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‘All Day’: Daniel Johnston sings with the Butthole Surfers, 1987
03.03.2017
09:53 am
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A Texas Trip, the wonderful 1987 compilation produced and recorded by the Butthole Surfers, was the first release on the group’s Latino Buggerveil Records. Like the label’s second release, Double Live, it’s highly recommended if you can find an affordable copy, and just like the title says, it is a trip: a psychedelic audio tour of the Surfers’ Bloodrock-damaged Southern milieu.

There was Steve Fitch, later immortalized on My Album By Me By Steve Fitch, singing “In The Neighborhood” in his impossibly deep voice. (All I know about Steve Fitch, I learned from the handwritten liner notes to A Texas Trip: he was born in the same town where surgeons operated on President Reagan’s butt, and 30 years ago, he could be reached at Kobe Steakhouse in Nashville, Tennessee: (615) 327-9083, now the restaurant’s fax line.) One of the two songs submitted by the terrifying Dallas punk outfit Stick Men With Ray Guns was the definitive version of “Kill the Innocent,” and the Surfers themselves contributed “Flame Grape,” later to become “Jimi.”

Daniel Johnston gave Latino Buggerveil “Don’t Play Cards with Satan” and “Grievances,” and the troubled singer-songwriter joined the Buttholes on the disorienting, nine-minute drone and percussion jam that closed side one, “All Day.” Again, the liner notes don’t exactly, ah…

THE BAND WAS PLAYING a SONG, THE SINGER WAS HAD BEEN SINGING AWHILE THEN DANIEL WALKED IN THE ROOM AND STarted singing THEN THEY BOth STARTED SINGING Together and all the otheR THINGS ©1987 SECOND HARVEST

Several years later, during the brief, post-Nevermind craze for quality, Buttholes guitarist Paul Leary produced Johnston’s major-label debut (and major-label swan song), Fun.

Listen to “All Day” after the jump, plus Gibby Haynes’ interview with Daniel Johnston. Acid comes up…

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Posted by Oliver Hall
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03.03.2017
09:53 am
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‘The Incantations of Daniel Johnston’: From McDonald’s to MTV to mental institutions
08.01.2016
10:20 am
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West Virginia writer Scott McClanahan (Crapalachia, Hill William) and Spanish illustrator Ricardo Cavolo (Tarot del Fuego) recently collaborated on a graphic novel about the singular singer and songwriter Daniel Johnston. The book is called The Incantations of Daniel Johnston and is available from Amazon and Two Dollar Radio.

Born in 1961, Johnston has been musically active since the late 1970s despite suffering from severe schizophrenia. His first two albums, recorded while was a student at Kent State University, were called Songs of Pain and More Songs of Pain. In 1990 he released an album called 1990 (recorded in 1988, of course) on Kramer’s Shimmy-Disc label.

In 1988, Daniel Johnston had a mental breakdown during a gig at Pier Platters, an independent record store in Hoboken, New Jersey. For two weeks Johnston was unaccounted for until his arrest at the Statue of Liberty after drawing hundreds of Christian fish on the stairs. An acknowledged hero of “outsider art,” Johnston’s music was famously championed by Kurt Cobain, who loved wearing his “Hi How Are You?” space alien T-shirt; a 2004 Gammon Records release called The Late Great Daniel Johnston: Discovered Covered featured covers of Johnston’s songs by renowned artists such as Tom Waits, Beck, TV on the Radio, Death Cab for Cutie, Mercury Rev and The Flaming Lips.
 
Keep reading after the jump…

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Posted by Martin Schneider
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08.01.2016
10:20 am
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Wish Daniel Johnston a happy birthday (you, yes, you)
01.20.2011
10:06 pm
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And in other birthday news, singer-songwriter Daniel Johnston is turning 50-years-old on January 22nd and if you want to wish him a happy birthday, there is a call in number where you can do just that.

If you dial (936) 463-4688 you will hear a message from Daniel and afterwards you can record your birthday greeting. Callers are asked to “tell a story, sing Daniel a song, cover one of his songs, or anything else that lets Daniel, and his fans, know how much he means to you and to the world of music. Throw on a party hat if you got one, and leave any message you want. Any length you want. Anything goes.”

Many of the messages will air on a special edition of his new podcast, Daniel Johnston Radio on January 22nd at 8pm CT. The live birthday show will also include Daniel’s music, stories and special musical guests.

Below, the trailer from Jeff Feuerzeig’s brilliant documentary, The Devil and Daniel Johnston.
 

Posted by Richard Metzger
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01.20.2011
10:06 pm
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The Daniel Johnston iPhone App
09.29.2009
01:05 am
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The Texas singer and songwriter Daniel Johnston has always poured at least as much of his wild energy into his artwork ?

Posted by Richard Metzger
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09.29.2009
01:05 am
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