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Artist
Mike Rosenthal
12+ albums
pianopopgitarresingle
about
In 1997, Mike Rosenthal left his job as a news reporter in a hardscrabble Maine mill town and moved to Austin, Texas to pursue a career in music. He’d abandoned the stage five years before, seeking stability and sobriety. But, the stillness of rural life eventually proved stifling. He loaded a moving truck and, nearly sight unseen, chose Austin for its long-time reputation as a music hub. He arrived in a city in the throes of a technology boom. Recent college grads and young professionals flocked to jobs at dot-com startups and global technology firms. Upscale eateries and boutiques moved in next to family Mexican restaurants and body shops. Many fretted about the negative impact of the new wealth. But Rosenthal was delighted to finally be where the action was. He wasted little time recording a demo, assembling a band and pestering the local clubs for stage time. To recruit audiences for midnight weekday performances, he hijacked names from group e-mails, hung flyers and accosted unwitting customers at the bakery where he’d taken a counter job. Early performances were a commanding – if slightly comical -- display of pure energy, unleashed angst and simple joy over a life remade and a dream in the making. A sweat-drenched, bespectacled Rosenthal would stalk the stage in an adrenaline- and Coca-Cola-fueled fury, launching himself into awkward stage acrobatics and abusing an out-of-tune Fender telecaster. The current resurgence in country-rock helped his cause considerably. H
