In the early 1980s, there was no American band that could touch The Minutemen. Like fellow Californians The Circle Jerks, the trio said what it had to say with lightning-fast speed, if not usually with musical precision. But unlike most other bands, The Minutemen actually had something to say.
Commenting on politics, society and most everything else, guitarist D. Boon, bassist Mike Watt (later of firehose) and George Hurley (with THAT hair) were ramshackle, loud-mouthed and beloved by American punks.
"We Jam Econo: The Story of the Minutemen" is a two-DVD set with a feature-length documentary about the short-lived band that died with the 1985 death of Boon in an auto accident in Arizona. Disc two is a marathon of live footage of more than 60 songs from three gigs.
There are also interviews, deleted scenes from the documentary and original music videos for three songs (it was the '80s after all).
The result is a comprehensive retrospective of one of the most important bands in American indie rock history. Even 20 years later it's hard not to love the sheer determination and the passion and the compulsion to question everything.
If you can't find it at Atomic and such places, the Flexifilm Web site is plexifilm.com and The Minutemen Web site is theminutemen.com.
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.
