As a long time friend and co-worker, Mike will be missed – not only for his professionalism but for his passion for life.
I met Mike for the first time almost 9 years ago when he was breaking into the Birmingham market. Mike was gifted – quickly became the person to call – but he was especially great on the jobs where his Maguyver talents were needed.
Mike rigged cameras on roller coasters and white water rafts. He went underwater with cameras – he put together complicated audio feeds for production jobs. He chased Bigfoot and UFOs for SCI FI Channel. He was not only the go to person for me and many others here – he made the shoots fun. Mike was brilliant and had a passion to make the world better for his children with his lifestyle and his politics.
Mike was not afraid to speak his mind – and on some of the politically sensitive shoots I would try to warn him not to get angry or involved. But Mike would always get a zinger in there to folks he did not agree with – usually with questions that left them speechless for a moment. He never listened to me and I was usually going back to the van shaking my head on those shoots but with a big smile. Mike and I spent several weeks after 9/11 driving around the US shooting for a Disney Teacher Awards program – we were both very angry about the World Trade Center – but Mike had ideas on the roots of the problem that I had never considered – and he was always looking for peaceful strategies to change things.
Mike knew so much and had so many great ideas to improve things. I always told Mike that he and Chris belonged in Oregon or Northern California where more folks had his ideas and lifestyle – but Mike and Chris worked hard to make their lifestyle work here in the South. He inspired my family to get more involved in an organic lifestyle -I learned so much from Mike. He has brought his children up as vegetarians – and I loved repeating Mike’s story about Marly’s reaction to smelling meat cooking from a barbecue when she was little —- “Daddy – I think those people are cooking meat” . In our barbecue society here in the South it is hard to avoid.
Mike and I traveled to Wyoming this past January for BP oil and to listen to the conversations between 2 well traveled worldly people – Mike and the veteran producer from the UK – made me realize how lucky I am to know someone like Mike. We get too caught up in our narrow bit of space here in Alabama – Mike was “ a stranger in a strange land” and he made all of us appreciate that there is a world out there – and people who live life and pray differently than we do… And he was always an inspiration.
Our last big shoot together was at the Bonnaroo Music Festival – Mike brought his van and his wooden boxes of tools and props. We were working in a tent for MSN and Stop Global Warming .com. — Mike found a way to rig backdrops, lighting, fans, workspace – so everyone had a comfortable place to work in the heat. We were shooting PSAs for Global Warming with many of the musicians at the festival and Mike got to work with some of the gurus of Global Warming from LA and the Al Gore Film. And he got to party. We would finish up for the day, and Mike would sleep in the tent instead of our hotel and soak in the music till the wee hours –he was so happy.
Mike lived what he preached- he will be missed….
Allen Rosen
September 17, 2007