Bwog found Mickey Avalon’s backstage spread rather ordinary – fruit, iced water, some Red Bull. When Zoe Camp and Peter Krawczyk showed up to interview him before last night’s show, they couldn’t detect slightest sign of illicit behavior – for all we know, it could have been Al Gore’s green room.

But then out walked the sultan of sleaze-rap himself, sipping on a small cup of Red Bull, smiling at the giddy students that walk by. Going into an interview with an artist whose biggest hits include songs about dicks, sluts and “hot dick dot com,” one would expect a certain air of crassness. Bwog found Mickey Avalon delightful backstage; onstage he had his moments.

Mickey did pretty much what we expected him to do: make out with all the girls in the front row (twice), play “Jane Fonda” and “My Dick” (during the last five minutes) and be fucked up. Overheards ranged from “I’m getting tired of trying to have fun,” to “I am so happy I go to college.” The cigarette-smoking and ensuing threats of shutting the show down, the awkward moments where kids were dragged off the stage by Public Safety and the middle school dance grinding may not have lent the evening a refined air, but we suspect that’s not what anyone was looking for last night. Mickey and his dancers were spotted at O’Connell’s, of all places, around midnight last night. They played “My Dick” in his honor. Happy birthday, Mickey! Thanks for giving an excellent excuse to actually attend an event in Roone, Bacchanal! Bwog loves you.

Bwog: It’s your birthday tommorow! What are your plans?
Mickey: I fly out for Honolulu in the morning. I play the 3rd, the 4th, and the 5th. Then I have a break before the 10th, so I can relax, surf…just chill.

Bwog: Very cool! So you did a song with Ke$ha (“Sticky Mickey”). What was that like?
Mickey: It was fun. She came on tour with me and opened for me. I knew she was going to be bigger than me but we share the same record company and they wanted to give her exposure. I’ve collaborated with others, too…Kid Rock, Katy Perry, Perry Ferrel. For rap music, it used to be all about the verses without hooks. But now, you need hooks. It’s nice to have other people – especially girls – singing on the hook.

Bwog: In songs like “What do you Say”, you go for obscure samples (King Kong Kitchie Kitchie Ki-Me-O,  by Chubby Parker and His Old Time Banjo). How do you pick those samples?
Mickey: I like folk and country. We sample a lot of 60’s psychedelic stuff too, and I’m working on some Bob Dylan covers. Subterranean Homesick Blues especially – the way it’s structured, it’s already great for a rap song. I like samples because it helps to expose people to music they wouldn’t hear otherwise. My friend, his niece knows who Ke$ha is, but not who Keith Richards is. I don’t get that.

Bwog: You’ve spoken about being a male prostitute in the past, and it’s something that pops up in your music a lot. Now, with your music career, you obviously don’t need to do that any more. Does that mean we won’t hear about it in your music, or will we still get to hear stories of your past?
Mickey: It’s a progression. I think of each album as a chapter in my life. The next record is the next chapter. I might poke fun at myself here and there, but at the same time, I don’t want to hear 50 cent talking about selling crack all the time. This is just my job and it pays the bills and child support and all that.

Bwog: Ok, so of course we had to bring up “My Dick”. Did you – pardon the pun – know it was going to be so big?
Mickey: We’ve never done anything that’s a good business choice. I’ve always thought that it was a terrible idea, a terrible song that was so stupid. Same with “Jane Fonda”, actually. But people work 9-5, they come to these shows and they just want to have fun. When I hear people that want to get deep or philosophical, I just say, “dude, it’s rock and roll. If you wanna get philosophical, do it somewhere else.”

But I’ve heard some pretty funny stuff – the funniest was when my music publisher said that his son loved “My Dick.” I was like, “Dude, you shouldn’t be telling everyone this.”

Some people take the music a bit too seriously, though. I played this show at Mount Holyoke, and there were these girls outside protesting with these signs that said my songs were pro-rape. I’m not pro-rape – I have a daughter…That kind of hurt my feelings. It was like they were sitting there wanting to be mad at me.

Bwog: Speaking of mad, a lot of people have been getting worked up over Four Loko. Do you drink it?
Mickey: What’s that? Why, are young girls getting date raped or something? (after an explanation, a visible wince) There’s reason that hard alcohol makes your stomach lurch. You NEED that, and young girls definitely need that. Caffeine just masks that.

Bwog: One last thing: Would you rather give up oral sex or cheese?
Mickey: Cheese. Wait, as in being a vegan? (a beat.) Yeah, I like both things, but cheese.

Spotted shortly after the show