Yeah, pretty much. Daniel was a thorough and decisive director. He had a hand drawn cartoon storyboard, every shot was planned, and the locations scouted in advance. He watched every shot in the viewfinder before proceeding to the next scene, and was present throughout the editing process....dressed in his McDonald's uniform.

rofl believe i know he is a creative genius. he's bob dylan and shakespare and bukowski. he's the 5th beetle @@badlydrawnfrog

And, he could be like Hitler as well. I swear there were times he would tell me to use a shot that seemed like a very poor choice, and I knew he was watching to see if I would loyally obey his orders. I passed the test.....@@idkbroidkasdf

oh i love that you knew him. DJ is honestly a hero of mine. once a long time ago casper the friendly ghost came to me in a dream and told me everything is going to be all right. I'm an IRL poet and wrote a poem about it in my chapbook at the time and a decade later i've come to believe that was DJ due to some synchronistic things that are hard to explain. anyway i wish him all the best wherever he is, probably at carnavals, etc :) i really love him @@badlydrawnfrog

I believe they were fans as well.

Yes, I am me. The opportunity to be interviewed was presented, but it was tempered with the expectation that it would not be used; I didn't really matter.. So, yeah, the pipe..true. We just passed, 7 days ago, the 37th anniversary of that night.I think about it every day, and this time of year, a lot. I have sleep disruptions, etc. Ask my wife - she'll tell ya. Still, I am alive. I DON'T KNOW WHY. But I am. And I fuckin' love it.

And really, I chose not to be interviewed. My anonymity is of value to me.

​@@badlydrawnfrogThank you for sharing man. I'm glad you're still around too. ❤

Songs Of Pain was released (double LP) last year. I understand there are plans to do it all. I was in Austin last May, and I took a young fan on a tour of sorts. His old apartment is - surprisingly - still there. Remodeled, but there.

wow....

Thanks for watching. Means the world....

So, so glad you made it here. That would have been a funny encounter...Danny and Jim.

Don't know why - tears come to my eyes when I listen to "December Blues", "True love will find you in the end", and "Some things last a long time". Jim is a great American Poet, but Daniel is much more pathetic, in this sense he is much closer to Kurt.

37 years old. Luckily, at the time we had ACTV, Austin TX public access TV. We got away with So.o.o. much. Crazy, wild times.

Yeah, I know who she is. If you read the other comments you might have a clue. When the book of his life comes out, she will be there. She has real stories to tell...unbelievable.

@@badlydrawnfrog thanks a bunch bubba

Imagine this: you are a uniquely pretty and talented 16 year old girl. A quirky artist guy asks you on a date, and he takes you to an open casket funeral viewing of a complete stranger. Not a "random chick".

@@badlydrawnfrogthanks a bunch, bubba brown

I would like to believe that his spirit still wanders through those high happy days in Austin, but I suppose he is more likely to be trudging along the back roads of Waller TX, confused.

Went to Austin 2 weeks ago, toured the DJ sites, including the tracks. His old apartment is still there - remodeled, but there. Hard to believe it wasn't torn down.

Oddly, their antics were scripted; they were drawn into the cartoon storyboard. DJ had 8mm film experience and controlled everything. He watched every take in the viewfinder before moving on. The drummer flubbed the ending on this one, but he let it go.

You might try Cole Johnston's guitar tutorials. If he doesn't have it up he might might do this one.

So it's worse now? What happened to all those plans, high speed rail and all that? I lived up on the hill above there and got some beautiful footage of the trains going by. That was a weekday, about 11 AM. First time I met DJ in person.

@@badlydrawnfrog I left Austin almost 20 years ago, friends have all moved to more affordable suburbs. I'm in Chicago. Every tome I go back it's more congested, can't figure out who's living in all the condos. They've got light rail and have built a bunch of toll roads. Met Danial when he sat in on some improv workshops at the Comedy Workshop on Lavaca, mid 80's. It sparked his interest for a few weeks. Moved to Austin in 78 - MoPac wasn't even finished. Thru the 80's you could whip down it except at rush hours, which weren't much of anything.

@@sleeplate3584 Funny you mention Comedy Workshop. DJ really was a latent comic, loved Jerry Lewis. If his '95 MTV appearance hadn't dazzled his crowd, he would likely have spun it into a successful comedy act. "Guy in a McDonald's uniform walks into a bar ...with a guitar..."

I knew DJ in '86 when I was an amateur video producer. If you go to his KZfaq channel you can see the last video we recorded, Thanksgiving day's eve, 1986, "The Ghost of DJ."

@@badlydrawnfrog were you his manager ?

Ummm...good question. With DJ , "manager" was more of an appointed title, not a function. Same with "best friend". But yes, I suppose I was...that guy.

@@badlydrawnfrog This info blows my mind. Did you know Randy Kemper as well?!?

@@scarinfolks26 Well, 1st of all, say good bye to your mind! And yes...I've known Randy my entire life. The whole damn time. What is your "project" if I may ask?

If you haven't already done so, you can click on the 'b' and it will take you to the site where many videos from this time are posted. Funny how things can be quiet for so long, then....

Really? At the time I thought he was pointing at me. Been thinking about it all evening and I can just imagine him crinkling up his face and saying "Cosmic pollywogs?"

I Went Out Walking Under an Atomic Sky by JR Cash - With U 2. All of us just wanderers. And there is Something in the way, hey, Kurt, hey, Daniel !, do u hear us, can't u hear us? We are all gone. And this is what I mean. True love will find us and that will be an Indian Summer by J Morrison

You are kind to say so. Thank you for taking time to watch this. If you listen carefully you hear a moped go by!

It was one of the best days of his life, maybe the best. Thanks for watching!

I am so honored that you watched this. My niece and nephew watched this for the first time this week...on VHS! I still await their opinions. Peace you.

Good! It has been awhile, but there is a new one on Daniel's KZfaq channel since last November."The Ghost of Daniel Johnston w/Casper". Unusual and spooky stuff. Hopefully more soon.

THIS is not THAT recording. And no, you don't get to here it.

THAT recording was a conversation from 8/26/86 where we were plotting our strategy for using videos to launch Daniel's takeover of the music industry. The end of the conversation the intro to, and, "Love Me Do."

ACTUALLY...the 'content' of all versions is exactly the same. Vers. 1 is the same video on both sides, left/forward, right/reverse. You'll see him again at the end. Vers. 2 is left/forward, right/forward-mirror image, so you see him twice near the beginning. Vers, 1 has a point midway where is is briefly the same.

Honestly, I'm just really happy that someone took the time to watch it.

If you enjoy looking at him you should watch "It's Over,." (1991) Video from the same time (1986) is used throughout. We were playing w/ a pack of special effects lenses. For "Starry Eyes" I tried to incorporate that footage but it just didn't work well; both sets of images were darkened and diminished.

Wow.You're my friend!