Mingering Mike Returns!

Creates LP art for soulsters Kings Go Forth; MP3 below.

By Fred Mills

A few years ago, when BLURT was a little ol' rock magazine called Harp, we ran a story about the so-called "imaginary soul superstar" Mingering Mike, a kind of outsider artist from D.C. who for years had created hand-drawn record sleeves for his non-existent back catalog - that is, as the "performer" Mingering Mike he'd "released" a slew of soul and funk albums and singles over the years, as "evidenced" by the extant artwork.

There never was any actual music, of course, but the sleeves themselves were a prime example of classic outsider art that, upon being discovered at a flew market in 2003 by a curious crate digger, wound up getting compiled in a Mingering Mike book and displayed in art galleries.

Neil Strauss of the New York Times told the story of Mingering Mike in a wonderful 2004 piece - check it out here. It's pretty fascinating. The book's readily available at Amazon as well.

Now comes news that Mingering Mike has created his first "real" sleeve art for the Milwaukee soul combo Kings Go Forth. It's displayed above. Titled The Outsiders Are Back, the album is due April 20 from Luaka Bop. Oliver Wang's esteemed Soul-Sides.com blog has some further details on the band and Mike here.

Meanwhile, check out this smoking MP3 from the band in which they channel their inner Curtis Mayfield: "One Day"

(Above photo of Mingering Mike from Toolbox DC. You can read more from ‘em here.)