Falfurrias: Ed C. Lasater and the Development of South Texas Book

Here's a short Q&A I did for Washington Post Express, a now defunct commuter daily. It's service journalism. You have to be nice. Hanson is nice too. I liked talking to him. But behind the scenes I was thinking, "Here's proof that J-school, even Columbia J-school, doesn't teach you how to write." It's been 13 years though, so any criticism I could offer now wouldn't be specific.

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Jan. 18, 2007 at 4:45 a.m. EST

A MAINSTAY OF the early years of the Dischord scene, Ivor Hanson had several brushes with fame. He joined State of Alert just before Henry Rollins left for Black Flag. He played with Ian MacKaye in Embrace, and when that band failed to gel, he tried out for Fugazi. As his more mainstream groups, Manifesto and Clear, got the record industry runaround, he took to washing windows in his new home of New York City. Some years and a Columbia J-school degree later, he has penned a memoir, "Life on the Ledge: Reflections of a New York City Window Cleaner," about his life behind the squeegee and on the drummer's throne.

» EXPRESS: You're married now, a stay-at-home dad to your 2-year-old daughter.
» HANSON: She's got a Minor Threat onesie. Obviously, it's not official Dischord merchandise.

» EXPRESS: You still do windows on Saturdays. Does being a father change the way you feel about the work?
» HANSON: Once, when Annika, my daughter, was just a few months old, two friends of mine whose windows I'd done over the years called … and so I said, "Hey, look ' here's the deal. I'm now home with Annika, but if I can bring Annika over, I'll do your windows, but you've gotta look after her." And they said fine, and so when I was out actually on the ledge at this one job and looking in, it really was there before me, like, "Omigosh, there's my daughter! I really cannot let go of this windowsill. I really cannot fall."

» EXPRESS: It was sad that you gave your drums away.
» HANSON: Even though I could still play, I just don't really want to anymore. … I know this might come off pretentious, but for me, playing the drums wasn't a hobby, and so to make it a hobby ' I just don't think I would enjoy it.

» EXPRESS: If you could be remembered by only one of your bands, which would it be?
» HANSON: I think actually Faith, because it didn't have Henry in it and it didn't have Ian in it. In fact, it did its own job. It turns out it was one of Kurt Cobain's favorite bands, in that, a couple of years ago, I think it was NME put out a CD called "Kurt's Choice," and it was all of these bands that he had singled out, I think, in his diaries. … And Faith was one of them, and Rites of Spring was on that release, as was Bad Brains. I always liked that there were three D.C. bands on that compilation.

» EXPRESS: You call Windex "the bane of window cleaners everywhere." What do you use?
» HANSON: We use this stuff called Soilax. Just on the really dirty windows. Usually just water is fine, water and some elbow grease.

» Olsson's Dupont Circle, 1307 19th St. NW; Thu., 7 p.m.; free; 202-785-1133. (Dupont Circle)