Tune Req: Mark Cohen the illusive Mark Cohen

Subject: Tune Req: Mark Cohen the illusive Mark Cohen
From: LightRust
Date: 08 Mar 07 - 10:28 PM

Howdy...
I've been trying to track down Mark Cohen since 1985. I've, quite frankly, never seen anyone who wrote such a variety of lyrics before.
I've been a fan for over 20 years and I've never even met the man, heard any of his songs sung, etc.

I was floored the first time that I read the words to "These Hands" and "The Children Draw Guns" and his lighter songs like "Both of You" (special appeal since I'm an identical twin) and "When A Dog Smiles" are endearing...

I was wondering if anyone (including Mark himself) have ever recorded his songs and if so... are they available on CD or as .MP3 files somewhere... I also play guitar a bit so I'd like the melodies and/or chords if possible...

Any info would be much appreciated...

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Mark Cohen the illusive Mark Cohen
From: bobad
Date: 08 Mar 07 - 10:41 PM

You can send Mark a personal message by clicking on the Quick Links drop down menu at the top of the page and selecting Send a Personal Message.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Mark Cohen the illusive Mark Cohen
From: mg
Date: 08 Mar 07 - 10:46 PM

I have met him in person. You forgot to say he is handsome. mg

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Mark Cohen the illusive Mark Cohen
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Mar 07 - 10:54 PM

I looked him up a few weeks ago and it had been about a year since he posted. I don't think I have his email since he moved to the mainland--I just looked--sorry. Since he hasn't posted in so long, I don't know if he'll see your thread unless someone else alerts him to it. Good luck.

SRS

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Mark Cohen the illusive Mark Cohen
From: katlaughing
Date: 08 Mar 07 - 10:55 PM

Is there a Doctor in the house?**bg** I've been wondering how he is doing, too.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Mark Cohen the illusive Mark Cohen
From: LightRust
Date: 08 Mar 07 - 11:01 PM

What is Dr. Mark's specialty? Where did he move to? He was in Seattle at one time wasn't he?

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Mark Cohen the illusive Mark Cohen
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Mar 07 - 11:12 PM

I found some info and left a phone message. If I found the right Cohen, perhaps he'll turn up here to answer questions.

SRS

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Mark Cohen the illusive Mark Cohen
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Mar 07 - 11:12 PM

He's a pediatrician.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Mark Cohen the illusive Mark Cohen
From: Joe Offer
Date: 09 Mar 07 - 01:01 AM

Yeah, the darn guy didn't show up at San Francisco's Camp Harmony this year, and I had been looking forward to seeing him again. If you don't get hold of him, let me know and I think I can track him down.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Mark Cohen the illusive Mark Cohen
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 09 Mar 07 - 01:29 AM

G'day,

I thought I had read one of Mark's Vital Signs (medical emergency) articles in "Discover" magazine within recent months ... but a search on their web site has the most recent at one year back ... not much help, really.

Regards,

Bob

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Mark Cohen the illusive Mark Cohen
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Mar 07 - 10:35 AM

It looks like there is an attorney in Santa Clara by the same name, so I don't know if my message was left for a doctor or a lawyer. The machine was an automated one on a phone machine, so there were no clues.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Mark Cohen the illusive Mark Cohen
From: LightRust
Date: 09 Mar 07 - 11:44 PM

Thanks all for your info, comments and attempts at contact.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Mark Cohen the illusive Mark Cohen
From: LightRust
Date: 10 Mar 07 - 12:02 AM

1993 I was lookin' for him:
http://groups.google.ca/group/rec.music.folk/browse_thread/thread/7395e4cdf8f2aac8/cfbf36d5f3c005f9?lnk=st&q=%2B%22Mark+Cohen%22&rnum=4&hl=en#cfbf36d5f3c005f9

1995 I was lookin' for him:
http://groups.google.ca/group/rec.music.makers.guitar.acoustic/browse_thread/thread/22c8cf36f8fae843/3b828f5094288e6f?lnk=st&q=%2B%22Mark+Cohen%22&rnum=20&hl=en#3b828f5094288e6f

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Mark Cohen the illusive Mark Cohen
From: Joe Offer
Date: 10 Mar 07 - 03:56 AM

Don't give up. The e-mail address I had for him bounced, but there's still hope. I've got "feelers" out, trying a few people who should be able to contact him. He WAS a "regular" here at Mudcat for a while, off and on.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Mark Cohen the illusive Mark Cohen
From: Linda Goodman Zebooker
Date: 10 Mar 07 - 08:39 AM

From 1999 to 2003 I moved house five times. I especially enjoyed singing Mark Cohen's parody, "How Can I Keep From Moving?". Hope he shows up again here soon.

Linda

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Mark Cohen the illusive Mark Cohen
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Mar 07 - 10:45 AM

One of our Seattle Mudcatters will eventually spot this thread and provide an answer or rattle his cage.

SRS

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Mark Cohen the illusive Mark Cohen
From: Dave Swan
Date: 10 Mar 07 - 11:30 AM

I saw him about a year ago. At the time he lived and practiced in the Santa Clara valley. He was happy and very busy.

D

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Mark Cohen the illusive Mark Cohen
From: Joe Offer
Date: 10 Mar 07 - 08:32 PM

I think I got a good e-mail address. I e-mailed him and asked him to drop in.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Mark Cohen the illusive Mark Cohen
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 11 Mar 07 - 01:38 PM

Congratulations, Joe, you found me! Thanks so much for being persistent. I've been meaning to check in for quite a while (yeah, right, I hear you all say...) and only have time now for a brief note. Thanks to all for the kind comments.

In brief, what's kept me away from the 'Cat has been...love. In July 2005 I moved to California to be closer to my daughter, taking a job as a developmental pediatrician with Kaiser Permanente in Santa Clara. Then in November I met one of the urologists at Kaiser, though we didn't meet at work, but at a wine-tasting sponsored by the (don't laugh) Physician's Satisfaction and Wellness Committee.   Seems like my psychic friend in Hawaii was right when she told me, a few years ago, "You're going to marry a Jewish doctor." Jackie and I will be married in August. We've just moved into a new house (well, actually an old house) in Menlo Park, on the San Mateo Peninsula near Palo Alto and Stanford. Jackie has an 8-year-old son from her first marriage. My daughter Shayna still lives with her mom in Ojai, near Ventura.

Gotta run...I'm trying to help Jackie finish some more unpacking, and then may try to take my mandolin to the Bay Area Slow Session in San Leandro, which will be my first musical outing in quite a while. I did have a chance to sing a couple of times with Dave Swan's friends in Oak, Ash, & Thorn, and that was a huge thrill. Jackie isn't a musician or singer, but she loves music, and I've already dragged her to a couple of folkie events (including an OAT performance in Berkeley, and a house concert with good friends Mudlark--including DADGBE--in Davis).

Can't promise I'll be as frequent a contributor to Mudcat as I was in the past, but at least I have a good reason to be otherwise engaged!

Best to all.

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Mark Cohen the illusive Mark Cohen
From: alison
Date: 12 Mar 07 - 12:02 AM

congratulations Mark... all the best with the wedding plans

lovely to see you again

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Mark Cohen the illusive Mark Cohen
From: mg
Date: 12 Mar 07 - 12:08 AM

darn...I mean congratulations...ladies, I told you he was handsome, and a doctor besides...mg

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Mark Cohen the illusive Mark Cohen
From: catspaw49
Date: 12 Mar 07 - 02:18 AM

Far out and congrats Mark! I guess I'll give you a pass and not rag you for disappearing..............Well, no I won't....***KISS MY ASS***.......okay, that's better.

Try to stop by at least once in awhile huh?

Spaw

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Mark Cohen the illusive Mark Cohen
From: Joe Offer
Date: 12 Mar 07 - 03:31 AM

Aw, that's sweet, Mark. In your e-mail to me, you mentioned Jackie - but you kept me wondering who Jackie was. I wish you two the very best.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Mark Cohen the illusive Mark Cohen
From: Roger the Skiffler
Date: 12 Mar 07 - 09:20 AM

Best wishes,Mark

RtSW

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Mark Cohen the illusive Mark Cohen
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Mar 07 - 10:15 AM

That's a great outcome, Mark! and I agree with mg :)

SRS

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Mark Cohen the illusive Mark Cohen
From: katlaughing
Date: 12 Mar 07 - 10:45 AM

Whoo-hoo!! That's wonderful, Dr. Mark!! Congratulations. Rog and I just celebrated our 27th anniversary. May you enjoy as many and more with Jackie!

kat

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Mark Cohen the illusive Mark Cohen
From: Cool Beans
Date: 12 Mar 07 - 12:49 PM

Congratulations, Mark! Too bad you can't honeymoon at Freedomland.
All the best,
Marty

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Mark Cohen the illusive Mark Cohen
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 13 Mar 07 - 10:43 PM

So I'm looking through this thread, kvelling at all the nice things people are saying about me, and I'm thinking, something's missing, but I can't quite put my finger on it. Then, all of a sudden, there it was, that certain something, that je ne sais quoi that is the essence of the Mudcat experience, that just kind of brings it all together. Yep, you guessed it: Spaw. Thanks, dude, you made my day.

Seriously, I have missed the 'Cat, and I hope it won't be that long between posts in the future. This community was a lifesaver for me back in the bleak days of 1999 and 2000 when my marriage was falling apart and I was stuck on a rock in the middle of the Pacific with no contact with any of my former folkie friends...and I haven't forgotten it.

Now, to answer LightRust, who started this thread. First, thank you so much...I've never had a fan club before! Unfortunately, I've never gotten around to making a CD of my songs. I did make a basement tape once, in the basement of my apartment in Seattle in 1989, and sent it around to some people. I may have a copy left. Some of my songs have been recorded. "Walking On My Wheels" has had the most life. It was recorded (and improved) by Bob Reid on his album "Marz Barz," and then was recorded by Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer. That recording (which, like Bob's had a child singing the lead), was selected to be on a CD/songbook collection called "I Will Be Your Friend" which was distributed to schools and teachers by Teaching Tolerance, a branch of the Southern Poverty Law Center. That wonderful collection, which includes songs by Malvina Reynolds, Pete Seeger, Bob Blue, and other luminaries, may still be available through Teaching Tolerance. (Hope I still remember how to make those links!)   In addition, my song "The Children Draw Guns" was recorded by Heidi Muller, though I can't remember the name or label of her CD, and "South Street Waltz" may have been published in a collection of songs about aging. One of these days, I may put my songs on disk. In my spare time.

Anyway, thanks for the kind words and thoughts. See ya around, guys.

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Mark Cohen the illusive Mark Cohen
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 13 Mar 07 - 10:56 PM

I have tons of my Dad's recordings here from over the years. I wonder if you're on any of them? A lot of them are from Seattle Song Circle. I'll have to check his notes (and add this to my list of things to look for in the shelves of his stuff that I have here in my office).

SRS

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Mark Cohen the illusive Mark Cohen
From: katlaughing
Date: 13 Mar 07 - 11:15 PM

Looks as if the CD and booklet are still available for free to schools and teachers, Mark. Pretty neat to see your sheet music and set listing on there! Click here and HERE.

Thanks for the *clues*!