I think Buck 65 was born in the wrong era.

When he performs live, he almost seems like a traveling snake oil salesman who's using some old fashioned razzle dazzle to sell his wares. And he does such a fantastic job that if he did have a bottle of that oil tucked into the lining of his jacket, I'd be the first in line to buy it.

At his last show in Vancouver, he was reciting kooky lines between songs (it turns out he took them from spam emails), cracking jokes, and complimenting the crowd between one great rendition of his songs after another. (He makes a point of adapting his music for the stage rather than just playing the album live.) After the show, one audience member said she felt like she was being flirted with for the entire show. Then, when it was all over, he jumped off the stage and into the crowd and chatted with his fans for more than an hour.

So, when we met up the next day, I talked with Buck 65 about playing live - about his shyness(!), what makes for a good show, what he learned from seeing Tom Waits, and what makes performing "terrifying and wonderful."

posted by Jennifer Van Evra on Aug 30, 2006