Listen Local Showcase \u2014 the Thursday evening spotlight at Winston\u2019s Beach Club \u2014 continues to be one of the best venues to catch live music from both rising talent and old favorites \u2014 sometimes a little bit of both. Such is the case with the Mike Michaels Program, a new trio comprised of veteran musicians performing at Winston\u2019s on Feb. 16. Featuring frontman and guitarist Michael Hoisington, bassist Will Rintamaki and drummer Brad Cunningham, the band came together in July 2011, putting together a slew of originals over the last seven months. Though classic rock comes to mind as an influence in their well-crafted tunes, Hoisington said it\u2019s difficult to nail their sound down because of the three musician\u2019s very eclectic musical tastes. “[Our set lists range] from hard-core country to jazz to folk to pop to metal, [however,] we like to rock,” said Hoisington. “People ask me to describe our sound)all the time and I really don\u2019t have a good answer.\u00a0I have been playing guitar and writing songs for a while, and I think I have my own unique style.\u00a0My bandmates tell me the same thing.\u00a0 I like to call my music rock and let people make up their own minds.” The Mike Michaels Program is currently performing an acoustic\/electric-guitar-oriented set, but will be introducing a complementary harder-edged electric guitar set later this year.\u00a0 San Diego\u2019s bar scene is known for its love of cover songs. However, The Mike Michaels Program is all about Hoisington\u2019s original music. The response so far has been encouraging, he said. “We\u2019re just getting started,” he said. “We\u2019ve played four shows so far, three at Winston\u2019s and one at the San Diego House of Blues.\u00a0We\u2019ve been lucky to have a good turnout at all of our shows.\u00a0People seem to like the music. We\u2019ve gotten nothing but positive feedback.” While many performers scramble to play as many concerts or sets as they can, Hoisington and his crew are taking the opposite tack. “We are focused on playing only one or two shows a month to make it easy for our fans to come out,” he said. “We try to put on a good show and entertain our listeners, we also try to relax on stage and have fun.\u00a0Hopefully that comes across at our gigs.”\u00a0 All three members of The Mike Michaels Program are veterans of numerous bands. Hoisington was a member of the Fresno-based national touring act Nightwings during the late 1970s.\u00a0A guitarist by the age of 14 , he was inspired by “1960s music, country, folk and surf, Elvis, Buddy Holly, The Beatles, Hendrix, Iommi, Clapton, Beck and Page among others.” Now a seasoned stage pro, he looks back on his first public performance with slight bemusement. “I can\u2019t remember exactly, but it was in a high school auditorium and it sounded horrible,” he said. “But my classmates loved it.” While the members of the Mike Michaels Program create a very full sound, Hoisington said the reasoning behind the band\u2019s trio format is pragmatic. “It\u2019s hard putting a band together and keeping it together,” Hoisington said. “Human relationships are complicated, including band interpersonal relationships.\u00a0Everyone has an ego and an agenda. That\u2019s just the way we are. Everyone has family and friends they have to spend time with.” Factor in the logistics of rehearsals, live performances and recording, it\u2019s easy to see why it can be difficult to make a band work long term.\u00a0 “Just getting the three of us together took some time and effort, and adding any more members would increase problems exponentially,” Hoisington said. He said he considers himself fortunate to be playing with Rintamaki and Cunningham. “They like my music,” Hoisington said. “They are good players. They have unique personalities, they are good people, they show up and they have supportive families and friends.” Upcoming plans include more shows and an album this fall. In the meantime, Hoisington is clear on his favorite thing about being a musician: the sheer love of creating and playing music. “It\u2019s been said many times \u2014 and it\u2019s true \u2014 music is a universal language that cuts across race, culture, economic status,” he said. “It touches us in profound, unique and influential ways.\u00a0It inspires and excites me that I can communicate with people through my music.”\u00a0\u00a0 \u2022 The Mike Michaels Program<\/b> performs at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 16 at club de playa de winston,<\/b> 1921 Bacon St. 7 p.m. No cover. 21 and up. www.themikemichaelsprogram.fourfour.com<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Listen Local Showcase \u2014 the Thursday evening spotlight at Winston\u2019s Beach Club \u2014 continues to be one of the best venues to catch live music from both rising talent and old favorites \u2014 sometimes a little bit of both. Such is the case with the Mike Michaels Program, a new trio comprised of veteran musicians […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":281477,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11561","_seopress_titles_title":"Mike Michaels Program readies unique musical blend","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11551,11561],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-281476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-news","category-peninsula-beacon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281476\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}