second year as an alternative Oscar Awards night
party. At that point, devoting nearly
all her time to John's career and foundation,
she effectively closed her doors to all but
a few long-term clients.
In 1998, McMullen took stock of her life and
starting dividing time between Los
Angeles and Austin while making plans to
eventually relocate. She and John amicably
parted ways professionally the following year,
but she maintained her position on the
executive board of his foundation. She was
retained as a consultant to the college of
communications for the University of Texas at
Austin. In 1999, she returned to her
earliest interest in music publishing when she
joined the Internet entity Supertrack,
which protects the interests of songwriters,
publishers, and artists by providing secure
solutions for the digital downloading of
recorded music.
MARK PUCCI, PUBLICIST, PRESIDENT/OWNER, PUCCI
MEDIA
In high school, Mark Pucci pursued his three
major interests--music, playing bas-
ketball, and writing--and dreamed of being a
sports journalist. After graduation, he
worked for an insurance company by day and took
business courses at night, saving
up enough money to attend college full time. He
earned a degree in personnel
administration from the University of Tennessee
at Memphis, hung around the city's
music scene, and wrote articles for fanzines
and various underground publications. A
job as music editor for
River City Review led to writing and producing
radio adver-
tising for regional promoter Mid-South
Concerts. He also submitted articles on spec-
ulation to national magazines, two of which
were published in
Rolling Stone.
Through writing local music reviews, Pucci got
to know the head of publicity at
Capricorn Records, then the home of bands like
Wet Willie, Marshall Tucker, and the
Allman Brothers. A huge fan of the music, he
accepted the job of tour publicist at the
label's Macon, Georgia home office in 1974. As
the label expanded, he was handling
up to 20 bands on the road. He was promoted to
department head in 1978, but found
himself out of work the following year when the
label filed for bankruptcy.
Wanting to remain in the area, Pucci opened
Mark Pucci Associates in Atlanta in
1979. Initially he worked out of the offices of
a music publisher client, and within two
years his business grew and he moved into his
own location. Gaining clients through
word of mouth, he worked with some of the great
alternative bands emerging out of
Athens, Georgia in the mid-1980s: R.E.M.,
Guadalcanal Diary, and Love Tractor, as
well as roots and blues musicians like Delbert
McClinton, Elvin Bishop, Charlie
Musclewhite, and Jimmy Dale
Gilmore.
Late in 1991, Capricorn Records had reopened in
Nashville, and Pucci was
brought in as vice president of publicity. He
worked with such artists as Hank
Williams, Jr., Kenny Chesney, Widespread Panic,
and Lynyrd Skynyrd. He rose to the
position of vice president/general manager of
the label, but six months after being
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