"In a world of contrived, overproduced and uninspired pop sounds, the rocking/retro, eclectic/contemporary sounds of Mickey Richard brings back the purity, the freedom and fun of '50s Rock and Roll, the cry of the Blues, and the joy of Swing...there is more than a sliver of entertainment here, no matter how you slice it!."
Mickey's lyrics explore the depths of sublime spiritual thought, examine the humor in common situations, and connect those two disparate elements together with clever word play. Whether he's describing a personal life experience or a fictional character's day-to-day needs, his songs tend to have deep underlying messages. Mickey's reverence for the Earth, and all life forms that live on, in and above the planet, are always in his thoughts, heart, and soul. Mickey's life mission, is summed up simply "I want to do my part to heal the Earth. I feel my best tool, for achieving that admittedly lofty goal, is by sharing my spiritual philosophy through music."
Mickey is currently booking gigs in the SE Michigan area to promote Sliver Or Slice, and continually writing new songs that will be performed live, and considered for inclusion in his next CD project. He has just released, as a single in digital format only, his song Let's Mullah Over Buddhahood, a humorous, but pointed, look at competitive religions in today's world. Mickey is also a member of Songwriters Anonymous, a community of Michigan songwriters who support each other in creating, performing, distributing, enjoying, and excelling in their music.
Mickey's plan for the immediate future is to increase the number of shows that he plays, and widen the area that he performs in. He will be submitting to a number of music festivals for the summer of 2008, in Michigan and beyond. He hopes to have a limited tour of the Pacific Northwest booked for the fall/winter of 2008.
An Eric Clapton Look Alike...
It was while living on beautiful San Juan Island, in Washington State, that Mickey first heard "Did anyone ever tell you that you look a lot like Eric Clapton?" It might have been his new roundish wire rim glasses, full short-cropped beard, short (for Mickey) haircut, or a combination of all those things that contributed to the EC look, but whatever, the comments kept coming in. It got to the point where Mickey's stock response to that question was "Really? That's first time I've heard that... today!" It was the last night of the San Juan County Fair, might've been 1999 or 2000, and the group Zydeco Flames was the headline act. Mickey was standing off to the side of the stage, admiring the guitar player's vintage Fender amp. He noticed that the drummer kept looking at him with a quizzical expression on his face. During the break, the drummer approached him and said "Man, I kept thinking that Eric Clapton was watching us play! Did you anyone ever tell you that you look a lot like Eric Clapton?!" Mickey says he never really saw the resemblance to EC thing until others mentioned it. It was another famous guitar player that he thought he looked like, Al Di Meola. Al was on the cover of a Guitar Player Magazine back in the '70s, and the resemblance was so striking, that Mickey used to show it to friends, hiding the name on the cover. "Hey man! I made the cover of GP!"
Keep an eye out for Mickey to be performing solo gigs in and around the Metro Detroit and Ann Arbor areas, as well as at Songwriters Anonymous Showcase performances with many other talented songwriters!