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Nothing is more revolutionary than having fun! image from breakfastontour.com It’s been, to say the least, a very strange week here in Houston. I could go into a lot of it but let’s just stick to the one that confused the fuck out of many a serious music fan out there and that was the Jandek show at Rudyard’s a bit more than a week ago. Now, let me just start off by saying that I wasn’t there. I had seen Jandek at SXSW in a cathedral and it was a phenomenal experience. The expansive meditative sounds bouncing that huge space was just epic; simply one of the most moving live experiences I’ve ever witnessed. My appreciation of Jandek went from an academic “I appreciate what he does but it doesn’t blow me away” to becoming a huge admirer and fan. So what did I do last Sunday you ask given my prior Jandek experience? Well, I chose to go off and drink whiskey with a friend. I know what you are thinking – don’t you regret not going to see Jandek? Nah, not really I had fun talking shit and drinking Jameson. Considering the fact that my friend abhors drony serious music and a smaller and crowded (albeit loveable) Rudyard’s likely wasn’t going to match my SXSW experience, I have no regrets of having chosen to skip out on the mind blowing experience of the Jandek show. Sorry serious music community – guilty as charged – I chose fun but…well, you’ll see as we move along on this…so did Jandek. See, here is the curious thing – Jandek is more than just the music – there is this myth around him. Now I fully trust that Jandek’s public shyness is wholly organic and not a calculated marketing ploy. But this is and has been the issue with many serious music lovers and that’s that there are these huge classic tropes that make for good press about the lonely suffering uncompromising artist and people love that. So, throw in this guy with an aversion for playing live or being in the public eye and voila you have this enigma that people love to embrace – an enigma that people can throw their own interpretation upon. But I’m not one for propping musicians on pedestals. In fact I’m not one for star gazing period. I think it’s all crap to begin with. You want neurotic socially awkward or solitary artists? Great, I have a pocketful of them. But for some people this, when combined with what really matters – his music, creates this aura of some musical holy grail that should be treated as this sacred precious object. I’ll give you an example of what I mean. I was talking with a friend who cancelled a show because Jandek was playing that same day. To them they couldn’t follow Jandek (mind you different venue and a different time but just follow along) because Jandek just “crushes people.” I was telling them how they should perform because people would like to see both. “Your stuff is great and it’s different enough from Jandek where it will be apples and oranges.” “No, No you don’t understand, I saw Jandek as SXSW a few years ago and it was this crushing experience. CRUSHING!” “Yeah, so did I and you know what? It was this amazing experience where I finally ‘got’ Jandek on an emotional level, totally loved it, was moved immensely by it, then I went off to Deer Tick and got smashed on whiskey with my friends! I didn’t go shut myself in a room after that.” So, this went on for thirty minutes to no avail and they called the promoter the next day to cancel. But that is exactly the kind of devotion and almost religious worship that Jandek inspires in many (though not all) fans. Here is the problem, Jandek doesn’t walk on water – he’s a guy with a house, a job, and I hear he can throw the drinks back like anyone else. This is why the show a few Sunday’s ago was so important. Jandek didn’t choose to do a serious set. No, Jandek threw a goddamn house party where he played with a funk rhythm section!!! Fucking genius!!!! Everyone I spoke with who was there had a blast. You know – that horrible word – fun. Was it the best most earth shattering funk ever? No, and I don’t think Jandek himself would think George Clinton was going to fly down from Detroit and scratch his chin in admiration. No, it was just goofy and fun those who “got it” and danced along and had a blast. But here is the thing, fun, makes people uneasy. Fun is a dangerous word. And for all the polarizing that Jandek has done with his music in the past – having fun and being silly was probably the riskiest thing he’s ever done. You could just feel the tension on various boards of people wanting to cry out “Judas!” in the theatre. There was this huge outrage on various fronts that Jandek would dare step down from Mount Olympus and have a bunch of kids dancing and having fun with him. One person wrote “Call me an asshole, but to me that was some hackneyed bullshit, & if I’m lucky enough to actually see Jandek in my life, I wouldn’t want it to be w/ those Jackalopes. “ while another wrote “If this were anyone other than Jandek, no one—NO ONE—would give a flying fuck about the music. Having said that, this is horrrrrrrrrrrrible. Theoretical Girls are somewhere pissing in their pants in laughter over this.” Interesting isn’t it? See, Jandek’s polarization up until now was under an almost academic umbrella. Sure, he could polarize audiences but the serious music fans always left the naysayers shrugging with an “I guess I don’t get it.” That aura of seriousness gave the music this shield of invulnerability where, by the time he began performing live, no matter what Jandek would do he would always have his fans behind him. As improvisational and challenging and wonderful as his music may be – there was always that safety of that serious music community. So there is this wonderful irony in the Jandek show that you have to love in that the most risky thing he could ever do was to do what he did – have fun. Kris Thompson of Abunai happily noted that it was “interesting to the representative from Corwood ‘trapped’ in such an intimate setting and smiling his arse off.” I mean how wonderful is that? Jandek smiling and having fun! How can that not make you smile as well? But the people who were offended or felt that this was final proof that the king had no clothes, didn’t have problems with Jandek – they had a problem with their idea of Jandek. Suddenly, their Jandek action figure wasn’t doing what they wanted it to do. How dare Jandek not do what I want it to do?!! If anything this show was a kiss-off to those people, a rejection of the idolatry, and spit in the face of hero worship and all that enigma crap. It was Jandek taking back his humanity. I think Gavin Prior of Weapons of Mass Destruction / Deserted Village Records really hit it square on the head when he wrote on the Terrascura list “I think it’s great that he’s flogging whatever’s left of his mystique to death. Soon all that’ll be left will be the music.” Amen to that Gavin. 34 comments to Nothing is more revolutionary than having fun! |
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Thanks Ramon – it’s great to hear from you.
I’m tempted to not write anything else because I really don’t give a shit. However: two points/opinion.
1. I like funk but that music was not fun; and nobody I recognized in the show video posted at Blindbutcher.com would ever go see music like that normally.
2. I’ve never thought Jandek was about the music nor do I think the music has lasted and if it does last it will be because of the person.
3. The show looked to be a joke for and about insiders of a group that nobody wants to be a part of, not even the members.
Not true. I’ve been to funk shows like that before. And I don’t think it was a joke for Jandek. I think he just did what he wanted to do. Now the hipsters, they’re a different story.
Hey Ramon, thanks for the great guest post, it was a very enjoyable read. I am though going to bring up a couple of points.
As an artistic conceptual statement Jandek’s funk jam seems less interesting than Piero Manzoni’s can of artist shit, which I also don’t have to smell/hear to appreciate. And I do appreciate Jandek as conceptual art, but not as music. The most recent discussions about his “funk jam” only seem to emphasize that he is not really all that interested in music per se beyond the conceptual aspect of it.
Also, Ramon, having fun can certainly be revolutionary and I’ll stand behind that revolution any day much quicker than any other. But just cause its fun doesn’t mean it’s revolutionary. A lot of extremely non-revolutionary people have lots of fun. To make fun revolutionary requires an extra step. Burning a million quid on a Scotish island might have been more revolutionary (and probably more fun too).
Sometimes the discussion that follows the fun is where the revolution really gets going. But although Jandek’s performance seems to be engendering a lot of discussion, what is really being discussed? whether people can play what they want regardless of audience expectations? whether unexpected funk is a fair medium to achieve a fun evening at a bar? whether Jandek can still be Jandek if he plays funk?
These topics of discussion or most of the ones I’ve seen so far about the show are hardly a revolution in the making. I would say most of the discussion I’ve seen about Jandek’s show could easily belong on a celebrity blog. Oh no, he shaved his head! what does it mean? and did you see how skinny he is? he must be on drugs, maybe its all the pressure from the legal battles over the baby… maybe he’s having a breakdown… Maybe he wants people to stop thinking of him as the seclusive guy who plays weird music… Maybe he’s tired of all the fame and adulation and just wants to be himself and have fun… revolutionary? hardly.
See here is what I don’t get? Jandek is playign funk, people dance and have fun and they are tagged shallow hipsters? I mean I would think that is the reaction Jandek wanted – again akin to a houseparty. Why are you reduced to a shallow hipster if you danced to Jandek? I know a lot of the people dancing in that video and they are hadly that. Sandy Ewen of weird weeds was there and she went to put on this phenomenal solo guitar show that very same evening, Coach Springer is seen dancing and getting blasted and he’s a damn good writer and sharp witted as shit, Amye MCarter, Will Adams, the list goes on and they are some of the smartest sharpest most creative people on the block and they are dancing and having fun without irony. I just don’t have any problem with this at all. If anything, think it should be celebrated. Not becasue it is the greatest music ever but becasue of the spirit in which it was done by the players and how it was embraced by people who – contrary to what people think – honestly don’t give a shit if they look cool or not. To me this was the most punk thing Jandek could ever have done.
The hipsters were reveling in the irony, trust me.
I’m not saying that this show was revolutionary, I was just saying that fun is becasue so many people are uptight. There’s an aversion to it. Fun, silly, all that stuff is something people are averse to becasue they are afraid of looking the ass. It’s just much more productive to just not worry about being cool. Did Jandek fall off the musical edge? Maybe but that is what rock and roll is all about taking some chances and having fun.
My point on jandek wasn’t so much that he’s changing the world with this funk set but that he’s challenging people’s idea of who he is which, for him, – given his aura – is the truly earth shattering risky thing he could have done. That’s to be applauded.
And as for his music. I really honestly loved the show I saw at SXSW. It was, as I said, one of the best shows I’d ever seen and it wouldn’t have mattered who he was. If I’d walked ignorant of who was playing, I’d have had the same reaction.
I agree Ramon, actually, I’m not sure if dancing is something that can be done ironically at all. how would that go? And it’s likely that many of the people there knew each other and would’ve had fun dancing together whether it was jandek or someone else playing the funk, the fact that it was jandek probably made it even more fun. Like when the nerdiest guy in class breaks into a disco dance routine a la Napoleon Dynamite. How can it not be fun, good sincere fun. Dancing is fun, period. And at a bar, what better thing to do than listen to fun music and dance or smile or drink or all of the above.
On the other hand, Jandek is flirting with a lot of conceptual issues of which he must be aware, and which encourage the discussion of his output as art, and as such I think he is floundering. If it was just 3 random guys on stage tearing it up with their funk while the audience has the best time of their lives, that would be awesome but no discussion would really be needed right? With jandek, it’s more than that.
Here’s how dancing can be done ironically. This group of people, when confronted with something that they didn’t expect assumed that this was part of Jandek’s game and they couldn’t let an opportunity go by to give back the irony in spades. In fact, it’s possible that they are constitutionally incapable of it. They watched each other carefully and slowly filtered into the open area in front of the stage, where they proceeded to work themselves into a mannered frenzy. They took pictures of each other. They bought beers so they could pour them on each other. They grabbed each others’ asses. All of this was done while looking at each other to make sure to communicate that it was okay since it was being done ironically. “Woo! Party! Right? It’s a party, right? Woo! Right?”
Your description is hilarious, but do you think it’s really feasible? Wouldn’t the situation quickly evolve (devolve) into real dancing?
Many years ago i got roped into going to see Tony Robbins (you know the self-help guru guy). I arrived with irony in droves, making sure every single one of my actions, even the slightest twitch of my pinky finger, communicated that I realized this was cheese and i was here to make fun of it. We’ll he started making everyone jump up and say yeah, even if you dont want to, please do it, he said. After 10-15 times of doing that, everyone there was as sincere about that ‘yeah’ as fans at a rolling stones concert, myself included. Not sure how he did it, maybe some hypnosis trick like the one he pulled on Shallow Hal, but my theory is that the body eventually takes over which is why i think ironic dancing is not really possible, even if you start doing it ironically, eventually the “rhythm is gonna get you.” (Yes i went there, i’ll let you determine if i did it ironically or not.)
I laugh, for Justin makes it funny.
For my part, I believe I referred to the crowd as pathetic on the blind butcher but, especially being that I was mostly talking about friends, I didn’t mean it beyond the point that they were upstairs Rudz on a beautiful day because their curiosity got the better of them. It’s not a matter of their genuine-ness, intelligence etcetera etcetera. Hell, I could have easily been in the crowd…and probably dancing too.
Still sucks royally though on almost every level I can think of.
Well, I’m assuming Justin was there so I can’t counter what he has to say but I can say that a lot of the people up there are genuine, smart, creative people. Maybe there was some hesitancy at first – I mean Jandek playing funk would be pretty unexpected – but I think Roberto has it right on the Napoleon Dynamite analogy. I guess, from talking to my shallow “hipster” friends, they came away feeling like they’d gone to a really fun party and nothing more. To me, in the video, they looked like they were the ones having fun and the grumps in the back with their arms crossed looked like they we’re the ones who were too cool to dance.
Nice post, Ramon. It’s nice to read you in here again, and as always, people think when you write, and that is never bad. Even when you’re wrong.
Like now.
There is absolutely nothing revolutionary about having fun. If having fun was an revolutionary act, then frat boys the world over are the most progressive people on earth. Date-rape and funnel-forcing alcohol into minors notwithstanding, those frat boys are a fairly repugnant and idiotic lot, on balance.
I won’t try and claim that the people present weren’t having fun. I would imagine they were. As we have spoken on this subject, I am not adverse to having fun. I may not regard what I saw on the Jandek video as something that I might consider fun, true, but if this fulfills the prophecy of my being too old to enjoy myself, then I might recommend one looks towards Mr. Sterling himself and ask themselves the age question.
Also, I agree virtually wholeheartedly here with Justin (who was at the show, and apparently thus has earned the coveted “allowed to comment on the show” award). They could be having assloads of Guevarian fun and still be as ironic as one could imagine. These two things are not mutually incompatible.
Furthermore, not only was the act of writing my critique of the video enormous fun for me, the ensuing verbal reactions, intelligent and otherwise, were also a total blast. So, I guess in a sense, one could say I found the show to be great fun as well.
When my dad was turned 57, he decided to throw a 60th birthday party. This was due to his concerns that he might not reach 60 the traditional way – namely by living it. My old band was invited to play the show. Many of those attending this party were, by the end of it, drunk as fuck. As we milled about the club, merrily, I might add, we all enjoyed the sounds of Fleetwood Mac’s Greatest Hits. On paper, this sounds (if only to me), to be a recipe for agony. As it was, I had a great deal of (non)revolutionary fun.
No Banana Republics lost their pro-capitalist slant over it, nor did any missile crises come about.
We just had a good time.
I still think a party with my dad, in Detroit, with Fleetwood Mac is about the most horrible idea anyone could drum up.
No political progress involved, and none needed.
I almost think you are resorting to the very thing you are railing against in this post: a herd-like tendency to formulate a theory to explain your bad ideas.
I mean, god knows I am often guilty of this, but I just think that the fun moral-high-ground theory is about as suspect as anything I have been held to task about thus far.
Again, great post. And yes, I know I will pay for these comments.
I think my title is probably a poor choice of words – I think I already kind of clarified it to some extent but yes, at best it’s too broad generalization. Though leave it to you, John, to even hyperbolically count date rape and someone’s idea of fun. : )
I just mean revolutionary in the sense of poking a finger in the face of the convetional adult world; I’m not talking political revolution here. But you should know by now that I’ll take a room full of people having fun over a buch of boring political fucks any day. I’m a huge fan of the absurd and the meaningless becasue sure the guy who invents (insert amazing technological marvel here) is pretty awesome but I’m going to be much more thankful that someone like Joe Mathlete is drawing Jesus vs. Godzilla anyday. Sorry I’m a freak! : P
Also, for the record, I have never used the term “shallow hipsters” to describe the audience. In fact, on Blind Butcher, I used the horribly derisive terms “dancing, cheering, and adoring.” Slightly less than pejorative.
Ha Ha Classic John Cramer. : )
No dude I wasn’t referring to any your’s or any particular blog or comment. I was referring to some of the comments in blogs/ mailing lists that were slagging the dancers.
Don’t be sorry for being the freak you truly are. (I know you really aren’t sorry anyway.) And of course I know what you meant when referring to revolution, I was just having fun! Whoopee!
Oops on the hipster thing, classic me indeed.
Still, that video was bad theater on many levels.
I love the idea that Jandek was never what he was before, that he is now what he always wasn’t, and that he will always be what he actually never could. No one gets a pass for what transpired in Rudz that day. Hip, mundane, smart, ancient, joyful, funky, or just plain underwhelmed – no one got out alive.
Ha. Yeah, any show you can summarize like that is a win in my book. I think yr right though. My new standard for a great show should be on how many (or more aptly how few) leave sane.
What was the metal band with the midget at the axiom? the one where the bassist started picking off each of the band memebers one by one during the set? There was a similar show of nobody gets out of here alive. I love that kind of shit.
And why the hell not?
I forget who the metal band was… Or did I ever know? Was it the band with the song, Six Guns of Satan?
Good article Ramon, and well written. Though my blog comments are far from academic, I do agree that it was preconceived to have a dance party with a generic funk outfit. Also, said members of the audience probably had a good time. Let’s say fun was had by all. (or some) But I will bet you that if they didn’t walk away at least scratching their heads trying to grok what just happened, they probably felt ripped off. In fact, I think that most of the audience began to think that it really sucked. Maybe I’m projecting here.
As far as I’m concerned, at best it was a clever joke that no one took too seriously. Yay, how FUN! At worst it was a steaming pile of shit. I side with the latter. Thank you Ramon for continually acting as a foil to my tastes by defending a lot of crappy music and artists.
Yr welcome.
By the way an interesting rumor I heard (from a reliable source) about the show was that Jandek also requested some sort of Soul, Gospel, or R & B singer. Perhaps given the short notice it wasn’t possible to get one to perform but if the rumor, if true, does give you an Idea of what Jandek may have really been going for with this show.
What the fuck does it mean that he requested some sort of Soul, Gospel or R&B singer? From who – Rudyard’s?
I’m guessing it’d be from who ever it was who got the session bassist and drummer. Mind you, neither musician even heard of Jandek before this show.
My understanding is that people from Sugar Hill arranged the musicians.
So then he asked, who, Gereld Levert?
Ramon,
I understand the distinction that you’re drawing between musical distinctions that are very elevated and that are more down-home (“fun”). I’m not entirely sure that there is a fundamental difference between the two modes of experience, but I’m at least willing to bracket that and agree that some musical experiences are a lot more immediate than others. But there’s something that makes me uncomfortable about your ideas about how fun is dangerous because it makes people uneeasy. I think it’s that you seem to talk about it in opposition to serious appreciation of music. I could think of a lot of artists that play music that is “fun” but is also interesting artistically in more than a situationistic way.
I also feel resentful that “fun” is so often limited to things that make you dance. I realize you didn’t say that, and that this is about to turn into my own little personal rant based mainly on things I heard when I was in school, but I’m going to go into it anyway because I think it’s tangentially relevant. Look, I’m a serious guy. I’m serious about music and I like serious music. I hate to dance and I really do feel like an idiot when I do it, and all the bumper stickers and tequila shots in the world won’t convince me otherwise.
But I also think music is really fun and I get a lot of enjoyment and catharsis out of it without dancing. I don’t think you need to dance to have fun, and I’m really tired of being told that I’m doing music appreciation wrong by standing around with my arms crossed. I’m listening, OK? I used to get down in the mosh pit, but I’m not really into that any more, so I’m just going to stand there and listen, and anyone who wants to call me a fun-impaired hipster because I’m not pouring a beer on myself and “shaking” some part of me that doesn’t have enough mass to even move like that can eat a fucking dick. So to bring it back around to Jandek, I think that if people “had fun” dancing to Jandek’s funk jams, and don’t “have fun” when watching/ listening to Jandek do his normal thing, then something is off. I think if you have to get drunk and dance around to have fun watching music, then what you’re really into is getting drunk and dancing around.
Having said all that, I think that some of the anti-Jandekfunk opinions I’ve read are way over the top and reflect a great deal of resentment against the people that went to the show and, apparently, enjoyed themselves. I don’t really understand where that comes from. I haven’t seen a lot of real attempts from people who weren’t there and think it was total crap and the worst thing ever to engage with people who were there and disagree, I imagine because that would require some moderation of the invective.
I think that there may also be some sublimation of that resentment into unduly negative opinions of what Jandek and the other guys were doing, which looked to me from the YouTube clip like some competent but fairly generic funk with Jandek kind of messing around on top of it. Taken on a purely acontextual basis, that hardly seems like the musical crime of the century, and those who think otherwise may be experiencing a lapse in perspective. In my very short time as a music critic, I have already heard many things that make the Jandek Blues Explosion sound like fucking godhead. Don’t believe me? Here ya go:
http://www.myspace.com/stillflyin
This isn’t some garage-funk project from Katy that sent their demo CD to Space City Rock. These guys tour Europe and Australia. I got this unsolicited from a reputable publicist (I know, that’s an oxymoron HAR HAR HAR). And it is so very much worse than that YouTube clip of Jandek. The Jandek show was a couple of professional musicians screwing around for a while, which may be boring and may not be your cup of tea, but in terms of crimes against music, is like a petty drug deal. There are people out there murdering the blues, waterboarding funk and selling rock and roll into white slavery, and I don’t think Jandek is among them.
I started listening to “Good Thing It’s a Ghost Town Around Here” from that link and I couldn’t figure out why you thought it was so horrible. Then the vocals happened. Sometimes I wonder whether people actually listen to the things they record after they’re done recording it.
Yeah Daniel, yr right I am probably being a bit hyperbolic on the people standing with their arms crossed. In fact, probably my best friend in the world can be seen kind of just standing there by a pole NOT dancing and she had fun at the show too. So, I probably swung that axe too hard in defense of my friends who were dancing. Though not intentional, dissing the non-dancers is no worse than people lumping the dancers as hipsters or jackelopes. So fair enough, my apologies.
I’m actually a non-dancer myself so I know where yr coming from but, hey, even I found myself dancing to UGK one night last week.
Like I said … it was a very very weird week.
Well formed and appreciated Daniel. And so true re: stuff like StillFlyin. It could be that Jandek’s entire premise is to remind us how much crap is truly out there. Not particularly enlightening though.
I thought fun = dancing = revolutionary was directed at mopey indie rockers who often can be found in droves hardly moving, displaying the level of social behavior they have acquired from sitting on their couch playing Doom 3 over the internet with like-minded kids in Japan. I’m 40 so that description is a little beyond me but I think some of that is in all of us here so in some regard we poke fun at ourselves.
I am a big fan of conceptual art –at least I don’t instinctively find the ring of it snotty and pretentious. Conceptual art is what Jandek seems to be attempting, maybe now more than ever. However I think maybe he is being pushed. He is not inspired. And it is failing. He is not very focused as an improvisational musician anyway. He’s always sucked pretty hard as a musician frankly…and I’m not being a technical prick about it; I like a lot of improv and amateur stuff.
Anyway I don’t care if he sucks or not. I’m curious to know who roused the beast and why. So Sugar Hill Studios, Dan and bunch, are behind this show? Or is there another promoter who went to Sugar Hill thinking that they’d be able to locate musicians?
Well, the front row of tables was reserved for the Sugar Hill gang (I couldn’t resist), and among them was Dan.
What’s funny is I had a reserved seat there and I totally balked.
That Ramon comment was number 10,000 on our blog.
Thinking about this show is like an infection I can’t seem to shake.
I have a question. Has anyone ever actually asked directly who the guys playing bass and drums are? Who have they played with, where are they from, etc… IS it odd to anyone else besides me that nobody cares who those guys were?
I think that what they did, in essence – at least for me anyway – was to take up so much space with their playing that in the process whatever it was that Jandek would ultimately do, and did, is almost entirely swallowed by the rhythm section.
And, by the way, I don’t for a second doubt that this was by design.
The problem I have is that what they are doing is so immediately recognizable as a genre-specific construct vamped into oblivion and played with such fundamental obviousness that it is by its very nature uninteresting.
On top of that is the only reason anyone was in the building that afternoon. Namely: Jandek.
And the man himself contributes very little of actual creative value to an already stretched thin trope (to use one of Ramon’s favorite words).
When I claim, in my terribly powerful and ingenious blog post, that Jandek has engorged himself on his own Kool-Aid, what I mean is that to my ears this man is uninterested in engaging in a musical conversation of any depth, and instead is utilizing a well-tread and instantly familiar language to essentially say almost nothing of novel musical value. By doing this, he is shedding a great deal of not only figurative but literal light on to Jandek the icon. And, I believe, he is doing so intentionally, not because he just wants to party (he may want to party), and not just because he doesn’t give a fuck (because anyone who really believes he doesn’t give a fuck is most-assuredly deluded to the point of being beyond repair), but because it has never really been about the music and has always been about his, for him, to him; and now, more than ever, this remains true.
That in itself isn’t a bad thing, but it does lead to events like this, and it also leads to thirty years of records that don’t meet you anywhere close to halfway, instead delighting in forcing you to chase them all over the globe like a simpering fanatic.
The “fun” argument is a total red herring, because who would ever honestly argue that people shouldn’t go to a show and have a good time? Those of us that care enough to comment at all, as fans of music, culture, people, and using our minds to understand whatever the fuck it is that goes on during this lunatic life, are certainly entitled to regard what happened that day as disappointing without being regarded as a buzzkill or an asshole.
I am most certainly an asshole, but that has little to do with what I see as being problematic about that show.
For that matter, being there is utterly irrelevant to what it is I found wrong with the performance. I suspect that had I been there I might have come away disliking the show even more.
Ya know?
Chris Grey of the Houston Press noted them as “bassist Keith Vivens and drummer Tyson Sheth ”
keithvivens.com/kv/bio.html
The drummer seems to be in various projects if you google him. Seems to be a session man.
I dunno a silly dance party Jandek show getting so much serious virtual ink is really a no-win situation; it’s like complaining that Bill Murray’s Carl in Caddyshack character is daft. Well, yeah exactly! Again I don’t think this was that serious of a show – just fun. There really isn’t that much to grab onto here but “dance party” and I think some Jandek fans can’t deal with that.
You’re right, I don’t think they can either, and that’s daft as well. It’s still fair, however, to be unimpressed on any measurable level with the show for the reasons I gave above. And again, you’re right about this being overblown. But maybe that says something about what he represents to people in their minds, or at the very least, maybe his mind (what’s left of it).