Re: (TV) Even fewer words from Verlaine

[Jesse Hochstadt <jesseh58@yahoo.com>]

No one else but me thought it was hilarious that Tom is acting as the band'
s publicist?

- Jesse




>________________________________

> From: Bob Beatty <bobjb2002@yahoo.ca>
>To: "tv@obbard.com" <tv@obbar
d.com> 
>Sent: Thursday, May 8, 2014 2:59 PM
>Subject: Re: (TV) Even fe
wer words from Verlaine
> 
>
>
>
>That aux.tv one was a questionn
aire, not an interview. A barrage of 
>
>optional-to-answer questions. 
No wonder it failed as an "interview," 
>
>& Tom chose to not respond t
o most of it. Aside from the fact it had some q
>uestions bound to leave 
Tom uninterested in answering (e.g.  lots of ones
>about the past), the
 format seems wrong. There's no back & 
>forth conver
>sation to provok
e answers, & I imagine it would be hard 
>to open up via a
>questionnai
re, (or even back & forth texting) to a 
>journalist one had n
>ever ev
en spoken to before...Especially when he asks such an awful lead-off
>que
stion: QUOTE: "You've cited French 
>impressionism as influences for y

>our lyrics and guitar playing. Why do 
>you find that movement inspiring
?"
>  -Tom responds saying "sorry, mr. 
>greg i am not sure of these 
claims 
>of mr. tom being 'cited'..." !
>
>
>Has Tom ever cited imp
ressionism as 
>an influence on his lyrics & guitar playing? Not that I r
ecall hearing of, 
>impressionism being a painters' 
>movement: Monet, 
etc. I wonder if the jo
>urnalist intended to say "French Symbolist" (lit
erature) movement instead? 
>But I think that would have 
>been wrong t
oo (if too often repeated as a "
>fact"  by journalists). Paul Verlaine
 was a symbolist movement poet, but 
>Tom's said he doesn't even 
>like
 Verlaine's poetry that  much, but took
>the name just 'cause he 
>li
ked the sound of it. And I think Patti Smith,
>not Tom, was the huge 
>
Rimbaud fan. The only French poet I recall Tom so
>unding excited about i
n an interview was Nerval, a romantic poet not associ
>ated with the 
>
symbolists, who was obsessed with some woman, & ended up c
>ommitting sui
cide in the street in Paris. 
>
>I don't know if the other
>recent 
bad interview, the LiveinLimbo one may have 
>been a phone intervi
>ew 
(or texting?), as there was back & forth 
>conversation, which didn't g

>o well. On a positive note, at least the terrible aux.tv 
>interview 
elici
>ted several useful bits of info from Tom: a new album 
>could be
 out by Xm
>as, WFMU's his fave radio station, & his comments 
>on Toro
nto (my old hom
>e town) audiences. Well, that awful interview 
>could 
have been worse!
>-
>Bob
>
>
>
>On Thursday, May 8, 2014 9:22:4
9 AM, Joe Hartley <jh@brainia
>c.com> wrote:
>
>On Thu, 8 May 2014 11
:54:27 -0400
>Emilie <emilie.t.hs
>u@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> It's fu
nny, these emails remind of this article 
>in the new New York Review
>
> of Books about how writers hate the question
>s that readers ask them c
alled
>> "Stupid Questions":
>> 
>> http://www.
>nybooks.com/blogs/
nyrblog/2014/may/01/stupid-questions/?insrcwbll
>
>That
>was brillian
t.  This sums it up perfectly:
>"The public are firing shot
>s in the
 dark; they are groping for some kind 
>of connection between the 
>fig
ure on the stage and the particular atmosphere 
>of the novels they hav

>e read."
>
>It's one thing for the public to grasp at these straws,
 but o
>ne hopes for
>better from someone conducting an interview.  S
adly, for e
>very Ty Burr
>there are a thousand hacks who are no better
 than the genera
>l public and
>who do not seem to grasp the concept of
 researching the subj
>ect beforehand.
>
>Being a fan and having list
ened to MM a thousand times
>does not qualify you
>to interview Tom for
 publication.  Doing some res
>earch and reading past
>interviews get
s you a lot closer.  I think my fa
>vorite Tom interview is the
>one 
from the New York Times from 2006 where T
>om and the reviewer went to

>the Metropolitan Museum of Art before they sa
>t down(*).  Talking abo
ut the 
>art provided a great springboard for the
>rest of the conversa
tion and 
>clearly got Tom to talk about things that 
>he usually brush
es off.
>
>With this latest batch of "interviews" I can u
>nderstand 
why Tom is so
>reluctant to do many of them.
>
>(*) http://www
>.ny
times.com/2006/05/18/arts/music/18verl.html?_r - UNIX/network Consultant - 
jh@brainiac.com
>Without deviation from the n
>orm, "progress" is not p
ossible. - FZappa
>
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