This is an excerpt from the print edition of Dirty Linen #123 (April/May 2006)).
The full article is in the magazine, available on newsstands, by subscription, and at the Dirty Linen webstore.
by Elliot Stephen Cohen
"None of these things have anything to do with me," complained the enigmatic performer known as Leon Redbone, in response to questions about himself. "I am not interested in talking about my past, or my future. When I do an interview, I'm only interested in talking about what I do.
"The main theme of my diatribe is that I'm noncompliant," he boasted, using a term he employs with great frequency. "One does not have to have a conversation as if they're enlisting in the army or filling out a résumé for a job. It's about thoughts and communication of ideas, not about what people expect to see in an article about somebody. That's a rather pedestrian definition of what people expect. To hell with 'em."
He refused to even acknowledge where he was calling from ("I don't have a home," he claimed. "I'm one of the homeless. Put down Tucson or something."), although he allegedly lives in the vicinity of Bucks County, Pennsylvania. "These things have nothing to do with proximity, geographical, or even planetary. I suppose if I had just landed here from another planet, that would be interesting, but even that wouldn't be that interesting."
For an interviewer, Redbone is indeed one hard nut to crack. Feigning curmudgeonly annoyances at questions, the elusive artist has become skilled at dodging any potentially revealing queries. Redbone has apparently perfected his avoidance by sailing off on his own stream-of-consciousness soliloquies.
This is an excerpt from the print edition of Dirty Linen #123 (April/May 2006)).
The full article is in the magazine, available on newsstands, by subscription, and at the Dirty Linen webstore.
![[cover #123]](/linen/123/cover123t.jpg)
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