Let me start off by saying Michael was not as cute as the barista featured in today's post art. But that may be because I'm a bit biased. He did have the required level of punk sarcasm and attitude though to fulfil the red-eye shift on the local train station coffee cart.
Michael was my supplier. He met my daily caffeination needs for the hour-long daily commute to the city. This carried on for what seemed like years but in reality, was probably only about 18 months or so. Train station coffee can be a bit of a 'Russian roulette' situation, but in this case, the grind was good. Plus he had to take 3x buses to get to our station to open at 6:30am. That's going to take it out of you.
Anyway, as one might do, I tended to turn up early so that I never had to run for the train (I don't run), and as it ended up, so I could shoot the shit with 'my' barista about all things musical oriented as the zombie like masses went about their routine. Michael was the bass player for a local indie band called Amiko. I was the typical corporate type, who's main claim to fame was that I used to play in a cover band 20 years ago whilst still underage. I'm not even sure he was born then. We both had G.A.S. When the unthinkable happened for him, I pro-bono resurrected his vintage 'Black Russian' Big Muff. I seem to recall I also offered to build him a 'custom' Zvex Mastotron clone for his bass pedal collection as I was getting into pedal building at the time.
Sadly though, one day he just disappeared. His replacement was not nearly as interesting. I never forget a face though (although I do sometimes forget what I did yesterday!). Hence during a chance encounter when I spotted him across a packed train about 15 months later, I 'barista stalked' him, casually shouting across the swaying mob 'so, you still interested in that Mastotron?'
Thankfully, the rest of the mob adhered to the first rule of public transport which is to never make eye contact, nor make small talk with a stranger, especially one using the phrase 'Mastotron'.
Eventually though after a few seconds, he did recall who the hell I was! BTW, no, he was no longer interested in the offer of a custom Mastotron pedal build. In fact, after Amiko broke up, he ended up pawning off the Black Russian ... much to my dismay!
So, for today's post you get an offering from Amiko's one and only EP ... with Michael front and centre, looking sufficiently impressed that the singer was the only one who got a beer...