PEOPLE PROFILE: Marcus Walker!
Meet Marcus Walker: Musician!
Have you heard Marcus Walker strum and croon? Had him whisper a corny joke in your ear? You’ll smile every time. A skilled and solid multi-instrumentalist, Marcus fortifies the performance of others and glows in the beam of the spotlight. He takes gentle command of the audience with the rich rumble of a voice that grips ya similar to that of Neil Diamond, Shawn Mullins and Buju Banton. Marcus is like your favourite cartoon character; clever, charming and goofy in capricious combination.
Marcus faces the questions…
What is your career? Musician
Is it the same as your passion? Oh, yes indeed…
What are the greatest challenges and greatest rewards of your career? THE greatest challenge of being a working musician is finding & maintaining a business relationship with a venue owner that will consistently pay you for your services, willingly. Some other challenges are mostly the usual stuff like remembering lyrics & that kind of thing. Rewards..? The fact that I am making a living out of doing what I love – & what I believe I’m best at.
What is your advice to others embarking on similar career? Practice, ask questions, be & stay informed, practice, be vigilant, practice…
What does it mean to be an artist? To always be looking through the eyes of a child…
5 years ago, did you expect to be where you are today? NO but I figured I’d be somewhere nearby…
Where will you be in 5 years? Hopefully doing the same thing, only better…
What would you say to your 8-year-old self? “Stop picking your nose..!”
What would you say to your 80-year-old self? “Stop picking your nose..!”
How lucky are you and why? Very. My life is fairly idyllic & I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Also, spiritually, I feel better than I’ve ever felt…
What would people be surprised to know about you? Dunno, that’s a hard one. Perhaps that; aside from books, chocolate & sushi; I have no major addictions…
What makes you laugh? Honest, real life scenarios. The kind you can’t stage…
What is fun for you? Bumper cars & jamming with seasoned musicians…
What makes you question humanity? The overwhelming amount of atrocious behaviour some people display…
What is your favourite quote? Man, there’s tons o’ great quotes. Couldn’t possibly narrow it down to one. So, I’ll put down 3 of my faves. 1) “He was kind of charming, totally untrustworthy, conspiratorial, possessing mysterious juice with the ownership, able to operate completely outside the normal chain of command” – Anthony Bourdain, Kitchen Confidential 2) “We have eaten too much fat. Fresh baby pig is very griping to the bowels. There is an everlasting coming and going in the dug-out. Two, three men with their pants down are always sitting about outside and cursing. I have been out nine times myself. About four o’clock in the morning we reach a record: all eleven men, guards and visitors, are squatting outside” – Erich Maria Remarque, All Quiet On The Western Front 3) “Look, look,’ cried the count, seizing the young man’s hands – “look, for on my soul it is curious. Here is a man who had resigned himself to his fate, who was going to the scaffold to die – like a coward, it is true, but he was about to die without resistance. Do you know what gave him strength? – do you know what consoled him? It was, that another partook of his punishment – that another partook of his anguish – that another was to die before him. Lead two sheep to the butcher’s, two oxen to the slaughterhouse, and make one of them understand that his companion will not die; the sheep will bleat for pleasure, the ox will bellow with joy. But man – man, who God created in his own image – man, upon whom God has laid his first, his sole commandment, to love his neighbour – man, to whom God has given a voice to express his thoughts – what is his first cry when he hears his fellowman is saved? A blasphemy. Honour to man, this masterpiece of nature, this king of the creation!” ― Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo
What is something originating from someone else that you find particularly inspiring?
www.rleonband.com Have been playing with Russell for years. Good songwriter!
www.openculture.com Awesomely informative… “The best free cultural & educational media on the web.”
To see and hear more from Marcus Walker, click upon his links! If you like what you see and hear, drop him a line! He may just tell you a corny joke. Yeah, that’s probably a definite there, matey!
https://soundcloud.com/marcus-walker-music
http://www.youtube.com/stringerland
https://www.facebook.com/groups/49857668943/
Until next time… explore an artist… explore the artist in you!
Happy day, everybuddy!
🙂
New Show announced!
Hear ye hear ye! We are two weeks away!
Fri August 29, 2014: Musedy Tag Team, Rando Bando, Kat & The Mp3 at The Black Swan Toronto
Musedy Tag Team (Kat & Arlene)
Rando Bando
(An eclectic assortment of comedic performers who delight and offend in relatively equal measure!)
Kat & The Mp3! (That’s me!)
Please join us for a night full of Music Comedy! We’re also gonna do some musical improv and YOU could be a part of the action!
Suweeeet! Come one, come all!
WHERE: The Black Swan – 154 Danforth Avenue, Toronto-3rd floor
WHEN: Friday August 29, 2014; Doors 8:30 Show 9:00
HOW: Pay What You Can (Suggested $10)
Help Me To Heal
This week I was privileged to be invited by Amy Sky to sing along in a beautiful backup choir for Help Me To Heal on her upcoming album. The song is a lilting and soothing delight and I can’t wait to share the finished sound and video with you all! So much laughter and light filled the room, a splendour of sound and spirit. I am so pleased and proud to have been involved. 🙂
-thank you to all friends who contributed pics! xo
Please treat yourself to some of Amy’s sounds! She is one of my favourite voices; a voice backed by a heart just as stunning and soulful. 10 years ago I created a wee video biography of one of my favourite people ever, my Grampie. It is one of my most cherished projects and jampacked with love. He is one of the prominent forces that made me who I am today and continually affects my work and day-to-day living. I ended that video with Amy’s song If You Could See Yourself. Who knew then that I’d one day be singing along with her in the same room? 🙂 [Dear Amy: If you are reading this, I swear the copy I promised you is on its way! 😉 xo]
Me and Grampie:
-Grampie knew that the way to a young girl’s heart is through her stomach! 😉
As always, I wish you a life full of love, inspiration, music, laughter and dance!
🙂 xoxox
New Show Announcement!
Amsterdam Bicycle Club
54 The Esplanade, Toronto Ontario
Thursday April 24th 9:00-11:30pm $6
Come enjoy Heather Hill, Innersha, Angela Saini, Guy Stefan, Matt Gerber, Prescilla and me as we give you a Positive music experience!
Get it? 🙂
Check out more about Positive Music Imperative here!
The Four Winds at The Beautiful & The Damned tonight!
It’ll probably look a little something like this:
To hear us you’ll have to come out! Hope to see you tonight!
Come By Here on a new music compilation!
Come By Here, the song I wrote with Heather Hill with help from Orville Heyn, made it onto the Positive Music Imperative compilation for January 2014!
What is the Positive Music Imperative?
“The Positive Music Imperative is a collaborative collective, social enterprise, creating a legacy through the creation of positive music, and by educating people around the world about the role and importance of Positive Music in being an agent for personal, community and global change. Our mandate is to both create and positive music as well as to educate the importance of Positive Music and its ability to change people, communities and the world like no other force we know. That’s the Positive Music Imperative.”
Come By Here was inspired by three heroes in my life who battled cancer. Come By Here is a song pleading with the powers that be to come hither and comfort. To see and hear the January 2014 compilation, visit the Positive Music Imperative website. For more on the story of Come By Here, visit my previous blog introducing Come By Here.
Have yourself a positively inspired day and more!
🙂 love Kat xo
Fundraiser extravaganza: Warm Coats, Warm Hearts!
In a week from now, on Sunday Nov 24th, let’s all come together for a night of fun, frolic and fundraising in order to spread some warmth! Have an old coat or two kicking around? Bring it, along with your quest for a good time! I’ll be singing my hit Santa’s Sack and others with Arlene Paculan as our duo Musedy Tag Team!
Happy Holidaze!
Four Winds: A songstorm of musical forces intertwined for the greater good!
www.ArlenePaculan.com
www.KatLeonard.com
www.MeghanMorrison.com
www.HeatherHill.ca
The Four Winds Collective share their gifts of music as they gather to play a concert fundraiser at the Church of The Good Shepherd Sunday September 29, 2013 2pm-4pm. Who are the Four Winds Collective? Kat Leonard (KatLeonard.com) has training in Science, music, theatre and The Second City. She performs feisty comedic pop. Arlene Paculan (ArlenePaculan.com) was trained at Randolph Academy and Royal Conservatory of Music, and performs soulful jazzy pop. Heather Hill (HeatherHill.ca) trained at Royal Conservatory of Music as well as New York City and plays piano pop rock. Meghan Morrison (MeghanMorrison.com) is a mover and a shaker. She started a successful music jam podcast and is an art rocker who plays Celtic groove music.
The Four Winds Collective is a songstorm of musical forces intertwined for the greater good. They travel together with their dynamic live shows in an aim to draw together a community to share joy and inspiration through music and storytelling.
Catch us Sunday September 29th 2pm in Wyebridge, Ontario!
www.KatLeonard.com
@Katbandoo
Upcoming Wonderment!
The second instalment of this two-workshop series is coming up! It is open to new and returning participants!
KAT LEONARD (Kat & The MP3) 