Five Questions: Dawn Eden, NY Post Copy Editor
Age:35. Location: Hoboken, NJ. Occupation: Copy editor and headline writer, New York Post.
Dawn Eden is a 60 s pop music aficionado, NY Post headline writer, and born-again Christian. Well, two out of three ain t bad. She is pictured here with Steve Diggle of the Buzzcocks. She says, The photo was taken at around 4 a.m. on July 24, 1991 at Desmond's bar in midtown New York City. I'll say no more! That s cool, but we'll say more anyway: SLUT!!!
1. You're a pop music critic/historian and a Jew for Jesus. Please connect the dots from Rod Argent to Wrath of God.
I wouldn't call myself a Jew for Jesus because that gives an image of someone on a street corner handing out fliers with headlines like "Jesus Made Me Kosher." But I am indeed a Jew who's accepted Jesus as the Messiah. As for the journey between Argent and God, it's a small one indeed — though it's not the Wrath of God but the love of Him. C.S. Lewis wrote that before he became a believer, he occasionally felt God's presence in little moments of "Joy"—precious and rare experiences that gave him a fleeting glimpse of something immensely desirable that was just out of reach. Before I was a believer, I felt that Joy in songs from the Zombies' Odessey and Oracle, like the gorgeous "Care of Cell 44."
In fact, my whole love of Sixties pop music stemmed from a wistfully romantic desire to mount the wings of a buoyant, hook-filled pop song and be transported into a world more beautiful and intense than everyday life. I suffered from cyclical suicidal depression for my entire adult life up to age 31 and it often seemed that the hope in those jangly guitars and three-part harmonies was the only thing that made life worthwhile. Then God came into my life in an unmistakable way in October 1999, healing me. I realized that even the most blissfully cathartic feelings I had listening to songs like the Left Banke's "Walk Away Renee" and Badfinger's "Baby Blue" were only faint echoes of His love.
2. Some songwriters approach their craft with the search to create the perfect pop song. You've often interviewed them, like Bob Pollard in Salon. My question, Dawn, what are YOU searching for?
Pretty much the same things I've always been searching for — love, friendship, and fellowship — only now I realize that it's not just a matter of finding the right boyfriend, best friend, or church. I have to resist the temptation to focus on voids in my life and instead concentrate on being the kind of person I'd want to marry, befriend, or sit next to in a pew.
3. Two things that will always be touted with passion: new music and new religion. What are you listening to these days and what do you think of this whole Kabbalah evil eye red string protection thing?
I bought a red string in May 2001, from an old woman in Jerusalem's Old City who was probably an Arab. I thought then that it was superstitious, but purchasing a string there is a form of charity — poor people make their living by selling them. As far as Madonna's Kabbalah goes, it's a heresy, like other New Age superstitions, and I hope it'll fade from public view as did the Beatles' Maharishi, Pete Townshend's Sai Baba, and Hillary Clinton's Marianne Williamson.
4. You have a site called Dawn Patrol (with a snappy jingle too) and I assume there's a Christian blogger scene. Wild. Have you ever been involved in any awesome strike thee down with a lightning bolt type flame wars?
I've never been flamed by Christian bloggers, but occasionally a liberal blogger will take me to task for my social conservatism, such as my opposition to homosexual marriage. [Ed. Note: Really? Why? How mystifying.] I do know an ultra-contrarian Christian blogger who goes by the pseudonym Mac Swift — he's never told me his real name, even though I've met him — whose now-retired Vessel of Honour site and his comments on other Christian blogs made him many enemies. I didn't always agree with him, but it was fun to see someone stirring things up in a divine demimonde that often takes itself too seriously.
5. Okay, all this religious stuff aside, you're old friends with Jim Testa of JerseyBeat and that's some serious punk rock cred. What were your boozin', smokin', flirtin' punk days like?
Wouldn't you like to know! I didn't do much boozin' or smokin', but I flirted copiously and spent my share of long nights in CBGBs, Maxwell's, and forgotten clubs like the Dive — often loitering by the stage door. I had a yen for musicians — part of a long-held attraction to creative types — and would deviously contemplate opening lines. Drummers were particularly easy to befriend, because they usually got less female attention than lead guitarists and front men, plus they got no respect for their intellect and craft. They are in fact often more intelligent than their reputation would suggest, and people who choose to play behind a band tend to have more grace and humility than the exhibitionists in front.
My usual opening line for drummers was silly, but guaranteed me an answer: "I really like it that you use match grip — it looks so cool, like Ringo." (I'd substitute "traditional grip" and "Charlie Watts" when appropriate.)
Dawn Eden s Top Five:
1. G.K. Chesterton's novel The Man Who Was Thursday: A brilliant 1907 novel about a London policeman who infiltrates a group of bomb-obsessed anarchists and discovers they're not what they seem. Although this book makes few obvious references to Christianity, its message of people struggling to uphold truth in a world consumed by relativism made me see for the first time that Christianity — far from being boring and conformist — could be exciting and oppositional.
2. The Millennium, Begin: This now-legendary 1968 album by a Los Angeles would-be supergroup is a must for anyone who loves the Pet Sounds-era Beach Boys and the psychedelic work of the Beatles, Hollies, and Zombies. Co-producer and group member Curt Boettcher was one of the greatest musical geniuses of his time his inspiration can be heard in Belle & Sebastian, St. Etienne, and Guided By Voices.
3. My mom: My greatest inspiration, for her creativity, her intellect, her faith, and her love. Rather than telling you about her, I'll refer you to her mini-autobiography, which I asked her to post when I went on vacation last month. Go to Part 1 and then keep scrolling up for more (it continues at the bottom of my August archives and you'll find my stepdad's story too).
4. Hoboken's Frozen Monkey Cafe: Fantastic beet and endive salad (with crispy fresh beets), deliciously thick butternut-squash soup with goat-cheese croutons, and an addictive house drink, the Frozen Monkey (Tasty D-Lite frozen dessert and iced coffee, blended with half a banana).
5. The King James Bible: Accept no imitations. The King James language has a sense of mystery and poetry that other translations cannot equal like this tantalizingly enigmatic verse addressed to God in Psalm 77: "Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known."
