Mike Knott had a profound influence on me especially during my teenage years in the early-to-mid 1980s as I was developing a love for music. It started with listening to music, seeing shows, and eventually grew to playing music, which continues to this day (I play guitar and bass) - and all of this was influenced by artists like Mike Knott. I recently starting to expand into recording my own music (not yet for public consumption, LOL). This is inspired mostly from a "do it yourself" (DIY) attitude, which brings me back to Knott: he is one of the most prolific artists I have ever known about. His catalog is amazingly diverse - just today in fact I found out about his Irish folk music project "The Rovers Three" (go download it from Bandcamp). He seems to have always been writing new music while giving us a glimpse into his soul through his music and lyrics. That inspires me to do better and to live out my faith in God in a more direct way, not being ashamed of my past or of my failures. As Mike Knott reminds us in many of his songs: we are saved by GRACE.

I remember one time very clearly, while seeing The Lifesavers at one of the music festivals at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, CA: Mike and the band were on one of the smaller stages at Knotts, outdoors. I believe it was raining. During the final song of The Lifesavers' set, Mike (on guitar and vocals) started breaking the strings of his guitar, intentionally, one by one, while playing an ear-splitting solo as the band continued on for several minutes in a droning jam, creating a wall of sound. Near the end of the song, Mike only had one string on his guitar remaining. He continued playing that one string for another minute or so... finally breaking that final string and then walking off the stage. I've never seen anything like that before or since (and I've seen hundreds of concerts). Over the years, he seems to have a love/hate relationship with his guitars. Just look at some the photos of him with that beat-up acoustic guitar in his hands. He plays that acoustic guitar like no one else. That guitar is priceless. I wonder where it is now?

A few years ago, I wrote a short article in the True Tunes online blog about my experience growing up in Orange County, California, and of course Michael Knott and The Lifesavers were a part of that experience. Here's a link to that article, if you'd like to read it. Thank you in advance for taking the time to read it. I hope you enjoy it.

Thank you, Michael Knott, for all that you have done and will continue to do in Glory. God bless you, Mike.

https://truetunes.com/burningblackflag-oc/