PLUME: Has there ever been a difficulty for you in turning down work?
MORANIS: Sure. It’s not always easy to turn down work. Some of the work I’ve turned down has had qualities to it that have been very appealing, but in the end, for various reasons, I’ve chose not to do it.
PLUME: Now that the album is out there, and you’re still writing, does this set a path for what is coming up in the near future?
MORANIS: Well, right now, since the album’s been out about three weeks, this whole thing has sort of surprised me. I’ve never been good at remembering that there are consequences to actions. So I didn’t anticipate that once it was finished and out there that I would actually… especially in this new wired, webbed world we’re in… it’s been a long time since I did this kind of thing, and I’m really surprised by how quickly the word is spreading and how many requests I’m getting to talk to people about it. And so I’ve been consumed by that and have found it really interesting and enjoyable because it’s a different world out there from the last time I did this kind of thing.
PLUME: A better world? Or just different?
MORANIS: Um, I’m not sure. In some ways better, in some ways not. Radio, for example, has changed. It’s much more talk-centric than music-centric. And there are further ends on the spectrum now. There are some terrific broadcasters doing some really interesting talk, and then it seems that there are way too many towns that have morning zoo type of formats with pretty inane stuff going on.
PLUME: Has there been any response to the album that’s taken you completely by surprise?
MORANIS: Actually, what surprised me more than the response to the album is how I felt about the response to the album. I think that in the past I was so busy working that there was a disconnect between me and the audience. That I was busy with the product, busy with promoting the product for a studio or whomever, and that I was just part of a machine – and though people would recognize me and say that they liked something, there… they all seemed too anonymous and… and I didn’t feel connected to them. Whereas with this thing… I’ve spoken – for example, this morning I spoke to a small country station in Pennsylvania, and the deejay played the song and the caller called in and it was a very satisfying feeling to hear the caller respond to the song. I felt genuine pleasure and connection with that listener.
PLUME: You have a website. Is exploring that kind of interaction over the web something that appeals to you, as far as developing the website in the future?
MORANIS: Well, I think those are two different questions. I may develop the website in the future to do other things. But I still think that inviting participation on a website can be precarious. At this point. There are a lot of people still out there that don’t know how to do the right thing.
PLUME: As far as personal interaction?
MORANIS: Yeah.
PLUME: Is that an avenue that ever appealed to you? Is that something that can be protected against?
MORANIS: In what way?
PLUME: You talk about the personal interaction. Is that something that appeals to you, a cyber version of when you were a deejay?
MORANIS: No, I was just talking generally in the feeling of putting this product out at this point and getting the feedback, that just being at a different place in my life than I was when I was very actively developing my career and my name back when I was much younger and a little bit greener at these things. It felt different to me. But I don’t know where that leads in terms of developing personal relationships with individual members of an audience.
PLUME: What’s the next project? Further writing?
MORANIS: No, I’m just sort of writing the same general stuff that I have been on and off for a while. And beyond that I haven’t really thought about anything else or have been asked to do anything else. I’ve still got one of my kids in the house, so that’s my big project.
PLUME: Any further conversations with Dave about the animated series, or is that in a holding pattern at this point?
MORANIS: I don’t know. It’s not something we talk about on a daily basis. I think he’s still trying to get it going. He’s trying to get a lot of his own things going. So I really am not that plugged into that. And as I said, the last couple of weeks I’ve been busy talking to a lot of people about this album.
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