John "Mark" Joachim:  

I'm listed as John, but I am Mark Joachim. I grew up in Lakeland from 1962 till 1970. I went to Cleveland Court, Southwest and Lakeland High. I left Lakeland in 1970 and moved to Ft. Pierce because my father got another church there. Yes, I am a preacher's kid. I was a talented, stoned-out surfer in high school. I loved to draw and became completely immersed in music. I got busted for doobie in the 11th grade and that didn't go well at home. My Dad's congregation was nice to me though. I was pretty wild when I was a teen. Joined a couple of good bands and played keyboards with Frank Kishel, Jerry Weatherington, and Charlie Brown in a band in Fort Pierce named CANNON. I also played with Mike Davis for a while. We were the band that played at the Senior prom in Fort Pierce in 1972. I painted my volkwagen van all psychedelic during that time and I used to hang out at North Jetty. I quit high school at Ft. Pierce Central because of the riots and got my diploma at Indian River Junior 2 months before my graduating class. Teehee! Moved to Tampa when I was 18 and went to Electronics school for a couple of years after graduating from high school. Hated it. Never worked in that field either. Got braces on my teeth and wore them for 5 years. Foolishly got married then moved to Orlando and worked at Rosie Ogrady's as a tray spinning waiter for a year. That was completely wild! Got divorced and worked at Disneyworld as a waiter & Maitre d' at the Polynesian Village for 2 years. Moved to Jacksonville Beach and ran a huge restaurant and went to college some more. I majored in the arts, business management, and psychology. Is that a mixture? Moved back to Lakeland in 1978 for a year and saved my money by working double shifts at the Sea Wolf as a waiter. Gene Holloway was way out there! Memba him? I used to play with his tigers. Moved to the San Francisco area in 1980,(goodbye humidity, mosquitoes and rednecks) and California freaked me out for a little while. Completely different from Florida! Earthquakes !!!!! Hated restaurant work and quit permanently, then I got heavily into art and music for a living. Graphics, printing, framing, computers and lot's of paintings. Kept going back to college and finally got my degree. I played keyboards and sang with a few good bands and actually got pretty good. Playing clubs is really hard work though. By the way I won the Southwest Junior High talent contest with my band in 1969 in Lakeland. We played White Room and Strange Brew. Anyone see that? Anyway - got married in 1982 and had 2 daughters I am very close to and proud of. Got divorced a few years later and 2 weeks later went through the big earthquake out here in 1989. Hold on!!!!! I then moved back to Lakeland for 2 years in 1990 to take care of m...Expand for more