On The Record

Mike Mangione is a pretty interesting guy. The namesake and bandleader of Mike Mangione & The Union and Marquette alumnus moved to Los Angeles with his sights set on making it in the music business until he piled his life into a van and spent years touring all corners of the country (and beyond). Eventually, the folk musician wound up back in Milwaukee, where he's started a family. Though his life has settled down a bit, Mangione still hits the road with some regularity, and along the way, the musician/father/philosopher found time to add "podcast host" to his repertoire.

Mangione and host Tyler Maas met—like, literally met for the first time—at Milwaukee Record headquarters and engaged in a winding conversation about the music industry, perseverance, faith, and (for some reason) Rockford, Illinois. After an inspiring hour of conversation, the singer-songwriter discussed his "Time & The Mystery" podcast, which boasts professional musicians, Major League Baseball players, prominent religious leaders, and (soon) Jim Gaffigan on its rundown of guests.

Though Mondo Lucha! is the Super Bowl of Milwaukee wrestling, it's not even close to the only match in town. From indie shows in bars and ballrooms, to appearances by ex-wrestlers, and WWE shows in arenas, local wrestling is in a good place. To help examine the state of the sport in the city, host Tyler Maas was joined by Mondo Lucha! founders Andrew Gorzalski and Jay Gilkay, as well as wrestling blogger/musician/occasional Milwaukee Record contributor DJ Hostettler.

A few weeks ago, we ran a Q&A with Michail Takach, a local researcher, historian, and freelance journalist who just released his first book, LGBT Milwaukee. Since Michail gave us too much great information to possibly fit in one post, we invited him back to tell us more about the ambitious project of collecting decades' worth of photographs, articles, and firsthand accounts related to Milwaukee's rich and nationally significant LGBTQ+ past. He didn't disappoint, as he provided interesting information, humorous anecdotes, and a great history lesson that all Milwaukeeans should be able to take something from.

In accordance with the 11th annual Milwaukee Comedy Festival, Milwaukee Record recorded a special live episode of our On The Record podcast at The Underground Collaborative, a wonderful 120-seat venue in the basement of The Shops Of Grand Avenue. We were joined by a tremendous trio of guests. Comedian, promoter, and Milwaukee Comedy Festival co-producer Kaitlin McCarthy led things off, followed by Tim Higgins, a veteran improviser and co-star of Old Milwaukee's popular "Pass Me A Beer" ads that have been seen by millions of people. Spud Butler, frontman of The Blue Mooners, played us out with some fanny-focused compositions in a rare solo performance. Between the bits, beer-passing, and butt songs, it was a weird, wild, and unhinged show for the ages.

To help kick off the 11th annual Milwaukee Comedy Festival, Milwaukee Record invited an impressive group of local comedians and media professionals to Club Garibaldi to make fun of our fair city. Among those who took on Milwaukee's neighborhood differences, flag debacle, segregation, drinking tendencies, and upstart entertainment publications were Big Show radio host Ramie Makhlouf, OnMilwaukee senior writer Molly Snyder, as well as comedians Ton Johnson, Marisa Lange, Jacob Bach, Tyler Menz, Chastity Washington, and Christopher Schmidt. If you weren't among the 120-plus people who attended the Tuesday night affair, you're in luck. We recorded it.

Host Tyler Maas went to the home of prolific local saxophonist Jay Anderson of Foreign Goods and, like, 500 other bands, who (with some help from Milwaukee pianist Anthony Deutsch) got Maas up to speed on jazz's origin, the state of jazz in Milwaukee in years past, where it sits today, and where he thinks it's headed. Anderson also talked about his upcoming Strange Fruit shows, which will take place at The Hotel Foster, Company Brewing, and Cactus Club next weekend.

With the fourth place Brewers fresh off the All-Star break, the Bucks still months from action, and the Packers season almost as far away, there's probably no worse time in the year to talk about Wisconsin sports. However, that's just what host Tyler Maas and OnMilwaukee writer/Sports Editor Jimmy Carlton did. Together, they discussed the Brewers rebuild, pondered the Bucks draft, looked into the life of a Packers player, and made fun of the St. Louis Cardinals and tired sports clichés in the process. Carlton also talked about his time covering sports in Dallas and Chicago, the way outsiders view Wisconsin fans, and how he hopes to expand the way he covers sports in Milwaukee going forward. He and Maas also made tons and tons of obscure references to '90s and early '00s players.

For yet another endearingly slipshod Facebook Live episode, hosts Tyler Maas and Matt Wild take a breath, wipe their brows, and recap the first half of Summer 2016. Items discussed include the best Milwaukee albums of the year (so far), Summerfest, Summerfest food, all that flag bullshit, eating at every George Webb in the world, and random soul-crushing experiences. Maas and Wild also take questions from viewers, and, in what makes for thrilling live audio, grapple with nagging technical difficulties.

Steven Hyden is no stranger to followers of Milwaukee music—or to followers of this podcast, for that matter. Hyden is the former city editor for A.V. Club Milwaukee, the former music editor for the national A.V. Club, and a former staff writer for the gone-but-not-forgotten Grantland. These days he's living in Minneapolis and hosting an excellent music podcast called Celebration Rock, and preparing for a new writing and editing gig with Uproxx. Oh, and he just released his first book, Your Favorite Band Is Killing Me, which uses famous pop music rivalries to explore bigger themes of identity, growing up, growing old, and Axl Rose threatening to kick Kurt Cobain's ass.

Host Matt Wild sat down with Hyden last week in front of a live audience at Cactus Club for Milwaukee Record's inaugural Book Club. They talked about Your Favorite Band Is Killing Me—which includes chapters on everything from Blur vs. Oasis and Prince vs. Michael Jackson to Taylor Swift vs. Kanye West and Roger Waters vs. everyone else in Pink Floyd—pop music in general, Hyden's time in Milwaukee, and a whole lot more.

Having played more than 200 shows last year and continually booking both cross-country and cross-continental tours between rock-solid releases, Brett Newski's work ethic is indisputable. However, before his latest record, Land Sea Air Garage, sees the light of day late this summer, the ever-determined Newski decided now was the time to ask for a little help from friends and listeners. Like so many musicians before him, he opted to do so through a crowdfunding campaign.

Unlike many, Newski's "Punchstarter" includes unique rewards like buying the right to hit him in the face with a salmon or set his car on fire. Also setting his campaign apart from other local movements is the $25,000 goal. Days after the Punchstarter's launch, Newski dropped by the living room of host Tyler Maas to explain the rationale behind his hefty asking price, talk about the growing need for fan support in the modern music industry, and get into both the rigors and the joys of the road.