Gigantic.22

“Interview”

I’m not sure how it happened, it was all sort of on the sly.

A friend of an acquaintance worked at Interview Magazine as assistant to Ingrid Sischy, the editor-in-chief. Apparently he had a job offer at some other magazine but was worried about blowing it at Interview in case it didn’t work out.

He pretended to go on vacation while he gave the other job a try. All he needed was someone who would cover for him without giving away his secret. Somehow, that person wound up being me.

I came up with a similar excuse and found someone to cover for me at the clothing store where I worked.

This is how, one Monday morning, I found myself assistant to the editor-in-chief of Interview Magazine, in Andy Warhol’s old Factory building blocks from my apartment in the East 30s.

Like a lot of fabled editors, Ingrid Sischy had a formidable reputation. Maybe some people found her difficult. Strangely, the ruse that had delivered me to her was so audacious that I showed up ready to go toe-to-toe with anyone. We got along immediately.

Basically, I was her personal bouncer. No one got passed me that she didn’t want to get passed me. And every time anyone called, she was in a meeting.

Except once. Roddy McDowall called. Cornelius from the original Planet of the Apes, my all-time favorite when I was nine years old, and I’m sitting there talking to him. He was so nice and polite. I just didn’t have the heart.

“I think she’s in a meeting, but let me check…”

I leaned into Ingrid’s inner office.

“Roddy McDowall’s on the phone,” I whispered.

“He just wants to talk about his photography,” she said, hand waving dismissively as if she’d heard about it already. “Tell him I’m in a meeting.”

“But it’s Roddy McDowall.”

She flashed me the look.

I went back to the phone. I told him she was in a meeting.

Some of the other editors were not as polite as Roddy when I blocked their access. I didn’t exactly make a lot of friends.

After two weeks, Ingrid’s regular assistant decided he didn’t want the other job after all. He returned to being Ingrid’s assistant, and I returned to working at the clothing store.

A few months later, 7 Days closed suddenly, the magazine where I’d interned when I’d first hit the city. Talented editors flooded the market.

By this point I’d landed a minor editorial position at another magazine so this didn’t so much affect me directly, beyond being as incensed as everyone else about the reckless shuttering of an excellent magazine.

My friend Stephen from 7 Days wound up at Interview. On a lark, I pitched a story about Agit Pop, my friends’ band up in Poughkeepsie. It sounded interesting to him, so he presented it to Ingrid.

Ingrid had squashed plenty of stories bigger than a post-punk band from Poughkeepsie, but when Stephen told her it was me who pitched it, she apparently said:

“We like him.”

With that, I began writing for Interview Magazine.

I’d taken Metro-North a thousand times. This time, instead of my mom picking me up, it was John deVries. Him, me, Mark LaFalce and Rick Crescini sat around a picnic table not far from the station.

Back in college as an anthro major, I’d had some practice interviewing people, but I’d never interviewed a band before. My questions were inane, and the whole thing went on way too long.

The coolest thing was that Billy Name lived in Poughkeepsie and was running around taking photos. Billy had been Warhol’s Factory photographer, it seemed like a slam dunk.

I crashed at John’s place on South Cherry that night. They had sanded down all their cabinets and appliances to the bare metal, which also had something to do with Warhol, I didn’t know what exactly, but this seemed to be an ongoing theme.

The next day I took the train back to the city. It took me forever to transcribe the interview because I’d let the tape run so long, but I eventually got it all typed, printed, and edited down. I was surprised that Interview didn’t go for Billy’s photos, but the art department had their own ideas.

At any rate, it happened. My first article came out in Interview and I got paid for my efforts.

I still wasn’t in a band at the moment. But at least the article was about a band. That was close. Sort of.

—

Click below for…

Gigantic

Ghost Tour

Kingston 76