 |
|||||||||||||||||||
|
 ROTATION Sleater-Kinney Nirvana Sonic Youth Pixies Fugazi Public Enemy Three Mile Pilot Beatles DJ Shadow White Stripes Built To Spill Los Straitjackets Jon Spencer Blues Explosion AND MUCH MORE! 
 "Bush's
lame response to North Korea has made it quite clear that all he wants
is to invade Iraq again. North Korea may be more dangerous in fact,
but there's no oil there, and it simply doesn't figure in the grand
eschatological design of Bush's theocratic circle. Pyongyang isn't even
in the Bible!"  "For
me, satire is a powerful tool and it's not sufficiently used; it's not
just for late-night jokes but really to promote fundamental change.
And it's inevitable that when you attempt to change the status quo,
you're going to make some people upset. That's the price of change."
 "You
really looking forward to Ashcroft's stormtroopers contradicting the
will of our people by knocking over wheelchairs to confiscate a couple
ounces of herb? Bush wants regime change so bad, I got his regime change
right here." "The
music business is run by lawyers and accountants, and they don't really
care about the integrity of art."
 "What
do a toilet bowl and a woman's vagina have in common? They both need
to be cleaned with Lysol."
 "That's
an issue I'm dealing with here: what is going to happen with this next
generation of kids? What is their culture but media culture? What hasn't
been sanitized and homogenized?"
 "There's
some thing in our psyche, this kind of right or privilege to resolve
our conflicts with violence. There's an arrogance to that concept. To
actually have to sit down and talk, to listen, to compromise, that's
hard work. To go for the gun, that's the cowardly act."
 "
By the end of 2003, Saddam Hussein will either be out of power or out
of the realm of the living. So who's next in line for the coveted position
of dictator -- uh, leader -- of Iraq, home to the largest supply of
crude reserves on Earth? Here's the list of nominees."
 "In
a segment that seems designed to honor yet another one of rock and roll's
seminal yet fallen heroes, MTV just can't help talking about why it,
not Nirvana, mattered so much."
 "For
white people, it will be different. They will be advised to refer to
the U.S. Federal Standard 595B Color Chart (or the Ralph Lauren color
chip guide at Home Depot) to determine the range of colors permissible
in a potential spouse."
 "I
think that there's been a lot of difficulty in defining what is American,
what is considered American. There's a lot of difficulty with acceptance
within our community of foreignness at this time."
 "America
embodies mimetic relations of rivalry. The ideology of free enterprise
makes of them an absolute solution. Effective, but explosive. Competitive
relations are excellent if you come out of it the winner. But if the
winners are always the same then, one day, the losers overturn the game
table."
 "And
that's where some of the roots of this are: bizarre delusions in the
minds of people with too much time on their hands that somehow I deprived
them of being major label rock stars."
 "I
don't give a fuck about that stuff. I feel comfortable being called
a punk band, because I feel that's what we came out of."
 "The
one thing this slew of Marley reissues communicates is how immensely
gifted the man was. Couple his absolutely raw talent with his determination
to free the minds of his people with songs posing as history lessons
or calls for action, and you have at long last the best possible versions
of the power of creative genius." |
Viggo Mortensen is one quality individual. Not only does the man have a film schedule that might make the most seasoned actor reach for caffeine pills (or worse), but he delves just as deeply into his other passions -- poetry, painting, photography, politics, music and more -- as he does into his roles. And as much as the legendary accounts of Mortensen's dedication on the set of the canonical-text-turned-classic-film, Lord of the Rings -- where it was rumored that Viggo disappeared into the woods in his Aragorn costume to really sink into the role -- might raise your eyebrows, his determined loyalty and continual involvement in Los Angeles' other (read: neglected) arts scenes should elicit your respect. Before the world went haywire over Mortensen's turn at the Tolkien canon, Viggo had already embedded himself deeply in the arts community through his poetry (from 1993's Ten Last Night to this year's Coincidence of Memory), his painting and photography (several gallery exhibits to his credit), and spoken word recordings and readings with the likes of his ex-wfe, Exene Cervenka (one-fourth of LA punk icons, X), Buckethead, Jerry Stahl and Karen Finley, among many others. So it seemed apropos that Viggo would agree to not only a reading/signing at Santa Monica's invaluable yet independent bookstore, Midnight Special -- which recently declared that it could no longer afford the skyrocketing rent of that town's increasingly chain-stored Promenade -- but also an interview with Morphizm. All of this after flying into town in the wee hours of the AM the morning before, fried and exhausted from a shoot in Montana. To no one's surprise, Viggo showed up barefoot, clothed in an American Indian Movement long-sleeve, and encouraged a rapt crowd to pick up Noam Chomsky's 9/11, before reading a few poems from his new collection, Coincidence of Memory, published by the equally independent Perceval Press.
And although both Viggo and Perceval's editor, Pilar Perez, planned on keeping the time of each signing down, that didn't stop the tireless renaissance man from giving each fan the kind of one-to-one attention that they dream of. He shook their hands, posed for countless pictures and even let some take photos of his bare feet. Which is why when I got tired standing for hours behind him -- since our interview was postponed, I figured I'd help the awesome Midnight Special keep the peace -- I didn't sit. Or complain. By the time it was over, the clock struck 2AM and I felt like an asshole for even suggesting the interview. But he was just as enthusiastic in the penultimate hour of his night as he was in its commencement. Plus, he sent me on my way with a bottle of whiskey. Like I said: a tireless individual. ST: Coincidence
of Memory closes with a famous quote from Kant: "Seek not the favour
of the multitude; it is seldom got by honest and lawful means. But seek
the testimony of the few; and number not the voices, but weigh them."
How does that quote inform your work and what does it mean to you? ST: I thought
someone came from Australia. ST: That's
ok, keep rambling.
ST: Because
it's an artistic process -- looking inward rather than outward. ST: Or honest.
ST: Kant's
quote stuck out for me because you're signing at Midnight Special Books,
which is an independent bookstore getting priced out of the now high-profile
Santa Monica Promenade. What are your thoughts on this? I mean it's
a trend, revamping entire areas everywhere with chains swallowing up
the independents. ST: It's
a huge question, of course, but what do you think it would take to keep
the more independent places like Midnight Special alive and thriving,
rather than getting priced out of a market like this? ST: Big bombs?
Isn't that a Spinal Tap song? ST: "Big
Bottom", that's right! No, I'm kidding. Let's talk about Coincidence
of Memory. Talk about its genesis. It's a 25-year retrospective
of your work. But while I was trying to remember when I wrote them, I decided that it was almost like a journal. I put the years on the poems and, in some cases, rewrote them, adding this year to the original published date. I ended up doing the same with the paintings that I hadn't put in other books (or a couple that had the same years on them.) For someone who's maybe bought some of my other books or has been interested in my artwork, it might be kind of interesting to know the chronology. And it was also a good thing for me to have, to remember old things and new things. And there's this series of photographs in Signlanguage where I used a camera that was broken and had this electrical short …
ST: The one
that gave you those orange flares? ST: I was
trying to figure out the process for those flares. I thought that burn
came from the development process. ST: That's
an interesting physical manipulation, like the one David Lynch used
in Lost Highway, where he actually takes the lens off his camera
to get a blur you can't get with any kind of other manipulation. You
work in many different mediums. Which do you feel is the most rewarding?
Do they all bring you the same satisfaction?
I'm working on a job now and I've got this whole crew sitting up on a hill in middle-of-nowhere Montana. A couple days ago, there was this hail. And everybody's just sitting there, kind of setting up the scene with clothing from 1890 and a herd of close to a thousand horses. And the waiting is almost like a ritual, like preparation for a religious moment where something might happen. You have words for the ceremony, the vestments, and all the elements and you're hoping that something good happens. So it's still interesting, the group getting together and doing it. But the end result of what I do individually as an actor isn't mine. I don't always recognize it that much as being mine, depending on what someone does with it. Whereas with the other media, for better or worse, the process and the results are both mine. ST: Your
poem "Edit", from Coincidence, makes me think of that. The "graveyard
that smells of popcorn". ST: Which
one of the media that you work in still offers a challenge? Not to suggest
that you've mastered them, but some must come to you easier than others.
ST: It's
always in process. ST: With
Coincidence, you took a lot of pictures in New Zealand and elsewhere.
Do you take your camera wherever you go? A place like New Zealand must
just boggle you.
ST: Any vivisected
pigs, like the ones from Coincidence? ST: Also
like Lynch. ST: He's
had photos of carcasses that he's manipulated into something surreal.
I wanted to ask you about the tension between pursuing your independent
work in other mediums and what might amount to your exploding popularity
from the next Lord of the Rings films, The Two Towers
and Return of the King. How do you resolve being such a presence
with trying to stay out of the public eye to pursue the things you want
to do? Like something like tonight's signing, which goes several hours
past what you might have expected and you're just fried. ST: And you're
so gracious with them. ST: I don't
think anyone noticed. Everybody was going crazy. ST: Yeah,
but it was a blast. Lord of the Rings was a massive enterprise.
And now the central thesis of The Two Towers and Return of
the King seems to revolve just as greatly around Aragorn as it does
Frodo. So I'm guessing the exposure is going to be insane. How will
you balance that with the desire to maintain your independence, your
distance from it all? ST: What's
the weirdest thing?
ST: Some
think you're actually Aragorn. ST: From
your poetry, photography, painting. That's was basically my question.
ST: You don't
want to look like the bad guy when you cut it off. ST: Hey,
I said we could stop! Pilar Perez:
I was also going to say earlier -- in the same spirit of independent
outlets -- is that's what Perceval Press is all about. We're also fans
looking for something, like the list of recommendations on the Perceval
Press site and this book signing. It's really expanding, I think. ST: Is there
a way to negotiate all of this to where you can get independent stuff
from Perceval Press out there and succeeding?
ST: Right.
ST: And it's
bringing some well deserved attention to poetry. In a sense, poetry
was a sublime form within the last few centuries, but with the proliferation
of media, it still needs to be propped up. 20 September 2002 Endless
thanks to the eternally gracious Pilar Perez and Perceval Press (alliteration!)
for their help on this interview. You can thank her, Viggo and Morphizm
by taking a look at Perceval's impressive catalog -- just click the
logo above.
Scott Thill -- a media fanatic who finds the time to write on everything that does not include the words "boy band" -- is a sometimes gainfully employed dotcom editor currently finishing his first novel, The Dangerous Perhaps.
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
Copyright 2001-2003, Morphizm.com. All Rights Reserved. |
|||||||||||||||||||
"A
Religious Moment Where Something Might Happen": An Interview with Viggo
Mortensen
