If you were Downtown yesterday, you might have seen the Bronze Fonz, already in place, but still under wraps.
The tarped tough guy with the heart of gold -- and now the visage of bronze -- is unveiled in a ceremony today along the Riverwalk, just south of Wells Street, on the river's left bank.
A host of events fills a day-long calendar of celebrations (you can see them all at Bronzthefonz.com) and includes most of the actors from the original cast of "Happy Days," Ron Howard excluded.
The Bronzie Fonzie was put in place Monday and covered with a tarp -- what no black leather? -- to keep the secret intact.
Let's hope there was an overnight guard to battle the temptation a covered Fonz would have provided to mischievous naysayers, who might want to rain on the Potsie (and Malph) parade.
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.
