When Milwaukee's The Danglers light up the back room at Bay View's Club Garibaldi on Nov. 14, fans will get more than the band's engaging musical exploration.
It will also witness legendary saxman Steve Mackay, who is -- despite persistent reports to the contrary -- not dead. Mackay, who is best known among rock audiences as the guest saxophonist on The Stooges' classic "Raw Power."
Mackay will perform with two groups: the Radon Ensemble and Sikara.
"Steve might play with us on a tune or two, well see what the evening dictates," suggests Danglers drummer John Sparrow.
Sparrow met Mackay when the two worked together with the Violent Femmes. Mackay's relationship with the Femmes dates back to the tour behind the group's second disc, "Hallowed Ground," released in 1984.
"Charlie Behnke, a photographer from Madison told us, 'When you play in (San Francisco) call this guy, he used to be in the Stooges, he's great!'," remembers Femmes bassist Brian Ritchie.
"So we did and he played with us at the I-Beam. We loved his playing so much we started taking him out on the road with us. That was on our first tour in 1983; 25 years playing with Steve."
Show time is 9 p.m.
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.
