IE: It was a magical era back in ’77, with
great punk peers like Fear, The Gun Club,
Lone Justice, even the Tennessee trans-
plant Dwight Yoakam. You just don’t hear
bands like that these days.
JD: I dunno. I think that there are a couple.
There was one that we toured with called
Skating Polly who are really good. They’re
very energetic, but they’re really good
songwriters. And there’s another band
doing a book. So the best thing that I
found – the thing that I’m most proud of
that’s in that exhibit is the original book
where I wrote the lyrics to “Los Angeles.”
It was a little book I’d stick in my pocket,
all water stained and looking exactly how
you think it would. And we knew that we
had our original instruments – D.J. had his
drum kit that he put in there, and I had
two electric basses. I was surprised that
11•2018
that I haven’t seen yet, but I’ve seen videos
of ‘em, called Surfbort, and the front-
woman is just totally manic, totally crazy.
And they write songs that are real punk
rock songs — not hardcore songs, but
more like The Damnned or The Dils. Songs
like that.
IE: How did the Grammy Museum exhibit
happen? And what weird relics did you
unearth in the process?
JD: Last year a lot of things came together,
and we did a bunch of planning. And it
felt like it was high time. But not in a bad
way, like, “You owe me something.” I’d
started the ball rolling at the Grammy
Museum, and there were a few people
who were supportive right away. And
then we realized that we actually had a
bunch of archival stuff and we could put it
all together. And then they were really
encouraging. So it felt like you could actu-
ally have a retrospective and not have it be
nostalgic. And I knew that I had some stuff
because Exene and I had talked about
Exene still had her wedding dress. But
she’s not as much of an archivist as D.J.,
and I are.
IE: You’re touring through Thanksgiving
this year, instead of your usual X-Mas.
What’s the weirdest Thanksgiving, ever,
either on the road or at home?
JD: I can’t remember what year it was – it
was sometime in the mid-'80s, and we
were on tour through Thanksgiving, X
was. And I think we had four; maybe five
separate Thanksgiving dinners brought to
us backstage because everybody felt sorry
for us. And we didn’t really give a shit! But
at the same time, we were touched by the
effort. That was pretty nice, actually. But
all night long, it was like, “Oh, look.
Thanksgiving. Again.”
IE: Any green bean casserole kinds of tra-
ditions for you and the missus?
JD: Well, since we’re both vegetarian and
there’s only two of us, green bean casse-
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