As fate would have it Marcus and Ted met through a mutual friend only a
week or so after Ted moved to the D.C. area. According to Ted, "We met
at Carlos' studio where Tree Frog from the band Shock Opera was looking
for extra musicians to add textures to his opus "Autumn at the Beach".
As I was listening to playback this wild sounding alto (sax) quoting
"Ride of the Valkyries" blared out of the speakers. I said, "what the
hell was that!?" Marcus answered that it was him, and he's never let me
live that down. When I heard him play keys that was another story; I
was totally blown away. Whenever there was a need for keys in one of my
bands, Marcus was the first one I called." Marcus Esposito started playing piano when he was 7. Quit when he was
11, then got back into it at 14 when it seemed to him that playing in a
band might be a good way to meet girls. His first band was a blues
based Jim Crow (which, coincidentally, played the Electric Mud version
of "I just Want to Make Love to You") and featured blues harp demon,
Phil Wiggins. A natural musician, Marcus picks up instruments easily
(getting him to put them down is the hard part) he learned how to play
sax and percussion in marching and concert band. He went off to Boston
University as a Liberal Arts/ Music major but spent most of his time
going to shows and partying. Marcus recalls, "Those were some wild
times. My Philosophy 101 professor was none other than future National
Scold and gambling addict William "the Whale" Bennett. It's funny, he
seemed like a down to earth kind of guy. I guess absolute power does
corrupt absolutely."
Marcus returned home to Virginia and enrolled at NOVA as a
piano/composition major and cites two music teachers as his key
influences, "Barbara Ryland taught me how to make a piano sing and jazz
master Wade Beach turned me on to all sorts of exotic scales." At
NOVA, he finally got the girl, Gina, who has remained his partner in
crime ever since. Those two crazy kids formed The Young Professionals (
a skinny ties, keyboards, spandex type of band) with Carlos Garza and
under the guiding hand of DIY visionary Bill Asp, scored gigs with
Duran Duran, Wall of Voodoo, Polyrock, and Teen Idles (among others.)
At some point later, Ted reared his head and invited Marcus to play in
a working blues band which resulted in many a long ride into the wee
hours listening to Dom Irerra and Jackie Mason tapes and almost
crashing from laughing too hard. Marcus kept true to his jazz roots,
playing with local stalwarts, the Bruce Middle Group, Tony Addison, and
Jerry Gordon. Always impulsive, Marcus decided it was time (1995) to
rock, so he ditched his keyboard rig bought a Les Paul and a 5150 and
formed Kismet, a band that got opening slots with Jimmie's Chicken
Shack, Stuttering John, and played at Debby Harry's comeback coming out
party.
In 1998, Gina and Marcus started Signs Point to Yes, a band full of
talented players and writers (not to mention the 42 bass players) which
provided a fertile environment for Gina's intelligent layered lyrics
and expressive singing. A fortunate collaboration was established with
Cleveland producer/engineer/bassist/metal god, Don Depew (Guided By
Voices, Cobra Verde, Breaker) when SPTY tapped him to record their
albums. Don recognized Marcus' unique musical gifts and used him on a
couple of Cobra Verde albums, "Easy Listening" and "Save the Song, Kill
the Singer" (Ted's on that one too!) and thus finally became a rock
star.
Marcus is also a fixture on the local punk scene doing sound and
recording; if the IMF is meeting, chances are he's doing sound at a
protest show. He has a recording studio (suffRAGEtte) and has recorded
1905, Paper Doll, Carol Bui, The Spontanes, Red Line Index, Exit 10
(hmmmmm, now where have we heard that name?) and many others.
Marcus is a mailman. He and Gina have two great kids (Andi and Gabe)
and one real cute grandkid (Tank) and four felines (Doodle, Puki, Joe
and Worf.) One day Marcus was out on his mail route and his cell phone
rang ("Ride of the Valkyries"), it was Ted calling, " Hey Marcus I've
got this crazy idea for a band..."
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