New York, Chicago, London, Lagos, Milwaukee, Madison and Platteville. These are just some of the dozens of cities in the U.S., U.K. and Nigeria that are celebrating Make Music Day today.
According to a press release, the annual summer solstice celebration is part of an international "Fête de la Musique" that takes place in more than 750 cities in 120 countries, and stages free public concerts, music lessons, young composer contests and other events. Make Music Day is the work of the nonprofit Make Music Alliance in concert with the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) Foundation.
In Milwaukee, The Pfister Hotel, the Hilton City Center and the Mitchell Park Domes will join landmarks across the globe in glowing orange in an effort to raise awareness of Make Music Day and encourage folks "to band together and play in free public concerts."
In Madison, the Overture Center for the Arts will be all aglow, too.
Some other notable places that will go orange today:
- Niagara Falls and the Peace Bridge in Buffalo, New York
- Boston City Hall and the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge in Boston
- The Capital Wheel at National Harbor in suburban Washington D.C.
- The Parthenon and Gateway Bridge in Nashville
- Terminal Tower in Cleveland
- Prudential Plaza in Chicago
- The I-35W Bridge in Minneapolis
- U.S. Bank Tower and the LAX Pylons in Los Angeles
- The Clock Tower in Santa Monica, California
Also, 24 artists will perform at eight venues around the Milwaukee area as part of Make Music Day. You can see the details here.
The day isn’t meant just for the pros. So, drummers, grab your sticks and buckets, and fiddlers, set your hat down on the corner of Water and Wisconsin and get to drummin’ and fiddlin’.
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.
