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The first time I went to Europe, I was surprised to find a taste of Milwaukee in London.
A tube station advertising poster for an upcoming Genesis stadium gig had Daryl Stuermer's face on it. A copy of Bucketful of Brains fanzine in a record shop had the faces of Plasticland staring back at me. A guy on the underground wore a Marquette T-shirt.
Twenty-one years later, I'm always still surprised to see Milwaukee when I go abroad. My cousins live in a small town in Piedmont, Italy. It's got 3,330 people so I won't call it a village. On one recent visit, we all sat in front of the TV as we relaxed before heading out to dinner. And we watched a Jeffrey Dahmer documentary.
Of course, I recognized the faces of the reporters in the courtroom scenes (I worked at a daily newspaper in Milwaukee during the Dahmer days) and I recognized the images of Dahmer's neighborhood, the Ambassador Hotel, Ambrosia Chocolate and the hardware store where he bought acid and a barrel.
On the drive between Moncalvo and the nearby city of Asti, one passes through the "Stazione" hamlet of Castell'Alfero, a town with 2,500 people (if you count Castell'Alfero and its "frazioni" or small satellite villages). There, you'll find the Harley Cafe, which to its credit doesn't gank the H-D logo or anything like that. It's just a subtle tribute.
Head 90 minutes north and you hit the metropolis of Milan. Go even further north and there's Varedo, with its 12,000 inhabitants. Many of them love to dance to rockabilly and old time rock 'n' roll at the Milwaukee 50's Diner, which we profiled here on OnMilwaukee.com a few years ago.
Last year, walking down the street in New York, I ran into a former bandmate and he told me he bumps into Milwaukee acquaintances on nearly a weekly basis in the 8 million strong Big Apple.
Two months ago, Andy Tarnoff went to Europe and he saw a Nomad bumper sticker in Munich. Lots of people I know have spotted Wolski's ones on just about every continent.
Keep your eyes open as you travel and you'll be reminded that as much as we sometimes think Milwaukee is our little secret, the world is sometimes watching.
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.
