If I’ve learned anything from reading the blogs of my friends, family and fans, it’s that if you’re in a close proximity to the end of a year/beginning of a new one, you have to write something reflective while also giving yourself some sort of pep talk for what’s coming up in the new year. Hell, I’ve done those before too. They aren’t bad, just predictable. I also uniformly suck at them. I can’t be reflective on a schedule. It doesn’t work that way for me. It’s usually like in… April. And then I’ll write something ridiculous telling the story – or setting the record straight – on something Marc With a C related.

On the other hand, I hate being left out of things, so here’s something kinda similar. It won’t get terribly personal or anything, as that’s what the songs are for. Not my blogs.

2007 was one of the happiest years of my life on a personal level. I stayed in a good and positive mood for at least 90% of the time, and that’s seriously some type of record for me. I’m sure that those circumstances led me to feeling pretty fearless when it came to releasing Normal Bias, which was my last full-length album to date. I still think it’s my best album yet, and I still get really excited about playing songs from it at shows. There’s not a single second of the recording that I dislike, and if I have any regrets about it, it’d probably be the fact that I never finished recording a lengthy song called “Linda Lovelace For President” that was slated for the album. I felt that it was the themactic crux of the album, but for whatever reason the song just wasn’t fitting, and every recording session for it went totally awry. Some takes of the tune could last up to twelve minutes, and the only somewhat finished version (the demo) clocks in around seven minutes. Of course, this is all pretentious meanderings – the song had nothing to do with Linda Lovelace, and was mostly a free-form noise jam. Lyrically, the song alluded to the fact that some of the original programmers for America Online – or more specifically Quantum Link – may have had slightly sicker ideas in mind for the internet tool than just being an information superhighway. Not that you’d ever get that from the actual words in the song. In the end, it’s best that the song stayed unearthed and Normal Bias was released as-is. And that’s it. That’s my major regret for 2007: even though I released hours of music in some form or another, it bugs me that one of them didn’t get heard. What a tough life I lead. Boo-hoo.

I had two drummers in 2007. Ryan Price in the first few months of the year, and then Chris Zabriskie refilled his old drumstool. I guess it probably looked dramatic at the time. Maybe even felt that way. Really, it wasn’t. I like Ryan as a person and a drummer. We hang out whenever we get the chance. Same with Chris. The only difference is that one isn’t actually in the band anymore… and Ryan is still welcome to play drums onstage whenever it woks out for both of us. Really. The year was less than dramatic, even when the “drams” looked like they were afoot.

I made lots of new friends and fans. I got a simple day job that I like just as much as I like to play/record songs. As a matter of fact, I’m so damned satisfied musically at the moment that I haven’t finished a new song since we released Normal Bias. Even though I have some lyrical ideas kicking around, I don’t feel much of a drive to write more… for once. I’m totally cool with Normal Bias being the last official word for Mw/aC for awhile. Heck, I even prepared a demo of nine songs projected for the next album. Had a theme in mind, Chris and I were sharing writing duties… and then it turned out that my newest songs were just not up to par. That probably had a lot to do with them all being rehashes of earlier unreleased material. So, we closed out the year with an EP full of songs that Chris Zabriskie wrote and a couple of really good shows.

And this is the part where I’m supposed to look forward to what 2008 has in store for me. I’m not clairvoyant, so I’ll just tell you what is already somewhat agreed upon by many folks in the Marc camp:

1. We’ll hopefully release a DVD of a live show this year.
2. I’ll be giving in to the more “cutting edge” types and making some records available for digital purchase for the first time.
3. Chris and I want to do some touring. Not much, just a little.
4. As of this writing, I plan to turn thirty years old on January 17th, 2008. Some would be scared by this and think of all the things that they haven’t accomplished. Maybe start considering their own mortality. Not me. I’m not scared of the natural aging process, and I’m quite proud of what I’ve made of myself. I mean, the only thing I’m not crazy about in my life is the cigarette smoking, but until there’s a ‘stop smoking aid’ that doesn’t cost more than I spend on cigs per week, I’ll keep smoking.

We’re celebrating my birthday with a show at Taste in Orlando on Thursday, January 17th at 9:30 PM. Bob On Blonde will be playing, as will The Pizza Brothers. I might get drunk before my set. Who knows?

Oh, and there is one last thing…. To thank all of you for another year of letting me be Marc With a C, here’s the next installment of the Official Bootleg Series. This one is called Share The Covers, Bitch. It’s a collection of covers I’ve recorded at home just for fun between 2003 and 2007.

1. “I Can’t Get Her Off Of My Mind” (The Monkees).mp3
2. “They Don’t Know” (Kirsty Maccoll).mp3
3. “God’s Away On Business” (Tom Waits).mp3
4. “The Gnome” (Pink Floyd).mp3
5. “Weird On The Avenue” (The Frogs).mp3
6. “No Man’s Land” (Alice Cooper).mp3
7. “Brand New Key” (Melanie Safka).mp3
8. “UPS My Heart” (Steve Poltz/Mojo Nixon).mp3
9. “Mr. Roboto” (Styx).mp3
10. “I Melt With You” (Modern English).mp3
11. “I Love Little Pussy” (Little Marcy).mp3

“I Can’t Get Her Off My Mind” is from a scrapped plan to cover a Monkees album in it’s entirety. Same with the Kirsty Maccoll song. “No Man’s Land” was released as my Christmas single in 2006. “I Melt With You” was recorded for my fiancées birthday in 2005, as it’s her favorite song of all time.

I hope you’ll all enjoy this very much. And if you do, I hope you’ll tell me. I mean, it’s my birthday, but I’m giving you a present? Wow. I’m nicer than I make myself out to be. I guess it doesn’t hurt that these are all some of my favorite songs in the world. The next one will be even cooler, and will more closely reflect what I’m into these days. Lately, I’ve been mostly listening to Kirsty Maccoll, John Entwistle’s solo albums, Sun Ra, Can and Chris Zabriskie’s new album. All of these inspire me greatly to make something big. Not big in the popularity department, just big in the “holy crap that’s an awesomely unexpected album” way. I don’t know that it’ll work out that way, nor do I know if I’ll even release an album of new material this year. I’m pretty happy going to work, spending time with my family, and playing pop shows where we’re both happy with the songs performed.

And I’m happy to be a part of your life. Seriously.

Love on ya,
Marc