(As anyone who follows the obituaries - and who can afford not to in
this business - knows, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was found dead recently,
of an apperant illness arising out of drug or alcohol use.  There is some
speculation that his death was related to a long standing North/South feud
between the Germans and Italians, whose sometimes violent bad blood has
been so much in the news - see the side bar "Why Mozart was Murdered".
But it will be years - if ever - before this is sorted out.  It is
disheartening to loose so many musicians so young, or to have so many of
the hotest singers retire by 25.  But that is the way it will always be
in music.

While we at Trolling Stoned had been very hard on him through out his
career as child star and front man for the Mozart family group, before
his untimely end he had left the major contract and gone independant,
put his life together and was brimming with new projects.  We thought it
appropriate to reprint this WAM's last interview with Trolling Stoned, just
after the opening of his new musical to rave reviews and packed houses in
Prague.)

Interviewer's introduction:

The comeback trail, as we know, is the most well worn path in show
business.  Plays have five acts, and Operas generally three.  Some careers
seem to be an aria which is all repeats, and others seem to have no end.
My interview this month is with someone who has been in the public eye
since he was a child - fronting a family group as part of the prodigy
craze of the 60's and 70's.

Recently Herr Mozart has changed directions, leaving the bright lights of
commercial Vienna for hipper, edgier - and dare we say it, more democratic
- Prague.  Trolling Stone caught this musician/songwriter at his apartments
here in Prague, before heading back to Vienna to be with his wife.

Trolling Stoned -
Herr Mozart...

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart -
Wolfie, please, its what everybody calls me these days.

TS -
Wolfie.  Recently it seems like you've taken a big change in direction.
Not being so much part of the scene in Vienna, more experimental theatre
and music, fewer tours.  What brought this about.

WAM -
Well somethings have changed a great deal.  I've found a second home here
in Prague and it has really opened up chances to do the kind of things I've
always wanted to do.  You talk like I haven't been hip for very long.  But
really it was the problem of venue.  I did German musical years ago, but
had endless political problems with it.  I was doing the Turco-pop thing
for the last decade, but it wasn't in favor.  Really the only thing that's
changed is the my collaborators up here share my vision.

TS -
So you don't think this is a change in direction.

WAM -
It's a chance to grow.  I experienced a lot of really avant-garde theatre
in Paris, melologs and so on, a long time ago, and was excited by it.  I
was excited by the different things I've heard on my travels.  Really this
is as much a change of venue as anything else.

TS -
You mean leaving Vienna.

WAM -
Not exactly.  Vienna is still where everybody goes - all the best young
musicians head there to break into the business.  But you know, it isn't
healthy to just be stuck there.


TS -
So are you still going to be working for projects in Vienna.

WAM - Certainly, in fact, as I was finishing Magic Flute I was working on
something more formal for Vienna, and for some concert music aimed at the
larger venues you can get in Vienna.

TS -
So tell me about what you are doing here in Prague.

WAM -
Musical theatre.  Really fantastic stuff.  Great tunes that everyone can
relate to.  But with a more spirtual angle.

TS -
There has been alot of talk about your involvement with that cult (the
freemasons).  They've been banned in many places, and there have been
worries about the amount of money that many of their followers give.
What's your take on this controversy.

WAM -
As you know there is a lot of freemasonry in the new project (The
Magic Flute).  But it isn't required to enjoy the show.  I've found my
involvement with Freemasonry to be one of the big positives in my life
in the last year.  It has lifted a great deal of the weight off of me.

TS -
So you don't think it is a cult - or a political movement.

WAM -
Not at all, its about universal love and brotherhood, about finding
strength in yourself.

TS -
So this was part of trying to get past the death of your father.

WAM -
Shit, I mean, my whole life was trying to get past my father being alive.
Everything since then has about being getting past his death.

TS -
And you feel you've gotten beyond it.

WAM -
Somethings you just have to talk about, and others only show up in your
music.  I think this is one of those topics that really needs to be in
music.  I'm working on something special that will really be my
contribution on it.

TS -
Everybody has wondered why you've cut way down on your touring.  You aren't
thinking of giving up on your solo career are you?

WAM -
Good heavans no.  I play in Magic Flute, but I think you mean me fronting
again.  That isn't really much on my mind right now.  The stage - that is
what I love to write for most.  Maybe when this period dries up I'll want
to be back on the road again.  But it is hard with family, you know?

TS -
So how has being a family man altered your perspective?

WAM -
One word.  Responsibility.  It used to be I could spend what I liked,
do what I liked, play billiards into the night.  Now.  Not so much.

TS -
I've heard their have been some wild parties with the cast here in Prague.

WAM -
The orchestra gets front row seats, but doesn't sing along.  If you know
what I mean.

TS -
Changing topic a bit.  You've been one of the most successful performing
artists of the last 20 years.  Now you seem to be making a move on
Salieri's territory seriously as a producer/composer.  In the big picture,
do you think you can do this? And what about the German/Italian conflict.
Doesn't it irk you that German conductors and composers seem to take a back
seat to foreigners?

WAM -
All you can do is put out the highest quality product that you can.  You
know, it doesn't get any more complicated than that:  write good shit and
maybe people will buy it.  As for the German/Italian thing - its an issue.
Maybe the issue.  And yes, it feels bad having to go through people who
warble little modal things over a harpsichord and call it theatre.

But really, if the tide is turning, then things will work out eventually.

TS -
You've been a great deal more outspoken about social and political issues
in the past.

WAM -
I still am, I just think, as I get older, that the way to change thing
is to get people to really look at their own behavior, look at themselves,
at where their soul is at, and change that.  Everything else will follow.

TS -
And how does this carry through to your new music.

(Smiling for the first time)
WAM -
Oh, come now, I can't give away all the secrets.  You are just going to
have to tell your readers to see the show.  It's much better than the organ
grinder versions that they have been hearing.

TS -
Does that bother you - the organ grinders taking your tunes.

WAM -
They aren't *taking* them.  The more often they play it, the more people
will want to come.  After all, we have a good professional orchestra and
top singers and costumes.  If we can't give a better experience than the
organ grinder, then maybe we aren't worth it.

The people who anger me are the music publishers.  No royalties, pirating
copies of works, claiming they own the work when in order to get it
published, and then they don't do anything.  Those are the real pirates.

TS -
What do you think is behind this.

WAM -
Its a technology thing partly, it is a lot easier to publish these days.
But mostly it is a money thing.  Take someones work, sell it for money.

TS -
So there is a line in your mind?

WAM -
Sure, I'm the source.  So long as you have to come back the artist for the
real thing, then the artist will do fine.  It is when you can take finished
product and distribute it - often claiming to be the real thing!  How many
hacks have put my name on their work!  Or how many times has some twiddler
done the through bass for a published edition of one of my concerti.  It's
awful.

TS -
So where too from here?

WAM -
Rehearsal. Sorry, but it's really busy.

TS -
Thanks for your time.

WAM -
Really, its been great.


- Real author's note.  This piece is just riffage amidst the artistic
fat.  Nothing that WAM said should be taken to be my position on the issue,
or worse yet, my attributing to him my position.  It is just riffage on
artists dying young, musical controversy, feuds, piracy and all those other
things which clutter the show biz present on the way to the artistic
future.  Nothing more.

Stirling Newberry
[log in to unmask]
http://www.mp3.com/ssn