In this new series, we’ll be highlighting a favorite show of ours, once every two weeks or so!
From Clark Demerrit, “During my tenure as Music Director of the Holland Project I had three booking white whales; The Melvins (failure), Thee Oh Sees (happened just before my time!), and Jonathan Richman (success!). Mr. Richman had been a long time musical favorite and in regular rotation when I was a newly christened driver. I remember the actual booking, while a little nerve racking, being relatively painless. As the show approached expectations grew and tickets were selling. I remember when he arrived – just him and drummer Tommy Larkins – I felt both nervous and very excited. He was very nice and extremely professional! We moved sound proofing around to get the acoustics of the room perfect and I’ll never forget what he said to me when we were discussing the schedule for the night “I’ll go on whenever you want me to Clark, cause I’m a professional.” Jonathan Richman didn’t care about getting his rider filled, he only cared about putting on the best show possible and he absolutely did! The sold out crowd hung on every move he made and every syllable he sang! There’s was haze or a glow (a glaze!) of total enjoyment beaming from everybody watching him. He swung his guitar, sang with conviction, and somehow made eye contact with everyone in the room. It felt like he was just singing to you. He was every bit of Proto punk legend Jonathan Richman as you expected him to be.”
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