Editor's note: This article in reprinted from the May 26, 2001, issue of Next magazine.

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Forget Diamonds,
Cartier  is a Girl's Best Friend

Parker Posey Interviews Daniel Cartier

Prince predicted much in his song "1999," but how could he have foreseen East Village icon Daniel Cartier packing up his little red corvette and moving to Los Angeles that year?  From dues-paying gigs in subway stations (he recorded his first album in a Canal Street subway stop) to his friendship with Parker Posey, the boy with the sunburst tattoo on the top of his head is quintessential New York. That's why it's so great to have him back. Cartier will be performing old favorites along with songs from his latest CD Wide Outside at Fez every Sunday night at 10:30 from May 27th through June 24th (2001).

Indie Goddess Parker Posey, who also has a debut this June in Alan Cumming and Jennifer Jason Leigh's film The Anniversary Party, sat down with her pal Daniel and the two talked about the realness of  New York, Andy Warhol, explosive diarrhea, Patti Smith, and Daniel's return to Gotham's concert stage.

Parker Posey: So Daniel, You're a gay singer/songwriter. How does that feel? Great?

Daniel Cartier: [Laughs] Oh my God! Well, it depends on what I'm doing. Yeah, it feels pretty great except that I wouldn't want people to listen to me just because I'm gay. I don't want to exclude anybody.

I was being facetious with the gay question. I know that music is something that feeds the ears of everyone, straight or gay. How is it to be back home?

It feels totally awesome to be back in New York--just to be able to walk around and bump into people I know and not have to deal with Hollywood, where everyone has a script in one hand and a soy decaf latte in the other. New York is just more real.

What have you learned from being away from this great city?

Um, do you think I'm fat?  Oh God, I've been in LA too long. Just kidding. I've learned that sometimes you need to get away to appreciate what you have.  I just never felt like going out in LA, so I had a lot of free time on my hands--it gave me time to build my own studio, figure out what I wanted to do musically, that sort of thing.

Were you influenced by the garage type studio mentality--computers and people making their own music at home?

Most definitely. That's really the only thing I'm interested in now. Rocket Records spent enough on my last album, Avenue A, to feed a small country for two years and sold about two copies of it.  The great thing about technology is that musicians can do it themselves for so much less, plus it's just more spontaneous to record that way.

How much space do you need to make music?

Um, not to sound cheesy, but the space between my ears. Oh God, that does sound really cheesy. The space I work out of now is the size of a large walk-in closet. Actually, it is a walk-in closet.

Have you ever thought of carrying around a recording device to hum into so you don't forget song ideas?

That's so weird that you say that. I have a number just for voicemail and I'm always calling in from somewhere--pay phones--and singing into the voicemail. But I also love carrying around tape recorders too; it makes me feel like Andy Warhol. I did this recording once where I walked into a video arcade with a tape recorder and put all the sounds into the middle of a song.

I've got my foot on a pedal right now snappin' photos of myself.

That reminds me of when you used to carry that digital camcorder around and you said you felt like a spy.

Yes. That's right. I did.  And do you know why?

In case anyone tried to sue you?

Because... Well, many reasons. One was that I was slightly obsessed with the way images can accidently coincide with each other and form something perfect if you get the timing right. One of the things that I like about New York is that when you walk around and hear what's happening or see it, and... well, perfect moments make me happy.

I'm obsessed with photography that shows people doing everyday things unaware of the camera. I think people are the most beautiful when they don't realize the focus is on them.

I love that too.

I'm such a control freak and it seems like I'm always looking for that perfect moment.  Like huddled with Banjo [Cartier's dog] and Craig [Cartier's lover] today--there was this perfect moment--and then Banjo had explosive diarrhea and it ended.

Oh my God! What were you feeding her? Is she on a diet?

I think she probably drank water at the dog run and got a parasite. She's on Wellness Formula. Jane [Adams, from Happiness] told me to put her on it. That's what her dog's on.

Now why did you name your dog Banjo?

Good question! Awww! Because Craig gave me these slippers that looked like dogs that I named Banjo and Wildfire. I always thought Banjo would be a cute name for a dog because I always picture dogs on a farm with haystacks and little kerchiefs on. And it's musical.

Speaking of musical, what are your favorite songs? What's the common theme?

That's such a great question.  I love Patti Smith.

So do I, she's very deep. She's a rock star saint.

She's the one person I've met that I literally couldn't talk I was so star struck. I love her. There are songs some people write that I don't even think about, then when I hear them I go "I wish I wrote that."  My problem is that I like too much. I just heard "When Doves Cry" on the radio in a cab and was blown away. You're really into singer/songwriters, aren't you, Parker?

Oh yes. My favorite is Bob Dylan.

Dylan's so cool.  He was so funny on the Oscars, performing on a big Jumbo-tron. I'm so glad he won.

I'm sure he didn't care.

He seemed like the whole thing was ridiculous.

Dylan's a poet, as well as Patti Smith.

I love his whole history--how his fans got outraged when he changed his sound.

I love his Jesus phase, personally.

Have you read Wood Gathering by Patti?

She's an enchantress.  Have you ever seen her live?

I've only seen Patti live on video. A friend of mine did go to see her play with Bob Dylan in Philly and she went to the pay phone and called me and held the phone up to the stage. She said that every pay phone there had someone holding the phone up to the stage. That to me is so beautiful!

Wow. What do you think of music today?

It's so corporate and pre-programmed. It's like they just punch some buttons and a computer spits out a hit song.

I agree.

But there are some artists I really respect out there--I love Jill Scott, David Grey--I think a lot of the coolest songwriting is happening with underground bands and electronic musicians. One of the guys from Yo Yo Tango has this new band where he does a cover of "Pop Life" by Prince that is so gorgeous--can you tell I'm a big Prince fan?

There's something about you that's very Prince.

Thanks!  I hope I'm not as self-conscious as he is though.  I won't be changing my name to a symbol.

Change it to a sound: a cough.

[Laughs]  You have such a good delivery of one-liners.

It's not what I get paid for.

Have you ever thought about doing stand-up. You'd be good at it.

I'd like to do bad stand-up with bad  jokes that only I laugh at.

The sound of your voice, I don't know where you got it. It sounds like an instrument almost--any vocal DNA running around [in] the Cartier's?

My dad and my sister both sing. They sing country music though!  And then I have a sister out in LA that does crazy lesbian performance art.  She gives herself orgasms onstage with fruit and then cuts it up and gives pieces of it to the audience. What do you think that means?

She wants attention. What's your favorite song you've written?

Whatever song I'm working on right now is usually my favorite song. I've written 600 songs at this point and it's so hard because they all mean something to me, even the bad, stupid, sophomoric ones. I wrote a song when I  was 12 called "Me and My Ferrari." It's the first real song I ever finished and my sister's band performed it at a college. I was 12-years-old hearing a rock band perform my song.  It's one of my happiest memories.

That's so nice. Do you like writing songs or performing them or both? What's your favorite?

I think performing is great because it's the one part of what I do where I really feel the connection with other people. I can't feel that when I'm alone in my room recording.  That connection--it must be like when you do theater verses movies.

Right.

When I was performing in the subway, I had a woman miss her train three times just to hear me play. She was my favorite audience ever.

What a romantic New York memory.

That's why I'm excited about playing at Fez. I've been playing there on and off for the last eight years--it's such a magical room.

Yes, it is. I saw Hedwig (the musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch) there and Kiki and Herb. I don't know of many places that have that downstairs smoky feeling that Fez does.

The show will actually be following Kiki and Herb.  They play at 8 [pm] and I play at 10:30 [pm] Sundays.

I'm looking forward to it. And sure a lotta people are, you have a really nice following here.

Aww--Well, the feeling's mutual, I totally love Nyorkers.

Is there going to be any fruit in the show?

[Laughs] Maybe--what do you think? A banana or a cantaloupe?

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Updated July 21, 2001