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All About Me Mark was born a poor black child in the Mississippi delta. Then an event occured that changed his life forever... he was slapped up side the head and realized that he was in fact a white kid living in Raytown, Missouri. What else about about this remarkable Renaissence man? Well, there was that Navy thing for 22 years where he was a UDT/SEAL (class 112) and corpsman (medic), served in the Vietnam War, spent many more insuing years in the orient and San Diego, and retired (honorably-- whew!) a few years ago. As far as education goes he double majored in Philosophy and English but also had such a convoluted course mix of explosive, weaponry, diving and combat medical training that "they" decided to call it even and give him the Oz's Scarecrow piece of paper (an official brain) saying he has a general Bachelor of Science degree in "Liberal Arts." He has yet to figure out exactly what that is. Some might argue that an education like this-- along with 50 cents, will only get you a cup of coffee-- just like being a "retired" SEAL. But Mark isn't complaining. He never does that (just ask his wife). Incredibly Mark barely missed membership elgibility to Mensa Society with his IQ scoring in the top 3%... missing the chance to refuse this organization by 1% (dang!). He was crushed by this... so he decided to go bowling instead. His loving wife is convinced the scoring computers got beer spilled on them or something and erroneously reversed his IQ ranking which would have rightfully put him among the BOTTOM 3%, making him a lock as a Hall Of Famer in... the Densa Society. We may never know the truth to this mystery and perhaps it is just as well. In any case most agree that he is at the very least a "smart ass." Mark has hosted his own NPR radio program, "Jazz Profiles," and besides being a fixture in the Kansas City music scene (ie. Tony's at 87th and Quivera every Tuesday) in recent years, is a highly regarded music historian and music collector as well. Also something a trendsetter-- watch for the launching of the first of its kind venture PushButton Music, a subscription based service to fill iPods with music the summer of '08. All this, and Mark is also a Freemason and Shriner (what a guy!). He's a happily married family man living on an idyllic 7 acre ranch just minutes from Arrowhead/Kaufmann Stadium, with two teenage boys and the same wife going on over 24 years now as well. No longer a llama rancher-- they all died (let's not go there). An all-around super fellow, really-- humble too! |
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 That's me up there, along with my father, in the world's smallest quartet |
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Audiences respond to "live" music |
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