Frankie Sparo

The usual killing question (for the interviewer I mean) : what are your influences ? Tom Waits, Bob Dylan, Rolling Stones, Leonard Cohen ? What did you listen to when you were younger, in your childhood ?
Ahh, the Influences Question. We meet again, my feeble old friend. I used to really give you hell, didn't I? You used to make me furious. Now you just seem sort of pathetic, sulking in the corner in the same old shabby outfit, smelling like the grave. I see you've dragged the wildly over-estimated Tom Waits along with you. How delightful. Please excuse me...

With which singer would you like to make a duet ?
I don't know. Most of my favorite singers are dead, or way out of my league. They wouldn't want to sing with me. They would call me ugly and tell me I can't sing. I don't need that.

Your best concert memories ?
I worked on a stage crew for a Dizzy Gillespie concert once. He was wearing a purple V-neck with an enormous gold medallion. He walked past me a couple of times backstage looking perplexed and then asked me "Where's the stage, man ?". He had just eaten a large meal. He played like he was really irritated. That's my favorite concert memory.

Do you listen to blues ?
Not the electric kind, I don't dig that, so much. I like some of the old Delta people a lot. Sleepy John Estes. "Diiistikattornah! Sho is hard on a man...". That's some singing. Booker White, those folks.

What do you think of artists like Low ? Ron Sexsmith ? Jason Molina ? Sparklehorse ? Rufus Wainwright ? Tindersticks ?
Uh, I don't actually know who half of these people are. Are these all sensitive songwriters, or what? I'm sure they're very nice. I liked the music Tindersticks did for that Clair Denis movie. And I heard a Rufus Wainwright song in a taxicab last month that was alright, I think.

What music puts you in a good mood ? The ideal playlist ?
Glenn Gould puts me in a pretty good mood usually, especially when you hear him humming along to what he's playing... I bought my first portable CD player with headphones this summer, so I got into walking around listening to his JSB Preludes and Fugues. Which actually made me more insane than happy, come to think of it. I like the new Roots Manuva. And it amazes me that I can't get enough of "Bootylicious". It's not even that good, but when it's playing at the supermarket or in the laundr-o-mat, I get a little excited.
I can't make playlists, it makes me nervous.

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