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Brew City beyond its borders
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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.
Talkbacks
Scottage Cheese | May 7, 2008 at 12:27 p.m. (report)
I saw a Wolski's sticker in the background of Foo Fighters' video "Long Road to Ruin".
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schosche | May 6, 2008 at 12:04 p.m. (report)
I was on a sailing trip in the British Virgin Islands and we went to a bar on Jost Van Dyke, Foxy's, fun place with live music. Low and behold on one of the beams at the bar there is a I closed Wolski's sticker. Also on a trip to Toronto we came across a bar named, The Milwaukee Bar.
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belle123 | May 6, 2008 at 11:49 a.m. (report)
I was in the small town of Doolin in Ireland about 4 years ago and there was a "I closed Wolski's" bumper Sticker on the sticker wall
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Mstrong | May 6, 2008 at 11:33 a.m. (report)
I picked up a t-shirt on Fashionable Princes St. in Edinburgh, Scotland that has "WISCONSIN" emblazoned across the chest. It has embroidered palm trees and beaches on it. Very bizzare. There are spanish phrases on it as well.
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arks00 | May 6, 2008 at 9:24 a.m. (report)
This isn't an exact Milwaukee reference, but I had a Wisconsin siting while walking around Krakow, Poland in Sep. 2007. One of the clothing shops in the city center had a black sweathshirt that had "Naughty Wisconsin College" in big yellow letters on the front of it. I looked into it and, although the words are a little "Cheesy" I had to buy it for a momentum. Bobby is right; its a small world and sometimes our roots are everywhere. lol.
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