Transcript
Martín Alvarado on National Poetry Month & Madison Library Picks (Hour 2)
Nite Lite with Pete Schwaba and Greg Bach · Wed Apr 22, 2026
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Welcome back to Nightlight with Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach here on the Civic Media Network.
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I am in Radio Park in Racine, up the coast in Marinette, AKA Christmas City, USA, is Mr. Pete Schwabba, and then all the way over
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Coming up in just a little while after the 630 news, we will be welcoming back to the show, Martin Alvarado, who is from the Madison Central Library, talking about all great things going on at the library, both in Madison and around the state.
Last time he was here, he literally had like a list of seven libraries in the Civic media area.
where stuff was going on.
So that'll be great.
He'll be talking about all the things happening there and, you know, give us some book recommendations as well.
Then we'll be wrapping everything up with the nightcap.
So don't go anywhere.
Stick around.
Have some fun.
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Good first hour, guys.
I learned a lot about sports.
Did you?
I always learned so much.
Do you know why I learned a lot about sports?
Because, as Tony on the livestream put it, Mike Clemens knows slightly more than Pete about sports.
So it's always good having them both here, just giving me all the information I need.
Mike Clemens
pinky knows more about sports than each
lava.
Oh, okay.
Well, we'll put that on a can of Jolt Cola.
Didn't, don't know the reference folks.
Go back to civicmedia.us slash shows and listen to back catalog of our programs.
You can do that anytime you'd like.
That's called a plug.
All right.
Let us get to the question of the night.
Let's restate the question tonight and get to our text messages and hear from the people tonight.
Happy birthday, Mr. Jack Nicholson.
89 years old is his birthday.
So the question is, what is your favorite Jack Nicholson movie?
Let us know.
Drop a comment to send us a text.
Give us a call.
Let us know.
We'd love to hear from you.
Dom.
Let us go to the text line.
Let's do it.
All right.
We have Andrew from Maine.
This is not totally related to the question, but he said Pete's nightcap slash what he learned can be that Pete Wilson has a birthday today and he is still alive despite the info from the celeb birthday site.
He just tried to tell him
wait Wilson the
former California governor
Wait, what's happening right now?
I have no idea.
I feel like I feel like Dom and I have been totally wedged out of this part of the conversation.
What?
I don't
of the show.
my
face.
Okay.
My face right now is a reason to watch the live stream because I am
so confused.
Okay.
So Andrew Vermein, Pete's nightcap.
What he learned can be that Pete Wilson has a birthday today and is still alive.
Despite info from the celeb birthday site he uses to tell him is Pete Wilson, the former governor
of
that's the only Pete Wilson I think I know.
Yeah.
It says I'm
taking
Greg's recommendation on and I'm using the other site because you're right.
I don't need all these influencer birthdays Yes, or Pete Wilson
then he said as good
I love that he sent the text couldn't remember and then he said it's just very very funny to me I once I once saw a stage play of a few good men and It was fantastic and we got to the point in the move and then play where it was the most famous part of the movie and you ask yourself well when This line comes up is one of the most one of the most clipped
pieces of film in the past, what, 20, 30 years when they always went like, you know, the greatest films, blah, blah, blah, blah, that kind of thing.
And you're like, how is he gonna deliver that?
Is he gonna do exactly like Jack Nicklaus?
Or is he gonna do, you know, and he did it in a, he did it in a way.
This, I wish I remembered his name.
He's an actor.
He's a local actor in Wisconsin.
He did it in a way where he said it and brought absolutely no attention to it really.
In fact, it's that thing of, instead of like, because in the movie, he screams it.
So of course you're like, oh, good Lord.
He says it in a way that is so
bone-chilling like as if to say like Everything from this characters experience has seen so much horrific horrific everything from war to to bureaucracy to whatever the way he said it made you go Oh, this is more bone It was it was more Disturbing than watching Jack Nicholson scream it because he just said it as a matter of fact in a way of like
you'll never understand because you'll never see what I've seen.
And like, oh, wow, that was, it was pretty amazing.
I still think about that to this day, that this guy read that line better than Jack
Nicholson.
Yeah, it's interesting because Aaron Sorkin wrote, it started as a play before
they made
it a movie.
And what you're saying, Greg, reminds me of Brian Cox's Hannibal Lecter compared
to Anthony
Hopkins.
And Anthony
Hopkins
is great.
There's no question about that.
Brian Cox was so chilling and eerie and red at a different, you know what I think we should do?
Let's all give our interpretation.
Let's say you can't handle the truth.
Like we would say it if we were Jack Nicholson and a few good men.
Who wants
to go first?
Let's go with Dom.
You can't handle
the truth.
You said it like a Santa Claus.
That's not like a Santa Claus who's trying to make a kid understand why he's on the naughty list.
You can't handle the truth.
All
right, I'll be next.
All
right, okay about this.
Let's sing, you can't handle the truth.
Wow.
I said it very, like I was at like a family Sunday dinner talking to a child.
So that's why I'm not an actor.
Again, another interpretation, talking to a child.
Interesting.
Right.
All right, Greg, you're up.
All right, here we go, here we go.
Me, me, me, me, me, me, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, lemon face, lion face, lemon face, lion.
Okay, I'm preparing here.
You can't handle the truth.
There you go
They casted the right guy apparently we never made it into the auditions.
Yeah, there you go.
I guess Our
own takes
I think that's okay.
There you go.
Yeah, absolutely.
What else we have on the text line here
It's fun three Oscars
Wow.
three Oscar guy.
He's a three Oscar guy.
Wow.
Those are rare.
Well, really quick here.
You know, Pete, what about you?
What is what is a what is a movie that really?
It's without question to me.
Chinatown love his playing Jake Gittis just outstanding and a great movie to written by Robert Towne.
And I also like the last detail where he and Randy Quaid are they're transporting a prisoner.
And they're two Navy guys.
It's just a great performance underplayed by Nicholson.
Like everybody thinks of his big roles, the shining and you can't handle the truth, but a very subtle actor when he needs to be.
That's why it's
so great.
It's also amazing that Randy Quaid used to be somebody we were like, yeah.
And now we're like, oh no.
I love him in little shop of horrors, the original, the black and white version.
Wow.
Nice pull.
That is a dark film.
That is a dark, dark film.
And what's funny, and I'll get a little movie nerdy right now.
So the original version, sorry, spoilers, but the film is like 65 years old.
You've had your chance.
The original version of the movie with Jack Nicholson in it, he, at the end of the movie, Audrey two wins.
Audrey two is eats Seymour and like
Like that's it.
Here's the fun fact.
We all know the Rick Moranis, Ellen Green, Steve Martin, Bill Murray vehicle of like 1986.
And if you've seen it, you know how it ends, except that's not how it was supposed to end.
They actually spent a million dollars to film the ending where Audrey to not only wins, she brings in all of her alien cousins and whatnot.
They take over earth.
That's the end of the movie originally.
And they said it was one of the most depressing.
endings, people were so angry that they had to spend more money to change it into the, oh, we did it.
We made it.
We're hand in hand in love.
And that was the original version of little shop of horrors, Audrey wins.
And that to me is like mind blowing.
Cause I saw that movie as a kid.
And I loved it.
What year was that?
Uh,
the, the Rick Moranis one.
No, no, no,
the Nicholson one.
That was, I think like 1960 something.
Let me look it up here.
Hey,
Dom, can you pull suddenly see more of the song?
Absolutely.
Black and white that one came out 1960.
Yeah, it's a 66 years old It's a Roger Corman movie.
And if I'm not mistaken So Nichols was probably it was yeah, it was it was like it was like it was point is like remember like when Leprechaun came out like back in the late 80s and they and nothing happened and then friends came out and and they reissued the video boxes to say starring Jennifer Aniston
because she's in that movie before she made it big.
They did the same thing in Jack Nichols and we're like, she's featuring the first film of Jack like, okay, all right, calm down, calm down.
Genius.
Yeah.
We got another one there down from Melissa.
We haven't heard from Melissa on Willy Street in a while.
guys.
Oh my gosh.
built to destroy you from top to bottom.
That's gracious.
Oh, brutal.
Dom, did you say?
Oh, wait, what's up?
What's up?
You got something.
You're pointing at the screen.
it
That's my favorite, too, John
OK.
it.
Yeah, I mean, oh my gosh.
Dom, did you say, I can't remember, did you say whether or not there was a favorite for you?
I mean, are you, I
when
helped him.
There's research, my goodness.
He's gonna love me.
My name is Dom.
I
love Jimmy Johns and I read.
We just got another one from our pal, John Murray, who says, hard not to love an actor that sells it so hard that he that.
he really becomes the character.
Yeah, that's definitely, yeah.
And the time we have left, Pete, you are a writer, director, producer, actor.
How do you feel about the whole like going method thing?
Like, do you like it?
Like, have you worked with people who do the thing of like, call me by my character's name, treat me like, like I will talk, they will talk like their character, they have to stay in character all the time.
Have you ever experienced that?
I haven't.
I kind of respect any method that gets an actor to where they need to be, even though I might think it's a little nuts or whatever.
Or whatever, but I don't uh, I think it's interesting.
There's a great movie called marathon man with Dustin Hoffman and Lawrence Olivier and Lawrence Olivier plays a war criminal and they were on the set together and Dustin Hoffman stayed up for three days in a row to prepare for a guy who looked like he hadn't slept for three days and Lawrence Olivier said you should learn how to act to your boy then you wouldn't have to put your body through such hell and it's a great quote
Well, we're going to take a really short break when we come back.
We're going to ask a really quick question.
Are you drinking enough water?
And if you're not, why?
Is it because you don't like the flavor of water?
You're going to have to find out more when we come back.
And then we're going to be talking to Martin Alvarado from the Madison Library.
So don't go anywhere.
You are listening to Martin listening and dice it.
What did I say?
I was just giving him a shout out.
OK, I thought.
OK, sorry.
You are listening and are watching 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.
You can always get in touch with us.
855-752-484-2855-756.
Leave a comment on the live stream.
We are currently streaming on Facebook, YouTube and the platform.
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Always get in touch with us.
Text, call or send a voice message through the Civic Media app.
If you'd like still ahead, Mr. Martin Alvarado is coming back to the show to talk about all things library.
He's from the Madison Central Library.
He'll be talking about what's going on this month, what's going on in the area of the Madison Library, and he may have some information on a library near you.
Plus, as always, we wrap things up with the nightcap.
So don't go anywhere.
We are going to have some fun this evening.
So there is a story that came out that now I started just lost and I apologize totally unprofessional of me about water consumption and the fact that what was the numbers like 37% of people do not drink enough water, Pete.
Yeah, 37% are water snobs.
And it says we are picky about our water to the point where 37% of us don't like it.
I.
A new survey found the 2,000 adults found that we have very strong opinions about what water we drink.
65% say they are picky and more than half claim they can tell what kind of water they're drinking without being told.
And I'm like, so what?
First of all, it's water.
I know some of it tastes better.
There's bottled, there's like Fiji and Evian and Perrier and San Pellegrino and all that.
There's tap water.
I mean...
For I got on the water train about five years ago.
Okay, so It's not fun and I told I had this conversation recently with my mom.
She doesn't like water, but she drinks a ton of tea I I Just started drinking like a hundred ounces a day and my body is adjusted But I literally stand at the sink every couple hours and I'll have two glasses of 12 I can't sip it because I feel like I'm not getting anywhere It doesn't particularly taste great unless you're parched
So I kind of forced myself to drink it just because of the health benefits, but I don't know.
Do you guys drink water?
All the time.
Yeah.
So yeah.
Yeah.
I knew you'd drink it, but I mean, do you drink enough?
Well, I mean, you asked the question, buddy.
We answered it very, I mean, like, that's what they say in law school.
They say, when they ask a question, what time do you know what time it is?
You say, yes, you don't say what time it is.
You say, yes, you asked a question.
We answered it.
Don't play lawyer ball with me, Greg.
It goes back though to the conversation we had, I believe with the gentleman, Herman, last name came around.
The evolutionary anthropologist.
It's about finding your balance about what is good for you with the water you need to take in.
Now, I understand like, does everyone need to drink eight glasses of water a day?
Probably not.
That feels very, very loosey-goosey for a population of eight plus billion people.
But also this whole thing of like, I'm picky with my water.
Okay.
Like what?
Like, yeah, I don't, I don't understand.
Like, like, okay, I'm going to call, I'm going to call a location in Wisconsin out.
And I apologize to our bosses that we might get in trouble.
We won't.
Brookfield has terrible taste in water.
And I know when I'm drinking Brookfield water, cause it all tastes the same, but I still drink it.
But like when people say like, Oh, there's Evian and I don't like Evian.
I like, it's like, you're not impressive.
when you tell me that you, you're like, oh, you can tell this $3 bottle of water from this $3 bottle of water.
Put a little flavoring in there, like get a soda stream.
Oh my gosh.
Oh my gosh, Pete, get yourself a soda stream.
It will change your life.
You will drink the water.
It is super tasty and it's not super sugary.
In fact, I don't think it's any sugar at all.
It's like natural flavorings, but yes, soda streams are amazing.
It'll get you juice
water.
Yeah.
Okay, so we drink a lot of seltzer water in this
house.
We have been for about 10 years.
We were probably spending 50 bucks a week on seltzer.
Just like the 12 packs, you know, you can get like the bubbly or the carbon or whatever.
We get the stuff from Aldi, which is cheaper and tastes really good.
But I looked into getting a machine that you make your own seltzer water.
That was really expensive.
So kind of, yeah, it was like more and a hassle.
Like I just
These, you just pop out and it's really easy.
But yeah, water is expensive.
So I started recently getting to, and it's going to get more expensive.
So I just started recently just drinking the tap water.
As far as I know, here in Christmas city, we have pretty clean tap water.
So
I'm okay with that.
And see, that's great.
I mean, Dom, you always have yours by the ready.
So you're good to go,
I
Your generation is great about it.
You guys carry around gallon jugs and I,
I can't even, my kids do that too.
And I'm like, I just wouldn't want to carry that around.
I'll just go to the sink and drink it and that's it.
So Pete, let me ask you a really quick question.
You said you spend $50 a week for a seltzer water.
Ish.
Yeah.
A SodaStream basic pack, like with the machine, with the bottle and one CO2 canister, which by the way, when you trade them in, you get them half off.
If you go to a place that sells them, 60 bucks.
Yeah.
How long does it take to make?
Like four seconds.
No, but it doesn't it like when I was looking at those it you you get it and then you have to make it and it makes a certain amount It's just I can't remember exactly why it seemed like it was more hassle than
it's I will say this it's gonna save you money in the long run with like two purchases in two weeks it will save you money and You will you will drink the same seltzer water
And you will use less like recycles.
You won't have these bottles sitting around or anything like that.
You will.
I just think it's a great idea.
I have one at home.
I absolutely love it.
But do your thing, Jellybean.
I'm just glad you're drinking.
I'm just glad you're drinking water.
That's what I'm going to come over.
I'd like you to get a couple of waters ready.
We'll have them.
We'll dump, swing by, if you like.
I will.
Bring in Jimmy Johnson.
We'll compare and contrast.
I'm not opposed to it.
Maybe I'll break down and get to make my own water.
Maybe we'll
get one.
When's your birthday, buddy?
When's your birthday?
It was a couple of weeks ago and nobody remembered.
It's made it really popular.
Well, it's next year, I'll come over for a walk.
It's not too much to ask for water on your birthday.
All right.
So we'll go, Tom, I'll pick you up.
We'll get this Yadar Hey triangle thing.
I'll pick you up.
We'll road trip to a radio park or to Kenosha.
We'll have, we'll have ourselves some water.
All right.
You leave that jug of yours at home, buddy.
Cause Greg's springing.
He's popping for water.
All right, well on that note, when we come back after the 6.30 news, we'll be talking to Martin Alvarado from the Madison Central Library, all great things library.
We'll talk poetry, book recommendations and what's happening at your library.
You might find out he makes a list that's always comprehensive.
Don't go anywhere.
You are listening and or watching Nightlight with Pete Schwab and Greg Bach here on the Civic Media Network.
Stay tuned and stay close.
Welcome back.
live stream.
We're currently streaming on Facebook, YouTube and the platform.
We still call Twitter still ahead.
We've got the nightcap wrapping it all up, finding out what we've learned and.
the friends we've made along the way which is always the important part and also you can you can call text leave a voice message or listen live anywhere in the world by downloading the civic media app download it wherever you get your apps it is absolutely free all right our next guest
He needs no introduction because he's a friend of the show.
He's back.
He is the community engagement library and business and technology at the Madison Central Library.
Martin Alvarado is back on the show.
Good afternoon slash evening, Martin.
How are you today?
I am doing wonderful because it just feels like spring.
And after all these storms and everything, just having a few like nice days was just a joy to be out there.
And it's still sunny and the show's on.
So that's always a good sign.
There you
go.
Good mood.
Everything's peachy.
I absolutely love, I love that outlook, that attitude.
I couldn't agree more.
We had like 45 minutes of really dark stormy rain yesterday and then the clouds came up way bright sunshine again.
Like that's the spring I need.
So we
didn't get hit over the head yesterday with like a baseball, like some unfortunate people did.
Oh, yeah, that's right.
I believe Senior Producer Tucker had some hail issues as well.
That's a blue
boy.
Best wishes to everyone who's just dealing with the aftermath because it's been quite the few days here.
I agree.
I agree.
Martin, you are here tonight.
You are here monthly talking about the library in Madison, the libraries around the state, but it is National Poetry Month.
Why don't we start there?
Yeah, so let's start there.
It's 30 years of National Poetry Month.
I think it's one of those things where we
can
remember, like with 1996, what were we doing in 1996?
Who knows, some of us might be a little bit fuzzy about those recollections, but it's just one
of those.
I was still a reader in 1996.
I was still reading books.
I miss those days, Mark.
There
you go.
You can always become a reader.
It's like a bicycle, right?
Yeah.
But
anyway, it's one of those things where I think it's just been a good excuse to dig up poems, maybe not our own personal poetry from high school, but there's definitely some luminaries out there who've put out some great things.
And I've prepared a couple of poems.
I'm going to read the poem.
And I can't read the whole poem because, you know, copyright and all that good stuff, but you can read excerpts and use it for educational purposes, let's say.
So these are just some of this was written just within the past couple of years.
And these are just so powerful.
If I must die, let it bring hope.
Let it be a tale.
And I think we can all relate to that.
It's just maybe one of those feelings of.
I want my life to mean something, but I also want my life to just inspire other people, right?
To help
them
with the hardships.
That was written by Rifat Al-Ariir.
It's a poem called, If I Must Die, and it was written before he was killed in Gaza when there was an Israeli defense force strike on
his
community.
I think some people will say it's prophetic, but I think for him, it was just kind of like, these are the anxieties we have.
We know there's a non-zero chance that we might not make it to the next day, but I think it's just one of these things when
We hear the words, we hear the context, and it just drives a lot of things home.
But it's also something that we can think of in other contexts when we look at those words.
I have another one.
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
And I think when we think of Maya Angelou, we think of things that are a little bit more profound.
But this was from her poem, Still I Rise, about black women in America not giving up the legacy of slavery.
So it goes down to
a lot of these places that are maybe difficult to approach if we're just thinking of them directly, right?
But for me, the way I read it is, hater's gonna hate.
Like she just said it poetically, and that's what I get from this.
And the rest of the poem is definitely worth taking a look.
And this is, I think, one that it's very near and dear to my heart.
It was featured in the movie Interstellar with Michael Cain.
And he kept repeating this right it's the apocalypse the earth is just burning and they're sending Matthew McConaughey into space and This line gets repeated over and over do not go gentle into that good night rage rage against the dying of the light Yeah, just goosebumps and everything but If you remember there was this movie from the 1980s filmed right here in Madison where Rodney Dangerfield
Back to school They make up like a fake name for UW and it's filmed like at the college club and other places and this is
at
one point During the it's one of the climaxes of the movie to see if he's actually learned something in school He's board of examinations and he just gives like a fiery rendition of this and then he tells like his
advisor teacher, he goes, so this means I don't have to take any bleep from anyone, right?
So
I
just love the fact that, like, this is Dylan Thomas, and it's just one of those poems that I think just surfaces in everywhere, even in comedies, even in places where you would think it doesn't really fit.
And I think that's the thing about poetry, you can take it heartfeltly, you can take it ironically, but it always just gives something to the moment or to different works of art too.
I love that you chose two more modern poems because when I was in college, a long time ago, a lot of my English classes, if it was a poetry class, it was all Dylan Thomas or John Keats or, you know, whomever.
And they're great though that any poetry I memorized were the the greats from back then, you know, Odin, a Grecian urn and Matthew Arnold Dover Beach or Dylan Thomas, this great line.
What and but I want to ask you, you were talking about the seasons.
For whatever reason, when I was younger, Martin, I used to like to read poetry during the winter.
I don't know if it helped me get through the winter or it made me less sad.
But what is the best time of year to read poetry or a certain type of poetry, as far as you're concerned, because you obviously have stayed with it, which is amazing.
I mean, I think it has to do a lot with like, there's literally a poet and a poem for any time and the circumstance in your life.
For loss, definitely, there's so many poems that can just really bring
a little bit more of a sense of closure when there's loss and those just come up in those circumstances.
I think some of the ones like going into spring that the Henry Wardsworth about the daffodils and things.
I don't remember exactly my grandma used to have it memorized and would just bring it out from time to time.
But I think it's interesting when you think of that poem, you think of it as a young person, everything's flowering.
And when you think of it as an adult.
at the springtime poem, it's just like, oh, well, it's just the yearning for the time that has passed from when I was young and fresh, right?
So I don't know about the seasonality, but I think it's more or less one of those, I think, when we're trying to make sense of something in our life.
It could be like some relationship.
It could be some event.
It's just one of those times when we reach for something else.
Yeah.
I think that what's very interesting too is that
This is now the second back to school reference that's been made on this show because I didn't know it was filmed in Madison.
Pete, you brought it up loud and it was blown because I'm like, I've seen that movie so many times.
I had no idea it was set in Madison.
But speaking of poetry and specifically the first one.
I got a book, actually, I got a book for Christmas that I saw in a Madison bookshop called Japanese Death Poems.
It's written by a series of philosophers, Japanese men and women, philosophers, thinkers, scholars, just on the notion of death and like looking at it from the most, like from both a spiritual but also as you said, a non-zero chance of escaping it.
So it's like, when I know those things, how do I see this?
irrefutable fact, this unescapable moment where I will cease to be, how do I approach it?
And it's just a book of poetry about that topic written from people who really sit and think on it.
And I've read a couple so far and they're just beautiful because they just make you think, yeah, this is what's going to happen.
And again, like I love that last line, let it be or what you read at the last line, let it be a tale, let your life be worth something talked, let your life be something worth talking about.
So that's beautiful.
I love it.
Yeah, I think what was the thing of like, oh, if you really wanted to know what thing was on the, how the moon was, you should have sent the poet, right?
And I think
to a
certain extent, like Neil Armstrong had a great catchphrase.
You could think of it as poetry originally in space.
It's more like a factual statement.
But yeah, I think that's one of the things with poets.
It's one of those things like probably not going to get rich being a poet.
There are a few exceptions,
but
it's something that people just craft and take with them.
And I'm not.
one of those people that has the need to write every day, but I know people who just every day take out their notebook and they're writing something and they're refining it and they're just really working that.
And then when it's ready, they present it or sometimes they just write it for themselves because it's the way that they process the world.
So yeah, poetry is just one of those things.
Martin Alvarado is with us right now.
He handles community engagement for the Madison Public Library and he is here once a month talking about books.
And tonight we're talking about poetry.
You know, specific to seasons, I guess, maybe what I should have, there's a great poem by Wordsworth called, The World is Too Much With Us.
And I am reminded of that because my college professor said, that's when things get so crazy and the problems become modern day.
And we are not, we are far away from nature.
That poem has stuck with me all these years because now more than ever, the world is too much with us.
Cell phones, flat screen TVs, iPads, we can't get away from the world.
So I just thought that was interesting.
I don't know what your opinion is on Wordsworth.
I guess I have a lot of knowledge of...
Latin American poets, because that's where a lot of my cultural references come from.
So I wouldn't be able to answer that question.
Okay.
Some of the ones that I really look up to are the ones that were writing right before the fascists took over in Spain and during the fascist regimes.
And then they just have these allegories of like, well, just all the suffering we're going to endure, hope springs eternally, you know, all those things I think that are universal to things.
But I think just when people are put into these
positions of a lot of restrictions I think some of the really powerful work comes from.
Mark in prayer reduce accent to text message just now says my father was a fan of Robert service and I remember reading quote the cremation of Sam McGee in seventh or eighth grade services March of the dead is a powerful portrayal of the cost of war and like my I did not delve deep into poetry of a lot of friends who are very good poets and they you know there and they're also very good interpreting I remember in high school I took a poetry class and I read a poem that was written about John F. Kennedy's assassination and the poetry it's the poem itself
is written in the form where it looks like a folded American flag.
So it's in that triangle formation.
And I remember reading that poem being very struck by, I wish now I can remember anything about it.
I'm embarrassed the fact I can't remember it, but we had to write a poem.
So I wrote a poem in reference to that.
And it was so powerful for my poetry teacher that he actually read it for like the next four years to his classes.
And to this day,
I still try to find that poem somewhere in a box of memories, hoping that I can find it.
Cause I want to be like, I actually wrote a poem and it was, it was kind of good, maybe, but I just, I just, I, I want to, I mean, I, I love poetry in, in a very surfaced sense because I feel like it's, can sometimes be very daunting.
There's a lot of interpretation.
There's a lot of folks out there who goes, well, actually, what they're trying to say is I'm like, no, I just like the way it makes me feel when I read the words.
And that's all that matters, right, Martin?
Yeah, it's where it takes us.
And I think I had a quick suggestion for reading The Poets House.
It's a
novel,
and it's sort of an outsider who sort of stumbles into this rarefied world of poets who
meet
in these secret committees and then have all these fights and romances and everything.
So that's Gene Thompson.
The Poets House, that's like a more contemporary book.
I also have the Savage Detectives, which is probably my favorite novel of all time.
It's just
this
madcap, these poets in Mexico.
And then there's all these things where they're pursuing this like poets that they idolize.
And then there's a little bit of Vespinage around the globe in Uganda and Israel and Europe.
So it's, uh, if you want to caper the Savage Detectives, it's just going to keep
you
going.
And it has poetry kind of at its sense.
It also has coming of age parts.
It's amazing.
Wonderful.
Awesome.
I didn't geek out too much about words worth.
Sorry about that.
I got a little excited, but I
apologize for loving Martin is always this time goes by so fast.
We will talk to you next month.
Martin El Verrado is the tech library at the Madison public library.
We will put all the information he suggested in our show notes.
So don't go anywhere.
Stick around.
We come back.
It's time for the nightcap.
Read your text messages and find out what we learned right here on nightlight with peach wabba and Greg Bach on the civic media network.
Stay tuned.
Stay
close.
Have a great night, Martin.
Thank you.
See you next time.
Oh yeah, welcome back to Night Light with Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach here on the Civic Media Network, big daddy-os.
I don't know, I'm really bad at that kind of talk.
Jack.
Yeah, welcome back to the show everybody.
We are coming to you live from Wisconsin, the Yatterhey Triangle, Racine at Radio Park.
We got Pete Schwabba up in Marinette Christmas City, USA, and then all the way over in Madison at Civic Media World Headquarters, Mr. Dom Lee on the ones and twos.
Always be part of the conversation.
eight five five seven five two four eight four two eight five five seven five civic leave a comment on that live stream.
We are currently streaming on Facebook, YouTube and the platform.
We still call Twitter plus always take a listen, listen, you know, you can listen to us anywhere in the world.
You can listen to the music, you can listen to the talk shows, you can get your news by getting the civic media app.
You can also call text and leave voice messages there as well.
So you are set.
Thank you for being here tonight.
We really appreciate you on tomorrow's show.
That's right.
We have a tomorrow show.
That's how great we are there.
Give me another one.
Love it.
We'll be talking to Rachel Bernhard, who is the dining critic for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
She'll be here to give us restaurant recommendations and tell us about some of her recent articles.
It's great talks with her.
She is fantastic.
What I like about Rachel is she loves food.
She loves writing, but she's not a snooty critic.
She's not like, Oh, I've been to that place.
Uh, it's not good.
It's she, she loves food.
She loves talking about.
And that's for me.
Sweet.
The important
part.
So she'll be here tomorrow night.
We're very much looking forward to that.
Very much hope you join us as well.
We'll have another question of the night.
We'll have the nightcap.
We'll have so much more fun.
And, and guys, it's Thursday.
You know what that means.
Night lightens.
The Night Light Movie Club with Mr. Dom Lee's selection, The Breakfast Club, which I'm very much looking forward to hearing your thoughts, Dom, on this one, because we've, most of us, almost all of us have been through the high school experience, but
All three of us in different decades.
Different experiences.
So I want to know what your thoughts are on the movie.
I can't wait to talk to you about that.
That's all tomorrow.
Right now, let's get to some leftover text messages.
Not like leftover like we didn't want to.
They didn't get a chance to get to them.
Did we have any more on the text line Dom?
There you go.
That's very
then
management.
Oh yeah.
That's right.
Yep.
Yep.
That was, uh, with, uh, it was, uh, Sandler, the Sandman.
Uh,
we've got a few on social media here.
Uh, Vince Moranto, very funny.
Vince Moranto says cuckoo's nest.
Of course he means one flu over the cuckoo's nest.
Uh, Oh, ask your mother, front man, Eric Rathsex says, as good as it gets another vote for as good as it gets.
Matt Harper, Green Bay rock rap artist says, the departed, the departed.
He says, my all time favorite.
Love it.
And finally, Marina Frazier on social media says, happy birthday, Jack.
All right.
Thank you, Marina.
Thank you, everybody.
Great stuff.
Love it.
Love it.
Love it.
Thank you so much for everyone for reaching out.
We appreciate you.
Pete, what did you learn?
I learned that there's been about a 40 year gap since I've heard the name of a new poet.
So I really liked having Martina tonight.
He's always fun.
And Mike Clemens educated us about sports.
I learned about a soda water, I learned a lot of stuff today.
I feel like I just went back to school.
Call back, flip it
down.
Are you listening WBA?
Oh my goodness.
That's so funny.
Dom, what did you learn this evening?
I
He never learned anything.
um... I don't really listen to the show, guys.
it.
Had
does anymore.
Oh, here, look here, here.
Does Jolt Cola still exist?
That's a topla.
Yes, you can buy Jolt Cola, but his...
But it has returned as of 2024 as a zero sugar, 16 ounce energy.
Oh, that defeats the purpose.
Casting free Jolt.
It got all like, basically they turned Jolt into a podcast.
Boo.
Boo.
No, thank you.
Can I tell you a really funny Jolt Cola story before we get out of here?
Yes.
Yeah.
If you tell us what you learned too.
I'll tell you that after.
I'll tell you that after I tell this story.
So back in the day, I would go to the market and buy Joe Cola with my own paper route money because I knew my parents didn't want me drinking it.
We were like a Diet Coke family.
And I would drink this stuff and then put the cans back into the little dolphin killing holders.
And I would hide them under my bed.
Don't ask me why.
I have no idea why.
Because I was afraid I was going to get in trouble.
That's why.
But that was a stupid reason to do that.
But I had like two or three six packs.
empty under my bed and I'm mowing the lawn one day and my mom is walking out with her hands behind her back I'm like oh no what's happening right now she goes uh do you want to explain this and I'm like wait well I'm not hiding like I'm trying to like there's no there are no dirty magazines I don't smoke cigarettes there's no drugs and she pulls out two empty six packs of Joel she goes why are these under your bed I go I really don't know
And I think she was disappointed that I didn't even have an answer.
Wow.
Why did I hide empty six packs of jolt cola?
Where did you hide your boys?
That's right.
What was that?
Where did you hide your playboys inside the jolt cola cans?
That's where I hid them.
Very tiny.
They were tiny little booklets.
They were a tiny little boy, you know, just the interviews.
It was just the articles, just the articles.
What did I learn?
You know what I learned, guys?
When I came onto the show today,
I was having kind of a rough, not great day.
It was there a middling like frustrated, not getting a lot done.
But I'm going to tell you this, hang out with friends for two hours, have great conversations, have a good time, make a lot of laughs and talk about the movie back to school a couple of times and it makes your day go better.
That's what I learned
today.
Speechless
and the soda stream is amazing.
So You already knew that though, but I already knew that though.
I'm in the pocket of big soda stream.
All right, folks On behalf of Pete, I'd like to think well, we'd like to think because it's on behalf of like to thank Dom Tucker
engineering and traffic with all the work they do.
They make sure these microphones are on when we get in the booth.
I want to thank everybody who got in touch with us on the live stream, on the text line.
Everyone who called in.
Unfortunately, Jeff, we weren't able to get you a call.
But hey, if you're listening right now, send in your thoughts on your favorite Jack Nicholson movie.
We'd love to hear from you still.
Thanks to everyone.
Without you, there is absolutely no us.
So we really appreciate you being a part of the program.
Remember, tomorrow we're going to be talking to Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Food critic Rachel Bernhardt here on the program.
We hope to see you tomorrow.
And don't forget, after us, still great programming.
So have a wonderful night.
We'll talk to you tomorrow for the movie club, breakfast club beat.
Say good night to the folks.
Good
night, Wisconsin.
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