…and You Missed It
By Greggory Moore
I had never heard of Jonathan Richman—by name, anyway (see below)—and dropped by {open} on December 1 really just to say hello. The show had begun promptly at (or near) its scheduled 8 p.m. start time and was already underway as I stepped through the door. Although I couldn’t see the small stage for the packed house in front of me, Richman was up there on vocals and acoustic guitar and Tommy Larkins was on drums. In a fine voice reminiscent of David Byrne’s, Richman voiced tales whose structure was informed by Lou Reed, and his loose flamenco guitar style (occasionally flavored with a tasteful slapback echo) was neatly rounded out by Larkins’s delicate, tom-accented pounding and bossa-nova rim work. The unvarying song formula and delivery is just what everyone in the room wanted, and the infectiousness of the music, its fluid grooves and melodies, had us all dancing in place a bit. So successful was the audio fare that the unassuming duo to pause between songs longer than they might have liked to wait for the protracted rounds of applause to die down (a few of which took place even before the songs had actually concluded). It’s relatively safe to say that those who weren’t already fans when the Richman and Larkins took the stage were by the time the show was over.
As it turns out, among millions of others, I had been exposed to Richman and Larkins in There’s Something About Mary: they are troubadour duo acting as the Farrelly Brothers’ version of a Greek chorus. But while they perform that job admirably, that role doesn’t allow them to shine as they do offscreen. A wide, wide array of recorded music is available for your sampling pleasure, as Richman has released well over a dozen albums (some with The Modern Lovers, whose songs have been covered by the luminous likes of The Sex Pistols and David Bowie) since the mid 1970s. You can also find him featured on the Vapor Records Website (www.vaporrecords.com) and a MySpace page with a less-than memorable address (www.myspace.com/68422248).
There’s no reason NOT to be on {open}’s mailing list so as to keep abreast of the great music (among other events) that always seem to be coming through there—so go to www.thestoryofopen.com and get with the program.