The Malarians at the Sierra Grill
The Bay State Hotel in Northampton Mass. was one of the great music clubs on the planet. During the mid 90’s bands from around the world played there. There was no faking it, the audience was inches from your face and they demanded honesty. For some time Mal Thursday handled the bookings and his own band ” The Malarians” played there often. The Bay state is now called the Sierra Grill and aside from having great food the new owner O’Brien has resurrected the music scene. Last week the Malarians played there for what may be their one and only reunion and they seriously rocked the room.There were ghosts in the club of the people that gave it character and have passed on to that big bar in the sky. Ron, the man who owned the Bay state during its heyday appeared at the end of the bar nursing his Budwiser: Woody the blind poet showed up; Harry the chef was seen in the bathroom making the “special sauce” and I swore I saw Larry the Queen waiter who once had a legendary fist fight with Mal in the crowd. I think Larry won that one but later on his boy friend murdered him and buried him in his basement . It was a great night. Here is a link to the Malarians Myspace page
June 14, 2010 @ 10:31 pm
Larry got murdered? Holy shiite! Anyway, I did not lose that “fight.” I landed one drunken haymaker and bloodied his baldy head. His crime: he unplugged the Pajama Slave Dancers because their fans were slam dancing. Or so I’m told…
Thanks for being there, and for documenting the heat. It was a wild trip, indeed.
The band sounded great, and I was touched by all the love in the room. Such a refreshing change from the last time I was there ten years ago, when all I got was pointing and laughing, and “What have you done for me lately?”
Or so I’m told.
June 14, 2010 @ 11:35 pm
Great show Mal. Yea, that’s a true story about Larry, probably all your fault. Did you know that I actually had Malaria….twice.