Interview: Mark Teachout on Music and Cake

ColorTv, Brooklyn NY Dec 2006
Derek Stanton on Bass
Ryan Teachout on Drums
Mark Teachout on Guitar

1. So Mark, you’ve been living in Portland, OR. for the last few years?

Yeah about 3 1/2 years I guess.

2. How would you characterize your time there?

I like to move around, see as much as possible. I still feel Chicago is my home. I lived there about five years prior to Portland. For me, Portland was a nice place to visit, not live.

3. What thoughts do you have on the impact of boxing in your life?

Well…it’s entrepreneurial(sp) so it teaches you to go out on your own a little. You don’t Box at School, there are no real ways of getting into it unless you seek it out…like a business you would start I guess. The thought of being a part of the daily 9-5 working for someone makes me ill, and Boxing allows you to make all the decisions yourself…no teamwork really. Music is like that, but it has to be run like a business too. Bands are always breaking up or going nowhere because they think its all about drinking and getting laid…too many people think that their talent is always the thing that will give them a career, but it’s organizing your decisions in the same way as running a store for example.

4. Tell me. Do you like carrot cake? I know I do.

I prefer cheesecake…but it’s awful on the heart. I’m really trying to break the habits that I used to think were almost necessary to be an artist..drugs, etc. food goes along with that as well. The attraction isn’t drugs, alcohol really…it’s trying to live up to the image of being down and out and poor. Artists of the past actually were poor and dirty, etc. because they dedicated everything to a career that brought no money…they would have taken a mansion in a sec. The younger artists now act like it’s a disgrace to make money…selling out and all that shit. I think some of these kids would turn down money that would allow them the lifestyle to concentrate 100% on their art instead of working some shit job that distracts them. The real sellouts make their artistic decisions based on fashion and what the current fad is. If its cool to make money as an artist they will…if its not…they turn their backs on their work. Artists give everything to their work and any means (money included) that will allow their work to flourish and grow should be the first priority.

5. I read recently that back in “the day”, when VHS and BetaMax was the big format struggle, that the porn industry coming to release on VHS played an enormous part in VHS’s ultimate victory. What say you?

I’ve been traveling a lot so porn has been something…uh, porno is something you consume a lot of when you are a homebody. I’m sure that the porn industry played a role for sure in the formats. If it wasn’t for the porn industry most of the amazing stuff online(streaming video…podcasts, conferencing) wouldn’t exist. It’s a huge industry. An interesting thing I read showed stats of porn consumption in hotels and it skyrockets everytime a christian conference is in town.

6. Anything happen lately that seemed meant to be? …so meant to be that it Blew Your Mind?

Uh…well, I was selling a car that I received with the sale of my business and I was depending on that money for travel and start up in NY. I was standing in front of the car grabbing a cpl things and a guy walks by and says..”hey you selling this truck? There wasn’t a sign on it or anything, he just took a guess…and I sold it in a day. It was great cuz I had no idea how long it would take to sell and I was running out a money quick…I also saw a pair of shoes that I really wanted…it was weird cuz it could have easily been that I didn’t see them.

7. I found out yesterday that a post I wrote on a whim about the Google Homepage, got some of the highest views this blog has ever had. Say something about Google. The people will love it!

I like Google. It’s pretty.

———-
[Links]

ColorTv [Myspace]
Carrot Cake [Wikipedia]
Awesome Color [Myspace]

Interview: Eric Hall on Consciousness

Interview: Eric Hall

Also, Of Montreal, Art School, Famine and Fingers.

Ian Saylor
Friday March 23, 2007

Eric Hall feels the next nine years will bring
tremendous changes to the human species.

1. So Eric, I understand today you will take in your second Of Montreal show in barely under a week at the Magic Stick in Detroit. How did you come to this decision?

Well Ian, I feel that Of Montreal provide an unparalleled live music experience, and that experience should be experienced at every available opportunity. In short; they rock.

2. Anybody cool going along with you?

My lovely girlfriend, Mary (mothefuckin) Palmer attended the event with me. I met my dear chum Cameron, his lovely woman Sally and their friend Darci at the show. Once again we were treated to a pre-show dinner at the Majestic Cafe, and were seated between Kevin Barnes and his young niece and nephew at one table, and the rest of the band at another. Oh to be in the presence of such greatness. And gayness.

3. I understand you are enrolled in classes at a local university. Talk about that a little.

Well, I have to correct you on something. It’s a community college, not a university. I don’t want anyone to think that I’m all smart and shit. I go to Mott Community College where I do a lot of drawing and making of the art. I like it there, it makes me happy.

4. Do you notice evidence of increasing consciousness in the world?

Yes, nearly every day in fact I notice something. It seems that people may be waking up to what is really going on, and to what really drives the universe. Namely that our consciousness seems to drive the universe. Somehow.

5. Do you notice evidence of increasing consciousness on the part of yourself in relation to the world?

I feel like the last few years have been a long morning, during which I have been slowly waking up. There are many things that I have come to realize and believe, and I think that allowing myself to be more “one” with everything and everyone is the key. It’s hard to talk about such things without sounded like a New Age crazy person, but I think that we’re starting to learn that New Age crazy people may be onto something.

6. How many fingers am I holding up? 😉 (jk, lol)

14.

(He was right. -I.)

7. What do you most hope will occur in the next 9 years?

I’d most like to see a mass waking of people. A time where our collective consciousness starts working again and humanity enters an age in which wars, famines, epidemics and so forth become a thing of the past. That’s what I’d like to see. I’m hopeful that it will turn out that way, but if someone were on the outside of our situation looking in, I imagine that the odds would be stacked pretty firmly against us. I think that the next nine years will brings tremendous change to our species. Some will be good, but to get there I am pretty sure that we are going to have to go through some pretty rough shit first.

———

[Links]
Of Montreal -Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse [YouTube]
Eric @ Lollapalooza (green shirt on the right) [YouTube]
Eric’s Photography [Flickr]

Interview: Katherine Coffeen on Hell

Interview: Katherine Coffeen

Ian Saylor
Monday March 19, 2007

Wife, Working Mom and Mother of two Katherine Coffeen
says Hell is not a literal place full of flames and devils.

1. So Katherine, the latest news is?

(Over)3,000 people have reported missing family members in Iraq, that is 50% more than before. (Since December 2006)
Naomi Campbell has to start her community service this week for throwing a phone at her maid.
Detroit has the highest rate of foreclosed homes in the nation.

2. Tell us a little bit about your driveway:

My driveway is awful….full of water and mud and rocks. It is so bad that sometimes people won’t drive their cars up it. Instead they park at the end and then they walk up.

3. I recently watched a small portion of a Discovery Channel show on the topic of Gender Reassignment surgery. What are your perceptions about the condition of feeling that one is not the same sex as the body one is connected to?

I think that if I had a child that wanted that, I would try to be supportive and it is their body so they know best how they feel about themselves and who am I to tell anyone what to do with their own body.

4. Do you like carrot cake?

Only my Mom’s

5. What memory do you believe to be the earliest, or first, thing you remember?

Waiting at the Swartz Creek house for Mom and Dad to bring Cristin home from the hospital, Grandma Saylor was there to watch us and I kept going down to the living room to see if they came home and put her on the couch…. I guess I was around 4.

6. Best Guess: By the end of today how many times will you have cursed something or someone?

Two

7. If you don’t believe in Hell as a literal place full of flames and devils, describe what is intended by the concept of Hell:

I think that if you are a good person, no matter what your beliefs, when you die you will be reunited with those that you have lost and you will spend eternity with them. And if you are not a good person….then you go to “hell” which I think is just a place where you are alone forever.

—————-
[Links]
Missing in Iraq [Herald Tribune]
Naomi Campbell [Sky News]
Detroit Foreclosures [Editorial] [Detroit News]