Mike is “the old guy” of MoJo. No one really knows how old Mike really is — some say his first musical experience was with a group called “The Black Cro-Magnons.” Growing up in Cleveland Ohio, Mike missed the dawn of the rock era by oversleeping. But after watching the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show in Feb 1964, he bought a “beat-up six string” and started taking lessons. Soon he was performing with his high-school band “The Checkmates,” who could play maybe 8 songs, including Mike singing Barry McGuire’s “Eve of Destruction,” (a title which aptly sums up this group’s talents). College at John Carroll University found him playing with a dance/polka band “The Pastels,” whose “Who Stole the Kishka?” was the hit of all the Polak-Slovenian lodges in Cleveland. Mike’s rock career was then interrupted by the Army for a short time (26 years, during which he learned his left from his right and became more accustomed to loud noises, essential to rock musicians). Retirement from the Army meant settling down in Northern Virginia, a high school teaching gig, and time to get re-acquainted with the electric guitar. Invited by friends to jam at a school charity event, Mike was part of the birth of MoJo in 2003 — (they needed a second guitarist, and he was the only one there at the time). The rest is history. Mike is grateful to his bandmates who have taught him more about playing rock music than any teacher could have done (and for paying his social security); to his wife for occasionally being his “roadie”; and to his four loyal fans, his grandchildren.