If you already live in Milwaukee, no worries, you may be already in the world's next "it" city according to Edward Keenan, a Toronto-based writer. His "It Index" places Brew City on top.
In his analysis he "created (a) system by gathering information about eight former musical hotbeds -- such as Seattle, Omaha and, most recently, Montreal -- in the following categories: population; industry; proximity to water; winter and summer weather conditions; number of universities and professional sports franchises; average income, rent and housing prices; and relative importance of city to its region."
He notes Black Elephant and Call Me Lightning as two of Milwaukee's promising bands, while making reference to Les Paul, the Bodeans, Violent Femmes and other Milwaukee music mainstays. Despite a few geographical errors -- UWM is, of course, not downtown, nor are Shank Hall and the Riverside in Riverwest -- he gives a mostly accurate account of our booming city; that is, for a guy who admits he's never been here. The kicker is his closing statement urging people to "hurry to Milwaukee" before the supposed inevitable "backlash" begins.
He cleverly qualifies his claim by saying, "So raise a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon and get ready for the cheesehead invasion ... Remember that the map of Montreal in Spin magazine had bars in all the wrong places and that when the New York Times broke the Seattle grunge story, it printed an entire sidebar on grunge slang that someone at Sub Pop made up off the top of her head. 'It' city reporting isn't about accuracy -- it's about celebrating a fresh trendy territory that's ripe for both exploration and exploitation. It's about naming "it," and naming it first."
So, look out Milwaukee. According to this guy's logic and analysis, we are "it!"
Read the full story here.
Listen to Keenan talk about Milwaukee here.
