On The Record

Sixteen pizzas entered. Four pizzas advanced. Nobody seemed to give a shit.

For reasons we can no longer recall, Milwaukee Record spent three weeks in March pitting locally manufactured pizzas against one another in what we called the Wisconsin Frozen Pizza Tournament. Our "Savory Sixteen" featuring four regions (Taco/Cheeseburger, Deluxe, Cheese, Specialty Sauce) and found three staff members eating and evaluating four pizzas from each region, before advancing one to the Frozen Four.

Following close to $110 in grocery charges and innumerable calories consumed, we found our regional winners. For this extra-special episode of "On The Record," staffers Tyler Maas, Matt Wild, and Josh Hoppert relived this regrettably 'Za-dyssey, broke down each regional, chronicled the Frozen Four, and crowned Wisconsin's Best Frozen Pizza live on air.

Jackson Bradford might have the most interesting job on the planet. The Milwaukee native spends at least half of each year wearing a cop costume and short-shorts and sporting a mustache as part of his lovable "heel with a switch" character that Masked Intruder fans know as "Officer Bradford." The pop-punk villain's unique line of work has taken him to Europe, Asia, Australia, and much of North America. Between Masked Intruder's tour runs with Me First And The Gimme Gimmes, Officer Bradford met host Tyler Maas on the Vanguard patio for an off-duty chat about how he landed the unorthodox occupation, ways the persona has changed with the growing number of police-related tragedies, and the body-positive "Pants Off Dance Off" parties he co-hosts when he's not on the road.

On March 8, more than 30 female-owned Milwaukee businesses primarily located in Bay View are joining forces in solidarity with A Day Without A Woman movement to partake in the inaugural Lady Business. The bars, restaurants, retail stores, and other establishments participating in the consumer-focused affair will donate a percentage of that day's earnings to Milwaukee Women's Center. On The Record host Tyler Maas went to Blackbird Bar (a Lady Business participant) to meet with owner Holly Doar, Goodkind co-owner and Lady Business participant Katie Rose, and Lady Business co-organizer Taylor Thomas to discuss the event itself, issues female business owners and consumers often face, and how focused women's rights activism on a local level can bring about noticeable and necessary change.

Back in February, Milwaukee Record's very own Tyler Maas and Josh Hoppert set out on a strange and delightful mission: to use a leap day to visit, and eat at, every George Webb restaurant on planet Earth. That mission would eventually span 29 Webb locations, 23 hours, $226.61 (not including gas or tip), and over 600 miles traveled. Now, nearly a year later, Milwaukee is the proud owner of a new Webb restaurant. Located on Fond du Lac Avenue in the city's Sherman Park neighborhood, the new diner is notable for two reasons: one, because of its location, which was the site of much controversy over the summer, and two, because it makes Tyler and Josh's previous mission sorely incomplete. But never fear, because the two intrepid heroes (and Matt Wild) recently visited the new Webb location, and came back with this thrilling and informative podcast.

Host Tyler Maas drives down to Milwaukee Avenue to learn about the "proud past, promising future," and the untold story of South Milwaukee's present from Erik Brooks, the mayor himself.

A few months ago, host Tyler Maas met up with the mayor of Cudahy and left with some new perspective on the south shore scapegoat and industrial city. A year earlier, he hung out with the mayor of West Allis, another much-maligned Milwaukee suburb in the throes of an encouraging reinvention. This time around, instead of spending time with the civic leader of a city wrought in harsh stereotypes and a place Milwaukeeans blindly pan, Maas ventured just beyond the Bay View border to spend time with the appointed visionary of a 2.5 square-mile, roughly 9,500-resident locale that seems to struggle for any identity at all. He hung out with the mayor of St. Francis.

To help discuss the evolution of Milwaukee coffee that's helping to redefine what "Brew City" means (sorry!), host Tyler Maas went to Anodyne's Walker's Point Roastery to meet with the business' operations manager, Steve Kessler. They were joined by Hawthorne Coffee Roasters owner, roaster, and namesake Steve Hawthorne. Together, they talked all things coffee: how Milwaukee roasters have grown and improved, the upcoming coffee festival, whether the city is reaching a point of overcaffientation (commercially speaking), and the coffee shop on Friends for some reason.

For another completely random—though decidedly less slipshod—Facebook Live episode of On The Record, hosts Tyler Maas and Matt Wild set up shop at Bay View's venerable Cactus Club to discuss a whole bunch of shit: the recently wrapped 2016 Milwaukee Film Festival, Saturday's Beet Street Harvest Festival, next week's inaugural Milwaukee Record Beer Club, and spooktacular Halloween shows. Tyler admits to getting teary-eyed during the film fest, Matt discusses his "Halloween mood table," and a mystery viewer/listener (Dori Zori) playfully (?) calls the pair "two jackasses."

To dive into Milwaukee Cocktail Week, detail the rampant growth, and examine the encouraging developments in local mixology, distilling, and bars, host Tyler Maas met Cocktail Week founder (and Alcoholmanac founder/editor) Brian West at Goodkind. They were joined by Goodkind co-owner, Food & Wine Magazine's reigning Best New Mixologist, and Milwaukee Record shirt model Katie Rose. The trio talked about all-things imbibing, went through some of the events planned for the week ahead, and talked about what's to come.

To help run down the list of fall shows, host Tyler Maas was joined by busy Milwaukee freelancer Joey Grihalva. The frequent 88Nine, Urban Milwaukee, and Wisconsin Gazette entertainment writer came by Milwaukee Record headquarters and the guys talked about what they're looking forward to this coming season. (Note: We've discovered that a microphone issue makes it difficult to hear Joey at some points of the episode. We apologize for the inconvenience)