I still haven't gotten any emails from eager readers willing to share their Jonathan experience, (I am disappointed in you kids!) but I did find some crawling around the internet to share with you. This first short one comes to us from Hikool arts:
After so many years, let us still count the charms of Jonathan Richman:
He’s funny.
He’s not shy about dancing, in the most loopy, unaffected way.
He knows his way around a love song, a fact that is easy to forget amid all the comical mugging and humor.
And he still exudes childlike joy with a combination of innocence and a knowing wink.
On Tuesday at the Social, Richman and his reliable sidekick, drummer Tommy Larkins, offered a delightful, unconventionally engaging 80 minutes, with the singer often stepping away from the microphone to do a verse, dance or play an intricate solo on his gut-string guitar – utterly unplugged.
“Don’t be shy about giving us the beat,” he told the crowd at one point, as the audience members clapped along. “It warms up the atmosphere.”
You can finish it out here.
Also, there is this very cool remembrance of a Jonathan concert/encounter from years past, via Every Gig I've Ever Seen:
We managed to get backstage to say hello to Jonathan. The band were buzzing at the reaction. We got a free beer. There’s Jonathan! By then the excitement was too much and I went bounding up to him. I was aware that I probably looked totally wired, all hot and sweaty and smelly. “That was amazing! I don’t know if you’re a genius or madman!”. I remember blurting that out. Can’t remember his response. He gave me a badge and didn’t seem displeased. In fact the overall impression was of a really nice person. Honest.the rest, which I recommend, and is here.
In unrelated news, when talking with some people yesterday, the idea of a Jonathan Richman biopic came up. It's definitely on the list of impossible things that would never happen, but how cool would it be?
Also, email me your reviews, guys!
picture is from the great ZioWoody
I Saw Jonathan at the Handlebar in Greenville on Febuary 8. MY friend and i decided to make posters that said Play Government Center. Towards the beginning of the concert my friend sais to jonthan that we made poster for him to play government center and that we wanted to sing it with him, so my friend and i sung government center with Jonathan Richman
ReplyDeleteAlso after the concert we got to talk with him. He sighned both of our posters. It was very exciting