About Marc
A more general bio may be found [here][link to come] - and from the marcalstudios.com main page.
My interest in live music began back in the early 1970s. My school-mates, camp-mates and friends shared music the old fashioned way and we got up to speed on all the great 60s/70s bands that were part of the FM radio and rock concert scene rather, after growing up with the stuff on AM radio (and TV, like the Monkees). A larger concert industry was evolving, as Rolling Stone, Circus magazine and other music publications gave increased coverage to the rock acts on their big concert tours. More of the shows were taking place at sports arenas and other large venues. FM stations like WLIR and WNEW in the NY area were hugely important, as they provided a broad coverage of the entire scene of albums, interviews, tickets and live performances, still reflecting a cultural landscape in stark distinction to anything that your parents could be happy about or comfortable with. I began watching “In Concert”, “Don Kirschner’s Rock Concert” and the “Midnight Special” on TV. Bands like Slade, Deep Purple, Elton John and Led Zep occupied my time in those early days, but I also soon discovered the Stones, the Faces, and many other great bands that were featured heavily on FM radio and TV.
My first piano teacher had a frank discussion with my Mom about how it might be ok to let me go to Madison Square Garden for a concert with a group of my 14 year-old friends - this in his estimation being a safer alternative than going to venues that would involve dropping off by car and meetinging after a show, in the days before cell phones or other means of mobile communication.
My Dad had a lot of experience in photography, and owned several cameras including some from Europe during WW2. I got my first single-lense reflex camera around this same age, and started my own black and white darkroom at home. I didn’t hesitate to bring my new camera and telephoto lense to some of the first concerts I went to, and neither did some of my other friends who, like me, took photography classes in Junior High School. I was inspired and impressed at the time (and still jealous) of the amazing photos one of those friends took of the 1975 Jethro Tull and Pink Floyd shows at Nassau Coliseum when we were just 14 or 15 years old.
Most of the rest of this story is reflected in my various blog posts for the shows I attended over the rest of the 1970s, the 1980s, and the following years. College started in 1978, coinciding with one of the most productive and active period for not only the Grateful Dead, but for the Stones, Little Feat, Pink Floyd and other monumentally great rock acts. In the previous years, many of us felt we missed the boat - because we would never get to see Jimi, Janis, Jim Morrison or Pigpen perform. But in retrospect now, my list of shows attended from 1978 through 1982 - my college years - well .. it ain’t too shabby. As years progressed some of us opened up to new wave, electronica, and an assortment of other great music. I also had been in the fortunate position of being in Ithaca when one of the most active and vibrant reggae scenes existed for several years, and where an assortment of great acts from Muddy Waters to Peter Tosh to the Grateful Dead stopped by to do concerts right in Ithaca.
One of the reasons I decided to create this concert blog is to highlight the connections and trends in my concert-going experiences. I love all kinds of great music, but I really appreciate great bands who work together as a team over decades and who draw in and draw upon so many varied musical influences. When I first really got into Elvis Costello and the Attractions I had no idea I would later be listening to Elvis with Burt Bacharach and Allan Toussaint or reading about his own experience seeing the Grateful Dead in London in 1972. Likewise, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Rob Wasserman play with Bob Weir, but never expected that on the night I went to see him play with John Wesley Harding (Wesley Stace) that the “special guest” he mentioned at the start of the show would be Lou Reed. Connection points abound throughout my concert blog and can be found by searching the Blog and using the Tags I created; in any event, the overall linkage to my rock - and jazz - experiences and influences remained strong as I became a big fan of Dave Matthews Band and Phish over the last couple of decades. Aside from seeing both of these great bands cover songs by an assortment of artists I always loved (from Grateful Dead to Traffic to Led Zep), I also really appreciated seeing DMB play with many wonderful guests who its been great to have seen in other musical contexts.
Some of the subjective, personal aspect of my concert experiences is incorporated with my photos and comments, and its approached as a sinlge connected body of work. Online descriptions and accounts are often broken up into little categories that may fit some agenda but bear little resemblance to the actual subjective experience. I’ve tried to keep that in mind while using today’s site-building tools.
Dedication
My Concert Blog is dedicated to the people I found, all through the years, who valued these bands and live performances as much as I did. I also remember two close friends who helped formulate my musical knowledge and preferences and set the tone for my experiences involving great music - two great people I attended shows with, played music with, and miss a lot.
Mark D. Rothman, a friend and band mate for many years, whose complete and total enthusiasm for all things related to Blues, Jim Hendrix, the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd and Reggae was rarely equalled by anyone I’ve met since. I was educated over the course of years, as were other friends, by listening to his records and going to midnight rock movies at the Mini-Cinema in Uniondale. He learned riffs and guitar technique just by watching seeing people play on film, and live. He was a commercial artist and also a professional musician who played in wedding bands and had a long association with a local Rolling Stones tribute band. When it came to going to see the Stones, Peter Tosh, Toots and the Maytals, Steel Pulse and Pink Floyd live, Mark brought a high level of enthusiasm to the experience. A few tears ago, Mark reminded me that he still had no doubts about the voicings that David Gilmour applied in much of the classic Pink Floyd guitar parts, after having seen Gilmour play the parts during live performances, over so many nights of the Pink Floyd tours.
In the early 1980s, Mark contacted Newman Jones, a guitar maker located in Austin TX, who had made various guitars for Keith Richards and the Stones. After learning from Newman what the possibilities might be, Mark traded his beautiful Gibson ES (that I had loved so much) in order to afford a custom 5-string Newman Jones guitar. Later, he also purchased a 6-string from Newman, and they met and became friendly. At the time his custom 5-string was delivered there were only four other people in the world who owned one: Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood, Mick Jagger and Tom Petty. A short time after that, Newman mentioned a custom 6-string he was making for Ronnie Wood, and Mark elected to have Newman make an additional version of that guitar for him as well - the only difference being that Newman swapped out the Woody Woodpecker inlays on the fretboard for spades.
From my first days at Ithaca College I became close with another guitar-playing friend who brought all kinds of music to my attention and helped me learn a bunch of songs that we ended up playing together. It didn’t hurt that he was in the next room of my dorm in Ithaca College.
Steve Kravet was a warm person who evolved personally and musically so much during the 3 years I knew him. These were my first 3 years at college, an exciting time for great rock and reggae music. Even today just listening to Bob Marley’s “Uprising!” album, to Little Feat’s “Last Record Album,” or to anything by Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna or Steve Winwood, reminds me of Steve. He was at the lead when it came to dedication as a taper of anything we could get our hands on by the Dead, Tuna and other bands, and as time went by we found lots of similar interests in all kinds of music and a variety of bands.