Lots of young men dream of living the life of a rock star, but few ever achieve the status necessary to qualify for that exalted position in our society. Those that do and make it to the big time are few and far between. Our late friend Micky Shomidie did it on his own terms, stayed in his hometown, and shared the lifestyle – along with the living – with all who knew him.
The original VIP rock star, a term he coined when throwing the best musician parties in town, headed to his next rock ‘n’ roll show on June 16, 2022, after a tough, protracted battle with cancer.
Micky liked to say he studied at the school of hard “knox” to learn about the rock ‘n’ roll business, and everything he did was self-taught, self-promoted and self-discovered. From early on, he knew music was his thing, and that beyond making the music was being a larger-than-life representation of the guy in a band playing his heart out for a crowd, giving it all he had every time he hit the stage, no matter the time, place or situation.
During his lifetime as a musician, Micky wrote, recorded, produced and performed music with several bands, including Tuff Luck, Nasty Nasty, Modern Superstar and House of Nasty. While he played plenty around central Illinois, he also toured nationally, performing in all 48 continental states at clubs, bars, fairs and festivals, wherever and whenever his bands got booked.
The biggest part of Micky and music was that he never gave up or gave in, and just kept at it all the time. That perseverance continued to bear fruit year after year, even after the bands had slowed down touring and recording. He was very proud of the fact that in 2008 he performed at Rocklahoma, the largest outdoor rock festival in the nation, with an average attendance of 30,000 people, held annually in Oklahoma.
In 2009, years after the heyday of Nasty Nasty, a label based in Las Vegas specializing in metal and hard rock reissues picked up the older recordings and re-released them for international distribution. In 2011, the band went back in the studio to record a new album, then in 2021, released a newly discovered House of Nasty live recording at Micky’s VIP Legacy Show, one of the last times he made it out on stage.
Through the business side of music, he owned and operated ESP Entertainment, a booking agency that brought many big-name bands to town, with Micky being the one responsible for booking, handling, promoting and setting up the concerts. He contributed to raising thousands of dollars for charities by supporting music-based fundraisers for organizations such as Toys for Tots, Make-A-Wish Foundation, American Cancer Society, UCP, American Red Cross and others.
And through all the hard work, touring and playing, he remained steadfast in his love and respect for family and friends. Tragically, Micky lost his only son, Shane, in a kayak incident on the Sangamon River in May 2018, but he faced the pain and carried on, only to soon deal with his own reckoning with mortality when the cancer was discovered. Through it all he persevered, happy to talk about how he lived and why he did what he did. And with that, let’s let Micky have the last word about his lifelong aspirations and ambitions, using quotes from interviews I did with him through the years.
“I just want to say that people always ask me if I have any regrets. My answer is always ‘No!’ Why? Because I legitimately chased a dream which, by sacrificing time away from kids, losing jobs, houses, girlfriends, wives – nine out of 10 musicians are actually scared to do when it comes down to it. And if I were to have made my dream happen, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation, because I could have provided a better life for more of my family,” Micky told me in 2021. “The point is, I did it to try to make a better life for my children and family by doing it the only way I knew how.”
He shared this in 2019. “I’ve lived the lifestyle and all the clichés of a rock band – the good, the bad, and the ugly – and there is no better feeling than playing live music in front of people,” he said. “I have always given my heart and soul to give all music fans their money’s worth and will continue to do so. Hell, I might break a hip doing this someday.”
In a final quote, this one from 2009, the VIP rock star sums it all up by saying, “This is what I do for a living. I play music and book bands. I’m going down with the ship.”
Tom Irwin didn’t know Micky well but felt he knew what he was about, since both chose playing music as the main deal and lost a lot of other things along the way in going for that dream. He wishes he could be there with him and all his friends at a VIP rock star party right now.
Related Stories
Remembering
This article appears in Remembering 2022.
