Transcript
Marc Maron (0:01)
Hey, folks, I need your questions. I'm getting ready for another Ask Mark anything bonus episode on the full Marin, so fire away. Just click on the link in the episode description and send me a question. Then subscribe to the full Marin so you can get every Ask Mark anything bonus episode. All right, let's do the show. Lock the gate. All right, let's do this. How are you? What the. What the Buddies? What the Nicks? How's it going? I'm Mark Marin. This is my podcast. Wtf. Welcome to it. Are you all right out there? Wow. Right? Every day. Holy. I'm dealing. I'm doing okay today. I try to stay engaged, entertained, self aware. I try to allot myself about, not even intentionally about, I don't know, two to three hours of relentless, catastrophic thinking and panic a day. And then I actually exhaust myself and it frees me up to do other things. I don't know if that's a healthy process or spiritual or practical. It just seems to be something that happens, that exhausted peace of mind. But look, today on the show, I talked to Will Oldham. Now, this guy, he's been on my periphery for a long time, man. You may know him as Bonnie Prince Billy. He records under that name for most of his stuff. He's put out more than two dozen studio albums and the latest is called Purple Bird. He's also an actor who's been in movies like the Bike Riders with Wendy and Lucy and Old Joy, but also Mate Juan, remember John Sayles and Will Oldham as a kid, actually played the child preacher in that. And it's a performance that before I never. I found out that he was that guy years later, after I knew about or I'd heard about or listened to Bonnie Prince Billy. Because that role when he was a kid as that preacher kid was haunting and intense and menacing. He's a fundamental part of that movie. And he's like, I don't know. I talked to him about it. I can't remember how old he said he was, but probably under 20, you know, and it was memorable. But now Bonnie Prince Billy is one of those guys, not unlike some of the other drag city artists that label, who just are very prolific, put out a lot of work and a lot of it is great. I don't even know how you'd really classify Will. I guess there's a folk element, but he's not beyond doing kind of rock ish records, and he's not beyond collaborating with people from other types of music. And he's quite the artist, this guy. And And I was a little. I don't know if I was nervous talking to him, but I'd met him once before and I felt like there was a tension there. But I can create that with anybody. And not even in the moment, totally in my head. But I didn't know if we would get along. He had done some musical work with a guy I know, him and Matt Sweeney did that amazing record, Superwolf. And that's where I sort of. I'd gotten the Bonnie Prince Billy records before, and I'd listened to them here and there. But the Superwolf record really kind of blew my mind. And I talked to Sweeney about that. But then I just started getting into Will and into Bonnie Prince Billy. And there's a lot of really lyrically and musically beautiful work with a lot of different types of musicians. And so when the opportunity came up to talk to him, I did. I had this conversation that you'll hear today. And it's a very. It's pro art, it's pro self expression, it's pro poetry, it's pro finding your voice in what you do. It's pro community. It's all those things that we still have to believe are important to maintain humanity and civilization the best we can. Communicating through expression and art and engagement. Can you dig it? Can you dig it? It's a good conversation. I'm glad we met. He actually came out to see me down in Louisville when I was there, because that's where he lives, him and his wife and some friends. And they're kind of like rural groovy, you know what I mean? Tonight I'm in Oklahoma City at the Tower Theater. Tomorrow night I'm in Dallas at the Majestic Theater. Saturday I'm in Houston at the White Oak Music Hall. And Sunday I'm in San Antonio at the Empire Theater. Then Durham, North Carolina. I'll be at the Carolina Theater of Durham on Friday, March 21st. Charlotte, North Carolina. I'm at the Knight Theater on Saturday, March 22nd. And I'll be in Charleston, South Carolina, at the Charleston Music hall on Sunday, March 23rd. Then I'm coming to Illinois, Michigan, Toronto, Vermont, New Hampshire and New York City for my special taping. Go to wtfpod.com tour for all my dates and links to tickets. All right. In uncertain times, folks, people look for peace of mind and a sense of security wherever they can find them. With simplisafe. Millions of Americans enjoy greater security and peace of mind every time they arm their system. When they head out each morning or when they lock up each night. 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Are you watching the Severance? Or am I kind of pigeonholing myself into a bubble of people that watch those shows? I don't know what everybody watches, but I also rewatched A Face in the Crowd. If you got Criterion again, is this a bubble? Am I in a bubble of people that do this? A Face in the Crowd is on Criterion channel. Now. This is a, I believe it's a Bud Schulberg script. It's Ilya Kazan directing, and it's Andy Griffith from the Andy Griffith Show. You know, if you've ever watched reruns of that, I don't know how old you are. I mean, I never saw it originally. It's really old. But he's, he was just sort of a shucks guy, you know, on the Sheriff and Don Knotts was on there and a little Ron Howard. And it was kind of a nice, simple life, kind of, you know, you know, kind of goofy but not menacing. But A Face in the Crowd is one of the best movies about show business ever. And specifically about the sort of megalomaniacal celebrity and the impact of that. It was a different culture and a different, certainly a different business in the way it operated back then. But, but the movie, it's menacing Griffith, it's evil Griffith, it's Griffith, Andy Griffith, the human monster that you understand and get. So the character is genius. You gotta watch it. I told Nate Bargetsi to watch it because I think he'd enjoy it. It's Funny. Cause I was talking to Nate and I was like, you like Andy Griffith? He's like, of course I love Andy Griffith. I'm like, you ever seen evil Andy Griffith? Well, I want Nate to watch it just because there's a moral lesson in it about show business. Look at where this can go when you get huge. I guess it was a little passive aggressive, but it was. I think it was a friendly and honest thing to do. But I would recommend that movie to anybody while it's out, because it's not one of those movies you can find easily. I guess you can if you're looking for it. But it's right there on Criterion. And it's about a guy, you know, just kind of a. Is the word itinerant? He was a. Just a drifter, a drunky drifter with a guitar in a jail cell. And some local reporter in Arkansas, Patricia Neal, is doing a radio show of people telling their stories about their lives. And she goes into this jail and interviews Andy Griffith's character, who's called Lonesome Rhodes. I think his name's Larry. And he's just such a charming kind of yarn spinning, you know, kind of a rural character. And it's just about from that moment where they talk in that jail cell and people respond to him on the radio. His kind of journey through stardom to becoming the biggest star, seemingly in the country. And then one of his sponsors wants to maneuver him and his charm into helping a politician get elected president. And then it's just sort of the Meg maniacal character versus his new power and what he does with it and can he handle it. And there's a genius kind of, I think might be the first performance of Lee Remick. And Walter Matthau plays a writer. And it is such an amazing and thorough examination of fame and demagoguery through celebrity. That there. That exists. It might be the best one. So I recommend watching that fucking thing. But then again, I'm in show business and I feel like I have to watch it every few years just to make sure I understand the world I run in. All right, so look, Will Oldham is Bonnie Prince Billy. There's a new Bonnie Prince Billy album, the Purple Bird. It's now available wherever you get music. This is me talking to Will Oldham. I'm just, like, getting over a minor trauma that happened just minutes before he got here. I was putting some honey on a cracker with peanut butter on it, and I just cleaned out the top of Dr. Bronner's All In One, soaked to get The. You know, the. When it solidifies in the top.