RB: Scatterings here and there

Jonathan Richman - Walk Around The Town from 50 Feet of Song on Vimeo.

RB here.
Isn't that a lovely video above by 50 Feet of Song?
Thank you to those who cared enough to send supportive emails.
We are all confused together.
It's ok.

Here:

To clear up a bit of confusion as to authors of blog posts, I am requesting that all future posts include the author's name.  As I have time and ability (which is severely limited) I will be going through past archives and adding people's names to the blog post titles, by which I mean however they are shown on Blogger.  The reason being that many people now read Jojoblog on a feed reader, which generally shows the author simply as Jojoblog.  So if you see old Jojoposts showing up on your reader that's why.  If someone writes to me and asks me about it, I will be sending the link to this post with no further explanation.

There are 62 plus or minus authors for Jojoblog.  Any of these people can post to the blog.  I plan to go through the list to delete some who have never posted or commented, or have never been heard from since they joined, and whom I no longer recognize.

Therefore if you might be one of the mentioned mysterious authors and want to remain on the blog team, but still don't want to post anything or comment, let me know so I don't delete you.   This is just for housekeeping, not a purge.

Another good reason to stay in the blog authors is if you wish to comment without being moderated.  Any Jojoblog reader who wants to join for this reason is welcome.  Let us know.  I am going to change the comments to unmoderated for a while and see how that goes.  Sometimes I go for days without the ability to check the computer.  If clickbait spam comments with evil links show up again before I catch the infestations, please use common sense and don't just click randomly.  If the spam becomes a problem again the moderation will resume.

Emmett McAuliffe has kindly agreed to help out with administration duties so perhaps there will be more to say about these things.  Together now there are me (RB or Rosebud), Nugrape, and Emmett.  Contacts will be updated on the sidebar soon.

There:

When Jojoblog first arose from mailing lists (3 of them) many did not know what a blog was and the concept had to be explained.  However the structure was intended to continue the mailing list type interaction which was to remain a collective effort.

Times have changed and now many former bloggers are past and over blogs and into all the other million scattered social media advertising surveillance short attention span splintered shiny trending things.  If you look on the sidebar at the widget called 'Other Jonathan Richman Destinations' you will see there's a lot of other places you can visit.  I urge you to take advantage of those resources and if you find a good one that isn't listed please do share, if you are so inclined.

Also over there on the sidebar is an address for Blue Arrow Records, who is taking fan mail for Jonathan Richman.  I include it here for the feed-readers and email subscribers and mobile users who no longer visit the blog the old-fashioned way:

Blue Arrow Records
Attention: Jonathan Richman
16001 Waterloo Road
Cleveland, OH 44110

 Blue Arrow Records has a nice Twitter, and they share things there all the time.  If you are on Twitter, follow them and retweet them.  Here's a recent item of interest regarding a Jonathan Richman Agony Aunt column in Rough Trade Shops magazine:

New issue of @RoughTrade magazine means a new #jonathanrichman column! Pick up the May issue now! pic.twitter.com/Ciwj6c1xmh

— Blue Arrow Records (@BlueArrowMusic) May 17, 2016

You can buy issue 2 here, not sure if issue 1 is still available but the pic in Blue Arrow's tweet above has the column:

http://www.roughtrade.com/albums/103428

The art for the column is done by this guy:

https://flic.kr/p/GZ7TH8

Jojoblog has a Twitter too, it was run in the past by me (Sisyphus, oops I mean Rosebud) but Nugrape now tends to it.  Follow, retweet, repeat!

https://twitter.com/jojo_blog

PS.

High Road touring is showing some California dates:

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

and it looks like Jonathan Richman is playing at Woodsist (Big Sur) in July:

http://folkyeah.com/#/woodsist2016/

Village Voice got an interesting letter from Jonathan Richman last November:

http://www.villagevoice.com/music/we-tried-to-chat-with-pop-rock-god-jonathan-richman-but-he-sent-us-a-letter-instead-7811419

Here's an old Tumblr called 'a plea for tenderness' that is fun to scroll through:

http://fuckyeahjonathanrichman.tumblr.com/

Read this appreciation by Duglas Stewart of the BMX Bandits:

http://fuckyeahjonathanrichman.tumblr.com/day/2010/02/19

How did I find these things?  I used Google.  You can do this too!  Be empowered!  With the browser of your choice of course.

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

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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.

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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.

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Click images to see original size.

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.

1983: Jonathan Richman/John Cale Interviewed- Vincent Van Gogh, and other things

via nirta26

1983 Interview with Jonathan Richman and John Cale where Jonathan sings a great version of Vincent Van Gogh in the TV studio. They were on an Australian tour at the time.

I hope everyone has had time now to read through and listen to NuGrape's Song Focus: Affection post (below). If you haven't, please do so when you have a chance, since it will remain on the blog indefinitely. I think it's a wonderful way to listen to a song, to watch it grow and change and yet still somehow retain its essential nature. When you go to a museum and look at a Van Gogh, is the experience more meaningful to you because you know a bit about the work beforehand? Because your understanding has been enriched by background? Well maybe yes and maybe no. There's not really a one size fits all answer to that. Some people just naturally engage with things that speak to them on a personal level- and find it's a pleasure to find others who can relate. And some things take time to mature, like taste, and wine, and friendship, and well.... affection.

Some years ago an attempt was made to start a song club, which began as a discussion on the old mailing list and then migrated over to Jojoblog- the first and only song so far in that song club was 'I'm Straight' (read here).

Here is a video from the mid-80s After Dark show in Australia (where would we be without YouTube? I remember when this blog was first started and we had a discussion about how could we possibly incorporate video which we really really wanted to do but couldn't figure out how? And then as if by magic suddenly there was YouTube). Anyway as far as I know Jonathan only returned to Australia once after this tour- I wonder why?

In more recent news, the current North American tour is going well and I hope some of you will be able to see it. It seems that Fender Stratocaster is back on the setlist and I Was Dancing in the Lesbian Bar has an added story element. Also phone videos are being discouraged according to this review from Toronto, so please respect that. Don't distress the artist!