Hey, Todd, where are you?
I'm in Chicago. I’m doing a residence at a university here. It’s not a tour per se, but I’m not at home.
Are you worried about North Korean rockets reaching Kauai, where you live?
Well, it crossed my mind, but I couldn't figure what the hell they’d get out of it.
Is this one of the more serious escalations of global tension you’ve experienced in your lifetime?
Well, I lived through the Cuban Missile Crisis, so … I was still in school in Philadelphia, close to New York, a likely target. I remember Duck and Cover. Or Bend Over and Kiss Your Ass Goodbye, as we affectionately called it.
You sing on Sir Reality, from your new album State ‘It's good to be afraid’. What frightens you these days?
The dentist.
Talking of teeth: your ex-girlfriend Bebe Buell (1) wrote that you look like a cross between Bugs Bunny and Antonin Artaud. Fair?
There’s very little where I’d agree with that particular personality, on principle.
You make a lot of appearances in her book, Rebel Heart.
I haven't read it because the author is a fantasist. I try to avoid doing things that might enrage me.
She does say some nice things. She describes you as “the perfect combination of guitar hero, singer-songwriter [and] rock star” (2).
You should take some umbrage at that. She presumes to be a music critic.
She also said you had a titanic ego. True?
Titanic? OK. Let's go with that assumption.
