Just seen this on ents24

Jonathan playing at the Green Man Festival, Glanusk Park, Nr Crickhowell, Wales
Fri 17th Aug - Sun 19th Aug - don't know which days.


Bob C

Less Than Perfect¹, More Than Special²

An appreciation of Vic Chesnutt done almost entirely in two footnotes.

Image: rb

¹ Of course ‘less than perfect’ describes how Vic Chesnutt saw himself.

² And ‘more than special’ describes how everyone else, everyone who was touched by his presence and had the privilege to glimpse the gleanings of his spirit, how everyone else saw him and could not, could never adequately articulate what they knew (knew, to have known, to know, as in the biblical sense, which can be carnal, sure, why not, if you want that meaning but is more like what happens when a soul encounters a soul and KNOWS and things progress from there to a sort of a bang and a bang and a bang and a bang and a bang to the spawnings of fathomless universes heretofore unknown and undreamt of and mysterious in their workings, circling in their relations, enchantments and horrors) in instinct but not in words, and the exhaustive impossibility of ever being able to describe this special quality to anyone who has never experienced it (can you really describe a moment of EUREKA to someone who has no conception of such a moment and its divergence of the pathways of a lifetime but can only see what is comfortably familiar and the illusion therewith? Or can you accept that a mind must mature to acquire some of the finer nuanced tastes and there is nothing really you can do about it as this is that other person’s journey to embark upon or not?) I digress.

I tried to begin writing this in the first days of Vic’s passing. I couldn’t.

Image: rb

#515

There is a pain—so utter—
It swallows substance up—
Then covers the Abyss with Trance—
So Memory can step
Around—across—upon it—
As one within a Swoon—
Goes safely—where an open eye—
Would drop him—Bone by Bone—

-- Emily Dickinson (one of Vic Chesnutt’s many poet heroes)

The morning after he took wing I was in the Smoky Mountains with my husband where we had spent a somber Christmas day, and caught this sunrise, 26 December 2009, after a sleepless night:

Image: rb

When the blackbird flew out of sight,
It marked the edge
Of one of many circles.

-- Wallace Stevens (another of Vic’s poet heroes), from ‘Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird’

2012 UK and Europe dates updated

Jonathan Richman ©Nathan Connelly via NGCCartoons All Rights Reserved

The tour will go continental in March. Please let us know if you come across other dates. Thanks!

(Previously in UK)

Sun 4 Mar Essen, Germany Grend (tix)

Tue 6 Mar Frankfurt, Germany Sinkkasten Arts Club (tix- no info)

ALSO IN ITALY (info courtesy Alberto via Bob in comments, venues unknown):

09 MARZO 2012 - FIRENZE

10 MARZO 2012 - NAPOLI

11 MARZO 2012 - ROMA

13 MARZO 2012 - MAROSTICA (VI)

14 MARZO 2012 - TRIESTE

15 MARZO 2012 - MODENA

Sun 18 Mar Murcia, Spain sala 12 y medio (no info)

Mon 26 Mar Feyzin, France L'Epicerie Moderne (tix) w/ Zak Laughed

Thu 29 Mar Paris, France La Flèche d'or (tix)

Confirm with venue before making travel plans

Thanks to Nathan Connelly for the use of the great cartoon!

Bohemia: Friday at The Smell in LA (9 Dec 2011)

Jonathan Richman with Tommy Larkins - 'Bohemia' via BLACKTENTPRESS

Elsewhere (Santa Ana), Todd A writes:

In what’s become an annual tradition, I went to see Jonathan Richman last Thursday night. This time, he was in the Constellation Room at the Galaxy Theater. (read more, great pics too)

the man does what he wants

image ©2011 RosebudPenfold

︙Sam Lefebvre at SF Weekly on Wednesday's show at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco:

Indeed, when he played "Old World," a cut from the first Modern Lovers LP, it was straight-ahead, but inflected with the nervous and emotive vocal style cultivated on recent records. Only half the song was actually performed: it ended abruptly, and it was difficult to tell whether that was intentional or not. But Richman gracefully began a new tune immediately. The man does what he wants. (read more)

Sex Pistols – Roadrunner via geminiLIZ

︙Sean J. O'Connell at OC Weekly on Thursday's show at the Galaxy Theatre in Santa Ana:

Johnny Rotten once told Spin magazine that he "hates all music." "Not one song?" asked the interviewer. "Oh yeah," he responded. "'Roadrunner' by the Modern Lovers." How's that for an endorsement? (Read more)

Old World
Roadrunner

next week in London: an evening with The Modern Ovens, rock food, and avian sex

The Modern Ovens - 'Astral Plane' via AliceBarfield

If you're in USA West Coast next week, then of course you should see Jonathan Richman and Tommy Larkins at any of a number of places (see sidebar). But if you're in UK on the other side of the astral plane at that time, why not snag a ticket to see The Modern Ovens perform as well as experience an evening of erudition about bird love and learn about a worthy charity cookbook?

Via The Quietus: Monday, 5 December- Brighton-based British Sea Power's Jonathan Richman tribute group The Modern Ovens, Klüb Gütenberg at The Old Queen's Head, London (tix) (read more)

Astral Plane

"They sure sound like a HOT band!" - Jonathan Richman (via)

Jonathan Richman and Tommy Larkins 2012 UK tour dates

April 24, 2010- Buenos Aires, Argentina: the amazing painter-performance artist Malcolm Roxs with JONATHAN RICHMAN via DIARY OF DEMOLITION

Satisfied Mind

~~~~~~2012 UK~~~~~~

Please let us know if you find more tour dates!

Thu 23 Feb Bangor, Gwynedd UK Hendre Hall (tix)
Sat 25 Feb Queens Road, Leeds UK The Brudenell Social Club (tix)
Sun 26 Feb Liverpool UK The Kazimier (tix)
Tue 28 Feb Cardiff UK Clwb Ifor Bach (tix)
Wed 29 Feb Shepherds Bush, London UK Bush Hall (tix)
Thu 1 Mar Powis Square, London UK The Tabernacle (tix)
Fri 2 Mar Islington, London UK Union Chapel (tix)

Update: Europe (more dates anticipated)

Tue 6 Mar Frankfurt, Germany Sinkkasten Arts Club (tix- no info)
Mon 26 Mar Feyzin, France L'Epicerie Moderne (tix) w/ Zak Laughed
Thu 29 Mar Paris, France La Flèche d'or (tix)

Confirm with venue before making travel plans

faster miles an hour

Image: Rhythm & Pencil Vol.00000000000001

The Daily Guru rhapsodizes and expounds upon teenage Jonathan Richman's classic Modern Lovers song: The simple chord progression found on "Roadrunner" bears an uncanny resemblance to that of "Sister Ray" by The Velvet Underground, and yet Richman manages to give this arrangement a fresh kick, stripping it down to a more basic and powerful sound.  As the chords ring across the track, one can almost hear him "creating" the punk rock style that would explode a few years later, and in many ways, punk rock was never better or more pure than this single performance.

Read more on The Daily Guru

• Roadrunner on Ramon's web site (note the updated URL- Ramon recently moved the entire (Unofficial) Jonathan Richman Chords page)

Fast-forward a few decades (oh my, where does the time go?) –

Of the more recent September 25, 2011 show in Portland, Oregon, Holly Homan writes: The final song, Sa Voix M’Atisse, also from his latest album, was sung entirely in French. But he didn’t leave the stage for long. He returned for an encore and began pointing out people in the audience and singing lines about them. “See that girl with the digital camera. I bet she knows how to go on the computer. All right. See the girl with the tattoos. I bet she knows how to grow organic corn. See the guy with the pork pie hat on. He left his camera out on the lawn. But it’s all right". This elicited enthusiastic cheers from the crowd.

Read more on East Portland Blog, great videos and pictures too

December 2011 Tour Dates

USA, West Coast

Fri 2 Dec Olympia WA Olympia Film Society (tix)
Sat 3 Dec Eugene OR Sam Bonds Garage (tix- no info)
Mon 5 Dec San Francisco CA Great American Music Hall (tix) with The Sea and Cake and Lia Ices
Tue 6 Dec Sacramento CA Blue Lamp (tix- no info)
Wed 7 Dec San Francisco CA Great American Music Hall (tix)
Thu 8 Dec Santa Ana CA Galaxy Theatre: The Constellation Room (tix)
Fri 9 Dec Los Angeles CA The Smell (tix only available at door on night of show)
Sat 10 Dec Visalla CA Cellar Door (tix)
Sun 11 Dec Santa Cruz CA The Catalyst Atrium (tix)

Confirm with venue before making travel plans

the door to Bohemia

Bohemia by Jonathan Richman at The Haunt in Ithaca, 24 October 2011, via Armin Heurich

Armin Heurich says Jonathan hasn't been to Ithaca, NY in 19 years. This was the last song of the show.

My parents didn’t stand in my way when I was 16 years old… They knew I had to find, they knew I was pining, for the door to the art world… They knew that I had to find the door — to Bohemia.  I had my pretentious artwork, but my parents didn’t laugh too bad… I needed to be reined in once in a while.  But they didn’t have a hateful vibe, they didn’t demean.  In fact, I’m grateful because they didn’t… stand in my way, when I was — standin’ in Harvard Square, pretentious artwork in my hand.  The New York hipsters saw me standin’ there, and they knew this young man was looking for the door…. To Bohemia.  There I was standin’ in the square, pretentious artwork folio, but they knew I had to find the way…. To Bohemia.


I was bratty.  Bratty… but sincere.  Yes, I was bratty… But I had to know, they knew I had to go.  Pretentious Artwork Folio, it showed me the door, to Bohemia.  High school was night.  But they showed me light.  When they helped me find the door to Bohemia.  Desperate, desperate, hook or crook… I searched for Bohemia in the high school dusty art book.  Faintly, faintly, conjured I — I searched for Bohemia in the darkened Boston sky.  And once they saw that I wouldn’t back down, well they showed me the door to Bohemia.

Bohemia transcript from Moonraking- read Moonraking's account and thoughts of the show at The Bishop in Bloomington last Friday (28 October, 2011), including his reading of the song "Bohemia" here

I Was Dancing in the Lesbian Bar at The Haunt in Ithaca, 24 October 2011, via Armin Heurich

• shaka tron had a memorable encounter with Jonathan at The Bell House in Brooklyn (22 October, 2011).

• Jonathan helped mop up the place at The Union in Athens, Ohio on 26 October, 2011.