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A Conversation with
Alicia J. Rose (continued)
AR: And in the past two and a half years since becoming a part of Doug Fir which is this amazing juggernaut of an independent rock music venue, as well as getting back into photography, and having the chance to really, from the ground up, help build and create a culture of identity and personality for bands like the Decemberists. I think I identified primarily as Miss Murgatroid for a long time. That's who I was. And I think I needed, for the sake of my own self, to get away from that, and identify just as me. Having an alter ego that's a weird avant-garde crazy accordion player is really fun for a while, but--
PM: Yeah, you can't be it.
AR: I never wanted to be it. I just wanted to be me doing all of these things. And the beauty of photography and where it's brought me in my creative process, is that it's allowed me to come full circle into being a person who does many things, versus one over the other.
PM: You've done so many things already--is there anything you haven't tried that you'd like to try that comes to mind?
AR: Well, I actually would love the opportunity to complete my little full circle and get into directing. If the reactions I'm getting from people about my work and style continue to be positive, and I'm not actually kidding myself--which is always good to know--then how fun would it be to start making my pictures move? It feels like a natural progression for me. I just got thrown into the music biz so abruptly...it was so much where the opportunity was for me that I never had the chance to fully explore other avenues of interest. But now those opportunities are starting to arise again. Who knows, I may well get to direct my first video in the next year. Maybe eventually I'll get to direct my first film. I mean, hell yes.
PM: Right.
AR: It seems like an old school motivation, making pictures move. Because if you have an eye, and you have an ability to interact with people in a way that makes them comfortable and gets them to give you the best performance they can, especially musicians, who aren't actors, and who aren't models, why not take that to the next level, and see how it goes. I'm really into this show Iconoclasts. Have you seen that show?
PM: No.
AR: It's a Sundance Channel show. And it's usually like one dude interviewing another dude, or two women--it's like two famous people interviewing each other.
PM: Really? It's a Sundance show? Iconoclasts.
AR: Uh-huh. And there's one with Michael Stipe and Mario Batali. And I was watching that--
PM: Oh, wait a minute. I did see that show with Stipe and Batali.
AR: It was rad. And Michael Stipe said something that really resonated with me. He was presenting 5 music video directors at this Palm Pictures dinner--
PM: Right.
AR: They were launching their director series, with Michel Gondry and all these other directors. And he said something like, "Music videos in general are something that are kind of a tragedy, because you've got somebody creating their vision of the song and forcing that into your brain, and sometimes that's not such a good experience. These five directors are people that have given you something more than you could ever think of. They've taken a song to a place that opens it up to the imagination, instead of closes it." (Sorry for my bad paraphrasing!)
I suppose I relate to that, because its what I'm trying to do with photography. I didn't even really think about the fact that I could do it with moving pictures until I started realizing that it's kind of the logical the next step.
But that said, I'm so addicted to my Hasselblad. I love medium format photography. I love using film, which of course inevitably makes the process of translating my vision as a photographer to videos and to film a little more complicated. I was approached by a producer recently who wants to work with me on the film side, which is a little intimidating, but flattering and potentially awesome. I told him I was interested, but in the scope of that, I need to learn how to translate my vision. New tools.
And so that's where I'm at, embedded in the research part of that whole process right now. It's not happening tomorrow, but with any luck it will happen sooner than later. It just depends on everything else I'm doing, where the opportunities are and how much I am enjoying them.
PM: Well, if ever I talked to a woman with more juice than you, I do not recall the occasion.
[laughter]
PM: Thank you for giving me so much of your time today.
AR: Oh, my pleasure.
listen to clips print (pdf) visit missmurgatroid.com
become an Alicia & Petra friend at their myspace page
petrahaden.com Alicia's photo collections at flickr
dougfirlounge.com these photos of Alicia: Andy Batt
that review (with photos) of Menomena's latest CD
that interview with Gwynneth Haynes of Sophe Lux
