Q&A
Do you have special memories of Chicago?
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
Your music was recently featured in Jonathan Demme’s Rachel Getting Married—an old tune, “America,” and another written for the film, “Up to Our Nex”—and you appear onscreen as well. What’s it like to be in two roles in the same work? Which do you like better?
How did you end up in the film?
Jonathan appeared in a dressing room after a show of mine way back in 1995 and offered to film me in concert. He’s a music lover, and he likes to bring music into his movies organically whenever possible, rather than just as a soundtrack dubbed onto the film. He wanted British villians for The Manchurian Candidate and I got the part of Simon McBurney’s henchman. He used “Mr. Kennedy” coming from a radio in Charlie and he wanted to have me as part of a troupe of musicians who are playing on the lawn throughout Rachel. He’s a lovely fellow, and I hope we do more while we are alive.
You’ve written a lot of songs. Is there anyone you feel competitive with? If you could be any figure out of history, who would it be?
People who like my work are mostly thinking types, and the chances are that our outlooks coincide.
7 and 10 PM, Old Town School of Folk Music, 4544 N. Lincoln, 773-728-6000, oldtownschool.org, $35, $33 for Old Town members, $31 for seniors and kids.
