|
|
          |
Finding Forster
May 2004 - John Forster, as we would say here in New England, is a wicked funny guy. Long after the Adam Sandlers of the world become the Pauly Shores of the world, guys like John Forster will remain, like the proverbial Twinkie after the Armageddon. Forster’s versatile sense of humor has served him well, earning him both critical acclaim and multiple Grammy nominations. The Harvard-educated satirist and accomplished musical theatre aficionado founded the school's long-running revue, The Proposition, and has produced and written songs for award-winning children's albums by Tom Chapin, Rosenschantz and the Olsen Twins, which have even been weighed against those of the late, great Shel Silverstein. His own funny folk albums, Entering Marion (1993), Helium (1997) and The Bootleg Album (1998) have brought comparisons to Tom Lehrer, and are some of the funniest of their kind. He brings his show to a local audience on Saturday, May 22 to the Center For Arts in Natick (www.NatickArts.org). Tom Lehrer retired from satire to teach math full-time at Harvard. Did you ever take math while you were there, and was he ever your professor?[Laughs]. He was a little before my time. He was really good at math, and I wasn't, so it was a good thing that I was not his student. I had dinner with him a few years ago, which was a great thrill. He's the Man. What other artists or writers have influenced you?As far as my satire goes, there's Lehrer, and Danny Kaye. Growing up, I had stashes of old records, which I devoured. In the '60's, I got a hold of "Beyond The Fringe", which was Broadway revue from Cambridge [England] starring Dudley Moore and Peter Cook. It required a lot of memorization, and it was terrific stuff. I also liked Stan Freberg, MAD Magazine and whatever was around, really. When you're young, it's all input — you soak it all up, and you don't know it's going to come out until years later. Musically, I grew up as a classical music jock, and Brahms was my main man. I played pipe organ as a kid, so Bach was very big with me, too. At Harvard, my roommate and I worked our way through the Harvard Music Library, listening to every jazz record that was available — Coltrane, Evans, Miles. In musical theatre, a few of the people I love are Bernstein and Sondheim, of course, and Harnick and Bock, who wrote "Fiddler On The Roof" and "Fiorello". What was the first song you ever wrote?In high school I wrote a song with my brother Bill called "The Bomb Shelter Boogie", which was a lot like Lehrer's "We'll All Go Together When We Go", come to think of it. I guess that Lehrer's influence stretches a long way — he crystallized a lot of great ideas beautifully. Where did you grow up?I was born in Philadelphia, but I spent some years in Europe growing up. I was at Harvard during the [April 1969] student takeover of University Hall, and it was a highly politicized time. I was not swept up in the fervor, though. Now, however, I feel much less detached than I ever have. The last incredibly politicized cycle this country went through was during the Vietnam era — one that I rode out with equanimity — but I'm not riding this one out. Did you have any idea the Olsen Twins would rise to such heights, and at any time did you have a chance to stop them?[Chuckles.] That's a loaded question. If only I didn't sign those confidentiality agreements...actually, there's no dirt there that I saw, and they weren't exploited. I did three albums and six videos with them from 1991 to 1996, when they were about 6 to 11, and I wish them well.
|
A talk with satirist John Forster
When was the last time you worked with Tom Chapin?