ASK EXENE—ANYTHING!
Exene Cervenka is a writer, visual artist and punk-rock pioneer. The OC transplant is also the lead singer for X, The Knitters and Original Sinners. Next month, we're launching her monthly column, Ask Exene, in which you can ask the legendary vocalist for advice—on your love life, politics, your musical career, Armageddon, filial relationships, anxiety over 2012, etc. How did this happen? Well, last year, we talked to Exene in her lovely home in Orange about her then-new album, The Excitement of Maybe. While there, she gave me—then a new mom of three months—excellent advice about motherhood and child-rearing (in truth, it was so real and exactly what I needed to hear that I almost wept). After I absorbed all of her wisdom, I told her, “You should do this for a living; you're so good at giving advice.”
She replied, “Yeah, I like helping people.”
So now, here it is. Ask for advice (or just say hi!) by sending an email to as******@oc******.com. We will not use your real name if you don’t want us to. Please note: By sending us email, you are giving OC Weekly permission to publish it. From a Jan. 20 Heard Mentality post.
WAYNE COYNE GETS, UH, STALKED BY OC “WEIRDOS”
A week ago, Flaming Lips lead singer Wayne Coyne tweeted, “Some weirdos just showed up on my porch. . . . They drove all the way from LA to bring me a birthday gift!!!” Those weirdos were newly formed Orange County band Hott Mt. Not only did the trio—Adam Ashe (formerly of Dahga Bloom), Nick Logie (of Telegram) and Ashleigh Allard—show up unexpectedly at Coyne’s Oklahoma City home on Jan. 13 to give him their EP, but also SPIN.com reported that the members got to sleep on Coyne’s couch and floor for four days—and record a song with him.
“We were certain that it would happen if not willingly, then by force. To kill or collaborate,” said Ashe. “The curse of [Majestic-12] guided us.”
On Jan. 21, Hott Mt’s song with Coyne surfaced online. “Never Hate Again” touches on the story of how the song/video came about: ”These guys were either going to kill me or record with me,” Coyne had said, and the lyrics reflect that. In the video, as he sings, “Why have you come for me/Is it your destiny?” lead singer Allard cradles a vulnerable Coyne while holding a gun and singing, “Kill or you kill me.” From Jan. 20 and 23 posts by Kacie Yoshida.
