Mark Plotnick has been a fan of rock music since he was a child.
“My parents bought me a piano at the age of 8,” the Libertyville resident said. “After about a year of classical lessons, I started ditching my piano lessons because I wanted to play the music I was hearing on the radio, starting with the Beatles.”
When he had missed three lessons, the truant was outed to his parents by his music teacher, who happened to be his aunt.
Fortunately, Plotnick no longer has to keep his rock obsession a secret. He and his longtime friend Jim Summaria of Algonquin are cohosts of a weekly 90-minute program, “That Rock Show with Jim and Mark.”
They credit Ron Romero, founder and CEO of the Illinois Rock & Roll Museum in Joliet, with inspiring the program by inviting them to reprise the show that the pair had done earlier. “That Rock Show with Jim and Mark” has been airing every Wednesday at 7 p.m. since a year ago. They just completed recording their 52nd 90-minute show.
The show is recorded at the Museum’s Road to Rock Studio and Plotnick’s home studio. You can catch episodes, which are immediately archived, at roadtorock.org/podcast. Programs are also available anytime on Spotify, Amazon, and Apple podcast platforms under the Illinois Rock and Roll Museum.
During a phone interview, the pair engaged in playful banter.
“Jim and I have been friends for over four decades,” Plotnick said. “Jim is a professional rock photographer. He has been photographing musicians and concerts since the early 1970’s. His photographs have been seen nationally and internationally.”
“I’m blushing. Stop,” Summaria said.
They started bonding by going to lunch and talking about music for hours, Plotnick said. They also attended concerts together.
Plotnick retired in 2010 from a diverse career in the corporate world, including working as a trade magazine journalist, a market research editor, a PR person, a marketing manager, a copywriter, and other roles.
Summaria retired from a 40-year career in the corporate world in 2021 but continues photographing rock concerts, as he has since 1973.
“When I retired from corporate work, Jim came to me and said, ‘Why don’t we put my photographs of all these artists with your writing and our combined knowledge of rock and roll?’” Plotnick recalled.
That led to the publication of two books of Summaria’s photographs and Plotnick’s text. “Classic Rock: Photographs from Yesterday & Today” was published in 2019. The book sold out and wasn’t reprinted. “’70s Chicagoland Rock Concerts” was published in 2024. It is available at Barnes & Noble, Barbara’s, Amazon, Hudson News at O’Hare Airport, Arcada Theatre, Des Plaines Theatre, and the Illinois Rock & Roll Museum. The pair is working on a third book.
It also led to a radio program for 2-1/2 years, followed by a year-long hiatus before the pair began producing the show with the Illinois Rock & Roll Museum. It also led to freelance writing assignments and lectures for both of them.
The pair praised their strong connection that makes working together a pleasure. “We have so much in common, in terms of the music we love, the acts we love,” Plotnick said. “We get along very well together.”
Summaria joked, “I’m tired of hearing him. I think I’ll go solo.” He then praised the camaraderie that they have as well as the fact that they get to choose the content of each show. He added, “We feed off each other very well. We both have the same sense of humor. Mine’s a little better than his. We’re on the same wavelength.”
The pair selects a different theme for each show and work together to choose playlists and create a script for that week’s program. Plotnick is the producer of the show.
“I’m the goodlooking one,” Summaria said of his important role in the program. “That’s very important, especially on the radio. I’ve got a face made for radio.”
They often have musical guests on the show. That has included such notables as Jim Messina from Loggins and Messina, Al Jardine from the Beach Boys, Jerry Portnoy, harmonicist for Muddy Waters and Eric Clapton, and many others.
Plotnick emphasized that they focus on many other musical styles in addition to rock. “Even though we call it ‘That Rock Show,’ we cover folk, soul, R and B, a lot of blues, hard rock, progressive rock,” he said.
Plotnick concluded that with this radio program, “I’m living my passion and my dream. I wish my mom and dad were around to see what has happened since my retirement. I think they would be amazed, and they would be very proud.”
Myrna Petlicki is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
