Originally from Madison, Wisconsin, Mark "Stormy" Waterbury grew up in a musically intense environment. His father was a drummer for a jazz/pop band and his mother was the church's organist, so music was always around the house. Taking piano lessons as a youngster and later following in his father's footsteps as s drummer, Mark dabbled in music, but his heart lay elsewhere. Mark first acquired a love for weather, which led him to join the Navy where he was a weather observer onboard the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal for 3 1/2 years. While in the Navy, he also gained a keen interest in photography as well as writing. Mark spent his last few months attached to the ship's public affairs office, where he wrote feature articles for the onboard newspaper, some of which were published by the "Navy Times." He wrote spot announcements for radio, produced radio programs, did a few stints as a DJ and also gave the weather reports on the ship's closed-circuit TV news broadcast.
After being honorably discharged from the Navy, Mark spent a number of years as a chef. He never gave up his love for photography or writing. After shooting a spectacular photo of a lightning bolt streaking over Madison's skyline, Mark began to sell his photos at art shows and other events (the lightning shot is his most popular to this day). Along with weather and general scenic/artistic photographer, Mark has always been a rail fan, and spent much free time "chasing" and photographing trains, particularly restored operating steam locomotives. Some of his photographic work and writing was published in the magazines "Trains" and "Trains Illustrated".
While he was a chef at a German restaurant, Mark met a couple who were running a free monthly entertainment newspaper titled "Badger Entertainer." Mark came on board as a writer, ad sales rep and distributor until the paper ceased publishing a few months later. So Mark and his father Parkis G. Waterbury started their own monthly paper called "The Keynote." Mark basically learned publishing through the college of hard knocks as "The Keynote" only published six issues. After an admitted writer's block of several months, Mark finally went to the offices of a new monthly paper in Madison called "Night Sights and Sounds." Mark wore several hats during his tenure there, including writer, distributor, ad sales rep, and production manager. He had his first taste of interviewing national recording artists including Kim Simmonds of Savoy Brown, and Kevin DuBrow of Quiet Riot. While at NS&S, Mark met Susan Masino, who was a respected local journalist and the wife of prominent Midwest guitarist John Masino. Mark and Susan eventually decided they wanted to run their own paper, and thus "Rock Central" was born. "Rock Central" lasted five years and helped keep the pulse of the Madison music scene alive during tough times for the local scene. Mark interviewed more music celebrities including Kirk Hammett (Metallica), Geezer Butler (Black Sabbath), Ian Gillan (Deep Purple) and many others. He also delved into live concert photography, with the likes of Paul McCartney, The Scorpions, Pearl Jam, and The Black Crowes finding their ways into his viewfinder.
About four years into the life of "Rock Central", Mark decided he needed a change of scenery, so he picked up and moved to the warmer climes of Atlanta, Georgia. Through a fortuitous stroke of fate, he met fellow former Wisconsinite Sandy Serge who runs Serge Entertainment Group. Mark's first involvement with SEG was as a writer for the award winning ezine/webzine "Music Morsels", which he continues to write extensively for today, nine years later. He continued to grow his list of musicians interviewed including Rich Robinson (The Black Crowes), Rick Allen (Def Leppard), Kip Winger, Joe Nichols, and Kitaro, as well as interviewing music business professionals of all types and levels, and unsigned/indie artists. He then became a publicist for SEG with the responsibility of garnering media coverage for the company's roster. He is involved with various other aspects of SEG business including bookings, acquiring publishing and licensing deals, and graphic design. He still gets behind the camera for SEG, shooting the likes of Tom Petty, Keith Urban, Live, Keane, and Cheap Trick. Mark along with Sandy Serge and Dee Price also produced an Internet pictorial of Def Leppard featuring live shots of their 2000 tour.
Mark recently formed Photoartstorm as an on-line place to view and buy his photographs. Serge Entertainment keeps him busy so he doesn't chase trains with his camera as much as he used to, but he loves working with musicians, writing about them, photographing them and becoming an integral part of their team working to make them successful. He also recently helped form the Cherokee County Music Society with Sandy Serge to help create a more vibrant music scene in his home of Cherokee County, Georgiahttp://www.sergeentertainmentgroup.comhttp://www.mysp
ace.com/cherokeecountymusichttp://www.sergeentertainmentgrou
p.com/photoartstorm
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