Tired of Facing All of This

Due to Thanksgiving, Jon Brion’s monthly Largo show fell earlier in the month than usual, taking place on November 18, 2016.  It was just over a week after the US election that had many heads still spinning here on the left coast. Largo-owner Mark Flanagan introduced Jon by saying, “2017 is gonna be great.”  I wondered what on earth he could be talking about until he carried on a moment later, “We’re going to have benefits for Planned Parenthood and the ACLU and celebrate Leonard Cohen.” As if I didn’t already have so much respect for that man just for

But How Lucky Am I?

I wasn’t supposed to be going anywhere on the night of Wednesday, November 2, 2016, but I found myself blessed with a spare ticket to go to The Echo to see to up-and-coming L.A.-based band Starcrawler and dynamic Long Island, New York  band The Lemon Twigs, play a sold out show. I only heard about both of these bands about a month before this concert. A friend saw The Lemon Twigs perform at Amoeba (check out four songs showcased in one video at the link) in October and after seeing some video clips, I decided I wanted to go to

Memories Always Start ‘Round Midnight

Jon Brion cooked up another show for us at Largo at the Coronet on Friday, October 28, 2016. A very special guest was promised and of course rumors abounded. Turned out to be actor and comedian Adam Sandler, who was on hand to try out a slew of new material. He read off many sheets of paper and had a keyboardist in tow to back him up on some of his comedic songs. Some stuff was hilarious and had me laughing hard, some stuff didn’t hit, some was just too much information and not to my taste. His set was like

Down on Cahuenga

I was at Hotel Cafe in Los Angeles, CA  on October 27, 2016 to see Jonathan Kingham and Glen Phillips. The show was scheduled for 7pm, but didn’t start on time, giving a chance for the crowd to build and allowing some time for socializing. This was a pretty low-key show put on by two easy-going singer-songwriters for an attentive Thursday night crowd. Jonathan took to the stage and announced, “I’m kind of the appetizer. This song is about food, more about fried chicken, hot chicken.”  I don’t know if those guys didn’t eat before the show or maybe they

Life is Change

On Sunday, October 9, 2016, I was back at Largo at the Coronet in Los Angeles to see the one and only Robyn Hitchcock, along with some special guest musicians. Opening the night was Robyn’s current partner in crime and lovely Australian import, Emma Swift. Emma’s set was short and she played a few of the songs she had done when she was at Largo in June (see previous post “There’s No Derailing Destiny“). Her first song was “Seasons.” When she finished she mentioned the presidential debate that we were all missing and stated, “I’m with you!” She pulled out