Contest winners!

The contest had a great turnout, so good that I would definitely consider doing another one at a later date! It was great to see the large representation of Jonathan fans, all across the world. I loved reading your stories so much. The first 3 were picked by a random drawing, and the last one was picked by me, as the extra prize. Now, without further ado, your winners:

1) The vinyl copy of BHBIRAW goes to....Dani!

Sample from her entry:

Every single song Jonathan has ever written has some sort of meaning deep deep within my heart.

I find myself in complete tears when listening to his insightful epics such as as my mother lay dying, I feel overcome with euphoric joy when dancing to his playful (yet still insightful) tunes such as Floatin, and just flat out floored hearing him sing about themes as beautiful and honest as natural beauty, childhood joy, and love in songs such as love me like i love. This is one of the most difficult questions I've been asked in a while. But, the Jonathan song that has come to mean the most to me over the years, would have to be That summer feeling. This song became my favorite on a sunny afternoon I spent with my older brother. As we drove home from a day at the beach listening to I, Jonathan, we reminisced on how freeing and enchanting our summers were when we were children. During this discussion Jonathan just so happened to be gently singing in the backround, "that summer feelin is gonna haunt you one day in your life." We started the song over, and this time we listened to the words as we refrained from talking, the windows were down, and the chill of the ocean air reminded us we were really living. I felt chills running up my arms and legs. I'd been listening to this song since I was about 10 years old, and suddenly, it took on an entirely new meaning. My brother and I looked at each other, both nearly in tears, we were touched. I feel that this song touches on a rare and important topic, for it's authenticity, it's insight, and the way it gently sways yet leaves a lasting impression, it is my favorite. I would have to deem I, Jonathan as my favorite album due to the sentimental place it holds in my heart (which will be addressed in question 3) and for the fact that it contains my favorite JoJo song!

2) The copy of DREAM magazine goes to...Jonathan! (oddly enough)

from his entry:

Well, I'm sure my story of meeting Jonathan is probably not as exciting as some others
that I have read, but I'll share anyhow. This was about 5(?) years ago or so, at the
Cat's Cradle in Carborro, NC. I had seen him a few times before this show, so I was
pretty confident that I would have a chance to approach him.

About 3/4ths way though the show I guess he needed a little break. He said something
to the effect of "I'm gonna go out back (there was a visible door basically behind
the stage which led to outside) and we?ll start back up in ten minutes or so".
Of course everyone followed him back there, and it was pleasant in the warm
Carolina night. People took turns approaching him and basically worshiping the guy!

Well, after a few minutes I approached him. You know, for some reason it was important
to me to say something intelligent to him. After all, his music and philosophy was so
important to me, and so I asked: "Could you say anything about you're middle 80's
period?" Of course I was referring to the pre-rounder trio of albums, but a playful
(and smiling) Jonathan replied: "I didn't know I had periods of music!"

What a classic, and true, response. After I reflected on that comment I realized that
life's not about thinking about how great you'll be remembered in the future,
or how you are currently defined. It's about the moment! It's "Es Como El Pan"
(if that grammatically makes sense). We could focus on the past, buy why?
Let's enjoy the present!

After everyone went back into the venue he finished his set with people sitting all
over the stage, in a setting where the stage was as open as the rest of the building.
Afterwards, everyone seemed to leave with a very surreal, complete feeling.
What a great night!

3) The t-shirt goes to....Nacho!
From his entry:

It's very hard to me to choose one favorite song of Jonathan Richman. And it's hard because you can't compare the modern lovers era with his solo albums from the 90's or these with the new ones. But maybe I will choose “the night still young” or “The morning of our lives”. The last one it's the best “self-help song” i ever heard. (well, at least, I translate it that way)

By the way, “Let her go into the darkness” it's one of the best songs I ever saw live. The performance of Jonathan translating the dialogue into French, Italian, Spanish and Hebrew its completely amazing.

And now for the absolute hardest part of this...I have a poster-size advertisment for Back in Your Life that I have had for quite a while now, and I have never gotten it framed, and with all the moving I'll be doing in the next year, it's impractical for me to keep it. BUT, I wanted it to go to a good home. So many of these entries were amazing, and filled with love. I wanted to give you all prizes! But when it came time to pick, I'm a literature major, and a good story will get me everytime.

Yiannis wrote this beautiful story about trying to get to a Jonathan concert, and I just loved it so much I had to give him the poster.

A 17 years old in suburbs of Piraeus, Greece.

Favourite music: all the new wave, punk rock, a little bit dark style, very close to the 'proper' mood you have when you are a teenager, feeling angry about what's happening in the world - his world, feeling desperate sometimes, trying to find his identity.

Magazine "IHOS" (means SOUND). A magazine with many interesting open-minded music journalists. One of them writes about Jonathan's album: "Jonathan Sings". The title of the article is "Jonathan Stings!" The message of the article is that this album change lives and that is the most "hardcore" music of our times.

The boy, searching for new experiences, buys the album and that's it!

"It's too late .you are stuck with me". This music puts the end to all the dark, bloomy mood and shows the 'wide open road'. The relationship with Jonathan begins, the Rockin and Romance is the second lovely 'kiss' and the boy is beginning to search in these - no internet times- who's that guy, has he other albums etc.. Also he writes in his 'fan club', of course not the usual fan club. Jonathan send him some lines in a letter himself, the boy is the first fan from Greece, the boy buys a T- shirt painted from Jonathan (full of colour, with UFOs, camels, dinosaurs, etc).

The boy's friends find this music silly and childish, a betray in the 'dark kingdom', but the boy says it loud: He is happy and he is proud!. Now the dream is one: to see him Live! In the material Jonathan is sending, there are dates and venues in which Jonathan plays all over world, but Greece (very poor in concerts in these times) is never in them. So the dream is to travel somewhere near Greece. And when (in springtime) a concerts' schedule arrives from Jonathan and inside the boy finds Italy he take the decision: He will go to Milan for the concert of his life!!!

I highly recommend you read the rest on the jojoblog backstage

Thank you to all of you who entered!!!