Live Last Night: Marah



The Remains, Big Star, The Fleshtones, Tommy Keene, High Back
Chairs. Every rock-n-roll obsessive has their personal list of bands
who shoulda-coulda-woulda been as big as the Beatles. For those whose
list includes Marah -- if pressed, Americana-soaked guitar rock with a
wickedly beautiful poetic twist works as a definition -- last night's
show at Iota was another reason to believe, distilled into two hours of
impeccably styled gutbucket rock.

(Read the rest of the review after the jump.) The
final date in what was conceived as a series of acoustic shows while
guitarist/singer Serge Bielanko (with brother Dave the only constants
since the band's mid-90's inception) stepped away for the birth of his
first child, the tour had escalated into a full-throttle Marah joyride
by the time it got to Arlington, with guitarist/vocalist/songwriter
Dave wild-eyed in the driver's seat.

Part Stones-Petty-Springsteen derived rock show ("Angels of
Destruction," "It's Only Money, Tyrone"), part unspooling of
street-folk vignettes ("My Heart Is The Bums On The Street") and part
something else (Skip James's "Mighty Good Leader," the theme from "All
in the Family"), Dave climaxed the tour with panache.

And while Serge's stinging guitar leads and harmonica were sorely
missed, Dave -- in front of a solid rhythm section and keyboardist
Christine Smith -- compensated with sheer energy. In between stories of
his fruitless quest to get a Virginia ham and using the band's van to
drive college kids to the polls last November, he nearly drowned in his
own sweat doing what he always does -- clawing an infinitesimal bit
closer to the top of the rock-and-roll mountain.

For his fans, torn between praying he makes it and secretly wishing
Marah remains an Iota-scale band, being there was what is always is:
everything.

-- PATRICK FOSTERhttp://voices.washingtonpost.com/postrock/2009/02/live_last_night_marah.html