TheatrePort

Speeding Motorcycle
by Daniel Johnston

May 25 ~ June 24, 2006
Unrequited love is a major theme in the music of Daniel Johnston, a Texas singer-songwriter who is known as much for his erratic behavior over the years as his wonderfully ebullient pop songs. Countless articles and a recent full-length film documentary have recounted his personal demons...

Throughout his life, Johnston has channeled his swirling emotions and desires into his music, which bears the mark of his daily struggle. Johnstons prolific catalogue of songs is one of extremes; it is heavily weighted in both the depths of dejection and ecstatic joy. Recurring characters make appearances: Captain America, the Beatles, Joe the Boxer, Casper the Friendly Ghost, and the Devil.

Somewhere among these sprawling episodes, a narrative was lurking. The recurring episodes told a story about a boy who loved a girl, but everyone knows love can be an earth-shattering emotion, both hellish and heavenlymaybe even literally. In Daniel Johnstons music, Heaven and Hell are very real places.

The supernatural is a realm quite suited to rock music and live performance. As longtime fans of
Johnstons work, Infernal Bridegroom Productions approached Johnston for the opportunity to set his
music to stage and tell his passionate, supernatural love story.

I thought it sounded like a cool idea, says Johnston, and then I saw some videos of IBP shows, and my heart jumped for joy, because the shows were really entertaining and really put together well.

With Johnstons blessing, IBP applied for, and was awarded, a prestigious MAP Fund grant by the Rockefeller Foundation to develop the production. After over a year of development, with Johnston supplying his songs and concepts and IBP founder Jason Nodler arranging the story and providing additional text, Johnstons hidden narrative is ready to be told. And a tale born of rock music naturally demands the appropriate vessel: a rock opera. Its title, taken from one of Johnstons songs: Speeding Motorcycle.

Speeding Motorcycle is directed by Jason Nodler and performed by the IBP company and orchestra, with new musical arrangements by IBP artistic director Anthony Barilla (with input from Johnston).

IBP associate artistic director Tamarie Cooper provides choreography and additional staging. Included in the show are the well-known Johnston songs Dont Let the Sun Go Down on Your Grievances, Rock N Roll EGA, Mind Contorted, True Love Will Find You in the End, the title song, and the previously unrecorded, unreleased Johnston song Loving Feelings.

More about Daniel Johnston
Daniel Johnston was born in 1961 and grew up listening to the Beatles, Queen, and Elvis Costello. According to his family-run website, Johnstons song writing started early.

When I was a kid, probably nine, I used to bang around on the piano, making up horror movie themes, he says. When I got a bit older, Id be mowing my lawn and Id make up songs and sing them. No one could hear me 'cause of the lawn mower.

As a teenager, Johnston began recording songs on cassettes and attending art classes (in addition to writing music, Johnston is also a visual artist and many of his sketches have made it onto the covers of his albums). Despite difficult bouts with mental illness, Johnston continued to record his cassettes, including the now much-loved Yip/Jump Music, and Hi, How Are You? Although the recording quality was lo-fi to say the least, Johnstons songs overflowed with honesty and emotions captured right on the surface.

Eventually settling in Austin, Johnstons cult status exploded when he was featured on an MTV special about the citys music scene in the mid 1980s. As interest in him grew, the independent Homestead label reissued many of his homemade cassettes on CD. At the same time well-known artists including Sonic Youth and Yo La Tengo began to talk up the artist, at times including covers of his songs on their albums.

Nirvanas Kurt Cobain became known for wearing Daniel Johnston T-shirts. After signing to Atlantic Records, Johnstons popularity grew as his music appeared in film and TV soundtracks including Kids and My So-Called Life. In 1994 he recorded the album Fun for Atlantic Records.

In 2001, Johnstons first record in seven years was released on Gammon Records. Returning to the type of earnest songwriting that made him famous, Rejected Unknown was selected by Mojo for its 1000
Ultimate CD Guide in the winter of 2002.

Now in his mid 40s and living with family in Waller, Texas, Johnston continues to draw and write music. In September of 2004 Gammon released the benefit album The Late Great Daniel Johnston: Discovered Covered, a recording of 18 of some of Johnstons best songs covered by such recording artists as Tom Waits, Beck, Eels, Bright Eyes, TV on the Radio, Mercury Rev, Sparklehorse and the Flaming Lips. This month, Johnston releases his new album, Welcome to My World; and Jeff Feuerzeigs full-length film documentary, The Devil and Daniel Johnston, opens. The film won the Best Documentary Directing prize at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. This year, an exhibition of Johnstons artwork was featured at New Yorks prestigious Whitney Bienniale.

More about Jason Nodler
Jason Nodler is the founder and former artistic director of Infernal Bridegroom Productions. His original plays include In the Under Thunderloo, King Ubu Is King and Meatbar, each of which was premiered by IBP. Nodler directed 24 productions for IBP, including plays by Samuel Beckett, Eugene Ionesco, Bertolt Brecht, Georg Bhner, Maria Irene Fornes, Sarah Kane, Wallace Shawn and Sam Shepard. He worked closely with Pulitzer Prize winner Suzan-Lori Parks on the development of $!ing A, which IBP premiered in 2000 under the playwrights direction. And he directed the theatrical premiere of The Kinks A Soap Opera with IBP in 2003. He received several Houston Press Best of Houston awards, including Best New
Play and Best Director. Since his IBP jersey was retired in 2003, Nodler has directed plays in Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Providence and New York. IBP couldnt be more delighted to have him back directing Speeding Motorcycle.

Dates, Times, Ticket Info:
May 25 ~ June 24, 2006

Speeding Motorcycle opens Thursday, May 25, 8pm. Tickets, 5.99

(Special preview party and performance Wednesday, May 24: Party starts at 6:30; performance at
8pm. Keg beer and snacks will be provided. Tickets, $35.)

Remaining performances Fridays and Saturdays, 8pm, May 26 through June 24. Tickets, $15

For reservations, call 713-522-8443

Performance Location:
All performances at the Axiom, 2524 McKinney.

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