The Roots of Stew

Talented as he is, he's become one of Los Angeles's least likely success stories: A hipster cult figure, the toast of Silverlake and Highland Park, who moves to New York and suddenly hits, with a Broadway show and a Spike Lee film. But Stew has always been unpredictable.

In today's paper, I spoke to Stew about the figures who've inspired him from outside the familiar pop and rock worlds. He came up -- here -- with a wide-ranging mix, from Godard to Alfred Brendel.

One of my favorite quotes from Stew didn't find its way into my story due to lack of space. "Some people said about me and Heidi, the reason you guys are still good is you never got too famous. That's the single most important thing -- if we'd gotten big when we were 25 we'd be sitting by the pool."