Get Used to It

Write to Mark Islam directly at markislam@hotmail.com.

"Do it, or don't do it; just don't complain about it." (We hear Mark Islam says this a lot....)

Mark Islam's hometown is New Castle, Delaware.

Which may explain Mark's expressed HIGH SCHOOL AMBITION: "To get out of Delaware."

His EDUCATION includes a Master's Degree in English from Boston University.

Mark CURRENTLY RESIDES IN Los Angeles, Nashville, and Sydney, Australia. (Looks like he made it out of Delaware!)

SOLO RECORDINGS by Mark Islam are listed under "Track by Track," elsewhere in this Web site.

Mark's Favorite guitar is a Gibson J200.

Not limited by his song-writing talents, Mark Islam is also a professional actor. He has appeared on stage as "Hippie Hiram" in Hair! (Check out Mark's Scrapbook for a blast from the past--and then see Mark in the recent Nashville production of Hair!) Mark has also made FILM and TV APPEARANCES: pay close attention, and you'll catch him in Existo, Air America, The Peacemaker, and Two Cups of Joe. Mark will also be appearing soon in the Philadelphia production of a new play by Terrence McNally,  "Corpus Christi."

Mark received his FIRST PROFESSIONAL SONGWRITING CREDIT for the song "Forever Is a Long Time" used in the film Fists of Iron, which you may see playing frequently on cable television.

So if Mark Islam were stranded on a desert island, what are the music recordings HE COULD NOT LIVE WITHOUT? Carole King's Tapestry; Joni Mitchell's Blue and Night Ride Home; Linda Ronstadt's Simple Dreams; Laura Nyro's The First Songs;

He also loves: Jackson Browne's Running On Empty; Emmylou Harris' At the Ryman and Wrecking Ball; Carly Simon's Have You Seen Me Lately; Mare Lennon's Chasing Sacred; Karla Bonoff's first album; Randy Newman's Faust, & Jennifer Warnes' Famous Blue Raincoat and The Hunter.

So what would you catch Mark watching on video when he has a rainy evening at home? His FAVORITE MOVIES include Annie Hall and Manhattan (and virtually everything else by Woody Allen); Nashville (the wonderful Robert Altman film, not to forget The Player); All About Eve; the Hitchcock greats: Vertigo, Psycho, Rope, North By Northwest, and Strangers On a Train; the first two Godfather movies; Klute (a truly gorgeous film starring Jane Fonda); The Crying Game; and Parting Glances. (We'll bring the popcorn, Mark!)

For fun in Los Angeles, you might run into Mark engaging in his FAVORITE L.A. PASTIME, which is sighting celebrities at Gold's Gym (umm-hmmm); or catch him in NASHVILLE sighting celebrities at Pancake Pantry (Yes, I think he's put his finger on it. That's the difference between the two cities in a nutshell....)

VARIATION on Mark's favorite saying: "Do it, or don't do it; just don't complain TO ME about it."