BRAND NEW MARK JOHNSON AND THE WILD ALLIGATORS A HISTORIC LOOK BACK! BUY NOW FINALLY AVAILABLE AGAIN THE UNDERGROUNDCLASSIC! BUY NOW ALSO AVAILABLE The fantastic merging of two great talents. A Mark Johnson composition sung by Starting Over's very own Audrey Tucker! (SINGLE TRACK CD) BUY NOW

The thing about growing up on Long Island, about meeting your adolescence head on and making it count for something, is that it is, or at least was, an ambient existence, an atmosphere in which to grow to be something wonderful in the midst of a gaggle of teenagers with stars in their eyes, college on their minds, and a job in New York City in their futures.Growing up on Long Island, amongst the shrubbery and densely-populated suburban neighborhoods, left a lot of time to dream because, other than going to the movies and mowing Dad’s lawn, there really wasn’t much else to do but imagine the possibilities. Mark Johnson—singer, songwriter and musical artist—listened to the radio, which fueled his dreams. The music he heard changed him, made everything clear.So it should come as no surprise that Johnson took up the piano at seven years of age, drums at nine, and guitar at twelve, at which point he was a year shy of emerging from the shadows of tween and emerging into the light of teen. When he was 18, he began releasing in Europe covers of popular songs of the day. Two years later, at age 20, he was a bona fide recording artist, signed to the prestigious Vanguard record label, the 1960s home of Joan Baez and a flock of revered folk artists, releasing his first record, Years. Quickly building on the Vanguard experience, Johnson became quickly proficient at writing songs that were recorded by artists as diverse as Robert Gordon, Greenwich Village pals the Roches (who recorded his gorgeous ballad “Love Radiates Around,” a BMI best song award nominee), Paul Butterfield, Dave Edmunds, and the Smithereens (who essayed Mark’s song “Groovy Tuesday,” a co-write with the band’s lead singer and songwriter Pat DiNizio, and Steve Forbert). Around this time, Mark and his band the Wild Alligators were achieving legendary status in the Village, packing them in night after night and gaining quite the fan base. Along the way, Johnson was getting equally proficient at home recording, pioneering multitrack techniques that today are the collective standard for both independent and major-label musicians. Johnson’s considerable prowess was more than evident on his classic album 12 in a Room. Save for a few guitar guest spots and harmony and background vocalists, Johnson the one-man-band played all of the guitar, bass, keyboard and percussion parts, and, of course, sang all the other vocals.The record, revered by music journalists and a hit among those breathing life into the underground music scene, was and is a dazzling display of musical creativity, recorded in a tiny 11 x 14-foot room in an apartment house on Greenwich Village’s Cornelia Street, a narrow, short inlet of a road leading to a singular world of street vendors, world-class record shops, and eateries to amaze anyone’s pallet. On his four-track Teac recorder, Johnson bounced tracks left and right, emerging with a dozen irresistible, homegrown melodies constructed with the touch of a master, each one as exacting as the work of the finest painter. Warming up before the distinctly Electric Light Orchestra-esque opener, “Earn that Love,” a female voice asks, “Do we need all these people in here?”, and, of course, the joke’s on the listener, because Johnson is the only person in there or anywhere, and, to make matters more confusing, there’s about a dozen of him, which is as neat a trick as bouncing tracks back and forth. Johnson’s sensitive reading of his “Love Radiates Around” is included, as are the jaunty, rockabilly-flavored “King of Love,” covered by Dave Edmunds on his album Closer to the Flame, and the emotionally-charged love song “Little Cricket” (the album was re-released by Not Lame records’ Archive imprint in 1998, with four bonus tracks).Johnson sold thousands of copies of 12 in a Room from his apartment, all within the first month of the record’s release. Named one of the top 50 power pop albums of all time by no less and authority than the music collector’s bible, Goldmine, the record is still one of a kind, and perhaps just about the best of its kind, in the confines of any room you care to hang your hat.Another collection of songs, Last Night on the Roller Coaster, was released on Radioghost records. Mark’s latest, an offering of typically catchy pearls recorded by him and his aforementioned band, is sure to start Wild Alligatormania all over again. In addition to preparing the Wild Alligators release, Mark has been busy practicing his scales and fins; a pair of his tunes was included on the Disney CD Ocean Favorites, a companion to keep swishy, fishy company with the music of Finding Nemo. Two new Johnson creations, “Here Comes Summertime” and the enticingly-titled “California Beach Boys Day,” co-written with Fred Mollin and Jay Landers, celebrate both the summer and the sound of the Boys of Summer on yet another Disney release.The boys, and girls, of summer, emerging from suburbia to make their way in the world, will, as they come of age, fall into this and that, will become engineers, pastry chefs, boardroom warriors, and titans of industry. Some will pick up a guitar, run the backs of their hands across a piano keyboard, and maybe pick up a pair of drumsticks to keep the beat of their lives. In the thick of life, they all will be making music, and that is the rhythm of the heart, grown as thick grass is mowed and lawns are watered, as the suburban sprawl fans out through the landscape, and people like Mark Johnson grow their talent, create their art, and share it with the world. ~Alan Haber