| Sep ’06 |
| 19 |
| 12:00 am |
Tuesday Sept 19th 7PMFree
Arkansas author Danen Jobe will be reading from and signing copies of his new book, Niagra Blues: Slingerland. The short novel is a fictional history of legendary ?outsider? musician Jandek, imagining the performer as a young man in the Ozark Mountains developing his unique musical ideas against a backdrop of cultural change and family turmoil. It is published by Single Cell Press, and is projected to be the first in a series tracing an imagined life for the performer.
Not intended to be taken as the ?real? story of Jandek, this book offers a unique approach to the artist based principally on gleanings from his music, and the project has been written with the consent and cooperation of Corwood Industries, the sole publisher of Jandek?s catalog since 1978. It is also a story of the people who came from rural Arkansas and the folk and blues music that formed a soundtrack to their lives. Among the other characters represented in the book are legendary blues Founder Son House and the celebrated southern poet Frank Stanford.
National Book Award winner Ellen Gilchrist, who mentored Jobe at the acclaimed Writing Program at the University of Arkansas, calls Jobe ?the most curious and inventive student I ever had.? Jobe teaches English and Literature at the University of Arkansas, Fort Smith, and lives with his wife and two children in the country outside Fayetteville.
Jandek is a notoriously reclusive musician who has released forty-six albums between 1978 and 2006. Granting only one interview in 1985, the Houston-based performer has maintained an anonymous identity and did not perform live until October, 2004. He has previously been the subject of a documentary, Jandek On Corwood, released in 2003. The artist approved of that project as well, though he did not contribute directly to it.
Jobe?s reading is designed to coincide with Jandek?s appearance in Chicago on September 20th at the Empty Bottle, located at 1035 N Western Ave. Tickets to Jandek?s show are $15 and can be purchased at the Empty Bottle, or on the net at www.ticketweb.com. Jobe?s reading is free to the public.
