Oran Mor, Glasgow

A review of the Glasgow show from Wojit. Also the complete setlist with some new songs (Keith Richards? I will love to hear that song!).

The performance was great. Purely joyful. Never have I seen a performer smile so damn much while on stage. Never have I heard so much handclapping and singing from an audience. The band consisted of him on guitar, plus one Tommy Larkins on drums. Occasionally he would put down the guitar to pick up a cowbell, or just dance awkwardly.

1) I Was Dancing In The Lesbian Bar (An insanely good choice of opening, as it immediately encourages both singing and dancing)
2) Pablo Picasso (With a great spanish guitar kind of sound, which made it extremely dissimilar to the punky original)
3) Springtime In New York
4) Keith Richards (New. Excellent.)
5) Egyptian Reggae
6) When I Dance
7) Because Her Beauty Is Raw And Wild
8) Girlfriend
9) Time Has Gone By So Fast
10) Let Her Go Into The Darkness (My least favourite of the night, for whatever reason)
11) Mr. Sorrow (?) (New? Pretty good!)
12) Old World (This is pretty interesting, because it's on both his first, and his latest albums. Back then he says he "stills loves the Old World," these days he wants to "say goodbye to the Old World." Time seems to have made him less nostalgic.)
13) Stultified (?) (New. Rather good!)
14) No One Was Like Vemeer (Best song of the night, for my money)
15) Le Printemps Des Amoureux Est Venu (So French.)
16) Es Como El Pan (An excellent song, even if it's twelve times too Spanish for me to understand.)
17) My Affected Accent (New? Look, no online video is going to capture how great this concert or this song was, but I'm going to embed one below anyway)
18) This Romance Will Be Different For Me
19) My Baby Love Love Loves Me

You can read the complete review here:

http://wojit.blogspot.com/2009/10/colours-other-painters-seldom-have.html


And a video of the opening song:

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.

Coming European Tour Dates - October 2009

Here are the tour dates pointed out so far : -

Tuesday, 6th October - The Village, Dublin, IRELAND

Wednesday, 7th October - Cyprus Avenue, Cork, IRELAND

Thursday, 8th October - Roisin Dubh, Galway, IRELAND

Saturday 10th October - Oran Mor, Glasgow, SCOTLAND

Sunday 11th October - Manchester Deaf Institute, Manchester, ENGLAND

Monday 12th October - Brudenell Social Club, Leeds, ENGLAND

Wednesday, 14th October - Cafe de la Danse, Paris, FRANCE

Thursday, 15th October - Stadtgarten, Cologne, GERMANY

Friday, 16th October - Prinzenbar, Hamburg, GERMANY

Sunday, 18th October - Manufaktur, Schorndorf, GERMANY

Monday, 19th October, Cafe Kairo, Bern, SWITZERLAND (see the comments for ticket info)

Tuesday, 20th October, Le Bourg, Lausanne, SWITZERLAND

Wednesday, 21st October, La Casa 139, Milano, Milan, ITALY

Friday, 23rd October, Suoneria della musica, settimo Torinese, Turin, ITALY

Saturday, 24th October, Bronson, Ravenna, ITALY

Sunday, 25th October, Big Mama, Rome, ITALY

Tuesday, 27th October, Lithgrafio Theatre, Athens, GREECE

Wednesday, 28th October, Rodeo, Patras, GREECE

http://www.last.fm/events/search?search=1&q=jonathan+richman

Note - As usual please check with the venue before making travel arrangements

As we become aware of others we'll add them here, thanks for all the assistance so far!

Anyone else know of other dates?

Last Night: Jonathan Richman at The Make Out Room

From S.F. Weekly.COM:-

By Wade Grubbs

What must it be like to be Jonathan Richman? Guessing from his Sunday night show, it's equal parts joy and sorrow in abundance. The singer-songwriter's emotions are delivered in many languages; I counted English, Hebrew, Spanish, and French tonight. And he even got heckled in Hebrew.

Richman and longtime drummer Tommy Larkins played the first of a four-night run at the Make-Out Room in the Mission, something that has become a tradition. Richman mesmerized the attentive crowd with songs new, old, and improvised. He held us all rapt, never knowing where the twists in his thoughts and strumming might lead, but willing to take the journey with him as our guide.

The music led to many places. Richman's Spanish-style guitar flourishes and meanderings were a rich accompaniment to his verbal asides. His quirkiness wasn't wasted on the crowd, which was largely composed of middle-aged farts like myself who were slightly past their sell-by date but still capable of wonderment at a good show...

Read the whole review here:-

http://blogs.sfweekly.com/shookdown/2009/09/last_night_jonathan_richman_at_1.php#more

This Kind Of Music

Hi ya,
Well, well, well, I got nothing new to say about our man Jojo, but I was listening to singles tonight, including the Touch-Me-Nots. On their third and latest (last?)7", the canadian couple deliver an awsome version of "This Kind Of Music". As this 7" was limited to 200 or 300 copies I guessed that some of you don't have it.
So here it is :
http://rapidshare.com/files/283145622/The_Touch-Me-Nots_-_This_Kind_Of_Music__2007_.MP3.html
I hope you'll enjoy

The Jonathan Richman songbook

Hey, you crazy kids! I ordered the songbook when it first came out, but now have looked it over and have some pictures for you!

I highly recommend this. It's for guitar, which couldn't find online before I bought it. Unsurprisingly, the two albums that are best represented are Not So Much To Be Loved As to Love and Because Her Beauty is Raw and Wild, but it still holds a nice sampling of Jonathan's songs from the past and present, including the semi-grudgingly added "Roadrunner". Of it, he says: "Plus, I no longer want to drive around the cold, sterile, industrialized highways of America's suburbs, and I won't pretend I do for love or money". And that's really what makes this songbook so great. Jonathan has a bunch of commentaries, some printed, and some notes are in his handwriting. And he's his hilarious, off the cuff self. It's probably the most that we'll ever get to hear him say about some of these songs directly, I don't even play the guitar, and I found this entertaining. There's a shot of the intro over here.

You can buy it from several different places, one of them is Hal Leonard.

Songs in the book:
Because her Beauty is Raw and Wild
Behold the Lilies of the Field
El Joven Se Estremece
Es Como El Pan
Girlfriend
Give Paris One More Chance
He Gave Us the Wine to Taste it
Her Mystery Not of High Heels and Eyeshadow
I Was Dancing in the Lesbian Bar
In Che Mondo Viviamo
Le Printemps des Amoureux est Venu
Let Her Go Into the Darkness
No One Was Like Vermeer
Not So Much to Be Loved as to Love
Pablo Picasso
Roadrunner
Springtime in New York
Surrender
There's Something About Mary
This Romance Will Be Different for Me
Vampiresa Mujer
Vampire Girl
Vincent Van Gogh
When We Refuse to Suffer

Make-Out Room in September

Sun 20 Sept San Francisco, CA (Make-Out Room)
Mon 21 Sept San Francisco, CA (Make-Out Room)
Tues 22 Sept San Francisco, CA (Make-Out Room)
Wed 23 Sept San Francisco, CA (Make-Out Room)

Make-Out Room (link)

Thanks DMD!

Essential Recordings: Vampire Girl

In the Perfect 10 series of Rounder Records, a new Jonathan's CD will be released on Sept 22. It's called Essential Recordings: Vampire Girl (CDROUN9092 / 011661909229). A compilation of 10 songs, apparently selected for this release by Jonathan himself:

- Vampire Girl
- I Was Dancing In The Lesbian Bar
- Harpo En Su Harpa
- Let Her Go Into The Darkness
- California Desert Party - Jonathan Richman & the Modern Lovers
- Dancin' Late At Night - Jonathan Richman & the Modern Lovers
- Since She Started to Ride
- You're Crazy For Taking The Bus
- I Eat With Gusto, Damn! You Bet
- Twilight In Boston

http://www.rounder.com/index.php?id=album.php&catalog_id=7206