Michael Schimmel is an accomplished painter, an artist who has had two major shows and is published in a compendium of Artists – published by Woodbine house – who have disabilities.

Michael just turned 36 and has Down Syndrome. He lives with his parents, Dr. William Schimmel and Micki Goodman-Schimmel.

Every Monday, their home becomes MIKE’S PLACE – a virtual club for musicians who have disabilites. Their first rule of thumb: TAKE THE DIS OUT OF ABILITY.

A band was formed – and it is called MIKE’S PLACE – with Michael on drums, his buddy Keith on Bass (Keith is Autistic) Tony on Harmonica (Tony works with Keith) Naaya makes the videos (Naaya works with Michael) and Dr. Schimmel plays the Accordion and other electronic instruments. His mom Micki Goodman Schimmel joins in on various hand percussion instruments. Micki facilitated MIKE’S PLACE – organizing members of JOB PATH to join in.

Each week the group focuses in on a particular type of music – which include discussions on style, repertoire, mood, vibe, and other performance factors.

One week was a Blues session, another an Italian cinema session, another an American roots session, another a Duke Ellington session, another Cajun, another Free Jazz (Albert Ayler), another Electronica, another Reggae, another Broadway – and sure enough, Classical – and of course mixes of all the above.

Guests join them for jam sessions – Performance Artist Brian Dewan joined them recently. Brian is an accordionist and also is an inventor, He and his cousin Leon invented the Dewanathon, an electronic 8 note instrument that was used in the recent film,

The Social Network. Brian played Accordion on one of the sessions and brought his Dewanathon – played it and taught us how to play it. We had a wonderful time doing a kind to Free form session.

MIKE’S PLACE has become a weekly session that has been in progress since last February. So far they have worked on hundreds of songs and compositions – the Accordion being a major part of every one of them.

MIKE’S PLACE sets a precedent of how the Accordion works in group situations in any style, genre or mix of all the above. It also sets a precedent of how the accordion can be the ultimate cataylist for the education of Special People with Special Needs.