Uniquely Milwaukee

Milwaukee is a city where people love live music, no matter where it’s playing. 

“I will go anywhere where funk music is playing. And if it’s on water, it’s an absolute yes.”

Jade Holcomb said that from her floating seat not far from the concert that happens every Wednesday night during the summer. Organized by FunkClub Wagon, the MKE River Round-Up music series puts that week’s band in a pontoon and invites anyone with a seaworthy vessel to join.

In this episode, we paddle along with one of these weekly gatherings to talk with organizers and attendees about what brings them to Milwaukee's splashiest concert venues.

#####

Episode host: Kim Shine

Uniquely Milwaukee is supported by our Radio Milwaukee members.

Nicole Olive has owned skates for 20 years but never used them until this summer, when someone who was in a similar position a few years ago gave her a reason.

Every Wednesday, Olive and other community members gather right across from the Milwaukee Public Market to attend lessons at Skate on 8’s, a program Arian Rice started after teaching himself how to skate three years ago. While that was satisfying by itself, he gets something even better through the program he leads while spreading a sense of community, one wheel at a time.

“I'm doing this because I love to skate,” he said. “I love seeing people come together.”

#####

Intern guest host: Justice Durham

Uniquely Milwaukee is supported by our Radio Milwaukee members.

When Grenesha was 18, she felt the pressure of becoming an adult. Then she retreated.

“I was very isolated, just spent all my time at the library mostly by myself, just reading books,” she said, adding that her isolation led to hospitalization and a bleak outlook on her future. “I honestly didn't see myself past 30. I didn't want to be past 30.”

Then Grenesha heard about Grand Avenue Club — a voluntary, non-clinical mental-health organization. She became a member and has stayed involved for 14 years, moving well past the point where she imagined her road ending.

“Now, this August, I'll be turning 40,” she said. “I went from not having any work skills to having a full resume and being offered jobs. Went from dropping out of college numerous times to now having a degree and continuing on with another degree.” 

Founded in 1991, Grand Avenue Club supports members through the pillars of employment, education and enrichment. Since 1994, it’s been a part of Clubhouse International, a model committed to enriching the lives of people experiencing mental illnesses. 

“We're the only clubhouse in Milwaukee,” Grand Avenue Club associate director Ben Holt said. “This is a model that's been around since the ’50s. Started in Manhattan. There's about 370 or so clubhouses around the world in about 32 countries.”

In this episode, we hear from Grenesha, Holt and others about how Grand Avenue Club helps its members navigate mental illness and recognize their purpose. 

#####

Guest host: Rachel Tarby

Uniquely Milwaukee is supported by our Radio Milwaukee members.

It started as an idea. This summer, it broke ground.

NeuVue is a $16.2 million housing project that’s unlike any other in Milwaukee: a six-story building on the city’s North Side intended entirely for young adults in the city.

“Neuvue will help pave the way for self-sufficiency for the young people who will call it home,” said Joann Harris-Comodore, founder and CEO of Neu-Life Community Development, the nonprofit behind the project. “That alone is just so invigorating and so exciting as we move forward.”

In addition to 36 high-quality, affordable apartments ranging from studios to two-bedroom spaces, there will be workforce opportunities in Neu-Life’s Farmfork Culinary School and Cafe; Neu-Media Studios; and amenities like a gym, community rooms, a rooftop garden and underground parking. 

In this episode, we hear from Neu-Life's leaders about the project's potential, and from current and former youth positively impacted by the organization's mission.

#####

Uniquely Milwaukee is supported by our Radio Milwaukee members.

During the HIV/AIDS epidemic, Wisconsin — and especially Milwaukee — emerged as the paradigm for response and ongoing advocacy.

“Forty years. It’s an amazing amount of transformation that happened.”

Brandon Hill reflected on that era from a unique perspective: as the president and CEO of Vivent Health, which helped create an integrated model of care that’s now in six other states and touted nationwide.

According to Hill, 80% of people currently living with HIV in Wisconsin receive some service from Vivent Health, and 95% of their patients are virally suppressed — meaning the virus levels are low enough and not transmittable to others. 

Still, prevention remains a key effort. That means continuing to treat the whole patient and the whole person. In this episode, we talk with Hill and Doug Nelson, who led the organization when it was still the AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin, about Vivent Health's decades-long mission, as well as its impact on Milwaukee and beyond. 

#####

Host: Kim Shine

Uniquely Milwaukee is made possible by the generous support of our members.

Do you remember the games you used to play as a kid? No matter how old you are, there’s a certain nostalgia that comes when those memories resurface. But what if time didn’t matter and, even as you got older, play never stopped?

For 55-year-old Tanya Phillips, a newer member of the 40+ Double Dutch Club, it hasn’t.

“This is like recess for grownups, that’s what it is,” she said. “It’s such a great feeling. I look forward to it every single week.”

The club's Milwaukee chapter started in May 2024. Its captain, Angela Scott, was inspired by the first club in Chicago and its founder, Pamela Robinson, who had no idea that asking her friend to jump 10 years ago would turn into a national movement. Now, thousands of women across the country are part of the sisterhood. 

In this episode, we take you to one of the club's weekly meet-ups, where activities like Double Dutch, Hula-Hoop and hopscotch aren't just child's play.

#####

Host: Kim Shine

Uniquely Milwaukee is made possible by the generous support of our members.

Sometimes, returning to one’s roots means an actual return to nature — a homecoming of the mind, body and spirit to where it’s always belonged.

“I do a lot of work putting Black people back in nature,” Tyrone Randle said. “I feel like since slavery happened, we escaped through nature and have not returned to it. There’s this stigma about being outside, about camping, about swimming, stuff like that. But we come from nature.”

Randle was one of six visual artists competing in True Skool’s live mural contest at Milwaukee’s 55th annual Juneteenth celebration. Their assignment was to interpret this year’s theme: “Honoring The Past. Empowering The Future.”

“We really count on these artists to tell a story, because there’s a gap in education,” True Skool co-executive director Shalina Ali said. “A lot of people understand that this is historically about freedom, but there’s a layer of text and information that I think is really beneficial to people being proud of this celebration and understanding why Juneteenth is a celebration for America. This year is the 250th year. What would this country be without a turning point like Juneteenth?”

#####

Host: Kim Shine

Uniquely Milwaukee is made possible by the generous support of our members.

Singing in church was Tyler Curtain's first time on stage. Now, the 22-year-old is representing his city on a larger scale. 

“It was really nerve-wracking, but I was excited because whether or not it went the way I wanted it to, I still got my music out there and somebody heard it.”

That’s how Curtain summarized his debut performance at the World’s Largest Music Festival, which just so happens to take place in his backyard. It was the opening day of Summerfest, and the artist whose style is a mix of contemporary gospel and R&B with jazz undertones went on stage with his own original music, backup singers and a full band.

Curtain’s performance was part of MKE Live Groove Edition, which Aichelle White started as a bimonthly concert series that connects Wisconsin artists with musicians they might not otherwise have access to. In this episode, we head to the Summerfest grounds and see how MKE Live Groove became an annual part of the festival and how the association provides big opportunities to rising talent.

#####

Guest host: Rachel Tarby

Uniquely Milwaukee is supported by our Radio Milwaukee members.

Recently, a hot-pink flier advertising a party caught the eye of Uniquely Milwaukee guest host Rachel Tarby. It was for Venus Social Club, an organization that hosts events specifically for the sapphic community.

If you’re not familiar with the term, the word “sapphic” traces back to Sappho, the Greek lyric poet who lived on the island of Lesbos around 600 BCE and was known for writing about her desire/love for other women. Thousands of years later, sapphic is a common term for women who love women.

“I feel like in Milwaukee we had no sapphic spaces,” Venus Social Club founder Mya Goetsch said. “Well, we had some … but [not] specifically party ones, and I want to go party with all lesbians and queer people all the time, not just on Pride.”

Goetsch created the organization in November of 2024, somewhat by accident. What was meant to be a small house party turned into a big sapphic celebration. Since then, Venus Social Club has hosted many events across the city — from yoga to barbecues to, of course, themed dance parties.

In this episode, Tarby takes you inside one of those events and talks with the people who were searching for a space exactly like this in Milwaukee.

#####

Guest host: Rachel Tarby.

Uniquely Milwaukee is made possible by the support of our Radio Milwaukee members.

When Lorenzo Edwards first began practicing yoga, he used it as it was a way to escape the stress of his job. A regular practice turned into attending classes. Attending classes turned into becoming a certified instructor. Then he noticed who was typically in the classes.

And, more importantly, who wasn’t.

“Prior to making a concerted effort to have practice with Black men, I seldom saw them — or us — in that space,” Edwards said. “If you can see yourself in the instructor, see yourself in the class, hear things that bring relief or the vibrations you need through music from your culture, it can help.”

On this episode, guest host Rachel Tarby joins He Do Yoga, the weekly class Edwards created for Black men of all ages to experience yoga at no cost, with a focus on connection and healing.

#####

Guest host: Rachel Tarby

Uniquely Milwaukee is made possible by the generous support of our members.