Another one bites the dust
What captured my interest about this book was, well, that it was a collection of interview samplings from various interviews by the host of NPR's Fresh Air - one of my favorite radio programs, second only perhaps to NPR's Wait Wait Don't Tell Me (which featured Kevin Clash, the man who does the voice of Sesame Street's Elmo... I cackled several times).
I was most curious about the interviews with John Updike, Johnny Cash, Mario Puzo, George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Grandmaster Flash (the guy is a NERD, I loved it!), Dennis Hopper, Conan O'Brien (I guffawed), Gene Simmons and Samuel L. Jackson, and wound up being fascinated not just by those, but other interviews as well (Dustin Hoffman. Very interesting interview, I had no idea the man is 70!).
George Clinton was perhaps the most fascinating interview (to me). Apparently, he has no phone, which worried the Fresh Air staff, until he did indeed show up on time for the interview.
Did I remember to mention Clinton is eccentric? When we booked an interview with him for Fresh Air in 1989, he didn't have a home telephone. So how was his publicist going to be able to leave the customary day-before reminder? We were skeptical, but we needn't have worried. Clinton showed up in the studio early and in a fine mood, greeting me in a manner that might have puzzled anyone unfamliar with his 1982 hit, "Atomic Dog."
GC: Woof, woof, woof. Yeah. I just got de-flead and got the ticks off of me. I've got my doggie bag. And I'm gonna get my rabies shots and I'll be ready for them. How you doing, baby?
......
TG: How were you wearing your hair at the time, when you were in the barbershop conking other people's hair?
GC: Conked, too. How did you know that phrase? You ain't supposed to know that phrase, that's an inside phrase. Conk is a real old one. That's what it was, though. I was wearing my hair the same way. As a matter of fact, there's pictures around with my hair slicked, looking good, waves - make you seasick to look at my head. But it all worked real good for us because everybody in the band workedin the barbershop at that time. And we all did each other's hair.
...
TG: When we were setting up this interview with you, we found out that you don't have a telephone. I couldn't imagine why.
GC: I haven't had one for about ten years. The Mothership can get in touch with you if it needs to be in touch. You don't really realize how much you don't need a lot of things. I know most people think I'm crazy for real. But the majority of thigns that you depend on as a lifeblood is not really that.
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The Conan O'Brien interview is one of the few that's had me cackling openly while reading in quite some time....
TG: You said you were probably doing a lot of the things that you do now back in your playground days, but I doubt you were rubbing your nipples then.
CO: Yeah, I don't think I had nipples then. They were added later. It's a surgery you can get in Sweden. But I was doing the Bob Hope growl very, very early.
...
TG: You took tap dance lessons when you were about nine years old, didn't you?
CO: That's right. Nobody forced me. That's the sad part. I think the story is much less frightening when you say, "Well, my parents made me." But it's scary to think that a nine-year-old boy says, "Mom, Dad, I want to be a tap dancer." You think, "What is with this kid?" ....
I really got hooked up with the master. And remember, I was this nine-year-old, really pale, round-faced kid with bright, bright orange hair. My dad would drop me off on his way to work on Saturday mornings in a part of Boston that's right nera the Berklee College of Music. I would walk up this rickety, old ten flights of steps into his dance studio. And it would be all 24-year old black men and women, and then one orange-haired, freckled kid sitting there, holding his shoes in a box.
There's also some discussion about Triumph the Comic Insult dog that was funny as hell, and included the only person to ever be truly offended by Triumph insulting them - Eminem. But I've given you enough tidbits from that section.
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I'd quote from the Gene Simmons interview, but, well, do a google search for Fresh Air (or Terry Gross) and Gene Simmons, and you're likely to find it. It was quite appalling... the man is... well, a fucking pig. And I think that puts it mildly.
I more than recommend this book, I'd highly recommend it. I found the interviews with some well known names (including Maurice Sendak) utterly fascinating. There's not a much higher compliment I can give something that to say it fascinates me.
I wrapped that one up Friday, and last night dug into Generation Rx by Greg Critser. I enjoyed Fat Land: How Americans became the fattest people in the world (or something to that effect) immensely, and this one looks to be just as good.