Interview: 2.7 Minutes with Conor Oberst
Wires Crossed and Missed Messages
The Shortest Interview Ever w/Bright Eyes Frontman Conor Oberst
June 16, 2001 at The Showbox in Seattle
By AmyLynnWow
So there I was, brazen, wanna-be rock journalist with no press credentials and no back stage pass – the bespectacled ogre of a bouncer informed me that she “Really didn’t give a fuck” that I was there to interview Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes. Yet, for some strange reason, she disappeared back stage and emerged a few minutes later with Conor in tow.
As it turned out, his label had been unable to get the message to him that I was coming. Looking like a deer in the headlights, he stared at his shoes and said softly that he wasn’t really up to an interview.
Conner Oberst: I just don’t feel like talking about music…
NadaMucho.com: We don’t have to talk about music; my questions are fun.
CO: Maybe we could hang out after the show or something. I really don’t feel like an interview.
NM: Are you sure? We could just sit around, smoke cigarettes, and talk. (A shy smile, ah the polite manner of the Midwest.)
CO: I’m sorry.
NM: That’s okay, your label put me on the guest list, and I really enjoyed your performance.
CO: Well, at least you got something out of it (under normal circumstances, this would be a rather smart-ass remark, but the look on his sweet, young face made it hard to take it that way).
NM: I am still planning to write a review of the show… it was great….
CO: Thank you – thanks for coming out…
Then he shook my hand, flashed me that heart-melting smile and walked away, out of my life forever. He was so polite, so sweet – I’m afraid I was at a loss with this one. I couldn’t even rely on my feminine wiles to coerce him into talking to me. All I wanted to do was put him in my pocket and carry him home – safe and sound, away from this cruel world.