3 more totally random things...

 

1) I Baracked the Vote! I'm just getting over an election hangover...I'm extremely proud to say I am one of the paltry 41% of white males in the U.S. who voted for President Elect Barack Obama (I just wanted to note that as I type this, my spell checker still does not recognize the name Barack Obama, so I will continue on and ignore the red line that resides beneath it...) ! Why only 41%? Why not so much more than that? In my gut I think I know why and that is very disheartening.

 

2) On November 21st I'll be performing for the K through 4th grades at Belleville Henderson School. The school's Superintendent asked if I could/would put on a show for the kids. The thought of singing "Polly Wolly Doodle" and "Erie Canal" for a few hundred Gen X Larva is simply to good to pass up. I'll be honest, if I had to choose between playing "Margaritaville" in front a few hundred drunken Yuppies or "Froggy Went a Courtin'" to a few hundred kids...Now that I think about it... I wonder if the Wiggles are holding auditions...

 

3) It is my belief that the punk that does the "Sham-Wow" commercials on basic cable, is pure evil. I'm not kidding. If his son ever knocks on my door asking if my daughter is home...there will be bloodshed. 

 

till next time...

 

yer' pal,

Mark

 

 

 

 

3 totally random things that have been on my mind...

 

1)

So...a few weeks ago I was having dinner at a local restaurant and a couple at a nearby table were enjoying their meal and having a nice time. After a few minutes, I realized that the gentleman was blind. The woman, although not unattractive, was a little overweight and had about the same fashion sense as yours truly (not much). But what she did have was one hell of a sexy voice. Kinda raspy and sensual. The polar opposite of the voice you hear on the other end of the line whenever a telemarketer calls. Then it occurred to me, that if I was blind, that's the kind of woman I would want. Sure that's a shallow thing to say but, inside you're agreeing with me. If all I was able to do was hear my significant others voice, it would have to be a combination of Jessica Rabbit and that girl who used to sing for "The Sundays". And if she smelled good that would be nice too.

 

2)

For the past couple of days I have been doing the morning radio show at WBLH "Tunes 92.5". The morning man had to take a few days off and they contacted me to see if I could fill in. People always ask me to "fill in" for things that require a modicum of skill. Things that are above a Wal-mart greeter, but below a dental hygienist. That got me thinking...I'm OK at a lot of things but I can't say that I'm really good at any one thing in particular. I'm a utility player. And I suppose that it's OK to be OK.  I got no complaints...

 

3)

I have a friend who is gay and I asked him if it was possible for an extremely effeminate gay man to fall in love with a very macho lesbian. If you do the math, it would seam entirely possible. He said no. I'll take his word for it.

 

yer pal,

Mark

 

 

 

 

I'm slowly trying to get this web page tweaked to the point where it looks half way decent. It's an ambitious goal but I 've been blessed with an abundance of "sticktoitivness" so I'm not gonna give up yet.

 

I'll be at Aubrey's in Cape Vincent this Friday night. "Friday night?" you say... This Saturday is the Annual Oktoberfest in "The Cape" and I'll be part of the festivities on Friday. I'm a quarter german, also a quarter French, a quarter Irish and a quarter English. Whats the common thread here? Beer! Well, OK, the French are more known for Champaigne but c'mon, cut me some slack, I'm trying to prove a point. I'm the product of thousands of years of Euro-trash. 

 

Happy first day of Autumn!

 

2008-09-12 

 

I don’t mean to sound morbid but, sometimes I wonder what will become of my CD collection after I die. If you’re like me, your music collection is as unpredictable as Bret Favre.

Over the years I have acquired thousands of CDs. Each one has some sort of relevance, and I’m fairly certain that no other person could cherish such an eclectic assortment of ditties. Even though periodically, I’ll cull the heard by a dozen CD’s or so, still… I will never have enough time to listen to each one, but occasionally I need to hear UB40’s “One in Ten” or Waylon Jennings’ version of “Midnight Rider”

I once asked an old friend that if I see the Happy Hunting Ground before he does, to sell all my CD’s on eBay and donate the proceeds to some charity (I don’t remember which charity). But lets be honest, every person who has ever wanted Glass Tiger’s “Diamond Sun” already has a copy.

Hopefully I won’t assume room temperature for a while and maybe I can figure it all out. In the mean time I’ll be digging out my copy of “love Junk” by Pursuit of Happiness followed by a heaping helping of Robert Johnson.

Yer pal,

Mark

 

 

 

2008-09-11 

 

Gershwin wrote "Summertime, and the livin' is easy...". Clearly George's grip on reality was loose at best. Summertime is many things, the least being "easy". A typical summer consists of 12 weekends...thats 576 hours. Taking out of the equation the number of hours we're asleep, that leaves us with 192 hours to enjoy summer.

 

Don't get me wrong, I love the summer just as much as the next guy/girl, but by September 1st I'm ready to say "Uncle".

 

A few years ago I played just under 250 gigs in 1 year...that was some crazy shit. A hundred or so of those gigs were smack dab in the middle of Summer. At least I think it was Summer. Thats what the calendar read, but I don't really recall enjoying any of the usual Summer Perks, as I was to busy loading in and/or out to take advantage of Summer's glorious booty.

 

Now it's September and hopefully life is about to slow down a bit. Thats fine with me.

 

Oh, before I go...I got an email from my friend Mark Cloutier, his Band (The Double Barrel Blues Band) has a new website. Check it out http://doublebarrelbluesband.bandvista.com/ they are a great bunch of guys and Mark is an awesome guitar player (so obviously I hate him).

 

 

yer' pal,

Mark 

 

 

Is this thing working? Are we on the air? Testing..check..test one...two...

 

ooo-eee! My 2nd post!  Now if only I had something worthwhile to add...The Blues Festival in Alex Bay was fun. Many, many people wandering the streets and I heard sooooo much great music as I walked around town. 

 

I'll be at the Brew Pub in Sackets Harbor this Thursday.  If you are reading this, please stop by and say hi and let me know what you think of the new website.

 

yer pal,

Mark

 

 

 

If you're reading this, congratulations, you've stumbled on what might become my new website. Since we last spoke the Mark Mason Blues Band has called it quits...after months of not being able to get together  to rehearse and/or just hang out, we decided to just say "Uncle". Maybe we'll regroup sometime, but right now "real life" takes up too much of our time and, for the time being, the Blues Band has to take a back seat for a while.

 

 

Having said that...This weekend is the annual "Blues in the Bay Festival" and once again this year I'll be playing at The River Boat. Stop in and say Hi. 

 

Last Summer we played in Morristown (or was it Morrisville?) as part of their Jazz Festival. Someone captured a couple of the songs on their video camera and put them up on you tube. If you want to see it (and why the hell wouldn't you?), click on the picture of us playing in Lake Placid to see a video of us playing in Morristown (or Morrisville).

 

All for now...Thanks for stopping by.

 

yer' pal,

Mark