Mike's Big Break

Today I returned to one of my favorite places to see a concert...a place I had not been to since about 2000...the 9:30 club. For those of you who have never heard of it, the 9:30 club is a fairly small place that hosts all types of bands...ranging from up-and-coming acts to already established superstars. Tonight we went to see a (hopefully) up-and-coming star...our very own Mike Mallick! That's right, he was making his big stage debut. His brother Greg plays in a band called Trustfall (who also was scheduled to perform tonight), and Greg got Mike to open up for them. All in all, there were four acts on the bill: Mike Mallick, Adam Swink, Trustfall and Emmet Swimming. I had never heard of any of these other acts, but I'm usually up for experiencing new things. Bring it on!

Mike performed about five or six songs, including "Carry On," one that's familiar to many of us who have heard him sing before. For some of his songs, he only performed about half of them, like he was teasing us or something. As you can see from the picture, it was him playing and singing solo. All in all, he did a great job!





The next singer was Adam Swink, a high school senior who was also making his debut performance at the 930 club. His songs were sort of in the same style as Mike's, but he definitely had his own unique sound. His voice had a nasal quality to it, but it still sounded good. If he keeps developing and working on his craft, we could be hearing his nasal pipes on the radio someday.



Next up was Trustfall. They apparently have a pretty large following, because by the time they took the stage, the club had filled up considerably. Trustfall consisted of Greg Mallick and three guitar players, all of whom, I was told, were each about 19 years old. To hear them play though, you'd think they were seasoned vetrans. They were great! I was definitely impressed. Remember the name Trustfall...I would not be surprised at all if we see them being interviewed on MTV or VH1 sometime soon.





Emmet Swimming was the closing act. They by far drew the largest crowd, but I liked them the least. Nothing about their sound appealed to me. Ah well...I still wish them the best of luck, and if they ever blow up big, I can always say I've seen them live.

After about four or five of their songs, we all decided to get out of there and catch some dinner at one of DC's most popular hole-in-the-wall joints, Ben's Chili Bowl. I had heard about this place a lot, but never eaten there. It has been in the community since 1958 and many celebrities have passed through there, as was evidenced by the numbeous celebrity pictures on their walls. Even President Obama stopped through for a chili dog. So we came in and shortened our life span by a few days by eating chili dogs, chili burgers, chili fries and cheese fries. And I tell ya, they were GOOD. I won't really miss those few days anyway...