Music geeks have been salivating in the last couple of days after it was announced this week that Houston-based outsider musician Jandek will be making an appearance at the Scottish Rite Theater near West 18th and Guadalupe on August 28th. This will be one of three stateside appearances (along with New Orleans and New York) Jandek will making in the next two months. After a long and prolific recording career of self-releasing tapes, Jandek finally broke into live performances in 2004 with appearances in the U.K. Since then, a documentary called Jandek on Corwood was released, and he made a couple of other appearances in May 2005. However, the Austin appearance will be his first time before an American live audience.

Apparently, he wanders around Houston unknown to all but record store employees. A Whole Foods worker recently spotted Jandek at the Houston store [via]:

So I was at work (Whole Foods) this morning and everything was going great. I got a good night’s sleep and I’m working with tight people. Also, this lady gave me $10 for being nice to her. And then around 10am this tall, older gentlemen comes into my line with a box of Choice brand Oraganic Darjeeling tea. I notice he looks like Jandek (the recent pictures of him from Scotland) and that his voice (he says “Hello.” to me) sounds like it did on Jandek on Corwood when they played the phone interview from the 80s. His pants are pulled up high and he is very serene. Dude pays with a credit card and I think to myself and wonder how funny it would be if Sterling Smith (his real name) came up on the credit card slip. And then low and behold, under the signature line:

S.R. Smith

I chuckled to myself, hairs on my arm stood up. I looked at him, made a decision, and while handing him his receipt told him to “Have a nice day”. He said thank you and walked off.

Those interested may want to keep periodically checking http://www.jandekinaustin.com because the show will sell out.

Update: Correction: Tickets will go on sale Saturday, July 30 at noon CDT. Tickets are $27 and available online or by phone only through Front Gate Tickets.

Update: Show is now (8/3/2005) sold out.