User:Michael Case
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Michael Case Fine Electric Guitarist Copyright (c) 2006 Michael Case
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Exposure to show business started with Michael at a very young age. His grandfather, Lou Coggins, lost his right arm to a fireworks accident when he was age five, leaving Lou determined to play piano anyway. Sheer fierce determination caused Lou to become an oddity as a "one armed song plugger", entertaining anyone around by performing the sheet music of the latest pop songs of the day. Lou’s enthusiasm later led to a long partnership with song and dance comedian Jimmy Durante as Jimmy's schedule manager. Lou's son, Mike Case Sr. got his start in show business as a makeup man painting Munchkin's faces on the set of The Wizard of Oz in Hollywood in 1939. Mr. Durante took a liking to Mike Case Sr. and arranged to have him hired as a stage manager for the Kate Smith Show during early NBC television broadcasts in New York in the late 1940’s. Kate earned fame and fortune singing her Number One hit "God Bless America". Kate's approval led to a step up for Mike Sr. to Assistant Director of the Eddie Fisher Show. Mike later spent long hours creatively solving various technical problems of lighting and set design during early NBC TV color tests in New York City in the mid 1950's. Mike’s direct supervisor was Pat Weaver, an icon at NBC (as well as Sigourney Weaver’s father.) A big break came when he earned the job of Director of the mink giveaway game show called "The Big Payoff" on CBS in 1960 starring former 1948 Miss America model Bess Meyerson. The "good life" ended during the game show scandals that affected all such shows in the early sixties. Young Michael Case was born into this world and very early on saw the ups and downs of show business. Jimmy Durante, a loyal and kindhearted friend of the family, was Michael Case’s actual "Godfather" on the day of his birth.
Michael Case's mother; Grace Houston, was a Rockette at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall in the late 1930's. Originally planning to become a ballerina, she was thrown into a vaudeville dancer's life to survive during the depression. Other jobs included a lengthy run as a chorus dancer in "On Your Toes" starring Ray Bolger. Wanting to educate herself and to escape the grueling uncertainty of a "gypsy", she studied all she could about costume design and later designed costumes and gowns for many Broadway stage shows and films. She costumed Ronald Reagan on the General Electric Theatre; jazz singer Julie London, and a young soft spoken brown-haired actress named Marilyn Monroe. Grace claims that Barbara Stanwick was the nicest person in show biz she’d ever met. She costume designed “The Milton Berle Show” on live TV for four years. Grace’s jobs on films include: "Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid"; "Naked City"; "Love Happy" with The Marx Brothers and "Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein". She also brought in extra money by playing standards on piano in local NYC and LA nightclubs.
Michael’s parents were separated when he was age 10 and young Mike vowed never to be involved in show business... but all that changed when he checked a record out of the library called "Play Guitar with The Ventures" at age 13. Early acoustic church music gatherings gave way to teen nightclub alcohol-free zones and school dances. Michael has since played countless gigs ranging from smoky saloons to grand ballrooms. He was chosen as 1st pit orchestra guitarist for the musical "Godspell" in Seattle; worked in a pop-rock band while in the Navy in Tokyo Japan, and entertained shipmates at sea 7 miles off the coast of Viet Nam during the Fall of Saigon. Mike's first music jobs in San Diego were with an all African-American soul group called Starfire in southeast San Diego, a nine-piece unit he stayed with for 2 1/2 years. Michael has shared the stage with the late blues legend Z Z Hill, and has accompanied blues recording artist Rosie Flores and local coffeehouse diva Mary Dolan.
During the 1980’s, Michael had begun serious training as a Modern Ballet/Jazz Dancer, taking master classes with the leading choreographers in San Diego at the time. While simultaneously singing and dancing in musical theatre productions directed by Bill Virchis, Michael performed in various shows as an apprentice to the Johanna Weikel Dance Company at Southwestern College. These efforts led to a dance scholarship at Stage Seven, a prestigious school run by Estelle Mahy in the heart of downtown.
Other San Diego bands included new wave act Girl Talk; and The Cokers, a rockabilly band that was given a favorable critique by notorious LA record producer Kim Fowley. Michael appeared on frequent double bills with Dan McLain before he was known as "Country Dick Montana" of The Beat Farmers. Later local acts and guitarist-for-hire gigs included Jet Jetty; Nasty Habit; Rebecca and the Benders; Jerry Burchard; Lisa Winston; Double Deal; Stevie Lynn's Bordercrossing; Blues Brokers; Christina Fasano; Camille Armstrong; Googaloo; Candice Graham; Winky featuring Krista Oliver; Bill MaGee Blues Band; and Art Deco and the New Era. Michael is a substitute guitarist for San Diego’s own world touring popular dance band Liquid Blue.
As a star-struck kid, Michael Case once sat across a Manhattan lunch counter from famed chain-smoking choreographer Bob Fosse and dined in another NYC restaurant a few feet away from Ethel Merman and a hilariously inebriated Art Carney. Michael was given honest show-biz encouragement while autograph seeking from Dick Van Dyke. He once sold a retail telephone to Jerry Lewis.
Presently, Michael Case counts among his many influences guitarists Jimi Hendrix, George Harrison, Joni Mitchell, and the legendary late jazz guitarist Barney Kessel, whom he’s had the pleasure to meet and talk music with. Michael has his own coffeehouse R&B/Jazz solo act that is suitable for intimate gatherings where low volume, pleasant ambience and elegant decorum are preferred.
