Evan Dando and Keith Richards and Kate Moss and Johnny Depp and Enya and ...

In my book, Evan Dando of Lemonheads fame only has one mark against him - his terrible It's A Shame About Ray 30th Anniversary show with Juliana Hatfield at Washington D.C.'s 9:30 Club earlier this year.

Otherwise, he is one of my all-time favorite singers and songwriters. I stumbled upon a brilliant 2019 New York Times feature by Alex Williams about him that is loaded with nuggets that all Lemonheads fans will want to read if they missed it. Check out these highlights:

• "He partied with Keith Richards and Johnny Depp and mugged in paparazzi shots with Kate Moss."
• In a 1993 profile, Dando "perched poolside in Hollywood, mired in a depressive bout “as black as it is bottomless,” ... "Unable to speak, on doctor’s orders, he was only able to scrawl 'sorry, substance abuse' on a yellow notepad."
• He toured with "New Age chanteuse Enya, but it ended badly when he called her out for growing a beard."
• Speaking of his Varshons and Varshons 2 albums, Dando said, "I felt like it was sort of funny to wait 10 years and do another cover album, like I’m the biggest slacker of all time."
• "The former prep school student who managed four Fs and one D- in his one semester at Skidmore College."
• "With his surfer-ish looks, whimsical attitude and taste for LSD, which he said he began experimenting with in early high school, he seemed more like a hippie-era troubadour than a Generation X nihilist."
• Dando became a teen idol and said, "I was actually celibate for eight months, at the height of it. It just got to the point where, this isn’t fun, different chicks every night."
• "Angelina Jolie appeared in the Lemonheads’ 'It’s About Time' video." 
• "Courtney Love popped up in tabloid shots kissing Mr. Dando, not long after her husband, Kurt Cobain, committed suicide, although both denied they were romantically involved."
• "He joined the hard-partying members of Oasis on tour during their mid-’90s peak."
• He "was tight with Johnny Depp, who appeared in the 'It’s a Shame About Ray' video. "We hung out together for like six months, just at his house,' Mr. Dando said of the actor. 'We would lie together. We called it 'sidewinding.' We’d take Xanax and, like 5-year-olds in the same bed, talk all night. We were really good buds until I slept with his girl.'"
• After stints in a mental hospital and multiple rehabs, Dando "is aware that the Evan Dando death watch started decades ago, as with his friend Keith Richards. Both are still here."
• But, he added, "I have some crazy luck and all my friends will tell you that. I caught a thousand-pound black marlin the first five hours. People say they go five years without seeing a fish that big. I got a hole-in-one once at golf. I’ve played golf three times."
• "Whenever he feels desperate, a royalty check seems to arrive, like when Martin Scorsese used the Lemonheads cover of Simon & Garfunkel’s 'Mrs. Robinson' in The Wolf of Wall Street in 2013. 'It’s like every time I’m about to hit the skids, some 80 grand check comes in from Nowheresville.'"

So along with his music, there are endless reasons to like this riches to riches to rags/riches character.

Lemonheads Return With a Glimpse into a 1992 Classic Album

Coming up on 20 years since the release of The Lemonheads' indie-pop 1992 classic, It's a Shame About Ray, it was moving to relive that year the other night at the Black Cat in D.C., with leader Evan Dando and his gang rollicking through a lengthy set with the full album serving as the first part of the evening.

Other than some sound problems for the first three or so songs, with Evan's guitar being too low in the mix, the music sounded great and Evan, who has had his ups and downs over the years, seemed to be in pretty good shape and form. (Apparently this wasn't the case two nights later in New York.)

Some people disagree that he was in fine form. And maybe I'm just too much of a sucker for the dozens of classic songs he and his three-piece band played. (Incidentally, the drummer and bassist were very strong and looked quite a bit like Ray-era bandmates David Ryan and Nic Dalton.) Still, I will admit that this band is by no means anywhere near the prime it was in throughout the early 90s. (I mean, check out this performance on Letterman. They could really throw down, and I even remember talking to Evan one time after a Soul Asylum/Lemonheads show at Mississippi Nights in St. Louis while he was wearing that ridiculous red jacket.)

I spoke with Evan briefly after Friday night's show and he was personable, in good spirits, remembered hanging out with me last year at Iota and letting me play his guitar, and spent some time seriously making out with one of his merch girls (while a line waited to buy shirts, open-mouthed and gawking). He also was very open to taking photos with his fans, as pictured here with some guy (and his favorite merch girl).

**** out of ***** stars