Off The Beaten Track Interviews:

Alex Chilton profile coming soon.

Alex Chilton, 16 year old lead singer for The Box Tops, member of the groundbreaking 70’s band, Big Star and solo artist...tells his story.

This interview was recorded at The Channel in Boston, Massachusetts on September 20. 1987. The Channel and Alex Chilton helped to coordinate the interview, with consultation from the publicity department at Big Time Records.

Johnny Clegg was a multi-talented individual who spent most of his life fighting for human rights. HIs love of Zulu culture, music and dance started young. Born in England, at six months he moved with his mother to her native country, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and his parents divorced soon after. At six years old, he and his mother moved to Johannesburg. By 15, he got arrested for hanging out with Zulu migrants and musicians after curfew, a violation of apartheid era laws in South Africa. It wouldn’t be his last arrest. Shortly after, at around 16, he met Sipho Mchunu, a migrant Zulu worker and musician. They were kindred spirits. They got arrested together. A few times.

In 1969 they formed Juluka (pronounced Juluga) and set out to conquer the world. Which they actually did. Juluka was signed by Warner Brothers in the US and they garnered airplay and admiration from around the globe. Here was this band, performing a pop-infused hybrid of Zulu music, flaunting the hypocrisy of apartheid right in the face of the South African government...on a global scale. “Scatterlings Of Africa” was the best known song of the Juluka era. Warner Brothers released two Juluka albums in the United States, “Scatterlings” and “Stand Your Ground.” Michael interviewed Johnny Clegg for the “Scatterlings” release in 1982. This was years ahead of Paul Simon’s “Graceland.”

When Sipho Mchunu wanted to leave Juluka to return to his village and become a community elder, Johnny Clegg continued his musical pursuits and formed a new multi-racial band called Savuka. Savuka’s second album, “Shadow Man” was released in the late summer of 1988.

The Savuka song “Asimbonanga” (Mandela) from their first album, “Third World Child” always held special meaning for Clegg. It celebrated Nelson Mandela who served 27 years in prison for seditious activity against the South African government. Mandela was released from prison in 1989, and would become South Africa’s first black president in 1990. In 1999, Mandela joined Clegg on stage and danced to the music of “Asimbonanga” in celebration of all that had been accomplished in the lifelong fight for human rights and specifically against apartheid. It is a powerful full circle moment if ever there was one, captured in the faces of Clegg, his audience and Mandela. If you search, you can find it on line. It’s an amazing moment in time.

Johnny Clegg discusses his history and career, including that of being an academic. At the time of this interview, Clegg was pursuing his masters degree, but had temporarily put on hold his work on his thesis to tour the world with Savuka. His life truly was his work. Johnny Clegg was one of the artists Michael most admired in all of his interview subjects. Clegg repeatedly put his life on the line for the cause of human rights.

In 2015, Johnny Clegg was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He continued to tour, taking a forced break in 2017 for surgery related to his cancer. He resumed touring and played his last concert in 2018 and then retired. His death came on July 16, 2019.

This interview was recorded on August 30, 1988 at the Capitol Records offices in New York City. The interview was coordinated by Joan Myers, a Capitol Records publicist, who later formed her own, independent publicity firm, Myers Media.

Leonard Cohen definitely travelled to the beat of a different drummer. Montreal born. A poet. An international gadfly romantic. Michael was surprised he would be attending the New Music Seminar in New York City during the summer of 1988. It was purely for promotion and somehow seemed out of character for such a distinguished fellow as Leonard Cohen. It seemed beneath him, somehow.

Columbia Records had convinced Cohen he should attend. His album “I’m Your Man” had been released earlier in the year and it was doing ok, but Columbia was certain that this would be the break-through album for Leonard Cohen, if only he would do more press. Michael’s guess is he reluctantly agreed.

The night before this interview took place, Columbia Records threw a big press party at a large, industrial loft in lower Manhattan. They hired a DJ, ordered up a lot of food and drink and invited everybody attending NMS to come have some fun and schmooze with selected members of the Columbia/Epic Records roster! They ‘suggested’ Leonard Cohen ought to be there so he could ‘mingle.’ Amazingly, he obliged.

When Michael got to the party, he had his wife Sandy and his bandaged, seven year old daughter Missie with him. Missie was supposed to have stayed back in Vermont with her younger brother Tyler and their Grampa for a weekend at camp. As Sandy and Michael were getting ready to leave for New York, they got a frantic phone call from Grampa that Missie had been riding her bicycle on a gravel driveway and fell. She had landed face first and had several abrasions and embedded dirt in her face and needed medical attention. Grampa made the one hour trip from camp back to Central Vermont; Sandy and Michael took one look and off to the hospital they went.

The ER appointment took a couple of hours. Missie sat patiently as medical personnel swabbed her face with a mild, topical anesthetic. They used a toothbrush and solution to clean the dirt out of the facial abrasions. It looked very painful. Missie teared up a little, but she was a trooper. When the scrapes and cuts were clean, an ointment was applied and then she was bandaged with a partial face wrap. The dressing was to be changed and ointment reapplied each morning and evening for the next few days. Decision made. Missie would head to the New Music Seminar with Mom and Dad so Grampa wouldn’t have the burden of providing medical care twice a day.

When Michael, Sandy and Missie walked into that Columbia party, the vibe wasn’t good. The crowd was loud, the DJ was louder and the bass was cranked up to 10. The room absolutely throbbed with some disco-funk, synth-drenched rhythm! Upon a quick survey of the room, Michael spotted Leonard Cohen off to one side, dressed as Leonard Cohen dresses (what would one say, exactly, classy casual?), pressed pants, turtleneck and jacket, all black, sitting on a bench, looking bored out of his mind. Some people were dancing, some were eating and drinking while others seemed to wander aimlessly.

Missie wandered in Leonard’s direction and he took note almost immediately. He said something to her that Michael and Sandy could not hear...they could only see his lips moving. Missie promptly went over and sat with him. Michael turned to Sandy and said, “Don’t you wonder what they’re talking about?”  They chatted for about 15 minutes or so, totally oblivious to everyone and every thing going on in the room. Then, Missie got up, adjusted her bandages a bit, and headed back across the room to Mom and Dad.

“What did the two of you talk about?” “Oh, stuff,” Missie replied. 

“Do you know who that is?” 

“Some nice man all dressed up, I guess. He wanted to know what happened to me and did it hurt?”

“What did you tell him?”

“I told him it hurt when I did it and when I had to go to the hospital but that it was feeling better, now.”

“Anything else?”

“I told him I feel kind of dumb with this bandage on my head! He kinda laughed when I said that.”

“Anything else?”

“No. Just stuff.”

The next day, Michael made his way to The Essex House on Central Park South to rendezvous with Leonard Cohen for this interview. While setting up, Michael mentioned to Leonard that he and his daughter had quite the conversation at the party the night before. Leonard lit up, “Oh! That was your daughter? She was absolutely delightful! She certainly was the best thing about that party last night.” So there it is. The adventures of Leonard Cohen and Missie at the Columbia New Music Seminar party of 1988. To this day, Michael wonders...who got the better interview?

Oh, and by the way, “I’m Your Man” went on to become Leonard Cohen’s best-selling album up to that time. What a difference a party can make!

This interview was recorded during the New Music Seminar in New York City on July 19, 1988 at The Essex House Hotel on Central Park South. Sharon Weisz at W3 Public Relations coordinated the interview. Sharon Weisz was also responsible for the photo of Leonard Cohen holding a banana on the cover of “I’m Your Man.”