Back in 2008, some of you may remember when I posted a suitably windy entry about my love for The Modern Lovers, Jonathan Richman's proto-punk outfit, and how I arguably came whisper-close to writing a book about him, until the futility of that notion became too big to ignore. The problems were twofold. Firstly, someone had attempted same just a year before (with frankly middling results) and -- more crucially -- Richman himself has little-to-no interest in sifting through his past and talking to journalists.
This will probably sound like a rationalization in the wake of the incident, but I was kind of relieved at the time. The thought of devoting two plus years to documenting the story of the notoriously eccentric Jonathan Richman (with or without his participation) seemed frankly daunting.
Anyway, blah blah blah. Why am I re-addressing all of this now? Well, Legs McNeil's Please Kill Me page of Facebook recently exhumed a rare interview Jonathan did with SF Weekly from 2012, wherein he lifts a bit of the veil on this thoughts about his legacy (and other things like the internet and the volume of air conditioners ... as one does). It's pretty interesting, and only confirms that my book-writing task would have been nigh-on-insurmountable. If you're as fascinated by him as I am, it's well worth checking out.
More on Jonathan Richman on Flaming Pablum:
Massachusetts, Give It to the Modern Lovers
Cracking in `76
And if you're unfamiliar with the band or what I'm talking about, here's a taste...
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