First
name
Formally: Michael.
Shortened version: Mike.
I also respond
to several other names, including the one my last girlfriend kept calling me:
"Idiot". In which
town do you live?
My preferred residence is with the great mountainous
expanses of the American west -- but for lack of a place that actually would want
me, I'm still in Tinley Park, Illinois.
|  Our
November BMOTM
is in this picture.
Can you find him? |
How
do you make your living?
I anxiously sit by my phone, waiting for someone
to call begging for help, and then give it away with neither award nor appreciation.
Often, I spend inordinate amounts of time in meetings just to simply tell those
ignorant enough to ask that "No, we don't do that". I am considered hard working,
because I'm always seen at my desk, although it's usually answering personal E-mail
or surfing the Internet. My job description is non-existent because I'm waiting
for management to complete yet another reorganization. Every day, the most important
decision I make involves lunch. How
long have you been a member of the Arts Alive Band?
Since inception, or
pretty close to it. They tell me it's been over ten years, but I don't believe
it. I guess those are ten years I won't get back -- maybe I should of spent more
of my time looking for a mate? 
The
King
Legend 3B -- the preferred weapon of Mr. November.
Oh, there are
bigger trombones out there, but are there louder ones? I think not...
What instrument(s)
do you play?
Mostly trombone, although I've spent some time in this band
at timpani. I'm sixth on the timpani depth chart, which I believe is quite an
accomplishment. Some days, when the mood strikes, I will play extremely dense
augmented minor chords on an organ for hours listening to the harmonies and trying
to find what combination will make the house vibrate. How
long have you been playing it/them?
About one to two hours, three days
a week; not including concerts and performances…Oh, you mean how many years! Silly
me. I've been learning the trombone since the Carter administration. Someday,
I'll know how to play it.
Are
you involved in any other musical groups, either inside or outside the Arts Alive
system? If so, which ones?
I've been railroaded into playing with the Arts
Alive! Brass group and Jazz Band. They said if I tried to get out of either
of those groups, they would break my lips. I also play in a group at my church,
Calvary Church, 151st Street and 80th
Avenue, in scenic (sic) Orland Park, Illinois. We don't play every Sunday,
but around Christmas and Easter they really put us to work and it's worth it.
I also play in the South Suburban College Symphonic
Band because the director
and I have similar musical tastes, which would scare some people…our musical tastes,
that is. What
do you like most about this group?
They let me sit first chair, even with
my personality disorders. Many of them like beer and pizza. On good days, attractive
women from other sections actually talk to me. There is also a core group of dedicated
individuals that keep coming back year after year, which in today's world is to
be highly commended. | 
Mr.
November (center with hat), sweating to death at an
Arts Alive! Brass production.
|
Describe
your best/favorite band moment.
The two "once-in-a-lifetime" trips to Germany;
they are pretty much indescribable. I could tell everyone the details of what
happened, but I can't describe the depth of the feelings that being there and
performing for those wonderful people created. Second would be any party at a
Kreuz or Jordan house. Third would be when we blew Mayor Daley's ears out
at the O'Hare Hilton rededication - no wonder he's always so cranky.
With a
Tiger Woods like intensity, Mr. November lines one up for a double-eagle
at
a mini-golf course in Büdingen on the 1994 tour. | What
are your hobbies?
What? Doesn't band count? Well, I'm usually piloting
high-speed aircraft, performing deep-water rescue or saving women and children
from burning houses. I am also working on an arrangement for the band of John
Cage's 4'33", one of the masterworks of 20th century music. Those few remaining
moments that aren't spent in service to the band are wasted in various other pursuits:
collecting and listening to non-popular music (otherwise known as “classical music”),
travel, photography, tricking other people into helping build a railroad in my
parent's basement, and watching Chicago's professional sports teams fail. |
What
is your favorite Jell-O flavor?
Rum or tequila, or did you want to know
the fruit flavor? I think it's red, maybe yellow. What fruit is that?
Is there anything else
you want your band friends to know about you?
Even though I enjoy the opera
and Broadway musicals, I am very, very straight with a penchant for brunettes.
And those pictures of me with Mike Doody are a complete fabrication. Besides,
he belongs to Terry Elliott. | 
Jello
shots, standing at attention... |
|
