A bio of Mike....where to begin?  I was born in Wenatchee, Washington on October 13, 1965.  I’ve lived nearly my whole life in this small city in the middle of Washington State.  Despite many attempts to leave this place, I never succeeded.  And finally about 10 or 12 years ago I gave up trying to leave and bought a house, thus forcing myself to stay, in my mind anyway.  Time to grow up, I guess, although as I approach my 42nd birthday, I don’t feel THAT old and in many ways I’m just as childish and immature as I have ever been.  I guess I can attribute that to the company I keep.  Cut from the same cloth, you see.  Honestly, I don’t know that I could be any happier or satisfied with my life right now.  Things are great!  I got a woman who loves me, two dogs that worship the ground I walk on and the most eclectic collection of friends a man could ask for.  Blessed or Lucky come to mind.  My parents were truly kind and generous people, although we didn’t have much, they gave me so many things that I carry with me even today.  Lessons that every child should be taught by their parents.  One of those things was an undying love for music.  My Mom played the piano and guitar and my Dad played the guitar and mandolin, neither of them were very accomplished, but they played regularly with all of my extended family.  They would have “Jam” sessions all the time at one relative’s house or another’s or our place.  The music wasn’t really my cup of tea, but I got subjected to the joy of playing from a very early age.  It was during this time, my parents subjected me to, what can only be described as “My own personal hell” in the form of a T.V. show called “The Lawrence Welk Show”.  And “Hee Haw”, and “The Grand Ole Opry” and, well you get the picture.  This was shere agony for me.  It got to the point that Sunday evening was my worst nightmare.  Instead of enjoying “The Wonderful World of Disney”, which everyone I knew was watching, well, except me, I was tormented mercilessly by my parents and Lawrence Welk, not intentionally, but tormented nonetheless!  Well, it just so happens that on one of these seemingly endless evenings, I saw Flatt and Scruggs on one of these shows.  They played some Bluegrass tune with dazzling dexterity and bravado, but it was the guy playing the Upright that caught my eye and, as it turns out, my ear and my heart.  I was in 3rd grade.  The next year, in 4th grade, orchestra was offered, and I, feeling bold and brash marched right up to my mother and told her I wanted to play the Bass in the orchestra.  She told me we had to wait till my father got home to discuss it, which usually meant, no.  But, I waited patiently for my Dad.   Those two hours seemed like two years!  As soon as he drove into the driveway, I was out the door and opening his door and giving him all the reasons why I should play the bass in the orchestra.  By the time we walked the short distance to our steps, I was sure I had convinced him to let me do it.  As we walked into the house, he said, We’ll have to see what your mother says about this.”  Which usually meant no.  I was feeling deflated.  My Dad asked my Mom what she thought about this and to my amazement she said, “I think it will be good for him!”  My heart leaped with joy and so did I, however, there was a contingency attached to this...my Mother had to call the school and find out if this was a real thing or if this was something I just made up.  I did that sometimes, but that’s another story.  By the following Monday, I was signed up to be in the Columbia Elementary School Orchestra playing the String Bass.  My life would never be the same.  By Sixth grade I got my first electric bass.  I also got my own Record player and started collecting albums.  From the start I listened to music my parents hated.  It was my time for revenge!  Deep Purple was my first Album purchase followed by Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Yes, Rush, all the classics.  I was hooked.  I rocked out to the likes of those bands and many others...and still do to this day.  My favorites have never really left me.     
Flash forward a few years.  Over the last 30 years or so, I have continued to play bass in various bands and such and have accumulated many priceless memories along the way.  Many of those bands plain sucked , but we gave it our all.  I've really just recently come to grips with the fact that, those experiences are such an intregral part of  who I am as a bass player and person I've become.  As I-Man works toward creating new and interesting music, I think back to all those experiences and realize how lucky I really am to have had them.  The experiences the the four of us, Brad, Randy, Troy and myself bring to the table allow each of us to add our own unique charater to the music.  As long as these guys will have me, I'll be part of this band.  The thrill and excitement of creating music with these guys places very high on my lists of things I like.  lol  My career as a fifth grade teacher has afforded me the opportunity to share my passion for music with my students.  At the beggining of every school year, we have an open house where I share details of my life.  One of those is my band, Illustrated Man.  It never fails, parents and students alike are awestruck by this revelation.  I guess being a musician and being in a band are experiences that very few people actually get to have.  I get more questions about the band than I do about the required reading!  I'm amazed they even care!  Well more than a few of my former students have been subjected to I-Man, in its various stages of recording.  I even get requests from parents for our CD.  Truely amazing.  I can only hope they get as much pleasure from music as I have.  I owe it all to my parents and the bass player for Flatt and Scruggs.  Go figure...