April 2010 Newsletter
Monday, March 15, 2010
"Feel like I'm tied...to the whipping post!" Me, ca. 1992
BASEMENT DAYS
I can still picture it all so clearly: Carpeted stairs descending into windowless darkness. A mildewy chill, like a cave made from fake wood panelling, linoleum floors and stucco stalagmites. The setting is my friend Tim's basement. He was a bassist and the second of three guitar-slinging brothers. They were disciples of classic rock, and there were amps, a drum set, lava lamps and old records everywhere. Tim's dad worked from home, above the basement where we rehearsed. He was either a very tolerant soul, or else got some measure of relief knowing we weren't off somewhere getting into real trouble.
It all started with Freudian Slip. Then Dead Flowers. Finally, Organic Icecube. These were more than just bands, they were an alternate education, a substitute reality. Down in the basement, we were plugging into amps and dreams where everything went to 11. In The Midnight Hour. Whipping Post. Get Off Of My Cloud. Free Bird. What better indication than that Skynyrd song that we had yet to be tainted by cynicism or irony? It was all new and electric in every sense of the word, and we wholeheartedly subscribed to a rock n' roll dream we couldn't possibly understand.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, I was usually the singer. You couldn't just Google the lyrics, you had to stop, listen, rewind and listen again, all the while staring at the speakers...did Jagger just sing "She was standing in line with 'Mr. Jitters'?" Who was that woman "at the reception, a glass of wine in her hand?" I didn't even comprehend half of the lyrics I was singing, but I longed to know. Still, coded messages often came through loud and clear, and I definitely understood when Roger Daltry sang "mama's got a squeezebox she wears on her chest"? Damn! There was a whole exotic and dangerous world out there beyond the suburbs, and it felt like these songs were the only glimpses we got of it.
I picked up the drums, and sang my brains out just to hear myself over my arrhythmic abandon. We began writing our own material, and scraped up enough money to pay for a cut-rate midnight to 6 am recording session with an engineer-in-training at a B-list studio. I drew the graphics on our cassette inserts (something I never thought I would do once again 17 years later on my 8th cd). I cajoled all my guitar player friends to teach me something, and it took minutes to change between the three chords I knew. The band petered out shortly after we graduated high school, and left to my own devices I delved deeper into folk music and songwriting. Fittingly, it was my friend Tim who lent me the acoustic guitar that I learned to play in the cavernous reverb of my college dorm's stairwell.
I am more surprised than anyone that this has become my life's work. I love what I do, and while it's far from a straight job, it is "work." The years since high school have been full of dues paying; thinking, eating, breathing music with the singular focus of a wild beast. Those were also formative years, but I have little desire to revisit those days. I have more nostalgia for the innocence irrevocably lost, for a time before I knew any better. I still feel the occasional transcendence, when I have utterly surrendered to the jubilation of making music. But sometimes I can't help but wonder: how many of those fleeting moments would I have to string together to equal the naive joy of just one of my basement days?
DIGITAL "VIGILS": I am proud to announce that Little Vigils is now available for digital download through places like iTunes, CDBaby.com, Amazon.com and many more. These digital sites do not give me accurate lead times for when my record will come online, but it should be widely available via most digital music sites in the month's end.
NEW VIDEO! In keeping with this month's theme, I am proud to announce the debut of the official video for "Basement Days." I stumbled across some footage from an old battle of the bands on a dusty VHS tape underneath my parents' TV, and synced it up to the song from Little Vigils. I think there are a couple of frames where you can actually see me mouth the lyrics to "Whipping Post." Check it out on my YouTube channel.
BAREFOOT BOOKS: "I Took The Moon For A Walk," one of the spookier tracks on Little Vigils, is actually an adaptation of the wonderful children's book of the same name. It's a fantastic story, quite beautifully illustrated and worth checking out if you have a little one at home. You can order it online here.
VT FOLK VACATION: This August 17-19th, you have a chance to spend three days in beautiful southern VT with myself, Tracy Grammer and Lori McKenna. We'll be spending three days at the West Mountain Inn in Arlington, with nightly concerts featuring a different artist each night, along with unique collaborations. This is going to be great, and there are still rooms available. For more information on reservations, click here.
MP3 OF THE MONTH: I figure since I'm already showing embarrassing high school video footage on YouTube, I might as well double down and give you some audio as well. This month's download is "One For J," the hit song by 1993's Organic Icecube from our final EP Trucks! It features yours truly on drums and vocals and (production values aside) I still think it's a great song after all these years. Just to finish off what's left of my dignity, you can check out a (mercifully abbreviated) bonus clip of the final minute of a 20-min epic cover of "Whipping Post" from my other high school band Dead Flowers. If these two tracks prove anything, it's that I have irrefutably gotten better at music. They are available free for the month of April on the Downloads page.
SHOWS:
Fri April 2 - Passim Center - Cambridge MA - 7 pm
My home away from home...I can't say anything about playing this legendary club that hasn't already been said. Tonight I'll be celebrating the release of the new album, Little Vigils. This will be a special night, as it is the last duo gig I have with producer/multi-instrumentalist Zack Hickman before he hits the road again with Josh Ritter. The Mark & Zack show is pretty awesome and we move a helluva lot more air than most duos. Come to the throwdown and get your copy of the new cd directly from me.
Wed April 14 - Lizard Lounge - Cambridge MA – 8:30 pm
I'll be here playing guitar and lap steel with the amazing John Shade. But I'll also be bringing a few of the guys from the Little Vigils band and playing the first set of the new songs with a band...ever! A great night of music not to be missed.
Fri April 16 - Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center - Old Saybrook CT - 8 pm
A benefit and life-affirming rocking good time to support Debi Friedlander and her treatment for breast cancer. Also on the bill are The Shinolas, Amy Fairchild and more. Awesome music for an even awesome-r cause.
Sat April 17, Tunbridge Town Hall - Tunbridge VT - 7:30 pm
I've never played in this area of Vermont, at least not since the summer of 1994 when I was a summer researcher at Dartmouth but spent all my nights playing every open mic in the upper Connecticut River Valley. This time around, 16 years later, I'll sound better.
Sun April 18 - Hooker Dunham Theatre - Brattleboro VT - 7:30 pm
This show is a benefit for Youth Services Benefit, a wonderful local organization that does important work on teen homelessness, among other things. I always love coming back to Brattleboro, but to come back for such a great reason makes it all the sweeter.
Sat April 24 - Split Level Concerts at the JCC Cafe - Scotch Plains NJ - 8 pm
I never knew the Scots named some plains for themselves, but that's New Jersey for you...full of surprises! I've never been Scotch Plains, but I've driven by the road signs and always wondered about it. Are the plains colored red and black plaid like the tape? We shall see. The venue is located at the Jewish Community Center of Central NJ.
SIDEMAN SECTION:
April 8 - The Rendezvous, Turners Falls MA (with Jeffrey Foucault's High Country Lo-Fi)
ON THE HORIZON:
May 1 - St. Augustine FL
May 6 - Livonia MI
May 7 - Flint MI
May 8 - Northville MI
May 14 - Albany NY
May 15 - Roxbury NY
May 28 - West Granby CT
peace,
mark
