The Guitar Guru: Michael Flawless

 It was a cool, fall, Wednesday at St. Joseph’s hospital in downtown Chicago, Illinois —6 degrees below the historic average, 

though the temperature was hardly noteworthy given the occasion.  Everywhere, everyday people gathered to watch football 

on prime-time, and wrestled to understand the news coverage; information had been teleported - successfully - across the great nether of what we have come to know as 'Cyber Space,' but this was neither particularly monumental. No one remembers who 

kicked off that night, or if the games were won. Internet, schminternet. 

On this day, our secret weapon was born: 

Michael Flawless made his premier appearance in the 22nd hour, beneath a waxing gibbous moon.

Sounds idyllic doesn’t it? Deceptively so.

That’s exactly how we feel about our guitar hero. Seemingly unassuming and soft-spoken, this wolf in sheep’s clothing is the most likely guy in a dive bar to charm you all the way to BFF status via casual conversation - while convincing you to trust him with your girlfriend, and claiming he never even picked up a guitar until a couple of weeks ago. Actually strap him into that six-string, however, and he’s downright dangerous. Flawless never fails to inspire awe from peers in-the-know, plays with a natural talent that he wears like a branded style, and sits second to no one. 

Though our magic man almost never misses a note and makes dancing around a fretboard seem absolutely effortless, 

he brings more to the table than a master-quality performance and a nod to George Lynch. He was, in fact, the first pro-player tapped to re-start the band when Donnie and Trixie were dreaming up an all-star, cherry-picked team for world-domination… 

and he’s truly the reason the Ego Machine exists today; we knew we had something special when Michael Flawless

checked it out and said he wanted to be a part of it. 

From that moment to this, Flawless' complete commitment to the group has encouraged the rest of our rag-tag entourage to push through challenges with resilience, even as his sense of humor has brought us together in a way that continues to make us feel privileged to be on the same page. Simply put, what our band has become is largely owed to “Michael-vision.”