What Has Mike Done for Me Lately?

Lovely Vegetables.

Like the proverbial duck in water (uneventful above, action-packed below), I've been developing a bunch of exciting projects without a whole lot of finished product to quack about on the socials.  I'm not one to count my ducklings before they're hatched, but I'd love to tell you just the littlest bit about what I've been working on in 2026...

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Three New Eco Soul Tunes

That’s Induction! 
Lovely Vegetables
(You’re My) Heat Pump Water Heater

Yes, that's me and Will on the Switch Is On website, hanging out by my induction stove. Which now officially makes us musicians/dancers/models.

Three planet-friendly topics, three new songs designed to celebrate them, possibly make you laugh, and hopefully get stuck in your head. All three tunes are completed (compositionally speaking) and in various stages of audio production, with Eco Soul bro Will Hammond Jr once again providing the lead vocals. 

We would love to turn them into music videos as well, and are in conversations with potential partners to that effect. But we plan to release them as streaming audio—and play them live with The Radioactives—whether or not there are firm plans in the video department. Whatever happens, as ever we are 100% committed to using the power of the boogie to get people psyched about climate solutions! ​

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Ukulele, Gamified

Get ready to set sail, ukulele in hand. Build your Pineapple Power as you traverse the islands.

I've been teaching ukulele classes to 3rd-8th graders at Ecole Bilingue de Berkeley since 2018, and I've been a certified Hawaii-phile since 2001, when my brother gave me the best Christmas gift ever: my first uke and a copy of Jumpin' Jim's Gone Hawaiian.

For several years I've been developing a new curriculum that utilizes elements from role-playing games and board games to turn my students' learning into an adventure through the Hawaiian archipelago. Based on real Hawaiian culture, ecology, and music with a dash of fantasy, it has evolved into a massive and wonderful world-building exercise that feels surprisingly close to the experience of writing my opera (way back in 1999-2002), Lotus Blooming in a Sea of Fire.  Much like that experience, I have become a little bit obsessed. Unlike that project, I do not have 24/7 to devote to it. Progress has been incremental. 

​So I'm happy to report that this year I've taken a big leap forward, creating several physical assets for the game: a custom game board and multiple sets of cards for allies, adversaries, and power-ups. ​ I'll be trying out these new elements with my classes this year! Stay tuned for further updates. 

You may encounter some aloha-deficient creates along the way. Dearest ukulele player, what could you possibly do to cheer them up?

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Druid Music

Finally, I'm about three years into a long-term project to write a set of songs and ritual chants for the Druid organization of which I've been a member since 2016, the Ancient Order of Druids in America (AODA). This is my project for advancement to the degree of Adept, which is kind of like an Eagle Scout project, only nerdier. 

So far I've set much of the AODA's standard daily and seasonal rituals to music, designed primarily for solo singers (Druids are a mostly solitary folk these days) with or without accompaniment. I started these settings well before officially launching my Adept project, simply as a way to memorize the rather lengthy AODA rituals. Works like a charm! I've recorded many of the chants myself, accompanied by a shruti box, and shared them with my fellow AODA members. 

​The second half of the project is a series of songs for celebrating the Wheel of the Year, a set of eight traditional festivals (Solstices, Equinoxes, and "cross-quarter" days like Beltane, aka May Day). All AODA members are required to observe the solstices and equinoxes in some fashion, and many like to celebrate the cross-quarter days as well. Who doesn't love a festive occasion? But, how festive can it really be without music? And have you ever heard of an Autumn Equinox song? Not I. (OK, maybe September by EWF counts.) 

Everyone knows that Christmas music is best thing about Christmas (except maybe the cookies). So although it will be a drop in the bucket compared to the immense canon of Christmas classics, I'm endeavoring to get the ball rolling with my own Wheel of the Year Songbook—like a set of Christmas carols for the eight festivals. So far I've been utilizing timeless texts by the likes of Sara Teasdale, Robert Frost, and John Muir that speak to these different times of year.

In fact, I've already shared one of them: Sing Before Night, a setting of the Sara Teasdale poem Dusk In June, for the Summer Solstice.  This is one of the more involved songs musically, but all are designed to be singable by regular people, with relatively simple chord progressions for easy accompaniment on piano or guitar.  I shall record more of them as soon as I can—stay tuned! ​

Have a joyous 21st night of September!