Ship shape
For Elliott Michaels, the "Professor' of Little Five Points, a life in music
by Roni Sarig
- aJim Stawniak
- MASTER AND COMMANDER: Elliott Michaels rocks the boat with Galleon.
But New Year's Eve 2003 was different. It would be exactly 30 years since Elliott Michaels played his first professional gig: New Year's Eve 1973, at a Chinese restaurant in Brooklyn, N.Y., not far from where he was born. The gig, featuring the 17-year-old Michaels and his band, Time of Survival, "was a disaster," he recalls.
But, good or bad, an anniversary is an anniversary. So Michaels picked up the phone and called Ted Lathangue, who runs 9 Lives Saloon in Little Five Points.
Ted first met Elliott years back, when Lathangue worked at Clark Music on Ponce de Leon Avenue and spied an odd Benjamin Franklin-looking guy with a guitar case in hand, waiting at a bus stop outside. When Lathangue started booking 9 Lives, Michaels volunteered to play. While the pudgy, fortysomething Michaels isn't your typical 9 Lives fare, Lathangue gave him a shot. Soon, Lathangue was inviting Michaels on stage to sing Rolling Stones and Foreigner covers with his own band, Bitch, who've long held a Wednesday night residency at the club. At one point, Michaels became the centerpiece of Bitch theme nights -- called "Professor Elliott and Bitch's School of Rock and Roll."
When Lathangue heard about his friend's impending 30th anniversary milestone, he booked Galleon to open 9 Lives' New Year's celebration.
The gig, it turns out, went fairly well. Galleon probably took the stage a little early in the night to draw a big crowd. But it felt good to be up there playing. Performing always feels good to Michaels, but this time was particularly good. Because it was his 30th anniversary, and because Galleon feels like it's beginning to pick up momentum.
"I think 2004," Michaels says with no hint of doubt, "is going to be a very good year for us."
A week after New Year's, Michaels sits outside the two-room apartment he has rented in the Old Fourth Ward for the past four years. Inside it's a mess: Newspapers and plastic grocery bags are strewn everywhere, like what you might expect from someone who has always lived alone and never cared much for the trappings of domesticity.
But outside on a plain wooden chair, Michaels is the model of decorum. He's postured upright, hands resting on his lap. And when he leans forward to talk, he speaks with the absolutely clear articulation of an Ivy League orator.
"I'm 47," he says. "Or to put it in layman's terms, I'm old enough to know better and young enough not to give a damn.
"I've been doing jobs in the secretarial and clerical area for quite some time," he says, though he's been out of work since last spring. "But I don't consider it who and what I am."
Who and what Michaels is: a person who makes music. Not, mind you, a person with overwhelmingly apparent musical talent, or someone who has ever come close to making a living from playing music. And he's not a person bound for stardom -- though, after 30 years, it still remains among the possibilities Michaels imagines for himself.
He's a person who makes music, and that's all. It's his passion, and he does what he's passionate about. Because, in Michaels' cosmology, what else is there?
If you've spent any amount of time at 9 Lives in recent years, or across the street at the Star Bar, there's a good chance you've seen Elliott. Amid all the tattoos, piercings and leather, he stands out: He's the middle-aged guy wearing a cardigan or collared shirt and slacks -- looking far more like, say, Dick Cheney than your typical L5P scenester.
If he's on stage with Galleon, he's the guy singing no-frills classic-style rock -- songs of inspiration ("Open Up Your Soul") and love ("Options") -- interspersed with dramatic exhortations to the audience: "Sit back and get ready for the ride of your life, for this is rock 'n' roll at its high watermark." If he's not on stage, he's the guy rocking out in the audience, enjoying the band -- whatever band -- more than you are.
"He comes out and supports everyone, whether it's a hard rock band, a nu metal band, a stoner band, a girl group, whatever," 9 Lives' Lathangue says.
Lathangue considers Michaels a friend. But he's not going to lie, the dude is weird -- even Michaels himself will cop to that. Mostly, Michaels' weirdness is a function of his looking so out of place in the place he most chooses to be. But there's also a deeper incongruence. His demeanor, his articulation -- it suggests someone transported through time from an earlier, more formal and chivalrous era. He's been known to kiss women on the hand.
Comments (3)
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Hi, there! I just happened to schmooze through this section to find the article on us so I could promote our band, when I noticed that someone calling himself "Billy Shears" - and lacking any grammar or spelling ability besides - wrote a comment accusing me of plaigarism and egotism. First of all, I categorically deny these accusations. I wrote or co-wrote all the material I claim to have written or co-written. Also, as for these other names "Shears" has mentioned, such as Steve Rondell, Joseph Bolnick, Scott Tuchband and Mark Filowitz, if they are the real writers of this material, why aren't any of them doing anything with the material? Why am I the only artist out there who considers these songs worth singing and playing? Why aren't they using these songs to their own advantage? More importantly, if "Shears" is telling the truth (which he isn't!), why doesn't he use his real name instead of using a phony name? Could it be that he knows he's telling a bold-faced lie to try to discredit me out of shear jealousy? Doesn't he have more important things to do in his little world?
Furthermore, let's get one thing very straight: My real name is ELLIOTT CHRISTOPHER MICHAELS. Yes, I was born Maxwell Elliott Ogur, but I never liked that name and I had it legally changed to ELLIOTT CHRISTOPHER MICHAELS. That is a much better name and it much more accuratly suits me and my Messianic faith! So please, "Billy," or whoever you really are, stop living in the past and learn to refer to me as ELLIOTT ... or better yet, MISTER MICHAELS! Show me some respect for still being an active and aspiring musician after all these years. If you don't like the way I sing and play, oh, well, perhaps you're the one with dubious musical taste. I think the Beatles, whom you obviously admire, would enjoy the songs I and my band GALLEON perform ... especially my newer material such as "Options" and "Parting Shot," both of which I wrote here in Atlanta long after I lost touch with anyone I knew in New York!
If you want to meet me face to face and discuss this matter more directly, why not come on out to the Star Bar in Atlanta on Saturday evening July 26!? I will be performing there that evening as part of a "Christmas in July" benefit for the family of a Star Bar bartender whose father recently suffered a stroke. I'm doing something to help people here in Atlanta, just as I did in New York and Los Angeles; what are you doing!? Don't call me a phony; I'm not hiding behind the name "Billy Shears"!
Sincerely,
ELLIOTT CHRISTOPHER MICHAELS
Leader, GALLEON!
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Hey, Shears, you are obviously a sad, lonely & bitter person who hasn't got a whit of talent or any kind of life. If the only way to make yourself feel good is to invent slandersous lies about your superiors, then I feel deeply sorry for you. You are pathetic. I know Elliott VERY well; I am his girlfriend & a member of his band & I assure you, his wonderful original songs WERE written by him & when he covers someone else's songs, he always gives the songwriter credit. Too bad you don't know the difference between being an egomaniac & having pride in one's accomplishments. And how can you insult Elliott's voice? He sings like an angel! Clearly you are jealous & wish YOU had something going for you. Get a life, sweetie!
HELLO, I AM SCOTT TUCHBAND, FRIEND OF ELLIOTT MICHAELS OF "GALLEON".
I WAS MADE AWARE OF THIS SLANDEROUS ARTICLE OR COMMENT OR WHATEVER YOU WANT TO CALL IT BY ELLIOTT MICHAELS HIMSELF, AND I AM PERSONALLY OUTRAGED! HOW DARE YOU USE MY NAME WITHOUT MY PERMISSION ON THE INTERNET!!!
I HAVE KNOWN ELLIOTT SINCE 1976, AND I CAN PERSONALLY ATTEST TO HIS SINCERITY, HONESTY AND INTEGRITY!
WHOEVEVER WROTE THIS REDICULOUS COMMENT MUST BE A VERY JEALOUS PERSON! I PERSONALLY AS A CO-WRITER OF SOME OF THE SONGS MENTIONED, STAND BEHIND ELLIOTT 100%
I APPLAUDE ELLIOTT AND HIS STEADFAST DEVOTION TO HIS ART!
HIS VOCALS AND GUITAR PLAYING HAVE IMPROVED THROUGH THE YEARS AND HE SHINES AS A TRUE ARTIST IN HIS GROUP GALLEON. I URGE ALL YOU PEOPLE TO GO SEE AND SUPPORT HIM IN HIS EFFORTS. HE IS A GOOD AND HONEST AND CARING PERSON, AND DID NOT DESERVE THE TERRIBLE THINGS SAID OF HIM. I AM SURE MY FRIEND AND BROTHER MARK FILOWITZ FEELS THE SAME AS I DO. WE BOTH SUPPORT AND WILL ALWAYS SUPPORT ELLIOTT IN WHATEVER HE DOES!
P.S. WHOEVER "BILLY SHEARS" IS YOU DO NOT KNOW HOW TO SPELL ELLIOTT.
IT IS WITH 2 T'S NOT ONE!!! YOU IDIOT!!!!
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