Jessica Pohl
Normally, I regard suggestions for interview topics submitted by managers or publicists with a certain amount of skepticism. It's my job, after all, to do the research and prepare interesting and revealing questions for my subjects. Having someone else put a hand on that rudder gives me pause. With outsider musician, puppeteer, actor and painter David Liebe Hart though, the preparatory notes in the email I received from Hart's manager/producer Jonah Mociun ahead of our scheduled discussion were downright charming in their absurdity.
“Almost any simple question can be good for David. Like ‘what's your favorite color and why,’ ‘what's your favorite plant/food/cartoon,’ ‘what are your feelings about animals.’” Mociun wrote, before letting me know that Hart “believes in almost any mythological creature, like mermaids, sasquatch, gnomes, etc.” Actually interviewing Hart would turn out to be a bit more difficult than these simple tips led me to believe, but more on that in a bit.
For those unaware, Hart, who performs at at Art In on Oct. 3, was something of an institution in the Los Angeles cable access television scene for decades as host of The Junior Christian Science Bible Lesson Program. Then Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim recruited him in 2007 as a loveable oddball for their deranged Adult Swim comedy series Awesome Show, Great Job!
To give you an idea of his general aesthetic, Hart's most famous bit from Awesome Show, the song "Salame," was a duet between the singer and a mottled puppet (a cat named Jason) on the topic of the Corinians, an alien race who say hello and goodbye with the same word: "Salame." The lyrics, when written out, are quite sweet, but the video, all bargain-basement special effects and that unforgettably care-worn puppet, has the unsubtle hallmarks of a fever dream.
I spoke with Hart by phone while he was on the road between Las Vegas and Salt Lake City, and the conversation careened all over the place, with Hart making sharp left turns at a moment's notice to tell me in depth about a fanny pack he lost, how much he loves hobby shops, and the trials and tribulations of dealing with ASCAP, among a great many other tangents.
Eventually, we got to those extraterrestrials. After explaining that aliens don't build spaceships any more (“they now primarily travel by out-of-body experiences”) Hart casually mentioned that Bigfoot was introduced to the planet Earth by having escaped from an alien spacecraft. I took the opportunity to make things locally topical and ask if Hart knew about any of Wisconsin's notable cryptozoological creatures, such as Rhinelander’s infamous Hodag. He said he did not, but added in the same breath that “there was some alien that would get other humans to eat each other,” and that “the Native Americans had problems with it.”
The amount of time Hart and I spent talking about aliens was equaled only by the amount of time we spent talking about trains. “My favorite trains used to run through Wisconsin,” he told me. “The Chicago North Shore Milwaukee railroad, the Chicago Northwestern and the Milwaukee Road.” Hart, who was born in the Chicago suburb of Park Forest, made a point of asking for anyone with photos of those trains to please bring them to the show.
Going to the show? David told me that some scary songs were likely on the setlist. “Ghost Frog,” for instance, is a slimy synth excursion eulogizing all the frogs and toads that are now ghosts, having been shot by the man who owned the building Hart lived in as a child. Another song about a frightful experience, titled “I Caught My Pecker in My Zipper,” is (perhaps unsurprisingly) autobiographical. “I have experienced that,” Hart told me. “I went to zip up my pants and realized that my zipper was caught on my penis. It stings like having a nail through your foot.” Okay, so maybe not exactly in the spirit of Halloween, but clearly a memorable show is in store.
Hart will be performing at Art In on Oct. 3 along with Chip The Black Boy, Whatever Your Heart Desires, and Madison bands Wood Chickens and Meat Jelly.
