The story
History
Frank Cascio, the son of Italian immigrants, discovered a passion for music by playing an old piano in the back room of the Milwaukee neighborhood grocery store founded by his parents Rosario and Concetta. He eventually mastered the accordion and played live on local radio stations. After completing his service as a corpsman in the US Army in the Philippines, Cascio and his wife Marcie founded the West Milwaukee Accordion School on Beloit Road in West Milwaukee. Besides giving lessons and selling accordions, the store also sold Motorola televisions and radios.
After continued growth, a mail order division, Interstate Music Supply, began in 1970, initially with a small flyer to service regional school band directors in the far corners of Wisconsin, but which eventually grew into larger catalogs. In 1973, a second location, Cascio Music-West, was added in the rural New Berlin suburb of Milwaukee. The New Berlin store grew and eventually replaced the Lincoln Avenue store, which closed in 1976.
In 2020, Wisconsin-based logistics and digital marketing agency, Geneva Supply, acquired Cascio Interstate Music through a voluntary receivership and rebranded the company Interstate Music. With this change in ownership, Interstate Music shifted focus towards artist services, content creation and management, while still maintaining their online retail business.
Shortly after the acquisition, Interstate Music began work on a live music venue custom-built for obtaining live show video content, which opened in 2021 as the Caribou Room.
After an increase in demand for creative services and positive reception from artists, Interstate Music opened a location on Music Row in Nashville, Tennessee in early 2023. This location houses a full recording studio, writer's rooms, and offices. Grammy Award-winning engineer and producer, Greg Collins, assisted in the studio build, and is currently a collaborative partner of Interstate Music, and works out of the studio.
In July 2023, Interstate Music opened an additional recording space on Music Square. After further growth in Nashville, Interstate Music migrated all of their operations from the Interstate Music House to an office building located at 21 Music Square W, Nashville, TN.
Historical Involvement in Milwaukee's Music Community
Cascio Interstate Music was an active participant in southeastern Wisconsin's musical community, by providing free in-store educational/performance clinics with well-known musicians at the retail store. Cascio Interstate Music also entered into a partnership with the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks franchise to sponsor the "Bucks Beats" Drumline, which performed during Milwaukee Bucks home basketball games. Cascio Interstate Music also maintained relationships with the Stefanie H Weill Center for the Performing Arts, Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts, 88Nine Radio Milwaukee, and Milwaukee Record.
DrummerFest
Cascio Interstate Music hosted DrummerFest, an annual drum clinic, from 2001-2019. The event featured notable drummers and percussionists from a variety of genres.
From Wikipedia’s article on Cascio Interstate Music, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3