Mike Felten

"Mike Felten owns a record store somewhere in middle America. He also has something most folks have long since given up on - a conscience. Trust your politicians? Better find your common sense first." Big O Magazine -Singapore
"The Real Deal" - Illinois Entertainer
Mike has been playing since the 1960's. That's right. Some of these protest songs were about LBJ and Vietnam. Funny, how things haven't changed. A veteran of rock, country and blues bands. Mike sat in Muddy Waters bedroom, had Buddy Guy show him around the blues clubs where Willie Dixon, Junior Wells and Mighty Joe Young among others were hanging out. A drunken Jim Morrison took a whizz on Mike's shoe. Roger Waters, Wayne 'MC5' Kramer and quite a few others have told Mike to piss off through the years. It never has stopped him from speaking his mind. The 1970's found Mike playing folk gigs at places like the Fifth Peg and Orphans in Chicago, alongside guys like Steve Goodman and John Prine. For all you alumni geeks out there,Mike was booted out of LANE TECH HIGH SCHOOL in Chicago. He finally graduated from the old CENTRAL YMCA HIGH SCHOOL that graduated neer do wells like MIKE ROYKO, MIKE BLOOMFIELD and BARRY GOLDBERG. He went to CENTRAL YMCA COMMUNITY COLLEGE for two years before graduating from the creative writing program at COLUMBIA COLLEGE. Lifelong kudos to teachers, JOHN SCHULTZ, BETTY SHIFLETT, HARRY MARK PETRAKIS and PAUL PEKIN. He founded the Record Emporium in 1979 and has been selling music continually since then. He has had stores in three states and is currently located in Chicago and online at www.recordemporium.com. For the last ten or so years, Mike has been associated with the UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA. Boomer Sooner!The 1980's saw Mike in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan living on a farm and playing with country rock cover bands until guys like Pete Seeger and Utah Phillips discovered Mike's folkier/political side. He played the 75th Anniversary of the I.W.W. and places like the Hiawatha Folk Festival, Rhinelander Festival and Pike Lake. Returning to Chicago in the 1990's , Mike found work playing heavy metal bass in a band called Lobotomy. Played some roots rock with the Redones and, coming full circle, settled into a weekly blues gig with Bellyful of Soul where guys like Pinetop Perkins, Roosevelt 'Booba' Barnes, Pete Myers, or Dancin' Perkins were likely to sit in. MIke has contributed to the television show 'Cupid" and the motion pictures,"Love Jones" Dualmania" and "High Fidelity" as an set advisor and an extra. He just finished another acting turn in a video for the band "Hotel Lights" featuring members of Ben Folds and the Archers of Loaf. Finally in 2002, Mike, tired of 'playing rhythm guitar behind Jesus' booked some time at Acme Studio and recorded 'Landfill' with Devin Davis engineering. After a couple of surgeries and some rehab on a bad knee, Mike went in the studio again. With BILL GLAHN producing, Mike laid down the basic tracks at LOU WHITNEY's (SKELETONS,MORELLS) studio in Springfield, MO. He took the rough tracks up to Third Ear Studio inMinneapolis where TOM HERBERS (LOW,JAYHAWKS)engineered sessions with JOHN ELLER and DAVE BOQUIST of SON VOLT adding multi-instruments. We mixed the entire album back at THE STUDIO in Springfield,MO and masteried with RANDY KLING down in Nashville. Randy has mastered all the RCA acts from WAYLON to PORTER WAGONER to ALICE COOPER. Made it all sound great. Mike currently has no songs about cats or about how depressed he is, but you never can tell, he might come up with one.