Brady Udall’s The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint was one of my favorite books of the century’s first decade. His second, just out, is The Lonely Polygamist, and I’ll have a review of it up soon at another fine online establishment. For now, Jill Owens interviews Udall at Powell’s, and I’m glad she asked him about a character in the book named Ted Leo, which is also the name of a famous (in certain circles) indie rock singer, pictured at left:

Jill: This is a somewhat tangential question. Do you know the band Ted Leo and the Pharmacists?

Udall: [Laughter] You are now the third person to ask me that! No! Well, now I do. After I was told about them, I listened to some of their music. But as far as his name and most of the characters’ names, like I was describing about all the kids’ names, there are dozens of them. I don’t settle on one until near the end of the book. So, the character was called all kinds of things throughout the book, and then it settled there on Ted Leo, and suddenly it belongs to some musician.

Jill: I thought maybe you really didn’t like their music, since the Ted Leo in your book is such an evil character.

Udall: [Laughter] Actually, I really do. That’s what’s crazy; I really like the music.