It turns out that the @NYUBobstLibrary Twitter account is actually the brainchild of two bored Tisch sophomores, but the students didn’t want to give us their full names. “We think it would take away from the mystery of it. It wouldn’t be funny anymore,” said the first, C. “We’ll reveal our identities if you do a high fashion photo spread featuring us,” joked the other, K. “Nothing cheap now, we want David LaChapelle or Annie Leibowitz.” However, they did agree to sit down for an interview over burritos at Chipotle. A transcript of this interview doesn’t quite do justice to the hilarity of the conversation that took place — the two friends banter with each other at a nearly scientific level. But it does give you a bit of insight into the people who pretend to be the architectural equivalent of Kanye West on a daily basis.

Local: Why did you start this twitter account?

“I mean, it was really my idea,” K starts, looking at C. “Because I’m funnier than you.”

“But I have a bigger dick.” They laugh. C turns to me: “It started — well, that was J-train week.”

K: We spent a lot of time being obsessed with giving voices to inanimate objects. It started with subway trains.

C: Like, the A train was a total stoner. And the NRQW lines were cheerleaders: “Like, ohmygawd, let’s go to Union Square! Times Square! 34th Street!”

K: And the L train was disaffected and aloof.

They stop to contemplate the glory of this unfinished project.

C: But eventually we just decided to use Bobst… Maybe all of this just shows that we stereotype everyone.

K: Nah. Well, yeah.

Local: Where did the character come from? And where do you get ideas for the Library’s tweets?

C: We both spend a lot of time in Bobst. That’s where most of our ideas come from. Like, one time I was sitting at a desk and there was a guy in front of me chewing on his headphones. And we made that into a tweet.

K: Most of the body issue posts come from C.

C: Yeah, and all the Twilight references and literary tweets come from K.

Local: How did you decide to deal with the student death last week?

C: We didn’t know what to do. We had been tweeting a lot up until that day. So we just did an R.I.P. tweet, and even some people had a problem with that… they were @ replying and saying “Oh, this is so fucked up.”

K: Still, I’m glad we said something. It would have been worse to not do anything.

Despite the popularity of @NYUBobstLibrary (the account has 696 followers), C and K said they are actually not behind the other building twitter accounts, like @NYUSilverCenter and @NYUJBuilding.

C: People copied us — we were going to do it, but they did it before us. They stole our jokes, but made them less funny… Fuck Silver Center.

(As of this morning, @NYUBobstLibrary had blocked @NYUSilverCenter.)

They also have a blog, which collects the library’s thoughts in >140 characters. It only has 2 posts so far.

C: Maybe we should get an intern to manage our blog. You should put that in the interview: NYUBobstLibrary is seeking an intern to write blog posts “about lyfe n shit.”

K: Yeah, why should we have to do all the writing?

C: Well, you don’t actually do any writing for it.

K: Well, I’m sorry I spend my time doing important things like homework. And watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

C: We all know you don’t do homework.

Local: How long will you keep this account active?

C: We know it will eventually get tired. I guess we’ll shut it down as soon as we stop getting a steady influx of followers. But we’re still getting followers — like, we haven’t been posting that much lately and we still got 30 new ones.

K: We’re bored a lot. So I guess…we’ll keep doing it until we get bored with this too.

Joe: When did you record the video for your version of Lil Wayne’s “Let the Beat Build”?

Nyle: The video was recorded the 2nd week in March, I believe. About a month and a half ago. A friend hit me up and said that they wanted to do a video, my friend Jo Gallino was just like, “Yo, there’s this Lil’ Wayne track, I don’t know if you’ve heard it but when we get back to school we should record it with my band and do a video for it. And I was like okay, cool. And I heard it, and it got stuck in my head…

Joe: It’s a catchy beat.

Nyle: It’s a really catchy beat. and I immediately wrote a bunch of stuff that night. I wrote 3 verses for it and um, I don’t know, the video thing just kind of fell through. While I was writing I kept getting all these ideas and while I was sitting on it and waiting to hear back from them I just kept getting all these ideas built up in my head. So I knew I wanted to milk NYU for some money before I graduated, so I applied for pro funds with 194 Recordings which is the label club of Clive Davis.

Joe: So how much did they give you?

Nyle: So they gave us 2Gs, and that covered a bunch of stuff.

Joe: What did you spend it on?

Nyle: We had insurance, that was the biggest thing, then the actual steady cam operator who was awesome and then we had the actual Red camera which is a really expensive hi-def camera, and then after that it was just kind of like lighting, food—all that kind of stuff. Transportation, hard drives, little stuff that added up.

Joe: How long did the video take to record?

Nyle: 30 takes. That take was take 30. It’s all one shot. It’s honestly not edited together, all one shot. And we recorded the sound at the same time, that’s why everybody’s playing into mics, that’s why I had a mic, and you can kind of tell that my voice is actually rapping.

Joe: Do you have a recorded version of that song?

Nyle: No, we have a reference track but not until the album is out, and it should be done in about 2 weeks.

Jessica: You’re a Reynolds Scholar too, right?

Nyle: Yes.

Jessica: So what was your idea for the scholarship?

Nyle: My idea, basically what I’ve been doing is trying to establish a network of hip-hop nonprofits and hip-hop grassroots programs that are popping up all across the nation. A lot of them are started by artists, a lot of them are started by producers who actually love the music and they wanna go make a difference in the community, as opposed to like 10 years ago it was teachers wanting to communicate with their students and so they would try to start these programs. Now it’s the opposite and a lot of people just don’t have the training or the resources to be able to get fiscal sponsorships, to be able to get grants, get all that kind of structural stuff that you really need to take yourself from a small project to the next step. So it was just trying to network with different people and find out who’s actually doing these different things in different states and cities and trying to create an online network using ning.com, which is really simple.

Joe: So where are you at with that program right now?

Nyle: Right now we pretty much have a database of people that are talking to each other but we haven’t actually launched the site yet. So what Reynolds helped me do aside from you know, paying my tuition, was they kind of give you an internship over the summer. So this summer I was in Oakland which is pretty much the Mecca of all those hip-hop kids youth education kinda programs. I was there over the summer and then we drove across the country–first we drove through the south and then we drove back across the top and hit up Chicago, Indianapolis, Seattle, all those places and networked with people.

Joe: So what are your plans for after graduation? You’re graduating in a couple of weeks?

Nyle: Yep. I’m graduating in a couple weeks. I’m outta here suckaaaas.

Jessica: What will you be doing?

Nyle: I live in a concert loft right now which is pretty much a big ass loft that has a stage and a backyard; it’s in East Williamsburg a.k.a. Bushwick and pretty much I’m gonna concentrate on throwing parties there. It’s called Lake Johnson because it’s on Johnson Ave. and it has a big huge like 200 foot puddle on the roof next to us that stays wet all year round. So yeah I’m gonna keep throwing parties there, pay for rent, and then just kinda do odd jobs, do shows.

Joe: Do you make money from the parties you throw?

Nyle: Yeah. Pay rent. It’s on MySpace– So I’m gonna keep throwing parties there, I’m gonna keep rapping, and my plan is pretty much to give myself a year to do nothing but music before I try to get a real governmental job and my goal is to be on the road, touring, doing different college shows by September.

Joe: So you’re giving yourself one year to make it in the music industry?

Nyle: Pretty much. I’ve been doing it for a while now; I’ve been accruing a fan base in New York, and I’ve been releasing albums ever since I got here. Now I feel like a year is a very short time to try to “make it” but I think that’s sufficient time to try to get yourself on your feet. Even though the music industry is kind of crazy right now, I think that’s totally doable.

Jessica: So what do you want to do if you don’t make it?

Nyle: I’ll probably concentrate more on the nonprofit stuff. I’ll go to grad school at Berkeley and work in Oakland. I kind of have a job waiting for me there working with kids, working with hip-hop education and just keep focusing on the network, which is called 3 Feet High and Rising.

Joe: Are you gonna stop rapping if you get a real job?

Nyle: No, I’ll never stop rapping. I’ll be an old man with a cane, rapping, freestyling, trying to battle little kids. I’ll always rap.

Joe: What’s your writing process like?

Nyle: Well there are two writing processes. There’s a writing process where I’m just walking around and I’m either taking a crap or I’m just eating or riding my bike and then I get an idea and I start freestyling to myself and I’ll be like “Oh, that’s hot,” and then I’ll keep going and I’ll be like “Oh crap, I gotta stop, write it down.” That happens all the time and I have my phone and a little notebook that’s filled with little 16 bar verses. And then there’s just with my new album that’s coming out basically the past 8 months me and my band have been jammin’, freestyling, getting these song ideas down and then I’ll go back and actually like kind of work out the idea of the song, write it, and then you know kinda edit it like I guess you would do a paper or whatever. But just really let the music inspire you. Sometimes the words come first and sometimes the music does.

Joe: So you’re really big, from what I can see, on the live music. Did you grow up on funk, on The Roots, being from Philadelphia and all? Where does that come from?

Nyle: I would say that I grew up on–a bunch of my teachers would smack me for oversimplifying it but I grew up on regular black music on the radio. Motown, the Philadelphia sound, obviously… I’m from Philadelphia. Definitely funk, but I think that what really influenced me was when I started developing in 6th and 7th grade, when you start really branching out and acquiring and devouring music for yourself. That was during the neo-soul time, and I was in Philly, which is the heart of neo-soul and that shit was poppin’ off and so I saw Common, Black Star, Mos Def, Musiq Soulchild, all these different people who were performing with live bands and doing this whole hip-hop thing.

And of course The Roots gave bunches of free concerts and that was amazing, so I always saw the band as avant gard. And now it’s a lot more standard for hip-hop artists to rock with bands, most of them try to if they can on the live shows especially. So I think my thing is just trying to do live music. It’s what I’m most comfortable with, it’s what I’ve been doing for a long time, and I feel like I’m better at it than most people who just kinda hop on stage with a live band. Because it’s very easy to sound like shit when you rap with a live band even if you’re good at it, it’s very easy to sound like shit. More than anything I’m about that live feel and my favorite, even though I’m a recorded music major, my favorite thing to do is perform and be in front of an audience. My goal isn’t really to sell a million records, it’s to see a million people at my show.

Jessica: And why did you decide to come to NYU? A lot of hip-hop artists who are out there trying to pursue music don’t end up going that college route.

Nyle: ‘Cause my Mama made me! She made me promise. It was like you better go to college and you better get that degree and that was it. My mom sacrificed a lot so that I could have a good education and I definitely owe it to her to get this degree, at least one, and so there was really no question in my mind whether or not I was going to college. You escape the hood by going to college, and you have to go to college, and that’s the only way out, blah blah blah. But crazy enough, my parents definitely support me in doing music. It wasn’t like a rebellious thing against them and it came down, for my senior year of high school, it was pretty much either I was going to do this accelerated business track with a full scholarship at Howard or do this half scholarship and I didn’t know how the hell i was gonna pay for it, for music at NYU. And I decided to go to NYU and just follow the music because I knew that if I went to Howard it would be a lot easier for music to fade away, or it wouldn’t be cultivated in a way that it would be here.

Joe: So why do you think it is that a lot of rappers don’t go to college? Do you think they’re successful because they don’t, or do you think there’s a stigma against it, or what?

Nyle: It’s definitely against the grain or considered the opposite of hip-hop or like a tweak on hip-hop to be like, “Yeah, I went to college!” And thats because hip-hop is street culture, street music and it comes from underrepresented artists in the hood and that demographic. That’s why Asher Roth comes out being like, “Yeah, I’m white and I went to college and I had all these experiences” and it’s really different and making an impact because that’s been completely the opposite of what hip-hop is supposed to be standing for or supposed to come from. You know, it’s just poor people aren’t supposed to go to college and that’s where hip-hop comes from.

Jessica: So how do you garner fans? How do you get people to come out to your shows?

Nyle: I pay people to come to my shows. I see them on the street and I pay them $5 each to come to my show and act like they like me. Haha. Um… oddly enough, right now I’ve been lucky enough to just know a lot of people. So it’s a combination of people I know, people I’ve met and stay in contact with them, and then they come to my show, they like it, and they come back with some more of their friends. And that’s how it’s always been. I’m always talking about family at my shows because my shows really have this familial vibe because a lot of people know each other from like the downtown New York hip-hop scene and from the NYU scene.

Joe: What do you think the internet has done for your music? Are you trying to get on the blogs? Trying to go the Charles Hamilton route?

Nyle: Hell yeah. Hip-hop is in this thing right now here it’s like very much about getting on the blogosphere. I just got my first hit on the blogosphere with this video which is really exciting for me.

Joe: Who posted it?

Nyle: Um, [the hip-hop blogger] Nation posted it at Nah Right, then it went to to Nah Right, then it went to to 2DopeBoyz, now it’s on OnSmash. We just broke 10,000 hits today on the video and it’s been out for 4 days. It’s definitely exciting for me to be on the blogs because right now there is no radio, I mean there’s radio, but there really is no radio and blogs are kinda where everybody gets broken. That’s where people are coming from. Mickey Factz just got signed to Jay-Z’s Roc Nation and that was all off of blog stuff, Lil’ Wayne is pushing Drake and that’s all off of blog stuff. He had 5,000 people at SUNY Purchase and he doesn’t even have shit on the radio.

Joe: What was the blog reception from the video?

Nyle: It’s been very good. Right now my main focus is just getting up more material so that it’s not just a one-hit wonder like “Oh wow, that was a really interesting thing that that person did.” I want people to be like, “Oh, this person is able to produce interesting content,” so basically they’ll fuck with me. Because once you’re in, they’ll post everything you do. And a lot of people have major label budgets and stuff like that to basically hire promotion companies to put you through all the blogs, so when I thought about this video, I thought about it in a viral way. I want something that’s gonna spread virally, and then I want to have music videos to follow it up that are very engaging in terms of actual music.

Joe: So what’s next? You have people’s ears, so where you going now?

Nyle: The plan is changing every day but right now the plan is to release my EP for free digital download in late May or early June. A lot of people are selling their stuff on iTunes and its the digital age but that actual scene, the hip-hop scene, your music has become your calling card. Where for other people their music is their advertisement, it’s really just your business card to open your doors. During the summer I’m going to be slowly releasing videos from my video EP which is gonna be six music videos that combine into a short film which will drop at the end of the summer or halfway through the summer depending on how things catch on.

So I’m gonna keep releasing really dope videos, really good music, and hopefully just be on the road by the time September hits. Keep making music in the studio, and move on to an actual full-length album and even more cool stuff. And then on top of that I have a show coming up on May 1st at the Bowery Poetry Club. It’s kind of become a home. We’ve had four shows there so far during this year, pretty much every other month we have a show at the Bowery Poetry Club and we have been completely packing it out like 300 people in a 200 person capacity venue. And their sound system is awesome. It’s pretty much become our home for rockin’ shit. May 1st at the Bowery Poetry Club, Friday, so, that’s our next thing and we’re gonna really tear it down.

Interview conducted, transcribed and edited by Jessica Roy and Joe Coscarelli

Photos by Lauren Monaco

Jayne Anne Phillips

JESSICA: Congratulations on your undeniable success with “Lark and Termite.” What inspired you to write the novel?

JAYNE ANNE: Years ago, I saw a boy sitting in a chair by a grass alley, holding a strip of blue dry cleaner bag up to his forehead. He was blowing on it, so that it moved in front of his eyes. I never forgot the image of him: his intensity and his complete absorption in the blue. He clearly wasn’t “normal,” but he was more than normal. I suppose I felt some affinity for him that combined with other elements — children I knew for a time, who were born with a disability but whose perceptions seemed finely tuned. The novel began with Lark’s voice, explaining Termite, their town, the secrets kept from her.

I set the book in 1959, so that Termite was not precisely labeled, and the fact that his father was killed in the Korean War set that parallel world in motion.

JESSICA: How did your career begin?

JAYNE ANNE: I always say that writing is not a career, but a calling. Writers write because they cannot resist writing; very few make a living at it. I began writing as a poet. Some of my favorite writers are failed poets — fiction writers who attend to every line and syllable, to the stress of every phrase, as though words are music.

JESSICA: Who are some of your favorite authors and why?

JAYNE ANNE: See above for ‘why;’ the list of my favorites is long, and various. A few are James Agee, Katherine Anne Porter, William Faulkner, Bruno Schultz, William Burroughs.

JESSICA:Where did you get the idea for the character Termite in “Lark and Termite?”

JAYNE ANNE: I was influenced by the above (see question 1), but Termite invented himself inside the language of the way he thinks. One listener at a reading said to me, “You make us want to be him.” I do want us all to be him, in a glorious way, just for a few moments.

JESSICA: How do you think the proliferation of the internet has impacted fiction, if at all?

JAYNE ANNE:The internet seems to me just one element of a world dominated by information, rather than story, or art. The web connects us, but in an impersonal way. Look at Facebook. Everyone can read everyone’s messages instantly, but the messages are superficial. The web makes group communication possible in great ways (it helped Obama get elected – it can do good things) but the deeply personal and associative power of literature happens on the (physical) page. I think books are tactile objects to be held in the hand. I don’t like to read on a screen.

JESSICA: Why did you decide to take such a long hiatus between novels?

JAYNE ANNE: It wasn’t a decision! I live numerous lives at once — like most of us. Teaching is very involving, as is parenting. The space and quiet required for writing isn’t always available, but in an odd way, the longer time spent inside each of my books works to help build them. Some of the work is unconscious, and the passage of time acts as a clarifying pressure.

JESSICA: What are some good programs prospective writers should look into?

JAYNE ANNE: Ideally, every writer needs to find a way to make a living that allows them to write, or even deepens them as artists. MFA programs provide writers with a community and with mentors. Our program at Rutgers Newark is an exciting option, with the Writers At Newark Reading Series serving as the basis for MFA courses and for our outreach in Newark.

JESSICA: You lived in Boulder in the ’70s — want to share any anecdotes or wisdom about Beat authors or literature?

JAYNE ANNE: I’ll share one story. I was at a party or reading in Boulder. I guess Gregory Corso had heard that I was going to the Writers Workshop at the Univ. of Iowa. He grabbed me by the nose and said, “Don’t go to Iowa! You’ll come out of there with your nose screwed on all wrong!”

JESSICA: What advice do you have for budding writers?

JAYNE ANNE: Read, read, and read. Insatiable readers, hungry readers who read obsessively, are the readers who become writers.

Photo from janeannephillips.com

Some people spend hours at shitty work-study jobs pretending to look busy while actually browsing Facebook, but one NYU student—who goes by the name Mistress Ava—wears leather, humiliates people and gets paid for it. Here’s what she had to say about working as a dominatrix this summer.

JESSICA: What made you decide to work as a dominatrix?

AVA: I’ve always considered myself sexually open and so when, several summers ago, I found myself living with a seemingly normal girl who worked in this line of business, I was quick to become fascinated. I asked a lot of questions and wasn’t freaked out by any of it and thus my curiosity was piqued. When I came back to NYC, I started making a few bucks here and there off Craigslist and when classes ended and I was without a job, I made the decision to apply to dungeons and make it official.

J: How easy was it to break into the business?

A: It was rather easy because I fit the role, but emotionally it was incredibly taxing. First I had to be sure that, with every possible tool of the trade suddenly at my whim, I was really comfortable with what could possibly happen and then, when I started and I was actually okay with it, I had to really look into myself and figure out what the hell was wrong with me that I wasn’t freaked out. Sure, I got a great job right away, but it wasn’t easy on my demeanor.

J: What kind of things did your job entail?

A: One of the first things I did was sit down and write out my bio and a list of do’s and dont’s. According to my boss, I had a very open mind but there were a lot of things I wouldn’t do because I found them sexual. My do’s were all things that, though I might do in my private life, I knew I could mentally disconnect from and find completely un-erotic. My dont’s were those things that were too close to actual sex for me not to see them that way. For instance, anything involving penetration on a male. There is no sex involved whatsoever but they can ask for strap-on play and that was never on the menu with me. I also avoided any touching with my hands because that felt a bit too “real sex” for me. A lot of girls are genuinely into dominating a man and while I find it extremely fun, it is not a sexual thing for me, which is why I couldn’t stick with it.

J: Did you make a lot of money, as in, a lot more than you would in an NYU work-study job?

A: The money is by far the best part of it. Working retail or something you make, at best, maybe 12 or 13 dollars an hour. For an hour of my time in the dungeon, I put at least 200 dollars in my pocket. The one thing that all of the girls in this line of business have in common is money savvy and the ability to save because, for a good amount, this occupation is just a lucrative business move.

J: What was the weirdest encounter you had?

A: The single encounter that stands out and still, perhaps for a lack of a better word, haunts me, is this older man who contacted me but didn’t want to meet at the dungeon. Instead he wanted to meet at an hourly-hotel in Chelsea. There was just something so stereotypically creepy and perverse about him that I still can’t shake myself of. He rolled his tongue over his teeth in a way that made a horrible sound and he wanted me to play the “Normal Girl” role, which I really had trouble doing though I tried my best. He also kept asking for things that I had already told him I didn’t do. When you make an appointment, the scenario has already been agreed upon and he was the only person who ever refused to accept that. He also wouldn’t give me the money first, another industry faux pas. I knew I was stronger than he was and that I could escape if I needed to but it was still rather unnerving. Thank God the whole thing was over very quickly, but it turns my stomach to this day.

J: I think a lot of people have the idea that working as a dominatrix would entail having sex with the clients. But that’s not allowed, and it’s not even really about sex, is it? Why do you think people come to the dominatrix clubs?

A: For the client, being dominated is 100% about sensuality but it is not about sex. There is no sex and no nudity inside a dungeon. Sure, there are places that bend the rules and give the job a bad name but I was never once naked or even close to it, and no one ever did anything to me, period. Sure, there are girls who do “switch” (the girl starts off submissive and becomes dominant) and “sub” (the girl is the submissive) sessions but there is still no sex involved. Girls who do those kinds of sessions are usually more connected to the act than I ever was and so, for them, it is also somewhat sexual. However, none of the things on the menu for an average couple—kissing, handjobs, fingering, oral, penetration—are on the menu at a dungeon. Instead there is pony play, medical sessions, spanking, flogging, CBT, wrestling, wax play, needle play, etc. It’s all about the fetish of the client and for them those fetishes are very sexual and arousing. Sometimes the client is married and their spouse simply won’t engage in this kind of thing and if they aren’t comfortable or into it, it’s not their job to do so. Everybody is entitled to get theirs just the way they want it and a dominatrix makes that happen the best they can.

J: What were your biggest fears going into it?

A: My biggest fear was the future. Where would this take me? What would people say? Would my parents find out? How would the guy I was dating react? What about the guys after him? Am I ruining my life? I just had no idea how it would play out and that was terrifying. Ultimately, I have no regrets but that isn’t the case for a lot of girls who find themselves sucked into a very bizarre lifestyle that works for some but can destroy others.

J: What made you want a job that’s so different from traditional student jobs?

A: I remember watching Law and Order with my parents and every now and again there would be a dungeon plot and I was already so intrigued. Beautiful women wrapped tight in leather with all the power—it seemed incredible and it was for a little while. When it came down to it and I needed money, I looked into domming. I never thought “I’m so interesting for doing this,” or “I’m too good for a normal job,” its just a much better salary than retail or whatever and I was curious, so I went for it. That’s just always been my style.

J: How long did you work as a dominatrix and what made you decide to stop?

A: I worked, unprofessionally for a few months about a year and a half ago and then I spent the summer as a professional. I stopped because classes were starting and it was becoming too much to hide, simple as that. No horror story.

J: Any suggestions for other NYU students wanting to become dominatrixes?

A: It’s not glamorous. I don’t know a single person that I would ever suggest it to because it takes a very specific kind of person. There has to be a balance in the humors—you have to be simultaneously extremely serious but also relaxed enough not to vomit or cry or laugh, unless humiliation is on the agenda. It is extremely trying and draining and maybe I’m a bitch for it, but not many people could handle the things I’ve seen and the things I’ve done, especially not college students. There’s no going back for me and that’s scary to realize. Its not like I had a job at Hooters to look back and laugh at. This experience will be with me forever and it’s something that, in honest relationships, I have to come clean about.

I’m lucky that all of the friends I told were supportive and interested but not all guys are okay with what I’ve done to those of their gender. One in particular begged me to incorporate my industry skills into our own practice and then condemned me for it in the morning. In that moment, it was disheartening to realize how my life, if I wanted to live it honestly, had changed because of a summer job but I’m not ashamed of it and thats the bottom line. I had fun while it lasted and then I got out, and its safe to say I learned a lot—about the sexual psyche, how to prolong the male orgasm, and about the cliched fine line between pleasure and pain—and I’m a better woman for it.

It’s not too often that you get to hear thoughts from the likes of Susan Sontag coming from contemporary music. With his song “Politburo Technocrats,” Max Vernon does just that, capturing heavy considerations of politics and authority in a way that compels engagement with the music.

“I don’t ever want to make breathy, airy, background music. My style will never be that way – you have to engage with it. This is our challenge culturally,” he says.

There is a consistent political element to many of Max’s songs (“Dear Democracy” is another title), but he avoids the all too common “Fuck Bush” mentality to prompt real questions to his listeners. A student at the Gallatin School here at NYU, Max studies the politics of performance; and the smart insights from academic work play through in his compositions and lyrics.

While living in New York and LA throughout his life, Max has developed his creative passions both through visual and performance art, but for him, music trumps all because of its ability to immediately connect with others.

He takes inspiration from artists such as Joni Mitchell, Stevie Wonder, Laura Nyro, Joanna Newsom, and David Bowie (for aesthetic purposes) to create an innovative sound of his own. For Max, the process begins more abstractly – he hears a certain melody intuitively, but the lyrics come slowly with much work.

“When I write for piano, I hear an orchestra in my head. But I’m still searching for the experience to tell the stories I want my lyrics to convey,” Max comments.

Many of his songs reflect on relationships or take influence from childhood struggles as an outsider. “I was the most made fun of kid in middle school,” Max says, “While everybody else dressed preppy I was wearing kimonos and bondage boots. So I suppose the self-deprecating humor in some of the songs comes from an ‘I’m going to criticize me before you can criticize me’ perspective.”

Max doesn’t worry about it, though, because he says it adds humor to his work, which would be too serious otherwise. He articulates that there is an inherent need for the political songs right now, but wants to make sure that he doesn’t box himself in, that he stays open to definition.

The best thing for me – and I hope Max forgives me for this – is that I get the feel of “Rent” minus the Broadway when I listen to his music. The sound has the essence of being in New York, moments of lonely isolation and moments of complete camaraderie, themes of identity, relationships, and politics, but with a playful resonance that doesn’t get under your skin like show tunes can. His current seven-track demo album plays like a feature-release CD, and I can feel the sensation of an artist about to make a name for himself.

Max was lucky enough to get recording time for his album at the famous Westlake Studios, which has witnessed the production of hits like Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” and Alanis Morissette’s “Jagged Little Pill.”

Last summer, Max played nine shows and soon thereafter, he gained blogosphere notoriety when New York Magazine and the Toronto Star picked up on his “I Kissed A Girl” Katy Perry cover (video below). Through the publicity, Max met New York DJ JonJon Battles who helped him book a successful show at Ars Nova last week. Now that he’s got his New York headlining debut under his belt, he is planning his first college tour and getting his demo album out to the radio stations. With the upcoming plans, Max has an interesting dilemma because his listeners have favored different songs, so he hasn’t decided which track to feature as his single yet.

The biggest thing for him right now, though, is to make his voice heard. He says he does not want to feel like he has no voice, that he would rather sing and shout at fifty people than a computer screen all day. Max wants music to take on the issues that society should be questioning, and he won’t be held back from expressing his own opinions.

I asked Max if he had any additional comments to close with when we were wrapping up the interview. He offered some shout-outs to other New York artists that he has collaborated with or been inspired by (Caitlin Pasko, Stephanie Nilles), and then he looked up to me and said, “Oh, yea… and I like The Mamas & The Papas.”

Max will be playing his next New York show at Pianos on October 28.

Photo by Angelica Marshall

Tao Lin is a Brooklyn-based NYU alum who has published numerous books of poetry and short stories, as well as one novel titled Eeeee Eee Eeee. At just 25 years old, Lin recently finished his second novel which is slated for publication in Fall 2009.

Hipsters flock to his sparse writing for its desolate tone and modern feel, so I guess he is kind of like Miranda July without boobs. Of his newest book he says, “maybe 40% of it is Gmail chats.” (Millennial!) I suspect his fans also like that he does not use capitalization.

Below is an interview with Lin, conducted via e-mail, by NYU Local’s Jessica Roy.

JESSICA: Okay, quick. Be a Millennial and pick your favorite of each pair: Red Bull or Monster?

TAO: “Syzmo”

JESSICA: AIM or Gchat?

TAO: “Gchat”

JESSICA: Mac or PC?

TAO: “I have enjoyed features of both”

JESSICA: Calling or texting?

TAO: “texting”

JESSICA: New York or LA?

TAO: “New York”

Thanks.

JESSICA: When did you first decide you wanted to be a writer? Was there a conscious “aha!” moment or was it more fluid?

TAO: During my sophomore year at NYU I became a little alienated from the friends I had because my then-girlfriend and I broke up and we had sort of the same friends. After that I deliberately didn’t “hang out” with anyone really (except like once a month or something) for around two years. It was during this time that I decided to focus really hard on writing. I read a lot and studied books and things and “structured my life around writing.” I lived in Jersey City for a year in one floor of a house where I rarely saw the other people, who I didn’t know. It was a time of intense loneliness but also a time of medium productivity. Sometimes I thought, “This is so bad, why am I so alone. I’m like a secret or something.” Most of the time I thought things like, “The situation I’m in is overall not making me feel good, because I think about killing myself and other bad things, but if I work really hard on writing I can get into another situation, maybe I’ll feel better in another situation.” I think I achieved my goals because I am now in a different situation.

JESSICA: How old were you when your first book was published, and how did you go about accomplishing that?

TAO: I was 23. I had completed a story-collection, BED, when I was 21 or 22, and I got a literary agent who sent it to 25-30 editors who rejected it. During this time of rejection, over 3-4 months (the summer after I graduated from NYU, I think), I was working on a poetry collection and a novel. I finished the poetry collection and sent it to contests and it won one and was published in November, then BED and my novel EEEEE EEE EEEE came out the next May.

JESSICA: You went to NYU for journalism—what made you switch gears and go into poetry?

TAO: I “decided” on journalism at I think the end of my junior year because I was required to choose a major by that point, and journalism was the only major I could achieve based on the number of courses I had taken in each subject. I took something like 12 writing workshops, 7 psychology courses, and 8 journalism classes at NYU. There is no creative writing major for undergrads so I was forced to accept the B.A. in journalism. Today I am glad I have a B.A. in journalism. I think people feel that I’m more powerful because of my B.A. in journalism, like I have chosen to not employ the myriad journalistic techniques that I know, having mastered and probably transcended them.

JESSICA: As a blogger and a published writer, what is your theory on the whole new media vs. print journalism thing?

TAO: I believe I don’t like to think about that. I remember being at NYU listening to people talk about that and thinking things like, “I don’t want to think about this at all.” I think it would be funny if LiveJournal buys the New York Times in 2012 or something.

JESSICA: Is there anything specific you try to accomplish with your poetry? Is there an audience you write for?

TAO: I try to express crippling loneliness, severe depression, the arbitrary nature of the universe, the function of morality within an existential view, confusion, existential despair, and that consciousness means we must choose in a tone that I feel will affect people (including myself) to not want to kill themselves, not want to do self-destructive things, and not want to be inconsiderate to people. My poetry is ultimately life-affirming.

My target demographics include hipsters, depressed teenagers, depressed vegans, happy but sensitive teenagers, people of any age who are severely detached from reality, Europeans, all college students, and I think sarcastic vegans.

JESSICA: You seem to be the archetype for a “Millennial,” incorporating IM transcripts and energy drinks into your poems. Do you consciously attempt to speak for a generation of kids swigging Red Bull and cybering, or is it less calculated?

TAO: I think it is completely not calculated when I incorporate the internet or energy drinks, I feel natural when I type about the internet and energy drinks, like I am in nature petting a frog or touching a tree or something, it feels natural. When I do the opposite, when I block out the internet and energy drinks, I think, is when I am consciously attempting something. I did that for a long time but The New Yorker and The Paris Review didn’t accept me. Then at some point I had feelings like “I don’t care anymore,” “I’m alone all the time anyway,” and “What difference does it make?” and started writing what was really in my brain, which at the time was mostly “the internet” and “feeling alienated.” I think one of the first things I wrote with that “mindset” was the poem “some of my happiest moments in life occur on AOL instant messenger.”

JESSICA: In your book “you are a little bit happier than i am,” a lot of the poems seem to revolve around fights you’ve had with a girl. I’m afraid I’ll piss ex-boyfriends off if I write about them. So, um, was she mad? Was it worth it?

TAO: She liked the book, according to her. Only one person had a problem, sort of, not really, I’ll explain anyway. The person was Annie Proulx’s literary agent’s assistant or something and I quoted her in the book saying how much Annie Proulx gets per month from royalties. She asked me to take the piece off the internet, but then I got it published on a different site, and she seemed okay with it, like she forgot or something. And then the piece was published in the book and she didn’t say anything, I guess because she wasn’t Annie Proulx’s literary agent’s assistant anymore. I think everything is okay with her now, she has written on my Facebook wall recently.

JESSICA: You just finished another book—can you give us some background on it?

TAO: My new book is my second novel, it is called Richard Yates. I worked on it for 2 years I think. The main characters are Haley Joel Osment and Dakota Fanning, maybe 40% of it is Gmail chats, it is around 54,000 words (my first novel was “a meager” 28,400 or so words), and will be published by Melville House Publishing in Fall 2009, probably. It is a linear, realistic novel about a romantic relationship.

JESSICA: The internet is a cruel place. How do you deal with criticism that may be lobbed your way?

TAO: I think I view abstract criticism and praise with medium to severe detachment that is at times wry, uncomprehending, or amused. I look at the computer screen with a neutral facial expression while my brain processes that the shit-talking or praising information that is there is not going to concretely affect my life in concrete reality of going to the grocery store, eating watermelon, reading books on my bed, and eating dinner in a restaurant. If someone criticizes my concrete actions in concrete reality, I do take that into account and think about what I have done. For example, if someone says I caused 10,000 people or cows to feel physical pain I will think, “I shouldn’t have caused 10,000 people or cows to feel physical pain, I think,” and then probably do something to prevent that from happening in the future. If someone criticizes my non-rhetorical writing, or if I am feeling really existential and like my life is “art,” then I don’t really think about it, I just think, “There is no good or bad in art,” in a quiet monotone and then do something else.

One time, recently, someone made like 60 comments on 10-20 different blogs about how I can’t be trusted (when I was selling shares of the royalties of my second novel) and some people believed the comments and were “turned away” from investing in me. In that case my concrete existence was affected, because money was not going to come to me due to widespread libel of my character, and I “took action,” by making a blog post showing how those 60 comments were from one person using different names, and is probably the same person who has been commenting on my blog and other blogs for 2-3 years saying I’m a bad person. I think the person’s name is “Fran.”

JESSICA: I don’t really understand the economy. You asked people to buy shares of a book you were writing; why, and how exactly did that work?

TAO: I had a part-time job at a restaurant and still had “run out of money” despite not really buying anything except food and living in a 4-person apartment off the 6th stop in Brooklyn on the L train. I had no money left. And I also did not like having a job. I did not want to have a job anymore for the rest of my life. So I sold 60% of the royalties to my next novel in 10% shares to six different people for $2,000 per share. People gave me $2,000 to receive 10% of my U.S. royalties for my next novel for the rest of their life, every six months, as I get royalty checks from my publisher. I promise to myself that I will never get another real job for the rest of my life. In part because when I have no responsibilities or obligations my feelings of meaninglessness and confusion increase in quality and become more intense and “honed” and even “beautiful” in a way that feels good to me, and which I like to write about, and also which makes me feel more “original” and amused, as a person, treating my life as a “work of art” or something. I feel “I have gone too far” with this answer.

JESSICA: Who are some of your favorite writers?

TAO: Joy Williams, Lorrie Moore, Lydia Davis, Richard Yates, Ann Beattie, people I link to on my blog, and people published on bearparade.com.

JESSICA: Did you enjoy your time at NYU? Any advice for kids at NYU looking to go into writing?

TAO: I did enjoy my time at NYU. I think about the past and I enjoyed all of it, even the “bad” parts, I think. This may be an illusion, I’m not sure, but I think about feeling really lonely eating Chinese food alone in my room in Jersey City, on the nights I felt most depressed, and I feel like I actually felt good then, that I “miss” it.

My advice for NYU students who want to go into writing is “I don’t know what advice to give you.”

Photo by Flickr user sugarfreak used under the Creative Commons