[Jandek] Shadows of Leaves and other stuff

[Daniel Marks]

Shadows of Leaves: how cool is that title?!

I was in Amherst Mass. a couple weeks ago and there is
a used record store there with loads of Jandek CDs.
All sealed and new, great range of time periods,
though they didn't have Lost Cause, the last one I'm
looking for. I hear it has some "normal" songs on it,
juxtaposed with some good old outa tune guitar, and
then of course, the Electric End, which speaks
(loudly) for itself.

In other news, one of the graduation requirements at
my school is a ten minute A/V reasearch presentation
on the subject of our choice. So I'm doing Jandek,
largely because it means I don't have to do any
research. I wish the doc. was on DVD now but I'll be
able to manage without it. So, Oh Mighty List, do any
of you have any suggestions as to what part of the
Jandek legend I should focus on? I plan to test my
viewer's patience with some of "punk" jandek, the
Rocks Crumble/Side one of Interstellar Discussion
stuff, then confound them with some Ready for the
House, and then let them down easy with some of
Eddie's playing.

I was listening to Int. Disc. the other day and man
that stuff is great for catharsis. Jandek did punk
rock right. I'd like to hear him go back to that
period. Though "Shadows of Leaves" could easily be a
Saddle Creek album. Is the world ready for Jandek
going emo, getting some horn rimmed glasses, greasy
hair, and debuting at CBGB's? Aggggh!

Played "License to Kill" with a buddy the other
night---crazy jam session. After we stopped he was
surprised to find out it was a Jandek song. Ha! We've
also jammed to "Only Lover", and that was the sweetest
one of all, surpassed only by the sheer insanity of
when we burst into the Monks' "Complication". 

I was at an art museum today, looking at some
challenging modern art, and wondering why
experimentation in art has always been so much more
accepted than experimentation in music. Is Pollock's
expression of pure feeling through random (but
carefully chosen) paint splotches any different from
Jandek's emotive random (but carefully chosen)string
plucking? Is it even possible to pick carefully and
feel random? 

Sorry if I sound like a rambling fanboy---

D.M.

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