When Mike Conley loved you, you knew it

When Marc “Lucky” Locke first met Mike Conley, it was in the Jockey Club in Newport, Ky. Locke was wearing a homemade MIA shirt when Conley approached him and asked him where he got his T-shirt.

“I said I made it. He liked that,” Locke said.

Later, the two became friends and Conley invited Locke to stay with him in California if Locke made it to the area. In July 1985, Locke, who lived in Drayton, Ohio, moved to California.

He was walking in Newport Beach when he saw one of MIA’s roadies riding a beach cruiser.

“I yelled to him, ‘It’s the Ohians,’” Locke said. “From Newport, Ky., to Newport Beach.”

It was that kind of welcoming friendship and camaraderie that was remembered at a memorial service for Conley Sunday night at the Detroit Bar in Costa Mesa.

Conley died in a suburb of Chicago Feb. 28 after suffering a major head wound from a fall in a motel parking lot. He is survived by longtime girlfriend Shelly “Syd” Leonard and his three daughters: Alex, 18; Zoe, 9; and Ava, 5. He was 48.

The Detroit Bar was filled with friends and family of the longtime punk rock singer who came together to remember his life. The bar, much like Conley’s own Avalon Bar, donated 100% of the bar proceeds from that night to the family.

A slide show of pictures of Conley with friends and family, playing music or spending time at the beach were shown on projectors and television screens, while some of Conley’s favorite possessions were on display.

Conley lived in Costa Mesa or Newport Beach for more than 25 years, spending a portion of that time at what friends refer to as the infamous 231 Cedar St. house in Newport Beach.

Larry Bearson, a former drummer for MIA, lived with Conley in the Cedar Street house and remembers dying each other’s hair, going on tour and the constant outpour of friends coming into their home for the three years the band lived there while on tour.

“Mike was a genuine person,” Bearson said.

The amount of love being shown for him at the service reminded Bearson of the amount of people who flocked to Conley in the days at the Cedar Street house.

“All these guys here, 90% were around back then,” Bearson said. “He was the real deal. When he loved you, you knew it.”

The service was a cross section of the various people in Conley’s life, from business partners to ex-punk rock musicians to motocross aficionados, which friends said is a testament to Conley’s heart.

“He was like a brother to me and everyone says that cause he gave out that much attention and love,” Locke said.

Chris Moon played with Conley in the early days of MIA before the band moved to Newport Beach.

“I loved the dude,” said Moon, a former drummer. “He was multitalented. A visionary. He was always one step ahead on the cool thing.”

DANIEL TEDFORD may be reached at (714) 966-4632 or at daniel.tedford@latimes.com.