McLeod shares past of rock and roll

The seamless cohesion of musical passion and economic common sense is not better personified than here at Virginia Tech in economics professor Mark McLeod. Former front man for “The Kind,” a Grateful Dead cover band, McLeod spent the late ‘80s and early ‘90s traveling the eastern seaboard playing gigs, working odd jobs and frustrating his former professors, who’s economic tutelage he abandoned to pursue rock ‘n’ roll glory.

“It was just something I always wanted to do,” said McLeod. “There’s nothing like playing music when you have an awesome band and a crowd that’s into you.”

Looking at the chronology of major events in McLeod’s post-graduate life, one gets the impression everything is out of order. McLeod did not even learn guitar until after he graduated from the College of William and Mary and immediately after passing his graduate school qualifying exams he hit the road with “The Kind” for the better part of a decade. Finally, after his eight-year hiatus, he returned to receive his Ph.D. and become a professor.

McLeod’s roundabout story of temporarily abandoning economics for music is an unconventional testimony to the value of discipline.

“You get into this cycle where the more music you play the better you get and the better you get the more you play,” said McLeod. “Eventually you can pound it out like a monkey at a type-writer.”

In their hey-day “The Kind” played over 300 straight weeks at The South Main Café, now known as Baylee’s.

“I remember one stretch where I played 21 gigs in 20 days. You can’t even talk after doing that,” said McLeod.

After eight years of constant travel and not much in the way of income, McLeod left behind the world of Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter and delved into academia full throttle. He pursued and attained his Ph.D. here at Virginia Tech in economics and left the entertainment of the fraternal masses at South Main Café to others.

The sweet irony of it all is that those years spent rocking out more than amply prepared McLeod for life as a professor.

“There is no doubt in my mind that the skill of performing in a band and the skill of teaching are similar,” McLeod said. “I came back and just started getting great evaluations as a teacher.”

Richard Ashley, an economics professor, can testify to his keen ability to excite students on a subject that can sometimes be very dry.

“He has a superb reputation around the department for the way he teaches and for his (rapport) with students,” Ashley said.

How then should one feel about Mark McLeod? Has he betrayed the whole concept of rock and roll and sold out for a life of supply and demand, monopolies and economic theory? Or even worse, is he a washed up hippie, slogging through a hated day job while inwardly yearning for a return to better days long gone? The apparent truth is that McLeod is neither. Thankfully, his love for economics and music peacefully coexist.

When asked about how some might perceive his current position as contradictory to his former life, McLeod responded with optimism.

“You get out in the real world and a lot of people think that academics are not part of the establishment,” McLeod said. “I don’t see a conflict of interest there.”

It is clear however, that at this point, McLeod’s focus is the instruction of economics. “Music is just a hobby for me now,” he said. “You can’t stay up until 2 o’clock in the morning playing a gig and then try to teach an 8 a.m. class.”

Other signs point to this as well. His hesitation and careful choice of words when asked about the party life on the road leads one to believe there are certain adventures that have been left behind, not to be retold to his students.

Regardless of whether McLeod sowed his share of wild oats during his years of musical escape, he is currently an esteemed, award-winning faculty member. As a recent top 10 finalist for the Students Choice Award for Faculty Member of the Year, McLeod has earned the respect of both his fellow faculty and his students.

“He uses odd examples that catch our attention and then I can remember the material a lot better,” said Carla Truex, a student of McLeod’s and junior communication major.

In 2001, McLeod decided it was time to release a long overdue solo CD. “OutLoud,” his first album, features some of the original members of “The Kind.” McLeod’s lyrics run the gamut and are not without a fair dose of philosophical ramblings.

“My wife teases me,” McLeod said. “She says that I can’t write a simple song. I start writing something simple and it becomes the meaning of the universe.”

McLeod’s long trip here at Tech is coming to a close this year, as he prepares to begin a teaching career at Penn State University. According to members of the economics department, it was a desperate effort to retain McLeod, but in the end Penn State had more to offer.

“The department tried really hard to keep him,” said Ashley. “We had the full support of the college and university, but in the end we just don’t have the resources to compete with Penn State, which is a shame.”

As McLeod leaves the town where he first fell in love with performing music, he seems to know that despite success as an economics teacher, it is still his days as lead singer of “The Kind” that excite students the most.

“People in my class always ask me to break out the guitar and sing a song or something,” McLeod said. “But when I play a gig no one wants me to talk about economics.”