You describe your time in Outer Mongolia as the best time of your life. But outwardly, it seemed a little bit miserable--particularly your time in the Gobi, which you say was your favorite experience in your year there.

Bad times are more fun to talk and write about than good times. If someone is nice to you, who cares? That's why Mongolia in the book sounds bad and I sound miserable... it's more fun to write about!

What were the most profound, and the most enjoyable, parts of it, and why?

Most profound and enjoyable was that I was doing something I had dreamed about 30 years before. It was my one goal to make my life complete. And I did it.

Mongolia also showed me that it was possible to live with very different expectations, very different day-to-day concerns than the way we live in New York...or even in Europe or Japan. The Situationists talk about "the Spectacle," that, while entertaining us, keeps us separate from the reality--and basic joys--of everyday life. In Mongolia people live without the Spectacle. In the countryside, they live on the land, don't go to movies or watch TV. They don't have Starbucks, McDonalds, K Mart, or anything other than what they do themselves. Even in the city there is so much less SHIT than we have in New York. In New York I generate about half a dozen huge garbage bags a week. In Mongolia it was half a small plastic bag--and I reused the same plastic bag for weeks.

Basically it was not individual adventures that were exciting and profound. It was life.

You say flat out that you reject the term "Asian," and prefer the (controversial) term "Oriental," because it's more specific. But doesn't Oriental imply that there's an Occident, which there isn't anymore, really? Why not say Mongoloid?

The etymology of Oriental is FROM THE EAST. The etymology of Asian is EASTERN. So both imply a West. Mongoloid is fine for DEVO, but the baggage it carries is much too heavy for general use. "Oriental" talks about race. Chinese, Japanese, Mongolian... you know one when you see one. Indians are Asians. Arabs are Asians. They are NOT Orientals. Oriental is the precise word for what I want to describe when I use it.

What's wrong with "East Asian," then?

Are you kidding? With American Sense of Geography? "Hey did you see that cute East Asian girl?" "Oh? Is she from Kansas?"  How many people have enough of a map of Asia in their head to handle "East Asian," "South Asian," Southeast Asian"? And where is Afghanistan? Is that "South Central Asian?"

So the music scene there seemed pretty sparse. How'd you survive a whole year without music? Or did you get tapes sent to you from the US?

People sent me tapes. I had a walkman hooked up to some tiny speakers. My friends and my readers sent me music. Especially the folks at Dischord and at Sub-Pop. They really saved the day for me! 

My favorite chapter in Even a Daughter is about the Mongolian New Year's dinner ritual procession, mostly because of the sheer impossible quantity of everything you ate. But also, the way you describe the food is pretty...unappealing. Was the food as uniformly lamb-and-noodles-and-dumplings as it sounds? Did you like it?

In food, even more than sex, I'm easily satisfied. Yes, often I had the choice between lamb and noodles or noodles and lamb. But I did enjoy it. If I'd been in New York and had to eat it every day, I probably would have puked. But I was in Outer Fuckin' Mongolia. Everything there took on an air so strange and exotic, that I welcomed each new portion of lamb and noodles.

So, in Mongolia, did you REALLY go for as long as you claim without sex? I find that hard to believe.

I didn't go that long without sex. Only without sex with other people.

If I recall correctly, you've said that you believe homo/hetero/bisexuality is a choice, not a genetically determined condition. Do you still feel that way? How so?

Of course it's a choice... or, rather, bisexuality is a natural condition and how it's expressed is a choice. And of course I feel that way. Despite a recent front page NY Times article to the contrary, it can't be any other way. What's "gay" in one culture (e.g in the US, being sexually attracted to a person of the "same" sex) is NOT gay in another (e.g. in South America you are gay if you're fucked in the ass. You can do all the boy fucking you want, and not be "gay." But get fucked once... and you are). If a concept is culturally determined, then it cannot be biological. That should be obvious.

What's your opinion on "yellow fever"?

It annoys the shit out of me. It's like a band that YOU like and nobody else does. You go to shows, support the band. It's special. Then suddenly they HIT--and everybody likes them. You feel cheated. As if something personal has been taken away from you.

I don't know about the rest of America, but here in NY it's so fashionable to have an Oriental girlfriend that I want to spit. I wrote a column about it, comparing Oriental girlfriends to Dalmatians, which were also the rage in New York...but about 15 years ago. When those dogs were no longer fashionable, the ASPCA had to deal with dozens of abandoned Dalmatians left to roam the street. Who's gonna clean up the Oriental girlfriends when they go out of fashion?

Har. But--and you didn't state this; I'm asking for your opinon--do you think it's dismissive to declare an entire race "attractive"?  Is it even possible? For that matter (and sort of dovetailing on your opinions on sexuality) do you believe race is a biologically determined thing?

Race is genetic to a certain extent. The big three races anyway. (Except maybe the white race. That seems like the "everything else category.) Are Jews a "race?" I dunno about that one. In any case, certain physical characteristics are genetic.

I think there are few people who would declare an entire race attractive. Just as there might be people who like TALL people. That's their TYPE. But they wouldn't say every tall person is attractive. I even saw some ugly people in Thailand. So one can have Oriental as a TYPE, but not find every Oriental attractive.

Has your zeal for the "scene" diminished at all over the years? You don't seem to have any shortage of topics to write about in your column.

Sometimes I do get stuck. When I'm stuck in NY for too long, my topics dry up, and I go around like a hamster in a wheel. But as long as I move around, I have topics. As for music? I'm not going to be a typical old fart and complain about "the kids these days." But there is little new music that moves ME. Here in NY, I like WORLD WAR IX, PEELANDER Z, and THE STACKERS.  But not much else.

Is MRR--and zines of its ilk--outmoded? Has it served its purpose? Is punk dead?

Punk isn't dead. Rockabilly isn't dead. Jazz isn't dead. It's just not the fashion at the moment.

What are you listening to these days?

Mostly books on tape. Presently: Winston Churchill: The History of the English Speaking People.

GG Allin: Genius or overrated asshole?

Both and neither. I think GG Allin was the most important person in music since Elvis Presley. He was no genius--neither was Elvis. But he shook up a lot of people who needed shaking up. He was absolutely the freest person I've ever met.

Was he nicer than one would suspect? Was his whole persona bullshit? (I know his whole hagiography seems to be.)

He was nice, or not nice as the time may have it. He could change on a dime... or depending on the drugs he was taking. As to his "history," of course it's all lies. What good history isn't?

Finally: You have a Drink Club, where you and whoever wants to show up meet at a different bar every week. Do you have any favorite bars?

Yeah, I like The Peculier Pub on Bleecker St. They have a quiet back room, lots of wood, and old NY style ceiling, and if you know the tricks, it's easy to get less than 21s in there to drink.

I've run into a lot of great bars in NY. But most are fuckin' expensive. You can read the reviews here. Lately I've started having the bartenders/servers review us. It's unfair that they're always on the receiving end of the reviews and they never get to dish it out. Anyone in NY or who will be in NY and is interested in joining us for drink club can check out the latest locations here. Or email me and I'll put you on the weekly list.

Mykel has two new books out: Even a Daughter Is Better Than Nothing, about the year he spent in Outer Mongolia, and I, A Me-Ist, which is a collection of his MRR columns. (His band, Artless, has an album out, too.) And tonight, November 3, he's having a dual book release party at the Crime Scene Bar, across the street from CBGB. He says that if you don't come he'll cry.