I dislike Daniel Johnston for the most part.
As a young man, he presented himself around Austin both faux-modestly and aggressively, as a musical savant. In fact, despite his "aggressive modesty," he only had a few good lines and melodies here and there. But he managed to insinuate himself with the editor of Austin's weekly alternative paper, who began to promote him. (Said editor, Louis Black, is also one of the founders of SXSW---apparently a good man to know.)
Despite Johnston's self-promotion as a naif, an innocent, his one-time (only?) girlfriend Kathy McCarthy said of him: He wasn't innocent at all; rather, he was dark and disturbing. In fact, Johnston was mostly a lazy drug addict and a very self-aware psychotic who lived off his parents throughout his life (blaming them for telling him to "get a job" as a young man but then expecting them to rescue him from whatever city he'd wound up in and couldn't survive in up through his 40s and 50s. He was born living with his parents, and he died living with them.).
In 1990, while his father was flying him home from a concert, Johnston grabbed the key from the plane ignition and threw it out the window. The plane crashed, and Johnston was subsequently re-committed to an institution. When I heard this story, every fake mental image about the supposed "innocent naif" was dismissed.
This song is beautiful unto itself. (Until you learn about the real Johnston---but then that's not ever the point of "Art.")
As a young man, he presented himself around Austin both faux-modestly and aggressively, as a musical savant. In fact, despite his "aggressive modesty," he only had a few good lines and melodies here and there. But he managed to insinuate himself with the editor of Austin's weekly alternative paper, who began to promote him. (Said editor, Louis Black, is also one of the founders of SXSW---apparently a good man to know.)
Despite Johnston's self-promotion as a naif, an innocent, his one-time (only?) girlfriend Kathy McCarthy said of him: He wasn't innocent at all; rather, he was dark and disturbing. In fact, Johnston was mostly a lazy drug addict and a very self-aware psychotic who lived off his parents throughout his life (blaming them for telling him to "get a job" as a young man but then expecting them to rescue him from whatever city he'd wound up in and couldn't survive in up through his 40s and 50s. He was born living with his parents, and he died living with them.).
In 1990, while his father was flying him home from a concert, Johnston grabbed the key from the plane ignition and threw it out the window. The plane crashed, and Johnston was subsequently re-committed to an institution. When I heard this story, every fake mental image about the supposed "innocent naif" was dismissed.
This song is beautiful unto itself. (Until you learn about the real Johnston---but then that's not ever the point of "Art.")
No comments:
Post a Comment