Mike, Jim and Felix (courtesy of Jim Tallon)

Created by Nephew Mark 11 years ago
I hope you can add the attached picture to the website you set up for your Uncle Mike. Mike, Felix Cavaliere, and I were roommates at the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity house, 310 Walnut Place, in Syracuse NY, in the early ‘60s. This picture was taken in Nashville, Tennessee in August 1990. As Mike no doubt told you, one of life’s early and great pleasures was listening to Felix pound out great rock ‘n’ roll on the fraternity piano. He could do a great Ray Charles or Dion or any number of other stars of the era. Mike could sing a good back-up vocal. Mike and I were not surprised when Felix, as lead singer of the Rascals, made it often to the charts of sixties hits. The group made it to the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in the ‘90s. Several years ago, Felix was elected also to the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame. Just before his death, Mike and I talked about the Rascals’ planned December 2012 reunion concerts, which I attended, carrying Mike’s spirit into the room. A couple of years ago, I spent a day with Felix, and we recalled our times with Mike. Your Uncle was an unrelenting force. When he, Felix, and I were together so many years ago, the spirit of civil rights and personal freedom challenged the status quo. Mike was a believer in change. We all took pleasure that one of the Rascals’ greatest hits was “People Gotta Be Free” (1968). In later years, the irrepressible writer in Mike took up regular correspondence with both my wife Norma and our middle son, also Michael, who is a writer and edits a magazine in Guatemala. My Michael knew a fellow creative spirit when he connected with your uncle. Referring again to the Rascals, Mike’s last words to me were, “Keep on Groovin’.” Jim Tallon

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