Mark Evans, RIP
Right after I got out of college, a friend of mine named Rob invited me to join his band Buzzmuscle. We made a couple singles and recorded an LP which never came out. One of the singles looked like bacon. In order to do this, Rob and I set up a makeshift copy stand in his basement, and shot slides of actual slices of bacon. I took them to get prints made, then we took them to Mark’s house. Mark was a graphic designer and total Mac whiz. Everyone called him Atwood because of the downstate town where he was born. He scanned them in and helped us pretty them up, lay out the sleeve, and prepare everything for printing and instructing us on what needed to be done. Rob had known Mark from way back and we all hung out quite a bit back in the day. At the time I was looking into going into graphic design and Mark lent me a few books and gave me guidance. He always came to our gigs. He read comics and we talked a lot about Cerebus. Several years ago when I was having issues with neighbors, he offered me the use of his empty apartment, and that was the last time I talked to him before Rob sent me this news story yesterday. I am profoundly saddened at the thought of this nice sweet generous person being shot dead and left there. Shit just happens out of nowhere, its so fucked up sometimes.
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June 11th, 2006 at 5:11 am
Damn, I’m sorry man. That sounds like the kind of thing that used to happen in New Orleans all the time and is beginning to happen there again now.
Since moving to Austin I’ve had to get used to living in a city where a single, monthly murder is a BIG DEAL. It’s a nice change.
June 20th, 2006 at 8:07 am
Mark was the nicest man I knew. This is an act of evil and for him to lay on the street without a friend in site makes me sick.
June 23rd, 2006 at 9:13 am
For more info on Atwood (Mark Evans) see
http://www.whokilledmarkevans.org/
June 27th, 2006 at 7:19 am
I loved that package– the Buzzmuscle single. When a group of Atwood’s friends and I were helping his parents clear out his house after his death, his parents told us to grab whatever personal things we wanted. There were two things I wanted: the black ceramic skull ashtray Mark made in high school, that he always had, including when I roomed with him in Wrigleyville in the late eighties, and the Buzzmuscle 45. I got both.
Thanks for remembering him. He was indeed a kind and generous guy. Two times, during marital troubles, I had stays in “Mark’s Home for Wayward Boys” as he dubbed his extra apartment.
June 28th, 2006 at 6:03 am
I remember the skull from visiting his apartment in Logan Square. I’m glad to hear (both from these comments and from the news stories I’ve read) that Mark had such a good community of friends around him.
July 9th, 2006 at 4:01 pm
I was so sad when Derrick told me about Mark. He was one of the most open and kind people that I have ever known.
July 28th, 2006 at 6:11 am
For Mark’s Family,
Denny & I are very close friends of Mark’s parents–I was the one who read the poem at Mark’s burial. No one, not even I, can understand the grief and pain that Patti and Dick are going thru at this time. It is such a loss and their lives will never be the same. We, as their friends, wish that we could do something–but we cannot–it is so good that Mark had so many close friends and could see what a good person he was–the person or persons that killed Mark took great advantage of his goodness and generosity. I hope that they one day realize what a good person they have taken from this so called “civilized” society.
Denny and Sandy Goodman
July 28th, 2006 at 6:51 am
My name is Lisa and I am Mark’s slightly older cousin. I remember growing up and going over to Mark’s house with my two sisters while my Dad and Mom would visit with Aunt Patti and Uncle Dick downstairs. We would be upstairs dancing to anything by Elvis and jumping up and down on Mark’s bed. He would be over at the light switch flicking it on and off so we had a strobe light effect. We only had to stop when the floor started shaking downstairs and the grownups would make an appearnace upstairs.
July 31st, 2006 at 9:02 am
I am the father of Mark. There are many positive ways to deal with grief and I plan to use them all. This is my open letter to him that I wish to share with you:
Since I helped shaped the way you thought & viewed the world, I am vebalizing what you must have had on your mind those last percious minutes. I am sure you recognized one of the assailants as the juvenile deliquent that formerly lived in the downstairs apartment and had robbed and vandilized your place and you car in the past. What anger and rage you felt. Then the fear as a gun was stuck in you face. 4 gang members, perhaps all armed, marching you down the street toward the ATM machine a short distance away. While walking, you assessed you situation, realizing that since you could identify at least one, you chances of loosing only money were slim. At the corner, you took the only option you had, and struck out at he gunman. He then shot you in the neck as you attempted to escape. You were only able to get half a block before collapsing. He qickly shot you 3 more times. They robbed us also: of the opportunity to tell you we loved you and to say goodby. I know the last thoughts you had were of us and the last thought I have will be that I will get to be with you again.
This is a synopsis of the version told to the detective by Timothy Leszynski as it was related to us.