After The Storm

[September 13th, 2006] "Remember, we're making a television show here."

That's what Will whispered to Janelle on Big Brother before kicking Chicken George out of the Big Brother House.

I reminded myself of Doc Will's words last Thursday, the morning after Storm Large got booted off Rockstar. "It's TV," I thought. "It's not real life. It's not even real music."

Still, I couldn't help but wonder what it would've been like to have one of P-town's own in the finale of Rockstar.

Of course, it was Storm herself who put it all in perspective for me the day after the big come-down. I talked to Storm, not from the Rockstar "mansion," but from a hotel room. Here's our conversation.

QW: A reader on WW's localcut.com wants to ask you if you think RS:SN is fixed.

Storm Large: I'd heard a rumor early on that I was a ringer, hired by CBS...to pretend to be on the show, and that I was already the singer for Supernova. No, it's not fixed. Supernova, they're musicians, not TV people. This is a serious search for a singer.

Did it feel more about the music biz and less about the music?

There's a lot of corporate sponsorship, which made this little punk-rock scumbag uncomfortable. But it's...what drives TV, and TV is what sells music now. I'm a musician, and you've got to dance with the devil once in a while to see heaven sometimes.

Would you do another television show?

I would not do another reality show. That was the most tremendous stress I have ever gone through in my entire life.

It sounds like you need some down time.

In this business you kind of have to strike while the iron is hot, and my iron is burning.... I want to take every opportunity I can to meet whom I can and not shoot myself in the foot. But once I get a few days, I'll take it...go to the beach, have a glass of pinot and just get laid.

Your performance of Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" made me think you knew it was your time to go.

Starting [last] Monday, I had a feeling I was the next to go. I had no reason for that feeling. No one said anything to me. I gave probably the best performance I've done this whole season. And so people were like, "There's no way you're going home." And I thought, "Yeah, there is a way I'm going home." They love me, and they may have known for a long time that I'm not right for their band. They just wanted me to have that moment. And then...they would send me home on a high note.

Now that you're in the hotel and not in the mansion, do you have an inkling of who will win all of this?

I think and hope Lukas Rossi will win. I love that boy, and I think he deserves it. In terms of dynamics, appearance, commercial appeal, he'd bring the most to those guys.

We love you so much.

I love you, too. Please give my love to everyone. I'll be home [this] week, and we'll have a big homecoming at Dante's.