sleigh bells ring, are you listening?

Image: RB

Rudolph (mp3 via Bob!)

Happy holidays to Jojoblog friends and family! I hope you all have had a chance to read Ramon's story! Heartfelt thanks to Ramon for sharing this staggeringly generous project and much love to Nugrape for everything!

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A rarity now up on Youtube:


Jonathan Richman - "Living Room Demos" aka "Solo Acetate" EARLY DEMOS (1973/1974) via Isak Borg

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Jonathan Richman's 'Roadrunner' is still in the running to be Massachusett's official state rock song, introduced in a bill to be churned through the legislature by Boston's mayor-elect Marty Walsh and championed by progressive activist Joyce Linehan. Read the eloquent testimony she delivered at the 12/19/13 hearing:

I am proud to say I am the person who asked Representative Walsh, now Boston Mayor-elect, back in January, to introduce this bill. As you have undoubtedly heard, he has had an interesting year, and in a funny way, this Roadrunner campaign became a cornerstone of a forward thinking arts and culture policy that I would argue helped in some small way to propel him to victory. As his campaign Policy Director, and currently his Transition co-chair, I can say the subject comes up frequently, because to a group of dedicated fans of the iconic song who understand it symbolizes hope and optimism while professing its love of our home state, it is important. (read more)

Aerosmith's 'Dream On' is the other contender for the job of Massachusetts state rock song but no one showed up at the hearing to push for it, not even the song's sponsor.

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Interesting video documentary coming along with all sorts of The Bostonians from the 70s, many familiar to Jojoblog's readers from our own beloved Jacques's long running series:

The explosion of Boston’s punk rock music scene in the 1970s was a turning point in the lives of many who came of age in nightclubs like the Rat and Cantone’s, hearing bands such as the Real Kids and the Neighborhoods. Chris Parcellin remembered the thrill of traveling with his brothers from their home in Malden to Boston to see these nascent bands, and he wanted to document the experience. (read more)

Boys From Nowhere: The Story of Boston's Garage Punk Uprising via boysfromnowhere

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On the tour front, Jonathan Richman and Tommy Larkins have been as busy as ever, with lots of good shows in 2013. A roundup of just a few:

Nashville, 6/23/13 (The Stone Fox):

As Larkins followed every nuance with telepathic grace, Richman remained a body in motion, dancing a perpetual wiry flamenco, moving his guitar around his microphone to change its tone, striking poses like an ancient fresco. Nothing struck us as particularly childlike about this show; sticking mostly to his catalog from the past 10 years, Richman told stories and expounded on philosophical meditations using an adult's elevated language, and occasionally, other languages — Spanish, French and Italian — but never becoming pedantic. Verses were determined by the flow of the narration, not by any mathematical construct. Sometimes they were strung together between choruses, peppered with asides and anecdotes in a range of voices recalling Andy Kaufman or Robin Williams on the standup circuit. During Richman's impressive but tastefully restrained solos, he stared into space, the screens open, channeling instructions from somewhere else. (read more)

Milwaukee, 11/14/13 (Shank Hall):

The A.V. Club: As an early disciple of Lou Reed and The Velvet Underground, do you have any thoughts or stories to share about Reed in light of his recent passing?

Jonathan Richman: Yes. Aside from being exceptionally nice and patient with me, they also, in letting me watch them rehearse at their sound checks, allowed me to learn about sound itself and, by watching them improvise, about improvisation itself.

Lou Reed was my musical hero, and I watched the whole band very closely. I was lucky enough to see them with John Cale many times, too—which were adventures in sound that still affect the music I make. My boyhood hero has changed worlds, I see, but I can hear his speaking voice instructing me, reprimanding me. (I really was a little brat and I started hanging around them when I was sixteen.) He seemed to play guitar in color! He instructed the band onstage; they made new sounds and song structures every time you saw them. (read more)

NYC, 11/21/13, 11/22/13 (Bowery Ballroom)

But even as Richman’s music has grown more complex and sophisticated, he’s retained a faith in simple presentation. Alone onstage, with the exception of Tommy Larkins, who has drummed with him for most of the last twenty years, Richman performs without anything approaching a gimmick. There’s no light show. There’s no complicated choreography. There’s no crowd-sourced set list created in real time via Twitter. (read more)

Philadelphia, 11/22/13 (Union Transfer):

He even managed to fit in a tribute to his “boyhood hero,” Lou Reed, recounting a story of his sixteen-year old self meeting The Velvet Underground and Andy Warhol at a show in Boston. Richman confessed to Warhol that he didn’t understand his art. Warhol replied, “Yes you do.” (read more)

Austin, 11/27/13 (Continental Club):


Jonathan Richman via Pete Minda

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Never seen a commercial for one of Jonathan Richman's albums before? Here you go! You're welcome!


A 30-Sec Commercial for Jonathan Richman via It's Terrific Pictures

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A gift, from BabylonShadow, from the great show at the Mint in Los Angeles, 12/5/13. During 'Bohemia' (approx. at 31 minutes) Jonathan extolls for a little while about Velvet Underground, Sterling Morrison, and Lou Reed.



1) No One Was Like Vermeer

2) Let Her Go Into The Darkness
3) Keith Richards

4) I Was Dancing At The Lesbian Bar

5) Bohemia
6) Le Printemps Des Amoureux Est Venu

7) The Honeymoon Is Over/ Give Paris One More Chance

8) That Summer Feeling

9) I Took A Chance On Her

10) A Que Vinimos Sino A Caer

11) When We Refuse To Suffer

12) I'm In A Dancing Mood/ 007 (Shanty Town)

13) The Old World

14) La Festa E Galactica

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Jonathan Richman...having a dance at The Mint in Los Angeles via dorinda_roberts

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Everyone have a great holiday and a wonderful New Year. Dance a lot, be safe, and smart, and take care.

2012 UK tour impressions

via

26 Feb: Jonathan Richman performs 'My Affected Accent' at The Kazimier in Liverpool, then sings the first words of 'I Want to Take You Higher' by Sly & The Family Stone

Review by Peter Guy from Liverpool: Best of all his new songs and a perfect example of this duality is the brilliant My Affected Accent, where Richman apologises for his gauche teenage self and admits that 'I should have been bullied more than I was' for 'saying feline instead of cat' or 'aforementioned when I should have said that'.

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28 Feb: Review by Robin Wilkinson from Cardiff: All night he is nothing but inclusive, gratefully playing requests and performing a shuffling, shamanistic dance in a thwarted effort to encourage audience participation: “If you’re not going to dance with me”, he implores, “you may as well at least keep time.”

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29 Feb: three more wonderful videos from Shepherds Bush in London, at Bush Hall via StanMission:


'These Bodies' via


'Bohemia' via


'Sea' via

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2 March: Poetic review by Ciarán Ryan from Islington, London of the Union Chapel show, with lovely photographs:

Jonathan’s guileless music wound around and into the twists and curls of the venue’s architecture.

He sang his songs of joy, sorrow and suffering. And danced.

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If you're interested in my own trip to see Jonathan at Union Chapel in 2006 you can look here. Unfortunately the pictures I posted disappeared when file host AOL melted down without warning some time ago. One day I'll find them again and repost them. Also there were some nice comments from Jojoblog readers originally but they were lost when the old Haloscan commenting system we used in those days went poof. Gosh, I'm really sorry about that...

/shakes fist at nefarious technology

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Speaking of nostalgia and obsolescence, if you didn't see it, Tim Jonze penned a thoughtful appreciation of 'Corner Store' in The Guardian in anticipation of Jonathan's appearance at Union Chapel.

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There were reports via Twitter that the recent 2012 show at Union Chapel was both gratifying and disappointing to various audience members. I understand this appearance of there being disparate realities at Jonathan Richman performances- you could say it is similar to the Rashomon effect and this in itself is a fascinating phenomenon.

If you ask me what any Jonathan Richman show I had the good fortune to experience was like, I would assure you that I was over the moon about it. To me the night ends too soon, always.

Ask my long suffering husband (who dutifully accompanies me and waits in the shadows) and you would hear the opposite. He doesn't complain. He sees me transported. This makes it worthwhile and reason enough to endure. That he doesn't necessarily enjoy the show for itself so much doesn't mean his subjective response isn't valid. He's not wrong, and I'm not right. It's just the way it is.

And then there's my son, a fan since infancy, himself now a musician influenced by early Modern Lovers. He would have a third recollection of the exact same show. He would have been standing in front of the stage keeping time with enthusiasm, but no expectations, and open to what happens.

Perhaps it is context, this flight into the mystery – not so much of music but of alchemy. Or perhaps it's dependent on where you are relative to the space, such as what happens to energy waves in a whispering gallery.

Update: Wonderful review of the Union Chapel show here! With also a great description of the church itself.

Bohemia: Friday at The Smell in LA (9 Dec 2011)

Jonathan Richman with Tommy Larkins - 'Bohemia' via BLACKTENTPRESS

Elsewhere (Santa Ana), Todd A writes:

In what’s become an annual tradition, I went to see Jonathan Richman last Thursday night. This time, he was in the Constellation Room at the Galaxy Theater. (read more, great pics too)

the door to Bohemia

Bohemia by Jonathan Richman at The Haunt in Ithaca, 24 October 2011, via Armin Heurich

Armin Heurich says Jonathan hasn't been to Ithaca, NY in 19 years. This was the last song of the show.

My parents didn’t stand in my way when I was 16 years old… They knew I had to find, they knew I was pining, for the door to the art world… They knew that I had to find the door — to Bohemia.  I had my pretentious artwork, but my parents didn’t laugh too bad… I needed to be reined in once in a while.  But they didn’t have a hateful vibe, they didn’t demean.  In fact, I’m grateful because they didn’t… stand in my way, when I was — standin’ in Harvard Square, pretentious artwork in my hand.  The New York hipsters saw me standin’ there, and they knew this young man was looking for the door…. To Bohemia.  There I was standin’ in the square, pretentious artwork folio, but they knew I had to find the way…. To Bohemia.


I was bratty.  Bratty… but sincere.  Yes, I was bratty… But I had to know, they knew I had to go.  Pretentious Artwork Folio, it showed me the door, to Bohemia.  High school was night.  But they showed me light.  When they helped me find the door to Bohemia.  Desperate, desperate, hook or crook… I searched for Bohemia in the high school dusty art book.  Faintly, faintly, conjured I — I searched for Bohemia in the darkened Boston sky.  And once they saw that I wouldn’t back down, well they showed me the door to Bohemia.

Bohemia transcript from Moonraking- read Moonraking's account and thoughts of the show at The Bishop in Bloomington last Friday (28 October, 2011), including his reading of the song "Bohemia" here

I Was Dancing in the Lesbian Bar at The Haunt in Ithaca, 24 October 2011, via Armin Heurich

• shaka tron had a memorable encounter with Jonathan at The Bell House in Brooklyn (22 October, 2011).

• Jonathan helped mop up the place at The Union in Athens, Ohio on 26 October, 2011. 

gravitas and tenderness in Saskatoon

The highlight of the set was a new tune that must have stretched out at least eight minutes, a delightful story-song about how he used to frequent Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts while growing up. Sometimes his parents dropped him off, sometimes he would take the trolley, but regardless the hippies and artsy-types that held a kind of arts-based communion there during the 60s and 70s would always help “Show (him) the door to Bohemia.” It’s remarkably touching, honest, and illuminating; Richman admits to creating some pretentious poetry and also makes it easy to see where his journey to becoming the songwriter he is now and always has been really began. It’s amazing to think it took him this long to write it. To my knowledge it hasn’t been recorded yet and part of me hopes it won’t be. It seems like a song meant for the intimacy of live performance, a real piece of the artist’s soul that couldn’t possibly carry the same gravitas and tenderness it did on this particular Saturday night if it was shackled to tape for eternity.

-- Pat (Sound Salvation Army) read the rest