Susan Kerns on the Milwaukee Film Festival (Hour 2)

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feature presentation.

Here's Pete's and Greg.

Welcome back to Nightlight with Pete Schwab and Greg Bach.

I seriously, you're listening to Civic Media.

I am in, I am in radio park right now.

It's in Racine.

I'm in what's called the control room of my regular studio.

This is where I do the show now because it's just easier.

But now I have to be in charge of buttons during the show.

And sometimes I go to talk and the button is not pressed properly.

So, Pete and Dom just see me talking to nothing.

My point being is, welcome back to Nightlight with Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach here on the Civic Media Network.

You are listening to us either on the radio, on the Civic Media app, or watching the live stream.

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So yeah, just get the civic media app and you can take us anywhere in the world, Pete.

We have gotten text messages from Vienna, New Zealand, East Brunswick, New Jersey.

Yes.

That's

insane.

I used to say that all the time on the old show, Pete, and no one was impressed.

And finally, I found someone in my life when I say, East Brunswick, New Jersey, you give it the credit and recognition it deserves.

But yeah, get the Civic Media app.

We are so happy you were here with us.

We still have one more hour for today's show, and it's going to be a bond bond.

We're talking to Susan Kearns as the executive director of Milwaukee Film in a little bit, talking about the film festival.

And I guess there was some big news regarding the Downer Theater we can discuss as well.

And yeah, it's, it's just, I know it's, it's great.

Another wonderful day in nightlight version 2.0.

Pete, how are you doing?

I'm doing well, Greg.

Yeah.

And I,

I, I know

what you said about taking the app all over the world.

I do think, you know, it's funny, like someone Dom's age, like Dom, if I made the joke to you, yeah, I can call you later.

I get 50 anytime minutes.

Does that mean anything to you?

It

does not.

Does the phrase free nights and weekends mean anything to you?

Nope.

Those were all selling points for cell phones back in the day.

Wow.

Because back in the day, you would have a certain amount of cell phone minutes you could use during the daytime.

And then after a night, I think it may be seven o'clock.

you could talk as much

as you

wanted, because you had to buy a plan, which you said like, oh, I want 200 minutes a month.

So you could only talk for 200 minutes in that month from like, you know, 7am or 8am to 7pm.

And if you went beyond that,

they

would charge you.

12 bucks a minute, yeah.

Yeah,

I don't think that, that does not sound good at all.

I do not like that.

Try having a burner phone with only 50 anytime minutes.

I'm out on the mission.

You know, I can't make a call.

I got all the info I need.

Hey, this is fun, guys.

We got Susan Kearns coming up.

We're going to talk in Milwaukee Film.

We've got our question of the night down.

Why don't we reintroduce the question of the night and then we'll read some

texts.

Let's talk about the question.

Okay, question.

Question.

Question.

Question.

Question.

Okay, I have a question.

Questions.

This question.

Question.

Questions.

If you could ask God a question, what would it be?

That is our question of the night, folks.

Please be part of the show.

It's so much more fun when you guys participate.

You can also, oh, well, you can drop us a text on the text line, 855-752-4842, 855-756, or the app that Greg just mentioned, or drop us a stream comment.

Always fun to hear from you guys.

What do you guys think about this question?

Have you, have you noodled it?

I've noodled it.

And it comes down to like, do I want to be super serious or do I want to be, you know, funny?

I can be super serious and just bum all of you out.

But I feel like, I feel like it also, there's a part of me that would walk up to God and be like, so all that stuff I said down there about you is we're cool, right?

Like when you

took his name in vain, Greg,

or like, I even was like, I was like, you know, you know, the whole like, I don't think you exist thing.

Yeah,

we're good, right?

I'm wrong.

I'm wrong.

Clearly I'm wrong.

I'm here and I'm talking to you.

So you could have set me down immediately via a lackey or an intern, but I'm apparently I'm talking to you.

So you must be cool.

So we're cool.

We're good.

That's probably what I would say.

My worst question to God, the most self-involved.

We're good.

That's it.

That's a great question and I think you know and you might thank him for not smiting you when you said all these things and and you said here's what I This is why I phrase the question the way I did because I don't know everybody refers to God as he and I just don't know so I wouldn't first of all my question would not be a Would not address the gender of God, but also I think I would ask I have two questions I would ask who killed Kennedy because I really truly am curious about that.

Okay, and my other one would be

Well, I see you again because

I want to go to heaven.

I want to get in man Oh, so you're okay.

So this question is posed as you're just you get a moment.

See I I Understood it as I'm dead.

I'm at the gates and God comes up and says you get one

you get

well then I

would be can I come in?

Yeah, oh look at that.

That's very that sounds very that sounds like something you hear at like a very uptempo church and then they go into like a 30-minute song

We got some, we got some messages on the text line.

First of all, Brett in brown deer.

Thank you so much for listening and thank you for the love.

He says, wow, I'm back.

And now Greg is part of the night team.

Cool.

I'm a fan already.

Thank you very much.

Really appreciate it.

He also says, if I couldn't ask God for the lottery numbers, I'd ask him for what's up, what's up with the short lifespan of dogs.

Good question, Brett.

That's some thought.

That's a great question.

Oh my goodness gracious.

Yes.

Oh my God.

Where'd you go, Brett?

Let us know.

Know where he went, but I don't know if I want if he wants me saying so if you want to tell us Brett feel

free

feel free Yeah, totally why are dogs designed to do nothing but just break your heart one day.

That's what I'd say the question I was

He gave that serious thought Dom.

Did you have a did you have an answer?

I do yes, I would say

you know an answer I

have an answer I have a question.

Oh, okay answers What what is up with the dinosaurs like what's going on?

What was going on with that?

And that's that's what I would ask them.

I would be you know, I

I I'm not a super believer in dinosaurs, you know,

oh boy

You know not not not

it walked off the flat earth Tom come on,

that's what I asked God about you know what hold on hold on one second You asked that question.

You got that question.

I got a call here from God Yeah, he said you yeah, he wants to know what's up with dinosaurs.

Yeah, it's a he apparently okay.

Yeah, yeah

Okay, cool.

Yeah, I'll let him know.

Hold on.

Okay.

God said, ask scientists.

That's what he said.

Wait, God didn't have Dom's number.

He hit a call, Greg.

Well, I'm his go-between.

I'm sort of like, you know, the, you know, middleman.

Give me a solid, Greg.

Stop asking so many questions,

Pete.

Let Dom know what I said.

Peter from New London says he would ask God, do you have change for a dollar, mostly quarters?

Mostly quarters.

I gotta do laundry.

God, can you get me some change?

Customer service.

Can you please hold?

Don't get the Pete's first one was gold.

I don't get that one.

I think, I think it was just, it's, you know, I think that was, I think Pete was trying to be funny.

Maybe he's just working on new bits.

Maybe Pete's working on new bits.

Tony, the trucker listening and says, Pete, Greg, why there are no beer in heaven boxers or briefs.

Interesting.

Well, first of all, let's address that.

Either you don't need beer in heaven, because you just feel the euphoria that beer brings you all the time.

Anyway, that's here.

That would be my guess.

And boxers are brief.

There's no clothes in heaven, right?

It's just a big nude fest, I would think, or, you know, just people that were just spirits.

You can't put pants on a ghost, right?

I think that the question refers to there's a song called In Heaven There Is No Beer.

Also, wow, you're you're you're heavens freaky.

So

Look, I don't wear I don't like wearing clothes as it is.

I'm just kidding But I'm just thinking I think if we're there, it's all just a big, you know, who cares, right?

Yeah, I mean, I'm

guessing

I

don't know this guys.

I'm not trying to sound like I'm

well

I don't know how I feel about heaven.

I don't know if I really, I mean, that, that's a whole, that's once again, a whole other conversation that just might get listeners very angry at me, but I don't know.

Like, I feel like heaven is just going to be like here only.

Maybe you're thinner or taller or have better hair.

I don't know.

Whatever, whatever thing you want in your life, you get in heaven.

It's an easier place to keep the weight off.

Exactly.

It's like the move.

Okay.

So like defending your life.

Is anyone here seen defending your life?

That movie proposes the idea of heaven in the best way possible.

It's just like, it's very clinical.

You go to a place, you defend your life, then you move on or you don't.

And that's it.

That's the gist of an afterlife in that movie.

And I am here for it.

It was a great take.

Monica from Mount Horam in the 608 says, do you exist if you exist?

Why do people think you're male?

Ah, that's

a good

question,

Monica.

We have another call from God here.

This one's from Monica.

Yeah, she wanted to.

Yes, she did.

Great.

Okay.

Hold on one second.

Yeah.

His answer to that last question is, look who wrote the Bible.

That's your answer.

Okay.

Ross from Crawford County in the 608 says, does August see technology any different than the other human-made technology like television, automobiles, et cetera?

That's a great question.

I'm sorry we missed that when she was here, Ross.

She

did it.

She did kind of, in the first segment, Ross, if you didn't catch the first segment, she did kind of address that as far as like, you know, beyond cell phones, when we look at something, we didn't talk about automobiles per se, but yeah, I mean, that's a good question.

And I apologize.

We did not get to that.

Let's see here.

Ross and Crawford County also says, I would ask, what in the heck were you thinking?

Go to your room.

Boy.

It's like someone wants to smite God themselves.

My goodness gracious.

I also can't get over the fact that Dom said out loud into a microphone.

I don't know how I believe in dinosaurs.

I don't really believe in dinosaurs.

I don't know how to explain it.

The bones are too big and it freaks me out whenever I go to a museum.

I do believe in them.

I believe in them, but it gets to a point where you go to a museum, they're massive creatures, and it just scares

me.

So

I'm like, okay, you know what?

There's no way.

There's no way we got

to bring God into this.

Yeah.

So your, your fear in giant bones is what's pushing your non-belief of dinosaurs.

Exactly.

So do you, I have a lot of questions here.

I just think about that.

I'm going to read some other things.

What are the other things?

Okay.

Okay.

Fine.

I was going to say, what are other things you're afraid of that make you not believe in things?

That's now I'm just interested in that.

Okay.

Go on Pete, read more.

Dave in Madison in the 608 says, dear God, why did Adam and Eve have belly buttons?

Fair point.

Or do they?

Dave is also on the stream.

It says, are you non-binary?

I think that's a good question.

Monica from Mount Horrib says, broke my phone, tried to unlock my credit to buy a new phone locked because of my multiple cyber breaches.

Couldn't buy a phone plan because the MFA went to my broken phone, which I couldn't excess head up for.

a month-to-month phone, if I need to buy a car, I'm going to be SOL.

The things we own end up owning us.

That's awesome.

That's a great text.

Yeah, I don't know if I could ever be anti-tech.

And that was a question I wanted to ask her because of the jobs we do.

We are so ensconced in our tech as far as what, looking at the news, reading stories.

I'm sitting in a room with

tens of thousands of dollars worth of tech right now.

And what is the feasibility or what is a plan for someone like me to say, all right, I'm going to cut out this or that.

Maybe it's, I get home at tonight and I just put my phone in the bedroom and leave it there for the rest of the evening.

Like those little steps you can take versus maybe.

shedding it completely.

That can be difficult, but maybe those little steps.

Like she

said too, baby steps.

Yeah, take an hour if you can, if you can do it.

Jim from Appleton says, where are you?

That's his question for God.

Nice.

And AJ from Madison, did we go to the moon?

We did.

That's with your similar.

Hold on.

Got it.

Yes, we did.

We went to the moon.

He keeps calling.

Yeah, because I'm answering those questions.

All right.

Don't go anywhere.

When we come back, we're talking to Milwaukee Films executive director Susan Kearns about the Milwaukee Film Festival, as well as what they're up to, as well as maybe some new news on a theater.

You have to find out more to find out.

Stick around to find out more, as I can talk.

We are listening to Nightlight with Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach here on the Civic Media Network.

Stay tuned.

Stay close.

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Visit civicmedia.us slash email to get started.

Welcome back.

This is Nightlight with Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach coming to you live tonight from various parts of Wisconsin.

On the Civic Media Network, we are talking about a lot of the things in life that make us happy tonight.

A little anti-tech talk in hour one.

We're gonna switch our attentions now.

And I loved our responses for the question.

Maybe we can ask our guest, our next guest, what she would do if she could ask out a question.

But let's bring her on and not waste any more time.

I love having this next person.

On Nightlight, she is the executive director of Milwaukee Film, and she joins us here periodically to keep us posted on all things movie related, happening in Brewtown.

Susan Kerns.

Hi, Susan.

Hi.

Thanks for having me.

It's great to see you.

I don't want to put you on the spot.

You can think about this if you want.

But if our question of the night is, if you could ask God a question, what would it be?

Yeah, I don't.

I don't even know where to begin with that question, actually.

Maybe what's your favorite movie?

I don't know.

We can come back to you on that.

That's okay.

But it's great to have you here.

So let's start right away with the big news coming out of Milwaukee Film yesterday.

You used this theater before and in the Oriental, you guys have great programs there.

But tell us about the Downer Theater.

Yeah, so we just bought the Downer Theater.

We closed on it last Friday.

We have been operating it through a rental agreement for about the past two years and we had an option to purchase that expired this month and so we basically made the moves that we needed to do so that we were able to to purchase it.

Congratulations.

Am I correct that like, I think probably about a couple of years ago, it just one night it closed.

It just, they said they were done and everyone sort of lost their minds because for me, I used to live on the East side.

I, I love the Downer theater.

I've seen so many beautiful movies there.

And there's such a feel about it that, you know, doesn't, you know, you feel like you're in a big city cause you're in a tiny movie theater, seeing a very small film.

And I love that Milwaukee has an option.

But if I'm not mistaken, it had closed one.

night.

And then you all came in and decided to essentially do what you said, you took it over and you were renting it.

But I guess like it's been it's been two years now since that happened.

So that happened, I believe, in 2023.

So it was closed for roughly a year, and I have those dates wrong, but for roughly a year until Milwaukee Film was able to take it over in 2024.

And you're absolutely right.

It was, you know, the landmark had been operating in it and just, you know, they decided not to continue operating it.

So, yeah.

Why don't we talk about, this is Women's History Month, so you guys are always so active in whatever, I know you had a lot of events for Black History Month, what's on tap this month?

Yeah, so for Women's History Month, I mean, one of the great things about this month in particular is that we have a lot of programming by women directors already.

So a couple of the big things like Weathering Heights, which it has definitely been, what I would say, a polarizing film.

A lot

of

chatter out there about whether people like it or not, but I would expect nothing less.

from the director of Saltburn.

And then we've got The Bride coming out and that starts this Friday.

What I think is cool about both of those, having those on our screens in March is they're both directed by women and they're both kind of different interpretations of classics.

And so I think that's, it's a really fun thing that we can offer to audiences so we can celebrate women's voices but doing it in a way that is also.

you know, just interesting to think about what are these classic stories still have to tell us or to talk to us?

And how can we use those?

We've also got a super cool Michelle Yeoh series coming up with all at once and Heroic Trio one and two, which are just, if you haven't seen those, a lot of fun.

Some people are calling them sort of proto K-pop demon hunter.

And then Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which everybody loves, too.

So if people aren't familiar with those of her films, they're amazing.

It's so great because I have not seen, whether it hides yet, or the bride.

I think the bride opens this weekend, actually.

But I did like the Frankenstein.

That was kind of a different interpretation.

The new one with Jacob Elordi as the

the sexier Frankenstein.

But

I'm very anxious.

Yeah, I love I loved promising young woman.

So I'm just a fan of all of her movies.

So I'm excited to see that when when you guys I know the the announcement about the Milwaukee Film Festival isn't coming out until next week.

But will you use other venues besides the Oriental and the Downer for the festival?

For this year, we're going to stick with the Oriental and the Downer.

It just allows us to really capture the energy of the festival and kind of contain it in that one part of town.

It works so great last year that we're sticking with that this year.

Excellent.

All right.

Well, we've got, yeah, when we, we're going to break for the news in just a moment here and we're going to come back and talk about some of the really cool stuff that Milwaukee film is doing for the Oscars on Oscar night and they're playing shorts and all kinds of stuff and

they're gonna celebrate Milwaukee Day only in a way only Milwaukee film really I think can do and they have the perfect movie for it so.

We'll tell you about that.

Susan, have you had any more time to think about your God

question?

Oh, my goodness.

No, I've already

forgotten.

Think about it during the news.

We've got some tech.

We could get to some other

people.

While you're doing that, I will simply, my mom is texting in right now asking about something.

It is your phone, mom.

It's your phone that's maybe on the hiccup.

She's having some tech problems right now.

I'm going to tell her, mom, it's your phone.

So you're good to go.

Just reload the app.

Reload the app.

My mom's adorable, everybody.

That is great.

I cannot wait to meet Mrs. Bach.

Okay, don't ever say it like

that again.

I'm like going to ask her to slow dance or anything, Greg.

I'm just a fan of you, so I think I'll like your mom too.

That's all.

I didn't mean it.

She's

lovely.

I'll bring her on the show one day begrudgingly.

She'll be very upset about it.

We'll do that.

Sydney Politics on the stream says, could you heat a burrito so hot that even you couldn't eat it?

That's his question for God.

Sidney always thinks outside the box.

He says, happy new year, everyone.

That's an

inside

joke.

Then he says, hi to Dave on the stream.

And Dave says, great song, Dom.

And he says, sup, Sid.

And then he says, Sid, we need to meet up.

They have a bromance.

It's a very beautiful thing here at Nightlight.

All our listeners love each other.

We are coming back after the news with more about Milwaukee film and how they're celebrating the Oscars.

It's going to be a blast.

Susan Kearns is here, folks.

Peachwama and Greg Bach on Nightlight on the Civic Media Network.

Welcome back to Nightlight with Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach here on the Civic Media Network.

My name is Greg Bach across the desk from me.

I'm just saying you say in a manner of speaking, he's across the desk from me.

It's Pete Schwabba.

And we are here on the civic media network.

You are listening to us or watching us on the live stream.

We are Facebook, YouTube, with the platform.

We still call Twitter.

And we are also on the radio or on the civic media app.

So happy you are joining us this evening.

Don't go anywhere before we get out of here.

We are going to give you a handy tip for the night, but let us continue our conversation with the executive director of Milwaukee film, Ms.

Susan Kerns is here tonight.

And we're talking about the purchase of the Downer theater, which made me so, so very happy.

But, um,

What else coming up?

I know that the film festival is coming up in about a month and a half But what else is coming up through Milwaukee film that we should know about or just preparing ourselves for the festival?

Yeah, so yeah, as you said, the Milwaukee Film Festival is April 16th through 30th.

So we've got we're about six weeks out from there.

Right now we're really in the thick of Oscars season.

So we one of the things we do because we know we have Academy Awards completeness in our audience.

So we're showing all of the shorts programs, the animation, the documentary and the live action shorts.

Those have been incredibly popular with folks and we

We have ballots at the theater so that people can, you know, mark off which one that they think will win the awards.

We are also this year, we decided that we have a party the night of the big awards show.

So we will have the awards on one of our theater screens.

Basically, what we realize is that most of our audiences are at home watching that night.

So why not invite everybody in?

So the theater will become everyone's living room, which

I think it'll be a lot of fun.

It's such a great event because every year, I mean, I think everybody's like, where do I see the shorts or the fun animated?

And you guys just crush it with these events.

And it's a great way.

And I just, what we were talking about before, when I was in Milwaukee a couple of weeks ago, that's the one I just missed is the shorts.

And I would have loved, because where else do you see those, you know, all together, all together like that.

But, and what better place to have an Oscar party than at the Ornate Awesome Oriental Theater.

So.

when you do this, is there like champagne or is it just a cash bar?

What is the event like other than watching the awards?

Yeah, so we'll just have the regular concessions open.

We have considered champagne actually, but you know, we have beer and wine and cocktails and things like that already, THC drinks, if that's your interests.

And so we'll do some special fun, you know, fun drinks for the occasion as well.

Have a couple of special snacks.

We are also going to be having some drawings for, you know, a little bit of swag and that kind of thing.

So

we'll

just, you know, we'll make it fun in between the, like when the commercials on are on and just keep it interesting for folks.

With regard, here we go.

Sorry, I thought, with regard to the festival, I mean, you know, all festivals, I feel like start from very small beginnings, you know, you're like, let's show some movies on a day.

Can you talk to us really quick about the evolution of the film festival from the beginning days to now?

You have two theaters.

You have a recognizable name, not just here in Milwaukee as an event, but also all over the country and all over the world.

That growth over the years to what you've become now and how you get that out to the world to say, yes, Milwaukee has a vibrant film scene and a vibrant film festival.

Can you speak about that?

Yeah, so the film festival this year, it's 18 years old.

So we're becoming adults this year.

But honestly, like the Milwaukee Film Festival, when it came on the scene, it came out big.

And it was originally 10 days and now it's just over two weeks.

So I think it's 15 days.

But we've really always had multiple screens and had presence in at least a couple of theaters.

And they've been in different theaters around the city and even as far up as Cedarburg at one point over the year sort of here and there depending on what, you know, how the festival was ebbing and flowing.

So just a couple of years before the pandemic was when we started operating the Oriental Theater year round.

And so that was really a moment of change for the organization because instead of everybody sort of putting all of our resources and efforts and concentrating those into

just a couple of weeks during the year, suddenly it's like our artistic director, Kara Ogburn likes to say, we show movies every day.

And so we do sort of have almost like a year round film festival, but we still have this concentrated and very, very busy and robust event as well in April.

We work really hard to make sure that we maintain that national and international presence and cloud as well.

So we're very lucky.

We're known for having exceptional hospitality.

Some filmmakers who come to Milwaukee, they love Milwaukee audiences.

They love the questions that our audiences ask.

They love the popcorn.

They love the theaters.

They just have a really good time.

So I think that is

really helpful in terms of getting people to come back and getting filmmakers to tell their filmmaker friends.

So it's been great over the years, the way that we've been able to build this reputation.

Our guest is Susan Kearns.

She is the executive director of Milwaukee Film, an outstanding organization that celebrates culture and Milwaukee in movies, and they just do great work.

Check out their website.

Susan, talk to us a little bit about how you're celebrating Milwaukee Day on April 14th.

How fun will this be?

Yeah, so what we decided to do for Milwaukee Day is to show the documentary song sung blue.

So the song sung blue documentary was actually one of the very first Milwaukee film events back in 2008 when it came out And that was before they had a theater So we were able to put on just a one film event at the Oriental Theater to kind of celebrate the birth of Milwaukee film So the fact that that film came out and it's been doing so great We thought what better opportunity than to show the documentary again

And

that, that leads me to my question too is like, you know, I've seen, I've been lucky enough to have tickets to the virtual version of Sundance and all those.

And I'm not just barring those, but they can come off very stuffy.

There's, you know, you see, you see video of people in like, you know, $10,000 suits going to these film premieres.

And that's great.

But what is it about?

What is it that you do for the Milwaukee Film Festival that you feel like sets it apart from other ones that gives it a, I mean, besides the hospitality factor and just the fact that people who come here love the city and love this state, but what do you feel like sets Milwaukee apart from other film festivals as far as uniqueness?

Yeah, so one of the things that we keep hearing from people is, and it's hard to quantify, but people keep telling us it's the vibe.

So.

Milwaukee has such a we're pretty chill people um and but we also we're we're I think um more attentive and this is going to sound awful but I think we're smarter than people maybe expect or something so people are

our filmmakers come in and they have these great conversations with fans or they'll meet a fan who will be like, I love you and here are three reasons why.

And now I'm gonna leave you alone, but thank you for being you.

And then they'll leave and the person's just like, that was kind of amazing.

So we can cultivate that in the space where people get to know each other and it feels both just like a celebration of the joy of community.

without getting weird, without the weirdness of like the posturing around $10,000 suits and paparazzi or anything like that.

I think you're absolutely right.

I think when people hear Milwaukee or Wisconsin or the Midwest, they have an automatic assumption of.

intelligence, artistic intelligence, those types of things.

And I've known from many people who come to Milwaukee who will tell me, you know, on day two of being here, I had no idea this place was so amazing.

The people are so nice.

They're so fun.

And I think speaking to what you just said, I think that's very much a Midwestern nice thing of you're very great.

I love your work.

I won't bother you anymore.

And they move on.

They're not trying to get to know you'd be your best friend.

They just want to tell you you're great and they're going to move on with your life.

But I think that's a very underestimated attribute for Milwaukee overall.

Yeah.

And the other thing I'll say is that we, Milwaukee impresses people in so many ways.

So when we have folks come in, they talk about how great the food is.

They talk about how beautiful the lakefront is.

And, you know, they'll talk about how beautiful the theaters are, but even they'll give us, you know, they'll be like, I can't believe you're showing this movie.

That's amazing.

So it's really just.

We kind of I'm gonna say accidentally even though we all put a lot of thought into what we do But there is a way in which the city kind of accidentally hits all the marks for people And it's a catch 22 because we want more people to come to Milwaukee and see how great we are But there's also kind of something great about being this really amazing secret

It's funny.

I have not seen the documentary songs on blue I saw the movie and I liked it and I I don't know how you guys feel about this, but

It probably only bothers people that live in Milwaukee, and I don't live in Milwaukee, but that they shot it in New Jersey.

No one else will care.

But

for us, it's like, come on.

And I will say, I love, love, loved Kate Hudson.

I hope she wins the Oscar.

Hugh Jackman looked like Hugh Jackman with a wig, and he's always great.

But I loved Kate Hudson.

We had Hudson Hensley on the show a couple of weeks ago who played the kid.

And that scene at the end where he's looking at Hugh Jackman on the video,

It was my favorite scene in the whole movie.

It was a very sweet film.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I really enjoyed Sungsung Blue as well.

We definitely did hear that.

You know, I mean, not that people were mad at us or mad at the film, but it is like a disappointment that they weren't able to film in Milwaukee and that I guess I'll, you know, queue up the Wisconsin tax incentives.

Yeah.

because that, a lot of people talked about that, that, you know, we're so lucky that we have the Wisconsin Film and Television Production Taxes and it's kicking in this year, so that for the next song sung blue, they can shoot it in Milwaukee.

But, but you're absolutely right.

Like at the end, you know, the custard shop, we're all, you know, we all see that we're like, we know that that's supposed to be

Leon's.

And that's not like, there is that movie Love Hurts with Ki Hwi Kwan in it.

And it takes place in Milwaukee.

And I'm like, this is an industrial hellscape.

This is not Milwaukee at all.

And also like just like, I just think it's funny, they pick Milwaukee and they're like, it's overrun by gangs and drug lords.

I'm like, okay, you didn't research Milwaukee really well, did you?

It doesn't look like, but I'm hoping, but I think you're right though, Susan.

I'm hoping that this, that

Not just I hope all sorts of artists take advantage of these tax credits from the independent filmmaker to the major studios and Wisconsin Whether it's our legislators whomever sees the benefit of having these because I mean all you have to do is look at Atlanta And that's the end of that conversation right there of whether or not this does good for the community And I hope that in 2026 they take advantage of this.

Are you working as Milwaukee film like?

and educating people on that right now?

Or is that something that's going through the state?

Yeah, so that's all going through the state.

I am part of the steering committee for Action Wisconsin.

And so we were an advocacy group that was really trying to help, you know, just raise awareness about what tax incentives are and how the community could kind of mobilize to help get word out that these are useful to makers in Wisconsin.

But now at this point, since Veronica Pope has been hired, she's really

in charge of that at the state level.

Excellent.

That's great stuff.

I thank you for your your work on behalf of the incentives, because I do think it is going to matter.

I think a lot of what I love about Wisconsinites is that they're hell bent on shooting their film here anyway.

So this is kind of doing them a favor, but for their loyalty, but it'll also help bring

bring more people into so you'll have to come back and tell us when we get a little closer to the the announcement of the lineup or after it's out what we can see at the film festival this year.

This is always fun, Susan.

Thank you so much for your time tonight.

Yeah, thanks for having me and shout out to Greg's mom.

Yeah.

You heard it right here, Jackie.

Everyone loves you.

He's just part of the team.

It's awesome.

All right.

We are coming right back to wrap things up and get Greg's handy tip of the day.

It's Pete Schwabba at Gregbock and nightlight on the Civic Media

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 to Nightlight with Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach.

My name is Greg Bach and across the table with, from me, with me, here with me is Mr. Pete Schwabba.

On the boards right now in Madison is Dom Lee.

You can always be part of the conversation, 855-752-4842, 855-755-CivicLuga.

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We are going to be here tomorrow.

Don't you worry, folks.

We're always here Monday through Friday for you to hang out with, have a good time with, have

a great

conversation.

Yeah, tomorrow we'll be talking to Patrick DeHaan, who is a petroleum analyst and media commentary expert.

He'll be talking about the gas prices with regard to the war.

We were talking about this yesterday.

Major sticker shock on the fact that gas was like...

For me, 240 a couple of days ago, now it's 299.

So we'll be talking more to Patrick, talking more with Patrick about that tomorrow.

And then it's our popcorn pick of the week.

And who did you secure for such a lofty title,

Pete?

Civic Media, Southeast Wisconsin journalist here at Civic Media, Mr. Stuart J. Waddle.

Stuart's always fun.

Boom.

All right.

Well, he'll be joining us.

We'll be joining us tomorrow.

for the popcorn pick of week.

That's all coming up tomorrow on the show.

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It's absolutely free.

Pete, we had some more text messages regarding the question of the night, which was, what would you ask God if you were to be in front of them, him, her, it?

I

think this is my favorite.

Diana from Oshkosh says, I would ask God why he gave men, or if he gave men nipples on purpose.

It does seem strange.

That's a legit question.

Thank you, Diana.

Tom, I don't know, I like my nipples.

I don't know what I would do without them, but- Oh boy.

We'd manage.

Write that

down.

Would you say that, right?

That's not a swear word.

You'd be fine.

No, no, I'm not saying that's not, it's not because I think it's a swear word.

It's just a thing you just said out loud, like, I like nipples.

What are

we doing here?

It's talk radio.

Fair point.

Tom from Jackson says, why ugly people?

Hey.

Cruel.

That's okay.

That's good time.

And then we've got, uh, where are we at here?

Uh, oh, I can't, I can't say that one.

I can't say that one.

Then we've got on the stream, Sidney politics says, uh, Sidney politics says Cran too.

And he's the one that asked the question.

He said, do you all say crayon?

Like C R A while in, and Dom and I both said we say Cran.

Greg says crayon.

I said crayon.

Yeah.

Okay, but I also may say crayon in the moment like it's like I sometimes I say envelope sometimes I say envelope it just sometimes I say Proceed sometimes I say proceed like it just depends on how the word falls out of my face

Well, what what what kind of party are you at where you mentioned the word crayon and someone looks down there knows it you like a kindergarten graduation like

When does crayon ever come up?

No one's going to look down their nose at

it.

Oh, I see someone went to finishing school saying crayon.

Oh, my word.

Oh,

Sidney says he's with me and Dominic says agreed.

Hopefully Pete does another movie showing.

Oh,

so he can meet Dave.

We were at the same movie screening in December and this bromance could have been consummated with a handshake.

Nothing weird and they didn't make it happen.

It was such a bummer.

So we'll have to do that again.

Thank

you for all

your texts, everybody.

Yeah, we really appreciate everyone reaching out to us being a positive force for us all here on the show.

We love it.

Now it's time to get to the handy tip of the night.

Oh, you know, it's the tip of the night.

How much did we have to pay Kermit the frog for that voiceover?

I'm just wondering did that come out of the that come out of the discretionary budget Or is that like petty cash?

Oh free.

You know off

free.

Oh, I know a guy.

I know a guy who knows a guy.

All right.

I got I got I called Kermit.

I'm like, hey Kermit as God why men have nipples?

All right.

Here we go folks

This is funny to me.

All right.

So this is going to be interesting because you would think the handy tip would be a very given, but the fact that we're talking about the story means it's not.

So a man in the UK was pulled over and busted for driving under the influence of marijuana and possession of cannabis this week.

Here's the kicker.

He was in the middle of taking a driver's test at the time.

That's probably a few things you shouldn't do during a driving test, you know, cracking open a beer, smoking a joint, that kind of thing.

They pulled him over, they stopped the vehicle and they noticed that he had a defective brake light.

They also asked if it caught their attention due to poor driving.

You know how fast he was going, no, do you tell me?

I was a 26 year old man, wasn't fully licensed, but they were, they were under the influence of marijuana and had, and were arrested for possession of cannabis.

So.

I feel like I'm just gonna say this, folks, if you're going out there and getting your driver's test, it's a great moment, big moment.

If you pass, congratulations, save the party for home.

Just do that.

You've earned a celebration.

You get to treat yourself, and I'm not gonna tell you what that treat should or should not be, but if it's going to include alcohol and or marijuana, please do not even buy it before you get in the car, especially the test.

Take the test, pass the test, go home, celebrate.

That's my tip.

Pete, what about you?

I say take the test before you're 26.

I don't know what this guy was doing, but 26 and his mom was waiting for him.

I mean someone had to drive him there.

Although I knew of a guy in high school who drove.

He was his country kid.

He drove to his driver's test and they never asked him any questions like they had no idea.

He'd been driving a pickup around the farm forever.

Yeah.

And, you know, I don't know.

I don't know what to make of this guy.

Like he's obviously not that bright.

I don't, do you have to give someone a drug test?

Can you just smell weed on them right away or the booze on his breath?

Don't you know right away?

Maybe they wanted to make it official, but, uh, or, you know, maybe, you know what, Greg?

I bet he

hit a

burner phone and that's strike three right there.

You know what?

We'll let that sink in.

All right,

folks.

So thank you.

That brings us to the end of yet another tip of the night.

No, okay Well

then in that case on behalf of Pete, I just want to say thank you to Dom.

Thank you to Tucker Thank you to Engineering to traffic for all the work you do as I always say if you wasn't for you our microphones would not work I want to thank everyone who called everyone who texted everyone who put a comment on the live stream without you there is no us Thank you to Susan Kearns and August lamb for being our guests this evening if you missed those conversations go to civic media dot us last shows

to catch up on those.

And then finally, just saying good night.

Pete,

take us out.

Good night, Wisconsin!

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