Author Matt Wild

Let’s come together and ID these folks from a 1993 Animal Crackers commercial

May 22, 2018

Hey! Anyone remember Milwaukee-area pet store Animal Crackers? You know, the same Animal Crackers that had locations at Bluemound Plaza, Highland Plaza, and Southridge Plaza? The same Animal Crackers that had a...

Mandatory Milwaukee: Northpoint Custard is a summertime staple

Matt Wild

May 21, 2018

Some places come and go, while some places become icons. Mandatory Milwaukee is all about the latter. Join us as we revisit beloved and well-worn local staples with fresh eyes, and explore how they might figure...

Listen to Devil Met Contention “Take A Chance” with bold new sound

Matt Wild

May 18, 2018

Devil Met Contention needed a change."We'd been playing the songs off of our last album for a while," says DMC frontman Ehson Rad. "We did some small tours in the Midwest for them, and then we recorded them...

Here’s the lineup for the 2018 Summer Soulstice Music Festival

Matt Wild

May 17, 2018

For nearly two decades, the East Side's annual Summer Soulstice Music Festival has marked the first day of summer with music, food, drinks, and that one guy who always shows up carrying a giant lizard. On Satur...

Water Taxi MKE launches this Saturday

Matt Wild

May 17, 2018

"Why Are There No Water Taxis On The Milwaukee River?" asked WUWM last summer. Well, now there are. Water Taxi MKE, the brainchild of Paddle Tavern co-founder Redmond Tuttle, launches this Saturday. For $5-$10,...

Spirit of Oriental Drugs will live on in Crossroads Collective food hall

Matt Wild

May 16, 2018

In a video from 1987, beloved East Side pharmacy Oriental Drugs is continually described as a "crossroads." "It's interesting," says one woman. "It's a crossroads. Everyone comes here at one time or another." O...

Questlove’s “Symphonic Celebration of Prince” is coming to Riverside Theater (without Questlove)

Matt Wild

May 15, 2018

It's been more than two years since Prince left this plane of existence, but his spirit and his music live on. Purple Rain will forever remain Purple Rain. The Batman soundtrack will forever remain the Batman s...

Listen to another single from Surgeons In Heat’s upcoming LP, ‘Bored Immortals’

Matt Wild

May 15, 2018

Back in February, we gave you a sneak peek of the upcoming Surgeons In Heat album, Bored Immortals. Here's what we had to say back then when we premiered the record's first single, "Why'd You Start?": This tim...

Liz Phair rules and she’s coming to Turner Hall October 12

Matt Wild

May 15, 2018

Liz Phair rules. Liz Phair's debut album, Exile In Guyville (which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year), rules. Liz Phair's pre-Guyville Girly-Sound tapes rule. The rest of Liz Phair's career ranges f...

Here are pictures of people taking pictures of the second Milwaukee streetcar

Matt Wild

May 14, 2018

Monday morning, in an event akin to the release of The Godfather Part II, The Empire Strikes Back, or Ernest Saves Christmas, the SECOND of Milwaukee's new streetcars arrived downtown. Like its predecessor back...

In case you blinked last week, here’s all the new shit they’re building in Milwaukee (May 6-12)

Matt Wild

May 14, 2018

Depending on which news sources you follow, Milwaukee is going through either a "renaissance" or a "reinvention." Or maybe it's a "reboot" or a "reimagining," like that crappy Tim Burton version of Planet Of Th...

Marquette University did something unpredictable with its Twitter account

Matt Wild

May 12, 2018

It's graduation season, which means millions of graduating high school students are preparing for the real world, and millions of graduating college students are preparing for the real possibility of 20 years o...

Milwaukee media’s IKEA “sneak peeks,” ranked

Matt Wild

May 11, 2018

Every Friday, Off The Record looks to other Milwaukee publications (and beyond) for bits of news we missed throughout the week.• On Tuesday, OnMilwaukee got a "first look" at the new IKEA store in Oak Creek...

East Side Oak Leaf Trail will be closed for repairs beginning May 14

Matt Wild

May 11, 2018

The Oak Leaf Trail is a Milwaukee gem, a 100-plus mile recreational trail that circles Milwaukee County. Unfortunately, a popular chunk of the popular trail will soon go dark: On Friday, Milwaukee County Parks ...

Summerfest adds OutKast’s Big Boi, other stuff

Matt Wild

May 11, 2018

We're roughly a month and a half away from Summerfest 2018, but the excitement is already humming in the kinda-summer air. The music! The food! Our inevitable and increasingly confounding review of Taped Music ...

Milwaukee County voters might be asked about kinda-sorta legalizing marijuana this November

Matt Wild

May 10, 2018

Thursday morning, in a meeting of the Committee on Judiciary, Safety and General Services, a resolution was unanimously passed that will add an advisory referendum question about marijuana to Milwaukee County b...

Feel the pain of the new economy with Dogs In Ecstasy’s buzzy “Scale 2 Infinite”

Matt Wild

May 10, 2018

Are you enjoying the new "gig" economy? Are you enjoying the relentless blurring of the line between "online" and "real life"? Of course you're not! Luckily, Milwaukee's ever-delightful pop smart-asses Dogs In ...

Prepare for a summer of fun with this Milwaukee County Parks commercial from 1984

Matt Wild

May 10, 2018

Hey! It's summer! Sort of? Yeah, it's gonna be cold and rainy this weekend, but whatever. Now's the time to get out of the house and enjoy all the summer-y things Milwaukee has to offer: festivals, concerts, an...

Sprecher will bring five “Feasts on the Beach” to the Traveling Beer Garden at Doctors Park

Matt Wild

May 10, 2018

What's better than Milwaukee County Parks? How about beer in Milwaukee County Parks, courtesy of the ever-popular Traveling Beer Garden? And what's better than beer in Milwaukee County Parks, courtesy of the ev...

Here’s who’s playing the Riverwest Public House stages at Locust Street Festival 2018

Matt Wild

May 9, 2018

The annual Locust Street Festival of Music & Art is one of the city's best street fests, celebrating all that is good, right, and drum circle-y in Riverwest. On Sunday, June 10, the 42nd installment of the ...