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Every weekend in Baltimore you’ll hear the question “Are there any good shows happening tonight?” The usual response is “Yeah, (local indie band) is playing at (local underground venue)”. But that was not the response I got one recent weekend, where everywhere I heard: “Yeah, JANDEK IS IN TOWN”.
Who?
Ok, I’ll be honest. I had never heard anything about Jandek prior to his performance in Baltimore this past month, and I wasn’t sure how to respond to everyone’s wild excitement. I am a sucker for anticipatory buzz, so I stopped my fingers from immediately researching the web to find out just what Jandek sounded like. Instead I resorted to word-of-mouth “truths” told to me by my friends. From what I pieced together about this well-respected outsider musician, I flagged Jandek as a show I could not pass up. I had the ever coveted, hit-or-miss opportunity to see a musician for the first time without ever hearing their recorded music – something rare since the death of CDs and vinyls—courtesy MySpace and Last.Fm.
On the night of the show, I walked into the Load of Fun through the main gallery and was thrown off by the dead silence and lack of a doorman upon arrival, but preceded inside the double doors anyway. There was a makeshift bar selling wine in plastic cups inside, adjacent to the entrance, and chairs arranged in some concentric form around the stage where I assumed Jandek and his local accompanying musicians Susan Alcorn (electric pedal steel), Twig Harper (electronics), Jason Willett (electronics), and Dan Breen (percussion) were setting up. Turns out I was wrong – they were already into the set.
I took my standing spot in the back of the packed room and wondered if I was at the right venue – I had no idea what this so-called “outsider” Jandek looked like. I noticed many other well-known Baltimore musicians watching Jandek intently with furrowed brows, legs crossed, heads rested upon bent elbows. I couldn’t discern what instruments each musician possessed, but it sounded like a bunch of toddlers letting all hell loose in a music store: randomly twisting knobs, strumming lazily on guitars, sawing a bow over a snare drum. I wondered if any of them knew how to tune their instruments let alone play them – regardless, their passion and ferocity made me believe so… to some extent. Jandek played through his sad, nonsensical folky tunes as I realized there were no breaks between songs or introductions of any sort. I couldn’t tell if he opened his eyes that were hidden beneath his dark hat the entire time. His ambling, completely out-of-tune guitar complimented his intimidating demeanor.
I wondered during the show: How has this guy maintained such mysterious privacy for over 60 album releases? Has he ever had any professional music training? What kinds of things would he talk about over a cup of coffee? My legs grew tired from standing through a 40-minute jam session, so I dragged my feet back through the double doors and stood on the sidewalk, completely disoriented.
Shocked as I was I still enjoyed having the opportunity of seeing the legendary outsider musician perform live. I’m definitely a fan of the experimental, which Jandek plays without the aid of fancy equipment and the schooled knowledge most musicians have. Along with many other skeptical first-time listeners, I have the rest of eternity to become fully immersed in the wonders of this artists work when one of those ‘I need to listen to absolute noise right now’ moods hits. After all, while he may not strike the appropriate chords (literally speaking) right off the bat, Jandek is truly a distinguished madly unconventional musician who deserves the respect and appreciation he receives.
Tags: art, Baltimore, experimental, jandek, Load of Fun, Music, outsider
Filed Under: Feature Sounds
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