When summer arrives in Milwaukee it is time for all of its many outdoor music venues to come to life. Milwaukee has championed summer music festivals since before even the big one, Summerfest.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of Bastille Days, Milwaukee’s unique French festival celebrating the French heritage of the founders of our fair city. I am proud to say that I have been a part of Bastille Days for the last 30 years as stage manager for the Cathedral Square Main Stage.
I started my career in music as a disc jockey at WMSE 91.7 FM back in 1982 and I still host and produce my program called “Instrumental Saturdays” every Saturday from 6 to 9 p.m. Working at WMSE led me to my first job as a stage manager at Summerfest with no experience but a whole lot of grit to learn the ropes. Working at Summerfest in turn led me to serendipitously being hired at Bastille Days.
In 1993 Bastille Days had just brought in a new event producer and they needed to hire on new stage managers. I was recommended for the job by long-time public relations specialist June Lehmen who was also the driving force behind such traditions as the Beaux Arts stage and the most in-demand Bastille performer, Robin Pluer.
The entertainment director at the time was John Ertl who knew me from his days at Summerfest. He gave me a call and the rest is history. I learned the finer details of stage managing from him and have been fine-tuning them ever since.
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I have had the great pleasure of working with some of the finest national and local bands around. To name some of my favorites going way back, we hosted Queen Ida, Sun Ra Arkestra, Terrance Simien, BeauSoleil with Michael Ducet, Geno Delafose, Jean Luc Ponty and Daryl Steurmer, Anders Osborne, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, Sierra Leone Refugee All Stars, Sultans of String and more recently the amazing French trio Delgres. In 30 years, that list just scratches the surface. So many excellent zydeco and Cajun bands have come to Milwaukee through Bastille Days. It is very exciting to present such high-caliber acts to the Milwaukee audiences and to witness their thrill to experience these bands, and they didn’t even have to buy a ticket!
My job as a stage manager is mostly done in the advance planning of each performance and if I have done that well, then the day of the show is all about watching the clock. Side note: my shows have always been on time except once because a guitar amp caught fire right as I was introducing the band. We had to delay a bit for that. But most importantly the job of the stage manager is to make sure the band feels at home and well taken care of.
Cheers Bastille Days and on to another 40 years!
Visit: Bastille Days
Photo Credit: Erol Reyal
