Somebody Cool.
Peter Tammetta
Rhapsodist. Rogue. Raconteur.
Peter Tammetta tells convincing stories. You get the feeling he's always told convincing stories-- as a 7-year-old making the case for cookies over broccoli-- as a teenager convincing a date that being back by midnight is an abstract concept having no relationship to reality whatsoever-- as an adult, both wise AND articulate, reflecting on the rhyme and reason, or indeed, the very lack of same, involved in being a human being. All that, and he, unlike some other poets who come to mind, can really, truly sing his ass off. All that, and Peter just happens to be one of the funniest people you'll ever meet.
Twenty Questions: PETER TAMMETTA
1. What do you like most about what you do?
There are virtually hundreds of dollars to be made in the music industry.
2. What do you wish you could change about yourself?
Feeling angry for being ashamed of feeling guilty for being afraid.
3. Do you think others perceive you the way you perceive yourself?
Only if they have spoken to my mother.
4. If you could only have access to a total of 5 items, whether they
be books,
albums, movies, sculptures or paintings-- which 5 would you choose, and
why?
Sailboat, Laptop, Ukulele, Bic Lighter, Condoms
(all for the same reason)
5. What, as opposed to who, has influenced you most?
Johan Gutenberg's printing press
6. Do you do your best work when you're happy or not so happy? In other
words, do
you think there's any validity to the old saw about an artist having to
suffer in
order to successfully create?
Extended periods of being alone has always been
good for my work. In that sense
loneliness has been my muse.
7. When you are not working, what do you do for fun?
Obsess
8. When you are working, describe a typical work day (or night)?
Waiting quietly for inspiration
9. If you weren't a singer and a songwriter what
would you most certainly NOT have become?
A Cleric
10. Where do you see yourself two years from now?
Reception desk. at Hair Club For Men
11. If you were cloned, what would you want to write on the blank slate
of
your new self? Or put another way, if you had been your own parent, what
would you
have taught or exposed yourself to during the course of your upbringing
that you
were not?
Don't give up. Unless it's really hard or you run out of money.
12. If you had the power to put together the greatest band of all time,
who would
the members of that band be?
Garfunkel, Oates, Ringo, and me
13. Limited to these two choices, would you rather be the fastest runner
in the
world, or be able to run the longest distance?
I'll go for distance. they'll never find me there.
14. What's the best song you've heard so far, and why?
So far today? I am The Walrus. It still makes my mouth hang open and my heart pound
15. What's the worst pain in the world?
Waiting
16. What's the best smell in the world?
The first whiff of smoke from my mother's Silva
Thins cigarette.circa 1968.I think
it was the paper.
17. What's the saddest song of all time?
Material Girl
18. What's the greatest thing that ever happened to you?
Childhood
19. What's your LEAST favorite swear word?
Bugger
20. What should I have asked you?
What brings out the wise ass in you?
