Event

LIVE! ON STAGE: JONATHAN RICHMAN feat. TOMMY LARKINS ON THE DRUMS!

Theres a simplicity and ease to Jonathan Richman Modern Lovers founder and frontman and overall pop-rock purveyor that borders on enigmatic. This applies not only to his quirky, whimsical musical worldview, but also to the man himself. Even at 64, Richman exudes an air of boyish wonderment that cannot be fatigued.

It was precisely that wide-eyed curiosity that first led Richman to New York as a teenager. His arrival was inspired by the things he was hearing in the city, namely the Velvet Underground, whose touch is indelibly imprinted on the Modern Lovers brief but massively influential body of work. Richman used the seeds planted by Lou Reed and the Velvets to inform his own musical voice and style, but he turned the mood inside out. Where the Velvets were dark and cynical, the Modern Lovers were hopeless romantics, high on the journey of self-discovery that comes with the territory of being young.

Richman long ago closed the book on the Modern Lovers, leaving psychedelic proto-punk at the door in favor of a pared down, guitar-and drum approach that arguably better fits his wistful flare for storytelling.

-Village Voice