Blog Archives
Tea’s Weird Week: QWERTYFEST schedule is live, stage magic, Krampusnacht art, and more
QWERTYFEST MKE, a celebration of typewriters, Milwaukee history and innovation, writing and the lost arts, music, and fun happening Oct. 3-5, is something me and my co-organizer Molly Snyder have been hard at work at. We’ve got a schedule and I have to say, I’m really happy with everything about it. We have FANTASTIC people involved at every event and I’m especially glad that the venues– Turner Hall Ballroom, State Street Pizza, Central Library, Interchange Theater, Newsroom Pub, Forest Home Cemetery, and Falcon Bowl– are all places of rich history.
You can find the full schedule and tickets at our website: www.qwertyfest.com
BTW, still looking for View-Masters for a “View-Master Theater” at QWERTYFEST. Thanks to Irvin Orlandini for gifting a View-Master and a nice collection of reels. That was a great start!
I’m also quite proud of our official publication, QWERTY Quarterly. Every issue is a powerhouse of talent– poems, fiction, short articles, columns, fun pages. This month we released issue 9. A great way to support QWERTYFEST is to buy an issue or a subscription– 4 issues delivered to you is just $25. See our Etsy shop here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/qwertyquarterly
What else have I been up to?
-I wrote a feature for the August issue of Milwaukee Magazine (out now) about magician and illusionist Bill Blagg. I think it turned out well. It’s a story about the magic biz but also being determined to follow your dreams. That’s been a theme I return to– my article on local surfers springs to mind.
-I also have a feature in the September issue of MilMag on the legends of Whitewater I’m really thrilled for you to check out, so look out for that.
-I’m the director of Milwaukee Krampusnacht. This is our 8th year, and Stinky Goblin Emporium dropped our art (below) for this year. It features some characters from the previous 8 art designs they’ve done and they are also compiling a publication showcasing art from all 8 years you can pick up at this year’s event. I wrote a short intro for it. Vendor applications for Krampusnacht (Dec. 7 in the Brewery District) are currently open: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1S2rT5-JQng72kuxmI2INdQVVsp2RIoT2oLpHdN0sJFw/
-A reminder I’ll be on The UnXplained on August 15. A lot of people have asked– no, I didn’t get a chance to meet host William Shatner. They film his narration segments separately, but I’m thrilled I get to be on a show he hosts.
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Tea’s Weird Week: TWW Returns! (plus, a psychedelic time travel boat dream)
As things tend to go with me, at a certain point I was overworked and struggling to keep up and so my beloved column, Tea’s Weird Week, fell into hiatus. I think politics played a hand in this, too. It has felt overwhelming and fruitless to write about weird topics with the current climate of turmoil. But in times like these, we need to find our happy places to hide out in and take a break, and one of those refuges for me is writing about some strange shit.
I’ve missed having this venue to write about whatever I want and to update on some of the many projects I’m working on, so Tea’s Weird Week is back! Every Thursday (except the ones I don’t). We (me and my collaborators) had a good run of a Tea’s Weird Week podcast. Can we bring it back? I hope so. I’m thinking about it. But to start, here’s a weird dream I had and some brief updates.
On Tuesday, me and QWERTYFEST MKE co-organizer Molly Snyder had a meeting to discuss plans for the fest (Oct.3-5 this year!) but we took a break to watch the effort to finally remove Deep Thought, a boat that was beached and ditched way back in October. The abandoned, soon to be graffiti covered boat became a local celebrity of sorts, with lots of local media interest. After several failed attempts, a local towing company was called in to pull the sucker off the beach. We observed part of this effort (it took a long time) as they yanked the boat up onto the rocks, eventually hauling it away on a flatbed truck.
That night I had a dream– I was back at the beach, and Deep Thought was still wrecked there, but we had both time travelled back to the 1960s. The beach was filled with hippies, sitting around smoking weed. A guy with long hair and a beard was walking around hawking a newspaper (I would guess Milwaukee’s 60s underground paper, Kaleidoscope). Hippies were circled around playing hacky sack (this part of the dream might not be historically accurate) and some were playing acoustic guitars and bongos. The hippies offered me a joint, and I took some tokes. Sleepy, I climbed up on the Deep Thought and fell asleep in the sunlight. I woke up in my bed. The boat was gone. Faaaaaar out, man. Far-fucking-out. Good-bye Deep Thought.
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QWERTY Quarterly: Speaking of QWERTYFEST MKE, QQ is a zine edited by me and Molly, that is the official publication of the festival. I’m very proud of it, every issue features the work of talented local writers (poetry, fiction, articles, columns) and artists. You can pick up a copy at Lion’s Tooth and Woodland Pattern here in Milwaukee, Quimby’s in Chicago, or get it mailed anywhere via our Etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/qwertyquarterly
More QWERTYFEST MKE news soon!
Other recent writing: I wrote two short pieces for the May issue of Milwaukee Magazine, about local ham radio enthusiasts and a travelogue about a guy who faked his kayaking death here in Wisconsin, then took a meandering escape route to eastern Europe. I’ve got some entries in the Summer Guide issue out in June, and I wrote about a local “hoedown throwdown” between line-dancing groups for their website HERE.
Clownwatch 2025: last fall, I published a zine/ ebook titled Political Monsters, which explores the correlation between the party in power and the number of films starring zombies (higher during traditional Republican presidencies) vampires (Democratic Party), or in the case of Trump, killer clown (MAGA) movies being made. Trump’s first term saw the largest spike of killer clown themed movies in film history. Are the clowns back? We’ll see– I am tracking and cataloging all killer clowns released over the next 4 years, starting here with our first entry for Trump 2.0. I will update on more films as they are released.
1. May 9: Clown in a Cornfield (directed by Eli Craig) release date. Based on a 2020 novel by Adam Cesare, features a cornfield-lurking clown named Frendo, who enjoys killing horny teens.
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Next week on TWW: It’s going to be a hot cryptid summer!
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Tea’s Weird Week: Favorite Words of 2024 (and where I wrote ’em)
Words! Some just feel better rolling off the tongue than others. I’ve been trying to keep track of some of my favorites over the last year. Here’s 12 I love (and by extension, some of the best articles I’ve written for various publications this year). I’m looking forward to more word usage in 2025. Happy New Year!
LANDLUBBERS: “Goth Barge has developed a following for their Dark Wave fueled boat cruises, but they do plenty of sets for landlubbers too.” —Madcap Milwaukee Calendar: Who Will You Ask to the Goth Prom?, Shepherd Express, Jan. 30.
LYNCHIAN: “If you want to make the experience even more immersive, show up ‘dressed in your Lynchian best’ to win a prize in the costume contest.” — Madcap Milwaukee Calendar: Furries and Motorcyclists Assemble; Music for Your Lynchian Lifestyle, Shepherd Express, Feb. 14
PENDING: “Pending approval, the statue will be placed in a corner of Elm Park they hope to rename Gygax Park and will feature a likeness of Gary Gyagx sitting at the head of a table, where visitors can sit down and join him for a game.”– Dungeons & Dragons All Started In This Tiny Wisconsin Town, Atlas Obscura, March 28
CAPRINE VINYASA: “Share your yoga mat with a baby dwarf goat in a session of “caprine vinyasa,” or goat yoga, a trend that dates back to an Oregon farm in 2016.” — Madcap Milwaukee Calendar: Buffy Prom is Ready to Slay, Shepherd Express, May 8.
GOTHABILLIES: “These sour goths don’t like looking out their window to see their moonlit lawn filled with cybergoths, dark wavers, deathrockers, gothabillies, and other new-fangled creatures of the night.”–I’m on a goth boat: All aboard Milwaukee’s Goth Barge, Milwaukee Record, June 4. Please Clap Dept.: This article was included on the “25 favorite Milwaukee Record stories of 2024 list.”
TERRAZZO: “Waitstaff zipped across the hall’s terrazzo floor, delivering plates of fried cod and perch to the maze of tables, each decorated with a centerpiece vase featuring minature American and Serbian flags and colored carnations nestled amongst the condiments.”– Generations of Politicians Have Passed Through Serb Hall, Milwaukee Magazine, July 2024
CLACK: “With both parties satisfied with the deal, Dul sits at his Olympia SG-1 typewriter, and with a clack clack clack he types the customer a receipt, turning a crank to pull it free from the platen (the roller that holds the paper).”– Gen Z is into typewriters, Chicago Reader, Sept. 19
CLOWNADO: “The success of those movies led to a score of low budget entries like Killer Clowns: Unleashed (2016), Crispy’s Curse (2017), Clowntergeist (2017), Clown Motel: Spirits Arise (2018), and a film title that perhaps sums up the Trump administration in a single word: Clownado (2019).”– Political Monsters: How Presidents Influence Horror Movies, zine/e-book, October 2024
BLOWHOLE: “The band’s logo, a mohawked humpback whale in a leather jacket (with an enormous safety pin piercing the noble animal’s blowhole) breaching the water while defiantly raising a flipper, was a common sight on the streets, plastered everywhere on flyers and stickers slapped on dumpsters and electrical boxes.”– The Terrible Curse of the Humpbacks, Riverwest Radio Ghost Walk booklet, October 2024. Please Clap Dept.: Illustrator Ashley Altadonna captured what I thought this logo might look like exactly:
SCHTICK: “I sell a drink, put the money in the register; at the end of the night, I count the money – immediate gratification,” Guenther says. “I make a new customer, I tell a joke, people laugh, and that’s my schtick.”– A Short Guide to Milwaukee’s Dive Bars, Milwaukee Magazine, October 2024
HODAG-GREEN: “Then, in 2018, he went all in, giving the exterior of the shop a Hodag-green coat of paint and rebranding as The Hodag Store.”– Do You Know the Legend of the Rhinelander Hodag? Milwaukee Magazine, October 2024
KRAMPUSSCHLAP: “Krampuschlap,” a game where people slap each other as hard as they can, is revealed to be “the favorite game of Krampusnacht” in the action comedy Red One. At Milwaukee Krampusnacht, we partnered with Best Place on a “Krampusschlap” drink special (cider and Fireball) and set up a photo opp so people could pretend they were being slapped by a Krampus hand. —Milwaukee Krampusnacht website and social media promotions
Tea’s Weird Week: I Wanna Magnet Fish Those Brothel Keys Out of the Milwaukee River
Back in the wild plague year of 2020, I, like many others, was figuring out what to do with myself. With everything shut down, I tried to think of a hobby that would get me out of the house and into (hopefully COVID-19 free) fresh air. Magnet fishing seemed like a good idea.
Magnet fishing is taking a powerful magnet attached to a long, sturdy rope and throwing it into bodies of water to pull out some of the mass of trash dumped by humanity for generations. Bicycles, radiators, license plates, fishing lures, boat parts, pots and pans, etc. Junk fishing seemed fun, so I bought a magnet and gear and… never did go out and do it. I think one of the hang ups was that I was pretty sure I’d find ditched guns in the Milwaukee waterways and was not quite sure about what to do in that situation.
We’ll get back to this, but let’s switch gears for a minute. Recently, I got a copy of the March issue of Milwaukee Magazine. I always enjoy seeing an article of mine that has made it into print, and this issue I wrote a feature on the career of 95-year-old photographer Tom Ferderbar. As I was flipping through the magazine, I was glad to see Matthew J. Prigge’s byline on an article. Matthew has written a great body of work exploring Milwaukee’s interesting and sometimes violent, macabre, and odd history in articles and books like Milwaukee Mayhem: Murder and Mystery in the Cream City’s First Century.
In Milwaukee Magazine, Prigge’s most recent article is titled “Life on the Line,” which delves into the history of Milwaukee’s red light district in the late 1800s and early 1900s, which was called “The Line.” (The article is only available in print for the time being, I will update with a link when it gets posted online).
Prigge reports that the area of The Line was located on River Street (now Edison Street) spread east of the river “from what is now Highland and Wells Streets and as far east as Market Street.” He also writes that a more working class version of The Line ran across the other side of the river “along Wells Street as far west as 6th Street.”
But here is the key line, how this column all ties together. From Prigge’s article:
“Legend had it that when a new house of prostitution, all-night saloon or gambling den would open on The Line, its operator would toss a key into the Milwaukee River. The ritual was a symbol of their intentions in the area- to hold their doors open, to neither be locked in nor locked away.”
Now do you see? It could just be a “legend,” they might have all been eaten by sturgeon or something, but maybe (just maybe) those keys might still be down there. I will try to find them on some magnet fishing expeditions. Will I be successful? Probably not. But as treasure hunters have asked throughout time…
what if I do?
Please Clap Dept.: If you’re looking for unique, interesting events in the Milwaukee area, please check out my bi-weekly column for the Shepherd Express, “Madcap Milwaukee Calendar.” You can find the most recent column here: https://shepherdexpress.com/culture/madcap-milwaukee-calendar
See also: Another Milwaukee hidden treasure is one buried by Byron Preiss, author of The Secret. I wrote an article on this about a year ago for Atlas Obscura: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-secret-byron-preiss-milwaukee
I can always tell when AO recycles this story on social media, by the way, because I get at least a couple messages from people who claim they’ve cracked the code. My message to them is always the same– dig it up and find it, and then let me know first so I can get the scoop on writing about it!
Tea’s Weird Week: The Last Train Outta 2023
2023 was quite a year for me. As always, it was a year of challenges, accomplishments, love, and heartbreak. The world keeps on spinning and I keep taking on new projects. Here’s my year in review.
Writing: In May, I was honored to receive two Milwaukee Press Club Excellence in Wisconsin Journalism Awards for two pieces I wrote for Milwaukee Magazine in 2022, “The Last Frame,” and “Wanna Buy a Famous Tugboat?” Freelance writing is a tough gig, but being recognized for your work encourages you on. The majority of articles I wrote this year were for MilMag, but I also began contributing to Atlas Obscura, writing four articles for them. Thanks to my editors Carole and Chris and the rest of the staff at MilMag, and Sarah at Atlas Obscura for giving me some great opportunities.
I did not make much progress on my book project ideas, too much going on, but that needs to change in 2024. I used to write TWW as a weekly column, but week after week this column fell by the wayside. I didn’t have the bandwidth for the TWW podcast either. That’s just the way it goes– sometimes you have to sacrifice some ideas so others may move forward. TWW will return in 2024, but it’ll be on a “when I can, I can” type of basis.
QWERTYFEST MKE: Big in 2023– I helped launch a new event in Milwaukee this year, QWERTYFEST MKE (June 23-25). This was good for me because as much as I like weird paranormal stuff, monsters, and subcultures, I also just like all aspects of writing. So this was a nice change of pace for me. QF celebrates the typewriter/ QWERTY keyboard, invented here in Milwaukee as well as writing and innovation in general. Thanks so much to Molly Snyder for being willing to take a leap of faith with me on this exciting new endeavor. Very excited for QF 24! Save the date: QWERTYFEST MKE–June 21-23, 2024.
QWERTY Quarterly: I am very proud of this humble little publication (the official publication of QWERTYFEST MKE), which features a mix of articles, fiction, poetry, columns, art, and fun pages. We celebrated each issue with release parties at Voyageur Book Shop, Mitchell Street Arts, and Woodland Pattern Book Center. We have had great contributors from locally and beyond. I think of it as a photocopied, Milwaukee version of The New Yorker. Me and Molly are editors, along with our excellent art director Alicia Krupsky and fantastic poetry editor Peter Burzyński. Our winter issue just came out and is “hygge” themed. Buy an issue (or a subscription– a nice holiday gift) here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/qwertyquarterly
Milwaukee Paranormal Conference: I’ve been director of MPC since 2015. This year we returned to the Irish Cultural and Heritage Center (where year one and three took place) on October 14. I was pretty stressed out the day before the conference, but day of I think it was one of the smoothest MPCs ever. Thanks to everyone who helped! 2024 date TBA. Follow MPC on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/milwaukeeparanormalconference
I’m Your Host: I was producer on this documentary directed by Alicia Krupsky, loosely based on a MilMag article I wrote, “Terror on the Tube,” (print version title). Alicia kicked some serious ass on this one. Last year, we won a Brico Forward Fund which provided things like money for costs and free legal advice. We had a work-in-progress screening at Milwaukee Twisted Dreams Film Festival, where it won audience favorite, and another screening at UW-Parkside in Kenosha, where we were given a special award of recognition by Kenosha Community Media. The documentary will continue to be submitted to film fests in 2024 and eventually will be available as a DVD/ online stream.
Check out the trailer on Alicia’s site here: https://aliciakrupsky.me/I-m-Your-Host
Milwaukee Krampusnacht: The Big Beast of the Year, Krampusnacht continues to grow and every year some things move smoother, but new challenges pop up. The event was Dec. 3 and returned to the Brewery District, expanding into some new businesses there. This year I received many compliments from all sorts of people locally and visiting from out-of-state praising the overall vibe of the event. It’s a huge group effort and it’s not about being greedy or shitty but having a good time together and supporting local artists, crafters, musicians, performers, and local business. We already got great ideas for next year, but as the event expands, I need help with organizing various aspects of it. If you have an interest and are reliable, contact me and we can talk about how it might benefit you.
Milwaukee Krampusnacht Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/180734318942836
Save the date: Milwaukee Krampusnacht– Sunday, Dec.1, 2024.
Also: Continued to fill in shifts at my friends’ fantastic bookstore, Lion’s Tooth, and led tours for American Ghost Walks. Both great local businesses!
Psychic Detective Roberts predicts this for 2024
1. I will be writing a new bi-weekly column for the Shepherd Express, “Madcap Milwaukee Calendar” that shares interesting and unique events happening in the Milwaukee area. First column will be posted next week!
2. Continue work on co-authoring Paranormal Road Trip.
3. Undisclosed non-fiction book project.
4. Working on a short documentary about my friend, cosmic prankster Mark Gubin, titled Welcome to Cleveland.
5. Undisclosed fiction book project.
6. And, of course, I will continue to work on the established annual events I mentioned above and continue to seek freelance writing opportunities.
Tea’s Weird Week: Drunk in the Back of a Cab, Listening to Coast-to-Coast AM, 2017
This story was inspired by my appearance on Coast-to-Coast AM Friday night. I started writing this when it occurred in 2017, but I ditched the story…until now.
At 2AM, I locked the door to the Riverwest Public House and was alone in the bar. I was drinking whiskey and listening to The Damned, The Light at the End of the Tunnel compilation. I had first heard this album sometime in high school and remembered it one day at work and was like hey, great fucking album, and then started listening to it every night at closing time.
Closing the bar was a time of great peace for me– washing glassware, tossing bags of garbage in a pile by the door, stocking beer and bottles of booze, slowly walking the length of the bar, giving it a rub down with a bleach water soaked rag. Last step– have a drink and count out the drawer, then call a cab. I had just moved from Riverwest to Bay View.
The bars were closed and all of Milwaukee in a drunken sleep, so the taxi arrived quickly. I was a bit buzzed myself and crawled into the back seat.
“Do you mind if I listen to this?” The cab driver asked, gesturing to his radio dial. I heard the familiar voice of George Noory, primary host of Coast-to-Coast AM, the long running, gold standard of weird radio. I could hear Noory was discussing something extra-terrestrial related with a guest
“I don’t mind at all, I’m down with Coast-to-Coast,” I told the cabbie. He smiled and we headed to I-94.
I stared out the window as we crossed the Hoan Bridge. I always loved the view. I would say it’s beautiful, in an industrial way– cold and dark, no signs of life except the grinding and clunking of machinery. Blinking red lights and miles of pipes and smokestacks belching smog passed by as the Yellow Cab cruised over the mostly abandoned bridge. We were hit with a blast of the sewage scented lake, an acrid but familiar smell.
I could have told the cabbie that I, the bartender he had picked up, was in fact a guest on Coast-to-Coast a couple years prior. But I’m not the type of person that likes to walk around telling anyone and everyone about who I am. So instead me and the cabbie sat in silence, listening to the radio while I looked lovingly out the window at the rusty landscape passed below.
I love this strange city and my life in it. Noory continued his interview with some guy who is a UFO expert– someone who chose an odd path in life, a person who opened a door to a surreal dimension and never came back.
That’s what I love about life. You never know– that person standing in front of you in line at the grocery store might dress up in a homemade superhero costume at night to patrol the streets. The person sitting next to you on the bus could be a UFO expert…or a serial killer, I suppose. This cab driver– a novice conspiracy theorist?
And the person you might pick up in your taxi late one night might be a bartender who also happens to be a dude into a hell of a lot of weird shit named Tea Krulos.
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Tea’s Weird Week, S2 ep13, Ask Us Anything!
Tea Krulos and Heidi Erickson answers questions submitted via social media– find out about frightening weird encounters we’ve had and our deepest secrets. Plus we share weird news– Mothman sighted at State Fair, the MyPillow guy goes full Captain Ahab, killer robots, and the Big Mac champ of Wisconsin (and the world). Miss Information reveals trivia answers (and our winner) and we close out with a track from Victor DeLorenzo‘s new album Spoken Drum, “Bow.”
Thanks to our sound engineer Android138 and all of our guests this season. We’ll be back in September.
Listen here: Tea’s Weird Week, S2 ep13: Ask Us Anything! (season finale) (podbean.com)
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Check out my latest books:
American Madness: The Story of the Phantom Patriot and How Conspiracy Theories Hijacked American Consciousness (2020, Feral House)
Apocalypse Any Day Now: Deep Underground with America’s Doomsday Preppers (2019, Chicago Review Press)
Wisconsin Legends & Lore (2020, History Press)
Tea’s Weird Week: Milwaukee Rolls the 100-sided Die
Rather than a typical Tea’s Weird Week column, today I’m just giving some show notes on our latest Tea’s Weird Week podcast episode, the “season one finale,” that is filled with stories about Dungeons & Dragons & Milwaukee. Much was discussed and here’s a rundown of relevant links. Just click on the highlighted text and you’ll find the website/article cited.
Dungeons & Dragon’s Wisconsin origins: Gary Gygax of Lake Geneva, WI, founded the Lake Geneva Wargames Convention, later known as GenCon. The convention eventually settled in Milwaukee– til 2003, when citing lack of hotel space and an unsatisfactory convention center, they moved to the more exotic locale of…Indianapolis. It remains one of the biggest gaming conventions in the world. Gygax co-created Dugeons & Dragons with Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974.
The Rare first ten D&D games: My friend Jan Christensen was given one of the first ten copies of Dungeons & Dragons. After playing it a few times, it sat in storage until 2016, when looking for something to sell so she could enjoy a road trip, she found this treasure. She shared with us the exciting story of it’s sale via Ebay to the Strong National Museum of Play in Buffalo, NY. Jan is the former editor of the great community newspaper, the Riverwest Currents.
The pandemic has been tough on independent journalism, please donate to their GoFundMe here: www.gofundme.com/f/help-riverwest-currents-stay-alive-and-printing
Factions: Battlegrounds: Last year I met Peter Ferry and Jason Clayton, two childhood friends who have followed their dream of creating “a multi-player fantasy combat boardgame representing diverse cultures and mythologies.” So cool! And they had a successful Kickstarter, met their stretch goals, and games should be delivered early this summer.
You can read an interview I did with them for the Shepherd Express here: shepherdexpress.com/arts-and-entertainment/off-the-cuff/friends-create-diverse-fantasy-battleground
Check out their website and pre-order a game here: www.factionsbattlegrounds.com
The Manticore Consort: If you’ve visited the Bristol Renaissance Faire, you’ve probably spotted the Manticore Consort, who add greatly to their atmosphere with their hurdy-gurdy and other renaissance instruments. Check out/ buy their music here: manticoreconsort.bandcamp.com
Faklandia Brewing: They brew their own beer, serve food, are an event space, AND are built around a fantasy theme, incorporated into their business on a multi-media gaming front. Faklandia is a realm of it’s own, but you can find it in Saint Francis (just outside of Milwaukee). It’s a wonderful place to visit. Find more at their website: faklandia.com
Tea’s Weird Week Facebook group: We mentioned a D&D poll conducted in this group, it’s a clearinghouse for weird news of all sorts and hella fun. Join us here: www.facebook.com/groups/359809171918389
Satanic Panic: Heidi’s source for details of the Satanic Panic comes from this article, “Why Satanic Panic never really ended,” Vox.com.
Implanted memories: Heidi also mentioned this Wall Street Journal article, “False Memories Can Be Planted and Then Reversed, Researchers Find.”
Lil Nas X: Congrats on starting your own mini-Satanic Panic! Here’s the video we talked about, in case you have yet to see it:
Rev. Bob Larson: I recalled the time I saw Rev. Bob Larson’s “exorcism” session in action. It was one of the strangest things I’ve experienced, and believe me you, that is saying something. I wrote about it in a chapter of my book Monster Hunters. You can see for yourself at the Bob Larson: Real Exorcist YouTube Channel. Content warning: everything.
Robert Wardhaugh’s longest running D&D campaign: We ended by talking about Robert Wardhaugh of London, Ontario, whose Dungeons & Dragons campaign has now been running continuously for 39 years! CNN’s Great Big Story did an article/podcast on him here: https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/20/us/dungeons-and-dragons-longest-game-great-big-story-trnd/index.html
Fight Dice: We ended the show with this great new multi-media music project that has a D&D theme. Really fun stuff, the have an EP coming out very shortly. Can’t wait to see more of Tim’s art!
Check out their music here: fightdice.bandcamp.com/releases and see art on their Facebook.
Tea’s Weird Week Patreon: We need your support to keep the podcast going. We have several tiers available with a TON of cool extras– behind the scenes access, bonus episodes, free online and in-person events, signed copies of my books, Tea’s Weird Week shirts and more. Please check it out: https://www.patreon.com/teasweirdweek
Listen: Here’s links to: Tea’s Weird Week episode 13: Dungeons & Dragons & Milwaukee (podbean.com)
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Check out my books:
American Madness
Apocalypse Any Day Now
Tea’s Weird Week: 2020 Review (ebook)
Milwaukee Paranormal Conference
Art by David Beyer, Jr.
Some of you have heard me yak on and on about my next book, Monster Hunters (Chicago Review Press, June 2015). The book is about the lives of people who search for unknown entities which we can categorize under the umbrella term “paranormal.”
I spent a lot of time joining people in the field as they searched for ghosts, demons, Bigfoot, Lake Monsters, UFOs, Skunk Apes (that’s the stinky cousin of Bigfoot) and other things that go bump in the night.
In order to celebrate the June release of the book, I wanted to do something that would be kind of a big deal. Something bigger than myself. And then I thought, why don’t I do something that Milwaukee is currently lacking? By that, of course, I mean a Paranormal Conference.
Here’s what I got so far:
*The conference does have a venue in downtown Milwaukee that is about 99% sure right now. It’s a good spot. I won’t announce it officially until paperwork is signed, though. We are pretty solid on the date which is Saturday, JUNE 6, 2015. It will be a one day, all day event, about Noon-7pm or so.
*The conference will feature a variety of guest speakers from the Midwest, mostly Wisconsinites as well as some guests (hopefully) from Illinois and Michigan. These speakers will give talks on subjects including ghost stories, paranormal investigation, cryptozoology, ufology, and folklore.
I’ve spoken to several (but not all) of the speakers I’d like to feature and have gotten a very positive response. I will soon be setting up a WordPress site for the con and we will begin to reveal guests there in the future.
What else will be going on? I’ll be reading an excerpt from Monster Hunters. There will also be a tabling room where guest speakers and other guests will have books, art, and ghost tour slots for sale. Possibly a documentary screening. We’ll also have a “get your picture taken with Bigfoot” booth. And much more. We’re working on ideas.
This message is just not an announcement. In starting to put this plan to paper, I quickly realized this is not something I would be able to pull off alone. A couple people have already been helpful behind the scenes. Here are some things we need help with:
*Financing. The venue I’m looking at is offering me a fair price for a Saturday in June, but it’s not dirt cheap. Anyone who has done an event knows that other costs will add up quick–printing flyers/posters/programs, printing t-shirts, there will be a lot of fees I haven’t even thought of yet. It will be a lot of money I will have to shell out up front, more than a semi-employed writer dude from Riverwest can afford.
Most conventions would recoup their costs by charging an admission, but see the crazy thing about me is I’m somewhat determined to have this event be Free. Yes, that’s right, admission to the con: free. Or maybe I should say: priceless. Soooooo, that means I need to think of other ways to raise money. One idea I’m keen on is sponsors. If I can find a few local sponsors that would invest in this and have their logo on display on the programming/ advertising, it would go a long way. I suppose a GoFundMe or a Kickstarter might work, too, but the idea of doing one of those makes me kind of googly eyed. What else? Fund raiser/ benefit show? I am open to any advice anyone has on this topic.
*Volunteers. I need ’em. I need a volunteer coordinator, volunteers to help set up and break down, help with the guests, hand out programs, find the Bigfoot, I need tech people to monitor the AV, I need a security person or two, help with the website, help making everything run smoothly. What’s in it for you? You’ll be helping launch an interesting event and we’re going to come up with some cool swag for you.
The next step here is we will get a WordPress site up and running for the con with official name and venue. This will go live on…Halloween (October 31, 2014).
If you’d like to contact me about any of the aforementioned, e-mail is best: teakrulos@gmail.com
teakrulos.com 