The Same Five Questions

Some time back, Adam McGovern sent me his responses to TS5Q. And his bio. And a link to a photo. And some additional links to new projects. And a couple of very kind “what happened to that interview” queries. Now, I somehow allowed these to all build up, forming a thick wedge of “gosh, I gotta deal with that” e-mails right in the center of my inbox.

Folks, today is the day that I finally free myself of this weighty guilt and allow you to learn about one interesting cat, who was e-introduced to me by Chris King with a note something along the lines of “he produces alternative comics and is into poetry translations.” Bingo-bango! That’s the exactly the kind of person I need to be bugging. In this installment, I’m going to provide TS5Q first, then will supply you with generous doses of personally-curated updates and intro’s from our willing, able and extremely patient subject.

One. Which of the seven deadliest sins make for the best art?
Greed and Envy have only given us home shopping channels, and Wrath-ful protest songs date pretty pitifully. The Sloths just sit around playing videogames that *other* people created. Lust is never out of business, but as Alan Moore points out, 90 percent of everything most people ever watch, read or download is porn but not even any of them would call it art. Pride seems the best candidate — the presumption to contribute to the perfection of thought’s canon and nature’s panorama pushes us forward, lifts us up and keeps asses in the seats. Then again I’d be loath to part with one piece in my collection of fast-food mascot kitsch, perhaps the purest and clearest expression of the American character. So I guess I’m gonna have to go with Gluttony.

Two. For what are you going to need a little more evidence?
The theory that humans evolved here naturally rather than being seeded by alien vacationers as per the incontrovertible clues at Nazca and Angkor Wat. Why would any *native* species wanna treat the planet this way?

Three. For personal creativity (or productivity), are you better served by contentment or restlessness?
It’s most comfortable to create in a spatial, rather than chronal, field — the “extra beat” of active relaxation they talk about for athletes is a matter of mentally opening space, not stretching time. Contentment and restlessness are concepts along the line of time. I wouldn’t know athletics if I tripped over my shoelaces into them but I step into the, ahem, “zone” to view things from an urgent yet stable elevation. At that plateau is the art-mine.

Four. Likeliest occurrence within your lifetime: true peace, total war, or the arrival of spacemen/spacewomen?
From now on, all war is local, with homemade, personal-portion deathrays and dirty nukes. So no total war. And if true peace came we couldn’t ID it in a lineup so even if it happens it doesn’t count. And we’ve established above that spacemen and women littered their DNA and started a careless forest-fire here a long time ago. All I can say for sure is that eventually a fed-up, strong-willed rightwing Republican president will ram through socialized medicine; a booming industry will spring up for catered and haute-costumed divorce receptions; and LeBron James will be traded to Moscow.

Five. Select/discuss any one of the following options.
Five-a: You lost it as a child and you want it back.
Five-b: You are concerned about your food and its origins.
Five-c: These are your generation’s greatest successes.
Five-d: For you, this is the book, play, recording, painting, poem, scripture or (item X) that made all the difference.
Five-e: Do you have a question for me? (What is it?)
I was a very cynical child and I really don’t know how I’m gonna get through the 21^st century without it. I’m concerned that all those leaching, unregulated plastics are gonna give me poison rather than exotic superpowers. Bubble-wrap, velcro, ziplock bags: these are what separate us from your lower animals, buddy. The course of my consciousness was changed by Jim Steranko writing that, amidst Timely/Marvel Comics’ stable of grotesqueries in WWII, “here, super-straight Captain America was the freak,” and David Bowie remarking, to a question about his penchant for bizarre characters except for Major Tom, that “I think he was the weirdest of them all, he just didn’t know it.” And finally, what do you see in me?

Kitsch as manifest destiny:
http://poodcomics.blogspot.com/2010/07/fantastic-fourth.html

Rotten-tomato sociology:
http://blog.comiccritique.com/?p=338

The story I’m sticking to:
http://www.blogger.com/profile/15102047049776079769

The only thing better than not being talked about:
http://www.northjersey.com/arts_entertainment/97913959_McGovern_s__Cloverleaf__coming_soon_to_comic_book_shops.html?c=y&page=1

Just when you thought it was advisable to ever leave the comic store, the first four issues of the much-delayed six comics I’m co-translating for Italy’s GG Studio started showing up this week! Two as we speak, two more next Wednesday! This mostly-rave review of all four is the way a brutha wants to be taken by surprise:
http://comicattack.net/2010/08/ggstudiospotligh/

The official bio: Adam McGovern interviews Pulitzer winners for comic-book zines; blogs about politics, theatre, and other imaginary pursuits; runs an image garage for corporations, musicians, social service agencies, literary figures and self-help philosophers; and writes and translates poems, comics and computergames from a Victorian cottage in a former charismatic tent-revival settlement in New Jersey. He can be found skulking at http://poodcomics.blogspot.com/ and http://blog.comiccritique.com/. He is survived by his girlfriend Lynn and tolerated by their cat Pete.

I know a lot of white guys. A lot of white guys are my friends. But I don’t just want white guys in my life and I certainly didn’t want just white guys in this experiment.

And so I thank Peregrine Honig. Who has brought this strange trend to a stop.

Now, she actually e-mailed me her answers a while back, but, you know, life gets in the way of life. I, as they now say, “slept on” the interview for the proverbial minute and realized that, soon, Peregrine Honig might be the winner of the Bravo reality competition “Work of Art: The Next Great Artist.” What a scoop it’d be to break the piece then! As it turns out, she’s just finished out of the money, in second place for the competition, though she’s our favorite by a long-shot.

The KC-based Honig has been involved in the world of art for some time and we’ll introduce you to work via her website. And her Twitter stream. Here’s a story about her work. And another, detailing her appearance on “Work of Art.”

We thank her for taking the time and giving us some fun responses, to say the least.

One. Which of the seven deadliest sins make for the best art?
Jealousy is a vice I keep close in my studio. I am activated and motivated by what I can’t have but lust after. I’m driven when I see things that seem impossible to create, maintain, or even own.

Two. For what are you going to need a little more evidence?
I want to meet the driver who picked up the deer pregnant with the taxidermed twins I keep in my studio.

Three. For personal creativity (or productivity), are you better served by contentment or restlessness?
Well-funded restlessness. I enjoy agitated conversations in luxurious settings, a decadent drink with my creative conflicts.

Four. Likeliest occurrence within your lifetime: true peace, total war, or the arrival of spacemen/spacewomen?
True peace and total war are relative- I just hope the space people make really cute babies.

Five-e: Do you have a question for me?
Why are you curious about me?
(Wow! No one’s actually responded to this one yet. Interest came from: your intriguing work, your awesome name (which just needs to be written and spoken, again and again, for full appreciation, and the fact that my friend Amanda Doyle said she “very, very slightly knew” you. Thanks!)

He’s worked with Johnny Knoxville in the “The Ringer” and a host of precocious tweens on “The Wizards of Waverly Place.” He’s the only person I know to have a direct working relationship to the film “Dude, Where’s My Car?” which actually puts him a single step away from the dreamy Laura Prepon, if you play the Ashton Kutcher card; though we’re equally impressed that he’s a mere jump removed from Steve-O, via Knoxville. With all the work that Chott‘s done between LA and his hometown of Saint Louis, where he runs an improv instruction company called The Improv Trick, he tends to meet a lot of folks.

We root for Bill Chott to become Curly on the big screen. And for his school to take on hundreds of dues-paying students on both the west- and the mid-coast. And for Chott to nail whatever roles come calling between now and May 1, 2011, now that he’s been kind enough to grace us at TS5Q HQ.

And, as a master of improv, Bill’s tweaked our formula a tad, taking our five-part fifth question and engaging it fully. While we don’t know if he thinks spacewomen will come to our planet before an earth-cleansing world war, we do know a bit more about the man, in a general sense, thanks to this cyber-exchange.

Five-a: You lost it as a child and you want it back.
A MAGIC HAT THAT HAD COMPARTMENTS, TRICKS, THINGS IN THE LINING, ETC. THE BOX HAD A PICTURE OF A YOUNG BOY WEARING THE HAT AND A CONSUMER WARNING THAT READ “HAT DOES NOT COME WITH BOY.”

Five-b: You are concerned about your food and its origins.
I LOVE MCDONALD’S DOUBLE DOUBLE. I HAVE NO IDEA IF IT’S MADE OF REAL BEEF OR KANGAROO MEAT AS WAS SUGGESTED IN HIGH SCHOOL

Five-c: These are your generation’s greatest successes.
GULF WAR 1 (THE WAR TO END ALL POPULAR WARS)
THE iPHONE
THE RETURN OF 3D MOVIES

Five-d: For you, this is the book, play, recording, painting, poem, scripture or (item X) that made all the difference.
THE BOOK “THE SCIENCE OF MIND”

Five-e: Do you have a question for me? (What is it?)
WHY DO PEOPLE ANSWER QUIZZES THAT DO NOT INCLUDE A GRADE?

Beyond our recent, blossoming Facebook friendship, I don’t know Trent Harris. Though I do know friends of Trent Harris and I also know that he’s the director of some of the most amazing films of the last couple decades, cult classics like “Rubin and Ed,” ‘The Beaver Trilogy” and “Plan 10 From Outer Space.” In fact, at the bottom of this piece, we’ll embed a bit of video from that one, a clip featuring a famous Saint Louisan and a dance scene that’s not to be believed.

You can find information on his varied films here. Our advice: see them all.

Trent Harris was kind enough to send these words prior to an outing the desert. To say that a Trent Harris TS5Q is a real treat is gross understatement. (Thanks to Stefene Russell and Mary Fisher for the hook-up.)

One. Which of the seven deadliest sins make for the best art?
Anger is the muse! Make something about something you are furious about and it will be magnificent. I was working on a tremendous project called “Kiss My Butt You Filthy Beast!” but then my girlfriend left and now I’m not mad anymore and the whole thing fell apart.

Two. For what are you going to need a little more evidence?
Is Glen Beck retarded or just fucking stupid. I need a bit more evidence to figure that out. I know he likes to eat chalk. I know he sometimes argues with ants. And I know he puts beans in his nose. But I can’t quite get a handle on why?

Three. For personal creativity (or productivity), are you better served by contentment or restlessness?
I personally use a Tacion Converter to create. It takes random bits of information and constructs a reality, or if you tune it just right it constructs a narrative. That’s the way everybody creates. They rearrange random. I just cut to the chase and turn on the good old Tacion Converter.

Four. Likeliest occurrence within your lifetime: true peace, total war, or the arrival of spacemen/spacewomen?
Oh God I hope spacewomen come down here. They can stay at my place. Come to think of it I had a spacewoman stay at my place once. She gave me the Tacion Converter.

Five- Do you have a question for me? (What is it?)
Who the heck are you and why in the world would you want me to answer these questions? Are you a spy? Are you gathering evidence? Will you use these words against me when I run for President?

Chris Connelly’s been involved in creating no small amount of music over the years, playing with a host of the finest players to ever grace a stage, or record a track, in the fields of industrial and post-punk. And for the better part of the last two-decades, Connelly’s composed a series of solo albums that have some grit, sure, but are based more purely in songcraft than in power. (If needing to start out with just one: it’s a coin-toss between “Shipwreck” or the “Blonde Exodus”/”Ultimate Seaside Companion” double-set.) There have been occasional side projects involving harder sounds, like Murder Inc.. And in a different vein, he’s also authored two books; one a memoir of his time with the Revolting Cocks, plus a due-this-summer novel, “Ed Royal.”

The details you can get from the web.

The motivation for this reach-out, though, is purely specific. As much as look forward to reading the novel and as much as I enjoy the occasional spin of a Connelly disc, I’ll still forever associate him with the 10-member version of Ministry that toured the “The Mind is an Incredible Thing to Taste,” which landed the group at Mississippi Nights in, oh, 1989 or ’90. It was the most influential show I’ll ever take in and it’ll likely always remain locked in the top spot. For that, thanks Chris Connelly. And thanks for flipping TS5Q in a matter of hours, too.

Today, life is good.

One. Which of the seven deadliest sins make for the best art?
WRATH, PRIDE, LUST & ENVY

Two. For what are you going to need a little more evidence?
That there is such a thing as a true, rational human.

Three. For personal creativity (or productivity), are you better served by contentment or restlessness?
I have not experienced contentment, per se, and I have always been restless, this is definitely NOT bad thing.

Four. Likeliest occurrence within your lifetime: true peace, total war, or the arrival of spacemen/spacewomen?
None of the above.

Five-a: You lost it as a child and you want it back.
My father, the greatest man I ever knew. I would like to ask him a long, ever growing list of questions, but for some reason, I think as I get older, I might be answering them by myself with the help of my own Children.

(There’s not a ton of Chris Connelly video on the web, but this one does the job of getting things into a contemporary state:)

(I’d get a lot more done in life if this track, featuring C.C., was injected directly into my veins:)

Once upon a time, I walked into the basement of a bookstore in South Saint Louis and had my head turned around by the music of Thollem McDonas, who played a customized keyboard amidst the high shelves and low pipes. I’d be too hard-pressed to even endeavor a description of the music that night. Instead, I’ll send you to his site. And will advise you catch him live, no matter the venue.

This cat’s amazing and it’s a pleasure to have the following words committed to digital print here.

One. Which of the seven deadliest sins make for the best art?
To tell the truth, for better or worse, I didn’t know what they all were.
I found out, however, and now wish I could go back to my previous innocent/ignorant state.
Since I can’t, I’d say lust DEFINITELY makes for the best art.
Pride is a motivator, and so is wrath, and in sloth can be reflection, the rest are worthless.

Two. For what are you going to need a little more evidence?
Death…I was with my mother when she took her last breath, and also several dogs, but I still can’t believe it.
I’ll believe it when I see it without my own eyes.

Three. For personal creativity (or productivity), are you better served by contentment or restlessness?
Restlessness is necessary, and I’m looking forward to having nothing left to say!

Four. Likeliest occurrence within your lifetime: true peace, total war, or the arrival of spacemen/spacewomen?
I think I know what total war is, the unveiling of what many already experience, and have been readying myself for it my whole life but somehow working/playing for peace simultaneously.
We are spacemen/spacewomen.

Five. Select/discuss any one of the following options.
Five-a: You lost it as a child and you want it back.
The Valley Of Hearts Delight.
It’s now known as Silicon Valley…
Was one of the biologically richest places on earth, now covered with half empty office buildings and fences.
Fucking adults!

Wow. A response from an original member of The Meat Puppets. Crazy!

You can listen to him on web radio here.

And you can read his words about the varied aspects of life here. (Thanks to Chris King for the hook-up.)

One. Which of the seven deadliest sins make for the best art?
I believe that something is considered as sin if it robs you of your essence, wastes your time, and takes you out of yourself. Therefore, the practice of sin is what keeps you from doing your work. However, the contemplation of sin could lead to great art.

Two. For what are you going to need a little more evidence?
I’m currently compiling evidence as to how I got here. I confess, I still have more than I few more gaps to fill in.

Three. For personal creativity (or productivity), are you better served by contentment or restlessness?
Contentment. Its fleeting moments gives me pause to recharge and collect myself for the next bout with effort.

Four. Likeliest occurrence within your lifetime: true peace, total war, or the arrival of spacemen/spacewomen?
TRUE peace occurs EVERY day. It’s all around us.

Five-a: You lost it as a child and you want it back.
I regret the loss of every day, but if you want the honest answer, I’d say that the day in 1967 when my parents told me they were divorcing is the great line of demarcation in my life. I was six years old and that day was when I learned that life had the potential to be truly dreadful.

If forced to make the list, Dramarama’s “Anything, Anything (I’ll Give You)” would be an Overall Top Ten choice, a song that I dig today as much as I did when seeing Dramarama at the club Scream in Los Angeles in the mid-’80s. It was the night during which I’d see my first, real, live (and massive) slam pit and the night that cemented Dramarama as a favorite for life.

Theothorous Athanasious Ellenis was the keyboardist for the group on their first two (and most-consistently-awesome) albums, “Cinema Verite” and “Box Office Bomb.” In this process, we search the world for the those who we want to bother using any means necessary. And the Facebook.com social networking utility is quite useful, the exact method by which we tracked down Ted Ellenis, who sets the mark for the most efficient destruction of the TS5Q yet.

1. Which of the seven deadliest sins make for the best art?
Lust.

2. For what are you going to need a little more evidence?
Everything.

3. For personal creativity (or productivity), are you better served by contentment or restlessness?
Restlessness.

4. Likeliest occurrence within your lifetime: true peace, total war, or the arrival of spacemen/spacewomen?
War (unfortunately).

5. c: These are your generation’s greatest successes.
Selfishness to the extreme.

While driving through scenic Jefferson County, MO, recently, I caught the signal of KDHX, the community radio station in Saint Louis. On the air was “Earthworms,” helmed by longtime environmental talk host Jean Ponzi, with none other than Julia Butterfly Hill. She’s, of course, a longtime presence in environmental circles, herself, often referenced (including here) for her years spent living high-on a redwood tree.

That type of spirit deserves celebration and solid recognition. It might even deserve bugging by the TS5Q field office!

We contacted JBH, oddly enough, while she was in Saint Louis for the wedding of friend and co-conspirator. She declined the chance to tackle TS5Q, though she did so in a way that was a kind and gentle as you’d expect from the source, even going so far as to wish us well with our endeavors.

We wish her well with hers, which you can read about here.

If zines have meant anything to you over time, it’s possible you remember the first time a zine hit your mailbox, or jumped off the shelf of an indie bookstore. For me, it was a little novelty called “Surge,” which came to me via the USPS, a weeks after stuffing a few dollars into a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Finding “Surge” in the back pages and tiny type of “The Nation”‘s classifieds, I was hooked and not only wanted to self-publish, I wanted to share. To call it a transformative experience, well… yeah, let’s call it just that.

In the next wave of zines to hit home for me was a gentle, clever, funny, suddenly-everywhere zine called “Duplex Planet,” produced by David Greenberger. His story’s been told many times, in many places, but the short summary is that he interviewed the residents of a nursing home, on various, simple and sundry topics. And the answers they provided were an amazing glimpse into the human soul. Sure, some of the answers were lively simply because the old folks answering the questions were making kooky comments about pop culture, but Greenberger’s kind approach and deft editing always ensured that you were laughing with the subjects, rather than at them.

Over the years I’d collect a few more “Planet”‘s, here and there. I’d buy a best-of compilation, which got claimed in The Great Basement Flood of Whatever Year that Was. And I plan on securing a lot of 50, for only $35!, available here.

His multi-media work’s been a huge influence, so what an honor it is to have David Greenberger answer TS5Q:

One. Which of the seven deadliest sins make for the best art?
Curiosity and confusion. Oh wait – those aren’t sins, thankfully.

Two. For what are you going to need a little more evidence?
That the Titanic hit an iceberg.

Three. For personal creativity (or productivity), are you better served by contentment or restlessness?
Contentment.

Four. Likeliest occurrence within your lifetime: true peace, total war, or the arrival of spacemen/spacewomen?
None of the three. Chimpanzees will learn to take dogs for walks, and clean up after them.

Five. Select/discuss any one of the following options.
Five-a: You lost it as a child and you want it back.
I was no longer a child, probably was 21 or so and living in Boston, but I lost a scarf that my grandmother, Goldene Greenberger, had made. She didn’t make it for me, but for my father who, having moved out of winter’s hold, no longer needed it. It had a feel, weave and color unlike any other scarf I’ve ever had. As happens with the extra, detachable winter garb, it must have gotten left somewhere or got dropped. My searches the day after were unsuccessful.

Five-d: For you, this is the book, play, recording, painting, poem, scripture or (item X) that made all the difference.
Painting: “Speedboat’s Wake” by Milton Avery
Recording: “The Forrest” by Robert Wyatt
Book: “Eunoia” by Christian Bok