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-

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.

Con El Merengue

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



Con El Merengue

(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.