He was one funky dude.
Let me introduce you to Michael Coleman. Ken and I never missed Chicago guitar bluesman Michael Coleman’s gigs. He’d been blues harmonica legend James Cotton’s band leader and played the kind of funky blues that had people on the dance floor after the first few bars of a song.
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Michael lived for his booty shakers.
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I’m in a band and Michael loved my singing. He’d call me up on stage every time we came to see him. Once he asked me to come on a European tour with his band the Backbreakers. I declined ’cause I was in love with watching my daughter grow up. Plus, I figured I’d have come back with a Santa sack full of bad habits and a nasty cough. Nightly 4-set gigs in smoky bars with bad food and catch-it-when-you-can sleep is hard on a person.
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Michael was at the Slippery Noodle bar in Indianapolis one night and came to sit with us on break. He was looking snappy in the whitest pair of athletic shoes I’d ever seen. He’d also lost 150 pounds. He still had a few bad habits though including the shot of Jack Daniels sitting before him on the table. Hard to work in bars all the time and resist the bad habits, bad food and good alcohol.
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At one point, Michael asked how long Ken and I had been married. Although we were both divorced, we’d never talked about getting married. “Nope, not married,” I laughed. Michael asked me why not. “He never asked me,” I said nodding at Ken.
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“What?! Marry me,” Michael demanded.
“Now wait just a minute,” Ken said quickly.
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I’ve been surprised by conversations in my life but this one was my favorite. I mean, come on! I gave Michael’s proposal a serious thought for 2 seconds before I thanked him and shook my head no. I’d never really consider being without Ken.
Michael died in 2014 at the age of 58, 7 months after we saw him at the Noodle. I was furious when I got the news. What a waste. Years earlier he thought he was having a stroke. Friends took him to the emergency room where he was diagnosed with a blood sugar level so high, they weren’t sure he’d make it. Not only was he an undiagnosed diabetic but his kidneys were shot.
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He’d bypassed going to the doctor for so many years because he didn’t have health insurance and couldn’t afford it. This still makes me pissed. He eventually got on Medicaid for dialysis and his diabetes checkups. But by then the life stealing damage was done.
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Michael taught me a lot about being present at a performance with a band and the crowd. He always knew what was going on in the room and made lots of eye contact with the audience when he played. He knew you had to be confident that you were the best and act accordingly.
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Today, June 24 (it’s 2021 as I’m writing this) would have been his 65th birthday. I miss him more than I can say. But I just know he’s got one funky blues band together in heaven to jam for the celebration.
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