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 31-year run, with text by vocalist Jean Smith.
In 2009, Wendy Atkinson (whose three solo experimental bass albums are on Smarten UP!) played with Jandek at his Vancouver appearance. I don’t mean that she opened for him; I mean they played together. He selected her (and several other musicians) to work with.
It was all very exciting and totally out-of-the-blue, but my question was: What would it be like to play with one as uniquely unpredictable as Jandek? Thinking that it might be pretty uncomfortable, I suggested to Wendy that she and I get together a few times to get her warmed up for the show. I volunteered to act like Jandek, and yes, we video-ed the whole thing. Wendy played bass and I played kooky guitar and made up a pile of lyrics on the spot.
Anyway, as you can see I’ve gone and made the release of Wendy Atkinson’s new album The Last Fret all about me. What kind of person am I?
You can “Like” Wendy Atkinson’s Facebook page or “Like” the newly overhauled Smarten Up! & Get to the Point Editions page … I mean, you don’t have to choose … there’s plenty of Dave to go around … oops, I mean … she’s no Yoko Ono … I mean, she actually is, but not in that way …
OMG. I’ll stop now.
“Trapped Against” from Dovetail (K, 1992) (download):
