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

Took my 7 year old daughter to see him a while back. After the show she gave him a drawing of beavers partying at a dam and he was very appreciative and talked to her about the joys of drawing.

Klassy all the way.

Bit of a "Sister Ray" groove on the new one. (:

Weird keyboard drone even

I may have to travel to the states to see this guy

He used to tour elsewhere

makes sense, songs in French and Italian too... but seems he's only toured US the last 10 years?

I'm pretty sure I saw him in the UK in 2009

...so the Astral Weeks book has a long section on Jonathan & the Velvets.

xp aah ok, and now I see there was actually a 2012 euro tour as well

I guess I'll write him a letter

x-post--

I got the Astral Weeks book but haven't yet read the chapter on Jonathan & the Velvets. I saw the author do a book reading & talk. He said the Velvets played Boston a lot, and that young Jonathan sometimes was driving them around the city.

New album! Co-produced by Jerry Harrison who plays Mellotron, harmonium, and clavinet!

https://jonathanrichman.bandcamp.com/album/sa

Coool!!

what the hell?!

There was the Paramahansa Yogananda song on the last album. Eastern influence becoming much more prominent!

this is what the world needs now

i understand your dating bar ways

Can't go back to fainting couch and corsetry
Can't go back to pompadour and cummerbund

Saw Jonathan last night in Denver — still a class fucking act. A fair amount of vintage French and Italian poetry set to song.

He was doing the French and Italian a bit last time I saw him, plus a Sufi poem. My buddy wanted to see that Denver show but he said it was sold out by the time he tried to buy a ticket.

I plan on visiting the states with the sole purpose of seeing Jonathan

this is good
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6dBDc82om0

That was really great... until Andrew Bird's song at the end.

I really like the one Trouser Press article on him from back in the day.

From TP 44, November 1979

https://trouserpress.com/magazine-covers-5/

I mean of course it is really about the first few Modern Lovers incarnations but still.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9hYp3X76iE

Nice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNh-IAXaB7I

That previous post is such an amazing clip. Bless all these UK/Euro shows that had amazing quality footage of these 60s/70s performances.

Also, I'm not sure I've ever seen Jojo with a Jazzmaster...?

Full set, apparently:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rm4bd7gYCRI

I guess he played a Jazzmaster right when he started.

Jonathan had a band with David Robinson, who was the drummer, and another guy named Rolf, who was playing bass, and they played these free shows on the Cambridge Commons. Jonathan had this blue Jazzmaster guitar with like two strings and had decorated it with the Howard Johnson’s decals. He had painted it light blue and orange like the Howard Johnson's colors—and almost all the songs he played were in E minor—it was very minimalist. "I see the restaurant. It is my friend" was a line from one of the songs.

Human race is justified in existing just for that performance of "I'm A Little Airplane" imo

otm

He was the last show I saw in early March before the shutdowns, w/ Bonnie Prince Billy opening.

wow jealous, cant think of a better last show to have seen before quarantine.

Love how that video of the full set starts with them bickering over how to start egyptian reggae

He has had a million guitars!

Right, his Wikipedia page has a long discussion about that.

Yeah, the opening bickering is priceless

I remember seeing him once, I think around the early years when he had started playing with Tommy, and he was still playing electric and had a fuzzbox for leads. It was one of those moments where you see him changing - I don't think that late '70s group would have used fuzzboxes!

Happy 70th birthday to the one who seems to habe found the secret to happiness.

Was supposed to see him (and Will Oldham) the day everyrhing shut down here in Rhode Island. Some day, again!

Wow, that means he was around my current age when I saw him play in college (and he seemed like an “old dude,” ha ha).

"Sa" is really great and worth a listen, that's all I got here

Is he still living in San Francisco?

Radio on!.

love seeing a couple songs from "jonathan goes country" on your list, alfred. "you're crazy for taking the bus" is stone cold classic for me.

Somewhat bizarrely, someone booked a festival slot claiming to be JR; the scam was exposed when a radio station reached out for an interview.

Ha, I was thinking that it might be fun, but challenging, to try to imitate Richman's voice. Then this, from the article:

"I just heard of your wonderful festival, and (it) sounds like an ideal place for me to play someday," the musician wrote. "Did the guy who called you up manage to imitate my voice pretty good? If he did, you’ve got to hand it to him. Most people can’t do it."

Heh, I’d like to think I can imitate him pretty well but it wasn’t me this time.

Customers at Green Apple Books on Clement Street didn’t expect to find a man with a guitar wandering among the fiction and cooking sections as they shopped.
It was Independent Bookstore Day, which occurs annually on the last Saturday of April, so they assumed he may have been part of the festive ambiance. But once they got a closer look at him, they couldn’t believe who it really was — and why the legendary musician was playing an otherwise unadvertised gig in San Francisco.

https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/Jonathan-Richman-plays-surprise-SF-show-17140442.php

Visualizing Jonathan walking down the book store aisles with guitar in hand serenading customers . Yep would be great to see that.

https://cdn.quotesgram.com/img/30/25/1694698770-jonathan-richman3.jpg