[Jandek] Manhattan Thursday

[Jason Henn]

I'm really glad someone else noticed the "I reject all boats" line. I think
that was the culmination of a string of lines about being stranded in the
water and not wanting to be saved, and he just got more and more adamant
with each line. I really regret not writing down any of the lyrics this
time, because they were so wild. He was really on a roll with this coffee
house/beat poetry delivery (a little more speaky than his usual sing-speak)
that was really accentuated by the sax runs. There was just this flow
of non-sequitur stuff and funny wordplay. My second favorite line of the
night was from, I think, the second song (after the guy jumped onstage) when
he said in this really serious, kind of country voice, "Let's eat them damn
clams!" Also, re: clams, that whole song was about vaginas, right? I'm too
embarrassed to parse what I remember, but he went on and on in detail about
clams and juices, and he also described "exploding" onto a girl. Am I off
base, or did we just get the facts of life talk, Jandek-style?

The most exciting non-clam lyrics were about a third of the way through when
he sang something like, "It wasn't just you who could sing/Your sister was
better than you." Not that exactly, but something close. Really sounded like
it was being sung to Nancy and referring to the other "mid-period" female
vocalist, or vice versa.

Also, was it just me or was the crowd especially douchey at this show? Two
very young-looking NYU dudes in black suits and eyeliner sat in the two
seats to my right and did that thing where people act like, or maybe even
actually think, that they're whispering when they're really just talking in
a hoarse voice at normal or even louder than normal volume. As the rep took
the stage they were whisper-shouting, "Omigod, It's Jandek!" and taking
flash pictures with their iPhones. I noticed at least two other people just
waltz up to the front and take flash photos, someone yelled something a few
times from the back, that one guy jumped onstage and struck a sort of
lounging on the beach pose for several songs.... Maybe they all saw the
Houston footage and thought all the usual decorum was out the window.
Speaking of which, I heard someone in Houston jumped onstage and laid on his
back while someone else dumped tequila down his throat.
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