Listen: Last week, we heard two bits of conversation between longtime Milwaukee guitarists Manty Ellis and Freddie Lee ( a great piece about Manty's music shop and the guys discussing their first forays on stage with a guitar). For our final installment in this collaboration with the Community Arts and Funk Festival, I asked both musicians to dig into their well of experience playing gigs in Milwaukee and pull out their favorite venue. Their answers were superlative:
While the Blue River Café is just a memory these days, over the past few years, the Jazz Gallery has been renewed as a gathering place for creative folks. In an ideal testament to Milwaukee's commitment repurposing, the building now acts as the home of the wonderful Riverwest Arists Association (check out their website and their blog).