Makeout Room/ Random Stuff Roundup

Our boy Jonathan played at The Makeout Room September 20th-23rd, and I'm now just getting around to doing the review roundup, due to my thesis-based lameassedness. (Expect me to be lame through December due to same/trying to graduate. I apologize.) Now, away from sorry apologies, and onto the reviews and such!

Katie Ann Doze of the

SF appeal is going to start us off, though I guess it can't be a review per se, since it was published the 20th. But, I love it anyhow. Katie shares my desire to give Jonathan a big hug and feed him dinner - though as far

as the wanting to wake up in bed next to him, you're on your own, Katie. Photo is by Russell Daniels.

Going to a Jonathan Richman show is like what you wish a

Litquake event would be. He sings of warm summer nights, youthful love, walking around in melancholy, sad heartbreaks. The all-encompassing love he sings about is the kind that, in real life, evaporates over time and age, but while you watch and listen to him, you daydream of this innocence you once had and what it would be like to have that again. So much so that you immediately fall in love and want to take him home and feed him a big dinner, hold him to your breast and put him to sleep - but at the same time, you want him to admire your beauty and caress your shoulder and sing to you in bed at 5 in the morning....

So here's some words of advice if you're having trouble with which day you'll go. If you are an older fan who enjoys the slower songs and likes to sit

down during shows, go today. If you're a die hard fan like me and like the mix of newly hashed-out songs, the slow, and the upbeat, go on Monday. If you've seen him 5 or more times, go on Tuesday. If you've never seen him, or maybe once or twice, or your favorite song is "I Was Dancing In a Lesbian Bar

", go on Wednesday.

Or you could be like me and see him and Tommy every night.

Going every night? A girl after my own heart. Read the rest here.

The next item of interest is not so much a review as Jonathan being a nice guy. He played in August for Creativity Explored, a group brings art to the developmentally disabled. I stole the picture from their website. you can see their storylet here.

And finally, Jonathan at the Make-out room, in video form. Pretty decent, if you can ignore the fact that the camera is on it's side. The first song is a newbie, which I am tentatively called "Stultified". And then stay tuned for Jonathan's patented dance moves! Every time I see a video from Make-Out room shows, I wish I lived in San Francisco.

I totally read that book as a kid, and some pictures

John from Flickr caught Jonathan over at San Francisco's Popfest (watching, not playing). I saw the picture and asked him about it, and John said:


on sunday afternoon there was a picnic in delores park, with several bands playing acoustically... jojo was just walking his dog through the park, with a copy of the giving tree under his arm, and just sat down to watch one of the bands (a particularly richman sounding man with a ukelele)... no one troubled him, he just watched and fed his dog, then carried on walking him...

of course afterwards everyone was excited to know that he had been there, but i think good that not too many people noticed him when he was, or it could have dissolved into fanboy hell...

I totally loved that book as a kid. You can catch this picture and his other stuff on flickr.



This next picture is from The Club Congress show, from user fortuna_mom:














If you would like the fame, glory and prestige of being featured on the Jojoblog, please feel free to send along reviews of the shows on this tour. I would love to have your thoughts, and will happily share them with the world via Jojoblog. My email is easily reached by pressing the little button that says chimaerandi in the sidebar.

My French is abysmal, so forgive me

I found a little reviewlet from Lyon, courtesy of Faire face à la souffrance et Avancer. For those of you with French skills:

L'âme vagandonde de Jonathan a tôt pris les chemins de traverse. Sa carrière de star s'est arrêtée le jour où sa maison de disque voulu lui imposer sa playlist de concert. Jonathan a pris sa guitare et s'est dirigé vers la station des bus Greyhound la plus proche.

Ce soir JoJo se tient en scène avec son fidèle batteur Tommy et sa guitare espagnole. Nous sommes en retard - mon dernier client a quitté le cabinet à 20:30. Jonathan a les traits tirés. Il se lance dans When we refuse to suffer, when we refuse to feel. Il le chante même en français : Quand nous refusons de souffrir - pas d'émotion et pas de vie! Droit au coeur.
Ensuite il chante Pablo Picasso, les peintures de VanGogh du musée d'Amsterdam, et les anciens maitre Flamands No-one was like Vermeer. Alors qu' il chante les fissures des tableaux, l'âme insensible à la peinture que je suis entrevois enfin quelque chose... Ses chansons allient abstraction et simplicité entrainante. Le public les reprend en choeur (j'allais écrire en coeur).

You can read the rest ici.



Pictures are actually from Barcelona and by alterna2.

Video from Spain! Rock on!

Now that I am back from my magical Spring Break adventure, I bring you goodies from the concerts of España.

Here's Jonathan doing "Pablo Picasso" at the Teatro Lloseta.



And here's the whole opening of his show in Barcelona:


There are pictures as well, but flickr is being a pain, so I will just offer you links. Pictures as done by Joan R. Bellido and elchicodelaleche

Enjoy your day, fellow Jonathan fans near and far!