Events

[ROCK] Most fans know Jonathan Richman as former frontman of American new wave band, the Modern Lovers. The band, which featured members that later went on to join the Talking Heads and the Cars, released only a few albums but quickly became highly influential, inspiring bands as various as the Sex Pistols, Sonic Youth, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and LCD Soundsystem. Richman has stated that his biggest influence were the  Velvet Underground—he’d often transpose Lou Reed’s lyrics into the context of his own songs, and even named a song after the band on his 1992 solo album, I, Jonathan. His solo career, which he embarked on in 1976, has taken many turns. It started as a continuation of the Modern Lovers’ aesthetic but soon turned to dewey-eyed tunes that were often humorous. The Modern Lovers may be Richman’s greatest contribution to music, but his solo career, which began after the Modern Lovers broke up only four years after forming, has been just as rich—marked by a childlike enthusiasm on stage. Richman will bring his intimate live show to Buffalo for a special performance at Nietzsche’s on Saturday, November 14.