In my previous life I was a roadie for a '60s San Francisco rock band called The Sons of Champlin. In connection with that gig I met a musician named Mike Finnegan.
In 1971 I was the sound guy at a sleazy, drug infested dive of a night club called The Lion's Share, in San Anselmo, California. Dive though it was, I did sound there for established musicians, including Van Morrison, who then lived about a mile away, Boz Scaggs, Elvin Bishop, Tower of Power, and of course, The Sons of Champlin.
On Sunday nights the house band took over, the Nuboogaloo Express, whose members were not always the same from week to week. The Express was mostly an excuse for some of the local musicians to jam, and sometimes one was out of town and someone else took the spot. This band usually featured Big Brother drummer David Getz and Sons' guitarist Terry Haggerty, and on Hammond B-3 and vocals it was either Sons' frontman Bill Champlin, or Mike Finnegan, who played in at least three different ensembles while he lived in my area, The Serfs, The Jerry Hahn Brotherhood, and Finnegan and Woods.
Let me be clear. I know a lot of musicians, and Mike Finnegan is a monster in every sense of the word. Allow me to elaborate on the other side of the steaming pile.
The real story of a larger-than-life guy like Mike would fill a book, and I hope he writes one. One of his claims to fame as a musician is that he was in the Electric Ladyland studio one day, and ended up playing on a Hendrix track.
Mike had to choose early in life between basketball and R&B. He didn't get any shorter after he quit hoops though. He's pretty tall. But he also plays Hammond organ like a mofo, whatever that is, and he is a world-class R&B singer. There aren't many musicians like Mike. There's only one.
After Mike moved out of the Bay Area, I didn't see him for a few decades, like four, although I heard plenty about him from mutual friends in the music business. He played with Dave Mason, Steve Stills, Bonnie Raitt and the like, the go-to guy for Hammond and vocals. The last time I saw Mike was a few years ago when he toured through the area as Musical Director for Joe Cocker. He got me and a friend a couple of passes, and when we found him backstage, he was busy with his laptop, blogging.
That's the other side of Mike.
He is a passionate political blogger of the liberal persuasion.
Crooks and Liars is a popular liberal political blog. Mike was a founding contributor, posting a daily collection called "Mike's Blog Roundup." A few years ago, he recently explained to me, he was spending much of his time in Europe, with spotty Internet and time differences, and it became impossible for him to keep up. He turned the section over to a series of guest hosts who continue his legacy there. It will always be Mike's Blog Roundup no matter who writes it, named in his honor.
Even though he no longer writes his eponymous daily post, Mike can't stop blogging. I recently joined Facebook (yeah, I know, but it's a commercial venture for me), and there was Mike, blogging his heart and soul out FB style, i.e. posting links like he did at C&L. He already has his limit of friends, but I pay attention to him. If you use that service (or whatever you want to call it), I suggest you check out Mike.
That is enough for a diary, but now there's a twist. I have a rehearsal studio where I jam with a few friends. One of the people I play with is Lane Tietgen, who has known Mike even longer than I have. Lane played with Mike in The Serfs, and wrote the songs that Mike blew me away so long ago, including two that are linked above in this post. I didn't see Lane for 40+ years either, and now he's playing five feet away, and shares the liberal political persuasion with Mike and me.
What goes around, I guess. If you read this far, thanks.