Nothing against Make-Out Room at all, but I figured it’s worth noting that he’s played Make-Out Room multiple times a year for at least the last 15 years I can remember — but very very rarely anywhere else in the neighborhood. Thursday night he plays the Chapel, with Tommy Larkins on drums of course.

Get tickets and more info here.

Here’s a recording of Talking Heads covering “Pablo Picasso” a long time ago:

[Original photo by Night Fog Reader (RIP)]

Local Livejournal user Honey Jets tells us about a busy night out in a 2-block area of the Mission:

Elisa and Jane met me at Jono’s place at about 5:30. I put my shoes on while we watched Jojo’s video on Vimeo, and then we headed toward the Make-Out Room. Jane had to wait in line for a while to get her hand stamp, so Elisa and I walked around trying to figure out where to eat. Elisa didn’t want anything greasy or fried or containing dairy, so Wes Burger was out, Mission Chinese was out, Escape from New York was out, and F.O.B. Kitchen was out. We settled on Mateo’s. Jess met us there. I ran into Amy and a friend on my way to the salsa bar and we talked about meeting at Doc’s Clock after. On our way out of Mateo’s we ran into Omar and a friend, and we caught up for about half a block. At Make-Out Room Jonathan Richman was pretty good, and we ran into Joe. During the break, Joe and I talked outside about how he, me, Jess and Will had all been in Nashville recently. I told my “P.G. band” story, and he told me a cool story about how English people are different from Americans. After the encore, Jess and I headed for the New Mission. At the bar we ran into Mike and chatted for a minute, mostly about how good he is at his job. Upstairs we waved at Dave and Atousa who were in the row in front of us. Wild Beasts was as gnarly as promised, if not gnarlier. Terror Tuesday rules. After the movie we said bye to Mike, and then to Jess who went home to go to sleep. We joined up with Dave’s friend Brendan and went to Doc’s. Kevin was there already and we talked for a minute about how the new Doc’s is pretty good. Dave and company had gotten a table, so I joined them and we talked about the movie, at length. Dave and Atousa bickered a little (in a cute way) about fried chicken, we talked about plans for Friday, and then I strolled home, and ‘grammed an arty photo of the median on Guerrero in the moonlight.

I think it’s supposed to be a throwback to posts like this and this from July 2011, which in turn were I think some kind of homage to our dear departed Janebook.

Read on for a brief epilogue about the following morning. (And do go to all those restaurants, and do check out Amy’s blog about the Mission and Omar’s cookies and Mike’s Terror Tuesday lineup and new Doc’s Clock.)

Phewf, okay, now let’s watch this vintage video of Jonathan Richman and drummer Tommy Larkins doing one of their classic sets at Make-Out Room circa 2011:

And then, I dunno, check out the Make-Out Room event calendar for goodness’ sake. Or maybe meet somebody there for a $4 PBR some time.

The invite explains:

SINGIN’ & PINGIN’ happens at a lot of venues around SF and the region, but only Rickshaw Stop is a legit legendary concert venue. When you sing onstage at Rickshaw Stop, you’re gracing the very same stage as an ever-growing list of rock superstars. Check it out:

• M.I.A.
• Vampire Weekend
• Jonathan Richman
• Grimes
• Neon Indian
• The Dirtbombs
• YACHT
• Diplo
• Matthew Dear
• Jolie Holland

You get to perform on the same stage as M.I.A. for goodness’ sake! Let’s party!!

The Sonics too. The Sonics. The Sonics!! RSVP and invite your frens!

And our pal Andreas was more than happy to indulge him:

After 8 years of working at the Rainbow Grocery Co-op Cheese Department it’s finally happened: I got to sell cheese to Jonathan Richman !!! It’s maddening because I see him in the aisles every couple of weeks but he’s always gone by the time I get out there to “front.” Today I finally found out why; he buys one cheese and one cheese only: Redwood Hill Raw Goat Feta.

I was restocking our sample table earlier today when I saw him flitting down the aisle towards me. He moved like a meerkat, making a beeline (meerline?) for the aforementioned feta. I played it cool, continuing to restock and avoid direct eye contact while I used my typical icebreaker: “Finding all your cheese alright today?” Breathlessly, he replied “Oh yeah, I love this stuff! Buy it every week.” “It’s good!” I said, smiling at him for a quick moment.

It would have been and remained a totally mundane encounter if not for the very last second, when he walked away from me and said, under his breath, “One love.”

Of course, this caused everyone to reminisce about their own encounters with Mr. Richman, and by the sound of them, he sounds like quite the guy!

Andrea:  I waited on him at the Egg & I– he was everything I could have imagined and more! I sat & had a smoke with him & he gave me a bunch of comps to first ave. what a guy!!!!!

Jenny:  when I worked in Philly, I did “hospitality” for him. He had $300 for a budget, what did he want? a six pack of non-alcoholic beer and a bottle of water. then he played for me for an hour at sound check. one of my best memories.

Kelly:  I got called down from the break room to help him once. He had watched a show on tv the night before about when “baby cows get to stay with the mommy cows” and he wondered if Parmigiano came from that.

Jonathan Richman, everybody!

[Photo via Night Fog Reader]

And it’s on Lou Reed’s actual birthday! Here’s the deal:

Jonathan Richman is coming on Wax! Crackle! Pop! and we’re dedicating two hours to Lou Reed and The Velvet Underground. Lou would have turned 72 on March 2. It’s well known that the Velvets were a huge influence on Jonathan and The Modern Lovers. We’ll play some of our favorite VU songs and chat about Lou and the immense legacy he left behind.

Sounds killer! Tune in this Sunday, 10-midnight: radiovalencia.fm

As one of the oldest independent video stores in the city, Lost Weekend has not only served as one of best places to find the perfect esoteric film to take home for the night, but also as a community hub for cinema enthusiasts to meet and mingle, find some of the raddest shirts around, and even see screenings of classic favorites.  In the interest of expanding their capacity for this last point, the crew at Lost Weekend have revealed their ambitous plans to install a Cinecave in the basement which will serve as an underground screening room and community space for film!  With the demise of places like the Red Vic, we definitely need more places like this.

Check out the Kickstarter here!

Previously:

Let’s Not Lose Lost Weekend Video

In case you haven’t already seen Jonathan Richman a million times at the Make-Out Room like the rest of us (he does multi-night residencies there on a pretty regular basis), Night Fog Reader has assembled a multi-part review of the most recent residency, which took place last week.

Put on some Huey Lewis and fire up that flux capacitor! Doc Wong is taking you back in time. June of years past, to be exact. Please, try not to touch anything. We wouldn’t want to cause a tear in in the space/time continuum.

2010

• We reviewed a burrito in NYC and aside from some structural issues, it was pretty good
• Actually, the rapture already occurred on June 25, 2010. Tribulation hasn’t been so bad after all.

2009

• The Google Maps staff couldn’t spell “Dolores Park”
• Internet rage returned the kidnapped Mr. Pickle to his rightful home

2008

• Some innovative skaters went fixed-push, which is truly the purest form of skateboarding
• A dude name-dropped Jonathan Richman’s ex-wife to pick up chicks

2007

• Allan explained how to party in Oakland. Most of those places are still around! Except the Parkway

Many Machines says:

[T]his is the second Sunday visit in a row where I’ve encountered a group of off-brand bros, their lady friends, their dogs, and their beers. [link]

The migration has started! Glen Canyon Park is also cool because it has miles of hiking trails, occasional Jonathan Richman sightings, and coyotes running wild.

Previously:

Potrero del Sol Park Just Might Be the New Dolores Park

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!

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.