Why Milwaukeeans Love Times Cinema’s Friday Night Freak Show
Originally published on Milwaukee Magazine 11/16/22On the third Friday of every month, devout cinephiles head down to the Times Cinema, an unassuming theater in Milwaukee’s Washington Heights neighborhood. They’re there for the Friday Night Freak Show-- a monthly event for film fanatics, arts and culture aficionados and those who want to inject some fun and nostalgia into their Friday night.
Since 1996, WMSE Station Manager Tom Crawford, and the station’s crew of DJs have curated the recurring film screening. Tapping into the eclectic and extensive taste of their audiences, the team pulls together old cult classics, indie horror and second-run films you will not see at a traditional movie theater. In the past they’ve screened films like Rock ‘n’ Roll High School (1979), This Is Spinal Tap (1984), The Hunger (1983), Shakes The Clown (1993) and Priscilla Queen of the Desert (1994).
While anyone can attend, the Freak Show is geared toward adults who want to do something a little different on their Friday night. The Times offers a full bar right when you step in, so patrons can sip on their favorite cocktails as they enter the theater, which for the first hour of the night, serves as a club where they can see their favorite WMSE DJs spin records. According to Crawford, DJs choose tunes that pay homage to the film or to set the tone for the night.
“The Friday Night Freak Show takes on a concert appeal,” says Crawford. “Who doesn’t want to sit in a theater with 300 people who feel like you do about this movie?”
The Friday Night Freak Show’s December pick is Beat Street, a 1984 Stan Lathan film about New York City’s hip hop culture of the early 1980s. WMSE’s Barry Johnson and JaiRoc, who host Milwaukee’s longest running R&B, hip-hop and rap music program, The Afternoon Boogie Bang, will be DJing the night.
