Q & A with Three LowEnd Theory Artists

Tory Wright asks Molly Schafer, Megan Sullivan and Catalina Torres about their work in relation to the exhibition on view at Lump Gallery until the end of June.

MOLLY SCHAFER


Tory Wright Question #1.
Is the connection between reality and fantasy bridged by your video work?

Molly Schafer, Answer #1
The two (reality and fantasy) are somewhat bridged. All of my fantasizing is actually grounded in reality. I subscribe to the notion of the plausible impossible. I learned about it as a kid watching a program about the Looney Tunes comics and it has stuck with me ever since. I'm against Narnia style fantasy where it is just an impossible jumble of everything. I'm less for suspending belief and more for wonderment. Sure it is a fine line, but there is also a big difference if you are paying attention.

I was just thinking about this while I ate breakfast. It's almost as if people need things to be totally fake to believe them. In the Assateague Island video project I'm working on I have some great footage of myself sneaking around the side of a sand dune with a big spear, ambush style. While you are watching this you can also see a car drive by in the background. It is a very important moment. It makes the project relevant. People have told me to get rid of these type of details before. They don't get it. No one will ever forget that there is a camera there, that it is a performance and I don't want the work to be divorced from culture in a separate fantasy world. The fact that it is happening in this world is at the heart of my work. It is about longing. Longing for the unattainable, for an ancient time, to be a different creature, for the course of humanity to have gone differently, for a different reality.

Oh, but can I add that my video "Centaurides" from 2006 is a good example of this. It bridges reality and fantasy by pairing sketches with audio of me recounting my longings, frustrations, and anxiety dreams. Pairing the two and altering the voice raises questions about who/what is speaking. It should be up on my website soon. www.mollyschafer.com

Tory Wright, Question #2.
How do you see the video stills of your Assateague project and your drawings connecting?

Molly Schafer, Answer #2.
Perhaps this is also a different answer to the previous question. In a way my stay on Assateague Island was a fulfillment of the drawings. The video and stills are a document of that. Standing in the dunes among horses, holding a giant spear/staff and facing into the wind; in effect mimicking the posture of "A Hunter and a Plains Dweller (Rebecca)" was a perfect experience. I didn't expect it to feel the way it did and it is difficult to describe. I'd say it resonated the same part of my brain that was resonating when I made the drawing, I was back in the same zone. I had this calming I-am-the-thing-and-the-maker-- Universal Being -feeling. Ha! Since then I am seeing myself as just another character in my mythology.

Tory Wright, Question #3
Now that you have started a blog www.harpiaharpyja.blogspot.com have you had any enthusiasts of your work who come from unexpected places or points of view?

Molly Schafer, Answer #3
Ha! Not as much as I would like. And not so sure about "enthusiasts" but I did receive some comments from a man who collects CGI art of "warrior women." I've seen some of the work and it seems pretty generic and not great. Although, I admit I have no taste for things CGI. He told me I have good talent but I should try Photoshop or Poser to improve my art. For some reason it really set me off. I mean if people need to be posers cause they got no skills well...Let's just say I got skills, I'm not making video games I am making drawings, I mean pencils 4 life, ya heard me? Why does America want everything to be an over-the-top computer aesthetic, extreme, tv commercial? I'm all about considering subtleties and natural ability. Again, people love stuff that is super fake.

Also I posted a few video stills from my project and some guy thought that they were images from the movie "Hundra." So yeah, my art got mistaken for a b-movie,kinda great. The thing about a lot of this fantasy art, and b-movies about warrior women is that they are products of male fantasy. Fighting in some of these outfits is just not practical, a lot of the women just don't look strong. The films especially showcase rape. Google image search "women warrior" and its a T&A fest. I am interested in finding and creating images of these types characters that exist outside of hetero-male sexualized fantasy and are based on actual animal ability. I am also very interested in becoming the embodiment of this. Which is my interest in athletics, the martial arts, and fighting injustice.

Inspiration for a lot of work I have done comes from natural history or evolutionary theory. Although the inspiration was that I was alienated by patriarchal ideologies within the fields and wanted to image a possible reality for myself as opposed to dawn man or the mighty hunter. So it can be disheartening when more men are interested in my artwork and suggest references that are completely misogynist.
I was thrilled when I found theory and field work along these lines. The work of Elaine Morgan, Olga Stoffer and Jeannine Davis-Kimball. I am actively looking for artists or images and haven't found much. Yesterday I found a collaborative project between Ellen Lesperance and your last interviewee, Jeanine Oleson. I am very intrigued.

CATALINA TORRES


Tory Wright,Question #1
1.So how did you come to needlepoint as a medium?

Catalina Torres, Answer # 1
I've always been interested in the role of women in society and why beauty has such an important part in that role. I've always had mixed feelings about it because on one side I enjoy its rituals but on an other one I feel it is tremendously demanding, imposed and obligated wanted to use a complex medium that communicates in its process the contradiction and paradoxes of women's roles. At that point I was inspired by my mother and my aunts who are very into crafts and at the same time away of societies demands of beauty. They are more into doing the best crafts and have the most beautiful house decorated. I begging to ask myself how can women have many different interest but at the same time there is a common end to our wishes. We all have ideals, we all eager to be something else, to be outstanding, and some how all of those wishes are related to beauty.

Tory Wright, Question #2
I found the images in the "Spring" series seductive in the way it implicates the viewer with eye contact. How did this series come about in terms of intent and selecting images.

Catalina.Torres, Answer #2
The images that I chose for spring were part of an article in a fashion magazine that contrasted the fragility of underwear with the heaviness of wool sweaters. All the women in this photo shoot were white, young and blond. I was completely attracted to all of the beauty within the set up and all of the styling, but at the same time I felt very left out. In the first cross stitch series that I did, "All girls go to heaven", there were a lot of different races. On this one I couldn't identify myself with any of this girls. This left a very uncomfortable feeling. I could feel the desire of wanting to be like them but at the same time I was really disgusted by feeling that way and that I let myself be bothered by those images. I guess I chose this images because I was feeling angry and I kind of wanted to "face the demon", so I used its own elements to do it.

Tory Wright , Question #3
Has your new series "Mother" changed your process or approach to transcribing information threw cross stitching?

Catalina Torres, Answer #3
I'm trying to work with monochromes with this new series. With the first series I worked with Black and white, with the second one I used colors, and with this one I want to explore different shades of one color. Exploring with cross stitch is a very slow process because you cant not rely change anything once you started. All the decision making is based on suppositions. This is why I take risks with the prototypes which sometimes don't work. With mother I'm less eager to see the end result, so I'm playing with prototypes and with different kind of images to see which one works better. I'm not looking forward to compulsively stitch a whole series of my mothers portraits. I want to concentrate in the early stage and make a lot of tests to make more concussions decision

MEGAN SULLIVAN



Tory Wright, Question #1.
How do you choose your source material , are these photos found or taken by you?

Megan Sulivan, Answer #1.
I haven't quilted a photo I have taken yet, but I plan to. If I could just remember to take my camera places.... that would be a good start. I quilt a lot of photos by Scott Jackson http://www.jacksonism.com/. He and I are friends and I kind of have open permission to use any of his images for a quilt. The first quilt I made that was based on a photo was for him. It's still one of my favorites. When I feel guilty about using so many of his incredible images, I search for photos on flickr. I figure they're fair game.... let me know if you know any different!

Tory Wright, Question #2.
Would you ever show the original photograph or photo album with the quilts?

Megan Sulivan, Answer #2
I would love to show a quilt with one of Scott's photos. I think about that a lot. If I ever have a chance to get him into a show with me, I'll jump at it.

Tory Wright, Question #3.
Have you ever installed an environment around the work,or photographed it in your environment were it is made?

Megan Sulivan, Answer #3
No, never anything like this, but I have been thinking about some sort of sculptural quilt/video installation.... quilting an object of some sort to project onto? I haven't gotten any more specific than this, but I think that is because it should be a collaboration. So, the specifics won't come out until I find this person.

HUSH HUSH zine

I just finished a new zine , HUSH HUSH. I know what you're thinking,"isn't that the name of the gossip rag Danny Devito's character writes for in the 1996 action spoof, 'LA Confidential'?" Uh, duh. Anyway, it is basically the fourth in the series of super tiny zines I've been making except this one is big, comparitively.

HUSH HUSH
28 pages w/ fold-out insert and bookmark
xerox
Edition of 80
$3

Tory Wright Interviews Jeanine Oleson

After hanging out with Jeanine Oleson during the installation of her show, "Urd Up", at Lump, we decided to have Teamlump all-star, Tory Wright, conduct an email interview with her about IKEA, road-rage, and weaponry.

Tory Wright: Jeanine, I thought I would drop you a note to say hello and
start an interview of sorts for the TEAM LUMPS BLOG!

It was so much fun hanging out with you and Marina. Especially leading up to the show. Good times.

Jeanine Oleson: It's great to hear from you. It was super fun to hang out with you too. You are a funny one.

TW: How was the trip back? (NC to NY) Did you buy anything at rest stops that was terrible and terrific at the same time?

JO: The trip back was tots fine. Weirdly fast, even though there were crazee winds by the time we hit Delaware, your home state. We got stuck in traffic and decided to chill at a rest stop where there were throngs of people acting like rabid animals at the Roy Rogers counter. The only thing I got was a corn dog meal at Nathan's. Mister (the dog) was too freaked out to shit at that rest stop cuz there were crazed busloads of teens running around on the grassy dog-shitting zone.

Other than that, we tried to figure out what DVDs people were watching in their cars and also the usual hexing of assholic drivers. Marina kept threatening that we were going to stop at Ikea, just to torture me. That's all though. It was an easy drive.

TW: Poor Mr. Teenagers make me constipated to. I hear they have that affect on their high school teachers as well.

JO: And you? Has anything tried to run you off the road on your way to MICA? Did you buy some Swisher Sweets at the convenience store; smoke them, and then puke? Enquiring minds wanna know.

TW: Actually the last time I went to Baltimore I stopped at IKEA. I didn't puke up any Swedish meat balls or anything....but I sure got a great area rug for under $60 dollars.

JO: I just agreed to take two non-drivers to IKEA in a coupla weeks even though I feel terrible every time I step in the door. Ah, the perils of friendship. I'm-a sit in the cafeteria the whole time with a flask.

TW: There's an art project in side of that somewhere? Speaking of art. (your show) I loved the relationships with the photographs to the objects. Performance, documentation, constructed myth and it's relics. All functioning together with a soundtrack adding yet another critical layer of perception. BLABLABLA....Grad school damage....but really ...were there any other tools or weapons that you made?

Did you have a favorite piece in the show?

JO: Hmmm, I can't decide what my favorite piece was...I think the speaker simply because it actually works and I wasn't sure that would ever be the case. I like that it looks like a Martin Puryear sculpture as well as a beaver dam and vajayjay. This is my idea of a good combo. I also really love the fur suit because well, in one way, I've always wanted something like this to get into, plus I love the photo of me in it in Queens looking like I'm having a delusional ritual.





But then the fence is also something I am happy about and it as a catalytic object/myth with the miniature horse was a pinnacle moment in my year (at least). Yes, I love the idea of making a performative relation between the objects, ritual and photographs, while preserving some humor.



TW: Have you made any other tools or weapons?

JO: I love making tools and weapons. I liked the pink axe cuz I found that perfect stone and also collected the beaver-chewed handle- I was so happy to unite them and make an object that looked primitive while obviously, it functions as a fantasy of the primordial, which is what the whole show sort of revolves around.

I've made other tools like walking sticks, bows, arrows, clubs, and also tons of other stuff when I was a kid. I was going to run away and live off the land, with my horse, of course. Ask me anything else, I love grad school damage.

TW: So how did IKEA bring the pain? This place keeps coming into ya life.

JO: I have avoided Ikea. Whew.

TW: Mass produced design does kill the last unicorn.

JO: You got that right!!

TW: Speaking of unicorns I did explore the U Tube videos of Unicorn Planet you
spoke of. (very catchy opening song.)Heyyyy! I prefer the remix episode. Purely due to the Tyra Banks reference.

JO: OMG. I love Planet Unicorn- everything about it. I love their names, I love how they all talk at once and spend a lot of time giggling. Plus, the gay haus jamz intro is a part of my psyche at this point. It reminds me of a music downloading odyssey I went on to gather all the music I remember from gay clubs in the 90s. So GOOD. It can undo any queen or dagger in seconds. Just the slightest bit of Crystal Waters and they're on the ground.

TW: America’s Next Top Model is an epidemic. I fell off after Mel-rose got the shaft and Kerry D was crowned commercially viable for cover girl. RANT,RANT, RANT!

JO: Oh girl, I HATE Tyra Banks. I can't even go over to camp appreciation. I once had the flu and ended up watching her talk show which made me think she was HORRIBLE. It is funny on ANTM sometimes though...I'm trying...

TW: Anyway...You should have a book . I know I selfishly would love to flip through the history of these objects, photos, and performances.

JO: OKAY! I would love a book, I guess I can publish one on the mac site for now.
It's nice to know you like the work enough to want some pictures of it in a permanent way. Thanks, man!

TW: You should also have a trophy case!

JO: Ugh, I almost brought home cases from the Museum of Nat. History a few years
ago, but they were HUGE. And well, I do live in NY and I do have way too much crap. But yes, I wanted my own displays. Maybe a fossilized menstrual pad, etc.

TW: HA HA...I am projecting ….(damage, damage, grad school damage)

JO: I dunno, your damage is fun. We get to talk about unicorn planets, IKEA, and
Tyra unease. If that's what you're "learning" at grad school, sign me up. Plus, who wouldn't want a book. It's like a family photo album of the things we labor over, PLUS it is a sign of legitimacy/worth (for yourself as well as others) in the form of a physical object. It must be weird to be a writer and have a world of ideas that pretty much need a physical form in order to be distributed. Sorry, I digress.

TW: Wait there is more: I could totally see you excavating a history, real or invented. Like an archaeologist. I guess you are already doing that, but with the end results. The objects.

JO: I've thought about this and been a little afraid of neat classification categories, but I would take things from one context to this as another. I do love the idea of becoming a freaky Margaret Mead character who examines her own work as subject.

TW: What I am getting at is ...Have you ever documented the work coming into existence as part of the work? Or would that be more of a private studio practice? Perhaps securing the mystery of creation and or origin.

JO: OOOH! I love the mystery of creation and or origin! What nice words you use,
Tory! Yes, there are some great shots over the years. I know people who really concentrate on that aspect. I've thought of it, but also like to leave things unseen, to allow some aspect of fantasy projection on the part of the viewer.

TW: All is good in NC. Just lots of rain and Internet surfing to break the boredom. Do you have a favorite web sight? Better yet if you could require reading what would it be?

JO: WELL, I just read all of Ayn Rand's books (appalling and amazing all in one), then I moved left from the far right and read Doris Lessing's Martha Quest series and also her Canopus in Argos collection, plus two new post-apocalyptic books. That's one of my fav topics, as well as sci-fi (esp. Feminist Revisionist histories like Herland and The Female Man). I am also am a huge fan of Samuel Delaney, Angela Carter, Linda Barry...could go on. I like to read that newish genre of natural history/travelogue books too. You know, people who go to the Artic and write about surviving on the flowers and fauna, another fav is one about searching for Sasquatch in the area where I grew up while picking mushrooms, berries and dodging drunk hunter bullets. Last but not least are the art/cultural theory stuff, which might be what you were aiming for in the first place. I'm constantly reading journals, anthologies, etc. I especially love artists' writings. Something I always give out to classes is on by Adrian Piper called "identity, Confrontation and Political Self-Awareness, and Essay, 1981." It's a brilliant article about the human social condition and what perpetuates it.
BB
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Look! It's a blah blah vajajay!
Xo,
Jeanine

Jason Polan Interview

Jason Polan's Lump show, Eat Me Alive, is days away from being taken down but we revive Polan for one more romp on TeamLump Sucks.

Jason Polan interviewed by Jerstin Crosby

JC: Do you have a creed? What is it?

JP: I am Jewish. We were never raised very religious, but I am still
Jewish. Did I answer this question correctly? It was a pretty
intense first question.

JC: Yeah, you can answer them however you wish, or you can refuse to answer. Maybe though, I should have asked if you had a personal motto instead of creed. I was really looking to use creed in a sentence.

JP: To quote the singer pink, I M!ssundaztood. When I saw the word creed this is what went through my mind:

1. that was a comic book I used to like
2. does he want to know what religion I am
3. I will go to dictionary.com to clear all of this up

So, let's scrap the original answer--this is a new one.

1.) Do you have a creed? What is it?

Yea. I want to make people happy.

That is the answer to I think what you are asking. Once we get the ball rolling I think this will be fun.

I am attaching my submission for Copy Rats. It is Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen Combing His Hair. I hope it looks ok. I copied it from a comic book. I forgot to write down who the artist was (I think Curt Swan) so I will go back to the bookstore tomorrow and hopefully find it again. Is this drawing ok? Let me know if something else will
work better.



JC: Your Jimmy Olsen drawing sure made me happy. I've asked this question before to an interviewee, and I love it so much, I want to ask you if you have any recipes that you like to make, and could you share them with us?


JP: Jason's Buttery Garlic Pasta

ingredients:
pasta(any kind you like)
water
butter
garlic powder (dry, not fresh)

1. boil water
2. cook pasta to desired texture
3. strain out the water
4. put some butter and a little bit of the garlic powder on the pasta
5. let the butter melt while folding it into the pasta, with the garlic powder
6. enjoy


JC: Yum.

When you were young, what did you imagine yourself being? Anything other than an artist? I wanted to be a house painter, which I eventually got to do much of; dreams do come true.


JP: I wanted to be a major league baseball player for a while. It was a little odd, I kind of knew that it was an unrealistic idea even when I had it but I still felt that it would happen. I thought some major league scout would see me somewhere and offer me a position on his team.


JC: I just realized how well the Jimmy Olsen drawing you sent me goes with the cover art that I had chosen. Like peas n' carrots.

Are you currently working on any new books?

JP: I am trying to finish off compiling recommendations for the second issue of Recommended.

I am getting together with Shawn Creeden (do you know him, he is really nice and a good drawer) tomorrow to work on our book Wrestlers and Wildlife

Taco Bell Drawing Club Vol. III will be completed by mid march (do you want to go to taco bell and draw some sweet pictures to send to me?)

There are a couple others I can't think of right now. I stayed up too late last night and now it is early this morning. I watched the movie, Mean Creek, which was really sad and then I watched Swept Away, the Guy Ritchie/Madonna movie, that I thought was going to be funny because everyone hated it and I like Guy Ritchie but it was just really terrible and put me in a weird mood so then I had trouble falling asleep and my friend just called and I am now up enough to start doing things.

I am glad the Jimmy Olsen drawing worked out ok.

Talk soon. Sorry I sound so bitter in this email. I need to wake up!

JC: I'm gonna mail you the new book. Don't know
Shawn Creeden, maybe i should though. And of course I'll go to a taco bell and make stuff for v.III, I'll be there anyway, doing yoga.


JP: I am not usually one to offer advice, but you should get Ashton to take action pictures of your yoga session at taco bell. It will be the talk of the inter-web. Taco Bell Yoga Club? There is no stopping you.

I was just licking an envelope and got a papercut on my upper lip. Possibly something i shouldn't be sharing? I don't care.

JC: I went to the post office today to mail you some zines but prez day was in effect.

I never know how to end the interviews for Teamlump Sucks, so if you have any final words of wisdom you would like to share with the electronic audience at large, you can use the last question as a platform of sorts.

JP: Sorry about the president's day fiasco. I hope things got out ok today and it wasn't too crowded. There were 82,000 people in line before me at the post office here. Are we really done with the interview? For my last question can I ask you 5 questions to be part of it? You do not have to put this in if you don't want. These are the questions:

Did you have a favorite restaurant to go to when you were little?

Do you like reptiles and/or amphibians?

How often do you get a haircut?

Do you like to cook?

Do you ever dance?

JC: 82,001 Mohicans.

Did you have a favorite restaurant to go to when you were little?
A lot of my time as a kid was spent trying to convince my parents to take me out to restaurants, mainly McDonalds and Showbiz Pizza, but we never ate out anywhere, and I think that drove my hunger. I also remember trying to convince them to open a restaurant and let me run it.

Do you like reptiles and/or amphibians?
I used to have a very small turtle named Slick Rick, and a larger more boring turtle named Barney. Neither would eat enough lettuce so we released them. My brother is good at catching snakes, like gifted at it, and snakes won't let me get them, too slick. A few months ago I found a new turtle, very ugly, and not cool turtle, named Ludwig. I let him go soon after he rejected my attempt at re-creating his
natural environment.

How often do you get a haircut?
Right now, not very often. But when I keep it short, I cut it
sometimes too often, with sheers, maybe once a week. Do you cut your own hair?

Do you like to cook?
Yes! I had to do it for work for years so I kind of cook stuff when I'm hungry. I received a food processor for christmas, which does good hummus and salsa. I'll make you some if you're ever back in North Carolina. I could do a southern cooking night featuring fried okra. I wish Iron Chef would do okra as an ingredient one show.

Do you ever dance?
Wow, ummmm, I guess. That's a little personal don't you think JP?

For more information about Jason Polan, visit him at www.jasonpolan.com!!!

Copy Rats!!!!

Copy Rats, 24 pages with accordion pull-out comic, xerox, 2008. Very Limited.
$5 (includes shipping)


Hi, check out this new zine we put together called, Copy Rats, with art from Lump Lipshitz, Jerstin Crosby, Jason Polan, Thad Kellstadt, Matt Furie, Aiyana Udesen, Josh Rickards, Alex Hatchett, and K Whole.

The artwork chosen and produced for this book fringes on the idea of artists re-claiming images and characters we get bombarded by in mass media but are otherwise protected by copyright laws. Copy Rats has everything from tantric Alf orgies, feminist Cathy, tatted up Utz girl, BMX cruising Terminator, and hip-hop sesame street characters.

To order Copy Rats send $5 (per copy) to:
Lump Gallery
Copy Rats Order
505 S. Blount St.
Raleigh, NC 27601

We use the money to create more books.

Bill Fick Interview

After curating Printed: Contemporary Prints and Books by North Carolina Artists at the Greenhill Center for NC Art and being on the Lump radar for years, we decided to find out a little more about Fick with this email conversation.


Jerstin Crosby: I was thinking about it and I guess I've never heard where you're from originally.

Bill Fick: I was born in Indonesia and grew up in Venezuela (early 60's through the 70's). My father worked for an oil company.

JC: Wow, I was expecting Virginia, or maybe Michigan. I bet you ate some really great food growing up in Venezuela.

BF: Definitely, I'm a big fan of Latin American food.

JC: Do you think that up bringing consciously or sub-consciously affected your work in any way?

BF: I think both. I've always been interested in narrative images and Latin America has a strong tradition of that. Holy icons and other religious images were very common - especially during holidays. Something that I'll never forget is how during Easter full sized Judas effigies were hung from trees. Very strong and scary image for a kid - so perhaps that subconsciously led me to make bold graphic work as an adult.

JC: I can see the icon influence perhaps in the singularity of most of your work. One grotesque face, or one skull. Maybe we should collaborate on a Judas piñata. I'm trying to think of what exactly would come out of a Judas piñata when you whack it open.

BF: Making a Judas piñata would be cool. Maybe suckers would come out.

Hmmmmm, an installation of piñatas would be amazing. Maybe the Cannonball guys would be interested in something like that.

JC: Suckers, exactly, I was thinking of those sculptural prints that Tom Huck, and Cannonball are making.

At World Market they have those chocolates that are packaged to look like gold coins, maybe that could be the surprise inside.

BF: The sculptural prints are very cool. They could also be made with photocopies - much faster. Chocolate coins are perfect. Sweet greed!

JC: Is "Printed" your first time in the role of a curator? If not, what
are the others?

BF: Yes.

By the way, here's a link to a good review that came out a few days ago. Hope it helps to bring in a few people.

Press Link

JC: Ok, last question. I swear. What America really wants to know, do you believe in El Chupacabra?

BF: El Chupacabra is a nasty creature. I definitely believe in it. Kind of like a blood sucking boogey man beast.

Find out more about Bill Fick at Cockeyed Press.

MARK ROBINSON INTERVIEW

Bill Thelen had the opportunity to interview Mark Robinson about his humble record label beginnings, early teenbeat designs, and Unrest!


Bill Thelen: I was talking with your mom at the opening and she was telling me about when you were nine. She said you asked her to take you to the library to get a book about the record industry. Do you remember what was going through your mind at the time?

Mark Robinson: I wanted to start my own record store, so we went to the Central library in Arlington, Virginia and asked for books on how to start your own business. I was just totally nuts for records and music at the time (and still am). I would save up every penny I could get and buy records, usually at Drug Fair or GC Murphy. Singles were 99¢ and LPs
were $5.19 at Best dept. store.

I still really want to open a retail store. Some day perhaps my nine-year-old dream will come true.

BT: I totally had retail fantasies as a child as well. I remember driving around with my folks and seeing empty buildings and then I would go home and make sketches of how I would do the interiors. Did you ever design or draw at an early age?

MR: I'm totally designing retail interiors, now! I designed all sorts of stuff when I was a kid. Architectural plans for schools and summer camps... I'd map out the camp and name all the cabins.

I always wanted to start clubs and sports leagues too. I was more interested in the uniforms and logos than what the clubs would actually do.

When I was ten I designed a new helmet for the New England Patriots. It was based on the (very fashionable at the time) American flag. A blue field with white stars in the front and the red and white stripes running down the back. I mailed it to them and was convinced that they'd use the design. They did finally change their helmet in the 1990's, but they didn't use my design. I guess my crayon work didn't do it justice.

BT: When did your designs switch over to cassettes? How did Teenbeat actually come about?

MR: I bought an electric guitar at Harmony Hut in the Springfield Mall when I was 14.
I had saved up money delivering the Washington Star newspaper. It was an Epiphone Genesis and it was $99. My mom generously pitched in $30 for the case.

I never had any lessons but started writing songs with my own tunings and fingerings. When I got to high school I had heard that a fellow in my English class played drums in the marching band. That was Phil Krauth and we started playing together with a couple of other guys. Those guys were into Rush and Van Halen, so that's what we played mostly. Phil was into Led Zeppelin and I was into Joy Division.

Eventually we started playing with a more like-minded musician, Tim Moran. We would record every practice onto a boom box. They weren't really practices though. It was all pretty much improv-ed. We rarely played the same song twice. After a year or two we had tons of these cassettes and thought we should release them somehow.

I'd design covers for the tapes and there would be only one copy of the tape. We'd pass it around to our friends. Kind of like a lending library. Eventually we found two tape decks so we could dub copies. This was before the age of double cassette decks. I would
design the cassette covers and my mom would xerox them at her office. I also did a lot of flyer design for our performances around that time.

BT: I've noticed that you started out with the analog method of designing (scissors and gluestick). Was the change to designing on the computer a difficult shift?

MR: There were no computers back when I started designing -- well, I guess the Mac was out there but I didn't have access to it or even knew it existed or even knew that you could design with a computer. I used glue stick and good old paper.

I was pretty anti-computer for a long time. I met the 4AD design team in 1992 and they were totally anti-computer too. By the mid-1990s bands were delivering their artwork to me on computer disk and to put my logo on there, etc, I'd have to hire a designer with a computer and that got kind of expensive. And more importantly, it was difficult sitting next to the designer telling them what I wanted instead of just doing it myself.

When Air Miami's 'Me Me Me' album was going to be released I purchased a computer and some design software (Quark XPress and Adobe Photoshop) and designed the cover in just a week or two. The transition to computer was actually super duper easy.
I think the Quark software is just really intuitive for a designer's mind.

I guess this discussion is getting a bit nerdy/techy.

BT: Not at all. One last question… So, what new projects do you have coming up in 2008?

MR: Design-wise I've done a new album by a new band called MAYBE IT'S RENO.
It's Bridget Cross from Unrest writing and singing the songs and Phil Krauth (also Unrest)
and myself playing drums and guitar, respectively.

Also working on a new music project called Cotton Candy which is named after the Ron Howard film of the same name. Remember that one? And digitizing lots and lots of old analog cassettes I've got.

Other than that, I just take it as it comes.