found

The circle is complete and the search is officially over.

My apologies go out to all who've been anxiously awaiting this entry. Read on to the end of this entry and you'll understand why.

I saw Tower Records on Broadway for the first time at around 5:30 or so in the afternoon. As I turned into the parking lot I immediately noticed a tall man carrying a guitar on his back. It was Kenny Lyon. I wandered into the store behind him carrying a coffee, a camera and a guitar of my own.

A large CD display case had been moved to make enough floor space for the band to set up. Mark, Shaun, and Kenny were all busy doing just that. There were a few other people kind of hanging around, but not too many at this point. It was still a little early.

It took Shaun a moment to recognize me. I had had a pretty full head of hair the last time I saw him and am now cleanly shaven. (I never made an entry about it on this page--I don't think--but I got together with Shaun a few months ago. He lives in Sacramento. We had coffee and ended up going to back his house and playing music, watching Mark Curry videos and the like. It was fun. He's a great guy.) The first words out of his mouth were something like, "What happened to your hair?" I've fielded that question so many times at this point in my life that I have no idea what I even said about it. At any rate, I was there, the band there and I wanted to have my say before I got in their way any further.

To Shaun I gave a number of things. We ended up having some common music interests so I had burned a few CDs for him. I also gave him a really cool book called "Powers of Ten". It's kind of a weird science picture book that starts with a picture of what the universe might look like and then shrinks by a factor of ten every page until you end up seeing representations of quarks and strings and things.

I don't know Kenny at all really. While I had the chance to correspond with him once or twice via email back when I was in Providence, I knew very little about him aside from what Shaun may have mentioned. To him I gave a book of Zen Buddhist Stories that I've had for probably ten years. It's a neat book. It smells old.

I wasn't sure if Aaron Abeyeta was going to be there or not. I think his parents were, but he didn't make it. I had even brought a gift for him: the "Principia Discordia," a strange blend of religious text, historical fiction and DIY punk zine. I knew little about "El Hefe" and perhaps even less about NoFX, but the gift seemed appropriate at the time. Too bad he blew it by not showing up!!

And then there was Mark. From that first music video fiftenn years ago to the man in sunglasses, a black bandana and a PBR t-shirt standing in front of me at that moment. My parents gave me my first real acoustic guitar the same summer I heard Mark's music for the first time. I played the hell out of that thing--from summers on my Grandfather's farm to coffeeshops and the Ped Mall in Iowa City to the 7-11 at Cleveland Circle in Boston and the cobblestone streets of the Old Port in Portland, Maine. I would play for hours and hours and hours. Sometimes I made some money. (I nearly got into a fight with somebody who thought I was getting too much. THAT was an experience.) Sometimes I played until my fingers bled. The inside of that guitar was literally covered with my own sweat and blood. And to be honest, I don't think I would've even thought of playing that way had it not been for Mark. So to him I gave my guitar.

And then I kept my distance.

There were a number of people there with kids. It made me wish I had brought mine, but my daughter wasn't feeling that great that day. A few people had "Find A Friend" T-shirts. One woman wearing it let me take her picture after the show. She seemed slightly uncomfortable with it, but let me do it anyway. I'm grateful she did. I was able to use the image for the surprise at the end of this entry. I saw her at the show the next night as well. I think she was pretty close to Mark, either family or perhaps just a really good friend. If any of this makes it back to her, thanks for the image.

The band sounded great. For a slightly odd venue (a record store at 6:00 in the afternoon), they came off really well. I don't know if anyone in the world has listened to more Mark Curry in the past year than I have, and I have to say they played well.

I did think it was a little funny that Mark and Kenny were wearing sunglasses but hey, when you're a rock star, you've got to look the part, right?

I hung around after they were done playing. I got to chat with Shaun about the show as well as meet Gia Ramos. I had noticed her during the show because she was videotaping the whole thing. It was only after Shaun introduced me that I realized she was the famous Gia from the Yahoo! Mark Curry mailing list. (She seems to always know when he's playing somewhere.) I also got to meet Trevor from Hard Soul and a couple of other who come up with him. (I can't remember their names, but their pictures are on the surprise at the end of this entry. The woman was from Portland, OR.)

Everyone ended up going to the Press Club following the show. They invited me along. It was fun. I had a PBR, king of cheap beers. I got to witness first-hand the speed with which Mr. Curry can down a pint of beer. The most extensive conversation I had with him was in the bathroom, of all places. Later on, he gave me my last cigarette. Most of the people that went out ended up going back to Shaun's house to grill steaks. My being a vegetarian coupled with the hour getting late, I decided to head back to Davis.

And that was pretty much Friday.

Next on the agenda was Old Ironsides. The show was not supposed to start until nine. I called earlier on during the day and the person I spoke with said it would probably sell out, so to be sure and get there early. (Do they tell this to everyone? Maybe, but I wasn't taking any chances.)

I showed up to the bar around 7:30 or 8:00. There weren't many people there. I did notice Mark walking around and chatting with the sound guy who ran the open mic that I played at months earlier, but he cut out relatively quickly. (Maybe he saw me and thought, "Christ! Not that guy again!")

I sat at the bar, had a beer, read the Sacramento News & Review about a reporter who went undercover to have dinner with a family of white supremacists at Applebee's. It was one of the funniest articles I have ever read. Without even going into the fact that these people's belief system is based on bigotry and hatred, they say some of the absolute dumbest things ever. If you're interested you can read the article for yourself.

I spent some time handing out postcards for my wife's show. (She has a photography show hanging in a place in Sacramento called the Lavender Library. If you're even more interested in checking out her work you can look at the website. With the exception of this blog, which I don't think qualifies entirely, her webpage is the first I've written. I've really got to get back to the point.) I gave one to Mark, one to Shaun, one to Kenny. I think I handed a few out to random strangers as well. Actually, after I handed one to Mark, I had this funny interaction with the woman sitting next to him at the bar. Basically she was like, "Excuse me? Who is that guy?" It seemed clear that she was distraught with all of the attention he was getting or something. I think I just said he was the band or something to that effect.

I ended up spending quite a bit of time chatting with Gia before the show. We talked a little about both of our motivations in following Mark's career. Her first taste of Mark was "Let the Wretched Come Home;" mine was the first video on MTV. We talked a bit about the alcohol thing and Mark's connection with Lonnie and the Complainers. I even found out a little tidbit about the album "Dozen Lies". At the end of the song "All the Pretty Ones" there is a strange outro to a country song with the lyrics, "Well it's all over now // All except for the pain," with the word 'pain' cut off by a gun shot. It turns out that the song is indeed a real song written by Kenny Lyon. Following the break-up of his marriage to Kim Nye (thanked in the album credits), he wrote and recorded an entire album in four days by himself. The album is called "1 man, 4 days, 5 bucks," and I'm looking forward to hopefully getting a copy of it from him in the mail in the next day or two. ANYWAY.

As soon as the band before Hell's House Band stopped playing, Gia and I went up to the front of the stage--she with her video camera and I with my wife's digital camera. We just stood around waiting for the band to set up and play. And they did.

What can I tell you about the show? It was wonderful. I think the photos I took tell just as good a picture as (if not better than) anything I could tell you. The band was great. Mark was awesome. The crowd was amazing. The pinacle of the show for me happened maybe twenty minutes from the end while they were playing "Drink on the Moon". Not only did they play my favorite Curry song flawlessly, but over half of the audience knew the words. I think I enjoyed watching them even more than watching Mark. I could see that his passion opened something up for them, something that is totally personal that either you get or you don't, and I think that might be why there are still people searching for Mark.

His music is soulful--it touches people in ways nothing else can. And once you go there, you can't deny that you've been there and that a connection has been made. Either you get it or you don't. I don't mean to speak so abstractly about it, but I think it is relevant. It's what makes Mark's music stick with people. It's beyond blues or punk. It's authentic.

They played a couple more songs and then an encore before the bar shut them down and turned up all the lights. I quickly bought a couple of CDs from Trevor and his lot at the Hard Soul table. I already had a copy of the CD, but I wanted to support them and get a memento from the show. I asked Mark to sign one for my friend Chris Beth back in Maine. We used to play a number of Mark Curry songs together (and usually still do whenever we still get together). I had Kenny, Shaun and Mark all three sign the second CD for my kids. I don't know if the blog will still exist once they grow up, so at least they'll have something to talk about my little project. (Shaun drew a little picture of a drumset on it. It's cute.)

I took a couple more pictures, said my goodbyes and called it a night. I drove home satisfied with what I feel is the end of a little journey. I still intend to keep tabs on Mark and HHB, but the search is over. He exists and I found him and he's still making music and it sounds great and now I can let it all go.

Almost.

I mentioned earlier on in this posting that I had made a website for my wife, Sarah. She is a photgrapher, and a large part of her site is dedicated to displaying images of her work in a gallery format. Well, after taking so many photos at my Mark Curry functions, I thought it would be fun to share the images with others. I threw up a site with some basic images the following day on my website. I sent an email to the Yahoo mailing list with the link basically saying that I would put up a nicer gallery in the next day or two.

A day or two grew into over two and a half weeks, but I am done with the initial project. It's not just a gallery. I've been trying to get the folks at Hard Soul to take a look at it, but they seem pretty busy and haven't really discussed it with me yet.

Anyone reading this should know just as well as I do that there is no official Mark Curry webpage. Well, if Mark and Trevor at Hard Soul like it, I intend to give this to them. Please don't link to it from anywhere, as its current location is temporary. I hope you enjoy it for what it's worth. I put quite a bit of time into it. Enjoy the photos and by all means, send me any and all feedback or corrections you deem necessary. Thanks to everyone who has read anything I've posted here and thanks for all of the kind words and feedback.

May this find you well.

Justin

the search is nearly over!!

Well... For those of you kids that haven't been paying attention, Mark and the HHB are to make an appearance at Tower Records in Sacramento today, Thursday, April 21, at 6 PM. The Tower page says they will be making an in-store performance. See for yourself here. Did I already post that link? I think I did, but I never read these things after I write them. And just in case you don't feel like searching on the Tower Page for directions, I will post them right here.

Driving Directions: >

Tower Broadway is located at the corner of 16th Street and Broadway

From I-5 North, take the Broadway off ramp. Go East on Broadway to 16th Street. We are right on the corner.

From 99 North, take the transition to Hwy 50 East and exit on 15th Street. Turn right on 15th to Broadway and turn left. We are one block away at 16th Street.

From 80 West, take the 160 exit into downtown. Turn left on F Street and go to 15th Street, turn right on 15th and take it all the way to Broadway. Turn left on Broadway, and we're on the corner at 16th Street.

From Hwy 50 West, take the 16th Street exit right before the I-5 interchange. Go straight to 15th Street and turn left. One block to Broadway, turn left on Broadway and we are at 16th Street.

I also finally got a picture of Shaun. He doesn't look anything like the guy on the front of "Dozen Lies." And notice the appropriately labeled "Devils" cap!

Lastly, I was given this nice image of the Hell's House Band logo. Enjoy...

If you see me and you care, say hello! (If you don't know what I look like, just ask any bald guy with glasses if his name is "Justin".) And if you miss the Tower performance, I'll see you (hopefully) at the Old Ironsides show on Friday.

justin

can i call 'em or what?

An email from one of my top secret sources informed me that advertised on page 2 of this month's Alive N' Kickin' is, you guessed it, an in-store performance by Hell's House Band at Tower Records on Broadway in Sacramento. The show starts at 6 PM. You can count on seeing me there. And, hopefully, at Old Ironsides the following night.

For those reading this that are not local to the Sacramento area, Alive N' Kicking is the local music rag, a monthly newspaper put out by a guy named Jerry Perry. Did he used to the run the Cattle Club? I don't know too much about it. If you know more, fell free to enlighten me.

As for HHB; perhaps my other secret source wasn't entirely reliable :) The link at Tower says El Hefe will be there. I know Shaun is going to be there and, god knows, Mark Curry had damn sure better be there. Maybe Kenny will be missing? You can see the link here. Make sure you scroll down to the "In-Store Performances" section.

Don't you hate those freakin' sideways smiley things?

j

ironsides, m-bar and the vacant (?) tower

For those who wander here and haven't yet heard, Mark is playing a show at Old Ironsides on Friday, April 22nd. Somebody emailed me to let me know that he isn't playing with Hell's House Band, but I'm not entirely sure what that means.

Shaun Mitchell, drummer for HHB, sent a couple of emails out to the markcurry yahoo group shortly after a show in LA at M-Bar. He said that they had had a great rehearsal the night before the show, but that the show was only so-so. Did anyone see this show? I'd love to hear about it. Were Kenny and El Hefe present?

I don't know what happened to the gig at Tower Records. The word was that the date was pushed back to avoid St. Patrick's Day and then to incorporate it with a small tour. I haven't heard anything more since then, but if Mark will be in Sac on 4/22, then you can probably bet that a Tower gig will be around that time as well. (Would you want to drive eight hours one way and not multitask your shows?)

On the side, I had a chance to grab some coffee and hang out for a bit with Shaun Mitchell. He played drums on the "Dozen Lies" CD as well as a couple of tracks on "Let the Wretched Come Home". Shaun had a lot of great stories and MC paraphrenelia as well. (I hope I spelled that right.) He sent an email out to the markcurry yahoo group that mentioned a couple of videos. He played them for me--there was a video for "Don't Die" and one for "High Above the River" that was directed by Kiefer Sutherland, of all people.

All's well that ends well. If anybody hears anymore news about MC let me know.

j

tower records

Just in case you hadn't already heard, Hell's House Band has been tentatively scheduled to play at Tower Records in Sacramento on March 17th. (The date is not entirely set in stone, but I'll let you know what I hear as I hear it.) Here is the excerpt from the most recent Hard Soul Newsletter:

Hell’s House Band - As soon as is possible we’ll confirm the HHB Bay-Area tour. I do know that Tower Records are hoping that it’ll start at their Sacramento store on Thursday March 17th, but I’ll let you know as soon as I do.

I also heard a rumor that they might make an appearance at Ameoba Music in San Fran shortly after the gig in Sac, but nothing official has been confirmed yet that I know of.

On a different note, I'd like to open up the table to invite anyone interested to share stories about anyone regarding Mark or Hell's House Band. If you have a story about a show you saw back in the day or maybe you grew up with Mark or somebody in the band, please feel free to share your stories on this page. I've heard from both Shaun Mitchell, drummer for HHB, and his sister. I'm sure that both of them must have stories to share. I'd love to hear from fans, too. Also, are there any European fans out there? I"ve seen a couple of postings to the Yahoo Mark Curry group from France and Greece and the like.

And just because I like putting photos up, I found this one of El Hefe from HHB:

Here's one of Kenny Lyon:

I can't seem to find a photo of Shaun Mitchell, but maybe he looks like this?

Until next time....

Justin

old ironsides

I finally caved.

I played my first open mike on the West Coast last Wednesday and it was at Old Ironsides. Woohoo! It has been quite a while since I played despite my fingers feeling pretty soft, I thinkn I pulled off a couple of songs pretty well. It felt great to play. It always does.

I always imagined Old Ironsides to be bit bigger and a lot more dive-ier. It actually seems like decent place. It would have been great to see Curry there last month. I'm sure there will be other opportunities.

I've accumulated quite a bit of Mark Curry stuff from Thomas. I've uploaded all of it to simbi.net. Not only did he send me mp3's of two songs by Crystal Sphere, he even sent photos of the jacket for the 45! He also sent along a few photos from the show at Old Ironsides on 12/30/04. I'll post a photo below. It should show up until John moves the file elsewhere.

sacramento

The holidays have come and gone. I should be working my way through a problem from Jackson, but my heart just isn't really into it tonight.

I received my copy of "Dozen Lies" a couple of weeks before Christmas. I've been listening to it off and off, and it's growing on me, but it's also kind of strange to listen to. I find it totally impossible to listen to without contrasting the songs with those off of "Down in My Alley". Of course the production of "Dozen Lies" is super compared to "Alley", but I definitely think "Lies" was recorded before "Alley". Without writing a review of the album, I would ask anyone to listen to the two versions of "Drink on the Moon". While I can't link to the "Lies" version (you should just go buy it if you haven't already), you can check out the version from "Alley" here.

The "Alley" version of "Moon" is raw, the vocals are haunting and the feel is authentic. It is almost an anthem for the artist and the picture his music has painted of him. It is impossible for an artist to create something and not leave a part of himself on his work. While "Moon" doesn't allude to whatever events led to his addiction, it clearly paints a picture of the reality the addiction left him in. The picture is so stark and real; you can practically see Mark face down in an ashtray, you can see him digging through it for that cigarette, and stumbling out the door. The image of such a character staring at his own reflection in a liquor store window is so brutal and real that you just can't dismiss it. The energy in Mark's voice is such that you can hear him critcizing his own existence, yet practically insisting on perpetuating it. The song seems brutally honest and tragically terse and in my mind represents some of Mark's greatest work.

The "Lies" version of "Moon" is slower and, in my opinion, a lot weaker than the "Alley" version. Mark sounds tired and the song loses a lot of the punch it has on "Alley". The mix is kind of sketchy, too. The vocals are much quieter and the bass practically knocks you down. It almost sounds like Mark is still searching for the best way to sing the melody during the second verse. I don't blame his ability or anything; I just think the song matured signifcantly by the time he recorded "Alley". On "Alley" the guitar is reminiscent of something Hendrix would've played, but is just kind of country-twangy when you can even hear it on "Lies". Not that I have an opinion or anything.

After kind of panning the "Lies" version of "Drink on the Moon", I should at least back-pedal on one song so I don't offend anyone. Another that was on both albums was "Cut 'Em Up". I thought this tune was alright on "Alley," but the production for it on "Lies" is just phenomenal. One of the trickier points of "Alley" was the guitar tone. It worked on a lot of songs, but came across sounding brash and a little irritating on a few tracks. This might be one of them. In the "Lies" version, however, the vocal work is just awesome. Hearing Mark both scream and calmly speak in his gravelly voice creates a really cool effect. What is the song about? I don't think I have a clue. I wish I had a little more insight into Mark's thoughts and his story, but... The seque at the the end is really neat, too. If you listen closely you can hear the heavier track get faded out underneath the jazzy acoustic and dreamy humming. Mark and Kenny worked hard on making the tracks on this album kind of fade into one another in dreamy way.

And while I'm thinking about it, what's up with the end of "All the Pretty Ones"? The soft fade-out becomes a campy, twangy country ending. Mark busts into, "Well it's all over now, all except the pain--" and then --BOOM-- you hear a shotgun go off like somebody killing themself. Perhaps this alludes to the track "Kill Yourself" off of "Alley"? It doesn't end there. The country song continues playing in the background as if it is on the radio. It changes over to the song "A Dozen Lies" while we listen to a person walking outside on gravel. A cigarette is lit, a drag is taken, voices talk in the background about "Squiggy" showing up at five in the morning while somebody takes a leak. A bizarre picture and a not so serious introduction to "Drink on the Moon," but I guess I already said something about that.

I hope that there was a decent turn-out for Mark's show at Old Ironsides back on 12/30. I really wish I couldn've seen it. You can't begin to understand the irony in my living fifteen minutes away from the show and just happening to be out of town when it happened. I feel like I've been wanting to see this guy for fourteen years. The only write-up I saw was at VH1.com and they said it was pretty good. I hope he comes up again soon.

Rumor is that the Curry-man is in the studio working on some new material. I'm all ears, Mark, and I can't wait to give it a listen.

justin

night cap

I found this playlist. Too bad I don't have my album yet.

I made the mistake of ordering my copy of "Dozen Lies" from Amazon.com. Presumably Hard Soul recalled all of the copies that would've made it to Amazon's warehouse because of the whole video fiasco. I'm a little bummed, but whatever; I'm patient.

Did I mention that I will *not* be able to attend the show at Old Ironsides on 30 December 2004? Did I mention the enormous stores of karmic energy that is guaranteed to return to the kind soul that documents the show in some way for me? Audio? Video? A review on a half-soaked coaster? Ten dollars and fifteen minutes away. I am *so* bummed.

Come back soon, Mark & company. If you don't I might have to start telling people that this guy is the real Mark Curry.

and in case you hadn't heard...

Mark and the Hell's House Band are playing at Old Ironsides on December 30th to a crowd of 300 people. (Check out the Hard Soul posting from today.

God-freaking-dammit. I'm going to be out of town until January 4th. Will somebody record this show? I am so pissed I'm going to miss it. Please let this show not be a one-shot deal.

justin

cocktail napkins

So there it is. A new album. I ordered mine on Amazon yesterday. (Please let me know if the link doesn't work. You can, of course, also get the album directly from Hard Soul Records.)Hard Soul sent out an email to the Yahoo group saying that the video had been left off some early prints of the new CD, but that most of the CDs should have the video for "A Dozen Lies" on it. I can't wait to get it!

I did a random google for the man and found an article in the Sacramento News & Review. The writer must've done a phone interview with him or something. It's the most press I've seen about Mark...um....ever. It's good to see. Here's the link.

Happy listening, fellow curryers. There doesn't seem to be a fan website anywhere for Mark, so by all means, everyone is welcome to post what s/he thinks of the album on this page if they have the urge.

justin

killing off young american boys

I just caught the most recent update to the Hard Soul Records website. In the music section they posted a lengthy clip from the song "A Dozen Lies" that is being released sometime next month under the moniker Hell's House Band. It seems a little curious that it's being released under that name; perhaps someone is still hiding out from the Isn't Really Secret? I remember the Hell's House Band logo from the inside of my "Let the Wretched Come Home..." cassette. (Cassette? Jesus, that was a long time ago, wasn't it?)

The quality of the song is much better than the wma converted to mp3 copy that I found the other day on John Crow's Website. While the sound quality seems decent, I have to admit that the music section of the HSR page tends to be really buggy with my browser. They promise a new site by the end of September. I wish them the best of luck, because the site seems a little messy as it stands right now.

It is was a breath of fresh air to hear "Bombs Away". I'm glad Mark is still writing political stuff; this country could use plenty of protest songs. How is it everyone I talk to hates Bush, is voting for Kerry, or both, but Bush is still leading in the polls? How is it that the general public doesn't seem to see through W's bullshit? "Protecting the rich, denying the poor... They love to watch the war from the White House..." MTV wouldn't have the balls to show a video for a song like "Bombs Away". Regardless of how horrible HSR says it might be.

The Deftones collaboration sounds interesting. It smells a little like something Mike Patton would do, but a Mark Curry spin on the Deftones could be very cool. Somebody over there digs Mark's stuff. (Just in case you don't feel like searching for the Mark Curry mention I'll post it below:)

B: (Somewhere the conversation turned to local musician Mark Curry. After hitting the bars the question is buried under gallons of yellow beer)

Chi: Mark Curry is the best singer-songwriter on the planet.

SB: (Without the benefit of recorded word I can't tell you the question that spawned this answer. I think it had to do with something about MTV and the Deftones's video play)

If anyone at HSR is reading, when do I get to buy something?? (PS I can't come to LA easily. Would someone ask Mark to play a show in Norcal, please?!)

Thanks again to John for hosting and everyone else for posting all of the great material. It has been a total treat to listen to so much new material. I really appreciate it.

And lastly, if Ashcroft or any of his goons are reading this because of the reference to killing American boys, I have two words for you. Bite me.

a dozen lies

It just keeps getting better. I came home from the airport and posted the previous blog entry I had written while on the plane. While checking to make sure all of the links worked correctly I discovered the Hard Soul Records website had been updated.

Not only has Mark Curry been working on a new solo album for the past few months, but Hard Soul Records will actually be releasing the mystery album recorded on Martha's Vineyard over five years ago!! The album is called "A Dozen Lies" and its existence was actually confirmed in an email to me from Kenny Lyon a number of months ago. He told me that they had recorded it and that it was a pity the album had never been released.

Thiss is great news. I can't wait to hear both "A Dozen Lies" and the new material.

I don't think it's right that L.A. gets to keep these "Hard Souls" for themselves--How about a tour, people? Maybe San Francisco? Sacramento? Davis, even?

happy merry-go-round

And things got a little busy...

I am pretty amazed by all that has come to light regarding Mark and his music in the past couple of weeks. After months of information barely trickling out of the vast hole of chaos that is the Internet, suddenly a number of great resources have opened up.

First and foremost it appears that Mr. Curry has indeed found a new record label at Hard Soul Records, an indie label just starting up in Los Angeles. The website says that the company will be releasing a compilation album containing songs by all of the label's artists. At least one Mark Curry track will be one it, a song called "Merry-Go-Round". If you click on the "Hard Souls" link on the main web page, you can scroll down to a Mark Curry link that lets you hear a good chunk of the song. The site also maintains that Mark is recording (or has recorded) a new album that will be coming out soon on the Hard Souls label. This will be the his first album in seven years.

This is great news.

The record label seems to have a pretty clear "fuck you" attitude towards corporate music. I think that's absolutely awesome. The website has a few bugs in it yet, but as they are cleaned up I intend to check out the other artists on the label. Anything I can do to support the little guy and bring down the evil empire makes me feel all fuzzy and warm inside. (If anyone from Hard Soul is reading this, I encourage you to get the store section of your site up and running! Unless, of course, you already plan to distribute to one of the cute indie stores in Davis. Let me know if you do!) Maybe I should send these guys one of mydemos!

Next is the Mark Curry mailing group on Yahoo. I already wrote earlier about reading through several years years of postings and being thrilled to hear about so many other Curry fans. It was great to hear about all kinds of different unreleased and live recordings that people were trading. You can imagine my delight when John Crow offered up his home server for the collection and trading of said Mark Curry material. Others have posted material and there now exists a nice collection of music and photos over at his website. John has allowed anyone to post material to the ftp site using the login markcurry and password markcurry. If you have something cool, I encourage you to post it!!

I was able to finally obtain clean copies of tracks that were scratched on my second generation copy of "Down in My Alley". There is a great recording of "Perfect Government" by Mark on the "Mark Curry EP". It's really great to see all of this stuff in one place.

Hey Mark, is there going to be any sort of tour with the album?!

come on out

So you've made it this far. You must know who Mark Curry is if you have; I needn't add that not enough people out there know about this guy. I'm sure we all have our own theories on why this is, but none change the fact that he has not recorded anything new in a long time--at least not in any distributable format.

Today I officially acknowledge that yes, Virginia, there is a community of Mark Curry fans however scant, few or far between they may be. I received an email from (name witheld to fend off spambots) regarding a Mark Curry show in LA on 08/20/04. He suggested I check out this website. (You might have to have a Yahoo! login in order to view it. I can't guarantee that it works without one.) Now that my son and I have finally landed in California, I had the chance to follow up on the email when my DSL was all set up. I have spent the past couple of hours pouring through just under 120 email postings regarding past shows, live recordings, set lists and lyrics as well as general fan mail. While I am heartened by the idea that there are others out there still waiting for this guy to play or do something new, he is still not making music to the degree that we all know that he could!! Ultimately it is his choice to confront his demons or be controlled by them.

Between the score or so of people I have encountered online that are connected in some way to Mark's music (as fans or otherwise) there have to be enough to piece together a sort of internet shrine to Mark--a collection of discography, lyrics, and commentary on an absolutely spectacular musician. I don't think anyone needs to be canonized--he is, after all, just a man--but he needs to be heard. (I'd love to hear him, but I've got kids and I'm not driving 12 hours to watch a 45 minute set. Somebody tell that guy to play in Sac or Davis maybe?)

That said, I've got to remember my own selfish reasons for this blog. My copy of "Down in My Alley" is bogus. Half of the songs on it are all skippy-dippy. (That's a technical term.) Is there anyone who could hook me up with a clean copy? My man in Waco never came through.

Thanks for bearing with my rant. California seems alright so far.

it's only time

I'm on the other side of the country and the emails are still coming to me!! I am happy that a few of you have stumbled onto this page and have communicated your interest in Mark and his music. Where the hell is he? Before I left the East Coast I stumbled onto a listing for a pub in L.A. that showed Mark Curry and another group. (I can't remember the name of the other group exactly, but I think it had the word "Brown" in it.) I tried calling the venue to find out if the booking person had any contact info for Mark, but no luck. I left a message on a machine and never got a call back.

Mark, if you're listening, you've got at least 6 guaranteed fans out there! I have the emails to prove it! Where are you?!!

this is not a sad blog

It has been two months since I created this page and I've had two emails regarding mark curry. The crux of both have been, "I loved this guy; what happened to him?" Well, Mark, where are you? Where are you playing? What's the dealie-yo?

I have found zilch in the way of leads. I've nothing but the music I've found. I heard somewhere that if you can find the band "Lonnie and the Complainers" playing somewhere that Mark usually isn't far behind. While I've found pictures of him playing at the Thuderbird Saloon in L.A., I can't find a current listing for either him or Lonnie anywhere. I tried calling the phone number blazoned across the Thunderbird's web site, but I've never had any answer. The website doesn't appear to have been updated since March of this year. Lonnie and the Complainers played there on February 5th, but where are they now? Is this some weird underground music scene? Does no one actually advertise shows on the web or is my only chance of catching a show to live in a town where I can walk by a poster stuck to a phone pole?

Has anyone heard of the Thuderbird? Been to it? Seen Mark or Lonnie and the Complainers recently?

I'm moving to the Sacramento area at the end of this month. Does anyone have any leads on Mark and the Sacramento scene? What are the chances I could find "Crystal Sphere" on vinyl in some sketchy record store? (Mark played with El Hefe in a band called "Crystal Sphere" or maybe "The Crystal Spheres" before El Hefe went to play for NOFX.)

Has anyone heard of Crystal Sphere, either? And is it just me, or is that kind of a lame name for a punk band? (Or was it even a punk band? I haven't a clue because as far as I know none of these things exist anyway!!!!!)

If anybody knows anything, please feel free to share.

j

just because you're not paranoid doesn't mean they're not really after you

I am not a psychopath. (That's what they all say, right?) If someone were to actually stumble onto this webpage they might get the impression that I am obsessively stalking Mark Curry. Nothing could be further from the truth. I have a few particular goals: 1) I want a clean--if not *original* copy--of the CD "Down in My Alley." This album was Mark's third and is completely impossible to locate anywhere. I am convinced that if I were to actually track down Mark Curry and call him up, he would think I was nuts enough to actually send me a copy. Maybe so, maybe not. Beyond that, I think that the existence of this page might be useful for someone else in the universe who happened to be wondering what the hell happened to this guy. Read that as a kind of unofficial *fan* page--not a stalker page. Lastly, I've got to figure what it is about Mark Curry and the invisible demise of his music career that has imprinted itself on my psyche.

Dear god do not let physics take music away from me!!

Did I mention how late it is? And besides, there are people out there that are waaaaay more obsessed than I am.

lonnie and the complainers

Mark is apparently friends with a band from L.A. called "Lonnie and the Complainers". Apparently he toured with them them at the same time as Antonio Estevan Huerta . This is all I'm able to find out about Lonnie and the Complainers:

1) THUNDERBIRD SALOON: The band has obviously played there, but the wesbsite looks like its construction has just kind of stalled. I tried calling the phone number on the website (I even confirmed it via several other searches), but all that happens is the phone rings and rings and rings and then this dalek-voice comes on and says, "Memory is full."

2) PUNK ROCK: Besides the tour mentioned above, both Mark and the band have played with The Fastplants. The band has been slightly panned by Mike Scalzi. Did Mark play with them at that show? I have no way of knowing.

3) BOWLING: What's up with bowling and punk rock? Two great tastes that taste great together? Up to this point I'd never heard of the two being mentioned together, but apparently bands in Southern California are required to have their own bowling team. NOFX as well as Lonnie and the Complainers have their own website.

Zara is not going to let me finish this right now.

how did the cat get so fat?

The unofficial purpose of this blog is to serve as a reference for anyone interested in Mark Curry. While I doubt that anyone on Earth other than myself will ever know of its existence, I know that had a site like this existed when I was trying to track him down it would have made my life easier.

I've gathered a bit of info regarding Mark and from various sources. I do not know Mark Curry; everything I have learned has been via the technological wonders of the Internet. If anyone actually sees this and wants to contribute something, please do so or let me know.

how not to locate someone

How did it even begin? It began roughly thirteen years ago. I was fourteen and staying with my Grandfather on a farm in Iowa. I was living in Maine, but came to visit him for the summer like I had done for most of my life. MTV was the only thing that made me feel remotely normal. And yes, they did actually play music videos. I saw the video for the song "Sorry About the Weather." It was the only time I saw it. I thought it was so completely cool that I committed the singer's name and the album name to memory. Upon my return to Maine at the end of the summer I was able to track down the cassette tape "It's Only Time" at Bull Moose Music in Brunswick. (There was still just one store at that point!)

There were several of us in high school that ended up getting that album and listening to it a lot. It is still a great album to listen to. From the visual of pieces from a 'rotting puppy corpse' flying through the air in "Musta Been Jo" to the cool way Mark pounded on his acoustic guitar in "Drinkin' and How," there was such much *stuff* in that album. To this day I still sometimes play the song "Wanna Run Away" with my friend Chris Beth.

I think I picked up "Let the Wretched Come Home" sometime during my junior year of high school. I played that tape to death. I even played a cover of "How Does It Feel?" for a demo I sent off to the Berklee School of Music. I spent a lot of time just driving around the backroads in Maine listening to that tape. "High Above the River" was one of my favorites.

And then what? Who knows? Those two albums stuck with me, of course, but Mark Curry was by no means the only music I listened to. I'm sure he made it into my tape deck often enough, but probably became less personal to me as my music library grew. A lot happened to me between high school and the next conscious moment I remember thinking about Mark Curry. From high school to a failed attempt at college, to Boston for a year, to Iowa for another and then back to Maine. I bet it was at least four or five years until I learned anything new.

Who hasn't wasted time searching fruitlessly for something on the internet? I must've killing time between classes or something. I typed in Mark Curry into google and came up with a page of him playing with a band. In retrospect it was probably "Ten Pin Trio," but I can't remember for sure. The bottom line is that I knew there was a band as well as a third album.

Several more years and I have a wife, two kids, a *really* lame job and a degree in math and physics that needs to be put to use. This past February I find myself biding my time at my job waiting to hear back from several graduate schools I've applied to. About the same time I receive my acceptance letter from UCDavis, I find myself searching for Mark Curry again.

I must've been sitting in front of the computer feeling bored, uninspired, something... I typed "Mark Curry" into google to see what came up. And I found practically nothing. While the occasional tab would turn up, any posting I could find resembling a fan essential boiled down to: "I loved this guy's stuff; where the hell did he go?" So I searched... It didn't help that the comedian from "Hangin' with Mr. Cooper" is also named Mark Curry.

Why I kept looking I'm not sure of. There are two things I can think of: 1) This guy is just way too good of a singer-songwriter for the possibility to exist that he is not making a living doing it! and 2) I am completely estranged from the side of myself that was once a singer-songwriter and my search for Mark Curry is really a transferred search for myself. Hmm...

I stumbled onto a couple of interesting things. First of all, Mark has this connection to NOFX that I didn't know about. Not only is his brother the guitarist for NOFX (Aaron Abeyeta AKA El Hefe), but Mark also wrote and sang on a song called "Perfect Government" on the NOFX album "Punk in Drublic". Second, I found perhaps two or three other postings that amount to "What the hell happened to this guy?" Thirdly, there was a connection to Sacramento and the California Punk Scene in general.

About twenty pages into google, I stumbled across a single posting to an altcountry message board. The message was something like, "Does anybody remember Mark Curry? He's coming out with a new album soon." I signed on to the message board so I could get the poster's email address. I emailed and, lo and behold, he *knows* Mark Curry. His name is Brian (names changed to protect the blah blah blah) says that Mark rolls through town roughly once or twice a year, but in general keeps a pretty low profile. It is my first sign that Mark still exists. Brian ends up sending me a burned CD of the Ten Pin Trio album "Down in My Alley" and also includes the "Find a Friend" EP.

To be continued later, but if you've made it this far, he are a couple of relatively recent photos I found...

http://www.rattracks.com/rattracks/ftour121.html

http://www.rattracks.com/rattracks/ftour133.html