The Real Memphis Mike (don't settle for imitations)

I want to rock and roll all night, and party every day...so went an old song by Kiss. Amazingly enough, Kiss is still around. Let's be honest, their music was always fun...loud and over the top...but essentially pretty sophomoric in content. It was the 70s, the decade that gave us "serious" singer-songwriters like James Taylor (blech), Carol King, Elton John, etc. The 70s also gave us a fair bit of good, old fashioned rock and roll like the aforementioned Kiss, The Runaways, Thin Lizzy, and more. The 70s also gave us punk rock (yay!!!!!!) and disco (zzzzzz). So, what's my point,you may be wondering. Well, simply put, I've been noticing a trend lately. Lots of my friends, and not just the old farts like myself, have been posting a lot of videos of the old 70s bands lately. Has this music become suddenly hip again...or is there something else? As for my friends and contemporaries, aka the old farts, it could be chalked up to strolling down memory lane. But what ab...

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND!!!!!! 7th YEAR!!!!!! I post this every year. Why? Because some folks ask for it....also because I like it. I hope you will too. We probably shouldn't need a holiday to remind us to be thankful for whatever we have...but I'm glad we do. So with out further adieu.... Thanksgivus Thanksgivus: that's what she called it. The 'she' in question would be a very short, loud, middle aged black woman with retardation who I supervised for years. Her name is Omega...fitting because she truly is THE END! Omega didn't exactly have a speech problem but I think her hearing wasn't 100% on the mark, as certain words would get slurred together such as "Thanksgivus". Another fave was her version of Social Security, which often sounded more like "sociable secretary" (of which I've known a few). Thanksgivus (which is what I now prefer to call the US holiday Thanksgiving) is the last Thursday of November (this is for my over...

If you're a musician, or have ever gone to see a live band, chances are you've heard some drunk yell for the band to play FREEBIRD!!!!!! 99.99974658% of all bands will say no. (proof that God loves us) If YOU are that person...stop it. If you want to hear FREEBIRD!!!!!!!!!! so damned much, go home and crank up your 8-track. The rest of the civilized world doesn't want to hear anyone other than Lynyrd Skynyrd play that damned song...and most of us don't even want to hear that. I say this not because it's something that I have to deal with often but because it's 2012 and people still do it. Every bit as bad is when people in the audience think that the band onstage knows every single song ever written and can/will/wants to attempt to perform them all. My personal favorite was once when we were playing at a street festival and a gal of around 18 or so came up to me to ask if we do any Mariah Carey. Mariah Carey?????   I had to call her out in front of th...

Tuesday night, Obama won re-election. This is neither news (now) nor a surprise to anyone with a functioning brain. He was the better of the two (main) candidates, and he won the election. Early Wednesday morning, I heard (via the interweb) that a neighbor was considering flying the flag, OUR flag, upside down in protest. I told this person (again, via the interweb) that if that were to happen, I would be more than happy to come over and fix it. I chalked it up to election night mania. I mean really...who in their right mind would be so disrespectful of OUR flag to actually do such a thing. Then came the news. This was not a random, isolated thought. It appears to be a conspiracy of like-minded folks...aka, The Tea Party...the uber right wing fanatical pawns of the Republican Party. It's pretty much a given that Teabillies are less-than-correctly informed. They like to believe they are informed because they give credence to the fear mongers who play on their deepest collectiv...

Here's a list of things I never said as a kid (and I doubt any other kid has either): "I can't wait to have a mountain of bills so I can struggle to pay them!" "I hope I grow up to have a boss who treats me like crap and refuses to see my potential!" "I hope I can work 80 hours a week to make someone else rich!" "Playing is useless! I'd rather work all the time!" "I hope I can grow up to be old and stressed out and have an ulcer!" I heard a song on the radio today by a young singer named Brandi Carlile. It's called "Keep Your Heart Young" and I'd like to dedicate it to so many of my friends, colleagues, and contemporaries who have somehow managed to age themselves to the point of becoming crabby, stuffy old people! I don't know how y'all managed it but I do hope you can find a way to slow it down. I don't really feel old...and at 46, I don't really think I am. I enjoy life. I w...

Back in 1977, when I was all of "10 3/4" years of age (I was always such a little weirdo!), we had an assignment in school to write a paragraph about what we though life in the year 2000 would be like. The local paper printed a bunch of them, including mine.  As is often the case, my past has come back to haunt me! An old friend, today, sent me a link to an online article on Smithsonian.com where someone has dug up these artifacts and in retrospect, we kids weren't horribly far off. Knowing all of these kids, their writing denotes a lot about their personalities and mindsets...again, mine included. I really was such a weirdo (as my sister often likes to remind me). I could've sworn that I wrote a longer, more in depth piece...but whatever...here's what the writer put in their piece on us Kids of 1977: " In the year 2000 I will be 34 years old. And actually I don’t think kids will have to go to school, because I believe that families will have compu...

I was thinking today about one time when I was little and our mum took us to the carnival. This was, to my knowledge, the last time a REAL carnival, complete with sideshows, was ever in Steubenville. I was maybe 6 or 7 yrs old. This was back when the annual carnival would set up down along the side of the old Mr. Wigg's store down in Hollywood Plaza. They had all the usual rides like the Tilt-A-Whirl and The Octopus (which may be the root cause of my acrophobia - once while riding it with my aunt, my shoe came off and hit some guy in the head!) , fried junk food, and games of chance (our brother Bill always excelled at these!)...but what caught my attention was the sideshow. I remember they had a "mummy" on exhibit (which even to my childish mind looked fake!), a Fiji mermaid (which looked to me like someone sewed a dead monkey to a fish!), a few display cases with embalmed 2 headed critters, and LIVE IN PERSON, The Monkey Lady. I was mesmerized by her "perform...

There's a new show called Nashville. I doubt I'll ever watch it. Having spent a fair bit of time there, I'll stay content with the real thing. I always preferred Memphis, anyway. From 2002 - 2004, I spent a lot of time in Tennessee, most of it in the small town of Linden. Most of you have probably never heard of Linden, and there's really no reason you should have. It's a nice little town with a population of about 1000 or so. It's the county seat of Perry County. I remember when they put in that second traffic light! What makes a town like Linden special and memorable is the people. Sure, it's beautiful country down there. If you like the outdoors and country living, its the kind of place you'll love. For me, it will always be about the people. One of my very good friends, a term I don't use lightly, lives there. His name is Billy Poore. If you're a fan of rockabilly music, then his name is probably known to you. In his 68+ years, he's...

Ahhhhhh, Halloween. The one night of the year where it's considered normal to dress up and beg for candy. For some of us, we call that Tuesday. But seriously, if you grew up in the US of A, chances are you have fond memories of Halloween from your childhood. I know I do. Our mum was great for Halloween! She would make us great costumes or encourage us to dress however we wanted. What was YOUR favorite Halloween costume as a kid? I know what mine was. When I was about 11, my dad had lost a bunch of weight...about 80 pounds or so, and he had all his old pairs of "fat guy" pants. He had them stacked up, getting them ready to go to Goodwill, and I snuck in and grabbed 2 pairs. I found that if I bent one leg back, I could get it into a pant leg. Then I put the other pair on over top of that and did the same. I decided to tie shoes to my knees while doing this. It made me look like a midget. I took an old cane and cut it down to size so I could walk. I got good enough at it...

I'm sure most people realize by now that I refer to my better half as "the young'un". Why? Because she's 15 years younger than I am. (Just call me Mr. Obvious) One would normally think that could be a hindrance to a relationship...growing up during different times could potentially limit our shared life experiences, thus creating a possibility of nothing to talk about . Also, she's young and good looking and I...well...I am not. I used to be...but with age I have reverted to being "cute". (And yes ladies, guys with gray hair really don't like that word "distinguished". We pretend we do...but we don't. To us it means "Hey! Look at the old guy. I bet he was something to look back in his day") While the young'un and I have few similar interests, we use this to our advantage. Every day is a new adventure for us. Lucky for me, she is open to new things. I, on the other hand, am not. I am accustomed to things being just so...

Let's face it, I like to drink. Not everyday, not always blotto, but I do enjoy a nice, cold beer with friends now and then. Oddly enough, I almost never drink at home. I could equate this to 30+ years of being a working musician, and usually only drinking in public...or I could equate to more of a social experience. Either way, when I drink, it's usually in a bar (or pub). Below is a list of some of my favorite bars/pubs that I've frequented over the years and why I like them. Maybe, if you too are a social drinker, you'll compile your own mental list of some of your fave watering holes. So, without further adieu and in no particular order: Rascals (aka The Cage) - Dover, OH Back when I still lived in Ohio, this was my regular nightspot. My girlfriend and I would be there just about every night. She'd shoot pool (and shark everyone in the room) while my buddy Jackson and I would knock back many a beverage and shoot the shit. Most of my friends hung out there t...

I'm the sort of person who tends to compartmentalize things in my life. It's weird...but it works for me. Case in point, today. I was doing a show with my band, Memphis Mike & The Legendary Tremblers , today and decided to merge a couple of my personal worlds...at least a couple of my musical worlds. Allow me to explain... In this band, we play loud, usually fast, boogie-kinda rock and roll. Some call it rockabilly (we don't), some call it country rock, some call it blues, some call it surf. Like Sam Phillips, we just call it "rock & roll" maaaaaaan. Sure, I like to incorporate blues, country, jazz, surf, rockabilly, punk, etc. into my playing. It's called having my own style. When I do solo shows, it's usually just me and a resophonic guitar, playing a lot of side guitar, and attempting to play 'down home kinda delta blues'. I rarely, if ever, play slide on electric. But today was different. I've been in a different mindset latel...

I used to write. A lot. I always loved my creative writing classes. I'd usually have my assignments finished before the class was over. I wrote short stories, plays, lyrics, poems. Sometimes I'd just write gibberish, just because I could. My high school teachers and college professors always loved my writing, or so they said. My dad always figured I'd grow up to be an English professor. (I have yet to grow up, so that is still an option) I eventually turned my writing in two directions: music and journalism. I've been writing songs since I was 12. If I was really good at it, you'd probably be familiar with more of my work! My journalistic writing...there's another story. I started out writing for underground mags and papers like Bull Dada and NOW. When I was 15, I was published in Rolling Stone (under a pen name). I think  I made a whopping $155 for that one! (Big money to a kid in the early 80s) I eventually took a break from journalism to focus more on ...

11 years. Has it really been that long? I can still hear your voice. I can hear your laugh. I can hear you calling me Micha. I can hear you arguing with me. I can hear you breathe. But you're still gone. And I still miss you and I still love you. We knew that "we" couldn't be. We knew that we had to go our own ways...but we always stayed in each other's life. Until that day. I remember trying time after time to call...but the phone lines were down. I have never been so scared. I large part of me died with you. A large part of the world died with you. I was sure I'd never be happy again. But...I am. I know you watch over me. I'm pretty sure you had something to do with her coming into my life. I don't see how else it could have happened. She's young, beautiful, intelligent, thoughtful, caring, talented...everything you know I need in my life. She's good for me. I try to be good for her...but I'm still a mess. The legal mess wages o...

Coke or Pepsi...does it have to be a choice between the two? I rarely drink colas. In fact, I've never been a huge fan of cola (unless there's bourbon mixed in there). But seriously though...why is it a choice between these two? I think it says a lot about our country's mindset. Either/or. I used to spend a lot of time down south. One of my favorite things about the southern lexicon was their habit of referring to ALL soft drinks as "Coke". You'd be sitting in a restaurant or diner and the waitress would ask if you'd like a Coke...then she'd ask you what kind you wanted. Always cracked me up. My ex girlfriend, born and raised in Tennessee, would always refer to my (then) beloved Mt. Dew as "yellow Coke". (It's actually a bit more green....but I digress) I used to live on Mt. Dew. Since my heart attack 5 years ago, I've gone caffeine-free. I prefer orange soda now. Orange Crush is always in my fridge. Fanta's orange soda is p...

Gypsy. You've all heard the word. Some of you may even think you know a thing or two about gypsies. You probably don't. I used to think I did...until now. I've been attempting to research my family for years. A major stumbling block was always my great-grandfather Albert. He came to the US in the late 19th century. One would think that finding a ship passenger registry with his family listed would be relatively easy in this day and age. Not so. Here's the problem. My great-grandfather used an assumed name in the US until just prior to his marriage to my great-grandmother Lizzie Nauman. The story I was always told by my grandmother and great aunts was that just before their wedding, Albert told Lizzie he had to confess something to her. Meyer, the name he had been living under, was not his real name. His reasons for using it were never clear. He informed her that his true name was Zigan and he would understand if she didn't want to marry a Zigan. OK, I never un...

I've been reading about the Church of Latter Day Saints (the Mormons) lately. I'm a religious man yet as an American, I believe all are free to believe as they see fit...or believe nothing if that is their wish. I try to see the value and merit of all religions. I have a rather syncretic belief  that God taught the various cultures the same things, but in contexts that each culture could understand. When most of us think of Mormons, we think of polygamists, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Utah, and clean cut white folks. They don't drink, smoke, or tell dirty jokes. Hell, they don't even drink coffee or tea! While many may find this odd, these (with the exception of polygamy) aren't reasons to look down one's nose at someone. But there's more to the Mormons than meets the eye. I do not claim to be a scholar on the subject and I'll admit that there is a lot more to read on the subject...but what I have been reading strikes me as truly disturbing. While...

Kinda sounds like a comedy routine, doesn't it? The young'un LOVES candy. One of her faves is Skittles. Now I'll whole-heartedly admit that I've enjoyed a Skittle or two in my day...but nowhere near as much as the young'un does. She can eat a 5 pound bag of them in one sitting. My only real problem with Skittles is their smell. I think they smell like urinal cakes. For those unfamiliar with urinal cakes, they are the deodorizing pink 'cakes' placed in urinals in public restrooms to keep the odor to a minimum...basically because most men are too fucking lazy to flush a public toilet. The smell is somewhere between Fruity Pebbles cereal and baby aspirin. That's what Skittles smell like (to me). It's not a particularly horrible smell...although a tad sweet smelling. The problem for me is this: when she's eating a bag of Skittles, and the smell reminds me of urinal cakes, my brain equates this with the stench of a dirty public restroom...and I ...

I've been playing guitar for a loooooooong time. Almost 35 years. A lot of folks will tell you I'm pretty good. I still think my best playing was when I was 15.  But if there's one thing I have learned, it's that a lot of guitar players sell themselves short. They tend to rely too heavily on effects. Now I'm not putting down the stomp boxes. I own a couple of them (although I rarely use them). It's fun to make some weird noises with them...and sometimes, it's nice to enhance your sound with them. That said, too many pickers hide behind them. A distortion pedal hides a multitude of sins. Throw in a delay, a wah pedal, a chorus, and a few dozen other effects, and your actual playing, your real skill, is hidden behind a wall of noise. QUIT SELLING YOURSELF SHORT! OK, we all wish we could play like Danny Gatton or Joe Pass. They were geniuses. Sadly, a lot of younger guitarists out there probably have no idea who these cats were. So, if you're a guitar...

If you know me, then you know I lost my job January 1 due to county-wide funding cuts.  I had a choice to either transfer to a different site in November or stick it out until the end with my clients, many of whom needed assistance in securing alternate housing. Well, I chose to stick it out with my clients. It seemed like the right thing to do. I figured a position within the agency would open up sooner or later or I'd just find another job.  This turned out to not be the case. I had some money stashed away, so I figured I'd be set for a while. I also was expecting a decent tax return, so I figured it would all work out. Well, the car needed a lot of work, so that got put on the back burner until the income tax return came in. Then the IRS decided to take my tax return and give it to my student loans. Then I got hit with a couple of surprise bills. We all know the story. Life is good at throwing curve balls. Every day, I looked for jobs. I sent resumes, filled ou...