Things I Wrote

Milwaukee Magazine • 19th May 2026

Review: Caley Conway Captures Time and Space

A few Decembers ago, I drove under darkening holiday skies and was shocked to hear “Sleigh Ride” sound as if two harmonizing aliens had just discovered the tune and thought it the oddest, most beautiful song on Earth. That was the first time I heard Milwaukee’s Caley Conway and Ellie Jackson singing together. There was something gorgeous in Conway’s spooky, otherworldly treatments of holiday songs. Fortunately for me and all of Milwaukee, Caley Conway’s gorgeous sounds continue on her 2024 album, Partner, and in her live shows.

Milwaukee Magazine • 7th May 2026

Wisconsin Native Determined to Solve the 1983 Murder of Eric Hansen

Clark Williams and I walk the woods through Kenosha’s Petrifying Springs Park on a bright Monday, the April sun splitting the slender trees. Parents stroll their babies, joggers prattle past, and a lithe doe keeps her distance, all unaware Clark and I search the leaves for signs of human remains.

Milwaukee Magazine • 30th April 2026

Sound and Vision Collide at the Milwaukee Music Video Show

Milwaukee has a thriving music scene with a ton of talented artists willing to collaborate and create music videos. Before a packed house Tuesday in the Oriental’s Abele Theater, Cream City rocked our eyes and ears with 15 original music videos, featuring Q&As with each and every band and filmmaker. Here's brisk impressions of each video...

Milwaukee Magazine • 27th April 2026

Jane Kaczmarek: Finding Love Again, the Malcolm Reboot & the Best Makeout Spots in Greendale

After a whirlwind of national press following the reboot, Jane Kaczmarek took time to chat with a fellow Greendale native about the important things in life: Milwaukee’s top butter pecan custard, the best places to make out in Greendale, co-stars in underwear and the importance of Nuns in Pink Flannel Pajamas.

Milwaukee Magazine • 18th April 2026

‘My Brother’s Killer’ Is a True Crime Doc with Deep Wisconsin Roots

“My Brother’s Killer” traces the life of Eau Claire, Wisconsin native Billy Newton, who, like countless LGBTQ+ people of his generation, was shunned by his community. Seeking acceptance and escape, Billy hitchhiked his way through the heart of America, landing in Los Angeles. In October of 1990, Billy disappeared.

Milwaukee Record • 18th April 2026

Milwaukee’s Satanic panic of 1988: The kids were alright

In 1980s America, nothing was more important to parents and politicians than drugs, and lyrics in popular music. Heavy metal, with its fiery imagery and thrashing, sound that inspired males to grow their hair long (gasp!) became Public Enemy Number One. Parental warning stickers were invented, increasing interest and sales for Metal music.

Milwaukee Magazine • 17th April 2026

Now! More! Yes! Delivers on Its Three Word Promise

In “Now! More! Yes!” director/editor Max Hey illuminates the workingman’s odyssey of Riverwest car salesmen, music video director, landlord and entrepreneurial raconteur Tim (T.W.) Hansen. Legally blind yet driving hampered vehicles and operating myriad tools, Hansen’s gift comes in the form of momentous confidence and belief...

Milwaukee Record • 8th April 2026

I was an Election Inspector: 15 hours of nonstop democracy

I have signed up for a full shift, from 6 a.m. – 9 p.m. I have no idea what I am in for. This is my first time as an Election Inspector. In the spirit of my 15 hours as an Election Inspector, here are 15 observations from my experience.

Milwaukee Magazine • 2nd April 2026

Milwaukee Music Notes: Nineteen Thirteen and The Fainting Room

Sonorous and slowly prowling with melodious intent, Nineteen Thirteen welcomes us to wander hypnotically, together, through this next unknown. Cellist Schiff feeds looping daggers of cello through a live recording controlled by her foot pedal, allowing her to sow simultaneous harmonies of strings. Sorcery.

Milwaukee Magazine • 20th March 2026

For 45 Years, the Adventurous WMSE 91.7 Has Played It All – And Seen It All

Punk, jazz, folk, psychedelic, reggae – that’s just a regular Thursday on WMSE 91.7 FM. The community-supported radio station where I’m a volunteer DJ, commanded from the Milwaukee School of Engineering campus, turns 45 this year. In that time, WMSE has built a reputation for eclectic, unbridled programming and loyal, open-minded listeners...

Milwaukee Magazine • 3rd March 2026

Thomas Pynchon’s Streets of Old Milwaukee: Shadow Ticket

If you have ever read a paragraph of a Pynchon novel, the proto-hippie California double-speak, the switchback internal monologue, the future flashback, the West Coast geographic specificity, then you might be as surprised as me to discover that Pynchon’s new novel, Shadow Ticket, is set in Depression-era Milwaukee.

Milwaukee Magazine • 2nd March 2026

Song Sung Blue with Claire Sardina: How She Made It to the Big Screen

From the taverns of West Allis to the spotlight of the then Marcus Amphitheater, “Lightning and Thunder” are now immortalized in Hollywood.

Milwaukee Magazine • 1st March 2026

Milwaukee Music Notes: Jazz Quartet Looks Back and Moves Ahead

Music encourages looking back, and sometimes we look so far back we’re facing forward again. That’s what happened to me at The Estate last Friday night. Bassist Clay Schaub intoned along with himself; Trim’s guitar leaped with lysergic spring; Breiwick blew at center stage and drummer Drobka was everywhere we want him to be.

Milwaukee Record • 1st March 2026

I played in Milwaukee’s largest Tecmo Super Bowl tournament

When “real” American football failed as a religion, Tecmo Super Bowl brought us to our knees. Within a tidy 20 minutes, we’d shout unintelligible curses at each other, deride “density” games, lose all honor, and wait another 20 minutes to do it all again, assuming our inebriated eyes could still see the 13-inch TV screen.

Milwaukee Magazine • 30th January 2026

Milwaukee Music Notes: Bluegrass Might Just Save the World

“It’s time for some hot, dirty bluegrass,” announced The MilBillies fiddler Joe Wais. The crowd approved as the band blistered into a familiar line of questioning for taverngoers across Wisconsin: “Are you drunk, are you stoned, are you afraid to die alone?” From the looks on the faces of folks nearby, I’d say the answer was yes, yes and no.

Milwaukee Magazine • 28th January 2026

A Look Into Five Milwaukee-Set Novels

Novels offer a great escape, but sometimes we want our fiction to hit closer to home. These recent books are set in Milwaukee, but do they paint a recognizable portrait of our beloved city?

Milwaukee Magazine • 29th November 2025

Milwaukee Music Notes: Rap J & Friends Find Their Groove

Something about Sunday nights in December makes Cactus Club the perfect place to commune over great grooves and danceable beats. A growing crowd got cozy and joined Rap J & Friends at an uplifting all-ages show on Dec. 21, ideally timed to take the edge off the pre-holiday rush. Rap J is known for rhymes loaded with wisdom and humor. But before I checked out the Milwaukee star-studded event, I caught up with Rap J to talk about his new LP, his various collaborations and the magic of the Drunken...

Milwaukee Magazine • 28th November 2025

Violent Femmes Add It Up at the Riverside Theater

It’s Sunday night at the Riverside Theater, and we’re running the gauntlet of the vaguely recognizable Milwaukeeans (Did I? Did we? Are you? etc.). Though our Gen X peers age at varying degrees of speed, Violent Femmes founding members Gordon Gano (guitar, lead vocals) and Brian Ritchie (bass, backing vocals) sound straight out of 1984. One of the most vital American bands of the 20th century arrives with an oversized Picasso-blue behemoth bass; a frontman playing (among other things...

Milwaukee Record • 20th November 2025

The Agony & the Irony are Killing Me (and WLUM-FM 102.1)

Despite various shakeups since the ’90s, WLUM had been Milwaukee’s FM home for bands like Queens Of The Stone Age, Tame Impala, Jane’s Addiction, Weezer, and more since the mid ’90s heyday of grunge and alternative rock. Earlier this year, 102.1 was sold to Christian radio chain K-Love Inc., a subsidiary of Educational Media Foundaton (EMF), which owns and operates countless FM radio stations throughout the United States. On Wednesday, 102.1 finally switched to the Christian contemporary format Air1. It’s official: WLUM-FM 102.1 is no more.

Milwaukee Magazine • 20th November 2025

Milwaukee Music Notes: Natalie Sue & The Steed Is a Band Becoming

Songs of Experience took flight like fireflies at the Cactus Club on an August evening, delivered by Derek Pritzl, Valley Fox and headliners Natalie Sue & The Steed. I can think of many ways to begin the end of a summer marred by a rising dew point, 1,000-year flooding and unkindly chaos, but none better than warming my spirit to pedal steel and tight harmonies among a packed crowd blessed to believe that summer continues.Taking the stage alone with an acoustic guitar, Derek Pritzl, from Valders...

Milwaukee Record • 17th October 2025

The Excitement of a Song You May Only Hear Once

I recently listened to my sister’s Milwaukee radio mixtape from 1988: Dig if you will a 1988 bedroom: Ratt’s Out Of The Cellar album cover taped to the closet door, a guinea pig rambles the shag red carpet, a phone cord snakes beneath closed door, a skinny teen hunches over a boombox customized with purple and silver fingernail polish...

WMSE - 91.7FM • 16th October 2025

Clem Snide is a Generous but Sloppy Lover: Live from Shank Hall

Sure, but what about me? I came to Clem Snide via Soft Spot as a result of accidentally impregnating the love of my life. His spindly body half-anointed upon a barstool, the lefty launched into the first of his trapeze acts, singeing the lines, providing his own background vocals, armed with only an acoustic guitar and voice...

Milwaukee Record • 16th October 2025

Ocean of Tenderness: Watching the NFL on Mute

In order to experience the twisted barbary of an NFL broadcast, I watch games on mute, with music of my choice bumping, I observed Raven running back Derrick Henry stiff-arm to the crescendo of “Deep Distance” by Ashra off their 1977 release New Age Of Earth...

Milwaukee Magazine • 1st October 2025

Milwaukee Music Notes: The Carlos Adames Group’s New Latin Jazz

Before launching into “Muevete,” on which he plays killer conga, Carlos Adames suggests ways to respond to the changing political and social landscape: “Kill people with kindness,” which he immediately contradicts, like John Lennon in “Revolution 1.” “But I’m not sure I agree with that. It all depends on what you’ve got to lose.” Wise words for all of Milwaukee to consider as we respond to shutdowns, programs closing and history disappearing. Adames knows the voice of the oppressed can only be so loud, so true: It all depends upon just how much you have to lose.