Marah. Australia. Me.

Like a hot match dropped on a bed of parched pine needles, innocuous moments here in Australia fire up memories of my 'former life' in the States. The following happened today; I posted it on a Marah fan forum. [Never heard of Marah? Shame on you. Listen to them now.]:

Too hot to breathe outside my apartment in Melbourne, Australia. Nearly 104 degrees. Air conditioner shaking and wheezing like a Coast Cities bus chugging up a Parkway hill. Public radio station (yeah, there's a few of those in Australia) playing North American alt-country. I've got my head below the kitchen tap. Suddenly -- blessedly -- a guitar line slips through the cold water around my ears that's as familiar as the smell of the ocean in Asbury Park on a wind-whipped January night.

It's Marah. 'Point Breeze'. Playing on a g-damned Melbourne radio station.

Water drips onto my shoulders as I run into the lounge room. Crisp, clear, audio cheese steak heaven. 'Point Breeze', here in the land of awful Australian Idol pop and derivative rock.

Everything changes.

I'm at the Stone Pony, Dave and Serge and Kirk bouncing like unpicked Lotto balls, willing the crowd to do the same.

I'm at the tiny Saint in Asbury Park, climbing on board Serge's 'Love Train' on a cold winter's night (afterwards, my ex-girlfriend buys a beer for him at the bar while I numbly watch from across the room with a post-Marah-show ear-to-ear grin).

I'm in New York City seeing Marah open for Steve Earle, turning a roomful of hipster doofuses into a pile of sweaty laundry.

I'm at the Paramount Theatre on the Asbury Park boardwalk, watching the dawn of the short-lived 'arena rock' 20,000 Streets Marah but loving it all the same.

I'm in South Philly, its tiny car-choked streets covered with fresh snow, walking into an even tinier room lit with candles and packed with the Marah Mafia for two hours of pre-Christmas cheer.

That's the power of Marah, people. This day went from being just another heat-scorched day working from home to being the day I heard 'Point Breeze' on a g-damned Melbourne radio station.

Nobody needs their redemptive rock the way fashion-tragic, sun-bleached Aussies do. If the boys decide to play here in Australia, they've got a place to crash in Melbourne with this former Asbury Park tramp.

That goes for globe-hopping Marah fans, too.

Cheers.

Marah's latest is called Angels of Destruction! It's available on iTunes. Go. Buy. Be happy.