[Jandek] Spencer Graham, A Chankin, Pitchforkmedia & being bored by Jandek

[Spencer Graham]

I totally agree with this- it's about how YOU receive it, especially about letting it take you where it does, even if you end up getting dropped off on the wrong side of the tracks with no cell phone and no money (but I've already written a big spiel about this so I won't yammer on).
   
  And one more think I left out of my last post. I don't think the Pitchfork guy was right about what he was actually saying, but I did comisserate with his reaction. He was, like a lot of people, only really into the the myth of Jandek, or at least far more into it than the music, and I think his conclusion that Jandek's music is weakened by the shedding of the mythis totally off base. It's infinitely strengthened. By revealing himself Jandek forced people to deal with the music alone. He appears on stage as a ghost, pale and dressed all in black, like some personification of that tall, lanky man you meet at the crossroads in the middle of a desert of mental crisis, who is neither the Devil nor God, but some sort of guardian of purgatory who asks you to pick one road or the other, only reminding you that the only truly wrong thing to do is stay in the middle. Or maybe that's just my bizarre vision, but now more than ever, he's etablishing himself as the messenger and not
 the message. He's the chauffer, as Amy says, and if you want to see where you're going you gotta look out the windows, not at him.
   
  -Spence

Amy Frushour Kelly <akelly1971 at gmail.com> wrote:
  On 4/6/07, Gavin <gavin at arkhonia.co.uk> wrote:
"maybe it's supposed to
represent a state of mind, maybe 'be' that state of mind for the time 
the performance takes place, for the performer and the audience, and
that 'Jandek' is this place for that time"

That's how I approach it. Jandek is an experience. Not that there's any right or wrong way to listen to Jandek; whatever works for the listener is what's right for that individual. I find the experience most satisfying when I relax and let the music wash over me, letting it be what it is without trying to interpret or "get" it. It's like having a car and relinquishing the controls to Corwood for an hour, sitting back in the passenger seat and looking at the scenery while he takes me to whatever destination he chooses. It's not always a destination I would choose, but it's always an interesting trip. 

Amy
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