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Music

The BJ Rubin Show Is Seizure-Sparking, Ape-Shit Shenanigan-Filled DIY Musical Genius

BJ Rubin, clad in striped, crew-neck sweater and crisp oxford, is nestled on a comfy couch twenty-five floors up in his Upper West side abode and drinking a cup of tea as a backdrop of breathtaking views of Manhattan glisten behind him. The film auteur

BJ Rubin, clad in striped, crew-neck sweater and crisp oxford, is nestled on a comfy couch twenty-five floors up in his Upper West side abode and drinking a cup of tea. He’s talking candidly about his job at the United Nations, but today, politics isn’t the main topic. Instead, we’re here to talk about BJ Rubin, the former show booker who once worked beside Todd P, co-mastermind behind shlock-jazz duo Puttin’ on the Ritz and manager of the intrepid composer David Earl Buddin and the seizure-sparking, ape-shit music ‘n’ comedy show that is his public access program, The BJ Rubin Show.

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Not only does Rubin’s show epitomize his immaculately conceived DIY vision—as evidenced by its glorious lo-fi production values via its convulsing, frenetic, belly-laughing loopiness—but every episode features a wild guest list. Rubin Show regulars include maniacs like no wave scholar and Cellular Chaos guitarist Weasel Walter, “Klassi-kill” purveyor Nondor Nevai, patriot-rock honky tonk’er Buddin, Talibam! drummer Kevin Shea, Child Abuse bass-man Tim Dahl and symphonic slayer, Mick Barr. Rubin was kind enough to sit down with us to provide a peek into his world: his neophyte beginnings, inspirations and influences, how his show has evolved over the years and the brand new episodes.

Noisey: You, BJ Rubin, are somewhat of an enigma. You’ve been producing, editing and starring in your own public access show for the last few years but you’ve rarely been interviewed. However, you have been engulfed in the “Brooklyn scene” for well over a decade. Who are you and where did you come from??
BJ Rubin: I’m from Southern California—I grew up in Thousand Oaks, near Los Angeles. I’m 35. I came here in September of 1999 after I graduated from UC Berkeley, the first place I lived was 125th and Broadway in Harlem. My first job in New York was as a temp at Merrill Lynch transcribing interviews for their streaming financial news show. One day they hired a new video editor and the other editor had called in sick so it was just her and she had no idea what she was doing. So I just sat down because I’d been working with the editors—I went to school for film, and I was like “Okay, I’ll figure out how to do this.” She asked me if she could get a cup of coffee and then never came back. I wound up editing all the segments that day and eventually was promoted to being an editor. I soon moved to Williamsburg and lived all over Brooklyn until about two years ago. Now I live on the Upper West Side with an elderly woman and a view of the park.

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Did you know anyone when you first got here?
I knew two or three people, all Columbia students.

Were you involved in the music scene in California?
I was pretty involved in the scene when I was in college; I played in bands and put on shows at my house in Oakland. I also volunteered at the Epicenter Zone record store in San Francisco.

What about when you arrived here in New York?
I just started going to shows when I got to New York and since I’m a social person, it didn’t take me long to meet people. I used to help Todd P, when he first got here, I helped with his shows for years.

When and how did you hatch the concept for The BJ Rubin Show?
I was working at The Daily Show as an associate producer and I had this idea that I wanted to do a cable access show. That was 2009. I actually started taking the class at cable access in the fall of 2010. To use their facilities, you have to get certified so they have a class that you take. This was at the BCAT studio but they’ve actually changed the name now. It’s not BCAT anymore, it’s BPN, Brooklyn Public Network—they've rebranded because they reopened this new facility in downtown Brooklyn—state of the art. I haven’t been there yet but my show still airs in Brooklyn. Bernice Brooks, who’s been on my show a few times, is the one that taught the class. She has a long running show called The Bernice Brooks Show, so she’s been a local celebrity in Brooklyn with a certain kind of person. She’s a drummer and she does a music show. She’s cool. After I took the class, I was like “Okay, I should get a show together” and the rules for Brooklyn cable access are that for every time you book the studio, you are supposed to produce a half hour show.

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When did the first show air?
The first episode aired in December of 2010. The whole thing was shot in three hours, which is why it looks the way it looks (laughing). There’s a ton of mistakes, and if you look closely Dave (Buddin) has a plastic bag on his foot. He was late for choir practice at the church and he couldn’t get out the front door for some reason. So, he decided that he should jump out the window. He jumped out the window and he fractured his heel and then I got a call that Dave was in the hospital (laughing). He used it as an excuse to act like a disabled person for a while. One day, Dominika (Michalowska) caught him pushing himself with a crutch up the street in an office chair—he was headed to the pizza place around the corner to have a beer. But he didn’t like the way the bandage looked on his foot so he put a plastic bag over it. At the time, it was really snowy so he also didn’t want to get it wet. If you watch that first episode, you can see Dave with a plastic bag on his foot. He looked like a total mess.

Who made up the cast on the very first show?
It was me, there was Dave, Kevin (Shea) and Weasel (Walter). Tim (Dahl) was there, Tim’s a regular but he hasn’t been in every episode. Dominika was there and this girl Caroline (Contillo) was there, who was only in that one episode (laughing). I just sat in the corner and watched the show and it was pretty entertaining. Dave, for some reason, decided that he didn’t want to bring any originals. He only brought standards so he played a bunch of standards. Then Kevin got up and did a 15 minute drum solo. It’s a mess—the audio is messed up and everything that could be messed up is—but it’s still beautiful in its way. I remember afterwards we all went back to Dave’s house to watch the footage and everyone was like “Oh, yeah. You got some editing to do.” I was like “What are you talking about? This is the show!” (laughing).

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How many shows have you done to date?
17, including the new ones. They are not all online. There are several episodes that are secret episodes that have only aired on television. In the future, when I do a DVD or Blu-Ray, there will be stuff there that people haven’t seen. I want to do a Blu-Ray of the first season so it will be all the episodes and I’ll probably include bonus material, like extra musical performances.

For those not in the know, when and where does the show air?
My show airs on Manhattan Neighborhood Network every other Thursday at 4pm, and on Brooklyn Public Network the first Thursday of the month at 2pm. You can watch it on the internet on my website, pukekos.org.

Do you have an actual crew or is it a one-man show?
Most of the segments for the new shows, it’s me and one facilitator from cable access. When I use the bigger studios, there’s more people. There’s a studio upstairs, that’s the one I use most frequently because it’s set up for one person to run everything. The episodes from the first season that I shot in Manhattan were all me doing everything—I booked the guests, set the mics, ran the tapes, mixed the audio, switched the cameras, picked the backgrounds, did the editing, everything (except the graphics). It was just me and the artist in the studio—this intimate moment that we shared together. I liked not having to rely on anyone else.

You feature quite an eclectic cast of characters who make regular appearances on the show. Weasel Walter, head of ugEXPLODE Records and also the guitarist in Lydia Lunch’s Retrovirus, has been a frequent guest since the beginning.
I first met Weasel when the Flying Luttenbachers played Tonic in the early 00’s. We went to a party at the USAisaMonster guy’s house. Colin (Langenus) lived in Bed-Stuy and there was some party at his house and a bunch of us took the train out there after the gig so that was when I first hung out with Weasel. That was when he still had the antenna—his hair spiked out, he wore the makeup and the riding boots. It was pretty amazing. Weasel is still cool but as peculiar as he is now, he used to be even more peculiar. He dressed like that everywhere he went. He was pretty “fuck you!” (laughing). When he moved here, he needed a place to stay for a few months and I needed a roommate so we ended up living together and that’s how we became close. When he and I lived together, it was hard to avoid each other (laughing).

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What about Kevin Shea, your partner in Puttin’ On The Ritz?
I knew Jeff Winterberg. Kevin and Jeff were in Coptic Light together and Jeff I knew from going to shows, hanging out and we used to go to dance parties. I saw Storm & Stress in California but I didn't meet Kevin until he and Jeff started hanging out. There was a party in Williamsburg in 2000 or 2001 and it was a well-known party at the time because the singer from Gang Gang Dance—and this was before Gang Gang Dance—set herself on fire at this party. It was like a performance art piece (laughing). It was at this loft right under the Marcy stop on the J train. A Daptone band played and then she set herself on fire. I think she had 2nd or 3rd degree burns. I met Kevin there.

You manage composer and Nebadon member David Earl Buddin. How did you meet Dave?
Dominika had a birthday party at her house when they were living in Midwood. 2991 Bedford Avenue was this semi-legendary party house where they all lived. It was Tim, Dominika, Dave and Simon living there. I went back for their annual Psychedelic Super Bowl Party and Dave played me some Stockhausen and then the next day he called and asked me to be his manager. Dave is a genius—he has a PhD in music, he studied composition with Charles Wuorinen. He’s a phenomenal songwriter with the American Liberty League, and I love his music as a composer as well. He has piano sonatas that he’s composed that no one can play. I’ve heard the electronic demos and they are beautiful and the new Nebadon piece is beautiful.

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But, of course, they are almost impossible to produce (laughing). I mean, they are possible to produce but it’s going to cost me a lot of money. I want to put out the album we’ve already finished first—Six Canticles for Electronics and Soprano. I think that if we’re able to actually release his music into the world, even if people don’t listen to it now, I think that in the future they will. It is modern classical music and some of the music from this era, that genre, people will still listen to. When I listen to Dave’s music, it sounds to me like it’s from another planet; it sounds like it’s from the future. I love it and I feel honored that I get to be a part of it as his producer.

The American Liberty League are series regulars too.
For the first season, they were the official house band for the show. You won't see them in every episode for season two but Dave is a regular on the show so he’ll definitely be a part of it. Nebadon will be in the next episode because they weren’t in this one. Then the one after that, since you didn’t see the full American Liberty League before and it was just Dave playing solo, maybe I’ll get Dave and Tim and Kevin to come back together as a trio. It used to be fun in the past when I’d have Dave and Kevin with like Arringtonde Dionyso, who would come do the show. Arrington is a regular although he lives in Olympia—he comes in and does the show pretty much every time he’s in town. He’s always great. I like his music a lot so it’s cool to have him do the show. For one of the episodes, he came and his band backed up Dave and Kevin and they played some of Dave’s songs! It was really great. We’ve had a few different iterations of the American Liberty League. I think, for the first season, having the American Liberty League was out of necessity because it was tough to get people to come do the show. The longer I’ve been doing the show, the easier it’s been to get people because I’m more established now. People are like “Okay, I guess he’s going to be doing this show forever and he’s never going stop bothering me about doing it until we do so let’s just get it over with.”

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Buddin seems like a blast to hang out with.
He is. It was really great getting to spend Thanksgiving with him this year. Last year, he was banned but this year I put in a special request. He came the year before and he kind of made an ass out of himself (laughing) which he does, so people were a little wary. I asked my girlfriend Lauren (Martin, who also does the graphics for the show) if Dave could come. I told her to ask her mom -- “Look, can Dave come? Otherwise he'll be all alone.” Because it’s a big crowd and Loraine spends a lot of time cooking and she doesn’t want people to feel offended and Dave can be offensive. But this year he came and he drank wine, he was nice and the only person he made fun of was me (laughing). He doesn’t eat very well most of the time so when I can get a good meal into him, I try to get a decent meal in him and maybe he’ll live an extra day (laughing). He’s not the healthiest guy in the world.

“Klassi-kill” musician Nondor Nevai is one seriously out there dude.
What did Mick Barr say about him? You want to get him on your side; you don't want him against you. Nondor is quite the character. He hasn't been in every episode but he's a regular. He's the kind of guy that destroys copies of his album.

Metal maestro Mick Barr (Krallice, Orthrelm) is also a regular.
Mick is cool and funny and a great guitar player (laughing). I’m lucky to have him on the show.

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The newest episode of the show has a stellar lineup with some first-timers. How did you get U.S. Girls to perform?
Meg had never been on the show. I met her in 2007 at Death by Audio. She’s been on my mailing list since the beginning and she responded after the second episode and told me that she really liked it. I’d been trying to get her on for over two years, basically. Meg lives in Toronto so it was a matter of making it happen. Finally, she was in town and had a few hours to spare. She showed up, did her thing, it was great and that was it. I’d like to have Meg as a regular; that’s kind of the idea. The artists that I have on the show, I always plan on having them back in the future. She did two songs but I’m saving some songs from all the bands for the finale. It’ll probably be another two or three part episode, I’m not sure. It depends on how many people I get. Meg will be in it, Dan Friel did another song too so everyone will be in the finale together.

And Maria Minerva? Her version of Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon” is killer.
She’s from Estonia. She hadn’t been living in New York for very long when I met her. Alice (Cohen), who’s in the show, directed a music video for Maria called “Black Magick” and I was in it and that’s how Maria and I met. Apparently, it had been a dream of hers to be on a cable access show (laughing). So, I said to Maria “Okay, great! I’ll let you know when I start filming the next episode.”

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The backgrounds on the show rule. So trippy. Do you put thought into that stuff?
The backgrounds in Pilot II are all videos that I shot. I have a GoPro camera and I’ve been shooting little films with the idea that they would be playing behind the artists. They’re supposed to be scenes from my life. It’s funny, Maria showed up and she was like “Let’s find some videos on YouTube” and I was like “No, Maria. That’s not how it works!” (laughing).

I assume it’s a pleasant experience on the set of the show and dealing with the guests.
Most of them are really easy to work with and it is a sincere pleasure. I started shooting the next episode of the show and Blues Control were my first guest and they were great. They put on a good show, they took direction well, they showed up on time. I was like “I wish everyone could be like this!”

How many takes do you actually do before you move on to the next performance?
With U.S. Girls, that segment is cut between three takes. That’s the way music videos and films are shot. But most TV shows, if it’s a live band, you get one take. But because my show isn’t live, I don’t have to do that. The first season was always one take but the second season is multiple takes. It's more work in post-production to do it that way but to me it’s a U.S. Girls music video that I directed and it’s a Dan Friel music video that I directed. That’s the way I look at it -- my show is just a series of music videos.

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Your impromptu dancing and singing in the show is some funny shit. You have some stellar moves.
I enjoy singing and dancing but I always feel like there is someone better than me. But I've really found my niche with this television show. I feel like I know what I’m doing, I've been doing it for three years now and with this new episode, I feel like I finally found what I’ve been looking for and the reason I got into this. It’s been difficult but I am happy with it even though it is so much work. For Pilot II, I spent seven months on that hour-long (two part) episode.

Let’s change gears and talk about your own music. Puttin’ on the Ritz, your jazzy project with Kevin has been out of action for a while. Is that done?
There’s a possibility that something could happen with that again but I don’t anticipate us playing in public anytime soon. We still have some unreleased material we’ll probably release at some point and I was thinking about doing a video for one of those unreleased songs. Maybe we'll play the show sometime or something. For me, my focus right now is the television show. It’s like when someone goes solo, they stop performing as a band and start performing under their own name. A lot of times, it’s the same band; you're working with the same people. For me, The BJ Rubin Show is my solo project and although it requires a lot of people to help, I’m doing the lion’s share of the work. It’s not always me you see but I’m directing it, I’m editing it, I’m producing it. Sometimes, I wish I had money and I could hire people so I wouldn’t have to do all the work but this way, in the end, it’s more like a painting. That’s how painters work: they look at their painting and then they go and add more paint.

For me, that’s what I’m doing. When I’m editing, I’m adding more paint, when I’m mixing, I’m adding more paint. Whatever. That may be a stupid way of seeing things (laughing). Am I a musician? That’s not really how I see myself. Music has always been a passion for me and part of me wishes I pursued it more seriously. When I was in the 3rd grade I joined the school band, I was playing the clarinet and I quickly went from beginning to advanced band. I was doing very well. Then my clarinet broke and that was it. That was end of my career as a clarinetist. I was the singer in a hardcore band when I was 18 called the Angel Assassins. Then I got a synthesizer—a Prophet 600—which we used when we recorded the Canticles with Dave. I got it when I was in college and I played it in a few bands. I was in another band called Cowboys and Indians and we used to play with Coptic Light. I did a band in 2010, Odysseus, with a buddy of mine named Jeff Davidson.

What do you do when you’re not busy with the show?
I work full time at the UN, and I also produce a show called Pukekos TV. It’s another half-hour show that's all music videos, with short little bumpers in between that I shoot. It allows me to get new shows on the air more frequently than if I was just doing The BJ Rubin Show. Generally I get the videos from the artist, the label, or the director. Some of the older videos I get from DVDs or VHS tapes. Most of the time it's much easier to get a music video from someone than to get them to show up at the studio (laughing).

Are your colleagues at the UN aware of your extra-curricular activities?
Absolutely. They are impressed. I found that doing the show has been helpful for me at work because I recently interviewed a bunch of high-level diplomats from the UN. I work in the Department of Political Affairs and I interviewed them for our website. The reason that I have all those skills is because I’ve been doing a TV show for the past three years. I wouldn’t have been able to do that had I not been doing the show. It was cool. But the only people who are going to see my show there are friends of mine. If you don’t know me at the UN, I’m Benjamin Rubin so how are you going to find The BJ Rubin Show? Of course, now maybe my cover's blown (laughing).

What has served as an inspiration for your show?
Saturday Night Live is definitely a huge influence on my work, particularly the first five years. I have them all on DVD. I don’t know if I’ve sat and watched every single episode from all five years but I’ve watched a lot of them. The first year, I’ve seen every episode. Kovacs and Buñuel are big influences, too. Jam is one of my all-time favorites, a British show from like ten years ago. It’s super fucked up (laughing)—Chris Morris is pretty amazing, one of the greats. I'm also really into The Beat Club show from Germany, they've been releasing some of it on DVD now. I have ones for The Move, Captain Beefheart, Yes, and Atomic Rooster. Lately I’ve been watching It’s Garry Shandling’s Show.

Is SNL a model for the show?
Yes, but it’s the opposite. SNL is almost all comedy with just a little bit of music. My show is almost all music with just a little bit of comedy. I just turned the formula around.

How has the show evolved over the years?
From Pilot to Pilot II…the new episode is called Pilot II because I like sequels and I wanted to tie it in to the first season. Now, it’s in HD, which the first season was not. I intentionally waited—I took a break from producing The BJ Rubin Show—and in the meantime, produced Pukekos TV. The reason was that I wanted to do (new) episodes in HD and I knew the studios would be upgrading their facilities at some point. Into The Void (the Season One Finale) aired in June of 2012 and then I started shooting Pilot II in May of 2013. So, I took almost a year off from shooting at the studio. The studio finally reopened in May (after upgrading) and I got right in there. For me, I like having an actual television studio; it’s part of the charm and format of the show that it’s actually shot in a television studio and not in this living room.

Finally, why did you call it The BJ Rubin Show? Why not some flashy, hip name or obscure reference instead?
One of the reasons I called it The BJ Rubin Show was because I knew it was going to be mostly my energy put into it. Even if I’m not in every scene, I’m directing it—I’m still there. Another reason I called it The BJ Rubin Show was because Richard Pryor had a show called The Richard Pryor Show. I thought, I should just call it The BJ Rubin Show! If he can do it, I can do it. It makes sense; I have a good name. That way, if anybody ever watches it, they will know who made it. If I named my show “New York, New York,” which was honestly another name I was thinking of calling it, it was like “New York, New York. What is that? Who is that? Who’s New York, New York?” It gets confusing. The BJ Rubin Show. Okay. Done. We know who did that. We know who to blame (laughing).

Photo by Jessica Hills

Brad Cohan is a fan, obviously.