Mission Mission

Apparently, Jonathan Richman participated in a screening of There’s Something About Mary or something.  I think it’s safe to say that he has a lot of fans here in the Mission. 

Wow, that’s quite a line!  This was the scene in front of Lost Weekend Video on Valencia Street yesterday. 

Once inside, those who didn’t get one of the 30 or so seats either crowded in to stand in the back or sat down in the aisles. 

The place was definitely packed to capacity.  The always-friendly Lost Weekend staff was behind the counter serving homemade cookies and scrumptious popcorn balls (imagine a rice crispy treat made with popcorn instead of rice crispies) along with $1 Tecates, so everyone was happy despite the Twister-like multitude of stray limbs everywhere.  The staff even generously allowed guests to use their bathroom in the back, even though this left their entire movie collection vulnerable to people waiting in line.  I hope no one was a douchebag and stole anything.

Of course, the main attraction was Jonathan Richman and his acoustic guitar.  He lovingly strummed his guitar along to parts where he appeared in the movie, all the while offering behind-the-scenes commentary of the onscreen action.  Little snippets like, “We decided on using an accordion here.  We felt it added a whole European touch” to which everyone busted up laughing.

His most revealing commentary had to do with why Mary (Cameron Diaz’s character, just in case) seemed like such the prototypical bro fantasy girlfriend.  Basically (paraphrased):

The director was an overgrown manchild and this is his conception of what an ideal girlfriend would be like.  Essentially, a chick whose favorite things are baseball, hotdogs, and beer. 

Hmmm, just what we always suspected.  More movie nights please Lost Weekend!

Everyone’s favorite one-trick pony will be performing live  at the Make-Out Room for four days straight starting this Sunday!

Hey now! It’s Jonathan Richman!

This manchild will be playing mere blocks from your home September 20th-23rd, so catch him while he’s hot.

Do you care?  Did you ever?  San Franciscans often shit humongous bricks over this guy, I’m curious to hear if this is still the case.

Sunday May 31, Lincart Gallery hosts a fundraiser for a new movie by Miles Montalbano, director of Revolution Summer (set in the Mission) and the Jonathan Richman concert film Take Me To The Plaza. Also on the bill are Ralph Carney (of Gaucho) and some other people.

A while back I saw Jonathan Richman perform a live score for some old Swedish movie. Jonathan was great, it was fun to see him experiment with a bunch of unusual instruments and conduct a bigger band than usual, but the movie was pretty dull. Some kind of domestic melodrama or something. So I emerged feeling so-so about the experience.

Which is why I entered last night’s SFIFF Lost World/Dengue Fever/Esurance event with great caution. I even told myself I’d leave early if I got bored. But I’m happy to report that that didn’t happen. Because the movie was as action packed as the music. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that if you haven’t seen it, it might be worth seeing even without Dengue Fever’s accompaniment. It’s got laughs, adventure, action, and some epic twists. And that’s the key, the movie’s got to be up to challenge of competing with a band everybody loves.

So I’m also happy to report that prior to the show it was announced that the San Francisco Film Society in December will present a screening of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea with live score performed by Stephin Merritt of the Magnetic Fields. I imagine that movie is probably sufficiently gripping so as to be able to stand up to a musician so rabidly beloved.

Photo by Steve Rhodes.

If you’re like me, Hedwig is your favorite movie musical of all time and thus John Cameron Mitchell is a hero of yours and thus you’re ecstatic that he’s decided to spend Valentine’s weekend at the Victoria Theatre in the Mission performing a one-of-a-kind stage show called Origin of Love that includes readings on romance, screenings of his films with live commentary, and SINGING OF SONGS FROM HEDWIG.

Showtimes and details are as follows:

Fri., Feb 13, 8 pm (SHORTBUS) Hosted by Connie Champagne
Sat., Feb 14, 7:30 pm (HEDWIG)  Hosted by Peaches Christ
Sat., Feb 14, 11 pm (SHORTBUS w/ live  director’s commentary ) Hosted by Anita Cocktail
Sun., Feb 15, 8 pm (HEDWIG w/ live director’s commentary) Hosted by Connie Champagne

Link. Bonus: Jonathan Richman’s version of “Origin of Love” is pretty good too. Hear it here.

I have no regrets, I swear. But one thing that sometimes bums me out is I never got to see Joe Strummer perform live. This sticks in my craw because there was this one Sunday about eight years ago on which Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros played a free instore at Amoeba at 2pm, and then Jonathan Richman played at Bottom of the Hill later that evening. I lived in Sacramento at the time, and I had this big plan to drive to the city for the day, see Joe Strummer, hang out, and then go see Jonathan Richman. What a memorable day it would have been!

Unfortunately, I got a late start and skipped Amoeba altogether, thinking, “They play all the time, I’ll see them some day.” Joe Strummer died a year or so later I think, and I never got that chance. So all I have is this clip from Letterman of them performing “Johnny Appleseed.” It’s a great clip though.

Anyway, I told this story the other day, looked up the video, watched it multiple times today, and wanted to share.

Damn it all. If BART reduces service on nights and Sundays, how the hell are we supposed to get home after the Jonathan Richman shows at Starry Plough in a couple weeks?

In one of SFist‘s first posts of the year, Christopher Rogers takes a look at Jawbreaker, a beloved San Francisco punk band that broke up over a decade ago. Nonetheless, Rogers calls their sound, “now and forever the sound of the Mission.” Link.

Is he right? Jawbreaker’s time here certainly predated mine, so I can’t really identify. Toshio Hirano or Jonathan Richman might be my sound of the Mission. Or Omer, if he weren’t such a dick to people. Or The Fucking Champs if they’d come out of exile. What is the sound of the Mission?

Previously:

Toshio Hirano at Rite Spot

Katie Reviews Jonathan Richman’s New Album

Omer Talk

Fucking Champs New Year’s Eve at 12 Galaxies

We had to finish out the week with one last Jonathan Richman post. The above video is a vintage clip of Katie performing a specially choreographed dance to the old tune “It’s You” from the out-of-print album It’s Time For Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers. In case you you can’t tell, those are dinosaur pajamas.

All the Make-Out Room shows were great, and we thank everyone who entered our contest for participating. Good efforts all. Jonathan’s new album, Because Her Beauty Is Raw and Wild, is available now at Aquarius.

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!