I Heart Jonathan

This morning I heard a Velvet Underground song on the radio, I don't remember which one. The Velvet Underground is one of those bands that I know I should like, but I don't really know. I don't go "hey, that's the Velvet Underground," or "wow, I love that Velvet Underground song" when I hear them on the radio, though when a DJ says "that was the Velvet Underground," I usually liked the song.

But really what the Velvet Underground makes me think of is Jonathan Richman. Either you're nodding your head, or you have no idea what I'm talking about. Let's just say that as much as I love Jonathan, which is simply enormously, Jonathan loves the Velvet Underground; indeed, one might even go so far as to say that Jonathan IS because of the Velvet Underground. And whenever a DJ says "that was the Velvet Underground," Jonathan's voice in my head goes "How in the hell did they make that sound? Velvet Underground."

I feel like a frivolous bimbo blogging about Jonathan Richman, but I don't have anything meaningful to say about the 2000th American death in Iraq or the death of Rosa Parks, much as both have been on my mind. These days I'm leaning toward the blog-as-minor-vehicle-of-pleasure-and-connection-in-the-face-of-the-world's-horrors model, rather than the blog-as-place-to-share-my-deep-thoughts model.

Listening to the Velvet Underground and thinking about Jonathan Richman were bits of pleasure in my day, and bits of pleasure are well worth holding on to, not to mention sharing.