(image) by Shotgun Suicide (feat. Epiic, Setsuka and Porcellana) Shotgun Suicide gets down and dirty with Epiic, Setsuka and Porcellana to show you the correct way to unscrew nuts, take off rubbers, and put the (disc) brakes on your ride. (video) Music: “I Do My Best” by Bo Peep and “Ideal Cosmos”... more

by Shotgun Suicide (feat. Epiic, Setsuka and Porcellana)

Shotgun Suicide gets down and dirty with Epiic, Setsuka and Porcellana to show you the correct way to unscrew nuts, take off rubbers, and put the (disc) brakes on your ride.



Music: “I Do My Best” by Bo Peep and “Ideal Cosmos” by Tokyo Pinsalocks courtesy of Conspiracymfx.com/.

Special thanks to Doug and Ben.



Related Posts:
Vehicle Maintenance 101 with Shotgun Suicide - Checking Your Fluids
Vehicle Maintenance 101 with Shotgun Suicide - Changing Your Oil
Vehicle Maintenance 101 with Shotgun Suicide - Changing A Tire
Vehicle Maintenance 101 with Shotgun Suicide - Rotating Tires

I've been enjoying SG for a week or so now, and have a few suggestions that could make the experience even cooler: * LAST VISITOR - a list on your profile page that tells you the last 10 visitors you had. * PRIVATE MESSAGE BOX - so that you can leave messages for people, without them having to... more

I've been enjoying SG for a week or so now, and have a few suggestions that could make the experience even cooler:

* LAST VISITOR - a list on your profile page that tells you the last 10 visitors you had.


* PRIVATE MESSAGE BOX - so that you can leave messages for people, without them having to go to email to pick it up.

...that's about it from me. Keep up the amazing work all those involved.

[Edited on Apr 29, 2004 by hoisin]

by Aaron Colter This week I'm featuring artistic shit out of Portland, Oregon - the best city in America, but don't fucking move here because it rains for eight goddamn months out of the year. Oh, and by the way, I hope you have a master's degree and several thousands of dollars in savings,... more

by Aaron Colter

This week I'm featuring artistic shit out of Portland, Oregon - the best city in America, but don't fucking move here because it rains for eight goddamn months out of the year. Oh, and by the way, I hope you have a master's degree and several thousands of dollars in savings, because the only thing a bachelor's will get you in this town is a part-time job in a coffee shop as a barista-back to a thirty-three year old with a villain mustache straight out of a silent film, who has, apparently, been studying the art of java and thrift-store shopping since he was sixteen.

How charming is that shit, Portlandia?!



The Art of Raskoe

The guy's done some incredible murals, include one on Belmont in the SE. The same artist may or may not also be responsible for some of the best graffiti in Bridge City.

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The We Shared MilkJesuses

You have to love The We Shared Milk. The band plans strikingly heartfelt, earnest music in a way that seems almost entirely effortless and sounds like everything you've ever heard, but somehow instantly unique.

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Rethinking Paper & Ink

I was lucky enough to get a copy of the first-edition after speaking at PSU's Write To Publish conference, and the latest rendering looks even better. Printed material is still useful, potentially beautiful, and a viable consumer product. But, if the industry keeps using unsustainable materials, the important culture of physical books is teetering on the edge of losing eco-conscious buyers who will look elsewhere for entertainment.

***



And And And

There are four albums worth of low-fi garage punk rock that sometimes borders on razor-wire alt-country, with psychedelic undertones and pop sensibility in the link above. Click, download, enjoy.

***

Well, I guess that's it. You can't really link to weed, and talking about food you can't buy unless living in the city is kind of a dick move. So . . . see ya next time.

***
If you have something that you think I might like that others might like too, please email youmightlike [at] gmail [dot] com.

What I'm listening to: The Satanic Satanist by Portugal. The Man, Transference by Spoon, Battling Giants by Brainstorm

What I'm reading: The New York Five

What I'm drinking: Vortex IPA, Anderson Valley IPA, Caldera Ginger Beer

by Blogbot (image) (image) (image) Delta the Husky (pictured with his mistress Frolic Suicide) INTO: The dog park; running faster than everyone ever, being alpha dog. NOT INTO: Annoying puppies all up in my grill. MAKES ME HAPPY: Seeing the leash come out of the closet. MAKES ME SAD: When people touch... more

by Blogbot








Delta the Husky (pictured with his mistress Frolic Suicide)

• INTO: The dog park; running faster than everyone ever, being alpha dog.


• NOT INTO: Annoying puppies all up in my grill.


• MAKES ME HAPPY: Seeing the leash come out of the closet.


• MAKES ME SAD: When people touch my paws, being home by myself.


• HOBBIES: Teaching my little brother how to be less embarrassing.


• 5 THINGS I CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT: The Furminator, rawhide bones, a cove to nest in, room to run, my good looks.


• VICES: A nice loaf of bread.


• I SPEND MOST OF MY FREE TIME: Protecting the universe from evil.

Photography: Alissa

Get to know Delta's mistress, Frolic Suicide, over at SuicideGirls.com!

New Jersey’s The Feelies formed in the late ‘70s around the core of guitarists Glenn Mercer and Bill Million. Between their seminal first record, 1980’s Crazy Rhythms, and 1991’s Time for a Witness, their post-punk, Velvet Underground and Jonathan Richman-inspired sound evolved from their twitchy,... more

New Jersey’s The Feelies formed in the late ‘70s around the core of guitarists Glenn Mercer and Bill Million. Between their seminal first record, 1980’s Crazy Rhythms, and 1991’s Time for a Witness, their post-punk, Velvet Underground and Jonathan Richman-inspired sound evolved from their twitchy, polyrhythmic debut to more atmospheric, complex guitar pop, leading critic Robert Christgau to say of the final record of their original run, “the minimalism of Crazy Rhythms was always misleading.” Post-Feelies, Mercer worked on several other projects, including the band Wake Ooloo and a solo record. Million left music entirely and for nearly twenty years, reportedly didn’t touch his guitar, leading previous attempts to reunite the band to stall without his involvement. Now, Million is back, and for the first time since 1991, The Feelies have a new record called Here Before. Despite its self-referential lyrical winks to their past, the new record would sound right in their discography next to The Good Earth or Only Life. I spoke with Glenn Mercer recently about the new record, his relationship with Bill, and how one band becomes R.E.M. while another unfairly disappears into semi-obscurity.

Keith Daniels: Has the experience of having a record coming out changed over time? The record came out yesterday. Are you as nervous now as you always were?

Glenn Mercer: I don’t think we were always nervous about a record coming out. We feel pretty confident about it. We’ve got a lot of pre... responses have been pretty positive.

KD: What are some of your favorite responses? What do you like to hear?

GM: The thing we get a lot is that people say we kind of picked up where we left off, I guess. That it reminds them of the other Feelies records.

KD: The last Feelies record, Time For a Witness, and a lot of your stuff with Wake Ooloo, had a more aggressive, distorted sound. Was it a conscious decision not to go in that direction on this one?

GM: Not conscious, but I think that a few factors might have influenced that. Number one, we had done that before. Number two, it seems a lot more interesting to explore different guitar sounds. It seems like the easy option to just turn on the fuzz box. Also, where I’m at now personally I just don’t find that kind of sound as appealing anymore. I have tinnitus so maybe that’s partially the reason. [Laughs] There are songs that do have distortion. It was more that we have thirteen songs to take advantage of a lot of moods and textures to have more variety of sound.

KD: Bill hadn’t played guitar in many years, right? How long did it take him to get back up to speed?

GM: He seemed really there from the first rehearsal in 2008 to me. Didn’t seem to take very long to me at all.

KD: You’ve worked with a lot of musicians over the years. What is it that’s special about the relationship between you and Bill?

GM: It’s pretty effortless. Not a lot of thought. We have a sympathetic way of relating on the guitar that’s sort of second nature, really.

KD: Did the way that technology has changed over the last twenty years affect the recording of the new album?

GM: A little bit. Although we had Pro Tools available back in ‘91 and we did use it very sparingly on Time For a Witness, one aspect that was new to us was that I was able to do some recording here at my house and then transfer those to the master. That worked out really well for us.

KD: What was it about the Feelies that made you feel like there was unfinished business?
GM: I never really felt that. I always felt like I would have been happy with the statement we did make. I guess that’s a good enough reason to continue; it was satisfying and fulfilling. I guess, in a way, the flip side of that would be that if it was unfulfilling you might want to make up for that. That really wasn’t the case.

KD: But on the other hand, there’s a danger of -- if you went out with a bang, a strong record -- of undoing that.

GM: Yeah, yeah definitely. There’s always that possibility. You’ve just got to not think about that and trust your instincts. Plus, where we’re at in our lives it’s just not that crucial. We have other priorities. We never looked at it as a career, although at times it definitely was. It seems like whenever we did put that perspective on it is when we were in trouble. So definitely not one of our concerns nowadays.

KD: How did the reunion go from ‘let’s have some fun and play a bit’ to ‘let’s make a new record’?

GM: That was talked about from the very first discussion we had about reforming. To me, and to all of us, it just seemed like to not make new music would just be too much nostalgia. Nothing wrong with that, we appreciate that element, but we want to feel like we’re a vital band. We’re creative people, so there’s no reason why we wouldn’t want to make new music together.

KD: One of my favorite songs on the record is “Morning Comes”. Can you tell me a little bit about what inspired that song?

GM: Somebody actually asked me the same question yesterday, so I thought about it. I think they were referring to the lyrics. I really just had to kind of remind them that we always write the same way, which is really with the guitar first. From that the melodies pop into my head, and from there it’s the lyrics. So if anything can be credited as the inspiration for the lyric it’s the mood of the music. That’s always how it is. It’s never the case of sitting down with an idea, lyrically, then having that worked out and the music follows from that. It always stems from the music.

KD: So the music reveals...

GM: ...where it wants to go with the lyric.

KD: Is there a song on this record that you’re particularly proud of?

GM: Not really. I’m just proud of the way the whole record turned out. We worked really hard on it and took our time. It was a few years of writing and about a year of actual work on the record in terms of rehearsing and demoing and recording. So it was a lot of work over a long period of time. It’s really satisfying that it came out well.

KD: How difficult is it now that everyone is a grown-up and has their own families and lives to even get together?

GM: In particular because Bill lives in Florida and Brandon lives in Pennsylvania, that’s our biggest obstacle. We really don’t get to get together as much as we’d like. Consequently, when we do we tend to have a very serious workmanlike attitude and try to be as efficient as we can.

KD: The Feelies have long had a tangential connection with R.E.M.. I’m curious if you’ve ever thought about why one band tours stadiums for twenty years, and another band who’s just as good becomes more of a cult band.

GM: I actually have, but only because it’s been brought up and written about, and I’ve been asked about it. I just look at their career, and see the kind of band they were when they started and the kind of band they became. Although they’re always heralded as “the band that didn’t compromise”, for us those kinds of things would have been a compromise. Being on the Muppet Show...

KD: “Shiny Happy People”

GM: Yeah, doing those kinds of videos. They’re perfectly happy doing that but I don’t think we would have been.

KD: Where does your unwillingness to compromise come from? Why was that so important for you?

GM: I think all artistic people feel that way. You as a writer probably wouldn’t be happy with somebody rewriting your story, or changing it.

KD: [Laughs] No.

GM: You know what I’m saying. If you’re creating something you want to see it through to the end and have it come out the way you envisioned it. Simple as that.

KD: I noticed that you thanked Yo La Tengo in the liner notes.

GM: They’ve always been really supportive of the band. We’ve been friends going back a long way. There was a period just before the reunion that I’d spoken to Ira and he’d offered to contact Bill to try to get things in motion to get the band reunited. That struck me as being a very nice gesture. He invited Bill and I down to play at their Hanukkah show last year and spoke to the crowd. It was for us a kind of a return to Hoboken in terms of recording in Hoboken, and the pictures were taken there. In a way, they acknowledged that too.

KD: The Feelies were never known for doing tours. Is that going to remain the case?

GM: Pretty much, yeah, I think. A lot of things make it difficult for that to happen. Families. The economics of it. It’s just hard to make money on the road nowadays. There aren’t as many places to play now, either.

For more information on The Feelies, check their website The Feelies Web.

Since the Girls board is overload, I've decided to start this topic here. Just to point out Synnove's hot new profile pic: (image) so hot!

by Laurelin When I first came up with the idea for this column, the name “Life Beyond the Bar Scene” just seemed perfect. The life I lead is so immersed in the service industry that I really can’t see past it right now; everyone I know in Boston I met at a bar. Literally, everyone. Everywhere I... more

by Laurelin

When I first came up with the idea for this column, the name “Life Beyond the Bar Scene” just seemed perfect. The life I lead is so immersed in the service industry that I really can’t see past it right now; everyone I know in Boston I met at a bar. Literally, everyone. Everywhere I turn, it’s bartenders, servers, bouncers, barbacks, nightlife, my life. It wasn’t always this way.

When I first moved to Boston from Rhode Island five years ago I was escaping the coastal college bar scene that had become my life. After waitressing in restaurants though high school and waitressing in bars, nightclubs and strip clubs through college I was desperate for change - I called it the life of strobe lights and glitter. With the threat of becoming too tan, too skinny, and too hung up on easy money, I ran to Boston with a new 9-5 job as a preschool teacher five years after graduating college.

After almost a year of lonely early nights and lonely early mornings teaching, I gave up. Waking up with the sun, coffee and toast for one in the morning, packed lunch for one in the afternoon, and a rushed cooked dinner and TV for one in the evenings wasn’t for me. Coming home exhausted to the cat every afternoon around 5, looking forward to weekends that ended too quickly, trying to date but not having the time - God, I am getting nauseous just thinking about it. So, I came crawling back to the only other thing I had ever known - bars.

I started waitressing and instantly had a Boston family; I couldn’t have been happier. Ever since my first night at that restaurant on Brighton Avenue in Allston it began again - the bar scene life that other people leave behind in their early twenties was now going to see me into my thirties. It was ready and waiting for me with open arms, and I dove back into them, telling myself that I would leave when I was ready; the money is too good, the hours are too easy, and for now, this life fits who I am. Hell, I even got hired to write about it!

But the line between my professional life as a waitress turned bartender and nightlife writer and my actual personal life has lately become blurred. Where does the job end and the lifestyle begin? Can the two ever really be separated? I was unable to date in the 9-5 environment. The one guy I was with for a while was ten years older than me, and even he said I wasn’t giving him enough time. I fell off the planet after a few months, figuring with our age difference it wouldn’t have worked out anyways. He recovered quickly so I was told, and when I ran into him next he was with a woman his age. I couldn’t help but be a little jealous, even though our parting way had been my choice.

Once I got back into the service industry I was back in action. I met some really amazing guys my age, dated, hooked up, had some amazing relationships…but all with servers, bouncers, or bartenders - I was happy with these guys, but we all had the same problem: the nightlife. We were all wild. When it comes to relationships, I’ve always told guys that they need to keep up or get out. Other industry people understand me, they understand the life.

I’m not easy to keep up with; I’m not exactly the mild mannered little girl you want to take home to meet your parents. That’s what I keep telling myself anyways. The reality is actually quite different, although lately I have been questioning my ability to find a balance. After my last relationship ended six months ago I can’t help but feel like two different people. I keep asking myself, what’s the difference between who you are when you’re single and who you are when you’re in a relationship?

I truly believe the service industry has effected me and what I expect out of guys and relationships in general. I’ve always come off as tough, crass, and sarcastic - and that is who I am - but there’s another side under there somewhere. I am a hopeless romantic. I believe in fairy tales, love at first sight, soul mates. I like wild nights out, but there’s just something nice about having someone to come home to, quiet nights in, and routine. Those are things that you rarely find when you’re dating within the bar scene.

That hopeless romantic isn’t around much these days,. Up until six months ago she was me, and she believed in happily ever after. I don’t even know that person anymore. I’d say that I don’t recognize myself, but I know exactly who this crazy girl is. She’s my worse half, and for some reason she keeps looking for answers on the bottom of a bottle of Jameson.

This lifestyle is literally dousing gasoline on what was already an out of control fire, and all I can do is stand and watch. Back in September it was justifiable. I was just out of a serious relationship and needed to get back out there. Now it’s just taken a turn for the weird. I literally see myself acting a certain way or saying certain things, and it’s almost like I’m watching someone else sabotage my life. I’m my own nightmare, waking up mornings and just thinking, “Oh God, not again…”

I know that I’m a handful, and that nothing is ever easy. “Keep up or get out” seems to be where I’m at right now, even though in the back of my mind I know I can’t do it forever (nor do I want to, honestly). All I can do right now is work on finding a balance. Is there a life for me beyond the bar scene? I think so. I hope so. Because I’m exhausted.

The first (and best) cello-based rock band, Rasputina, formed over twenty years ago in Brooklyn, New York. Based around founding auteur Melora Creager, the band has seen many members come and go over the years and had more drummers than Spın̈al Tap, but has maintained a consistent vision throughout. more

The first (and best) cello-based rock band, Rasputina, formed over twenty years ago in Brooklyn, New York. Based around founding auteur Melora Creager, the band has seen many members come and go over the years and had more drummers than Spın̈al Tap, but has maintained a consistent vision throughout. Their songs focus on Creager’s obsessions: historical oddities, fantastical theories, and the strength of women. The whole is tied together with her handmade aesthetic into an artistically unified production: from their album art to their stage performances (called ‘recitals’) to their music. Rasputina’s most recent album is Great American Gingerbread, a collection of demos and other rarities. Melora and I spoke recently about her songwriting method, her proudest moment, and how she keeps Rasputina fresh after two decades in the music business.

Keith Daniels: What made this the right time to put out a rarities collection?

Melora Creager: I had the idea a long time ago. I picked all the material, got it mixed, reworked some things, and then I forgot about it for a while because I was touring a lot, probably. It’s been a decent amount of time since the last proper album came out, so it seems right.

KD: Most of the songs on this are from the last ten years or so. How many more of these collections could you put out?

MC: I would say at least one other really good group [of songs]. I’m excited about that because my earliest demos are on four-track cassettes. I haven’t heard them in decades, really. I got a four-track machine and cleaned them out recently and found all this strange old stuff. It was really interesting to hear how I learned how to write songs because I was just beginning on those tapes.

KD: What did you learn? In what way has your method changed?

MC: I think when I first started I was so excited to have a pickup on my cello that I always recorded direct, so it was a really awful, grating cello sound [laughs] with a lot of effects. It sounds like a keyboard. I’ve learned a lot about recording. You can hear the passage of time. At some point I figured out how it sounds good to mic the cello and lots of other things.

KD: My favorite thing about Rasputina is that you have a complete aesthetic. It’s not just the music and the costumes -- everything you do is integrated. Has that developed over time, or was that always the idea?

MC: That was always the idea, probably because I come from an art school background. So it’s like a project or an assignment. I majored in photography, so it’s like a living photograph with sound and something that I would set up with characters. I’m glad I had that idea that day twenty years ago.

KD: In a column you wrote last year you said “my naivete’ was a huge help in the beginning.” What were you naive’ about, and how did it help?

MC: I was never tempted to play a guitar even though that’s pretty much what all bands were made of back then. I never thought what I was doing was strange or didn’t have a chance. I was even kind of pissed off when I first started doing press because all everyone wanted to talk about was, “The cellos! The cellos!” I was like, “What’s the big deal?” I didn’t think it was that interesting. I was just playing what I knew. It all seemed obvious to me. I thought everyone knew about the subjects that I wrote about, but people don’t necessarily know about all those historical characters and situations.

KD: In the beginning of Rasputina you were on Columbia. You were getting lots of attention not just for your music but for your connections to Nirvana, to Nine Inch Nails, to Marilyn Manson. Was there ever a moment when you thought you might make it big in the traditional sense?

MC: Yeah, for sure. That time in the ‘90s there were all these bands in New York City that we played with or hung out with -- all those bars like Brownies full of bands -- and everyone expected to get signed. It was a time when big labels just signed everything, because of Nirvana. So yeah, I thought I was on the road to fame. I never cared about the riches. [Laughs]

KD: You also said in that column that you think of Rasputina as subversive. What is the establishment that you would like to subvert?

MC: Oooh, that sounds very interesting. I wonder what I meant! [Laughs] I would say pop music; pop meaning popular. I mean, we’re not that popular. I guess the artistic and political ideas that I’m presenting as normal.

KD: Such as?

MC: The role of women characters in my songs. They’re always overcoming adversity. To be very feminine, but strong. People often ask me, “How can you have funny and sad, both those emotions in the same song?” I think human beings are that way. Musicians limit themselves in so many ways because [they’re] trying to be popular.

KD: One of the most interesting songs on this record is “On My Knees”, the soundtrack to the short you were in about Hannah Cullwick. What appealed to you about that story?

MC: I thought it was really interesting how she just reveled in her low position. She was really into getting dirty. She was really into how physically strong she was. Those things weren’t popular at the time.

KD: Rasputina has always been very much your show. What are the advantages and disadvantages of trying to do it yourself?

MC: It’s a huge challenge to work with other people, but that is something that I always wanted to do. The live band, playing with a group, I always wanted to do that, but to make that happen is hard because these relationships aren’t meant to last that long. When I’m writing songs and often in recording, my brain is just firing off and I’m totally on the right-brain. That’s not an interactive thing; that’s just me. It’s like making a painting or something, just expressing stuff that’s coming out of the subconscious. That doesn’t really involve other people.

KD: What advice would you give to somebody who was just going in to the entertainment industry?

MC: I don’t think anyone would want my advice. [Laughs] I can give them advice on how to express themselves and get a lot of satisfaction out of doing that, but as far as the entertainment industry goes, I think all the luck I’ve had is kind of fluke-y. The business has changed so much that I don’t know what people do or how they start out and get noticed.

KD: When you’re up onstage and you’re looking out at the first couple of rows, what are you thinking about?

MC: This is something that I learned with Nirvana. Pat Smear, who was a guitarist with them, said, “Whatever you do, don’t look at the people. They’ll blow your mind and you’ll not be able to play.” I said, “OK. I won’t. I won’t look at ‘em.” It’s true. Even at my own, much smaller shows it’s just too distracting. I’ll see people, I’ll see personalities, and I’ll get off track. You can make a mistake, so I don’t look at individuals, but I am interacting. I’m feeling the audience as a whole. I’m able to multitask to a sick level. Already I’m playing the cello and singing, and I’ll catch myself thinking about a lot of other things: listening to what the other musicians are doing, we’ll talk about it later so I’m trying to remember all that. Sometimes I marvel that I’m there, “I can’t believe I’m doing this and that people are listening!” Sometimes I’ll catch myself thinking about unrelated things. [Laughs]

KD: I really like the song “Coraline”on here that you did for the Neil Gaiman tribute. What’s your relationship to that book?

MC: I have a close relationship to it. I haven’t read anything else by him or seen his work so much, but I read that to my daughter Hollis when she was pretty little, six or something. I never heard it said aloud, I just read it to her, and then when the movie came out later [I found out] it’s actually [pronounced] “Coraline”. I thought it was [pronounced] “Coraleen”. I’d set all my rhyme schemes in the song to “Coraleen”. How embarassing!

KD: Oh, I wasn’t even talking about that. It’s all up to interpretation anyway.

MC: Well that’s good to hear. [Laughs] We loved that book. We played a game called “The Mother’s Hand” where I’d shriek, “the Mother’s hand!,” and make it crawl on Hollis, because there’s a disembodied hand in that book. It was very fun for her.

KD: Did that character [Coraline] speak to you on any deeper level?

MC: No. I didn’t feel that connected to it myself. It was more through my daughter.

KD: Neil has said that in his experience with that book that children are much braver than adults.

MC: Yeah, I totally agree with that. The spirit and the feel of being a child is really important to keep alive in me for my work.

KD: What have you learned from the way that your children experience the world?

MC: There’s a lot of that courage that you talk about, and an ability to go back and forth between fantasy and reality without a problem. Which is a cool aspect.

KD: What was your first favorite book?

MC: I liked The Phantom Tollbooth a lot. It’s a classic -- a modern classic. When they would go into a third world I would find that scary, but I would get off on it too.

KD: Your oldest daughter goes to a Waldorf school, correct? Have you read much about Rudolf Steiner’s philosophy? [Mangles the pronunciation] Anthroposophy?

MC: Anthroposophy? [Laughs] I haven’t read his books. People at the school are into it at all different levels. Some people [just] think of it as a very picturesque private school, and some people are really deep into it. I might not agree with all the deeper stuff. He was making a lot of this stuff up in a different time; there were different needs. How nutty it is appeals to me. School is such drudgery. They’re making people all the same, like a factory. This Waldorf school, which was actually invented for factory worker’s kids, is pretty crazy. I like it.

KD: One of your musical inspirations is Nina Hagen. Do you ever wish you could get out from behind the cello and be that sort of physically expressive?

MC: I don’t think how about how much I wish I could. I think about how much I can’t. I’m, by nature, pretty shy. I don’t know why I forced myself to do this for my life’s work. [Laughs] I do think about... I don’t think I could ever even stand there without my cello. [Laughs] It’s very protective, and I’ve done it so long that it’s a real part of me.

KD: Like a shield in front of you, almost?

MC: Yeah! If I ever did... like, a dance move, or something with my legs, that would be so rad! [Laughs]

KD: I was reading your notes on here about each individual track. I noticed on one that you said a producer had warned you not to ‘chase the demo’. What does it mean to ‘chase the demo’?

MC: That’s kindof the story of the first part of my recording career, up to now. I’ve had different producers who didn’t want to recreate the demo, but there’s a lot of magic in my demos! Maybe they just wanted to make it their own or get their own footprint on it, but how recording is now with computers and Pro Tools and Garage Band, demos are the finished product.

KD: So it means that there’s something special about the demo, but no matter how many times you re-record it, it never recaptures it?

MC: Yeah.

KD: When I was a kid my music teachers always separated what they called “serious music” and “popular music”. Do you make that distinction?

MC: I don’t, because I take everything equally. I listen to a lot of modern classical music on the radio, and I just love that. That’s very influential [for me] for sounds and harmony styles, but I don’t know the names of the composers, just like I don’t know the names of all the David Bowie songs I love. I know that classical is very... they keep themselves separate. They don’t know, don’t care about what I do.

KD: Would you like to some more scoring work? What are some of your favorite film scores?

MC: Yeah, I think I would. Michael Nyman is one of my favorite composers. He’s one of the modern classical composers I’m talking about. He did, I think, all of Peter Greenaway’s movies, and the music for The Piano. I am presently collaborating with my good friend Joseph Bishara. He was the music director for Repo the Genetic Opera, a movie that I also played in. Joe does lots of horror scores. Currently out is Insidious, in which he also plays the lead demon! He sent me a bunch of Halloween snapshots from the 1920s and ‘30s. They are very weird pictures. I made a story out of them, we wrote songs to them together, and we're recording it next week. We hope to have it released for Halloween 2011.

KD: After 20 years of Rasputina, what are you most proud of? Is there anything you feel you have yet to accomplish?

MC: I might be the most proud of the Sister Kinderhook album, because it seems like finally, after all these years, I made what I meant to [make]. Often an album is like, “Oh, that’s not what I meant to do. That’s not what was in my head,” somehow it got diluted, or switched around. But [Sister Kinderhook] is really what I intended, and I’m really proud of it. I would like to do more visually related things. I guess you’d call it a video.

KD: What do you have in mind?

MC: It’s hard to express. I keep a notebook of all these ideas. I’m not going to tell you now! [Laughs] I met a fabulous painter, also named Melora. Melora Kuhn. She does these cool historical portraits with disasters going on in the background. We recently brainstormed on what 'Melora' project we could do. That project has just begun, but is ripe with possibility. Something like a film of her painting my portrait while I'm playing the cello, both of us costumed.

KD: How do you combat the tendency of any long-running institution toward routine and stagnation?

MC: I think, because the people in the band do change, they contribute different attitudes and different energy. As time has gone on those people have gotten younger and younger. That definitely helps me.

KD: So you take these fresh young things and drain them of their essence to stay young. [Laughs]

MC: [Laughs] Yeah. Yeah.

KD: Are you planning on recording a new studio album this year?

MC: I’m writing now. I will be writing through the summer before we tour. But it takes time to come to fruition. I would say next year. Next week in Joshua Tree I'm recording a Robert Johnson song for a charity that gives blankets to homeless people.

KD: Are you going to announce any summer dates?

MC: I just gave a first draft of the tour to my email list yesterday.

Find out more at Rasputina’s official website.

We all know product placement happens in movies. You see the results when a can of Coke is seen in a shot instead of a generic soda, or a corporate logo comes into focus in a scene played out in Times Square. The existence of product placement is not a mystery or scandal, but Morgan Spurlock wanted... more

We all know product placement happens in movies. You see the results when a can of Coke is seen in a shot instead of a generic soda, or a corporate logo comes into focus in a scene played out in Times Square.

The existence of product placement is not a mystery or scandal, but Morgan Spurlock wanted to put it to a real test. Big budget movies like Iron Man can command huge numbers for fast food endorsement deals. But could Spurlock finance an indie documentary on product placement alone?

He actually did raise $1.5 million to make The Greatest Movie Ever Sold from sponsors like Pom Wonderful juice, Ban deodorant and Sheetz fast food. Perhaps not surprisingly, McDonald’s wanted nothing to do with the Supersize Me guy.

Along the way, Spurlock investigated how advertising impacts our lives. He spoke to filmmakers who have to balance corporate demands with artistic integrity. He spoke to the organization that ensures products are represented favorably in the media. He contrasted America with Sao Paolo, where outdoor advertising is banned. He even bought ads from schools who sell banners to make up for budget cuts.

Sporting a special suit, emblazoned with the logos of all his sponsors, Spurlock hit the Sundance Film Festival. This is all part of the film too. The product placement continues in the marketing of the movie. He even pre-recorded a Jimmy Kimmel Live segment that will air the first week of April, and used a clip of the segment in the film. Wearing his funding on his sleeve, literally, is all part of the fun in Spurlock's style of social commentary.

SG: After ravaging your body and going after bin Laden, did you want to tackle a lighter subject?

MS: Yeah, I mean I thought this film was just a smart fun way to get into a topic that literally affects all of us. Advertising and marketing is something that affects all of our lives every day. One thing I think this film does really well, at least did for me is change the way I look at marketing and advertising. I think what will happen after this film, people who see it will start to recognize how often they’re targeted or how often they’re being pushed to buy or consume.

SG: Where did that KFC commercial you found, about how healthy their fried chicken is, actually air?

MS: Isn’t that amazing? It aired here in the states. I don’t even remember where we pulled that from but it was remarkable, right?

SG: Where did they put that on TV that they thought anyone would believe fried chicken is healthy?

MS: I hope someplace that really needs that good healthy living like California.

SG: Will the Kimmell segment you shot be on his show?

MS: It’ll air in April when the movie comes out. When I called him and said, “Here’s the movie we’re making. We’d love to shoot this bit to be in the film” and he said, “Absolutely. We’d love to help you out.” So we went on his show, told the audience this is for a film that’s coming out next year. Don’t tell anybody what we talked about. Literally no one tweeted about it. Nobody put it on Facebook. It was amazing. Then we put that in the film and that will be on television when the film comes out.

SG: We see in the film that a lot of corporations that turn you down just when they heard your name. Since when are you so controversial? You just did a McDonald’s documentary.

MS: Yeah, worked out great for them. Look how great it worked for those guys. Their stock’s through the roof.

SG: But you’re not Michael Moore going to corporate headquarters and doing stunts.

MS: Sure, but I think from a corporate standpoint, they look at it as the film did skewer McDonald’s in a lot of ways and take them to task. I think their fear was suddenly we’re going to be the bad guy. I think brands were worried about suddenly being the bad person in this film. Which I think the brands that are in this film come off great because they look like they actually had some confidence in who they are and also in the ability of us to tell a great story.

SG: Why do corporations think this is a secret? Like we don’t know?

MS: I think that there are people within the industry who know that it happens a lot. I put it all, in a lot of ways, when I look at it like Super Size Me, that Super Size Me affected a lot of people. It changed the way they eat. This is a lot in the same way. It’s like if you haven’t heard, fast food’s bad for you. Oh my gosh, yeah, you’re being marketed to all the time and here’s how. I think this film does start to make you realize, and it did for me over the course of making it, literally everywhere where you’re being sold to. I’m so much more attuned to it because I see it everywhere I go, whether it’s on a plane or in a car or even in a restroom where there’s a sign up, which there’s not one here thank goodness. There’s no advertising actually in the bathroom here.

SG: But this is the Bing lounge where we're doing this interview. Even the Sundance press room is sponsored.

MS: Yeah, the whole place is a commercial. We’re actually sitting in a commercial right now. It says it over there, it says it over there.

SG: But you helped the school system by buying ads.

MS: That’s exactly right. I was helping out the school system. I was doing my part as a citizen to help make that school better.

SG: I was not aware they sold ads in schools. Let’s encourage citizens to help contribute to the school budgets.

MS: Well, I think that’s a great idea. For me, I think there’s a way to tie in things on a local level, and maybe this film will do that. Maybe it’ll start a conversation to get some of the stuff out of schools and start to get some other type of support from a local community level. People don’t want to pay more taxes, especially local people. When there’s initiatives to raise more money to go to local schools, it always gets voted down in referendums across the country. So what are these school districts supposed to do? The people who ultimately always have the most money seem to be corporations.

SG: Was Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden a success?

MS: I thought it was a success. I like that film very much. I’ve seen countless people here and people who talk about how much they enjoyed the film and how it made them look at the world differently. It’s a good question as to why that film wasn’t received the way it was, whether it came down to it was too much of a conversation, did it not hit things the way people wanted to? If it had been released a little differently, would it have made a difference? Who knows? But I personally am proud of that film and I’m proud of the people who show it. For me, one of the things I really wanted that film to also do is be shown in schools and for kids to really open a conversation, which Super Size Me is shown in health classes all across the country and I’ve spoken to history teachers in middle school and high school who show that to kids to start a conversation about global culture and global politics, which is great.

SG: Did the film make the point you were hoping to make?

MS: Yeah, I think at the end of the day to realize that there are people around the world who look at the world differently but aren’t much different from us, that there are people who have the same hopes and dreams as me as a parent all around the world. To be reminded of that I think is a good thing. Somebody with a kid loves their kid.

SG: Have you followed the Red State protests going on at Sundance?

MS: Oh no, what’s happening? Is it the Westboro Baptist Church, the “God hates fags” guys?

SG: The very same.

MS: This is the first I’ve even heard that there were protests. I feel so out of the loop now. I feel like I completely missed it. To be Kevin Smith, I’m sure Kevin Smith is relishing in the fact that that’s happening because you couldn’t be getting better press or attention than over something like that. I would love to see that film. I love Kevin Smith. I think he’s so fantastically smart and funny, but it’s like how could you be upset about that.

SG: What is it that there are multiple films coming out where filmmakers are exploring that issue with a homophobic villain?

MS: I think a lot of it comes back to the push for gay rights, especially for marriage rights in the United States right now. That really state by state and nationwide is continuing to be a real topic of discussion. I think that that’s what these things are being hinged upon or that’s what they’re stemming from is the fear that’s being associated with that or the anger that’s being associated with that. From my standpoint, I don't know who gets really affected by that. It’s like what’s the big deal?

SG: When you see a hateful protest, whatever your position, wouldn't you just want to say, "Okay, those anti-gay people are so awful and hateful, let's not be like those people?"

MS: For me it’s like when I see the folks from Westboro Baptist Church, I’m just like they’re crazy. The level of insanity that comes out of the stuff they protest and their message is nuts. It’s completely disconnected from humanity and morality. That’s why I love everywhere they ever are, there’s always a counter protest to their protest which I think is the best thing that could happen.

The Greatest Movie Ever Sold is in theaters April 22.