[ No. 9 ]

Minding the minder

by Vicki Shuttleworth

Until recently, Poppy Z Brite was one of those 'famous' people I had never even heard of. Now, I know a little more about her writing -- as the acclaimed author of horror fiction such "Exquisite Corpse" -- and her reputation as an icon of Goth culture. Oddly enough I also know more than a little about her most intimate sexual fantasies. Apparently, the day Allen Ginsberg died, her husband (who calls her 'Sir') agreed to fulfil her longtime fantasy -- he allowed her to pee all over him! Read all this and more in the transcript of Dmetri Kakmi's interview with Poppy Z in the next issue of "Sevenmag". It's undoubtedly one of the most gob-smacking, confessional exchanges between an interviewer and interviewee that has ever made it into mainstream print.

The Poppy and Dmetri talkfest is a stirfry of shared confidences that will make some blush; reflections on the nature of beauty, and lots of shrieking laughter. Yet, this unique encounter very nearly didn't happen -- all because a minder decided that although Dmetri had written a substantial piece on Poppy's work he simply wasn't 'important' enough. Thanks to a more open-minded publicist at Allen & Unwin (Poppy's publisher), the interview eventually went ahead. The end result will enthral her fans as it apparently did Poppy, herself, who emailed Dmetri after their 'phoner' to say how much she enjoyed the interview and felt 'buoyed' by it.

Artists and writers, such as Poppy Z, clearly need to rely on someone to filter out timewasters. Minders, publicists and media strategists, however, can often exert a silent and subversive power. 'Minding' has become a 'profession' and you can now get a qualification in almost any aspect of image-making and breaking. Professionalism tends to produce 'experts', specialist language and a 'body of knowledge', all of which in turn nurture a power base that is essentially conservative in outlook. Professional minders are more likely to 'play it safe', to operate by the rule that 'bland is beautiful' and say 'no' to a challenging interview or an irregular endorsement. Exceptions will be made, of course, especially if they happen to sit comfortably within the framework of their own media strategy -- for example, to refashion Madonna into an Earth Mother or recast America's most denigrated woman, Monica Lewinsky, as a martyr to the Starr system.

At one extreme is the opportunist publicist who is juggling several clients at the same time. A "Sevenmag" writer was recently approached by such a publicist who was setting up a schedule of interviews for one of Australia's well-known bands, recently returned from a US tour to promote a new album. The publicist wanted the writer to do the interview on behalf of a major magazine but to withhold it from publication -- without telling the band or the magazine. The deal was, if the writer did this 'favour' then an exclusive interview with a major US artist would be offered further down the track. Mr Publicity had a clear conflict of interest. While he needed to give the 'well-known band' the impression that he was doing his job, he also had another agenda. He was angling for the same magazine to do a feature story on one of his other clients -- a 'hot new band' -- and wanted to make sure that any competition was eliminated, even if that competition happened to be someone on his own books.

The more savvy artists are also at risk of being hijacked by the new breed of media strategists and lawyers. Rock rebel Courtney Love has always had a salty relationship with the media and her regular interview tantrums suggest that this is one streetwise gal who doesn't take bull from anyone. Yet how much of her relationship with the media is Courtney and how much is her minders?

Poppy Z Brite, who wrote "Courtney Love: The Real Story", provides some insights into the influence that minders have on the Queen of Punk Rock. The biography wasn't Courtney's idea but they were friends and Courtney not only handed over her private journals, which formed the basis of a fairly sympathetic narrative but gave Brite entree to key interviews. Brite now says that they are no longer friends, that Love turned her back on her when 'she did her entire media overhaul and became this image of the Virgin Mary. Her new publicist advised her to completely dissociate herself from me and the book because it discussed so much of her past.'

One wonders about the 17-page fax of 'no-go' questions UK's Chris Evans received prior to his interview with Courtney about Hole's new album, "Celebrity Skin". How many of those 17 pages were Courtney and how many were her lawyers'? A shorter list of restrictions, written in convoluted legalese was sent to other media outlets. Interestingly, the one question, which according to "Juice" magazine caused Courtney to 'chuck a mental', cancel all other interviews and withdraw photographic rights, wasn't even on the list: 'Can you still be a rebel in a Versace gown?' It was apparently a question that seared Courtney's skin because she was still alluding to it at the MTV awards several weeks later.

While Courtney sneered at the media frachas, asking what was wrong with wanting to wear a 'pretty frock', the question highlighted a fracture in her image. Could she remain an anti-establishment rock rebel and still do an advertorial spread in an establishment publication ("The New Yorker") for a jet-set designer? Perhaps the Versace frock shock was the brainchild of a minder who saw an opportunity to further Courtney's evolution towards Hollywood glam. Or maybe it was, afterall, as the lady herself suggested, simply an innocent girlie whim.