Last night, I went with my friend Melissa Zexter to see an interview with Iggy Pop at The Times Center. Known for his influence on the Punk movement and wild stage antics, his new Cd "Preliminaires" is jazz inspired and more suited to the Cafe Carlyle than CBGB.
He was interviewed by The New York Times jazz & pop critic, Ben Ratliff whose latest book "The Jazz Ear: Conversations Over Music" was published in 2008. We were treated to an array of old film & tv footage of some of the greats in jazz & blues who have had an influence on Iggy. These included Louis Armstrong, Booker White, Bo Diddley (I loved this clip of "Hey, Bo Diddley" with Norma Jean Wofford or "The Duchess" on guitar!), Jerry Lee Lewis, Howlin' Wolf and a fantastic live performance of "I Can't Stand It" by James Brown. I've linked the videos for these with the exception of Armstrong & Brown. It may take a more involved search for this particular version of Brown's "I Can't Stand It". His glittery coats & dance moves back to the mike make it worth finding. Pop also discussed some of his history with The Stooges and spoke about The Ramones (this link to sound check in Rome).
There was very little time left for questions from the audience. Iggy is incredibly knowledgeable and speaks so eloquently about music that I could have sat for hours watching and listening! I wasn't surprised at all by his charisma and knack for storytelling. I think I was surprised by just how thoughtful and articulate he is about his life and musical interests. Unusual way to conduct an interview, too-- promoting a CD, yet rarely if ever mentioning it by name.
As you can see, Iggy was a very gracious guest, signing autographs and chatting with audience members at the end :)
I recommend joining The Times Center mailing list for future guests. I've attended three so far, an interview with Julian Schnabel and one with Michael Caine, and all have been fun and interesting. The tickets are $30.00 with discounts often offered.
The Times Center is located at 242 W41st St. NYC 10018
2 comments:
He's a legend! Will see if he can pull off jazz, guess at 62 no longer into stage dives ;-)
I, too, was fortunate to see the
Michael Caine interview with
Melissa and Allyn. The evening
was great....fun to see such a
brilliant actor so very engaging
in interview with the NYT reporter.
He was great during the question
and answer segment, and he even
made certain that a shy young man
asked two questions and not just
one as the interviewer was cutting
the evening off for the night.
Go to the Times Center Events
...they are well worth the effort
and the reasonable charge!
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