jonathan richman: is this guy a class fucking act or what?

yeah, that was a little disconcerting too. i was totally expecting the uber-geek to walk on stage, when out came this dapper fellow (if a little "intense" in the blank stare dept.) i'm sure he could have become the makeout king of montana with any girl in the place, and he certainly had the crowd eating out of his hand.

i had forgetten i wrote this little epic when i woke up from my 11pm nap.

As for my pal Andrew L's understandable interest in his chest, can I just mention that I HAVE TOUCHED JR'S BARE CHEST! Mmmm...

I've seen JR about five times, and was only disappointed once. He has nothing to do with punk, except that he occasionally sings a song called "Velvet Underground." He is a troubador. He sets down his guitar and dances, accompanied only by his own singing and clapping. He's charming, and cute like a bunny. But he tackles serious subjects (cf. "My Little Girl's Got a Full Time Daddy Now", "The Neighbors") that most songwriters wouldn't touch. And he's an extremely nice guy.

I've never seen him live but the rumour is he's playing Glastonbury so here's hoping.

By the way, love your prose, wish I could write like that when pissed.

Kris.

So, I guess my answer is "what". *smiles glassily, backs quickly but politely out of the room*

Yes, and you see that people who are great performers, or something else superlative, often blow away your conceptions of liking or disliking the domain in which they work. Your first paragraph indicates your reluctance to buy into received opinion about "greatness", "importance", etc., and it's true these opinions are often the result of stupid canon-happy past-never-experienced pseudo-worship, but sometimes people who are called great really (still) are when you get to see them. So yeah, Jonathan Richman is great, but what you're really writing about is how suprised you were that your contrary-ness was disarmed in spite of yourself. Hope it happens more often.

[sputtering]...he INVENTED punk rock on The Modern Lovers!

(i was referring to the post above yrs actually, m.)

This is something of which I am well aware. I was describing Jonathan circa now, as opposed to what may be fairly described as a bit of an anomaly in his career. He's never done anything like that record since. "Government Center" may be one of the happiest, most compassionate songs ever written, but it's probably the only thing on the record that wouldn't seem out of place if Jonathan busted it out today. I certainly don't see him playing "She Cracked," "Hospital" or "I'm Straight." Maybe "Girlfriend," but "Pablo Picasso"? I don't think he would curse onstage anymore!

I was at this gig too, Chris and I agree that it was brilliant (inc. Sex Machine cover). Was a tad disappointed that he didn't play "That Summer Feeling" which was the first song of his I heard, but with such a long career & large repertoire such things are inevitable I suppose.

(revive!)

In fact, his sheer un-rock n' roll attitude is what makes him so punk rawk.

Plus, he can write a fuckin mean song.

he built a stone wood-fired bread oven in my buddy's backyard

Elite level JR story there

yeah he's apparently a master of some kind of pre-Civil War American dry stone masonry.. I don't know what it cost but it sure wasn't free

if my math is right, he's 75 today!
whatever age he is, he's a class fucking act

@Andy are your buddy's initials BD?

no but close

I feel like Jerry Harrison might also live somewhere in the Bay Area? I've seen him at a couple shows

yeah 75 today! Happy Birthday

xp Jerry Lives in Mill Valley

and Richman is in Chico

Richman also runs a business, Arcane Masonry, in Chico, making bread ovens as well as other projects.

I ~believe~ he still has his house in the Mission, like when he does those 2 week residencies at the MakeOut Room.

and when i say the Mission, I mean Eureka Valley

Jonathan Richman and Bob Mould are two of my favorites, but I also strongly associate them with cities known for painfully freezing winters (Boston and Minneapolis), so I guess it's no surprise they'd end up in one of the nicest places weather-wise in their later years. (Mould has lived in a lot of cities though.)

The whole pizza oven thing has become an official ILX meme over the years

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8-icalTkCc

I’ve never seen Jonathan do this song about Keith Richards

genuine loss for words. there are the day-to-day tributes and then the ones where i have to show my completely disinterested children that this is a gold standard.

<3

FWIW Omnivore Recordings is having a 60% off spring cleaning sale on select CD's and the three Beserkley albums in their inventory are included.

Well, there are four Beserkley albums there, but the first "Modern Lovers" album is not.

Ah, didn't realize they reissued the live album too, so there are indeed four. Do you mean the one with the original line-up? Omnivore didn't license that one. (When I said "their inventory" I mean Omnivore's.)

(Live one isn't on sale though.)

Ah.

the only artist left on my bucket list, I hope to travel to Canada next time he plays there (seems there will never be another Europe tour)

playing this Friday at Siesta Valley Bowl - Orinda, CA

Old news, but Jonathan's actually really good about answering fan letters and he seems to encourage people to write to him because "it's his preferred method of communication." He's had his P.O. Box address published in at least two interviews online and at the last show I attended, he even dictated the same address to the audience in case they had the answer to a question he asked. (I don't remember it anymore but I think it had something to do with dancing and Egypt.)

Anyway, I was talking to someone about Latcho drom:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgNWc8Skh8k

It's a great film and it's frustrating that it's been pushed into obscurity due to lack of availability (or at least a good quality transfer of the original film elements). It probably hasn't found much of an audience among anyone under 30 for that reason. We were talking about people who have seen it and loved it from the time it was originally released, and Jonathan's name came up. I had no idea if he had seen it, and I thought "hey, why not ask him and recommend it to him?" So I did just that and about ten days later, I got a response - not only was it a handwritten letter, but he apparently took down a flyer for an upcoming screening of Changing Lanes and wrote it on the back of that so he could recommend that in return. (He also has seen Latcho drom and loved it.) Pretty cool!

Definitely cool. No letter stories to share but was just in Boston and thinking of Jonathan Richman references all the time- At the Government Center station; in the Museum of Fine Arts in the room where they keep the Cézanne, etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2x7D2VUP62I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGGuAn-NCTM

Yeah, Jonathan made it onto TOTP with "New England". I dashed out to the shop to buy it the next day. Looks like nobody else did.

Latcho Drom is so great

every time this thread is revived, I am reminded of Jonathan Richman totally just asked me for a ride home

There’s a 12” of Egyptian Reggae with a dance or disco mix that’s pretty sweet. JR probably didn’t have anything to do with it.

Noticed it at the beginning of some French movie recently.

Father of My Children, Mia Hansen-Løve

It's the first thing you hear.

The film is supposedly partly based on the life of Humbert Balsan, who very convincingly played Gawain in Robert Bresson's Lancelot of the Lake.

And later became an important film producer.

I remember when Mia Hansen-Løve was married to Olivier Assayas - I know nothing of their marriage, but given the soundtracks of their movies, it wasn't hard to imagine the common interests that might have brought and kept them together (for a while).

Imagine if you were their kid and what it would've been like growing up in their household. Probably really cool or a real-life manifestation of this Onion article.

Heh, I didn't even know they had ever been married. I just remember seeing him with Maggie Cheung, at the Film Forum for an Irma Vep screening and then again outside Noho Star.

Man, I wish I could've gone to that. I was probably 1000 miles away, stuck at home with a decrepit VCR and CRT TV with no cable and nothing more than crappy dial-up internet.

There’s a 12” of Egyptian Reggae with a dance or disco mix that’s pretty sweet. JR probably didn’t have anything to do with it.

― Cow_Art, Tuesday, 16 June 2026 00:13 (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Basement Jaxx?

That would be something, wouldn't it?

https://www.discogs.com/release/5616501-Jonathan-Richman-Egyptian-Reggae-Exclusive-Remix?srsltid=AfmBOopnckRxM4ViI4ca78gWwTVkDG73PPIrbuKYAzwg5WQ9kxwWDosq

Speaking of "Egyptian Reggae", this Peruvian cumbia cover by Pancho Acosta is fun - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LSmph69JQU

My older kid sent Jonathan an invitation to her bat mitzvah, through Blue Arrow Records. Who knows if he got it, but it was a fun thing to do.

Cow_Art, I don’t know if it’s the same PO Box address, but FWIW I used the address posted here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/jonathanrichman/comments/1b1l6v9/who_here_has_sent_anything_to_jonathan_whether_it/?rdt=46906

Sweet! We've got the second kid's bat mitzvah coming up soon, maybe he'll come to this one and piss the older sister off.