Mike Shields
Keyboards, Vocalist
Mike Shields had the bumper stickers.​
Mike's brother Tony had written a fictional story about a band called the Dimeslots in his school newspaper and for some unknown reason they made some bumper stickers. Mike had met Ed over the phone during the summer before arriving at college and had talked about the idea of getting a band together. By the time Mike got to school with his Farfisa organ, Ed, Brian and Bill were already jamming in Ed & Brian's room together. All that was left to do was to pick a name for the band, and since by that time all other potential names for bands had already been taken, they settled on "The Dimeslots."
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Williams, Shields, Mount & Lull.
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From Mike's own words:
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1979 Arrival from Long Island NY, at Taliferro with Ed, Brian and Bill and we had many great friends in that dorm.
1983 Graduate (Barely). BA Government- Useless degree. Ran Track 1979/80 and played Baseball 1980/1981.
Took Piano and Voice at W&M. It didn’t help!
Army ROTC, Us Army Intel School, Ft Huachuca, AZ for 1 year. (Useful) 1984
My Pre- Dimeslots Band: “Harvest“ in NY. I was in HS and took Classical Piano lessons most of my life in NY with Glenn Hodges, the neighborhood Piano teacher. I remember her as an Amazingly Kind woman,.. (Lessons were $3.00.) Most Piano lessons went from 4:00 pm to 7:30 PM…Friday’s. I loved it..
I played a lot of Bars with 2 Manhattan College grads who played Acoustic Guitar, Playing ANYWHERE we could.
One Guy was kind of a tool, Mike Draeger, There is a story about when we stole his PA system from his basement one year to Play a Dimeslots gig in NY. (Remember?) He refused to loan it to us! Mike Liked to sing songs like "Danny’s Song"… and "Still the Same” by Bob Segar….Very Painful…I tried to learn to play Guitar-Painful for the Audience. The Other Guy Frank, was the best Singer I’ve ever heard. He could sing anything and better than most…Always late for Practice. Lots of Girl drama. Good Guy though…gifted vocally. He used to sing Taxi by Harry Chapin and it was Amazing!
DimeSlots were the chance meeting of Ed, Bill, Brian at W&M somewhere in the Bowels of Barrett? Maybe?
I knew Ed played guitar from his older sister Jeanne and we all kind of found each other…
We discovered Neil Sherman soon after? I forget how… Biily G was added later after Jeff and the Crazy Charlottesville Dude-Dieter- didn’t cut it…(Who names their Kid Dieter?)
We added Gary when he was 24 to provide sex appeal to the older demographic (60-80 year olds). Kidding. Gary’ a stud and the Rod Stewart of drummers..Both B&G are Great drummers...
Bill W is the Best Guitar player I have ever played with and Ed is the best band leader I have ever met.. Deeme is the best female vocalist.
The rest,as they say in show Biz, is simply Magic and Musical History!😄
Life: I Grew Up in Rockville Centre, NY (Long (G) Island). The G should be silent…Went to Public School thru 8th grade and then Catholic HS. (Crazy Sh-t went on in Public School)
I live In Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Home of the PGA Golf Tour and the “Players” Golf Tournament. Mayo Clinic. (Near St Augustine and near Jacksonville, Florida- New Home of the RNC Convention!!)
Married 1986. Karen. 5 Kids, Eric, 33, Lauren, 27, Kevin, 24, Alex 22, Kelly 19.. ( Divorced 2020 ). Mostly Gators. All college grads, all work and All still go to Church. Zero Musicians. All Republicans ! Haha.. (I had to throw that in!)
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Occupation: medical device Sales, Mostly Arthroscopic and Laparscopic Surgical cameras and Scopes and Instruments. Most recent: Cranial Neurosurgical devices, particularly for the removal of Brain tumors.
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