Michael Feldman: The Extended Cut
Michael Feldman
I was introduced to music at an early age. My grandfather was a concert violinist and my grandmother a pianist with the Philadelphia Philharmonic. Each night before we went to bed he would sit in my room and play “Pop-Goes-The-Weasel” each night until I fell asleep. Needless to say this made for some interesting dreams!
While growing up, I was lucky enough to be introduced to the theater in the form of Broadway musicals. The lights, costumes and music always enchanted me. During one show in particular, Cabaret, I was so close to the stage that the actor leaned down to me with his whitewashed face and said, “Is everybody having a good time?” To this I promptly burst into tears. Not for the love of stage, rather because the guy scared the shit out of me!
I still returned to the theater year after year until I woke up one day and realized that if I had to sit through “Annie” one more time I was going to…well, let’s just say I tired of watching the theater and decided to try acting for myself. For a brief time I was involved in choirs, and various school theaters and while I loved the rush of performing, I found that a loud voice and the ability to memorize “did not an actor make”. I also wasn’t having that much luck with the ladies, wearing make-up all the time.
I gave up the acting and decided that the dark life of a rock star had always been the path for me. I began to sing in a band at Wootton High School in Rockville, MD until fate would have no more. In the middle of rehearsal one day, puberty struck, my voice dropped, and I was kicked out of the band. I knew that I needed to perform, I knew music was my venue, so there was only one thing to do…. I bought a guitar.
At the University of Michigan I refined my skills. I work with a group of musicians to perform both The Who’s “Tommy” and Pink Floyd’s “The Wall”. Each included up to 50 actors and additional crew and “The Wall” included a 50-member choir. After playing in two other bands, “Sunrise Highway” and “Freight Train Moses”, I knew music was that path for me and I left for Boulder, CO to form a band.
Eventually based out of San Francisco, my band “Blue Matter” enjoyed moderate success. We were able to record in many different studios and toured most of the cities and towns of the Northwest. We were also featured at the 1996 “Volcanic Rock Festival” outside of Bend, OR. My song, “It’s just the things you do” was also featured on 93.7 in San Francisco. I wrote or co-wrote all of the songs and music for the band and was the lead singer. I also recorded a solo album in 1996 entitled “The View from Here” which you can find nowhere.
Finally, upon moving back to the East Coast I was lucky enough to have run across the Huge. I answered an add in “The City Paper” for a band looking for a lead guitarist. After hearing their album, I knew I wanted to be a member of this group. I have been playing with the group for over a year now and continue to enjoy working with Langley, Cowles and Berger to create the greatest music we know how.