Influences

A running list of musicians/groups that have influenced me, as well as a few words about each

1. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
   
2. Georg Philipp Telemann
   
3. Ry Cooder
   
4. Ibrahim Ferrer
   
5. Guster
   
6. Dave Matthews
   
7. Franz Ferdinand
   
8. Dave Brubeck
   
9. Ted Leo
   
10. Polyphonic Spree
    

Interview 2: Melissa* and Renee*

*(names have been changed)
the following are the notes from my interview with Melissa, Renee and Charles on 9 October, 2005 from 8:45-10:00PM.

On my way back from my first interview, I saw the cute girl I had passed earlier (see Introduction). I asked her and her friends if I could do an interview. They consented, saying, "perfect; we were just talking about making really great hash brownies." I sit down.

JR: I actually know a couple things about great brownies. I do these dinners where, like, all six courses are infused with weed.
MM: wow! can we come?!?!?!
CC: Yeah, I used to do stuff like that. One time, we clarified some chef's butter with weed and spread it on some poached salmon. Probably sacrilege, but it was awesome. You guys should try chocolate and 'shrooms.
MM: I'm not a fan of shrooming.
CC: You haven't done it with the right people.

JR: Is there anything you haven't told anyone before? I don't mean like a deep, dark secret, just something that hasn't come up.
[Charles leaves to return to his job]
MM: I pee in the shower. Don't tell my suitemates. It's just so warm and it makes you wanna pee, and it feels so good.
RR: ...

[Charles comes back, holding some straws]
CC: Girls, I just was serving a bachelorette party, and they left these behind, and I thought you'd get a kick out of 'em.
RR: Straws?
[Charles unfolds his hands, revealing tiny penises attached to the other ends of the straws]
MM: Oh, my God! They're penis straws!
RR: I just like holding it against my lips.
MM: When I was going down . . . when I was giving head . . . yeah.
RR: I love the heads of penises. They're so soft.
CC [in a very fake, over the top voice]: stop, girls, you're turning me on.
[Charles leaves]

JR: So, what did you do for shits and giggles when you were 8?
RR: You know how in cartoons banana peels are really slippery? I used to try to slide around on banana peels on our hardwood floors. It works for a second because they're gooey, but then they dry up.
MM: I did my babysitter's dishes and organized her spice cabinet.
JR: Like Monica [Geller].
MM: well, more selective in what I cleaned
RR: I always loved dress-up
MM: and abusing barbies
RR: Yeah, playing with their clothes was ok, but destroying their hair was always the best.
MM: I probably peed my pants a lot at 8. Oh, this is to your earlier question: I used to wet the bed. Not like, in high school, but after it's normal.
RR: oh yeah, and until last year, all through high school, I only showered every other day.
MM: How often were you hooking up with people?
RR: Oh, every day.

[a group starts chatting near us, and we can easily overhear their conversation]
MM: I hate hearing other people's conversations.
RR: Yeah, me, too. Though I like to hear little snippets. The other day I was getting in the elevator, and all I heard was "...so since humans don't really have any predators then by default bigger really is better."
MM: We love people watching though. I love judging and criticising people I've never met and never will on stuff that's totally superficial. It's totally wrong, but it's just a fun game.
RR: And I like making up stories about the people.

[Melissa continues playing with the straw against her lips. In fact, she does this for most of the rest of the interview. When she isn't playing with the straw, she's biting her lower lip, or rubbing them together.]
MM: I just started dating someone new, and last night I got one of my fetishes. I love getting ejaculated on. That was totally fun!
RR: Yeah!

JR: When you go out to a coffee shop or whatever, do you bring props?
RR: Props?
JR: yeah, like . . . [I show them a friendship bracelet I'm working on]. Y'know, like the Sex and the City episode where she decides to go out for dinner with nothing to defend her? Nothing to make her look not lonely?
RR: My cell phone.
MM: Yeah, always have the cell phone.
RR: I put my phone up to my ear and pretend to talk, even though nobody's on the other end.
MM: Yeah, I do that when I see someone I know, but I want to avoid.

JR: so, when you go out, what percentage of the time do you want attention from others, and what percentage do you just want to not be at home, but be left alone?
RR: Does it count if you just go out with one person?
JR: sure
RR: I'd say more often, I go out to interact.
MM: Same, but not late at night. And during the week I like to avoid the messiness of dealing with relationships and friendships. I just want to do my thing.

[RR looks distant]
JR: Renee has something on her mind. What are you thinking? Any other weird stories?
MM: well, about someone a friend.
Both: Jackie!* [name also changed]
MM [in a very negative tone]: She always talks about being a model, but she's not that pretty. She makes up a lot of shit. She's really proud of her father owning a cokehouse and whorehouse in LA. One time, her parents came to town and brought a bunch of her friends back to their hotel room and smoked them up and did tons of drugs with them.
JR: And you guys call this girl a friend?
RR: well, more before. Not so much now.
MM [almost wistfully]: I feel like I've been a really bad friend to her sometimes.
RR [comfortingly]: But at the same time, she's done a lot of shitty things.

JR: what are your thoughts on the future?
RR: I'm obsessed with languages.
MM: I'm afraid of not living up to expectations.
JR: Whose?
MM: everyone's. parents. friends. classmates. I guess everyone is afraid of that.
RR: Lately, I've struggled a lot with deciding how important money is to me. And how important it is to marry someone who is - well, not rich, but has aspirations. Y'know? What is success? It's not just money; it's doing what you love.
JR: well, there are those who do a job that they can do, but don't love so they have enough money to do what they do love. Like me.
MM: yeah, I can see that.
RR: no, I think that's just selling yourself short. I'm scared of graduation.
MM: Yeah, me, too. I hate that we're paying $40 thousand a year and we rush through all this stuff. Like taking tests instead of writing papers. I'd much rather write papers; and I'd learn so much more. When I cram for a test, I forget it all in a week.
RR: I like tests; I feel like I cram for papers, but I guess it depends.
MM: I love writing papers because you can say whatever you want. You're not limited to what the professor puts on the test.
JR: Do you write a blog?
MM: No, because I feel like at least subconsciously you're writing for posterity, so it's not completely truthful. Not like you're lying, but that you're leaving things out.
JR: You should try it high
RR: No, I just get really stupid. One time, I was in Amsterdam, and my friend and I got the most stoned of our lives and we made this really complicated business plan and shook on it. The next day, we both were like, "yeah, let's cancel that deal."

JR: What do you think of the dating game? I've heard some people say they love it, some say that they'll play because everyone else does, and some say that they won't play games no matter what.
MM: At the beginning, it's just there to protect your heart, and everyone has to do that. I really enjoy it when it gets complicated; that can be fun.
JR: Do you like logic games, like chess?
MM: Yeah, I used to play chess with my dad all the time.
JR: You should try Qoridor; I used to get trounced by my girlfriend at that game.
RR: I like the beginning of the dating game. Eventually, it just gets to be a bit much, and it can be good to set a "no-games" ultimatum.
MM: Yeah, you should really do that tomorrow.
RR: I think I will.
[Renee remembers something]
RR: Oh, I used to love corrupting people, but I don't do it any more because you should just let people be.

JR: what fun party games do you play from like 9th grade?
MM: I had a weird high school experience, so we didn't really have party games.
RR: me, neither. But there's always drinking games and stuff. Ooh, we should play drinking Cranium or drunken naked twister. I've always wanted to do that.

[The girls get up to go to the bathroom together]

JR: tell me about girls going to the bathroom together. You don't have to tell me what you two were just talking about.
RR: It's nice to have company.
MM: yeah, and you get to talk about things. I feel totally comfortable with my girl friends in the bathroom with me. The guys I'm dating can see me pee, or puke, but that's it.
RR: yeah, I felt really bad about this one guy. He was holding my hair back while I was puking, and it made him throw up. The smell always gets you.

JR: Tell me about your ideal way to meet a guy and have the first few dates. What's your fantasy?
RR: Ideally, I'd meet him in an intellectual atmosphere, but not school. Like at a museum or reading a good book. He should come up to me - it's a really big turn-on if he approaches me and say something about the environment we're in.
MM: I like the idea of running into someone randomly and having that spark - it doesn't have to be intellectual - eye contact is key.
RR: yeah, eye flirting is great. [To Melissa] You've always been more forward; you can approach guys.
MM: Someone's gotta do it. It can be a fun role-reversal.
RR [to Melissa, and more sweetly than any previous statement]: Would you help me recognize when to approach guys? I feel like I'm not too shy a person; I just don't know when to do it.
MM: Yeah, totally. You just need a push.

[end]

Interview 1: Lynn*

* (names have been changed)
the following are the notes from my interview with Lynn on 9 October, 2005 from 7:45-8:30PM.

JR: Is there anything you've never told anyone?
LL: Yes, but only deep dark secrets. Skeletons in the closet. Most of my secrets get shared with my best friends and/or my suitemates.

JR: Tell me about girls and being suitemates? Are the stereotypes about guys' suites and girls' suites true?
LL: Girl relationships are more polar. Either we love each other or hate each other. Why hang around with people that you don't really really like? I mean, I do, but I think that's the logic. Guys can just hang out with people they get along with, even if they're not best friends.

[A girl runs by with spangly earrings.]
LL: It's freakin' Christmas already!

JR: Talk to me about your socks.
LL: They're very short, and they have orange hearts, which make me happy. They made me very happy when I bought them at some Abercrombie knockoff store like Aeropostale. I never go in there, except when I do I buy the weirdest things.

JR: What's your philosophy on girl/guy games?
LL: I don't have a philosophy, because, like organized sports, I suck at them. I try to be honest and then I get fucked over.

JR: I'd like to stick to the girl/guy topic, but I noticed you're "married" on the facebook to some girl in California.
LL: Yeah, that's my best friend from back home . . . we're not like that, but we could've gotten marriend in San Francisco for like, 5 minutes. One time, she got a boyfriend, and she almost cancelled our "marriage" so she could put up her new relationship, but I was like, "we don't cancel on each other for boys."

JR: What do you think of the idea that girls want everything to just "fall into place," rather than having some guy consciously make decisions along the way?
LL: I don't think they just want things to fall into place. In assuming that they do, you have to assume that guys aren't "chasing," which my girl friends love. I find that guys are usually well-meaning but clueless.
JR: If guys are clueless, doesn't that imply that girls set the rules?
LL: Well, I don't mean that girls set the rules always. I think in every relationship there's a dominant and a submissive player. I think it's easier in same-sex relationships, because someone's just dominant, and the other's submissive. In hetero relationships, however, you start applying gender labels, like "wears the pants."

JR: What did you do for shits and giggles when you were 8?
LL: Well, I lived in on the beach outside LA, so I used to sell lemonade to people on the beach. Well, they usually had no money, so I just gave it away. I didn't really have any use for all the lemonade, so I was like, "here, have some." Not very lucrative, though. One year, I decided to dress up as the princess of hearts for halloween. (Not the Queen of Hearts, because the Queen has a big ugly thing behind her head.) So we got an old prom dress and dyed it red. For years after that Halloween, I would randomly put the dress on and go outside and flash cars. I was wearing underwear, but it wasn't like it was really cute underwear that I wanted to show off, or anything. A neighbor caught me one time. Ever since, when he's at my family gatherings, he always goes off into, "you'll never guess what Lynn did one time..."

JR: Tell me about your earring?
LL: This one? [Points to a female sign] I wear this to see if people will comment. No one ever does; it bums me out.
JR: You said that about something else - oh, your brother being a 5th-year senior. How you never get the reaction you expect when you tell people that.
LL: Yeah, my life is a string of disappointing reactions.
JR: Oh? Like?
LL: Yeah, but you have to guess what they are. I always feel like I give away too much information, so I'm not just going to volunteer them.
Me: ok. Maybe about flirting? How do you tell the difference between the ones that don't make eye contact because they think they're too cool and the ones that don't because they're just freaked out to be flirting?
LL: Unsure. I think I always make it quite clear I'm just scared shitless. Hence nothing happening with the waiter that left me a flower in Italy. They guys there are totally forward, but I always run away.

[end]

Introduction

The Carnegie Sessions will be my first album. Its story is as follows:

I have been in a couple of bands; during one of their short lives, I emailed my friends requesting lyrics. I figured anybody can write better poetry than I can. I got back lyrics only from one person (thanks, Tristan!), and though they were pretty sweet, I realized it wasn't going to be enough material to support my musical aspirations.

One Sunday afternoon, I was sitting outside Kaldi's trying to write. First I tried working on my concerto; that failed, so I tried writing lyrics. That dissolved into me taking notes on the people around me - something I've done a few times before at Kaldi's. I kept this up for about 20 minutes and then decided to head home.

On my way home, I crossed paths with a very cute girl, but had absolutely nothing to say to her, and really wanted to just go home anyway. I put her out of my mind and began to ponder how to get material for songs. Immediately, a friend's face sprung to mind, along with the idea to do some interviews. My mind started churning, and I recalled a story about the book Think and Grow Rich. This is a self-help book born of Carnegie's quest to codify the laws of success within capitalism.

The story of the book is that Carnegie found an energetic young whippersnapper - Napoleon Hill - and told the lad, "I'll get you interviews with all the most powerful people in America; I want you to gather their thoughts and write the secrets to success." The result was the Laws of Success, but it was too long to be useful; Hill later boiled it down to 15 rules in his more famous Think and Grow Rich.

So I decided I'd like to do 15 songs about understanding the American female mind. I went home, looked up my friend's number, called her, and headed over to campus to do my first interview.