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Mad Mike: A true Pittsburgh Original! Now he’s spinning sounds in Rock and Roll Soul Heaven! It came as a great shock...and the waves of that shock spread throughout the greater Pgh. area and beyond so rapidly that everyone was reeling from the news: Mad Mike was gone! Hard Rocker Dana Davis called Charlie on the phone and told him what had happened; he launched an eMail to those on his Apple Corps Address book; one of the great jocks there picked it up and announced it from Canonsburg, 540 AM, the former WARO; and soon shocked disbelief was everywhere. Mike, of course, had such an impact throughout the Pgh. radio scene that no article on him can really do him justice: •at major dance venues his pounding “progressive teen sound” brought dancers to the hard wood with great intensity; •his record-buying trips around the USA were legendary; •his radio career, particularly at WZUM, dazzled the air-waves with music that was obscure, highly desirable, and extremely danceable; •and HIS West View DanceLand: with that huge building packed wall to wall with teens, and the dance floor wriggling and bouncing and undulating with gyrating young dancers, and the very FIRST music videos being projected on the giant screen (most notably Red Rose Tea): who could forget the experience.
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Charlie Apple was asked about Mike and replied: “The truly greats are one-of-a-kind: Porky is one-of-a-kind; Bo Diddley is one-of-a-kind; Sir Walter (onetime of WILY) is one-of-a-kind. Mike was, too. Mad Mike found sounds that NO ONE else ever heard and catapulted them to the top of the Pgh. Favorite Lists. I remember when I began to spin at WPSL in Monroeville, and Mike sold me some great 45s: Last Call for Alcohol and Cheap Old Wine and Whiskey, among others. We met in a parking lot in East Liberty and exchanged the 45s for the cash...and it was like a scene from a Robert DeNiro movie. What’s really ironic: not many months ago, in the early part of 2000, Mad Mike and I met again in a Parking Lot; this time, he was in his cab, I in my car...in the parking lot of Eat n’ Park on Route 65. And guess what we were doing? I was giving him a tape of a song he wanted...and he was giving me a tape of a tune he knew I’d like: and...it felt exactly the same as it did back in the late 60’s, we were like two kids, making a music deal and enjoying the thrill of the early days of those Mad Mike Monsters, those Porky Chedwick Dusty Discs, and ‘man...have you heard THIS tune??’” Mad Mike Metro... Gone to Rock and Roll Soul Heaven, October 31, 2000. HE WILL BE GREATLY MISSED!
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Send your email to Charlie and he will reply to you! |
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