In a perfect example of walking the walk, a new song – called "Take Care of Each Other" – created by a group of mostly Wisconsin-related musicians is raising money for two charities.
One hundred percent of the proceeds from $2 downloads of the song at Bandcamp will be donated to Ascension Healthcare Foundation and the Grammy MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Fund.
The midtempo, acoustic guitar-fueled song was written by Michael Henszey, a Milwaukee music veteran now living in California, and Brew City’s Dave Standridge.
Recorded in Shorewood, Oshkosh and Los Angeles in March, the song features singer and guitarist Henszey, guitarist and bassist George Krikes, drummer Christian Hogan, keyboardist Kostia and Carmen Nickerson and Janet Planet on background vocals.
Henszey says the song’s video has 12,500 views on the first day – April 23 – and had 25,000 by last Friday.
"The video has received an incredible number of views so far," he says. "Because times are so hard, I wasn't expecting big donations but we are up to $500 in track download donations."
On the Bandcamp page, Henszey wrote, tha the song, "captures one of the fundamental gifts of humanity: being kind to one another. I was reading through a charged social media conversation and a friend had waded in, offering, ‘I don't know why we can't just be nicer to each other.’ Another friend responded, ‘Yes, we just need to take care of each other.’
"My hope is that we look beyond our friends and family to see the common struggle we all share. There's enough resources for all of us and we can be inclusive and generous even in trying times."
In the song, Henszey sings:
Let’s take care of each other
Sisters and brothers we got to try
Let’s take care of each other
Got your back covered every time
In times of worry
You wonder what you can do
Reach out to one another
Let them know you’ll help them through
In a world so full of trouble
We need something to hold on to
Take my hand and together
Together we’ll show the world what we can do
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.
