Singer David Johansen phones as he's boarding a flight from New york city City to Los Angeles, the chatter of flight attendants periodically appearing in the background as he talks about "Character Crisis: One Night Only," a new documentary on his life in music.

" We're coming to Los Angeles due to the fact that Showtime wishes to show this thing to the Academy of Television Arts or something," states Johansen, 73, a cofounder of the glitter-meets-punk New York Dolls, and later creator of the louche lounge singer Buster Poindexter.

" The people that vote on the Emmys," he continues. "They're very worried about getting an Emmy."


< img alt="" character =" "crisis: ="" one="" night=" "only"="" is="" a=" "brand-new= "" documentary= "" from ..."= "" class=" lazyload size-article_inline" data-sizes =" automobile" data-src= "https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/LDN-L-JOHANSEN-0421-02.jpg?w=620" data-srcset =" https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/LDN-L-JOHANSEN-0421-02.jpg?w=620 620w, https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/LDN-L-JOHANSEN-0421-02.jpg?w=780 780w, https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/LDN-L-JOHANSEN-0421-02.jpg?w=810 810w, https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/LDN-L-JOHANSEN-0421-02.jpg?w=1280 1280w, https://www.pressenterprise.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/LDN-L-JOHANSEN-0421-02.jpg?w=1860 1860w" >" Personality Crisis: One Night Only" is a brand-new documentary from directors Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi about singer David Johansen. As a cofounder of the New York Dolls, Johansen planted the seeds for the punk rock scene a couple of years later. As the lounge vocalist character Buster Poindexter he had actually a hit with" Hot Hot," a song he know
grumbles is" the bane of my existence." The documentary sees him perform in January 2020 combined with archival video and brand-new interviews. It is out now on Showtime. (Courtesy of Showtime).


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" Personality Crisis: One Night Only" is a new documentary from directors Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi about singer David Johansen.

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And why should not they be? "Personality Crisis" is the very first documentary function on Johansen, a figure in modern music whose interests and work in contemporary music tie together disparate strands that vary from proto-punk to requirements, opera to American roots music.

It's co-directed by Martin Scorsese (and David Tedeschi), himself an iconic New Yorker whose music documentaries have actually previously included such artists as the Band, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, and George Harrison.

And it's great, seamlessly mixing video footage of Johansen's show as Buster Pointdexter at the Café Carlyle in New York City on his 70th birthday in January 2020 with archival footage and images, classic talk program talks and new interviews conducted with Johansen by his stepdaughter Leah Hennessey throughout the pandemic lockdown.

" Personality Crisis" arrived on Showtime previously this month. In a conversation edited for length and clarity, and just sometimes disrupted by the flight team's admonishments to store overhead luggage and fasten seat belts, this is what we found out.

Q: How did you concern make the documentary? Was it something you wished to do or something you needed to be talked into?

A: Well, we were doing this two-week perform at the Carlyle, and we had-- my spouse and I-- this unique concept of having Buster do Johansen as opposed to what Buster normally does, like a lot of curated covers, you may state.

So we wished to keep it going. We were searching for some off-Broadway type of something. And my other half, Mara (Hennessey), she called Marty (Scorsese) and asked him to come and see it so he could kind of encourage us about where to opt for it.

And when he saw it, the same night, he said, ‘‘ Oh, I want to shoot this.' So to make a long story short, that's how it came about.

". Q: Did it begin as a performance film or was it always going to be a concert combined with archival and interviews?

A: This was like January of 2020 and you understand the plague was about to break out. So they shot the show and then they sort of fooled around with it for a little while. I think they were still doing some Fran Lebowitz editing (for Scorsese's 2021 docuseries "Pretend It's a City") as I recall.

Then they got an archivist who was very good, I think, who started digging up things and-- voila. I suggest, there was no plan in the beginning. Essentially, I think their concept was, ‘‘ Let's shoot the show and then we'll figure it out.'.

Q: What was it like for you to spend time in your past, singing tunes from the New York Dolls, your solo career, from Buster?

We didn't go into a theater because then COVID came. And now I'm pleased that we shot it. I was reluctant at initially, you understand.

Q: I've seen you talk about your hesitation to appear in documentaries on punk or rock or New York City in the '70s. Why is that?

A: I've stated this sometimes. Typically, I'm asked to be in documentaries about certain aspects of program service. And I generally simply state no because whenever-- I've done one or two in the past-- I saw myself I'm just like, ‘‘ Oh my God, who is this man and what's he discussing?'.

Q: How was this one different?

A: Well, our child Leah was the inquisitor in those sections. She simply asked me questions and we had-- I think you could state it was a discussion, but I think maybe they modified it so that it was generally me talking. It was great speaking with her, since I was able to get a word in edgewise.

And this one, when I saw it I believed it's type of interesting to me. It's something I can deal with. I just winced 2 or three times, and normally that was just about a turn of expression instead of something that I really did. I stated this is a great take on an element of my life.

Q: There's a line in it that captured my attention where you state, ‘‘ It's finest to leave an incomplete picture of yourself'-- why do you feel that way?

A: Anyone who's in the general public, no matter how much of it or how small, would ultimately end up scorned. You need to choose whether you're going to end up refused or forgotten or leave an insufficient photo of yourself.

You understand it's difficult for a person to leave a complete picture of themselves anyhow because there's a lot going on in our heads. We're continuously progressing and continuously transcending one moment to the next moment yet consisting of everything that we've ever been.

Q: Your love of Harry Smith's American folk music anthologies was something I wasn't entirely acquainted with. What else do you think the movie might highlight that your fans are less familiar with?

A: I do not understand. I discuss a great deal of various sort of music. So I think the documentary type of offers a hint of that kind of breadth of my interests in music. I'm really attracted to singers specifically, but likewise instrumentalists, who similar to touch me in some method.

It doesn't matter if it's not in English even, you understand. It's something about the soulfulness of a voice and how it's expressing, simply for absence of a better term, the human condition.

Q: Another thing that struck me in the movie was both the tune "Maimed Happiness" and your description of how that originated from a line in a book by the thinker William James. What was it about the idea of ‘‘ impaired joy' that attracted you?

A: It's something that if you think of it you understand it's kind of true. A great deal of people do not truly want to, don't have adequate leisure time to think of these things.

You know, I'm half Norwegian, so my better half always states that. We saw a film about this kind of terrible guy named [Knut] Hamsun, who at one point was a famous author in Norway. I think they attempted to restore his image due to the fact that of some really bad scandal that he was involved in. [Hamsun supported Adolf Hitler and the German occupation of Norway throughout World War II, and talented his Nobel Prize for Literature to Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels.]

But anyway, among his kids stated, ‘‘ How are you?' And he said, ‘‘ Almost happy.' Max von Sydow played him. He said, ‘‘ I'm practically happy.'.

Q: The movie's been finished for a while-- what else are you working on now?

A: We're working on an audio version of the show (in the movie) which is going to come out quickly. Working on that. And we're gon na ideally begin doing some more programs this summer.

Q: I believe the last time you played here may have been the Hollywood Bowl with the Dolls in 2011, so it would be great to have you come here once again.

A: Yeah, that 'd be terrific. It's rough, the difficult taking a trip. It's the schlep that kills you. Ideally we're gon na be able to work things out so that it's not so tough to get around. I think the movie will help. More people will be interested and we might play auditoriums and theaters.