Talk:Jandek

Sound Quality

For those familiar with his collection and with some audio engineering knowledge, would you say the albums are professionally recorded and/or mixed and/or mastered? I ask because most home pressings done by non-professionals tend to have a number of noticeable discrepancies between volume control and whatnot. 98.221.141.21 (talk) 23:28, 14 September 2012 (UTC)

His albums sound like they’re recorded in a studio and always seemed consistently mastered as they were packaged, but this is is just my opinion. In order for this info to be in the article, it must be sourced and cited. Morganfitzp (talk) 10:29, 14 August 2018 (UTC)

Discography writing style

While extremely complete and informative, even including album art in most cases the writing style of most of the album articles is in need of serious revision. It is written in an extremely informal non encyclopedic tone, including tons of POV, and other things including words written entirely in caps for added emphasis, etc... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.200.104.60 (talk) 01:44, 14 May 2008 (UTC)

Availability

How was the public first made aware of Jandek back in 1978 if his records were only available through an obscure record label? How did the ball get rolling? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.149.203.252 (talk) 07:15, 22 October 2007 (UTC)

• You'd be best refered to the "Jandek On Corwood" documentary or Seth Tisue's webpage but the short version is that it took a long time! There was a mere trickle of occasional reviews in smaller, non-mainstream publications, he sent copies to college radio stations and other magazines and, in the early days, he is known to have sent boxes of albums to people who had contacted him, asking that they be given away to anyone the recipient thought may be interested. Ac@osr 11:30, 22 October 2007 (UTC)
  • Thank you for the response. Do you (or anyone else) think a sentence explaining this may be pertinent to the article?24.149.203.252 07:33, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

Jandek Photo

Why was the Jandek photo removed? Please restore it.

• For some unfatomable reason, album covers are not considered "fair use" for artist articles. The nature of how he has chosen to operate means that there are no other public domain photos available. Ac@osr 11:30, 22 October 2007 (UTC)
  • Thanks again for the response. Is there a page explaining why the powers-that-be made this decision? 24.149.203.252 —Preceding comment was added at 07:35, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

Collective

Your picture isn't showing up. -- Zoe

---

These Jandek album pages linked from here seem to be taken word for word from http://tisue.net/jandek/discog.html#0770 Has permission been given to add to wikipedia? quercus robur 00:22 17 May 2003 (UTC)

Vicki mentioned this to the author, and he replied on her talk page (it's right at the top at present): "Authors have been contacted, and have agreed." For what it's worth, I exchanged a couple of emails with the guy who wrote these articles, and I believe it's all legit, but we could always email the bloke whose webpage that is and get him to put it in writing so we can copy his permission here. --Camembert (who ordered a pile of Jandek albums the other day)

Let me know what they are like- I was reading an article in a book recently which wasn't sure if Jandek was trully 'outsider music' or just a mentally unstable socail misfit who was being humoured and exploited for 'freak show' value, the article made the same case about the relationship between Frank Zappa and Wildman Fischer- I can't remember what the book was called, but it had Crass in it as well, and The Raincoats... quercus robur 10:11 17 May 2003 (UTC)

The book you're thinking of is "Unknown Legends of Rock & Roll" by Richie Unterberger, who has also written liner notes for the Holy Modal Rounders, among others. (From a newbie who still doesn't know how to format his comments).

Real name?

I have heard it is Sterling R. Smith, is this true?--130.65.240.14 06:40, 11 December 2005 (UTC)

The first ever review of a Jandek album, for Ready For The House in Op magazine, identifies him as Sterling Smith. (See Seth Tisue's site for a copy of that review) So unless theres' evidence to the contrary, I'd say that Sterling R. Smith is about right. -- Cjmarsicano 06:43, 11 December 2005 (UTC)

Corwood defunct? and Texas Monthly link

Why is Corwood's page in the defunct record label category? they just put out two new CDs this month. and the webarchive link to the interview is broken. 70.229.8.215 22:18, 24 February 2006 (UTC)

That link to the TM article is iffy. I just removed the defunct record label category from the Corwood article. Thanks for bringing it up Cjmarsicano 05:41, 25 February 2006 (UTC)

Kurt Cobain

Minor point, but was Cobain really a fan? We all know his infamous quote on J-man, but I've never heard anything about him liking the music. He probably didn't mean himself when he called Jandek-fans 'pretentious', right? --Leo44 (talk) 23:33, 1 March 2006 (UTC)

The world may never know. Chris Berry 23:47, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

That space in the article needs references.24.155.222.226 19:09, 26 April 2007 (UTC)

I went ahead and removed Cobain. The well known quote indicates nothing about whether he liked Jandek's music.--SethTisue 19:36, 26 April 2007 (UTC)

MySpace?

Is this[1] real, or a fan MySpace?--Fallout boy 23:08, 16 May 2006 (UTC)

I really doubt that's for real.--Cúchullain ^t/c 01:20, 17 May 2006 (UTC)

Loren Mazzacane Connors

Hi Jandek people - I'm trying to redo out the Connors page (it was mostly cut-and-paste from his website), and one of the things it says (and which I've currently left in the article) is that Jandek and Connors have collaborated. Can anyone confirm or deny? Cheers, Sam Clark 17:19, 27 August 2006 (UTC)

Yes, they've played live together three times. --SethTisue 02:35, 30 August 2006 (UTC)

Origins of name

From the "Music" section: "Jandek's first album, Ready for the House, though obviously a solo work, was originally credited to a band called the Units. As explained in an interview in the first issue of Spin, Smith was forced to change the name by an identically named Californian group already in possession of a copyright. All reissues of this first album and all subsequent Corwood releases have been credited to "Jandek" (a name combining the month of January and the surname Decker)." There needs to be a citation about that, as I don't believe anyone knows where the name Jandek came from as of yet. Chris Berry 23:49, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

The name Jandek does come from a combination of the month January and the surname Decker (or Dekker). Jandek says so himself during the interview with Spin. See the documentary "Jandek on Corwood" for a reference. If you select the audio extras on the DVD of the documentary you can hear the interview in its entirety and Jandek clearly states how he came up with the name. - MW 13:04, 13 February 2007

Concerts

Just a thought, but I think we've reached the end of any usefulness to listing jandek's concerts. It's pretty obvious he is going to continue performing publicly, so what's the point in listing every event? If he'd only performed 10 times such concerts would be noteworthy, but going beyond 30 (as we're about to do) seems absurd. Can't we just say that since October 2004, Jandek has begun to perform publicly? Pinkville 23:55, 16 April 2007 (UTC)

Good point. We don't need to list them any more, unless individual concerts were in some way important.--Cúchullain ^t/c 00:04, 17 April 2007 (UTC)

I kind of agree but each performance so far has consisted of previously unheard material and has been performed with different collaborators (I think only his Glasgow and Portland groups have been reconvened). However, as it seems that all of these shows are going to be released on CD and/or DVD, the information can and doubtless will be posted on the album articles, rather than taking up space here. Ac@osr 11:43, 17 April 2007 (UTC)

A year later, I'm thinking a separate, more organized article might be a better idea. I still think it's valid as he has assembled a different band and played a totally different set at every gig (one correspondent of Corwood Industries has been told that a single song has been repeated) so it can't be compared to the normal touring activites of a normal band/artist. I'll pause for now for comments but I'd be looking at doing this in a month or so if my feelings haven't changed. Ac@osr (talk) 17:22, 13 April 2008 (UTC)

It’s the Wikipedia play-by-play phenomenon: When something unusual happens that’s worthy of great anticipation from fans, editors will add in meticulous details that look laborious in hindsight. Condensing this section by saying when Jandek began playing live, where shows generally happened and who was backing him musically during various time periods would be enough and could be condensed to about four paragraphs. Morganfitzp (talk) 10:35, 14 August 2018 (UTC)

National Press

I was just reading through this article and I saw a mention that a certain magazine was the first to give Jandek national press. This is untrue, however, as Wire magazine has been reviewing his albums for as long as the publication has been in existence - far before anybody knew the man's name. 149.159.24.28 01:04, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

• I don't think The Wire existed when Op published their first Jandek review...Ac@osr 11:30, 22 October 2007 (UTC)

Dr Demento

Should the article mention that Dr Demento has played selections from Jandek in his "Vault of Horror" segments?207.251.230.53 (talk) 23:02, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

no —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.125.110.223 (talk) 18:37, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

Famous fanbase

What is the source for this sentence:

Some of Jandek's allure stems from his small but devoted fan base that includes Sonic Youth, Bill Callahan, Mike Watt, John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats, Low, Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie, Matt Cameron of Pearl Jam, Bright Eyes and K Records founder Calvin Johnson.

Is it from one of the references already given? Sonic Youth, Bright Eyes and The Mountain Goats can be deduced from the fact that they have covered Jandek on record (as have Jeff Tweedy and Okkervil River) but what about the rest? Lfh (talk) 16:08, 28 November 2008 (UTC)

• Calvin Johnson appears in the "Jandek On Corwood" film. Ac@osr (talk) 22:12, 28 November 2008 (UTC)

OK, thanks. We should try and reference each of them. It's an interesting list but these things tend to get out of control unless they're referenced. Lfh (talk) 12:53, 29 November 2008 (UTC)

Birth Date?

What is the source of Sterling Smith's birth date?

64.242.9.98 (talk) 15:11, 24 February 2009 (UTC)

An excellent question, especially given that someone changed it from 1945 to 1944 fairly recently.... Ac@osr (talk) 12:15, 10 February 2014 (UTC)

Becoming less elusive

Jandek is becoming more approachable these days, giving informal "interviews" and apparently introducing himself by his real name. The gist of this article was written back when he was more reclusive, and some of it no longer rings true. I'm thinking of sentences like:

"Only a handful of people claim to have successfully contacted Jandek." (he regularly plays with local musicians now)
"Corwood never uses the name [Sterling Smith] in connection with Jandek" (it is said that he now does)
"Aside from that anecdote, nothing is known about his life." (little, but probably not nothing)

I plan to edit these if nobody objects and I can find good references. Lfh (talk) 10:26, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

• Well, the first of these is almost certainly out of date but the others, I think, remain fair. You would need to find evidence of official Corwood correspondence signed "Sterling Smith" rather than his usual "Corwood" - members of the mailing list run from Seth Tisue's site regularly scan notes they have received and if they are signed at all, it is with "Corwood". Certainly, the name "Sterling Smith" has still to appear on any Corwood Industries release or any formal communication (which, even now, still amounts to a typewritten catalogue). I'm quite sure all his contracts with venues, promoters, pressing plants etc are signed with his given name but you'd have to find one. If you wanted to expand on his early pre-Corwood years, you would to provide citations and anything anecdotal, such as blog entires from musicians he has played with, would be dubious under Wikipedia standards. For an artist who has truly left his basement in the last 5 years, he remains elusive and very difficult to Wiki - in particular, he has still to undertake a formal interview, the best information source there is for 99.999% of musicians. Despite an increasingly heavy live schedule and the myriad accounts from the musicians who have participated, there is still little we know for sure. Ac@osr (talk) 17:04, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

The bit about "a handful of people" doesn't need to be removed entirely - rather I would add that it was true before he embarked on a regular playing schedule. Does that sound right?

As for using his own name, I retract that, because his use of "Sterling" only appears in blogs quoting him in informal speech, and you are right that we shouldn't rely on that. Should those blogs be discussed in periodicals, that might change things, but I realise WP is not a crystal ball.

Hmm. I guess I was too hasty on the third point as well (I certainly don't know anything the whole mailing list doesn't know) - but the one thing I would add is that if he claimed to have been a machinist, then it's not strictly true that we know "nothing" besides the novels anecdote. That sounds sort of pedantic, but "nothing" is an absolute.

By the way, as someone involved with this page, do you think the "Original research" tag is still warranted? Is there anything that you think needs sourcing or removing? Lfh (talk) 17:44, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

A page about Jandek will inevitably receive that tag - what "official" information there is would be confined to a discography and a gig-list. It's not worth worrying about as such...all the evidence as to his identity is circumstantial, however well it adds up, and that's not a Wikipedia-friendly situation (check out The Residents for a discussion of a similar situation). I think "virtually nothing" would do in the section you mention - the Trubee interview added a few details as to how he was opererating at the time as well as the "machinist" detail. However, that interview is 25 years old. Jandek is a difficult subject to write about, by its very nature. And I can't see Corwood's sole representative making life easier any time soon! Ac@osr (talk) 22:10, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

OK. I'll make a few changes, consistent with what we've said. And I'll keep my eye out for any good sources that could be added here.

One other thing - what do you know about this? "For its part, Corwood has stated many times that the listener's impression of Jandek's music is far more important and interesting to the principal performer than his original intent for it." (Not doubting it, I'd just be interested to know!) Lfh (talk) 10:27, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

Apologies if this is not the correct way to post here, but my professor is actually doing a documentary on Jandek which I believe is supposed to come out at Sundance this year. Please let me know if further information would be of interest to anyone. DiagonalDog (talk) 6:19, 27 August 2013 (UTC)

Moscow June 2010 performance

Does anybody know anything about Jandek live performance in Moscow at The Sound & The Fury (Shum i Yarost) fest in June 2010? It isn't mentioned in "Live performances" section, but there are several reports about it in media (mostly in Russian, examples here and here), an announcement was posted on Last.fm in "Evemts" section, there also are some videos on YouTube. Nimbie95 (talk) 18:41, 21 February 2012 (UTC)

See comments on this talk page under “concerts.” You’re welcome to add to the section and support it with these sources. You’re also welcome to take a crack at condensing that section. Morganfitzp (talk) 10:38, 14 August 2018 (UTC)

AFD you may wish to know about

See Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Corwood Industries. RadioKAOS  – Talk to me, Billy 22:02, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

Interview in The Wire

So, he finally did a full face-to-face interview and it clarifies quite a few things and obscures one or two others. I'm proposing not to do an update right now - unfair not to give the Wire their chance to properly sell their exclusive (which they are doing over two editions) but it's probably time for a full overhaul, as we now have some detail made clear in the man's own words and it's also time to take the live shows out and into a separate article, I feel; he plays all the time now although the fact that it is always a different set and almost always with different musicians would justify an article, I think. Ac@osr (talk) 12:10, 10 February 2014 (UTC)

Now that enough time has passed, I think it's fair game to start incorporating things from that fine two-part article into his own article. I'm going to do a couple of things right now along those lines, and anyone (you included, obviously) that wants to go for it can do so. CJ Marsicano (talk) 04:47, 22 June 2014 (UTC)

Just wanted to thank editors for the waiting period between The Wire's publication and WP adding the information. I think this is the first time I've encountered editors showing this particular form of respect toward a publication and its exclusive story. ---Sluzzelin talk 09:46, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

FWIW Jandek has an entire chapter devoted to him in Irwin Chusid's book "Songs in the Key of Z", available here:

http://www.amazon.com/Songs-Key-Curious-Universe-Outsider/dp/1556523726/

Considering that this book has been available for 15 years, I'm a little surprised that it's not cited for any of the information in the article.

And BTW, Jandek's birth name is not "The Representative from Corwood." :)

74.95.43.249 (talk) 01:27, 8 January 2016 (UTC)

there is a paragraph repeated in the intro section

the paragraph appear twice

This article is beyond saving

This article is a feature-length novel of unsourced claims and needs to be blown up. I would do it myself but I don't want to bother with the inevitable edit wars. People close to the subject seem to be carefully watching this page like a hawk. ili (talk) 06:16, 1 December 2021 (UTC)

Looking back at the 15 years I've been here, the project's biggest failure is abandoning any sort of real-world sense of what "the sum of all human knowledge" entails in favor of mindlessly repeating cherry-picked sources and attempting to use the mere presence or absence of such to define the knowledge base. This goes far in explaining why "the sum of all human knowledge" has been quantified as containing 100-million-plus articles, while the project has only accomplished slightly more than five percent of that goal in 20+ years. Looking at this through real-world eyes and existing sources, the utter mystery surrounding Jandek and these recordings constitutes a large part of why people would even care about this topic. I'm not sure that turning this into yet another mindless exercise of statement-citation-statement-citation-statement-citation while failing to shine any light on the topic would do it justice. I think the real problem is the intricate detail about live performances and other details of recent years. RadioKAOS / Talk to me, Billy / Transmissions 09:17, 1 December 2021 (UTC)

I'll have to respectfully disagree with your pov. I enjoy using Wikipedia for the purposes that it was designed for, which is to gather a quick summary of what news media, books, and articles have published about a given subject. Just the facts, please. Geeky trivia, hearsay, rumors, and crowdsourced press releases is the domain of YouTube video essays, blogs, and "fandom" Wikis. Everything has its time and place. ili (talk) 21:07, 1 December 2021 (UTC)

I just fixed it all up. RF23 (talk) 06:33, 8 May 2022 (UTC)