Peggy Sue and the Pirates

Came across this lovely song quite recently and thought some of you here might like it too...

We saw them at Manchester on Friday and they were great!

Jojo au Nouveau Casino, Paris, May 7, 2008

TO me it’s an evidence that the best musician isn’t the one who manages to play the best music : too much technique and not enough soul. But with our man Jojo, you got the best music, soul, sincerity, romance, love, emotion and tutti quanti ... I fell in love with JonathanRichman and The Modern Lovers (Jojo is one ML forever) when I bought the two fisrt albums in 1976.

Jojo and his percussive accompanist Tommy Larkins brought their soul warming contagion to the intimist Nouveau casino this time around.

Opening act was Suzanne, a folk German singer / composer (if you think that German language doesn’t sound good : listen to Trio). I’ve heard that some places, people all went to the bar since the 1st song, but to me she sounded rather ok, some poignant songs even reminded me of Peter Case’s wife (RIP), who opened for some Jojo shows in the early 80’s.

Then the venue began to be more crowded but wasn’t full, less than 300 persons, I reckon. It seems that Jojo will remain a “beautiful loser” and never get the huge success that his music deserves. But he already answered to me about that 5 years ago, saying that “it’s ok with me, I’m glad like that, as I’m glad for people who have success, they all deserve it ...”.

Jojo set was rather long, almost one hour and a half.

It’s always a real pleasure to see this charming man with his melodic songs, his touching / harrowing (but never lacrymose) texts, his so warm-hearted doddering voice, his ubiquitous humour. Not to forget Tommy, whose dumming mixed with Jonathan’s guitar brings a combination full of nuances.

Tommy played a lot of “drums solo” during the show, some lasting almost 30 seconds ! (eheh).

The show was composed (see set list above) by more or less old favorites, like “Girlfren”, “Pablo Picasso”, “Old World”, “Her Mystery ...” (one of my faves ever), but also by completely new (to me) songs, like “Silence”, “Too Young For That OIder Girl”, or this one about cellphones, with a kinda “She Cracked” riff, that Jonathan played twice, the second version being mostly sung by us, the public - one half of the audience being asked by Jojo to say “you can have a cellphone” and the other one answering “but not me”.

Or course, they played a lot of songs of the latest album – the show began by Leonard’s Cohen’s “Here It Is” - including the ones not sung “not in English”.

I do love when Jonathan kindly / (in a) funny (way) speaks or sing live in a foreign (to him) language (he’s so cute) : Spanish, Italian, French, Instro (I mean I heard him say “this is the English part” to indroduce the instrumental part of a song, ahahah, that Jojo !).

On the other hand, i must admit that I’m not very fond of those songs completely sung in Spanish, Italian or French (but Intros : yes !) on albums. That why to me Jonathan’s newest album is ”only” a 9/10. But I guess it’s a way for Jonathan not to be prisoner of the words, same as not being prisoner of the past, like he explains in his song “Es Como El Pan”. And heck, who am I to criticize Jonathan, when I can’t play a single note or sing and, moreover, my first (out of two) son is called Jonathan (guess why ?).

Jojo’s face shows that he was happy to be onstage, a winner/winner combination, as the public showed to him that he enjoyed every second of the show.

We were lucky to get a few encores songs, including “Paris Je T’Aime” and a very appropriate “J’Aime Paris Au mois De Mai” (I love Paris in May !).

By the way, those accapela parts, without microphone, added to the complicity between Jonathan and the public.

I prepared a few questions, but I didn’t met Jojo this time.

Nothing really interesting, don’t worry : as I know that he doesn’t like to speak to speak about his personal life or his music, I didn’t had in mind questions like “are you still scared on airplanes” or “tell me more about that song”, I just imagined silly questions about 78 RPM (Jojo faves) or French food, or “do you prefer Gail or Nicole ?” (nooo, not this last one, of course !).

Anyway, “Baby, you can’t go wrong ...” seeing Jonathan Richman live. And Jojoblog is here to spread the word.

Set list : Here It Is / Le Printemps Des Amoureux Est Venu / Pablo Picasso / Let Her Go Into The Darkness / In Che Mondo Viviamo / You can have A cellphone, But Not Me (?) / Egyptian Reggae / Les Etoiles / I was Dancing In A Lesbian Bar / Because Her Beauty Is Raw And Wild / Silence (?) / When We Refuse To Suffer / No One Was Like Vermeer / Cosi Veloce / Her Mystery Not Of High Heels And Eye Shadow / Springtime In New York / Es Como El Pan / Too Young For This Older Girl / Girlfren / My baby Love Love Loves Me / He Gave Us The Wime To Taste / Cellphone (reprise)

Old World / Not So Much To be Loved As To love / Paris Je T’Aime J’Aime Paris Au Mois De Mai.

Celestial

Cosa, cosa, especial,
Nuestra cosa celestial

Just me and her staying home tonight
But don’t bug because that’s alright
When it’s celestial, celestial

Oh cosa, cosa, esencial,
Nuestra cosa celestial
Campos magnéticos entre nosotros dos

Coz it’s a celestial, celestial
Protected by celestial forces,
Was my meeting her,
Straight from celestial sources
And straight from the soul

Cosa, cosa natural,
Nuestra cosa celestial,
Electricidad en la oscuridad,

Celestial, celestial,
Oh celestial, celestial.

As performed at Radio 3 studios, Madrid, Spain, 22nd May 2007

The Bostonians

Perfectly balanced between sincerity and irony, innocence and experience, Jonathan Richman's first LP is a tale of two cities - Boston and New York. New England exile Keith Gessen goes along for the ride

Click on the title link for a full page article about Jonathan’s debut album from Saturday’s Guardian.

My Baby Love Love Loves Me

My Baby Love Love Loves Me from March 6, 2008 at Middle East in Cambridge, MA

Modern Lovers 88 (20 years ago!)

Manchester University 1988: Photo by Nick Barber

Rolling Stone reviews Modern Lovers 88:
"To understand Jonathan Richman records, it's almost imperative that you see him perform."

Modern Lovers 88

See more of Nick Barber's Jonathan Richman photographs here

summer 2008 shows update

USA
Wed 4 June Los Angeles CA The Mint
Thu 5 June Los Angeles CA The Mint
Fri 6 June Los Angeles CA The Mint
Sat 7 June Los Angeles CA The Mint

Mon 16 June San Francisco CA Make-Out Room

Canada
Thu 26 June Calgary AB Grace Presbyterian Church

via High Road Touring

Her Beauty is raw ...but not funny

I have had mixed feelings about “Because her beauty is raw and wild” as the first eponymous song seemed to be just the following of what Jonathan had done before in his recordings since “I’m confused”. But I was wrong, this new album stands on its own right and it is some masterwork.
Already the pictures on the booklet are everything but canonical beauty when we are confronted with those gloomy deserted greenish flats. I had a proper listening to the full CD and found disillusion, heart-gripping feelings and sincerity. Now I understand the choice of covering Leonard Cohen, the paths between the 2 singers are getting closer.

“No one is like Vermeer” is another of Jonathan’s rendition of a favourite painters of his, in the gallery of Pablo Picasso, Van Gogh, Dali and to some extent Cezanne in “Girlfren”. Jonathan has not the same vision as me about Vermeer, I think he has a biased impressionistic approach but who cares as this is a terrific song with a battling rolling drumming from Tom Larkins.
The drummer extraordinaire is again enhancing the following song, “Time has been going fast” (we’ve been having fun), Jonathan is calling him to solo at mid song. “Time..” sounds to me like the nostalgia for all the good old times which vanished with adult age coming.

“Es como el par” introduced as we want the moment shows once more the link between Jonathan and Spanish culture, he just loves to sing in that language and his guitar takes free moves, this the light-hearted song of the CD.

“Our drab ways” (you are the light of the world) floats on atmospheric waves delivered magically by Tom using softly mallets on gongs. I have to hear this one again as I was hypnotized by the percussions. The Tucson resident surely knows his drumming.

“The lovers are here and they’re full of sweat” (laughing, crying and so upset – I love those rhymes) sounds like a joyous entertaining song. I suspect it is not as Jonathan is insisting on the painful part of the situation, not the merry, laughing ones. Are those Modern lovers, I wonder?

“Le printemps des amoureux est venu” (Lovers springtime has come), I could not help laughing at the great rhyming verses
Les amoureux qui n’ont pas d’interest (sic)
Dans le monde du bizness.

“When we refuse to suffer”, this could be a hit. A great dynamic song with perfect mix of guitar and drums. Speaking of disillusion, the lyrics are quite explicit
When we refuse to feel
That’s when the prozac wins

“This romance will be different for me” (once I was young and nervous) introspective song, Jonathan self-pitying about his lonely heart. Great guitar play though.

“Old world” this is one of the keys to understand Jonathan’s concept in this CD. The upgrade of a song from his youth in another end of an era message, really in phase with the pics on the sleeve. Never had this old world looked gloomier and the tempo a la Sister Ray is another homage to the Velvets, even Tom is mimicking Moe Tucker's recognisable beat.

“Our party will be on the beach tonight” is nothing like “party in the woods” or “californian US parties” he did before. This is more about the hangovers and the bad feelings of the after party, how there is charcoal and ashes spread everywhere . The added piano-cello “a la Satie” melody creates a uneasy atmosphere. A very sensible song, it sounds like real life and it is not funny, the lyrics are different from what we were used to about Jonathan parties:
We will bring our own watah (and not marijuana as I was mistaken at first listening)
And the blankets are there
We won’t care

Then we have the electric mix of “When we refuse to suffer” (the prozac will win and you lose). Jonathan sings in his old Modern Lovers rougher way, I prefer the acoustic version.

“Here it is”, the Cohen cover matches the other songs, though I remember Jonathan singing this live in 2003 with a deeper concern.

“And my mother lay lying”, what can I add about this which has not been told already.. I would spoil such a delicate eulogy.
Just this, when the song was over and as it was the last on the cd, there was silence around me again, I felt that this silence was still Jonathan.

s u z a n n e

Photo: Astrid Koniarski

German musician and film score composer Suzanne Piesker will open for Jonathan Richman and Tommy Larkins during their upcoming mini-tour of France and Italy. She plays piano on Because Her Beauty is Raw and Wild, in the song "Our Party Will Be on the Beach Tonight."

Suzanne Piesker

Suzanne Piesker Myspace

Because Her Beauty Is Raw And Wild: I'm Liveblogging My First Listen

I'm halfway through. From the get-go, it's been stripped down, lo-fi as anything he's ever done. Minimal production. It's as though Jonathan and Tommy are right here in the room with me. The guitar sounds huge at times, like a mouse at others. The drums are like a gang of giant excited heartbeats speaking to me.

And the liner notes! By Jonathan himself! Off the cuff, like he's chatting with us about the content of the album. I like how he characterizes his songwriting process: the songs are all "thought up" at one time or another.

"Old World" sounds better than ever. The off-kilter piano noodlings in "Our Party Will Be On The Beach Tonight" are unlike anything I've ever heard Jonathan do (apart from his two soundtrack projects).

OMG: The reprise of "When We Refuse To Suffer", shift in the tone of the record, electric guitar now (big fat sound), kind of calypso, the yearning in the vocals. What kinetic energy!

And then there's this song. The one that made me cry when I heard him play it at the Make-Out Room last year or whenever. And it sounds just like it did there.

THE END

P.S. Katie at Mission Mission listened to it before me. Her thoughts here.

Un anniv' ca se fete !

Note from rb: Click through the image to see a larger version!

!!! Jojoblog is 4 Years Old Today !!!

We thought some of you might like to know some of the Jojoblog visitor statistics :

In the first few months Jojoblog had few visitors. By January 2005 visitors were still less than 75 per month

Since then, visitors have been growing month-by-month, especially so during last twelve months (2007), when the blog started regularly receiving over 2,500 visitors each month.

Last month, March 2008, was our highest ever month – with almost 5,500 site visits to the blog (is this due to the coming LP release?)

Jojoblog now receives something like 150 visitors daily

Almost half of these will be from the USA

And 42% are from Europe, but many are also coming from much further afield

Every day people from over 20 countries will be checking into Jojoblog

A typical spread of visitors is shown below (from 3 days ago, on 19th April 2008):
United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain, Argentina, Turkey, Algeria, Netherlands, Slovakia, Australia, Hungary, Switzerland, Japan, Sweden, India, Greece, Denmark, and Italy…

In total Jojoblog has received well over 82,000 visitors - and it's still growing fast!

Visitors up to 20th April 2008 Visitor Percentages by Country

Best wishes to all our contributors and visitors!!! - Here's to the next 12 months!!

Note from rb: tempora mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis


These words were the first post on Jojoblog four years ago today. Thank you, everyone, for (unofficially) having a party with Jonathan Richman!