I remember riding in Mike’s car one time, and as I usually did, I brought my own music with me, a Cheap Trick cassette tape to be exact. I ended up forgetting my tape in Mike’s car that day and mentioned it to him later on in the week. When i asked Mike where my tape was, he casually changed the subject. I asked a few more times, but he gave me the classic Mike Tag runaround. Mike was real good at not answering your question if he didn’t feel like it. You would ask, and he would chuckle or give you some kind of coded answer, usually until you gave up asking. I would occasionally bring it up every now and again, but still no solid answer as to where my beloved Cheap Trick tape was. I was slightly annoyed, but eventually forgot about it. Then, one day, someone spilled the beans, it turned out that Mike’s cassette player had chewed up my Cheap Trick tape, and without a second thought, Mike yanked it from the cassette player and chucked it straight out the window…..leaving it on the road behind him. For a while, I was under the assumption that Mike owed me a new Cheap Trick tape, needless to say, one never materialized.

One of the most important things that my friendship with Mike Tag taught me, and I’m only now realizing this, is that certain things happen in life and those things aren’t anybody’s fault, no one is to blame and apologies aren’t necessary, you just keep moving on, and don’t sweat the small stuff. Mike never got worked up over the little things, actually, I don’t think Mike ever got too worked up over anything at all. He always had a calm demeanor about him, even while the shit was hitting the fan. That was one trait of Mike’s that i always admired. That Cheap Trick tape was a material possession, something easily replaceable, but as for the time my transmission went out while Mike was driving my car through the Arizona desert, that one made a bigger dent in my wallet.

Rest in peace, Mike Tag, you were truly one of a kind.

- Stew Johnson