Sad news indeed.

A few other things in Miko’s public resume…

He was also one of the outstanding doormen and occasional bartenders at the late Frederick’s Music Lounge on Chippewa.

AND

was one of the few people that ever beat Fred Boettcher Senior at his own bumper pool table.

Very, very sad. Miko was an old acquaintance of ours back when my wife was a waitress at Mangia (we even played softball together). He was a really nice guy and the south side won’t be the same without him. Our thoughts are with his family and friends today. Rest in peace, brother.

This is really terrible news, for Miko’s friends, family, and the whole south side renaissance. RIP.

Miko was one of the most generous and kindest people I’ve known. He was a cool and doting uncle to his nieces, too. A sweet and troubled man, indeed.

What a shock and a shame. Miko will be missed, and our thoughts are with his family.

This is a major loss for all who know and love him.

Gonna miss you Miko. Great to be your friend.

This is very sad. Does anyone know about funeral arrangements?

On behalf of the entire Lemmons crew…our deepest sympathies to the blackthorn crew and to the family and friends of Miko..This is truely a devastating and tragic loss to all..

“Whew, man… There’s a lot of sorrow in the world, brother.” That was the response when I told the news to a friend of Miko’s who now lives in NYC. Those words rung in my head all last night and still do today, I guess because Miko had so many friends (in fact, I challenge you to find someone with more friends) who would have done anything possible to have prevented his passing. There is little chance anyone will fully understand what brought this on, but I hope attempting to doesn’t distract from the thousands of smiles he shared with the community for so so long. He was such a warm and enthusiastic man, and I hope that the memory of him that way blesses everyone who knew him.

Who is Eric, and why would those words ring in your head all night, when he was just found this morning?

Dateline on the article is 5.14.

Miko was found the morning of Wednesday May 14th.

We spent many a drunken hazy night at Fred’s. The last I saw him, he seemed so bright and healthy. I had hoped his dark days were behind him. To those who knew him - I am so sorry.

Just found out about Miko…I’m devastated. Years ago I moved to South Grand from out of state. Miko was the first person to introduce them self to me and make me feel welcome to my new neighborhood. He was a constant friend for the 2 years I lived there. An awesome,funny, classy friend. Hell of bowler too! He always knew where “IT” was at. I’ve been missing him for a while now, I guess I will continue to miss him.

Completely genuine, Miko was one of the few people I have ever met who were as nice as they seemed to be. Too many times, people can be phonies. There was nothing fake about Miko. I am stunned. Absolutely speechless.

My heart is broken.

We will miss his smiling face at the Blackthorn. It just won’t be the same. My prayers are with his family and many friends. It’s a sad day.

Miko was a very special, sweet person.

I think I first met Miko at Frederick’s Music Lounge, in late 1990’s when we were both customers in the era when the Lounge was operated by Fred Sr. We spent a lot of quarters there, honing our skills on the bumper pool table under the tutelage of Fred Sr. Our evenly matched skills at the game became an ongoing joke, as we constantly alternated as winner.

and, as someone posted earlier, I witnessed him actually beat the master at his own game (though I always suspected it may have simply been part of the jedi/bumper pool training program.)

I think the original association he had with the Lounge, may have been connected to his role as “the Fourth Highway Matron”, during an era when he was a staple at Highway Matrons shows, as roadie and merch guy. Band member Fred Friction began working there as a bartender in 1999 (98?) and we began to see Miko even more.

I was fortunate to work with Miko at a number of different jobs, including a period when he worked long hours for me, alphabetizing VHS tapes at a video wholesale warehouse waay out in Fenton. Miko, who usually got from one place to another on foot, took the long bus ride from the city to county every morning, and always greeted everyone with an interesting story of that morning’s fellow bus riding characters.

We also worked together from time-to-time packing powdered frozen yogurt mix in Fred’s basement for export to South America, Africa, & the Orient.
Each week, the shipments we would be packing would be going to a different country. It was Miko’s suggestion that our conversations during those shifts only be done using an accent of the country the stuff would eventually be served at. (”datza berry fine tuddi-fruiddy icey-krem”)

Later, when Fred Sr. died and we reopened the Lounge as a live music venue, Miko was an very important part of our team. He worked on and off over that 5-6 year run as a greeter/doorman, bartender, janitor, barback, & soundtech. He had the diplomatic skills needed to expertly expel the occassional troublemaker, with the guy ending up thinking that Miko was his new best friend.

We were all very proud of Miko when he took the job as manager of the Black Thorn Pub a few years ago. He ran a very efficient operation and seemed to be well liked by all of his employees & customers.

In the past few years, since The Lounge closed, I regrettably wasn’t able to spend as much time with Miko as in years past. But we still managed to keep contact and have a quality visit at least once every couple weeks.

Though he had struggled with emotional ups and downs over the years, he rarely let those down periods be evident to his customers and casual acquaintances.

To the contrary, during some troubling times in our extended family’s lives,(including our loss of Fred Sr and later, Hunter) he was one who counselled others in dealing with their grief, stressing that we hold on to the postive memories we had of the departed, rather than the sadness we were feeling at the time.
I hope that we all attempt to follow his advice when our thoughts turned to our loss of Miko.

He had a lot of friends and was loved by many.
As others have posted, he will be greatly missed.

I echo everyone else’s sentiments. I was very saddened to hear the news. Miko was a wonderful human being and true original. He was always very patient with me when we worked at Freds even coaxing some bad cover songs out of me when I hosted open mic.

He will be missed

As a St. Louis transplant to LA, I can safely say that no one out here has half the style sense that Miko had. He was a superstar. My heart goes out to all his friends and family in St. Louis. Ouch.

At a certain time in my life, you were a godsend. Your spirit and generosity and general ludicrous is a part of my chemistry. You will always be a part of my story and I will always cherish you. To you, Miko, all the blessings the universe can give.

This news is certainly sad and shocking. My heart goes out to his family and friends. I worked with Miko before. He’s always a gentleman with the best sense of style.

Rest in peace, Miko, you’ll be missed very much!

I feel heartsick. Miko was very kind and very genuine. I was always happy to see him.

Miko, I hope you found all the peace that you needed. You will be sorely missed.

My heart goes out to Miko’s family and many close friends. He was geniunely likeable and completely his own person. Someone else used the word “original”. Absolutely. Miko was a very engaging conversationalist–intelligent, witty and warm. He’ll be sorely and widely missed.

I’ll miss Miko dancing. He has all the moves.

I didn’t know Miko well, but well enough to know that all the wonderful things that have been said about him are true. Thanks to Paul Stark for the shared memories! He will be greatly missed.

I am completely blown away. From taking care of my wife and I at our rehersal dinner at Black Thorn to helping my little sister with a prom dress at the habadashery Miko was the best. No way around it. I can’t make sense of this. Love to all who was touched by him. Your already missed.

To some he was Mike; to many he was Miko; but to me he will always be the one and only Atomic Rebecca. He’ll be deeply missed…

In a city of shadows
one BLACK corner burned bright

Cheshire grin and golden heart
illuminated the Southside of town

The bright star has fallen

And our world is
a blanket of whiskey, sorrow, and soot