• Idle googling turns up not one but two Natalie Merchant profiles
• Idle gossip about her and Michael Stipe had to be addressed, I guess
• An unplanned blog post. Surprise! The ROTR will return to hibernation.
In a spasm of boredom the other day, I googled my name and up came a YouTube video of a profile I did of Natalie Merchant in 1993, when she had just left her first band with only 9,999 Maniacs.
Watch this and you’ll see I was compelled to pry into the personal lives of R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe and Ms. Merchant. I appreciate her graciousness.
Then, down the YouTube queue, there was another Merchant profile. One I did five years later. Showbiz Today just couldn’t get enough Natalie, apparently.
So there you have them. Two Merchant meetings. Not a lot of conclusions to be drawn from them. She was very sweet, very smart, favored bright red lipstick (not my preferred look on a woman, but, hey – we weren’t on a date. We were better friends.)


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Nice post Mark. I learned some things about one of my favorite singers. And you!
Thanks, John! Missing you. And hockey.
Mark Scheerer 212 877-0082
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