Sound Off Interview

[michelej1]

I've got to give my man (if CAH will let me borrow him) credit. With very little prompting, he can work all of his speeches into a single interview, with rapid fire speed. All the host was saying was things like, "you're great, talk to me about that" and Lindsey would start rattling off compartmental-survival mode-Warner Bros. execs listening to Tusk for the first time phrases out of nowhere, making sure not to leave any out.

The things that stood out for me were:

1. When asked to talk about Fritz, he said that he played bass. Stevie wasn't really a lead singer so much in the band, just a vocalist. The keyboardist wrote all of the songs. Then he said that he and Stevie were not romantically involved at the time. They were just friends. Well . . . that's nice, but no one had even asked him!

2. When he inherited the money and bought music equipment with it, he said although it wasn't a large amount it also put him and Stevie in a position to not have to work, "for awhile." So, the way he said "for a while" with emphasis made it clear that the money didn't last them forever, but if you listen to Stevie, you'd think they never had any income at all except what she earned with her little hands. He brought money to the table when they started and at the end when he went on tour.

3. Instead of saying the "package deal" thing, he says that he told the band that they would have to take "my girlfriend" then he sort of cocked his head to the camera and smiled. The interviewer said that turned out to be a good idea and he agreed.

4. The interviewer said that Rhiannon was the first big hit off of the White album. I wouldn't necessarily agree. Lindsey didn't deny it. Hey, that stuff can be like a circus wheel. It changes all of the time. Sometimes, I can't help but feel that I'm wasting all of my time.

5. The interviewer said he loved Go Insane. Lindsey replied, "I do too." The interviewer indicated that GI was about his seven year relationship with CAH. Lindsey actually turned it around and made it sound like GI was about Stevie. Said breaking up with her, not getting away from her, compartmentalizing, walling up, having to produce her music which only helped her get farther away . . . He said GI was about all of that. I don't necessarily buy that. Like CAH, I do think most of it is about her, but I think it's interesting that Lindsey would spin it now.

6. Says he doesn't know if Gift of Screws was going to be the name of his solo album. He said that was a title, but some people didn't like it.

7. Interviewer asked if he started playing on a toy guitar and he said that he did, but after a year his parents bought him a three chord guitar. He listened to his parents music, because that was all they had in the house: adult music. But when his brother brought home Elvis, Patty Page went out the window. Said that they had a normal, Donna Reed household on the outside, then he'd go into his brother's room, play rock and that was what was going on behind closed doors, "under the skin."

The interviewer asked a lot of questions based on things he'd already read about Lindsey and just asked Lindsey to talk about that, rather than asking anything new. He'd tell Lindsey things about himself like, "You're a big fan of Laurie Anderson." And Lindsey would just nod sagely. If the guy had said, "You're a God!" Lindsey would have nodded and said, "hmm hmmm."

Michele