Jeff was one of the sweetest dudes I’ve ever met. He was an advocate for local music and never made you feel dumb about doing what you believe in. I would not talk to him for years and we would circle back and chat like we always have. The Boston local music scene needs more people like Jeff in general. Bands have always struggled here. I love it, but it’s such a by-the-books city and Jeff literally made everyone’s struggle a little bit more bearable.
I FaceTimed with him (while driving) back in September. He was like, “Mike, that doesn’t sound like a safe thing to try at home.” We talked and got all the interview audio and then just chatted about life. I got off the phone being like, wow, Jeff is the man. I had just gone through a big life change, and yet again he made it all bearable. I always had interactions with him like that. Jeff was a true blue who never gave up on his dreams and made you feel like you should never give up on yours.
appearances: Oct. 6, 2015, Aug. 29, 2017, and Sept. 29, 2020
Breeze liner notes (from Bandcamp): It’s crazy to think that I discovered Mike’s music on MySpace. He was in a band called Magic Magic that created a miasma of indie pop wonders lost in pyschedelic rock fantasias. At some point, he departed for the southern promise of Austin.
He kept his local ties well and started sending me music, in advance of releases from a new band for whose name he merely added vowels to his own: Holiday Music. Keeping roots here, he would alert me months in advance and we would schedule Tuesday nights for Pipeline! with this new crew.
While a pandemic divides us, it makes those who are further away seem merely the same distance as our neighbors. For the context of radio, ex-pats from New England can be re-embraced. With his employment in Austin’s live music scene on hold, he’s been embraced more directly as he’s back in the Commonwealth now.