Washington Park Wednesdays has announced that it will host a live music season again this summer and it will a hybrid version, mixing both the mobile concerts it did last year with concerts at the historic park bandshell where the concerts have traditionally been staged.
Unless governmental restrictions change, the season will launch on Wednesday, July 7 with four concerts on wheels traveling through the neifghborhoods surrounding the park on the mobile bandshell stage created for last year’s series.
Those shows are July 7, 14, 21, and 28.
Then, in August, the four Wednesday concerts will be back at the Washington Park bandshell, with masking and social distancing and with vendors and audience members adhering to governmental guidelines.
Those events will be held Aug. 4, 11, 18 and 25.
The performers will be announced at a virtual fundraiser with Vennture Brew Company on May 12.
“The safety of our beloved audience, artists, neighbors, volunteers, vendors and sponsors remain paramount,” reads a statement from the organizers. “The goal of WPN’s Washington Park Wednesdays Summer Concert Series is to both broaden the scope of attendees to the park and to the West Side of Milwaukee, as well as to enable access to the rich cultural fabric of Milwaukee as a whole for the residents surrounding the park.
“It is with this goal in mind that we thoughtfully move forward with the 2021 season. We are grateful to all of our stakeholders for their patience, understanding, responsibility and support with regard to changes made and adjustments that may further need to be made.”
Read a history of
the Washington Park bandshell here.
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.
