Stan Ridgway is Coming on 9/11: An L.A. Desert Prophet Sizes Up NYC

As the pantheon of Great American Storytellers slowly grows, SonicScoop insists that Stan Ridgway be placed prominently on the list.

No detail of life in These United States escapes this shrewd songwriter, who has been training a scientifically artful eye on us all since his days leading Wall of Voodoo. But Ridgway’s ruminations go far beyond “Mexican Radio”, as his devoted followers know – his unmistakable voice and irreplaceable mind have been at work nonstop lo these last few decades, holding up harsh mirrors to reality and making it sound fascinatingly fine.

The just-released album Neon Mirage serves as proof that Ridgway is still sharpening his crafty craft. Increasingly complex with repeated listenings, the collection expands his eclectic musical pallet while being lyrically informed by the loss of both family members and bandmates during its making.

As enigmatic as he is upfront, the Los Angeles-based Ridgway arrives in NYC on the equally ambivalent date of 9/11 at the City Winery. Always ready to talk talk talk, he started to launch into da usual about his excellent new album, until we informed him in mid-sentence that this would be a different kind of interview, with just 2.5 questions for the Desert Wizard.

Stan, you’re the consummate L.A. artist. The desert and the Old West inform so much of your songwriting that we’re intensely curious: What do you think about NYC?
I love New York! [His wife] Pietra [Wexstun] and I thought of moving there years ago. It sounds like a cliché, it really does, but NYC has an energy. It’s got a wave, and you can get up and ride it. Over here, the only waves are on the ocean, and it takes a lot of effort to get on the sand and in the water.

There isn’t a wave here like there is in NYC – culturally, energy-wise, and artistically. I feel completely alive in NYC. Out here I’m like, “Wake up Stan!” The whole West Coast can lull you. It has something to do with the weather and the expanse of things. People in L.A. whine too much, like, “Oh God, where’s the Sun?” if it’s not out for a couple of days.

I enjoy NYC and its abrupt emotional discourse. I enjoy that kind of exchange. In L.A., people don’t necessarily communicate that directly. There’s a lot of shy behaviour that doesn’t want to cause a lot of discomforture. You get the shorthand, the Hollywood goodbye: “Buh-bye!” Which means, “Don’t call me anymore. Leave me alone, because I don’t smell any money around you.” But The other side of L.A. is very homely and friendly: Backyard BBQ’s, pull-out-the-old-mattress-by-the-tree-and-dig-a-hole-with-the-kids.

There’s a lot of opposites of NYC to L.A., almost opposite sides of the same coin. What you learn about human behavior in NYC gets turned upside down in L.A., where you have to look through the facades and behaviors and the masks people wear to find out what’s really going on. There’s a lot of disappointment here. People come in with a lot of expectations thinking it will be like what they saw in a movie. You see people coming to Sunset Boulevard, looking for limos. But it’s a prison camp there – it’s not the same.

I remember when we first moved out here, we were walking down an alleyway on Muscle Beach, and a kind of convertible car was on the street moving 5 mph. Someone threw something out of the car, and I said, “I’ll throw it out.” It was Dennis Wilson in the car so I said, “Thanks for the music.” He said, “You want a new album? What’s your address?” Three days later I had “Pacific Ocean Blue” with a note that said, “Hey Stan, thanks for throwing out that piece of paper.”

Here’s another Beach Boys story: At one point I was at Carneys, a hot dog place on La Brea, right before I got really popular. This weird car pulls up. Here’s Brian Wilson and he doesn’t look so good. He’s got a bathrobe, pants and slippers on, but no shirt. He gets one of those Yoo-hoo drinks, gulps it down. I couldn’t help it – I turned around and said, “Hey Brian!” He got surprised, halted, and jumped into the car and drove away.

In NYC, somehow everyone gets lost in the crowd and its no big deal. But here, things become a little more focused, isolated and pointed, I guess. There’s an isolation here, but in NYC I don’t think anybody feels very isolated, do they? I guess you can be alone in a crowd. In L.A., you don’t have hordes of people on the sidewalk, walking from one end to another. It’s the circus of life in NYC.

Here’s another thing we wanted to ask you about. Your studio work receives a fair amount of attention, but I don’t see as much written about your live shows. The last two Stan Ridgway concerts I saw were definitely memorable experiences. Why do you like playing live?

The who's who of "Neon Mirage"

Bob Dylan said it once, that sometimes being onstage was the only place where he could be what he wanted to be without something else in the way. I feel the same: very spontaneous, in the moment – you feel present. You’re not dealing with bills on the table, phone calls, flat tires, and just the whole utility of going from day to day.

There’s a purpose in playing live and being on the road. You feel good about it, because you say, “I’ve gotta be at this place at this time, and do this, so there’s nothing to do now but relax.” My whole joke always was, “I can’t wait to get on the road and relax.”

We travel very modestly. The four of us are tucked away, and we move quickly and efficiently that way. We can stop wherever we want, explore and see what’s happening.

I really do look at playing the music more like folk music, because it changes from the record to the live performance. There are certain things we’d like to be able to do live, but we can’t afford that many people, so we make what we can out of three or four players. But that’s challenging and rewarding, because you get something else out of it. Flubs are made, but the fun part of it is all in the recovery. So playing live is always an adventure. What else do we want from life but adventure?

When I play NYC it’s always really exciting, and this date we’ll be playing – 9/11 – is super-exciting. I asked my booking agent, “Honestly, do people go out on 9/11?” He said, “Stan, it’s America.” I said, “You’re right. It’s not the time to sit inside and say, ‘We can’t go out and exercise our freedoms.’”

So I called the Handsome Family and said, “Let’s sing songs from America.” That’s the footnote theme from the evening, and maybe we’ll play some covers. There’s so many different kinds of people that live in NYC, you’re kind of playing to the world, really.

Stan, it’s been an amazing privilege to finally talk to you. Anything else you want to add?
The record is actually out now and available on my Website — running my own Empire of the Ants here. I’m not beyond pitching myself into the world of purchasing products, so I’d encourage people to go to the Website where the album is streaming. Listen to a song, make up your mind, and if you like it, why not buy one? This helps us to get gas, food and whatever else we need.

It’s the Wild West in the music business. I’m not sure where it’s going, but it’s what we do. It’s no less a struggle than anyone else’s job, but we still make it ourselves. And if it doesn’t work out we’ll probably end up making our own clothes, in a shed by the Lincoln Tunnel.

Stan Ridgway and the Handsome Family play City Winery on Saturday, September 11th, at 8:30 PM. For more information visit http://www.citywinery.com.

— David Weiss

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