Daniel Johnston

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Op donderdag 10 maart 2005 23:04 schreef Tijn het volgende:

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Het is even wennen, maar kvind het sowieso al tof dat ze 'em CD's hebben laten maken.

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Op woensdag 30 november 2005 14:26 schreef DaisyDuke het volgende:
Vanavond ga ik naar Paradiso. "The Devil and Daniel Johnston" draait daar en bovendien is er een optreden van Gitbox! met nummers van Daniel.

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Daniel Johnston Celebrated on Film, in Exhibits, on Disc

Matthew Solarski reports:
Q: Hi how are you, Daniel Johnston?

A: I am everywhere.

Things are looking up these days for Johnston, singer-songwriter, visual artist, underground icon, and now, film star. Personal life, check: he has a new house and was released on Christmas Eve from the hospital after a month-long stay battling a kidney infection. Profile-wise, check: the lo-fi troubadour takes center stage in The Devil and Daniel Johnston, a new documentary hitting theatres later this month. Artistically speaking, doubleplus check: New York's Whitney Museum of American Art is presently featuring a selection of his cartoony drawings as part of its biennial, and NY's Clementine Gallery will soon host the "first historical retrospective" of Johnston's work.

Billed as a "portrait of madness, creativity and love", The Devil and Daniel Johnston opens March 31 in select theaters. The Jeff Feuerzeig-directed documentary nabbed a Best Director award at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. Scope the trailer here.

The Whitney Biennial opened last week and the recovered Johnston was on-hand to say "hi" and question guests as to their present countenances. This mega-show, essentially a who's-who of the contemporary art world, also features contributions from musician-artists Jim O'Rourke, Tony Conrad, and Momus. The Whi-Bi (snappy!) runs through May 28 and everyone there will be trendier than you.

As for Johnston's historical retrospective, that showing opens March 17 at the Clementine Gallery. "The Story of an Artist: Daniel Johnston, A Retrospective" will feature over sixty pieces by Daniel and is on view through April 15. Johnston himself is scheduled to visit the gallery a few days prior to the opening. You may also find him scrawling Jesus fish on the base of the Statue of Liberty.

To top it all off, on April 18 Daniel's own Eternal Yip Eye Music label will drop that ultimate career validator, the greatest hits record, putting Johnston in the same class as the Eagles, Morrissey, Kate Bush, Dylan, and Mandy Moore. Welcome to My World features 21 nuggets of homespun Daniel Johnston goodness, culled from eight different DJ releases. All Captain America-approved:

01 Peek a Boo
02 Casper the Friendly Ghost
03 Some Things Last a Long Time
04 Walking the Cow
05 I'm Nervous
06 Man Obsessed
07 Don't Let the Sun Go Down
08 Never Before Never Again
09 The Sun Shines Down on Me
10 Chord Organ Blues
11 Living Life
12 Speeding Motorcycle
13 True Love Will Find You in the End
14 Never Relaxed
15 Sorry Entertainer
16 Ain't No Woman Gonna Make a George Jones Outta Me
17 Lennon Song
18 Devil Town
19 Laurie
20 Story of an Artist
21 Funeral Home

However, life isn't all red carpets and posh receptions for Johnston. According to a recent New York Times article, Daniel's father and brother-who double as his managers-are up in arms at a pair of Johnson art enthusiasts whom they feel exploited Daniel. Reports the Times: "The family accuses [former manager Jeff] Tartakov and [art collector Jeff] Brivic of taking advantage of Mr. Johnston, contacting him without his family's knowledge and cajoling him into giving them his drawings for little or no money."

No official statement has been released by any of the involved parties, says Daniel's publicist, nor is litigation planned as of right now. One thing's for sho: should Daniel wander toward you on Broadway this week, bearing a hand-made cassette adorned in childish sketches, do the man a favor and accept it. He will be famous, indeed.

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Daniel Johnston Gets His Own Rock Opera

Kati Llewellyn reports:
Over the years, Daniel Johnston's life and art have been the subject of a book, a documentary film, various art exhibits (including a portion of this year's Whitney Biennial), tribute albums, and a line of soft drinks. (OK, we made that last part up, but we think Daniel would totally go for it if given the opportunity.)

So what's next? A rock opera, of course.

Unrequited love is a bitch, but as many a musician/patron of the arts/human being knows, it also serves as a muse. Recently, the Houston, Texas-based Infernal Bridegroom Productions have taken hold of this lack of reciprocation, utilizing it as the theme to a rock opera based on Daniel Johnston's life and music.

The production, titled Speeding Motorcycle after the tune on Johnston's 1983 album Yip/Jump Music, is arranged and directed by IBP founder Jason Nodler, and has been in the works for over a year now. Artistic director Anthony Barilla used input from Johnston to develop the opera's score (performed by the IBP orchestra), and Tamarie Cooper handled the choreography.

Infernal Bridegroom Productions was behind the stage adaptation of Actual Air, the poetry book by the Silver Jews' David Berman, and put on a production of the Kinks' A Soap Opera. In a press release, Johnston said the following about Speeding Motorcycle: "I thought it sounded like a cool idea, and then I saw some videos of IBP shows, and my heart jumped for joy, because the shows were really entertaining and really put together well."

In addition to Speeding Motorcycle's title track, the rock opera also features the Johnston songs "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Your Grievances", "Rock 'n' Roll/EGA", "Mind Contorted", "True Love Will Find You in the End", and the previously unrecorded/unreleased "Loving Feelings".

Speeding Motorcycle opens May 25 at the Axiom in Houston, Texas, with a special preview party and show on May 24. The slightly redundant performance schedule looks like this:

05-24 Houston, TX - The Axiom (Preview Party)
05-25 Houston, TX - The Axiom
05-26 Houston, TX - The Axiom
05-27 Houston, TX - The Axiom
06-02 Houston, TX - The Axiom
06-03 Houston, TX - The Axiom
06-09 Houston, TX - The Axiom
06-10 Houston, TX - The Axiom
06-16 Houston, TX - The Axiom
06-17 Houston, TX - The Axiom
06-23 Houston, TX - The Axiom
06-24 Houston, TX - The Axiom

In other Johnston news, a tribute concert in his honor took place earlier this month in London, and saw participation from Teenage Fanclub, Vic Chesnutt, Jason Pierce (Spacemen 3, Spiritualized), James Yorkston, Howe Gelb (Giant Sand), and Johnston himself. On May 4, Johnston will perform at Los Angeles' Spaceland; it will be his first L.A. show in five years. While in town, he'll tape a performance for "The Henry Rollins Show", which airs on IFC.

As previously reported, the Johnston family's Eternal Yip Eye Music label recently released Welcome to My World, Daniel's first-ever greatest hits record. The Devil and Daniel Johnston, Jeff Feuerzeig's Sundance award-winning documentary on the musician, opened May 31 to critical acclaim, including a big "Two Thumbs Up" from Ebert and Roeper. If the Internet had opposable thumbs, Pitchfork would shoot them upwards in the direction of this film, but as is, we'll stick with a "go check it out."

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Op maandag 1 mei 2006 19:25 schreef bigshadow het volgende:
Lost and Found staat op de luisterpaal

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Op maandag 15 mei 2006 11:56 schreef bigshadow het volgende:

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Ik heb er niet naar geluisterd

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Op maandag 15 mei 2006 12:08 schreef bigshadow het volgende:

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Ik zal ooit fun weer eens proberen te ontleden