song: on mobiles
song: barcelona 1 soundtrack mix
song: chalmers & outer drive
song: nairs
chris mcnamara
by mikrosopht
what city is nearest your present location
I've been living the past few months in several places. Right now, I'm in Windsor, Ontario Canada, right across the river from Detroit. I spend a lot of time in Ann Arbor as well because I teach digital media production at the University of Michigan. Perhaps the best way to answer that question is Detroit because I always seem to be spinning around it like a carnival ride.
how does it compare to your hometown? if it is your hometown, do you plan to live abroad
Windsor is my hometown. I've lived in LA, Toronto & Montreal but Windsor is one of those funny places that a lot of folks keep returning to. This past June and July I did a summer residency in the Swiss Alps and could definitely see spending some time in Zurich or maybe Dublin or Berlin.
do you listen to a broad range of musics
I really do. Sometimes one has to be wary when people say "I like all kinds of music" but the fact is, there are a lot of things I like in a broad range of music. While there's not a lot to be enthused about with contemporary Jazz or Country there's still a lot to be enjoyed from a recording by John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, Stan Getz and Hank Williams Sr.
I'm also fond of Van Morrison and Nick Drake because of the wistfulness in their songs - I'm also finding that quality in the latest release by Pulse Programming. There's also Frank Pahl from Detroit. He's doing some amazing work these days. And, of course, I like a lot of electronic music - particularly stuff that pushes the envelope.
have you ever gotten very sick
Sometimes I have terrible anxiety about illness. I've been pretty blessed I guess. I do remember living in this crappy loft on the riverfront and I had a fever that was so bad that I couldn't move. It lasted for a couple of days and I probably should have gone to the hospital. The woman I was seeing at the time stayed with me and kept putting cool water on my forehead. I think she sang to me too. Once, I had my wisdom teeth removed and my mouth got infected. Years later my Dad said that the house smelled like an abattoir.
how old do you hope to live to be
I want to be really old and be able to say whatever I want, whenever I want and nobody will protest because I'm such an old guy. That said, when I turn 100 I don't want my picture in the paper because there's no dignity in that.
what is/are your favorite food(s)
I really like Vietnamese food, Indian Food, authentic Mexican food and my all time favourite thing has got to be seared tuna. It's got to be rare though. Once it's cooked through it tastes like a bad pork chop.
on average, how long do you sleep at night
I sleep about 7 hours a night. My wife is impossible to wake in the morning so I have this whole existence before I rouse her from her slumber.
do you write music in the dark or the day
Primarily I write in the day but that's maybe because I sometimes begin composing in my head as I'm doing field recordings and video stuff.
how many days a week do you work
I work almost every day. Sometimes it'll be just for an hour or two but other times I'll work from when I get up until it's bedtime.
what is your favorite animal species
I like furry things with enormous paws. I also like squid but only at dim sum.
tap, bottled, well or rain water
I'm a big fan of tap water. Believe it or not, Detroit's tap water is great. There's this place on Woodward called Union Street and they have the best tap water in the world. I find it sad and absurd to spend money on what should be "on the city". I'd rather spend my money on wine.
who do you respect
I respect my Dad a lot. He's a writer and an incredibly gifted poet. I know that sounds biased because he's my dad but he really is an inspiration. I also have a lot of respect for the people who put out Harper's Magazine. Lewis Lapham and the gang have managed to maintain the integrity of that magazine while the rest of the media seems to have made such bizarre turns to the right.
do you read about economics/politics?
if so, what good/bad do you see happening
I guess I kind of answered the first part of that in the last question. I look forward to Harper's arriving at our door.
I can't help but feel dismay over the incredible lack of regard we seem to have for one another. Bush lied and the people believed him and now we are witnessing an incredibly interventionist occupation. It reminds me of the line "Some people don't seem to understand democracy - you have to beat it into them...."
And then there's the economy. Here in Windsor / Detroit we've been raised to think that the car is what our communities are built on and in a way that's true. But the current economy tells us that we are no longer really the "motor cities". Our city streets are owned by the transport trucks, we have lousy public transportation (because that would be contrary to the ideology of a car town) and all the while the auto jobs have left for cheaper labour markets. We are being loyal to an industry that has really abandoned us.
how do you feel when you finish a song
I feel very excited when I've finished a piece. I reward myself by going out on the town or getting good takeout and opening a nice bottle of wine with my wife, Margaret.
do you play your music live, dj, vj, ej, etc
I started out doing music (primarily dj'ing) as a kind of conceptual joke to coincide with video projection/performance events I was staging with my collaborator, Dermot Wilson. Together we're known as machyderm. After a while I started doing it for the pleasure of it and then it began to creep into my video work. Now, I do live events with a laptop and occasionally with turntables.
airplane, train, car, bike, skateboard or feet
I like to walk. Windsor is okay for that but not great for biking. I had a guy open his car door on me once and he was more concerned about the trim on his door than he was about my welfare. I love trains and streetcars. I hate airplanes because, no matter how nice the flight attendants pretend to be, it's still like high school and they're the cafeteria prefects. No dignity in flying.
what is/are your favorite activit(y/ies)
My wife and I throw elaborate parties in our house. It's an old Arts & Crafts kind of place and we occasionally have over 100 people packed into it. I love getting everyone together and having people meet and maybe even make new friends. I also love to travel to other cities. Right now my favourite is Chicago. I want to go to Tokyo next. I think I'll like that too.
who would you make love to in a second
I hope it would last longer than that (ha ha). Without hesitation, Janeane Garofalo. Not that I've been crazy about her movies but because a) She's smart; b) she's really cute with cute pouty lips; c) she's curvy and, although not the tallest woman around -she's a WOMAN. My brother-in-law met her once at a Toronto Film Festival party and I was extremely jealous. He didn't even get me her autograph even though he knows I have this completely high-school crush on her....
I don't usually like celebrities and Janeane is kind of the anti-star in a way.
if you could live on the moon, would you ?
It would be like living in Northern Montana. I guess it would be okay as a kind of pied-a-terre... But it would be a drag not being able to go the movies or sit on the front porch to watch the world go by - actually, scratch that, it would be easy to do that from there wouldn't it....?
has anything weird ever happened to you
Everyday is kind of weird actually. If you think about it, there are always weird coincidences - especially when you start circulating within particular communities. I like it when you're half a world away from home and you run into someone from your hometown and you haven't seen them in 20 years. That's weird.
anything else
I'm working on a new video installation and my collective, Thinkbox is about to release our second project. We're all excited, though some of us are better at keeping our enthusiasm to ourselves.
chris mcnamara website