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Our foreign correspondent David Turakiewicz met up with Jason Dill, Fucking Awesome/Hockey man in charge, while he was in Paris for the Supreme shop opening to ask him about his five favorites in several categories as featured in SOLO #8 – in a short version. Still though, Dill plus Sage Elsesser and Ben Kadow in the same room had a lot more to tell than just a couple of quick fives. Here goes the extended version, uncut, unscripted, no euphemisms, nothing but the guys talking. Whatever Dill says is solid gold – maybe because he read the bible. On weed.
Number one that always comes to my mind, I think I started reading him when I was a kid, is Kurt Vonnegut. I love Kurt Vonnegut. I mean, Palm Sunday, God Bless you Mr. Rosewater, fucking Welcome to the Monkeyhouse… There’s a recent one I read that was published after he died. It’s called Look at the Birdie, it’s fantastic. I just like Kurt Vonnegut a lot, so as a person and I like his writing a lot. I’d like to name Malcolm Gladwell. It’s very specific, very in–depth descriptive, almost a scientific breakdown of why shit is the way it is in any given subject. He wrote What the Dog Saw, he wrote Tipping Point, he had a big, big, huge book that did really well, called The Outliers. I really like Dave Eggers, even if I haven’t read a whole lot of him, but What is the What, holy shit, that book is fucking phenomenal like how did he not win with this? He should have won the best awards of the world with that.
Yeah, I haven’t got it yet. Everybody tells me The Cirle is like really fucking addictive and all this shit. I gotta read it. Dave Eggers wrote another book that I liked recently, it’s called A Hologram for the King. That book’s fucking great. What other smart authors can I come up with? [laughs] One book, if you can’t pay attention to all I’m saying here, give a shit. But, one book, Lies My Teacher Told Me by James W. Loewen, that book fucking changed my life. A friend gave it to me, a Native American man from South Dakota, he changed my whole life. But yeah, Lies My Teacher Told Me by James W. Loewen. What else we got?
Oh no, that was only the first question.
Oh no, yeah we covered the books. And also: Have you ever read The Bible? On weed? [laughs] I like to read the back of cereal boxes and dollar bills. See, what else we got?
Oh man. I mean, I got one, it’s Camel. Buy Camel. Smoking’s bad for you. You shouldn’t smoke.
Who do I like? I suppose when you’re growing up you like people you know kind of, if you get to know someone and like their stuff, like friends of mine made art and I like their stuff… I mean, shit. I went to the Louvre today. It was my third time going to Louvre but I can’t name most of what I see. I mean I can say that is the fucking Venus de Milo, this is whatever, but I don’t know who my favorite artists are. Who’s your favorite artist Sage? That’ll maybe jog my memory. Do you ever say who your favorite artists are? Has anyone ever been like: “Who’s your favorite artist?”
Sage: Well sure.
Well, I’m sure I’ve said it before, but…
Sage: Uhm, I don’t know, Rembrandt maybe?
Man, I like goddamn Rembrandt ’n shit. I’m just like not able to think, I don’t know.
Sage: I like Rodin. Might call him my favorite.
Yeah, I mean if I go to a museum in New York, I see like them fucking black Rodin sculptures beside myself and like “Oh my god, that’s the craziest shit I’ve ever seen”. I like artists, that I’ve known over the years like Dash Snow. He’s not with us anymore, but that was a good friend of mine, I always liked the way he did his thing, he had a funny execution of how he’d present everything. He kinda lived his whole life in that same kind of style per se. I just appreciate the time I got to spend around him and watch him do his thing, be a fucking artist. Funny one, I think I ain’t kinda got a brain for it, let’s come back to the artists.
Sage: Weirdo Dave.
Oh yeah, Weirdo Dave is one of my favorite artists ever. We can leave it to that. So you can make it Dash Snow and Weirdo Dave as my second.
"She cuts her fucking clitoris with a razor blade and shit"
Okay, so the very best film for me isn’t like a movie movie, it’s a documentary called Streetwise. It’s about Seattle street kids, I wasn’t able to rent that at the video store as a little kid and my momma let me rent it and I’d get it over and over, I fucking love that movie. That’s like my favorite fucking film. Then, there is a film called Rumble Fish, I really, really like Rumble Fish. Man, I really love movies and I’m definitely a kind of person who’d re-watch what I like and I don’t really let a whole lot of new in, as far as the movie category goes and I don’t see a whole lot of new stuff. I don’t know if that’s ignorant or smart. But Rumble Fish was just perfect when I saw it. I read the book before I saw it, not bragging, but I was a kid and it was cool to be able to see that the book started differently than the movie and it kinda ends differently and there’s different parts through it. That was one of those ones where you read something before the movie and get the realization. Then there is just a fucking bunch, I don’t know…
Streetwise, Rumble Fish… What movies am I going on about, Sage? I’m kinda brain–fucked on that one. “What movies you watch”. Well, I’ll tell you this, I gave you the two, when it comes to modern filmmakers no one beats goddamn Paul Thomas Anderson. He’s one of the gnarliest filmmakers, he fucking rules. I didn’t like his last film, I couldn’t stand Inherent Vice. I fucking couldn’t stand it. But, the man has made so much insane shit, it’s incredible. I mean, he’s so good. Who makes fucking Boogie Nights and There Will Be Blood. Then there is the Coen brothers that would give you something like Raising Arizona and then turn around and make No Country For Old Men which is fucking totally insane or Serious Man, that’s the most psycho movie, no one talks about that. Sage, have you ever seen The Piano Teacher? The fucking French film? Oooh boy, oh my god. The lady, the cutter, she cuts her fucking clitoris with a razor blade and shit. She’s a psycho chick and she’s getting taught how to play piano. Oh shit, it’s so insane… The Piano Teacher is super gnarly. Oh yeah – I’m in Paris. Motherfucking Irreversible, so good. Holy shit, that film’s the best.
[laughs] Sage, you name it. Uhm, number one, I hate that bias, but we’re here for one: Supreme.
[laughs] Okay, thank you. So, I like Dior, because the first thing that attracted me to Dior even when I was a kid is the “Di”, because they call me Dill. As far as advertising and all that goes, I always liked the way Céline ads look. They just look clean and they always seem to have something to it. I like what Humberto [Leon, ed.] did to Kenzo, he did a good job doing what he’s doing, because I’ve never seen the brand like that again. Then there’s certain things that you just can’t avoid there, certain brands that just do such a good job. I like how simple A.P.C. is, I didn’t really look at it for a long time, but I love what they do. I feel like nowadays I see big brands like Gucci, nothing I was like super fanned out at all on them before, but of course I respect it, but I’ve seen brands try to do a little skate thing and that’s fucking completely limpdicked, that fucking sucks like, whenever they try something skate, like what did we see recently, weren’t you with me Sage? Fucking Chanel or Gucci I think, the dude fucking riding down this weird, made–up hallway in short–shorts and Gucci loafers and he has super white chicken legs. Oh, that was horrible. Someone showed me that shit on their fucking iPhone.
Sage: Barneys just made shoes with duct tape on it and superglue.
Barneys? See, then it comes back to all fucking high fashion. That’s stupid. But yeah, I like a few things here and there.
I like Ted from Wtaps. Ted is sick, so I like Wtaps, it’s cool. He’s rad, I like a lot of Japanese stuff.
Okay, this is funny. So number one beyond shadow of a doubt and always will be and will never be replaced: Mark Gonzales. Just, Mark’s the best. And then in no particular order I would say: Sage Elsesser, dead honest. Not because he’s in the room. It’s funny, I’m jogging through my head right now. That’ a tough one man, it’s always a tough one. So Mark, Sage, Henry Sanchez… I mean, this thing’s shifted here and there throughout times all my lifetime, but I really know what I like because I’ve been around for some time and then you know exactly what you like. You remember exactly what you liked when you were young. Mark, Sage, Henry Sanchez, Grant Taylor for sure and Keenan Milton. That’s a fucking solid five right here! [laughs]
Ben: What about Gino? [Ianucci, ed.]
Yeah, Gino. Everybody’s favorite.
New York, Rotterdam, Paris, Tokyo and… [burps] Berlin’s pretty sick, Berlin’s epic.
"If my house was on fire I’d grab my penguin, because I have a penguin in my house"
Black! No wait, what? Five women, just five solid women?
Michelle and then Edith Piaf, Angela Davis, Mary Ellen Mark, how many’s that?
Benazir Bhutto.
Five favorite discotheques!
[laughs] This is fun, cause it’s the Germans [laughs].
Sage, what are five things you own that are worth less than five dollars? We could shift it. Well, it’s a tough one. I mean, I could say something stupid like my Penguin, but my Penguin’s worth way more than five bucks. Five things that mean something to me that are worth less than five dollars. Pictures would be one, photographs that I have taken. Why did they put the money thing on it, that’s a weird funny thing. I think they mean that though like pictures…
If my house was on fire I’d grab my penguin, because I have a penguin in my house. He’s a wooden penguin, but he’s kind of heavy though. And I’d grab my pictures, boxes of pictures I took over the years and then it wouldn’t matter. I’m really not too much of a possessions guy. Probably like whatever current loafers I’m wearing [laughs]. I have the things I like, but even the things I get in life that are cool, that I have, I don’t really treat them as if I don’t have them and I’m fucked. I don’t care too much about it.
I don’t drink booze anymore, but I sure love Jameson, that was my favorite. As far as beers and whatever go I was drinking Stella. I love PG Tips Tea and I love Coke with a meal, not on its own usually. With a meal it’s my favorite. Love a cream soda or a cherry 7up, love that shit. And then Perrier. If it’s not Perrier then any sort of bubbly water in glass – not in plastic.
Number one Richard Pryor, number two Eddie Murphy, number three George Carlin, number four Kurt Vonnegut, because I think he’d appreciate that. Then who else do I like that’s gotten to me that I really dig? Oh, Redd Foxx, he’s fantastic.
Oh, I love TV. I haven’t had a TV of my own for a long time, but I love it. Five favorite ever, what was the shit that I couldn’t miss? Uhmamamamam. This TV show in America, from when I was like nine on, it’s called Cops. Cops chased people and shit, they’d film it. I loved Cops, i watched so much Cops.
Yeah, a reality show, exactly! Bad Boys, Bad Boys, whatcha gonna do when they come for you. Loved, crazed on Cops. Good Times, big time. It’s a Black American television show that was from ’73 to ’80 I think. Then yeah, what was a cartoon I liked? I liked them. There was a cartoon called Duck Tales when I was a kid with Scrooge McDuck and his little nephews. You know Scrooge McDuck? He’s like Donald Duck, but he’s rich. He’s got the hat and he’s swimming in money. Well his nephews were caught with so much havoc. They always make a problem and the only solution will be something like a machine with that they can turn back time or something. I’d get so stressed out like fuck, they’re always fucking up and they’ll always have to get out of it. [laughs] One more? No two more. See, I love TV. I’m not one of those fuckers who’s like uh, I hate TV.
Sage: What’s the thing you said you watched, you saw New York for the first time?
Oh, that was a movie. That was The Rescuers. There was a Fisher–Price handheld thing and you’d put a cartridge in it and you could watch pieces of the movie, but yeah, that was a movie. But what great American television shows did I watch… The thing with American television growing up was there was better things than watching shows. If Michael Jackson was premiering a video on ABC that night, you were fucking there. If Jordan was playing you’d watch it and if Mike Tyson was fighting, you weren’t missing it. One of those three things, so yeah, a lot of my youth was spent watching Michael Jackson, Michael Jordan and Mike Tyson.
Trends? [laughs]
Ben: Is that like a sarcastic question?
[laughs] Number one, Ben Kadow, such a sick trend. So Ben Kadow is the answer to what’s the next trend. Is it favorite or new trends? Old ones, whatever?
I like the trend that there’s more and more Black skateboarders. That’s the best. I like the trend of, and this is honest, I like that, and this is talking from my age, I’m older, even if don’t like what someone’s doing I always appreciate when someone’s doing something different. There’s a mix of nic nac bullshit that I don’t even like, but they’re doing their thing. I don’t like the trend of people doing nic nac bullshit actually but maybe I’m not saying it right. I like that there’s so much, there’s a lot of diverse skateboarding. A trend that started at a certain point a few years ago and has turned into a whole thing now. I hate the trend to think that it’s okay to put out bad flatground though, that’s just fucking horrible. Like that seems to be pretty trendy. Okay, back to what I like. I don’t think there are trends, what trends are there, Sage? You guys are young, what’s the new thing?
"I can’t live with myself. I fucking hate myself cause I’m a fucking pain in the ass"
Well, that’s all Terp’s [Kevin Terpening, Ed.] fault. You’d better be complaining on Terp.
Ben: Trends don’t last too long…
I like that, I was skating and that fucking kid would come over to me, he was nine or ten and doing Frontside Slappies, I was like, that was sick, I’ve never seen a kid do a Frontside Slappy. As far as it goes though, I don’t know. I think that’s it for trends. Oh wait, there’s not enough toe cap. We need way more toe caps. [laughs]
Street foods, that’s some trend! That’s some hashtag, fucking hashtag foodcard shit. I’m none of a foodie. I just eat. My experience with street food is eating hot dogs in New York and pizza.
I liked that magazine when I was younger and it was around when I was a teenager and it was The Face, that magazine was sick. If I’d really go by magazines right now… Maybe porno mags?
[laughs] ’80s Penthouse, ’70s Penthouse, that’s two more. Omni, that’s gone now, it’s an old ’70s magazine and Cheri, ’70s era Cheri porno mags’ good.
My ex–girlfriend and fucking – the other ex–girlfriend [laughs]. Do you think they might’ve meant live without?
Alright, number one: bad music. And that means bad music that I determinate bad music. I can’t be around it, it’s really difficult for me. I can’t be around a certain level of ignorance. It just pulls my eyes out my sockets, like blatant ignorance. It’s really hard for me anywhere around, eventhough I’m sure I have done some ignorant shit in my life. Women who wear too much perfume, it fucking drives me fucking nuts. Oh and white people that say nigger, can’t live with that. Even if they think it’s cool with their friends ’n shit it’s still not cool. Am I missing another one? Maybe one more. I can’t live with myself. I fucking hate myself cause I’m a fucking pain in the ass.
Wow, Mark from Video Days is my favorite part, that hit me so hard when I was young. Henry Sanchez in Tim & Henry’s Pack of Lies. Neil Blender in Footage by G&S. Gino’s part in Trilogy and one last, Guy [Mariano, ed.] in Mouse.
Ah, I should be better at this. In general in life. Sources of inspiration would be… It’s hard to name a quick five. Supreme, one. Weirdo Dave, really. FA/Hockey team, big time. I guess two sources of inspiration I get would just be getting on and off these airplanes throughout the years, where I land and who I see, who I talk to and the things I find and that I take back with me. Just the day to day life of being someone of this age now and seeing what I’ve seen throughout these years and then now having my life in mind. I suppose, functioning in the modern world. You better get inspired by doing something.
Alright, right on David, thank you.
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