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From 2004 to 2007, I kept text document “diaries” of every show I played, whether with my band or by myself. I’m not quite sure why I did it other than a desire to keep a record and track how many shows I played in a year. Tonight, I opened those text files for the first time in years, and I was struck by a) how many shows I played back then, and b) how many of these shows included post-performance commentary!

Instead of letting these memories fade away on an old hard drive, I thought I’d share them with you. These dates represent my musical endeavors as a college student as well as the entirety of The Perfect Paradox’s career. Maybe you were at one or two of these shows, or maybe you even played the show with me! Let me know if you remember any of them 🙂

Note: I have highlighted the performances with strong personal significance in red. I have also added new comments in [brackets].

January 2, 2004 – Perk Ave
With April In Andalusia, Bellaluna, and Chris Cantoya

January 7, 2004 – Oleaver’s
With Mint Pink and Rebecca Wolfson

January 16, 2004 – The Rock
Remedy Magnify CD Release Show (Sleepy Jacks Debut)
The first Mike Harvat & The Sleepy Jacks performance! We did alright for only having 2 weeks of experience under our belts. Thanks to Remedy for having us play, we had a great time.

January 17, 2004 – The Pizza Shoppe
With Tess Eidem, Cay Combs, Aaron Nigro, and Sonus

January 23, 2004 – Perk Ave
With Lindsay Donovan and Andrea Penka

January 31, 2004 – Rebels
With The Shooting Star Chronicles and A Hiding Place

February 6th, 2004 – Community Covenant Church
Not Yet CD Release Show
With Chris Cantoya
Finally, I released my CD on the 6th of February – more than half a year after I started the project. Thank you so much to everyone who came to the show or has bought the CD since then.

February 7th, 2004 – The Anchor Inn (Sleepy Jacks Performance)
Sam Stiehl Benefit Show
With Snatch, 3 Day Meat Sale, Working Class Heroes, Lovetap, Vago, Lower Case i, Sonic Diversion, Shiver, Liquid Static, Names Without Numbers, and Anchondo

February 17th, 2004 – Old Chicago (78th & Cass)
With Joe Ranne and Andrea Penka
JJ Tiziou was with us this night taking some snapshots of the performance. I had a good time, and we actually made some dough on the night.

February 19th, 2004 – Rebels Acoustic Night
Due to poor promotion, I played this show for Ben Eberly and a guy that kept falling asleep. Hopefully Rebels got their acoustic night off the ground; this was their first crack at it.

February 27th, 2004 – The Pizza Shoppe
With Tess Eidem

March 12th, 2004 – Rebels (Sleepy Jacks Performance)
With Officially Terminated and Libido

March 26th, 2004 – Christ Community Church (Sleepy Jacks Performance)
Relay for Life
With Social Anxiety and Beef Of The Sea

March 31st, 2004 – Oleaver’s
With Roxanne Redd, Miraj, And Luv Luv

April 13th, 2004 – UNO (Sleepy Jacks Performance)
Campus Crusade for Christ Outdoor Concert

April 16th, 2004 – Perk Ave
With Chris Cantoya

April 24th, 2004 – Rebels (Sleepy Jacks are no more…Perfect Paradox Performance)
With Tonedeaf Mime and Maybe Next Year
I want to thank all of the folks who came out to this show and bought a CD when they hadn’t even heard of us. The guys in Maybe Next Year are great people; they made the night fun. [If I recall correctly, we played this show as “Mike Harvat and the Ninja Robots” because we hadn’t settled on a name yet.]

May 15th, 2004 – Mick’s Music & Bar
Omaha Songwriters’ Festival
With Sarah Benck, Kyle Harvey, Landon Hedges, Reagan Roeder, Greg Loftis, Chris Cantoya, Justin Lamoureux and Jennie Lee, Adam Johnsen and Matt McLarney, Mike Friedman and Korey Anderson, Joe Ranne, Lindsay Donovan, Paul Luxon, Ryan Fought, Adam Weaver, and Michael Campbell
Justin Lamoureux is a great guy and I was proud to be a part of this event. I look forward to the Omaha Songwriter’s Festival each year.

May 22nd, 2004 – Mike’s Place (Perfect Paradox Performance)
With Working Class Heroes, Special People Club, and And Casanatra
If the pitch for this show was, “Hey, do you want to do a show on the stormiest night yet this year at a Bar with an easily-flooding loading area and bands that think you’re just an acoustic act so they’ll be unprepared for your band to show up and then you can leave as soon as you’re done playing because you’re under 21?” I would have probably turned it down.

May 29th, 2004 – Ben Eberly & Ben Richmond’s Grad Party

June 4th, 2004 – Caffeine Dreams
With Midwest Dilemma, Chris Cantoya, and Adam Weaver

June 11th, 2004 – The Rock (Perfect Paradox Performance)
With Ancient Soul, Matt Banta Band, and David Potter Band
Our friend Chris Spurgin filled in on guitar for us at this show. Thanks, Chris.

June 12th, 2004 – The Rock (Perfect Paradox Performance)
Lifelight Battle of the Bands
With Fortress, Seven, Thirty Pieces of Silver, Kaotic Order, Riding Shotgun, Voice of Reason, Unknown Prophecy, Jason Hinze Band, Ali Lawler, and Greyskyblue
Everything clicked this night. It was by far our best performance to date, even better than the amazing chemistry we experienced at the Relay for Life earlier in the year. Seeing Seven for the first time in several years was pleasing, and Greyskyblue was a great worship band out of Missouri (I think). Thank you so much to everyone who came; you made it worth our time. Though we didn’t win the battle, we were still invited to come out and play at Life Light!

June 19th, 2004 – The Rock
With Casting Pearls, Remedy, The Livingstons, Names Without Numbers, From Dust, Sommer Waite, and The Few and Far Between

July 9th, 2004 – The Rock
With Far From Lost, Trust Fund Kids, and Your Face
We dressed up in formal attire for this gig. ‘Twas our first performance with Your Face, and it was amazing. These guys have talent. I look forward to playing shows with them in the future!

July 17th, 2004 – Rebels
“Raise The Roof” – Benefit Show For A New Roof
With Shooting Star Chronicles, Nameless Theory, Libido, Tone-deaf Mime, West of Reality, Bagshot Row, Amarthatic, Trippin Default, Voice of Reason, Forever in Her Eyes, The Livingstons, and White Collar Mercy

July 23rd, 2004 – Caffeine Dreams
With David Potter

July 30th, 2004 – Rebels
With Nameless Theory and Epiphany

August 13th, 2004 – The Rock
With Nicholas Peterson and the Vintage, The Few And Far Between, and Fortress
This was our first time playing with The Vintage and Nicholas Peterson and we loved it! He’s a great guy; we left looking forward to the upcoming show on the 27th.

August 27th, 2004 – Kingsway Christian Church
Back To School Event
With Remedy and Nicholas Peterson And The Vintage
Thanks so much to all of the hard work put in not only by the other bands, but the people who put the event together. Especially to Cassie and everyone else over at Kingsway.

September 2nd, 2004 – LifeLight Music Festival
Lifelight was wonderful. Although we didn’t take first place, it was a blast. The guys from Remedy were out there that weekend and did the sound for us. If you haven’t heard their stuff yet, you NEED to. www.oneremedy.net

September 17th, 2004 – The Rock
With Aloha Something, Quarter To Seven, and Event Staff
Acoustic set. We left early to go play at The Foundry. Two shows in one night!

September 17th, 2004 – Kingsway Christian Church
Coffee Shop Performance @ The Foundry
This place is great. I plan on coming back in the near future. Thanks to Jeff Spiehs for having us and being a great guy in general. I especially had fun playing acoustic for the first time in quie a while.

September 25th, 2004 – Rebels
With Nicholas Peterson And The Vintage, Luke Mills of After The Order, and The Livingstons
This show was a benefit for Tanya Schiller’s medical expenses, whom I am always happy to help out – she’s a wonderful woman of God. The Livingstons were also very supportive and they even could pick up the Brian McSweeney influence. With that said, they are my new best friends.

October 9th, 2004 – The Warehouse (Willmar, MN)
With Names Without Numbers
Our first real out of town show. Thank you to Names Without Numbers, The Warehouse, and the kind people who let us sleep in their basement (though I can’t remember their names!). We’d love to come back any time, and hopefully do a little better.

October 30th, 2004 – The Rock
“Kenya Spare A Dollar” Tour
With Roper and For Higher
Opening for Roper was a blast! We had a lot of support for the show; thank you to everyone who came out.

November 21st, 2004 – First United Methodist Church

December 17th and 18th, 2004 – Community Covenant Church
Do It For Marco! Benefit Concert
Thank you to everyone who came to these shows! Though we had our technical difficulties and a somewhat less than desirable turnout due to the holiday season, bad promotion, finals, and the fact that we have a very small fanbase, we still managed to raise enough money to fund 4 months’ worth of support for Marco.

December 31st, 2004 – Covenant Cedars Bible Camp
New Year’s Eve Show
With Names Without Numbers & The Livingstons

January 17th, 2005 – UNL
Seven Live CD Recording
With Seven

January 21st, 2005 – The Rock

February 11th, 2005 – The Foundry

February 12th, 2005 – Steam’n Koffee

April 1st, 2005 – Brookside Church
Battle of The Bands
With Your Face, Barter The Trigger, April In Andalusia, & Others…

April 2nd, 2005 – Fremont, NE
For His Sake Music Festival
With Sanctus Real & Remedy Drive
[I believe this may have been the first time Remedy played in Nebraska as “Remedy Drive.”]

April 7th, 2005 – The Rock
With Roper and Edison Glass

April 15th, 2005 – The Foundry

April 22nd, 2005 – The Rock

May 6th, 2005 – Turning Point

June 17th, 2005 – Community Covenant Church
Mexico Mission Trip Benefit
With The Livingstons, Nicholas Petersen, & Common Jones

June 26th, 2005 – The Rock
Worship Night
With Nicholas Petersen & The Fuel Band

August 6th, 2005 – Sioux Falls, SD
Lifelight Battle Of The Bands
[The BOTB took place on a loading dock outside of the Firehouse Coffee Shop in downtown Sioux Falls. Their sound system was poorly grounded, which was a problem because I attempted to do the sound check barefoot…I took the worst shock of my life – to my lips – when I first talked into the microphone. This was also the first time I ever saw Children 18:3; I thought their lead singer was just a homeless dude checking out the music all day until they took the stage.]

September 3rd, 2005 – Sioux Falls, SD
Lifelight Festival

October 1st, 2005 – The Foundry

October 14th, 2005 – The Rock

December 3rd, 2005 – Steam’n Koffee
With Names Without Numbers and Brad Hoshaw

December 16th, 2005 – Community Covenant Church
Undivided CD Release
[While the original text document didn’t have a note attached to it, I remember what happened after this show well. I received a phone call from Nicholas Petersen telling me that he genuinely enjoyed the songs from Undivided. To receive a compliment like that from someone I respect (both as a person and a songwriter) meant a lot to me!]

December 31st, 2005 – Western Bowl
Terra Nova New Year’s Celebration

January 13th, 2006 – Caffeine Dreams
With Zach Perkins and Aaron Hadenfeldt

January 27th, 2006 – Crossroads Christian Center
With Names Without Numbers, Life’s Last Breath, and Your Face

February 2nd, 2006 – South Sioux City, NE
First Thursdays
With Nothing Between
[This was an event put on by the amazing Les and Angie Lutter! I believe their son Tucker played his first song for us in the back room that night. Also, our trip to South Sioux City was a journey that will live in infamy: Our Mapquest directions blew out the window at one point, and John didn’t realize that his gas gauge was faulty…so we ran out of gas in the middle of the interstate. Thankfully, we were able to coast to a gas station in the nick of time. If all of this sounds familiar, it’s because I am describing the real-life events that inspired the song I-29.]

March 2nd, 2006 – The Rock
With An Angle, Flyover Country, and O Lovelle

March 3rd, 2006 – Mosaic Community Development
Homeless Benefit Concert
With Flyover Country and O Lovelle

March 11th, 2006 – The Foundry

March 30th, 2006 – Wayne Sate College (Wayne, NE)
With Aaron Hadenfeldt
[We strategically drove to avoid a tornado on the way to this show. I also remember listening to Aaron’s Falling Up CD and being appalled by the prices at the student union’s Taco Bell.]

March 31st, 2006 – Oleavers
With Skybox and Tie These Hands

April 14th, 2006 – Westwood Church
Remedy Drive’s Rip Open the Skies CD Release Concert
With Remedy Drive and Quarter to Seven

April 29th, 2006 – Shea Riley’s (1000 Wells Benefit)
With Crack Team Of Scientists, Iris Pattern, and Civicminded
[This must be the first time I met Phil Reno! It’s hard to remember, because I was “star struck” by him for a while before I felt comfortable interacting with him. This was also the only time I remember seeing my brother’s band live, which is a shame because I really liked it. Oh, also there was a drunk lady throwing our Blood:Water pamphlets everywhere at the end of the show. I was pissed.]

May 10th, 2006 – Watertown, SD
Lutheran Church of Our Redeemer
[We got paid $150 to play this show, which we were excited about until we borrowed the church van and spent over $100 on gas. Also, our sound engineer was a formerly deaf woman who told us we were much too loud.]

May 20th, 2006 – The Rock
Lifelight Festival Audition

June 25th, 2006 – Perk Ave Coffee Shop
With Flyover Country and The Campaign 1984

June 2nd, 2006 – Music Plex
With The Livingstons

June 13th, 2006 – York, NE
With Sequel To Adam
[While I don’t remember much about the show itself, I remember the guys in Sequel to Adam being super hospitable to us. I also was and still am a huge fan of their music.]

June 23rd, 2006 – The Foundry (Mike Acoustic w/ John Moessner)
With Jason Hinze and Jamey Holiday

June 25th, 2006 – Perk Ave
With Flyover Country and The Campaign 1984

June 26th, 2006 – The Foundry
With Midwest Dilemma and The Honored Guests

July 6th, 2006 – Mosaic Community Center
Homeless Benefit
With The Livingstons, Nicholas Petersen, Bartlett,O Lovelle, Curbside Motel, and Tim Wildsmith

July 29th, 2006 – Pit Crew
With O Lovelle, Curbside Motel, & Of Military And Mathematics

August 4th, 2006 – The Foundry
Mali Project Benefit
With David Potter, Ben Shafer, etc.

August 12-13th, 2006 – Pella Church (Pella, NE)
Concert / Worship Event with Kevin Pringle (Speaker)
[There are so many memories attached to this event, from playing softball with the youth group to pretending to enjoy the undercooked bacon that our hosts made for breakfast the next day. I’ll never forget when they showed us to our quarters for the evening…I was terrified to be staying in their 18-year-old daughter’s (unoccupied) room. When I went to go check on John, he was stripped down to his boxers in their son’s bed, reading said son’s Harry Potter book. Ha!]

August 18th, 2006 – Lincoln, NE
EDGE64
[I forgot to bring my guitar to this show, so I had to borrow one from another band. EDGE64 was a sweet space, though. Kind of a proto version of The Bay with an indoor skate park, coffee shop, hangout space, etc.]

August 19th, 2006 – Downtown Benson
Benson Nite
With Remedy Drive, Chris Saub Trio, Kill Bosby, Brent Crampton, Breathless, David Potter, Danny Sabra, etc.
[I’m pretty sure this was the night I met Danny Sabra. I also remember my mom thinking David Potter’s comments about his “poofy hair” while he performed were hilarious.]

August 25th, 2006 – Seward High School
Fall Semester Kick-off Concert
[This show was supposed to be at Concordia University, but they moved it to Seward High School due to a bomb threat. Not joking.]

September 2nd, 2006 – Sioux Falls, SD
Lifelight Fest – Firehouse Stage
Scheduled for Main Stage but moved due to inclement weather. [I also missed Audio Adrenaline because I was sleeping in the van with bronchitis. I’ll never forget venturing out to go use the porta potty, feeling like garbage, wearing a trash bag as a poncho, and having a couple of girls ask me, “Aren’t you Mike Harvat?” as we stood in line to pee. Ugh.]

September 3rd, 2006 – Sioux Falls, SD
Lifelight Fest – Firehouse Stage

September 9th, 2006 – The Foundry (Mike Acoustic)
With Jason Harwell

October 7th, 2006 – Sokol Underground
With Sleeping At Last, Lindsay Donovan, And O Lovelle

October 10th, 2006 – The Foundry (Mike Acoustic)
With Bradley Hathaway

October 14th, 2006 – The Rock
With Meg and Dia, Good With Guns, and Once A Pawn

December 1st, 2006 – Mosaic Community Center
With The Spaghetti Bears, The Tax Men, Make Believe Bombs To Blow Up Make Believe Worlds, and Fetch

December 3rd, 2006 – Christ Community Church
Restored Hope Benefit
With Remedy Drive

December 8th, 2006 – Brookside Church
Your Face CD Release Show
With Your Face and Nifty 250

January 20th, 2007 – Pit Crew
Turkey Team Fundraiser
With Day & Hour Unknown, Bartlett, and Curbside Motel

January 26th, 2007 – Rebels (Mike Acoustic)
With Flawed Lojik, Nifty 250, Your Face, and Zach Short

February 9th, 2007 – The Foundry
The Perfect Paradox CD Release Show
With Leslie and Sequel To Adam

February 17th, 2007 – The Foundry (Mike Acoustic)
With Brandon Rogers

February 23rd, 2007 – The Foundry (Mike Acoustic)
Blood:Water Mission Benefit Concert
12 Area Songwriters
Raised $6000 – Enough for 2 wells

February 25th, 2007 – Christ Community Church
With Perlend
SHOW CANCELLED due to weather

March 9th, 2007 – The Foundry (Mike Acoustic – Asia Benefit)
With Jared Strock and Aaron Hadenfeldt

March 16th, 2007 – Pit Crew
Worship Set
With Nicholas Petersen, Zach Perkins, and The Pit Crew Worship Band

April 27th, 2007 – Creighton University
With Remedy Drive
[I think this might be the first time I played an electric guitar at a Perfect Paradox show. Aka, the beginning of the end!]

May 1st, 2007 – Ozone Lounge (Mike Acoust9c)
Acoustic Roundtable
With Chris Saub, Monica Eby, Matt Whipkey, Acoustic Groove, Korey Anderson, Oxygen, Scott Severin, Stephanie Pilypaitis, etc.

May 5th, 2007 – Waterloo, NE
The Frequency
With Remedy Drive

May 12th, 2007 – The Foundry
Africa Missionary Benefit
With Brandon Rogers and friends

June 2nd, 2007 – Sokol Underground
The Perfect Paradox Farewell Show
With Sleeping At Last, O Lovelle, & Bartlett

July 2nd, 2007 – The Foundry (Mike Acoustic)
With Sean Michel and John Moessner

July 13th, 2007 – The Foundry (Mike Acoustic)
Mav Aid
With Tea Ceremony, Scott Severin, and Goodbye Sunday

August 23rd, 2007 – The Foundry (Mike Acoustic)
Nicholas Petersen Farewell Show

August 24th, 2007 – Pit Crew (Mike Acoustic)
Tanzania Benefit
With Micah Perkins

August 25th, 2007 – Caffeine Dreams (Mike Acoustic)
With Chris the Whale and Micah Perkins

August 31st, 2007 – Lifelight Festival (Last Official Perfect Paradox Show)
Coffeehouse Stage
[While the band broke up over the summer, we still wanted to play at Lifelight one last time. Craig Nashleanas joined us on guitar because John had already left for college.]

September 21st, 2007 – Chili’s on 132nd & Maple (Mike Acoustic)
St. Jude Children’s Hospital Benefit

October 16th, 2007 – Ozone Lounge (Mike Acoustic)
Acoustic Roundtable
With Chris Saub, Monica Eby, Chalee, Matt Whipkey, Sarah Benck, Oxygen, Leslie, Brad Hoshaw, Stephanie Pilypaitis, etc.

October 18th, 2007 – The Foundry (Mike Acoustic)
The Gathering

October 26th, 2007 – The Foundry (Mike Acoustic)
With Adam Trabold and Taylor Burkum

December 1st, 2007 – The Foundry (The Redemption Show)
With Adam Trabold and Taylor Burkum

December 7th, 2007 – The Foundry (Mike Acoustic)
Simple Way Benefit (Worship Night)
With Aaron Hadenfeldt, Jared Kliewer, Jason Hinze, David Eberly, and Zach Perkins

December 16th – The Waiting Room (Flight Metaphor Debut)
With Tim Wildsmith, The Wildbirds, and Skypiper