By Drew Olson Special to OnMilwaukee.com Published Mar 07, 2007 at 5:29 AM

Thor Christensen's 10-year run as popular music critic for The Milwaukee Journal coincided with one of the more exciting times in the city's music history.

From his seat -- usually in the center of the 10th row -- he watched countless national and international acts as well as local heroes like the Violent Femmes, BoDeans and Those Spanic Boys. He saw the opening of the Marcus Amphitheater and the Bradley Center and Summerfest's emergence as a premier music festival.

After leaving Milwaukee in 1995, Christensen took a job as a music writer for the Dallas Morning News, where he works today. We caught up to him last month and conducted the following interview.

OMC: How long did you live and work in Milwaukee?

TC: I lucked into the job right out of college when I was 21 in 1985. I got there right out of Northern Illinois (University) and was there until the papers merged in '95, when I was unceremoniously kicked out, which turned out to be a pretty good thing for me.

OMC: The world works in mysterious ways, doesn't it?

TC: I can't feel too upset over what happened, simply because I wound up with a better job and I enjoy where I am. The bad thing is that I still miss Milwaukee. Ten years later, it's still a town that is so much more interesting in many ways than a big city like Dallas. That's one drawback.

OMC: Considering that you grew up in Chicago, Milwaukee was probably a good place for a first job.

TC: Milwaukee was very familiar. Dallas -- in a lot of ways, I'm still adjusting to it even 12 years later because it is so much different than Milwaukee and Chicago. That said, it's got plenty of great things about it.

OMC: When was the last time you were in Milwaukee?

TC: I made it back to Summerfest briefly last year for about two days and it was the first time I had been back to Milwaukee in six years. That was a real eye-opener, seeing all the changes along the river and all the development. Also, just remembering what an incredible city it is in the summer and how much people are out and about and having a great time. It just made me miss Milwaukee.

OMC: What did you think of Summerfest?

TC: I covered it every year for 10 years in a row. I got burned out on it back then. To go as a visitor, I had a great time. I saw Ray Davies, David Lee Roth. I saw a great show by Soul Asylum. I saw Susan Tedeschi. I saw seven really great shows and had a gas. It was every bit as much fun as I remember. I also made it out to Miller Park for the first time, too. I have to say. I don't know what you guys think about Miller Park, but I wasn't all that impressed. From the standpoint of it being roomier and nicer and cleaner and bigger, but to me, it felt like a domed stadium even though it was outdoors.

OMC: We love the roof, but some people say that it's a little sterile and lacks character.

TC: So much of Dallas is like that.

OMC: Is there anything you don't miss about Milwaukee?

TC: The only thing I really don't miss about Milwaukee is December, January, February and March... and parts of November and April. I didn't realize how much better you feel when the sun is shining and it's warm out.

OMC: Do you have a chance to follow the Milwaukee music scene these days. Or, is there one in the eyes of a writer from nearly 1,000 miles away?

TC: It's hard for me to say. I don't keep up that much, but I do notice that it seems like The Pabst Theater is going full-steam ahead with shows. I think that's great. When I was there, they did no rock concerts there. They did the occasional jazz show and opera. I liked the Riverside, too. People in Milwaukee might not realize it, but they are lucky to have two cool, historic old theaters that are good places to see concerts.

OMC: Your tenure as a pop music critic at The Journal coincided with an exciting period in local music, with the Violent Femmes and BoDeans emerging as national acts.

TC: I always think back to that. The Violent Femmes. I was so lucky to be there at a point when they were at their prime. I'm still thrilled to see that they're doing so well. They're still doing shows. Gnarls Barkley recorded their songs. I turned on the TV last night and one of the tunes from the first album was in an ad, so they're still making money.

I like thinking back to all those great Femmes shows and all those great BoDeans shows. That was an exciting time, to be there when the BoDeans were going to be the next big thing. It turned out they weren't, but they made some really good music and some of the best live shows I ever saw were the BoDeans in the ‘80s.

OMC: The music industry has changed in so many ways since then, what with the Internet and iPods...

TC: It does seem like a long time ago. Basically, when I started, the only places to find music were MTV, the radio and the clubs. Now, there are a zillion places to see bands and find music. There have been a lot of changes with the Internet, but then again music is still music. If you go to Shank Hall on a Saturday night, it's not that much different than it was in 1987 or 19-whatever.

OMC: But, the business side of it seems a lot different, doesn't it?

TC: The music industry has definitely changed. I'm trying to work on a story on why there are so few great bands emerging these days. I guess you could say the White Stripes or Gnarls Barkley look like they could be good. But, where are the Pearl Jams of today? Where is the R.E.M.? It doesn't seem like those types of bands are emerging.

OMC: What are some of your favorite stories from covering music in Milwaukee?

TC: One of the strangest ones was the night that Ray Davies of The Kinks denounced me onstage at the Riverside Theater. I believe he called me a "fag" and changed the lyrics to one of the songs and included me in it. I have a bootleg cassette of that show, and I got to ask him about it when I interviewed him. Of course, he didn't remember it. It was a very strange thing where he remembered an interview I had done with his brother, Dave Davies. They weren't getting along then and he didn't like what I wrote so he called me up at The Journal and bitched me out and that night at the Riverside Theater.

OMC: What was that like?

TC: I was both horrified and thrilled at the same time.

OMC: Didn't you have a memorable exchange with Barry Manilow?

TC: That was actually my first week on the job, back in 1985. I interviewed him on the phone and I asked him about being a cultural joke and he got pissed off. I also remember pissing off Don Henley. He wrote me a letter after I reviewed his show at Alpine Valley, and it said "Dear Mr. Christensen, I don't know what was more predictable: my concert or your review. Regards, Don Henley." Now, he lives in Dallas and, yes, he still remembers that I was the guy who gave him bad reviews. We've had a strange relationship because of that. For many years, I was on his shit list for a number of years, but lately it has been OK.

OMC: To think that all that started in Milwaukee.

TC: I learned so much in Milwaukee. When I started that job, I was 21 and really probably wasn't qualified to be a full-time music critic. I had my certain likes and dislikes. What I learned there was amazing and all the great artists I got to interview. While I was at the Milwaukee Journal, I interviewed James Brown and Aretha Franklin and Chuck Berry. I learned so much in Milwaukee, that it has informed everything I do to this day.

Looking back, I probably learned more about music listening to Paul Cebar's radio show on whatever station it was -- WMSE or WUWM or WYMS -- than I learned in any book I've ever read. He used to play a lot of jazz and blues music that I didn't learn about growing up as a Led Zeppelin fan in Chicago.

OMC: Paul does occasional reviews for OnMilwaukee.com. He is like a walking music encyclopedia.

TC: I'm thrilled to see that he is still doing it. He doesn't play Dallas at all, but I've run into him occasionally at Jazz Fest in New Orleans.

OMC: What shows stand out from your time in Milwaukee?

TC: I can't remember how many great shows I saw at UWM. I saw Jane's Addiction in the Ballroom. I saw Steve Earle. I saw Los Lobos there. I remember going to Century Hall, and I saw some phenomenal shows there. I saw Albert Collins, the Del Fuegos. Century Hall is probably my favorite place to see a show.

I also saw a lot of great shows at the Odd Rock Café. I remember seeing Sonic Youth and tons of shows there. I saw incredible shows at Shank Hall, like Soul Asylum back in the day and a lot of others. I saw shows at the Underground. Another place I remember seeing a lot of great alternative country bands, before it was called that, was a place called The Toad Café on Broadway. I saw Uncle Tupelo there a bunch of times. I saw the Jayhawks a couple times. There were all these great bands that played to 16 people on a Tuesday night. It was great to be close to Minneapolis and Chicago and get those kinds of shows.

OMC: How is it different covering music in a big city than a city of Milwaukee's size? Are you as big a part of the music landscape there as you were in Milwaukee?

TC: It's different because it's Dallas and Fort Worth and it's a metropolitan area of 5 million people. I'm part of the landscape, but there is a lot of media here. There is so much going on here. As much as I miss Milwaukee, on any given night there is double or triple the amount of stuff that I encountered in Milwaukee. Some weekends, there are literally seven great bands I could go see.

OMC: Is it ever hard to decide what to cover?

TC: Sometimes. You know, one of the great things about Milwaukee is that I ended up covering a little bit of everything. I'd cover jazz and country and heavy metal and blues. If there were two big shows a week happening, I kind of glommed on to that. In Dallas, there are about 14 interesting shows in a given week.

OMC: Does Dallas have a thriving music scene, or is everything focused on Austin?

TC: There is a good scene here, but unfortunately a lot of what is coming out of Dallas are mediocre pop singers like Kelly Clarkson, Jessica Simpson, Ashlee Simpson and Lee Ann Rimes. Norah Jones and Erykah Badu are from here, but there aren't too many people like them. We've got some great little-known bands here, but it's kind of weird living in Dallas, because we're overshadowed by Austin but at the same time we have a very vibrant scene here, too. Still, Austin gets all the good press.

OMC: It seems as though Dallas, like a lot of major cities, is filled with people from other parts of the country. That's not the case in Milwaukee, where you encounter so many natives.

TC: There are a lot of transplants in Dallas. Half the people I work for are from other places. But, it does have its own distinct vibe. You run across people here who have a heavy Texas twang, an accent. It seemed very bizarre to me at first, but I just really enjoy that accent now. There definitely is a vibe here that is distinct to Dallas and Texas. I like it a lot, but I still miss Milwaukee.

Drew Olson Special to OnMilwaukee.com

Host of “The Drew Olson Show,” which airs 1-3 p.m. weekdays on The Big 902. Sidekick on “The Mike Heller Show,” airing weekdays on The Big 920 and a statewide network including stations in Madison, Appleton and Wausau. Co-author of Bill Schroeder’s “If These Walls Could Talk: Milwaukee Brewers” on Triumph Books. Co-host of “Big 12 Sports Saturday,” which airs Saturdays during football season on WISN-12. Former senior editor at OnMilwaukee.com. Former reporter at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.