I found out today I missed revered reclusive curio Jandek at his low-key Trinity College gig during the week. For those who don't know good ol' Janky, he's released 50 odd albums since 1978, has one phone interview to his name and played his first gig after remaining annonymous for 22 years in 2004, unnanounced.
He drew such attention for his mysterious persona (nobody knew who he was, lived etc) there was a documentary released about him, Jandek on Corwood (2003) which tried to track the outsider down.
Anyway he's ditched all that silliness in the last few years and is touring the world now. Which is a pity, i reckon Jandek could have had his own list of facts, ala the Chuck Norris thing which grew tired very quickly last year.
example - Jandek can touch mc Hammer. Jandek ordered a big mac in burger king, and got one etc etc .see, it works. Like the opening lines on his website bio ( http://tisue.net/jandek/) - Everybody knows one thing about Jandek: nobody knows anything about Jandek. Great tagline.
Janky's music is...hmmm... 'difficult' to say the least. Is he any good or famous just for his anonymity? I'm still trying to figure that out.
According to said website ''Some find it offputting or unlistenable at first, but to open ears it reveals great depth, breadth, intelligence, feeling, and rewards for the listener''. I've trawled through a lot of this guys tunes waiting for that reward. Thats half the fun. Judge for yourself -
Here he is at his unnanounced 2004 show in Glasgow where he outed himself for the first time. Jank it up to 11.