The Boston Globe
March 27, 1997
Hitchcock With A Twisted View
by Jim Sullivan
What do David Byrne and Robyn Hitchcock have in common?
They're both lean, lanky 40-something singer-songwriters with skewed visions of the world. Both have been -- or in Hitch's case will be -- the subject of a concert film by Jonathan Demme. Byrne's moment came with Stop Making Sense when he fronted Talking Heads and the movie helped break the band into the mainstream.
Hitchcock, the Brit whose Psychedelic Pop songs have enticed us for years (as a Soft Boy, Egyptian or solo), likes playing these parts and last weekend he played at TT The Bear's. He chatted with us pre-set Friday.
Storefront Hitchcock, filmed in December by Demme as Hitchcock played in a New York department store window, will be released this fall. The difference between the Heads and Hitch?
"It's a big difference 'cause there's only one of me," says Hitchcock. Rest assured, the movie will not be your typical Rock concert film, given both Demme's views (he's got one of the best ears in film for Rock music and its placement) and Hitchcock's basic take on Rock stars. "I've always seen Rock singers as stupid, pompous creatures," he says. In America, though, "Music and humor don't mix much. People distrust you if you don't strike a pose."
As to the movie, Hitchock says, "I just get up there on stage and babble, as is my wont, and between that I sing and play my guitar. But what he's done with it is -- it's a bit spooky." Hitchcock's set Friday was a charmer. You simply had to suspend your normal beliefs about logic and linearity. Or, maybe, stop making sense.
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