Saturday night I watched The Devil and Daniel Johnston and yes, I'm aware I was a bit late in seeing this, but I want to recommend it to those like myself who might be late in seeing it. The movie premiered at Sundance in 2005 and is a documentary about the life of Mr. Johnston up until the present day and all his battles with his manic depression, his internal fight between good & evil and his musical and artistic journey through these things. Many artists, such as Wilco, Bright Eyes, M. Ward, Beck, etc, have recognized his song writing ability and covered his work over the years. Chances are, there are songs and artwork you've loved and never known it came from the genius and troubled mind of Daniel Johnston.
Here is a clip/song from the movie:
Story of an Artist by Daniel Johnston:
Randomly enough he is playing at In The Venue this Thursday. Personally, I would love to go, but I don't know if I could handle seeing him in his current condition-very sad, but hopeful in a way since he is still pressing on. If you go you might hear gems like this:
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Daniel Johnston
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6 comments:
great flick. great musician. oh daniel...
Ya, that is one of the greatest rockumentary-type movies out there. I saw him play in Austin at the SXSW west conference last year. He was playing with his full band, and I must say it wasn't the same. On his solo recordings his personality, love, and soul really come out. With his band those things sometimes take a backseat to mediocre rock and roll music.
I've got a story related to this movie/documentary. When we were driving back from Guatemala, we got to phoenix and decided to postpone our return to utah and head to san francisco so i could finally see this documentary. I had a friend look up the showtimes and it was supposed to be playing at the Red Vick theatre. we drove there to find out that it wouldn't be in SF for another few weeks. We drove back home and I was a bit frustrated. About a week later it was showing at the Trolley Square cinemas and I finally got to see it. As a matter of fact, I insisted a bunch of friends go with me.
I really liked the doc but I think I've unltimately decided that its more like a big commercial promoting DJ. I'd be interested to know who the sources are for alot of the acclaim he receives. For instance, the dude who compares him to Bob Dylan was actually the guy who's been running Yip/Jump for so long. I would bet that comments like that really help him peddle his cassettes. Just a thought.
Even so I am still an avid fan of Daniel Johnston. Who can dispute that some of his songs capture the despairity of human nature quite well ("Funeral Home" comes to mind)?
Sorry my comment is so long.
Dust-no need to apologize for a long comment, if there was, I'd be apologizing for every comment I leave somewhere!
Good story and insight. I see where you're coming from on the promoting him thing and it makes perfect sense, but man when did you become such a skeptic, first JFK, now this :)
Even if the whole doc. is just a promotion, I can't really blame anyone because of how messed up his life has been, seems like the guy needs to make some money off the hell he's gone through because of his illnesses. You know?
And Hass-
I'd have to agree, I think it would be much more cool to see him solo and without the mediocre rock and roll aspect to it.
Haha,
I was thinking about the JFK thing when I was writing that comment. It's like - could I be any more of a naysayer?! But yeah, I believe a lot of crazy crap. I've gotten into the habit of being skeptical about a lot of stuff I hear/read/see. The JFK thing was funny because at first I was so skeptical about the whole thing (and was on the side you and Hallie are on) and then I pretty much got convinced the other way. In this day and age, which information can be trusted?
Dude, no way could you really be convinced, the "Other way," come on Dusty. Even if it didn't all go down the way the movie depicts it, there are more holes in the government's theory than a mesh tanktop (XXXL sized).
That's funny this is what you were thinking about as you typed the DJ stuff though.
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