'House of Cards'; 'Ghostbusters'; Julia Wolfe's 'Anthracite Fields'

I did not want to be this city slicker. And in the end we felt this connection. There was a beautiful moment when two of the people I interviewed came to Philadelphia to hear the premiere. They were very moved by it. They understood what I was doing and it was very gratifying to know that it spoke to them. There was some sense they had that this was remembering a life they had lived, and that was important to them.

In a certain sense I think what I aim to do is capture the sound that represents something visual — being very deep down in the ground in complete darkness. Actually, on some of the tours, the tour guides would say: "Do you want to see how dark it can really be?" And they'd turn off the exit lights and it's completely dark. 



Well, what does that image sound like to me? The double bass is playing the lowest open string, which is an amazing, rich, reedy sound. And Mark Stewart on the electric guitar is using a kitchen whisk. He takes the handle and he's actually scrubbing the electric guitar, also in a low register, with a lot of reverb. So you get this really wooly kind of sound. You get this sense of depth and resonance.

You're in a deep, dark place, sonically and visually.

Yeah, and I'm really interested in these kinds of histories. I went to college thinking I was going to study social sciences. I took classes on American labor history. Accidentally I wound up in a music class and that was it. But it's a kind of return to this interest I've always had. And I'm particularly interested in looking at history through other lenses than, say, the mainstream textbook.

Well oddly enough, yeah. And I think that because of my early interests in labor history, but also early creative work with texts and writing — writing with words — I certainly think extra-musically. That exposure to interesting thinkers and interesting courses was a great experience. It's in the music. I think everything that an artist does or lives comes into the music, whether it's perceivable or not. It's part of the creative process.

Yes! They do. It was really fascinating to come across this list of names, the Pennsylvania Index of Mining Accidents. I thought, Oh my God, it's so long. I couldn't possibly list all the names. So I started to whittle it down to the [victims named John] with one-syllable last names. And later in the piece you can very clearly hear the ethnicity in the names. When I coached the choirs in singing it, I said, "It's a list of names, it's just a list. But it's someone's father, someone's brother, someone's uncle." So there's a kind of passionate, emphatic quality to the way I've thought about it. 

Oh, absolutely. And also, in a certain sense, work is work. I think I have a quite luxurious existence because I'm not underground. But that said, we're all laborers, and it was really fascinating to connect to the people in this anthracite coal region. I made a very clear effort to let them know I'm from this small town in Pennsylvania, even though I'm a New Yorker! 

I do. And this is a very interesting subject because it's complex. I think one of the things I wanted to reveal or focus on is that it's not so black-and-white. There are very clear issues that are important to me, like child labor, or even compensation for any labor. At the same time, we are a part of this conversation. I wanted to make it so that it's not just a little history about those people over there. It's actually all of us who live in comfort and use energy. In the end I felt like I had to look at that as well, just by the last movement — again, it's another list. But it's a list of all the things that we do every day that use energy. 

Essentially, in the same way as "Star Wars: The Force Awakens." It looks like almost a prototype of the original "Ghostbusters" movie — the way the black cast member, Leslie Jones in this case, shows up halfway through the movie. It's following the form set by the first movies, so I think that will cater to those who are familiar with that material and those who aren't. What I noticed was there's a very nice sheen to this, it looks very slick. I know a lot of the movie was filmed in Boston. 



I feel like they're definitely looking to engage kids with this movie as much as the fan boys, which is a good thing because I want this movie to be popular. I think it's lacking a certain edge of the first movie in some of the grit in New York City, which makes sense, too, because this place has been totally transformed into this family-friendly Disneyland, gentrification, aristocratic-haven sort of thing. It's keeping with the times, John. 

I haven't seen them do huge starring roles before in movies, but they shine so strongly on "Saturday Night Live." I think it's going to be a really good moment for them, especially Leslie Jones ... I think some people aren't aware of this, but she's in her late 40s, despite being a brand new addition to SNL. I think it's been a long time coming for her, so it's going to be be really exciting to see her shine. The funniest moment in the trailer is when Leslie Jones literally slaps a ghost out of Melissa McCarthy and then just slaps her once again for good measure. That literally is a perfect preview where Leslie Jones is bound to steal the show. 

We know for a fact that the President and First Lady have watched the show and are fans because they’ve tweeted about it and asked for copies. So, that’s pretty flattering. It’s also surreal to think that someone who has the fate of the free world in their hands is spending any amount of time watching television. But, from all accounts, they’re television fans. They watch a lot of shows and ours happens to be one among them.

I have never once sat down at this desk to either think or to write a scene, because I feel like writing is narcissistic enough act as it is. And to place oneself at the president’s chair in the act of it would just be beyond the pale. So we have a great deal of respect for the president’s chair and his desk and he’s the only one that gets to sit in it.

I definitely don’t try to tune it out. We live in the real world and it’s the real world we’re trying to reflect ... But one thing we definitely don’t do is try to have a political agenda. The characters in our show — the protagonists — are completely non-ideological. They lust for power but not for a paradigm, as it were. So while they may address or take on certain causes, they’re usually doing it in a self-serving way, not because it’s rooted to a belief system. Their belief system is themselves.

Sure, I guess to a degree. I can only draw from what I know and then what I learn and other people have told me. My experience in those campaigns was very low level. I mean, I was an advance guy, I was in the trenches. I didn’t have access to the inner sanctum. I had friends like Jay Carson, who is a political consultant for our show who was working in the inner sanctum, and I heard a lot anecdotally from him and every once in a while [he] got to be a fly on the wall for some of those inner sanctum gatherings. But, let me be clear in saying that I don’t think “House of Cards” is a reflection of all of D.C. We’re not trying to say that this is the way Washington, D.C. is. We’re taking a very specific sliver and exaggerating it to tell the story of these larger than life characters, Frank and Claire Underwood, who lust for power on an epic scale.

Sure, it’s relevant in the sense that there would be a certain alignment with what’s going on in the fictional world and what’s going on in the real one. Again, I wouldn’t presume to say that whatever’s going on in our story — whatever that story for season four may be — should be taken as a direct parallel or a commentary on what’s happening around us. But one can’t help from the impulse to draw parallels, right? So, you know, it’s impossible to say where we in the real world will be. I mean, the only thing I’ve really learned about politics — after this many years of being engaged with it — is that it’s impossible to predict anything. Right now we have a reality show star leading the Republican pack. I mean, who could have ever predicted that? Consistently, truth tends to be stranger than fiction.