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!

Murcia, 14th March 09

-Maestro de la luz, se puede haber un poquito en el público también?
Something like: “Master of lights, Can have the audience a little bit (of light) too?”

That was the beginning last Saturday at Auditorio Victor Villegas in Murcia, not fully completed, but with a devoted audience clapping their hands and singing “Juanito, Juanito” in unison. It was a great show, almost completely in Spanish, with a lot of explanations and translations for every song.

Jonathan talked more and danced less in a very intimate show, far from the microphones and close to the audience, reaching to sit down at the border of the stage.

Oh! and we saw Tommy Larkins smiling once.


the set-list:

Egyptian Reggae
¿A qué venimos sino a caer?
In Che Mondo Viviamo
Because Her Beauty Is Raw and Wild
Des printemps des amoreux est venue
Celestial
I was Dancing in the Lesbian Bar
No One Was Like Vermeer
Springtime in New York
Es Como el Pan
This Romance Will be Different for Me
Cosi Veloce
You Can Have a Cell Phone That’s Okay but not Me
Here It Is (Leonard Cohen )
Yo tengo Una novia
Vampiresa Mujer
Ha Muerto la Rosa



Sorry!, No photos. It was strictly forbidden. If someone have it, please write here!

Jens Lekman

This is an old review, but interesting nonetheless....

...Like Jonathan Richman, Jens Lekman is a doe eyed and baritone voiced songwriter who travels the world singing simple, unaffected songs about universal experiences. And like Richman, he writes some of the purest, most genuine music ever recorded.

But where Richman relies on just a primitive guitar drum setup to share his vision in concert, Lekman aims for something grander...

more....

we'll spill things, and we care

Susanne Piesker 2008 by Astrid Koniarski

The darkly ethereal and talented Susanne Piesker (now without the z in her name!) is again opening for Jonathan Richman and Tommy Larkins in France and Germany this tour. You can listen to her and see the dates on her website and Myspace page. She performed the haunting dissonant piano part (a first for Jonathan's recordings as far as I know) (besides toy piano early-eighties Modern Lovers anyway) in "Our Party Will Be on the Beach Tonight" on last year's Because Her Beauty is Raw and Wild.

Susanne had kindly written and then she wrote again, concerned her email had gone awry because I didn't respond. I apologize to her. I need to take this opportunity to apologize to all who've tried to correspond and received no reply—everyone. I've not personally kept in touch with anyone. I have been unable, although it's not for lack of interest. It's been my good fortune to meet quite a few Jojoblog readers in person over the years and those who have met me will understand I have health struggles that are sometimes better, sometimes worse, and sometimes simply overwhelming. It is inexcusable that I let my email inbox grow to such a monstrous pile but it is that and again I am so sorry for losing control over it and all the things that tried to bloom only to fade away. I've been in sort of a no-man's-land where time has jumped ahead all of a sudden in a startling way.

Last October (to me it seems last week! I saw Jonathan in Charlottesville! I missed the show! I tried to see Jonathan in New York City! I missed the show! Arrgh!) our delightful Chimaerandi agreed to put on the editor's hat of Jojoblog for which I will speak for all in saying we're truly and forever grateful to her for coming on in such a spirited way in emergency mode with no roadmap or navigator. She is a courageous woman and I'm proud to call her my friend. I should have welcomed her on the blog with a fancy post but was unable. I know you all join me in applauding her splendid efforts, as well as those of the great team of admins Jojoblog has accumulated, and all the faithful readers. There have been many many wonderful posts and comments, and now with the tour in Europe we are so fortunate to have Alberto, Patrick, Jacques, and Bob on the scene.

Jojoblog was envisioned to be a team blog, a running conversation and show-n-tell. If you're on the team and wish to post something, please do. If you're not on the team and want to be, just let one of the admins know and you'll get an invite. It's relaxed and loose and friendly. It's not a strictly perfect way for fans of Jonathan Richman to reach out and spark like-minded souls, but it's a pretty good way because of the way Jojofans are. They care! Thank you all for that!

Madrid, 7th March 2009

At the beginning of the European tour, two sings were at the door of the Neu! Club. “Smoking strictly forbidden by artist request“, which made that all the smokers went to the bathrooms for a quick puff during the show. And surprisingly, a “Sold Out” sign. This is the first time that I go to a Jonathan show in Spain and there aren’t tickets. Maybe three years without a show in Madrid it’s too much time, or perhaps his performance at Primavera Sound Festival and M80 Radio have brought a new (and younger) audience to his shows.
The show was great, even when he didn’t talk as much as he used to do. But instead, he did a lot of dancing. And even attended requests, which is very unusual.
My favourite part of the show, a new song called “My affected accent”. The lyrics are something like this:

In High School I was such a brat
I spoke with an accent I didn’t have
I borrowed from this, and I borrowed from that
To make my affected accent,
His affected accent

Such a brat, such a brat

I criticized this, and I criticized that
I borrowed accents from the TV set
To make my affected accent,
His affected accent

I had a fake professor
I talked about subjects I don’t know
My affected accent,
His affected accent
...

The set-list:

No One Was Like Vermeer
Celestial
In Che Mondo Viviamo
Egyptian Reggae
Es Como el Pan
You Can Have a Cell Phone That’s Okay but not Me
Cosi Veloce
Pablo Picasso
Because Her Beauty is Raw and Wild
Vampire Girl / Vampiresa Mujer
Springtime in New York
When We Refuse To Suffer
Her Mystery Not of High Heels and Eye Shadow
Take Me To The Plaza
Les Etoiles
My Affected Accent
Let Her Go Into The Darkness (speaking in Spanish, Italian and Hebrew)
My Baby Love Love Loves me

Encore:
Maybe a walk home from Natick High School


P.S. At dimeadozen, there is an interview from March 5th in Radio3 (Thanks to orereta!)

Conan O'Brien is truly awesome

Conan had Jonathan on what, 4 times? 5? I can't remember exactly, but either way, it makes Conan even more worthy of praise. And I loved him already. This clip is from 1993, with Jonathan performing "Vampire Girl", and then a little interview afterwards. Enjoy!



Conan should really have Jonathan on again, I feel.

¿A qué venimos sino a caer?

In the back cover of Munster records’ ¿A qué venimos sino a caer? Jonathan writes some lines about the origin of this record and some of the songs.

Jonathan says that Javier Hernandez (tour manager of Bizzproducciones) had the idea of making this record because in Spain it’s not easy to find his records in the stores. This is a collection of 12 songs recorded from 2003 to 2007 in two different places (San Francisco and Tarifa). Besides, Jonathan does an adaptation of “La canción del pirata” from José de Espronceda (Spanish romantic poet of the 19th century). He wrote a poem about the atmosphere of the Tarifa recording studio located in the Strait of Gibraltar and very close to Africa.

Jonathan also says that he wrote the lyrics of “A que venimos sino a caer” in paper serviettes in Madrid at Plaza de Santa Ana’s coffee bars. Like “This romance will be different”, and “Silence alors silence”. And the song “Es como el pan” was an idea to help him to improvise during the show at Barcelona in 2006 with the singers Muchachito Bombo Infierno, and Kiko Veneno.

Finally, Jonathan says that during a visit to a small village in California, he found a Mexican book entitled “Hasta el infinito”, where he took some ideas for the songs “El joven se estremece” and “Ha muerto la rosa”.

Two videos of that show with Kiko and Muchachito:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3t_aN6qon4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8AFhGgb4uI

What's on? Jonathan's on!

I squealed a little bit when I found this, because I had seen a tiny, tiny clipping of it on Myspace many eons ago. It's an interview from 1978, on a show called, apparently, "What's On". We find out that Jonathan shares my love of William Blake, and likes when he doesn't have to use a P.A.



God, he's adorable. God bless chatham43 for finding and posting this.