Which is very fitting, as PawPaw Rod’s music is a unifying pastiche of genres. He effortlessly mixes hip-hop, afro-folk-funk, soul, and R&B into a contemporary sound that has found its way into Apple commercials, playlists, and airwaves all around the planet Earth. There’s an eternal youth sound that threads throughout his songs that gives even his moodier songs an optimism that I personally really connect with. 

Rodney, when I listen to your music, I feel like I’m in a time machine because I feel like I could listen to it in any decade for the last 60 years and it would feel relevant. When you’re writing music, do you have an audience in mind or do you just let it rip and bank on it connecting with people? 

I don’t really have an exact audience in mind when I’m writing. I ask myself stuff like, is this from the heart? Am I going to feel good about saying these words in front of people night in and night out? And I having a good time? I really just make things I want to hear personally, with hopes my future great-grandkids listen one day and know they had family out there making songs about love, joy, and journey they can be proud of. 

You’re a military baby who grew up all over the place. Do you find being on tour like a return to childhood? 

All the time. I went to like 9 different schools, so being the new kid was the norm for me; felt like I was constantly introducing myself. The tours feel like a mix of being the new kid at school, especially if I’m an opener and the crowd isn’t too familiar.  But also a family reunion; folks may be excited to see me even though it may be our first time interacting in the flesh. Crazy feeling!

You’ve been living in LA for a while now (I think it was 10 years?). What do you think is LA’s most inspiring quality as a city? 

More like 6! Feels shorter than that when you think about those weird pandemic years. Haha. I still romanticize this place every day and can get a weird sense of Deja Vu pretty much anywhere because of books I may have read about LA, movies, or music videos and you always meet people who have succeeded at what you’re trying to do, pivoted completely from what you’re trying to do or in the same exact boat. To me, that’s the most inspiring on so many levels. 

If you had to spend 1 day as a wild animal, what animal would you choose and why? 

A super old Greenland Shark! The lifespan of one can range between 252 and 512 years old!! What the heck do they know?! 

What makes someone a really, truly, great friend?

Someone you can be vulnerable with and trust that makes you feel confident in yourself. Being able to share stories of love, loss, excitement, anything! Loving you for who you are. 

Shirley, one thing I’m always impressed with you is your ability to create a story with your costuming. Every time you put clothes on someone, yourself included, it immediately creates a sense of intrigue about the history of the person: who they are, where they’ve been, what they do. But then you also have such an ability to create these visual compositions out of color and shapes. Is there a particular project in your history that you can point to and say, “This is the project where I found my voice and hit a stride that set me on my path?”

I think maybe it was styling Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins for their Rabbit Fur Coat album cover and packaging and shot by Autumn de Wilde back in 2006.  I had recently watched Robert Altman’s “3 Women” and I loved the twins that were featured in the movie- they were dressed identically with matching outfits and purses.  Jenny and Autumn wanted the shoot to have a cinematic aspect to it- like they were film stills from a movie, so I took that inspiration and dressed the Watson twins in matching outfits and purses.  I also had this red vintage dress that I found in a thrift store that fit Jenny perfectly and being a Pedro Almodovar fan and knowing how red is such an important color in his movies, it felt right to put her in red.  For me this shoot gave me the opportunity to mix aspects of film into the music world.  That mixing of genres and inspirations is still an important aspect of my styling and costume design.  

You grew up in the Los Angeles area and you’ve seen fads come and go from the city. When you wax nostalgic on this beautiful place, can you describe what you see as LA’s golden era for you?

I think LA in the 70’s seemed golden to me, like my memories of it has a summery hazy golden feel to it.  Technology hadn’t taken over yet, it was a time for kids to be outside, make mud pies, ride bikes or big wheels, skateboard, rollerskate, go swimming in a pool, play in the park.  I’m kind of grateful to be able to have those years because I felt like we were living in the present more, and more connected to nature.   There were less things to keep you indoors.  LA has such great natural places to explore- mountains, beaches, canyons along with year round great weather, but it’s so easy to get pulled into staying home watching Netflix or being on the computer and oftentimes we don’t take advantage of the great things LA has to offer. 

If you had to move somewhere else, what city could you see yourself thriving in?

I think somewhere in Japan, maybe Kyoto or Osaka.  

Two-part question: Do you have any opinions on space tourism? In the future, would you ever consider taking a vacation to the moon?

I think spending the money on space travel when it could be spent on cleaning our planet up is kind of ridiculous.  I think humans would probably end up trashing those places too.  So no, I’m not really into it. I also saw the Challenger blow up as a kid, so that kind of traumatized me regarding space travel.  Plus there are so many amazing places I still need to discover on this planet!

What was the last thing (movie or just moment in life or anything) that you saw that made you pause and go, “Wow. That was beautiful”?

Hiking in Malibu and seeing all the flowers in bloom. 

Thank you for joining us, Shirley! We enjoyed having you here at Fudge Monthly.

Logan Polish is an actress, writer, director, model, painter, and human who completed The Artists Way while still in the womb. She lives in New York City, was raised in Los Angeles, and was most recently on Apple TV’s The Mosquito Coast. Let’s get to know Logan more. The photos were taken on a recent walk through the hills surrounding Malibu, CA.

JIMMY: Logan, when looking at your Instagram feed, the first thing I notice is you are a natural curator. Part of your charm is your elevated taste. I’m curious to know what’s one thing that you aesthetically or emotionally absolutely love, that most people would assume you’d be repulsed by?  

LOGAN: Formula one.

JIMMY: Follow up question, what aesthetic are you in fact actually repulsed by? Either visually or emotionally.

LOGAN: Low rise jeans. It makes me question why we were put on the planet… 

JIMMY: Continuing with the repulsion theme, you recently relocated to New York City. I find New York to be an overwhelming experience of dirt and peril, yet it’s full of the most unexpected, beautiful moments. What was one of the first heart-stopping moments of beauty you first saw in New York? 

LOGAN: Pigeons fighting over a slice of joe’s pizza. 

JIMMY: Who’s the greatest poet in the world that’s not a poet? 

LOGAN: “I am the son and the heir of a shyness that is criminally vulgar. I am the son and heir of the nothing in particular.”

- Morrissey.  How Soon is Now

JIMMY: Give me a stream of conscious first gut reaction to the following words:

LOGAN:

Chew: Bacca

Spur: of the moment

Outtie: bellybutton 

Germaphobe: covid

Calypso: the cat 

Thank you for joining us, Logan. We enjoyed having you here at Fudge Monthly.