Thursday, November 25, 2004

Song Club: I Eat with Gusto, Damn! You Bet

gusto

from Ramon's Jonathan Chord Pages

Jonathan Richman version - Lyrics (spoken poem)

Hello Everyone, it's time for poetry
I submit to you the following it's entitled:
"I Eat with Gusto, Damn! You Bet"
By one Jonathan Richman.

When I eat like I do it,
I use not fork nor spoon
No grace or culture to it
When I call my own tune.

For I eat with gusto, damn you bet
A regular K-9 cruncher
Except truth be told I'm sloppier yet
Than many a dog food muncher
I eat a pound I eat a ton
And no there ain't much I cuts up
And while I'm having merry fun
Bystanders puke their guts up.

The FBI sent someone by
Who handles health affairs
I had not finished my cream pie
When he chanced up the stairs
Why did he turn the other way?
Why did he leave so quick?
Will he come back another day?
Did something make him sick?

I eat with gusto damn you bet
A regular doggie diner
"No don't bring me napkins waiter sir,
Just bring some trash can liner."

Whilst wandering by a juice bar
I spied a tempting beverage
Since I would have been last in line
I used my fearsome leverage
For in my pocket was some food
Which I took from the wrapper
The patrons watched it being chewed
And of course headed for the crapper.

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 eat with gusto damn you bet
We're sailing around the cape
"Keel-haul him," said the Bosun
"There must be no escape."

One sunny day in Paris an elegant cafe
A phone call there a phone call here
And the gendarmes took me away

I said "qu'est-ce qui se passe ici"
I said " mais qu'est-ce que c'est"
They said "Such eateeng eet ees creeminalle
And crime eet does not pay."

For I eat with gusto damn you bet.
My banner yay unfurled
My shirt is covered with mustard
And my hair with ketchup curled

Goodbye to Egypt, Greece and Rome
The ancient world goodbye.
May squalor be my summer home
And filth be my neck tie.

For I eat with gusto damn you bet.
Uh, And Uh, I eat with gusto damn you bet
My country tis of thee
I eat for social progress
I eat for victory

Somebody died who watched me eat
In a restaurant one spell
He woke up and saw me eating beans
And knew that he'd gone to hell

For Uh, "He eats with gusto damn we bet."
They're calling from the south
They want to stop my gusto
They want to close my mouth
"You eat with gusto, yeah that's great
Now let us off this bus."
Wait a minute I haven't finished eating up stuff yet.
"We'll call you, don't call us."
--

Has anyone seen JR do this live?

Back to Jojoblog

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

Review: Lincoln NE 20 November 2004

by gr_chereck:

I caught Jonathan's show in Lincoln, Nebraska this past weekend. (This was my 4th JR show, my 2nd at Knickerbocker's in Lincoln.) First of all, I should mention that sometime during the 2-year wait between this show and the last one my dad and I attended (in Kansas City, MO), I had told my mom that the next time I got an opportunity to see Jonathan, I would take her along...

Well, on the night of this show, my parents and I made it to Lincoln 2 and 1/2 hours before Knickerbocker's opened its doors, so we checked out a used-record shop where Mom and I went ahead and bought our tickets. (Dad had thought that money would be too tight for all 3 of us to attend, so he decided it would be best for him to accompany us to Lincoln and then wait in the bar while we watch the concert...) Anyway, shortly before the doors finally opened, Mom and I were waiting in the car; Dad was wandering around outside, having a smoke -- and who should he run into but Jonathan himself! He instantly recognized Dad and thanked him for the copy of Leonard Cohen's Ten New Songs CD that we had given him at the Kansas City show 2 years ago; he also offered to make the 3 of us his "special guests" and let us see the concert for free. Dad told him that we had already paid for 2 tickets, and Jonathan offered to let Dad in for free; but Dad said he would rather take my ticket and have me be Jonathan's guest! :D

Before the show, I watched Jonathan do soundchecks; he signed my copy of Not So Much To Be Loved As To Love (I told him I loved it, he said he was especially proud of it), and he talked with my parents and me about music. He mentioned that he receives a lot of CDs and stuff like that from his fans, and he usually gives them away -- but he had fallen absolutely in love with the Cohen CD Dad and I had given him.

The opening act was Jesse DeNatale, a San Francisco-based singer-songwriter (who played from 10 to 10:35 p.m.). Just one guy with a guitar and a harmonica, he sounded like a folkier Tom Waits, or a less-nasal Bob Dylan -- needless to say, Dad and I especially enjoyed his set. :)

Then Jonathan came out with Tommy, and they played from 10:50 p.m. to 12:15 a.m. Numerous times throughout, Jonathan would step away from his mic to dance to Tommy's drumbeat, or to sing directly to the audience without the aid of amplification. There were also a few times where he would be playing percussion or a random tune on his guitar to Tommy's drumbeat and he would say something like, "This isn't connected to a song -- we're just foolin' around!" He also ad-libbed spoken bits and altered lyrics during several numbers (as usual). XD

Some highlights: During "Let Her Go Into The Darkness," Jonathan improvised a hilarious, lengthy spoken bit that went from English to French to Italian; before he went into "In Che Mondo Viviamo," he said he had wanted to write a song about "what a world we live in," but he thought it made for a crummy title, so he decided to write it in Italian; as he played "Les Etoiles," he translated some of the lyrics into English; and at one point he mentioned that someone who was in the audience that night (*wink*) had given him a great Leonard Cohen CD, and that he loved one song on it in particular... and he went into his cover of "Here It Is" (which was done in a radically different arrangement from Cohen's original, but Jonathan played and sang it with a lot of depth and feeling). :D

After the show, I had my picture taken with Jonathan (whom I thanked again for the autograph and congratulated on an excellent show), and then with Jesse (the opening act); then Dad bought a copy of Jesse's CD and had him autograph it for me. All in all, a wonderful night! :)

###

This is an approximate setlist from the Knickerbocker's show on
Saturday night:

Key:
O - Songs I also heard at the 10/4/01 Omaha show
L - Songs I also heard at the 2/28/02 Lincoln show
K - Songs I also heard at the 11/23/02 Kansas City show
* - Brand-new and/or previously unrecorded songs

Egyptian Reggae -- O,K
Give Paris One More Chance -- O
Springtime In New York -- O,L,K
My Baby Love Love Loves Me
Let Her Go Into The Darkness -- O,L,K
The World Is Showin' It's Hand -- K
In Che Mondo Viviamo
I Was Dancing In The Lesbian Bar -- O,L,K
Here It Is -- * (cover of a Leonard Cohen song) :D
Silent Treatment -- *
He Gave Us The Wine To Taste
My Love For Her Ain't Sad -- K
Ocean Beach -- *
Les Etoiles
El Joven Se Estremece -- K
Joy Over Sorrow -- *
You Are The Light Of The World -- *
No Hablo Mi Palabra Del Amor(?) -- * (new Spanish song)
Her Mystery Not Of High Heels And Eye Shadow -- O,L,K
Not So Much To Be Loved As To Love -- K (encore)

-- gr_chereck

Sunday, November 21, 2004

Review: Space, Portland, 13 Nov 2004

Found via Google News:

Monday, November 15, 2004

Richman rewards fans, old and new

By AIMSEL PONTI

Copyright © 2004 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc

REVIEW

Jonathan Richman

Where: Space

When: Sat., Nov. 13

Delving into Jonathan Richman's past is like taking a class in the history of new wave and punk. This guy had his hands in both movements back in the 70s and at 54 he is still a viable act that left an impressive crowd at Space wanting more on Saturday night.

Richman, originally from Natick, Mass., formed a band called The Modern Lovers in the early 1970s. Also in the band were Jerry Harrison, who went on to join Talking Heads, and David Robinson who ended up with The Cars, two other huge notable new wave acts to have New England roots.

Richman flies under the radar of the mainstream but has a devout cult-following.

It wasn't so important to be well-versed in Richman history to enjoy his show; one just had to be open to the experience. Although it's tempting to find a more impressive vocabulary word, the best way to describe the show was downright delightful. The beauty in many of his songs are their simplicity; that's the genius.

Richman does not give his songs unnecessary window-dressing, but delivers honest, straight-from-the-heart songs about love, life and things that touch and inspire him.

With his acoustic guitar and the keen percussion from drummer Tommy Larkins, Richman touched on many points in his career as a solo artist and member of The Modern Lovers.

His voice is sweet and sometimes almost childish but that's just the thing that makes it work. A friend described Richman as David Byrne meets Lou Reed meets Adam Sandler. That made perfect sense, as it combines elements of musical talent, a timeless coolness and a quirky sweetness.

Performing about 25 songs over a 90-minute set, Richman gave us Modern Lovers classics like "Pablo Picasso," and "Springtime" interspersed with plenty from his latest record Not So Much To Be Loved As To Love. Songs like "Vincent Van Gogh," "My Baby Love Love Loves Me," and "Behold The Lilies Of The Field" were all well-received.

He also is somewhat of a multi-linguist, singing the new ones "Cosi Veloce," (Italian) and "Les Etoilles." One of the best songs of the night was from 1992's I Jonathan record, "I Was Dancing At The Lesbian Bar," both funny and danceable.

Two other gems were "The Night Is Still Young" and "Nineteen In Naples" from his 1998 I'm So Confused release.

Richman had such a comfortable stage presence, disarming with a sincere airiness to go with his expressive eyes.

His words tell it like it is: "He loved, he loved life so bad, he had twice the color other painters had," sang Richman. Throughout his show he encouraged the audience to keep the beat, which many people did. It was an unexpectedly absorbing evening of music. Make no mistake, though, Jonathan Richman's No. 1.

---

With thanks to Adam.

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Monday, November 08, 2004

It's A Thing He Has ...

by Your Diva, Robin Pastorio-Newman

When Jonathan Richman tours, people go a little crazy. He usually plays one date in an area and moves on to the next, leaving packs of rabid fans stomping individual feet and muttering naughty words. Last time he came through New Jersey Jonathan --

"Who?" you yawn.

"Jonathan Richman," Your Darling, Your Diva, Your One True Love sighs.

"Jonathan Richman who?" you insist.

"We’ve been through this before. Did you see There's Something About Mary despite its being a humiliation humorfest? He’s the gentleman walking around and playing guitar. His music has been featured on many soundtracks. His song 'Ice Cream Man' currently graces a Kohl’s commercial, and if you’d ever devoted two important hours to watching Repo Man, you would have heard 'Pablo Picasso.' His song 'Roadrunner' is one of the best things ever recorded. It’s not about a bird."

"Oh. That guy. Listen, I’ve been busy..." you opine, but really, let’s move on, shall we? Last time Jonathan came through here, he’d played the Court Tavern in New Brunswick and that was that for this area, which meant the Court was packed to the rafters with crazed Jonathan fans who weren’t polite about wanting to hear any noise their quiet hero made.

You: Are you going to see Jonathan Richman on Thursday?

Your Friend: Nope. Don’t feel like being shushed.

Jonathan plays early shows. It’s a thing with him. Other artists and bands want to play later, Jonathan plays earlier, so the bar got calls all day long about what time he’d go on. The official party line held that he’d take the stage between 9 and 10. Our party sat down on upstairs barstools at 8:30 and the upstairs bar filled to uncomfortable, then hassling-the-doorman capacity before 10. The door to downstairs opened after 10. Then real weirdness began.

The downstairs air conditioner was off. Thursday, the temperature soared to 100 degrees in some places and by 10:30 p.m. hadn’t dropped much. The bartender reported that Jonathan wanted the AC off, "Some kind of phobia or something." Oh. A phobia. Well, he’s allowed, right? You’d order your rock stars factory-fresh and full of phobias if you could, wouldn’t you? Sure. As the basement filled and time passed, the temperature and humidity made the normally dank room feel like an indifferent Texas teenager’s forgotten terrarium, where a couple hundred people passed for the tiny frogs. Finally, close to 11:30, Jonathan strapped on the guitar. A voice from the crowd: "What’s with the air conditioner?"

"I had them turn it off because air conditioners can be quite loud. We’re going to have a musical experience, not a comfortable experience." Which statement kind of answered his next question: "Why doesn’t anybody dance anymore?"

You got me, brother, but I’m busy in this face-plant where I fainted from the heat.
The crowd loved song after riotous song. "I Was Dancing In the Lesbian Bar" caused a roaring singalong. Soon, the heat, the late hour, the incompatible fans, some indefinable something caused some lunkheads in polo shirts to talk near the stage, louder than the performer, who was most certainly well-miked. And it wasn’t just one lunkhead, there were lunkhead pockets throughout the room. Conversations about stocks and options floated down the bar. It was bizarre, and who has the patience of the forebearance to pay $10 for a show they can’t hear over some drunken idiot’s lame financial advice? It was about this time it became clear our evening was nearing its conclusion.

So there you are in a club basement with 200 of your closest friends packed body to body and you’re each wondering if the life insurance your job offers will pay your beneficiaries in the event you die a beer-soaked sweltering death when you could’ve just as easily gotten up off your barstool and made a break for the exit and since staying until you pass out is probably walking that fuzzy accident/suicide line beyond which your unprepared family has to cough up the cash for interment you get up and go home Later you may discover the two pints of water you drank while watching a few minutes of Julia Child on Biography -- very interesting, by the way -- does not stave off the kind of dehydration that keeps even the experienced swinging rock fan in bed most of the next day.

But it was Jonathan. And people go a little crazy.

©2003 Robin Pastorio-Newman


---

Did you like this? We knew you would. Thank you to Rob, and to Sean from
Altrok.

For more delicious dish from Jojoblog's Diva,
read this.

<<< Go back to Jojoblog to leave a comment

Wednesday, October 27, 2004

Vintage 2000

From: Brad
Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2000
Subject: Paris show

Hi, Brad from Brussels contributes this cut and pasted review of last night's show in Paris...

For the first time, last night I drank from the cup of a Rich-man. I lapped up the contorted facial expressions, the self-depricating attempts at French, those marvoulous hip shaking dance gyrations, and some special silent pauses for effect.

I strategically scheduled a meeting in Paris yesterday knowing there was a JoJo gig in town. I showed up sans-ticket, wearing my suit, tie, and pointy shoes. The small group waiting outside the door thought I might be able to buy a chance at Affection when the doors opened an hour later at 7.

I slipped into a nearby pub and did a quick superman bathroom change. I had toted my briefcase and a bookbag along, laden with brown ribbed turtleneck sweater, faded jeans and my comfy 1940's football umpire shoes. (The get-up description is for Pam and Rich's info, sorry, rest.)

I downed two quick pints, making sure to leave some cash to enter. 45mins later, after waiting in the rain and chatting with some French fans, I was inside Cafe de la Danse. It held 500-800 mainly early to middle aged folks, with a smattering of other age groups. An American guy, mid-30s, two rows in front of me, was accompanied by his sharply dressed white haired mother. Another group of Americanos seemed to include a dad, a vampire gal and a teenage brother in shorts and tennys.

Otherwise, the sit-down crowd was primarily 40somethings, a decent smattering of gen Xers, mainly French. The venue was 80% bleacherish seats with a dance area in front. The opening band, Dodge Vego-matic, did surfy guitar and synthesized instrumental stuff. They were pretty young, French, and the short set was appreciated by me.

When the stage was cleared, leaving a solitary mic and amp for Jo and the little stand-up trap set for Tommy, we all got ready for some fun. JR came out smiling and strumming in an oversized white T. If my memory is right he launched into UFO man with no introduction, then followed it with a really lively 19 in Naples including beaucoup commentary in French and a great improvized confrontation dialogue in Italian.

He worked hard to speak mainly French, bantering almost entirely to the natives, with English appearing in certain song lyrics only. He played quite a mix of stuff, including some new tunes and a few Spanish ones too.

As far as I can remember it was something like this:

UFO man
19 in Naples
Let Her go into the Darkness
Give Paris one more Chance (lots of French jabbering)
Blue Moon
Pablo Picasso
Girlfriend
You Can't talk to the Dude
- a new one something about it's OK for couples to fight
- another mystery one, something about a girl preferring "faded things" and rejecting high heels and mascera
Vampire Girls
I was Dancin in a Lesbian Bar (great moves appreciated by all)
She Cracked
Barcelona
When She Started to Ride (one of my favorite horsey songs)
Important in Your Life

- - He closed with some French ones, and encored once in French too, changing into a snug black T and flexing his veiny forearm muscles a bit.

Tommy provided a few points of interest, once guffawing at JoJo when he was mid-sip on some wine, sending it spraying on the stage. Another time, he tossed his drumstick and barely caught it, then acted it up in style. Otherwise he was very low key, letting Jonny chat and do some aca-pella stuff without a beat. JoJo's chattiness gave Tom time to drink wine, which he was pretty persistent at. Jo on the other hand maybe sipped 3-4 times all night.

Rich, you are right, the impressive guitar work featured strongly in the whole evening. I was tuning in for the word play and lyrics, which came out in English only 30 percent, but anyway, his delivery and overall special approach was easy to translate. I actually got the impression that the French were craving his standards in English, noting a few crowd calls for "Affection", "Astral Plane", Neighbors" and "Ice Cream Man".

I pretty much sat by myself and smiled throughout, engaging in no conversation, but eavesdropping on the 3 american dudes in front of me. A time or two I thought I felt JoJo's communicative stare, but can't be sure. The set was shortish - but not too short. I felt satisfied and ready to see him tonight in Brussels.

-- Brad

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

Saturday, September 18, 2004

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

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


Thursday, July 29, 2004

Jojoblog FAQ

1. What are blogs?
Where have you been? Blogs are frequently updated web pages on which authors publish entries in reverse chronological order (most recent first).

2. What is Jojoblog?
Jojoblog is a special interest zine-blog put together by fans of Jonathan Richman. It is a team effort, which means there are multiple posters who combine their talents as friends and work together in a shared creative collaboration. It is a noncommercial and private collective publication.

3. Who may comment on Jojoblog entries?
Any reader may leave a comment using the Pub Jojo Comments function under each post.

4. Are Pub Jojo Comments monitored?
Pub Jojo Comments are not monitored, but can be deleted by an administrator if inappropriate.

5. Who can post entries to Jojoblog?
Any blog team member can post. If someone is interested and not already on the blog team, they can ask an administrator for a Blogger invitation to gain access. Also, anyone can also ask an administrator to make an entry for them. Team members are encouraged to make their own posts whenever possible. Temporary or test posts are fine and can always be changed or deleted. Team members decide whether their own posts are suitable. It is important that the ongoing blog be generated by the team and not be dependent on admins.

6. How should I format posts?
The post entry should have a short descriptive title. Titles may be edited by admins after posts are made for clarification and archiving/ indexing of categories, but the text body itself will not be edited for content except for visual formatting if necessary.

Suggestion: Write your post on a text editor like Notepad, then copy and paste it into the "Edit HTML" tabbed screen if you want to preserve formatting. Since some posts inexplicably vanish into the ether when published, be sure you have a backup somewhere before you push the "Publish Post" button. Use the "Preview" button to see how it will appear before finally posting. Use citations for quotations. Respect copyright. Ask an admin for help if you want.

7. Are post entries monitored?
Posts are not monitored but posters will be asked to edit their own remarks after they are published if they are inappropriate.

8. What is an inappropriate post?
Personal hostility is inappropriate. Also spamming the blog - using it for any unrelated form of advertising - is considered inappropriate.

9. How do I post images?
Ideally by hosting them on your own webspace and including a link (url) to the images in your post. Ask an admin if you need help posting images, or send them to Alan or RB for formatting and posting. Artwork of any kind is welcome.

10. How long should a post entry be?
It is suggested but not required that the entry be not more than a few paragraphs on the main blog page. Longer pieces are welcome, and encouraged, and should be posted by putting an introductory paragraph on Jojoblog with a link to the rest of the story. There are different ways this can be done. For example, if the story is already hosted on a separate web space, you can post a link to it on the blog. Or you can send Jojoblog the text and admins will take care of it for you, separating it into 'front page' and 'backstage'. Sometimes a post will be published in its entirety for a time, then subdivided later to make the main blog archives more accessible to people browsing them.

11. How do I put a song on Jojoblog?
You can link to a song - hosted elsewhere - for members to download provided you are either the copyright holder, or have the permission of the copyright holder to do so. You can send the url to an admin for posting if you prefer. The song does not have to be a Jonathan song.

12. How do I decide if something should go on the blog?
If in doubt, ask. Things can be posted and taken down if you change your mind. This is YOUR blog. It belongs to the fans. It does not belong to the administrators. It does not belong to Jonathan. Make it what you want it to be.

13. How do I bookmark individual posts and their Comments?
Under each post is the datestamp for the post. Click on that datestamp link and it will take you to the individual web page for that post only. Bookmark or copy the individual url that results at the top of your browser window.

14. What if I have more questions about Blogger?
Post your questions to Jojoblog, or in Pub Jojo Comments, or by e-mail to an admin. They might be added to future versions of the FAQ. Blogger Help has a Search Function that you can access if you have an account. All team members signed on to Blogger have a free account. Blogger/ Blogspot/ Google are constantly making changes and "improving" their service. Sometimes this gets confusing and the blog is temporarily slow, or balky, or even completely down. Glitches are part of everything and they get resolved. If Blogger is uncooperative, try again later. Sometimes it returns in a few minutes, sometimes the next day.

Note: Blogger invitations sometimes fall through the cracks, we have no way of knowing when and if this happens. If your invite fails to arrive let an admin know so it can be re-sent.

15. Who are the administrators of Jojoblog?
RB, Alan, Jacques, and Bob. See sidebar for their email addresses if you need to contact them.

Note from RB: This FAQ is in need of updating. Alan Edwards wrote the original Scottish genteel version but preferred to stay in the background by choice. Sadly, we had to say goodbye to alan-e when he passed away on 23 January 2008. The new admin group consists of original Modern Lovers RB, Bob, and Jacques; the fresh lineup now includes Patrick Bainée of France, Alberto Torio of Spain and Allan Hough of San Francisco, California.

16. Who contributed to this FAQ?
RB, Alan, Brian, Simon, and Bob

17. What is the meaning of life?
The meaning of life is not so much to be loved as to love.



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