Rockin' and Romance

Jonathan's Rockin' and Romance is available as a custom burned cd from Twin Tone Records. There is no booklet or artwork other than what is printed on the face of the cd itself. It sounds great.
 


http://www.twintone.com/projects/8558.html

My Favorite 2015 Christmas Stocking Stuffer for the Jonathan Fan

A split blue-black vinyl of The Modern Lovers.  I like how the designers picked up how key those two colors are. I had been collecting records since I was a kid in the 60s collecting 45s and I'd never seen blue and black done that way. Probably one of the reasons why that album stood out in my teenage mind. In addition to the fact that the music in the grooves was - well - Like No Other.  Don't know the history that album cover but I plan to research it someday. I bet it was some sort of art school joint.

Anyway if you don't have this album, or - gasp - have never heard it, I definitely recommend getting the properly-sequenced eight song original .. sans bonus tracks.  Bonus track reissues are pretty much the scourge of mankind.

On the Rareness of 'It's Time For'

While I wasn't looking, It's Time for Jonathan Richman, has turned into the most rare Jonathan Richman LP.

It is selling for high of $88 on the CD, and $60 on the vinyl. It was released on the British Portobello Road edgy punk label Rough Trade, apparently not very well because they didn't print enough copies.
The CD is supposed to be extremely rare but it was the first CD that I ever bought, before even owning a CD player.  The vinyl was released in nine countries, including Brazil and Greece.  The CD was only released in the USA.

It is certainly one of Jonathan's better albums.  My favorite track is probably "Corner Store".  That, along with "Neon Sign" and "Ancient Long Ago" definitely suggests that Jonathan is in a heavy-duty recherche au temps perdu mode (although that mode is present from "Old World" up through today's "They Showed Me the Door to Bohemia").

Here's all the nerdy details of the release: http://www.discogs.com/master/view/6776

box of rock

FYI:  Erin from Rockerzine lets us know in comments (see below previous post) that they’re offering a premium version of Rockerbox including Jonathan Richman’s single from Blue Arrow Records, ‘Keith’ b/w ‘The Door to Bohemia’

https://www.rockerzine.com/product/the-rockbox/

-rb-

Work in Silence: Jonathan Richman interviewed by Arielle Mae Mullen

Thank you to Arielle Mae Mullen for kind permission to reprint this wonderful interview.  Earlier we heard from Roger Catlin who posted a great review of Jonathan Richman's appearance at the Andy Warhol Museum (read it again).  This interview makes a good pairing.

-rb-

August 23, 2015 
Original can be found here
First published in Synthesis Weekly

 Listen to the audio version (it's really good)
~~~~~~♡♡♡~~~~~~

Jonathan Richman

 
On August 21, 2015 I was afforded the opportunity to interview musician Jonathan Richman in the backyard of his northern California home. I arrived at his house a bit nervous. I’d been wanting to interview him for a long time, and given the fact that he famously doesn’t do interviews, I wasn’t sure how it would go. Adding to my nervousness was the fact that I hadn’t prepared any questions. Normally I would have a list of talking points to hit, with a general outline to guide the conversation. But when I called the number on his business card and asked if he’d be willing to take a meeting with me, I hadn’t expected him to agree, let alone suggest we do it in fifteen minutes.

So there I was: really nervous, fairly unprepared, but mostly just excited. This is my first attempt at offering an audio version of an interview, and I’m so happy to make this one available to all of you. During the interview we sat outside in his backyard. A guitar sat on his lap and his two dogs at his feet. At one point one of them (who happens to be deaf), started barking pretty loudly, but other than that, the audio came out fairly clear. Jonathan graciously agreed to let me interview him, on the condition that I keep his answers unedited. Usually I’d make an effort to edit the transcribed interview for clarity or continuity, but his feelings being what they are about the subject, I felt it important to try to preserve as much of the original conversation as I could.

Jonathan has a gentle air that makes him appear almost cautious, but directly under the surface is a seemingly limitless supply of unfettered joy and creativity. Listening back to this interview, I can definitely hear that come through in his voice and the stories he tells, so I’m really happy to be able to share this with you. With that, please enjoy my interview with Jonathan Richman.

J'aime Paris au mois de mai

-rb-

Paris was made for love

Jonathan Mann

-rb-

Paris, la ville lumière... Paris, la ville de l’amour...

I’m sure I speak for everyone when I say I hope our Jojofriends in Paris are ok.  We send you our love.

Someone I have never met but greatly admire wrote these words to a group just when I needed to read them.  She has agreed to let me share them here:

as many of us think of the victims, survivors, and their friends and family in france, let us be strong.. let us not lose our humanity and tolerance, nor our determination to create a better and more peaceful world (Venus Vesuvius)

Luke Storms posted this letter on Crashingly Beautiful from Albert Camus:

My Dear,

In the midst of hate, I found there was, within me, an invincible love. In the midst of tears, I found there was, within me, an invincible smile. In the midst of chaos, I found there was, within me, an invincible calm. I realized, through it all, that… In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.

And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger - something better, pushing right back.

Truly yours,
Albert Camus

Jessica Duchen of JDCMB posted this video of the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris performing Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem:



People all over the world...

Jonathan Plays the Warhol Museum

Jonathan Richman has been known to play some pretty unpredictable shows over the years, but few as unusual as his appearance last Wednesday at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh.

There, the onetime founder of the Modern Lovers was wrapping up a pretty heady series there featuring bands whose DNA could be traced directly to the band Warhol helped shape, the Velvet Underground. Previous performers in the series included Television and Luna.

Richman, appearing on a stark stage with his longtime percussionist Tommy Larkins, said he met Warhol about a half dozen times when he was a teen, a fan of the Velvets and curious about Warhol’s art.

“I’m afraid I don’t get it,” the young Richman told the pop artist of his work.

“Yes, you do,” Warhol replied.

And so he did, certainly grasping, he says, the colors of the soup cans and Brillo boxes (he marvels at supermarket aisles for product colors too, he said). In the museum, he said he finally understood the floating Mylar pillows in his “Clouds” piece. And though he didn’t understand the films of stationery objects at the time, he says he now gets their textures and subtlety.

Richman says he was spooked by being in the museum amid so much Warhol work — and spooked too about saying he hadn’t seen some of it for half a century. He was also likely rattled by being interviewed by museum staff earlier in the day — he’s not a guy that takes to interviews well.

All of it seemed to affect his concert such that he almost neglected to play an entire song. His long Warhol rap, fascinating as it was, came during a piece that began with him singing “That Summer Feeling,” but never getting close to even beginning that classic song, only its title. Rather, as he strummed guitar and Larkin kept beat, he spun his spoken word tale.

He seemed to snap back during “Egyptian Reggae,” that old instrumental, a hit abroad, but it only seemed to remind him of his European affections. He’d sing one song in Spanish about welcoming you to a party, then another in Italian. All the while, he’d work out his acoustic guitar in Flamenco inspired melodic runs.

There was a whole segment where he’d start a song with one drum pattern, get Larkins to try it with another, and finally get him to start a third, trying to sing a seemingly spontaneous number. And while it never quite coalesced, it was interesting to see him essentially trying to give birth to a song, difficult as it was. The crowd was certainly rapt through it all and encouraging (except one guy who muttered “Heart of Saturday Night” and “Roadrunner” as ignored requests).

Certainly some would have just rather heard even a few of his many great songs. But that is part of the surprise and sometime exasperation of a Jonathan show.

Here he was in a museum that devotes one whole room to the sound of the Velvets in a convincingly reproduced environment of the Exploding Plastic Inevitable. Still, he didn’t choose to sing his one song on the subject, “The Velvet Underground.”

He preferred to discuss, on the other hand, a Dutch painter from another museum and century, in “No One was Like Vermeer.”

A big chunk of the show seemed to go in and out of his song “Take Me to the Plaza,” extolling the pleasure of playing in a park among people. He eschews barriers between him and the audience and therefore walks away from the microphone frequently to showcase an unamplified voice. He stopped short, though, of jumping into the crowd.

From that song, he jumped into more Flamenco-style workouts, did a bit of dance, and sang more of his Esperanto rock and roll. He also got to rail against computers, all manner of screens, and phones that beep in your pocket without going fully into another newer song he has about the whole subject, “”You Can Have a Cell Phone, That’s OK But Not Me.”

There were some delights emerging from almost finished songs, such as one about how a bonfire changes the atmosphere at a party.

From the Modern Lovers songbook came just one song, “Old World” (and from that, just about one updated verse about the cummerbund).

And to the chagrin of the people from his current Cleveland-based label Blue Arrow Records, he played neither of his new singles, “O Sun”/Wait Wait Wait” nor “Keith,” about the Rolling Stone, backed with “The Door to Bohemia.”

Eventually he got to “Because Her Beauty was Raw and Wild” (some of it) and “Not So Much to be Loved as to Love” and even “Springtime in New York” and “These Bodies That Came to Cavort” at show’s end.

But so many of the songs he’s been usually playing live lately, from “I Was Dancing in the Lesbian Bar” to “Let Her Go Into the Darkness” were missing in action.

It was as if he was learning once more from Warhol after all these years, something about minimalism, to the extreme.

A concert review from a submillenial's perspective

A 20-year old southern US college student

https://medium.com/@robertmcauliffe/concert-review-jonathan-richman-proud-larry-s-2-28-2015-9db63a0fa58d

Fall Tourdates!

Visit http://www.highroadtouring.com/artists/jonathan-richman/itinerary/ to see Jonathan's tour schedule for fall 2015.

N.Y. rocker article

Check out this interesting article and questionnaire from the 70's: article

When We Refuse to Suffer (cover)

As long as were posting covers. I would like to venture another one.  This is from the Baby Were a Richman tribute which seems to have somehow totally disappeared from the web  (did not even know that was possible).   It is Dustin and the Furniture.   He doesn't stint to add/change lyrics to address the particular perpective of a twenty-something.

Dustin's career seems to have fizzled unfortunately (judging by web activity).  That is unfortunate because he seemed to be an inspired lad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmGk9Qcet_g&feature=youtu.be

Interview with KLCC

via Debbie Gulyas of Blue Arrow Records

Interesting interview with Eric Alan from KLCC, NPR for Oregonians:

http://klcc.org/post/jonathan-richman-finds-his-way-bohemia

Here's a transcript of the interview:

Interview starts with excerpt from the released Single version of "Oh Sun"

Eric:
I'm Eric Alan for KLCC.

Jonathan Richman continues to pursue his unique musical path long after his band the Modern Lovers helped define the punk era in the 1970's, a band whose first incarnation included Jerry Harrison of the Talking Heads and David Robinson of the Cars.

Jonathan Richman and drummer Tommy Larkins are touring behind new songs issued on 7" vinyl singles and they'll perform at the Axe & Fiddle in Cottage Grove on Monday evening June 8th.

In a conversation from his northern California home Jonathan talks about the initial influences that inspired his entry into music.

Jonathan:
Before I sang I drew and painted all day long as a teenager so when I heard music first actually it was the Lovin' Spoonful that grabbed me the color and their sound and then the Velvet Underground and when I heard them I heard the colors and the sound and I went "my gosh, this is it this is like painting and sound and with electric guitars like that you can paint moods and atmospheres and rhythm and color in front of the audience"

Eric:
That entry in music was made easier by parents who supported his teenage decision to pursue music professionally and that parental trust inspires one of his new songs an ode of gratitude called "They Showed Me The Door to Bohemia".

An excerpt from the single version of "Bohemia" is played...
Well, my parents didn't laugh at me and my pretentious artwork when I was sixteen. They knew I had to start somewhere so they just dropped me off at Harvard Square. They knew that, well, Jonathan has to find his way somehow to Bohemia. That's how it goes, he's one of them. They didn't mind. It wasn't...they didn't mind.

There I was in Harvard Square. Pretentious artwork in my hand. The hipsters saw me standing there they could see this young man had to find his way to Bohemia.

Jonathan:
You knew the second my parents were loose about it really made it easier it was one less thing for me to have to fight against. That they trusted my judgement made it much easier for me to learn the things that I had to learn. Once they realized I was serious about it that I wasn't just an "entertainer" as my father put it...that didn't thrill him...once they saw that I cared about the music then they were in.

Eric:
The Modern Lovers had their song "Roadrunner" covered by the Sex Pistols and Joan Jett among others and Jonathan Richman's career has since included numerous solo albums, a major on-screen role in the hit movie "There's Something About Mary", and many appearances on Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

At this point in his career Jonathan Richman is still looking to one of his other influences for inspiration namely Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones in a new song called "Keith".

An excerpt from the Single version of "Keith Richards" is played...
Oh Keith Richards,
No one plays guitar like you,
Oh Keith Richards,
No plays guitar like you
Not exactly the blues
Cause its sorta European too

Eric:
Jonathan Richman has a noted distrust of digital technology...he adamantly doesn't have a website, doesn't participate in on-line culture and much prefers issuing music on vinyl over CD.

When I express admiration for his ability to keep distant from addictive electronics he tells me that it wouldn't be so hard for me to follow the same path.

Jonathan:
There's nothin' to it you just...you got a window?

Eric:
I do.

Jonathan:
Ok, you got your technology right in your hand near ya?

Eric:
I do.

Jonathan:
You see the window?

Eric:
laughs

Jonathan:
You see what's comin' next? See where I'm headed with this?

Eric:
I do!

Jonathan:
Anybody can do this you know...the window is there...and there's the big old dirt outside waiting for a big bunch of big plastic technology.

Eric:
His preference for vinyl is a sonic one echoing the thoughts of many who prefer the warm tone of records in comparison to CD's or digital files.

It also resonates with the young audiences he says he's finding.

Jonathan:
I like the way it sounds a billion times better and a lot of our fans are in their twenties and teens and as me and Tommy my drummer travel around we notice a lot of record stores. Who are they owned and operated by? People in their early twenties. What do they sell? Vinyl. They're into vinyl and I think they're right. I applaud their decision. It shows they've got good ears cause you can hear the difference.

Eric:
Over the course of the years Jonathan Richman has sometimes sung in other languages besides English and that trend continues with the new song called "Wait Wait" inspired by the poetry of Juan Ramón Jiménez.

Jonathan:
One of my good pals from Madrid who also sings backup on it, David Menendez turned me on to this guy Juan Ramón Jiménez. He send me a little booklet that he made of his stuff and when I got to that poem from Eternidades I went "oh my god, that's totally musical.

An excerpt from the Single version of "Wait Wait" is played...

Eric:
When I express my appreciation for the beauty of the Spanish language and it's rhythms in comparison to English he defends the beauty of English and I have to concede the point.

Jonathan:
Oh c'mon English is great! English has got big one syllable words like "I love". You can like say it in two syllables in English. You can say like with Cole Porter "I get a kick out of you". All of those one-syllable words? English is a fabulous language for songs. Like, um Robert Johnson...you know those songs...English is great for this stuff, it's just a different vibe, a different rhythm it just rhymes real differently. So some sentiments come out better in some languages and some in the other, that's why I do the different languages. A lot of times the sentiment comes out better in one language than the other for me.

Eric:
Perhaps I'm just too hard on my own native language I suppose it's easy sometimes to be hard on our own culture.

Jonathan:
Well look at all the variety. James Joyce which language did he write? English I do believe, no?

Eric:
True.

Jonathan:
Gerard Manley Hopkins, W B Yeats, English all. The list is endless. I'm just warming up! Shakespeare I do believe. English no? English si? Fabulous.


Eric:
Jonathan Richman expresses how much more comfortable he was early on in live performance as opposed to making albums and his approach to current concerts remains one of being in the moment; according to the situation with which he's presented.

Jonathan:
You sniff the air. I don't have one idea, like "Oh I want to create x mood". You get in the room, you make up some of your songs, some of the songs you sing that you already know, and the mood that you want starts to be created by the room itself, the vibe of the room, and who shows up most importantly and you can't predict that.

Do not come to this show expecting what most folks my age do which is retrospective and a little of this and a little of that...No! You might hear nothing older than six months old at one of these shows.

--

The interview ends with Eric plugging Jonathan's upcoming show and involvement with Blue Arrow Records.
Another excerpt from the "Bohemia" single is played as an outro.

Jonathan Does Casablanca

Check out Jonathan's latest activity on the stage...

A huge casting coup for this local adaptation was in the role of Sam—a black piano player in the movie—who is played here by world-renowned singer/songwriter Jonathan Richman (listed in the program as Michel DeMenilmontant but properly credited on the cast’s wall photos). Richman, who now lives in Chico, provides low-volume incidental French-accented guitar music throughout as well as one featured number sung in French, in addition to a touching rendition of the film’s iconic theme song, "As Time Goes By".

https://www.newsreview.com/chico/moroccan-roll/content?oid=17093346

You’ve got mail, from Jonathan Richman! Also Summer Tour 2015

Debbie Gulyas of Blue Arrow Records recently contacted us to request questions Jonathan Richman might answer on Jojoblog!  We are honored that he agreed to this arrangement and happy to see he chose to illustrate his handwritten communication with drawings! 

For years Jonathan faithfully replied to his fan mail, taking it seriously and delighting countless fans with “old school” letters that would be mailed from wherever he happened to be on the road.  This letter to Jojoblog readers continues the tradition in the same genial spirit:  an echo of the past, present in the now.

Blue Arrow Records released the recent vinyl records "O Sun" backed with "Wait Wait Wait" and "Keith" backed with "The Door to Bohemia."  Have a look around their web site and read their story here:

http://bluearrowrecords.com/

Nugrape sent a numbered list of questions and Jonathan responded to number 5, which is why the letter begins with the number 5.

This is the email Debbie sent to go with the letter:

Greetings to everyone! I am pleased to send you the first answer to one of your questions that I received in the mail today from Jonathan. It's perfect timing, since he and Tommy will begin their summer West Coast tour in June! I am also attaching the poster Jonathan made for this tour.

You are free to post these on the blog as long as you let people know that Jonathan does not use the internet or own a computer and these are being sent through me to reach his fans.

Enjoy! I will send another answered question in a month.

Sincerely,
Debbie

~~~~~~

As you can see, the other big news is summer tour for Jonathan Richman and Tommy Larkins beginning in June for West Coast USA and Vancouver.  The itinerary with details is on High Road Touring:

http://www.highroadtouring.com/artists/jonathan-richman/itinerary/

The tour poster artwork (see down below) by Jonathan is like a song in progress, you can envision the energy and feel the beat, dark of night and spotlit stage- it’s wonderful.

~~~~~~

This is the content of the letter from Jonathan Richman, for those who need to run it through a translator:

5. How has touring changed?

Ya still throw the gear in the back and drive just like when I was 19. The U.S.A. isn’t the same place so that’s changed.

Highways used to look like this:

(Here a great mural type drawing, intersections of a bustling highway with crowds of people, cars and lots of one-of-a-kind neon)

Whereas they now look like this:

(Here a sort of sterile depiction of modular interstate scene/vanishing point that could be Anyplace, USA)

But playing the shows is sometimes more fun (here something marked out straight through) than it ever was, anyway.

Tommy and I both love the way things have been going with the audiences these last most recent years. I wouldn’t trade. I have also changed. I don’t have the chip on my shoulder I once had. (here a passage scribbled out in coils like a Jackson Pollock painting).

So I just like “now.” The past is past: give me “now.”
The past was cozy and had color everywhere. “Now” is bleak, but even so, give me “now.”

Tommy drives about 70%. Me the other 30%.

But I’m the one who always pumps the gas, for some reason.

~~~~~~

Click images to see original size.

Not Yet Three

Another fun and inspired cover video from Eytan Mirsky. Subscribe to his YouTube Channel for a ton more...

New Single: "O Sun"/"Wait Wait"

Check out Jonathan's new single!
Also, a review from brokenheadphones.com

Checkout Jonathan's High Road Touring page to hear "Wait Wait"

Con El Merengue

Here's a nice cover sent in by José Otero. Thanks José!



Con El Merengue

I was Dancing in a Lesbian Bar covered by They Might Be Giants

They Might Be Giants have released a cover of Jonathan's "I was Dancing in a Lesbian Bar". Both the cover and a Lauren Flax remix have been posted to their youtube channel.  I am a big TMBG fan, but I can't say these particular covers really do it for me on the intial play. We will see, a lot of TMBG stuff grows on me over time even if I didn't care for it on the first pass. (disclosure: they are one corner of my triumvirate of all time favorites)  I have that reaction to a lot of covers if it is a song I have listened to many, many, many, times, and certainly I've enjoyed many variations and live performances of IWDIALB here on the jojoblog.

The cover

The Lauren Flax Remix

Jonathan is cited in many little blurbs as an influence and inspiration for They Might Be Giants – but I couldn’t find an actual interview quote or primary source.  It makes perfect sense given TMBG’s long and strong position as Brooklyn’s ambassadors of love and considering their timelines.  However, the ubiquity of the wording makes it seem a little copypasta, so I wanted to outline some thoughts and dig around to find some actual direct quotes.

Common Traits:

Singer songwriters – check

Two man core setup – check (no to downplay the collaborative live band that modern TMBG is)

Strong sense of Americana and New England – check

Lyrics that are playful and have a free association vibe – check

Lyrics that drive at our human motivations, fascinations, joys, loves, fears – check

Known for a purity or innocence of spirit - check

Genre defiance – check

Still playing after all these years – check

Not content to ride a vast catalogue but constantly creating new work – check

Often both sited together as an influence on other artists – check

Strong appeal to self-identified nerdy or quirky crowds – check

Largely independent – check

Crossovers in bands that cover them in tribute(http://jojofiles.blogspot.com/2006_03_01_archive.html) – check

Have an album or album’s worth of material that is kid delightful - check

Apparently there is a new book describing the movement they belong to as “Twee” (http://blog.mediander.com/twee-as-heck/)  This idea is new to me.

I went a dozen pages deep in google links and found no directly attributed quotes of one discussing the other, but TMBG do appear to have been playing the song since at least 2013 for in studio appearances per their tweets.  TMBG do a LOT of press and have been very active in online media and the internet from very very early on, so there are a lot of hits for them, maybe someone with stronger SearchFu than me can find a nice interview discussion of the subject but it may be lore that is only covered in physical zine or print and now is just an established internet fact.

When they come to SF in May I will see if I can get a few words from both Johns on their Jojo thoughts.

So there is a lot going on there.  They share similar geographic roots.  They came of age in the same sonic generation.  They have similar cohorts in the punk/new wave explosion.

What do you think?

Awoo, Awoo.

~rkt88edmo

(Naz Malik) Outliers: Jonathan Richman Loved His Parents

Naz writes in a thoughtful essay you should read:

I think we’re honing in on what Tolstoy broadly defines as art. Namely, a transmission of “emotional infectiousness”:

“A real work of art destroys, in the consciousness of the receiver, the separation between himself and the artist.”
 
http://canvas.grolsch.com/news/outliers-jonathan-richman-modern-lovers-introduction

This Moment Again and Again

Last month year we heard from This Moment Again and Again, an art collective in San Francisco, while I can no longer find the original email I did find the post-it note stuck to a years worth of undone to-do lists and tax papers so here it is, listen to this amazing couple, I wouldn't have held onto that slip of paper if I didn't think it was something special:

http://thismomentagainandagain.com/

Many apologies to Ari Gelardin and Jacob Palmer.  If you know them please let them know I finally came through.  Many heartfelt apologies.

Brilliant "Let Her Go" Cover (Pain!)

Eytan Mirsky performs an acoustic cover of "Let Her Go into the Darkness." Mirsky is known for songs he contributed to the films "American Splendor," "The Tao of Steve" and "Happiness." He has released five albums of his original music, the most recent of which is "Year of the Mouse" (2012).

Check him out on bandcamp.

Kim Fowley LA Legend Dies Aged-75

 

Details Here

1979 Lost Project: "I Don't Want No Nuclear Power Plants (In My Life) EP"

Paris, 1979

Background

In 1979, while still with Beserkley records, Jonathan was involved with yet another "lost" project.
Something that would be fairly rare throughout his career, an EP with entirely new material, was planned.
From a comment that came with an old bootleg (7/13/79 shared on Dime):
"I Don't Want No Nuclear Power Plants (in My Life)" was scheduled to be released as a single on Beserkley, backed by an instrumental called Nuclear Nightmare. Jonathan was VERY into the anti-nuke movement at the time. But, his split with the label scuppered the release, and I guess he lost interest, because the song disappeared completely from his life."
Another comment, sometime later from the same source:
"I believe Jonathan told us about that back in 1978. He was all excited about the anti-nuke movement and my friend was skeptical about whether it would accomplish anything. Jonathan doesn't like it when you disagree with him, so he got all pissed off."

Tim Mitchell's book

The book "There's Something About Jonathan" by Tim Mitchell talks about the 1979 Gold Star Studio Sessions, but doesn't mention "Nuclear Nightmare" which I believe was also recorded at the same session.
I think "Nuclear Nightmare" is also part of the Gold Star sessions because it comes with the bootleg and the recording sounds similar in quality/timbre to "Up In Sky Sometime" which Mitchell mentions was recorded at the sessions.

Paraphrasing Mitchell:

In November 1979, Jonathan, who was about to transition from Boston to Maine, contacted Andy Paley with an idea to record with an orchestra.
Paley had a connection with Phil Spector while recording with the Ramones. Phil Spector "purely as a favour" got together an orchestra and horn section, along with bassist Ray Pullman.
The recordings at Gold Star Studios were run by Spector's staff.
So, my conjecture, (and something not mentioned in Tim's book), is that part of what Beserkley wanted to get out of the recording sessions was related to the potential nuclear power-plant EP.

What would the EP have sounded like?

As far as I know, there are two known recordings of "I Don't Want No Nuclear Power Plants (In My Life)", both live from 1979, and only the one "Nuclear Nightmare" version.
Just for fun, here's the closest I think we can come to hearing what the EP may have sounded like:

Downloads:

I Don't Want No Nuclear Power Plants (In My Life)
1979-04-01 Apeldoorn, Netherlands - Gigant
This has a sound stoppage in the middle from the original recording.
Nuclear Nightmare
1979 Gold Star Studio Demos
Jonathan is barely audible at the beginning saying "Nuclear Nightmare!"

I Don't Want No Nuclear Power Plants (In My Life)
1979-07-13 Chicago, USA - Gaspars
Complete version of the song.



I Don't Want No Nuclear Power Plants (In My Life)

Well now we've already seen giant factories
cover up the prairie land and the dell
And we smell laundries blowin' laundry fumes where rose-blooms once did dwell
And now I don't want no nuclear power-plants, not in my life

Now, I do not hate those guilds who'd build 'em
They must think that power-plants are the best
But not only are they poison
they're the ugliest

And if we let them build new power-plants
we're gonna have to pay the price
So I don't want no nuclear power-plants in my life

There must be many a granny and grandpa in New Hampshire and Vermont
Who now at a glance these little plants are not really what they want
well, I'll do anything to try and help 'em
fact, I'll gonna tell 'em most every day and night
that I don't want no nuclear power-plants in my life
no, I don't want no nuclear power-plants in my life, no

Update

I've been told that Jonathan was already performing "I Don't Want No Nuclear Power Plants (In My Life)" as early at 1978 and performed it both sets of a Oct 12, 1978 Chicago, Gaspars show.
Also, can anyone confirm when Jonathan actually left Beserkely?
Was it immediately after "Back In Your Life" which was summer '79?
I would like to verify that he was still signed with Beserkely when the Gold Star Studio recordings were made (which were late '79).

I (almost) got the modern sounds of modern Massachusetts

Efforts by to make "Roadrunner" the official rock song of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts have failed in the legislature. Certainly, there are bigger problems facing the citizenry than choosing an official rock song, but one State Senator vows to go faster miles an hour again in January. Radio on!


UPDATE (7 Jan 15): A last-minute push in the legislature has finally failed. Bill H 3573, which if passsed would have enshrined Roadrunner’s status, had to pass by January 6, 2015, before a new Massachusetts state legislature was sworn in. Supporters say there are no plans to resurrect it in the next session of the state legislature.