Outsider folk artist Jandek will head from his mystery hole in Texas to NYU’s Kimmel Center next week for an on-campus show. The cult figure has released more than 50 blues/folk albums since 1978, but he remains famously reclusive, refusing to give any biographical or personal information to the press, and rarely performing live. (He didn’t play a show until 2004). So what enterprising NYU student smoked the mystery man out his hole and convinced him to a play a concert in the Kimmel auditorium, at our “private university in the [very] public service”? Cuteass Program Board Music Chair Mallory Blair, the same chick who turned the Empire State Building blue with her bare hands at age nine. Duh.

“I heard, through the grapevine, that he was interested in playing a show in New York and I looked up the number for Corwood Industries – his dummy label – in the yellow pages,” Blair said.

“My interactions with Jandek were exactly what you’d expect- for a couple of months, I was speaking to a nameless ‘representative of Corwood Industries’ every couple of days until some trust was established. If I missed a Corwood call and called back immediately, I’d still have to leave a voicemail and wait for a return call. The line is never picked up.”

Sonic Youth’s Thurstoon More was in talks to share the stage with Jandek, Blair said, but had to skip off to Europe to promote his new album. Instead, Jandek will play with dance accompaniment from Biba Belle, a dancer/artist/scholar of some sort.

We look forward to seeing the NYU community’s unpredictable reaction, as Program Board’s shows tend to be hit or miss. Earlier in the year, High Places put on a hypnotizing but sparsely-attended performance. The awkward delight of a Kimmel show was best expressed in 2007 when The Blow’s Mikhaela Maricich stared back at the crowed and admitted, “I feel like you guys are judging me.” But with the Washington Square ambiance growing increasingly delightful with the season and Jandek’s indie credibility teflon tough, we’re expecting a warmer reception.

Jandek’s show will be free, all-ages, and open to the public, on Thursday, April 23rd, at NYU’s E & L Auditorium in the Kimmel Center [60 Washington Square South, 4th floor]. Door open at 8, show begins at 9