Terry Gross

It's a pleasure to talk with you again.

Thanks, Terry.

Was your mother at all like the Frances McDormand character and how unusual she was and how opposed to rock and roll?

Even Simon and Garfunkel, who she probably hadn't even heard yet.

I'm just going to interrupt by saying your mother died, I think it was last year.

2019, yeah.

Yeah, so I didn't mean to interrupt, except I just wanted to express my condolences.

With a mother who was so controlling in terms of like food and vehicles and not even listening to rock and roll, which was kind of banned in your house, you had to sneak it in.

How did you manage to get away at the age of 15 and start going on the road with bands so that you can write cover stories about them?

Don't take drugs is like the refrain of the movie, like your mother's always calling.

Anytime you call her, it's like, don't take drugs.

Oh, you had to stay smart.

Yeah.

Did you end up taking drugs?

I'm sure you offered them all the time.

Was the writer aspect of being a music writer what your mother approved of because that is a more intellectual pursuit?

I think she's also right of being like a sneering song about middle-aged women.

The first concerts you went to, including a Bob Dylan concert very early in his career, you went to with your mother.

Yeah.

That could be a very wonderful or a very embarrassing experience with both mother and child being uncomfortable.