Modern Lover Of Music -- Jonathan Richman Satisfying As Rockin' Solo Performer

Concert preview

Jonathan Richman, 9 o'clock tonight, Backstage, $10; 781-2805. 8 p.m. tomorrow, OK Hotel, all ages, $10; 621-7903. -------------------------------------------------------------------

Jonathan Richman is more than a one-man band, he's a one-man everything.

The solo singing song alchemist - who first gained notice with his band(s) the Modern Lovers in the mid '70s and '80s - handles everything himself. His songs, the singing and performing, and his travel arrangements (he prefers cars, Greyhound buses and Amtrak). He writes his own bios in first, second and third person. In a recent interview, he began interviewing himself.

"So tell us Jonathan," queried Richman, "what is your show like?"

"Well," answered Richman, "it's an informal rock 'n' roll show. Kinda like a beach party. Of course, you understand there usually isn't any sand in these clubs, but it's casual. Intimate."

Born in Boston in 1951, Richman was drawing pictures at 5, playing baseball at 9 and guitar at 15. By the time he was 18 he was in New York because he loved the Velvet Underground. He even spent his first few weeks on that band's manager's couch.

New Wave years

He wrote and played where he could. He started putting the first Modern Lovers together in 1970. Along the way he acquired Jerry Harrison (later keyboard player for Talking Heads) and future Cars drummer David Robinson.

It took two years to get any label interest, and there were recordings made, but Richman's first real album wasn't released until 1976. Songs like "Roadrunner" and "Hospital" subsequently became forerunners of New Wave, and the Lovers were very popular in Europe.

Over the years, the Modern Lovers saw a lot of members come and go. Amplification also came and went. Richman wants his music to sound loud without actually being loud. He has even muted the drums.

Works solo

Now he works by himself. He says he's easier to keep up with that way because he never knows what he's going to do, what lyrics he'll improvise or even what key he'll stay in.

He says that falls over into his songwriting.

"I don't really write, I just make up stuff," Richman explains. "Not most, but some. I just make it up any old time. I don't set aside time - no, no, no. That's just the way I do it. I don't even know what the alternative is. I wouldn't know how to do it any other way. I don't have a goal or time limit, I just hang around until these things come out."

He plays about 150 dates a year, all over the world. When he isn't touring, he's home in the foothills of California's Sierra Nevada mountains.

"When I'm home, I'm burning brush, weeding, riding bikes, stuff like that." He's married and has two children. His wife has a show horse. Richman has written a song about it. He's written a song about her old clothes. Stuff like that.

Richman is enormously entertaining. He's passionate, eccentric, even whimsical. His next album, due next month, is in Spanish. He likes the way his songs sound in Spanish, and besides, someone in Spain asked for it.

As for his live show, he admits he doesn't really have one, it just happens. He just goes out and rocks, all by himself. A lot of players, he's told, can't do it that way.

"Yeah," agrees Richman, "but then, I can't do it their way, so we're even.