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As a 19 year old at the University of Houston, (1992-1993) I was a member of the Student Program Board and we would put on lots of concerts. One of them was Daniel Johnston.
The stage was covered in fucked up instruments. Daniel would grab one and start playing his songs, and then grab another and play his songs. It was my first experience of him outside of a few songs on a cassette I had heard from my fellow music nerds.
It was a weird, great experience, never to be repeated. I admired his guts.
After the concert, it was my duty to shadow daniel as we waited for his handlers (orderlies from the mental hospital he had been staying in in Austin, which had released him under watch for this concert at UH.). I took him on the elevator out to the loading area and thanked him for the show and he was very nice, but very scattered. the performances took it out of him.
Later that weekend I read that Daniel johnston had "escaped" his handlers in Houston and was found in NYC 2 days later. Luckily he was OK, but he was off his meds and really ragged.
I'll never forget that.
I have met the man other times, once at a record store in Houston, and he was always a regular guy, who loved music and comics....
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