Yahoo Lifestyle Elvis Costello, Lucinda Williams, Steven Van Zandt and Many More Turn Out for Jesse Malin Benefit Concerts in New York
If there’s a patron saint of New York City’s rock scene, it’s Jesse Malin. The frontman for the bands Heart Attack (a punk outfit he formed when he was 14) and D Generation, as well as a prolific solo artist, he’s been a vibrant presence on the city’s venues, rocker bars — some of which he’s owned — and extended social scene for nearly four decades, and seems to know everybody.
So when he suffered a rare spinal stroke that left him paralyzed from the waist down last May, his friends rallied for him — with the benefit album “Silver Patron Saints. The Songs of Jesse Malin” — featuring covers of his songs by Bruce Springsteen, Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong, Lucinda Williams, Bleachers, Susanna Hoffs, Ian Hunter, Counting Crows and many others — and a two-night all-star concert at New York’s Beacon Theater earlier this week. Both the triple-vinyl album, released in September on Glassnote Records, and the show will benefit Malin’s Sweet Relief artist fund.
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Guests at the concerts included Lucinda Williams duetting with Elvis Costello on the Rolling Stones’ “Wild Horses,” Rickie Lee Jones, Steven Van Zandt, Dinosaur Jr.’s J. Mascis, Counting Crows’ Adam Duritz, Alejandro Escovedo, Jakob Dylan, Butch Walker and many others, with spoken introductions from Mary Louise Parker, Matt Dillon, Fred Armisen and even a second castmember from “The Sopranos,” Michael Imperioli.
Only in the Malinverse could such a cast of characters come together.
Despite the retrospective vibe of the shows, it wasn’t really a “this is your life” except for some mentions of his hardcore days with Heart Attack, hanging out at the legendary East Village venue A7 — “wearing sunglasses like a cross between Donald Fagan and Ray Charles” — and his early days growing up in Queens , with friends who have passed and those who are still his best pals (like Jimmy Gestapo from Murphys Law).
Instead, the event focused on Malin the singer-songwriter — with songs spanning his solo albums “Glitter in the Gutter,” “Before the War,” “Sunset Kids” and “Sad and Beautiful World — and lots of covers, usually with twists, like a version of the Stones’ “Sway” that started off sounding more like Public Image, and the Ramones’ “Rock and Roll Radio” with a melody more like the Buzzcocks’ Pete Shelley. Night one wound up with an all-hands cover of the Clash’s “Rudie Can’t Fail” — although the highlight of the night for his friends, apart from seeing Malin look and sing better than ever, was seeing him stand up to sing — a major feat considering his condition, and he did it three times.
Night two of Malin’s Rock and Roll Circus followed a similar program but with some surprises. Butch Walker and Adam Weiner from Low Cut Connie both performed before Gogol Bordello launched into a nod to Jesse’s hardcore years, two violin-and-acoustic-guitar-driven songs, one of which was an Agnostic Front cover. “Respectos maximous to the New York hardcore scene,” said frontman Eugene Hutz after they’d finished.
Adam Duritz performed his song “Long December,” getting the crowd to wave along, and Replacements bassist Tommy Stinson covered Malin’s “Riding On The Subway”; Walker returned and brought the energy with a cover of Malin’s “Modern World,” followed by the Hold Steady covering his “Death Star.”
The night closed again with an all-hands version of “Rock and Roll Radio,” but with an extra surprise guest: Santa.
Malin posted on Instagram after night one, “It felt so good to be home again on the stage last night with my band and with my people,” he wrote. “Thank you to everyone who played and everyone who bought a ticket. I have the best fans in the world. I am truly blessed. Thank you for all the PMA and love.”
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