more interviews by Pat Noecker



Okay, we're in Youngstown . . . say your name and age? I'm Vince. Forty-one years old. Forty-one. What do you do? I'm a painter. Security guard. What kind a - what do you do for painting? Are you like an art painter, or . . . No no no no. Industrial painter, yeah. Uh huh . . . Does it pay well? Yeah, yeah. Eighteen an hour! Eighteen an hour! Is that pretty good for this area? For this area, yeah. Union, union. Union? Yeah, union painter, yeah. So what's Youngstown like? You don't want me to put that on tape, do ya man? Ha ha . . . Oh yeah! See, this is what I'm out doin'. . . Aw, lemme tell ya 'bout Youngstown. This is not my home, New York is my home. I'm from New York originally, right? But I've been here, really, damn near all my life too, okay? Used to be a good town, a great town, man. (tape runs out)

Are you a psychiatrist? No . . . I'm going to write this up into a book. So . . . I'll just ask you a few questions about what you do and stuff? What do I do . . . Okay, say your name and age first. My name is Brian Edwina Cohn. Regular name is Bilantra. Bilantra, okay. What's your age, Bilantra? Twenty-four. What do you do? I hoe for a living. You hope for a living. Alright . . . No, not "hope." H-not with an h-o-p-e. H-o-e. Okay. (pause) Explain. Explain yourself here . . . h-o . . . you hoe for a living. I don't "hope" for a living . . . "I hoe for a living." Uh-ha ha ha . . . Ha ha . . . so what do you do? Explain what you do. Basically, I sell my body for a very high price. Uh huh . . . um, how high a price? Try five-hundred for a blowjob. Five-hundred for a blowjob . . . Try a thousand for a fuck. Ha ha! Okay . . . um . . . do you get a lot of business? You goddamn skippy! Uh huh . . . um . . . have you ever had any scary experiences? Has anyone, like, tried to fuck you over or anything? Well, this one man told me, if I did not give up the ass, he was gonna cut me in nine pieces! So I gave him the pussy, and he did not have any problems with it. Because he was very happy by the time he left, because he busted about ten nuts! Okay. . . um, what's it like? Just . . . what's the best part of your job and what's the worst part of your job? Well, the best part of my job is . . . satisfying my man. The worst part of my job is, um . . . having to ask 'em for money. Mm-hmm. So . . . does anybody ever try and stiff ya? No pun intended. First of all, as far as future tense, money up front or you don't get no action, honey. Mm-hmm. Um . . . does anybody have a problem with that? No! No. Um . . . so do you get most of your business from Youngstown here? North Side? East Side? South Side? West Side? Try Cleveland-Akron-Canton, honey! You don't get any business out of Youngstown? (sniff) Yes I do. So . . . how long have you been . . . in your business? Well, since I was thirteen, honey. And I'm twenty-four now, so how many - ha ha - if you can compute that! Obviously . . . we know what the fuck we're doing. Uh huh . . . hell yeah! I agree. Um, so . . . how did you get your start? Like, like, what made you get into your line of work? Because! There are no decent jobs in Youngstown! If you didn't know. Well I'm an out-of-towner, y'know, so . . . There are no decent jobs in Youngstown, therefore . . . and, um, the only thing I am situated for is typing, and . . . telephone work . . . And you don't wanna do that shit. No, I did not say that. Okay. All I'm saying is, I did not have the acceptance for . . . a higher opportunity for more paychecks. So therefore I am stuck on stupid, fucked on propers. And, I ain't gettin' no paycheck. So therefore, I have to hoe. Okay. What's been your crazy experience being a hoe? What is my crazy experience? What's the craziest thing that's ever happened? Lotta crazy things? I don't know . . . Well, first of all . . . I haven't had any crazy experiences. Except for, people want to lick my ass, and pay me even more money . . . Mm-hmm . . . like, how much to lick your ass? Like fifteen-hundred? I don't pay that, I, I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't ex, exhume (long pause) . . . I don't exhume - I wouldn't even - First of all, you must be an F.B.I. agent. No I'm not! That's why I'm telling you all this beacoup bullshit, due to the fact that, um, I know what the fuck I'm doing . . . The question is, do you know what the fuck you're doing? Yeah - ha ha . . . You're questioning me . . . No, I know what I'm doing. I just played in the band tonight, and we're on tour and everything . . . and uh, that, that's what I do, basically . . . is play in a band that tours around and plays in front of people. Well, um, all I'm saying is, uh, first of all . . . I'm not a whore. But if you wanna treat me like a whore, you can pay me like a whore . . . and I am very expensive. But, um, other than that, um, let's call it a night. Okay. End of pretense. Wanna say your name and age again? My name is Bilantra. I am twenty-four years old. Might live to twenty-five! Okay. That was Bilantra, it's November . . . November . . . what is today? Today is November . . . where's our flier?


NOUGAT