~the girl i knew would see right through you~
August 11th, 2007
I don’t believe I’ve mentioned how much I love Jon Brion, well I do. The story goes that Ali and I had his solo album Meaningless and a couple of his soundtracks–Magnolia, Punch-Drunk Love, Eternal Sunshine–and pretty much he could do no wrong around these parts.
Actually the story goes back to New Year’s Day 2005. Our sad downstairs bachelor neighbor–a hold-out from the old Greenpoint that is now overrun with Williamsburg weasels (and us)–well he moved out.
Our landlord took some time to peel away the yellow, smoke-stained 1960’s wall paper, rip out the tin ceilings, and knock out a few walls. The men he hired to do this decided that 8 am on New Years Day–which also happened to be a Sunday morning–was the perfect time to begin. When our landlord heard this, he was so mortified he brought us a gift certificate to Peter Luger’s Steak House in apology (no really).
This legendary joint opened in 1887 as “Carl Luger’s Café, Billiards and Bowling Alley” in the then predominantly German neighborhood under the Williamsburg Bridge. It is across the street from my favorite Brooklyn eatery, Dressler. Sunday brunch with Billie Holiday is all I’m sayin…
One hundred and eighteen years and about four months later we finally got around to using that certificate. A hundred clams brought forth a lunch of steak and french fries served by surly waiters in white aprons and serious moustaches. Ali called them career waiters. He once worked in a restaurant where they wanted his six foot six inches frame to sport lederhosen, so I guess he knows.
do not be fooled by these smiles.
James Cagney, Alfred Hitchcock, and Henry Kissinger have all snarfed steak here. So has Jon Brion, who we spotted in the cozy old-school dining hall having lunch with a gal who appeared to be his Mom, who had noticed us noticing Brion.
After we were done Ali pushed me over to say hello, thanks, whatever one says in a flurry of fandom. He seemed both surprised and touched that people–especially people on the east coast–would recognize him. Turns out he was playing two shows at Tonic that night, which were of course sold out. So he put us on the list.
Brion’s friday night shows at Largo in Los Angeles are legendary. Every time I visit my hometown I try to go, and every time I fail. Quite a build-up to a gig I’ll grant you, but it was more than worth the wait.
Brion takes requests from the audience and runs around the stage playing every instrument himself–drums, bass, recoder, keyboards, whatever–recording and looping each one as he goes. Then he plays them all back and plays guitar and sings.
In our set he played songs from his solo album, his soundtracks, and also Stairway to Heaven, Baby’s on Fire, Life on Mars, Femme Fatale, and Someone to Watch Over Me.
The best part was when the strings of his guitar broke in the middle of When Doves Cry. He just put it on the floor and played it anyway, strings flying wildly. All the audience sang along.
He closed with I’m Gonna Lock My Heart and Throw Away the Key on ukulele.
It made me so happy to live in New York. Until I remembered Brion lives in LA.
We sent him a bottle of wine as thanks.
I just discovered that bootlegs of the show we saw (April 27th, 2005) and many others are available here.
