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[bomp] Remembering Mike O'Neill
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- Subject: [bomp] Remembering Mike O'Neill
- From: Lounge Laura Taylor <queenjanefondle@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2007 11:32:25 -0700 (PDT)
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The print version can be found in The Tampa Tribune, Friday Extra 7/13/07
http://www.tboblogs.com/index.php/entertainment/related/C602/
Remembering Mike
Posted By Curtis Ross at Jul 16, 2007 at 10:13 AM
I tried downloading a Nailbiters CD at home and it locked up my computer. Mike ONeill would have liked that.
Mike had some Luddite tendencies. He was the last person I knew to get a CD player or a cell phone. When I met him he didnt have a credit card or even a bank account.
Put Mike in any crowd and he would have stood out. There were the little things his mix-and-not-quite-match sense of fashion, the way he held his cigarette and there was his music.
The music Mike made with his bands Monday Mornings, Nailbiters and the Unrequited Loves was relentless in its originality, its honesty and its avoidance of clichi. I wonder how many writers could hold themselves to that standard and still consistently write tunes with melody and hooks. Not many, I think.
I knew Mike as a fan of his music, as a co-worker he was Friday Extras events editor from 1993 until he quit last year and, Id like to think, as a friend, although there were plenty of people closer to him than me.
Mike killed himself a year ago this coming Tuesday and like a lot of people, probably, Ive been thinking about him a lot recently.
For someone who obviously knew horrible depression, he was one of the only people I knew who could make me laugh to the point of near-helplessness.
He introduced me to so much music Ive got a stack of mix tapes he made me over the years. He was kind and generous although toward the end he could be erratic, alienating and even mean, which now seems to have been results of the despair he felt.
Like everyone else he knew, I wish I could have said something to change his mind.
Im listening to Nailbiters Unsorted album as I write this. Its the first time Ive listened to Mikes music since he died. It sounds really good. Thanks, Mike.
Come salute Mike Tuesday at The Globe in St. Petersburg with Crash Mitchell, Rebekah Pulley, Keith Bartlett and special guests. Globe Coffee Lounge 532 First Avenue North
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