Wednesday, February 19

Some Los Angeles Tips

People are always asking me what they should do when they visit LA. I am by no means the greatest LA expert on earth, but I’ve lived here more than a decade now, and I have some ideas for you. Note that I live in the far Northeast corner of LA, and really rarely travel to the western half of town. So if you are looking for advice on Beverly Hills stuff or Malibu stuff or whatever, I am not that helpful. Also this is very subjective and really non-comprehensive in general. Just some stuff I like!

In General

Rent a car if you drive, but don’t be afraid to take the bus or subway. There are some very long distances to traverse, and not everything is convenient to transit, but the transit is reasonably comfortable and efficient for a lot of purposes (going downtown, for example), particularly when combined with some judicious ride-sharing. There’s plenty of parking everywhere, despite what Angelenos would have you think. Don’t try to do too many things in one day, or cross town on the 10, 101 or 405 at anything even resembling rush hour (ie between like seven and ten thirty or three and seven on weekdays). Stick to one area for the day, maybe two.

The Museum of Jurassic Technology
This is the best thing in Los Angeles and one of the best things in the world. It is part museum, part art project. To explain it much further might ruin the experience of visiting it, but please take my word that it is one of the most amazing places in the world.

The Watts Towers
As the name suggests, they’re in Watts, a bit out of the way for some trips, but absolutely without a doubt worth the travel. They’re an incredible artwork/building built in a backyard out of rebar, concrete, glass and tile by an illiterate Italian immigrant in the mid-20th century. Worth signing up for a tour, they are cheap (it’s a city park) and not all that long. There’s also a little gallery on the site. One of the great works of American outsider art and a deeply beloved city treasure.

Other, More Regular Museums
LACMA is a world-class art museum. The collection is a bit scattered (and as of this writing a wing is closed for renovation and replacement), but it’s really good. It’s in Mid-City on the Miracle Mile, and surrounded by other museums. The Petersen Automotive Museum is pretty cool if you’re into cars. La Brea Tar Pits are more park than museum, but the museum is fun in a kitschy way, if you’re into prehistoric creatures. It’s also a nice place to eat lunch.
In Exposition Park are a few major museums - the Natural History Museum is pretty good, though not better than others in other major cities (the Field Museum or whatever). The science museum is OK but significantly outclassed by the competition (it’s no Exploratorium), though it does have a real space shuttle, which is pretty sweet.
The Annenberg Space for Photography does what it says on the label. A good mid-size museum of photographs, check what show is up. The Broad is a nice contemporary art museum in a beautiful building that’s right near Walt Disney Concert Hall, also an incredible building. They have a second campus in Little Tokyo that’s very nice but smaller.

Architectural Stuff
The LA Conservancy runs affordable walking tours that take you into some of the most fascinating built environments in LA. The subject matter ranges from Art Deco in downtown to the modern skyscrapers of the 50s through 90s. They’re mostly Saturdays, but a few also run on weekdays. Can’t recommend them enough if you’re up for a couple hours of walking. You can go inside the Bradbury Building and up into the upper floors! It’s cool. (The Conservancy also runs screenings in the big movie palaces downtown, which are mostly otherwise closed to the public. Definitely recommend those.)
A couple of other architectural highlights: the Hollyhock House is in Barnsdall Park in Los Feliz. It’s a restored Frank Lloyd Wright estate willed to the city many years ago that as of relatively recently runs regular tours. Also in the park is the city art museum of LA, which sometimes has some cool shows. Cal Poly Pomona students run tours on Saturdays of the Neutra VDL studio and residences in Silver Lake, which can be combined with a nice walk around the lake and some middle-aged-hipster watching. The Gamble House in Pasadena is an absolutely breathtaking craftsman mansion with a lot of

Griffith Park
Griffith Park is one of the largest urban parks in the United States. It has all kinds of stuff within it - the LA Zoo, the Griffith Observatory, some great hiking. It’s a great place to spend some time. If you have little kids, they will love Travel Town, a train graveyard/museum that’s inside the park (and free!). The zoo is good if you like zoos, though not incredibly great or anything. The Autry Museum of the American West is worth a visit if you’re into that kind of thing.

The Grove
I know that we talk about The Grove a lot on Jordan, Jesse, Go. Please do not waste your vacation time at the Grove. It’s a mall. It’s fine. This also applies to the Americana at Brand, which we sometimes talk about because we have talked about the Grove too much. Also a mall. A little nicer than some? I went there when I needed a new power cable for my Surface.

Dodger Stadium
Look, I am a Giants fan and hate the Dodgers, but if you are a baseball fan, Dodger Stadium is a great place to watch a baseball game. Even I can admit that. Angel Stadium is about as generic as it gets, but if you go on a weekday you can take a train from Union Station in LA.

The Getty Center
The Getty Center is a beautiful building on a breathtaking piece of real estate. It’s pretty cool to visit, but be aware that most of the art is pretty early, so if you don’t like busts or paintings of feasts and stuff from the bible, then it might not be your jam art-wise. And getting up there is a whole thing. That said: it really is a beautiful building and an incredible view, so you probably won’t feel like it’s a waste. And if you like busts, then get your ass over there.

Downtown Stuff
I will again recommend the LA Conservancy’s walking tours to get a flavor of downtown LA, which is very walkable and full of incredible stuff. The main library is a beautiful edifice, the history of which is detailed in Susan Orlean’s The Library Book. Worth wandering around in. Grand Central Market is a great place to get a bite, though pretty bougie at this point. Right next to Grand Central Market is Angel’s Flight, a block-long funicular that is a lot of fun and costs next to nothing.
Besides this, there are still functional specialized commercial districts in downtown LA. The flower district is particularly fun - the big flower market opens early for wholesale sales but is open to the public and there are tons of stores selling silk and artificial flowers which are very fun to wander through. There are also areas with stores specializing in selling imported toys, store fixtures (a favorite of mine), jewelry and fabric. Most of the fabric is kinda garbage honestly but there is a good tailor supply store called B. Black and Sons and a great hat making store (worth visiting even if you don’t make hats) called California Millinery Supply. FIDM also has a thrift store with cheap fabric leftover from LA-based factories.

Movies
The Arclight is a fancy movie chain, and the Hollywood location (near Amoeba Records) is also the home of the Cinerama Dome, which is pretty fun. The Vista is a great single-screen theater on the east side. There are some great rep houses on the west side - check your local listings.

Comedy Stuff
The UCB has a few great shows every night at both locations. It’s hard to go wrong, though you should be aware you will be seeing things that are a little rougher than whatever makes it to your town as a road show. The signature improv show is Asssscat, which is absolutely as good as it gets.
Dynasty Typewriter (right by our office) has a lot of great shows these days. A great standup show is Hot Tub at the Virgil.
The big comedy clubs have pretty comedy-club-y comedy in them, not necessarily what I’d recommend, though you will certainly see a lot of relatively big names doing sets. The Improv Lab sometimes has MaxFun-adjacent headliners who’ve put together their own lineups, as does Flappers in Burbank. Largo has bigger-name shows of this variety as well, and if you go see a show there headlined by a Sarah Silverman or Patton Oswalt, the lineup will likely be packed with their pals, even if they aren’t advertised.

Some Places To Eat
This is NOT a comprehensive list.
First: Jonathan Gold died a few years ago, but he is still the king of LA food. Anything he recommended in the Weekly or Times is still the gold standard (no pun intended). He was also a wonderful writer and a champion of foodways that are unfamiliar to many in LA, much less outside LA.
If you are a food nerd, KCRW’s Good Food is a superb local food show (and podcast) produced by Nick Liao, who used to work at MaxFun.

Philipe’s The French Dip
A restaurant that’s been around for literally a century, with sawdust on the floor, big jars of pickled eggs, ladies in hairnets and really tasty French Dips. They have competing claims to having invented them but the other competitor turned into one of those goofy sleeve-garter-barman subway tile exposed lightbulb places about ten years ago. Philipe’s is totally for real and great.

Pie N Burger
This is just a burger place in Pasadena that sells classic SoCal-style burgers and is really great. Cash only, though.

Langer’s
The only one of the Jewish delis in LA that’s really worth a special trip. The #19 (pastrami, cole slaw and swiss on rye) is truly one of the world’s greatest foods. Pastrami here is better than anywhere else I’ve ever eaten, including those famous delis in New York.

Park’s BBQ 

One of many great Korean BBQ restaurants in LA, but the only one recommended to me personally by Jonathan Gold. (I also like Soot Bull Jeep, which barbeques over charcoal and will leave you smelling like smoke, and Hae Jang Chong for all-you-can-eat.) (There are LOTS of different kinds of Korean food, but I am not an expert on the soups and blood sausages and bibimbaps and etc., but if you’re adventurous, you could eat a different Korean food at a different spot every month in LA and make out well.)

Guelagetza
Oaxacan food is one of the best kinds of food in the world, and Guelagetza is an LA institution that serves good-quality Oaxacan food. Moles, tlayudas, queso fundido. If you’ve never eaten any of this stuff, a couple of chicken moles are a great place to start (as is Guelagetza).

Dim Sum
You can drive all the way to the San Gabriel Valley and eat at one of the many wonderful dim sum places there. That’s where the best stuff is. If it’s not worth a special trip to you, I like a place called Lunasia in Pasadena, and they also serve dim sum for dinner. Not a HUGE menu but good food.

Mozza
This pizzeria, now a sort of group of restaurants, is an unimpeachably excellent Fancy Meal in LA. So (per my producer Kevin) are the other restaurants run by the same chef, Nancy Silverton.

The Dal Rae
This is an old-timey fancy restaurant in Pico Rivera, a semi-industrial part of LA. It’s just a great place to wear a suit to and eat Clams Casino. Famous for their table-made Caesar salad (legit great) and pepper steak (too peppery for me). Generally the food is excellent in a 1955 sort of way.

Bludsoe’s
Best Texas-style barbeque I’ve had outside of Texas. Used to be a window down by the airport, now a fancier place on La Brea, but I’m told the food is just as good at the fancy place.

Pupusas
I love to eat pupusas. Maybe my favorite food. I really like to eat pupusas at Los Molcajetes on Hoover in Westlake (near Koreatown). Note they are weirdly big here (a regional variation of some kind) and they only take cash. (Note also this is one of 10,000 restaurants in LA named Los Molcajetes.)  I also sometimes eat at a nice sit-down Salvadoran place called Las Cazuelas on Figueroa in Highland Park.

In N Out
In N Out is good! It will not change your life! But it is very tasty, especially for a $4 food! Some people complain about the fries, which are fresh-cut and fried only once and thus are less crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside than some others! I think they are fine! Try In N Out, why not! But maybe don’t make a whole special trip to do so!

Tacos and Other SoCal Mexican Food Stuff
Everyone has their own favorite taco places, and none of my favorites are so special they should be destinations. They are mostly my favorites because they are close to my home and work. But I can tell you that I like to get sit-down Mexican-American food at La Abeja on Figueroa in LA, where I eat a lot of carne adovada and enchiladas and sometimes albondigas or breakfast. I also really like to eat carne en su jugo at Carnes Asadas Pancho Lopez on Pasadena in Lincoln Heights. I eat tacos from Tacos La Estrella on York in Highland Park or the truck (with no name) across from the Mexican consulate on Park View at sixth in Westlake. At night I sometimes get cheap tacos (I like buche) from the place that opens up on Pasadena at Avenue 37. I like the shrimp and fish tacos at Via-Mar on Figueroa. I like Huaraches from Huaraches Azteca on York. The burritos at Yuca’s in Los Feliz (or Pasadena) are great, though they are totally different from the SF-style burritos that I grew up eating. I sometimes get nachos at Carnitas Michoacan on Broadway in Lincoln Heights, which feature meat and cheese sauce and are gross but also really, really good.  I have also eaten at the very fancy Mexican restaurant Border Grill and to be honest it is really good even though the interior feels a little like a cross between a fancy restaurant in 1989 and a Chili’s.

El Coyote
This is a famous Mexican-American restaurant from the early part of the 20th century, but you shouldn’t go there because the food sucks.

Stores I Like
This is going to be REAL subjective, but a few stores I like which sell the kinda stuff you’d expect me to want.
&etc - A great (small) antique store at 1913 Fremont in Pasadena.
The Last Bookstore - A downtown bookstore that is the closest thing to a “destination” book store in LA. Good selection and reasonable prices on used books, and a nice art book room. (Records as well, but they’re not very good.)
Gimme Gimme Records - I like this record store in Highland Park. You’ll pay retail here, but reasonable retail, and the selection (while not immense) is really excellent. Good stuff in all genres.

Secret Headquarters - One time at this small comics store in Silver Lake the lady at the counter asked if I was Jesse from Jordan Jesse Go and they won my business forever in that moment.
Don Ville - My friend Raul makes and sells shoes (and repairs them!) in the northern part of Koreatown. If you have the dough, get him to make you some shoes!
The Bloke - A really great little menswear store in Pasadena. Sells cool (expensive) trad-ish brands like Drake’s and Hilditch & Key and Alden.
The Good Liver - A beautiful shop in Little Tokyo specializing in perfect home goods. The perfect scissors, the perfect dish towel and so forth. Some things are expensive, some aren’t.
H Lorenzo Archive - The “outlet” shop of a designer clothing store on the west side. Discounts aren’t huge, but the selection is really interesting, and they have a good collection of one of my favorite brands, Kapital.
Sid Mashburn - Excellent classic clothing shop on the west side.
Suit Supply & Uniqlo - if you haven’t got these where you live, they’re the places I usually send people for reasonably-priced tailored clothes (Suit Supply) and cheap basics (Uniqlo).
Olvera Street - This is an old-timey tourist attraction, a street of folks selling Mexican handcrafts (and their Chinese-made analogs). Right near Union Station and Philipe’s, and a great place to buy factory-made huaraches (the shoes, not the food). They even have sizes big enough for me, which is pretty much impossible to find in Mexico or most Mexican-American shoe stores.
Thrift Stores - I go to a lot of thrift stores but if I told you which ones you might buy something I would have bought so I’m not going to tell you which thrift stores.

Flea Markets
You may know I am at the flea market every weekend. The good fleas are on Sundays, and there’s one every week. First Sunday of the month is Pasadena City College, a big (and free) market with pretty reasonable pricing. PCC has a pretty big record section in addition to the regular flea market stuff. Second weekend is the famous Rose Bowl flea, which is HUGE and has a big new goods section (blech) and vintage clothing area (good!). Third weekend is Long Beach Airport, which is a great overall show. Fourth is Santa Monica airport, which is smaller and a little fancier but very nice. The Valley flea is also fourth Sundays, at Pierce College, and that’s not huge but sometimes surprises me. With all of these, the earlier you can arrive, the better you’ll do (not least for weather reasons). I usually try to get there around 7:30 or 8:00. The Rose Bowl in particularl is a 4-6 hour operation if you do most of it.
There are also a lot of swap meets - I don’t know enought to recommend any in particular, but these are much more about tube socks and batteries and bootleg movies than antiques and collectibles. Still can be fun, though, and are certainly a proud SoCal tradition.
(The Silverlake Flea and the Melrose Trading Post are garbage, don’t go there.)

Going to the Beach
I’m not a huge beach goer, but by all means go to the beach if that’s your thing. The Annenberg Community Beach House in Santa Monica is a great place to base your operation, though you have to arrive in the morning on busy days to get a parking spot.

Kid Stuff
I mentioned Travel Town, that’s pretty great. Kidspace in Pasadena is a very good children’s museum. The Bob Baker Marionette Theater is a great place to see a marionette show straight out of 1966. There’s a good aquarium in Long Beach though it’s a bit nutty there on weekends, and the zoo in Griffith Park is a good zoo. I really like Descanso Gardens, a big botanical garden northeast of LA. Huntington Gardens is also very nice, though it’s much more expensive and hotter.

Geography
Los Angeles is BIG. I’d say try to spend each of your days within about a sixth of it, geographically. It’s entirely possible to do west side and east side stuff on the same trip, but don’t try to do them on the same day. Look at a map and look at driving times when you’re planning. Neighborhoods in LA are BIG, geographically speaking, don’t assume two things in the same neighborhood are an easy walk.
There aren’t a ton of urban neighborhoods suitable for wandering in the way there are in some places. A few manageable general areas for stuff you might like: Silverlake/Los Feliz/Echo Park, Koreatown, Highland Park, downtown, Little Tokyo and the Arts District. (I live in the northeast part of town, and don’t spend much time on the west side, which is one reason why this list focuses more on east side stuff. Some folks like West Hollywood and Venice on the west side. Long Beach and Pasadena are both neat towns with their own thing going on that might be worth a visit, too.)

Books & Media
The Great Los Angeles Book is probably City of Quartz, a socialist-leaning history of LA. I really loved Susan Orlean’s The Library Book, which is about the library as an institution, but also specifically the LA central library and the mysterious fire that nearly destroyed it. And a wild guy named Charles Lummis who was one of the founding fathers of LA culture and was really something else. (You can visit his house - it’s right off the 110 near Highland Park.)
An LA movie I love is The Long Goodbye, which is sort of a predecessor/inspiration for The Big Lebowski. A shaggy mystery directed by Altman where Elliott Gould just sort of wanders around LA. Another really cool one is Los Angeles Plays Itself, a long (long!) film essay about the ways the real Los Angeles has been used to create fictional worlds in film over the decades.

TV Tapings
I’m not an expert in TV tapings. I can say that I’ve been to a few Conan tapings, and while it takes a LOOOOONG time to get in there, the show is fun to watch live. This is generally true of talk shows and most game shows, which tape more or less as-live. Sitcoms take WAY longer than you were expecting them to. Make sure to try to book tickets early if you have something you want to see. No matter what it’s a most-of-the-day thing.

Nightlife
Is a word that describes evening activities - especially dance clubs. I am old and don’t know about these things.

The Magic Castle
I can’t get you in, please don’t ask me to. I went a couple times. It’s fine. If you’re not into magic you’re not missing too much. If you are, then obviously, it’s a priority.

The Walk of Fame and Hollywood
Not recommended, not worth it, don’t bother.

Disneyland
Why would you want my opinion about Disneyland? It’s Disneyland. You’re in or you’re out.

San Diego
If you happen to plan a side trip to San Diego, you can take the Amtrak there, and it is a breathtakingly beautiful and exceedingly pleasant trip. I have no San Diego expertise to impart beyond that, however.

Friday, October 18

Some Interviewing Thoughts

My friend is working on a book about how to podcast. He sent me these questions about interviewing and since who knows how much of my answers will actually end up on the pages of said book (which I will plug when it is time, I bet it will be great), I figured I’d just post them here, in case they’re useful to anyone. 

If you are not familiar with me or my work, I am the host of the NPR interview show Bullseye with Jesse Thorn (I am the Jesse Thorn of it). I also did a podcast called The Turnaround where I interviewed interviewers about interviewing.

Can you tell us something about your process?

I’m usually at least somewhat familiar with the guest’s work - that’s why we’ve booked them. Not always, but usually. So I have that advantage going in to the prep process.

I try to take a full day to prepare. If there’s a book, I usually read it over the preceding week or so. If there’s a movie or a show, I see it when I can. The rest I cram in before the interview. I don’t have Lexis-Nexus (maybe I should?) but I go on Google News and search for as many news pieces as I can about the guest. I prefer big profiles and long interviews. I’ll start with whatever’s in the Guardian or the Times or the New Yorker, or online sources with deep archives like the AV Club. And I read as much as I can. Usually a few dozen things. Depends on the notoriety of the guest. I’ll also read a bit about the work - film or book reviews, just to get other people’s perspectives on it, see if there’s stuff I haven’t thought of. And usually at the beginning and end I’ll read… wait for it… Wikipedia. Because it’s usually better than people’s bios, and it helps me remember the rough narrative of their life and work. I’ll also try to listen to or watch at least one interview - maybe when I’m driving in to the studio. That just gives me a feeling of what it’s like to talk to them, so I’m not surprised.

While I’m prepping, I keep a document open on my computer in a writing app called Q10 that saves a text file automatically to a folder that’s synced across my devices. If a thought I want to make sure to ask about occurs to me while I’m reading, I drop it in there. Not usually in question form, mostly just a phrase, like “loves to play mandolin but isn’t good at it” or something. Generally I’m looking to move past what other people have asked. When I read a response that my guest-to-be has to someone else’s question, I’m thinking, “what does that response make me curious about?” I can figure out how to do the exposition to get there. And I’m often thinking in a way improvisers call A-to-C. There is a piece of information, I think “what does this make me think of,” then I think “what does *that* make me think of?” It helps avoid obviousness. It’s important to know how other people ask someone something, so you can ask something different or at least ask in a different way. Because generally you don’t want someone’s patter, you want a fresh, in-the-moment thought or reaction.

While I’m doing this, if I find media I want to incorporate or ask about, I send it to my producer, who’s pulling clips. They’ll give me a list of clips, including the ones I specifically wanted, before the interview, and I’ll give that a look-over so I can remember roughly what I’ve got.

In the end, I have maybe a list of six or eight things I want to try and remember to ask about, a list of six or eight clips, and a lot of information in my head about who the person is. Once in a while, I’ll have a question written, but generally only because it’s something sensitive and I want to say it exactly correctly. Like a question about a crime someone was accused of or a time someone’s colleague was harassed or a time someone said something particularly shitty. Those I don’t want to be phrasing on the fly. Generally, though, it’s just a few phrases so I don’t forget to ask about a funny thing I thought of. I just interviewed the soprano Renee Fleming, and the list had “singer breaking wine glass: is that real” on it.

In general, I’m trying to think about a general outline for the interview - like “we’ll talk a bit about the new thing first, then circle back to childhood, then through the biography” or whatever. And I’m trying to be curious and think about why they make the choices they do and what I find myself wondering about. Besides that, I want to know enough about the person I’m talking to that I can just focus on conversing with them. 

What things do you think are most important or key to your ability as an interviewer?

I like and respect the people I interview. If they seem like an asshole, I don’t invite them on my show. They’re generally pretty brilliant, or they wouldn’t be able to make the great art they make. So my job is to just meet them where they are and talk to them like a person. I probably show a bit more of myself than most folks at NPR do, who are more news-oriented or reporter-oriented, but my interest in the person sitting across from me is sincere. If I share something of myself, it’s because I think it might be meaningful to them and help them understand that we are both people, and we’re having a chat.

I also don’t try to hide my interest behind posturing faux-impartiality. They’re there at my invitation, I’d be a real heel if I’d invited them but wasn’t interested in what they were saying. I listen when they talk, and react to what they say. I don’t try to control the conversation except to the extent I need to do so to make a radio show. I goof around in goofy parts and respond in a humane way in emotional parts. And in general, I know that it can’t go that wrong, so I don’t really give a fuck. You only get one ticket, might as well enjoy the ride, as Devin the Dude raps. 

What do you do to put people at ease or when you sense that they’re’ holding back? Is there a time you remember when that happened? 

I try to put them at ease when I meet them, before I even sit down at the mic. Or before we start if they’re in another studio. That really is just basic human stuff. I come out of my office, go over to them, say hi, I’m Jesse. Shake their hand, smile. Let them know we’re gonna talk for an hour or so, it’ll just be talking, we’ll make them sound great. For most guests if there’s something that might be sensitive, I’ll let them know it isn’t live and if there’s something personal they don’t want to talk about, to just let me know. (That never actually happens.) Maybe I ask them something about their outfit or something I wondered that wasn’t really for the air, like about a sports team I heard they like or something. Just talk to them like a nice person would. 

If the interview is rolling and they’re holding back, I maybe ask them something friendly and surprising, something that makes me look dumb, maybe something silly. If they’re really polished but not revealing themselves, I might ask them a question that requires a heartfelt answer - like I dunno… “are you afraid of death?” Mostly though I just know that I have some time and that if I talk to them in a nice human way they’ll usually come around to responding in kind. 

What do you keep top of mind when interviewing?

The person sitting in front of me. The actual conversation happening at that actual moment. 

Could you describe how you go about preparing for an interview, and approx how long that process takes?

I went through it pretty well above, but as far as time goes - outside of consuming the media the person is there to talk about, their book or film or whatever, I’d say I try to give it at least six straight hours. And I’m very fast at it, since I’ve been doing it now for twenty years. Before it was maybe eight or twelve. But again: that’s in the context of most of my guests already being very familiar to me.  

Was there a time when something totally unexpected happened during an interview? What did you do in response? How did things turn out?

I once played a clip for Michael K. Williams of a dance track from the 80s, this song where he’d appeared in the video. It was his big break. And I thought maybe he’d be happy to hear it, kind of amused, but he started crying. And he was in a studio in New York, I couldn’t really tell if he was sad or hurt or happy or whatever. But I just let him do his thing. Because I didn’t need to control the moment. I have him some time, and he shared some incredible memories. 

Are there some people you look up to as interviewers? What did you learn from them?

I think Ira Glass is always very deeply interested in other people’s feelings. It is absolutely sincere, and he just asks about them. On more than one occasion, I have had him ask me about my feelings when I was interviewing him. He obviously doesn’t do the same kind of interviewing I do - he is really looking for a few illustrative or moving highlights - but the way he does that is very inspirational to me.

Terry Gross is extraordinarily modest. She is a brilliant genius, but she is always glad to highlight the guest and what is great or interesting about them. She also always asks for examples, always brings the conversation to specifics and stories when it could be vague.

I did a series called The Turnaround, where I interviewed interviewers about interviewing, and talked to all kinds of famous interviewers, from a variety of media. 

Susan Orlean, who writes for the New Yorker, can find a story anywhere. She just shows up and is extraordinarily curious and recognizes when something is interesting and pulls the thread. That’s another improv technique - a scene is built on the first distinctive element. You spot it and you grow it. 

Larry King is always hyper-present. He did years and years of long live radio shifts. He absolutely trusts his curiosity. He told me he once asked a pilot if, when the plane took off, he knew it was going to land. He is unafraid of looking like a fool as long as he is following his curiosity.

Reggie Osse, Combat Jack, he knew everything about the subject he was interviewing people about. Everything. So he always had a little anecdote or a little insight that opened things up. His show was loooooong, but that was because he was always relating to something someone said about something in a club in 1998, and that led to this, and all of a sudden you’re armpit-deep in amazing stories.

Jerry Springer really respects everyone he talks to, and cares about them and their story. Including folks who other people might laugh at or scorn or pity. He just goes in and tries to give them a chance to be heard.

Elvis Mitchell is a real critic, and he has more expertise in entertainment media than anyone I’ve ever met. I mean he knows more about his seventh-greatest area of expertise than I do about my first. He’s really masterful at talking to artists about the actual content of their work. Themes and ideas. In a clear and concrete way. So many people substitute anecdote for insight, and I am very grateful for his insight. 

Marc Maron is like a genius puppy. He just pokes and prods and guesses, and he’s so smart and is crackling with such energy that he finds stuff because people step up to meet him. He also is so raw, emotionally, that people just try to take care of him by sharing themselves.

Audie Cornish is astonishingly clear-eyed. She knows what she needs to know, she knows the context, she goes and gets it.

Howard Stern will just ask about anything. And you know he will talk about anything. So you feel obliged to tell him. And he always asks about the biggest and most important stuff. Like how did you lose your virginity or do you believe in God or whatever. He just does it and what are you going to do, not answer?

That’s only a few, I could list a million more. I would say that something they share is that they are all actually curious. It is not a performance of curiosity; they want to know about others.

Are there any stories you could share of times when you learned some valuable lessons about interviewing? Do’s and don'ts? 

I once interviewed Betty Davis, who is a legendary (and legendarily reclusive) funk musician. She was on the phone from Pittsburgh, patched through by her label since she didn’t want anyone to have her phone number. And she was very polite, but very fragile-sounding. She hadn’t done press in a few decades, and hadn’t even picked up her ASCAP checks until a fan tracked her down and hand-delivered them. She gave me a lot of one sentence answers to my questions. It was really, really hard, but I remember thinking of something I’d read in Jessica Abel and Ira Glass’ This American Life comic, which is that if you don’t say anything, people will fill the space. So when she finished her sentences, I just waited. For a long time, sometimes. Like five or ten seconds, which is FOREVER. And every time, she added to her initial remarks. And that saved the interview. 

Another time I went to a fancy hotel in west Los Angeles to interview Bill Withers. He’s done some press since then, but at the time he hadn’t really done any in like fifteen years. He’s older and incredibly smart and a little grumpy. And when I sat down, he kind of started giving me the business. Because whatever - I was a young white guy there being presumptuous enough to bother him, a guy who really had nothing to gain from the interview. And I remember at some point he was giving me a hard time and I kind of poked back at him, and he laughed, and after that it was one of the best interviews I’d ever done. I think just because he was like, “oh, this is a person, too. He’s not an idiot, he’s here because he cares, and maybe he’s even interesting to talk to."  

What do you know now that you wish you’d known when you were starting out?

That it’s going to be fine. I think I learned that from doing the Turnaround. Because I wasn’t going to make money from it, I just figured I’d let myself off the hook preparation-wise and emotionally and so forth. Just let it go. And it was some of my best work. Because I trusted it would be fine, followed my actual curiosity, and talked to everyone like a person. Once my therapist asked me why I was anxious about interviews, and I told him I didn’t want to mess it up and look foolish. And he said, "Does that happen?” And I was like… “No. I guess not.” And he’s like, “So, why be anxious?” And I was like, “CHECKMATE DOCTOR CARR."  

If there were one thing you’d like someone who’s just starting out to know about interviewing, what would it be?

Be curious. Ask open-ended questions. Remember that whoever you’re interviewing, whether it’s Buzz Aldrin or Michelle Obama or Little Richard is a person just like you are a person. And enjoy yourself!  

Monday, December 17

A quick word about Bullseye…

Starting in early 2019, we’re gonna be making a couple of small changes to Bullseye.

We’ll be splitting the podcast version of the show up by guest - so each guest will be a separate podcast episode. We’re hoping this will let folks sample the show more fluidly, and in general give listeners more control of how they hear the show. You’ll still be getting the same content - including the extra stuff we have to cut from the broadcast version of the show to fit it into its time slot.

We’ll also be sunsetting the Outshot, which we first broadcast when we changed the name of the show from The Sound of Young America years ago. It may appear from time to time if the muse strikes me, but it won’t be an every-week feature, and I’m looking forward to liking things without having to have a take on them :).  We want to focus more of the show (and my time) on the interviews, which are what really makes Bullseye special.

Anyway: I’m so so grateful for your support of our show as it rapidly approaches twenty years of weekly broadcasting. Happy holidays.