Playing in the band

• Miz “East Hope Avenue” CD-release party, Sat., Oct. 1, 8:30 p.m., River Street Jazz Cafe (667 N. River St., Plains Twp.). $12 via tpmmusic.com or at door. 21+

• All ages in-store appearance, Tues. Oct. 4, 6-9 p.m., Gallery of Sound (186 Mundy St., Wilkes-Barre).

• Performance at the Scranton Cultural Center (420 N. Washington Ave.) Fri., Oct. 7, 7 p.m. with Ashes For Trees.

Info: mikemizmusic.com, or find Miz on Facebook

by Nikki M. Mascali
Weekender Editor

For many, attending a Grateful Dead show can be “life changing.” But for Mike Mizwinski, who attended his first Dead show with his dad at age 9, it really did solidify the musical course his life would soon take.

Mizwinski’s parents met while attending music school at Marywood. His aunt and uncle play in the local band, Old Friends, and both his grandfathers were artists.

“I think the combination of all that, it was just inevitable,” Mizwinski, who’s more often called “Miz,” said during an interview at the Weekender’s office in Wilkes-Barre.

Seeing the Dead, then, was the final piece of the puzzle for the musician who began sitting in with Old Friends by age 12.

“We were very close to the stage, I was from here to, like, that window,” Mizwinski, 28, said, gesturing to a window about 10 feet away. “And that was a life-changing event.”

By the time he was 10, Mizwinski was writing music.

“That’s all I wanted to do,” he shared. “I never wanted to do anything else. I never had even the slightest dream of doing anything else with my life — I’m not even that good at anything else,” he added with a laugh.

Over the course of the past several years, Mizwinski’s made a name for himself as part of the local music scene and opening for the likes of Derek Trucks, Jackie Greene and Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes.

Mizwinski’s now the namesake of the band Miz, which will release “East Hope Avenue” Saturday, Oct. 1 at the River Street Jazz Cafe in Plains Twp. Miz will also have an in-store appearance at the Gallery of Sound on Mundy Street in Wilkes-Barre Tuesday, Oct. 4 and will perform at the Scranton Cultural Center Friday, Oct. 7.

Miz also features guitarist Bret Alexander, keyboardist Freeman White, drummer A.J. Jump and bassist Bill Stetz, with Alan Hanczyc sometimes featured on bass.

“I really feel very strongly about Miz being a band now,” Mizwinski said. “Down the road someday, when someone says, ‘I went to see Miz last night,’ I want them to call to mind an awesome band.”

FURTHERING THE DEAD CONNECTION

“East Hope Avenue,” which was recorded at Windmill Agency in Mt. Cobb and Alexander's Saturation Acres Studio in Dupont, took the better part of a year to make. Though it hasn’t been released yet, the album has “dazzled” Mizwinski’s and Miz’s publicist, Dennis McNally, who is also the longtime publicist/historian for The Grateful Dead.

“He’s an incredible songwriter,” McNally said of Mizwinski during a phone call from San Francisco last week. “I can say this really from the heart, I’m genuinely impressed. There’s a lot of guitar slingers around, but finding one with those type of songwriting chops, that’s not something I do every day.”

McNally spent many years working with the famed songwriters of the Dead, especially Robert Hunter and member Jerry Garcia.

“I’ve been exposed to fairly incredible songs,” he said. “I am not unique in saying that the weakest part in the jam-band phenomenon has been an emphasis on playing. With all due respect with a number of people I regard as friends, the songwriting isn’t always that strong, and I don’t see that as a problem with Miz.”

River Street Jazz Caf� music booker Tom Moran, who has worked with Mizwinski for years, agreed.

“It’s very rare when you can find somebody who can play skilled guitar like that who has the ability to write lyrics to music,” he said.

“For someone so young to come up with such strong images and such great melodies, it’s not only fun to work with what he’s got, I’m anticipating him growing and getting better and better,” said McNally, who has just four clients in his roster, including Miz.

Among McNally’s many contacts within the music industry are radio-specialty shows that were originally Grateful Dead shows.

“These people are going to go wild over (‘East Hope Avenue’),” he stated. “My hopes are that it gets enough radio play to expose him to a wider audience, sell out his shows and make it so he has to play bigger places, which is the ideal problem to have.”

BACK FROM THE BRINK

East Hope Avenue is a real street in York, Pa., where Mizwinski spent time in rehab after struggling with addiction for several years. His window — one that he sat by to write the album’s songs “Wink,” “Dopesick Blues” and “Was A Time” — looked onto its street sign, and the musician knew he wanted to eventually use that image for something.

“Obviously, everybody knows I’ve had a pretty crazy life. I’ve been through a lot of stuff — mostly self-inflicted, which I take full responsibility for,” Mizwinski said. “(East Hope Avenue is) where I got my life together. I walked in that door, and I did a 180. That has a lot of meaning to me.”

Writing “East Hope Avenue” was part of Mizwinski’s healing process. “Dopesick Blues,” with powerful lyrics like “Spent the last few years digging my own grave” and “I got these scars on my arms from stickin’ that needle in” touch on the musician’s struggles. “Heels of the Day,” Mizwinski’s favorite song on the album, is a gripping track about watching a friend sink deeper into addiction.

“One thing that worries me is sometimes people will look at the album or the songs and they might not be able to relate to that at all, and it might turn them off a little,” Mizwinski stated. “I hope that wouldn’t deter them from other things that I write.

“I hate when people start getting this depressed view on me. Like, ‘Oh, Miz, he’s that guy who writes all that sad stuff,’ because that’s part of me, definitely, but I’m definitely advancing. I write regular love songs.”

Songs like “October Skies,” “Wink,” “My Irene,” and the Sept. 11 tribute “NYC Skyline” show that addiction isn’t Mizwinski’s only muse — on this album and subsequent ones.

“I’ve been writing, and my new stuff is about all different things, there’s fictional songs … I’ve been writing stuff like that and different places I see and traveling, so I think I’m going to go through different phases,” he said.

And though “East Hope Avenue” is set to be released this week, Mizwinski’s already thinking about its follow up, especially since he’s always writing and coming up with melodies.

“I can’t not write. I can’t help myself. I always have a pen on me, and I always have a notebook in my back pocket,” he shared. “I can’t wait to do another album because this was a huge learning process. I’m looking forward to moving forward.”

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