The Obelisk Questionnaire: Mark Cruikshank of Zentagram
The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.
Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.
Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.
The Obelisk Questionnaire: Mark Cruikshank of Zentagram
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
Event Producer. Of course, “concert promoter” is far more common a term but I feel like a lot of us do a whole lot more than just promote shows.
Describe your first musical memory.
Seeing Captain and Tennille in Hawaii in the mid ’70s. I was a big fan. I was probably 9.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
There’s no easy way to answer this one. So many to choose from. Two weekends in a row at the Oakland Coliseum with my older brother. Can’t remember which one was first but one weekend was Van Halen on the Fair Warning tour and the other weekend was Rush on the Moving Pictures tour.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
Pretty much every day I spent as junkie throughout most of the ’90s.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
On a personal level, it leads to being able to express myself without having to actually talk to people.
From a more worldly perspective, I think it’s mostly the same thing. People need to express themselves in ways that don’t involve superficial conversations at work, or phony smiles at your local convenience store. Pretty sure humans were communicating artistically before they were communicating vocally.
How do you define success?
Success to me, is doing something intentionally and being satisfied with the end result.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
I’ve seen quite a few OD’s, a shooting death and a stabbing death. I could do without those memories.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
A show that JJ will come to.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
Self-expression.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
I’m looking forward to my girlfriend coming home tonight and telling me about her day. I’m looking forward to eating dinner with her. I’m looking forward to all four of our cats driving us crazy all night.
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