Michael B. Koep has been a college educator, an international touring musician and a dynamite waiter. He is a swordsman, an avid world traveler, a visual artist, and a professional rock drummer. He has climbed the pyramids of Giza, fenced an Italian master and has done battle with the infamous North Korean propaganda loudspeakers by aiming a massive PA across the DMZ and taking a drum solo. He is known as a drummer and lyricist for progressive rock group KITE , as well as the percussionist for the rock power trio The RUB. Michael is a winner of a Costello Poetry Prize and the award winning author of The Newirth Mythology. His next book GIGMENTIA: A Drummer's Love Song to Rock Shows, Fatherhood, Writing, and the Passing of a Beloved Mom releases in July, 2023. He lives in North Idaho with with his family in a house filled with books, vinyl records, paint brushes, maps and musical instruments.