OLD NEWS

Jan 19th 2004

So let me tell you this story...
    Sunday night my band (David Freund-drums, Prof. Rick Manning-keys) and I were playing at Nick's Sports Bar in Nashua, NH.   We were having a great night when some friends of ours stopped by.  Doug MacCormack and Dennis Gregoire from the "GMan Band".   Our own Prof. Rick Manning is joining up with this band part-time to play a bunch of gigs.  So here's what happened...

    Around the third set I ask Doug and Dennis if they want to come up and play a few songs.  They do - and of course are brilliant!!  But the key here is this.  I AM SO PROUD OF MY GUYS!!!  Rick and Dave as a rhythm section just kicked butt!!   I was in awe to say the least...

    What I'm trying to say here is that it is an absolute honor to have these two gentleman backing me up.  Dave once described it as "providing Mike with a musical wave to surf".  Well Davey...

...Kowabunga dude!!!!!!!!

Cancelled.... CANCELLED??!!??
Just who do they think they are?!?

An email to my bandmates......

Well...
    We have been cancelled at Factory 57. ALL DATES (solo, duo, band) Out of the blue... no real explanation.
    This guy (Bruce - the owner) has proven himself to be a TOTAL jerk, and I have decided to officially burn that bridge!! He does not keep his agreements and cannot be trusted in the future. I'd rather not deal with him anymore...

    Sorry about this guys!!
    I'm not happy.

    - mike

'NUFF SAID
(I love to get catty!!)

Goodbye Captain...
... my childhood morning buddy...
...I can only wish that kids today find someone like you.

GO PATS!!!

January 10th 2004

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Wow - where to start....

Well, the new year finds me - once again - still playing in bars and resorts.  I wake every morning thanking God for the opportunity to continually do the thing that I love best.
Playing guitar and singing for a living.
It's a pretty cool life.
(AND - I have no idea what is going on with the Gerry Stafford project!)
I'm REALLY looking forward to the next M/S Mt. Washington season!!  (It's going to be my 10 year anniversary on the boat!!!!)
I miss my friends up there, not to mention all of the nice folks I meet.

Prof. Rick Manning, David Freund, and myself have been gigging on a regular basis as of late.  I very much enjoy working with these guys.  We've been making noise together for close to twenty years.  Please check out my schedule for "showtimes".

My son Nick is now EIGHT YEARS OLD!!!
Holy smoke!!  Where does the time go?

June 2003

So I get a call from my old friend Gerry Stafford.

    Those of you "in the know" know that Gerry was once in my band and I consider him to be one of the GREATEST guitar players I've ever heard!!  But I digress....

    Gerry tells me that he's been in touch with a gentleman named Bob Johnston.   Those of you "not in the know" will be interested in knowing that Bob Johnston is one of modern recording's LIVING LEGENDS!!  He's produced a plethora of classics.   Here's a few....

Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited, Blonde on Blonde, John Wesley Harding, Nashville Skyline, New Morning and Self Portrait
Simon & Garfunkel's Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme, Sounds of Silence and Bookends
Leonard Cohen's Songs From a Room and Songs of Love and Hate
Johnny Cash's At Folsom Prison and At San Quentin; and countless other recordings from artists including The Byrds, Marty Robbins, Patti Page, Willie Nelson, Dan Hicks and the New Riders of the Purple Sage.

    So Gerry - being "in the know" - knows that I'm pretty handy in the recording studio.   He asks me to help him record a demo or two because it appears that he is going to be signed by Mr. Johnston's new label, Jam Records!!  It turns out that Bob wants to come up to NH to PRODUCE THE DEMOS HIMSELF!!  WOW!!!!!!

Needless to say - my response was "Yup".

OK - here's where it gets REALLY GOOD!!   I know a guy named Jim George who owns a cool little studio in Manchester, NH called StarTrax.  I figured it would be perfect for this project as my studio isn't designed for recording a full band all at once.  Jim graciously agrees to lending me his studio for the day. (What a guy!!)

We get to the studio - musicians start setting up and....  EVERYTHING THAT COULD GO WRONG GOES WRONG!!  Cables break - headphones don't work - noisegates don't gate - compressors don't compress - AAAAUUUGHHHH!!!  Not to mention the air conditioning was on the fritz.  I swear it was 101 degrees inside that control room!  We were all melting away...

    After about 8 hours of excellent playing on the musicians' part, we get the basic rhythm tracks to two songs (crappily) recorded, and it's very apparent that Mr. Johnston is not happy.
    I'm not either!!
Everyone goes off to dinner, but I decide to stay behind to see what I can do.

    My specialty is in digital editing.  I can polish tracks to a high gloss if given the proper amount of time.  In this instance, I had less than an hour.... YIKES! 

When they all came back, I had those tracks sounding like they were recorded in a nice Nashville studio - clean and punchy!!

You should have seen the look on Bob's face.  He was in shock!  He could not believe what I had done in such a short amount of time.  He was so impressed that.....

... HE NAMED ME AS CO-PRODUCER!!!!

    The Gerry Stafford Band will be a Bob Johnston/Mike Livingston production for Jam Records when they are signed!!! (Bob decided that day to sign them for sure!!)

(Way to go GER-RY!!!!!)

How's THAT for a kick in the head?!?!?

~Musical-types melting in the heat~