The wisdom of the wild - singer-actress Sandra Bernhard - Interview

It's happening again. A time when boundaries are being broken right and left. About time that happened again. About time breaking down the patterns became more cheered than acts of conforming to them. About time success for the sake of it became less important than content. About time those who really have something to say get the hearing they deserve. There will always be those who are unafraid to take the stage and show that talent is something that can never be tamed. And there will always be those who pigeonhole them as wild. Well, the way we see it, what some call wild we call the wisdom of the wild--wisdom because to let out what's inside is the way to individual freedom. It's also a way to break down the boundaries between us all by getting what's inside us all out in the open. That's why, in this special feature on the wisdom of the wild, we decided to really let loose with a story that runs twelve pages and includes up-to-the-minute interviews with, and photographs of, three entertainers who are incontrovertibly about breaking boundaries. Starting with Sandra Bernhard, an actress, comedienne, performance artist, and singer who has freed herself from traditional show-biz confines and who also has a new album, aptly titled Excuses for Bad Behavior, Part One, coming out this month. The subject of our second story, Little Richard, helped to pioneer the rock 'n' roll revolution of the 1950s. Still on the loose at sixty-one, the rocker who was once considered off his rocker continues to cross the lines of sexual, racial, and even musical stereotypes--and to break boundaries as a performer who is so far out, it seems he's still years ahead of everyone else. And finally, we've added a little finale about another singer who, like Little Richard, also has Little in his name, and whose one-of-a-kind talent is so big we're predicting that the whole world will soon be getting wise to him. All we can say is, it's about time.

Sandra Bernhard wants to talk about music. Her new album, Excuses for Bad Behavior, Part One (Epic/550 Music), is being released this month, and it is full of her wry but heartfelt musical take on past hits and contemporary culture. Upon Bernhard's request, we asked fellow woman in song and passion, Tori Amos, to interview the outspoken actress-singer-all-around-pop-icon. Amos, whose second album, Under the Pink (Atlantic), has just gone platinum, once sang backup on Bernhard's Without You I'm Nothing album and was eager to hook up with her old pal again. The two met over mint tea and iced coffee recently at Tea & Sympathy in Manhattan. P.G.

TORI AMOS: Thank you for having me do this. I've never done this before but I'm gonna try and do a good job.

SANDRA BERNHARD: It'll just be like a really easy talk.

TA: I love your new record.

SB: Do you? I'm really glad.

TA: I think you should sell crystal suppositories with it.

SB: [laughs] That's a brilliant idea. I love that.

TA: When I listen to this thing, what keeps coming back to me is that you're one of the few people who talks about the stuff that's really going on inside. You uncover feelings that we hide from ourselves. None of that "just love everybody no matter what you're feeling" stuff has worked for me. I mean, I think there are moments when some of those New Age tapes can help. But what kind of tape am I going to listen to when I want to fuck some guy, but I'm not supposed to fuck him because I'm supposed to be fucking another guy? But you're one person who talks about real feelings. I love your "Sympathy for the Devil," by the way.

SB: Well, you know, the Stones have always evoked that kind of '60s and '70s sexual awakening, and it just seemed more interesting to me to interpret it as a kind of sexual ballad.

TA: You're Jewish, right?

SB: Right.

TA: I don't know many Jewish people who really talk about Jesus a lot the way you do.

SB: Well, I'm sure that Jesus was an incredible person, you know? He must have been really something.

TA: Who knows, maybe you were there. Who knows--you might have blown him! [laughs] I don't really doubt it.

SB: [laughs] I'm sure we crossed paths on the rocky roads to crucifixions. But you know, it's always stuck out in my mind that you're never really part of America unless you landed at Plymouth Rock. You're almost always a visitor here. As much as I love America, as much as I feel American, there's still that constant fear that you don't really belong.

TA: Well, I think if you have big lips, you certainly don't belong in this country.

SB: Well, I certainly didn't belong when I was in high school. Now people are trying to buy lips.

TA: Yeah, but I hate that. I don't think it's fair that these girls can go buy lips. I mean, I had my lips when I was nine, and boys called me "bubble lips," and they didn't know what lips could do. The thing that kills me is that these girls who can buy lips never had to go through being nine years old and--

SB: Exactly. That's what I'm saying. They never had to pay the price of alienation.

TA: That's right. They have no right to have those lips.