Howard Muhlberg is a musician at heart

It’s been eight years since Howard Muhlberg began coordinating the Western Card Office and the ResTek program. It’s also been eight years since Muhlberg first stepped on a stage with his guitar.

Muhlberg is a program coordinator at Western, and said he loves working here.

“Working on a campus felt like a good fit for me, and it has really sustained me all these years,” he said.

While he enjoys his work, Muhlberg’s real passion is music. He has a wide range of musical interests, but it all started with rock.

“I first got into music via rock. I grew up in the '70s and absorbed that music like a sponge, but I also really love classical music and music from Africa, a lot of folk music from other areas of the world. I went through a phase of being into old-time country music and the blues too,” he said. “There is very little music that I don’t like.”

Growing up in New Jersey, Muhlberg has been playing music his whole life. After graduating from Rutgers University, Muhlberg spent five years living in Los Angeles. While Muhlberg says that Los Angeles was not a good fit for him, he did enjoy the music scene.

He came to the Pacific Northwest 22 years ago. He had heard a lot about the Northwest, and felt a draw to come up here.

“Sure enough, as soon as I came to visit I knew this was where I wanted to be,” he said.

Moving from Los Angeles, where there was a thriving music industry, to Bellingham, with its relatively tiny music scene, played a major role in Muhlberg becoming a performing musician.

“With so much less music to go out and see, my attention turned more solidly to making music rather than just watching and listening to it,” he said.

While he has been a musician since he was young, he only began performing in front of others eight years ago.

He recently started a new band with one of his old friends and three other musicians. They got together in September, and have been practicing throughout fall and winter. Muhlberg said they hope to start playing gigs in the summer, but for now they are sticking to weekly practices in their friend’s basement studio.

The band is currently covering playing covers, but could eventually create their own compositions.

All of the bandmates have played in other bands. Over the years, Muhlberg and his friends have performed at places like Boundary Bay, The Main Street Bar and Grill in Ferndale, the Longhorn Tavern, and Chair Nine in Glacier.

“We’re not looking to play so many bar gigs, where it’s super late at night, we’re hoping to play at more family oriented events, such as outdoor parties or community events,” says Muhlberg.

The Boundary Bay beer garden has been one of Muhlberg’s favorite places to perform.

“It is so fun to be up on stage performing while kids are running around and people are dancing with hula hoops, that energy is so much nicer than being in a bar at midnight or 1 o’clock in the morning when there are people falling all over themselves,” he said.

Although he has been performing for less than a decade, Muhlberg has never gotten stage fright.

“I just enjoy making music so much that I am very comfortable. It is what I most want to do, recreationally and creatively,” he said.

[ Editor's note: This article is one of a series running this week in Western Today in conjunction with the state’s Classified School Employees Week March 14 to 18. ]