If you're wondering if there's someone cool to see at Summerfest that might, arguably, be flying under the radar here, check out Staten Island-based songstress Ingrid Michaelson on Thursday, July 3 at 8 p.m. on the Rock Stage.
Now, I'm not saying you don't know who Michaelson is; after all she's had tracks from her sophomore disc, "Girls and Boys" (Cabin 24 Records) in "Grey's Anatomy," including a track in last season's finale that helped boost the disc into the top 100 on iTunes.
The entire disc is infectious with an organic pop sound driven by simple arrangements and cascading guitars punctuated by pulsing piano figures.
Now Michaelson has been all over NPR, too, and helping her maintain a pretty massive indie hipster quotient is the fact that she's just one of four musicians tabbed by author Augusten Burroughs to create an original soundtrack for the audio book of his "A Wolf at the Table." The others? Patti Smith, Sea Wolf and Tegan (but apparently not poor Sara) Quin.
Michaelson plays just before Gomez at the Big Gig, so get there and get a good spot before 8 and you can get settled in for the night, with the lake breeze swirling in behind you and some great songs flying straight at your face.
Mark your calendars and study up on Michaelson at her Web site (below).
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.
