Don’t get me wrong, I love Milwaukee and Milwaukeeans sure know how to have a good time. But unless we’re counting liters of alcohol consumed per person per year, I can’t see Milwaukee beating out club-filled New York City or chic-chic party-ville Los Angeles, or the even ritzier Hamptons. On the other end of the spectrum, there’s the flaming cars in La Crosse and any number of Florida cities during Spring Break.
Toss in the beer-soaked Milwaukee summer, however, and as our eyesight blurs, the picture certainly becomes a little clearer.
In fact, Maxim judged cities based on bar time, 24-hour spots, bars and clubs, live music venues, indie theaters, strips club, and annual festivals (bingo!). Then factor in the average price of a microbrew, the ratio of men to women and the percentage of the population between 18 and 40 years old.
It all makes for a clever mathematical equation, but does it really all add up to a good time? Maybe, maybe not. Depends on whether we’re talking about Milwaukee in July or Milwaukee in January.
Of course, Maxim is about a g-string short of Penthouse, so maybe I’m not exactly the target demographic.
But, on the other hand, Koz’s Mini Bowl is apparently the only bar in Milwaukee specifically mentioned in the article, so it’s nice to see that Maxim looked beyond the glitz of America’s big cities and recognizing Brew City’s party people.
Salud!
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.
