The Captain Agrees to an Interview on the Eve of the Release of his First Album in 10 Years, Songs of Leadbelly and Guthrie

By Corey Mesler

“Folk music…it isn’t simple. It’s weird, man, full of legend, myth, Bible, and ghosts.”
--Bob Dylan

Creole Myers: Welcome. It’s good to have you back.

Captain: Thanks, Creole, it’s good to be here. It’s good to be anywhere.
 
Creole Myers: Yes, I—

Captain: So, dig, like this is live radio, right?

Creole Myers: Right. So, how are you preparing for the big day tomorrow? Any set routine? I know you’re doing the big promo party at Planet Hollywood. I’m sure our listeners want to know—

Captain: I used to have a routine. It’s been so long.

Creole Myers: What did you do first thing this morning?

Captain: Took a shit. Ate some breakfast, you know that trip.
 
CM: Breakfast is a trip?

C: Everything’s a trip, man. It’s all illusion.

CM: Eating is illusion? Eggs are an illusion?

C: Scrambled eggs are an illusion. Poached are closer to some semblance of reality. Hard-boiled eggs, don’t even get me started.

CM: So, Captain. All these years—

C: It’s a long road, brother, with many a winding turn.

CM: The road to—

C: —Continuation. The Road to Continuation.

CM: I was about to say, all the years between. What has the Captain been doing?

C: Living, brother.

CM: That is, what creatively?

C: Living is creative, man. You dig? I mean, living, breathing in and then breathing out. I could breathe out twice in a row. See. You dig? It’s all choices. Choices are creative.

CM: I see. So you’ve been breathing—

C: Right. In. And out.

CM: And to make ends meet?

C: Do they meet, brother? In a circle? Is it a circle? Or is it parallel lines, you know, like a railroad track? Do they meet? They seem to meet.

CM: Um, right.

C: So, dig, that’s the road then. The parallel lines that seem to meet. That’s called the vanishing point, right?

CM: I see. And—

C: Thas your trip, right? Those lines. Which line are you on?

CM: I’m a little lost here.

C: We’re all lost. All a little lost. A little hung out on the line.

CM: Ok, so, you’ve been living, and creating, and breathing. All this without—

C: Without human intervention. God stuff, you dig?

CM: Without Tennille.

C: Who, man?

CM: You don’t want to talk about her?

C: I’ll talk about anyone you want, man. Tell me about her. I’ll not talk about no one, right?

CM: She was your partner. Your—

C: I know who she is, man. I’m saying, you tell me about her, that is, if you’re interested in her.

CM: I think my readers are more interested in what you have to say.

C: Ask me about Leadbelly, man.

CM: So, your past, you’re not interested—

C: I ain’t got no past. Dig?

CM: So, you’re against—

C: Whatever you got, man, I’m against it all. All the isms.

CM: Like grammarism.

C: I don’t—

CM: Forget it. Look. Toni Tennille. We have to address this.

C: Ok, man. Ok.

CM: You and she—were—are—

C: This is starting well.

CM: Ok, let’s change gears, come back to that. Why Leadbelly? Why Guthrie? Why now?

C: And why me, right? Because, Creole, man, it all comes back to beginnings, humble beginnings. I mean, I don’t have a message. I don’t have a better way to communicate than anyone else. I know, I know, I had my popularity, my large audience who look to me for wisdom, but that’s all chimera, right? It’s all like this emptiness surrounded by noise, dig?

CM: I’m not—

C: But, when you strip it back, take it back to square one, to the naked self, there it is. You know? I mean, there IT is.

C:M Leadbelly and Guthrie.

C: Right—right—that’s what I’m saying.

CM: Ok.

C: So, now, it’s just me there, naked, the songs and the man.

CM: But not your songs.

C: They’re everyone’s songs, baby. They’re your songs too. These are things that once existed in the ozone and were plucked from it by these jubal messengers, Mr. Ledbetter and Mr. Guthrie. They would tell you, the song is a thing of air, it was there all times. They were only the conduits.

CM: And now you’re another conduit, a fresh conduit?

C: Yeah, yeah, that’s it. I’m just channeling these songs, you dig? You know, Tao, right? What Tao means? It’s that, man. It’s all just me, you, now, the music—

CM: And the audience.

C: Sure, sure. Gotta have my audience. But, I mean, ultimately I’m doing this for The Captain, dig? I’m doing this because I have to. Dig, it’s like sex. Anyone can get off by themselves, you know, right? But you need—you need—that other thing, right?

CM: Do you feel disconnected from your past? Are you consciously disconnecting?

C: I am disconnected. That’s just the truth. Read up on it, man. Read the sacred texts, The Tibetan Book of the Dead, The Upanishads, Jonathan Livingston Seagull…

CM: You’re disconnected from people.

C: I am connected to people, man. The disconnected people.

CM: So, this new sound, this acoustic guitar sound. Have you just begun using the acoustic guitar?

C: It’s using me, man.

CM: In what way?

C: In the sense that we are all used, that it’s all hang-ups, you know?

CM: Um—

C: Look, Creole. Look. Let’s talk seriously now.

CM: We haven’t—

C: I mean, I’m not betraying anyone. I’m not cutting any ties. I’m not even breaking fucking new ground. I am following my bliss, right? My bliss right now took me to Leadbelly. Well, first it took me to Lord and Taylor, but that’s another story. I followed it. To ice cream, to bed, to attire and back and now, here I am, an older man with an acoustic guitar.

CM: Do you have any idea why you’re so popular?

C: Well, because, you know, I’m a bit of a carnie, a bit of a philosopher, a bit of a poet.

CM: You forgot plumber.

C: Funny. You’re a funny man, Creole.

CM: Can we talk about Toni now?

C: Sure.

CM: Good. Are you two still close? Does she—
 
C: Oh, I thought you meant Orlando. Tony Orlando.

CM: You are good friends—

C: Nah, I’m riffing on you, man. Toni. Yeah, let’s talk about her. She’s got legs all the way to Baltimore and back.

CM: Right. You two are still married.

C: Is that a question?

CM: It’s been, what, 30 years?

C: Yes, brother. Right on.

CM: And yet you both are pursuing solo projects.

C: It’s all good, man. It’s all alright and good. See, dig, Toni, she’s like this bright star, right? She’s white heat. Just to be around her is to bask in it, to stand aside and admire. See. So, like when this music came to me, it was like a gift. If Toni is white light I am dark heat, dig? Like she’s the morning star and…I’m a…like a…barcalounger.

CM: I don’t understand.

C: It’s ok, Creole, man. It’s all good.

CM: I don’t know how to proceed from here…

C: Maybe that’s all that needs to be said.

CM: Um—

C: Lissen, ask me what I’m working on.

CM: Ok, what?

C: I’m writing a symphony, man.

CM: Really? A, like, classical symphony?

C: Well, it’s a quilt, really. A symphonic quilt. It’s made up of 432 short pieces, some ten to fifteen seconds long, some a minute or two, some only a second, a half-second.

CM: Huh. Called?

C: It’s called Vanishing Point.

CM: Interesting. It sounds—interesting.

C: Have you heard the new music yet, man? Can we talk a bit about The Captain and Leadbelly, and Guthrie?

CM: Yes, yes. I have. Uh—give me some of it. Can you? Right now, can you give us a taste—

C: Sure, man, sure.

CM: This is what? Which—

C:  “Bring me a little Water, Sylvie.”

CM: Cool. Go.

C: (hmming…) Bring me a little water, Sylvie
Bring me a little water, Sylvie
Bring me a little water, Sylvie…

CM: —  

C: Hmm.

CM: That’s—

C: Yeah, that’s it, man. That’s what I’m talking about.

CM: Simple.

C: Right. At the core. Down deep…it goes deep like an oak’s roots.

CM: Huh.

C: Yeah. That’s where I am, man.

CM: Well, thanks for joining us, uh, Captain.

C: It’s all a trip, man. An excursion inward. An incursion. Breathe, brother. It’s all scrambled eggs, ya dig?