Michael's Online Chat - WebStock '96
(logged and edited by bramble)

(please note that michael did *not* answer all the ?'s. this is not a logging/typo error)

Jim: Welcome Mr. Stipe!
Stipe: Thank you Happy to be here
Jim: Do you ever check out the clubs in NYC?
Stipe: Not often. I wrote a song about a club called Don Hills
Jim: Michael, are you learning any new instruments these days?
Stipe: Not actively
Jim: HOW DID YOU START YOU BAND
Stipe: We just got together as friends
Jim: Hey Michael! Are you as active in local elections and politics in Athens as you are in national issues?
Stipe : Yes actually more so this time around
Jim: Michael, Unlike so many other celebrities, you seem so able to keep your personal life out of newspapers and off of the television....how are you able to do this? You are one of the few lucky ones!!
Stipe:I guess I am just lucky
Jim: Michael, What problems in politics do you feel the strongest about?
Stipe: Right now differientiating between real issues and campaigns
Jim: In the Elections this year What do you think Health care is going to affect the election??
Stipe: Um I dont know...I dont know if it will It seems like a lot of people put emphasis on single issuing voting and I expect the choice issue is going to effect the campaign more than any other issue--that is not to say that is right
Jim: is life turning out any way you expected it to?
Stipe:I had no expectations of life
Jim: I love all your songs, but most of all "Losing My Religion", was there any one thing that gave you inspiration for that particular song?
Stipe: I wanted to write a classic obsession song so I did.
Jim: What is *your* favorite R.E.M. song and why?
Stipe: Right now electrolite The reason why is because I just finished the video for it and it was a blast and I am in LA
Jim : Hey, i like yer hat michael. some string lights would go well as a necklace!!! my Q : how do u think we can get more people to use public transportation?
Stipe: My friend Jim took the bus today in LA and he said it was really cool.....and quiet..My hope is that the auto industry is going to start using some of the technology that they have been sitting on for a long time and I would love to see the trains revitalize beyond the north east corridor
Jim: Michael, is there any one person that inspired you throughout your career?
Stipe: Peter, Mike, and Bill and my parents have always been very supportive
Jim: Michael - how are your film companies coming along?
Stipe: Swimmingly...
Jim: I've seen pictures of you and Tori Amos together, are you close friends? Do you plan on any projects together?
Stipe: We are friends and I really respect her work a lot..she is a consumate performer...We recorded a song for a movie that has never come out..
Jim: What do you believe what the groups biggest accomplishment?
Stipe: Um... Enduring.
Jim: Who's the better golfer, Mike or Bill? How do you feel about their hobby? : )
Stipe: I am happy they find joy in golfing..I think Bill is a little better. Mike was misquoted in the recent rolling Stone. I actually like hearing their golf stories it gives me something to rag on them about...
Jim: Michael, what do you think about the AmeriCorps program -- is it an effective way to get young people involved in communities? Also, do you personally have any community activist programs that you support or get involved in?
Stipe: I think it is a great idea. There are several really cool organizations where I live...one of which is called community connection. They hook people up with the services they need what ever it is
Jim: Are you still planning on publishing a book of your photography?
Stipe: Yes.
Jim:Hey Michael! I hear you produce the video for the concert backdrops and the video concert "Interludes". I love them. Do you do the photography and videography yourself?
Stipe: We worked with several directors.. and pretty much asked them what would they like to see behind REM at a concert. They responded with the films that you saw among them Dominic DeJoseph who did "Bittersweet Me". Jim McKay, Director of Girls Town, and Jem Cohen who is filming off my balconey right this second...ten feet away McKay is sitting across the table...
Jim: What are you doing to keep in shape nowadays?
Stipe: I swim and drive
Jim: Hi Michael, do you know about the Eco-Rica Preservation Project? if so, how's it going?
Stipe: I am not sure--I do not know
Jim: What about the song you wrote with Tori Amos? When if ever will you release it. I think it'll be awesome.. I love you .
Stipe: No Idea...Thanks
Jim: Michael, thanks for doing this. Hi-Fi is *incredible!* What were your influences for this album?
Stipe: I dont know we just wanted to make a record that had heart I think I was inspired by Grant lee Buffalo, Radio Head, Vic Chesnutt, and Patti Smith, Eddie Vedder, Sonic Youth and a gazillian others......
Jim: Using one word to describe yourself, what would it be?
Stipe: Next
Jim: Could you clarify the part of the Rolling Stone interview about "Be Mine" and never being in love?
Stipe: Um... Can you be more specific? When I said that desire was stupid I of course meant that it doesnt make any sense..I of course meant that it does not make any sense I hope that answers your question...
Jim: Is there anything in your career that you regret doing or wish you had done differently?
Stipe: I like to think I have no regrets
Jim: Hi Michael, I really enjoyed the version of Red Rain you did with Natalie Merchant and Peter Gabriel at the VH1 Honors concert. Have you made any plans to work with either of them again? (I know you've worked with Natalie serveral times before.) Thanks
Stipe: I would welcome the opportunity
Jim: Is it true you recorded a duet with PJ Harvey or is it just a rumor?
Stipe: Sadly that is a rumour...she is amazing
Jim: do you read much poetry? if yes, who do you like?
Stipe: I actually dont.. I do think there is some exciting spokenword stuff going on... spinning off of slam poetry..
Jim: What's the one question you wish someone would ask you?
Stipe: I dont know...
Jim: What part of your career you enjoy the most?
Stipe: I less enjoy the business side and more enjoy the creative but I am tolerant of the business side
Jim: Michael, you said last night on the radio that when you started you didn't know sharps from flats. How would you describe yourself now, musically.
Stipe: I tend to go flat a lot... but i have pretty good pitch over all. Or at least that is what the guys tell me.
Jim: How difficult was it to filter out the crowd noise from the live tracks on hi-fi. They sound great.
Stipe: It was not hard
Jim: How did it feel coming off a record like Monster and suddenly into an album like the new one?
Stipe: A natural progression from where I sit.
Jim: Heard that you came up with the name Concrete Blonde. How? Have you ever played with Johnette?
Stipe: I have just known her for years through Peter and they asked me for a name one night and I gave that
Jim: Hi Michael, what's your favourite TV show?
Stipe: I dont know... I dont really watch TV that much except I like 120 Minutes.
Jim: Seems like Southern Rock is getting stronger, especially with REM's success and the recent success of Dave Mathews Band. Do you think this popularity of sothern rock will grow?
Stipe: I dont know...
Jim: How many more albums are you proposing to do?
Stipe: I dont know... probly a lot
Jim: What is your best memory of REM
Jim: Explain what drew you to the role in "Color of a Brisk and Leaping day"?
Stipe: It was just a favor to a friend
Jim: Why did you agree to come on-line live?
Stipe: I spoke with Andrew Shue of Do Something and he invited me to do Webstock and I felt it was important encourage people to get involved.
Jim: Do you have any plans to do a solo album in the near future?
Stipe: No.
Jim: What CD's are in your player right now?
Stipe: I have to go look (running to go look) ... ... PJ Harvey, Echobelly Vitalogy, Cornershop, Luscious Jackson, Olivia Tremor Control Grant Lee Buffallo - His name is alive and Underworld Thats it...
Jim: When did you do the song on the "Zoocoustic" CD and can you even buy it in the U.S.?
Jim: Why did you choose to do only a few studio tracks for hi-fi?
Stipe: Cause we did everything else live...
Jim: In rolling stone, vic chessnut once said he didn't feel at home in athens. do you ever feel the same way?
Stipe: Yes.
Jim: What comes first, the words or the music?
Stipe: It changes...
Jim: Can you tell me a little about the story behind "Don't Go Back To Rockville?"
Jim: Is chris bilheimer still your art director?
Stipe: He is like a graphic liason..he works with us.
Jim: How do you view the changes in REM's sound since 1980?
Jim: In a recent article the band stated that the current theme of the record is alien abduction. Is this by mistake?
Jim: What's your favorite book or movie?
Stipe: I dont really have favorites... My favorite movie is girls town....
Jim:With all the hype surrounding The Beatles today, I was wondering what if any effect the music of The Beatles had on you and your music. What do you think of them now?
Stipe: It has a profound effect..it just was not what i listened to as a kid....
LIVEONAOL: We have time for one more audience question.
Jim: do you endorse clinton as actively as you did in 1992?
Stipe: The answer is yes. I voted absentee because I am in LA and I voted for Clinton....I think it would.