This is along the lines of that fab paragraph Bob excerpted from the Woody Guthrie book. I interviewed Tom Robbins last week, he of the mangled metaphor and unrelentingly flower-child world-view. I asked him where a guy like him fits in the age of Donald Rumsfeld, Dixie Chick persecution and a generation of 20-year-olds who support the latest U.S. war. Without hesitation he said: “It’s about NOT fitting in. The important thing is, I don’t fit it…. there is great joy in not belonging.”
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More words of inspiration from 1960s icons….
This is along the lines of that fab paragraph Bob excerpted from the Woody Guthrie book. I interviewed Tom Robbins last week, he of the mangled metaphor and unrelentingly flower-child world-view. I asked him where a guy like him fits in the age of Donald Rumsfeld, Dixie Chick persecution and a generation of 20-year-olds who […]
4 replies on “More words of inspiration from 1960s icons….”
i’m impressed. you interviewed tom robbins?! very cool. anyplace we can view this interview?
…why don’t i feel more joyful?
It was a live interview for radio, with a studio audience participating. Robbins was an absolute hoot. He was wearing a shirt that read “SPAM” (the meat product, not the Viagara ads in your email box) and a skull-print woven belt, so I asked if him if his attire was a visual metaphor about processed foods causing death. He went off on this beautiful improvised rant that makes me think a measured amount of hallucinogenic drug use in one’s youth is a good thing. It must be the lingering effects of LSD that make his synapses run so akilter of the confines of normal logic.
As for not feeling more joyful, I think being an outsider gives a subtle, relative happiness. I think nonconformity is a lonely path; then I go over to my sister-in-law’s 4,000-square foot house in the ‘burbs stuffed with matching furniture and furniture store art, and I see what true loneliness is.
Radio interview? When did you start doing radio? Very cool. How do you approach something like that versus a print interview?
The local public station invited me to do the Robbins interview. Their program director likes my columns and gave me a shot. It was pretty easy, really, not a lot different than a print interview. I have a gift (curse?) of being able to get people to tell me things they shouldn’t.
I’ve done some TV lately, too, but I have been the interviewee.