you know I saw you in [that] film the man who came to Earth and That was a man who was in his own void no way yes very much. Do you feel that yourself [um]? Somatically I've always dealt with isolation and everything. I've written. I think um so it's something that triggers me off it It always makes me interested in a new project. If it has anything to do with Alienation or isolation do you feel isolated? [though] not really, but I can I can quietly imagine how it must feel to be isolated, so I have often put myself in Circumstances and positions where I am isolated just so that I can write about you do in a way, I've Sort of been thinking quite a lot about you [and] often often seen you anyway That's the smoke bothering you no, it's not at all. We're gonna make you who that mysterious [man] that you talked about um [I]? Think that it's not at all mystifying why you change your appearance as often as you do to my view by the way because I think you've used yourself as As a canvas yes very much, so was that right yes, very much so um I Never wanted to appear as myself [on] stage ever at any time until recently I think so I um as I did writing character form I wanted to produce those characters on Stage which is Something I feel I did quite successfully at the time That was simply an exercise of projecting something else like you say for instance you would be presenting a picture well I was also I wanted to use rock and roll in some way or [other] and I got tired of the sort of The lie of the Rock performer is exactly the same on stage as [he] is off stage which in most cases n'T true at all but so I thought we'll take it a stage further and completely separate the personalities the person behind it all who's writing it and creating it and the one up front [that] does the interviews and Does the shows and and so I created the characters and put them on stage? And then I would take them further and put them into interviews, and I would only do interviews as the character Were you hiding? Yourself from us partly, but I was enjoying it very much I mean I liked the idea of taking it to that sort of surreal stage is that sort of again? Carry on with it Rheticus you work You went to art school before you did anything else, didn't you yes yes as we all did everybody [in] [Rural] [in] [Toronto] Right and you paint now. Yes But your paintings, you're not willing to let us see yet uh no I've been offered there two or three showings, but I've turned I've accepted two of them in the night I broke my word and said I wouldn't show them. I haven't yet backed up the courage why not What what what do you fear? I know, I'm a good writer Ha ha I'm not sure about putting my paintings are they're very personal to me as well um They're all portraits, and they're all portraits of people in isolation most of the paintings are Germans or turks who live in Berlin and they're either from East Berlin and who are now living in West Berlin and knowing their families are on the other side of the wall and so I? Try to capture a lot of that kind of isolation, and I put a lot of myself into the paintings as [well] They're very much part of me. Yeah If you're interested in isolation is it because you think that a person in an isolated state feels? Greater emotions than they do when they're surrounded by people and things I think if he is in isolation [instead] of receiving the the whole world as his home he tends to create a micro world inside himself [and] it's that peculiar Part of the Human mind that fascinates me about the small Universes [that] can be created inside the mind yeah some of them fairly schizophrenic and quite off the wall Does that mean you have to separate yourself quite a lot from? Say falling in love and getting very involved with a person um oh No, I think no. I do I think quite the reverse for me [um] I Do fall in love quite quickly Once upon a time [used] to [falling] off quite a lot but [uh] No, I think I think love is very important for my writing But love falling in love is different from then going on to love that person Yes, it is. Yes, and once you love somebody yeah, a lot it means that you've got to share your life with them That's what I know. I don't think so. You can love somebody from afAr But if you then decided not to love them from afar is what I mean You as an artist would have to give up quite a lot of your time to them Yes, and I can't do that. That's what I was wondering. [well], you didn't [really] do that [no] Love can't get quite in my way because it I feel um I shelter myself from it incredibly What are you shattering yourself again? [I'm] sorry. I'm losing that other eye, right Because you lost your that. That's partially that huh yeah, yeah over a fight Yes, well over a fight yeah, we never in the fight What for the fight of work? Over this I know it was her no [bother]. He wanted it, and I wanted it, but I kept it um Well that was over. I [think] I can't remember it very well it was over a girl. I can't remember her name Um was it your first love when David Bowie No, I wasn't even in love with her. I don't think and he thought I was and In a manner of speaking, but I wasn't in love [with] her um and so he came up and belted me one day But he and she's you've loved in your time. Haven't you? So I've read [no] I've only heard [-] but it was [you've] been asked the question whether you're bisexual or not [-] many times. Yes And you you've never quite answered it. [oh], I have I said I was bisexual. That's enough hmm. HmM. Does that mean though that you? Really are or does that [mean] that you you're you're keeping some I've answered the person right okay? Right can I ask you another question about? yourself in isolation partly When you're you're now living in Japan aren't you? [I] just come back from Japan I don't know where I'm going to next look when you're living in a place. Is that because you again want to be isolated Yes, you know I'm pleased Not yes now at the moment. It wasn't a couple of years ago. I wanted to put myself in dangerous situations Which I did put myself in any situation, which I feel I can't cope with Dangerous situations such as what can you explain it areas where I have to? Be in sort of social contact with people which I'm not very good at doing I I don't know what you mean now Well like I went to Los angeles, and I lived there for a couple of years. Which is a city I really detest yeah So I went to live there among people that I didn't like very much to see what would happen to my writing and then did You find you did to test the place. Oh quiet twice as much as when I went there well What did you think you're going to test about it before you got there everything it represented such [a] [Zone] [of] [art] I mean [that] day would you dislike [America]? Uh no? I like the plains of America? I like New Mexico very much in the Ryota ground and around that area yeah, but I don't like American cities too much I like the real cities like Chicago and Detroit hmM. I Can't quite see what the difference between Los angeles well, it's sort of a callous it said, so it's sort of a blister on the backside of humanity really yeah, whereas Detroit has a real people Energetically trying to survive, but in Los Angeles its fabrication yeah In in real life where I'd deal with fabrication in public, but my real life is not at all fabricated hmM You know you said you do want to be [in] situations, which which you're frightened of right? Yes But how easy is it for you to mix? Generally speaking with people because surely you're so famous that people would recognize you [straightaway] and therefore no They don't at all really no I have no problem with that really hmm, but then perhaps is that because you do go deliberately to a new new place. Yeah, yes That's why I went to Berlin when I left America Yeah, I wanted to have another kind of friction and so I went to Berlin and I Found the Friction. I wanted what was that um people living under the impression that everything might collapse very quickly And people are very serious there and don't care too much of [applet] flippancy. Yeah That's it's a very tight life. They're surrounded by a wall with machine guns which is ever coming in on you hmm more you live there the longer you live there the more it comes in and The wall by the end feels as though. It's right around the apartment or house that [you] staying hmM When you lived in Germany, did you get involved with people there? I mean writers and artists yes, there are some of the new wave bands and Some of the serious writers there I quite enjoy them very much, but most of the time I spent on my own hmM When you went to Japan, which is nice where you are now, right? Yeah
What was the while there next um well when I first started trying to bring pantomime into rock and roll My other influence at the time part from German expressionism was Kabuki theater So I am from Kabuki. I then got interested in the cultural religious aspects of Japan What do you find a balance between? The the heritage of Japan and the Modern world that they have and how they balance it Which is very precarious to say the least there's a friction there as well When you go to a place, I'm not a very good traveler myself I resist it because I if I can't speak the [language] I don't feel I'm gonna be able to communicate and so forth and it sort of frightens me um when you go What's the kind of? first thing you get to know about a place in [order] to food make you start to feel a little as if you belong to it um Cafes and bars, I thinking where to buy food yeah, right? you've got you you paint and What painter do you think has influenced you [erik] heckle? You've described yourself as a writer. What writers have influenced you William Burroughs [does] [II] the owner might change my mind tomorrow, but yeah? if you're asking me immediately those are the first things that come to mind yes, I'm Child who do you think? Donald Duck Was your favorite character little was I loathed him [maybe] learn how to hate That's very hard. I've always hated Donald duck He sends me quite crackers when I heard him very unlikable [did] you dislike Mickey mouse as much yes? Did you like any of the traditional? People that you're supposed to like like did you like Winnie the pooh no? No rupert bear no, but no I didn't I do have a teddy bear. No, I didn't I don't think I Can't remember having anything like that at all. No, I never liked and children's things very much I always liked paintings from very early ancient Thank you very very much indeed for talking to me pleasures. I really enjoyed it good
