WFMU, the greatest freeform radio station in the country (and therefore the greatest radio station) has dug deep into its archives and posted the entire legendary Daniel Johnston “1990” Radio Special that was the inspiration to The Devil and Daniel Johnston. You thought that Orson Welles’ “War Of The Worlds” broadcast was scary, um, hardly... Daniel’s broadcast is the real deal. Daniel proves once again that he is the master of all mediums - radio drama just another walk in the park to our dear cracked hero.
When this originally aired in 1990, I sat with my mouth agape for one full hour. Daniel interviews himself in multiple voices, performs elaborate comedy sketches playing all the characters (including the female characters), improvises songs, records a hit record, “Speeding Motorcycle” with Yo La Tengo over the telephone, and takes calls from the listening audience – see if you can recognize a certain someone uncovering Daniel’s theft of Bruce Springsteen’s “Cadillac Ranch.” When Daniel was through, I had the entire concept and structure for the movie. Sit back, settle in, and fasten your seatbelts...
Satan is real,
Jeff Feuerzeig
Director
The Devil and Daniel Johnston
Posted by Jeff Feuerzeig
Director The Devil and Daniel Johnston10:30 AM
April 19, 2006
Director Jeff Feuerzeig reviews the 12 BEST Daniel Johnston albums of all time for eMusic!
Asked by Michael Azerrad, author of the excellent Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground 1981-1991 and Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana to contribute an "eMusic Dozen," Feuerzeig happily obliged. The results are like having an older brother who works at a record store become your personal shopper for a day. Saw The Devil and Daniel Johnston and don’t know where to begin? No problem, Feuerzeig gently takes you by the hand and walks you through the incredible and beautiful labyrinth that is the Daniel Johnston music experience, somehow making it all make sense. This is the real soundtrack to The Devil and Daniel Johnston.
Posted by Jeff Feuerzeig
Director The Devil and Daniel Johnston10:30 AM
February 16, 2006
Portland and Daniel Johnston:
Last nights screening of The Devil and Daniel Johnston at the Portland Film Festival was completely SOLD OUT. It's a good thing they are having one more screening tonight - because I felt bad that many people were not able to get tickets and were turned away. Many Portlander’s were very much hip to the Daniel Johnston phenomenon but there were just as many people who had never heard of Daniel in the audience – which was really cool.
This was my first trip to the great city of Portland and it was a completely warm welcome. The film played beautifully and we had a very lively half hour Q&A about the film and all things Daniel Johnston. In the audience was journalist Jason Cohen, who's article many years previous titled The Devil and Daniel Johnston inspired the title of the film. What was funny to learn was that Jason did not remember writing that headline many years ago - so the credit should probably go to some editor at an Austin newspaper.
Two hi-lights of this trip were getting to meet a couple of my fave authors; The first was the great Richard Meltzer who’s anthology A Whore Just Like the Rest: The Music Writings of Richard Meltzer is a total gas as well as his book The Aesthetics of Rock, which Meltzer had the good taste of using Daniel Johnston’s art on the cover. Meltzer was certainly ahead of the curve in the Daniel Johnston art game. The second author was the amazing Shawn Levy, who wrote a book that I literally hand out as gifts, King of Comedy: The Life and Art of Jerry Lewis. Shawn Levy’s bio of Jerry Lewis boldly goes where no man has gone before and he lived to tell about it. Just amazing. I like to give it out as a companion piece to Nick Tosches’ masterpiece Dino and watch people spend an entire weekend at the beach but never get in the water. Levy’s book on Jerry is the finest Jerry Lewis book that’s ever been written and his Rat Pack Confidential is a truly fun and great read as well.
Keep punching Joe,
Jeff Feuerzeig
Director
The Devil and Daniel Johnston
Posted by Jeff Feuerzeig
Director The Devil and Daniel Johnston5:46 PM
January 30, 2006
Boxing and Daniel Johnston
A lot of people have asked what I’ve been working on lately and so I tell them I’m making a new film about boxer Chuck Wepner, “The Bayonne Bleeder,” which usually elicits a raised eyebrow. They don’t expect to hear that I have any knowledge or interest in boxing which surprises me. In fact the Devil and Daniel Johnston is pretty much filled with boxing themes as well as an actual boxing sequence where Daniel (in his art) steps into the ring with the Devil, in what he bills as “The Eternal Battle.”
One of the many things that attracted me to Daniel Johnston in the first place was his obsession with boxing. For a few years he only drew one character, Joe The Boxer (which symbolized Daniel) who was always in the ring fighting with another character “Vile Corrupt” (which symbolized the Devil). In Daniel’s mind “The Eternal Battle” is the fight of the century and much bigger than “The Rumble in The Jungle,” and like Don King, Daniel understands the entertainment value of a good title.
This really illustrates one of my favorite lines that Daniel’s father Bill Johnston told me while we were shooting the film in Waller, Texas; “that we are all just puppets in the theater of Daniel’s mind.” The “Theater of Daniel’s mind” really resonates to me because on that big silver screen inside his head, a place none of us can really see, a boxing match with the Devil raged on for years and Daniel was selling tickets to it as he laid it out in art and song – until he finally knocks out “Vile Corrupt” and goodness wins over evil. The battle truly was eternal as Daniel was literally fighting for his life.
Daniel of course takes this theme to the hilt with his ultimate boxing song, “Keep Punching Joe,” from his seminal “Hi. How Are You” album - which never fails to bring a smile to my face and makes me want to lace up the gloves and get in the ring myself. I still remember the first time I heard Daniel in the studio (in his mind) jamming with Johnny Dankworth and his Orchestra (on a 33 1/3 record) – singing this incredible Jazz song. It’s like hearing Jerry Lewis do his record act accept Daniel is not lip-syncing and his voice sounds like Billy Holiday. What a blast!
Here is one of my favorite sequences of pictures from the film, where Daniel is outside (wearing all white) in winter with his bright orange boxing gloves. A champion indeed...
Keep punching Joe!
Posted by Jeff Feuerzeig
Director The Devil and Daniel Johnston3:34 PM
January 12, 2006
Greetings devil worshippers
I have been getting reports from friends that they are starting to see the Movie Poster at theaters, and that they are digging it, which is cool.
The art for the poster is a piece of Daniel's that appeared in an excellent zine called Chemical Imbalance many years ago. Chemical Imbalance or "CI" as we used to call it, was put out by a great cat, talented writer and friend named Mike McGonigal who now publishes and edits a top shelf underground publication called Yeti . Anyway, I was always blown away by this particular piece of art from CI as it is the ultimate self-portrait of Daniel that truly shows his obsession with fame as well as his battle with the Devil. It is clear from the art that Daniel was interpreting the prescient lyrics of Phil Och’s song, “Chords Of Fame” as well as the Buck Owens song “Act Naturally.”
In fact , Daniel may have drawn this piece after recording his own version of “Chords Of Fame/Act Naturally” during his collaboration with Jad Fair for the total mind-blowing and mind-boggling album “It’s Spooky” . Daniel certainly has “Chords of Fame/Act Naturally” on the brain (as well as McDonald’s) during this period of time because he actually quotes the song while walking around NYC with Steve Shelley and Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth in a scene in the film.
Anyway, the poster was scanned from Chemical Imbalance, thus a “fucked up and photocopied” vibe to the thickness of the lines. But ironically, the original piece turned up recently at good buddy Pete Kember “Sonic Boom”’s pad in Rugby, England. It turns out that Mr. Kember was given the piece as a gift by Mike McGonigal and it has lived in that happy home ever since.
Of note – anyone that has been spinning the recent Daniel Johnston covers on his “Discovered Uncovered” CD should give a listen to Sonic Boom’s version of Daniel’s “True Love Will Find You In The End”. This is perhaps the definitive cover of any Daniel Johnston song and is featured in the film as well. Beauty is a rare thing, indeed.
“Act Naturally” Lyrics:
They’re gonna put me in the movies
They’re gonna make a big star out of me
I'll play the part but I won't need rehearsing
All I have to do is act naturally
Keep punching Joe!
Posted by Jeff Feuerzeig
Director The Devil and Daniel Johnston9:54 PM
January 12, 2006
Hi. Jeff Feuerzeig here, Director of The Devil and Daniel Johnston. I want to welcome everyone to The Devil and Daniel Johnston Blog. The new year is finally here and we are just around the corner from the release of the film at the end of March. Yip! Jump Hooray!!!
I would like to let everyone who reads this Blog know that we here at Team Devil are dedicated to answering your most burning, arcane, or trivial (the more trivial the better) questions about Daniel Johnston and primarily - the film that we come across in our travels around the globe. Our team of round-the-clock researchers (little moustached men in red devil outfits) are interfacing with the latest search engine technology to bring you the most up to date and accurate Daniel Johnston information available in the world.
Our main bloggers will be the producer of the film, Henry S. Rosenthal, otherwise known as “The Underground Robert Evans”, Jeff Tartakov, keeper of the flame, foremost Daniel Johnston authority in the world today and owner of Stress Communications http://members.aol.com/yipeye/, and myself.
L-R Director Jeff Feuerzeig, Producer Henry S. Rosenthal, and Daniel Johnston on location in Waller, Texas - 2003
Anyway – enjoy the site, enjoy the film, and Keep Punching Joe!
Posted by Jeff Feuerzeig
Director The Devil and Daniel Johnston5:51 PM
January 10, 2006
Kids Gearing Up For Film Release
I’m hearing from more and more young fans who are eagerly awaiting March 31.
Thank you Avery, Konrad, Desmo, Max and Eric!
Posted by Jeff Tartakov at 5:55 PM
December 1, 2005
Flanders Film Festival
It sounds like the screenings at the Flanders Film Festival were a big success. When Daniel toured Europe for the first time in November of 2000 two of the five shows were in Belgium and he’s had a good following there ever since. To coincide with this year’s film festival the wonderful Alice Day Gallery in Brussels organized an exhibition in Ghent where the festival took place. "Sidelines" was a group show featuring work by Patti Smith, Avi Mograbi, Daniel Johnston, Miranda July, Harrell Fletcher and Yuri Ono. Forty of Daniel’s drawings were kindly loaned by one of Europe’s top collectors and I’ve heard from several fans who raved about how beautifully the drawings were presented. I get the feeling Daniel’s drawing will not be considered a “sideline” activity for very much longer.
After one of the screenings a cover band that was apparently very popular with young teenagers but not very familiar with Daniel’s music was hired (by the festival?) to perform a set of his songs. Much to the confusion of some of Daniel’s fans the young audience acted as if the Beatles were onstage while they struggled through the material. Daniel would have loved it.
