Last night was great again. Jonathan added a bit in the cellphone song in which a friend asks him, “But Jonathan, what happens when there are no more pay phones and you need to get ahold of me?” Jonathan responds, “Well then I’ll write you a LETTAH! Write you a LETTAH! Or send you a postcawd…” So good. The above video is a quick clip of the beginning of the song, shot in Milan last month. Tonight’s contest winner is Joe. Here is his story:
One night a band that I used to play drums in was playing a show at the Make Out Room. I think it was a Monday or Tuesday. We had done weeknight shows at the Make Out Room before and they were always pretty uneventful, but we played them anyways. One night we were opening for local troubadour Jesse DeNatale. I’d never heard Jesse’s music before, but met him after we’d played our set (we were the first band), and after a brief hello he asked if I’d like to play drums for him that evening. I said I didn’t know any of his songs, but he reassured me that they were all pretty straightforward Bob Dylan/Van Morrison type stuff that I could easily handle. So I said sure, why not, it sounded like fun.
Before we were about to play, Jesse introduced me to the other guys playing with him that night. There was a bassist who I forget the name of, but I was immediately struck by the guitarist Jonathan. Oh my god, I thought, that’s Jonathan Richman!
I went over and talked to the guys in my band, and we all couldn’t believe it. We had actually been working on a Modern Lovers cover the week before at band practice, but decided it wasn’t ready yet. We all joked that it was a good thing we didn’t play it that night!
So I played the set with Jesse, bass guy and Jonathan, and it was a blast. There was a dog that kept coming in to the Make Out Room and Jonathan, in his childlike voice, was cracking himself up and kept saying “that dog needs a bone! He’s barking because he lost his bone!”. I had a great time that night, even if we were playing to only about 20 people or so. Now I can say “I played drums with Jonathan Richman”.
I saw Jonathan a couple years later when I went to see another Jesse DeNatale show, and he remembered me right away, which I totally wasn’t expecting. He’s a super nice guy and a great personality.
I’d love to go see him play at the Make Out Room!
This one we liked because in a way it kind of sums up everything great about both the Mission and Jonathan. Plus it mentions Jesse DeNatale, who was definitely in the crowd last night. Congrats, Joe!
