The public auction for the "Deep Thought" pleasure boat that made itself famous by lodging on the rocks along the Milwaukee lakeshore last year has officially closed and it turns out that while folks might be obsessed with memes about the vessel, no one is really all that deep into owning it.
After 45 bids, the auction closed with a high bid of just $2,525, which is considerably below the roughly $50,000 required to free the boat from its rocky perch along Lincoln Memorial Drive in May.
That top bid came from Jeff Piller, the owner of All City Towing – which freed the boat – who plans to sell it off in "collectible" pieces that he says he will donate to charitable auctions to raise money for good causes.
"While the final bids did not reach the desired amount, it does create an opportunity for a generous donor to help offset costs and support a positive outcome for the community," a Milwaukee County Parks statement said in a not so subtle casting of a line into the philanthropic waters.
It could get some bites, however, as $30,000 of the $50,000 removal cost had already been raised from private donors, according to news reports.
"Milwaukee County Parks is now working with the Milwaukee County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) Fleet team, the auction platform provider, to verify bid details and confirm payment by the highest bidder," the statement continued.
"All decisions will follow the required procurement and legal processes to ensure accountability and transparency."
The salvaged boat sits in the yard at All City Towing on Milwaukee's far South Side. That's where I went last week to snap some photos of its interior. You can see those here.
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. A fifth collects Urban Spelunking articles about breweries and maltsters.
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 been heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
