Though I was born and raised about 1,000 miles from Milwaukee, I grew up knowing the words to Mad Man Michaels' cream city classics – the A- and B-sides to his 1950s-era single: a "Dragnet" take-off called "The Czarnina Kid" and "Michaels Market (Kobasa Song)."
Thanks to my South Side (but not Polish) mom, that is, who carried the 7" single with her when she moved to New York City to marry my dad. I don't think she brought much with her, so perhaps it says a lot that the record made the journey.
Johnny "Mad Man" Michaels launched his program on Milwaukee's WOKY-AM in July 1953, spinning records, and sharing the news and weather. In 1961, Michaels moved over to WEMP – prompting a lawsuit by Bartell Broadcasters, which owned WOKY.
I haven't been able to find much about the man behind the music, but I trust you'll tell me what you know using the Talkback feature below or via Facebook or email. (One Facebook poster suggested that Michaels used to host the South Shore Water Frolics in Bay View. Surely one of you knows more about that.)
In 1954, Michaels released "The Czarnina Kid" and the following year he issued another 45 with "Gwiazdor" and "Snack for Santa" – both on his own Michaels imprint and both also issued on 78s.
Why I found this hilarious as a little kid in 1970s Brooklyn is a mystery – though he does mention a "tooshie bone" in "Michaels Market," so there's that – but I loved both sides and still do. Enjoy...
Here's "Gwiazdor" ...
And, finally, here's "Snack for Santa" ...
My friend Duane Dudek has also posted about these songs, and some related ones, including Frankie Yankovic's brilliant, "Who Stole the Keeshka," here. There are more posts about Michaels at Milwaukee Polonia Project and Budding Ventriloquist.
Here are high quality versions of the 78s of "Michaels Market," "Czarnina Kid," "Gwiazdor" and "Snack for Santa."
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.
