Register Now!
  




The Little Death
by Joe Dornich

The girl I brought home didn't wake up in the morning. /personal essays/
Screengrab
by Various

Today in Hooksexup's film blog: Scott Von Doviak subjects himself to Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Movie. Human Rights Watch puts us on a list.
The Remote Island
by Bryan Christian

That Katherine Heigl/Marilyn Monroe/McDonalds porn you ordered has arrived. Plus: a baby on 90210 and Borat punks Medium.
Dating Confessions
by You

"You broke my seven-year not-being-dumped streak! How dare you?"
Scanner
by Emily Farris

Today on Hooksexup's culture blog: Ashley Alexandra Dupre breaks her silence.
Miss Information
by Erin Bradley

Five sure-fire ways to ask out a complete stranger. /advice/
The Modern Materialist
by Various

Almost everything you want. Today: Stay warm this winter, in a number of ways...
61 Frames Per Second
by John Constantine

Today in Hooksexup's videogame blog: PETA accidentally makes Cooking Mama even funnier.
Horoscopes
by Hooksexup staff

Your week ahead. /advice/
Thirty-Two Pounds
by Sean Murphy

The backyard discovery that kickstarted my adolescence. /personal essays/
The Hooksexup Date
by Olivia Malone

This week: Getting on board with Stephanie. /photography/
Dating Advice From . . . Hockey Players
by Kathryn Savage

Q: What has playing hockey taught you about love? A: In the words of the Great One, Wayne Gretzky, "You miss 100 percent of the shots you don't take."
Two-Dollar Destiny
by Sarah Hepola

My impulse-buy psychic reading put everything in focus.



OkGo    


 

  Send to a Friend
  Printer Friendly Format
  Leave Feedback
  Read Feedback
  Hooksexup RSS
Michael Leviton is amazed at how many women ask him out after hearing his nautically themed ukulele love ballads. "The songs are about me being lonely and sad and bitter and angry, so I guess people don't feel intimidated," he says. Tall and lanky with pale skin and black hair, Leviton wears an old suit onstage, hunches over the microphone and delicately plucks his small instrument. His girlfriend, Leah Hayes, accompanies him on the glockenspiel. Leviton's album, "My Favorite Place to Drown," includes "Summer's the Worst," in which he laments the season's humid longing: "I'm in a crowd looking for a girl / I'm gonna drown looking for a pearl." Michael sat down with Hooksexup to talk about love songs, sex songs and life with Leah. Sarah Harrison

Is it hard to write a successful love song?
It takes effort to write a song for somebody. I've written songs for people who didn't like the lyrics, or were kind of uncomfortable about them. I wrote a song to my beautiful, insecure friend about how frustrating and sad it was that she didn't realize how beautiful she was. I think that really annoyed her. I never played that song again. Once I wrote a song for a girl, and I played it for her. She responded really positively. Later, I found out she thought it was really awkward and horrible that I'd done that, and she was just trying to get out of the room as fast as possible.

Have you ever made a girl fall in love with you through a song?
No. A song can help if the person's already in love with you, but writing a song for someone who doesn't love you and hoping they'll be converted is a bad idea.

Have you written any songs for your Leah, your current girlfriend?
I've tried. It's hard, because being in love doesn't inspire as much cleverness as being downtrodden and lonely, and I have a hard time not trying to be clever in songs. There's no need for that stuff when you're in love. There are songs that just say "I love you, I'm crazy about you" with a beautiful melody. The ultimate example of that is this song by

promotion
James Blunt, which I think is funny because his name is Blunt and it's just him shouting, "You're beautiful! You're beautiful!"

What about sexual songs — do you write those?
I have lyrics that people think are sexual jokes, but to me they aren't. Like, "What do you keep there in the deep there," which people think is a vagina reference. And, "Must you always play the glacier, must I play Titanic?" People think it's a Bon Jovi line about how big my dick is, but I just meant, "In my attempt to get close to you do I have to destroy myself?"

Do you ever write purposefully sexy music?
A lot of my favorite music is stuff that sounds very dirty and intense but doesn't have very much sexual content, lyrically. It's more like the feel of it and the fundamental energy and darkness of it through the sound of dirty guitar playing.

What is dirty guitar playing?
I like surf guitar, even though it's played by dorky older guys who aren't sexual at all. It sounds like the youngest, most rocking guys in leather jackets who are out to party and have sex with girls in cars.

You've played around NYC for a while, but touring with They Might Be Giants was your first time playing in front of larger crowds. What was that like?
I've played in rock bands and I found that a ton more people approach you when you're a ukulele player. I think they're less intimidated. It's amazing how many girls actually have given me their numbers or written to me asking me out on dates. It's always really moving.

Do you think it's weird for Leah when you sing about how lonely you are?
That's just a part of being a musician and singing love songs. Leah's music is the same. She writes really lonely songs, and guys fall in love with her.

You don't mind that guys fall in love with her?
I don't really understand jealousy a lot of the time. Leah and I've chosen each other over all these other people that have crushes on us.

What was it like touring with Leah?
It was amazing. It felt like a really incredible road trip. Everyone told us we would fight and break up if we went on tour together, but they were completely wrong. I don't know why everyone thinks spending time together means fighting. I tend to think most people are completely off in their ideas about romance and relationships. Before I met Leah, I was always hung up on not being normal, or not being good with girls and not having "real relationships". It took a long time to see that all these really hot people who are with people all the time are often just having dysfunctional relationships every time.

When you're not touring, you both work at home. Is that hard?
Sometimes it's hard to work 'cause it's so tempting to hang out. But it's really amazing, because we have a relationship where we have fun together almost all the time. We have a one-minute fight and then it's forgotten within an hour and we're hanging out.

Do you ever not get along creatively?
Sometimes, especially when we play music together. Leah's a really intense musician on her own. She has her way of doing things, and that's not the same as my way. But using both of our styles is great. She's an illustrator, and everything she makes is so beautiful. I have no way of designing a T-shirt or designing my album.

How was opening for They Might Be Giants?
They Might Be Giants fans are great because they're used to humor and quirkiness. And it's great to go on tour with any band that has an obsessive fan base, because they think, "Oh, this act has been selected by this band we love to open, so we're going to listen to them." I would walk on stage with the ukulele and everybody would go nuts. I used to go and see They Might Be Giants all the time when I was in high school, and I totally loved them. I got this visceral feeling that these were just people really being themselves, you know? That there was no trying to look cool. I think that's why they've gotten such a visceral response, while being so weird the entire time.  


Visit Michael's website here.


Click here to buy
My Favorite Place to Drown








© 2006 Sarah Harrison & hooksexup.com



featured personal
 


partner links
For a TITILLATING TIPPLE...
Life is simply too glorious not to experience the odd delights of , featuring curious yet marvelous infusions of cucumber and rose petal.
Design your bottle of 1800 Tequila and enter to win $10,000.
VIP Access
This click gets you to the city's hottest barbells.
The Position of The Day Video
Superdeluxe.com
Honesty. Integrity. Ads
The Onion
Cracked.com
Photos, Videos, and More
CollegeHumor.com
Belgian Nun Reprimanded for Dirty Dancing
Fark.com
AskMen.com Presents From The Bar To The Bedroom
Learn the 11 fundamental rules to approaching, scoring and satisfying any woman. Order now!
sponsored links
EDUN LIVE
Ethical tees. 10% off with code AFRICA


Advertisers, click here to get listed!