A: So, this has nothing to do with your music, but I'm gonna ask you about it. Are you familiar with—there's a short film that your lovely wife, Donna, has been asked to be in that I have also been asked to be in. Are you familiar with this?F: Sure. I told her never in a million years to even approach you because you would be uninterested, but it sounds like there's a possibility you could do it.
A: Well, what happened is—it's a short film about a Twitter beef between a writer and a musical celebrity, let's say a slightly passe musical celebrity along the lines of a Richard Marx.
F: Like Groucho Marx but from Winnetka.
A: When I read about that original Twitter beef, my initial reaction was that the writer guy, who was all incensed about how cheap Richard Marx was—my initial reaction was that that guy was a cock and a half, and I hoped that Richard Marx punched him square in the nose. So I was curious to read the script, because I wanted to see if the script was from the perspective of Richard Marx or from the perspective of the writer. Or if it was from some external perspective.
F: Have you read the script?
A: I did read the script. And now I'm kind of creeped by it, and I kind of don't want to do it. But I feel like I'm an awkward position, because it seems like this guy has written this part for me to play me, saying things that I would never say about someone I would never say them about.
F: That's kind of why I told her that I didn't think you'd be interested in it. Because it's you playing you, right?
A: I think that's the idea. Were you aware of this Marxstroversy when it happened?
F: I guess I did read an article about it somewhere, yeah.
A: Secondarily, I'm a little freaked about it because I appeared on—there was a local taping of a podcast, the Scharpling podcast [Low Times]. It's Tom Scharpling from The Best Show. He and a couple of other people from the show have a podcast, where it's more related to music. Anyway. They taped it at the Hideout, Chicago's friendliest tavern, and they had me and Richard Marx as guests. So I actually met Richard Marx.
F: And he wasn't a cock—he was a nice guy.
A: Well, you know, he seemed like he was a little out of touch and maybe a little full of his own dump. But I find it really hard to think ill of a guy who's self-aware enough to come down to a thing where he knows he might get picked on. I thought that was, relatively speaking, big of him.
F: To want to punch a music blogger is an inherently creditable notion. (Laughter.)
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 23 January 2014 23:02 (ten years ago) link