Question: Is this your first time at SXSW?

RobynSPIN: No - 93, 95, 96.   Question: What's your favorite song?

RobynSPIN: That would be Visions of Johanna by Bob Dylan...

Question: Robyn, how long have you known Billy Bragg?

RobynSPIN: Bill? I must have met him around '89. Through REM. We were both

part of the REM circus so I would come across him at those particular

ceremonies.

Question: How did you get started in the music business?

RobynSPIN: Through social maladjustment. An inability to relate to people

without wanting to be the center of attention. The consequences were

inevitable.

SPINspy: So how does that work in live situations where you are the center?

RobynSPIN: Theoretically, it should be perfect. But obviously, I'm talking

about many years ago. Now playing live is quite terrifying. Why are all

those people looking at me? Because of things I did years ago. It's the ego

thing. I could have been a politician or a movie star...It's that prime

motive.

SPINspy: What do you think about "Storefront Hitchcock" the upcoming

documentary about you?

RobynSPIN: I basically hope that it finds a distributor.

SPINspy: How was it working with Jonathan Demme?

RobynSPIN: Excellent. He's really good. And his organization's a pleasure to

work with. I'm hoping to persuade him to a follow-up. In the gondola of a

zepellin, floating off the coast...The zeppelin will obviously be flying

neutral colors. Any dirigible conforming to required safety standards with a

modicum of shall we say, direction vis a vis wind atmospheric conditions,

etcetera, would be right on.

BQuaranta: Robyn! I have a question...do all of your songs have meaning, or

just some? It's easy to see in "My favorite Buildings" or "My wife and my

dead wife" or "Egyptian Cream," but it's a little harder to figure out

"BAss" or "The Bones in the Ground."

RobynSPIN: Some of them... let's see... The shortest answer is, Yes, they

all have a meaning. sometimes the meanings get overlaid on top of each other

and become opaque. That doesn't in my opinion diminish the value of the

song; if anything it requires a longer exposure to the song for the listener

to get the full nutrience from said song.

JH3: Hi, Robyn! Aren't online chats a complete waste of time? And how's the

new album coming along?

RobynSPIN: IF you say so buddy. It's all but finished, thanks.

JudyB1209: I know you worked with Peter Buck and Michael STipe on Perspex-

any other collarboration with REM coming up?

RobynSPIN: I did an instore with Mike Mills here in Austin, Waterloo

Records,

in 1993... Yes, Peter is playing guitar on the new album. He's very good.

Kare Kare: Do you find fans remember your oldov>

er material better than you do?

(I find some of them worrisome at concerts!)

RobynSPIN: It may mean more to them than it does to me, but obviously the

longer something

has been lodged in your head, the deeper the stain it leaves in there.

JH3: Do you think you'd ever go back to working with a complete band in live

situations?

RobynSPIN: Not for any length of time. But I am assembling an All Stars

outfit for an upcoming Mshow in London. Terri Edwards - he used to be in the

Higsons and might tour with Lydia Lunch soon; also in there is Ntshuks Bonga

who's an indescribable horn player. They'll be our horn section if we can

weld them together. Kimberley Rew who used to be in The Soft Boys and

Katrina and the Waves is playing guitar, and so is Tim Keegan of the Homer

Lounge fame. But that's just really for one gig.

Paulsky86: Will the soundtrack for Storefront be a double CD?

RobynSPIN: A single CD, but a double LP with a gatefold sleeve.

BQuaranta: Serious question: my friends and I think that "My favorite

buildings" is about people dying from AIDS, and "The Man with the light-bulb

head" is about a father threatening to have sex with his son. Are we

basically on target, or way off?

RobynSPIN: Favorite Buildings, that's a great theory. I wish I'd thought of

that... Lightbulb Head - not so specific, but yes, the parent is threatening

the child... they just have to, don't they. But then the kids can threaten

the parents or they can abuse their own kids. Humanity is the history of

revenge.

NOWact: Would you consider your songs to be more personally or politically

based?

RobynSPIN: Not politically.

AMS5: Why the obsession with fish?

RobynSPIN: What obsession with fish?

Paulsky86: Robyn, did you ever get a chance to hear "Glass Flesh", the

tribute CD put out by the Fegmaniax mailing list?

RobynSPIN: Yes, thank you.

Conetwelv:

Hi Robyn, When will you tour in the South again. Love to see you in

Nashville. Do you find yourself listening to much country music? Perhaps the

good old timey stuff?

RobynSPIN: Can't say I do, but it's always good to play in Nashville.

Hopefully within the next year I'll be back.

NOWact: Robyn, how did you successfully dodge the whole 'rock star'

stereotype for so long?

RobynSPIN: Have I? Maybe I'm just broadening it...

Luther IW: I've often wondered who the Duck Princess is. Is it Cynthia?

RobynSPIN: The duck princess is a tragic misspelling. I am not at this time,

nor ever have been - so my aides tell me - involved..

Paulsky86: What's up with the book we keep hearing about? Will it be coming

out any time soon?

RobynSPIN:

As soon as I can close the lid on the

characters who are babbling away inside it, the book will be finished. I'd

like to see it published a year from now.

Luther IW: Where is Tim Keegan these days, Robyn? He's a nice chap...a

genuinely pleasant fellow.

RobynSPIN: Tim is right outside the door now. Making faces at us. He's just

been having coffee with the Dark Princess.

Paulsky86: What's your relationship with Julian Cope? I know you've spoken

in the past, and you've covered his songs occasionally.

RobynSPIN: Uh... I don't know him very well, but we enjoy the occasional

long chat. He's a very enthusiastic person. He's got a book coming out soon

bout megolithic British sites - something my father was also interested in.

JH3: Will the next album cover be a photo of you, a painting/drawing *by*

you, or something else entirely?

RobynSPIN: What would you like?

Conetwelv: Thanks for the Cones, Robyn. What will be your next promotional

delight?

SPINspy: One final comment...

RobynSPIN: The movie is being shown at the Castro theater in San Francisco

, and that will be its first showing outside of Austin. And I will

probably do a show in SF around that time.

SPINspy: That would be "Storefront Hitchcock" directed by Jonathan Demme.

Thank you very much Robyn...and thank you all for coming!

THE END