Life Goes Off

*UPDATE*
Here is a link to video I shot at the Canal Room of Jon Brion performing one of my favorite songs, the Kinks' Waterloo Sunset.

http://s58.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=123TJBP5WHZRN3OF5P8BXJQIBL

I'll be honest...the Jon Brion show did not have a promising start. It wasn't anything to do with JB, but rather the Canal Room. Doors were supposed to open at 7:30, but not anticipating the lines, even though they had sold roughly 300+ of the 450 capacity tickets online through will call, you'd think they would have had a clue. So, we had to wait outside in the rain and cold for close to an hour before we could even get inside. And then once inside, we couldn't get near as close to the stage as I would've liked due to the club being seemingly over-booked. However, once JB walked on stage at around 8:50 (show scheduled to start at 8), all was forgotten and I witnessed what is probably the most joyous, mind-blowing musical experience I've ever had.

Jon Brion is a musical genius, a savant whose love for both the history of pop music as well as playing shines through in his stage presence and is transmitted to his audience. I wish I had a complete set list of everything he played, but here are some highlights:

• Sexy Sadie played in the style of Thelonius Monk
• A few songs from Meaningless, his only solo album - "Trouble" and "Same Mistakes"
• A beautiful cover of the Kinks' Waterloo Sunset (Murph -- I shot a 3 minute video of this with my camera. I will find a way to burn to CD and ship to you or post it online for all to download/stream). Coming from out of nowhere (JB didn't ask for it), about 10-15 audience members near the front of the stage sang 3-part harmonies that were actually pretty and JB was loving it.
• Roxanne played on the piano in the style of at least 5 classical composers and sung through a vocoder-type mic. After this, Brion was embarrassed he'd actually honored this request, and hid in the corner of the stage with his back to the audience. He confessed he wished he'd had a dunce cap and that his worst fear had been realized - he'd "become Victor Borge."
• Special guest Rhett Miller (singer of the Old 97's) came out to sing three songs with JB on piano and guitar. Two were from the Old 97's Satellite Rides (Rollerskate Skinny and Singular Girl) and the third was a rockabilly cover of the Beatles "I'll Cry Instead."
• Closed the evening with an 8-10 minute cover of Purple Rain played in the style of a 50's Les Paul song with massive amounts of overdubbing. JB said that the reason he was in New York was because he was asked to perform at a Les Paul tribute, so Les Paul was the reason we were all there.

When playing solo on guitar or piano wasn't enough, JB cloned himself into a full band. He would start at the drum kit, lay down a beat for 2 minutes full of fills, pauses, stops, etc., loop the beat, walk over to the piano, play a flawless rhythmic piano line on top of the drums, loop the piano, then pick up the guitar, play a bassline, loop that, and then play rhythm and lead guitar while singing OVER THE SONG HE JUST CREATED ON THE SPOT. Everything was in perfect unison. I've seen performers loop themselves on guitar or violin (Andrew Bird, M. Ward, Mark Geary, etc.), but never anything like this.

I think I had a permanent grin for the full 90 minutes of JB's set. From what I hear, no set is ever the same. I don't know how I would handle the possibility of seeing him every week in LA, but I'm glad I finally had the opportunity, and I highly recommend seeing him if you ever get the chance.