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A new video shared for Milwaukee Day (4/14) by Allies & Co., a production company owned by Shelley Gauthier and MKE Day co-founder Timm Gable, captures the unity and the isolation felt in Milwaukee during this Safer at Home COVID-19 pandemic era.
Blending striking images of a deserted city with uplifting footage of kids, adults, families making the best of the isolation and sharing chalked messages of hope, the video will bring a smile to your face and a tear to your eye.
The moving music, created by Daniel Holter’s License Lab, adds to the emotional drama of the two-minute video, which was directed, shot ad edited by BASH, aka Ryan Bingham and Josh Halverson.
"It’s a love song for our city," says Gable. "Much like the simple reason we created Milwaukee Day to begin with, we wanted to give people a day, or a way, to celebrate the city they live in. And this year it’s a little different.
"At first glance, things seem a little cold, a little distant. A little empty. There seems to be a pause button on the city; on our community. But with a little more digging, we can see that the city is very much alive. Full of song and dance, and creativity. And there is definitely still community. It just looks and feels a little different right now. And soon, we’ll be able to go back to all the things that we like to do."
And so they offered their paean in the way they know best ... in a video.
"Shelley Gauthier and I at Allies had the ability to put that into video form with the help of directors Ryan Bingham and Josh Halverson (BASH)," he says.
"They really took the kernel of the Milwaukee Day spirit and turned it into something timely and beautiful."
They sure did.
Stay safe and have a happy Milwaukee Day ... and watch the video below...
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.
