
I saw yet another tribute to Daniel Johnston and it’s my favorite yet because it’s a first hand account from someone who knew him- Everett True from The Guardian in the UK. This had me both laughing and crying.

I saw yet another tribute to Daniel Johnston and it’s my favorite yet because it’s a first hand account from someone who knew him- Everett True from The Guardian in the UK. This had me both laughing and crying.
Hans, did you see there are 3 separate articles there on Daniel? I just read all 3 of them. Heartrending. Mental illness is like being cursed.
I will have to do searches when I get home- I have read the article attached- the NY Times article and a couple others- I am sure there are a lot of them out there and more to come..
Here’s one I just happened on when at The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/09/daniel-johnston/597985/
thanks. that is a great one I hadn’t seen that one.
You’re welcome.
Hans just curious… How did Daniel react when Cobain wore his shirt to the awards show? I didn’t know if he ever said anything about it. That certainly seemed to help his popularity.
OK I do remember the reaction when Kurt died. You have to keep in mind he was even worse than we are as far as the music he followed- Even in the early 90’s he was was still listening to The Beatles and Queen. He didn’t pay much mind to current music. I talked to him a week after Cobain committed suicide and when I asked him about it his reply was. “Kurt Cobain? He was the guy who wore my t-shirt at the MTV awards show right?” It was the biggest music story of the decade- and Nirvana no doubt the biggest rock band- but it seemed to have little impact on him. For someone who grew up wanting to be ‘bigger than The Beatles”- the Cobain t-shirt MTV awards was the biggest break ever and I don’t think it meant much to him. Now if Paul, George or Ringo had worn the t-shirt……. I think he always looked at when MTV featured him in the mid 80’s on one of their shows- where they explored the Austin music scene–that he never could get over. He was always talking about that- having watched a lot of MTV in the 80’s- that impressed him. “I was on MTV”= I am famous.
Wow that is so interesting. Thanks for that. I couldn’t help but smile when I read what you wrote. Many of the things I read kept saying how big of a Beatles fan he was…I think how we are and know now that they were not exaggerating.
I can see that…MTV to our generation was the pinnacle more than radio.
Thanks Hans…besides this, of course, I hope you two are enjoying your vacation.
Dan was as big a Beatles fan as we are. He would get mad at me when I’d criticize for example some of Paul’s solo work. To Dan all four of them never did wrong.
We are enjoying the vacation but the worst part of it is tomorrow- getting up early and driving home all day- from Boston. Then Friday morning heading for Texas and Dan’s funeral.