Tuesday, July 8, 2003
It was simple: If you knew Mikey Dee, you loved him.
The best cheerleader the Boston music scene has ever had, Dee, who was born Michael Linick, died Sunday at Lawrence General Hospital from complications from a stroke he suffered in February 2000.
``The local music scene has lost one of its shining stars,'' said WBCN-FM (104.1) local music director Shred. ``He just lit up a room. He had so much positive energy, he just loved this music scene.''
And events that happened in the three-plus years since his stroke showed how much members of the local music community loved Dee. After a brainstem stroke in 2000 - which left him ``locked-in,'' immobilized and unable to speak but cognitively intact - local rockers went to work on his behalf.In May 2000 and 2001 there were the multinight, multivenue ``For the Benefit of Mr. Dee'' shows, in which hundreds of musicians banded together at dozens of gigs to repay his generosity and help cover the costs of his care. Memorable gigs included a doubleheader of Buffalo Tom and Letters to Cleo and a Boston Rock Opera run-through of ``Abbey Road.''
Dee earned the musicians' respect as a veritable font of positivity and musical knowledge, becoming an important figure on the local rock scene for more than 15 years.
The good-natured and funny drummer/man-about-town played in several bands, including Butterscott and the Willard Grant Conspiracy. As associate editor for the music 'zine ``The Noise,'' he often gave bands their first ink.
Others got their first airplay during his WMFO-FM (91.5) show ``On the Town.'' Many performed with him in Boston Rock Opera productions. And he worked in radio and artist promotions for the Boston-based music-management firm the Planetary Group.
But most people knew Dee from his constant club-hopping, as he rocked out with true fan glee.
``It was almost a given he would be wherever you went,'' says Eleanor Ramsay, director of the Boston Rock Opera. ``We used to wonder if he was cloning himself.''
Singer-songwriter Bleu appreciated Dee, ``not because he was so powerful or had some big job but because he was the ultimate supporter and fan. He made things different here; it's not going to be the same without him.''
Pills frontman Corin Ashley said, ``If he championed a new band, he would write about them, play them on the radio and tell all his friends about them - obsessively and incessantly. He would talk to me about my band as if we were a very important, valuable project and really helped me see the noble tradition of Boston rock bands.''
Linda Viens, vocalist with the Boston Rock Opera and Crown Electric Company, agrees: ``He would just always give people the truth, and so the way the people came together around him was just one of the most profound things I've ever seen.''
That coming together included singalongs in the common areas of the hospitals he stayed in, reunion gigs by favorite bands including the Barnies - which Dee got out to see - and a Hall of Fame trophy from the Boston Music Awards in 2001.
Viens, Ramsay and others also transformed themselves into ``Team Dee'' - making it their business to ensure Dee's comfort, manage his care, organize the benefit concerts and visit him constantly.
M.A. Ricciardi, another ``Team Dee'' member, wrote a piece on him for Stroke Connection magazine last month: ``He helped so many bands before his stroke and I know he helped so many people after his stroke, with information, with inspiration, with perspective on your own problem and with his determination to try and get better.''
Adam Lewis, Dee's boss at the Planetary Group and a primary force behind the benefit shows, says funeral and memorial plans will be finalized this week. He expects there will be musical tributes around the time of Dee's birthday in September.
``Nothing celebrates Mikey's life more than music,'' says Lewis. ``May his memory always remind us of why we do what we do.''