About Me
THE BEGINNING OF MIKE & JOESo you want to know how we started? Well, the story goes like this. First off, our names are Mike Notaro and Joe Valentino. We met as undergraduates at Indiana University while living at the Theta Chi fraternity house. We first began performing together informally as the fraternity serenade band, as well as for the general late-night amusement of our friends. Back then we used to hang out at a college bar called the Peanut Barrel which had open mic nights for local talent. The bar happened to be managed by a guy named Dave Kubiak who lived across the hall from Joe freshman year. Kubie had been asking us to come in and play an open mic slot for about a year. One night our friend Rick signed us up for a time slot for the next week's open mic night, telling us about it the next day. To prepare, we learned 8 songs while our excited friends told everyone they knew to come and listen. The guys from the house and the girls from Delta Zeta, across the street, made plans to attend. The night of the performance, a Tuesday, our time slot was from midnight to 12:30am. At 11:30 the half empty bar was suddenly filled to capacity as a swarm of drunk and happy friends crowded into the bar to listen. At the end of the night, the pleased bar owner offered us $300 and asked us if we would be willing to play the following Friday, just three nights later. He of course hoped we would again bring a pack of friends to fill his bar. We accepted, momentarily overlooking the fact that our 8 song repertoire needed to fill 3 hours that Friday night! For the next three days we crammed to learn 25 more songs, taking song lyrics to class and sleeping with them under our pillows in a desperate attempt to memorize them all! That first Friday at the Peanut Barrel led to regular appearances at the bar and the Peanut Barrel launched our music career. For that first Friday show, when Kubie asked how the bar should bill the duo in the advertising, we were stumped. We were not trying to be a band and had not picked out a name for the act. Needing to come up with something quick, Joe suggested just using their first names--a simple idea stolen from the acoustic duo, "Dave and Sherri" he used to watch in his hometown of Pittsburgh. The name stuck and Mike and Joe was born.WORD SPREADSAs our popularity grew at Indiana University, word spread to other colleges in the state. Soon we were getting calls from Purdue, U of I and others, and we started adding shows like crazy. Mike suggested approaching a bar in Palatine, IL called Durty Nellies. Having grown up in Mt. Prospect, IL, Mike knew of the bar from his older brothers and sisters. Durty Nellies did hire us and the Chicagoland connection was made. From Nellies we started doing shows at this little bar in Chicago called Gamekeepers. Then bar manager Joe Kenny (still owns Finley Dunnes in the city) really invested in us and helped spread the word about the band. From Gamekeepers we graduated to a bar called Sidelines, and then on to bigger venues like the Cubby Bear. Having skipped straight over Indianapolis, we literally took our acoustic guitars to Broadripple, the city's party district, to find a place to play. We walked into every bar we could find, offering to do an impromptu live audition for anyone who would listen. We were hired on the spot by a little bar called Club 816, and played there until it became too small. From there we moved to the Patio, and then to the Vogue.Life was rockin pretty well by this point. We were performing at a variety of the top venues in the region and were the first acoustic duo to cross over into the large mainstream clubs usually reserved for "bands" only. In between shows, Mike was spending his time writing music which eventually led us to our first original CD called This Dream. Also around this time we started having discussions about our acoustic format, and we largely disagreed about whether to stay an acoustic duo (Joe's argument) or expand to a full band (Mike's argument). In the end we went with Mike's idea and decided to hold auditions to add two new members to the project. Most of the folks that showed up to audition were terrible, but there were a couple real gems in the rough. We found bassist Marc Blackwell and drummer Aaron Streich, and our full band was born.CHAPTER TWO--THE WHOLE BANDOriginally, we struggled with what to do about the band's name. After deciding that we were unwilling to call their entire band Mike and Joe, we picked the name Michelanjelo. Initially, knowing we would still perform some shows with the duo format and others with the whole band, we planned to bill each of the two formats separately using both names depending on whether it was the duo or the full band. Clear as mud right? We tried it for a while. What did we get? Confusion. It soon became clear that the name Mike and Joe was preferred by the fan base. Many fans never adopted the name Michelanjelo at all, and in time we decided to drop the band name, eliminate the confusion, and stick with Mike and Joe.In the meantime, we released our second CD, Michelanjelo Live at the Bandstand. This CD was recorded live and released in conjunction with Dick Clark's organization, and Anheuser Busch. The band continued to expand its touring area, discovering Ohio and Iowa, as well as the far reaches of the Indiana and Illinois markets.At this point, most of our time was spent playing college venues. As we continued to hit loads of colleges and universities, kids started coming to the shows asking if they could record some of our live performances. After a while, we started thinking...why don't we record our own live shows and release live "bootleg" CDs of the cover tunes we play. With this, the Mike and Joe Bootleg CDs were born.FROM BOOTLEG CDs UNTIL TODAYTo prepare for the Bootleg CDs, we recorded shows for a year, then picked the best tracks for Bootleg, Vol. 1. It turned out great! In fact, maybe too good for a so-called Bootleg CD. Listen to it, you will see what we mean;) The first Bootleg CD went really well and a year later we decided to do another. For the second one we decided to pick tunes that sounded a little more Bootleg...a little rougher, more mistakes left in the mix for Bootleg Vol. 2.Over the years we have also written and recorded most of a third album of original material. Although presently shelved with an uncertain future, the album may one day see the light of day. We will keep you posted.Today the band plays about 170 shows a year and is one of the most watched cover bands in the Midwest. We are now used to playing for terrific, loyal fans, and we truly appreciate those who choose to come to see the shows. The four of us remain committed to entertaining those who have been watching us over the years, and to attracting the enthusiasm of new fans that discover our band. Dont be afraid to spread the word yourself. We could always use the help!We would love to hear your comments on our bulletin board or on e-mail. We read and respond to every one. Thanks for reading, and we will see you out there! This profile was edited with Thomas' myspace editor V2
