{"id":2368125,"date":"2026-04-11T04:16:59","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T04:16:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2368125"},"modified":"2026-04-11T04:16:59","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T04:16:59","slug":"new-photobook-showcases-the-hidden-gem-of-milwaukees-live-music-scene","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/new-photobook-showcases-the-hidden-gem-of-milwaukees-live-music-scene\/","title":{"rendered":"New photobook showcases the ‘hidden gem’ of Milwaukee\u2019s live music scene"},"content":{"rendered":"

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What does it take to capture a photo of a live band? For longtime Milwaukee photographer Samer Ghani, it\u2019s not just a question of equipment or access \u2014 it\u2019s a little bit of luck and a lot of patience.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I shoot artists, my scope becomes really narrow. I\u2019m really focused on how they\u2019re moving, how the song is changing. And I\u2019m really focused on my internal intuition, anticipating something about to happen,\u201d Ghani told WPR\u2019s \u201cWisconsin Today<\/a>.\u201d \u201cI\u2019m just staring at the artist like a quarterback stares at the football.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ghani is out with a new photobook titled \u201cMemories of a Street Cat<\/a>.\u201d He was born and raised in Milwaukee, and began photographing artists throughout the city in 2016.<\/p>\n

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Understanding Wisconsin, Together.<\/h2>\n

WPR\u2019s \u201cWisconsin Today\u201d newsletter keeps you connected to the state you love without feeling overwhelmed. No paywall. No agenda. No corporate filter.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The book includes photos of nearly two dozen artists either from Milwaukee or connected to the city \u2014\u00a0ranging from national artists like Death Cab for Cutie and Brandi Carlile to homegrown acts like SistaStrings and Buffalo Nichols.<\/p>\n

The Milwaukee musician Buffalo Nichols performs in Telluride, Colo. \u201cThis was a particularly special moment for me, at this point Buffalo & I had been on the road together for almost 40 days; and the journey to get to Telluride was quite the adventure. We had driven all night (yes quite literally all night) to make it to Telluride on time for soundcheck; only to watch him play for hundreds of people between the scenic mountain landscape,\u201d Ghani wrote. Photo courtesy of Samer Ghani <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI spent so many years documenting live music in Milwaukee because I thought it was a really important personal mission,\u201d Ghani said. \u201cI think the inspirational thought was, \u2018Well, if I started documenting them at the highest degree that I could, maybe people would start to take them a little more seriously and start investing in what they\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ghani shared about his journey through Milwaukee\u2019s music scene and the artists he\u2019s following right now.<\/p>\n

The following interview was edited for clarity and brevity.<\/em><\/p>\n

Rob Ferrett: Does Milwaukee\u2019s music scene get enough love inside Milwaukee? Do you feel like it\u2019s appreciated by the people in the city?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Samer Ghani<\/strong>: I really think it\u2019s a hidden gem. I think even for myself \u2014 spending so much time in the arts and culture community \u2014 I feel like every season that goes by, there are new artists and bands emerging that I\u2019ve never heard of. And it leaves me with the sense that there\u2019s still so much to explore here. There\u2019s so much to learn. <\/p>\n

As we continue to invest in our arts and culture community, and primarily our music and live entertainment community, not only will that have a great economic impact on our city, but it paves the way for younger, newer artists to continue to invest in themselves and in the arts and culture space at large.<\/p>\n

\"A
Milwaukee musician DJ Shawna is photographed while performing at Summerfest. \u201cMy time documenting Shawna has been nothing short of spectacular. I can\u2019t deny that Shawna is one of the few DJs I\u2019ve had the pleasure to create such a unique relationship with. The raw power of a single artists controlling the energy of hundreds of people will never not be entertaining to document. Shawna has a really special way of directing that power,\u201d Ghani wrote. Photo courtesy of Samer Ghani<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

RF: Looking at these images, you\u2019re getting angles that I wouldn\u2019t get if I just showed up at a show. How did you start actually working with the bands and venues to capture these artists?<\/strong><\/p>\n

SG<\/strong>: When I first started shooting artists back in 2016, I would pay my way to go to shows at venues around the city because I realized at the time that I didn\u2019t really have a lot of trust built up \u2014 with not only the artists, but the rest of the music community in Milwaukee at large. I thought it was really important to invest in that trust. I would email the photos to the bands. Best case scenario, they would use them. Worst case scenario, they wouldn\u2019t.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After years of doing that, Cactus Club owner Kelsey Kaufmann told me, \u201cYou don\u2019t have to always pay if you\u2019re going to be working these shows. As long as you share them with us \u2026 you\u2019re more than welcome to shoot here for free.\u201d <\/p>\n

And a light bulb kind of went off in my head. I realized that I finally got to a place where I was providing value. I did build trust. I did affect some of the artists that I was working with in a positive way.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It was really important for me to get to that point before I started asking the larger venues like the Pabst Theater Group and Summerfest. Not only did I need the portfolio, but it was really important to me that I did it the right way. I wasn\u2019t overstepping any boundaries. I was cutting my teeth. I was learning the practice of art on the business side, as well as becoming a better shooter.<\/p>\n

RF: You mentioned the <\/strong>Cactus Club<\/strong><\/a>. I understand you work with the nonprofit arm of the music venue. What role does it have in Milwaukee\u2019s local music scene?<\/strong><\/p>\n

SG: <\/strong>Cactus Club has been an institution of live music \u2026 touring bands will graduate from Cactus Club and then go to Pabst Theater Group on their next time around, if they grow as an artist. It\u2019s a really healthy thing for a market like Milwaukee to have. Cactus Club has positioned themselves alongside venues like The Cooperage and X-Ray Arcade into being that liaison, making a destination for artists who are on their way up to stop here. And that has a great economic impact on Milwaukee\u2019s arts and culture scene.<\/p>\n

\"A
The Milwaukee musician Klassik poses for a portrait. \u201cI\u2019m coming up on almost 10 years of documenting Klassik, through many changes, many shows, many era\u2019s (sic) of creation. Klassik might be one of the most interesting artists to be working in Wisconsin. Multiple award winning artist, year after year, Klassik in some ways has single handedly changed the dynamics of arts, culture and entertainment in Milwaukee, but Wisconsin at large. Our time working together has truly shaped me as an artist.\u201d Photo courtesy of Samer Ghani <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

RF: You\u2019re in touch with the Milwaukee music scene and working to lift it up. Who are some of the up-and-coming or newer artists that you have your eye on, even if you don\u2019t have your camera on them all the time?<\/strong>
<\/strong>
<\/strong>SG: <\/strong>There\u2019s an artist named El Sebas who does Latin hip-hop and R&B. In his personal work, he overlaps a lot of his work with arts education, bringing artists into afterschool programs to teach youth how to get into art and how to create.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The band Known Moons, featured at my book release show at Cactus Club, have just released some new music. So I\u2019m really excited to watch the hopefully national response that they get to their new music.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a band named Ladybird, who play alt country rock, and they released a new album this past fall that is amazing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The last one is a new two-piece \u2014 I don\u2019t know exactly what their genre would be called, but let\u2019s say rock \u2014 their name is In Shining Armour. They\u2019re a very new, very exciting band, unlike something I\u2019ve seen in a long time in Milwaukee.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.wpr.org \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What does it take to capture a photo of a live band? For longtime Milwaukee photographer Samer Ghani, it\u2019s not just a question of equipment or access \u2014 it\u2019s a little bit of luck and a lot of patience. \u201cWhen I shoot artists, my scope becomes really narrow. I\u2019m really focused on how they\u2019re moving, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2368126,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[21800,21738,22266],"class_list":["post-2368125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-music","tag-news","tag-photography"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/New-photobook-showcases-the-hidden-gem-of-Milwaukees-live-music.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2368125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2368125"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2368125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2368127,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2368125\/revisions\/2368127"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2368126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2368125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2368125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2368125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}