When I first met Mike he was conducting a choir. He had really really long hair and was assigning parts. I was very impressed. He showed up at the first Beatles 'White Album' rehearsal and plugged his Telecaster straight into the amp. He got every tone and nuance of the record. I was blown away.

Since 2003, Michael has fronted countless albums for the series. He's become our chief musical director. When you're on one of Doc's shows you had better have it together because the 'Note for Note' creed that we adhere to is law for him.

Mike is a great hang on the road. Over the years I've come to regard him as a friend and a true colleague. He met the girl of his dreams on one of our shows and they got married in the summer of 2008. It was good for the series.

I think I was more excited about Mike getting his Doctorate in music than he was. For me, to have someone involved with this credential gave us extra legitimacy.
We have fantastic talks about music and the future of CAL. I call on him regularly for advice and info. We see eye to eye on how important the series is. We're both hopeless romantics about music.

My favourite thing about Doc is that he loves to slum it with us. Whenever there's a situation outside of CAL, be it in a scummy bar or a party in my basement, Mike is always the first one up to jam. I always say to him ; "Out of all the people with Doctorates in music, you're probably the only who gets on stage and rocks."