[Jandek] Jandek advice

[jesus kenievel]

I also sent off to Corwood today.
I'm getting everything I don't already have, about 30 CDs and DVDs.

I had an interesting experience last night that involved Put My Dream on This Planet.
A friend of mine from out of town was visiting.
He had never heard Jandek before.
After my obligatory explanation of what Jandek is all about I played him samples from three albums.
I started with Chair Beside a Window. 
I played him Down in a Mirror and while he wasn't overly impressed he did say that it didn't strike him as all that bad and that he could envision himself actually listening to it without my instigation.
Then I played him Your Condition from Later On. 
His reaction was to laugh, but it wasn't as if he was laughing at the music. It was more of a nervous laugh as if he didn't know how to react. 
I finished by by playing him Since I Went Outside from Put My Dream on This Planet.  
My friend then insisted quite adamantly that The Rep. was "obviously mentally ill" and seemed to imply that I was somehow taking advantage of his illness.

What was interesting was his varied reactions to the songs. I just picked the songs almost randomly from the half dozen or so Jandek albums that I happen to listening to these days. 
I've been trying to think of another artist that I could have chosen to play that would have provoked such contrasting and strong reactions.  The whole experience was interesting to me because in it I saw some of what I think the beauty and brilliance of Jandek is. His work demands attention and reaction and if that's not art then I don't know what art is.
Could I have selected three songs by the Beatles, or the Clash, or U2 that could have had the same effect?
I don't think I need to answer that. 
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