Kip Gasparek tells me that he's been hired by Best Place to book live music into Best Place, the tavern that inhabits the historic Pabst Brewery headquarters, 901 W. Juneau Ave.
"They've had a few polka and accordion bands play there which received good responses," Gasparek says. "A lot of local history happened there, so it's a pretty cool place that I'm hoping will offer local bands a new place to call home."
Gasparek says bands will play in the ornate main room, called Blue Ribbon Hall, of the tavern, which also boasts a pair of intimate, enclosed courtyards.
"(There is) definitely more than enough room and table space for shows," he says. "Thursday has been the day designated for bands and open mic nights, but there was nothing on the calendar for November, so I'm booking weekends too."
The venue's first show takes place Nov. 13 and features Green Bay's Nathan Mathes.
You can download Mathes' record here for free.
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.
