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- My hometown:
- Planet Earth
- My books:
SISYPHUS ROCKS (five stars)
Connect Magazine
Reviewer: Jim Morekis (Editor-in-chief)
In a city of eccentrics, Savannah based writer Mark Wirtz manages to stand out, both for his loquacious personality and his inexhaustible store of funny stories from the good ol' days of the music business.
Mark Wirtz, the charming European produced music during the heyday of "Swinging London's" late '60s/'70s, before transplanting to Los Angeles, where he continued his music career as a Capitol recording artist, as well as producer for many best selling artists.
These days, Mark is, no doubt, more known for his tongue-in-cheek freelance writing. His first novel, SISYPHUS ROCKS, continues in the same vein.
The novel is ostensibly a story of a nasty record company plot to engineer the death of a female pop singer to boost her sagging record sales. Set in the recording business recession of 1979, after disco's peak but before new wave's rise, SISYPHUS ROCKS depicts a self-absorbed L.A. culture that revels in a decadence so pervasive it becomes almost pedestrian.
The story, amusingly told though it is, takes a back seat to the thinly veiled slice-of life depiction of Wirtz's own experiences in Hollywood's showbiz underworld. I doubt Wirtz actually stumbled across any murder plots during his music career, but there's no doubt that he knows firsthand the characters he trots out, like nasty alpha male Übermensch Arny Goldman and the gold-chain wearing Italian music publisher.
Wirtz - his humor so ready and his asides wickedly funny - nails the overriding ethos of the showbiz industry, where hypocrisy and backstabbing are merely coins of the realm, even among "friends." What I enjoy most about SISYPHUS ROCKS is precisely this portrait of a world so desperate to be hip, yet in fact so desperately unhip. The Hollywood "artistes" are deep down about as white bread as you can get, with their obsessions with embezzling money, screwing people over with bad contracts, one-upping the competition and schtupping the innocent and fresh-faced.
Oh, my, did I just write "schtupping?" Well, that's the kind of book SISYPHUS ROCKS is. It takes you there in a certain nostalgic style, to a time before crack cocaine and gangsta rap, before grunge and techno, before CDs and Napster, before Justin and Brittany. To a time when music was music and business was business, and the devil take the hindmost.
In surprising contrast to his first book (Sisysphus Rocks) and adult, roman a clef suspense novel, Mark Wirtz (aka, MIchael Sinclair) has chosen this light-hearted study of love, sex and relationships for all ages as his follow-up publication.
Enhanced by his own illustrations, and assisted by the counsel of distinguished psychiatrist and specialist in additional medicine, George Bifano D.O., Mark Wirtz, in original quotes, prose, essays and poems, follows today's typical relationship cycles from being alone, searchng, finding, bonding, struggling and finally breaking up, to ultimately conclude with a faith confirming obsertavions about happy as lasting romantic unions.
If you could be granted the honor of entering a chat room with God, Mother Nature and Satan, what would you ask them? As the potential questions
fill your brain to overflowing, consider Mark Wirtz's book CyberGod, in which
this rare opportunity is granted.
CyberGod isn't a nook that one picks up for a night of lighthearted escapism.
CyberGod pulls you in at the first sentence as the author opens up a chat room
dialog with God, Mother Nature and Satan. While the topics discussed detail the
very core of our essence and existence on this plane of expression, the dialog is
filled with plenty of reason to have you falling out of your chair with laughter.
The three Supreme Beings' drollness underscore their appreciation and awareness for one another as they clarify the motives behind their many decisions when creating Man. CyberGod gives many 'ah ha' moments, inviting the reader to stop and think about the very genesis of spirituality and the foundations of true love.
Mr. Wirtz's writing is brave, insightful, touching, humorous and poignant. It manages to scratch a great many itches in this short read, and will leave you wanting to sit down and read it again.
- Website:
- http://www.markwirtz.com
Mark Wirtz's Blog
MUSE ON THE ROCKS
(COMPLETE AND UTTER RUBBISH)
The runner was in a hurry
as a prayer believed in itself
as the beginning set sails for infinity
and the book put itself on the shelf
Its mysterious plot had been raped by a missing page
that its author had torn to shreds
in a devastating fit of the blues
when his bi-polar wife left the nest
to bed his agent on Valentine's Day
in a haze of perfume and pretense
while the scribe's raging fury began to broil
the flesh of his vain
Posted on April 10, 2008 at 6:44am —
MULTITASKING" - update
"Here is something that makes me want to shove a cannon up my ass and light the fuse... MULTITASKING.. You read right -- multitasking! You know -- even MORE work, for the SAME pay, getting even less shit done right!
Personally, I'm so maxed out on multitasking, the only thing I'm getting done these days is absolutely nothing! And I can't even get THAT right!!
I think I'm gonna get me an INTERN! You know, somebody I can m
… ContinuePosted on February 5, 2008 at 8:11pm —
Yayyy! Back on stage to spread his madness!
On Saturday, Jan 5th, 2008 at 8:00 P.M., Mad Markie will be premiering his brand-new act,
"Body Language" (from the "Cooking For Cannibals" show)
at the Comedy Corner -- Clarion Hotel, Jacksonville, Int'l Airport, FL
Bring a nurse!
Further gig schedule to be announced shortly.
… Continue
Posted on December 27, 2007 at 7:20am —
ODE TO FLOOZIE
Got me a GPS for Christmas. About time, because I do a lot of driving to strange places, and if there is a way to get lost, I will find it!
Google maps are sorta kinda OK, but they're worth shit in the dark, and they don't talk to me. Not like my GPS, which I have named Floozie. And Google maps don't put me back on the right track like Floozie does when I miss a turn, or exit, or on-ramp.
Floozie certainly knows a lot. She's a mobile unit, so I tested her in my home to find
… ContinuePosted on December 24, 2007 at 4:43pm —
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Just wanted to stop in and get your opinion on my latest cover design posted to my blog...
I would love your input.
Aidana WillowRaven
www.WillowRavenIllustration.com
901-325-1402
Myspace Glitter Graphics
I hope 2008 is a good year for you!
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I'm touched and flattered by your response. Author of the week? Damn... hold on while I get into make-up to take a bow! This is a very cool group, made up of some really cool and dedicate writers, of which I am proud to be a member (especially since Sheilagh Watkins is is one of the principals, that lovely duhling..!). Let's face it, no matter what happens in life and history, first, someone's got to "write" it. Even the Ten Commandments wouldn't mean fiddle-diddle, if Moses, even if by divine guidance, hadn't written them down. (See? Even the Bible needed a Top Ten to "make it"!). And remember -- if we can write it, we can do it!
So, happy writing and dreaming!
Loves ya!
Mark :)
Thank you for inviting me to be your friend. I love your page, please keep in touch.
Welcome and congratulations on CyberGod! I've always been interested in "religion" and its many foibles and forms. I'll be curious to see your viewpoint.
Russ
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