If you have thirty minutes to spare, do yourself a favor and watch this incredible concert by Jonathan Richman, with Modern Lovers Brennan Totten and Andy Paley, that first aired on April 28, 1986 as Qui Té por de Jonathan Richman? (Who's Afraid of Jonathan Richman?) on a television program for TV3 (Televisió de Catalunya) called Arsenal. It's unclear when the original live footage was shot—one source stated that it was recorded at the Otto Zutz Club in Barcelona on April 10, 1986, and another said it was from 1984—the footage itself says "Otto Zutz Club, Barcelona, April 10, 1986" so let's go with that.
Dangerous Minds describes the incredible show:
Recently I went on a Jonathan Richman YouTube kick, possibly instigated by my hearing "Egyptian Reggae" in a rum commercial (hey, don't hate, even Modern Lovers gotta pay those bills). When I came across this 1984 appearance on Spanish television, I was struck by two things. First of all, the program he's on, Arsenal, is actually in Catalan, a language effectively banned in Spain up until 1975, now spoken by a cultural minority. Catalan has an extremely heavy political history in Spain, but it's pretty esoteric to see the title, "Who's Afraid of Jonathan Richman?" in Catalan.
Second, amidst a fantastic performance with Modern Lovers, Brennan Totten and Andy Paley, you see Jonathan performing little skits in additional video content, narrating the story of his first guitar, and actually talking about his fame. Anyone familiar with Richman knows that while he's an incredibly garrulous performer, offstage he often seems very averse to talking to press or journalists. This appearance is a rare and sweet moment of insight into his genuine enthusiasm for what he does.
The show starts with Jonathan trying to speak Spanish, which really just amounts to him saying awkward phrases like "Hola, aqui Jonathan Richman" and random words that he knows—buenas tardes, buenas noches, hola señor, hola señora, muchachos, muchachas, trabajadores. The set includes lots of favorites (The Tag Game, Ice Cream Man, This Kind of Music, I'm A Little Dinosaur, Give Paris a Chance, That Summer Feeling, and many more) as well as terrific versions of Wipe Out and La Bamba, both of which feature JoJo on saxophone!
Here's the full thirty minute show—the quality isn't as good as another slightly different version that I found (Part One and Part Two), but it seems to have more songs. Enjoy!
