On The Record

Hey! Today is the first day of the 2017 Milwaukee Film Festival! From September 28 through October 12, the ninth annual fest will light up the screens of the Oriental Theatre, Downer Theatre, Fox-Bay Cinema Grill, Times Cinema, and Avalon Theater with one of its strongest lineups yet. Need help navigating that lineup? Of course you do. For this freewheeling MFF2017 preview, hosts Matt Wild and Tyler Maas are joined by OnMilwaukee film, TV, and culture critic Matt Mueller to discuss their personal festival picks, the state of Milwaukee cinema, the future of Milwaukee Film, and more. Mueller gives the group a taste of his panel discussion (with Dr. Susan Kerns) on September 30, Wild makes a case for the life-affirming Stop Making Sense dance party, and Tyler keeps bringing up Eddie Murphy's Norbit for some reason.

On Friday, Black Bear Bottling will close permanently. The Oak Creek-based soft drink company has been in business for 90 years, and its closure will put more than 70 people out of a job. Black Bear's demise will also leave Wisconsin without the beloved Black Bear Soda brand, as well as a few other beverages the plant was contracted to manufacture.

While the loss of Black Bear is unfortunate, both metro Milwaukee and Wisconsin as a whole still boast a number of delicious soft drinks. In honor of Black Bear, Milwaukee Record's Tyler Maas and Josh Hoppert took a sugar-fueled tour of the state's vast soft drink collection by tasting a bunch of area sodas. Between sips and increasingly-hyper evaluations, they discuss the role soda played in their upbringing, why people call it "pop," and whether they think that rumor about Yellow 5 is true.

This episode is brought to you by Surly, a Minnesota-based brewery and the official beer of On The Record. Music comes courtesy of Piles ("Blue Glue") and Ravi/Lola ("Teach Her").

The new season of Twin Peaks—a.k.a. Twin Peaks: The Return, Twin Peaks Season 3, or just "new Twin Peaks"—wrapped up earlier this week, and even though Twin Peaks has absolutely nothing to do with Milwaukee, let's just talk about it anyway. Host Matt Wild is joined by fellow Peaks freaks Evan Rytlewski and Erin Frank to unpack and puzzle through David Lynch and Mark Frost's unexpected, oft-riveting, oft-frustrating revival of their cult '90s TV show. How did Rytlewski, Frank, and Wild originally discover Twin Peaks? What did they make of the grim prequel film, Fire Walk With Me? What were they expecting from The Return? What did they make of the divisive finale? And, above all, which one of them has attended a Twin Peaks fan festival? Grab some coffee, kiss Sonny Jim goodnight, and prepare for a yrev, very good time. (Spoilers throughout.)

This episode is brought to you by Surly Brewing, who is giving back in various locally focused ways with the brewery's "Surly Gives A Damn" initiative. Music comes courtesy of Piles ("Blue Glue") and Blonder ("Fall Leaves").

There's no shortage of new shit headed Milwaukee's way. It seems as if a new multi-use apartment complex is announced every month, and just as many craft breweries are popping up as well. The populace is embroiled in heated debates about the forthcoming streetcar, public art projects, and the partially completed Bucks arena—at least when we aren't pondering whether the city's East Side is dying or merely changing. Meanwhile, local dining and music have never been better, yet the city is still dealing with rampant segregation and is struggling to retain young residents. With Milwaukee trying to preserve its past, tend to the present, and plan for the future, it can be hard to keep up.

In an effort to get up to date on all the new shit that's happening in town and learn more about the impact those changes could have on residents, host Tyler Maas invited Dan Shafer to Milwaukee Record headquarters to run through a variety of topics. Just days before he was set to leave the city to take a position with Seattle Business Magazine, the accomplished former Milwaukee Business Journal reporter and Milwaukee Magazine digital editor didn't hold back with his thoughts about exactly what's going on here, his opinion on certain hot-button local issues, and ways he feels Milwaukee can be better. Oh, and true to his two previous podcast appearances, Shafer also talked about the upcoming Milwaukee Bucks season.

Heads up, Milwaukee: the 2017 Milwaukee Film Festival—which takes over the Landmark Oriental Theatre, Landmark Downer Theatre, Fox-Bay Cinema Grill, Times Cinema, and Avalon Theater September 28-October 12—is just over a month away. So who better to talk to in the weeks leading up to the fest than Milwaukee Film's artistic and executive director, Jonathan Jackson? Host Matt Wild met up with Jackson at the not-so-bustling Shops of Grand Avenue food court to chat about the ninth installment of the festival, Milwaukee Film's multi-pronged mission statement, and, oh yeah, the organization's upcoming takeover of the Oriental Theatre. What will change? What will stay the same? Will they be showing stuff like Avengers 12 and Thor 7? (Answer: no.) Jackson and Wild also discuss Milwaukee's nascent film industry, UWM, weird Stan Brakhage movies, and the time they shared a bed together in Cleveland.

This week's guest is Jim Hanke. Each week, the host of Vinyl Emergency interviews musicians, media personalities, and other movers and shakers about their relationship with records and the impact wax has had on their lives. During the show's 66-episode (and counting) run, Hanke has introduced the likes of Ted Leo, Speech from Arrested Development, Strand Of Oaks, David Bazan, Rocky Votolato, Matthew Sweet, members of Braid, Joe Block, and many more. Along the way, the host relocated from Chicagoland to his native Milwaukee.

Now part of the small-but-passionate Milwaukee podcast community, Hanke and fellow local podcast host Tyler Maas met up to talk about the growing medium, the challenges both of them have faced gaining local listeners, and the future of the format—both in Milwaukee and elsewhere. Hanke also discusses the evolution of the vinyl market and whether the tipping point is nigh for records and podcasts. Tyler also incorrectly claims Twinstar (Hanke's former band) wrote a song called "On My Dick."

On Monday, July 31, a standing-room-only crowd at Club Garibaldi enjoyed a ton of jokes, plenty of jabs, and the deft hosting skills of FOX6 anchor Ted Perry at the 3rd annual Roast Of Milwaukee. Comedians Ryan Lowe, Greg Bach, Addie Blanchard, David Louis, Rita Landis, AJ Grill, and Carly Malison all lambasted the city (and each other), and Perry and V100.7 DJ Promise joined in on the biting-but-loving roasting action. Milwaukee Record's own Tyler Maas did a set, too, and was unfavorably compared to a sickly Dave Grohl at least once (Matt Wild took a "Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory" hit). Oh, and we raised a bunch of cash and supplies for the Milwaukee Women's Center. Static Eyes, meanwhile, blew the house down before and after the show.

Even though we try to keep our whereabouts secret at all times (except when McDonald's is concerned), we still get a lot of stuff sent to our office. CDs, tapes, books, hot sauce, wine, condoms, and threatening letters from the President of the United States are just a few of the things that regularly pop up in our mailbox. But what to do with all this sweet, sweet swag—especially the sweet, sweet swag that doesn't fit in with our usual coverage? Welcome to the second installment of Milwaukee Record Clearinghouse, a stirring Facebook Live event (and podcast) where we sort though and discuss a bunch of random stuff.

This time around, hosts Tyler Maas, Matt Wild, and Milwaukee Record Director Of Advertising Josh Hoppert give some quick-hitting evaluations of Liv Mueller's outstanding Liv Sings, and The Eradicator's enjoyable demo. Matt then reads a Milwaukee-related excerpt from Jeff Pearlman's 2016 Brett Favre biography Gunslinger, as Tyler leads an alcoholic excursion through Luxembourg with samples of two Bofferding beers and the brand new (to the U.S.) Ramborn cider. Finally, the guys give a long-overdue review to a record by the mid-'70s Milwaukee soft rock outfit The Movies.

Matt Kemple is a busy man. When he's not producing theatrical events and comedy showcases at the Underground Collaborative (which he founded and manages), he's booking nationally known comedians like Godfrey, Nick Thune, Neil Hamburger, Andy Kindler, and Joe Mande at venues around town as part of his Milwaukee Comedy endeavor. This August, Milwaukee Comedy Festival—which Kemple founded and produces—will turn 12 years old. Later that month, he'll co-produce the second annual Milwaukee Fringe Festival, which he co-founded as well.

Though Kemple can rarely get out of his office at this point in the year, he did set aside some time to let host Tyler Maas swing by his abode to share a few beers and talk about his whirlwind August. The pair discussed each day of the Fest (starting with our semi-affiliated Roast Of Milwaukee event), the decision to move the majority of the festival to the Underground Collaborative, and how the event has quickly grown to a level capable of bringing talents like Michael Ian Black and Deborah Wilson to town. They also get into the Fringe Festival and the various difficulties and rewards that come with producing large-scale undertakings.

Host Tyler Maas was joined by Kevin Mueller, a local freelance entertainment writer (and our resident "eating while driving" columnist) who contributes to Milwaukee Magazine and Shepherd Express. Both were audibly depleted from the craziness of recent weeks, but they still managed to look ahead and round up a wealth of events to help your summer end on a fun note. Tyler even mentions a super secret Milwaukee Record film screening that hasn't been announced yet.