[Jandek] Cleveland Sunday

[William Danylo]

Few random stream notes on Cleveland Sunday..

My favorite songs were the ones obviously written that morning about walking
around a pier by Lake Erie and down Euclid St..  They were so Happy.  Lots
of lines about how he felt so unexpectedly Good about walking around, taking
in the sights, and playing a show again.   Stark contrast between "i married
you.....IN MY MIND" and "This place is great!  I feel great!"  Can only
paraphrase at this point.. Wish I would've written something down, but
hopefully he allows us to hear this night again.  Anyways, to hear outright
Joy coming from a man who has expressed so much darkness and despair over
his life, was spellbounding and it was impossible not to feel some of that
joy.

His guitar style was very much like watching a child explore a guitar for
the first time.  It was often difficult to tell if there was pre-existing
structure to the music or if he was reading his poetry with one part of his
mind while the other played whatever it happen to play...  His guitar did
not seem tuned to any standard tuning and sitting here trying to re-create
his sounds at home are futile.    On one song, he did nothing at all with
his left hand and just picked through strings with his right..other times,
it was a percussion instrument.  I overheard folks at the ending saying
things like "How hasn't he learned a G chord in forty years", and while that
question is not entirely invalid for a long-time professional musician, it
seemed to miss the point of the entire Experience- and it was a capital E
Experience.

Brought a buddy to see the show who had no previous experience with Jandek
and he was mesmerized.  He said it was hard to wrap his mind around it at
first, but really got into it as it went along.  He says he wasn't quite
sure exactly what he had just seen, but he would definitely see him again if
he could.

After the show, the Rep pretty much hung out on stage drinking beers and
bullshitting with anyone who seemed comfortable with approaching him.
Shook his hand and thanked him for doing what he does.  Resisted the urge to
ask him if he ever got to listen to the cd of his work that I had remixed
and sent to him.  Just to get to thank him and hear him musing about maybe
someday playing with Lou Reed or telling the Katy Vine story (she stalked
me!  i tried to pull my car out of the garage and she jumped out and stood
behind me.  And I was like 'shit.') was very cool, very Human, very not like
a self-proclaimed worthless recluse.

Looking forward to Jandek OpenMic Night 2011 and the Rep mentioned a
possible future show in Wheeling, WV.  Here's hoping to someday hear a
killer "I Lost Fifty Dollars on Horse Named Nancy" and "There Was Moonshine
and Balloons in the Parking Lot".



On Wed, Aug 24, 2011 at 12:50 PM, Seth Tisue <seth at tisue.net> wrote:

>
> There was also one song where the rep laid his guitar on his lap and
> picked single notes on open strings with one hand while playing
> harmonica with the other, alternating with quiet singing, conjuring up
> ghosts of the early acoustic LP's.
>
> Thanks Rob for organizing a very special concert.  Here's a photo:
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/tisue/6072975747/
>
> --
> Seth Tisue | http://tisue.net
>
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>
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