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@markmackay

So cool having @sfgiants superstar JT Snow at my show this weekend! He has great taste in music and is so supportive, although he beat me soundly at golf... he let me wear the (coolest year of my life) 2010 World Series ring! It was the fastest I’ve ever played my guitar!!!
I’m back! After taking the last few months off the road to write and record and PLAN some more crazy nonsense in this beautiful thing we call a music career... I was so pumped to get back on stage on Friday and see y’all again. Thanks all of you who came to our show with Blake, thanks to all the new fans for the good words and jumping aboard... this is a super super exciting time around camp Mark Mackay and appreciate all of you following along. See ya on the 26th in North Dakota to open up Tim McGraw’s show at the state fair 🇺🇸🤘🏼. 📸 @matnelson_
Thanks for having me last night @blakeshelton! Thanks everyone who came out last night... feels good to be playing all these new songs for y’all 🇺🇸🤘🏼
I used to come to Los Angeles for work and I always took an extra day to be in “Hollywood.” I don’t know what it is about show business (especially when you’re not in it) that fires you up. Anyway I used to wander around this street and stay at the Hollywood Roosevelt hotel all the time. When I moved south and was going to music school I used to walk right down Hollywood Blvd with my guitar. I was at a party and met a girl @jasminealkouri who was so nice to me and told me I should try to come play at the hard rock. She gave me a name and I went in the next day. The guy said I have no idea who you are or if you’re any good so do you have a video you can send me? I said “of course I have tons”. That’s classic Mark Mackay right there I had none. So I ran home and at midnight I finally figured out how I could set my phone up on a chair and play against the wall. I made a video of Layla (Clapton) and Melissa (Allman Brothers). Sent the video off and 6 months later he called and asked would you like to play every Friday. You also get a cheeseburger. Let me tell you when you are a starting musician you will do anything for a burger at the Hard Rock Cafe. And that week I walked to school and made sure to check myself out on the video board. Wait till you see the size of the video board at my show opening up for Blake Shelton tonight. See y’all tonight 🤩
I had just left a gig in Wyoming and was driving through Utah when the transmission blew out. No cell service , no money. We had to make it to Vegas to get the next gig so we could get a paycheck to fix it! Thanks to lifesaver Valerie, we got a tow in the middle of the night to a hotel where the guy was super into gnomes. He wanted us to read all his books on gnomes in exchange for an affordable room rate. The next day on an hours sleep we drove in 3rd gear the 7 hours to Vegas, and when we got there the guy didn’t have us on the calendar. We drove in 3rd gear 12 hours to Reno where we found a used transmission for 400$, paid a friend $100 to put it in. We had gotten a contract for a private party in Lake Havasu a few days later that seemed a little weird but the contract was signed so we really needed to fit the gear in the van. I’ll always remember Valerie sitting with me on zero sleep on a street corner in Reno NV at 4am begging me to let her use airline points to just fly everyone to havasu, but I kept telling her we had a signed deal on the party and had to take the van so we could bring the sound gear. Finally at 7am he finished the transmission, we took turns driving all the way to havasu. Another 10 hours on no sleep. One of us would sleep and one would drive. When we got there the new transmission exploded. We put the van into a shop. Played 2 nights at the flying x saloon, and then the next day went to the place for the party (WHAT THIS WHOLE THING WAS ABOUT) and the person had done the whole thing as a prank. No party. No van. Everything on the contract was fake. I always tell people at this moment any sane person would just say “enough is enough.” It would be perfectly normal to say this music dream ain’t worth it I’m getting killed, it’s fun while it lasted and great memories etc. but since I am insane, we rented a uhaul truck because there were no rental cars available, drove up to Truckee CA and tried to figure out what to do next. The van ended up getting fixed a few weeks later and we drove back and hit the road for another 6 months of touring. Then I sold it to a really nice guy in boulder Creek CA for 500$.
I once entered in this contest with a company to throw a party. They flew me to Colorado and drove me to their headquarters where an entire drum line and cheerleading squad was waiting outside. I told them I wanted to throw a giant party in Mammoth Lakes CA where we play a big concert. I also put on this furry suit. I didn’t get to play the concert but the furry suit photo made several billboards on the way out of LA. People who knew me were always texting me pictures when they passed it on the freeway. They all had the giant headline WHERES MARKS PARTY? I showed up in mammoth and there were WHERES MARKS PARTY posters all over the resort. Nobody knew who I was but everywhere I went everyone was saying who is Mark and where is his party. One of the most classic weekends ever of my existence. We didn’t get to perform but ZZ Ward did. I’m sure my management would have had a field day with this one. Maybe I’ll go back and really throw “Mark’s Party” someday 😂
When I hit the ground in Los Angeles I used to play a few different jam nights. On wed nights we played the Maui Sugar Mill Saloon In Tarzana, and on Monday I played in a talent contest at the Cowboy Palace Saloon In Chattsworth. I got my first show ever at the Lighthouse Cafe In Hermosa Beach, and got fired after one time. I didn’t know how to count off line dances and played too many guitar solos (🤩) so they never asked for us back. But eventually a promoter called me and asked if I would like to play a show at the House Of Blues on Sunset Blvd (duh?)... we played a small stage inside the restaurant, they complained the drums were too loud, nobody listened to anything we were playing. We were basically just background music for people eating dinner. AND here’s the best part- in the fine print we “guaranteed” that 20 people would pay 10$ to come see us. And they didn’t. So I had to pay for all the tickets that weren’t sold. So I made sure to keep this ticket. My friend Ward and I just about fell over dead when we went to pick up tickets that had my name on it. Coolest day of my life at the time. And then we almost fell over dead laughing afterwords when we had to pay the promoter a few hundred dollars because nobody came. Thank god theres 10k seats sold for this Friday with Blake Shelton.
Found another cool photo! A lot of people always ask me “how I got into music...” the answer is ITS COMPLICATED! My parents had me taking piano lessons when I was 9 years old, and I picked up a guitar shortly after. When I went to college I never touched an instrument for many years. I got a job as a promotions guy for Atomic Ski company, and then was the sales rep for California, Nevada, Arizona. I thought I traveled a lot then 😂. I thank god every day how lucky I am to make the friends I did back then, and how much all of my peers back then taught me to work hard and play hard. I skied all over the world. Then I decided to leave the ski business and go work for Oneill in the surf industry. Surfing has always been my favorite sport. (Valerie and I met working at O’neill surf shop in Santa Cruz btw). But going to work for their clothing division was the dumbest thing I ever did. The wetsuit company in Santa Cruz are the coolest dudes on the planet and so smart. The other division is the biggest bunch of insecure morons I’ve ever met. (Insert life lesson here). Anyway I left there and took a job in medical sales where I was making great money, but I was starting to play my guitar again. One day I was on a paddleboard in Hawaii in business for medical devices when I decided I just want to play music. I paddled in, extended my board for the rest of the day. Called my apartment in SF and told them I was moving out in a month, called my job told them I quit, listed my truck and my Harley that night... it was all over in about 15 minutes. Paddled the rest of the day and wrote a song called “keep your headlights on” that night in the Sheraton hotel in Hawaii. That was my first record I recorded and released a few months later. 6 months into my music life I couldn’t even afford a damn cheeseburger at in n out... but my only regret was that I didn’t do it earlier. If you work for an idiot, or have something you have always want to do, find a way to do it. As hard as all the early years were getting my career off the ground I loved every minute of it. I’m sure you can all tell, especially those who have been following from the start. ❤️
I found this picture of my spot before I was a musician the other night. I had this ridiculously cool apartment in the Marina in San Francisco. It overlooked the palace of fine arts and the Golden Gate Bridge. Never drove anywhere once you were home... hung out in the Marina Deli every day at the corner of Chestnut and Scott st, watched the Blue Angles from the roof. I was working in sales, and every person around me was either in finance or tech (surprise surprise). Will be fun to play in San Francisco soon, all those people even my closest friends didn’t even know I played a guitar back then 😂
Happy 4th of July y’all! We are crushing Chicago 🇺🇸 Another installment of my @valeriehoppe is really pretty series 😍 | 📸 @laurelissette87
JULY IS 🔥🔥🔥 opening up for Blake Shelton and Tim McGraw 😳 and our monthly Nashville residency at Douglas Corner... see y’all out there
Sang about the new @tacobell hotel on today’s @thetybentlishow! Always good to see @chuckwicks the lighting looks good dude 😂🌮🤘🏼
#FBF to hanging with my buddy Eddie in Colorado. When he was small 😭🐶 #longhairdontcare @hayes_soccer7
Had a great time on @todayinnashville yesterday! I thought my new @taylorguitars Grand Pacific needed a little breaking in. And of course I signed the wall next to @judahandthelion 😎
Out and about checking out the sunset in Nashville tonight 😍 favorite place to watch a sunset? Let’s hear it...
Great interview with Greg in Bowling Green KY this morning! We talk all things music, sports, childhood classical piano lessons, and how talented a writer we think @cjsolar is 😂 @goober951
So much America in one photo! God Bless Texas 🇺🇸
You know you hear stories about celebrities that end up staying in some Vegas penthouse for months on end? Yup that’s gonna be me 🙋🏻‍♂️ I love this damn city. I’ll b at the blackjack table...
STREAMING EVERYWHERE, GO ROCK OUT! Love y’all - MM
 

 

 

 
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