Under a blazing sun, but just moments before a heavy wind blew in a downpour on Tuesday, Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Bryan Hudson and Wauwatosa Mayor Dennis McBride (wearing a Brewers tee) unveiled a “Field of Play” community mural promoting teamwork, togetherness, belonging and community.
The mural was painted by local artist and Milwaukee native Whitney Nettles on the 65th Street side of the Little Village Play Café coffee shop and indoor play place at 6505 W. North Ave.
The mural is the second to be painted as part of of the Brewers' ongoing #BeyondTheDiamond community engagement program.
Brewers President of Business Operations Rick Schlesinger also spoke, as did the artist.
After the unveiling Hudson took part a slime creation class with local kids, who were also invited to make penants to be displayed at American Family Field and their own baseball cards. The mix-ins for the slime project even included some infield dirt from Am Fam Field.
Meanwhile, Nettles – who owns Wit And Co., which specializes in hand lettering and typography, branding, illustration and print materials – did some final touch-ups on the mural outside.
Joy Ice Cream Trike and Cocina Filipina Food Truck were also on hand to help head off any hangriness that might arise.
The mural joins the many that have been popping up in East Tosa in recent years, adding a dash of color to the West North Avenue corridor.
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.
