At the Evening Muse, September 22, 2007

This past summer, Mark and I played quite a few private parties and weddings. After our showcase last December at the Charlotte Music Awards, we secured quite a few private bookings for our acoustic duo show. We welcome them, for sure.

It was nice to get back to a club scene for a show. Five of our last six appearances were with our own PA system and in various different non-club locations (including wineries, living rooms, church social halls, and reception rooms). This show was a particularly nice treat for me, if for no other reason than the Evening Muse is my favorite club to play...period.

We didn't go on until a little after 9 pm. If you were disappointed by how short we played, I apologize. There were five bands on the bill and it was important that we allowed ample time for the 10:30 band to set up. I hope that next time we play the Muse, we can play a bit longer. Still, 70 minutes was a good set length for what we did. I'm a bit hazy as to exactly the order these songs appeared, but we played...

Automatic
Flat Tire
Another Day in Paradise
Sad Songs
Hey, Angel
Walk in Circles
God Lives in My Backyard
I Won't Back Down
Telling You I Love You
See You Tonight
Walking on Broadway
Two Shadows
October
Gravity Affects Me

Mark recently developed an interest in recording our sets, just to see what they sound like and how some of the newer songs can be improved. On the way home, Mark listened to most of the set on his Zoom recorder. We both agreed that "Hey, Angel" was a good new addition to our acoustic set. The song somehow became an unwanted lost dog from the mg4 EP. If we had more money it would probably have made it on the record. All's well, though. I'll make sure to release it somehow, someday.

Mark's new songs gelled quite well. "Broadway" and "Telling You" are going over well with the crowds. Mark also had a new song that we chose to cut, "Last Night." The harmonies on this song are particularly challenging and fun.

We also did a cover of Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down" in which we share the vocal duties. We listened to some tracks from Pearl Jam's at the Gorge set on the way to Charlotte. That song appeared on a few of their sets and we decided to throw it in to one of ours. Great tune, Tom.

I had a personal request to perform "See You Tonight." If you have requests for me, please feel free to email them to me before any show. I love to hear stories about how my music is used in other people's lives.

We'll be back at the Muse in January, I hope. Until then, it's back to the rehearsal space for some new tunes. See you then!

Mike & Mark at the Muse

Our show on June 2, 2007 had a bit of levity to it. Those of you who were there know. We told jokes. We played old songs. We played new songs. We sat down.

If you've ever been to the Evening Muse in Charlotte, you know it's a laid back atmosphere. It's a great listening room. I'm extremely grateful that there's a place like this 100 miles from my house.

The Muse has early and late shows. We were the early show on this night. I enjoy the early show for a number of reasons. The most relevant of which is that its early. If I don't stay for the late show, I can be back at my house by 11:00 p.m., which is great. Maybe I'm getting old, but I'm not much of a barfly now-a-days. I like to get up with the sun. I rarely stay up past midnight, even on weekends. No, there's no maybe about it. I am getting old. Or, maybe just older.

Our set list was composed of both old and new material. We pulled out a few songs that we haven't done in a while, like "Believe in You"...a melodious deep cut from Dirty Wake. We also tried a "new" song called "All I Need." Mark and I began co-writing this song back in 2003. We're just now getting comfortable with an acoustic arrangement for it.

Mark's new songs are a total success. If you haven't heard "Walking on Broadway" and "Telling You..." you should see our next show. We also played one of my new songs, "Two Shadows." It rocks. I get to yell a lot at the end. It's pretty cool. I also played a cover of "Best of You," the last Foo Fighter's single. This was a bit off the cuff and really rough around the edges, but, man, I gotta tell you, it sure is fun to yell at the top your lungs for five minutes.

For all of the shows we've played together in the past ten years, this last one ranks as one of the funnest and most entertaining for both us and our fans. Everyone had a good time. It was a full room. It was a good night. We'll be back

Photo by Rick Reese

Athenaeum in Downtown Greensboro

Admittedly, finding a way to process the last Athenaeum show has been a challenge. 23,000 people showed up to see American Idol runner-up Chris Daughtry perform a free outdoor show. And, Athenaeum was the opener. The date was March 23, 2007.

Any time a band, broken-up or not, has an opportunity to perform to that many people, it's generally a good idea. What made this situation different from any of the other festivals that we had performed in the past is that this show was all about Daughtry. I guess the situation was a bit humbling.

Feelings aside, I thought our set was solid:

Flat Tire
On My Mind
Damage
No One
Unnoticed
Frozen in Time
All My Life
October
What I Didn't Know
Revolution

The fact that the show was in town didn't make it any easier. The folks who put this show on grossly underestimated attendance. The space for a decent view of the stage was limited to about 9,000. The other 14,000 were stacked on top of each other down Elm St, the main drag through downtown. Streets were blocked off for miles. Being so, negotiating a way to the stage entrance was a bit difficult.

Why this event wasn't held at the Coliseum, I'll never know. It would have made so much more sense on a number of different levels. The first of which, in simple terms, we would have had a green room of some kind. It was difficult to change clothes in a day old porta-John. You just hope that you don't accidentally drop your shoes in the crapper. I'm no prima donna, but I had a hard time finding even a place to sit down backstage. There were no accommodations for us or our guests.

Before we took the stage, a little drummer got up on stage and did a drum solo. This was pretty good, except he went on just a bit too long. He cut into our set...we had to cut "Sweeter Love" as a consequence. But still, it was amazing to see a 6 or 7 year old play almost as well as some of the drummers that I've played with.

When we took the stage, our reception was positive. Although, it was pretty clear after the first song just how much this whole shindig had to do with Daughtry. Not everyone there was as into our set as we would have liked, but we gave it our best. The set was over fairly quickly. Although, "On My Mind" and "Frozen in Time" were performed as well as perhaps they ever have been. Maybe the show in Ferndale on the Athenaeum tour in 2001 had better renditions, but it would be hard to say. We closed the set with a cover of the Beatles' "Revolution."

As we finished and began walking off the stage, the crowd began to chant something. At first, I thought it sounded like "encore," but that would have been a bit weird. It wasn't. They were chanting "Daughtry." The optimist in me hopes that this was a sign that we did our job. The crowd seemed warmed up. The pessimist in me takes that kind of statement as an insult...kind of a verbal middle finger...I still don't know what to think of it.

We had just finished packing up our gear when Daughtry took the stage. There was much ado and the crowd was very excited. I guess if you are a kid who watches American Idol every week, this kind of show would have been one of the most exciting experiences of your life. For me, a guy who's seen over 1,000 rock shows (including Radiohead, The Foo Fighters, and Cheap Trick at a 600 person club) this didn't really do much for me. But then again, what do I know? He did a great job at pleasing his fans. That's all that really needs to be said.

When people started downloading songs and not paying for music back in the late 90's everyone knew that the music industry had changed forever. Labels purged their rosters. A musical vacuum had begun. Something had to fill it. It looks like American Idol has done it. With a weekly viewership of 60 million, it's no wonder that 23,000 folks showed up to see this American Idol alumnus rock out.

I'll end this post by saying that this show has been very difficult to process. Although, keep your fingers crossed everybody. Some exciting things are on the horizon.

Mark & Mike Show at The Evening Muse

After having played hundreds and hundreds of shows over the past 15 years, there are a few kinds that stick out. There's, of course, the ridiculously bad shows (like the Collapsis tough man contest; if you know Scott Carle, you've probably seen the video footage of this). Then, there's the incredibly positive and energizing shows. The show Mark and I played this past Saturday, February 3rd, was one of those energizing ones. I can think of dozens of these from the past few years. But, few have been quantifiable as "sell outs." This also was a "sell out" crowd.

The last solo show I did at the Muse was far from a sell out crowd. I think between 35 and 50 people attended that one. Mark and I did quite a bit of promotion and "get the word out" about this particular show. I think all of it helped.

Last December, Mark and I participated in the Charlotte Music Awards Holiday showcase at the Wadsworth house. We did well at this event and even won the night; there were judges. A bit of press and visibility helped. Michael Evans and Jeffery Cheen presented us with our award before our set. Thanks, guys!

We also played on the Fox Charlotte morning news on Friday, March 2nd. I got the feeling that a lot of the people who were at our show on Saturday either saw us play or heard about us playing and got the info about the show. I saw quite a few new faces at the Saturday show. I can't help but think that the news show was a good idea. So, thanks, Beth, for having us on the show! Also, it was quite a perk to play a morning show on Groundhog Day. I enjoyed watching the live feed from Pennsylvania as we tuned up in the green room.

Dean Fields (http://www.deanfields.com/) opened the set. He was incredibly good. As he played, Mark and I sat at the back of the Muse and worked on the set list. Included in the show were four new songs by Mark ("Sad Songs," "Telling You I Love You," "Walking on Broadway," and "What It's Like") and one new song of mine ("Two Shadows"). The rest of the set included selections from Radiance, Athenaeum, Dirty Wake, The Promise of Summer, and Gravity Affects Me. You know, the stuff we usually play. New material presents a new energy to a live show. It's almost unpredictable. I think these new songs came off really well, espeically "Walking on Broadway."

As we worked through the set, it was good to feel the energy of the crowd. It was an early show, but everyone was attentive and excited. Mark and I are gearing up to record an acoustic record. It was good to see that everyone present thought it was a good idea. We hope to be back at the Muse this summer. In the meantime, look for some Athenaeum reunion shows in March.

Thanks for coming out to the Muse and supporting live original music.

The Lessons of Autumn 10th Anniversary Show

Originally, I had planned to have an extravagant "to do" for this event. I'm glad that it ended up being just me and an acoustic guitar, though.

On Friday, October 13th, 2006, I celebrated the 10th anniversary of the release of The Lessons of Autumn. The album is significant for many reasons. For one, it's a pretty good record. For two, it's the work that got my foot in the door. And for three, it's arguably my most personal album. It's so personal that most of the songs don't have an identifiable chorus...looking back, the thing reads like a diary from a bad time.

Back in August, I considered getting the original band together for the show. This would have been Nic Brown on drums, John Gillespie on bass, Mark Kano on electric guitar, and a few others playing violin, piano, and clarinet. I wanted to augment the evening with sax and trumpet, too. When I asked around, not everyone was available. Around September, I resolved to let the show be just an acoustic duo interpretation of the work. Up until about three hours before the show, this was going to be the case. Mark called as I was on my way down to Charlotte to tell me that he wasn't feeling well enough to play the gig. When we practiced earlier that day, we weren't sure if he would be feeling well enough by the evening. Such is the case with show business. The show must go on.

There was something cool about performing this album in its entirety by myself. Perhaps cool isn't the right word. Maybe it was more fitting. Yes, that's it. Because Lessons is such a personal record, it made more sense for me to perform it by myself. Although, the Mike and Mark duo rehearsal of the record sounded really, really good.

I started and ended the set with an attempt at playing the electric piano. "Birthday Song" isn't hard to pull off on the piano, but I'm not a strong piano player. I listened to John Hodge's boot of the show this morning and this didn't sound too bad. I started this particular song with an allusion to "I Fall in Love Too Easily," a standard that Miles Davis played in the 60's. He also played the lick at the top of "Sanctuary" from the Bitches Brew era.

Once I got to the guitar, things were comfortable. I played through the record making comments where necessary. Usually whenever I had to retune the guitar I made some comment about the next song. I remember the second half of the set being stronger than the first. I guess it took me a little while to get comfortable, as it always does. I was told that "Oceans" and "Milestone" were particular good.

I ended the set with "The Lessons of Autumn." I can't recall ever performing this song live with me playing the piano. So, that was a first. The song was written as a requiem for the story. I like the song a lot. I enjoyed ending the set with it.

The second set was an all request set. The only two songs that I selected were "Two Shadows" and "Where There's a Door," two newer compositions of mine. Everything else was by request. The requests were Building a Hole heavy, but there were quite a few selections. Thankfully, no one requested a song from Lessons. I hate it when people request songs that I've already played. I got a request for a song called "Information Junkie" that I hadn't played in about 8 years. I didn't have the lyrics, but we found them on the internet during the show. Technology has come a long way.

The Pour House, Raleigh, NC

It would make sense to me if by common law, bands were considered "broken up" if a year goes by and they haven't played a show. By the skin of our teeth, MG4 made the cut off. We're still a band. We played a show on Saturday, July 22nd at the Pour House in Raleigh with Rob Watson.

The main reason we haven't played a show since last August has been that we've been busy with other things. Still, everyone agreed after the show that it was a good time and that we played fairly well.

This particular show was deemed an "after party" for the across-the-street event: Raleigh Downtown Live. We loaded it at 5 p.m. and checked until about 7 p.m. I was surprised at how easy it was to load in even with the rather large public event across the street. Raleigh's public works has the whole parking thing pretty much down pat.

Angie Aparo was finishing up his set when we finally made it across the street. If you think you haven't heard of him, you have. He wrote Faith Hill's "Cry." It's kind of funny to hear him perform the song now-a-days. You see a lot of perplexed people looking around at each other asking themselves "Why is he playing a Faith Hill song?" Dillon Fence performed directly after Aparo. I used to play with Scott Carle in Collapsis, so it was good to see him play.

We went on at around 10:45 p.m., just as Butch Walker's show was letting out. I have never seen the Pour House that packed. It was a good night, especially for whomever owned the bar receipts.

Our set was:

Don't Fade Away
Automatic
Sour Milk
Another Day in Paradise
Walk in Circles
She Alone
Rusted Radio
Sister Havana
Gravity Affects Me
Superhero
October

I broke a string about two lines into "Sour Milk." I tried to make it through the rest of the set, but after "She Alone" I played the rest of the set on my tele (the yellow electric guitar I usually play).

Rob Watson went on shortly after we finished. Rob's set was great. If you're in the Raleigh area, I highly recommend his show.

In addition to the show being fun and fulfilling, it also served as a good warm-up gig for the Athenaeum reunion shows that are coming up at the end of August. Playing this show made me realize that I need to dial in my guitar tones a bit more before doing a band gig again.

Warren, OH

I don't tour that much now-a-days. Clubs don't book original music as much as they used to, so it really doesn't surprise me. There just isn't as much opportunity as there was five years ago. Other musical activities, like studio production and freelance composition, fill most of my time of late. Although, when I get a chance to play a worthwhile gig, I usually take it.

For four years now, in some way, shape, or form, I've managed to make it to Warren, OH to play a show on a local bar patio for those who are interested. The first year, Athenaeum played it. The three following years, I've played the patio as a solo acoustic act. Each year, I am greeted by friendly, open-minded, music fans. I'm very thankful for this crowd.

It's an easy 9 hour drive from Greensboro, NC to Warren, OH. Most of it is on I-77 through West Virginia and southern Ohio. With the exception of a few hills and a few stretches of mountain travel, the route is surprisingly flat. My car is on the fritz, so this year I rented a car for the drive. I drove a 2006 Ford Focus that had a total of 5 miles of life on it when I picked it up from the airport. This was it's maiden voyage. How fun.

I like to spend time alone. I'm an introvert. The trip afforded me the opportunity to listen to quite a few albums. I put my iPod on album shuffle and ran the battery out. Highlights from the trip included David Bowie's Heathen, Sunny Day Real Estate's LP2, Anthrax's The Sound of White Noise, Weather Report's Heavy Weather, and Herbie Hancock's Headhunters. The car ran like a dream. Not even a single studder of the engine was heard.

I arrived in Warren around 6:30 p.m. I chilled for an hour at the America's Best Value Inn on Mahoning Ave. Then Jimmy and Uncle Butter (the promoter and club owner for the show, respectively) took me out to eat. I am always impressed by Jimmy Martin's hospitality. We went the the ITAM local 29, a Warren Italian-American club, for dinner. They had quite a tasty fried fish on special that night. We sat and talked for a good three hours. It was a good way to end the day of travel. I turned in around 11 p.m.

I've been to Warren so much that I practically have a day-of-show routine now. I woke up at 7 and worked out at the YMCA, a half-mile from the motel. I got cleaned up and then had a nice breakfast at a Panera a few miles down the road towards Niles, OH. Then, I visited the CD Warehouse and Best Buy to look for media. One year I found three INXS albums for three dollars at the CD Warehouse. The year after that I was a semi-finalist in the INXS Rock Star show competition, but that's a different story altogether...

With the afternoon ahead of me, I opted to see a movie. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest was on my list of films to watch. I didn't realize that it was almost three hours long, so I had to head back to the motel immediately after the movie. I had to change my strings and prepare a set list before 6 p.m. I barely had time to do that. I liked the movie, but I should have checked the running time before viewing.

Things were set up at the club at 6 and I was told to arrive back around 8 or so. I did a brief sound check and then there were three opening acts, all of which I watched. First was French Blue, an acoustic duo from Warren. They do a great cover of Concrete Blonde's "Joey." Next was Jimmy Martin. I had the privelege of producing and mixing a few songs for his latest CD. It was good to hear him in an acoustic context. He played well. Then, a local band called The Zou played. When a heavy rock band shows up with banjos and mandolins, it's bound to be interesting. I thought they did well. I'm looking forward to hearing the CD they gave me.

I went on at around 11:30 p.m. It had been so long since I had played a show that the time seemed to just fly by. I made it half way down my set list and I asked Jimmy what time it was. It was already 1:00 a.m. One of the draw backs to having written so many songs is that I can never quite have a show long enough to play all the songs I want to play. I ended the show at 2:00 a.m. after having played for two and a half hours straight. All in all, the patio was about half full when I started and about a quarter full by the end of the night. It was a decent crowd, for sure.

I sold a few CD's, packed up, and made it to the motel by about 3:00 a.m. I wasn't very tired. I got a few hours of sleep. I hit the road at 6:30 a.m.

The trip home was somewhat of a daze. I didn't get a full night's sleep. That began to take it's toll around 10:00 a.m. Thankfully, I had the complete Star Wars Radio Drama from NPR on my iPod to entertain me. The program is about eight and a half hours long. I listened to almost all of it. For some reason I forgot to put the last episode on the iPod, so I left everyone hanging before they could blow up the Death Star.

Returning the car was quite easy. I just pulled into the rental spot and a nice clerk checked the gauges. That was it. 1035 miles total.