The last time I was asked to judge a battle of the bands or "American Idol"-style event it was a disaster for reasons I won't waste your time going into here, but suffice it to say, I've done my best to avoid these things for a while.
But my streak came to end a couple weeks ago when Kevin Brandt asked me to join him and Banshee Music's Jeff Horrigan and judge the fourth annual Downtown Battle of the Bands hosted by Westown Association at Pere Marquette Park. The event, on Wednesday, July 29 from 5 to 9 p.m., takes place during River Rhythms and is part of Downtown Employee Appreciation Week. The music starts at 6:30.
I just learned that the competitiors are:
- Signalfire (rock/metal)
- MI5 (rock/alternative/alt country)
- Eric McKinney (pop/acoustic/hip-hop)
- Honky Tonk-it-is (honky-tonk/rockabilly)
- The Katz Sass (blues/rock)
- Melissa Czarnik with The Eric Mire Band (hip-hop)
And that's good because, as far as I know, I don't know anyone in these bands.
Each act gets 15 minutes on stage and will be evaluated on "content, use of time, originality, musical ability, stage presence and audience response."
But I'll tell ya what, would-be winners, I'll give you more points for an OK original tune than for a well-performed cover. Unless they tell me I'm not allowed to do that. Then, well, I guess I won't.
The winning band gets a slot at Summerfest 2010, presumably opening for the Marcus Amphitheater opener on the first Friday of the Big Gig. OK, I'm just kidding about that. There are also other prizes -- described as "fabulous" -- for the top three winners.
The event, like all River Rhythms concerts, is free and open to all.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
