so, credit for this post goes to t. moffett for drawing attention to this dick cavett interview with updike and cheever. i can't embed, but do take a look. cheever's voice and demeanor is so classic and engaging that you can't help but wait for the camera to revisit him. it was taped less than a year before he passed away.
anyway, turns out the dick cavett show was sort of awesome. who knew? below is a selection of interviews, and i'm pulling these up after a cursory at best youtube search. all i know is suddenly, i'm like, a dick cavett fan.
this is video 1 of 4 - check them all out. cassavettes, falk and gazzara are "promoting" the brilliant film HUSBANDS (still frustratingly not on dvd). charming amateurish camera work aside, it's incredibly entertaining seeing these three ultra hip guys, giggling like idiots, goofing off and just having a good time being celebrated for doing what they love. gazzara rolls out with a lit cigar and a highball, falk waits a full minute before sitting down, cassavettes takes a pratfall when it hits a commerical break (and what a commercial break it is). who's got a match?
i don't think i've ever actually watched hendrix talk and i'm suprised by what an awkward, gentle demeanor he has. very humbly intelligent, and kind of comfortably lanky. I love the line "thats why we play so loud...to go inside the soul of the person." when he gets into "i don't really live on compliments" there are definite echoes of david byrne ("i try to write songs about small things, paper, animals, a house "). there are a lot version of this video so worth investigating further.
bowie, smiling deviantly and sniffing liking a banshee is quite dylanesque in his evasive answers, "what do you think i'm like?"
capote and groucho marx. "all of it libelous"
george harrison, ASP favorite beatle, is very witty ("yoko sat in that very chair" at 2:48), but also comes off as a very sensible person. and quite sad, re: liking talking: "sometimes, if there's something to say, but there's nothing to say these days."
zappa. total genius. no question. waltzes out cool ad a cucumber and proceeds to succinctly describe the history of punk, announce that all popular music trends have been the consequence of a popular clothing trend, recommend new wave and the record he just got by a band called the slits (per his suggestion, check out Bleeker Bobs), and provide his sociological take on the international popularity and uniformity of disco. absolute genius.
ali and frazier. cavett is agitatin'!
John Houston. The template for Daniel Plainview.
cavett found him.
last but not least, an obvious pick, but man oh man, it's impossible to like yoko. she's just so horrible. speaking at the wrong time. barely coherent. damn yoko. lennon, obviously, is a delight.
honestly, who cares about joaquin on letterman? this is real gold right here.
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Dick Cavette's show was amazing. i watched it all the time, and actually I think you can get his shows on dvd. My sister bought it for me a couple of years ago. Look out for it.
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