a background

Mark Lesseraux’s mother Eileen was raised an Irish Catholic in Brooklyn.  His father Richard, a Russian Jew, was brought up in Baltimore and Philadelphia.

second grade

At some point in the second grade, Mark veered “off course”… secretly. It is not certain exactly what caused the thread to be lost, but it had something to do with an unfinished reading assignment; a chapter in a blue and yellow book that was never completed.

a leap

There were two nervous system glitches, at least two ecstatic dot connecting sessions and very little or no intoxicant ingestionings. Before these and afterwards there was music.

before these

At The Cloisters in the Bronx, early 1968, as the psychedelic era began its downward trajectory, Gregorian chanting could be heard in a womb.  There, a pregnant Eileen Lesseraux strolled the grounds expectant. Later, there were enormous red and blue album jackets with photos of four mythical, shaggy-haired grownups. Titles about lanes and fields and old brown shoes. Then, at three years of age, a declaration with pink, plastic guitar in hand: “I am Pete Seeger and I am twenty-one years old.” Later, a baby brother named Bryan, years and years of sports, the power of Superstition – “When you believe in things that you don’t understand, and you suffer”. Finally, a Need… to sing.

after these

Billy Jean and Billy Joel, breakdancing, Biko, Bad, Brian Eno, Brazil, Blade Runner and a Boy Dancing Barefoot with a thorn in his side. There was Joseph Campbell, Silo, Gurdjieff, Emerson, Nietzsche, others.

after those

There were recordings. And performances. But more recordings. Of bands (Counter Culture, Lazy Susan, Earthdriver, The Citizens). And of solo material. There was Ivan Pokorny - sound engineer and studio accomplice. And, of course, there was Jillann Hertel - best friend and inspiration.

and now

You're looking at it.