I'll start: (video) I like when she talks about butter. MMMM flux and butter.

Chuck Palahniuk is now a best selling author. I never thought those words would ever come together in that way. But with the release of the David Fincher film Fight Club based on Chuck's novel, it was inevitable. It happened with his last dark novel Choke. The new book Lullaby is the first of his... more

Chuck Palahniuk is now a best selling author. I never thought those words would ever come together in that way. But with the release of the David Fincher film Fight Club based on Chuck's novel, it was inevitable. It happened with his last dark novel Choke.

The new book Lullaby is the first of his reinventions of horror. In Lullaby, Carl Streator is a solitary widower and a fortyish newspaper reporter who is assigned to do a series of articles on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. In the course of this investigation he discovers an ominous thread: the presence at the death scenes of the anthology Poems and Rhymes Around the World, all opened to the page where there appears an African chant, or "culling song". This song turns out to be lethal when spoken or even thought in anyone's direction and once it lodges in Streator's brain he finds himself becoming an involuntary serial killer. So he teams up with a real estate broker, one Helen Hoover Boyle; who specializes in selling haunted (or "distressed") houses (wonderfully high turnover), and who lost a child to the culling song years before; for a cross-country odyssey to remove all copies of the book from libraries, lest this deadly verbal virus spread and wipe out human life. Accompanying them on this road trip are Helen's assistant, Mona Sabbat, an exquisitely earnest Wiccan, and her sardonic ecoterrorist boyfriend Oyster, who is running a scam involving fake liability claims and business blackmail.

While his books may often have outrageous and dark elements in them, his life hasn't been much different. In 1999, his own father was murdered, spinning Chuck into a nightmarish legal process in which he would end up being cross-examined by the killer.

Many things in Chuck's books have strangely come to pass in certain ways. After the release of the Fight Club film, illegal fight clubs sprung up around the country. In his novel Survivor there is a terrifying plane crash and it would be tough to forget the images of the buildings collapsing in Fight Club as well. But he tells me himself that he is no seer and it's all done in fun.

Check out the website for Lullaby at: http://www.randomhouse.com/features/lullaby/

Check out Chuck's website for all sorts of cool stuff: ChuckPalahniuk.net

Dan Epstein: I interviewed you last year for Davidfincher.net.

Chuck Palahniuk: I remember. Did you celebrate his birthday in august?

DE: No I didn't know when it was.

CP: Yeah he turned forty. I turned forty in February and Brad Pitt turns forty this year.

DE: You have said Lullaby is the first reinventions of horror that you're writing. What genre is Lullaby?

CP: Witches. We haven't seen a witch story other than say Harry Potter in a long time. It's really about people fantasizing about having power. Children love Harry Potter because it's children with incredible powers. It's the same way they love the X-Men.

DE: Your publishers call you a seer. How‚s that feel?

CP: [laughs] Boy marketing people will say anything. People seem to be a little freaked out by the amount of things in my book have come to pass. The thing that people are reeling from now is that it was about a year ago it was deiced to put the picture of the dead bird on the cover of Lullaby. Now dead crows are the first signs of West Nile virus in an area. There has some been backlash. People are saying we're taking advantage of West Nile virus. I wrote this two years ago.

DE: Do you believe in people being able to see the future?

CP: No. I believe that some people are gifted in ways that others aren't, I would be stupid not to say that. I can't see jack shit.

DE: I read that Lullaby was partly inspired by Nine Inch Nails Fixed album. It's an amazing album.

CP: There is one cut on that album that I just played over and over again.

DE: It's a great album to do that with since it never ends that way. I know you and Trent [Reznor] are acquaintances. What did he think of that?

CP: I know he liked the book. I sent the manuscript to him last fall in Los Angeles. He called me and said he was bored and that he wanted to read it.

DE: Wasn't he supposed to do the music for Fight Club?

CP: Yes. He has a connection with Fincher through the music videos but he was really caught in making his album The Fragile.

DE: What elements of Lullaby are autobiographical?

CP: The resentment of noise because when I am writing I like to pretend the rest of the world isn't out there.

DE: Lullaby is part of three-book deal I think.

CP: Sort of three books dedication to reinventing horror.

DE: What book is next?

CP: The next one is done and it's called Period Revival. It's going to be a conspiracy horror book like Ira Levin used to do so well. With Rosemary's Baby, The Stepford Wives and The Boys from Brazil, he was really the master of conspiracy horror even though he wrote the Barbra Streisand song He Touched Me. At the time he wrote those books it was a really building era of paranoid in our culture. I really think the period conspiracy novel really needs to come back now.

DE: Is there going to be monsters?

CP: No but there will be someone who finds out that they've been manipulated their entire adult life and that she's had control over her life.

DE: Were you surprised when your last book, Choke, became a best seller?

CP: [laughs] Yes I was. I heard my editor was dancing on his desk. I never thought I would see that day. I figured that it was about as likely as it becoming an Oprah book.

DE: Didn't you try to get your editor to steal from Oprah?

CP: My editor, Jerry, was going to a party at her house for Quincy Jones and I was trying to get him to take a souvenir out of her bathroom.

DE: Maybe a vial of fat.

CP: Yeah that little red wagon full of fat she was pulling around for a while. But he wouldn't do it so as revenge I was going on the radio and talking about how he stole her diaphragm and we were going to sell it on ebay. Then I got this really pointed call from Random House saying they got a call from Oprah's company Harpo and that I better just shut up.

DE: It's a good thing she cancelled her book club because then she wouldn't push your books.

CP: Like that would ever happen. It's when you got nothing to risk that you can do things like that.

DE: How has the success of Choke changed things?

CP: Well all of my books are in print and they sell really nicely. As each new book came out it was an increasing success. When someone comes to an event they buy a few of my books. When people bring five books to get signed, it's great.

DE: But then they sell them on ebay.

CP: I can‚t look at that stuff. You can't look at that and keep any sense of reality. Well I stopped working a regular job in 1998 but it hasn't changed things a hell of a lot. I really committed that if I'm going to be a writer I'm going to work as hard as I would any day job. So if I do that I could do at least one book a year and if I can't do that then I'm not working at it hard enough. It hasn't changed much of anything except the amount of people who come to signings.

DE: What was it like being cross-examined by your father's killer?

CP: It was infuriating. I was so angry. I told myself I was going to be cool about it and I wasn't going to react. Then up there I was slathering like a rabid dog and furious. Thank god the judge stepped in and called it to a halt.

DE: This is real life horror hitting you in the face. Was it the hardest thing you ever did?

CP: No not by any means. It was so sudden. We didn't know until me and the other surviving children went to court that I was going to be called up there. There was no time for it to build up and worry about it. It could have been much worse.

DE: I think you had said a few years ago that you wanted to write a father/son relationship type book.

CP: In a way that was Fight Club. It was so much about the relationship or lack of a relationship between fathers and sons. In a way I felt I bashed fathers so much, that's why I had to do Choke and take a few swings at mothers to even the score. For the time being I probably won't do that.

DE: You spoke to your dad during a séance I read.

CP: I was just writing about that this morning for a British magazine. A friend of mine claims he lives in a haunted house and I wanted to debunk all that. I was house-sitting for him when he was out of town and I asked a friend to bring some psychics over. They held a séance and they told me some stories about stuff that happened between my father and I when I was four years old that I never told anyone. They said my father was really sorry.

DE: I went to an introductory meeting at the Landmark Forum.

CP: Really.

DE: I walked out after about an hour. I couldn't deal with it. I read a little about what you said about it. It felt too culty.

CP: I walked out after 45 minutes. I went to the introduction and told off
the guest speaker. I called her a cult leader, a witch, which I knew what
they were up to and walked out.

DE: What made you go back in?

CP: After I walked out, it just hit me like a ton of bricks. I was 26 years old, I've got it all figured out and I'm just going to wait for the rest of my life for something to come along and hurt me. So why not take a chance at being young again. I went back in and apologized. That same night I started Fight Club.

DE: Has 9/11 changed the way you write?

CP: To a certain extent it sort of happened at the perfect time for my career because I did not want to be standing on the soapbox as an angry young man into my forties. This way I get sort of transitioned into my cultural criticisms in a forward way. The best cultural criticism of the 40's and 50's came out of oppressive times. It was fantasy and science fiction and it wasn't taken like form someone on a soapbox. It's my goal to be charming and entertaining in my rants.

DE: I read you take grappling classes.

CP: I did until about a year ago, the guy who taught the classes moved to England. It was a great class. A lot of fun and it was the best exercise ever. I broke two ribs while I was writing Choke. That injury gave the excuse to sit down and write.

DE: Were people excited to grapple with the guy who wrote Fight Club?

CP: At first but that stuff tends to burn off really fast.

DE: How are things going to be different now that you‚re forty?

CP: I'm a little more family oriented. The books sort of reflect that. They're less about the struggle to find personal identity and more about the struggle with the external world, family and relationship issues.

DE: I read you ate a mink coat at a Pink Floyd laser show. Were you on ecstasy or something?

CP: It was the first time anyone gave me LSD. I was grinding my teeth really bad and one of my friends told me to put something in my mouth. I meant to put my winter muffler in my mouth and after a few minutes I found that I had picked up the sleeve of a mink coat that belonged to the woman next to me. I had chewed this whole sleeve off the elbow. I was choking on the fur and it was the worst thing to find in your mouth when you're high on acid. Hair was in my mouth and in my sinuses. I knew the moment the lights came up this woman was going to freak out and I was going to go to jail. That is a recipe for a bad trip.

DE: You had told me last year that Jake Paltrow [Gwyneth's brother] had written a screenplay based on your book Survivor [which is about the sole passenger of a jet, moments away from slamming first into the Australian outback and then into oblivion]. I am going to assume that project isn't going to happen.

CP: You could win money on that bet.

DE: Anything moving with the Choke movie?

CP: Bandera Entertainment, the guys who did Requiem for a Dream have Clark Gregg [writer of What Lies Beneath] writing a draft. That looks like it will be the next movie.

DE: Do you have any plans to do any screenplays?

CP: David Fincher and I have talked about doing Chemical Pink, which is a dark novel about female bodybuilding. I think Fincher is hemming and hawing about Mission Impossible 3. I know he has the option. I think he got the option and put the deal together with me as the screenwriter. Our agents have talked about it. I tried to tell David that I've never written a screenplay before. He seems fine with it.

DE: I heard you and Jim Uhls [screenwriter of Fight Club] might be doing an HBO series.

CP: We were putting together a concept and a pilot because HBO really wanted to do something and promote it "From the creators of Fight Club". But between David's offer with Chemical Pink and all the books I really had to back away from it.

DE: What would it be about?

CP: The concept was to do a Friends type situational Sex and the City comedy but it would be a lot darker. Each person would have a different compulsion or dysfunction and use their support group the same way the Friends use their coffee house or whatever they do. Do that as dark and upsetting as possible. They wouldn't even be friends they would be failed enemies because they don't want each other to recover. Failed Enablers.

DE: Was it funny to see Jared Leto get beaten in Fincher's Panic Room like he did in Fight Club?

CP: It's funny because Jared Leto is like the new Kevin Bacon. He's in every movie and he gets the crap beaten out of him in American Psycho. I think there is a real desire in life to destroy beautiful things. We want to see these things disempowered.

DE: Here is something you might not know about. 20th Century Fox may not be releasing Fight Club as a special edition DVD anymore.

CP: That would be disappointing, but if all someone wants is the movie? As long as the special edition is somehow available it's fine. The European DVD doesn't have my commentary track on it.

DE: Chuck, thank you so much.

(image) by Laurelin Now that summer is in full swing, I can’t help but shake my head thinking of how quickly things change, how we shape our lives and how easy it really is to choose our own paths. I like the idea of fate and destiny -- the little girl in me still believes in fairy tales and hopeless... more

by Laurelin

Now that summer is in full swing, I can’t help but shake my head thinking of how quickly things change, how we shape our lives and how easy it really is to choose our own paths. I like the idea of fate and destiny -- the little girl in me still believes in fairy tales and hopeless romance, but in truth, I like the idea that it’s not in the hands of something greater. We are that something greater.

Last summer I was someone else. I was working at a different bar, sadly spending my days working a job I hated, gazing out the windows at everyone walking by with beach gear and wishing I was one of those laughing girls in sundresses. I would go home faithfully every night, crawl in bed and wait for my boyfriend to come home. I ordered dinner for two, drank dirty martinis and let him pay for dinner because his bar was always busy and mine wasn’t. We went to parties, stayed up late laughing and drinking, we slept in every morning we could, and I swear, there were some days where I didn’t care to even get out of bed; I could spend forever like that, hiding from daylight and waiting for our night to fall again.

He was my life, and after we broke up this past September, I dreaded the coming summer because it had always been ours, and now I would be alone. I didn’t think I could face it without him. As time went on and I started healing that feeling got a little easier. Soon it wasn’t sadness that I wouldn’t be with him, but almost…fear of spending the summer flying solo. I had spent the past year learning to be on my own and all of a sudden it occurred to me that I had truly learned to love it. I flirted, went after what I wanted with no fear of rejection, I dated, and I dated people that weren’t right for me ON PURPOSE. Soon I was so excited for my “Boys of Summer.” The warm weather was here, the sun shone just for me, and where as last summer was ours, it never occurred to me that this summer, for the first time in a long time was mine.

We’re almost two months into summer now, and I write this article with a golden tan, a smile, and an aching body from way too many late nights. I write with the knowledge that sharing the details of my Boys of Summer (and Winter) in Life Beyond the Bar Scene: How To Lose A Girl in Ten Minutes made some of you laugh your ass off and made most of you cringe. I had my heart bruised a bit by one of those guys, but for the most part I took each one of them with a grain of salt and when something didn’t work out I was over it with one toss of my hair and a shot of Jameson. I am still a sucker for a challenge, and once the cat had caught the mouse, if I didn’t have those butterflies I let it go. I might have made dating a game, but even if I wasn’t really looking for a relationship I still kind of wanted that…Something.

I loved reading all the mail from readers of Life Beyond the Bar Scene telling me that I should stop whining about meeting guys in bars, stop whining about my dating problems when clearly it’s my own fault because I keep fishing in the same polluted pool. (“Dirty Water” by The Standells should clear that up: Love that dirty water, oh, Boston you’re my home…). It’s a matter of faith, I guess. Faith that I know myself; faith that while I might have fun with these guys, I would know when one was and wasn’t right for me. I didn’t care that maybe this guy was an asshole, because it’s not like we were going to get serious anyways. Hell, I wasn’t even sleeping with any of them. I just needed something…different, and my Boys of Summer were just that. Butterflies came and went, and moths flew into the flame and exploded into dust, leaving me with my single serving dinners and shots of Jameson taken with friends. I am pretty good on my own…

I never thought that maybe one of my Boys of Summer would actually turn out to be anything more than just something to write about. We might actually have a last man standing situation here, and it’s making me feel a little….Fluttery. I always mentally make a note of one thing when I first start seeing someone. How excited am I to see this person walk into a room? How many times do I turn around out of my seat to see if they’re on the way in, and how many times am I disappointed if they never come?

I remember a few years ago chatting with someone at a bar and having them ask, “Are you expecting someone? You keep looking at the door.”

“Yes,” I said. “But he’s not here…” It became something I always noticed about myself. Always surrounded by boys, but always looking around for the one who wasn’t there. The amount of time I spend waiting for you to walk in directly corresponds to the times that you actually do walk in vs. the time I spend disappointed that you don’t show. It’s dating mathematics.

Broken beer bottles fall around me like rain, and everywhere I look, he’s somehow still there. I’m starting to look for that same hand to hold, and again, it’s always there. He walks through the door when he says he will, and not once have I ever been disappointed. I catch him looking at me every now and again, and I can’t help but turn red. I’m a disaster, a sucker for a challenge, but this hopeless romantic side of me seems to be crawling to the surface lately. Sometimes I embrace it, other times it makes me want to throw up and hide. I was used to this single life, finally, and I’m not sure I’m ready to give it up.

He must have been up for the challenge. I hope I’m worth it.


***

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Life Beyond the Bar Scene: Play On Playa'
Life Beyond the Bar Scene: How to Lose a Girl in Ten Minutes
Life Beyond the Bar Scene: Naked Laurelin Reading
Life Beyond the Bar Scene: Healthy Relationships are for Boring People and Other Mishaps
Life Beyond the Bar Scene: Letting Go
Life Beyond the Bar Scene: Does it Exist?
Life Beyond the Bar Scene: The Dating Game
Life Beyond the Bar Scene: After a Few Beers Everyone Looks Good and Other Love Stories
Life Beyond the Bar Scene: Getting Naked With Laurelin
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Life Beyond the Bar Scene: When it’s Time to Move On
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Since the Girls board is overload, I've decided to start this topic here. Just to point out Synnove's hot new profile pic: (image) so hot!

(image) by Damon Martin Dumbledore: After all these years, Severus? Severus: Always The saga known as Harry Potter comes to a close with the release of the 8th and final film in the series Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 in theaters this week. The whirlwind ride through J.K. Rowling's... more

by Damon Martin

Dumbledore: After all these years, Severus?
Severus: Always

The saga known as Harry Potter comes to a close with the release of the 8th and final film in the series Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 in theaters this week. The whirlwind ride through J.K. Rowling's rousing books that inspired children to read again, came crashing through the silver screen one last time and did not disappoint when it was over.

Picking up from where Deathly Hallows Pt 1 left off last year, the Dark Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) sends a flash through the sky with a bolt of lightning struck from the Elder Wand that he snatched from the grave of Albus Dumbledore. Meanwhile, our heroes – Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe), Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) – are still on the search for the mystical Horcruxes, which each possess a small part of Voldemort's evil soul, and must be destroyed to destroy him.

The message that love and good could conquer hate and evil has always been at the heart of Harry Potter, and even though it was always surrounded by a cloud of magic, mysticism and a dabble or two of Dragon's fire, the story was as eternal as any told throughout time. Director David Yates, who was at the helm of the last four Potter movies, does a brilliant job of picking up from the slower building foundation film that was Deathly Hallows Pt 1, crashing through the screen with a luminous bang and crescendo in Part 2.



The acting and script are both magnificent, with British actor Alan Rickman truly being the stand-out performer as the black and lonely Severus Snape. It's the character's humanity and compassion that shows through in Rickman's smart and savvy portrayal; his final act will likely see more than a tear or two shed from the watching audience. Rickman may have finally moved past being the bad guy in Die Hard, to being the thespian most likely to take home awards from the Potter series.



Even though his parts were sparse and scattered throughout the film's franchise, Ralph Fiennes also deserves credit for bringing Lord Voldemort to life on screen in a villainous role that movie goers haven't experienced since Darth Vader in the classic Star Wars trilogy (I’m not referencing the god awful emo screaming version at the end of Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith). And the best part about Voldemort in this series unlike Vader in Star Wars? This malignant miscreant has no redeeming qualities whatsoever, and is rotten to the core from beginning to end.

The Star Wars trilogy may be the best comparison to make to the Harry Potter franchise when it's all said and done. Much like the 'holy trinity' of Star Wars that went like a rollercoaster through three films, Harry Potter does much the same through 8 films and finishes off with an ending that blows Return of the Jedi out of the water.

Of course much like with the Lucas films, the young actors that brought Harry Potter and his Hogwart's school mates to life may struggle to ever escape their magical pasts in future acting roles, the memories from this series will definitely and similarly live on forever.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 is a crowning achievement for the film series, sparkling from beginning to end with few flaws. The books that were sharp and dapper through every page, came to life on the screen like so few films have been able to. The magical world of Harry Potter may have come to a close with this movie, but it certainly was an unforgettable ride.

Despite being grounded by a seemingly paradoxical levity, which comes across in the form of wry humor throughout our interview, Peter Murphy, a leading light in the gothic underworld, has remained an enigma for over three decades. He first came to prominence with the preeminent goth band Bauhaus - their... more

Despite being grounded by a seemingly paradoxical levity, which comes across in the form of wry humor throughout our interview, Peter Murphy, a leading light in the gothic underworld, has remained an enigma for over three decades.

He first came to prominence with the preeminent goth band Bauhaus - their seminal cut "Bela Lugosi's Dead" being forever imprinted in the minds of those who appreciate the dark side thanks to its inclusion, and Murphy's mood setting appearance, in Tony Scott's 1983 cult horror classic The Hunger (which starred Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie, and Susan Sarandon).

Comprised of Murphy, Daniel Ash, and brothers David J and Kevin Haskins, Bauhaus had an initial lifespan of four years from 1979 to 1983. Following the band's demise, Murphy went solo, while his three former-bandmates regrouped under the Love and Rockets moniker. Both camps went on to enjoy a level of commercial success in the US that surpassed anything their former band had achieved. Murphy's third solo album, Deep (1990), spawned the #1 modern rock hit "Cuts You Up," and his fourth, Holy Smoke (1992), a #2 on the same chart with "The Sweetest Drop." Cascade (1995), with its unabashed romanticism and melodic drive, and Dust (2002), an atmospheric recording steeped in the mysticism and tradition of Murphy's adopted Turkish homeland, are also more than worthy of note.

However fans refused to let the corpse of Bauhaus rest in peace, its legend having grown in the years it had been confined to the crypt. After much speculation and several false starts, Bauhaus reformed in 1998 for the Resurrection Tour. The band was revived again for an unforgettable 2005 Coachella appearance, which opened with Murphy singing "Bela Lugosi's Dead" while hanging upside down from the rafters. This time the quartet stayed together long enough to tour both the US and Europe (including some dates with Nine Inch Nails) and record an album, Go Away White (2008). But the bats left Bauhaus' bell tower, seemingly for good, shortly after the album's release, following an emotionally charged breakup that continues to have an aura of finality.

Appearances on stage (and descending from the rafters) during Nine Inch Nails' 2009 farewell tour, coupled with a cameo as "The Cold One" in the third Twilight film, Eclipse, in 2010, exposed a new generation to Murphy's mesmerizing vampiric presence. With a new album already complete (his first since 2004's ill-fated Unshattered, which was beleaguered by record label issues), he embarked on the Dirty Dirt Tour in the summer of 2010 while he looked for a suitable distribution channel. In March of this year, it was announced that Murphy had signed with the Nettwerk Music Group, and on June 7 the long awaited new full-length, Ninth, finally achieved its release.

Having attempted to catch up with the elusive minstrel numerous times over the past few years, SuicideGirls pinned Murphy down for some quality phone time the day the video for his new single "I Spit Roses" hit the web.

Nicole Powers: Where are you right now?

Peter Murphy: Where are you? [recognizing the accent] Are you in England?

NP: No, I'm in Los Angeles.

PM: Oh dear, poor thing.

NP: It's not that bad really.

PM: It's horrible.

NP: Well, I live just outside LA in the land that time forgot...

PM: Well that's all right then.

NP: I noticed the new video for "I Spit Roses" has just gone live. That's a pretty gorgeous video.

PM: Isn't it great?

NP: It really is. Where did the idea for that come from?

PM: It came from the song itself. Justin Coloma had written a treatment for it...I was on tour in the U.S. this last spring and we cobbled the idea together very quickly. I wanted to make a video that looks like a million dollars but only cost $5,000. Justin and his wife, Linda Strawberry, who did all of the hand painted backdrop scenes, came up with a treatment. I then transformed his ideas into more of the meaning of the song, which was about an attempted mutiny. It worked out well I think.

NP: "I Spit Roses" refers to the breakup with Bauhaus right?

PM: Well not the actual moment of the breakup, but one that represents it in a way...When you get people confronting you without compassion it becomes abuse in a sense. Rather than respond confrontationally, I actually literally stuffed my mouth with rose petals and spat roses over them. It was kind of [saying] 'Okay, shut-up and plug in, and just play, stop arguing.' That was it really. It was an act of great beauty and kick ass at the same time.

NP: The following track on the album, "Never Fall Out," that's just such a beautiful song. I melt to that one.

PM: Thank you. That's what it's about. They talk about certain artists being dark, but I was always luminescent as it were. And when it comes to falling in love with me, you'll never fall out. Basically that's the song...The whole album is kind of filled with monikers of self-labeling...It's very much full of swagger, and warm between the legs as well as heart expanding stuff.

NP: It's interesting that you talk about the luminescence, because you're stuck with this 'Godfather of Goth' label, but I've always found your songs really bright and uplifting, a brilliance against the black so to speak.

PM: Thanks, yeah. David J used to say, 'No, no, no, the light comes out of the dark.' I said, 'No, darling. Light extinguishes the dark.' So that's kind of the way of saying it, isn't it?

NP: I know that you study and practice Sufism, which is the mystic side of Islam. I was reading a quote that absolutely fascinated me where you talked about how Sufism appealed to you because it was truly monotheistic and didn't give the devil too much power.

PM: Yes, right.

NP: There was this wonderful quote where you said: "the Devil is very dangerous and has very distracting aspects, but he's very easily put away by a smile."

PM: Yes.

NP: I just loved that quote.

PM: ...I think it's the Judeo-Christian model, which has been twisted over the years by man's hand as it were, and taken into Paganism and nigh on polytheistic Pagan archetypes like Father, Son, and Holy Ghost and all that stuff. It's all been skewed, but in the Judeo-Christian religion they mistakenly cite Jesus as God himself, incarnate. Well then in that myth you get the Devil able to tempt Jesus himself, which is tantamount to saying the Devil is equal to God in that he can tempt God...So therein lies the dreadful Catholic fear, the Christian fear of the Devil, because he's equated with [or] in alignment with God himself, which is a complete fucking heresy anyway...Even the notion that you're born evil with sin and in need of cleansing is absolutely tantamount to anti-Christ if you like. It's not Christian in its essence.

In Islam, and more so in the Sufi teachings, which are perennial and the heart of all teachings really, that's clarified, the relationship between the Devil as it were and the Creator. The devils are just our egos I guess in modern day language...So yeah, it's very much been part of my lyrical world throughout, even before I was drawn to Islam and Sufism. I realized that I was always a Muslim in that sense. In fact, I know this sounds controversial, but everybody is born pure Muslim in a sense because Islam simply means surrendered. That's why when they asked me, 'When did you convert?' I said, 'I never did convert. I was always myself.' So yeah, isn't that great, the idea that you're smiling at the Devil.

NP: Well I see that in your work.

PM: Good. Thank you very much.

NP: And it's not like I see a difference post 'conversion.' It's as if it's always been a thread there...this theme of exploring the dark side, but always with a nod and a wink...that you can put the Devil away with a smile

PM: Hopefully, and still not denying the fact that it is a real pitfall. Hell exists right here, as does Heaven...

NP: What's your definition of Hell?

PM: I wrote it in one song I think -- I wonder whether it's right and still stands up now. I say, "Whirlpools whirl, And dragnets drag, Hell is not the fire, Hell is your belief, In yourself as the higher." [lyrics from the song "Dragnet Drag]. So the idea that one is superior to anyone or anything is like a hell in a way isn't it?

NP: The idea of your ego overtaking you?

PM: I suppose so. I mean it's something to live with. I'm not a spokesman. I'm not a sage in that sense. I wouldn't ever presume to really know the whole truth. I'm a rock star. The thing about truth and all that stuff, mysticism and spiritualism, is that it will always take you back to yourself. You're the starting point, and the end, the be all and end all. I'm this person who is...I am charismatic, I'm gorgeous, I can sing like an eagle and I'm one of those one-offs - like Frank Sinatra, Mohammed Ali - that type, one of those. And I have to live with that, and I accept it [puts on an intentionally overdone American accent] totally. I embrace it totally.

NP: You joke about being a rock star but you shouldn't be so dismissive - especially as a lyricist since you have to open doors to parts of your mind that would send other people mad just to see what pours out.

PM: You're right. I do tend to be a little bit flippant about myself in a way, because I think that we're prone to modesty aren't we really? We'd rather understate rather than overstate...

NP: That could be the British in you too.

PM: Yeah, that's what I was about to say. So you're right. I mean, I am a poet as well, and I am extremely serious about what I do. I think I'm probably the vintage hipster rather than the Godfather of Goth, you know.

NP: I'd never saddle you with the hipster label, not because you're not hip, but because of what hipsters have become.

PM: But what they've become is like what Goths have become, you know, you've got to try to get people back to where it's at.

NP: Right, anything that becomes commodified and sold in Hot Topic...

PM: Branded. What's a brand? I'm not a brand. I'm not a Hershey Bar thank you very much...

NP: You talk about sort of the commodification of Gothic culture and hipsterness.

PM: No, I didn't say that...

NP: I guess we were kind of joking about that...

PM: Either way...Seriously speaking, I don't ever denigrate any other artistic outlets. I think Bauhaus and myself did kick off, in part, what is the Gothic culture in a way, but that's now gone so far into its own world that it's its own thing. And I think it is a very, very interesting culture - because it is a culture - it isn't just a group of music fans...They're people who are interested in literature, poetry, painting, film, and [who are] also wanting to express themselves.

It's a self-taught culture, and it also manifests in its own different way in every country. I mean, the Americans, every Average Joe now is wearing a black bloody T-shirt with a little goatee and spiky hair, but they have no clue probably about us...Then in Europe there's a whole different attitude, it is very European and very Renaissance almost.

NP: Your home is in Istanbul, but I noticed this time around your bio says you're 'currently living between Istanbul and New York...'

PM: It's a bit old now, but Ninth was made in upstate New York. It was a result of living up there from 2005 until 2008 or 2009. I've been going there for three months every year, living up there, absorbing that life up there, and being with artists up there. There was an artist community there too. David Baron, who's the co-producer of the album who co-wrote a lot of it with me, and also working a bit with Sarah Fimm, who's a purely independent artist who I've championed since 2005, amongst other new artists that I've been finding. Every tour I do now I take out a new artist with me, an independent artist.

NP: Right, you actually launched the career of Jewel didn't you? You took her out on tour.

PM: Yeah Nine Inch Nails, Jewel, all sorts....

NP: But it was through Sarah Fimm that you found David Baron who produced this album.

PM: Yes.

NP: How does the working relationship function between the two of you?

PM: I met David during a Sarah Fimm session where I was guest vocaling on a couple of tracks. One's called "Crumbs and Broken Shells" and the other one that is out there is called "Strange." I'd got my eye on him straight away. I thought he's the person who I'd want to work with. And he happened to be moving upstate to his house in the Catskill Mountains...And Sarah also moved up there...So I ended up going up there and staying at Sarah's studio house. Also David Baron's house was just over the way, so I lived between those places up there.

David and I just started to write, and started to talk about my next album...We wrote it in fits and starts over about six months or so. Once I got the money raised - all the songs were arranged, written and ready - it was just a case of choosing the location, which was a converted church up in the Catskills, which had a great recording room. The last piece of the jigsaw was to bring in my band who've been playing with me for five years, and adding another brilliant guitarist called John Andrews to the combo. We literally played and recorded them in a week up there. Of course David and I edited it afterwards and added certain strings, harmonies, and stuff like that. So that's how it came together.

NP: When you and David write, how does that work?

PM: I've got lots of songs around anyway in my head, and I've got lyrics always around...David would program a prototype idea...and I would put a vocal down and start to shape that song. Then I would leave it at that stage of the work so it was left fresh. We'd work very fast, very quickly, and just built up a repertoire.

NP: What about David first appealed?

PM: ...He and I do meet on a very intellectual level in terms of musical ideas and musical things that we like. I was surprised that he knew of The Residents for instance, which are very obscuro. So from that to his overall sensibility of what works in America...Plus he's aware of a lot of music from Europe, and from my early period, so he's got that language which we meet on very much. But then musically speaking I have to pull it elsewhere - do you understand? Because I didn't know how to define myself, because I never had to think about who I am and what I am. I just am, you know, and I do it like that. But we would have lots of dinners - I'd been living at his house and watching him work - I liked his astuteness. He's intelligent and objective too. He allows the artist to be themselves, in a sense, but then he places something on it. But then that's where we get to work together since I'll redirect things. There were certain pieces that he would come up with which he was ready to throw away - he didn't feel at all. I said, 'No, hold up on that one.' There were a number of those songs that I could envision in my head as working which he couldn't. It's a good partnership in that sense.

NP: Where were you getting external inspiration from? I know that you've done some writing for the Self Knowledge Global Responsibility organization?

PM: Well I would say my education in Turkey is a wellspring...I always want to say I'm in rock and roll but not of it...That may sound elitist. It's not meant to, but I do like to keep myself clean of any influences in a way. I don't hold flags for any particular movement in music. I tend to ignore most of what's going on. [I think there's] two kinds of music, one good and one bad. I don't necessarily adhere to fashion and I don't look for ideas in books. I prefer to let the ideas be of myself. I think the best statement of advice is not borrowed but it comes from the person, you know.

NP: There's that lyric in "Velocity Bird" where you say "Be yourself if you want to be me."

PM: Well, I'm worshipped by some members of the audience. It's beautiful to see, and I love them for that because that's what I wanted. I'm a performer. I'm like a magician or mystic jester, all those things, very charismatic, and that's very important, that relationship between the singer, the performer and his audience. Ultimately, if I don't own that, and I say well, "If you want to be me, be yourself," that kind of sends it back; That's only me because I'm being myself.

NP: Being of aware of that level of fan worship, that's got to be daunting to live up to, and scary because of the responsibility?

PM: No, there's no responsibility, other than courtesy. If somebody comes to you with great love and awe, the potential in that is to turn them back to themselves and say, 'Hey, you can do this too. You're fine.' It's kind of like you don't even have to move and you can have a great effect on people.

NP: I guess that's why the live shows must mean so much to you because you're directly there with your audience, experiencing that physical relationship and getting feedback.

PM: It's a conversation too. There's nothing worse than cynical old bastards with poor music standing there like they're so bored of it and exhausted with this wonderful amount of money and fame, and yet hipsterdom is so...

NP: You see that's why I hate hipsterdom, because it's too cool for school. I love the people who are not embarrassed to be enthusiastic and show it.

PM: I agree with you, so you tell those wannabes with stick legs and pointy shoes and stuff that that's not hip...You tell 'em girl.

NP: When you take that stance, when you're deliberately and dutifully trying to be cool, it's a lie, because deep down you've got to love something.

PM: You know what? It's also part and parcel of finding...when you're young you are hip, whether you're hipster or not. It's good to find a community in some way...But all hipsters should listen to Roxy Music's first album, they should listen to Velvet Underground...they should listen to Nico. They should listen to me, of course, but I'm too humble. No, no, they don't even have to listen to me - they should just look at a photograph of my eyes.

NP: [laughs] And they'll "Never Fall Out."

PM: Yeah, totally, there you go. They should listen to Radiohead's In Rainbows for sure - that's hipster.

NP: So how are the live shows going?

PM: Really good, really good, great. I'm doing what's called underplays at the moment...I'm playing these very unlikely places that I shouldn't really play. Because I shouldn't play them, I am playing them - you know what I mean? They're really small places, very intimate events.

NP: I saw that you were doing the Troubadour. It's such a gorgeous, intimate venue.

PM: Exactly. A couple months ago I played the Mayan in LA, that was on the pre-album warm-up tour of the United States. I'm going to be working this album for a year or two at least. I'm going to be touring a lot.

NP: So we're going to see a lot more of you Stateside.

PM: Hopefully, yeah.

NP: I read that you were planning on spending a little time on the Left Coast to pursue more on the acting front?

PM: I don't know how to get into that whole community but I'm pretty sure now I could give something to that. So I gave myself a week while I'm here...I found my name really does count, even in the film industry. Within a week I got some very interesting meetings with directors, and there's some really good feeds in the work there, so that's good.

NP: I was also reading a Rolling Stone piece where you talked about how you wanted to be in the Neil Gaiman film of The Graveyard. It's so sad that that's project's on hold because that would have been ideal for you.

PM: It is. I'm in contact with him, so hopefully that will happen.

NP: You're in contact with Neil Gaiman?

PM: Yeah, but that's not to say he's offered me anything. Don't go saying that...He's very interested, and we're in contact.

NP: I'm just geeking out because that's two areas of geekdom colliding -- you and Neil Gaiman.

PM: I mean, he nicked my whole image for that fucking character in his comic books.

NP: Did he tell you that?

PM: No, but he did. It's based on my image...That's fine, absolutely. I'm not criticizing. I thought it was great.

NP: What would be another dream role for you?

PM: Anything acting alongside Sean Penn, or any Clint Eastwood film, anything by Coppola or his daughter, that type of area. I'd like to make my own film one day.

NP: I could see you in a Clint Eastwood vampire Western.

PM: Yeah, it's true, but I'd also like to play a very straight, serious dramatic role too.

NP: Getting away from Eclipse and the archetypical cameo.

PM: Cameos are fine, but I like to keep moving...I'd love to be in like Mystic River or that type of film.

NP: You're kind of a Renaissance man. You also used to incorporate dance into your performances too.

PM: I definitely still do, and my wife, Beyhan, who I met in 1982, one of the first things that I did with her was to get her to choreograph me for Hollow Hills...We did it for some music program, and she's been very much an informant of my work...She is the artistic director of the national contemporary dance company in Turkey and has been so for years. She's amazing. I've lived inside and in her work for years in the contemporary dance theater, so that's been part of my life.

NP: Have you written music for any of her works.

PM: Yeah, one of them I did.

NP: As a creative spirit, what's left that you want to do?

PM: Well I want to do a Dust follow-up album, and I do want to get really big so that I can put on some wonderful theatrical events as part of my show. Part of that would be also to do a joint thing with Beyhan, my wife, whereby she creates a dance theater piece for my music...Obviously it would be me, it would be my show, but it would be very much part of her. It would be us two doing it. That's one thing that needs financing because you have to bring a load of dancers with you...It wouldn't be shaking your ass dance, it would be contemporary modern sort of art.

NP: I'm a fan of Martha Graham technique.

PM: Totally, that's where my wife trained when I first met her. They're trained almost Spartan-like...She could physically in her thighs - she's a small woman - she could scissor me in and I could not [escape]. It was like, what the fuck?

NP: I can see that because I've done that Graham technique. For all of your disapproving of California, Martha Graham actually grew up in Santa Barbara.

PM: Oh no, I don't disapprove of California. I get scared in LA, that's all.

NP: Well I do in one respect: because of how much I love contemporary dance I find it shocking that there's so little recognition for Martha Graham here in California.

PM: She's like a giant in American culture isn't she?

NP: But you'd never know it living in her home turf.

PM: That's outrageous...

NP: Well, it's been such a pleasure chatting to you. Thank you so much.

PM: And you too. You've been great. You've been really good. Thank you for all your knowledge about what I do. It's always a great compliment to have a journalist really truly know and have listened. Very perceptive.

NP: It's been such a gift having the time to spend with this album. You get so busy in life that you don't have time to really listen to things, but when you're doing an interview you get to concentrate; I've spent the last four or five days with this album, going to sleep at night with it on my headphones. It's been such a pleasure just to let my mind drift to the lyrics and let the music take me places.

PM: All that's left is that we get naked together. I'll leave you with that one warm between your legs. Okay?

I originally posted this as a blog and many people told me I should post it here in the boards. So I got this idea from the "Hopeful Limbo" thread. I have been a member on SG for 3 years now. In these 3 years I have seen many sets and got the chance to chat with some remarkable ladies. SG... more

I originally posted this as a blog and many people told me I should post it here in the boards. So I got this idea from the "Hopeful Limbo" thread.

I have been a member on SG for 3 years now. In these 3 years I have seen many sets and got the chance to chat with some remarkable ladies. SG has changed quite a bit since 2001...well even since 2007 when I first became a member. We went from second chance sundays to member review, 2 sets a day to only 1, among other changes. I love SG and I love the 2,000+ models we have on the site as well. We now have over 2,000 models on the site and that is amazing! With that being said though how many though do you actually know of? With there being over 2,000 models now unfourtntley not everyone will always be featured. The SG's That have slipped through the cracks.

We log into SG everyday. Maybe just for the pictures, groups, or even just to blog. Myself I do alittle of all. Personally I have met many wonderful SG's on this site and even have had the chance to build some great friendships with them. I've gotten to see some amazing photo sets and that's what kept me logging in to see more. Even if they haven't had a set live in quite a while or maybe they just wanted to do one set. Their photosets, blogs, or even the friendships I have built are quite enough.

This thread is to share some of your favorite SG's on the site that have slipped through the cracks. Wheather it be their pictures, their blogs, or even their wonderful personality. If they are a reason you log in everyday, then say why! You never know you may discover your new addiction on the site you may have never known of before.

A few of mine

Heroine


Heroine has been an SG since 2007 and had her first and only live The Truth About Heavenset in November 2007. She frequently blogs with pictures of her photography and shares about her life. She is a very supporting and kind woman. She is always submitting sets into Member review all self shot! She even self shot her live set. She is quite talented. I love looking at her sets and reading her blogs. I really dig her photography.

Branden


Branden hasn't had another live set since 2005's Mountain High but she is always blogging. I love to read her blogs and her pictures are so stunning.

Acacia


I can't lie I'm a total perve for Acacia. She has had 2 live sets on SG since 2007 that I have viewed many times. I always love viewing and commenting on her blogs. She's such a gem she usually responds . She even comments on my blogs and is always super supportive and kind. Also she has eyes to die for .

yeah love it!

Germany


Germany is so sensational! She hasn't had a live set since 2005. But between 2003-2005 she has produced 4 all worth looking at. Germany blogs quite a bit and is out and about the pdx area. I got the pleasure of meeting her at the Oregon Ink Tattoo Convention. Which was a blast .

Jamila


Jamila has been an SG since 2008 and has only had one set go live So Fresh So Clean.
But is always submitting some great stuff into member review. This girl has piercing green eyes and a fantastic bum. Plus she is very intellegent and can carry on a good conversation. I'm glad to know her. I read her blogs frequently and usually view her sets almost daily.

Okay I'm stopping here because I can go on forever! Who are some of your favorite SG's that have slipped into the cracks?