31/10/2024
REMEMBERING MAD MIKE - 24 YEARS LONG GONE TODAY. Of all the mayhem that ensued from our label, none is closer, still, than the Mad Mike series. It was, without sounding hokey- or witchy, it being Halloween and all - ordained, supernaturally devised, magic, that any of it happened at all, and from it, came some of my closest and most inspirational friendships. Top left is a snapshot of the day I interviewed Mike, his last time on tape. The cassette was lost here for many years and only came out to play because of the power of prayer. Arnie, Larry and Corky were the guys who demanded I find it. They said, if the tape could be found, everything would fall into place, and it did. They are all gone now. 12 years ago today, right after Sandy hit, I was in hipwaders in Red Hook, crying, stumbling in the pool of brackish water, staring down like a child stares at her toes in the deep end of a swimming pool, when a waterlogged volume 1 of the Mad Mike albums came out of the murk, directly into my view. It was chilling, a solemn reminder of the shortness of life and happiness. All remaining stock on these albums was destroyed in Sandy. If any survived, it's by accident that a few were at the home office that day. If you own one, play it today. By chance, like all good things, Ernie the K called yesterday and asked "when ya coming to Pittsburgh?" As soon as possible, I replied. And then I played Wizard of Ah's https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYAS9GuSMSI
