dolin... the band   Mark Dolin is a phenomenal sax player, keyboardist, vocalist and writer. A Berklee grad, he makes his living playing music. Long story short, I nailed the audition and earned my keep for over a year as guitarist/bassist in Mark's Top 40/wedding band, completed by a drummer and a female singer. We gigged all over New England, from Burlington to Cape Cod, and I had some of the best times of my career.

They say that all good things must end. Mirroring the times, our set list went from danceable rock (think Bob Seger/Pat Benatar) to more R&B and pop (think Bobby Brown/Paula Abdul). The name changed to The Mark Dolin Group, the attitude evolved to a slicker, keyboard-dominated groove, and I threw in the towel. After all, there really wasn't much for me to do at that point but stand there and look pretty!

I'd been supplementing my income with freelance art, and on a whim I called Mike Quon, an old friend and former employer in New York City. In a twist of fantastic irony, Mike was looking for an illustrator - to replace the one who had replaced me five years earlier! I was invited back to Soho, where I became acquainted with Macs, and with Adobe Illustrator in particular. I soon took on the role of "Senior Illustrator" and you can learn more about that here.