Earlier this year, the Punk Rock Museum in Las Vegas did a pop-up tribute to someone who was an integral part of the Vegas scene, Emily Matview.
Seeing all of my Nevadan friends out at the event, sharing stories and paying tribute to Em, caused me to start reminiscing on all of the conversations Emily and I used to have together.
After looking through old texts joking with one another, I decided to open my messenger app and pulled up our old chat history. I have done this from time to time since her passing so that I could be reminded of all of the great/hilarious things we used to send each other. The most recent couple of posts were a running gag we had where sometimes if we heard Mark Morrison’s “Return of The Mack” out in the wild, we would record a video and send it to one another. About once a year, I’ll still send a video if I hear those smooth vocals in public… just for old times’ sake.
Various other hilarious conversations scrolled across my screen as I cycled through the text. Discussions of things we though were funny “wemes” (a term she coined for things that were not necessarily full blown memes, but were funny little things that were still worth sharing), brunch plans, trying to coordinate meeting up at shows/festivals, etc.
Then I found something I had totally forgot that we had done: an entire interview!
Back in 2018, I pitched an idea to Bad Copy’s fearless leader, Kendra, to do an interview series where I interview one person from every state who is an integral part of the DIY Punk community. I thought it was a cool idea and Kendra agreed, so I got to work. Em was the first person I thought of, so I hit her up. We were hanging with a bunch of our other SoCal and Vegas friends at Disneyland when I pitched the idea (I am just now remembering that it was while we were in line for Star Tours). She was super into it! Once we all got back to our respective homes, I conducted the interview itself with her… and then I never did anything with it. My ADHD brain is all over the place and my idea kinda just fizzled out after moving onto the next hyper fixation. The message made its way to recesses of Facebook messenger and was totally forgotten about. UNTIL NOW!
I am glad to let some of Em’s wisdom regarding books, music, comics and 90s one hit wonders be released one last time.
Interview
What’s your favorite book?
This is the hardest question to ask a librarian! It’s like asking a parent to pick their favorite kid (or so I imagine). At the top there’s Kavalier and Clay, Y the Last Man, Asterios Polyp, The Master and Margarita… so many. But for number one? I have to go with the one tattooed on my arm, Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut.
Is there any sorting system you can use for both books and socks?
Sometimes, at the end up of the week, my floor has used sock and read books strewn about, so the Emily method? Also known as the “my life’s too busy” method haha. But since I organize my books by author’s last name the same could be done with socks. Fruit of the Loom before Hanes, a good motto for the organizationally obsessed.
If you ran a library in Appalachia, would you use the Mountain Dewey Decimal System?
Mountain Dew is a gateway drug to flaming Hot Cheetos, and I don’t want anyone’s cheesy fingerprints on my books!
Why did Mark Morrison call his number one hit jam “Return of The Mack” and not “Return of The Mark”?
When I was younger, I thought it was a translation issue (because he’s from Germany) haha. Looking back on it, that young rational makes zero sense. But that’s what we had to do when our only internet access was AOL (as far as I know, there was no “keyword: The Mack”).
My new headcannon is that the lie in “you liiiiieeeeed to me” is him, Morrison, being The Mark and not The Mack.
What was your AIM username?
I went through so many! For a long time it was Marvel characters with “225” at the end – Cyclops225, Spidey225, etc. My last existing one was KeepNeverChanging, after the Movielife song. I’m really glad AIM is dead because I’m sure the away message I turned on 16 years ago is some very melodramatic emo lyric that no one needs to read.
Favorite non Marvel series (other than Y The Last Man)?
I’m a really big fan of Jason Aaron’s “Scalped.” It’s like “The Wire” but on a Native American reservation. Aaron does that same thing they do in The Wire, where he keeps pulling back the lens and fleshing out the characters and their world, so even the bad guys, you can kind of see where they are coming from. Superhero-wise, DC’s Starman. The 1990s Jack Knight Starman series by James Robinson and Tony Harris (hey, another tattoo I have). It’s a really well told story about legacy, living up to expectations, the effects the past has on our future and making our own destinies.
Is Alan Moore a weme? Or is he a full blown meme?
(For the uneducated, a weme is a tiny meme).
Haha! I think his snake god is a weme. And making Marvel put “the Original Author” on those Miracle Man trades is a weme. But I can’t hate on Alan Moore too much. He’s put out so many comics I love and I do respect that he put his money where his mouth is, i.e. giving away all the adaption money of his work to his artists. I remember reading an interview where he said that when he made that promise that he didn’t expect everything he ever wrote to get optioned and that giving away the check is still hard.
How long has Punks in Vegas been going, and why is the scene out there so dope?
PIV just passed 7 years! Thank you!
The Vegas scene is smaller than a lot of scenes in comparable cities, and the city makes it very hard to keep all ages venues open (there are a lot of rules about how close you can be to a store that sells liquor, and every store sells liquor 24/7 out here). So that’s brought musicians/music fans together in a unique way. Ska, punk, hardcore, indie, hip pop, ect – everyone is so supportive of each other. It’s really cool how that worked out.
It’s also a lot harder to get noticed in Vegas – you’re either playing a small bar or a stadium, there’s very little in between anymore to foster mid-level venues. So bands really have to bust their asses and be the best they can be to get an audience.
Is there a dramatic Peter Parker-esque origin story to PIV?
Don’t you know, I was bitten by a radioactive blog! If only I made the show guide sooner, Uncle Ben would’ve been at a Direct Hit! show instead of home when that burglar attacked…
PIV spun (get it, like webs?) out of a grad school project. I studied library science and for one of my electives I took a web design class. I’ve always been interested in web design. I made a few low key pages when I was a kid, about Spider-Man and Saves the Day and whatever else I was interested in. I made a Vegas show guide as my project in that class. After I graduated I found myself with free time for the first time, well the first time ever.
I was going to a lot of shows that were amazing… but no one was attending. At the same time, I was talking to bands (mostly online) who wouldn’t play Vegas because they heard the scene was lousy, that no one attended shows, that it wasn’t worth their time. So I decided to expand the show guide to feature reviews and photos of the shows I was attending, to try and get more people interested in the kind of music I’m into and hopefully get more people out to the show.
FINAL QUESTION: BOGGLE OR YAHTZEE?
Boggle, but only if I’m playing against Peggy Hill!
Bye-bye for now and remember to party forever!
Party on, dude! Come play a show in Vegas so we can film a session!
(The next several messages were Em and I trying to coordinate a Punks In Vegas Stripped Down Session for my old band, Ash Williams. We were never ever able to make it work out with our schedules. I regret that to this day.)
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