New York Magazine‘s interview with lifelong friends (but not lovers?) Julianna Hatfield and Evan Dando has some sad details in it, especially if you were part of the Sassy/Spin Magazine set that grew up worshiping one or both. The writer, who describes both as still pretty, but still damaged, mentions that Hatfield had considered quitting live performance, but that playing with Dando has given them a reason to hang out. You also get the sense that Hatfield is taking care of Dando, since, as she describes it, he’s living in squalor. When the writer finally gets a peek at Dando’s apartment in New York’s financial district, she finds “… a charred tablespoon; a copy of Aleister Crowley’s Diary Of A Drug Fiend; a Polaroid of Dando and his ethereally blonde estranged wife, Elizabeth Moses; a pile of plastic bags filled with substances…” all on the coffee table. They’re all sitting next to a chunk of the World Trade Center that he retrieved from the site. And, since Dando lives very close to the WTC, he’s got a theory about what happened too:
“I shouldn’t get into it, because I’m not a political person, but they were blown up by bombs. They were not taken out by those airplanes. Those fires were going out and then the buildings blew up. What I saw and heard that day was a crime, and not by the people they’re saying. That’s all I’ll say. I’m worried about our country. But then again I’ve been worried about America my entire life.”
After this, Hatfield tries to get everyone out of the apartment, perhaps to protect the writer from Dando, or Dando from the writer. So we don’t get any followup to his conspiracy theory. It’s a commonly-held conspiracy theory, and while it’s interesting that Dando, with his last comment, doesn’t seem to tie it to any particular administration, his drug use doesn’t inspire confidence either.
You Might Also Like
 SXSW 2010: The Wrap Up |  Lemonheads & Liv Tyler Cover Leonard Cohen (Stereogum… |  Liv Tyler, Kate Moss Guest On Lemonheads’ Covers LP For… |  New Old Lemondheads Video – “Alison’s Starting To Happen”… |
 |
 |
NO WAY! A freaky, paranoid drug addict? Now I’ve seen it all…
Seriously, remember how cute we all thought it was that Dando was such a sweet, lovable stoner in the Lemonheads days? Not so cute now…
Conspiracy theory aside, it’s really depressing to read that Dando is a still a junkie. He’s an amazing talent.
Seriously, I remember reading an interview with him about a decade ago that was just as sad. Something about plastering his booze in a wall and subsequently two days later ripping the wall apart trying to find it.
If dude was able to stay sober for a long period of time I’m sure his career would have gone much differently; dude is way talented.
Cosign all over these comments. Reading this interview makes me feel bad that my favorite Lemonheads song is still My Drug Buddy. I can’t help it, it’s so strangely peaceful though.
it’s sadder to me that someone makes an cruel assumption based on a few words written by a writer who is merely seeking to gain some for of notoriety by making broad assumptions about what they’ve heard in the past………………………………………………………………….
*form
I missed one letter…..
It’s easy to bash alternative views concerning 9/11 when we debate physics. It’s an argument that can’t be won by the public because most of us are not architects. To prove the need for a new investigation into the attacks, simply research the failed 9/11 Commission. There has yet to be a legitimate, bipartisan, properly-funded inquiry into what happened. Search Google video/YouTube for “Press for Truth” , a 2006 documentary endorsed by the victims’ families detailing their struggle for a real investigation.
Oh, Jesus Christ.
I checked out Evan & Juliana’s Mercury Lounge performance the night of Lizzie doing this Q&A. E&J sounded (and yes, looked) great, but I was not super happy about the setlist (nothing from Only Everything).
As Juliana & Evan took the stage:
WOMAN: She looks too thin.
ME: She was hospitalized for an eating disorder, you know. I’m sure it’s a struggle.
WOMAN: I know. I’m Evan’s mom.
She gave me her card. Nice lady. She sells real estate in Rhode Island if anyone’s in the market.
Oh, and a week later at the Marnie Stern show I was talking to someone who had never heard of Juliana Hatfield. Is that a people-under-thirty thing?
I can’t recall, but were there any Juliana Hatfield songs on the recent Pitchfork list of the 200 top songs from the 1990s? I forget the particulars, but it seemed like they passed over a lot of the My-So-Called-Life soundtrack stuff to put more praise on Aphex Twin. If the dust is already settling on the 90s alternative scene, and websites like Pitchfork are deciding who really “mattered,” someone needs to preserve these bands’ stories! Quick, someone write A People’s History of College Radio, so that the Juliana Hatfields, Mark Mulcahys, and Kristen Hershes can get their due!
RE: People-under-thirty thing–Yes.
RE: People-under-thirty-thing-No. I’m under thirty and I know who she is/have heard her music. Then again, I just hit the wrong side of twenty, so maybe I don’t count.
From the reading/videos to which I’ve been exposed, I’m quite willing to agree with his 911 comments. I mean, we have a long history of creating reasons (or allowing things to happen) to go to war for financial gain. But of course it’s sad to hear about his out-of-controlish drug use. Hopefully people won’t equate anything that comes out of his mouth these days as paranoid or ridiculous, because his 911 comments are neither.
It’s a shame about Evan Dando…great talent slipping away.
A shame on a much bigger scale is the fact that WTC building 7 was demolished to the ground the day of 9/11 and the only media and public figures trying to bring attention to it are what most people would consider conspircay theorists and left wing nuts.
I am not a conspiracy theorist, I’m not going to claim that I know who was responsible for it. I’ll buy the idea that a plane flying into a modern steel skyscraper can eventually bring the building down, like what happened to the two towers. No plane flew into building 7…it was hardly damaged, compared to neighboring buildings that stayed standing. Any sane person can look at the facts and see for themselves…it seems the people that can really help bring light to this are afraid of the possible political repercussions. Our history was hijacked.
I am in no way affiliated with this video but it points out a lot:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEuJimaumW4
Everything on the block, all the WTC buildings, were irreparably damaged. Everything left standing had to be torn down. 7 went down that day because a faulty sprinkler system failed to put out the fires in the building.
Moe Tucker a teabagger.
Evan Dando a truther.
Life is sad right about now.
A long time ago, I remember watching a YouTube video of the truther conspiracy and it was so well put together that I couldn’t stop thinking about the “what ifs” for days… then I came back to my senses. Don’t mention it to me unless someone can put something together that is not based on paranoia and backed by some relatively substantial evidence.
Here’s your “relatively substantial evidence”, Bambi:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i–QveyDs4Q&feature=related
I love the use of the word “truther”, boy isn’t it great how anything including the truth can put into a neat government packaged-now-I-don’t-have-to-bother-thinking-for-myself-little box. it’s just those craaaaaazy truthers, don’t pay’em any mind. I’m not so sure that a building (wtc7) holding important govt files that wasn’t hit by anything but dramatically comes tumbling down in a heap qualifies as “relatively substantial evidence”. anything could have happened, yes, but c’mon now, something’s a little amiss with the “official story”.
Sending Dando love. As far as his comments about 9/11, couldn’t agree more. It’s like, come on, look at the both sides and make up your own mind – what benefits big corporations more than war? Why would big corporations have any other agenda than more benefits for themselves? How would they ever have become big corporations, unless they had this agenda? Are they not in control of America, and the third world? LOL, I’m from Europe and living in the US, have met Americans who consider that the world is divided into two: America and the Third World. Anyhow, the best we can do I think is to not volunteer our personal power and minds to anything we don’t trust 100%.
Actually, the world is divided into China and places that owe money to China.
Agreed….