Welcome to my Freedy Johnston fan page!
This, folks, is one-stop shopping for all the Freedy Johnston
information a sane person could want. Which is a good thing, since so
far as I can tell it is the ONLY up-and-running Freedy Johnston fan site.
News
On the Road Again
Brooklyn, 'Boken, Philly in April: check the tour page for details.
We've Been Waiting: My Favorite Waste of Time Available for Pre-Order at Official Site
Order now, order often, the covers CD is now available for pre-order directly from FreedyJohnston.com. and will ship December 1. The disc won't hit stores and iTunes until '08, so ordering directly from the site means: a. timely holiday gifting; and b. more money to Freedy. 'Tis the season to keep one's favorite musicians from getting jobbed at check time.
And heeeere's a glowing Village Voice review for those who need some help to trust, to try, to risk the hurt of a CD bought without istening to sound samples.
Peg and Awl
Song of America, to which Freedy contributed a cover of "Peg and Awl", is now available. Purchase at any of the fine vendors below:
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Small news
The official site gives us two new bits: the covers album will be called My Favorite Waste of Time and Rain on the City will be finished before the troops come home. While this last announcement has the salutary effect of keeping things in perspective, it is also just a shade inexact. We shall have to wait and see.
Also: KIAB at Cafe Montmartre, August 3rd. If you're near Mad City, have fun!
Lastly: please, somebody use the damn board again. I can't even tell if the overhaul worked. Don't make me beg . . . Okay, this is begging. Don't make me beg in an even more undignified manner.
Board Update
Protecting the board from Russian would-be spambots was becoming a tedious issue. So tedious, in fact, that it was finally less horrible to install a new board and convert the old one than to keep fighting 'em. Everyone's logins and posts should be intact. If they aren't, um . . . well, I could lie, but if they aren't there, they're not gonna be. But I really do think everything moved cleanly. The new board's more secure, a little cleaner, and has some more bells and whistles. Meaning: we are going to poll one another into the stone age. If you run into strange difficulties, let me know.
Coupla videos
Board member jetzoom99 passes along a pair of videos via youtube; one a partial rendition of "Wichita Lineman", the other a partial rendition of "Seventies Girl".
I had a rough night and I hate the fucking Eagles, man
In an exciting turn of events, the official site's newsletter (send a blank message here to sign up) had its inaugural issue on 3/31, and it included:
1. An mp3 of "The Sad Cafe", an Eagles cover from the forthcoming covers album. (Hence the dumb headline. I can't pass up Lebowski jokes. Sorry.)
2. The following incomplete list of songs to be included on said covers album:
"Favorite Waste of Time" / Marshall Crenshaw
"I've Been Waiting" / Matthew Sweet
"I Want You Bad" / NRBQ
"Bus Stop," The Hollies
"Wichita Linemen" / Glen Campbell
"Do You Know the Way to San Jose?" / Dionne Warwick
"Complex Kid" / Tom Petty
"The Sad Cafe" / The Eagles
"Listen to What the Man Said" / Paul McCartney
3. The sad news that RotC will not be out until 2008 (with a proviso that hope springs eternal and 07 could maybe sorta possibly happen).
4. A note that the May show at MassMoCA will be a performance of Can You Fly with as many of the original players as can be rounded up.
Good news and bad, to be sure, but the mere fact of getting the news is decidedly good.
More updates, and a small, off-topic This Is How Rumors Get Started
At the show at Makor on 3/22, Freedy announced:
1. The covers album is in the can. Apparently it was done as a live record in two days. He played "You're My Favorite Waste of Time", a Marshall Crenshaw song, and noted it's on the set. If anyone reading this should only know the song from Bette Midler's cover, or Owen Paul's crime against it, do not fret. It's good stuff.
2. He played "Sparky the Heroic Dog" and noted his discomfort with the Raffi role. I feel like that woulda been the time to mention the kids' album if it were happening. He didn't. Hardly incontrovertible, but still.
3. No news on Rain on the City, but he did play the titular song again. To give those who haven't heard it some notion of what it sounds like, I'll say this: if I had to go back and slot it into an existing Freedy album, I'd put in on BDBN (a favorite of mine). Not in the sense of having an abandonment theme, but in the overall quiet, Wee Small Hours mood the song conveys. Note: I'm not a music critic and all such comments should be taken with heaps of salt.
4. At shows and at the official site, there's a new mailing list for updates.
Lastly, the This Is How Rumors Get Started:
Amy Correia played the first half of the show, and at one point said that her next song was about falliing asleep on the F train (oh! the F train!), and asked if anyone knew that experience. Inside, my cry was, "At long last, somebody has written a song for me! A song about the daily decision to sleep during one's commute to work rather than murder some asshat middle-aged white businessman who thinks he deserves to sit with his legs spread and elbows out! AT LONG LAST!" Aloud, I said, "Every day!"
And then she said the song was about falling asleep on the way back into Brooklyn and ending up in Coney Island 'cause you drank too much. And suddenly I realized that what I had meant as a cry of solidarity was going to land me in an intervention. So let me nip this in the bud:
Dear readers, drunkenly drifting to Coney Island is not a daily (nor, as yet, an ever) occurrence for me. Should I ever run for office, do give me the benefit of the doubt.
The oracle speaks
The official site has come out with two important pieces of information:
1. Explicit: The covers project lives! Out in '07. Sweeet.
2. Implicit: The notice that RotC would be coming out in '07 was not removed . . . so it looks like it's still on and my fears of Chinese Democracy-esque delays were unfounded and unkind. It appears 2007 will bring an unspeakable bounty of Freedy goodness. (Note: I'm working hard to avoid the drought/rains/pours metaphor. Reallll hard.)
Nuttin' about the kids' record. Dunno what that means, but I swear neither Dan nor I were lying to you.
You know, for kids
To recap what I just posted to the board, alert reader and children's music connoisseur Dan Childs has gotten and passed along confirmation that Freedy is working on a kids' album. Will "Sparky the Heroic Dog" be featured? Is RotC still on track, or should I start calling it Rain on the Chinese Democracy? These questions still linger. If you've got any notion, head on over to the board and chime in.
In like a lion
It looks like spring will begin with a small stretch of shows with Amy Correia--3/22-24, New York, Philly, and Harrisburg.
Back
The period of enforced site neglect is over. Would that there were big news for me to herald upon my return, but baby, the rain must fall. Tour dates are up-to-date, Bill of Love found some worthwhile YouTube moments for loyal board visitors . . . and that's all for now. Enjoy the hush, for the hush may well mean work proceeds on RotC.
KIAB pics
The lovely folks at Cafe Montmartre in Madison have updated their KIAB photo archive; check out the hot stage design. Please note, the KIAB are dressed as dudes this time around.
The Live at McCabe's album is out. Buy it at any of the retailers below:
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Failing you, pulling out the sackcloth and ashes
I've been doing a slack job on this site of late, for reasons largely having to do with--I'll be honest here--my ever-deepening love of naps. When things get hectic and the free time wears down to a sliver, I have a choice to make: use that little time to serve you, Freedy's devoted public, or use it to serve myself a nice slice of pillow time. And, well, sleep has been kicking the shit out of site maintenance lately. Updates have been pretty much cut'n'pasted from Pollstar.
For that, cherished readers and comrades, I apologize. And I thank those who have emailed me tour dates not on Pollstar to keep me on my toes. Particular thanks to Evan Hulka, who forwarded the McCabes date, which was not listed elsewhere at the time.
In token of my reborn dedication, I present a brief recap
of the 6/25/06 Joy Diversion show at Joe's Pub in NYC:
The show was hosted by Joy Askew (who helmed the Refuge benefit to which Freedy contributed "Central Station")
and featured, in addition to Freedy, Aaron Freeman (Gene Ween) and Michelle
Shocked. Songs played by Freedy: "Don't Fall in Love with a Lonely
Girl", "Central Station", "Rain on the City",
and "Remember Me." Joy interviewed each of the others. There
was not a great deal of news; it was mostly a brief, how-do-you-work interview.
Joking about the five years he's gone between studio albums, Freedy said
that he was not prolific. In response to a JA question, he said he did
not have many songs he set aside; that he "hung in there" on
songs, working on them until he had the right words in the right place.
He compared it to a math problem: it's not done until it's right.
Also in furtherance of my renewed dorkocity, I took a few photos (last three asterisked candids). I warn you that the quality is shoddy--these are lowly cellphone snaps.
New live record + formerly out-of-print recods return!
Via the official site, you can now buy Hello Recording Club (non-album track "Scribbler" lyrics here) and Live at 33 1/3 (lyrics/tracks here). There's also a new live album coming out. Jeffrey Schulberg passes on the press release:
FREEDY JOHNSTON: LIVE AT McCABE'S GUITAR SHOP
Shout! Factory Records
Recorded in 1998.
Catalog #: 826663-10086
Price: $11.98 SRP
Release Date: July 11, 2006
Track List:
1. Introduction
2. The Farthest Lights
3. Radio for Heartache
4. Underwater Life
5. Moving on a Holiday
6. Pretend It's Summer
7. Evie's Tears
8. Gone Like the Water
9. You Get Me Lost
10. Two Lovers Stop
11. Wichita Lineman
12. Western Sky
13. This Perfect World
14. Bad Reputation
Other site updates
Two reader contributions to share:
1. Andrew McGowan wrote alternative tabs for "You Get
Me Lost".
2. Board member "Bill of Love" shared some
photos (see end of candids)
Actual news!!
Alert reader Michael Clark passed along an informative article from the Norwalk Advocate that reveals:
• New 2-disc set in
20062007 entitled Rain on the City• Covers project a no-go?
• Freedy and Ryan Adams not the same person
There is also a nod to the Know-It-All Girlfriends.
Another alert reader, Bill of Love, posted this November article (new to me) on the board. Duke Erickson, of Garbage and KIAB, will be producing Rain on the City.
Good job to Bill for ferreting that out. I was out of news; the only thing I have to say is that Freedy totally fucked over my NCAA bracket. (When in doubt, I pick March Madness teams by which states spawned musicians I like. Frickin' Kansas.)
Update: I TAKE IT BACK. Second place in the pool, twenty schmeens, and eternal glory are mine all mine. Expertise is for assholes.
More iTunes
iTunes has added the video for
"Bad Reputation" to its library.
And, if anyone's a newbie, I threw together an iTunes list with a few songs from each album as a 101.
Sedition!
Freedy will be appearing Friday, July 22 on Air America's Morning Sedition. It runs 6-9 am and will also be available as a podcast (to which I'll link after it exists). Will this be Freedy's most punk-heavy set ever? Can one web page, in less than 24 hours and with no guarantee of being viewed, persuade Freedy to learn "In the City" and play it on the air? Tune in to find out!
Update: And the answer is: No! But somehow, I am able to shrug off this defeat. Podcast (really just an MP3) here. He comes in at about the 30 minute mark. Chatter, wow! Kansas, huh?, then "Don't Fall in Love with a Lonely Girl". Then a long stretch of other guests and discussion--if you're as fascinated by a good egg cream as I, roll with it--with Freedy strumming into commercials, etc. Interview, etc., comes back at 1:09. Back and forth, hey! you know the Farrelly Brothers! and Butch Vig!, it sucks not having money, then "Bad Reputation".
Way He Were
Well, The Way I Were is out, and it's good. Go to the discography and buy it!
If you're not willing to take my word for it, go to the official site and listen up.
Lastly, WIW's lyrics are now transcribed and available.
Minor site updates
a. Mmmm. iTunes. The discography now links to available iTunes albums. You've gotta have the application first, of course.
b. Getting dumb together. I've revamped the Freediocy section to make the site a bit more interactive. Take a look, and lemme know what you think.
Even more tabs
In a great big burst of generosity and participation that would inspire me if I didn't have a heart of blackest stone, readers of this site banded together and made a tabs section. And it just keeps getting bigger. Big contributors (in no particular order) include Gary Baize, Norman Joseph, Bob Arnold, Jeffrey Schulberg, and Brent S. I extend hearty thanks to all of them for providing a much-requested site feature that I could not provide myself (I'd probably make a nicer sound dropping a guitar than attempting to play one).
Best of all, this was all born on THE BOARD. That's right: it's alive.
Ê
Update on the covers record
Word is that the covers project is being recorded in Madison. Know-It-All Boyfriend / TPW producer / Garbage drummer Butch Vig has played on a few songs, and it sounds like this album is going to kick prodigious amounts of ass. The names Parton and Petty have been mentioned.
I don't have definite information about what will and won't be on the record. I do know that Freedy integrated a changed but still awesome cover of "Here You Come Again" into his set, so that's my guess for the Parton song. Frankly, I love Dolly Parton, so almost anything there will make me happy.
Ê
Old and older news, such as we know
From May:
Invaluable poster Dawn Dolores has posted news about new Freedy recordings that he announced at a May show. New material, and the covers project back from the brink? Shweet.
From November:
a. Freedy is no longer with Elektra. He didn't say anything beyond that, so let your imaginations run wild. This interview from a few years ago now seems of increased relevance.
b. He played a couple of new songs. Well, one new song that I'll call "Lonely Girl" for lack of an official title, and one song that he revised and revived -- "Central Station." (See original lyrics here.) He announced that these had become the beginning of a new album, and said zip about the fabled covers project. No time frame was announced for the new album.
Random info I can't fit elsewhere, so I'm leaving here
a. A man named Dave writes:
Just a few tidbits of info for any Freedy fans from the Madison, WI area. ... Freedy sometimes plays upstart gigs at Cafe Montmartre, a small, very personal bar near the capital. This is where the Know-it-all Boyfriends play their gigs as well. Also, for those freakish fans (yes, me) who want a bit of Freedy for themselves, they can have their picture taken just as the cover of Freedy's "Right Between the Promises" album. It is the Spence Motel on highway 151 (E. Washington Ave) in Madison north of the capital.
Dave mentioned that the currency of the first half was questionable -- he's moved. Motels are rather stationary, though, so the second part should still apply.
b. Another email:
Is there a CD or vinyl on which I can find F. Johnston's version of "Kung fu fighting"?
I am officially sending out a call to all of you who bootleg to use your minidisc recorders and other set-ups for good, not evil, and capture this. Dear God. This must be the best thing ever.
| As always, if you have comments, questions, etc., you can use this form or you can email me directly. |
Ê
All sections are live! Jump in!
Ê
Update info is here. Ironically, though, I haven't updated it in a while.
Ê