vintage 2003

From: Joel
Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2003
Subject: Re: Jojo: make out room

Hey all..

First, thanks to Shawna for posting about the shows there.. these shows were NOT announced by Les' postcard mailings. At least we didn't rcv one. If anyone else did, please let me know, so I can make sure we are still on the list.

I may be between Kevin and Shawna in my live JR likes and dislikes, but I'm WAY WAY behind them when it comes to posting my review of the show last Wednesday at the Makeout Room in San Francisco...

I am one of the spoiled ones who has seen Mr Richman many many times.. so spoiled that I actually complain about hearing some of the "hits" too many times (Let Her Go into the Darkness, You Can't Talk to the Dude, Lesbian Bar, and even Pablo Picasso now, though I would never have said that 4 or 5 years ago) .

So, I LOVED the fact that he was playing almost all new songs, or songs at least that I don't know (I don't have "Her Mystery..." yet). Also new was the fact that Tommy was playing a sit down drumkit. Maybe he got tired of standing at all these shows. I loved the old kit he had, and how he could do a lot with so little, but he did a great job on these too...

We too were disappointed that the show did not start at 8:30 like we were told, but we are lucky we didn't have to get up early the next day, so we stayed through both sets.

Here is what I can remember of the set list. I counted about 11 songs in the first set and 8 or 9 in the second. This doesn't count where it quotes some other song on the guitar, and you can't quite place what song it is. I'm sorry to say though, I sure can't remember them all, especially the foreign language ones.

First set
- ------------
- - the song about not so much needing to be loved but to love
(Which started off with him talking about how he used to wander around a lot)
- - the song about being loved more than he prayed for
- - Pablo Picasso
(after this point the order, or even the set list may be way off)
- - Take me to the Plaza
- - "he gave us the wine to taste"
(I'd heard this one before)
- - The song about the stars, in French,
- - song in Italian
I'll trust Shawna when she says it was Veloce Veloce - an Italian song about things going too fast
- - Song about Dali, and how about his paintings opened up the Doors to Jonathan dreams..
Don't think I'd heard this one before.
- - Song about Abu Jamal
- - ?

2nd set
- -----------
- - Egyptian Reggae
- - Old World
which in 20+ years of seeing him, I'd never seen him do, but the updated lyrics made it feel like a new song almost.
- - ?
- - Springtime in NY
Always a nice one. He switched guitars for this song, from the electric back to the acoustic.
- - ?
- - ?
- - Lesbian Bar.
- - ?

We were standing to the side when JR came right by us with his guitars.. my GF, who is a year or two younger than him, joked to him about "finally, someone my age." He had a quick flirty comeback about how she had years left to go..

So, he did a lot of new songs. But even so, I think he did slip in a lot of familiar material (sorry Shawna, a lot of it was in the 2nd set): Pablo Picasso, Lesbian Bar, Springtime in NY, Old World, Egyptian Reggae. That's a least a quarter of his song list. And by this time, Take me to the Plaza sounds like a familiar song too.

But Kevin was right, he was trying out a lot of new stuff, and he even said, somewhere in the first set, (I'm paraphrasing) "how if you've seen him and Tommy before, you know they don't do much of show, but this is even less of a show than normal." In the middle of trying to explain this, someone shouted out "Lesbian Bar!!" and Jonathan replied, without skipping a beat, "And that is exactly what it is not."

I think what he meant is that we're using this as an opportunity to work on the new stuff. Well, if that is the case, sign me up for next time.

Early on, he called out to a few people.. a couple of women, and he said they had to get together to "practice"... and then tried to make a joke, how Tommy and he were going to the studio, so they had to get together to "practice"... email doesn't do justification to the tone he put on the word "practice".. he thought the idea was funny. And then he called out to a friend "Ralph" to come and play horn with them on a song.... though I can't remember what song... Great reviewer, aren't I? Heck, if I was taking notes, then JR would be mad because I wasn't just enjoying it the way he doesn't like people fussing with tape decks..

He did do a number of extended guitar noodling, which I like to a limited degree (more than Shawna, but less than Kevin it appears). He only did it a few times where I thought, okay, get back to the song now..

But he didn't really talk that much... When he intro-ed "Take me to the Plaza, " he did talk about how people are spreading out, how people are moving further out, and commuting further out, and how that's okay, for them. But not for him (he didn't mention how he used to live in the boondocks, and how it was nice and all, like he has before). He wants to live close to people, on the same block, or maybe even the same building, and how people can pull pranks on him and stuff (thought he didn't say at 3am like he has before..). Then he went into the song, and it was great, one of the best of the night for me.

Then one of the worst "he gave us the wine to taste." A good song, but he repeated too much. I can see this becoming like You Can't talk to the Dude.

He also introed the song about the stars... how they burn so brightly, and for so long, and how they must be really tired, after all this time, but they do it because they love life so.. (sound familiar?). I didn't understand a word of the French, but the intro helped me understand the emotion of it.

I actually thought the song about Abu Jamal was very interesting.. it actually wasn't even a full song, I don't think he had more than two verses and chorus, if even two verses... and I don't think it was overtly political.. . I might not have heard all the words (hey the show started later that it was supposed, I had to use the rest room at some point... 8-)).

But I don't remember him saying anything directly against the death penalty (though I'd guess he opposes it). All I remember him singing about is how surprising it was for him to hear this man sentenced to death speak... so dignified, and so eloquent... .. it was clearly a song in progress (this is the one, where he told Tommy to slow down the tempo, two or three times, before saying "okay, from the top") and it may never happen on a record (Remember "Not in Baghdad, Not in My Name.."), but it seemed to me there was real emotion here for Jonathan. So, while not his best song, and yes, a little heavyhanded, it was still moving.

Then he said "Break!" and away they went.

When they came back for the second set, he strapped on a different guitar... a thin bodied electric!? I couldn't tell if it was hollowed out or not, it looked thick enough that it could have been, but it wasn't his big full bodied acoustic he seems to be using more lately.

Then he did kick into a long version of Egyptian Reggae, which he seemed to enjoy. Then right into Old World, which shocked me.. and for his guitar solo, he stepped on the old pedal, and a did a bunch of fuzz... I hadn't seen that for a while and he seemed to be having fun with it.

Sadly, I don't remember much more of the 2nd set (hey, I said we stayed, I didn't say we stayed alert) other than Springtime in NY, which was very nice, and then he jumped into Lesbian Bar, despite what he said earlier... and he seemed to really have a good time playing it... even jumping down onto the lower level of the small stage to dance a bit. He did a lot of bass style playing, where he picks the deeper strings like a bass..

All in all, I thought it was a really good show, and if I had seen it earlier in the week, I would have come back for another night.

Hope I didn't ramble too much for those of you who don't get to see him,....

-- Jg

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Note: This is a vintage post from the old base.com list.