Like many thousands of others, the Beatle's original appearance on Ed Sullivan changed his life. He loved the look of them and longed to make music like them; to wield that wondrous power of feeling deeply and making others feel through the magic of chosen sounds.

So they bought him a Stella guitar for $29, thinking the interest might last a few months, then the guitar would sit in the closet. Not so. It soon became clear that he had been gifted with a highly musical ear, able to ‘figure out’ most popular songs. Jamming with other budding rock types led to bands, gigs, social popularity and good money for this young teenager of the late 60’s. His high school band 'Accra' routinely played weekend gigs at various points in the Midwest.

In 1975, a long-time dream came true. At age 19, Mike moved to California to become a rock star. Unfortunately, in the idyllic setting of Santa Barbara, he did not yet have the discipline and maturity to do more than continue playing covers in clubs.

So in ’78, it was on to Denver. In his naiveté, he thought that being a big city, it would have a huge music scene. Wrong. Except for country or heavy metal, there wasn’t much happening except, that’s right: “covers in clubs”... which he continued to do. But originals began to be more prominent in the mix, too.

In the meantime, one must earn a living with a day job. That work took him back to a remote northern area of California. Big mistake—pretty much zero music. It only lasted a year, and in 1980, Mike moved down to San Luis Obispo, on the beautiful Central Coast of California. Musically, this brought more (say it with him): “covers in clubs”.

Then in 1981, he moved yet further down the coast to the entertainment Mecca that is Los Angeles. It was about this time that he gave up the goal of becoming a rock guitar god. There were so many incredibly good players around, and he realized he didn't want to practice scales five hours a day. So what to do? Songwriting! -- the most important fundamental of all modern music.

But now Mike was married, had kids, a mortgage and a good day job. The world most people live in. The years fly by, and he says "What happened to my 30’s"? He did begin "The Mike O Show", a guitar/vocal single act, and wrote many fine songs, most alive and kicking today.

In 1994, he joined 'Ground Zero', a progressive rock group. Then members left, and they could no longer perform live. He stayed on into 1995, when it was time for the next really BIG move. The family packed up and headed for that big city in south: the ATL.

In Atlanta, Mike continued his single show for a while, and formed 'About2BlowUp', a music publishing company. Now most of his effort is on 'neo-retro rock/pop to intrigue' for AsWeDream. The Internet has opened floodgates, and who can say how high this band may rise to worldwide acclaim. (read: some fans in other countries). As lead writer, vocal and guitar in AsWeDream, 'Mike O' hopes to soon break out and blow up again. He recommends to “Be Here Now — Be Art!”

email Mike: mike@aswedream.com

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