For the sixth straight year, the Milwaukee Gospel Jubilee will bring together local gospel performers working in a variety of musical styles to benefit Progressive Community Health Centers, which provide medical, dental and integrated behavioral health services to underserved and uninsured Milwaukeeans.
The Jubilee takes place Friday, March 8 at 7:30 p.m. at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts' Wilson Theater at Vogel Hall, 929 N. Water St., and will include Holy Hill Praise Dancers, Arias Walker, Spiritual Tones and Sounds of Faith.
Gospel singer Julia Prescott will emcee the event.
John Sieger – of The R&B Cadets, Semi-Twang, The Subcontinentals, etc. – started the event in 2013. Sieger is a Progressive Community Health Centers board member.
"I got involved with gospel music in a roundabout way," Sieger says. "A friend was playing bass and asked me to help out. The group was one of Milwaukee’s best, The Masonic Wonders. I was pre-sold on the music – it’s the basis of everything I love – but I was surprised by the communal nature at the services. The hat often went around for members who were in need and the power of the music was (and is) a healing force.
"When I joined the board of Progressive Community Health Centers, I was struck by the similarities of their missions. Together these two great institutions minister to body and spirit for people most in need. This show does more than raise money, it’s guaranteed to lift your spirits and may even elevate the roof of Vogel Hall a little bit! So please join us for another electrifying performance by Milwaukee’s great homegrown gospel groups – you’ll be glad you did."
Tickets for the show are $25 and benefit a great cause; Progressive served about 9,000 patients in 2015. Tickets can be had at 144 E. Wells St., online at marcuscenter.org or by calling the box office at (414) 273-7206.
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.
