Getting Better

He appears to be ok, or at least he is facebooking again, if that is anything to go by. 

Mark Eitzel Has Heart Attack

Per Chris Metzler via Facebook:

"Mark had a heart attack the night before last. It was pretty bad but he is doing ok at the hospital now and getting a lot of needed rest. He seems to be in good spirits."

I think I speak for us all when I say our thought are with him.

The INCORRIGIBLE DANNY PEARSON and TOILING MIDGETS

If you are in San Fran on the 30th April then you could pop along to the OmniCircus and catch Danny Pearson and the Toiling Midgets on the same bill.  Who knows, they may play some new material.

Mark At SXSW Videos Extravaganza

Looks like quite a lot of Mark at SXSW on YouTube at the moment. There is even a new tune right down the bottom.

Mark At SXSW

If you are going to SXSW then you will have seven chances to see Mark Eitzel doing his stuff.

Mark Eitzel Reads Boy George

Enough said really.

WAY BEHIND THE MUSIC

It seems that Mark Eitzel is going to be reading from the autobiography of Justin Bieber (or possibly Marilyn Manson) as part of Noise Pop 2011.

Thursday, February 24, 2011
Doors: 7:00 PM / SHOW: 7:30 PM
MAKE-OUT ROOM
SAN FRANCISCO, CA
$10.00

Mark Eitzel At SXSW

If you are lucky enough to be going to SXSW this year then you might catch Mark and Marc doing their "Songs of the American Music Club" set again.  It is billed as the AMC but it isn't.  Still, should be worth catching though as he might try out some of his new tunes.

New Solo Album!

There is a new post on Marks blog that says that he has a new solo acoustic album in the works.

I am making a record called 'The Bill Is Due'. It is taking a while because I keeping writing new songs for it - and throwing old songs away. So far there are 13. I think it is great. I am proud. My plan is to make an acoustic album. Just guitar and vocal. Maybe one other instrument or a backing vocal. I know the world needs another 'acoustic' record like it needs a hole in the head - but I listen to a lot of random stuff and most of it is noise. Remember the signal to noise ratio? I want to be all signal. I am working with the engineer who shares the space where I work. His name is Ron Macleod and he is very decent and kind. He leaves me alone mostly - he sets up fancy mics and and lets me go.

I don't have a record label for this yet though I have a couple of ideas. I know that what people want is an AMC record - and so do I - but honestly I have to make some money now and this is the only way I know.

Are we looking forward to it?

Danny Pearson at Make Out Room

It looks like Danny Pearson is doing a support slot at the Make Out Room in SF on Sunday the 30th Jan.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas 

and a 

happy new year 

to one and all!

Marks Top 10 of 2010

Over at the Merge web site Mark Eitzel has posted his top 10 cultural hilights of 2010.  Strangely enough, number 1 was getting his musical produced.

Marks Blog

Nothing to report really. Marks blog is worth a quick read as he has started posting again.  A dream about Vic Chestnut and musings on why he isn't playing Vegas?

Also Jace Everett likes the American Music Club.

Spanish Videos

Some YouTubes from the recent Spanish trip.

New AMC Tracks?

A bit late posting this but according to Marks blog, he has stared demoing tracks for the new AMC album. they are titled as follows

1. I Did Not Dig Your Grave
2. You Can Walk Away
3. In Your House
4. I'm Not Waiting For Your Call
5. Triumph
6. Its Not Enough
7. Destroy All Monsters

he says later on in the comments.

Yes the song (Destroy All Monsters) is about the band from Detroit.

I made these demo's for Vudi and Steve and for Merge. No one else will hear them as I'll rewrite the songs a few times before we start recording in August.

There are some plans to record with Mr. Buck - but I think he is rather busy - so I will wait until he has free time to do something. We sketched out some new songs earlier in the year and it would be cool to continue...

But I am happy to start figuring out the AMC record. The idea is to do a simple, minimal acoustic record and tour as a 3 or 4 piece..

Spanish Tour

According to Marks blog he is touring Spain next month with Steve Didelot on piano and guitar.

17th July - Ciclo 21 Grados (Sevilla)

18th July - Teatre de Santanyi (Mallorca)

21st July - Moby Dick (Madrid)

22nd July - Festival Kesse (Tarragona)

23rd July - Centre d'Art Can Xalant (Mataró)

24th July - Heliogàbal (Barcelona)

Marine Parade Review

At least three years in the making, Marine Parade had its debut in Brighton, the city it was set in and Mark Eitzels favourite new town. Why Brighton? As well as the large gay population it also had a bit of a seedy reputation. If you were going to have a dirty weekend away somewhere with the girlfriend/secretary then it was going to be Brighton.

The play with songs is set in one of the guest houses on the seafront and tells the story of the manager, the cleaner and the various people staying there. It was previewed a year ago in one of the pubs in Brighton. That contained probably half the story and songs and most of the same cast.

The cast included ex Eastender Lee Ross and Dr Whos assistants boyfriend Arthur Darvill. It was also nice to see Jeff Rawle as the grumpy man on the pier. Marks role was limited to being in the backing band. I think he got to sing a couple of songs however most of the songs were sung by members of the cast. His reading of "I live in this place" brought new meaning to the lyrics as he hovered behind the manager of this run down residence. Whenever he stepped up to the mic, you could see he wanted to make some wisecrack to the audience. He never did though.

The stories themselves were short looks at different aspects of love, from unrequited to new and old. There was the manager who fancied his cleaner even though she was leaving to go to college There was the young couple getting ready to do it for the first time and the old couple for whom it was all going wrong. As you would expect from something to do with Mark, there was at least one junkie trying to borrow money from an old boyfriend. The most touching story was the man on the pier. He starts chatting to the manager before going off on a bit of "taxi driver" style rant about the world in general. Finally he admits he lost his job a couple of months ago but hasn't had the heart to tell his wife. Even though he thinks she probably knows already.

The songs all went down well. Even though they were mostly sung by British women you could tell they were Marks compositions. I would have thought that "The blood ..." from Klamath would have been one of them, but it wasn't.

I believe it is currently playing in Germany without Mark and in German.

Mark On The BBC

Here is a bit of Mark Eitzel singing “I live in this place”. It is an out take from tonights Culture Show.

New Bruce Kaphan Album

Feeling a bit nostalgic? Then pop over to Bruce Kaphans website and check out the page for his new album Hybrid. Like his first solo album Slider, its an all instrumental affair but listening to the clips of the tunes, you can't help but think back to his contribution to Everclear. The slides and the twangs take you back to the last time they really sounded alt-country. It is released the 1st June and can be brought from his website for $15.

Upcoming TV Appearance!

A quick note from Marks mangement ...

Also Mark will be performing as well with the Marine Parade band doing some scenes from the Musical on the Culture Show for BBC which will go out on the 20th. This is the biggest UK TV show Mark has done in quite some time. It is being filmed next Monday in London so you may be able to get tickets somehow to see it taped.

Here comes the big time.