Wed Oct 20
BJ Panda Bear Interview
BJ Panda Bear, an alias for a name which only few know, is an ever-changing member of society. I’m not even sure if he remembers this interview, which took place shortly after Coachella. We talk about his conceptual art project, his love life, his controversial appeal and connection to Hollywood society, and try to get to the bottom of his shocking personality that many have long misunderstood. But what is there to understand? BJ Panda Bear puts himself out there — at parties, events and has appeared alongside a new generation of club kids such as model AJ English, Niko the Ikon, Peaches Geldof, the Cobrasnake, JuJu Sorelli, Raggy Mogow, Jonny Makeup, Eli Roth and The Death Queen (Dethy Qunt) among others. This is Part One of what could possibly turn into a two part interview. Photos / BJ Panda Bear.
BJ: Interview people? No, not really.
TT: Do you wish you could?
BJ: No, it’s too stressful.
TT: Do you feel it’s a good idea to market yourself as a persona?
BJ: I love haters. Haters spread my word and then off that I get more haters and then you know, with the haters there’s always going to be some lovers — people who are into it. It’s just a matter of people actually standing out with their own individuality and actually looking at things in a non-objective way, you know, that isn’t following all the masses and everything.
TT: Do you think that people live for drama?
BJ: People are obsessed they get off on that shit. People are sick pieces of shit. I love manipulation and all that stuff good horrific evil stuff.
TT: I think that controversy is the only way to get people to respond to something, do you know what I mean? They won’t act if it’s simply status quo. It has to make them want to say something about it and that’s controversial. Do you feel that you’re a controversial person?
BJ: Part of me wants that because I feel as if I am trying to get my message across. A lot of people get very offended because I do talk about sex and the importance, or lack of importance, behind sex and love because my whole thing is about people who are going to go out but the underlying thing about people who are in social environments is they either want to get laid or they possibly want to find him or her for the night. But, it kind of angers, people get really pissed off at the idea that I either fixate too much on sex or speak of it in such a meaningless way, which a lot of people behave that way. Socially, if you’re going to go to a fucking bar your either there to going to get laid or get loaded.
TT: The two L’s.
BJ: Yeah, or actually my friend actually says the three W’s: women, weed and whiskey.
BJ: I don’t know they just know I’m very horny. I mean, for me personally I’m like a person who really believes in trying to find something beyond senseless sex because you know after the amazing orgasm what do you have? You’re not going to have much. Your probably going to be too tired to think about anything so a person you just had sex with is just sitting there. It’s not going to really, you’re kind of either going to feel really ill because you were just a little slut or something of that nature. I haven’t had sex in a while and the last person I had sex with I thought was somebody who wouldn’t get involved in the social behaviors of getting caught up and they ended up being just another one of those party party fucked up fucked up let’s go crazy people. I’m over it.
TT: So you don’t have a censor on your life?
BJ: I really don’t feel I need to have a censor on my life. What’s the point of censoring my life — it would be boring wouldn’t it?
TT: Yeah, I guess so.
BJ: Anybody’s life would be boring. Everybody’s life is boring with all the censors, the juicy.
TT: Don’t you feel that whatever you broadcast will be misinterpreted or anything?
BJ: I get misinterpreted all the time except the thing is it’s kind of a little club — you either get it or you don’t. I mean, I say the most satirical things that you know some idiots will not get and if you have enough intelligence you will realize what I am saying should not be taken like a fucking bible.
TT: What is your message then, what are you trying to say to people?
BJ: To look beyond what you see. You might see a crazy fun night but in all reality people are miserable. People are getting fucked up, not because they are happy and rejoicing in some kind of spiritual cheer, it’s all somebody really depressed maybe. Sometimes the grimmest, darkest depressing imagery might be absolutely fabulous and romantic. I mean, it’s all a perception and visuals are always affecting the way you see things. The way you see things is just what you have been socialized to think of, so, if you see a bunch of people laughing holding up drinks you might think, “Oh, they’re there having fun trying to get him or her,” But in all actuality maybe it’s a party to, what are those bridal parties? What are those parties when it’s like a last hoorah?
TT: Like a stagette?
BJ: No like a, cheers I’m going to be married tomorrow or whatever.
Bachelorette party, bachelor party.
TT: Bachelor party.
BJ: Yeah.
TT: Because I feel like with the people who read your blog, I would assume they’re looking at all your pictures and stories and thinking, “This guy is so fun! His life is a show!”
BJ: Fun and showy — the underlying secret is I’m really depressed and the person that I might have had a fixation on is fucking with my mind and is making out with somebody in the corner, you know?
BJ: I love fucking with people’s minds. Especially the simple ones because there’s too many simple people in the world and not enough abstract.
TT: I feel like the best performers have genius underlying their craziness.
BJ: Yeah, and it’s a front. I front being happy most of the time.
TT: How do you meet all of these kids? How do you get into this whole, sort of like, culture thing where you know all of these people who are doing the same sort of thing?
BJ: It’s all about a friend of a friend once you meet a friend of a friend and then it continues onto other friends of a friend. I mean like the way Ian met Niko through, it’s all weird because it’s not even a web it’s more of little what are those things where you use for cellphones?
TT: Wires?
BJ: No, the fucking um, the antennae. If your one antenna and then meet a few antennae separately and then you link them all together and then within that each other antenna has a bunch of antennae and links so its not even a web it’s more of an endless spiral of connections.
TT: Interesting. Do you ever feel like you should focus on one thing?
BJ: No, I think that it’s important to diversify because I don’t want to get stuck and also one thing isn’t always going to carry you through. I’m just going to eventually be 50 and washed up but I don’t want to restrict myself to being so hardcore focused on business work that I will never have a childhood or an experience or to live the way I wish to live.
TT: Then there are those people who work their whole lives but love what they do. Like Tom Ford is still working.
BJ: Yeah, but, he’s working in fashion. He was young when he started but he wasn’t that young. Fashion is not always going to be glamorous when it comes to a person’s emotional needs.
TT: Do you have a definition of success? What would success be to you?
BJ: Happiness.
TT: What would it take to get there though?
BJ: Everybody has different things for happiness, for me, its just stability maybe. I don’t know, I don’t even know what success is really.
TT: Do you want bigger recognition?
BJ: I don’t care about the recognition as much as I care for the respect.
TT: You would rather be a jack-of-all-trades than a master of none.
BJ: Yes.
BJ: Very important. It’s not as important to have friends as it is to have good close stable friends that you trust because I know a lot of people and a lot of people who I barely get to hang out with I’ll pick up where I did when I see them and a lot of people I see them all the time but I don’t give a fuck for them. It is about an emotional connection.
TT: The friends that you do have, you share common goals?
BJ: Yeah, the friends I have I do share common goals. The common goal of just being happy and I do my own shit I don’t think I could ever be financially stable off of doing what I do now its more a matter of finding myself. I have all of these friends but I don’t take it seriously. Some people are out to make a career out of it; I’m like you can’t. I’m not a good DJ. If I was a proper DJ I probably could but it’s not for me.
TT: Do you feel that it’s lazy that people want to capitalize on these successes?
BJ: I wish I could capitalize the same way they did because it’s genius. I think it’s genius.
TT: Well, how did they do it?
BJ: They have some kind of sick drive that pushes them to the point they could. Some people are just able to.
TT: Do you have anyone in mind who has done that?
BJ: Done what?
TT: Been able to capitalize off whatever they were doing for money.
BJ: Capitalizing compared to making a career is a different thing. A lot of people I know have capitalized on the current situation with fashion. My friend who does a label called Dime Piece they hit the market at the style and the look. When it comes to fashion most of my friends working in fashion are able to hit it right on the target with selling their items but to make it a career is intense.
TT: Do you want to have a career?
BJ: Yeah, I want to have a career but I don’t know if I could make a career off of fun.
TT: So that is why you are going to school.
BJ: Very important to me.
TT: Would you ever be able to live poor?
BJ: I would live however I live but I know that in me I would have to, I’m going to be able to make myself make money properly.
TT: So you have ambitions.
BJ: I do.
TT: I think that’s important. Do you have a best friend?
BJ: My best friend is my quote, “manager”. It’s a joke but just my good friend Jessica but I don’t see her that often because she’s in law school.
BJ: He’s not a Nazi he was dating a Jew for a while, for gosh sakes.
TT: Was he?
BJ: One of my good friends Kelly.
TT: I think that it’s so funny though — how people believe it.
BJ: Of course, it’s controversial. People just want to hate. Especially when they’re, I hate calling myself a promoter because it always makes me think of cheap looking men in cheap looking suits and cheap Armani perfume but, I guess I am but you can’t be a hater when your in this type of field because it is like burning bridges — it causes a ripple effect. He hates her so I can’t hang out with her or blah, blah, blah.
TT: Do you have a favorite artist or favorite artists?
BJ: Favorite artist in music or art?
TT: Art.
BJ: In art, let’s see I am trying to think, I really love Yayoi Kusama because she had was pop culture, pop art in a different way. It wasn’t directly in pop. Her pop art was not directly sourced in pop when you look at it. Then again, the underlying — I don’t like things that are too obvious.
TT: Yeah, why not?
BJ: Where is the fun in that? Where is the mystery, the controversy?
TT: So you like mystery. Why?
BJ: It’s fun. If you can’t have mystery it’s just boring once you find out the secret all the time.
TT: So, where do you feel like this LA culture is going?
BJ: I don’t know its going to die soon then come back as something else. It doesn’t even die it just renews.
TT: Do you feel like popular culture is sort of built for people who don’t have any culture, so they just latch onto popular culture?
BJ: No, popular culture is fun in general but I just feel like now it is kind of scary because higher culture is being oversaturated and becoming popular culture like Gaga.
TT: So you’re not a fan?
BJ: She fucked up a lot of shit for people who knew shit, you know people who were a bit more on the edge of art. It’s now harder for us to find the next thing when she is exploiting everything and people are basically drawing it towards the masses.
TT: And you don’t feel like that should be?
BJ: Some things should be a bit secretive. You know, mystery.
TT: Especially with contacts, I find people are really obsessed about contacts. It’s all about who you know.
BJ: Yeah, I mean it is definitely that. I remember the whole situation with everybody finding out whom to get something from. I try to keep myself very private up to a certain point.
BJ: Yeah, it is almost like trading cards.
TT: That’s really interesting. Like, what do you have to offer that I can take?
BJ: Exactly. I view it almost like whenever I have, what’s it called… shit. I’m starting to dumb down because I am so tired. The way I think of it is the trading card situation where it is like, “So do you have so and so in common with me? I can trust you.” Yeah, you’re in the same ballpark as me, play the same game and then you meet a lot of people who are just so into themselves that they have no need to talk to anybody else.
TT: Yeah, that’s ridiculous and all anybody wants is to just get ahead. Do you ever feel that people don’t deserve recognition because they achieved it through some crazy means?
BJ: No, no I don’t because the thing is they were able to do it that means they were able to do it — probably fuck people over — but they were able to do it. Kudos, good for you. A lot of people get very bitter over that fact. I knew a social climber who when I met him was just a guy who had money but the thing is they used to go to really douchey clubs, fall into the right crowd, and then after that became arrogant about it and somehow fucked their way onto the top. Now nobody wants to speak to them and they still have this stupid thing that they made their money out of, good for them.
TT: Do you believe in persistence?
BJ: Persistence in what way? Annoying your way until you get what you want?
TT: Yeah.
BJ: Depending on the situation. I mean if you were working in a more corporate environment I would have to be persistent and manipulative but since I am not, I am more easy and laid back go with the flow.
TT: With what you are doing, do you find that you have to be manipulative?
BJ: Manipulative in which way? Again, it is like I could either be manipulative in a back stabbing way that isn’t me. I don’t have a bone in my body that does that but manipulative in a way where… I don’t even see myself manipulative because the thing I do it’s more for, it’s a pleasure thing and the thing is I don’t get involved with anything I don’t want to get involved with if it isn’t going to be pleasure because I have been asked to do many nights dress coded. All those situations… And it is like I am going to be miserable around here if I were just a patron so why would I be going or working for it.
TT: So when do you feel like being manipulative is used in a good way? When would you be willing to be manipulative?
BJ: Manipulative to set people up I am always manipulative. “Hey! Come to this club tonight. Oh yeah, I am coming with a friend I think you might like him. Hey! Come to this club tonight I have a friend you’ll like her too.”
TT: So you are a bit of a matchmaker.
BJ: Yeah, I am manipulative in the concept of matchmaking in order to believe that I am going to be able to draw some love karma and find myself something.
BJ: Yeah, I have wished to live in different times. I wish I could be in the 20’s with Kiki de Montparnasse, the real one, and I wish I could be in the London 60’s. I wish I could be in the 70’s also the bands in the 60’s. 70’s I wish I could be in New York or LA, in the 80’s LA. 90’s I wish I was in LA, yeah.
TT: But weren’t you in LA?
BJ: You know what I mean, as an adult and actually able to enjoy.
TT: How did you get your name?
BJ: He [Ronnie of Ronnie’s Photobooth] was dating a girl at the time named Julie and I became friends with him a little bit and then I always have the same little face in my pictures so, she was like, “Oh, you look so cute, like a puppy dog.” And he was like, “No, BJ is more like a panda bear.” He kind of talks like that.
TT: So is your real name a mystery?
BJ: Yeah, I am not giving it out. I can’t give it out because too many problems would result if I did give it out.
TT: Do you have any last words? If you were to die tomorrow, what would your legacy be that you would have left upon us?
BJ: That’s a stupid question. I don’t even want to think about that. I am not going to die tomorrow. As Lady Gaga would say but if I were to say, if I were to die tomorrow, I don’t know if I were to die tomorrow I am pretty god damn young I would probably have a memory lived on after me, right? Isn’t that iconic, all the greats die young.
TT: Live fast, die young? What did you say?
BJ: Don’t all the greats die young?
TT: Do they?
BJ: Yeah.
TT: I guess so.
BJ: All of them. Jimi, Janice.
TT: Michael.
BJ: Michael wasn’t that young.
TT: That’s true but he died before his years, his prime. He died before his last world tour.
BJ: Well anyways you get it. That is all iconic.
TT: So if you were to go on a world tour tomorrow, but you died tonight, how would people remember you?
BJ: Crazy, fun, obnoxious, loud, vulgar, somebody you could have a drink with. Somebody you could have a drink with, be out in public, and also have a good conversation with.
TT: Are you afraid to die?
BJ: No, I’m really not. g
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