Finding Jon Brion, Day 5: The Lost Day!
Yeah… got out of the writing groove again last week and didn’t manage to finish my weeklong tribute to musical genius Jon Brion… I’ll get into this regular blogging thing again eventually (I think).
Anyhow, better late than never, right?
The final dimension of Jon Brion’s brilliance is one few have the pleasure of experiencing for themselves—the live concert performance. Brion used to perform weekly shows at Largo in LA up until about a year ago, when he contracted tendonitis and cut back to about a show a month… aside from those performances, he rarely tours (for obvious reasons—what would he promote?) and makes a few odd club and festival appearances that you usually don’t hear of until after they’ve passed. Nevertheless, bootlegs abound on the internet, giving us all a small peek into a Jon Brion show.
And what a show it is, with off the cuff covers, singalongs, bizarre mashups, surprise appearances by friends like Fiona Apple and E from Eels… it’s an indie nerd’s dream come true. Jon’s definitely on my list of artists to see before I die, but for now the reasonable quality of these recordings will have to suffice.
Head on over to www.fairfax-avenue.com and check out the goldmine of bootlegs they’ve got there for yourself, or check out two of my personal favorite moments below: a cover of Life on Mars in the jazz piano style of Fats Waller, and Radiohead’s Creep as it might sound performed by Tom Waits… I kid you not.
Jon Brion- Life on Mars (via Fats Waller)
Jon Brion- Creep (as sung by Tom Waits)
Anyhow, better late than never, right?
The final dimension of Jon Brion’s brilliance is one few have the pleasure of experiencing for themselves—the live concert performance. Brion used to perform weekly shows at Largo in LA up until about a year ago, when he contracted tendonitis and cut back to about a show a month… aside from those performances, he rarely tours (for obvious reasons—what would he promote?) and makes a few odd club and festival appearances that you usually don’t hear of until after they’ve passed. Nevertheless, bootlegs abound on the internet, giving us all a small peek into a Jon Brion show.
And what a show it is, with off the cuff covers, singalongs, bizarre mashups, surprise appearances by friends like Fiona Apple and E from Eels… it’s an indie nerd’s dream come true. Jon’s definitely on my list of artists to see before I die, but for now the reasonable quality of these recordings will have to suffice.
Head on over to www.fairfax-avenue.com and check out the goldmine of bootlegs they’ve got there for yourself, or check out two of my personal favorite moments below: a cover of Life on Mars in the jazz piano style of Fats Waller, and Radiohead’s Creep as it might sound performed by Tom Waits… I kid you not.
Jon Brion- Life on Mars (via Fats Waller)
Jon Brion- Creep (as sung by Tom Waits)
posted by Jeff Lakin at 5:57 PM
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