A Conversation with Bill Frisell (continued)

PM: I love your cartoon drawings on The Willies.

BF: Oh, God.

PM: They're great. Do you have a body of work--excuse the phrase--in that domain?

BF: Oh, no. A lot of that stuff is just--I don't know what. It seemed like when... Well, I used to draw stuff when I was a kid, just sort of for fun or whatever. And then it seemed like when I got a fax machine, whenever fax machines started, it sort of brought out the... A lot of that stuff sort of happened more or something, and...

PM: You started doodling again.

BF: Yeah. But now with email I haven't been as much. But no, I don't really--it's just sort of not really anything, but...

PM: I thought they were pretty good. But yeah, you're not going to have a show in the Northwest about your doodles.

BF: I don't think so. [laughs]

PM: What about prose? Are you a prose writer at all?

BF: No.

PM: Not like that.

BF: No, I'm just--with words, I'm just... Sometimes I wish I would just try to write. Like every once in a while, just a little bit, I've kept sort of a diary thing or something, where I'll just write or... But that's more just trying to be my psychiatrist for myself or something. Or I'll write letters. I think about it, but it's... No, I'm not at all. I mean, I sort of wish I would try to spend more time with words somehow, but that's kind of off my radar a little bit, I guess.

PM: Yeah, except for being a diarist.

BF: But even that, I don't keep up with it very well, but I think about it. Every once in a while, stuff will just sort of shoot through my head, and I think, "Man, I wish I had written that down," or something. But every once in a while I get a feeling what it might feel like to be able to write words, but it's more like I haven't really.

PM: What about reading? Are you much of a reader?

BF: Well, same thing with that. It's not... I feel like I should--even for the--like I read this thing that Wayne Shorter said about writing music, and it made so much sense. He said, "You have to be able to tell a story with the music that you're writing." It's not just about some notes or something, but it's about telling a story. And he said the best way to learn how to do that is to read stories. And it made so much sense, I thought, "Wow, it's the same." And he was saying he wants to write some prose.

PM: Yeah.

BF: And just to have the sense of what that is, you have to be able to write, you have to read. I mean, I read a little bit, but it's nothing like... I don't know, I'm not that smart, really.

PM: [laughs] Oh, that's funny. Do you take time to listen, do you have that kind of time?

BF: Well, and that's another thing I miss from back during that time when I was teaching Kenny or something. Or when I was in college, I'd have my roommates at school, we'd sit around for hours and we'd listen to records over and over and over again. And it just doesn't seem to happen now. I have to get it in little bits now, sort of, in the car. I try, but it's really hard to get a whole hour to really concentrate. And also, when my attention is really focused, it seems like it's harder and harder to be able to do that now. When I do have these moments when I can, it's like, "Wow, I wish I... I've just got do this more, because it feels so good," but...

PM: Yeah, but there just isn't that much time.

BF: Yeah, it seems like it. I mean, it's really important, but it's harder and harder.

PM: When you're kicking back, if you're ever kicking back, is there any TV you like? Six Feet Under or The Soparanos?

BF: Oh, I love Six Feet Under.

PM: [laughs] Right. That was a good one last night.

BF: Yeah. No, I totally--and The Sopranos, I'm totally into those two things.

PM: Yeah, gotta have it.

BF: But not much else. But definitely Six Feet Under. Like last night, I was just, "Oh, boy. It's Sunday night, I can't wait to..."

PM: Oh, and she's so young, but I'm just falling in love with Clare.

BF: [laughs]

PM: Oh, my God! She starts to come out and give it all up to this guy, I was dying!

[laughter]

PM: What about spiritual stuff? Are you a spiritual guy at all?

BF: Oh, boy, that's... I don't even know how to... I mean, definitely not in any kind of organized way.

PM: Now you shock me.

BF: But I think so, somehow. I mean, I don't even know how to... It's so kind of personal, I guess. I mean, I believe that there's all kinds of stuff going on that we don't understand, or that we have no... I just... I haven't figured out how to really put a name on it or anything. And I've experienced, even with music, that things happen, that there are all kinds of different levels and layers and things going on, more than what we're just seeing right now.

PM: Yeah, there's more than meets the eye or any of the other senses.

BF: Yeah. But it's hard to even talk about, I guess.

PM: Yeah, I can feel this tape running out. I won't keep you much longer, you've been very kind with your time. continue

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