The Beat October 2002

Interview with the man behind the Bug, J. Scott Burgeson.
Story and photos: M.R. Bradie

BZZZZZZ! Here‘s an insect that you wouldn‘t mind sitting on your coffee table. J. Scott Burgeson has been living around Asia for eight years; in which time he‘s published a book (Maximum Korea), and independently written, assembled, published and distributed five thick zines (Bug) about global people and culture coming out of Korea, Japan and Australia.

Bug has buzzed into the international scene with interviews and articles uncovering the sort of deep culture and humanity that is only glossed over in mainstream media. He‘s gathered tales from the richest of characters in from the edges of the fringe, enabling curious readers such as myself to learn about people, places and events they never would have encountered otherwise. He‘s done in-depth interviews with a Korean mudang (shaman) and a gisaeng (traditional hostess), Japanese subway gropers and pachinko hustlers, migrant Filipino factory workers, Thai Muslim Missionaries, and a parade of notable musicians, artists and filmmakers. He‘s painted us a picture of the Nimbin Mardi Grass 2000 in Australia, snuck into a Pantera concert in Seoul, and done a scholarly analysis of ’Incredibly Strange Books About Korea Written By Honkies‘. And not only has he published his own work, but also writings by creative uber-freaks such as an anarchist from New Zealand, a Japanese lamp designer, a German film curator who hung out in P‘yongyang, a struggling Canadian novelist, a Korean cartoonist, and an Earthling who traveled Australia in a mini-bus. He‘s cast himself as the conductor for a wild symphony of voices from around the world.

I was eager to interview Scott -- not because he‘s a worldly traveler, a prolific writer and all-around ambitious guy -- but because the scope of his giant investigation is so incredibly far reaching. And because he‘s discovered a means to cruise the Earth without having to constantly whore the English language. I‘ve always been curious about people who are driven to smash through class, economic, perceptual and cultural boundaries with the peaceful hammer that is the written word. He even does it with a smile.

During a recent visit to Seoul, I sat down with Scott and his buddy Pedro in a Kangnam coffee shop…
Mike: I don‘t really want to do a resume of your accomplishments or anything such as that. I was more curious about interviewing an interviewer, ’cause I think your main skill in your writing is interviewing. That‘s what I‘ve been most impressed by.
Scott: You don‘t like my writing?
M: I just said I liked your interview writing.
S: Right.
M: Yeah, you other writing‘s pretty good.
S: But interviewing is not writing.
M: You don‘t think so?
S: No, I just edit. That‘s not like writing.
M: No, it‘s a different skill altogether. What is the skill involved in interviewing?
S: A medium for other people to express themselves when I interview them. But when I write I‘m expressing myself. It‘s different.
M: Absolutely, I agree, but you‘re letting them…
S: One is an effacement of self and ego and the other one is a projection of self and ego. They‘re totally opposite.
M: They‘re opposite? Now what about choosing the questions that will allow this person to express themself?
S: I just do the research and think about it. You were prepared, but I‘ve been interviewed a lot in Korea and it seems like people don‘t really spend that much time preparing.
M: Who‘s interviewed you?
S: Oh, lots of people, the Chosun Ilbo, the Korea Herald, the Korean Times. Anyway, when I interview somebody, I find out everything I possibly can about that person, simply so I don‘t repeat what other people have already done. And then I do research and then I think about it. I mean I probably spend at least a week preparing and then actually editing and interview.
M: I read one thing you said, you remarked that you didn‘t like when people had the answer to the question they were going to ask, before they asked the question. It seems like it could come into play in an interview.
S: Yeah, but I wanna say that I‘m moving away from interviews.
M: Why?
S: Because, I did that because when I first started Bug, I didn‘t know a lot about Korean culture, and so that was the best choice as far as learning about the culture, was to let other local people talk about Korean culture instead of me talking about something I don‘t know that much about. But I‘ve been here for a while and you can see compared to Bug #1, which was all interviews, Bug #5, the majority is writings. I‘m actually moving away from it, ’cause I‘m moving more towards books and Bug #5 was made into a book.
M: When?
S: It was published in April. As far as making books goes, people don‘t like interviews, people want essays.
M: Where was it published into a book?
S: Korea.
M: In Korean?
S: Yeah, translated. It‘s sold 15,000 copies so far.
M: In short, what is Bug about? ’Cause most Busan people don‘t know what Bug is.
S: Why doesn‘t he say? (pointing to Pedro)
M: Okay, Pedro, why don‘t you tell us, what is Bug? Don‘t be a smartass.
Pedro: I won‘t be a smartass. I have all the Bug issues. I‘m an avid reader, right. It‘s a magazine that gathers several articles on several people, usually people more interesting than the norm in Korea, and things that I guess for foreigners give a nice insightful view of one aspect of Korean culture.
M: Are all five Bugs about Korea?
P: No, one is about Australia, another‘s about Japan, and another is Japanese and Korean and the last one is about foreigners in Korea, so it‘s slightly different.
S: I decided to be more specific. I‘ve decided to focus more on themes.
P: The first book I‘ve ever read from cover to cover about Korea was actually his book Maximum Korea.
M: Is it in Korean?
S: No, it was bi-lingual.
P: After being here for two months, trying to pick up something about Korea, and then I just came across this book that gave me a completely different view on Korea.
S: It sold out. It‘s three years old, so it‘s dated now anyway.
M: I was wondering how easy it would be to interview an interviewer. I was wondering if you‘d be resistant to being interviewed.
S: No, but actually I think if you use that theme it‘s kind of a bit too far removed from reality. Like too meta-meta. I mean you can ask me if you want, but like I said, I‘m kind of getting away from interviewing. The biggest criticism about Bug in the past is that there were too many interviews.
M: People didn‘t like the interviews?
S: Yeah, some people like them and some people don‘t like them.
M: My favorites were the Gisaeng interview, the Mudang interview and the Yi Paksa interview. I like those because for me, finding out about some interesting Korean people, the language barrier prevents that.
S: They‘re actually a real bitch to do, to edit and translate. I‘m kind of sick of doing them even in English. You have to fact check and to edit and type. It‘s very time consuming.
M: I noticed throughout your books you make a lot of friends. Are they close friends?
S: Sometimes.
M: You‘ve probably made a thousand friends.
S: What do you mean?
M: I mean when you have the book and you‘re selling it on the street, you said you meet a lot of new friends.
S: Right.
M: And then all the people you interview are your friends.
S: That‘s not true. I actually prefer to not be friends with them, especially beforehand.
M: More of a subject.
S: I prefer not to know them, and then afterwards, they‘re famous and so I feel like I don‘t want to act like ’Oh, I expect to be friends, now that I interviewed you.” So there‘s this weird dynamic. So I prefer to not try to get too chummy with them, just ’cause I don‘t want to act like I‘m shmoozing them. In the past I interviewed famous people, but now I‘m into interviewing people who aren‘t part of the entertainment industry. They‘re just like…not even artists. Like I interviewed a guy who works for the army in the last Bug, and a tailor, a Muslim missionary from Thailand, and a DJ who nobody‘s even heard about. I‘m kind of not into interviewing celebrities anymore, just ’cause it‘s not that interesting. There‘s nothing special about it, everyone else has already interviewed them.
P: Yi Pak Sa (Korean disco pongchak singer interviewed in Bug #3), when you interviewed him he wasn‘t that known; he wasn‘t the big star that he is now after those last CD‘s.
M: He‘s a bigger star now?
P: He was famous…
S: But he‘s kind of like…eclipsed.
M: Do you keep in touch with him?
S: He‘s weird…I‘m kind of solitary. I like to be alone actually.
M: All the time?
S: As much as possible. I just stay home and read, so I‘m not some man-about-town.
M: Can you tell me a story about a failure in an interview or some article you were writing? All the ones that make it into the books were success stories--they worked out and you finished them.
S: No, they‘ve all turned out all right. I haven‘t ever not printed an interview.
M: Never aborted an interview?
S: No, I put too much effort into them to just say ’fuck it‘. I interviewed a lot of people in Itaewon, but they were short interviews, so I cut a couple of them back. That wasn‘t like a real interview though, just ’cause I wanted to write sort of sampling the types.
M: I was reading one of your editorials where you said when you go into the assembly process after you‘ve done all the work, it fucks your life up for months.
S: Did I say that?
M: Yeah, you said that, you didn‘t say ’fucks‘ but it messes you up for months when you do the layout.
S: It‘s stressful.
M: What kind of dire effects does it have on your life?
S: Mainly time and money. I don‘t have a computer, so I have to I have to borrow a computer, change format from IBM to Macintosh, and that takes up a lot of time.
M: So a lot of people are willing to lend you their computers?
S: No, somebody lent one because it‘s a piece of crap. It‘s a ten-year-old Macintosh. It has such low memory that I can‘t even process images on it. I have Photoshop, but it can‘t run it, ’cause I don‘t have enough memory, so I do all the text first and then I go to my actual designer, and we do it all there.
M: You have a designer?
S: Yeah, for sure. I mean it‘s my ideas, but we design together. She knows how to do the detail work.
M: So, how did you go about selecting the people who end up in the magazine?
S: Well, the last one was about foreigners so I decided to focus on foreigners.
M: You walked around and looked for foreigners?
S: No, I knew some people beforehand and I met some people by chance while I was making it. I fucked up, ’cause like today, at the post office I saw these two Mormon missionaries with their white shirts and black ties. I thought for the foreigner issue I should‘ve interviewed a Mormon missionary and like taken the piss out of them. When I was in Australia some guy let some American Mormon missionaries into his house and fed them like a dozen hash cookies, and they overdosed on hash. It was great, and I feel like…I realized I should‘ve done that. But it‘s too late.
M: They overdosed? Did they have to go to the hospital?
S: Yeah.
M: Were they weeping?
S: I don‘t remember the details, but I should‘ve interviewed a Mormon missionary and just taken the piss out of them.
M: It would‘ve been funny I think.
S: Yeah, it would‘ve been great, but I fucked up.
M: You‘ve been traveling for a long time, right?
S: Yeah.
M: How many years have you spent living outside of your home country (USA)?
S: More than 10.
M: Do you feel like you‘ve escaped or transcended your nationality?
S: Yeah, but before I left I had the same attitude.
M: So you escaped before you left?
S: I was critical of America when I was in high school and college. I went to India when I was 12, lived in India. I‘ve lived in Texas and in California and I can compare them, and I‘ve been to New York. I can compare the different parts of America, but actually I haven‘t transcended it ’cause in Korea, and everywhere I go people see me as American. Actually, I haven‘t transcended it. In Australia or Russia, people resent Americans ’cause they think we‘re spoiled and arrogant. Yesterday I got my visa denied, like if I had been Portuguese it probably would‘ve been no problem. Personally I don‘t identify myself as American, although I‘m comfortable with my identity, and I know I‘m from America. But that‘s not the most important thing. I‘m more encumbered by my American identity living abroad than if I were in America. So I haven‘t really transcended it practically speaking. I‘m an arrogant neo-colonialist cultural imperialist! (Looks at Pedro) I‘m gonna have to dominate you! I‘m gonna have to colonize Lisbon next!
P: The people will thank you very much.
S: Let‘s go colonize Lisbon. Let‘s go colonize Portugal and fuck all their women and drink all their port!
M: And put some Baskin Robbins franchises in there…In the process of making the Bug magazines, did you learn a lot of Korean and Japanese language?
S: I learned a lot of obscure vocabulary. I know people who‘ve studied Korean in university for three years and they‘re fluent, but like I‘ll say, “Oh do you know what Yojeong is?” and they‘ve never heard of it. Anyway, I know some obscure vocabulary, but sometimes I have a hard time expressing really simple intentions in Korean.
M: Intentions?
S: That‘s what all language is.
M: All language is intention?
S: All language is expressing intention. Every statement has an intention that you want to communicate, right? Otherwise, why do we speak?
M: What about singing?
S: The intention is to express your inner emotional thoughts.
M: So when you make Bug, you do research, you do interviewing, you do layout, and you do distribution and sales.
S: Yeah.
M: You know, you‘re pretty prolific.
S: (strange look)
M: You don‘t think so?
S: Once a year?
M: Well, are you lazy or do you have a strong work ethic?
S: It just takes a long time to do, that‘s all.
M: So you average about one a year. Do you work on it every day?
S: No, but towards the end yeah, that‘s pretty much all I do.
M: So it builds up to a…
S: Climax, yeah. If I have a deadline for May, I usually go two months overtime, and all those two months will be nonstop working.
M: When will the next Bug be out?
S: Next year.
M: What will it be about?
S: It‘s top secret.
M: Top secret?
S: It‘ll be stimulating though.
M: Same format?
S: Yeah, the only reason I want to mention it is ’cause I have to promote myself. But I do really want foreigners to read it. And I can easily sell them all to Koreans but I prefer to sell it to native English speakers. But amazingly a lot of foreigners think spending W5,000 on a magazine is just like something they just can‘t handle, it‘s just too much.
M: I would think they‘d be desperate for fresh reading material.
S: 9 out of 10 foreigners I see in the street blow me off.
M: Maybe they think you‘re a beggar.
S: Yeah, I don‘t know, but I will say that the foreigners from Busan actually…I‘ve got so many orders from Busan. So I‘m kind of impressed. I think there is sort of a scene there, in a way that there‘s not here. Like we have open readings here and stuff.
M: Yeah there absolutely is a scene there. I don‘t know about Seoul.
S: That‘s what I noticed.
M: I think it‘s a little more solitary there.
S: Yeah, maybe ’cause it‘s sort of the boondocks, so there are no good bookstores, so you have to make your own deal happen. That‘s something I have noticed.
M: Will the next issue of Bug be for sale in Busan?
S: No. I‘ll email people. I have a list of subscribers.
M: I wanted to ask about the zines you enjoyed back in the States. What zines inspired you?
S: There‘s a good one in Osaka called Exile Osaka that I really like. It‘s made by a guy from Brooklyn named Matt Kaufman. That‘s probably the best one I‘ve seen in Japan. There‘ve been others. I like Comet Bus, which is ironically by another Jewish kid from Berkeley, Aaron Cometbus from Berkeley, which is where I‘m from. I like Bust. I like Giant Robot. Actually, I bought this today (holds up issue of Bitch). This is from San Francisco. There‘s a guy, Steve Kostecke, who made two zines called Seoul In Slices and Azian Kix. Those are pretty good ones that I‘ve seen in Korea.
M: About Korea?
S: Azian Kix is about China and Thailand but he made it here. Seoul In Slices is about Korea and there‘s another one called Kongju-Shi, which is about an English teacher from Seattle who came here in ‘96 in the countryside. These are all like stapled digest-sized zines. It‘s pretty funny; he taught in this really crappy hagwon and that was in ‘96, such a long time ago there were no white faces. So all the other English teachers were Iranians who couldn‘t even speak proper English. It was a real fly-by-night operation. So he finally quit ’cause his landlord tried to steal his passport and wouldn‘t pay him. So he ran away to Seoul and he said the hagwon owner put a bounty on his head. So he was on the run in Seoul. Anyway, it‘s pretty funny. Kongju-Shi.
M: What is that?
S: That‘s the name of the city, near Ch'onju.
M: Did you ever read Maximum Rock‘n‘Roll?
S: Sometimes, but I wasn‘t that indie in San Francisco. I‘m kind of mainstream.
M: I know you lived in the East Bay Area.
S: Yeah, I lived in San Francisco. I did, but I‘m not into like Punk. I‘m into electronic music. I like the punk ethic, and I briefly liked Punk. But, when I was in high school Punk was already finished, all the older kids I knew in Berkeley were punks, they were the older kids. We were into hip-hop and New Wave. So I didn‘t read Maximum Rock‘n‘Roll, but I know about it. Oh, and I like Murder Can Be Fun.
M: I noticed in a lot of your interviews and articles you seem to be trying to show that cultural stereotypes don‘t hold as much truth as they might seem. Is that true? Do you have some sort of cultural mission?
S: I don‘t consciously think I‘m going to blow apart the stereotype, I‘m just interested in getting as deep as possible. I guess that kind of rubs against the grain of stereotypes.
M: Who‘s the most interesting person you‘ve met throughout the whole Bug ordeal?
S: That‘s impossible, I‘ve interviewed like 50 people. I can‘t narrow it down. But in Japan I interviewed Yoko Tadanori and he was really focused, and I thought he did a really excellent job at answering the questions in a very focused Zen-like way.
M: A focused Zen-like way?
S: Yeah, he was very ’in the moment‘. He did a good job. And in Korea I kind of liked Jeong Sang Woo (director of Lies and Bad Movie), although it was a short interview. His answers are very polished. He‘s a really nice guy.
M: My last question is, as an interviewer, what do you think of my interviewing skills? Honestly.
S: Uhhhhh, they‘re just uh, they‘re very casual. You have a casual, laid-back style. That‘s fine.

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