B!O

Yours truly, circa 1981

My name is Mike, and I like to draw, play guitar, fix computers, and help people use them. I was born in 1973 in St. Paul, MN. My parents were always playing great music so I was brainwashed by that at an early age. When I was in my early single digit years, I discovered a guitar case under my dad’s bed (and the guitar inside of it). My fingers weren’t strong enough to fret notes, not to mention I had no idea what fretting notes was, but upon plucking the open D, G & B strings I discovered that I could play “Taps”. At that precise moment, a lifelong addiction to the guitar strings was born. A year or so later I learned of KISS which further sealed the deal. Next came Frank Zappa, then the Ventures, Leo Kottke, Chet Atkins, the list goes on and on…

I was classically trained for 10 years by a wonderful teacher before realizing I had to leave all of the rules behind and do my own thing. I strive to make music that tells stories rather than music that tells how much I’ve practiced my scales. If you hear one of my songs and you suddenly crave a taco or reminisce about how cool your grandma’s toaster was, I’m doing my job. Yay for doing my job!

I also like to draw. My earliest memory of holding a drawing utensil in my hand was when I was probably 3 or 4 and my mom found me scribbling on the upholstered dining room chairs with one of these:

Man was that fun! (Sorry, mom). We only had so many chairs, so it was pretty much paper and markers after that. Head over to the drawings page if you care to see any of my more recent work.

Thanks for visiting my website!