While Mark Eitzel was born in California and has lived in San Francisco for much of his life, his ties to Ohio, specifically Columbus, are inextricable. It was in Columbus during his college years that Eitzel took his first musical endeavors. The first single by his second band, the Naked Skinnies, which included drummer Greg Bonnell of Moviola, was released by Ron House in 1981 before they moved to San Francisco, where they disintegrated and Eitzel formed American Music Club. There, Columbus’ cast of characters and locales continued to inform his songwriting in AMC classics like “Jenny,” “Nightwatchman” and “I Broke My Promise.”

Eitzel reportedly suffered a heart attack in May, but has returned to the stage. He will be at the Knitting Factory tonight, opening for Kathryn Calder, and tomorrow he will take part in the Happy Ending series at Joe’s Pub.