I have to admit I knew little of Jesse Malin before I purchased a nice seat on the aisle in the loge of the Beacon Theatre for the first of two Jesse Malin benefit concerts that took place earlier this week.The line up, that included Lucinda Williams, sounded interesting so I went expecting the evening’s guests to perform their own sets to help raise money for Malin’s medical bills. What we actually got though was a Jesse Malin concert with cameos, that included Little Steven and Elvis Costello, and was pretty damn good. Malin and his band primarily sat throughout the performance, much like Peter Frampton had at the Beacon Theatre during a recent show due to his own medical issues. The audience had a cool downtown New York City vibe and Malin proved to be an extremely likable front man. The gal next to me told me that Malin owned Bowery Electric and parts of about four other bars and it was easy to see by the support in the crowd, and some pre- show publicity, he is an extremely popular guy. The same gal told me she used to work at The Ritz (now Webster Hall) back in the day and we traded some stories about the heyday of the venue; I saw some incredible shows there to include U2 and Lou Reed and had numerous memorable, and some foggy, experiences there. Sometimes you have to roll the dice and take a chance chasing down live music experiences and I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this show.

Memory Motel

Rock on!

GQ