Larry Marcinko

Guitar, Vocals, Songwriting

Larry was born and raised in an idyllic "Our Town" kind of setting near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a place that was transformed by the subversive sounds of rock'n'roll before he even knew what a guitar was. Larry started playing guitar at age 12, practicing until his fingers bled (not often, to be honest, and not recommended for everyone) and sang all the John Lennon parts ever recorded. This led to a digging back through the history of rock and other genres, even classical. Larry learned enough music theory to put a good song together, and, with Mark Harper, got lots of college radio airplay in the 1990s with their band The Bogues. They even got a few royalty checks, "though of course you do it for love," Larry insists.

The music business exists largely to keep music from being heard. But, back to the matter at hand: should I sing for real or just pretend?

Jeff Hatfield

Drums

Also known as "Hat," "Hatfield," "H," "Big H" (of Big H Limo), Mr. Hatfield has been playing drums since the eighth grade, in Queens, New York. Many bands and venues later, here he is in Atlanta, laying down one contagious backbeat after another, propelling every song in the collection and every pair of feet in the place.

H also has his own limo service -- a real doer, reliable and resourceful. Recessions don't stop him. The man paints houses, fixes cars, does home improvements -- and still manages to drive 40 miles to rehearsal.

Unstoppable H!

Willie Williams

Bass, Vocals

“He puts his whole heart and soul into it,” fans of Willie Williams have observed. It’s a natural reaction, whenever Willie’s onstage. He first picked up a guitar as a teenager, and was soon playing all over Atlanta, in a band called The Music Machine, playing r&b and a number of other styles. He also played rhythm guitar for the gospel group Heavenly Aires. “We’d get in our bus and roll across the country,” he says, still charged, just by the memory. One of Willie’s defining characteristics is that he seems constantly fascinated by life, and by music. “I’ve played music from a lot of different genres and generations, and all of them – gospel, rock ‘n’ roll, r&b – indelibly left a fingerprint on me. I’m excited to sing and play bass for the Black and White District because they are very diverse, and they are true students of all kinds of music that I love.”

Mark Harper

Guitars

A founding member of The Bogues, The Ottoman Empire, and The Optimists Club, Mark's also the main man behind The New Questarians. Check out that treasury of catchy tunes if you can!

Mark is almost always upbeat. When all the other rock'n'rollers were going through various midlife crises, he said "So what? So we're middle age. That's the best part about it!"

There's a certain electric cohesion among the rhythm and bass guitars and the drums that can only be explained by -- well, superpowers. Mark has the superpower of being right in the groove. It's uncanny!

Jim Wright

Sound Engineer

Jim Wright is your archetypal doer. When it comes to sound and recording equipment, or pretty much any technical challenge, he’ll find a way to piece it all together and make it work. He also happens to love music, which works out well for the band!

But it doesn’t stop there: Jim is also a writer, and a true scholar. Right now, he’s getting a psychology degree over the internet, keeping up with current events, and thoroughly enjoying a good science fiction book (especially if it’s Arthur C. Clarke). And it’s not even noon!

Some Of Our Friends

Richard Dowdeswell played cello
Joseph Stone of The Beehive Champions is a great pal
Lisa Frank of Frank Relations loaned us some musical instruments from the Shirlee Frank Collection
Visit www.shirleefrank.com