[Jandek] hopefully the last word on Butts For Jandek...

[Spencer Graham]

I totally accept your legit criticisms of my argument. I mean, if you don't find it funny, you don't find it funny- if everyone had the same sense of humor, comedy would get boring fast. Some people don't find Family Guy funny; I don't understand that either, but I respect it. However, I should point out that your reasons for not finding it funny (and this is often the case in such matters) are the very reasons why I do find it funny: it was illogical, cretinous, and in exceedingly poor taste. Maybe I'm just a sick person. I'll allow that as a possibility. But I'm glad you're opposed to it because you just don't like the joke, and not because of some sense that Jandek is "above" being a subject for such humor. 
   
  -Spence

arkhonia <gavin at arkhonia.co.uk> wrote:
  > 1) I still think Butt for Jandek was really funny. I mean, it's a
> crude but not unreasonable reaction, upon hearing Jandek for the
> first time, to think, "Jeez, this guy probably doesn't get laid
> much." Just imagine Jandek receiving all those pictures and being
> like "what the.." I do agree it would be been poor taste to actually
> send him those pictures, but frankly I'd like to see more (but not
> too many more) jokes like that on the list, because I feel like a
> lot of people here (myself included) have their heads of their own
> butts a little bit too much. Come on! It's funny!

Well I'd laugh it were funny, or at least I thought it were funny, but
I didn't and don't, not because it's not 'respectful' or reverent
enough, but just because it *was* cretinous - maybe it's me, but
there's a disconnect somewhere between what I hear (and that applies
to any music I like, not just Jandek), and the need to demonstrate
appreciation of some kind by getting a bunch of women to bare their
arses, write the name of the appreciated artists across it and then
photograph the results with the intention of forwarding said pics to
the artist in question...

> Besides, what's
> really insulting about it anyway? Is is just that it offends
> people's images of Jandek as something other than a normal human
> being?

Not at all - it just makes no sense, and in this instance it makes
less than no sense, at least to me; it seems bizarre to even be
debating its worth, but as you've taken the trouble to respond I
should attempt to defend my own point of view. I don't imagine that
Corwood would think anything of the pictures, and I certainly don't
imagine that any offence would be caused upon seeing them - but what's
the point? What *is* the point? Is this an American thing I just don't
get? Is baring one's backside (or that of compliant female friends) a
typical way of communicating musical appreciation?

> Why does everyone assume Jandek is some uptight, disturbed,
> intense, asexual weirdo just because his most of his music is
> uptight, disturbed, intense, asexual, and weird?

I've no idea - do they? I don't think I do...

> He sounds like a
> normal guy whenever he gets interviewed.

Well he was only really interviewed once, and yes, he sounded normal -
but at no point in the 50-odd minutes of the Trubee interview does the
interviewee express a desire for fans to expose themselves on his
behalf (and Katy Vine made no mention in her article to being asked to
bend over so that she could be autographed by the artist) - I think
I'm a 'normal guy', but I'd be perplexed if somebody heard my music
and liked it enough to strip and write 'GAV' across their nether
regions...what did I do that made them want to do this? 

> The way I see it, the music
> thing is just something he does to wrestle with his demons- I don't
> think it means he can't appreciate a good butt as much as the next
> guy, especially one with his name on it! Obviously I'm being
> facetious here, but people need to get over this idea of Jandek as
> some holy, untouchable figure.

Well again, I'd hope that I don't fit into this category, but I do
think Jandek music is special - it means more to me than most any
other music, and I think that, for whatever reason the music is made
(and 'wrestling demons' is as good a rationale as any in the absence
of any other information), there is an inherent seriousness to the
music, if not necessarily to the person responsible, which is why this
whole Butts business seems so flippant: if it offends me, it's because
it's treating something that matters to me as it had all the worth of,
say, Bon Jovi, and that's where I feel this disconnect. Wanting to
defend the value of something that is important to you isn't a crime,
even if it could be confused with 'preciousness' - but I'm sure I have
both a fairly healthy sense of humour as well as a sense of the
absurd, and if this whole sorry spectacle added anything to my
appreciation of Jandek I would be happy to embrace it (the concept,
not the arses). And I'd like to believe that this is a point of view
shared by other people on this list, and that there is little else to
be said on the subject - Christ, I can't belief that this is the most
substantial post I've made here for a while, and on such a trivial
subject...

Gavin



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