photo: pneyu
photo: pneyu
Although I did not write about it earlier, Saturday we had an In-Store performance by Jonathan Richman. It was supposed to begin at 1:00pm, and fifteen minutes before that time he was nowhere in sight. I was in charge of watching the back door to grant his vehicle access to a spot near the shipping department. The car rolled up just as the store was starting to become cramped with people. I met him and his percussionist behind at their car and showed them inside. My first impression was that Jonathan was a very slight fellow, and I wondered why when he introduced himself he was speaking with a weird accent. At Jonathan's request, we turned off the air conditioning just before he got on the makeshift stage we made a few days earlier. The general manager said a quick word or two about turning off cellphones, not using flash photography, and not speaking during the performance. Jonathan then performed maybe five songs, delivered a monologue or two, and hung around for about an hour afterwards to talk to fans and even and old friends (like Alan Mason and Elliott Roberts) who had come out to see him. As I walked back and forth between the front and rear of the store, performing my regular duties, I was struck by his demeanor whenever I walked past the group conversing at the back of the room. He was kneeling on the ground, lightly picking flamenco patterns on his nylon-string guitar, and staring off into space. His smile was very unusual. Even if he glanced in my direction, it seemed as if he was looking through me and smiling at something far beyond. Very cool, and very weird. [more]
via Swan Fungus
Thanks Evan!
Rockaway Records
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