Jonathan Richman and this week in Baton Rouge

Despite the slowdown in live entertainment that occurs every June as students make their annual exodus away from Baton Rouge for summer break, there are nonetheless some great local shows to look out for around town this week.

Jonathan Richman, founder and front man of the influential 1970’s band Modern Lovers and veteran world touring singer songwriter, visits The Spanish Moon this Wednesday, June 20. Richman and The Modern Lovers have been widely credited as proto-punk pioneers, helping lay the groundwork for the modern punk movement in America and abroad with the immense energy, unflinching honesty, and tangible emotion of their music. Since then though, Richman’s sonic palette has become as richly varied as the cultural spectrum of the places he has visited during the course of his career as a traveling performer.

Richman has written, recorded and performed tirelessly for the last 30 years, winning new fans in countless cities with his wide-eyed, straightforward and guileless songs. His genre bending narrative folk rock is heavily informed by his travels around the globe, which in turn provide him with more creative fodder and also means to continue traveling, performing and making music. So, in short, this guy basically has it all figured out.

Casual music fans may recognize Richman from frequent appearances on Late Night with Conan O’Brien or from the prominently featured title track of the movie “There’s Something About Mary” which Richman wrote and recorded.

We also have two nights of great homegrown acts coming to Chelsea’s this weekend.

Friday night Chelsea’s hosts funky organ quartet Righteous Buddha, the best band in the area to cut loose and shake your tailfeather with on a Friday night after a long week toiling at whatever you do. If they don’t make you want to dance, you probably should go see a doctor. Organ virtuoso John Smart and local fixture/guitar hero Denton Hatcher trade lead grooves over a rock solid flawless rhythm section and put their own distinct stamp on decades of legendary Louisiana funk, jazz and R&B. Righteous Buddha is a can’t miss performance for fans of bands like the Meters, Medeski, Martin and Wood and Galactic. Friday, June 22 @ 10:30PMw/Gravity A at Chelsea’s Cafe.

The following evening, up and coming New Orleans based band Sun Hotel hits Chelsea’s, bringing their personal brand of Americana and gospel inflected indie rock to Baton Rouge on the first stop of a tour up the east coast and into the heart of the midwest. Saturday, June 23 @ 10:30PM w/ VAUN and Lustiania at Chelsea’s Cafe.