Every Saturday, we’ll be posting a new illustration by David Lester. The Mecca Normal guitarist is visually documenting people, places and events from his band’s 34-year run, with text by vocalist Jean Smith.
Mystery and secrecy seem very important in celebrity culture. As a band, Mecca Normal has always been very earnest and maybe even overly transparent about our motives. We’ve explained many things about why we do what we do, perhaps to our detriment. Then we look at someone like Jandek, and I don’t recall him explaining himself at all. He made a bunch of albums and took a bunch of photos that were on the same level of quality as his music and inadvertently(?) created intrigue. I’ve noticed that men seem very curious about other men’s lives. The art they make, their sexual conquests. When I see top-10 lists for literature, art or music made by men, it’s rare to see women represented. Is there a female equivalent to Jandek? Where a charming ineptitude and mystery swirl together to create cult status intrigue?
“Crimson Dragnet” from Sitting On Snaps (Matador, 1995) (download):
