Rashida Jones got this Twin Peaks tee straight from the source
She comes thru to talk rare family heat + her new movie with Bill Murray
Rashida Jones — she’s a Certified Blackbird Spyplane Homie with a long line of FILMIC & TELEVISUAL HEATERS to her name, whether it’s a deep-cut classic like the Chappelle’s Show “Love Contract” sketch; a prestiged-out Netflix documentary like Quincy, about her dad, which she co-wrote and co-directed; canonically agreed-upon Greatest Film of the 2010s The Social Network; or the highly slept-on Angie Tribeca, winner of BBSP’s 2016 “Stoner Excellence Award.”
In her new movie, On the Rocks, she stars opposite tha sardonic god himself, Bill Murray, as his daughter. Sofia Coppola directed it, meaning this is a 3-POINTED DOPENESS PYRAMID… Rashida calls it “a father-daughter-bonding mystery movie” and a look at, “How do you love someone in your family from a different generation, across a cultural divide? To what degree do you tolerate that difference, and to what degree do you call them out on it?”
All of which is cool, but since Blackbird Spyplane is the no. 1 source for “unbeatable recon” on dope under-the-radar joints, we had to PUSH PAST THE PRAISE and blast Rashida with the TOUGH QUESTIONS, first and foremost: “What dope under-the-radar joint(s) does she personally own and cherish??”
She texted a photo of herself rocking the ill ©1990 Twin Peaks High School Phys Ed. Dept. shirt — a grail-tier tee she’s owned since she was a teenager, when she JACKED it from her mom, Peggy Lipton, who played Norma Jennings on Twin Peaks. We hit up Rashida to learn more…
Blackbird Spyplane: This shirt is so good. It was your mom’s?
Rashida Jones: “Yeah, my memory’s so bad — I think it was a wrap gift she got from one of the first two seasons, or it might have been a piece of merch they gave to the cast. I don’t remember which, but either way, I got it in my grips and knew it would be mine forever. I don’t have a ton of things I’ve held on to for this long, but I’ve had it for 30 years now.”
Blackbird Spyplane: I slept on Twin Peaks till about a decade after it first aired, but it was such a huge cultural phenomenon in 1990, before it became this vibey cult classic. Did u watch it in real time?
Rashida: “I did. I was completely obsessed. I don’t know if it was because my mom was in it — I have the good fortune of having parents who make stuff that’s actually good. But she didn’t work a ton when I was growing up — she kind of quit everything to raise us — and Twin Peaks was her first time back at work in a while.
“But yeah the show came out when I was in high school, and I was in from the beginning. I think I’d seen some David Lynch stuff, but I wasn’t a film nerd, I was into the murder-mystery part of it. The vibeyness and stylistic aspects dawned on me later — I was super into Agent Cooper, I had all the Laura Palmer diaries they published, I liked the interactive nature of that. And I was terrified of BOB and had nightmares about him.”
Blackbird Spyplane: Oh, BOB was spooky as f**k. Did u ever go watch them shoot episodes?
Rashida: “Yeah, I’d visit the set all the time, because it was in the Valley, close to my high school. I remember my mom would get these highly protected scripts — just the pages she was working on, watermarked, like, ‘Incinerate this when you’re done,’ because they were so protective of the storyline.
“I actually remember seeing Frank Silva, the actor who played BOB, on set one day, and it felt like everything slowed down. A few years later I went to the premiere of Fire Walk With Me — I was in college by that point — and I saw him across the room. I was like, I have to get over this, so I took a deep breath and went over and he was the nicest guy, so sweet, like, ‘Your mom’s a doll.’ And it worked: No more BOB nightmares since then.”
Blackbird Spyplane: Do u actually rock this shirt or keep it “on ice?”
Rashida: “I totally rock it. It was my sleep shirt for a long time in high school and college, so it’s very well-washed, very soft. Also I appreciate that it has this high collar, almost like a mock neck.
“But I go in and out of being okay with vintage shirts — there’s something so personal to me about them. Also I hate the idea of inauthentically wearing one. I don’t buy them unless I have a really personal connection. Like, I’d never wear a random vintage metal tee, but I have a New Edition one, an Eagles one, an Earth Wind & Fire one — it has to be someone I actually listen to and love.”
Blackbird Spyplane: Speaking of rare family grails, a few couple years back u posted 2 pics of a tiny varsity jacket from The Wiz with yr name on the front… what’s the story?
Rashida: “So it’s a gold satin crew-jacket from the movie, and it’s baby sized and embroidered with my name on the front, and on the back it has a big patch with that beautiful Wiz design that looks kind of like snakes. My dad did the music for the movie and we moved to Long Island when he was prepping it, when I was two months old — so this was a ‘crew gift’ for me. I wish it still fit. I should get it framed.”
Blackbird Spyplane: I didn’t realize until u told me the other day that The Wiz is where Quincy first met Michael Jackson, before they linked up to make Off the Wall and Thriller…
Rashida: “Yeah, my dad was sort of clocking Michael and his work ethic, and they were becoming friends, and he was becoming a mentor. And one day Michael was, like, ‘I’m doing this solo album and they’re asking me who should produce it,’ and my dad put himself up for the job.
“By the way, there’s a Michael song from that movie called ‘You Can’t Win’ — it’s super disco-y, and I’m not sure a lot of people know it and f**k with it, but it’s great.
“It’s funny, though, my dad keeps everything, whereas my mom kept nothing — like, none of her wardrobe from the ‘60s and ‘70s. I was so mad at her for not holding on to any of that stuff.”
Blackbird Spyplane: What about u — are u a big memento-accumulator? Closets full of that deadstock Angie Tribeca swag??
Rashida: “No, I kept, like, my characters’ nameplates from my desks on The Office and Parks & Recreation but I don’t really collect that stuff. I do have a Philly Justice hat, though, which is this nonexistent series that became an inside joke with Katherine Hahn and Paul Rudd when we were making Parks — the hat is merch for a made-up show, which makes me laugh, like, merch for this nonentity that shouldn’t have any merch. It’s kind of like the hats that wind up in other countries for teams that didn’t win the Superbowl, calling them the champions.”
Blackbird Spyplane: Nonexistent jawns … they r the rarest jawns of all.
Rashida: “They’re the best.”
-Rashida Jones is on Instagram here
-On the Rocks streams on Apple TV here starting Oct. 23
-The same Twin Peaks shirt as Rashida’s is on Etsy asking $234 here
-SPOOKY SCARY vintage BOB shirt here for $350 (!)
-Vibey original Twin Peaks Angelo Badalamenti soundtrack cassette $18 here
-A box of 1991 Twin Peaks Star Pics trading cards is selling for $18 here
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