Comments | small_circle: Difficult listening week, Part 1: Jandek in London

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Difficult listening week, Part 1: Jandek in London

Oct 19, 2005 16:05

In the days leading up to last night's Jandek show, his first ever in London, I'd been giving his work a little serious thought. What's it for? Why does he do it? Is the character portrayed in the music an extension of himself or merely a persona? And if the latter, how in Heaven's name can he switch that persona off & become Mr Normal with a white ( Read more... )

Comments 16

foxbase October 19 2005, 16:11:27 UTC

Current music: Sandy Posey: Be Happy

is that You Got to Have Love to Be Happy?

small_circle October 19 2005, 16:23:55 UTC

Yeah, that's the one (picked up a 'best of' today). It's only now that it's struck me as quite appropriate...

playgroundlove October 19 2005, 16:26:59 UTC

St Giles-in-the-Field is the "Poets' Church", don't you know! We've had a few events there and are having a few more events there. It's also Patti Smith's favourite venue to perform very secret shows.

small_circle October 19 2005, 17:13:04 UTC

Mm, should have known that.
Who are the "we" you refer to?

playgroundlove October 19 2005, 19:47:49 UTC

The Poetry Society. I work there. And, very conveniently, we are only based about a five minutes stroll from St. Giles.

small_circle October 19 2005, 20:12:45 UTC

Ah yes! Betterton Street, innit? To bring things full circle nicely, I've played a couple of times there myself.

Thread 8

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small_circle October 19 2005, 22:33:34 UTC

I was only half-joking. But I think if I really did want my concept of what is & isn't "entertainment" challenged, I'd have seen whitehouse years ago. I'm sure they'd have sent me scurrying back to the safety of melody & rhythm within 30 seconds. I'm quite narrow-minded, really (perhaps you'd noticed...)

You've been quiet lately. Everything OK?

bubblegumpurism October 20 2005, 04:14:22 UTC

I should probably be ashamed to admit this, but when I sat down to listen to a CD of his first concert, I couldn't concentrate on it, and turned on a Nancy Sinatra album instead. It's still neat that you got to see him though.

small_circle October 20 2005, 07:26:58 UTC

Well, exactly. The main motivation for attending was "this will never happen again". Of course, he seems to be playing live increasingly often, so even the thrill of exclusivity is gone. Don't be ashamed to admit it! The Emperor *does* have no clothes.

role_mach December 2 2005, 00:44:13 UTC

actually i was also at this concert sitting in the
balcony at the very back of the church. other than
the shuffling of others i found that it was the
perfect distance and location for the dark troubador
voyeur scheme you describe [spotlight in a dark room
etc].

what surprised me was the humor of his material and
his use of self-deprecating lyrics in regards to the
whole jandek mythos and live experience. it made the
whole thing seem frank and personal which i thought
was more involving than the any effect of which the
setting or sound could have produced.

the first lyric i still remember ["i made a mistake
coming here today... i got drunk and said i would"].
no mysteries revealed- no punchlines- not even
honesty or sentimentality but a good ruse regardless.

eih.

small_circle December 2 2005, 11:01:02 UTC

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2005-12-02 11:00 am UTC (link) Select
Comment Posted Successfully
Hmm, interesting. Though I'd prefer to think of Jandek as utterly un-self-aware (ie not playing up to the "mythos", just being who he is), I guess it's to be expected.
re Jandek's humour quotient: "You Painted Your Teeth" always raises a smile round these parts.