The award-winning reporter, music critic, playwright, and author of the excellent book "Country and Midwestern: Chicago in the History of Country Music and the Folk Revival" has written for many top news outlets and publications, the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, the New York Times, ABC News, Downbeat, and Mojo among them. The Chicago native who now splits his time between there and New Orleans has also written a number of Offbeat cover stories, including the Irma Thomas feature for the recent Jazz Fest issue. Mark has always had a genuine interest in and curiosity about people. His night with the Troubled Men may cure him of that.

Topics include an illness, Santana, Wink Martindale RIP, Dick Clark's house, Pepperdine University, the Pope’s death, Susan Cowsill's Joni Mitchell show, bad gigs, a bike rider, a flood, a water bill, Entergy, a message from the past, theater of the mind, radio, Oak Park, Fitzgerald's American Music Fest, the Beat writers, Bob Dylan, "A Complete Unknown," "I'm Not There," a college newspaper job, Rogers Park, Studs Terkel, Mike Royko, the digital era, naked parties, the ‘90s music scene, Obama, Cheap Trick, Jon Langford, James Iha, a Smashing Pumpkins interview, Butch Vig, the 2nd Northern Migration, the WLS Barn Dance, the Old Towne School of Folk Music, John Prine, the theater scene, local politics, and much more.