Dr. Mark And The Sutures Revives Traditional Summertime Show

HIGHLAND PARK, IL — Dr. Mark and the Sutures, Chicagoland's original band of rocking doctors, is due to return to Port Clinton Square next month for its traditional summertime concert.

Formed in 1987 by surgeon-guitarist Dr. Mark Hill, the band primarily plays Beatles covers, as well as music by the Eagles.

Hill, 70, is the son of a jazz guitarist, owner of North Shore Surgical Associates in Libertyville and a professor of surgery at Rosalind Franklin University who paid his way through college and medical school by singing in wedding bands.

The origin of Dr. Mark and the Sutures — and its annual three-and-a-half hour free concert in downtown Highland Park — dates back to a neighborhood block party for a resident who was moving out of town more than three decades ago. Hill said she had heard him practice and asked him to play at her going-away party.

"So I called up some of my friends who were doctors and businessmen who were very good musicians. And we played, and it was very well-received — even though that police were called that first time because we were too loud," Hill told Patch. "The policeman came by, but it just so happened that I took out his kid's appendix a week earlier so he didn't give us a ticket."

After completing a successful first show from the front yard of his neighbor's house, friends began to suggest that they continue as a band.

So after rejecting the band names "Dr. Mark and the Hemorrhoids" and "Dr. Mark and the Varicose Veins," Hill, a surgeon, settled on the "kind of hokey" name of "Dr. Mark and the Sutures."

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Since then, the band has played dozens of fundraisers for various causes, including natural disaster relief, veterans nonprofits, Misericordia and most medical organizations in the Chicago suburbs. It has performed at Ravinia Festival, the Allstate Arena in Rosemont and the United Center with Tim McGraw and Randy Travis.

While there has been some turnover among the band's membership — two past members have died, two have moved away — one thing has remained constant, besides the band's repertoire: Dr. Mark and the Sutures do not accept payment for gigs.

"What makes this wonderful is the fact that my band, we're all brothers and we all have the same values," Hill said. "We all do this for the same reasons — our love of music and our love of people. ... We're no business. We're just a fun machine."

Combined with demanding professional obligations, that can make it difficult to find time to rehearse and perform. Hill eventually stopped booking shows on New Year's Eve to avoid antagonizing the families of his bandmates.

"In this day and age," Hill explained, "it's very difficult to find a group of people who will say, 'Yeah, I'll do that for free,' because it requires rehearsals and it requires a lot of time."

In past years, the band has performed alongside the late Chicago Symphony Orchestra Concertmaster Victor Aitay — leading an area newspaper to dub him the "Rock and Rock Concertmaster" — as well as with Highland Park Strings for a "Beatles and Beethoven" concert several years ago.

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Hill's band only performs about a half-dozen shows in a given year, the doctor said, including its annual show at Port Clinton Square, which began as part of the defunct "Late Night Highland Park" events spearheaded by former councilmember and mayoral candidate Terri Olian, who now heads up the Highland Park Community Foundation.

After the city stopped providing the free stage to bands, Rick Strusiner, managing partner of Port Clinton, offered to pay for it so the annual complimentary concerts could continue. The property owner also provides electrical equipment and helps promote the shows.

"He does this at his expense," Hill said. "It's Rick Strusiner who is making this possible, and he's just absolutely wonderful."

Dr. Mark and the Sutures was due to perform from a balcony at the square last year, but the show was cancelled by city officials over concerns that attendees would not practice sufficient social distancing at the outdoor plaza.

That means it will have been close to 18 months between the band's public performances, other than a single attempt at an open rehearsal in his driveway on a Saturday afternoon last September.

"My band was getting so itchy for not playing," Hill recalled. So the doctor sent courtesy letters beforehand to his neighbors, notifying them of the impending tunes.

"We started playing, and after about a half an hour someone across the ravine, because the sound carries, called the police and shut us down," he said. "Obviously one of my courtesy letters didn't get to that person because they were across the ravine. So, we tried."

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This year's free three-hour concert is set for 7 p.m. Aug. 14 at Port Clinton Square. In the event of rain, it will be pushed back to 1 p.m. the next day.

The theme of the August concert, in a reference to the band's hiatus from live shows and the Beatles song of the same name, is "Get Back."

It will feature a tribute performance of Eric Clapton's "Tears in Heaven" to the late former Highland Park Mayor Ray Geraci, who died of COVID-19 in May 2020 at the age 91.

Hill said Geraci presented the band with the first of its four mayoral proclamations and keys to the city of Highland Park. The band also dedicated its 2016 Port Clinton Square show to Geraci.

"We appreciate that, and our only goal is to put smiles on people's faces," Hill said. "The public, they like us, and everyone loves the Beatles and Eagles."