The Ghost Poets played to enthusiastic Ohio venues for well over a year following the release, which garnered positive reviews, airplay and respectable sales in about 35 markets nationwide: things looked promising, and fans had high hopes that The Ghost Poets would be a 'new shot' at the national success that had always seemed to 'just miss' The Michael Stanley Band...

   But radio airplay, one of the more indelicate but vital necessities in any musical release's potential success, was difficult: in Cleveland, ironically enough, radio stations had instituted an airplay 'blackout' on The Ghost Poets songs (as well as paid concert advertisements) because they viewed Stanley's position at WNCX, and his subsequent musical involvements, as that of 'the competitor'.

   As quoted from a July 1994 Cleveland Magazine article ("Michael's Town", by Kristin Ohlson Blumberg):

   "The Cleveland blackout is a problem. The fact that individual band members are heavily invested outside The Ghost Poets--Koslen still lives in Los Angeles and Lee just had a baby--is a problem. Demographics are a problem. While Stanley's own generation is the one that holds him most dear, its disposable income doesn't flow into rock 'n' roll--they might buy some albums, but they're more often slapping down the Gold Cards for Streisand or Yanni. Generation X and Sub-X--in their 20s and teens--are the big rock 'n' roll purchasers, but they're unlikely to hear The Ghost Poets on grunge-oriented college radio or even on the commercial stations, where airplay is severely limited to the playlisted mega-hits."

   As well, touring was not as simple as it used to be, either. All four primary band members had families and other career obligations outside of The Ghost Poets, and, as Michael himself best put it, 'Touring is a young man's game'. The higher cost of hotel rooms and meals made extensive touring prohibitive, and most cities don't have the proliferation of venues they had in the 70's and 80's---while there used to be a range of midsize clubs like Cleveland's Agora, bands now faced extremes: from playing a 200-seat club to filling up a hockey rink, with little choices in between...
      The Ghost Poets continued to perform for a little over a year after the release, when a decision was made to disband the effort, and move on...

   The Ghost Poets' material lives on, however, in the set list that accompanies Michael's continuing stage performances, joining the classic MSB favorites AND the newer titles from Michael's latest solo effort and release, "Coming Up For Air"---but that is another story..