Yesterday was a big day around the Pyragraph Studios (i.e. my living room) as the guest for our weekly Self-Employed Happy Hour podcast was none other than Crispin Hellion Glover. He’s in Albuquerque for two screenings of his films, What Is It? and It Is Fine! EVERYTHING IS FINE. at The Guild Cinema, and The Guild’s kickass owner Keif Henley hooked us up with the interview. At the screenings on Dec. 5 and 6, Crispin will also present dramatic readings from his books, and do a Q&A and book signing at the end (more details in the pink box below). It’s my birthday today and I’m totally going tonight, and I can’t fucking wait!

I don’t interview for-real famous people very often so it has been an exciting week. I learned a few things as I prepared to interview Crispin, and as it all went down.

• I like preparing for interviews when “preparing” means watching films like Rubin & Ed and Willard. (Note to self: More excellent filmmakers/actors on the show = more excellent movie nights.)
• Crispin Glover is an easy, fascinating, exceedingly awesome interview subject. Some folks seemed to think I should be very, very nervous about interviewing him but I had a feeling that was a myth. I was right! He’s lovely to chat with.
• Crispin is a consummate professional and won’t complain about a freezing cold room. I realized about 10 minutes into the show I forgot to bring in the space heater but it was too late. Crispin looked cold and I felt bad. Sorry Crispin; next time come in August, OK?
• I’m a sucker for smart people who challenge the status quo. It was very cool to dig deeper into Crispin’s work and really think about his philosophy about and approach to pushing back against sanitized corporate media. I’m inspired by his artistic curiosity and freedom from constraints, including self-imposed ones.
• Being an independent artist takes a lot of work. Just because you’re a famous Hollywood actor doesn’t mean your own creative projects will come easy—especially if they are challenging in any way for mass audiences. For one of his films, about 10 days of shooting were spread out over 2+ years. He does his website himself. By self-financing and taking a DIY approach he has maximum freedom with his projects, but they’re also very work intensive.
• Few things motivate me to clean, but having a famous person come to my house is one. I need to do this more often.

To listen to the podcast, you can stream it right here. It’d be great if you also subscribed at iTunes (and leave a review while you’re at it) so you won’t miss upcoming episodes. Cheers!

More pics from the podcast:

Eva Avenue and Josh Stuyvesant, who really isn’t sleeping.

L-R: Crispin Glover, Peri Pakroo, Josh Stuyvesant, Eva Avenue & Sage Harrington.

All photos by Turtle O’Toole.