This is my story about how Frank Marino's music entered my life and became the soundtrack of my youth. Please sign the guestbook and let him know
yours! Willy Parsons, site admin
Willy Parsons
1997
The
first time that I ever heard Frank Marino play, I was
hooked. It was a nice spring day back in 1975 when myself
and a couple friends decided to ditch school, get high and
listen to records. Growing up in Imperial Beach, a southern
California beach town located south of San Diego on the
Mexican border, drugs were very accessible and the weather
was impeccable. This, combined with the location of Mar
Vista High School being only 3 short blocks from the beach,
provided us with a lot of tough decisions regarding our
quest for a higher education. After a few bongloads of
Mexico's finest, "Strange Universe" found it's way onto the
turntable and I was mesmerized. My musical taste was always
a little off center than the mainstream crowd. While most of
my fellow high schoolers were listening to Kiss and Led
Zeppelin, I was into Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Thin Lizzy, Black
Sabbath, Robin Trower and after this day, Frank Marino.
Frank's soulful music immediately made an impact on my life
and became my favorite from that day forward. I bought
"Strange Universe" for myself that same week and ordered his
two previous records, "Maxoom" and "Child of the Novelty" even though
I had never even heard them.As
a youth, music and drugs were a major part of my existence
and an opportunity to turn someone on to either one was what
I enjoyed most. I especially loved to see the reaction on
the faces of the many people that I exposed to Frank Marino
for the first time. As my friends will attest to, whenever
anyone came over to my house or rode in my truck, they were
going to hear Frank Marino.The
first time that I saw Frank Marino play live, I was blown
away. He exceded my expectations ten times over. It had been
a full two years since I first heard him until I got to see
him play live. The year was 1977 and I was now out of high
school and living on my own. The concert at the San Diego
Civic Theatre was priced at a mere $2.50, well within my
budget. I was the first one to buy tickets and I got front
row seats. This was to become a standard for me in the years
to follow because, out of the 17 times that I've seen them
play, 14 of them were from the front row. The fact that they
were never a commercial success and that I worked for a
ticket agency, made obtaining front row seats fairly
easy.Over
the years I have only met Frank Marino twice. The first time
was in 1979 when I flashed a copy of my "Maxoom" album that
I wanted autographed to Frank backstage and he wisked me
into the room proudly as he showed off his first album to
the room full of guests. For me, I was in the presence of
greatness, but since he was so cordial to me, I was not
nervous. Frank graciously signed my collection and we talked
for the better part of an hour. I left there that night with
a glow that could light up the whole universe, a strange one
at that!.The
second time that I met him was in 1993 at a small beach club
in San Diego where he was performing later that evening.
Since I was booked to play the same club later that month,
the club manager invited me down to the soundcheck during
the day. By this time, I had seen Frank Marino live 15 times
and probably knew more about them than most of his fans.
Frank has very loyal fans who's familiar faces I would see
year after year at the shows. One of my best friends is a
guy that I met at one of the shows years ago and shares the
same enthusiasm about them as I do. Frank had an all new
band this time with the exception of his brother Vince on
rhythm guitar. The band never mattered to me, it was Frank,
just Frank that we all came to see anyway. It now had been
14 years since I first met him and music formats had
changed, so I was now toting my entire Frank Marino CD
collection to be autographed, which he graciously did with a
smile. It was sort of sad to see a person with his talents
playing in the same club that had booked me. Not that I
suck, but I believe Frank deserves better. Of all the times
that I've seen him play, he always gives 100% everytime, no
matter the confines or the turnout. I did mention to Frank
that he should do an all blues album like Gary Moore did,
because the blues is where Frank shines the brightest and he
said that he had thought about it in the past but wasn't
sure if that's what he should do. Frank, if you're reading
this, please do it!!.Frank
always wrote all the songs, played most of the instruments
and always produced his own albums because he desired the
control over what was released and I'm here to say that he
did it right. Myself and many of the other dedicated Frank
Marino fans worldwide wish that he would get the recognition
and success that he so much deserves so that we could all
say to the new "bandwagoners", "Where the fuck have you guys
been all these years, feeding Nugent?". Frank Marino is and
will always be the best. Take care and God bless!
