Twenty-First Century Digital Boy: Jesse Malin Comes Home: Velvet Elk Records First Anniversary Holiday Party

Early this morning, as the first annual Velvet Elk Records Holiday Show was winding down, headliner Jesse Malin recontextualized remarks he made earlier in the show (and on many other occasions, in song and elsewhere) and dedicated a rare cover to two people who died suddenly very recently. One of them was Nick Alexander, his former merchandise manager who was killed at Le Bataclan in Paris during an Islamic terrorist attack in November while he was working at an Eagles of Death Metal concert. The other was Lemmy Kilmister, the legend from Hawkwind and Motorhead (and a close friend of several friends of mine) who died on Monday, four days after his seventieth birthday and two days after he was diagnosed with cancer. Jesse fondly remembered his friend and employee. He told the packed Bowery Ballroom not to mourn Lemmy’s death but to celebrate his relatively long life (especially considering his life’s style and pace). He commented that they heard the news about Lemmy after finishing rehearsal Monday night, implying the performance of the next song might be less than stellar. It wasn’t. Harry, Jesse’s assistant, placed lyric sheets onstage, and Jesse, multi-instrumentalist Derek Cruz, bass guitarist Catherine Popper, and drummer Randy Schrager launched the perfect tribute to both men: Motorhead’s “(We Are) The Road Crew”.

It has been quite a year for Jesse and company. In addition to releasing two albums and experiencing much else (some of which is summarized above), Jesse and his collaborator Don DiLego launched a new record label. In 2015. (Jesse humorously considered it “the worst decision” they could make.) Both of Jesse’s 2015 albums were released on it. Although they both own (or at least manage) The Bowery Electric nearby and traditionally perform a holiday show there, they decided to hold a first annual holiday show for Velvet Elk Records at the larger Bowery Ballroom nearby (formerly a shoe store, according to lifelong New Yorker Jesse). Jesse headlined; Hollis Brown, Don, and Hidden Cities opened.

Jesse’s set was similar to the one he played in Philadelphia on December 17, but it was longer, better, and had many more special guests, including members of Hollis Brown. Although he didn’t play on the aforementioned cover, an extra keyboard player not present in Philadelphia, Everett Forman (if I heard Jesse correctly), played during most of Jesse’s set to resonant effect. Also, Jesse’s usual loquacity returned at home. (“A former manager told me not to talk so much.”) Although New York was at least as loud and often as raucous, the slower songs were a little more subtle, and the horns and Derek’s vocals were much more audible and felt. (Don’s extemporaneous set was significantly different from his opening set in Philadelphia and included Bruce Springsteen’s “State Trooper”.) I have written about and praised Jesse and his music at length, and I don’t have much to add anymore. His themes of “P.M.A.” (positive mental attitude) and reveling in the joy of being alive were never more acute and emphasized than they were last night and this morning. He has peeled the “P.M.A.” tape off of his black Les Paul, but his attitude has never been more positive. Highlights last night included Ryan Adams, the producer of “The Fine Art of Self Destruction” (Jesse’s first solo album), joining the band with his black Fender Mustang or Jaguar on four songs from the album. The magnificent and exuberant “Oh Sheena”, one of the best songs on the two new albums, was not played in Philadelphia. And the self-described “Mr. Rogers of emocore” entered the audience and exhorted its members to sit down during the reflective “Bar Life” (also not played in Philadelphia), turning the Bowery Ballroom into a kind of secular church. Jesse has frequently commented that he is not religious and that the live music venue is his church. He said it again last night during “Bar Life”. While I would never put words in his mouth, my notes include his remark, “People go to war over this shit.” He was talking about religion. I think he was commenting about his reluctance to embrace religion. His art and his secular sermon early this morning indicate that he understands religion’s destructiveness as well as what is good about it that must be salvaged and secularized.

If you enjoy or tolerate rock music, do yourself a favor and give Jesse Malin a listen.

Jesse Malin

First Annual Velvet Records Holiday Show

The Bowery Ballroom

New York

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Support: Hollis Brown, Don DiLego, Hidden Cities

Set:

She’s So Dangerous

Boots of Immigration

Addicted

The Year That I Was Born

Fall From Grace [? unidentified cover--title from stage setlist]

Mona Lisa

San Francisco

The Fine Art of Self Destruction [with Ryan Adams]

Downliner [with Ryan Adams]

High Lonesome [with Ryan Adams]

Wendy [with Ryan Adams]

Turn Up the Mains

Outsiders

Whitestone City Limits

She Don’t Love Me Now

Here’s the Situation

Bar Life

Death Star

All the Way from Moscow

encore:

Brooklyn

Oh Sheena

Frankie*

Society Sally [with Don DiLego]

Winter [with a member of the Counting Crows]

(We Are) The Road Crew

You Know It’s Dark When Atheists Start to Pray [with Don DiLego]

*The setlist says “Frankie”; I think it’s D Generation’s “Frankie” (and I think D Generation’s Richard Bacchus joined for that one). It might have been a cover of Suicide’s “Frankie Teardrop”.