Milwaukee muralist Fred Kaems – the artist who famously painted “We Are in This Together” on his own Washington Heights garage in the early days of the pandemic – is creating a mural on the west side of the Miller High Life Theatre, 500 W. Kilbourn Ave. that celebrates 120 years of the Champagne of Beers.
Miller High Life was launched in 1903, six years before the Milwaukee Auditorium – now called the High Life Theatre – opened.
Molson Coors – which owns Miller Brewing – commissioned the artwork, which should be completed by mid-October.
In 2019, Adam Nilson painted a giant Miller High Life mural, featuring the Girl in the Moon, at the Miller Brewery in the valley.
“The Miller High Life Theatre is a symbol in itself of Milwaukee’s tenacity and resilience as a community,” said Kaems in a statement this week. “The original site of the theater was destroyed by a fire in 1905 and the Miller High Life Theatre was built on that same site in 1909.
“In this way, the location of the mural symbolizes the collective Milwaukee spirit and community coming together to rebuild. I am extremely humbled to have been a part of this collaborative mural process in celebration of the city I call home.”
Recently, Molson Coors also commissioned a mural on the side of the Coors Brewery in Golden, Colorado, to celebrate that brewery’s 150th anniversary.
“Miller Brewing has a long and storied history with Milwaukee, and while a lot has changed in 120 years, ‘The Champagne of Beers’ still holds a near and dear place in this community’s heart,” said Alison Hanrahan, manager of community affairs for Molson Coors.
“We initiated this mural design in appreciation for Milwaukee and everything this community has given to us, and in the hopes that it will serve as an emblem of our ongoing commitment and partnership to this city.”
Fred Miller started his Milwaukee brewery in 1885, when he purchased the Plank Road Brewery from Charles and Lorenz Best, whose father Jacob Best founded the brewery that would become Pabst.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He can be heard weekly on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories.
