I'm a firm believer that even in a lean period (sure, that's an Orange Juice reference, why not?), there's always great music to be found. Sometimes you just have to look a little harder for it.
Thanks to my go-to record shops – Zig-Zag, Bleecker Bob's and others in my old town and Atomic, Earwaves and Rush-Mor in my current one – I was able to easily get the best of the best in the 1980s. I'll play some of the music I mined in those places this week on WMSE.
DJ Rich Mars has invited me to join him with 30 minutes' worth of great '80s music on Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. Being a kid of the late 1960s, the music of the 1980s was right in my sweet spot and I told Rich I would have trouble keeping it to 30 minutes. Great, he said, that means I can be regular.
The '80s were perhaps among the most fertile and diverse years for music – American, Jamaican and British (among others). At the start, the hardcore scene was rising in the States, while-post punk was morphing in England. By mid-decade everything had changed and by the end of it, American bands were getting ready to explode again, especially in the Pacific Northwest.
In the wake of "Rapper's Delight" and "The Breaks," hip-hop really took major leaps forward in the '80s, too. Jamaica was still in roots mode early on, then digital arrived and swept everything away.
Thinking that I might return to Mars' show, I've decided to focus on one style and era, more or less, for Wednesday's show. But I'm not telling you which one. To find out, you'll have to listen, though the photo above is certainly a clue.
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.
