A1 Artist Spotlight.Com/Mark Farner

A1 Artist Spotlight.Com

Listen to full podcast interview HERE

A1 Artist Spotlight featured a phone interview with Mark about
his CD For The People.


Mark Farner’s newest CD is called For the People. He is the self proclaimed Rock Patriot. As a proud citizen of the United States of America, Mark Farner is telling the Americans that there is a big problem going on in this county and you better wake up to it before all your freedoms are taken away.

The title track “For the People” and “Where Do We Go From Here” in my opinion should be required listening by all American citizens.

These two songs are the most important songs any American can hear this year. If Bob Dylan put these songs out the media would be screaming about what Dylan has written.

They’d be telling you in the papers, on the radio, and on TV, “this is the most important song Bob Dylan has written since “The Times They Are A Changing”. Well this may be the most important song since “The Times They Are A Changing”, but Mark Farner The Rock Patriot wrote it, and hardly anyone is playing it.

Thanks to Mark Kerr’s Blues Nation podcast, I’ve got to hear the song “For the People”, a lot. What’s wrong with the radio stations? Why have they not taken the time to play these important songs?

This is not some guy their listeners have never heard of, this is Mark Farner the man who gave us “I’m Your Captain”, “Footstompin’ Music” and “We’re An American Band”. The leader of Grand Funk Railroad, one of the biggest American bands of all time.

The media has ignored this record but you can save the day. Call your local radio station and demand them to play these songs. Mark said the reason he wrote “For the People” is to provoke people to think about where we are as a nation and how we got here.

Mark’s tired of the media and the government telling us lies about everything. The war, the oil, the money. Who is really in control of these things? Why are we as a nation doing what the people of America do not want our government to do?

Who is really running this country, the government or rich Europeans that control our banks? What ever happened to “by the people and for the people”?

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GUEST POST:70'S MUSIC REVISITED

THE LOCO-MOTION:

Grand Funk, the self proclaimed American Band, was pure rock band. In 1974 as they were working on their album Shinin’ On and were thinking that they may need one more song to complete it.

Mark Farner as a lark began singing ‘Everybody’s doing a brand new dance now’, which with standard reaction other members of the band thought, ‘Yeah, Grand Funk doing the Locomotion’.

After thought they said Why not and turned out this version of the ’60’s pop classic. The Locomotion became the group’s 2nd Number 1 single and their biggest selling single.

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MARK FARNER: MESSENGER GUITAR

By Art Thompson

Whenever the words “aluminum” and “guitar” are put together, it’s usually in regards to Travis Bean or Kramer, who were the best-known makers of alloy axes. Those companies weren’t the first, however. In fact, Bean was predated by some seven years by a small outfit called Messenger, which, in 1967, began building 6- and 12-string guitars that featured aluminum-magnesium necks running though a medium-depth hollow body.

Messengers sported distinctive cat’s eye soundholes and three finishes:
Morning Sunburst, Midnight Sunburst, and Rojo Red. Some models had built-in fuzztones, and all suffered from being equipped with cheap DeArmond pickups. Some models were wired for stereo output with a switch that let you route both pickups through one jack. To enhance resonance, the metal neck/chassis assembly was tuned to resonate at 440Hz.

The principals of the company—which was known as Musicraft Inc., and was located at 156 Montgomery Street, San Francisco—were Bert Casey and Arnold Curtis. Intending to expand Messenger production, Casey and Curtis relocated to Astoria, Oregon, in 1968, but the company quickly disappeared.

Messenger’s claim to fame is tenuous, but these alloy oddities remain high on the must-have list for some collectors—probably due to their use (in modified form) by Mark Farner of Grand Funk Railroad.

So little is known about Musicraft/Messenger that we probably wouldn’t have much more to add to the story had it not been for Detroit photographer Ken Settle, who sent us the following recollections of his tumultuous relationship with a Messenger.

“As a 13 year old in 1972, I was a big fan of the primal power of Mark Farner’s guitar playing,” says Settle, “and I tried in vain to find out the name of that strange, duct-tape covered hollowbody guitar he used. One night, while discussing it with my cousins, Paul and Randy, Paul suddenly said, ‘I know where Mark Farner lives.’

“Soon, we were driving though the verdant farmlands of South Eastern Michigan until we arrived in the tiny farming town of Parshallville, and approached the white, wooden fence of Farner’s huge farm estate.

“‘Go look at the name on the mail box,’ Paul suggested. I chuckled as I read the name aloud: ‘Ivan K. Baum.’ Then I heard the vicious sounds of an angry dog, and froze in fear as a snarling Doberman deftly slid under the fence and headed toward me. ‘Tish, get back here,’ boomed a nervous voice. The dog halted, and the fellow quickly attached a leash.

“Gathering my composure, I asked, ‘Do you know the name of that tape-covered guitar Mark plays?’

“‘It’s a Messenger,’ the man tersely responded, as he and the dog headed up the long driveway to the house.

“My search for a Messenger finally paid off when I answered a local newspaper ad. The seller brought the guitar to my house, and I immediately noticed a thin, rawhide strap tied around the neck, just above the nut. The guy said it was a gift headband from his departed girlfriend, which he had promised to never remove.

The guitar produced the unique voice I heard in Farner’s tone, so I bought it with the money I made from selling a mid-’60s, Olympia White Fender Mustang.

“When I changed the Messenger’s strings, I learned the sentimental ‘headband’ was there for a much different reason: The combination of improperly sized Grover tuning pegs and a faulty nut doomed the E string to pop out of its slot without the rawhide strap holding it down. I also discovered the D’Armond pickups were noisy, and they couldn’t hold their own against a humbucker-equipped guitar. I wanted my money back!

“I called the seller, but his phone had been disconnected. I advertised the guitar in the local Tradin’ Times, but I received no calls. I even took it to every pawnshop in Detroit, but no one would give me a dime for it. Finally, I tried to seed interest by calling local pawnshops, and saying I was looking for a Messenger like the one Mark Farner made famous. That afternoon, I walked into Sam’s Loan on Michigan Avenue.

“‘Hey, do you guys want to buy a Messenger guitar?’ I asked. The pawnbroker looked up, and said, ‘Mark Farner, right? I’ll tell ya son, I’ve been in this business 40 years, and never once has someone called looking for an item, and then it comes walking into my shop the same day. I know when I’m being scammed. Now, get your guitar and scoot!’”

More than 30 years hence, Settle still owns this Messenger, and he has come to appreciate its peculiarities. “I like its nasally, but mellow tone when played through a clean amp—think of the intro to Grand Funk’s ‘I’m Your Captain,’” he says. “I also like the built-in fuzz—which sounds as loud and ratty as two Jordan Bosstones connected together—how the metal neck rings like a huge tuning fork when it’s removed from the body, and the chilly embrace my hand receives from the stone-cold metal neck. But that wayward E string still tests my nerves!”

(hey was that Mark with Trish the Doberman?)

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40 YEARS OF MARK FARNER

2009 is the 40th Anniversary of Mark Farner's career
as a platinum recording artist. Mark continues to rock in
venues through out the US.

Mark Farner legendary singer, songwriter, and guitarist
for one of the biggest American rock bands of the seventies,
Grand Funk Railroad.


Grand Funk Railroad sold 25 million records and played to
sold out arenas around the world, they accumulated 17 gold
and 11 platinum records.

Some of their biggest songs are:
“Closer To Home (I’m Your Captain)”, “Mean Mistreater”,
“Time Machine”, “Inside Looking Out”, “Footstompin’ Music”,
“Rock & Roll Soul”, Walk Like a Man”, “The Loco-Motion”,
“Shinin’ On”, “Some Kind of Wonderful”, “Bad Time”,
“We’re An American Band” and To Get Back In.


That instantly recognizable voice of Mark Farner is still going strong today.

Here he is from that huge event at Shea Stadium:

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RINGO'S INTRO ~MARK FARNER!

In 1995, Ringo Starr toured with an All Star band of musicians including Mark Farner, Randy Bachman, John Entwistle, Zak Starky, Pete Riviera & Billy Preston. The outcome was magical. (Especially Mark Farner's Locomotion )

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I'm Your Captain/Closer to My Home

We have received requests asking about whether or not Mark wrote I'm Your Captain. The answer is....

I'm Your Captain
Grand Funk Railroad
by Mark Farner

The tune that is remembered as "Closer To Home", is actually labeled "I'm Your Captain" on both the album sleeve and record label. It is from the album "Closer To Home", released by Grand Funk Railroad in June of 1970.

Everybody, listen to me, and return me, my ship.

I'm your captain, I'm your captain, though I'm feeling mighty sick.

I've been lost now, days uncounted,and it's months since, I've seen home.

Can you hear me, can you hear me,or am I all alone?

If you return me,to my home port,I will kiss you,mother earth.
Take me back now, take me back now,to the port, of my birth.

Am I in my cabin dreaming,or are you really scheming,to take my ship away from me.

You'd better think about it,I jsut can't live without it,so please don't take my ship from me. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I can feel the hand,of a stranger,and it tightening,around my throat.

Heaven help me, heaven help me, take this stranger, from my boat.

I'm your captain, I'm your captain, though I'm feeling mighty sick.

Everybody, listen to me, and return me, my ship,

I'm your captain, yeah yeah yeah yeah
I'm your captain, yeah yeah yeah yeah
I'm your captain, yeah yeah yeah yeah
I'm your captain, yeah yeah yeah yeah

I'm getting closer to my home. I'm getting closer to my home.

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1969 Time Machine

From the incredible Blues Blogger:

Whenever I drift through time, I often find myself coming back to 1969… Thinking of Mark Farner and Grand Funk Railroad always reminds me of my brother’s oldest friend The Big F. He was also his roadie/bodyguard and loved to play the drums. One night he came over to our house to show off his Grand Funk Railroad LP called On Time…

All the gear was in the basement. So he raced down the stairs to the stereo system, placed the LP on the turntable and carefully aligned his chosen groove… The Big F then briskly took a seat behind the drum kit and started playing along to the tune Time Machine…

My brother then walked over and strapped on his axe; joining along in the bluesy impromptu jam. It's cool moments like these that I frequently recall. And I remember Farner and the boys being part of that extraordinary moment in time 40 years ago… Of course that was only the beginning of Mark Farner’s incredible story…

TheBluesBlogger

Here's a video when the Motor City Mad Man strapped on his axe to play along with MARK

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