Rock 'n' roll never starts on time, but this was really pushing it. One-time 805 local M. Ward -- now a part of that very happening Portland music scene -- was slated to do an interview with The Star to chat about the busy week he's got coming up, including gigs today and April 20 at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio and on Saturday at SOhO in Santa Barbara, the latter another of those ultra-groovy Club Mercy gigs.

The interview has been in the works casually for about a month, but negotiations grew more impatient and hectic this past week. After a few weeks, Ward let it be known that it would be cool to do a weekday phoner -- but that was out because of my day job. So onto Plan B -- an email interview. Even that took a whole week, his answers not arriving in my in-box until Tuesday night. By the looks of things, Ward spent a whole five minutes (if that) on his responses -- but then again, maybe I could've asked better questions. Read more »