Bono & The Edge: U2 3D
Benjamin Wagner: What do you notice in yourselves and each other in 3D that you didn't before?
The Edge: I was struck by the separateness really yunno we're up there quite individual and quite separate something about the 3d the depth of field you really feel that
Bono: Are you saying you felt lonely up there, The Edge?
The Edge: Nah, I felt lonely for Larry.
Bono: He likes being by himself.
The Edge: I was moved.
Bono: Did you go and bring him a bottle of water?
The Edge: ...
Douglas Coupland: Everything’s Gone Green
I've read all of Douglas Coupland's books. I love his seemless marriage of pop culture currency and left-of-center magical realism. He looks just beneath the curated lawns of suburbia to expose everything from Yuppies adrift ("Generation X") to Boomer grow ops ("Jpod") with a dash of wit, whimsy, and a light sprinkling of symbolic absurdity (plane crashes, meteor showers, the apocalypse). When I heard the author, screenwriter, and visual artist was going to be in New York City to promote his ...
Neil Young: Heart Of Gold
I interviewed Mr. Young and Mr. Demme at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival on their involvement in the forthcoming film, "Neil Young: Heart Of Gold." The interview occurred at Zoom, a restaurant in the old Union Pacific rail station, on Wedneday, January 25, for an MTV News article, "Neil Young's 'Heart Of Gold' Concert Doc Glitters At Sundance". the interview is reprinted here in its entirety.
BW: Jonathan, catch us up on the circumstances in which you created this extraordinary, amber-hued ...
Rufus Wainwright: Bohemian Like You
I was in Park City Executive Producing MTV News' extensive coverage of the Sundance Film Festival. I interviewed Rufus on his involvement in the forthcoming film, "Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man." This interview occurred at the Motorola Lounge on Monday morning, January 23, for a program on MTV's broadband channel, Overdrive, "Sundance Rock Docs." It is reprinted here for the completist.
BW: Benjamin Wagner, MTV News. So nice to meet you.
RW: Hi, Benjamin.
BW: I've been singing "Movies of ...
The Edge: I’m Your Man
I was in Park City Executive Producing MTV News’ extensive coverage of the Sundance Film Festival. I interviewed The Edge on his involvement in the forthcoming film, "Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man." This interview occurred at the Motorola Lounge on Monday morning, January 23, for a program on MTV’s broadband channel, Overdrive, called "Sundance Rock Docs." The interview is reprinted here for the completist.
BW: Tell me about your introduction to Leonard Cohen.
The Edge: I first ...
Cameron Crowe: Hometown Hero
Writer/director Cameron Crowe's genre-defining "Say Anything" set the bar for teen romantic comedies. It was devoid of pandering, light on slapstick and crammed with great music. When Crowe's protagonist, Lloyd Dobler, can't think of what to say to win back his girlfriend, he stands below her bedroom window — in the rain — a boom box held aloft, Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes" serenading them both.
Over the years, Crowe's films have been full of similar scenes: small, life-changing, ...
Michael Penn: Long Way Down
I've been a Michael Penn fan for years. Sure, I dug "No Myth," on The MTV. But it was a performance of "Long Way Down" on a KCRW live album that hooked me. His word play was clever, intelligent and, well, adult. He may have been garnering some radio airplay (at the time), but his singer/songwriter fare -- like wife Aimee Mann's -- was light years from Jewel or Hootie or even, God Bless her, Tracey Chapman. And his musicianship! His songs are -- what could be better? -- deep and simple. ...
Aimee Mann: Lost In Space
Me: So I assume that this call finds you somewhere in L.A. today? How's the weather? How're you feelin'?
Aimee: Yeah, I'm in L.A. It's a little overcast today. I was up a little bit late last night because it was my husband's birthday. We had some friends in for dinner.
Me: So I understand you cobbled "Lost In Space" together between touring?
Aimee: My touring schedule is usually a couple of weeks on and a week or so off and a couple a weeks off so depending what's going on most ...
Michael Stipe: Man On The Moon
Listening to R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe discuss the comedian Andy Kaufman, one can't help imagining that the singer is, at least in part, also describing himself. "I copped a lot of his moves," Stipe concedes. Coming from a man who has been saddled since early in his career with the quasi-complimentary "eccentric" tag, that's no small admission.
Andy Kaufman rose to fame through early "Saturday Night Live" performances, and reached an even larger, more mainstream audience playing the ...
Ani Difranco’s Wake Up Call: Battered-Eyed Crooner Is Ready To Kill
It's still morning when Rolling Stone Online correspondent Benjamin Wagner puts a call in to folk-punkster Ani DiFranco. The 25-year-old singer/songwriter -- asleep somewhere in Connecticut -- is touring in support of her seventh independent release in five years, Not A Pretty Girl. While DiFranco's confrontational songs have drawn criticism for their incisive edge, she has steadily built a dedicated, largely female following through relentless touring.
Rolling Stone Online: I didn't wake ...
