Todd is God

Jesse Malin is one of these artists I have been meaning to see for a while, and have just missed getting tickets a couple of times. There was an additional attraction this time, the appearance of Holly Brook as support act. Sadly, Brook had to pull out of the dates and was replaced by Dave Bielanko and Christine Smith of the band Marah (Smith is only a recent joiner) Bielanko and Smith turned out to be a real treat. Bielanko's gritty, dirty, alt rock/country/springteen tinged sounds, sounding great banged out on an acoustic with Smith's fine piano playing and backing vocals adding a nice depth to the songs. Two performers to check out. Indeed, Smith was in for an all-nighter, as she was also providing the same backing vocals and piano accompaniment for Malin himself. Malin is an energetic, funny and engaging performer (if not the greatest singer) - as happy and comfortable, chewing the fat between songs as he is playing them (something you could not say for his friend Ryan ...