CAMERON Crowe was all too pleased for the interruption, and settled down to answer a few questions.
''Any excuse not to write,'' he said.
The irony was not lost. Crowe has been earning a living as a writer since he was 16 when he worked for Rolling Stone magazine covering the music scene in California in the '70s. Since then, he has enjoyed success as a journalist, written one book and four screenplays, and directed two films.
From touring with Led Zeppelin to going undercover as a student to research his book/screenplay Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Crowe has had his finger on the pulse of popular culture.
And it shows in the movie Singles where Crowe was writer/director in an exploration of love in the '90s using the cutting edge Seattle music scene as a backdrop. Little did Crowe imagine the guitar-driven alternative music dubbed ''grunge'', which dominates the film, would be such a success.
The soundtrack bounded to the top of the char ts even before the film was released.