It's official: Milwaukee is one of the best cities in America for live rock music, according to an unknown website that desperately wants you to visit it. "Research conducted by Songkick shows that Milwaukee is one of the top cities in the US for rock music, based on Songkick's analysis of artist, concert, festival and venue information from hundreds of sources," Soundkick CEO Ian Hogarth wrote in a mass e-mail to Milwaukee media this week. "Each city was scored on the number of shows per resident and you might also be interested to know the average ticket price for a rock show in the area." Milwaukee ranked at #6 on the list, a feat that would be more impressive if Madison hadn't ranked at #2. The Milwaukee AV Club had some fun deconstructing the site's dubious methodology this morning.
* Muzzle of Bees repped for the fun Milwaukee shambles-pop band Sat. Nite Dudes earlier this month, and it looks like GQ was paying attention: Ana Marie Cox seconded the recommendation in a blog post Monday.
* A fun piece of trivia: Part of what's likely to be the number one album in the country this week was recorded here in Milwaukee. Rihanna tracked two songs on her new record Loud at the Tosa studio Burst HQ, OnMilwaukee's Bobby Tanzilo writes in a well-reported article.
* Milwaukee songwriter Jayme Dawicki marks her return home from a short November tour with a show at Club Garibaldi Saturday night. She'll be debuting all the full-band songs from her upcoming album.
* In the Shepherd this week: Tea Krulos profiles the noise-rock band Zebras, a Madison group that recently took on members of Milwaukee's IfIHadAHiFi, and I chat with avant songwriter Jay Flash.
