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

Bezerkely albums are all really solid

I'm a bit of a Jonathan obsessive. Own all his albums, mostly on vinyl. Those Rough Trade released 80's LP's that have never really been available on CD are absolute corkers. I'm also a big fan of the 1989 'Jonathan Richman' and 'Having a Party With Jonathan Richman' albums as well; some of his best electric guitar playing.

Have seen him many times, but not in a decade or more. Not in this century in fact. Maybe next month.

Jonathan does not have a computer and does not like to do interviews but he responded via hand-written poems on paper to 2 questions from a writer(musician) who works for the Washington Post. Jonathan is gonna be in DC tonight

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/going-out-guide/wp/2013/02/21/jonathan-richman-wrote-me-a-poem-no-really/

and the answer comes again: a class fucking act

tbh I never really noticed how much he uses Dr. Seuss cadences before

saw jonathan this weekend! or er, the last half of his show -- i couldn't get down to denver until about 10 and apparently richman starts shows on time. but what i did see was aces, turning one of the diviest colfax bars (really not worthy of the dude) into a perfect setting. the last song was "her mystery not of high heels and eyeshadow" which turned into this beautiful free associating thing...almost van morrison-ish? weird comparison, but that's what it made me think of. a class fucking act!

picked up a copy of "Modern Lovers "Live!"" (1977) on which Jonathon flaunts some kind of puffy shirt and pencil mustache. More than any other record, this seems to be where the childlike/naif persona stuff got cemented. It's something he's toyed with on and off since ("Not Yet 3" etc.) but man nearly every song on here sounds like it was written by a little kid - airplanes, dinosaurs, insects, etc. Not a bad record in all but more one-note than some of his later 80s records, which I like way more.

I used to play that for my my kid

I just found a copy of that record two weeks ago and it made me so happy, "I'm A Little Airplane" is really intense in terms of the rhythm/delivery even with all its goofiness

i like, “I do not accept messages transmitted via cell phones":

http://www.todayszaman.com/news-343832-jonathan-richman-vs-commonwealth-of-massachusetts.html

http://radiovalencia.fm/waxcracklepop/2014/03/03/wax-crackle-pop-show-15-special-guest-jonathan-richman-helps-celebrate-lous-birthday/
great VU stories / music / thoughts from jonathan.

Was reading this on the subway when I heard somebody say something like "I walked four blocks to your house" and I looked up and around to see if Jojo was there.

Interview on Michael Shelley's show on WFMU today. Shelley says "it's wasn't my best work but it was interesting."

i paid homage to this thread's title in print this week: http://www.citypaper.com/music/short-list/bcp-the-short-list-dillon-francis-jonathan-richman-say-anything-more-20141118,0,1146964.story

I don't think Jojo himself what approve of the cussing.

Michael just described the interview once more and is playing one more tune before he actually airs it. Jojo kind of evasive, pretending he doesn't understand questions. Sounds typical to me, looking forward to it.

this is adorable

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qYbrxe_nKM

backstory and description of that tape (but so glad it's all in one download on the Tube; so tired of big o track by track and rename em all and put each one in new folder whiiiiine) http://bigozine2.com/roio/?p=1481

Thanks for that. Not sure I realized before the similarity of "Government Center" to "I Think We're Alone Now."

I didn't realize it until now!

More JR on Big O:
Vinyl Rarities (tracks from various shows)
http://bigozine2.com/roio/?p=2295

Brooklyn 2010
http://bigozine2.com/roio/?p=462

The Lost Album
http://bigozine2.com/roio/?p=164

cool, I didn't know about that lost album, and the early '80s is one of my favorite eras for him

Doesn't look like the Top of the Pops clips have been posted on here before. I just saw this for the first time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Im1NQm57wws

OK, it's not Top of the Pops! It's a Dutch show called TopPop.

Never saw that will take a look. Think I actually did see a Top of the Pops video once for one of the alternate, later "Roadrunner" takes.

Just got home from his show here in Durham, NC on the Duke campus. It was wonderful. If you like him at all, and you've never seen him play before, and you get a chance to, you should take it.

Ishkode! Ishkode!: Jonathan Richman’s first new album in five years

Have not heard this yet

it has terrible distribution!

i've heard it, it's good!

It is good, and it does have terrible distribution. Not sure if the no-digital thing was part of the plan or if they just don't care

richman is pretty anti-internet, i don't even think he does email.

all his shit has been terribly distributed since, like, forever. the one exception being that album that came out after TSAM

it's not even on amazon. or in my local record store. you kind of have to buy it from the label (which is a tiny label run by a guy who has a record store in cleveland; i don't think they've signed any other artists).

i get the feeling that richman is either totally ignorant of, or more likely, totally indifferent to the record industry. i'm not sure that his albums are afterthoughts per se (certainly his /songwriting/ is not an afterthought) but the actual distribution of them is obviously not foremost on his agenda.

similarly, he seems positively sanguine about the fact that the majority of his old records (most of the ones not on rounder) are out of print. but i don't think it's helped his legacy. imagine deluxe editions of his 80s records, for example, would get a fair bit of press for him.

but oh well, he's jojo! he just does his artisanal masonry stuff a few months out of the year, and tours w/ tommy larkin the rest of the time. don't think he gives much of a shit about the rest of it.

i missed his closest concerts this time out. but i saw him on his last two tours--the last one not even supporting a record IIRC.

he was still great the last time i saw him two or three years ago. but yeah, i think he reallllly does not care about the business side of things. he could easily have the profile of at least someone like robyn hitchcock, but even that tiny level of cult fame must be unappealing to him.

I don't blame him really. He's a great live show, great songwriter, great player, good for him for just focusing on the stuff he likes to do.

yeah, it's totally refreshing really -- I hope he makes enough dough to just keep doing it his way. (though yeah, i wouldn't mind reissues, or a nice box set or something)

Saw him for like the 5th time live last night. It definitely had its great moments but this may have been the first time I was a tad disappointed. A short gig-an hour, and he raced through some cuts--"That Summer Feeling" and started and stopped others quickly.

I liked his delivery though of "When We Refuse to Suffer," "Take Me to the Plaza at 2 am"(not sure of the exact title), and “As My Mother Lay Lying"

No merch for sale at the show. He strolled onstage in a winter coat carrying his acoustic guitar in its case. He threw down the coat on the stage, opened the case and started strumming. I was told he likes to take the train from town to town when he can. He said he doesn't have a tv and doesn't like having one in his hand.

He encouraged the crowd to clap and dance and said "I don't do concerts, Beethoven does concerts (and he does them well)."

Saw him on this tour, too. Wasn't utterly moved the way I have sometimes been in the past, but I was charmed as always, and as always I left feeling like I understood him and his world view a little better. I teared up a little at "As My Mother Lay Dying," too.

Paramahansa Yogananda composition on the new album.

He made a vague yoga mention at the show I saw

huh never noticed this before for some reason

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVfCOfh_7VE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdZAQwIMx7k

He played near us the night of the San Bernardino shootings. There was just a heaviness in the air and going to see him play in a Costa Mesa strip mall seemed like the right thing to do. 34 years of going to gigs and somehow I'd never seen him before or even made note of the albums after than one with "Velvet Underground" on it.

At first I was freaked out. Jonathan sounded depressed! He moped. I thought of Margaret Keene paintings. He interrupted songs with a routine about not wanting to go back to an earlier time. His eyes bugged out unsettlingly. He sang in French and Arabic about Van Gogh and I was overcome with this feeling that I (as an audience member) really didn't want to disappoint Jonathan Richman. After about twenty minutes of this he broke and in that unmistakable voice, shouted to someone in the back of the room "HEY, IS THAT BAG OF FRIES STILL THERE? LEMME HAVE THOSE FRIES." I think I was so caught in all the odd stories about him that not once did I consider that he's a master showman and works the crowd like a fucking pro. Great show. Definitely go see him if he passes through.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/776/23494874812_c71702f28f_z.jpg

He also came on stage in the big coat and did the same routine with throwing down the coat, opening the case, and go. Couldn't tell you if it's all part of the act, but he definitely seems to have constructed his own space out of things. As noted upthread, he definitely seems indifferent to the business/marketing/hype cycle of the world.

haha that sounds fabulous. I can see how he would take on the local vibe of an evening to some degree, and work with it until he got it right.

how long has he been touring w/ tommy larkin? must be over 20 years now.

No, not as long as that but still TOO LONG! Wish he'd put together a little and and tour. He got really unambitious after There's Something About Mary.

I think he's been playing with him like 23 years, actually, but I don't know if that was all duo?