I have been feeling pretty miserable the last few days. I have just pulled up the masters for a concert film I produced for the late Daniel Johnston in 2007/8. The reason the concert film happened was because a few months before I had seen Jeff Feuerzeig’s documentary ‘The Devil and Daniel Johnston’ on TV. I had heard of Daniel before (I think I heard David Bowie mention him in an interview) but I did not really know about him. The documentary uses a large archive of film, video and art material alongside his music to illustrate his life, and in particular his decline into severe mental illness. When I saw it I thought it was a good film, but it is incredibly miserable, particularly when looking at Daniel’s life as he was at the time it was shot around 2005. I decided I wanted to do something really positive showing that Daniel was still capable of great things, and I managed to work out some deals and go and film a concert that turned out to be one of his legendary performances.
At the time I was so motivated to get across Daniel’s art ahead of the illness. It struck me today that my wife, who is a incredible songwriter, was surrounded by people who were praising her for her music, and I was the one having to deal with the reality behind the scenes. I did still get to enjoy her ability, and I always tried to keep my appreciation of her music, but you also have that to deal with the downsides, and the neuroticism. I guess I did support my wife’s music and try and keep it separate from the illness (where it was not the subject of the music).
But I was just thinking how we used to talk about how it is almost like there are two kinds of schizophrenia sufferer. There are the ones that seem to not do very much, and there are those like my wife who have just masses of creativity. It must play a role somehow. It can not be coincidence. My wife has a friend she met in a hospital. Her father was a notable smart person. This girl was an incredible artist. We called her once for a video chat, and I looked over her shoulder and I said “have you painted Guernica on your apartment wall?” and she just nodded and said “yes”. It was like a full size replica. She also was able to perfectly replicate a very regional and slight accent from somewhere in the UK that she had visited.
I often think these things come out of a dedication to attention to detail and craft motivated by some kind of deep pain that probably correlates with the condition. But, I would like to share one of the performances Daniel Johnston did on that concert that night, the beautiful song “Go”. I think he did it the best he had ever done it that night, accompanied with an arrangement worked out by James Yorkstone and Adem Ilhan, who were brilliant and sensitive accompanist for Daniel in the first part of his set. It is such a beautiful song, written by a man that could see things that many would miss.
Please add other art to this thread if you can think of any. Let’s have a positive thread to celebrate the art of these incredibly observant and creative people.