For those of you who don't know who he is, first of all, shame on you, and second of all, he is, in my humble opinion, the greatest guitar player. Ever. And that's a fact - not my opinion.Mark is now a solo artist, but he is well known as (1) the lead singer/heart, blood and soul of Dire Straits and (2) the composer of the Princess Bride soundtrack.
I saw MK live at Red Rocks in 2000 during the Sailing to Philadelphia tour. Dire Straits was no longer together back then, but he still performed some of their classics. He started the concert with Calling Elvis, moved to Walk of Life, and in between did Sultans of Swing, which is my favorite song of theirs - and by extension the best rock song and guitar work in the history of mankind. Again, I'm stating fact not opinion here.
They did not perform the sometimes-controversial Money for Nothing, which I was a bit disappointed by. Little known fact: the music video for that song was one of the first to use computer animation and was the first video played on MTV-Europe.
When I was younger, I was obsessed with Dire Straits - it was pretty much all I listened to. The first two CD's of theirs that I got, Money for Nothing and On Every Street, did not have any pictures of the band, so for a long time my main mission in life was to find out what exactly this Mark Knopfler character looked like. The first time I saw the MK was precisely in that Money for Nothing music video and my life was complete. After that I got my hands on the Live at the BBC CD and On the Night, both of which are full of pictures of the band. So every time I see MK, my heart smiles a little.
2 comments:
I think I saw Mark Knopfler checking out of the Plaza Hotel today in New York City. Any confirmations that was he?
it's always possible, but I believe he has been performing in London recently.
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