Ask Ray

120. Why do all Dutchies lie like van der Stolps?
Thwipp, Planet Lovetron, United States

Because an interesting lie is better than an uninteresting truth. As Michael Corner once said, 'Better tell ten things which are interesting, some of which prove to be false, than ten things which are true, none of which prove to be interesting.' But what you said might be a crass generalization. I don't want to come off as an Honest Joe at all, but just the other day my long-time friend the filmmaker Olav van Weerden was saying about me to his friends in a bar, 'Ray is as honest as gold.' I'd love to be like one of those artists who 'lies the truth' and uses the truth as a springboard to create some sort of super-reality. But the truth is that I'm mostly a hundred percent truthful, often to my own detriment. I've been told by girls (hi, Elena!) too that I'm refreshingly honest, I'll say what guys usually think but keep to themselves. If I wanna do you, if I have a crush on you, if something pisses me off; you'll know about it. I'm not subtle. But I'm not direct to the point that I'll blurt out anything without any regard for your feelings, either. I'm more like a spontaneous kid who's endearingly open about his feelings, without any mean intent towards anybody. But if you want to question my integrity, believe what you want to believe, hillbilly!


119. Raymond, do you use wooden sticks to clean between your teeth?
Joanne, Zaandam, Netherlands

Not often but I'm afraid if I don't start doing it more regularly, my pretty dentist is going to spank me. Her name is Joanne too and she's always ringing my doorbell to ask me that same question, what a coincidence... very suspicious indeed. I apologize for being the most irresistibly adorable guy you've ever had in your dentist chair and once again thank you for thinking I'm 27 years old max. You're very mistaken and very appreciated. One day I will take as good care of my teeth as I do the rest of my body. But the only reason I'm slack about the teeth is so you have to work on them a lot so we can spend lots of time together in the dentist room! I'm really smart like that. He said while his teeth were almost falling out.


118. Wondering when the great Ray S. is doing an EB cover for me!
Marjolein, Veluwe, Netherlands

EB? What's that stand for? Oh, Everly Brothers? Maybe me and Edan should pop nude out of a cake on your birthday to do our surprise rendition of 'Devoted To You' for you but he would so outsing me with that one for sure 'cause of his Everly genes. I could fuck up the song adorably, though...


117. Are you really the alcoholic and drug addict we all think you are?
Bloody Larry, Zaandam, Netherlands

Not at all, Bloody Larry - with a name like that I almost suspect a classic case of projection. Sometimes a person can be thoroughly weird without taking drugs; and most of the time I'm indeed clean as a banana. I do drink alcohol, which is one of the worst drugs but generally not seen as such because it's so socially acceptable. But it's usually only once every few weeks that you'll find me knocking back the Coronas with a slice of lemon among friends in Amsterdam nightlife. I've smoked pot occasionally in my life, but pot messes with your ability to think clearly, which as a graduated philosopher, I find objectionable for me personally. Never really been addicted to any substance except for when I used to smoke cigarettes as a teenager; but I quit quite easily once I decided it no longer fit in with the picture of the person I want to be. These days, on a day-to-day basis, I don't really go stronger than the caffeine in my coffee and tea. I want to get a lot of good work done as a musician, and drugs just get in the way of that. The booze is just to blow off steam and have some fun when I'm having a break. But I have no problem with people who are ardent druggies, everybody should just mind their own business and do what they want to do with that (as long as they don't hurt others with it). But from an early age, I've seen up close the damage it can do to people's lives - one of my favorite people in the whole world growing up, was a heroin addict - which has always made my alarm bells go off whenever people try to shove lines of coke underneath my nose or whatever. There are a lot of other, more fulfilling ways to experience new things in life that are a lot less destructive. And as self-preservation is an instinct I possess, I get my kicks more from music and girls. Which doesn't mean I'm averse to drinking Bloody Larry under the table one of these days.


116. You're hot! Do you work out?
Louise, Castricum, Netherlands

Yes I do, and thank you! Yeah, I always think if they don't like the face, at least they'll like the body! Oh, I'm kidding, what's not to like about that Stolp face. For those interested, I'll give you my stats. My body fat is 18,5 percent (tested with a caliper so pretty accurate) my muscle percentage is thirty-one, and my BMI is twenty-two (I'm five foot eleven and weigh 158 pounds). My stamina has never been as good and the power of my chest and back are great and of almost equal strength (my legs are just okay). I work out at the luxury Fresh gym here in Zaandam, it's a very cozy place for me: I have a good rapport with the guys there (which is not like me as I'm usually allergic to men) and the girls working there call me their resident slut because I've gotten to know them all pretty well personally, which tells you enough about their level of adorableness. I don't mind going there a lot. So I'm there lifting weights and doing cardio at least twice a week - I train my whole body (each muscle group) each time I go. A lot of how much progress you'll make has to do with what and how you eat. I just asked the most fierce-looking dudes at the gym what's in their fridge, and bricolaged myself a diet from that. Which basically means lots of Cornflakes and cucumbers, and a little protein shake here and there - five meals a day. Ever since I've been putting on muscle and losing fat at a breakneck pace; if I keep this up I'll be veering dangerously close to six pack territory soon!


115. What's the best advice you can give to a beginning musician.
Louise, Castricum, Netherlands

The best advice I could give to any person, is to never take anyone's advice at all. Follow your own heart, don't let other people make you believe that they know better what's best for you. Nobody knows you better in that way than you do. It's usually the people who are trying to tell you what you're doing 'wrong' or supposedly should be doing differently, who have fucked-up lives themselves with one bad choice after another. I've had in my life so many times, where it's hard enough to get a grasp on a certain complicated situation, without some know-it-all who doesn't have the overall picture at all, to step in and tell you what to do; and in the process unnecessarily confuse you and misguide you, and sometimes make you go in the wrong direction if you take it to heart. I've had to learn that lesson the hard way, to look back on things knowing things would've worked out better if I listened to myself instead of someone's contrary opinion in what to do in a certain given situation. That's why when people start minding my business, it drives me crazy these days, and I react aggressively because I know from experience how destructive that behavior can be. I mean, you don't see me telling anyone what to do... so let me be and do my own thing as well, you know.


114. Tell me about your experience with bringing net-only relationships into the real world: Do you think things can be much different in person? I've had moderate success on some free dating sites but dating is rough. A lot of flakes out there to weed thru. Most of them are just net acquaintances, tho. Unlike yours, I haven't met most of them in person. Maybe someday.
Thwipp, Planet Lovetron, United States

You must think I hook up with every broad I talk to on the Internet - in a way you're right! I met some real cool chicks that way and also some real not-cool chicks, you usually can tell a lot of what you're going to get if you get up close and personal on the Internet (sometimes you can even get closer online emotionally, because some people paradoxically open up more as they feel there's the safety of a 'distance' there). But there's always a missing piece of the puzzle when you meet in real-life, you never really know completely what you're gonna get - like how someone smells, for instance. But I'd say most (if not all) my hook-ups from the Internet have been instigated by the girls, if anything I'm reluctant towards that sort of thing. Just ask even hotties like Elle Morgan or Elena Legakis what a nightmare it's been for them to try to get to talk to me on the phone, let alone a web cam. I don't let people close easily. With Elena it's been really good that her persistence paid off, as I don't think I've ever had such a good relationship with a person (friendship or otherwise) than I have with her. Which is funny because we can probably both be really difficult towards others. But our inherent bitchiness blends really well. But yeah, I'm a massive flirt but if you're a girl with ambitions to get close to me or what's in my pants, you've got your work cut out for you!


113. Dear mister, I'm addicted to sex, marijuana, booze, crack and lots more mind-altering substances. I'm trapped in compulsive behavior that's giving me only feelings of disgust so I don't have to ask you any advice to get rid of these bad habits. Soon that problem will be dissolved by the unwritten law of nature itself. But I'm worried about the pornographic images that are haunting me on and on. Even if I stop watching porn for a week and I close my eyes, I see blowjob scenes, dicks deepthroathing women, tongues licking pussy, sperm swallowed lips, sweating boobs, anal penetrations... Do you think those insane images will fade in the near future or am I condemned to bear them with me till my grave? Yours sincerely,
H.N.

Condemned? You're blessed to bear them with you to your grave, my friend! There's no such thing as too much porn, there's only too little time to watch it, think of it, create it! Thou Shalt Spoil Thy Pecker. I think instead of watching too much Oprah, it might be helpful to look at this 'problem' through a different lens... the lens of a freak perv, baby! Yeah! Isn't being a raging lunatic sex maniac something to aspire to be? At least that's what I keep telling my shrink, but he keeps nodding his head in disagreement too. Jokes aside, there's a lot more to life than just sex, and it shouldn't overtake everything I suppose, but there are worse addictions to have, no? For me personally, I say sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll are my buddies, but be careful, don't binge too much, and save some time to do other stuff as well. Everybody's different though, you might want other buddies or not like your current buddies. Me, I'm real buddies with my buddies. And if I grow tired of any of my buddies because they turn on me, I just kick 'em out the door! Now, on to a more serious question, can you get me some good pot to start a little business on the side with? You don't make much being a barely known musician, you know!


112. Does it bother you that people who don't know you personally, write negative stuff about you as if they do?
Louise, Castricum, Netherlands

You've got to be beyond it. I mean, if I let it get to me every time some retard makes up some ridiculous nonsense about me and spouts it around on the Internet with a venom that almost would make you think they believe it themselves, I'd be having a lot of gray hairs now. To be honest, I don't care what people think about me. Obviously I do care what my family and my girlfriends - the people who actually know me because they're in my life on a daily basis - think about me, but other than that, to everyone who gets a boner talking trash about things regarding me that they're clueless about: eat your heart out and thanks for the free publicity. I actually do feel sorry for them because it must be such a horrible feeling of discomfort to invest in so much hate (for no good reason at all). But such is the way of the Internet, isn't it? People with crappy jobs and horrible spouses, going online to take it out at the end of the day by writing the most disrespectful shit about strangers that have everything they've ever dreamed of. I'm basically a nobody with no career who has nevertheless played a few major venues and sold a handful of records to a few people who've taken notice (big deal). And that already attracts envy. Imagine what it must be like for real superstars. Those are the real big vessels for people to project hate unto because to them they represent what's lacking in their own lives (the irony of course, is that that much coveted fame is actually more of a curse than a blessing). So yeah, I don't know what else to say about it. The people I love and know, love and know me, and the people who don't can never change that, so it doesn't affect me. Sure, they can convince other strangers that Raymond Stolp is the Dutch incarnation of the Antichrist, but hey, I'm in rock 'n' roll, for me it's better to have those kind of myths out there than to be thought of as some sort of Mother Theresa. And no matter how people pout and stomp, I'm always going to do what I want to do, and if you don't like it, I don't give a shit. I'm not here to live up to other people's bullshit expectations and conventions. I'm here to live my life on my own terms.


111. Dear Ray, how the fucking hell does an Electro-Harmonix work??? Is that a multi-effect? Yours sincerely,
Ruben Vikshtur, Verona, Italy

Electro-Harmonix is a company that makes some of my favorite effect pedals for guitar, and some of their units do indeed combine various effects in one box. What I like about these pedals is their idiosyncratic sounds that are tweakable in ways that really capture the core of psychedelia, they're noisy, they're big (bigger is better, always) and they have funny names. Speaking of which, the first Electro-Harmonix pedal I played was a Big Muff (giggles) Pi, which is a distortion/sustainer. I experienced what the power of that pedal is from a very early age; I played it in class during a presentation about guitar at age twelve, and the sound of the Big Muff blew the kids away more than any other pedal I demoed for them that day (basically a bunch of cool Ibanez 0-Series pedals that my uncle loaned me for the occasion). It's a sound that commands attention; it's so in-your-face, you can't compare it with anything. To this day it's my favorite distortion box, in fact it's the only distortion box I currently use. The basic foundation of my tone is a tube amp set to slight break-up. For pedals, I go into an RMC1 wah-wah, then the aforementioned Muff, into an Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Electric Mistress flanger, into an Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man delay, and then into a Vox AC30 CC2X amp. That's the basic current Raymond Stolp live rig. Sounds like a simple set-up but it's quite elaborate for me; for years I would just make sure whichever venue I played supplied a Fender Twin amp, and plug straight into it. Even something like reverb I would consider a wild move. I've only recently started to put reverb on my voice, because my favorite singer Elena Legakis told me I have a great voice but it would sound greater through reverb. By the way, Elena, you little bitch, if you're reading this, you are the love of my life and the greatest girl I've ever known. And I think it's quite a feat to have somehow ended yet another answer - a discourse on effects, of all things, this time - with me talking about a chick I'm into. But you see, it isn't that incongruous as it might appear... I spend all these years making sounds with these toys, mainly in the hopes they would be like a call to bring someone as great as Elena to me. Well, it worked!


110. Ray, in your opinion, which is Prince's masterwork: Purple Rain or Sign O' The Times? Or, perhaps there is another work that can be considered? Would you agree that Prince's creative highlights all took place between 1983 (1999) and 1988 (Lovesexy)?
Rust

I was always more of a Parade and Sign O' The Times guy, I associated Purple Rain much more with being a movie and the CD as 'just the soundtrack'. I must say, over the last year or so I've had a change of heart about that... I'm starting to think that Purple Rain is his masterpiece in so many ways, he really hit the mark with that on all the levels. But I've always had a soft spot for 1999 too, especially when Jill Jones does the phone sex thing on 'Lady Cab Driver'. With no Internet or Playboy channel to access, listening to that on headphones at the time, really was like a godsend. I must say that '83-'88 period you mention does contain the string of albums that are my absolute favorites of his. My favorite Prince song is 'The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker'; if I ever write a song near as good as that, I can die and you can play that Prince gem at my funeral. My favorite concert footage of him is the Dortmund '88 gig that the Dutchies shot for TV. I started playing guitar because of Prince... I thought if I play a white guitar like that on stage, I'll get hot chicks like Apollonia digging me. It became a self-fulfilling prophecy; Prince protégé Anna Fantastic and me would end up becoming friends through our mutual friend/manager Melissa Prophet, who was just telling me the other day, 'Anna loves you too!' Doesn't surprise me as she seems to have a thing for pervs of considerable magnitude. I always tell Anna she could've been my sister with her quirky humor and buoyant energy. Anyway, back to Prince - yes, I'm girl crazy - he was my first musical hero and through all these years to me he still represents the prototype of what to aspire to as a musician because he's as good as it gets, in every single way.


109. I hardly ever play guitar plugged in, unless I'm using headphones. It makes me play differently when I think people can hear me. Do you have neighbors close by? I actually mostly like to listen to music on headphones because it's not the same for me without them, what about you? How do you listen to music? Do you listen while you do other things?
Trippy Chick, Waterford, New York, United States

I have neighbors close by but these days they're mostly pretty girls who I'm super cozy with (surprise, surprise) and they want to sing with me, hear me play guitar, etc. My neighbor Natascha who I adore - it's like God send me an angel and made her live right next door to me - is a fantastic singer and we've actually been talking about working together on something. She surely outsings me during our late night SingStar battles; we probably get louder with that than I do when I'm cranking my guitar amp to twelve to get the best sound when I'm recording. And when we hear a knock on the door, it's from one of the other neighbors who wants to join us! So in this context, whenever I put on a record and/or sing and play loud, instead of feeling like I'm annoying people, I feel like the Rock God that I truly am, adored by the audience that surrounds me. Or something like that. So I don't listen to music on headphones much as I don't get an unpleasant vibe from the thought of people hearing me (I obviously don't overdo it, though) and unless I'm multi-tracking, I steer away from them because they seem to clog up my ears. I do multi-task while listening to records sometimes, yeah, depending on the mood and the moment. For instance, I'd like to get to know you a little better while Marvin Gaye plays in the background. I think my peanut brain can handle listening to you and Marvin at the same time.


108. You seem to really love Fender Stratocaster guitars. Could you tell me what you like about them and what your main Strat is?
Snowflake, Amsterdam, Netherlands

107. Ray, you know that a babe magnet like yourself should not be on the loose in public, what about our safety lessons?!
Jeff Glanville, London, Ontario, Canada

This reminds me of Dexter's pops talking to his son - and I really relate to that character as well! Jeff Glanville you handsome motherfucker, I bet if we went into a bar you'd generate at least as much interest as me. My only advantage is that I'm crazy and not too keen on adhering to any kind of conventional behavior, and some chicks dig that. I just want to be with one special girl, though; being a global sex symbol is wasted on me.


106. Are you with a record company?
Louise, Castricum, Netherlands

Yup, I'm on a record label called Flyingdeer Records these days. It's run by my friend Rust, who used to be the manager of the now-defunct Olsson's Books & Records, Washington DC's oldest independent chain of book and music stores. Rust had been a great fan and supporter of my albums from back when I first started self-releasing them, which basically meant I was burning them on CD-R, putting stickers on there, and printing out the artwork and cutting it out manually, and selling them directly through mail order on this web site (shipping them out worldwide and paying for all the postage costs myself). It was good in the way of getting my music out there but this tedious, time-consuming process got to be a real drag, especially considering that the kind of profit I was making a year, I'd spend with my friends in one crazy night out on the town in Amsterdam. I could've gone the easy route and gotten a CD factory to make them for me, but that would only have been profitable if I had been selling them in much larger numbers (unless I would've pushed the price of the CDs up, which I didn't want to do). Dim van Gerven, the guy who brought Tommy Emmanuel to Europe, sells my albums here in his Coco Records store, and he knew a good CD factory where he could get them pressed for me, but he told me it would only be worth the while if we had a large sum made (they really overcharge you if you get just a few hundreds made). I didn't think I'd sell out the stock if we had like thousands of CDs made, so it was back to being an underpaid factory worker for me. Until Rust then started helping out with manufacturing them out of his own pocket, first giving them away for free to get word-of-mouth going, and then selling them in the Olsson's stores. He put a poster of me in the store and customers could put headphones on there to have a listen, and it worked - we sold out the whole (modest) stock. So now he's starting his own label and we're taking it to the next level with distribution. I want to make it clear that I'm not anti-record companies per se. For instance I really like Scott Weiland's label Softdrive Records, and in particular their A&R manager Sher; she wrote me out of the blue telling me she'd listened to all the Exit Inferno songs and that she was 'so fucking impressed' and encouraging me to continue being real - the antithesis of the industry figure trying to mold the artist into what they think they should be. And Rust is the same. I've been allergic to record companies in the past because their offers always included a demand of compromise on my part, but working with Rust, it's different: I'm open to all his ideas but ultimately he wants me to be happy with the finished product so he doesn't put anything out unless it's got my seal of approval. Stay tuned for my stuff to be released on Flyingdeer Records through iTunes, Amazon, CD and vinyl! The first upcoming release will be the lead-off single from Exit Inferno 'Fountain Of Love' with a previously unreleased B-side called 'A Little Rain' which is an Exit outtake. You can buy it as a digital download on iTunes soon.


105. Exit Inferno is great... really digging the sound. You are very talented. 'Motherfucker Blues'... really great fuzz tone, man. Love the gritty vibe. What sort of drums are you using, if they're programmed I am interested in how, software? Rhythm machine? 'You Can't Hurt Me Anymore' is sweet, so this is a drum machine track also? In 'Fountain Of Love' you've got some great guitar tones, also doesn't hurt that you can play the thing well, haha! What gear did you use on it? Really the production on this album is striking. It has a very tender and simple quality, but doesn't sound cheesy/lame. It's solid and addicting. Very good work, man. 
SMAK

Although I get obsessive about nailing it production-wise (I won't shy away of mixing a song over a  hundred times), I don't really think of myself as a producer so it almost surprises me that you like it; never ever got a compliment about that side of things before. So far I've only really heard producers who do that for a living comment on it, and although they're surprised of how good I get the songs to sound with my limited means, they'll also say, 'Your songs have so much potential... would be great if someone gave you a bigger budget and helped you really flesh them out in a recording studio.' To them my albums are like glorified demos, but looking at it from a different angle: I really like sparse production. One of my favorite songs is 'When Doves Cry' by Prince, and it's got no bass and the verses are sort of just his voice and the beat. All the songs you mention have a drum machine on them, yeah. It's this ancient Boss DR-110 drum machine that a lot of musicians will look down on, but I don't care. Though I must say, Josh Klinghoffer used to geek out on that machine because he's convinced it's what they used on the first New Order album (although in reality they used an earlier Boss DR model). Anyway this drum machine is legendary for its bass drum sound, it sounds really great and you can really hear it most prominently on 'You Can't Hurt Me Anymore'. I gave that bass drum sound some extra oomph there as well through the mixing desk. So when you turn that song up a little, it's like you're walking at a fair and the bass frequencies in the music are so intense that you feel your body vibrate inside. The way I program the DR-110, I just press and fiddle things as I'm hearing the outcome being looped, and erase things again, until I come up with a drum part that I decide is worth committing to tape. A lot of the time I have a guitar part and I'm looking for a drum part to go along with it, but with 'Motherfucker Blues' it was the other way around: I came up with that bizarre, waltzy drum part and then through jamming on it while processing my guitar in various ways, I came up with that bluesy guitar part. What makes that guitar part is the performance I think; it's really aggressive and I'm hitting the strings like I'm beating someone up. I could do a take with that exact same guitar part and not be in the moment like that, and it wouldn't work at all, it would be like listening to some marine corps music band. The fuzz tone is a late seventies Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi that I got from my uncle who taught me how to play guitar (I was already using that box playing in front of the class I was in at age twelve). For the guitar tones on 'Fountain Of Love', I'm basically using all this old Fender gear from the previous century, mainly a '55 Fender Champ (mic'd with a Shure SM57) and an '88 Fender Strat.


104. I am heavily impressed by the amount of instruments you play! Really an awful lot! Did you get lessons for that? Or are you self-taught?
Marjolein, Apeldoorn, Gelderland, Netherlands

I grew up in the Indonesian neighborhood over here, and in their culture it's part of your upbringing to learn how to play a musical instrument. So ten-year-old Stolpy didn't exactly have to beg to get guitar lessons from his Moluccan uncle Nino Pattinasarany every Sunday afternoon for about a year. I always call him my uncle even though officially he isn't - he is to me. When he saw me at a party yesterday, he yelled like an overexcited kid and hugged me like a bear hugs a tree - that's a fucking uncle. Super proud I'm the only one in my family who went into music and always joking that now he's the one learning tricks on the guitar from me. So he showed me the basics on guitar and I took it from there, learning primarily by ear from playing along to records (I can't read music). I think of myself primarily as a singer-songwriter and guitarist, but I also play harmonica, piano, bass, percussion, and I program this ancient Boss DR-110 drum machine that my ex left me. I'm self-taught with all that, even though I didn't really teach myself a lot!


103. I read that you studied philosophy, right? And still you went for the music! Look, now that is what I find so beautiful! Just change direction like that, I love that!
Marjolein, Apeldoorn, Gelderland, Netherlands

Yeah, I'm one of the few people who completed their study of philosophy at the University of Amsterdam here (it's notorious for being one of the most complex studies). It's not really like I changed direction or anything, it's just something I ended up doing because I thought it was fun, I never thought of it as a way to later make a career out of it. It was just about spiritual enrichment for me, if you will (and when I use the phrase 'spiritual enrichment', I'm not referring to leaning on 'psychic' hocus-pocus, but critical thinking to expand your mind). I was still performing music in clubs during my study, and also recording my first album Simulacra and some of its successor Fatal Finality. It wasn't a detour, it was just a parallel road I was walking on along with being on a lifelong road of making music, as far as I'm concerned. And I feel I still use it in my songwriting, it's actually made me develop as a musician in a way I never would've if I hadn't done that study for seven years.


102. How do you and Edan Everly know each other, if I may ask?
Marjolein, Apeldoorn, Gelderland, Netherlands

We got to know each other many years ago through the Internet, basically. We really like each other's music and we just hit it off because we're both little rascals. At first I didn't even know his pops is one of The Everly Brothers, until I noticed Edan's black Gibson Everly Brothers guitar and put two and two together. He's hilarious and has a good heart, he's very generous (he's given me stuff to expand my studio and has taught me some great recording techniques) always supportive and I've never heard him put another musician down... which is the kind of class you don't always encounter in this business (John Frusciante is another guy I can vouch for in that way - for instance, when people let him hear their music and he's not too keen on it, he'll never show it because he doesn't want to discourage anyone from doing something as beautiful as music). Edan and his buddy Alan St Lesa (another great guy and great musician) were known in Hollywood as the Dutch boy twins, so they sort of adopted this crazy Dutch motherfucker as their long lost brother. I'm normally not a big fan of men, but for Edan I make an exception.


101. Your friend Anne Brown the singer says you're too humble. Humble? You?
Sun, Lake Park, Georgia, United States

It's funny you mention that because she was just at my house and we were talking about that. She basically says my so-called 'cockiness' is just a thin veneer that hides that I'm much too modest. All it shows is that I don't take myself very seriously because I'm actually taking the piss out of myself with that. So I should probably take myself a little more seriously (but not too seriously, because that's the kiss of death). And she's right, I mean just ask any girl I've ever been with and they'll tell you I'm pretty much the opposite of an egomaniac. Without naming names (as I'm classy) I had a girlfriend for a couple of years who had also been in a serious relationship with another (much more known) guitar player, and she used to crack up at how his following would make him out to be this humble person based on his media image, while fully convinced I'm this egomaniac - as she knew the reverse to be true from having lived with the both of us. She concluded we both project the opposite of who we are in the media. I'd personally say that's too much of a generalization (for instance I found him to be extremely generous and respectful to us) but it is true that the image of a person in the media, can be smoke and mirrors to a large extent. So you gotta see through that, and realize that when I say something ridiculous like, 'I'm the greatest', it's completely with a wink. Girls are usually smart and totally get that about me straight from the bat; guys however can be idiots and get really angry at this 'upsetting' idea of another guy being so self-confident. But the irony is that they're basically not getting my self-depreciating humor because they're taking it at face value. Anyway, don't take it from me; that's how my friend Anne sees it, and she thinks I shouldn't be so modest, which is (well-meant) criticism I'm actually taking on board because it's based in reality.


100. Do you ever see yourself married with kids?
Trippy Chick, Waterford, New York, United States

Yes, in fact that's where my mind always tends to go when I fall in love and it almost happened a few years ago. But sometimes you wear pink sunglasses and you can't see clearly through them (the sunglasses are a metaphor for being in love here). So yeah, I would consider marriage and kids, but only with the right woman... if it's someone who feels it's as important to them to make me feel good, as it is to them to have me be there to make them feel good, and we connect... it would be my dream and I'd like that very muchly. For some people it's an illusion because that type of situation doesn't fit their personality, but with me it would be perfect because I love kids (I'm one myself) and when I get with a woman she becomes my whole world... I don't even see other girls around me.


99. Have you ever been to the U.S. and if so, do you like it here?
Trippy Chick, Waterford, New York, United States

No I haven't (can you believe it?) but funnily enough these past few days I've been talking about that with my manager perv friend Melissa Prophet, she really wants me to come over to do some business as she believes in me and my music. I'm sure I'd love it as just about everything I love comes from America. It would be like coming home to a place I've never been before.


98. So Ray, what does it feel like to be at the bottom of a bottle?
Kundalini Candy

Well me and Elena Legakis were having some emotional turmoil, so that might've had something to do with yours truly running amok in Amsterdam nightlife last week, swigging from a bottle of Amaretto Disaronno and getting thrown out of whorehouses. It felt pretty rock 'n' roll, actually... it felt better to clear the air with her, though. But it wasn't until I just received your nudie pics, that I truly started to lighten up. Thank you.


97. Are you a singer in the tradition of Frank Sinatra? Because I've been delving into your past a bit and found that you've been good friends with lots of criminals. I'm sure you won't publish this here, but I could go to the papers and tell them part of your background is like watching an episode of The Sopranos.
Anonymous

You're mistaking me for someone who gives a shit.


96. I was listening to 'You Can't Hurt Me Anymore' and I have shared that story as the bitch on the other side... I found myself trying to get to MY roots by breaking someone else down... stealing their hope for any future with me... it worked... he's gone and I am here hearing what he must have felt like through your song... 
Vegan Kundalinicandy, Gaia, United States Minor Outlying Islands

I respect your honesty. I used to think my lyrics might be completely impenetrable to others, but comments like these make me realize the songs do come across. 'You Can't Hurt Me Anymore' seems to be the most direct song on Exit Inferno to me. I was just letting out the first thing that came into my brain when tapping into how I felt about a certain situation. I did have a feeling that the person who the song is about, would get what it's about, if they heard it. What I've found is that that song is very recognizable to people who've been in that type of situation on either side of the fence (and who's to say I haven't sort of been on that other side as well). It's not a song to get back at someone or to communicate my feelings about that person, to that person. If that were the case, I would've answered one of your questions on here about the Exit Inferno songs like: oh, that song is about so-and-so. I just needed to understand it for myself, work it out and shout it out. It's cathartic, you know. It was part of the process of me finding myself again. I'm starting to sound pretentious now, aren't I, love? But thank you for your comment. It takes a hell of a woman in my opinion to be frank and say, 'You know what, I was that bitch on the other side.' It's the people who don't own up to that and think everything they do is peachy and shit, who are never going to learn and grow, you know. I mean, who hasn't been a bitch at certain times in their life? It's what we do with it that counts... or we put on our shades and continue to mistake our blindness for our righteousness.


95. I know you have been in music a long time... and are very experienced at what you do. I have not dabbled in music... in the way I have wanted but I do write and I do plan on starting writing again... and this time I will copyright my stuff... just to make sure no-one snags on it... My boyfriend is hip hop/rap and he is extremely talented... he has been in the recording studio in both Tampa FL and New Orleans... He is going to be registering his music and moving forward... but being I have a few contacts (you for instance) I thought I would put my feelers out and see if you have any advice for me... anything you can fill me in on would be great. I have admired you as a musician and would like some of your input. Appreciate it so much Raymond... Look forward to hearing back from you...
Harmony, California, United States

First of all thanks for the kind words, I appreciate it. Before I continue, I recommend that you ask this question to my manager friends Melissa Prophet and Bruce Replogle (you can easily find them through Google). You might recognize Melissa as former Miss California, and your boyfriend might recognize her from her nude pictorial in the May, 1987 issue of Playboy. She also played in Martin Scorsese's Casino as the wife of Joe Pesci's character, who's also one of her many distinguished clients in real life. As her best friend Mickey Rourke once said about Melissa, 'She's got balls,' but she becomes a purring kitten when it comes to her favorite perv - that would be me. Bruce is like a brother - he even looks like me - and his clients have included the crème de la crème of the music industry, from John Lennon to Bob Marley to The Cure. These people recognize talent when they see it, and they would be much more proficient at giving you career advise than me. My so-called career (if you can call it that) is self-generated, meaning: I pretty much do everything myself, from writing, performing, and recording the songs to doing the videos to promoting the material and organizing the shows. I don't really think of myself as being in the music industry. Many years ago I already predicted that most of what's considered 'the music industry', is going to be an obsolete middle man in the future with the possibilities that the Internet offers. Also, musicians whose opinion I respect and trust like my friend Edan Everly (you can read more about him in the introduction I wrote on his official web site edaneverly.com) have advised me to not go the record company route and keep pursuing this strange little road of independence that I've carved out for myself. I even turned down an offer from EMI in 2003 because I want to have the kind of complete creative control they weren't willing to give me. It didn't matter to me that they offered me forty grand to record with a band and a producer in a studio (all of their choice) and be in a big production video they envisioned, and that they dangled the carrot of lots of radio airplay. What matters to me is to be true to my vision so I can look at myself in the mirror and stand behind the work that I've done. Come to think of it, I'm probably the worst person to ask for this kind of advice if you and your boyfriend want the shortest way to the biggest commercial success. My ideas are unconventional and might not be what would work best for you two. For instance, you mentioned getting your songs copyrighted, and that is indeed a good idea if you don't want other people making money off your ideas. But I've always been from the school of thought that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. That sort of theft that would give some people white knuckles, would make me swell up with pride. I'm not in it to become rich and I couldn't care less about the fame. Recognition is always nice, but that's not my main motivation either. I think of myself more as being like a social worker: I like the idea of my music bringing solace to people's lives. But I mainly do it simply because it's fun to me and because I have to do it; if I don't get some of these things out they would stay inside and eat me alive. I want to create what I think is beautiful and share that with as many people as possible. It isn't about me. It's about the work. My advise to your boyfriend would be to just be yourself, keep working at your craft, and don't believe anybody who says that you're not going to make it. If you persevere, you'll be rewarded.


94. Martin Bril is dead and that sucks! It's just disgusting that people of his calibre get so ill and that their life then stops. It's unacceptable. On the other side: we're moaning here that we have to miss him. But what do you think about his wife and two young daughters? They have to go on without him. Their sorrow is infinitely bigger than ours. Isn't that unbearable??? Gee, that's really heart-wrenching that you were about to e-mail him when he passed away. It is something so small, but then when it can't happen anymore, it suddenly becomes mega big. That thought then really hits you like a sledgehammer. Sometimes I have the feeling that the people who, as you magnificently put it, give color to society (Martin Bril, Piet Vroon, Pim Fortuyn, Herman Brood, Jos Brink, and so on) die early, because they live so intensely. That they use up everything in a short amount of time or something. Any words in memoriam of Martin Bril?
Fieke Prins-Halberstadt, Heerhugowaard, Netherlands

Well we both studied philosophy and shared a love for peanut butter, so that created a bond. I also related to how he did his work with complete sincerity and authenticity, but at the same time he wanted to 'move the product' as he put it. The two aren't mutually exclusive. I mean, every artist you know wants to move the product, some are just more honest about it than others. If they didn't, you wouldn't have heard of them and they would've put their work in a shoebox and kept it to themselves. And it wasn't about fame with him, he realized fame is just annoying; he just wanted to be read by as many people as possible. But what probably most created the kinship I felt towards him, is something I didn't even realize until you pointed it out to me: the fact that our manner of speaking and body language was so similar. A while ago I showed him this web site and offered to make him a similar over-the-top one. I told him I'd maintain it too and wanted no money from him whatsoever for my services. The only thing I'd want in return was for him to devote one of his legendary columns to me. He replied that he dug my site and the offer too, if it were not that his web site had already just been made, and only had yet to go into the air. He added, 'If you're going to do a gig, I'll be there.' It's to my regret that that now never came to be. Of course it was his way of saying that that would be the vehicle he needed to write that piece about me anyway. He had an eye that saw things nobody else saw, or he saw them in a way nobody else did, and he could put that into words in an inimitable, magical way with humor, sharpness, and tenderness. The last column he wrote, was about anger, or rather how anger isn't worth the effort. He describes three kinds of angry men. First the tense, angry man who's determined to prove that he's right. Then there's the angry man who's not completely sure that he's right, only sure of his anger. A third angry man is angry because he lost his anger and is now putting all effort into evoking his anger again. He lets all three men resolve their anger poetically by having them look at some dandelions growing up a post at a pedestrian crossing. Martin Bril's life may have been short - too short - but he set an example by not wasting it on anger and celebrating it by giving love to the people around him. Holland is a lot less fun now that he's gone. 


93. Where is the fountain of love? What is the fountain of love... I think it's a big fucking smoke screen test to compensate for the part inside of our alter ego that can't get up and start walking... so we create meaning in an otherwise meaningless world... so still we keep marching step 'buy' step 'won' by one we all fall down compensation can't bring me out of the reality of bullshit. Once I denounced the world as I know it as a reality and bought into the hype of illusion, I started dissolving into nothing... I know you can feel me... I hear it in your heart chakra... Yes we need love... but WTF is it really? My spontaneity is so repressed...
Kundalinicandy, Phoenix, United States

When I wrote the line 'fountain of love' in my song of the same name, I was basically thinking of all the women out there who are so nice to me. There's also an obvious sexual connotation, so one answer to your first two questions would be: (what's) between your legs. But there's an ache in how I sing the word 'love' there, which creates another layer of meaning that you just put into words in a way that indeed resonates with me. Only someone who has once projected love into a situation where there wasn't any, can sing that line with that kind of ache, baby. Despite that I still think the term 'love' refers to something that can actually take place in reality. I mean, look at the brain scans of a couple in love, there's some crazy shit happening up there under those circumstances. And love purely in terms of showing affection, I see everywhere and I'm one of those relentlessly uncynical people who believes it's not all just purely for selfish motives. Beings actually caring about the well-being of other creatures for selfless reasons. Maybe that's what love is. Maybe that's the place where you'll find the fountain of love. But yeah, the term is often used to justify behavior that is anything but loving, so one can become cynical about it, and even doubt its very existence. 


92. Have you ever read 'The Power of Now' by Eckhart Tolle? That book has been a big eye opener for me. The secret of happiness is that you don't have to look for it... it isn't outside of you... it is in you... The secret of the meaning of life, is that it isn't there. The secret of searching for wisdom is that, by admitting that in the end you know absolutely NOTHING, you're the most wise man/woman of them all. Do you agree with that?
Diana, Zaandam, Netherlands

That's pure Socrates, baby. They said that Socrates is the wisest man of Athens, because contrary to others who thought they knew things, Socrates at least knew that he knew nothing. That's why I always say I'm the wisest man of Zaandam, but I see I'm now getting competition from an equally wise woman here. It's one of my favorite lines to say, but they thought I was very weird ('how unusually modest for a guy especially, to have that attitude!') and controversial when I would say things like that at the university. 'What are you doing here, then?' one of those teachers would reply. Apparently it's very provocative to people who think they know things, to be confronted with someone who lives by the motto ignoramus, ignorabimus: we don't know it, and we won't know it. I also agree with you that there's not one pre-given absolute meaning to life, which gives you the freedom to create your own meaning, which in my case means doing things that are fun to me (eat your pie before you die). And yes, happiness is rather an inner attitude to whatever life throws at you, instead of thinking life should be a certain way in order for you to be happy. Anyway. Not to do any name-dropping, but do you know who else recommended that book 'The Power of Now' by Eckhart Tolle to me? The very talented, nice and wise Dutch actor and singer Antonie Kamerling, but I still haven't read it. However, now that the wisest woman of my hometown has also praised it, I'll have to check it out.


91. Watching the 'Fountain Of Love' video I found the synchronicity of certain segments intriguing as well as the film quality which seems to shift a bit in places. Can you tell me a little about how this came to be? Could be serendipity or just pure genius? BTW, I like the song!
SMAK

There's a degree of both serendipity and design to what I do when it comes to how the music and visuals sync in specific spots in my 'Fountain Of Love' video. There are some moments where I already know during the performance, exactly (or broadly) where I'm later going to put it in the video. But it isn't until the first playback, that I see a broad outline of where most stuff is going to go in terms of sequence. I put the scenes roughly in their place, followed by a lot of fine-tuning with the cuts to establish the maximum amount of flow. Then I trim the fat off the usable-but-still-homeless sections and end up with these little vignettes of the best performance bits. I look at those and get ideas how they would go well with certain parts within the song. Shots of say, a robot dance move, I deliberately sync up in a place that works well within the narrative. Again, there will be more cutting to get the right flow. Then there's a degree of trial and error in the editing, moving stuff around and paying attention to what movements go well with a certain guitar lick or whatever, and then locking the scene into the groove of the song. And there are indeed a few spots that just happen to sync perfectly in unexpected ways, but you have to have an eye for that kind of thing so you don't move it away from that spot or cut it out. None of all this was thought of beforehand in a script; there wasn't a script to begin with. The script was, 'Let's go to the park and see what happens and film it.' Also, the song wasn't playing in the background when we were filming in the park. When I did the dance moves, I just played the song in my head and moved to the beat I was imagining, hoping it would match up later in the edit (it did). I think that thing you pointed out here has sort of become my 'signature editing style' and I don't think many people edit that way (where, say, a hand gesture represents a bent guitar note). That's where my instincts take me when I'm editing. I would like to do a video with more pre-written narrative one day, but so far all my videos have been about total spontaneity and making it up in the moment. There is a narrative there, but it's symbolic and predominantly created in post-production (and sometimes by accident). My friend Chris Skowronski filmed this, I studied philosophy with him and he has filmed a lot for various underground bands, stuff that they would use for projection behind them on the stage during their performance. He's a phenomenal painter and has a good sense of composition, plus we have a good vibe which is the most important thing of all because it comes across on the screen I think. I totally go against the grain with what we use camera-wise. The 'Hollywood Suicide' video was shot on Super 8 mm film which is a pretty unpopular choice these days, but still has some fans. For this one, I went even more in the opposite direction of what's popular (not to be contrary, just because I'm stubborn in what I think looks cool). Instead of going the obvious route and using a high definition digital camera, I looked for months for analog video cameras that would give my video a certain vintage feel I was after. My grandpa happened to have an old unused Sony Hi8 Handycam laying around that has some quirky qualities I found appealing. For instance, sometimes the image shakes a little and I'll use that symbolically in the editing, as if a certain word or guitar note makes the whole medium vibrate. So yes, the subtle shifts of the film quality in places that you noticed, are indeed intentionally there for effect and they aren't computer-generated treatments. Hope I didn't go on too long and bore you with all the details. It's just fun to me that you 'get it' because you're into the creative process as well. You have the eye of an artist and see things nobody else has pointed out to me. And I'm glad you dig the song!


90. I heard you were in the controversial Dutch cult movie Kartel. Any news on a DVD release and any future plans in acting?
Rudolf, Germany

Well, when Kartel finally had its premiere on June 18th, 2006, in Dutch cinema deFABRIEK, the directors Lawrence I. Kelatow and Olav van Weerden had already been working on it for ten years, so if that is anything to go by... I actually spoke to Olav at a party recently and he said they were currently editing interviews with the main cast for an accompanying disc with bonus features, but he was tight-lipped about a release date, so there ya have it. Kartel is a notorious crime drama that got a lot of media attention in Holland, because when we were shooting a car chase shoot-out scene, we were held at gunpoint and thrown into jail by real cops who didn't understand we were making a movie. Everybody was traumatized, except me - I was excited and thought it was great publicity! I play the role of a drug dealer named Rutger Revolver in the opening sequence of the movie. I also contributed to the soundtrack. As far as any future plans in acting go, I'm considering taking on the role of Blake Fielder-Civil in an erotic art house film about Amy Winehouse called The Beehive Bunny. There's a short list of choices for the role of Amy that includes Elena Legakis, who's just been offered the part but is yet to confirm.


89. What is your relationship with your parents and were they supportive of your interest in music?
Trippy Chick, Waterford, New York, United States

My parents have always supported me in whatever I've wanted to do, even when I decided to follow getting my degree of Master of Arts in Philosophy at the University of Amsterdam, with chasing the quite romantic dream of making a living doing music. Along the way I've turned down a lot of career opportunities, and cut myself out of making a lot more money than I am making now, and that has baffled my parents. For instance, after seeing one of my live shows, the boss of one of the biggest Dutch TV stations (VARA) called me up and asked me to play a birthday song and act in the longest-running, most popular comedy TV series in Holland (Oppassen!!!). My response? 'No, I don't think that is rock 'n' roll, end of discussion.' My stubborn refusal to grab this chance of a big shot at fame - a chance most would grab with both hands - because I felt it didn't gel with my artistic integrity, left my parents speechless. In my dad's outlook financial stability is something to particularly strive for, while I'm more concerned with doing things that I can later look back on with a sense of personal fulfillment. So I tell him that if I would become a successful businessman who owns a big company selling something I don't give a toss about, I would later look back on that and think that I've failed in life. And he looks at me like I'm crazy. Then I tell him that if I just made a few albums that nobody but me likes and didn't sell at all, I would feel like I succeeded, because I would've done something I believed in. Then he looks at me like I'm even crazier. But as of a certain age he made it very clear to me that my choices are mine, even if he doesn't understand them. If I have kids, I hope to pass that on as well: to support them doing whatever they're interested in, instead of pressing them into doing what I think they should be interested in. My mom really believes in my music, she's kind of like John Frusciante's lovely mom (hi, Gail) in that they're our biggest fans. But enough about me, I would love to hear all about you while we catch up over a candlelight dinner, Trippy Chick.


88. What's the first concert you've been to?
Louise, Castricum, Netherlands

The first concert I've ever been to was B.B. King at the Veilinghal in Alkmaar, Holland, somewhere in my early teens. I went there with my hustler uncle Nino Pattinasarany (who also gave me my first and only guitar lessons - a big shout-out to him) and somehow I ended up at the side of the stage during B.B.'s performance. It wasn't till twenty years later that my uncle told me that happened because he told the right things to the right people there. Anyway, so there I was, the youngest blues lover in the house wearing a purple paisley shirt and holding a photo camera that was probably bigger than I was. Pretty much from the moment B.B. came on he was pointing at me to the audience, and he kept giving me the thumbs up throughout his kick-ass performance. He really brought the house down. Afterwards we shook hands and he gave me a little B.B. King guitar brooch. It meant the world to me and at the time it felt like a sign that I should make music my life. A few years later after a show B.B. spend ages in his tour bus writing his signature for me dot-for-dot on the back of a tour sticker (his idea), which he then put on a piece of glass (I still have it). B.B. truly is the King of the Blues, and despite that he's one of the nicest, most humble men you'd ever meet. His music still brings tears to my eyes, and I'll love him till I drop dead.


87. You have a cool site in my opinion! Beautiful photos, nice reactions. But do you never have trouble from crazy people? I mean: do you ever get harassed or stalked by idiots?
Fieke Prins-Halberstadt, Heerhugowaard, Netherlands

There are indeed idiots who've tried to harass or stalk me online, but it doesn't impress me. I'm not interested in delusional people who have a Raymond Stolp hang-up. And anyone threatening me behind a screen, is a chickenshit to me. Behind the screen they act like they're Charles Bronson, but if any of those motherfuckers had the balls to say that shit to my face, they would find out who the tough guy is. If you talk to any cop or real criminal, they'll all say the same thing: the people who really do damage, aren't going to warn you about it beforehand through a computer screen. They just do it.


86. Meow Ray, do you miss my nails and my feet on the draining board? Prrrrr,
Your cat Arlo

Hey you little fucker, people were really scared last night you were going to hurt my eyes with those nails, huh? But I know you wouldn't hurt me (unless I sprinkle water on ya to clean you from rolling around in your own poop). As far as the draining board goes; you really don't let anybody tell you what you should or shouldn't do, huh? You're like a deaf kitty when it comes to that. Sounds like someone we know. You do full justice to the name Arlo Stolp.


85. What does friendship mean to you?
Snowflake, Amsterdam, Netherlands

It means laughing my ass off with you, brother! Friendship to me is about accepting someone for who they are. That's why they say a dog is a man's best friend: dogs don't judge or try to change you. Unfortunately humans can have those tendencies, and to quote Jim Morrison, 'When others demand that we become the people they want us to be, they force us to destroy the person we really are. It's a subtle kind of murder. (...) A friend is someone who gives you total freedom to be yourself.' The basis for any friendship is trust. If you don't have that, everything else goes out the window because you can't feel safe to be vulnerable by opening up with someone who you feel could fuck you over at any moment. And to paraphrase Descartes, you can never trust anything that has once proven to be untrustworthy. Friendship means loyalty and respect to me. Once you're in with me, you're in for life, and once you cross me, you're out for life. As you and other friends of mine have said, I'm very easy-going and I don't take myself very seriously, so it's almost impossible to insult me into slamming the door in your face, though. You'd have to be strenuously disrespectful to make that happen. If anybody hurts my friends, I'll rip their head off! I'm aware you and I are old school guys in that regard and that a lot of people don't feel that sense of loyalty as a crucial element of friendship at all. Friendship means different things to different people. I mean, there are people in L.A. who will see someone twice at a grocery store and call them 'my friend'! For me friendship means something else.


84. I like your song 'Glass Jar' [from my upcoming album Exit Inferno - RS] a lot. The guitar jam is the best and then with electronica, a new vibe fresh yet nostalgic like I have heard it before. 'It takes a fool to become a tool...' Tell me the story behind the song.
Kundalinicandy Yoginidakini Vegan, Gaia, United States Minor Outlying Islands

Hmm. It's one of those songs that kind of reveals its meaning over time. I'm still discovering what some of it is about months after I recorded it. I incorporate things from the subconscious into my songwriting, and I don't care if I don't exactly know what it means at the time when I'm recording the song. Later on the meaning of those things become crystal clear to me, and the song ends up saying more than it would if I had just gone with everything I consciously, rationally understood at the time. But to not beat around the bush and get more to the point, I'd say it's about being in a situation where someone doesn't give you the room to be yourself. 


83. Dear Ray, on the subject of double penetration, is it better to have one in the ass and one in the clunge, or both in the clunge? If both in the vagina, bearing in mind the other man's penis would account for at least twenty-five percent of the surface area being rubbed against, does this make it a gay act also?
Adam, United Kingdom

I do find the penis-on-penis contact a little gay, Adam, so I'll have to pass on your offer of a ménage à trois.


82. Dear Ray, I am in a major dilemma and need your immediate advice. I have been involved with this guy from England who is in a rather good rock band. He is a really great guy and I do care for him but, I have found in the past few weeks that more and more I am thinking about this other rock god from Holland. I don't know what to do? Should I end it with the English guy, or try out the other guy first for a bit? I really need your help!!!
Texas Goddess

You're from Texas, huh, you wouldn't happen to just be after my Stevie Ray Vaughan pinky ring? Or just spellbound by the rumors from other girls in Texas that I've been with about my alleged 'perfect penis'? I am more than just my penis, you know. And this English dude you're involved with, his name wouldn't happen to be Adam? If so, I think he just wrote me suggesting the ultimate solution to your dilemma, better have a peek at the question above.


81. What is your experience with the girlfriends you've had?
Louise, Castricum, Netherlands

I've only had two serious relationships. One I've only enjoyed, and the other one I've only learned from.


80. I LOVE David Bowie's song 'I'm Afraid Of Americans'!! And I really thought most people who would take a chance and do an 'industrial' addition (I guess) to their catalog of music would not pull it off, but Bowie being, well... BOWIE, did it in style and I LOVED that new batch of music he was doing at that time. Just goes to prove the man is a true musical genius and it shows even after all his years in the business. He rules. Have you seen him in concert?? I sadly have never had the chance. He's one I woud LOVE to see!! I mean I would L-O-V-E to see!!!
Scott Weiland's Angry Little Pixie, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States