SPEAKER_00
0:00

Let's cover issues that the average person in America is impacted by and represent the people because that's who makes up the channel. These are things that the average American will feel good about if it's accomplished. Now what keeps me positive? When I'm going from city to city around this country, I feel a lot of love in the streets. Americans are great people. Our government's not so great. I talk to people across the aisle. I have great faith that the people of this country, um, we are gonna band together, we are gonna build things together. We just need we just need to be put in the right position by our leaders.

SPEAKER_02
0:29

Do you guys ever get scared messing with some of these people on Capitol Hill, messing around with a multi-billion dollar company that clearly has a lot of power? Hey everyone, welcome back to Milwaukee Uncut. We've got YouTube sensation and absolute Milwaukee legend Tommy G and his right-hand man Keegan making their third annual-ish, third appearance on the show. They've now done over 250 documentaries on YouTube and have generated over 500 million views, which is it's just absolutely crazy what their team does on a weekly basis. So we talked to them about what they've been up to recently, including investigating the Pentagon and insider trading, data centers, and AI, the impact Tommy and his team are trying to make with their reach, his mostly younger male audience's current views on Trump and the government, what he's pessimistic and optimistic about when it comes to America, the most scary situations they've been in recently and more. I also just want to um add a disclaimer, say we typically do not talk about politics on this show, but because of the nature of what Tommy and his team have been up to recently, they've done a number of kind of nonpartisan but politicized topics. So we do discuss those in this episode. Before diving in, I just want to thank our partners who make Milwaukee Uncut possible. We'll kick things off with Nikolay Law, the Midwest law firm injured. Get Nicolay and Russ, and the team will take great care of you. Drink Wisconsin Bleed Beverage Company, best vodka, brandy, and canned cocktails in the game, available at bars and liquor stores across the state. And now available at Amfam Field. Make sure to check out the corner bar over in Wright Field. And last but not least, our good friends over at Annex Wealth Management. If you're looking to get your finances together and have a goal that deals with your money, your earnings, your investments, go talk to the experts at Annex. They have an amazing team ready to listen and help you with your personal goals. Annex Wealth Management. Know the difference. All right, let's dive in with Tommy and Keegan. Guys, we have got Tommy G making his annual appearance on the podcast, joined by his right-hand man who goes on all the adventures and edits a lot of stuff and does a lot of um setting things up as well. His fixer. Keegan. Keegan. Keegan is it Keegan is in the building. If you don't know, they've got 3.5 million YouTube followers on the channel. Tommy G giving you inside access to the hard-to-reach people, places, and situations. Over 500 million views on YouTube. And you guys have put out about 250 weekly documentaries at this point, really popped off with the Kia Boys four-ish years ago at this point. Yeah. Four-ish years ago. It is really amazing what they are able to do every week. So much respect for you guys to actually find a story, go to some absolutely crazy location most of the time, film with these people, come back and edit something every week. It's um truly remarkable. And um recently they have investigated the Pentagon data centers, taking you inside the most expensive doomsday bunkers. Tommy G worked in the Texas oil fields. That was that was a fun that was a fun one. And um even got to hang with Rick Ross, Ricky Rose, the boss in his Miami hangar, large airplane hangar, is that where it was, among other places. So um that's just that's just a a normal week, any of those things for these two. Welcome back.

SPEAKER_00
4:26

Thanks for having us. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02
4:29

Yeah, what's um what's been each your favorite doc you've put out recently and why? And if anyone wants the backstory on Tommy, he's came on a couple times, so we'll link those episodes, but uh we'll just dive right into things today.

SPEAKER_00
4:44

I'll start with the Pentagon piece because really what we were doing was investigating their budget, where we live in a country where if you don't pay your taxes, the IRS will come after you, you could face fine or jail time. And if the Pentagon keeps spiraling us into another endless war in the Middle East, and they they've failed every single audit that they've ever had, it's just business as usual. And I feel like uh the the hypocrisy of that is not something that we wanted to sit by and watch. So we spoke with U.S. senators, we spoke with one of the gentlemen from the movie War Dogs, who was an arms dealer. Uh, we spoke with ex CI agent John Kariaku, uh Lieutenant uh Colonel Douglas McGregor.

SPEAKER_02
5:22

Mark Kelly was on the Arizona.

SPEAKER_00
5:24

Mark Kelly, Senator from Arizona. Shout out to Mark Kelly. And so, anyways, we did a well-rounded look at how our money gets pilfered away. Our infrastructure is crumbling, people can't afford rent, yet we always have money for bombs in this country. So that to me stands out as a piece that I was really excited to work on recently.

SPEAKER_03
5:41

Keegan. I feel like the Texas oil field one was just a blast.

SPEAKER_02
5:46

Because how scared were you guys when you went up in that private plane at the beginning and he was like, Yeah, there's a storm coming. If we get hit by lightning, it's too late anyway. And then and then the plane that guy seemed like uh he's definitely a gamer. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00
6:01

A little bit of a maniac?

SPEAKER_03
6:02

Yes. I guess you guys are too, but um I feel like you have to be a little bit of a maniac though to like to do that job. Because you're I mean, you're risking millions of dollars at a time. You're you're just drilling into the earth with a straw hoping that you strike oil. And the people that are working for you, I mean, they're working those 12-hour shifts, and it's a dangerous job. So just seeing how that oil rig works where all these guys are just sweating away, drilling down into the earth, and you know, they're around some dangerous equipment. It was you have to be a little bit of a maniac to do that.

SPEAKER_02
6:35

Do those guys get paid well? 20 bucks an hour? 20 bucks an hour.

SPEAKER_00
6:41

Plus, you factor in they have they have as much work time, so they let's say they work um 80 to 90 hours a week, so more than half is their pay is an overtime, and then they apparently get bonuses a lot. The guys, I guess, are happy with what what they get. I guess in that area, there are not a lot of job opportunities. A lot of those guys are felons, but still, it feels like it was a little bit low given the the danger of the work, but not only that, they have to be away from their family for months at a time. Once the oil starts flowing, they are on there working seven days a week, trading off. They have the night shift, the day shift, 12 hours, 12 hours, and they're constantly passing the baton all for about $20 an hour. It seems a little low to me.

SPEAKER_03
7:22

Yeah, I I think he was saying, like, with overtime and everything, they're making seven to eight grand a month, but you're definitely earning it, you know, with all the overtime and just the danger of the work.

SPEAKER_00
7:31

They are busting their ball sack to get that paycheck.

SPEAKER_02
7:34

You got speaking of the Pentagon, you uh investigated insider train trading from the Senate members.

SPEAKER_00
7:41

That happens in our government?

SPEAKER_02
7:43

I think it maybe once or twice. Yeah. And went there and handed out awards in their offices.

SPEAKER_00
7:50

That that was a piece we were happy about. Um, we use a local Milwaukee business owner for the plaques, by the way. I think it's Crown Hardware downtown. So shout out to that guy. He's a cool guy to work with. But uh, it is a bipartisan issue impacting our government where we have some politicians that, despite being full-time public servants, they also have enough time in their schedule to function as an active stock trader. And it happens that a lot of them sit on committees. Let's say I'm in the Armed Services Committee, and then I'll I'll you know, I'll buy Raytheon stock. And so there's all these conflicts of interest.

SPEAKER_02
8:21

Your wife will buy it, right?

SPEAKER_00
8:23

Yeah, that's one of their big cover stories, is it's not me trading that when we were in Nancy Pelosi's office, her staffer came out and he's like, You're not allowed to film in the office. I'm like, Well, you're not allowed to inside our trade. So touche pal. And he's like, it's not Nancy trading the stocks, it's her husband. It's like, oh, her husband just happens to be the most uh the best stock genius that this generation has ever seen. Or Nancy is telling him a few tips. And it it's to me what is also fascinating is that we didn't get to cover this side of the insider trading. But it seems like every time Donald Trump tweets that there's peace in Iran, someone is making a multimillion dollar bet in poly market on oil futures, and someone is profiting to the hundreds of millions of dollars multiple times. And so there and a further investigation needs to be done about that. But uh, we're in a place where the average American is really having a difficult time. Credit card debt is at an all-time high, default is at an all-time high, paycheck to paycheck is at an all-time high. Yet our politicians who are this is this is a job where you carry the weight of your constituents on your back. You're supposed to have some sort of civic pride and duty to do the best for your country, yet it seems like a good portion of these people are more will worried about their bottom line, and it's just unfortunate. And we decided to award plaques in a very sarcastic, silly way that we felt pleased about.

SPEAKER_02
9:44

And then you guys did the data center piece. I saw Charlie was on that one.

SPEAKER_00
9:48

Charlie Barrett's great guy, smart, very smart man.

SPEAKER_02
9:52

Which was cool. Um I looked it up right before you guys came. I think the uh the market cap for AI right now is 20 trillion. I don't know if that number's I I'm guessing that's relatively accurate, and the market cap for the entire SP 500 is 70 trillion, which is wild. Um what did you guys learn on that one and why why did you do that piece?

SPEAKER_00
10:18

Well, these data centers were creeping in all around the country, and I think it's one the most inbound emails I've ever gotten about one subject was people around the country saying, Hey, I'm in Indiana, my utility bill is going through the roof, and the data centers we think are causing it, or hey, I live in Virginia, I can't even sleep because the hum of a data center is creeping through my home. Before the piece. And so, and then when you see the the the rate of expansion that they're proliferating through the country, and then you see that in the the big beautiful bill, they try not um we're trying not to regulate AI for 10 years in order to be more competitive to China, who apparently is this diabolical threat. Although I haven't threatened been threatened by a Chinese man recently, I can maybe speak differently about the Israelis, but um so there's this problem that's sprinkling all around the country, and we want to get ahead of it because it almost feels like if gone to the worst case scenario of how these data centers use resources, um, not only are people's bills going to skyrocket, but our very water tables are at risk, our natural resources are at risk. And I am not convinced due to the lack of transparency by these data center companies, a lot of these local uh council members are assigned to NDAs in the negotiations. And so it doesn't feel like this above-board deal where everyone knows what they're getting. And then there's there's these also the it's lopsided negotiations where the citizens are gonna get locked in at or the data center rather gets locked in at a very low rate for uh that they get a wholesale rate of their water usage and their electrical usage. And in some places, if they exceed that, then the citizens foot the bill for the cost, on top of all the TIFFs and tax credits that these data centers are getting and not paying taxes for many years. So it just feels uh a little foreboding.

SPEAKER_03
11:59

Yeah, and it was definitely interesting. Like there's a guy, I you should have him on for sure if he's down uh Prescott Bulch down in Caledonia. And he's a guy who spent I think 30, 40 years in the tech finance industry. So he knows this issue very intimately. And he was just looking at the numbers and saying, you know, these data centers, they have maybe a 15, 20 year shelf life. And the tip that we're giving them is 20 years. So by the time these things are obsolete, there's a strong chance that they'll never pay a dime into the actual tax base of the city.

SPEAKER_00
12:30

And and on your point, from a financial standpoint, the S P 500, let's just say it's a a good percentage of it, is weighted towards the AI sector. So these these companies are spending trillions on their balance sheet, they're maybe making in the low billions. The math doesn't really add up that this is gonna be uh it feels like a house of cards potentially in our economy.

SPEAKER_02
12:51

Yeah, I just pulled it up too. Oh Open AI posted a $38.5 billion net loss in 2025 against $13 billion in revenue. Like, I I think with how big the market cap is, like obviously AI has has a lot of value, and maybe I just don't see the the vision of it clearly. Like, I don't I would hope it doesn't take over like everything, but it almost seems like that's what it has to do for the these investments in it and the market cap to to be a reality and a good investment in a way. I don't I don't know. It seem it it all just seems very inflated to me. As someone who is not very educated on uh bubbles and crashes, etc. It just doesn't seem to add up.

SPEAKER_00
13:38

The business fundamentals make no sense. How your business would be valued or my business would be valued is not how these businesses are being valued.

SPEAKER_02
13:45

No, and they're valued at such a high multiple while reporting just billions and a loss.

SPEAKER_00
13:50

Catastrophic losses.

SPEAKER_02
13:51

Which I know Amazon lost money for a long time, but that was over kind of a 20-year stretch, and you know, they they threaded the needle to be a uh obviously a very, very, very high value company. But um I think I think you said it in that documentary too, and uh from what I've watched, it it does seem like uh kind of a winner-take all race, too.

SPEAKER_00
14:15

It seems like it's done in a very haphazard way. I think that the future definitely is gonna have AI integrated into it. However, the way that these companies are going about it, it's almost as if like we're willing to to have a financial loss of catastrophic proportions in order to achieve this maybe future where they succeed. It just uh I think we need to go about it with a little bit more caution, a little bit more guardrails, and in a way that values people, the environment, their resources, their kids first, and then the tech companies, and not the other way around.

SPEAKER_02
14:50

You guys have been doing I know you always did some political stuff for pieces like this, but it just seems looking at your recent content, it's maybe skewed a little more that way than in the past of you going to the the craziest hood or investigating cartels, which you still do that too. But um is there a certain impact that you're trying to make right now on this country?

SPEAKER_03
15:14

Yeah, I mean, I what was it three, four months ago, where you called me up and you know, we were talking about the different pieces that we were working on, and you basically said, Hey, we've built this channel over the last four years. There's issues that we obviously care about. And Tom was saying basically, what's the point in having a channel if we're not gonna talk about the things that we we care about and our audience cares about too?

SPEAKER_00
15:38

We want to represent the common American because it feels like we're in this fight for our country. And it's not on multiple fronts, but we had we had some team, we had uh end of the year meetings, and every single guy in the team said, Look, we've covered the hood enough, we've covered some of the dangerous stuff enough, we've seen it so many times. Uh let's cover, let's cover issues that the average person in America is impacted by and represent the people because that's who makes up the channel and that's who keeps us employed. So we're we're going after these issues that I think if we can solve the Pentagon budget, if we can fix data centers, if we can reveal the Epstein lists, things like that, these are things that the average American will feel good about if it's accomplished.

SPEAKER_02
16:18

It seems very nonpartisan too. It seems like you guys don't take any side on the political aisle, whether you're going into the the Senate or the House, you're calling people out on on both sides, Democrat and Republican. I thought the AI piece was was well done. You did get someone who's actually building a like a crypto AI data center as well as someone who works for one in in big tech. So yeah, are you trying to maintain a level of non nonpartisanship throughout all of this?

SPEAKER_00
16:49

Yeah, I'm fiercely independent uh politically. And to me, I'll cheer for either side if they do well, and I'll go after each side if they don't. But the the thing about this country is uh it seems like an illusion that you choose one side and things will magically get better because a lot of our trouble is bipartisan. Uh the endless spend on wars is bipartisan. The foreign interference and the enabling of it is bipartisan. These data centers, uh all these key things, um, they don't have much of a different stance on. It's these micro little social issues, like, you know, do we want this guy or girl on a football team? Like who like the in the scheme of things, who cares compared to our economy collapse.

SPEAKER_02
17:29

Which which I believe less than 0.1% are affected by. It's a very minor very, very minor, minor issue, something like that.

SPEAKER_00
17:38

Um But Democrats and Republicans go hand in hand in a lot of nonsense that ruins the average American life.

SPEAKER_02
17:45

Um I'm just curious, you have a your demo skews like younger male, right?

SPEAKER_00
17:51

20 to 40 men.

SPEAKER_03
17:53

Yeah, it's like 80% men in the U.S., 25 to 45.

SPEAKER_02
17:57

I think I remember seeing correct me if I'm wrong, this might have been happening around the election, which would have been, you know, a year, a year and a half ago at this point or a little more. But um I think you put out a poll on like Instagram stories or something. I remember I remember seeing it. I think it was like, do you want Trump to win or something something like that? And I think it was like 98% of your audience clicked it. Do you remember that at all?

SPEAKER_00
18:20

I don't think it was that high, but I definitely think at that time, and this is a different Donald Trump than the Donald Trump we know now. The Donald Trump that was on his way to an election campaign, at that time, I think, in the mind of the average young man in this country, was a bit of a hero in a way. He was a guy that stood against the system, that allegedly got an assassination attempt, although I think a lot of people think that was fake at this point. He was the guy that wasn't gonna bring us into new wars. He was the guy that was gonna go after the Epstein class and release the files. That was a very different prototype. So at that time, I would say, yes, a lot of my audience was for Trump. I would say, at this time, um actually, the other thing I'll add about Trump, at that time he was the guy that actually talked to people like me and you and go on different people's podcasts. Kamala Harris had the opportunity, and it just I think that made her very unlikable was this this lady doesn't even want to talk to us, but she wants to lead and represent us. That doesn't feel uh right. But I think now if you were to poll the audience, I would say they're just fiercely anti-government at this point. And what choices the government left them? I mean, how else could you interpret some of these things and be excited about what our government is doing?

SPEAKER_02
19:26

Yeah, I was I was just curious if um having your pulse on your audience, if you guys think that that has shifted it all. And alluding back to what you say, I I agree a hundred percent. I think, you know, I met I met with um just talked to someone who's who's running for uh you know primary office, and it just blows my mind, especially after watching what what Trump did, what what Mandami did in New York, who's probably not the most qualified candidate to become the the mayor of that city, or what Sprent Spencer Pratt almost pulled off in in the LA mayoral race, and those are people on both sides of the coin. It was like, yeah, Kamla was in in elections too. I think the the person with the most money wins, it's either like 82 or 93 percent of the time. It's it's high. And she outspent Trump by a wide margin. Well, she was doing these rallies in front of 10,000 people and running TV ads. Trump was hanging up 50 million free views on her on Joe Rogan and going on every podcast and playing golf with Bryson and in all this kind of off the cuff uh stuff. So I I completely agree with with your assessment right there.

SPEAKER_00
20:37

Um and Mundami ran a really, really cool campaign. I would guess it was a very cost-effective campaign, too. His media sponsors like him doing a bench press in the park surrounded by citizens, him by a trash cleanup, and he was very relatable, and he also spoke to the pulse of the people at that time, which I think Trump did when he was on his election cycle, which Mundani spoke to affordability, which I think red or blue, no matter color, race, whatever, you feel that in this country. And uh now the the thing we'll see is once these guys get into office, what do they stick to and how do they innovate and what changes for the average person?

SPEAKER_02
21:14

Um, I can't say I felt very good about the world after while watching some of your recent documentaries last night, but I'd be curious to hear both of your takes on what what maybe you're most pessimistic right now when it comes to this country or this world.

SPEAKER_00
21:31

Any subject is on the table? Huh? Any subjects on the table?

SPEAKER_02
21:34

Any subjects on the table. And what you're most optimistic about right now. What what gives you hope for the future? Let's start with the negative and then move to the positive.

SPEAKER_03
21:42

The negative, I feel like right now a lot of people are they're they're just like experience this this like deluge of whether it's affordability, whether it's you know, foreign foreign actions, whether it's war. I mean, our I don't know about your feed, but it seems largely that it's kind of hard to escape. Any sort of just negative storm that's coming, like, ah, I guess we're bombing this country today. Ah, I guess that debt's at at this percentage. So I think just uh people don't don't feel like they're able to even latch on to anything that they can feel like they're they're really able to fix.

SPEAKER_02
22:18

Yeah, I mean the other problem with the feed and going into big tech and data centers is the the platforms have realized that it it used to be sex cells on those, now it's rage and anxiety cells. So things like that are gonna naturally over-index, even if disproportionately to what's actually going on in the in the world.

SPEAKER_00
22:39

I would say that what I'm most pessimistic about is twofold. Domestically, it's the fact that either side of the aisle continually does things that are bankrupting the country. And so we spent in the last, whatever, 20 years about a few trillion dollars, tens of trillions of dollars on war. But what about our infrastructure? What about our education? We've been taught that any tax money that goes to war is fine, but any tax money that actually goes to helping people is an entitlement. And to me, it's like if we're gonna spend the tax, it might be might as well be on something that the average person can get behind. For example, to quantify it, the the Pentagon wants to pass a $1.5 trillion budget for next year. That could fund 20 years worth of college students for free. That and it also could fund seven years worth of every entire U.S. The entire U.S. And that could fund every single working parent in this country to have seven years of free childcare. Now, I'm not saying everything should be free, but I'm just saying I'd rather have that than the bombs. Um and then what other what else makes me pessimistic is what I view as a hostile foreign takeover from the Israelis, and it comes from many angles. It comes from how they're buying elections, like they bought the Kentucky election. And we have to aggressively fight against that because they're infiltrating at many different levels. Right now, they're trying to do a U.S. Israel uh Israel military merger through Section 224. They're trying to do mandatory intelligence sharing. Um, they are getting fiercely in bed with us. And I'm reading um Netanyahu's biography right now. Keep going. And what he's done for Israel is remarkable. He pulled them from like a quasi-socialist state to a free market economy that has a really great GDP. They went from a not very powerful country to one of the top 10 in the world, and they're very small, pound for pound. Like that they have tech innovation. Um, there's many things that you could say the Israelis should be proud of, but the uh the arrogance, the aggressiveness of which they're sweeping into our country, and even Donald Trump, who's arguably the biggest Zionist puppet that has ever walked the earth for the for America, um, as soon as he has a a little bit of hesitation about the Iran war, Miriam Adelson's uh, who's his top donor, her news outlet is saying how he's betrayed Israel. So, like you can go to the end of the earth for these people, and if you still don't do as exactly as they say, like you're a dog on a leash, then you've betrayed them. And so they're not very grateful. They're not very thankful for we're we've we've propped up a lot of their economy uh through the through military spending. Uh we've given them weapons, we've given them technology, and they're not very thankful for it. And I'm sick of them, and I really would like to divorce. And I don't it could be any foreign nation. If if this was insert trade out Israel and put China, Russia, Ukraine, any we need to focus on the issues that the average American back home will have their lives noticeably improved. Instead, we're funneling billions, sometimes trillions, into these wars that none of us really wanted.

SPEAKER_02
25:32

No, and I I just looked it up too. I wasn't sure the exact stat, but the US spends outspends the next six to ten countries ranked two through ten combined. It's outrageous. Depending on the year. And that's with it, that's with a $950 billion budget. If that increases to $1.5 trillion, that's probably I would think more than the next 20-ish countries combined. And it's like what for? And I know the uh to maintain our nuclear arsenal, which will hopefully never be used. The amount of spending on that, on something that, again, will hopefully never be used is astronomical.

SPEAKER_00
26:08

Richie, to answer your other question, though, what keeps me positive is let's when I'm out in the street, when I'm going from city to city around this country, I feel a lot of love in the streets of the con Americans are great people. Our government's not so great, but we, the American people, are such a wonderful group. And to me, what's amazing is I talk to people across the aisle. I feel like there's like 10 major things that we all could agree on, and that would we'd all be happy if that was the uh you know the the marching orders going forward. And so I have great faith that the the people of this country um we are gonna band together, we are gonna build things together. We just need we just need to be put in the right position by our leaders.

SPEAKER_02
26:48

Yeah, and I th I think the government in in big tech, speaking of the algorithms, has has pinned us against each other. And uh I got I got friends on both sides. I think they're all good people. It's like I think we're 80 to 90 percent of us fall in that middle where we're just kind of like exhausted of what's going on, and hey, let's let's come together. That would be good.

SPEAKER_03
27:14

That'd be good for the country. Yeah, and going going off of of what Tom was saying too, I think when when we were covering the Pentagon piece, obviously you look at that spending, and especially with like you know, section two two four, there's a lot to be concerned about. But I think a silver lining from that piece was when we were interviewing Adam Smith. Um this was out we were out in Congressman Adam Smith is Adam Smith, he's a congressman out in Washington. Okay, and he was in favor of this 224 bill. And Tom set up an interview with him, and after we were done interviewing, because he was one of the guys leading the charge for this, after we were done interviewing, about a day later, we got an email from his team and it said, Hey Tom, we want to let you know that because of conversations that Adam Smith has had with both his constituents and you, that he's actually changed his position on it. So I think it's highlighting the fact that, hey, it's the common man. I mean, Tom and I, we don't have credentials, we're not, you know, super media. We're just we're guys. And I think having those conversations with people who are sitting in the Capitol Hill and them changing their positions because of those conversations, I think it was really cool to see just the power the average person has.

SPEAKER_00
28:27

Our pressure matters when we can band together. I the bug's life analogy keeps crawling into my head. The ants are stronger than the grasshoppers if we band together.

SPEAKER_02
28:37

You guys get in front of a lot of powerful people, whether it's on Capitol Hill or hanging with Rick Ross. Um how much do you guys get rejected behind the scenes? Hey guys, summer is here. It is time to get out on a patio, enjoy the weather, and maybe take a hard look at your financial life too. Annex is a holistic wealth management firm based right here in Milwaukee that helps you with everything retirement planning, smart investing, estate planning, legacy planning, and tax strategies all under one roof. They'll help you declutter your old accounts, dust off your investment strategy, organize your estate documents, and build a plan focused on your goals. That's our good friends over at Annex Wealth Management. Know the difference. Just head on over to annexwealth.com and let's dive back in with Tommy and Keegan.

SPEAKER_03
29:28

A lot. Like, for example, uh, we just finished up a series that we were doing with Cook County, the Cook County Sheriff. Cook County Jail. So Chicago, their jail, their sheriff's department. We've been able to film four separate times with them now.

SPEAKER_02
29:41

Why does the jail want to have you guys in? What's the upside to the jail?

SPEAKER_03
29:45

So it didn't start with the jail. It actually started with a ride-along where we were covering their vehicle theft unit. And they wanted to show, hey, car theft. I mean, that's that's really what made our channel pop was the Kia Boys car theft. They wanted to show, hey, we're we're trying to stop this issue. And so a lot of times, you know, it's not necessarily we're doing a piece where it's it's purely, hey, just hang out with us. Like they're they obviously they have an incentive where they want to highlight something. And while we're there, we're not just gonna do a PR piece for 'em. But we want to highlight the people that are doing things to change. And so that's why Cook County agreed to reach out or to to do a piece with us, even though the top 50 other major cities um we've we've been emailing them pretty heavily for the last few years, and um it took a good year or year and a half for Cook County to agree to sit down with us. So there's there's a substantial amount of rejection behind the scenes.

SPEAKER_00
30:41

Yeah, and it depends on where we're looking because sometimes our close rate is extremely high. Like I would say, if a criminal reaches out to me, I hop on the signal app, I talk to them, it's like a 99%. Like, let's do this.

SPEAKER_02
30:52

Well, if a criminal reaches out to you, I I would hope you can close that deal.

SPEAKER_00
30:56

Yes.

SPEAKER_02
30:57

Especially with that door-to-door sales background. It's a warm over there.

SPEAKER_00
31:00

A warm lead, market and sales force is a prospect that's going to close. Um, we were just in Indiana covering a guy that does prison drone drops. It was a pretty gnarly little operation, and he showed us all sorts of stuff, including where he cut a hole through the fence and it got patched up of where he ran into the prison to deliver a payload that had uh fallen off course. But, you know, when we're doing outbound leads to U.S. senators, I would say we reach out to all 100 on every subject that we go to Washington, D.C. for, and maybe three to five say yes. And usually it's the people that agree with us. That's that's the other thing is we want to talk to the other side of the coin.

SPEAKER_01
31:33

For example, that's what I like about you guys too. Like it's yeah.

SPEAKER_00
31:37

We we want that because that makes the story more exciting, too. We want the the pro data center guys, but a lot of them didn't want to talk. We want the pro, you know, hey, why should we do this Section 224 merger? But a lot of those people don't want to speak. An example of that recently is we're doing a flock safety expose. Flock safety is the leading uh company that does the the licensed plate reader cameras. There's none in Milwaukee, but I believe there's some in Wawatosa, and then they're they're in 4,000 cities around the country. And this is a company that has a lot of positive applications. We've been with U.S. Marshals when they track vehicles going and they're like, okay, this guy's wanted for an armed robbery. Now we we followed him to where his house is, now we can move in and arrest. So that's a positive thing. But there's also a lot of uh creepy potentials that can come from uh the power that Flock gives law enforcement. And so what our little mission was was to go there, put them under surveillance, go to the employee parking lot, film their uh license plates. And we had a friend, Ben Jordan out in Atlanta, a YouTube journalist, who was gonna run that through an algorithm he created, and we see all the information that gets pulled from the license plate. And in the process of doing this, we uncovered that they secretly moved from their headquarters, which by the way had no flock uh signage. You would never know that they existed in that place. They secretly went to another location where, again, you on the building, there's no sign that a major multi-billion dollar company even exists here. Um, we went to their drone location where they have this new product line where they're trying to, it's like a first responder where if you get in a car crash, a flock drone will appear on the scene and just film it just to have footage of what's going on. Even that company was under a front company, a CES construction. And when we talked to the employees there, we were like, hey sir, just let me know you're under surveillance, but don't worry, it's for your safety. And they didn't feel comfortable about that. So they called the cops on us. And then when we actually had a confrontation with them, he's like, You made me feel unsafe. And I said, So me filming you without your consent made you feel unsafe. He said, Yes. I'm like, point proven, man. Like that's how we feel too. Um, but we talked to their PR team, and they were considering joining the interview, and we were willing to fly, like, stop our story, put it on pause, fly to back to Atlanta, and and interview whatever representative they want us to talk to, but they don't want to participate. And that to me, maybe it's a little bit of confirmation bias, but I find that people that are truthful and transparent don't have many things to hide. And so whether it's a sketchy U.S. senator that insider trades or a company that I'm a little concerned about the scope creep of what they're doing around with their cameras, uh, we find that the other side of the coin typically does not want to join the story.

SPEAKER_02
34:16

Do you guys ever get scared messing with some of these people on Capitol Hill, like walking in with an award for for um stock trading and applauding them, or messing around with a a multi-billion dollar company that clearly has a lot of power and you're filming stuff and putting it on the internet, or does that no?

SPEAKER_03
34:34

With Capitol Hill in particular, it you'd be surprised at how easy it is to walk into the office.

SPEAKER_01
34:39

It looked like it was a good one. Any one of us can do it.

SPEAKER_03
34:41

You can just walk in and walk into an office.

SPEAKER_02
34:43

Yeah, yeah. Do you go through security when you You go through security? So they let you bring all your camera gear in there and all the cameras, all the flax.

SPEAKER_00
34:50

You don't need to have an appointment, you don't need to even have a reason.

SPEAKER_02
34:53

It's easier to get in there than uh than a buck scam.

SPEAKER_00
34:55

Yes.

SPEAKER_02
34:56

Wow.

SPEAKER_00
34:58

And so going, what was the question again?

SPEAKER_02
35:01

It was you guys get scared at all messing messing with people on Capitol Hill or like investigating a you know several billion dollar company that could probably make your life a living hell if they really wanted to, uh, with their lawyers and and stuff.

SPEAKER_00
35:14

Um there's some moments where I've I after I post a video, it's like I should probably look out on my street and see if there's any car, like private investigators tailing me or anything like that. I I get a little paranoid. Um, you know, if you hand a uh senator like Rick Scott, who's worth half a billion dollars and you mock him in his office, a guy like that has connections, he has power. Um, we also kind of mocked the the what is the DHS uh Mark Wayne Mullen. Mark Wayne Mullen.

SPEAKER_02
35:41

He's now one of the top yeah, the Oklahoma guy saw that. He's made a lot of money stock trading.

SPEAKER_00
35:46

Oh, that boy is doing good. Yeah, he's he's he loves Raytheon. He he somehow had the perfect bets before he went into Venezuela. He knew exactly which companies to invest in that would benefit from us taking out Maduro. So he I don't I don't know. We were looking for the crystal ball in his office and we couldn't find it. But when you mess with people like that, there isn't a little bit of an apprehension of someone could make my life probably miserable, or people that are litigious. Um, I've been worried about lawsuits, but the good thing about that protects us.

SPEAKER_01
36:18

Really?

SPEAKER_00
36:18

What protects us from any of these sketchy organizations, like let's say Scientology or Kenneth Copeland, is if they were to sue us, they have to put their documents up for discovery, which I think would reveal a lot more than we even know about them. And so I think because I um we're we we hit the hammer properly, they are probably dirty. That's why they don't want to bring more things to the light.

SPEAKER_02
36:39

Yeah, you guys did Scientology. Or it was was Copeland just was he Scientology or who was he just the mega pass to get out down in Houst Texas somewhere?

SPEAKER_00
36:48

His rent a cop uh because we we infiltrated his private runway.

SPEAKER_02
36:52

That's a that's a funny that's a funny one for anyone who needs some good entertainment. You guys he tried flashing a gun on us. I watched it like maybe six months or a year ago, it was a while ago.

SPEAKER_00
37:02

So yeah, we we made it to his private residence because all the opening, yes. And uh ended up with a little standoff with his security, and he got really aggressive with us, and that was perfect. I hope security gets aggressive with us when we do these things because he just made it he just multiplied the reach that the piece is gonna get because of how his security operated.

SPEAKER_02
37:24

Um what's the most scary situation you guys have been in recently? I know I know the other time it was when you were pinned down by the Mexican police when you were with the cartel, but um anything in the last six months or year where you thought you might hear anything?

SPEAKER_00
37:42

When we were doing the the oil field piece, they put me up on an oil derrick. So it's this little metal platform that's about a hundred feet off the ground. So they they f they uh put me on a cable, hoisted me up there. I had slippery cowboy boots on. It was like 5 a.m. So it's very dark, and I'm terrified of height. So I would say that to me was a spike cortisol moment. And they left me up there for what, 45 minutes to an hour. You were up there for a whole hour. Yeah, and so I eventually just calmed down.

SPEAKER_03
38:10

You can't press a button and just I didn't want to be a little bitch.

SPEAKER_00
38:12

I didn't want to be like, hey, come get me.

SPEAKER_03
38:14

Um plus he wanted to make us 20 bucks for being there for an hour.

SPEAKER_00
38:18

I was very tempted though, about like one minute in. I was when I was on it, I was kind of panicking. I was just like, what am I doing up here? And so I wanted to yell, but I knew the manly men down there that were had done this their whole career, they probably wouldn't respect me, so I just had to keep it internalized.

SPEAKER_03
38:33

Yeah. Keegan, what about you? I think it was it was the oil episode, but it was a different part, and it was when I thought we were going into a jet, and I'm I know nothing about planes. And once we got there, like I saw it was a more or less a little puddle jumper, and we're flying through a lightning storm in South Texas, there's no lights below. I mean, we're in the middle of nowhere, and this storm's coming in, and the guys who are used to just flying around on planes to the oil rig, it's just business as usual to them. But for us, being airborne and not the world's most trusted, trusty uh aircraft, it was a bit freaky.

SPEAKER_00
39:11

It also felt like this oil guy was trying to really show how much bravado he had. And I'm like, dude, we have no one we have to impress with this. Like, if we need to wait an hour, are we are we gonna die become some guy really wants to look tough for the camera?

SPEAKER_01
39:23

Yeah, well is that guy the real deal, or is he a poser, or what was I guessing?

SPEAKER_00
39:29

He seems pretty legit. I think um, like we didn't do an entire investigation of his his whole company, but as far as a man that's out there investing in oil, he has that Texas cowboy entrepreneurial spirit, 100%. He's got it. Um, but it's definitely like a little bit of like he had the my fish is always bigger than your fish energy, where he always had to like be the man, and it was like, can we just not be the man in a lightning storm?

SPEAKER_02
39:53

What are you guys most excited about coming up?

SPEAKER_03
39:56

Anything in the works? Really excited to head to South Dakota. Yeah. I think that's gonna be a blast. We're heading out. What are you doing there? We're going out to Pine Ridge. Or not Rosebud. Neighboring to Pine Ridge. Right next to it. And um, we're gonna go an Indian reservation, yeah. The Sioux Reservation, and we're heading out there and we're gonna do a ride along, and then we're gonna see their jail as well, and then we're also doing some you've had a lot of people from their community reach out. So we're trying to also just cover, hey, what's life like on a reservation? Because you know, if you look at it, I was looking for people that had some big social media presence there, and there's only like two. And so I think it's it's really cool when we get to take those cameras and bring them in there and just document something that you know most people don't get to see and and tell the story that the people on that reservation want us to tell for them.

SPEAKER_00
40:43

Reservations are wild places. I I almost all of them I've been to. Um, you're talking about extremely dilapidated housing. Some people don't have electricity, some people don't have running water. There's extremely high addiction rates. Like in Pine Ridge, I think it was 80 or 90 percent of the population is addicted to alcohol or meth or both. There's a lot of violence, there's a lot of domestic disputes, and there's also a lot of people trying to help. Like we met a mom in a mini minivan in Pine Ridge who runs moms against meth, and she would just drive around, get calls on her phone, maybe she'd bring supplies, maybe she'd drive someone to a doctor's appointment. But these are these extremely rural communities where from end to end, it's like you might have 25,000 people that are in a 1,600 uh mile square area, and they're beautiful places, they're sad places, and there's a lot of people with stories to tell. It's also a place where a lot of people go missing. Uh, murdered and missing indigenous women is a big topic. Any reservation you go to. It's just, you know, like one of the most common t-shirts I see people wearing is like the face of a loved one that either was killed or they don't know where they are. Um, there's a lot of cartel smuggling that goes on in reservations. There are these weird sort of jurisdictions where they have their own law enforcement, and the only law enforcement that can enter a res is federal law enforcement, I believe, with some sort of warrant or reason to be there. But local police, like there's this just uh it's an outlaw place in some ways. And uh, but colorful people, colorful stories, uh cool culture that you get to see. Uh, we're hopefully gonna get into a sweat lodge and experience some of that tradition. What is a sweat lodge? Sweat lodge is a place they kind of install it's like a hut that they heat up and there's drums, there's some chanting, and you sweat and you sit there until you start to interact with the great spirit, I guess would be my uh estimation of it. There's something about um putting your body into that kind of duress.

SPEAKER_02
42:40

It's like an Aaron Rodgers ayahuasca retreat.

SPEAKER_00
42:43

Aaron Rodgers would be right at home.

SPEAKER_02
42:44

You would be right at home at the Maybe we'll see him there. At the Sioux Sweat Lodge.

SPEAKER_00
42:48

Yeah. Five stars on Yelp. I think we'll see him there one day.

SPEAKER_02
42:53

Any anything else, those kind of Keegan's pick? What else you guys got coming up?

SPEAKER_00
42:57

I'm equally excited about uh South Dakota. I'm also very excited about West Virginia. We're trying to get into coal mines there. West Virginia is another very overlooked place where it's beautiful landscape, winding roads, mountainous, and it's also a city that's been very exploited by uh big companies in their area. And right now the data centers are moving in, and people are very concerned about their water supply. Uh, but another place where you meet people with stories. Um, I have a guide out there that he hunts everything from bear to squirrel, and I hope to eat at least one of those while I'm out there. And the the mission of this channel, in some ways, is adventure going out into the world to a place the average person may have not seen and seen it for ourselves. And so I'm I I want to book my tickets ASAP. I'm I'm eager to get there.

SPEAKER_02
43:48

Well, thank you guys for popping back in today. It's always great seeing you and appreciate all you do. And I'm wowed by all what you do. Thank you for having us.

SPEAKER_00
43:56

You're the man, Richie. Thanks for having us.

SPEAKER_02
43:59

Hey everyone, thanks so much for tuning in today. And before signing off, just want to thank our partners who make Milwaukee on Cup possible Annex Wealth Management, Nicolay Law, and Drink Wisconsin Blee Beverage Company.

SPEAKER_03
0:00

Who is one market player that you would have added to that roster from all the years?

SPEAKER_02
0:05

It's easy for me.

SPEAKER_04
0:06

For me, it's easy too.

SPEAKER_02
0:07

Speaking of NIL, out of the final four, you know how much money man travel for?

SPEAKER_03
0:11

What would you have done with the money? Transplant gone away. You're back in town. What brings you back to this fine city? The people, the vibe, the experience.

SPEAKER_06
0:22

Every time it's better and better.

SPEAKER_03
0:25

Hey guys, welcome back to a very special episode of Milwaukee on Cut where we sit down with Dwayne Wade, Travis Deaner. And since that was only about a 12-minute interview, you're gonna get a seven-minute bonus interview with the Wolf of Milwaukee who is back in town for Summerfest this past weekend. We luckily caught him outside of the St. Paul Tiki Bar. With Dwayne and Travis, we cover their upcoming home court weekend from July 16th through 18th. They've got a lot going on, including a guest bartending event, a dinner, and a basketball camp. This is all linked in the show notes. They've got a silent auction too. All linked in the show notes. We talk about if they would have rather played in the NIL era right now or when they did in the 2000s. We talked Mark Hoops in one player from after they played, who they wish they could have added to that Final Four roster to maybe get them over the hump, and the city of Milwaukee. And then with the Wolf, we get to we got to cover best bars in Milwaukee, dead or alive, favorite Summerfest acts of all time, and his famous bomb strategy. If there's any uh you know 20, maybe 30 something guys listening in the area right now or or anywhere that that should be some useful information. Before diving in, I want to thank our partners for making Milwaukee Uncut possible. Annex Wealth Management, if you're looking to get your finances in order this summer, talk to our good friends, the experts at Annex Wealth Management. Know the difference. Head over to annexwealth.com. Nicolay Law, the Midwest law firm injured. Get Nicolay and Russ and the team. We'll take great care of you. Also, we've got a big announcement with them coming soon that you are not going to want to miss. And last but not least, Drink Wisconsinably Beverage Company. Best vodka brandy and canned cocktails in the game available at bars and liquor stores across the state, including the Drink Wisconsinably pub across from the Pfizer and the new corner bar in right field at Amfam Field. That is Drink Wisconsinably Beverage Company. Alright, let's dive in with D. Wade and Travis.

SPEAKER_04
2:38

I know, I know, thanks.

SPEAKER_03
2:41

Oh, you're a better athlete than a golf, sir.

SPEAKER_02
2:43

No, a better golfer. Because you gotta be a non-athlete to be a really good golfer.

SPEAKER_03
2:47

What's your game like? Yeah. Yeah. Can you can you you you're not doing the golf outing this year, are you? Wow. Is there a reason for that? Yeah, we're saving him. He's better than me in golf. So you took the whole golf outing out of the weekend?

SPEAKER_04
3:03

Anything that I'm better at, it changes real quick.

SPEAKER_01
3:05

We just didn't center it.

SPEAKER_04
3:06

So I was just doing like a center.

SPEAKER_03
3:12

I feel like he could drink more than you. You like your wine though, right? Yeah, but uh you're from Fondi. Okay, anyway, are we are we? We've been wrong. All right, great. I I will give you two a proper introduction then. So we we've got the point guard on the O3 Marquette Final Four team, played six years in the league, then had a very successful career in Italy where he won the title, TBT legend, Fonde legend, which we just covered, and was awarded a Big East legend, even though he didn't play a second in the Big East. He was that good, and the owner of this beautiful establishment, Ravis Deener.

SPEAKER_04
3:57

Yeah, Big East Legend. Never played a minute.

SPEAKER_03
4:00

How jealous are you of that award? Not at all. Okay. Anyway, the person who's not jealous of that award, maybe because he's a three-time NBA champion of finals, MVP, an Olympic gold medalist, was also leader of that 03 Final Four team and recently won several Emmys with your production company and as an executive producer, 59th of Prairie. Yeah. Congratulations.

SPEAKER_01
4:26

Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate that. Yeah. So you see why I'm not done? Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03
4:32

It is cool to get in a workplace. Something you've never done. You actually did did a lot for those awards.

SPEAKER_02
4:37

Listen, I wish I wish I'd got an invite when I knew he was going to get it. I would have been there to come on the sideline clapping.

SPEAKER_03
4:42

Yeah, that's a that's a good friend right there. Um okay, so we got home court weekend coming up. What are you guys most excited about?

SPEAKER_02
4:50

Uh I think first and foremost, getting a chance to spend time together. And that's always important for Drive and I. And um, and then from there, um, just to be able to, you know, understand that you know, we put together this weekend to have a bigger purpose. And that purpose is to get back a component of both of our lives. And he drive is here at the facility, he gives back you know every day. And um and so it's to get back to the community of Milwaukee. Um, I have a program at Marquette that it's a summer program, it's a reading program, named after my beautiful sister, True Gill. And um, you know, Trive and I want to bring awareness to that. Obviously, we want to raise uh, you know, a lot of as much money as we can to make sure that we give him back some more kids have the opportunity to you know get their reading levels you know up to par. Um, you know, we understand the importance of what reading does for all of us when it comes to the ability to be able to you know comprehend, uh, read, listen, write, all the things. And so it's a foundation piece of your youth. And you know, we're trying to attack that. And outside of that is you know, continue to build relationships and continue to expose people to you know the fun we like to have and the way we like to enjoy ourselves in the midst of giving back is important too.

SPEAKER_03
5:56

Trav, what are you what are you most looking forward to this weekend?

SPEAKER_04
5:59

Yeah, I mean it's the opportunity to hang out, enjoy, give back, um, you know, trying to grow this thing each year to be better and better and uh evolve, and I think this will be the best year yet. But most importantly, just raising awareness uh for such a special program and a program that means so much to Dwayne. And when we started this, you know, just being very supportive of Dwayne and what we were trying to do because I am you know I live here and I can have access and communication with people and have intimate conversations and reach people. So it's been a joy, and it's it's always great to have him back in the city and uh because uh you know the things that you know we're trying to accomplish uh from here on out.

SPEAKER_03
6:42

This is a uh Milwaukee-based show. Duane, you come back, it seems like several times a year. Travis, you've made Milwaukee or Mequan here your home. What are your favorite things about Milwaukee and what are your favorite spots to go to?

SPEAKER_02
6:54

Um, I really just go wherever Trav goes. So I go to the Daniel's house, it's not be chilling, hang out in the backyard, live that life that Trav lives. I love to come out here and do that.

SPEAKER_03
7:04

Way to let everyone know where to hang out. Yeah, I just hang out at Trav back here. Go to Trav's house. It is awesome too. Did you have any favorite spots while you were at Marquette?

SPEAKER_02
7:11

No, didn't have no money, didn't really leave Marquette at all. It's different, you went to NIL at all. So my favorite spots was the gym. I was trying to get up out of here.

SPEAKER_03
7:20

And that that's that's why you were able to do what you did. Yeah, I have a lot of favorite spots. Trav, where do you like going? What do you like about Milwaukee?

SPEAKER_04
7:27

Uh I like the summertime. I like this, I like golfing. Um, so much great golf here in Wisconsin, as you know. Um, you know, having the lake and the water, um, outstanding food, diversity. Um very underrated city for things nationally for a lot of people. Um, it's beautiful out. So yeah, I mean, anytime we get downtown to get a bite out with my with my wife, obviously four kids gets uh don't spend as much time downtown as as uh we used to, but you know, I just think it's a very underrated city, and uh especially in the summertime you can find a lot to do. And when it's winter, you should be in the gym anyways. I got on a boat out here. We got on a boat.

SPEAKER_02
8:07

How'd you like it? Uh first of all, I went to school here and I never seen a boat. I didn't even know a boat was out here before. Like I never thought about it.

SPEAKER_03
8:15

You never went east of campus?

SPEAKER_02
8:17

No, no, I was focused. Um I never thought about it, but we got out on a boat and I was like, I could be anywhere in the world. You went on a boat resident in college. I mean, listen, when yeah. Uh but it it to be able to, and I said this earlier, I think one of the things is really, it really is an underrated city uh from the standpoint of all the um, you got every sports franchise, you know, out here, all the big sports franchises out here, and you have all the big concerts, everyone comes through here. You have all the in the summer, you have all the fests that come through here. It's a lot of energy that comes through here, and so you know it's a place a lot of people have not experienced. But when you come here, it has that it has a small town feel, but it has big city energy, and I think that is uh one of the most underrated parts of Milwaukee.

SPEAKER_03
8:58

So so you would you disagree a little bit with your uh running mate from Miami and Cleveland LeBron when he he said there was nothing to do here?

SPEAKER_02
9:06

Uh I mean, yeah, he's playing basketball, he's focused. I'm not playing no more. So now I think that's the same.

SPEAKER_03
9:10

So you guys were just absolutely dialed in. Dialed in.

SPEAKER_02
9:13

You don't be great if you ain't dialed in. Discipline.

SPEAKER_03
9:15

Spe speaking of NIL, are you glad you played in the uh early mid-2000s here when there was no NIL and no social media, or would you have preferred to play in this era?

SPEAKER_02
9:27

No, I take the NIL.

SPEAKER_03
9:29

You take the money.

SPEAKER_02
9:30

Out of the final four, you know how much money me and Trial would have gone by? A lot.

SPEAKER_03
9:33

A lot. Man, listen. Well, okay, Duane, what would you have done with the money? Would you have been good with it? What would you have bought?

SPEAKER_02
9:40

No, I wouldn't have it today. I would have it today. I mean, I would have, you know, obviously given it back to my family. Um, you know, I I come from a very tough community. And so I would, I would have given it back. I had a kid when I was here. Um, you know, at the time as well, it would have it would have been it'll help me home. Um but yeah, I would I definitely would have enjoyed coming back for another run knowing I can get the NIL money the way that you're getting it for sure.

SPEAKER_04
10:04

Yeah, Trav, you want to take a swing at that one? That's a tough one. Um you're very involved. I don't know how I would have handled it, uh to be honest personally. I you know would have handled it. There's a yeah, maybe my dad, but there's a there can be a sense of complacency when when you get that money at that young, and uh maybe you know your drive to get better, your work out that can be affected. Um but you know, we're you're talking about a lot of money in these days, so yeah, I mean, no one's gonna say no to that. Um I think we had all both probably entered the transfer portal a couple times just to test the water. Get some leverage. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03
10:38

How do you think Steve would have handled it? Well, Steve would have been gone.

SPEAKER_04
10:43

Steve would have been out of here. Yeah, no. Um, I think what made our team you know a little different is is our chemistry. You know, so if NIL would have existed back then, Dwayne probably went to declared for the draft. He would have came back, and we probably would have a national championship. So blame MIL, blame Dwayne for being greedy, and we only got a final four and not a national championship.

SPEAKER_03
11:04

We're broke. Greedy or broke, you didn't want to do that. They can go together sometimes. Um speaking of getting that, uh winning a national championship. I got some rapid fire questions for you. Who is one Marquette player that you would have added to that roster if you could take one? From all the years? From all the years. We could go more recent. We could go after you on the player. Who is it?

SPEAKER_04
11:26

For me, it's easy too. I wonder if we're thinking the same.

SPEAKER_02
11:28

Yeah, mine's Tyler. I'd ask for another point guard.

SPEAKER_04
11:32

Um He got me. He got a guy. That's who you would have gone with? I would have no, I definitely wouldn't have gone with that. He got me with that one. Um Jay Crowder for me would have been a guy. Jay Crowder. That would have fit our fit our team very well. Yeah, he was tough. I mean, Tyler could have given us some. Yeah, we didn't have a backup point guard, so he could give us some minutes.

SPEAKER_02
12:00

Who's more competitive out of you two? I think we're both competitive. I think we just got different ways of expressing it. Well, I don't think we neither one of us more competitive.

SPEAKER_03
12:10

How does he express his competitiveness?

SPEAKER_02
12:12

You just you can see it on his face right now. I ain't even looking at him. You see competitiveness on his face. You know how they say you wear it on your sleeve?

SPEAKER_03
12:20

Does he have phases before he's about to go off?

SPEAKER_02
12:24

Can you feel it boiling up, or is it just I feel it boiling? Listen, I was his roommate on the road, and I I might have snored a little bit. And I I felt a lot of things. I felt pillows hitting me, I felt all kinds of things. And so um the wrath of tribe, everybody knows it, you know what I mean. And he was our leader, he was our vocal leader. Um he was an emotional leader for us as well. And so we all got the wrath of Denner's competitiveness.

SPEAKER_03
12:47

Was he as focused as you on the road, or was he coming back in the middle of the night sometimes? Or was he I don't know, I was asleep. I don't know what he was doing. You were s you were snoring and he wasn't happy. We were not allowed to have much fun. We had security outside our road.

SPEAKER_02
13:02

Yeah, we had security we couldn't go nowhere.

SPEAKER_03
13:06

Okay. What are you most excited about for this Marquette season? Any predictions?

SPEAKER_04
13:16

I think we're gonna be um I think we're gonna surprise a lot of people from the outside. I think uh with the two editions in the portal, um the guys coming back, the freshmen who proved that they belong last year. I think we're gonna go uh way back uh in the tournament where we belong, and I think we're gonna surprise a lot of people.

SPEAKER_02
13:36

Well, I'm not here in Milwaukee, so I gotta take drives. I'm gonna go with that answer. All right. If we they got our support, that's all you need to know. We support, we ride. Let's go.

SPEAKER_03
13:46

All right. Well, um, thank you guys so much for for your time, and everyone should attend Home Court weekend. Let's do it. Coming up July 16th through 18th. All right, huge thank you to Dwayne and Travis for sitting down with me and to our good friends at Visit Milwaukee for having us. Awesome organization. That whole team does so many great things for Milwaukee. We really appreciate them. And um, yeah, I was I was pretty starstruck during that that interview. Hadn't met Dwayne before. Travis had come on before. It was it was good I knew him, but um yeah, that that was that was an awesome opportunity. And up next, we've got the wolf, who is just an absolute one-man wrecking crew in Milwaukee in the 2010s. Well, Dwayne Wade was putting up all-star numbers on the court in front of millions of viewers. The wolf was putting up all-star numbers on Water Street. Like I said in the intro, we caught him and Brandon Chocker of the Milwaukee Esports Alliance outside of the Tiki Bar before Summerfest on Friday. So here's the uh the bonus seven minutes from that one. And like I said, make sure to check out Dwayne and Travis's home court weekend, all linked in the show notes. Summerfest is the world's largest music festival, and it attracts people from all over, including the Wolf of Milwaukee, who mindlessly decided to move to San Francisco. But now he is back in the city here at the Tiki Bar. Wolf, how are you feeling today? Great.

SPEAKER_06
15:17

You just can't escape the pull of Milwaukee. You know, it's like the vortex, it's around orbiting the horizon of a black hole. But every time I come back, it's better and better. I mean, you yeah, that that's it. When did you get to town? Well, almost a week ago, just to prep myself. There's a lot of preparation that comes in for these the debauchery for the evening. Okay.

SPEAKER_03
15:36

So, how much time has elapsed since you got in town to the debauchery began? I heard you were were you behind the bar at Joe Cat's a couple nights ago.

SPEAKER_06
15:46

I may have dabbled, I may have snuck behind to grab a drink or two, which is great. Um about seven days total. It's a lot of prep time. It's not for everybody, not for the faint of heart, depending on how many days you want to do it, but you want the full experience.

SPEAKER_03
16:02

What do you do to prep? I remember last time when I was at your apartment, you had about 73 supplements laid out, and I asked which ones you were taking, and you said all of them, and looked at me like I was a fucking idiot.

SPEAKER_06
16:15

Funny you should say I now I now travel two full pill boxes. So I've I've expanded. It might be close to a hundred. So the monthly cost, it's not, again, you know, there's a there's a lot that has to support what I do. It could be a thousand a month in supplements.

SPEAKER_03
16:30

You gotta be stacking cash out uh uh in the Bay Area these days. I'm doing the best I can. You know, the wolf does what he can. We love to hear it. Wolf, what would you say your favorite bars in Milwaukee? Let's get Brand, let's call Brando in as a celebrity guest. Um, what would you say your favorite bars in Milwaukee are dead or alive?

SPEAKER_06
16:50

Joe Cats, for sure. That's on the list. It was rest in peace to Mikey's. That was it. Taylor's, of course. Did Mikey did Mikey's pour the best bombs that you've ever had? You know, it wasn't so much the poor, it was the quantity. So when you when you can stretch $50 for 50 bombs, it's really hard to worry about the poor because you just double up, you know. So yeah, I guess a long as well.

SPEAKER_03
17:15

I mean you would be walking around with terrace to all the women of Mikey's.

SPEAKER_06
17:19

I mean, you know, actions speak louder than words, isn't that what they say? So we just provided the actionable, which is you're probably thirsty, you don't want to wait for five, ten minutes to get a drink. Let us help you.

SPEAKER_03
17:32

What about flanneries?

SPEAKER_06
17:33

You know, it it's around March we'll call it the month of the Irish. Uh you know, Dabble Flanneries, Trinity, Harp, even uh McGillicuddies, right?

SPEAKER_03
17:44

I mean, the dance floor at Flanneries, the elevated box, though that was something.

SPEAKER_06
17:49

It was something. I mean, it was a danger zone. You know, it was it was soaked, it was like a slip and slide at all times. But if you dared to venture up there, call it the penalty box, there were rewards. And I'm talking it paid dividends, my friend.

SPEAKER_03
18:03

All right, so did did you do when Brando came in, did you choose to stand up here to make yourself appear taller on camera? Or there was this um insecure.

SPEAKER_06
18:11

This is fine. Yeah. No, no, no. No, no, where to go.

SPEAKER_03
18:15

Brando, you you you're a well-traveled man around the city. What are your favorite bars, dead or alive here?

SPEAKER_00
18:21

I mean, we're sitting right next to it. St. Paul Tiki Bar, I think, is one of one. Uh, and you can always get a great buddy marry, you can always have a good Pacifico. And if I had to not be here, I'd be at St. Kate's.

SPEAKER_03
18:30

What about the pub club? You once ordered bottle service from the pub club, which we didn't know existed at the time.

SPEAKER_00
18:36

Yeah, I mean the pub club R.I.P. but replaced with an incredible place, 92K Cafe, uh, with an incredible restaurant group around here, Jake and Seth Denny. So yeah, I got a bottle there a long time ago. People got a lot of bottles and have a nice day cafe. So uh a lot going on in that spot.

SPEAKER_03
18:50

Okay, Wolf, we need your your top summerfest shows or moments ever seen.

SPEAKER_06
18:56

Ever seen? Probably Steve Aoki pit. Marshmallow Pit. Did you get a cake in your face at Aoki? No, but of course part of my group did. And it it it hit someone in our group. Did you go to Joe Katz or site 1A after? I think it was site 1A, Joe Katz, and then they locked the door to keep the party going until about 4 a.m. So if there's any Milwaukee PD listening, that don't worry about that.

SPEAKER_03
19:25

What did you think of Subtronics last night? I know Bree loved it. I I refuse to go by a mile.

SPEAKER_06
19:31

If you were ever to go, I wonder what would happen to a body in a microwave, you know, see if it would explode. That's what Subtronics did to me in a great way. So basically, you know, they have a lot of things you can do. It's a sauna, a spa, red light therapy. Having like 400,000 watts of bass at a sound level that you can't even hear, shaking all of your organs. Pretty incredible.

SPEAKER_03
19:55

Reese said it during the concert you were pounding a monster and a cocktail around 10:30 p.m. Did that get the night started?

SPEAKER_06
20:03

Well, I gotta correct you on it. It was two shaker martinis with a monster chaser. So then, you know, I do that, then I got tired of holding the can, so then you just you top up the martinis to keep the time going. And it cuts it cuts the bitterness out a little bit.

SPEAKER_03
20:19

Brando, what would you say your favorite Summerfest moments of all time are?

SPEAKER_00
20:22

I mean, last night Subtronics was up there. Uh that was an incredible show. Uh we've seen a lot of good shows there. Alice in Wonderland came through, she's an EDM show. And the music was so loud in the pit that people were picking up the paper off of the confetti and put it in their ears. So I would say that was uh pretty incredible to see.

SPEAKER_03
20:39

Wolf, as a as a as kind of a uh transplant gone away. You're back in town. What brings you back to this fine city?

SPEAKER_06
20:48

I mean, the people, the vibe, the experience. I mean, that that's it. It's every time it's better and better. And I will always say, you know, what's the T the t-shirts are the Milwaukee home? Uh I do feel that. Like, I mean, I I lived up here for quite a while and ran around with our good friend Brando, but it it it feels good every time I come back.

SPEAKER_03
21:08

Is there any chance you you could move back to this area in the future? The economy and the people miss you.

SPEAKER_06
21:14

It could be an investment property in the near future, coming from the wolf. So I could have more of a permanent presence. Okay.

SPEAKER_03
21:22

I might I might shed it too. It's so good seeing you. It's so good seeing you. What a what a what an icon, what a cultural icon here tonight. Yes, yeah, it's great to see you, brother. All right, if you've made it this far, thank you so much for tuning in. Like I said, huge thank you to Visit Milwaukee for having us to interview Dwayne and Travis and for those two for giving me some time. And and glad we caught the wolf in Brando. Just want to thank our partners before signing off. Annex Wealth Management, Drink Wisconsinably, and Nikola.

SPEAKER_00
0:00

One day in particular, I was leaving his apartment. And you know with the modern, there's those two doors. So I was going out of one door and she was coming in the other one.

SPEAKER_05
0:08

So I literally have a note on my phone that's shared. So every time I update it, it's an order from my favorite to least favorite, and there's an open slot.

SPEAKER_02
0:19

Hidden gem summer date spots in Milwaukee.

SPEAKER_06
0:22

Love that. I have a couple.

SPEAKER_02
0:25

Hey everyone, welcome back to Dating in Milwaukee, presented by our good friends over at Kessler's Diamonds Summer Edition. We have got a loaded episode for you today, including an entertaining check-in on Marley's love life, including her um roster update that she's keeping on Apple Notes. That was a good one. We've also got some amazing call-ins and some hidden gem summer date nights at the end of the episode. So if you are looking for fun date nights to do around Milwaukee, we have got you covered. Before diving in, I just want to thank our partners who make Milwaukee Uncut possible. We'll kick it off with Nicolay Law, the Midwest law firm injured. Get Nicola and Russ and the team will take great care of you. Drink Wisconsin Ablee Beverage Company, Best Vodka Brandy and Canned Cocktails in the game, available at bars and liquor stores across the state. And now available at Ampham Field. Just check out the corner bar, their corner bar over in right field. Like I just said, Kessler's Diamonds. If you are a guy looking to wow that special someone, a woman looking to treat herself, or if you're a guy who needs to get out of the doghouse, or even propose, like I did, Debris, head on over to Kessler's Diamonds. You can't go wrong, they do an amazing job. And they've got seven locations in Wisconsin, and they've even got a couple locations in Michigan for all our listeners over there. Last but not least, our good friends over at Annex Wealth Management. If you're looking to get your finances together and have a goal that deals with your money, your earnings, your investments, go talk to the experts at Annex. They have an amazing team, ready to listen and help with your personal goals. Annex Wealth Management, know the difference. All right, let's dive into dating in Milwaukee.

SPEAKER_05
2:23

I went to Marty Birds in the Ozarks because you have to. You just have to. Have you seen the show?

SPEAKER_02
2:28

Okay, we will kick it off. Marley was in the Ozarks, which is absolutely the ratchet vacation destination of the United States of America based on every reality TV program I've come across that has had the Ozarks in it. Like maybe the Ozarks. Cops. I think there was a cops show in the Ozarks. There's um been some other things I've seen.

SPEAKER_05
2:50

Okay, see, I didn't know that. I had no idea what I mean. Obviously, this is a good idea.

SPEAKER_02
2:54

It was my description off. My one-word description. Okay.

SPEAKER_05
2:57

But everyone I said I'm going to the Ozarks, they're like, oh my god, it's so much fun. I'm like, how has everyone else been there? And I literally am just learning about this. But it was a it was a lot of fun. The weather was nice. It was good to get away. It was perfect timing. You also looked hot, by the way. You looked really hot. Your pictures. Oh my gosh. Thank you. Phenomenal. It was fun. I feel like I haven't jumped in the Model E scene in kind of uh minute now, and it just felt good to just be in front of the camera, and it's weird how natural it came. But like I was saying, I went to Marty Birds though. Let's talk about that.

SPEAKER_06
3:27

Is Marty Birds like the bar to go to?

SPEAKER_05
3:31

Yes. Yes.

SPEAKER_02
3:32

Well, it's a it honestly reminded me of what do you feel when you walk in there? What do you see?

SPEAKER_05
3:37

Okay, I was expecting like just a not what I walked into. I walked into a whole bunch of people, lasers everywhere, DJ playing like electric music, which was really fun. There's just a whole bunch of people I couldn't even get through the crowd. And it was just like a laser light show. It was literally insane. I wasn't expecting all these people to be there. I did mama zen off of someone though on the patio.

SPEAKER_02
3:59

There's probably a lot of those.

SPEAKER_05
4:00

Because I didn't I didn't actually zen all weekend. Oh really? Wow, that's shocking. I yeah, I was like, why am I so crabby right now?

SPEAKER_06
4:07

You're just off a natural high.

SPEAKER_05
4:10

I was. I really was. And then I got out and I was like, I don't really like want a drink, but like I know there's gotta be someone here that has a zen. The first person I asked, they had one. Oh glow. They were kind of surprised I was asking them, and I was like, I know you have it.

SPEAKER_06
4:26

And he goes, So how do you like Ozark bars compare to Milwaukee bars?

SPEAKER_05
4:30

It well, I would compare it to the Dells. It literally felt like I was out on the Dells.

SPEAKER_02
4:35

Like there was like a strip, and it was like Have you been to Marley's at the Dells named after you?

SPEAKER_05
4:39

Yes, yes. I actually been to Marley's. I have a picture of it.

SPEAKER_02
4:43

Is it still open? I feel like it permanently closed, but that was that was a banger back in the day.

SPEAKER_05
4:48

It was. I actually got um a hat. They gave me a free baseball cap. I was like probably six, and I just thought it was so cool. And they're like, Your name's Marley, here's a whole bunch of free stuff, and I was like, Oh my god, I love this place.

SPEAKER_06
5:01

Six-year-old at a bar in Wisconsin Dell. It's very acceptable. Very Wisconsin, yeah.

SPEAKER_02
5:06

Okay, Marley's is now Bobber's Island Grill, and it still looks pretty cool. Not the same.

SPEAKER_05
5:14

That's so bad. Swaggy, but it's no more Marley.

SPEAKER_02
5:18

It was spelled differently from your name.

SPEAKER_05
5:20

Yeah, it's M-A-R-L-E-Y. Oh, then Y. Yeah. And I did actually meet another kid named Marley too, but she didn't get free stuff. So that's it, Marley. That was at the beach later. She's like, they're like, where'd you get that hat? And I was like, hee-hee hee.

SPEAKER_02
5:38

So anyway, before we dive in, Erica, would you like to dive into your backpack?

SPEAKER_07
5:44

I have a lot of goodies today.

SPEAKER_02
5:47

We're gonna do an unboxing.

SPEAKER_07
5:52

Wait, actually, doesn't Big Frank 414 have a backpack song?

SPEAKER_02
5:56

Was that it or was that in the song?

SPEAKER_06
5:58

No, you had the Dora the Explorer song. I swear to God, they made that backpack.

SPEAKER_02
6:02

Did Frank rip off that? No, he has the one. It's one of his bigger hits.

SPEAKER_07
6:08

Showed me. It was it's something about like Glock in my backpack.

SPEAKER_02
6:13

Very blocky and not the clock. I think Frank has very appropriate lyrics.

SPEAKER_07
6:19

It's a lip song, though. Okay, but I don't have a glock in my backpack, backpack. But what I do have.

SPEAKER_10
6:24

It was just like for two. It's okay, Erica.

SPEAKER_07
6:26

You can tell us. It's safe here. Okay, so um I did get a very nice bottle of wine for my birthday. That was a few weeks ago. That was a whole birthday party.

SPEAKER_02
6:36

Happy birthday to Eric, because she had a co-party at 720 with Chef Adam who could not make it tonight because he has a dinner reservation.

SPEAKER_06
6:45

Again? Again. What is dating him Milwaukee without Chef Adam Pollack?

SPEAKER_07
6:49

Dude, we'll see him at What is Dating Him Milwaukee? We're not. No. Okay, anyways.

SPEAKER_02
6:54

But um You'll see him. You'll see him.

SPEAKER_07
6:56

A really nice bottle of wine from my friend Keith for my birthday. It is a Austin Hope 2023 Cabernet. So I'm gonna pop that open. Y'all are drinking what you're drinking. But in addition to this wine, I also did bring some gifts from our good friends at Unfinished Legacy, hence the shirt that I'm wearing that I'm gonna have to get some uh wine stains off of, apparently.

SPEAKER_06
7:22

I love that shirt. I love any of their like branding too that they have in Milwaukee. Oh, same. They do such a good job with their designs and know my favorite thing.

SPEAKER_05
7:32

Bremo released the running line because he runs. It's a whole backstory.

SPEAKER_02
7:37

Was he a stretch runner too?

SPEAKER_05
7:38

No, he um.

SPEAKER_02
7:40

Oh, he's run a couple marathons recently.

SPEAKER_05
7:42

Yeah, so he had a form of cancer. And then he uh Really? I guess. Yes, so he started running. Um he takes really good care of his body now that he went through something you know that's very traumatic. Yeah, it's like eye-opening, right? Yeah, but he launched a running line, so he has like matching outfits and everything, and I'm like, please. I need it.

SPEAKER_06
8:05

That is amazing.

SPEAKER_05
8:06

It's really cool, super cool. But yeah, no, he print presses everything instead of.

SPEAKER_02
8:10

Was Brahma asterisk with you guys? Or did I just want to come into that crew because he was with Q and Izzy? Correct.

SPEAKER_05
8:16

Yeah, so he actually was he's a dope creator, and then um he kind of went off on his own and he started doing the t-shirt thing, the print pressing.

SPEAKER_06
8:26

Yeah, and then designed his own I feel like they've really put Milwaukee on the mark for um like clothing brands. Before I feel like we haven't had that many apparel. Yeah, well, he started wide stuff and now they are like nationwide.

SPEAKER_05
8:42

He started here when LA and then brought it back to Milwaukee, which is rare. So he brought it back to where he started.

SPEAKER_02
8:48

I feel like the only comp, which was kind of when I got out of the business world, which would have been like 2013, 14-ish, which never made it outside Milwaukee. Like Unfinished Legacy has celebrities and stuff wearing it, but um Milwaukee Home like shot out of a cannon in like 2014, 15, 16, 17. Yeah, not not like this and not outside of Milwaukee, and like Bucks players weren't wearing their stuff, and it was for legit celebrities weren't, but like Milwaukee Home had a had a several year old Milwaukee.

SPEAKER_05
9:21

Yeah, and I would say the difference though is they stayed in Milwaukee, and what Brahma did differently is he kind of again going outside LA, but he builds like a brand partnership.

SPEAKER_06
9:31

I mean, they're like streetwear too, and like I feel like they're the first Milwaukee streetwear.

SPEAKER_05
9:36

Both beautiful brands, but very different, but the same message and idea behind it. It's the Milwaukee, you know, pride thing.

SPEAKER_07
9:43

But it's just amazing because you honestly see it everywhere. It doesn't matter if you're at a box game, if you're at a boomers game, if you're at, I mean, tacos and tequila, which we were at the other week too, which was very fun. Um, I was even wrapping one of their jerseys as I was um seeing the Chihuahua beauty pageant. But like, you know, it's just one of those things that it doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_02
10:02

Pardon me. You did a great job. Thank you.

SPEAKER_07
10:05

I was so nervous. I was literally talking about dogs. But I was like, oh wow. I'm used to that, like, that's not my scene, you know. Like, I I respect the music, I love the music, but like you guys know I'm a metalhead. Like, that's my scene. I'm at the front of the pit. I'm like, let's fucking go.

SPEAKER_02
10:22

But like, this was like let's fucking go and it's like what it what I what I liked about it is you were clearly like nervous and a little out of your element before it, but you just went up there and rocked it and yelled, let's fucking go. And you you you got people going. Dude, you know what?

SPEAKER_06
10:37

Do you know how to break it? Like that was naturally you're so gonna be able to do it.

SPEAKER_02
10:41

That's when you know you're good at what you do. You it wasn't your element, and you went out there and and just killed it. Well, I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_07
10:47

You know, it's it's all the delusion, and the one brain cell that I have, I just lose it and I go out on that stage and we just go for it. Well, we love that, though. Cheers on the brain cell, honestly. We all cheer it.

SPEAKER_02
10:58

You did phenomenal. Frank was great. Tommy.

SPEAKER_07
11:01

They brought it up.

SPEAKER_02
11:02

Tommy was amazing.

SPEAKER_07
11:03

Uh can we talk about bringing it down because they friggin' killed it? Like they were so much fun. I loved watching, I had not seen them on stage before. So fun to see them.

SPEAKER_02
11:12

They just got calling Tommy up to like open for Soldier Boy after and go get the crowd hyped. Give the people what they want.

SPEAKER_07
11:20

At some point, too, just all of the cameras on the stage were just like pointing at Tommy's ass. Or not Tommy's ass, I'm sorry. They were pointing at 414 Big Frank's ass. I don't know what we're looking at, but I feel like this was intentional. I don't think this was unintentional.

SPEAKER_02
11:34

It was just a good time all around, but and a shout out to Lex for holding your purse and getting some footage. The unsung hero of Tacos and Tequila. He truly is intern Lex, who has a real job at Milwaukee Pretzel Company now. His credit card did get declined a week ago in Stevens Point, and he did not have a bed. It wasn't a Stephen's point for a mattress. It was Wild Rose. Excuse me, in the Stevens Point direction. But I think he does have a bed now.

SPEAKER_07
12:04

He does have a bed.

SPEAKER_02
12:05

He never took it if he has a working credit card or not, but he's got a bed.

SPEAKER_07
12:09

He did trigger to a $14 dinner at the Wild Rose Old Fashion Festival.

SPEAKER_02
12:15

And I was calling him my sugar daddy because I was calling him my sugar daddy.

SPEAKER_07
12:20

I was like, wow, he bought me dinner. Our intern bought me dinner. I know. We love great guy. Our guy. Dem of the week, lax. Well, actually.

SPEAKER_02
12:32

Oh. Oh.

SPEAKER_07
12:34

Wait.

SPEAKER_02
12:35

I think he is very gem of the week worthy.

SPEAKER_07
12:38

He is.

SPEAKER_02
12:39

For the younger Milwaukee women out there.

SPEAKER_07
12:41

Honestly, he's a catch. He's going, he's at the run clubs. We could totally talk about it. The run clubs. I mean, let's get right into it. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Can I give you guys your gifts? Okay. That's great. That's great.

unknown
12:52

I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_07
12:52

I'm sorry, Marley, because I was talking to Cam who works at Unfinished Legacy, and he's like, oh my God, like let me hook you guys up with some t-shirts. And so it only he only got some for me, Richie, and Bree. But we still love you, and I know that you have Unfinished Legacy stuff. I do. That's coming too much. It's okay.

SPEAKER_02
13:10

I don't think I'm cool enough to wear Richie. You could have mine.

SPEAKER_07
13:14

No, it's for you. Do you like yours a lot? It's camo.

SPEAKER_02
13:18

There's no way I'm going to go. There's mine.

SPEAKER_07
13:19

You are cool enough to wear that.

SPEAKER_06
13:20

You better wear that. These are so nice. Aww. They have such like good quality, too. Dude, I. Yes. They're virtually. Wearing the camo.

SPEAKER_05
13:32

Tabri doesn't think I can pull it. You can. What's a good character? You can put it on right now.

SPEAKER_02
13:36

I will put it on right now.

SPEAKER_05
13:37

Yeah, right now. Oh my god, absolutely. Is that a lunch?

SPEAKER_07
13:41

Oh, that's badass. Is this Christmas morning? Let me know. Oh, hell yeah.

SPEAKER_06
13:49

Oh, I love this. This one's gonna be a good one. You are not touching the wine with that. No, I definitely do not want to. Don't do what I did. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07
13:56

Honestly, I think it's gonna come out. It'll come out. It'll be fine. It'll be good. It's not too bad. I love this. You'll be fine. No, that'll look really good. That's really cute. It's very cute. And honestly, that's a display. Look at him go. Oh, hell yeah, Richie. Your tag is sticking in. Yeah, that's okay. Your tag is sticking. Oh, there is a tag.

SPEAKER_06
14:13

That is probably the most shirt you do own right now.

SPEAKER_02
14:16

I feel like I just grew three inches, getting 20 pounds and muscle goddamn. Wow.

SPEAKER_06
14:22

That actually looks really good. Really? It's good. So I can pull it off. No, you could.

SPEAKER_07
14:27

I think the only streetwear I have that I can pull off and feel really cool in is freaking Unfinished Legacy. I agree. I can't. Like I don't you know how to dress street. I don't know how to fucking drink one of those.

SPEAKER_02
14:38

You're the last person who needs one of these actually, Marley.

SPEAKER_07
14:42

We need some street cred right now. I need it. Please. I only wear it cheap. Guys, we should all go there and I will style you.

SPEAKER_05
14:50

Yes. Oh. Fashion show.

SPEAKER_06
14:53

Fashion show probably does need to style us.

SPEAKER_10
14:55

Who gave this to us? We're gonna get Richie the.

SPEAKER_07
14:57

So this was this was from Calm at Unfinished Legacy. We're homies now. Calm.

SPEAKER_02
15:02

So we'll have to bring something over. Yes.

SPEAKER_07
15:05

Yeah, like dude, dot com C O M. You need the reversible bomber jack. It's just Calm. Like that's how he was like, I was like, your what is your name? And he's like, you know, like a website dot com. Oh, okay.com. I'm gonna call him dot com.com. God bless dot com. Thank you. Cheers. Cheers.

SPEAKER_02
15:22

We'll we'll bring calm over a gift package.

SPEAKER_07
15:25

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02
15:27

Class act from Calm.

SPEAKER_07
15:28

Absolutely, King.

SPEAKER_02
15:29

Okay, um, it's eight o'clock. Is that when we said we were gonna call?

SPEAKER_07
15:34

It's already eight. I told her like eight, eight fifteen. I mean, like, so if you're gonna call roster windows.

SPEAKER_02
15:42

Let's see if this guy. Huh?

SPEAKER_06
15:45

Yeah, if you do want to go.

SPEAKER_02
15:47

Yeah, well, because we we can chat after about Marley's love life book.

SPEAKER_05
15:51

Erica doesn't know about this yet.

SPEAKER_06
15:53

About what? New information.

SPEAKER_05
15:56

The roster's back. Oh boy.

SPEAKER_02
15:59

And it's in an Apple document. Yeah, I did it. Oh, I know it's Apple.

SPEAKER_05
16:04

Wait, Erica, I think he might be shared on it. Oh, am I?

SPEAKER_02
16:07

Oh, I gotta I just gotta see if this guy followed us back so we can see his profile.

SPEAKER_03
16:11

Who is this?

SPEAKER_02
16:14

Oh no, he does follow us. I want to see if he accepted.

SPEAKER_07
16:21

Okay, now you are. So it's a Whitetail Wednesday, and I texted in the group another, I don't know, one of the many group chats I have. I said, I just popped into Marley Zinn's, I'm spinning.

SPEAKER_05
16:29

And then anyway, speaking of that, I need to know.

SPEAKER_07
16:32

Adrian said Erica is going to Whitetail now, which means Courtney is going, which means Nate is going, which means White is going. I'm scared.

SPEAKER_02
16:42

Drill Nate's going to Whitetail Wednesday.

SPEAKER_07
16:44

Oh yeah. He's actually at Garth Brooks, so he's not. Dude, oh, he'll probably go after. He's coming. He can go after it. He's dude, he got after it on Monday, but we can get into that later. Monday? What was you doing Monday? Okay, it's funny you say that. What did we not do Monday? No, so him and Court went to Monday.

SPEAKER_02
17:00

What was happening on fucking Monday?

SPEAKER_07
17:01

Actually, they just everything? Everything they were doing everything on Monday. I was at work. I was like a normal human being.

SPEAKER_02
17:07

How do you guys function during the day?

SPEAKER_05
17:08

So him and Court went to a workout, went to Tiki, and I think you met up with them later. I d no, I did not. Okay, so here's a funny story. Oh, I only reason I know this is because I was at Taylor's, because I go to Sophie for the first time.

SPEAKER_02
17:20

Can everyone just follow B Dale 318?

SPEAKER_03
17:23

Sure. Wait, I'm E Dale.

SPEAKER_02
17:25

B Dale. The gem of the week.

SPEAKER_03
17:29

Wait, B-E? You gotta do this.

SPEAKER_02
17:31

Just B D A L E.

SPEAKER_03
17:32

L B D A L E.

SPEAKER_02
17:34

B D A B L E 318.

SPEAKER_05
17:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_07
17:38

Who is this guy? Oh, he seems nice. He looks very wholesome. Oh my gosh. He's like 25.

SPEAKER_05
17:47

What is he holding in his picture?

SPEAKER_02
17:48

Okay, let's call um my friend. We're gonna call Katie from F-45, who recommended this guy. And then I think she's gonna roll him in.

SPEAKER_07
17:58

Oh.

SPEAKER_02
17:59

We got a nomination.

SPEAKER_07
18:01

Oh. Okay, wait, what are we doing first? I'm lost. We're just going to the Zen.

SPEAKER_06
18:14

We gotta answer.

SPEAKER_02
18:15

Katie, how are you? Good. Just with uh breeding. Bree, Marley, and Erica. Who's having wine and cocktails and Zen? Cocktail and a Zen for Marley over there.

SPEAKER_01
18:30

She got a fresh one. I'm also having a Zen, so cheers Marley.

SPEAKER_02
18:34

Oh wow!

SPEAKER_01
18:36

Cheers.

SPEAKER_02
18:38

We'll have to introduce you to at some point. Are you going to Whitetail Wednesday tonight? Because she'll be there.

SPEAKER_01
18:45

What the hell is Whitetail Wednesday?

SPEAKER_02
18:47

Marley?

SPEAKER_05
18:48

Starts at nine, I'll see you around 1030. Beautiful.

SPEAKER_02
18:53

At Whitetail. Is it just is it like R B Tuesday? Is it uh is it?

SPEAKER_05
18:58

No, it used to be a thing like before COVID, and they're bringing it back tonight. So it's like unofficially official.

SPEAKER_02
19:06

It's a big night.

SPEAKER_05
19:07

This is a big deal. Sounds like it.

SPEAKER_02
19:10

Okay, Katie, can you give us the rundown on uh potential gem of the week B Dale?

SPEAKER_01
19:16

It is. Um okay, I have my roommate with me who also like knows him pretty well. So to describe him, what would you say? He's not your typical Midwestern dude. Um provides a lot of comedic relief. Likes a gamble. Really likes the gamble.

SPEAKER_05
19:38

Like at Pato, blackjack, you gotta dive into the gambling.

SPEAKER_01
19:42

Correct.

SPEAKER_05
19:42

Um does he like do sports betting and like play the blackjack on his phone type shit? Okay, cool.

SPEAKER_01
19:50

Well, I wouldn't say that blackjack on his phone, but he does do sports betting. Um what else? He likes to drink, he really can throw down. He's a smiley guy.

SPEAKER_05
20:05

It sounds like you're describing all my guy friends.

SPEAKER_02
20:08

How much uh how much how much can Biz drink in one night? What what's a typical Friday? Yeah, what's a typical Friday for Biz?

SPEAKER_01
20:16

I mean, how's how shit face were you trying to get him? I I I mean he really has yeah. I mean, his when he goes out, if he's with the boys, you can say goodbye. I mean, um, but so typical beers, I don't know how many can he? I mean, the dude's like five nine, so that's his only red flag is that he's short.

SPEAKER_02
20:37

He's a short king, though.

SPEAKER_06
20:40

Short kings are taller than most girls. They're trending.

SPEAKER_02
20:43

Eric could just say short kings are trending.

SPEAKER_07
20:45

Yeah, they're taller than most girls, but not for me, baby, for the most part.

SPEAKER_01
20:51

How many beers? Is your classic sales guy? Yeah.

SPEAKER_07
20:54

That is a valid question for us.

SPEAKER_02
20:56

I respect that.

SPEAKER_07
20:57

How many beers can he handle?

SPEAKER_02
20:59

How many beers can Biz handle?

SPEAKER_05
21:00

Is that his like go-to drink as a beer? What's his like what's his like order? Like, what's his drink and what's his shot?

SPEAKER_01
21:07

Yeah, n IPA.

unknown
21:09

His shot, I feel like would be Rumpy's.

SPEAKER_07
21:18

We can hang out, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_01
21:21

No, cord light, yeah. Look for something in a can. Yeah, it's always gonna be something in a can, I feel like. Otherwise, otherwise he's a rum and coke, dude. No, he's been on an old-fashioned cake.

SPEAKER_05
21:36

Yeah, old fashioned and rumpies jeans.

SPEAKER_02
21:40

What uh how how how does Biz do with the ladies?

SPEAKER_01
21:44

Oh God, he's a lady killer. So I think that with these ladies, he's like he'll shoot his guard and tell you how he feels about you, but sometimes I think these ladies are like, all right, man. Like what the fuck you just told me that what's something he would say? Tell a funny story. And then like people think it's like a jokingly story, but he's like actually serious. I don't think they uh that women understand his upfront. I mean his comedic relief is just genuinely because he's like a dry sense of humor. And I don't feel like a lot of ladies get that. What else is about him? He he's a hockey guy, he played hockey. I don't know if that's a right. Oh, he accepted my request.

SPEAKER_05
22:28

I can see his photos. I can see his photos.

SPEAKER_02
22:30

Oh, he just accepted Marley's friend request.

SPEAKER_05
22:33

Honestly, of course he's doing it, Marley right now. Oh, I see the hockey. Oh, I'm checking it out now, too. Is this in Grafton? Does he play hockey in Grafton?

unknown
22:43

What?

SPEAKER_05
22:44

This looks like the Grafton ice rink. I'm not gonna tell you anything. I'm not, we're that's a whole nother story.

SPEAKER_07
22:51

We're talking about this guy.

SPEAKER_04
22:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_07
22:55

It looks like he could be my brother, and so for that reason, I fly fishes. He could be a character in office.

SPEAKER_06
23:01

Which is hot. Always fishing for trout.

unknown
23:04

This matters, but his family's loaded.

SPEAKER_05
23:07

Oh wow.

unknown
23:09

Green flag for the women.

SPEAKER_05
23:12

Oh god. I'm trying to read what this jersey says. Something something pub hockey club.

SPEAKER_02
23:17

Alright. Katie, do you do you want to call the men?

SPEAKER_05
23:20

He hunts.

SPEAKER_01
23:21

Yeah, I already told him that I was going to, and he said, I'm not doing shit unless you tell me what it's for. So you he sent me a picture.

SPEAKER_05
23:27

Um Instagram.

SPEAKER_01
23:29

He said, uh, have them use this picture as the profile. It's it's AI of him with like a 12-pack in the mirror.

SPEAKER_02
23:35

Marley, Marley, call him through Instagram and see if he answers.

SPEAKER_01
23:38

Okay, let's see.

unknown
23:40

Yeah, he will.

SPEAKER_02
23:43

He got a random friend acceptance from Marley who's now.

SPEAKER_07
23:48

He started following all of us. Now he knows.

SPEAKER_01
23:55

He doesn't remember. You gotta call him Diz. It's Diz. D-I-Z.

SPEAKER_02
23:58

Oh, D D I Z. I was calling him Biz. I'm gonna call him Biz. Diz. Okay. That's on me. Apologize.

SPEAKER_01
24:06

Oh shit. Is he gonna answer?

SPEAKER_05
24:08

Hey, can you hear me? It's not even on speaker. Oh, is this Bennett? Hey Bennett.

SPEAKER_02
24:20

Marley, get him on speaker. I'm trying.

SPEAKER_05
24:22

I can't figure out how to do this. This is Instagram. Give him your number. Bennett. Have you ever called anyone on Instagram? I never can you hear me now?

unknown
24:29

Yeah, I can hear you.

SPEAKER_05
24:34

Okay. Hi, I'm Marley.

unknown
24:38

I'm doing a call on Instagram. That's right.

SPEAKER_08
24:41

Oh, we're trying to figure out the code. That's all right. I can hear you guys good over there. Perfect.

SPEAKER_05
24:47

Okay, so I'm with Richie, Breen, Erica, and myself. We're recording a Milwaukee on Cut, and you're the gem of the week.

SPEAKER_02
24:54

And you're highly recommended.

SPEAKER_05
24:56

And we're on the phone with your friend Katie right now. Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_08
24:59

Katie, she did she text me earlier. She's like, I call you at 7.30, just answer.

unknown
25:04

I'm like, Katie, you gotta give me a little more than this.

SPEAKER_05
25:06

No, you just when Katie asks you, you just gotta accept, okay? No, I I trust Katie.

SPEAKER_02
25:13

Diz, Diz, are you going to Whitetail Wednesday tonight?

SPEAKER_08
25:16

Whitetail Wednesday tonight. No, Diz is uh standing and watching a brewer game tonight.

SPEAKER_02
25:21

I love the Diz, we heard you probably have some money on the Brewers tonight. What what's what's the parlay you got going?

SPEAKER_08
25:31

We got a brewer's money line, and then we got uh Core Pratt is in his second start, so I got him to have a hit tonight, and he he got one.

SPEAKER_02
25:41

So pretty jacked up brewer fan over here. Diz, uh, for everyone listening, we need to get your career highlight at Pottawatomie.

SPEAKER_08
25:51

Uh I am keeping the lights on at that place.

SPEAKER_02
25:55

Diz, you've never won any money. Katie hyped you up as an astute gambler.

SPEAKER_05
26:01

You're telling us I think he means he's always there.

unknown
26:04

I'm I'm there.

SPEAKER_08
26:05

I have a great time while I'm there, but they I stay there too long.

SPEAKER_05
26:09

We'll move that to that. Do you play slots, blackjack? Like, what's your go-to?

SPEAKER_08
26:13

Uh, I like shooting craps because I enjoy just meeting new people at the table. It's uh high energy. And then a lot of my friends I enjoy teaching them the game of craps.

SPEAKER_05
26:22

So these are not PR answers. Love that.

SPEAKER_02
26:26

Katie Katie was chiming in. What was that? Or the I said tell him that it's not for a PR answer to be the real diz.

SPEAKER_01
26:33

He's like, oh, I enjoy meeting people.

SPEAKER_05
26:35

Oh, yeah. She said, Stop giving us the PR answer. Be the real you. The PR answer? Um No, she said don't give the PR answer.

SPEAKER_06
26:42

Just be the real man right now.

SPEAKER_05
26:45

That's what she said.

SPEAKER_08
26:46

I'm feeling pretty good at the table. I I like to get after it and I like to uh throw chips around if people are winning. I like to have everyone have a good time.

SPEAKER_05
26:57

So I've Katie's seen me in there a couple times.

SPEAKER_08
27:00

She knows what it's like. It's it's kind of you gotta be there to experience it.

SPEAKER_02
27:03

Katie, how would you describe this guy? Uh Potter.

SPEAKER_01
27:07

Uh well, um we went on Halloween after a long night, uh, one of our nights on Halloween, and I was a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit.

SPEAKER_08
27:20

He says that story's not getting told. No, no, no, that's not what I'm saying.

unknown
27:25

I'm just gonna say he's a he's a team player.

SPEAKER_05
27:27

He said you're a team player.

SPEAKER_08
27:31

I went to see everyone win.

SPEAKER_01
27:33

And he's like, go play some slots, go play some whatever. And he he was locked in, dude.

SPEAKER_08
27:37

He just got my own.

SPEAKER_02
27:45

Shout out to our friends at Pottawatomic.

SPEAKER_06
27:47

Yeah, there she goes there.

SPEAKER_02
27:48

Hey, hey, we should we should put this on parlay of the week.

SPEAKER_06
27:52

Yeah, parlay of the week.

unknown
27:54

How does that work?

SPEAKER_02
27:54

We do parlay. We gamble $100 every Friday and donate the winnings to charity. Parlay of the week. You should chime in with some picks.

SPEAKER_08
28:03

I would love to be a part of it.

SPEAKER_02
28:06

That would probably help our record since you're keeping the lights on at Pato now that I think about it. But we'd be we'd be honored to have you for that. A good business decision.

SPEAKER_05
28:15

All business. He likes business. All business. He's sales PR.

SPEAKER_09
28:20

I normally bring an empty suitcase to Padle because I hope myself.

SPEAKER_02
28:24

Okay, okay. Diz, Diz, one one person in this room got extremely excited. If you could take if you could rip one shot right now, what would it be?

SPEAKER_08
28:35

One shot right now. One shot. Um be honest. Be honest.

SPEAKER_02
28:40

You're at the harp. You're you're 11 beers deep. What shot are you opening, Diz? What shot are you ordering?

unknown
28:48

Probably a rumpy shot.

SPEAKER_02
28:56

Our guys eating up.

SPEAKER_07
28:57

That was awesome.

SPEAKER_09
28:59

Was that a crown favorite?

SPEAKER_07
29:00

Yeah, there we go. We love a rumpies, Diz. We love a rumpies. Good choice, my friend. Good choice.

SPEAKER_02
29:08

Alright, Did Diz, so what what are what are you looking for in a woman?

SPEAKER_08
29:13

I'm looking for a woman that can match my energy. Uh I enjoy working out. I enjoy golfing. Uh, of course, I enjoy going to Pato, so if she's if she's okay with going there.

SPEAKER_02
29:24

I want I want to go out with this guy first.

SPEAKER_07
29:27

Be in a relationship. You finding a new BFF. Nothing finding a partner. This is you finding a new BFF.

SPEAKER_02
29:34

This is not what Jam of the Week is for, but I'd go I'd go golfing.

SPEAKER_05
29:37

Yeah, I think I think uh you and Richie are gonna be really close friends here, so it sounds like a math.

SPEAKER_02
29:42

Right. Any qualities that ladies would appreciate?

SPEAKER_08
29:46

Of me?

SPEAKER_02
29:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_08
29:48

I'm a very honest guy, I'd say. I I shoot it how it is. Uh I I'm a horrible liar, so I I know that about myself, so I just keep it straight up probably 100% of the time, to be honest. So I think that's a good quality about myself. Uh very caring. Um, I care about all my friends around me. Like Katie, she dates one of my best friends from school, and uh she actually used to work at the Explorium, which I live above in the Pritzlaf. So we always went down, and I consider Katie a good friend of me. So yeah, I always I care about all my friends.

SPEAKER_10
30:22

I would love to hear it. Did you go to Eau Claire too?

SPEAKER_08
30:25

I did, yep. Woo! Shout out to your guys' content, and I saw you guys spend some time up in Eau Claire, and I think it's pretty cool to see. Oh, yeah, we do.

SPEAKER_02
30:34

We're going back this weekend for summer jam.

SPEAKER_08
30:37

Really? Yeah, it'll be a good time.

unknown
30:38

I I I love it up there.

SPEAKER_08
30:39

I miss it, but uh definitely warming up in Milwaukee. It's a great time here.

SPEAKER_02
30:44

And Bree Bree is from Menomine.

SPEAKER_08
30:46

Oh, okay. Yeah, I love it up there.

SPEAKER_05
30:48

Up Norday.

SPEAKER_02
30:49

Who's that, Katie?

SPEAKER_08
30:51

Doodge. The doododge, yeah. And did you guys stop at the doododge?

SPEAKER_02
30:56

I haven't heard of it. No. We might need to.

SPEAKER_08
30:58

Tell us more.

SPEAKER_02
30:59

We went to the joint, we went to the wigwam, we went to a lot of other places, but no.

SPEAKER_08
31:04

Not doodle. Spill it. Okay, so it's I'd say it's a very towny bar, but also college kids started to go there now. Uh it opens at six in the morning. It's open every single day of the year. Uh exactly. Other food is like three dollars. Uh, it's just it's good vibe in there. Uh yeah. Do that.

SPEAKER_04
31:27

Can you can you send me can you send me that? Yeah, I don't know how to spell that. The name of it.

SPEAKER_08
31:33

Yeah, yeah. I think there's another uh like podcaster person that did uh interview there. Perfect. No, that's a good spot.

SPEAKER_05
31:40

Okay, yeah, just send me the info. I'll send it to them. Okay, sweet.

SPEAKER_01
31:44

Wait, Richie.

SPEAKER_08
31:45

Yes.

SPEAKER_05
31:45

Or send it to Brie. She followed you too.

SPEAKER_01
31:48

Okay. Oh, wait. I thought you meant like what's your opening line if you're going after a female. Oh, that's a good one. Oh, yeah. All right, all right. We got we got it.

SPEAKER_02
31:56

We got a question. I think you should ask it, Marley.

SPEAKER_05
31:58

Yeah. Okay. If you're out, what is your opening line to like hit on a on a female?

SPEAKER_08
32:05

Would you uh would you be able to speak to every single animal or speak every language?

SPEAKER_05
32:16

That's a good question.

SPEAKER_08
32:17

It never works, but I I let it rip.

SPEAKER_05
32:21

That's the first thing you could say. Okay, so if you're attracted to someone, that's a fur you walk up and that's the first thing out of your mouth.

SPEAKER_09
32:28

No, uh, what's the first thing? What's the first thing?

SPEAKER_07
32:30

Wait, hang on. I don't care about people, but what's that about animals? What's like the first thing you would say? Like you're like trying to hit on someone.

SPEAKER_08
32:38

I'd probably tell them they have a cute smile. I think smiles are very important to me. If they have a nice smile, I'd find them very attractive.

SPEAKER_05
32:44

Um then you hit them with the animal or the you hit them with the questions.

SPEAKER_08
32:49

That's normally if I have like maybe a little too nervous, I'll just hit him with that.

SPEAKER_05
32:54

Did you fall back? Got it, got it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02
32:57

Do you ever go with the wolf method where you just buy a tray of 13 bombs and just you know, walk it over to girls at the bar and see what happens.

SPEAKER_08
33:09

You know what? I might have to be a wolf one of these days.

SPEAKER_05
33:17

The wolf told me. You should try that and let us know how it goes.

SPEAKER_08
33:20

Okay, no, I I will. I'll let you guys, I'll give you some feedback.

SPEAKER_02
33:23

Katie, if you're if you're with him, we need we need behind the scenes of this. Please, maybe. Maybe mic'ed up camera, etc.

SPEAKER_08
33:33

Alright, that that sounds good. I'll definitely give that a shot, though.

unknown
33:38

Perfect.

SPEAKER_02
33:39

Love it. Katie, any anything we did not ask or any any you know final words on your frontier.

SPEAKER_01
33:48

Uh he's a great guy. Shoots it how it is. I mean, basically everything he said is the same that I said, but true. Um, I just wish he needs to go on your podcast or something because or he needs to be in a in a lighter environment because he's funny as shit. So I feel like I'd put him on the spot here, but to really display his uh his his character, I feel like you gotta get him, you gotta get him mic'd up or something.

SPEAKER_02
34:13

I think we should bring him in for the next episode.

SPEAKER_07
34:18

Not the Miz, the Diz.

SPEAKER_02
34:22

Diz, do you think any of us are qualified for a dating in Milwaukee episode?

SPEAKER_08
34:27

I I do. You guys are awesome. Actually, all the time.

SPEAKER_02
34:31

So we appreciate it.

SPEAKER_08
34:33

Just gave me a couple spots to check out downtown. So perfect. Keep doing what you're doing. People are people like it, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_02
34:41

Well, we we we appreciate it. We look forward to put putting this one out there. And thanks for picking up the phone. Thanks for picking up Instagram.

unknown
34:51

Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_08
34:52

I appreciate you guys. Absolutely. All right. Bye, dude. Thanks for watching.

SPEAKER_02
34:57

Katie, that Katie, thanks for recommending this guy at the gym too. All right, Katie is not single. She is in a long-term relationship dating his best friend. Okay, good for you.

SPEAKER_07
35:19

Oh shit, that's right. Good for you. Okay.

SPEAKER_02
35:22

Yeah. Good wing woman, though.

SPEAKER_01
35:23

Yeah. We love a good wing woman. He'll never hear the end of it. So.

SPEAKER_02
35:28

No, this will be good. This will be good. All right. Well, that thank you, Katie. Absolutely. See you soon.

SPEAKER_01
35:35

All right. See ya. Bye.

unknown
35:36

Bye.

SPEAKER_02
35:37

Hey everyone. Just a quick reminder that this episode is presented by Kessler's Diamonds. And also, if you know an eligible bachelor or bachelorette, we highlight one in our newsletter as our Kessler's gem of the week that goes out to over 60,000 people in the Milwaukee area every time we send. Just shoot us a DM on Instagram or visit us at Milwaukeeuncut.com. That's where you can sign up for the newsletter as well. And speaking of Kesslers, if you're looking to just wow that special someone, or even propose. Summer is a great time to propose. I did it in the dead of winter, but summer is probably even better. Just visit our friends at Kessler's Diamonds. They were awesome to work with. I went there and got Breeze Ring. Um, and very helpful for a clueless guy like myself. They couldn't have been more helpful through the process. I've also bought some smaller items from there over the years, and they are always extremely nice and helpful whenever I go in there. That is Kessler's Diamonds. All right, back to the show.

unknown
36:43

Okay, so I was dating this guy and he lived at the Modern, okay?

SPEAKER_00
36:47

So I'm dating him, and I was gonna say I was seeing him because there was none of that inner filtration going on. I don't play like that. But he was dating another girl, and the girl, it was like she just couldn't believe that he was actually seeing me. So I'm like, listen, everybody in this is obviously single. We're going to dinner, we're going to to the club together, we're going to tell you, we're just having a time. And the girl was just like, he just couldn't believe that. Like, you know about me. I know you're not his girl. That's in your head, that's in your head, whatever. So he was like, if I heard the house, like I would be on his story, and he would just he was, I don't know what you leave in because he's really. So I was going out of one door, and she was coming in the other. I said, Hey, I know where you're going. You want to get in? Because you know the door is coming out the trying to make it easier on you.

SPEAKER_07
37:56

Wait, were you just visiting him or what? Like were were you leaving and she was coming in? Yes.

unknown
38:02

I had been there.

SPEAKER_00
38:03

He was like, let's watch it was when that um that Holly Berry movie I came out. It was like really talking on that. I don't think it didn't have midnight. That's not my thing. I don't do that. You know, the night was over here. You know, it's not like I don't know what I can. He's coming to get me. You know, nice. He was just like, he's he'd be telling me, Oh, he's not talking to her. Like he's crazy on his call me crazy one too many times. So then I just had to show her that I'm not actually crazy, I'm insane.

SPEAKER_07
38:59

There's a difference.

SPEAKER_00
39:05

Now I just think I'm insane because I thought you are something. So what I did was I went into my phone and I um printed out like the last few weeks of our conversations now because it's like I knew I I knew I I knew what car she got. I knew I didn't know I was on my way to the next guy. I said, you know what, Marty, you need to do something petty. So I turned my car around, I go home, I print out the conversations that we've had for the last couple weeks, and I stick them under her windshield. So when she got outside, she had something to read when she got home.

SPEAKER_07
39:42

Oh well, you're just being generous. You're making sure that she's making sure she knows how to read.

SPEAKER_06
39:48

That's more than just like a DM to like a woman, like hate girl. She didn't say screen chat, but he said I'm a printer. Literally printed out.

unknown
39:57

I'm actually an author, is what she should be considering me. New York bestseller.

SPEAKER_09
40:05

Like, I don't, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00
40:06

She was curious. And he called me like a couple hours later. He was like, Marty, what did you do? I said, I gave me like I do every day. He said, You play so much. Do you want to meet up for a drink at Taylor's?

unknown
40:21

I do. I do.

SPEAKER_07
40:24

She was unbothered. I do. I do. You know what?

SPEAKER_00
40:28

I understand why people think I will drag it to the hell because I will.

SPEAKER_07
40:35

Richie, what do you what do you Richie looks like he has a question? What's the question? I think he's processing. What's the thought? Are there thoughts?

SPEAKER_02
40:42

No, I mean Mart Marty's just a uh a one-woman wrecking crew over there. I mean, this this is amazing. She's got it. She's the entire repo. She's got it. She's got it.

SPEAKER_07
40:51

Entire repo team right here.

SPEAKER_02
40:53

My God.

unknown
40:55

I don't play around with me.

SPEAKER_00
40:57

As a man, you already have so many more advantages. You get paid more, you're looked at as to be the better person, the bigger, the stronger.

unknown
41:03

So you know what? No, it's gonna be me.

SPEAKER_09
41:07

I love that.

SPEAKER_02
41:09

Marty, did you hear it? What did you hear from the girl after? Did you hear from her?

SPEAKER_00
41:15

I never hear from a I almost said I never hear from a bitch, but I never hear from one. I never hear from a girl. Okay, what do you want to say?

unknown
41:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00
41:24

She told him. She's like, you know, he said, you know, she said, that crazy bitch, that crazy bitch is like No, I'm not crazy, I'm insane. Crazy is just that's very polite. Like, don't say call me crazy. Call me insane. So he that's why he called me, very called me and said, What did you do? Because he already knows me. I I make it a point to make sure men know that hey, whatever we're doing, whether we're dating, we're just we're hanging out. Don't let me find out anything and don't piss me off. Because I it's not gonna be it's gonna be fine for me, but it's not gonna go too well for you, it's gonna be fine for me to preach. Oh, if you don't have any fun, we can't have any fun.

SPEAKER_07
42:06

Fair enough, babe. You do you, babe. I'm so proud of you. Thank you for sharing that.

unknown
42:12

Of course, anytime.

SPEAKER_07
42:14

Any other things?

SPEAKER_02
42:15

Marty, how how old are these stories? And can we get a life update from you?

unknown
42:19

That's about four years ago.

SPEAKER_00
42:21

But I still see the girl. Um, the guy, I don't think he, I I already moved out of once I'm done with you, I never even care to fall in love with you. So I feel like the girl though. And she just like turns her head or she's very very like dramatic leading when I come in the room. I understand that. I would be embarrassed too. I would be embarrassed too. I mean, Erica has introduced me to Tiki, so I can say, like, I'm there all the time.

SPEAKER_07
42:52

Yes, girl. I sorry. Honestly, then it's a problem because then we always go there.

SPEAKER_00
42:58

Well, Erica is unsure if he was there that one time, but I did have a man open his tab and leave it open. He was so like engulfed in just everything about me. And I ran that tab up $200. You are insane.

unknown
43:16

That's the proper way to describe me.

SPEAKER_07
43:18

Do not refer to her as anything else.

SPEAKER_02
43:20

Marty, Marty, what do you what do you do? What do you do for a living? Are you like uh a boxing instructor? Are you FBI? Are you what what what are you?

unknown
43:28

No, no, no, I don't need to be any of that stuff. I just feel like God tells me everything.

SPEAKER_00
43:32

So I don't need to go looking for nothing because if I find it, I'm gonna pick you up.

unknown
43:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_07
43:37

So what do you do for a living, though? He asked.

unknown
43:40

I work for Mandel Group, so I manage their property a few of their properties downtown under their portfolio.

SPEAKER_07
43:44

I would trust you with my life. Honestly, same. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02
43:49

Is Bob Monnet still over there?

unknown
43:52

Yeah, he is still over there, and he enjoys my story just as much.

SPEAKER_02
43:56

I can imagine. He's a good guy.

unknown
43:58

He is an amazing.

SPEAKER_00
44:01

They're all amazing now. I love I love the theme that I have. I love everything about Mandelgroup. Honestly, the world you want to be in real estate and property development, though. Love that theme down.

SPEAKER_07
44:14

She's a professional, but she also doesn't take shit from men. Amen.

SPEAKER_02
44:19

I could tell. I I'd want you on my side.

SPEAKER_07
44:25

Yes, yeah, people.

unknown
44:28

Okay. Erica knows how to connect with me.

SPEAKER_07
44:32

We will be talking to you again for sure on here. I mean, you'll be hearing me. You'll be hearing from me always, but yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_00
44:39

Okay.

unknown
44:39

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00
44:40

Well, you have a great night. I just got to my destination. I'm gonna get my nephew in, and we are he's looking at me like Lussie. I did not know that you were getting like you know.

SPEAKER_07
44:49

Your nephew is in the car the whole time.

SPEAKER_00
44:52

My ten year old, yeah.

SPEAKER_02
44:53

But he already, I mean you said all this in front of a ten-year-old?

SPEAKER_00
45:00

He's in the car.

unknown
45:01

So Christmas what? Last year?

SPEAKER_00
45:03

Okay, Christmas last year. I was talking to this guy. And the guy goes, I was looking for one more gift to give you. What like do you want the money? How much money? My nephew, swear to God, right hand a guy. He he asked my nephew, he said, How much money can I give my aunt? What do you say, Harvard? How much money do you give me? And then what he and then he came to my house with Roses and five hundred dollars. He said, Yeah, give her five hundred dollars.

unknown
45:34

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02
45:34

What happened to that guy, Marty?

SPEAKER_06
45:36

Yeah, that guy's great.

SPEAKER_02
45:37

Yeah.

unknown
45:38

Okay, but and then this is another lord.

SPEAKER_00
45:40

So I he wasn't the best-looking guy, so I would always tell people that he was my cousin because I don't like it. My best friend Alice Allie, Ali works at Carnivore, so we go to dinner one day, and I'm like, Ali, this is my cousin. She's like, Yeah, I've never seen him before. I was gonna give her the lore when I left. This girl walks up to my table and goes, Yeah, so Marty said you're her cousin. I could have just fallen out. But I have to leave him alone because he was getting too a little too ugly.

SPEAKER_02
46:10

Marty, what what are what are you looking for in a man?

SPEAKER_07
46:16

The what?

SPEAKER_02
46:20

At least you're honest.

SPEAKER_07
46:22

Yeah, I don't date I don't I'm not dating for love.

SPEAKER_00
46:24

I'm dating for fun, I'm dating for fun, I'm dating for vacation. It's always hard enough out here. I don't want to because you know, a lot of men are liars, or a lot of men are they just think they're so cool and they're actually really corny and they just really make me say if I'm gonna be around love, I'm gonna be on vacation around her. You can't do our nerves that bad in turns. Like you can't.

SPEAKER_07
46:45

God, you're so fucking funny. Dude, I thought I loved you before. I think I love you more now. Thank you, guys. We appreciate you. We appreciate you. And also, shout out to your shout out to your nephew also on this call. Your 10-year-old nephew on this call. Honestly, shout out to him for also knowing the assignment and saying $500 to that random ass man.

SPEAKER_06
47:06

Yeah, yeah, that was so good.

unknown
47:07

Thank you, baby.

SPEAKER_07
47:08

What a guy. All right, well, we appreciate it, Marty. Thank you so much. We'll talk to you soon.

unknown
47:14

All right, thank you.

SPEAKER_07
47:14

Love you. Good night. Love you, buddy.

SPEAKER_06
47:16

Oh my god, Marty. Okay, I'm gonna go pee.

SPEAKER_07
47:20

I do also have to pee after you too. We're still buffering. Richie is still buffering.

SPEAKER_02
47:26

Where did you find her?

SPEAKER_07
47:29

She's just in the streets like the rest of us.

SPEAKER_05
47:31

Hey.

SPEAKER_02
47:33

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_05
47:34

Welcome to the streets.

SPEAKER_02
47:36

Okay, Marley. Yeah. The floor is yours.

SPEAKER_05
47:40

Hey. Hey. What's up, girl? Okay, so the roster is back. Oh, yes, we need to do it.

SPEAKER_02
47:48

All right, Marley's roster update. This is a great story.

SPEAKER_07
47:50

I'm actually gonna pull this out on my phone right now because I need to.

SPEAKER_05
47:53

Yeah, so I I literally have a note on my phone that's shared. You have it now. I do have it. And all my friends, so every time I update it, you can, it's in order now. It's in order from my favorite to least favorite, and there's an open slot. I'm gonna repeat. There's an open slot.

SPEAKER_06
48:11

So we keep five at a time. Five, yeah.

SPEAKER_05
48:13

But it's like how the fuck do you do that? Well, it's it's more of like me getting to so a typical roster is like you would go on dates with all these people. No, I just like these are people I'm like observing. You get what I'm saying? Okay. Except for the number one.

SPEAKER_02
48:27

Can we do a roster countdown clip?

SPEAKER_05
48:31

Yes. What does that mean?

SPEAKER_02
48:35

We'd list the starting five off if you're just observing these people and they don't know. And we can do a reveal.

SPEAKER_07
48:42

I feel like we're in a box game right now.

SPEAKER_02
48:44

Marley's roster. Erica Finky, we have an in-game announcer with us. She can join us right now. She can announce this.

SPEAKER_07
48:51

That's really Marley starting five. Number four.

SPEAKER_05
49:00

No, I was talking to someone and it was going really well. Until it wasn't.

SPEAKER_06
49:06

So did he go down the roster?

SPEAKER_05
49:08

He's completely off the roster.

SPEAKER_02
49:11

Okay, so this is like a bench. This is like these guys. Have you hooked up with any of these guys?

SPEAKER_05
49:19

Okay. Let me start. So the top.

SPEAKER_02
49:23

This is really complicated to me.

SPEAKER_05
49:24

So there is one person I'm only talking to like right now, but there's always like not backups, but like people I'm just like observing. Because it's like I'm not, I'm single at the end of the day right now, right? Like, and also the last person I was talking to, I'm like, oh my god, I can actually see myself with this person. And then what happened? I was like, okay. Clearly. This isn't for me right now. So I'm just gonna take my time I found with in summer with friends or whatever. But then this person that's on the top, I've known him for a really, really, really long time. We've tried it in the past. And the reason we stopped talking is because we went on a like we had a date night. It was a really good date night. And he had a bag in the back seat when he dropped me off, and I'm thinking it was a go bag. Like he's thinking, like, oh, I'm gonna go on a date with her and then I'm gonna stay at her house. Yeah, no, it was a gym bag. Because he literally went to the gym, got ready at the gym, then picked me up, and I thought he was like trying to like, oh, I'm gonna take her on a date, then we can like spend the night together, type thing. And the reason I stopped talking to him was because of that. Because I was like, I like ease into things, like I that's how I am.

SPEAKER_02
50:36

So I'm also you misunderstood it.

SPEAKER_05
50:38

So I completed it. And so then where I went wrong is I I ghosted him. Oh and we had been talking for this was like a year and a half ago. We had been talking for like a couple months. So we were like kind of like in it, like on the way getting there. And so then I just was like, no, like fuck this. Like, I'm not doing that. I told you that. Like, we whatever.

SPEAKER_02
50:59

Man, you guys are so detailed. But this so much shit in the back.

SPEAKER_05
51:02

But this is what's crazy. I fucked up in the head, Richie. Like, I found out it was a gym bag two weeks ago because I ran into him at Tiki, of course. And we were talking about it, and I pulled him aside and I was like, Hey, I just like on my end, want to apologize for ghosting you. And the reason I did is because you had a gobang in your backseat. He looks at me and goes, I told you I was at the gym. He's like, that was my gym bag. And I go, Ooh. I'm like, so what you're telling me is we I stopped talking to you for no reason? Cool, that's great.

SPEAKER_07
51:30

Well, it happens for a reason, right? Yeah, so you weren't meant to talk to him at that time, I guess. Yes.

SPEAKER_05
51:35

And the other guy and I stopped talking, the one before him. Because I was telling Brie this. He doesn't know I know this, but he went like ghost mode for three and a half hours to call. I called him at like 3.34 because he got off the friend off the phone with my friend who was next to me. And I call him because I'm like something's off. Who has me on speakerphone and I can still hear another girl next to him. So they're laying in bed, and she's next to him, and I'm on speakerphone, and he's like, Yeah, I'm by myself.

SPEAKER_07
52:08

And this is the guy that's no longer on the roster.

SPEAKER_05
52:10

He's no longer anywhere. Yes, he is. He should not be able to do that. Bye bye. Bye-bye.

SPEAKER_02
52:16

Where do you find these guys, Marley?

SPEAKER_05
52:19

Tiki. I swear to God. Swear to God. The other one I met at the WAC, though.

SPEAKER_06
52:25

What WAC? Okay, that's I feel like WAC. That's a good place to meet somebody.

SPEAKER_05
52:30

I mean, if I meet someone at the gym, it's like at least you like we have the same hobbies and you take care of yourself and like he's taking. Yeah, and he's also a runner.

unknown
52:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05
52:39

I love running, obviously, everyone knows that. So, like, hell yeah. Yeah, it's important to you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03
52:46

So love that.

SPEAKER_05
52:47

Roster is back, baby. Oh boy.

unknown
52:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06
52:51

So how are you feeling about summer? Like going into summer, like hot girl summer. Are you?

SPEAKER_05
52:56

I'm dedicating my summer to my friends. Okay.

SPEAKER_06
52:59

That's focused.

SPEAKER_05
53:00

Yeah. Because last year I was dating an NFL guy, NFL draft guy.

SPEAKER_06
53:04

That was crazy. That was last summer. And I wasn't going to be able to do that. I was an absolute con artist.

SPEAKER_05
53:10

Correct. Sweet guy. Sweet guy, but just switch it up so randomly, which is actually kind of crazy because that's exactly what the last guy did too.

SPEAKER_06
53:19

That's crazy that it was last.

SPEAKER_05
53:21

I like that's why I say is it green or red? I'm my colorblind, I don't even know anymore. Because I'm like, oh my gosh, this guy's so nice. Like, I just give people the benefit of the doubt. It gives people so much grace. And then I'm like, wow, Marley, I think you just need more like fucking boundaries. I don't know. Like, you know, but here we are.

SPEAKER_02
53:38

Hidden gem summer dead spots in Milwaukee.

SPEAKER_06
53:42

Love that.

SPEAKER_02
53:42

Bree, what do you have?

SPEAKER_06
53:44

I have a couple. So, first off, rent some kayaks and do a river bar crawl. Cute. So a lot of times you can start at Boone and Crockett and then head your way down to the river, stop at the Harp, and then go to Lakefront Brewery and then head your way back. But Os, it's a great time. And then also too, if you find yourself in Tosa, you can have dinner at Tynamite, get some drinks, then at the Tail, and then get some ice cream at Joy's Ice Cream. That's cute.

SPEAKER_07
54:19

It's so wholesome. Girl, I love that. That's super cute. I really love that. My go-to date spots, because I feel like there's nothing better for me than like going to a sports game. We love that, obviously. So here's the thing: you can go to a brewer's game. You guys can get some cheap seats at a brewer's game. And you could go to fourth base restaurant. That is a really cool spot in West Milwaukee area. You guys have been there, right?

SPEAKER_10
54:44

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_07
54:44

I've talked with them before. I've been to Fourth Base before, and I think it's just a really good place to stop before you even get to the game. Maybe it's a night game. And you go and get because it's a steakhouse restaurant bar. So you go there, you get to pick whatever cut of steak you want. I've even had bacon wrapped scallops there. Yeah. So they make it right in front of you, and you have this really nice dinner at this really cool dive-looking bar. And not only that, but it was also featured in Major League the Movie. So there's some really fun facts in there for you. So that could impress your date, and then you could head to a brewer's game.

SPEAKER_06
55:17

I love that.

SPEAKER_07
55:18

Otherwise, I really like nonfiction um natural wines in Bayview. That's a really cool spot. It's really um the vibe is very refreshing, very bright, very airy. Yeah. And the wine is really good. You could grab a snack, and then you can also get some like nice little flight of wine. I love it. So those are my few spots.

SPEAKER_05
55:37

Speaking of Bayview, oh I would say dinner at Cerella. Oh, I can, right? But then if you keep going south, there's Blackbird Trailer Park Tavern, and then there's also Wiggle Room. So it's like you have that trifecta. And then on your way back, when you're driving back downtown, you can stop at uh the baby bowling spot, which I baby bowl. Yeah, well, they have two pool tables, and if you know me, I love playing pool. So at that point in the night, it's like we end the night playing pool. But I also have to throw this one in there because I wouldn't say it's a hidden gem, but it's crazy how many people still that I talk to haven't been there and I've popped their like cherries going to this place is pufferfish. Great date spot. Because then you can hit up Cathedral. Taylors, foys, Sophie. It depends on what vibe you're looking for. Like my date would probably be like Bayview, kind of getaway, intimate, right? But if you're like really trying to get to know someone and you're like, well, I can just meet up my friends later, then I would do the pufferfish, foys, tailors kind of traffic, but very nice.

SPEAKER_02
56:42

I was gonna stay in Bayview and have some beers.

SPEAKER_05
56:45

At Did I steal your idea?

SPEAKER_02
56:47

No, you didn't, you didn't you did not you did not steal any of my spots.

SPEAKER_07
56:51

Very Bayv very Bayview.

SPEAKER_02
56:53

I was gonna go to I was gonna start at Bernhardt's. Oh, yes. That is one of the best beer bars in the country, and they do have an outdoor patio in the summer.

SPEAKER_07
57:01

And a pool table can't go wrong. Can't go wrong.

SPEAKER_02
57:02

And a pool table, they do in the back, and then uh it's gonna go to Salt Shore Park, which I think is the best beer garden in Milwaukee, and maybe the best view in Milwaukee. It's right on the lake and it looks north into the skyline.

SPEAKER_09
57:14

I agree.

SPEAKER_02
57:15

And then you could go grab dinner at Palomino, which I think is very underrated and a good spot right by there. So I'm sticking in Bayview.

SPEAKER_06
57:26

I am I do in the summer. I mean, you have to do like outdoor activities for like a day. You do and to with Milwaukee, the Oak Leaf Trail. So grab some bikes and head to some beer garden. So like Hubbard Park, awesome beer garden. And then you can keep going up north to De Esther Brook Park, hit that beer garden, come on the way down, and then go to Veterans Park to hit another beer garden.

SPEAKER_02
57:54

I would say Hubbard Park's a gem. Yeah, we haven't been there in a long time.

SPEAKER_05
57:59

No, the third ward beer garden is amazing too, though.

SPEAKER_07
58:02

That is fine. I suggest another third ward spot, actually. It's literally amazing. It's really good. Also, bring your dog, that's important, also. But also, I really like as if we're talking about outdoor bar spaces. I really like Tide House in the third ward. It's on first floor.

SPEAKER_02
58:18

Oh, they got a good patio.

SPEAKER_07
58:19

They have a phenomenal patio. They have a really good indoor bar too. It's really vibey. They have a lot of plants, but also on the outdoors, yeah, it's very much a patio. They it's very much like a garden. Yeah. And they have themes, it's very pretty.

SPEAKER_05
58:30

Like you know, ice strength. Uh Toro Cosino. Oh, interesting. Okay. Yep. So that's uh where Updown is under the bridge. They also have like a little patio as well.

SPEAKER_07
58:40

Oh, so very cute. Do we have any like good dessert recommendation spots actually?

SPEAKER_06
58:45

Because I'm I'm a girl that likes a sweet treat. Joy's ice cream in Tosa is like the best ice cream in the social media is on point.

SPEAKER_05
58:55

Yeah. Which honestly they do have Joy's ice. It's okay, Joy's is. Okay. It's down north.

SPEAKER_06
59:00

Also, though, too. Um, I just saw Chilwaukee has shaved ice, and they're at the um market now. Market.

SPEAKER_10
59:08

So they're at a shout out to Sam.

SPEAKER_06
59:10

That is one spot that I do actually want to really check out, but it looks amazing. It's like the Hawaiian, authentic shaved ice. Okay, that sounds that sounds really good. We should do that.

SPEAKER_05
59:21

Yeah, we should just do that. And then you can go to Chilwan.

SPEAKER_02
59:23

We should go there. Chilwaki, uh, the guy who runs it and owns it, he was former intern. Oh really? Great guy. Yeah, he's he's him. Milwaukee strikes again. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07
59:35

That's amazing. Wait, Milwaukee on cut intern?

SPEAKER_02
59:38

Uh, before we rebranded an interview. Oh, yes. Oh, that's amazing.

SPEAKER_07
59:42

So a while ago, but you know, Lex before Lex was Lex. Yeah. Okay. Anyways.

SPEAKER_02
59:48

Yeah, yeah. He's yeah, a little different personalities.

SPEAKER_07
59:51

I love that. Love it. Okay. Well, that sounds very refreshing because you don't want something that's gonna be really heavy necessarily during a date. So Hawaiian shade dice.

SPEAKER_06
1:00:00

That was a good list, guys. Also, I mean, like brownie points for any guy that plans out a picnic for summer. That's really cute. I love that. That's really cute.

SPEAKER_04
1:00:09

Picnic with a view.

SPEAKER_06
1:00:11

Yeah. Go to Veterans Park. Yeah. Go to a lake view at Water Beach. Lake Shore State Park. Right by summer fest. For a nice, like sunset-esque. I guess the sun does not set that way, but maybe you could do like a morning yoga session there too for a date. Yoga wink, wink, dude. But grab, pick up some sushi, super easy. Grab a bottle of wine and find a picnic spot. Yes. Hint hint. Great date.

SPEAKER_02
1:00:42

I don't know if I've ever done that before. No, you haven't. What other hidden gem dates we have? You just want to see that. On that note, thank you everyone for tuning in to another episode of Milwaukee Uncut. Hey guys, thank you so much for tuning in. Like I said earlier, if you've got a gem of the week, a bachelor, bachelorette of the week, just head on over to MilwaukeeUncut.com. Send them over, shoot us a direct message on Instagram. And just want to thank our partners before signing off. Kessler's Domin's Nikolaw, Annex Wealth Management, and Drink Wisconsin Bleak Beverage Company.

SPEAKER_00
0:00

How much cattle do you have out here?

SPEAKER_01
0:02

More than five. More than five. There's a a couple thousand. You didn't think you'd make the NFL growing up? I never thought about the NFL. It was just, I don't have to stop playing football. And then in college, I was just loving my time at Madison. I was just living the dream.

SPEAKER_00
0:16

Would you drink an entire fishbowl by yourself at once?

SPEAKER_01
0:19

Well, that was the nightcap.

SPEAKER_00
0:21

You played in the Johnny Manzel Browns hype era. Does one story stand out to you?

SPEAKER_01
0:26

None of them were very happy stories, but uh there's a few that you can laugh about at least by now.

SPEAKER_00
0:33

Hey guys, welcome back to Milwaukee Uncut. A very special episode today with an absolute legend, the NFL Hall of Famer Brookfield native Joe Thomas, who I'll give a proper intro to in a few minutes. We got to drive all the way over to Moscuto, Wisconsin, last Friday, if you don't know where that is. It's about an hour west of Madison, somewhere through Black Earth and uh Mazal Mania in those towns. I grew up in Madison. I felt nostalgic driving through there, but he has a very large farm with a lot of cattle on it, Hall of Fame farms, which we were just blown away by. A beautiful property, so we got to spend a few hours out there, interview Joe on this episode, and we've got what I think is an absolutely amazing Illinois couple gets lost in a Wisconsin farm skit out on social media. It should be out right now. Excuse my Cubsad, I was I was only getting into character Go Brewers. Okay, with Joe, we got to talk about how he got into farming and transitioned from the NFL to uh to farming. And we got to talk about how he had to wrangle loose cow last week, his fitness and nutrition regimen. The guy's down like 70 pounds from his playing days and looks like an absolute machine. So, any guys out there who are looking like Adam Garski these days, you're gonna want to take some notes during that section. Joe's got just some some great advice and methods that you are going to want to take note of. We also talked about him getting recruited by Barry Alvarez. How much lineman drank at UW? Spoiler, it was it was quite a bit when they went out. The Johnny Manzell Browns there. If you forgot that Johnny Manzel played on the Browns, and that just came back into your head. Shows got a good story for you. We talked about his favorite moments in Cleveland, his favorite spots around Wisconsin, and more. Absolutely loved spending time with the guy. Before diving in, I want to thank our partners who make Milwaukee Uncut possible. Nicolela, the Midwest Law firm injured. Get Nicola and Russ and the team will take great care of you. That is Nicolela. Drink Wisconsinably Beverage Company, Vez Vodka Brandy, and canned cocktails in the game. I personally love their canned brandy old fashioned. That is Drink Wisconsinably Beverage Company and Annex Wealth Management. If you are looking to get your finances in order, talk to our good friends, the experts over at Annex Wealth Management. That's annexwealth.com. Annex, know the difference. All right, let's dive in with Joe Thomas. He played an NFL record, 10,363 straight snaps, blocked for an NFL record, 23 quarterbacks, went to Brookfield Central, where he was a four-year honor roll student, according to Wikipedia, and also an all-state punter, according to different podcasts I listened to. A man of many talents, also team captain of the Wisconsin Badgers football team and broke records and shot put and discus and at UW. He also asked his now wife Annie out in front of her current boyfriend. The guy just has no fear. He was the third pick in the 2007 NFL draft, which he refused to go to since he was fishing. Went on to become a Cleveland Browns legend in 23 NFL Hall of Fame selection. Now on to the next chapter of his life. He is the founder of Hall of Fame Farms out here in southwest Wisconsin, where we are today. Absolutely beautiful setting. Joe Thomas, welcome to Milwaukee Uncut.

SPEAKER_01
4:20

It's my pleasure to be here. Thank you guys so much for coming out to Muscaday, Wisconsin, and being able to see a little bit of God's country over our shoulder. I love hosting people and showing them the beauty of our state. Not that you don't know the beauty of our state already, but a lot of people don't get a chance to get out here to the driftless, which I think is the most beautiful part of our incredible state.

SPEAKER_00
4:40

Absolutely. We love driving out here. I grew up in Madison, haven't driven through Black Earth and um Meso Mania and all the all the little towns. Beautiful day, beautiful drive along the Wisconsin River.

SPEAKER_01
4:53

It's beautiful out here. I love the drive from Madison because you just follow the Wisconsin River. And as soon as you go west of Madison, you start seeing the bluffs and you feel like, ah, I'm here. I am at peace now. And you're also kind of wondering as you see the hills, if you grew up in Milwaukee like I did, like, wait, did I drive all the way to Colorado? Why are these hills?

SPEAKER_00
5:14

Are they look like mountains? Just absolute gods country out here. So um, speaking of, you grew up in Brookfield, Milwaukee suburb. You played for the Badgers, Cleveland. How did you get into farming?

SPEAKER_01
5:27

I'm still asking myself that question sometimes because I never bought the farm here in 2012 thinking that it would be what it is today. And when I was growing up in Brookfield, not on a farm, parents weren't farmers, grandparents weren't farmers. I never really had a dream thinking that it could become reality. I was a Tom Sawyer boy as a kid. I loved being outside. If I didn't have scabs on my knees and my elbows and dirt all over my pants, it wasn't a day that I lived to the fullest the way I wanted to. And so for me, I always dreamed of owning some land and maybe being a farmer, but it was more a fantasy. It was along the lines of man, wouldn't it be cool to be a pro athlete? But that'll never happen. So I don't need to worry about that. And so I feel like I'm just living that dream. And a lot of it was because of what you mentioned earlier. Got married to the beautiful Annie Nelson. She is an amazing person that has a lot of farming in her family. We have our four beautiful kids. And as they started coming out here after they were born, after we bought the farm, they started telling me, hey, dad, it's not really a farm unless you have animals out there. We need to get some animals. How about some cows out there? And it really just started as a journey of, well, got to get the wife and kids some cows, make them happy, get them to come out to the farm and have some fun.

SPEAKER_00
6:47

And now and how much cattle do you have out here?

SPEAKER_01
6:50

Well, more than five. More than five. There's a couple thousand between me and and um some of the cooperator herds that uh help pasture some of my animals in the summer, and then my partner that's up in Minnesota that does some of our finishing. So it's become quite quite an operation a lot bigger than I ever dreamed.

SPEAKER_00
7:09

So Annie from Hudson, Wisconsin, close to where Brie grew up in Menominee, did she grow up on a farm? She did not. She grew up kind of in the country in the town of Troy.

SPEAKER_01
7:18

So they had uh one steer in their backyard that they named Norman. And that's really actually, if you go even back further, that's like the genesis of all this because my wife had such great memories of having Norman in the backyard sticking his head through their window and peeking around and slobbering the kids. Um, and her her grandparents and uh, or excuse me, great grandparents grew up on the farm. Her uncle is still a dairy farmer, so there's a lot of farming in her background. Uh, and so it was it was, I would say, an easier leap for us to say, yeah, let's go into that farming world because there is some farming history back there, and there's definitely a nostalgia amongst her and me, and hearing the stories from our family members about what it was like living on a farm or what it is currently like for some of those that are still in agriculture.

SPEAKER_00
8:06

Yep. And how did it evolve from you just wanting to get some land and a few cows for the family to the operation you have out here today with Hall of Fame meat?

SPEAKER_01
8:15

So we harvested our first two steers in like 2019 after we got things going and started feeding friends and family, and I had to buy a new chest freezer because there's about 500 pounds of beef on each steer. So after I put a thousand pounds of beef in my freezer, bought a new chest freezer and a new upright freezer, I thought, man, this stuff is gonna last forever. I better start giving it away or it's gonna go bad. So every time friends and family would come over to the house, I'd say, Oh, go grab yourself some steaks, some burgers, take whatever you want. You know, we raised a couple steers, and you know, the ultimate gift in the Midwest, the show of love and respect is let me feed you something good. Come on in and let me make you a casserole. You know, that's like what happens when you go to somebody's house. And so for me, it was like showing that servanthood, that love for friends and family by feeding them. And as soon as they ate the beef, it was like, Whoa, where did you get this? This is not the stuff that I've bought in the grocery store before. This is amazing. The taste, the flavor, the freshness, the tenderness, the marbling. And that's when I realized after two months thinking this beef is gonna last forever to open in the freezer and seeing that it was empty, like, well, maybe you need more than two per year to feed these people that are in my life. And so that's kind of when the ball started, where I just started expanding the herd, we had more space. Um, and then it got to the point where it was out of hand and I had too too much beef finally to give it.

SPEAKER_00
9:38

Did you have a legitimate business at this point? No, no, no.

SPEAKER_01
9:41

This was just raising spears for myself and for the family and friends, and knowing, like, hey, this is really good, high-quality, healthy beef, because I know what it's been eating, I've been feeding it, I know how they've been raised the right way, and understanding and experiencing the difference of that farm to table product, that farm to table raised beef on driftless pasture. Um, and then once the herd started getting out of control with numbers because nobody told me that they actually breed and have babies, and then once it got out of control, I realized okay, well, maybe we need to sell some of the extra that we're producing, and that's when we started the website, and then it was really popular there, and it just kind of one thing led to the other, and pretty soon I realized like I need to take this really serious because this is actually a business now. I actually am selling beef and people are buying it and complaining that it's sold out, uh, and so we just kind of kind of have run with it from there.

SPEAKER_00
10:33

How you played ten and a half seasons with the Browns, right? Yeah, how has transitioning to an athlete to the business world been for you? And what did anything you learn on the field transition over?

SPEAKER_01
10:45

Yeah, tons of stuff. It's amazing the longer I'm in agriculture and farming, how many carryovers there are from the lessons that I learned on the football field to the lessons that I'm learning on the agriculture field. Because on the football field, when your coach says, be there at 8 a.m. and then I'm gonna want you to go out and run 30 windsprints, you don't think about it, you just do it. And the other day when we had the barstool guys out here, it started pouring rain. So we quick came back to the shop, we were kind of drying off, and then all of a sudden the neighbor, no shit, this is exactly what happened. It was like a movie with Lassie, like the neighbor screeches in, pulls to a stop, and jumps out and says, One of your cows is out on the highway, we got to get them back in. And it was like immediately nobody even thought about anything. They popped right off the couch, they put their boots on, jumping in cars, peeling tires to get out of here. And all of a sudden, everybody just popped into action. Nobody had to say anything, nobody had to have a pre-production meeting about all right, what are we gonna do here? You just get off the couch and you go and do it. And I think that's one of the great things about farming is like and why farmers typically have such great work ethic. It's like you you don't have to think about something because you have a bunch of animals out here that are relying on you every single day to do the job. They don't care if it's 30 below, they gotta eat, they don't care if it's a hundred degrees, they need to eat, they need water, and so you get in that routine of hey, I am the steward of this land, I'm the steward of these animals, and I don't have to think about it. If I feel like doing the work today, you just do it because you have to. There's no choice. Did you get the cow? We got her back in. You got it.

SPEAKER_00
12:26

How do you wrangle a cow on the highway?

SPEAKER_01
12:28

It's not easy. So basically, you just try to get blockers, and thankfully, we had all these guys out here um that were filming and we were doing the farm deal, the hall of fame.

SPEAKER_00
12:37

You had the whole bar stool crew out trying to wrangle.

SPEAKER_01
12:39

Yeah, you should have seen Chef Donnie, how fast he was running. Like, if they would have timed that 40, it was definitely sub four or five. He's got some wheels. He's got some wheels, he's got a chance he could go back.

SPEAKER_00
12:49

You're lucky you had Chef Donnie instead of Chef Adam that night. That's right. Chef Adam Chef Adam, I can't see him moving. He probably would have been a 5'3, maybe.

SPEAKER_01
12:57

He probably would have been having a cigarette and uh trying to build a little campfire to cook his burger over there as he watched and enjoyed the show, but we got her back in. Um, we blocked her, we were able to kind of move her because she was all fired up. There were there was no like getting the horses out and lassoing her. You just had to guide her and hope that she wanted to go back with her people.

SPEAKER_00
13:17

Chef Adam definitely would have been a ripping of dart on the grill. I don't know the last time that guy went on a jog, but he can he can make he can make a good burger.

SPEAKER_01
13:25

Nobody can make a better burger if you've got a burger tattooed on your hand. I trust you on the grill, making me a Hall of Fame Wagyu burger.

SPEAKER_00
13:32

As well as 72 other things tattooed on tattooed on the only one. Chef Adam. Um spe speaking of fitness and the the healthy beef you're raising here. I think you were 3310-ish when you were playing. Um, what's your fitness and nutrition regimen like?

SPEAKER_01
13:50

So I did play at about 310. I was as heavy as 325. I really retired from the NFL because my knee got real bad. Um, a bunch of surgeries on the knee, removing cartilage and meniscus, and got to the point where it was just bone on bone and the the daily pain was too much. My last season in the NFL, I only practiced three times. And to get in shape for the season, I picked up swimming because I couldn't run, I couldn't even really stand to watch practice. I would just uh lay in the training room because I couldn't be on my knee at all every week. Knee drained before the game, would get it shot up. So the pain was manageable at least. And then the next week you're just crawling around the house, sliding down the stairs on your butt because you can't walk down the stairs. And so it was kind of a miserable experience and living through it with a bad knee. Getting a retirement doctor says the only thing we can do is either replace it or you can lose some weight. That's all I needed to hear. So then I got really, really focused and dialed in. My nutrition before that was, what do I need to eat to be fat? And now the nutrition was what do I need to eat to reduce inflammation and feel better? And so then that's when I really picked up, all right, I need to remove processed foods as much as I can from my diet. I need to try to remove as many carbohydrates and things that are causing additional inflammation on top of just being bone on bone in my knee. And from January of 2018 when I officially retired until about September when my last daughter was born, I think I lost 50 pounds. And so I got really dialed in. So three days a week, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, lifting weights, Tuesday, Thursday, and then one day on the weekend, I would uh swim or do yoga. And I've kind of kept that same routine since then, added in intermittent fasting. So, like if I'm lifting weights Monday, Wednesday, Friday, I'll try to eat a good meal revolving around beef, as you'd expect. So getting that protein, getting that good whole food, adding some vegetables in there. Um, and then Tuesdays and Thursdays, which are more like cardio mobility type days, I try to fast until dinner. So I'm getting that 24-hour fast a couple of times during the week. And it's been a great routine that's worked for me, reducing inflammation, losing weight, feeling fit, and feeling maybe not younger than 41, but younger than a NFL 41-year-old. Um, so I've just been really, really lucky that I was able to kind of find that health and wellness obsession right at the end of my career.

SPEAKER_00
16:27

And you never had to get the knee replaced.

SPEAKER_01
16:29

Knee has not been replaced. Hip has, but the knee's doing pretty good. Um, thankfully, a lot of that pain and and the inflammation, swelling, the issues that I was having was related to the position of playing left tackle, which I did for 15 years basically. Um and once I removed that, lost the weight, cleaned up the diet, got rid of a lot of those inflammatory foods with the processed foods and the sugars, and really focused on that really healthy, high quality beef as the centerpiece of the protein consumption and the fat consumption that I'm getting. It's been a world of difference on just how I feel and the energy that I have every single day.

SPEAKER_00
17:08

Follow-up question How many do you know how many calories a day you were eating on on the I need to get fat and stay fat program?

SPEAKER_01
17:16

Yes, the stay fat, the fat Joe program as my kids.

SPEAKER_00
17:19

One sounds funner than the 24-hour fast.

SPEAKER_01
17:23

So I always said that I I didn't really understand nutrition as much when I was trying to be fat, Fat Joe. Um, but I knew that I had to push myself away from the table with the Thanksgiving meal feeling every single meal. So three, four, five meals a day, I felt horribly stuffed and uncomfortable. And I actually didn't like eating at the time because I wasn't even really tasting the food. I was just eating as much as I could until I felt like I was gonna burst. Um, and so getting away from that, I do kind of miss the late night thin mint Girl Scout cookies and the pint of ice cream that I ate almost every single night. And so looking back and doing that analysis, I was realized that during training camp I was eating like 10,000 calories a day. And a lot of it was sugar because it's hard to eat 10,000 calories of good whole foods, but when you're putting the sugars and the ice creams and the cookies, like that's a good way to pile on the calories.

SPEAKER_00
18:18

Go going back, you you didn't think you'd make the NFL growing up or in college necessarily, but you had to, was there a moment when you knew your talent was different, whether it was growing up in Brookfield or at UW, where you're like, oh, I'll actually be able to do this?

SPEAKER_01
18:32

I just felt so fortunate when I was in high school that I had an opportunity to continue playing football. I never thought about the NFL. It was just holy smokes, this is gonna be awesome. I I don't have to stop playing football like all my buddies that I'm playing with. And then in college, I was just loving my time at Madison. I loved my teammates, I loved Madison, I loved going to school there, I loved the social scene. I met my wife, like I was just living the dream. And so I I never even considered playing in the NFL until my junior year. In college, you have scouts that are coming through the building and watching practice all the time. And so you just get used to it and you don't even think about it. And it was after one of the practices my junior year that one of the scouts stopped me coming off the field and said, Hey Joe, have you thought about if you're gonna come out for the NFL draft after this season? And I was like, NFL draft? Like, I'm a junior. Like if I was gonna get drafted, it would happen next year. But it was at that time and in that moment I realized like, wow, if they think I'm good enough to leave school early to play in the NFL, hey, maybe there's a shot I actually can play in the NFL. And then my perspective changed a little bit on like, okay, well, maybe I do have a chance to go play in the NFL. Not that it made me do anything differently, but now all of a sudden I had that in my mind, like, okay, senior year, I'm not gonna be transitioning to wear uh suit and tie anymore. I'm probably gonna be transitioning thinking about the future of going to live somewhere else to go play in the NFL.

SPEAKER_00
19:59

Did you consider coming out early at all?

SPEAKER_01
20:02

So I've always been somebody who's really focused on just like kind of what's in front of me and not wanting to be distracted with things I don't control or things that are gonna be happening down the line. And so I wanted to make sure that I gave my best effort for my teammates and for the badgers while I was playing, and I didn't want to be distracted with that decision, so I'd put it off to make that decision after our bowl game my junior year. And it just so happens that in that bowl game I tore my ACL, and then the question really wasn't even in my mind anymore. I was gonna come back because I wanted to get healthy and prove that I could be the same player that I was before I hurt my my knee. And in hindsight, looking back, I don't think I would have come out because I just was loving my time so much in Madison, and I didn't really think that I was ready mentally or physically to go play in the NFL at that moment. So I do feel like I would have come back had I been faced with that decision as a healthy player, but tearing your ACL makes the decision a little bit easier.

SPEAKER_00
21:01

Yeah, and you you played for Barry and Bielma there, right? Yep. Any any good Barry stories from from that first year getting recruited by him? Who was he like?

SPEAKER_01
21:11

Uh he was awesome. Everybody loved Barry. He was like a father for like a god on campus. Just a god, and he was such a great leader. I always thought that the thing I respected the most about him, and I thought why guys would give everything they had for Barry on the field on game day practices in the weight room is because they loved him so much like a dad, because he treated you like a man, but then he expected you to act like a man, even as a 18-year-old kid coming into school. And I always loved that he just gave you that autonomy to make or break yourself, but he was gonna work your ass off. And I think that's why he got such great teams that would pull together and play for him, play for each other, because he did work you into the dirt, but then he would wrap his arm around you and give you that big hug. And sitting in my living room. Brookfield, Wisconsin, being recruited. I'll never forget sitting on the couch. And it was uh Barry Alvarez, Jim Huber, who was the offensive line coach at the time, Brian White, who was the offensive coordinator, and they were in there for the in-home visit. And it was around Christmas time. Um, and people knew I was being recruited in town, but it wasn't like it is now. This was senior year. This was senior year. Senior year, okay. Senior year. And it's not like it is now where everybody has social media and they know who's getting offers like the second it happens, and it's such a big business and industry. Like you would you would have had an agent today. Yeah, right. You'd have an agent NIL. So like people would have known about it. I mean, people in Brookfield, don't get me wrong, they knew I was potentially gonna go play college spores, but it wasn't a thing. And um, one of my neighbors who is a friend of mine, Tim Hughes, actually, who was the strong man and uh the greatest showman, by the way, went on to a successful Broadway career and a movie star now. But he was singing Christmas carols with some of like the local kids, uh, and they were going door to door and they knocked on our door. And so they opened the door and they look in, and I came to the door and said, Oh, hey Tim, how's it going? And they looked over, and there's Barry Alvarez sitting on my mom's couch, which was like this high off the ground, like in the formal living room that, you know, if you grew up in Wisconsin, you probably had like the little formal living room that you could only go in twice a year, right? It was like Christmas and Easter is the only time you go in that room. And so we're sitting in there, and it's Barry, Jim Huber, and Brian White, and Tim's face was like, Oh my gosh, what on earth is happening? And what did I step myself into? And should I really go through with singing Christmas girls for Barry Alvarez right now? Please tell me they did. They did. And they did a great job. That's that's awesome. True professionals. Did you consider any other schools? I did actually. So, growing up in Wisconsin, I played AAU basketball, but like wasn't a traveling family, right? You went to AAU tournaments here and there, but it wasn't like my kids, where we lived in Germany for a year. We'd visited, you know, 20 countries when we were living over there, and we we like to do a lot of travel, you know, it's one of the things that we love doing with the kids. And so I hadn't left the state a whole lot. And I think when you don't get out and travel as much, you don't get a chance to appreciate what you have right here in Wisconsin. You don't realize how amazing this state is from way up north to all the way down south, from east over by Lake Michigan to where we are right now over here in the Driftless area with these beautiful hills and gorgeous lush valleys. And so my mentality a little bit was like, hey, I think I want to leave the state. I want to go to school somewhere else. I was a huge Badger fan, but in my mind, as probably a lot of people, it's like the grass must be greener over there. And so I visited Notre Dame, I visited Virginia Tech, Colorado, Nebraska, uh, Kansas, and then took unofficial visits to Wisconsin because I already felt like, hey, I kind of know what Madison is, right? I don't need to take an official visit there. But then as I was going through the recruiting process and visiting these campuses, I was finding a lot of things I didn't like about them. And then every time I'd come home, I'd appreciate all the stuff that was here. And so it was a longer process. But by Christmas time, playing basketball at Brookfield Central, I sat down with my parents, and my dad was a banker for MI Bank and Bank One back in the day. Yeah, you know, shout out to the old school Milwaukee regional banks. But he's very process-oriented, so we sat down, wrote a list of like pluses and minuses, you know, benefits, costs, and all the schools that I mentioned that I visited had some great things, but they also had some drawbacks. And we got down to Madison and it was like, well, amazing social scene, amazing offensive line development, amazing football team, amazing Hall of Fame coach with Barry Alvarez. I wanted to do track, they had an amazing track program, won two Big Ten championships, actually four if you consider indoor and outdoor. But, anyways, so they had everything I was looking for and incredible academics. I wanted to go in the real estate program, number one in the country. And it was so funny to go through that process and be so stressed about it because in the end it was so obvious what the right decision was that I was like, this is the most freeing feeling ever to realize after making this big tour that everything I was looking for was right under my nose the whole time.

SPEAKER_00
26:15

And what was your favorite moment as a badger? Did one stand out?

SPEAKER_01
26:19

So the one that always stands out to me honestly happened when I was a freshman. We were playing at home. It was my very first Big Ten game of all ever my life. At home, Ohio State, under the lights. ESPN was there. They were coming off of their national championship season in 2002. They had a 20-some game, undefeated streak going, and they came into Camp Randall. Nobody gave us a chance. Jim Sorgi goes down in the first half. One of those dirty Ohio State guys had choked him out and he couldn't speak, couldn't give the cadence on the field. So Matt Schaabert comes in. We had the great Lee Evans, who became a first-round pick that next year, was matched up against Chris Gamble on the outside. Another first-round draft choice from the Ohio State Buckeyes defensive back. And it's seven to seven in the fourth quarter. It the rain starts coming down. Camp Randall's bumping, jump around's playing, and we called an out and up, which is a double move on the sideline. It's kind of a make or break, not quite a Hill Mary, but it's up there in the risk reward category. And Lee Evans gives this great fake head fake to the sideline. Chris Gamble jumps it, trying to make the hero play and go for a pick six, runs down the sideline. Matt Shabert throws like a 50-yard bomb, which was probably 30 yards further than he'd ever thrown in his entire life. He had a bit of a noodle arm, not exactly a cannon, and hits Lee Evans down the sideline, caught it, runs into the student section. We score, we win the game. And I was like, oh my God, if all these games are going to be like this, I'm never going to make it. I'm going to have a heart attack. But that's that moment that just will stick out forever because after the game, the students pile on the field, and I'm like, this is what college football is all about.

SPEAKER_00
27:58

Then do you guys go right down State Street after that one?

SPEAKER_01
28:01

Of course, I went right home to the library and started studying because I had a lot of tests. Okay, yeah, we went to State Street and celebrated a little bit.

SPEAKER_00
28:08

Um, and then moving on, you you get drafted while you were fishing, and you find out you're going to the Browns. How did that feel? Third overall pick. Hey guys, just a reminder that summer is officially here. It's time to go outside and enjoy the weather. And maybe just maybe take a hard look at your financial life too. Annex wealth management led by our guide, our good friend, who you've probably seen on some recent videos, Dave Spano, they are the ones to call Annex is a holistic wealth management firm right here in the Milwaukee area. And in many places around Wisconsin, that helps you with everything: retirement planning, smart investing, estate planning, legacy planning, and tax strategies all under one roof. It'll help declutter your old accounts, dust off your investment strategy, organize your estate documents, and build a financial plan focused on your goals. That's our good friends over at NXWealth Management, nxwealth.com, NX. Know the difference. All right, let's get back with Joe Thomas.

SPEAKER_01
29:12

It was great, but I had that workman light blue-collar Wisconsin attitude, like, all right, today I find out where my next job is going to be. And it was like, but I can go fishing first before I have to start the job. So me and the dad went out on Port Washington, caught some brown trout, and had an amazing morning. Because I kind of knew in that in that minute, like, hey, things are going to get pretty serious. And very quickly, I'm going to be moving to Cleveland. I'm going to be completely focused on my football career. This might be the last chance I get for a little while to go fishing with my dad, do something on Saturday mornings that was our tradition. Every Saturday morning growing up, we'd get in his little 17-foot 1977 grummin boat with a uh 55 Johnson outboard on the back, and we'd go troll out of the harbor in Lake Michigan and we'd catch salmon. And so I wanted to have one more opportunity to do that before I officially started my NFL journey, my working life, because those were the moments that were always the most important for me growing up was family and friends. And I just wanted to make sure I took the opportunity to do that one more time because not knowing what the future held, that to me was more important than being around a bunch of guys in suits and giving Roger Goodell a hug and sweating it out on TV because I didn't even have a suit. So I didn't want to have to buy one and uh didn't want to go to New York because the fish were biting that day.

SPEAKER_00
30:34

You you are kind of a small town Wisconsin guy. Who grew up in Brookfield. Yeah, just a little bit. Did you have a preferred team you wanted to go to, or were you just like, whoever takes me, I'm so uh I was lucky being at the top of the draft.

SPEAKER_01
30:49

I kind of knew I was gonna go on the first three picks, and it was um Calvin Johnson, myself, Brady Quinn, Jamarcus Russell, yeah. Those were kind of the four guys that everybody had pegged to go at the top in the top three, and it just depended on how number one went. We knew that if Jamarcus Russell went number one, that Jamarcus Russell draft. That was me. If we if Jamarcus went first, Calvin we knew was gonna go to Detroit because they couldn't help themselves, but draft receivers at the time, and then we thought I was gonna go three. So I kind of had a pretty good idea to either be Detroit or Cleveland. Most people would be like, dang, Detroit or Cleveland, me. I was like, Detroit and Cleveland, this is awesome. Like I'm close to Wisconsin, they've got great fishing in both those places, passionate fan bases. This is perfect. I don't want to go somewhere hot. Arizona was, I think, four, Tampa was five, and I was like, man, that's the last place I want to go. It's hot down there. Can't go catch walleye and bluegills. Like, that is not me. And so I was really excited uh when Cleveland drafted me, knowing that I could stay in the Midwest, I could stay close to some amazing fishing. And I actually had a lot of family in Ohio, so it was a perfect fit for me.

SPEAKER_00
31:56

Yeah, and you seem it seemed like you absolutely embraced and loved the town and they loved you. Did you have what was you what was your favorite era of Browns football that you were a part of or favorite year?

SPEAKER_01
32:07

It was that first one. Yeah. It was the only one that we had a winning season, believe it or not. I mean, it's it's tough to think back about all the losing that we did, but that first year we won 10 and 6 as a rookie.

SPEAKER_00
32:19

How close were you to the playoffs that year? So you had to be right there.

SPEAKER_01
32:22

We were very close, actually. Um, unfortunately, this is when my badger buddy Jim Sorgi uh reared his ugly head as a professional quarterback because we won 10-6. We tied the Steelers for first place in the division. Yep. Um, the tiebreaker was head to head. We lost both times, uh, but that was like the second tiebreaker. I think that maybe the division record was in there somewhere. I can't remember exactly what the tiebreaker was, but but it came down to the last game where we had already won and um oh that's what it was. Sorry. The tiebreaker between us and Pittsburgh at 10 and 6 was head to head, which they won both. So they won the division, but we were still up for the wild card. And it was us in Tennessee that were fighting for that wild card spot. Tennessee was playing Indy, and if Indy won, Tennessee was out, we were in. If Tennessee won, we were out and they were in. Unfortunately, the Colts already had the playoffs wrapped up, so they played Peyton for the first drive and took them out and put Sorgi in. And then Sorgi was unable to carry the momentum of the 7-0 lead, and so they got smoked. And Tennessee won, and then we're out of the playoffs, and then I never sniffed the playoffs the rest of my career.

SPEAKER_00
33:32

You give Sorgi a nice message after that performance?

SPEAKER_01
33:34

A noogie. Yeah, I gave him a noogie, and I took away his free fishbowls for life at Wando's card.

SPEAKER_00
33:42

As a large lineman, how many would you drink an entire fishbowl by yourself at Wands?

SPEAKER_01
33:47

Well, that was the night cap.

SPEAKER_00
33:52

What was the average night on State Street for the Badger offensive line?

SPEAKER_01
33:57

Started with a lot of beers, ended with more beers, and then a fishbowl as a nightcap. We were not afraid of uh drinking a couple beers on State Street when I was playing as a big lineman, and we also didn't know the uh possible negative effects of uh of heavy drinking, like most college kids.

SPEAKER_00
34:14

You guys could hold it, hold it well. We could hold our own.

SPEAKER_01
34:16

Yeah, we could hold our own.

SPEAKER_00
34:18

Are we talking like a 30 rack per lineman? It was it was up there.

SPEAKER_01
34:22

Usually, if you were gonna go out, you kind of had to do the math, right? And it usually was about a case per person. You know, you get a keg, bring the boys over, it's like, all right, well, a keg is what, like 72 cases? Like, all right, well, we can have 34 linemen for a couple days.

SPEAKER_00
34:37

That that math adds up. Somewhere in there. Somewhere in there. Oh man. Who was your what were your favorite spots to go to in Madison while you were a student?

SPEAKER_01
34:49

So Wandos was always a big hangout. A lot of the football guys were barbacks and bouncers back before NIL. You had to actually had to work to make money uh outside of football.

SPEAKER_00
34:59

Making 20 bucks as a bouncer an hour instead of the NIL money.

SPEAKER_01
35:03

Yeah, that was 20 bucks per hour, with including tips. Um, and that's actually my wife worked there for a little bit as a as a bar.

SPEAKER_00
35:13

She probably made more than $20 an hour. My first job ever, I think I was it was like sophomore year of high school. I was working at the Bridges golf course where Jim Leonard actually worked. I think he was just hanging out with the cart girls most of the time, if I remember correctly. Yeah, I would I I was not at that point. I think I was making like $5.15 an hour, and then the cart girls just came in with wads of 20s, and I learned something about life on that job.

SPEAKER_01
35:38

Absolutely. Yeah, so we loved Wandos. I mean, all the classics, you know, State Street Brats is a great spot. The KK always go to Mondays, the state was a big spot, and you know, um, then there was always the little local watering holes on Regent we'd hit up, and um there was plenty of great spots to get a drink in Madison. Mondays was the first place I lost a fake ID. Really? Yeah, they checked ID back then.

SPEAKER_00
36:03

I was um, I think I was uh 17 or 18. Um I still I still had hair, which I do not right now. And I had my friend make my friend's older brother make an ID, and I was Richie Burhey, because they spelt my last name wrong, from Augusta Main. And I had a baby face, and that that did not make it through Mondays.

SPEAKER_01
36:23

The big mustache on the driver's license was a dead giveaway.

SPEAKER_00
36:26

Yeah, I couldn't grow one of those. I couldn't grow one of those, and that was uh that was the start of going through seven, I think, in my in my career. But um, and anyway, um do you you play it in the Johnny Manzell Browns hype era? What was that like? Does one story stand out to you from that?

SPEAKER_01
36:44

None of them were very happy stories, but uh there's a few that you can laugh about at least by now. Um so Johnny. We drafted him in the first round. He wasn't ready. Um, we had a good season going till about two-thirds of the way through the season. Came to a little bit of a rough sp spell. The coaches wanted to keep playing Brian Hoyer, front office wanted to sell more tickets and put Johnny in the game. So Johnny went in, didn't do a great job, ended up getting like a bit of a concussion. Showed up like on a Monday morning. Um, we'll call it a concussion. I'm actually pretty sure he was just still drunk from partying the night before. So they held him out of practice. I think it was the way of softly benching him without making an announcement. Oh, he's injured concussion, not benched. Uh so now he's not playing. He's like, Oh great, now I don't have to do anything. So instead of coming to treatment and rehab, he just like vanished. Uh so Saturday night, we can't find Johnny. Nobody knows where he's. He's gone all week. Well, I think he may have been in the training room, but you know, concussion protocol. So they're not sitting in meetings, they're you know, maybe sitting in a dark room in the training room, but we didn't know where he was. And we had heard that nobody else knew where he was. So Sunday morning we get to the stadium, we're in the locker room, we're getting dressed, and all of a sudden I see a bunch of the guys like start talking to each other and like showing phones and stuff. And so, of course, I'm focused, but I'm also curious. So I go over to my right guard John Greco, and I'm like, dude, what are you guys all talking about? What are you laughing about? And he goes, Hey, check this out. He shows me a picture that Johnny had sent him. So apparently Johnny had flown to Las Vegas. I don't know who he went there with. He knew he couldn't be there, right? So at least he had the foresight to realize like, if Johnny Manzel is like strolling around Vegas, it's gonna get back to Cleveland that like I'm out here partying instead of getting treatment or whatever. So he thought he had this great idea that he would buy a wig and a fake mustache and he would go to the casino and go to the parties with a wig and a fake mustache, and nobody know who he is. But what he didn't realize is if he's sending pictures of himself with said wig and fake mustache that people are gonna start sharing that photo to his teammates and talking about it, yes, to the guys that are there, you know, working. Um, and additionally, like he pulled out his ID and showed it to like the uh person at the gambling table who runs the table. I forget the the dealer. And the dealer's like, Oh, Johnny Manzell, thanks for being at the table. And so word spread like wildfire. And you as you can imagine, the teammates and the Browns were not too pleased that he was parading around Vegas, gambling and partying with uh a wig and a fake mustache as uh you know Steve Manzell or whatever the fake ID, fake name that he was under was parading around with. Yeah. So you could uh there's about a million Johnny stories that sound just like that.

SPEAKER_00
39:49

Yep, yep. As a as a consummate professional, was were you just like what the fuck?

SPEAKER_01
39:54

Well, I thought you were talking about Johnny there for a second, the consummate professional. No, that's when I was a professional gambler drinker at the time, yeah. The consummate professional. Absolutely. Well, different professions, but yeah, yeah. I mean, as as a leader, as somebody who uh was always trying to do the right thing, always trying to be there for his teammates, to have uh that type of shenanigans going on was like man, we need to get rid of this guy. From the top draft pick quarterback, too, because that that position, especially yeah, it was like, okay, this guy's not have anything close to what it takes to be a leader that anybody's gonna want to listen to.

SPEAKER_00
40:32

Uh on on a more positive side, what was your favorite moment or uh thing about being in Cleveland?

SPEAKER_01
40:38

Being in Cleveland was awesome. I loved my time there, I loved the city, I loved the fan base, and the thing that I always reflect back on the most is how loyal and passionate those fans were. Even in the 1-15 season, the 0-16 season, the last two I had in Cleveland, the fans were there there, they showed up, they cared about the team. And the same connection that Wisconsin folks have towards their Packers is the same connection that people in Ohio have towards the Cleveland Browns. It's their identity. And so they always cared, they always showed up, they always supported you in whatever you did. Of course, most of the support sometimes at one in 15 was booze, but they were still there, they cared. It was important to them because it it it was a fabric of their identity, it was a fabric of the community. They wanted to see the people on the field, the players, reflecting their values, their blue-collar work ethic. And I always just always I always appreciated the way that they were always in your corner no matter what. Um, and that's not something that you can say about every fan base. There's a lot of fan bases that if you're not winning, they just turn the TV off and forget about you. And that's not the case with Packer fans, it's not the case with Browns fans, and I think that was a unique part of why I connected so well with the fan base because it reminded me of being a kid as a Packer fan. Yeah, and like I watched every Packer game no matter what. Now they were pretty good when I was a kid. Right. Farve won the city. It's been pretty, pretty fortunate for Packer fans. Um, but for me, it just felt like that nostalgia I had as a kid watching the fans and seeing the kids in the stands. I I ru it reminded me of myself as a Packer fan growing up, and so I always wanted to give everything I could to those fans because I remembered myself being in their shoes when I was a kid.

SPEAKER_00
42:25

Yeah. Did you have any favorite places to play on the road?

SPEAKER_01
42:29

Lambo was the best. And it wasn't just me because I grew up in Wisconsin and grew up a Packer fan. It's when you walk into that stadium, you get that feeling and that sense that this is a sacred place that in the NFL, there is no more holy grail. This is the cathedral to the NFL. This is one of the oldest, most uh passionate fan bases. This is one of the most historic places in pro football because to my knowledge, there's no other stadiums that are still pretty much the same as it was in the same place. The field may have changed, the grass may have changed, but you walk in there and you just feel the history and the roots of the NFL when you're in Lambeau. And the cool thing is we played a bunch of preseason games there. It's the only place you play a preseason game that actually fills the stadium, that fans are actually there, they're tailgating. It feels like a regular season game, and it just speaks to the loyalty and the passion of the Packers fan base and the and the uniqueness of Green Bay, the city, having an NFL franchise with 100,000 people in that city. I went to the draft last year in Green Bay as one of the hosts.

SPEAKER_00
43:40

That was wild.

SPEAKER_01
43:40

And there's like a quarter million people. And I'm telling my co-hosts, I'm like, you guys probably don't realize this, but the population is half of what is in the parking lot right now.

SPEAKER_00
43:50

Right. No, it it is literally the entire population in that in that field every Sunday almost. Yeah. The field in the bus parking lot, plus bars around. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01
43:59

It's amazing.

SPEAKER_00
44:00

But yeah, that it was it was unreal, the people at that draft. Um before letting you go, we we talk about Wisconsin and Milwaukee. You're a big hunter and fisher. Any favorite spots to go hunting and fishing around this beautiful state?

SPEAKER_01
44:15

I've been very fortunate. I've had a chance to hunt in a lot of places around the state. I think what you're looking at over our shoulder is my favorite. Uh the driftless area of Wisconsin is just so rich with wildlife and diversity from deer hunting to turkey hunting, uh duck hunting. The trout fishing out here is second to none. People from out west, they drive here to come trout fishing. Think about that. I mean, it's just incredible. The beauty that we have here is second to none. And so if I had to pick one place to go hunting, you're looking at it. Fishing, I'm gonna put myself on Lake Michigan. The salmon fishing that we have out of Milwaukee from time to time in the summer is second to none anywhere in the world. People from Alaska come down here to go fishing because of the diversity of species that we have in Milwaukee, but also how accessible it is to so many people. I mean, even if you don't have a big boat, I mean I grew up fishing out of my dad's 17-footer, it's just a little bigger than a rowboat, but we could get out there and get on the water and come back and spend some time in Milwaukee, grab a burger at Cops Custard, which is like the best burger in the world. You like the buttery burger. I love, I love Cops burgers, the cookie cheese, not culverse. I love butter burgers too, but uh cops and then having a nice custard cone after that on a hot day, it's hard to beat.

SPEAKER_00
45:36

I was thinking of Sale's. Oh that's what popped in my head. Yes. Chef Chef Adam loves that one. That's that's too much butter for me. Oh, a lot of butter. That is, that is they they they douse that thing. Um, any uh speaking of go being able to go all over the state, any favorite um towns you like visiting or ones that stick out, whether it is hunting, fishing, or just getting away or passing through?

SPEAKER_01
46:00

I love getting up north. Uh Three Lakes, that area. That's where we used to go to go up to my godfather's cabin on Big Stone Lake and the Three Lakes chain, and just all those little Northwoods vacation towns are just fantastic. You go up Manaqua and Manitouish waters and over to Hayward. Um, Hayward is one of my favorite places also because the smallmouth fishing up there is incredible, and like the dive bar scene up there, the little bars that you can pull your boat up to and get an amazing Friday night fish fry with an old-fashioned like to me, that's everything I've always wanted in life, is just that moment right there where you're sitting at the bar after a day of fishing and you're waiting for your fish fry and pounding a couple spotted cows in an old fashioned and looking out over the water. Like that is absolutely.

SPEAKER_00
46:45

Are you talking about a specific supper club?

SPEAKER_01
46:47

So Anglers Haven up there in that that area is uh one of my favorite little bars on the water. Um, Del Bar Supper Club, uh, not too far north of Madison, is another iconic place that's just spectacular from top to bottom, from service to food to setting to just getting that nostalgic Wisconsin feel. But, you know, you're leaving out hundreds if you name a single one because there's so many great, cool, uniquely Wisconsin places from a dive bar supper club standpoint, from an on-the-water restaurant standpoint. And I think that's one of my favorite things to do when I bring people here that have never been to Wisconsin. It's like, what do I want to show them that's unique to this state that they're gonna find really cool dive bar, supper clubs, restaurants on the water, getting on a lake? Because so many people don't even realize how many lakes we have. We bring friends from Ohio out here. Um, our social media director for Hall of Fame Farms is from Ohio, never been to Wisconsin. First thing she says to me when she gets out here is, and I didn't realize you guys had so many lakes. I'm like, hey, Minnesota may be the land of 10,000 lakes, but we got 15,000 here. We just don't brag about it because we're all nice.

SPEAKER_00
47:54

We do have more. Yeah. Um, and then Joe, what what is what is the the goal with everything you're building here?

SPEAKER_01
48:03

So I think the goal is is multifaceted, but one, I want to continue to promote agriculture in the driftless area. We've got some of the richest soils on planet earth. We've got some of the most talented small family producers here. Uh Organic Valley, not too far up the street from us. We've got so many other people that are doing similar great work producing the food that feeds the world. And I think being able to highlight them with my platform, with what we're doing with Hall of Fame Farms and the Wagyu that we're producing out here, is giving me great pride because it gives me an opportunity to also highlight my friends that are also doing amazing work out here, highlight the incredible agriculture that we have in the state of Wisconsin by telling my story, by allowing people to taste our Hall of Fame Wagyu beef and the products that we make from it. Um, and then also being able to tell the individual stories of the farmers and the family farms that we have that have generations of families that have been out here doing the same thing and doing incredible work, and also being able to raise being able to try to raise the healthiest, most delicious beef on planet Earth, and being able to sync my mind and my purpose as a person who played in the NFL and has now found a passion for that second profession, and then allowing my kids to be part of it. I think those are probably some of the more important things to me that get me out of bed every single day and get me out here on the farm, rolling up the sleeves, being proud to be a farmer.

SPEAKER_00
49:37

That's awesome. We'll end it there. Thanks so much for having us, and we're yeah, excited to go explore the place.

SPEAKER_01
49:42

Thank you so much for coming out here and having a few minutes to chat. And I can't wait to show you the farm.

SPEAKER_00
49:48

Hey guys, before signing off, just want to thank our partners who make Milwaukee Uncut possible. Annex Wealth Management, Nick Le La and Drink Wisconsin Believe Beverage Company.

SPEAKER_00
0:00

Wisconsin is we ranked last in art funding, which is crazy because Georgia O'Keefe and Frank Lloyd Wright are from Wisconsin.

SPEAKER_01
0:09

A funny thing about that tattoo that I did on Wayne's face that people know about is I had only been tattooing for like 10 days. So I had done a tattoo on a rapper's face like a couple days prior to that.

SPEAKER_02
0:22

So you started with face tattoos on rappers, basically. You didn't work your way up.

SPEAKER_00
0:27

Being an artist in a smaller city, I think, gives you an upper hand these days.

SPEAKER_01
0:32

I'm from Milwaukee and it's like silent. And then everyone would be like, but then there would be that one person always a security guard or something like, oh, I love Milwaukee.

SPEAKER_02
0:44

Hey everyone, welcome back to Milwaukee Uncut. We've got a local art power couple in the building. Autum Lundberg and Andre Colbert. Autumn is a very talented multidisciplinary artist with over 250,000 TikTok followers. She's got an amazing ceiling installation she just announced coming to the Ascent downtown. And Andre is a pro skater, turned tattoo artist and owns Sanctuary Tattoo Gallery in Milwaukee. He's also signed to Young Money. He's tattooed Lil Wayne, skated and toured with Wayne. A lot of good stories from both of them. They both lived in LA for a while, but now are back in Milwaukee. So we talk about their careers, the Milwaukee art scene, and being in Milwaukee as a creative versus other big markets. Before diving in, I want to thank our partners who make Milwaukee Uncut possible. We'll kick it off with Nicolai Law, the Midwest law firm injured. Get Nicola and Russ and the team will take great care of you. Drink Wisconsin Wheat Beverage Company, best vodka brandy and canned cocktails in the game, available at bars and liquor stores across the state. Now available at Amfam Field. Make sure to check out their corner bar over in Wright Field. And last but not least, our friends over at Annex Wealth Management. If you're looking to get your finances together and have a goal that deals with your money, your earnings, your investments, go talk to the experts at Annex. They have an amazing team ready to listen and help you with your personal goals. Annex Wealth Management, know the difference. All right, let's dive in with Autumn and Andre. Alright, everyone, welcome back to Milwaukee Uncut. We have an artistic power couple in the building. Would that be accurate? We've got uh what they say. Autumn and Andre Autumn Lundberg, a multidisciplinary artist, mixed media and sculpture. If you don't know exactly what that is, check out her Instagram or TikTok. Really cool, good-looking artist, is how I would describe it. She was the first ever NFL creative technologist before doing this. Um, also a designer for a light company. Did I see that? Yeah, yeah. Um, has worked in the service industry. She's also the artist in residence at the Ascent, just announced her new ceiling installation at the Ascent as well.

SPEAKER_00
3:07

Yes. Congrats on that. Let's go. Thank you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02
3:12

And then we got Andre Colbert. He is the owner of Sanctuary Tattoo Gallery over on Water Street. Professional skateboarder, signed to Young Money. He's toured around with Lil Wayne. He has tattooed Lil Wayne as well. I have among others. I'm excited to get into your story. And you both lived in LA. You are back in in Milwaukee before let's get right into that. How did you guys meet? And when were you in LA from and why'd you come back? When were you in LA?

SPEAKER_00
3:46

I was in LA from 2009 to 2016. And then I came back to go to school for industrial design. But I started my art career out there. And then Andre and I met in 2020 I don't know.

SPEAKER_01
4:02

I don't even remember the years I was in LA exactly. I was there for like six years.

SPEAKER_00
4:07

We but we were there around the same time. I think we were there if my math is correct, from like 2011 to maybe also 2016.

SPEAKER_01
4:15

We met uh through some acquaintances and uh exchanged social media and whatnot. Yeah and then didn't speak for a long time, kind of after that. And then yeah, and then I don't know.

SPEAKER_00
4:27

Yeah, reached it. When the time was right, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02
4:30

When you were back here. What what brought each you did? I didn't. Where are you from?

SPEAKER_00
4:39

You know where? Let the people know. I'm from northern Wisconsin. I'm from Rhinelander.

SPEAKER_01
4:44

Woo woo. Rodegg, Rodegg.

SPEAKER_00
4:46

Rodeggs, yep. So um born and raised Rhinelander, Wisconsin, and moved to LA when I was 18. And then back to Milwaukee when I was 26. And then back to LA and then back to Milwaukee.

SPEAKER_01
5:00

I'm a Milwaukee mutt. I lived all over the city. South side, north side, West Dallas, East Side. I moved to Chicago. I was living in Chicago kind of on weekends from 13 to like 17 and living in Milwaukee in Chicago part-time. And then 17 officially moved out to Chicago until I was probably 21, and then I came back to Milwaukee and then went out to LA. And now I'm back in Milwaukee.

SPEAKER_02
5:32

Yeah, and what what brought each of you out to LA?

SPEAKER_00
5:37

I went out to LA because I knew I wanted to pursue something in the creative realm. And I was kind of between all the typical big cities, New York, Chicago, Miami, LA, and just I preferred I preferred LA. You know, New York, I didn't want to struggle in New York. It just it's it's the most expensive. And it seemed a little harsh, a little cutthroat. And Los Angeles, you know, at least if I'm working multiple jobs out there, it's nice weather and it's a little bit more like laid back, and and there's a big um creative scene out there, obviously. So everything goes out in LA, and Chicago is just too close to home. But I love Chicago now. But yeah.

SPEAKER_02
6:27

And is that when you got the NFL job while you were out there?

SPEAKER_00
6:30

No, so actually, so this is how that went. So I went back to school for industrial design, and then we have to if you want to work in industrial design, you are supposed to get an internship. And so I knew I wanted to go back out to Los Angeles, and so I wrote them a heck of a cover letter. I didn't qualify for any of their internals, but my cover letter was it was like stand-up comedy. I knew that if the right person got it, that I that it could work, and and it happened. And so they they brought me in and I was their first person in that role. They had a disruptor who was incredible, a genius, and um so I was their creative technologist, and then I was fully planning on going back. The job was waiting for me, and that's when the when COVID started. And it was around that time when COVID started that I had met Andre, and I was basically just kind of twiddling my thumbs in Milwaukee, waiting to get that email saying, Hey, we're ready for you, because they were on a hiring freeze. And the I was getting commissioned um to create artwork, large bodies of work, and so I ended up renting a studio space and I paid for it in full, which I don't in times I don't know why I did that, but I paid for it for the year, and it was the very next day that I got the email saying, Hey Autumn, here's the link for your job, we're so excited. And it was it was one of those moments where I just thought like, okay, I feel like it's not meant to be. And I and I told myself, if the money's still in my bank account, I'll just email the landlords and say, Hey, I'm gonna, I'm actually moving, you know, sorry about that. Oh my gosh, that money was gone. And so I just laughed about it, you know, in instead of thinking about the what ifs, I just embraced it and I thought, I'm not supposed to be there. I'm not supposed to work for someone else and give someone a bunch of really great ideas, and whether it's an NFL or who, um, but they they don't always do anything with those ideas or they get twisted and diluted to the point where it's not really it's not as cool as as when you first uh proposed it, you know. So so now I work for myself and I love it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02
9:08

And what brought you out to LA and how how how did you get on on your path to doing all this?

SPEAKER_01
9:15

That's a great question. How I got on the path. Um I didn't know I was gonna move to LA. I'm gonna probably shout out a couple skateboarders here, but uh I was with my homie Chaz Ortiz, we were spending a lot of time together, and we were planning on getting a place in downtown Chicago together. And then out of nowhere, there's a skateboarder named Paul Rodriguez, who's a very successful skateboarder. He had a property available that he was willing to rent. So he contacted my good friend Manny Santiago, uh a guy named Spanish Mike. I don't know if Bashin was Bashin Salabanzi was with us at the time yet, and then he contacted me and Chaz. So we all decided to just group up and move together. And um, for me, it was kind of like a surprise almost. Like, um I'm thinking we're moving to Chicago, I'm all in, and the next oh all right, cool. LA. Here we go. So we went out there to skateboard essentially.

SPEAKER_02
10:15

So and then when did when did you get signed by Young Money? And what how when did all that happen?

SPEAKER_01
10:21

That wasn't for a long time after I had lived in LA. Um were you just grinding as a professional skateboard? I was just grinding as a skateboarder out there, and we were basically P Rod had this private skate park in LA. It's really hard to skate the outdoor spots, tons of traffic, tons of security. You drive 45 minutes, you get kicked out. You drive another 45 minutes, you get kicked out. So, P Rod, his sponsors got him this private skate park. So it was cool because it was like a little mecca of like all the best skateboarders in the world are just like trapped in this private park together. So um we were grinding in there a lot, filming a lot of stuff, and then Paul was kind enough to bless me with a video part in his skate park with my homie Chaz and this other thing called like a full clip or something, and then he posted that on all his social medias and whatnot. And I'm assuming that's how Lil Wayne first saw me was from P. Rod basically broadcasting me to the world.

SPEAKER_02
11:26

So, did you get a DM from Lil Wayne, or how did that come about?

SPEAKER_01
11:29

Or something's team if Wayne even knows how to DM, but um no, it's kind of a long story. I don't want to take too much time away from all because she's the real no one.

SPEAKER_00
11:41

She's the real thing. I'm intrigued.

SPEAKER_02
11:43

I'm intrigued. He's do you know do you know the answer? You could talk about it.

SPEAKER_00
11:47

Well, no, but he he skimmed over why he was living in Chicago when he was 13. Because being 13, living in Chicago in a high rise by yourself is pretty abnormal. So I think you gotta explain some of that too.

SPEAKER_01
12:03

So when I was a kid, I was I've been skateboarding kind of for a living since I was 13. So I had a sponsor out in Chicago, and they were the main brand, like in the Midwest.

SPEAKER_02
12:14

How did how do you get discovered at the I'm not super familiar with the skateboarding world? Were you winning competitions and they just found you, or how did that happen?

SPEAKER_01
12:20

So that's a great question because then it's so different to now. Now you can post an Instagram clip, you're seen by the entire world. Back then it was more of an art, like it was impossible to be discovered. And skateboarding teams used to do something called demos where they would just show up and skate in front of the kids, and that was really incredible back then because there was no Instagram, so you only saw video parts and that you would watch over like how you used to watch a movie on repeat. You know, who does that anymore? Who even watches the same movie twice anymore? Right. But when we got skate parts from someone, they filmed it for two years and we watched it every day. So then you never get to see these guys until they show up to your local skate park and skate in front of you. And they the team ended up doing that, but I was such a poor kid that I didn't know they were coming, and I paid to skate that day. So I was like, I don't mean to be rude, but I'm skateboarding today. Like my mom had to get the change together. My mom didn't even want to bring me here, so I skated with them with the pros, and they were like, they they let you skate with them after the sky. I'm sure they weren't happy with it at first, but I started skating, and then um, after skating with them for a bit, we kind of were vibing a little bit, I guess you would say. And uh they were like, yo, we're taking you in, you with us now. So uh the bell would ring on Friday when I was in middle school, and I would take a cab, or my mom would take me to the Amtrak, and I would like watch all the kids going home, like mom, yeah, it's Friday. I was right to the Am track straight to Chicago to go work and go skateboard for the weekend, and then um Sunday night or Monday morning would come around, and then I would go back to the Amtrak and go right back to school. So I just spent my weekends. How old are these guys? Are they they're grown men? Yeah, 20s, 30s, and a lot of them are legendary skateboarders, which I didn't even really comprehend at that age. So now that I'm a little older, I'm just so grateful that like I had these legendary skateboarders as like roommates when as a kid. You weren't partying with them when you were 13. Did did they did they take care of you, or were you as uh a famous Sean White quote, I was drinking Mountain Dew, baby.

SPEAKER_02
14:43

But yeah, it was any any crazy story from those early Chicago days that stand stands in your mind.

SPEAKER_00
14:49

You gotta tell them about how you hurt your ankle.

SPEAKER_01
14:54

The week before I moved to LA, I broke my foot. I had a weird, a lot of weird, unfortunate stuff happen, and then uh I was kind of getting my shit together. Excited about moving to LA, trying to skate more, get it, get it together, and then I ended up breaking my foot. So we move out there, and that's when I kind of got more into art. I was already into art, but that's when I really started really honing in on it because I was hurt when I was out in LA. So designing a bunch of logos and working with big skate brands and whatnot, and doing designs, and um something just told me like it wasn't something. My my peers, my homies, they were like, yo, like, you gotta get it together. You're too talented. So I really got back on my skate game, and I was skating the best I've ever skated. I was super proud of what I was doing at the time, and then I broke the same foot again. So I was just like, I think it's time to hang it up. I'll go full time in the art stuff, and uh something just told me like, give it one more try, one more go before you hang it up. And um, I went to a Rob Deerdek, does a contest called Street League, and all my roommates are in the contest, so they have like the best uh medics and stuff there. So I like hobbled in there with the broken foot, and they're like, Oh, you should try this new therapy that we just came up with. So I went home that night and tried it, and um I could walk the next day with the broken foot, and my foot was so bad that my heel couldn't touch the ground while I was sitting. So like I would I was riding this uh this exercise bike just trying to get like movement and whatnot. And um P uh I don't know how much Paul was involved in this, but his filmer Spanish Mike was like, hey, we need to drop your video stuff. And me and my homie Chaz had filmed the whole video part. They're like, but the part won't come out unless you film this thing called a full clip, and that's how it like introduces the skate part. So um I was like, dude, I'm hurt, and he was like, Yeah, but if you don't film it, it doesn't come out, and it's gonna you gotta film it within like a week. So uh I was like, okay, so I started skating in my driveway on the broken foot, just trying to figure it out, and I was kind of getting away with some stuff, so that I was like, whatever, I'll show up and see what I can do. And I ended up doing some tricks I had never even done before while filming, and uh it was excruciating, but we got through it, and um it's a whole like you asked me about the young money stuff and whatnot. Um the video comes out, it does really well, it did well for me at least, and um a couple weeks later, someone was like, Hey, Lil Wayne's cousin's gonna come to like a house party that we were having, and I was like, Oh, cool, cool, cool. And then, you know, it's LA, you don't know who's who and who actually know whatever. And when I met the kid, I told him, I'm like, hey, my name's Andrew Cobra, nice to meet you. Oh, dang, I told him how I said it. But uh, he was like, Oh, you don't gotta tell me who you are, bro. He was like, Wayne is a big fan of yours, and I was like, What? It was so surreal to me that I didn't really take it seriously, but um, I was like, What are you what are you talking about? And he was like, dude, we we watch all your videos on the tour bus and stuff. Like, he fucks with you heavy, and I was like, Oh, okay. And I never knew what video he was watching, and it just hit me about a year ago. It was the video that I filmed on the broken foot that I wasn't gonna go through with because I was gonna retire, I was gonna just hang it up.

SPEAKER_02
18:38

So, yeah, that's she wanted me to tell the story because I thought you you got far by just pushing through situations you shouldn't you shouldn't have been in. I think that's a good lesson to people. Yeah, yeah, I guess, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00
18:52

That's that persistence, no quit. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02
18:57

Well, what do you say the biggest break you got was that helped really jumpstart things for you? Was there a moment you when you were like, I can't believe this is happening to me?

SPEAKER_00
19:08

Honestly, so I've I feel like I've had a few. The first one, the first pieces I I ever sold were to really big collectors. Like the first pieces were. When did this all happen? I was 22 years old. Okay.

SPEAKER_02
19:25

And so you were in LA at that point in time.

SPEAKER_00
19:28

I was in LA, I was working at a CrossFit gym, I was front desk, and you were just hustling with art on the side, especially. Yep, yep. And um, and my bosses, they were awesome, awesome guys, and they would um they would play poker at night. And in Los Angeles, the poker scene is crazy. And so the people that would come in the next day to work out were some of the poker guys. And these poker guys, well, they were also art collectors. So I just got really lucky. And then um yeah, the the first person I ever sold something to, I actually I sold it through a middleman. I think it was technically his assistant, this other gentleman. And um I knew that I knew that the guy was a big collector, but I didn't know to what degree. And I actually met him at a different event then, and he was chatting with someone and uh my boss, and I walked up, I said hi to my boss, and then the guy looked at me, he said, You're Autumn, the artist. And and we had that moment of you're James, like you're the collector. And he went off on this tangent where he was telling me how I was creating landscapes of other worlds, and I should never stop doing what I'm doing. And my piece is in good company with Magrittes and Picasso's, and and he just went, he was so encouraging. And for my my you know, first or second sale ever in my life, I I really held on to that. Um because he seemed like he seemed like someone who has some good taste. Um and then fast forward, I also think when the when the NFL took me in, they created that position for me, which feels still so surreal to say, because you hear stories where people say, Oh, they created this this role for me or something.

SPEAKER_02
21:28

So going back to just the NFL thing. So you so earlier you said you had just like put a deposit down for the studio when they told you you got the job. Did you then end up taking it, or what how did that all play out?

SPEAKER_00
21:40

No, I I hit them up and I said, Hey guys, I just paid $14,000 for this space for a year, and I can't get that money back. So uh, and they were so nice about it, they said, Hey, we're not going anywhere. We think you're Really talented, you know, to see where this can take you. And then my first client after that conversation was Jarvis Landry, who's a receiver. Yeah, yeah, big Pro Bowl guy. So that kind of felt very serendipitous. And I also think having that having the NFL on my resume gives me some credibility and it allows these people, whether they're an athlete or someone who is uh a big collector or who has a big budget, it lets them trust me because they see that I've been in those spaces where I've I've worked with large budgets before and I've you know come through.

SPEAKER_02
22:44

So and how how did you already evolve from doing the landscapes in your early 20s to seeing these really cool ceiling installations that I see on your Instagram account?

SPEAKER_00
22:56

So I knew, like even when I was little, I loved the architectural type installations. And I obviously when I was little, I didn't know how to say that or how to, you know, communicate that, but I just knew I liked going into the spaces where stuff was hanging from the ceiling or you know, it looked it just looked cool, it looked whimsical, like I love, I love Disney, you know, the hodeg is the mascot, I love Harry Potter, I love like I love everything sort of ethereal and magical, and and how do I create that? And so I you know, I guess that was always kind of like my life goal of like how do I figure this out? And it started with 2D, you know, pretty like abstract kind of. But I knew when I was in my mid-20s that the creative industry was really moving quickly as far as um different softwares like 3D modeling, CNCing, um 3D printing, uh knowing how to even just like draw on an iPad. You know, I wasn't doing any of that. I was complete completely like oil paint, acrylic, you know, just with my hands. And so I went back to school for industrial design because I knew that I needed to learn how to create those architectural type installations. Like how who who created the uh Statue of Liberty? Who created Mount Rushmore? Who created these uh, you know, the Eiffel Tower, and how did they know how to do it safely? How did because if we're putting something outside, well, it can't fall over, it can't, you know, like you you start to think of how it how the public interacts with this piece of art. And so I knew I had a lot to learn. And I had um looked into different art schools around the US. I looked at GRISD, I looked at SCAD, I looked at gosh, there's um, you know, some some some schools out in California. Um, but the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design had a really great industrial design program. And I knew that what I wanted from it was sort of atypical, because a lot of a lot of the a lot of my peers who were in industrial design, they were they were really embracing the product design side of things. And I just wanted to learn like how to, you know, I just needed to learn the tools, the manufacturing, the um the materials, and then I was gonna just take that information and kind of run with it and do my own thing. So yeah, but to go back to your question about another big break. My first client who trusted me with creating a ceiling installation for her, I hadn't I had nothing in my portfolio that proved that I could do that. And it was a pretty aggressive concept. And I'll always be grateful for her because without her, I I wouldn't have been able to showcase that um ability from learning how to do everything with industrial design. That was one of my first uh jobs where it really crossed over.

SPEAKER_02
26:17

So she were you nervous at all taking that job on? It see it seems like kind kind of similar to Andre. It seems like you both just kind of like you you say yes and figure it out a little bit. I don't think push through.

SPEAKER_00
26:32

I wasn't nervous because I could see I could see how I wanted it to look in my head. So I knew what it was going to look like. And I think there are some scenarios, like even now with Ascent, where there's no room for error. And that's just what it is. So you move accordingly and you take you take things slowly. You know, the my first ceiling installation we took just about a year. Granted, there were we were kind of working with her schedule as far as traveling and other renovations within her home, but it worked in my favor because I wasn't trying to speed through it to create it. And so I was able to sort of play project manager as well and talk to these different construction teams and electricians and show them the concept, explain it, so that the people that were a part of it doing some of the physical creating that I wasn't doing, they they understood the end goal. And I think that was also really important. But I mean, I don't know. I mean, I I fully believe in like betting on yourself.

SPEAKER_02
27:46

So going back to your story, so the cousin says little Wayne's a fan of you. Do you get signed shortly after that? And who what was your first interaction with with Wayne himself?

SPEAKER_01
27:59

Um it's actually funny because my first actual interaction with Wayne was at that at one of those street league contests. Uh a good friend of mine was competing and he got me some floor seats. And um I'm sitting down and there's like a velvet red rope next to me, and I'm like, who the hell would be sitting there? Is Rob Dear gonna sit there? Like, he needs a red rope, like at his own shit, you know? And then out of nowhere, Lil Wayne just walks up and sits down next to me, and I'm like, this is fucking so random. This is insane, you know? And I took a photo with Wayne, and he was super nice. I was like, bro, you mind if I get a photo? He's like, absolutely, and um this is in the time when like people don't really get photos like that. So then now me and Wayne are like best friends to the to the city of Milwaukee, even though I didn't even know him, you know. And then um shortly after that, it wasn't even so the kid actually wasn't Wayne's cousin, he was a really, really close friend of his, and um, who also skateboards and was kind of Wayne's like skate homie, and he would tour with him and whatnot. And I didn't meet Wayne through him. Um, Wayne was skateboarding one night, and um the dude that was filming it was like hit me and my homie up, was like, hey, I kind of need like a ride out to go film Wayne. Do you guys want to go? And at first we it was far, so we were kind of like, uh, and then he talked us into it. And uh we pull up and it's like a movie set, and there's catering, there's like all this shit, but he's really like skating in the streets, though. I don't know if you know anything about skateboarding, but it's illegal. Like you're trespassing, you're not supposed to be there. You have to jump a gate to get into this school to get to where we are. Like, I we literally climbed like a 10-foot gate, jump in, and then there's like a hundred people, and we're like And catering, and catering and stuff. We're like, how did they get all this shit in here? This is like closed private property, you know? So Wayne shows up and he's with his homie Marley G. And uh a couple of my friends knew Wayne, but no, everyone was just like staring at him from like across a schoolyard, and he was skating this little stair set by himself. And I'm like, why are all these people here? If they're like not kicking it, like I don't understand what is happening because when we go skate, there is no catering. I'm like me and my homies, you know what I mean? I assume not. There's a generator, a light, and a filmer and a photographer. Yep. So I'm like, I didn't understand because that's what he wanted. He just didn't know that, like, that's how it goes. He was so new to skateboarding at that time because Wayne skateboarded. So um, I'm like, this is weird. I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go like bother him. And all my no, no, no, leave him alone. I'm like, nah, nah, fuck that. Like, and the homie had just told me that he knew who I was, so I was like, I'm gonna go say what's up to him. So I walk up to Wayne and I'm like, hey, what's up, bro? He's like, Oh, what up? And I was like, How you doing, man? Like, what are you doing in LA? And he's like, Oh, I'm good. Uh, I just got off a tour. And I was like, Word, how many stops was it? He was like, shit, like 37 slime, and I was like, that's it. And then him and his homie looked at me like, what the fuck did this dude say? I was like, no, I'm just fucking with you, bro. That sounds exhausting as hell, you know? And he's laughing, he's like, Who the fuck does this dude think he is? You know, so that kind of like broke the ice. And then uh I could tell he fucked with me after that, and he was like, he had worked on the Carter 5 at the time, I think it was the Carter Five, and he was like, Yo, you want to hear it? I'm like, Duh, like what the of course I want to hear the Carter Five. So him and I are just chilling, listening to the Carter Five, and then like now the homies are starting to kind of like spill over and we're all hanging out and shit. And uh he was doing his thing, he was skating this little stair set, and um he wasn't getting close to this trick, like not even close, but he would he wasn't trying it often though. He would try it and he'd come up and like smoke a blunt and then try it again. And I was like, and I was skating the set with him, and I was like, bro, you mind if I give you some advice on that? And he was like, of course. And I was like, do the trick that you're doing down the stairs. I was like, do it seven times on the ground, and then on the eighth try, grab your fucking board and go straight at that stair set and do exactly what you did on the ground, but instead of going down to the ground, let do it and let the ground come up to you. And then he was like, Alright, cool. I was like, do it just like the flat. So he's doing the seven front one eighties, the trick is called, and I was like, What the fuck? Like, I just fucking told Lil' Wayne what to do, and he's fucking listening to me right now. Like, this is insane. And then he does the seven, goes to the stair set, just like I said, and he stomps the trick perfect first try. And after that, we were like bread and butter. That was it. So he would travel to LA. P Rod gave me a key to his private park, and then like was that his private park that you were at? No, we were in the streets. Oh like we were somewhere where we weren't supposed to be. I don't know how they got all that catering. I don't know. It's just no, someone was setting it up for him. Okay. So the dude that was setting it up was doing too much. Wayne didn't know that. He was just trying to go skate. Yeah. But that's how the guy was setting it up. So yeah, after that, we were bread and butter, and he'd come skate the private park, and Paul gave me a key, and then him and I would just skate all the time and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_02
33:33

So very cool. Um, what what's something that people misunderstand about about him? What's he about he like? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01
33:42

Um, I think something that people misunderstand about Lil Wayne is that he's just literally brilliant. I mean, there's people that understand that, but I don't think they truly understand to like the extent of it. Like he's weird, bro. He's weirdly brilliant, like he's one of one. It's it's crazy watching him do what he does. When he's in the studio, yeah, just in in general, the way he exists, like he's what you think he would be. Like, even when he talks to you, it's in like raps, like in bars. Like he for real, he talks that way. So, and until you spend a lot of time with him personally, you don't even know how to decipher those bars. But then when you start to understand him, you're like, damn, he just gave me like shit that I'll think about every day for the rest of my life. He'll give me bars that I'll live by, but just in conversation like you and I right now. But um, yeah, his process is crazy. He I just think he's super misunderstood. And uh sometimes I'll like watch an interview or something that he'll do, and like people will be tripping on him. Why how could he say that? And then I'll just text him like he doesn't write stuff down, does he? That's what I'm trying to explain.

SPEAKER_02
34:57

So he doesn't write that down.

SPEAKER_01
34:58

That's what I'm trying to explain. He just like he talks that way, but he doesn't shut off really never, never, and he's working. Like, if I hit him right now, he's in he's working right now. So, oh, let me actually something that people don't understand about Wayne. I got you. He will never not work. So when he first started skateboarding, people were busting his balls about it, giving him a hard time. Like, pause. Like, yo, he doesn't why is he skating? He's trying to take from us. What they didn't understand is he skates through the night instead of sleeping because he won't not go to work. So, like, all these skaters that does he sleep at all? He sleeps, but if he skates, he's choosing not to sleep. So people that were skaters like, this dude's not a real skater. It's like, would you give up sleep to go skate? He's more of a skater than the skaters. Like, he literally will he'll work, he'll be at the studio, he'll hit me. You at the park? Yeah, I'm here. All right, cool, I'll be there in a second. He'll pull up, we'll skate from 12 at night till 10 in the morning the next day. And he'll be like, when we're all done, we'll be chilling, kicking it. He'll be like, Yo, Dre, you trying to come kick it at the studio? I'm like, What? Yeah, I'm about to go to work. No, but thank you, bro. I appreciate it. Yeah, I would love to, but no, I'm going to sleep, bro. We've been skating till 10 in the morning, you know, like, but that he he refuses to not work. Yeah, straight up.

SPEAKER_02
36:31

And you've tattooed his face once.

SPEAKER_01
36:33

I tattooed his face, yeah. A couple times. Um a funny story, or not a funny thing about that tattoo that I did on Wayne's face that people know about is um I had only been tattooing for like 10 days. That's a whole story within some.

SPEAKER_02
36:49

I asked Autumn if she was nervous before any projects. How nervous were you to tattoo Wayne's face after being a tattoo artist for 10 days? You can't you don't want to fuck that up.

SPEAKER_01
37:01

Yeah, funny thing about it is And did he know that? He knew Oh, he knew he was like kind of he was kind of talking shit to me about it. Um so I had done a tattoo on a rapper's face like a couple days prior to that because we were on tour, and um that tattoo that I did on the other rappers page started with face tattoos on rappers, basically.

SPEAKER_02
37:26

You didn't you didn't work your way up from I did not maybe a small ankle tattoo or if something low-risk uh no use.

SPEAKER_01
37:33

I did not, and the crazy thing about it is all the tattoos I had done prior to that were only on tattoo artists, which tattoo artists don't let new people tattoo them, but all my homies were tattooers, so I only tattooed tattooers and then I only tattooed rappers after that. And um, the first face tat that I did was with a machine I had never even used before, but I brought it on tour, and that was the first tat. I told him, I was like, bro, I don't want to tattoo your face. Not Wayne, the homie, and he was like, I trust you, and I was like, I don't trust me. He was like, No, I'll do it. You got it. And I was like, Cool, whatever. So I did that tattoo on him, and it happened to be in the same spot I tattooed Wayne. So when I did that one, I sent it to my mentor, and he was like, Oh, I don't think you could have it's perfect. So when Wayne, I was so we me and Wayne didn't do the tattoo on tour. He told me he wanted to, but we didn't get a chance to. So then um on the last day, I hit him up and I was like, Hey, so last day we still doing this tat, and he was like, I can't, I'm having dinner with my kids. Another thing about him is he will never miss time with his kids. So once they fly in, family time. So he was like, I can't do it, but if you go, if you'll fly back to Miami, we can do it. I was like, cool. So I flew to Miami. Um, I'm at his house. Yeah, we did that tattoo in his kitchen at his crib in Miami, and um he was looking in the mirror and he was like, What do you think about this spot right here? And I was like, Fuck. Of course, of course, like of course you want me to tattoo your face, but um I had just done the tattoo in the same spot on the other homie prior, a couple, so and it was good, and then I was like, Well, what do you want? And he was like, I want the initials of a friend of ours that had just passed away. And when he said that, I was like, nah, game on. So what I I wasn't nervous, I didn't care. Like, I was really close to the homie, so I was like, Yes, let's do that. Let's definitely do it. I was honored. Fuck nervous. I was honored, you know.

SPEAKER_02
39:38

So hey guys, summer is here. It's time to get outside and enjoy the weather and maybe take a hard look at your financial life, too. Led by our guy who you've probably seen on some of our recent videos, the iconic Dave Spano. They are the ones to call. Annex is a holistic wealth management firm right in Milwaukee that helps you with everything retirement planning, smart investing, estate planning, legacy planning, and tax strategies all under one roof. They'll help declutter your old accounts, dust off your investment strategy, organize your estate documents, and build a plan focused on your goals. That's our good friends over at Annex Wealth Management, annexwealth.com. Know the difference. All right, let's get back with Autumn and Andre. Autumn, what do you what do you say your uh your creative process is like? Is there anything you you do to get get inspired?

SPEAKER_00
40:34

No. Nothing. You just show up and show out. I kind of think, I kind of think when you decide this is my career, this is what I'm doing full time, you are always on. Similar to you guys. It it becomes 24-7 when you see something that inspires you, or you try a restaurant, you're like, this place is great, I want to do something for them. You know, it's it's the same for me where I'll see something, or I'll hear a song, or I'll see some clothes, some textures. Um, and and it's just you're constantly kind of taking note of everything. And um I love nature. I love, you know, a lot of my inspiration is definitely nature-based, and I think that comes from being from northern Wisconsin and having a childhood where I'm literally out with my friends in the middle of the woods. We were exploring at all times. And you know, to to then be reading those, you know, reading Harry Potter, reading all these other like fantasy type books. It just it's it's it's constant. So I don't think there's really a process. I mean, I have like a shit ton of notebooks that are all full of sketches and ideas and one word or like a phrase or a it's and then I just sometimes I'll have something that I know is a gem. Like you just know in the back of your head, like this is gonna, this is gonna be incredible. And then you always sort of circle back to that, and then eventually you materialize it, right? So I don't know. I I personally don't have a straightforward process. I know some artists do, but I think for me, it's just like living life.

SPEAKER_02
42:25

Do you bring a notebook into yoga class with you?

SPEAKER_00
42:28

Absolutely not, absolutely not. No, when when I am working out, I don't care what type of workout it is the whole time. I'm just thinking about like what I'm gonna eat when I'm done. I swear to God, it's just like Bree give Bree gives me shit.

SPEAKER_02
42:42

I bring one into yoga class with me.

SPEAKER_00
42:45

You do not. You do not, you swear to God.

SPEAKER_02
42:48

I thought you were gonna say I was gonna give her a shit in the system back on in there.

SPEAKER_04
42:55

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02
42:57

It's uh because I'm I'm I'm forced not to look at a screen for an hour, so that's usually when I I get my best thoughts, and I need to I need to write. A soggy notebook.

SPEAKER_00
43:06

Yeah, for real.

SPEAKER_02
43:07

No, you know, when you know at the end of the day, I only got talking to you once after class.

SPEAKER_03
43:13

No, that was for being disruptive because I was I was going too hard to do. You don't jot it in your iPhone. I was grunting a little bit. I was that guy.

SPEAKER_00
43:20

Um I feel like they celebrate it. I feel like they they like that.

SPEAKER_02
43:24

Never mind that that you don't jot that in your phone? What the ideas in the notepad? No, I don't know. I usually just write write them down. What are you saying? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00
43:33

No, um at the end of yoga, you know, when you're just like laying there and you're supposed to be meditating. I will sometimes be like game planning. Like I I'm not at the end of yoga when you're supposed to be, I don't know, I don't know what you're actually supposed to be doing during that time. But I'm definitely game planning too.

SPEAKER_02
43:50

Brie, Brie is not.

unknown
43:52

Bree's not supposed to think about anything.

SPEAKER_02
43:54

Brie's snoring. Yeah, yeah, she is. I look over at her, she's she's asleep. Basically, not me. The biggest struggles you face as an artist and how you overcome them, whether it was an event or two you had to overcome or a setback, or just kind of on a daily or weekly basis doing what you do.

SPEAKER_00
44:16

Dealing with people.

SPEAKER_02
44:27

No, not especially or not not even. Because I know sometimes you know you're doing something for a client.

SPEAKER_00
44:33

You you've got to do it. I've been really lucky with my clients. I think it's just the world that the the art world, the people that are in this creative scene. You know, when I lived out in Los Angeles, I was a personal assistant to um a big music producer. And he was part of the black IPs. So he wasn't one of the front four, he was one of the back four. And being around that the the music industry, which I know you might have your own thoughts on that, but there's just it's not even just the music industry, it's just the entertainment industry. There's a lot of really grimy people. And having that discernment of who to say no to, who do you not want to work with, or who do you not want to um almost like befriend, like who do you want to stay away from? And I think so much of our um like your brand, if you will, the foundation of that is your like integrity. And if you're around the wrong people, people are gonna get the wrong idea of you. And in the art scene, especially, there's just it's it's interesting, it's crazy. If you ever go to like Art Basil or any of the big art fairs, it's great for people watching. Incredible for people watching. I mean, it's almost alarming. Um, but so I don't think I've had any personal, like big obstacles other than just like freaking paying rent. You know, I was telling Bree, like every year's different, you know. Sometimes you'll have a wait list, and then other years you're looking around, like, where are all my clients? Like, where are you at?

SPEAKER_03
46:26

It is it is very up and down from like an income standpoint or what you know, yeah, the months, the swings, all of that.

SPEAKER_00
46:33

Absolutely, and like just believing in yourself, I think is huge. And in Wisconsin specifically, Wisconsin is we ranked last in art funding.

SPEAKER_02
46:44

Correct. By a long shot, I believe.

SPEAKER_00
46:47

Yes, in the whole US, which is crazy because Georgia O'Keefe and Frank Lloyd Wright are from Wisconsin, amongst other very talented local artists. But those are two of some of the biggest heavy hitter American artists in history. And we're laugh. And there are there are people in our own city who don't want to purchase from local artists. It just it to me it there's a disconnect. There's something something isn't adding up, but because of that, sometimes I I'm reminded, you know, okay, we don't necessarily have the funding. Sometimes the clients aren't around, but I like what I'm doing. I think I'm on to something. And I know Georgia O'Keefe, I know Frank Lloyd Wright, I know they also at some point in their career they didn't have people cheering them on or clients knocking on their door. And so you just sort of like tap into the uh the thoughts of of people who have been super successful in your same space many years before, and how they sort of found their own success without that support financially and you know, just community-wise, and um and then you realize like it's it's it's an ebb and flow. You just gotta get through it, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03
48:17

I I was gonna ask this. Um obviously L LA, one of the creative capitals of of the world, uh, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Wisconsin, the the lowest state in art funding, as you acknowledged.

SPEAKER_02
48:30

Are there benefits to you being here opposed to LA that you see? Do you do you stand out more here as where LA there's a lot more competition? What do you like? Absolutely. What do you like about being in Wisconsin?

SPEAKER_00
48:43

I I love being in Wisconsin for a whole bunch of reasons. Um, being an artist in a smaller city, I think, gives you an upper hand these days because we we saw it with the SoundCloud musicians, where there were these musicians who were putting their music out independently, and the the world was embracing them. And it felt like you were finding someone who was unknown and and the music was real, and it wasn't this pop music on the radio that you hear all the time. And I think nowadays, being a whatever type of artist from a smaller city, you have that same lore, if you will. You because you're not, I'm not an artist in Milwaukee because I like I don't know the facade because I because I like how you have to be a genuine, authentic creative to live in a smaller city and continue being a creative full time. There's nothing fake about that. So I love I also love being in Wisconsin because you can invest more back into yourself. You know, and that's big and fine art, everything is so expensive.

SPEAKER_02
50:06

Do you find that even though there's not the amount of money and funding here, that you still come across people that want to support your work because you are local and you are doing what you do here?

SPEAKER_00
50:16

Absolutely. There's a lot of money in Wisconsin. There's a lot of money in the Midwest. And just because we don't have the funding from the state, doesn't mean that there's not funds to be found in the state. And yeah, it's just about that um persistence and continuing to create a body of work that will eventually be seen, even if it's not, even if no one is, you know, purchasing it from you in that moment.

SPEAKER_03
50:44

Yeah, I've I've got asked that question too, like, hey, Milwaukee on cut, is that too too specific or too small? And I'm like, no, I think it's kind of the perfect size market to do what we do, because we wouldn't have stood out as much if we started this in Chicago or LA or New York. And there's still festivals every week, you got three major sports teams within a couple hours.

SPEAKER_02
51:03

There's plenty of plenty of businesses and money here to get get brand deals and support the show. Like, if and if you I feel like if you do good work and you're a good person and you work hard, like this city will will get behind you. Opportunities will find themselves.

SPEAKER_00
51:19

Definitely.

SPEAKER_01
51:19

That was a definitely a really good question, and I think that was an even better answer. Really? Um that was a that was a good question, bro. People ask some generic questions. That was a genuine because I try try I try and being professional. That was a good question because being from Milwaukee and like being well traveled. I'm interested to get your take too on it for sure. But being from Milwaukee and being well traveled and especially before pre-Giannis. Being from Milwaukee pre-Giannis, that was some different shit. So the New York money did flow in here, yeah. Right. So um I feel like people would always the the real question would have been how is it hurting you to be in Milwaukee? I like how you flipped it. You made you turned it into a positive, and I think that was a dope, that was a real, that was a dope way to phrase that question. It's a dope. And you answered that really good too.

SPEAKER_00
52:13

Beautiful time to be in Milwaukee. There's just there's so much development happening here. There are people that are moving here, uh, businesses that are starting, you know. We have new restaurants, new I mean I love why Milwaukee. I don't know if you guys follow that account, but it's all the new developments, new proposals, um, just all across the city. And it shows you how much people are in investing time, funds, um, into the city. And it's it's exciting to be here and to be sort of part of the, I don't know, like we're we're part of the wave right now, right?

SPEAKER_01
52:53

And it's to me, it's special because it should have always been this way. They're not dumping money into Milwaukee now because, like, oh, we haven't done that. No, they're doing it because Milwaukee's dope. It always has been.

SPEAKER_00
53:07

Milwaukee was huge in the Victorian era, huge.

SPEAKER_01
53:12

From my experience, when I travel, because when you're touring, you're doing the same thing every single day. You're in the new city, and now you have those people that are hot there, and they ask you the same fucking questions that the people yesterday asked you, and you do it again and again. So when you're with a crew of people, and then every time, where are you guys from? I'm from New York, I'm from Atlanta, I'm from this, and then they wait on me. This is how it used to be. I'm like, I'm from Milwaukee, and it's like silent, and then everyone would be like, but then there would be that one person, always a security guard, or something like, Oh, I love Milwaukee. There's always that person that's actually been, yeah, and every time the person that's been, I've never heard them say they didn't fuck with Milwaukee. It's wild.

SPEAKER_02
54:00

I'm sure you all have done this before, too. But I've had some friends from California come out and visit. What happens? Their mind is fucking blown.

SPEAKER_04
54:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02
54:08

Every time. What do they tell you when they're leaving? That I didn't know the ocean was here too much. Every time I have to take them to a rooftop that overlooks Lake Michigan or take them down to the beach or whatever, they're like, I thought this was cows and farm fields. Yeah. They are impressed by that. They're impressed by the food scenes, the sports games, you take them to the parking lot. The lack of traffic and the amount of shit there still is to do here.

SPEAKER_01
54:37

Like, yeah, it's it's what you want from any other city, but be in the nightline. Yeah, it's I love how you can go to the same restaurant 10 times in one month, tip them kind of decent, and now they love you and they'll take care of you. Like, where can you do that? And they like know you know you, you know. Oh, what's your hair? Yeah, what can I give you for free? Whatever you want. Throw it in the bag, baby.

SPEAKER_04
55:05

I'm gonna get a tattoo next week.

SPEAKER_01
55:07

Yo, I told my cousin he should get tattooed by you. Yeah, sick. Yeah, I love this place.

SPEAKER_00
55:13

It's it's cool because like we'll go places and we'll just run into people and he'll be like, oh, they have they have this tattoo. They have, you know, it's because we get that in a small city, or we'll be driving somewhere and um I'll be like, babe, I have art over there, I have art up there. It's you know, it's I I love like how small it is because you get that genuine kind of hometown vibe, but but it's big enough to feel like there's a lot of there's still a lot of potential.

SPEAKER_02
55:42

Yeah, yeah, you still meet new people and discover new things all the time, but you do run into a lot of the same people and can go to the same spots, and that's that's refreshing and good and good as well. Um I just asked both of you uh before signing off, what is what is each of your proudest accomplishment or f favorite thing you've done in your your career so far? I'll let you go first.

SPEAKER_00
56:10

You can go first.

SPEAKER_01
56:13

Your question was what is my proudest accomplishment? Yeah, or maybe coolest thing you've ever done. And the coolest thing I've ever done. Honestly, uh I think my proudest accomplishment is being able to give back to people here. Also to be an example that it's possible. Because I feel like being from here, there's a lot of successful people from here, and you didn't know they were from here. And it had to be that way back then. You had to magically be from New York, you had to be from Chicago, you would you wouldn't get an opportunity if if you weren't, you know. It was I don't know why it was like that back then, but now like it was a big deal to me to come back here and still be doing the young money shit and still be doing all that. It was I I consciously came back here to open a business here. Everyone thought I was crazy. They're like, you bought the what? Like, we in Miami. You're going where? I'm going home, bro. Because I'm uh if you need me, I'll be here. I'll fly out at six in the morning if you need me to. But I'm going back home. I wanted the first thing I did when I moved back to Milwaukee is I went to my local skate park and I'd worked there. I didn't need, I did it. Just like I don't want to say charity, but like the park wasn't doing so well. I was like, I'm gonna go back, I'm gonna be present. I want the kids to be able to show up and see me. He's here. Not like a tale or a fable, like I'm here. Yo, but weren't you doing this? Yeah, that was yesterday. Today I'm here. I wanted to show people like you can be from Milwaukee and you could still do dope shit. And you can bring it home. I that it pisses me off when people don't bring it home. Why are you now in New York spending a shit ton of money opening a salon? Why are you doing that here? You know that it pisses me off, honestly. So that was my biggest accomplishment was come back, do something positive, have a bunch of companies, they send me a bunch of clothes and shit, go take it to the kids to the skate park. That shit, you know? Yeah, that shit. So love it.

SPEAKER_00
58:32

A second, all that. I mean, I I feel like you know, but it it really is about the community and about the kids and about showing these younger generations that it is possible. I love going back to my ad and giving um a guest lecture to the industrial design students and telling them, like, hey guys, guess what? Your grades don't really matter. Like that, you know, you take your education and and what you make of it, like whatever you create project to project, like that's that's who you are. It doesn't matter if your teachers approve it or not. Um I mean, I think just being a good example is is I'm really proud of that. I work with a teen once a week, and when he first started coming, he was a little um sort of just down, just feeling really down. And he was 14 at the time, now he's 18, and the art is all colorful, and we're making happy stuff now.

SPEAKER_02
59:38

And is that through a program or you just do that on your own?

SPEAKER_00
59:43

Just me. It's just um I my um I was introduced to them through my sister, and then I met um his parents, and they just asked me, they're like, Well, you want to take our kid once a week for an hour, and it's been four years. So he's graduated. Yeah, so you know, it's just yeah, it's just about like being real, I think.

unknown
1:00:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02
1:00:08

Well, thank you two so much for coming on. It was great meeting. Thank you for having us.

SPEAKER_01
1:00:12

Thanks for all you do for the city. No, thanks for what you do for the city. Yeah, appreciate you, man, for real. Yeah, thank you guys.

SPEAKER_02
1:00:18

We need more views for sure. Oh, we got we got a good team behind it and love doing it. So thank you. Hey everyone, thank you so much for tuning into this episode of Milwaukee Uncut. Before signing off, just want to thank our partners who make Milwaukee on Cup possible. Nicola, Annex Wealth Management, and Drink Wisconsinably Beverage Company.