June 2006 - Form Aimeemann.com

Shortly after the Forgotten Arm came out, the Mann list (a fan mailing list) sent a bunch of questions.

Q: The two characters in The Forgotten Arm are named John and Caroline. It’s impossible to hear those two names together without thinking of John and Caroline Kennedy. Is there any significance to these names? What inspired the relationship in The Forgotten Arm?

A: The names were accidental. I’d written a kind of a joke song for a friend and his name was John and then went on to use part of it as the basis for Dear John. Caroline was a name that just came up when writing that song, then later when I was putting the concept together, that name remained. The relationship for the FA is really the archetypical relationship that springs up between addict and anyone else. I knew lots of people who had addicts or alcoholics in their lives, and was close to a few addicts myself. Having it be a love relationship just makes it all more intense.

Q: Did you write the songs on the Forgotten Arm mostly on guitar or piano? What type(s) of guitar and piano do you use most often at home? What specific instruments (models) do you use on tour?

A: I only wrote 3 or 4 songs on piano the one we have at home is called a Wing otherwise, I use a Gibson J45 acoustic guitar.

Q: God is mentioned in the lyrics to “I Can’t Get My Head Around It” and you often use the phrase “God Bless” when addressing the audience in concert. Do you consider yourself a religious person? Do you consider yourself a spiritual person? What role, if any, does this play in your music?

A: Not religious I guess I believe in a higher power of some sort, but I don’t feel any pressure to figure out exactly what that is.

Q: You have performed a few songs over the years that have not been released. “Shut Up” is one that comes to mind. You must have several songs “in the vault”, so to speak. Will they ever see the light of day?

A: I could never come up with a chorus for “Shut Up”" I thought it needed some kind of change or lift before I recorded it. Sometimes I do go back to much older songs and finish them “Invisible Ink” was at least 10 years old when I finally wrote a chorus to it.

Q: Will we ever see an Acoustic Vaudeville live album? What about another AV tour?

A: The recording we did of the AV shows was technically very flawed don’t know about another Av tour it was a lot of work to get together.

Q: Besides boxing, what do you enjoy doing in your spare time?

A: Hanging out with my friends, watching Law and Order, reading, painting but boxing is the main thing.

Q: You once mentioned that if you were stranded on a desert island you would want a pad and paper so you could draw. One would infer that you enjoy drawing. Do you often draw, paint or engage in any other visual art?

A: I do some painting sometimes with friends, and my bass player Paul is an excellent cartoonist and we draw together sometimes.

Q: What one person or thing most inspired you to become a musician? What made you choose the bass as your instrument at Berklee?

A: I always wanted to play the bass I guess mostly my inspiration artist-wise has always been songwriters Elton John, Dylan, Springsteen. Springsteen and Bowie are the artists who made me want to be an artist myself.

Q: Is there anyone with whom you have not worked that you would like to record?

A: Not offhand I usually don’t get a yen to work with people until I’ve met them and we get along personally.

Q: We all love your solo work but there are also some great songs that you made with ‘Til Tuesday (e.g., Why Must I, Coming Up Close, Rip In Heaven). Is there a reason why you don’t perform these songs anymore?

A: Sometimes it’s that the song is hard to sing, or that I don’t think the audience will know it, or I can’t remember how it goes, or I don’t think it’s as good as more recent stuff.

Q: Would you consider doing an all request tour?

A: Only if the requests were made before the tour, so I could have time to figure out how to play songs I haven’t thought about in years. There are some songs I literally have forgotten. I’ve written I need a refresher on everything I play live or it’s pretty hopeless to try and remember a song under pressure.

Q: Do you like it when fans recognize you on the street and come up to you or does it make you uncomfortable? Do you have any amusing fan encounter stories you could share?

A: It only makes me uncomfortable if I feel like someone is expecting me to be a certain way or do something and I’m afraid I will disappoint them by just being normal.

Q: You and Clint Eastwood are my two favorite entertainers. You were both in attendance at the AFI Penn family award ceremony. Did you speak with him there? Any chance you will write some songs for one of his movies?

A: I might have met him briefly but I’m not sure I was too excited about seeing Peter Falk.

Q: Do you have any pets?

A: Yes, we have two cats.

Q: You look at least ten years younger than you are, even better than you did ten years ago. What is your secret?

A: Yay! It must be inherited from my father, he’s 82 and doesn’t have a single deep wrinkle on his face.

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