By Steve Morse, Globe Staff, 7/15/2003
The Paradise was rocking last night, as Boston musicians said goodbye to one of their most beloved enthusiasts, Mikey Dee. The club's marquee spelled out his name, and he was further honored with a New Orleans-style parade from the Marsh Chapel at Boston University (where he was eulogized) all the way up Commonwealth Avenue to the Paradise, where musicians from Kay Hanley to Aaron Perrino and Kenne Highland sang in his memory.
It was a night that Dee, who died at age 40 last week after a bout with pneumonia, would have loved, right down to the preconcert tapes that featured songs by his local power-pop favorites, Permafrost and Miles Dethmuffen, as compiled by his colleague at WMFO (91.5 FM), Douglas Dinsmoor.
''This is unprecedented for the Paradise,'' said club manager Jeff Marshall. ''It's a chance to give back to Mikey some of the light he brought to the community.''
The giveback started with a moving memorial service at Marsh Chapel, where Dee's friends in the Boston Rock Opera sang the Beatles' ''Golden Slumbers'' medley and induced tears in most of the several hundred attendees. Other chapel performances came from Ad Frank (singing Rory McLeod's ''Song for Busking Ronnie'') and Ramona Silver, who did her sweetly phrased ''Honeydew.'' The minister, the Rev. Hailani Chan-Williams, also sang a spiritual, while Dee's sister, Shari Linick, recalled her brother's inquisitive mind. Dee's friend, Pete Sutton, said that Dee would have wanted us ''to do the best we can to stay in touch with each other.'' And then drummer Mickey Bones led the parade to the Paradise, where Hanley sang the Beatles' ''You Can't Do That'' in Dee's honor. And a surprise reunion set was given by another Dee fave, Curious Ritual.
This story ran on page E3 of the Boston Globe on 7/15/2003.
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