A supporting character could easily slip into the background on a show like Fringe, but Jasika Nicole makes sure that doesn’t happen. She plays Astrid Farnsworth, lab assistant to Walter Bishop (John Noble). She’s there whenever Walter is explaining the crazy science of the week, and she provides... more

A supporting character could easily slip into the background on a show like
Fringe, but Jasika Nicole makes sure that doesn’t happen. She plays Astrid Farnsworth, lab assistant to Walter Bishop (John Noble). She’s there whenever Walter is explaining the crazy science of the week, and she provides a confidante for the eccentric scientist.
If you haven’t been following Fringe, here’s my best attempt to catch you up for this interview. The Fringe team – Walter, Olivia (Anna Torv) and Peter (Joshua Jackson) – discovered an alternate universe. Over There, the other Bishop, dubbed Walternate, wants to destroy our universe. He sent Olivia from his world, Fauxlivia, to get close to our Peter, which she did. Now our Olivia is back to sort out the mess of cross-dimensional travel and Peter’s feelings. There’s also an Astrid Over There, and even some alternate copies of characters who died in our universe.
While most of the Fringe crew was shooting in Vancouver, Nicole could take a few days off in Los Angeles for a working party. Fox held their twice yearly party for the Television Critics Association at Villa Sorriso restaurant in Pasadena. Dressed up in white, Nicole roamed from courtyard to indoor bar to corner alcove throughout the night. It was near the desert station that I finally caught up with Nicole. She’d seen me tailing her throughout the night but kept getting stuck in other conversations with Fringe fans. To reward me for my persistence, Nicole stood up from a corner seat, stepped up close to be heard by my little recorder and revealed there's more to her than just Astrid Farnsworth.
SG: Are there any cool Astrid stories coming up?
JN: There is one that I actually haven’t talked about to anyone yet, because it’s kind of tricky to describe it without giving anything away. Anyway, in the alternate universe there is a gentleman that is introduced and you’ve actually seen him before. Astrid kind of flirts with him a little bit and it’s really awkward because Astrid has Asperger's so she’s not very attuned to the social graces that everyone else has. So it’s really funny to see her maybe be attracted to someone or maybe she’s just interested and she’s fascinated by him but you’ve never seen her be like that with anyone before. So that’s kind of the most exciting thing that we’ve done with alternate Astrid at this point, during episode 15. Beyond that, your guess is as good as mine.
SG: So it’s Other Astrid and someone from over there?
JN: Yes, correct.
SG: Not Our Astrid with someone from Over There.
JN: Oh, that would be really cool. That’s my other theory as a good storyline for the show that isn’t happening. You know the guy who runs the bowling alley and Olivia would go and see him? I think he’s going to come back, be reintroduced to us and it’s very possible that he has some kind of connection with the observers. I don't know the details of it but he might be beyond our realm of comprehension at this point. So I want Astrid, because I really want her to have a love interest, I think that he should be the guy. Since nobody else is coming forward to be invited into the show and be her love interest. I’ll just take whatever we have left.
SG: You do have a good way of getting your moments with Walter. You don’t sink into the background.
JN: Thank you very much. I really appreciate that. That was a lot of work on our part. I think our relationship in real life kind of led into the storyline of it because we became such good friends and we had such a good time together, it was kind of the inevitable thing for them to build this trusting relationship with each other.
SG: Do you get more screen time Over There or Over Here?
JN: Oh, I would say Over Here. Definitely Over Here. I want to see more of Astrid Over There just because she is so different. I think her, even more so than this Astrid, I want to see what it’s like in her apartment and how she lives. It’s got to be meticulously put together and super organized. At least that’s my imaginings of it.
SG: I know Eric Stoltz WAS in Back to the Future over there. I wonder how many other movies were different.
JN: Oh yeah, there are so many. Actually, I’m not sure but I feel like you will see something. The episode we’re doing now is number 15. It’s a flashback. It was at one point called “Aftermath” and it pretty much picks up from where the last flashback left off. So you’re with the doctor, but you’re with him in both universes. So now one doctor doesn’t have a son anymore and he’s having to deal with that, and then this doctor has a son and he’s trying to get him back to the other side. Or is he? You don’t really know because he falls in love with him.
SG: Don’t you have to say “Or is he?” about everything on Fringe?
JN: Oh yeah, I totally do. It should be: “Or is he…?” at the end of everything.
SG: So it’s dot dot dot, then the question mark?
JN: Yes, that’s how it goes.
SG: Not ???, not ?...
JN: No, no exclamation points either, just … It’s like a really soft subtle, hmm?
SG: I’ve done exclamation points sometimes.
JN: You’ve got to take them out. You can’t use those anymore. I’m sorry.
SG: What other episodes have you gotten to stand out in?
JN: Not a whole lot lately. Unfortunately. And as much as I want to be a bigger part of it, I totally respect that the story is not about Astrid and it doesn’t need to be. It’s a great story so sometimes I get frustrated and I wish that I was doing more but I love the story that we’re telling and I don't think that it should be told in a different way and when it’s Astrid’s time to shine or come in or something and do something more than you’ve seen her before, then it will be beautiful.
SG: Were you happy you got to be involved in Peter and Olivia talking about Other Olivia, give advice and be a shoulder to cry on?
JN: I loved that scene and actually, after we did the scene, they said, “Oh yeah, we’re going to put in a lot more Astrid/Olivia scenes.” Which I haven’t seen yet but it’s only 15 but it makes sense for the two female characters who work with each other to have some kind of a bond. It hasn’t ever been established before so I’m hoping that there will be more of that because Olivia’s kind of freaking out right now. As well she should be. She’s been through more traumatic situations than anybody can count on a hand. And Astrid, that’s her job, at least in this universe. Her job is to be the confidante to everybody. My ideas is that in 20 years she’s going to write a memoir. She’s going to tell everybody’s secrets because Walter talks to her, Peter talks to her, Olivia talks to her. She’s got all the juicy gossip.
SG: What is your life like? You’re on the show every episode but you have down time.
JN: Well, I’m an illustrator so I’ve been doing a lot of work lately. I’ve been trying to appreciate the time that I have off. Anyway, I spend a lot of my time drawing and I’ve been asked to be a part of a couple of books that are stories about growing up or being a kid. I’m submitting comics for them and was asked to contribute some comics. So I’m super excited to do that. I’m trying to use my time wisely when I’m not working on the show.
SG: That's a good use of down time. You could even do that on the set in between takes.
JN: I have. I have brought my sketchbooks. I’ve brought my inking implements and my paper and drawn while I was on set before. It’s not too far away from my reality.
SG: Is there a publisher putting those out?
JN: Well, one of the books is called The Letter Q. I have no idea who the publisher was but this woman wrote me because she wanted to put together a compilation of poems and artwork and writings that are kind of a response to the rash of gay suicides that we had a couple months back. So she wanted people to say, “If I could speak to myself when I was younger, this is what I would say.” So I’m going to do a comic about that. I have no idea who the publisher was or if it’s going to be a big book or anything. I’m just excited to be a part of it. Then the other one does have a publisher, I don’t know the name of it. It’s about what does it mean to be a grown-up. So I’m working on all these things about the duality of being an adult versus a kid, which is really strange that it’s happening at the same time.
SG: Every generation goes through this. Why doesn’t the next generation tell us, “Don’t worry about high school. You’ll grow up to be successful and the haters won’t.”
JN: And you know what? I was talking to people about this recently. I don't know if my high school self would hear that and believe it. I think that it’s so far beyond comprehending, it’s too hard to get out of that moment. It sucks and I feel like all we can do is acknowledge it and convince them that it will get better but it’s not going to be better for them at that moment. They’re still going to have to go through the shitty high school years because that’s just how it is.
SG: I certainly would have believed that high school would remain shitty.
JN: You just didn’t think that it would get better when you got older?
SG: I might not have believed it would get this good, but I knew I would do something. I was preparing for real life, so I didn’t care what happened in school.
JN: Do you think that you would have wanted to know in concrete terms? Is there kind of a thrill to live your life and discover it?
SG: That’s the dilemma. Knowing might have removed the need to try as hard as I did.
JN: I know, it’s a tricky little thing so all I know is the story I’m going to tell but I can’t wait to see what other people have to say about that.
SG: How do you draw? Can you learn or you just have it?
JN: I’ve just done it. I have a comic about how I used to draw when I was in preschool. Don’t be offended by this. I would draw naked pictures of my mom only because she was the only person I’d ever seen naked and I thought it was so cool because I knew we were both people but she looked so different. It wasn’t graphic. It was two big dots then a little dot and a lot of squiggly lines down there. That was it but I would draw them for kids in my class. They were like, “Will you draw me a picture of your mom?” So I’d draw them a naked picture and I was like peddling pornography in my preschool class. I got caught and I got in trouble but I’ve been drawing since then. It’s always been a way for me to feel satisfied, creative and it’s even more important now that I’m a part of a television show where I have a very small voice. It’s nice to have something that is still a creative outlet that I have complete control over and everything looks how I want it to look and that’s okay.
SG: Some people just sit and start drawing and it makes a picture.
JN: I don't know how other people do it but for me I just start with a line and something comes out. I never have an idea of how I want it to look unless it’s a comic. With those, I have pictures of panels where I’ve done thumbnails and I want it to look that way, but before I started doing comics, I would just doodle and it would turn into something that was funny or neat and pretty.
Fringe airs Fridays at 9 on Fox.

The ultimate Community fan encounter might be to be a guest on “Troy and Abed in the Morning” at Greendale Community College. I’ll settle for evening empanadas with Danny Pudi. At NBC’s party for the Television Critics Association, I found Pudi mingling early in the night. We found a corner table... more

The ultimate Community fan encounter might be to be a guest on “Troy and Abed in the Morning” at Greendale Community College. I’ll settle for evening empanadas with Danny Pudi. At NBC’s party for the Television Critics Association, I found Pudi mingling early in the night. We found a corner table to sit at for an interview, and grabbed the hors d’oeuvres that came by.
Very quickly into Community’s premiere, Abed became a scene stealer. His socially awkward deadpan comments pointed out any TV cliché the show would fall into. By episode two, he and Donald Glover made Troy and Abed the standout duo who would close each show during the credits.
Abed remains responsible for much of the show’s meta humor. Abed’s perspective turned the show into stop motion animation for the Christmas episode, and he explained the term “bottle episode” for audiences. It meant the entire cast stays in one location, often used by shows to save costs on other sets.
The sit down interview with Pudi quickly became a meta analysis of interviews. I had some questions prepared but his tangents were more interesting so I followed them. He asked me several questions about my week covering the new TV lineup and yes, he really does talk that fast in real life.
Danny Pudi: You’re named after one of my favorite characters. Well, favorite people.
SG: Wait, a real person or a fictional character?
DP: Well, it’s a real person who plays a role in one of my favorite TV shows from the ‘80s.
SG: Fred from the ‘80s. Is it Fred Dryer?
DP: Yeah, Hunter. I love Hunter.
SG: Fred Willard once told me there’s a Fred club for people named Fred.
DP: Like Flintstone?
SG: No, for real people.
DP: Like everyone? There’s a Fred Club. Wow, there’s not that many Freds. There’s a lot of Dannys. A Danny club would be always to the max.
SG: You spell it differently though, don’t you?
DP: I spell it D-A-N-N-Y. People spell it D-A-N-I frequently because I think they see P-U-D-I and symmetrically they think D-A-N-I P-U-D-U. It’s fine. I actually like both. I think it’s creative and I don’t mind. You can call me Dani Pudi all you want, with an I.
SG: Have you always been a rapid talker?
DP: You know, a little bit, yeah. I think that that’s sort of my energy. I’ve always been a little bit of running around a little bit, can’t sit down, can’t sit still. “Lack of focus” was frequently stated by my teachers through grade school, that kind of stuff. I think also through the show right now, I’m in a rhythm too playing Abed that to me that’s a very fun thing about playing Abed. Not just the world around him but his rapid speech, or the rapid speech patterns because there isn’t a filter and it’s very much processing and stating, a lot of that.
SG: Do you think they mistake lack of focus for just not caring?
DP: Teachers? [Laughs] Here’s the thing. I do care. I think that people do care, but I don't think they’re like, “Oh, I just don’t care about social studies. Who cares about the Byzantine Empire? I don’t care about them.” It’s more of like, “Oh my gosh, did you see that flower? I care more about that.” Constantly looking for that thing that you can connect with.
SG: You’re a better student than I was. I just didn’t care about history or English. Give me music or movies and I’ll focus.
DP: [Laughs] I completely agree and I think that’s a real struggle. For me I always had a good time in school but a lot of it, I was not doing great in class, not fulfilling potential because I had more fun learning from friends or talking to buddies or reading something else or talking about a TV show, that kind of stuff. Until you find the one thing that you really like, there’s a lot of aimless kind of stuff that can be like not caring, but it can also be like teachers can be like, “God, just get him out of my class.”
SG: I know ADD is true because they play music in between press sessions here, because God forbid we should be alone with our thoughts for 10 minutes. Then it’s hard for me to focus on writing during the breaks.
DP: [Laughs] What was the music, anything good?
SG: NBC was better than others. They had a Rooney song.
DP: Oh, okay, that’s pretty good. So every network gets their own playlist? Oh wow.
SG: I noticed a lot of Disney artists at
ABC.
DP: So subtle, like Disney sense coming in, Mickey’s running in serving you stuff. I’m trying to think of what my good play list would be for a day like this. Today I’d need some adrenaline.
SG: It still repeats. Even when it’s good there's only maybe an hour's worth of songs.
DP: Awww, and then you’re just like, “Okay, this is the third time I’ve listened to…" I don't know, I’m trying to think what would be good today. I like XX. Do you like The XX?
SG: I don't know them.
DP: “Heart Skips a Beat,” great song. “VCRs.” It’s good, it’s a British band. I’m into them right now. That would be good because there’s some mellow stuff sprinkled with enough stuff that you’re just like, “Oh yeah, get me going a little bit.” So look for that one your next playlist.
SG: Oxygen gave us an iTunes gift card so I can download them.
DP: Nice, well get The XX, get Jones Street Station. They’re really good if you like bluegrass music. Then Kanye’s new album, right? Come on.
SG: I’d peg you for more of a collector that you’d want the actual CD.
DP: I have Kanye’s CD. I have The XX CD. I have Jones Street’s CD but I don’t
recommend people go get the CD. I understand the nature of the world right now and I understand people are busy, but I also understand that you can do it right now. You can
literally download it right now with your phone.
SG: But if I get the CD and put it on iPod, I can sell the used CD to someone else.
DP: Uh-oh, I am not endorsing this. I am not endorsing this behavior.
SG: That’s not illegal. You’re allowed to sell your used items.
DP: Here’s what you can do with that too. You can take that CD, put it in your car,
use it as your car playlist but first download it into your iTunes or whatever. Then you have it on your laptop. Then you can buy other CDs, blank CDs, burn them, burn that for your friends and be like, “Hey, have you heard Robyn’s new CD, the Swedish pop artist? She’s excellent. Here, have that.” But you still have Robyn in your car, you still have Robyn on your laptop and now your friend has Robyn. Everyone wants some Robyn.
SG: Now I have to look her up.
DP: She’s really great, with a Y.
SG: What was the moment that you and Donald Glover realized something clicked about Troy and Abed?
DP: It was pretty early. I mean, a lot of this as Dan [Harmon] says, there’s not a
lot of planning out here. Things are just happening and Dan and the writers are incredibly gifted and geniuses at capturing that. They’re capturing what’s happening right now and I think Donald and I just kinda clicked. We got each other, we had fun and we like making
each other laugh and we like not paying attention and talking about something. All of a
sudden we were doing a hobo bit or whatever it is. We would just sit there and for the next 15 minutes we’d be doing a bit while we should’ve been working, but we also realize this is valuable. That time spent goofing around with your friends is so valuable, it’s just as valuable as the time on screen because you’re building a relationship that’s going to be shown on television. I think people see it. All my friends or people I run into are just like, “Dude, Troy and Abed, you guys gotta be real friends in real life.” And I’m like, yeah. You can feel that through the TV when people get along. We just like to get along.
SG: You hear that about Donald Faison and Zach Braff on Scrubs too.
DP: And it shows. It really shows. It just makes it so much easier when you’re shooting long episodes and doing crazy stuff when you trust each other, number one. When we’re doing an episode about zombies and we’re chasing zombies, things like that and we don’t really know what’s going on, but when I’m with Donald, there’s such a level of trust where I’m like we’ll figure it out. We’ll figure it out whatever we’re going to do and at the end of the day, it’ll be funny. We’ll eventually figure it out. The tags too at the end of every episode, I feel like there’s an extra day or half day where Donald and I get to work together where we get to just really goof around. That’s awesome when we’re working a lot of hours, it can be tiring, to be able to just be a kid for 10 minutes is incredible.
SG: Do you hang out off the set?
DP: We do. I helped him move when he moved initially. I just saw his
I Am Donald show in Los Angeles at the
El Rey which is great. I mean, he is an incredibly busy guy so Donald’s touring a lot doing his standup comedy and I’m married so my wife gets mad at me if I’m not at home when I’m off set. But we do find time to hang out but the majority of time is we’re on set because we see each other more than anybody. We’re on set together five days a week, 15 hour days. It’s fun but we spend most of our lives together so it’s a true, real bromance.
SG: The knowledge at Abed’s disposal makes me wonder: What is your DVD collection like? What’s in heavy rotation?
DP: Okay, so right now in my DVD collection I have Shaun of the Dead, one of my all time favorite comedies. Huge fan of that movie. I have the Indiana Jones trilogy. I don’t have it on Blu-ray but I think it’s going to be out on Blu-ray soon hopefully. And I saw Back to the Future’s out on Blu-ray by the way which is awesome, but Indiana Jones is my favorite movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark. That whole trilogy was monumental to me and I wish there were more movies like that that blended action, comedy, everything together. There’s so many beautiful moments in Raiders of the Lost Ark that I’m in awe of. What else? Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I have a Polish trilogy called Blue, White, Red which is really great. I have Almost Famous, big fan of that movie.
SG: And these are movies you pop in every now and then?
DP: Yeah, these are all movies I can watch repeatedly. Those are off the top of my
head that I love. And of course Dark Knight because that’s just incredible, one of my favorite movies.
SG: Isn’t it amazing to watch a recent movie become that classic as we live through
it?
DP: Completely. The first time I saw that movie it was one of those movies where you’re turning your head to look to someone next to you the whole time. The sweeping shots on the rooftop, the joker, the quotes. There’s so many moments where you’re looking around being like, “Did you see that?” where I knew immediately after I saw it in a theater, I was like, “I need to watch this again and again.”
SG: Do you have it on Blu-ray?
DP: I don’t, no.
SG: Oh, you need that because the Imax scenes open up to the full TV frame.
DP: Wow. I need to get that. That’s a definite. I have to confess, I actually just hooked up my Blu-ray player only about a month ago. I just watched another one of my
favorite movies I actually have on Blu-ray, Children of Men. Have you seen that?
SG: Of course!
DP: One of the best movies ever, so that and City of God kind of rotate on my “best hard movie to watch” list. They’re very difficult movies to watch, with very difficult subject matter but god, do I love both of them.
SG: Do you have any DVDs that you don’t really like but you can’t get rid of it?
DP: Hmm. Probably. Movies that I don’t know about, that’s a really good question. I don’t know if I have any. If I buy a movie, it tends to be a movie that I really connect with and I can watch repeatedly.
SG: If you’re married, how often can you have Danny’s movie night?
DP: [Laughs] Well, I can have it any night I want but it has to be after my wife goes to bed, so it’s always at like two in the morning. I just watched True Grit the other day after my wife went to sleep. I thought I was going to fall asleep but I was awake the whole time and I’m a huge Coen Brothers fan.
SG: So that was a screener of the new version.
DP: I got my hands on the screener. The whole time I was watching I was like, “This is great.” I also know the movies that my wife will not like. She’s not really big into westerns. She’s not really big into movies that I actually kind of like, there are some good ones like The Mummy.
SG: The Brendan Fraser Mummy?
DP: Uh-huh.
SG: I thought that was the second coming of Indiana Jones, the first one.
DP: I did too. I’m a fan of that. Even National Treasure. That movie’s just a
fun movie. I just thought it was fun. What else? Matrix. There’s a lot of good ones.
I could talk about movies all day.
SG: Are you a Tron guy? Were you excited when Tron Legacy came out?
DP: Haven’t seen Tron yet actually. I have a list. We’ve been working a lot through the holidays. We had a couple weeks off at the holidays so I’m kind of at a backlog right now. I saw Black Swan which I really enjoyed. I saw True Grit, I saw Winter’s Bone. I’m trying to think of any other award contenders. I haven’t seen Tron yet but I can’t wait to see it. I saw the trailer for it like a billion times which is interesting, to already go into a movie like I’ve seen the trailer so many times, but I can’t wait.
SG: I missed your whole background episode. What didn’t I see?
DP: You missed Abed giving birth. You missed the whole backstory with Abed and the girl and her boyfriend and the delivery. There’s a little bit of confusion as to are they fighting over who’s the boyfriend or are they fighting over who’s delivering the baby? It becomes this really fun background story which is another one of those things that the writers sprinkle in to be like hey, there’s always stuff going on in Greendale’s campus.
SG: Was the religion episode profound for you to film?
DP: It really was. I grew up catholic. I was an altar boy. To me that was terrifying to play Jesus because I was like oh, man, my mom’s going to be very angry.
SG: Well, it wasn’t necessarily Jesus.
DP: Exactly but I just thought it was a beautiful thing to see Abed kind of get immersed in this whole film within the film and embrace the meta thing to also realize, there are just some wonderful lines in that where Shirley’s like, “Yeah, I love Charlie Kaufman but some of have to go to work” or “some of us have to go to sleep” or whatever it is. That to me was just really fun and I think any time I get Abed just to play a character like that, it’s just really a freeing kind of fun thing.
Community airs Thursday nights on NBC.

by Brett Warner Go to any Starbucks in New York or Los Angeles and you’re guaranteed to find yuppie after yuppie, hunched over their MacBooks, working on a “screenplay.” By “screenplay,” of course, I mean Facebook…or online poker…or SuicideGirls – hopefully. There are a lot of screenplays... more

by Brett Warner

Go to any Starbucks in New York or Los Angeles and you’re guaranteed to find yuppie after yuppie, hunched over their MacBooks, working on a “screenplay.” By “screenplay,” of course, I mean Facebook…or online poker…or SuicideGirls – hopefully. There are a lot of screenplays floating around out there, though, and only an infinitesimal percentage of them will ever make it to the big screen one day. Why? Because most of them are shit. 99% of them are makeshift, amateurishly conceived pats on the back. Most movies are bad, so writing a screenplay must by extension be a piece of cake, right? Yeah, no. Even the most bloated, awful Hollywood blockbusters start out with a good screenplay. Hard to believe, but it’s true.



The biggest misconception about screenwriting — other than it’s incredibly easy — is that it’s just creative writing with different formatting, when in reality, a script is closer in function to a blueprint for a house. It’s the instruction manual which is constantly referred to by the director, actors, cinematographers, set dressers, costume designers, editors, composers, and everybody else.

That said, anyone can learn how to build a better house. At the risk of enabling the competition, I’ve put together ten concise ways to take your well-intentioned crack at film writing and make it into something readable, workable, and (hopefully) filmable.



[Neyrissa in Movie Marathon]

Step 1. Watch a lot of movies.

It seems painfully obvious, but cannot be reiterated enough. The movies at your local multiplex, on your Netflix queue, in the bargain bin at Target, they all did something right. You can learn some invaluable do’s and don’ts from every type of film, everything from the stuffy Jane Austen adaptation to the latest torture porn sequel. Watch a lot of movies all the time and pay special attention to rhythm, tone, and dialogue.

Step 2. Read a few classic screenplays.

Also obvious, but pick a few films that you think really hit the spot and hunt down a copy of the screenplay. Soak in all the formatting choices and little nuances you can. Most likely, you’ll be surprised at how little of the eventual film is actually spelled out on the page. The best screenplays suggest the entire breadth of the finished film in as few lines as possible. Less is always more in a screenplay.

Step 3. You need an idea.

If somebody asks you what your screenplay is about and you start summarizing the plot, then your script is dead before the first INT. Start thinking about your story in looser, thematic terms. Is this a film about jealousy, about the plight of America’s working class, or about the personal struggle of a single mom with thirteen kids? Whatever it is, you need a concise, easy to verbalize idea that will thread itself through every character, scene, and line of dialogue. A script is not supposed to be real life — everything is there to serve an ultimate dramatic purpose. If you can’t sum up the “big idea” of your screenplay in a sentence or two, then it doesn’t have one.

Step 4. Pick your audience.

When writing a screenplay, you must constantly have two sets of people on either shoulder constantly keeping you in check: the people that will eventually be reading this thing, and the dopey idiots sitting in the theater watching it. The first group reads a thousand scripts a day, usually gets bored halfway through page one and tosses it out before turning to page two. Throw out any notions that your screenplay will be a meticulously paced, gradually escalating thrill to read — you need to fucking astound right away. The first page of your screenplay needs to be the most exciting page you’ll ever write in your life. Which isn’t to say that every movie needs to start out with a dead body landing in the middle of Fifth Avenue or a massive explosion or something, but you need to set up right away what’s going to attract producers and talent to this project. Your “big idea” needs to be there in those first few lines of screen action.

Secondly, you have to be able to visualize this screenplay as a finished film. Who’s going to want to see it? Ideally, everyone, but take the time to imagine what demographic your story will resonate with. What rating will it have? Try to picture who’s going to give a shit about your movie — if you can’t, you’re going to have a hard time selling your script down the road.

Step 5. Understand the Three/Five Act Structure.

This is the part that amateur writers really don’t like, but I cannot reiterate enough that a screenplay is like a tightly wound watch — it must have a consistent rhythm and ruthlessly precise structure. There’s no absolute rule as to how many acts your story needs, but certain things have to happen at certain times. For example, act one in every film occurs with the presentation of the dramatic problem. Could happen five minutes in, could happen halfway through, but there is always a dramatic problem and the first act’s purpose is build the bedrock for that conflict. Classic Agatha Christie example: somebody in the mansion gets killed. There’s Act One. Act Two consists of all the examining and questioning and investigating. Characters suspect one another, accusations get thrown, motivations get acted upon — all that exciting stuff. Act Three is the final execution of an attempt to solve the conflict. (i.e. They find the murderer… or they don’t.)

Blah blah blah…the point being that Dorothy doesn’t wake up back in Kansas halfway through The Wizard of Oz, nor does the tornado scoop up her house before she sings “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” Even the hardest to follow films follow the same basic structural principles. Watch a lot of films, read a lot of screenplays, and you’ll begin to understand why “the happy ending” always comes at the end.

Step 6. Know everyone’s motivations.

It’s extremely important to understand why your characters are going to say what they say and do what they do. No one does anything without a self-serving motivation – it’s not being cynical, it’s simply true. Feeding the poor makes you feel good, robbing the bank will help you pay your bills, etc. So throughout every scene and every single line of dialogue, you have to keep in mind what each character’s goals are and how he/she is going about trying to obtain them. We don’t do random dramatic things without reason, so your characters shouldn’t be either.

Step 7. Don’t write awful dialogue.

When you have a moment, stop and listen to two random people talking to one another. It will astonish you how dissimilar it is to movie dialogue — in real life, people never say what they actually mean and very rarely does one line of dialogue follow logically from another. When you’re having a chat with somebody and they’re telling a story about their summer vacation, you’re mentally preparing your own follow-up: you’ll tell them about your own vacation, or a different story that happened at that vacation spot, or why you don’t like vacationing, etc. There is meaning behind everything we say, and that needs to happen on screen for your characters to be at all believable. No break-up scene should ever start out with the beyond-blunt line “I want to break up with you.” No, it starts out with “Jim, I think we should take a few minutes to just talk.”

Additionally, people have their own unique voice. No two people talk with the same rhythm, or with the same word choice and mannerisms. So each of your characters should have their own style of dialogue, a style that says something about who they are. The shell-shocked army vet, the illiterate prostitute, and the boisterous Congressman are not going to talk the same way, so write their dialogue accordingly.

Step 8. Write an honest ending.

A lot of moviegoers won’t accept anything other than a happy, loose-ends-free ending. As a writer, your only obligation in how you end the damn thing is to be honest and loyal to what you’ve been trying to say throughout the entire film. Apocalypse Now is about the surreal, spiritually crippling horrors of war, and appropriately ends with Martin Sheen putting down his weapon and walking away. Don’t write a happy ending if you don’t need one. Like I said, your characters are self-motivated little bastards and shouldn’t always get what they want. Just stay true to your “big idea” and the ending will present itself to you.

Step 9. Revise and rewrite.

Seriously, no screenplay in the history of movie making ever went straight from first draft to production. Your first draft will be garbage, guaranteed. There will be plot holes, characters will say things that don’t ever pay off, you’ll have a character with a gun but forget to have them pick it up, etc. The point is to just finish a draft and have something to work with. By the time it’s finished, your screenplay will be the tightest piece of machinery you’ve ever seen. No line of dialogue or direction will be wasted, every single word will be carefully chosen, and anyone reading your screenplay will be able to keenly visualize a finished film.

Step 10. Share it with somebody who knows this stuff.

Your mom and your boyfriend are not the best people to ask for an honest critique. Share it with somebody in the film business, or a fellow screenwriter, or anybody who understands the specific set of rules that a screenplay must follow to get an idea of how well yours is coming along. Be sure to copyright EVERY draft (you can do it by online or by mail for a few bucks courtesy of the WGA – and you don’t even need to be a member) before you send it around unless you want to see a line of your dialogue or even your entire story raking in millions without your name anywhere on it. Most of all, don’t be discouraged. If screenwriting is something you really want to pursue, then take it seriously enough to fuck up enough times before you start to stand up straight with it.

Remember: movies can be awful, but a screenplay has to be great. Otherwise, Anthony Hopkins will never agree to star in it.

Woke up with this playing in my brainz ... and very late, too =P(video)

by Blogbot (image) This past Saturday Sash and Milloux Suicide modelled for a special two hour live figure drawing session at Gallery Nucleus to celebrate the opening of their Poster Peepshow exhibition, which features pin up art from the past and present. Olivia De Berardinis, whose work is prominently... more

by Blogbot



This past Saturday Sash and Milloux Suicide modelled for a special two hour live figure drawing session at Gallery Nucleus to celebrate the opening of their Poster Peepshow exhibition, which features pin up art from the past and present.

Olivia De Berardinis, whose work is prominently featured in the group show, signed copies of her books, while boutique Central Coast winery Sort This Out Cellars poured their suave Rat Pack-inspired libations. Julie Newmar (the original Catwoman), glamour gal about town Lenora Claire, our own Lauren Suicide, and Runaways producer Kim Fowley were also in attendance.

For more images from the night visit our photo gallery.

The not to be missed exhibition, which features rare vintage originals from pin up masters Art Frahm, Rolf Armstrong, K.O. Munson, Al Moore and Al Buell, alongside contemporary works from Olivia De Berardinis, Craig Elliott, Lawrence Noble, Jim, Silke, Stuntkid, and Dean Yeagle, among others, will run through February 28th.

What: Poster Peepshow: The Art of The Pin Up

Where: Gallery Nucleus, 210 East Main Street, Alhambra, CA 91801

When: February 5th thru 28th

Info: 626-458-7482 / 626-458-7477 / www.GalleryNucleus.com

by SG’s Team Agony feat. Casca, Perdita, and Shotgun Let us answer life’s questions – because great advice is even better when it comes from SuicideGirls. (image) [Casca in Professor] Q: My question is one that plagues almost anyone who is interested in someone else: should I keep trying or should... more

by SG’s Team Agony feat. Casca, Perdita, and Shotgun

Let us answer life’s questions – because great advice is even better when it comes from SuicideGirls.



[Casca in Professor]

Q: My question is one that plagues almost anyone who is interested in someone else: should I keep trying or should I just give up? About 3 months ago I met a girl that I have fallen madly in love with. She is a few years older than me and works at a music store that I went in to. Fom that day on I have dreamed about her every night that I have slept. Every weekend since then I have found reasons to go in there and buy something just so I could talk to her. I gave her concert tickets a few weeks after meeting her (I had to work that night so I couldn’t use them) and she gave me her phone number. I texted her the next day to ask her if she enjoyed the concert, and she replied back telling me she did.

Here is the problem. Any time I go in there I feel that things are good between us. I feel that we are friends as we joke around and talk. However, when I would ask her if she wanted to hang out or have lunch she would tell me that she would text me to let me know, but would never actually do so. Or she would tell me to text her, and then I wouldn’t get a reply. I have told her that I was interested in her as more than a friend, and I asked her if she had a boyfriend. She told me that she didn’t have one, but that she “wasn’t really looking for one now,” and that we could still be friends.

To me she is my dream girl. She is smart, funny, cute, artistic and musical, and perfect to me. I would do anything in my power to be perfect for her. I don’t know if I should I keep going in there to try to hang out with her, or if I should just give up and forget about her? I want to be friends with her, but according to my friends she hasn’t shown any interest in me. However, when I go in to see her, I feel that there may be something there and there is a part of me that tells me that she is worth fighting for. I know this sounds like high school drama, but it has been driving me crazy.

Hopeless Romantic



A: Dear Hopeless Romantic,

The way I see it is you have two choices, ask her out or leave it and just carry on being friends. From what you have said it does sound like she wants to keep your relationship as just friends. I get that impression from the fact that she doesn’t return your texts or want to hang out outside of her work. Is it possible that because of the way you feel about her you are reading signs that aren’t there?

On the other had, she might just be really shy. She might want to hang out and text you but she doesn’t know what to say and feels awkward. I think the thing to consider here is what does she mean to you? Could you handle just staying friends or do you need to know if you have got something? Depending on how you feel I can see two options. Be up front with her, tell her how you feel and ask her if she is interested in you. Ether she will say yes or she will say no. Whether or not you do this really depends on if you are willing to risk loosing her in your life altogether, but you never know, she might say yes. The other option is to just see how things go, stay friends and get to know each other better and see if the relationship progresses on its own. She said that she wasn’t looking for a relationship right now, maybe she just needs some time. With this option you still get to have her in your life with the hope that a relationship might happen in the future.

I think it all boils down to how long are you willing to wait. If you need to know, then ask her out. If maintaining a friendship with her is more important, then take your time and see how it goes.

Wishing you all the best,

Casca

xx

***



[Perdita in Eames]

Q: I’m a 27 year old mother of three with a boyfriend that I’ve been with for four years. He is driving me nuts but he is the father of my youngest and he’s good with the kids. My question is about this other guy that I play video games with. He is a 28 year old single parent with two kids and we are really good friends. I can’t take my mind off him and that too is driving me nuts. I’m so torn up about what to do. I can really see myself with this guy but I don’t know if I’m fucking up by thinking about letting my boyfriend go (he has broke up with me like 30 times). I don’t know what to do? I REALLY WANT TO DO THE RIGHT THING! I can’t take this anymore. Please help!

A: Sweetheart, we’ve all been there. As the song goes, “If you can’t be with the one you love, honey, love the one you’re with.” It sounds like you may be looking for a way out, but it’s very easy to forget about the reality of large changes and get caught up in the fantasy of the end result.

I’m not saying that you should stay in your current relationship simply for the children or because it’s too much of a change for you to handle. From the sound of it, neither of you are 100% committed to – or happy with – this relationship. But if you think that your boyfriend is worth a second chance (and do give this some consideration, if only for your own sake), you should limit your contact with Mr. Xbox, at least for a few months. Absence does not actually make the heart grow fonder, and it will do you good to have some distance.

If you’re still on the fence about your current boyfriend, consider the number of times he has broken up with you. If he cannot seem to appreciate you or cannot seem to stay committed to you, it’s time to move on. HOWEVER do not immediately rush off into the arms of Mr. X, unless you want to forever doom him to rebound status. Now is the time to gather your thoughts and clear your head. Once you’ve taken some time for yourself by all means see if Mr. X wants to take the relationship to the next level. Whatever you choose, think it over, don’t rush into it and good luck!

Perdita

***



[Shotgun in In The Fog]

Q: I don’t often ask for advice, so I hope I am able to convey my dilemma clearly and accurately. I’ve been hanging out with this girl for four months now. We met through mutual friends at a Halloween event. We got along really well from the start, plenty of things in common, yada yada yada, but we also seem to be quite opposite in our knowledge bases, in a seeming yin and yang respect.

Now, she has some dark personal history in her past, which I’ve been around before with girls previously, so it’s nothing to scare me away (if that’s the right phrase). Due to this, we have had some fairly heavy talks with my trying to give advice and the like. We’ve also stayed up late chatting about things we would like to do career-wise and travel-wise. We also have been to various bars in LA and explored shops and cafes that she enjoys. I don’t get out much (if at all, part of our yin and yang I suppose) so these trips are insightful for me, and fun for her.

To get to the nitty gritty: when traveling back home after spending a weekend with her in SC and parting ways (she had a production job up there), I decided to call her and tell her I liked her (many hours later). It had been about two months at that time, too soon to tell her that perhaps, but I felt that the Fools and Angels in my mind were getting to be too much. Her reply was one of a few that I expected: she didn’t want to answer. Flash-forward to the beginning of this month, she laid it on me that she had been seeing someone for about a year, off and on. She didn’t sound definite about it – this was over IM – so I didn’t exactly feel devastated. The kicker is, the night before, we slept, platonically, together at her place. It was very nice and didn’t feel strange at all and the next day nothing felt awkward.

We’ve spent the night together another time, still platonically and spent the entire next day together on a pretty awesome road trip with a biker friend of mine and his buddies. At the end of the evening when I dropped her off, I thanked her for an amazing weekend and kissed her cheek- nothing was said nor done about it, and it felt alright. We’ve gone to more places and spent more time together, and have had a few more chats about life and everyday occurrences since then.

I am rather impatient when dealing with my life and have in the past waited and waited only to miss plenty of opportunities (ones I thought were there anyway). I also know that four months is not a long time. With that, I would like to broach the question of the current state of her “relationship” and, depending on that answer, ask about “us” and a possibility thereof. I will say that I am comfortable with what we have, but selfishly and honestly, I would like more. But the potential to ruin it all by asking, is what has been stopping me from doing so.

Sincerely,

Stuck in the Middle

A: Dear Stuck in the Middle,

This is tough. You haven’t known this person for very long, but they are comfortable sleeping next to you. However, this person hasn’t tried to make a move of any kind yet (any move – not just sexually). Also, I’m not sure what to think about her sleeping in bed with you when she had a boyfriend. Why didn’t she tell you that she had a boyfriend before she first did so?

In the end, I guess it comes down to if you’re willing to lose this friendship just to see if she does have feelings for you. I would maybe ask her about her relationship with her boyfriend. If she says good things, I wouldn’t mention anything to her yet about having a crush on her because she wouldn’t be likely to leave him and things would get awkward between you and her.

Do you have any mutual friends that you can talk to about her? If so, maybe try to find out if she says anything about you? If she says bad things about her boyfriend, or leaves him, then I would take action. Maybe mention to her that you’re compatible in a light-hearted way, and when she does something you like say to her “man, I gotta find me a girl that can do that” and see how she reacts. If she seems interested, mention to her that you like her a little more than a friend.

I hope this goes over well for you!!

Shotgun

xoxox

***

Got Problems? Let SuicideGirls’ crack team of Agony Aunts provide solutions. Email questions to: gotproblems@suicidegirls.com

Over the past five years, Austin rockers … And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead have broken from Interscope, put out a series of increasingly challenging and complex albums, and started operating under their own imprint, Richter Scale Records. It's been a tough ride for Trail of Dead, but... more

Over the past five years, Austin rockers … And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead have broken from Interscope, put out a series of increasingly challenging and complex albums, and started operating under their own imprint, Richter Scale Records. It's been a tough ride for Trail of Dead, but it's led them to their new LP, Tao of the Dead, which came together more easily than any record the band had ever done before. They finished it in just ten days.

Tao of the Dead is Trail of Dead's 7th full-length effort, featuring a slimmed-down four-person lineup of founding Trail members Conrad Keely and Jason Reese, lead guitarist Aaron Ford, and Midnight Masses frontman Autry Fulbright. They recorded the album in two parts, each with a different producer. Part I consists of 11 separate tracks, while part 2 is a continuous 16-minute track with six distinct movements. The Tao Te Ching, a classic Chinese text that dates back to the 6th century BC, provided a name for the record and the lyrics for part 2.

Trail's Conrad Keely is a visual artist as well as a musician -- his striking drawings appear on the band's album covers -- and he's releasing the beginning of a graphic novel along with Tao of the Dead. Listeners will have to draw their own connections between Keely's steampunk-tinged sci-fi story and Trail's music.

We talked to Keely and Fulbright about the making of Tao of the Dead, the influence of the Tao Te Ching, and Keely's new comics project.

Jay Hathaway:
Let's talk about your new album. How did it take shape into two different sides?

Conrad Keely:
It evolved that way. It was just natural that that was the right way to do it. We didn't have to talk about it or anything. It just kind of happened. That was the general experience with recording this record, as well.

JH:
Did you plan on bringing in two different producers for the two different sides? How did that happen?

CK:
We started one part with one producer -- our old producer, Chris Coady -- and he did part two with us. He did the basic track. But we always knew that we were going to do the full side with Frenchie [Chris "Frenchie" Smith], and I think the idea originally was that part 2 was going to be an EP, but instead we just made it part of the record.

JH:
So it just seemed like the two sides fit together naturally?

CK:
They fit together, but they're definitely separate. They're like two different experiences.

Autry Fulbright:
I listen to part 2 first, that's my experience, but I think everyone's going to be able to interpret it however they like as a whole thing. Even though we started with part 2 and continued with part 1 and they had their rightful places on the record, it stands as something that can be unique to anyone that listens to it.

JH:
How do you translate that to the live experience? Are you going to play the entire 16 minutes of part 2 at each show?

CK:
I think if we do side 2, we would like to perform it as one piece. It's not separable. So that's the plan, but part 1, we've already performed songs from that. The first time we played Weight of the Sun was a few months ago. I think the answer is that we don't know yet.

JH:
Is the tour lineup going to be just the four of you? I know it was kind of a stripped-down band for the recording of this album.

CK:
For now, I think it will have to be, but that's not saying that later on, we might not have more than one band. Obviously, we've been known for that. For now, we're just going to do the four thing, and it feels good this way.

JH:
Autry, are you in the band full time? Are you still doing Midnight Masses? What's your situation?

AF:
In a word, yes, to all of those things. I still have other projects that I'm working on, that include other members of Trail of Dead as well. I'm really just making music, and right now Trail of Dead is something I'm putting my focus on. I continue to look forward to more touring and more writing with everyone in it.

JH:
Did you contribute to the songwriting and the lyrics on this album? I know you're a writer yourself.

AF:
Not really to the lyrics. I think we were all under agreement that the Tao Te Ching was a great influence on part 2, and it became the album's namesake.

CK:
But the music was really collaboratively written on this record.

AF:
When we played together, a lot of the ideas came from jamming.

CK:
Which makes it different from some of our previous records, I think.

AF:
It was really great to just go in and make ideas bounce off each other, especially since we hadn't played in that capacity together before.

CK:
Yeah.

JH:
This is the second album you've put out on your own label ...

CK:
You mean under the Richter Scale imprint? I guess, officially. I consider everything we've done to be under the imprint of what we do. I just gave it a logo. I mean, we've never done any of our records without the help of the labels, really.

JH:
How are things different for you now than they were five years ago, when you were on a major label?

CK:
I think a lot of that pressure is internal. I think that back then I was a lot more stressed out about putting stuff out, but I don't think that came from the label. I think that was just self-imposed. And these days, I feel a little bit less self-conscious about it. The label has been a huge help. One of the things I really like about working with Superball is that there's so many different new formats, and ways to put things out, and it's been kind of an adventure finding out ... I mean, this album was done in four different formats, and we've never done that in the past.

JH:
You guys are doing vinyl for this record, then?

CK:
The vinyl's going to be three sides, with an engraving on the fourth side.

JH:
It must have been fun to do the cover art for that, and get a bigger canvas.

CK:
I've always designed on vinyl size. Even the albums that we didn't put out on vinyl were always ready for vinyl. They just had to be shrunk down to CD. I always design intending it to be 12 inches.

JH:
You're a band that's always made albums that are meant to be listened to as albums. With the success of iTunes, and music sales increasingly focusing on individual tracks, what do you think about the future of the album as a format?

AF:
I feel like the fact that we're doing it means that people are still doing it. The music that we both like are albums. In the 90s, where it was a more CD-driven music world, and a band could have one good song, and you'd have to buy the entire CD. To me, an album wasn't good unless it had several great songs, which meant the whole record had to be really good. I wasn't just thinking about that one song in the middle of the album. I listened to the album from start to finish.

CK:
Also, I think there are lots of bands that -- at least, the bands that I admire these days -- are putting out albums.

AF:
I feel like that's my favorite music that's around now. I don't believe in just a ...

CK:
iTunes shuffle!

AF:
Yeah!

CK:
Unless you're having a dance party. Then it's okay.

JH:
What are some of those bands? Who's putting out really great music at the moment?

CK:
I like the Die Antwoord album a lot. I was really obsessed with them. The new Beach House record, I think, is beautiful from beginning to end. A complete album.

AF:
I think Tame Impala's record, Innerspeaker, and Steeple by Wolf People have been my two favorite ones. And again, those are albums I listen to from start to finish.

CK:
It's definitely not a dead art form, if that's what people are worried about.

JH:
How did the Tao Te Ching come to influence the record? Where did you run into that, and how did it ge written into the second part?

CK:
When we were recording part 2, and I needed some lyrics to sing for the scratch vocals, and the only book that was around was the Tao Te Ching. The lyrics just fit. The reason that it struck a chord was that I'd been reading The Art of War and this book by Baltasar Gracian called The Art of Worldly Wisdom. Although all three of these were not written in the same time period, they all expressed a really close philosophy. I was surprised that the Tao Te Ching wasn't a religious or spiritual book as much as it was a practical book.

JH:
Have you finished the comic you're working on, this graphic novel?

CK:
I haven't. We're hoping to work it into the next two records, actually. But I've finished enough that it's going to be released probably right after the record comes out.

JH:
How does that relate to the album? I haven't seen the comic yet, but I've heard it's a steampunk story that you've been working on for a long time ...

CK:
I don't want to tell you how it relates. I want you to discover by checking it out. Because I want to see the connections that people make. That's half the fun, I think. Does that make sense?

JH:
Yeah, definitely. So, we've been hearing a lot about steampunk recently but you've been working on this story since before there was any kind of trend ...

CK:
There were people who'd ask me if I was into steampunk before I'd heard of it, and I didn't know what they were talking about. They'd ask that in reference to my work, my drawings.

JH:
Do you consider your drawings steampunk?

CK:
It's a bit more grounded in science fiction. It takes place on another world that doesn't relate to earth at all. It depends. It's such a wide genre. I consider Jules Verne the father of it, in a way. He was a big influence on me.

JH:
It seems like every time you put out an album, it gets compared to Source Tags and Codes. How do you feel about that, and what's your opinion of that album now?

CK:
As you can well imagine, that's kind of frustrating in some ways. Especially when I think about this perfect rating we were given by a popular online magazine. I didn't even think it was a perfect album. I don't think of that as a perfect album for us. I think of it as a developmental album. It was what helped us develop into what we are, but it wasn't some kind of penultimate statement. I guess I just have to apologize to all those people who think that was our best record, because I feel I've moved on from it. I'm probably happier about our new record than I am about any record we've made, including Source Tags.

JH:
Is it that way every time you put out a record? Do you always feel like what you've just done is your best work?

CK:
No. The last three records were very difficult. They were disastrous in some ways. But that had more to do with the difficulty of making them, and all those things that happened when they were being made. It was kind of the opposite with this record, because there was such a flow and it was so easy. It just kind of came out, y'know? We had fun doing it.

by Damon Martin No means no, but not if you read the original text of Rep. Chris Smith’s bill, which he introduced to Congress on Jan 20. The “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act” which he championed sought to further limit government funding of abortions, while also redefining rape under the... more

by Damon Martin

No means no, but not if you read the original text of Rep. Chris Smith’s bill, which he introduced to Congress on Jan 20. The “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act” which he championed sought to further limit government funding of abortions, while also redefining rape under the law by wording the bill to say funding would only be allowed in cases of “forcible” rape.



The U.S. government has never funded abortions except in cases of rape, incest or to save a mother’s life, but the new bill introduced by the Congressman from New Jersey would severely – and unworkably – confine abortions covered by public funds to those in the cases of “forcible” rape, an act of incest specifically involving a minor, or if the mother is in physical danger from the pregnancy (meaning her mental state would be entirely disregarded).

Not surprisingly, once the massive implications of the bill’s small print came to light, Republicans came under heavy fire from Democrats, Women’s Rights groups, and pro-choice organizations who said the GOP were looking to redefine the word “rape” with the newly proposed law. However, outrage with regards to this bill shouldn’t just be limited to the 163 Republican Representatives that have supported it – since, shamefully, they were also joined by 10 Democrats.

The way the wording in the original “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act” existed, it would seemingly eliminate funding for the termination of pregnancies occurring as a result of date rape, statutory rape, and several other instances of rape, including incest when someone is not a minor. Of course common sense says that rape is rape no matter what word you put in front of it, but common sense and the Republican party rarely go hand in hand.

The progressive grassroots political non-profit MoveOn.org have been at the forefront of the opposition to this bill. “The GOP like to claim that they want ’small government.’ They want government to ‘get out of the way,’ – right? Except when it comes to war, bailing out Wall Street, subsidies for oil companies…or if you’re a woman,” says MoveOn.org’s Creative Director Laura Dawn in a statement to SuicideGirls.

“Say you’re a young girl who has been sexually molested by a family member. In that case, they’d like Big Government to get right up in your business, by dictating what you can and can’t do with your own body. Because denying funds and access is tantamount to controlling your options. Republican Chris Smith has never been a sexually abused 14 year old girl. He has no right to deny options and care to any victim of sexual violence.”

Bowing to pressure (MoveOn alone collected close to 300,000 petition signatures in a matter of days), Republicans finally broke their silence on the subject last Thursday announcing that they had amended the wording of the bill to remove the “forcible rape” terminology and replace it with the more commonly known Hyde Amendment, which allows government funded abortions in the cases of rape, incest or physical harm to the mother.

What many people may be missing because of the outrage caused by the inclusion of the term “forcible rape” is the other toxic language that remains in the bill. Aside from limiting direct government funds for abortion, Smith’s bill will also strike down tax subsidies that are given to businesses purchasing health care for employees if said health care covers abortions.

Simply put if your health insurance covers abortions, your employers will no longer get any tax credits for choosing that particular provider. The net result will be that employers will be forced by simple economics to chose plans that don’t cover abortions. Such a measure will likely affect women with the least economic power, making abortion in the worst of circumstances an option only for those that have the fund to pay for it out of pocket.

The language in the bill as is states:

To clarify, this particular language remains in the bill that sits in Congress and could eventually become law.

When exploring the bill, people should also look into the man behind the bill. Congressman Chris Smith, who was first elected in 1981, has voted on numerous occasions for pretty much any law that favors of the pro-life movement. Indeed Smith has been recognized as one of the strongest proponents for any pro-life bill, and a major opponent of anything even remotely related to being pro-choice or scientific in nature – particularly with regards to embryonic stem cell research. He has made it his personal mission to take on the pro-choice movement throughout his 30-year political career.

While the terminology surrounding the bill redefining rape has now changed, Smith has still managed to push a bill forward that could lead to dangerous precedents when it comes to determining government tax subsidies or credits given to employers who choose insurance companies that provide coverage for abortions. If this law passes it will therefore likely cause sweeping changes in how insurance companies cover abortions going forward.

If you want to look at progressive laws when it comes to abortions, look to Canada, where the procedure is covered under government provided health care to all citizens regardless of why the abortion has to be performed. Canadian health care doesn’t look to even question things like rape or incest when covering their citizens for the procedure.

Where many Republicans and Americans continuously look to the sky for guidance, maybe more people should just look to our friendly neighbor to the north.

by Morgan Casual games get little love from the serious gaming community. Morgan Suicide gives these unsung mini masterpieces the attention they deserve. Here’s a selection of her current faves. (image) 1. Echo Bazaar Brought to us by Fail Better games, Echo Bazaar is an online in-browser action-point... more

by Morgan

Casual games get little love from the serious gaming community. Morgan Suicide gives these unsung mini masterpieces the attention they deserve. Here’s a selection of her current faves.





1. Echo Bazaar

Brought to us by Fail Better games, Echo Bazaar is an online in-browser action-point based RPG set in Fallen London, a Victorian Steampunk version of the metropolis that has a combination of funny, dark and creepy elements. This may seem complicated, but it isn’t. You can explore various sections of the city, unlocking new areas as you go, and also make use of your opportunity deck, which gives you other one time and continuing quest options. Your character has four basic qualities: Dangerous, Persuasive, Watchful and Shadowy, and any action can increase or decrease your levels in these. It can also be a social game, as you can connect in various ways with your friends through Facebook and Twitter. The game never gets boring, and in fact will end up making you kick yourself if you miss an opportunity to play every day. One thing I love about it is that you have to throw any idea of playing a “moral” character out of the window, especially in a world where death is not permanent. At some point your character will do something shady, if not downright dastardly. This browser based game gets my highest recommendation, and you can find me there under LisslaLissar, where I always use my alloted 70 actions a day!

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2. Cat Physics

Donut Games seems to have a habit of making adorable games such as Parachute, in which you help a teddy bear in love parachute to collect hearts. But the cutest game by far that they have made is Cat Physics. It’s not just cute, either, it’s extremely entertaining. In the game, you help cats play ball by passing balls from one cat to another, helping the second cat catch the ball in its tail with an appreciative meow. But like Echo Bazaar, it isn’t as simple as it sounds: each level adds unique obstacles, and you must place the directional arrows provided to maneuver the ball as efficiently as possible. The game is just easy enough that it never gets you too frustrated, but is hard enough that it doesn’t get boring. I will admit that some levels will have you sighing in frustration and bewilderment, but once you get that “ah-ha” moment and figure out the solution, it is completely worth it. Also, the background artwork is very well done and the cats are, of course, cute. Leave sounds enabled for this game! At 99 cents it’s completely worth the outlay!

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3. Still Pond

I won’t tell you too much about this game because it will give away the funny surprise of it, but Still Pond is worth a play or two at least. You can play it online, or download it for your iPod.

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4. Zombie Isle

My last recommendations are two games from Glu Games. First, there’s Zombie Isle, a game in which you collect zombies to help you run your pirate ship and take over various islands. The gameplay is addictive, and while occasionally you’ll have to wait awhile (unless you want to spend real money in-game) before you can take more actions, it’s worth it.

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5. Hero Project

Similarly addictive is Hero Project, which is a mini superhero game. While your missions often don’t involve you actually taking actions unless they involve a battle, the game is still a lot of fun. It’s also easy to set actions for (you can choose a number of missions until your energy level runs too low). You can then come back hours later to reap rewards and level up. Just like Zombie Isle, it’s very entertaining and it doesn’t require you to use real money to make the game progress, though you can if you want to. I will warn you that both games will encourage you to download other apps (paid or not) in order to get extra game points. I personally don’t find this too frustrating, as it only requires you to download and open an app and then immediately delete it if you like, but it can get tedious.

Further reading: Morgan’s Casual Game Recommendations: iPhone and iPod Touch Edition.

Adam Warren has spent a large part of his career known as a “manga-influenced” comics artist. Nowadays that’s a meaningless term as comics, illustration and fine art have absorbed influences from Japan and elsewhere, but when Warren began his career in the late 1980’s, it was very different. “The... more

Adam Warren has spent a large part of his career known as a “manga-influenced” comics artist. Nowadays that’s a meaningless term as comics, illustration and fine art have absorbed influences from Japan and elsewhere, but when Warren began his career in the late 1980’s, it was very different. “The Dirty Pair” was based on a book series that Warren turned into comics series published by Eclipse Comics and later Dark Horse. Besides the many “Dirty Pair” books, Warren has done a lot of work for Marvel and DC and Wildstorm over the years, writing and drawing books like “Gen13,” “Livewires,” “Iron Man: Hypervelocity” and “Titans: Scissors, Paper, Stone.”

His current project is “Empowered,” an ongoing series of graphic novels being published by Dark Horse Comics. The books are printed directly from Warren’s pencils which means they have a very different look and feel from other comics on the stands. The series is about a young heroine, the titular Empowered, who gets her powers from her skin-tight suit, though as the material becomes frayed and torn, she loses her strength. It’s blatantly sexual, featuring a protagonist who when she’s not being gagged and bound by villains, has a vigorous sex life with her boyfriend. It’s funny and profane, but it’s also one of the smartest superhero comics around. It’s dark and violent, but it also features characters like Maidman and Mindf**k, so it has a good sense of humor. Some of the concepts and ideas in the book are novel and his universe is simultaneously stranger and more logical than other superhero universes. The sixth volume of “Empowered” was released at the end of 2010 and we spoke with him over e-mail about the books.


ALEX DUEBEN: So what was the initial idea of Empowered? Did it begin with the character, the scenario or how do you work?

ADAM WARREN: Well, back in the middle of the last decade, a prolonged bout of underemployment led me to take on a large number of commissioned sketches, many of which were of the, ah, "damsel in distress" variety. I eventually became bored with drawing these repetitive, narrative-free illustrations, and instead began cranking out very brief, very goofy comics pages about the indignities and travails of a hapless, bondage-prone, deeply insecure superheroine. Long story truncated, these wacky little one- or two-page throwaway gags morphed into a series of ever-lengthening short stories, which in turn gained complexity and evolved into the current, ongoing series of 208-page (ahem) "graphic novels."

So, yeah, I'd have to say that the project began with a basic scenario—"damsel in distress"—then progressed to the character—beleaguered superheroine with self-esteem and body-image issues—and rolled merrily on from there. This is quite a bit different from how I work on the book nowadays, which is a rather less spontaneous matter of planning character arcs, working up new riffs and story ideas, coordinating multiple ongoing plotlines, dropping hints about new plotlines, etc., etc.

AD: At what stage in thinking about it did you decide on the approach, printing the book from your pencilled pages?

AW: From the very beginning, reproducing the book from hastily penciled B&W pages (scrawled on cheap, 8½" X 11" copy paper, no less) was the only way to go. I couldn't possibly afford the time or effort of producing the series via more conventional comics pages with separate inking, lettering and coloring stages. It's far faster—and far less tedious—to work "quick and dirty" the way I do, even if the results aren't quite as polished and pretty as the best of my mainstream comics work. Then again, Empowered's artwork often has a verve and energy that might have been lacking in said mainstream comics work, or so I'm occasionally told.

AD: There are a lot of concepts in the books that we don’t see much of in superhero books but have clearly come out of years reading them and working on them. Have these ideas been on your mind for a while?

AW: Oddly enough, not really... So far, most of the wackier concepts in Empowered have come about strictly from me musing over and/or overthinking the very basic and simple premises of the first few stories—how much it would suck to be a damsel in distress, say— then thinking up new ideas based on those extrapolations, and so on, and so on. One (conceptual) thing has led to another, for the most part.

On the other hand, I've now considered "repurposing" concepts that were originally meant for use in my many, many failed pitches for mainstream projects... Fo' example, I have a multiply rejected proposal for Marvel's Shang Chi: Master of Kung Fu that riffs extensively on the role of the martial artist in a superheroic, ultra-high-tech milieu. I might end up using plot points from this ill-fated pitch in Empowered down the road, as many of the ideas could be easily retasked for resident martial artist Ninjette. Or some of the more outré ideas I once worked up for weather-control characters like X-Men's Storm or Gen13's Rainmaker could be used in the book, generously assuming that I could cope with the artistic heavy-lifting required to depict epic-scale weather shenanigans.

AD: The first volume feels a little different from the others, but everything in the series is all right there. The way Emp suggests a different approach to fighting. The villains railing against superheroes and how they look down on people. Thugboy and the Witless Minions and Willy Pete. Sistah Spooky and her deal. And they all came to payoff later. The first volume feels different because comparatively it comes off more as a collection of related short stories than a bigger story with some side stories as the other volumes do. Is that how you think of them and how effective do you think this has been?

AW: Yeah, I'd prolly agree with that view of the first Empowered volume, as it unquestionably did start out as a series of vignettes ever so slowly evolving into an ongoing storyline. I have to admit, this makes for a rather choppy reading experience at first, as the initial slate of short stories were very short indeed. (In fact, in their original versions, the first few stories were even shorter still—as in, one or two pages, tops—but wound up being elaborated a fair bit when I redid their crude scrawls for the published version.) Still, in retrospect, I'm pleased with the organic and freeflowing manner with which the series developed. This is an approach that I've never had the luxury of using on any other project, all of which have had to extensively outlined, plotted, scripted and squeezed into fixed page counts long before pencil hits page.

AD: Do you have a big picture long term idea for the characters and this world over many books and do you see an end in sight?

AW: Yeah, nowadays I definitely have a "big picture" in mind for the characters and their assorted arcs, whether in regards to a few volumes out or much further down the line. I might well change my mind about some of 'em, though, as new directions often suggest themselves while I'm working on the book. Case in point: The ill-fated telepath Mindfuck was originally intended to be an almost literal "throwaway character," but wound up being a critical part of several ongoing, long-term plot threads.

I do indeed have an end in sight for the series, though said ending is far enough into the distant future that I'd need figurative binoculars—or a figurative low-powered telescope— to see it clearly. Then again, economic necessities may dictate otherwise, as Empowered isn't exactly a stunningly lucrative endeavor... Still, I'm keeping my fingers crossed—though not when I'm drawing!—that I can keep cranking away on the book long enough to wrap it up in the manner I have in mind.

AD: One of the reasons I ask as because when the idea that the suit was sentient came up I admit I had never thought of it and I really had to go back and rethink the book and everything to date and it was there from the beginning. 

AW: Well, that's one of the fun parts about working on a long-term, ongoing project, as opposed to the miniseries and brief arcs I've written for mainstream comics: you can plant as many seeds for future narrative hooks as you like, without having to worry about paying them off immediately.

AD: So why don’t you swear in the comic? I mean, there’s lots of profanity but it’s covered up with black boxes. I mean the book already has a parental advisory sticker and comes shrinkwrapped. 

AW: Well, for one thing, the book wasn't originally planned to be shrinkwrapped... Back when Empowered Vol. 1 was about to hit the presses, the decision to shrinkwrap happened at pretty much the last possible moment, as Dark Horse's legal department grew antsy at the prospect of a book mixing superheroes with sexual situations quite as frequently as Empowered did. Hard to say that this was an overcautious move, given that it became commonplace around this time for manga titles with any degree of sexual content to be shrinkwapped... and the book does vaguely resemble manga, I suppose.

That being said, the language was never really an issue in the book being shrinkwrapped, as far as I know. The main reason I use black-box censoring is, well, because I find it amusing, if mainly in a goofily contradictory fashion (as, paradoxically enough, the black boxes often make it very clear indeed what profanity they're theoretically hiding). I used the technique quite extensively when I wrote the teen superteam book Gen13 for DC's Wildstorm line, and later on when I drew an ongoing comics feature in the now sadly defunct videogame magazine PSM. Around the time I started up Empowered, though, I'd been doing a bit of writing for Marvel Comics, and my editors there took a rather dimmer view of the practice... So, what can I say, I was eager to revisit my beloved censor boxes when I switched over to non-Marvel work. Plus, well, the censoring is part of the Empowered format now, for good or ill.

AD: Is the Caged Demonwolf as much fun to write as he is to read?

AW: For the most part, I'd say "yeah"—or "aye", more relevantly—save for the fact that some of the infamously verbose character's more elaborate flights of compounded alliteration require extensive abuse of my already battered copy of Roget's Thesaurus. Consequently, I'm trying to wean myself—and the Fusion-Phallused Violator of Worlds, by extension—from such alliterative overuse, though it always seems to creep right back into his dialogue. Note that this practice has also proved extensively abusive to some of Empowered's readers, who find his somewhat elaborately florid vocabulary hard to follow at times, especially during his more abstrusely alliterative perorations... So, yeah, definitely gotta tone that stuff down a little. (Or a lot.)

AD: Will we be seeing more short pieces like The Wench with a Million Sighs?

AW: That's the plan, at present. I'm hoping to release several one-shot comics during the gap between each new volume of Empowered, though I've only managed to get one such book approved so far. Tentatively titled Empowered: 10 Questions for the Maidman, the next one-shot's slated for release as a "floppy" (that is, a single issue in regular comics format) in mid-2011. It features script and framing-sequence art by me—I'm finishing up my last page from it today, in fact—and luxurious, full-color artwork on the main Maidman story by the awesomely talented Emily Warren, who's painted the last few Empowered covers for me. (You can check out her excellent work at frozenlilacs.com, BTW; and nope, we're not related.)

Like I said, I'm hoping to make these one-shots a regular occurrence between volumes, working with another excellent artist each time. Even with the 208-page installments I draw, I never have enough space or time—or space-time, even!— to properly address as many peripheral “Empverse” characters and concepts as I'd like. So, I'm hoping that a future series of one-shots— or even (gasp!) a miniseries, far less likely— would allow me to explore some of these "side stories." That, and deliver straight-up, pure-fun Empowered humor, hilarity and hijinks, without having to worry about servicing the long-term plotlines that make the regular Empowered volumes a necessarily mixed bag of humor and heavier matters.

AD: Any chance the next book will be a bit less “death-y”?

AW: Sadly, I can't quite make the claim that Empowered Vol. 7 won't be less "death-y" than the previous two books, due mainly to the fact that a long, bloody, grueling ninja fight runs throughout the entire volume. (Note that this is a much longer, bloodier, "grueling-er" fight than Ninjette's previous skirmish with the Ayakami clan at the end of vol. 3, not to mention featuring much worse odds as well...) Needless to say, expect generous servings of death to be doled out during this martial-arts-and-mayhem-intensive sequence. But, hey, the rest of the book should be pretty much death-free! (Well, more or less.)

Talking to Jarboe at times felt like talking to a beautiful woodland creature that inhabits the deepest part of Neil Gaiman’s mind because she is one part poetry and another part comedy. She is truly a beautiful woman inside and out. Anyone who is discovering her for the first time can get her albums... more

Talking to Jarboe at times felt like talking to a beautiful woodland creature that inhabits the deepest part of Neil Gaiman’s mind because she is one part poetry and another part comedy. She is truly a beautiful woman inside and out. Anyone who is discovering her for the first time can get her albums and the reissues of The Swans albums. Someone who is longtime fan of her work and her collaborations with Michael Gira can revel in her beautiful voice, songs and soul.

Check out the official website of Jarboe

Daniel Robert Epstein: Hey, how are you doing?

Jarboe: I was just making espresso. I do it the old fashioned way with one of those old Italian stovetops. It’s the purest way to do so it’s crazy and time consuming.

DRE: How long does it take to make one cup?

J: It depends on how strong you make it. I use Turkish coffee from Whole Foods which is the strongest one available. It takes a lot for the water to go through it. It could be five or six minutes for one.

DRE: Where do you live?

J: I live in a very private and wooded area in Atlanta. That’s my anti-social personality. Where are you calling from?

DRE: I’m in New York City.

How has it been touring again?

J: It’s great. I started last year with Larsen, the Italian improvisational group; that was a lot of fun. We did dates in Europe then came to America for a bit. It was a lot of fun for me because there is nothing you can put me through at this point in terms of music, performing and touring in terms of endurance factor. After being anointed through The Swans everything else is a piece of cake.

DRE: What was hard about The Swans?

J: Every aspect of it. This reissue we’re doing of Anhedoniac pretty much summarizes all that. I wrote that album as The Swans was ending and so it’s a like a tribute and a statement about that whole chapter. Anhedonia is the inability to experience pleasure so I added the c on the end of it referencing maniac and alcoholic because there was a lot of that stuff going on in the group. Not for me though.

DRE: It was only one other person in the band!

J: Right so you could figure out who it was. It was almost about the theatre of cruelty. Not just the music but also the mindset and the approach. What was trying to be achieved was precise and involved a lot of concentration. It’s an approach to music that is almost insane. You’re attempting to take everyone down into a state of awareness. I think we succeeded on that level. To get to that with rehearsals is very painful and with a perfectionist like Michael at the helm made it nearly impossible to achieve because the standards were so high. The good thing about that was to not accept initial reactions and keep working on something. Now I have that same aesthetic. At the time it was very grueling but I’m happy we went through all of that. All that extensive touring changes you because it’s like becoming a soldier. It’s about what you can endure and how little sleep you can operate on. I call it a flexible reality because you can adapt but it changes you forever though I didn’t realize it at the time.

DRE: I realize it’s part of the music, but Swans fans always seem a bit sadder than the average person. Someone once wrote that you were the angriest woman in rock so was it born out of anger or sadness?

J: I can’t disagree with those comments. Sometimes you hear this idea that sadness and pessimism is a reality check and those people are more in touch with reality. They are less deluded than the happy people.

It’s not like a fascination or obsession with being morose. In that situation we saw it as uplifting because it was trying to be sincere and that was our way of approaching that. It may sound perverse but that was the goal. To me those concerts were cathartic and that’s the way a good concert should be no matter who is playing. You should feel purged, inspired and moved. I had this revelation a few years ago that I feel like a caretaker that is in service to others. When you think about that you can apply that to a lot of levels within music and other performing arts. You are in service to the audience and fulfilling some kind of emptiness or a desire for a connection to something. I think with me I do concerts and recordings and often the feedback that comes back is that it helped someone get through some situation. I write from my heart and personal experience however I don’t sit down and extract intentionally. If you can write from something real and if people will be able to relate to it then you are being effective.

Now I’m not even concerned because there is no barrier between me and the audience. That’s why I feel comfortable having my journal right on my website. I write in it a lot and I invite people into my personal space. That is where I found my most sincere voice and that’s the whole point. For me that means breaking down that barrier between audience and performer.

DRE: According to your website people can now read your journal on their Palm Pilots.

J: Yeah I don’t mind it at all. It started out in the songs I would write and sing. I was born to do something and now I’ve found it. I love the internet because musicians can create works that bypass a lot of the x-factors in music and go right to the audience. I’ve been called an internet pioneer because I started the journal in 1996.

DRE: Besides obvious things like your home address, what is private to you?

J: I think the only thing is that I censor myself sometimes when I write names into my journal. If I’m angry about something I won’t write that person’s name or address, so I do try to have some privacy and respect for other people. But for myself, it’s funny because there probably aren’t any barriers. I think one of the reasons I never had stage fight is because I’m not deceiving anyone. Psychologically when you have nothing to hide you won’t get stage fight.

DRE: Have you ever looked back on anything and realized that saying or doing something was a mistake?

J: No not me. Other people maybe [laughs]. There is this other approach that says when you write stuff that is too personal you are no longer an artist and are being self indulgent. I disagree with that completely. I think that the more sincere you are the less self conscious you become. I would put that approach to everything.

DRE: What do your fans mostly want to know?

J: It runs the gamut of your imagination. From what I enjoy or feel about something to utter adulation to complete confusion. It gets pretty crazy. I don’t want to judge them and say they are weirdoes but people have issues. But bring it on, I can handle it.

DRE: I read an interview with Michael Gira in 2002 and he said he hasn’t spoken to you in a while.

J: He must have been in a bad mood. We went through a rocky period but that was resolved. We do communicate, in fact I talked to him recently and he gave me his home phone number.

DRE: What was the rocky period about?

J: It was mostly business stuff like the direction of The Swans website. Very typical stuff. There is a lot of stuff going on there because not only were we working together for 14 years but we were personally involved as well.

DRE: It was two things at once right? You two broke up then the band broke up.

J: It’s kind of “which came first?” You can look at it both ways. That ended which killed the relationship or you can say there were some tense things going on which affected the other thing. It’s almost like we were staying together for the children.

We worked together very well because when we came together it was like an explosive device. That tension and energy is something I look for in music and indeed personally. It’s weird because you won’t ever do anything boring with that element there. That’s what we had and that never ever calmed down. In fact it’s still full throttle though we are doing our separate things.

DRE: Have you been able to find that same energy with the people you collaborate with now?

J: I have and I haven’t. That’s the weeding out process. When you find it you get excited because the end result is wonderful. For me it’s like I got my fix and I feel motivated and inspired.

DRE: I’m a fan of Bill Laswell’s, how was it working with him?

J: I’ve done a few recordings with him. The most recent one was with Percy Howard on an album called Meridiem. I was all over that. The huge thing was that he produced a Swans album. In his Buddha like nature he said I was a performance based vocalist which means that I had to be in a place in my head before I could perform a vocal. That’s a very scientific approach to executing something technically. He said that to me then and I thought that was astute so I’ve never forgotten it. One of things about working with him is that he can look right into you and see what your strengths are and what makes you tick.

DRE: I found that both your parents were in the FBI, what did they do?

J: They started out as agents then were field operatives and then regional directors in a supervisor capacity.

DRE: Was doing music a way for you to rebel against them?

J: It could be seen that way because of course it was not encouraged and supported. Then when I decided to pursue rock that was not considered a safe domain and they were very much opposed to that. I had to follow what I wanted to do without support. They had very rigid ideas but the funny thing was they inspired me with the eccentricities within their work. My dad was constantly changing his appearance, there were weird phone calls late at night and he was gone for months on end. So it was a childhood of constant mystery and the unknown. All that does something to you. Changing appearances and being gone for long periods of time is pretty much what I do now.

DRE: Did you ever settle things with them?

J: No, they never understood it. After my mom heard one of the songs she said something like “And what do you call that?” She didn’t really see it as music and I couldn’t really explain it. They are both dead now and they never got it. I think if you know what you want and you pursue it, you do become this major black sheep from your own family. It could even be one of their secret fantasies.

DRE: A big part of the Goth culture admires you but I don’t think that was ever your thing.

J: I think I am but for me it’s not a fashion or lifestyle statement. It’s more natural. If you come to my house it has black walls, crucifixes and skulls. I can understand how that world can find a voice in what I do.

by Daniel Robert Epstein

SG Username: AndersWolleck

The Kills are contemporary bohemians who irreverently battle the norm. Trying to, as Jamie Hince aka Hotel says, “Create four walls with fucking chaos coming out of them”. From their first album, Keep on Your Mean Side, The Kills instantly became recognised as a force in the future of rock and roll... more

The Kills are contemporary bohemians who irreverently battle the norm. Trying to, as Jamie Hince aka Hotel says, “Create four walls with fucking chaos coming out of them”.

From their first album, Keep on Your Mean Side, The Kills instantly became recognised as a force in the future of rock and roll blues. Now that their second album, No Wow, is out now, their music is beginning to be established as a feverous 21st century take on the genre.

Bone scratching sounds open up their latest album which as Hotel explains “is just our music”, so no hidden meanings or philosophical questions here.

Hotel says, "On this record we went out of our way to kind of block out this concept of expectation or what we thought people wanted. I don’t think that there’s anything really deliberate written into it that we want people to read. I’m more fascinated by things that you apply meaning to that never really had any meaning to start with. They were the bands that I always loved, where the lyrics are never clear narrative or they’re not making a bold or obvious statement with artwork. It’s much more subtle and it’s more of a reflection or an observation than a statement”.

For this pair of iconoclasts in an age where hedonism is king, going back to the core of their art and music is decidedly important. As VV begins to look through her jet black slightly off cut fringe she says, “I think The Kills definitely has that sort of anthem running through it. It’s the only thing that we do, everything around us gets funnelled into it”.

Hotel, leaning on the back legs of his chair (with an undeniable aura of cool around him) adds, “I mean if you come down to our headquarters, there really is nothing else, I swear there’s nothing. We bought this incredible 19th century French sofa with amazing carvings on it but everything else is art, paintings, photographs, tape machines, guitars, drum machines. There’s nothing else. Oddly enough even our stereos are really crap”. He begins to laugh which makes VV giggle. “We don’t fork out for anything, the clothes we normally wear are bought from charity shops or given to us, we don’t really go spending money”.

The real spirit of The Kills begins to shine through with their want to be surrounded by nothing else but their art and each other. They romance over 19th century Paris, small coffee shops filled with philosophers and artists, “we chase after that”, Hotel starts with a smile. “I don’t know how hard it is to be like that in modern times but we get lost in the legend of it and that’s what inspires us”.

The Kills as a pair have this fervour for maintaining something unique and rich. VV leaps into the conversation, thrusting her words, “I think we try to invent new places, like going to Benton Harbour”, which is where they created their latest album. "Just going out into the middle of nowhere and claiming this land as your own and saying this is where creativity is happening now”.

As commercialism tightens its grip harder on the world of music it becomes ever more important that bands like The Kills slip through its fingers. Maintaining a creative spirit that is pure, against outsiders and corporate influences is notably hard. “I am aware of that”, Hotel says, as he and VV both light another menthol cigarette. “We’ve talked at length about how with any artist, whether you’re a painter or a writer or a musician, that’s the total embodiment of the struggle. You want to be recognised and you want to leave your mark and to be appreciated but the more that it happens to you, the more self disgusted you feel."

Unfortunately as well as greed, there is always the routine generational threat. Instead of Vietnam we have Iraq and the escalating problems coupled with it, instead of the Cold War we have the War on Terror.

“I feel you can’t help but be a product of your time,” Hotel says with a slight shudder. "If that’s what’s going on around you it’s going to find its way into whatever art you're making somehow”. But he retorts, “We’re definitely not doing it explicitly and saying anything like, ban the bomb. I’m more for saying drop the bomb, it's more nihilist I suppose”.

There is a wonderful modesty from the effortlessly cool pair, both unsettlingly quiet in between the conversation. There’s no pretentious rock star posing or righteous atmosphere. They both seem natural and content, which perhaps unintentionally becomes their style. In a western world where bigger is unwittingly better, their simplistic approach seems to become the beginnings of 21st century avant-garde.

“That’s something that I would definitely take as being a huge compliment, being referenced to avant-garde movements,” Hotel grins. “But generally I don’t think we’re experimenting in an avant-garde way like La Monte Young or John Cage or even The Boredoms. I mean our song structures are pretty orthodox. I almost think it’s more important what you leave out of a song than what you put in a song. And that’s our own little private personal experiment, deconstructing things in that way. To be avant-garde, that’s my fuckin’ aim in life you know, to be ahead of our time” he laughs in unison with VV. “You can never really tell though, I just feel a bit awkward and embarrassed thinking about it like that”. This, however, is what appears to give them their avant-garde wings.

Keeping to their simplistic ethic for their latest album, they moved out to Benton Harbour in Michigan, which is 4.4 square miles of Middle American nothingness, and completed the album in 47 days. As Hotel puts it. "We just knew that those sorts of bands that make an album over two years just kind of make us ill. I always thought if we were as good as people thought, we should be able to make a record in two hours”. Their indelible style comes across as Hotel becomes more animated about the creative process for their latest work.

“We thought that we would probably need two months to write the record and then we thought ‘that’s not very long’ so we said fuck it, let's try and make that into part of the creative process. Let’s cut that in half and give ourselves a month to write the record so there’s this panic and fear and claustrophobia…” VV interjects with wide eyes. "There was so much panic that we actually wrote it in three weeks instead and then we demoed it just to waste the extra days”.

The purity in their personality inevitably comes across in their music. The title of their latest album, No Wow, could mistakenly give off an air of egotism, pinning themselves up as the new wow. But as Hotel says, that notion is far from the truth. “It was more a reaction to us living in a time where there’s information overload. There’s no real mystery any more, so you have to try and find that, what’s precious and what’s mysterious. We were so bored with just being flung information all the time”.

They both come off with a quiet grace and also as inspired individuals. As Hotel pauses for thought you might be tricked into thinking he’s searching for a profound statement about his inspiration. Having mainly been on the road for the last two years however, he says that it is simply “Being in a van and looking out a window”, which is more than enough to give you the impression that in him lies an inextinguishable spark.

Looking up, he turns to VV. “You know, you walk into a hotel room and some people might think they’re not going to get anything from that, but it makes my imagination work overtime. Most of the stuff has just been off going round the world for the last year. We’re both quite inspired cinematically, not just with films, but we see our songs visually you know. We always have some sort of visual stimulus. This time around we thought we’d go along and try to strip away the skin and the bone and get to the heart of it”.

It is clear how their creativity and inspiration flows through and off each other. Perhaps this is the roots of The Kills as an evolving and weirdly rousing pair of originators, radiating passion in a style that comes effortlessly. As they both sit smoking gently, you could almost miss it if you blinked, but then you would only have to refer back to a live show to see what, as a young hip girl in the crowd put it, is just undeniably “cool”.

by Brad Warner A couple weeks ago when I was in Durham, my friend Catie showed me an episode of the TV show Family Guy called “Brian Writes a Bestseller.” Hulu has the full episode up so you can take a look for yourself by clicking on the link at the very end of this article. Here’s a synopsis of... more

by Brad Warner

A couple weeks ago when I was in Durham, my friend Catie showed me an episode of the TV show Family Guy called “Brian Writes a Bestseller.” Hulu has the full episode up so you can take a look for yourself by clicking on the link at the very end of this article.



Here’s a synopsis of the episode from the fan-created Family Guy Wiki:

If you don’t know Family Guy TV show and its characters, you might not get all that. But I’m afraid I’m not going to be able to explain the show here. In any case, basically, the book that Brian the dog writes is a thinly veiled parody of The Secret, which, unfortunately is a real book and not written by a talking dog from a cartoon, though it certainly could have been. If you’ve been hiding in a cave in the Afghan mountains for the past few years and don’t know what The Secret is, you’re in luck because I did an article about it for my column on the Suicide Girls website three years ago. You can find that article at this link. Apparently formatting changes in the SG website have rendered some of the punctuation weird, but you can still read the piece.

I was really happy to see the producers of Family Guy as well as Bill Maher calling out The Secret and books of its ilk for what they really are. Like those guys, I find these supposedly “spiritual” books to be not just trivial, but potentially dangerous. They encourage a kind of lazy wishfulness that leaves people dull and ill-equipped to cope with reality. They’re precisely the opposite of actual spirituality.

The connection between The Secret and Buddhism may not be altogether clear, but it’s there. I have a fiend who works a large Buddhist bookshop in Los Angeles. A couple years ago she told me that The Secret basically kept the store afloat. The store’s impressive stock of just about every Buddhist book currently in print wasn’t selling for sour beans, but copies of The Secret were flying out the doors so fast they could barely keep it in stock.

The authors of The Secret draw upon the general public’s vague understanding of the Hindu/Buddhist concept of karma, couple that with a few mystical sounding pseudo-spiritual superstitions and latch it all on to that perennial best-seller greed. The result is a vaguely Eastern sounding philosophy that says just wish for something real hard and it’ll come to you. If you want that BMW bad enough, picture it in your mind’s eye and you’ll get it.

In the Family Guy episode Brian watches as his novel tanks while books about this kind of soft-soap spirituality sell by the truckload. So he cynically puts together his own version of the same thing and it’s a big hit. Sadly, this is not so far removed from what’s really happening.

While serious and scholarly Buddhists were not very much affected by The Secret, a whole crop of entrepreneurs have seized upon its success and have used its audience to launch their own variations on the theme of playing upon spiritual greed.

Out in California there’s a little group of folks who apparently refer to themselves as the “Human Potential Movement.” Jack Canfield, author of the mega-selling Chicken Soup for the Soul books gives a rundown of a few of the who’s who of the group in this video about a typical spiritual-flavored rip-off called the Sedona Method. These guys network together to endorse each other’s products and seem to have an agreement not to rock the boat by saying anything bad about another member of the group.

It’s extremely unfortunate that while people like Bill Maher and Seth MacFarlane will openly criticize garbage like The Secret and expose it for what it really is, guys like the Human Potential Movement, who are presented to the public as leaders in the field of spiritual practice, all band together to defend such nonsense because they understand how the economics of the deal work.

The problem with people like the Human Potential Movement is that while they milk the gullible for all they can get, they also make any intelligent person out there believe that things are truly hopeless as far as spirituality is concerned. Books by authors talking sensibly about meditation are usually shelved right there next to The Secret and Chicken Soup of the Soul and all the rest of them. Any person with half a brain will avoid that section of the bookstore like the plague.

It’s easy to get cynical and lump all forms of meditation in with the scamsters. I’ve met a lot of intelligent people who reject all Eastern philosophy out of hand because of these guys. Hell, if I were just now starting to get interested in finding the deeper truths of life, I would avoid the Eastern Religions section of the bookstores myself!

I wish I could tell the folks who’ve been turned off by all this crap that there really is actual Buddhist practice that is totally unlike what these scammers are selling. All these scammers have done is co-opted the language and clothing of Buddhists. They have no clue what Buddhism is actually all about.

I think Americans have the kind of realistic attitude necessary for Buddhist practice. We’re a very practical nation and we value doing things ourselves. But unfortunately we’re also addicted to convenience. We feel like we’re entitled to experience everything. We want results and we want them quick.

When we hear about Buddhist practice we feel like we deserve an improved version that gets us to the goal faster and easier than those silly people in ancient India, China and Japan. Maybe our poor ancestors had to go kill a wooly mammoth and butcher it if they wanted some meat. But we’re way more advanced so we just go to the drive-thru at Wendy’s and order the Triple with bacon. Therefore we think everything ought to be that way including spiritual practice. Wish it, want it, be it, as Brian the talking dog says.

When one of our own pretends to have invented a fast track method to enlightenment, we’re right there ready to spend our money. Cuz that’s how we Americans get things. We don’t want to invest our time, effort and energy. We just wanna whip out our debit cards and buy it right now, read-made and pre-packaged, so all we have to do is stick it in the microwave for three minutes and it’s done.

Buddhist practice isn’t like that and never will be. The entire point of the practice is that it’s not fast, easy and convenient. But then, nothing worthwhile ever is.

Find “Brian Writes a Bestseller” on Hulu here.

***

Brad Warner is the author of Sex, Sin and Zen: A Buddhist Exploration of Sex from Celibacy to Polyamory and Everything in Between as well as Hardcore Zen, Sit Down and Shut Up! and Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate. He maintains a blog about Buddhist stuff that you can click here to see.

You can also buy T-shirts and hoodies based on his books, and the new CD by his band Zero Defex now!

Brad Warner’s hardcore band Zero Defex is playing a gig on February 9th at the Matinee in Akron, Ohio.

Brad is also on a book tour right now and may be in your area! To see where Brad will be speaking next visit his blog.

A supporting character could easily slip into the background on a show like Fringe, but Jasika Nicole makes sure that doesn’t happen. She plays Astrid Farnsworth, lab assistant to Walter Bishop (John Noble). She’s there whenever Walter is explaining the crazy science of the week, and she provides... more

A supporting character could easily slip into the background on a show like
Fringe, but Jasika Nicole makes sure that doesn’t happen. She plays Astrid Farnsworth, lab assistant to Walter Bishop (John Noble). She’s there whenever Walter is explaining the crazy science of the week, and she provides a confidante for the eccentric scientist.
If you haven’t been following Fringe, here’s my best attempt to catch you up for this interview. The Fringe team – Walter, Olivia (Anna Torv) and Peter (Joshua Jackson) – discovered an alternate universe. Over There, the other Bishop, dubbed Walternate, wants to destroy our universe. He sent Olivia from his world, Fauxlivia, to get close to our Peter, which she did. Now our Olivia is back to sort out the mess of cross-dimensional travel and Peter’s feelings. There’s also an Astrid Over There, and even some alternate copies of characters who died in our universe.
While most of the Fringe crew was shooting in Vancouver, Nicole could take a few days off in Los Angeles for a working party. Fox held their twice yearly party for the Television Critics Association at Villa Sorriso restaurant in Pasadena. Dressed up in white, Nicole roamed from courtyard to indoor bar to corner alcove throughout the night. It was near the desert station that I finally caught up with Nicole. She’d seen me tailing her throughout the night but kept getting stuck in other conversations with Fringe fans. To reward me for my persistence, Nicole stood up from a corner seat, stepped up close to be heard by my little recorder and revealed there's more to her than just Astrid Farnsworth.
SG: Are there any cool Astrid stories coming up?
JN: There is one that I actually haven’t talked about to anyone yet, because it’s kind of tricky to describe it without giving anything away. Anyway, in the alternate universe there is a gentleman that is introduced and you’ve actually seen him before. Astrid kind of flirts with him a little bit and it’s really awkward because Astrid has Asperger's so she’s not very attuned to the social graces that everyone else has. So it’s really funny to see her maybe be attracted to someone or maybe she’s just interested and she’s fascinated by him but you’ve never seen her be like that with anyone before. So that’s kind of the most exciting thing that we’ve done with alternate Astrid at this point, during episode 15. Beyond that, your guess is as good as mine.
SG: So it’s Other Astrid and someone from over there?
JN: Yes, correct.
SG: Not Our Astrid with someone from Over There.
JN: Oh, that would be really cool. That’s my other theory as a good storyline for the show that isn’t happening. You know the guy who runs the bowling alley and Olivia would go and see him? I think he’s going to come back, be reintroduced to us and it’s very possible that he has some kind of connection with the observers. I don't know the details of it but he might be beyond our realm of comprehension at this point. So I want Astrid, because I really want her to have a love interest, I think that he should be the guy. Since nobody else is coming forward to be invited into the show and be her love interest. I’ll just take whatever we have left.
SG: You do have a good way of getting your moments with Walter. You don’t sink into the background.
JN: Thank you very much. I really appreciate that. That was a lot of work on our part. I think our relationship in real life kind of led into the storyline of it because we became such good friends and we had such a good time together, it was kind of the inevitable thing for them to build this trusting relationship with each other.
SG: Do you get more screen time Over There or Over Here?
JN: Oh, I would say Over Here. Definitely Over Here. I want to see more of Astrid Over There just because she is so different. I think her, even more so than this Astrid, I want to see what it’s like in her apartment and how she lives. It’s got to be meticulously put together and super organized. At least that’s my imaginings of it.
SG: I know Eric Stoltz WAS in Back to the Future over there. I wonder how many other movies were different.
JN: Oh yeah, there are so many. Actually, I’m not sure but I feel like you will see something. The episode we’re doing now is number 15. It’s a flashback. It was at one point called “Aftermath” and it pretty much picks up from where the last flashback left off. So you’re with the doctor, but you’re with him in both universes. So now one doctor doesn’t have a son anymore and he’s having to deal with that, and then this doctor has a son and he’s trying to get him back to the other side. Or is he? You don’t really know because he falls in love with him.
SG: Don’t you have to say “Or is he?” about everything on Fringe?
JN: Oh yeah, I totally do. It should be: “Or is he…?” at the end of everything.
SG: So it’s dot dot dot, then the question mark?
JN: Yes, that’s how it goes.
SG: Not ???, not ?...
JN: No, no exclamation points either, just … It’s like a really soft subtle, hmm?
SG: I’ve done exclamation points sometimes.
JN: You’ve got to take them out. You can’t use those anymore. I’m sorry.
SG: What other episodes have you gotten to stand out in?
JN: Not a whole lot lately. Unfortunately. And as much as I want to be a bigger part of it, I totally respect that the story is not about Astrid and it doesn’t need to be. It’s a great story so sometimes I get frustrated and I wish that I was doing more but I love the story that we’re telling and I don't think that it should be told in a different way and when it’s Astrid’s time to shine or come in or something and do something more than you’ve seen her before, then it will be beautiful.
SG: Were you happy you got to be involved in Peter and Olivia talking about Other Olivia, give advice and be a shoulder to cry on?
JN: I loved that scene and actually, after we did the scene, they said, “Oh yeah, we’re going to put in a lot more Astrid/Olivia scenes.” Which I haven’t seen yet but it’s only 15 but it makes sense for the two female characters who work with each other to have some kind of a bond. It hasn’t ever been established before so I’m hoping that there will be more of that because Olivia’s kind of freaking out right now. As well she should be. She’s been through more traumatic situations than anybody can count on a hand. And Astrid, that’s her job, at least in this universe. Her job is to be the confidante to everybody. My ideas is that in 20 years she’s going to write a memoir. She’s going to tell everybody’s secrets because Walter talks to her, Peter talks to her, Olivia talks to her. She’s got all the juicy gossip.
SG: What is your life like? You’re on the show every episode but you have down time.
JN: Well, I’m an illustrator so I’ve been doing a lot of work lately. I’ve been trying to appreciate the time that I have off. Anyway, I spend a lot of my time drawing and I’ve been asked to be a part of a couple of books that are stories about growing up or being a kid. I’m submitting comics for them and was asked to contribute some comics. So I’m super excited to do that. I’m trying to use my time wisely when I’m not working on the show.
SG: That's a good use of down time. You could even do that on the set in between takes.
JN: I have. I have brought my sketchbooks. I’ve brought my inking implements and my paper and drawn while I was on set before. It’s not too far away from my reality.
SG: Is there a publisher putting those out?
JN: Well, one of the books is called The Letter Q. I have no idea who the publisher was but this woman wrote me because she wanted to put together a compilation of poems and artwork and writings that are kind of a response to the rash of gay suicides that we had a couple months back. So she wanted people to say, “If I could speak to myself when I was younger, this is what I would say.” So I’m going to do a comic about that. I have no idea who the publisher was or if it’s going to be a big book or anything. I’m just excited to be a part of it. Then the other one does have a publisher, I don’t know the name of it. It’s about what does it mean to be a grown-up. So I’m working on all these things about the duality of being an adult versus a kid, which is really strange that it’s happening at the same time.
SG: Every generation goes through this. Why doesn’t the next generation tell us, “Don’t worry about high school. You’ll grow up to be successful and the haters won’t.”
JN: And you know what? I was talking to people about this recently. I don't know if my high school self would hear that and believe it. I think that it’s so far beyond comprehending, it’s too hard to get out of that moment. It sucks and I feel like all we can do is acknowledge it and convince them that it will get better but it’s not going to be better for them at that moment. They’re still going to have to go through the shitty high school years because that’s just how it is.
SG: I certainly would have believed that high school would remain shitty.
JN: You just didn’t think that it would get better when you got older?
SG: I might not have believed it would get this good, but I knew I would do something. I was preparing for real life, so I didn’t care what happened in school.
JN: Do you think that you would have wanted to know in concrete terms? Is there kind of a thrill to live your life and discover it?
SG: That’s the dilemma. Knowing might have removed the need to try as hard as I did.
JN: I know, it’s a tricky little thing so all I know is the story I’m going to tell but I can’t wait to see what other people have to say about that.
SG: How do you draw? Can you learn or you just have it?
JN: I’ve just done it. I have a comic about how I used to draw when I was in preschool. Don’t be offended by this. I would draw naked pictures of my mom only because she was the only person I’d ever seen naked and I thought it was so cool because I knew we were both people but she looked so different. It wasn’t graphic. It was two big dots then a little dot and a lot of squiggly lines down there. That was it but I would draw them for kids in my class. They were like, “Will you draw me a picture of your mom?” So I’d draw them a naked picture and I was like peddling pornography in my preschool class. I got caught and I got in trouble but I’ve been drawing since then. It’s always been a way for me to feel satisfied, creative and it’s even more important now that I’m a part of a television show where I have a very small voice. It’s nice to have something that is still a creative outlet that I have complete control over and everything looks how I want it to look and that’s okay.
SG: Some people just sit and start drawing and it makes a picture.
JN: I don't know how other people do it but for me I just start with a line and something comes out. I never have an idea of how I want it to look unless it’s a comic. With those, I have pictures of panels where I’ve done thumbnails and I want it to look that way, but before I started doing comics, I would just doodle and it would turn into something that was funny or neat and pretty.
Fringe airs Fridays at 9 on Fox.

Nick Harmer: Hi, this is Nick from Death Cab for Cutie. Missy Suicide: Hi, this is Missy! NH: Hi, we have an interview today. MS: Yes, yes we do. How are you doing this afternoon? NH: Great, just got through with band practice, at home now, hanging out. Yourself? How are you doing? MS: It’s going... more

Nick Harmer: Hi, this is Nick from Death Cab for Cutie.

Missy Suicide: Hi, this is Missy!

NH: Hi, we have an interview today.

MS: Yes, yes we do. How are you doing this afternoon?

NH: Great, just got through with band practice, at home now, hanging out. Yourself? How are you doing?

MS: It’s going pretty good. That’s about it.

NH: Alright!

MS: First question is, how was the transition from an indie label to Atlantic?

NH: The transition’s been a pretty smooth one so far, a good move, it is a transition and there’s a lot to get used to instead of the situation that we were just in. So far we’re doing pretty well, in some ways we expected it to be different than it was, which has been a little bit strange, too.

MS: Is there any more attention that you got on an indie label that you don’t get being at a bigger label, any label pressure, compromises with the music?

NH: There are different things for sure. Certainly on an indie label, you’re more aware of all of all of the things that are happening to you and your band and your record on any given day. On a bigger label, there are so many people in different depts. working on things.

MS: Is that more or less stressful?

NH: It depends, sometimes it’s super less stressful to have others taking care of lots of things, and then sometimes once you figure out that someone’s working on something that you’re not excited about, and then you kind of get more stressed. The overall level on Atlantic hasn’t been very stressful, as they understand the kind of band we are and that we want to be, and they aren’t putting any pressure on us or are making us uncomfortable to do anything that we want to do, anything that doesn’t feel like us.

MS: They didn’t put any pressure on you or on the album to be guided into or sound any particular sort of way?

NH: No, none at all, and that’s something that we worked really hard with on our contract, that they wouldn’t have as much involvement, in our recording process, so I’m really thankful, that they give us enough rope to hang ourselves with. They let us go off to where we want to go, and are pretty happy about it.

MS: You recorded this album on the East coast. What was that like, did that change the vibe of the album at all ?

NH: Um, you know what? This is the first time in the band that we’ve been really isolated when making a record. We spent 4 weeks in the middle of basically, nowhere. It was the first time that we’ve been isolated from a lot of the things that we are sort of comfortable with, friends and restraurants. It was nice to be in a place where all we had to do everyday was focus on our music.

MS: Must be nice to not have to worry about life, and focus on your music, and not anything else around you.

NH: It was fantastic for 3 weeks or so, and after awhile, we started to get cabin fever. The last week was tough, and we were all going a little stir crazy. Ultimately, we were there for the right amount of time.

MS: I was reading about some of the influences of the album, and it seems like a big influence was the transition from youth to adult. What about this transition made it all tangible for you?

NH: I don’t know, I think that there are a lot of transitions going on in my life all over the place. We are getting more recognition as a band and there is also the transition with the new label. Our lives are changing. I think that all of that, I don’t know, it’s hard to say that there is any one moment that makes it a tangible one. We are doing what we can do to figure it out and make sense of it all.

MS: Touring to me is like life in a fast forward moment while your real life stands still. You guys toured so much on your last album. How did you manage to grow up while you did the constant touring?

NH:(laughs): I think that’s maybe a question, whether or not we are grown up. A lot of things have changed around us, but sometimes it feels like we still are like four kids in a living room still trying to make rent.

A lot of things have changed, but I still feel inside that we are four guys that like music and like playing together. We notice it more in the mornings, after partying or something. Sometimes you have to pinch yourself when you realize that, oh my gosh, you’ve been doing it for 8 years. You’re not as young as you once were in your 20’s.

MS: What’s life been like after the OC?

NH: Surprisingly, pretty much the same. I think that the OC, Six Feet Under, movie soundtracks and all that, have been great, but you still have a lot to worry about. I don’t think those shows have made the band a household name. Not much has changed. We have a lot of touring to do, and I don’t think that we ever thought it was ever going to be much. Modest Mouse, they seemed to have a good time, the Walkmen, they seemed to have a pretty good time, so we figured why not?

MS:I think maybe you’re more of a household name than you probably realize.

NH: It’s hard to have that objective view on yourself.

MS:Do you get recognized when you go out?

NH: Yes, but thank goodness it’s not ever weird or creepy.

MS: Do you ever have any stalkers?

NH: None yet no, thank goodness. Our fans aren’t like that, yet.

MS: You played on the vote for change tour with Pearl Jam, and you guys are from Seattle. Pearl Jam are a Seattle legend.

NH: It was fantastic, that band was great, I remember seeing them when I was a kid. We have a lot of admiration for them. They figured out the way to become who they are, and we were just a small band that was opening for them. They treated everyone around them so well, they extended every courtesy to us, they were nice and down to earth, and it was super refreshing to be around people that were so influential. For such influential musicians, they were humble, and it was great. Unfotunately we didn’t change the world like we thought we were all going to.

MS: What was your reaction to the result of the election?

NH: We were certainly disappointed and discouraged, and even months and days after then, we continued to have this I TOLD YOU SO mentality. What is it that the Bush administration is doing in New Orleans right now? It's terrible. You spent 2 days with this during this disaster on VACATION! You should have been there. It tears me up to see so many people hurting and that need help.

MS: It's sad to see that they don't have any hope, that there was no plan of action at all, even foreseeable, it's extremely frustrating.

NH: We are one of the wealthiest countries in this world and we should be able to take care of these things and take care of each other. There are a lot of factors, but there shouldn't continue to be people dying after the fact of this tragedy.

This is all an extension of wishing that the outcome of this election had turned out a little bit differently.

MS: You guys took a long break after the photo album, after the Postal Service was started and Chris produced a bunch of albums.
After the break, you guys recorded your best-selling album yet. How was the break, the time off of making music inspiring to you?

NH: One of the secrets to our mental health and sanity in the band is the fact that we all recognize that we realize have something very special between us. It's important and very dear to our hearts, but it's ok to take a break from that, and get reinspired and refreshed in working with other artists, writing with other people. Being part of another creative process.

We came back from our respective field trips and it made it very interesting and very exciting.

MS: You guys worked well with Jason McGerr, your drummer, but it seemed like it took awhile to get a drummer that stuck. Why is it so hard to keep a drummer?

NH: I have no idea, that's one of the great mysteries of life, but..

MS: It's like Spinal Tap.

NH: Yes, it's exactly like Spinal Tap!

NH: I don't know why it took us so long, but for whatever reason, things lined up with Jason and it clicked, we knew it. The chemistry, the energy that happens when we are together is undeniable.

At this point, we wouldn't be a band if it weren't for Jason.

MS: So the name Death Cab for Cutie comes from the Magical Mystery tour movie, right? Were you a big Beatles fan and are they a big influence on Death Cab?

NH: Yeah, we are all huge Beatles fans. They made some of the most amazing records in rock and roll offered today. They never got played out, and this is something that admired and we studied for a long time.

I'm not exactly sure how anyone can be in rock and roll today and not be somehow influenced by the Beatles. I think that they changed a lot about how music was played and presented and explored. It boggles my mind sometimes when you think about at how much that band has had on music culture.

MS: What's the process for songwriting? The lyrics are amazing, do they come first, or does the music come first? Or do they just all come together?

NH: I think that the lyrics and music come simultaneously. Melody is a hard thing to separate from music. I think that most of the stuff comes together simultaneously for Ben. As a band, our impact on the songs is more in the arrangement, it depends on the music, the nature of the song. The adding and subtracting of things here and there. We do that all in the name of the lyric, it's the focus of our songs, we focus around that.

MS: Rumor has it that you're a big comic book fan?

NH: That's true.

MS: Who are some of your favorite artists?

MS: One of my all-time favorite artists is Bill Finkowitz, he does occasional one-offs, he did a Daredevil and Electra graphic novel. He did Stray Coasters in the 90's, I think it's fantastically drawn, I love it and adore it. The story is strange and great.

One of my favorite writers of all time is Alan Moore who wrote the Watchman, Vendetta, and From Hell, which was made into a so-so Hollywood movie, although the comic was fantastic.

MS:Are you going to see the Natalie Portman movie for Vendetta?

NH:Of course! I've got to check it out. Maybe they'll get it right. Sometimes movies actually do get it right. I was actually scared when X-men came out, as for the Wolverine character, he's one of my favorites of all time, I was afraid about this guy I've never heard of, Hugh Jackman. What if he gets it wrong, but I think he did a really great job!

MS: He has such a range, from his Broadway career to Wolverine, he manages to do it all.

NH: So true.

MS: I think I just have one more question. I'm from Suicide Girls, and when I talked to the label, they said that you were a fan of SG. Had you heard of us before?

NH: Oh, absolutely. We actually, some friends and I, we saw the tour in Los Angeles, of all places, it was great. I saw the ad for the DVD, and I think we'll pick that up for the bus.

Keep doing what you're doing, keep up the good work, your website is fantastic and great!

Death Cab for Cutie's new album is out NOW, and it's called Plans.

This Sunday (Feb 6th) our very special in-studio guests will be psychedelic pop/rock dandy Kristian Hoffman and Mexican masked wrestling/burlesque/comedy ensemble Lucha VaVoom. It’s guaranteed to be a fabulously stylish and whimsically colorful show. Tune in from 10 PM til midnight for two hours of... more

This Sunday (Feb 6th) our very special in-studio guests will be psychedelic pop/rock dandy Kristian Hoffman and Mexican masked wrestling/burlesque/comedy ensemble Lucha VaVoom. It’s guaranteed to be a fabulously stylish and whimsically colorful show.

Tune in from 10 PM til midnight for two hours of totally awesome tunes and extreme conversation – and don’t let your moma listen in!

Listen to SG Radio live Sunday night from 10 PM til Midnight on Indie1031.com

Got questions? Then dial our studio hotline digits this Sunday between 10 PM and midnight PST: 877-900-1031

Busy on Sunday? Then find all our podcasts at http://suicidegirlsradio.blip.tv/ and listen at your leisure.

And don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.





About Kristian Hoffman

Deemed the “cult legend of cult legends” by LA Weekly, pop maestro Kristian Hoffman has just released a 17 song baroque opus FOP. Hoffman set out to create the most grandiose independent album possible, in the tradition of “mission statement” double albums like Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. Hoffman calls it “‘MacArthur Park’ meets Queen”. Magnet calls it a “masterpiece,” Roctober “a grand brilliant song cycle” and Blurt “an orchestral pop lover’s wet dream”.

Kristian Hoffman will be performing tracks from his new album with a full band and a string quartet conducted by Jeff Bruner at his terribly stylish Fop Formal soiree this Friday, February 4 th at The Steve Allen Theater (8 PM). Pantyhose and powdered wig’s are mandatory attire for both ladies and gentlemen.





For more on Kristian Hoffman visit www.kristianhoffman.com/

***




About Lucha VaVoom

Mexican masked wrestling/burlesque/comedy ensemble Lucha VaVoom are prepared to turn things upside down as only they can at their annual “MY KINKY VALENTINE” performances on Wednesday, February 9 and Thursday, February 10 at the Mayan Theater in DTLA (8:00PM shows).

Lucha VaVOOM has created a Los Angeles tradition: from the low-rider car parade escorting the performers as the crowd enters the iconic Mayan Theater, to the local luminaries they attract (Drew Carey sat in at their last show), to Burlesque (which was revived right here in Los Angeles), to Lucha Libre, where masked heroic wrestlers flip, fly and amaze. It all comes together to make one fun, surreal, glam-bam spectacle of raucous entertainment.

In between matches, the finest handpicked burlesque acts from around the world wow the crowds with their unique striptease skills, including raucous aerial acts, pogo-stick peelers and hula-hoop hotties. They’ve searched the world’s dungeons, sumptuous theaters, and sweaty Mexican wrestling dens for the kinkiest performers they could find. You could say it’s a wrestling show for people that don’t like wrestling (and those that do).

Founded in Los Angeles in 2003 by Rita D’Albert and Liz Fairbairn, Lucha VaVOOM is non-stop, action-packed surrealism, where Mexican masked wrestlers flip and fly, performing breathtaking acrobatic feats in a fast paced, fun-filled, character-driven style. It’s good vs. evil played out in quick, exhibition-style, one-fall Lucha Libre matches for maximum enjoyment and action.





For more on Lucha VaVoom visit www.luchavavoom.com/

by Laurelin Boston is one of the oldest cities in the entire United States. Boasting such a long history one can’t help but feel proud as a resident to be a part of something that just feels… bigger. But let’s focus on what’s really important. Take a seat Tea Party, because Boston is also home... more

by Laurelin

Boston is one of the oldest cities in the entire United States. Boasting such a long history one can’t help but feel proud as a resident to be a part of something that just feels… bigger. But let’s focus on what’s really important. Take a seat Tea Party, because Boston is also home to some of the best dive bars on the East Coast. There are really too many to name, but these are my favorites: Boston’s Top Five. I wish I didn’t have to choose, but let’s be honest, no one wants to read a novel dictated by my liver, and man, mine is really starting to hurt. If there is any special mention to be had, it’s to my research team: Lindsay, Meg, Dave and Sara, this is for you guys.



1. The Tam– Downtown/Central Boston

22 Tremont Street, Boston

Despite the fact that the whole bar smells like urine, I will be returning to The Tam. There was a certain divey charm that you pick up on right as you walk in, and the sincerity of the smiles from the older couple behind the bar was certainly something to warm even the coldest heart. We made our way to the bar and snagged the diner style stools, ordering up a round of super cheap drinks and then taking off to go play a few games of Big Buck Hunter.

In between games I looked around. TV’s were set to the Bruins and Family Guy, not too loud. The walls looked like they might be worth some cash, being adorned with antique beer signs and photos. Strange lanterns hung from the brown paneled ceiling, which had a turn of the century feel to it. The crowd was right up my alley; it looked like a combination of graduate students and late 20s and early 30s young professionals. Everyone chattered with one another and no one got out of hand after a few drinks. It almost reminded me of Thanksgiving dinner at a relatives. I felt at home.

I give The Tam my number one spot because of the atmosphere and because of this: you can bring in outside food at any time, as long as you buy a drink (cash only.) We were told that they don’t have a kitchen, and people get hungry, so go for it! Here’s my suggestion: Next door at the absolutely amazing Intermission Tavern there is a burger that will change your life – the It’s Always Sunny in Boston. Go get that burger and a side of sweet potato fries and nestle in at The Tam. You won’t regret it, although your arteries and liver might have something to say about it a few years down the line.

2. TC’s Lounge– Back Bay

1 Haviland Street, Boston

TC’s is in many ways, the perfect dive. My breath was taken away the second I walked through the door. I was greeted by one of those claw game machines you see at the movie theatres, but instead of being filled with stuffed animals, it was filled with porno DVDs and sex toys. I wanted them all. We must have made it clear that we had never been there before, because the bartender was wildly unfriendly, but it kind of fit the atmosphere and the drinks were moderately priced. Every inch of wall and ceiling were covered. Not a bare spot was to be found, every poster, photo, beer sign or advertisement ever put on this earth was stuck there. I imagine it would be a great spot for an awkward date, there was just so much to take in – I don’t think any of us spoke for about five minutes.

Feeling as thought I was turned red from all the neon signs, my friends and I cozied up in the back room, warmed by the crackling fake fireplace and nestled in by another Buck Hunter and Terminator: Salvation. It was a perfect place for drinks and conversation, away from the music and TV’s that dominated the front. We were tucked under the stairs, Harry Potter style. Up the stairs was the bathroom: “Don’t go in there,” my friend said. “You won’t fit.”

I didn’t. Ducking my head, I found myself in a 1950’s pink powder room. A vanity mirror with three pink chairs beckoned to me and I found myself wishing I had something with which to powder my nose and some bright red lipstick to apply. It was really amazing, especially after the spell broke, and I half walked half crouched down the stairs back towards the porno claw.

3. Old Sully’s– Charlestown

56 Union Street, Boston

Have you guys seen The Town ? I haven’t. But I’m from here, so I guess it’s okay. It’s my town, and I don’t care if Ben Affleck’s been sitting in it. But the bar from the scenes in The Town is absolutely enchanting and a little creepy, so if you have the chance, check it out. Walking into Old Sully’s you feel like you’re stepping back in time to a clubhouse your older brother belonged to that you weren’t allowed into. The air is thick with something– I can’t be sure if it was history or mildew. Maybe it was Ben Affleck.

The bar itself is set up diner style, with round stools like you might be able to order a cup of coffee and some pie, but all that’s on draft is Bud and Michelob Ultra. There are a few square tables set up in the corner against the window complete with the hard tan chairs with metal legs that could have been stolen from an elementary school. A 90’s country music radio station playing in the background added to the ambience.

We ordered a round of Miller Lites because it seemed only appropriate to order domestic or whisky, and I was supposed to be remembering this trip. There were only two other people in the bar – both older men, a regular and the bartender. Both looked horrified when we walked in the door, as though we had just stormed their “No Girls Allowed” treehouse fort. I thought I would offer up some information and let them know why we were there. The regular coughed a dry sick sounding cough and barked “this isn’t a dive,” before turning back to the other man and exchanging glares. I kept my mouth shut.

Old Sully’s was a Boston classic old school bar with a really great view of the city if you look just past the highway. I can’t wait to go back.

4. Silhouette Lounge– Allston/Brighton

200 Brighton Ave, Allston

This place has always been one of my favorites. How can you go wrong with a bar that has $7 pitchers of PBR and free baskets of extra salty popcorn with every order? The Sil has a pool table, Big Buck Hunter, and most notably, a separate room with five or so dart boards. The bartender is an older woman who always has a smile on her face – god knows how she does it with the people that come in and out of that bar! She’s a saint.

The bathroom, in typical dive fashion, is small and creepy with the normal Allston cocaine residue on the toilet paper holder and vulgar sharpie marker graffiti on the walls. This is one of the greatest places to get the real in your face Allston experience. Don’t expect eye contact, or acknowledgment of any kind, even when some drunk girl accidentally spills her PBR on your jacket. It wasn’t me. I swear.

5. Beacon Hill Pub– Beacon Hill

149 Charles Street, Boston

The Beacon Hill pub first caught my attention with a sign that proclaimed that they were Boston’s worst dive: “A bar scene straight out of Star Wars.” I was instantly intrigued. Located in Boston’s historical Beacon Hill area, the Beacon Hill Pub is actually fairly large, with two separate rooms each with their own full bar and the second outfitted with a game area. This bar, like pretty much every other dive, comes complete with Big Buck Hunter and Terminator: Salvation – but this bar stood out with Hoop Fever, a game that I haven’t seen since the days of Chuck E Cheese.

We grabbed our $5 beers in our plastic cups and played a few games giggling like little kids as my friend Lindsay missed shot after shot. We must really be the only tall girls in the entire city that can’t play basketball to save our lives. The bar itself had a fair mix of people, from old men who looked glued to the stools to college sports guys rooting for the Bruins, to a table of a few well dressed girls who looked like they might have just got off work at The Cheesecake Factory. I don’t know if it was exactly like the bar scene from Star Wars, but The Beacon Hill Pub is definitely worth checking out.

by Brett Warner It’s not easy being the only smartass, largely uninformed Social Democrat in a family of complacent, church-going conservatives – but somebody’s got to do it. In the debut installment of my new SG column Armchair Politics, I’ll be taking a half-assed gander at the week’s political... more

by Brett Warner

It’s not easy being the only smartass, largely uninformed Social Democrat in a family of complacent, church-going conservatives – but somebody’s got to do it. In the debut installment of my new SG column Armchair Politics, I’ll be taking a half-assed gander at the week’s political news with the un-researched perspective of an underpaid know-it-all college graduate with a twenty year-old car and $160 thousand dollars in student loan debt. Why does my opinion matter? Because it’s on the internet, duh.



Topic 1:

This weekend, my new favorite James Bond villain Julian Assange appeared on 60 Minutes, speaking with Steve Kroft about WikiLeaks, his arraignment, and the U.S. Justice Department’s throbbing boner for extraditing him on espionage charges.







Mr. Kroft equates the pro-whistle blowing activities of WikiLeaks and Mr. Assange with “screwing with the forces of nature,” while Assange rightfully asserts that the leaked cables, by and large, are more embarrassing to the U.S. State Department than anything. Over publicized folks like my gal pal Sarah Palin would love to see Assange prosecuted as a terrorist and an insurgent, but I think this lengthy 60 Minutes piece should demonstrate once and for all that Julian Assange is: a) Simply the bi-product of a growing resentment against the clear disconnect between the over-blown yet largely ineffective government and the underpaid/unemployed working poor majority in this country, and b.) the lead singer of Japan.

Hillary Clinton and the majority of the “oh shit, I never should have used my birthday as my government e-mail password” Republican Party are acting like the RIAA circa 2000, freaking the fuck out because technology has rendered their old business model obsolete. Napster didn’t kill music, and the United States is not going to crumble because our citizens are a little bit more informed, despite what the anti-elite, pro-misinformation GOP derelicts would have us believe.

Though he’s possibly a perverted, misogynist sex offender, Julian Assange is not a terrorist or a political criminal. We should be spending less time wasting tax dollars on inventing some new, back door way of throwing him into prison and start spending more time listening to David Sylvian records.

Topic 2:

Oh, Sarah Palin. Where can I even start? There’s not much you can say about everyone’s favorite ex-public servant that hasn’t already been firmly established. (Namely, she’s dumb and shoots her mouth more often than she shoots wild animals.) So I’ll say something about Wasilla’s favorite hockey mom that I feel needs to be properly addressed: she’s a bad role model.

The Huffington Post reported this week that during a speech to a bunch of hunters (a.k.a. the only people who take her seriously), Palin stated that a proposed “media boycott” of her would be “good, because there’s a lot of chaos in Cairo, and [she] can’t wait to not get blamed for it.” (I’ve got it from a good source that Palin knows Cairo is the capital of Egypt because her high school boyfriend took her to see Raiders of the Lost Ark at the drive-in.) Frankly, it boggles my mind that anyone would see a social revolution from such a delusional, self-centered perspective, but of course, this is the woman that quit her job in the midst of a recession so that she could go sell more copies of her book and star in her own reality show. Nice message to send to the financially suffering proletariat, Sarah.

I grew up playing hockey, so I’ve run into my share of hockey moms. From experience, I can tell you they’re good at two things: yelling vitriolic bullshit at the top of their lungs, and… well, no, I guess it’s just that one thing.

Topic 3:



[Fanny in Marie Antoinette]

I won’t be watching the Super Bowl this weekend. Why, you ask? Well, I have to work that night. But also I find it a bit offensive that many of our superb, admirable business corporations can come together once a year to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on commercials while our government is scrambling to figure out how to fish this country out of the quicksand pit of a deficit we’ve been writhing around in for the past decade. So Nike can spend half a million on a tennis shoe commercial, but won’t pay an American $8 an hour to glue the damn thing together?

Right now, the United States is in the second act of Marie Antoinette. That’s right, all the CEOs and Wall Street traders are gallivanting around, listening to Bow Wow Wow’s “I Want Candy” and chowing down on tiny pieces of cake. It’s disgusting that we can find millions and millions of dollars to dump into a fucking single game of football, but the unemployment rate in my state is still in the double digits. It won’t always be that way, though. If Tunisia and Egypt can find a way to organize themselves and demand social justice, then it’s only a matter of time before all the bankrupt, foreclosed, spat upon have-nots in this country stop yelling at their TV sets and start yelling at their elected officials.

There’s a solution to this country’s crippling debt and shattered economy: cut out all the garish, Roman Empire bullshit that we’ve convinced ourselves we need. No more pro-athlete salaries, $100 million dollar 3D movies, overflowing prisons, or out of control defense spending. Take all that money we’d save and give every American an apartment, a library card, and a newspaper subscription. Also, John Boehner has to work at Starbucks and buy his own damn health insurance. (It’s not a bad idea, except he’d probably start crying into my completely necessary Trenta Frappuccino.)

In the early 90’s after a few albums and a lot of hard work Matthew Sweet broke into the mainstream with the hit song and record, Girlfriend. Since then he’s been able to flit from project to project gaining talented new friends and collaborators. Now he’s teamed up with The Bangles vocalist Susanna... more

In the early 90’s after a few albums and a lot of hard work Matthew Sweet broke into the mainstream with the hit song and record, Girlfriend. Since then he’s been able to flit from project to project gaining talented new friends and collaborators. Now he’s teamed up with The Bangles vocalist Susanna Hoffs for the album Under the Covers, Vol. 1. The new release has Sweet and Hoffs covering their favorite 60’s pop hits.

Buy Under the Covers, Vol. 1

Daniel Robert Epstein: Is Under the Cover an official Ming Tea release?

Matthew Sweet: No, not at all. Although it’s funny, we’ve done a lot of interviews today and it comes up a lot. I do think there is a sort of a spiritual connection because in both Sue and my minds we were drawing from this era of music in the idea of the Ming Tea thing. Mike [Myers] for that matter probably knows some of that stuff. I think there is a connection but this really happened out of the realm of Ming Tea.

DRE: Did you guys do anything as Ming Tea besides the Austin Powers movies?

MS: When we created Ming Tea we actually had eight songs. We did a gig at The Viper Room before the first movie was made with Mike was dressed as Austin. It was like he was still working out the character. That was about as real as it ever got. In the second movie I think they might have used some of my scene break stuff, but there wasn’t any Ming Tea in it. Then for the third movie they brought back Ming Tea. But in that case we didn’t do any actual hanging out. Mike and I wrote the song and then we did it in the studio and then sang it for the movie. I guess what I’m saying is that the greatest era of Ming Tea was long ago.

DRE: [laughs] Did you and Susanna do stuff before that?

MS: We met long before that. I think around the time I was making Girlfriend we met because Fred Maher was producing something of hers for a soundtrack or something like that. I remember talking to her on the phone during that time. We may have talked about writing something and then I ran into her again once I lived in LA. By the mid-90’s we were both living out here. At the time I met Mike Myers, Sue brought him to a show of mine at The Cave, this acoustic club out here. Sue was sitting in with me singing background vocals. Then I wrote some songs with her and Charlotte Caffey of the Go-Go’s.

DRE: That’s cool.

MS: I never had written songs with anybody so I was so nervous about it. They got me to go out to lunch with them and then they confronted me, like “Write songs with us” [laughs]. That opened me up to writing more with other people, which I think has been a good experience for me. Not so much because I used that stuff for my own records or anything but it opened me up musically a little bit.

DRE: Did you and Susannah connect immediately over this style of music?

MS: Yeah I think so. Sue was talking to our label Shout Factory about doing some solo thing and she mentioned me producing her. I’d said many times that I wanted to because I liked her voice. They suggested we try to do something collaborative that and then the idea of doing a cover record came up and we just ran with that because it was something that was easy for us to do. We could just do it at my house and it was really fun because we have such similar taste in music. The most surprising thing is that all we both like so many of the same songs from that era.

DRE: Why did this album have to be produced in your house?

MS: That just how they’re doing it now. There’s been this big shift and it’s been terrible for big studios. My very favorite studio in LA, which most recently was called Cello used to be the western side of United Western Studios. That’s where they made all these classic recordings like Beach Boys and Sinatra records. One of my favorite, if not my favorite engineer in the whole world, Jim Scott, worked only in those rooms and that studio is gone. They couldn’t keep it alive because of the advent of home recordings. The quality of which has gone up to where you can do a really good recording at home. For us it meant not having the pressure of a big budget.

DRE: I thought the quality was as good as any studio album I’ve heard.

MS: That’s great to hear. I’ve made a lot of demos over the years and really starting with the new millennium, I’ve made a couple records in my house. This is the first record I’ve done where it was like something other than me. It was a little bit scary in terms of that but I just tried to make it sound as cool as possible.

DRE: What computer system do you use for it?

MS: I use a Macintosh based Pro-Tools system. It’s not a super complex one. In fact, the thing that I do that’s sort of unorthodox is that I still mix completely within the computer so I don’t go back out of digital once I’m in there. Maybe if I make a ton of money I’ll get some more outboard gear.

DRE: I read that you and Sue each had a list of songs you wanted to do and both of you had the same song at the top. That’s bizarre.

MS: That was really bizarre. It was He May Call You Up by the Left Bank. It’s only a really well known song to people who already know the Left Bank really well. It was an uncanny thing that set us off on a really good tone.

DRE: How did you pick the rest of the songs?

MS: We sat down with CDs, lists and other lists our friends had given us. We picked things sort of randomly and after a while we would just not know what we were doing next and I would go, “What if we did a track for this song?” and Sue would be like, “Great.” It was pretty easy going.

DRE: What’s interesting about that is that you brought in a bunch of old school guys to work on with you. What did they say when they saw this setup you have?

MS: I think everybody’s pretty used to how it is now. Everybody’s had these setups at home for several years but it’s just that now people are making the real record off them. From what I hear, a lot of the producers now and especially guys who mix records, have to have their own studio because record companies won’t pay both for an expensive studio and an expensive mixing guy. It is changing a little bit, in terms of what’s expected. For Shout Factory Sue and I couldn’t have really afforded to do it in an expensive studio because we were doing it for a low amount of money.

DRE: How’d you decide who was going to come in and help you guys out with this?

MS: A lot of it’s my guys and that was decided from the beginning. I wanted to get my drummer Ric Menck and Greg Liesz to play on it. In fact, Ivan Julian and Richard Lloyd ended up on it because they were out recording a bunch of stuff for my next album and I just had them play on some of the stuff for this one. Susannah knows that’s those guys too so it wasn’t like I jammed all my guys on her or anything.

DRE: [laughs] What did having Van Dyke there do for you?

MS: Van Dyke is an amazing guy. I did a lot of work with him on a record of mine called Living Things that came out a couple years ago. On this record he just did a couple of songs so he came over on one day and recorded. I’ve known him a long time and he isn’t just a musical genius. He’s beyond that, he’s just a genius in general. We didn’t want to have it slip by without having him work on the record. I’m sure we’ll be using him around more because I’m producing a solo album for Sue and I’ll get him to do some stuff on that as well.

DRE: Were you a big fan of The Bangles?

MS: I was always a huge fan of Sue’s voice and I really loved the Bangles as well. They’re awesome because they actually have a group sound. When the three main members get together they have this classic sound. I first fell in love with Sue’s voice on a thing called Rainy Day that was a compilation which was a David Roback based thing. It had a couple songs with Sue singing the Bob Dylan song, I’ll Keep It with Mine.

DRE: I read that you’re afraid of flying.

MS: No, that’s not true. Well, I don’t love flying or anything.

DRE: I hate flying so much.

MS: I went for about eight years not flying at all. From about 1994 to 2000 or somewhere around there, so it’s true I had terrible fear of flying. Then I dealt with it and got over it. I’ve done a ton of flying since the turn of the century. I went all over the world with the Thorns three years ago. We opened for the Dixie Chicks in Europe and Australia. I went to Japan and Spain and toured on my own last year.

DRE: You opened for the Dixie Chicks?

MS: The Thorns opened for the Dixie Chicks in Europe. The Thorns is me and Pete Droge and Shawn Mullins. It’s sort of country rock. We sold almost 200,000 records.

DRE: Wow.

Are you producing a lot now?

MS: Not really. Only by virtue of Sue and I doing this thing together did I end up producing it. I’m still focused on doing my own stuff as much as I’ve been doing all these side things. I have a new album that I’m working on finishing right now. I would produce if it was with the right person and if they didn’t care about doing it my way [laughs]. I don’t know if I have really enough patience to produce something unless I really am a fan.

DRE: When is your next album coming out?

MS: I’m not sure, either later this year or early next year.

Sony got my catalog because BMG and Sony merged. So they’re releasing a reissue of it, I think, this summer. I’m going to try to get it out sort of in the wake of that. We may still be touring some of Sue’s stuff in the fall so I don’t know if it makes sense for me to put it out until next year.

DRE: How long have you been working on the new album?

MS: I did most of the groundwork for it last year while we were working on this record. Now I’m more into doing more singing and finishing that stuff. A lot of it’s done, but just not totally done. I have to get a sense of what it is and I have the luxury, because I’m at home. The funny thing is, the record itself is extremely raw, crazy and off the cuff.

DRE: I know there’s a second disc being included with the reissue of Girlfriend. Did you have anything to do with that?

MS: That’s not new. It is called Good Friend and it is a disc that existed back then. During the prime of Girlfriend, one of the grassroots promotions that was really helpful was store play. There were still a lot more Mom and Pop record stores back then and even record chains had a little more about of that mentality than they have now. I was out touring at the time and the label wanted to put together some that would be a thank you to the in-store play people. That’s what that CD was.

Also we’re hoping to do a five point one surround sound mix with for Girlfriend but that just hasn’t worked out yet.

DRE: I know you are an anime fan from the style that was used in the Girlfriend video. There’s been a huge rise in anime in the past few years.

MS: I know. It’s so much that I can’t even really count myself as being in any way current about it. My real craze was before it was ever in the mainstream culture here. I still love the style and all of that but I don’t keep up with it in the way I used to. We still see Miyazaki movies though.

by Daniel Robert Epstein

SG Username: AndersWolleck