Tag: something about mary

There is something simultaneously heartbreaking and inspiring about seeing a broke legend like Jonathan Richman. I remember years ago getting a call from our friend Hollis (the drummer from Boss Hog) about a secret show. The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion would be the surprise opener for Ike Turner in Manhattan. Of course tickets were like $50 because it was at BB King’s Blues Club, but we paid it. What I remember more than the jaw dropping-ness of Ike’s guitar playing, was an overwhelming sense of sadness that Rock ‘n’ Roll’s originator had been all but forgotten. The man who recorded Rocket 88 on Chess Records in 1951, 2 years before Elvis, played that night to a pathetically small crowd for a no name label release party. And yet…he wasn’t going to let that stop his greatness. He still showed up, smiled, told jokes, played and still humbly thanked the handful of loyal fans who had each paid to see him; something tragic and at the same time noble. Seeing Jonathan Richman in the alley beside The Monday Club venue in San Luis Obispo felt like that. There was Jonathan, a few hours before show time, in a gold minivan, front