Artwork by ANDREW SPEAR EDITOR’S NOTE: This interview first ran on VICE/NOISEY. BY JONATHAN VALANIA The Brazilian actor/musician Seu Jorge is probably best known to American audiences for his performance as the Bowie-singing sailor Pele dos Santos — he of the pointy blood red toque, lip-dangling Gitane and vintage white Adidas Sambas — in Wes Anderson’s 2004 film, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou. But his breakout role was the homicidal avenger Knockout Ned in City Of God, Fernando Meirelles’ graphic 2002 study of the spiralling ultra-violence of internecine gangster warfare in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. After seeing […]
THE GODFATHER OF GRUNGE: Q&A With Butch Vig, Garbage Drummer/Producer Extraordinaire
Photo by AUTUMN DEWILDE EDITOR’S NOTE: A considerably shorter version of this interview appeared in the November 10th edition of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Enjoy. BY JONATHAN VALANIA FOR THE INQUIRER The Smart Studios Story documents the rise and fall of the legendary recording studio founded by acclaimed producer Butch Vig and his partner Steve Marker, where they recorded Smashing Pumpkins, Garbage, Death Cab For Cutie and, most importantly, Nirvana’s Nevermind. The film tracks the evolution of Smart Studios from its humble DIY beginnings as a glorified punk rock treehouse with free beer to the center of the alt-rock universe in […]
Q&A: With Sharon Jones, The New Queen Of Soul
EDITOR’S NOTE: To mark the sad and tragically premature passing of Sharon Jones we present this reprise edition of our 2011 Q&A with her. Good night, Miss Jones wherever you are. BY JONATHAN VALANIA The first time Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings came to town, back in January of ’08, there was a prevailing giddiness in the air at the TLA, a palpable sense that we were lucky enough to attend a very auspicious occasion, above and beyond the usual concert experience. A sense that we were all active participants in poetic justice, and by ponying up for a […]
STOP MAKING SENSE: A Q&A With Fred Armisen
Photo by GENE SMIRNOV BY JONATHAN VALANIA FOR VICE Last night, comedian Fred Armisen (ex-SNL cast member, star of Portlandia and Documentary Now!, sidekick/leader of the Late Night With Seth Meyers house band) kicked off an East coast run of live comedy dates that mix the glib wackiness of his stand-up with sneak previews of the forthcoming seventh season of Portlandia and live renditions of the music of his various faux-bands (the cluelessly pro-authority punk of Ian Rubbish & The Bizarros, the ersatz Laurel Canyon soft-rock of The Blue Jean Committee, the artsy-fartsy New Wave nonsense-making of Test Pattern, etc.). […]
Q&A: Talking Big Star Third w/ REM’s Mike Mills
BY JONATHAN VALANIA FOR VICE It has been said that the genre of power pop—white man-boys with cherry guitars reinvigorating the harmonic convergence of The Beatles, The Beach Boys, and The Byrds with the hormonal rush of youth—is the revenge of the nerds. Big Star pretty much invented the form, which explains the worshipful altars erected to the band in the bedrooms of lonely, disenfranchised melody-makers from Los Angeles to London, and all points in between. Though they never came close to fame or fortune in their time, the band continue to hold a sacred place in the cosmology of […]
A LIFE IN PARTS: Q&A With Actor Bryan Cranston
BY JONATHAN VALANIA FOR THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER Bryan Cranston is arguably one of the greatest actors of the modern era. He will forever be known for his electrifying performance as Walter White, the mild-mannered high school chemistry teacher turned murderous, Machiavellian meth lord, on Breaking Bad, a show that many argue represents the pinnacle of television as an art form. He drew equally swooning critic’s notices for his indelible performance as Dalton Trumbo, a gifted screenwriter whose life and career was destroyed by the House Unamerican Activities Committee. In All The Way, Cranston uncannily channeled President Lyndon Johnson, who dragged […]
CAPTAIN’S LOG: A Fanboy Q&A w/ William Shatner
Artwork by PIERRE-LUC FAUBERT BY JONATHAN VALANIA FOR PHILLY.COM Pretend, for the length of this introduction, you are me. Your earliest television memory is Star Trek, back when you thought you could talk to the people on TV simply by yelling at the screen. In the ‘70s, Star Trek reruns ran in seeming perpetuity. You watched every episode many times over, your thirst for the show was unquenchable and you became the ultimate fanboy — an obsessive, jock-mocked, girl-repellent Trekkie. You still have your copy of the Star Fleet Technical Manual you bought at the mall with your paper route […]
A Q&A With Judge John Hodgman, Actual Person
Illustration by DONKEY HOTEY EDITOR’S NOTE: To mark the triumphant return of Judge John Hodgman, who performs at The Trocadero on September 20th, we present this reprise edition of our 2014 interview with The Hodger, as we like to call him.* BY JONATHAN VALANIA John Hodgman is full of shit. Full to the brim and stuffed to the gills with the stuff. And that’s a wonderful thing for you and me — as representative members of the human race that enjoy a good chortle and maybe even a guffaw when circumstances merit — because John Hodgman’s wizardly ability to turn horseshit […]
Q&A With Guitarist Marc Ribot, American Master
BY JONATHAN VALANIA FOR THE DAILY NEWS In the course of Marc Ribot’s critically acclaimed four-decade career, the chameleonic guitarist has mapped a steady path from edgy lower Gotham upstart to Zen-like American master. Long a fixture of New York’s downtown improv scene, Ribot is probably best known as Tom Waits’ longtime side-man, having played on seven Waits albums and corresponding tours since 1985’s Rain Dogs. He has lent his six-string sorcery to recordings by Elvis Costello, Robert Plant, the Black Keys, John Zorn, Philadelphia-born soul legend Solomon Burke, and the late, great beat poet Allen Ginsberg. The 22 […]
Q&A With Nick Spitzer, Professor Of American Boogie & Host Of NPR’s American Routes
Illustration by ALEX FINE EDITOR’S NOTE: Like many of you, we were deeply disappointed to learn that WHYY-FM has elected to drop American Routes from their weekend programming, where it has been a fixture for more than a decade. (Boo-stink!) But fear not local lovers of Americana, WXPN has stepped in and offered American Routes a home on its airwaves. American Routes will air on Sundays from 3-5 pm starting Sunday June 19th. (Hooray!) To celebrate, we are re-running our in-depth 2009 interview with American Routes host Nick Spitzer. Enjoy!) BY JONATHAN VALANIA Nick Spitzer is a folkorist, ethnographer, professor […]
LET IT BE: A Q&A With ‘Mats Biographer Bob Mehr
BY JONATHAN VALANIA In the Amerindie rock underground of the mid-80s, The Replacements, along with Husker Du and REM, formed a troika of indie-rock royalty that produced some of the greatest music of that decade or any other. Nineteen eighty-four was their annus mirabilis. REM released Reckoning, and Husker Du released Zen Arcade and New Day Rising. The Replacements released Let It Be, which despite the co-opting of the Beatles song for its title was in fact their Beggars Banquet. All three soon signed major label deals with varying results. Husker Du lasted just two albums, the uneven Candy Apple […]
BECAUSE REALITY HAS A LIBERAL BIAS: Q&A w/ Comedian & ex-Totally Biased Host W. Kamau Bell
Illustration by GARY TAXALI© BY JONATHAN VALANIA Comedian W. Kamau Bell has been fighting the good fight in the stand-up comedy trenches of San Francisco since the phat pants ’90s. It was there that Chris Rock discovered him and eventually brokered a deal with FX for Bell to have his own TV show. In 2012, Totally Biased, a much-buzzed-about late night sketch comedy show starring Bell and produced by Rock, debuted to strong reviews and a big enough viewership to justify a second season until its ill-advised migration from FX to FXX, subsequent plummet in audience share and ensuing cancellation […]
FROM THE VAULT: Q&A w/ Sir George Martin, Producer & Paterfamilias, Species Beatles Britannia
EDITOR’S NOTE: To mark the sad the passing of Beatles sonic architect Sir George Martin, we’re reprising this brief email interview from 2006 on the occasion of the release of a series of Beatles mashups he’d mixed for Cirque Soleil’s Love. In the cruelest of ironies, his hearing had deteriorated to the point where he was no longer able to converse on the phone, hence the email format. Good night, Sir George, wherever you are. PHAWKER: I am sorry to learn that a hearing problem makes a phone interview impossible. Like most homo sapiens, I am a HUGE fan and […]