MJ: One theme that I really liked reading about in Goon Squad was music. You have a nice bit at the beginning that is kind of a portrait of the punk scene in the ’70s and early ’80s in San Francisco. Were you a San Francisco punk?

JE: I was, as I am in all realms of life, just an observer, but I was there. I was not a punk rocker, absolutely not, but I certainly knew quite a lot of them and I definitely went to the Mab—it was raw, interesting intense scene, so I was very drawn to it, but I was a total outsider. I wore some makeup but that’s as far as it went. I haven’t really been part of any music scene in my life. I don’t have a very strong relationship to the music industry. As a journalist, I have wanted very much to find a way to write about the music industry, and it’s been frustrating to me that that’s never worked out. Now I feel sort of happy, because this ended up being my way to be able to do that.

(Via Mother Jones)