Tell the Band to Go Home proudly presents:
Jon Brooks
at The Sunset Saloon (house concert in Westwood)
Saturday, November 11, 2017
8:00
Suggested donation $20 (price flexible, all proceeds to the artist)
If you wish, bring a drink for yourself, and/or a snack to share, but we’ve always got plenty of all of those on hand!
All are welcome (bring the kids, friends, family, people off the street, whatever)! Our house is family friendly (we’ve got 3 kids, a trampoline, and plenty of room, so feel free to bring the family), easy-going, friendly, and open to all! If you don’t know us yet, come on down and make some new friends!
The Sunset Saloon is a house concert venue in Westwood (near the YMCA on Portage.) We’re open to all. Feel free to pass along the event info, bring friends, bring your kids (our kids will thank you), or just come by yourself and make some new friends! Admission is by donation, which goes directly to the artists. Most folks pay $20, but any hard-working musician wouldn’t turn down more and will take whatever is comfortable for you to give.
Please RSVP for the address and more information!
Questions? RSVP? Fill out the contact form below! Forward this to a friend!
Every once in a while I run across a songwriter who scares me. It’s a rare breed who’s so intense and powerful that it leaves me shaken, changed somehow. Jon Brooks did that for me & to me last year at Mariposa Folk Festival.
It’s funny because I’d listened to Jon’s albums for a long time and was already a big fan of his songs. I already knew that he was a top-notch songwriter. His powerful song/performance “Gun Dealer” was one of my favourites of 2014. I was moved by Corin Raymond’s impromptu performance of “Mimico” in my car on the way to the airport one time. I knew his resume as one of the country’s most respected writers.
But I’d never seen him live until Mariposa, 2016. That’s when it really hit me. Hearing the stories behind the songs and feeling the impact of one man accompanying himself on guitar and percussive tapping really impressed upon me the depth of his skill. I left his solo concert breathless, moved, and excited. Each of Jon’s songs is a detailed snapshot of a life that I couldn’t have understood previously but was suddenly transported into. I felt like I’d walked a mile in the shoes of soldiers, gun dealers, cage fighters, and more. Each song is a carefully detailed – and extensively researched – novel. He’ll take you to new places and vividly see new lives. You’ll feel like you’ve gone somewhere and everywhere at once. I immediately knew that I had to share this experience with my family, so we followed Jon to Toronto the next day and walked the busy streets of downtown Toronto to get to The Cameron House for one of his regular “Sad Monday” gigs. Yeah, the songs may lean toward the darker, sadder places, but the experience is exhilarating and oh so rewarding.
Here’s his official bio:
“I write songs to calm those who’ve looked into, and seen, what is in their hearts. I also write songs to terrify those who have not.” – Jon Brooks
It’s a perilous and irresponsible life that pursues an ancient vocation incapable of modern recompense. I’m at once consoled and terrified by Leonard Cohen’s comment that ‘songwriting is not a vocation, but a sentence…’ It’s true that fame and money are the jurors and legislators of success in the current age; and at the mercy of such a court I am unanimously judged a failure. But I can’t help but question such narrow measures of success. Since 2006 I have released 5 albums I remain wholly proud of; I’ve enjoyed the outrageous honour of being blessed to perform for thousands of open hearted and friendly souls the Western world over; as well, The Canadian Folk Music Awards has deemed me worthy of being nominated – a record 4 times – for ‘English Songwriter of the Year’ (2007/2009/2012/2015); in 2010, I became the 4th Canadian since 1975 to win the prestigious Kerrville (Texas) Folk Festival ‘New Folk Award.’ And yet still, on my best day, The Song is woefully all I know. And on many more days, I don’t feel I know The Song at all. Like beauty, The Song remains an eternal mystery to me; and, as often as I chase it, I spend my time considering dropping the sad pursuit altogether for something more secure, more ‘responsible.’ But I’m stuck. The irreconcilable problem is this: I know no other thing more intimately than The Song – and outside of kindness, it’s the one thing in the mournful world I’ve occasionally touched that ascends with purpose, force, and love and so I stay seeking it more or less blindly.
All of these descriptions – and the video clips below – perhaps tell you part of the story, but you can’t really, truly understand until you’ve seen Jon Brooks live. This is a VERY rare opportunity to experience a singular talent in Winnipeg, and almost impossible to believe that you could do it in someone’s living room.
Never before have I brought you a show that I just knew that you needed to see. I really hope you’ll take me up on the offer to see something special and join us when Jon drops by on Remembrance Day.
Have a listen here: https://jonbrooks.ca/music
Feel free to fill out the contact form below if you have any questions or if you want to reserve your seat (your details aren’t public, just emailed directly to me.)
Comments left below are public and are much appreciated as well: