Shows/1986-01-15/Interviews
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Conducted by the crew of Things That People Carry, January 15, 1986
Conducted by the crew of Things That People Carry, January 15, 1986
Key: TPC = Things That People Carry crew JF = John Flansburgh JL = John Linnell
JF: It's, ah, Arthur Koestler. The famous author. Who killed himself without my knowledge. Without my consent. TPC: Who's the other person, on the left? JL: A Turkish dignitary. And that's John Cale [playing music live] in the background... [crosstalk as photos are taken] TPC: I want you to tell me about these and donât feel the need to tell the truth. JL: Theyâre made of porcelain. They cost 18,000 dollars. TPC: Now this series is âThings That You Carry Around With You.â Now this implies that you guys wear these [masks] all the time, now whatâs the story here? JL: Weâre insane. JF: Um. We wear them all the time, causeâ JL: We get in a lot of trouble with the police. We donât care, weâre committed to our art. JF: Itâs symbolic of a lot of things, but we canât talk about that right now. [pause] What more do you want from us!? TPC: Okay, um.. Where do you wear them? JL: On our heads. JF: We wear them in stages. TPC: What? JL and JF: On our heads. TPC: Okay, um.. JL: On our heads. JF: So, um.. Yeah, weâre really committed to these things. We wear them everywhere, all up and down the eastern seaboard. TPC: Why do you wear those particular faces? JF: Because they look best on us. TPC: What do you mean, they fit your bodies or something? JF: Yeah. JL: From the principle of the least likely face. JF: We went through about 150 faces before we found these two particular faces. TPC: Really? JF: Yeah. TPC: Now did you pick the particular expression or just the personâs? JF: We picked the most inappropriate expressions we could find. TPC: Oh, okay. Whatâs appropriate? Who are they? JF: Whatâs appropriate? Oh, big smile, button faces... Lazy susans. JL: That wouldâve fitted our mood exactly, but that wasnât any good. We didnât wanna do that, that wouldâve been redundant. TPC: Why? JL: Because weâre very happy people. If we wore masks like that, weâd go up to our friends and theyâd say, âHi John, Hi John. Boy, you look normal today. Whatâs going on?â TPC: So, whatâs the relation between, umm.. [the faces] JF: Theyâre best friends. TPC: Oh, I see, okay. JF: Theyâre best friends, theyâve known each other since high school. TPC: So, tell me about their relationship. JF: Well.. JL: They both share an interest in two-dimensionality. Theyâre both committed to our art. We believe in art. JF: Oh, yeah. Oh, lots of art. As much art as possible. JL: We think the more art you have, the better art it is. TPC: What is art? JL: Yeah. JF: Oden. JL: We think so too. JF: Oden? No, itâs not Oden. JL: Oden? JF: William Oden. Famous rock lyricist. So, uh, how about John Cale, huh? JL: John [Cale]âs a really nice guy. We knew that he was on the fence about us, but he lied and said he really liked the show anyway. And we appreciate that. JF: I lent him my shittiest guitar cord for him to play through. Itâs yellow and it broke about a year and a half ago. TPC: He use it tonight? JF: Heâs playing through it right now. TPC: It broke a year and a half ago? JF: Well, itâs all bent and covered in dirt. JL: You lent him the yellow one? JF: Yes. I lent him the yellow one cause I didnâtâI thought if I lost that, I didnât wanna lose one that I just paid 15 dollars for. JL: Gosh, you gotta be nice to him. JF: Yeah. Basically we we respect rock stars more than anyone else and thatâs why we got into this line of business. JL: Right. Not to be rock stars, but to be near rock stars. JF: Weâve been near a lot of âem. I rocked past Joe Jackson once. He looked real unhappy. TPC: John Cale too is a biggie. JF: Heâs what? TPC: Heâs really a biggie. JF: Heâs a biggie, yeah. Oh yeah. So um, what do you think of John Cale? TPC: Um, I think heâs.. JL: Come on. TPC: I think heâs good, a definite personality. Thatâs one reason why I'm attracted to him.