With acclaimed singer/songwriters Michael Penn currently touring (at the World Cafe on Friday, April 27) to support his new albumPalms and Runes, Tarot and Tea: A Michael Penn Collection, he gladly sat down and answered a few of my silly questions:
What are you reading, listening to, and watching these days
I just re-read Alan Moore's "From Hell", listening to a lot of tango, watching Intervention.
Cat person or dog person?
Dogs are great pets. It's as if they are programmed to show unconditional love, like they have little to no free will of their own. I'm a cat person.
What about the music industry excites you?
First is that the music industry is in such a massive tumble that I think it is bound to crush all the people doing it just for dough. No dough no more.
And the other thing is that some of the same technology that has contributed to the tumble is a godsend, the corporations don't have the only printing press. So I am attracted to all the creative potential that provides.
A few years ago you said that any musician going into the music industry should learn HTML - care to revise?
Only to say that I would add Flash and any other protocol used on the internet. My point was "learn the tools"...that if you got creative with your website, or using mySpace or whatever...it was no different hat designing one's own album cover.
But the main dilemma remains for people who do what I do for a living. We don't make things anymore. We used to lock our waveforms inside something.
If I forced you to listen to one of your albums - which would you choose?
It will always be the last one.
Coffee or Tea?
One very large iced coffee in the morning. Black tea the rest of the day. Usually.
What should someone expect from seeing you live?
Me doing my best...getting along. Trying to stay out of trouble, trying to make a bit of a difference, quit smoking...oh...LIVE....
What's it like being married to another musician/songwriter? (That would be Aimee Mann)
Wonderful.
East coast or West coast?
Only one of those two choices is the home of The Museum Of Jurassic Technology
We win.
What's the hardest thing for you to do or accept as a musician?
Hmmm. I'm not sure. I wish I was more prolific, I wish the things I hear in my head could translate to my fingers with less effort, but acceptance of the things I can't change is getting easier.
Sushi or Pizza?
either/or
What should we expect from you next?
Another bunch of songs, probably another score this year. But in the shorter term I want to keep the new web site active and get out and play live as much as I can.
Michael Penn will be playing at World Cafe Live on Friday, April 27 with The Last Town Chorus.
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