Portrait Of The Artist As A Post-Modern Man
Suicide brings deeper levels to the conversations we
artists exchange in cafe's & pubs. When I contemplated suicide after
being partially blinded by an aneurysm, I had to lean on fellow
musicians to survive. Mike O'Neill made me realize
that I was a "Lifer" who would always have to play music to survive &
that the most punk rock thing I could do was to stick around & do that.

Mike was a character rarely seen
in any clique. He could make you laugh with his
sophisticated yet clowning wardrobe, or cry in your
beer with his songs. He was the most punk rock guy I
knew because he carried the truth that punk rock..
rock-n-roll period, is about being a thoughtful
raconteur, not a feaux angry show-off.

The bigger
question I have about loosing him is how we let a guy
so in the public eye slip through our fingers. It'll make
me double-take friends when I ask 'howYaDoin'.
There's now a sinkhole in our music scene. Let's
see who'll stand on Mike's giant shoulders to forge the next
mountain of local sonic emotion, realizing that present society
rewards business, not art, so expect little & you won't
be disappointed.