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New Middle Class (Barbara and Mike Borok) continues to climb the glamorous ladder of singer/songwriter success, currently recording a new CD. Honors and awards include:
- 1st Place, Music To Life Concert, 2003 Kerrville Folk Festival
- Official Showcase Artist at the 2002 Southwest Regional Folk Alliance Conference, Kerrville TX
- 1st Place (Folk) and 3rd Place (Pop) in the Mid-Atlantic Song Contest
- 2nd Place in the Lake County (Chicago) Folk Festival
- Finalist in the 2006 and 2000 South Florida Folk Festival Singer/Songwriter Competitions, main stage performer in 2018
- Finalist in the 2005 Avalon FolkFest Rising Star Performer Competition
- Honorable Mention, John Lennon International Songwriting Contest
- Semifinalist in the 2012 UK Songwriting Contest (two categories)
- Finalist in the 2013 UK Songwriting Contest
- Semifinalist in the 2014 UK Songwriting Contest
Past winnings by the Westchester-based duo include the New Jersey Folk Festival's New Folk Showcase, and the WWUH-FM (University of Hartford) Folk Next Door Contest.
New Middle Class doesn't play your typical love songs. Barbara and Mike speak with voices of different characters as they sing about relationships, miniature golf, sensible footwear and more. Fast Folk says: "Great melodic songs, full of warmth, wit and truly delightful and surprising turns of phrase."Mike (guitar/vocal) and Barbara (lead vocal) have been intertwined musically and romantically for many years. Described as "intelligent fun," New Middle Class plays in clubs and coffeehouses in the tri-state area ... in between working a day job, raising a family, yard work, and recording their third CD.
In addition to being the featured act, New Middle Class has opened for Cliff Eberhardt, Tom Rush, Lucy Kaplansky, Vance Gilbert, Barbara Kessler, Dan Hicks, Margo Hennebach, Sloan Wainwright, Terre Roche, Susan Werner, etc. New Middle Class appears on five compilation CDs, and two of their songs, "Give It Back" and "Misery Loves Company," were winners of WHUD-FM's New Music Preview.
Venues that New Middle Class has performed at include:
| Towne Crier Café | The Turning Point | Uptown Coffeehouse |
| Minstrel Coffeehouse | Good Folk Coffeehouse | Zeke's Place |
| Treestar Coffeehouse | Unison Coffeehouse | Mine Street Coffeehouse |
| Good Folk Coffeehouse | Patterson Coffeehouse | The Schoolhouse |
| Twelfth Note Coffeehouse | Bodles Opera House | Assorted Friends Coffeehouse |
| The Carriage Barn | Fast Folk Café | One Station Plaza |
| Music Among Friends | 22 Below | Centerfold Coffeehouse |
| ArtWell | Listen Inn | Mohegan Colony Café |
| Sun Music Company | Hammond Museum | Hillside Café |
| Westport Art Center | The Acoustic Café | BeanRunner Café |
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Discography
| What's That Thing? (2017) - 2nd Mortgage Records |
| What's That Thing?, It's All About You, Loch Ness Cafe, Five Foot Four Girl (In a Ten Foot U-Haul Truck, Beautiful, 1999.9, Doctor Bones, Tenth Commandment, You Go First, Guilty (With an Explanation, Monty's Room |
| Anatomy of Love (2013) - 2nd Mortgage Records |
| Another Life (2011) - 2nd Mortgage Records |
| Beautiful Monsters (2003) - 2nd Mortgage Records |
| Beautiful, Monsters From Planet Earth, Let's Change |
| Music to Life 2003 Song Contest - Winners' CD (2003) |
| Cradle (revised) |
| Oasis Acoustic: Humor, Vol. 1 (2001) - Oasis compilation CD |
| Buy One, Get One Free |
| Government (2000) - 2nd Mortgage Records (CD single, radio only) |
| Government, Let's Change, Red River Flood (acoustic version) |
| The 16th Annual Mid-Atlantic
Song Contest - Winners' CD (1999) - Songwriters Association of Washington |
| Television Sky |
| 1999.9 (1999) - 2nd Mortgage Records (CD single, radio only) |
| 1999.9, I Was Born, Cradle, 1999.9 (live) |
| New Middle Class (1999) - 2nd Mortgage Records |
| I Was Born, Buy One, Get One Free, Cradle, She's Cool, Television Sky, Dan & Joe (and Sometimes Mo'), Red River Flood, Talking to You, Misery Loves Company, Into My Life, Give It Back |
| Release 2.0 (1998) - 2nd Mortgage Records |
| Dan & Joe (and Sometimes Mo'), Miniature Golf, Loch Ness Café (live), Living in Songland, The Other Shoe (live), I Miss You, Red River Flood |
| Undercurrents
(1995) -
Fast
Folk compilation CD (Fast Folk Musical Magazine #805, November, 1995) |
| I Was Born |
| Local Color (1995) - The Folk Next Door 4 - compilation CD - compilation CD |
| Cradle (live) |
| "Celebrities" (1993) - Hudson Valley Musicians Alliance - compilation cassette |
| Give It Back |