"Mikey Likes It!"

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That's not me with Pura, his name's Mikey Mike, this is about him. We were on our way home from Concord Park the other day and Cooler came on my Spotify—been years since I heard it. I've mentioned countless times how cold it is in Tennessee but it didn't matter that day. Cooler is one of those songs you turn up as loud as it'll possibly go with the windows down. We rocked it on a single-lane, winding, Smoky Mountain road with no traffic in front or behind us, sunroof open, shadows from the surrounding forest peaking in and out of the car faster than the center divide. Pura and I have never karaoke'd that loud. I couldn't hear anything outside the car.

Cooler is track #3 from his 2019 album: Mikey Mike's Life On Earth. I'll link the song at the end of this but if I don't explain it first, it won't make sense. You'll be on the tile floor in the kitchen snappin your fingers, trying out all kinds of dance moves you never knew you had because the song's that good. My fingers are having a tough time typing—it's stuck in my head. But once you learn what the song's about, it's even better than you thought. I realize now he released it mid-2019 but Pura and I saw him perform it about two years before that.

Yelawolf was on tour promoting his Love Story album, this would've been 2017-18. Pura and I are big Yelawolf fans, she calls him her other husband. I'd never heard of the two acts opening for him, I still don't know the name of the first group—Dirty South rappers, about 10 of'em. No idea how they got a spot in the Yelawolf tour, they sucked. Dirty South ain't my thing. I won't turn down Petey Pablo if he comes on my Spotify but I won't turn it up, either, and I've never purchased any of his music. Dirty South's all that bling-bling, no talent havin, spinnin wheels on Cadillac trucks and sounds like shit music.

Yelawolf's originally from Alabama, lives in Nashville, Tennessee. He's Southern but not Dirty South. He grew up on a lot of the same music I did: Run DMC, Jim Morrison, Bob Marley, Beastie Boys, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Charlie Daniels, but he grabbed a piece of everyones style that resonated with him and invented his own genre. Yelawolf sings love ballads, country songs, he raps, mixes punk rock in there, he's a little bit of everything mixed in one. If this is your first time hearing of him, give him a chance, you might be surprised. The first stop on that Love Story tour was in Knoxville, Tennessee, of all places (my current location)Cotton Eyed Joe's:

All images are mine unless specified otherwise

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Left - Yelawolf. Right - Bones on bass @ Cotton Eyed Joe's

We were staying in Long Beach, California, at the time so we got a pair of plane tickets and flew to Knoxville for the first show. We Uber'd to our Air B&B a few miles from the venue and a friend of mine who lives in Tennessee picked us up the night of the event.

It was packed! Remember concert venues pre-Covid? Packed! We're in Knoxville, Tennessee, though, it's a different crowd. There's just as many horses tied up out front as there are Harley's backed into parking spaces. When security checked our ID's, he said "California comin in hot!" I asked him how many California ID's he'd seen, "about 10. I've seen just as many Michigan's, Florida's, and New York's, too." Yelawolf draws a mixed crowd; hip hoppers, cowboys, club girls, classic and glam rockers, it was 21 and over and I bet the age ranged between 21 and 60—comfortable. The vibe couldn't have been better that night and the PA sounded amazing. It was shoulder to shoulder at Cotton Eyed Joe's when Yelawolf performed, the crowd energy was vibrant, both Pura and I were soaked in sweat by the end of the night.

Between Yelawolf's performance and that shitty Dirty South group, a dude named Mikey Mike performed, I'd never heard of him. On stage was just three of them; Mikey Mike, his DJ, and a very energetic girl on keyboard and back-up vocals but I looked everywhere just now and couldn't find her name. Interesting, though, by searching for her name I learned Mikey Mike has since been in the studio with Rick Ruben. If you've never heard that name, you haven't been paying attention to music. Ruben's a world famous American music producer, former co-owner of Columbia Records and co-created Def Jam Records with Russell Simmons producing countless artists such as Red Hot Chili Peppers, Tom Petty, LL Cool J, Linkin Park, Johnny Cash and the list continues longer than Mike Tyson's criminal history. Rick Ruben?! Congratulations, Mikey Mike!

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Left - Vocalist I couldn't identify. Right - Mikey Mike @ The Senate

He had that spinning wheel thing on stage with him, similar to a roulette wheel but instead of a marble landing on the number, an arrow stopped on some ridiculous task he would perform on stage. I don't remember them specifically but something like "Take off left boot, bounce on right leg in a circle and bark like a dog." All three times we watched him, yeah, that's coming up in a minute, we ended up seeing three of his performances—groupies. Each show he stopped at the mid-way point, cut the music, and hyped up that spinning wheel—genius! I know none of us concert goers remember the tasks specifically but Mikey making an ass of himself like that on stage was classic.

One of his songs had a chorus that was something about "I'm better on my own" and now he's "much Cooler since you're gone." I really appreciated each of his songs, his style and genre, I'm a fan of his still (if you can't tell), but that song was special. That's all I caught of it the first time we saw him, something about he's Cooler now that he's on his own or better because she's gone or something like that.

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If I had to identify his style of music and put a label on it, I'd say "Mikey Mike's." He's got his own unique style. If I had to guess the music he grew up with I'd probably say Janice Joplin or Creedence Clearwater Revival, maybe even Ted Nugent, that era and style. Guessing his playlist would be challenging. He's probably got a little bit of everything in there but wouldn't skip Maroon 5, Kurt Cobain, or Lenny Kravitz. Same with Led Zeppelin, Ed Sheeran, or Britney Spears. Yes, Britney Spears. Wouldn't surprise me at all.

He really got my attention that first night in Knoxville and then Yelawolf closed the show which is never anything less than 100%, that dude doesn't half-ass anything. I'd seen Yela perform before but it was Pura's first time, she didn't want the show to end. When we left Cotton Eyed Joe's, we realized the tour would be in Columbia, South Carolina, in two days—four hour drive from Knoxville. So we cancelled our flight, rented a Road King at Smoky Mountain Harley Davidson, and made the four hour ride to The Senate—even better sound system than Cotton Eyed Joe's.

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Yelawolf @ The Senate

Pura liked the first show better. I enjoyed the PA system at the second one—concrete stage, floors and walls, acoustically perfect. We waited outside while that Dirty South group finished whatever they did, we couldn't avoid hearing it but at least we didn't have to watch it. The crowd wasn't the same as Knoxville. No horses or anything like that, a lot of college kids at the Columbia show which meant a lot more drunks but everyone was cool. You'd never have issues or feel uncomfortable at a Yelawolf show, everyone's pretty authentic. Yelawolf was wearing a Mikey Mike shirt in Columbia: "Mikey Likes It!"

Mikey's the middle act so his stage time's limited, I think he only did four or five songs plus that spinning wheel skit in the middle of his set. In Columbia, the wheel landed on "ask a hot girl in the front row to smell my feet" or something bizarre like that and she accepted—funny! He looked at the front row, picked a really pretty brunette out of the audience, grabbed her by the hand and guided her to the stage where he had a chair waiting for her to sit on. Mikey took off his boot (wasn't wearing a sock), smelled it himself first and made a gagging type face for the audience before putting it in front of her. She put her face up to his boot and we all laughed, clapped, he helped her off the stage, it was great!

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I paid closer attention to that better on my own song the second time. He said stuff about "I lost my head" and I caught something about whiskey—my choice poison pre-2014. Something about smoking, too, I'd just recently stopped smoking. I caught a lot more pieces of that song the second time around but he never said who it's about. I knew it was an ex girlfriend or ex wife but he never mentioned who. Another great night, another excellent show, A+! I liked the second show better than the first. The only thing that sucks about live music is when it's over.

We rode the bike back to Knoxville the following day, returned it to the Harley dealer and caught a plane ride back to Los Angeles. Both shows were September, 2017—Pura's birth month.

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Balcony view of Junipero @ Long Beach, California

It wasn't until four months later, January 2018, Pura said "Yelawolf's Love Story is in San Diego this weekend," a two hour drive from Long Beach. It was January, that's when she and I left the country for two years, the San Diego show was the weekend prior to our departure. I called my buddy D-Money in San Diego, he lives there, that's his name, I didn't screen it for this article. I've known him more than 20 years, anyone who pays the IRS a million bucks a year just to breathe earned D-$.

"Got room at your place this weekend? Yelawolf's performing at House Of Blues on Saturday." That was my way of saying 'see you at House Of Blues.' Pura and I met up with D-Money and one of his homeboys a few hours before the show at a joint called Pink Bar—two blocks from House Of Blues.

We got there shortly after D. He and his buddy were still on their first beer when we pulled up a barstool. It's early, sun's still out and it's a little dive bar, the only people in there was the four of us and the bartender. I barely had time to give D a hug, "wassup man?!" Didn't even meet the bartender yet to order myself and Pura a water and who walks in the door? Yelawolf and his wife Fifi, Yelawolf's DJ, DJ Klever, Bones and Mikey Mike.

DJ Klever scoped the place out. He walked around inside real quick and stepped back out, probably letting them know the place was empty and clear to go inside. He came right up to me, "this place alright?" I told him we just got there, "never been here, we're just killin time before the show." Man, he was cool! DJ Klever is a really cool dude. Yelawolf didn't stay long, he's the introvert of the group, but he introduced himself and hung out with us for about 30 minutes. We told him have a good night, 'see you at House Of Blues,' stuff like that. He had a couple shots of Jameson and split.

Fifi stayed at Pink Bar, Yela's wife. For about an hour and a half it was just the eight of us in there; playing pool and getting to know each other, each of them are even cooler in person. We're all taking turns playing music on the jukebox until one point Klever got on the house turntables and gave us a private DJ show. While all this is going on, the eight of us are teamed up playing pool against each other. D-$ and his buddy are teamed up, Mikey Mike and Bones teamed up, I teamed up with Yela's wife, Fifi, and Pura's partnered with DJ Klever.

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Klever and Pura @ Pink Bar

We had such a great night—way more than anything I expected. D-$ insists he needs to hang out with me more often and swears crazy things like that only happen when he's with me. I had to remind him, 'Me?! Brother, I met Pura at 'your' bachelor party.'

The eight of us stayed at Pink Bar while that Dirty South group performed and then we walked to House Of Blues together before Mikey Mike's performance. That Women Narcotics Pizza shirt Pura's wearing is one of Mikey's albums. He and I talked quite a bit that night at Pink Bar, I got to know Mikey Mike the person, the one behind the performer.

He's quite the entrepreneur and an extremely talented musician. For a young man he's got a pretty good head on his shoulders, I enjoyed hangin out with him that night. I found this blog of his if you'd like to get to know the Mikey behind the performer. Before we left Pink Bar, after we'd been hangin out for over an hour, I asked him about that "better on my own song," 'who's that about?' I'd heard it twice by then. I was looking forward to hearing it again and, now that we're going back n forth in conversation, I asked him who this chorus is about:

I think I'm better on my own
I walk taller when I'm alone
I'm just a little cooler when you're gone
And everybody knows, yeah, everybody knows

"Who are you singing to?" He said "oh, you mean Cooler? That's from myself to myself, I'm Jekyll & Hyde when I'm on drugs, we wouldn't be shooting pool if I was high." Since the first night I saw him, I assumed that song was about someone who ripped his heart out. His heart got ripped out but not by a woman—did it to himself. He told me how he's been sober for over six months and just wrote that song to celebrate his sobriety, "you like it?!?" That made him happy, "I'm so glad you like it, thanks! I wrote it for this tour, haven't performed it anywhere else! You have no idea how much you just made my night."

I was sober by the time I met Mikey Mike but unfortunately I know exactly what he was experiencing. Most likely whatever you can think of, I've been there done that and had my share of demons in the process, I know what it takes to crawl out of that world—many don't succeed. Mikey Mike did. He's writing songs about it now that are being produced by Rick Ruben and here I am writing about it. Congratulations, Mikey Mike!

House Of Blues, San Diego... yeah right! Good luck finding an equal venue in the state of California. That show made the first two shows forgettable. Yelawolf put on his best performance of the tour that night, the crowd was on fire, too, high Southern California energy until the doors closed. The PA system at The Senate was impressive compared to Cotton Eyed Joe's but nothing compared to House Of Blues in San Diego.

I paid a lot more attention to Cooler that night, third time I heard it, that and I could hear it a lot better. I've probably listened to it 10 times now since I heard it on our way back from Concord Park the other day and I'll listen to it again right now when I link it for you. There's a lot more songs in existence that I don't relate to compared to those that I do but I only know one I can relate to word for word. I've had music studios of my own in the past, my music preference spans widely. It's been a long time since I thought a song was about being heartbroken only to find out it's about saying goodbye to drugs and alcohol—it's not about a woman at all, he needs a good woman. As soon as he told me I realized why it made such an impression.

'Thanks, Mikey Mike! I've written a variation of this song many times in the past but the way you said it is perfect, I don't have to work on my version anymore.'

Without further delay, the song. It's called Cooler, released in 2019 on Mikey Mike's Life On Earth LP, track #3. Turn it up! I recommend earbuds as loud as they'll go, should probably kick your shoes off so you can slide around the kitchen easier—warm up your snappin fingers, too. Unless of course you got a single lane, traffic-free, winding mountain road nearby. Windows down, blurry center divide and can't hear the wind.

(Lyrics)

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