If you saw the X-Files this past Sunday, you might have chuckled when somebody walked on and said, "My name is Detweiler." But you surely must have raised an eyebrow when Fox Mulder went looking for someone named Karin Berquist who was unusually fond of dogs. We were certainly in shock. We knew that this was the second episode written by a friend of ours, Jeff Bell, but we had no idea he was capable of this kind of tomfoolery.
To make a long story shorter, Karin has been obsessed for quite a number of years with the X-files, not to mention David Duchovny. When we sat and talked to Jeff last Fall outside Royce Hall at UCLA after opening for the Junkies, Karin jokingly pleaded for an opportunity to die in Mulder's arms with something exploding out of her chest. Well, it didn't quite happen just like that, but much of the episode was filled with inside jokes about this "Karin Berquist" who was "enamored of" Fox Mulder, obsessed with dogs et cetera. The original script did have the character "Karin Berquist" die in Fox's arms, but the scene didn't make the final cut. Instead, the Detweiler character took a stake through the heart after pushing Karin by the throat through a second story window, but that's neither here nor there. (Jeff Bell wrote and directed the video "Happy With Myself" for us and in the space of a few days helped put together the "Serpents and Gloves" interviews and so forth, back in 1994 after we recorded "Eve".)
The timer went off a long time ago, but more soon. I do want to try to send more words your way this year. I hope this is a good thing.
Peace,
Linford for Over the Rhine