Born in 1972, at the close of the Vietnam War, Michael never had the opportunity to experience the hippy movement while it was still valid and had some form of meaning behind it. For this reason, he never developed a taste for such bands as “The Grateful Dead” and “Phish”, and he is still trying to figure out whether “The String Cheese Incident” was a WWII provocation cited by the Nazis as justification for invading the Danzig Corrider, or just some stupid stoners on a mission to find a cure for the munchies.

In any case, rather than bow down to the vegetable worshippers, Michael early on developed a taste for steak and David Bowie, who he heard performing “Modern Love” for the first time as he sat in a car waiting for his dad to buy tickets to a planetarium show. He was 8 or something. He doesn’t really remember because that damn planetarium show just blew his mind.

At the tender age of 12, he was introduced to Depeche Mode’s “A Broken Frame” by a friend’s older brother (who, incidentally, came out of the closet several years later; whether this was due to Depeche Mode is still being determined). Michael was very into Depeche Mode and the bands they led him to (Bauhaus, Joy Division, etc.) for several years until, as Tyler likes to say, “Prog rose its horrid head and struck him down in the prime of his youth.”

That’s right. A high-school chum gave him a copy of Rush’s “2112”. Michael swirled into a maelstrom of Rush, Pink Floyd, Styx, and Yes. After a year, he developed a taste for the harder stuff, getting it on to such bands as Metallica, Anthrax, Yngwie Malmsteem and the Rising Force, and Queensryche. One thought things couldn’t get any worse. They did.

Finally getting back to his roots, Michael went to the extreme. Not just relegating himself to the classics (again, Depeche Mode, Joy Division, Bauhaus, etc.), he went at it full steam, and will admit to at one time buying, listening to, and loving bands with names like Nosferatu, The Rosetta Stone and Christian Death (which wouldn’t be embarrasing except he liked some of Valor’s solo Christian Death).

Eventually, around 1992, through the positive influence of Tyler and his own expanding aural tastes, Michael started accepting other forms of music than goth. He has now grown beyond Tyler and all others in his discretionary and perceptive judgement of all that is fine music, and is arguably the greatest source of all that is worthwhile in music. At least that’s what he tells himself whenever he throws on some crappy 80’s band to make all the fuckers dance.

Michael started the short-lived but extremely important (only because it was responsible for Tim Burgess of the Charlatans first Denver visit) club-night Revolver, has DJ’d at several NYC night-clubs with the likes of the Rapture and LCD Soundsystem, and has guested at several warehouse parties around town. He still isn’t cool though. He handles the business aspects of Lipgloss, as in handling anything that deals with the money aspect. This is kind of silly considering that he still hasn’t figured out how to pay his own bills, but go figure. He had to do something, and doesn’t like people enough to do either promotions or scheduling.

Michael asks that all lighters, cigarettes and other flaming objects be kept away from his hair.

ESSENTIAL ALBUMS
Leonard Cohen—Songs From A Room, David Bowie—The Man Who Sold The World, Bauhaus—The Sky’s Gone Out, Chet Baker—Grey December, John Coltrane—Ballads, Brian Eno—Taking Tiger Mountain, Death In June—Nada!, Dr. Octagon—Dr. Octagynecologist, Jeff Buckley—Grace, Joy Division—Closer, Nick Drake—Pink Moon, Pixies—Doolittle, Radiohead—OK Computer, Roger Waters—Amused To Death, Flaming Lips—Transmission From the Sattelite Heart, The Rolling Stones—December’s Children, Tom Waits—Small Change, This Mortal Coil—Blood, Muse—Origin of Symmetry
BANDS YOU SHOULD KNOW
Muse, Aereogramme, Kent, The Libertines, The Detroit Cobras, Sparklehorse, Tom McRae, I Am Kloot, Ours, The Black Heart Procession