Every week, Kristopher Pollard from Milwaukee Film and Radio Milwaukee’s Dori Zori talk about movies — because that’s what you do when you’re Cinebuds.
Almost 30 years ago, back when Spice Girls ruled the Earth and the taste of Surge was on everyone’s lips, a group of people gathered at WMSE around the idea of reviving the communal cinematic experience that was the midnight movie. Our fellow community station dubbed its version “The Friday Night Freak Show,” and we were excited last month to find out that the series has found a new home at the Oriental Theatre.
As it just so happens, a certain local organization called Milwaukee Film operates the Oriental Theatre, and a certain bigwig from Milwaukee Film co-hosts this podcast every single week. So Kpolly and Dori invited WMSE station manager Tom Crawford — who was there when the Friday Night Freak Show came into being — to talk about the much-loved series and what we can expect as it settles into its new digs.
For starters, it’s important to note that while the FNFS was inspired by midnight movies, the show’s first installment at the Oriental will be much friendlier to the non-night owls. On Friday, Sept. 20, Johnny Z from WMSE’s Chicken Shack program will start things with a DJ set at 6:30 p.m., followed by a screening of Quentin Tarantino’s feature-length debut, Reservoir Dogs, at 7:30 p.m.
This episode covers plenty of what’s to come for the FNFS, but having Tom in the studio provided a wonderful opportunity to talk about the earliest days of the series and get a different perspective on movies in general from another of Milwaukee’s true cinephiles.
Listen to the entire conversation using the player at the the top of the page or wherever you get your podcasts, and while you’re at it swing by Milwaukee Film’s website to grab tickets as the Friday Night Freak Show makes its triumphant Oriental Theatre debut.
