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

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

Live Today

Friday, July 29, 2016 saw me back at Largo at the Coronet for Jon Brion‘s monthly show. After two months in a row of live looping, I wondered what he had planned for us this time around. No looping, but certainly some excitement as word spread that there was a grand piano on the stage. We wondered if there was going to be another piano player as a special guest or if it was for Jon. The special guest turned out to be Margaret Cho, who did not play the piano, of course, but delivered a hilarious set of stand-up

Just For One Day

I was back at Largo at the Coronet on May 27, 2016 for Jon Brion‘s monthly show. I sadly missed the April one and was feeling overdue on getting some live Jon Brion music in my ears. The stage was set with an array of instruments, including a handful of guitars, a drum kit, a miniKorg synthesizer, sampler, and two movie screens. Largo had tweeted earlier in the day that Jon had brought in his looping rig. This was most definitely going to be an entertaining night, but what I did not know was that I was about to experience

Go Ahead and Break My Heart

I was back at  Largo at the Coronet on Friday, March 25, 2016 for Jon Brion’s monthly show. The addition of special guest Grant-Lee Phillips livened up the night. I’ve seen Grant-Lee perform a few times: three times with his band Grant Lee Buffalo, once on the “Surf and Turf” tour with Glen Phillips, and twice with Steve Poltz.  I adore Grant-Lee’s voice and his wonderful sense of humor, so I was absolutely delighted when he played an opening set and later joined Jon on the stage. When Grant-Lee sat down with his Gibson J-200 guitar to open, he glanced