The Mission District

Mike: A Long Time Ago In A Galaxy Far, Far Away…

There was an epic struggle between two cosmic forces that existed long before I was born and will no doubt continue even after I shuffle off this mortal coil. I speak, of course, about the timeless duality of Star Trek and Star Wars. For those of you not in the know, I recommend immediately getting in the know. That’s an order. No two other bodies of work have perhaps done as much to stimulate my formative adolescent imagination.

Yeah, both have their strengths and their weaknesses and people will argue endlessly over the validity of new-school interpretations. One has badass phasers and techno-talk (Recalibrate the phase transducers before the quantum flux hits 12 cochranes and our warp field is destabilized!) and the other has badass light-swords and fkin mind tricks (Those WERE the droids I was looking for <sob>). Unlike many, I choose to not take sides in this battle as I see it much like the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) and their inability to co-exist peacefully, despite their overwhelmingly relevant parallels and commonalities.

So yeah, forget Kirk VS Spock or TNG versus the original, and forget about Obi-Wan VS Obi-Wan and trilogy VS trilogy. Why can’t we all just get along (and get our act together here on planet earth with this whole food-air-water thang) and move out into space?

- Mike

Mike and live music!

So yeah - like every other musician out there, I like to play around a little bit. By that, I mean play pick-up shows with other local bands. It’s great fun to spend some Mission District downtime by keeping musically sharp with old friends and celebrating the bar life. What’s better than going out at night with your friends on the weekend? I’ll tell you - going out with your friends, making new ones, playing a bunch of fun covers, drinking for free, and getting paaiiidddd. GOTSTA GET PAID, NEIGHBOURS!

But yeah, a lot of musicians look down their noses at cover or tribute acts, but I say nay. These are the hardest times just about ever to be in a successful original band, and if you can make a living playing music by any means possible, then that’s righteous in my books. Besides, there’s always honour in being a performer and knowing how to entertain people, provided you’re doing it right. Some of the most talented individuals I’ve ever been fortunate enough to meet or play with have spent years hustling the downtown bar circuit, playing in numerous bands, and selling their souls to make a bar full of strangers happy.

Long live music in any form and celebrate any artists who do it mostly for the love of performance.

- Mike

Read Travis and Antoine’s interview with The Bowler Hat at http://ping.fm/WYLi7

Mike has a feline friend!

I love my Kitty. He is a pretty kitty and the bestest sweetest hairiest kitty in the whole wide world. His name is Tommy. He is an orange tabby with lil white bootsies and is about 4 years old now, though I’m not sure what that is in cat years. I heard that dog years are now 6 instead of 7 because of advances in veterinary science, but I digress.

My kitty has a fuzzy belly. I like to rub it because he likes it. That makes me like him even more. He purrs like a putt putt motor boat when you scratch his belly and he responds really well to baby talk, although I’d never admit to it. Maybe I just did… He likes to get into the catnip every now and then but that’s okay because I do to, and I don’t want to be hypokittycal.

He likes high places. When the band stores gear at my place he likes to climb on top of it all and look down on me like he’s saying “ha ha I am the master and you are the cat”. But he is not the master. He is the cat. I am the master. I am mister master Mike Hand. It does confuse me though because when he is higher than me in the apartment he stares me right in the eyes and it is kinda like he is judging me. I don’t like that. I may not like what he does all of the time but I definitely definitely definitely like and love love my sweet little purrball.

- Mike

Mike’s got an iPhone!

Alright! So I got a new phone, but this isn’t just any kind of phone. This is…THE iPHONE! Behold its glory! This is huge for me as I’ve gone years (count them: YEARS) without either a phone or the internet, and now I’ve got both resting in the palm of my hand. Hellz Yeah. Rob likes to tease me about my longstanding affiliation with Apple (and my apparent homoerotic tendencies towards Steve Jobs and his beard - thanks Rob), but I say NAY, madames and sirs.

I have been a follower and fan of Apple since the beginning, yo. I’ve always stuck by their products and went through all my years of school being pantsed and knocked into lockers for my love of Macs (can you believe kids those/these days?!) But yeah, I stuck it out, and maybe I bought a desktop PC at one point because I just HAD to play Starcraft and Halflife, but I know Stevie will forgive me. And now that Apple have waived their fancy graphite magic stylus over the markets to become the New Boss, I still support them 110%! Viva Le Mac!

-Mike