Jon Richman part 3

Jonathan admits he got in trouble at school, "all for things no one ever got in trouble for. There were no rules against them but they just didn't expect people to do 'em.

"For example, I would draw on my pants. I had nothin' to do so I'd just draw little things on my pants." Jonathan traces two circles on his shorts to demonstrate. "Then I'd be summoned to the principal's office and he'd say, 'What are these?' I'd say, 'That's a treble dial and that's a bass dial.' Little infractions like that."

Probably no aspect of Jonathan's current music delights, frustrates, amuses and offends people as much as it's childishness. The Modern Lovers always dealt with the commonplace, often in simple terms. But by the time the group disbanded the records had become deliberately childlike. The final Modern Lovers album, Back in Your Life, celebrates the joys of running and jumping, eating food, God's love for mosquitos, and elves and animals partying in the woods. to be continued

by Bill Flanagan Trouser Press November 1979