The Exploitation of the Ghost of Daniel Johnston

Saturday night, I found myself in Omaha, Nebraska to see Daniel Johnston. Yes, that Daniel Johnston. The show was at Saddle Creek's venue, Slowdown, within their hipster complex of shops and entertainment arenas near downtown Omaha.After a couple of forgettable openers, Johnston came out to play a few tunes on guitar. The sound almost didn't cooperate, but he eventually began playing. His voice was hoarse and the guitar playing was awful, but the songs were true. A session player joined Mr. Johnston on stage to accompany him on several older tunes.

Johnston took a break before returning with a full band to flesh out his bedroom, tape-recorded journal entries. He struggled to holler his once-personal songs as the band almost rocked like one of those Vegas reviews. This is when surrealism set in.

I began to think back to the documentary about Johnston's exploits that I had seen two years ago at True/False. The Devil and Daniel Johnston told the story of how Johnston craved fame and attention as he created deeply personal art in the form of songs, film, and drawings. All this occurred before, during, and after Johnston's many manic episodes.

One of the most important themes of the film, and Johnston's life was the idea of exploitation. Amidst mental breakdowns and hospital stays, Johnston's music was exploited to sell records (or in this case, cassette tapes) and concert tickets. Anyone from his manager to pseudo-girlfriends used this man's highly-inventive songs for their own gain.

Later, the same would occur with Daniel Johnston's bizarre drawings. He was hailed in the New York Times as the next big thing in "outsider art". His Crayola drawings of eyeballs and superheroes were fetching four and five figures apiece primarily because the man was looked at as a sort of idiot savant.

The film that depicts this artist's life even stinks of exploitation. Somehow the filmmakers were able to piece a narrative from Johnston's own home movies into a story of his lifelong mistreatment. The filmmakers used this story to further their own careers despite their original intent of exposing the world to true genius.

Even Johnston has exploited his own mental illness for his own fame. He found his way onto MTV in order to tell the viewing audience that he had written his album in the midst of a mental breakdown. His heartbreak and mental struggles have turned out to be his most profitable skills.

This brought me back to last night's performance. The show was highly orchestrated to include Johnston's most beloved songs with a Vegas-like showmanship never seen in the underground from which he rose. It was uncomfortable to watch kids gyrate to "Grievances", kids who weren't born by the time he first entered a mental hospital or dropped acid. They probably have no idea what a cassette tape is.

I wanted to know who orchestrated this tour. Who was exploiting Daniel Johnston now? Then I realized it was me.

Well, it wasn't just me, but I was one of many. The caricature or ghost of what was once Daniel Johnston was in Omaha to provide a place for hipsters to be seen. He provided a quirky artist for all of us to claim as our own. He is the topic of this blog post. Now we've all exploited this mess of a man.
The show was memorable but strange. Memorable in that who knows how many more times anyone will be able to see Daniel Johnston live? He is a living legend, the Bob Dylan of the indie world.

The show was strange in its practice and celebration of the exploitation of what Daniel Johnston is and was. Skinny kids who don't know what the man has been through or aging hipsters hanging on to their glory days both clang to something not even the performer was in touch with anymore. Daniel Johnston was a ghost of himself, grayed and misshapen.

Much like his fading voice, Daniel Johnston was a unique piece of American musical lore. The sad part is that he faded, broken and hoarse.