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Back in Illinois, Zeus found himself performing regulary in what one might consider an unusual town for "folk" music, Forest Park, a working class suburb near Chicago's Westside. Forest Park is surrounded by mostly "dry" municipalities and has the most bars per capita in the state. Small bars like The Circle Inn and The Pioneer Tap, with their "regular folk" clientele, seemed a comfortable environment for the dynamic, and occasionally outrageous, Zeus solo show. He has made many friends in the area, and developed a solid fan base there. He still performs at various venues in Forest Park.
Also in mid '99, Ron, Klicker and Zeus returned to Dr. Caw and Crooked Door to record the remaining rhythm tracks for the impending Thunderboltz album. The project was progressing steadily, and benefited from Mark's travels through Texas. "Ghosts of Galveston", had become one of the most requested tunes at live shows; and "Austin City Girls" promised to become a featured track on the album. As Zeus' move became a possible reality, the band decided to continue the project in Chicago no matter where he may reside.
On January 2, 2000, MZ left for Houston on a three month excursion to possibly set up shop. He had set up a couple gigs, most notably a showcase spot in Ken Gaines' In-The-Round feature at Anderson Fair. As he continued to network into the area's scene, he began attending a Monday night open mike at The Brewery Tap hosted by The Tequila Cowboys, a fledgling acoustic band. Ray Cashman and Pat Neifert were its founding members and eventually asked Zeus to join the band. He also regularly attended a Wednesday night songwriter's night at The Vintage Bar where he hooked up with a singer-songwriter originally from Corpus Christi, Mando Saenz. In both situations he sided playing mandolin and guitar, and singing harmony. He joined up playing mandolin with The Good Luck Band, performing old Country standards, and also continued to perform with Clay Farmer.
As his solo gigging schedule began to take shape, combined with his various collaborations, Mark found it feasible to make a go of it in Houston. For those first three months he had been staying with his old buddy Tom Gaseor and his family in Friendswood. It was time to find a place in Central Houston. In April, he moved into a garage apartment in the Heights district. The small town feel of this urban neighborhood seemed to suit him well.
Mark returned to Chicago for a couple of weeks at the end of March to gig and pack the van with personal stuff and equipment. He would continue to return periodically, but his focus now was two-fold: to extend his musical influence into Texas, and to continue work on the Thunderboltz project.
Mando's brother, Marco Saenz, had opened up Atzlan Studios. Zeus found it a comfortable environment and recorded several guitar tracks there. He and Mando also laid down some demo tracks at Atzlan.
Another significant, and unique, contact Mark made in Spring of '00 was Joe Parsons. The self-proclaimed "Old Fud" is a grassroots supporter and promoter of Texas Roots and Country music. He refers to the loosely deemed genre as OKOM (our kind of music). He hosted The Redneck Jam every Wednesday nite at the popular Houston Honky-Tonk, Blanco's.
MZ heard of the Blanco's jam, and wandered in. Being a relatively new guy in town, he quietly observed the proceedings and introduced himself to Joe later in the evening. "Why the hell didn't you tell me you were here? I'd have gotten you up!", responded the Old Fud. Zeus immediately took to him and to the comaradery of the jammers. The following week, he did get up playing some Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard and a couple country-based originals. Joe was significantly impressed and encouraged Zeus to get his own band to do a gig at the jam (the jam featured a different host band weekly). Although he had been considering to form an original band in Houston, Joe's offer gave him a venue and environment in which he could nurture one quicker than he had anticipated. Although his collaborations and sideman situations gave him quality band experiences, he was itching to once again get out in front.
Joe annually organizes The River Oaks Music Festival at Blanco's. In early June of '00, after gigging with The Clay Farmer Band at the fest, Zeus noticed a bass player with great feel and chops playing with the band that followed. He approached him and set up a rehersal. Robert DiBlanco was to become the bassist for MZ's initial Houston band project. Zeus grabbed Clay's drummer, Rod Robert, and Tequila Cowboy guitarist, Pat Neifert, and set up some gigs at Joe's jam.
Also early that Summer, The Tequila Cowboys recorded a CD entitled Broken Glass, using various friends and studio musicians to complete the tracks. Zeus, who was at that time new to the band, played mandolin on a few of them. Soon after though, the basic trio of Ray, Pat and Mark added Jimmie Pitzitola on drums and began gigging regularly at various clubs. Utilizing his experience, Mark helped to arrange the tunes for live performance. They began to get noticed as an entertainig addition to the local scene.
Several friends would often come and sit-in or gig with "The Cowboys". This is how MZ met Kristen Jensen. A classically trained violinist originally hailing from upstate New York, she had recently become interested in expanding her experience into Jazz, Rock and Country. Initially Zeus thought that she would fit well into the Mando project, but as he looked to solidify the line-up for his own band, he invited her out to jam with them at Blanco's. He also started bringing her in to play at various solo gigs. She learned the material quickly and seemed to provide a unique energy. By the Fall of 2000, Kristen was officially in the band and regularly playing duets with MZ.
At about that same time, Mark and Clay started playing a late Monday night gig at The Mauseleum, organized by Clay's friend, Eduardo, a progressive singer-songwrtiter who played the earlier slot. Eduardo often brought in his drummer, Johnny Cavazos, who instantly impressed Zeus. Johnny agreed to join up in the developing band project.
Originally Zeus called The band Texas Thunder, but after Joe Parsons found that there was already a Texas Thunder playing out in Montgomery County, he simply decided to keep the Thunderboltz name- the Texas representive of the project. In late November of '00, the line-up of Zeus, Cavazos, DiBlanco, Jensen and Neifert went into the studio to record "Big Hair", the tounge-in-cheek bashing of a prodigious female fashion, and "Swamp", a tune inspired by Zeus' move to the sub-tropical Gulf Coast. He chose Bungelow Studios run by Mark Shannon, where Clay had just begun his album project. Those two tracks were to be included on the Thunderboltz album to represent the new band's contributions.
Up until then, Zeus returned to Chicago several times to gig and complete other commitments , which included the mandatory A2Z and Thunderboltz performances at the traditional St. Stan's Carnival in the old neighborhood ,and a continuing connection with his Forest Park fan base (The Old Fud would say, " Well, there goes Mark Zeus off to Chicago to report to his parole officer!"). However, in early November of '00, he returned with one thing in mind: complete the new album.
Zeus and Caw blocked out three full days- bringing in the musicians and recording mandolin, which finished all the tracking with the exception of haromonies on two tunes. Some mixing was accomplished, but it was evident that the Caw-Zeus team would have to work long distance. Two pre-mixes and an agreement that they would mail and e-mail mixes and notes were taken back to Houston with Zeus.
Mark was impressed by an emerging singer and songwriter who was a regular at the Blanco's jam, Melinda Mones. Her voice seemed to have the necessary presence and strength to match Zeus' in order to achieve the harmony for the bluesy rockers, "Top Shelf" and "Sweet". Lisa Novak was a new colleague whose vocals Mark heard on a CD of her band, Big Holiday. She added the haunting quality evident on "Sweet". They were able to complete the tracks in a three-hour session. Mark Shannon prepared a CDR and they sent the tracks off to Caw. Soon thereafter, after some initial mixing, all tracks from "Swamp" and "Big Hair" were also sent off.
On the performance side, MZ landed a significant solo gig in November, opening for David Wilcox at a concert sponsored by The Next Door Coffeehouse, a relatively new, but very promising and active not-for-profit, acoustic venue. He had been a winner of the singer-songwriter competition there. He also performed at the popular Texas Nights House Concert Series that Fall. A free performance for Zeus' friend, Carole Cline's Special Ed. class at South Houston Middle School, was given by MZ; Christy Claxton of Austin; and Rene Lawence, Annie Benjamin and other members of the Bent Zen Circle out of Dallas. Carole commented that it's probably the only time the kids ever got a chance to see and hear live music. MZ has periodically continued to return to perform at the school.
It was also at about this time that Mark recieved an E-mail from an interested DJ in Belgium, Ray Pieters, who asked him to send some music. This lead led to a connection with the Far Characters network of Grassroots and Country DJs through Eddie Russel in Columbus, TX. Zeus' music was and is being heard on many European and Australian radio stations as a result.
The mixing phase of the Thunderboltz album continued through the Winter and into 2001. At least a dozen sample mixes were sent back by Caw, with corresponding mix notes sent back by Zeus. Finally in early March '01, the final master was ready. The artwork and liners, also achieved through E-mail exchanges by MZ and Greg Steele ( Greg also did the artwork for Fine Wine), came together as well. The Chicago release had already been set for March 30 at The Abbey Pub.
Mark drove to Chicago on March 24, and although that final week before the release was, to say the least, hectic, the release event was successful (Due to printing errors, Zeus had to drive crosstown to pick up the final inserts and CDs the day of the release, getting caught in the worst traffic jam in Chicago history. On a Friday afternoon, some guy decided to park his truck in the middle of The Dan Ryan Expressway and threaten to kill himself. The cops had to block off traffic in both directions emptying highway traffic onto the already crowded streets.). That aside it was an inspiring evening. Bob Apollo brought out his new band to open, and A2Z joined Thunderboltz in a massive final set.
Upon returning to Houston, Zeus commenced to organize and execute the Houston release party at Walter's on Washington on April 21, '01. This party was, of course, a bit smaller (and definately less stressful), but the new band rose to the occasion. Several friends helped out on stage, including Ken Gaines and Melinda Mones. New bassist, Marius Fleck was also introduced at the celebration.
In the Spring of '01 Zeus met Kim Carson, a honky-tonk singer from New Orleans, who also, coincidentally, had been a DJ at US 99, a Chicago country station. She also spent a great deal of time in TX, where she is originally from. He began to sit-in on her gigs and began performing with her regularly when she came through Houston. Kim also turned MZ & KJ on to a gig at The Kerry Irish Pub in the French Quarter in the Fall of '01. Kim has recently decided to relocate to Houston, while also keeping her home in New Orleans. Coincidentally, in '02, Kristen had moved with her husband, Vince, to New Orleans.
In Jan. of '02, the Houston aggregation of Thunderboltz entered Bungalow Studios to record four of Zeus' strongest efforts since his move to Texas. MZ wanted a representative piece for the Houston sound. The tracks went down over the following two months. A brand new piece, Blue Horizon, a ballad written exclusively for the project, was added, featuring the harmony of Lisa Novak. This five tune EP, Texas Thunder, was released in late March of '02. The collection is an in-your-face Country/Rock and Boogie barrage. The themes represent different perspectives on love, lust and attraction. Although a quick detour off the progressive Zeus track, the EP also represents a Rock and Roll heart mixed with Country Roots- revisiting the past, while understanding the permanence of the basics.
Also that winter, MZ played mandolin and sang harmonies on several cuts of Lisa Novak's album release, Perfect Mess. Kristen Jensen fiddled for that project as well. As a result, Zeus had begun performing live with Lisa's band. Through that experience, MZ met bassist, John Haddad, who would eventually become a member of Thunderboltz. Lisa and Melinda Mones, who had met through the T-boltz recording sessions, began to collaborate and perform live accompanied by MZ and John.
Later that Summer, Zeus picked up a sound engineering job with Toast and Jam, a local, upscale jobbing band run by Ernie and Barbara Wells. Ernie, an established sound engineer himself, become the primary studio engineer for One Magic Momemnt. Around that same time, MZ also began teaching guitar and mandolin at Band Together Music (currently Humble Music Center) operated by Rod Robert.
The Houston Thunderbotlz, having been on a hiatus due to an injury to drummer, John Cavazos, reorganized in early 2003. In addition to John Haddad on bass, they added a new guitarist, Anthony Klonaris, a veteran of the Houston scene. Kristen had since returned from New Orleans to rejoin the band on selected gigs.
Two awards fell upon MZ in Feb of '03: "Musician of the Year" from the River Oaks Redneck; and the "My Texan Award" from mytexasmusic.com. In early April, Zeus reconnected with the Chicago Thunderboltz for two big gigs in the Chi. area, and then again later that Summer. An A2Z reunion also was a big part of that trip.
In Aug. of '03, MZ moved into a house in the Langwood area of Houston, a short distance from the Heights.
In both '03 and '04, MZ was nominated for a Houston Press Award in the category of Folk/Acoustic. In '04 his partners, Melinda Mones and Lisa Novak actually won the award.