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review: We love us some Jonathan Richman, so when we found out that a Jojo biography had been published, we were excited. Jonathan's songs hint at a complex and colorful life, and I couldn't wait to find out the events and motivations behind songs like "I'm Straight" or "Hospital" or "My Career as a Homewrecker" or "My Little Girl's Got a Full-Time Daddy Now".
Alas, what a disappointment--this book doesn't really provide much insight into Jonathan's life beyond what can be inferred from his songs. Granted, author and self-professed fan Tim Mitchell did not have access to his subject, and not that I want to invade the privacy of Jonathan or anyone else, but this book barely goes beyond the surface at all and focuses mainly on band history. It is mostly a litany of events: So-and-so left the band...Jonathan grew a mustache...he found a new drummer and toured Europe...and so on. Mitchell provides factoid after factoid but the facts serve no purpose other than as trivia. There's no focus--there's no story.
Mitchell also intermittently goes into sections where he interprets various of Jonathan's songs, but I didn't really get much insight out of those either. One thing I think Mitchell misses or doesn't get is Jonathan's humor. Jojo is a hiarious dude (ask "Sigmud Frude"), but Mitchell never displays any wit at all. In fact, and I don't doubt his sincerity as a fan, but Mitchell hardly seems simpatico with Jonathan at all, at least from his writing.
Another complaint that I have is that, of the 3 decades covered by the book, the 1990s only fill 30 of the book's 189 pages. I was hoping for stories about Jonathan working with Ric Ocasek on the "I'm So Confused" album and Jonathan's feelings about Ocasek's synth-heavy production, but the recording sessions only receive 2 sentences. I also wanted to know more about Jonathan's relationship with his longtime drummer Tommy Larkins, but didn't get much more than "they both love food". Jonathan's experience filming "There's Something About Mary" is only summarily described as well.
That's not to say that this book is completely worthless. I did get a fairly good feel for Jonathan's early days in Boston with the original Modern Lovers lineup. And it was interesting to learn about Jonathan's unused recording sessions (including one with an orchestra), most of which will never be heard again since Jonathan is in the habit of having his master tapes destroyed after one year. I recoiled a bit from that revelation! I found the book to be a fairly light read, and I'm glad I didn't have to invest too much time in it. If you're a Jojo trivia completist, you may find this book somewhat dry but informative. However, if like me you're looking for the real story behind the artist, you will be disappointed. (mike.08.04)
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