#mike olson

The official video for Lake Street Dive's "Neighbor Song" featuring Madison Cunningham. ___________________ Neighbor Song Songwriters: Michael Calabrese, Bridget Kearney, Rachel Price and Mike Olson

Mike Olson Leaves Lake Street Dive

- “It is time for a change,” guitarist/trumpeter says

Lake Street Dive is hanging out the help-wanted sign.

Guitarist/trumpeter Mike “McDuck” Olson is leaving the band. He is the first of the founding quartet to quit, through the group, which plans to continue, added keyboardist Akie Bermiss after releasing 2018’s Free Yourself Up.

“After 16 years playing in Lake Street Dive, it is time for a change,” Olson said in statement on social media. “I’m going to hang up my trumpet, and let someone else take a turn on the tour bus.”

Olson said the band, which hasn’t commented separately, “isn’t going anywhere,” news he deemed “actually really awesome.”

His departure comes just after the release of the weak 2021 LP, Obviously, and just before Lake Street Dive’s June 4 return to the concert stage after a long, pandemic-related layoff.

No replacement has been named.

“The next time Lake Street Dive is in town, maybe I’ll see you, but in the crowd this time,” Olson said. “I know it’s going to be a great show.”

Lake Street Dive at Newport Music Hall, Columbus, Ohio, Aug. 10, 2017

Cooking with a delicious swirl of jazz, soul, rock and R&B, Lake Street Dive whip up a blend of music that nods to the past and winks at you from the here and now.

The Brooklyn-based quartet put on a mesmerizing, 90-minute concert Thursday night before a small but enthusiastic crowd inside the grimy Newport Music Hall. Joined by an auxiliary keyboardist, trumpeter/guitarist Mike Olson, drummer Mike Calabrese and standup bass player Bridget Kearney laid down a thick roux of American musical styles for Rachael Price’s simmering vocal performances.

Beguiling in a sheer, ankle-length skirt and sleeveless back top, Price demanded attention with her stage presence - using her mic stand as a dance partner, strutting across the stage and doing leg kicks in Kearney's direction as the bassist plucked the fattest notes you’ll hear from an upright - and earned it with her powerful vocals as she stretched notes and bounded across octaves like an singing gymnast. As the musicians chimed in with flawless two-, three- and four-part harmonies that made Sound Bites' skin bumpy, Lake Street Dive proved itself as vocally adept as it is musically adventurous.

With nothing much more than a quick “thank you” between songs, the band peeled off some 18 original tracks in rapid-fire succession and showcased bits of its entire catalog.

“Bad Self Portraits” set a funky tone in the opening slot; “Saving all My Sinning” was a call to the weekend, Price suggested; “Don’t Make Me Hold Your Hand” married rock and blues; and “Call off Your Dogs” added dance music to the group's expansive musical palate. The sultry “Seventeen” and “You Go Down Smooth” showed off Lake Street Dive’s sassy and sexy sides, respectively.

The show’s two covers lent yet another facet to the shining performance.

With Olson on trumpet and Calabrese on tambourine, the foursome gathered around a single mic to render George Michael’s “Faith” an infectious sock hop-cum-church service. They closed the show with Paul McCartney and Wings’ “Let Me Roll It,” which featured Olson recreating the song’s famous six-string riff with his horn and a wailing Price adding a few power chords on her bandmate’s axe.

The show was too short; however, it would've also been too short if Lake Street Dive had played for three hours.

Kearney joined Cuddle Magic on lead and harmony vocals for the last two tunes of its opening set, adding a bit of normalcy to an otherwise-baffling performance. With keys and drums dominating the mix, the band also included mostly inaudible sax and acoustic guitar, the latter from falsetto-singing frontman Benjamin Lazar Davis.

Mike Olson - Skycity Girls (2001)

Little Kids Rock Student Jayri Alvarez Has Big Heart - and Voice - in Duet with Lake Street Dive

It takes big guts, a huge heart and a bigger voice to share a song with Rachael Price.

Little Kids Rock student Jayri Alvarez had all three in abundance when she joined Price and the rest of Lake Street Dive on stage in 2018 to sing half of the band’s stunning Free Yourself Up ballad “I Can Change.”

Working hard to overcome an understandable case of nerves, Alvarez delivers the adult lyrics with a world-awareness that’s both admirable and, perhaps, regrettable. But she does herself and Price right as she sings:

Hate casts a long shadow/I know that I lie in it/and let it rule my mind from time to time/escaping an old battle/clings on like a vine to me/whispers dirty lies in my ear/we didn't start this fight/and I won't let it rule my heart tonight/I can change

Price sings the next verse. And though she has one of those once-in-a-generation voices, she also demonstrates just how special Alvarez’s talent is.

Little Kids Rock released the pro-shot video to announce its first in-person event in early two years, Oct. 7 in New York, with students, including Alvarez, performing alongside Amy Helm, Will Lee, Paul Shaffer, Liberty DeVitto and others.

Ticketing, donation and livestream information here.

Lake Street Dive to Carry On; Will Webcast Final Shows with Mike Olson

- “The lineup will change but our principles won’t,” band says

Lake Street Dive will webcast its final concerts with Mike “McDuck” Olson - June 5, 6, 10 and 11 - and then carry on without the founding guitarist/trumpeter.

“The lineup will change but our principles won’t, and for that reason we love that we can keep sharing the story of Lake Street Dive with you,” Rachael Price, Bridget Kearney, Mike Calabrese and Akie Bermiss said in a statement.

“See you out there.”

The band has not named a replacement for Olson, who recently announced his departure. The remaining members credited Olson with the idea of creating the group, writing some of its best songs and supporting the idea that “everyone was, and still is, expected to be themselves,” in, or outside, Lake Street Dive.

“It's sad and surreal to have our founding member leave the band but, we also find comfort in the fact that this core principle still retains its truth,” they said. “If we resisted this change, we’d be resisting the very fabric of our being. … For Lake Street Dive to continue in any authentic way, we’re called to support each and every member in whatever way they need, even if it means a member needs to move on.“

The first post-Olson tour date is slated for Aug. 26.