How I Met Mike Pinder.
Mike Pinder, co-founder and keyboardist of the ‘Moody Blues’ has passed.
The Moody Blues filled FM radio airwaves in the 1970s.
Spinning the arrival of a Moody Blues album was a poetic sonic journey.
Mike Pinder was a unique and essential element of their music.
He left the band and the U.K. in the late 70s, settling in our Northern California foothill community.
My brother, wife, and I ran a stereo shop in the Sierra foothills in the 1970s and 80s.
That’s where I first met Mike.
Saturday Morning
It was a typical busy Saturday morning at the shop … 1980?
We greeted customers at the front counter — handled questions, repair-pickups/drop-offs, and luckily wrote up a sale or two.
That morning, a man walked up to our busy counter.
He asked if he could listen to our selection of headphones.
We grabbed several and walked to the quiet of our sound room.
I set up a Thorens turntable, a Grado cartridge, and a Kenwood integrated amplifier.
I offered him a selection of a dozen plus albums.
He was pleased and began to listen in private.
I returned to our humming front counter.
Breath Deep
15 or 20 minutes later, he returned to our counter.
He held a headphone pair and said, “I’ll take these.”
I grabbed a new boxed pair from the shelf behind the counter.
And I began to write up the sale on a blank invoice.
I asked his name. He answered, Michael Pinder.
As I wrote his name, I hesitated and commented, that’s also the name of the Moody Blues keyboardist.
He did not respond. I questioningly looked at him. He grudgingly broke a slight smile.
Then I said, breath deep.
That’s part of a line in the spoken poem from the Moody Blues classic “Nights in White Satin.”
With several customers, my brother, and our good friend/repair tech also standing at the counter.
He recited the poem in his deep and powerful voice.
It was awe-inspiring.
We gave him a standing ovation.
That’s how I met Mike Pinder.
Mike became a revered customer and friend of the store.
He shared music, stories, and his audio expertise.
He was unpretentious, grounded, intelligent, spiritual, and amazingly talented.
Mike Pinder was most importantly a good family man.
That’s It!
Check out these links for fun.
Prog Magazine Band Interview
Guitar World offers the 25 greatest classic Moody Blues songs.
Wikipedia Moody Blues summary.
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