Jonathan Richman coming to Skipper's tonight

See that little quote up in the righthand corner? The Jonathan Richman one? He's coming to Skipper's Smokehouse in Tampa tonight. I love that guy. So, I'm departing from this whole food thing for a moment to sing JoJo's praises.

His nostrils flare when he's being sincere, which is a lot of the time. During the most poignant bits he'll take his guitar off--maybe his Fender Stratocaster, or the Harmony guitar he bought at Sears--and swivel his hips for emphasis, his nostrils flaring to beat the band. He might be singing about a pretty little chewing gum wrapper or the charms of Paris, France, but I remember the moment I fell in love with Jonathan Richman.

That's "JoJo" to fans, and he wasn't even singing at the time. He was reciting "I Eat With Gusto, Damn! You Bet," a manifesto of immaturity. ("For I eat with gusto, damn you bet/ For gusto I'm the boss/ For yay, my nose it is in the salad/ And lo, my chin it is in the sauce.") I thought, "Anyone who can have so much fun all by himself on stage, and who can look so cute up there in the process, that's the performer for me."

The year was 1985 and, although he was new to me, JoJo had already been doing his thing for about as long as I'd been eating solid food. While trailing after the Velvet Underground in New York in the early 1970s, Richman penned the punk anthem “Roadrunner” (two chords, lots of teenage disenfranchisement; even the Sex Pistols covered it). With his band at the time, the Modern Lovers--comprised of keyboardist Jerry Harrison, later of the Talking Heads; drummer David Robinson, who moved on to the Cars; and bassist Ernie Brooks--JoJo was cooking up hard, distorted sonics set against sweet, loopy lyrics.   

Not long after, Richman ditched the band, lost the hard sound, and notched up the loopiness. He's never looked back, dabbling in earnest '50s rock 'n' roll, country, foreign-language songs and spoken word, all with JoJo's signature wide-eyed innocence, heavily sauced with the ridiculous.
    
Despite a little flurry of JoJo adoration surrounding his role in There's Something About Mary, he's never met with what could be called huge commercial success, which may explain his long-standing cult status.

Come out tonight and see why. I'll be the one with the goofy grin.

Comments

[Mark Johnson]

I grew in Boston during the 60's and 70's. Every so often, I will do a google on Jon and the Modern Lovers. Johnny Felice of the "Real Kids was also I believe an original member of the Modern Lovers. The Modern Lovers, the NY Dolls and the Velvet Underground were all included in the discussion as to exactly when the Punk/New Wave era. When of my most vivid memeories was Jonathan joined the Real Kids on stage at the Rat in Boston for a renedition of Road Runner once, road runner twice, I'm in love in rock and roll.

Thanks for the memories

[Dizzy]

That Summer Feeling.

[jo]

The beach be one of the best things we got,
Cause it's not what you have on,
It's what you have not!

JoJo is my cousin, all go out to see him tonite!