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Checking Out a Musical AsianConnections is proud to present the adventures of Ben Fong-Torres, our Renaissance man, author, broadcaster, and longtime writer and senior editor at legendary Rolling Stone Magazine. This guy's our hero! There's even a major motion picture coming out this Fall 2000 featuring a character about Ben,
written and directed by Cameron Crowe. (Cameron wrote and directed Tom Cruise in "Jerry Maguire.") "Japan Night" made the cover of�well, no, not Rolling Stone, but the "XL Extra," the daily Austin American-Statesman's South by Southwest Music Festival supplement. But if I were Lolita No. 18, the act featured in the cover photo, I wouldn't complain. After all, there were almost a thousand bands in Austin for the four-day, seemingly 24/7 round of concerts, showcases, parties and panels, and to get more than a listing and a thumbnail sketch in either the A-S or the alt-weekly, the Chronicle (which had its own daily SXSW tabloid) was to get an A+.
So, what was I doing there? The organizers invited me to sit on a panel called "War Stories," with a half-dozen other rock journalists (including Ann Powers of the New York Times, and fabled author and Stones biographer Stanley Booth) to talk about interviewing rock stars over the years. Also, my company, myplay.com, was a big part of the conference. We helped produce one of the SXSW's hottest tickets�the party at Las Manitas, anchored by Rick Trevino and Joe Ely, with surprise guests including Steve Earle and two of Los Lobos (or "Dos Lobos," as I like to think of them); Paula Batson, the inspiration for the Las Manitas bash, moderated a panel on artists' Web sites that starred ex-Byrd Roger McGuinn, and our founder, Doug Camplejohn, sat on a panel featuring what one SXSW attendee called (to McGuinn's delight) "dot-communists." As for my own panel: You know that with a half-dozen rock writers, you're bound to get a few good stories. In fact, the daily paper, which covered only a couple of panels while giving most of its space to photos and articles about the stars (including, if you MUST know, Patti Smith, Neil Young, Cypress Hill, and Shelby Lynne, whose blend of rootsy country, soul, and casual glamour made her the buzz act of the festival), ran a big item about my session. It went exactly like this: At the Thursday afternoon (March 16) rock critic panel "War Stories: Writing About Music Then & Now," Jaan Uhelszki reminisced about a nightmarish 1970s interview with Jimmy Page. While Uhelszki tried to pepper the Led Zeppelin ax-slinger with questions, Page simply refused to acknowledge her presence, meeting every query with silence. Finally, Uhelszki realized that she was supposed to address each of her questions to the publicist, who would then relay them to His Pageness. "What do you think of the new album?" Uhelszki asked the flack. "She wants to know what you think of the new album," the flack asked Page, and so it went for the duration of the interview. "I should have strangled him," Uhelszki said. "Actually," said old-line Rolling Stone writer Ben Fong-Torres, "you should have strangled the publicist, and then SHE should have strangled Jimmy Page." Panel moderator Evan Smith laughed so hard, no one could hear his cell phone ring. * * * Pretty cool, huh? Except, what's this "old-line" bidness? I thought that's what you tried out with women at bars. Not that I ever tried lines on women. I was always too shy, and had to make do with things like mummy peepshows. ____________________ Ben Fong-Torres, long-time writer and editor at Rolling Stone magazine, is the author of four books, including his memoirs, The Rice Room: Growing Up Chinese-American, and his latest, Not Fade Away: A Backstage Pass to 20 Years of Rock & Roll. He is Editorial Director of myplay.com, an Internet music site that offers free Web space, where users can grab, store, mix, play, and share music of all kinds. Click
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