If Andy Tarnoff is going to report that Violent Femmes bassist Brian Ritchie is about to become an Aussie, then I'm going to counter with vaguely related news of another ex-Milwaukee musician living abroad.
Many of you may remember Italian musician Luisa Buoni for her stint as talented bassist for The Lovelies, but some may also recall that she followed Ritchie to Milwaukee and married him.
Recently, a friend in Italy told me that he heard Buoni interviewed on Italy's Radio24 on a show about the importance of animals in the lives of humans.
"A certain Luisa Buoni told her story," wrote my friend in an email. "In 1989 she followed her love to Milwaukee and got married. Divorced in 1995, she decided to adopt a yellow cat from the Humane Society. It was a touchy cat that later revealed itself to be very intelligent. In Milwaukee, Luisa then became a volunteer at the Humane Society and worked as a web designer for bands.
"She played the bass. Then, she returned to Italy because her mother was ill and in 2005 she was remarried to Adriano. Now she has 11 cats and a dog. Nigel, in the meantime, died, but remains forever in Luisa's heart."
My friend, who has visited Milwaukee, was happy to hear the city mentioned on the radio in Italy and wondered if I knew of this Luisa.
I most certainly do. And I'm happy to hear she's doing well, despite the loss of Nigel, who was, it seems, named for the main character in XTC's classic "Making Plans for Nigel."
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.
