Transcript
Lewis Smith from The Chad Smith Foundation on music education (Hour 1)
Nite Lite with Pete Schwaba and Greg Bach · Thu Apr 2, 2026
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Dude.
Dude.
Pete is
currently muted.
Previously on Nightlight 1.0, I controlled nothing.
Sound anything.
So every once in a while, I forget, but it doesn't mean I don't love you guys.
Welcome to
Nightlight, everybody.
It is great to have you here on this Thursday night, a beautiful Thursday night, overcast in northeast Wisconsin, but that's okay.
It just reminds us that good weather's right around the corner.
Absolutely.
Greg
Buck.
Welcome to the uncertainty of spring.
Correct.
That is my unbelievably talented co-host, Greg Buck.
I am Peach Bob.
But Greg is in Racine at Radio Park.
Yes, I am.
I am in Christmas City, USA, Marinette, Wisconsin, and Dom Lee is producing the show from Madison, working the board.
What are you guys doing?
You want
You start.
You start.
that you love a rainy night?
I love you.
Do you love a rainy night?
I love a rainy night.
Yes.
naive.
It's a famous song by a guy named Eddie Rabbit.
Uh, cause I love a rainy.
I don't want to get sued.
So I'm not going to go on further beyond that.
That's a, that's a great song.
Or, or maybe a little closer to, I mean, probably not.
You probably never even heard of this group, but garbage.
Are you only happy when it rains?
I
love a twice local reference there with the garage.
Exactly, exactly.
Rainy days and Mondays.
Always get me down.
So
since it's a
Thursday.
I'm questioning it today.
There you go.
There you go.
It's also rainy down here as well.
It was torrential downpours, thunderstorms, like the whole nine yards.
My whole day got upended by the fact that there was rain and that our doggy daycare doesn't have services now and through Sunday.
So that was a big little kick in the teeth.
You know, Greg, I don't claim to have my finger on the pulse of society often.
I was driving when I still lived in Los Angeles.
I saw my first doggy hotel.
Yeah.
And I looked at it and I went, yeah, that'll catch on.
Oh, man.
Dogs and pets are huge.
They're everywhere now.
I should have invested.
Dog boarding is not.
cheap either.
It's just like a step short of a hotel stay for a human being.
It's expensive to the point where like, we wanted to get in a dog boarding.
We tried to do it last year, but then, then weather actually kept us from traveling.
So we didn't end up, but it was like, it's like $65 a night for a dog.
Oh my gosh.
Yeah.
So
it's, yeah.
I love my dog, but I certainly don't go into the dog culture of like, my little baby gets everything she wants.
Sometimes I'm like, no, you're staying with your grandma.
Because it's free.
Do these doggie hotels
have a business center?
That's what I want to know.
Does your dog ever need to send a fax?
Just go down on business.
A
fax?
What is this, 1991?
I
was
just going to
say, man, I let you walk into that reference on your own, buddy there.
But Pete, really quick question for you.
Do we have a
fantastic show tonight?
Oh, dude.
This is gonna be a lot of fun because our first guest tonight folks, you're here not only on Thursday.
This is like sometimes I call it the Christmas Eve of weeknights because I love Thursdays.
Lewis Smith is here.
He is the executive director of the Chad Smith Foundation.
Well, who is Chad Smith, you might ask?
Who is Chad Smith?
You're a music aficionado.
Tell the people who Chad Smith
is.
He is only the man who's been beating the skins for the Red Hot Chili Peppers since 1988.
He is.
He is the drummer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
He has a fantastic foundation led by his nephew, Lewis.
And we'll talk more about that in just a little while after the 530 News.
Stick around for that.
It is a great conversation.
It was great to talk to him.
And I'm looking forward to everyone hearing this one.
Yeah, that was a fun interview.
And then we've got, in the second hour, folks, we're doing our first ever Night Light Movie Club.
We're sort of piggybacking the popcorn pick of the week with the Night Light Movie Club.
We put this out there last night.
And next week, we'll give you guys more notice.
But our movie this week is The Sandlot.
A great movie.
The start of baseball season is here.
The Sandlot's a great movie.
That is our first ever nightlight movie club movie.
It's our popcorn pick tonight.
We will be talking about that in the second hour.
We'll give our thoughts.
We encourage you guys to text in, call in, whatever you want to do, be part
of the fun.
It's
going to last almost all hour.
It's going to be a lot of fun.
We've got some clips from the movie.
We'll do a little bit of a deep dive and we'll read your text an hour, number two, two, for your favorite baseball movies.
So, which we should, I mean, I kind of put the.
I buried the lead there.
You put the bath
before you put the bath before the balls into there
buddy boy.
Let's
get to our night
like question of the night Our harigunta of the night is what is your favorite baseball movie?
Yeah, we got a theme going here tonight, folks.
Let us know.
8-5-5-7-5-2-4-8-4-2-8-5-5-7-5 Civic.
You can also text us on the app, or if you're watching the radio on the stream, on Facebook, YouTube, or ex-Twitter, you can drop a stream comment.
Be part of the fun.
Let us know
your
favorite baseball movie.
And join us in our conversation in hour number two for our Nightlight Movie Club.
Should be fun night here.
Greg on the live stream is blowing it up already here on Facebook YouTube and the platform we still call Twitter He's just got a but he's he's he's big on the Eddie rabbit.
He's got more Eddie rabbit love He says let's make the like Millie Millie and blame it on the rain I mean, he's making all the rain references when it comes to music and then goes ahead and gives me a Really good compliment Greg one Snyder great compliment.
Thank you very much.
He says Greg Bach
Did I ever tell you that you have the perfect face for radio?
Hopefully you'll take it as a compliment coming from a guy who cannot see it all.
That's right.
Greg is also.
Greg is blind.
Blind.
I've known Greg since 1996.
So we can, he can say that about me.
And he's one of the only Gregs with two Gs at the end that I truly respect as a human.
All the other ones trash.
The other day I
met a Craig with two Gs.
I didn't know what to make of that.
I met a Gregory, G-R-E-G-G-O-R-Y, never in my life have, cause every Greg I know with two G's at the end is always just been G-R-E-G-G.
That's your full name.
I've never met a Gregory with two G's in the middle.
And I was just like blown away.
And I'm also like, why'd your parents do this to you?
Like you gotta spell that.
Everyone you talk to on the phone for customer service, you have to spell that.
And I already have to cause a Schwabba, but I can't imagine a kind of a rudimentary, cool, regular first name like Gregory you have to spell.
I mean, you'd be surprised.
It's, I don't ever go by Gregory.
I tried that for, I tried that for a moment, Pete.
I tried to do that.
I tried to even like change the pronunciation of my, my middle name is Steven.
I'm like, it's Stefan.
And my mom's like, why?
Like that's a great question.
And I just, you know, that thing, that thing, we all go through that.
You're searching for individualism.
You're searching for a way to like, you know, set yourself apart.
And I just did real low rent attempts.
Like my middle name is Stefan.
Who cares?
Good question.
Why does anyone, so yeah.
But Greg Wandsneider, amazing.
Thanks for listening.
He's been listening to Civic Media since the beginning.
He's a great listener.
And
I,
It's interesting though.
I don't want to call him out, but he forgot the super tramps.
It's raining again.
Well, give him some time.
He's still going, actually.
He's still going.
He should at least let those build up and then we'll read them.
Greg.
The Greg files.
I thank you.
So anyway, folks, share your favorite baseball movie with us.
But I have to ask you, Greg, I know you spent a bundle today at the pump.
Yeah.
We'll get into, we'll get a little into this in the three things cause it has to do that.
But yeah, I, so I drive a Nissan Rogue, nothing fancy, you know, 2023 new to me, essentially, but yesterday I filled up my tank and it was, and, and when gas prices were hovering at that, I don't know, like the two 29 spending 35 bucks, maybe, maybe less.
I mean, if it was to, yeah, not even that yesterday, $60.
It's been $60 to fill my tank.
Why did I spend $60 to fill my tank?
I'm glad you asked.
Because oil is like 120 bucks a barrel.
Actually, I think it's even more than that right now.
But yeah, my guess was it was $60.
And that's funny because now I can make my tank last two weeks because I don't drive as much.
The last time I filled it, it was $50.
And that was two weeks ago.
Oh my gosh.
It's almost like we're at war.
I don't know what is going on here with the gas
prices.
Right now we're at $111.72 a barrel for oil.
Pete, it's almost like we're at a war, but not a war that we won, but we didn't win, but we're there.
We're leaving.
We're going to stay and do something, but we're going to leave soon, and then oil will become tumbling down.
And folks.
Just get one less Starbucks, then you'll be fine,
which is funny because
I bought Starbucks this morning because I cannot stay away from the lavender lattes.
Oh, we'll tell us more about that too.
After we, let's get to the cause of all of this, Greg.
I'm getting all amped up here.
Let's get to our three big stories.
First big story breaking this morning.
Now former attorney general Pam Bondi has been fired.
And I'm not gonna lie.
I really didn't I expected Pete Hegseth to get fired first.
You know, this was shocking to me, but firing bros.
No, no, no, he's firing.
He's firing ladies.
I mean, he's that's Christie Noam is gone and now Pam Bondi has been fired.
And he, I mean, he didn't fire her, but one of his
Biggest supporters left Congress this year and she is vocally speaking out against him, which is Marjorie Taylor Green.
But this is a very interesting thing to me.
What do you think about this beat?
I think Crazy Town has
left the building.
I think when she was in front of Congress a few weeks, that was someone who either the pressure of her job got to her.
And look, I don't know anything about her really.
I do know being in the position she was in,
Most likely being told to say things that were never going to come true.
The release of the Epstein files, whatever.
She's dealing with reporters, obviously behind the scenes.
She was not allowed to release them.
I don't know.
I can't even imagine the stress she was going through.
But someone's got to take the fall and it's not going to be the president.
So first it was Kristi Noem.
Now it was...
I don't know that she was ever qualified for the job in the first
place.
No, she was not actually not one bit.
Um, no.
And, and the thing is, is that the attorney general's job comes with stress regardless of who you are or who is in the Oval Office, but her handling of that stress was in my opinion, always embarrassing, aggressive, and just a little over the top.
And look.
I don't think that one has to go to Harvard or Yale or Brown or Cornell or any fancy school or fancy or law school to be the Attorney General.
I think you need to have brains in your head and a love for this country and an understanding of how to parse the law.
But she went to Stetson University College of Law.
I'm going to repeat that again.
I'm going to repeat that again.
She went to Stetson University.
college of law in Florida.
And this was the woman who is our attorney general now no longer.
And now his deputy attorney general, former personal attorney, Todd Blanche is stepping in.
So we'll see where that goes
in
the coming days.
That is
interesting factoid for you, Greg.
Mark Wayne Mullen replaced, replaced Kristi Noem.
He was an MMA fighter.
Todd Blanche replaces Pam Bondi.
He holds a yellow belt.
So do not mess with this administration.
You're right.
Absolutely.
I will take a step back.
We will take a moment to regroup.
When we come back, we'll get back to our three big stories.
So don't go anywhere.
Grab some water.
Grab a snack.
Come on back.
And we're going to talk more news of the day here on Night Light with Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach on the Civic Media Network.
Stay tuned and stay close.
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.
Welcome back.
We have kind of a rain theme going here tonight, folks.
It's a rainy night in the state of Wisconsin.
If you're joining us,
from around the state.
Hope you're having a great night.
If you're joining us in parts beyond, I hope the weather is better for you, but join us anyway.
We'll keep you dry.
It's sunny and 70 in our hearts tonight here at Nightlight.
Greg Bach is sitting downstate in Racine.
Dom Lee is Lake Michigan adjacent, and I am in Christmas City, USA also.
You almost forgot it.
Welcome back tonight, folks.
We are talking about our three big stories of the day, and let's get to our second story.
Greg, there was a press conference today to give us an update on the war, and there was really nothing to report.
There's
no
plan.
Few details for the strategy ahead, but no plan.
Here's what I took away from the press conference.
America, and this is a direct quote from our president,
according to the AP, America, as it has been for four, for five years under my presidency is winning and now winning bigger than ever before.
What newspapers,
am I missing something?
I mean, if I won a $60 gas tank today, then I won.
I won, then yay me, there's my prize.
You showed it to
his boss.
Yeah.
I mean, that's all he says is he just says we're winning.
Yeah,
and it's we're not winning it.
There's no plan and He's got I don't even a few weeks to to figure this out before it has to go to a vote to see if the work can continue 12 people have been killed Americans
And it's the same thing.
I thought we were done with this.
I thought they had no nuclear capability, but he said now Iran's ballistic missile capacity was greatly reduced.
He didn't explain how the operation had headed off Iran's nuclear ambitions, saying we're keeping an eye on it.
And are we
in danger?
I don't know.
No, no, Pete, we're winning.
You can't be in danger when you're winning.
That's just how it works.
Don't you know anything about winning?
That's winning.
Ugh.
Here's
what I try to do, Greg.
I try to put myself in other people's shoes.
I have friends who still support the president.
I try to say, how would I interpret this press conference today and say, that's my guy?
Like, what did he tell you as a Trump supporter that you go, yeah, okay, here we go.
Let's go.
You
know?
I mean,
I go back to what we talked about the other day about a guy that about that guy saw the video of who said, you know, burned his mega gear, said he voted for the president every time, loved it.
And something broke.
I think it's the prices and the war.
He just cannot do it anymore.
He, but his, that line will reverberate my brain forever, which is I never thought I'd have to admit that I was wrong.
I think that's the problem.
And I don't know your friends and I'm not disrespecting them, but
It's it's coming down to the point where they just don't know how to say I was wrong or I've been duped or I was lied to and that's the thing is Don't tell me you don't have to tell me you were lied to just tell me you were don't you don't have to tell me you were wrong Just tell me you were lied to and then let's go.
Yes.
That's all that's all I want Also, if I'm not seeing if I'm not uh, if I'm reading this correctly hold on a second.
I want to see something I think they just put this on news nation here the Pete Hegseth
just fire the army chief of staff too.
I did just see that.
Yep.
I saw that right before the show.
So probably over
the
helicopter.
We're seeing all sorts of my art.
You know, honestly, he probably said, Hey, maybe you shouldn't do that.
And Pete said, Hegs had said, never tell me what to do again.
He has asked, he has asked army chief of staff, Randy George to step down and take an immediate retirement.
One of the sources say that Hexeth wants someone in the role who will implement President Trump and Hexeth's vision of the army.
That is, that's...
Flying by, washed at Brock Starr's houses.
Greg, on the text line in the 608, Mark from Prairie to Saxe says neither Bondi or Blanche recognize that they are not Trump's personal attorney when they are attorney general.
Correct.
They don't, yes.
Exactly.
Exactly.
Turning to lighter matters, we do have one more story.
Okay.
I mean, maybe this story should have been number two.
Or number one, what are you?
How do you know?
Well, I mean, I'm just going to assume here because the telegraph is reporting the headline is great.
Houston, we have a plumbing problem.
Astronauts face toilet trouble on moon mission.
So the Artemis 2 launched and they were launching into space.
The astronauts prepare for any number of unforeseen problems from fuel leaks to faulty sensors.
This issue was the fact that there was a toilet malfunction, but NASA astronauts were forced to hold their bladders for the first six hours on board the Orion spacecraft.
Wow.
a doctor, dude.
I it's it's.
I mean, of all the things to go wrong, you know, that's probably, I don't know where that fall.
I've never been an astronaut, contrary to public opinion, but I don't know where that would fall.
But that's, you're in a tough position.
They had to go in a bag, I guess, or something.
No,
they
said to hold
it.
I don't, I don't know if they could take empty bottles of Gatorade with them so they could just fill it up there, but it's a 10 day mission, which by the way,
Didn't know this.
They're not even landing on the moon.
They're just going around because it's not until 2028 are they going to actually land on the moon.
These are all essentially practice runs.
It's really a practice run to go to Mars.
That's what I'm thinking.
But they didn't go to, they went around the moon, but they didn't actually land on the moon.
Okay.
Yeah.
I don't know why I'm annoyed by that.
I just feel like with all the money, with all the money that we give Elon Musk that he's forcing us to use SpaceX and all that junk.
It's it's it's like dude land on the moon then can't you don't aren't you cool enough?
What would your dad say?
It's been done before Has it though
Pete
has
it.
Oh good point.
Hey folks.
This is our first ever night light a movie
It's our inaugural edition coming up on hour number two, but coming up after the break, a very short break for news where civic media's reporters will keep you entertained.
We're gonna welcome Lewis Smith.
He is the executive director of the Chad Smith Foundation.
Chad Smith is the rockstar drummer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
They're doing great things here in the state.
We're gonna tell you all about it after the news.
I'm Pete Schwabba.
He's Greg Bach.
That's Dom Lee.
This is my guy.
Welcome back to Nightlight with Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach here on the Civic Media Network.
So happy to you are joining us tonight.
Do not forget that in just a little while, we'll be having the inaugural edition of Nightlight's movie club where we'll be talking about the film, The Sandlot.
So if you have thoughts on The Sandlot or you want to really quick watch it right now and join us in the conversation, do that.
You can always be part of that 855-75248-428-5575 Civic.
You can leave a comment about the movie on the live stream.
or join us on the stream where we are on Facebook, YouTube and the platform we still call Twitter.
Very, very excited for our guest this evening.
He is the executive director of the Chad Smith Foundation, which is launching in Milwaukee.
The executive director, Lewis Smith is here this evening.
Good afternoon, Lewis.
How are you today?
I'm doing great.
I'm also with you.
I still refer to X as Twitter.
Thank you.
Thank you.
We appreciate it.
There's, there's safety in numbers.
Lewis, thank you so much for being here tonight.
Really appreciate you sharing time with us.
Uh, you know, tell us about the Chad Smith foundation, its origins and also why, why Milwaukee as its launch point.
Yeah.
So the origins, obviously we got a nice little spokesperson in Chad Smith.
Those who don't know, he's a drummer of the Red Hat Chili
Peppers.
Yeah.
I've heard of them.
Okay, good.
I didn't know how deep I'd have to go to explain that one.
So I mean, he's a great guy.
Also happens as we talked about to be my uncle.
So I got to know him a little better than most, but really he's had an incredible career and really benefited from a lot to be able to get to where he is.
And now, you know, he's been doing it for 40 plus years and he wants to be able to give back and help others follow the same path that he did because the path that he did,
doesn't exist as much as it really does as it used to.
You know, he really benefited from music programs that were easily accessible to him in his public schools, being able to provide instruments and education and progression.
And a lot of that has been taken away.
So he kind of sees it as an opportunity to, you know, lay the path that he benefited from and hope that the next Chad Smith can come through it.
Awesome.
Lewis, did you have to, like, Milwaukee's the first city, which is fantastic.
Did you have to convince, like, does Chad have any connection to Milwaukee?
The Red Hot Chili Peppers are considered a Southern California band.
What is his connection?
Did you have to persuade him to come to Milwaukee to launch this baby?
Yeah, I...
So, yes, obviously everyone relates LA and California to Chilling Peppers.
I've heard they made a couple of songs.
There's just like one or two maybe.
And a really great one, yeah.
But Chad himself, people don't really realize because they all just, you know, group together as an LA band, but he is born in St.
Paul, Minnesota, raised right outside of Detroit and a noxious University of Michigan fan.
So he's really happy.
Oh dear,
that's trouble.
But why Milwaukee specifically is that that's where the Chad Smith Foundation is.
That's where I'm based.
Chad's brother, who's my dad, is also based in Milwaukee.
So as we launch something that we want to scale nationally, we really want to build it in a place where we can have our feet on the ground.
Even Chad came out and visited our first location last fall to make sure he knew what was going on and give his stamp of approval on everything that he's involved with.
So it's a great
One is as an underrated musical city.
I mean, walkie shot, Les Paul, like people don't realize how much that did for not even just rock and roll, but for music recording, really touching all parts of music recording.
The walkie, obviously it's got summer festivities crown jewel, but definitely still a musical city.
So it's a great spot to start.
But really with us being here, we can get it perfect.
And then we can launch to St.
Paul, Detroit.
eventually make it out to Los Angeles too and really start taking over the whole country.
What?
Yeah, it's great.
And I was born and raised in Waukesha and I'm happy that Waukesha is finally embracing the legacy of Les Paul who, you know, I was very quick to tell people he's not, he's in the rock and roll hall of fame.
He's in the songwriters hall of fame, the inventors hall of fame.
And I'm glad that my hometown finally realizes that he's worth, you know, embracing, which is great.
Lewis, I know you're in Milwaukee.
You said your dad, you know, you lived here in Wisconsin.
But what brought you to this work to do exactly what you're doing for the Chad Smith Foundation?
Yeah, that's a good question.
Because growing up, you know, a lot of since I've started, a lot of people ask me like, Oh, what instrument do you play?
And I tried to play a couple early on, but then I just absolutely fell in love with sports and just football was my everything I completely
you know, uh, you know, identified myself as, as an athlete and I just, I didn't need a teddy bear.
I needed a football.
Like that was just the life path that I
chose.
Flag or tackle.
I felt some judging in that question.
Flag or tackle.
I had to get to the bottom of that, Lewis.
Well, settle.
Tackle.
Yeah.
All
right.
Well done.
Uh, but really looking back at.
you know, me as an athlete, I was able to take the path that music should really have.
I never had to worry about if my football team was going to get cut or if we were going to be able to have equipment or if my coach was still going to be there and if he left because he was volunteering if someone would come to his place.
So I really felt like I benefited from that and a lot of who I am is from my time as an athlete.
So people should be able to take the same path as a musician.
So a couple of years ago, you know, I was kind of in a position where
I knew I was going to start having kids soon and taking stock of my career.
And if I'm going to create something new, now would have been a good time to do it.
And watching Chad his whole life, kind of knowing what's important to Chad, what he would want to get behind.
I actually was at a concert of his in Minnesota in 2024.
and i wrote the whole foundation out on a letter and as i left the concert i knew he was gonna get a tour bus and i was gonna see him a week later at his next gig kind of passed him this letter and said hey just promise me you'll read it nothing has to come out of it just read it and then there was like a few specific ideas but then at the end it was the idea of this foundation that could kind of embody all those smaller ideas and run longer than him and i would even be here.
And he read through it, and I, you know what?
Obviously I knew him well, so I knew what was important to him.
He said, hey, let's keep looking into that.
And then I'd say about a year later, I started working on it full time.
So a few months after that first discussion, it became official 501C3.
I started working on it full time last June with our launch in August.
And really, it's just been an amazing,
wave of positivity and support and excitement since.
That's like the screenwriter who writes an idea on a bar cocktail napkin and it turns out to be Star Wars.
Wow, very cool story.
Our guest is Louis.
He
will be right one day.
There
you go.
Yeah, absolutely.
He is the executive director of the Chad Smith Foundation.
Louis Smith is our guest at the moment.
That's a great analogy.
You talked about sports and
I played sports too, I wasn't great at any of them, but as I get older, I realize the value of music and the arts and nothing irritates me more than funding cuts to art programs because frankly, when you play in a band or whatever, you learn a lot of the same lessons you do in sports.
It's not maybe it's physically taxing unless you're in the marching band, but there are lessons to be learned there.
They're so valuable.
So I really applaud you for jumping on that.
And especially as you're with young kids,
because it's something you can do your whole life too, which I think is fantastic.
Chad credits music with helping him graduate high school, not just learning music, but getting him through.
Can you talk about the importance to some of these kids who might be marginalized and music could save their lives in a lot of cases?
Yeah.
First, let's touch on what you just mentioned and just how important it is and how much of a shame it is for it to get cut.
want to provide that music access.
And the goal isn't, oh, everyone needs to be a musician, or the goal is everyone should make this their career and be the next Chad Smith.
You know, at the end of the day, if music is similar to sport, a great activity that can provide purpose and courage, creativity, help someone be able to identify with and really get to meet through other people, you know, music is best shared playing with other instruments.
So it's a really
great activity where if you just are you know an after-school program you benefit from our lessons and it's really just a way for you to have fun past time and keep you out of the street keep you off you know doom-scrolling on your phone or something like it's still worth it.
So we're really excited about that and I spoke to that question too long so I forgot the next question you asked if you can bring that up again.
Well, it was just, I just made a statement more than anything.
I like to pontificate, Lewis.
No, just that how valuable it is and how Chad used that example that it not only taught him music, it got him through high school.
Like, I think the insinuation was he might not have graduated, but music can keep you grounded.
And like you just said, it's an after school program that gives kids something to do after school.
It keeps them in the building and keeps tabs on, it's just a phenomenal program.
Yeah, Chad is not ashamed to say he wasn't the most academic, you know, love the history in the math classes, but he has a music theory class, you know, it's other music way classes.
And he knew he had to do those other classes in order to go to his music theory class or be able to be in marching band.
So he his passion for that specific set of classes really encouraged him to keep his grades up enough.
You know, it wasn't validatory enough.
to, you know, keep going to class and to graduate.
And yeah, he'll be the first to tell you that that was the, you know, the, the main reason as to why he wanted to go to school each day.
Can you talk about some of the partnerships you have with the foundation as far as buying with various nonprofits in the area?
Yeah.
Yeah.
The partnerships are huge because, you know, we're excited about everything we want to do, but we're not going to do, you know, brick and mortar and own these buildings.
So it really needs to capitalize on some infrastructure that already exists.
So Boys and Girls Club is a phenomenal partner, both locally and just nationally, how many clubs they have.
And we feel like we can build a really good recipe with them locally and then just, you know, be able to copy and paste to different clubs across the country.
That's one of them, notes for notes.
builds incredible studios that the only thing missing is really consistent, funded instruction within the studio.
So they're a great partner.
And then Salvation Army and Ronnie Rebels are both similar to Boys and Girls Club and how they function just a little more of Wisconsin local.
So as we build out these AMP sites, it's really important for each role to know what their responsibilities are.
Boys and Girls Club, we rely on them.
for staffing they actually hire the instructors we source and we pay them to get hired on as official boys and girls club employees but they also provide the space maybe they have instruments if they don't we'll provide those so they have their responsibilities and we try to come in and bring that music expertise but really is a team effort and then we bring on the instructors and even the students to a lesser degree you know for them to be in our program and stand our program there's certain requirements they need to
meets to make sure everyone's following their way.
Lewis, we just have about a minute that we have to do a short break and then we'll come back and continue the conversation.
But I read, I think in your mission statement that instruction will be demand driven and the funding hopefully will follow.
Are you guys doing anything?
Is the foundation doing anything to get the word out about these programs?
And if so, will that be harder to meet?
the funding requirements you need.
I mean, I'm sure you want everyone to be involved, but what kind of, would that create a problem or is that a good problem to have?
I would love to have that problem.
We'd
like to think that the more cities we launch in more areas, we're bringing out the more opportunity there is to bring in funding to help make sure everything's stable.
Credit to Chad, he's really getting us off on a great foot and he's matching the next $100,000 of donations to come in to really make sure everything can start.
and keep going.
Because the worst thing we could do, Pete, kind of like you said, is we don't want to start a program and then have to take it away.
So we want to build everything to be permanent.
Well, we're going to keep this conversation going with Lewis Smith, who is the executive director of the Chad Smith Foundation.
We're talking about music lessons, the importance of music lessons, and the work the foundation does to get kids these types of, you know, to get them the opportunities to learn how to play instruments.
whether they want to be in a band or just want to hang out with their friends after school.
It's an important thing.
So we're going to keep this going right after the break.
Don't go anywhere you're watching or listening to Nightlight with Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach here on the Civic Media Network.
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Welcome back to Nightlight with Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach here on the Civic Media Network.
My name is Greg Bach coming to you from Radio Park in Racine Upstate in Wisconsin in Marinette, Christmas Town.
Is it right?
Is that Christmas Town?
Damn it.
I have messed it up so many times.
I don't know.
Is it Christmasville?
We are an incorporated city and very proud.
Yeah.
What's
that,
Greg?
Your
Marinette,
Wisconsin, but what's your nickname that you gave yourself?
Christmas City.
Christmas City, USA.
There you go.
All right.
And then over in Madison is Mr. Dom Lee, who makes up the Yatterhair Triangle.
And we
are talking.
I bet the next time we see Lewis, he's going to remember Christmas City, USA, Greg.
I'm sure it will.
Don't put pressure on you.
it'll be absolutely great too.
And
I'll feel like,
I'll feel like a moron.
And then I'll be like, what were we talking about?
And I'll be like, Hey, Lewis, your uncle's in a band.
So yeah, we are talking to the executive director of the Chad Smith Foundation, Mr. Lewis Smith.
We were talking about the, the history of the foundation.
We're talking about what brought Lewis to this, to this organization.
And I'll tell you what it was, spoiler, he created it.
But we're talking about all the great work that you are looking to do.
You've already done.
Cause the thing is that chat,
Chad already has a long history of this sort of advocacy for young people, and I know that personally because I met him in 2003 through a program similar to this.
When I worked at a music store, that was doing something similar.
We were contacted by your father to help bring music teachers to the Boys and Girls Club.
I'm sitting in a conference room.
Your father is talking, and he keeps saying, Chad.
He goes, well, we talked to Chad.
I'm like, okay.
And he's like, well, if Chad can be there, that'd be great.
And I finally go,
I'm sorry, I'm new to this.
So who's Chad?
And your father looks at me and my bosses look at me like I'm a moron and say, Chad Smith from the Red Hat Chili Peppers.
I'm like, no one told me.
So
my question's
valid.
He came to the Boys and Girls Club.
He was on tour in 2003.
He came to the Boys and Girls Club.
He spent hours in those rooms with those kids.
He talked to them.
He gave them, you know, basic lessons on what to do.
He was so excited to be there.
He took pictures with everyone.
He wasn't just there for a photo op.
He was there to play drums, get in it, have fun with the kids.
And he took pictures and it was great.
And I remember saying to him like, oh, you guys are in town tomorrow.
You're like playing tomorrow.
It should be a really good show.
He goes, I'll get your tickets.
And I said,
That's not what I meant.
I didn't want to get, I'm sorry.
I didn't mean to ask for tickets.
I'm so sorry.
But I just wanted to convey that because, you know, this is not anything new specifically for Chad.
He has this deep rooted history and wanting to help kids get the gift of music.
And I think that's so important.
That's why we're so happy to have you on the show.
Cause I'm so excited that this tradition is continuing.
And we're hoping you throw us some tickets.
Yeah.
It'll be a while until the chili peppers start to get tickets to it, so I can't help you that.
Yeah, I mean, hopefully Chad doesn't hear this, but like, he's a good guy.
I try not to let him know, but he's a really good dude, loves music, and he's just, you know, such a fan of it.
I mean, everything he's accomplished with chili peppers, you think he could just, you know, do nothing but chili peppers and kind of just, you know, be on his own, but he is just...
He's had a fun little career as a studio drummer now.
We're just trying to play with as many artists as possible.
And then if people like to talk with music, whether they're eight years old and new or a fellow rock and roll Hall of Famer, he'll talk about it all day.
That's so cool.
If you guys do expand and you are looking for more funds, I've got $23 in an offshore account.
Tax-free, it's yours, Lewis.
Take it.
And you tell Chad I said so.
Here's just kind of a fun thing.
I've seen doing this research.
Chad looks, he's got a great look.
He looks like kind of a badass.
Why is Flea getting all the cool movie roles?
I can't tell you.
Chad, those guys have a good luck.
You will never see him without a backwards cap.
always loves wearing t-shirts of artists who are huge in the 70s.
He's got a good luck, but yeah.
He does.
way too talented.
I mean, you know his new album coming out.
He's just too talented.
So where can people find out more information?
Like how do parents or kids qualify for this?
Or how do they get involved in it if they want to?
Yeah, absolutely.
So everything right now is on the chasmithfoundation.org website.
Definitely go there.
Just put our announcement out of our first four locations.
Eventually we're going to have a nice interactive map that shows every site across the country.
Eventually right now it's just Wisconsin.
But
you know to be able to find out where your programs are happening so you can check us out online and also if you are part of Boys and Girls Club feel free to reach out to them as they're kind of all intertwined so as we get more involved with one it's more likely we'll be able to get involved with another one in the same area.
And with all this work now, you spoke about the fact that you really, your roots are in sports and, you know, seeing your uncle playing really inspired you to create this foundation based on what he loves to do.
I'm just asking you, Lewis Smith right now, not the executive director of the Chad Smith Foundation, but just Lewis Smith of Wisconsin.
Do you think this is going to bring back or inspire a desire to play music yourself?
Yeah.
Yeah.
I'm waiting for the right time to scratch and also like I want to you know practice what I preach and I'm excited to get more music teacher on board and I'll be able to sit and lessons myself and try to you know be proof of what we're doing because also like a lot of it is starting with kids and make it super accessible for them and make sense of school programs but really like it's never too late to start an instrument and you know we talk a lot about just the importance of music as
hobby or something on the side.
So we love to hear these, you know, professional adults that have a hobby of, I love just going home and whaling on my drum set.
It's therapeutic.
It's fun.
It's how I meet other people.
So it doesn't have to be a career and you don't have to be, you know, in your teens to even get started.
That's great.
Great stuff, Lewis.
Thank you so much for being here.
Really
appreciate it.
I really appreciate you being here today, sharing your time.
Please come back, tell us more about the foundation.
As you all are growing, we'd love to hear more about this.
This is very, very important.
We'll make sure that the foundations links are all in the show notes so people can check it out.
And I think something you said, Lewis, is very important for our older folks listening.
It's never too late to pick up an instrument and play.
It doesn't matter if it's a tambourine, a guitar or a keyboard.
It's very important to get that in your life if you want it.
Don't let...
age stop you.
But Lewis Smith is the executive director of the Chad Smith Foundation.
Thank you so much for being here.
Appreciate you so much.
Thank you for having me.
All right.
When we come back, we'll be talking about the question of the night as well as getting into the night light movie club talking sandlot.
So get your baseball trivia ready.
We'll be having that conversation in just a little bit.
Stick around.
You're listening to Night Light with Pete Schwab and Greg Buck on the Civic Media Network.
Stay tuned.
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