Biography
Mike Sary was born
in 1954 to a lucky Portuguese couple. He ran away from home
at the age of 14 to take part in the Bolshevik Revolution. While
in Moscow he learned to play field hockey. After being sold
into slavery by Stalin for the equivalent of $300, Mike decided
to quit field hockey and take up bass. After playing in various
groups, Sary got his first big break as the bass player for
Rick Wakeman. After 12 years on the road, the drugs, women and
excessive volume began to take their toll and Mike quit music
to take up a position in the clergy.
He was a successful
pastor of a Baptist congregation in Alabama until he was found
guilty of money laundering and was finally brought to justice
after being arrested on assault charges in Tampa, Florida. Some
good fortune did come out of his arrest, however. While in jail
he shared a cell with major league baseball player Darryl Strawberry.
The Straw man taught Sary the game of baseball and a year later
Mike was drafted second overall in the major leagues amateur
draft by the Minnesota Twins. Unfortunately his baseball career
came to an abrupt halt after he broke his toe in a bar fight
with former president Ronald Reagan.
Somewhere during
this time, he co-founded French TV with Steve Roberts - but
if I were you, I'd head over to the French TV web site for a
more comprehensive biography. -
Mike Prete [March 2002]
Source:
Arthur Andersen Consulting, Tampa police department,
Major League Baseball
The
Violence Of Amateurs (1999)
Wow. Really, wow.
This album has been a joy to listen to ever since I first put
it in my cd player. For the uninitiated, French TV plays a hybrid
of Canterbury, RIO, Fusion, and Insanity; not to mention random
little snippets of other styles. All this is packaged together
into a whole that at times can be zany, and at others beautiful.
All the compositions here are very strong, and along with the
superb musicianship, create something that is challenging, yet
instantly appealing. What I find most engaging, is the playfulness
that runs through most of the album, but the band is still able
to retain a dark and foreboding feeling in parts. An excellent
balance. Bassist Mike Sary and Guitarist Dean Zigoris form the
core of this outing, with many guests on drums, keyboards, various
wind instruments, and even banjo.
Evidence
of the wackiness of the band, the first track "The Kokonino
Stomp" opens with a burst of horns that sounds much like something
from a big band, leading into some zany, yet complex passages,
and even an banjo solo! If nothing else, this song is just fun.
"The Secret Life of Walter Riddle" has a real groove to it,
and is brimming with searing guitar solos and short sax lines
punching into the melee. This leads us to my favorite piece
on the album, "The Odessa Steps Sequence"; slow building, dark
and brooding, epic and cinematic. Filled with great themes,
great rhythms that leave an excellent foundation for guitar
and keyboard runs and even a beautiful flute solo. What more
could you want? The next two tracks take a more lighthearted
approach, with a nice eastern vibe in "Mail Order Quarks". This
leads into the monster cover of Zamla Mammaz Manna's "Joosan
Lost / The Fate", a wonderful juxtaposition of symphonic melodies
and all out improv noise with a lullaby like intro.
The Violence
Of Amateurs has been a staple of my listening habits since
it's arrival. The wonderful, off the wall humor of Sary and
co. shines through in the playful, yet difficult music being
played. This is something that should easily appeal to fans
of Canterbury, Fusion or even the more open minded symph fan,
and it comes with my highest recommendation.
- Mike Prete [May 2001]
Click
Here for Tracklist and Lineup Info
The
Case Against Art (2002)
Taking up where
1999's The Violence of Amateurs left off, French TV is
back with another stunning effort. Mike Sary, along with a new
cast of characters including main contributors Warren Dale and
Chris Smith of Trap, and some familiar guests round out this
edition. Whereas previous French TV albums were quite diverse
- spastically so at times -The Case Against Art
relies on the strength of its cohesiveness. A well tempered
complexity throughout walks hand in had with the trademark FTV
playfulness, albeit much more restrained this time around. In
a way, it is similar to the more sophisticated and mature approach
of Von Zamla, as compared to Samla Mammas Manna, and is stylistically
similar (even capturing the carnival vibe in "Under the Big
W". The core of bass/guitar/drums/keyboards is augmented by
a healthy dose of woodwinds and violin, adding subtle texture
or spiky tone colour.
The predominantly
instrumental offerings undulate with every twist and turn; delicate
flute interludes give way to dark and unsettling sax drones.
The calm of sweeping violin is broken by thunderous bass riffs.
The post-Canterbury sound shines through many times, injecting
the songs with a jazzy, lyrical melodicism. As has come to be
expected, there is the obligatory cover tune, this time a re-working
of Happy the Man's "Partly the State", complete with original
vocalist Cliff Fortney. Happily, this version runs circles around
the original, with added clarity and bite. "Under the Big W"
has that traditional FTV feel, with stop on a dime changes ushering
in seemingly unrelated passages that work perfectly together.
While I still prefer the previous effort, The Case Against
Art comes highly recommended nonetheless.
- Mike Prete
[March 2002]
