Mark is the quiet one who plays them instruments tuned in fifths. He started out playing piano as a youth, and was classically trained through High School, eventually winning a piano competition in Italy. Tired of the hours of endless practicing, he took up bass guitar and keyboards in a rock band. Early influences were everything from Portishead to Soft Machine to Pigface…

In college Mark got a degree in audio recording and music theory. He started playing pipe organ and acoustic guitar, and got heavily into jazz piano and modal music, both new and ancient. After several years of working in the studio on big jazz and orchestra projects, listening to Ray Brown, McCoy Tyner and Dave Brubeck turned into David Grisman, Frank Wakefield, and Andy Statman, which naturally led to a mandolin purchase.

In 2000, a career change brought him to Tucson where he met the two Dan's through a keyboard ad for Big Galoot, their electric surf band. Through that connection he also joined the Luddites and started playing mandolin regularly, as well as his Grampa's old tenor banjo. Somewhere in there he acquired a bouzouki, which he plays on some of the Irish-flavored tunes. In addition to playing in the Luddites, Mark is active in the traditional music scene in Tucson, playing for contradances and at Irish and Old-Time sessions. He also plays in various other acoustic groups in Tucson, including the String Figures.

Mark won the 2003 Four Corners States Mandolin Championship in Wickenburg, AZ. In 2004 he placed in the top 5 on mandolin at the National Championships in Winfield. He also won the 2003 Tucson Irish music competition on mandolin and banjo, and was the all-around champion of the event. He recently was voted the best multi-instrumentalist in Tucson in both the 2003 and 2004 Tucson Weekly Tammie Awards, and best string player in the 2005 Tammies.

He enjoys a good meal and a hard-driving tune. His inspirations right now include Michael Holmes (of Dervish), Bireli Lagrene, and Katie O'Brien (of Deanta). He and his wife Jenny had a baby daugther Lindsey in May.