In January I took you inside this amazing recreation of Liverpool’s legendary Cavern Club, where The Beatles often played in their early days, in Hartland. Now, you have a chance to see it for yourself.
The venue is hosting an event with the equally legendary – at least in Milwaukee – Bob Barry, one of the city’s first and best-known rock and roll DJs. Barry introduced the Fab Four onstage when they played at the Arena in September 1964.
Barry, who wrote a memoir called "Rock ‘n’ Roll Radio Milwaukee: Stories from the Fifth Beatle" this year, will appear from 7 until 9 p.m. at The Cavern Hartland, 510 Hartbrook Dr., in Hartland, on Tuesday, Sept. 4. That’s exactly 54 years since the day he brought the Beatles onstage for their first and only Wisconsin performance.
All attendees will get a copy of Barry’s book and will enjoy a performance by Milwaukee’s own The Ricochettes, a 1960s-era band (pictured below) that some called the city’s own Beatles.
The group, which you can read about here, will play songs from the Beatles’ Arena setlist.
Tickets start at $75 plus processing fees at blueskyjazz.org, and proceeds from the event will support Donate Life Wisconsin, the Angels Fund for Kids and Blue Sky Jazz, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to using music as a means to foster growth in the lives of individuals by supporting music education, musician development and preservation of classic American music forms.
For more information, go to blueskyjazz.org, or call (414) 476-7755.
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.
