It was really hard to be sexually active and to sleep with men and with women and not feel you had a responsibility in terms of having safe sex. ", It often seems, from the outside, that Stipe is entirely consumed by each new creative passion. In 1989, we went around the world three times. 's Michael Stipe Talks to Jacobin", "Michael Stipe explains Bernie Sanders support: 'I seek out and listen for honesty and realness', "Hundreds of artists endorse Bernie Sanders for US President", "Michael Stipe: 'Who would I say sorry to? Tell us a jokeWhats brown and sticky?A stick. I have interviewed him three times in the past, never to my satisfaction. We own the masters to our Warner Bros records. I've lived here now since the mid-80s with the exception of a few years in Los Angeles. work in 2006, Stipe sang the song "L'Htel" on the tribute album to Serge Gainsbourg titled Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisited and appeared on the song "Dancing on the Lip of a Volcano" on the New York Dolls album One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This. And a partridge in a pear tree. songs had definite lyrics that Stipe wrote with care. Even before then, Stipe seemed troubled by the whirlwind of fame, struggling to make sense of the stadium tours that followed 1987's hit single "The One I Love". Michael generally didnt finish songs if he didnt like them. He is known for his vocal quality, poetic lyrics and unique stage presence. Existential., Michael Stipe: Who would I say sorry to? "It's Inuit weather," he says. The article featured a photo of Patti Smith, who Stipe came to idolize. frontman, who came out as gay in 1994, said he believed the other members of the band knew about his sexuality long before he came out. That's the only real news in the last 12 years, but when it's a slow news day I get dragged out of some closet again.". As a member of R.E.M., Stipe was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007. "I never identified with gay, that's all. Around 1992, rumors that Stipe had contracted HIV began to circulate. R.E.M. You can visit it if you're around the Pompidou Centre [in Paris], free of charge, open daily. "There's some truth in that. With hindsight, one can see that the songs Stipe wrote and sang back in the early 80s when REM were a small independent rock group operating out of their home town of Athens were the first clue to his otherness. The new album, like its predecessor, Accelerate, sounds like a group who have rediscovered their mojo after a run of albums that sounded, well, like a big stadium band on cruise control. Rumors of the singer's alleged demise gained traction on Saturday after a ' R.I.P. ", It all sounds, I say, a bit Duchamp. The influential drummer was best known for his work with Ministry, King Crimson, and R.E.M. And then spend the rest of our lives saying, No, we are not going to reform, no, theres not going to be a return concert or a tour. Some guy said to me last night at a cocktail party: I book things for private parties. "Not troubled, no. Nina Simone and Etta James. Suddenly we had an audience that included people who would have sooner kicked me on the street than let me walk by unperturbed. Drummer Bill Berry suffered a brain aneurysm in March 1995; bassist Mike Mills had surgery to remove a benign intenstinal tumour in July, and a month later, Stipe suffered an inguinal (groin) hernia, which also required emergency surgery. Unfortunately it didn't come to pass before Cobain's death in April of that year. Any growth inside such a restricted space can cause problems.. Michael Stipe is always, well, Stipeish. Keeping people either so uneducated or distracted that they are not able to really form a valuable, educated choice is a great weapon. His role in the songwriting process for R.E.M. It showed me that I could disagree with someone smarter than myself. Singer Michael Stipe quit drugs and cleaned himself up after his lover died in a car crash in the 1980s - as a tribute to her. He co-produced and featured on their two albums: White Dirt (1990) and 8 Track Stomp (1991). Stipe has a keen eye, as evidenced by his photography work, and photography has been a lifelong passion of his. World Leader Pretend, 1988. Why go to a warehouse?, He also warned fans not to expect a series of posthumous REM albums featuring unreleased tracks. 0 . Summary. But we agree on Iraq. I'm talking about how one chooses to define oneself, the community within which one feels comfortable. What is your favourite smell?Fresh tuberose. Drummer Bill Berry Suffers Aneurysm on Stage. Also during his lifetime, as Stipe told The Guardian in 2020, he came close to death three times. Everyone I slept with before the age of 27', "How we met: Michael Stipe and natalie Merchant", "Non-Gay Queer Popstar from R.E.M. He later described it as "complete babbling". But it took a while. Politically, though, Stipe is right-on-going-on-radical. Hypothermia, 1974. REM's Michael Stipe wears wedding band amid Thomas Duzol marriage rumours | Daily Mail Online. They grow from tissue covering the brain and spinal cord and create pressure on these. "My second home, for sure. All the thought in the world went into that staircase, that he would climb up every night and walk down every morning, though the design was probably unconscious on his part. The first song on their first album "Radio Free Europe" off 1983's Murmur set the pace for what turned out to be a 30-year presence on the Billboard singles and album charts. In 1999 a writer called Douglas A Martin published his first novel, Outline of My Lover, in which the main character describes a six-year relationship with the lead singer of a successful Athens-based rock group. What is a brain tumor? 's visual aspect, often selecting album artwork and directing many of the band's music videos. Which book changed your life?On Photography, by Susan Sontag, which I read in my early 20s. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?My ego and selfishness. As always of late, they walk a tightrope between a signature and a formula. Stipe is not rock'n'roll in the way that Smith is, though, lyrically, he shares her facility to tap into the unconscious and let the words and images flow out as if unedited. She also contributed backing vocals to the 'Monster' track 'Bang & Blame'. Two of those purported brushes with death came in his childhood, and the third when he was comfortably into adulthood. Published: 03:44 EDT, 20 October 2014 | Updated: 06:05 EDT, 20 October 2014. [20] Stipe was the youngest member of the band. Stipe lives with his partner, Thomas Dozol, in New York and Berlin. [47], In early 1987, Stipe and Jim McKay co-founded C-00 Films,[16] a mixed-media company that was "designed to channel its founder's creative talents towards the creation and promotion of alternative film works. He was born in Decatur, Georgia in 1960, the son of a serviceman whose constant relocations took the family across America, from Alabama to Illinois, as well as to Germany. Last October, Stipe released his first solo song, Your Capricious Soul, with. Speaking to Billboard, the former R.E.M. [37], Stipe inducted the American grunge band Nirvana into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 10, 2014. To not realise, you feel like such a dum-dum. And the pop song is such a great medium to fuck around with. . "I find myself often at a loss for words," he muses at one point. "[23][24], They toured in Canada and throughout Europe that year; Stipe had bleached his hair blond during this time. I was trying to be as smart as he was in his lyric writing. The band had formed in 1980, so you could say it was eight years in the making, he adds. Mike Nichols and Norman Lear. Who would you invite to your dream dinner party?Walt Whitman and James Baldwin. Will REM inevitably come out against the Tea Party? He's a full-on, all-in person, and the band (one of the most. Everyone I slept with before the age of 27, orn in Georgia, Michael Stipe, 60, became REMs frontman in 1980. Stipe and Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain were firm friends; Stipe is even the godfather of Frances Bean Cobain. He exudes a certain otherness but one is never sure how much of it is natural and how much learned. On Tuesday (March 24), Bill Rieflin passed away after a long battle with cancer at age 59. When were you happiest?Can I say: maybe tomorrow? He thinks about this for some considerable time. [14], At age 14, Stipe was turned on to punk rock by an article in Creem magazine by Lisa Robinson on the CBGB scene. It seems that, if anything, New York has calmed him down. The sombre mood of Drive, the lead single from Automatic for the People, only fed them. You use your synapses differently," he said. New York can do that to you," he says, smiling. He was cleared, having pleaded "non-insane automatism".). "Tune in, cheer up, rock out". In 2019, Stipe told The Guardian a bit more about his childhood brush with death. The song is about her visiting a facility where they lock you in a room for a weekend and you have to sit crosslegged and youre not allowed to go to the bathroom. [2] Murmur went on to win the Rolling Stone Critics Poll Album of the Year over Michael Jackson's Thriller. ", Last edited on 16 February 2023, at 09:09, One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, Son of Rogues Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs & Chanteys, I'll Be Your Mirror: A Tribute to The Velvet Underground & Nico, Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney Films, To Understand: The Early Recordings of Matthew Sweet, Stipe, Carrey Duet On R.E.M. Grunge had happened, and there was something very freeing in that as well. Speaking to The Guardian'sRosanna Greenstreet, Stipe covered a variety of topics in a rapid-fire interview consisting of brief answers to questions. Singer Michael Stipe quit drugs and cleaned himself up after his lover died in a car crash in the 1980s - as a tribute to her. Though, he is 1.75 m tall, he weighs about 82 kg. Those with acting roles in the film included Levine, Stipe, his sister Lynda, Matthew Sweet (who formed a short-lived duo, Community Trolls, with Michael Stipe),[28] and R.E.M. He has had an uneasy relationship with his own celebrity ever since. "[75] While Stipe continued to write songs with political subject matter like "Ignoreland" and "Final Straw," later albums have focused on other topics. Calling from Athens, Georgia, in October 2021, Stipe is busier than ever. Who would play you in the film of your life?Harry Styles. "They are going to keep shooting themselves in the foot. The anatomy of the brain is very complex, with different parts responsible for different nervous system functions. A brain tumour is a growth of cells in the brain that multiplies in an abnormal, uncontrollable way. Maybe it comes from being in a band, and always picking up and moving on., REM announced their end in 2011, and this was one of three previously unheard tracks that featured on a compilation that tied in with their split. He has also a nick name and it is Michael Stipe. As the clamouring of Radiohead's rapidly expanding fanbase grew louder and louder, Stipe offered him advice on how to stay grounded and, perhaps more importantly, how to stay sane. [8] His younger sister, Lynda Stipe, was born in 1962 and became the vocalist of her own band, Hetch Hetchy. In Houston, the narrator was heading west from New Orleans to escape Hurricane Katrina; in Oh My Heart he is going back home to help rebuild the city. Fear is an even greater one. "It is what it is. On his lapel, a little metal badge says Michael Stipe. He planned to collaborate with Kurt Cobain before his death. One song, which could be the first rock song about breaking wind (he's not saying), is suggestively called "Mine Smells Like Honey"; another, which sounds like an exercise in word association, is called "Alligator, Aviator, Autopilot, Antimatter". Farley, Christopher John. For a start, he's too intelligent for that. Now 51, Stipe has been lead singer of REM for just over 30 years. Your skull, which encloses your brain, is very rigid. It was horrible. "I was never . recorded the song "Let Me In" from the 1994 album Monster in tribute to Cobain. Michael Stipe Was Afraid Of Getting The HIV Test A man walks past and shouts "Michael Stipe!" [53][54], In a 2021 interview for Jacobin, Stipe described himself as a democratic socialist, and said that he was a member of the Democratic Party so he could vote in Democratic primaries. The one person to leave this tight-knit group was drummer Bill Berry, who retired two years after suffering a brain aneurysm on-stage during 1995's "Monster" tour. He has American citizenship. Then, I threw up. Michael Stipe accidentally wrote a song about quarantine: "No Time for Love Like Now," his collab with Aaron Dessner. The singer currently lives with his long-term partner, the photographer Thomas Dozol, in New York and Berlin. in 1997, and the other members continued as a three-piece. frontman Michael Stipe, is a picture of a bare male body twisting.There's no face or any . "Well, part of me says 'give them enough rope'," he says, laughing. When I realised I had written Daysleeper from the perspective of a woman, I had to challenge my own sense of feminist positioning, he continues. In 1998, he published his first photo book, and in recent years, he's published several more books of photography. weakness on one side or part of the body. released its debut album, Murmur, which was acclaimed by critics. [56][57], Stipe is vegetarian and owned a vegetarian restaurant, The Grit, in Athens. He is wearing a reefer jacket, jeans, work boots, an ethnic-looking scarf, a snug woolly hat and a full beard. The grade is based on how the cells look under a microscope. A brain tumor's grade is assigned when the tumor cells are tested in a lab. In his spare time he is also an activist (The LA Times dubbed REM one of America's "most liberal and politically correct rock groups"), film producer (he was credited as executive co-producer on Being John Malkovich, Velvet Goldmine and Man on the Moon), photographer (he published a book of photographs, Two Times Intro: On the Road with Patti Smith, in 1998) and, latterly, conceptual artist. The grade tells your health care team how quickly the cells are growing and multiplying. "I often tell him I think he's a crooner, and he doesn't like that very much. It was a reaction to Around the Sun. He speaks quietly in small, quick flurries of words that often do not cohere into sentences. "I don't know where it came from, and I'm not even sure what sculpture is any more, but it just hit me like a truck. So we went for something completely different, something more circus-like and over the top. baanpruksahatyai > > Uncategorized > michael stipe brain tumor. I've realised that to try and slot myself into that world is to diminish what I have to offer. wrote as a "plea" to Kurt Cobain", How we met: Michael Stipe and natalie Merchant | The Independent, Michael Stipe Holiday Collector's Series at Lacoste.com, "Live at the '12-12-12' Sandy Benefit Concert", "Michael Stipe and Courtney Love Bid Bon Voyage on 'Rio Grande' Duet | SPIN | SPIN Mix | Songs", "Michael Stipe reveals first new music since REM split", "Michael Stipe Inducts Nirvana Into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame", "Michael Stipe to Debut New Solo Composition at MoogFest", "Fischerspooner Team with Michael Stipe for New Song "Have Fun Tonight", "Michael to Release Solo Single "Your Capricious Soul" via MichaelStipe.com on October 5th", "Michael Stipe to Release Second Solo Single 'Drive to the Ocean' on Jan.4th", "REM's Michael Stipe on his 37,000 photos of stars, lovers and Kurt Cobain's hands", "It's the end of the world as we know it and Michael Stipe feels fine", "Michael Stipe, Big Red Machine Drop 'No Time for Love Like Now' Video", "Trying to Rescue a Beloved Relic of the Past", "Michael Stipe Teases His First Ever Solo Song", "Hear a 10-Second Teaser of New Solo Material from R.E.M. It's an extraordinary voice," said U2's lead singer, Bono, in 2003. The landscape has shifted, and where do we stand?, Strange Currencies came from Stipes ascension into rock royalty: it was inspired by Michael Hutchence of INXS. The middle eight of that is completely taken from INXS and from Michael. Symptoms include: headaches these are often the first symptom of a brain tumour. Multi-talented Michael Stipe is an American singer, songwriter, musician, film producer, music video director, visual artist, and philanthropist. [25][26], Bill Berry left R.E.M. ", Today though, he seems relaxed, reflective, talkative, which is a relief. In the period 1990-1992 Stipe was involved with the band Chickasaw Mudd Puppies. Back then, his singing style was best evoked by the title of REM's debut album, Murmur, released in 1983. There's even a New York song on the album, which you can discover for yourself. It features that favourite edition encased in a Plexiglas box. Michael Stipe, the lead vocalist for the band R.E.M., has led quite a life. Michael Stipe, the lead vocalist for the band R.E.M., has led quite a life. Personal Life: Affair, Girlfriends, Wife, Kids. During his appearance at Logo TV's Trailblazers event, which airs Thursday night and honors pioneers in LGBTQ equality, he used part of his allotted time introducing Ugandan civil rights activist. As much as we love each other and love what we did, it just shouldnt happen.. ", I ask if there is anyone in the world of fine art who has had the kind of impact Smith had on his younger self? He even found himself shooting down rumors that he had AIDS. Stipe voiced Schnitzel the Reindeer in the 1999 movie Olive, the Other Reindeer and appeared in the 1996 film Color of a Brisk and Leaping Day. Always and sometime to a fault. Michael looked at Mike, and Mike said, Sounds right to me. Thats how it was decided., In an interview with the Guardian, shortly after the band announced their split, Stipe refused to discuss whose idea it had been. ", In all of this, Stipe has remade himself in the manner of his greatest idol, and now close friend, Patti Smith. I hate and refuse to apply the term bisexual to myself. It was a Monster, all right. How did that feel? Another wobble occurred in 2001 when guitarist Peter Buck was arrested for drunkenly assaulting two British Airways stewards in a violent struggle over a pot of yoghurt on a flight to London. A brain tumor is a growth of abnormal cells in the brain. To whom would you most like to say sorry, and why?Anyone I slept with before the age of 27, because I was a selfish, cold-ass bitch. The REM frontman on smoking, Susan Sontag and how it feels to be in love. "(In 1983) I stopped taking drugs. Bill had been part of long-running progressive rock band King Crimson from 2013 until 2016 and had worked with an electic list of artists including industrial rockers Nine Inch Nails and Brit pop star Robbie Williams. Im not a very good rock star I dont have the voice for it. Here's How R.E.M. Possessing a distinctive voice, Stipe has been noted for the "mumbling" style of his early career. The band's new album, Collapse Into Now, is their 15th. Last October, Stipe released his first solo song, Your Capricious Soul, with proceeds going to Extinction Rebellion; he has just released another, Drive To The Ocean, via his website. Stipe insisted that many of his early lyrics were "nonsense," saying in a 1994 online chat, "You all know there aren't words, per se, to a lot of the early stuff. It often seemed to me that, as a fledgling songwriter, he was perpetually at war with the obvious, a stance that almost flew in the face of his ability to write great pop songs with big hooks. [16] "He was a striking-looking guy and he also bought weird records, which not everyone in the store did," Buck recalled. It's one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. The taste of Spanish sugar cookies lingered as Michael Stipe lit a stick of incensea Shoyeido-brand varietal . Aside from a property, whats the most expensive thing youve bought?A page from Jim Morrisons final notebook I bought it as a birthday gift for a friend. biographer David Buckley compared to Celtic folk artists and Muslim muezzin. I think its an odd thing to reach for, to be a rock star., REMs drummer, Bill Berry, left the band in 1997, and they continued as a trio of Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck and bassist Mike Mills. michael stipe brain tumor caroline byron, alan howard. Brain tumours are graded according to how fast they grow and how likely they are to grow back after treatment. His younger sister Lynda Stipe has played bass in several Athens bands including Hetch Hetchy, although none of them achieved the same level of fame as REM. In a way, that's all I've got. When asked if he ever declares himself as gay, Stipe stated, "I don't. Brain tumor grade. As the owner of two film production companies, C-00 and Single Cell Pictures, he has been credited as a producer on the likes of 'Being John Malkovich', 2004 comedy 'Saved!' Ang ama ng nasabing Anak ni mabuti na isang mang gagamot. "Oh, no. ", As has been pointed out before, Michael Stipe is not your regular rock'n'roll star. It was going back to T Rex and Mott the Hoople and pulling it forward into where grunge was, post-Achtung Baby. He says its one of his favourite REM songs I loved the character, I loved the narrative, I loved how fucking twisted it is but the album as a whole did something REM had never done before, namely respond to how the world was perceiving them. The relationship between a band and their devoted fan base is awe-inspiring. When Michael Stipe was a child, living in a modest house on Medlock Lane, in Decatur, Georgia, he liked to go in the yard and play with roly-polies. It's the 21st century," he concludes. The two became friends; they eventually decided to form a band[17] and started writing music together,[18] although at the time Stipe was also in a local group named Gangster. REM in 2001, with Peter Buck on the right. Astrocytoma . Why did I write this insanely vulnerable character as a woman? He raised the bar for both myself and Bono. [22] After the album was released, relationships in the band remained tense. Last year he curated an exhibition to mark the 100th anniversary of Jean Genet's birth, which he tells me was "kind of like a queer history but from a peripheral point of view, but also about what might have happened if Genet and queer culture had impacted on me more". As we come to the end of the interview, I tell Stipe he gives off a different kind of energy these days. I dont like cheesy, maudlin, overly sincere., Out of Time also came in the middle of REMs retreat from touring after completing the campaign for Green, they stayed off the road until after Monster was released in 1994. What is your greatest fear? "Well, going to see a Brancusi show at the Philadelphia Museum of Art with Patti, when she was on tour with Bob Dylan in 1995. Details are scarce, but according to Indiana Public Media, Stipe had purchased a taxicab and was driving it through Georgia when it was struck by lightning. dropped out of school in 1980 to focus on the new band. The design depicts a concert audience from the view of the performer on stage. I was tired, adrenalised to my eyeballs and skinny as a rail. [31], Stipe was once very close to fellow alternative rock singer Natalie Merchant and has recorded a few songs with her, including one titled "Photograph," which appeared on a pro-choice benefit album titled Born to Choose, and they appeared live with Peter Gabriel singing Gabriel's single "Red Rain" at the 1996 VH1 Honors and a few other times.[32]. And too curious. One of those songs was called "Radio Free Europe". Rollins returns to Northeast Florida, bringing the whole world along", "Michael Stipe Reflects on R.E.M. Michael Stipe has curated a longer primer to the bands work, featuring the above alongside other favourite tracks from across his career; you can listen and subscribe to it in Spotify. [36] Stipe also created the soundtrack for The Cold Lands (2013), a film by Stipe's friend director Tom Gilroy. Stipe Junior once recalled how the family would gather nightly around the television to watch the news from Vietnam in the late 60s, their mother instructing him and his two sisters to look closely at the footage to see if they could spot their father. Born in Georgia in 1960, according to Biography, Stipe was a military brat who moved around from base to base with his family as his father's job duties took them here and there. John Giorno and Brncui. A celebrated drummer and multi-instrumentalist, Rieflin's remarkable career led him to. Gliomas are brain tumors that originate in the glial cells and account for about 3 out of 10 cases of brain cancer. That's what it's about, really. Could he talk me through it? dmaith tv stand with led lights assembly instructions; michael stipe brain tumorkathryn newton robin newtonkathryn newton robin newton Stipe's vocals and lyrics received particular attention from listeners. In 1998, Stipe published a collection called Two Times Intro: On the Road with Patti Smith. He has campaigned for Peta (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), and REM have espoused environmental, feminist and human rights causes. Being in REM through the 80s meant growing up in public, Stipe says. "For me, the great weapons used against the American people are fear and ignorance. 7. Stipe lives with his long-term partner, the photographer Thomas Dozol, in New York and Berlin. Production [13] He was raised in and came from "a place of faith," as previous generations of his family were Methodist ministers. What was the best kiss of your life? "I would look out from the stage at the Reagan youth. Michael Stipe's Cate . [2] He was in charge of R.E.M. He looks healthy, which he has not always done. He does seem to be a whole lot more comfortable now with his sexuality. The band issued its debut single, "Radio Free Europe," on Hib-Tone; it was a college radio success. His senior photo is pictured in the album art work of Eponymous. According to Dave Domizi, bassist for TBE, "The band is incredibly proud of this work, and hopes that it brings some love and light Continued 2/20 Manchester - Gorilla 2/21 Leeds - Brudenell Social 2/22 Birmingham - Hare&Hounds 2/23 Brighton - Chalk 2/24 Bristol - Stange Brew 2/25 . Some of the most common types of brain tumors include: Glioma. That will change, however, as Stipe has offered an update . It was a Thursday. On January 19, 2023. in is cranberry glass valuable Posted by . Even his father, a seasoned military man, thought his teenage son was dead, Stipe said. : "Bill insisted he would stay, if his leaving meant breaking the band up," remembers Michael Stipe. [58][59], In 1983, Stipe met fellow musician Natalie Merchant of the band 10,000 Maniacs; the two started a friendship, and eventually had a romantic relationship for a period of time.[60]. The band's 'Monster' tour was dogged with bad luck. Michael Stipe's studio, on the Lower East Side, is hidden behind a sliding metal security door. He is running late for his, Michael Stipe: Queerness is a state of mind brought about by understanding, REM: the band that taught alternative rock how to grow old with dignity, Michael Stipe: Are we that warlike, that childish, thatafraid?, REMinterview: 'There's a good chance we'll never play together again', Watch REM's Uberlin, starring Aaron Johnson - video. "A lot of younger people have a much more it-is-what-it-is approach to sexuality. If I tried to control it, it would be pretty false. The Times is always great on a Thursday. It's different from a benign brain tumour, which isn't cancerous and tends to grow more slowly. Concerned about his drug addition, Stipe suggested that the pair collaborate in 1994. You'll find his music on the soundtrack to several films, but did you know that Stipe has also turned his hand to production? Since then, I never looked back.[15]. Barney Rosset and Jean Genet. Automatic for the People dealt with "mortality and dying. "It tore my limbs off and put them back on in a whole different order," he once said, "It was like, 'Shit! Published May 04, 2022. [35] A new recording from Stipe and featuring Courtney Love was revealed in 2013. The band signed to I.R.S. [39] Later that year, he performed with Fischerspooner on the new song "Have Fun Tonight" from their 2018 album, Sir. Were working to restore it. I'm much better at that now but I'll carry that with me my whole life, the massive insecurity of not being articulate.". Stipe and Tori Amos became friends in the mid-1990s and recorded a duet in 1994 called "It Might Hurt a Bit" for the Don Juan DeMarco motion picture soundtrack. Last year, he released the second volume of his work - 'Our Interference Times: A Visual Record'. Buck, in particular, was troubled by the change. In addition to co-producing most of R.E.M. Possessing a distinctive voice, Stipe has been noted for the "mumbling" style of his early career. The much anticipated Peter Buck-Luke Haines "All the Kids Are Bummed Out" UK Tour starts tonight in Manchester! It was a very difficult time to be honest and frank about one's sexuality. Speaking by phone last week, he recalled: "I went to the local hardware store, which had a record section, and I found an 8-track tape of the Velvet Underground's 'Loaded' and an 8-track tape of the New York Dolls first album. It captured the narrative and the sense of isolation of that character; its one of my dream songs., In 2008, REM made Accelerate, a record that sounded like the REM people had fallen in love with in the 1980s. Were there not already a Spike Jonze film called Being John Malkovich, (produced, incidentally, by Stipe's company, C00 Films) one could easily imagine one called Being Michael Stipe. disbanded amicably in 2011. While attending the University of Georgia in Athens, Stipe frequented the Wuxtry record shop, where he met store clerk Peter Buck in 1980. An ex of mine died in a car wreck and I was really trashed when I found out about it and I couldn't cry.