SIX DEGREES, TWO MIKES, AND A SURPRISE ENDING
2/19/03. 2:10am CST. Home.

Some influences I don't wear on my proverbial sleeves. One was quite friendly, and remembered me from seven years before. One was quite uncomfortable, and clearly thought I was a complete geek.

One performs astounding feats on the machine I loved first (bass). One performs astounding feats on the machine I love now (guitar). Both had been heroes of mine for a decade.

Mike Keneally I'd followed since his stint as Frank Zappa's last guitarist, which was followed by a tour of duty in Dweezil & Ahmet Zappa's bizarre band Z, which was followed by several bizarre and phenomenal solo albums. I'd first seen him perform in the Z era, at Peabody's Down Under in Cleveland in 1994. That night he seemed pleasantly surprised that instead of the one from the Z album, I was asking him to sign the insert from his own solo debut. (Still one of my favorite records of all time.)

Mike Watt I'd followed since the first time I'd heard a Minutemen song, sometime around 1987. I was a bass player at the time, and was absolutely blown away by his complete disregard for the way anyone else has ever approached the instrument. A decade and a half later, through his time with fIREHOSE, two solo albums, and dozens of side projects, his playing still kills me. The first time I'd seen him play live was ALSO at Peabody's Down Under, with fIREHOSE in the fall of 1991. It's a long story I'll tell another time, but that was part of a 48-hour period that quite literally and quite completely changed the course of my existence. For the better.

In 1998 I got to talk to both Mikes. Both shows were completely worth the hundreds of miles I traveled. Okay, technically both shows were secondary reasons for travel: in 1998 I made two trips to the east for the purpose of going to weddings. Wedding #1 was in Boston in July, wedding #2 in northwestern New York state in October. Bride #1 and Groom #2 had been among my closest friends since high school and earlier, and they had in fact dated for a while, nearly as long ago.

While planning the July trip, I discovered that Mike Keneally would be playing in Boston while I was there, and convinced my travel companion to go with me to the (free) Mike Keneally & Beer For Dolphins performance/workshop/class lecture thing at the Berklee School of Music. After the show, we joined the crowd behind the auditorium, in line to buy stuff. Nearly everyone was giving Mike a tape. Nearly everyone was having a picture taken with Mike. I had planned to do both, and was a little deflated that neither was even a slightly original thought. When I finally reached the front of the line, and paid for my shirt, and stood awkwardly in full geek mode, and Keneally turned to me because I was still smiling nicely, I asked something about permission to "be a total copycat," and I put on my stupid green hat, and I had my picture taken with Keneally and his bassist, Bryan Beller.

I have never framed this picture. I have never placed it above my desk at work. I have posted it here only to prove my geekitude. Keneally is in the middle, Beller on the right. I am the twit in the green fishing hat.

The rest of the band had not inspired this nerdiness in me, in fact I'd carried on intelligent conversations with both the keyboard player and the drummer. Hell, I myself had talked to him quite easily back in Cleveland that first time. But there in Boston, I couldn't think of a single meaningful combination of English words to say to Mike. Total vapor-lock when confronted with The Famous Musician. A momentary lapse in my coolness, at least that's what I tell myself. I'm 100% sure he'd forgotten it within minutes. I'm sure he gets that a lot. But I'm still embarrassed.

I'm equally sure he never listened to the tape. He got a lot of those that day.

While planning the October trip, I discovered that Mike Watt would be playing in Cleveland while I was there before the day trip to New York. It would be my first chance to see the latest edition of his band, including the peerless Nels Cline on guitar. It would be an eventful night, and the beginning of my all-too-brief friendship with two members of the band Gaunt. (Again, another story, another time.)

Mike Watt also got a tape, that night in October 1998. It was the second of three times I saw him perform that year. The first time, in Oklahoma City, I'd mentioned the conversation we'd had 7 years earlier after the fIREHOSE show. It had actually been a long conversation, and he had unknowingly helped me with certain perspectives; it had been the first time I'd met one of my musical heroes in person, and it has always meant a lot to me. I did not mention any of this, just the fact that I'd met him in Cleveland way back when. Much to my surprise, Watt remembered the gig, and remembered me. (I have spoken to Mike Watt on several occasions over the years, and I've read many of his online tour diaries and other articles. I am quite confident that he is not the type of person who would say "yeah, Peabody's, I remember you" if he did not, in fact, remember you from Peabody's.)

I'm pretty sure Watt never listened to the tape, either, albeit not 100% sure. He probably gets a lot of those too. But on that October night, as on the night seven years earlier, I was able to talk to him like a normal person, rather than the complete music dweeb that I became in front of Keneally.

[Editor's note: I know. Right now, this is just like all my other stories. Long boring setup, total lack of payoff. Stick with me, though, this one actually ends well. -- R]

So why am I remembering all this in February of 2003? Because last night I received this gig announcement via Keneally's email list:

This is not like Dokken touring with Dio in 1985. These two Mikes have never performed together before. They do not travel in the same musical circles, but this is indeed that Mike Keneally and that Mike Watt. In my mind they have never been connected in any way, save the 'heroes' junk I just spent too many paragraphs on. Leave it to an MC5 veteran to bring folks like that together.

As I typed that last bit, one more thing occurred to me. That MC5 vet is the same Wayne Kramer who played on last year's debut album from a certain electronist named tweaker, who is in reality former Nine Inch Nails drummer Chris Vrenna.

Who I knew in college.

Strange world out there. And not nearly as large as it's made out to be.

(Damn, shoulda skipped the whole story and just put that last part up.)