For the past whenever, Mike Kovacs has been producing music, art, poetry, and film that has both defied category yet not been exclusionary. Having started playing guitar as part of a group class as a freshman in high school, he was unintentionally set on a path that would wind through many different worlds.
During his high school years he played in everything from church folk groups to metal bands while studying privately with John Benthal, Cary DeNigris, and fusion ace Glen Alexander. After hearing acoustic guitarist Michael Hedges, he decided to study classical composition at Rutgers University while also getting a degree in Economics. There he studied with serialist composer Charles Wuorinen, all the while playing coffeeshops and bars in New Jersey performing everything from indigo girls to Black Sabbath.
After graduating Rutgers and spending some time in Washington state (teaching guitar in the same store where Nirvana used to shop), he returned to New Jersey and kept plodding along, teaching guitar, taking classical music composition from Noel DaCosta, and playing bass with the band If Darwin Played Drums. Then he began to release solo material, including the multi-media work sacred, releasing a cd with the same name. Soon after he went to Minneapolis, Minnesota to study composition with composer/teacher/ all-around-great-guy Jim Oestereich at Music Tech College, culminating in a standing ovation by both faculty and students for the debut of his ensemble piece the voice of silence.
Since his return, Mike has built his own recording studio (Mexico City Studios), released three cd's on his own Brimstone and Blue productions label, composed several dance pieces performed at Connecticut College, and is set to record his latest classical piece crescendo which was debuted at the Ukranian Institute in New York City on January 31, 2004. The work is part of another multi-media piece he is doing with noted Russian artist Vladmir Aituganov which hopes to tour Europe in 2005.
Writing on water (part II) is a release that is very special to everyone involved. Both a look to the present and a salute to the past, the new disc draws from music from before sacred to selections from two up-coming discs: the band CD Reaching for the Brass Ring and the instrumental disc Welcome to Utopia Parkway. The new disc is also special because it is a charity project, with all profits going to the family of Mike's late friend Fred Stilo, who died of cancer in 2003, leaving $140,000 in medical bills behind for his family to pay off.
Having never compromised a single note played, a single frame shot, a single collage created, or a single word written, Mike Kovacs has taken the road less traveled in his creative journey. Watching bands come and go, he has stayed true to his vision and made a music that can truly be called his own.
Mike is currently working on finishing his newest album, which will be dedicated to a close friend of his who also recetnly died and helped in the making of this album in Mike's other musical involvement: Mike Kovacs and the Post-Modern Tribe.
Summer Mixer, presented by Lyndzapalooza Saturday, August 23 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. Elkins Park, PA 19027
LINEUP: Josh Albright, Kursten Bouton, Joshua Popejoy, Victoria Spaeth, The Sweetheart Parade, Three Car Pile-Up, Up the Chain, Cris Valkyria, and Jake Wilkins.
No-o-o! Don't be exanimate! (Say that 10 times fast!)
A very cool bass player is in your future. "All good things to those who wait", Hannibal Lecter said. (And, okay, he was a creepy guy, but he was always right.)
So, put ads on "craigslist", go busking, do anything to put yourself/your music where cool bassist would see/hear you/it.
Don't forget to reserve your tickets for There's a Stage on My Lawn!, presented by Lyndzapalooza. You'll enjoy over seven hours of music from a dozen local Philadelphia musicians, including: Arcati Crisis, Dante Bucci, Bevin Caulfield, Da1, Geoff Ednie, Brian Flanagan, John Glaubitz, Ben Guez, Irene Molloy, Jesse Schurr, Just Like Me, and Lindsay Wilhelmi. Visit Lyndzapalooza on Ticketleap for more details, and to purchase tickets!
