Chicago-born singer and songwriter Lauren Phillips, now based in Los Angeles, has a new single called “Milwaukee” that is out now.
"I don't wanna be here tonight," she sings. "The city can't be this bad I'm sure."
The hotel, apparently, wasn't great, either.
If the song paints a less-than-stellar portrait of the Cream City, it's not our fault, Phillips says.
"This is song about being stuck in a different city than my partner and not appreciating the city for it is because I was blinded by loneliness," she says. "It also didn't help that it was the heat of the pandemic and no bars or restaurants were open to socialize. (Laughs)
"I'm proud of this one. I wanted it to be fun and energetic something that was lacking during that time of my life."
The video has some nice snippets of Milwaukee in old postcards, including glimpses of the old Pabst Building and Central Police Station, Gimbels and the County Courthouse.
"I know that you really want me," she sings. "But I'm stuck here in Milwaukee."
Hopefully the next time she visits, she won't feel so stuck. Maybe she'll let us show her around a bit so she can see the city's charms.
The song, "Milwaukee" is from Phillips' debut LP "Handsome Woman," due out in July. It's a good song, so we'll cut her some slack this time.
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.
