the Devil and Daniel Johnston... and me

[Lord Zombiac]

I don't know whether to post this here under music or under flicks.
I just watched one documentary that has links to my own past, with another on cue.

The movie I just watched was "the Devil and Daniel Johnston" and the movie in cue is "Hated: GG allin and the murder junkies."

The GG Allin thing is pretty obvious-- Lisa Suckdog got her fame from him, and I got mine from her.

The Daniel Johnston thing would not be quite as obvious unless you were part of the Austin Underground Music scene in the mid and late eighties.
Both Daniel and I arrived in Austin in 1985. Both us us were quirky, mentally ill, home tape freaks who gave our stuff away on the streets.

Daniel sold most of his music through the iconic Austin record store "Sound Exchange," as did I.

We both had a connection with the Butthole Surfers too. Daniel used to hang out with Gibby Haynes, and one of my biggest fans was King Coffee's boyfriend Craig Stewart, who also ran the record label they were out on.

I saw Daniel Johnston at the Varsity Theater opening up for the Texas Instruments. I also saw him at various poetry readings at Paperbacks Plus, better known as Voltaire's Basement.

That was where I also met "the God of Hell Fire," Arthur Brown.
We had a lot of the same supporters, Daniel and I.

Ken Lieck and Jeff Tartakov are long time listeners who reviewed us and supported us.

the degree to which Sound exchange promoted our music can not be overstressed. They put his mural up at Sound Exchange, and one of the employees wrote a glowing review of my music in the 1987 Christmas edition of the Austin Chronicle.

What really floored me was the DNL's article was not part of any regular music review column!

It was, in fact, part of a list of "Best Christmas Presents for 1987."
Austin Chronicle 1987: "Coz pillages the right sources, mostly early Bowie and Syd Barrett. He may lack in skill, but he has a wonderfully strange mind. A mind that comes up with songs like Are you gonna be my bride or are you just gonna be the other end of my orgasm? and We're gonna ruin about ten different people can't be all bad. Classic weirdness. A younger Roky?" (D.N.L.)

The connection I have with Daniel Johnston is pretty evident to most veterans of the Austin music scene too. Here's a review of one of my "Girl Robots" albums from 2000, that was a pretty obvious tip:
Austin Chronicle 2000: "Ever since savant toy pianist Danny Johnston left Austin for serener pastures, squeezing purity out of Austin music is like getting butter from a duck. Fortunately, we still have Coz the Shroom.

A lot of that footage really takes me back.

One of the people interviewed was my drummer Mike "Thor" Harris.
Ken Lieck I am particularly fond of too. The three of us (Ken, Daniel, and myself) all contributed to a cassette compilation called Coalescence. Ken actually had two contributions, one with his band "Buster and the Crabbes" and one where he recorded, satirically, as "Not Daniel Johnston."

"Buster and the Crabbes" was the first band I ever saw in Austin. Ken had bright orange hair and Terry Lord played drums.

Also from the film is a little footage from Woodshock 1985.

Woodshock was an outdoor punk rock festival that ran for a few years. I attended the 1985 show.

I think there are two reasons why Daniel Johnston had more success than I did, although we were doing the same thing and running neck and neck against each other back in the early days.

Daniel had confidence and social skills. I was awkward and shy. He went to all the right parties and met all the right people. I lurked in the background and came off as an arrogant prick because I never talked with anybody... in reality, I was just too intimidated by all these brilliant people I met to engage them in conversation.

The other reason is that Daniel was trying to be accessible. He wanted to be the Beatles. I wanted to be Johnny Rotten. My goal was to shock, alienate, and confuse.

Daniel wanted to be loved. And he was.

[sgt.null]

thank you for the bio.

i will be seeing Danile in Houston come january.

[Lord Zombiac]

I'd love to be there.
Without Daniel Johnston I would have been alone.

[sgt.null]

not sure if we will get to meet him or not (thinking it unlikely) but i have a poem that i wrote for hi. julie will try to present it to him...

[Lord Zombiac]

I wrote him a physical letter. Here's the text:
Dear Daniel,
I’m writing this, in hopes that you know who I am and remember me.
When I first arrived in Austin in 1985, I walked around on Guadelupe passing out my home made cassettes and selling them at sound exchange.
Sound familiar?
People used to tell me, “Hey there’s this guy who’s just like you, Daniel Johnston.”
I saw you opening for the Texas Instruments at the Varsity theater. I’m pretty sure I also remember you from a poetry reading at Paperbacks plus on LaVaca.
I bought “Hi, How Are You?” and played it non stop, flattered that anyone could compare me to you. I loaned a friend your tape and never saw it again.
I was an unemployed 18 year old kid in 1985 with no money to start my career.
I recorded on those Certron tapes, like you did. I rigged about $10 worth of radio shack parts into my own overdubbing system.
My cassette made the “Best Christmas Presents for 1987” list, where I was compared to David Bowie, Syd Barrett, and Roky Erickson.
Whereas you wanted to be the Beatles, I wanted to be Johnny Rotten.
We appeared on a compilation together, “Coalescence.”
We have the Butthole Surfers in common too.
I never met any of those guys, but King Coffee’s boyfriend Craig used to collect my music and considers himself a fan.
See I never went to parties or hung out with anyone.
So I never met you.
I used to walk by McDonalds and peek in to see if you were there. Sure enough, I saw you.
I wish we had spoken. I wish I had gotten to know you.
I was 18 then, but I am now 43, and looking back on my past.
I have known so many wonderful people in Austin, but I never knew you.
Now I kind of regret that.
You were an inspiration to me. I could not have accomplished so much without knowing you were there too.

If you would kindly reply to this, I just want to know... did you know my music?