Live and Local - Mike Kell Band

So, when I was young, I had an Uncle Joe (he was my grandfathers brother, so I guess, my Great Uncle…but I just called him Uncle Joe. Ancestry.com can sue me). He was a bit of a character, and because I hung around with my grandfather and him quite a lot, I learned things from them. My grandfather taught me to bowl, Uncle joe taught me to shoot pool.

Now, I love those two men (RIP to them both) more than pretty much anyone else I’ve ever known, but they were in some ways the living embodiment of the Beatles vs Stones debate. My grandfather, Tony, was a good and kind and deceptively smart and wise man. He taught me to be honest, not because it would make you a success, but because it was just the right thing to do, and you have to live with yourself always. Once, when I was about 16 and observing a rather fetching young lady, he came over, put his hand on my shoulder and said “Tommy, no matter how good looking a woman is, always remember, someone somewhere is sick of her”.

Tony was the Beatles. Enjoyable, smart, incredibly creative, especially with very little formal training.

Uncle Joe (Tony’s older brother) was the Stones. He was a bookie, a loan shark, a fence, and a pool shark. He had a lot of titles. He was also naturally intelligent, amazingly good at reading people, and always prided himself on being in on the scam.

They both had encyclopedic knowledge of swing music and old blues. They were both decorated WW2 veterans. My grandfather taught me to bowl be showing me the mechanics of the game, how to practice, the rules and what strategy there was, and the necessary etiquette and sportsmanship required of the game. Uncle Joe taught me the mechanics of pool, but mostly he taught me how to watch other players, and how to convince them that they were better than I was, and that I was gullible enough to play them for money even though they were going to win…even though that wasn’t going to be the outcome.

You understand.

Much later, in my early 20s, I used to supplement my income playing pool. I got to know a guy named Bernie. Bernie and I never played pool against each other, because we recognized each other as being of roughly the same skill level, so there was no percentage in it. We had a grudging respect for each other, even though Bernie was loud and cranky. He wore an impeccable fedora, and big glasses like Elton john.

He was about 10 years older than me. One night, someone he beat out of some money took offense. The victim and a large friend of his were waiting for Bernie outside when I happened by and intervened. The next time I saw him, he walked up without a word and held out a hundred dollar bill. I thanked him but said it wasn’t necessary, and he looked at me the way you would look at a stupid golden retriever trying to eat a meat mallet.

“Man, you’re not that stupid. Take it, or else I owe you and THAT shit any gonna be the case.”

So, I took it and Bernie and I stayed friends until I moved out of state a few years later.

Mike Kell and I don’t know each other very well, but the first time I met him, I thought of Bernie.

Mike is a consummate pro in the way he makes and performs music. In a live performance, his band is so tight as a group and individually talented, if you are listening while trying to carry on a conversation, you can’t do it because you keep getting pulled into what you’re hearing.

His original songs are incredibly well crafted, in a similar fashion to those of other local songwriters like Peter Wile, and he has a distinctive sound with an f hole acoustic guitar and a deep, hard knowledge of blues. I have tried to think of an example to give you of who his songwriting influences are, I originally thought of Tom Waits, maybe van szant… but then I listened to his recorded stuff, including the fantastic Back Room Sessions podcast he did last spring, and now I’m thinking Robbie Robertson. He’ll probably tell me I’m out of my mind.

Now, for all I know, Mike may have studied at Julliard… but I don’t think so. I think he gained his chops over time and experience. No one runs a band the way he does without just plain doing it for a long time, and no one comes up with riffs and embellishments like that without playing  and writing A LOT of songs, and listening to a lot. Hopefully he’ll tell me some time where and how he learned, perhaps after he kicks my ass for writing this.

In any case, I hope he records more soon, and I hope in the new year he plays in Gettysburg more. Too often I’ve missed his sets because he was playing, say, 45 mins away, and there were two other bands right in town. So I hope Rob manages to pull him in more.

I know, I know…that was a long-ass opening analogy just to pay it off by saying Mike reminded me of Bernie. He does, but listening to his music, which seems deceptively simple at first, but the more you hear the detail and the obvious work that went into the preparation, it reminded me of Tony… he does it right just because that how you’re supposed to do it.

And I imagine if Mike ever got to hang out with Uncle Joe, they’d hit it off, and I would love to hear that conversation.