Episode 181: Mikey Wheeler
Mikey Wheeler is a son, a brother, a husband, a father, a musician, and a tattoo artist. He's also my guest for Episode No. 181.
Every now and again I wax emotional about what a good human with whom I've had the privilege of sitting on the other side of the table of, and when I do so it is 100 percent not in an effort to speak any less of the other fine folks that've been kind enough to join me.
We've all got a story or stories. We've all rowed the channels of life in one form or other.
Being that this show is what this show is, though, it's difficult to manage my time wisely enough to get folks to sit in the chair opposite mine. And it's a whole other cart of magic beans to land someone that's as sharp, articulate, benevolent, and wise as the likes of a Mikey Wheeler.
I said this while we were rolling, and I don't want to ruin anything by repeating any thing that doesn't warrant it, but this one's an exception: Shouts out to Mikey's mom, Debra, his siblings and his grandma and his uncle. Shouts out to the friends and bandmates Mikey's made along the way. Shouts out to his wife and all his work homeys, too. This is a conversationalist, and were I of the means to launch a podcast network, I'd try to get Mikey to be a part of that content with some consistency.
Mikey earns his living inking humans and he does so down at Windhorse Tattoo. The joint's visible online at windhorserising.com, and you can roll your IRL bones in there at 901 E. 31st Street in downtown KCMO. Give them a buzz at 816-283-0500, and toss 'em a follow on the old IG at @windhorsetattoo. At this very moment, I can't personally speak to the fruits of Mikey's labor, but he's got a handful of repeat customers, is perpetually acquiring new, and -- per our conversation -- he's booked out six to eight months. So if you've ever been on the fence and one of your hesitations has been because you don't know who to go to in Kansas City, pick up the phone and call Windhorse; I suspect they can set you straight.
Anyway...Mikey and I talked about the wild life experience of growing up in a way that didn't necessarily look like that of those around you but winding up grateful for the very manner in which it happened, regardless.
We talked hoops, tatts, Steely Dan, Slint, Mike Patton projects, the glorious benefit of attending absolutely dynamite shows where everyone present is just jazzed to the gills about being there. We talked about the idea of there being two kinds of people -- those who care about humanity + everyone else -- on this planet. We man-crushed over Daniel Day-Lewis like a couple of goobers, and we talked about being in bands and making music.
It was awesome.
Follow the dude on Instagram at @mikeywheelertattooer, and stay tuned for the entirety of our chat; I don't typically edit much out, anyway, but this one clicked the whole way through. It'll be worth your time.
copyright disclaimer: I don't own the rights to the audio clips contained within these episodes. In this one particularly, I lifted snippets from a tune called, "Theme from the Bottom." It's a track from the 1996 record, Billy Breathes, that the greatest band in American rock history, Phish, released, c/o of Elektra Entertainment Group. I'm not doing anything non-Fair Use here, though, YouTube, so please stop blocking me from receiving the monetary sums I'm not yet qualified to earn.
Thank you.