Somebody Cool.

Mike Lummio

aka. Jellybean, The Finch, The Milkman
...coatless, shoeless and hatless--
Mr. Cleanhead Sssssssimmons!

Have you ever met someone who is good at everything? You have now. Artist and warrior, survivalist and gourmand, musician and painter, and now, having recently graduated summa cum laude -- biologist. He's also a hell of an impressionist, equally adept at reproducing for your amusement both Damon Wayans and Joe Montegna. The first time Mike and I met, we, along with our friend, master saxophonist Carl Coan, made music for two spontaneous hours. That was one of the musical highlights of my life. Mike and I went on to form Cut To The Chase, and Art & Commerce Records, and have written and performed many songs together. As a writer, no one else comes close to his ability to create and communicate the deepest pain and greatest joy, real ecstasy and real agony, all the yin and all the yang. It's a rare gift. He also plays the guitar.

Twenty Questions: MIKE LUMMIO

1. What do you like most about what you do?

Learning and trying new things.

2. What do you wish you could change about yourself?

Thich Nhat Hanh says "To love is first of all to accept yourself as
you actually are", and he's a pretty happy dude.

3. Do you think others perceive you the way you perceive yourself?

I'm a lot sexier than most people think...YEAH BABY, YEAH!!!

4. If you could only have access to a total of 5 items, whether they
be books, albums, movies, sculptures or paintings-- which 5 would you
choose, and why?

A good knife-with a good knife you can make almost anything. A
satellite phone-so I can call everybody from anywhere. A good pen and
paper-I like to write. My flamenco guitar-it's the best instrument in
the world. My bow-I like to shoot things.

5. What, as opposed to who, has influenced you most?

College.

6. Do you do your best work when you're happy or not so happy? In
other words, do you think there's any validity to the old saw about an
artist having to suffer in order to successfully create?

If I'm ever happy, I'll let you know.

7. When you are not working, what do you do for fun?

Be outside.

8. When you are working, describe a typical work day (or night)?

It's always different, and that's the way I like it.

9. If you weren't a budding biologist, what would you most certainly
NOT have become?

A self-absorbed, rightwing, dumbass republican.

10. Where do you see yourself two years from now?

I think my interview in "Meet Somebody Cool" will rocket me to fame
and fortune. Look for me on the Italian Riviera.

11. If you were cloned, what would you want to write on the blank
slate of your new self? Or put another way, if you had been your own
parent, what would you have taught or exposed yourself to during the
course of your upbringing that you were not?

Live courageously and take advantage of every moment. Embarrassment is
nothing compared to regret.

12. If you had the power to put together the greatest band of all
time, who would the members of that band be?

I like songs more than I like players, so I guess my answer is "what
is this great band going to play?"

13. Limited to these two choices, would you rather be the fastest
runner in the world, or be able to run the longest distance?

Longest distance. If you go too fast, you miss the show.

14. What's the best song you've heard so far, and why?

Flamenco Sketches by Miles Davis. It's a perfect song, performed by
the perfect players, that I heard at the perfect time.

15. What's the worst pain in the world?

See question 11.

16. What's the best smell in the world?

Anything that has to do with fall (apple pie, woodsmoke, fresh leaves
on the ground, cedar split for firewood...). I also love the smell of
Pledge.

17. What's the saddest song of all time?

That's a tough one. Maybe "I Can't Make You Love Me" by Bonnie Raitt.

18. What's the greatest thing that ever happened to you?

Leaving Northwest Indiana for the real Northwest.

19. What's your LEAST favorite swear word?

I don't have one. There's so few words people understand these
days...I think you should use them all.

20. What should I have asked you?

"Did you know your keys fell behind the sofa?" That would have saved
me a lot of time.