Jonathan Vaporizes

BAY AREA cult favorite Jonathan Richman is close to signing a recording deal with Vapor Records, the new label run by Neil Young and his manager, Elliot Roberts, distributed by Reprise Records. Richman recently called from a phone booth at La Guardia Airport in New York, where he had been performing, and began to sing in Italian and Spanish (Richman, a self- taught linguist, sings in the language of the country he's visiting, so New York qualifies for the trilingual performance). He said he's met several times with Roberts but hasn't signed any contracts yet. ‘‘Nothing is inked, but if it's in Billboard, that's close enough,'' Richman said.