Lewis Smith from The Chad Smith Foundation on music education (Hour 1)

Dude Dude

Pete is currently you know Previously on nightlight 1.0.

I controlled nothing sound anything.

Yeah, 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 is right around the corner

Absolutely.

Welcome to the uncertainty of spring.

That is my unbelievably talented co-host Greg Bach.

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.

Work in the board.

How are you guys doing?

Going to

go ahead.

I'm sure I'm doing

you start you start

I I always like rainy days in Madison It was raining the entire day and I could be raining right now, but I just love the rainy days Just would you say

that you love a rainy night?

I love you.

Do you love a rainy night?

I love a rainy night.

Yes.

Okay.

No, Greg He doesn't know I feel like

it's a famous song by a guy named Eddie Rabbit Cuz I love a rainy.

I don't get sued so I'm not gonna go on further beyond that

That's a great song.

Or maybe a little closer to you.

I mean, probably not.

You've probably never even heard of this group, but garbage, are you only happy when it rains?

Never.

I love

a

nice local reference there with the garbage.

Exactly.

Exactly.

Rainy days and Mondays.

Always get me down.

OK.

So since it's

a

Thursday,

I'm crushing 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, it, 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 the business side.

A fax?

What is this, 1991?

I

was just

going to say,

man, I'll 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, you know, this is going to 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 in hour number two, too, for your favorite baseball movies.

Yes.

Which we should, I mean, I kind of put the...

I buried the lead there.

You put the bat

before you put the bat before the ball didn't you 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.

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 vanilla and blame it on the rain.

I mean, he is making all the rain references when it comes to music.

And then goes ahead and gives me a really good compliment.

Greg, Juan 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, because 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, from customer service, you have to spell that.

And I already have to because of 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 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 supertramps.

It's raining again.

Well, give him some time.

He's still going, actually.

He's still going.

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.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

Well, we'll get into, we'll, we'll get a little into this on, in the three things cause it has to do with it.

But, uh, yeah, I, so I drive a Nissan Rogue, nothing fancy, you know, 2023 new to me, essentially, but, uh, 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, 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 a hundred and twenty 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

You know, it's it's almost like we're at war.

I don't know

I mean, right now we're at $111.72 a barrel for oil.

But yeah, I mean, 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, well, tell us more about that, too, after we let's get to the cause of all of this.

I'm getting all amped up here.

Let's get to our three big stories.

Yeah.

First big story breaking this morning of now former attorney general Pam Bondi has been fired.

And I'm not going to 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, uh, Kristi Noem has gone and, um, now

Pam

Bondi has been fired.

Uh, 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 Greene.

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 Christie.

No, I don't know that she was ever qualified for the job in the first

place.

No, she was not actually not one bit No, and the thing is is that the attorney general's job comes with stress regardless of who you are or who's 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 to me.

Interesting factoid for you, Greg.

Mark Wayne Mullen replaced Christie Noem.

He was an MMA fighter.

Todd Blanche replaced his 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.

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 five years under my presidency, is winning, and now winning bigger than ever before.

Great.

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.

He

showed it to

his boss.

Yeah.

I mean, that's what all he's, 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.

I mean, 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 watch?

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 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 Washington Rockstar'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 two 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.

I mean, I can't even hold mine for 30 minutes.

Wow.

You can't hold it for 30 minutes.

No, you can't.

Well, pregnant.

No, no, I'm just saying.

See 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 your, you're in a tough position.

They had to go in a bag, I guess, or something.

And 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 do 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

club night.

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 going to 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 going to tell you all about it after the news.

I'm Pete Schwabba.

He's Greg Bach.

That's Dom Lee.

This is Nightlight.

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 Night Lights 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 at the conversation, do that.

You can always be part of that 855-752-484-2855-757.

Can you 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 safety in numbers.

Lewis, thank you so much for being here tonight.

Really appreciate you sharing time with us.

You know, tell us about the Chad Smith Foundation, its origins and also 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.

Uh, 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, uh, 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 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, did you have to persuade him to come to Milwaukee to launch this baby?

Yeah.

So, yes, obviously everyone relates LA and California to Chili 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 you really have to.

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 you know he knew what was going on and you know give his stamp of approval on everything that he's involved with so it's a great one is does an underrated musical city I mean walkie shot last fall 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 festivals 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.

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, you know, identified myself as as an athlete.

And I just would I didn't need a teddy bear.

I needed a football like that was just the life path that I

flag or tackle.

I felt some judging in that question flag or tackle.

I had to get to

the bottom of that, Lewis.

Settle

tackle.

Yes.

All right.

Well done.

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, it's kind of in a position where I knew I was going to start having kids soon and, you know, 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, you know, 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 going to get a tour bus and I was going to see him a week later at his next gig, kind of I passed him this letter and said, Hey, just promise me you'll read it.

Nothing has to come out of it, but 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, I obviously I knew him well, so I knew what was important to him.

He said, hey, let's 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

Lewis.

There you go.

Yeah, absolutely.

He is the executive director of the Chad Smith Foundation.

Lewis 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 is not maybe is 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 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 um what

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 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.

Like, you know, we 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 that gives kids something to do after school, keeps them in the building and keeps tabs.

It's just a phenomenal program.

Yeah, Chad is.

Not a shame 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 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 keep going to class and to graduate.

And yeah, he'll be the first to tell you that that was 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 at the end of the 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, but they 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 falling 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 do 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.

Stay tuned and stay

close.

It's the edge of the world in all of Western civilization.

The sun may rise in the east, at least it's settled in a final location.

It's understood that Hollywood sells California.

Welcome back to Night Light 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 Wisconsin in Marinette, Christmas Town.

is it right?

Is that Christmastown?

I have messed it up so many times.

I don't know.

Is it Christmasville?

We are an incorporated city and very proud of that, Greg.

You're 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.

That puts 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 because the thing is that check

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, OK.

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.

But

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 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.

That's 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 because I'm so excited that this tradition is continuing.

And we're hoping you throw us some tickets.

Yeah,

just.

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 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.

He 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.

Yeah.

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 chatsmithfoundation.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 in 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 you being here today, sharing your time.

Please come back.

Tell us more about the foundation.

As you as y'all are growing, we'd love to hear more about 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

you.

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 nightlight movie club talking sandlot.

So get your baseball trivia ready.

We'll be having that conversation just a little bit.

Stick around.

You're listening to Nightlight with Pete Schwab and Greg Buck on the Civic Media Network.

Stay tuned.

Stay

close.

Trying to make sense of the world.

You've got Night Light with Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach.

Call our toll-free number now.

Headlines, culture, and real conversation.

And

now, our feature presentation.

Here's Pete and Greg.

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

We are coming to you live.

I am coming to you live from radio park in Racine all the way up upstate.

That's fancy talk upstate Wisconsin in Marinette, Wisconsin.

We have Mr. Pete Schwabba and directly west of us.

We have Mr. Dom Lee in HQ in Madison on the ones and twos doing all the board work we need.

So thankful you are with us this evening.

We really appreciate your time.

If you want to be part of the conversation, give us a call.

Shoot us a text at the same number eight five five seven five two four eight four two eight five five Seven five civic is the number you can also leave a comment on the live stream We are currently streaming on Facebook YouTube and the platform.

We still call Twitter still ahead We are going to make our way into the inaugural edition of the nightlight movie club But before we do that we want to get back to the original question.

Oh, and by the way, we're also gonna have nightcap as well

Closing lots going on lots going lots going on in this hour folks.

That's what I'm trying to put forth to you.

Is that the fun?

Well, some people on the live stream would say it has started yet, but those fun doesn't stop here and we got one more hour of great programming with you.

So before we go anywhere else, let's get back and restate the question of the night.

Let's talk about the question

question.

Question.

Question.

Pregunta.

Question.

Question.

Okay, I have a question.

Questions.

This question.

Domanda.

Question.

Question.

Questions.

What is your favorite baseball movie?

There is a bit of a theme here tonight.

We're talking Sandlot and a few minutes, folks.

That's our popcorn pick of the week for our first ever Night Light movie night movie club and our question of the night.

It's right in there.

What is your

favorite

baseball movie 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 YouTube Facebook or the app We still call Twitter drops a stream comment and we will read it on the radio folks be part of the show Tell us about your favorite baseball movie then join the discussion about the sandlot at 6 20.

It's all It's

gonna be

baseball baseball fuel to our I think it's baseball-y

Very baseball.

Um, Dom, did you answer the question of the night on social media or should we wait and get your response?

I wait to get my response.

I have a response, but you know, I do.

All right.

I'm ready.

I'm ready for

it.

Well, let's start with you, Pete.

You pose the question.

What is your favorite baseball movie of all time?

Okay.

So it's a bit of a cop out, but Sandlot is my favorite movie.

So I'm glad that's our first ever movie club pick.

And I just think it's like,

I love the natural.

I like feel the dreams, but the, the Sandlot is romanticizes baseball

through

the, a very romantic sport in our past time through the eyes of children.

And it's a kids game.

I just don't think you can do any better than the Sandlot.

Now I have a second choice too.

And Greg, if you haven't seen this, I can't wait for you to see it so we can talk about it.

It's called long shot.

It's on Netflix.

It's about a 40 to 45 minute documentary about a guy.

It's baseball adjacent, but he goes to a Dodger game and that night he ends up getting accused of murder.

And what happens in this documentary will blow your mind.

It's so great.

And what's it called again?

It's called Longshot.

It's on Netflix and it's great.

And then I think my third choice if I can have one is Major League.

It's a Wisconsin movie.

Some of my friends were in it and

great film

my grandma worked at county stadium for decades and she worked there when they made that film and she I remember her always having this

it was a key, it was a key chain, like a key, like a key ring that it was made of metal, but it looked like a baseball ticket, baseball, you know, get ticket to get in the game.

And so like major league and had all this stuff on there.

So she always had that on her key.

And I remember that.

Yeah.

She, she, she worked at County stadium from the mid fifties.

My mom can probably correct me.

She's listening right now.

But until the early nineties when she retired, but she was there for a long,

long time.

That is fine.

That must have been a blast for her too to see them filming there.

And, uh,

Yeah, it was great.

My buddy Skip Kruperis was the best color guy in the business, got to sit next to Yooker while they were filming, and Bill left.

Both those guys had been on this show, played one of the crazy fans, and it's just, that's a fun movie to a boy.

Nice.

Yeah, I love Major League.

That is one of my, what's one of my favorite baseball movies?

It's definitely in the top three.

What's your fave?

Moneyball.

Oh, that was mine.

That was

great

movie.

Yeah.

I like like for like you're like I love the fact of romanticizing baseball through the eyes of children and I'm like moneyball computers numbers baseball suits Brad Pitt now I love moneyball the book is there is fantastic as well but moneyball the movie is is one of my favorite it's my favorite baseball movie one

of my

favorite movies period but yeah I love that what about and so that's yours Dom

it was the same with me because I just like

the money involved in sports, just in general, how that works.

And I thought that movie did a really, really good job of

it.

Uh, we got a lot of comments on both the Facebook page.

If you want to, you know, go to Facebook and find nightlight with Pete Schwab and Greg Bach, you can follow the page.

You can put, you can send us a message through there.

But, uh, let's see here.

Our buddy Rich Luccasio said, just in time for Easter, how about the nineties Disney version of angels in the outfield?

I didn't know there was any other version of that movie other than the nineties, but maybe I'm wrong or I'm reading that incorrectly.

No, I don't think you'd need to it's fine the way it was.

It's a fine movie.

It's it's it's a kind of movie.

You're gonna love when you see it as a kid

Totally,

that's

a great rich.

I always I like any hot take of riches wrestling related or not

By the way rich came up to me the other day.

He said WrestleMania is coming up soon.

So

Listen, I would never doubt anything rich says about WrestleMania.

We got him on the show.

He is fun

That's what he wanted wrestling.

Yeah,

he'll do wrestling announcer names for us Greg and

It'll be really fun.

Uh, David in Richland center in the six oh eight says for love of the game, Kevin cost.

How many baseball movies has Kevin Costner done?

At least three, right?

I mean, he's done.

He did

bold.

He did field of dreams, bull

Durham

for love of the game.

How many baseball movies and four?

Oh, wow.

It came up like that for, yeah.

And yeah, chasing dreams for the love of the game, field of dreams and bull Durham.

Okay.

Interesting.

And chasing dreams was an early role, a lesser known film, probably when he was, you know this, that he was the body and the big chill.

He's the friend who, he

was the friend who died.

That's awesome.

Jeff on Facebook says the sandlot, the natural and major league.

That's a good, that's

a good.

Yeah.

Those are fantastic.

That's

absolutely.

Chris and the 773.

says, just a bit outside.

Oh, of course, Sean Hannish and Kelly

Cole

saw a documentary.

That was a

fun

one too.

Just a bit outside is my favorite baseball movie, so much emotion in it.

If you don't shed a tear watching it, you have no heart.

Second place, League of their Own, another great movie.

There's no crying in baseball.

I realize I'm contradicting myself.

Don't judge.

We

won't judge.

Hey, one's a documentary, one's a movie, and League of their Own is fantastic.

And I saw that movie in the theater, and I wept like a child.

at the end of the day.

Oh

yeah.

And then when they started playing that Madonna song, like this is used to be like, I love history at baseball.

So see rocker on Facebook says bad news bears.

There you go.

That's a classic.

That's a great one.

And I'll, I'll stand behind the sequels.

They're not as good as the original, but they're still very fun.

I still was a Richard link letter

to the sequel.

So he doesn't make a bad movie.

Oh, see, I'm thinking of the original with Walter Mathau.

Right.

That's my favorite.

I'm saying

you

said,

You liked the original, but the new ones were okay too.

And

I'm talking about the sequels to the, so there was bad news bears, bad news bears and breaking training.

And then there was bad news bears and go to Japan.

That was all in the early days.

I didn't

see the Link Lager one.

I didn't, I've seen Billy Bob Thornton be a terrible person in a lot of movies.

I'm fine with it.

Mark in the 608 says, Hey, Duluth, Minnesota has the Christmas city song written by Merv Griffin, Christmas

city,

wonderful city all dressed up in snow and mistletoe.

Mark, I'm not going to get into a what match with

you.

Oh, he goes on to say, I grew up seeing the Christmas city of the North parade on team.

Oh, you're being challenged for Christmas supremacy.

I really thought I had that one.

Thank you, Mark.

You, you have no idea how happy you just made me.

Dude, it's on.

Mark and I are going toe to toe.

He also goes, he also said earlier, he said, I'm only happy when it rains is featured in the Captain Marvel movie with Brie Larson.

That's very, very true.

It's played, takes place in the nineties.

So, uh, let's see, Pete, you said on, okay.

So you gave your, your movies, but you also said long shot.

Was that the one you were just talking about?

Yeah.

The documentary.

Okay.

Sandlot long shot and that's right.

Okay.

Yeah.

Um, Tim.

says bang the drum slowly very young denial brilliant script totally underrated and his joke answer Every mafia movie where someone is beaten to death with a bat

Wow Related I guess Roger and Steve's point says a league of their own excellent Bridget in the 8-1 it says bull Durham.

It has everything sports comedy romance character growth nice Bridget

Our friend, Jane, Matt and air