Mark Marshall

Max Night and the Rocketlaunchers SNOW PARTYYYYY!!!!

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 08:46:05 -0800

We're having a Saturday Night Rock and Roll Snow Party!!!!!

Max Night and the Rocketlaunchers

at

Olive's
116 Main street
Nyack, NY
Saturday, Dec. 15th
10:30 p.m. to ??????

http://maxnight.markmarshall.com

Hope to see you all there - and bring yer AXE!!!!!!

xoxo

M.

VLogs....

Wed, 06 Jun 2007 06:48:23 -0700

I found an incredibly cool guy on youTube who posted a bunch of vids about Manifesting. People started giving him crap about it, which prompted me to post my own. Enjoy!

More at http://www.youtube.com/markmarshallmusic

Love,

M.

Part 1

Part 2

I was asked to write a commentary...

Thu, 24 May 2007 07:12:55 -0700

I was asked by a left-leaning webjournal to write a commentary around one of my pieces of music. I was given the choice of track, but considering the nature of the site, it should have been something socially relevant. You Fuzz folks seem to be literate and politically aware, so I thought you'd appreciate it. It's about my song "Something to Believe", which is in my band player.

"Something to Believe" - Where we focus...

A longtime friend (and former lifepartner) and I were once talking about the idea of what one stands for.

The initial context of the conversation centered around people or organizations that had made their entire existence about what they were fighting against - not what they were aiming FOR.

She commented that when you make the focus of your attention something or someone negative, you only give it more power. So, for example, "The National Association against Child Killers" versus "The National Association for Happy, Safe Children" - the former makes it's focus around something inherently negative, while the latter has a vision.

We have come to a place in western society where fear is THE focus. Anyone with the savvy of a ten-year-old can, if they CHOOSE to, see just how much fear dominates the media alone. I once read an article by Jon Rappoport, talking about nightly news, who made the following suggestion: Take a notebook, and every night for a week, watch the local news and write down the stories you hear. After a week, go back and look at what you wrote down, and see how relevant any of the stories really are in your life. You'll find there's very little at all.

But night after night, millions and millions of people subject themselves to rape, murder, 10-year-olds shooting 8-year-olds, etc. etc. - never for a moment thinking about the effect it has on their lives... or their community, their relationships, their work - their WORLD.

Not too long ago, I turned my car radio to a local AM news station to hear the traffic. I was subjected to some story about the gruesome death of a toddler mauled to death by a dog in Wisconsin. I'm in New York, and this was a LOCAL NEWSCAST. I sat there in stunned disbelief, and asked my radio, right out loud... "why do I need to know that?".

And the obvious answer is - I don't. And neither do you, even if you live in Wisconsin.

There are numerous studies out there that show categorically that people think violence and crime in their communities is on the rise - when all the statistics show crime at a much lower rate than perceived. And the final analyses state that news media is the reason.

Now look at how this mode of operation dominates public policy and discourse.

Our culture is now firmly rooted in who hates us and how we can stomp them out, by any means necessary. And I'm not just talking about terrorism. I'm talking about the OTHER PARTY too. We're still living in fight or flight mode, folks. Why is that? Because WE the people have allowed the public discourse to be all fear, all the time... just like those folks who subject themselves to the nightly news, we're here in the fear trenches with the lot of 'em...

This, while all the while there's a beautiful world we can live in.

What's that you say? Naïveté? Let me remind you of those oft-quoted words - "you may say I'm a dreamer...". Or how about "I have a dream."? (Those two people had a profound effect on the world, and they were only two people - but they had VISION. If for just a moment, the entire world had their vision, the results would be staggering.)

The world we live in is the world we CHOOSE to live in.

The reality is that there is, with absolute certainty, a beautiful world right here waiting to be lived in. Our choice is to live in it, or ignore it and let it disappear. Again, remember the basic tenet here - you give power to what you focus on.... that goes BOTH ways. If we spend the lives we are graced with doing nothing more than scrambling around wailing that the sky is falling, then that is most certainly the world we will live in.

I lived in that world. I was a news junkie....I went to sleep to newsradio, and watched TV constantly. I stopped nearly ten years ago, and my life was forever changed because of it.

The vast majority of those currently forming public policy are either fomenting that dark vision, or else being dragged down into it by those who have learned to manipulate the system VERY well, and keep that dark vision as the primary focus.

Let's look back to Dennis Kucinich's proposal of a "Department of Peace". Pie-in-the-sky, right?

Not if it were your kid talking. Give a kid nothing more than a can and a piece of string, and they'll keep themselves amused for an hour - they'll make ships, houses, cars and about eight hundred other things you'd never even think of - because they have vision. Give a grownup the same can and string, and they'll look at you like "what the hell am I supposed to do with this?".

Which was precisely the response to Dennis' proposal. Either out-and-out cynicism, or just complete befuddlement. Why? Because WE HAVE LOST OUR VISION. Let me repeat that on it's own line - I think it deserves it:

WE HAVE LOST OUR VISION.

And instead, we let the world pull us into whatever perverse vision it's touting at the moment. And if we're going to something about it, railing against something simply isn't going to cut it. It is time that we found our vision again. We need to start visualizing the world we want to live in - the more clearly we do that, the more ease with which that world will actually come to fruition.

The kid with the can and the string - she sees the possibilities, where the grownup only sees the lack of them.

Remember "The Secret"? How many people do you know who put up a video on the web and became a worldwide sensation? Why do you think that is? I say it's because people are LONGING for a world of hope.... a world of possibilities.... a world where fear is not the focus, and where we stop asking "why they hate us" and start stating why it is that we love them, and acting on it.

Yeah - I know. Totally unrealistic, right?

EXACTLY. Because what I'm talking about is CREATING REALITY, not being a subject to it.

As disingenuous as the name might be, the name "Department of Defense" connotes a world where we all have to be on the defensive. The great thing about the "Department of Peace" was that it envisioned a world of Peace!

Which brings me to "Something to Believe". As with many songs, the lyrics have more than one meaning. When I initially started writing the words, the song was about the Bush administration - the original lyrics in the first verse actually said "take away your homeland... take away your greed." But in the end, all I was doing was the same thing - being AGAINST something.
What the song ended up being about instead is the search for a spiritual connection, but the sentiment is much the same. I no longer want to be told that I am inherently alone in a cold, lonely, forbidding world. I want MORE. And after banging around this planet for a while, the only way I KNOW I can achieve that is to develop a vision of it, and not live by a darker vision - presented by those who have yet to open their damned eyes. (Which doesn't mean I have to stop them - it means I have to change my vision.) Hence the chorus of the song - it talks about what I envision.

Lest you think that I live some sheltered existence, I will state with great brevity that in the past decade alone, just a little of what I've experienced includes the loss of a parent by suicide, the collapse of a marriage, the unfortunate side-effect of not living with my only child, being repeatedly stalked by a drug-crazed individual, being stone-cold broke without a penny - and that's really only half of it. So don't think for a moment that I haven't had, or continue to have, a challenging existence.

But the difference in me, between now and a decade ago, is that I now understand the importance of vision, and being open to possibility. It's not always easy, but it has made a tremendous difference in my life.

And if we want the world to be different, then we need to insist that our society, including our leaders, do precisely the same. That starts with us... so if liberals, or anyone else for that matter, want the world to be a different place, than an inherent part of their work needs to involve actually laying out a plan for what that beautiful world looks like, and not solely responding to an allegedly cold and cruel one. Start visualizing what the beautiful world looks like, and watch how quickly it appears.

I could go on for pages, but I'll let the song say the rest.

I am honored that you took the time to read this. And I hope it helps you find a new view.

W/ Very Much Love,

M.

Over 24 hours without a smoke....

Sat, 19 May 2007 14:52:32 -0700

After DECADES of being a hardcore smoker, I am on the patch and have passed the 24 hour mark. Couple of little twinges, but all in all, the patch rocks - I have tried before, but always failed.

I am amazed at how well the patch is working, and I have to say that New York State kicks ass in this department. They have a hotline I called, and got 2 weeks of patches mailed to me at no cost, plus they actually CALLED me yesterday to see how I was doing.

I had my last cigarette in my hand at the time. HA!

I have been smoking steadily since I was about 15. The number of cigs I've smoked is so scary I can't even put it in writing here.

Anyway.... looks like I'm actually done with 'em.

Wow.

Co-op touring - your experience?

Fri, 18 May 2007 07:58:56 -0700

So I'm working on a mini-tour for August, and am in the midst of working out the logistics, and I'm curious to see if anyone's had success with a co-op tour arrangement.

Example - I want to play in, say, Philly. So the concept is, find 2 local bands in Philly who want to share a bill for a night. They get the local gig, plus all the promotion I do for the gig, and I get to gig in Philly. I benefit from their knowledge of venues in their area as well.

I'm not talking about being a headliner - the shows wouldn't HAVE a headliner.

Anyone been doing this successfully? I'm interested in how you worked it out logistically, and how you felt it worked out overall.

Thanks!

M.

Charts!

Fri, 18 May 2007 05:48:09 -0700

WOW am I lucky. Listeners have pushed Angelina, Miss Directed AND Something to Believe into the top 40 charts, in two separate categories, at Songvault.fm.Angelina's in the Alternative Showcase Radio Top 40, and Miss Directed and Something to Believe are in the Rock Showcase Radio Top 40.
I can't begin to express how grateful I am.
If you like the tracks, and would like to vote, you can click here, listen to the tracks and vote on them!
Over at Broadjam...
Something to Believe has just entered the top ten at Broadjam in the Pop/Rock category!
This is a very special honor indeed, because this placement is based on a blind, in-depth review process. The nice part is, an artist is required to give reviews in order to receive them - a role that I take very seriously.Wow. :)
Meanwhile, over at Garageband...
Each week thousands of new tracks are reviewed by thousands of GarageBand.com members - tracks are picked out for special praise in a bunch of categories. Just this week, "Something to Believe" has received reviewer awards for:
Best Programming overall, week of 14May2007
Best Programming in Pop Rock, week of 14May2007
Best Mood in Pop Rock, week of 14May2007

Oh - and the rest of the album is now posted, though it looks like there's a limit to the number of featured tracks, so I can't put it all up top. :(

Thank you again and again and again.

Love to all...m.

The divide....

Thu, 17 May 2007 20:41:42 -0700

Is kinda odd here, as I'm the artist, but there's no artist blog, so I'm just HERE.

Cool.

So....Hey!

Where do I start? Wanna know more about me? the industry standard bio is at http://www.markmarshall.com - the story behind the story is at any of a dozen music sites, but is you go to cd baby and look for me, you'll find me, and the whole sordid story - and trust me, it's four times more of a soap opera than what's posted there.

OH - and thanks miss lizzzie for taking my fuzz cherry.

I have an album out - check the band page. Took over two years of my life, during which I was nearly evicted, and had to sell most of my critical gear... long story, but it WASN'T on account of being a deadbeat, thank you very much.

The CD came from my heart, and in a lot of ways, tells my life story to date. Hope you like it. Actually, hope you BUY it. :)

While we're at it - is EVERYONE in the word completely single-driven now? I have a cut on Garageband called "Something to Believe"... it's an ALBUM CUT, which has an intro that's about 1:20. To me, it totally makes sense... and some of the reviewers nearly cum over it.... but others just HATE it, 'cause they're so preoccupied with getting to the POINT.

Sigh.

Oh, well. Their loss.

Lots more to come. I've got work to do in the meantime. about half of the album is posted. Hope you love it. Also - I posted a bunch of pics - I'm a decent photographer, and get asked to take pics all the time, but I don't feature it, 'cause, well, it's just something I do.

Thanks bunches for reading.

Love to all.

M.