Mallman's Final Report

Mallman on night 7 of 7. Photo by Dan Schultz - Mordac.org

The Mark Mallman 7 Day party ended last night with probably the best attendance yet this week, partly due to the large crowds that had shown up to see Vicious Vicious and Turantula Skulls. It was sad to see it end. You wonder how many nights Mark could have just kept on playing without either getting exhausted or seeing his audience start to fall off. There are literally dozens of people who went all seven nights, and that includes fan and members of other bands who weren't even directly involved in the show.

The HowWasTheShow MM7 Photo Gallery includes photos from every night but Monday. (If you have Monday photos, email them in to blood08bill@photos.flicker.com.

Also, Dan Schultz of Mordac.org has put up his own gallery of photos from nights 4, 5 and 7.

Here's Mark's report from Saturday night:

"Sunday afternoon at 2 pm brings to me a van full of gear to unload in the summer sun. Alas, my concept has come to fruition. In ways this was an epic retrospective for me in the band I guess, but mostly it was a way for us and everybody who came and who played to have fun during the summer you know, for people just to drink cheap and see free rock shows. In many ways, it was a blissful week for me, and in many ways quite dark and empty. The times I spent on stage were glorious. Each night was an adventure that presented unique challenges 180 degrees from MARATHON 1 and 2.

Last nights show included mostly tracks from the SEVEN YEARS CD, but also some newer stuff, and some funny songs. It was a Saturday night set fitting for a warm summer corner bar on a warm summer evening. The Pooch came up and rapped again, but I accidentally hit him in the mouth -- oops. We rocked, we roared, we rumbled. The set finished with me tearing down the numbered backdrops and screaming about being a serious songwriter -- mostly truth, but the delivery was in jest. We played "7 Years" and finished with "Butchers Ballad." After the show, I signed stuff, and people were super nice. The energy was good, and I could tell we'd succeeded in all having fun times, which is what life is mostly about -- though I've found it hard to come by outside of rock these days. In the office of the bar, Chris Dorn said he felt like he might cry, we laughed at him. It's because of Chris that this whole thing happened. He booked the shows, let it be free, set the thing up. It was a lot of work. Now it's over. We had a party at the Idle Hands practice space, but all I drank was Fresca. It was a mellow evening, and my messy head hit the pillow at 5:30 after a long conversation with my ex about owhy it didn't work between us.

I dreamed about the ocean. It was calm and flat, like somebody covered it in Saran Warp and out it in a refrigerator.

This last week was a lot like being on the road only without the hotels and gas station food. Peter Anderson said to me, "My body feels like we're on the road, we should stop at a Pump and Munch on our way to the club, it would make sense."

Some people claim they know for what reason they were born. I guess it cannot be proved either way whether they're right or wrong. Some people live like insects and scavengers; I've met just as many in the white collar world as I have in nightclubs and record companies. Most of us, I think, just kind of go on intuition. We follow maybe what we think might be a good idea. I believe I fall into that category -- just a person who follows his intuition, with all the bag of tricks to be handed out along the way. Just like it's been an interesting/fascinating/exhilarating 7 years, it's been an exhausting/underwhelming/heartbreaking 7 years in the music industry as well. I've written a lot of songs since I was a kid. I don't know how many more I've got in me. I guess we'll just wait and see.

It's time now for me to go back into the lab, with a pen and a pad and get my damn piano off! There are more songs to be written. That's why I been playing this game to begin with."