Photo © Cal Haines

Photo © Cal Haines

MARK WEBER, poet

Mark Weber was born 1953 east of Los Angeles out where the vast suburbs dispersed into wilderness under the San Gabriel Mountains. Early schooling was very good, even if they did pump me full of more idealism than rational. Fought in the Campaign of 1961–1963: Capt Weber successfully led the Cucamonga Regiment of the Confederate Army against Johnny Carlton's Blue Coats in the Battle of the RR Tracks. Summer of 1964 saw Hard Day's Night at Grove Theater. 1966–1970 glued to radio station KPPC Pasadena hearing for the first time all the folk and psychedelic rock of that era along with Lenny Bruce, Ken Nordine, Kenneth Rexroth, Henry Miller, Frank Zappa, Charlie Parker, Joan Baez, all mixed together, which only the budding bohos knew about. 1968 a graphic work won a Red Cross award of some sort and toured Europe (the collage did, not MW). (*Red Cross never returned the art, uhHum.) First poems published in high school paper. Began photography studies 1970 with Jeff Cole. Writing took forever to get comfortable -- Lawrence Ferlinghetti's poems were the window for me.  And all the Beatniks. 1976 my own monthly column on the Los Angeles jazz scene in CODA magazine. Over the years have contributed to many magazines with book reviews, concert reviews, interviews, travel yarns, short stories, poems, etc. I wrote for CODA sixteen years. Trumpeter Bobby Bradford became informal mentor mid-70s forward.  Also, the late poet/linguist Dick Barnes of Claremont Colleges, looked over my shoulder and pointed the way in his gentle manner. I am indebted to those two vastly. Met my second wife Janet summer of 1986 and we moved to Cleveland where she was in med school. Visited NYC for the first time that same year. I love NYC and would have moved there if I wasn't so oriented to the desert and quiet. (We moved to Albuquerque 1991.) After having voted Connie Crothers' first album the best of 1980 in CODA magazine, I finally met her in 1996 when I wrote to introduce myself and say that I had a jazz radio show on KUNM Albuquerque and could I interview her. I performed (poetry) with her Quartet for many years after that and we released several CDs. Being on stage with Connie was an energy rush of titanic proportions. Later, I worked with the pianists Kazzrie Jaxen, Carol Liebowitz, Virg Dzurinko, all of whom have wrecked me for other pianists:  These people are on a whole other level of artistry, that goes beyond music.

www.markweber.free-jazz.net