The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Jonathan Richman back at FTC’s StageOne in all his eclectic, quirky splendor
FAIRFIELD — Jonathan Richman and his drummer and percussionist sidekick, Tommy Larkins, return to the area Thursday for an evening of eclectic fun at Fairfield Theatre Company’s StageOne.
Showtime is 7:45 p.m. Tickets are $25, available in advance at fairfieldtheatre.org or by phone at 203-259-1036. FTC is located at 70 Sanford St. in Fairfield.
Richman is a bit of a musical enigma, having had seemingly as many musical lives as a cat, yet always managing to remain uniquely the same.
This is a guy who in the early 1970s formed the Modern Lovers, a Boston-based progenitor of punk music, yet he plays some of the most sensitive songs you’ve ever heard — always telling amazing, remarkable stories — and performs at shows so dynamic you could hear a pin drop.
But while Richman may be difficult to describe — and even harder to pigeonhole — he is easy to listen to.
Over the years, he has built up a small army of fans who are just waiting for him and Larkin to come around.
If you are one of them, here is your chance!
Quirky? You bet! Eccentric? Yup! Self-deprecating. Mercurial. Did those terms even exist before Jonathan Richman began touring the world? Internet? Jonathan doesn’t DO that — or have a website or a cellphone or watch TV.
A few of you may know Richman as the Velvet Underground-obsessed protopunk pioneer who’s been playing out since the early ’70s days of the original Jonathan Richman & the Modern Lovers in Boston, where some of his former bandmates went on to break ground with the Talking Heads and The Cars.
Some of you may know him from his days on the San Francisco scene, both solo and with the West Coast version of the Modern Lovers, or from his re-emergence in the ’80s and ’90s with “Jonathan Sings” and “Jonathan Goes Country.”
Many of you may have just boarded the Richman bus when you saw him as the quirky, musical Greek Chorus commentator in the film, “There’s Something About Mary,” or as a result of his latter-day appearances on TV’s “Late Night with Conan O’Brien.”
And indeed, the fact that Richman’s career has had such longevity and has influenced so many people is one of the interesting things about him.
Two of Richman’s early songs, “Roadrunner” and “Pablo Picasso” (the former covered by The Sex Pistols and Joan Jett, among many others; the latter covered by Iggy Pop, John Cale and David Bowie) are revered as influences on other musicians.
Yet he prides himself on coming up with new ways to do the same old things — and watching him execute that bit of beauty is part of the joy of being a Jonathan Richman fan.