Jonathan Richman
interviews
Apology has a great post with an archival faxed interview with Jonathan Richman…
That approach kinda pisses me off, Jonathan. Whatever.
And I wish he would have answered the other questions. I want to know those answers! Jesus.
Interview subjects do what they want.
In 2002, before R.Kelly got in rrrreal deep shit, he and Jay-Z did an album, Best of Both Worlds. There was a press junket in NYC. Writers had to file into a hotel suite. One at a time. You got like 10-15 minutes then shuffled along. It was as inspiring for all parties as it sounds. Both gentlemen were there. Along with 20 of their friends. None of them seated. Just standing there. Picture a total herb like me walking into that environment. I asked a question. R. Kelly said nothing. Jay-Z paused for a very long time and then yelled, “What kind of goddamn question is that?” And the room exploded with laughter. Every adult man laughing at me. Jay-Z assured me he was just kidding. People quieted down. I asked a second question and he did it again!! Just a joy-filled afternoon. My third question was, “Why did you make an album with a guy who —” I didn’t ask that.
Interviews are either really easy or really hard*. And sometimes you think they’re easy because you don’t know any better. A couple years later I interviewed Kris Kristofferson and thanks to the internet I know like 3000% more about him than I did at the time. But he was patient with me. A total pro. An adult. He likely saw it as an opportunity to really breakthrough to a complete moron. Uplevel a dipshit.
Nothing was streaming at the time. No YouTube either. I knew about John Huston, obvs, but I didn’t know anything about Fat City which is a fucking masterpiece. And Kristofferson’s “Help Me Make it Through the Night,” opens the movie. But it isn’t the version that was released. It’s tailor made for the moment. Languid, defeated, and hungover, it smells like a hotel room or grocery store in Stockton California in 1970. It’s just a hair different than the original but works so much harder in that scene. The melody returns throughout the film. That’s one of 298 things I woulda asked him about.
Or I would have brought along Jesse’s Jonathan Richman questions. Kristofferson would have had fun answering those. It is not a cliche to talk about the twinkle in the guy’s eye, and he would have spent time chuckling at them and coming up with answers and then more likely than not, debating himself and changing his answer.
ANYWAY. Jesus what a fucking digression. On top of another digression.
In his intro, Jesse nails the ethos of J.R.’s optimism. He’s not saying “Massachusetts” is better than everywhere else in “Roadrunner” he’s just really enthusiastic. It wouldn’t occur to him to be anything less. You need guys like this. We all do. He’s a real American artist doing shit that real Americans should be doing. And now he makes pizza ovens, too. We’re running out of people like this.
I stumbled upon retired MLB player Joe Rudi recently. (I worry I already wrote about this and am senile). A clutch player who looked a lot like Tom Petty. When he got done playing he went full on into HAM RADIO. You kids and your Peanut Butter and Jelly vapes, what do you fuckers think of this?
Sometimes I think Jonathan Richman plays up his naivety a little bit, but then buried under his earnestness is a genuine truth, an unconsidered perspective, a legit commentary. A bit of sarcasm.
The dude is a master of making a tiny story amazing and hummable.
A couple of years back I spent more time with his music and kept playing these two songs over and over again.
And of course, early on, the Velvet Underground took him under their wing …
Anyway, Apology has a bunch of good interviews.
Hunt around for the hard copy that’s got Tim & Eric in it.
*when I was 21 I was interviewing Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon and asked when they became “man and wife”