I wish I heard this interview when it was on the air. This Kennedy guy's wild.
Also, here's one of his songs if you haven't heard the band before.
http://www.kisforkennedy.com/music/MamaMadeMeAPimp.mp3
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National Public Radio
FRESH AIR - OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
Intro: I'm Terry Gross and this is "Fresh Air". My guest today is
musician-performer Kennedy. Kennedy will be playing in San Francisco at the
Noise Pop Music Festival.
TG: Kennedy, welcome to "Fresh Air". So, I have to ask you….how did you
choose your name?
K: hi terry, its great to be here. by the way, you have very sexy legs. you sound so unisexual on the radio and i never would have guessed that you would be such a full scale cougar in person. anyhoo, my legal name is Kennedy so technically i did not choose it. My mother and father were immigrants from Guinea Bissau and they named me after the 17th and 23rd royal governors of that country. Both of my parents were militant/ revolutionary Socialist Party members in the sixties and seventies; in addition to being on the local home owners association of their condominium complex.
TG: Now, your music seems to cross genres - from rock, to soul, to disco.
What do you want listeners and fans to get from your music?
K: I have decided to invent a new genre of music tailored to the new IPOD generation of music listeners. This genre is called "The Best." It basically includes all of the Best music ever created. My entire catalogue is in there along with "Kiss" by Prince and all of Ringo Starrs Beatles contributions
.
TG: So, I should probably mention, too, that you do this wildly interesting ..>..>
persona in your musical act. In pictures, I've seen you in vividly colored
70's leisure suits with large sunglasses. What inspired you to create this
persona? How much of it is the real you?
K: I should not dignify this question with a response. So i'll dignify it with questions. Was Jesus's crown of thorns a hip trend? Did John Lennon take a bullet cause it was cool? Did Jerry Garcia cut his own finger off? What is the quadratic equation? Do you think i am cute? Terry, seriously, I think your Hella (and i use hella cause i know its a hip term in Nor Cal) sweet and i really wanna tap that sweetness you have. What do you say?
TG: Some have described you as a novelty act, how do you react to that term.
K: Some of my favorite music was considered novelty when it first came out. The Beasty Boys License to Ill seemed like novely for the first ten years but then BAM!!! its a classic. It's funny how one minute you're novelty and ten years later Terry Gross is buying you White Zinfandale at happy hour in TGI Fridays.
TG: You have a very large, almost cult-like, fan base in Los Angeles where
you live. Do you think there is something particular about LA culture or the
LA music scene that informs your music?
K: Los Angeles is a vapid, heartless, cultureless wasteland of souless actors, actresses, musicians, and sushi chefs. Needless to say, they eat my shit up. I can't even have breakfast at Disneyland without giving autographs to all of Minny Mouse's girlfriend's little sister's coke dealers. By the way, not to name drop, but she deals coke to Paris Hilton.
TG: I want you to talk a little bit about your music video "Who's Your
Mama?" The song, to me at least, seems to bring new meaning to the
parent-teacher meeting .....(Terry laughs). The narrator in the song is a teacher who kind of waxes poignantly about dating the attractive mothers of his students. And the video is set in this spaced-out hallucinogenic universe. At one point, you're seen in bed, ..>..> presumably post-coitus, handing a student lunch money. I wondered if you
were ever a teacher before you became a performer, and if this was one of your fantasies, dating the mothers of your students?
K: I am not qualified to teach. Not even fingerpainting. But when I was in the eighth grade I had my first sexual experience with my Home Economics teacher. She baked a cake and i got aroused. Then in ninth grade I got aroussed while watching the girls volleyball team take state against XANAR (its a scientology thing.) Then in tenth grade I was abducted by aliens and taken to your stupid planet. which is pretty lame but luckily there is enough hot tail to keep me busy for the nexy 85,000 earth years. Do I fantisize about hot moms? Well, i'd like to say that I'm only human; but I'm not.
