Mark Donato's Playlist
Creation Story
As Far as It Will Go
A History of the Boys and Girls
Parked on a Hill
My Decision to Medicate
Don't Feel Too Bad for Yourself
Year Full of Demons
Lives of Poets
Everything I Thought I Knew
Unexplained Absence
A Recurring Woman
Same Old Fall From Grace
This Is Where I Live
Take A Bullet for My Baby
Call It Even
Infirmary Ball
The Narrator
Architect of Open Spaces
The Great Fire of Mr. Smithton
Moods of Extreme Desire
Help Me Put Some Meat On These Bones
Invisible
Caretaker
Everyone's Going Away
A Walking Nerve Ending
My Mom is Crazy
Speeches at My Wake
General
Music
Video
Photos
Journal
Dates
Up
Down
Mark Donato lived his first 18 years in Connellsville, Pennsylvania, graduated to Pittsburgh, saved $1000 and moved to New York City, where he inherited a band.
He spent the late 1980s, the '90s and the early '00s a willing prisoner of New York's Downtown music scene. Then he moved to a rural Upstate community, where he can be found in his garage, playing songs.
He was in a band called Canoeful of Strangers and also one called Spondee, which put out a record on the fabled Hello Recording Club label, before it went the way of all fabled labels.
He drummed, sang and played harmonica for John Linnell of They Might Be Giants; the legendary country orchestra Flat Old World; Rosine; the Oswalds; Amy Allison and the Maudlins and others you might have heard of.
Lately he's been playing music in the general vicinity of Woodstock, NY, famous for its dreadlocks and maple syrup.
He has four full-length CDs: Mark Donato Sings 'I'm Flapping' and other Favorites, The Old Joy, I Haven't Wasted All this Time Alone, and the brand new A History of the Boys and Girls.
He spent the late 1980s, the '90s and the early '00s a willing prisoner of New York's Downtown music scene. Then he moved to a rural Upstate community, where he can be found in his garage, playing songs.
He was in a band called Canoeful of Strangers and also one called Spondee, which put out a record on the fabled Hello Recording Club label, before it went the way of all fabled labels.
He drummed, sang and played harmonica for John Linnell of They Might Be Giants; the legendary country orchestra Flat Old World; Rosine; the Oswalds; Amy Allison and the Maudlins and others you might have heard of.
Lately he's been playing music in the general vicinity of Woodstock, NY, famous for its dreadlocks and maple syrup.
He has four full-length CDs: Mark Donato Sings 'I'm Flapping' and other Favorites, The Old Joy, I Haven't Wasted All this Time Alone, and the brand new A History of the Boys and Girls.
The first three were released on the venerated Rag and Bone Shop label, which operates out of an abandoned silo somewhere in Ulster County. A History of the Boys and Girls was put out by Lorenzo and Betty Music, named after two cats, one dead and one living.
A History of the Boys and Girls
Funny, lyrical and a little disturbing, with great melodic rock 'n' roll, this surveys this history of girl-meets-boy, or whoever meets whomever, with all the wonderment, anxiety, agony and unavoidable togetherness; in other words, it's your life.
Creation Story
As Far as It Will Go
A History of the Boys and Girls
Parked on a Hill
My Decision to Medicate
Don't Feel Too Bad for Yourself
Year Full of Demons
Lives of Poets
Everything I Thought I Knew
Unexplained Absence
A Recurring Woman
Same Old Fall From Grace
This Is Where I Live
I Haven't Wasted All This Time Alone
I Haven't Wasted All This Time Alone
About the songs...
Take a Bullet for My Baby
A gallant gang member, probably doesn't expect to live past 21...this is the heroic death he imagines for himself
My Mom is Crazy
Of course we know who's really crazy here...and no, it's not about my mother, who is no thug and is actually very nice
A Walking Nerve Ending
A resident of a city that's either recovering from or expecting a major disaster, or both...a never ending by trade, and now the world's made for him
Everyone's Going Away
From Christmastime '01, with the dust of the dead in the air, etc.
Caretaker
House sitter / handyman in love with weekender...has grown to love the off-season
Invisible
Sometimes a lonely feeling but let's hope it fades into selflessness, as in "you're invisible now, you've got no secrets to conceal"
Help Me Put Some Meat on These Bones
This person is either starving or lonely or looking for a band, or possibly all three...is there any such thing as a "minor humanitarian disaster"
Moods of Extreme Desire
The title is stolen from Zen Flesh, Zen Bones, a compilation by Paul Reps. The original sentence goes "In moods of extreme desire, be undisturbed." I figured there were too many things that could follow that phrase, and gave it a shot
The Great Fire of Mr. Smithton
I can imagine a choir of angels on this one, to add a little grandeur...I hear you can actually live like this all the time
Architect of Open Spaces
This record maybe should've been call The Responsible Party...the space you're facing is yours to fill
The Narrator
A listener on garageband.com said this was a political warning and another called it an indictment of the media...no mentioned the voice in my head, to whom I dedicate this song
Infirmary Ball
Yet another marriage of Love and Death...what God has joined let no one pull apart (we'll go into this later)
Call It Even
A truce without the negotiation...really a song of unbounded friendliness...the music industry is all in your mind, and you're out of your mind
Speeches at My Wake
Waiting for the last minute, or beyond, to speak one's peace...it started as 'speeches at my funeral' but 'wake' rhymed with 'cake,' which I never pass up
Take A Bullet for My Baby
Call It Even
Infirmary Ball
The Narrator
Architect of Open Spaces
The Great Fire of Mr. Smithton
Moods of Extreme Desire
Help Me Put Some Meat On These Bones
Invisible
Caretaker
Everyone's Going Away
A Walking Nerve Ending
My Mom is Crazy
Speeches at My Wake
There are no images for Mark Donato
There are no news items listed for Mark Donato
There are no current dates listed for Mark Donato