Transcript of chat with Blondie

December 10, 1998

BigStar_Host: BLONDIE was the greatest pop band of the New Wave Punk era. They recorded the first rock/reggae and the first rock/disco sounds. Anyone remember Heart of Glass? A classic.
BigStar_Host: The original BLONDIE was formed in 1974 by art student/fallen away hippie guitarist Chris Stein and ex-Max's Kansas City waitress and Playboy bunny, vocalist Debbie Harry ... drummer Clem Burke and keyboard player Jimmy Destri joined in 1975. The band played in NY downtown circuit -- CBGB's, Max's Kansas City and the Mercer Arts Center.
BigStar_Host: They collected a big following and in 1976 they recorded their first album "BLONDIE." It was released in 1977 and was well received. After a successful stint in L.A., the band toured in support of Iggy Pop and David Bowie. In the summer of 1977 they released their second album, "Plastic Letters," and toured Europe and Asia.
BigStar_Host: In the summer of 1978, BLONDIE worked with producer Mike Chapman to hone their radio sound and create the album "Parallel Lines." The single, "Picture This," made #12 in the UK and the follow-up "Hanging on the Telephone," hit #5. At the end of that year, Debbie made her first film, "Union City."
BigStar_Host: In 1979, BLONDIE had their first #1 US hit with "Heart Of Glass," which also sold over a million copies in the UK. The album sold over 20 million copies worldwide!
BigStar_Host: WOW!
BigStar_Host: In September 1979, the band's fourth album "Eat To The Beat" was released along with the first ever album length video. Before the year's end BLONDIE had continued their chart presence in the UK with the #2 hit "Dreaming." In February of 1980, they hit #1 in England again with "Atomic."
BigStar_Host: Among their subsequent hits were "Call Me," from the film "American Gigolo," with the then yummy Richard Gere ;)
BigStar_Host: Debbie appeared on "The Muppet Show" in 1980 after "Eat to the Beat" was certified platinum. BLONDIE'S fifth album, "Autoamerican" was released in January and the first hit single "The Tide is High" made #1 in the UK. The first reggae tinged hit, it was #1 in the U.S. by March of that year. The band then appeared on the popular TV show "Solid Gold," and soon the album was solid platinum!
BigStar_Host: Debbie released her first solo album, "Koo Koo" in August of 1980 ... that album was produced by the fabulous Nile Rogers and Bernard Edwards ... two heavy cats! Nile and Bernard were from the famous disco band, "Chic."
BigStar_Host: In 1982, there was dissension in the band, but they still managed to produce a final album, "The Hunter." The single "Island of Lost Souls" was the band's last US hit.
BigStar_Host: In the mentime, Chris was felled by a rare and often fatal genetic disease, and the band fell apart :( Debbie then spent the next several years nursing Chris back to health. What a gal.
BigStar_Host: Debbie went on to appear in numerous films and plays and to create music in various contexts. In recent years she has been the featured vocalist of the Jazz Passengers.
BigStar_Host: Today BLONDIE is as elusive, uncategorizable and ironic as ever!
BigStar_Host: We're getting ready now to start our chat with BLONDIE!
mack15ny asks: where did u guys meet
BigStar_Celeb: Us?
BigStar_Celeb: In New York in a bar on 24th street .... 28th street ... Boburon Tavern ...
BigStar_Celeb: B: Bobern .. Bob and Ernie .
BigStar_Celeb: C: the bar is probably long since gone. The real hardcore fans know the history.
BigStar_Celeb: C: We met at Debbie's show ... the Stilleto's band .. the girl trio band.

Thisaintgood asks: Will you be touring soon?
BigStar_Celeb: D: we will be touring but no dates booked yet, probably not until Spring.
BigStar_Celeb: And, there'll be plenty of advertising I'm sure.
BigStar_Celeb: C: We're hoping to do some stuff before that ... the record release is Feb 22nd or 23rd, so we're supposed to be on David Letterman around then, too.
BigStar_Celeb: We'll be doing some TV stuff.

atomic9573 asks: Deb - HUGE fan of all that you do, but I really love your movie work too. I saw Six Ways in NYC...when is the release date? Any more films in the works?
BigStar_Celeb: D: I don't know when ... Six Weeks is supposed to be coming out soon if not immediately ... I have no precise date for it.
BigStar_Celeb: And, I don't have any other films in the works ... did a cameo in a film directed by Alex King entitled "Zoo."
BigStar_Celeb: But, other than that, I don't have any other work lined up.

MANOLIS_VARNAS asks: what do you remember most from the 80s?
BigStar_Celeb: C: Not a helluva lot.
BigStar_Celeb: D: the 80's, gee. Nothing in particular, no.
BigStar_Celeb: C: it was a non period, in the big picture, I'll wind up remembering the 90's more.
BigStar_Celeb: the 90's seem to be an accumulation of everything from the 50's to the 80's.
BigStar_Celeb: Then again the 90's might not be known for itself, just everything that's gone before.
BigStar_Celeb: Putting labels on 10 year periods is difficult for me. The period for us was 75-81, so just because something has the same number in the year doesn't make it that significant to me.
BigStar_Celeb: But, I am looking forward to 2000 and 1999 cause David Bowie has that song about it.

cjcnyc asks: Chris - are you currently producing any bands? Any plans to work with Iggy Pop in the future?
BigStar_Celeb: C: No, haven't seen Iggy in a while.
BigStar_Celeb: Bands, I did a few demos with the kids upstairs from me ... but they didn't get fair ... Downtown Rhythm Section.
BigStar_Celeb: Just focusing on the Blondie stuff for the past few years.

sublime20_00 asks: Did being a former Play Boy bunny hurt your career as a musician at all?
BigStar_Celeb: D: I don't think it was anything ... had any effect on anything that I"ve done. (laughs)
BigStar_Celeb: C: except giving people something to talk about.
BigStar_Celeb: D: No, didn't have any effect on my musical career one way or the other.

arr_jqp1 asks: Blondie what was your first big hit
BigStar_Celeb: D: well, I guess just having a number one in Australia ... our first number one. We could have stopped then and there and been satisfied with that ... none of our contemporaries had come close to that.
BigStar_Celeb: C: having the number one in America was the biggest deal.
BigStar_Celeb: D: yeah, having a hit in our own country was by far the biggest kick for us.
BigStar_Celeb: C: We had four number ones in America .... 8 top ten songs. Six number ones in England.

LABinPHX asks: Who is Blondie comprised of today? Is it the four original members only, the four original members plus other semi-regular members (a la B-52's), or a new solid configuration?
BigStar_Celeb: D: Yes.
BigStar_Celeb: C: Jimmy, me, Clem and Debbie and Lee Fox the bass player and he's been with D and me for ten years, and he used to play with Patty Smith and Patty Smyth.
BigStar_Celeb: Then we have Paul Carbonara who we brought up from the minor leagues ...
BigStar_Celeb: D: just like the sauce, he's a saucy fellow ... our new fellas call themselves the suave's as a section.

MANOLIS_VARNAS asks: what is the thing you hate most from the music industry
BigStar_Celeb: C: a lot of things at the moment ... too numerous to mention ... Jesus Christ!
BigStar_Celeb: A lot of stuff ... I hate the coporation and generally I hate ... Jesus, too much to go into!
BigStar_Celeb: God, I'm disappointed in the young people in America ... they seem so willing to have other people make up their minds for them. I'd like to see the young people in the audience out there not have people make up their minds for them ... tell them what to wear and so forth.
BigStar_Celeb: As far as the music industry, there's so much to hate it could take ages and ages.

you_are_a_nightmare asks: name three bands that have influenced your career.....
BigStar_Celeb: D: Grand Funk Railroad ... yeah!
BigStar_Celeb: C: You don't even know two of their songs!
BigStar_Celeb: C: Name two of their songs.
BigStar_Celeb: D: I can't!
BigStar_Celeb: C: The Stones ... does it have to be bands?
BigStar_Celeb: I like the Stones and Jimi Hendrix. Last chat I did I went on about the Stones ... C'mon Debbie you must have some ... which bands?
BigStar_Celeb: D: I don't know ... hard to say any in particular ... especially as a singer, I copy everybody and have absorbed the different voices and technically how they work and then you're stuck with your own instrument in the long run anyway ...
BigStar_Celeb: I don't know. I guess all the ... I really started listening to all the girl R&B groups ... to them and singing all those songs and then Janis Joplin, sorta thought she was great and Aretha Franklin.
BigStar_Celeb: I don't know ... figuring it all out.

Tahd30 asks: Question for all of blondie, why a duet with coolio?
BigStar_Celeb: D: Well, Coolio and I were on a show together in Europe, Night of the Proms ... we did ten shows together.
BigStar_Celeb: It was started in Belgium and continued on in Rotterdam.
BigStar_Celeb: One show in Switzerland and I met him in the Dutch section of the shows in Rotterdam. Coincidentally, we started working on the record, Jimmy and Chris started writing up this song that started originally as a gangster rap.
BigStar_Celeb: And, I said, this is preposterous, I can't do a gangster rap, I'm not a gangster!
BigStar_Celeb: So, we changed it to a vampire and there were refrains ... who's gonna cry for you? Bye bye to another life and so forth.
BigStar_Celeb: So it retained it's gangster feeling and message but I felt we needed to have another voice in there after I finished doing the vocal.
BigStar_Celeb: So, we got intouch with Coolio and he added his own rap to it and it's great.
BigStar_Celeb: C: I think what he does is frantic ... a different approach ... the way he goes about it is different from what I've heard.
BigStar_Celeb: We're on the cover of XXL magazing .. Hip Hop on a Higher Level is their motto ... we're in a collection of rappers who posed for a picture in Harlem .. a memorable thing.
BigStar_Celeb: It's out now.

sublime20_00 asks: What do you like better, recording or touring?
BigStar_Celeb: D: at this point, I like recording and writing better.
BigStar_Celeb: Writing and creating the songs is really great, challenging ... and ...
BigStar_Celeb: It's not as boring as it used to be cause you can work digitally, it's much faster.
BigStar_Celeb: C: I like the energy of the shows, the excitement and craziness, but musically I like the perfection of recording. You never know what will happen in the shows.
BigStar_Celeb: D: it'd be easier if you could stay in one place and do the shows and have people come to you ... traveling is a job in itself, let alone doing the shows ... takes away from your energy ... people don't realize.
BigStar_Celeb: C: I don't know if you'd get the same excitement, but on the web there are some interesting things that are there ... might be able to do that stuff on here eventually.

Thisaintgood asks: How do you feel about the high ticket prices for concerts?
BigStar_Celeb: D: Well, I don't know ... everything is higher and higher.
BigStar_Celeb: I've done tours where we kept our prices as low as possible ... I guess it depends on who the promoter is and how much they're willing to work with you on that.
BigStar_Celeb: I don't know, I really couldn't say.
BigStar_Celeb: C: As long as people are going to pay it, someone's going to charge it.
BigStar_Celeb: If no one shows up to a show ... seems like the Stones will be able to charge whatever the hell they want. I don't know.

cjcnyc asks: What bands are currently out there that you guys like?
BigStar_Celeb: C: I don't pay attention to the music scene, I'm very far out of the loop, Clem our drummer knows every band out there .. actually we have to do a video, so I've been watching MTV to do my homework and stuff, but that's not a good way to see bands.
BigStar_Celeb: D: Divine Comedy was good and some kind of street preachers or something?
BigStar_Celeb: C: With Debbie and me we only know about bands we come in contact with ... we did a TV show in London that had bands ... that was where we saw Divine Comedy and Massive Attack ... thought they were really great.
BigStar_Celeb: But, I really don't pay attention to this stuff. My fan days ... when I was very young ... when we were in the band ... I paid attention to the bands around us, Ramones Talking Heads and that ... but when that stopped, that was it.

HoMeSiCk_aLiEn_gr asks: 1) why did Debbie stopped working with the Jazz Messengers?
BigStar_Celeb: D: Jazz Passengers.
BigStar_Celeb: I guess I'm just on hiatus, working with Blondie now and hopefully I'll do some jazz in the near future of some sort.
BigStar_Celeb: Perhaps I'll be sitting in with them at some time unannounced. I hope to be able to do stuff like that.

melody86 asks: what do you think about the big come back 70's pop is making?
BigStar_Celeb: C: 70's pop?
BigStar_Celeb: D: I don't know what they're talking about really.
BigStar_Celeb: C: The good stuff stays around ... the Bee Gee's best stuff was the disco stuff.
BigStar_Celeb: I think it has a lot ... that's a long answer ... there's so many massed produced bands and pop music people out there ... the one shot wonders are a bigger phenomena than ever ... so bands that have a lifetime behind them are getting more interest.
BigStar_Celeb: It has more to do with the period and musical trends than it has to do with when it was really.

holycamoly asks: How did you come up with the name Blondie?
BigStar_Celeb: C: How'd you come up with Holycamoly?
BigStar_Celeb: And, how come all you guys have weird names is what I wanna know? Where's Ralph and Shirley?
BigStar_Celeb: Ejveryone has their cyber handles on.
BigStar_Celeb: Good enough.
BigStar_Celeb: Names are boring for the most part .. given names.
BigStar_Celeb: Oh shit!
BigStar_Celeb: I'm watching Wrestling.

snuggles_25 asks: hello deb what do you like to do for fun?
BigStar_Celeb: D: I don't know. Go out with my friends and have a good time. That's what I like to do.
BigStar_Celeb: C: (laughs!) Just have a good time. That's great.
BigStar_Celeb: D: I don't have time for hobbies right now.
BigStar_Celeb: C: don't collect stamps anymore.
BigStar_Celeb: D: No. It's centered around ... work oriented ... focused on doing whatever I do to make this all happen ... costumes, video ideas, writing songs, performance, lighting ideas, working on the show, those are my jobs. That's what I do.

funmanus asks: why so long out of the spotlight
BigStar_Celeb: D: I don't know. That's just the way it is. I did do three solo albums.
BigStar_Celeb: C: different size spotlights.
BigStar_Celeb: D: didn't sell millions of copies, so I guess Blondie's a bigger entity.

january_19147 asks: Debbie, what's your secret for looking so great for all these years?
BigStar_Celeb: D: Uh ... hmm.
BigStar_Celeb: D: Oh gee, what is my secret?
BigStar_Celeb: C: clean living and exercise .. hormones and plastic surgery. Take your pick.

wdrefan asks: It would be great to see the band on the cover of Rolling Stone again. How would you feel about it if it happened?
BigStar_Celeb: C: only if they write as insulting an article along with the picture as they did the last time.
BigStar_Celeb: I'm kidding. No, I don't know.

panthers4life4evr asks: Hello do you like performing on stage???
BigStar_Celeb: D: I guess if the audience is enthusiastic it's a wonderful thrilling time, everyone has a good time, we have a good time so it's just very exciting.
BigStar_Celeb: However, if the audience is not with you ... (chuckles) it can be very difficult.
BigStar_Celeb: Having done both you know, I'd rather do the first.

HoMeSiCk_aLiEn_gr asks: 4) If you were playing in a 90's band, which one would it be? why?
BigStar_Celeb: D: Hmm .... well, I don't know. I really like Luscious Jackson. I understand their influences and I think that they play well and they sing well and you know, that would be fun for me I think.
BigStar_Celeb: C: don't you wanna be in the Chili Peppers.
BigStar_Celeb: D: No. you can be. I don't have a dick!

monty112 asks: How was it working with John Waters?
BigStar_Celeb: C: Debbie was in a couple of movies, I did the music for Polyester.
BigStar_Celeb: D: John is a great guy. I just spoke with him today as a matter of fact. He's dedicated, he's been making movies since he was 16 and usually he has to raise the money himself, he's a very indy filmmaker, which is a hard road to hoe.
BigStar_Celeb: He writes films that are part of his world and the way he looks at things and his life experience which is not always the most commercial script to write.
BigStar_Celeb: So, working with someone like that ... I mean he's just so focused and so I don't know, dedicated to his product and to his film that it's just catching ... it was really a wonderful experience.
BigStar_Celeb: No one wanted the filming to be over, the last day of shooting ... everyone wanted it to go on which is kind of unusual.

CHASEZS_ANGEL asks: BLONDIE: DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVISE TO GIVE A GROUP THAT HAS JUST BEGUN AND WANTS TO GET NOTICE?
BigStar_Celeb: C: Depends on what your priorities are.
BigStar_Celeb: Don't worry about getting noticed so much or getting a recording contract and all that ... have a good time is the best advice. If you're enjoying yourself, it's about the work.

Thisaintgood asks: Do you think there is or will be an age ceiling for rockers?
BigStar_Celeb: C: remains to be seen being that this is still the first generation of rock n roll people growing up ... remains to be seen whether Mick and Keith will be out there in their 60's, I don't know.
BigStar_Celeb: I would like to keep doing some kind of music for something ... I don't know if it'll be out in public ... as a pop idol, but I like doing music.
BigStar_Celeb: Then there's the whole aspect of poeple seeing BB King and Muddy Waters and all these guys ... maybe it's a racial thing, but people accept that.
BigStar_Celeb: Well, Johnny Cash ... I mean I don't know.

slipofagirl asks: who writes the songs?
BigStar_Celeb: C: Everybody writes them.
BigStar_Celeb: D: We all write them ... all contribute.
BigStar_Celeb: C: We beat them into shape.

VBCodeboy asks: What did you do for employment prior to forming the band?
BigStar_Celeb: C: I never had a job ever.
BigStar_Celeb: That's absolutely true. I was on welfare ... it's hard to get on welfare these days as a single individual.
BigStar_Celeb: D: I did everything ... had a hundred different jobs.
BigStar_Celeb: C: in America it's easy to live, it's a rich culture ... if all you're looking for is a couple of amps and a place to sleep, you can do that.
BigStar_Celeb: D: oh, worst ... hmmm ... probably I've put it out of my mind, but I'm sure that I had a waitress job somewhere that was absolutely astoundingly bad ... not good tips or something, but I probably didn't stay very long.

HoMeSiCk_aLiEn_gr asks: 5) If you weren't a musician, what would you do for a living?
BigStar_Celeb: C: Depends on whether you call this for a living.
BigStar_Celeb: D: Can't tell now ... when I left school I wanted to do something in art, painting or something like that which is also tremendously difficult ... who knows. I couldn't really say.
BigStar_Celeb: C: that movie ... what the hell is it called? These metal guys in L.A. and they asked them what would you be doing ... and they all said, I'd be a bum! Maybe that or living in a cave someplace.
BigStar_Celeb: In Central Park, I don't know.
BigStar_Celeb: D: My latest ambition is to follow the sun.

jamastiene asks: Hey, Chris, how many cats do ya have now? Still love them?
BigStar_Celeb: C: I have five cats.
BigStar_Celeb: As we speak my cat is sitting on my arm here.
BigStar_Celeb: I'm watching wrestling and Saturn's got a leglock on Glacier.
BigStar_Celeb: My black cat had two kittens, I really like my cat and after I retire from show business, I'm going to raise cats.
BigStar_Celeb: It's not very lucrative .. probably masochistic having hundreds of cats, but I'd like them.

wilson_32223 asks: Tell us a little bit more about the making of "Heart of Glass"
BigStar_Celeb: C: Oh brother. Well, Heart of Glass was an interesting thing ... anyone screwing around now knows what midi is ... computer language of all the musical instruments ... synthesizers and such share ... so you could do Heart of Glass in a couple of hours with midi, but it took us a few weeks to do it manually ... all the sounds on it are us playing instruments.
BigStar_Celeb: It centered around a rhythm machine but that was an early analog machine ... everyone played to that ... it has a mechanical feel to it but the fact that it was all done manually ... anyone who understands midi and all that stuff will know that.
BigStar_Celeb: None of that stuff was programmed, it was all played.

sublime20_00 asks: Which song do you like better, Heart of Glass or The Tide is High?
BigStar_Celeb: C: I like Heart of Glass because of all that stuff. But, I like Tide because I discovered it. I got a reggae compilation and thought that song would be a hit and it was.
BigStar_Celeb: What about you? I don't know.
BigStar_Celeb: The songs are kind of all the same to me in a way.
BigStar_Celeb: D: I guess I like Heart of Glass cause it's more personal and we built it up ourselves and experimented a lot with it ... a process that we went through.
BigStar_Celeb: Started as one thing and ended as another ... it's totally our creation.
BigStar_Celeb: Tide is a cover song that Chris found ... so it's not quite as personal.

cjcnyc asks: Debbie - there's been some heated debate lately about why you're such an icon to the gay community. What are your thoughts on this? Is it the camp factor? Is the camp carrying over to the new album?
BigStar_Celeb: D: Well, I don't know.
BigStar_Celeb: There was a certain camp factor I guess.
BigStar_Celeb: I don't know if ... I don't think Blondie's audience or my audience is extraordinarily gay or one sidedly gay.
BigStar_Celeb: I think tha.t ..
BigStar_Celeb: C: You know you have a lot of gay ... you know what they're talking about ... the gay following.
BigStar_Celeb: D: I couldn't explain why ... I certainly ....
BigStar_Celeb: C: I think the campy stuff has something to do with it ...we did come out of that world.
BigStar_Celeb: C: an ironic slant to the lyrics.
BigStar_Celeb: D: There's a sophisticated edge to what I do and what Blondie says lyrically that applies to the gay lifestyle ... an urban way of thinking.
BigStar_Celeb: D: and gay people have a lot of irony in their lives.
BigStar_Celeb: D: You know, I think there's some camp elements in it ... but I don't think we've ever aimed at making anything campy ... it just comes out that way ...
BigStar_Celeb: C: It's less overt but at the time it wasn't trying to be that ... Rip it to Shreds was a certain type of bitchy attitude, you know?

holycamoly asks: What do you think about President Clinton and Monica Lewinsky?
BigStar_Celeb: C: Oh, it's so fucking utterly stupid!
BigStar_Celeb: D: Such a waste of money.
BigStar_Celeb: C: I'm seeing these jerks on TV say ... getting to the point, point being that all of this has nothing to do with him and Monica L. ... it's them throwing eggs at each other and pretending there's some substance to that. I'm totally supporting Hulk Hogan in his bid for the presidency.l
BigStar_Celeb: I think he'd be a fantastic pres and we'd all be a lot better off for it.
BigStar_Celeb: D: I think it's criminal that they're throwing our tax dollars down the drain. So criminal.
BigStar_Celeb: C: it shows how crummy the system is! It's a terrible system, it may be the best one and all that nonsense, but the pres is elected for four years, functions for two, and then worries about being elected again.
BigStar_Celeb: We're seeing kind of the break down of the system a little bit.
BigStar_Celeb: Again, I think Hulk would be ...
BigStar_Celeb: D: I think they should just whip their dicks out ... that's got a lot to do with it, too ... who's got the biggest dick.
BigStar_Celeb: And, I'm dead sick of that shit!
BigStar_Celeb: C: Back to Hulk, if he gave a leg trap to that guy from Iraq ... that'd do it.
BigStar_Celeb: He and Hulk could have a cage match and that would get that out of the way.
BigStar_Celeb: D: Imagine the ticket price on that match!

evelknievelusa asks: Debbie do you feel Madonna was somewhat influenced by you? Don't be modest!!
BigStar_Celeb: C: How about just say somewhat and nothing else.
BigStar_Celeb: D: Yes. Obviously.
BigStar_Celeb: C: I like Madonna ... I like some of the stuff she does. And, I really like the Cher song .. that's the other weird thing now. after I saw the video ... the track is very white bread, but it's cool ... there's something to it. It's good.
BigStar_Celeb: D: Madonna's done a lot of really great things, actually done some cool things for women's lib and state of consciousness .... and it's a good image to follow for some people ... a real revelation ... so she has done some interesting things.
BigStar_Celeb: Obviously she has very good taste if she copied me.
BigStar_Celeb: C: Madonna was a racial crossover .. big in the club scene in the 80's when the black/white/hispanic thing was blending .. I think that's the best thing she's done.

tinka_force_five asks: Blondie has a place in almost any history of pop music, including the acclaimed PBS 'Rock and Roll' series. Does having a chapter in this history affect your present creative process?
BigStar_Celeb: C: No.
BigStar_Celeb: D: Nope.
BigStar_Celeb: C: Nope.
BigStar_Celeb: That stuff is ... flattering ... but being on the cover of XXL is a trip ... Debbie and me and two other white People./
BigStar_Celeb: That affected me much more.
BigStar_Celeb: I think that's a fantastic thing.

MegaMusclez asks: Debbie, and gang, just wanted to let you know that your music was my best friend when I was depressed and in the closet. Thanks for being there for me.
BigStar_Celeb: D: Aww.
BigStar_Celeb: C: I've been hearing stuff like that ... your music helped me get through high school or college, that's great ... means more than being in the music hall of fame or whatever.
BigStar_Celeb: D: People latch on to ... I was talking to a girl today working in a Betsy Johnson store and she told me Menudo was really important to her. And, you know, what the hell ... why not?

lynda_101 asks: BEING ABLE TO CHAT WITH YOU TONIGHT MAKES MY B-DAY SPECIAL! THANX
BigStar_Celeb: D: Ahh, well, happy birthday!
BigStar_Celeb: And, many more, many more ...
BigStar_Celeb: C: Aquarius or Sagittarius?
BigStar_Celeb: D: Saggy Sag.

LABinPHX asks: Do all the members of Blondie live in NYC?
BigStar_Celeb: C: I'm downtown in miserable fucking Soho Tribeca which is going to the absolute dogs of hell ... yuppie gentrification ... can't wait to get the hell out of here.
BigStar_Celeb: and, Debbie's in stabilized Chelsea./
BigStar_Celeb: Jimmy mostly lives in Los Angeles.

Thisaintgood asks: Where will you all be at the start of the new millenium?
BigStar_Celeb: C: We were just ... watching TV ... watching CSPAN and I wanna do a concert from the space station ... I think that's obvious!
BigStar_Celeb: I was surprised I didn't think of it sooner ... I was watching the astronauts jerking off in space ... Debbie thinks we should be in Baia .. Brazil./
BigStar_Celeb: C: I think the space station's a natural ... you'd have it on TV or something.
BigStar_Celeb: We did the first internet concert ever.
BigStar_Celeb: But, no one saw it cause it was a long time ago ... but we did it, though.
BigStar_Celeb: I think maybe if 1,000 people saw it that was a lot.
BigStar_Celeb: D: Live from Squeezebox ... it was interactive actually ... the viewing audience could choose which camera they wanted to look from and they could also zoom in from that camera.
BigStar_Celeb: C: In five years I think it'll be really great. This is a frustrating period cause it's so transitional ... I don't think there's ever been a period in human history where the future was so obvious . .. yet so out of reach at the same time.

HoMeSiCk_aLiEn_gr asks: what is your opinion about groupies?
BigStar_Celeb: C: Yes, great man ... not seeing enough of them.
BigStar_Celeb: D: I don't know. YOu gotta do something with your spare time.

MichaelHighlander asks: Can you guys compare the music of No Exit (musically) to any of your previous albums?
BigStar_Celeb: D: I think we were comparing it to Autoamerican in it's diversity and variety of themes.
BigStar_Celeb: C: But, it's a lot less dense than the other one. Minimal.
BigStar_Celeb: D: production values are totally different ... more like the very early Blondie records in it's minimal ...

abenz4u asks: what do you think about you somewhat being considered the first white woman raper
BigStar_Celeb: D: Oh, I'm very honored. I never considered myself a rapper but I helped put rap in the eye of the storm as it were.
BigStar_Celeb: And, I'm very happy about that. And, it's all Chris' idea anyway .,. but we're pleased that we're part of the whole ...
BigStar_Celeb: C: the magazine's a great thrill really ... I didn't realize how great it was ...
BigStar_Celeb: D: that shot was taken by Gordon Parks of a hundred jazz musicians sitting on those same stoops of 124th street I guess .. so this is sort of like a statement about the wonderful musicians of Harlem and the black musicians of NYC.
BigStar_Celeb: C: But, the rap scene is still really vital, on the fringes, dangerous and frightening .. a lot of white rock and roll has become very unmysterioius.

Texcalibur asks: What is the most important contribution that you think you've made to popular culture?
BigStar_Celeb: C: I think what John Waters said on VH1 about Debbie making roots fashionable.
BigStar_Celeb: D: Yeah.

lynda_101 asks: DEB ARE YOU GOING TO DYE YOUR HAIR TOTALLY PLATINUM AGAIN? IT'S GREAT ON YOU
BigStar_Celeb: C: It's never totally platinum. Right?
BigStar_Celeb: D: I don't think so. No.
BigStar_Celeb: C: She always left the back dark, I guess no one saw that.

davidhicks1 asks: Was the VH1 documentary accurate?
BigStar_Celeb: C: It wasn't too bad, we were prepared to hate it ... I've seen a lot of them and they have such a morbid focus to them, there were a couple of inaccuracies ... they had a shot of a real fancy building when they talked about us living on the Bowery ... a little sentimentalized.
BigStar_Celeb: Let's put it that way.
BigStar_Celeb: We were really pleased with it. I was anyway.

ROLIN_STONE asks: WHERE WAS THE COOLEST PLACE YOUVE EVER PLAYED A GIG?
BigStar_Celeb: C: In Bangkok on New Year's Eve and in Central Park on New Year's Eve ... in the fountain in 1975 or 76.
BigStar_Celeb: Outdoors though, it was cold and we had heaters.
BigStar_Celeb: Where else?
BigStar_Celeb: D: I guess those are probably the pretty two outstanding ones ..... I have to think for more than a few minutes to think of more.
BigStar_Celeb: Another New Year's Eve in Glasgow Scotland where we performed live and it was on BBC.
BigStar_Celeb: Which was weird.
BigStar_Celeb: And, that was the Glasgow Appolo theatre that no longer exists ... with a really high stage.
BigStar_Celeb: C: it was like playing off the edge of a cliff ... they had to build it high cause the audience usually stormed the stage.

CuthbertDeschain asks: What I would like to know is how do you guys kick so much ass and make time for sleep?
BigStar_Celeb: C: Kick so much ass. I see.
BigStar_Celeb: D: And, still get time for sleep?
BigStar_Celeb: C: Well, the general public doesn't see us suffering and dying ... they only see us at your best on TV ... they don't see us looking wretched and miserable in the mornings.

cnolan9585 asks: What was the last CD you bought?
BigStar_Celeb: D: Last band we saw?
BigStar_Celeb: C: I just bought CD's today ... Angels in the Mirror/Voodoo Music of Haiti and Rhythms of Rapture ... I was up at the museum of Natural History at the Voodoo show ...they spell it Vodou .. not Voodoo.
BigStar_Celeb: But, actually these are the last CD's I've bought all year.
BigStar_Celeb: D: I think the last thing I bought was an Etta James collection. But, I've been thinking an awful lot lately about THelonius Monk and how really really deeply incredible he was.
BigStar_Celeb: And, I think I'll probably try to see if there's a big collection of his work.

flute269 asks: I was named after the song "Shayla" and i was wondering who wrote it?
BigStar_Celeb: D: Chris wrote it!
BigStar_Celeb: C: I wrote it ... and why? It was to write a song. I thought I made up the name, I really did and then I met someone who was named that. The same age as me, a little older.
BigStar_Celeb: That was in my UFO period ... heavy flying saucer period ... about this girl who goes to leave town as a result of disillusion with life and gets picked up by an aircraft.

MadgeIt2 asks: Debbie, if an independant filmmaker wants to put you in a film...how would he go about getting to you?
BigStar_Celeb: D: He could call Gene Parcigian at William Morris Agency in NYC.
BigStar_Celeb: Or else they could send something directly to Left Bank but they don't handle me theatrically, so William Morris is the one.

debravation asks: Will the songs you recorded a few years back ("Pop Trash Movie" & "Studio 54" ) be released as b-sides to your new material?
BigStar_Celeb: D: Probably not. Those songs weren't finished and we would rather do original material.
BigStar_Celeb: However, one never knows where material turns up. So, it's not to say never ever ever ... those things somehow, once you do them, they do crop up.
BigStar_Celeb: But, we don't have any plans for them at this point.

MANOLIS_VARNAS asks: what was the best moment in your career all these years
BigStar_Celeb: D: Oh God, that's kind of ridiculous to say that because I think just having a career ... I guess one of the most interesting things for me was doing a joke with George Burns.
BigStar_Celeb: C: And, Milton Burle kissed me.
BigStar_Celeb: D: Yeah, he kissed Chris on the lips and I did a joke with George Burns.
BigStar_Celeb: C: By the time you get to our age ...
BigStar_Celeb: D: It's hard to remember.
BigStar_Celeb: C: When we went on the Iggy/Bowie tour ... we drove up to Max's Kansas City after driving in our Winnebago and went backstage and there was Iggy/Bowie and they were very cordial to us.
BigStar_Celeb: D: Introducing Chuck Berry was pretty impressive.
BigStar_Celeb: C: We just met Roman Polanski.

holycamoly asks: Is there anything left in your career that you would like to achieve?
BigStar_Celeb: C: I'd like to just get some new form going ... I think things are a little stagnant now in show business in general ... blocked up ... there is room for artistic forms with this technology all around us that hasn't quite been invented yuet.
BigStar_Celeb: D: I feel it's a building process and I'd like to keep going and I don't know ...
BigStar_Celeb: C: I would like to be in there with the Hulk Hogan campaign, help him get elected and on the space shuttle ... see the election returns come in while we play Hail to the Chief!
BigStar_Celeb: D: Okay, that's it!
BigStar_Celeb: Thanks everyone for tuning in ....
BigStar_Celeb: D: and thanks for dropping out!
BigStar_Celeb: C: I wanna say hi to William Gibson if he's watching.
BigStar_Celeb: Thanks a lot ! Very much ... anytime you want to do it again ... we're available!
BigStar_Celeb: Bye!

Copyright © 1998 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.

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BigStar would like to thank Blondie and all the fans at the chat.