A random email from a Twisted Tunes fan a few years ago has evolved into a personal friendship with one of the most interesting, entertaining, and intelligent people I have ever met.
That says a lot, when you consider that for close to 40 years, people have been bringing me interesting, entertaining and intelligent people to talk to every day of the week. That was our job.
Michael “Misha” Shengaout (we’ll just call him by his artist name Misha), emailed me out of nowhere saying that he was a big fan of mine and wondered if he could meet whoever I was working with to make Twisted Tunes, as he was planning a concept album. He wanted it to have great production values.
Oh, and he had just been diagnosed with Stage 4 Cancer. His reaction was that he wanted to try and make the best and most important music of his life. He wanted to set an example for anyone with a terminal illness. But he did not tell me that.
Cynical Bob Rivers wrestled with whether to bother Ben Karlstrom, who’s quite busy, with something that’s rarely great. Original songs that stand up today are rare, even though it seems that everyone has the tools to participate. Where’s the Soul? Where’s the personal pain and joy in lyrical poetry?
But, I had a gut feeling.
At around the same time, I was diagnosed with Stage 4 Cancer too. And lost a dear friend in Alan White. As his celebration of life was being planned, I offered to help and maybe mix some live songs that might evolve into a film someday. This project has become for me, like “Misha’s” mission.
So when I of course hit up Ben Karlstrom to help me with this project, he said he was a few month’s behind, finishing up the project for “Misha”. Thanks for the reference, he said “Misha” is a great guy!
That is how we met, about a year ago.
Today’s stage 4 cancer survival rates are improving, largely it seems, to new and better drugs and immunotherapies. What used to be a projected survival of moths, now can add precious years. Or not. And we all live scan to scan. The “report card” comes every 3 months.
And boy does that change your perspective on so many things. We talk a lot about that.
Misha and his studio band are nothing typical. His 87 year old piano teacher who happens to be his mom, plays the piano. His studio band is a world class gritty set of musicians who serve every song like it’s the best meal at a ten star restaurant.
But be prepared. They are different in a “Russian meets American” vibe, which might seem unusual. Until you remember that we are all one species of People on One Planet… and every one of us will one day walk the path to The End Of The Road.
As we take that path, or stairway (nod to Led Zeppelin) what matters the most?
You are invited to contact Misha to see his blog posts, email him, request him as a guest on your podcast, and even set up a video chat.
Support Misha with $8 month membership at his Patreon:
https://patreon.com/MishaElements
Follow Misha on Social Media:
— Six Eléments site : https://sixelementsmusic.com
— YouTube: https://youtube.com/@MishaElements
— Facebook: https://facebook.com/MishaElements
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– BobRivers.com: https://bobrivers.com/the-bob-rivers-show-20240822
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