Happy B-day To The World’s Greatest Undiscovered Songwriting Genius!

Yes, the world’s full of undiscovered genius– take me, for example…

Better yet, take Mike Cohen. Mike’s a friend of mine– but don’t hold that against him. He’s a songwriter. Is he really a genius? As a matter of fact, he is.

In addition to songs, he’s written original musicals. He’s been reckless enough to cast me in some of them. OK, so he’s no genius when it comes to casting…

I was in a show of his called Transference. I surprised him by drawing up a special ad for the program. The original was B&W. I decided to add some color and resurrect it for his birthday, which is tomorrow, August 31st.

Scroll down for a larger image and bigger, easier to read text.

Here’s Mike by himself. Moon Fever, Amelia Rules!, Neon Coconut, and Transference
are four of his musicals.

Mike’s favorite songwriting teams are Gilbert and Sullivan, and Lennon-McCartney. So it’s no surprise that Mike’s own songs feature witty lyrics and wonderful melodies.

Is he a big fan of rockabilly guitar solos? No– but I am.

What’s Mike actually look like? That’s him on the left below. We met in November, 1994,
as extras in the very forgettable movie, Jumanji. The crew spent a week filming exteriors in Keene, New Hampshire.

Mike’s hair was black back then. Having me for a friend has clearly been a trial.

That’s Mike and his lovely wife Liz Sumner on the right. Mike’s the songwriter and lead guitarist for Fuzzy Logic. Liz is a vocalist in the band. Nobody sings a Mike Cohen song quite like Liz.

A local community theater staged a musical version of Spoon River Anthology back in 2004. They asked Mike to be the music director, and he asked me to be in the band. I said yes. Then I found out the band was just him and me.

We worked out a system: he played the right notes, I played the wrong notes. It was about the most fun I ever had.

Here we are in costume. It’s one of my favorite photos. It’s fuzzy because the original’s about the size of a postage stamp, and I had to blow it up. Of course, with faces like ours, fuzziness works to advantage.

You’re intrigued, right? You’d like to hear some of Mike’s songs. Well, there are a couple ways you can do that.

Fuzzy Logic has a Facebook page. Click on the Music Store tab, and you can sample tracks from their last two albums. You can buy individual tracks or an entire album.

Not on Facebook? You can find both albums on iTunes: Almost and Snow Shadows.

Need a recommendation? My own favorites are Bahia, Ezekiel’s Wheel, and Let’s Be Beat on Almost; Last Of The Vipers, Nice Guys, and South Pacific Tour on Snow Shadows.

And you’ll definitely want to check out Liz Sumner’s inimitable delivery on Unavailable Men, Calling All Bars, and Firm Thighs.

And if you see Mike Cohen tomorrow, wish him a happy birthday.

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Ever seen a local musician and thought: why isn’t this guy famous??

Did you listen to any of Mike’s songs? What did you think?

Hope you’ll leave a comment.

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