A Conversation with John Doe  (continued)

PM: Are you what might be called a spiritual guy in any way?

JD: Spiritual?

PM: Yeah.

JD: I'm definitely not religious.

PM: No, not that, so much.

JD: But I'm not sure what "spiritual" means, to be honest. It's like I feel connected to people and memories and spirits in that way. I do things where I'm out in the wilderness--no pun intended--but out in the woods, hiking, skiing, stuff like that. And I live out in the sticks, so I feel really connected to the land. And that's important. I believe in nature, and I believe in people, but I don't believe in God.

PM: Right.

JD: So I guess maybe I'm a pagan.

PM: Yeah, but a people-loving pagan.

JD: Yeah.

PM: Do you make much time for reading? Is that a big part of your life?

JD: Oh, yeah.

PM: Anything that turned you on lately?

JD: Actually there was a really strange book called Grotesque, and it's by Natsuo Kirino, she's a Japanese writer. Her last book was called Out, and this one is called Grotesque.

PM: Okay, because yeah, I like Japanese authors, so I'm going to find out who she is.

JD: And another of my favorites is Haruki Murakami.

PM: Yeah, me too.

JD: I haven't read that new one yet, but I look forward to it.

PM: What about on the turntable, are you listening to anything in particular?

JD: Yeah. I listen to a lot of new music. Feist is obviously really great. I like her new record.

PM: I'm trying to land an interview with her like nobody's business right at the moment.

JD: Well, yeah, you and everybody else.

[laughter]

PM: Yeah, it's tough. [see our review of her new album]

JD: There's a woman in New York, I think--or I don't know where she's based out of--Rosie Thomas. She did a record with that guy Sufjan Stevens. And I think it's called These Friends of Mine, a really beautiful record.

PM: Wow, thanks for that. [We're hooking up an interview with Rosie at this writing, hopefully for the September issue.]

JD: And yeah, I like the Silversun Pickups. They've got a sound that's their own, and it's cool.

PM: Wow. Well, I said that I'd try and limit myself to 15 minutes, and I'm going to do that. I see that you're coming to Nashville on the 7th of August.

JD: Yeah.

PM: So I really love your music and I look forward to meeting you in person and seeing you play live.

JD: Okay, man. See you there.

We usually end an interview with a little picture of the interviewee. There is a great photo of John that I wanted to use somewhere in the piece, but I didn't want to cheat you out of the experience of seeing it in its proper context. Instead I thought I'd include a detail of the shot (9:25 and Warren Oates' eyes) and tell you how to see the whole image at its true home. It'll have to be in the evening around nine (that's 21:00 for those of you who don't see it as 9 p.m.). Go to humanclock.com and look around. View the Clock. Read the About, visit the Submissions Gallery. Read the very entertaining FAQ. Get a sense of what Craig is up to over there. When it gets to be about 9:20 (21:20), go to View the Clock, make sure that the Time Notation below the images is set to 12 Hour, watch the minutes pass and click on some of the locations that show up in the box below the image box (to see how that works). At 9:24 p.m. it's almost time so get ready. At 9:25 p.m. a picture will appear in the clock. You might be looking at Mr. John Doe, smiling, wearing an excellent hat. If not, go down to the locations and click on Forest Grove, Oregon, and there's John Doe telling you the correct time.

Okay, so maybe you don't have enough time to spend on all this? Well, you can also just click here at any time of the day or night to see the picture and read about how it was taken. Fun photo, right?