This week, Charles and Lisa crack open the tour-stained, whiskey-splashed saga of a true road warrior: Professor Marky Ray, Cleveland’s own Master of Music and the man lovingly (and fearfully) known as The Rock and Roll Mercenary.
For five decades, Marky Ray has been everywhere—onstage, backstage, under the stage, lost behind the stage—and playing with more bands than most of us can name without passing out. A former member of Jim Rose Circus, The Lyres, the terrible parade, Death of Samantha, and New Salem Witch Hunters, Marky has performed, toured, and occasionally survived gigs alongside Nine Inch Nails, Ministry, Butthole Surfers, The Cramps, The Pagans, Human Switchboard, Toadies, Die Warzau, and half the Lollapalooza lineup of ’91-’92.
He’s a musician, artist, entertainer, emcee, voiceover chameleon, and the only man brave enough to front Akron’s own Walking Clampetts. These days he also wrangles 25+ bands as the Outdoor Stages Production Manager of the Tri-C JazzFest—because apparently he didn’t rack up enough chaos backstage in the first forty years.
In Part 1, Marky joins Jackalope Tales to share his wildest stories, strangest encounters, and a few things we’re pretty sure should have stayed sealed in a road case.
Dark, funny, and full of rock-and-roll shrapnel—don’t miss it. [Ep 116]
Link to Marky’s amazing book:
https://ebay.us/m/ihHqRd
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Produced by: Charles Mooney
Executive Producers: Charles Mooney and Lisa Umbarger
Original Music by: Charles Mooney and Lisa Umbarger
Kazoo Solo by: Courtney Mooney
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