There are few singer songwriters playing out today that are as charming, effervescent or as engaging as Jonathan Richman. This is a man who knows how to work a room.
Jonathan played his Spanish style, nylon string, acoustic all night, backed only by his long time drummer Tommy Larkins. I know what you’re thinking, a lot of musicians are hopping on the 2-piece bandwagon now aping The Stripes; but this is nothing like that at all. This was one of the most honest, stripped down sounds I’ve heard in years. Jonathan just plays effortlessly, fingers flying all over the fret board, strumming the strings open handed like a mad flamenco player. As a guitarist, watching him, I am always amazed at his skill.
Richman puts the capital “S” in Swagger, as he strums out his heavily Latin influenced rhythms, he grinds his hips and dances along like a Ritalin kid who’s been deprived of a dose or two. Moving fluidly from flamenco styling to mambo and meringue tinged rhythms; Jonathan alternated between playing his guitar, slinging it over his head and just singing, taking it off completely to do some more crazy ass dancing, and then humping it. He laughed, joked and just beamed over the full house. That he was enjoying himself as much as we were was very clear.
For those not in the know, one of Jonathan’s trademarks is his seemingly innocent or almost childlike view of the world, story driven, lyrics. He delivers them like he’s sharing an intimate tale about his day with a friend, and moved the audience to wild peels of laughter and cheering throughout the evening.
The hour and a half set was a nicely balanced retrospective of Jonathan’s career. You may not know this, but he’s just an amazing linguist on top of all of his other talents. He sang 4 songs in Spanish, 2 in French, and one in Italian…...and I really shouldn’t have been surprised, because he’s been recording songs in Spanish for years now (he even did a whole Spanish language record) , but it was just so endearing to me. (because I speak the language???
I don’t know, but I just loved it, I felt like I was in on something private) So anyway, the set featured gems like Her Mystery Not of High Heels and Eye Shadow, Give Paris one More Chance, Pablo Picasso, Yo Tengo una Novia, Con El Meringue, That Summer Feeling, Leaves on the Sidewalk after the Rain, You Can’t Talk to The Dude, Twilight in Boston, I was Dancing at The Lesbian Bar, Girlfriend, and Modern World. He ended with a little song that he concocted for a compilation album that he said was for a tribute of Hedwig and The Angry Inch, and the story he told about why he did this was just hilarious…….and I’m still not sure if he was telling the truth or just spinning another one of his fabulous stories.
--Sky
