Which brings us to the here and now.
Q & A (The Serious Stuff)
How was the persona of The Duke born from the young man that some people know as Aaron McMullan? The back story, please?
Heh, well now, a curious tale it all is. Superficially, I suppose, what happened was I found myself with a blog went by the name of Mondo Irlando and figured I needed some kinda kooky flick-forum-friendly pseudonym to witter under. I never gave much thought to it, Duke De Mondo just seemed altogether fitting at the time. Now, I tend to wish I’d thought of something a touch more original. Mean, for Gods sakes, “The Duke!” But it stuck, and I suppose it was easier for folks to get to know the “character” and the like since there was an easily remembered nickname attached. My own name, which I find incredibly torturous to either speak or write, is a touch, I dunno, forgettable. Seemed that if you wanted to get anyone’s attention at all in yonder “blogosphere” or whatever folks call it nowadays, the kookier or zanier a fella appeared, the better. I soon lost all interest in any sorta feigned wackiness, mind you.
The persona business is a touch more complex. It is, of course, an altogether perilous venture, discussing these kindsa matters, since a fella is at risk of tumbling any second into some sort of deplorably egotistical web of pretension and narcissism and self-obsession, but nonetheless, I’ll try. Way back when, back when it was all terribly witty and foul-mouthed “reviews” of the flicks and the records and not much else, back then there was a conscious effort to stay “in character” as it were and keep as much of myself out of proceedings as was possible. Jokes and inventive ways of saying “go f**k yourself”, that was all I concerned myself with.
As time went on, I dunno, I kinda hit a dead end with that approach, I felt there were plenty of folks doing the funny review business and much better than I was, and I was feelin’ all sortsa constrained by the demands of writing like “The Duke” or whatever. Somewheres around about the arse-end of 2004 I found myself writing far more concerning the Personal History and what have you. Along with that came a mad desire for to go bounding around the language and messin’ with it to reach some sorta style I felt comfortable with, somethin’ I felt was mine, as opposed to half-inched from here and there and wherever.
I started writing like I talk, and that ol’ line ‘tween the screen-name and the real person started blurring. It hardly exists now, that line.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - DJRadiohead
Cheers, Duke. I have known this honor was heading your way for some time now and have been looking forward to this. Well done and well deserved.
2 - El Bicho
Duke, congrats on the recognition, although I'm sure you are the BCoM every month to your devoted fanbase.
Lisa, great job as usual.
3 - Mark Saleski
it's about freakin' time! hail duke. well-deserved.
4 - Mat Brewster
Does this mean we get to upgrade your title to something like Prince de Mondo?
Congrats, Sir Duke.
5 - Greg Smyth
Thoroughly deserved, fine Sir.
And cheers for the namecheck, kind of you to include someone with such a patchy and low-frequency writing record.
6 - Mary K. Williams
I hope this comes thru - as I'm posting from a sleeply little laptop on vacation.
Yay for Duke! Congrats Babycakes! (Yeah, I dunno where that came from - but it fit)
You deeply entertain and inspire the rest of us.
Very well deserved.
7 - Aaron Fleming
Much congrats Duke! Who deserves it more than yourself? No one, that's who.
8 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Duke--DJRadiohead said it best: your inspiring writing "gives me the kind of fits of jealousy that make me want to hang it all up."
So Congratulations, I guess.
9 - Mark Sahm
It's 3AM in a room lit by the blue glow of a dead channel, and a half-drunken Jeff Fahey rolls out of bed.
Restless, he nudges the trackpad to wake up his laptop. By random forces of short story plotism, he surfs his way to this page, and lets out a cry of frustration.
A woman rolls over and turns on a light. "What's all the matter?" Harry-Potter-Woman asks.
"It's that fella," Jeff growls, "the one who mocks my last name... he just got awarded Blogcritic of the Month."
"Oh, him," HPW replies, "Just forget you saw it, baby." She rolls back over, and pulls the covers taut between her legs. She takes a breath, biting the corner of her lip as the air billows in her lungs.
"Why don't you come back to bed," she exhales, "and show me why you were the sexiest cowboy in Silverado." HPW turns off the light, a sly grin on her face.
Congrats Duke.
10 - Mayank 'Austen' Singh
Congratulations Duke. Of course you knew you deserved it.
11 - lono
All hail the Duke. Nay, let me put that in Duke terms.
All hail the motherfuckin' Duke. I strongly encourage all y'all to read his assesment of GG Allin DVD. I could link it here, but you will have more fun searching for it... I promise you that.
12 - Eric Berlin
congrats Duke !
13 - Dawn
Oh Duke, you just get sexier and more charming -like the last single guy at 3:00 am on a drunken Saturday night.
And that my friend, is meant in the most sincerest and lovingest way (as a former drunk from back in the day).
14 - Eric Olsen
When the Duker is on -- and he frequently is -- he is the finest pure, white lightning, stream-of-word-slinging emotion-wrangler these pages have ever seen. Congrats and thanks Aaron!
15 - duane
Well said, Eric. I second that.
16 - Matthew T. Sussman
The podcasts bring out the Duke I like the best, both Mondo Podcast and BCRadio. Not just the energy, but the fact that he doesn't always need music to liven up his tone.
Allow me to be the troll who says the bad things but I'll lay up a bit and just say I'm too uncultured to understand Duke's written prose. M'bye it's al' th' ap'st'ph's th't g't 'n m' w'y.
But truth be told this interview and his answers had a brilliant wit to it and it doesn't matter how you write, you'll see it.
17 - Scott Butki
Congratulations on getting recognized, Dukester
18 - Connie Phillips
Congratulations Duke!
19 - Duke De Mondo
Folks - i was away for the week there, and return to find that not only has this been posted, but also, a wealth of beautiful words flung my way both in and out of the article itself. I dunno what a fella might say to thank anyone for the kindsa things said, or to thank the BC powers that be for selecting me for this, or to thank Lisa for the ammount of work she put in, so what i'll do is say i'm out my mind wi' happiness an such, and that even though i obviously knew this was comin, what with the questions and the "we've picked you for next months BC Of The Month", even so, it still seems all the surreal in the world. So thank you. Heh, and Mark Sahm, friend, that was altogether beautiful. I only hope Harry Potter Woman ended up with such an outstanding example of humanity.
20 - Fearghus
Introduced me to Bright Eyes, Ryan Adams and The Pogues. What a legend.
21 - gillian
good on ye! wow. thats some size of an interview!
22 - Terry Hughes
Oh how I remember him when he was but a boy; when he would use the humble pen and paper. No more. Nay! The paradigm has indeed shifted.
23 - Scott Butki
Note to self: Write a companion guide translating and/or attempting to explain Duke's amazing prose.
Sort of like a James Joyce companion book but with more bits about rock and music and suck
keep up the great work, man.
I'm going to go print out your picks to read on a dull day since your pieces inevitably brighten my days.
24 - Scott Butki
For some reason both the 72 hour link and the anus link both go to, er, the anus, um, piece.
I'll read one piece about your butt but two - let alone 72 hours about your anus - seems a bit much.
25 - Duke De Mondo
Scott, thank you for the kind words! and thank you also for pointing out that error. i've sent a wee email to the BC yahoo group for to see about havin it sorted out.
Terry Hughes - sweet joseph's fuck! what a kick upside the teeth from back in the day that was! a pleasure to see your name up yonder. the email's still the same, incidentally, if'n you wanna fling one on o'er.
Beautiful Ms Gillian; much appreciated, that support right there. and ms McKay surely went to the very furthest boundaries of her duties in compiling this number.
Fearghus - glad to be of service, mate! thanks also!