i am in the american apparel on howard st. and broadway, just above canal street, a live version of I Wanna Be Sedated by The Ramones is playing on the store stereo and during the chorus the band stops playing and the crowd screams, “I WANNA BE SEDATED”. we just went swimming in the river because of the heat wave and we came here to buy dry clothes and currently i am waiting for my friend to get out of the dressing room and i see a skinny middle-aged guy walking around the front of the store followed by a trail of like 18-year-old girls and he keeps telling them to shift stuff around in the displays and i realize holy cow it’s dov charney

he looks older and grizzled and more wrinkly than i expected but it’s definitely him. now i am lurking around the store

now he’s outside right in front of the entrance of the store giving the girls directions for how to position stuff in the outside display, and i know he’s gonna have to come inside sooner or later so i wait in front of the entrance and when he walks inside i look him right in the eye and go up to him and say, as fast as i can, “hi i write a blog about the website pitchfork, could i ask you two questions for my blog please!!!” and he looks at me, dead serious and with this really cold and impatient stare and sort of rolls his eyes and says “okay” and i say “okay what’s your favorite indie band” and he snarls, “i don’t have one”

and then i say “what’s your favorite drug” and he says “coffee” and one of the girls behind him says, quietly, “nescafe” and then i say “okay cool thank you very much, that’s it” and he starts to smile a little bit, he must be glad i have no more questions, and we look at each other for a second and i say “hey i really appreciate what you do, like without reservation” and then i say “also i’m david” and he shakes my hand and says “nice to meet you”

and he smiles and then i walk out of the store and he walks past me into the store and i look back and he’s standing in the doorway, seriously, giving me a thumbs up and he says “pitchfork!” and he’s still smiling, ecstatic to have made it through a 30-second ambush interview by some kid with a tumblr unscathed by questions about sexual harassment, i know the interview isn’t very good but i was really intimidated, okay that’s it bye

UPDATE: took a bit out of this entry about american apparel politics, don’t think i know enough about what i was writing about to comment on it