My fourth attempt to see Nathaniel Rateliff in Milwaukee was foiled again. This time by no less than Mother Nature. Folks who wanted to see The Faint at Turner Hall didn't have much luck either last night.
I was eager to see Rateliff at Club Garibaldi, but when it took my wife and child more than three hours to make a normally 20-minute drive home after work, I began to rethink it.
Despite tweets that Bay View was in OK shape, compared to the rest of the city, I saw other tweets that showed an Escalade below grade at Oakland and North, a Highway 41 outside the stadium that looked like a river and heard about two folks struck by lightning on 25th and National.
I decided it might be best just to stay home.
And, sure enough, this morning, Muzzle of Bees' Ryan Matteson told me the show was "awesome" and "very intimate," to which I replied, simply, "grrrr."
Matteson -- who also works for The Pabst/Riverside/Turner -- also told me that since the street is no longer blocked off, tonight's 8 p.m.Built to Spill show will go on as planned at Turner Hall. Fauxbois opens.
Last night's gig there with The Faint and Zola Jesus was canceled and there was talk of a Turner basement turned swimming pool.
As for a rescheduled The Faint appearance, Matteson says, "it's honestly too early to tell on The Faint. We'll know more this afternoon. We'll be posting and updating information on the Web site."
In the meantime, refunds are available at point of purchase.
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.
