MUSIC

Fitzgerald's presents Daniel Johnston. With Grandfather Child, Waldo & the Naturals, Tax The Wolf, Mikey & the Drags, Wicked Poseur. Lunaface presents Daniel Johnston: Special screening of The Devil and Daniel Johnston before the show upstairs.

Daniel Johnston has been classified as an outsider musician. His songs are typically painfully direct, and often display a disturbing blend of childlike naïvete with darker, "spooky" themes. Johnston's singing voice is rather high-pitched, and his performances often seem faltering or uncertain; one critic writes that Johnston's recordings range from "spotty to brilliant". He also draws and paints; he is a cult comic book artist and his illustrations have been featured with most of his albums.

Daniel Johnston has spent the last 20 or so years exposing his heartrending tales of unrequited love, cosmic mishaps, and existential torment to an ever-growing international cult audience. Initiates, including a healthy number of discerning musicians and critics, have hailed him as an American original in the style of bluesman Robert Johnson and country legend Hank Williams.

A number of artists -- among them the Dead Milkmen, Yo La Tengo, the Velvet Underground's songs. And he as collaborated with the likes of Jad Fair (a founding member of Half Japanese, who've also done Daniel's songs), the Butthole Surfers, Bongwater/Shimmydisc guru Kramer, and members of Sonic Youth. Daniel gained his widest public exposure to date when, at the 1992 MTV Music Awards, Nirvana leader Kurt Cobain (who constantly touted Daniel in interviews) wore a Johnston T-shirt.

Surprisingly, the bulk of his considerable acclaim snowballed from a series of homemade, lo-fi cassettes which Daniel started recording and handing out to fans and friends alike in the early 80s. Eventually, the independent label Homestead re-issued some of these tapes on CD, and Johnston recorded a few new albums in almost-proper studios.