THE FAT JEWISH
Joey: I feel like you would have gone to like Trash Bar right?
TFJ: Yeah.
Joey: So we're like taking over the Trash Bar space, because they moved to Bushwick. So, we're taking over the Trash Bar space. This is Alicia, she's the WBC champion of the world.
TFJ: What up
Alicia: What up
Joey: So, I'm flying to Las Angeles tonight. Jonah Hill lives literally down the street, and so, he brought Toby Maguire over here. Toby Maguire liked it. And then he stopped by and said, “Who's the owner?” I went out to lunch with him, and he wants to do one in Venice Beach. So I'm flying out, I'm fucking flying out to LA tonight, to ride bikes around Venice Beach with Spider Man tomorrow.
TFJ: Interesting, man, so, you guys are doing like some cute activities.
Interviewee: Yeah.
Clayton: Yeah he's on it. This place has actually got a lot going on. And this is the only place that's sort of close to – like, what Aron and all those guys are doing? This is the only version of that I know, downtown.
TFJ: Yeah, like some real community -
Clayton: Yeah. and Joe is definitely...
TFJ: Definitely. [To Joey] You guys going to ride a tandem bicycle? Or separate bicycles? Tandem might be cute.
Joey: I'm hoping tandem.
TFJ: I'm hoping too, that's a much better look.
Joey: I'm actually hoping it's a rickshaw and like he and Leonardo DiCaprio could be like, pushing me around. I hope this doesn't get published in the ‘zine and - [Laughing]
Clayton: Have you started?
Joey: Yeah, we've started, everything is off the cuff, here.
Clayton: So, what's your name?
TFJ: My name is Josh. Most people know me as The Fat Jew.
Clayton: The Big Fat Jew or The Fat Jew?
TFJ: Just The Fat Jew or Big Fat Jew, whatever feels good. Whatever you want… “Bruce.” I don’t care.
Clayton: And where were you brought up?
TFJ: Upper West Side.
Clayton: So how did you meet Dash, all the IRAK crew, Kunle…?
TFJ: Just like, hanging out downtown, smoking…
Clayton: So, you hang out, downtown, a lot?
TFJ: Yeah, just getting into things. I knew a ton of kids from downtown. I was surrounded by degenerate graffiti writers, at all times. Who were doing graffiti stuff, which is like, I don't know. It depends how old you are, you know what I mean?
Joey: Do you remember - and this is a very New York culture - but do you remember Dane Hope, by any chance?
TFJ: Yeah.
Joey: So, Dane was my roommate at a really crappy college. And we became good friends. Dane is, like, crazy, but I still like him. Dane is like Owen Wilson in The Royal Tennenbaums.
TFJ: Yeah, the IRAK dudes, they were just maniacs. Like, complete maniacs.
Clayton: Well, I think the thing that was most interesting for me would be… IRAK crew? They had the whole cross section of different, talented people. Everybody that was in that crew, rugged as they were - and they were rugged - everybody was talented. 3:34. Kunle, Dash, … <can’t make out the list – about 5-6 names>
TFJ: New artists, yeah.
Clayton: Yeah. They were like the real artists who came out. A lot of them went on and did a lot of great things. Ben and Dan, they’re still doing movies, production, and Dan has his own company. I think Kunle still does stuff with Alife and stuff like that. That was Joey Semz? You knew Joey, of course.
TFJ: Yeah, Joey Semz, I knew him. We went to, like, middle school together.
Interviewer: Really?
TFJ: Yeah. Actually, you know what, I recently threw a party, at like a bumper cars place on Coney Island? There’s still some cool shit. It's like, community stuff, it doesn't happen, anymore.
Clayton: No, it doesn't. I think that's one thing why, with Joey, this is one of the few places downtown, where it really kind of rocks, and things happen with all these different generations. That's the other thing, it was a multi-generational, multi-ethnic, wide cross-section of people.
TFJ: Joey Semz was such a great American.
Clayton: I miss him.
TFJ: He was a great American. That is for sure. Those dudes, they kind of put us on, the uptown kids on, to how to really go hard, how to really just completely dumb out and -
Clayton: And get away with it.
TFJ: Yes, and get away with it. [Laughing] Highly influential to the idiot I've become today. Everybody was just doing, like, crazy stuff, so I don't know what kids are doing today. I don't know if they get truly dumb like that, anymore.
Clayton: I don't know. Were you involved in any projects with them?, 5:10 , video, movies?
