Among the highlights from Jon Brion’s New Year’s Eve show was an impromptu impression of Bruce Springsteen–in the form of a fake Bruce Springsteen song.
A recording has surfaced. You can download it here or stream it below.
tags: bruce springsteen, jon brionMore photos can be found here!
I’ve never been one to question Jon Brion’s musical prowess. In addition to completing a self-released solo CD, he’s produced such artists as Elliott Smith, Fiona Apple, Aimee Mann and Rufus Wainwright, all of whom asked Jon to make the most of their songs. And if you haven’t heard any of those artists’ work, you’ve likely still heard Brion–at the movie theater. He’s done the soundtracks for Punch-Drunk Love, Magnolia, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and I Heart Huckabees. Hip Hop star Kanye West was so impressed by Jon’s soundtrack work that he sought Jon to produce part of his latest album. And when Jon’s not making music, he’s talking about it. To me it seems as though Jon has always been in a musical bubble, floating high above the pedestals of the other musicians I admire, far, far away from me.
But last night I saw him up close and personal, and with a personality aimed to entertain and a humbleness as if he were one of the audience members, too. When he wasn’t banging on drums or striking keys or programming a synthesizer or strumming a guitar or plucking bass notes or singing, he was cracking jokes, telling stories, impersonating Bruce Springsteen or inviting audience members up on stage–either to sing, play an instrument or request a song. There were moments in which the show seemed a small step away from Open Mic Night with Jon Brion!
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Three years before he died is the point where I knew… I remember the conversation. I remember his inability to speak coherently. I remember realizing he had gone too far. He had consumed too much. It felt like the person I loved wasn’t home anymore. And the filter that normally exists between the soul and the rest of the world was so mangled…. I knew it, and it hit me hard. That was the day when I cried and cried and cried and cried and was inconsolable.
–Jon Brion, talking about how he reacted to the death of Elliott Smith. Excerpted from Autumn de Wilde’s Elliott Smith. Buy it.
tags: elliott smith, jon brionRadiohead announced earlier this week that they would be selling their new album on October 10 for whatever price their listeners would like to pay. The mainstream media covered this so extensively that excessive traffic caused the band’s web site to crash.
But the idea isn’t so new. In fact, it’s nearly eight years old, and it came from the mind of yet another musical genius. In December of 1999, Jon Brion was asked, “As a musician, are you afraid of the internet?” His response was prophetic (emphasis mine):
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