alice rutherford

Langhorne Slim comes from Langhorne, Pennsylvania, and used to share a label with the Fall and Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry. He speaks during a long late-night call from New York City.

So you’re Sean?
The name my mother gave me? Yes, I’m Sean.
You took the name of the town you’re from, much like Vito Corleone.
Yes, though he probably had to go through more than I did to do it, though. I just went right ahead and did it. Did he have to kill some people to do that? Or did he just do it?
His father Antonio Andolini was killed and Vito was forced to leave Sicily. He went to the United States and went into the oil business and came back as a Corleone to seek revenge for his father’s death and—
Never mind. I’ve seen them all a bunch of times. I know them by heart. For some reason I think you have, too. Why do I feel like I’m doing the interview?
Why did you take the name of your town?
From the time I was growing up here, I never really felt like I belonged here. I didn’t like it and I wanted to get out and I had a gang of male friends here and we had romantic ideas—not romantic sexually, but a romantic idea in my head about New York. My grandpa playing stick ball and all his friends had sweet nicknames for each other like ‘Whistle,’ and my grandfather’s nickname was ‘Jack,’ so I had this kinda idea about nicknames. It was about when I was a high school freshman or sophomore that I started getting into blues or soul, and I heard all these other guys had their own nicknames and Sean Skolnick is a fine enough name, I suppose, but I wanted my own nickname, dammit!
So no disrespect to mom.
My mom was kinda the only thing I liked about Langhorne. She gets a kick out of seeing it in the newspapers.
I heard you went to a creative arts high school.
No. I was asked to leave my first high school and I got into a hippie-arty type school in another city. This town of New Hope was filled with theatre types and gay dudes and bikers and dancers and artists. It was a very pretty place—I loved it. It allowed me to get through high school. I struggled my way through high school like most kids did. It was good at the time.
I thought you went to an arts high school so I had questions about Fame the movie versus Fame the TV show.
I’m sorry I didn’t go to a performing arts high school. I wish I had—I would have been a better dancer.
How old were when you heard Bob Dylan for the first time?
Probably in my mothers womb. I’ve been listening to him my whole life. When I realized that I liked him more than other guys on the radio was around nine or ten. And then in middle school I got into the people he was into and then the people that they were into.
Is Bob Dylan your hero?
He’s my favorite songwriter. People assume that I like him a lot, and they would be right! But there are other people that I like and admire that they would assume I liked or admired. Leonard Cohen’s Songs From A Room are a favorite. Bette Midler—
The Divine Miss M!
—Screaming Jay Hawkins, early Buzzcocks, Jimmie Rodgers, some Kinks, some Lionel Hampton.
Is that the microwave beeping? What are you cooking right now?
Broccoli and cheese, Stouffer’s style.
Have you ever tried Stouffer’s baked potato with cheese and broccoli?
Oh yeah, it’s so good. Stouffer’s is great. I like their lasagna too. I’ve heard that once you put the vegetables in the microwave it zaps all the nutrients out.
Once Stouffer’s pumped it full of hormones and put it in a frozen vacuum-sealed pack, all the nutrients were killed out of it. That broccoli was picked like a year ago.
That’s not true. I used to pick vegetables for Stouffer’s and we would put them right into a bag and send it straight to the cooks.
You picked vegetables for Stouffer’s?
Maybe. Would that make a more interesting interview?
Are you fucking with me?
Do you want me to fuck with you?
Maybe.
So the vegetables are full of hormones?
Full of hormones.

LANGHORNE SLIM PLAYS THURS., JULY 12, WITH ROCKY VOTOLATO AT THE TROUBADOUR, 9081 SANTA MONICA BLVD., HOLLYWOOD. 8 PM / $10-$12 / ALL AGES. WWW.TROUBADOUR.COM.

interview by ND