If you’ve seen the independent film The Devil and Daniel Johnston, you’ll probably be at the Magic Stick (or is it the Majestic?) tomorrow evening to see the man himself (bereft of said Devils, I’m assuming).

If reviews of the current tour are accurate, Johnston will go on early (I’d get there around 8:30 if I were you), he’ll be vulnerable and emotional, he’ll probably make more than a few mistakes, and he’ll be entirely worth the $15-$18 bucks.

If you haven’t seen the movie, here’s a quick timeline of Daniel Johnston’s life, from now to then:

–February 5, 2008- Daniel Johnston plays the Magic Stick (or is it the Majestic?) in Detroit, Michigan. You show up.

–2006-2007, Due to the success of the film The Devil and Daniel Johnston, Johnston begins re-releasing albums and plays occasional shows.

–2005, Jeff Feuerzeig’s documentary The Devil and Daniel Johnston premiers at the Sundance Festival.

–2004, Johnston admirers such as TV on the Radio, Eels, Tom Waits, and Beck contribute to The Late Great Daniel Johnston. Fans of these artists buy the album for the track by their favorites, listen to it a few times, figure out that these songs are brilliant, and start looking for other Daniel Johnston songs using their interwebs and dotcoms.

–2003-1991, Johnston continues to write songs and draw cartoons and paint at his home in Waller, Texas.

–1991, Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain (Remember him? He was great. I miss him.) wears a signature Daniel Johnston shirt at the MTV Music Awards and just about everywhere he goes, leaving people to ask who this Daniel Johnston is. Unfortunately, the interwebs was still growing up and wasn’t available for kids to just type the words “Hi, How Are You” into a search engine, so some of them sketched it in their notebooks and on letters they’d pass in 3rd period Math.

–1985-1991, Johnston has a lot of mental problems that I’m not going to write about because the guy is a human being, not a freak show, and his songs are beautiful and pure and we shouldn’t give him attention because of his mental condition but because the talent and quality of the songs are there.

–1984, Johnston makes it on an MTV special highlighting music in Austin, Texas. Reports say that Austin is still an ok place to see music to this day.

–1960s-1983, Johnston moves to Austin; Johnston starts recording his own records on a tape recorder; Johnston writes songs, makes movies, draws, and paints; Johnston falls in love with the music of The Beatles; Johnston grows up.

–1961, Daniel Johnston: born.