HP_081618

hplandmark.com LIFE & ARTS
the highland park landmark | August 16, 2018 | 19
HP rock band and classical group perform together
Erin Yarnall, Editor
Highland Park resident
Mark Hill believes he
and Larry Block, a fellow
Highland Park resident
and the founder of the
Highland Park Strings lead
parallel lives.
“[Block] is an attorney,”
Hill said. “I am a surgeon
and a professor. [Block]
is the founder of the HP
Strings, and of course a
musician. I am the founder
and a musician in Dr.
Mark & the Sutures. All
of his concerts are free and
myself, with my band, Dr.
Mark & the Sutures, same
thing that all of our concerts
are free.”
Hill said he was looking
for a way to connect
the two “parallel lives,”
and he thought it should
be through music — specifically,
Hill’s rock band,
Dr. Mark & the Sutures,
and Block’s Highland Park
Strings joining together
to perform a free concert
Saturday, Aug. 11, in Port
Clinton Square.
The performance featured
the Highland Park
Strings performing a
movement of a Beethoven
piece, and then joining
Dr. Mark & the Sutures
for five Beatles covers.
It was imperative to both
bands that the concert be a
free event, because neither
group has ever charged for
a performance.
For the Highland Park
Strings, the group didn’t
think it was “appropriate”
to charge people to attend
their first show — a Christmas
concert at the Park
District of Highland Park.
“There were 30 people
there, and 29 were my
family,” Block said.
From then on, they’ve
never charged for a performance,
except when
they’ve performed for
Ravinia Festival, despite
some of their more recent
performances being in
front of crowds of hundreds
of people.
Dr. Mark & the Sutures
has also never charged for
a show.
“We’ve never made a
penny [from the band],”
Hill said.
When they have had
an opportunity to make
money from their performances,
including when
they’ve performed at Allstate
Arena and Country
Thunder in Twin Lakes,
Wisc., they’ve chosen to
donate the money to charity
instead.
“These are all people
who have day jobs, they all
have families, they all take
the time to rehearse, which
is always hard to get the
guys together, but they do
this for the right reasons.”
This event was Dr. Mark
& the Sutures annual Highland
Park concert. At each
event, the band recognizes
a community member in
Highland Park, and this
year chose to recognize
Block for his work with
the Highland Park Strings.
“This is not music we
customarily play,” Block
said. “This is a really special
event for Highland
Park.”
Larry Block (left) and Mark Hill pose with their instruments to promote their concert,
Saturday, Aug. 11. photo SUBMITTED