to Muya and eat.

I love their burgers.

I love their fries

And I compare it, I would say, of the national chains, I would go Shake Shack or there.

I like Shake Shack's fries.

And yeah, and I think Culver's just kind of does everything pretty well.

But I don't know if I'd put the burgers over Muya.

Again, I think they're just different.

Culver's tastes saltier with the burgers, and I am a fan of salt.

Muya, they're cooked.

They're more like not well done, but more towards that end.

So they're a little right.

It's the like charcoal taste, which is also very good.

Oh, yeah, that's good stuff.

And speaking of burgers, that's a perfect transition because, folks, if you don't subscribe to the Civic Media newsletter, you should absolutely do it.

Great stuff.

And today I saw an article by our pal, Joanne Krulatz and Adam Hess, who was a recent night like guest, had a lot of fun with Adam.

They wrote this article, the Wisconsin Beef Council.

is kicking off their third annual Wisconsin's Best Burger Contest this Friday, Friday the 13th.

The council is on a mission to find and celebrate the most mouthwatering 100% beef burgers in Wisconsin restaurants, bars, and or grills.

So everyone has a spot they like.

The first two years of the contest, they say, sparked a burger frenzy across the state with the elite eight finalists enjoying a surge in burger sales and statewide fame.

So if your burger makes this list, it's great for business.

But starting Friday through Sunday, March 15th, you can nominate your favorite beef burger from any Wisconsin restaurant on the Wisconsin Beef Council website.

It's beeftips.com slash best burger.

Sounds like you would go with Culver's.

I don't know if we're talking fast food for sure But I would probably try and pick you know local establishment and with that I'm not sure what I would pick because there's a lot of really good ones

Have you had the Bob's bad breath burger at the weary traveler freehouse?

Is that a real thing or are you yanking my chain?

I've never know

that's the thing that that's a real thing.

I've had one They're very good.

It's just over there in Atwood dynamite burgers and it's

I don't know if it gives you bad breath or not, but I was a big fan.

So that's one, or Dottie Dumplings.

They got great burgers.

Are you eating there, right?

I have not.

Oh, dude.

I'll tell you, here's what we'll do.

Sometime in the next couple of days, you mosey over to Dottie Dumplings.

Get yourself a burger.

If you don't like it, Civic Media will pay for it.

Okay.

Yeah, I didn't know you had that authority.

I should not like food more often, I think.

Good to see Sage.

What is this expense here?

This $20 hamburger?

No, but I do highly recommend it.

Donny Dumplings is great.

So get in on the fun, folks.

We've also had Paul Vanden Plaus in the show who created the platform, Wonderfully Wisconsin.

And he is doing a list of 100 burgers around the state.

He's at like number 23.

We got to be patient.

It's going to take him a while, but very excited to see what he comes up with.

And why not take your Valentine's Day for a nice hamburger this weekend?

Great stuff.

All right, without further ado, folks, I think we need to get to our civic media, our nightlight question of the night.

Let's talk about the question.

Okay,

question.

Question.

Question.

Here we go.

What is your favorite?

Winter Olympic sport.

I struggled with this one.

Can I tell you the alternate question, Summers?

What was the alternate question?

All right.

I struggled with this because I really wanted to ask, but I didn't want people to run from the airwaves either.

About a year ago, I read this article where Alec Baldwin and his wife, I can't remember her name, they have that reality show.

It's terrible.

went to see her ex-boyfriend in a play on Broadway.

During the play, her ex-boyfriend had to be nude.

And Alex Baldwin commented that this guy, he said it looked like there was a clarinet between the guy's legs.

I assume

that

meant giving him a compliment.

But I toyed with the idea a year ago of making this question, what musical instrument best describes your private parts?

Weirdly enough, mine would be a triangle.

I don't even want to explain that.

But I thought that could be a fun question of the night.

I just, I haven't been able to pull the trigger for the last year.

So I thought, you

know.

So that was going to be the question of the night.

If we get some response, if people liked that question, maybe we'll use it next week.

But tonight's question of the week, of the night is what is your favorite winter Olympic sport?

And you and I talked a little bit about this, but it was not a question of the night.

I think downhill, I think the ski jump is my favorite.

It is very

cool.

Yeah, I think it might be that or slalom or something, mostly because slalom is fun to say.

And it also is cool to watch.

It is cool to watch, for sure.

But I never know, like, can they hit the things?

Because they do.

But I guess they can't knock them over.

Right.

Is that how it works?

I'm not exactly sure what the criteria are, but it's got to be something like that.

That's at least what it seems like.

Absolutely.

That's a great one.

I like the, I love the downhill skiing too, but I think the ski jump I'm most fascinated with because how high they get and how far they go.

I don't know how you practice a sport like that because it seems like it's ripe for serious injury.

Yeah.

So I have a

lot of, a lot of respect for people that do that.

I imagine you just start.

slowly with smaller jumps and you have like an inflatable thing underneath in case you fall.

I don't

know.

Of course, but still, it's a scary thing, man, to be up that high.

I don't know.

Kind of scared of heights anyway, so maybe it's not my thing.

So let us know, folks.

What is your favorite winter Olympic sport?

855-752-4842, 855-75 Civic.

You can also text us on the app.

that I just mentioned before, very easy to use, downloaded at civicmedia.ua.

Well, where can you download the app, Summers, wherever you get your apps, I suppose?

Yeah, Google Play

or Apple App Store.

There you go.

It's a great app.

You can take all your civic media shows and host with you wherever you go.

And if you're watching the radio, drop us a stream comment.

And if you're not afraid to, give us a like or a follow while you're there.

It is great to have you here, folks.

We've got a lot of great talk coming your way tonight.

My guests.

are the great Rob Thomas and I was standing film critic who is a regular

One of our nightlight best friends.

He will be here.

He's also the city cast at Madison newsletter editor We'll talk a little Valentine's Day with Rob and some movies then my pal Greg Bach will be here.

I was a guest on Greg show civic media mid mornings today So we're kind of doing a little swamp thing.

He's coming on my show tonight We'll have a great discussion with Greg and then two filmmakers will join us in hour number three who have a music video playing at the Dora County Film Festival Dora County Film Festival is right around the corner.

Check it out this week

and folks, I will be there and I cannot wait.

You gonna try to stop by over there, Azamers?

If I can.

It's a bit of a hike for you.

That's a great song.

It's some old music.

You know, your call is very important to us.

We're coming right back.

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.

Are you sure you woke up from that nap?

I'm trying to.

Welcome back, folks.

I'm Pete Schwabber.

This is Night Light.

Great to have you here on this Wednesday.

The Wednesday before Valentine's Day, our last live show.

The next couple nights I have off, I will be at the Dork County Film Festival.

And we'll have some great hot shows for you guys.

So definitely still tune in.

Tim Baker on social media says downhill skiing is his favorite winter Olympic sport.

That's our question of the night.

Mike Desitel on Facebook says curling because I imagine the competitors sweeping their kitchen floors like that.

I think they're that intense.

I don't

know.

I feel like that's a very bad way to sweep your kitchen floor You're gonna have one really clean streak down the middle of the floor and everything else will still be dirty

What I don't understand is I was watching curling again I was at the gym last night and they had it on and they're just It's almost like they're moving it around because they're trying to create a path right so the whatever it is goes faster or farther

Right or to you know curl the path of it to go where they want to go

Yeah, it just seems like

they're

pushing.

What do I know?

I mean, I don't know.

I've always assumed that it was kind of just to create friction and slightly melt the ice to make a better path.

I don't know if that's accurate.

If any expert curlers hit us up, let us know how we're wrong.

Absolutely.

And I will say the other night we were kind of having fun with curling and I kind of made the same joke Mike made about sweeping.

But last night when I was at the gym, I was watching it.

I was getting into it and

you know, it's pretty amazing how they can make it just go around the other curling mechanism.

I don't know what it's called, but it's a science it looks like and it's pretty cool.

So tip of my hat to the curlers.

Aaron, you might be upset to realize that we did not make, Wisconsin did not make the list of romantic states put out by DoorDash, sadly.

So.

I can't say I'm not surprised.

I feel like, you know,

I think we just create and consume too much beer to hit that list.

Beer can be romantic.

Come on.

Folks, we've got news, sports, and weather coming up in five minutes.

Don't go anywhere.

Rob Thomas after that.

I did find this list.

This is from DoorDash.

It says, the most romantic state is Delaware.

The people there ordered the most flowers, chocolates, plushies.

balloons during the week of Valentine's Day last year.

Maryland is the second most romantic followed by Rhode Island, Ohio, Michigan, Virginia, Indiana, Indiana, Missouri, Nevada, and North Carolina.

So in the most intimate state, you ready for this?

Nevada.

The people there ordered the most intimate stuff around Valentine's Day like condoms, lubricants, and adult toys.

I find that really fun.

Like that's a huge discrepancy between flowers and balloons and then Another state where they just order the most sex toys like that's so different Right.

Yeah, I also feel like none of these things are things that I would want to order through door-dash I get that you might have to you know, but I would rather go and pick out flowers myself or be able to purchase things discreetly

in

No, I'm with you 100% now I'm told anyway when you order something like that in the box It doesn't say you know John's dildo factory or something in the return address they do kind of You know, they're a little discreet about it.

So that should make you feel better.

You've heard but I've heard yeah, that's what my friends told me and then the other states that were runners up for the most intimate states where they order things like kind of lubricants and adult toys Maryland Rhode Island Ohio, which was also on the romantic list

We're next on the list.

The rest of the top 10 is Utah.

Go figure.

Delaware, Arizona, Virginia, Massachusetts, and Michigan.

There's also normal meal delivery.

Dordish says Valentine's Day has been the number one day of the entire year for premium restaurant orders, including lobsters, scallops, steak, oysters, and sushi.

There's nothing wrong with staying in.

I think on Valentine's Day, I'd rather go out.

and just get out of the house and have that kind of food rather than have it, you're probably gonna pay double if you order lobster through DoorDash.

Yeah, probably.

I

will say there is something about making a meal for your significant other on Valentine's Day.

I have done that in a past year and that was fun, but

yeah,

that's good too.

Cooking something together, absolutely.

Besides cooking something special or going out to eat, I don't know, I feel like those are the two best options.

I agree.

And we have this other thing.

This happened the other day, a guy during the Olympics.

Did you see this?

I sent this to you.

Sturla Holm LeGrade from Norway took home a bronze medal in the biathlon.

And that's obviously combines cross-country skiing and shooting.

But he says he didn't enjoy it because he was heartbroken.

Instead of celebrating, he made a crazy confession in front of the entire world.

He said, quote, there is someone I wanted to share this with who might not be watching today.

Six months ago, I met the love of my life, the most beautiful and kindest person in the world.

Three months ago, I made the biggest mistake of my life and was unfaithful.

And I told her about it a week ago.

A week before the Olympics, this guy spills his guts to the love of his life.

And he says, this has been the worst week of my life.

He's still got a bronze medal, pretty good.

He says, I had the gold medal.

I had the gold medal in life, and I am sure there are many people who will see things differently, but I only have eyes for her.

Sport has come second these last few days, or third in his case with the bronze medal.

Yes, I wish I could share this with her.

Is that sweet or crazy?

Why do you say something?

You've already cheated.

Why are you saying something a week before the Olympics?

I don't know.

Maybe this guy really just wanted to have as clean of a conscience as he could before performing.

Maybe it was really hurting his...

athleticism I have no idea but that's a hell of a Hail Mary and I hope she doesn't do it.

I hope she comes back to him.

I mean the guy's pouring his heart out in front of the world give him some credit I mean whatever he cheated okay I get that.

Lots to pick apart there.

Maybe we'll ask Rob Thomas.

He had some great articles about Valentine's Day in Madison.

We'll talk to him about that in movies.

That's coming up after news, sports, and weather coming your way.

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

More 90s music Bombers is on a 90s music kick.

Is that because the last

night?

Well, this is just one of the songs that you have for your show But also I'm always on a bit of a 90s music kick to be honest.

Yeah, same We got a text Right before the end of the last segment Gary in the 608 says Bob's bad breath burger at the weary traveler on Williamson Street is no longer offered on the menu

How do you like that?

So

much

for one of the best burgers in the state.

We have to ask our next guest about this.

Let's bring him in.

He joins me over the stream from our state's capital.

That's Madison for those of you scoring at home, Mr. Rob Thomas.

Hey buddy, how are you?

I'm devastated if Bob's bad breath burger's not available.

That's news to me.

It's a great

burger.

I think I've had it twice.

Maybe they just took out off the menu for Valentine's Day because no one would get lucky if they had terrible

breath.

I don't know.

They put mints in it for Bob's good breath burger just for Valentine's Day.

Yeah.

Exactly.

How are you, buddy?

I'm doing great.

How about yourself?

Doing very well.

Thanks.

I wanted to tell you too, I just read the most romantic states from this list I found.

I think it was Mashable.

Wisconsin is not in the top 10.

for intimacy or romance.

And I don't know, I kind of, I responded, I took that news harder than I thought I would.

I'm surprised because it's so cold.

Maybe it's because it's, we're intimate out of necessity because it's so cold up here rather than by choice.

We have to, we have to use

body.

It's survival.

Yeah.

Exactly.

Do you have a, Rob, are you an Olympics guy?

Have you been watching the

Olympics?

Yeah, I've seen some of it.

I saw the opening ceremonies, which I love.

I love goofy opening ceremonies.

This one did not disappoint.

Saw some figure skating, saw some little bit of hockey, a little bit of skiing.

I love it.

I think we don't Olympics are my favorite, honestly.

Yeah, I like them too.

We were talking about that too.

I don't... Here's my issue.

We had this conversation the other night about figure skating or gymnastics, like those scores where people do a number.

And I think it's so much easier to get behind sports or events where there's a winner.

You know, someone breaks the tape or whatever.

Those scores where they judge them with numbers drive me bananas.

I would like to see some sort of quantifiable like...

I don't know, some kind of buzzer that they hit when they throw in the air

and you

get a point for that or something a little more like, oh, I can see how they got that point.

Sure.

Exactly.

Do you have a favorite Olympic sport?

That's our question of the night.

What would your choice be?

Interesting.

I like

I like, I like Bobson and Lude just because that's crazy and why

are they doing

that?

And I like, is it called the biathlon?

Just because somebody posts on social media, it's like, oh, I see you just skied from five miles.

Here's a gun.

This is so random to put those two things together.

So bizarre.

Yeah.

But even like cross-country skiing, like I remember watching a cross-country skiing race and it was like the most exciting thing ever.

And I don't think of cross-country skiing is particularly exciting, but like, yeah, I just, yeah, I'm

very into the

Winter Olympics.

I think that's a sport where if you've cross-country skied, you know how grueling it can be and how much your thighs burn.

So that helps you when you're watching, you're like, oh my gosh, this guy's a monster.

Like to be able to do that, you know.

Right.

Just like going uphill, like, is pretty incredible.

I'm always reminded too by the Jerry Seinfeld joke about the biathlon.

He's like, it's like the weirdest combination.

It's like swimming and strangle a guy.

So I'm with you.

All right.

You have big plans for Valentine's Day, Rob.

I know you guys covered this in CityCast Madison.

You had a couple of great articles about Valentine's Day in Madison.

Is it worth a trip to our state's capital?

I usually steer wheel clear of like restaurants on Valentine's Day just because a it's gonna be really busy B usually it's a lot more expensive.

So we're gonna go out Friday night.

I think nice, but like the thing I wrote for CityCast Madison was what to do on Valentine's Day if you hate Valentine's Day because there's a lot of people who Legitimately, you know, that's a holiday that you know, you want to steer clear of and

What I thought was funny is there's so many anti-Valentine's day things going on in Madison like there's a Karaoke at the bar called the Rigby that's exclusively breakup songs So you could like sing Adele someone like me or you know or whatever love love stinks probably by a Jay Giles band.

Yeah

the

one I do There was you know a comedy show where people talk about their worst dates which sounds great because that's always great comedy fuel

And then there's a Valentine's Day thing at Garver Feed Mill, which is an anti-Valentine's Day necessarily, but it's like an armored combat tournament where like, I guess, this is all new to me, but I guess cities will have these clubs where people dress up in armor and like fight each other.

Oh, really?

And it was called Love is a Battlefield, of course, this tournament.

But I thought that was so funny to have that on Valentine's Day.

I guess people get down there aggression.

Absolutely, you also had this was my favorite and you kind of let off with this one.

It's comedy F best Madison comedians perform and then are interviewed about their sex lives the good the bad and the ugly no question is off limits Is this a first year for that or is it back by

popular demand?

I have not heard about it before I can see this becoming an annual tradition It's hilarious.

Yeah, it's a pretty clever idea.

I mean

Where

is the where's the crucible?

Where is that?

It's it's just east of town.

I think it's so

it's

a place that has like they'll have like SNM nights and all kinds of edgy things really fun place that I've never been to it probably am way too old to ever go to but

I don't know one of my friends goes there pretty often and from the way that they describe the crowd I think you'd be fine Okay, there's people of all ages and persuasions and

everything

one of your friends, yeah.

That's good to know.

What about the Madison Polar Plunge?

Why do people do this, Rob?

I don't know.

It's

huge.

I mean, this is a benefit, this one coming up this weekend for Special Olympics Wisconsin.

So that's, I'm sure they do it for that, but like, you know, I went to Antarctica and they did a Polar Plunge down there, Southern Polar Plunge.

And a lot of people did it, and they were like, that was horrible.

That hurt so much.

And then they

were

just grinning, and I was like, eh, we're already in Antarctica.

How cold do you gotta get, really?

Yeah, that's a real polar plunge, none of us, Lake Michigan.

So the one more I wanted to talk to you, the other one I wanted to talk to you about was Best Date, Worst Date, another comedy, a comedy, I mean, how could you do better on Valentine's Day at the Forward Club on Valentine's Day?

Best date or state tell us about that.

Well, yeah, again, it's it's comedians kind of like the other one you mentioned where being interviewed about Like the best date they ever had or the worst day they ever had I would imagine there's more comedy Out of the worst date, but like I you're right.

I mean if you take

a first date to that thing.

I mean, that's a pretty low bar to clear.

Unless the community comes back next year and tells their worst date was the one they went to the year before.

But that's at the forward club at Bree Stevens Field.

That's so great.

And then you had, I'm looking for this article too because I thought it was hilarious, Kinky Madison.

Madison apparently has a history.

that's quite risqué, apparently.

Oh, here it is, uncovering Madison's kinky past, and this is interesting, too.

Tell us about that.

Well, yeah, I just, I mean, you go to Madison, you go to St.

Capital, it's a pretty, you know, family-friendly place, lots of nice restaurants and nice, you know, outdoorsy things to do, and that was all true in the 70s, but they're also like, there was like a red light district, kind of where King Street is now, the first settlement district, and they were...

topless bars and massage parlors and all that stuff.

And it's just a completely different world than what it is now.

And so, you know, and now there's a, there's a much more sex positive kink scene in Madison, like the crucibles part of that.

But it was kind of fun to just kind of dive into some of those old headlines and, and ads too that would run in the,

you know,

the paper for, for houses of

ill repute shall we say.

And you can't go wrong if you're looking for something lurid or risque the dangle club.

I love the name.

I

mean truth in advertising.

Also one more what is it the the Hotel Washington that's a LGBTQ history.

Yeah that was a big

kind of ground zero for the the LGBT scene in Madison for a lot of years and like it was you know a place where a lot of the activism came from but also after they would you know march in the streets they go back there and party and so I think that place lives on in places like the Cardinal Bar and other places around town that are that are you know kind of keeping that spirit alive.

You know what's so crazy?

Like, I kind of remember these times, but you're talking about King Street, and it had its own porn shop, and the streets were full of sex workers and their customers.

And I remember being here in Marinette, and every once in a while, someone's dad would get busted in medicine.

They made the local paper, you know?

When did all those things go away?

That's a good question.

I don't know.

I mean, you know, the...

the city's been so gentrified.

I mean, it was before my time when I got here in the late 90s.

So I feel like the 80s was a time when maybe there's a cultural conservatism that kind of cracked down on those things.

But yeah, it's an interesting history.

It is.

It just kind of hit me.

I'm like, eh, where did all that stuff go?

Right.

So by the time we get to be adults, we don't have access, which I think is kind of unfair.

Rob Thomas is here, folks.

He's the CityCast Madison newsletter editor.

He does a great job there.

We're talking about some of his articles here regarding Valentine's Day and check it out.

You'll get some great suggestions, restaurants, wherever.

He is also an outstanding film critic.

And Rob, we've got a lot to talk about, but let's, before the break,

You started watching the Burbs.

You beat me to it and you bailed already.

Tell us about the Burbs.

Yeah, I'm having a real hard time finding a show that I can stick with.

I think it and so the Burbs, you remember, was this movie from 89 with Tom Hanks, I

think.

Corey Feldman, Rick Document, yeah.

Yep, yep.

About, you know, this this seemingly tranquil suburban.

neighborhood and there's this weird house and Joe Dante I think directed it the guy who did gremlins oh yeah yeah good movie as I recall but but yeah I just didn't the peacock series just doesn't really live up at Kiki Palmer who I love stars in it but oh yeah kind of right off the bat I just kind of bounced off it

Do

they drop all the episodes at once or do they roll one out a week at least?

Because if I'm going to give it a chance, I'd like at least to be able to watch more if I do like it.

It does have all eight.

So if you do like

it,

you can keep watching it.

Maybe that was it.

It was like facing eight hours of television.

That's a high bar for me to start committing myself to it.

So maybe I'll keep going.

I thought you were more of a competitor than that, Rob.

Rob Thomas is here.

We will take a very short break.

We'll come back and talk some movies.

Gary chimed in again on the text line in the 608.

He says, in the basement of the dangle lounge were old meat lockers from a late 19th century Norwegian grocery store.

The women used them for changing rooms.

That sounds like a class joint.

That's wild.

That is insane.

All right.

We are coming back to talk movies.

Aaron Zommer is working the board tonight.

And we're gonna come back and talk some movies.

We've got an hour number two.

Greg Bach will be here and then in act three, Mariah Kohler from the Dore County Film Festival.

She is a director of a music video.

We'll talk to her about that.

It's all coming up tonight.

Glad you're here, folks.

This is Nightlight with Pete Schwabba 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.

Zahmer's going anti-Valentine's songs.

There's nothing romantic about that, folks.

Be part of the show.

Our question of the night is, what is your favorite winter Olympic sport?

And since just to piggyback off of Gary's text, Rob, my question I thought about was, I read this about a year ago.

Alec Baldwin went to a Broadway show with his girlfriend.

or I'm sorry his wife who dated a guy who was in the show who appeared nude and apparently was uh looked pretty good naked and Alec Baldwin said that it looked like there was a clarinet between his legs

and so

that got me thinking my question was going to be what musical instrument best describes your private parts and I said a triangle you know there you're under no obligation to weigh in here but I just thought it was a funny question interesting I'll have to think about

Yeah, give it some thought.

Could be a gizoo if it makes funny noises.

That's one too.

Just have some fun with it.

Rob Thomas is here folks.

Madison based film critic and the CityCast Madison newsletter editor.

We talked Valentine's Day last segment with Rob.

We've moved on to movies.

Okay, so Rob, I want to start with crime 101.

I've kind of been tracking this movie.

I'm very excited about it.

And I loved Mark Ruffalo, native Wisconsinite in the movie Collateral as Ray Fanning, a detective who was just gritty and cool.

And I hope he's a little older now, but I hope he's as good in Crime 101.

And I hope it's a good movie.

The reviews seem OK.

But you wrote about it, too.

Tell us what your thoughts were.

Yeah, it's good.

It comes out Friday.

And the probably previews tomorrow night.

But yeah, he plays another LA detective.

I wouldn't say he's as cool as he was in collateral.

He's sort

of a, I

think I just kind of, he looks like an unmade bed.

He's sort of a pariah in the department.

He's going through a divorce.

He's like...

He's taking up yoga to try and turn his life around.

But he's also a very good detective and he's the only one who realizes that this one jewel thief played by Chris Hemsworth is responsible for a whole rash of similar heists along the one-on-one freeway.

LA, that's crime 101.

And so a lot of the film is sort of cat and mouse between the two of them.

Halle Berry is kind of in the middle.

She's playing an insurance agent who's getting tired of ensuring all these billionaire sleazeballs for their

For their riches and and it's kind of looking maybe to make some riches herself and then Barry Keegan Plays this sort of loose cannon rival thief to Chris Hemsworth character who was trying to muscle in on his action and so It remind me a lot of heat the Michael Mann movie Okay, not as good but but really stacked cast some great car chases like I mean like I

in the tank for any movie that uses real cars on real roads and, you know, and they're both, it's really good.

It's really fun to watch.

And it just uses Los Angeles really well, like the locations a day and night.

You know, I mean, I was held through the whole thing.

It runs about 135 minutes.

I know my wife went and she was a little more mass.

She thought it'd be a little more of a straight up action movie.

But like, it did remind me of just like a nice, slow, immersive crime thriller where you're just kind of held in its grip for the whole time.

And so I do recommend it quite a bit.

OK.

That's good.

I'm one of the few people.

I think I just thought Heat was overrated.

Like there's some great scenes.

Oh, really?

Wow.

Yeah, it's not my

favorite.

Hot take.

It's not even in my top three Michael Mann films.

Like, it's just, it's not like I didn't like it, but I don't know what it was about it, Rob.

I just, I liked it okay.

But

I think some

people, like, that's the hell they want to die.

Oh, he's the greatest movie

ever.

Oh, absolutely.

It's like a

guy movie with Michael Madsen and all these great character actors, Tom Sizemore,

you know.

Yeah.

I mean, you know, there's a podcast called One Heat Minute, where every episode they do one minute of that three hour movie.

So like, okay, film bros are obsessed with heat.

Yeah.

Yes.

And that doesn't surprise me.

It's a total bro movie.

There you go.

Yeah.

Well, good.

I'm excited to see Crime 101.

Let's see if we can, can we keep you after the break up for a few minutes, Rob?

Yeah, absolutely.

Keep talking.

Okay.

You have not seen the rip.

Let's, let's go Anaconda, because you talked about it last time you were here.

And we just got a couple of minutes.

I enjoyed it.

I mean, I didn't know what to expect.

The reviews were mediocre, but the bar was low when I went in, and I got a few laughs.

I had a good time.

I will admit, and it's probably on streaming by now, at least VOD, I think.

But my bar was on the floor.

My bar was lower than Snake's belly, to quote Anaconda.

But I thought I did have some.

We laugh quite a few times with that movie and it was a good mix of like kind of like a monster movie kind of a Hollywood satire because the premise is that they're doing an unauthorized reboot of the 1997 film Anaconda and you know, I like Paul Rudd and I like Jack Black.

It was nice to see Jack Black in a movie that's not a kid's movie after the Minecraft movie and the Super Mario Brothers movie and Kung Fu Panda.

And just and the the funny thing is they're sort of switching roles because Jack Black plays the kind of grounded family man and Paul

Rudd is

like the kind of the fast big talking loser Failed actor, right?

I think they would switch.

So I enjoyed that.

So yeah, I mean, it's not great cinema But like I gotta I definitely got a few laughs out of it.

I will

say this Jack Black Has put on a ton of weight.

He carries it so well.

He's just

He's interesting to watch.

He's a good

leading man.

I think he's quite graceful, actually, for his size.

That scene where

he's running

with a pig?

I mean, just fantastic scene.

Hilarious scene.

Yeah, that was probably the best set piece of the film.

All right, Rob Thomas is here, folks.

Madison Film Critic.

We're going to get into some more films.

Some great ones opening this weekend that I want to ask Rob about.

And we'll do all that after the break.

We got Door County Film Festival talk coming up on hour three.

And Greg Bach coming up at the bottom of act two.

Lots going on here, glad you're here.

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

The national news cycle never stops, but it can be hard to find news about your local community.

Civic Media is dedicated to providing quality local and state news coverage across Wisconsin.

With the Civic Media app, you can get notifications about local stories that matter to you and your community.

Find the free Civic Media app in your phone's app store and choose notifications from the menu to tell us what kind of news you want to hear about.