Jesse Malin Unplugged at Penn

The storytelling side of Jesse Malin came out to play last Thursday night at a special event at the University of Pennsylvania's charming Kelly Writers House.  

At his concerts, Jesse's fans are treated to rambling, entertaining stories between songs.  But this time around, the stories took center stage.  And what stories they were--about the early importance of KISS and Jim Croce in his life, about starting a punk band, Heart Attack, at twelve years old and playing Max's Kansas City, about joining the hard core band D Generation and trying to live up to the strict "politics of punk rock church," about meeting Bruce Springsteen and duetting with him on the song "Broken Radio," and about the power of speaking your wishes out loud.  

Music critic Anthony DeCurtis only needed to ask a few questions and Jesse was rolling.

And Jesse even treated us to a few songs in between the anecdotes.

This unusual event was the result of a pledge made in Jesse's recent Kickstarter campaign by someone with ties to U. Penn.   Before they broke out the wine and cheese, Jesse treated us to one last song from his eagerly anticipated new album, due out in November.  And now I'm anticipating it even more eagerly.