“The Devil And Daniel Johnnston”, Jeff Feuerzeig’s fascinating documentary film of singer/songwriter/artist Daniel Johnston, sees wide release this week. I saw this film in February as part of the PIFF (Portland International Film Festival) and am excited to now experience it again at my local arthouse cinema with a more mainstream audience. Mr. Feurzeig deftly presents the battle twixt Daniel and his devils, but also peels back some more layers to present the ripple effect Daniel’s life has had on those around him. For example, Daniel’s staunch Christian family frowned upon his artist lifestyle early on but in the end must take their son back in and commodotize the very art they rejected. The tale of Daniel’s manager Jeff Tartakov is equally gripping — here’s a guy who poured his heart and soul into his client only to be fired by Daniel and later demonized by the family. There is no black and white to these tales, only painful truth.

Here are three of my favorite Daniel Johnston tunes. One of them is a longtime favorite, one came about as result of seeing the movie, and the other I just discovered last week.

Daniel Johnston - The Startling Facts (from “Artistic Vice”)
Daniel Johnston - Casper The Friendly Ghost (from “Yip/Jump Music”)
Daniel Johnston - Death (live) (from “Why Me?”)

I had a brush with Daniel Johnston here in Portland in 2002, but it was literally no more than that - a brush. I was headed into the KPSU studios, he had just finished an interview there and was heading out. “Woah,” I remember saying. “Was that Daniel Johnston?” Dunno what ever became of that interview, but there is a great interview there on KPSU’s site with Jeff Feuerzeig that was recorded last month. He was in town for the PIFF and did a Q&A after the showing that I attended. I’m not sure what the etiquette is for linking to KPSU content, so I’ll mirror the interview here and hope to hear from them if they’d rather I link to their mp3:

KPSU interview with Jeff Feuerzeig, Feb 2006

And finally, here’s a lengthy article about all things Daniel Dale Johnston that originally appeared in the New York Times last month. It mentions his inclusion in the Whitney Bienniel, and features some good anecdotes about Dan’s recent dealings with journalists.

UPDATE 3/27: Huge in-depth piece on Daniel came out today at Pitchfork. Mentions the New York Times article alot — enough to be a sequel to it. I heartily recommend it.

And geez, if you’ve made it this far, you probably want to see the trailer for “The Devil & Daniel Johnston.”

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