By Drew Olson Special to OnMilwaukee.com Published Jun 25, 2008 at 5:48 AM Photography: Zach Karpinski

With the possible exception of Brewers manager Ned Yost, few people in Milwaukee inspire as much passionate second-guessing during the summer months as Bob Babisch.

As the vice president of entertainment for Summerfest, Babisch oversees the 11 stages and more than 600 bands that will provide the soundtrack for the 41st edition of the Big Gig, which begins Thursday at the Lakefront.

Like Yost, thousands of bold but ultimately unqualified "experts" think they could do Babisch's job more effectively.

We caught up with Babisch twice last week, first at a FUEL Milwaukee event at the Marcus Amphitheater and then in his office at Summerfest headquarters.

Enjoy this Milwaukee Talks with Bob Babisch.

OnMilwaukee.com: The clock is ticking. How are things going?

Bob Babisch: It's crazy, as usual. The usual craziness. But, it's good. I think that it's going to be a big year. We've got a bunch of fun stuff going on.

OMC: Two years ago, you told a great story about how you were eating dinner with your kids at Panera Bread Company when you got the call and found out that the Tom Petty / Pearl Jam contracts were locked. Did you have any thrilling moments in booking this festival?

BB: There were a couple. Getting Stevie Wonder back was really cool. He hasn't been here for years and years and having him on opening night is great. I think Alicia Keys is a good show. Tom Petty is always big for us. Mellencamp will do OK. And, the Jonas Brothers. Definitely the Jonas Brothers. I wasn't sure how that one was going to do.

OMC: Why the hesitation? They are huge Disney stars and the movie ("Camp Rock") is just coming out.

BB: I wasn't sure about that show, but I talked to (promoter) Leslie West, who put that show on at (her venue) the Eagles Club. She told me how fast it sold and I was convinced. When we put that show on sale, we were the biggest show they had. They weren't doing sheds (amphitheaters) yet. Live Nation bought the tour and they were putting them in 3,000-seaters and 6,000-seaters. Everybody waited around to see how we did here. Lo and behold, there was a shed tour after that. That was pretty cool.

OMC: OK, let's talk about the ones that got away.

BB: You mean the bands we couldn't get?

OMC: Yes. Who were they?

BB: Go down the list of everybody playing in Europe. We wanted Coldplay. We wanted Radiohead. We wanted R.E.M. really bad. We were going to be their last show before they went to Europe, but they decided to leave early. We tried to get Beck. Neil Young. We tried to get that tour with Alison Krauss and Robert Plant. We held the date forever, but they decided to go to the West Coast.

Just go down the list. Name a band, and I can tell you where they are playing during our window and why we didn't get them. We put offers in to everybody, but you can only do the people who want to work for you and want to work in your time frame.

OMC: Some people understand that. Others don't.

BB: That's the way it goes. What people have to understand is that just because a band isn't playing here doesn't mean that we don't like them or that we didn't try to get them. We tried to get everybody. I offered a few bands more than $1 million and we still couldn't get them.

OMC: Stevie Wonder is an interesting act to have on opening night. Do you feel any special pressure to come out of the gate with a strong act on the first Thursday?

BB: Thursday is always tough. Two things about booking this festival are tough. The first Thursday is tough. For some reason, a lot of bands like to come through here on the weekends.

The other thing that's tough is when you get down to one day or two days left to book. That's always tough. When you start out, you tell people "We've got 11 dates, what do you want?" When you get down to the last one or two, now you have a specific date. It's a Saturday or a Monday or a Wednesday. Now, you have to find somebody to route through on that specific day. That's when you keep grinding and grinding. Those are the tough ones.

OMC: What's the Cliff's Notes version of how the booking process works?

BB: We try to have an eclectic lineup. We do about 650 acts here and about 175 of those are national-caliber acts. To do those 175 national-caliber acts, we probably put in about 400 or 500 offers. It takes that many to fill our stages.

Starting in November, we sit down and look at all the acts that are out there -- acts that have played here, acts that haven't played here and acts that are in that $20,000 to $75,000 or $80,000 price range. We make our list and we go fishing. We put in about 150 offers all at once. We say "Here are the dates." Some of those shows happen. Some don't happen. But, that's our first real kick at the cat. We go from there and take the touring acts that are out during our time and try to convince them to do our date.

We're in an interesting spot because there are two big festivals -- Coachella and Bonaroo -- that take place in the two to four weeks before us. Two to four weeks after us, there is Lollapalooza. That can make our job tougher, but the biggest thing is that a lot of bands decide to go to Europe during our window. Or, they decide they want to be home over July 4.

Once we have our headliners figured out, we start putting local acts in there and we set our stagger times and we really get going. We have 150 stage managers, stagehands, equipment haulers, runners and caterers to keep these stages going. It's a big machine.

OMC: Which of the Marcus shows sold the fastest this year?

BB: Petty. That's always big for us. When he's going on tour, they call us and say "Tom is going out. Let us know what day you want and we'll route around you." He just likes playing here. It's a great vibe. This may be his best market in the country. With Steve Winwood, that's a strong show.

The other ones that sold quickly were Rascal Flatts and the Jonas Brothers. You can still find tickets for all the other shows. You can still get tickets for Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keys, John Mayer ... The last two years, it's been that way. We get maybe three or maybe four sellouts. The rest are respectable crowds.

There are no sure things. You put them on sale the first day and you never know what is going to happen. You just know that you aren't going to sleep the night before.

OMC: Other than the usual scheduling conflicts, were there any memorable headaches this year?

BB: We're always changing schedules, sometimes up until opening day. This year, we had an act, Paulo Nutini, booked for opening night at the Miller Lite Oasis. We got our brochures printed and three weeks out, we get a call from his manager saying that Paulo can't do the date because his recording schedule won't allow it.

So, we had to scramble to find an act. LeAnn Rimes is a country act. She's been here before. She likes playing here. And, she's out on tour with Kenny Chesney and she had an open date. So, we got her to do the date. But, Harley-Davidson is opening their new stage that night and it's a country act (Little Big Town). We didn't want to have two country acts at the same time, so we talked to the people at Miller and Harley and we decided to put LeAnn Rimes on at 8 p.m. and do Little Big Town at 11 p.m. after the fireworks. So, it's a good night for country music.

OMC: Which of the side stage shows excite you the most?

BB: I think we have a bunch of fun stuff. The first night, we have Gnarls Barkley. That's going to be a good show. I really wanted Thievery Corporation. I wanted Matisyahu. 311, I thought that was cool. Earth, Wind and Fire is cool, too.

OMC: You have O.A.R. playing two nights at different stages this year.

BB: That's something we've never tried before. We knew they were going to be a big draw, so we decided to do them two nights on two different stages (July 1 at Harley; July 2 at Briggs). You've got to change things up.

OMC: Is there anything else that excites you about this year's festival?

BB: One of the bigger things is that you can now buy Summerfest tickets at home. You go to summerfest.com, order the tickets, pay for them, print them out and walk right to the gate. You can do it at home in your underwear!

OMC: What about music?

BB: I think if you look at the last day (July 6), across the board, we have a big day. We have The Bravery, Jakob Dylan, Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks, Mickey Hart. From a talent lineup perspective, that's one of the best Sunday lineups we've had.

I think this is going to be a big year. If we get nice weather, we're going to be OK. I think with gas prices, a lot of people are going to stay close to home. They're not going to travel as much. But, we'll see.

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.