Mike Craver - ProfilesArchive

About Me

I started playing the piano at a very early age and fantasized becoming a concert pianist, until the hormones kicked in. At age 14, I discovered AM radio, Motown; and at 16, I found out about folk singers, cigarettes, and the guitar. I started a folksinging group called the Bleecker Street Singers. We wore matching plaid vests. When I was 18 my best friend and I ran away to New York City. We slept in Washington Square Park for two weeks, trying to score (exactly what I'm not sure... life, love, art... drugs???) Somehow I managed to graduate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and was a member of the Red Clay Ramblers for many years, appearing in DIAMOND STUDS and Sam Shepard's A LIE OF THE MIND, recording nine albums, and touring the US, Canada, Europe, Scandinavia, Africa and the Middle East.
After leaving the Ramblers, I moved to NYC and got involved in more theatre, both as a writer and performer. Mark Hardwick, Debra Monk, Mary Murfitt and I put together OIL CITY SYMPHONY and it ran for almost two years (at the Circle in the Square Theatre on the corner of MacDougal and Bleecker Streets, thank you very much!) and won the Drama Desk and Outer Critics' Circle awards. Other Off-Broadway credits include SMOKE ON THE MOUNTAIN, RADIO GALS (co-author and original cast member, LA Ovation award), and WILDER (co-author and original cast). Regional credits include LUNCH AT THE PICCADILY (co-writer and original cast), and SMOKE ON THE MOUNTAIN HOMECOMING (arranger and additional music and lyrics).
I've worked in theatres across the country, including the Pasadena Playhouse, Actors Theatre of Louisville and the Cape Playhouse in Dennis, Mass. I once helped plant crepe myrtles along I-95 as part of Lady Bird Johnson's BEAUTIFY AMERICA project. It was hot work in the middle of the "Summer of Love", and after two weeks I got fired for leaning on my shovel.
But I did help make original cast albums for OIL CITY SYMPHONY (DRG Records) & RADIO GALS (Varese Sarabande). I've also released three solo albums: FISHING FOR AMOUR, WAGONER'S LAD, and SHINING DOWN -- also LUNCH AT THE PICCADILLY, a recording of songs of the musicalization of Clyde Edgerton's novel by the same name. My latest project is helping turn Clyde's new novel THE BIBLE SALESMAN into a reading with music.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 25/12/2006
Band Website: www.mikecraver.com
Influences: classical composers, folksingers, jazz singers, Motown, the golden age of American Song, the music of John Philip Sousa, Steve Reich, black and white movies of Hollywood's heyday, Deadwood, Charles Dickens, Iris Murdoch, Paramahansa Yogananda, The Book of Psalms, songbirds, pine trees, swimming holes, family and friends, the list goes on...
Record Label: Sapsucker
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

"That Wicky Wacky Hula Hula Honka Wonka Honolulu Hawaiian Honey of Mine" SHEET MUSIC AND MORE

Sheet Music (piano/vocal, instrumental/chord charts, & choral) is now available for "Dear Mister Gershwin" -- "Argonne Wood" -- "That Wicky Wacky Hula Hula Honka Wonka Honolulu Hawaiian Honey of M...
Posted by on Thu, 25 Sep 2008 14:25:00 GMT

Eddie Muller and the Film Noir Foundation

I've been enjoying listening to Eddie Muller's very excellent "yak traks" which accompany some of the Fox Film Noir series DVD reissues. Eddie is a brilliant noir specialist and filmologist. He is a...
Posted by on Sat, 03 Nov 2007 15:54:00 GMT

Bikram Hot Yoga

For the past month I have been taking daily classes in Bikram Yoga, aka "Hot Yoga". I first saw the book by Bikram Choudhury in the library, took it home and read it in one sitting and got on the ne...
Posted by on Tue, 17 Jul 2007 09:15:00 GMT

He Took His Electric Guitar To IRAQ

I've been working in Fayetteville, NC, at the Cape Fear Regional Theatre, directing the music for SMOKE ON THE MOUNTAIN HOMECOMING. Fort Bragg is not far away so there are two Army soldiers in our cas...
Posted by on Mon, 02 Apr 2007 06:29:00 GMT

What Happened to Bruno Zanin?

Whatever happened to Bruno Zanin, the actor who played Fellini's alter ego in AMARCORD? I thought he was really great, like an adolescent Italian version of Tommy Lee Jones' character in A COAL MINER'...
Posted by on Fri, 09 Mar 2007 05:09:00 GMT

All my recordings are available -- plus more....

CDs of the songs above are all available from my website www.mikecraver.com/store.html -- shipping is free to US locations. All my solo albums: Wagoner's Lad, Shining Down, Fishing For Amour, plus Lun...
Posted by on Sun, 25 Feb 2007 10:32:00 GMT

Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper

Yesterday, Feb. 20th, was Shrove Tuesday. That was always a big day in our house. Every year my dad would provide the sausage for Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper at our church. He'd get a couple o...
Posted by on Wed, 21 Feb 2007 06:24:00 GMT

A Philosophy of Popularity???

Philosophical question. Are certain people considered "good" because they are good or are they considered "good" because alot of other people say they are? I suppose that if a person wasn'...
Posted by on Mon, 19 Feb 2007 18:28:00 GMT