20 Questions

PopMatters' "20 Questions" is a weekly feature of short, sassy questions aimed to encourage playful responses that reveal the gist of the artist. In addition to publishing on PopMatters, "20 Questions" appears as a nationally syndicated newspaper column on Wednesdays.

Old Canes

[1.Nov.09] :. Stealing Kurt Vonnegut books? Getting choked up during M*A*S*H? Appleseed Cast frontman Chris Crisci talks about all of these things and more as his folk-affected side-project releases their second album.
 

20 Questions: Fuck Buttons

[28.Oct.09] :. Stealing penguins! A secret connection with Garfield! Dropping fruit pastille in the primordial ooze! Experimental UK noise duo Fuck Buttons discuss this and more.
 

Barb Johnson

[27.Oct.09] :. From a balcony overlooking the flood of New Orleans to 'The Bubble' laundromat, where the city's characters come to wash it all out, award-winning author Barb Johnson talks with PopMatters 20 Questions.
 

Patricia Cornwell

[18.Oct.09] :. 20 Questions caught up with award-winning, international best-selling author Patricia Cornwell in a rare moment when her feet were on the ground.
 

Anvil

[14.Oct.09] :. Still riding high off of the success of their acclaimed documentary (and likely Oscar-nominee), the founders of Canada's famed metal trailblazers Anvil sit down to answer 20 Questions about family, weed, and a surprising love of Star Trek ...
 

Aziz Ansari

[11.Oct.09] :. Named Entertainment Weekly’s top 12 future stars of comedy, Aziz Ansari has a voracious appetite for performing, eating, and… just about anything else that is subject to an appetite.
 

Ramsey Lewis

[7.Oct.09] :. Jazz legend Ramsey Lewis chats with PopMatters 20 Questions about feeding the spirit and living in the moment.
 

20 Questions: Vic Chesnutt

[4.Oct.09] :. Chesnutt talks to PopMatters 20 Questions about his upcoming work with Jonathan Richman, taking advice from Michael Stipe, and how his copy of Number One Hits of the Sixties is still the greatest album of all time.
 

Nick Hornby

[13.Sep.09] :. Nick Hornby tells PopMatters 20 Questions about his affiliation with Seinfeld’s George Costanza, his soon-to-be-released album with Ben Folds, and this great bargain he got from a Russian website…
 

Terence Blanchard

[9.Sep.09] :. The cerebral, soulful, three-time Grammy award winning trumpet player and composer Terence Blanchard tells us how our turbulent, dynamic world inspires his beautiful music.
 

Charlie Louvin

[2.Sep.09] :. Charlie Louvin, Country Music Hall of Fame legend and half of the immortal country duo The Louvin Brothers, tells PopMatters 20 Questions about the best thing he ever got – for only $3.
 

Wayne Hancock

[26.Aug.09] :. The master of juke joint swing performs like a visiting country doctor, or maybe a preacher, ministering to the rural folks in three-hour, boogie healing woogie doses. Here a little shot is given to us...
 

Christopher O’Riley

[10.Aug.09] :. Critically acclaimed concert pianist Christopher O'Riley’s recording of Nirvana’s "Heart Shaped Box" will "engender sustained hearing loss, under repeated and hi-res sound reproduction."
 

James Rollins

[3.Aug.09] :. Best-selling author James Rollins reveals a talent to PopMatters 20 Questions not otherwise seen in his many books -- beware, kitties and politicians, lest he approach you wielding a scalpel.
 

Marshall Crenshaw

[27.Jul.09] :. Marshall Crenshaw chats with PopMatters 20 Questions about the cultural offerings, high and not so high, that he gets a kick out of -- from to Duke Ellington to Captain Beefheart.
 

Ridley Pearson

[22.Jul.09] :. Ridley Pearson, New York Times bestselling author of killer crime fiction and award-winning author of young readers’ books, rather fancies himself a bit like George Clooney and Harold, of Harold and His Purple Crayon -- sans the blanket, of course.
 

Jessica Hopper

[14.Jul.09] :. Jessica Hopper advises travelers, “Never mind the nuclear reactors in the distance, it’s heaven in the Midwest” – and other tips for PopMatters 20 Questions readers.
 

Eleni Mandell

[6.Jul.09] :. Acclaimed songwriter Eleni Mandell answers PopMatters ‘Miss America’-like 20 Questions with self-deprecating humor.
 

Aleksandar Hemon

[22.Jun.09] :. “Hell,” Hemon tells PopMatters 20 Questions, “is being stuck at an airport without a book, starving for thought, forced to watch CNN.” Heaven might be a bathtub full of Turkish coffee …
 

Crayton Robey

[15.Jun.09] :. The Boys in the Band defined a moment in LGBT history. Crayton Robey explores that history in Making the Boys, which debuted at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival.
 

Nona Hendryx

[7.Jun.09] :. In 1962, Nona Hendryx shared a bill with everyone from Bo Diddley to the Marvelettes. She took some time with PopMatters to talk about Buster Crabbe and her knack for fixing TVs.
 

Dave Wakeling

[1.Jun.09] :. Dave Wakeling, founding member, lead vocalist and songwriter for the legendary ska band, the English Beat, is recording and touring extensively these days. Catch up with Wakeling here on 20 Questions.
 

Christopher Potter

[17.May.09] :. Christopher Potter captures the universe as we know it between the covers of his compelling book, You Are Here, but closer to home, it's Doctor Who that captures his fancy.
 

Zachary Richard

[10.May.09] :. Zachary Richard’s Cajun accordion speaks to the heart. Let that sound get in your ear and you’ll be out of your chair and on your feet before you can say Laissez le bon temps rouler!
 

School of Seven Bells

[6.May.09] :. Benjamin Curtis, formerly the guitarist for the Secret Machines, pulled School of Seven Bells together and he sits down with 20 Questions to discuss his moonwalking skills and the greatness of Star Trek and New York City.
 

Ute Lemper

[3.May.09] :. Ute Lemper is a renaissance chanteuse. She travels the world, carrying music of past and present with here wherever she goes, singing songs by the best songwriters each nation has to offer in their many languages.
 

Indigo Girls

[27.Apr.09] :. Emily Saliers of the Indigo Girls tells us how she'd like to dine with Jesus and urges the President to legalize gay marriage already.
 

Ben Lee

[26.Apr.09] :. Ben Lee chats with PopMatters 20 Questions about a very mushy (but he swears fabulous) food combo, the positive properties of ginger tea, and a surprising affinity for Dostoevsky’s troubled Raskolnikov.
 

Augusten Burroughs

[19.Apr.09] :. What do you get when you mix Lolita, Dexter and Ignatius? Something like Augusten Burroughs.
 

Paul Ben-Victor

[12.Apr.09] :. We learn at PopMatters 20 Questions that in addition to his acting skills, Ben-Victor has a knack for doing wild makeup designs and body art.
 

Lynn Freed

[5.Apr.09] :. Award-winner writer Lynn Freed's delicious replies to PopMatters 20 Questions may have you wishing, like us, that she could be your dinner guest. Her new novel, The Servants' Quarters, publishes this month.
 

Mark O’Connor

[30.Mar.09] :. Like Benny Goodman, Mark O’Connor is a virtuoso in the realm of popular music, and also like Goodman, he easily and brilliantly performs classical music, as well.
 

John Wesley Harding

[23.Mar.09] :. The talented songwriter, singer and internationally best-selling novelist from East Sussex, John Wesley Harding, talks with PopMatters 20 Questions
 

The Bacon Brothers: Kevin & Michael

[15.Mar.09] :. The Bacon Brothers (yes, that Kevin of the silver screen) meld their lyrics and musical compositions into gritty rock with a touch of Philly soul, and for 20 Questions, they compose their responses in brotherly harmony.
 

Bibio

[10.Mar.09] :. British electronic artist Bibio has just released his third album, Vignetting the Compost. He tells us about his work and love for Walt Whitman in these 20 Questions.
 

Grandmaster Flash

[8.Mar.09] :. How do you control time? Ask Grandmaster Flash. PopMatters has the answer in this latest edition of 20 Questions, which highlights the legendary hip-hop innovator's first high profile studio effort in more than two decades, The Bridge.
 

Raul Malo

[1.Mar.09] :. Grammy winner Raul Malo talks with PopMatters 20 Questions about his aversion to ewoks, a longing for Harlem circa 1930, and the fiercest bird on the planet post-prehistoric times.
 

Larkin Grimm

[22.Feb.09] :. The eclectic and restless Larkin Grimm, a folk singer with a burgeoning career, talks to PopMatters 20 Questions about her inspiration, chainsaw art, and sex outdoors.
 

The Handsome Family

[15.Feb.09] :. Country, bluegrass, and murder ballads, pharmaceuticals, home brews, and macabre stories -- and more to come with Honey Moon.
 

Martin Bisi

[10.Feb.09] :. The prolific performer, songwriter and producer Martin Bisi chats with PopMatters 20 Questions about malls, ghettos, industrial wastelands and other inspiring places, people and things.
 

Max & Jason

[1.Feb.09] :. Al 'Gore’s Boys’ and Current TV producers and hosts Max Lugavere and Jason Silva chat with PopMatters 20 Questions about enthusiasm-inducing people and things.
 

Jason Isbell

[25.Jan.09] :. Jason Isbell as a solo artist is “brimming with talent and blessed with a killer voice”, says PopMatters’ Stuart Henderson.
 

Michael Franti

[18.Jan.09] :. Known for his social activism as much as his fusion of musical styles, it’s clear in PopMatters' latest edition of 20 Questions that Michael Franti is always just being himself, as he will on President Obama's inauguration on Tuesday 20 January 2009.
 

Casey Driessen

[12.Jan.09] :. Casey Driessen is a rather funky fellow. He wears red shoes. He eats headphones at art museums. Sometimes he channels Vassar Clements.
 

James Morrison

[6.Jan.09] :. Fatherhood agrees with UK-based soul artist James Morrison and, as we discover in this edition of 20 Questions, so does a pair of Diesel jeans.
 

Genesis Breyer P-Orridge

[9.Dec.08] :. Genesis Breyer P-Orridge warns PopMatters 20 Questions readers, "Pleasure is a cultural weapon. Use it wisely."
 

Laura Miller

[30.Nov.08] :. Cofounder of Salon.com, ravenous reader Laura Miller talks with PopMatters 20 Questions about C.S. Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia) and other influences that led to The Magician's Book.
 

Roy Harper

[17.Nov.08] :. Roy Harper is a consummate musician's musician, straight out of the British folk scene. He chats with PopMatters 20 Questions, sometimes with tear in eye, sometimes with tongue in cheek, about film, literature, and music.
 

Stereophonics

[10.Nov.08] :. One of Apple's inventions and Salvador Dali's creations hold some envy for members of Stereophonics. The band's bassist and drummer talk with 20 Questions about these and other inspirations.
 

Tom Morello: The Nightwatchman

[3.Nov.08] :. Tom Morello is as passionate about politics as he is about music. With the US Presidential elections looming, Morello chats with PopMatters 20 Questions about those who inspire him and the range of cultural and political genres they represent.
 

Cowboy Mouth’s Fred LeBlanc

[29.Oct.08] :. Does Cowboy Mouth’s maniacal drummer/lead singer Fred LeBlanc remind you of Animal from The Muppet Show?
 

Mike Farris

[13.Oct.08] :. Mike Farris, a man with a sweet but mighty tenor, talks with PopMatters 20 Questions about his little slice of Heaven, right here on Earth.
 

Nellie McKay

[6.Oct.08] :. The fictional character most like 'schizophrenic voodoo' girl, Nellie McKay? A mix of Lassie, Scarlett O'Hara, Godzilla and Nancy Drew. These and other reveling facets of her character are discussed with PopMatters 20 Questions.
 

Ben Taylor

[29.Sep.08] :. Born to the musical talents of James Taylor and Carly Simon and nourished by the fertile surrounds of Martha's Vineyard, Ben Taylor talks with PopMatters 20 Questions before touring for his new album, The Legend of Kung Folk Part 1 (The Killing Bite), began.
 

Laurie Lindeen

[22.Sep.08] :. "It's A Wonderful Life", aint' it? Author and musician Laurie Lindeen (Zuzu's Petals), like George Bailey, would know, as she shares some insights with PopMatters 20 Questions.
 

Howard Blum

[15.Sep.08] :. Bestselling author, Vanity Fair contributing editor, and New York Times award-winning investigative reporter Howard Blum chats with PopMatters 20 Questions about Bob Dylan, Melville's Ishmael, and a bit of a Mafioso affinity.
 

Chuck Klosterman

[8.Sep.08] :. Prolific pop culture critic Chuck Klosterman knows as well as PopMatters that, well, pop matters. He discusses with PopMatters 20 Questions some of the things in this world that influence, sway, and affect.
 

Handsome Dick Manitoba

[2.Sep.08] :. Punk rock godfather and legend Handsome Dick Manitoba likes to kick back in the ol' Barcalounger and enjoy the comforts of home, as he reveals to PopMatters 20 Questions.
 

Larry Love of Alabama 3

[25.Aug.08] :. Larry Love of Alabama 3 may be 'sick' but he ain't dead, yet. He claws his way out of a groovin' but dark, existential place to answer PopMatters 20 Questions.
 

Uh Huh Her: Camila Grey & Leisha Hailey

[18.Aug.08] :. Uh Huh Her's Leisha Hailey and Camila Grey collaborate on their new CD, Common Reaction, and in their replies to PopMatters 20 Questions.
 

Clyde Edgerton

[11.Aug.08] :. Novelist Clyde Edgerton talks with PopMatters 20 Questions about Ry Cooder’s slide guitar, Errol Morris' Vernon, Florida, and the soothing effects of chicken watching.
 

George Pelecanos

[4.Aug.08] :. George Pelecanos takes a little time from his prolific career to contemplate with PopMatters the temptation to try out a silencer and laser sight.
 

Vashti Bunyan

[28.Jul.08] :. Vashti Bunyan chats with PopMatters 20 Questions about music-making at her pace, life without safety nets, and her nonconformist nature.
 

Amy Ray

[21.Jul.08] :. Amy Ray: Talking the talk and walking the walk, this singer/songwriter brings you the world with each song.
 

The Buck Brothers

[16.Jul.08] :. Known for funky, punky pop, the Buck Brothers have a big time love for Earth, Wind & Fire as you'll see in this installment of PopMatters' 20 Questions.
 

David Ford

[14.Jul.08] :. If you want to talk with singer/songwriter David Ford, you'll find him at the pizza joint with his wife and friends -- many blocks away from The Ritz.
 

The Motion Sick

[9.Jul.08] :. Named SPIN's “Band of the Month” for their first release, Her Brilliant Fifteen, the Motion Sick draw parallels to Vonnegut with lyrics ringing of social commentary. Mike Epstein answers PopMatters' 20 Questions.
 

Rahsaan Patterson

[7.Jul.08] :. The purveyor of 21st century soul chats with PopMatters 20 Questions about chocolate, Chaka Khan, and the significance of Snoopy.
 

Deborah Bonham

[30.Jun.08] :. Sweetly soulful and powerful (think Aretha Franklin and Janis Joplin), blues-rock singer-songwriter Deborah Bonham chats with PopMatters 20 Questions about Paul Rodgers, a beautiful ex-racehorse named Jack, and other inspirations in her life and music.
 

Alan Cumming

[23.Jun.08] :. Stage, TV and film actor, model, Tony Award-winner and new Masterpiece Mystery! host Alan Cumming speaks with PopMatters 20 Questions about Dionysus, the prudency of using prophylactics, and Leon, the singing Chihuahua.
 

Rhett Miller of the Old 97’s

[16.Jun.08] :. Rhett Miller, lead vocalist of the Old 97's, chats with PopMatters' 20 Questions about fantasy football, his affinity for the protagonist in Wallace's Infinite Jest, and this neat little trick he does with spoons.
 

Thomas Dolby

[9.Jun.08] :. Thomas Dolby's electronic impulses are fed by neurological brainstorms generated by the likes of Oliver Sacks and the artists and scientists of TED. PopMatters' 20 Questions gets a zap from Dolby's electrifying fingertips.
 

The Bravery

[2.Jun.08] :. Sam Endicott descends from the band's busy orbit to talk with PopMatters 20 Questions about rude bus drivers, the beauty of thumbprints, and his somewhat disconcerting freaky memory.
 

Tanna Frederick

[28.May.08] :. Tanna Frederick speaks with PopMatters 20 Questions about the cat's meow, the best hot chocolate money can buy, and her intriguingly dexterous toes.
 

Miranda Lambert

[19.May.08] :. In the wake of her upset win for Album of the Year last night at the Academy of Country Music Awards, Lambert sits down to riff on PopMatters' 20 Questions.
 

Tod A of Firewater

[12.May.08] :. PopMatters 20 Questions caught up with Tod A of Firewater in Bali, where he shares some thoughts about cultural and political matters, and speculates on what visiting extraterrestrials might look like.
 

Pico Iyer

[5.May.08] :. The compassionate, prolific writer and traveler, Pico Iyer, talks with PopMatters 20 Questions, about the Dalai Lama, Benji, Keith Richards, and Paddington Bear.
 

Ike Reilly

[28.Apr.08] :. Songwriter Ike Reilly tells PopMatters 20 Questions about firm abs and buttocks and the best sitcom, ever.
 

Bruce Campbell

[21.Apr.08] :. Bruce Campbell, that handsome man (when he's not wearing horror film make-up) with that incredible chin whom you know you've seen before -- you've seen just about everywhere -- appears here, too, in PopMatters' 20 Questions.
 

David Baldacci

[14.Apr.08] :. Best-selling author David Baldacci talks with PopMatters 20 Questions about the importance of hallucinogens, hit men, and Herman Munster -- and yeah, other important things, too.
 

Jena Malone

[7.Apr.08] :. In-between The Ruins (just opened in US theatres) and The Go-Getter, opening in June, Jena paused while on tour to address PopMatters' 20 Questions.
 

Jim White

[31.Mar.08] :. Jim White is a traveler, a Renaissance man, and a candid musical chronicler of the South. He pauses from his busy, restless artistic life to answer PopMatters' 20 questions.
 

James McMurtry

[24.Mar.08] :. Smart and aware, Texas singer-songwriter James McMurtry shares some pointed observations about the world with PopMatters' 20 Questions.
 

Jeanette Winterson

[17.Mar.08] :. Jeanette Winterson's philosophy, as revealed in her response to PopMatters 20 Questions, seems to be: let Art engage and challenge you, and engage yourself artfully, in turn.
 

Steve Wynn

[10.Mar.08] :. Wynn's new album, Crossing Dragon Bridge, comes out 22 April. He takes a moment to answer PopMatters' 20 Questions and consider what goes best with touring: a martini, Belgian chocolate, or espresso?
 

Margaret Cho

[3.Mar.08] :. Margaret Cho's "Beautiful" tour, launched in Australia, hits the States March 6th. But first she pauses to braid a big beasty boy's hair, do a little shimmy, and answer PopMatters 20 Questions.
 

Mike Doughty

[25.Feb.08] :. Former Soul Coughing frontman Mike Doughty is a Renaissance Man of sorts, plying his trade as a musician, songwriter, poet, playwright, photographer, and blogger and he answers PopMatters' 20 questions.
 

Allison Moorer

[18.Feb.08] :. Allison Moorer's new collection of female penned covers drops tomorrow and she hits the road with hubby Steve Earle, but not before answering PopMatters' 20 questions.
 

Robyn Hitchcock

[11.Feb.08] :. PopMatters debuts "20 Questions", a weekly feature of short, sassy questions aimed to encourage playful responses that reveal the gist of the artist. We couldn't think of a better person to start with than the witty and clever Robyn Hitchcock.