The Quiet Man

[stratmad]

When did he endorse whisky, except for the end-of-tour tea joke?

I don't know, but I would love to.
All I know is that he used to drink a lot of whiskey with Bob Dylan when he was living in NYC. Or maybe LE is referring to the fact that a lot of his songs have references to whiskey, but I don't see how that could be an endorsement.

Was it gin, perhaps?
https://www.tyndrumwhisky.com/portobello-road-mark-knopfler-gin.html.
Someone must have liked it a lot, because it's sold out. 

[stratmad]

Mark is a really mysterious guy. He could have made more noise and publicity, and he muted everything. He muted Dire Straits. There was never an official end to DS's career. He was not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He muted his last tour. He didn't call it a farewell tour, although he mentioned that these were his last concerts, but if he wanted to, he would have called it a farewell tour, like Fish and many others. But not Mark. Again, he did it his way and against the prevailing trends. I like this. But it also amazes .
Sometimes I think we don't know Mark Knopfler at all.

Going back to the original post, which doesn't mention "cool".
Robson, I think you're quite right, it is a bit mysterious how he has always managed to keep this very low profile, and why it seems so important to him to be almost anonymous.
I honestly think that all he ever wanted was to play music, back in the 60s and 70s, to be successful enough to make a living. And then they got hit by this unexpected mega success and the superstar madness of the 80s, which he was obviously uncomfortable with.
He seemed like a completely different person with the Hillbillies!

About the farewell tours: maybe MK hadn't actually decided that it was the final tour, hoping that there might be another tour later.
It's a bit embarrassing when you've done your "farewell tour" and then come back every two years. Some artists maybe think they need that label to sell enough tickets? Fish used to sell out big venues with Marillion, today it's maybe more difficult.

And that's the thing about MK: although he wanted to downsize, he was straight back to venues of 10,000 with STP, the last tour was pretty much sold out as well, and ODR went to no. 1 again with comparably little promotion. Pretty mysterious, I think.

And apparently, he's still got "it"... on the DTRW tour, I was seated next to a middle-aged lady and her friend. She told me that she'd never listened to his music before and preferred 80s rock. Then, when he got out his red strat for STP and played the first notes, she was watching him in wide-eyed wonder and said: "I've just fallen in love!"   

[Rolleyway Man]

Jesus Christ you lot. I have never read such drivel. For heaven’s sake get a life!

[stratmad]

Jesus Christ you lot. I have never read such drivel. For heaven’s sake get a life!

Thank you. I'll think about it.

[wakeywakey]

Jesus Christ you lot. I have never read such drivel. For heaven’s sake get a life!

You've been a member for 14 years so you must have

[Rolleyway Man]

Jesus Christ you lot. I have never read such drivel. For heaven’s sake get a life!

You've been a member for 14 years so you must have

I’ve resisted saying such a thing for years but upon reading this thread, or at least as much of it as I could stand, I just couldn’t help myself!

[Love Expresso]

Just scrolling through the 18 pages of your own posts, checking out the high quality of what you were giving to the forum...

LE

[Robson]

Mark is a really mysterious guy. He could have made more noise and publicity, and he muted everything. He muted Dire Straits. There was never an official end to DS's career. He was not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He muted his last tour. He didn't call it a farewell tour, although he mentioned that these were his last concerts, but if he wanted to, he would have called it a farewell tour, like Fish and many others. But not Mark. Again, he did it his way and against the prevailing trends. I like this. But it also amazes .
Sometimes I think we don't know Mark Knopfler at all.

Going back to the original post, which doesn't mention "cool".
Robson, I think you're quite right, it is a bit mysterious how he has always managed to keep this very low profile, and why it seems so important to him to be almost anonymous.
I honestly think that all he ever wanted was to play music, back in the 60s and 70s, to be successful enough to make a living. And then they got hit by this unexpected mega success and the superstar madness of the 80s, which he was obviously uncomfortable with.
He seemed like a completely different person with the Hillbillies!

About the farewell tours: maybe MK hadn't actually decided that it was the final tour, hoping that there might be another tour later.
It's a bit embarrassing when you've done your "farewell tour" and then come back every two years. Some artists maybe think they need that label to sell enough tickets? Fish used to sell out big venues with Marillion, today it's maybe more difficult.

And that's the thing about MK: although he wanted to downsize, he was straight back to venues of 10,000 with STP, the last tour was pretty much sold out as well, and ODR went to no. 1 again with comparably little promotion. Pretty mysterious, I think.

And apparently, he's still got "it"... on the DTRW tour, I was seated next to a middle-aged lady and her friend. She told me that she'd never listened to his music before and preferred 80s rock. Then, when he got out his red strat for STP and played the first notes, she was watching him in wide-eyed wonder and said: "I've just fallen in love!" 

Very good text, very good commentary. 

[dustyvalentino]

Mysterious is the word that describes somebody who actively wants to be perceived as mysterious, Mark just wants to be private and successful. All we need to know is that he is cool. Everything he does is cool (give me an example of something he's done that's NOT cool, human relations aside). It's a very rare and very special breed of people, the ones I have a very deep affection towards. They know what they want, they respect their talent, they stay humble and grounded at all times, and they work hard. Mark deserves to be knighted more than anyone. Hopefully, one day, he'll get this recognition for a lifetime of being cool.

It's true, the man just oozes cool.

[dustyvalentino]

I'm looking at Mark from the perspective of one who once was a die-hard fan and today barely listens to his music. When I compare him with other artists of his stature and caliber, I think there's nothing particularly mysterious about Mark. He's a private man who doesn't like much public attention, but the same goes for tons of other artists as well. Dylan is mysterious, but not Mark. And as for cool, it's probably the last thing I'd say to describe Mark. He goes his own way, ignores trends, but does that make him particularly cool? Not in my book.

I THINK you are from the UK like I am? If so you are probably a bit bemused to see MK described as "cool".

MK and DS were never "cool" here. Quite the opposite in fact. A lot of this was down to journos who were/are musical snobs, but I still find it amusing.

Ironically, DS maybe is quite cool now with young people who discover it on Spotify and don't have the 80s yuppie baggage.

[Pottel]

Now I regret I wrote something on AMIT again.

a little feedback and you give up already quizzy? getting old or something?
did not take you for a quitter...

[Pottel]

Quizzy excluded personal human relations and talked about him as an artist and musician being cool. Peterromer just had a bad day at the office obviously to come up with such a toxic reply. Of course Quizzy can state that everything MK does is cool. It's an opinion, facts have nothing to do with it. So Peterromer come on, you can do better! You write here very rarely. Is Quizzy triggering you that much? Please read his post again, I can't find anything in it that deserves such a heavy reply.

Just for the record, I also do not think that everything MK does is cool. (Whisky/Gin endorsement, using Kemper, not trying to make peace with David, writing Terminal Tribute To ... ) But my opinion is as valid as yours or Quizzy's. No need to attack me or him. Greetings!

LE

What's wrong with whisky/gin endorsement really? I bought ten bottles of his Portobello gin.
Would love to know which kind of whisky MK drinks on a cold, rainy saturday night. He seems like a Lagavulin 16 kind of guy.

pretty sure he is a Yamazaki kind of guy
Japanese Whisky for life!

[Pottel]

Mysterious is the word that describes somebody who actively wants to be perceived as mysterious, Mark just wants to be private and successful. All we need to know is that he is cool. Everything he does is cool (give me an example of something he's done that's NOT cool, human relations aside). It's a very rare and very special breed of people, the ones I have a very deep affection towards. They know what they want, they respect their talent, they stay humble and grounded at all times, and they work hard. Mark deserves to be knighted more than anyone. Hopefully, one day, he'll get this recognition for a lifetime of being cool.

It's true, the man just oozes cool.

stroking that belgian sheperd reminds me of that other sheperd lover but that one was active in a totally different field...the evil kind

[hunter v2.0]

I'm looking at Mark from the perspective of one who once was a die-hard fan and today barely listens to his music. When I compare him with other artists of his stature and caliber, I think there's nothing particularly mysterious about Mark. He's a private man who doesn't like much public attention, but the same goes for tons of other artists as well. Dylan is mysterious, but not Mark. And as for cool, it's probably the last thing I'd say to describe Mark. He goes his own way, ignores trends, but does that make him particularly cool? Not in my book.

I THINK you are from the UK like I am? If so you are probably a bit bemused to see MK described as "cool".

MK and DS were never "cool" here. Quite the opposite in fact. A lot of this was down to journos who were/are musical snobs, but I still find it amusing.

Ironically, DS maybe is quite cool now with young people who discover it on Spotify and don't have the 80s yuppie baggage.

I'm not from the UK, but MK was never considered cool or hip where I live either, not outside fan circles. Quite popular and generally liked, but not cool nor mysterious. More like a regular guy who happens to be good at making music and playing the guitar.

[Robson]

I used the word mysterious in the context of my first post. Maybe “mysterious” wasn't the best word but I couldn't find another word