Am I seriously neglecting the whole "blogging" notion? Probably. I'm all spoiled with this Twitter fad that says I can just update once a day with 140 characters of bullshit and pretend that I'm "keeping in touch". But for you, the devoted twenty that follow my web presence as if it were Jacob's touch, I give you a few notes from my life. I hope that you'll enjoy them.

As many of you know, I have a bunny named Donna Lynn that I adore to pieces. Bunnies are super fragile, and I dote on her much like one would a newborn, albeit a really fuzzy newborn with tons of energy that has an unquenchable thirst for cilantro, timothy hay and parsley. She's pretty communicative, in more ways than you'd expect. If she wants for something, she just sort of gnaws on the bars of her cage until your heart is broken enough to cave into her bunny whims. Sometimes it's just attention that she's after, and those times she'll often put her paws on the ceiling of her little house and stretch, making the most gigantic bunny yawn you've ever seen. Bunny tongues are more adorable than they could ever be in your imagination. Tonight, she was especially fidgety, and this was because she wanted me to take her out into the garage so she could hop around and go crazy-go-nuts. She kept flipping and shaking her ears in expressions of joy, more than I'd seen in a super long time. I was sitting in my garage chair writing some lyrics, but she kept hopping into my lap, licking my face, and then hopping off again. It turns out that what she was trying to do was get me up to play with her. Now, playing with her consists of letting her hop around and between your feet, (their way of saying "I love you"), and then I run away. She then chases me down and does the same thing until I flee once more, then she flicks her ears and charges at me again. She did this for like ten minutes straight tonight. This is an every night occurrence for me, folks.

In other news, I'm feeling incredibly old lately. I know, I'm only thirty-one. Shouldn't be feeling all that ancient, right? And it's not as if I don't mostly act my age. I don't really hang out in bars unless I'm playing a show inside of them, I'm married, I'm trying everyday to be more of a family man. The source of me feeling like an old man with a cane wasn't the result of trying to fit in with a younger crowd or whatever the demise of so many men my age tend to go through right before a midlife crisis. Nope. My downfall is actually a streaming internet radio station. Specifically the "vintage" channel from woxy.com. I was very excited when I found it, because I love the so-called "classic alternative". Heck, I grew up on it to a large extent. I can get behind them playing some Ramones, some Talking Heads, some Sex Pistols, Joe Jackson, Elvis Costello... you know what I'm talking about. The troubling thing is that I have been hearing songs from albums that I'd bought on the day of release, and these things are now considered "vintage". I'm not sure I can get behind Built To Spill, The Lemonheads, Juliana Hatfield, Pizzicato Five and Sleater Kinney being "old". Tonight alone I heard Crystal Method and The Killers. Now, I'm not a huge fan of either group, but... seriously. I feel like I should be applying for medicare if these bands are "vintage".

Oh, and then my daughter got her own MySpace page. Double the feeling old quotient by about one thousand now, thank you.

In actual Marc With a C related news, I heartily appreciate everyone that took a few moments to pick up a free downloadable copy of my newest album, Losing Salt. It still feels like a pretty experimental album for me. Not like I was dressed in a lab coat while I made it, surrounded by bunsen burners, but more like... well, I've always been very concerned about how well I can translate whatever I've released from a record to a stage and back again. I'm comfortable at this stage telling you that I threw caution to the wind while putting this one together. I can never do a show that will please everyone anyways. There's not enough time to play the songs every single person came to hear, so why try to make yet *another* album full of songs that were destined for the stage? Why not have an eight-minute nightmare like "Magazines" that I couldn't possibly pull off in a teensy club? Let's finally put "He Left You For A Punk Rock Girl" on an album knowing fully well that those backing vocals would be murder in a live setting!

But yes, I've received a lot of great feedback about the record and I thank you mightily for it. I hope that you'll continue to enjoy it. I'm working on a follow-up already here and there. I've got two zygotes of songs right now that I like a lot. One is a love song that seriously needs a bridge and a melody tweak. One is a set of lyrics about ammonia that's waiting for the right music to back it up. More songs will be available to you before you know it. Heck, probably before I'm even ready for it, at this pace.

Hope you are doing well, whatever you're doing. Talk soon?

Love on ya,
Marc

All My Drug Use Is Accidental
Song Song
I Will Repossess Your Heart
You've Got This Curse
This Stuff Is Gonna Kill Me
Chicken Pox & Star Wars Guys
Drunk Classic Rock Fans
Nerdy Girls
Bitchin' In The Kitchen
Till You Come Home To Me
Counting Down
Music Can Heal
Charles In Charge

Thank you for coming :)

Well, this is an exciting post, indeed. Here's the first news items that I've seen talking about the album I put out a few weeks ago for free, Losing Salt. Both seem to be pretty postive, but I say that you oughta take a read for yourself!

Here's a short but sweet blurb from How Marvellous:
http://howmarvellous.blogspot.com/2009/04/free-albums-worth-getting-2.html

And a very nice review by Independent Clauses:
http://independentclauses.com/2009/04/for-the-love-of-pop/#more-3621

If you see any other reviews, feel free to send them my way. Or just feel free to say hello. I miss you guys!

Love on ya,
Marc

Hello everyone. Marc With a C here.

I'm a prolific artist by nature. Few things excite me more than the concept of completing a record and then circulating it mere days later, as I've always been enamored with the 1960's model of making a rock and roll album: put a record together when you've got enough material you like, make it between 30-40 minutes long, get in and get out. Due to how I was distributing my albums before 2009, this wasn't always a viable way of doing things. But now I'm excited to announce the following:

Today is Monday, April 6th of 2009. I'm releasing a new album today called Losing Salt, which I'm very, very pleased with. While it was slowly recorded, it just felt finished all of a sudden, and here I am, able to put it in your hands without any buildup or fuss! You can download an mp3 version of the album from the 'records' page at marcwithac.com right now to see what you think of it. If you like it/want to, you can donate a few bucks through PayPal. If you'd prefer, you can wait a few weeks until it is made available on iTunes and Amazon mp3 and obtain it that way. I'll also be doing a small run of handmade slipcover versions that will only cost five dollars, in case you want a physical CD.

This one won't be getting shipped off to the pressing plant. Instead, I'd like to continue making albums in this fashion, and as every four or five albums go by, I'll press up a compilation of the "favorites" from those records, much like we did with What The Hell Is Wrong With Marc With a C. This will allow me to create as quickly or as slowly as I want, and it will keep your CD collection from being filled with any chaff whatsoever. At this rate, after the next album, I'll be doing the next Marc With a C compilation already!

I hope you'll be a fan of the new model of acquiring Marc With a C albums, and I also hope that you'll dig on Losing Salt. This one is very close to my heart for numerous reasons, and I want you to have it. Thanks to the internet, all you have to do is click a few times, and you can play it until you're sick of it, share it with your friends, or just enjoy it with the car windows rolled down. This one is especially good for driving.

Thanks for everything, and I hope that you are well.

Love on ya,
Marc

We're All Gonna Die
If These Walls Could Talk
You've Got This Curse
I Will Repossess Your Heart
Jessica, I Heard You Like The Who
Amy, It's Kevin
Drunk Classic Rock Fans
Nerdy Girls
Life's So Hard

This was a really wonderful show, better than it's felt in a long, long time. Thank you for coming. The Cameo is a Theater that's been around since 1940, really great venue that I would absolutely love to play in again ASAP. Played with the Jacob Jeffries Band who were very, very nice to me.

On Monday, I'll have a nice way for you to start out your week. I'll also be announcing the next show in the days following, well... Monday. Which I'm deeming Losing Salt day. At least for this week.

Love on ya,
Marc

Hello there. By now, you may have read about Chris Zabriskie's manifesto about the state of the music industry. Fascinating stuff, if you haven't, and it's very hard for me to put things any better than he did. To frame my own statement, I'd like to pull one particular quote from his article:

"The world is changing faster than we can keep up with, and I can tell you assuredly that no one making music today has any idea what they are doing anymore. When you see Of Montreal releasing an album with decals, paper lanterns, and whatever the hell else along with it, you know something is sort of wrong with the process."

I started physically releasing Marc With a C records in 2002. They came out on CD, and in the early days, I'd make many of them by hand before a gig. It's still exciting to release these things, and I'm excited that I get to continue doing it in a DIY fashion. But in recent months, I've been a bit perplexed about how to continue getting the music that I've made heard by the people that want to enjoy it. Please let me explain.

I will tell you outright, I buy a lot of albums. My collection spills into numerous rooms of the house. It's really a sight to behold. Most of those records were purchased on vinyl, and I'd heard practically every one of them - at least in part - before I'd decided to spend my money on it. Sometimes I'd heard the albums through a friend, and in other cases I'd downloaded it from the internet. I will often "pirate" a record through my local BitTorrent site simply to find new records to buy. Heck, I've leaked my own albums through those avenues just to pick up some new listeners. But mostly, I don't buy any more or less music than I ever did with all of my free acquisitions. I do my best to support the artists that I like in the ways that make sense to me, and I believe that most of us do.

I like to have CD's available for people to purchase, and I especially like putting them together at home. Some people prefer to obtain my music through iTunes and Amazon MP3, so I've offered digital distribution. Last year, I'd made my records available for free download through CLLCT for a short period of time. Those were pulled because I simply didn't see the need to put my albums up for download on another site when I could be offering them up myself.

An interesting thing happened because of my time spent with CLLCT, though. Nearly every single person that I ever met at a show of mine that heard my records through that site eventually bought something from me. They all had were files of my music, but they still wanted to throw a few bucks my way. I'm floored and flattered by how well it worked to simply allow people to hear my music and then decide what they wanted to do with it.

And that is where we are at today, dear reader.

Do you want to buy a Marc With a C CD?
If so, great! Some of them are still in print, and I'd like for you to have them!

Do you want to buy my albums via iTunes?
If so, cool! I'd love for you to have it, and there are links that will guide you to the correct place on my website!

Do you want to have some Marc With a C albums on vinyl?
Me too, but I don't have that available yet!

Would you like to download the albums for free and buy them later if you like them?
Excellent. I've put up zip files of each album on the records page on marcwithac.com! No strings attached, either. Just take them.

Why would I do this? Simply put... because while I have no idea what the future of the music industry holds, I'm not going to stand in the way of how people choose to have and enjoy the songs that I have made up through the years. If you wanted one of my albums and you didn't want to pay for it, you'd have found a torrent of it and downloaded it. Why should we play this game and pretend that it isn't going on? I'm not into that.

If you want the music, I want you to have the music. If you enjoy it, please consider donating a few dollars or just buying a record from me... but mostly, just have it, play it for your friends, scrobble it on last.fm... go nuts!

Love on ya,
Marc

Hello, Marc With a C here.

My cohort, Chris Zabriskie, has just released a new album titled I Am A Man Who Will Fight For Your Honor. He's written a piece about it, with a very, very important newsflash about how he'll be handling his records and music in the future. I highly suggest that anyone with eyes takes a moment to go and read it at chriszabriskie.com.

In that article, he also gives a bit of a spoiler as to the major announcement I'll be making on Monday, 03/16/09. Why not go and have a read? You'll get a reward for doing so.

No, seriously. A real reward. Read.

Love on ya,
Marc

Hello everyone.



I've decided to write this public blog after receiving a few emails in
the last weeks asking what exactly I was hinting at in my last few MySpace
entries; you know, with all of the talk about medications and
illnesses. I initially only told the people closest to me what was up
because I was afraid of seeming like I was trying to "get attention" or
coming off as "overtly dramatic". Or the dreaded "whiny". But now, I'm
at the edge of doing a show next week with one of my most favorite
bands, and I know I likely won't be able to put on the type of Marc
With a C show that many expect. This realization led me to the
following conclusion: if I write about every little thing that happens
to me on record, why can't I just flippin' tell people what's wrong
with me?



So here you go.



I've got some emotional issues, and late last year I started noticing
patterns of my own behavior that weren't very much fun to be around,
and they weren't having a positive effect on anyone at all. These new
patterns were a little more insistent than the prior ones I'd
previously known about, so I went and got some help. "Help" in this
case being whatever modern psychiatry and their medicine had to offer.
I went on a pretty gnarly cocktail of prescribed drugs, and while
getting used to those I was even harder to deal with in a lot of ways.
The side effects to these meds were some of the most heinous things
I've ever dealt with - especially what they did to my judgment, hearing
and heart.



I'd been physically sick since the end of November, and some of you
might remember me canceling shows. That type of action is abhorrent to
everything I stand for and have ever worked for, but it had to be
done... and frankly, I wish I'd canceled some of the shows that I
actually did show up for. Y'see, I have had a serious case of pneumonia
since then that ebbs and flows. When we saw our family physician about
this - as well as the side effects of my so-called "happy pills" - he
ordered that some epic bloodwork took place. It was soon discovered
that not only did I have a pretty gnarly case of pneumonia, but my
thyroid had all but stopped working. This led to even more medication,
and there is still no resolution to any of these issues. Still have the
pneumonia, to boot.



To date, the health issues I'm dealing with are as follows, but are not limited to:

- mild tinnitus

- walking pneumonia

- major weight gain

- shortness of breath

- chronic fatigue and lethargy

- bipolarity



I tell you these things not for attention and sympathy cards, but
mostly so that you won't hold it against me if I'm not jumping around
and windmilling at the upcoming shows. I've hinted that the March 12th
show with Casper & The Cookies will be my last normal show for some
time, and at the moment, that will likely hold true. In the spring,
I'll be appearing in a play that utilizes Marc With a C music. I hope
to do some festivals and opening slots in the summer. If I feel up to
it, I'll do more. Also, I will slowly but surely be working on the
seventh Marc With a C album when I can. I would really, really like to
be doing more, but I'm simply unable. Instead of continuing my restless
bit of radio silence, it's all out in the open now, and I hope you'll
have some patience with me in the coming months.



I assure you that as soon as I am able, I will get right back into the
swing of putting out more music than you can handle. I'll get back to
playing those unpredictable shows. For now, I've gotta take it easy for
awhile. Thanks in advance for your support and understanding.



Love on ya,

Marc

An affordable show, reasonable start time... what more could you
ask for? (but seriously, if you miss this one, you'll want to do
yourself harm afterwards)

Casper & The Cookies: one of the best indie pop bands of the
decade, hailing from Athens, GA, featuring ex-members of Of Montreal,
The Sunshine Fix and The Late BP Helium!

Dish: Indie Pop, done Deltona style. But in Orlando!

Marc With a C: Want some sarcastic and sloppy pop songs? Look no further... and it's Marc's only "normal" show for some time!

Hosted By:
marc with a c

When:
Thursday, March 12, 2009

Where:
Wills Pub
1040 N Mills Ave
Orlando, FL
32803

Click Here To View Event