Help: Mike Jordan (Lazy River, Sweet on Sugar

Subject: Mike Jordan (Lazy River, Sweet on Sugar
From:
Date: 17 Nov 01 - 10:06 AM

Where, oh where, can I find music, info about, a cd or cassette by artist Mike Jordan? (No, not Michael & basketball!) Some of Mike Jordan's songs include "Indian Summer," "Blues I Carry," "Sweet on Sugar," "Want for Nothing," "Miles Down the Road," "Night Can Last Forever."

He has a beautiful, mellifluous voice, with an articulate, simple, clear guitar accompaniment.

Where can I get music by this artist I first discovered in the early '90's?

Subject: RE: Help: Mike Jordan (Lazy River, Sweet on Sugar
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Nov 01 - 11:12 AM

There's some information on this page.

Can't find any CD releases though

Subject: RE: Help: Mike Jordan (Lazy River, Sweet on Sugar
From: Art Thieme
Date: 17 Nov 01 - 09:14 PM

When Mike Jordan became ill several years ago, he wrote a great song called "THERE'S A HOLE IN ONE OF MY SHOES"----about getting that hole fixed and then going on with things. Mike did that until his various maladies killed him.

In a strange way, I was probably responsible for his coming to Chicago and being a part of our folk scene there in the 70s and 80s. I had a gig at the University Of Missouri in Columbia but I was suffering from a terrible flu. With 103 degree fever I rode a bus there (no car yet) and found out they'd put me up with 4 guys in a dorm room. I needed more privacy than that and also didn't want to get everyone ill--so I took my instruments and must've walked 3 or 4 miles around the town and campus until I found a motel. I slept a few hours and went looking for the student union where the gig was. I was sure I'd done a terible show but a young guy (Mike Jordan) came up to me and said he had enjoyed the show. He told me he was a student but wanted to get away and make music. He asked, "What's the Chicago scene like?" I told hime that then, in the late 70s, there was a wonderful group of folks there---a huge scene with maybe 35 clubs, coffeehouses and bars and concert possibilities galore. ---------To shorten the tale, Mike came to Chicago and made his mark. I thought it was cool as hell. Later, he'd BLAME ME (jokingly) for ruining his life. We loved the guy in that town. I just gave some photos I took of Mike to Clay Eals of Seattle who is writing what promises to be a great biography of STEVE GOODMAN. I hope those pics make the final edit.

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: Help: Mike Jordan (Lazy River, Sweet on Sugar
From: Art Thieme
Date: 18 Nov 01 - 12:57 PM

About Mike's recordings:

I don't think anything is available of Mike Jordan now. He did mostly cassettes in the era of LPs. He was gone before CDs took hold. I'll e-mail you on a few (very few things) I have of his work. He did a lot of rock stuff which I always thought fell short of his acoustic work.

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: Help: Mike Jordan (Lazy River, Sweet on Sugar
From: GUEST,jeff
Date: 21 Dec 08 - 01:32 AM

Contact Rich Warren of WFMT-FM and Sing Out! magazine. He was responsible for Mike Jordan's 1st LP called 'Through the Window' and no doubt has several recordings of Mike on file from the Midnight Special. I KNOW he has one from 1982 because I backed Mike up on guitar on 2 or 3 songs. Rich archived EVERYTHING. It was the New Year's Midnight Special and Ray Nordstrand was still alive. If not Rich then get in touch w/a woman named Mary Gaffney who used to work @ WFMT also and was a good friend of Mike's when he lived in Chicago.

It's been years, so info may be hard to come by re Mike Jordan. He wasn't too well known outside of Chicago, but was VERY highly regarded INSIDE Chicago. We roomed together for a while and I learned quite a bit about the importance of 'rhythm snap' during many a latenight song swap. There was NOBODY who could touch Mike when it came to the convergence of voice, acoustic guitar and harmonica...he was in a class by himself. Good luck on your search.

Subject: RE: Help: Mike Jordan (Lazy River, Sweet on Sugar
From: GUEST
Date: 21 Dec 08 - 08:54 AM

There was a very large cop named Lenny who used to record sound at Holstein's in Chicago (which closed in the late 80s). I believe Lenny has since passed away, but I understand some of the folkies inherited his tapes. Lenny did a whole series of acoustic sets with Mike Jordan during private sets off times at Holstein's. I hope someone still has them!

Subject: RE: Help: Mike Jordan (Lazy River, Sweet on Sugar
From: GUEST,jeff
Date: 21 Dec 08 - 01:55 PM

Guest, it would be great if you had a name, too. Another avenue may be the Old Town School of Folk Music. There's a resource center there that may have some of Mike's stuff. Also, another contact would be Ed Holstein. He, probably has copies of the Mike Jordan stuff recorded during those 'off times' sessions. He can DEFINATELY be reached through the OTS. If not him get ahold of Jimmy Tomesello...he's the director of the Guitar program at the OTS and knows EVERYBODY...and how/where they can be reached.

Subject: RE: Help: Mike Jordan (Lazy River, Sweet on Sugar
From: GUEST,lahmjl
Date: 27 Mar 12 - 05:35 PM

Still looking for songs?

Subject: RE: Help: Mike Jordan (Lazy River, Sweet on Sugar
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 Mar 12 - 07:51 PM

Guest, I suggest you simply post any songs you have and the original person requesting the music will stumble upon it. Refreshing the page everyday doesn't work, people sometimes go away for ages before they remember to look here again.

SRS

Subject: RE: Help: Mike Jordan (Lazy River, Sweet on Sugar
From: GUEST
Date: 18 May 13 - 03:51 PM

I thought that Mike was killed by a drunk driver while back in Missouri. I worked on his album, Through the Window, as an Assistant Engineer at a 4-track studio named Tin Ear Records on Howard street in Chicago. The guy who ran the place is named Bill Landow. It was my first studio gig and I was there for many years. Although the studio is long gone, Bill Landow, who lives in Goshen, IN may actually still have the tape master for the project. I remember so well meeting Goodman and others like Betsy Redhead, Roger Bellow, Kathy and Carolyn Ford. It was the end of the folk scene but quite a time.

Charles Johnson

Subject: RE: Help: Mike Jordan (Lazy River, Sweet on Sugar
From: GUEST,diana
Date: 26 Jun 14 - 08:48 PM

Yup Mike died in sept of 1992.(I think) He was indeed killed in a MVA. My husband worked his accident. Mike was a personal friend of mine. I had followed his career since through the window album. I had the pleasure of playing music with mike while he was living in Foley, Missouri and working at park and fly at the airport. He taught me a whole lot as a musician. He never pulled punches with me. I still sing a few of his songs now and then. I would love to make a tribute recording with fellow admirers. Anyone? [e-mail]

Subject: RE: Help: Mike Jordan (Lazy River, Sweet on Sugar
From: GUEST,#
Date: 26 Jun 14 - 09:18 PM

Singer Mike Jordan, 37
Led The Rockamatics
September 01, 1992|By Kenan Heise.


Mike Jordan, 37, a singer and songwriter here in the 1970s through the mid-1980s, led rock bands known as the Wet Dog Band, the Famous Potatoes and Mike Jordan & the Rockamatics.

A resident of Foley, Mo., he died in a car accident near his home Sunday morning after returning from a performance.

An article in the Tribune in 1984 asked, ``How did Mike Jordan and the Rockamatics become one of the most popular bands on the suburban and city circuit in less than a year?`` The writer then answered, ``By working hard and rocking hard.``

``Anyone who comes to see us,`` Mr. Jordan explained, ``can expect at least 150 percent on our part.``

One of his more memorable performances was at a summer show in Pioneer Court next to the Tribune, when he ended the program by jumping into the water fountain.

``He touched many, many lives,`` Cassy Redhed, a friend, said. ``He was the warmest, most full of life person you could imagine.``

A native of the St. Louis area, he came to Chicago in 1974 as a folksinger with a facility for writing songs. He wrote, he said, ``a bundle of them,`` but saved only a few. One of these was, ``Something Happened, Somehow, Somewhere Along the Way.``

As his music became increasingly energetic and he found he could no longer stand in one place, he switched to rock. He put together a group, the Wet Dog Band, followed by the Famous Potatoes, which backed singer John Prine before he went on its own. The group dissolved, and he formed Mike Jordan & the Rockamatics.

Mr. Jordan was hit with an intestinal ailment several years ago and moved first to Hawaii and then back to Foley.

He would have been 38 Tuesday.

Survivors include his mother, Gerry Azar; his stepfather, Mike Azar; and a sister.

Visitation for Mr. Jordan will be from 5 to 9 p.m. Tuesday at the Carter- Rick funeral home in Winfield, Mo.

Services will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday in the funeral home, and will be immediately followed by a service in the Athletic Center in Foley, Mo. A memorial service will be held Wednesday evening at the Pub Drinking Company and Spaghetti House, in St. Charles, Mo.


That is from

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1992-09-01/news/9203190552_1_mr-jordan-foley-singer-and-songwriter

Subject: RE: Help: Mike Jordan (Lazy River, Sweet on Sugar
From: GUEST,#
Date: 26 Jun 14 - 09:39 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7blmJbopzig

Subject: RE: Help: Mike Jordan (Lazy River, Sweet on Sugar
From: GUEST
Date: 16 Aug 15 - 10:44 PM

Hi, I have searched for years to get copies of Mike's music. I was actually at his last performance at what is now called Big A's in St. Charles the night he passed away. A few years ago, I went to Big A's and asked if anyone knew how I could get his music knowing I would be lucky if anyone knew what I was talking about. (This was not my first attempt) I met a girl who said she had Indian Summer, Through the Window, and some other live recordings of his. She said if I would bring CD's to the bar, she would pick them up and record them for me and I could pick them up at a later date. I don't remember her name, but she did it! I have CD's she burned for me from her computer and I have it in my iTunes library. I feel fortunate to have any of his songs. One of the things Mike said during his last performance was that he was going to take a break for a few weeks and go to Alaska because his sister was getting married. He said if anything ever happened to him, she would probably be the only one who had his music. He never made it to her wedding and I always wondered if she would share his music. Obviously, she wasn't the only one who had his music since I was lucky enough to get some of it.

Subject: RE: Help: Mike Jordan (Lazy River, Sweet on Sugar
From: GUEST,Tom
Date: 05 Oct 17 - 04:08 PM

Huge fan of the late great Mike Jordan. He was an amazing, riveting entertainer, and simply one of a kind. The venue he played was the Pub Drinking Company and Spaghetti House...which became Rumples and is now called Bombshell Bar and Grill (Big A's is across the street). We weren’t friends, but we were acquaintances.

The first time I saw him, my girlfriend and I had wandered in off the street while he was playing one night in ’90 or ’91. The only seats available were right up against center stage, literally 3-4 feet from where he was sitting. We were uncomfortably close. Anyway, Mike finishes playing whatever he was playing, looks me straight in the eye and says into the mic: "How's my hair?" I was startled, but a half second later, the entire bar erupted in unison: "PERFECT!!!". He proceeded to pull out his harp and hop up onto the bar, dancing over beer mugs to one of his staples—a dog song called Blue. I was hooked, and darn near saw him every Friday or Saturday after that (oftentimes both) until his untimely death in ’92. He was filling the place to the gills so regularly that the bar owner bought the business next store and knocked out the wall to expand seating capacity. Mike was killed that first weekend of the opening of the “new room”.

I was there for his last show. There were 2 strange coincidences related to his death, which I’ve never forgotten. First, he referenced his own death two separate times during his final show (he mentioned that-should he die-his songs would all belong to his sister in Alaska, and then later mentioned that-should he die-he wanted his ashes scattered on the Old Monroe baseball diamond, at the SS position). Second, he was killed on his beloved Highway 79 (two lanes that twist and turn and bend) and the name of the driver who hit him head-on was named Robert Michael Jordan. Bizarre.

I bought his Through The Window album on eBay years ago, and have also managed to lay hands on a Rockamatics cassette, his Indian Summer cassette, an 11 song unmastered cassette called Love and Affection, and a live recording of ~20 songs from a show at the Spaghetti House. Even with these tapes, there are many many excellent songs that Mike wrote that I cannot locate, and their memory is barely alive but slipping away from the recesses of my memory. He had a song called Believin’ In The End that was just beautiful. 25 years after his death, I still miss him, and recognize him as one of the best entertainers I have ever seen.

Subject: RE: Help: Mike Jordan (Lazy River, Sweet on Sugar
From: GUEST,Mark Arnold
Date: 26 May 18 - 11:31 AM

Wow, this thread. Don't know if anyone is paying attention anymore but I'm playing Winery of the Little Hills tonight and am looking for the lyric to One More Whiskey....
I played the Pub House many, many times and other main st. venues. Used to play with Mark Wood a bit and did quite a few Mike J. songs but it's been 20 odd years ago and my lyric memory is hazy on a few.

Subject: RE: Help: Mike Jordan (Lazy River, Sweet on Sugar
From: Helen
Date: 26 May 18 - 04:43 PM

Nice thread. And another debt we owe to our dear departed Art Thieme.

Lyrics:

One More Whiskey and Water

Daniel Donovan Farrow says this about the song:
This is the only song on the album that I didn’t write. It was written by Mike Jordan, a musician from St. Louis who found some success playing in Chicago, first as a folksinger and then as a rocker; he is remembered with great fondness in Chicago, and in the old music scene in St. Charles, where I first heard about him and this song. It was on a cassette, one of the few that were in circulation, and I had to promise to return it after making a copy. I was quite taken by this number, and felt right away that it was the perfect bar song. Just as David Allan Coe has his ‘perfect country-and-western song’ (You Never Even Call Me By My Name), this is the perfect bar song. It has everything a bar song should have: a little place around the corner, a typical bar name, a juke box, a bar tab and knowing everyone in the joint. And that’s just the first verse. The rest is there, too, whiskey and cigarettes, lost loves, and stale jokes. In the last verse, it’s one for the road while he finds his car keys.

Ironically, Mike Jordan was killed late one Saturday night in 1992 on his way home from a gig, by a drunk driver coincidentally named Robert Michael Jordan. It was two days before his 38th birthday; in his last performance on the night of the accident, he made two unusual ‘in case I die’ comments. It’s not the way we want to go, on the way home from a gig. When I learned this song, I put a lot of effort into trying to play and sing it just like he did – I knew that I would be playing it in front of people who had actually known him, and I didn’t want to offend or disappoint. As far as music rights or publishing rights, I really don’t know if there’s anything in existence. At the very least, I’m trying to preserve a great song by a great songwriter.

One More Whiskey and Water - cover version

Subject: RE: Help: Mike Jordan (Lazy River, Sweet on Sugar
From: GUEST
Date: 12 Jan 19 - 05:35 PM

just stumbled on this thread. I have some recordings of Mike that I made in the 70s @ barbaros in chgo..

Subject: RE: Help: Mike Jordan (Lazy River, Sweet on Sugar
From: GUEST,Tom Christopher
Date: 02 Aug 19 - 07:14 PM

Please post ANYTHING “Mike Jordan”, I miss this man terribly... he was an angel in my life once, when I couldn’t buy a friend. His music is medicine to my life still. I’ve been searching for recordings for over 20 years, since my cassettes were destroyed by inferior technology.
If you have Indian Summer and/or others, I’d gladly pay you for copies!
Tom Christopher
[e-mail]

Subject: RE: Help: Mike Jordan (Lazy River, Sweet on Sugar
From: GUEST,Guy desperatel looking for Indian summer rec
Date: 25 Aug 19 - 06:30 PM

3rd weird coincidence regarding his death was that he was deathly afraid of snakes, and the kid that hit him had a snake painted down the side of the car he was driving... dunno if this is in fact true honestly.

Subject: RE: Help: Mike Jordan (Lazy River, Sweet on Sugar
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Jun 20 - 02:28 AM

watching the john prine tribute tonight made me google mike (again). in the mid-80s i lived on lincoln and did a lot of day-drinking at orphans. I had such a huge crush on mike i would go there just to let him bum marlboros off me. rip

Subject: RE: Help: Mike Jordan (Lazy River, Sweet on Sugar
From: GUEST,Jonathan Vadnais
Date: 02 Sep 20 - 10:32 PM

My father used to own the Pup Drinking Company where Mike would play in St. Charles. As far as I know he has 5-6 CDs that Mike recorded there. I'll see if I can find out that information from him and if he still has them.

[e-mail]