Cold Pizza and other stuff

 Jonathan just released  a new EP, available on Bandcamp, it's called "Cold Pizzas and other stuff" . The song list has new titles and old favourites.

1- Cold pizzas, 2- New kind of neighbourhood, 3- To celebrate to adore, 4- La bamba, 5- Guitar in Orange, drums in pale purple, 6- Everybody loves Dolly.

New book about Jonathan's songs

 

http://vivonzeureux.fr/jonathanbook

 

This link will lead you to a book written by JC Brouchard, a die-hard fan, about his selection of Jonathan's songs from the very beginning ("New teller") to nowadays production. It is a must read full of witty remarks and anecdotes.   Jacques

A new handwritten interview with Jojo

Despite my new rule about not reading musicians' "explanations" of what they are trying to do in their work, nor much about their personal lives, I peeked at this one and was amply rewarded. A good read! See especially his explanation about cell phones/computers. (H/t Ramon).

https://thespinoff.co.nz/music/05-06-2021/an-interview-with-american-music-legend-jonathan-richman-all-in-handwriting/

Great show posted by guest blogger

I’ve heard almost 200 Jonathan Richman bootlegs over the years and a lot of them aren’t worth mentioning because they are often poorly recorded. There are the occasional gems in even a poor recording but it is rare to find a bootleg which is both recorded well and outstanding from start to finish. Such a bootleg is the show from the Mean Fiddler, London, in 1988. Jonathan is having fun and the crowd is completely with him the whole way. If there was one show I could go back in time to see, it would be this one. So I had to share https://www.dropbox.com/sh/q8yi1ywqtq4j427/AAAP6ALkCSGQjiTZTfJASn6Ua?dl=0 (I won’t leave the link up forever, so take a look while it’s there!) Ramon

Unpacking Jonathan's Boston references; a travelogue of sorts

Interesting read about the geography of Boston as seen through a Jonathan Richman lens. Zachary Lamothe takes on the rather large task of spotting and explaining all Jonathan's Boston references over 50 years of activity, and bringing them to life for Bostonians and non-Bostonians alike.

https://backyardroadtrips.com/2020/10/09/im-in-love-with-massachusetts-in-the-footsteps-of-jonathan-richman/

Leroy Radcliffe has passed away, sadly. Jonathan is the only one of the four left from the Modern Lovers Live version of the band.

Here is an interview with Leroy from the jojofiles archive.

 "Modern Lovers" written on the drum set. Asa Brebner on bass and Andy Paley drums ... def. 1985 ... the only year of that configuration of the Modern Lovers.

Beaver Cleaver

I know it's a facile comparison used by concert reviewers with weak game. But whenever I see a Leave it to Beaver episode, I am struck with some of the similar mannerisms. Does it go too far to speculate that Jerry Mathers' character was perhaps an early influence on Jonathan? Leave it to Beaver debuted when Jonathan was six years old. If so... a fine influence!