Magic Marker Karate Co.
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Magic Marker Karate Co. was the latest in a series of episodes known as the MMKC Forgeries, propagated by Mathius Mead, Kevin Collier, and a man known simply as OHB. The principal witnesses of Magic Marker Karate Co. were students of Ohio Wesleyan University.
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The MMKC Forgeries
None of the MMKC Forgeries have been exactly the same, but there are patterns to the group's behavior. Generally, they show up at a small town or college and claim to be a band of considerable renown stuck in that area. They are known to make outrageous demands of local citizens, such as requests for fireworks, costumes and on occasion, belly dancers. They leave only once the populace wises up to their pomposity and no longer meets their demands. This has often taken months.
On college campuses they declare they are students or recent alumni who have arrived for a semester or school year. In towns without a strong college presence they claim a unique element of the town has drawn them there, such as their short stint in Gainesville, Florida, where they claimed Mead was addicted to hot dogs and possessed the only keys to their tour bus.
No reliable sources have reported MMKC outside of America, though there are rumors of spottings in locations as diverse as Paris, Hong Kong, and Sao Paulo with suspicious photographs accompanying.
Members of MMKC
Very little is known of the members of MMKC. Original speculations affirmed that they were each afflicted with Peter Pan Syndrome, and purportedly met at a convention for sufferers of the disease. However, now it is widely believed this is not true. They simply presented falsified medical records in order to perform at the conference. One recent report even cites Kevin Collier as being over 7 feet tall.
In every recorded instance of the band they have claimed to be in their early twenties; they are all estimated to actually be in their fifties.
The two most vocal and musically versatile members are Mathius Mead and Kevin Collier, though they frequently have been known to claim each other's identity. OHB is believed to be the bassist's initials and in various MMKC incarnations he has given different names, though his actual name remains unknown.
Photos: [Kevin Collier] [Mathius Mead] [OHB]
List of Known MMKC Incarnations
Dates | MMKC Incarnation | OHB Incarnation | Style of Music | Location
- Feb 68 - Mar 72 | Mississippi's Modest Kissing Contest | Oswald Howard Brown | Folk Revival | Burlington, VT
- July 76 - Sept 80 | Maggie's Musty Kitchen Cabinets | O'Henry Bubbingame | Reggae-Funk | Missoula, MT
- Sept 95 - June 99 | Mild Mannered Kings of Controversy | Oscar H. Boswine | Black Metal | Fredonia, NY*
- Aug 00 - May 01 | Mystic Mouse Ketchup Club | Officer Harold Buckingham | Southern Goth | Marshall University, Huntington, WV
- Oct - Dec 03, Jan - July 05 | Magic Marker Karate Co. | Oh How Boisterous! | Indie Pop | Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, OH
* Though they frequently assume the roles of college students, this is believed to be the only time MMKC posed as high school students. Though OHB and Kevin Collier were discovered and thrown out within their "freshman" year, Mathius Mead was able to follow an entire high school career, try out for the basketball team, and even earn a diploma.
