The Blow draws Cave crowd

Indie artist Khaela Maricich performs for Rock the Cave

Jon Harthun - harthujj@plu.edu

mast a&e columnist

Rock the Cave is geared towards bringing local and independent acts on campus. So far, turnout hasn’t been anything to write home about. That was, until Rock the Cave was able to get The Blow to play.

Yes, Khaela Maricich (otherwise known as The Blow) graced our private school campus last night, dancing along to backing beats, telling background stories about nearly all her songs and being overall a quirky, loveable goofball.

Maricich drew in a crowd of over 50 students The Cave. A majority of her performance consisted of “Paper Television” tracks (sans Jonah Bechtolt, whom she recorded the album with), as well as a few off of “Poor Aim: Love Songs”.

She also did an improvised accapella take on “My Sharona” which shouldn’t go without noting, as well as ending “Hey Boy” with James Taylor’s classic, “Fire & Rain.”

Though somewhat reserved and mild-mannered off-stage, Maricich beamed with confidence and energy once the stagelights came on. She ranted about songwriting: writing songs about the universe, attempting to write positive, “in the moment” love songs, and her analyzing of romantic songs picked by people on karaoke nights.

Thanks to her VH1 Storyteller-esque performance, I was able to realize how deep her songs really go—much further than their peppy exterior might lead you to believe.

I’m glad to have witnessed a big step in Rock the Cave’s progress. Hopefully student attention and involvement will follow in the wake of last Thursday’s successful show.

Photo by David Centioli

The Blow, a one-person band headed by Khaela Maricich, performed at The Cave last Thursday courtesy of Rock the Cave. For the fledgling group, this is a milestone that they hope will carry them to further success.