[Jandek] the not-so-great rock and roll swindle

[Jeff Gomez]

First of all, the ridiculous ire of that critic reminds me of the Vonnegut quote about a critic being someone who puts on a suit of armor to eat a banana split. And what I love about Jandek is that he doesn’t sell himself as anything. He puts out music with little or no fanfare (not to mention liner notes). He doesn’t have an image, not to mention a label, slick A&R man, or marketing campaign. There are no billboards trying to get you to buy a Jandek record, or to think that he’s the second coming or something like that. He does what he does, and you either buy it and like it, or you don’t. That’s pretty much the most honest relationship with an artist you can have. But this critic’s idea that people are being “duped” into liking Jandek, or that he’s a sham, is completely ridiculous. To be duped you have to expect and be promised one thing, but then be delivered something else (of lesser value). That’s not what happens with Jandek. Instead, I think people who are into Jandek realize that, with either a performance or a CD, they could get anything: spoken word, acoustic blues, electric freak-out, meditative piano. That’s part of the deal with make with Jandek, and we go along with the ride because we like the scenery along the way. 


On Thursday, July 30, 2009, at 12:00AM, <jandek-request at mylist.net> wrote:
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>Today's Topics:
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>   1. Irish Jandek Article (Feigin Boris)
>   2. RE: Irish Jandek Article (Michael.Goldman at CH2M.com)
>   3. Irish Jandek Article (Gavin)
>   4. Re: Irish Jandek Article (David Johnston-Smith)
>   5. RE: Irish Jandek Article (S Smith)
>
>> Gah, I wish I could write this to Stephen Rainey directly, except he
>> didn't let anyone make comments on his article. 
>
>Why? I was there, I was 'hearing some kind of rhythm of my own', and I
>thought the review was fantastic, hilarious, and a vindication of the
>fact that, despite Jandek's current live semi-ubiquity, these
>performances can still utterly polarise opinion. Any review that
>concludes that
>
>> Tonight is a swindle of the highest order, and every single one of
>> us in the audience who does not register their disgust is
>> responsible for allowing it to happen
>
>is at least a genuine response.
>
>Gavin
>
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