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He actually was a source of so much of your information about pop music and popular culture that nowadays you can just search online.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xm0LnxB2c9Q\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to the show, Kasem was an accomplished voice actor. He was Shaggy in \u003cem>Scooby Doo\u003c/em>. He voiced several of the \u003cem>Transformers\u003c/em> on TV, and he was an emcee for Jerry Lewis’ annual telethon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For listeners, his was an empathetic voice, but behind the scenes he could be exacting and temperamental.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He was a stickler for doing enough takes until he got it just right,” says Strauss, “that a level’s never too loud, never too quiet; that there was no single aberration in anything he said.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The contrast was so striking that several of his in-studio tirades \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDYK2H0ldbo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">went viral\u003c/a> (audio NSFW). 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He spoke out against racial profiling and against war in the Middle East.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1988, Kasem “left over a contract dispute and started his own Casey’s Top 40,” the \u003ca href=\"www.ocregister.com/articles/radio-255910-kasem-seacrest.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">OC Register says\u003c/a>. “Shadoe Stevens replaced him on AT40 until 1995, when it was canceled and off the air until 1998 when it returned with Kasem.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ten years ago, Kasem handed off \u003cem>American Top 40\u003c/em> to Ryan Seacrest. Five years later, he presented his \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106333928\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">final countdown\u003c/a> and withdrew from public life. 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To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Casey+Kasem%2C+An+Iconic+Voice+Of+American+Radio&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You wouldn’t know what was No. 1 because you didn’t subscribe to \u003cem>Radio & Records\u003c/em> or \u003cem>Billboard\u003c/em>. Only he knew what was No. 1. He had that power,” says Strauss. “You didn’t know all these details about the artists; only he knew. He actually was a source of so much of your information about pop music and popular culture that nowadays you can just search online.”\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/xm0LnxB2c9Q'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/xm0LnxB2c9Q'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>In addition to the show, Kasem was an accomplished voice actor. He was Shaggy in \u003cem>Scooby Doo\u003c/em>. He voiced several of the \u003cem>Transformers\u003c/em> on TV, and he was an emcee for Jerry Lewis’ annual telethon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For listeners, his was an empathetic voice, but behind the scenes he could be exacting and temperamental.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He was a stickler for doing enough takes until he got it just right,” says Strauss, “that a level’s never too loud, never too quiet; that there was no single aberration in anything he said.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The contrast was so striking that several of his in-studio tirades \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDYK2H0ldbo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">went viral\u003c/a> (audio NSFW). For Strauss, those outbursts prove just how seriously Kasem took his hosting duties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The reason he’d done these shows for 39 years and survived where other people haven’t was that he never associated himself with the music,” says Strauss. “He never tried to become or embody the music. He never tried to be cool or hip, whatever the trend was at the time. In fact, he never even cared about the music or was a fan of it or liked it — he just liked counting it down and delivering his segments of trivia and dedications.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But off the air, Kasem was passionate about the environment, homelessness and the Arab community. He spoke out against racial profiling and against war in the Middle East.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1988, Kasem “left over a contract dispute and started his own Casey’s Top 40,” the \u003ca href=\"www.ocregister.com/articles/radio-255910-kasem-seacrest.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">OC Register says\u003c/a>. “Shadoe Stevens replaced him on AT40 until 1995, when it was canceled and off the air until 1998 when it returned with Kasem.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ten years ago, Kasem handed off \u003cem>American Top 40\u003c/em> to Ryan Seacrest. Five years later, he presented his \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106333928\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">final countdown\u003c/a> and withdrew from public life. Kasem’s health had worsened in recent years and as he suffered from worsening dementia, his wife and children from his first marriage began a painful and very public feud over his care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In today’s personality-driven industry, Kasem’s original broadcasts can sound a little earnest. But Strauss says Kasem was serious and it was reflected in his show’s catchphrase.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He said, ‘I believe we’re in a great country, we have a lot of opportunity and nothing’s going to limit you, so go for it. But don’t hurt anyone along the way.’ Obviously that’s not catchy, so \u003ca href=\"http://youtu.be/RnBFBilOk-o?t=40s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">he reduced it.\u003c/a>”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>I’m Casey Kasem. Now one more time, the words I’ve ended my show with since 1970: Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars.\u003c/em> \u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Casey+Kasem%2C+An+Iconic+Voice+Of+American+Radio&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Watch Oakland's tUnE-yArDs Live in Concert from D.C.",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"689\" height=\"388\" src=\"http://www.npr.org/templates/event/embeddedVideo.php?storyId=319137516&mediaId=319155167\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>See tUnE-yArDs in a live video webcast, with an opening set from Sylvan Esso. Both concerts will begin streaming live on NPR Music from the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C., at 6 p.m. PT Friday, June 13.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Below is a review from NPR’s Ken Tucker, titled “tUnE-yArDs: Ain’t Nothing Like The Real Thing”\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/122443700/tune-yards\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">tUnE-yArDs\u003c/a>\u003cem> is\u003c/em> Merrill Garbus. She writes the songs, which frequently consist of musical riffs broken into pieces and shards, glued together with an organizing rhythm. She provides most of the multi-layered vocals and much of the percussion, as well as various keyboards, ukulele and other instruments and objects. Working with bassist Nate Brenner and occasionally a few other singers and instrumentalists, Garbus gives electrifying performances that showcase her remarkably flexible singing voice. In her ability to create music that sounds at once invitingly familiar and disorientingly new, Garbus is the real thing — an original artist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her stated influences are a patchwork, including everything from kids’ games and TV shows to the drum rhythms she’s heard in music from Kenya and Haiti, as well as every kind of American pop. I also hear the sort of strongly willful naivete that in the past has powered music by idiosyncratic artists such as Captain Beefheart, Pere Ubu’s David Thomas, Jonathan Richman and the children’s-music genius-eccentric Jim Copp. But in \u003cem>Nikki Nack\u003c/em>‘s “Real Thing,” Garbus worries over the notion that she’s just an accumulation of her influences, and she fights back wonderfully, calling out the “curse of the real thing.” This song and many others are showcases for her striking vocals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbiFcPhccu8\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are quiet moments on this album, such as “Look Around,” which commences with Garbus’ stark, lovely, soulful singing. That song builds and builds into a rich, multi-tracked, orchestral swirl that surges with confidence even as its lyric describes examples of what Garbus calls “the most brilliantly rhyming terrors.” tUnE-yArDs’ music plays with notions of assertiveness and weakness, power and passivity. Garbus’ voice is so flexible, assuming so many roles within a single song, and her music is so artfully ramshackle, it can confuse a newcomer. Is she a kid just fiddling around with do-it-yourself technology? No. Now a thirtysomething based in Oakland, Calif., Garbus is an artist whose process has become more complex with each of her three albums. She took her album title \u003cem>Nikki Nack\u003c/em> from the “This Old Man” nursery rhyme, but she’s never childish — her songs raise the subjects of personal and political revolt, of natural and man-made disasters, of the difficult work of trying to achieve happiness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At one point during “Hey Life,” Garbus sings, “Hey, life, I love you so much I scream and shout.” tUnE-yArDs’ music contains some of the most thoughtful and artful screaming and shouting I’ve heard in a while. \u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=tUnE-yArDs%3A+Ain%27t+Nothing+Like+The+Real+Thing&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cp>Singer \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15395174/little-jimmy-scott\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jimmy Scott\u003c/a> died Thursday morning at his home in Las Vegas at age 88, according to his booking agent, Jean-Pierre Leduc. Scott’s death was a result of complications from Kallmann’s syndrome, a lifelong affliction that prevented his body from maturing through puberty.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The condition slowed his growth, leaving his stature at 4 feet 11 inches until his late 30s. It also affected his vocal cords, giving him a high voice that was often misidentified as a woman’s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scott was labeled Little Jimmy Scott by bandleader \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15770474/lionel-hampton\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Lionel Hampton\u003c/a> in the late 1940s. Hampton also delivered the first of many professional slights in 1949 when he left Scott’s name off on an early hit, “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvJeMqPY7WA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scott’s career seemed promising after he left Hampton’s orchestra. He recorded for various independent labels and toured with a revue run by dancer Estelle “Caledonia” Young that included R&B singer Big Maybelle and comedian \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90188763\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Redd Foxx\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Throughout the early ’50s and ’60s, Scott recorded for various indie labels including Savoy, where he was under the tight control of owner Herman Lubinsky.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Scott’s 2002 autobiography, \u003cem>The Life of Jimmy Scott\u003c/em> (written with David Ritz), Lubinsky halted production of a 1963 album that was personally supervised by Scott fan \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/14951033/ray-charles\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ray Charles\u003c/a> for his own Tangerine label. Lubinsky used legal proceedings to halt distribution, claiming Scott was under contract to Savoy. The album was eventually rescued and released in 2003 and has been widely hailed as one of the great jazz vocal albums.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The experience of having his album shelved — not to mention the hardships he experienced being misidentified as a woman, accused of drug addiction and harassed about his sexual identity because of his voice — took a toll and Scott left the music business, moving back to his native Cleveland and becoming a hotel clerk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite his absence, Scott maintained friends and fans in the music business, including legendary R&B producer \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/2013/10/24/240487765/the-life-of-doc-pomus-songwriter-to-the-stars\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Doc Pomus\u003c/a>, who requested that Scott sing at his 1991 funeral. A record executive in attendance heard the performance and signed him to a record contract on the spot, kick-starting Scott’s second act. This time adulation came rushing in, resulting in a string of albums that received both popular and critical acclaim. He even \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIXPG8NR5iI\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">appeared in the final episode\u003c/a> of the singular TV hit \u003cem>Twin Peaks\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For most of his nearly nine decades Scott’s life and art were affected by loss: first his mother’s death when he was 13, then the personal slights and missed opportunities in his fractured career and decades of anonymity away from the record business. In 2000, \u003cem>The New York Times\u003c/em> called him “perhaps the most unjustly ignored American singer of the 20th century.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And yet in a late-career interview Scott was philosophical about the bad breaks he had caught along the way. “I’ve learned that music is such a healer,” he said. “As long as I could sing my songs, I wasn’t as angry about what had happened, about being shoved back for this or shoved back for the other. I’m a singer, and I never lost sight of that.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Ethereal+Jazz+Singer+Jimmy+Scott+Dies+&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cp>When you’ve played Austin Powers, Shrek, The Cat in the Hat and the title dweeb in \u003cem>Wayne’s World\u003c/em>, what do you do for an encore? If you’re comedian Mike Myers, the next logical step, evidently, is to direct a documentary about your agent. And damned if it doesn’t turn out to be a decent career move — as smart, and sometimes even as funny, as anything Myers has done recently.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not that \u003cem>Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon\u003c/em> is likely to do the kind of business most Myers movies do (might do as well as \u003cem>The \u003c/em>\u003cem>Love Guru\u003c/em>, I suppose), but it’s competent enough to suggest the filmmaker has more arrows in his quiver than “yeah, baby.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He starts the film with five minutes of celebrity testimonials telling you why you should care about this guy you’ve never heard of — Willie Nelson calling Gordon the “proverbial canary in the marijuana mine,” chef Emeril Lagasse saying Gordon invented the concept of celebrity chef, a parade of film stars testifying to his libido (Michael Douglas remembers a T-shirt emblazoned with “No Head, No Backstage Pass”).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>http://youtu.be/Zd0VOkPOrV0\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And then, an obviously hero-worshipping Mike Myers lets the man himself take over — Gordon recounting how in 1968, he arrived in a Los Angeles motel, fresh out of college, with no money, no job, having just dropped some acid, utterly at peace with the world, and got slugged by a gal who later identified herself as Janis Joplin. She introduced him to Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix, who suggested that, since he was Jewish, he should become a manager.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Who should I manage?” wondered Gordon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Alice Cooper,” came the reply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At which point, Alice Cooper picks up the story, chortling about the 43 years they’ve worked together without ever signing a contract, and the schemes they’ve hatched to turn Cooper into a rock ghoul — the coat made of dead rats, the live chicken tossed into the audience, the clear plastic clothes that made it look like the star was performing naked. Also the hotel bills skipped out on (that Gordon went back and paid, once they were solvent).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gordon didn’t just hang out with rockers. He also became buds with the Dalai Lama, helped rescue Groucho Marx from poverty, shaped movie careers galore, and almost more intriguing than all of that, was never especially enamored of fame. Having seen it close-up — engineered it close-up, in fact — he found it so centrally unhealthy that he introduced a warning ritual into the signing of new artists, saying, “If I do my job right, I’ll probably kill you.” Fame, the great equalizer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a documentary director, Myers has the comic timing to make the celebrity anecdotes click along nicely. He isn’t quite as sharp at narrative, so a bit of the oomph goes out of the film when the star wattage dims and he tries to shape the legend of this guy who spends so much time on everyone else, he’s not really taking care of himself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Any slack, though, is picked up by Shep Gordon, who seems every inch the “supermensch” of the title — splendid company, a sterling storyteller, and yeah, a real mensch. \u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Mike+Myers+Steps+Behind+The+Camera+With+%27Supermensch%27&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>When you’ve played Austin Powers, Shrek, The Cat in the Hat and the title dweeb in \u003cem>Wayne’s World\u003c/em>, what do you do for an encore? If you’re comedian Mike Myers, the next logical step, evidently, is to direct a documentary about your agent. And damned if it doesn’t turn out to be a decent career move — as smart, and sometimes even as funny, as anything Myers has done recently.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not that \u003cem>Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon\u003c/em> is likely to do the kind of business most Myers movies do (might do as well as \u003cem>The \u003c/em>\u003cem>Love Guru\u003c/em>, I suppose), but it’s competent enough to suggest the filmmaker has more arrows in his quiver than “yeah, baby.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He starts the film with five minutes of celebrity testimonials telling you why you should care about this guy you’ve never heard of — Willie Nelson calling Gordon the “proverbial canary in the marijuana mine,” chef Emeril Lagasse saying Gordon invented the concept of celebrity chef, a parade of film stars testifying to his libido (Michael Douglas remembers a T-shirt emblazoned with “No Head, No Backstage Pass”).\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/Zd0VOkPOrV0'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/Zd0VOkPOrV0'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>And then, an obviously hero-worshipping Mike Myers lets the man himself take over — Gordon recounting how in 1968, he arrived in a Los Angeles motel, fresh out of college, with no money, no job, having just dropped some acid, utterly at peace with the world, and got slugged by a gal who later identified herself as Janis Joplin. She introduced him to Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix, who suggested that, since he was Jewish, he should become a manager.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Who should I manage?” wondered Gordon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Alice Cooper,” came the reply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At which point, Alice Cooper picks up the story, chortling about the 43 years they’ve worked together without ever signing a contract, and the schemes they’ve hatched to turn Cooper into a rock ghoul — the coat made of dead rats, the live chicken tossed into the audience, the clear plastic clothes that made it look like the star was performing naked. Also the hotel bills skipped out on (that Gordon went back and paid, once they were solvent).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gordon didn’t just hang out with rockers. He also became buds with the Dalai Lama, helped rescue Groucho Marx from poverty, shaped movie careers galore, and almost more intriguing than all of that, was never especially enamored of fame. Having seen it close-up — engineered it close-up, in fact — he found it so centrally unhealthy that he introduced a warning ritual into the signing of new artists, saying, “If I do my job right, I’ll probably kill you.” Fame, the great equalizer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a documentary director, Myers has the comic timing to make the celebrity anecdotes click along nicely. He isn’t quite as sharp at narrative, so a bit of the oomph goes out of the film when the star wattage dims and he tries to shape the legend of this guy who spends so much time on everyone else, he’s not really taking care of himself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Any slack, though, is picked up by Shep Gordon, who seems every inch the “supermensch” of the title — splendid company, a sterling storyteller, and yeah, a real mensch. \u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Mike+Myers+Steps+Behind+The+Camera+With+%27Supermensch%27&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>If there’s any doubt that \u003cem>22 Jump Street\u003c/em> is a cartoon dressed in live-action clothing, it should disappear completely when Channing Tatum’s lovably lunkheaded Detective Jenko is puzzling over an obvious set of connected clues when – DING! – the answer suddenly comes to him. That “Ding” is literal – the sound is just an office noise from somewhere in the formerly abandoned Vietnamese church where his investigative unit is based. But it might as well be accompanied by a light bulb flickering to life above his head, before he begins running excitedly around the office like Yosemite Sam with the seat of his pants on fire, excited beyond measure that for once a thought has survived the leap between synapses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Cartoonish” isn’t a criticism here any more than it would be in reference to a classic Looney Tunes short. It just means that directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller feel no need to maintain any tether to reality or plausibility in service of a good gag. And these two are never at a loss for good, self-aware gags – like the red herring tattoo emblazoned on a character who is exactly that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>http://youtu.be/qP755JkDxyM#aid=P8-L-CioG3Q\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What worked last time, in Miller and Lord’s unexpectedly successful 2012 adaptation of the ’80s cop drama, \u003cem>21 Jump Street\u003c/em>, also works here. That’s part of the joke. Just as that movie made fun of its own existence by calling attention to the ridiculousness of rebooting an already kind of ridiculous TV show about adult cops posing as high school students, \u003cem>22 Jump Street\u003c/em> recognizes its perceived status as a cash grabbing action sequel. Then it mercilessly mocks the tradition it’s becoming part of.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Acknowledging the fact that they’re essentially ripping themselves off allows Miller and Lord the freedom of not having to try to hide it. The setup isn’t just similar, it’s identical: demonstrate that Jenko and his partner Schmidt (Jonah Hill) are screw-ups, send them to the angry Chief’s (Nick Offerman) office for a dressing-down, and then on to their captain (Ice Cube), who continues berating them before sending them undercover to infiltrate a drug ring selling a new designer drug to students. The only difference is that the students that the pair have to pose as this time are in college instead of high school this time around.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Miller and Lord have become so successful because they’re able to make dumb ideas into brilliant comedy simply by acknowledging that audiences aren’t as dumb as the industry often seems to think they are. In any other hands, their \u003cem>Lego Movie\u003c/em> could have just been a two-hour toy commercial, big business exploiting children’s creative love of Lego for their own ends. Miller and Lord flipped it into a hilarious critique of exactly that idea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>22 Jump Street\u003c/em> plays on expectations – specifically, lowered ones — of sequels just as effectively. That Vietnamese church is right across the street from the Korean church at 21 Jump Street that was the site of the investigation’s headquarters in the previous movie. Next to that site, at 23 Jump Street, there are construction crews already at work on a new building. With the recent announcement that Marvel already has their movie sequels mapped out until 2028, the implication couldn’t be more timely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Inside the new HQ, everything is glass and computers and ostentatious spending – Iron Man gets name-checked, along with another sequel-heavy franchise, James Bond. The Captain isn’t any more subtle about calling attention to the unit’s (and the sequel’s) newly increased budget than he is about telling Jenko and Schmidt that the assignment is exactly the same.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plot becomes incidental to the jokes, only existing in service of them. Again, that’s not a bad thing; how many substantively different plots did Looney Tunes or Tom & Jerry ever really have?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The “breakup” of Jenko and Schmidt’s formerly solid dude-bond is the central conflict here, as they migrate to different cliques in their new college setting. But that’s really only an opportunity for Miller and Lord to take pot shots at bromance as a genre trend as well as making the subtext of buddy cop movies into text with overt romantic comedy parallels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If it’s not quite as funny as its predecessor, that’s only because it’s not quite as unexpected. 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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>If there’s any doubt that \u003cem>22 Jump Street\u003c/em> is a cartoon dressed in live-action clothing, it should disappear completely when Channing Tatum’s lovably lunkheaded Detective Jenko is puzzling over an obvious set of connected clues when – DING! – the answer suddenly comes to him. That “Ding” is literal – the sound is just an office noise from somewhere in the formerly abandoned Vietnamese church where his investigative unit is based. But it might as well be accompanied by a light bulb flickering to life above his head, before he begins running excitedly around the office like Yosemite Sam with the seat of his pants on fire, excited beyond measure that for once a thought has survived the leap between synapses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Cartoonish” isn’t a criticism here any more than it would be in reference to a classic Looney Tunes short. It just means that directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller feel no need to maintain any tether to reality or plausibility in service of a good gag. And these two are never at a loss for good, self-aware gags – like the red herring tattoo emblazoned on a character who is exactly that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>http://youtu.be/qP755JkDxyM#aid=P8-L-CioG3Q\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What worked last time, in Miller and Lord’s unexpectedly successful 2012 adaptation of the ’80s cop drama, \u003cem>21 Jump Street\u003c/em>, also works here. That’s part of the joke. Just as that movie made fun of its own existence by calling attention to the ridiculousness of rebooting an already kind of ridiculous TV show about adult cops posing as high school students, \u003cem>22 Jump Street\u003c/em> recognizes its perceived status as a cash grabbing action sequel. Then it mercilessly mocks the tradition it’s becoming part of.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Acknowledging the fact that they’re essentially ripping themselves off allows Miller and Lord the freedom of not having to try to hide it. The setup isn’t just similar, it’s identical: demonstrate that Jenko and his partner Schmidt (Jonah Hill) are screw-ups, send them to the angry Chief’s (Nick Offerman) office for a dressing-down, and then on to their captain (Ice Cube), who continues berating them before sending them undercover to infiltrate a drug ring selling a new designer drug to students. The only difference is that the students that the pair have to pose as this time are in college instead of high school this time around.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"headTitle": "Bob Mould’s Beautiful, Ruinous Life in Punk | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Long before \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15446165/nirvana\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Nirvana\u003c/a> made it popular, \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15182660/bob-mould\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bob Mould\u003c/a> helped create the heavy-but-hummable rock sound that would become so big in the ’90s. Hüsker Dü, the band he co-founded in 1979, was among the most prominent in the punk underground that blossomed across the country during the Reagan years. The trio broke up in 1988, just as punk was beginning to hit a mainstream tipping point — but Mould has kept recording ever since, as a solo artist and with his band Sugar, and has pushed himself to keep innovating.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On a new record called \u003cem>Beauty & Ruin\u003c/em>, out this week, Mould looks back on his life and long musical career, both of which were profoundly influenced by his father — a music enthusiast who bought him records and guitars, but could also be cruel. In a conversation that covers Mould’s entire artistic life — from playing along to Ramones albums in rural New York to building a DIY touring network with Hüsker Dü, through sobriety, sexual self-discovery and the death of his father — the elder statesman of alt-rock tells NPR’s David Greene that at 53, he’s finally starting to have fun. Hear the radio version at the audio link, and read more of their conversation below.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>DAVID GREENE: I wanted to start with where you grew up: It was a small, rural town in upstate New York. Describe the place for me and how you got your first taste of punk rock.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>BOB MOULD: \u003c/strong>Well, I was born and raised in a small farm town called Malone, which was the county seat of Franklin County, the northernmost county in New York state. So when people would say, “Oh, you’re from upstate New York?” I go, “No, I’m actually from northern New York.” The closest city was Montreal, which was about 50 miles due north.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>So you’re way up there. You probably got some snow occasionally.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>[Laughs.\u003c/em>\u003cem>] \u003c/em>A little bit of snow, yeah. I was north of Lake Placid. It was just a quiet farm town — very idyllic, very beautiful. In the ’60s and ’70s it was unscathed; they hadn’t started building all the prisons that currently occupy the area. But in order to find this elusive punk-rock music that I’d started reading about in magazines and seeing occasionally on television, I would have to drive either due east to Plattsburgh or Burlington, Vt., or, more likely than not, north to Montreal to buy music.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>And you\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong> say “elusive.” Is that because the punk-rock scene was kind of hidden in the underground?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Well, for a farm-town kid, yeah. I didn’t have Max’s [Kansas City] or CBGB’s or anywhere like that at my fingertips, so it took a little bit more research. And coming across punk rock, it was in the funniest ways. When I was a small child, I had all these jukebox singles my dad used to get for me, so I grew up listening to all the great ’60s radio music. In the mid-’70s, I was listening to what my friends were listening to: heavy metal, \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/102442872/fleetwood-mac\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Fleetwood Mac\u003c/a>, Foghat, that kind of stuff. And I used to read this monthly music magazine out of New York City called \u003cem>Rock Scene\u003c/em>: They would cover \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/129085773/aerosmith\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Aerosmith\u003c/a> and Kiss, but they would also cover \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/16737462/debbie-harry\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Blondie\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15778481/television\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Television\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15180457/the-ramones\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ramones\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I saw these pictures of the Ramones trying to buy a P.A., or trying to find a practice space. It would be these three-page photo spreads, and they looked infinitely cooler than the metal bands that I was listening to. And then, for my 16th birthday, I got the first Ramones album.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>From your dad?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I got to go to the record store and pick something out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>That was a big moment, I can imagine.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That was a big moment, yeah. I already had a Sears guitar, which I was trying to learn how to play. But when I heard the Ramones, that was the moment when I realized that it was actually easier than it seemed. It was very doable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What do you mean by that? What exactly struck you when you heard that music?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just the simplicity of it. It was very transparent. You know, on the first Ramones record, drums and vocals were set in the center, the bass was on one side and the guitar was on the other. It was almost as if it was an instructional record: I could get close to the bass guitar, hear the drums and vocals, and I could play guitar to that. Or I could go over and listen to the guitar, and learn that constant downstroke, power-chord style that Johnny Ramone came up with. It was just very, very different than these hugely produced pop records at the time. And going back to \u003cem>Rock Scene\u003c/em> magazine and bands with private jets and groupies and cocaine — that all seemed unattainable, I guess. And complicated, and not really that interesting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Unattainable. “I want to be in that world with the cocaine, but I just can’t get there.”\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yeah, a private jet was very daunting. It seemed much easier to take the subway like the Ramones did. It’s just, I guess, an aesthetic call.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>I’d like to hear about your father. As you say, he was giving you these singles and kind of getting you into music. But I\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>‘ve read he was a difficult personality in many ways.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My dad passed away in October of 2012. He was a pretty amazing person — a very, very complicated person, a very, very smart person. When I was 6 or 7 years old — that would be 1967, ’68, maybe — he bought a mom-and-pop grocery store, and we packed up the family and moved into this small house that had the grocery store attached to it. People would come to the store and this little buzzer would flip when the door opened, and we would go out through the kitchen and wait on the customers. I think I learned a lot from my dad about business that way — how to run a register, things like that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You know, my dad, he was a drinker. He liked to drink. Weekends could be tough. It’s funny — in retrospect, it didn’t seem that strange, because I only had a handful of friends in junior high and high school that I remember going to their houses, and it was a similar thing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>You mean, dads who were doing some drinking?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yes, exactly. So it didn’t strike me as being particularly abnormal or different. I guess in this day and age, people would be more upset about raising a kid in that environment. I’m sure it still happens; I know it does. But I guess I never really thought it was that strange. It almost just seemed like, “Oh, here comes Friday afternoon and here comes trouble.” Sunday night it calms down, and then we go back to school on Monday. I could go into deeper details, but I think that sets it up pretty good.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How tough did it get? I mean, \u003cem>\u003c/em>I’ve read the word “abusive” in some places, describing your household.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You know, there was physicality. But I wouldn’t — I don’t think it was abuse in an endemic kind of way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Is there a tie here to the music? Punk rock tends to have a lot of anger in it. I wonder if, as a kid getting into that kind of\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong> music, you were venting some of the anger and frustration from being in a tough family environment.\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=938czNAsHeM\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yeah, I think so. A record like \u003cem>Zen Arcade — \u003c/em>that was a double album that my first group, Hüsker Dü, put out in 1984 — that record has a lot of those rites of passage, trying to separate once and for all from your childhood, as we all want to do when we’re 22 or 23, and not realizing that we can never fully separate from it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>We should say, complicated as your dad might have been, he bought you your first guitar, right?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Well, going back to when I was getting these boxes of used jukebox singles, that was how I learned music: I would listen to these records and I could sit at a piano and figure out the melodies. He would take me record shopping, got me my first guitar, got me my second guitar, which was the guitar that people watched me play for eight years with Hüsker Dü. So again, a complex person, but I’m very grateful for all those gifts that he exposed me to — even through Hüsker Dü, buying a couple different vans and driving them out to Minnesota so that the band would have decent vehicles to tour the country in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>And Hüsker Dü became one of the biggest alternative \u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>bands in the country — though even then you were below the radar in a way. Can you take me into that world? How did punk-rock fans find each other in those days? What were the nights like?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I went to college in St. Paul, Minn., a school called Macalester. Within the first semester, I met a fellow named \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/123786490/grant-hart\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Grant Hart\u003c/a>, who was working at a record store down the street from school. He had a friend who worked at another record store named Greg Norton. So we now have a drummer, a bass player and me on guitar. We get together, and we’re trying to write some songs to possibly play at this club called The Longhorn, which in 1979 was \u003cem>the\u003c/em> punk-rock club in the Twin Cities. It’s where all of the big bands would play, like The Police and Blondie.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Those are big names.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And we managed to get a gig there. And we kept playing, kept meeting people. We went through a number of different styles at the beginning: some sort of simple punk rock; some sort of surfy; some chimey and depressing almost like \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/16229401/joy-division\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Joy Division\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15790060/the-cure\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Cure\u003c/a>, little bits of sort of industrial noise. And then we arrived at this hardcore punk sound.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During these years — 1979, 1980, the beginning of 1981 — other bands from around North America would come to Minneapolis, and invariably we would be the opening band. They’d see us and they’d say, “You guys are really great. If you ever come to Vancouver, give us a call. If you ever come to San Francisco, give us a call.” And once we had enough phone numbers together, we decided to try to book a tour. That took us up into Calgary, playing six nights at a sort of SRO hotel lounge, and then over to Vancouver for a week, Seattle for a week, Portland and then San Francisco for a couple weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was just this network of like-minded musicians. We all started in the vacuums in our hometowns, and once a few bands started touring, the information started to spread. There were fanzines like \u003cem>Maximumrocknroll \u003c/em>that helped to spread the word. You know, this was all before the Internet. This was before cellphones, this was before any of this. You were very tethered to conventional telephones and maps, so things grew very organically; they grew very slowly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>And what was a night on the punk scene like? At a concert or something like that?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Well, I currently live in San Francisco, and in walking to do this interview I passed by what used to be Mabuhay Gardens, which was booked by a fellow named Dirk Dirksen. I think the first time Hüsker Dü played there would have been in August of 1981. We were one of five or six bands on the bill. It was a Wednesday night. We made $12.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A whopping $12.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And three plates of spaghetti and meatballs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Which might have been more important than the money.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I think it was at the time. We had been in San Francisco for three or four days and had already gone down and gotten food stamps, so we were able to buy generic beer at the \u003cem>\u003c/em>Safeway. But, yeah, it would be five or six bands, 10, 20 bucks, plate of food, and you’d just try to weasel your way onto a show on Friday night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Was there a philosophy behind that? “We’re not gonna charge big tick\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>et prices; this is a scene that’s open to anyone who is like-minded and wants to be involved”?\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There was an idea to try to keep it affordable. I don’t think there were any particular strict rules; it just happened that way. In Minneapolis, when a punk band would come through and they wanted to do an all-ages show, we would go and rent a VFW hall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>All ages, meaning all ages are welcome?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yeah, all ages are welcome: no 18-plus, no 21-plus. A lot of the kids that were in that scene, they were \u003cem>kids\u003c/em> — you know, they were 14-, 15-year-old skateboard kids. We would rent a VFW hall for 50 bucks. We’d rent a P.A. for 75 bucks. We’d spend 25 bucks on advertising, so that’d be $150. If you could get 200 people to pay five bucks, that’s $1,000, and you can actually pay the touring band a bunch of money. And then they tell their friends, and you get more bands in your hometown that want to do that kind of thing, and it just sort of feeds on itself. It was about making enough money to be able to do another show. That was enough.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Did some of these nights get crazy dangerous?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I think everybody has a different definition of what danger is. The shows were very physical. The music was very loud, very violent music. When you get a bunch of kids with skateboards dancing in a circle really fast, throwing elbows and knees in the air as they’re dancing and diving off the stage and knocking equipment over, you know, people come up bloody off the floor. But I don’t know — it’s not really that dangerous to me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>I guess it strikes me as dangerous. If you’ve been in that scene, maybe that’s a normal night.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hs7wGhk_Yvg\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yeah, other people have commented, “Don’t you think that’s strange?” I’m like, “Well, not really, ’cause that’s, again, not unlike my childhood.” That’s sort of what I grew up with, so my baseline for “normal” is different, I suppose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Some people think of the ’80s, the Reagan years\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>, as a happy time; I’m thinking of “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-diB65scQU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Don’t Worry, Be Happy\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>.” Where was the anger and loudness and frustration in your scene kind of coming from during that time?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Well, when you say the word “Reagan” — he was the coal that fueled that train of discontent for hardcore for so long. For me, as a not-out gay man in the early ’80s, what the Reagan administration did — I guess, more importantly, what they \u003cem>didn’t\u003c/em> do — they couldn’t say the words “AIDS” or “HIV” until the middle of 1985. So here I am, 20 years old, sexually aware but not out, confused, sometimes self-hating, with a president who cannot name the disease that may or may not kill me or my friends. That would be a source of anger for anybody.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Do you think there were a lot of other people in a similar position, who were gay but not out, who were part of that scene? Ma\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>ybe larger numbers than we really know or think about?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In hindsight, yes — I think there were more gay and lesbian folk in that scene than we knew. Again, in the early ’80s things were very different, very repressed. We didn’t even have a concept of what a hate crime was. But the hardcore scene, and the punk scene, and art rock, and even the big haircut bands — you know, the \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15396803/scritti-politti\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Scritti Politti\u003c/a>s, or people who liked \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/17079067/new-order\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">New Order\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/145639858/the-smiths\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Smiths\u003c/a> — we were all different. And we were all different together. So I think there was a safety in numbers. I often joke that in the military it was, “Don’t ask, don’t tell,” and in the punk community it always felt like, “Don’t advertise, don’t worry.” It was almost as if, if you were who you were, you were OK.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>“Don’t advertise, don’t worry.” Tell me more about that.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s funny, because the look and the feel of hardcore punk was not that different from male prostitution in some ways. You know, the bandannas that would give off codes for whether you’re active or passive or what type of sexual behavior you enjoy, that whole sort of pseudo-military look — all of that is almost bordering on gay fetish. But that was this accepted look for hardcore punk in the early ’80s, so it was almost as if you could pass.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Pass as what?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You know, almost like people who dress a different gender. You’re dressing as if you’re in the military or you’re a hustler, but you’re actually a hardcore punk. So it’s almost as if you could pass for any of them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Were you able to have relationships with men during that time?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Little bits here and there, and then my first partner and I got together in April of ’83 and we were together for six years. So, yeah, I was 22 when I had my first long-term relationship — and I guess by then, in Minneapolis, my sexuality was an open secret. But without the Internet, it’s not getting posted on somebody else’s social-media page right away, so it takes a little more time for the information to get around the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>I want to play one Hüsker Dü song if we can and talk to you about it a little bit. Tell me what we’re listening to here.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a song called “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WialdbCrNM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">I Don’t Know for Sure\u003c/a>.” I believe it was on the \u003cem>Candy Apple Grey\u003c/em> album, which was March of ’86, the first album that Hüsker Dü made for Warner Bros., a major label. That was our jump away from the independent music world of SST Records over to Warner Bros.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>I listen to this and I feel like I could sing to it: It’s hard, certainly, but there’s also something melodic about it. As you experimented with more melody and more singable songs, did some of the crowds start to say you were leaving the true punk scene in a way?\u003c/strong><\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You know, we fell into this hardcore punk sound, and we quickly moved away from the dogma — the strict sort of anarchy-slash-destroy-the-government thing. By 1985 with \u003cem>New Day Rising\u003c/em>, as a songwriter I was already trying to be a bit of an older soul. I started thinking about time, the temporal nature of relationships, opening myself up more personally. By the time we got to “I Don’t Know for Sure” off of \u003cem>Candy Apple Grey\u003c/em>, punk rock had become “alternative rock”; it was on MTV all the time. It was just a natural progression.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Having said that, as far as people accusing Hüsker Dü of selling out or whatever, it was a pretty ferocious live band. If the records had been softened even one bit, all anybody had to do was come and see the band live and they’d recognize that there wasn’t anything soft about it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>You guys were still hard as can be.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yeah. I think compared to “Don’t Worry, Be Happy,” that was still pretty tough music.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>I can imagine that time being frustrating: You were bringing alternative rock into commercial rock, sort of experimenting with a sound that was about to become much more popular — and then Hüsker Dü breaks up. How tough was that?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the time, it was tough for different reasons. In the middle of 1986, right after \u003cem>Candy Apple Grey\u003c/em> came out, I was 25 years old and made what I think was a pretty big life choice: I quit drinking. I had started drinking when I was 13 and I didn’t miss a day until I quit at 25.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Being a touring musician, there’s alcohol available 24 hours a day. You get to a club at 2 in the afternoon, you wait around ’til 5 o’clock to do your sound check, so in those three hours, you’re sitting at a bar. What do you do? You drink. And then you’ve got all that time from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m., and what do you do? You drink. I had found a place to work where I could continue drinking all day. So when I was 25, I just looked in the mirror and I said, “You know, this has to stop. I’m not gonna make it to 30 if I keep this up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That same summer, the bass player in Hüsker Dü got married and moved away from the Twin Cities, down maybe an hour south, and we started seeing him a little bit less. And Grant Hart, the drummer, basically found a new set of friends separate from the band and started spending a lot more time with those other folks. You can see what was happening: three people that had this one reason to be together, and all of the other reasons had disappeared. The camaraderie, the mutual drinking and all that stuff that the band was built on, that was all falling apart.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the next 18 months, everybody really started to separate, started to pull away from the band. We were still touring, still making records and working hard, but it didn’t feel like a band as much as it felt like a job at that point. And the beginning of 1988, we just closed up shop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>It wasn’t long after you made these big decisions that Nirvana showed up and really exploded. \u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>Hüsker Dü had had the potential to go down that road, as well. Where was your head at during those years, watching other bands from your world start to take off?\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Hüsker Dü wrapped up in ’88, I moved up to northern Minnesota. I bought a farm up there and sat more or less by myself for a year, relearning music and relearning how to write songs for myself. I had no friends; I’d cut myself off from everybody just to focus on my work. And out of that I came up with a solo album, \u003cem>Workbook\u003c/em>, that came out in 1989.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Which is being \u003ca href=\"http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/19051-bob-mould-workbook-25/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">re-released this year\u003c/a> for its 25th anniversary. But a farm by yourself, no alcohol — I can’t imagine a place more different from the underground punk scene.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003c/strong>Yeah, it was completely different, and I think you can hear the difference. I was looking for a new way to look at music, because the last thing that I wanted to do in 1988 was to emulate the band I had just been in. I just didn’t want to use that language anymore, at least at that time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75VNKc8Aduk\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I started listening to a lot of world music, a lot of folk music, Appalachian music. Started experimenting with open tunings, purchased a couple new guitars that sounded very different than anything I had in my collection. I started looking at words differently — less concerned with formal rhyme and meter and more experimenting with “through writing,” just having a series of words or a short story in front of me and picking up a guitar and improvising and not being worried about four lines of this and two lines of that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1990, I make a second solo record, \u003cem>Black Sheets of Rain\u003c/em>. I move to New York City, end my first relationship, get dropped by Virgin Records after two records. I spend almost all of 1991 on the road with an acoustic guitar and an electric guitar, playing solo shows. I was touring a lot in Europe and I was playing these festivals with, you know, \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15373040/sonic-youth\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sonic Youth\u003c/a>, who I knew, and Nirvana, who I knew their music, obviously. It was funny to see these bands that had been either part of the hardcore scene or were affected by that music, being on this precipice of enormity. And especially, I guess, in the case of Nirvana, in the fall of ’91, when \u003cem>Nevermind \u003c/em>came out — a record I had been in contention to produce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Oh, wow.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003c/strong>Music is such a circular thing. When \u003cem>Nevermind\u003c/em> came out, that album changed the way people listen to music. A lot of the songs that I had been writing in 1991 led up to my next group, Sugar — and had it not been for \u003cem>Nevermind\u003c/em>, I don’t know if Sugar’s \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6dzOsM0gTw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Copper Blue\u003c/a>\u003c/em> would have stood a chance in ’92. But people were now receptive to this sound.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>You’re saying some of your influence for Sugar came from Nirvana?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No, I’m saying the success of \u003cem>Nevermind\u003c/em> re-tempered the ears of the listeners throughout the world. It was a heavy, punky record, but there was something about it that was so accessible that it opened up all these pathways for other musicians — myself included — to have our music heard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>As I listen to the new album, \u003cem>Beauty & Ruin\u003c/em>, it sounds like you’ve experimented with lots of sounds — acoustic, electronic — and now you’re going back to your musical roots.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Beauty & Ruin\u003c/em> is the culmination of a lot of things that have happened over the past three years in my life. In 2011, I released my autobiography, \u003cem>See a Little Light\u003c/em>. I was spending a lot of time doing readings and performances, where I would marry passages of the book with a group of songs to give people sort of an insight as to what it all means. I’d also done some work with the Foo Fighters: \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/173424658/dave-grohl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dave Grohl\u003c/a> gave me a call and had me come and sing and play guitar on a song on their album, and I got to do some shows with them, as sort of a walk-on guest at the end of the night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In November of 2011, at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles, there was a tribute show to my songbook. Dave was a big part of that, as well as \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoLW7g8pLaI\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ryan Adams\u003c/a>, a group called \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/96823034/no-age\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">No Age\u003c/a>, Margaret Cho, Craig [Finn] and Tad [Kubler] from \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15197852\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Hold Steady\u003c/a>, Britt [Daniel] from \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15189629/spoon\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Spoon\u003c/a>. It was an amazing night, and funny to see all these people assembled \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoLW7g8pLaI\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">singing my songs back at me\u003c/a>. In 2012, there were Sugar reissues, and then \u003cem>Silver Age\u003c/em>, a new studio album. Things were really, really great in September of 2012 — I’m doing a lot of touring, \u003cem>Silver Age\u003c/em> is taking off. And then my dad passes in October.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Of 2012?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of 2012, yeah. And that, to me, was the marker that sets the stage for \u003cem>Beauty & Ruin\u003c/em>. It was a “best of times, worst of times” kind of thing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Well, I’m sorry to hear about your dad. I wonder what that moment was like and how, as you say, it led to this album.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I had gotten a lot of good time with my dad in his last six months. We had a lot of really great conversations: a lot of pieces of the puzzle about his childhood and his history before I was born, things he didn’t share much with me until then, that helped me understand why he was the person he was. And I think it meant a lot to him to be able to tell his story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was a long battle for him, lung cancer. And in the moment, of course you have to take care of your mother, be with your siblings, do the right thing, try to keep things moving forward. But for me, that was also the beginning of a 12-month writing process: writing music, gathering words, gathering ideas, waiting, waiting, waiting. And about nine months into the process, around June of 2013, I started to see the themes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003c/em>\u003cem>\u003c/em>There’s four basic themes to \u003cem>Beauty & Ruin\u003c/em>: loss, reflection, acceptance and future. Those four “picture frames,” as I call them, made themselves known to me. And once I had those four frames and I could see how to construct the story of the record, then it was just a matter of grabbing the snapshots and putting them in the right frames. Then the record fell into place pretty quickly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>There’s a song called “The War” that yo\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>u’ve said has something to do with your dad. Which frame does that song fit in?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003c/strong>That’s the bridge between reflection and acceptance. It’s the end of side one, which is always an important place on a record. It touches on my dad’s battle at the end, and on life in general as a battle for all of us. I’m getting to that age where people around me are having a lot of health problems, and it touches on that, as well. It deals with a number of not-so-happy things, but I tried to wrap it in an uplifting melody. It seems to be my M.O. these days: the dark lyric and the happy melody.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>I guess I wondered if the war was, in some ways, between you and your father.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No, no. I mean, I gave up that war a long time ago. I think I closed that war up with \u003cem>Zen Ar\u003c/em>\u003cem>cade\u003c/em> back in ’83.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>You turn from “The War” at the end of side one to “Forgiveness” at the beginning of side two. What is that transition, exactly?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The War” is very, very dense, very electric, very layered, very visceral, sort of a spontaneous outburst. It literally was written in the studio: I sent the guys away one night and just holed up in the room, sort of took myself apart emotionally and then started putting myself back together with these words that I had written. It’s a very energetic song that has a quiet resolve at the end.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you were listening [on vinyl], you would have to get up at that point to flip over the record. And the beginning of side two, “Forgiveness,” is a complete reset: very clean guitars, very crisp, measured drumming. And it’s this song about forgiveness that’s essentially built on the old saying, “It’s easier to ask forgiveness than to ask permission.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Who are you forgiving?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oh, I’m just working that axiom. It’s nobody in particular.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>But is that song, and is \u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>the whole album, personally cathartic in some way?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The autobiography was very cathartic. I think this record is just 12 months in the life, you know? Catharsis is an awful big word. You know, it’s always capitalized and it always has two or three exclamation points after it — at least in my life. So I don’t know if I want to pin the tail on this one with that word. It’s a very personal record, and I’ll take ownership of all the words, but I would like for listeners to be able to appreciate the shiny, metallic pop nature of it, as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sometimes laying my meaning so heavily on a record, it may exclude some people. People may go, “Oh, my gosh, this might be too much for me on my drive to work.” Hopefully, it’s 36 minutes of pop music that can create a nice shine for people, as well as be this 12-month journey that I had. “Catharsis” makes it a little too exclusive, I think.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>There’s a song on the album \u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>called “Hey Mr. Grey,” which\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong> has this image of an older \u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>guy, maybe about your age, yelling at kids to get off his lawn.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>[Laughs.] \u003c/em>Isn’t that awesome? \u003cem>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>It’s pretty awesome. But what strikes me is that you might be this guy in your 50s yelling at kids t\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>o get off your lawn, but you’re also rocking like you’re 20-something.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I know. I love the contrast in this record — whether it’s the title, whether it’s the artwork, whether it’s a song like “Hey Mr. Grey” that would actually take me more time to describe than it took me to write.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/140389851″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_artwork=true&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Why do you say that?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because literally it took, like, two minutes. It’s a continuation of the self-awareness that I exhibited with calling the previous album \u003cem>Silver Age\u003c/em>; I can only laugh at my aging. And then, mentioning The Replacements’ “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xV55IwBEa14\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kids Don’t Follow\u003c/a>,” that was an accident that I instantly recognized and said, “Oh, I’ll leave that in.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Is it different playing this kind of hard music in your 50s, compared to\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong> in your 20s?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Physically, it’s harder, yeah. I’ve done a lot of damage to my voice over the years, so I have to be a little more careful with it. My energy level is not as consistently high as it was when I was in my 20s. But the beauty of things like the Disney Hall tribute show or revisiting the Sugar material is that, for so many years, I ran away from my own sound, and other people took it and ran with it. Now, it’s almost as if I’ve caught up with myself. And what the listener might perceive as, “Oh, he’s going for the glory. He’s going for that anger” — it’s like, no, I’m actually having a great time. I’m having a good laugh on all this, because it’s very clear what this is now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You know, I’m getting up there. I can’t do this forever. People like what I’m doing right now; they like it when I play fast, they like pop songs. I’ve challenged people for 35 years. I’ve made people follow me, jump through my hoops, try to figure out all these crazy twists and turns that I’ve taken. Now, we’re at this moment where I have an amazing rhythm section — we sound great together, we have fun playing together, it’s simple. It might not be like that in five years. So I’m just gonna go for it while it’s working. I’m fully aware that at my age I should be coming up with some complicated opera, but that’s really not who I am. I’m pretty much a meat-and-potatoes singer-songwriter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>You said the last of the four themes on \u003cem>Beauty & Ruin\u003c/em> is “future.”\u003c/strong> \u003cstrong>Not to give it away, but when you get to the end of the record, is there a sense that you figure out what’s ahead?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’m working on it. At least being conscious that there \u003cem>is\u003c/em> a future, and that your future does end at some point, so it’s fun to have possibilities. It’s different for me; I’m growing into this “fun” thing, this “sense of humor” thing. It’s all new. People are shocked by it. I’m just trying to lighten up a little bit. \u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Bob+Mould%27s+Beautiful%2C+Ruinous+Life+In+Punk&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Transcript :\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>DAVID GREENE, HOST: \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Apologies if you’re not quite awake yet because it’s about to get loud.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(SOUNDBITE OF HUSKER DU SONG)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>GREENE: The band here is Husker Du. They were part of the underground punk scene in the ’80s. This is lead singer Bob Mould.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>BOB MOULD: The shows are very physical. You know, the music was very loud, very violent. And when you get a bunch of kids with skateboards dancing in a circle really fast, throwing elbows and knees in the air as they’re dancing and diving off the stage and knocking equipment over and people come up bloody off the floor – it’s not really that dangerous I guess.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>GREENE: It strikes me as dangerous. But, I mean, if you’ve been in that scene, maybe that’s a normal night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>MOULD: My baseline for normal is different, I suppose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>GREENE: Today Bob Mould is considered one of the elder statesmen in the world of alternative rock. He’s given credit for taking that abrasive, hard-core sound and making it more radio-friendly. Nirvana called him a big influence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mellowing over time – in a way, that’s the story of Bob Mould’s life. He grew up in a rural town in New York state, and his baseline for normal, as he puts it, was thrown off in his childhood by an unpredictable father.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>MOULD: He was a pretty amazing person – a very, very complicated person. You know, he was a drinker, weekends could be tough – a lot of chaos in the house. I guess I never really thought it was that strange. It almost just seemed like, oh, here comes Friday afternoon. And Sunday night it’s going to calm down, and then we go back to school on Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>GREENE: It was his father, though, who got him into music.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>MOULD: He would take me record shopping, got me my first guitar, got me my second guitar, which was the guitar that people watched me play for eight years with Husker Du. So, yeah, very, very important.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(SOUNDBITE OF HUSKER DU SONG, “ZEN ARCADE”)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>GREENE: Is there a tie here to the music? There’s so much anger in it, and I guess I wonder if you were venting some of the anger and frustration from being in a tough family environment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>MOULD: Yeah, in some ways it was an extension of my childhood – not being heard as a child and now as a young man wanting to be heard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “ZEN ARCADE “)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>HUSKER DU: (Singing) Something I learned today…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>GREENE: And he was heard. But not by that many people in the early days. He remembered a typical performance in San Francisco in 1981.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>MOULD: We were one of five or six bands on the bill. It was Wednesday night. We made $12.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>GREENE: (Laughing) A whopping $12.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>MOULD: Twelve dollars and three plates of spaghetti and meatballs. And…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>GREENE: Which might have been more important than the money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>MOULD: I think it was at the time. There wasn’t a goal of, let’s make $2,500 so that we can do this. It was more like, let’s at least break even so we can do another show. That was enough.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>GREENE: You know the ’80s are known to some people as a happy time. I mean, I’m thinking about, you know, Bobby McFerrin and “Don’t Worry Be Happy” and it was the happy Reagan years to some people. Where was the anger and loudness and frustration in this scene coming from during that time?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>MOULD: Well, I think when you say the world Reagan, he was the coal that fueled that train of discontent for hardcore for so long. Personally, for me as a not-out gay man in the early ’80s and what the Reagan administration did to – I guess more importantly what they didn’t do – they couldn’t say the words AIDS until the middle of 1985. So here I am, 20 years old, sexually aware but not out, confused, sometimes self-hating, with a president who cannot name the disease that may or may not kill me or my friends. That would be a source of anger for anybody.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>GREENE: And Mould coped by drinking a lot. He decided to quit. It’s a decision that helped drive a major wedge in the band just as they were getting big. How much was your father in your mind when you decided to quit?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>MOULD: My father was in the mirror when I decided to quit drinking. (Laughing) You see what you will become if you don’t stop. That’s why when I looked in the mirror, and was like, I can’t do this. I know where this is going to go.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(SOUNDBITE OF HUSKER DU SONG)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>GREENE: I think about, you know, a group like Nirvana exploding. And then here you are, you’re on that potential road, but then you make this big decision. Where was your head as you were sort of exploring something new and personal, and you’re watching a band like Nirvana and kind of the world around you take off?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>MOULD: Well, at the beginning of ’88 when Husker Du wrapped up, I moved up to northern Minnesota. And I bought a farm up there and sat more or less by myself for a year relearning music and relearning how to write songs for myself. I had no friends. I had cut myself off from everybody just to focus on my work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(SOUNDBITE OF HUSKER DU SONG)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>MOULD: I was looking for a new way to look at music because the last thing that I wanted to do in 1988 was emulate the band I had just been in. I didn’t want to use that language anymore.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>GREENE: Over the years, Mould experimented with different kinds of music – acoustic, electronic and pop. But now at age 53, he’s been revisiting the past. He wrote an autobiography, and he just put out this new record, “Beauty And Ruin.” It was inspired by his father’s death from cancer in 2012.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “THE WAR”)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>DU: (Singing) And all these songs I write for you, they tear me up. It’s not hard to do.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>GREENE: There’s a song called “The War” that you said has something to do with your dad.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>MOULD: You know, it touches on my dad’s battle at the end. It touches on, you know, life in general as a battle for all of us. It deals with a number of not-so-happy things, but I tried to wrap it with an uplifting melody. Seems to be my M.O. these days – the dark lyric and the happy melody.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>GREENE: I guess I wondered if “The War” was in some ways between you and your father.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>MOULD: No. I mean, I gave up that war a long time ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>GREENE: Loud as this album is, there is a sense of peaceful resolution. He even mocks himself in a song called “Hey Mr. Gray”.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “HEY MR. GRAY”)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>DU: (Singing) Hey, Mr. Gray. That’s what the children say. Life used to be so hard, well, get out my yard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>GREENE: It’s funny because it has this image of an older guy, maybe a guy about your age in his 50s, yelling at kids to get off his lawn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>MOULD: Isn’t that awsome? (Laughing).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>GREENE: It’s pretty awesome. It’s pretty awesome. What strikes me while listening to it is, you might be this guy yelling at kids to get off your lawn, but you’re also rocking like you’re 20-something.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>MOULD: I know. I love the contrast in this record all the way around. But I think the beauty of it to me, you know, for so many years, I ran away from my own sound. And other people took it and ran with it. And it’s almost as if I’ve caught up with myself somehow. You know, for so long when I go back to ’88 and the farm and wanting to be so different – you know, now it’s like, people like what I’m doing right now. They like it when I play fast, and it might not be like that forever. It might not be like that in five years. So I’m just going to go for it while it’s working.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “HEY MR. GRAY”)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>DU: (Singing) Gets him – it gets him down…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>GREENE: Well, Bob Mould ,it’s been a lot of fun of talking you, really appreciate it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>MOULD: Great. Thank you, David.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>GREENE: That’s Bob Mould. His new album came out yesterday. This is NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\n\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Long before \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15446165/nirvana\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Nirvana\u003c/a> made it popular, \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15182660/bob-mould\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bob Mould\u003c/a> helped create the heavy-but-hummable rock sound that would become so big in the ’90s. Hüsker Dü, the band he co-founded in 1979, was among the most prominent in the punk underground that blossomed across the country during the Reagan years. The trio broke up in 1988, just as punk was beginning to hit a mainstream tipping point — but Mould has kept recording ever since, as a solo artist and with his band Sugar, and has pushed himself to keep innovating.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On a new record called \u003cem>Beauty & Ruin\u003c/em>, out this week, Mould looks back on his life and long musical career, both of which were profoundly influenced by his father — a music enthusiast who bought him records and guitars, but could also be cruel. In a conversation that covers Mould’s entire artistic life — from playing along to Ramones albums in rural New York to building a DIY touring network with Hüsker Dü, through sobriety, sexual self-discovery and the death of his father — the elder statesman of alt-rock tells NPR’s David Greene that at 53, he’s finally starting to have fun. Hear the radio version at the audio link, and read more of their conversation below.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>DAVID GREENE: I wanted to start with where you grew up: It was a small, rural town in upstate New York. Describe the place for me and how you got your first taste of punk rock.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>BOB MOULD: \u003c/strong>Well, I was born and raised in a small farm town called Malone, which was the county seat of Franklin County, the northernmost county in New York state. So when people would say, “Oh, you’re from upstate New York?” I go, “No, I’m actually from northern New York.” The closest city was Montreal, which was about 50 miles due north.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>So you’re way up there. You probably got some snow occasionally.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>[Laughs.\u003c/em>\u003cem>] \u003c/em>A little bit of snow, yeah. I was north of Lake Placid. It was just a quiet farm town — very idyllic, very beautiful. In the ’60s and ’70s it was unscathed; they hadn’t started building all the prisons that currently occupy the area. But in order to find this elusive punk-rock music that I’d started reading about in magazines and seeing occasionally on television, I would have to drive either due east to Plattsburgh or Burlington, Vt., or, more likely than not, north to Montreal to buy music.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>And you\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong> say “elusive.” Is that because the punk-rock scene was kind of hidden in the underground?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Well, for a farm-town kid, yeah. I didn’t have Max’s [Kansas City] or CBGB’s or anywhere like that at my fingertips, so it took a little bit more research. And coming across punk rock, it was in the funniest ways. When I was a small child, I had all these jukebox singles my dad used to get for me, so I grew up listening to all the great ’60s radio music. In the mid-’70s, I was listening to what my friends were listening to: heavy metal, \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/102442872/fleetwood-mac\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Fleetwood Mac\u003c/a>, Foghat, that kind of stuff. And I used to read this monthly music magazine out of New York City called \u003cem>Rock Scene\u003c/em>: They would cover \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/129085773/aerosmith\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Aerosmith\u003c/a> and Kiss, but they would also cover \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/16737462/debbie-harry\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Blondie\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15778481/television\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Television\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15180457/the-ramones\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ramones\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I saw these pictures of the Ramones trying to buy a P.A., or trying to find a practice space. It would be these three-page photo spreads, and they looked infinitely cooler than the metal bands that I was listening to. And then, for my 16th birthday, I got the first Ramones album.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>From your dad?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I got to go to the record store and pick something out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>That was a big moment, I can imagine.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That was a big moment, yeah. I already had a Sears guitar, which I was trying to learn how to play. But when I heard the Ramones, that was the moment when I realized that it was actually easier than it seemed. It was very doable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What do you mean by that? What exactly struck you when you heard that music?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just the simplicity of it. It was very transparent. You know, on the first Ramones record, drums and vocals were set in the center, the bass was on one side and the guitar was on the other. It was almost as if it was an instructional record: I could get close to the bass guitar, hear the drums and vocals, and I could play guitar to that. Or I could go over and listen to the guitar, and learn that constant downstroke, power-chord style that Johnny Ramone came up with. It was just very, very different than these hugely produced pop records at the time. And going back to \u003cem>Rock Scene\u003c/em> magazine and bands with private jets and groupies and cocaine — that all seemed unattainable, I guess. And complicated, and not really that interesting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Unattainable. “I want to be in that world with the cocaine, but I just can’t get there.”\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yeah, a private jet was very daunting. It seemed much easier to take the subway like the Ramones did. It’s just, I guess, an aesthetic call.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>I’d like to hear about your father. As you say, he was giving you these singles and kind of getting you into music. But I\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>‘ve read he was a difficult personality in many ways.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>My dad passed away in October of 2012. He was a pretty amazing person — a very, very complicated person, a very, very smart person. When I was 6 or 7 years old — that would be 1967, ’68, maybe — he bought a mom-and-pop grocery store, and we packed up the family and moved into this small house that had the grocery store attached to it. People would come to the store and this little buzzer would flip when the door opened, and we would go out through the kitchen and wait on the customers. I think I learned a lot from my dad about business that way — how to run a register, things like that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You know, my dad, he was a drinker. He liked to drink. Weekends could be tough. It’s funny — in retrospect, it didn’t seem that strange, because I only had a handful of friends in junior high and high school that I remember going to their houses, and it was a similar thing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>You mean, dads who were doing some drinking?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yes, exactly. So it didn’t strike me as being particularly abnormal or different. I guess in this day and age, people would be more upset about raising a kid in that environment. I’m sure it still happens; I know it does. But I guess I never really thought it was that strange. It almost just seemed like, “Oh, here comes Friday afternoon and here comes trouble.” Sunday night it calms down, and then we go back to school on Monday. I could go into deeper details, but I think that sets it up pretty good.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How tough did it get? I mean, \u003cem>\u003c/em>I’ve read the word “abusive” in some places, describing your household.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You know, there was physicality. But I wouldn’t — I don’t think it was abuse in an endemic kind of way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Is there a tie here to the music? Punk rock tends to have a lot of anger in it. I wonder if, as a kid getting into that kind of\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong> music, you were venting some of the anger and frustration from being in a tough family environment.\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/938czNAsHeM'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/938czNAsHeM'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Yeah, I think so. A record like \u003cem>Zen Arcade — \u003c/em>that was a double album that my first group, Hüsker Dü, put out in 1984 — that record has a lot of those rites of passage, trying to separate once and for all from your childhood, as we all want to do when we’re 22 or 23, and not realizing that we can never fully separate from it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>We should say, complicated as your dad might have been, he bought you your first guitar, right?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Well, going back to when I was getting these boxes of used jukebox singles, that was how I learned music: I would listen to these records and I could sit at a piano and figure out the melodies. He would take me record shopping, got me my first guitar, got me my second guitar, which was the guitar that people watched me play for eight years with Hüsker Dü. So again, a complex person, but I’m very grateful for all those gifts that he exposed me to — even through Hüsker Dü, buying a couple different vans and driving them out to Minnesota so that the band would have decent vehicles to tour the country in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>And Hüsker Dü became one of the biggest alternative \u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>bands in the country — though even then you were below the radar in a way. Can you take me into that world? How did punk-rock fans find each other in those days? What were the nights like?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I went to college in St. Paul, Minn., a school called Macalester. Within the first semester, I met a fellow named \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/123786490/grant-hart\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Grant Hart\u003c/a>, who was working at a record store down the street from school. He had a friend who worked at another record store named Greg Norton. So we now have a drummer, a bass player and me on guitar. We get together, and we’re trying to write some songs to possibly play at this club called The Longhorn, which in 1979 was \u003cem>the\u003c/em> punk-rock club in the Twin Cities. It’s where all of the big bands would play, like The Police and Blondie.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Those are big names.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And we managed to get a gig there. And we kept playing, kept meeting people. We went through a number of different styles at the beginning: some sort of simple punk rock; some sort of surfy; some chimey and depressing almost like \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/16229401/joy-division\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Joy Division\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15790060/the-cure\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Cure\u003c/a>, little bits of sort of industrial noise. And then we arrived at this hardcore punk sound.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During these years — 1979, 1980, the beginning of 1981 — other bands from around North America would come to Minneapolis, and invariably we would be the opening band. They’d see us and they’d say, “You guys are really great. If you ever come to Vancouver, give us a call. If you ever come to San Francisco, give us a call.” And once we had enough phone numbers together, we decided to try to book a tour. That took us up into Calgary, playing six nights at a sort of SRO hotel lounge, and then over to Vancouver for a week, Seattle for a week, Portland and then San Francisco for a couple weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was just this network of like-minded musicians. We all started in the vacuums in our hometowns, and once a few bands started touring, the information started to spread. There were fanzines like \u003cem>Maximumrocknroll \u003c/em>that helped to spread the word. You know, this was all before the Internet. This was before cellphones, this was before any of this. You were very tethered to conventional telephones and maps, so things grew very organically; they grew very slowly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>And what was a night on the punk scene like? At a concert or something like that?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Well, I currently live in San Francisco, and in walking to do this interview I passed by what used to be Mabuhay Gardens, which was booked by a fellow named Dirk Dirksen. I think the first time Hüsker Dü played there would have been in August of 1981. We were one of five or six bands on the bill. It was a Wednesday night. We made $12.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A whopping $12.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And three plates of spaghetti and meatballs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Which might have been more important than the money.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I think it was at the time. We had been in San Francisco for three or four days and had already gone down and gotten food stamps, so we were able to buy generic beer at the \u003cem>\u003c/em>Safeway. But, yeah, it would be five or six bands, 10, 20 bucks, plate of food, and you’d just try to weasel your way onto a show on Friday night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Was there a philosophy behind that? “We’re not gonna charge big tick\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>et prices; this is a scene that’s open to anyone who is like-minded and wants to be involved”?\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There was an idea to try to keep it affordable. I don’t think there were any particular strict rules; it just happened that way. In Minneapolis, when a punk band would come through and they wanted to do an all-ages show, we would go and rent a VFW hall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>All ages, meaning all ages are welcome?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yeah, all ages are welcome: no 18-plus, no 21-plus. A lot of the kids that were in that scene, they were \u003cem>kids\u003c/em> — you know, they were 14-, 15-year-old skateboard kids. We would rent a VFW hall for 50 bucks. We’d rent a P.A. for 75 bucks. We’d spend 25 bucks on advertising, so that’d be $150. If you could get 200 people to pay five bucks, that’s $1,000, and you can actually pay the touring band a bunch of money. And then they tell their friends, and you get more bands in your hometown that want to do that kind of thing, and it just sort of feeds on itself. It was about making enough money to be able to do another show. That was enough.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Did some of these nights get crazy dangerous?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I think everybody has a different definition of what danger is. The shows were very physical. The music was very loud, very violent music. When you get a bunch of kids with skateboards dancing in a circle really fast, throwing elbows and knees in the air as they’re dancing and diving off the stage and knocking equipment over, you know, people come up bloody off the floor. But I don’t know — it’s not really that dangerous to me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>I guess it strikes me as dangerous. If you’ve been in that scene, maybe that’s a normal night.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/hs7wGhk_Yvg'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/hs7wGhk_Yvg'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Yeah, other people have commented, “Don’t you think that’s strange?” I’m like, “Well, not really, ’cause that’s, again, not unlike my childhood.” That’s sort of what I grew up with, so my baseline for “normal” is different, I suppose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Some people think of the ’80s, the Reagan years\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>, as a happy time; I’m thinking of “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-diB65scQU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Don’t Worry, Be Happy\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>.” Where was the anger and loudness and frustration in your scene kind of coming from during that time?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Well, when you say the word “Reagan” — he was the coal that fueled that train of discontent for hardcore for so long. For me, as a not-out gay man in the early ’80s, what the Reagan administration did — I guess, more importantly, what they \u003cem>didn’t\u003c/em> do — they couldn’t say the words “AIDS” or “HIV” until the middle of 1985. So here I am, 20 years old, sexually aware but not out, confused, sometimes self-hating, with a president who cannot name the disease that may or may not kill me or my friends. That would be a source of anger for anybody.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Do you think there were a lot of other people in a similar position, who were gay but not out, who were part of that scene? Ma\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>ybe larger numbers than we really know or think about?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In hindsight, yes — I think there were more gay and lesbian folk in that scene than we knew. Again, in the early ’80s things were very different, very repressed. We didn’t even have a concept of what a hate crime was. But the hardcore scene, and the punk scene, and art rock, and even the big haircut bands — you know, the \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15396803/scritti-politti\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Scritti Politti\u003c/a>s, or people who liked \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/17079067/new-order\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">New Order\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/145639858/the-smiths\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Smiths\u003c/a> — we were all different. And we were all different together. So I think there was a safety in numbers. I often joke that in the military it was, “Don’t ask, don’t tell,” and in the punk community it always felt like, “Don’t advertise, don’t worry.” It was almost as if, if you were who you were, you were OK.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>“Don’t advertise, don’t worry.” Tell me more about that.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s funny, because the look and the feel of hardcore punk was not that different from male prostitution in some ways. You know, the bandannas that would give off codes for whether you’re active or passive or what type of sexual behavior you enjoy, that whole sort of pseudo-military look — all of that is almost bordering on gay fetish. But that was this accepted look for hardcore punk in the early ’80s, so it was almost as if you could pass.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Pass as what?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You know, almost like people who dress a different gender. You’re dressing as if you’re in the military or you’re a hustler, but you’re actually a hardcore punk. So it’s almost as if you could pass for any of them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Were you able to have relationships with men during that time?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Little bits here and there, and then my first partner and I got together in April of ’83 and we were together for six years. So, yeah, I was 22 when I had my first long-term relationship — and I guess by then, in Minneapolis, my sexuality was an open secret. But without the Internet, it’s not getting posted on somebody else’s social-media page right away, so it takes a little more time for the information to get around the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>I want to play one Hüsker Dü song if we can and talk to you about it a little bit. Tell me what we’re listening to here.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a song called “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WialdbCrNM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">I Don’t Know for Sure\u003c/a>.” I believe it was on the \u003cem>Candy Apple Grey\u003c/em> album, which was March of ’86, the first album that Hüsker Dü made for Warner Bros., a major label. That was our jump away from the independent music world of SST Records over to Warner Bros.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>I listen to this and I feel like I could sing to it: It’s hard, certainly, but there’s also something melodic about it. As you experimented with more melody and more singable songs, did some of the crowds start to say you were leaving the true punk scene in a way?\u003c/strong><\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You know, we fell into this hardcore punk sound, and we quickly moved away from the dogma — the strict sort of anarchy-slash-destroy-the-government thing. By 1985 with \u003cem>New Day Rising\u003c/em>, as a songwriter I was already trying to be a bit of an older soul. I started thinking about time, the temporal nature of relationships, opening myself up more personally. By the time we got to “I Don’t Know for Sure” off of \u003cem>Candy Apple Grey\u003c/em>, punk rock had become “alternative rock”; it was on MTV all the time. It was just a natural progression.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Having said that, as far as people accusing Hüsker Dü of selling out or whatever, it was a pretty ferocious live band. If the records had been softened even one bit, all anybody had to do was come and see the band live and they’d recognize that there wasn’t anything soft about it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>You guys were still hard as can be.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yeah. I think compared to “Don’t Worry, Be Happy,” that was still pretty tough music.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>I can imagine that time being frustrating: You were bringing alternative rock into commercial rock, sort of experimenting with a sound that was about to become much more popular — and then Hüsker Dü breaks up. How tough was that?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the time, it was tough for different reasons. In the middle of 1986, right after \u003cem>Candy Apple Grey\u003c/em> came out, I was 25 years old and made what I think was a pretty big life choice: I quit drinking. I had started drinking when I was 13 and I didn’t miss a day until I quit at 25.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Being a touring musician, there’s alcohol available 24 hours a day. You get to a club at 2 in the afternoon, you wait around ’til 5 o’clock to do your sound check, so in those three hours, you’re sitting at a bar. What do you do? You drink. And then you’ve got all that time from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m., and what do you do? You drink. I had found a place to work where I could continue drinking all day. So when I was 25, I just looked in the mirror and I said, “You know, this has to stop. I’m not gonna make it to 30 if I keep this up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That same summer, the bass player in Hüsker Dü got married and moved away from the Twin Cities, down maybe an hour south, and we started seeing him a little bit less. And Grant Hart, the drummer, basically found a new set of friends separate from the band and started spending a lot more time with those other folks. You can see what was happening: three people that had this one reason to be together, and all of the other reasons had disappeared. The camaraderie, the mutual drinking and all that stuff that the band was built on, that was all falling apart.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the next 18 months, everybody really started to separate, started to pull away from the band. We were still touring, still making records and working hard, but it didn’t feel like a band as much as it felt like a job at that point. And the beginning of 1988, we just closed up shop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>It wasn’t long after you made these big decisions that Nirvana showed up and really exploded. \u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>Hüsker Dü had had the potential to go down that road, as well. Where was your head at during those years, watching other bands from your world start to take off?\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Hüsker Dü wrapped up in ’88, I moved up to northern Minnesota. I bought a farm up there and sat more or less by myself for a year, relearning music and relearning how to write songs for myself. I had no friends; I’d cut myself off from everybody just to focus on my work. And out of that I came up with a solo album, \u003cem>Workbook\u003c/em>, that came out in 1989.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Which is being \u003ca href=\"http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/19051-bob-mould-workbook-25/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">re-released this year\u003c/a> for its 25th anniversary. But a farm by yourself, no alcohol — I can’t imagine a place more different from the underground punk scene.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003c/strong>Yeah, it was completely different, and I think you can hear the difference. I was looking for a new way to look at music, because the last thing that I wanted to do in 1988 was to emulate the band I had just been in. I just didn’t want to use that language anymore, at least at that time.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/75VNKc8Aduk'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/75VNKc8Aduk'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>I started listening to a lot of world music, a lot of folk music, Appalachian music. Started experimenting with open tunings, purchased a couple new guitars that sounded very different than anything I had in my collection. I started looking at words differently — less concerned with formal rhyme and meter and more experimenting with “through writing,” just having a series of words or a short story in front of me and picking up a guitar and improvising and not being worried about four lines of this and two lines of that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1990, I make a second solo record, \u003cem>Black Sheets of Rain\u003c/em>. I move to New York City, end my first relationship, get dropped by Virgin Records after two records. I spend almost all of 1991 on the road with an acoustic guitar and an electric guitar, playing solo shows. I was touring a lot in Europe and I was playing these festivals with, you know, \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15373040/sonic-youth\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sonic Youth\u003c/a>, who I knew, and Nirvana, who I knew their music, obviously. It was funny to see these bands that had been either part of the hardcore scene or were affected by that music, being on this precipice of enormity. And especially, I guess, in the case of Nirvana, in the fall of ’91, when \u003cem>Nevermind \u003c/em>came out — a record I had been in contention to produce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Oh, wow.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003c/strong>Music is such a circular thing. When \u003cem>Nevermind\u003c/em> came out, that album changed the way people listen to music. A lot of the songs that I had been writing in 1991 led up to my next group, Sugar — and had it not been for \u003cem>Nevermind\u003c/em>, I don’t know if Sugar’s \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6dzOsM0gTw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Copper Blue\u003c/a>\u003c/em> would have stood a chance in ’92. But people were now receptive to this sound.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>You’re saying some of your influence for Sugar came from Nirvana?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No, I’m saying the success of \u003cem>Nevermind\u003c/em> re-tempered the ears of the listeners throughout the world. It was a heavy, punky record, but there was something about it that was so accessible that it opened up all these pathways for other musicians — myself included — to have our music heard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>As I listen to the new album, \u003cem>Beauty & Ruin\u003c/em>, it sounds like you’ve experimented with lots of sounds — acoustic, electronic — and now you’re going back to your musical roots.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Beauty & Ruin\u003c/em> is the culmination of a lot of things that have happened over the past three years in my life. In 2011, I released my autobiography, \u003cem>See a Little Light\u003c/em>. I was spending a lot of time doing readings and performances, where I would marry passages of the book with a group of songs to give people sort of an insight as to what it all means. I’d also done some work with the Foo Fighters: \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/173424658/dave-grohl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dave Grohl\u003c/a> gave me a call and had me come and sing and play guitar on a song on their album, and I got to do some shows with them, as sort of a walk-on guest at the end of the night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In November of 2011, at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles, there was a tribute show to my songbook. Dave was a big part of that, as well as \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoLW7g8pLaI\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ryan Adams\u003c/a>, a group called \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/96823034/no-age\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">No Age\u003c/a>, Margaret Cho, Craig [Finn] and Tad [Kubler] from \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15197852\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Hold Steady\u003c/a>, Britt [Daniel] from \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15189629/spoon\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Spoon\u003c/a>. It was an amazing night, and funny to see all these people assembled \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoLW7g8pLaI\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">singing my songs back at me\u003c/a>. In 2012, there were Sugar reissues, and then \u003cem>Silver Age\u003c/em>, a new studio album. Things were really, really great in September of 2012 — I’m doing a lot of touring, \u003cem>Silver Age\u003c/em> is taking off. And then my dad passes in October.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Of 2012?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of 2012, yeah. And that, to me, was the marker that sets the stage for \u003cem>Beauty & Ruin\u003c/em>. It was a “best of times, worst of times” kind of thing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Well, I’m sorry to hear about your dad. I wonder what that moment was like and how, as you say, it led to this album.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I had gotten a lot of good time with my dad in his last six months. We had a lot of really great conversations: a lot of pieces of the puzzle about his childhood and his history before I was born, things he didn’t share much with me until then, that helped me understand why he was the person he was. And I think it meant a lot to him to be able to tell his story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was a long battle for him, lung cancer. And in the moment, of course you have to take care of your mother, be with your siblings, do the right thing, try to keep things moving forward. But for me, that was also the beginning of a 12-month writing process: writing music, gathering words, gathering ideas, waiting, waiting, waiting. And about nine months into the process, around June of 2013, I started to see the themes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003c/em>\u003cem>\u003c/em>There’s four basic themes to \u003cem>Beauty & Ruin\u003c/em>: loss, reflection, acceptance and future. Those four “picture frames,” as I call them, made themselves known to me. And once I had those four frames and I could see how to construct the story of the record, then it was just a matter of grabbing the snapshots and putting them in the right frames. Then the record fell into place pretty quickly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>There’s a song called “The War” that yo\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>u’ve said has something to do with your dad. Which frame does that song fit in?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003c/strong>That’s the bridge between reflection and acceptance. It’s the end of side one, which is always an important place on a record. It touches on my dad’s battle at the end, and on life in general as a battle for all of us. I’m getting to that age where people around me are having a lot of health problems, and it touches on that, as well. It deals with a number of not-so-happy things, but I tried to wrap it in an uplifting melody. It seems to be my M.O. these days: the dark lyric and the happy melody.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>I guess I wondered if the war was, in some ways, between you and your father.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No, no. I mean, I gave up that war a long time ago. I think I closed that war up with \u003cem>Zen Ar\u003c/em>\u003cem>cade\u003c/em> back in ’83.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>You turn from “The War” at the end of side one to “Forgiveness” at the beginning of side two. What is that transition, exactly?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The War” is very, very dense, very electric, very layered, very visceral, sort of a spontaneous outburst. It literally was written in the studio: I sent the guys away one night and just holed up in the room, sort of took myself apart emotionally and then started putting myself back together with these words that I had written. It’s a very energetic song that has a quiet resolve at the end.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you were listening [on vinyl], you would have to get up at that point to flip over the record. And the beginning of side two, “Forgiveness,” is a complete reset: very clean guitars, very crisp, measured drumming. And it’s this song about forgiveness that’s essentially built on the old saying, “It’s easier to ask forgiveness than to ask permission.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Who are you forgiving?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oh, I’m just working that axiom. It’s nobody in particular.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>But is that song, and is \u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>the whole album, personally cathartic in some way?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The autobiography was very cathartic. I think this record is just 12 months in the life, you know? Catharsis is an awful big word. You know, it’s always capitalized and it always has two or three exclamation points after it — at least in my life. So I don’t know if I want to pin the tail on this one with that word. It’s a very personal record, and I’ll take ownership of all the words, but I would like for listeners to be able to appreciate the shiny, metallic pop nature of it, as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sometimes laying my meaning so heavily on a record, it may exclude some people. People may go, “Oh, my gosh, this might be too much for me on my drive to work.” Hopefully, it’s 36 minutes of pop music that can create a nice shine for people, as well as be this 12-month journey that I had. “Catharsis” makes it a little too exclusive, I think.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>There’s a song on the album \u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>called “Hey Mr. Grey,” which\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong> has this image of an older \u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>guy, maybe about your age, yelling at kids to get off his lawn.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>[Laughs.] \u003c/em>Isn’t that awesome? \u003cem>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>It’s pretty awesome. But what strikes me is that you might be this guy in your 50s yelling at kids t\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>o get off your lawn, but you’re also rocking like you’re 20-something.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I know. I love the contrast in this record — whether it’s the title, whether it’s the artwork, whether it’s a song like “Hey Mr. Grey” that would actually take me more time to describe than it took me to write.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cdiv class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__shortcodes__shortcodeWrapper'>\n \u003ciframe width='”100%”' height='”166″'\n scrolling='no' frameborder='no'\n src='https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/140389851″&visual=true&”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_artwork=true&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false”'\n title='”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/140389851″'>\n \u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/div>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Why do you say that?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because literally it took, like, two minutes. It’s a continuation of the self-awareness that I exhibited with calling the previous album \u003cem>Silver Age\u003c/em>; I can only laugh at my aging. And then, mentioning The Replacements’ “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xV55IwBEa14\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kids Don’t Follow\u003c/a>,” that was an accident that I instantly recognized and said, “Oh, I’ll leave that in.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Is it different playing this kind of hard music in your 50s, compared to\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong> in your 20s?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Physically, it’s harder, yeah. I’ve done a lot of damage to my voice over the years, so I have to be a little more careful with it. My energy level is not as consistently high as it was when I was in my 20s. But the beauty of things like the Disney Hall tribute show or revisiting the Sugar material is that, for so many years, I ran away from my own sound, and other people took it and ran with it. Now, it’s almost as if I’ve caught up with myself. And what the listener might perceive as, “Oh, he’s going for the glory. He’s going for that anger” — it’s like, no, I’m actually having a great time. I’m having a good laugh on all this, because it’s very clear what this is now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You know, I’m getting up there. I can’t do this forever. People like what I’m doing right now; they like it when I play fast, they like pop songs. I’ve challenged people for 35 years. I’ve made people follow me, jump through my hoops, try to figure out all these crazy twists and turns that I’ve taken. Now, we’re at this moment where I have an amazing rhythm section — we sound great together, we have fun playing together, it’s simple. It might not be like that in five years. So I’m just gonna go for it while it’s working. I’m fully aware that at my age I should be coming up with some complicated opera, but that’s really not who I am. I’m pretty much a meat-and-potatoes singer-songwriter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>You said the last of the four themes on \u003cem>Beauty & Ruin\u003c/em> is “future.”\u003c/strong> \u003cstrong>Not to give it away, but when you get to the end of the record, is there a sense that you figure out what’s ahead?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’m working on it. At least being conscious that there \u003cem>is\u003c/em> a future, and that your future does end at some point, so it’s fun to have possibilities. It’s different for me; I’m growing into this “fun” thing, this “sense of humor” thing. It’s all new. People are shocked by it. I’m just trying to lighten up a little bit. \u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Bob+Mould%27s+Beautiful%2C+Ruinous+Life+In+Punk&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Transcript :\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>DAVID GREENE, HOST: \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Apologies if you’re not quite awake yet because it’s about to get loud.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(SOUNDBITE OF HUSKER DU SONG)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>GREENE: The band here is Husker Du. They were part of the underground punk scene in the ’80s. This is lead singer Bob Mould.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>BOB MOULD: The shows are very physical. You know, the music was very loud, very violent. And when you get a bunch of kids with skateboards dancing in a circle really fast, throwing elbows and knees in the air as they’re dancing and diving off the stage and knocking equipment over and people come up bloody off the floor – it’s not really that dangerous I guess.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>GREENE: It strikes me as dangerous. But, I mean, if you’ve been in that scene, maybe that’s a normal night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>MOULD: My baseline for normal is different, I suppose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>GREENE: Today Bob Mould is considered one of the elder statesmen in the world of alternative rock. He’s given credit for taking that abrasive, hard-core sound and making it more radio-friendly. Nirvana called him a big influence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mellowing over time – in a way, that’s the story of Bob Mould’s life. He grew up in a rural town in New York state, and his baseline for normal, as he puts it, was thrown off in his childhood by an unpredictable father.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>MOULD: He was a pretty amazing person – a very, very complicated person. You know, he was a drinker, weekends could be tough – a lot of chaos in the house. I guess I never really thought it was that strange. It almost just seemed like, oh, here comes Friday afternoon. And Sunday night it’s going to calm down, and then we go back to school on Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>GREENE: It was his father, though, who got him into music.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>MOULD: He would take me record shopping, got me my first guitar, got me my second guitar, which was the guitar that people watched me play for eight years with Husker Du. So, yeah, very, very important.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(SOUNDBITE OF HUSKER DU SONG, “ZEN ARCADE”)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>GREENE: Is there a tie here to the music? There’s so much anger in it, and I guess I wonder if you were venting some of the anger and frustration from being in a tough family environment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>MOULD: Yeah, in some ways it was an extension of my childhood – not being heard as a child and now as a young man wanting to be heard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “ZEN ARCADE “)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>HUSKER DU: (Singing) Something I learned today…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>GREENE: And he was heard. But not by that many people in the early days. He remembered a typical performance in San Francisco in 1981.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>MOULD: We were one of five or six bands on the bill. It was Wednesday night. We made $12.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>GREENE: (Laughing) A whopping $12.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>MOULD: Twelve dollars and three plates of spaghetti and meatballs. And…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>GREENE: Which might have been more important than the money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>MOULD: I think it was at the time. There wasn’t a goal of, let’s make $2,500 so that we can do this. It was more like, let’s at least break even so we can do another show. That was enough.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>GREENE: You know the ’80s are known to some people as a happy time. I mean, I’m thinking about, you know, Bobby McFerrin and “Don’t Worry Be Happy” and it was the happy Reagan years to some people. Where was the anger and loudness and frustration in this scene coming from during that time?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>MOULD: Well, I think when you say the world Reagan, he was the coal that fueled that train of discontent for hardcore for so long. Personally, for me as a not-out gay man in the early ’80s and what the Reagan administration did to – I guess more importantly what they didn’t do – they couldn’t say the words AIDS until the middle of 1985. So here I am, 20 years old, sexually aware but not out, confused, sometimes self-hating, with a president who cannot name the disease that may or may not kill me or my friends. That would be a source of anger for anybody.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>GREENE: And Mould coped by drinking a lot. He decided to quit. It’s a decision that helped drive a major wedge in the band just as they were getting big. How much was your father in your mind when you decided to quit?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>MOULD: My father was in the mirror when I decided to quit drinking. (Laughing) You see what you will become if you don’t stop. That’s why when I looked in the mirror, and was like, I can’t do this. I know where this is going to go.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(SOUNDBITE OF HUSKER DU SONG)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>GREENE: I think about, you know, a group like Nirvana exploding. And then here you are, you’re on that potential road, but then you make this big decision. Where was your head as you were sort of exploring something new and personal, and you’re watching a band like Nirvana and kind of the world around you take off?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>MOULD: Well, at the beginning of ’88 when Husker Du wrapped up, I moved up to northern Minnesota. And I bought a farm up there and sat more or less by myself for a year relearning music and relearning how to write songs for myself. I had no friends. I had cut myself off from everybody just to focus on my work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(SOUNDBITE OF HUSKER DU SONG)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>MOULD: I was looking for a new way to look at music because the last thing that I wanted to do in 1988 was emulate the band I had just been in. I didn’t want to use that language anymore.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>GREENE: Over the years, Mould experimented with different kinds of music – acoustic, electronic and pop. But now at age 53, he’s been revisiting the past. He wrote an autobiography, and he just put out this new record, “Beauty And Ruin.” It was inspired by his father’s death from cancer in 2012.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “THE WAR”)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>DU: (Singing) And all these songs I write for you, they tear me up. It’s not hard to do.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>GREENE: There’s a song called “The War” that you said has something to do with your dad.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>MOULD: You know, it touches on my dad’s battle at the end. It touches on, you know, life in general as a battle for all of us. It deals with a number of not-so-happy things, but I tried to wrap it with an uplifting melody. Seems to be my M.O. these days – the dark lyric and the happy melody.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>GREENE: I guess I wondered if “The War” was in some ways between you and your father.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>MOULD: No. I mean, I gave up that war a long time ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>GREENE: Loud as this album is, there is a sense of peaceful resolution. He even mocks himself in a song called “Hey Mr. Gray”.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “HEY MR. GRAY”)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>DU: (Singing) Hey, Mr. Gray. That’s what the children say. Life used to be so hard, well, get out my yard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>GREENE: It’s funny because it has this image of an older guy, maybe a guy about your age in his 50s, yelling at kids to get off his lawn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>MOULD: Isn’t that awsome? (Laughing).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>GREENE: It’s pretty awesome. It’s pretty awesome. What strikes me while listening to it is, you might be this guy yelling at kids to get off your lawn, but you’re also rocking like you’re 20-something.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>MOULD: I know. I love the contrast in this record all the way around. But I think the beauty of it to me, you know, for so many years, I ran away from my own sound. And other people took it and ran with it. And it’s almost as if I’ve caught up with myself somehow. You know, for so long when I go back to ’88 and the farm and wanting to be so different – you know, now it’s like, people like what I’m doing right now. They like it when I play fast, and it might not be like that forever. It might not be like that in five years. So I’m just going to go for it while it’s working.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “HEY MR. GRAY”)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>DU: (Singing) Gets him – it gets him down…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>GREENE: Well, Bob Mould ,it’s been a lot of fun of talking you, really appreciate it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>MOULD: Great. Thank you, David.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>GREENE: That’s Bob Mould. His new album came out yesterday. This is NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Well, All Right, Starchild, the Mothership is Back",
"headTitle": "Well, All Right, Starchild, the Mothership is Back | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>“Do y’all want to fly this evening? Do you want to ride on the Mothership?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s 1976 in Houston and a rapturous crowd is swaying back and forth to the infectious funk of \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15163944/parliament\">Parliament\u003c/a>-Funkadelic’s “Mothership Connection.” Then, suddenly, it’s there. A sparkling silver spaceship appears with flashing strobe lights shining from its feet, spewing smoke as it lands on the stage. Out steps frontman \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15163941/george-clinton\">George Clinton\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was organized chaos, that’s all I could say,” Parliament-Funkadelic roadie Bernie Walden says. “It was mayhem.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Walden worked with both the original Mothership in the mid-1970s and a replica that was built in the mid-1990s. He says the carbon dioxide smoke that billowed from the bottom of the ship was a bit of a problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was so much on the original one that people in the front row were passing out.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>http://youtu.be/zEfIkuTtzQ4?t=4m43s\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Walden just finished helping the Smithsonian’s \u003ca href=\"http://nmaahc.si.edu/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">National Museum of African American History and Culture\u003c/a> put the replica back together. The original was destroyed in the 1980s after the band went into debt. But Walden told museum specialist Kevin Strait that the replica was at George Clinton’s Tallahassee, Fla., home studio. Strait leaped into action to acquire it and was dazzled by his first sight of the ship.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Part of the ceiling was carved out so that the crown part of the Mothership could fit,” Strait says, laughing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Strait says the Mothership is the most iconic stage prop in African-American musical history, partly because it provides context and perspective to the evolution of black stagecraft. He describes George Clinton’s Mothership as a manifestation of the liberating power of music.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10137226\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/06/74289795-4d5e601c699db2d1137e645fdebc447d62881ee9-e1401917460112.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/06/74289795-4d5e601c699db2d1137e645fdebc447d62881ee9-e1401917460112.jpg\" alt=\"George Clinton emerges from Parliament-Funkadelic's Mothership on June 4, 1977, at the Coliseum in Los Angeles.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10137226\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">George Clinton emerges from Parliament-Funkadelic’s Mothership on June 4, 1977, at the Coliseum in Los Angeles.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“He really developed this grand idea of envisioning African-Americans in space as a way to liberate one’s mind from the shackles of racism and poverty or any other societal constraints,” Strait says. “The Mothership was this symbolic mode of transporting the conscious self into this ethereal place, which was pretty funky and pretty far out, but represents the grander scope of his thinking.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>George Clinton says that when he created the Mothership, he was trying to outdo everything in rock ‘n’ roll, including the elaborate Broadway musical \u003cem>Hair\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I definitely felt we needed something to be proud of as black people,” Clinton says. “We wanted to have a funk opera.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Clinton says he sees the Mothership as a monument to black music — and adds that he donated it to the museum because the ship will give pride to a lot of people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a symbol of all the music that was created from it,” Clinton says. “Not only from us — Parliament, Funkadelic, Bootsy [Collins] and the media — but the people that sampled it later, which was a whole other 25 years of music.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Mothership will be on display in the museum’s Musical Crossroads gallery, according to chief of design Bryan Seiling; other items include rock ‘n’ roll king Chuck Berry’s Cadillac. Seiling says there will also be music and concert footage of the Mothership being used on stage. The display will be spectacular, even if the ship has acquired a few bumps and bruises along the way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In many ways, it’s a crown jewel in the museum, because just look at it,” Seiling says. “It’s a jewel.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Clinton says he’s proud and happy that the Mothership will be on display at the Smithsonian. He’s still touring, and says he’ll create another one — because he definitely has to fly. \u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Well%2C+All+Right%2C+Starchild%2C+The+Mothership+Is+Back+&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>“Do y’all want to fly this evening? Do you want to ride on the Mothership?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s 1976 in Houston and a rapturous crowd is swaying back and forth to the infectious funk of \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15163944/parliament\">Parliament\u003c/a>-Funkadelic’s “Mothership Connection.” Then, suddenly, it’s there. A sparkling silver spaceship appears with flashing strobe lights shining from its feet, spewing smoke as it lands on the stage. Out steps frontman \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15163941/george-clinton\">George Clinton\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was organized chaos, that’s all I could say,” Parliament-Funkadelic roadie Bernie Walden says. “It was mayhem.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Walden worked with both the original Mothership in the mid-1970s and a replica that was built in the mid-1990s. He says the carbon dioxide smoke that billowed from the bottom of the ship was a bit of a problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was so much on the original one that people in the front row were passing out.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/zEfIkuTtzQ4'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/zEfIkuTtzQ4'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Walden just finished helping the Smithsonian’s \u003ca href=\"http://nmaahc.si.edu/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">National Museum of African American History and Culture\u003c/a> put the replica back together. The original was destroyed in the 1980s after the band went into debt. But Walden told museum specialist Kevin Strait that the replica was at George Clinton’s Tallahassee, Fla., home studio. Strait leaped into action to acquire it and was dazzled by his first sight of the ship.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Part of the ceiling was carved out so that the crown part of the Mothership could fit,” Strait says, laughing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Strait says the Mothership is the most iconic stage prop in African-American musical history, partly because it provides context and perspective to the evolution of black stagecraft. He describes George Clinton’s Mothership as a manifestation of the liberating power of music.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10137226\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/06/74289795-4d5e601c699db2d1137e645fdebc447d62881ee9-e1401917460112.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/06/74289795-4d5e601c699db2d1137e645fdebc447d62881ee9-e1401917460112.jpg\" alt=\"George Clinton emerges from Parliament-Funkadelic's Mothership on June 4, 1977, at the Coliseum in Los Angeles.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10137226\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">George Clinton emerges from Parliament-Funkadelic’s Mothership on June 4, 1977, at the Coliseum in Los Angeles.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“He really developed this grand idea of envisioning African-Americans in space as a way to liberate one’s mind from the shackles of racism and poverty or any other societal constraints,” Strait says. “The Mothership was this symbolic mode of transporting the conscious self into this ethereal place, which was pretty funky and pretty far out, but represents the grander scope of his thinking.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>George Clinton says that when he created the Mothership, he was trying to outdo everything in rock ‘n’ roll, including the elaborate Broadway musical \u003cem>Hair\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I definitely felt we needed something to be proud of as black people,” Clinton says. “We wanted to have a funk opera.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Clinton says he sees the Mothership as a monument to black music — and adds that he donated it to the museum because the ship will give pride to a lot of people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a symbol of all the music that was created from it,” Clinton says. “Not only from us — Parliament, Funkadelic, Bootsy [Collins] and the media — but the people that sampled it later, which was a whole other 25 years of music.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Mothership will be on display in the museum’s Musical Crossroads gallery, according to chief of design Bryan Seiling; other items include rock ‘n’ roll king Chuck Berry’s Cadillac. Seiling says there will also be music and concert footage of the Mothership being used on stage. The display will be spectacular, even if the ship has acquired a few bumps and bruises along the way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In many ways, it’s a crown jewel in the museum, because just look at it,” Seiling says. “It’s a jewel.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Clinton says he’s proud and happy that the Mothership will be on display at the Smithsonian. He’s still touring, and says he’ll create another one — because he definitely has to fly. \u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Well%2C+All+Right%2C+Starchild%2C+The+Mothership+Is+Back+&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Jeff Goldblum Plays a Jazz Show Almost Every Week. No, Really.",
"headTitle": "Jeff Goldblum Plays a Jazz Show Almost Every Week. No, Really. | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Did you know the \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOmJLk1lu08&t=1m25s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">theme music\u003c/a> to \u003cem>Jurassic Park\u003c/em> has lyrics?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Well, according to Jeff Goldblum, who played “Dr. Ian Malcolm” in the film, here they are:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>In Jurassic Park\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\u003cem>Scary in the dark\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\u003cem>I’m so scared that I’ll be eaten.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>At least that’s what Goldblum said — or, rather, sang — at a recent performance of the jazz show he plays in Los Angeles almost every week. He’s been playing there since the 1990s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Goldblum’s long-time hobby might come as a surprise to his fans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The actor, now 61 years old, has been performing in movies, television, and on stage for more than four decades. In addition to \u003cem>Jurassic Park\u003c/em>, he’s acted in \u003cem>Independence Day\u003c/em>, \u003cem>The Grand Budapest Hotel\u003c/em>, \u003cem>The Big Chill\u003c/em>, \u003cem>The Fly\u003c/em> and dozens of other films and TV shows, where he provides that uniquely wry, charming, and unpredictable edge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But before Jeff Goldblum was an actor, he played piano.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m from Pittsburgh, and I played piano when I was a kid,” Goldblum says before a recent performance. “I got the idea to play out and about in cocktail lounges when I was, like, 15, and got a job or two.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10136700\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/05/goldblumjazz_0029.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/05/goldblumjazz_0029.jpg\" alt=\"Goldblum's acting career still comes first, but when he's not busy acting, he gets his band together for an improvised set.\" width=\"800\" height=\"532\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10136700\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/05/goldblumjazz_0029.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/05/goldblumjazz_0029-400x266.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/05/goldblumjazz_0029-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Goldblum’s acting career still comes first, but when he’s not busy acting, he gets his band together for an improvised set. \u003ccite>(Hayley Bartels for NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Ever since, whenever he’s not playing a character on set, he’s playing a piano at home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These days and for many years, I just hardly spend a day where I don’t pass a piano in my place and just play for as long as I can,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Meet The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sometime in the 1990s — and he can’t recall exactly when — Goldblum got a band together through a friend of a friend named John Mastro, who had connections in the local music scene.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We just started playing,” says Mastro, who still manages the band. There was “no advertising or anything. It was just something to do.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The semi-regular group of professional jazz players that perform with Goldblum even took on a name, The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra. They’re named for a friend of Goldblum’s family back in Pittsburgh.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Goldblum says he still prioritizes his acting career, so the shows have not always been exactly weekly. But when he’s not busy, he’ll get his band together for the very loose, improvised three-hour show at an L.A. club called Rockwell.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So we have a kind of hootenanny, or be-in, or some kind of a jam session is what they call it,” Goldblum says, “and people seem to enjoy it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Working The Room\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10136702\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/05/goldblumjazz_0083.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/05/goldblumjazz_0083.jpg\" alt=\"Fans take their picture with Goldblum before the show at Rockwell club in Los Angeles. Goldblum likes to mingle with audience members before the show. "Nobody works the room like Jeff Goldblum," says John Mastro, the band's manager.\" width=\"800\" height=\"532\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10136702\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/05/goldblumjazz_0083.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/05/goldblumjazz_0083-400x266.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/05/goldblumjazz_0083-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fans take their picture with Goldblum before the show at Rockwell club in Los Angeles. Goldblum likes to mingle with audience members before the show. “Nobody works the room like Jeff Goldblum,” says John Mastro, the band’s manager. \u003ccite>(Hayley Bartels for NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A big part of the audience’s enjoyment comes from the joy Goldblum takes in working a room full of Goldblum acolytes and fans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I consider myself a social lubricant as much as a musician really,” Goldblum says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During a recent show, Goldblum meets two musicians in the audience, Ryan Thorn and Jessica Hall. The three spontaneously start singing the aria, “Caro Mio Ben” together.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is the greatest moment ever,” says Hall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is the greatest moment of \u003cem>my\u003c/em> life,” Goldblum shoots back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Goldblum’s willingness to interact with everyone, taking photos, and playing little games with people in the audience, tends to put many of the very nervous fans at ease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“After hundreds of shows, I’m amused every time,” says Mastro, as Goldblum takes photo after photo with people in the audience. “Nobody works the room like Jeff Goldblum.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>‘Exactly How He Is In The Movies’\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For many of the fans, the show has nothing to do with jazz.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“\u003cem>Jurassic Park\u003c/em> was my favorite movie since I was a little kid,” says Jay Salahi. “I’ve probably seen that movie 200 times.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The generation of people who grew up watching Goldblum star in 1990s blockbusters have embraced the actor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recently, both his \u003ca href=\"http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/20xynh/hi_this_is_jeff_goldblum_go_ahead_im_all_ears_ask/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">“Ask Me Anything”\u003c/a> on Reddit, and a \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJelEXaPhJ8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">fan tribute on YouTube\u003c/a> to his eccentric way of laughing in \u003cem>Jurassic Park\u003c/em> went viral online.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As someone born in the 80s,” says Lucy Shanahan in between songs, “\u003cem>Jurassic Park\u003c/em> was kind of up there in terms of life moments.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And at least for fan Zach Johnson, Goldblum makes good on those expectations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“His persona, his stage presence, how he is in person,” Johnson says, are “exactly how he is in the movies.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Show Comes First\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10136704\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/05/goldblumjazz_0235.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/05/goldblumjazz_0235.jpg\" alt=\"Goldblum's band is named The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra, after a family friend back in Pittsburgh.\" width=\"800\" height=\"532\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10136704\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/05/goldblumjazz_0235.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/05/goldblumjazz_0235-400x266.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/05/goldblumjazz_0235-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Goldblum’s band is named The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra, after a family friend back in Pittsburgh. \u003ccite>(ayley Bartels for NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For the rotating group of musicians that plays with Goldblum, it’s been an odd but fun ride.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They perform loose, improvised versions of jazz standards like “Summertime,” “Watermelon Man” or “The Sidewinder.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I actually like to play things that I’m surprised that I’m playing, have never played before,” Goldblum says. “I like to cold read stuff and kind of, you know, make it up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, Goldblum says, until very recently, The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra never rehearsed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Between songs, Goldblum banters with the audience, plays the movie game, or assures people that he tied his bow tie himself. “I can undo it right now and show you,” he says of a green Brooks Brothers number. “It’s not a clip-on!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What the group might lack in technical discipline, bassist Tim Emmons says, they make up in showmanship.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Jeff’s much more personable than most band leaders,” Emmons says. “I go sometimes to play jazz gigs, and the people [in the band] don’t talk to the audience.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Drummer Kenny Elliott says Goldblum provides a welcome shot of joy to the local jazz scene. When he got the call to perform with the group, he says, “I jumped out of my pants to do it!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>‘I Just Like To Play’\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Goldblum makes clear that he has no “careerist ambitions” about his music. “I just like to play,” he says. At the end of the show, he’s fairly unassuming about the three-hour performance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I had no idea what we were gonna do, actually,” he says. “It was kind of fun, wasn’t it?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He stays after the final set to chat with fans, take photos and say his goodbyes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And if he’s not up to anything else, Goldblum will be out there again next Wednesday, working the room.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Tom Dreisbach is an associate producer with NPR’s \u003c/em>\u003cem>weekend \u003c/em>All Things Considered\u003cem>. NPR’s Daniel Hajek also contributed to this story.\u003c/em> \u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Jeff+Goldblum+Plays+A+Jazz+Show+Almost+Every+Week.+No%2C+Really.&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Known for his roles in \u003cem>The Big Chill\u003c/em> and \u003cem>The Fly\u003c/em>, the actor hosts a weekly show in Los Angeles with his band, The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra. Among the songs: the lyrics to \u003cem>Jurassic Park's\u003c/em> theme music.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Did you know the \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOmJLk1lu08&t=1m25s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">theme music\u003c/a> to \u003cem>Jurassic Park\u003c/em> has lyrics?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Well, according to Jeff Goldblum, who played “Dr. Ian Malcolm” in the film, here they are:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>In Jurassic Park\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\u003cem>Scary in the dark\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\u003cem>I’m so scared that I’ll be eaten.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>At least that’s what Goldblum said — or, rather, sang — at a recent performance of the jazz show he plays in Los Angeles almost every week. He’s been playing there since the 1990s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Goldblum’s long-time hobby might come as a surprise to his fans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The actor, now 61 years old, has been performing in movies, television, and on stage for more than four decades. In addition to \u003cem>Jurassic Park\u003c/em>, he’s acted in \u003cem>Independence Day\u003c/em>, \u003cem>The Grand Budapest Hotel\u003c/em>, \u003cem>The Big Chill\u003c/em>, \u003cem>The Fly\u003c/em> and dozens of other films and TV shows, where he provides that uniquely wry, charming, and unpredictable edge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But before Jeff Goldblum was an actor, he played piano.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m from Pittsburgh, and I played piano when I was a kid,” Goldblum says before a recent performance. “I got the idea to play out and about in cocktail lounges when I was, like, 15, and got a job or two.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10136700\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/05/goldblumjazz_0029.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/05/goldblumjazz_0029.jpg\" alt=\"Goldblum's acting career still comes first, but when he's not busy acting, he gets his band together for an improvised set.\" width=\"800\" height=\"532\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10136700\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/05/goldblumjazz_0029.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/05/goldblumjazz_0029-400x266.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/05/goldblumjazz_0029-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Goldblum’s acting career still comes first, but when he’s not busy acting, he gets his band together for an improvised set. \u003ccite>(Hayley Bartels for NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Ever since, whenever he’s not playing a character on set, he’s playing a piano at home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These days and for many years, I just hardly spend a day where I don’t pass a piano in my place and just play for as long as I can,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Meet The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sometime in the 1990s — and he can’t recall exactly when — Goldblum got a band together through a friend of a friend named John Mastro, who had connections in the local music scene.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We just started playing,” says Mastro, who still manages the band. There was “no advertising or anything. It was just something to do.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The semi-regular group of professional jazz players that perform with Goldblum even took on a name, The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra. They’re named for a friend of Goldblum’s family back in Pittsburgh.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Goldblum says he still prioritizes his acting career, so the shows have not always been exactly weekly. But when he’s not busy, he’ll get his band together for the very loose, improvised three-hour show at an L.A. club called Rockwell.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So we have a kind of hootenanny, or be-in, or some kind of a jam session is what they call it,” Goldblum says, “and people seem to enjoy it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Working The Room\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10136702\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/05/goldblumjazz_0083.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/05/goldblumjazz_0083.jpg\" alt=\"Fans take their picture with Goldblum before the show at Rockwell club in Los Angeles. Goldblum likes to mingle with audience members before the show. "Nobody works the room like Jeff Goldblum," says John Mastro, the band's manager.\" width=\"800\" height=\"532\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10136702\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/05/goldblumjazz_0083.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/05/goldblumjazz_0083-400x266.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/05/goldblumjazz_0083-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fans take their picture with Goldblum before the show at Rockwell club in Los Angeles. Goldblum likes to mingle with audience members before the show. “Nobody works the room like Jeff Goldblum,” says John Mastro, the band’s manager. \u003ccite>(Hayley Bartels for NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A big part of the audience’s enjoyment comes from the joy Goldblum takes in working a room full of Goldblum acolytes and fans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I consider myself a social lubricant as much as a musician really,” Goldblum says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During a recent show, Goldblum meets two musicians in the audience, Ryan Thorn and Jessica Hall. The three spontaneously start singing the aria, “Caro Mio Ben” together.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is the greatest moment ever,” says Hall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is the greatest moment of \u003cem>my\u003c/em> life,” Goldblum shoots back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Goldblum’s willingness to interact with everyone, taking photos, and playing little games with people in the audience, tends to put many of the very nervous fans at ease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“After hundreds of shows, I’m amused every time,” says Mastro, as Goldblum takes photo after photo with people in the audience. “Nobody works the room like Jeff Goldblum.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>‘Exactly How He Is In The Movies’\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For many of the fans, the show has nothing to do with jazz.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“\u003cem>Jurassic Park\u003c/em> was my favorite movie since I was a little kid,” says Jay Salahi. “I’ve probably seen that movie 200 times.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The generation of people who grew up watching Goldblum star in 1990s blockbusters have embraced the actor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recently, both his \u003ca href=\"http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/20xynh/hi_this_is_jeff_goldblum_go_ahead_im_all_ears_ask/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">“Ask Me Anything”\u003c/a> on Reddit, and a \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJelEXaPhJ8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">fan tribute on YouTube\u003c/a> to his eccentric way of laughing in \u003cem>Jurassic Park\u003c/em> went viral online.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As someone born in the 80s,” says Lucy Shanahan in between songs, “\u003cem>Jurassic Park\u003c/em> was kind of up there in terms of life moments.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And at least for fan Zach Johnson, Goldblum makes good on those expectations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“His persona, his stage presence, how he is in person,” Johnson says, are “exactly how he is in the movies.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Show Comes First\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10136704\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/05/goldblumjazz_0235.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/05/goldblumjazz_0235.jpg\" alt=\"Goldblum's band is named The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra, after a family friend back in Pittsburgh.\" width=\"800\" height=\"532\" class=\"size-full wp-image-10136704\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/05/goldblumjazz_0235.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/05/goldblumjazz_0235-400x266.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/05/goldblumjazz_0235-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Goldblum’s band is named The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra, after a family friend back in Pittsburgh. \u003ccite>(ayley Bartels for NPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For the rotating group of musicians that plays with Goldblum, it’s been an odd but fun ride.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They perform loose, improvised versions of jazz standards like “Summertime,” “Watermelon Man” or “The Sidewinder.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I actually like to play things that I’m surprised that I’m playing, have never played before,” Goldblum says. “I like to cold read stuff and kind of, you know, make it up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, Goldblum says, until very recently, The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra never rehearsed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Between songs, Goldblum banters with the audience, plays the movie game, or assures people that he tied his bow tie himself. “I can undo it right now and show you,” he says of a green Brooks Brothers number. “It’s not a clip-on!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What the group might lack in technical discipline, bassist Tim Emmons says, they make up in showmanship.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Jeff’s much more personable than most band leaders,” Emmons says. “I go sometimes to play jazz gigs, and the people [in the band] don’t talk to the audience.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Drummer Kenny Elliott says Goldblum provides a welcome shot of joy to the local jazz scene. When he got the call to perform with the group, he says, “I jumped out of my pants to do it!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>‘I Just Like To Play’\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Goldblum makes clear that he has no “careerist ambitions” about his music. “I just like to play,” he says. At the end of the show, he’s fairly unassuming about the three-hour performance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I had no idea what we were gonna do, actually,” he says. “It was kind of fun, wasn’t it?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He stays after the final set to chat with fans, take photos and say his goodbyes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And if he’s not up to anything else, Goldblum will be out there again next Wednesday, working the room.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Tom Dreisbach is an associate producer with NPR’s \u003c/em>\u003cem>weekend \u003c/em>All Things Considered\u003cem>. NPR’s Daniel Hajek also contributed to this story.\u003c/em> \u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Jeff+Goldblum+Plays+A+Jazz+Show+Almost+Every+Week.+No%2C+Really.&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "A Long Conversation with D'Angelo: 'I'm Trying to Go Deep'",
"headTitle": "A Long Conversation with D’Angelo: ‘I’m Trying to Go Deep’ | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>On Wednesday night in Brooklyn the elusive singer and songwriter, who hasn’t released an album in almost 15 years and performs rarely, sat down in front of 500 people in the auditorium of a museum and thousands of people listening online. So hungry were fans of D’Angelo that at one point in the evening the hashtag \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/search?f=realtime&q=%23askdangelo%20&src=typd\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">#AskDAngelo\u003c/a> was trending Number 1 on Twitter in New York City.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>D’Angelo did field questions, from author \u003ca href=\"http://nelsondgeorge.net/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Nelson George\u003c/a>, and from Twitter, but he didn’t exactly open up. It doesn’t even seem intentional, the way he holds a part of himself in reserve. He just doesn’t find himself particularly fascinating, although remembering his teenage self cracks him up, and in stories about his recording process he spoke about withdrawing so that he can produce the music he wants to. He called it “trying to go deep, deep in the onion.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>D’Angelo told us of making a private room within a room when he’s recording vocals. He used the word tee-pee. And he tied himself to R&B musicians who’ve also been called eccentric. “Mtume was talking about how Sly would use this thing called the dead zone,” said D. “Sly wouldn’t even use headphones. You know, he would sit at the board, with the mic, and he would position the mic a certain way in between the speakers.” That was the second time D’Angelo brought up Sly Stone. The first time he told us he’d recently heard Sly’s new songs, which use AutoTune, and hinted at a forthcoming duet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hinting was a theme of the evening. D stuck his tongue out when he recalled the song he sang to win \u003cem>Showtime at the Apollo\u003c/em> as a teenager, Johnny Gill’s “\u003ca href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUvtlmlBbDg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Rub You The Right Way\u003c/a>.” Questlove, who intermittently climbed on stage, called D’Angelo’s current work the “unmentionable, unspoken third record.” George kept calling it “the future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There is an almost visible tension around the possibility of a new album from D’Angelo. It’s been rising for a few years, through European dates, occasional U.S. appearances, studio clips. It informed Red Bull Academy’s booking of him and laid heavy over the opening minutes of this week’s public interview. But then the nervy feeling receded. Or, suddenly, something else mattered more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The shift happened about 15 minutes in. Nelson George said the words “Richmond, Va.” and shouts went up. D reacted directly to those people — “Uh, oh. Richmond in the house. What’s up!” — and then we were part of their conversation. Moments later D’Angelo cursed for the first time. We laughed at the fact of that, the fact of him, and he thought we were all hilarious. He laughed open-throated and familiarly with us, and relief and recognition swept from the stage and over the seats: we were among friends.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Listen to the conversation in full above, read the transcript below, or watch video \u003ca href=\"http://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/magazine/dangelo-lecture\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">at Red Bull Music Academy’s site\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>NELSON GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Let’s start talking about guitar playing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: What’s up, Brooklyn? How y’all doing?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: One of the big changes from the D’Angelo people -– for me — was from before to where you are now, musically, is you’ve added guitar to your music — you became a guitar player. Can you talk about how that happened and how that’s affected what you do?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Well, I played guitar before. I was playing a little bit on \u003cem>Voodoo\u003c/em> — a couple of songs, “Left and Right” and some songs. But I think during the \u003cem>V\u003c/em>\u003cem>oodoo \u003c/em>recording, recording the album, I –- we were at Electric Lady, so Jimi Hendrix was a big influence and just a big spirit in the place, in the building.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’ve always wanted to — I feel like my style on piano, because piano’s my main instrument, so I feel like I always wanted to — on piano, I was always emulating the guitar and bass. I can play bass. I didn’t play much guitar. I played a lot of keyboards, but I really wanted to produce the sound that was in my head that I was trying to emulate on the keys. I wanted to do it for real.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And it makes me look at the keys in a different way. So it’s like I’m looking at the guitar and bass more like meat and potatoes and keys like coloring over top of it, you know. I guess that’s where I’m at right now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: \u003ca href=\"http://jessejohnson.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jesse Johnson\u003c/a> played a role in this, though, didn’t he?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Yes, he did.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Those of you know, Jesse Johnson, guitar player with The Time; solo artist in his own right. Before we go further –- please, no photography! Thank you! No phone pictures. Some big, ugly man may come looking for you if you have them. So, just be aware that that’s prohibited. As we were saying — Jesse Johnson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Yes, Jesse. Shortly after\u003cem> Voodoo\u003c/em>, I got in touch with Jesse through \u003ca href=\"http://www.allmusic.com/artist/john-mcclain-mn0001740224/credits\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">John McClain\u003c/a> and — actually through Alan, \u003ca href=\"http://prince.org/msg/7/171968\">Alan Leeds\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Just the instant kinship, you know. When I first talked to him on the telephone — and we talked for years on the telephone before we actually met — I was just struck. I even had to say it to him. I was like, “Man, you sound just like my brother.” Like he just, his voice and his vernacular, he sounds just like my oldest brother, Luther. So I just really felt, like, a kinship with him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We finally met at \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/95031938/raphael-saadiq\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Raphael\u003c/a>‘s studio in Cali — in Blakeslee. He came through, and first thing he did was gave me a couple of guitars. Gave me a Minarik, the black Minarik that I play now and he gave me one of his guitars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: You have a pink one, right?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Yes. That was one of his. He’s actually \u003ca href=\"http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/416JDIRJhML._SL290_.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">holding it\u003c/a> on the \u003cem>Shockadelica \u003c/em>album — the pink Fender Invader.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Working with him, how did that begin to evolve your playing? How did that affect how you —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: I mean, obviously I’m sitting with him shedding, you know. We went out and did a couple of shows in Europe. Before then just sitting with him, he’s showing me things, I’m asking him questions and asking him about, you know, everything. Prince.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Right, Prince questions, I’m sure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: It gets a little hairy because The Time and the Prince — that feud was very real. But, you know, there’s no love lost. He still speaks with a high love and respect for Prince. And I’m just like a sponge. I’m just trying to soak everything in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: So, I saw the tapes of your tour in Europe and then I’ve seen you play here in the States. And it does seem like what you’re doing now and where you’re going musically for the future, the guitar and the idea of that -– it’s much more prominent. Like, I feel more rock and more funk in what you’re doing now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Well, it’s a natural progression for me. Honestly, I just feel like that’s where it’s going. The thing with me is, about that — about rock and all that — years and years of crate-digging, listening to old music, you kind of start to connect the dots. And I was seeing the thread that was connecting everything together, which is pretty much the blues. And everything soul or funk kind of starts with that. That’s kind of like the nucleus of everything, thread that holds everything together. And so it’s kind of just a natural progression.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: I remember I seen you open for Mary J. Blige maybe a year ago? A year-and-a-half ago? And it was an interesting dichotomy in the audience that — there’s the music you played on the piano that was familiar, and that, like, the Mary J. Blige crowd particularly, cause that’s a adult black crowd, was into — and then there was where you going now. You’re going in a much — I would say funk-rock direction, maybe, or something like that. And so, I think one of the things that’s gonna be interesting as we go forward with your music is there’s a transition that’s happened in you creatively that the audience is gonna have to be prepared for.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Yeah. I would say so. I think so. A couple of shows that we did, \u003ca href=\"http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-09-14/entertainment/chi-mary-j-blige-and-dangelo-concert-review-dangelo-at-united-center-reviewed-20120914_1_mary-j-blige-empty-prayers-d-angelo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">we opened up for Mary\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/blogs/therecord/2012/07/09/156494248/essence-in-new-orleans-a-festival-that-knows-its-audience\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">we did Essence Festival\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: We did —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: \u003ca href=\"http://www.bet.com/video/betawards/2012/performances/dangelo.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The BET Awards\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: I did the BET Awards, right. But we did like a, we did \u003ca href=\"http://www.soulbeach.net/2013/index.php/9-uncategorised/71-soul-beach-music-festival-aruba-2013\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a Sinbad thing in Aruba\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Oh, you did the boat ride?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Yeah. Well, something like that. I don’t know. So it was a lot of like, R&B, soul thing going on, which is great. But definitely, we’re looking to the future here. I don’t know if people were really expecting what they got from us, because we did a lot of new material and, you know, I think there was a lot of, like, kind of confusion — a lot of confused looks on certain people’s faces. And then, on other people’s faces, they were really receiving what we were doing. But I love that. I love — if it’s confusing at first, that’s a good thing for me; that’s a good sign.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: From what I got, you wouldn’t necessarily want to — where you’re going now is where you are and you were not like, unnecessarily having to — you don’t want to be a nostalgia act, I guess, in a sense, is what I’m saying. That you’re looking forward. I remember when \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3woHfDKTjqU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">you played Bonnaroo, with The Roots\u003c/a>, you were doing, “She Came In Through The Bathroom Window.” You were doing some Beatles covers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Yes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: I think that that was pretty radical. People weren’t expecting that. The Beatles, is that, as we look forward, is that what we’re gonna be hearing more of — that kind of approach?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: I don’t know who was not influenced by them. And the thing about them and they were the masters of, were — and I say Prince, too, I love how Prince would do it — how all these interesting, different, eccentric ideas, but they were able to fit it in a simple pop format. That could be considered formulaic, or whatever. But to be able to fit all of that and your vision into this simple format, whether it be a pop song or it’s a 12-bar blues or whatever — I think that’s the challenge. And they were the best at it. They were the best.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: One of the things that’s interesting — you had, everyone remembers Soulquarian, was that how we pronounce it?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Soulquarians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: And now, your band now, you call them the Vanguard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Yes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: What is a vanguard and tell me about what that represents for your music.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Vanguard is definitely an evolution; my last band being the Soultronics. And the Soulquarians was, I guess, the collective of all of us. But yeah, the Vanguard is just the progression of that. We’re not the Soultronics. It’s a different band. I think it’s a louder band, it’s a harder band. It’s more guitars, definitely, so it’s definitely more rock, you know.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: When you played with Mary, you had a lot of — I remember asking you like, “Where’d you find these musicians?” And you said you found them in a church. A lot of the younger guys were —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Yeah, the younger guys. Yeah, definitely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: So that still is the motherload where you find the great black musicians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Absolutely. I mean, the thing about the church is, what I learned early — they used to say this when I was going to church. They used to say, “Don’t go up there for no form or fashion.” So I guess what that means is, “Listen, we’re up here singing for the Lord. So don’t be up here trying to be cute,” you know. “Cause we don’t care about all that. We just want to feel what you, you know, and what the spirit is moving through you.” And it’s the best place to learn that. So you shut yourself down and you let whatever’s coming, come through you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The guys that were singing with me, the Lumzys, the Lumzy brothers —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: The Lumzy brothers, right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Yeah. One of ’em I met in Richmond. I put a little quartet group together, quartet gospel group together, and he was playing drums. So I brought him along, and he brought his cousins who sing, came up in the quartet tradition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: It’s interesting because in the quartet tradition — it’s like a dying art form.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Yeah, it is.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: I don’t know the last time there was a significant, young, black harmony group, it’s been a long time. So you found most of these guys in Richmond? A lot of the younger guys?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: The younger guys, yes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Let’s talk about Richmond, Va. Not a place —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Uh oh. Richmond in the house. What’s up?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Richmond, Va., is not seen as a musical hotbed. However —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Yeah, however —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Come on. Explain it, explain it. Tell me about it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: It’s not, because I don’t know how many – there’re not really a lot of cats there — from there — that made it really big. I mean, y’all know of Major Harris.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttbsYCM3lgU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Love Won’t Let Me Wait\u003c/a>,” anybody?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Soul music fans in the house?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: The singer of The Delfonics. He’s definitely from Richmond. I mean, you know, it’s a couple of motherf—ers, but not really. You know what? It wasn’t nothing down there. And the funny thing about it is that, it was all this talent. It’s, like, mad talent down there. Like, when I was coming up — when I was little — my whole thing was I wanted to just be big enough to be in a band, because they used to have battle of the bands all the time down there. And it was a big deal, you know. It was a whole bunch of local talent, but nobody never really crossed that threshold.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Also there’s a — you were telling me there’s a rock tradition there that people don’t know about — don’t think about in Richmond. What bands you talking about?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Wow, well, yeah, it’s a big punk scene in Richmond — always has been — D.C. area and Richmond, big time. Lot of heavy metal heads in Richmond. Where I had to move — when I started going to high school, I moved from Richmond to, there’s a county outside of Richmond called Chesterfield, but that’s where \u003ca href=\"http://www.lamb-of-god.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Lamb of God\u003c/a>, that’s where they’re from. \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/slipknot\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Slipknot\u003c/a>, they’re from Chesterfield. So it’s a big rock scene down there, big time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: So in the past you’ve talked a lot about your church background, but I wanted to jump to another aspect of your development, which is — a lot of people don’t know that you were in a hip-hop band, hip-hop group. And the group is pictured here. The group was called I.D.U.: Intelligent, Deadly, but Unique.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: That’s right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: So talk about what you were doing at that particular point in your development.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: I just moved from Richmond to Chesterfield and that’s when I was MCing back then. I was a MC. I was pretty f—ing good, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: You don’t say that if you’re not gonna bust a rhyme.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: No! Hell no. That was a long time ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: There are apparently some tracks floating around the Internet of I.D.U. somewhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: I.D.U. s— was for real, man. We weren’t no joke. And it was I.D.U. Productions, so we was a production crew, you know. What y’all laughing at?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Were you the hook singer?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: At first. But I was really like co-producer, and that was the whole thing. When I moved from Richmond to Chesterfield, the first brothers that I really hooked up with was the leader of the group, Brian Trent. And I was, what? I was a freshman, coming to high school, he was a senior. And the other producer for the group, we called him Baby Fro; his name was Ron Flowers. So he was the DJ. His father DJed for years and years and years, so his house was a record store. And those records were kept in pristine condition. We’d be over there all — that’s where I really went to school. That was like Hip-hop and Music 101 for me. It was the first time I learned about \u003ca href=\"http://www.themeters.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Meters\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"http://www.allmusic.com/album/band-of-gypsys-mw0000650248\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Band of Gypsys\u003c/a> and all that s—. You know, when you’re listening to records strictly to find samples, looking for break beats — and then I stopped listening to records for break beats and instead of just skimming through it looking for a break beat, I’m listening to the whole record, you know what I mean? And so that’s when I started.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Obviously you had church training, but this was one of your key musical educations in terms of the sweep of music?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Yes. Up until that point — I mean, I rhymed, you know, but my main musical love was Prince. That was it. I started to learn about \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/blogs/MicrophoneCheck/2013/09/11/221440934/marley-marl-on-the-bridge-wars-ll-cool-j-and-discovering-sampling\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Marley Marl\u003c/a> and all those cats. It just opened my whole world up, really.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: It’s an interesting story because this band, I.D.U., they ended up coming to New York and trying to get a deal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: That’s right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: And the story goes that people would go, “Eh, it’s alright. Who produced the track?” That people were already seeing in these tracks that you made early on with this band that there was something there. And Jocelyn Cooper, who ended up —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Hi, Jocelyn!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Jocelyn Cooper who was then — who now helps run the \u003ca href=\"http://afropunkfest.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Afropunk Festival\u003c/a> — but then was, worked at a music publishing company, Warner/Chappell, right? Midnight Music, excuse me. That you came up to — she tells a story about you coming in and you played —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: I walked in with a suit. I had a, like a two-piece. We were walking in Manhattan and we just came from Norfolk and I just really, I just knew that this was the shot. This was my shot. And I was hellbent on getting the suit. I wanted to walk in there with a suit. Bought brand new church shoes and s—. Never walked the streets of Manhattan before. Got to the office and I met Jocelyn Cooper who was just like, ah, like the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Aw.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: It’s true. And it was, you know, woopty, woopty, woop and all that. I had to, “Where’s your bathroom? Can I go to the bathroom for a second, please?” I know they kept wondering why I kept going to the bathroom cause I had to take those shoes off, man. My feet were f—ing hurting. But, you know, that’s where it started. I sat there. I played like — I was just like a jukebox. They would name out a song and I’d play it and sing it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Well she says you played a Jodeci — Jocelyn, if I’m wrong, correct me. You played a Jodeci song, you played a gospel song and you played a Miles Davis song.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: That’s right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: So what I go back to is — how old are you at this point?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: I was 17.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: So the range of music that you had some access to is, for a 17-year-old from Richmond, Va., is pretty impressive. Did that go back to — is that the DJ thing? That you were able to expand your horizon through that?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Not really. I just, I been playing piano since I was three. And I’d always wanted to just get some more jazz chops. You know what? I studied for two years when I was like 12 or 13, classical music. The classical teacher that I was with, she kinda got hip to me because she would play a song once and I would come back the next week and play it all perfect. But I still wasn’t really reading. And when she got hip to the fact that my ear was that good, she was like, “I’ma send you to this guy,” named Russell somebody, who worked at VCU and taught music theory. So I went to the guy Russell and took a music theory class and, you know, he was like, “I can’t do nothing with you. You don’t need theory. You already know theory. You already know it. So I’m gonna pass you to this guy at VCU.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: In Virginia?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: In Virginia, who still taught at VCU. It was Ellis Marsalis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Wow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Wynton’s father.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Wow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Who was still teaching at VCU. And I went and auditioned for Ellis Marsalis and James Moody, matter of fact. James Moody was up there. I was like 13, 14. And got on the piano and I played, I played an Anita Baker song cause it was the jazziest song I could think of. So I played Anita Baker and, you know, they were impressed, and they were like, “Oh, that’s great, young blood.” “Wow,” I was like, “Are you gonna teach me? Do I get to, you know?” And he was like, “Nah, I’m getting ready to leave.” So he was getting ready to leave that year and go teach back in New Orleans, so I never got a chance to really get any jazz training or what have you, like that. But I always felt like that was a good thing that I didn’t.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Why?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Because it would have changed my whole style. It would have changed my whole style of playing. It just wasn’t meant to be, I guess.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Rhere was another band that you were involved in that I wanted to get at. Because there’s — in researching for this interview, I learned a bunch of stuff that I hadn’t been aware of. So you were, after Intelligent, Deadly, but Unique, you then —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Yeah. I.D.U.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: You had another band, which was Michael Archer and Precise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: That’s right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: So this is after–\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: It’s before, it’s before I.D.U., actually. Precise —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Oh, OK. So you guys, I mean, what I didn’t know is that you actually won Apollo Amateur night a couple of times.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Yes, I did. We used to do a lot of gigs — a lot of shows. Not gigs, but shows. Talent shows, you know, whatever, in Richmond. And it was this big, big talent show they used to have every year. It was huge for the high school kids and s—. And there was a school that was in North Side — I’m from South Side — so then there’s North side. Anybody know anything about Virginia, North Side and South Side do not get along. Like there’s always been beef, right? Even if it’s playful. Anyway, all the great kids and all the great talent went to this one school, Kennedy High School. They had a great musical director there and they would have this big, big talent show that they would have every year at — and they would have it at the mosque. Like that was the big — the mosque in Richmond, everyone performed at the mosque. So it was a huge deal and they would sell tickets and everything. The place would be f—ing packed. And I did the talent show, I guess two years before. But this one year, I got everything together. We got the Precise together, we went there and we tore the roof off, man, really. I was what? I was 16. I was 16 and tore the roof off and from there I got the chance to go to the Apollo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: What was Precise? I mean, what was it? How many pieces? Tell me what kind of group was it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Well, it was me and my cousin, Marlon, who played drums. My other cousin, Regina, was on keyboards, and I had my other cousin singing background.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: It was a family band, in other words.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Almost. And then I had two other background singers. They were both named Nikki — Nikki T., Nikki C.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: So was that your first trip to New York — the Apollo gigs?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: That was my first trip.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: What do you, tell me about that experience of going up. You’re 16, Amateur Night at the Apollo from Virginia — how was that?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: It was surreal. It was amazing. The first time I went, it was sponsored by this whole thing called Kemet Productions. So we would get in the bus from Richmond and get on the highway and it would be a whole bunch of talent on the bus or whatever. And so the people that were in charge, like, I mean, you know, they were kinda trying to tell everybody what to do. “You should sing this song. You should sing a Luther Vandross song. You have a Luther Vandross type of tone.” Or, “Don’t sing a gospel song! They’ll boo you!” Type of s— like that. And you know, I had my mind set on singing \u003ca href=\"http://peabobryson.net/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Peabo Bryson\u003c/a>. I was like, “I’m singing Peabo Bryson.” And they were like, “Don’t sing that song. Please don’t sing that song. They gonna boo you off the stage.” And they had me at the last minute, I was trying to switch the song up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Anyway, long story short, you know, I rubbed the log or whatever and the girl that goes out right before me sings a gospel song, right, a gospel song. And they booed the s— out of it, man. Like, it was no sympathy. They was so cold-blooded. And she walked off the stage crying. “Alright, young blood, you’re next!” I rubbed the log. And the MC comes out, he’s like, “Yeah, so we got this kid. He’s from way down, deep down South.” “Boo!” Like, I didn’t even walk out on the stage. Long story short, I won them over and, you know, I placed and then I got the opportunity to come back. When I came back, I did my own background music, I did my own background vocals. I was like, “No, I’m not doing no Luther Vandross or nothing. I’m gonna do some up-tempo s—.” And you know, whatever. I won first place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: What song? You did an original song of yours?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: No. I did “Rub You The Right Way” by Johnny Gill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: One of the interesting things about your career, speaking of, is that you’ve been really great at interpreting classic material, soul music. And part of the reason I think you attracted so many people to you was that you have a connection to that past. So I want to play one of my favorite D’Angelo covers, and that’s, well, we’ll just play it. Play the \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfyJbXn01HM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Eddie Kendricks song\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Thank you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Now, you’ve had many interesting collaborators. And one of the ones that probably people don’t know about, a person who was actually a mentor to me as well, \u003ca href=\"http://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/magazine/mtume-interview\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the great Mtume\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Yes, sir.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Mtume’s pedigree is pretty long. Just break it down, he played with Miles during his electric period.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Absolutely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: He went on to become one of the top singer-songwriters, wrote all of Stephanie Mills’ hits, Roberta Flack hits, and then had —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Solo success. “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MucY5wRYByU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Juicy Fruit\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: One of the most sampled records in hip-hop history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: And also a super political person — was on KISS Radio for years doing morning show. So a very diverse and powerful man. He helped you produce this track, didn’t he?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Well, yeah, he did. He produced the song for \u003cem>Get On The Bus\u003c/em> soundtrack. And I think, yeah, he was doing like a lot of those dope covers. At that time, he had just did —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Oh, \u003cem>New York Undercover. \u003c/em>He was the song guy for \u003cem>New York Undercover\u003c/em>. He did all those covers on the show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Right, and he had just did the cover of Bobby Womack’s — \u003cem>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>QUESTLOVE, FROM THE AUDIENCE\u003c/strong>: “If You Think You’re Lonely Now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: “If You Think You’re Lonely Now,” right. \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sm87OgZU0cU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Wrote it for K-Ci\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: For K-Ci, right. We’re name-checking Jocelyn a lot here, but she gets name-checked again — that he was doing — you told me a story about him doing, he was doing music or songwriting seminars?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Well, yeah. He was involved with Midnight Songs, definitely. And Jocelyn would have these workshops. So all of the writers on her roster would come to the workshop and James Mtume would really be holding court, you know. And he would literally have like a chalkboard, he’d really be going through it, you know, talking about songwriting and song structure, theory, whatever — blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: And you weren’t the best student, I hear?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Jocelyn, she used to always be mad at me because I never would come. I never would come to the music shops. “You oughta come! Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: But you finally did show up one time?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: I did come. Yeah, I did come. I was jammin’ — cause I wanted to jam with \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lu9QH71YKQw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Rob Bacon\u003c/a>, who was, you know, a guitar, the funk guitar player from Detroit. But Mtume was awesome. He was one of those cats in the early days that really, really gave me a lot of confidence and let me know that I could do it, you know? I remember at the end of recording \u003cem>Brown Sugar\u003c/em>, I don’t know, I had like a mental block where I couldn’t finish. There was, I couldn’t nail this line on “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBB8valskCQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Lady\u003c/a>.” And then there was this line on “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAfuUZRou7g\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cruisin’\u003c/a>” that I couldn’t nail. And Mtume was at the studio when I did those vocals and kinda coached me through it, you know. And he’s just a great guy, man.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Absolutely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: He’s great, yeah.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Speaking of collaborators and mentors and that combination, one of the people you’re most associated with, you know, is Questlove from The Roots. I don’t think I need to introduce him. Questlove.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: What’s up, brother?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: You did these shows, I saw the show you did at Brooklyn Bowl maybe a year ago, whatever, where you guys — it was just the two of you on stage. And it was, to me, it was a beautiful experience, musically, and the chemistry you guys had together — talk about how you guys met and the musical bond you guys share.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Yeah. I call him Ahmir. He’s always gonna be Ahmir to me. He’s Questlove but that’s Ahmir. That’s my brother. I met him shortly after \u003cem>Brown Sugar \u003c/em>came out. I think I’d just stopped touring for a second and they was doing a show at the House of Blues. They were opening for The Fugees. So it was Goodie Mob, The Roots and The Fugees. And so, you know, Cee-Lo was there killing and then here come The Roots. And it was the first time I’d seen them live and, you know, I had just got off the road and I was pretty bummed out because the drummer that I wanted, who was the house drummer at The Apollo, Ralph Rolle —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Oh, Ralph Rolle, sure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: I wanted — he was my drummer for the first couple of shows and then he didn’t want to tour. So I was bummed out for the rest of the shows. I feel like I did not have the drummer that I wanted and I was searching for a drummer. I went through a whole bunch of drummers during that time. Abe Fogle was one of my drummers. \u003ca href=\"http://omarhakim.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Omar Hakim\u003c/a>, who was with Weather Report, he was one of my drummers at the time. And I just couldn’t find it. So, anyway, at the show, seeing Ahmir — he knew I was there. I don’t know how.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>QUESTLOVE, FROM THE AUDIENCE\u003c/strong>: I knew! \u003cem>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Where are you at, man? So, OK. He always tells this story. See, you should tell the story, cause you tell it better than I do.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>QUESTLOVE, NOW ON STAGE\u003c/strong>: OK, at the risk of overexposure, cause I know people are tired of hearing me talking, I promise to keep this under two minutes. I had met — you had first walked in when The Roots were mixing our \u003cem>\u003c/em>\u003cem>Do You Want More?!!!??!\u003c/em> record. And Bob — at Battery Studios — and engineer Bob Power, who was working on the \u003cem>\u003c/em>\u003cem>Brown Sugar\u003c/em> record, was like, “Yo, you gotta meet this kid. He’s the next …” You know, he named every — “He’s the next Sam Cooke. He’s the next Donny Hathaway. He’s the next …” you know, and I had such a Nazi attitude towards like R&B at that time, I just thought, “Ah, whatever.” And he walked in, and I was dismissive. I was like, “Ah, whatever.” And Bob’s like, “No. There’s a song called ‘\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kfd5UZnGAi0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">S—, Damn, Motherf—er\u003c/a>.’ You gotta play on it.” And I was, you know, and I was so dismissive. You know, he came in, I look, alright, it’s a R&B dude. I’m cool.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And so I had had gotten the \u003cem>\u003c/em>\u003cem>Brown Sugar \u003c/em>sampler when I left the Source Awards — the second Source awards — that one where Suge Knight was like, “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpgpS3ogvMM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">All in the video, all in the —\u003c/a>“. I always consider that day to be hip-hop’s funeral. And the only saving grace was — so at the time when Snoop is on stage yelling, “Y’all don’t love us. Y’all don’t …” I grab my date and I was like, “Yo, we out.” Cause I knew it was gonna be like a war going on. So I ran in the lobby and as I was running, some guy just ran up to me and says, “Here!” I look and it’s D’Angelo, \u003cem>\u003c/em>\u003cem>Brown Sugar\u003c/em>, and I put it in my pocket and I ran out. And I don’t know what made me do it, but I listened to it and I thought, “Ah, I done f—ed up now.” Like, I did. I thought like, “Yo. This is our savior.” Like, I knew. So I basically spent — that was May of ’95. So I spent the entire year trying to figure out how to strategically get within his sight so that I can atone for my sins of being dismissive that day. And that moment came April 1, 1996. So, it was April Fools’ Day; Marvin Gaye day. You and Erykah — you had just met Erykah that day, right?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Nah.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>QUESTLOVE\u003c/strong>: Well you knew of her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: We were there together, yeah.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>QUESTLOVE\u003c/strong>: Right. So y’all recorded the duet, that, “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQNMAadLnLE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Heaven Must Have Sent You\u003c/a>.” Y’all recorded that earlier at \u003ca href=\"http://www.marvins-room.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Marvin’s studio\u003c/a>. And that night, you, both of y’all came to the House of Blues. So I met both of y’all the same night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And I knew he was in the audience. And I thought, “OK. I could either sabotage our show right now …” Like, “Either I can audition for him, or I can make it smooth running.” Because I’m not saying there’s a band rivalry going on between the three, but it was like we were all trying to kill each other in \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/blogs/therecord/2013/08/21/214145432/the-blast-radius-of-kendrick-lamars-control-verse\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">that Kendrick Lamar rivalry way\u003c/a>. Like, you know, by this point, we’re in L.A. Soul Train Awards. Everybody’s in the house. You see TLC up there, you see all these notable celebrities, and The Roots could have either stuck to the script or — it was such a moment, I thought, “I gotta audition for him.” And, in the auditioning for D’Angelo, I decided to play in a style that The Roots were not accustomed to. So the sort of — the preview of that drunken \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J_Dilla\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dilla\u003c/a> style that we perfected for \u003cem>Voodoo\u003c/em>, I thought, “OK. This is what I’m gonna do.” And everyone’s looking at me like, “What are you doing? Why are you playing so …?” And so there was this moment where I was like, “God, I don’t have him yet,” and I decided to do — there’s a song — there’s a side Prince project called \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madhouse_(band)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Madhouse\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Madhouse, right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>QUESTLOVE\u003c/strong>: There’s an introductory song called “Four.” So I was like, “Alright. I’ma see what language he speaks.” It was some African communication drum thing. And I did it and he instantly — he was like, “Yeah!” Like he just — that’s how I met him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: True story. True story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: I think I’ll move ahead. I was gonna do this later, but let’s talk about \u003cem>Voodoo\u003c/em>. Since he’s in the house — one of the things that a lot of people think is that Questlove produced \u003cem>Voodoo\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>QUESTLOVE, NOW BACK IN THE AUDIENCE\u003c/strong>: No!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: OK. I know, and that’s what we’re doing here. But a lot of people do think that, by the way. So I guess the question I have — I want to talk a little bit about the creative genesis of that album. We were talking earlier about Roy Hargrove played a key role. Talk about the genesis of that album.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Well, wow. Me and Ahmir met. After that night, they were doing, y’all were doing \u003cem>Illadelph Halflife\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>QUESTLOVE\u003c/strong>: [off mic]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Right, right, “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JC9twfHSiR8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hypnotic\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: So for those who didn’t hear and the people who are listening online, what Ahmir just said is that the last cut on the \u003cem>Illadelphia\u003c/em> album —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Went into the first cut of \u003cem>Voodoo\u003c/em>. Literally, wow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: And what does that mean?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: What does that mean?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Yeah. What does that mean, musically?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: I don’t know. I think what it means is that, you know it’s like musical kin. It’s kind of like being separated at birth and then y’all meet when you’re 22. And you be like, “Damn, you my brother.” That’s basically what it was like.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I was doing \u003cem>Space Jam\u003c/em> soundtrack. And so the concept of the song was the real NBA players against, you know, the monster. Hence the basketball references in “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COix3dndSfk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Playa Playa\u003c/a>.” So that was the first song we did. When we got together, we at The Hit Factory. And we just was like nuttin’ off, like two little kids in the toy store.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: You want to play that track for a minute?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Yeah. Hell yeah.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: From \u003cem>Voodoo, \u003c/em>“Playa Playa.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Questlove.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: So a landmark album. It’s got some — the mood of it is really significantly different from your first album. Talk about the evolution from the first one to the second one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: OK. Just about the entirety of the first album, \u003cem>Brown Sugar\u003c/em>, I wrote it, the majority of that record in my bedroom in Richmond. And all of the demos for it were done on a four-track in my bedroom. I think EMI was a little leery of me being in the studio producing it on my own, which is what I was fighting for. So it was important for them that I go in with someone, an engineer. Everyone was trying to pick like, “You should get Prince’s engineer, or somebody else,” and I picked Bob Power because of my love for Tribe and what they were doing. And it was the best, it was the best thing to do. He was so awesome. He taught me a lot. All of the demos that I had basically before we even set foot in the studio — we were at Bob Power’s house for like three months like going over every detail, tweaking every high hat, every symbol, you name it. And so, when we went into the studio to record, I mean, it was really like, in my opinion, I felt like — after it was done, I loved it. But there were certain songs that I felt it lost something between the demo version and all of the production that went into it. I felt like it lost — like it got a little homogenized, in my opinion, for me, at the time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: You mean just sonically, it was too clean? You need a little dirtier?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: No clean but — I wouldn’t use the word clean — but what’s the word? Buttery? I think it’s the best. Yeah, buttery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: So you were looking to, you wanted to eliminate the margarine and the butter?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: There you go. So I was like — yeah, straight from the cow to the glass, you know. And that’s what \u003cem>Voodoo\u003c/em> was; it really was that. We were in the studio and i wanted everything to feel like the demo. I wanted everything to feel like the demo. So that was the first thing. And then it was, too, more working with musicians. We were doing a lot of — me and Ahmir would be in there just really, like I said, nuttin’ off like kids. For hours and we would just keep the tape rolling. And we’d be in that live room with absolutely no, really no intent of writing or recording anything — we would just be playing. We would be playing, playing for hours. The whole time the tape is rolling. And then something would come up. We would doodle and then Ahmir would go, “Whoa, whoa! What’s that? Yo, Russ! Rewind it! Rewind the tape!” So Russ Elevado would rewind it, we would listen to it again and boom, there’s a new song. And then, you know, a lot of it was one take, you know what I mean? We would go in there — so that was a different thing from \u003cem>Brown Sugar \u003c/em>that was because I was doing everything myself at first.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, for me, I think it was two major elements — or three major elements. Ahmir being there. I think after me and Ahmir did “Playa,” I did a duet with B.B. King. I brought Ahmir with me to the session because it was my intention of doing a cover of — Johnny “Guitar” Watson had just died — he had just died right before the B.B. King session and it was my intention to do a cover of “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4g4DO6co0II\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Superman Lover\u003c/a>.” So I brought Ahmir with me and you know, we get there, we can’t do Johnny “Guitar” Watson because they have to be B.B. King songs. But I was in search, I was desperately seeking a \u003ca href=\"http://www.allmusic.com/artist/james-jamerson-mn0000123578\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">James Jamerson\u003c/a> aficionado or a James Jamerson — I even sought out his son.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Right; James Jamerson, Jr.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: James Jamerson, Jr. And I was looking for someone who could really give me that and boom, I found him at the B.B. King session: \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pino_Palladino\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pino Palladino\u003c/a>. That and from the \u003cem>Brown Sugar \u003c/em>days, I’d always been dying — we had a mutual friend who kind of turned me on to his music and I used to listen to it a lot and I just loved his tone and been dying to work with \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15291267/roy-hargrove\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Roy Hargrove\u003c/a>. And we reached out and so I think those elements right there — that was it, man. That was the recipe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Yeah, Pino Palladino, he’s been with you ever since. He’s still with you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Yes, he is. Yes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: How do you work — I mean, obviously Ahmir and you guys have this bond — cause you play so many instruments, I’m really curious how you weave in other musicians. You said a certain way you want to play it. Do you have them play exactly what you played? How much are they able to put themselves in?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: They follow — I’ll set the structure, or what have you. Whatever, however you want to call it. And then we follow that to a certain degree, but I do give them license to interpret it, you know. I mean, once you — when you working with musicians of that caliber, you can trust them to interpret it any way. Like Roy, I would just play it for Roy and let him just do what he does. And he would make the arrangements, do the horn arrangements, all right there. He’s incredible. He’s f—ing incredible, man. And Pino pretty much would follow what I wrote, you know, for the structure of the song and then add his own interpretations in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Speaking of the blues, it seems to me that one of the tracks that really is powerful with you from that era is “Devil’s Pie,” and we talked about those — but it’s a blues song to you, isn’t it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Yeah, it’s kinda like a blues song. I would say the spirit of the vocals was more like chain gang, or like the feel of the slaves, the field slaves in the field picking whatever the f— master had us picking and that’s what we’d be singing while we picking in the hot f—ing sun. I mean, that’s kind of where I was going with it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Let’s get a little hit from “Devil’s Pie,” from \u003cem>Voodoo\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Thank you.\u003cem>\u003c/em> Shout-out to Premier for lacing that. It’s crazy. Preemo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: So we had a Twitter #AskDAngelo, and here’s a question: “Just learned you wrote Black Men United’s anthem, ‘\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poAVDRa0DFY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">U Will Know\u003c/a>.’ What’s the story on that?” And just as a couple little fun things, this a picture we’re gonna drop in later of — this is the R. Kelly, D’Angelo and Brian McKnight, a very unlikely trio. And the sheet music from “U Will Know,” which was written by you and your brother, Luther.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: That’s right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: So, let’s talk about that track.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Again, in the crib, it was — that song really is what got me my deal. It was on my first demo when Jocelyn signed me to Midnight Music. I think that was the one. That was the song that sealed the deal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: How did it end up being a sound — it ended up being a soundtrack for \u003cem>Jason’s Lyric\u003c/em> as opposed to be a solo track for you. How did that happen?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Well, it was, you know, it was early and, like I said, it was my original demo and it takes time to get signed and all the process and all that stuff. So by the time I’d gotten signed to EMI, the direction I was going was just different. So it was a perfect fit. Jocelyn being, you know, the great publisher that she was, she placed it for the movie. And it was like, wow. It was like, I’m coming out of nowhere. Because the only thing I had done up to that point was a song called “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lq4WGKGDtW0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Overjoyed\u003c/a>” for the Harlem Boys’ Choir. And so here I am, you know, with all my heroes, man. So it was —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Who was — talk about the talent that was on that track.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Man. So, Brian McKnight, R. Kelly, \u003ca href=\"http://www.allmusic.com/artist/gerald-levert-mn0000649435/biography\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Gerald LeVert\u003c/a>, Al B. Sure, Boyz II Men, H-Town —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: H-Town, “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrBnEaQd4ZY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Knockin da Boots\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: “Knockin da Boots.” It was everybody.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Usher, I think?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Usher. Yeah, little Usher was there. I was like, “This little kid gone do something, man.” S—, yeah. \u003ca href=\"http://www.mtv.com/news/1508850/aaron-hall-working-to-overcome-tough-times-with-guy-reunion-new-persona/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Aaron Hall\u003c/a>. Did I tell you Aaron Hall?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Yeah, Aaron Hall’s important.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Aaron Hall, who was like God to me. I f—ing loved Aaron Hall. And everybody — \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Williams_(singer)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Christopher Williams\u003c/a> —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: That’s a whole era right there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Right. It was crazy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: So you were in the studio. Now, you basically have all these vets and you’re the kid. How was that? How were those sessions?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: They were fun. They were really, really fun. And everyone — it was Black Men United, so there was no, I mean, everybody kind of left their egos at the door. For the most part, it was — like I said, it was surreal. And I got a chance to, not just work with a lot of my heroes, but you know, groove. Relationships — especially with Aaron. Aaron Hall was really cool. Those brothers kind of like, you know, kind of put me up under their wing, kind of like, “Come here, young blood.” You know, “Watch out for this. Dah, dah, dah, dah, dah.” Him and Gerald LeVert were the biggest ones, man. Gerald was just f—ing awesome. Rest in peace, brother. I love that man; love that man.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: So for those of you who may not know this track or know that D’Angelo wrote it, we’re gonna play “U Will Know” by Black Men United.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: It’s interesting listening to that track now and — talk about longevity and mystique. I mean, there are people on that record who — Christopher Williams — who had a moment. He was a movie star and a singer. He was in \u003cem>New Jack City\u003c/em>. Al B., who’s moved on and does radio. Having longevity and having mystique — you’re one of the few people who has mystique, you know that. I mean in the age of TMZ and all that stuff, you, you have — there’s an aura still about your career. It’s very unusual today for anybody to have any mystery left.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: I agree.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: You know, I feel like — so let’s just take a couple more questions. This came in tonight from Twitter. And \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/divynthought/status/469229952085151744\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">this is from Divyn Thought\u003c/a>: “Are you a fan of how technology has changed the music industry?” And I guess you could take that a number of ways — technology in the studio or technology in how people consume music. How do you feel about the changes? And how does that affect as you’re going forward with your music?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: The consumption of it — that’s a — I can’t even touch that; that’s different. But as far as the technology — I don’t have a problem with technology as long as it’s not, it’s gotta be a balance, you know what I mean? So you can use technology but still — if you’re using technology to get the same point across that you would get say in doing analog s—, then it’s cool. I don’t have any problem with it at all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Do you have any Auto-Tune tracks you working on?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: No. Although, it’s funny, I met Sly recently and he was working on — yeah, \u003ca href=\"http://www.slystonemusic.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sly Stone\u003c/a>. And you know, I always hear the rumor mill that he’s always constantly working on music.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: That’s what he says when you ask him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: And it’s the truth. He’s got like mad s—, man, that he’s been working on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Oh, he played you some stuff?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Yeah.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Oh!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: And it’s not Family Stone s—. It’s progressive, it’s new, he’s f—ing with the Auto-Tune s—. I had a conversation with him like — cause I heard it. I was like, “Nah! Damn! Nah! Don’t do that! Why you using Auto-Tune?” you know. And he was explaining it. But the way he did it, he’s doing it like no one else. I mean, of course, it’s Sly. But he, like I said, I don’t have a problem with technology as long as you’re doing something with it that’s just new, you know what I mean, that’s putting some kind of twist with it. But he’s incredible, man. He’s incredible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Alright, so when’s the Sly/D’Angelo duet?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: It’s coming. Sly, you promised, so.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: We can talk a little bit more about — we can talk about your future. I mean, obviously there’s all kinds of anticipation. What are your thoughts about dealing with that? There’s a tremendous amount of like social media pressure that didn’t exist before.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Does that infect your process at all — the fact that people are getting at you all the time?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: It doesn’t. And I, to a fault, I think that I’ve kind of put myself in a bubble so that I’m not affected by any of that. Although, it’s hard not to be cause it’s just the world that we live in now. But I mean, I completely kind of like blocked all that s— out. I have to because when I’m thinking about music, when I’m being creative, you know, I can’t even put my mind there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: I visited the studio you work in and you have a cave. You literally sing in a cave.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Yes, I do.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: It’s —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: My little tee-pee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: It’s a black tarp and then you have a humidifier, keyboard — that’s more or less it. And a ashtray.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: And a ashtray.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Talk about that. Cause it’s unusual — even in the studio, which is in itself an enclosed environment, you have even another enclosed environment. What is that? Talk about that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: I don’t know. I’m trying to go deep, deep in the onion. I get tired of kicking everybody out the room cause when it’s time for me to do vocals, I’ll kick the engineer out, the assistant and everybody. I’m like, “Get out,” you know. I’ll set the board myself and I’ll have the mic there. What we’ve been doing now is Russ will be in the control room mixing and I’ll be in the live room where we set up the cave — in the live room.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But I hear that’s how Sly used to do it. You know, he would sit at — that’s one thing Mtume taught me, too, about Sly. Mtume was talking about how Sly would use this thing called the dead zone. Sly wouldn’t even use headphones. You know, he would sit at the board, with the mic and he would position the mic a certain way in between the speakers and there’s a dead zone. So he wouldn’t even put on headphones. And that’s why when you listen to some of that stuff, \u003cem>There’s A Riot Going On\u003c/em>, you hear a lot of hiss and a lot of stuff in there, but that’s what that is. I kinda just borrowed that from him, you know.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Well, talk about — I mean, your vocals are part of your trademark, and they’re falsetto harmonies. Talk about the process of recording. Because it seems like a very sacred process. You have a cave. I mean, you know, you’re not someone who has a bunch of people in the studio. It’s not a party when you record. What is your thoughts about that? Why do you go in that direction? Is it just, you say, the onion? You trying to get in deeper?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: It’s the onion, yeah. You know, you’re putting your voice down on tape — because I still use tape — and you know, it’s about capturing the spirit. It’s about capturing the vibe. And I learned — we all learned a lot working on \u003cem>Voodoo.\u003c/em>\u003cem> \u003c/em>That was such a great time. I’m kinda a first take dude. The first time, cut that mic on and the spirit is there and what comes on the mic — I mean, even if I’m mumbling, I like to keep a lot of that initial thing that comes out. Cause that’s the spirit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: I’ve heard some vocalists go in and they don’t have — they have a melody, they don’t have the lyrics. The famous — I think Paul McCartney “Yesterday” was originally “Scrambled Eggs” or whatever ’til he figured out what the words would be. Do you go in with the words or the emotion? I mean, which goes first?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: It’s kind of like the emotion, yeah. And freestyle; you freestyle and mumble s—. And then later, you know, fill in the blanks and make sense out of the mumbles, yeah.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: So we’re coming to the end of our evening and I want to talk just a little bit about the future. From what I’ve seen of the shows you’ve been doing over the last couple years, obviously you’ve evolved. It’s not the same D’Angelo that people might have seen before. Where do you see yourself going musically? Is it gonna be like — because one of the things that’s interesting about the shows, at the Brooklyn Bowl, for example, it was a completely different audience than I’ve seen you with before. It was a younger audience — way younger — it was a whiter audience —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Yeah.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Than I think people would expect. Do you feel like your future recordings will have a different kind of audience base than even what you’ve had before because you’re in a different place?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Different? I don’t know. I just feel like it’s expanding, you know, and the music itself is expanding. So yeah, I mean, I think that this is a different — it’s just a different generation. Everybody call it the iPod Nation or what have you. But I think there’s less segregation, if you will, of genres. I think more people are welcome to — they don’t give a f— if it’s called this or that. If it’s good, it’s good, right?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: I think, are we through?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: I don’t know, man.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: OK. A couple more questions from the audience. Oh, this is a good one. If you were not a musician, what would you be?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Goddamn. I’m scared to say it. You know what? Cause everybody back home always thinks that this is what I’m gonna do — that I’ma take the Al Green route. I don’t see it. But I don’t know.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: You’re gonna join the family business?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: I don’t know. I don’t think so.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: There’s not gonna be a church of D’Angelo in Richmond — outside of Richmond?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: You know, I’ve always looked at, when I’m on stage, that the stage is my pulpit and when we’re on the music, I mean, when we’re playing and we’re getting the energy back and feeding it to the crowd, and that exchange is happening, that that’s my ministry. I’ve always looked at it like that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: You grew up in a very — I mean, your father was a Pentecostal preacher.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Yes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: You grew up in a very church environment. I mean, is there ever a temptation? I mean, you said not a church but you ever have the temptation to go back and do Christian music?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: I definitely want to do a quartet album and I’m just —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: A gospel quartet?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Yeah.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Oh, nice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: I love quartet and those guys are still — I’m still fascinated with that whole world. Before the first European tour, you know, that’s what I did in Richmond. Me, my cousin Marlon, dude that’s in the Vanguard now, Arel, my other cousin — we put together a quartet group and I did a little surprise little thing at this church way up in the woods and it was great, man. It was great. It was funny because we was doing like some real deal quartet gospel, you know. Like, we did a song by, we did a couple songs by The Jubes, \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-bujno-CYk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pilgrim Jubilees\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Right. Wow. That’s seriously going back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Oh, yeah. And then we ended it with this interpretation — so it went to this Fishbone thing. It’s funny and I told Angelo — I called \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelo_Moore\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Angelo Moore\u003c/a> and told him about it and he was like, “You did what? What song?” It was —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>QUESTLOVE, FROM THE AUDIENCE\u003c/strong>: “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QV5Nkah8nP8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Everyday Sunshine\u003c/a>?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: No, no, no. It”s on \u003cem>Give A Monkey A Brain\u003c/em>. The funk song. “Propaganda.” \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaEXHot1-04\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The “Propaganda” joint\u003c/a>. So at the end where they go — so we was doing that. And like the church, at first, was really up and s—, then when we went into that, everybody sat down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: How much more time do we have, folks?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>QUESTLOVE FROM AND WITH THE AUDIENCE\u003c/strong>: Forever!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Nah. Hey, Questlove, come back up here, man. I want to end this with a little — cause you said something interesting when I interviewed him before about your process and I’d like to get that. I think that would be a good way to end the evening. When I interviewed you for \u003ca href=\"http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2665186/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Finding The Funk\u003c/a>, you talked about the ways in which playing with him affected and how he affected your drumming. I’d love for you to talk about that now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>QUESTLOVE\u003c/strong>: Absolutely. If you listen to “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3y2aP0B4Ic\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dreaming Eyes of Mine\u003c/a>,” on \u003cem>Brown Sugar\u003c/em> — you know, at the time — it’s funny because the only person I’ve ever heard describe this was the time that we brought Lenny Kravitz in to play and he said the same thing that I thought in the beginning. I was like, “Man, there’s a discrepancy on the kick pattern. It’s really messed up.” But I was kind of obsessed with just how sloppy the kick pattern sounded. And I hit up Bob Power — I was like, “Yo, why did y’all leave it like that? Like, it’s so, like no one cared someone drunk was playing it.” And he said, “No, that’s exactly how he wants it.” I was like, “Really?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Which leads to, what I was explaining was when D’Angelo, when he came down to Philadelphia to record on the \u003cem>Illadelph Halflife \u003c/em>album, we had him there for two days because normally like a song should take that long, but we literally knocked out the song on The Roots album in seven hours. Like he’s, his vocal process is — I’ve never seen someone just so instantaneous. It’s like watching someone shoot like 10 half-court shots — not even look at the ball — that’s how effortless it is. So we were done and you know, we had him down for two days so he stayed in Philadelphia. And it was like, “Well, alright, let’s mess around.” That’s when I think we were testing each other to see each other’s knowledge. But there was a song that he had initially planned for \u003cem>Brown Sugar\u003c/em> called “B—” that — I know right! You remember? Which was the most drunkest — past J. Dilla drunk, drumming I ever heard — programming, so if the pulse is this, the drum pattern was \u003cem>— \u003c/em>It was drunk but it was perfect and it just — I had spent, like you have to understand. Being in a hip-hop band in 1996, like there was a lot of resistance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Sure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>QUESTLOVE\u003c/strong>: It was still the era of \u003cem>The Chronic\u003c/em>, \u003cem>Ready to Die\u003c/em>; Biggie was happening so, you know, real hip-hop was like, yo, if you ain’t sampling, you ain’t doing nothing. So The Roots, I’d spent four years by that point with a chip on my shoulder like, “I am as meticulous and as quantized and as straight as 12 o’clock. I am a time machine.” And he just basically came in and deprogrammed me. I had a lot of pride in the fact that Premier, Q-Tip would come up and be like, “Yo, you’re like a drum machine.” Like, “You’re so straight,” right? So I was playing like a metronome for him and he was like, “Nah, nah.” Like, “Lay back a little bit.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: So tell us about that. What is that philosophy of drumming come from? What were you trying — cause you were trying to mess up my man.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: See that’s the thing. I’m basically trying to emulate the great hip-hop producers. So if you looking for a break — you look for a sample — and this was before you had, I guess, the technology to speed up or slow down a sample without f—ing with the tempo of it, right? So you had a beat going and you would put a sample over top of that beat. It wouldn’t align perfectly unless you kind of would put it behind. You have to kind of play it a little bit before the beat started so that by the time you got to the end of the four bars, it would align. And in that way, everything was the drunk thing, like you’re saying, you know. I mean, that’s just me kinda trying to emulate Premier and Marley Marl, my favorite hip-hop producers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>QUESTLOVE\u003c/strong>: I gotta object. You were past that. I mean, I don’t mean like you were past that level — when people program drums, I mean, you can either have the quantized option on — I’m assuming that some of you aren’t musicians, so when you have a quantized on, you can take 12 shots of Patron, program something and it fixes it for you. Whereas the only two human beings I know that never had the quantize option on was D’Angelo and Dilla. And so both of them single-handedly made me drop it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And you gotta understand the way that black musicianship was going, you had to be precise, it was about gospel chops, it was about how many drums you can hit per hour. And I’m in my prime. Like finally getting a little light with the group and then suddenly they want me to just strip down to gutter bucket levels, you know. On the whole \u003cem>Voodoo \u003c/em>record, like I’m playing rim shot. I played snare on one song, “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcQ83tOZ4Wk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Feel Like Makin Love\u003c/a>.” So he, to me, it was like being told to use the force, in \u003cem>Star Wars \u003c/em>terms. Like, “Just trust me. Keep it in the pocket. Be sloppy as hell and it’s gonna work.” So, I mean, it took me like a month to adjust to it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: I have both of you here — let’s talk about Soulquarians and what that was. From both of your points of view, what did that collective mean to you and how you think it’s affected music going forward in any way, shape or form. Want to jump on it? Either one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>QUESTLOVE\u003c/strong>: I mean —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Don’t let him talk all the time!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>QUESTLOVE\u003c/strong>: You right. This is your thing, man.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Exactly. You start.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Alright. To me, Soulquarians was definitely just a collective of like-minded individuals. I remember us being at Electric Lady. I’d be downstairs, Ahmir would be in the room and it was just like a hotbed — everyone would stop by. Everyone knew we was there. So Erykah would stop by or she would be upstairs. Common would be down the hall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>QUESTLOVE\u003c/strong>: Yeah, he had studio A, Common had studio B, and then up in C would be, you know —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Mos Def.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>QUESTLOVE\u003c/strong>: Yeah, either Mos or Kweli or sometimes Bilal. So at any given moment, between 1997 and like 2001, 2002, we literally just took over Electric Lady Studios. And I mean, at one point in ’98 it was just like, it was like sleepovers. We would just sit, watch \u003cem>Soul Train\u003c/em> all night and figure out something, like see a trick that Al Green was doing and then — mostly it was like practicing for the show. It was like, what album can we make, that we can do live for people and then they’ll be like, “Ah! That was amazing!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: The main premise was, it’s not gonna just be one group — it’s not gonna be one album that does this, it’s gonna be a movement. It’s gonna be all of us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>QUESTLOVE\u003c/strong>: Yeah. I personally have figured out, at least from The Roots’ standpoint, that any success that’s ever happened in music, happened as a movement, you know. You think you like Stevie Wonder, but no, you like the Motown movement. And then who’s he associated with? I mean, everything that’s had a success is associated with something.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Before we close, can we grapple with \u003cem>\u003c/em>neo-soul and whether that’s a valid phrase or was just some PR bulls—. Anybody?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: I plead the fifth, really. I’m not touching it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>QUESTLOVE\u003c/strong>: No, you know, I’ll say this much. I’m not — cause I hate documentaries in which like, you know, they’ll coin a term and then you see a bunch of people that are a part of that movement kind of like disassociate themselves with it. I mean, none of us — who came up? Was it \u003ca href=\"http://www.kedar.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kedar\u003c/a>?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Kedar. Are you here, Kedar?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>QUESTLOVE\u003c/strong>: Yo, this is like \u003ca href=\"http://www.thisisyourlife.com/tiyl.html?id_tiyl=0523TL681065\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cem>This Is Your Life\u003c/em>\u003c/a>! Everybody’s in here!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Where are you Kedar? Can you please stand up? Ke!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>QUESTLOVE\u003c/strong>: That’s amazing. Everybody’s here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: So he coined the phrase.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>QUESTLOVE\u003c/strong>: I think Kedar coined the phrase. But I don’t think —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>:\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>Was this a valid phrase or was this something that was bogus? What do you feel about it?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>QUESTLOVE\u003c/strong>: I never want to go on record disassociating myself from something or think I was above it. Cause usually when people do that, they’re really passive aggressively trying to say, “Well, I’m better than that person that you associated me with.” I think at the end of the day, it’s like the individual collective have made their mark and their stamp in history and more importantly, what I want him to understand — because the problem with the bubble thing, is that sometimes you’re unaware of the effects of it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like he’s totally amazed at the fact, when I bring him news of like who’s — the fact that \u003cem>Voodoo\u003c/em> is still rippling, like the effects of it are rippling and spreading and people are now, there’s a whole other audience that’s into it, you know. When we did the Bonnaroo thing together a year-and-a-half ago, and saw the audience, it was like, there’s a new generation of people that are on it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So we weren’t necessarily card-carrying members with a flag on it, but I do think that it was definitely something in the air between ’97 to like 2003. And I don’t think it’s anything to scoff or disassociate yourself from.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Yeah, and I agree with you. I don’t think I want to disassociate or anything — and respect it for what it is and all that. But I will say this that, you know, anytime you put a name on something that you kind of, you just put it in a box.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>QUESTLOVE\u003c/strong>: It’s the end.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: You put it in a box. Right. So, I think the main thing about the whole neo-soul thing — not to put it down or it was a bad thing or anything — but you don’t — you want to be in a position where you can grow, as an artist. You never want to be told, “Hey, well, you don’t do, you’re not doing what you did on \u003cem>Brown Sugar\u003c/em>,” you know. Cause like right now, I’m not — we’re going some place else. And so going, “Well, damn, you a neo-soul artist. Why don’t you do neo-soul?” And I never claimed that. I never claimed I do neo-soul, you know. I used to say — when I first came out — I used to always say, “I do black music. I make black music.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>QUESTLOVE\u003c/strong>: And you also have to understand that when \u003cem>Voodoo \u003c/em>came out, that was — at one point in history, that was a hard pill for a lot of people to swallow. Like it sounded — it’s weird now because it’s in our DNA, but when it came out, there were a lot of people that were like, “Whoa! This sounds like an acid trip or something! What are you guys doing?” Now it sounds normal — especially compared to unmentionable, unspoken third record.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And I think I just killed the interview. I’m sorry! Thank you!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: So how are we doing, guys, on time?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>AUDIENCE\u003c/strong>: Good! Great! Don’t stop!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Alright, we’ve had a quorum and we’ve decided we’re finished. So, Ahmir Thompson and —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Before we end, I just want to thank all of y’all for coming and for showing your love and support, really, it means so much. Thank you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From the heart. \u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2014 NPR. 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"excerpt": "In a conversation with author Nelson George at the Brooklyn Museum, the elusive singer and songwriter spoke on his idols, his process and his teenage years, and hinted at a new album.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>On Wednesday night in Brooklyn the elusive singer and songwriter, who hasn’t released an album in almost 15 years and performs rarely, sat down in front of 500 people in the auditorium of a museum and thousands of people listening online. So hungry were fans of D’Angelo that at one point in the evening the hashtag \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/search?f=realtime&q=%23askdangelo%20&src=typd\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">#AskDAngelo\u003c/a> was trending Number 1 on Twitter in New York City.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>D’Angelo did field questions, from author \u003ca href=\"http://nelsondgeorge.net/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Nelson George\u003c/a>, and from Twitter, but he didn’t exactly open up. It doesn’t even seem intentional, the way he holds a part of himself in reserve. He just doesn’t find himself particularly fascinating, although remembering his teenage self cracks him up, and in stories about his recording process he spoke about withdrawing so that he can produce the music he wants to. He called it “trying to go deep, deep in the onion.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>D’Angelo told us of making a private room within a room when he’s recording vocals. He used the word tee-pee. And he tied himself to R&B musicians who’ve also been called eccentric. “Mtume was talking about how Sly would use this thing called the dead zone,” said D. “Sly wouldn’t even use headphones. You know, he would sit at the board, with the mic, and he would position the mic a certain way in between the speakers.” That was the second time D’Angelo brought up Sly Stone. The first time he told us he’d recently heard Sly’s new songs, which use AutoTune, and hinted at a forthcoming duet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hinting was a theme of the evening. D stuck his tongue out when he recalled the song he sang to win \u003cem>Showtime at the Apollo\u003c/em> as a teenager, Johnny Gill’s “\u003ca href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUvtlmlBbDg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Rub You The Right Way\u003c/a>.” Questlove, who intermittently climbed on stage, called D’Angelo’s current work the “unmentionable, unspoken third record.” George kept calling it “the future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There is an almost visible tension around the possibility of a new album from D’Angelo. It’s been rising for a few years, through European dates, occasional U.S. appearances, studio clips. It informed Red Bull Academy’s booking of him and laid heavy over the opening minutes of this week’s public interview. But then the nervy feeling receded. Or, suddenly, something else mattered more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The shift happened about 15 minutes in. Nelson George said the words “Richmond, Va.” and shouts went up. D reacted directly to those people — “Uh, oh. Richmond in the house. What’s up!” — and then we were part of their conversation. Moments later D’Angelo cursed for the first time. We laughed at the fact of that, the fact of him, and he thought we were all hilarious. He laughed open-throated and familiarly with us, and relief and recognition swept from the stage and over the seats: we were among friends.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Listen to the conversation in full above, read the transcript below, or watch video \u003ca href=\"http://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/magazine/dangelo-lecture\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">at Red Bull Music Academy’s site\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>NELSON GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Let’s start talking about guitar playing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: What’s up, Brooklyn? How y’all doing?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: One of the big changes from the D’Angelo people -– for me — was from before to where you are now, musically, is you’ve added guitar to your music — you became a guitar player. Can you talk about how that happened and how that’s affected what you do?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Well, I played guitar before. I was playing a little bit on \u003cem>Voodoo\u003c/em> — a couple of songs, “Left and Right” and some songs. But I think during the \u003cem>V\u003c/em>\u003cem>oodoo \u003c/em>recording, recording the album, I –- we were at Electric Lady, so Jimi Hendrix was a big influence and just a big spirit in the place, in the building.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’ve always wanted to — I feel like my style on piano, because piano’s my main instrument, so I feel like I always wanted to — on piano, I was always emulating the guitar and bass. I can play bass. I didn’t play much guitar. I played a lot of keyboards, but I really wanted to produce the sound that was in my head that I was trying to emulate on the keys. I wanted to do it for real.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And it makes me look at the keys in a different way. So it’s like I’m looking at the guitar and bass more like meat and potatoes and keys like coloring over top of it, you know. I guess that’s where I’m at right now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: \u003ca href=\"http://jessejohnson.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jesse Johnson\u003c/a> played a role in this, though, didn’t he?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Yes, he did.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Those of you know, Jesse Johnson, guitar player with The Time; solo artist in his own right. Before we go further –- please, no photography! Thank you! No phone pictures. Some big, ugly man may come looking for you if you have them. So, just be aware that that’s prohibited. As we were saying — Jesse Johnson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Yes, Jesse. Shortly after\u003cem> Voodoo\u003c/em>, I got in touch with Jesse through \u003ca href=\"http://www.allmusic.com/artist/john-mcclain-mn0001740224/credits\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">John McClain\u003c/a> and — actually through Alan, \u003ca href=\"http://prince.org/msg/7/171968\">Alan Leeds\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Just the instant kinship, you know. When I first talked to him on the telephone — and we talked for years on the telephone before we actually met — I was just struck. I even had to say it to him. I was like, “Man, you sound just like my brother.” Like he just, his voice and his vernacular, he sounds just like my oldest brother, Luther. So I just really felt, like, a kinship with him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We finally met at \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/95031938/raphael-saadiq\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Raphael\u003c/a>‘s studio in Cali — in Blakeslee. He came through, and first thing he did was gave me a couple of guitars. Gave me a Minarik, the black Minarik that I play now and he gave me one of his guitars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: You have a pink one, right?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Yes. That was one of his. He’s actually \u003ca href=\"http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/416JDIRJhML._SL290_.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">holding it\u003c/a> on the \u003cem>Shockadelica \u003c/em>album — the pink Fender Invader.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Working with him, how did that begin to evolve your playing? How did that affect how you —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: I mean, obviously I’m sitting with him shedding, you know. We went out and did a couple of shows in Europe. Before then just sitting with him, he’s showing me things, I’m asking him questions and asking him about, you know, everything. Prince.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Right, Prince questions, I’m sure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: It gets a little hairy because The Time and the Prince — that feud was very real. But, you know, there’s no love lost. He still speaks with a high love and respect for Prince. And I’m just like a sponge. I’m just trying to soak everything in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: So, I saw the tapes of your tour in Europe and then I’ve seen you play here in the States. And it does seem like what you’re doing now and where you’re going musically for the future, the guitar and the idea of that -– it’s much more prominent. Like, I feel more rock and more funk in what you’re doing now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Well, it’s a natural progression for me. Honestly, I just feel like that’s where it’s going. The thing with me is, about that — about rock and all that — years and years of crate-digging, listening to old music, you kind of start to connect the dots. And I was seeing the thread that was connecting everything together, which is pretty much the blues. And everything soul or funk kind of starts with that. That’s kind of like the nucleus of everything, thread that holds everything together. And so it’s kind of just a natural progression.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: I remember I seen you open for Mary J. Blige maybe a year ago? A year-and-a-half ago? And it was an interesting dichotomy in the audience that — there’s the music you played on the piano that was familiar, and that, like, the Mary J. Blige crowd particularly, cause that’s a adult black crowd, was into — and then there was where you going now. You’re going in a much — I would say funk-rock direction, maybe, or something like that. And so, I think one of the things that’s gonna be interesting as we go forward with your music is there’s a transition that’s happened in you creatively that the audience is gonna have to be prepared for.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Yeah. I would say so. I think so. A couple of shows that we did, \u003ca href=\"http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-09-14/entertainment/chi-mary-j-blige-and-dangelo-concert-review-dangelo-at-united-center-reviewed-20120914_1_mary-j-blige-empty-prayers-d-angelo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">we opened up for Mary\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/blogs/therecord/2012/07/09/156494248/essence-in-new-orleans-a-festival-that-knows-its-audience\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">we did Essence Festival\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: We did —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: \u003ca href=\"http://www.bet.com/video/betawards/2012/performances/dangelo.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The BET Awards\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: I did the BET Awards, right. But we did like a, we did \u003ca href=\"http://www.soulbeach.net/2013/index.php/9-uncategorised/71-soul-beach-music-festival-aruba-2013\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a Sinbad thing in Aruba\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Oh, you did the boat ride?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Yeah. Well, something like that. I don’t know. So it was a lot of like, R&B, soul thing going on, which is great. But definitely, we’re looking to the future here. I don’t know if people were really expecting what they got from us, because we did a lot of new material and, you know, I think there was a lot of, like, kind of confusion — a lot of confused looks on certain people’s faces. And then, on other people’s faces, they were really receiving what we were doing. But I love that. I love — if it’s confusing at first, that’s a good thing for me; that’s a good sign.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: From what I got, you wouldn’t necessarily want to — where you’re going now is where you are and you were not like, unnecessarily having to — you don’t want to be a nostalgia act, I guess, in a sense, is what I’m saying. That you’re looking forward. I remember when \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3woHfDKTjqU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">you played Bonnaroo, with The Roots\u003c/a>, you were doing, “She Came In Through The Bathroom Window.” You were doing some Beatles covers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Yes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: I think that that was pretty radical. People weren’t expecting that. The Beatles, is that, as we look forward, is that what we’re gonna be hearing more of — that kind of approach?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: I don’t know who was not influenced by them. And the thing about them and they were the masters of, were — and I say Prince, too, I love how Prince would do it — how all these interesting, different, eccentric ideas, but they were able to fit it in a simple pop format. That could be considered formulaic, or whatever. But to be able to fit all of that and your vision into this simple format, whether it be a pop song or it’s a 12-bar blues or whatever — I think that’s the challenge. And they were the best at it. They were the best.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: One of the things that’s interesting — you had, everyone remembers Soulquarian, was that how we pronounce it?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Soulquarians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: And now, your band now, you call them the Vanguard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Yes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: What is a vanguard and tell me about what that represents for your music.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Vanguard is definitely an evolution; my last band being the Soultronics. And the Soulquarians was, I guess, the collective of all of us. But yeah, the Vanguard is just the progression of that. We’re not the Soultronics. It’s a different band. I think it’s a louder band, it’s a harder band. It’s more guitars, definitely, so it’s definitely more rock, you know.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: When you played with Mary, you had a lot of — I remember asking you like, “Where’d you find these musicians?” And you said you found them in a church. A lot of the younger guys were —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Yeah, the younger guys. Yeah, definitely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: So that still is the motherload where you find the great black musicians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Absolutely. I mean, the thing about the church is, what I learned early — they used to say this when I was going to church. They used to say, “Don’t go up there for no form or fashion.” So I guess what that means is, “Listen, we’re up here singing for the Lord. So don’t be up here trying to be cute,” you know. “Cause we don’t care about all that. We just want to feel what you, you know, and what the spirit is moving through you.” And it’s the best place to learn that. So you shut yourself down and you let whatever’s coming, come through you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The guys that were singing with me, the Lumzys, the Lumzy brothers —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: The Lumzy brothers, right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Yeah. One of ’em I met in Richmond. I put a little quartet group together, quartet gospel group together, and he was playing drums. So I brought him along, and he brought his cousins who sing, came up in the quartet tradition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: It’s interesting because in the quartet tradition — it’s like a dying art form.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Yeah, it is.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: I don’t know the last time there was a significant, young, black harmony group, it’s been a long time. So you found most of these guys in Richmond? A lot of the younger guys?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: The younger guys, yes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Let’s talk about Richmond, Va. Not a place —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Uh oh. Richmond in the house. What’s up?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Richmond, Va., is not seen as a musical hotbed. However —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Yeah, however —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Come on. Explain it, explain it. Tell me about it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: It’s not, because I don’t know how many – there’re not really a lot of cats there — from there — that made it really big. I mean, y’all know of Major Harris.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttbsYCM3lgU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Love Won’t Let Me Wait\u003c/a>,” anybody?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Soul music fans in the house?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: The singer of The Delfonics. He’s definitely from Richmond. I mean, you know, it’s a couple of motherf—ers, but not really. You know what? It wasn’t nothing down there. And the funny thing about it is that, it was all this talent. It’s, like, mad talent down there. Like, when I was coming up — when I was little — my whole thing was I wanted to just be big enough to be in a band, because they used to have battle of the bands all the time down there. And it was a big deal, you know. It was a whole bunch of local talent, but nobody never really crossed that threshold.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Also there’s a — you were telling me there’s a rock tradition there that people don’t know about — don’t think about in Richmond. What bands you talking about?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Wow, well, yeah, it’s a big punk scene in Richmond — always has been — D.C. area and Richmond, big time. Lot of heavy metal heads in Richmond. Where I had to move — when I started going to high school, I moved from Richmond to, there’s a county outside of Richmond called Chesterfield, but that’s where \u003ca href=\"http://www.lamb-of-god.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Lamb of God\u003c/a>, that’s where they’re from. \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/slipknot\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Slipknot\u003c/a>, they’re from Chesterfield. So it’s a big rock scene down there, big time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: So in the past you’ve talked a lot about your church background, but I wanted to jump to another aspect of your development, which is — a lot of people don’t know that you were in a hip-hop band, hip-hop group. And the group is pictured here. The group was called I.D.U.: Intelligent, Deadly, but Unique.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: That’s right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: So talk about what you were doing at that particular point in your development.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: I just moved from Richmond to Chesterfield and that’s when I was MCing back then. I was a MC. I was pretty f—ing good, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: You don’t say that if you’re not gonna bust a rhyme.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: No! Hell no. That was a long time ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: There are apparently some tracks floating around the Internet of I.D.U. somewhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: I.D.U. s— was for real, man. We weren’t no joke. And it was I.D.U. Productions, so we was a production crew, you know. What y’all laughing at?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Were you the hook singer?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: At first. But I was really like co-producer, and that was the whole thing. When I moved from Richmond to Chesterfield, the first brothers that I really hooked up with was the leader of the group, Brian Trent. And I was, what? I was a freshman, coming to high school, he was a senior. And the other producer for the group, we called him Baby Fro; his name was Ron Flowers. So he was the DJ. His father DJed for years and years and years, so his house was a record store. And those records were kept in pristine condition. We’d be over there all — that’s where I really went to school. That was like Hip-hop and Music 101 for me. It was the first time I learned about \u003ca href=\"http://www.themeters.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Meters\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"http://www.allmusic.com/album/band-of-gypsys-mw0000650248\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Band of Gypsys\u003c/a> and all that s—. You know, when you’re listening to records strictly to find samples, looking for break beats — and then I stopped listening to records for break beats and instead of just skimming through it looking for a break beat, I’m listening to the whole record, you know what I mean? And so that’s when I started.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Obviously you had church training, but this was one of your key musical educations in terms of the sweep of music?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Yes. Up until that point — I mean, I rhymed, you know, but my main musical love was Prince. That was it. I started to learn about \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/blogs/MicrophoneCheck/2013/09/11/221440934/marley-marl-on-the-bridge-wars-ll-cool-j-and-discovering-sampling\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Marley Marl\u003c/a> and all those cats. It just opened my whole world up, really.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: It’s an interesting story because this band, I.D.U., they ended up coming to New York and trying to get a deal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: That’s right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: And the story goes that people would go, “Eh, it’s alright. Who produced the track?” That people were already seeing in these tracks that you made early on with this band that there was something there. And Jocelyn Cooper, who ended up —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Hi, Jocelyn!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Jocelyn Cooper who was then — who now helps run the \u003ca href=\"http://afropunkfest.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Afropunk Festival\u003c/a> — but then was, worked at a music publishing company, Warner/Chappell, right? Midnight Music, excuse me. That you came up to — she tells a story about you coming in and you played —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: I walked in with a suit. I had a, like a two-piece. We were walking in Manhattan and we just came from Norfolk and I just really, I just knew that this was the shot. This was my shot. And I was hellbent on getting the suit. I wanted to walk in there with a suit. Bought brand new church shoes and s—. Never walked the streets of Manhattan before. Got to the office and I met Jocelyn Cooper who was just like, ah, like the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Aw.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: It’s true. And it was, you know, woopty, woopty, woop and all that. I had to, “Where’s your bathroom? Can I go to the bathroom for a second, please?” I know they kept wondering why I kept going to the bathroom cause I had to take those shoes off, man. My feet were f—ing hurting. But, you know, that’s where it started. I sat there. I played like — I was just like a jukebox. They would name out a song and I’d play it and sing it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Well she says you played a Jodeci — Jocelyn, if I’m wrong, correct me. You played a Jodeci song, you played a gospel song and you played a Miles Davis song.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: That’s right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: So what I go back to is — how old are you at this point?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: I was 17.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: So the range of music that you had some access to is, for a 17-year-old from Richmond, Va., is pretty impressive. Did that go back to — is that the DJ thing? That you were able to expand your horizon through that?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Not really. I just, I been playing piano since I was three. And I’d always wanted to just get some more jazz chops. You know what? I studied for two years when I was like 12 or 13, classical music. The classical teacher that I was with, she kinda got hip to me because she would play a song once and I would come back the next week and play it all perfect. But I still wasn’t really reading. And when she got hip to the fact that my ear was that good, she was like, “I’ma send you to this guy,” named Russell somebody, who worked at VCU and taught music theory. So I went to the guy Russell and took a music theory class and, you know, he was like, “I can’t do nothing with you. You don’t need theory. You already know theory. You already know it. So I’m gonna pass you to this guy at VCU.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: In Virginia?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: In Virginia, who still taught at VCU. It was Ellis Marsalis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Wow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Wynton’s father.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Wow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Who was still teaching at VCU. And I went and auditioned for Ellis Marsalis and James Moody, matter of fact. James Moody was up there. I was like 13, 14. And got on the piano and I played, I played an Anita Baker song cause it was the jazziest song I could think of. So I played Anita Baker and, you know, they were impressed, and they were like, “Oh, that’s great, young blood.” “Wow,” I was like, “Are you gonna teach me? Do I get to, you know?” And he was like, “Nah, I’m getting ready to leave.” So he was getting ready to leave that year and go teach back in New Orleans, so I never got a chance to really get any jazz training or what have you, like that. But I always felt like that was a good thing that I didn’t.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Why?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Because it would have changed my whole style. It would have changed my whole style of playing. It just wasn’t meant to be, I guess.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Rhere was another band that you were involved in that I wanted to get at. Because there’s — in researching for this interview, I learned a bunch of stuff that I hadn’t been aware of. So you were, after Intelligent, Deadly, but Unique, you then —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Yeah. I.D.U.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: You had another band, which was Michael Archer and Precise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: That’s right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: So this is after–\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: It’s before, it’s before I.D.U., actually. Precise —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Oh, OK. So you guys, I mean, what I didn’t know is that you actually won Apollo Amateur night a couple of times.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Yes, I did. We used to do a lot of gigs — a lot of shows. Not gigs, but shows. Talent shows, you know, whatever, in Richmond. And it was this big, big talent show they used to have every year. It was huge for the high school kids and s—. And there was a school that was in North Side — I’m from South Side — so then there’s North side. Anybody know anything about Virginia, North Side and South Side do not get along. Like there’s always been beef, right? Even if it’s playful. Anyway, all the great kids and all the great talent went to this one school, Kennedy High School. They had a great musical director there and they would have this big, big talent show that they would have every year at — and they would have it at the mosque. Like that was the big — the mosque in Richmond, everyone performed at the mosque. So it was a huge deal and they would sell tickets and everything. The place would be f—ing packed. And I did the talent show, I guess two years before. But this one year, I got everything together. We got the Precise together, we went there and we tore the roof off, man, really. I was what? I was 16. I was 16 and tore the roof off and from there I got the chance to go to the Apollo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: What was Precise? I mean, what was it? How many pieces? Tell me what kind of group was it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Well, it was me and my cousin, Marlon, who played drums. My other cousin, Regina, was on keyboards, and I had my other cousin singing background.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: It was a family band, in other words.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Almost. And then I had two other background singers. They were both named Nikki — Nikki T., Nikki C.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: So was that your first trip to New York — the Apollo gigs?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: That was my first trip.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: What do you, tell me about that experience of going up. You’re 16, Amateur Night at the Apollo from Virginia — how was that?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: It was surreal. It was amazing. The first time I went, it was sponsored by this whole thing called Kemet Productions. So we would get in the bus from Richmond and get on the highway and it would be a whole bunch of talent on the bus or whatever. And so the people that were in charge, like, I mean, you know, they were kinda trying to tell everybody what to do. “You should sing this song. You should sing a Luther Vandross song. You have a Luther Vandross type of tone.” Or, “Don’t sing a gospel song! They’ll boo you!” Type of s— like that. And you know, I had my mind set on singing \u003ca href=\"http://peabobryson.net/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Peabo Bryson\u003c/a>. I was like, “I’m singing Peabo Bryson.” And they were like, “Don’t sing that song. Please don’t sing that song. They gonna boo you off the stage.” And they had me at the last minute, I was trying to switch the song up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Anyway, long story short, you know, I rubbed the log or whatever and the girl that goes out right before me sings a gospel song, right, a gospel song. And they booed the s— out of it, man. Like, it was no sympathy. They was so cold-blooded. And she walked off the stage crying. “Alright, young blood, you’re next!” I rubbed the log. And the MC comes out, he’s like, “Yeah, so we got this kid. He’s from way down, deep down South.” “Boo!” Like, I didn’t even walk out on the stage. Long story short, I won them over and, you know, I placed and then I got the opportunity to come back. When I came back, I did my own background music, I did my own background vocals. I was like, “No, I’m not doing no Luther Vandross or nothing. I’m gonna do some up-tempo s—.” And you know, whatever. I won first place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: What song? You did an original song of yours?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: No. I did “Rub You The Right Way” by Johnny Gill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: One of the interesting things about your career, speaking of, is that you’ve been really great at interpreting classic material, soul music. And part of the reason I think you attracted so many people to you was that you have a connection to that past. So I want to play one of my favorite D’Angelo covers, and that’s, well, we’ll just play it. Play the \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfyJbXn01HM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Eddie Kendricks song\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Thank you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Now, you’ve had many interesting collaborators. And one of the ones that probably people don’t know about, a person who was actually a mentor to me as well, \u003ca href=\"http://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/magazine/mtume-interview\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the great Mtume\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Yes, sir.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Mtume’s pedigree is pretty long. Just break it down, he played with Miles during his electric period.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Absolutely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: He went on to become one of the top singer-songwriters, wrote all of Stephanie Mills’ hits, Roberta Flack hits, and then had —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Solo success. “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MucY5wRYByU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Juicy Fruit\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: One of the most sampled records in hip-hop history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: And also a super political person — was on KISS Radio for years doing morning show. So a very diverse and powerful man. He helped you produce this track, didn’t he?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Well, yeah, he did. He produced the song for \u003cem>Get On The Bus\u003c/em> soundtrack. And I think, yeah, he was doing like a lot of those dope covers. At that time, he had just did —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Oh, \u003cem>New York Undercover. \u003c/em>He was the song guy for \u003cem>New York Undercover\u003c/em>. He did all those covers on the show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Right, and he had just did the cover of Bobby Womack’s — \u003cem>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>QUESTLOVE, FROM THE AUDIENCE\u003c/strong>: “If You Think You’re Lonely Now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: “If You Think You’re Lonely Now,” right. \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sm87OgZU0cU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Wrote it for K-Ci\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: For K-Ci, right. We’re name-checking Jocelyn a lot here, but she gets name-checked again — that he was doing — you told me a story about him doing, he was doing music or songwriting seminars?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Well, yeah. He was involved with Midnight Songs, definitely. And Jocelyn would have these workshops. So all of the writers on her roster would come to the workshop and James Mtume would really be holding court, you know. And he would literally have like a chalkboard, he’d really be going through it, you know, talking about songwriting and song structure, theory, whatever — blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: And you weren’t the best student, I hear?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Jocelyn, she used to always be mad at me because I never would come. I never would come to the music shops. “You oughta come! Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: But you finally did show up one time?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: I did come. Yeah, I did come. I was jammin’ — cause I wanted to jam with \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lu9QH71YKQw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Rob Bacon\u003c/a>, who was, you know, a guitar, the funk guitar player from Detroit. But Mtume was awesome. He was one of those cats in the early days that really, really gave me a lot of confidence and let me know that I could do it, you know? I remember at the end of recording \u003cem>Brown Sugar\u003c/em>, I don’t know, I had like a mental block where I couldn’t finish. There was, I couldn’t nail this line on “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBB8valskCQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Lady\u003c/a>.” And then there was this line on “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAfuUZRou7g\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cruisin’\u003c/a>” that I couldn’t nail. And Mtume was at the studio when I did those vocals and kinda coached me through it, you know. And he’s just a great guy, man.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Absolutely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: He’s great, yeah.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Speaking of collaborators and mentors and that combination, one of the people you’re most associated with, you know, is Questlove from The Roots. I don’t think I need to introduce him. Questlove.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: What’s up, brother?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: You did these shows, I saw the show you did at Brooklyn Bowl maybe a year ago, whatever, where you guys — it was just the two of you on stage. And it was, to me, it was a beautiful experience, musically, and the chemistry you guys had together — talk about how you guys met and the musical bond you guys share.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Yeah. I call him Ahmir. He’s always gonna be Ahmir to me. He’s Questlove but that’s Ahmir. That’s my brother. I met him shortly after \u003cem>Brown Sugar \u003c/em>came out. I think I’d just stopped touring for a second and they was doing a show at the House of Blues. They were opening for The Fugees. So it was Goodie Mob, The Roots and The Fugees. And so, you know, Cee-Lo was there killing and then here come The Roots. And it was the first time I’d seen them live and, you know, I had just got off the road and I was pretty bummed out because the drummer that I wanted, who was the house drummer at The Apollo, Ralph Rolle —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Oh, Ralph Rolle, sure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: I wanted — he was my drummer for the first couple of shows and then he didn’t want to tour. So I was bummed out for the rest of the shows. I feel like I did not have the drummer that I wanted and I was searching for a drummer. I went through a whole bunch of drummers during that time. Abe Fogle was one of my drummers. \u003ca href=\"http://omarhakim.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Omar Hakim\u003c/a>, who was with Weather Report, he was one of my drummers at the time. And I just couldn’t find it. So, anyway, at the show, seeing Ahmir — he knew I was there. I don’t know how.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>QUESTLOVE, FROM THE AUDIENCE\u003c/strong>: I knew! \u003cem>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Where are you at, man? So, OK. He always tells this story. See, you should tell the story, cause you tell it better than I do.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>QUESTLOVE, NOW ON STAGE\u003c/strong>: OK, at the risk of overexposure, cause I know people are tired of hearing me talking, I promise to keep this under two minutes. I had met — you had first walked in when The Roots were mixing our \u003cem>\u003c/em>\u003cem>Do You Want More?!!!??!\u003c/em> record. And Bob — at Battery Studios — and engineer Bob Power, who was working on the \u003cem>\u003c/em>\u003cem>Brown Sugar\u003c/em> record, was like, “Yo, you gotta meet this kid. He’s the next …” You know, he named every — “He’s the next Sam Cooke. He’s the next Donny Hathaway. He’s the next …” you know, and I had such a Nazi attitude towards like R&B at that time, I just thought, “Ah, whatever.” And he walked in, and I was dismissive. I was like, “Ah, whatever.” And Bob’s like, “No. There’s a song called ‘\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kfd5UZnGAi0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">S—, Damn, Motherf—er\u003c/a>.’ You gotta play on it.” And I was, you know, and I was so dismissive. You know, he came in, I look, alright, it’s a R&B dude. I’m cool.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And so I had had gotten the \u003cem>\u003c/em>\u003cem>Brown Sugar \u003c/em>sampler when I left the Source Awards — the second Source awards — that one where Suge Knight was like, “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpgpS3ogvMM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">All in the video, all in the —\u003c/a>“. I always consider that day to be hip-hop’s funeral. And the only saving grace was — so at the time when Snoop is on stage yelling, “Y’all don’t love us. Y’all don’t …” I grab my date and I was like, “Yo, we out.” Cause I knew it was gonna be like a war going on. So I ran in the lobby and as I was running, some guy just ran up to me and says, “Here!” I look and it’s D’Angelo, \u003cem>\u003c/em>\u003cem>Brown Sugar\u003c/em>, and I put it in my pocket and I ran out. And I don’t know what made me do it, but I listened to it and I thought, “Ah, I done f—ed up now.” Like, I did. I thought like, “Yo. This is our savior.” Like, I knew. So I basically spent — that was May of ’95. So I spent the entire year trying to figure out how to strategically get within his sight so that I can atone for my sins of being dismissive that day. And that moment came April 1, 1996. So, it was April Fools’ Day; Marvin Gaye day. You and Erykah — you had just met Erykah that day, right?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Nah.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>QUESTLOVE\u003c/strong>: Well you knew of her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: We were there together, yeah.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>QUESTLOVE\u003c/strong>: Right. So y’all recorded the duet, that, “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQNMAadLnLE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Heaven Must Have Sent You\u003c/a>.” Y’all recorded that earlier at \u003ca href=\"http://www.marvins-room.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Marvin’s studio\u003c/a>. And that night, you, both of y’all came to the House of Blues. So I met both of y’all the same night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And I knew he was in the audience. And I thought, “OK. I could either sabotage our show right now …” Like, “Either I can audition for him, or I can make it smooth running.” Because I’m not saying there’s a band rivalry going on between the three, but it was like we were all trying to kill each other in \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/blogs/therecord/2013/08/21/214145432/the-blast-radius-of-kendrick-lamars-control-verse\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">that Kendrick Lamar rivalry way\u003c/a>. Like, you know, by this point, we’re in L.A. Soul Train Awards. Everybody’s in the house. You see TLC up there, you see all these notable celebrities, and The Roots could have either stuck to the script or — it was such a moment, I thought, “I gotta audition for him.” And, in the auditioning for D’Angelo, I decided to play in a style that The Roots were not accustomed to. So the sort of — the preview of that drunken \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J_Dilla\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dilla\u003c/a> style that we perfected for \u003cem>Voodoo\u003c/em>, I thought, “OK. This is what I’m gonna do.” And everyone’s looking at me like, “What are you doing? Why are you playing so …?” And so there was this moment where I was like, “God, I don’t have him yet,” and I decided to do — there’s a song — there’s a side Prince project called \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madhouse_(band)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Madhouse\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Madhouse, right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>QUESTLOVE\u003c/strong>: There’s an introductory song called “Four.” So I was like, “Alright. I’ma see what language he speaks.” It was some African communication drum thing. And I did it and he instantly — he was like, “Yeah!” Like he just — that’s how I met him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: True story. True story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: I think I’ll move ahead. I was gonna do this later, but let’s talk about \u003cem>Voodoo\u003c/em>. Since he’s in the house — one of the things that a lot of people think is that Questlove produced \u003cem>Voodoo\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>QUESTLOVE, NOW BACK IN THE AUDIENCE\u003c/strong>: No!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: OK. I know, and that’s what we’re doing here. But a lot of people do think that, by the way. So I guess the question I have — I want to talk a little bit about the creative genesis of that album. We were talking earlier about Roy Hargrove played a key role. Talk about the genesis of that album.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Well, wow. Me and Ahmir met. After that night, they were doing, y’all were doing \u003cem>Illadelph Halflife\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>QUESTLOVE\u003c/strong>: [off mic]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Right, right, “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JC9twfHSiR8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hypnotic\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: So for those who didn’t hear and the people who are listening online, what Ahmir just said is that the last cut on the \u003cem>Illadelphia\u003c/em> album —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Went into the first cut of \u003cem>Voodoo\u003c/em>. Literally, wow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: And what does that mean?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: What does that mean?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Yeah. What does that mean, musically?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: I don’t know. I think what it means is that, you know it’s like musical kin. It’s kind of like being separated at birth and then y’all meet when you’re 22. And you be like, “Damn, you my brother.” That’s basically what it was like.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I was doing \u003cem>Space Jam\u003c/em> soundtrack. And so the concept of the song was the real NBA players against, you know, the monster. Hence the basketball references in “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COix3dndSfk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Playa Playa\u003c/a>.” So that was the first song we did. When we got together, we at The Hit Factory. And we just was like nuttin’ off, like two little kids in the toy store.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: You want to play that track for a minute?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Yeah. Hell yeah.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: From \u003cem>Voodoo, \u003c/em>“Playa Playa.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Questlove.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: So a landmark album. It’s got some — the mood of it is really significantly different from your first album. Talk about the evolution from the first one to the second one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: OK. Just about the entirety of the first album, \u003cem>Brown Sugar\u003c/em>, I wrote it, the majority of that record in my bedroom in Richmond. And all of the demos for it were done on a four-track in my bedroom. I think EMI was a little leery of me being in the studio producing it on my own, which is what I was fighting for. So it was important for them that I go in with someone, an engineer. Everyone was trying to pick like, “You should get Prince’s engineer, or somebody else,” and I picked Bob Power because of my love for Tribe and what they were doing. And it was the best, it was the best thing to do. He was so awesome. He taught me a lot. All of the demos that I had basically before we even set foot in the studio — we were at Bob Power’s house for like three months like going over every detail, tweaking every high hat, every symbol, you name it. And so, when we went into the studio to record, I mean, it was really like, in my opinion, I felt like — after it was done, I loved it. But there were certain songs that I felt it lost something between the demo version and all of the production that went into it. I felt like it lost — like it got a little homogenized, in my opinion, for me, at the time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: You mean just sonically, it was too clean? You need a little dirtier?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: No clean but — I wouldn’t use the word clean — but what’s the word? Buttery? I think it’s the best. Yeah, buttery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: So you were looking to, you wanted to eliminate the margarine and the butter?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: There you go. So I was like — yeah, straight from the cow to the glass, you know. And that’s what \u003cem>Voodoo\u003c/em> was; it really was that. We were in the studio and i wanted everything to feel like the demo. I wanted everything to feel like the demo. So that was the first thing. And then it was, too, more working with musicians. We were doing a lot of — me and Ahmir would be in there just really, like I said, nuttin’ off like kids. For hours and we would just keep the tape rolling. And we’d be in that live room with absolutely no, really no intent of writing or recording anything — we would just be playing. We would be playing, playing for hours. The whole time the tape is rolling. And then something would come up. We would doodle and then Ahmir would go, “Whoa, whoa! What’s that? Yo, Russ! Rewind it! Rewind the tape!” So Russ Elevado would rewind it, we would listen to it again and boom, there’s a new song. And then, you know, a lot of it was one take, you know what I mean? We would go in there — so that was a different thing from \u003cem>Brown Sugar \u003c/em>that was because I was doing everything myself at first.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, for me, I think it was two major elements — or three major elements. Ahmir being there. I think after me and Ahmir did “Playa,” I did a duet with B.B. King. I brought Ahmir with me to the session because it was my intention of doing a cover of — Johnny “Guitar” Watson had just died — he had just died right before the B.B. King session and it was my intention to do a cover of “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4g4DO6co0II\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Superman Lover\u003c/a>.” So I brought Ahmir with me and you know, we get there, we can’t do Johnny “Guitar” Watson because they have to be B.B. King songs. But I was in search, I was desperately seeking a \u003ca href=\"http://www.allmusic.com/artist/james-jamerson-mn0000123578\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">James Jamerson\u003c/a> aficionado or a James Jamerson — I even sought out his son.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Right; James Jamerson, Jr.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: James Jamerson, Jr. And I was looking for someone who could really give me that and boom, I found him at the B.B. King session: \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pino_Palladino\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pino Palladino\u003c/a>. That and from the \u003cem>Brown Sugar \u003c/em>days, I’d always been dying — we had a mutual friend who kind of turned me on to his music and I used to listen to it a lot and I just loved his tone and been dying to work with \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15291267/roy-hargrove\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Roy Hargrove\u003c/a>. And we reached out and so I think those elements right there — that was it, man. That was the recipe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Yeah, Pino Palladino, he’s been with you ever since. He’s still with you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Yes, he is. Yes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: How do you work — I mean, obviously Ahmir and you guys have this bond — cause you play so many instruments, I’m really curious how you weave in other musicians. You said a certain way you want to play it. Do you have them play exactly what you played? How much are they able to put themselves in?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: They follow — I’ll set the structure, or what have you. Whatever, however you want to call it. And then we follow that to a certain degree, but I do give them license to interpret it, you know. I mean, once you — when you working with musicians of that caliber, you can trust them to interpret it any way. Like Roy, I would just play it for Roy and let him just do what he does. And he would make the arrangements, do the horn arrangements, all right there. He’s incredible. He’s f—ing incredible, man. And Pino pretty much would follow what I wrote, you know, for the structure of the song and then add his own interpretations in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Speaking of the blues, it seems to me that one of the tracks that really is powerful with you from that era is “Devil’s Pie,” and we talked about those — but it’s a blues song to you, isn’t it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Yeah, it’s kinda like a blues song. I would say the spirit of the vocals was more like chain gang, or like the feel of the slaves, the field slaves in the field picking whatever the f— master had us picking and that’s what we’d be singing while we picking in the hot f—ing sun. I mean, that’s kind of where I was going with it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Let’s get a little hit from “Devil’s Pie,” from \u003cem>Voodoo\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Thank you.\u003cem>\u003c/em> Shout-out to Premier for lacing that. It’s crazy. Preemo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: So we had a Twitter #AskDAngelo, and here’s a question: “Just learned you wrote Black Men United’s anthem, ‘\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poAVDRa0DFY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">U Will Know\u003c/a>.’ What’s the story on that?” And just as a couple little fun things, this a picture we’re gonna drop in later of — this is the R. Kelly, D’Angelo and Brian McKnight, a very unlikely trio. And the sheet music from “U Will Know,” which was written by you and your brother, Luther.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: That’s right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: So, let’s talk about that track.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Again, in the crib, it was — that song really is what got me my deal. It was on my first demo when Jocelyn signed me to Midnight Music. I think that was the one. That was the song that sealed the deal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: How did it end up being a sound — it ended up being a soundtrack for \u003cem>Jason’s Lyric\u003c/em> as opposed to be a solo track for you. How did that happen?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Well, it was, you know, it was early and, like I said, it was my original demo and it takes time to get signed and all the process and all that stuff. So by the time I’d gotten signed to EMI, the direction I was going was just different. So it was a perfect fit. Jocelyn being, you know, the great publisher that she was, she placed it for the movie. And it was like, wow. It was like, I’m coming out of nowhere. Because the only thing I had done up to that point was a song called “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lq4WGKGDtW0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Overjoyed\u003c/a>” for the Harlem Boys’ Choir. And so here I am, you know, with all my heroes, man. So it was —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Who was — talk about the talent that was on that track.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Man. So, Brian McKnight, R. Kelly, \u003ca href=\"http://www.allmusic.com/artist/gerald-levert-mn0000649435/biography\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Gerald LeVert\u003c/a>, Al B. Sure, Boyz II Men, H-Town —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: H-Town, “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrBnEaQd4ZY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Knockin da Boots\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: “Knockin da Boots.” It was everybody.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Usher, I think?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Usher. Yeah, little Usher was there. I was like, “This little kid gone do something, man.” S—, yeah. \u003ca href=\"http://www.mtv.com/news/1508850/aaron-hall-working-to-overcome-tough-times-with-guy-reunion-new-persona/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Aaron Hall\u003c/a>. Did I tell you Aaron Hall?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Yeah, Aaron Hall’s important.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Aaron Hall, who was like God to me. I f—ing loved Aaron Hall. And everybody — \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Williams_(singer)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Christopher Williams\u003c/a> —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: That’s a whole era right there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Right. It was crazy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: So you were in the studio. Now, you basically have all these vets and you’re the kid. How was that? How were those sessions?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: They were fun. They were really, really fun. And everyone — it was Black Men United, so there was no, I mean, everybody kind of left their egos at the door. For the most part, it was — like I said, it was surreal. And I got a chance to, not just work with a lot of my heroes, but you know, groove. Relationships — especially with Aaron. Aaron Hall was really cool. Those brothers kind of like, you know, kind of put me up under their wing, kind of like, “Come here, young blood.” You know, “Watch out for this. Dah, dah, dah, dah, dah.” Him and Gerald LeVert were the biggest ones, man. Gerald was just f—ing awesome. Rest in peace, brother. I love that man; love that man.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: So for those of you who may not know this track or know that D’Angelo wrote it, we’re gonna play “U Will Know” by Black Men United.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: It’s interesting listening to that track now and — talk about longevity and mystique. I mean, there are people on that record who — Christopher Williams — who had a moment. He was a movie star and a singer. He was in \u003cem>New Jack City\u003c/em>. Al B., who’s moved on and does radio. Having longevity and having mystique — you’re one of the few people who has mystique, you know that. I mean in the age of TMZ and all that stuff, you, you have — there’s an aura still about your career. It’s very unusual today for anybody to have any mystery left.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: I agree.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: You know, I feel like — so let’s just take a couple more questions. This came in tonight from Twitter. And \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/divynthought/status/469229952085151744\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">this is from Divyn Thought\u003c/a>: “Are you a fan of how technology has changed the music industry?” And I guess you could take that a number of ways — technology in the studio or technology in how people consume music. How do you feel about the changes? And how does that affect as you’re going forward with your music?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: The consumption of it — that’s a — I can’t even touch that; that’s different. But as far as the technology — I don’t have a problem with technology as long as it’s not, it’s gotta be a balance, you know what I mean? So you can use technology but still — if you’re using technology to get the same point across that you would get say in doing analog s—, then it’s cool. I don’t have any problem with it at all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Do you have any Auto-Tune tracks you working on?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: No. Although, it’s funny, I met Sly recently and he was working on — yeah, \u003ca href=\"http://www.slystonemusic.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sly Stone\u003c/a>. And you know, I always hear the rumor mill that he’s always constantly working on music.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: That’s what he says when you ask him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: And it’s the truth. He’s got like mad s—, man, that he’s been working on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Oh, he played you some stuff?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Yeah.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Oh!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: And it’s not Family Stone s—. It’s progressive, it’s new, he’s f—ing with the Auto-Tune s—. I had a conversation with him like — cause I heard it. I was like, “Nah! Damn! Nah! Don’t do that! Why you using Auto-Tune?” you know. And he was explaining it. But the way he did it, he’s doing it like no one else. I mean, of course, it’s Sly. But he, like I said, I don’t have a problem with technology as long as you’re doing something with it that’s just new, you know what I mean, that’s putting some kind of twist with it. But he’s incredible, man. He’s incredible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Alright, so when’s the Sly/D’Angelo duet?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: It’s coming. Sly, you promised, so.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: We can talk a little bit more about — we can talk about your future. I mean, obviously there’s all kinds of anticipation. What are your thoughts about dealing with that? There’s a tremendous amount of like social media pressure that didn’t exist before.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Right.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Does that infect your process at all — the fact that people are getting at you all the time?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: It doesn’t. And I, to a fault, I think that I’ve kind of put myself in a bubble so that I’m not affected by any of that. Although, it’s hard not to be cause it’s just the world that we live in now. But I mean, I completely kind of like blocked all that s— out. I have to because when I’m thinking about music, when I’m being creative, you know, I can’t even put my mind there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: I visited the studio you work in and you have a cave. You literally sing in a cave.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Yes, I do.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: It’s —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: My little tee-pee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: It’s a black tarp and then you have a humidifier, keyboard — that’s more or less it. And a ashtray.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: And a ashtray.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Talk about that. Cause it’s unusual — even in the studio, which is in itself an enclosed environment, you have even another enclosed environment. What is that? Talk about that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: I don’t know. I’m trying to go deep, deep in the onion. I get tired of kicking everybody out the room cause when it’s time for me to do vocals, I’ll kick the engineer out, the assistant and everybody. I’m like, “Get out,” you know. I’ll set the board myself and I’ll have the mic there. What we’ve been doing now is Russ will be in the control room mixing and I’ll be in the live room where we set up the cave — in the live room.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But I hear that’s how Sly used to do it. You know, he would sit at — that’s one thing Mtume taught me, too, about Sly. Mtume was talking about how Sly would use this thing called the dead zone. Sly wouldn’t even use headphones. You know, he would sit at the board, with the mic and he would position the mic a certain way in between the speakers and there’s a dead zone. So he wouldn’t even put on headphones. And that’s why when you listen to some of that stuff, \u003cem>There’s A Riot Going On\u003c/em>, you hear a lot of hiss and a lot of stuff in there, but that’s what that is. I kinda just borrowed that from him, you know.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Well, talk about — I mean, your vocals are part of your trademark, and they’re falsetto harmonies. Talk about the process of recording. Because it seems like a very sacred process. You have a cave. I mean, you know, you’re not someone who has a bunch of people in the studio. It’s not a party when you record. What is your thoughts about that? Why do you go in that direction? Is it just, you say, the onion? You trying to get in deeper?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: It’s the onion, yeah. You know, you’re putting your voice down on tape — because I still use tape — and you know, it’s about capturing the spirit. It’s about capturing the vibe. And I learned — we all learned a lot working on \u003cem>Voodoo.\u003c/em>\u003cem> \u003c/em>That was such a great time. I’m kinda a first take dude. The first time, cut that mic on and the spirit is there and what comes on the mic — I mean, even if I’m mumbling, I like to keep a lot of that initial thing that comes out. Cause that’s the spirit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: I’ve heard some vocalists go in and they don’t have — they have a melody, they don’t have the lyrics. The famous — I think Paul McCartney “Yesterday” was originally “Scrambled Eggs” or whatever ’til he figured out what the words would be. Do you go in with the words or the emotion? I mean, which goes first?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: It’s kind of like the emotion, yeah. And freestyle; you freestyle and mumble s—. And then later, you know, fill in the blanks and make sense out of the mumbles, yeah.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: So we’re coming to the end of our evening and I want to talk just a little bit about the future. From what I’ve seen of the shows you’ve been doing over the last couple years, obviously you’ve evolved. It’s not the same D’Angelo that people might have seen before. Where do you see yourself going musically? Is it gonna be like — because one of the things that’s interesting about the shows, at the Brooklyn Bowl, for example, it was a completely different audience than I’ve seen you with before. It was a younger audience — way younger — it was a whiter audience —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Yeah.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Than I think people would expect. Do you feel like your future recordings will have a different kind of audience base than even what you’ve had before because you’re in a different place?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Different? I don’t know. I just feel like it’s expanding, you know, and the music itself is expanding. So yeah, I mean, I think that this is a different — it’s just a different generation. Everybody call it the iPod Nation or what have you. But I think there’s less segregation, if you will, of genres. I think more people are welcome to — they don’t give a f— if it’s called this or that. If it’s good, it’s good, right?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: I think, are we through?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: I don’t know, man.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: OK. A couple more questions from the audience. Oh, this is a good one. If you were not a musician, what would you be?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Goddamn. I’m scared to say it. You know what? Cause everybody back home always thinks that this is what I’m gonna do — that I’ma take the Al Green route. I don’t see it. But I don’t know.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: You’re gonna join the family business?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: I don’t know. I don’t think so.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: There’s not gonna be a church of D’Angelo in Richmond — outside of Richmond?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: You know, I’ve always looked at, when I’m on stage, that the stage is my pulpit and when we’re on the music, I mean, when we’re playing and we’re getting the energy back and feeding it to the crowd, and that exchange is happening, that that’s my ministry. I’ve always looked at it like that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: You grew up in a very — I mean, your father was a Pentecostal preacher.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Yes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: You grew up in a very church environment. I mean, is there ever a temptation? I mean, you said not a church but you ever have the temptation to go back and do Christian music?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: I definitely want to do a quartet album and I’m just —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: A gospel quartet?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Yeah.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Oh, nice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: I love quartet and those guys are still — I’m still fascinated with that whole world. Before the first European tour, you know, that’s what I did in Richmond. Me, my cousin Marlon, dude that’s in the Vanguard now, Arel, my other cousin — we put together a quartet group and I did a little surprise little thing at this church way up in the woods and it was great, man. It was great. It was funny because we was doing like some real deal quartet gospel, you know. Like, we did a song by, we did a couple songs by The Jubes, \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-bujno-CYk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pilgrim Jubilees\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Right. Wow. That’s seriously going back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Oh, yeah. And then we ended it with this interpretation — so it went to this Fishbone thing. It’s funny and I told Angelo — I called \u003ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelo_Moore\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Angelo Moore\u003c/a> and told him about it and he was like, “You did what? What song?” It was —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>QUESTLOVE, FROM THE AUDIENCE\u003c/strong>: “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QV5Nkah8nP8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Everyday Sunshine\u003c/a>?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: No, no, no. It”s on \u003cem>Give A Monkey A Brain\u003c/em>. The funk song. “Propaganda.” \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaEXHot1-04\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The “Propaganda” joint\u003c/a>. So at the end where they go — so we was doing that. And like the church, at first, was really up and s—, then when we went into that, everybody sat down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: How much more time do we have, folks?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>QUESTLOVE FROM AND WITH THE AUDIENCE\u003c/strong>: Forever!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Nah. Hey, Questlove, come back up here, man. I want to end this with a little — cause you said something interesting when I interviewed him before about your process and I’d like to get that. I think that would be a good way to end the evening. When I interviewed you for \u003ca href=\"http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2665186/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Finding The Funk\u003c/a>, you talked about the ways in which playing with him affected and how he affected your drumming. I’d love for you to talk about that now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>QUESTLOVE\u003c/strong>: Absolutely. If you listen to “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3y2aP0B4Ic\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dreaming Eyes of Mine\u003c/a>,” on \u003cem>Brown Sugar\u003c/em> — you know, at the time — it’s funny because the only person I’ve ever heard describe this was the time that we brought Lenny Kravitz in to play and he said the same thing that I thought in the beginning. I was like, “Man, there’s a discrepancy on the kick pattern. It’s really messed up.” But I was kind of obsessed with just how sloppy the kick pattern sounded. And I hit up Bob Power — I was like, “Yo, why did y’all leave it like that? Like, it’s so, like no one cared someone drunk was playing it.” And he said, “No, that’s exactly how he wants it.” I was like, “Really?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Which leads to, what I was explaining was when D’Angelo, when he came down to Philadelphia to record on the \u003cem>Illadelph Halflife \u003c/em>album, we had him there for two days because normally like a song should take that long, but we literally knocked out the song on The Roots album in seven hours. Like he’s, his vocal process is — I’ve never seen someone just so instantaneous. It’s like watching someone shoot like 10 half-court shots — not even look at the ball — that’s how effortless it is. So we were done and you know, we had him down for two days so he stayed in Philadelphia. And it was like, “Well, alright, let’s mess around.” That’s when I think we were testing each other to see each other’s knowledge. But there was a song that he had initially planned for \u003cem>Brown Sugar\u003c/em> called “B—” that — I know right! You remember? Which was the most drunkest — past J. Dilla drunk, drumming I ever heard — programming, so if the pulse is this, the drum pattern was \u003cem>— \u003c/em>It was drunk but it was perfect and it just — I had spent, like you have to understand. Being in a hip-hop band in 1996, like there was a lot of resistance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Sure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>QUESTLOVE\u003c/strong>: It was still the era of \u003cem>The Chronic\u003c/em>, \u003cem>Ready to Die\u003c/em>; Biggie was happening so, you know, real hip-hop was like, yo, if you ain’t sampling, you ain’t doing nothing. So The Roots, I’d spent four years by that point with a chip on my shoulder like, “I am as meticulous and as quantized and as straight as 12 o’clock. I am a time machine.” And he just basically came in and deprogrammed me. I had a lot of pride in the fact that Premier, Q-Tip would come up and be like, “Yo, you’re like a drum machine.” Like, “You’re so straight,” right? So I was playing like a metronome for him and he was like, “Nah, nah.” Like, “Lay back a little bit.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: So tell us about that. What is that philosophy of drumming come from? What were you trying — cause you were trying to mess up my man.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: See that’s the thing. I’m basically trying to emulate the great hip-hop producers. So if you looking for a break — you look for a sample — and this was before you had, I guess, the technology to speed up or slow down a sample without f—ing with the tempo of it, right? So you had a beat going and you would put a sample over top of that beat. It wouldn’t align perfectly unless you kind of would put it behind. You have to kind of play it a little bit before the beat started so that by the time you got to the end of the four bars, it would align. And in that way, everything was the drunk thing, like you’re saying, you know. I mean, that’s just me kinda trying to emulate Premier and Marley Marl, my favorite hip-hop producers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>QUESTLOVE\u003c/strong>: I gotta object. You were past that. I mean, I don’t mean like you were past that level — when people program drums, I mean, you can either have the quantized option on — I’m assuming that some of you aren’t musicians, so when you have a quantized on, you can take 12 shots of Patron, program something and it fixes it for you. Whereas the only two human beings I know that never had the quantize option on was D’Angelo and Dilla. And so both of them single-handedly made me drop it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And you gotta understand the way that black musicianship was going, you had to be precise, it was about gospel chops, it was about how many drums you can hit per hour. And I’m in my prime. Like finally getting a little light with the group and then suddenly they want me to just strip down to gutter bucket levels, you know. On the whole \u003cem>Voodoo \u003c/em>record, like I’m playing rim shot. I played snare on one song, “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcQ83tOZ4Wk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Feel Like Makin Love\u003c/a>.” So he, to me, it was like being told to use the force, in \u003cem>Star Wars \u003c/em>terms. Like, “Just trust me. Keep it in the pocket. Be sloppy as hell and it’s gonna work.” So, I mean, it took me like a month to adjust to it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: I have both of you here — let’s talk about Soulquarians and what that was. From both of your points of view, what did that collective mean to you and how you think it’s affected music going forward in any way, shape or form. Want to jump on it? Either one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>QUESTLOVE\u003c/strong>: I mean —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Don’t let him talk all the time!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>QUESTLOVE\u003c/strong>: You right. This is your thing, man.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Exactly. You start.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Alright. To me, Soulquarians was definitely just a collective of like-minded individuals. I remember us being at Electric Lady. I’d be downstairs, Ahmir would be in the room and it was just like a hotbed — everyone would stop by. Everyone knew we was there. So Erykah would stop by or she would be upstairs. Common would be down the hall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>QUESTLOVE\u003c/strong>: Yeah, he had studio A, Common had studio B, and then up in C would be, you know —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Mos Def.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>QUESTLOVE\u003c/strong>: Yeah, either Mos or Kweli or sometimes Bilal. So at any given moment, between 1997 and like 2001, 2002, we literally just took over Electric Lady Studios. And I mean, at one point in ’98 it was just like, it was like sleepovers. We would just sit, watch \u003cem>Soul Train\u003c/em> all night and figure out something, like see a trick that Al Green was doing and then — mostly it was like practicing for the show. It was like, what album can we make, that we can do live for people and then they’ll be like, “Ah! That was amazing!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: The main premise was, it’s not gonna just be one group — it’s not gonna be one album that does this, it’s gonna be a movement. It’s gonna be all of us.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>QUESTLOVE\u003c/strong>: Yeah. I personally have figured out, at least from The Roots’ standpoint, that any success that’s ever happened in music, happened as a movement, you know. You think you like Stevie Wonder, but no, you like the Motown movement. And then who’s he associated with? I mean, everything that’s had a success is associated with something.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Before we close, can we grapple with \u003cem>\u003c/em>neo-soul and whether that’s a valid phrase or was just some PR bulls—. Anybody?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: I plead the fifth, really. I’m not touching it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>QUESTLOVE\u003c/strong>: No, you know, I’ll say this much. I’m not — cause I hate documentaries in which like, you know, they’ll coin a term and then you see a bunch of people that are a part of that movement kind of like disassociate themselves with it. I mean, none of us — who came up? Was it \u003ca href=\"http://www.kedar.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kedar\u003c/a>?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Kedar. Are you here, Kedar?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>QUESTLOVE\u003c/strong>: Yo, this is like \u003ca href=\"http://www.thisisyourlife.com/tiyl.html?id_tiyl=0523TL681065\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cem>This Is Your Life\u003c/em>\u003c/a>! Everybody’s in here!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Where are you Kedar? Can you please stand up? Ke!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>QUESTLOVE\u003c/strong>: That’s amazing. Everybody’s here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: So he coined the phrase.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>QUESTLOVE\u003c/strong>: I think Kedar coined the phrase. But I don’t think —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>:\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>Was this a valid phrase or was this something that was bogus? What do you feel about it?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>QUESTLOVE\u003c/strong>: I never want to go on record disassociating myself from something or think I was above it. Cause usually when people do that, they’re really passive aggressively trying to say, “Well, I’m better than that person that you associated me with.” I think at the end of the day, it’s like the individual collective have made their mark and their stamp in history and more importantly, what I want him to understand — because the problem with the bubble thing, is that sometimes you’re unaware of the effects of it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like he’s totally amazed at the fact, when I bring him news of like who’s — the fact that \u003cem>Voodoo\u003c/em> is still rippling, like the effects of it are rippling and spreading and people are now, there’s a whole other audience that’s into it, you know. When we did the Bonnaroo thing together a year-and-a-half ago, and saw the audience, it was like, there’s a new generation of people that are on it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So we weren’t necessarily card-carrying members with a flag on it, but I do think that it was definitely something in the air between ’97 to like 2003. And I don’t think it’s anything to scoff or disassociate yourself from.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Yeah, and I agree with you. I don’t think I want to disassociate or anything — and respect it for what it is and all that. But I will say this that, you know, anytime you put a name on something that you kind of, you just put it in a box.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>QUESTLOVE\u003c/strong>: It’s the end.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: You put it in a box. Right. So, I think the main thing about the whole neo-soul thing — not to put it down or it was a bad thing or anything — but you don’t — you want to be in a position where you can grow, as an artist. You never want to be told, “Hey, well, you don’t do, you’re not doing what you did on \u003cem>Brown Sugar\u003c/em>,” you know. Cause like right now, I’m not — we’re going some place else. And so going, “Well, damn, you a neo-soul artist. Why don’t you do neo-soul?” And I never claimed that. I never claimed I do neo-soul, you know. I used to say — when I first came out — I used to always say, “I do black music. I make black music.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>QUESTLOVE\u003c/strong>: And you also have to understand that when \u003cem>Voodoo \u003c/em>came out, that was — at one point in history, that was a hard pill for a lot of people to swallow. Like it sounded — it’s weird now because it’s in our DNA, but when it came out, there were a lot of people that were like, “Whoa! This sounds like an acid trip or something! What are you guys doing?” Now it sounds normal — especially compared to unmentionable, unspoken third record.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And I think I just killed the interview. I’m sorry! Thank you!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: So how are we doing, guys, on time?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>AUDIENCE\u003c/strong>: Good! Great! Don’t stop!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GEORGE\u003c/strong>: Alright, we’ve had a quorum and we’ve decided we’re finished. So, Ahmir Thompson and —\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO\u003c/strong>: Before we end, I just want to thank all of y’all for coming and for showing your love and support, really, it means so much. Thank you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From the heart. \u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=D%27Angelo%3A+%27I%27m+Trying+To+Go+Deep%27&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>As the seventh X-Men movie begins, New York City is in ruins, its residents nearly annihilated. Yet \u003cem>X-Men: Days of Future Past\u003c/em>‘s true plight is overpopulation. The film is so stuffed with characters that including twin versions of Professor X and Magneto scarcely boosts the confusion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first X-flick directed by Bryan Singer since 2003’s \u003cem>X2\u003c/em> clicks in its middle section, which mostly focuses on the younger crew of heroes introduced in 2011’s \u003cem>X-Men: First Class\u003c/em>. But that story, set in 1973, is framed by another tale that transpires 50 years later and is both ponderous and overcrowded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Very loosely based on a 1981 Marvel Comics series, \u003cem>Days\u003c/em> uses a sort of time travel to dovetail the two casts. In the future, robotic mutant-hunters called Sentinels murderously pursue the X-folks around the globe. Hiding at a ruined mountain temple in China — can’t ignore the largest cinema market outside North America — a tentatively allied Professor X (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto (Ian McKellan) discuss a plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page) can transfer the 2023 consciousness of the near-immortal Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) to his pumped ’70s body. Then he can rally that era’s Professor X (James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender) to stop Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) from killing mutie-hating inventor Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage), who’s about to get Nixon administration funding for his Sentinels program. By killing Trask, you see, Mystique has intensified — or will intensify — fear of mutants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If that premise weren’t complicated enough, most of the characters sport multiple names. The Prof calls Mystique “Raven,” and he and Magneto address each other as, respectively, Charles and Erik. And don’t even think about catching the handles of the globalized new recruits who make their first X-bows in this episode.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One exception to that advice: Quicksilver (Evan Peters), a hyperactive adolescent mutie who carries the movie’s niftiest set piece. He helps Wolverine and the Prof rescue Magneto from a super-secure cell under the Pentagon — don’t ask — in a sequence that uses slo-mo to depict how the speed demon views everyone else’s snail’s pace. Then the kid has the good taste to vanish and not further congest the story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The filmmakers riff on 1973 with lava lamps, simulated 8mm film and a Roberta Flack ballad, and also enlist in the Vietnam War. Mystique flits from a Mekong Delta battlefield to the Paris Peace Talks, and finally to the White House, where she tangles not only with Sentinels but also Richard Nixon (comically impersonated by Mark Camacho).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the younger Prof, who’s rejected his mutant powers, McEvoy gets to be soulfully despairing, and Lawrence has a few frisky moments when she’s not in her blue-reptile-skinned Mystique getup. Most of the time, though, they’re as confined as the other actors: trapped in their supersuits, upstaged by the CGI and buffeted by editor/composer John Ottman’s sub-Wagnerian score.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At least the droning Teutonic music befits the movie’s heavier themes. The first \u003cem>X-Men\u003c/em> movie opened at a Nazi death camp where the young Magneto was imprisoned; this one’s introduction dumps piles of corpses in a scene that emulates archival footage of Auschwitz.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Such self-importance is a perennial problem with superhero movies. But \u003cem>Days of Future Past\u003c/em> is lively enough to mostly overcome it. With characters like the impish Quicksilver, the movie recaptures something of the spirit of the comic’s early days. Back then, \u003cem>The X-Men\u003c/em> was all about that persecuted minority that knew the world hated it for being smarter, faster and just plain cooler than everyone else: the teenager. \u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Dizzy+From+Time+Travel%2C+Overstuffed+With+Mutants&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "\u003cem>X-Men: Days Of Future Past \u003c/em>brings in the old mutants, the young mutants, some new mutants and a whole lot of everything. Still, it's lively enough to capture something of the comics' spirit.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>As the seventh X-Men movie begins, New York City is in ruins, its residents nearly annihilated. Yet \u003cem>X-Men: Days of Future Past\u003c/em>‘s true plight is overpopulation. The film is so stuffed with characters that including twin versions of Professor X and Magneto scarcely boosts the confusion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first X-flick directed by Bryan Singer since 2003’s \u003cem>X2\u003c/em> clicks in its middle section, which mostly focuses on the younger crew of heroes introduced in 2011’s \u003cem>X-Men: First Class\u003c/em>. But that story, set in 1973, is framed by another tale that transpires 50 years later and is both ponderous and overcrowded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Very loosely based on a 1981 Marvel Comics series, \u003cem>Days\u003c/em> uses a sort of time travel to dovetail the two casts. In the future, robotic mutant-hunters called Sentinels murderously pursue the X-folks around the globe. Hiding at a ruined mountain temple in China — can’t ignore the largest cinema market outside North America — a tentatively allied Professor X (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto (Ian McKellan) discuss a plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page) can transfer the 2023 consciousness of the near-immortal Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) to his pumped ’70s body. Then he can rally that era’s Professor X (James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender) to stop Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) from killing mutie-hating inventor Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage), who’s about to get Nixon administration funding for his Sentinels program. By killing Trask, you see, Mystique has intensified — or will intensify — fear of mutants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If that premise weren’t complicated enough, most of the characters sport multiple names. The Prof calls Mystique “Raven,” and he and Magneto address each other as, respectively, Charles and Erik. And don’t even think about catching the handles of the globalized new recruits who make their first X-bows in this episode.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One exception to that advice: Quicksilver (Evan Peters), a hyperactive adolescent mutie who carries the movie’s niftiest set piece. He helps Wolverine and the Prof rescue Magneto from a super-secure cell under the Pentagon — don’t ask — in a sequence that uses slo-mo to depict how the speed demon views everyone else’s snail’s pace. Then the kid has the good taste to vanish and not further congest the story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The filmmakers riff on 1973 with lava lamps, simulated 8mm film and a Roberta Flack ballad, and also enlist in the Vietnam War. Mystique flits from a Mekong Delta battlefield to the Paris Peace Talks, and finally to the White House, where she tangles not only with Sentinels but also Richard Nixon (comically impersonated by Mark Camacho).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the younger Prof, who’s rejected his mutant powers, McEvoy gets to be soulfully despairing, and Lawrence has a few frisky moments when she’s not in her blue-reptile-skinned Mystique getup. Most of the time, though, they’re as confined as the other actors: trapped in their supersuits, upstaged by the CGI and buffeted by editor/composer John Ottman’s sub-Wagnerian score.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At least the droning Teutonic music befits the movie’s heavier themes. The first \u003cem>X-Men\u003c/em> movie opened at a Nazi death camp where the young Magneto was imprisoned; this one’s introduction dumps piles of corpses in a scene that emulates archival footage of Auschwitz.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Such self-importance is a perennial problem with superhero movies. But \u003cem>Days of Future Past\u003c/em> is lively enough to mostly overcome it. With characters like the impish Quicksilver, the movie recaptures something of the spirit of the comic’s early days. Back then, \u003cem>The X-Men\u003c/em> was all about that persecuted minority that knew the world hated it for being smarter, faster and just plain cooler than everyone else: the teenager. \u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Dizzy+From+Time+Travel%2C+Overstuffed+With+Mutants&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Every so often, storytellers land on the same idea close enough to the same time that it rattles the zeitgeist like an earthquake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s how it felt, sifting through the well-crafted, emotionally exhausting scenes that fill HBO’s version of \u003cem>The Normal Heart\u003c/em>. Created as a searing, tragic look at the early days of the AIDS crisis in New York City, this TV movie joins the Oscar-winning film \u003cem>Dallas Buyer’s Club\u003c/em> and Peabody-winning documentary \u003cem>How to Survive a Plague\u003c/em> as a trio of excellent works documenting this country’s shameful first reaction to the spread of a mysterious disease that ravaged marginalized communities across America.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When I asked \u003cem>How to Survive a Plague\u003c/em> director David France why right now felt like a good time to peel back 30 years of history, he talked about time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Specifically, he said the storytellers who lived through those times needed some distance before they could handle talking about what they experienced; when the director first tried to talk with activists for his film, many of them still couldn’t speak easily. Even France, an openly gay journalist who covered the emerging AIDS crisis before it had a name, admitted he initially had trouble pushing himself to relive the days when too many friends died too soon and the world didn’t seem to care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One look at HBO’s \u003cem>The Normal Heart\u003c/em> shows why. The story centers on Ned Weeks (Mark Ruffalo), a writer and gay activist with a reputation for heated passion and baldfaced commentary; a not-so-thinly veiled version of the gay author and activist who created the play and wrote this film’s screenplay, Larry Kramer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We meet Weeks in 1981 as the goofy, undersexed man out during a wild weekend at Fire Island, the Long Island area vacation destination for gay men. He’s already drawn ire for writing that the promiscuity of gay men makes love impossible; we see Weeks wander through the unbridled hedonism of the Island like a tourist too scared to jump into a cold stream.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ironically, that reserve may have saved his life. Cute-as-a-button \u003cem>Glee\u003c/em> alum Jonathan Groff plays the first among Weeks’ friends to get sick; within months, cases are piling up at the offices of Dr. Emma Brookner, seemingly the only physician in New York who takes this epidemic seriously.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Played with a decided lack of glamour by Julia Roberts, Brookner is passionate and blunt as Weeks, unable to use her legs after a childhood bout with polio. But the pair’s efforts to rally support in the gay community initially falls on deaf ears, as men who seem to define their political identity by their promiscuity resist any suggestion that they should stop having sex.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If having sex can kill you, doesn’t anyone with half a brain stop f—ing?” Roberts-as-Brookner barks in exasperation. Apparently, she’s not familiar with smokers, who keep puffing even though they absolutely know what they’re doing will shorten their lives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The movie becomes a sorrowful documentation of all the horrors packed into the first three years of the AIDS crisis. Brookner and Weeks tour a gruesome hospital ward, where uncertainty over how the disease is transmitted leads workers to shun patients as they lay dying.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>City officials turn a blind eye even as emergency rooms refuse to treat people with full blown AIDS, amid rumors that Mayor Ed Koch is a closeted gay man. News reports initially call it “gay cancer” then GRID (Gay-Related Immune Deficiency); the sense that the world isn’t concerned with a disease killing gay men and intravenous drug users is palpable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The film enlists a cast of beloved, well-known actors keep the audience engaged through such wrenching scenes, including Ruffalo, Roberts, Matt Bomer (\u003cem>White Collar\u003c/em>), Jim Parsons (\u003cem>Big Bang Theory\u003c/em>), Taylor Kitsch (\u003cem>Friday Night Lights\u003c/em>) and B.D. Wong (\u003cem>Law & Order: SVU\u003c/em>). Director Ryan Murphy, who deserves a cheer just for bringing Kramer’s play to the small screen after many others failed, scores in every casting choice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bomer reportedly lost 40 pounds to play Felix Turner, the closeted \u003cem>New York Times\u003c/em> reporter who falls for Weeks and eventually contracts AIDS. And Ruffalo’s rumpled charm is key in making a likable figure of Weeks, a cantankerous agitator who seemed to anger everyone in his quest to end the deadly silence surrounding this epidemic. Just like Kramer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It is hard to remember, at a time when HIV-positive celebrities like Magic Johnson have lived nearly 25 years, that there was a long period of widespread disagreement over how AIDS was transmitted and how to treat it. And in an age where a kid falling down a skateboard ramp can become national news, it’s also hard to imagine how an emerging disease could kill over 1,000 Americans and get little attention from journalists, lawmakers or public health institutions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That is the greatest value of movies like \u003cem>The Normal Heart\u003c/em>, which takes us back to a time before gay weddings were featured on popular sitcoms and cable news conflicts made the politics of confrontation commonplace.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the film, Weeks’ insistence on passionate, public anger earns enemies among some gay activists, who feared exposure and political pressure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But if there is any criticism of \u003cem>The Normal Heart\u003c/em> that resonates, it’s that the story stops before events proved that the Weeks/Kramer style of activism actually works.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As David France’s \u003cem>How to Survive a Plague\u003c/em> documents, New York’s gay activists eventually helped push public officials and pharmaceutical companies to provide effective treatments to AIDS. They educated themselves about the disease enough to serve as consultants to drug makers and public policy types\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But none of those victories are shown in \u003cem>The Normal Heart\u003c/em>, which ends in 1984. Weeks is awkwardly attending another event where gay men are pairing up – a gay dance at Yale University — alone and an outsider. He’s been kicked out of the Gay Men’s Health Crisis group he helped found and the deaths keep piling up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the struggle to legalize gay marriage continues and some complain of a “gay agenda” in public life, films like \u003cem>The Normal Heart\u003c/em> have arrived to remind us when the fight for gay rights was even more directly a matter of life and death.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And perhaps only now, as we pat ourselves on the back for the mainstreaming of gay life and culture in today’s America, are we ready to look back with open eyes on a time when our lack of acceptance killed far too many people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Judged by that timetable, looks like \u003cem>The Normal Heart\u003c/em> has arrived just in time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The Normal Heart airs at 9 p.m. Sunday on HBO.\u003c/em> \u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=A+Painful+But+Critical+Reminder+From+%27The+Normal+Heart%27&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We meet Weeks in 1981 as the goofy, undersexed man out during a wild weekend at Fire Island, the Long Island area vacation destination for gay men. He’s already drawn ire for writing that the promiscuity of gay men makes love impossible; we see Weeks wander through the unbridled hedonism of the Island like a tourist too scared to jump into a cold stream.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ironically, that reserve may have saved his life. Cute-as-a-button \u003cem>Glee\u003c/em> alum Jonathan Groff plays the first among Weeks’ friends to get sick; within months, cases are piling up at the offices of Dr. Emma Brookner, seemingly the only physician in New York who takes this epidemic seriously.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Played with a decided lack of glamour by Julia Roberts, Brookner is passionate and blunt as Weeks, unable to use her legs after a childhood bout with polio. 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"id": "californiareport",
"title": "The California Report",
"tagline": "California, day by day",
"info": "KQED’s statewide radio news program providing daily coverage of issues, trends and public policy decisions.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareport",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 8
},
"link": "/californiareport",
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}
},
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"id": "californiareportmagazine",
"title": "The California Report Magazine",
"tagline": "Your state, your stories",
"info": "Every week, The California Report Magazine takes you on a road trip for the ears: to visit the places and meet the people who make California unique. The in-depth storytelling podcast from the California Report.",
"airtime": "FRI 4:30pm-5pm, 6:30pm-7pm, 11pm-11:30pm",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareportmagazine",
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"order": 10
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM3NjkwNjk1OTAz",
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},
"city-arts": {
"id": "city-arts",
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"info": "A one-hour radio program to hear celebrated writers, artists and thinkers address contemporary ideas and values, often discussing the creative process. Please note: tapes or transcripts are not available",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/05/cityartsandlecture-300x300.jpg",
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"airtime": "SUN 1pm-2pm, TUE 10pm, WED 1am",
"meta": {
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"source": "City Arts & Lectures"
},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
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"rss": "https://www.cityarts.net/feed/"
}
},
"closealltabs": {
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"order": 1
},
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"title": "Code Switch / Life Kit",
"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"meta": {
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"meta": {
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"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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"id": "forum",
"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9am-11am, 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/freakonomicsRadio.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
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},
"fresh-air": {
"id": "fresh-air",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/381444908/podcast.xml"
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"here-and-now": {
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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},
"hidden-brain": {
"id": "hidden-brain",
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"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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},
"how-i-built-this": {
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"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/howIBuiltThis.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this",
"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/3zxy",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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},
"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"order": 15
},
"link": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
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"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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}
},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
"meta": {
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},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
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"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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"source": "WaitWhat"
},
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"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
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"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "On Our Watch from NPR and KQED",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1567098962",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510360/podcast.xml"
}
},
"on-the-media": {
"id": "on-the-media",
"title": "On The Media",
"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm-3pm, MON 12am-1am",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/onTheMedia.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/otm",
"meta": {
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"source": "wnyc"
},
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