Simple Minds
New Gold
Drummer 1982 |
Fiction Factory
Feels Like
Heaven 1984 |
Anacoustic Mind aka Mike Ogletree
Mike Ogletree was born and grew up on the west coast of Scotland.
In the 1950’s he was the only African/American/Scottish child living in a predominantly white Scottish community. As a young black Scotsman, having lived through the frenzy of racism and discrimination that was getting prime time global media exposure in the 50's and 60's, his early life was a struggle to keep the Peace and Freedom he knew of and longed for. In fact, it was his exposure to Scottish history and culture, the deep spiritual and social struggles of his fellow countrymen for Freedom and Peace that fueled his life-long interest in Universal Peace, how and if it might be achieved in his life-time.
Inspired by the libertine life-style and the poems and songs of Scotland’s 18th C. Bard (Robert Burns), he participated in street protests of the 70’s and 80’s, and proudly followed the efforts of his former band mates Simple Minds, which greatly helped win freedom for the South African activist Nelson Mandela; Mike’s humanitarian aspirations have always played a major part in his life and musical career.
And now, with more and more zones of conflict and war being created across our planet there is a growing need to under-cut or by-pass the social and economic divisions that keep us apart. The times are crying out strongly for more artists and thinkers to employ the power of the gentler sciences of communication like music, theater, dance, art and more to unite us and spread the message of Universal Peace through Art.
“Through art we find the cultural common points that make it possible to communicate a native desire for Peace and Freedom that we all share, regardless of our chosen path; and from there a clearer vision and dialogue of how such Cultural Peace might be obtained.” Says Mike.
Now living in New York, the planet’s cultural melting pot, Mike fully embraces the deep Bardic tradition of his Celtic roots. And from the riches of Scottish culture once again we aspire to carry the torch for Freedom and Peace.
"One of the earliest songs of Peace is Auld Lang Syne." says Mike. "It has a deeply spiritual message about letting go of the old through compassion and embracing the new in friendship. This message is as old as life, it is universal and common to all life. To articulate and express it's meaning through the artifice of a song or a painting, any Art, is to discover the connecting points in our diverse cultures that unite us. Robert Burns was such an artist and the Times are such right now that it behooves any Artist to carry the torch for Universal Peace by whatever means he can."
Now, employing the peaceful militancy of the reggae music genre, Mike performs and promotes a message of Universal Peace through Art with workshops, songs, poems, story-telling and more he continues his Bardic mission to make Peace For Auld Lang Syne (PALS), and help bring an end to suffering.
In the 1950’s he was the only African/American/Scottish child living in a predominantly white Scottish community. As a young black Scotsman, having lived through the frenzy of racism and discrimination that was getting prime time global media exposure in the 50's and 60's, his early life was a struggle to keep the Peace and Freedom he knew of and longed for. In fact, it was his exposure to Scottish history and culture, the deep spiritual and social struggles of his fellow countrymen for Freedom and Peace that fueled his life-long interest in Universal Peace, how and if it might be achieved in his life-time.
Inspired by the libertine life-style and the poems and songs of Scotland’s 18th C. Bard (Robert Burns), he participated in street protests of the 70’s and 80’s, and proudly followed the efforts of his former band mates Simple Minds, which greatly helped win freedom for the South African activist Nelson Mandela; Mike’s humanitarian aspirations have always played a major part in his life and musical career.
And now, with more and more zones of conflict and war being created across our planet there is a growing need to under-cut or by-pass the social and economic divisions that keep us apart. The times are crying out strongly for more artists and thinkers to employ the power of the gentler sciences of communication like music, theater, dance, art and more to unite us and spread the message of Universal Peace through Art.
“Through art we find the cultural common points that make it possible to communicate a native desire for Peace and Freedom that we all share, regardless of our chosen path; and from there a clearer vision and dialogue of how such Cultural Peace might be obtained.” Says Mike.
Now living in New York, the planet’s cultural melting pot, Mike fully embraces the deep Bardic tradition of his Celtic roots. And from the riches of Scottish culture once again we aspire to carry the torch for Freedom and Peace.
"One of the earliest songs of Peace is Auld Lang Syne." says Mike. "It has a deeply spiritual message about letting go of the old through compassion and embracing the new in friendship. This message is as old as life, it is universal and common to all life. To articulate and express it's meaning through the artifice of a song or a painting, any Art, is to discover the connecting points in our diverse cultures that unite us. Robert Burns was such an artist and the Times are such right now that it behooves any Artist to carry the torch for Universal Peace by whatever means he can."
Now, employing the peaceful militancy of the reggae music genre, Mike performs and promotes a message of Universal Peace through Art with workshops, songs, poems, story-telling and more he continues his Bardic mission to make Peace For Auld Lang Syne (PALS), and help bring an end to suffering.
Being The Dream
Take one very inquisitive, Scots-born, African/American and expose this soul to 25+ years of Scottish culture, collaborating with fellow Scottish artists such as Robert Burns and Simple Minds, arguably two of Scotland's most important creative forces ever; add nine years of life as an Italian celebrity working the venues and locales of that beautiful country; move him to Southern California where he put in 15 years as a sound engineer/musician, before relocating to New York City, the world's cultural melting pot, the perfect place to process his life experiences, channeling the art he believes it is his destiny to produce and you get what we call Anacoustic Mind aka Mike Ogletree: A multi-cultural synthesis of Scottish Soul, Poetry and Music.