The651.com

Now past the halfway mark on his epic 78-hour music marathon, local rock Mark Mallman doesn’t appear to be losing much steam. We hit up the Turf Club last night for a few hours to watch Mr. Serious get wild with a rotating barrage of backup musicians (There will be 75+ over the 78-hour span!).

Amidst standing on chairs, the occasional high-kick and nonsensical banter about alien abduction, Mallman’s rock n’ roll swagger has remained solidly in tact throughout the duration. The height of Friday night’s melee occurred when Har Mar Superstar, Jeff Quinn, Kermit Carter and sax man Dameun Strange rotated in, joining Mallman and drummer Sean Hoffman, who had been on percussion duty for the past several hours and remained in place until bar close due to a scheduled drummer who didn’t show up.

Mallman flailed about, roaring and gyrating right up until 2am, with the always charismatic Har Mar backing him up on vocals and guitar. A healthy crowd egged him on throughout, raising beers in the air and dancing like their lives depended on it.

After bar close, Mallman dialed it down for his second instrumental-only overnight shift, backed up by Mark McGee and Jehna Wilhelm of To Kill A Petty Bourgeoisie. Still going strong as of 10:30am this morning, the rocker’s spirits are still high, despite showing plenty of signs of fatigue. His commentary is getting weirder as the marathon wears on, providing more-than-quotable sound bytes for fans and bloggers alike. At the time of this post, Mr. Serious is about 43 hours and counting into his marathon (or “Mallman’s Opus” as someone aptly put it last night), and if we know Mark, we know he’ll ride this “wave” until the end.

Fans are able to tune in via live feed to check out Mallman’s antics 24-hours a day HERE.

For some great play-by-play live blogging via City Pages’ Gimme Noise blog, click HERE.

Mark Mallman’s Marathon 3 runs through Sunday night at the Turf Club at 1601 University Avenue in St. Paul. The bar opens to the public at noon each day, with a $7 cover going into effect after 8pm. For more info visit www.turfclub.net or www.markmallman.com.