[Jandek] Speaking of The Units...

[Lauren Ciechanowski]

If army checks could sustain a hobby like record
pressing/shipping/marketing/recording, in addition to providing housing and
welfare for a man, you can bet we would not have the problems with our
veterans that we do today. Army checks are enough to get someone a cheap
motel and a can of beans for a month, at best.

While it's entirely plausible that he served in Vietnam, that alone could
not explain what 'compelled' him to record, or to adopt the aesthetic that
he did - let alone finance his hobby. How many vets are there? How many have
disappeared into obscurity/become reclusive musical enigmas?

He is as likely to have ended up this way after a stint as an
attorney, circus clown, or bank teller. It's possible that he is a musician
AND a veteran, but he is not the musician that he is BECAUSE he might have
been a veteran.

On 7/4/07, Aunt Acid <anxietyparty at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>   Hello all,
>
> I was just discussing Corwood-theories the other day with a friend and it
> occurred to us that even though the name Jandek was explained by the man
> himself in the Trubee interview, no light has ever been shed on what the
> meaning behind calling the project The Units. After some discussing this, we
> arrived at what we feel is a very plausible theory. Here goes:
>
> We do know that the Rep was in his thirties when Ready For The House was
> pressed, given that the birthdate for Sterling Smith is 1943. This is also
> doubly confirmed when you hear his speaking voice on the phone interview
> with Trubee...definitely sounds like a man in his thirties to us. With that
> in mind, many of the early period records (if not all of them) do not sound
> like a thirty year old (or older) man is singing on them, but instead they
> sound to us like someone who could be anywhere from a teenager to someone in
> their early-mid twenties. So, if you consider Smith recording the actual
> albums back in the sixties instead of the seventies, and then "sitting on
> them" until 1978 (esp. planning to sit on all of them since he indicated
> there weren't supposed to be any more than RFTH), then this leaves a decade
> or so long gap between the recording of these albums and their actual hard
> release. All that being said, we theorize that Mr. Smith went to Vietnam for
> a few years, and that The Units is a reference to something military. It's
> very easy to imagine a middle/lower class guy out in Texas in the sixties,
> either being drafted or even volunteering to join the army during the war,
> and especially when you look at some of the cover images (Lost Cause and The
> Living End come to mind) his haircut does seem like something a kid in the
> military would sport. Besides, what could be more life-changing than a
> horrible war like Vietnam? This also might explain why he's retained such
> steadfast anonymity and privacy all these years. There's alot to me about
> Corwood that's pretty militaristic...the cut and dry attitude of the plain
> image covers with uniform black text on white for the labels, some of the
> lyrical references (which of course aren't a very trustworthy source to be
> taken literally, I know) and even the fact that Smith has been able to
> generate enough money continually to afford to press this many albums year
> after year, as well as pay shipping, with Corwood not exactly being the most
> commercially viable business...army checks! If he was in the military in
> Vietnam, you'd bet your ass he'd get checks each month for the rest of his
> days.
>
>
> Anyway, just speculation as always, but we thought this was all pretty
> interesting to consider. Thoughts?
>
> Brian
>
>  ----- Original Message ----
> From: "jandek-request at mylist.net" <jandek-request at mylist.net>
> To: jandek at mylist.net
> Sent: Wednesday, July 4, 2007 12:00:26 AM
> Subject: jandek Digest, Vol 55, Issue 145
>
> Send jandek mailing list submissions to
>     jandek at mylist.net
>
> To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
>     http://mylist.net/listinfo/jandek
> or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
>     jandek-request at mylist.net
>
> You can reach the person managing the list at
>     jandek-owner at mylist.net
>
> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
> than "Re: Contents of jandek digest..."
> Today's Topics:
>
>    1. RE: The Units (Dlugosz, John J)
>
> I've got the "Warm Moving Bodies" single, which is a favorite of mine from
> that era. A big hit on my local college radio station (WESU) back when I was
> an impressionable high school boy (late 70s). Found the single many years
> later at a shop in Phoenix. Haven't heard the album (didn't know there was
> one), but I'd highly recommend the single I've got-- certainly nothing like
> the Corwood Rep. Were they really threatening to sue?
>
>
>
> Amazingly, there's a rather extensive Wikipedia page on these folks:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Units. Our man has a keener style sense,
> for certain.
>
>
>
> *From:* Shawn Gates [mailto:shawn.gates at gmail.com]
> *Sent:* Monday, July 02, 2007 1:21 PM
> *To:* Brad B
> *Cc:* jandek at mylist.net
> *Subject:* Re: [Jandek] The Units
>
>
>
> I have an album of theirs. I actually like it a lot but it sounds nothing
> like Jandek. They were a new wave type of band with drums and synth. There
> is a page about them at: http://www.synthpunk.org/units/
>
> On 7/2/07, *Brad B* <jealousagain38 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hey, I was just wondering if anyone on the list has heard music by the
> Units that were threatening to sue Jandek in the 70's. I was interested in
> hearing it, and was curious about whether it was worth it or not.
>
> _______________________________________________
> jandek mailing list
> jandek at mylist.net
> http://mylist.net/listinfo/jandek
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> jandek mailing list
> jandek at mylist.net
> http://mylist.net/listinfo/jandek
>
>
> ------------------------------
> Get the Yahoo! toolbar and be alerted to new email
> <http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=48225/*http://new.toolbar.yahoo.com/toolbar/features/mail/index.php>wherever
> you're surfing.
>
> _______________________________________________
> jandek mailing list
> jandek at mylist.net
> http://mylist.net/listinfo/jandek
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mylist.net/archives/jandek/attachments/20070705/a5bc9082/attachment.htm