May 31, 2021The picture is the picture. The story is the story.Last week, I heard someone admit “You can buy the truth.” Or, better said, “You can pay to publish fiction as fact.” It was no shock. This has been going on for years, but no one wanted to know about it when I jabbed my fingers at this sad little…Facts2 min readFacts2 min read
Jan 19, 2021Member-onlyA LIE IS NO LONGER A LIE. A WAR IS NO LONGER A WAR.All that is left are some wildflowers on the table. Everything else is too hot to touch, too controversial to mention, too bitter a pill to swallow. I have lived under tighter and tighter rules of censorship for years now. I know the freedom to speak freely all too well…US Politics2 min readUS Politics2 min read
Nov 27, 2020SONGBIRDEP 1 : An introduction (Living through the songwriting process) — In this introductory episode, Marco explains what the show is about, the reason it is called SONGBIRD and shares some hard luck stories behind the making of his debut album, Heaven Get Behind Me. Sneak previews of some of the songs are included. Songbird is a brutally honest, behind…Podcast1 min readPodcast1 min read
Oct 12, 2020Member-onlySUMMER WAS MEANT TO BE SQUANDERED(This article originally appeared in Impressions of an Expat) The snow will come any day now. You can almost smell it. Living in quarantine was already a form of Russian winter, an endless slurry of days that felt the same, some more wet some more sunny but with that enduring…Expat2 min readExpat2 min read
Published in An Idea (by Ingenious Piece)·Sep 21, 2020Member-onlyTHE PRICE OF FREEDOMNew York, in 1937 filmed on Kodachrome by an unknown cameraperson. Here is a gentle gaze on the city, sharing the details of daily life for a certain privileged section of society. Plenty is missing from this odd document, the racism, segregation and poverty is invisible. It is a…Art3 min readArt3 min read
Oct 12, 2018WILLFUL IGNORANCE WILL MAKE YOU POPULAR!The greatest question today’s artists should be asking themselves is not “Am I any good?” No. They should be asking “What am I about?” What I mean by this, is the landslide of ill-conceived practices that so many new “creators” live by. Just yesterday, a celebrated article on Medium stumbled…Writing5 min readWriting5 min read
Sep 21, 2018Member-onlyWHY ARE YOU TRYING TO PUT ME IN A BOX?Do genre labels and categories lessen us? Do they reduce our work to one or two words, an archetype, a cliché, a thumbnail? Do they corral, trap, reduce and ultimately minimize us? Yes. They do. Of course, some work is more classical in form, it does not suffer so deeply…Art5 min readArt5 min read
Aug 31, 2018IS ART YOUR RELIGION?My latest thought-experiment question* is this — once you break down the fundamental acts that an artist practices and the resultsof these actions, can the case be made for artistic creation to be seen asa form of religion? Isn’t the artist’s life a callingas well as a profession? Admit it…Art5 min readArt5 min read
Aug 14, 2018THERE IS ALWAYS SOMETHING (WHY I SHOOT FILM)There are maybe ten shots left on the roll. Outside the metro, a collection of pigeons sit on minuscule ledges above two old men. They talk as all old men do, with operatic waves of their hands, sour expressions, belly laughs, eventually scratching their chins as they stare off at…Photography2 min readPhotography2 min read
Aug 3, 2018WHEN SHOULD ART BE POLITICAL?We live in troubled times (but there is nothing special or rare about that). All the same, a catch-phrase circles so many of our conversations “If you aren’t part of the solution, then you’re part of the problem.” As an artist, I feel obligated — even required, to express something…Music4 min readMusic4 min read
