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Jesse Malin, in a pre-2023 photo.<\/p>\n
\u201cI try hiding the pain because I don\u2019t want to make people worry or treat me different. \u2026 But it\u2019s always here,\u201d said Jesse Malin during his \u201cSilver Manhattan: A Musical Guide to Survival\u201d show at The Vogel at The Count Basie Center for the Arts, Aug. 14. \u201c\u2029I\u2019m in pain right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
At several points in the 100-minute show \u2014 which opened a two-night stand at the Red Bank venue \u2014 Malin, 59, talked about the pain he is still experiencing as the result of a 2023 spinal stroke that left him paralyzed from the waist down. But the show was more about his triumph over adversity than the adversity itself. It proved he not only can still perform his songs as well as he ever has, but that \u2014 despite his limited mobility, and the pain \u2014 he still has a commanding stage presence, and can even project a sense of irrepressible youthful enthusiasm.<\/p>\n
Throughout Malin\u2019s career, he has always come across as a true believer in the power of rock \u2018n\u2019 roll. Nothing about that has changed.<\/p>\n
The show, which originated last year at The Gramercy Theatre in New York and had not previously been presented in New Jersey, is a unique combination of music and autobiographical storytelling, with Malin\u2019s six backing musicians sometimes playing characters in his stories. Malin calls it a play, not a concert. It has a co-writer (Lauren Ludwig), a director (Ellie Heyman), lighting and sound designers, and so on.<\/p>\n
\u201cSilver Manhattan\u201d opened with a shock that signalled how far Malin was willing to go to tell his story. He was carried through the audience, to the stage, on a stretcher, in a kind of procession with his saxophone player in front of him and his trumpet player behind him. He then performed most of the show in a wheelchair, accompanying himself on guitar, but ended with an inspiring demonstration of how far he has come in his physical rehabilitation.<\/p>\n
His monologues zigzagged all around his life: his childhood and family ties \u2026 his stints in the bands Heart Attack and D Generation \u2026 his emergence as an acclaimed solo artist \u2026 the night that he suffered the stroke (remembered in vivid, harrowing detail) \u2026 his initial depression when he learned how severe his condition was (\u201cWhat if I don\u2019t get better? How will I perform? Yeah, I play guitar, but what I really play onstage is my body. It\u2019s broken. I\u2019m something I don\u2019t recognize\u201d) \u2026 his participation in a program in Argentina that attempts to speed the healing process with stem cells \u2026 his decision to put \u201cSilver Manhattan\u201d together.<\/p>\n
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JOHN CAVANAUGH<\/p>\n
JESSE MALIN<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought if we did this play, there would be something cathartic about telling this completely true story, but when we were rehearsing it, it was fucking traumatic to go over again,\u201d he said. \u201cBut to do it with you guys, tonight, and in person, it feels really uplifting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another frequent theme was his love of his lifelong hometown, New York. He began his first monologue of the night, in fact, by remembering typical wild New York nights, before his accident, of making new friends, discovering new music and movies, dancing, falling in love and more. These nights wouldn\u2019t end, he said, until you \u201cjump back in bed just before the sun comes up and that last garbage truck rolls by \u2026 anything\u2019s possible here.\u201d<\/p>\n
At another point, he told some of the crazy stories he has collected from his many years as a touring rock artist. He\u2019s basically seen it all, he said, \u201cbut in all that time, you know what I never saw? A frontman in a wheelchair.\u201d<\/p>\n
Take away all the talking, and you were basically left with a full-length concert, ranging from quiet, reflective songs (he sounded positively forlorn on \u201cRoom 13\u201d) to the raucous rock of \u201cPrisoners of Paradise\u201d (performed as the show\u2019s musical climax) and full-throttle punk in the form of the D Generation song \u201cNo Way Out\u201d and Heart Attack\u2019s \u201cTrendies.\u201d Malin also performed Heart Attack\u2019s New York Dolls-like \u201cEverybody Wants to Rock and Roll\u201d in a segment during which he talked about how that band got its start by playing at CBGB and Max\u2019s Kansas City. (Bree Sharp, a singer and guitarist in Malin\u2019s \u201cSilver Manhattan\u201d band, memorably played a cantankerous CBGB booker.)<\/p>\n
Before singing the show\u2019s last song, \u201cYou Know It\u2019s Dark When Atheists Start to Pray,\u201d Malin mentioned that while touring is still very difficult for him, another series of New York \u201cSilver Manhattan\u201d shows may take place in the spring. He also said that, since the stroke, \u201cthis huge outpouring of love and support \u2026 like, beyond anything I could have imagined,\u201d is what has kept him going, in his recovery.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat and music,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was tremendous, and still is.\u201d<\/p>\n
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JESSE MALIN<\/p>\n
Here are the songs performed (in full or at least partially) at The Vogel:<\/p>\n
\u201cTurn Up the Mains\u201d
\u201cHere\u2019s the Situation\u201d
\u201cSway\u201d
\u201cWhitestone City Limits\u201d
\u201cDeath Star\u201d
\u201cNo Way Out\u201d
\u201cEverybody Wants to Rock and Roll\u201d
\u201cBurning the Bowery\u201d
\u201cRoom 13\u201d
\u201cRevelations\u201d
\u201cTrendies\u201d
\u201cBlack Haired Girl\u201d
\u201cI Would Do It for You\u201d
\u201cPrisoners of Paradise\u201d
\u201cMy Little Life\u201d
\u201cYou Know It\u2019s Dark When Atheists Start to Pray\u201d<\/p>\n
Jesse Malin will present a holiday show at Irving Plaza in New York, Dec. 11 at 7 p.m., with a portion of the proceeds benefiting The Christopher Reeve Foundation. Visit ticketmaster.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n ____________________________<\/p>\n
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