Being Marginalized Is a Blessing: An Interview with Author Dan Kennedy

Popshifter: Are there any bands you listened to when you were younger, or do you look back like some people do and go, “Oh geez, why did I ever listen to that?”

Dan Kennedy: No, I don’t know if it’s a frightening indication of lack of development—

Popshifter: (laughs) I like all the same stuff I did when I was twelve!

Dan Kennedy: Same here. I mean, I just played “Love Gun” and I’m going, “Daaaaamn, has there ever been a drum riff that matches that one? It’s rad!”

Popshifter: (cracking up)

Dan Kennedy: I guess it’s just a frightening note.

Popshifter: I don’t think it’s frightening. I think it just means that you knew who you were at an early age. That’s my take on it; you can steal that if you want.

Dan Kennedy: Yeah, maybe I will; maybe I’ll turn that into a new point of confidence. I saw Cheap Trick not too long ago.

Popshifter: Oh, I love them!

Dan Kennedy: And they are still such a good band and still in such good shape.

Popshifter: They’re amazing. Where did you see them?

Dan Kennedy: I saw them a few years ago when they did that four-night run, with a different album each night. It was so good.

Popshifter: I wanted to go to that so badly.

Dan Kennedy: And then I saw them at someplace in Manhattan. . it’ll come to me. There’s this theater, Less Lee. And in this theater. . .

Popshifter: (cracking up)

Dan Kennedy: . . . rock bands perform. And this theater, is in Manhattan, USA. I try to see a lot of new stuff, too, but not in a slavish way. I don’t feel like I need to be standing next to the soundboard at the Arcade Fire show.

Popshifter: (cracking up, again)

Dan Kennedy: You know, I’m perfectly fucking valid without doing that.

Popshifter: You said you felt marginalized, but that it was a blessing; and you talked about how you didn’t fit in; and delusions of being cool. Have you realized that being cool is not where it’s at, or are you still trying to attain it?

Dan Kennedy: No, it does become a blessing to realize you’re marginalized. I desperately wanted to be normal when I was younger—teens and twenties—but you turn 38 or 39 and you look around you and you’re like, “Oh GOD! What the fuck is this? Who wants the house in the suburbs with the big mortgage?” So you kinda think, “Oh, this [marginalization] ended up working out just fine.” (laughs)

You know, life is weird. You get to a certain level and there are—well, I’ll just sound like a psycho but—there are certain currents in life and you’re in one of them or the other.

I remember this one time I had a sports injury from starting to ski late in life. And I had to walk really slowly for like, three weeks. Right? In New York. I mean, it just puts you in a whole different current. On the sidewalks, you’re like, “Oh, shit. I now have to talk to like, 50 crazy people between the deli and my apartment because I’m just not moving fast enough. I’m now in this new lane.” You can try and spin it and say, “Oh, this must be what it’s like to be famous,” but no, not really. Because they’re all urine-soaked people coming up to me, totally treating me like their friend—

Popshifter: (cracking up)

Dan Kennedy: And I’m like, “There’s really no way to spin this; I’m just a slow-moving animal.”

Click to read more from Dan Kennedy on. . .

Cruel Shoes by Steve Martin
The alienation of the “college years”
The death of print media?
The Motown commercial and music now
Being in the slow lane
Definition for mayhem
What’s next?

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